Welcome to the dinner party download.

This is your icebreaker.

Here's my joke.

There was these two old buddies that lived down in Alabama.

They were hunting buddies and they decided they was going to go fishing this one time.

They were sitting down in a boat and one of them says, well, Mert, we've been friends for a long time, haven't we?

And he says, that's right, Josh. He says, tell me Mert we've been friends for a long time haven't we and he says

that's right Josh he says tell me Mert he says if you was out hunting by yourself

sometime and I have him to sneak over and get with your missus and you know we had a baby

he said would that make us kin and the other guy said no that'd make us kin? And the other guy said, no, that'd make us even.

I'm Brendan Francis Nuneum.

I'm Rico Gagliano.

And from 89.3, KPCC in Los Angeles, this is the dinner party download, the show that

helps you win your next dinner party.

Our icebreaker this week came from Jerry Cherry Homes,

from the Grammy-nominated bluegrass band, Cherry Homes.

Coincidence, I think not.

Later we'll be talking with our guest of honor, historian and activist Howard Zinn.

But first, how about a little bit of small talk?

The headlines this week, stimulus package, stimulus package, stimulus package,

tarp. It's like duck, duck, goose, except with our nation's future.

Yes, it was all stimulus all the time, but there were other stories this week, so we asked

...