Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1341 | The Robertson Brothers Reunite to Honor Phil One Year after His Passing

Episode Date: May 26, 2026

Jase, Al, Willie, and Jep reunite to honor Phil one year after his passing, remembering the father, mentor, and Gospel teacher who shaped their lives. The Robertson brothers swap family stories about Phil’s surprising undiscovered abilities, his grace for broken people, his vision for Duck Commander, and the younger, more playful side of him many fans never got to see. They also reflect on Miss Kay’s resilience, generosity, and hospitality as they celebrate the family legacy their parents built together. In this episode: James 1, verse 27; Genesis 1, verses 26–27; Luke 7, verse 47; Matthew 4, verse 19; 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17 “Unashamed” Episode 1341 is sponsored by: https://unashamedgold.com — Get a free 2026 Gold & Silver Guide and a no obligation consultation! https://curehydration.com — Save 20 % with code UNASHAMED https://chministries.org/unashamed — See why Christians are ditching health insurance for good. Get a simpler alternative at half the cost! http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://open.spotify.com/show/3LY8eJ4ZBZHmsImGoDNK2l Chapters 00:00 The Robertson Brothers Reunite to Honor Phil  03:18 Willie Calls Out Jase’s Scorecard 07:08 “Duck Dynasty” Memories  13:05 Jase’s Bizarre Grocery-Store Encounters 21:18 The Robertson Brothers’ Food Scarcity Theory 28:15 Willie’s Childhood Candy Hustle 33:31 Miss Kay’s Resilience& Optimism 42:16 Phil’s Best Qualities & the Legacy He Set in Motion 48:03 The Younger Phil America Never Got to See — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you one of those media strategy people clicking through slides, scrolling spreadsheets? Yes? Good. This is for you. Because on Spotify, there's an audience that's different. Locked in. Loyal, invested. They're called fans. Fans don't just listen to music. They feel seen by it, like it belongs to them. So when your brand shows up on Spotify, that's who you're talking to. And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify Advertising. You're among fans. I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. We got the band back together. Is this like a special edition?

Well, it is. We decided Maddie decided that we needed to honor the one-year anniversary of our dad crossing over to the resurrection by just having a discussion about him and about what we needed to honor. the one-year anniversary of our dad crossing over to the resurrection by just having a discussion about him and about whatever else is going on y'all's life so it's the four brothers back on set for the first time in a few years so we've had both y'all on welcome willie welcome jep

good to be back yeah good to be here uh Josh told us that the last time you guys were on which we told phil's story was the highest rated unashamed podcast ever so we have you to thank for a huge success That's why I know you are a good business people When y'all hit the top mark

Yeah, wait a couple of years before you do it. Five years. Five years? Yeah, let's run it back and do that again. Boy, that worked. Most people will be like, hey, we're going to do that again. They're like, nope. No, no, we're going to wait a few years.

Well, it just hit me that we all live in close proximity and this first time I've seen you in months. We all live on the same street. I just played golf with you like last week. Did we? Two weeks ago. Yeah. Did Jay's know you were playing golf?

I beat him. I think he knew. Ooh. I haven't heard. I didn't even know we were keeping the short. Boy, somehow this didn't make the fight good. Every time he plays well, trust me, we hear about it on his show. Speaking, yeah, one of my golfing buddies that I play with on where I play said that he and he said,

first time I met Jace, they played the front nine and they had a bet. And so the guy at the turn asked Jace, he said, do you want to raise that bet? Jay said, no. And which everybody always says yes. And so the guy goes over to this other guy and says, I hope I didn't offend Jace. I said, did he want to raise it? He said, the guy looked at him and said, let me tell you something, buddy. Chase doesn't even know you're here.

He's not even aware that you're playing. And I thought that was so funny. It's so true. That's funny. Jay's the guy that would, if you're riding with Jace, he hits his drive and you hit yours, you know, you hit a squirrel over here on the right and you're going to your ball because this is the first one there. And Jason, right down here, let me see what kind of lie I got that.

He's right in the middle of the fair way. Yeah. He's a hundred and twenty yards. Let me check my lie. Shoots it with his shooter. And we're like, Chase, my ball is 75 yards back there on the right. Can we go hit it first? I got to take a look at my lie up here.

That's why I had to learn to hit the ball so far, because that way I know he was going to stop at his ball first, but it would be before mine. Is that not true, Dave? Probably. And I want to, I want you to answer since we're talking golf for a second. So last time me and you played, I know I beat you, and you remember it. And I've invited you to play probably 15 times since, and you always say no. Are you, you not want to play because I beat you or is just your schedule or you don't want to play?

My game is just not ready. Okay. At least the truth is out there. At least the truth is out there. I didn't play for a few months, and usually I'll just come back. It takes, you know, a few rounds, and I'm back to where I was. But you played really good that day. I mean, you shot 76.

Did I? Yeah. And still a long one. And got big. Ooh. Yeah, you played pretty good. I thought, I see what you've been doing. That's why I hadn't seen you.

Willie's been playing a lot. If you shoot 76 and lose, I'm like, I might need to work on this. I'm a new group. I'm a new group. Get Jep out there. Although you say you beat him? I think so. Yeah, I don't know.

That story is blurry. He did play really good. Golf is a game of number. Like, you usually know. Well, because it was... I wasn't keeping his score. I was just keeping me in River. Who, River's gotten a lot better.

