The Jason Show: SNL Comedian Tommy Brennan

Everybody, it is hour two. We are probably hot. We are probably tired. There's a truck behind you. Hi. Come here. Look, it's a random person. Come here. Don't swear. Get out of here. OK. We're getting ready to start the second hour, our final hour of the Minnesota State Fair. Look in that camera and say, roll the open. Roll the open. Woo! Every day, every day. Here we go. Let's make it a good day. Every day, every day. Shake it out. Every day, every day. Yeah, let's make it a good day. Every day, every day. Oh, no matter what they say. Oh, yeah, yeah. Now, here's Jason. Welcome. We're on the Jason Show live from the Minnesota State Fair. We are so glad you're here. Hello. It's our state fair love letter to Minnesota. I'm Jase. Hey, before we go any farther, because I don't want to forget to say this. This second hour, I've said it most days, is really a love letter to Minnesota. The Jason Show started 11 years ago as a local show, and we wouldn't be a national show now without all of you watching. We have heard from so many people, and it really fuels us. When our crew is tired and we're hot, hearing from you that if you can't make it to the fair, we bring the fair to you means the world to us. So thank you very much for this second hour. We've greatly appreciated it, and it's our honor to do it for you. Well, each second hour, just for Minnesota, we've had a different sidekick. Falun, as a lot of you know, she has a big-time radio show over there on KDWB, so we can't always have her during the fair, but today we're in good hands, and for me, it's kind of a reunion. Filling in as sidekick and the Ed McMahon position is my better half, my husband, Colin. Hello. Hi, Jase. It's good to see you. Who the hell approved this? I love that I knew that this was happening and you didn't, and the producers had to remind you. I didn't know this. Yeah. I forgot. I remember that I approved this, and then I forgot this was happening, and then yesterday in our post-show meeting, Jeff is like, okay, we're going to do this, we're going to have a great audience for the second hour, we're going to do, you know. We have Tommy Brennan from SNL here. We have, we're going to give things to the audience, and Colin is your sidekick, and I went, I'm sorry, what? And he goes, yeah, remember? And I go, oh, that's right, because, now I've been complimenting you all week. You have. Thank you for that. I have, because as I've said, I get here at 5.30 in the morning, and I'm here until about 1, doing, you know, the radio show for three hours, and then a meet and greet, and then I come over here and do the two hours, and we sometimes shoot stuff. I am not always in the best mood when I come home. Understandably so. So Colin- But I move out. Peace. So yes, yeah. I don't want to deal with it. Yeah, yeah. So Colin is a very considerate spouse. He packs up his bags, he packs up our dogs, and he leaves for a prolonged, and I, audience, I say this with no adjacent sarcasm. It's the most considerate thing, and I appreciate it very much. Thank you very much. Yeah. It's, hey, you guys are awing. It's a treat for me to not have to be around him for those seven days, so. Where the hell is Aaron? Where is Aaron? Aaron? Aaron. This is why I have to be on the last day, not the first day. Aaron, can you hear me? I sure can. Okay. Stand by. Okay. So I blanket you twice. Yeah. We're moving Colin off the stage, and you will move on. Great, great, great. She got that. I'm ready. Yeah, yeah. When I gotta- No. How has it been, though, all joking aside? Has it been peaceful without me? You know, I mean, my heart is empty. Has it been peaceful without me? We're feeling the heat today. No, no, no. It's been, no, I have, it's the, the house has been, well, since you've been gone, our house has haunted. I heard. You heard about that. Yep. Our house is haunted. We have an apparition in my bathroom. I love that the ghost decided to go in my bathroom and not your bathroom. I think he's gone. Okay. I think it's a male. I'm calling him Frank. Oh, why Frank? I don't know. Okay. I think he's Frank, but I'm not getting messages on the mirror anymore. All right. Thank you. He should have never told me this, audience, because now when I want to mess with him, oh gosh, I know exactly what to do. You're so mean. We did a very nice woman a couple of days ago, right behind us, like, I love these people behind us. These are, they, they're devoted slash they're the people that didn't clear the security check. Anyway. Yeah. These people all did. No, I'm just joking. No. But there was a woman called the day that I told the story about the ghost and we go to commercial and I hear from behind me, Jason, Jason. And I turn around, she goes, I have sage in my pocket. I'm like, who carries sage in their pocket? She was ready for let's make a deal. And she goes, just go in the house and burn this in your house. And I'm like, okay, I