Episode 77 · The GaS Digital / Ray Kump Era
Christmas Karaoke (with Dan St. Germain and Tom Lewis)
with Dan St. Germain and Tom Lewis
Jan 1, 2018 · 1:06:15 · 25 segments, 146 moments indexed
- 1 min
Music intro and announcement that this is the Tim Dillon Show's special Christmas episode, going to hell edition.
2moments
- 0:06The show opens with its standard introduction.
- 0:30Tim welcomes listeners to the Christmas special episode.
- 1 min
Introducing Dan St. Germain and Thomas Attila Lewis, and the Berkshires Tour
#Tim welcomes Dan St. Germain (in NYC recording an album at The Stand) and Thomas Attila Lewis from the Berkshires, riffing on Pittsfield being a depressing small town and a boy found in a creek.
3moments
- 0:48Dan St. Germain is recording his album at the Stand Comedy Club on the 27th.
- 1:07Lewis lives in a suburban part of the Berkshires, in a town of 33,000 people.
- 1:43Ray Compass is also joining them as co-host for the show.
Thomas Attila LewisDan St. GermainThe Stand
- 2 min
Spaghetti Burn, GE's Destruction of Pittsfield, and Bain Capital Killing KB Toys
#Ray describes badly burning his hand boiling spaghetti water; Tom explains how General Electric decimated Pittsfield's economy and dumped toxic PCBs into Silver Lake, then they riff on Mitt Romney's Bain Capital shutting down KB Toys headquartered there.
6moments
- 1:59Tim spilled a pot of boiling spaghetti water on himself while meal-prepping, wrapping the pot in towels that caught in the oven.
- 2:22The screaming and subsequent hour under cold running water to treat the burn.
- 2:50He carried frozen broccoli from Rite Aid as an ice pack on the way home from buying pain medication.
- 3:01Tom Lewis hosts shows in the Berkshires, and Tim performed at the infield in Pittsfield before the town was decimated.
- 3:14General Electric employed twenty-thousand people at Pittsfield's height, then shut down and destroyed the local economy.
- 3:27Silver Lake in Pittsfield: GE dumped PCBs there, toxic chemicals that caused cancer and prevented the lake from freezing in winter.
General ElectricBrindle RoomSilver LakePittsfield
- 3 min
Pittsfield's Opioid Problem and a Santa Claus Sing-Along
#More riffing on Pittsfield's drug addiction issues, frozen yogurt as a bright spot, and a spontaneous singalong to 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.'
7moments
- 4:26Tim explains how shutting down the plant in the late 80s decimated Pittsfield with vacant houses.
- 4:40Bain Capital, Mitt Romney's company, bought KB Toys World Headquarters and just shut it down and parted it out.
- 5:04Tim describes Romney putting people out of work and eliminating all the KB Toys locations in malls.
- 5:27When told people could get new jobs or innovate, Tim points out there aren't any jobs—they're just gone.
- 5:39Pittsfield is reinventing itself as a cultural center with frozen yogurt and locally sourced options.
- 6:12Tim launches into a rendition of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, singing about how Santa is nowhere near Pittsfield.
- 6:36He repeats the chorus multiple times, emphasizing Santa Claus is coming to town.
Bain CapitalKB ToysMitt RomneyPittsfield
- 2 min
Drug Confessions: Coke, Meth-Laced Blow, and Getting Sober
#Dan and Ray open up about their drug histories, including Dan's meth-laced cocaine incident and ER visit, and Dan's two months of sobriety after using Klonopin for anxiety.
7moments
- 6:58Tim asks what drugs the guest has done, confirming they tried more than just weed.
- 7:18Guest has done coke and mentions potentially running for office someday.
- 7:34Guest reveals they're two months sober and took Quantipent for anxiety.
- 7:54Tim explains how anxiety medication can trigger relapse: something clicks off in your brain and you end up back on drugs.
- 8:23Guest describes the spiral after two and a half years sober—anxiety led to coke, then Xanax, then painkillers stacked together.
- 8:37Guest unknowingly did meth-laced cocaine when a woman didn't tell them the blow was cut with meth while they were also doing Molly.
- 9:01Tim notes people respect the honesty and guest wonders why they're talking about this so openly on air.
- 1 min
Tom's Haunting Realization: Painted-Over Bird's Nest
#Tom recounts accidentally sealing an attic with birds inside, leading to them starving and one flinging itself at a window, a grim story from his old podcast segment.
