WEDNESDAY, May 21 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION
MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR WEDNESDAY, May 21, 2025
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: A & M AUTOLAND – Push Pull ‘n’ Drag Sale
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. We present only those specially designated days we feel your listeners would find most interesting or significant.)
INTERNATIONAL TEA DAY
NATIONAL MEMO DAY
NATIONAL STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM DAY
NATIONAL WAITSTAFF DAY
From various sources:
This day is set aside to celebrate and recognize the value and importance of a good waiter or waitress. Waitstaff are the difference between a good experience and a bad one at a restaurant or bar. Their total pay consists of a minimum wage and tips they receive from customers, which should be commensurate with the quality of the service. You can recognize your waiters and waitresses on National Waiters and Waitresses Day by giving them a little something extra.
WORLD MEDITATION DAY?
Many holiday listing websites say today is World Meditation Day, but the observance as declared by a United Nations resolution in 2004 is December 21.
May is:
Chip Your Pet Month / Pet Month
Date Your Mate Month
International Civility Awareness Month
National Barbecue Month
National Bike Month
National Egg Month
National Hamburger Month
National Military Appreciation Month
National Salad Month
National Salsa Month
Older Americans Month
ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES
POT SHOP OWNED BY WOODY HARRELSON AND BILL MAHER BURGLARIZED
A West Hollywood cannabis shop owned by comedian Bill Maher and actor Woody Harrelson was ransacked by a group of thieves during a smash-and-grab caught on surveillance video. Five burglars broke into the Woods WeHo on Santa Monica Boulevard around 4:30 a.m. Saturday. Footage of the heist shows the thieves – all wearing hoodies – rushing into the store after shattering a window. They filled up bags with merchandise before fleeing. The thieves got away with $2,000-$3,000 worth of merchandise.
* In West Hollywood, that would be three bongs, two vapes, and a pack of rolling papers.
* Woody Harrelson and Bill Maher were quite upset. They both said of their pot shop robbery: “Whatever.”
* Come on, police. The robbers are potheads, how far could they have gotten? The corner?
* Let he who is without sinsemilla kush the first stoner, I believe the saying goes in that industry.
* I wonder if Bill Maher is hoping the thieves will end up doing some … Real Time.
AUDIO: “WE BUILT THIS CITY” NOW A TOILET PAPER COMMERCIAL
The beloved Starship song “We Built This City,” which EVERYBODY loves, has now achieved its ultimate destiny as the soundtrack for a toilet paper commercial. Re-written and re-recorded as “We Quilt This City,” the song is being used to sell Quilted Northern toilet paper. In the ad, three women turn a supermarket into a brightly colored ’80s dance club while promising to “change your toilet paper game” with Quilted Northern.
* Good luck wiping THIS from your brain.
* I don’t know. I find the lyrics absorbing.
* How did they not write “Knee-deep in the poopla”? I mean, it’s RIGHT THERE!
* This song was the end of rock & roll in 1985, and now 40 years later it’s on the end of something else.
* Don’t fall for it, people! Workers at Northern aren’t sitting around quilting millions of rolls of toilet paper. They use an embossing press to create a raised pattern on the surface that resembles the seams of a quilted blanket. No matter what the song says, it’s not Quilted Northern, it’s Machine-Stamped Northern.
CLIP: From the ad, “We quilt this city.”
CLIP URL: morningsidekick(dot)com/prep/wp-content/uploads/WeQuiltThisCity-ToiletPaper(dot)mp3
P. DIDDY’S L.A. MANSION SITS UNSOLD
As Sean Combs sits on trial for sex and drug trafficking in a Manhattan courtroom, his Los Angeles estate is still waiting for a buyer. His Holmby Hills mansion listed for $61.5 million just a week before his September 2024 arrest. It has now languished on the market for more than 200 days. One local real estate agent, speaking anonymously, noted the effect Combs’ name has had on the listing, saying, “No agents want to touch that house or be in any stories related to the case or the listing.” The 10-bedroom, 13-bathroom estate — which Combs purchased in 2014 for $39 million — boasts a slate of luxury amenities: a 35-seat movie theater, a disco ball-inspired sculpture, a grotto pool, a traditional pizza oven, a guesthouse with recording studio and a spa facility.
