Kimmel Is Back, But It’s Not Over (Hour 2)

Transcript

Kimmel Is Back, But It’s Not Over (Hour 2)

The Todd Allbaugh Show · Thu Sep 25, 2025

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.

Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime, anywhere.

From the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead,

Here's your host, Todd Albaugh.

Todd Allbaugh

Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Taddle ball along Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board.

It is now six minutes past the hour of three o'clock.

Welcome into hour number two of the big broadcast here on Thursday, September 25th, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite.

Glad to have you along for our two downtown Madison the world headquarters of civic media the crossroads of state Oh, what happened to the old Sam Davidson Street came all right.

Just hold on Zommer's will play music and talk to you I'm gonna go over and fix all the bicyclists nice shot of the bicyclists I'll be right back ends

it up working out in our favor with the the cameras tilted a little bit down But with the bicyclists crossing the street with the signal I may add It made a for a better view of that

Anyway, Todd returns quickly, but now you can see the

Todd Allbaugh

act the

blue sky

Todd Allbaugh

Look at that beautiful blue sky over your center across now right next door tonight At the Orpheum and I was why I stayed late last night because by the way our friend Pat Crichtlow of Civic Media this morning with Up North News's own Pat Crichtlow powered by career news service something like that no Pat Crichtlow's in town and

Uh, he's doing a show, he did a show here today in one of the studios and he's going to do it tomorrow from six until nine.

Make sure you tune in.

We, and so I helped set up a little thing in the studio for him, a little light to whatnot.

And as I was leaving last night, there was a huge line from state street around the block to fair child in front of our building.

And I thought, well, they're, they're in line to get a Crite Lowes autograph.

Not this time.

No.

No, it wasn't.

John Baptiste, former band leader for the late show with Stephen Colbert, Grammy award-winning, excuse me, John Baptiste, is playing next door at the Orpheum Theater last night and tonight.

Huge crowd, sellout crowds.

And I thought, wouldn't it be nice if John Baptiste would just stop over here today and just maybe bring his portable...

keyboard and play us a tune.

And so now I'm I'm proud to tell you a surprise for for the show.

John Baptiste is not here.

I was

Todd Allbaugh

going to

say,

Todd Allbaugh

wouldn't that be something?

No, if he was out there in the lobby and he just came in, that would have.

It also would be interesting since you didn't tell me about it.

And so we'd have to set up all the tech for it on

Todd Allbaugh

the

spot.

Todd Allbaugh

That would have been something worth it.

Not a match.

The board goes back.

Anyway, who do we have?

We do have Keegan Kelly here.

And what's nothing wrong with that?

Keegan Kelly will be here at the bottom of the hour.

Writer4cracked.com.

He's going to be talking about speaking a late night.

Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air on ABC.

We talked about that a little bit yesterday.

Keegan Kelly, an entertainment writer, national writer, is going to be here talking about the implications of late night moving forward and also on free speech.

So Keegan Kelly will be here as well.

Also going to do what's worse.

Allergy season is upon us.

We'll talk about that and some text to win things as well in just a moment.

But first of all, a couple of pieces of business here.

The Brewers.

As you heard Mike Clemens talk about back in action tomorrow night have the day off wouldn't it wouldn't it be great to be walking along the lake and run into Sal Freelick in Milwaukee today and

John Batiste and Sal

Todd Allbaugh

Freelick having a show together now that I could die if that happened I was I was I was talking to a friend of mine my friend Robin and Ian's wife and daughter went to a game with me this year

Big, big, and that's, that's one of the cool things in my opinion about the Brewers is that Rob and I and my buddy Kurt and others were texting about the games during the games.

And I think if nothing else was still cool about this year's Brewers team is that so many of us have bought into their personal stories.

And that's what I love about it.

And, and South Relics on Instagram, I was

going through some of his stuff last night.

And he has things posted all the way back to high school.

I didn't know he'd play quarterback.

I didn't either.

Todd Allbaugh

For his high school football team, could have gotten scholarships.

He chose baseball late.

in his high school career and then went on to Boston College.

But if you look at his work ethic and he was also really involved all the way back to high school with the Boys and Girls Club in terms of helping special needs kids and doing like a special needs prom and he's continued to be involved with that now that he's in the pros.

And I'm thinking this guy was in a high school like six years ago or so.

And now here he is in the big leagues or the biggest names in baseball in the top team of baseball.

