Danny Ricker
Appearances
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I really that helped me kind of think through what was going on. And and it made me laugh, too, when we go, OK, well, then I think we're doing our job if that's going on.
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Yeah. And, you know, I mean, we're under no illusions that it's like, you know, we're still just a comedy show. But, you know, I do feel like, you know, if we can make people feel seen, you know, like, you know, we always feel like if people watch our show and they go, yes, exactly like that. Maybe I didn't have that particular thought, but like you're so right in the way you're thinking of that.
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And I think one of the... One of the great things about Jimmy is he's just a, you know, even with all his success and everything, he's just a real kind of every man kind of regular guy. And I think that's how we try to approach even complicated stories, whether they be political or, you know, whatever it is.
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And, you know, we just try to point out like what seems weird about it or, you know, hypocritical or, you know, whatever it is. And, you know, we don't get too academic about it, you know, unless we need to. And we have that ability to do it if we need to. But I think like we just try to make everything digestible.
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And, you know, we know some people get their news from us, which we don't necessarily recommend, you know, but but not you should like, you know, you should read some like real newspapers and stuff.
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But, you know, I but I think if you are coming to us, we try to, you know, kind of explain what's going on and then also just kind of break it down in a way where you can, you know, understand it and then also hopefully find a little humor in it, whatever it may be.
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Yeah, yeah. I was a college intern there for like three months. And then right when I actually graduated college early, like I didn't pick up a minor so I could graduate early and go work at Jimmy Kimmel Live when I was 22 years old. Yeah. And and so, yeah, but this job exists there and it's we still have it to this day. I think we were kind of one of the first shows to really do it.
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But, you know, again, like when I started, I was watching, you know, I'd watch The View. I'd watch The Bachelor. I'd watch Tila Tequila had a dating show that I watch all those all those shows. And so, yeah, I would sit in this like disgusting little office with three other people. And that's crazy. We just watch TV.
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And it's funny because like it sounds like so chill, you know, like you're just sitting around. But it's like, you know, it's like a professional workplace we work in and you have to deliver clips every day and you got to get stuff on the show.
The Commercial Break
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So it was weirdly kind of like a sales job where it's like every day, you know, at like 11 o'clock, you'd show up and be like, OK, here's all the things I found. And hopefully Jimmy likes some of them and they get on the show. But.
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it was a really great like kind of entry-level creative job for me like i i knew i wanted to be a writer someday and so with this i got to kind of look for funny things i could go on the monologue um you know i would work with the writers at that time a bunch where they might have an idea for a bit that involved footage and i'd actually sit with one of them and find all the stuff so it was really good training for me and i kind of got to know the the writers you know through that too um
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Yeah, so I did it for two years. I think that my last day was the day Barack Obama got elected. So I had like a full like election cycle I did, which was crazy. But I think I'm really glad I had that job, too, because I think it made me a good like kind of mental editor. Like when I'm writing, I can go, oh, yeah, I sort of know like what's a reasonable piece of footage to ask someone for.
The Commercial Break
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you know, and how things will fit together. And, um, but yeah, no, that, that was a, that was a crazy job. Um, weirdly that the amount of time I did that for like 18 months, that time feels longer than the like 15 years I've been a writer. Somehow it was, it was just like a, it was so, it was like a clockwork orange.
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It is. And I'm very lucky that I work at a place with a group of people who promote from within and can foster people. And I mean, there's a lot of places you could work that would just kind of keep you where you're at. But
The Commercial Break
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You know, I, you know, I just when I was a TV watcher, I'd said to the head writer at the time, this guy, Steve O'Donnell, who's a late night legend, he was Letterman's head writer for many years. And he was our head writer at the time. And I just told him, you know, I went like, Hey, I'm like, interested in learning about writing. And he's like, great. And he, you know, gave me some great advice.
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And Then the two head writers who came in after him named Molly McNearney and Gary Greenberg, they hired me as a writer's assistant. And so they taught me so much. And now they're two of the other head writers at the show with me, which is like, that's a really special thing for me.
