MONDAY, Jan 20 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR MONDAY, January 20, 2025
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: HEMMORIMPLELACTOSNEEZARIA

TODAY IS …
(All days repeat annually on today’s date unless otherwise noted; days may or may not be called “National”/”International”/”World” depending on source; sources listed often have additional info. We generally do not list special days which were created by commercial companies for the purpose of marketing – including “holidays” created by the National Day Calendar and Wellcat websites to drive traffic to their websites – or the hundreds of disease awareness listings which occur each year.)

CAMCORDER DAY
On this day in 1982, five companies (Hitachi, JVC, Philips, Matsushita and Sony) agreed to cooperate on the construction of a camera with a built-in videocassette recorder, which later became the “camcorder.”

INAUGURATION DAY

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

NATIONAL BUTTERCRUNCH DAY

NATIONAL CHEESE LOVER’S DAY

NATIONAL DISC JOCKEY DAY
The National Day Calendar website says this:
“A disc jockey, or DJ for short, is a person who plays recorded music either on the radio or at a club or event. The first disc jockey was an experiment on the airwaves. In 1909, sixteen-year-old Ray Newby was a student under the supervision of Charles ‘Doc’ Herrold at Herrold College of Engineering and Wireless in San Fernando, California. He played the first records (disks) over the airwaves before the term disc jockey even existed.”

NATIONAL PENGUIN DAY / PENGUIN AWARENESS DAY

January is:

Adopt a Rescued Bird Month
Be Kind to Food Servers Month
Family Fit Lifestyle Month
Financial Wellness Month
Get Organized Month
National Candy Month
National Clean Up Your Computer Month
National Hobby Month
National Skating Month
National Train Your Dog Month
Walk Your Pet Month

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

WHAT TO WATCH – New and Returning Shows and Movies
Premiering Monday through Wednesday
Listings sourced from the TV Guide, EW and other websites

TUESDAY, Jan 21

“The Joe Schmo Show”
TBS – Reboot of Prank Reality Show
Synopsis: The series follows Ben, an electrician from Baltimore, who believes he is competing for a chance to win $100,000 on a popular game show when he is, in fact, surrounded by a cast of improv comedians. The actors and the entire working crew scramble to keep Ben from discovering the hoax.

WEDNESDAY, Jan 22

“Prime Target”
Apple TV+ – New Series
Synopsis: A math whiz named Edward Brooks is about to make a discovery that could give him unprecedented control over every computer in the world. Then Edward finds himself at the center of a conspiracy. The only person he can trust is NSA agent Taylah Sanders, who has been secretly watching mathematicians from the shadows.

“W.A.G.s to Riches”
Netflix – New “Reality” Show
Synopsis: If seventeen versions of Real Housewives aren’t enough for you, say hello to Wives and Girlfriends of famous athletes and rap stars who are trying to make a name for themselves without relying on their famous partners. Even though their famous partners are the only reason they have a TV show.

THE BUZZ

DO YOU DREAM OF WORK?

64% of Americans have had a nightmare about their job, waking up feeling stressed and worried. The website JobLeads analyzed online search data to find the Eight Most-Frequent Work-Related Dreams:
– Sex with a co-worker – 60%
– Late to work – 47%
– Messing up a project – 34%
– Getting fired – 21%
– Naked at work – 19%
– Fighting with the boss – 17%
– Lost in the office – 9%
– Killing the boss – 4%
* Getting Lost in the Office After Killing the Boss After Arriving at Work Naked, Having Sex with Him, Then Fighting with Him and Getting Fired – .0001%
* Dreaming of someone taking my lunch out of the office refrigerator doesn’t even rank.
* Seven out of eight things on that list are actual everyday occurrences if you’re a politician.
* I wonder if anyone at JobLeads dreams about getting fired for spending hours analyzing online search data instead of helping people find jobs?
* I don’t dream OF work, but sometimes I fall asleep and dream AT work.

U.S. NEWS

DUMP TRUCK CRASHES INTO TARGET STORE

A dump truck smashed into the side of a New Jersey Target store Friday, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the store and injuring at least five people. It happened a little after 2 p.m. when the truck hit a tractor-trailer on a nearby highway and went flying into the store. The truck was completely lodged inside the Target. At least five people were injured in the wild crash— including a woman who was tossed out of a Target bathroom upon impact.
* Please don’t tell me the dump truck hit the bathroom while a lady was taking a… uh, break.
* In the driver’s defense, it’s hard for anybody to miss a Target that big.
* Aim for the Target; hit the bullseye.
* Bounced off a tractor-trailer? It’s Bumper Cars on steroids.
* Missed the automotive section by a mile.