And he just, he seems like from what and how much can we really tell about somebody based on their social media, but to the degree that we can, not just South Freely, but Joe Artees and Christie Yelich and, and, uh, uh, you know, go right, Durbin and all the, all the reds go right through the lineup.

This is the smallest market in baseball.

And they're they're gonna they're one game away from securing the best record in baseball and the number one seed and they're the friendship amongst them seems genuine and That's what even beyond what they're doing on the field, which is spectacular But it's

the people as as pat murphy the manager has said and we're going to have brady ewing here tomorrow our friend an ongoing contributor in the 330 times slot and brady is going to talk to us as a former nfl player that you will ask him at the professional level how much does friendship and relationship play into success so i'm looking forward to

that yeah i think it helps at all levels of of athletics of

Musician ship of everything.

It's just when you have a true connection.

It can just hum it really can

Todd Allbaugh

Brewer's back in action tomorrow night at am fan field the final three games of the regular season against the Cincinnati Reds And this is gonna be no cakewalk because the Reds are right in the battle for the wild card spot And they're gonna need to win every game So it's gonna be a barn burner at am fan field you could hear the broadcast starting tomorrow night with the pregame show at 635

first pitch just after seven o'clock in Milwaukee.

You can hear it on RCE and Richland Center, ISS in Oshkosh, CQM in Park Falls and BZH in Hayward, Wisconsin.

Cannot wait for that.

All right, it is now 13 minutes past the hour of three o'clock.

Time once again for Civic Media's green and gold text to win multi-stake contest.

Up for grabs today.

$200 cash and gold jewelry.

Everybody who enters is eligible for the one grand prize to club level indoor seats to Green Bay versus Minnesota Green Bay home game on November 23rd of this year, of course, at high noon.

Also throwing in a gas card to get you to the game as a value of $1,550.

Open up the Civic Media app.

If you don't have it, download it at your Apple or Android device.

I'll put it up first ten stations are the ones that we are on Select one on the lower right-hand corner You'll see a little thing that says text an icon click on that and now we're going to give you the word to text Until you have until four o'clock today to text in the word twin the word is twin T W I and is a Nancy T as in Todd W I and is Nancy

The word is twin.

You have until four o'clock this afternoon to text in, remember, it's a state multi-state contest.

Good luck, everybody.

There you go.

So play, play, play hard, play well, win it all.

All right.

What should we do?

I'm trying to think about whether it's Obama cut or whether we should go right into what's worse.

What's your vote, Somers?

I mean, I couldn't vote for Obama before because I was too young, so I think I'm going to take this opportunity to say I voted for Obama.

Todd Allbaugh

You know what?

That answer is award-winning.

All right.

I thought we needed a little context from the wacky and wild news of the day.

And for me, nobody could just say things, and it's like, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Better than former President Barack Obama.

He's been doing a lot of speaking engagements.

Lately and this is from a day or two ago former president Barack Obama on the violence against the truth

So we have the spectacle of my successor in the Oval Office making broad claims around certain drugs and autism that have been continuously disproved and

The degree to which that undermines public health, the degree to which that can do harm to women who are pregnant, the degree to which that creates anxiety for parents who do have children who are autistic, which, by the way,

itself is subject to a spectrum and a lot of what is being trumpeted as these massive increases actually have to do with a broadening of the criteria across that spectrum so that people can actually get services and help, not to, it's all of that.

Is a is violence against the truth

Todd Allbaugh

Barack Obama former president in states Great context there Violence against the truth never heard that phrase before And he's right and the truth does matter 17 past the hour of three o'clock time once again for what's worse.

Let's go

Time once again for what's worse no prize money involved nothing to give away for this portion.

We're still doing the green and gold Text-to-Win contest giving things away there But this is just your chance to have your voice heard and what's better than that to turn on the radio and say hey, that's me All right Category today timely timely indeed as Mike Lucas likes to say beautiful weather out there right now, but you can feel The golden rod turning yellow

The corn is turning brown My grandma used to sing that song What's worse category today fall allergies or spring?

allergies fall allergies or Spring allergies give us a ring 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 2 2 4 8

Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort Fort

Do you think it's possible you work in a pharmacy's armors for a while?

Is it possible that can change with a person?

Yes our cheese can change and develop and or go away I know some people who never had seasonal allergies when they were kids and now they do And some people for whom seasonal allergies have gotten better.

