Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast.
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I found encouraging and somewhat hopeful that even though our country is divided in ways that feel just more turbulent than much of anything that I can remember in my lifetime, that what happened with Jimmy Kimmel seemed to land on a core principle for Americans that didn't exactly create as much debate as it did outrage.
And given how skewed things politically are, I was encouraged, because there are all manner of horrors happening all over the globe, that many Americans were indignant As Americans, that that would happen to Jimmy Kimmel and that somebody wouldn't stand up to power when faced with something that didn't feel like it had a lot of precedent. So late night television last night did a good job.
Jon Stewart and Colbert. Jimmy Fallon can't keep up in this space. He's not as good at these things as some of the others are, but part of the reasons Late Night, beyond the ratings, is under duress is because largely Late Night has run left and run liberal and we've always accepted
that comedians, even though the one you liked, like Johnny Carson, who was benign and you allowed in your living room, or Jay Leno, make fun of power. That's a thing in this country that people care about. So David Letterman is, to me, the godfather of all of this stuff. I liked him a lot more than Johnny Carson because he was different than Johnny Carson.
And he's the first person I ever saw on television criticize his employer and have the power to criticize his employer on the platform that the employer gave him. So I loved what David Letterman introduced me to when I was in college and I was watching late at night something that felt forbidden. I couldn't believe what it is that I was seeing.
So Letterman was asked about what happened here with Jimmy Kimmel when he was on a panel and he had a couple of things to say about it. And keep in mind, a lot of people are still running scared. They don't know what to say because when you see that happen to Jimmy Kimmel, you no longer know where the lines are.
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Chapter 2: What happened with Jimmy Kimmel's show cancellation?
and this was all on the up and up and they decided to pull them, there are absolutely consequences for things that you say. The problem here is the very clear government interference for many people.
That feels un-American and there is still more reporting to be done on this because I'm seeing reporting and I don't know what's true anymore and this is part of what's happening with the media and the information where you just don't know what's true sometimes. I'm seeing reports that Kimmel was asked to apologize to Kirk's family and a variety of things.
And I just want to see more reporting so I can find out what is true here. But I want to get this sound from Letterman because he's the first one I ever saw have a freedom as a court jester that I didn't think the court jesters had. Tell us what you think about what happened last night to Jimmy Kimmel. Well, this is a misery.
And in the world of somebody who is an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship, sooner or later everyone is going to be touched. But this is me. For 30 years, I did this for a living. So I see this happen. They took care of Colbert. That was rude. That was inexcusable. The man deserves a great deal of credit. He's in the Hall of Fame nine times.
And to be manipulated like that because the Ellison family didn't want to trouble Donald Trump with this move, so they got rid of him. Not only got rid of him, got rid of the whole franchise. You're not going to have to worry about anything, Larry. It's all gone. It's fine. Good night. And then my good friend Jimmy Kimmel. You know, I just...
I feel bad about this because we all see where this is going, correct? It's managed media. And it's no good. It's silly. It's ridiculous.
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Chapter 3: How did comedians react to the situation surrounding Kimmel?
And you can't go around firing somebody because you're fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That's just not how this works. Let me hear the other sound from Letterman as well about how he did this. That was a franchise that he lorded over that just ended 33 years of late night television that Colbert inherited.
Let's hear Letterman's other thoughts. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, George Bush II, Barack Obama. Yeah. And attacked these men mercilessly, never once. Well, Jimmy Carter, not so much, because what can you say about Jimmy Carter? He was just a sweet guy. But everybody else we really went to work on. And I can remember Bill Clinton we really went to work on.
And then it got so, it was like, whoa, this is a gift. What are we going to do? Bill Clinton, he's out of office after eight years of Bill Clinton. And then George Bush came along and it was easy motoring after that.
But the point is beating up on these people, rightly or wrongly, accurately or perhaps inaccurately, in the name of comedy, not once were we squeezed by anyone from any governmental agency, let alone the dreaded FCC. So yesterday I was talking about the dangers in weaponizing federal institutions to do things like censor.
