Keeping A Sense Of Humor

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Welcome to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you. 866-34 Truth, 866-348-7884. If you want to be a part of the program, I want to ask you a question today.

In light of what's going on with the late night Comedy guys and so forth. You've seen the thing with Stephen Colbert.

Now, Howard Stern series is dropping him. Have we lost a sense of humor as a nation? You know, do you do you keep a sense of humor? And your stuff. I mean, one of the things that I have found.

throughout my journey, Which has been Pretty pretty rough with my wife. I mean, she's had a pretty rough go of it. But we've kept a sense of humor. And do we keep that sense of humor? Are our hearts light?

And I'm not talking about biting humor where we're just making fun of people. I think this is what Stephen Colbert is having to learn painfully.

Well, I don't know if he's learning it or not, but the reality is when you're playing to one side of the audience, It's like listening to something with stereo headphones but only hearing one channel. And you had you have this um This thing that you're playing for applause, not for laughter. If you go back and look at the old Tonight Show, the way Johnny Carson did it. You know, I mean, he would barbecue everybody, but he was it was always in good-natured fun. Leno did the same thing, and David Letterman for a while did a lot of that.

Certainly, the old, if you go back even further, Jack Parr and so forth, and some of these others, but The point of comedy is: you know, if you want to have a successful run of it. Is you don't alienate half your audience. Michael Jordan famously said, Republicans buy tennis shoes too. You know, and he wasn't going to enter into that fray of pitting one side against the other. And I wondered, you know, do you feel like that?

Do you feel like that we've lost a sense of humor? Do you keep a sense of humor in what you're dealing with? I started doing my radio seal for caregivers. which uh airs on this network. And I started this back in 2000 And 12, I went on the air back in 2012.

So I think I'm the longest running program for family caregivers. And I've had the great privilege of being friends with Jeff Foxworthy for many, many years, and he told me when I first started doing the program. Make em laugh, Peter. You know more than most. how difficult this journey is for caregivers.

So, make them laugh. And I've tried to do that. I mean, not to the point of being an idiot about it.

Well, I think maybe there's an argument that could be made that I have. But he and I did, for example, a PSA during National Caregiver Awareness Month many, many years ago. What led up to that was Interview that I had done with AARP, and they asked me, What do you say to somebody who is Caregiver, but they don't necessarily identify as such, they don't really think of themselves as a caregiver.

Well, for whatever reason. that struck me as very funny. And I lapsed into my best Jeff Foxworthy impression at the time, which was: if you have a carpet cleaner on retainer, you're probably a caregiver, you know. And they thought that was funny. Said, you and Jeff ought to do this.

And so I called up Jeff and I said, Hey, you want to do this with me? And he said, well, write out some jokes and we'll make this happen. I said, these aren't jokes. This is my life.

So we did it. I wrote out a bunch of different scenarios that were not. that we're not Fictional. They were true of my life as a character, and he and I did it together. One of them was: like, if you've, it was during November, so we did, like, if you've ever.

Changed a dressing while cooking a turkey with dressing, you know, which I have actually had to do. Yeah, another one was uh um If you've ever hooked up your wife's wheelchair to your dog just to see if it would work, you might be a caregiver. And I've actually done that. I actually have footage of that. It's pretty funny.

So and then we had some outtakes, some blooper reel, if you will. And one of those just busted me up because my wife's missing both legs. She has two prosthetic legs. And and Jeff and his family have been friends for many years and Jeff he je would just he's just so funny. And he said, If anybody's ever seriously asked you, Baby, have you seen my left leg?

I just lost it. I mean, it's 12 years later or whatever, and it's still funny. I mean, that's just funny. And I thought, you know, we got to keep a sense of humor. And I've been to a lot of places and been around a lot of church folks and so forth.

And sometimes Church folks could be the most dour people. Are you that way? Do you feel that way? I mean, we have such reason to be joyful and exciting, and laughter is such a great way to just. Express that, but not cruel laughter.

I think there's some comedians that get out there and they're very. Mean-spirited. And their comedy just doesn't hold up. I mean, you could be an insult comic and still be funny and not be mean-spirited. I mean, Rickles was that way.

And a lot of people don't like Rickles. But I was in on the joke. And I think any Rickles fan was, this was not meant to be mean-spirited because he just went after everybody. You know, and of course, Rodney Dangerville went after himself. You know, I tell you, I'm doing okay this week, but last week was rough.

