[music] This is the other side of midnight with Frank Morano. They're running a strange program, y'all. Now, here's Frank Morano. [music] Well, here we are on the eve of Independence Day, America's birthday, a tremendous holiday for a host of reasons, and I thought why not assemble a panel of three relatively interesting people to chew over the days, headlines, and who knows, maybe even have a laugh or two, and I think we have done just that with the people you're about to hear this hour. Very pleased to welcome Taxi Driver, Playwright, Radio, Truck Show Host, etc., etc. The one and only John McDonough. John, it is great to see you. Yeah, the last time I was here, you were known as Frankie Five-Burrows. Now, you're Frankie 48 states. That's right. No, we're on in Alaska. We're all 50, although, you know, some states we're more easily heard than others. Also want to welcome veteran radio talk show host who actually used to occupy this time slot at 77 W A B C. He's also been heard on a lot of the other great stations that are carrying us these days in St. Louis and Minneapolis, etc., the one and only Freddy Mertz. Hey, Fred. And a few stations that no longer exist have to include those two. Well, I mean, they've disappeared all the good stuff. And I know you would make the stations disappear. We might not be so quick to invite you back on. All right. And now let me also welcome my friend, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and legendary nightlife in Prisario. No Ashman. Hello there. No. How are you? Right. I am great. Certainly. That's coming in literally within the last 30 seconds. It's nice to see you. All right. A lot to get to and we will in a wide variety of subjects the over the next hour, John, this is the first time I've seen you, I think, since your mentor and radio partner, legendary writer, Maliki McCourt has passed away. First I do have to say, you know, sorry as I did when he passed away, but you guys had this big memorial for him. Nobody, nobody thought to invite me. Nobody thought to say, Hey, maybe Frank would like to come. This all had to do with the family. I was the only MC at Symphony Space over 700 people, 700 people. It couldn't be 701 close friends and relations that showed off that day. But it was a while I'll send you the video of that, but Frank, I'll get to it. Maliki so appreciated you reviewing his book amongst women when it came was reissued or death need not be fatal, but he used to listen to you at night and, you know, like a lot of your listeners get up and just tune in and stuff like, but he used to listen on the weekend. So he calls me and he goes, John, he said, this is guy Curtis Sleewa. He's on in the weekend. Jesus. He must hate Frank. And it goes, he keeps calling him this name. I've never heard it before. Mama Luke. He goes, is it a pro now? What is it? Why does he keep calling him? Mama Luke, he's just, he couldn't understand what was going on, but he really appreciated his time being on WABC. Well, that's, that's, that's great to hear. He was a great guy. All right. Let me ask the three of you will begin with the issue to your this week. I had intended not to talk about this today because honestly, I am Biden out and I think it's been done to death, but when the first democratic congressman calls for the sitting president to get out of the presidential race, attention must be paid. Here is Congressman Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Texas who says that president Biden's debate performance is an indication that he's reached the end of the road. Here's Congressman Dogget. I think the setback that has occurred will be difficult to overcome under any circumstance. We are looking at, not people like me who, who believe Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal for our country, but a very small portion of the country who are undecided, who may be what are called the double haters that don't like either candidate. And I think we would be better off if we had a new candidate who could present a new vision for our country. And we can do that if we have an open and fair democratic process over the next few weeks. Fred, what do you think? Is Biden going to drop out? Should he drop out? What a question. What a question. The sad reality is, and I'm in a minority position, I'm not a Biden supporter, but I would rather have your dog. If you have one in the office, then President Donald Trump, and I know I'm not supposed to say that in this building. Oh my God, shoot him. But the sad reality is either way, I think we are in trouble on the same token. I felt sorry for Biden when I saw that debate. And I saw relatives that I have, or that I had, who underwent various stages of dementia, Alzheimer's, and then died. It's like a computer file. You have a robust memory of something. And then all of a sudden, there's part of it, you just can't pull up. So I saw him, he looked gaunt, I thought he was going to keel over. And yeah, it was pretty scary, but I felt sorry for him. And then you've got Trump making these faces, and it was like you wanted to put a caption on them. And he's allowed to do that, and that's free speech. And yes, I guess he won the debate in terms of having his faculties intact, but lie, cha-ching, cha-ching. So either way, either way, Frank, we are in trouble. So, but I found myself feeling sorry for Biden and not wanting to condemn the man, because what's that word that I think Woodward, he won't die, Bob Woodward is saying that he has a condition that's a tributary of Alzheimer's dementia. It's called Sun Downer, the old Gordon Lightfoot song, Sun Downing. So, let me, I'll ask the question again, do you think President Biden will drop out and should he drop out? You know, the question is, who takes over? It's not going to be Kamala. And I don't know how it's going to happen without there being a major mess. So, I don't think that he can drop out unless God forbid he dies. Well, no, you follow politics pretty closely. I think you're a Trump supporter, right? Or are you? What's your political leaning these days? I'm kind of right in the middle. You're in the middle. So you're over Biden. Got you. Sure. Okay. So give me your take on the Biden situation. Do you think that he's going to drop out and should he drop out? You know, I think, you know, watching that, it's sad, it was sad to watch, but I think the biggest surprise for me is that everyone was so surprised. I mean, he's been like this for a long time. So I think, yeah, I can't believe he won the first time, because I think even back in 2000, he was exhibiting a lot of these things, not quite as severe. 