1-19-10

In case you missed it...

• Rosie began the show telling the studio and her listeners the story about her reading glasses. She used to use "regular old drug store glasses" and once she got her job on the View she decided she should get some nice ones. She went into a local eye glass store and found a pair she liked. She asked the saleswoman how many colors they came in and the saleswoman replied 9. So, Rosie said "I'll order one in every color" thinking that they would be a couple hundred dollars a pair. When the saleswoman rang her up Rosie was SHOCKED at how much the total bill was but too embarrassed to say anything about it. It took her four months to wear them. Janette asked if they were the same brand as her boyfriend Barry had, because Rosie had said she liked them. Barry is Janette's longtime boyfriend. Rosie said Barry has "very good taste and very good hair for a straight guy" but they were a different brand. She figures since she's practically 50 its okay that she allows herself to wear the good clothes and the good eyeglasses now.

• Rosie finally got an outfit for Oprah! A stylist (who shall remain nameless) came over to Rosie's house with a rack of clothes. Rosie selected a black top with black pants. The jacket alone costs $600 which Rosie found outrageous. Rosie's Oprah outfit will cost almost $1000 which Rosie thinks is a lot of money. Deirdre says "it's really not a lot of money" and Jeannie said it certainly IS a lot of money. Jeannie and Rosie talked about how they used to buy clothes at flea markets (eat a pickle while you're walkin) and remember going to Macy's or EJ Korvettes for special occasions.

• Jeannie brought in Cajun shrimp cocktail and tomato mozzarella salad for the studio to munch on today and Deirdre said she wants to move in with Jeannie because the food is so amazing but now she's mad at her because she can't resist it! Jeannie also brought in tons of leftover boxes of Christmas candy and Rosie had Shoshana go get her some of the chocolate covered pretzels because they are her favorite! Rosie gives Jackie's mom chocolate covered pretzels every year and this year the pretzels were "not up to snuff" and Jackie's mom told her "they sucked." Rosie said the Bernice Ellard pretzel basket needs to be DELUXE. Rosie told the story about how growing up all Jackie's grandma wanted to do was go over and clean Rosie's house. Eddie (O'Donnell) apparently did all the cleaning in the house and Jeannie likes to call him the "funniest O'Donnell" which Rosie laughs about.

• Rosie had Google Pete googling phones today for her teenagers that only have texting and calling on them and no other features. Pete wasn't having much luck. Turns out Rosie's oldest son Parker (who's in 8th grade) has been secretly texting through the Skype app on his iPhone. Rosie has Spyware on his phone so she can monitor his texting but for whatever reason the spyware isn't picking up the Skype texting. So, in one week, Rosie has taken away both Chelsea's (her 12 year old daughter) and Parker's iPhones. Parker seems to think he will be getting it back soon. Rosie said she's pretty sure that's not happening.

• Janette talked about how her boyfriend of 13 years, Barry, got back from delivering supplies to Haiti with the Bridge Foundation last night. Janette said Barry is not a very emotional person but the one thing that truly bothered him in his time in Haiti was not necessarily the number of dead but the lack of respect they were able to show for the dead bodies. He was saddened that the bodies were not treated with reverence. Janette said "he's relentlessly positive" and really tries to focus on the good they are going to be able to do with the supplies the organization has been able to provide rather than the horror of it all. Rosie said she's been getting many inquiries into how to help with the Haitian orphans yet she doesn't have any details yet.

• Rosie then discussed how Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh (who have both said horrific things since the devastating earthquake in Haiti) were slammed by Keith Olbermann. She played both clips of what Pat and Rush said. Rosie then played Keith's verbal slam to Pat and Rush and she said Keith Olbermann said it perfectly. Rosie exclaimed "BRAVO KEITH!" Deirdre said she went on a rampage this weekend on her facebook page in support of Keith's response. Watch Keith explain what Pat and Rush said about Haiti and watch his response back:

BRAVO KEITH!!

• Rosie talked about a listener who called in yesterday to ask for help overcoming her own internalized racism of Hispanics while Ms. Shabazz was in the studio. Rosie and Janette were touched by her honesty and appreciate her desire to want to change. Janette told a story about being at a comedy club in Ohio where the other comics were using the word "Jew" as a verb and she found it so incredibly offensive. Rosie told a story about riding in the car with some other comics who were making fun of female comics who are gay and, at the time, not saying anything about it. She then shared a story about a time she was at Gilley's in Texas performing stand-up and a man wanted to buy her a beer and she declined and he called her the "N WORD" (I believe that's what Rosie said). Rosie then threw the drinks in his face and he choked her so hard she damaged her vocal chords and she couldn't speak for a while. Deirdre told a story about going to a very racially integrated school growing up and then how her parents pulled her out of this school in 10th grade and put her in private school. That was the first place she really experienced racism and she talked about how bad it really was. The studio shared many stories of racism that they themselves witnessed or others have experienced in their lives.