You know, but you look back at some of the great comedy. And it holds up if it's done with a sense of winking at the audience that we're having a good time here. But that's not what's happening in our late-night world. It's become this This Place where people process out all of their emotions and their feelings and their angst and their anger, and they're not there to. Just have a good time.

Just enjoy life. I don't know why we don't have many more. People of faith who aren't comedians. There's one guy that's very funny. I've had him on my program, Jeff Allen, who's just enormously funny and a wonderful Christian man, and just enormously funny.

And I've watched, I don't know where he is, but Tim Allen, the toolman. I mean, I follow him a lot on social media, and he's really spending an awful lot of time talking about the things of God, and he's still very, very, very funny. And you don't have to be vulgar, you don't have to be cruel, you can be funny. And we have, as Christians, I would think we would lead the pack on this. Not that we're not.

Recognizing how serious life is. Gracie and I certainly have. a serious life. And but we try to keep a sense of humor. About a lot of things, but you can't do what we've done.

I mean, she's had 98 surgeries. I mean, you can't survive that without a sense of humor. I talk with Johnny Erickson, Todd, on a regular basis. She's got a wonderful sense of humor. I make her laugh.

I do things. I say things to her that probably not a lot of people would. But I mean, we just have a good time, we just laugh. And, you know, we don't have to take ourselves so seriously. I'm always needling.

Robbie Dillmore on this network because he comes up with these jokes that he does on his. Different radio shows, and well, he calls them jokes, and bless his heart. Yeah. They are, you know, and he'll come up with like, who's the shortest man? He'll put out this as a trivial question: you know, who's the shortest man in the Bible?

You know, Nehemiah or Bildad the Shuhite, you know, kind of thing. And he'll do these things. And it's just like, please, Robbie, make it stop, make it stop. But, you know, we'd have a good time. Do you do that?

Does your church do this? Do you feel like are the people that you're associated with, are they excited to be alive and they're laughing and that there's a there's a time to weep and a time to laugh? Scripture says. And a merry heart is good for the body. Are we rejoicing?

even in our travails because we know that There's a bigger picture here. That we can sing worship songs, that we can clap our hands, we can praise God in the midst of difficult circumstances. Are we doing this? Does the world look at us and marvel that we can do this? that we can keep that kind of sense of humor.

or that we can keep our eyes fixed on something else other than our circumstances that lift our hearts and lift the room. And it doesn't mean we don't cry, it doesn't mean we don't hurt, it doesn't mean we don't have. issues and problems and certainly I have issues. But It means that there's a bigger picture. And I would think that we as Christians would be leading the charge.

on helping people lift their heads up. Look up people, look up.

So, what are your thoughts on that? 866. 348-7884 is the number to call. If you want to weigh in, maybe you got a good joke. And I'm open to, boy, that's opening up a can of worms.

If you got a good one, better than Robbie's, 866-34-TRUTH. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Truth Talk Live. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com.

Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348. 78-84. Do you have a sense of humor?

Do you keep a sense of humor? What makes you laugh? What wh who's your favorite comedian? Who do you like? I love stand-up comedians.

I truly do. I look at that. As one of the most amazing art forms out there. I mean, it's mono y mono. I mean, the courage it takes.

And I've had the privilege of being around several of them, up close and personal. I've had several on my show: Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Jim Brewer, and recently Jay Leno. Was on my program, and I want to play a clip of that. But I admire the courage and the wit that it takes to do this. And so I've been watching the late night.

Debacle that's going on because of Stephen Colbert. You look at Jimmy Kimmel and some of these others, and you ask yourself: what's funny? How do you know what funny is? And the best way to find out what funny is when people laugh.

Now if you're playing for applause That's when you run into a problem. People are applauding you for saying something that they agree with, and they're saying, We agree with you on this. But if they're laughing, particularly if they're pointing, and I learned this from Jeff, I've really studied this a lot because this is a guy that's been doing this for a very, very long time. But if they're pointing to one another and saying, that's you, that's you, you know, that kind of thing. That's how you knew that whole you might be a redneck thing really worked because everybody was, you know, that, oh, that's, I know somebody like that, or I am like that, you know, kind of thing.