2020. 2020, yeah. Sorry. Not quite as severe, but was certainly exhibiting a lot of the same signs. And I think they've really kept him hidden, but it's, you know, sad at this point. I mean, I guess the problem is they don't really have a bench of other people they can put right in. Yeah, so Congressman Lloyd Doggett, he actually referenced LBJ dropping out in 1968. And he represents LBJ's old congressional district. I brought that up with Anthony Wiener right after the debate on Friday morning. And Wiener dismissed that. He said it's a totally different circumstance. That was a primary. This is a general election. John, what do you make of it? Do you think by President Biden will drop out and shouldn't? Well, as far as I'm concerned, he dropped out a couple of years ago and he just didn't know what his country is being run by the grifter in chief, Dr. Jill Biden, at the moment. But the thing about I find amazing is how people on the left now are shocked by what happened at the debate. Now I listen to all radio, I listen to W, ABC, when I'm up in Boston, I listen to Howie Carr. He specializes his show every day with clips, every day of Biden screwing up. So had you been listening to that, what happened at the debate wasn't shocking. You read The New York Times, Friedman was weeping when he watched the debate at MSNBC. They go, I can't believe what's going on because they live in such a bubble that they never put out. I had somebody in the car and they heard these clips for the first time up in Boston. They said, is that Biden? I said, yes, that's every day. They couldn't believe it. So the rest of the country was finally getting to see what people on the right had known for a year. I wasn't shocking to people on the right. Well, listen to ABC or Howie Carr or any right wing station because they were playing the actual clips every day. Whereas MSNBC, you had that one second where he was coherent and it would play the one second ago. Oh my God. He looks good. Oh my God. Nobody ever says, Oh, Biden looks good. Oh, if you play one second, he does. So you're another one knows the only one that answered my question directly. You should President Biden drop out and will he drop out? Yes, he should drop out. But like I said, mentally, he dropped out years ago and now there'll be more people coming in. They'll be the avalanche. But his family, the grifters in chief and the people he's surrounded himself with, they want to cling to power. You know, they talk about vices of alcohol addiction and drug addiction. Power is an addiction. He can't let it go. Jill can't let it. She's on Vogue magazine Hunter. Oh, we got to fly him and because he just sees China going down. He sees the Ukraine going down. I can't let this cash cow go down. Dad, dad, you got to stay in. All right. Why did you feel better knowing hunters and advice? Yeah. I did a chuckle at the New York Times coverage and other stories saying that basically Hunter Biden is part of this response team part of this crisis communications analyst. I mean, if that's not an indication that President Biden is not as sharp as it used to be, I don't know what is. It's a scary thing, but I don't know who the replacement could be. But don't you think anybody would be better than Biden? Oh, no. No, I sadly don't believe that. And you know, one thing that I have to say is take Biden out of the equation. And I think everybody on this panel, everybody in this audience knows somebody who has some level of Alzheimer's dementia. And you know, I don't wish bad things for the guy or for our country. And that really is bothering me and the way people are just making jokes about it on some of the stations that John listens to and his favorite Boston station. It's not funny. Alzheimer's is not funny dementia. I'm not saying you're doing it, but a lot of these talk show hosts are just regurgitating the talking points and let's have a good, let's have a field day laughing at this guy's dementia. It's not a field day. It's really sad. Well, the part of the problem is a lot of the defenders of President Biden aren't acknowledging that there's a problem. I mean, there's more than there used to be, but you have President Biden and his family basically saying, you know, he just had a bad debate and the number of excuses that we've heard for why he's had a bad debate first, they were saying he was overprepared, which was really interesting. But you know, that can be true, though, Frank, as a talk show, maybe it can't be too much prep. Your show is going to suck. So you can't do too much. You're right about that. It can be true, but if it's true, then don't people have a right to make jokes if that's the excuse now. Now, the latest excuse is that he was traveling 12 days before the debate and he got worn out and wasn't, you know, at the top of his game. And then I don't remember what the other excuses have been. But those are the two most recent, there was no power nap. He really shouldn't have traveled the previous week. He was sick. Yeah. Oh, that was the other one. Thank you. I forgot about that. The cold. Very very, at Bellevue, just up the street here, you can have his own little wing, have a couple of books, they wheel him around and you get to visit him and read his couple of books. But I have a dumb question, though. If both parties could agree to the rules, why was there no beverage? I don't mean alcohol necessarily hot tea water or something, right? Water. The man comes out of the box coughing, all right. Why