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So, but you know, again, at that time they could have just been like, all right, well, you're our assistant, you order the lunch and whatever. But they knew that on top of doing that stuff, I was also really interested in learning how to write. And so they taught me so much. And I, you know, for me, it's like, that was kind of like,
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my comedy writing like college or whatever, where it's like, Oh, I get to work with the writers and I can, you know, write some material and have professional writers like really look at it and give me notes. So I, I just, I feel I'm forever grateful that Jimmy and the team there were able to go, yeah. Hey, like we see that you have a goal and we're going to help you get there.
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My parents are wonderful and very supportive and always have been. So they were really excited for me. I mean, I was literally I mean, I got a psychology degree in college and I literally was like I was I was like wrapping that up so quickly so I could go watch Dr. Phil for a living, you know. Yeah. But they were excited. And, you know, we're from Southern California.
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You know, I've lived here my whole life. And so, you know, I... You know, Jimmy was on the radio out here. There was a morning duo called Kevin and Bean, legendary morning duo out here. And Jimmy was on their show. He was their sports guy. But, you know, he wrote a ton of their sketches and their Christmas albums. And so I... I had been a fan of Jimmy since I was like really young.
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And my parents knew that, too. And my parents were a fan of him, too, from being from Southern California. So like they just thought it was the coolest thing that Jimmy Kimmel had a late night show and I was going to go work on it. And so they've just been nothing but supportive. They're still like really, really big fans. And that's always been great for me.
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I have two kids. I have an 11-year-old and a 7-and-a-half-year-old.
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Thanks. You know, it actually, it was Jimmy's idea for me to write it, actually. Oh, no way. Yeah, yeah. So, like, we, at our show every day, you know, on top of all of our topical material, Jimmy, you know, for many years asked that we submit just one little observational, non-topical thought.
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And we didn't even really have like a set way we were going to use them, but he goes, I kind of like having these. And every once we'd have a bit where we need some observational humor, he's like, Oh, let's go back and look in that big document of observations. But so, you know, I was doing this for years and mostly, you know, I'd be sitting right here going like, okay, what, what do I observe?
The Commercial Break
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And I had two little kids. So like every day, my non-topical observation was something about my kids. Yeah. And, and, and he always really liked them. And eventually after doing this for years, he was like, we have no use for this on our show.
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Like, obviously like he's not going to do like material about my kids on our, you know, on our talk show or whatever, but he goes, you should try writing like a book. And I kind of, the initial thought was, you know, like a page a day kind of, you know, like one observation piece.
The Commercial Break
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per day kind of thing and um but then we went like well maybe i can also kind of make that a bigger thing i don't know so i just i printed all these things out and i laid them on the floor and i went like okay what's like my what's the general theme of these like 200 thoughts i i have here and i think the general theme yeah chaos yeah
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But I think what I realized was like, generally speaking, I'm a very practical person and parenting is the most impractical process like ever. And so I went, okay, like, so what, you know, if I'm going to write a book like about parenting, what is the idea? And, you know, kind of the structure I got to was I read a lot of self-help books. You know, that's mostly what I read. Join the club.
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And I feel like with every self-help book, it's like, okay, here's the problem that's ruining your life, and I'm going to solve it in three steps, basically. And then everything will be perfect for you.
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yeah exactly yeah that's the phase i'm in now but um but yeah so so then i went like okay so what's the problem i think i just realized i go yeah i am i'm no longer like a person i used i used to be a person and i had hobbies and friends i saw and all these things and now i'm just i'm like my kids service animal basically and and so kind of the faux premise of my faux self-help book is how to parent less and then kind of get your your life back so you can go back to living your life
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And, you know, again, it's a comedy book. It's a collection of comedy essays. But I will say, as I as I've read through it again, as now that it's like printed up in a real book, I go, you know, not everything is bullshit in here. There are kind of like some decent ideas and they're all based on real things I've observed as a parent. So, you know, generally speaking, the book is humor.
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But my hope is that parents will read it and feel seen a little bit and go, oh, yeah, actually, I go through this on a daily basis, too. And, you know.