TIKTOK: THE WITHDRAWAL

With TikTok going away – or not, depending on the day or even the hour of the day – the New York Post has done its usual impressive journalism to ask experts: What are the withdrawal symptoms of losing TikTok?
– Stanford psychiatrist Dr. Anna Lembke says, “The universal symptoms of withdrawal from any addictive substance are extreme anxiety, irritability, insomnia, depression and cravings – and people who are addicted to TikTok, if they stop using it abruptly, may experience any or all of these symptoms.” She also warned of mood swings, panic attacks and dysphoria.
– According to Dr. Victoria Dunckley, author of “Reset Your Child’s Brain,” without TikTok as a vice, levels of dopamine — a chemical that’s released in the brain when a person does something enjoyable, creating the urge to do it again — will begin to plummet. She says that to not have that constant dopamine input people get from scrolling, they may feel listless, like they don’t know what to do with themselves, and they could physically feel tired, like they’re crashing from that lack of stimulation input. She says, “If someone is really psychologically entrenched in TikTok, they also might feel lost, like their ego has been fractured, because the app kind of created a scaffolding around their persona, and formed the ways they think and live and interact.”
– Clinical psychologist Dr. Alan Blotcky expressed disbelief that TikTok junkies will quit cold turkey. “If you’re addicted to alcohol and you stop drinking, sometimes those people will then develop addictions to gambling or pornography or some other vice,” said Blotcky …
* … closing his laptop very quickly when someone walked into the room.
* If only there was some other place to watch quick snippets of miscellaneous crap.
* So it’s like a sugar crash. Obviously, this calls for massive quantities of ice cream.
* Good lord! Is this what we’ve allowed to happen to our children? If only we knew how addictive social media could be! I gotta go online and tell everybody.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

MAN CLINGS TO OUTSIDE OF BULLET TRAIN

A man is lucky to be alive after clinging to a high-speed train for miles as it rocketed along the rails. The 40-year-old Hungarian commuter said he had been riding on the Intercity Express train, which was traveling cross-country from Munich to Lübeck, when he decided to take a smoke break at the station in Ingolstadt, Germany. Before he could finish his cigarette, the train door closed, threatening to strand him at the station. In a split-second decision, he jumped onto the bracket between two of the cars. The train then sped away at 175 miles per hour He hung on for 20 miles before witnesses saw him and alerted the authorities. The conductor then brought the vehicle to a halt. The man — who was “amazingly” unharmed according to police — reportedly did not have a valid ticket. He was subsequently removed and handed over to authorities in Nuremberg… for judgement.
* Authorities should have his fingernails removed from the outside of the train by Wednesday.
* And the moral is — anybody? —- SMOKING IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH.
* Ironically, the cigarette was blown out in the first 40 seconds.
* On the bright side, the Guinness Book of Records has just awarded him the title of World’s Fastest Hobo.
* Didn’t David Blaine do this in 2015?
* Next up: He flies to London in the wheel well of a British Airways jet.

WOMAN SETS RECORD FOR CRUSHING WATERMELONS WITH HER THIGHS

A Turkish woman has set the Guinness World Record for squashing watermelons with her thighs. Gozde Dogan crushed five watermelons within a 60-second timeframe, using only her thighs. A video clip shows Dogan sitting between two rows of watermelons, grabbing them one at a time, crushing them, and then cleaning the mess before continuing. She is handed a plaque and told she is “officially amazing.”
* Wasn’t she a Bond villain? Didn’t that happen in a movie?
* In the summer, she rents herself out for picnics.
* It’s impressive, but I’m not sure it beats the guy who can crush walnuts with his butt cheeks.
* To Guinness, it’s a world record. In Turkey, that’s how they think women get pregnant.
* In the video, her husband’s the guy with the pelvis cast.

