Will Cain Country - A Happy Thanksgiving From The FOX & Friends Family

Episode Date: November 22, 2023

Will shares favorite Thanksgiving traditions from his FOX & Friends Co-Hosts. With input from Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, Carly Shimkus, Pete Hegseth, and Rachel Campos-Duffy, you get an inside look at FOX hosts’ favorite Thanksgiving meals, traditions, conversation topics, and football games, as well as what everyone is most thankful for.   Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail]   Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for five bucks plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. Happy Thanksgiving from your family. at Fox in France. It's the Will Kane podcast on Fox News podcast. What's up? And welcome to Thanksgiving. As always, I hope you will download, rate, and review this podcast wherever you get your audio entertainment at Apple, Spotify, or at Fox News podcast. And you can watch the Will Kane

podcast on Rumble or on YouTube. Follow me on X at Will Kane. It is, in my estimation, the best holiday of the year. It is Thanksgiving. Today is Wednesday. Today is Wednesday. Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve. As I recently learned, I guess in some quarters of this country, it's called Blackout Wednesday. Because this is when the holiday weekend begins. On Wednesday night, when you were in college, you returned home and saw all your old high school buddies and you all went out to a bar and made sure that whatever you ate on Thursday was designed to best soak up a hangover. You make light of the alcohol, but what it is is a chance to reunite. and Wednesday is for reuniting with old friends, where Thursday is for reuniting with family.

It's the best holiday. No gift pressure just about community, family, being together, hanging out with no time pressure, all day long, watching football, lazily eating, having good, hopefully somewhat dramatic conversations, and dragging it into Friday. It's like. It's like day drinking, but for three days. It's like a guy weekend, but for families. It's the best, and it is really only rivaled by the 4th of July.

Those are the two best holidays of the year. So what I thought I would do as you're in your car, driving to Grandma's house, driving to the in-laws, wherever it is, you might be traveling around this holiday extended weekend. I thought I would bring in some of my family at work. I thought I'd bring in Fox and Friends. and I'd ask them a series of questions. What's your favorite topic at the Thanksgiving table for conversation? What's your favorite side dish?

What's your favorite football game? What are you most thankful for? And what is it that makes you or your family unique on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday of Thanksgiving? What is it that you do? So here today, via text, is many of my friends from Fox and Friends, We will hear today from Brian Kilmead, Steve Ducey, Rachel Campos Duffy, Carly Shimkus, and, of course, Pete Heggseth, and how they and I answer those questions for Thanksgiving. Here we go.

What is the best conversation topic at the table? Brian Kilmead says he likes to catch up with all of his relatives and his family members' lives. I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy the Kilmead family Thanksgiving. That barely rises above small talk. No disrespect to Brian, but I am not a food connoisseur. I'm a conversational connoisseur. And if you don't have some top five lists and if you don't rank like your family members and how well they're doing with their life, then it's nearly not going to get interesting.

I need drama. I want to air out the laundry. I want to hear who you have problems with. Like Costanza in Seinfeld, I want an airing of the grievances. And I think Thanksgiving is that holiday where you have the airing of the grievances. We've got to put a frame on the conversation, not just, hey, what do you have been up to, Billy? It's, hey, Billy, why don't you have your life together? Now we're getting real, like in Jerry McGuire.

Just when you think it's falling apart, now I think we're getting somewhere. So, no disrespect, kill me, but you've got to kind of bring it to the Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving table. Steve Ducey says catching up or talking about the new grandkids. I get that. That's the phase of life that Ducey is in. His daughters, his son are beginning to have kids. So their family is expanding as we speak. Rachel Campos Duffy said, of course, saving America. Rick Reichmuth told me it is, what have you learned this year? That's kind of interesting. What if everybody had to go around the table and say, what have you learned this year? One thing.

That would be interesting. Some people would be overtly political. Some people would be, I don't know, bring up artificial intelligence. Maybe somebody would bring up a new skill or a new power tool they learned how to use. I like that from Reichmuth. Carly Shimkus said it's not so much a conversational topic. It's just a mood. It's a mood around Thanksgiving where she said everyone is happy and hanging out.

chit-chat about the food or a movie or catching up with a cousin you haven't seen in a while. That's what I like best. I agree. It's the best holiday mood. And Hegg-Seth said, of course, politics. Can you just imagine? Is that what happens at the Hegg-Seth table? Like, hey, what do we think of Joe Biden?