The Commercial Break
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Yes. I, I'm by my nature, I'm also a very organized person and you know, it's, it's hard for me just to like let things go sometimes. But you know, I, I do enjoy it too. I enjoy being a parent. And that was one thing when I started writing the book, I was like, I don't want this to be like a anti-kid book. I actually like really enjoy being a dad. It's just that like I'm, I'm
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at constant odds with like, okay, like, am I going to engage in this ridiculous thing I'm being sucked into here? Or am I just going to like exercise a little just stoicism and, you know, put something at arm's length? And, you know, really what I'm trying to look for in the book is like corners you can cut that won't affect your kids negatively, right?
The Commercial Break
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You know, it's like sometimes like you really – You do things because, like you said, you feel like you're supposed to like, you know, you're like, oh, you know, you're supposed to sew your kids Halloween costume by hand. It's like, like, what? Why? Like, are you you're not being graded or whatever. And it's like, you know what? Twelve dollars on Amazon.
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So I, you know, it was trying to like take the self-imposed ridiculousness that I feel like we're doing either for show for other parents or, you know, generationally, we feel like we're supposed to do, or our kids will grow up to be serial killers, you know, if we don't do X, Y, and Z. And, you know, I, I think ultimately they don't need much other than just like, you know, they need to know you love them and you got to take them to get ice cream every once in a while.
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those covers a little bit and i think that's good i think it's a good thing thank you yeah you know like i you know i never remember a time where like my dad like sat on the floor and like played with me for two hours and i will say neither and i will say i my i have a fantastic father i love my dad so much and it was but it was just a just a difference in generational stuff and so you know i and i don't
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I think it's good that we sit and play with our kids now, too. But I think we can go a little too far sometimes, too, because we just we feel like we've been, you know, nowadays it's like, well, the kids in charge and whatever the kid says they need, you can give them. And so, you know, I think like with all things, it's balanced. And I don't know if you guys have read The Anxious Generation.
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I have. That book kind of hit me like a ton of bricks, too. And I think a lot of people would say maybe he recommends things that are too far. But I think there were so many things in there that kind of speak to this, too, where it's like, yeah, kids can have a little independence. One of the metaphors he talks about in that book I love is there's these trees in Hawaii. And they're so strong.
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And it's because they're blown by wind constantly. And that makes them strong. And then they're kind of indestructible. And I do think that is a good metaphor for kids. And there are safe ways in which you can give them a little independence. And my 11-year-old, in the last six months, we were at the grocery store, the Ralph's we go to every week. And I had a little list, and I tore it in half.
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And I go, you're going to get this half of the list, and I'm going to get this half of the list. And she looked at me like I was...
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insane she's like what like what do you mean and i and i'm thinking like yeah and really all she's got to do is go over like three aisles and grab some bananas or whatever and she did that and she came back to me and she just had the biggest smile on her face and she just like couldn't believe she had done it and it was such a simple thing um but i do think that's important and you know obviously you got to weigh a lot of factors in that not everyone's comfortable with that and and you know no shame if people aren't but i you know i do think we i
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Social media, I think, and the internet, we see so much now of how much people parent and how much everyone can comment on how you're parenting and all these things that I do think you can kind of make some personal choices to dial some things back in the appropriate way and give your kids a little independence, you know?
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I think it's a good reminder. It is. You know, it's funny. When I went to college, I remember my first week I lived in a dorm and all my clothes were dirty. And I went, oh, I don't know how to do laundry. And the reason I didn't is because my mom loves me and, you know, was trying to help me out in high school and all these things.
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But I just went, oh, and I remember in my dorm popping the lid of the washing machine open and reading the instructions on the bottom of the lid. Who Who has ever done that? But you know, besides like me and I was like, Oh, okay. I need like detergent. I had no idea. And that just came from my mom, like wanting to take care of me, like out of the kindness of her heart.
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But I've remembered that stuff and I've gone like, okay, so now like my 11 year old, like knows how to use the washing machine. And like, if she gets to like Monday morning and she's going to school and she goes, oh, none of my pants are clean. I go, well, I guess you should have done your laundry this weekend. And that happened like one time and like now she's on top of it, you know?