He can play now. I mean, it was me, Jep, and his son. It was just to let's go hit the ball. He was just working on his game. He was working on his game. That's right. Which I was, too. So it wasn't official, like...

No, I wasn't official, but I just... was hitting the ball pretty well. Oh, he was. He was. Always Ted said Jeff had the, out of the four of us, he definitely had the prettiest swing. It's not always... It doesn't equate to scoring a lot of times, but it was pretty. Willie had powerful swing.

Jay says the ugliest swing, but I always got the most out of it. I don't know how he does it. I mean, it's impressed against physics and stuff. Well, we went to, Willie and I got invited to one of these Pro-Am things, and which I usually did well at them because the expectations are so low. You're playing with pros. They're like, oh, this guy is going to be terrible.

So even though compared to pros, we look terrible, everybody's expectations are these... Can you even hit the ball? Right. And so I thought, hey, I'm going to act like I don't know what I'm doing. And then you hit it and they're all like, wow, that's pretty good. I mean, because their expectations are low.

But they got to like the next to the last hole. and CBS, they were all getting ready for the telecast, because this is going to be a real deal. So they filmed these things early in the week and put it on their show. So I think it was Bob Costas. No, it was Peter Costas. Bob, Peter, somebody on TV.

I didn't even know they were doing this, but they analyzed my swing in slow motion. Look, I hit the T-shot. It was that little par three. six feet. So the result of the shot was fantastic. Which is what I said. Which I was thinking, oh, they filmed that.

They're doing a story about that. You know how that works. And I thought, that's the best I got. So he breaks down my swing on the telecast. And he's like, they were just ripping it. Every possible thing that you can do wrong. When you hit the ball, they were like, ooh. So he gets to the end.

He gets to the end. But he did hit it six feet. So my analysis of that is he has one of the greatest skills with hand-eye coordination, because nothing made sense in the swing. He brings it all back together at the bottom. Yeah. So he was ripping it, but thinking, as long as you can just have world-class hand-eye coordination, you can pull it off.

So there you go. That's pretty much true. It's pretty embarrassing. So catch us up on what all y'all got to go. Because you got a show. Can you talk about your show? Yeah. Yeah, Jepin' Jess, beyond the Bayou.

Don't love the name. It's okay. You kind of get a sense of, I guess, what we're doing. Yep, that's not the way to promote your show. I don't really like the name. Not the best name in the world. I don't know. I just had, I thought, more creative names.

But it reminded me of what Willie wanted to call the original Doug show, which was Big Time Bayou. Wasn't that what you That was one of Big time value That was terrible But that was one of The one I hated the worst

Was Doug Dynasty Oh man I hated that I went to back My joke now is I was like When I first heard we were calling The show Duck Dynasty I didn't even really know what it meant What is that dynasty

Well maybe ours will be good then That's right I don't like it Yeah But you're like in Texas Yeah so We got a little ranch Over there in Texas

Kind of this place we got We This guy my business partner, he buys bigger ranches and then make some little ranchettes out of it. It's really cool. Just kind of y'all live in life and doing stuff there. Yeah, and it's kind of we have some, we're building some destination, like short-term rentals. Oh, yeah.

We can come stay, but it's a big thing now. They look cool. Like, I don't want to give that part away, but, like, they're very unique. Like, as a kid, you would come there and be like, this place is. Well, you know, they're right up here off a well road. I'd venture back in there in the industrial part, though. The day got, I guess I was lost, but they built a whole thing over here, but like similar to what you described. Well, this is, Al, we, we, we, I know the birth of this idea because we stumbled when we did the Duck family treasure show.

That's right. We went all over the country trying to find treasure and got invited all these places. But this place where he's at, I was shocked when I saw the beauty. and I would guess you would call it West Texas, but more central. I mean, it felt like we were in West Texas and all of a sudden we'd just find like an oasis in the promised land.

And it was stunningly gorgeous. There was a lot of reasons for that, but that's kind of where that birthed. It's like the start of the hill country is what they said. Yeah, okay, yeah. It's real pretty views. Yeah, yeah. On the water's crystal clear, and it's awesome.

Maybe I should call it Japanese. and the ranchettes. I kind of like that. I think that's cool. Yep and the ranch. Be a good show opener you could do with that. You got to do a little. They're back behind.

You do it. I got a bunch of them. Well, there's just some places you run up on and you're like, there is a God. Yeah. That's right. Just the creation always makes me think of that, I don't know why this popped in my head, that Ronald Reagan joke when he was, he was, telling a story about a guy who was trying to convince an atheist that there was a God.

He was kind of doing what we're doing, thinking the most beautiful places in the world, and didn't lay a glove on him. And so he did what you wouldn't think he would do. He invited him for supper because you would think it didn't go well because they just couldn't come to an agreement. And so the guy was kind of shocked that it was like, even though he disagrees, he's inviting me to his house to. eat. So he cooks this, the best of the best professional chef. They eat the meal. And he's like, and the guy just loved it. You know, the guy that didn't believe in God. And he said, so I did all this to ask you a question, do you believe in a cook? You get it? It was like, oh, you believe

in a cook. I mean, look at all this. I thought that was profound. You don't need the news to tell you something that's real, which is this. Inflation is happening. Everything costs more. Food, housing, every day. In fact, I was just thinking about this. My insurance and my tax bill has more than doubled in the last two years. The dollar just does not stretch like it used to. So it raises a real question that the money that you've worked decades to say, the retirement that you built, the legacy that you want to leave for your family, what's that actually going to buy in 20 years now? What's they going to buy two years from now? It's one of the reasons why a lot of folks are looking at ways to diversify their savings with real assets like gold and silver, and that's where our sponsor Freedom Gold