5moments
- 9:17Tim asks for a haunting realization story from his friend.
- 9:33Tom's realization: he accidentally painted over a bird's nest and the birds died of starvation.
- 9:50Tim describes finding a bird trapped in his attic, flinging itself against a window while he was outside with his son.
- 10:14Tim sealed up the attic without realizing there were still birds trapped inside.
- 10:27Tim concludes that it's not an easy life for any of us, and death is all around.
- 3 min
Christmas Day Stories: Forgotten Biscuits and a Re-Gifted Blanket
#Ray tells the story of his mom forgetting biscuits at Christmas dinner and having to source them from a chicken restaurant; Tim describes re-gifting a $14 fluffy blanket to his mother in an institution.
6moments
- 10:37Tim burned his hand on Christmas Day but says it was otherwise nice.
- 11:07Tom found a cardinal skull in the snow outside his house.
- 11:21Tim jokes about visiting his mom in an institution, saying it's good to see where many of their friends will end up.
- 11:44Tim re-gifted the blanket directly to his mother twenty minutes after receiving it.
- 12:30Tim went on a quest to find biscuits from a chicken restaurant when his mom forgot to bring them.
- 12:44The lady at the restaurant said the biscuits were good, and Tim describes it as a very nice relationship with her.
- 3 min
Family Christmas Reflections: Tom's Marriage, Santa Duties, and Gingerbread Burns
#Tom talks about his 17-year marriage and playing Santa for his kids, followed by Ray's story of badly burning his hands on liquefied sugar while making a gingerbread house.
6moments
- 13:44Tom's been married for 17 years.
- 13:59Christmas gets shorter as kids get older because they stop pretending to believe in Santa.
- 14:11Tim hides from his kids while pretending to be Santa, making them wonder why Santa is crying.
- 14:25Tom glues hooks onto chocolates to hang them on trees as Christmas decorations.
- 14:38Tom nearly froze to death while gluing hooks to chocolates near Montreal.
- 14:55Tom burned his hands badly a couple years ago while making gingerbread houses.
- 2 min
Deck the Halls and Worst Christmas Memories: Altar Boy Duty
#After a music interlude, Tim asks about bad Christmases; Ray recalls being an altar boy doing back-to-back masses and getting berated by an unpleasant lawyer congregant who accused them of being Jewish for not standing fast enough.
3moments
- 16:23Tim was an altar boy for six years, during which Christmas and Easter were brutal because he'd do six masses within 36 hours.
- 16:42The schedule included early Christmas Eve mass, midnight mass, and he wondered if altar boys got tipped like wedding servers did.
- 16:59The priest wasn't a pedophile but was a lawyer who defended them and would yell at the altar boys from the back if they didn't stand up fast enough for the Eucharist.
ChristmasDeck the Halls
- 2 min
A Sad Christmas Eve Bar Story and a Grim Morgue Case
#Ray tells a bittersweet story about a broke, homeless bar regular named George at Lisa's Lounge, then a horrifying morgue story about a stabbed woman and her son's frozen body found on Christmas Eve, undercut by a Rudolph singalong.
4moments
- 17:17Tim recounts spending Christmas Eve in a bar called Lisa's Lounge with his friend Joe, where a guy named George who'd blown through a $120,000 settlement with a woman he'd befriended was living in his car outside.
- 17:48While working at the morgue, a case came in on Christmas Eve: a woman stabbed to death and her four-year-old son shoved into a garbage bag and put in a freezer.
- 18:23They couldn't perform an autopsy on the child because he was frozen solid, so they had to leave him out overnight to thaw.
- 18:35Tim breaks into a recitation of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" while describing having to return to work on Christmas morning.
- 2 min
The 'I'm Like Columbine' Kid and Dan's Fired Mall Santa Job
#Ray recounts a classmate's bizarre threat to shoot himself on people's lawns; Dan tells the story of getting fired from a mall Santa gig for not being jolly enough, working alongside a disturbing clown-slash-chicken performer.
5moments
- 19:17Kid from Columbus was kicked out of school for threatening to shoot himself on people's front lawns instead of being a school shooter.
- 19:45Tim calls the suicide-threat comeback possibly the best he's ever heard.
- 20:08Dan was fired from a mall Santa job for not being jolly enough and upsetting the children.
- 20:30The clown who hired Dan kept binders of his lovers and dressed as a giant chicken for a restaurant.