It's

That stuff can change.

I'm not entirely sure how that works, but I know it is possible.

Todd Allbaugh

We're not trying to pawn you off as a physician, but you did work in a pharmacy and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

Indeed, indeed.

Holiday Inn Express

Todd Allbaugh

Pharmacy.

Oh, really?

I wish I could find one of those.

All right.

Come on back.

What's worse, fall allergies or spring allergies?

8-5-5, 7-5-2, 4-8-4-2.

Yes, I got the number right.

And text the word TWIN right now to win those fabulous prizes back after this.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get

Todd Allbaugh

started.

Autumn leaves, Nat King.

I could just, I could, I could listen to him all afternoon.

But sadly, you have to listen to me.

Now, years ago, Nat King Cole was brought back kind of sort of.

His daughter, Natalie Cole, did a compilation with her late father.

It was fantastic.

So we could somehow recreate.

AI, see AI, right?

What if AI could give me Nat King Cole's voice?

Now there we'd have a winner.

It could, I think it could get it close, you know?

And I don't know, AI voices, that's a complicated thing.

It can be used to great effect.

I can't remember what's his name not so much.

Yeah,

Todd Allbaugh

all right category fall allergies or spring allergies for today's what's worse 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 Ted listening in Appleton getting her done on the tarmac Ted What say you fall allergies or spring allergies?

What's worse?

Spring

Todd Allbaugh

spring what particular reason

you you know that fall once

If the frost hits, they're done.

Todd Allbaugh

Good point

anyhow.

Yeah, but I gotta give you an update, sir.

Todd Allbaugh

Please.

On my tongue.

Oh, yes.

Yes.

Give us the back.

Todd Allbaugh

He

purchased some tongue.

Todd Allbaugh

It is not his tongue.

If you weren't listen from a what's worse a few weeks ago or a few days ago When we were talking about different meat pride and and and Ted brought up tongue so you purchased tongue you you Marinated it and you said when you grilled it

No, I I just ended up boiling it.

Todd Allbaugh

No

boiled it for about three and a half hours and It cut like bad

Todd Allbaugh

really

It was so tender.

Once you get the heart, the outer skin off, it was like, but it was really good.

I'm sure

Todd Allbaugh

it was.

You got

to try it, Todd.

You got to try it, man.

Todd Allbaugh

Thank you, Ted, for offering me some of your tongue, but I think I'll pass.

I appreciate it.

Keep thanks for all the work you do up there at the beautiful Appleton Airport and have a great day.

What's worse, fall allergies or spring allergies?

855-752-4842.

Troy, Mount Horrible listening on WMDX.

Troy, fall allergies or spring allergies.

What's worse?

Well including today my left ear keeps keeps clogging up and

Todd Allbaugh

you and me both in

the spring, so yeah

Todd Allbaugh

No fun at all is it not now?

I can't I can't hear my

alarm my wife keeps nudging me Cuz I get up at 4 30 in the morning if she doesn't

Todd Allbaugh

right let me ask you this have your allergies changed I like

So for me, it seems like at my, my fault allergies used to be worse.

And now these days, it seems like the spring ones are worse.

Have yours changed over, over years or no?

I never, I never even had them though, like 10

Todd Allbaugh

years ago.

Really?

Really?

All right.

Todd Allbaugh

Might have gotten worse, older I

got.

Yeah.

And they are getting steadily worse.

But when I had COVID, I wake up every morning stuffy and I'm stuffy for like two, three hours.

Yeah.

So when I had COVID,

I didn't know it because I thought that was normal because I had I'd been vaccinated.

So just like I was stuffy, but then, you know, afternoon I was still stuffy.

I'm like, oh, yeah, this is

Todd Allbaugh

different.

Right.

Thanks, Troy.

Appreciate you.

Have a great day out there.

Beautiful Mount Horam.

Fall allergies or spring allergies?

What's worse, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two.

Matt in Middleton listening on WMDX on the text line says spring is worse as I want to be out doing things where as in the winter allergies, don't bother me as I'm usually inside with a hot beverage.

All right.

So I'm not sure if he added a new category, if he just mistyped and meant.

The fallout by suppose dust mites and the like, right?

Zahra get winter allergy or

dusty.

Todd Allbaugh

Yeah.

Right.

Now here's something I learned recently, by the way, I don't think I talked about this on the area.

