Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff you should know from how Stuff Works
Speaker 1: dot com. Hey Hey, hey, hey, ho ho ho, and
Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W.
Speaker 1: Chuck Bryant. You know, we have a special uh ELF
Speaker 1: with us this this time this year for our Christmas
Speaker 1: special Noel Elf on the shelf, Noel Hark, you're the bells?
Speaker 1: There go the bells? Where are the bells? I am
Speaker 1: the bells. It's pretty good. Thanks? Was that tubular bells?
Speaker 1: No but one of my that just reminded me of
Speaker 1: one of my favorite SNL skits of all time where
Speaker 1: the Sweeney Sisters? Um was it? Jan Hooks? Geez, the
Speaker 1: late Jan Hooks. Man very sad about that. And I
Speaker 1: think Norah Dunne, if I remember correctly remember them the
Speaker 1: Sweeney Sisters, of course, I do so great, And I
Speaker 1: think they did that for their their Christmas episode. They
Speaker 1: did a great medley of Christmas tunes and that one
Speaker 1: sort of went like that, nice, it's so good. Well
Speaker 1: you just nailed it, man. How are you feeling pretty good?
Speaker 1: I'm feeling great because this uh is one of my
Speaker 1: favorite episodes of the year. Me too. And we'd like
Speaker 1: to point out not to tuot our horn. But one
Speaker 1: of the things we always fight for every year is
Speaker 1: that the Christmas episode, along with the Halloween episode, remains
Speaker 1: add free. We fight for it to the death. There's
Speaker 1: so many dead ad sales. People are awake, but you
Speaker 1: know what, they deserved it. They shouldn't have crossed. The
Speaker 1: ship has just led us, you know. Yeah, so this
Speaker 1: is an ever free episode, like you said, and I'm
Speaker 1: pretty proud of that too. I think it's nice of us. Yeah, uh,
Speaker 1: this is this is just one of my favorite episodes
Speaker 1: of the year. It's fun. So as we do every year, Josh,
Speaker 1: I think we want to encourage everyone to light a fire,
Speaker 1: maybe pour up a hot buttered rum Oh yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a good one. Although we do have a good recipe
Speaker 1: for this year. Yeah, I guess they could listen to
Speaker 1: that and then come back to the beginning or a
Speaker 1: rummy eggnog. We're just your favorite non alcoholic Christmas drink
Speaker 1: of choice. Get the family together, like the Yule log
Speaker 1: hangs the hang that missiletoe, right, and let's get this underway.
Speaker 1: So it's been a pretty pretty uh, it's been an
Speaker 1: interesting year so far, right, Yeah, but um, I always
Speaker 1: like these ones because they make me reflect on the
Speaker 1: year and it seems like it was just a month
Speaker 1: ago that the year started. Uh, it has gonna by fast.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm speeding toward death. But when I
Speaker 1: think about being forty six years old and speeding towards death,
Speaker 1: I think, wow, when I was a kid, that was
Speaker 1: a long time ago. So if I'm you know, around
Speaker 1: middle age ish, like, I got a long way to go.
Speaker 1: And it just seems like it's that trick that your
Speaker 1: mind plays on you, right where it seems like time
Speaker 1: is gaining speed as you get older. Right. I think
Speaker 1: there's some science behind that too. I think there's two.
Speaker 1: I think it's because you have less time to compare
Speaker 1: it to when you're a kid, whereas the older you
Speaker 1: get you have more time to compare it to. Probably so,
Speaker 1: But the the I've had that same exact thought, chuck,
Speaker 1: within the last probably two weeks, towards death. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: the other one where it's like, wait a minute, I've
Speaker 1: I've lived for a very long time and I'm right
Speaker 1: at middle age, so I've got a long time left,
Speaker 1: and baby, I'm gonna make the most out of it.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna start with the two thousand and seventeen
Speaker 1: stuff you should know Christmas extravagance. I'll tell you what
Speaker 1: you shouldn't do. Then if you if you've got a
Speaker 1: good feeling about the future and you're a long way
Speaker 1: toward death, don't then go down the road of Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I only got about fifteen or twenty more good
Speaker 1: years right now, it gets really sad. I assume that
Speaker 1: medical science is going to advance by such leaps and bounds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're going to be living healthy to like one fifty. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be playing tennis at when I finally just
Speaker 1: go over and unplugged and drop dead right there on
Speaker 1: the tennis court. Yeah, after you beat me in our
Speaker 1: final game. Yeah, and a simulation of Andre Agassi. All right,
Speaker 1: so let's do this. Should we take an ad break?
Speaker 1: Pretty good, Chuck. Let's take a little jingle break? How
Speaker 1: about that? Then we'll get into it, all right, Happy holidays, Chuck,
Speaker 1: Thank you, all right, buddy, we're back. Oh and speaking
Speaker 1: of jingles, big thanks to our pal John begin who
Speaker 1: composed us for us. He's composed a number of stuff
Speaker 1: you should know ad break jingles, and we went to
Speaker 1: and said Hey, will you compose for us this Christmas season?