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Again, that's AAA 4111845 or visit UnashamedGold.com. Learn how diversification may help protect your retirement savings. I will say the kind of the coolest thing I like about doing the show is it's great American media. And they're very, you know, Christian much. and they our show is very you know we talk about God a lot

we pray a lot like it's very which is very refreshing just to you have to be out there have our faith out front like we normally do anyway so it's

that's what I like the most about so how many grandkids you got now have three almost one more and you've got another on the way

yeah like two weeks yeah you're heading toward trying to get to catch out with the process just seems

to be speeding up as we go along both With you two, especially, he's got some major multiplication going on. What are you up to now? Do you even know? 11. 11.

Wow. 11 grandkids. And so tell about the shows the second season is out? That's going strong. The finale just aired. Oh, really? It was a finale. I didn't realize it was already there.

I've got them all recorded. I got to catch up. How does I do? Aird on. I remember filming bits and pieces along the way. Because Jay's was, he played a role right in this season. Yeah, season two, yeah, for sure. sure. And yeah, I got a lot of good comments on that. And so that'll be coming out on, it's on A&E, and then it'll be on Hulu. So, yeah, I get comments around.

Well, I don't know if I told you, but, I mean, I really, really enjoyed and was touched. I mean, to tears with the opener, which was about to add. I just thought it was so well done. It reminded me, it brought so many elements from the original show in, because, of so many dad clips anyway. But just the way it honored him. And, you know, it's a lot like what we're doing here today. But it just, I thought it was really, really good. I thought it just was so strong. Yeah, we were fortunate the timing to be able to be able to capture that.

You know, if you don't have a show or something out, it's hard to kind of capture that. Right. But while we were filming and while we were set up, that's when Dad passed. So, yeah, being able to put that together, especially, yeah, because we could use all the old stuff from Phil, which you just forget. I mean, you forget. It's just gold. It's just, well, I'm reminded.

Look, I went to the grocery store yesterday. Which we all do, by the way. I'm getting a buggy. Well, we were, we had a, one of Missy's family members, her cousin. She's fixed to get married, her and her potential fiancé,

or I guess, fiance, potential husband. Well, she was like, it's a potential fix to get married. She's just somebody walking by. It speaks to get married to a potential fiancé. I forgot who I was with. You miss speak.

Talking about non-committal. It's just a hell of gunfire. It's just somebody walking by. Anybody's a potential fiance. I feel like I'm running through a field with moms going off. Anybody's a potential. But anyway, we spent the weekend. We had a little man.

So it was chaos. I was like volunteer going to the grocery store. So I get my buggy. And, of course, at this stage of our lives, you don't know who you know. Because a lot of people come up and they assume they know you and these weird conversations happen. Hang on, at this stage of your life, you're not sure who you know. That's where I'm at. I see a guy, I see a guy, but he's coming toward me.

And I'm like, do I know him? Do I know him? Because he obviously knows me. It's a beeline. And he just walks up to me as I'm getting my buggy. And he said, oh, you know what I watched last night? And I was like, what? He says, crawfish have ding-dongs and vaginas.

Oh, boy. Yeah. Now, there's a combat. I know that that's a Phil Robertson quote. Yep. In a duck down to your episode somewhere. Yeah. And then he just turned around and walked out.

So I moved 20 yards because I'm in the Walmart, you know, well, the first place is the vegetable. Mrs. got me a list. I'm looking. So here comes a woman. She has a big smile on her face, and I'm like, do I know her? And she leans in to me real close, and the older woman, and she says, I'm going to give you a tip. I was like, what's that?

She said, if you buy the cabbage, sprinkle it with some ginger, and it'll help with the gas. Wow. Whoa. I mean, look, that's a rann. You got ding-dong, vagina, and gas all in the same grocery store. I'm two-minute produce. I'm crazy. Yeah.

I think you're attracting crazy. You can't make this stuff up. But then I thought, what episode do we talk about cabbage and gas? I never could. I don't think that's an episode. I think that was just a random advice. Well, this is why I said. Did you have cabbage in your basket?

No, I thought. But I was wondering, why would you be buying cabbage in a grocery store? It tastes out of the like cats. So that's why when I said at this stage of my life, I don't know who I know, what I've said, what's happened. Because these things are happening in a grocery store in the first two minutes. Yeah. That's all I was saying. Yeah.

Yeah. Sometimes the stuff that people say, and I'm thinking, man, you waited, you know, like they drove to an event. They stood in the line. You got that. That was the best thing you came. You got 45 seconds. But, well, when she walked off. You know what my first thought was, do I look like I have gas?

Was she making, I mean, why would you tell me that? And I never, is that true? You were in the produce. Does ginger sprinkled on cabbage? Is that a scientific fact? Ginger is good for your stomach. I have heard that before, so maybe so. I'm on ginger right now.

Yeah. Speaking of grocery stores. Has your stomach ever felt better? I'm at a ginger angel. That's what Corey calls it. This year at the produce section. And I got, because I was going to make some fish and I was going to put ginger on it.

So I go to location number one. I won't say what these are, but location number one, there was one little, it was just a shriveled piece of ginger. I'm looking at it as the last one. I'm like, I ain't eating this crap. I was like, God. Well, I go to store number two. So I told Corey, I said I'll be right back.

