MONDAY, Jan 6 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR MONDAY, January 6, 2025
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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.)

APPLE TREE DAY
The National Today website says this:
“Apple Tree Day originally celebrated a two-century-old apple tree but as time passed and the day gained prominence outside of its region of origin, the holiday transformed into a celebration of apple cultivation and the fruit’s benefits.”

NATIONAL BEAN DAY
The National Today website says this:
“Because National Bean Day on January 6 falls in of winter, it’s the perfect excuse to cook a favorite comfort food. January 6 is the day the famous geneticist, Gregor Mendel, died in 1884. Mendel used bean plants and pea plants to develop theories on genetics in plants.”

NATIONAL CUDDLE UP DAY

NATIONAL SHORTBREAD DAY
The National Day Calendar website says this:
“Shortbread is a classic Scottish dessert, so named because of its crumbly texture. Prepared often during the 12th century, the refinement of shortbread is credited to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th century. Shortbread was expensive and it was reserved as a luxury for special occasions. In Shetland (northeast of mainland Britain), it is traditional to break a decorated shortbread cake over the head of a new bride upon her entrance into her new home.”

NATIONAL SMITH DAY
A special day for anyone and everyone with the name of Smith
The Old Seattle Times website says this:
“Smith Day commemorates the Jan. 6, 1580, birthday of Captain John Smith, the English colonial leader who helped to settle Jamestown, Va., in 1607. Depending upon which history source you consult, Jan. 6 may also be the birthday of mountain man and explorer Jedediah Smith, who blazed trails across the West.”

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

THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD WINNERS LIST

Here are the main winners from Sunday night’s Golden Globs (not a typo):
MOVIES:
– Best Movie Drama: “The Brutalist”
– Best Movie Comedy: “Emilia Pérez”
– Best Animated Movie: “Flow” — Winner
– Box Office Achievement: “Wicked”
– Actor in a Drama: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
– Actress in a Drama: Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”
– Actor in a Comedy: Sebastian Stan, “A Different Man”
– Actress in a Comedy: Demi Moore, “The Substance”
– Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”
– Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”

TV
– TV Series Drama: “Shōgun”
– TV Series Comedy: “Hacks”
– Limited TV Series: “Baby Reindeer”
– Actor in a Comedy Series: Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”
– Actress in a Comedy Series: Jean Smart, “Hacks”
– Actor in a Drama Series: Hiroyuki Sanada, “Shōgun”
– Actress in a Drama Series:
– Actor in a Limited Series: Colin Farrell, “The Penguin”
– Actress in a Limited Series: Jodie Foster, “True Detective: Night Country”

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

TUESDAY, January 7

“Doc”
Fox – New Series
Synopsis: After a brain injury erases the last eight years of Dr. Amy Larsen’s life, she must navigate an unfamiliar world where she has no recollection of patients she’s treated or the tragedy that caused her to push everyone away.

“Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action”
Netflix – New Two-Part Documentary
Synopsis: Explores the show’s origins, meteoric rise, and biggest scandals, both on- and off-camera.

Season Premieres:
ABC – “The Rookie”
ABC – “Will Trent”
NBC – “Deal or No Deal Island”

WEDNESDAY, January 8

“Shifting Gears”
ABC – New Comedy Series
Synopsis: Matt (Tim Allen) is a stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop. His estranged daughter and her kids move into his house.

Season Premieres:
ABC – “Celebrity Jeopardy!”

NICOLE KIDMAN AND KEITH URBAN’S SECRET TO HAPPY MARRIAGE

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have been married for 18 years. The secret, says Nicole in an interview with W magazine, are two things. One: “We have a double shower. The double-headed shower: key to a successful marriage.” Kidman reveals that she sings in the shower, as does her country singer husband. “I’ll hear his new songs forming,” she said. And the second thing? “Separate commodes” in their bathroom.
* Classy!
* Is that because they both sing on the toilet, too?
* If only the 40 million Americans who have been divorced had thought of this.
* Coincidentally, you can check out the showerheads and commodes at their new website, “Keith ‘n’ Kidman’s Bathroom Boutique.”
* I believe the double-headed shower was the secret to Jimmy and Roslyn Carter’s long marriage, too. Rowrr!