What do we think of Donald Trump? I actually do not enjoy that. I do not want that. I don't hate it. It's just I don't, I don't know, maybe because I'd do it. for work. I don't know. I'm sure we will do it. We're going to do it at the cane Thanksgiving, but I hope it doesn't. I don't want it to be 51% of the conversation. What's your favorite side dish in reverse order? Pete Hegseth says stuffing. Now, Hegseth, now a Tennessean, is from

Minnesota. And I want to talk about this designation. Stuffing versus dressing. Now, people use these interchangeably, and I can't say whether or not Hegseth is using them interchangeably or if he's being specific. But I don't want anything to do with stuffing. Like, I don't want the stuff that is actually stuffed into the bird and cooked with the turkey. Oh, you get all the meat, all the juices. Keep your juices. I don't want your juices. On that note, we need to also address that turkey in of itself isn't as though these are great juices that we need to savor and make sure we get our full, you know, nine yards out of. Don't waste any of the delicious turkey. Look, turkey is pedestrian. Turkey is okay. I don't care if you fry it or you wrap it in

bacon. It's turkey. It's not bad. It's like a pancake or a french fry. What I mean by that is I love having this debate. My sons and I've all had them at breakfast when we can all go to breakfast together. Like how do you rank onion rings, french fries, and tater tots? Well, I'll tell you, there's two notes to take from that, the particular debate. Onion rings have great variance. A great onion ring is far and away number one, but a bad onion ring with the batter falling off and all you're left with is like a floppy onion in between your fingers

is easily last. So the onion ring can be number one or number three. But the french fry is always going to just be consistent. Not great, not terrible. I mean, trust me, I like a french fry. But the best french fry just doesn't beat the best onion ring. And honestly, I'm just a big tater-top fan, so that's one, two, three. Onion rings, tater-tots, then french fry.

And I think it's the same thing with pancakes. French toast, pancakes, and waffles. French toast has great variance. The best French toast will always come in at number one. And the worst French toast will be a far last place third. Where a waffle is a pretty solid, consistent number two, and a pancake just doesn't have much variance. It's not bad. It's just like, it's a pancake.

By the way, I don't want a fluffy pancake. I want a mealy, like, cowboy-style pancake. You ever had those, you know, like out of an iron skillet? And it's just like you almost cakey and you need to really work your fork through it with some peanut butter on top and syrup. But what are you going to do with a turkey? Turkey's fine. I don't need to savor it.

I don't want stuffing. I want some dressing. Stovetop. I want some good dressing. Carly Shimkus says mashed potatoes. Nobody ever turns down mashed potatoes. On that same note, what I would say is, I don't want my mashed potatoes overwipped. I don't want them to come out like, you know, cool whip. I want them lumpy. I want butter in there, and I want to get little chunks of potato in the mashed potatoes. Rick Reichmeath says,

broccoli, rice, cheddar casserole. He's brought it on set to Fox and Friends in the past. and it is very solid. Rachel Campo Stuffy, if she were here, would say, Pete, you and I share our mind, share a brain, because she also said stuffing. Steve Deucey said green bean casserole with French fried onion topping.

Yeah, that's good, I guess, you know, as far as a green bean goes. So many casseroles. Like, if you're going to go down the casserole route, I think corn, a better, you know, like corn pudding, anything with corn bread in it. I think the sweet potato is a great vegetable to build around, you know, as a building block, as the foundation of your house, you're off to a good start if you've laid down a foundation of sweet potato. You can layer

on top of that some extravagance like marshmallows or brown sugar and basically turn it into a dessert item. I just, if I'm ranking my vegetable bases, I don't think the green bean ranks high. In fact, I would rank Rick's broccoli base above the green bean base. And Brian Kilmead says, as his favorite side dish, creamed onions. Never heard of it. Sounds horrific. Can't even picture it. A cream onion. So is that raw onion? Like, they're not brown. They're not brown. breaded, they're not fried onions, right? Not like an onion ring. I mean, if it was like an onion ring submerged in queso, that's kind of a creamed onion, and that sounds amazing. But my suspicion is Long Islander Brian Kilmead is like got some limp onions floating around

in some cream of mushroom soup. That's what I'm picturing. Pass. Pass. Kilmead? What's the best football game of the day? Killmead says the Lions game. He's a New York Giants fan and they are led by former New York Giants tied in in Texas, St. and Maggie, Dan Campbell. And this is the first year where that is probably the answer. You know, Lions Packers. That is a great Thanksgiving game and the Lions are eight and two. So this is the first year, I think, think you could ever say with a serious face over the Cowboys, the Lions. Steve Ducey says the Chiefs, I think he's just telling us that he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan, because I don't think they have any particular claim or tradition or history on Thanksgiving.

