This Week In this high-energy episode of LeMent Tonight, host Bob sits down with digital marketer, podcaster, and comedy enthusiast Jeff Ponder for an engaging deep dive into brand building, content strategy, and workplace hilarity. Known for founding the long-running Let’s Go Blues Radio, Jeff draws from his dual background in e-commerce marketing and media production to drop actionable wisdom for aspiring creators. From defining a distinct personal “hook”—whether you are a stand-up comic or a cartoon cat—to leveraging daily engagement and strategic collaborations, Jeff outlines what it truly takes to break through the noise in today’s media landscape, all while delivering a sharp comedic take on modern dog-friendly office culture. Beyond expert marketing takeaways, the episode delivers non-stop entertainment through the show’s popular “What a Story” improvised segment. Listeners are treated to side-splitting personal anecdotes about catastrophic vehicle failures, ranging from high-stakes teenage brake malfunctions to a shoeless, shirtless fire-extinguisher rescue at a McDonald’s drive-thru. Packed with sharp wit, nostalgic pop-culture banter, and genuine promotional value, this feature is a must-listen for creators, hockey fans, and comedy lovers looking to grow their audience. Catch all the fun on LeMent Tonight, and follow Jeff Ponder on his signature shows, The Pondcast and Hockey Night in St. Louis. https://Pondcast.com https://youtube.com/live/KLhwz-F7dy4 Bad AI Transcript Hey, everybody, it’s Lament Tonight. My guest tonight is Jeff Ponder. Jeff, how are you doing? I always want to say Pounder. It’s Ponder, right? Back in my day, somebody used to call me Quarter Pounder. I always wanted to thought of that. Well, and it’s funny because they were like, oh, being funny because you’re a fat little kid, you know, and it’s like, Yeah, but you’re saying I’m a quarter of a pound, so really it’s not an insult. Well, he was one of those people that whenever they made the third pounder, he’s like, I’m not buying that. That’s less of a value than the quarter pounder. That’s right. He’s one of those people. Not doing that. So it’s always been – I’m going to read the intro here, Jeff. It’s always been Jeff’s dream to join the mainstream media in some way in his journey to reach the pinnacle – He discovered podcasting in 2011, starting in St. Louis Blues Hockey Podcast. That’s still going today. Let’s Go Blues Radio has become a staple in secondary media coverage in the St. Louis hockey community. And tonight, he’s entering into the world of comedy. Or maybe he’s already been there, and he’s just doing it here tonight as well. I don’t know. We’ll find out a little bit more. But Jeff, the stage is yours. Yes, thank you, and uh it’s great to be here this is uh this is the pinnacle uh this is actually something i’ve been wanting to do, is join lament tonight so i’m gonna lament a little bit uh it is weird doing this remotely, a little bit of stand up here um it’s not something you would think that would have happened, you know, what, 20, even 15 years ago? But, you know, there’s a lot of weird things that really aren’t the norm anymore. Someplace I work right now, dogs in the office. Can you imagine that years ago? You know, back, Bob, maybe in 99, 2000 even. Hey, boss, I just rode in on my Buick Skylark. And as I passed the haberdashery, I thought maybe it’d be fun to bring Fido into the office today. What is that boss going to say? You get your ass to your typewriter, and you give me a good 15 hours without breaks, I’ll consider letting you leave in time for the Brooklyn Dodgers game. Maybe that was all a little bit too much, but you know what I mean. Is it weird, though, that I would rather be in an office of dogs than an office of people? You know, it’s weird because, you know… The dogs, you know, they’re very loud. They can be jumpy. You know, coworkers, they may not pee on the floor. Hopefully they’re not. But they sure find other ways to annoy me. Like, hey, Jeff, you see that episode of This Is Us last night? You know, I want to watch This Is Us. Do I look like a This Is Us guy? No. You know, no, I didn’t watch the curling match from three years ago that was on ESPN Classic last night. No, dogs aren’t going to ask me that. They’re lovable. They just want to jump on me and have some fun. I do get distracted very easily, though, with these dogs. It takes me about 45 minutes to get to my desk every morning. So I’ll get there about, you know, 8 o’clock. I don’t get to my desk until almost 9 o’clock. And it’s a little crazy because it’s like, you know, Jeff, get to work, get to work. But I just want to pet all the dogs. But I will say I make up for it. when there’s kids in the office. Then it’s a race to my desk. Then it’s, oh, I don’t want to be bothered by all these weird questions