Store number two, I went in there. I can't find the ginger. So I'm having to flag somebody down to ask, which apparently now is just over at a, you know, they like take their earphones out of them. I'm trying to find the ginger root. She's like, so over here, gone. Now, it's the first week of January.

And I'm like, store number three, I drive up, store number three, I walk in, I look, and there's one pack of ginger. And the lady beside me, is the older lady? And she goes, I'm looking for the ginger. I said, so am I. And then I said, this is my third store. And she says, people trying to get their bodies right. and I said, what? She said, oh, ginger.

And just lays this whole commercial about ginger. Like, it'll help with this. It'll help with this. I'm reading. I just looked it up on AI and it says ginger is highly effective in helping with gas, bloating, and general digestive. I need ginger. But there's only one. That's what you need.

We've corrected your problem. Look, yeah, I wish I could taste it. It's full of ginger right now. So then I'm like, but there's only one package. It's a large package. I said, so I didn't know if we were going to split it. But now she's like, help me out. Now I'm like, oh, I'm fixing it.

Now you're Sinbad and Arnold Schwarzenegger over the last doll, right? So I said, well, ma'am, there's only one pack. It was organic, ginger. I said, there's only one pack left. I'll buy it and I'll just give you some of the ginger. You can just have it for free. She goes, no, no, no, that's organic. I don't want that.

She goes, I don't even shop here anyway. I live at Monroe. and so I get the ginger and I thought why is she here in this town wanting ginger there's one pack but she doesn't want to get that way but she gave you all the benefit so I came on and took so an hour later I get back I told Corey I'd be back in 10 minutes of course like where have you been I said I just met this lady and she told me all about ginger and she says she's your ginger angel and I have eaten ginger every day I put ginger in my tea I put I eat ginger and now I gave you confirmation.

And I have no, and I'm, the association for ginger is not paying me to say this. I have no inflammation. I mean, I never get sore anymore. Lisa loves it too. Or she just got out of a mental hospital and you were just a random person she ran upon. Or maybe it's just the same woman that just told Jason about the cabbage and the gas. I said Queen Mother's right that lady. I like to think.

Jay's called her the cabbage angel. In my mind, she's a ginger angel. That makes more sense. to tell me about the benefits of ginger. And so every trip I go on, I have ginger. I'm all about the ginger. So do all four of us, you grocery shop mostly at the trip? I did yesterday.

Yep. I grocery shop exclusively at my house. I do 90% of ours. Do you do most of your? I wouldn't say most, but half probably. So I just wonder why that is. I got a theory about why that is. I enjoy it, to be honest with you.

I do too. I like. And I like to buy what I like. I think it's because we never, we grew up with. a lot of food. And so, I mean, like, it's not what we were starving. But there was food scarcity. Mom would stockpile some things and the thing.

So I think we always just, we'd go because we want to get what we want to eat. Well, initially, that was it. Because I'm getting produce and stuff. So I want to make sure of what I'm getting. Yeah. Like, if I send somebody, they never get the right thing. I send my grandkids, and they just, they call me 10 times with the question. Well, that's Corey.

Corey calls me, it's like she's at the Smithsonian. and she's never been there. She calls her like, where, where, have you ever know the refrigeration section is in the back?

Like, and it's all the way around. I'm like, yeah, that's the way grocery shows. And they've got all this. So then she, she buys way too much of stuff.

She gratt, you know, she brings like one kiwi, you know, I'm like, what is that? You know, what did you buy that?

She goes, I thought it was interesting, you know, she never knows what anything got, so I have to walk her through. So, Al, you've been on a health kick of the last year or two. I have. And one of the things that they were telling me on my diet plan was you need to make sure you keep your electrolytes balance.

I can tell the difference when I do not do that. And I love this new sponsor cure because they provide that balancing nature of electrolytes, which you really need in a diet. Yeah, no question. Cure, it's a plant-based electrolyte drink mix with no sugar added, no junk, just clean ingredients. Busy days, especially when you're outside. They can leave you more dehydrated than you think. And so plain water just gets old after a while. But Cure makes it easy to stay on top of your hydration with great flavors like watermelon,

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Plus, it's easy to stay consistent. Just toss a couple packs in your bag or your truck and you've got it right when you need it. I think this is before I work out. Staying hydrated. It's not just about drinking. more water. It's about your body actually using it. And that's what Cure does is clean ingredients, real science,

and it actually tastes good. So use our code Unashamed for 20% off at CureHidration.com. Or you can find that on Amazon. That's C-U-R-E hydration.com. Code, unashamed, real ingredients, real hydration. I think it's because I didn't like the rule when we were kids that this is

what we're eating. Because if I didn't like it, they they had a punishment on that. And I just, I never liked that. Well, right. If you get hungry enough, you'll eat it. So I just remember thinking, boy, do you what? Well, Lisa says that we go down to Gulf Shores or we go on a vacation,

I have to go immediately to stock, to the initial stock. So we make sure we got bacon and eggs, you know. And so she's like, it's a thing with you. Like she said, you're not yourself until you get some. like if it's just bare cupboards, I can't already take it. Yeah, but I just literally love grocery stores. But I do love grocery store. I mean, when I'm traveling, I go to a different store.

I started this last trip. I started in Tampa. And the next day, my chat, I can't remember who it was with me, Joan, actually. And he said, what did you eat last night? I said, I went to the grocery store. And he's like, you went to the grocery store. I found a public. I went down there.