guess I'll do it. So I did it. And Frank was gone. It worked. The sage worked. Well, it'll do. Should we, should we, should we congratulate, we're going to Lauren. Okay. And then we have something fun for the audience a little bit later. Well, other than Colin, our next guest, I love so very much. She has been so great during our week at the fair. You can see her normally on the Fox nine morning news and other broadcasts. Our fair correspondent is hard at work again this morning. It's time for my favorite segment, Lauren live on location. And today Lauren Drago is live with some very popular animals of the fair. Where are you friend? Jason, we are in the move from the South side of, so I figured I'd check off one of the most iconic ones, milking a cow. This is Doris. She's been working here at not as owned by the Wagner family. You've got some of the Wagner family surrounding hazelnut here. She was, she's three years old and she's here as part of the special showcase. Oh my goodness. Okay. So give me some tips here. I've never milked a cow. Okay. Well, cows like consistency. They like quiet, a little noisy here. So hazelnuts starts moving around a little bit. We know why we've got lots of people out here. But the thing is, is that you're going to make this. Okay. Sign up at the top of the teeth. And then you're going to move, turn your hand over, put that. Okay. Sign up at the top of the teeth, wrap your fingers around, pull down and squeeze and release. So once the milk comes down, you need to release to let the teeth refill. Okay, cool. What I say, let's go for it. Let's do it. Okay. So hazelnut likes it quiet. So we don't want to scrape the bucket or anything. But I've prepared hazelnuts. So she's all ready to milk. You're making that look so easy. But you just squeeze and release. You notice that my hand releases though each time. I don't keep pulling. Yes. She won't appreciate that if you keep tugging. Okay. I'm going to try my best for it. You can go for it. I tip right here. Let's go. Oh, there you go. You got a little bit. Okay. Hazelnut. Don't be afraid to go way up higher. Way up higher, yes. Hazelnut. Oh, there you go. You got something. You know, I am from southern Minnesota. You'd think this would be standard curriculum, but it's not. I see a drip. I see a drip of milk. There you go. Okay. And once you get a rhythm and you get more experience, you can do it two-handed. Wow, two-handed. That would take me a couple of years before I get there. It would take a couple of years to fill this bucket. Oh, my gosh. You know, so you can see somebody that does this. They're going to do this, right? And that's how we did it in the old days. We don't milk that way anymore. How long does it take to fully milk a cow? Well, normally with a machine, between five and seven minutes. Whoa. If you were going to try to milk hazelnut by hand, well, it might take you a few days. But, you know, an experienced person, 30 to 40 minutes. Wow. Thank you so much for showing me the roasted hazelnut. Thank you. Look, Jason. I got an award. I milked a cow. Look at the audience. Give it up for Lauren. Lauren, you're not messing around. You found the best. You found the Venus and Serena Williams of teats out there. Look at that. Thank you. I agree. Hats off to hazelnut. She's a great cow. She is like an Avenger. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Lauren. Congratulations. Give it up for Lauren, everybody. We're going to check back in with Lauren in a little bit. Have you ever milked a cow? Never. Okay. And my relatives had a dairy farm, but not my thing. I did it once for TV, and I got like a, I think dust came out. It was, I did nothing. It was like nothing. I did it for a competition, and I'm not proud of this. Who? No. Well, you know who beat me? Frank Vassalero. Yeah. Frank's really competitive. Very competitive. Very. Very competitive. We had a game night at our house one time, and I can't even speak of the things that happened because I was so nervous. Yeah. Frank and I were saying many cuss words to each other. That's right. It was a lot of fun. We're going to take a break. More fun at the fair when we return. Back in a moment, everyone. Welcome back, Minnesota, to our second special hour here at the Minnesota State Fair. If you missed any of our special state fair shows, don't worry. We've uploaded them to the Jason Show YouTube page. You can see all of them there right in the row. Hours one and hour two. And don't forget our new season. Our season is coming up. And our next season premiere is September 14th when we begin our 12th season of the Jason Show. And we're adding some cities, going a little bit bigger. We'll talk about that next week. Right now, though, we love playing games on the show, and today's game is inspired by my sidekick and my better half, Colin. One of the first things people notice about the dude I'm married to is Colin's hair. That's right. Yeah. It's so obvious