And it's, it's, that's when you know that you've got comedy. And when we can see ourselves, and there's comedy throughout all of Scripture, You know, there's sarcasm in scripture. I mean, people don't look at it as such, but look at Elijah with the prophets of Baal. And he, um He's out there just racking on these guys. Where is Baal?

Maybe he's not, you know. Go read it for yourself and look at it that he's being sarcastic with this. And I still believe, I still believe that there was a hint of sarcasm. when the angel showed up to Gideon and Gideon was on the threshing floor and it was down kind of low so that he you couldn't see him. He was down below and kind of hiding out a little bit.

And the angel says, Hail, man of valor. I'm not so sure there wasn't a little bit of sarcasm there, but maybe I'm wrong. But do you keep a sense of humor? You know, we've had really funny things. And by the way, if we have time today, I'll play a little bit of that clip from Jay Leno.

But I would encourage you to go out and listen to the whole interview. It's pretty funny.

It's out of my podcast. But it was also very insightful because he's been taking care of his wife. They've been married 45 years and she has dementia. And he's taking care of her. And it's interesting to hear his insights on this.

But Gracie and I have had all kinds of things in our life that are just hilarious. One time, she was getting a manicure. This is when we lived in Nashville. And she went and got a manicure.

Well, the lady's sitting there Just working on her hands and not even paying attention. It's a very busy. Place there, and I always used to hate to go over there because it just felt nervous just being around there. Craziness going on, and everybody's talking all at once. This lady's doing Gracie's nails, and not even paying attention.

And it was not her first time meeting Gracie. And she said, you're a pretty lady. You need to get a pedicure. And Gracie looked at her with incredulity and said, I don't have any feet. And the lady just didn't even miss a beat, just kept doing Gracie's nails.

Okay, maybe next time. Yeah, okay. But Just Well what do you say to that?

Well So if you don't keep a sense of humor, We're going to blow a gasket. And I I can just go through Oh, I will tell you this. This was funny. Um we did an event in Kentucky. It was a big children's charity.

John Michael Montgomery was the host and he was um He's getting ready to retire after all these years on the road and big country singer. And some of you may know him, and he's been in the news lately because he is getting ready to. get off the road permanently and retire after a long career. But anyway, this was many, many years ago. And there was a kind of a big golf tournament and then there was a big concert.

It was all to raise money for for children's charity there in Kentucky and and Um Gracie was one of the singers and so John Michael came out to welcome the crowd. and he's on crutches. And he explained that he Fell or tripped or something, stepped in a hole while he was out duck hunting and broke his leg. And that's why he was on crutches. And everybody's like, you know, oh, you know, that kind of thing.

And then Johnny Bench. Catcher for the Cincinnati Reds. I mean, Hall of Famer, Johnny Bench. It's Johnny Bench. And he walks out and he said to John Michael Montgomery, he said, you think that's bad?

I've got seven broken cups. mounted on the wall at home. And everybody just went, oh, you know, it was just like, oh. And then Gracie followed Johnny Bitch.

Now Gracie wears her prosthetic legs with no covering, so they look robotic looking. and she was wearing a skirt, and Gracie looked like a million dollars. I mean just don't take my word for it, Google her I you know ju Gracie's a beautiful woman. And she walked out, and this is back when she could walk without crutches or anything else, she just walked out. And she stood at center stage, spotlights on her, and she looked at John Michael and she looked at Johnny Bench, and then she looked out at the crowd and she said, I have never heard such whining from grown men And the place just erupted.

And it was just funny. It was funny. And it's still funny. And she could do that and she could laugh. And she could laugh at things, and she doesn't take these things.

One time we were doing a TV show, I think it was maybe her first big national TV interview. And Gracie was born with her eyes she had both of her eyes were crossed when she was a baby. She had to have several surgeries on her eyes to fix them. And her left eye still sometimes will wander a little bit when she gets very tired. And she's kind of self-conscious about it.

And we're sitting on the set and they're getting ready to do all these things and they're kind of setting up the camera stuff and she's fidgeting and she's trying she's I she she just won't sit still. That's it. Baby, what's the matter? She said, Well, I don't want the camera to catch my left eye, you know, that kind of thing. And I looked at her and I said, baby.