* Pizza oven? Why didn’t you say so! Let me make a call.
* No dungeons? Come on, there’s GOT to be dungeons.
* It’s gonna take years to get the baby oil smell out. And the prostitutes.
* The house needs 13 bathrooms because every time you walk out of any room, you’ll feel like taking a hot shower.
THE BUZZ
USE THOSE COUPONS ON FIRST DATES
A new survey of 2,000 Americans from coupon website TopCashback, SURPRISINGLY reveals that 56% of Americans now think using a coupon on a first date is completely fine. Even more:
– 61% find their partner being budget-conscious attractive, with 28% going so far as to call frugality downright “sexy.”
– 37% of survey respondents said they’d actually be impressed by a date who uses reward points to pay.
– Nearly half (48%) are comfortable splitting the check, although there is a big gender divide. Only 32% of women expressed enthusiasm for a second date after splitting the bill on the first date, compared to 70% of men.
– More than half (56%) reported being turned off by dates who flaunt their money.
– $125 is the point where first-date spending begins to feel excessive to most Americans.
BRANDS WITH THE BEST/WORST REPUTATIONS
An annual Harris Poll gauges the reputation of the most visible brands in America. Here are the Top Ten Brands With The Best Reputations:
1. Trader Joe’s
2. Patagonia
3. Microsoft (* Microsoft?)
4. Toyota
5. Costco
6. Samsung
7. Arizona Beverage
8. Nvidia
9. UPS
10. Apple
The Bottom Ten Brands With The Worst Reputations:
91. TikTok
92. United Health Group
93. Fox TV
94. Shein (fast fashion wear)
95. Tesla
96. Wells Fargo
97. Meta/Facebook
98. X
99. The Trump Organization
100. Spirit Airlines
U.S. NEWS
MAN IN UNDERWEAR CLAIMS TO BE SUPERMAN
In Charleston, South Carolina, a personal injury attorney was arrested last Wednesday after police say he was downtown, in his undies, yelling at the top of his lungs. Officers observed William McLeod Jr., 53, walking along the coastal battery screaming, wearing only his underwear and shoes. Mr. McLeod reportedly told police he was “Superman.”
* Sounds more like something Bizarro Superman would do.
* Sounds like he was flyin’, alright.
* This is what happens when you get rid of all the phone booths.
* So … Superman – boxers or briefs?
* “Superman, eh? Looks like you’re headin’ for the crypt tonight, Superman. Take him off to the slammer, boys!”
TEEN SAVED FROM DROWNING BY A DRONE
A teenage girl in Florida was saved by a man with a drone. Last Thursday, Andrew Smith arrived at Pensacola Beach to fish. He brought along his drone to drop bait. A few minutes after arriving, a girl came running by asking if anybody could swim because her friend was getting sucked out by a rip tide. Smith grabbed a flotation device and flew it out to the girl with his drone, but he released it too early and the wind took it. A bystander handed him another flotation device, he flew it out and released it after the girl got her hands on it. She climbed on and started floating. First responders arrived around five minutes later and brought her in. Mr. Smith says EMS personnel asked him about the Swellpro drone and said they might invest in some of their own for water rescues.
* And for teasing jerky seagulls.
* That’s SWELLPRO drones: the pro drones that drone real swell. SWELLPRO.
* While she was waiting for the EMT’s, the teen hollered to Mr. Smith asking him to drone a pizza out to her.
* See? Technology good. In this case.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
AUDIO: HELP WANTED – BEAR POOP COLLECTORS
Canada’s College of New Caledonia in Prince George, British Columbia, has a team of scientists researching urban bear poop. Bear scat holds a wealth of information about the bear’s health, diet, and hormones. By analyzing feces samples from across the city, researchers hope to gain insight into the health and behavior of urban bear populations, as opposed to bears that live outside of the Prince George region. They are asking locals to help, and here’s how!
