12-4-24 Afternoon Rush - Taylor Swift Is Most Streamed Artist Of The Year & Assassin On The Loose In NYC & Bachelorette Jenn Thanks 'Partner' Sasha

Welcome to the Rush Hour, your daily dose of pop culture for your rush hour ride. Buckle up and enjoy the drive with your host, stand up comedian, Dave Neal. Hello, everybody. Good afternoon on this hump day, Wednesday, December 4th, 2024. We have all of your pop culture news in one place. On today's episode, I've got Sly Stallone sharing a free Funny story about breaking up with someone via FedEx.

I didn't know that was an option. Uh, old school indeed. Also updates on the showmance between Dancing with the Stars partners and hotties, Gleb and Brooks plus Texas general manager. Oh, excuse me. The general manager of the Texans gets heated as he responds to the late hit penalty from Sunday's game plus single mom, Christmas wishlist featuring Sarah and her 18 month old baby Ella.

It's day three. We will have. That heartwarming story. We're going to help her out. And Beyonce is named greatest pop star of the 21st century while Taylor Swift gets most streams of the year. Plus bachelorette Jen Tran gives a public thanks to her dance partner, furthering speculation that they are dating.

Some say they might not be. Did he put her in the friend zone? Maybe he's going to break up via UPS. We don't know. We can only speculate. I'll have all of these stories and more coming up next on the rush. Well, it's that time of year in December where everyone wraps up the year and Spotify always has their end of the year list, uh, which shares which podcasts are popular and which aren't.

And every year I get so annoyed when I'm not on somebody's top podcast list. Well, this year, the podcast has certainly blown up thanks to you guys. And I want to shout out Christina Finley. She wrote, she wrote this on Twitter. Dave Neal wasn't even a podcast I listened to last year. And now he is number one.

Thank you for the great content. That's right. She listed me as the rush hour podcast as her top podcast. And again, you can't make this up. It's probably based on hours watched. Well, guess what? Trading secrets was her fifth boom shakalaka. Take that Jason Tartick. We're the top dog. Now, uh, if you want to hit Jason Tartick, if you want to rise the ranks with Christina Finley, you got to put in the work because we got her locked down at number one.

All right. Well, uh, it sucks to be ghosted in modern society, but I think I'd rather be ghosted than receive a divorce and via. Here's Sylvester Stallone, aka Rocky, uh, calling himself a coward for the way he broke up with his wife. This is him on the Fox News, uh, host Sean Hannity's podcast. Have a listen.

Okay. There was one really bad story I read about you. And you don't have to answer if you don't want. No, I won't. Don't even ask the question. I'll save you the air. No, but I mean, for a small period you broke up with her, you FedExed her a letter? Who FedExed a breakup an hour and a half? I mean, look, it's probably better than standard mail.

Right? It wasn't a postcard. That's the most insincere breakup you can get. It's like, You can't even say, you can't even, you, you put it down in words because you don't have the guts to do it face to face because I think the department didn't want to. You see what I mean? You didn't want to break up. No, I didn't.

But I felt, listen, in my profession or my life, I should say, the way I've been structured is, My history with relationships is an abomination. Uh, from my male friends. Can we say was an abomination? Oh yeah, I mean, I, I, I couldn't live without her. I mean, she is my So he's got his, I guess, wife now, uh, by his side, but this is talking about the note sent to his other wife in 1994.

Uh, they were dating for six years. My son, my moon, everything. But I was raised in a incredibly dysfunctional family. Um, no love, no Pat, no handshake. No, I've never had, you got the ship beat out of you. It should be a lot big time. Today, it, uh, people would've been arrested. Listen, I I've, I've grown up, you know, we've all had struggles in life, but how many of us break up with our wife via FedEx?

I don't know. I mean, this sounds like a, like a, like a, a scene from a, a deleted scene from Castaway or something, right? Didn't he work for FedEx or UPS? Who cares? Anyway, still a fun story to share. Hey, it was the nineties. What are you gonna do? Wasn't. Texting didn't exist. He wasn't going to pick up the phone call.

You know what I mean? That's a, that's, that's a even more, I mean, do you guys remember what it was like to make a phone call in the nineties? You never knew who was going to pick up on the other end. Oh, the uncertainty, you know, you know, actually in the early two thousands, I found out there was a website service you could use that would send your phone.

Phone call straight to someone else's voicemail. That was amazing. I used it all the time. A voicemail. I have control over. I can get my statement out and it's over a phone call. I mean, do you remember my old millennials, what it was like to call somebody and not know if one of their parents were going to pick up?