You've got robot legs and you're wearing a skirt. They ain't gonna be looking at your eyes. She just had to laugh at that. I mean, you realize: oh, okay, there's a bigger picture here. And we keep a sense of humor.

And I'm wondering why this is not more of our life. Or do we feel constrained because of the political correctness? And she's the first one. She spoke at a big disability conference one time in Virginia, big church there. And everybody was Being very politically correct on how they approach disability and everything else.

And she walked out and she said, Y'all, she said, I'm Gracie and I'm mobility. Sh she stammered trying to say it right. She said, Yo, I ain't got any legs.

Now that's Healthy. That's funny. Because she recognizes her identity is not in her disability or any of these things, her identity is in Christ. And this is the place that we as Christians, I think, can step into great leadership. And there are great Christian comedians out there, you know, and I and I and I've known many of them.

And you spend any time with Jeff Foxworthy, and you'll see this is a man of deep faith. And again, I mentioned Jeff Allen, some others. And when I had Larry the Cable guy, we talked about the things of God on the show with Larry the Cable guy. And so these are people who are going into that mind and recognizing there's more here. There's more.

We don't have to settle for just being like so many comics are: they're vulgar or they're angry, they're destructive, but we can laugh with a light heart. Do you? Do you do this? Does your pastor do this? Do you have a dour pastor?

It's just like the joy of the Lord, you know, kind of thing, or do you have one that says, man, let me tell you about the things of God? It's exciting. And we can laugh. And if you've got a story like that, this would be a good time to tell it. And if it's not funny, I'll send it to the Robbie Dilmore School of Comedy.

That's where it belongs. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884 is the number to call if you want to be a part of the program. If you want to weigh on this, if you've got something that's light on your heart, a funny story, and I've got more to go, and I'll see if I can work in the interview with Jay Leno. If I can't, you can go out and hear it at my website, PeterRosenberger.com. We'll be right back.

This is Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger and I am very glad to be with you 866-34 TRUTH 866-348-7884. If you want to weigh in on the conversation, if you have a good sense of humor, if you've got a joke that the bar is set by Robbie Dilbore.

That's how low it is. If you want to go higher than that. We'd love to hear from you. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. I want to play a little bit of my interview here in this block with Jay Leno, one of the most successful and best stand-up comics of all time.

And then, of course, he did the Tonight Show for many, many, many years. He's made audiences laugh for Wow. You know, I think he's been doing this since the early 70s. And so you're talking an immense career, if not actually, if not longer than that. And the story of how he got to where he is, I mean, he came from.

Just regular family. He didn't have any kind of big ties to show business. He literally worked his way to the very top. and just an exceptional mind. And I was grateful to be able to spend a little time talking with him and that he took time to call my program and we talked.

It was I got to tell you, I was a little bit nervous because when he called up, I was just trying to get on a schedule, and I said, Well, let me get on your schedule. He said, Well, let's just do it right now. Let's do it right now. And I'm like, Okay, hang on, because I had a physical therapist there at the house. But anyway, we worked out.

We had a few little audio glitches, but we worked it out. But here's my conversation with Jay Leno, and then we'll talk more about it on the back end. One of the things I do on this program is talk to so many people who are in the throes of this. But they're lost. They lose themselves.

You, of course, had an identity that was well carved out for many, many decades now. But what do you do for you that's. Fund, it's different, that's all that kind of stuff. The real trick is to try and find the humor in the situation, you know. That's like when she was still walking around, she's kind of bedridden now, so I gotta carry everywhere.

But I I said, Come on, let's go. Do you want to get some clothes now? No, come on, come on. All right.

So we go to Nordstrom's. And we're walking around. She doesn't like any clothes.

Okay. Sundays, we go in the shooter parts. Oh, look at these blue sneakers. You like those bright blue sneakers. Yeah, okay, you can try them on.

She tries them on. I said, Great, great, put them in the box. And I said, do you want another pair? She goes, yeah, okay. Yeah, get another pair.

The sneakers are $24.

So she goes to see these kind of Red ones with some spangly stuff on them, save a sneaker. I said, you want those? Yeah, yeah, okay. No, gold. They're gold and white.

That's what it was.

Okay. So I said, put those on, put your sneakers in the box. And you can wear these home. She's all excited. She loves these.

He's a shitter of great.

So I said to the guy, well, we'll take these.