#1: Send a photo of bear poop you encounter, whether it be in your yard, or in the park down the street, along with the location, and they will come and collect it for you.
#2: You can collect the poop as you would collect your dog’s droppings; using a bag to scoop up the bear feces, and drop it off at the designated bear poop refrigerator located beside the greenhouse at the CNC campus in Prince George.
* And don’t try to pawn off your cat litter. They know the difference.
* It’s kind of a city-wide scavenger hunt, but without fun things to look for.
* Does a bear crap in the city? Have we been mislead all these years?
* Shouldn’t they be concerned that there is so much bear poo in town that they need to study it?
* (play music below) “Right now, there are thousands of bear poops sitting idly in your area, just waiting to be collected by caring people like you. We need your bear poop. Won’t you please help?”
CLIP: Sarah McLaughlin’s “Arms of the Angel.”
CLIP URL: morningsidekick(dot)com/prep/wp-content/uploads/ArmsOfTheAngel(dot)mp3
NUDIST CAMP SCHEDULES KARAOKE NIGHT
Liverpool, England is home to the Sun and Air naturist camp. It’s been there since 1933. There are currently over 100 members. The camp has released its summer schedule of events, including Nude Karaoke Night on June 21.
* “Come on, everybody, sway along with the music!”
* Expect some pretty raw performances.
* I know what I’d be singing – “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”
* What songs do you sing when you’re standing naked in front of an audience?
– Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You?
– Blowing in the Wind?
– How High the Moon?
– Groovin’?
– It’s a Small World After All?
– You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet?
* Could be worse. Could be Nude Twister night.
TRENDING
P. DIDDY TRIAL: TUESDAY, MAY 20
Here are some details from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-and-drug trafficking trial on Tuesday:
– Escort Sharay Hayes, nicknamed “Punisher,” described his first encounter with Diddy and Cassie to the court on Tuesday. It happened at the Trump International Hotel on Central Park West in New York City. He said, “There were little bowls of water and bottles of baby oil. Ms Ventura got on the sofa opposite me and I followed, mimicked what she did. She got a bottle of baby oil and started pouring it on herself and I did similar. A few minutes (later) I could see her husband enter the room. The man was nude but I could not see his face, there was a veil. At some point the man stood up and left the room, Ms Ventura followed him out.” He said he was paid an additional $1,200 when he was done. Mr. Hayes said he had between eight and 12 total encounters with the couple, adding that as Combs became more comfortable in his presence, he switched from wearing a veil to a baseball cap.
– The mother of Cassie Ventura testified that, in 2011, she received a demand from Combs for $20,000 “to recoup money he had spent on her because he was unhappy she was in a relationship with Kid Cudi” or he would release explicit sex tapes of her daughter. She used a home equity loan to make the payment because “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.” Days later, she said, the money was returned, and before long, Cassie was dating Combs again.
– Some guns seized from Combs by federal agents in Miami had their serial numbers scratched off, making it more difficult for authorities to trace a weapon’s history, a federal agent said.
DENZEL GETS SURPRISE AWARD AT CANNES
Denzel Washington was at the Cannes Film Festival to premier his new movie “Highest 2 Lowest,” directed by his friend Spike Lee. While speaking, he was given the ultimate festival surprise — an honorary Palme d’Or, a prestigious lifetime achievement award. The award was presented by Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux and handed to Washington by Lee, who told the crowd, “This is my brother, right here.” Denzel got teary and said, “This is a total surprise for me. I’m blessed beyond measure and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you all.”
NORM!!?
