Tag Archives: humor

The Top Ten Best Thanksgiving Sit-Com Episodes

Don’t we all love the holiday episodes of our favorite shows? If you’re not into football this week, then dial up Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime TV on Thursday and watch these ten laugh out loud episodes from the past that will entertain you all day long.  I’ve only included ones that I’ve seen, so if you can think of some others, say so in the comments! I apologize to my international readers that this list is American centric. If you can think of your favorite holiday episodes from your country, please put them in the comments so we can discover new shows!

10. Cheers: Thanksgiving Orphans, Season 5, episode 9.

Everyone’s plans coincidentally fall through, as they only can on a sit-com and Carla hosts dinner for the gang. It ends in an epic food fight where we nearly get to see Norm’s wife, Vera. Find it on Amazon, Netflix and Hulu

9. The Office, WUPHF.com, season 7, episode 9.

Dwight hosts a fall festival in the parking lot so he can crown himself Hay King while Ryan tries to sell the office on his uber-connectivity app WUPHF.com. Find it on Netflix.

8. New Girl, season 4 episode 9, Bangsgiving

This episode features the gang staying home for Thanksgiving in their L.A. loft. As fate would have it, they all happen to be single at the time, so they set up a Secret Santa sort of arrangement where they draw names from a hat and they have to invite a Bangsgiving date for the person they picked. Hijinks ensue. Find it on Peacock.

7. South Park, season 4 episode 13, Hellen Keller! The Musical

I think that the title, Hellen Keller! The Musical says all you need to know about this. Find it on HBOMax.

6. That 70’s Show, season 1, episode 9, Thanksgiving

THAT ’70S SHOW

Eric gets hit on by his sister’s slutty friend and Donna is not happy about it. Eric’s mom Kitty is stressed about Red’s mom coming to dinner and they both forget to pick her up. Find it on Amazon Prime Video

5. Seinfeld, season 6, episode 8, The Mom and Pop store

Elaine helps her boss, Mr. Pitt, win a contest to pilot the Woody Woodpecker balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. His joy is short lived when Jerry drops an Empire State Building statue out the window and punctures the Woody Woodpecker balloon. In this episode Jerry walks around in a new pair of slippery cowboy boots and George buys a LeBaron convertible that he believes belonged to actor Jon Voight. Find it on Netflix.

4. WKRP in Cincinnati, season 1 episode 7, Turkeys Away

Yes, this is definitely an oldie, but it’s definitely one of the funniest Thanksgiving episodes of any show I’ve ever seen. If you don’t know the WKRP in Cincinnati series, it’s definitely worth a watch, and this episode is laugh out loud funny. Find it on AppleTV and Amazon Prime.

3. Roseanne, season 4 episode 10, We Gather Together

The Connors always knew how to make great holiday episodes. Their Halloween episodes are legendary and their Thanksgivings aren’t far behind. Find it on Amazon Prime Video.

2. How I Met Your Mother, season 3 episode 9, Slapsgiving

Due to a bet from a previous season, Marshall won the right to slap Barney 5 times over the rest of their lifetimes. He decides that Thanksgiving, aka Slapsgiving, is just the right day after building the suspense for weeks. At the end Marshall plays the piano and sings a song about the slap. Find it on Hulu

1. Friends, The One with All the Thanksgivings, Season 5, Episode 8

This episode of course has Monica with the turkey on her head, but it’s also got a bunch of fun flashbacks from the gangs Thanksgivings as well as their distant past. Find it on Netflix.

That’s my Top Ten. If you’ve got some favorite Thanksgiving episodes from other shows, please put them in the comments ! I hope you’re having a great weekend! ~Phil

Are Your Feet Electric Enough?

Photo from iStock

Do you “ground” your feet enough? There are whole bunch of people out there that walk barefoot because they want to connect with the Earth and receive some sort of electric charge. It is also called “Earthing.” What I want to know is, can I charge my phone that way? Could I just leave it on the ground and get a charge?

Whoever’s feet these are, they need to see a dermatologist

You know me. I’m open enough that I’m willing to consider all kinds of paranormal stuff, so why not grounding? My first instinct was that this is all nonsense. So, I did a little research.

First I wanted to know if the Earth’s surface carries an electrical charge. Guess what? According to AI “the surface of the Earth is negatively charged relative to the upper atmosphere which carries a positive charge.”  

