No Phone For 24 Hours… and This Is What Happened — We’re Having a Good Time with Dusty Slay — Episode 182

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Watch here. Timestamp links jump this player when they can; they also open the matching YouTube time if needed.

Episode Overview

We’re Having a Good Time Episode 182. The title is Dusty’s Sunday with the phone powered off and left off overnight.

He records on a Wednesday after two radio hits and asks whether radio still puts anyone in a comedy seat. He tells a 2020 drive-in standup idea his agent shopped; theaters booked bigger names instead.

Then he walks through why SEC football went quiet on him after NIL, the transfer portal, and Nick Saban’s retirement. He recaps Hobbs, New Mexico, and movies from the connecting-flight day. He closes on a homeschool-room / shed-studio plan and what “humble yourself” means.

Timestamp Directory

  • 0:11 Open — Wednesday recording
  • 0:48 Radio hits; did anyone redeem comedy tickets from radio?
  • 2:36 ’90s radio vs Spotify / Pandora / YouTube; John Boy and Billy
  • 4:13 Drive-in standup idea; theaters booked bigger names
  • 6:00 Weekday Instagram/TikTok acts vs weekend comic
  • 8:00 SEC football, Nick Saban, Alabama
  • 9:30 NIL, transfer portal, Saban retires
  • 13:15 Mark Ingram / Trent Richardson depth example
  • 20:34 “The day the football died”
  • 21:35 Tour: Zanies Nashville sold out, Theatre 99 Charleston, Columbus OH, Louisville
  • 24:08 Hobbs listeners; Outside the Camp teaching
  • 27:51 Title story — phone off for the day
  • 30:02 Ecuador pastor who fasts weekly
  • 32:19 Aaron Weber pulled social off his phone
  • 33:02 Boredom, news-on-all-day, dad driving in silence
  • 42:39 Hobbs: Zia Park, outdoor city show with Adam Bush
  • 43:52 Casey’s diner
  • 48:15 Flight movies start
  • 48:34 Conspiracy Theory
  • 51:06 Black Sheep / Tommy Boy talk
  • 51:47 It Could Happen to You
  • 56:13 Searching for Bobby Fischer
  • 1:00:28 Homeschool room, shed studio
  • 1:04:38 Connor keeps Dusty and Connor Reacts going
  • 1:05:24 What does it mean to humble yourself?

People

Dusty Slay · official site

Host. Nashville. Records solo.

John Boy and Billy

Charlotte radio; huge when Dusty was a kid via Columbus, GA / Opelika signals. 2:41

Nick Saban

Alabama run that pulled Dusty back into college football around 2008. 8:31

Family

Hannah (Dusty’s wife), daughter Daisy, his mom and dad.

Mark Ingram / Trent Richardson

Alabama backs Dusty uses as the pre-portal depth example. 13:15

Nate Bargatze · Best Movies & TV Shows

Hobbs comparison. Also Nateland. See Nateland notes. 43:11

Aaron Weber

Co-host of Public Figures, a Nateland show. Took social apps off his phone. 32:19

Adam Bush

Opened the outdoor Hobbs show. 42:52

Paco Hernandez

Hobbs. Drove Dusty from the airport. 44:43

Connor

Dusty and Connor Reacts. Dusty told him to keep the show going. 1:04:38

Places

Charlotte, NC — John Boy and Billy origin.

Columbus, GA / Opelika, AL — childhood radio. Dusty is from Opelika.

Charleston, SC — two sold-out Theatre 99 shows. Wants The Battery, Hyman’s Seafood, Poe’s Tavern on Sullivan’s Island. 22:07

Hobbs, NM — outdoor city-paid free show; Zia Park Casino stay. 42:39

Casey’s — diner in a Hobbs mini-mart building. 43:52

Denver / Houston — connecting airports.

Ecuador — pastor who fasts weekly, as Dusty tells it. 30:02

New York City — setting for three of the flight movies.

Movies

He watched four movies on the Denver and Houston connections, including these three:

Conspiracy Theory (1997) · Amazon — Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts. 48:34

It Could Happen to You (1994) · Amazon — Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Rosie Perez. 51:47

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) · Amazon — Ben Kingsley, Laurence Fishburne, Joe Mantegna (Dusty says “Joe Montana”). 56:13

He also talks Chris Farley (The Celeb List): Black Sheep vs. Tommy Boy 51:06.

Products

We’re Having a Good Time Amazon — Dusty’s essay collection. Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster. On sale Nov 10, 2026.

Workin’ Man — Dusty’s 2024 special (YouTube upload of the hour).

Hilltop Structures shed — Amish-built shed already purchased; planned outdoor studio. 1:03:18

Passing, unlinked: phone, Bible, cigar, CDs / tapes, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, ESPN, Uber, airline apps, Bible app, Walmart TV stand, Tennessee meat delivery, locked-up diapers.

Stories

Does radio still sell tickets?

0:48 Two radio hits this week. He wants to know if anyone ever bought or redeemed comedy tickets from radio — and if they won them, whether they went.

The drive-in idea

4:13 2020 pitch with a fellow comic: standup at drive-ins. His agent shopped it. Theaters liked the format and booked bigger names. He did not have a Netflix special yet.

Weekday TikTok / weekend real comic

6:00 A booker said weekday Instagram acts pay the lights so Saturday can be the comic who is funny and doesn’t pack the room.

Football went quiet

8:00 From about 2008 to 2024 he would have talked SEC all day. NIL, the portal, and Saban retiring ruined the watch. He still says players getting paid is understandable.

Tour / Charleston

21:35 Zanies in Nashville sold out. Two Theatre 99 shows in Charleston sold out. Columbus, Ohio and Louisville are on the books. He wants a walk downtown: The Battery, Hyman’s, Poe’s.

No phone for 24 hours

27:51 Home from Hobbs Saturday night. Sunday morning he starts the usual scroll, stops, powers the phone down, leaves it off overnight. He watches Outside the Camp (a Bible-teaching channel) on a screen that isn’t the phone. “The phone is the Swiss Army knife of boredom.”

If you actually want a phone-off Sunday

Want to try your own phone-off Sunday? What helps: a phone lockbox Amazon, a bedside alarm clock Amazon, or a basic phone Amazon.

Hobbs outdoor show

42:39 He thought it was a casino room at Zia Park. It was a free outdoor show the city paid for. Adam Bush opened. Casey’s diner; Paco drove.

Four movies on the connections

48:15 Denver and Houston flights. He names Conspiracy Theory, It Could Happen to You, and Searching for Bobby Fischer. He also talks Farley: Black Sheep next to Tommy Boy.

Shed studio / homeschool room

1:00:28 Rooms get swapped for homeschool. Hilltop Structures shed already bought; electricity still to run. Connor keeps Reacts going.

Quotes

“All that matters in the world of entertainment is how much money can you make for people.” — Dusty 5:07

“When Nick Saban retired, I feel like football died. The day the football died.” — Dusty 20:34

“I’m going to turn it off. And I turned off my phone and I lived the rest of the day without my phone. And it was pretty incredible.” — Dusty 29:04

“The phone is the Swiss Army knife of boredom. It’s the cure all for boredom.” — Dusty 29:28

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