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And so I think it's more of like a mindset, you know? It's like we, there's these dramatic examples of like, yeah, I sent my toddler, you know, into the gas station by herself or whatever. But then there's two just going like, yeah, you can like take care of yourself. Like you can make yourself a bowl of cereal if I'm not awake yet and you're hungry and all these things.
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And I think it's like, you can start small and once they start to get those feelings of confidence and independence, it's infectious for them, I think. And now my daughter, she'll ask for a little too much. She'll be like, can I... And we'll go, maybe when you're a little bit older and whatever, but... Hey, dad, can I buy a pack of cigarettes?
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Yeah. You have to start early with that one. You know, it's like once, once the cat's out of the bag, you can't put it back in. But yeah, I, it just occurred to me like, yeah, like I'm always listening to like, you know, like punk music in the car or whatever. And, and the first time the kids were like, yeah, can we put on, um, you know, Encanto, I'd be like, ah,
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I just, it doesn't play in the car, you know, like kid, kid music, just, it doesn't, it's not wired to play, you know, kid music in the car and they go, all right. You know, like they don't, they don't know how stuff works and they can't Google shit. So like, you're kind of the, you know, you're their de facto expert on everything.
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On this episode of The Commercial Break... there's these dramatic examples of like, yeah, I sent my toddler, you know, into the gas station by herself or whatever. But then there's two just going like, yeah, you can like take care of yourself. Like you can, you can make yourself a bowl of cereal if I'm not awake yet and you're hungry and all these things.
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And I, I think it's totally fine to lie to kids and you know, like they, I feel like they lie to us about everything and I feel like it's okay to Just to wedge a couple in. A little white lie.
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You know what? I think I'm totally fine doing that. I mean, I have a whole chapter in the book where I recommend we just get rid of all of them, not because we're lying to the kids, but just because they're a huge pain in the ass for parents. But I do feel like you can... It's kind of the first time they get to solve a mystery, because I think rarely is a kid told about those and they go...
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what you know and it's like the end of the sixth sense like i feel like they they kind of know you know like yeah even my my son right now is he keeps going things like well uh you know the easter bunny if he's real will bring me whatever i go all right the fact that you're saying that is like you you know and they've put the pieces together and like we you know we're not particularly good at like hiding the you know the the evidence yeah yeah my i remember like i think three easters ago
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Because, you know, you want to like... ideally all the eggs are in the backyard or whatever before the kids wake up, but kids wake up at like five 30 in the morning. So, so you're like, all right, what am I supposed to do this to wake up at four? And then I'm like, we could do it at night, but we have, you know, we've like raccoons and stuff in our backyard. And so I'm like, they're going to eat.
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So, so I remember what the kids woke up and they looked in the backyard and they go like, Oh, the Easter money didn't come. And I had to go, I go, he hasn't come yet. You know, he's got to go to all the houses. So he just hasn't, you know, he's like the Amazon guy. He's got to, you know, he's going to make his way here, you know?
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Yeah. And so, you know, it's like kids aren't stupid. You know, they put that together eventually.
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Yeah, I know. The keeping up of the backstories is a lot for us. And one thing that I think when my daughter figured out Santa Claus, I think kind of the best thing you can do when they figure out is go, okay, you You got me. But now you get to kind of be part of like the Illuminati who knows about this. Right.
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You know, and so because then you don't want them to go to school and go, hey, dude, guess what I found out. So you're like, hey, so you're kind of part of the like Santa crew now or you're part, you know, whatever.
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And then you can this makes people happy and you can help, you know, keep the myth going. And so then they feel like they've got a secret, which kids love, you know. When did she discover?
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Well, it was a little dramatic with my daughter because she's like a trial lawyer and always has been. So when she was, I think, like five years old, she really wanted this gift for Christmas. That was ridiculous, right? And so it's a big plastic horse. And from like the second Frozen movie, it's like an ice horse, right? And this thing was like $150 and does nothing.