Uh, cause I've always thought I had a kind of a depending, depending upon the cat, uh, a cat allergy.

Now I learned from someone who has cats recently that they said, well, if you only are affected by some cats, it's not the cat.

It has to do with how people how they keep their house clean because of the and their cat clean I guess because of the the dust mites on the cat and in the carpet and whatnot So it's not necessarily the cat.

It's how clean the cat is kept

You know, I never thought about

Maybe if I ask my friends to clean their kitties, that maybe I won't have such problems in the house.

Todd Allbaugh

Do you keep a clean cat?

Maybe it's a question we all

Todd Allbaugh

need to ask.

That sounds like a dating question.

But anyway, 855-752-4842, Ollie in the Northwoods.

Ollie, fall allergies or spring allergies.

What's worse?

Well, I think spring allergies are worse because once they start, there's...

They're generally running all through the summer and and don't stop until the first frost and stuff in the fall Oh, I definitely say spring ones at worst

Todd Allbaugh

All right, I appreciate Ali.

I hope we have a great afternoon up there the beautiful north woods off the text line Dolores on WM DX Madison Wayne in on Ted's earlier

A category of know your cuts of meat.

Dolores says tongue tacos are delicious.

We're talking about

Todd Allbaugh

food.

I'm only going to read that and offering nothing more.

Linda in Middleton on WMDX says fall allergies are worse because of corn pollen.

Zombers, quickly.

For me, spring allergies are worse is just.

They always hit me harder.

Todd Allbaugh

They are for me now as well.

It used to be fall now, it's spring.

All right, come on back.

Keegan Kelly, late night.

Jimmy Kimmel would have been the first free speech.

We'll talk about him after this.

Farm News is next on Civic Media.

Pursuing truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the Tout All Ball show on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Glad to have you along.

35 minutes now past the hour of three o'clock.

Erin Zommers running it on the board doing a yeoman's work as always.

Quick update for you.

A right smack dab in the middle of our green and gold text to win contest.

Your chance to win $200 cash and

gold jewelry and then everybody has entered in for a fabulous prize of an indoor seat to Green Bay versus Minnesota in November.

It's a prize package valued at $1,550, yours if the price is right.

Oh, and it's also a multi-state contest.

You can enter by texting the word TWIN.

T-W-I-N.

Text the word twin right now on the Civic Media app.

There is no twin.

He is singular.

He comes to us from Crack.com, a beautiful staff writer and entertainment reporter.

Keegan Kelly is back on the show live from his home via StreamYard.

Keegan, thanks for coming back.

How are you?

Thanks for having me, better than I was last time.

Todd Allbaugh

I'll say that

much.

Some sense is returned to TV.

Todd Allbaugh

Some sense, we're talking of course, Keegan was kind enough to join us shortly after ABC and Disney did the suspension, the indefinite suspension they called it, of Jimmy Kimmel.

After his remarks following the assassination of Charlie Kirk want to point out They were not comments directed at the deceased but rather at Donald Trump's reaction to it But for that he was taken off the air they came to an agreement Disney and Kimmel did and he was back on the air Keegan on Tuesday All be it not on all of the stations those which were owned by next star and Sinclair did not carry it I guess they covered

carry more of the family feud celebrity, whatever.

But what was your reaction to the return of Jimmy Kimmelkegan?

I thought he really stuck the landing here, in my opinion.

I know that he's gotten some criticism from further left people who feel like he should have gone in harder on the Trump administration.

He should have had a little bit more fire, a little bit more anger, but I don't think that was appropriate for the moment.

He had

unprecedented attention and eyeballs on him and he I think that the smart move there wasn't to escalate any kind of war or Try to pull some punches of his own But it was to paint this as what it really was It was a First Amendment issue and that affects everyone that affects conservatives that affects liberals and he did a very good point of calling attention to his

conservative, I don't want to say allies, but maybe temporary defenders.

He named dropped Ted Cruz at one point.

And he really said this is not a partisan issue.

This is the government trying to do something that it's not allowed to do.

And he took it very seriously.

He did have a few pretty good punchlines here and there.

I think my favorite joke in the night is when he said that

Ted Cruz knows the freedom of speech is important because how else is he gonna cast?

curses on the Smurfs.

Todd Allbaugh

That was pretty good.

I liked the line.