about, hey, you want to see my coloring book? No, kid, I don’t. I want to pet the dog and get to my desk. But what does it say about me that I prefer dogs over kids in the office, though? You know, you keep hearing like, mom, my iPad died. Dad, I’m bored. At least dogs just bark. I pat them on the head, give them a treat, and they’re quiet until the UPS guy shows up. And, you know, these kids, they’re just always needing something, like they’re humans or something. Thank you, everyone. I’m Jeff Ponder. You were great. Bob, back to you. Yeah, fantastic. Here, let me give you a little round of applause here. Oh, that’s so good. We have all these neat gadgets here on the plausible platform. If you go down, you can always clap. You can, uh, you can cry. Oh, those dogs. Oh, I can feel the heart, everything. Anyway, Jeff, thanks for doing that. It was very fun. So you really work with dogs? Yes. Yes. Dogs are in the office every single day. Um, it’s, it’s great. Um, you know, I make a lot of jokes about working with the people I work with, but they’re all good people too. And, um, they are very welcoming to you, uh, bothering them and coming up and petting their dogs. And, and I’ll say, that’s another thing that I do, Bob is I, uh, I forget my coworkers names, but I don’t forget their dogs names. That’s interesting. Well, they also have a hanging from their neck. So, That’s true. That helps. That does help. If the coworkers were to do that, you’d probably be able to remember. Oh, hey, Bill. It’s funny because they all have it on their desk. So you walk by and you’re like, oh, hey, Jeff. Oh, hey, Marcy. And you’re like, I’m not Marcy. I’m Daphne. I’m just sitting at Marcy’s desk. Well, get your ass out of Marcy’s seat. She’s going to be pissed. So do people like get to walk the dogs then? Like, I mean, the dog has got to, you know, I mean, they sleep a lot, granted. But every once in a while, they got to get up and go outside and whatnot. Or do you have an inside bathroom for the dogs? There is not an inside bathroom. That would be a very nice addition to the office. But no, people do have to get up and walk their dogs. And it is funny because there’s times, you know, when… I’ll be in a meeting, and it’ll be like, oh, hey, I got to bounce for five minutes. I got to take the dog for a walk. And I’m like, this is a place. I mean, it’s funny because you’re like, this is a place of business, but you’re also like, yes, go take care of that dog. That is more important than anything we’re doing right now. That’s right. We’re going over this budget, but no, take that dog out. No, I’m just joking. Please take the dog out. Please take the dog out. That’s fun, though. It is. There was a recent discussion where I work about having a cat there besides myself. Of course. And yeah, so I was like, well, I’m up for it, right? I know I like dogs as well, but this was the discussion. My worry was because dogs tend to stick to their owners for the most part, right? And so they don’t wander off, especially if they’re fairly… you know, I want to say good dog, but you know what I mean? A fairly loyal dog. They don’t run around and take off. The cat will just be right out the door. Yep. And so then it’s just going to be, I was just imagining it’s going to be a series of incredible joy when the cat arrives and heartbreak when it runs out the door and we never see it again. Yep. And I’ll say that is there is one person who was bringing a cat into the office. And it was a little bit of a because like she would get there before all the dogs. She’d get there as early as she could. And the cat would usually just hide in the corner. No problem. But every now and then she’d come back to her desk from the bathroom or whatever. And the cat’s gone. And so you’re like, OK, either this cat is going to get eaten by a dog or ran out. front door or it’s hiding somewhere under a desk and like half the day you’re thinking oh my gosh i may never see my cat again but yeah she always found a way to get the cat back at the end of the day and she’d go home with the cat well that’s good yeah i would worry about it we’ve had the cats and dogs here and i only worry about the cats until they get when they’re kittens Once they grow, you know, develop into like a regular old cat, then they take care of the dogs. Even though they’re so much smaller, typically, there’s never been an issue with the cat. Dog getting too rough with the cat. Always the cat gets too rough with the dog. Well, the cat is so quick to just swap. you know, and dogs, it, it, it totally throws dogs off. Cause it takes them a minute. You know, they, they sit back, they growl, they put their hind legs up and they’re like, I’m going to attack in the next four minutes, you know, and the cats are like, come here. And then just slash their face open. Oh, my face. Wait, it