The barefooted gentleman above is Mack Hollins, a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills American football team. (GO BILLS!). This past summer he made waves after joining the Bills because, unless he’s on the football field, where his feet could get crushed by some very large men wearing cleats, he goes au naturel. If he’s not playing football, he walks barefooted because he believes in grounding. Mack and the Bills are having a good season, so Mack, feel free to go barefoot anywhere you want. If you are familiar with Buffalo Bills fans, this is our kind of “grounding”.

But I digress. This is supposed to be all about getting our toes muddy.

Just because they made this little diagram, it doesn’t mean it’s true.

I’m sure it feels nice walking in the grass, but I remember getting stung by a bee when I was grounding as a kid. I was way ahead of my time and that bee sting hurt quite a bit. So, have I convinced you to walk barefoot and fancy-free? What is fancy free? I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything that I would describe as fancy free.

Apparently it must be true because there is a movie about it. That’s not true. There are plenty of movies that are complete and utter rubbish. In fact, I think most movies are completely made up. But if you want to know more about the real benefits of grounding/Earthing, HERE is an article from WebMd. If some real doctors endorse grounding, then it must be beneficial just like all those drugs doctors endorse in TV commercials. I’m not a doctor, but I play one on the internet.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on grounding/Earthing in the comments.

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading! ~Phil

For Cripes Sake Hallmark!

First of all, who is Cripes and why do we want their sake?  Isn’t that Japanese wine? Hallmark (yes, I’m yelling at you) for cripes sake and all that is holy, why in the world did you debut a NEW HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIE yesterday on October 18th?!!? Is nothing sacred? Can we not continue to watch slasher movies in preparation for this country’s  most beloved holiday, Halloween?!!?

Is there not some sort of governing body that should prevent this type of atrocity? In my mind, Halloween gets September after Labor Day and thru midnight October 31st. Then, beginning on November 1st, then and only then should Christmas and Hallmark Christmas movies have free reign to broadcast all the Christmas/Hannukah content they want. Hallmark has Fall/Halloween movies! Why aren’t they pushing those right now?

For my readers who thought this would be a fun blog about your corny Hallmark  movies, you can click on the video above and watch the whole fricking movie right from my blog. See Hallmark! You made this effing Fall movie, why aren’t you cramming that down people throats? It’s literally demonic what you are trying to do to Halloween. Hey readers, here’s a phrase you can use, “Hallmark is cannibalizing the corny movie market with their holiday tripe.”

Lacey Chabert practicing her smoldering look. Who does she think that will work on?

I guarantee you that Hallmark will not have a problem with me ranting like a berserker about their corny content. And what about Lacey Chabert? Why is she in every freaking movie? Does she not have enough money yet? Her annual income from Hallmark movie residuals could probably resolve the federal deficit. And she has yet to agree to an interview with The Phil Factor. That’s how snooty she is. How can you trust someone like that?

And those of you that enjoy my highly intelligent paranormal content? What happens to you during Hallmark season? You’re stuck with sicky sweet stuff like this full-length movie that you can watch right here:

Knowing Hallmark, they will probable sue me for this blog post including their content. Worse yet, they might create another Hallmark Christmas movie about a grumpy, Scrooge-like writer who pans their movies until he learns the real meaning of Christmas in October.

They’d probably have the gall to ask me to do a cameo in that movie just so I’ll promote their content to my readers again. My readers, which I’m sure outnumber the Hallmark fans by a wide margin. And, if you watch Hallmark today, there will be another all-new Hallmark Christmas movie, and more every day until Christmas. Ugh. Ratings snooze-fest.

Happy Saturday and thanks for reading! ~Phil

Olympic Sports That Shouldn’t Be

Although this is a spectacular picture of surfer Gabriel Medina, it shouldn’t be an Olympic sport.

As a “guy” there are few things more enjoyable than having an afternoon free to plant yourself in the recliner and click on the tv for an afternoon of sports viewing. The average guy is about as picky about what sports he will watch as he is about what women he will date. For a guy though there are few things more disappointing than clicking on the Olympics and finding something on that’s not a sport. We all know what I’m talking about. I would like to propose rules for what qualifies as a sport. Anything that does not qualify under my rules should be broadcast on a different network. Maybe the Game Show Network or The Loser channel.