Speaker 1: He said yes, and it was a Christmas miracle. Agreed?
Speaker 1: And what should we start with? Oh man, I think
Speaker 1: we have to start with die Hard is dieharded Christmas movie? This? This,
Speaker 1: you you found this, you put together most of this.
Speaker 1: This is a world class episode. By the way, I
Speaker 1: want to commend you for it. Thanks. And it's not
Speaker 1: like I dug this up this and almost got annoyed
Speaker 1: by this one because it's become a very trendy thing
Speaker 1: over the past few years to argue about whether or
Speaker 1: not die Hard as a Christmas movie. Yeah, it's basically
Speaker 1: the clear symbol that civilization is sliding into irreversible decline.
Speaker 1: Argument over this, so let's talk about it. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: I think the reason why I got jazzed about it,
Speaker 1: I feel very similar to you. It's kind of like, guys,
Speaker 1: this could not matter less, stop arguing about this. That
Speaker 1: was my William Shatner impression. Um, this article you sent
Speaker 1: by art Ta Vanna from l A Weekly. I just
Speaker 1: think it really gets the point across so well. That
Speaker 1: jazz me. Yeah, you know what, do I even have
Speaker 1: that one? Why don't you lead this one? Then? Okay, well,
Speaker 1: Jimminy Crickets, I think I might have sent it to
Speaker 1: you and then not even use that one. Oh it's great, man,
Speaker 1: This one is like the best. I'm actually putting it
Speaker 1: on my UM website. Are you serious, Clark, It's going
Speaker 1: on the reading list. What's the name of it. It's
Speaker 1: called Yes, die Hard is a Christmas movie? Stop debating it. Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't think I have that one, so but I'm
Speaker 1: I can I know die Hard inside and out so
Speaker 1: I can get in there. Okay, So Art Art says
Speaker 1: that he starts with a quote. Art says, this is
Speaker 1: a quote from a BuzzFeed article, but from way back
Speaker 1: in two thousand thirteen. This has been going on a while,
Speaker 1: but the BuzzFeed wrote, quote most prized among people of
Speaker 1: this opinion that die Hard is a Christmas movie is
Speaker 1: the transgressive act of selecting a violent action movie over
Speaker 1: home alone or more classic fair. We get it, You're
Speaker 1: too cool for regular Christmas movies, right, So they laid
Speaker 1: down the gauntlet. I think they did a good bit
Speaker 1: of calling out and they probably got it right for
Speaker 1: some people. But Art says, wait a minute, Wait a minute,
Speaker 1: who's to say what classic Christmas fare is if you're saying,
Speaker 1: if you're talking about It's a Wonderful Life, you're being
Speaker 1: brainwashed like Frank Capra followed in the tradition of Norman Rockwell,
Speaker 1: and all of this is like some weirdo small town
Speaker 1: communalism utopianism that doesn't have even really exist. And the
Speaker 1: whole reason that you're crazy for It's a Wonderful Life
Speaker 1: is because it lost its copy right back in the
Speaker 1: seventies and the television networks around the country started showing
Speaker 1: it for free, so it almost was force fit into
Speaker 1: a Christmas tradition. And it's a Wonderful Life, I mean,
Speaker 1: if we gotta, if we're really gonna take this down
Speaker 1: that path. Is not a Chris Smiths movie. It's not
Speaker 1: even set at Christmas. There is a scene set on
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve, one scene in that movie. And something I
Speaker 1: read because I was looking up whether or not It's
Speaker 1: a Wonderful Life as a Christmas movie or it's just
Speaker 1: got that by association, and they said, if if It's
Speaker 1: a Wonderful Life is a Christmas movie, then e t
Speaker 1: is a Halloween movie. I don't know, man, I don't know,
Speaker 1: because here's the thing, and this is, this is we'll
Speaker 1: just reveal the end here. Then the one thing that
Speaker 1: die Hard and It's a Wonderful Life have in common
Speaker 1: is getting your family back before Christmas morning. Like the
Speaker 1: the whole thing that's driving the plot is a race
Speaker 1: against time to get everything the way that it should
Speaker 1: be before Christmas morning happens. Sure, And also, is a
Speaker 1: Christmas movie one that is is set at Christmas or
Speaker 1: one that is just got filled with the spirit of Christmas?
Speaker 1: I think if are you asking what my opinion is.