Oh boy. It was crazy times indeed. Alright, well, we've got, uh, a lot of people debating, uh, who's a better pop star, Beyonce or Taylor Swift, which is ridiculous. They're very different. You know, Taylor's, uh, you know, you know, completely different from Beyonce. There's a lot of respect for both of them. Well, Beyonce was ranked Top pop star, greatest pop star of the 21st century.

And it's like, sure, whatever, this is a list by billboard, whatever their metrics are, who knows? Uh, whereas Taylor Swift was the top 2024 Spotify artist with 26. 6 billion streams worldwide. That was also because she was re releasing her albums, which, you know, she's in like the steroid era of releasing music because she's got her Taylor version.

She's got her. Tortured poets department. She's got it all. Vinyls, cassette decks, uh, eight tracks. She'll she'll, you know, she's the queen of merch. She'll sell you anything. She doesn't care. So they're completely different, but you know, people still like to debate like the Michael Jordan, LeBron debate.

Who's the greatest of all time. The only sport we know who the greatest is, is Tom Brady. And I don't, I don't let anyone argue that when he's the greatest football player of all time. All right. I don't want to hear your arguments. A lot of Patriot, uh, have his moment. Well, here's Diane Warren. She was asked by TMZ.

Here's what she had to say. What do you think about Beyonce being labeled the greatest pop star of the 21st century? I don't know, she's great though. Yeah, Billboard just listed her as the greatest pop star. A lot of people are saying it should have been Taylor Swift. I don't know, everybody's awesome.

I've done songs for both of them, so I'm good. Okay. You said you worked with both of them, so you're good. And they're both amazing. She says they're both great. She's playing that mom role. No, I love all of my kids, but it's like, okay, which one do you listen to more? And again, they're different, but, uh, they're great.

Like who would you rather see at Coachella? Maybe Beyonce? I think Beyonce puts on more of a show as far as like, she's a better dancer. Vocals. I mean, look, I'm not, who am I? I'm not an expert to break it down. I don't know. They're just different. Uh, uh, anyway, okay, let's go to our dancing with the stars updates.

We have a couple. Gleb Savchenko and Brooks Nader say we are together, not a showmance. Of course they got together during the show. They broke up via FedEx. No, I'm sorry. That wasn't that story. They broke up via tech. I believe he. He texted her to dump her and she never responded. And of course now they, I guess, are back together, rekindled their relationship.

Uh, that, that's how, you know, life moves fast. You know, look, when you're in your mid to late thirties, you can break up, get back together. It all just, it, it's a, it's a real blur. She just got, you know, out of, uh, I think a marriage or whatever she got out of. So I'm sure she doesn't want to jump into new things, but the, uh, Power of the tango has brought their hips gyrating back together.

Here's what they had to say when TMZ caught up with them, uh, and asked them, uh, you know, what are they? How are you guys? Good. You guys have been spending a lot of time together. Everybody wants to know, are you guys getting back together? Or are you back together? We are together. Brooks. We saw you were wearing a ring on your ring finger last week.

What, what did that mean? Nothing. Making a statement, fashion statement. No, it's a divorce ring. I turned a little old ring into a new ring. So what do you guys say to the people who still thinks this was a showman's, you know, is it real? Of course it's true. Everything's real. Yeah. We're not playing. They always look stoned when they talk.

He says, of course it's real. Everything's real. We're not playing. It's like, okay. Okay. They're stoned, dad. Just are you dating or not? Make out, show us. Prove it to us. Uh, you know, anyway, uh, so there's your update at the end, you know, TMZ gets, they get called for a lot of these interviews. I don't know if this was a random, you know, interview where they just found them in a parking lot.

They always, the, the, these celebrities make it seem like they don't want to be bothered, but they're there doing the interview. You know, you're a real celebrity when you're like. Taylor Swift. And you just want to be ushered to where you want to go. It's like, look, no offense to Brooks and glubs have Chanko.

Uh, but you know, they need this, this is good press for them. And if they can find love and share and whatever chemistry they have while getting some free publicity, Why not? I would take it even though I am ranked as the number one podcast, according to one of my listeners, uh, by the way, keep tagging me on your Instagram or Twitter's or whatever you use tag me and tag the podcast, the rush hour with Dave Neal on Instagram.