And one of the things I said by going after the head of Disney is get off your knees and stand for something. If you have power, if you have power and money, use power and money. But the thing I wanted to ask you guys is if you're in the position of running Disney, And the argument from the leader of Disney is, I got to protect the company and I got to protect the money. That's my job.
I'm asking you to go outside of your job and have some conviction beyond the felonious ones than the president of the United States has on the resume in terms of conviction. I'm requesting something of you. that isn't technically part of the job, right? The job is to protect the money, yes? That the money is more important than freedom, correct?
The business, the job as he has it, and this is his identity. Bob Iger, there were reports he was gonna run for president of the United States, that he got so popular and got so strong and was so benign as a public figure. Is it an unfair request for me to say, get off your knees and stand for something? but they need that NFL merger to go through.
There's an antitrust situation here that the Department of Justice needs to take a little look-see at. So if you're Bob Iger and you're getting pressure from the FCC knowing that you got this other merger going on, what do you do? They're all exposed, and that's because what was in the 1970s where there were 90 media companies and it was spread across many different, you basically have...
Five people, five companies, five entities owning all of media now. But I'm asking you guys, what is the job and responsibility of the person running Disney in this circumstance when the affiliates are coming after a treasured employee? To protect their mergers. To protect everything, to protect all of the money. Like, obviously, this is all a follow the money situation.
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Chapter 4: What insights did David Letterman share about censorship?
You cannot stand for anything outside of protecting the money. Dan, I think I gave you a playbook. You're in a difficult spot. So you turn it right back around on the federal government and make this a First Amendment issue. Hey, Jeremy, happy holidays. Happy Chinooka. I want to toast you. Actually, I don't. I will toast with you. Okay. We're co-workers. Friends, you could say.
No, we cannot say that. But we both enjoy an ice-cold Miller Lite. That's true. Especially around the holidays. You know, it's the 50th anniversary of Miller Lite. It's really amazing. Every time we say that, I can't believe it. Well, it's crazy because they've basically been partners with the Dan Levitard Show for half of their existence. What?
When I put it to you that way, we got an old ass show. Yeah, we do. That's crazy. Hey, let's look around at our friends, not each other, and our family, even though they're not here. I do miss your brother, though. Yeah, I know. I'll bring him back. And take that first sip. Look around and know that we made the right decision. When it comes to a domestic light lager, Miller Lite is the best.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of censorship in comedy?
Stugatz. I should go say hello. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz. Yeah, Paramount couldn't even stand up for the news division at CBS News. I mean, 60 minutes and that, what happened there? Like, I don't expect them to, they're going to end up bowing down to this man. And it's very unfortunate.
Okay, so you bow down, though, but you bow down without explanation? You don't even explain any of it to us? You don't even come out and say that? You don't explain to us in your voice that, hey, I can't do anything here. You have to no comment? You have to sit it out? You have to just keep paying the extortionists? I think, well, we don't know. what the game plan is here.
This was a joke that was told on Monday, right? Well, we do know there's been silence in the explanation. That we know. We know that we're all confused, and in the absence of an explanation, everyone is putting their own explanation in there. So I've seen reporting done on this that Jimmy Kimmel and ABC, they got together. Everybody acted super professionally. Emotions were not running high here.
They were all trying to find what is... obviously a very complicated solution to all this. There were reports that ABC is hopeful that Jimmy Kimmel and his show, remember, there is an entire employee base here that is also suspended right now looking for answers. They are working towards a path to getting back to air.
I think the absence of a quote is probably better than a quote that lands on the wrong side that shows that you're kowtowing to the current administration. Oh, but why can't you explain to me why? And this is the specific lack of spine that I find everywhere around corporations that I expect to have some spine. Can you not come out and say.
Jimmy Kimmel has been suspended indefinitely, but it's not because of anything that he said. It's because we're under duress from the federal government on our licenses, and we've suspended him indefinitely to protect him and this show and our merger. Can you be honest? Instead of no commenting and hiding in the shadows and making it look like You're doing the weakest possible thing.