that even when we met comedian Lee Ann Morgan, look at this picture, at one of her shows, she literally looked at Colin. She goes, look at your hair. I just want to take you home. You're just as cute. Can we take you home? So in honor of Colin's hair, or as Roxanne calls him, flippity floppity, it's time to play our new game, name that hair. That's right. Here's how it's going to work. And Colin doesn't know about this. We're going to show Colin, he's going to look at that monitor right there, a celebrity hairstyle, but their face is going to be blocked out. And Colin has to guess whose hair it belongs to. Okay? Okay. Are you ready? I think so. Colin, look at the monitor. Who is that? That would be Academy Award winner Halle Berry. Is it Halle Berry? It's not her. It is Halle Berry. Jeff literally looked at me and he goes, the answer is on your card, dumb blank. Yeah, anyway. Okay, Colin, let's look at the next one. Who is that? Ooh, that's a tougher one. I don't know. I honestly don't know. Let me give you a hint. Baby. That's Justin Bieber? It's Justin Bieber. Yeah. That was a weird one. Okay, here we go. Let's look at another one. Oh, these lips don't lie. That's Lisa Rinna. That is Lisa Rinna from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Okay. Yeah, I mean Rinna. Iconic. Iconic hairstyle. She's had it since the 90s, but she's still iconic. Okay, let's look at the next one. That's you. That is actually me. Yes, that's right. That's either me or a Fisher Price character. Either one. Or Lego. I'm not sure. Or Lego. It works. Snaps on, comes off. Snaps on, snaps off. Okay, let's look at this next one. Whose hair is that? Oh, that's the gorgeous Falun. Her hair is better than mine. That is Falun. Yeah. Absolutely. She's got the best hair in the biz. She does have, and that's the publicity photo right there. Okay, let's look at another one. Whose hair is that? This is what I need to get to, is George Clooney with my gray. It is George Clooney, everyone. That's right. And finally, oh. If I could turn back time. It is Cher, everybody. That's right. Time. Okay. I know, and let me tell you. Wait, special delivery? What is, ladies and gentlemen. Apple fries. This is one of the hottest items at the Minnesota State Fair. These are the apple fries. People have been waiting in line for like an hour for these. Have you had them yet? No, and oh. They are really good. Let me have one. So good. You can tell, like that's not one you want to take home later and reheat. But so good. You know what? Whoever brought that, thank you, because I don't want to wait in line. No, thank you very much. Yeah. I spoiled Colin, so he's not all about lines. But yeah, this is the thing. These people, I want to give a shout-out to the owners or owner. I saw him do an interview on a news station. And that poor man looked like he went through World War II, one. He looked like he went through all. He was so exhausted. Well, yeah. Because they have been blown away by the response. 12 days for, I mean, they're open, what, 15, 16 hours a day? Yes. Oh, I can't imagine. But good for them. Again, as we said to Joyce Summers, the secret is in the simplicity of that. Yes. It's just fried apples with a great caramel dipping sauce. So good. It's so very good, yeah. Go get them, people. It's one of my favorite things. That and the caveat egg roll and the Vietnamese coffee. Well, every day here at the fair, we've had a lot of fun looking back at some memorable moments from our 11 years at the state fair. It's time for today's fair flashback. Today, we go way back to, well, two years ago, when Falun and I visited the state fair butterfly house with executive producer Jeff and Bjorn, and the butterflies didn't seem to be attracted to me. Look at this. So what do we do? This is what you do? Here's a butterfly. That one looks dirty. I want a pretty one. I mean, is this what you do, Eric? Holy crap. How are they on her leg? Oh, my God. Fill your body in sugar before you cave in. I did not. Oh, Jeff, Jeff, she worked two days during the fair with us, and she gets a butterfly first. I just have that aura or stank. Look at this girl's face. She's like, what is going on? She is so over it. It's like, get me out of here. She's me during a meeting. Jason, have you had a single one come to me? I don't want your charity butterflies. You know what my song is? Butterflies like me. You can't leave until Jason gets a butterfly on him. No. Here comes one. Someone rubbed the sugar on it. It just further proves how salty he is. Get him one. He needs one. I need one? Oh, thank you, sweetheart. You're very sweet. Oh, well, thank you. You're nicer than 95% of my staff. I love that exhibit. Next, from St. Paul to 30 Rock, our next guest has really, really made Minnesota proud. Tommy Brennan joined the cast of Saturday Night Live last year, and this weekend he's back in town for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 sold-out comedy