Claim Jumper with Heather Anne Campbell

"Claim Jumper with Heather Anne Campbell" is Episode 110 of *Doughboys*, hosted by Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger. "Claim Jumper with Heather Anne Campbell" was released on June 29, 2017.

## Synopsis

The 'boys welcome back Heather Anne Campbell (*Whose Line Is It Anyway?*, *The Eric Andre Show*) to review gigantic portioned Gold Rush themed sit down chain Claim Jumper. Heather shares her thoughts on the upcoming new entry in the Mario franchise and discloses her Last Meal.

## Nick's intro

One out of every eight Americans is a Californian.

And while modern day California has a reputation for liberal politics and tolerance, viewed by much of the nation as a state-sized hippie commune, this hasn't always been the case. California consistently went Republican in Presidential elections until the 1990s. It was the home state of conservatives Richard Nixon, one of the most corrupt Presidents, and Ronald Reagan, one of the most damaging.

In the recent past, Californians have used ballot initiatives to implement deeply regressive policies: Proposition 6 barred gays from the public school system; Prop 13 sharply cut and capped property taxes for the rich; Prop 187 forbade undocumented immigrants from using public services; and prop 209 banned affirmative action. Californians even voted to ban gay marriage twice, with Prop 22 in 2000 and to override a court ruling with Prop 8 in 2008, the same year Obama first won the Presidency.

California's racial strife is well-documented. Police brutality on the black community led to the Watts Riots of 1965 and the L.A. Riots of 1992 and, even today, Los Angeles has the most police shootings of any U.S. city.

And back in the mid-19th century, the state earned the dubious distinction of having an atrocity named after it: The California Genocide. After the Mexican-American War of the mid-1840s, when America won control of the West Coast territory, over 100,000 native Californians were displaced, starved, or slaughtered. And a major driver of that cruelty? The California Gold Rush of 1849, which led to a massive influx of white settlers to the Bay Area.

Today, the Gold Rush is viewed with a quaint nostalgia that omits its ignoble history.

Once it formally joined the union, California became known as the Golden State. Bearded gold prospectors had become stock sketch characters. San Francisco's pro football team is the 49ers. Even Disney's Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster is a tribute to the gold rushers of the West. And, in 1977, a California man named Craig Nickoloff opened a gold rush-themed restaurant in the SoCal town of Los Alamitos.

With famously huge portions of heavy food, much like California during the greed-driven 1850s, the restaurant swelled to its breaking point in the early 2000s before being sold off and contracting to its comfortably modest size today. Now with 42 locations across California and 8 other states, the restaurant's name evokes the checkered past of the Golden State, defined as one who "illegally occupies property to which another has a legal claim."

This week on *Doughboys*: Claim Jumper.

## Fork rating

* Widow Maker Burger
	+ Shoestring Fries
	+ Green Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing
 Hike Mitchell
* Tri-Tip & Grilled Shrimp
	+ Mashed Potatoes
	+ Grilled Vegetables
	+ Green Salad with Italian Dressing
 Heather Anne Campbell
* Perfect Patrón Margarita
* BBQ Baby Back Pork Ribs
	+ Bacon Cheese Fries
 shared
* Bonanza Appetizer Platter
	+ Spinach Artichoke Dip
	+ Lemon Pepper Zucchini
	+ Mozzarella Sticks
	+ Loaded Potato Skins
* Salted Caramel Mud Pie

## Last Meal

"Last Meal" is a segment when the guest chooses which foods they would eat for their final meal, after being sentenced to execution on death row.

Mitch decides the crime committed: Heather lives in a video game-esque dystopia. Bowser exists, but as a red-haired, Trump-like man. Heather is in a group of rogue gamers, The Renegamers, who controls Mega Man creatures who fight the government. She was arrested, and put in a contraption that will turn her into a slug, and then salted to death.

* Heather's last meal would be cyanide, to go out her own way.
* But along with the cyanide, she'd get the classic S'mores Crunch cereal.

Fortunately two guards come and knock the cyanide away, and it goes into Nick Wiger's mouth and he dies. Heather is strapped into the slug machine, but then Usain Bolt dressed like Sonic The Hedgehog, breaks the machines, puts her on his shoulders, and they run away to safety and a life of peace.

## Quotes

**Mitch:** If you did have that account, what would your name be?
**Nick:** Wigey Kong.

**Nick:** And they were like, "we can't let you into the program - you're going to eat all the animals."

## #hashtags

* #S'moresCerealTruther vs. #S'moresCerealFalser

## The Feedbag

While they aren't exactly chain fare, they are an important part of L.A. food culture that I think are worth a look at. I know you probably won't review one on the podcast and it seems difficult enough to get Mitch to a stationary restaurant, but some of the more ridiculous food truck food could be fun to review in a segment, a la Snack or Wack.

## Related Episodes

* 110. **Claim Jumper**
* DD37. Naked Egg Odyssey
* 365. Cold Stone Nintendo

## Photos (via @doughboyspod)

Ultimate Pepper MaryGarlic Cheese BreadBonanza PlatterSide SaladTri-Tip and Grilled ShrimpBBQ Baby Back Ribs and Bacon Cheese FriesWidow MakerSalted Caramel Mud PieHeather Anne Campbell and cheese