So I get up there, I give my credit card. He goes, that's a blue pair, $24.

Okay, okay, that is $887. I go, no, wait. No wait a minute. They're twenty four notes. He goes, these are $24.

These ones here were designed by ha ha ha. Oh some bad. You know, and they're $790. It's the same sneaker. It's like a sneaker.

It's like the other sneaker and somebody hit it with a bedazzler. And I go, well, okay. And I look at her and now she's walked on them and she's got them on and she's got a big smile on her face. And I wonder, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll take the ones by ha ha ha, whatever guy's name.

It just, it just made me laugh. You know, I, look, I'm thrilled that I could afford to do that, you know, and it was fun, you know, so that, you know, you try to find those moments, you know what I'm saying? Actually, I do because when I buy shoes for my wife, I don't take her with me. I take her leg. She has two prosthetic legs.

And I literally have taken a leg into a shoe store and I try it on that way. And then I video conference with her and said, do you like these? You ought to try these on for size, man. And it gives you a leg up. Yeah, so there you go.

And I get a lot of stares from people, but you know, it's all good. I mean, you do. You have to laugh about it. The last day before we moved to Montana several years ago, Gracie and I went and saw you three nights before, and we went and saw you and Jeff at the Rhyman and got to meet you backstage. And then I heard the interview you did with Jeff that same day for his A Comic Mind.

And I just love listening to you and the stories that you can tell. And even as we were trying to make this phone call happen, all the technical stuff. And I remember Groucho Marx once saying, it's so easy a child of five can do it.

Somebody give me a child of five. And, you know, and I think the comedy that you have is so rich in your life that you can still do that with her and have those cherished moments. And that's a wonderful thing. The funny part, you know, my wife all her life was very much involved. with women's issues and women's rights and she she even got a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

But oh yeah, and so One guy, you know, when we watch TV, I try not to watch anything that's. Over a five-week period, you know, where every week you got, cause you can't remember from the last week.

So I try to find shows that are episodic, you know, 45 minutes, 52 minutes.

So I turn on Hawaii 5-0 from the 60s.

So watching Hawaii 5-0. And McGarrett. This is the 1960s now. And every woman is honey, honey, come here, sweetie, sweetie, honey, honey, sweetie.

Okay, I see my wife's like, yeah, okay.

So now, in this episode, the actor, Stanley Holloway, is an old actor from the city. He was old in the city. He plays a genetic scientist. who gets captured by the red Chinese.

So so McGarrett goes to His daughter, who's like 40. to talk to her about her father. And he says to her, What kind of genetic engineering did your father do? And she says, I'm just a woman. I don't understand such things.

And I hear my wife, like barking at the TV and yelling at the TV. I go, oh, okay.

So she still got the fire, you know. I was like, oh, okay, that's good. But she's just like, I just, just swearing at the guy, you know, it's like, and then at the end, the daughter bakes muffins for everybody. Hilarious. You know, I mean, it's so misogynistic from the 60s, but it was hilarious.

And, you know, so you just try to find funny moments that amuse you, you know. And I get that. And it's so important to do. Gracie, I remember one time during a particularly rough hospital stay in Nashville, and I've never told this on the air before, but so I can't believe I'm doing it now. But Loretta Lynn came into the next room.

It was a separate room, but it was right adjacent. And she had a whole entourage with them, and they were loud. And at one point, Gracie, who just, you know, she's had a pretty rough journey of it, and she yelled out, I don't care if she is the queen of country music. Tell everybody to be quiet. I got to get some sleep over here.

And she's not saying it quietly. I mean, she belted it. And I thought, well, okay, you go, girl. That spunk keeps them going. And it's fun to see that.

And I love to see her rise to the occasion. You are busy with quite a few things, but I want to ask you: you know, what's next for you? I mean, you're in a different place in your career. Are you still doing a lot of stand-up? Yeah, well, I just come home every night.

You know, luckily I can afford to do that. You know, I'll go out, do a show Friday. Do a show Saturday, come home Saturday night. Oh, I tried to come home the same night. I mean, I went to Puerto Rico for a couple of hours.

To do a show and then came back the same day. And so that's what I just try to be home as much as I can.

So The atmosphere doesn't ch you know. It's good when people have these kind of conditions. You want to... Pretty much do the same thing on a regular basis, you know, not upset the apple side and things like that. Right.