Rule #1: It’s not a sport if the participant has no idea they are competing. Examples: equestrian sports: It’s not a sport if you can wear a top hat while you’re doing it.  The horses  jumping through hoops to get some sort of treat at the end are the real athletes. Who gets the prize money and trophies?

In what universe is this a sport?

Rule #2: It’s not a sport unless there’s a final score everyone agrees upon. Current “sports” that should be ruled out: Break dancing, gymnastics, synchronized swimming, diving, and any kind of figure skating. Special mention goes to rhythmic gymnastics which is just gymnastics for people who are afraid of heights.

Pic courtesy of Newsweek

Rule #3: It’s not a sport if you do it better when you’re high and wearing cargo shorts. This rules out skateboarding and surfing, and possibly break dancing. She had to be high, right?

I’m sure those of you from Australia and other countries could probably come up with several examples of things in your country that are played as sports, but really aren’t. Of course in the U.S. we generally don’t consider it a sport unless it’s played in our country and you can gamble on it.

In the comments, tell me what sports you don’t think should be in the Olympics

Enjoy your Olympics! ~Phil

Would You Live In A Murder House?

Would you live in a murder house? It’s not a question most people have to face very often in life. But… I’m not most people.

Since the genesis of The Phil Factor in 2005 I have moved 6 times and I’m considering another move. Am I running from the law, or am I a secret agent for some unknown clandestine branch of our government? That’s not pertinent, so don’t worry about that. If you want to read my August 2005 post about considering moving into a murder house, here’s the LINK. It’s only one paragraph, no pictures. That’s what passed for a blog post in 2005.

Amityville Horror House

I’m considering another move, and this is the second time that I might have the opportunity to purchase a murder house. Just the other day I was out for a morning walking when suddenly what seemed like every police car in town was tearing past me down the quiet residential street at about 70 mph/112 kph. I later learned that someone down the road may have had way too much caffeine and murdered someone else in their home.

Pic from Envato

As my wife and I are considering if we want to move again, just a year after our last move, I said to my wife, “Hey, I saw on the news that the murder house was a ranch! Just what we’re looking for, and it will probably be priced at a discount!” I was also thinking “Hmm, if it’s haunted, I can ghost hunt without having to leave the house!” How great would that be?

So, in the comments, tell me, would you live in a murder house, or why wouldn’t you?

Thanks for reading and have a great Sunday! ~Phil

Buy Your Place in Heaven!

No, I’m not selling plots of land in heaven, but someone is. For $100 American, a Mexican church will  sell you a one meter square spot in heaven. Just one meter? Ugh. That’s not even one bedroom and a bath…unless you combine them and sleep standing up. I wonder if I were to throw $1000 at this Mexican church, could get a 10 meter by 10 meter spot?

Buying your spot in heaven. Isn’t that every Republican’s dream? And how ironic is it that they’d have to buy them from a Mexican church? Anyway, the Mexican Church wouldn’t sell to Republicans. In fact they’d probably put up a wall to keep them out! How many of you suddenly want to say mean things in the comments? C’mon, that joke was low hanging fruit. How could I not say that?

And by the way, the Pastor of the Entoms Church in Mexico says he received permission for the sale from God himself. When asked about this, in an exclusive Phil Factor interview, God said, “Phil, stop bothering me! I already told you I won’t endorse your blog!”

And if you were wondering, you can pay for your property in Heaven using Visa, Master, Maestro, RuPay, and even digital wallets such as Google Pay and Apple Pay.

I’d have given you the website, but none of the news outlets included it in their reporting, no doubt to protect people from themselves, just like I did by publishing this public safety announcement. When you buy your plot in Heaven make sure you get a receipt! It’s tax deductible! Have a great Tuesday! ~Phil

P.S. If you’re going to throw away your money on something ridiculous, do it on my books!

Florida Man, Calm Down About The Humidity!

About ten years ago “Florida Man” was an internet joke. You could put the phrase “Florida man” into Google and a list of absolutely ridiculous crimes or catastrophes would come up.

You get the idea. Florida Man is not likely to get invited to a Mensa meeting. But I think I met a Florida man earlier this week on a phone call for work. I live in the northeast of the States and this past week we’ve had unseasonably hot weather, similar to Florida weather. So when I got on the phone with a guy in Florida, we started with small talk and I said, “We’ve got Florida weather up here this week. Temps over 90 and a heat index over 100.”