I get my whole thing. I'm walking. through. I love grocery stores. I went in a, there's a Wagmans up in the north, up in Syracuse. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could have stayed in there for hours. H.E.B. H.E.B. is my all-time favorite. Let me tell you something. There's a grocery. There is a store in Cincinnati-ish called Jungle Gems. I've seen. And I was in Cincinnati. I said, what is there to do here? And somebody said, there's a really cool grocery store. I said, are you kidding?

I went and we had a tour. I was a little. I was. on a tour bus. Yeah. So I spent like $900 at this grocery store. That's such a mom thing to do. It is. I'm telling you, the cheese section was as big as the

Document Rehouse. Oh, man. Just cheese. Just cheese. I don't like that place. It was unbelievable. I think it's because when we were kids, I mean,

you think about all the work we did and just because it was a rough life, which we grew to enjoy. But then that was the fun part, all coming together as a family, which I think was the backdrop of Duck Dynasty anyway. And so that's what I really think. I just like to cook.

So, I mean, I'm cooking. That's what I mean. That was an honorable thing in our family. Look at the meat. I've got to look at what, you know. Yeah. Yeah, these people, and my kids, they order it and have people, like, people just bring it to their house. I would never.

Yeah, I'm same way. I'm the same way. That's the best part of it is going to pick it out. That's right. Because it's not like growing up, the grocery store was. 30 minutes, you know. So I understood, you know, it was like a thing. But now, I mean, in two miles, you're the, you can, so some meals, I go to four different

stores to make one meal. Yeah. Because different stores have. I got to get seafood from one place. I get produce from another place. I get meat from another, where the best produce is, I don't like their meat. So then I have to go, oh, I want to get the meat. Yeah.

So I just make a big loop around. But just like this weekend. We had company. We're, you know, sharing Jesus. We're getting deep in the lives. But it really helps if you're, they're eating the best food we got to offer. I mean, we did crawfish pies. We did the shrimp bisque.

I was trying to think of all the meals we had. But, and I could tell because I was like, what do you think? It's like, this is the best thing I've ever eaten. Well, it just, it gives them, it disarms them. away. And I think it helps with the Jesus message. Well, everybody eats out now. So everyone eats out or they cater or they get it, you know, they order and it's sent in. So that's, so I think just when you cook it and it's fresh and they're, you know, it's so used to being in a box. So I got a question. I don't know the

answer to it. So it's not a setup. I'm curious. So there's only one school that all four of us graduated from. Only one. Because we have. have different pathways. Is this a riddle? Yeah, I don't even. Do you know what it is? The one school we all four graduated from, the same school. Pinecrest.

It's the only one we all graduated for it. Because it was different. You went to OCS later, so we did Woodlaught two. It only went to eighth grade. That was the best shot we had. That was the best shot we had. So here's my question. So it's the only one we all graduate from.

And part of me wanted to ask Pinecrest, but I figured they had no idea. We have to be their most famous alumni, but I don't know. Who knows? No, I know. Are we yet? No, it's a school in the middle of the ones. It's an argument as to this poor people here, but yeah. So what is the, it may be 100 students?

So maybe. I don't even know. It's very small. It's way out in the country. So did who, did all of y'all, were y'all Mr. Pankris? Which is, you have to be an eighth grader to be Mr. Panker's. These two weren't. I know.

I was. No, I wasn't. I thought I was. I was not? I don't know. I think you would remember. Me and Kelly Gaston. I have a picture.

I'm almost. Mr. Packers? Not class favorites. You got favorites. You got favorites. But when you got to the eighth grade, you got the ultimate pinnacle. I'm talking about Mr. P.

Yeah, maybe I was just a favorite. I'm not sure. You think about how society has changed now. You would never have favorites in a class. Can you not? No, I don't think they did that not age well? No. Willie, we're all in the...

My favorite person in the class, me. We're in the participation aspect. You get a medal just for participating. Well, that's where I learned to politic, man. You've got to politic that thing. You've got to get the votes right. You've got to play with a casting vote. The bad's famous story about Willie taking over the concession at Bancras.

That was always a great story. That's how I got the job. Like, that's what I got to tell everybody. That's how I became the CEO. Because for real, Phil Sidney is... Do you tell that story when you do your business? Oh, yeah. I'll tell it all over.

Yeah, for people that don't know, you basically started a side gig with selling candy. Like, we would go to Dollar General or whatever. He'd buy all this candy and then sell it for quite the markup. But the Genesis was the dude that came down that gave us the box of, he gave it to everybody. He gave us a box of a hub above, but I kept out of it. I would cut y'all out, because I was there. And the dude, he was a candy thing. He took out of his van.

I was standing the driveway with Phil, and he gave it to Phil, and he said, this's for the boys, and Phil just handed it to me. I said, oh, that's mine. And so I hit it. We never got that, Judge. I went to the closet, and I hit it, and I was just staring at that stuff. I was like, oh, I go, you know, like, because I wanted to eat it all, but then I was like, I almost sell this stuff.

So the parents would give the country kids money for the concession stand, but then all of a sudden one day they looked up, and no money was being transacted, and they figured out that Willie was taking. The concession stand, they weren't. Somehow you taught mom into going to the candy distributor that was local to buy some of it. That was the funny part is then when the principal calls the parents and they say, hey, you got to do something about your kid. Well, here's Kay.