is there no pitcher of water? Were they afraid he was going to see crib notes on the water? Was there not water there? I didn't realize that. I didn't know that. All you had was your saliva. It was really bad. Well, there's a live. And no notes. Why can't you have, I'm not a big Alec Baldwin fan, but he played Trump for a while before the current guy does it on SNL. And there was a bit where Trump had to remember to say bad Ombres when he was going to debate Hillary Clinton. Remember the El Chapo and the bad Ombres, and it was a funny bit. And I think Biden needed to have that one card, not saying bad Ombres, but just something. I understand why you can't have notes because you don't want people just reading. You want to see if they can answer questions extemporaneously. And he didn't have any paper though. He didn't have pen and paper. Right. You can make notes during the debate, but you can't, you can't come in with prepared policy statements or prepared jokes, which is what kind of thing he was trying to think back. Number one, right? Remember number one, he never got to number two. He was, oh, he's stuck on number one. There was, he's still celebrating the fact that you always had a great CNN with the blame for hosting it. Yeah. I saw people blame. Maybe an inch full for hosting it. And in fact, check him in real time, it was a, it was a, which was part of the rules, part of the rules. Yeah. Speaking of presidential candidates, the one that we have not mentioned thus far is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who I really like, he is the subject of a scathing profile in Vanity Fair, which basically is relying on supposedly quotes from his family and friends. If I were him, I would get some new friends to, um, eviscerate him for a wide variety of things, including the fact that he appeared in North Korea, in Korea, I think South Korea, and looked like he was roasting a dog. And this is a private text message image that emerged. He's saying, no, no, no, no, that he didn't actually eat a dog that this was a goat. Here he was talking with Chris Cuomo last night on news nation. There is nothing about this conversation that I could ever imagine even a year ago. So, you know, that you are where you are, that, you know, when we've known each other for, I don't know, 20 or 30 years, that I'm running for president, and that I'm being accused of eating a dog now. I would not believe any of those things. And you know, I am a very adventurous eater, Chris. I think you know about that, about me. I'll eat virtually anything. There's two things I wouldn't eat. Well, three, I wouldn't eat a human. I wouldn't eat a monkey and I wouldn't eat a dog. I think I'd eat anything else, but I just couldn't bring myself to do those things. So, um, it is a goat and, uh, and you are what you eat. The goat. The greatest of all times. That what you're saying about yourself, Bobby Kennedy, such arrogance. No last minute. No last minute. Um, what do we make of this? Did Robert F. Kennedy Jr. actually eat a dog and, uh, is he going to be viewed like, uh, the governor of South, uh, South Dakota, Christine Gnome, if he did, I, this is the first I'm hearing with this story. Oh, wow. I, I, I hope not. I, it was interesting to know that he said only, uh, he wouldn't eat a dog, a human, or a monkey or a monkey. Right. Like, why is he picking the particular mammals? I mean, you know what I mean? I was on the menu. Like he did a, he did a cat or rat. Like I, he got that. That's true. He left cat in there. That's a question. You know, wedding. So, but look at this image here. Here's the image and a, I, do you think that looks like a goat or, or a dog? Because again, I'm not sure what, what, what the big difference really is. I mean, you're still eating an animal, right? But in, as Americans who love our dogs, we tend to view people that eat dogs more positively. They'll, excuse me, more negatively than people that eat goats. But to me, it's clearly a goat having been to a number of Greek barbecues. It's like healthy and buffets. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, what do you make of that? Oh, it does look like a goat. Right. It's like a goat to me. It's a goat. Take them off. Take them off. Take them off your presidential ballot, Frank. Because he hasn't got a prayer in hell. Well, but so. Can we get some DNA? Yeah. Okay. Well, we're going to do that. Do you have any, any comment on goat? Frank, you're the only show where I get emails from people you'll listen to saying, bring this up. Mother Jones, because he's also been blamed for the measles outbreak in Samoa. He's blamed for, I mean, the hit pieces that are coming out, particularly in the New York Times, they do not want him running. But everyone keeps complaining, oh, this is democracy. We need more people running. All right. JFK, the RFK wants to run. Oh, well, we don't want him running. So it is unbelievable the things that is family to fan out the national inquiry. Have they taken over? Well, you know, it's interesting. I think they're taking over for the times because the times is now focusing all their negative articles on President Biden. Yeah. You notice. It's a daily drumbeat of editorials and news articles, all saying how he has no idea what's going on. Doesn't know where he is. In a way, it's going to galvanize Biden's base because who likes the New York Times? It's not just the Trump, the Trump people who can't stand the New York Times. The New York Times can really offend anybody. So Fred Mertz is here. We're talking with no Ashman. John McDonough is here. We're going to continue in a moment. If you want to join the conversation, you can certainly do so at 646-7200-635, 646-7200-635. This is the other side of midnight as we embark on another midnight panel straight in. The other side of midnight with Frank Morano. It's the other side of midnight with Frank Morano. It's the other side of midnight with Frank Morano. This is the best mode, enjoy the silence. Another birthday bumper music selection from Imran Ansari, who's