Florida Man wasn’t having it. He immediately replied, “You don’t have real Florida weather. You don’t have humidity like we do.”

Really Florida Man, that’s your flex? You have warm, moist air? Oh no! You must be so tough to deal with that warm, moist air. I bow down to you. I thought that Marines fighting in the Middle East have it tough, but lucky them, their enemy isn’t warm, moist air. What a nightmare! What a badass you must be to defeat that warm, moist air every day! That’s got to be exhausting.

If I live in Florida and I want to be a badass in a weather conversation, I’d drop a couple hurricane mentions. It’s hard to beat that, but when you talk to anyone from Florida about anything, they find a way to mention the humidity. If you’re a Floridian wanting to feel tough, skip the warm, moist air and mention that occasionally prehistoric man-eating alligators are on your porch in the morning.

I don’t make fun of Floridians without reference. I go to Florida about four times a year. I know what Florida humidity feels like. It is not a big deal.

This isn’t just for that one Florida Man that I spoke to. This is for all Floridians whose biggest challenge in life is warm, moist air: We don’t care about your humidity! We don’t have to “brace” ourselves when we visit your state. Hey, if you Floridians are so tough about weather, then why did so many of you flee the northern part of the country to live there? Obviously you think the horrific, arctic winters in the northeast are worse than a little moist air.

For those of you that read this, make this viral and share it with your favorite Florida Man or Florida Woman that you know. I know that they’ve probably mentioned the humidity to you at least a thousand times already.

For those of you on the other side of the pond, is there any similar thing? Are there people saying, “You don’t know anything about wind until you’ve spent a winter in Latvia!”?

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend ~Phil

#PHIL2024

My Paranormal Investigation of Thompson Park, Watertown, New York

Alien abduction is fun! And a little sunburn…

So last June I investigated the “interdimensional vortex” in Watertown, NY’s Thompson Park.

Dear Watertown, NY: If you are going to name something after a supernatural phenomena, please get it right. You claim that there’s an “interdimensional vortex” in your park.  Vortex refers to a mass of whirling fluid or air. People disappearing from one spot and ending up in another sounds like stepping into a portal. 

Secondly, if you’re going to have a freaky park located on a road called Gotham Street, why not work in a Batman statue or two? Are you just going to ignore the marketing possibilities of marrying Batman and an interdimensional portal in your park? 

I spent 90 minutes walking around this Batman-less park hoping to accidentally step into a portal that would drop me on the other side of the universe or maybe even just the other side of the park.

At dinner prior to the park, I did have a large glass of water. When will I ever learn? A little while later I was wandering down a trail in the woods of this park and I felt the call of nature. I needed to pee and I was about a mile from the nearest restroom. So, I did what was necessary and I thought to myself, “How cool would it be if I peed into the vortex/portal and on the other side of the universe it landed on some aliens head?”  Sure it might cause an intergalactic war, but also it might be best practical joke ever, right? Then I saw these: Portal potties!

Yes, I was dying to write that joke into this post.

Also, Watertown, NY, if you’ve got one of these towers in your freaky park, why not paint the top of it like a UFO like the Flushing Towers in Men in Black I ? You’ve got a freaking Area 51 sign in the park! For cripes sake, if I can think of these things, why can’t you guys hire a marketing genius to figure this sh*t out?

People have claimed to lose time and/or be transported from one place in the park to another? I did lose 90 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back, but there was no teleportation involved. I decided that this is just the place that teenagers go to have sex and when they come home too late they tell their parents they got teleported to another universe for a couple hours.

One odd thing was that after 90 minutes of walking around and taking pictures on my phone, it was still at 98%, so maybe those elevated electro-magnetic fields kept my phone charged. No portals but a free phone charge, so I’ll call that a win.

Just because nothing weird happened to me in that park doesn’t mean that it hasn’t happened to others. That’s one part of paranormal investigations that you never see on those ghost hunting shows. In paranormal investigations, there’s a lot of quiet waiting around that you can’t edit out when you’re the one investigating.

Thanks for reading and happy Thursday! ~Phil

The Fish Doorbell

This picture or post is not endorsing Ring Doorbells, although they would be helpful in this instance.