Can you offer us something in the way of an explanation or you just have to hide from the bully? I'm sure that there is an explanation that they can give you that is more nuanced than just hide from the bully. But, I mean, we've seen ā we were at Disney when they were impacted by MAGA boycotts and ESPN is too woke. We've seen that seed change.
We've seen it benefit these companies as some of those stances softened. And they're ā look, this is ā
an emotional time with what happened to charlie kirk being terrible and all and that seemingly being the catalyst what happened to him being terrible yeah and also uh you have to be careful about how you're saying that some of what he said much of what he said was also terrible because posthumously he he leaves he's more useful he is more useful to maga uh
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Chapter 6: How does the discussion shift to the Florida-Miami game?
It's just an awfully convenient place for us to say, like, ABC needs to do more when, to me, there's a very obvious wrong thing here that should unite. And I'm actually encouraged by how it has united because there are plenty. Again, Charlie Kirk is a martyr for somebody. He's a martyr for many who are free speech advocates.
And this encapsulates both Dems, heck, independents, and MAGA conservative Republicans. They all benefit radically.
from our first amendment rights you're saying and i don't know if i should agree with this because i know this is the corporate model to no comment you do not speak in your voice as a corporation there are very few corporations like ben and jerry's that you don't know what corporations actually stand for because most of them just stand for money and nothing else how to get more money what do we have to do to get more money but you're saying it's made worse by simply laying out for people either in a quote or by answering questions here's what happened and why
Here is the truth from our perspective. I think right now there are a couple important things at play, and we'd be foolish to not say that they are certainly considering their own important mergers and their affiliates' potential mergers.
But also, if I'm Bob Iger, if I'm ABC, if I'm Disney, I also work towards a solution that gets Jimmy Kimmel back on the air as quickly as possible so he can speak for himself on this matter because he's the one that is presently being silenced. So while I'm not possibly appeasing Dan Lebitard and many others that want stronger leadership, I think that this is a situation that calls for tact.
And my objective is letting the person that is presently banned from taking the air get back to air. And I game plan with my executives and I go about the right way of doing that. The part that we disagree on, though, is you're saying it's a time for tact and I'm saying it's not a time for silence. It's not a time for silence. And you're saying, yeah, you got to be careful. I'm like,
He's already bullying everybody and taking their money. He's already doing that. So you keep backpedaling and you keep going. Let me be polite here and let me do tact. And you never say anything to us in your voice. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's better to just have people argue about the silence. And then Jimmy Kimmel becomes his own kind of symbol because it feels like he's a victim.
Look, I've been in situations like this with this show for that company, even independent, where there are certain things that we're just not going to talk about. And they're tough decisions. And I don't know. I've certainly not experienced anything to this level. So I think it's very convenient for me to be a critic and say not enough is being done here. But I certainly know a tricky spot.
I've been in a pickle before, Zaz. My movie theater sells pickles. And I will say. How much? It's $2.99. It's an decent deal. I will say that while I enjoy the conversation, the only thing that you've done today on a football Friday as it pertains to the college game day biggest game of the weekend is talk about a 20-year-old murder. And that is a failure on your part.
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Chapter 7: What are the key stats and history of Gino Torretta's Heisman season?
Tessa Verde lost to Penn State. Okay, so yeah. Toretta had Lamar Thomas and Copeland. Okay, I am conflating eras. Okay, so both of them got a lot of help, but Vinny Testaverde's numbers were much better than Gino Toretta's. Give Zaz Gino Toretta's numbers so he can see what it is that won the Heisman that year. I mean, for the younger Canes fan, Gino Toretto was so good, I remember.
And I'm afraid now that you're about to make me sad. He wasn't as good as you remember, and neither was Ken Dorsey. A 56% completion percentage. I think Carson Peck presently is in the 80s. Just 60 yards over 3,000 passing yards. Just got over that line. 19 touchdowns. Per season. 19 touchdowns, 7 interceptions. Only 19 touchdowns? That was his 1992 Heisman Trophy winning season.