celebrating his birthday today. Happy birthday. A lot of great people born today, joined in studio by John McDonough, Freddie Mertz, and Noel Ashman. Noel, you are an interesting guy. That's been very clear from the moment I met you many years ago. You have done a ton of traveling as of late. Weren't you just in Israel? I was. Yeah. What were you doing out there? Tell me about that. We met by 2020 new voices and the Sheba Hospital. And it was a crazy trip. We met with the Tyler Bennett, the former Israeli Prime Minister. Yeah, I've been trying to get him on the show. Put in a word for me. Yeah. Great guy. Really smart guy. Really interesting. Very interesting guy. We had dinner with him. I got to spend a lot of time with him. He was actually really interesting. And it was hard. We went to the Nova Festival site. We met with a bunch of the families of the hostages, like Rachel Goldberg and a bunch of those people. And it was very, very, very tough trip with something I was very glad I did. Yeah. I can imagine. Was that your first time there? Second. Second. The first time as an adult. Okay. And certainly the first time since October 7th. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you got back home safe. You know, speaking of the conflict in Gaza, this is obviously a bit more a bit heavier than I like to, you know, handle at this time of the morning. But I am wondering if we're sort of in a new phase of this situation. It's being reported now that the generals in the IDF are pushing for a ceasefire. And they're basically talking openly with the media saying something different from what Netanyahu is saying. You know, John McDonough, you're wearing a shirt that says veterans for peace. I know you're very strong on the peace movement. How do you view the Gaza situation now and what we're hearing from these generals about? They think that they're ready for a ceasefire. Even if Gaza remains in place, excuse me, if Hamas remains in place in Gaza. As you said, I'm with veterans for peace and they've been marching for a ceasefire. And that because, I mean, what's going on in Gaza is affecting US politics. Look what happened up in Westchester. But here's the problem. And I find with the left and I'm glad we didn't do this with veterans for peace. You know, we didn't come out and support Hamas. Now, why a secular left would be supporting religious, religious fanatics in the Gaza Strip as in Hamas. And I always compare it to how do you negotiate with Hamas like during World War II, the Japanese unconditionally surrendered, the Germans unconditionally surrendered. And I go from an Irish perspective in 1916, when the British had surrounded Dublin and were bombing the GPO, Patrick Pierce issued a statement, lay down your arms to save civilians you would think Hamas at some stage, they're surrounded in Rafa that they would just say, in order to save Palestinian lives, we're going to unconditionally surrender and release the hostages. But they are willing to fight to the last Palestinian in Gaza. And I don't know how you sit down at a table with religious fanatics who believe, if I die, I'm a martyr for the cause. But it's not going to be very difficult. Yeah, but the problem is, and I'm Jewish, and I will, I will give that disclosure here. I hope I would have this feeling if I wasn't Jewish. And it's hard to be Jewish right now. My God, Jews can't stand Jews. Non-Jews can't stand. It's really tough to be Jewish right now. Columbia University, oh my God. Columbia University, let's appease the tent, the franchise tent encampments. But to go back on the focus with this, you cannot negotiate with a group that does not look at Jews as human. And the two-state solution is something that most Israelis are very happy to have. They'd love to have a two-state solution for peace. In fact, one could argue that two-state solution was in effect with a very prosperous Gaza. But the point is, what is real supposed to know? Well, for some people it was, for some people it wasn't. I think very few. For Hamas. Yeah, for Hamas. The point is, there is very little line between the terrorists and the so-called innocent Palestinians. Who are the innocent people? Well, I think a six-year-old that loses two limbs. That's innocent Palestinians. Wait a second. Wait a second. The terrorists embedded himself right with that six-year-old. So what is the solution then? What does this just continue in perpetuity is, Hamas should not be acknowledged as the go-to party for medical jurisdiction, for food supplies. It's like, well, Hamas's medical authority said, how is Hamas allowed to be running the hospitals? Get rid of them. So Israel is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Well, unfortunately they're allowed because they were elected in Gaza. The last time they got elected elections. Well, well, there was a little, there was so much force in that election. Yeah, but their opponents were former buildings. And war also affects the Israeli attitude against Palestinians. They don't see them as human either. I mean, war... I would disagree with that. I would disagree. That music festival was actually a festival piece. Believe it or not, that was a festival. Where they had terrorists coming in there, you had people... I mean, and I want to know why musicians of the world have not come to the defense of Israel. It's like within three or four days, if that of October 7th, Israel was the bad guy. Forget all those people who were killed barbarically in their borders. Great pillaged, and did you catch the videos and you really can't fake this, of the gleeful celebration among the innocent Palestinians of some nude women who had been taken from that music festival and elsewhere, and were being paraded around the jeep. I mean, I have not heard one, and maybe the media... I mean, I can't believe it's a conspiracy. Everybody loves conspiracies and talk radio in the media. I have not heard one Palestinian, or a person identifying as Palestinian, condemn the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7th. I have not heard one