George Wendt, actor and comedian best known for his role as Norm Peterson on NBC’s hit sitcom “Cheers,” died Tuesday in his home. He was 76. Born in Chicago and raised on the South Side, Wendt got his start in the 1970s with Second City, the famed improvisational comedy troupe that was based in his hometown. Wendt appeared in movies including Dreamscape (1984), House (1985), Fletch (1985), Gung Ho (1986), Plains Clothes (1987), Never Say Die (1988), Guilty by Suspicion (1991), Forever Young (1992) and Spice World (1997). He also played the grumpy father of a son (Macaulay Culkin) who likes his music loud in Michael Jackson’s 1991 “Black or White” music video. He popped up on Saturday Night Live as Bob Swerski, one of the “superfans” who gathered at Coach Mike Ditka’s restaurant in the Windy City to watch “Da Bears.” He was also the uncle of SNL and “Ted Lasso” actor Jason Sudeikes. Wendt’s publicist released a statement saying, “George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him. He will be missed forever.”
ALMANAC
NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES
May 26, Monday – Memorial Day
June 14, Saturday – Flag Day
June 15, Sunday – Father’s Day
June 20, Friday – Summer begins (The June solstice occurs at 10:42 P.M. EDT)
BIRTHDAYS
Sarah Ramos (actress, “Chicago Med,” “Midnight, Texas”) … 34
Fairuza Balk (actress, “Ray Donovan,” “The Waterboy,” “The Craft”) … 51
Lisa Edelstein (actress, “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce,” “House”) … 59
Mr. T (actor, played B.A. Baracus, “The A-Team”, born Lawrence Tureaud) … 73
Al Franken (disgraced U.S. Senator, comedian, radio personality, author) … 74
Leo Sayer (singer, “You Make Me Feel Like Dancin'”) … 77
Bill Champlin (keyboardist with Chicago) … 78
Today’s Birthdays grade: A lot of names from the 70s and 80s, a few that are more contemporary, but … no fireworks. Grade: C.
[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’m not perfect, I’m not an angel, but I try to live a certain way because it brings honor and respect to my mother.”
(A) Bill Cosby
(B) Harvey Weinstein
(C) Mr. T
ANSWER: (C) Mr. T
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
2019 – Washington became the first U.S. state to legalize human composting.
* So much for knowing where the bodies are buried.
1927 – Charles Lindbergh landed in France after becoming the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
* No luggage fees! No crying babies! No TSA!
1908 – The first horror movie, “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,” premiered in Chicago, frightening many in the audience.
* But that was nothing compared to the prices at the concession stand.
1881 – Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross.
* The easiest part was coming up with a logo.
1851 – Gold was discovered in Australia.
* Prospectors were overjoyed to discover gold down under “Down Under.”
1819 – The first bicycles in the U.S. were introduced in New York City.
* Where they’re known today as “targets.”
1804 – The famous Lewis & Clark Expedition began.
* Clark called shotgun.
THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY
2023 – Rock band Foo Fighters introduce new drummer Josh Freese in a live stream event promoting new album and tour.
2010 – U2’s lead singer Bono, 50, had emergency spinal surgery after suffering an injury while preparing for touring.
2008 – Lou Pearlman, the music mogul who created the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison over a decades-long scam that swindled thousands of investors out of their life savings.
2003 – Singer Ruben Studdard won 1st place on American Idol after 24 million viewers voted in the final. Studdard beat fellow finalist Clay Aiken in a tense live showdown.
2003 – A new statue of Jennifer Lopez was unveiled at Madame Tussauds in London. It was part of a new “A list” celebrity area that also featured Naomi Campbell and Samuel L Jackson.
1995 – Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt was arrested for drunk driving. When police later searched his car, they found about $150 worth of cocaine inside.
1980 – Joe Strummer of The Clash was arrested at a Hamburg, West Germany, show after smashing his guitar over the head of an audience member.
1979 – Elton John became the first Western pop star to appear in the Soviet Union, when he held a sold-out concert in Leningrad.
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. The average person will spend about 11 hours of their lives doing THIS. What is it?
Waiting on hold
2. According to a recent study, the average person spends almost 4 days a year doing THIS. What is it?
Looking for a parking spot
3. The average person spends 15 months of their lives doing THIS. What is it?
Deciding what to watch on TV
(c) 2025
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