I'm not going to get it verbatim, but basically said, you know, Donald Trump said I was taking off the air because I don't have good ratings.

Well, tonight I do.

I thought that was pretty good.

To that point, we have a quick clip from CNN, who broken last night on the cable news network to talk about the numbers being in on Nielsen on Kimmel.

All right, the breaking news, Jimmy Kimmel.

The ratings are in for the first day.

And by the way, this is just on the linear here.

We'll share 6.2 million, 6.26 actually, six and a quarter million viewers on ABC.

That was four times Jimmy Kimmel's average.

And that's despite the show not even being available in a quarter of all American homes.

And the reason for that, of course, is those local TV station owners next are in Sinclair.

They're refusing to air Kimmel's program.

So even without a quarter of households, they managed to do that incredible surge.

Last night's surge show was Kimmel's most watched show.

In fact, since March 12th, 2015, so you got to go back more than 10 years, President Obama.

at the time was Jimmy Kimmel's guest that night.

Todd Allbaugh

That is CNN on the Niels numbers out for Jimmy Kimmel's first appearance back after being temporarily suspended on Tuesday.

Keegan, you watch these things more than anyone else.

Boy, if you want it earned media for your show, if you're Jimmy Kimmel, you got it.

Oh yeah, and that's not even counting the attention this got on social media and on streaming.

I'm looking at the number here.

his opening monologue from his first show back over 20 million views on YouTube in less than two days.

And that's astronomical.

Yeah.

I mean, that never happens in late night.

And that's important too, because as you said, these broadcasting groups, Next Star and Sinclair, they've preempted Kimmel and plan to continue to do so.

Who knows how long that'll go on, maybe forever, but...

That's really not where the business is at this point is these local affiliates.

I believe they own 23% of ABC stations, local ABC stations across the country.

But that's just not where late night is anymore.

That's not where TV is.

It's streaming.

It's social media.

It's the attention that it gets kind of after it's aired.

And man does Kim will have it right now.

And it's even continued until last night.

He still put up pretty impressive numbers.

you know, I think a lot of people anticipated that there would be a deflation.

I guess people would lose interest once they saw he was back and late night kind of returned to normal.

But that hasn't happened both online and on TV.

Todd Allbaugh

You brought this up on on on other appearances.

And I think it's so such a great time to talk about this.

And you talked about in the context of part part of the reason perhaps that CBS

Decided to cancel late night was they just weren't really living up to expectations on social media say the way that James Corden was when he was on late late the late late show on on on CBS to this point This according to late nighter comm today saying that prior to suspension Jimmy Kimmel live had been growing on Instagram by about 2,000 followers daily

During the first 24 hours after ABC announced it was indefinitely pulling the show Jimmy Kimmel live picked up 130,000 followers the show is now closing in on five million up from four and a half million last week Again proving your point Keegan Kelly that this is all the I mean I Kimmel's contract is up right at the end of this year I mean could this be a whole new life for Kimmel potentially

I think that it's certainly worth the week-long vacation that he got.

I mean, I think there's a real possibility here that there is this kind of resurgence that now that the president has kind of made late night a battleground for the First Amendment, there's going to be a lot of people tuning in just to keep it alive.

And I think that's very possible that this extends the show's lifespan.

Todd Allbaugh

I think it was, I'm kind of confused with my days.

It was either Tuesday or last night, I think it was last night when Colbert was talking about this a little bit and he said, hey, Disney reversed the decision and brought back Jimmy Kimmel.

Hey, Paramount, any announcement you'd like to make?

No, no, they haven't.

Colbert is still canceled as of May.

Yeah, I think he said he's back to being the only martyr in late

Todd Allbaugh

yes

Hopefully he stays the only one

Todd Allbaugh

right no absolutely Also, he talked about a little bit on last night show Jimmy Kimmel did he's coming to Brooklyn I believe next week and boy a huge lineup So again, if you look at what this episode has done

Money wise ratings wise and now we're hearing and I guess this is the question one ask if you have any intelligence on this in terms of your reporting I saw something on some feed this one.

We have to be very very careful There are some reporting slash rumors out there that next star and Sinclair are now being told by Disney ABC because of what you just said about the resurgence that if they don't start showing Kimmel again that

ABC Disney might say, no Monday night football, Sinclair next star, and no ABC World News Tonight, the number one nightly news show with David Muir.

Is that accurate or

not?