shows. Audience, give a big Stay Fair welcome to Tommy Brennan. How does it feel to be back home? Oh, it feels good. It's been fun. It's fun because I'm from here, and I don't get recognized a lot out in public in general, but in Minnesota, it happens. But then everyone is, like, kind of related to me a little bit. So it's been fun. They come up, they go, oh, Tommy, right? I go, yeah. They go, my uncle knows your grandma. I'm like, all right, cool. Send him a pic. Do you like the fair normally? I love the fair, yeah. You're a fair guy? I'm a fair guy. I'm a ProntoPup loyal member. Yes. Yeah, I would say, I mean, I'm a once a year. I'm not going every day. No, believe me. Yeah. When you're out here every day, it's a once. I literally get done and go right in my car. I mean, how are you keeping it tight out here? A secret stash of vodka. No, no, I'm kidding, yeah. Well, let's hang out after. That's right. Let me read, let me brag on you a little bit. Let me read the headline from the Star Tribune for you. Oh, boy. SNL's Tommy Brennan puts Minnesota family center stage in triumphant return home. It's a very dramatic, that's a very dramatic headline. Really, triumphant return. Someone watch the Odyssey. Yeah, right, yeah. Yeah. Was it, it was a year ago this week that you were announced, right? Yeah. Dude, take me, I thought about this when they announced you, and I thought, oh, if I ever get a chance to talk to them. I've talked to a few SNLers. What was the moment like for you when you get the call? Was it an executive, was it an EP, was it a talent coordinator, was it your agent, was it Lauren? How do you find out? It was a talent producer. Here's the thing. I was on day eight of being in Las Vegas to do shows at the same club in a casino. I was there living a Groundhog's Day situation, and I went to leave, and I realized my rental car had been stolen from the hotel parking ramp. And I'm running around, freaking out, trying to get a hold of the rental car company, and I get a phone call, and I go, yes? What? And then he was like, hey, this is Rebecca with SNL. No. Yeah, and she's like, we'd like to offer you a spot on the cast, and I go, okay, my car just got stolen. Yes, thank you. And then I hung up, and then 30 seconds later, I was like, what am I doing? And I called her back, and I was like, I'm so sorry. I just ruined the best moment of my life. The best moment. Yeah. How was, you know, Peacock did such a great job with the 50th and so many of the behind-the-scenes documentaries. One of my favorites is seeing everyone's audition and how cringy everyone felt with their audition. How did you feel your audition went? I, you know, it lived up to the hype. I'm such an SNL nerd. Like, I watched all those old audition tapes. So you knew how it went. Yeah, and I knew that, like, everyone bombs in there. Like, just, they don't laugh, and you're doing it in an empty studio. And part of me, maybe it's, like, masochistic, but part of me was like, I'm excited for that. For the silence? Yeah, because, like, it's like, I've seen Jimmy Falun do it. I've seen Will Ferrell's tape. I've seen all these people, like, eat it in there. So I'm like, I at least get to be part of that group. You're in good company if Will's bombing. Yeah. If Falun bombed. And boy, did it live up to it. It was quiet in there. Is it? Are you just sweating in places you don't even know you had sweat? Yeah. Yeah, the lower back gets active. It just, it's over quick, though. It's five minutes. And then afterwards, you just kind of sit there and you go, okay, I guess I did that. I sang a song about how no one's having sex in Washington, D.C., and we did that, and then we wait now. I was just going to ask, and how long did you debate what to go with? Did you get advice? Did you, how did you decide? Because that's a hell of a lot of stress, too. Well, yeah, I sent in a tape of stand-up, and they were like, can you do anything else? I was like, tough start. And then they were like, okay, I sent in a tape of characters, and they were like, great, so let's stick with stand-up. They did not. No, that was more my manager. She's really mean. And then they were like, we'd like if you did something else, too. And I play piano and I sing, so I did that. And you did Second City, too, right? Yeah, I started at Second City in Chicago. I mean, I love Chicago. There's just something special about Second City, isn't there? Yes, and it's very cheesy and it's fun because when I started there, I was 22 or whatever, and I would walk through the halls and see the pictures of Farley and Tina and Amy and everyone, and you dream about it, you know, and then that feels so far away. So to actually start there and then end up at SNL was very cool. Is there a level now as you're going into the year two, are you able to relax a little bit more? Because now you know, no. Okay, next question. I had to shake it a little bit, but I don't think so. I mean, I feel a lot better, but