condemnation. Have any of you guys? Well, yeah, two things I would say on that. One is, if you are in Gaza and you go against Hamas, you get murdered. You can't do that. But I did meet in Israel a bunch of people who were Palestinian who did condemn Hamas. So I think there are Palestinians who feel that way. Certainly in the West Bank, there are as well. Sure, and the second thing that I found fascinating, which I didn't know, and honestly what you said, is that of almost everyone I met, I met generals, Israeli generals I met, they've probably been it, a lot of the hostage families. None of them hated Palestinians, amazingly. And it's kind of amazing that that's true. And I've heard that as well. They would like to have a peaceful coexistence. Yeah, they all hate Hamas, and they want to get rid of Hamas, but they really do not hate Palestinians. And that gave me great hope that someday, once you get rid of Hamas, there could be a piece. Let me just get a question though, and then we'll move on to some other things as well. Don't you think both sides Hamas and Netanyahu are in part prolonging this conflict? Because as soon as this conflict is over, Sinwar, the head of Hamas, is out of power. And Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, is out of power. I mean, don't you think they both have a vested interest in keeping this going? Because right now, there's some of the most significant leaders in the world. They're at the heart of the first or second most talked about conflict in the world. But the day after this war ends, both of them are gone. I mean, Netanyahu might want to keep it going politically, but Hamas will keep it going religiously. They're doing it for two different reasons to keep it going. I mean, as I said, Hamas is a model. They are going to fight to the last Palestinian on in the Gaza Strip. All right, that's going to be. I don't see Netanyahu with the one likes him or not. Some compare him to Trump, the Trump of Israel, but Trump can't stand him at the moment. Who knows if Trump gets reelected, they'll be good buddies again. And of course, Trump's saying this would never have happened on my watch as a Jew. That really infuriates me. But back to the question here. I can't believe that Netanyahu wants this war to continue. If he could be a hero and end it and get those hostages back, he's a hero for no idea. But how do you get those hostages back? What are you supposed to do, right? Why is that infuriating you for Trump saying that? It wouldn't happen. It is disgraceful. It is a slap in the face to Jews and humanity. If I was the president, this attack wouldn't have occurred. Well, why don't you pick up the phone and call your friends and tell them not to make the attack? He said the same thing about Ukraine. If I was the president, there wouldn't have been this attack on Ukraine. Well, I'm not here to defend Trump. I'm sorry for going down that road. What did I think about that though? Listen, I'm not here to defend Trump. I also happen to be Jewish. And I absolutely believe that had Trump been in power with what he was doing to Iran, because he had Iran in the box. I mean, Iran was broke. They had no money for a monster his ball at that time. We have kissed the rans, took us for too long. You said you were Trump. Trump didn't. I mean, look, I have my issues with Trump at times, but on this issue, he was very strong. And so wait, what about that, Fred? And Putin, by the way, also he under Bush invaded Georgia, under Obama Biden, he invaded Ukraine. Well, we're not supporting Putin. He was the Putin fan of this people. He invaded nobody under Trump. No one was, Putin did nothing. So there's something to be said by a leader that people were intimidated by. Trump did compliment Putin on his real estate tastes. It was a very good real estate move to play that. I'm sorry to play that game in Ukraine. I'm sorry. All right. You're on the light topic this morning. Yeah. Yeah. Frank, we're going to talk to you since this is a light topic. Hey, speaking of what's going on in Middle East and in Eastern Europe, a lot of people have blamed the tensions there for the uptick in global gas prices. We have seen a lot of discussion of gas prices, especially by the people that have to pay them. John McDonough, you're a cab driver. Let me begin with you. What are you seeing on the gas price front going to get worse going into summer? Is this just the kind of thing that consumers have to grin and bear? You see any hopes for a little relief. Listen, if I could predict that, I'd be down a Wall Street buying stock in oil companies going up. I mean, you got what's going on in Yemen, closing down shipping lanes. You have all these things. Everything is very volatile. I don't know what's going to go on. I just hope it stays low and I just want to congratulate only for the moment, hokled because I didn't have to pay $15 to add it on to the gas charge to come down here to do the radio show today on third Avenue. So I mean, we're being hit from all angles. If you want to drive a car here in New York City, we're paying a heavy price. And the gas is just one part of it. As compared to tolls and congestion and parking tickets. I mean, I'm almost afraid to stop at a red light. I might get a ticket. I could get clamped at a red light. I mean, I got to keep rolling. You got to keep moving in the city. Don't stop. But along with the forces internationally, there is also collusion that goes on. And I don't know where you drive, but if you're in the New York Metro, you might be landlocked. And of course, we have an audience throughout the country. So a lot of people are just in their one state. Like you mentioned St. Louis and I used to work there. So for example, you've got Illinois and you've got Missouri or Missouri. I understand that. And so you can take advantage of whatever the price might be, the lower tax, whether it's alcohol or gas. And the same thing happens in New Jersey and way by York. And so the gas is always cheaper in New Jersey. And even in New Jersey, it is amazing. But it's not