Yeah, change is not your friend in situations like this. Yeah. Well, Mark Twain said, I like. I like progress. It's change I don't like.

A lot of guys are stepping into the same role that you're in. Last thing. What would you like to offer them something that you learned that you didn't necessarily expect that you would learn as a caregiving husband?

Well I learned, I enjoy taking care of her. It's not really a burden. You know, I'm... My wife's been all always been very independent.

So I like that I can do things for. And you know, it kind of, you know, there aren't many things that test us in life. For men, it's the armed forces. You go in, you're in Vietnam, you're in Kandahar or something. What would I do under pressure?

What would I do under fire? I was fortunate, I didn't have to do any of that. A bite. You know, you get married, you take a vow not to sound corny, but Okay. You know, 90% of it is pretty good.

I mean, this is that 10% that's rough.

Okay. This is where you earn your medal. This is where you find out. Am I was I really a good husband or was I just You know, when you're young, and you know, I was successful, and we had money, and we could do things. And so there was never any real test, you know.

And this, I think, it's a test. And I enjoy doing it. It makes me feel good that it makes me feel good that I do enjoy doing it. Because Uh yeah. You know, I never really quite know what the definition of love is.

I think it comes down to. Uh the test to situations like this.

Okay. I mean, I always knew I was in love with my wife. It's not a problem. But how much was I, you know? Was it so much that I would...

Sacrifice other things. I mean, I know guys that don't. They would rather. Do something else or be with someone else, or whatever it might be, and I'm and I'm glad. I chose correctly, it never did any of those things.

So I I I don't know. It it's just I it's just A test. You know, I'm 75 years old. And the last 68 years have been just great. These have been a little taxy.

But that's okay. I can't complain. I can afford to have a nurse come in twice a week and check on her, and I can afford to have. a dentist guy come cleaner teeth at the house and Do all these kinds of things.

So I am very lucky. I mean, my heart goes out to people that are. you know, policemen, firemen, nurses, teachers who don't act. Aren't fortunate enough to have the physical, I mean, physical, the financial help that I've been able to have because of my job on TV and stuff.

So I have no complaints at all. I I I'm very happy. I'm fine. Working with my wife, we went through a lot of times where she was angry and mad.

Now I know she trusts me more. I'm there every day. I use photographs like flash cards. Remember this picture, honey? Remember this one?

Remember this? Remember this? And maybe it's my imagination, but she's actually getting better. She's remembering things that she didn't three or four months ago. I go, oh, okay.

I just try to find every little victory that I can. You've been listening to my conversation with Jay Leno, and you could hear the entire interview at my website, PeterRosenberger.com. I don't know if you could catch this or not, but he's driving around in his car. You know, I didn't ask him which car it was. I probably should have done that.

But it's a fascinating journey into his life, and certainly he understands as a caregiving husband. Both of us are caregiving husbands. And it was just an amazing conversation. I enjoyed it immensely, and I was very grateful that he took the time to call me. And I recorded that on my iPhone, which was a little bit surreal for me because we had some technical problems.

So I just did it on that. And I was worried, oh, is this going to record or not? But it all worked out. Hey, this is Peter Rosenberg, and this is Truth Talk Live. We'll be back 866-348-7884.

If you want to weigh in, 866-34 TRUTH. We'll be right back. Should come up. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.

This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you, 866-34-TRUTH. 866-348-7884. I got a text from Robbie. Yeah.

Listeners are calling, saying, I'm throwing down the gauntlet for Robbie's jokes. Robbie's jokes are a thing of beauty. They are. They are whispered in the halls. Yeah.

No, I listen, Rob, he's been a a dear, dear friend for a long, long time and I've been on his show many times and I'll have the joke of the day and I've just Yeah and Bless his heart. But again, this is what I'm talking about. Why can't we have a good time? Why can't we laugh? Why can't we cut up?

So, tomorrow, Robbie's hosting this show, and I would imagine that there's going to be some pushback on this.

So, I will try to up my game as much as possible, and I will tell you. Of how a sense of humor and actually playing poker. I mean, just having a good poker face and not blowing the joke. can can do a lot. I I was um A couple of years ago when when Gracie was in the hospital, Done in Denver.