- 21:02Dan quit the gig early after a chicken showed up to sit with the kids waiting for Santa.
IFC CenterIngmar BergmanColumbinePollo CamperoColumbus
- 3 min
Bad Acid Trip and Tom's Abusive, Vanished Father
#Dan recalls throwing up on bad LSD one Christmas; Tom then reveals his father was a violent civil engineer who abused his mother, disappeared in 1987, and was never seen again, including the confrontation where police wouldn't arrest him.
6moments
- 22:19Tim threw up chocolate chip cookie dough while on LSD one Christmas, and the acid had been cut with something else.
- 22:39He was in college with a group of people who didn't go home for Christmas when it happened.
- 23:13Tom's father was a psychopath and he hasn't seen him in 30 years.
- 23:42Tom's dad was a really violent person, though not professionally psychopathic or a criminal.
- 24:18The father worked as a civil engineer and would come home at lunch to hit Tom before returning to work.
- 24:31Tom's father disappeared around Christmas 1987 and he hasn't seen him since high school.
Robert GouetSlade
- 3 min
Tom's Father's Hungarian History and a Nazi Grandfather
#Tom explains his father quietly vanished from his city job after decades, and that he was imprisoned and tortured during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution; Ray reveals his own grandfather served in the Wehrmacht and spent seven years in a Soviet gulag.
6moments
- 25:03Tom's father physically abused his mother, shaking her until Tom chased him off the property.
- 25:24Police arrived and told the father they would arrest him if they had to return; father demanded they arrest Tom instead.
- 25:48Tim notes that childhood fights with an abusive father create lasting tension, asks if college was Tom's escape.
- 26:28Tom's father was a civil engineer who worked for a city and designed roads, including some in Washington, D.C.
- 26:48After 20-something years at the same job, Tom's father hit a retirement threshold and left without telling any coworkers.
- 27:13Tom's father was in Hungary during World War II and later participated in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, where he was imprisoned and tortured.
Papa JusticeHungaryWashington DC
- 2 min
Silent Night in German and Gratitude Round
#A failed attempt to sing Silent Night in German leads into a round-robin where each guest states what they're grateful for heading into 2018, including Tim's upcoming Comedy Central special.
7moments
- 27:31Tim's grandfather served in the Wehrmacht during World War II and spent seven years in a Soviet gulag.
- 27:53Tim proposes singing Silent Night in German instead of English.
- 28:10Tim argues that hearing Silent Night sung in German would have moved everyone to tears with its beauty.
- 28:32A gratitude round begins with everyone sharing something they're thankful for.
- 29:09Tim announces he's grateful for an upcoming Comedy Central special and something else he can't mention yet.
- 29:25He expresses gratitude for touring the country and the audiences who come to see him perform stand-up.
- 29:35Tim mentions he'll be performing at Side Splitters in Tampa from the 4th through the 7th.
Comedy CentralWehrmachtSide SplittersTampathe gulagWorld War Two
- 4 min
The Traffic Report Strip Club and Male Revue Confessions
#Ray describes a bizarre strip club experience where the stripper danced to a broken CD player playing the traffic report, leading into discussion of Casa de Diablo in Portland and confessions about male strip revues and Dancing Bear videos.
7moments
- 30:38Strip club's CD player broke, so the lap dance happened to the traffic report instead.
- 31:12Tim explains the dances happen in separate shacks outside the main club, 35-45 minutes away in the desert.
- 31:50Casa de Diablo in Portland is described as pretty crazy with acrobatic dancers charging $40 per dance.
- 32:16A stripper bit Tim's nipples during a lap dance, which he admits wasn't on his list but wasn't bad.
- 32:35Tim jokes that the district attorney wants to see his list of what he enjoys, mentioning murder as item three.
- 33:03Tim reveals he went to a male revue club years ago and found it sketchy, filthy, and not his scene.
- 33:33Dancing Bear videos with women are brought up, leading Tim to confess he likes them and feel conflicted about sharing that preference.
Casa de DiabloDan
- 2 min
Singing Hark the Herald Angels and Karaoke Confessions
#An attempted Christmas carol devolves into a discussion of singing ability, leading to Ray's karaoke habit of singing 'Kiss' by Prince at Long Island bars.
7moments
- 34:36Tim says 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' is such a hard song to perform.
- 34:52Tim claims he can hit notes and sing very well, mentions being in a musical.
- 35:23His voice changed around age 12 or 13, used to be higher.