Mike, go ahead and look at that schedule, too, so that you can see. Oh, he went through Marshall Falk. Go ahead and look at who he was beating on those 19 touchdowns. A lot of Rutgers there, a lot of Temple there. Not a lot. A lot of UConn. Enough for you to wonder why there aren't some four and five touchdown games in there, because there aren't any if you had only 19 in a season.
Who else were the Heisman candidates against him that year? So I'm glad that you asked. I actually have that available to me. Garrison Hurst, the aforementioned Marshall Polk. And believe it or not, I did not know this because I was just a young'un. Desmond Howard did return to college football the year after he won the Heisman. Really? And he lost out to Gino Toretto.
Man, I don't like what you just did. I don't like that. You just put it into perspective. They were playing a different sport. Honestly, if you didn't give me any of that information, you said Zaslow, Gina Toretta, the quarterback of your Canes childhood, how many touchdowns do you think he threw in his Heisman year? I would have said 40.
I sent Mike Ryan a text the other day because he was making fun of me for saying that Rex Grossman dragged those Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl that compared Troy Aikman's best season and Rex Grossman's best season. And they were basically the same because of how different the sport was. became where Troy Aikman, whatever you remember or think of Troy Aikman.
I think he threw over 20 touchdowns once maybe. One time. This one season he had a Rex Grossman season where he had 23 touchdowns, and that was the best season that Troy Aikman ever had. He's got Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper. Don Levitard. I've never stepped foot on that campus. If you told me right now your life depends on it, go to Santa Fe University and just take a picture.
Stugatz.
I would die. I don't know where it is.
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Chapter 8: What are the current challenges facing Florida football?
Oh, that's right. Yeah, he forgot again. Are you okay? You want to go to a neurologist or something? Like I said, people lose their train of thought sometimes. I'm worried about you. I'm saying this as a friend. Listen, all of this right here, this, this doesn't need your concern. Okay. Dan, you don't preview games.
You weren't exactly previewing Buffalo-Miami, but you talk plenty Miami entering that big game.
There's plenty state-of-the-program stuff that you can do with the University of Florida, which seems to have their own Waterloo situation, and the University of Miami that has about 80 blue chips in attendance for this and 11 of the top 20 wide receiver prospects as things are a-clickin' for Mario Cristobal in year four.
Or I could talk about Indiana, Illinois, and I don't believe that you guys would want to do that because it's a preview. Name a player. Name a player in either of those two programs. Name a player. Name a player. That's right. We turn our attention to DJ Lagway and the disastrous Florida Gator program. Four of those five interceptions that DJ Lagway threw against LSU were with good protection.
He seems broken. He seems heavy. He seems like he doesn't trust his body. He seems hurt. Billy Napier seems in over his head. And here come... Minor penalty. Two minutes. Murdering the show with their bare hands and a dismemberment kit in cold blood. In case anyone's wondering, Mike is very much still alive. Someone investigates the murdering of the show.
Can't be like that story you were talking about before where they just knocked on the door and thought that guy was dead. Mike's alive. I saw him. Yeah. Everyone knows if you're looking for someone, you can't find them. They're dead. That's crazy, right? It's a little odd. Like, has anyone checked on Chris Cody? He's not here, is he? Must be. Damn. I wonder if anyone told his wife.
Florida football is going to swallow Billy Napier right now? Did that line stay where it is that it started at 7.5? It looks like it's 9.5 right now. So a lot of people thought that the Bills-Dolphins line was going to go up above 12.5, and the money went the other way because the NFL is going to NFL, and then all of a sudden the line at the start of the game became 11.5 points.
Someone said that was free money last night. I don't know who. Yes, you were wrong about that. You also have said, though, that Miami over the Gators is free money, and that went from 7.5 to 9.5. Well, so I would probably be right about that then. The money is telling us that. It seems weird, right? So you tell me what you made, Zaslow, as a college football expert.
What did you make of the Florida-LSU game where Florida's defense is obviously good. Very good. Florida's defense couldn't overcome five turnovers, but if you're on the road at night at LSU, but that game shouldn't be close if you're quarterback. I don't know how good LSU is. I really don't. I'm doing some transitive theory here, but I don't know how good Clemson is.
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