She's fronting it. She's like the godmother percentage. K was taking a percentage. Kay was taking her cut too. Everybody was getting rich off this thing. So it's then, oh, no, why would he do that? Mom always took a cut off everything we got. That was just the way.

Okay, yeah, Kay was like the first agent. But when I went to Dad, when I was like 30, I said, Dad, I think I can run this business, you know. I got ideas and, you know, I'm thinking big. And Phil just sitting there as a clarion. He goes, yeah, you did shut that concession down. He brought that up. Yeah.

He said, you did shut that concession down fifth grade. And he literally told that story. He said, yeah, I knew you as a man. And I said, this is the deal feeling I made. Phil just went, you're the man. You're the CEO. I cut me a check. And I make sure I get my check.

Don't forget about dear old dad. Don't forget about me down here. That's so funny. So yesterday was Mother's Day, so I figured because we need to talk something about mom and dad for a run out of time. So tell me what's something that you love and appreciate about mom. I think they need to hear from all of us about it. We all have probably a different perspective. But mom's doing great, by the way.

We'd like to update you on her. She was there yesterday. And since I was preaching, it was great because I got to mention her two or three times. She got a round of applause every time, and she was happy about all that. Oh, she was. She's doing. She's doing. She is doing.

I have never been, like, halfway through the obituary I'm writing. Oh, literally, I was thinking. Since she was basically my age, like, remember when she was in the hospital when she was in her 50s? She's never had great. Yeah, I thought, oh, no, we're going to lose mom. But then she just somehow she keeps, she finds another gear and comes up. back. It shows you the part of the inner person and I think Spirit-Phil people because, you know, when Phil died, it was really hard on her. Yeah. And most of her problems was just stemming from overwhelming, just disappointment and loneliness. I mean, they've been together.

And dealing with his demise, which was those last few months were really, really hard. Which was very difficult. And no one could really blame her. Right. And you kind of look at the stats, most of the time when people have been together, that. long. The other one quickly follows. Well, I think she wanted, she was just ready to go. She did. She did. And then it was, you know, I mean, I tried everything known to man to get her to be positive and let's get back on the saddle here. But it's like none of that was seemingly working, which maybe it was just what everybody was saying to her. And then just one day you look up and she just made a decision to, and now she's, you know, found peace. And, you know, found peace. And joy again and it shouldn't be surprising that then her overall health kind of came along

with it. And so, and look, she's worked hard, physical therapy and all that kind of stuff. At this, you know, at that age, you got to, at my age, you've got to keep things moving or it's just a problem. So I've been really proud of her. I mean, it's been awesome. The most frustrating thing about health care right now is it is super difficult to navigate and get health care.

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dot org slash unashamed. That's c. h ministries. dot org slash unashame. One of the things I always impress me about mom from early on in my life

and the movie portrayed this I thought really good is that she has always been so optimistic by nature, you know, because life wasn't always easy. Obviously it started really rough. But even, you know,

early years of the business, difficult days, raising a family, being, you know, compound living, all of it, there was an optimist. about her. And I told the actress that played her the main part over in the movie, I was like,

you captured that so well with mom. I mean, she lost it at one point in the movie and in life, but she got it back, you know, and so it was interesting because I've watched that even happened now in the last year because she lost it for a bit, and she was like, I'm ready to go, you know, just I'm sick, I don't feel good. And then now she's like that same optimistic. I mean, it's like mom is back, you know, all of a sudden. So I don't know, I guess that's the, out of the many qualities she has that are good, that's one to me that's been pretty consistent, you know, for most of my life. Mine was, I actually just told this story, just had a big conference for my charity I work with,

and I told this story. I said, I think I'm the most qualified person here. And there's doctors in there about that, you know, help kids at risk and all this. And everybody kind of chuckled like, you're the most qualified. I said, well, when I was a kid, my mom and dad would, like, give me a $20 bill and say, You see that old lady over there? Go give her this money. You see that family that's,

they have a kid that doesn't look like them, go give them this money. And I just remember thinking, oh, these were like really important people. I learned later it was widows and like foster care families. And I was like, they were teaching me that verse,

pure religion is taking care of widows and orphans in their distress. I didn't know at that time, but I was like, I was like, the reason I'm doing this, I think, is because I was taught this

from a very early age. without even knowing you were being told you. Uh-uh. Because you didn't know who you're giving it to. That's right. Generosity. That's good. Oh,

so would you too say. Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. I really hadn't thought of this. Because Kay was so, I mean, it was interesting. Her as a mom's because she was, she was pretty rough,

you know, like with us and rough, you know, like I'll tell Corey, I'll say, like, speaking of groceries, like,

like if I came in, like if you were going to add, you'd say, hey, can, I've got groceries. Can someone help? Kay would walk in and say, get off that darn couch and get your butt out there and get the groceries. I would just be like, you didn't have to say it like that.

You know, like, I never understood the like aggression to like that that we didn't want. I was like, you weren't going to. Literally walk in, get your butt up right now. It's like we didn't see you pull up, you know, we didn't know. Although I have to say that that still goes on with it, because you walked in yesterday, and it was like, oh, get your butt in here. I mean, so nothing changed. So, like, so she wasn't like in that way she was different.

