The first of many standing ovations, and Donna Summer’s disco anthem “Last Dance,” greeted Lori Barghini and Julia Cobbs Thursday afternoon at the Fillmore Minneapolis as they hosted the final episode of their MyTalk 107.1 talk show “Lori and Julia.”
The pair filled the VIP balcony with paying customers, while listeners who won tickets on the air took seats on the main floor of the nightclub. For three full hours, Barghini and Cobbs shared an oversize plush chair (a second was removed soon after it was clear they were sitting together) as well as memories, laughs and more than a few tears with the rapt audience and a select number of guests.
“I’m already starting to cry,” Cobbs said at the top of the show.
“We don’t have to say a thing,” Barghini added. “For once we’re speechless.”
Ginny Morris, the Hubbard Broadcasting executive who hired the pair 22 years ago despite neither having a background in broadcasting, described the skepticism from local media after the show debuted. “What the hell is that about? Their voices! They are not voices for radio,” Morris said. “You showed them, for darn sure.”
Barghini and Cobbs’ heavy, almost comic, Minnesota accents and tendency to talk over each other were one of many trademarks of the daily show, which featured the longtime friends discussing pop culture, sex, celebrities, books and numerous other random topics. At one point Thursday, Cobbs told the crowd that they never wanted to say thanks to the audience for listening, but rather thanks for hanging out.
The pair’s bond with their listeners was obvious Thursday, as fans brought flowers and photographs to share with the women during commercial breaks. Others wanted a selfie or just the opportunity to tell Barghini and Cobbs just how much they loved them and loved the show.
Barghini and Cobbs shocked listeners and fellow local media types in March when they announced their impending retirement from the airwaves. Over the last few weeks in particular, they’ve filled the show with their favorite guests and spent time reminiscing about spending more than two decades together on the show.
A real air of permanence hung over the proceedings Thursday, as the women and their guests often fought back tears as everyone in the room realized this really was the end.
Original “Lori and Julia” producer Don “Donny Love” Michaels, who was laid off from the station two months into the pandemic lockdown in 2020, joked about how he would turn down the microphones whenever the hosts attempted to sing on the air. He also chatted about some of their worst celebrity guests, including motivational speaker Susan “Stop the Insanity!” Powter and “M*A*S*H” star Loretta Swit, who Michaels dubbed a “beeotch” who didn’t take kindly to the hosts’ questions.
No other radio show in America could draw an audience to show up like this, Michaels added.
Minnesota native Melissa Peterman (“Reba,” “Young Sheldon”) sent a message from the set of her current gig hosting the game show “Person, Place or Thing” telling the audience she continued to listen to the show after she moved to Los Angeles: “Listening to them made me feel like I was home.”
Jason Matheson, co-host of MyTalk’s morning show and host of TV’s “The Jason Show,” led a group of other on-air personalities in roasting, and then toasting, Barghini and Cobbs. “The final episode is just like the rest of them,” he said, smiling to the crowd. “You will always be the queens,” he later told them.
The final segment of “Lori and Julia” ended with the Surburbs’ Chan Poling, joined by locals Kat Perkins and Shannon Curfman, performing a slowed-down version of “Love Is the Law,” the show’s unofficial theme song. “For 22 years, Chan hasn’t made a dime off us,” Barghini said with a laugh.
A running theme throughout the three hours was the pair’s clear bond and true chemistry. A listener in the crowd asked them what they would miss most about the show. Their joint response: “Each other.”
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