WHAT TED DANSON SAYS AFTER SEX

Mary Steenburgen, for god knows what reason, has revealed what her husband Ted Danson says after sex. And we, for god knows what reason, are passing it along to you. Steenburgen told People magazine on the red carpet at the Golden Gala on Friday: “I admired him so much as an actor, but I didn’t personally know him. And I had this stupid idea that he was, like, maybe kind of a slick guy. How wrong I was,” said Steenburgen. “Slick guys don’t say, ‘gosh-a-rooni,’ after making love.” Steenburgen then added, “I’d like to apologize to my granddaughters.”
* Yeah? What about the rest of us?
* Well, heck, after he said it the first time, she stayed with him for 30 years, so he must be doing something right.
* Maybe he was thinking of dinner and meant to say Rice-a-roni.
* Well, it’s better than va-va-voom, or hardy-har-har.
* You know what WIllie Nelson says after sex? “I’m not really Willie Nelson.”

NAKED SLEEPWALKING PODCASTER CHARGED WITH LEWDNESS

Former rapper and popular podcast host Joe Budden (* Never heard of him either) has been charged with lewdness in connection to an incident in early December at his apartment building in Edgewater, New Jersey. Mr. Budden was recorded on his neighbor’s doorbell camera standing naked in the hallway of their building at about 7 a.m. The video showed Budden trying to enter numbers onto the keypad several times before heading back to his home. Budden claimed he was sleepwalking. Local police issued a public statement, bringing publicity to the case. Budden’s lawyer called the police announcement “inflammatory and slanderous,” saying the police chief “has chosen to exploit this incident for what we perceive as his personal gain.” Budden addressed the charge in a recent episode of his podcast saying, “I just slept-walked somewhere that I shouldn’t have slept-walked.”
* Where, exactly, SHOULD one sleepwalk?
* And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get people to click onto your podcast.
* Like they say, You snooze, you lose… your clothes.
* Edgewater, New Jersey? He’s lucky he doesn’t live on a houseboat.
* Maybe this will be his wake-up call.
* Ironically, it was his own podcast that put him to sleep.

THE BUZZ

DUMB WAYS TO INJURE YOURSELF

Reddit asked, “What’s the dumbest way you’ve injured yourself?” Some of the responses:
– “I got a bruise around my lips because I sucked a pringles can to my face to pretend I was an elephant.”
– “Cracked a rib while body slamming a snow man.”
– “Stapled my finger cause I wanted to see if it would work.”
– “I rode my bike around and around a traffic circle all the time. One day I thought I’d try to do it with my eyes closed. There was a semi parked but thought I would know where it was and go around it. I woke up to my grandpa carrying me home and my head bleeding.”
– “A pear rolled down a counter I was stocking hitting me in the nuts and causing me to throw up in front of a dozen or so customers.”
– “I’ve cut myself on a baguette… not with a knife, on the baguette.”
– “I somehow dislocated my shoulder in my sleep.”
– “Hit my head on the sink while trying to deflect flying underwear that my cousin threw at me.”
– “I was listening to ‘America’ by Neil Diamond. During the climactic moment, I threw up a power-fist directly into an operating ceiling fan.”
* PHONE TOPIC:  What’s the dumbest way you’ve injured yourself?

U.S. NEWS

FLORIDA POLICE SEEK PSYCHIC SHOP VANDAL

Authorities in Pinecrest, Florida, are searching for a man caught on camera vandalizing a psychic shop. To repeat: police are searching for the unknown person who vandalized a psychic shop. Whoever it was hurled an “unknown object” at the glass storefront of Marion Psychic on Dec. 23. The object shattered the front glass door. Pinecrest Police Chief Jason Cohen says, “We want to be able to find this guy and hold him responsible.”
* The glass was shattered, like my faith in psychics.
* Not only should they know who did it and what they used, they also should have known it was going to happen. Not much of a psychic shop.
* The vandal got a psychic reading that said “You will regret spending money on a psychic reading; you will retaliate against the psychic shop for tempting you, but you won’t get caught,” so he figured he should just go ahead and break the glass.
* I’m no psychic, but I’d start questioning some of the competing psychic shops in town.