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It's just a big fucking piece of plastic. And so she's asking for it. And my wife and I are going like, are we going to buy this thing? Like, we do not want to buy this thing. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. And the place we were living at the time was like small. I go, this is going to take up like 2% of our total square footage in our house. This stupid horse, right? Yeah.
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So she's asking for it, asking for it. My wife and I are like, we're not going to buy this. But we're like, we're going to get her a bike, right? Bike. Great classic Christmas gift.
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So then Christmas morning comes, and there's no plastic horse, and there is a bike. And all the gifts are open, and my daughter's face just goes blank. And she goes... I know you're Santa. And we're like, whoa. And she would put it all together, and she's like, you didn't get me the water knock. You got me the bike because the bike is cheaper. I mean, she had us dead to rights.
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We're like, oh, boy. So she had figured it out. So then we start going like, do we rush out and get, I mean, it's, it's like Christmas morning is, is Walmart open? Like, can we go get this thing? And so we eventually, so we, we didn't get it for her. And then, but she entered, she had some money, like she had saved up from birthdays and stuff and she bought it.
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Uh, and it's still in our house to this day. Um, she never, I mean, you know, now she's like 11, like she doesn't need a big horse, but she is like, she's very stubborn. She's digging her heels in. She goes, I love that thing. I go, Oh, do you, do you really love it? Or are you just driving me insane?
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I'd say my daughter has started the cell phone conversation.
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We'll make that decision. I mean, look, there's definitely some good uses for it. We have... You know, my wife, like, got a new iPhone. But we kept her old one. So there's no cell service. But if they're on Wi-Fi, you know, they can use it. And so, you know, we've had some good stuff.
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Like, if they're staying with their grandparents and we're like, hey, you could, like, you could text us or you could FaceTime. Like, that's great. But so, like, that old iPhone we say is, like, the family, like, phone or whatever. And my daughter, well, she'll go, like, she'll be like, oh, have you seen my phone? I go, you don't have a phone.
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You know, like, anytime she tries to claim it, I go, it's not yours. She goes, yes, it is. Like, no, it's not. But we didn't have an iPad forever, and we just got an iPad. And before we slid it across the table, we go like, you guys can have this if you agree to the following terms. There are no games on this.
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This is for like, if we're going on a flight, you can watch Netflix on it, or you can FaceTime your friends, and that's it. So I think as long as you're really paying attention, I think that stuff is fine. But again, that book, Anxious Generation, really lays out some like...
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crazy data and how damaging it can be to kids and you know i mean you know our daughter's 11 she feels young right now but i know she's going to middle school next year i know that's gonna like speed up real quick and so as long as we can we're just trying to keep them uh off the internet
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Yeah, I mean, I'm terrible with it. I mean, like, I have a really hard time. I go, and I'm like a 40-year-old man. I go, you know, these kids, like, have no self-control. They're just, they're so young, you know? So it does, it feels like a drug. I mean, it's like giving them cigarettes or something, you know, where you just need to be like, okay, like, I mean, it's like dangerous, you know?
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So I totally agree. And I think like, and again, you know, no judgment on anybody. It's like, whatever you gotta do, you gotta do. But I think-
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Similarly to the car radio thing, it's like if you can not let the cat out of the bag and make these devices as like – I mean even for me, I have to like – I've taken Twitter like off my phone because I was just like I can't – like if I'm filling up a glass of water at my fridge, the 10 seconds that takes, I'm reaching for my phone to check Twitter. I go – I hate that.
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It's like just that monkey brain thing and I'm – I'm having a hard time breaking myself of it. I can't imagine how difficult it would be for a kid. So, yeah.
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You know, it's funny. My intention was not to have good advice in the book. I'm like, oh, I'm going to write a comedy book. But I do feel like... Like you mentioned the purgatory cabinet. I was like, that's a real thing I do. And I actually do think it's a good idea, you know, even though I wrote it for humor. So yeah, I think I accidentally put some good advice in the book. I think it's great.
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You know what? We don't ask that of our guests. You can say whatever the fuck you want.