I can't speak to the validity, but I can look at how next star and Sinclair have responded after Kimmel came back, because their initial comments were pretty harsh.

They very fiercely condemned him.

They, I would say,

kept in line with the White House's official stance on his comments and misrepresented them I felt and I think you feel the same as saying something he didn't as an excuse to take him off the air but afterwards the the releases that they put out were along the lines of we are having very constructive talks we hope to reach a resolution we're gonna keep preempting him for now but we hope to find a conclusion to this soon it was much softer language not this

big ultimatum.

There were no more threats.

There were no demands that he donate to Turning Point USA as they previously told him to do.

So their stance is certainly softened and very quickly.

So I wouldn't be surprised if there is some behind the scenes pressure going on in between Disney and these groups.

Todd Allbaugh

We're talking with writer for Cracked.com, Keegan Kelly.

You can find all of his work and writing at Cracked.com talking about the

return of Jimmy Kimmel live to ABC and what it means to late night and and free speech in general talk to us a minute Keegan a couple minutes here before before the break What do you think is the impact beyond Kimmel?

Like we say CBS probably not bringing back Colbert, but what is going to be the impact on on late night and just

television entertainment in general because of Kimmel and Disney apparently at least for now, standing up for the Trump administration.

I think it's bought us some time.

I think that the problems that existed in the industry previously, which you and I have talked about, just about economic viability and how the platforms have changed, those still exist.

But I think the censorship concerns at this point, I mean, I.

I can't remember the last time a media company the size of Disney completely reversed course this quickly because of public blowback.

And I think that's a good sign that the precedent has been set that if you do take critics off the air, if you silence comedians because they don't agree with the White House, it's not something that their viewers are going to take lying down.

There's going to be subscribers boycotting.

There's going to be cancellations of subscriptions

there's going to be the exact media firestorm that we saw for the last week.

And I do think that this is this is a good sign

Todd Allbaugh

for the

safety.

Todd Allbaugh

And quickly, was there anything to have saw a three billion dollar number thrown around any credibility to that number?

But clearly, to your point, Disney must have felt this in the pocketbook at some way to bring them back so quickly.

I don't think anyone has an exact number on the Disney pocketbook.

besides Disney, three billion feels like a lot, but it was enough to bring them back to the table, it was enough to bring Kimmel back, and that's all that matters at the end of the

Todd Allbaugh

day.

Talk the validity of the three billion dollar number.

I will tell you that earlier Today I was down and I saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse standing in line for government cheese So I mean there's that there's that I can't speak to anything else.

Are we I got your little business here and we're gonna come back talk more with King and Kelly at crack.com and Not just Kimmel but also South Park and and other programs have felt the heat of the Trump administration what?

does this impact them and free speech for entertainment in general?

Don't forget to text the word TWIN, T-W-I-N to the Civic Media app to be in for the green and gold text-to-win contest.

Come on back, it's Keegan, it's Todd, it's Sommers.

Your phone calls as well across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Ready Network.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,

Todd Allbaugh

civicmedia.us.

It's beautiful.

That's the forecast.

And then we're going to have a sports report with a great sports reporter, Mike Clemens, bringing you up to speed.

The brew crew gets back day off today.

And they are one game, one win or one Philadelphia Phillies loss away from securing the best record in baseball and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Clemens will be in with that and then stay tuned for a very special edition of the Maggie Dawn show live on location out in my part of the woods.

Beautiful spring green Wisconsin from rising or hilltop farm in spring green.

Great show focusing on Wisconsin agriculture.

Join Maggie and her guests from four until six and stick around then for Pete Schwabba and nightlight.

All right.

Uh, here joining us via stream yard, Keegan Kelly, writer for cracked.com entertainment reporter on Jimmy Kimmel coming back quickly.

Let's go to the phone lines.

Carmella in Milwaukee, listening on W. A. U. K. Carmella.

Quickly.

I had a question on Kimmel.

Now question more statements.

Sure.

Tom from LA always says, we the people, this really showed how much the people can fight back and make a difference.

I mean, we're always talking about voting and do other things.

This hit them right in the pocketbook, canceled subscriptions, outrage, everything.

So yeah, I just wanted to say that I'm really proud of pretty much everybody who made this happen in this quickly.

Todd Allbaugh

Appreciate it Carmella.

Thanks for listening down there beautiful on Milwaukee also Keegan somebody just called in to say Kimmel for president and then hung up apparently.