TRENDING

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (January 17-19)

1. Mufasa: The Lion King – $11.5 million
2. One of Them Days – $12 million
3. Wolf Man – $10.5 million
4. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – $8.6 million
5. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera – $6.6 million

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

TODAY – Inauguration Day
TODAY – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 27, Monday – Int’l Holocaust Remembrance Day (UN)
January 29, Wednesday – Chinese New Year (The Year of the Wood Snake)
February 2, Sunday – Groundhog Day
February 12, Wednesday – Lincoln’s Birthday
February 14, Friday – Valentine’s Day
February 17, Monday – Presidents Day / Washington’s Birthday
March 9, Tuesday – Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras
March 9, Sunday – Daylight Saving Time Begins
March 17, Monday – St. Patrick’s Day
March 20, Thursday – Spring begins, Spring Equinox is 5:01 a.m. EDT

BIRTHDAYS

Evan Peters (actor, “American Horror Story”) … 38
Skeet Ulrich (actor, “Riverdale,” “Scream”) … 55
Rainn Wilson (actor, “Mom,” “The Office”) … 59
John Michael Montgomery (Country singer) … 60
James Denton (actor, “Desperate Housewives”) … 62
Bill Maher (comedian, TV host) … 69
Paul Stanley (guitarist with Kiss, real name Stanley Harvey Eisen) … 73
Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin (former U.S. astronaut, 2nd person on the Moon) … 95

Today’s Birthdays grade: Boomers who watched the moon landings on TV will be amazed Buzz Aldrin is 95 and hope they can make it that far. We also have a linchpin castmember of “The Office,” one of the first giant TV shows of the 21st Century. And some other people. Grade: B-minus.

[Want to try something different with the daily birthdays? Try grading them! Some days have “good” celebs, some have “great” celebs, some have “lousy” celebs. For fun, give the group an arbitrary grade: A-plus through F-minus. Sidekick will give you our take on it; you can to take the concept and run with it.]

BIRTHDAY QUOTE QUIZ – Ask your listeners “Who said it?” HINT: Today’s their birthday!

“I never, ever in my life tried to be outrageous.”

(A) Madonna
(B) Lady Gaga
(C) Bill Maher

ANSWER: (C) Bill Maher

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1986 – Britain and France announced plans to build a tunnel under the English Channel.
* A tunnel under the English Channel! Are they nuts? That’ll never – huh? Oh, they did? Oh. Congratulations.

1982 – Five companies (Hitachi, JVC, Philips, Matsushita and Sony) agreed to cooperate on the construction of a camera with a built-in videocassette recorder, which later became the “camcorder.”
* This would have been a good day to sell your stock in companies that made slide projectors.

1981 – Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.
* Nice. They came home just in time for a recession.

1892 – The first officially recognized basketball game was played in Springfield, Massachusetts.
* After the game, the winning coach was doused with a pitcher of “sarsparilla.”

1885 – The roller coaster was patented.
* For a few cents, riders could take a turn, and feel nauseous in just a few minutes. Over a hundred years later, you could get the same sensation free of charge by tuning in to “Dr. Pimple Popper.”

1783 – Fighting in America’s War of Independence formally ended when U.S. and British officials signed a preliminary “Cessation of Hostilities.”
* Well, SOMEBODY must have held a grudge, ’cause we were back on the mats in 1812.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2017 – Sir Paul McCartney sued Sony/ATV Music Publishing over control of The Beatles’ back catalogue, sold to Sony by Michael Jackson’s estate for $750m in 2016. In June, McCartney reached a confidential settlement.

1997 – Ben and Jerry’s introduced “Phish Food,” a new flavor of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients were chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge.

1996 – Bobby Brown was fined $1,000, sentenced to 2 years probation and ordered to attend anger management classes after assaulting a security guard.

1982 – During a show in Des Moines, Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat, which he later said he thought was a toy tossed up on stage by a fan. He was taken to a hospital for a rabies injection.

X-TREME TRIVIA CHALLENGE

Every installment of X-Treme Trivia Challenge includes three mystery factoids. Create your own “Impossible Question” contest – great for listener giveaways and phone interaction starters! Also a perfect sponsorship opportunity!

1. Money Magazine put together a list of the top 10 “most awkward money moments”, and THIS was #1. What is it?
Asking your boss for a raise

2. In order to make a good impression with your boss, a recent study says THIS is at the top of the list of things you should be doing. What is it?
Saying thank you

3. According to a recent survey, only 12% of employees said they would be brave enough to do THIS at work. What is it?
Tell their boss their outfit was inappropriate

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