so much cheaper these days. Oh, it's about 30 gas. It can be 25 to 30 cents a gallon less. Not anymore. And with the OCD that I have, a gift, a curse, I know all the prices. I can constantly see them. And the prices were spiking two days ago, all of a sudden. And I wonder why. Could it be July 4th weekend is in our midst? You're going to blame the Middle East and we can blame the Suez Canal. And we can blame all of this stuff. But there's also collusion going on right on Route 17 in New Jersey. And so I was thinking like 349, oh, geez, you know, 343. And there was a pilot station that was still at 315. And I said, oh my God. I mean, this is what my life was reduced to. You know, praise Jesus. We can go and worry. No, it's like cocaine. It was stepped on a little bit. It's the same truck. It's the same gas. No, you don't drive these days. Do you or do you? I do. I don't. I mean, living in New York. I drive a lot. Right. It makes any of the Hamptons. Oh, what happened to LA? So what do you do when you have to take a trip? You rent a car? You have a car that you-- I read-- actually, I got a range-- I did an event for Range Rover a long time ago and got a free car-- Of course you did. Of course you did. There you go. And I didn't even keep it. Because I didn't need it. The only time I ever used it was going to Lang City, where the Hamptons-- Well, that's fair. It's not worth the parking spot. So yeah, I really don't need a car. But yeah, I rent them usually when I come to travel. Yeah. By the way, John, you are doing this monthly storytelling event on July 11th. Tell me about that very quickly. Keep going to check that out. It's at a comedy club called QED in Astoria, Queens. And the second Thursday of every month, I have real New York. You see, I've been doing the morth and going to that. And what I found out at the morth, it's generally people are 24, 25 years old. And the running theme that they would have in their lives-- Hi. I live in my mother's basement in Queens. I smoke dope. I drink beer and I play video games. And I said, this was the extent to their life experience. And I was saying, you know, when I was 18, drafted into the army, it was sent around the world. I killed someone, came back, got married, two kids, got divorced. And by 24, you were raving alcoholic and drug addict. So you had stories to tell. So me and this retired cop from the South Bronx, Al Gonzalez, we decided we're going to do New York storytelling at the QED. So every second Thursday, next one is July 11th. We're going to have the Saw Lady on. She was just robbed in Union Square. She's been playing the Saw for 25 years down in the subways. And some guy came up, and a good thing was videotaped, robbed her tip cup. Oh my god. But you know what? Crime on the Sowy's perception, the perception, and videos. And then I'm having my friend, Father Pat Maloney, on the Lower East Side, who allegedly was involved with an armored car robbery in Rochester, New York, $7 million, $5 million, it's missing. So he's coming to tell the story about doing five years in the joint. And I'll be telling Kirby stories. I'll be telling cop stories about the South Bronx. So that's what I'm up to now, is getting New York stories out by real New Yorkers. So if people want to go to that and check that out, I can think of it. At qedestoria.com, look up July 11th, and we termed it from the BQE to the QED, because that's where all the stories are. Yeah, I don't know. Somebody stuck on the BQE heading to the QED in the story. Yeah. No, what are you up to these days? You always have three or four films that you're usually promoting. What are you up to these days that people should be aware of? I have a bunch of films that we're developing right now. I had a move called Cash Out with John Travolta, Natalie Jure that came out recently. We have the second Cash Out 2, which is going to be out in the fall, which is a great cast. John Travolta, Natalie Jure, Quavo, Kristen Davis from Sex and City. So that's one, I'm doing a birthday party on the 18th. You're a birthday party. My birthday party. Where's that going to be? It's going to be-- Or do you not want to say? Yeah, it's a place called Dom on Park Avenue South. Well, that's going to be-- Your parties are always-- They don't just make page six. They do a week's worth of items out of your birthday parties. I can't compete with any of this. I mean, I am not making a movie with John Travolta, and I'm not appearing at my birthday. It came and went. But if I still have two more days to go to Red Robin and get the hamburger-- Yeah, there you go. --for the four dollar purchase. No, no, Ashmond is here. And John McDonough is here. We're going to continue in a moment. 6, 4, 6, 7, 2, 0. 0, 6, 3, 5. This is the other side of midnight straight ahead. [MUSIC PLAYING] The other side of midnight. [MUSIC PLAYING] Midnight at midnight with Frank Morano. [MUSIC PLAYING] All the old paintings on the tomb may do the sand dance. Don't you know if you move too quick away? The other's falling down like the domino. [MUSIC PLAYING] 14 minutes till the top of the hour. This is the other side of midnight. We have a midnight panel in full of facts, consisting of veteran radio talk show host Freddie Mertz, cab driver, comic, playwright, et cetera, John McDonough, and film producer, entrepreneur, and nightlife impresario, Noel Ashman. By the way, that was "Walk Like an Egyptian" by the Bengals, a birthday bumper music selection from my mom, Stephanie, who is celebrating her birthday today. So happy birthday, mom. Happy birthday. Help all your wishes come true today and always. Thank you for birthing me, even though today was your birthday. All right, Pat Tillman's mom, by the way, has spoken out after Britain's Prince Harry was picked to receive an award that was set up to honor her late son. Mary Tillman said there were other far more fitting recipients for the Pat Tillman Award, which is set up by ESPN in 2014 to recognize people with a strong connection to sports who have served others in a way that echoes her son's legacy. She