MONDAY, July 15 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR MONDAY, July 15, 2024
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: THE RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL

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, or the hundreds of disease awareness listings which occur each year.)

GLOBAL HUG YOUR KIDS DAY

NATIONAL GUMMI WORM DAY

NATIONAL ORANGE CHICKEN DAY

NATIONAL TAPIOCA PUDDING DAY

WORLD YOUTH SKILLS DAY
Founded by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 to highlight the strategic importance of making sure that teens and young people are equipped with skills for work, employment and entrepreneurship.

July is:

Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month
Air Conditioning Appreciation Month
Baked Bean Month
Cell Phone Courtesy Month
Family Reunion Month
International Blondie and Deborah Harry Month
National Blueberries Month
National Grilling Month
National Hot Dog Month
National Ice Cream Month
Melon Month

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

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

MONDAY, July 15

Season Premiere:
Hulu – “Hit-Monkey”

TUESDAY, July 16

“Homicide: Los Angeles”
Netflix – New Docuseries
Synopsis: Focuses on detectives and prosecutors as they revisit their most challenging homicide cases in the city of Los Angeles, California.

“Mafia Spies”
Paramount+ – New Docuseries
Synopsis: Reveals a very real conspiracy to assassinate Fidel Castro.

WEDNESDAY, July 17

Season Premieres:
CBS – “Big Brother”
Hulu – “UnPrisoned”
Syfy – “The Ark”

RICHARD DREYFUS HEADS TO EMERGENCY SURGERY AT SHARK CON

Actor Richard Dreyfuss, the star of the 1975 classic “Jaws,” had to undergo emergency surgery shortly after arriving in Tampa, Florida, to appear at Shark Con. The 76-year-old actor was scheduled to participate in a series of events at the convention, including autograph signings and a special panel discussion about the making of “Jaws.” Upon arriving, Dreyfuss began to feel unwell and emergency medical personnel were quickly summoned and decided to transport him to Tampa General Hospital for further evaluation.
* Close encounters of the doctor kind.
* Geeze, if you can’t stand the thought of YET ANOTHER discussion of the making of “Jaws,” just say so.
* So was it or was it not a boating accident?
* Doctors found three barrels on him. He couldn’t attend Shark Con, not with three barrels he can’t.

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY THINKING ABOUT POLITICS

Matthew McConaughey on Friday once again floated the idea of running for political office. The actor was speaking to legislators at the National Governors Association in Salt Lake City, Utah. When asked by New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Phil Murphy about his political plans, McConaughey said, “I’m on a learning tour and have been for probably the last six years.” He added, “Do I have the instincts and intellect that it would be a good fit for me and I would be a good for it? You know, would I be useful?” He has mulled the idea of entering politics in his home state of Texas several times. He has also been politically involved on the issue of gun control. Despite much speculation, the actor has not formally stated his political affiliation, leaving many to wonder what party, if any, he would align with should he seek office.
* Is he alright alright alright or all left all left all left?
* So, he said absolutely nothing. A born politician!
* What a choice: run for school board or make $20million doing a movie?
* If running for office means he’d have to stop making TV commercials, I’m all for it.

DR. RUTH HAS DIED

Ruth Westheimer, the grandmotherly psychologist who became America’s best-known sex therapist with her frank, funny radio and television programs, died on Friday at her home in New York City. She was 96. Dr. Westheimer was in her 50s when she first went on the air in 1980, answering listeners’ mailed-in questions about sex and relationships on radio station WYNY in New York. The show, called “Sexually Speaking,” was only a 15-minute segment heard after midnight on Sundays. But it was such a hit that she quickly became a national media celebrity. At her most popular, in the 1980s, the 4-foot-7 Dr. Ruth had syndicated live call-in shows on radio and television, wrote a column for Playgirl magazine, lent her name to a board game, and began rolling out guidebooks on sexuality. She appeared in ads for cars, soft drinks, shampoo, typewriters and condoms.
* Well, we know she didn’t die from embarrassment.
* She was a walking endorsement for “size doesn’t matter.”
* When it came to sex, Westheimer was kind of a weisenheimer.
* There will never be another Dr. Ruth. There will be no second coming.

