The Cruise Ship Virus & The $8M "Tape Cleaner" King

Opie Radio

Gregg "Opie" Hughes

Comedy, News, Society & Culture

4.0 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2026

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The world is getting weirder, and Opie is here to keep score. In today’s episode, we are joined by Comedian Tony P to break down the terrifying news of a Hantavirus outbreak aboard the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius. We discuss the symptoms, the rodent connection, and why anyone still pays thousands of dollars to be trapped at sea with a "mouse virus."
Then, we dive into the bizarre story of the "Tape Cleaner King," an Austin man who just pleaded guilty to moving $8.4 million in illegal poppers under the guise of "Pumpkin Spice" VCR maintenance. We also tackle the sheer frustration of the Five Boro Bike Tour holding New York City hostage, Rudy Giuliani’s critical condition in Florida, and the questionable quality of day strippers. It’s a Monday mix of high-stakes crime, medical horror, and essential New York observational humor.

Subscribe to the Opie Radio podcast to join the conversation.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Pappa, but, but, but, but, but, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, but pa, sounds urgent on a Monday. My God, good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Opie Radio podcast. I'm doing it with Tony P. Today, and I'm making the energy because I just got back from Philly. I went down there for a christening, Mr. Tody Pais. Did you have a
0:21.9	cheesecake? I didn't grab a cheese steak. We usually grab a cheesecake. Good. You shouldn't have grabbed the cheesecake. Cheese steaks from Philly suck, bro. The worst thing I have a taste like paper. They taste like sawdust and paper. No, you can't say that. That's ridiculous. That's sacrilege.
0:37.5	Are you crazy?
0:38.3	No, it's not sacrilege, man.
0:39.6	It's not sacrilege.
0:40.5	I went out there for a wedding. paper. No, you can't say that. That's ridiculous. That's sacrilege. Are you crazy?
0:38.1	No, it's not sacrilege, man.
0:39.6	It's not sacrilege.
0:40.5	I went out there for a wedding, right?
0:42.1	Yeah.
0:42.2	And then the bride was all drunk. I was in the wedding part. She's like, let's go get cheese steaks. So we went and got cheese steaks from the best places, she said. Yeah. The two best places.
0:50.1	Yeah.
0:50.3	And they were crap.
0:51.6	No, they're not crap.
0:53.1	They were crap.
0:54.3	I think Philly cheese steaks could be heaven on earth.
0:56.8	How about that?
0:57.9	No. Yeah, and they were crap. No, they're not crap. They were crap.
0:56.7	I think Philly cheese steaks could be heaven on earth.
1:12.6	How about that? No, they could be putting in hat. As I'm telling you, we get so excited when we go down to Philly, we order our cheese steaks while we're still on the highway. Do you understand, Tony P. Well, then maybe I need to eat a cheese steak with you because the best Philly cheese steak I ever eaten was in New York.
1:11.1	That's insane. Tony P. Well, then maybe I need to eat a cheese steak with you because the best Philly cheese steak I ever eaten was in New York.
1:13.9	That's insanely stupid.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Gregg "Opie" Hughes, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Gregg "Opie" Hughes and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.