told the Daily Mail over the weekend, "I'm shocked as to why they would select such a controversial and divisive individual to receive the award. There are individuals working in the veteran community that are doing tremendous things to assist veterans. These individuals do not have the money, resources, connections, or privilege that Prince Harry has." John McDonough, what do you make of this, Pat Tillman's mom says? You're asking an Irish guy about the royal family who controlled Ireland for over 800 years and is still in Ireland? I mean, I so detest the whole concept of royalty and people being born into these royal titles. And he literally is a royal grifter. The only thing I could say about the royal family of Britain as compared to say maybe the other royal families of Europe, I mean, they actually go into the service and he actually went to Afghanistan and allegedly fought there. I mean, I can only imagine how he's protected. I don't know how he can wear the uniform with the amount of medals that he has on him, him and the father. But to me, why they would pick this grifter who's living in California, who's just trying to glom on to any awards, him and the wife that they can get and-- Well, publicity. No, no, it's for publicity. And anybody who here has been involved with charities, you always try to pick someone who's going to sell tables and take ads out in your journal. And that's what I guess they're doing with him. But I would like to know how many tables is he going to sell and how many ads in the journal is he going to even take out himself or-- Can you see his father? Oh, King here, thank you for giving my son the award on the full page ad. I mean, that's very fun to say. No, you know a thing or two about throwing events. What do you make of this selection of Prince Harry for this Pat Tillman award? And should the fact that Pat Tillman's mother is taking issue with it? Should that have any effect? I mean, I understand why they did it, but I think that knowing a lot about Pat Tillman, I don't think Harry was the exact model of what you should be doing. I think they could have picked someone better. I happen to agree with the mother on this one. What do you think for the-- The mother, the mother. Well, I'm a fan of the mother, Princess Diana. No, no, the mother, Mary. I'm a fan of the Princess Harry's mother. But to be honest with you, it's not something that I know offense that I'm really thinking about much. But like I said, I still think back to Princess Diana and how the whole world stopped when the paparazzi changed. Well, what's the thing? The whole different thing. But I respect her. She was a good person caught up in this royalty whirlwind and sadly-- Right, nothing against Princess Diana, but maybe that's part of the problem is that instead of thinking about Mary Tillman, you're thinking about Princess Diana. This should be a Princess Diana award. No question about that. Right. I mean, she's not more worthy of an award than Pat Tillman is, right? You know, I'm not here to pick out who gets what award, the best award, the Stanley Cup. That was given out for weeks, for months. Is there really a Stanley Cup? And how many mouths have been on that? Well, that's a fair question. All right, we are talking a little bit about Britain and the election in America on July 4th of all dates. They are having their big election. Conservatives are expected to lose in a landslide. Who knows what actually happens? They've got enemies on the left with the Labour Party. They've got enemies on the right with Nigel Farage's Reform UK Party. Any thoughts on this British election, especially coming after this French election, where it looked like the Marine Le Pen led National Rally really made some gains. Now it looks like the Tories in the UK are really going to have a tough time. What do you think, John? I find it fascinating that someone could start a political party at the beginning of an election campaign, which would be unheard of here because they don't have the amount of money and the way you can advertise on the BBC, you can't. So somebody like Nigel Farage can come in and he's more right-wing than the Tories showing that by them tacking maybe to the middle, they lost a lot of votes and it looks like Nigel Farage might get more votes than the Conservative Party. Well, he said he's running basically to put them out of business and make them irrelevant. And that's a possibility. I only wish we could have something like that. Like working-class party, like the party in the Midwest, the farmers party, or some working-class, because both of our political parties, they will run by millionaires and billionaires. The first thing that Biden did when he came out of his coma after the debate, he had to reassure his donors that he could speak in sentences, but he didn't make the phone calls. He had these grifters that around him make. So this tells you all you need to know about our politics. It's the first bank of grifter. Yeah, that's the one you guys read. You know, the first thing he was worried about when he got off the debate stage, oh my God, make phone calls to our donors. We have to reassure them that I'm stable. You don't have that in the United Kingdom. You could put up a deposit of, I think it's like 1,500 pounds and if you don't get a certain percentage of the vote, you lose your deposit. Like you've got the man hatters that they are running throughout the country. And a lot of times when they win seats, they're horrified. They say, what am I going to do now? I got to sit on the city council, yeah. - Fred, you know, the UK, first they had Brexit and then Donald Trump came. They said that was an indication that people weren't happy about what's happening. Do you think the European elections, whether it's the elections for European Parliament, the elections in France, or what we're going to see it in? - What are you in Canada? - On Thursday in the UK, do you think those will have any sort of predictive effect on the American election? - Well, I'm going to go back to when I hate to