KIDS’ CHOICE AWARDS WINNERS

Here are the main winners from Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards over the weekend. This is what your children are interested in:
– KIDS TV SHOW: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
– FAMILY TV SHOW: Young Sheldon
– REALITY SHOW: America’s Got Talent
– CARTOON: SpongeBob SquarePants
– FEMALE TV STAR: Olivia Rodrigo
– MALE TV STAR: Walker Scobell
– MOVIE: Barbie
– MOVIE ACTOR: Timothée Chalamet
– MOVIE ACTRESS: Margot Robbie
– ANIMATED MOVIE: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
– VILLAIN: Jack Black (Bowser, The Super Mario Bros. Movie)
– FEMALE ARTIST: Taylor Swift
– MALE ARTIST: Post Malone
– MUSIC GROUP: Imagine Dragons
– SONG: “What Was I Made For?”- Billie Eilish
– SOCIAL MUSIC STAR: Bella Poarch
– FEMALE SPORTS STAR: Simone Biles
– MALE SPORTS STAR: Travis Kelce
– VIDEO GAME: Roblox

THE BUZZ

THE FIRST THING YOU BOUGHT WITH EARNED MONEY

Reddit asked, “What did you buy with the first money you earned?” Some of the responses:
– “Cat toy.”
– “Star Wars Jaba the Hutt Lego set.”
– “A purple leather jacket.”
– “My first guitar. Still have it 23 years later.”
– “A train ticket to meet a girl I’d been talking to online for 2 years.”
– “Took a buddy out for pizza. Instead we had nearly every dessert on the menu.”
– “A Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 on Playstation.”
– “A phone. Which I dropped in the toilet after 2 weeks by accident.”
– “I got a job at 15 specifically to buy a tent for Scouts. Once I had the money I bought said tent and thought, ‘fantastic, I don’t have to work again.’ Then I needed a sleeping bag and I learned how the world worked.”
– “Grand Funk Railroad LIVE LP.”
– “A tattoo.”
– “A puppy. I got in so much trouble from my parents.”
* PHONE TOPIC: What’s the first thing you bought when you earned some money, and what’s the story behind it?

U.S. NEWS

FREE ICE CREAM FOR KIDS WHO CAN RECITE THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Kids who can recite the Pledge of Allegiance from memory can get a free ice cream cone. The ‘I Pledge Project’ began in 2010 with Leopold’s Ice Cream in Savannah, Georgia. Since then, ice cream shops around the country have picked up on the promotion. During the month of July, participating ice cream shops will reward children for their patriotism by offering them a free ice cream cone for reciting the Pledge of Allegiance by memory. Usually, it’s a choice of vanilla or chocolate and, if they want, red, white, and blue sprinkles. Some shops only offer the promotion on specific days or hours. You can check out which shops have the offer at ipledgeforicecream.com/locations. (Warning: the locations map may be out of date. Advise people to call the store ahead of time.)
* If you can hit the high note on the Star Spangled Banner, you get a Fudgesicle.
* The stores would like to apologize in advance if you want some ice cream and there’s two dozen kids in line ahead of you. Maybe bring an ebook to read while you wait.
* What about grownups? Anybody offering free hot dogs?
* If they gave everyone an ice cream cone for voting in this country, turnout would be through the roof.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

TESLA’S GERMAN PLANT IS MISSING 65,000 COFFEE MUGS

The Tesla factory in Germany is having a problem with people stealing the company’s coffee mugs. Tesla plant manager Andre Thierig was speaking to factory workers and brought up the issue. He said, “We’ve bought 65,000 coffee mugs since we started production here. Statistically speaking, each of you already has five coffee cups at home.” Thierig said he was fed up and promised to take away cutlery from the break room if the thefts did not stop. “I’m really tired of approving orders to buy more coffee cups,” Thierig said.
* He asked them to please go back to stealing rolls of toilet paper.
* So THAT’S why Teslas malfunction all the time and run into things. Everybody’s too busy stealing coffee mugs to do their job checking the cars.
* Now the workers who DON’T have five coffee cups at home want to catch up.
* The Tesla coffee mugs have auto-drink, they lift themselves to your lips for a sip.
* The problem with a Tesla coffee mug is you can only fill it from a certified Tesla coffee pot, and those are usually out of order.

TRENDING

ALEC BALDWIN CASE TOSSED

Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case was abruptly thrown out in a stunning development Friday. The New Mexico judge slammed prosecutors for withholding critical evidence from the defense. Following a full day of hearing outside of the jury’s presence, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said “dismissal is the only warranted remedy” and ruled that the charges could not be filed again. Baldwin, 66, sobbed in court and hugged his wife as the charges — stemming from the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” — were suddenly tossed.

RICHARD SIMMONS DEAD AT 76

Legendary fitness instructor Richard Simmons has died. Simmons, who turned 76 Friday, died just 24 hours after he thanked fans on social media for their birthday wishes. Simmons rose to fame in the 1970s and ’80s after opening several gyms across the country and releasing his iconic high energy fitness tapes. He had stepped away from the public eye a decade ago. Police initially believe he died from natural causes. He had revealed back in March that he had been treated for skin cancer.