• They talked to a bi-racial caller who didn't necessarily identify with either race. Rosie spoke to the caller and recommended the book The Color of Water by James McBride.

• A listener who was a child of Hungarian immigrants who successfully learned the English language after immigrating spoke about her difficulty she had with immigrants who do not speak English. Janette encouraged the caller to find someone who doesn't speak the language to help in some way or another. Rosie spoke about the book 29 Gifts: How A Month Of Giving Can Change Your Life and recommended the caller start with that book as an introductory book to giving. Rosie reminded the caller that everyone has a story that would break your heart and encouraged the caller to find out what his/her story is (in regards to the person that doesn't speak English). Jeannie spoke about how everybody has prejudices. She encouraged listeners to admit their own judgements and choose to suspend those judgements. Then begin to chip away at the judgements by getting to know the person (you feel prejudices towards) and what you will learn is that you have more in common with that person than differences. Rosie spoke about her old fear of little people that she had been taught from her grandmother and how it was through getting to know a comedienne named Sandy Church, who was a little person, who helped her overcome her own fear.

• Janette spoke about how her father was extremely racist and taught her to fear black people. Janette told a story about entering high school as a "poor, weird, obese" teenager and the one person who was nice to her was the one black girl in the class. Through knowing this girl she learned to get over her own fear.

• Rosie spoke with some gay callers who spoke about the prejudices and discrimination they have felt in their lives. And Lou played Free Your Mind by En Vogue and went to commercial.

• Rosie asked the studio if it was okay if she wears clogs on Oprah? She thought that perhaps loud shoes might distract from the interview so she's choosing to wear black Dansko clogs. She asked if she should wear white shoes (truly not knowing) and the women in the studio let out a resounding NO! lol Rosie talked about some of the things that the stylist had brought with her like big earrings and big necklaces and how Rosie said NO to those items and that she prefers her handmade necklace. Rosie found it funny how she is only worried about the Oprah Winfrey show because of what she is going to wear not what she is going to SAY or what Oprah is going to ask her!

• Then Rosie played a clip of Jay Leno from from 2004 where Jay agrees to give over the Tonight Show to Conan in 2009. Watch the clip below:

  Jay's 2004 Announcement

• Rosie talked about how Jay bragged about being number 1 yet it was the strength the lead in to the Tonight Show that lead to it's high ratings when Jay hosted it. She continued that when Jay chose to move to prime-time (essentially doing the exact same show as the Tonight Show) that caused Conan to have a horrible lead in and in turn, have bad ratings ever since Conan's takeover. She continued that Conan moved his life and entire staff to the west coast after being promised the Tonight Show. Rosie blamed GREED as the reason because NBC didn't want Conan to go to another network and compete against Jay so they promised him the Tonight Show. Rosie said NBC set him up for failure by giving him a horrible lead in of essentially the same exact show in prime-time. What really bothers the Rosie Radio studio is that Jay is portraying himself as the innocent victim when he made the choices that lead to this situation.

• Then it was weigh-in time and Jeannie brought in a new scale to the studio because they were having problems with the scale from last week.
Jeannie is down 5.4 pounds
Janette is down to 190.8
Deirdre is down a pound.
and since Rosie has been "on the stress over Oprah diet" she has gained a pound. (me too Rosie!!)

• Janette talked about the flaws in Wii fit when it sounds like its mocking you and says "Ewwwww, You're obese!" Jeannie talked about a gym she joined that has a theater room where you can watch a movie and exercise in the dark. Janette also shared that she will be visiting her nutritionist tomorrow for the first time. There was a very funny moment when Janette admitted to never having a colonoscopy by saying "Nobody has ever climbed up the back door" which caused the studio to roar with laughter! Rosie said she thought she was talking about "Baum Chicka Baum OW" (as in SEX up the backdoor) but no, Janette was not talking about that. She was talking about the colonoscopy exam. LOL

• They then took callers who discussed a variety of topics including the Wii Fit, a woman who just survived a breast mass removal and hysterectomy, an actress who chose not to have plastic surgery, and another caller who talked about how the Wii Fit mocks you.

• Rosie closed the show by saying how she was off to do a photo shoot for People magazine and there's nothing that she hates more (regarding the photo shoots, not People magazine).