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Hello and welcome back to Cult Leader. I'm your Cult Leader Spencer Henry. How you doing? Everyone nice and full?

Anyone getting any family squabbles last night? Did you sneak out back for your yearly cigarette?

Half-leg style just exhausted after a Thanksgiving evening with your family? Hmm? The holidays can be exhausting. But they don't have to be just kidding. Just go straight into an advertisement. Just light up what it Lucille Ballsmoak, light up a chest to field and give yourself some relief from the holiday anxiety.

I hope everybody had a nice dinner with their family and friends or loved ones. Whoever you got, maybe by yourself, hey, that's not a bad thing. I've had plenty of Thanksgiving's so low by myself. For one of my old jobs, I used to never be able to go to Thanksgiving with my family. They would always go to Palm Springs. And I would always have to work on Thanksgiving or leading up to Thanksgiving. So I would stay home a lot by myself. And there's something kind of, I don't know, nice about being by yourself on holidays.

It almost feels like you're rebelling a bit, doing something wrong. Like I can't order a pizza on Thanksgiving, are you kidding me? I like it. I think last year probably more than ever. Most people had a little bit of an unconventional holiday. We did. I mean, I spent Christmas last year, I think, with just my sister and her husband. And it was so different than normal because normally we're getting dressed up and running it. Well, we still dressed up, but we're running around going from place to place. Seeing this group of the family, seeing this group of the family and it's such an ordeal, it felt really calm.

To have just like a quiet, no pressure, Christmas. Make your own rules. Happy Black Friday to those who celebrate. Hope you trampled an elderly woman for a Game Boy or whatever it is that you kids do. Whenever I think of Black Friday, I have this weird memory of the Tickle Me Elmo disaster. And I don't know if anyone else does. Did they like make fun of it on a show or movie or something? Because this was a big fucking deal. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about or those looking for a reference.

I'm looking for a refresher. Allow me to read you this article from CBC that I found it says when the Tickle Me Elmo toy craze led to a trampling. The article says it was a time when the world needed more Elmo. That's because 22 years ago, the people who made the popular Tickle Me Elmo doll couldn't put enough of them on store shelves. No wonder he's laughing all the way to the bank because North America has been gripped by Tickle Me Elmo hysteria said CBC is Jeffrey Kaufman when reporting on the Elmo toy craze for the nationals.

As a shaking laughing Elmo doll was shown on the screen. The craze saw shoppers flood stores in hopes of snagging in Elmo but due to stronger than anticipated demand, this was hard for many parents to do.

The pushing and shoving for the doll led to at least one actual physical injury at a Frederickton Wal-Mart. Media reports said 300 people had lined up for their shot at landing one of the 48 Elmo's that were being offered in a special pre-don sale that was held in December of 1996.

So this happened in the 90's. Tickle Me Elmo the doll came out and it drove like a mass fucking hysteria you guys.

Enough that I remember it, you know, 20 something years later. The last thing that I wanted to say from the article is the lack of supplies spurred some people to put the Elmo's they obtained up for resale.

As shown on the national, there were newspaper classified ads where sellers were asking $500 and $1000 for the doll, which if purchased in stores was priced at $35.

That's the shit I'm gonna be honest, sorry if you do this, I hate it. When people buy a bunch of concert tickets or buy all the play stations and then resell them, you know, everyone's gotta make their money somehow but come on. Let other people have a chance.

If you wanna go to Target and get yourself a black screen TV and a Penini press for five bucks, do it. Hey, I have participated in a Black Friday shopping extravaganza before. That's right, I too have played into the capitalism in today's society.

Black Friday shopping to me is kind of like going to like the dollar section at Target. I'm going to buy stuff but it's nothing that I need and it's probably not going, I will not have it for a very long time.

And that's life, baby. Let's get into some emails. Did I say that already? This is a little leader where I read the emails that you send to me. Hey, if you have a story you'd like to share on an upcoming little leader, go ahead and send it on over to Spencer at Coleydirt.com. I guess we went rogue today.

Subject that in this first email says the perfect little leader. I'll see about that. Perfect isn't all caps as well, so I'm waiting.

I have never written into anything ever but my story is perfect for your show, which by the way you do a great job with and I listen to religiously. Hey, thank you. I grew up in a small town in the Midwest.

When I was five we lived across the street from my grandparents. Their house was a former funeral home that had been renovated into a regular residence.

One night the young man that rented a room in their basement. Oh my god, stabbed my grandmother to death in his room, which was once the embalming room.

What the fuck? I don't remember much about it because I was so young but I'm told he had no idea why he did it and couldn't remember anything about the event. That is really awful. That's terrible. I'm sorry.

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