Rachel Campos Duffy says whichever game, the halftime show is Dolly Parton, which is the Dallas Cowboys against the Washington commanders. Dolly is interesting. You know, first of all, I would challenge you out. there. Everybody, I love Dolly. Everybody loves Dolly. Could you name three Dolly Parton songs? Everybody is going to get nine to five. I think many people will get Jolene, which is actually on its own a top country music song. Incredible. And I love Dolly. I do. But can you go deep into the Dolly library. My point is, I think Dolly has arrived at a place with pop culture acceptance

that it's just something you say, love Dolly Parton. But you don't actually love Dolly Parton. It's probably because she has some nostalgia from 9 to 5 and her cartoonish kind of look in the 1970s and 80s. And then she has aged very well and been like an authentic real figure that people connect to. I mean, hell, I think like, you know, NPR did a podcast documentary series on Dolly Parton. That's my point. You know, she has arrived at some level of acceptance beyond the world of country that surpasses even Willie Nelson. He doesn't have that level of mainstream love is somehow, and I don't even know how, has now been awarded to Dolly Parton. But Jolene.

Jolene. Rick Reichmews says Packers Lions. I think he gets it. Rick Reichmuth. Carly says, no idea. Okay. And Pete Hex says, whichever game is right after you eat. And for anyone not invest in the outcome of the games that day,

That's probably the right answer. You retire to the couch and you watch whatever is right there before you fall asleep. Of course, my family and I will be incredibly invested in Cowboys Commanders. And this, like Packers Lions, despite the commanders not being very good and the actual football, probably not being as important, is a good Thanksgiving matchup. It just feels right for the season. You know, the blue and silver of the cowboys, the maroon and gold of the commanders. It just is a perfect contrast, as is the historic rivalry, as is the nickname and mascot of those two teams historically. Cowboys and Redskins, Cowboys and Indians, on Thanksgiving.

It doesn't get more perfect. It's only ruined by the modern day necessity to water down everything into optimal acceptance. And minimum offense, commanders. Designed to appeal, nor offend, no one. Appeal to no one, offend no one. Tennessee Titans, appeal to no one, offend no one. Cleveland Guardians, appeal to no one, offend no one. I want love, I want hate.

I want cowboys and redskins. What are you most thankful for? Pete Hickseth says God's mercy. Amen. Carly Shimka says being a mom. Carly had a baby this year. She's had her first. It is interesting to know on a serious note how transformative that is in not just a man's life,

a family's life, but in particular a woman's life. I think it truly is. I think we have research on. It changes how you vote. It changes how you see the world. I mean, it is dramatic. And I think it's the same for dads and fathers and should be, but even more so, I think, for moms. And I totally get it.

How grateful to be a mom for Carly Shimkus. Rick Reichmew says, grateful to be alive, grateful to continue to be challenged, grateful to continue growing, grateful to continue learning. I love all of that. Rachel Campos Duffy says she's grateful for faith and family. Steve Ducey says he's grateful for health and family. And Brian Kilmead says he's grateful for family. family, health, and being a New York Times bestseller with Teddy and Booker Tee. But I do love the, I think it's authentic, thematic continuum, repetition, health, faith, family.

For everything else we put into this world, ambition, material gain, even political opinion, It all comes back down to those basics. Faith, family, health. What do you do that's unique on this holiday? Brian Kilmey said, well, I volunteered to leave early on Thanksgiving because I volunteered to work early on Friday. No one works harder at Fox News than Brian Kilmeet.

So he will be hosting Fox and Friends on Friday and his show One Nation with Brian Kilmead on Saturday. and he does have a new best seller out. Teddy and Booker T, two iconic figures that help pave the road to American race relations. On Monday's episode of this podcast, the Will Cain podcast, we will have a deep conversation with Brian Kilmead about his new New York Times selling book. We'll be right back with more of the Will Cain podcast. Why just survive back to school when you can thrive by creating a space that does it all for you, no matter the size. Whether you're taking over your parents' basement or moving to campus,

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Steve Ducey says they wrap their turkey in bacon. That's what they uniquely do on Thanksgiving. God bless, Steve, good luck. Why don't you just go ahead and have some bacon? That turkey, it's going to have diminishing returns. There's a ceiling on what you can do with the turkey. But, I mean, if you're down the right path wrapping in bacon, now I'm happy to try.

turkey wrap, bacon wrap turkey. Rachel Campos Duffy says she has a tradition of dressing up her children as pilgrims and Indians. She said, I know it's not politically correct, but I don't care. I think it's wonderful. We used to do it in school. Why is it wrong now? Give me your cultural appropriation. It's an honorific.

I am tired of this American movement to erase Native Americans. And that's what you're doing. You're erasing them. and they are essential to the history and story of America. I don't want to hear teams dropping away the nickname Redskins. And, by the way, there are Native American tribes pushing to bring back that as the nickname of the Washington football team. I don't want to see high schools, you know, doing away with Indians like the Cleveland Indians. It's not an insult.