And the surgeon So this was not this last round, but this was another round. We go there a lot. And the surgeon said, okay, the front is going to be closed. They don't open until 8 o'clock. It was during COVID, and so it was a little bit weird.

Go to the emergency room, go in through that door. and come on back to pre-op and you can be with her before we go into surgery.

So I go over there. And I go to the emergency room counter and there's a security guard there and I said surgeon told me to come here because the front is not open yet. It was it was like seven morning, six thirty, seven in the morning. and told me to come here. My wife's in preop, they're waiting on me.

And she said, You can't come in this way, you have to go to the front. I said, ma'am, the front is closed. The surgeon told me to come here. And They're waiting for me on pre-up. You can't come in here this way.

You have to go to the front.

So I spoke a little slower. I said, 'Ma'am, the front is closed. The surgeon told me to come in this way. They're waiting for me in pre up. And again, You can't come in this way.

You have to go to the front.

I said, ma'am, where did I lose you? And She tried to tell me again. I said, ma'am, And finally I I and I did this with a Straight face, I said, ma'am, I am board certified. in cranioproctology. and they're waiting for me in pre up.

Now You know, my last name is Rosenberger and I've been called Dr. Rosenberger many times. And I didn't even blink, I didn't crack a smile, I just simply said it. And she kind of startled a little bit, and then she let me go through, and I went on back to pre-op. I never told her what.

Cranial proctology was, and I'll let you figure it out. But that. That particular moment, I told that story in one of my books, and I sent the manuscript to the publisher, and it was in that book. And that story, the publisher wrote back and says, That's what got you a book deal. Because he said he started laughing so hard at that.

And it got me a book deal.

So I'm just telling you, you just, there's humor everywhere. The surgeons came in after. surgery and and into Gracie's room and they were all making the rounds and these are you know very important people. The neurosurgeon would travel, you know, all the attending surgeons would travel with a bunch of residents and they all came in, they're wearing masks. Again, this is during COVID and everybody's very serious.

And he's, you know, asking, you know, how things are going and what's going on with Gracie, just checking on her. He said, Do you have any questions? And I said, I have one, Doc. I have one. And I've gotten to know this surgeon pretty well, but I said again with a straight face as much as you can with the mask on during COVID.

I said dark is. Is Tourette's syndrome A byproduct of this surgery. Yeah. Crazy was lady of age. She said, You know, she was kind of horse and she had a tub.

She said, I don't want to have to restrain her. The doctor, all of them just started bending down and laughing because, and it broke the tension because it was a serious surgery. And you got to learn to just roll with it, you got to have a good time. You can't be so dour Yes, we live with harsh things. You know, she's lost both legs and had ninety eight surgeries.

That that's pretty harsh, wouldn't you say? But Gracie will laugh louder than anybody. And and we cut up and we have a good time because we got plenty of tears. But do we have laughter? And in my new book, I talk about this.

I have different quotes, and I hope you'll go out there. You can take a look at it at my website, PeterRosenberger.com, or go out to wherever you find books. It'll be released on August 20th. and is called a caregiver's companion. and it's Scriptures, Hymns, and Forty Years of Insights for life's toughest role.

And it's I'll take a quote that I've said over the years, and then I'll put it with a scripture or a hymn. And to punctuate it. And there's several in there that talk about just laughter and the need for a merry heart.

Now, whether or not Robbie's jokes will be. in that place? I don't know. We'll find out tomorrow because he's going to throw down the gauntlet, or maybe I throw down the gauntlet to Robbie, and we'll see what he comes up with. But be of all people as believers.

Um Our hearts should be filled with joy. It doesn't mean we're not going to cry, it doesn't mean it's not going to hurt, because it does. I've got just a few moments here. Let's go to the phones. Mike in Dayton, Ohio.

Mike. How are you feeling and welcome to the program? Good to see hear from you again.

Well, thank you. I'm out in the backyard just sitting on my back porch listening to you. I got prepped to call you and I got a joke for you. What do you call a what do you call a tal fart?

Okay. Oh I don't Oh.

Okay. See, that was a Robbie joke. That was a Robbie. I remember this guy called into my. Caregiver radio program that I do.

And he was a little bit belligerent. It's kind of weird. And he was. He ended up calling back a couple weeks later to apologize. But he said, Well, you talk about comedy, and I got a joke for you.