SHANNON DOHERTY DIES, 53

Shannen Doherty, star on the 1990’s high school drama “Beverly Hills, 90210,” and supernatural soap opera “Charmed,” died Saturday after battling breast cancer for several years. She was 53. Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, but she went into remission two years later. In February 2020, court documents in a lawsuit Doherty filed against her insurance company over damage to her home said she was “dying” of Stage 4 breast cancer, which metastasized to the point of being incurable. In June 2023, she shared an emotional post on Instagram revealing that her cancer had spread to her brain at the beginning of the year.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (July 12-14)

1. Despicable Me 4 – $44 million
2. Longlegs – $21 million
3. Inside Out 2 – $20.8 million
4. A Quiet Place: Day One – $11.8 million
5. Fly Me To The Moon – $10 million

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

Sept. 2, Monday – Labor Day
Sept. 11, Wednesday – Patriot Day
Sept. 23, Sunday – Fall begins (Autumn Equinox is 8:44 a.m. EDT)

BIRTHDAYS

Taylor Kinney (actor, “Chicago Fire”) … 43
Scott Foley (actor, “Scandal”) … 52
Forest Whitaker (actor, director) … 63
Marky Ramone (rock musician, “The Ramones”, born Marc Bell) … 72
Terry O’Quinn (actor, “Hawaii Five-0”, “Lost”) … 72
Arianna Huffington (journalist) … 74
Linda Ronstadt (singer) … 78

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

“I’m a country boy. I grew up kicking around the woods, riding dirt bikes, playing football, climbing rocks and all that good stuff, so that’s always been fun.”

(A) Jerry Seinfeld
(B) Pope Francis
(C) Taylor Kinney

ANSWER: (C) Taylor Kinney

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2010 – British Petroleum stopped the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from a blown well after 85 days, using a 75-ton cap.
* The solution was pretty slick – unfortunately, so was most of the coastline.

1999 – The U.S. government acknowledged for the first time that thousands of workers were made sick while building nuclear weapons and announced a plan to compensate many of them.
* After waiting long enough for most of them to die off.

1997 – Fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot to death outside his home in Miami.
* Everybody’s a critic.

1971 – President Nixon announced he would visit the People’s Republic of China to seek a “normalization of relations.”
* In other words: “How would you like to make every product now appearing in American stores?”

1968 – The long-running TV show One Life to Live began airing.
* And if you’ve watched it for over thirty years, you need to Get a Life to Live.

1876 – Baseball’s first no-hitter was thrown by Washington Bradley.
* “This new-fangled game will never catch on – nothing happens!”

1869 – French food chemist Hipployte Mege Mouries patented margarine.
* Then he rushed out to spread the word.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2018 – “November Rain” by Guns N’ Roses became the first ’90s video to pass a billion views on YouTube. The next closest ’90s video was “Zombie” by The Cranberries, at 739 million.

2015 – A judge trimmed the damages Pharrell Williams was ordered to pay after the Blurred Lines copyright trial, from $7.4 million to $5.3 million. The case revolved around the question of whether Williams and his co-writer Robin Thicke had copied Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got To Give It Up.” The judge also gave Gaye’s family a 50% cut of future earnings from the song.

2011 – Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony announced they were breaking up after seven years of marriage.

2007 – Over 10,000 people applied for a job with P. Diddy after the rapper posted a video on Youtube looking to find a new personal assistant. He warned applicants that the job would be far from easy and would involve everything from getting him ready for the red carpet to aiding in billion dollar deals to helping him jump out of planes in movies.

2005 – Victor Edward Willis, the original policeman in the Village People, was arrested after police found a gun and drugs in his convertible in Daly City, south of San Francisco. Willis also had an outstanding $15,000 felony warrant for possession of narcotics.

2000 – Mike and the Mechanics and Sad Cafe singer Paul Young died of a heart attack at his Manchester home at the age of 53.

1998 – Aerosmith was forced to cancel an upcoming U.S. tour after Joey Kramer was involved in a freak accident. The drummer’s car started on fire and was completely destroyed as he was filling up with gas. He was hospitalized with second-degree burns.

1985 – Nude photos of Madonna taken in 1977 appeared in Playboy and Penthouse.

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. Research shows THIS is more likely to happen to you on a Monday than any other day of the week. What is it?
Getting hurt at work

2. 75% of workers surveyed wish their employer would improve THIS in the workplace. What is it?
The bathroom.

1. 35% of employees surveyed eat one of THESE at least once a day at work. What is it?
A candy bar

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