If we are in your top five ranking on Spotify, I'm going to shout all of you guys out. Uh, we're not taking no for an answer. We're going out there. We're promoting hard into the holidays. All right. More content coming your way. We'll be back right after this. Well, we discussed Taylor Swift being the most streamed, uh, artist of the year.

Well, a lot of trickle down effect for her beau. Uh, he's got a podcast, the new heights with his brother. It's Jason Kelsey and Travis Kelsey. Well, Travis Kelsey seems to be, uh, excited for the tae voodoo. I guess that's, we're calling the mojo that Taylor brings to the Kansas city chiefs. Here's what he had to say in his podcast.

As a kid, I just loved Major League, man. That's not a kid's movie. It is in my book. Um, All right, fine. What is it? Does it? Is that Maze Haze? Rookie of the Year. There's so many good ones. Angels in the Outfield. I'd love to fucking feel what it's like to, I kind of feel like you guys are the Angels in the Outfield this year.

We're the Angels in the Outfield. There's some unknown, like,

Here you go with this fucking tae voodoo shit, dude. This dude's such a dickhead.

Who you going with? Kicking and screaming? God damn, these are all fucking golden. I'm gonna say the fucking, uh, the little giants, man. Alright, so they're just talking about their favorite kids movies, but they call it Tae Voodoo. Uh, and the, and he relates, uh, uh, Tae Voodoo. Travis Kelsey's season to that of the Angels in the outfields where they had divine intervention helping them win.

Is Taylor Swift an angel sent from above to lift the team up? I don't know. I mean, it's not like the team sucked before Taylor got involved. Taylor only dates winners. Uh, she, I mean, could you imagine it? Could you imagine if you're a pop star and you fall in love with like someone not like Hunter Henry on the Patriots?

No offense to my Patriots, but we suck. My team blows this year. You can't be seen with a loser when you're someone like Taylor Swift. She's attached. yourself to Super Bowl winning team. What else do you want now? No offense to my friends and family here in Kansas city, Missouri, but you'd think a pop star would date a guy who played in New York or LA, one of the major metropolises, but Hey, she's queen of the Midwest and she ain't apologizing.

Well, uh, why don't we go to this interesting story? Did you know this, that, uh, Mickey mouse is, I guess, not registered property anymore. Uh, Disney fans have nothing to worry about because the upcoming horror flick based on steamboat Willie is now. Not going to undo any of Mickey's magic, says a star of scream boat.

The ultra bloody indie horror movie takes the original Mickey mouse character and drops him in a slasher film all because the character is now in the public domain. I think that's what happens, right? When a character has been around for so long, it no longer has, you can't like license it, right? So now there's a movie coming out where you have, it's a slasher movie starring Mickey mouse.

Um, okay, look, hey, not my cup of tea, but I'll, I'll check it out. Here's what the main actor, Tyler Posey, had to say. I wanted to ask you, I mean, you're in this new crazy movie called Screamboat. I mean, were you still looking at Mickey and like, you know, as cute and stuff like that? Are we going to start looking at him kind of different now that he's like murderous?

Well, uh, it's not, I don't, I don't know if it's technically Mickey, um Mm-Hmm. . But it's like Willie, his other . Yeah. Steam. It's, it's, it's like a play on Steamboat Willie. Um, but no, he'll always be the, the, the, the lovable mouse that we own now. It's gotta be funny when you're an actor coming up because your family doesn't really know what you do.

So during the Christmas holidays, he's got to explain, so what's Tyler doing? Well, he's playing this, uh, Mickey Mouse character who murders other people. Really? Yeah. You know, it's not, uh, you know, it's going to be good. It'll be on the streamers. I don't know. Well. I've got an update for you on my, uh, my next, uh, uh, I wouldn't call it favorite Christmas movie, but I have another hit here.

Lindsay Lohan, uh, has, uh, I guess a couple of years in a row now, uh, released some Christmas movies and it is dominating the new Netflix top 10 chart. I'll be honest with you. It wasn't a great movie, but it actually had a lot come together in the end that I thought made it really fun. Uh, it reminded me of crazy, stupid love.

It was a kind of a family focused movie where there was a lot of breakups. Uh, you know, it's like, I'll tell you, I'll tell you this because I don't want to give it away. It's Lindsay Lohan. Her character has to spend the holiday season with her ex, but nobody knows that they had dated before. Boom. Done.

And it's a lot of fun. You have Kristen Chenoweth in it. There's a lot of, uh, actors and characters from Saturday night live, a little bit of a slow start, but it's like, look, what are we supposed to do? We can't be complaining when Lindsay Lohan is starring in a Christmas movie. I mean, it used to be only rejects would star in Christmas movies.