MAN FINDS 46-YEAR-OLD PRESENT IN HOUSE WALL

An Illinois man was remodeling his childhood home when he found a Christmas gift in a wall with his name on it – 46 years after it was first wrapped. Tim King, 53, discovered the wrapped gift behind a bathroom wall while he was helping his parents with a home renovation project a few days after Christmas. King opened the holiday present to find a set of Matchbox Thunder Jets – a model airplane set made in the 1970s. Mr. King opened the gift in front of his mother, who had no memory of ever buying it. The gift was purchased in 1978 when he was six years old and apparently fell into the wall shortly after his parents stashed the presents in the attic.
* Oh, yeah – next to the present, he also found his childhood cat, Boots.
* Matchbox Thunder Jets – mint condition: $40,000 on eBay! No, but in fact, they’re selling for about 20 bucks.
* Thanks mom & dad, but why couldn’t you have lost an original Star Wars action figure set down the wall? Those things are worth millions.
* By the way, this is the plot of your next Hallmark Christmas movie right here: “A Holly Jolly In-The Wall-y Christmas.”

MCDONALD’S CHANGES STRAWS

There are shootings and bombings and crime and economic issues going on in our country, but what Americans are really upset about right now is McDonald’s getting rid of their red and yellow straws. According to EatThis.com, those iconic straws have been canceled in favor of new clear straws. It didn’t take long for people to notice, and they are not happy about the change.
– One customer on TikTok expressed her disdain for the new straw as she struggles – STRUGGLES – to get the straw through the top of her drink, as it is way too flimsy.
– Some are complaining that they have a petroleum taste to them.
* You know what McDonald’s says, right? “Suck it.”
* This could be the opening Arby’s has been waiting for.
* The good news: The new straws will save McDonald’s a half a penny on every 10,000 straws, and they’re passing on the savings to you.
* First Red Lobster goes Chapter 11, and now new McDonald’s straws. I don’t know if I can live in this world anymore.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

DRUNK POLICE OFFICER RELEASED PRISONERS SO THEY COULD CELEBRATE NEW YEAR’S

A Zambian police officer has been arrested after he got drunk and freed more than a dozen prisoners to celebrate New Year’s Eve. The 13 detainees were facing charges including assault and theft when an intoxicated Detective Inspector Titus Phiri, of the Kanyama Police Department, took the cell keys from a colleague and released them at 10am on December 31. He reportedly told the suspects to leave, stating they were free “to cross over into the new year.” The Zambia police are now trying to round up the suspects.
* Their Happy New Year started a day early.
* I bet there were fireworks at THAT police station.
* January 1st: “I did what??!”
* Somebody started in on the champagne too soon.
* That’s a good New Year’s stunt, but it would have made a better April Fool’s Day prank.

HOT DOGS BANNED IN NORTH KOREA

Kim Jong Un has reportedly banned all hot dogs from North Koreans. In a bizarre new crackdown, the 40-year-old dictator claims that the All-American hot dog is too Western and says that serving the food will now be deemed an act of treason. Anyone in Best Korea caught selling hotdogs on the streets or cooking it in their homes risks being shipped off to a labor camp.
* Sounds like somebody needs to work out some deep-seeded personal issues about hot dogs.
* He could have been REALLY cruel and allowed them to have tofu hot dogs.
* Kim has gone so far as to hire Joey Chestnut to come and eat up all the hot dogs in North Korea.
* Although, Kim’s pretty darn plump. Maybe he wants them all for himself.
* Usually when you order hot dog in North Korea, it’s an entirely different kind of meal altogether.

TRENDING

AUBREY PLAZA’S HUSBAND DIES

Writer-director Jeff Baena, whose darkly comedic independent films included “The Little Hours” and who was married to his frequent creative collaborator Aubrey Plaza, has died. He was 47. Baena was found dead Friday morning at their Los Angeles home. The LA County Medical Examiner’s Office said the 47-year-old died by hanging. The circumstances of his death remained unclear, and the office said it was investigating and a full report would not be available until the case is closed. Baena co-wrote David O. Russell’s 2004 film “I Heart Huckabees” and wrote and directed five of his own films, including the zombie comedy “Life After Beth.”