it's, yeah. But what I mean is, like, you know the routine. You know what door to open. You know, okay, that room is the closet and that's an office and that's Lauren. You know what I mean, like the routine. That's true. You know what bathrooms to poop in year two. Exactly, yeah. That's good, yeah. Okay, stay right there. More with Tommy when we come back. Live from the Minnesota State Fair. Back in a moment, everyone. I'm thrilled to be on television. I love it. Kids are like, why are you sticking a camera in my face? I just want to eat a corn dog. Welcome back. Tommy Brennan from SNL is here. Going on the road and doing sets, does it kind of recharge the battery a little bit? Yeah, I like it. I was, I mean, before I got SNL, I think I did 48 out of 52 weeks on the road last year. And, you know, that was too much. But it feels good to get back out there. You meet crazy people and, yeah, get a little real world. Does it kind of fuel itself when you're on the road? You get more material because of the fact that you're on the road and you're meeting. Oh, yeah. I'm doing gigs in dark places, you know. I've performed in a casino at the Wisconsin Dells in the last 18 months. And, hey, I love the Wisconsin Dells. No hate. He's allowed to make that joke. He's from here. Exactly. It's just, have you guys ever tried to describe the Wisconsin Dells to someone who's never been there? I've never thought about that. It's kind of a dark place. You're like, well, it's like Disneyland. If you took a picture of Disneyland and then you were like, okay, now let's do a sad one, you know. And I love it. But it's like, it is kind of a dark place. So performing inside of a casino at the Wisconsin Dells, that can be a little interesting. Do you notice how half the audience isn't sure they're allowed to laugh at that because they know their Wisconsin relatives are watching, you know what I mean? Also, like, it's out of love. A lot of you are like, he's coming at the Dells. I mean, come at anything else but not the Dells. How in the world would you describe, I asked this of Andrew Zimmern from the Food Network. He's good friends with Martha Stewart. And I go, dude, how would you describe the state fair to Martha Stewart? And Andrew's like, she just basically wouldn't come here. How would you describe the fair to peeps in New York? Well, I brought a friend, Laura Peak, to open for me this weekend. And she lives in L.A. And we walk in and she goes, oh, I thought it was going to be more like rides. And I was like, no, it's mostly about getting as fat as you can in one day. That's like the, like, because she was like, yeah, there's Laura right there. Hi, Laura. Welcome. She wants to hit a bunch of rides. I'm like, you're not going to want to go on that many rides. After we've had a full bucket of sweet Marthas, like, you can't go on a ride immediately. No, and some fried, Laura, we'll get you some fried pickles. Yes. You had a corn dog? No, prano pup. We had a prano pup for breakfast. That was nice. Yeah. That's a breakfast of champions. Laura, that's like two of the food groups, Laura. That's like two, yeah. It's fantastic. Yeah. I love it. What is it, let me ask you, because like you, I'm a nerd for SNL. What was your era? Because, you know, everybody, every audience member has an era that's a sweet spot for them. For me, it's like the Phil Hartman era. You know, when I was in high school, it was Myers and Spade. For you, what was that sweet spot for you? First of all, David Spade is one of my favorites. So I agree with you there. Spade on Howard Stern is one of my favorite things in life. Anyway, go ahead. I'm sorry. He's so mean in the funniest little way. But I think my era was like the 2000, my favorite year was 2008. So it was like the Lonely Island Boys, but then like I really loved when Amy and Tina were doing Hillary and Sarah Palin. And, yeah, that was kind of my, I think that was, I was in eighth grade, freshman year of high school. And that's when I fell in love with it in a big way. Do you ever get used to, because, again, you're a nerd, you're a fan, do you ever get used to the fact, or does it hit you from time to time, when you're walking around the hallways, you know what I'm going to say, of Rockefeller Center, you're at 8-H and you see the hallway and you know all of the, this sounds so woo, but you know all the people that have stepped on the floor that you're stepping on. Does it ever get to you, do you ever think about it? Every once in a while it'll hit me, but most of the time I think my brain does this thing where I dissociate and it's like, that's actually a different show than the one I work on. Because I think it's just like, if you're caught up all the time in what a legendary place, I don't know that that would be like... Mentally healthy? Yeah, or like creative. But every once in a while, you'll catch something, oh, that's funny. Dude, this was one of my favorites from last season. Yeah, this