The fish doorbell is a “doorbell” set up by the municipal government of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, (not to be confused with nether regions) to help fish get through a lock in a local canal and reach their destinations.

Anne Nijs is an urban ecologist for the city of Utrecht who helped to create the fish doorbell in 2021.

She explained that “people can go to the program’s website and watch a livestream of the fish underwater — and then, if they spot a fish, they can click to “ring” the fish doorbell to nudge someone to go and open the lock by hand. Otherwise, fish swimming upstream have to wait a long time for the 200-year-old lock to be opened, which makes them vulnerable to prey, Nijs said.

Pic from BBC Newsround

So here’s your new favorite distraction. I watched it for two minutes and didn’t see a single fish. I rang the doorbell anyway. I just wanted the awesome rush of power I got from knowing I made someone in The Netherlands push a button for no reason at all.

Also, if you have trouble sleeping, put away the Ambien and weed gummies. You don’t need them anymore because you can watch the fish doorbell!  Click here: FishDoorbell. I swear it’s not a virus or anything. That’s the link to the video feed and doorbell. In the comments please tell me that you did it!

If this is what the Netherlanders are proud of technology-wise, I don’t think we have to worry about a war with them anytime soon. And if we want to invade their country, we could disguise ourselves as fish and just swim up to the lock.

After reading this, and then playing fish doorbell, you’ll have wasted at least half your morning and saved some fish that will eventually be a delicious dinner for me. Thanks for reading!

~Phil

My Anti-Bucket List! What’s on Yours?

We’ve all heard of bucket lists, and maybe some of us have made that list, or at least started that list in our heads. This is my anti-bucket list. I’m going to list ten things that I will never do. Some will be chosen because of my experiences and others are just things that I’ve never done and never want to. In the comments at the end, put one thing that you never want to do ever or again.

Pic from AllEars.Net

10. Eat at this restaurant. This restaurant is in Disney Springs in Florida. If you’re not familiar with Disney Springs, it is the shopping/eating/nightlife area that is part of Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I love Disney World and Disney Springs, but I did not have a good experience at this one particular restaurant.  Long wait past reservation time, tables too close and finding a long hair in your food is kind of off-putting.

Pic from Isabel Eats

9. Eating onions & peppers. I have an irrational hatred of the taste of onions and peppers. This one, I know I’ll do again. I can deal with peppers and onions in salsa, but nothing else. For the rest of my life I vow to not eat onions and peppers in anything but salsa.

Pic courtesy of Economic Intelligence Unit

8. Visit Russia: I know that not all Russians are jerks, and I bet that many Russians do not support the Ukraine war. Unfortunately countries are often judged based on their leaders actions. So, you folks in the States need to think about that in about nine months.

To be clear, that is not me.

7. Wear a Speedo in public: I don’t know why so many European men wear these things, and I’m glad that beaches in the States are not full of guys in Speedos. Women reading this, how do you feel about men in Speedos?

6. Eat a pickle: Are you picking up on the pattern that I may have some food issues? I love cucumbers. The pickle however, is the most vile poison masquerading as some form of “food”.

The original “Love Boat” on it’s final cruise back in 2013

5. Take a cruise: I know that a lot of people LOVE cruises. To me, they are floating petri dishes. I know they said it was China, but I believe that COVID started on a cruise. To that point, I was ahead of the curve when I wrote the blogging classic  Zombie Love Boat in 2014 predicting that the next viral outbreak will result in zombies like The Walking Dead, which has gone on waaay too long.

4. Never leave for a paranormal investigation without… extra batteries. It’s a huge let down when you’re getting some good readings and other confirmation and then your EMF meter shuts down. Waa waa….

Pic from Bonobology.com

3. Don’t take time with people for granted: Sure, we all need some solo downtime now and then, we all have only so much time on this ball of dirt and  other people make our lives better. I saw on someone’s online anti-bucket list that he didn’t want to make new friends. He had enough people in his life.  I’ll never stop making new friends.

2. Smoking anything: I think the data on this is pretty strong.

1. Die: Part of me knows that this is supposed to happen to everyone, but I’m not everyone. Chances are that I will lose this bet, but I’m going to try like hell not to. I want every day that I can possibly get.

That’s my anti-bucket list. Start your anti-bucket list by putting one thing in the comments that you’ll never do again, or just not at all.

Thanks for reading! ~Phil