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (1/3 – 1/5)

1. Mufasa – $23.8 million
2. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – $21.2 million
3. Nosferatu – $13.2 million
4. Moana 2 – $12.4 million
4. Wicked – $10.2 million

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

January 9, Thursday – National Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter
January 20, Monday – Inauguration Day
January 20, Monday – 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

Kate McKinnon (actress, comedian, “SNL”, “Ghostbusters”) … 41
Diona Reasonover (actress, “NCIS”) … 41
Eddie Redmayne (actor, “The Day of the Jackal,” “Fantastic Beasts” movies) … 43
Julie Chen (TV host, “Big Brother”) … 55
Mark Norman Reedus (actor, “The Walking Dead”) … 56
Rowan Atkinson (comic actor, “Johnny English”, “Mr. Bean”) … 70

Today’s Birthdays grade: TV stars! Movie stars! But today’s grade could hinge on whether you love or hate Mr. Bean. Let’s split the difference and say 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 have no skills. I’m bad at most things.”

(A) Kim Kardashian
(B) Ryan Lochte
(C) Kate McKinnon

ANSWER: (C) Kate McKinnon

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2021 – Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in Washington during congressional certification of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s win, resulting in five deaths and prompting evacuation of lawmakers and vice-president Mike Pence. (Not appropriate for jokes.)

2001 – With the vanquished Vice President Al Gore presiding, Congress formally certified George W. Bush the winner of the close and bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.
* Later that day, Al Gore made plans to meet Ralph Nadar in the schoolyard to give him a whuppin’.

1994 – Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit. Four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, were later sentenced to prison.
* Gee, if you hate figure skating that much, just change the channel!

1942 – The first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane was completed when the Pan American Airways Pacific Clipper arrived in New York.
* Great timing for an around-the-world flight – in the middle of a World War!

1838 – Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, N.J.
* Smart people said “This will revolutionize communication!” And REALLY smart people went out and bought shares in companies that made wire.

1768 – The Encyclopedia Britannica made its debut.
* And the following day was the debut of the door-to-door salesman.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2009 – The iTunes Music Store reached 6 billion songs sold.

2005 – U.S. CD sales rose for the first time in four years. The CD format accounted for 98% of the 666 million albums sold, according to research company Nielsen Soundscan. A total of 140 million digital tracks were legally downloaded during 2004, equivalent to 14 million albums. R&B star Usher was the biggest-selling artist with his album “Confessions” selling eight million copies. Other top sellers of the year were Norah Jones, Eminem and country stars Kenny Chesney and Gretchen Wilson.

2001 – Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour won the right to his dot com name. Dave took legal action in his battle to reclaim “davidgilmour(dot)(com)” from Andrew Herman who had registered the URL and was selling Pink Floyd merchandise through the site.

1997 – Two bronze busts worth over $87,000 were stolen from a garden at George Harrison’s British estate. Thieves climbed a 10-foot-wall and cut the figures of two monks from their stone plinths.

1993 – It was reported that David Bowie had lost over $4.25 million in unpaid royalties to an Italian Mafia-linked bootleg fraud.

1990 – Phil Collins started a three-week run at No.1 on the U.S. album chart with “… But Seriously.”

1979 – The Bee Gees started a two-week run at No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Too Much Heaven,” the group’s 7th U.S. No.1.

1977 – EMI Records dropped The Sex Pistols, giving the band $68,000 to release them from their contract.

1973 – Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” started a three-week run at No.1 on the U.S. singles chart.

1968 – The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” started an eight-week run at No.1 on the U.S. album chart, the group’s 11th U.S. chart topper.

1958 – Gibson guitars launched its “Flying V” electric guitar.

1956 – Elvis Presley performed in the gym at Randolph High School, Mississippi; this was the last time he ever appeared in a small auditorium.

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. According to a recent cleaning survey, THIS has more germs at the office than the toilet handle. What is it?
The coffee pot handle

2. According to US Weekly, doing THIS regularly makes most people happier in the workplace. What is it?
Going out of the office for lunch

3. In a recent study on the workplace, 62% of employees say they would work harder IF their boss would just do THIS. What is it?
Give them a Christmas bonus

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