was the hardest one to do, probably, because when Hudson came out, the cheers were so long that we didn't know when to restart the sketch. Oh, seriously? Yeah, because it was just like the studio was going crazy. I mean, there were like women trying to climb over the seats to get to him. And we just had to, me and Veronica were standing there waiting to restart. It was crazy. Just waiting for it. Anyways, yeah, like every once in a while something will catch me. I mean, I remember early on I rounded a corner and there's this sign that says, Watch your head, Farley. Because he always used to hit his head in this one spot. And that kind of caught me off guard. And yeah, I cried. So what? Who cares? I'm not ashamed. And so every once in a while something like that will happen. We have like 30 seconds of your first year inaugural season. What host surprised you the most in whatever way? What host was a surprise? I mean, Jack Black lived up to the hype of being Jack Black. He... I got to spend an afternoon rehearsing a sketch where we just played air guitar to carry on my wayward son. And like we were all afraid to do the Jack Black, like rig-a-gig-a-bin-it, that thing. And then he was like, no, let it rip. Let's do it. And we all were little kids and running around the stage with him playing air guitar. And that was like, it's really fun to meet one of your heroes and be like, well, you're as cool as I hoped you were. I was going to say, and they live up to who you think they are. He'll be performing live this weekend in Wisconsin Dells. I'm just joking, no. He's performing at Acme Comedy Club here in Minneapolis this weekend. Give it up for Tommy Brennan, everyone. I love you guys. Thank you so much. Follow him on social for more dates. And the season premiere of SNL. Check your local listings on NBC this fall. We're going to take a break. We'll be back right after this. Everyone back at Box 9 is laughing right now. Every single person at Box 9 is laughing right now. If there's security, please remove Lori from the star. Security, what are you doing? Don't just stand there. Take her down. Oh, my Lord. That's Lori Fisher, one of our executive producers, our managers. I always joke, it doesn't matter what star. It could be Pia Zadora. It could be Charo. It could be somebody dead. The minute they leave the studio, Lori is on them like a fly on poop. Welcome back, everyone. I love our crew. First responders are there to protect us in a lot of emergency situations. But who is looking out for them and their families? I love this. Our next guest is from an organization that provides financial assistance to first responders. Audience, give a very nice welcome to Mike from the Minnesota 100 Club. Hi, buddy. Mike, first of all, I promise I'll have a chaperone. Lori will not get you back there, I promise. Can you describe, I love that you're here, I love that this hour we can shine a light on organizations like yours. Can you tell the folks what the 100 Club is, please? The Minnesota 100 Club actually was formed 54 years ago, 1972. It happened after a couple of officers were killed in the line of duty. These gentlemen came around and they said, what can we do to help them out? Because at the time of death, the income stops coming in. There's financial needs. Since then, it's been involved in 54 years now to license plates that you see. Right now, there's so many organizations, there's so many focuses of need. Are we at an all-time high for need right now in this era? Absolutely. Obviously, things go up. We're not just police. That's how it started back in 1972. It's first responders across the state of Minnesota. It's fire, EMS, paramedics, correctional officers. It's all first responders. Let me ask you, Mike, because people here, I say this a lot when I'm doing any type of trying to encourage people to donate to X, Y, and Z. I always say, okay, out there, give $5. I say, I know you think that just $5 won't help, but it does. Can you put an action on $5? No matter what people can give, it does make a difference, right? Absolutely. Every little penny counts towards it. The nice thing is about the license plates, it goes right into that. We have it on the stick there, the Minnesota 100 Club. Those are license plates that you might see driving around. Ours are distinguished by the blue and the red line on the bottom. The money that is raised from that goes back to first responders in the need. When they're injured or killed in the line of duty, we're able to help and provide financial assistance to them. Let's drill down a little bit more on the need. Because people here, oh, they need financial assistance. They have needs. What are we talking about? Because I think we forget there are bills to be paid. There are things that when they're in a situation they need to be taking, thinking of their care, we need to remove this ancillary stuff so they can focus on what's important. What are some of the