#The Ticket Too?

A long, long time ago, I wondered on this site if The Ticket were going to get in trouble with women.

At the time, my concern was with The Hardline.  With Greg Williams, Mike R, Corby, and Danny, the show would frequently take what I characterized at the time, and still recall, as a frankly misogynistic turn.

Even after HeeHoo got the boot, the show would frequently veer into that territory.

I'm not a politically correct guy at all.  But I really disliked the attitude toward women I heard from The Hardline from time to time, all three of the remaining personalities.  And I would also sometimes hear it from Dan McDowell.  Real disrespect and even hostility that was not just a bit.

At the time I thought:  Man, some of this Hardline stuff is really rough.  I wondered what would happen if some women's group decided they were going to make a name for themselves by urging listeners to boycott The Hardline and, more importantly, boycott advertisers who bought time there.  Get some picketers outside the building for photo opportunities for the local journal.

Never happened, of course, Dallas not being a hotbed of feminist activism.

And then, over time, The Hardline seemed to drop the hostility towards women, or greatly reduce it. In any event, I stopped noticing it.

I have noticed it some with Dan and Julie -- not too much, maybe just Dan trying to figure out if he's still the Sports Humorist with the realignment, nothing that made me punch out (I'm liking the show) -- but apparently something popped up the other day.  I didn't hear it and I'm not entirely sure what took place (something to do with Tyson Fury's training regimen and his wife) but the subject of The Ticket's relationship with women seems to have moved closer to the front burner.

We've all noticed The Ticket's recent celebration of The V1, a phrase I personally dislike -- talk about objectification of the female -- but looks like it's here to stay.  And Julie's participation in noon-3 seems to have been a success.  So seems to me that things are taking a turn for the better in terms of gender outreach.  Which I don't necessarily favor when it looks like pandering or bowing to PC pressure (which Julie's elevation doesn't feel like), but it beats what the station was throwing out in its earlier years.

But perhaps there's some way to go.  With #MeToo reaching even Dallas, there may be women out making picket signs as I sit here typing.

Top Fake Laughs on The Ticket

[Not the STD.]

This is a bit of a misnomer, because not all of the laughs mentioned here are fake.  In composing this list, I tried to think of what various host's laughs sounded like, and I couldn't come up with some of them.  They may be secret chortlers, larfing under their breaths when bemusement overtakes them.  I ended up with a very short list.  From worst to first, and I will welcome corrections and nominations from the Confessor who may pay better attention than I do:

(4)  Corby Davidsion.  With the departure of T.C. Fleming, he will be at the bottom of any list, no matter how many other hosts or JV are included.  His shrieking, choking, breathless yowl at even the slightest funny leaves listeners bewildered at his comedy standards.

(3) Craig Miller.  This one isn't entirely fair.  Sometimes, Craig is left as the only voice left in the studio to support Gordon's bits where George is also an actor.  I have written in the past at the artfulness of his intelineated laughter to keep the bit going, which is why he is, among other reasons, the Fred Astaire of The Ticket.  Also, Craig tends to be somewhat on the acidic and judgmental side, so it is hard to imagine him laughing voluntarily at lame stuff.  He does it anyway, and he does it quite well, but not as well as:

(2) George Dunham.  His laughter is less prominent than Craig's, but because he's skeptical of much of Gordon's humor to begin with, when it appears it is warmer and more sincere.

(1) Donovan Lewis.  The hand's-down champ.   His guffawing always sounds genuine.  Makes me want to laugh along with him.

Honorable Mention:  Julie Dobbs.

The discerning Confessor will notice an absence of candidates from BaD Radio, except HM for Julie.  No particular reason for that.  In fact, I'm listening to more BaD than I have in many years.  It's just that when I think of their show and try to remember what a Bob/Dan/Jake's giggle sounds like, I draw a blank.

Well  .  .  . no, no, I think I'm wrong about that.  I'm having an aural memory of Dan sometimes cutting loose with what sounds like spontaneous hilarity.   I think I might rank him in pretty close to a tie with George, high on the sincerity scale.

Let's not turn this into a Corby Sux thread, OK?

OMAHGERD!  This site's been around almost ten years?  I can't believe no one ever told me about it!  It's the best and full of merry japes and jests!

I Like It When Julie Dobbs Says the Score Is "Nine to Zero" or "Six to Zero"

As I heard her do with some recent Ranger scores.

It's not what I'd call a profound topic, but wanted to get something new up to see if we couldn't get some innarestin new thread started.

Not Julie: