​​January 2000 | February 2000 | March 2000 | April 2000 | May 2000 | June 2000 | Teen Voyeur Bus 2000 | January/February 2001 | March 2001 | April 2001 | May 2001 | June 2001 | July 2001 | August 2001 | September 2001, Part One and Part Two | October 2001 | November 2001

• Norton spent all weekend jerking off to the BangBus website and he asked listeners to send him their site passwords to [email protected] so he can continue using it.

• Richard Cheese is in studio to play some songs from his Lounge Against the Machine album.

• The boys have no interest in paying tribute to George Harrison after his death. Opie says it's funny that Ringo, considered the least influential Beatle, is gonna outlive all of them.

• Stalker Patti describes her weekly income: $180 after taxes, then expenses come to $120 a week for her subsidized housing, $25 for the security deposit that she couldn't pay upfront, $15 for weekly commuter fare, and the rest for basic food like raw produce and pasta.

• Opie’s anger problem resulted in him throwing Ben’s Disturbed album out of the window of his car while stuck in traffic on the highway.

• They do a rap-metal/nu metal break and talk about bands like Limp Bizkit and Disturbed doing "Droppin' Plates". Norton is livid and says people should shut up and listen to Master of Reality. Opie says Gwen Stefani is gonna bail on No Doubt because "Hey Baby" is a huge hit. Ant doesn't think so because he saw No Doubt in concert and they seemed to get along fine. Jimmy is disgusted that O&A could even have such a discussion and says he doesn't know a single song by No Doubt. A guy claiming to be Pharrell calls in later to complain about how O&A shit on his Neptunes remix of Limp Bizkit, and Opie gets all defensive in return. It obviously wasn't the real Pharrell.

• Opie suggests that the show’s recent decline in ratings is the result of radio audiences shifting their listening preferences toward current events, news, and ongoing coverage of the War on Terror. He’s probably right about that.

• The debut appearance of Tippy Tom can be found on the December 5 show. Discovered by Keith the Cop and described as a gay homeless guy by Opie, Tippy Tom is said to be the funniest homeless shopping free contestant since Ziggy last year.

• Adam Ferrara and Opie are bummed out because Vinny Testiverde and the Jets, who generally suck anyway, lost a game to the lowly Patriots and new coach/QB combo Belichick and Brady.

• Black Earl is in the hospital because of bleeding ulcers. Even in the hospital during a serious illness, he amazes the boys by how incredibly boring and unrevealing he is about his life. Whenever the make a joke at his expense, he usually pouts, lashes out loudly for a split second, then refuses to talk to anybody for days. He's E-Rock when E-Rock was at his worst, except all the time.

• Random Norton bomb. Just an example of how bombs typically sit there awkwardly rather than get made fun of.

• Ant’s verbal crutch that has emerged this month: “Teasing, of course!”

• Opie’s verbal crutch that has been around for over a year but is starting to get irritating because he does it more and more frequently: Hold on, hold on, hold on!

• Jimmy always has one-liners but there's still very little about him that feels genuine. Like we haven't had an honest conversation yet with the guy. He just jumps in with a line or a reference to liking hookers pee on him and then it's back to whatever is going on in studio.

• “What the Hell is That?!” Day: O&A bring in a bunch of listeners with weird ailments. Some have odd deformities, others have serious health issues. One guy has an eye that’s basically rotting, and another guy has a growth inside his mouth that the doctors hint is straight-up cancer from nearly two decades of cigarette smoking. The doctors tell the guy to go to a doctor immediately and he freaks out. After the break, the guys are pretty rattled - Norton has thrown away his pack of cigarettes except for one of them, and he intends to finish that cigarette and he is done forever.

• New soundboard clips: Stone cold saying "Is that supposed to be sexy?" and South Park's "God damn liar!"

• Gene Simmons is in studio to discuss his theories on fidelity, marriage, and merchandising. He seems pretty rude and dismissive of everybody in studio. After he leaves, Norton defends him and says he’s great (though it’s mainly a bit, one would hope).

• Homeless Shopping Spree 2: Definitely one of the funnier long-form bits, and they could still draw a massive crowd to live events on such short notice.

• Jimmy has alluded to his affinity for big vaginas by saying that he likes “meat pouches” that he can stuff a baseball in and sleep on overnight.

• Everybody is completely obsessed with GTA 3. Opie loves the concept of being able to free roam, he plays clips of the game's radio stations that mock typical radio schtick, and everybody agrees that the graphics are pretty good for console.

• Off the air, an intern doesn't get Opie the type of cafe latte that he wants so he throws the office Xbox across the room. Opie wants a very specific coffee from a specific location that is different from everybody else's, and he times the intern's run to get it.

• Just when it seems like the show is ridding itself of its cringier aspects, a new Brother Joe's parody song appears called "Police Took My Car" as a Christmas parody of "Feliz Navidad."

• The Regan Brothers are in studio. Most might not even realize that there was a second stand-up comic named Regan that comes into the show with scripted material that the boys have to awkwardly set up. O&A tongue-in-cheek ask them questions that are completely off-topic from the conversation and start laughing when they do it, clearly hinting that they're letting the audience in on the whole annoyance of it all.

• Vos is mocked regularly, but not for his stupidity. He is insanely quick witted and is usually just teased for having very little actual material on stage. Ant constantly says “She’s dodgin’ me!” and “I know the struggle.”

• O&A have fallen to 14th place in Washington after debuting at #1 when they were first syndicated. Opie says that the show is strong in Buffalo, Philly, NYC, and Cleveland.

• Lady Di finished her divorce filings after about a year of legal mess. She reverted back to her maiden name. They had a Christmas party at Bar Nine and everybody calls in to talk about what a slob Di was. She got completely hammered and somebody tripped her and she fell flat on the ground before being tossed by a bouncer. Ant says that Marion is concerned because she sometimes calls up Di in the afternoon and Di is already drunk.

• Extended Opie bomb and subsequent awkwardness

• Opie gets upset because his line got used

• Jimmy is now comfortable enough to fart in studio. (This is important stuff here, folks.)

• They interview Steve Irwin and his wife but get cut off by a publicist because they kept asking if she likes "big crocs"

• For Christmas, Stalker Patti made some sort of decorative art display showing all their syndicated stations. Opie tore it up though, then he pissed on her Godiva chocolates, both of which made her cry.

• Norton debuts eatabullet.com

• Hard spirits ads on TV are airing again after around 30 years of self-imposed network bans. Medical association chairman calls it "shocking and irresponsible.

• Almost teasing Ant for his lack of interest in the show's performance compared to his own interest, Opie mutters that Ant can’t name 10 syndicated markets they’re in. Ant laughs it off and jokingly takes up Opie's challenge. But to Opie’s credit, Ant can only name nine. A growing fissure between the two is happening although it’s only apparent in brief passive aggressive moments like these.

• Opie is pissed because following some rowdiness at a Cleveland Browns game, glass bottled beer will be phased out of NFL games.

• The boys wrap up the year with some mess of a girl pissing into a cat box.

What Did We Learn: 2001 represents O&A climbing, reaching, and struggling to retain their peak as the most popular non-political talk radio show in the country. Whether intentional or not, the show seems to be constantly projecting at high volume, with O&A seemingly yelling energetically into their mics at all times, excitedly describing the chaos that’s typically unfolding right in front of their eyes. At what point did the show quiet down and become the small room, with a more personal setting that replaced slapstick antics with a more comic-focused comedic discussion? Who knows - it sure doesn’t seem to be heading that direction for 2002.

For now, however, the show is alive - both guys seem to be pretty energetic and are into what’s going on during the show. Opie isn’t distracted by his phone and doesn’t mumble his way insecurely through each show, Ant isn’t bitter and angry (most of the time at least) and seems to be having a lot of fun every day (he also is definitely still drinking in studio at this point, so that probably helps). Onward to 2002 - to review, in hindsight, how the show went from biggest in the country to silent for two full years.