specific needs they have? It can be anything, from mortgage payments, rent payments, daycare issues. They could be a single parent, whatever it may be, and there are those needs. When it happens right away, that's another burden on them that we like to be that bridge or that gap until they get their other benefits coming in. Mike, when you talk, you're on the front end of this. When you talk to people on the receiving end, when you talk to first responders, when you talk to people in the field, what does the outpouring of support mean to them? You know, that's a good question. And seeing as a former, as a retired first responder myself, Thank you for your service. Thank you for what you've done. It's appreciated by everybody. And I can say that for all the first responders that it is very much appreciated to see the visual support in their community that they get back. And what is it like for you now that you're on this end? You were on the other end. You were a first responder. What is it like to be one of the faces of this organization? It must make you proud that you're literally helping out. I mean, it's not cliche, but you're literally helping to change lives. It is to be on the end of it where we're handing out the check and be the beneficiary where we're writing out that check. It is so powerful. Take me one of those moments. What is that like? You know, there's never a dry eye with them or their family. To receive that, they're very humbled. It's a humbling experience to watch and to be part of because they don't want to go out and ask for help. But they need it. And to see that weight lifted off their shoulders, that means every penny that you put towards, I have the plates, the $40 to get the plates, makes it worth it. Well, think about it. It makes perfect sense to me. Somebody that does what you do, what first responders do, they're selfless by nature. So when they receive help, they're there to help others. They would never think of asking for help. It makes perfect sense to me. And a lot of times, too, and this is a very simple way for Minnesotans to help out. You look back a couple of days ago, what happened in Minneapolis, and people are always asking, what can I do to help? This is the way to do it. Go to www.Minnesota100club.org. It will follow you the link there. They'll take you to the DMV. If you want to do a monetary donation through the site, you can do that. There's options to do that. We have a golf tournament coming up in a few weeks at Bunker Hills. If you like to play golf, there's another great cause. You've made my job real easy. I was going to read what Mike just said, but Mike said it better than me. So there we go. Give it up for Mike, everybody. But I'll say it one more time because I want you to do it. Head to www.Minnesota100club.org. Give it up for Mike and all the first responders. God bless you. We'll be right back. Back in a moment. Fox 9 Live at the Fair in a special second hour of the Jason Show. Celebrating Minnesota. We began 11 years ago as a local show here on Fox 9. By the way, our season premiere is September 14th. Season 12 of our show. Couldn't have done it without you guys. By the way, do we have a security guard keeping an eye on Laurie? Tommy Brennan just left from S&L, our building. Is he safe? Jeff, did we get clearance? Tommy's safe? He ran away from Laurie. Good. Oh, the audience is applauding. Laurie, yeah. There's the security guard. There's Laurie right there. Laurie, he left. He left, yes. Maybe Laurie will want our next guest's autograph. I do. We're putting a spotlight. Laurie, sit down. Anyway, one of the great things about this second hour is the fact that we can kind of go back to what we used to do. I love doing this. Shining a spotlight on great local businesses. Our next guest is from our go-to flooring service here in the Twin Cities. I love doing commercials for them. From Hammernicks, give it up for Jessica Peterson, everyone. Hi, friend. Okay. You guys were with me at the beginning of the fair, so I started the fair with you, and I'm going to end the fair with you. But this time we're going to focus on what one of my commercials focuses on. Your mobile. I want to get the name right. At Home. Hammernicks At Home. Launched in January. Explain this to me. Put the microphone a little closer to you. There we go. I want people to hear you. All right. So basically it brings a showroom to people's homes. So if people aren't sure what they want, they have a lot of questions on what's available versus making the trip in and the back and forth trips. So they send in a request. We come on out, and I bring samples. We do a measure. We give the quotes, and we do the whole process for them. So people, it's like a house call, like a doctor house call. They don't even have to come to the showroom if they don't want. Exactly. They don't have to do anything. And it's really helpful, people working from home, people who can't leave their