Lindsay Lohan is an icon. She is my generation's Marilyn Monroe, and I won't have it any other way. Uh, I think she's such a good physical actress, the way she plays in the sort of, uh, I dunno, you'll just have to watch it to see. Um, you know, I have a green light, yellow light, red light system. And when Lindsay Lohan's in a movie, I immediately give it the benefit of the doubt with a yellow light.

I've upgraded this to a red light. Uh, that's what it is, uh, a green light from Lindsay Lohan's new Christmas movie. Again, it's called Our Little Secret on Netflix. Hey, 38 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but hey, don't, uh, when it comes to Christmas movies, ratings don't matter. I think it's a good one. It's a win for me.

All right, well, it's time for day three of our single mom appreciation Christmas wish list. Uh, every day for the next couple of weeks, we are sharing a single mom who can use our help. We have an Amazon wishlist. All you got to do is buy an item. It'll go directly to her address. And this is Sarah from Phoenix, Arizona calling in on behalf of her 18 month old daughter, Ella.

Have a listen. Hi, Dave and bachelor family. My name is. Sarah, and I'm from the Phoenix, Arizona area this holiday season. I'm reaching out to the little vulnerability as a newly single mom, my daughter, Ella, who's now 18 months old is my whole world. And we recently moved into a cozy little one bedroom apartment.

And as we work to get back on track, and she's just been my constant friend. Source of joy and strength through all of this, Ella is full of life. She loves music, dancing, playing with her baby doll and insist on bringing her little unicorn purse everywhere we go, um, seeing her light up. At the smallest things reminds me just how special these early years are any help with her Christmas wish list this year would mean just so much to our little family your support with help me give Ella a magical holiday and make her smile even brighter.

Thank you for thinking of us during this special time of year. We love you all and I hope everybody here has a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. Well, that is Sarah there on behalf of Ella and Sarah, I'm here to tell you, we got you covered. We're taking care of you link in this description here, or you can also go to my Instagram.

There'll be a link there to help out Sarah. Uh, she's in a new position in life as it sounds with, uh, living in a one bedroom. Let's fill that place up. Let's, let's make it annoying. How many boxes are going to show up and, uh, help Ella really feel a good Christmas spirit. I mean, 18 months, I feel like she, like, you know, my son is seven months this week and he doesn't know a thing about Christmas.

He's excited for the lights or whatever, but he doesn't know what a gift is, but the magic of Christmas when you're 18 months, uh, I think, I think we can help you out here. So, uh, I, I'm just, I'm just humbled by these stories that are pouring in and the voicemails we're receiving. Thank you guys so much for trusting me and our audience with your story as we continue to try to help each other out.

All right, well, I've got a couple more stories to get to, so why don't we take a quick break and we'll be back with more right after this. Well, we have bad news. If you're my son, August, he just started eating veggies. He was on a breast milk diet for six and a half months. And now that he's eating carrots and veggies, we find out the FDA is announcing a nationwide recall of broccoli, carrots, and more veggies due to E.

coli contamination. Check your fridges and freezers. You should look online to see which brands are part of the recall. I'm not going to read them all here. Just be careful what you eat out there. You know, if you're like a kid who doesn't like to eat veggies. Mom, I'm not eating my broccoli. There's a nationwide recall.

It's like, all right, son, go have some ice cream, go eat something safe, like the ice cream. All right. Anyhow, there's your update there. How about this for a crazy story? Did you hear about this? Uh, assassination that happens today. Former New York police detective discusses the United healthcare CEO killing one of the most detailed assassinations ever seen.

This is going on in New York city. Today. Have a listen. This was on CBS news getting in and out of Manhattan. I mean, you got a bunch of bridges there, but you, that's kind of the only way you can get on the Island, right? Or you can obviously take a ferry. So when it comes to searching for a suspect in the entire Highland of Manhattan, is it possible that police may have to close the bridges or how are they surveilling those areas?

At this point, you know what's going to end up the CCTV footage, but I'm telling you the way he planned this out. I can see him having a change of clothes, everything hidden somewhere in Central Park, because he's aware of the cameras. That's why you know what he did have that mask on. That's why he's trying to, you know, hide his identity, trying to make sure that we don't have any facial recognition in place.

So once again, this is one of the biggest Most detailed assassin, you know, assassinations I've ever seen. Oh boy. It's like minority report, but it's true. Have you ever been in New York city? I lived there. I felt very safe in New York. There are cameras everywhere. There's a prison, a jail cell underneath central park.