term anti-Semitism because Semitic people would be Jews, Arabs, Kat Stevens, what happened to like, Yusuf Islam, but in any event, the conservative, and I've always hated these labels and you and I have talked off here about this, you know, we may be perhaps the lone wolves who talk radio, you get the labels out of here, please, take out these talking points, but what does conservative mean? And so conservative may mean one thing in the United States, something else in Germany, something else in France, as you say, but how does it affect the people there? And so I have to know the issues. I just can't say the right, the left, the conservative. - Well, that's what they call themselves, right? That's the name of the party, right? - But like they were concerned about a rise of an anti-Semitism in France. And I think back to Liam Neeson in, Liam Neeson in Taken, you know what I mean? Going to France and making that mess and getting that ungrateful daughter out. (laughing) I always think back to that scene, taking one was so great, two and three. - I just saw two and three, not as good. - Not as good. - Can't make you still kept me interested. - Yes, yes. - You know, what about you know, do you think these European elections have any sort of predictive effect on what we're gonna see in America? - I do in the sense that I think you see themes that are, you know, I think in, what I've certainly in France, I think that the fact that the conservative party is now for the first time since World War II, I think, making so many gains. I think the mass immigration, I think is really pissed people off, both here and there. I mean, I personally am a big fan of immigrant things, so it makes America so great, for example. But legal, where we know people coming actually want to, you know, when you go and see a, you know, people who are getting sworn in, it's beautiful. You know, you tear up looking at that. It's amazing having those people come to America who love it and want to be here, learn English to be here. But when you have people who just take advantage or jump over the border and just take advantage of us, that's very different. - Yeah, and I think they're trying to wrestle with some of those same issues as well. All right, the other big contest, aside from the British elections that's happening on Thursday, is obviously the Nathan's famous hot dog movie contest. This is the first contest. This is the first contest in almost 20 years that will not have Joey Chestnut competing in. It's a big controversy. What do you think of this, Noel? Is this going to be the end of the interest in the Nathan's hot dog eating contest? Somebody told me yesterday they don't even want to watch because Joey's not going to be able to see him. - He's so sexy, who can watch without Joey Chestnut? I mean, my God, give the guy a fig leaf. He's the best. - I mean, I thought it was a weird choice for him. I guess he's getting a lot of money by the sponsor, I think, which is why he's not in the contest now, by the non-meat sponsor, which I found a little odd. Yeah, I think it loses something. I think he's great, but I think it'll go on without him. - Well, are you betting any money, Fred, on who's going to win this contest since Joey's not competing? - I find the whole thing disgusting, but I have to tell you though, I do buy Nathan's hot dogs. They're not really made. They're made by a processor, I think, at Virginia, and somebody gets a cut. In fact, it's funny you mentioned that. I'm not gonna get into the whole story, but John and I were talking about that in the hallway before we came in. And you know, it is hard to find a good hot dog. So that's one of the best consumer hot dogs. Now, when you go and you buy the Nathan's hot dog, let's say in Brooklyn, and I actually went there to check it out, and when I was a kid, they used to have the hot sauerkraut and all the malls, and they had the Nathan's, the Orange Julius. Anyway, times change, the heck with Joey Chestnut, the whole thing is really disgusting. This is not a sport, okay? This is bad gastroenterology. - See, you don't, do you not watch the contest? - Not at all. - Wow, not at all. - That's on America. - I will be down there. I have a VIP from George Shea. This is a national tragedy. I don't know if we're gonna ever recover. I'm glad you brought it up when you had the PhD talking about July 4th will not be the same. But as far as Joey Chestnut-- - I mean, I do have to ask George about the Supreme Court or something. - Yeah, and as far as Joey Chestnut's, you know, patriotism is the last resort for a scoundrel. He will be down in Fort Hood, Texas, supporting the troops. That tells me all I need to know about Joey Chestnut's-- - Is that true? - No, I'm not, yeah, he's rapping himself around the flag. He should be up in Coney Island, jowing down on Nathan's hot dogs. I will be there in support. I mean, George Shea, and I was talking to him today, he runs it, he's gonna be the MC. He is bent over backwards. He has lifted all the restrictions. He's begged Joey Chestnut's to come back, but that other vice called Greed, I think, came in. And it's not to be, but it's gonna be more exciting. There's at least five guys that are going for the title and they might redeem America again, but I just hope we can keep the belt in America. I do not wanna see it going overseas. - Well, it's gonna be-- - It's gonna be a tragedy. - It's gonna be interesting. We'll have to talk-- - We'll have to ask George Shea about that shortly. - Well, this has been fun. The hour has absolutely flown by. Fred, are you appearing anywhere that we should promote that folks should know? - Oh, I'm appearing in a shop right somewhere. I'm appearing somewhere. I'm trying to avoid Walmart. I don't get along with them at all, but Target does have a price match, so I go there. - All right, Freddie Mertz, Noel Ashman, John McDonough. It's always a treat. Thank you, gentlemen, very much. Let's do this again soon. For the rest of you, keep asking questions. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]