So there you go.

I mean It's certainly helping is his favorabilities as we say in politics

Yeah, we're over one with TV stars becoming president but Anything's better than what we got now

Todd Allbaugh

Nicely done, Keegan Kelly.

That's great.

I'm tired of living a White House version of The Apprentice.

So let's talk quickly here about not just Kimmel, but also South Park has been really going at the Trump administration.

And what does this, what does Kimmel coming back do for the viability of programs, not just South Park, but other shows that go after any administration, not just the Trump administration?

Well, it certainly

I think it takes the wind out of the FCC's sales a little bit.

Brendan Carr, the chair of the FCC and a co-author on Project 2025, he was featured pretty heavily last night in the new episode of South Park, almost none of which I could recount

without

heavy censorship on this show.

But they were really thumbing their nose at him and making him look

ineffectual and, you know, this kind of tool, this puppet, this punching bag, really.

And it really showed that the comedians are not going to back down on this.

And it's not a war that you can win through intimidation if Trump really thinks that, you know, the next cultural battlefield is comedy, is TV.

because the more that he shows that this stuff is getting to him, the more people like Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Jimmy Kimmel are gonna go after him.

It's just the rule of comedy.

Todd Allbaugh

I think that's a great point, and we see that on the political side too, right, where Trump said he's gonna send in ice and military into Chicago, and the mayor there sent out the sanitation trucks to

make basically a border on the interstates and said, no, we're not letting you in.

And Governor Pritzker just really stood up to him.

And Trump basically backed away and said, OK, we'll go to Memphis then.

And I think to your point, this stand by Disney and Kimmel, I think is going to make the Trump administration and car FCC think twice before coming after another show.

I hope so.

And as we've already talked about, the worry here is that they did succeed with Nexstar and Sinclair and these broadcasting affiliates.

For the time being, we'll see where those cards fall.

But that's really the concerning part to me.

Because the FCC does absolutely have the ability to

influence these businesses and maybe not fully pull the broadcasting licenses as they previously threatened to do, Brendan Carr's walked that one back.

But they can have a real effect on their bottom line.

So that's the part I'm most worried about.

But the good news is that the big boys, the big companies like Disney, they're starting to push back.

Todd Allbaugh

Does this, and we only got about a couple minutes left here, but does to your point cable streaming services?

Netflix aren't regulated by the FCC.

Does this push some of this content?

People like Colbert just going to say, the heck with broadcast, we're going somewhere where the FCC can't regulate.

I hope it does because I don't think broadcast is doing very much for late night as it is, not withstanding who's running the FCC.

That's really been the struggle of broadcasts to kind of compete in this internet age where

all TV content really needs to be clickable.

And I think that if this is what pushes these legacy shows in that direction, that could be kind of a blessing in disguise for the entire industry.

Todd Allbaugh

And see, I don't disagree with you necessarily.

It just breaks my heart as an older guy who loves broadcast television and radio to think that things are, but you're right.

I mean, it doesn't matter whether it's this genre or television or whatever.

It all has to end up with the old, you know, iPhone, smartphone, so that people can download it and watch it at their convenience, as they say.

You can read Keegan Kelly's work at your convenience at cracked.com.

Keegan Kelly, thank you very much for your time and your perspective.

We always appreciate it, my friend.

Thank you, Todd.

Todd Allbaugh

Always a pleasure.

Keegan Kelly from cracked.com.

Find all of his work there.

Great show today.

Many thanks to Matt Flynn, to Dan Schaefer, the ReconpopulationArea.News.

You can find all of his work there.

To Aaron Thomas, our great producer and engineer, and all of you for listening.

Don't forget, stay tuned.

Maggie Dawn is live on location from Springgreen, from Risinger Hilltop Farm.

Gonna be a great show.

Until tomorrow, when we'll have Brady Ewing here, talking about the Badgers and the Packers.

and the Brewers and Bull Hunt team.

Wherever you believe in, whatever you are fighting for, do not give up.

Keep

Kathryn Lake

banging your drum.

We'll see you tomorrow.

Bye-bye.

Civic Media is dedicated to providing quality local and state news coverage across Wisconsin.

With the Civic Media app, you can get notifications about local stories that matter to you and your community.

Find the free Civic Media app in your phone's app store and choose notifications from the menu to tell us what kind of news you want to hear about.

0:00