The SmorgShow Podcast (Smorgasbord Radio)

Chris is joined by his daughter, Ally for this special Thanksgiving episode! Ally returns to the studio for the first time in over a year. As a result, the show has a more cheerful tone, free from the conspiratorial bent that has come through on our more recent episodes, thanks to the contributions of our Chief Conspiracy Correspondent.

For our main course, Chef Ally answers listener emails and questions received on the Turkey Talk Hotline about how to prepare the perfect turkey and how to avoid common disastrous Thanksgiving pitfalls. The response to our campaign for listener contributions was overwhelmingly positive!

Chris and Ally exchange interesting tidbits of turkey history including the tradition of presidential turkey pardons as well as a heartwarming story of a woman who managed to salvage her Thanksgiving dinner after a setback and reminds us of what really matters.

Also, from the SmorgShow Archives: Baba Gonesh gives us the bird by sharing turkey names from around the world.

The opening song 'The North Wind Does Blow' was arranged and performed by Ally Larsen. It is based on a nursery rhyme dating back to perhaps the 16th century (given the use of olde English in the original title 'The North Wind Doth Blow'). It has also been known as simply 'The Robin'. It seems to be a fitting song to represent the start of the snowy season here in the midwest.

Kim brings a special fall cocktail to the studio while Chris and Jerry host this episode.

• The CDC quietly phases out COVID-19 vaccination cards

• Chris shares his observations about the current Hallmark Movies

• Lithuanian man arrested in Spain for faking heart attacks to avoid paying his bill at 20 restaurants

• Gen Z is now looking to AI for companionship

• Baba Gonesh's "Observations from the Street": A Fashion-Conscious Monkey

• Gen Z is lacking interpersonal skills and etiquette in the corporate world

Chris and Jerry return to kick off the fall season of the SmorgShow Podcast!

The content of this episode was generated entirely by Generative AI:

• The Conspiracies Unveiled Podcast - Episode 1

• Breaking Baba News: The Great Goat Rebellion

• Special Interest Story: What's Up With Those "Chip Deniers"?

We at the SmorgShow Podcast are taking a much needed break from our regular production schedule. However, we could not let our annual tradition of celebrating Oktoberfest pass without any acknowledgment. We are admittedly 'phoning it in' as they say in the business by putting out this compilation of our past celebrations.

We present to you all of our Oktoberfest celebrations from 2018-2022 for your listening enjoyment. There is no need to travel to Munich when you have Chris Bockay, Jerry Malauskas and Dave Jackson providing the entertainment. So get your favorite beer stein, fill it with a German lager of choice, slip on your lederhosen or dirndl, and kick back to our 6th annual Oktoberfest celebration! Prost!

Amazon shuts down man's smart home after being accused of being a racist! The tale of Brandon Jackson who went one week without his Alexa/smart home services as he struggled to convince Amazon that he did not shout racist remarks to a Amazon delivery man.

The Academy Awards instates new woke criteria for the Best Picture category to go into effect with the 2024 Oscars.

Baba Gonesh follows up to his story from Episode 165 regarding man who was arrested after urinating on woman aboard Air India Flight. Baba has obtained the written testimony of the woman who is suing the airline for how they handled the incident.

And finally, as Chris and Kim are vacationing in The Last Frontier, we play an old clip from Chris's high school days of him explaining how he discovered Chicken, Alaska and a phone call he made to directory assistance trying to speak to someone who lives there.

Chris and Kim are Alaska Bound!

On this episode, we go back and listen to key statements made on Episode 114 - Coronavirus Lockdown, released April 11, 2020. The U.S. was only 3 weeks into the COVID-19 lockdown madness and the hosts of the SmorgShow Podcast were trying to make sense of it all. Chris and Jerry evaluate how perceptive we were with what was taking place and where we thought we were likely headed as a nation. This was a time when the pandemic wasn't quite so political so our comments at the time were rather objective in what we were experiencing. Now over 3 years later with 20/20 hindsight, how did we do?

The Smorgasbord Radio Show gets it's first copyright threat in 40 years and we lawyer up!

Celebrating the 58th Birthday of our Chief Conspiracy Correspondent (CCC), Jerome Malauskas.

Kim joins Chris and Jerry in the studio with a special vegan birthday surprise. Chris and Kim also celebrate their 30th anniversary of meeting. They discuss the full story of their chance elevator encounter and how Jerry helped to 'seal the deal' with getting Chris and Kim together. Both Chris and Kim learn something new about the story after so many years.

Ben & Jerry wish you a very Happy 4th of July.

Breaking Baba News: Man Arrested Aboard Air India Flight for Urinating on Woman.

Australian TV Celebrity Chef John Mountain Bans Vegans from His Restaurant.

If there was ever an episode designed specifically for our resident Chief Conspiracy Correspondent, this is it! Jerome joins Chris in the studio to catch up on all the latest news and social commentary.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI is on Capitol Hill this week for some grilling on ChatGPT, its artificial intelligence chatbot software. There has been a lot of talk and development in the artificial intelligence space in general, and admittedly we are still getting caught up. Although we have 'dipped our toe in the water' so-to-speak with recent episodes featuring 'Lia 27' and 'EctoLife's Artificial Womb Facility', ChatGPT is taking the concept to a whole new level and moving into some really dark territory. We share our observations.

Baba Gonesh has some exciting Breaking Baba News to share as India officially becomes the world's most populous country, knocking China into second place after nearly 75 year. Baba spikes the cricket ball a bit on this latest installment.

Finally, in our feature segment we discuss the latest decision of major auto manufacturers to discontinue AM Radio in their latest models. Is there a good reason for this or is this just the latest attempt to silence conservative talk through the back door? You might be surprised to hear our opinion. And then again, you might not.

Chris finds an old consumer complaint form that was filed in 1989 with the Illinois Attorney General's office in order to get out of a contract with a video dating service. This was a service where you create a profile video that is mailed to prospective love interests via VHS tape and in exchange you receive regular shipments of others who are looking for their own prospective love interest.

Chris alleged at the time that he met no one through the service, that each tape received featured the same individuals that he previously declined, and that the company had violated its payment financing installment policy by requesting full payment rather than the agreed upon monthly installments. Chris and Jerry discuss the trend of video dating services at the time as well as critique the Q&A interviews of the prospective love candidates sent to Chris on one particular VHS tape.

Jerry updates us on his annual DEI (Diversity-Equity-Inclusion) training; Chris completes his mandatory harassment training, although he wonders why he was the only one on his team who got the notice about the training. This sparks a discussion about Chris's early days as a manager where he had to manage an associate out of the organization for sexual harassment who then turned around and sued the company for racial discrimination. A couple of years later, Chris finds out that the same employee sued Pizza Hut for the same reason.

We discuss the sharp rise and fall of Diversity Officer positions over the past few years.

BBC Tech Reporter James Clayton is completed owned by Elon Musk during an interview where the reporter asked Musk about the rise in hate speech on the Twitter platform since taking over the company. Yet when pressed to cite even a single example of a tweet that qualified as hate speech, the reporter could not.

Baba Gonesh is back after a lengthy hiatus with another installment of Breaking Baba News: Mumbai Medical Mishaps:

• Surgical Scissors Found in Woman's Stomach
• Bottle of Vodka Found Inside Man
• Deodorant Found in Man's Stomach

Feature Topic: To Tip or Not To Tip? It seems like everywhere you go now, you are expected to tip. Have we reached the tipping point? What is the proper tipping etiquette in 2023?