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We have to bleep it out, but yeah, Jimmy is always – I think because he is – you know, he's kind of a traditional broadcaster. He often does not swear on the show. It's very rare. Um, he does like, I, we have tons of swearing in our like comedy bits and, you know, he's, he's not opposed to it, but I think he feels like as like the host, he's supposed to like the host of a party.
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And I think it's like, you can start small and once they start to get those feelings of confidence and independence, it's infectious for them, I think. And And now, now my daughter, she'll ask for like a little too much, you know, she'll be like, you know, like she'll, and we'll go, eh, maybe when you're a little bit older and you know, whatever, but Hey dad, can I buy a pack of cigarettes?
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Exactly. The next episode of the commercial break starts now.
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Thanks for having me, guys. This is an honor to be on, so thank you.
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Yeah, it's a lot. We have a great team at our show. I mean, from the writers to our producers to our props department. I mean, everybody is really, really good at their job, which makes it a lot of fun. So, Uh, it is chaotic. It's crazy. It's weird. So, you know, we started about 6 AM and we're doing a show at 4 30 and we don't know what's going to be in the show that night.
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But, uh, because we have such a great group of people, it gets done every day, uh, by hook or by crook.
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
say in what goes on the show he does he he's very you know i'm i'm one of the head writers i'm one of four head writers at our show but jimmy is really our showrunner and he's the final say on everything and um he's you know he does a ton of writing he does a ton of producing we i i often say for his own good i think he's probably a little too involved just because he is i mean he'll he's up all night going through scripts and stuff but um i think that's what makes the product uh good to have a host that cares that much but but yes he's he's always the final say
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, part of my job is one of the, you know, one of the heads of the writing department is to sort of have like a little mix of everything, right? Like sometimes we have that great idea that can only go that day. It's based on kind of the big story of the day. We love to have one of those.
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
And then if the news is such where we're like, yeah, to me today wasn't one of those days where there's like the, you know, the Pete Hegseth like signal story. We didn't have like, you know, like we have a couple of good things we're going to cover. So I always try to plan and have like a couple of things in our whole, so it'd be like, Oh, you know what?
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
We shot that bit last week, but that'll work tonight. And then we have some stuff that's not remotely related to the news that we can always mix in. So we always kind of feel like we're, you know, we're kind of putting the menu together for Jimmy every day. And we'd be like, yeah,
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
All right, here's all here's all the items and you can kind of pick and then he kind of sees how he feels that day and what's going on and he assembles what feels like the best collection of stuff. So we have another head writer named Josh who sits with him all day and looks at all that stuff and pieces it all together. So we just try to prepare for all possible scenarios.
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
Yeah, you know, there's not as much thought into it as you might think, you know, like I, someone asked me the other day, you know, they went like, you know, well, when did you all decide to get political? And I was like, you know, we didn't have like a meeting where we all sat down and went, okay.
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
now our show is political i we feel like our goal every day is to get up and look at what's happening and decide how we feel about it and then talk about it and you know for many years like when i started as a writer um you know every day like our main story was like who got voted off american idol and and that's not because we were particularly interested in american idol but it's like that's what our country was talking about i mean that was exactly
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
I mean, literally like that season, Sanjaya was on American Idol, whatever year that was. Like CNN would cover that. Like a story on CNN was Sanjaya didn't get eliminated from American Idol.
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
So we try to be a mirror to what's going on. Jimmy always says, I want to talk about what people are talking about. And so I think over the course of the last 10, 15 years, our country has started talking about different things and we've just kind of gone along with it.
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
So I feel like just the very small cog that I am in this process, I just look at what's going on and I go, what is my reaction to that? Do I feel that's hypocritical? Do I feel like that's a Good idea. Good thing. You know, and then I just try to word that as humorously as I can. And sometimes the news is sad and we still got to do a show that night.
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TCB Infomercial: Danny Ricker
And so we try to find our little angle that maybe we can add a little levity to it and help other people digest it, too. And so one of the biggest compliments we can get is. You know, we do a monologue on a kind of a big news day, even if it's something that's kind of serious. And people will text me the next day and go, you know what?