I said, Okay, go ahead. He said, What did Jesus say to? To, I mean, what did Freud say to Jesus when he was laying on the couch? And I said, All right, now be careful with this, because I didn't know where he was going to go with it. And he said, What is this need you have to upstage Christmas?

And it was just crickets. There was nothing. And he said, that's funny. See, that's funny. I said, no, no, no.

You don't understand. That doesn't offend me as a Christian. It offends me as a comedian. And So I'm not going to say that yours offends me. You know, of course, I live in Montana.

I'm used to that with Kelsey. But it does offend me as a comedian. See, you need to call back on Thursday to tell that one to Robbie. That is a Robbie joke. See, I'm Peter, Mike.

I'm Peter. We're going to raise the bar of comedy. I just hosted Jay Leno.

So we're going to raise the bar of comedy. This ain't Robbie's show. You're going to have to call back for Robbie. But, all right.

So, do you have another one that you could call for Robbie tomorrow? Because he's going to need it, bro. God loves it. Why does the joy of the Lord give us strength? You know what I mean?

Um Can you answer that question?

Well, what is the joy of the Lord? It's not silliness. It's not happiness. It's not even that kind of thing. The joy of the Lord is the presence of the Lord.

That is to be in the presence of the Lord is to be in the joy of the Lord. the joy of the Lord. And and and uh Gracie um If you get a chance, you can you can stream it on wherever you stream music. She did a uh duet with Russ Taff. And it's a great do it.

And it's an old Twilight Paris song called The Joy of the Lord. And she and Russ just brought it. I mean, Gracie's a no-kitting singer, and she and Russ just brought it. I mean, they are wailing on this thing. You'll love it.

And here's, you know, and Russ has got a pretty dramatic story. He's been pretty open about his struggle with alcoholism and everything else. Gracie certainly has a dramatic story. And here's the two of them. Just blistering on this song.

The joy of the Lord will be my strength. And it just wails on it. When Twilight cut it, it was a little bit more Celtic. But she and Russ brought a little bit more of a um Uh Gospel feel to it, and it's wonderful because that's how you do it. That is why the joy of the Lord gives us strength because we're in His presence.

And our God inhabits praise. And when we praise Him, He's there in the midst of thee. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, Scripture says. And we keep thinking that everything's got to be okay with us Then we'll have joy. And Scripture says no.

You have joy. You have joy right now. For the joy set before him, Christ. Christ endured the cross. You know, for the glory set before him and the joy.

And count it all joy, brethren, Paul says, when this happens to you. And what does that even mean? And that's a very good question, Mike. Because we tend to lose sight of this. We want to have all of our ducks in a row, and then we can be happy.

Right. But that's not what scripture says. We could be joyful. Paul and Silas were singing hymns around midnight.

So All right, I'm going to let you, you got 24 hours then to basically come up with something for Robbie. And again, you started off with cow flatulence for your joke today. I said flatulence. You said, I'll let you go down there. But here's where you set the bar.

And let's see if you can raise a little bit for Robbie tomorrow. And then I'll hear back. By the way, I will hear back for Robbie. I'll know, but he'll text me. He'll say, I got you.

If I'm not, I don't know what I'll be doing tomorrow, but whatever it is, I'm sure I'll hear about it from Robbie. But thank you so much for calling, Mike. I appreciate you. You're welcome, Bobby. God bless you.

All right.

You know, you'll have to tune in tomorrow to see what Robbie does, and it's always going to be exciting here on Truth Talk Live. Um Go out to PeterRosenberger.com and you can hear that song of Gracie's. It's on the slider. There's a slider that goes by of different pictures, and I think it's on the second or third one, and you'll see the link. Gracie's singing that with Russ.

And you'll love it. I think you'll love us a lot.

So I appreciate Mike bringing that up about the joy of the Lord. Do we have that? Do we live like this? And this is, as Christians, we should be leading the pack on this. Our joy is full.

because of the redemptive work of God through Christ. PeterRosenberger.com is my website. I hope you'll go out and take a look at it. I hope you'll get a copy of this book. I think you'll find it meaningful.

I speak fluent caregiver. And I appreciate the opportunity to spend time with you today. PeterRosenberger.com. This is Truth Talk Live. We'll see you next time.

Watch for Robbie tomorrow.