- 35:40Tim explains he sings well when going very low, comfortable in that range.
- 35:56Going high is painful for him, describes it like a cat stuck in a condition.
- 36:09Tim's karaoke song of choice was Kiss by Prince.
- 36:26The crowd wants him to finish Kiss so they can be done.
- 4 min
Morgue Smells and Milking Intestines
#Ray defends why it made sense for him to be the one handling and cleaning corpses at the morgue, including cutting organs and milking intestines, despite Tim's disbelief.
7moments
- 37:29Tim recalls bombing at a Long Island music venue show while his co-host succeeded with a quiet voice performance.
- 38:03Imagining Ray getting up to sing karaoke while smelling like morgue chemicals and decomposition.
- 38:36Ray claims he smells nice usually, then admits he sometimes smelled like decomposition from working with rotten corpses.
- 38:53Tim points out Ray was a photographer, not supposed to touch bodies, yet clearly wanted to.
- 39:17Ray insists it made logical sense for him to flip bodies rather than having an elderly coworker do it.
- 39:51Ray defends removing and cutting organs during autopsies, arguing he wanted the experience while he had the opportunity.
- 40:23Ray explains milking intestines during autopsies—squeezing them to extract contents into a cup.
- 3 min
After a Christmas song bit devolves into cannibalism and foot fetish jokes, Dan, Tom, and Ray each plug their upcoming shows, podcasts, and social media.
8moments
- 40:33Tim sings along to "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" with altered, crude lyrics about squeezing a pancreas.
- 41:18Cannibalism is coming due to food shortages, Tim predicts.
- 41:32Story about a coworker at Betsy Thomas who shut down Tim's claim about having a good wife with a flat "no, you haven't."
- 41:58Tim plugs the Stand Comedy Club tomorrow night, 8 and 10pm.
- 42:15Tim mentions writing for Superior Donuts on CBS and working on a new podcast for the new year.
- 42:39Tom appears to plug his New Year's weekend shows upstate New York and discuss real hunger for his return.
- 43:00Tim and Donnelly argue about the Kennedy assassination; Donnelly is currently traveling or back in town.
- 43:15Tim and Donnelly ask questions just to cut people off and make their opinions known rather than listen.
Madison Comedy ClubStand Comedy ClubSuperior DonutsBetsy Thomas
- 1 min
Tim wraps up the segment with the guests, thanking them for coming on, praising Ray's morgue stories, and sending them off after the Montreal live taping shoutout.
3moments
- 43:59Tim says he likes getting out of New York and misses his dumb friends.
- 44:25Tim jokes that Clump has a better career than him, referencing hitting hitchhikers with hammers.
- 44:45Tim thanks everyone for having him and says goodbye to the guests and hosts.
- 6 min
2018 Show Plans: Getting a Russian Writer and Global Perspectives
#Tim talks with Shannon about wanting to evolve the show in 2018 by bringing on international voices like a Russian writer named Anna Arutunian to discuss Putin, Russia's geography, and moving past exhausted JFK/CIA conspiracy topics.
11moments
- 45:14Tim recorded a show with Louis and Nick Mullen that was a lot of fun.
- 45:27Tim wants to bring a Russian writer onto the show, specifically Anna Arruntian, to discuss Putin and Russian politics.
- 45:47Russia banned an opposition leader from running against Putin, supposedly due to an old fraud conviction they wouldn't overturn.
- 46:22Arruntian's argument that Russian authoritarianism stems from climate and geography rather than cultural preference for strongmen.
- 47:09Tim wants to shift the show toward learning from guests with different perspectives rather than asking leading questions.
- 47:35With Charlie Rose out of the picture, Tim sees an opening for his show to set the record straight on discourse.
- 47:52The show has exhausted traditional conspiracy topics like JFK, the CIA, and MKUltra without significant new material.
- 49:16Tim clarifies he doesn't want to discuss the Western canon or Proust, but rather expand into other countries' histories.
- 49:38Even Rogan's podcast needs more non-American voices; Tim wants to book foreign writers they may or may not agree with.
- 50:01Listeners want to hear from people like Laotians and Syrians, bringing perspectives from smaller nations to the show.
- 50:48Tim plans to explore books like John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine for guest material.