I think what Kay did for my perspective was I thought she always had so much confidence in us. And now that I'm older, I think it was like, I think y'all could, perhaps. do a lot of the things that we wanted to do or couldn't do or made bad decisions and couldn't do or whatever. And I just always felt like it was like such hope and pour that confidence into us, you know, that you're, you know, with whatever the talents we had, you know, she would really, I don't know, I just always got that sense that she was so proud of, you know, us coming up. And I mean, I at least gain confidence from that. I was kind of echoing what both of them said

because she would, I mean, you look back, we were pretty tough guys. Tough crap. And so I think she was overbearing with that kind of stuff, even when she tried to discipline us because she couldn't hurt us. So she would try every way known to man to hurt you, but it just always seemed funny to all of us,

which made her mad. And I will say it was more aimed at you two than these two. I didn't get that as much. Yeah. But then on the other side, it's like I brought her, I caught, we went, I took the, the couple fishing and little man and caught a bunch of crappie. And because she had been saying, now the next time you catch some fish, I met about the last three times I visited her. So I made up my mind. I was going to cook her some crappies. So I did just in a couple of days ago when I brought them in there, I had, what else did we have? I had some other dish, but I had those crappie.

And so when I brought it, she went, oh, my good-looking son. And so I put that on the table, and she said, I want to tell you this. She said, your old scoundrel brothers, they hadn't been busy. But I've been meaning to tell you this, which y'all know where I'm going, this. You've always been my favorite. By the way, she said the same thing to all of us, Jay. I saw it right after that. She told me the same thing.

But I didn't even hesitate. I said, does this have any. anything to do with that fresh, crapey beer. And she said, a little bit. Definitely the way the mom's heart now is through a nice meal. But that's what I was going to say, she had those two extremes in that she was trying to discipline us, and I can't blame her. I mean, we were pretty rough.

We were tough, grow. And she really couldn't hurt us. But then on the other side, when you did something good, it was just overpraise of, oh, you're just such a wonderful specimen. know. But really, you know, you look back on it. She was building character and this is not right. Yeah. This is awesome. So keep doing it. And I've always been appreciative. And like Jeff said, she had a gift, I think, from God to value all people, which later on in life, you know, I'm trying to figure out the Bible for myself studying it. And that us being made in the image of God. And I mean us as in all humanity, I got to see that lived out before I even

discovered, that's a major point in the Bible. We're all made in the image of God because you'd see these people, they were just broken, seemed like they had nothing to offer. And I'm like, why in the world is she spending so much time with you? And just loved them and just asked them questions. Well, that was the team ministry approach with mom and dad, I think, trained all of us, like you were talking about the generosity, because hospitality, all of it. But it was, they did it together. I mean, and I think now we do the same thing. I mean, our wives are, all a part of everything we do with people. I just think we learned that from them.

Yeah, I'm really thankful. I mean, when you see a person, they just had zero prejudices at all and really love people whatever their economic spectrum, political, whatever sinful acts they had done. And that is very rare in our society. We tend to put people in categories.

And I'm just thankful that we were raised in an environment that valued all people. Yeah, I think I was thinking about Phil this morning because I knew we were doing this podcast. Yeah, I want to talk about that. So I was thinking about Phil, and for my perspective, you don't know if I'm wrong. Do you ever remember where Kay or somebody said, Phil's in a bad mood? Or do you ever remember, I never remember him, you know, being like, oh, Phil's moody or he's, you know. I mean, that's pretty remarkable, especially in today's society.

Think about young parents and parents. Even, you know, we're just like, oh, don't talk to, you know, because, but I just thought that was amazing that that sucker was pretty, he was so steady. Like, you never, wasn't like, oh, no. When you would come in with an idea, I mean, he would be, dad's answer was always, yeah, let's go for it. I mean, like, he was always very, you know, there would have to be a really strong reason to not do something, you know, for him to be that way. That was definitely one of his qualities. For me, of course, I will say, I'll preface this, but I say, I just watched our movie last night for the first time,

so I'm very, you know, weepy about it. But I think with Dad, for me, it was, and people probably wouldn't see this necessarily. If you just watched clips of Dad, he was so dynamic and black and white about the Bible or truth that you would think he was a man with no grace. But it's just the opposite. He was full of grace. And even though he was straightforward, he told it like it was.

When it comes to the Bible, he's going to tell you straightforward. He's not going to back off. But when people faltered, he was always there. And he was certainly there for me and welcomed me back as a prodigal son. But he had that grace for other people. And Kellett said this recently. He said, you know, when we would have elders would meet with somebody and they had some terrible problem, Phil was always the first one to extend grace as an elder at our church.

And people might expect that to be just the opposite. But he understood it. And I think part of it obviously was his own coming to life. But he just, he had that. And he had that for people. And so it's a beautiful thing to be so committed to truth and yet so be open to such grace. Because you realize that none of us can live up to the standard.

So we're always trying to figure out of it. It echoes another theme of the Bible, which forgiveness, grace, mercy, it's all a two-way streak. and you have strange verses like who has forgiven much, you know, will love much. And you really saw that because, you know, our dad was a professional, sinful person for years. And we all saw that. But I think that's what it always went back to. He just remembered himself.

I mean, it's like there's no way I can be forgiven for all this. And yet he was. And I think that's why that was there. and tough as he was. And you're right, it was noticeable. And I thought the same thing about him being positive. Because I just think he was so thankful that he had been resurrected. It got his family back and all these little statements that he would make echoed that.

And I was going to say, because I knew we were going to share, you know, kind of the one memory we had a feel that we take with us as far as from a legacy perspective, which was real interesting when we had the... David Green. Yeah, the Hobby Lobby guy. He was on last week. I read that book, and he kind of changed what we view of legacy because we have, and mostly people in the world, you think, what am I leaving behind?