Even if it's a caricature, it's not an insult. It's heritage. It's an honorific. I don't there's not even a good argument I don't care about you want to do the you know whatever the Florida Caucasians fine I don't care no that's a that's a privilege of being a majority get out of here man there's a reason the Redskins were the most popular team on American Indian reservations it's part of our history quit a racing Indians Rick Reich Smith says it's the only holiday what he thinks is unique or crazy about this is opened up To anyone who needs a home, totally agree. By the way, my sister will want us all to watch planes, trains, and automobiles. John Candy, Steve Martin. It's a great movie for this holiday on that sentiment.

Carly Schimkin says her family, every Thanksgiving, plays the spoon game, you know, where you put a spoon on your nose and see you can hold it there the longest. Well, Carly, let me help you out because my family's big on parlor games, and we can do better. Okay, we can do better. I mean, we've had the family fights, meaning almost erupted into fist fights over games. So you know we're on the right track.

You know, we're competitive and living on the edge of drama, and that's really the way it should be. We play a game called Families, where you write down on a piece of paper. You get a category. Everybody in the room can play, so you can have like 20, 25 people playing. And say the category is candy or cars.

You have a piece of paper, and you write down something from that category, M&Ms. or Ford Bronco. And everybody does that, and then you fold it up, and it goes into a hat. And then a moderator reads all of them out twice. And everybody has to remember. That's part of the game.

You've got to remember. So if you do have 20, that's a lot to remember. 10 might be a good number. Remember all of the entries. And then you've got to guess who wrote what down. So you don't just want to put down your favorite, right? you know you you want to put something people might not associate with you so i might put down you know Subaru outback as my car that's is that going to be will or um you know baby ruth

because who wants chocolate and coconut not this guy so you'll put down something that doesn't necessarily immediately link itself to you because you don't want to have yours guest and once somebody guesses yours and gets it correctly, you join their family and you want to grow until you're the one remaining family. And you have to remember everything as well. But again, that we play every year, and I've told you about this that I love, is called Mafia. There are other versions of it called Wolf Hunter, I believe. And this is where you get a deck of cards. You definitely can play with 20 people. And you deal out the cards, but it's only to assign roles. And there's only three roles. There is, you are a member, or four roles. You're a member of the

mafia, you're the doctor, you're the sheriff, or you're a townsperson. And the goal of the game is for everyone to out the mafia before the mafia kills everybody in the town. So the way it works is once you've seen your car and you're assigned your role, you close your eyes and the moderator says, mafia, wake up, and mafia, who do you want to kill in town? And they'll pick somebody and that person is out of the game when you wake up. They've been killed. But then before everybody he wakes up, he'll ask the doctor to wake up and the doctor can save someone. Of course, he doesn't know who was killed, so he's trying to save people randomly and it often devolves into the doctor saving themselves. And then the sheriff wakes up and they can pick people around

the room and say, is that person mafia? It's all done silently with the moderator. A lot of hand-waving and gestures and mouthing of words. Is that person mafia? And the moderator tells the truth, yes or no. So the sheriff is collecting information as you go, but the sheriff doesn't want to out himself too quickly. So then we all join together. and have a big debate. Who do you think is mafia? And we have debates, and mafia pretends they're not. It's a game of lying and persuasion and heightened emotions.

I'm not mafia. Why do you think I'm mafia? Because that's the next thing. The townspeople vote to kill off someone assuming their mafia, but they don't know. They've only managed to get a majority of the room to agree with them or not. And if they're wrong and they've killed a fellow townsperson, they've continued to reduce the pool of people, the mafia has to kill for the mafia to win the game. And it is, I'm telling you, so much fun.

Pretending, debating. Of course, I get super into it. And some people don't like confrontation. That's become clear to me over Thanksgiving, over many years playing this game. But I like it. I like that heated debate moment. I like trying to pull one over on them when I am the mafia.

You should try it. If you need more, a better explanation of the rules, look it up online. It's a lot of fun. That's what we play. So, Carly, I've got some suggestions there for you. I can ramp up the competitive juices from the spoon game. And then the Heggsath family's unique crazy thing they do on Thanksgiving is even maybe, I guess, more competitive or could be, in theory, and more physical, is they have a all-family football game and all-family turkey bowl.

Like right out of wedding crashers, right there in the yard. There is some of the answers and some of the traditions from your first. Friends at Fox and Friends on this holiday Thanksgiving weekend. I would love to know yours. Send me an email, Wilcane Podcast at Fox.com, particularly what is unique or crazy or fun that your family does, maybe a game, maybe a parlor game of your own. So I love some new ideas. Wilcane Podcast at Fox.com. I mean this also. I am grateful. I mean this. If any of you ever met me, you know, I mean this, it's the most flattering thing in the world when I hear, hey, I listen to the show. I watch the show.

And so I want you to know, I am grateful for you. Happy Thanksgiving. Listen ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. And Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free on the Amazon Music Act. This is Jimmy Fala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding.

It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast. podcast at fox acrossamerica.com.