Anna ArruntianAri ShaffirJoe RoganLouis C.K.Nick MullenRussiaJohn PerkinsNaomi Klein+1 more
- 7 min
Billionaire Philanthropy Conspiracies and America's Foreign Policy Hypocrisy
#Tim riffs on suspicions that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's philanthropy in Africa masks ulterior motives, then pivots into a rant about American historical amnesia regarding the 1953 Iran coup and predatory post-WWII foreign loans.
10moments
- 52:01Tim discusses conspiracy theories about billionaire philanthropy, specifically Bill Gates allegedly depopulating Africa through charitable work.
- 52:41Billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are trying to conquer a continent, Tim suggests, before acknowledging he has no evidence for the claim.
- 53:16World aid organizations operate hand-in-hand with criminal global mafias, with food supplies going to warlords instead of people in need.
- 54:05Tim announces plans to book a Russian writer and commentator for 2018 interviews to provide perspective outside the American political binary.
- 54:33He wants guests who haven't been saturated with the same information Americans receive, rather than relying solely on domestic viewpoints.
- 55:06Americans believe they saved the world in World War II, ignoring that Russia lost 25 million people while the U.S. lost 400,000.
- 55:23After World War II, America exploited the rest of the world by dominating the global economy, financial system, and industry while other nations lay destroyed.
- 55:35The U.S. loans money to countries, and when they can't pay, America extracts mining rights and other concessions in exchange.
- 56:17Americans forget that the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected leader twenty years before the 1979 hostage crisis, then wonder why Iranians took the embassy.
- 57:25Tim plans to expand the show with more global guests and jokes that the CIA might co-opt him once he goes overseas.
Bill GatesAmerican foreign policyWarren Buffettforeign aid1953 Iranian coupIMFWorld Bank
- 4 min
Raving About The Florida Project
#Tim gives an extended, enthusiastic review of the film The Florida Project, praising its unknown lead actress and gut-wrenching ending, before playing the trailer.
6moments
- 57:41The Florida Project depicts poor families living in motels outside Disney World, and it's among the most gut-wrenching films Tim has seen.
- 58:02The film is shot from the viewpoint of children, and the lead actress—who was not a trained actor—delivers a phenomenal performance.
- 58:24Tim argues stand-up is far harder than acting, because standing on stage for an hour being funny, unique, and original is a different skill entirely.
- 58:43More people can be turned into actors than most think—you give them a coach, a script, and the right archetype, and they perform the role.
- 58:55The lead actress was promoting a weed clothing line before the film, so she wasn't exactly a household name going in.
- 1:01:20The film is phenomenal, and the last ten minutes hit particularly hard and lodge in your mind.
- 2 min
Tim discusses the new studio timeline, scheduling a double episode before his January trip, and reminisces about a chaotic solo episode where he rambled with Shannon about the Eucharist.
6moments
- 1:01:43Tim and crew dealing with broken headphones in the new studio
- 1:02:05Tim leaving for all of January, returning the 21st, need to tape episodes in advance
- 1:02:24Last time Tim left Shannon alone, he recorded an entire episode solo
- 1:02:35Ten-minute Eucharist discussion between Tim and Shannon split opinions heavily—some called it amazing, others the worst thing ever
- 1:02:48Without structure, unpredictable and absurd things happen on the show
- 1:03:09Shannon keeps returning to the same topic repeatedly, like a crazy person or Tim's mother
- 2 min
Movie Roundup: Shape of Water, Phantom Thread, and Three Billboards
#Quick reactions to other awards-season films including The Shape of Water, Phantom Thread, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, plus a plug for a live show at the Creek and the Cave.
6moments
- 1:03:49Tim saw The Shape of Water and found the scene where the protagonist has sex with the fish interesting.
- 1:04:04Studios cram everything into release schedules just to throw films into Academy Award contention.
- 1:04:30New podcast episodes coming up include a cop beating up a handicapped guy and Ted Williams's head getting frozen.
- 1:04:41Tim needs a website to direct people to his shows, podcasts, and guest appearances.
- 1:05:00Domain name raycomp.com might already be owned, possibly by someone who acquired it speculatively for eighty grand.
- 1:05:13Tim jokes that some guy watches his career and decided he needed to buy the domain name first.
Creek and CavePhantom ThreadThe Shape of Water
- 1 min
Tim closes the show wishing everyone a happy New Year, teasing big changes and a new studio for 2018, and rattling off upcoming tour dates in LA, Tampa, and Boston.
2moments
- 1:05:26Tim promotes Rake.com.com as the website nobody wants you to have
- 1:05:52Invites fans to LA and announces new shows launching by January 1st