And he looked at it more from a Jesus thing and what did you set in motion. Which when you think of our dad is real profound, just all the people he shared Jesus with and even in our own lives. But I think the biggest thing I miss is, because in the duck call world, because that's what we do is make duck calls,

and since I was the one that he deemed, you know, gifted with the ability to make the sounds, what I liked about that whole process with making new calls and everything mirrored our faith in Christ. It's like, so when you read the verse, you know, he called disciples, I'm going to make you fishers of men.

But we make duck calls, and he's like, we're going to call me in. Yeah. We're going to use these duck calls. And everything in that process echoed that. Yeah. Because here you have these new creations.

Every duck call, he viewed as a new creation. And it really wasn't about the duck calls. And so he sold me on that idea all through the process. It was like, it's just so crazy. Because I thought it was weird at first. I was like, at the end of the day, we're making duck calls. He's like, no, no. These are new creations.

that we're calling men with. We're the decoys. It was that bit every day in the shop was like, we're wanting to show them God is real. Because when you think about a duck call concept, you have fake decoys, but you're making a sound. That's why his greatest memory was when the guy that came to the Lord, who was the FBI agent,

and he took a different callmaker's calls, and he put them through the voice analysis test compared to a real mallard hen. I remember when dad did it. Yeah, and it actually became part of the marketing scheme of Duck Commander because he said, I tested all these duck calls, and yours matched a mallard hen. And he was like, but that day when that happened, he said,

see, that's what I'm talking about. This is really a mallard hen. And he would go back to when Jesus came in our faith, he's real. He works in people's lives. mirroring that through this process. We follow the example of Christ, which is good. What about you, Jeff?

I was definitely going to kind of echo with Jason. I think there's being, especially in the outdoors, it's like a spiritual, like he always saw that as a spiritual thing. Have y'all seen Gus when he got his first deer? Have y'all seen his reaction that we just got? I mean, it was so hard for me not to cry. I mean, I was so, I got it. You know what I'm saying?

It was like the first time I got. I was like, oh, my gosh, this is something this kid will never forget. His confidence went so up after that, just like he's a real man because he helped me clean it and then we eat it. He's like, Dad, my deer tastes so good. And it's just like something about becoming a young man. It was like, I was like, I see all what Dad was saying. I finally got to see it in my own son's life. It was awesome.

Yeah, that's a passing moment. I think, I think there's Phil in different sections. So, Phil, by the time the world, got to know him you know i always remind people this when duck honesty came out they were all in their mid-60s so so i feel okay um which is crazy i mean they thought they had i thought so much about that now it's like my age when it was yeah when it started and then this whole new lease on life and i don't know how many books feel wrote it even after that it was like all these things so by the time you got to know him there um but i always just kind of caution people like because you only know him when he's older but i remember

him when he was younger, you know, and so you remember these different segments of Phil where he kind of became this, you know, kind of, you know, a hermit guy who was preaching, you know, and like all this fire. But I remember the, you know, life of the party, the best story telling all the tales. Going to stuff, like, he went to things,

like, remember we used to go play volleyball up the river, you know, like Phil would be out there playing volleyball and Phil would go, you know. He actually played on our recreational softball, He played on the Duck Commander team in the center field. That was young. And yeah, Phil did that. So you just, I think people would think,

no, Phil Robertson wouldn't, you know, I love when people tell me what Phil Robertson never do that. I'm like, I don't know. Willie, do you or? I live with him for 50 years. Do you remember the night he catches a ball on the center field wall

and turned around? It was the only time I've ever seen this in a game and we're in a wreck game. He threw that ball. And literally the, the whole, stadium and everybody who was just on looking stopped because the throw was so amazing it didn't look human because you forget the guy had an NFL quarterback arm it was on a line it was like what and it literally sailed over the third baseman's head and just kept going

into the other field but everybody was like what in the world was that yeah and also I want to because people don't know this, and y'all may have even forgot. I think I'm the only guy that ever played golf with Phil. Yeah. But nine holes in Minnesota? No, we played 18 holes. 18, okay.

18. And Phil never said, so when I hit that first bow, he went, whoa, Will, you can hit that thing. So Phil, and he was not good. I mean, he made contact, but he would hit it kind of down in the middle, but he didn't swing real hard or anything.

So we get to the turn. He goes, Will, won't you go get me a set of left-handed clubs? I said, okay. I said, so we got him a set of left. He played the front-nine right-handed, the back-nine left-handed. Wow.

And hit it equally the same, which I can't do. I can't hit him all right-ta-dove. But I actually played golf with Phil, because we were in Wisconsin or Minnesota, and we were in between shows, and I said, Phil, I'm going to play golf, so just, you know, chill out here at the hotel.

And I knew he sat up on, I bet he said, well, what you get me set of golf club? I'm going to play some golf. And I was like, oh my gosh, Phil Robertson. So at that point, he was probably 60. Yeah, like 50s or 60. That's funny. Well, we're out of time.

Man, we could probably tell Dad's stories all day. But we just wanted to honor him. I know you guys, I hear it all the time because I'm on the road so much and you say, I miss Phil, none more than we. And so that's why we keep doing what we're doing because we carry the legacy forward. So love you, Dad, and can't wait to, when we all get in that crossover stage to be there.

So thumbs up, there we go. See you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode. Thank you.