There's plain clothes, police everywhere. For the most part, they do a really good job for the size and scope of the city, but a detailed assassination, I'm sure, you know, change of clothes, switch car. You can go underground into the subway system, get on a train heading South. Next thing you know. I mean, who knows?

I'll be very surprised if they catch this killer or find out the motivations, but, um, yeah, and again, it's like, uh, what's, uh, why was he going after the United healthcare CEO? Now, look, I hate the healthcare system as much as anybody else, but, um, you know, we got to reform the proper way, which is by voting out the politicians that don't have our best interests that take money from big insurance lobbies, not by cold blooded assassinations.

What a wild story. I'll give those updates. If and when they come in. All right. Well, I promised you I'd go to Jen Tran. Bachelorette Jen Tran, uh, released a statement on her Instagram to my dance partner, I can't believe that three months ago we didn't know each other and that we almost didn't even meet.

I've always believed in fate, but meeting you at the airport in one of my darkest hours and rushing to good morning America to start. What would become the most unforgettable and surreal dance journey together was truly meant to be. Yeah. What's interesting is, uh, Jen Tran wasn't supposed to be on Dancing with the Stars, right?

She finds out after her season ends catastrophically, her, uh, engagement failed with Devon. And after that live show, they hop around a plane and announce her. So, uh, really, it really has been a serendipitous season for her, uh, all of 2024, to be quite frank, she continues. This experience has been one of the, uh, one of a lifetime and truly something I'll cherish.

So she goes on and on. I'll share this tomorrow on the YouTube sharing, uh, her nice long sentiment that she shared about her partner, Sasha Farber. His response. Very funny is, Oh, thank you. You blossomed into a beautiful dancer. Hope we can remain friends and stay in contact. Now the question is, Obviously, I'm believing this is a joke.

Oh yeah. Hoping to see you sometime. She's literally living at his house. Now the question is, does she upend everything in her life for this guy? I don't, I mean, I don't see that as a problem. Uh, some people are arguing, oh, he should be pursuing her. She's the young, hot one. He's whatever, you know, but the case is he's a professional dancer.

I'm sure he's lived in LA for a while. He owns a million dollar home there. Not that that says much in LA. You can get a shanty would be a million bucks, but a nice place there. Um, he. And it has not really been public, um, emotionally speaking with her, he had a public breakup from a dance partner. It was Emma Slater.

Is that who it was? One of those dancers, you know, those beautiful dancers, they really tango horizontally, don't they? Uh, but now he's got his, uh, now he's got Jen here and, uh, you know, people will project what they see on camera. She's Tik Toks and you can look at it. Oh, it's cringeworthy or oh, it's 2024.

This is the world you have to live in. I don't blame Jen for wanting to grow her social media. Gen Z style, Jen Tran. No, Jen Z. Uh, I don't blame her one bit now, whether or not Sasha in his forties has time for that. Now, listen, you know, I'm 39. My wife's 37. I know we don't look a day over 28, uh, whatever. Uh, unless you see me in the dark.

Uh, but. Point being, uh, you know, he's in his forties. Does he want to be making Tik TOKs with a 26 year old? I don't know. He should ask Nick Vial. You know what I mean? Like maybe, maybe he loves it. Maybe he loves the youthful, feminine energy and maybe they're perfect for each other. Uh, if I put this way, if they are perfect for each other, I got to tell you.

There's no better romantic comedy out there. I mean, they meet during her breakup. He's the savior. She's the damsel in distress. They go on to compete on dancing with the stars. I think it's great. I say good for them if that's what it is. All right. Well, as I mentioned earlier, uh, thank you in advance to everyone donating to our single mom wishlist.

I'm looking forward to. Getting the messages from the moms. I'll share them with you when I get messages. Oh, I got a box load of things today. Santa's going to be wrapping up presents. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I'll share those with all of you guys that are donating. I know some of you donate to every single, uh, uh, you know, every single single mom, since we've started this, it's, it's just, it's so kind of you to even, to, you know, you won't be there on Christmas morning when those presents are opened, but I hope you pat yourself on the back and realize you helped restore a little faith in humanity, we'll be back in the morning.

Tomorrow to continue this party. I'm Dave Neal. This is the rush rush hour is a twice daily pop culture and entertainment news podcast hosted by standup comedian, Dave Neal lives too short for a boring ride. So join Dave as he covers the top news stories of the day. Don't be caught clueless at the water cooler.

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