home. And I would imagine for you and the design team, there's one thing to see. I just thought of this. There's one thing to see a picture, but to see the physical space, does that help you guys and the designers? Oh, it's huge. And I tell people, I mean, from my own experience, I work with the stuff all the time, but once you actually see it in your home, it's way different. And people have had multiple trips because they think they know what their colorings are, their tones. But once they get it home, it's not right. Well, other than that, what have you seen? What does surprise people about the process, about flooring in general? Are they surprised of what might look good in their house? Are they surprised that, oh, hardwood actually might look better? What are some of the surprises that people discover? I think people are surprised of just the different options out there. Some people might say, oh, I'm interested in laminate or hardwood. But they're really thinking luxury vinyl product. And then even the process of doing the floor project, people are surprised that it is a construction project. So it's going to be noisy. It's going to be dusty. People are surprised by that? You'd be surprised. You're ripping up a floor. You are, yep. There's many surprises that can come along, too. I would just expect dust. Okay. We have some samples here. Because I was going to ask you, you're on the front lines. You guys go to the trade shows. You see trends coming before we see them in the showroom. Is this like a hot for flooring? First of all, this is heavy, girl. What are we looking at right here? So this is a luxury vinyl product. This is one that we actually stock. It's a great on-trend color right now. Very popular. But it's very classic, too. I call it a neutral natural. So it goes with a lot of colorings in people's homes, too. Now, and this isn't one of them that will. We'll put it down and it will go out in two years. This is a perennial. That color isn't overly fashionable is what I'm trying to ask. I'd say it's very fashionable. You know what I mean. Trendy. I meant trendy like I'm going to put this in my house and in two years from now I'm going to want to change it. This is pretty classic. What are we looking at here? This is a carpet option. I would say this is very on-trend. But not so trendy that, again, you're not going to want it a couple years. But big in the pattern, texture. So it just adds a little bit of visual interest. Patterns are big right now. Yes. I say fluffiness. Please correct me. What kind of thickness is in right now for carpet? I'm asking for myself. Yeah. I would say people like a low profile but a high density. So you get that functionality. For low profile, you're not going to see a lot of movement. Vacuum lines, things that bug people. But it's still going to feel good. And it's going to last. Even if you can't leave your house, even if you don't want to get in the car, even if you don't want to go to a showroom, you can call Hammernicks. Give it up for Jessica, everybody. Head to hammernicks.net. Hammernicks.com for more. And look for my commercials. I love doing them. We're going to take a break. More fun. We're wrapping things up when we continue. We are getting ready to say goodbye to the State Fair for 2026. Our special second hour of the Jason show. All episodes are available on our YouTube channel. All throughout the theme. Thanks to Colin for being my sidekick today. Welcome back home. Thank you. We're going to say goodbye and a special thank you when we return. Back in a moment, everyone. Well, it has been a time for the State Fair 2026. Welcome back to our special second hour. A love letter to Minnesota. Colin is here. Falun is somewhere around the fairgrounds. She's over there by KDWB. Hey, I wanted to spend a few minutes before we say goodbye. I mentioned this a few times. I said that I would, but I want to end with the most important people here. Look, I jokingly complained that this is tiring and a lot of work, but the people that work doubly, triply, quadruply hard are the people you're seeing right now. These are a behind-the-scenes crew who never get the recognition, never get the applause that they deserve. These are the people. These are the people each day they come out here and they work really, really, really long hours in the scorching heat and they make these shows fly. That's right. Look at John Cattoo smiling for the first time since the mid-'90s. There's our security guard, Ryan. But all seriousness, all these people are far more responsible for the success of this show than I ever will be, so I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to them. They're the best in the business, and I'm really lucky to work with them. That's going to do it for us. Thomas, too. There's Thomas! Thomas! And Ben, go out there because nobody can tell you you're doing it wrong. Season 12 starts September 14th. Bye, everybody. We'll see you on Tuesday.