Speaker 1: My opinion is that if somebody feels like Christmas Eve
Speaker 1: when they watch a movie and it becomes like a
Speaker 1: tradition for them to watch it, or they have a
Speaker 1: good Christmas feeling from it, then leave that person alone. Well,
Speaker 1: but like, is the Godfather Thanksgiving movie because they showed
Speaker 1: Everythanksgiving on TV? And The Sound of Music is an
Speaker 1: Easter movie because they show it around Easter. If it
Speaker 1: is that to some people, then then that's fine. It
Speaker 1: makes it that for those people. Okay, so you're saying
Speaker 1: the setting of the movie and the contents they're in
Speaker 1: have no bearing on whether or not, Like it doesn't
Speaker 1: even have to take place at Christmas or be Christmas Eve. No,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm saying that, yes, it does not have to
Speaker 1: take place at Christmas, but I'm not saying that the
Speaker 1: settings had no bearing because I do think that if
Speaker 1: if die Hard wasn't set at Christmas, no one would
Speaker 1: be talking about whether it was a Christmas movie or not.
Speaker 1: So that the the time that it takes place definitely
Speaker 1: does have an impact on it. That's not the only thing.
Speaker 1: And if it doesn't take place around Christmas, that doesn't
Speaker 1: automatically disqualify it from being a Christmas movie. It just
Speaker 1: makes make it a Christmas movie. Right, So so that's
Speaker 1: our Those are our opinions. But let's get into what
Speaker 1: Art ta Vana says all the reasons why I die
Speaker 1: Hard is a Christmas movie? Huh? All right, what's he got?
Speaker 1: So he says not only is it a Christmas movie,
Speaker 1: but he said that it is one of the This
Speaker 1: is a quote one of the most carefully sculpted Christmas
Speaker 1: allegories in history. So either Art ta Vanna is totally
Speaker 1: mad or this guy's got something figured out that everybody
Speaker 1: else is missing. Yeah, I mean he does make some
Speaker 1: pretty good points. Um. One of the things, well, I mean,
Speaker 1: we can just tick through a bunch of these. One
Speaker 1: of the things is, uh is the name John from
Speaker 1: John McLean, he said, could be an illusion to John
Speaker 1: the Baptist or John the Apostle. And also Holly Gennaro
Speaker 1: the wife, her name is Holly. Doesn't get much more
Speaker 1: Christmas E than Holly, that's right, and so John. The
Speaker 1: premise of this is John has lost his wife. Ers.
Speaker 1: In the process of losing his wife, she's moved from
Speaker 1: New York, their home, to l A to pursue her career,
Speaker 1: and in the process she's dropped her married name in
Speaker 1: favor of Gennaro, her her maiden name. That's what That's
Speaker 1: what she goes by professionally, right, John is out there.
Speaker 1: The premise of this is what has brought John out
Speaker 1: to l A for Christmas is to to basically reclaim
Speaker 1: his wife, as art Ta Vana puts it. Okay, So
Speaker 1: that's the that's the premise in John's name can be
Speaker 1: an allegory for John the Baptist, John the Apostle, something
Speaker 1: religious and Christmas E christianny I should say. And then
Speaker 1: Holly's name is that pagan plant Holly. And then he
Speaker 1: also says that there's thirteen terrorists, which doesn't it first
Speaker 1: seem very Christmas e right, yeah, but he says that
Speaker 1: very Uh. Specifically, Han Scruber says that he is not
Speaker 1: a terrorist. Uh. And so then you have twelve to
Speaker 1: see this is where it Paul's apart fer me. He says,
Speaker 1: twelve card carrying terrorists, like the twelve Apostle christ or
Speaker 1: the twelve Days of Christmas. But like, none of them
Speaker 1: are terrorists. They're all robbers. Uh. Yeah, but only one
Speaker 1: of them said that they're not a terrorist. Right. I
Speaker 1: thought that was a weak two. But then Art wins
Speaker 1: me back with the very next point. He says that, um,
Speaker 1: like Santa Claus John McClean, it keeps a list, but
Speaker 1: he writes its sharply on his arm. And rather than
Speaker 1: it's boys and girls who have been good or bad,
Speaker 1: naughty or nice, these are terrorists he's either killed or
Speaker 1: plans to kill. Uh. And of course, in one of
Speaker 1: the great scenes, uh when and by the way, spoiler alerts, oh, man,
Speaker 1: I guess, I guess so people like man I was
Speaker 1: just gonna watch die Hard this year for the first
Speaker 1: time ever. Uh. He sends one dead terrorist down in
Speaker 1: one of my favorite scenes from the thirty second floor
Speaker 1: down the lobby, the door opens. He is dead and
Speaker 1: has a on his chest. Okay, say it in a
Speaker 1: German accent, please, and not only that, I'll say it
Speaker 1: with my best Alan Rickman r I p now a
Speaker 1: half a machine gun. Ho ho ho oh goodness. So
Speaker 1: he says this proves that McClean is a sociopathic Santa
Speaker 1: Clause yeah, and that the elevator was his chimney. Yeah.
Speaker 1: M hmm. So it's getting a little weird here. John
Speaker 1: McClean has Christmas dinner. That's the twinkie that he eats
Speaker 1: during a period of respite week. It's weak um, but
Speaker 1: he says, Art says, there is a miracle in this,
Speaker 1: and they even call it out there's a Christmas miracle
Speaker 1: because remember THEO, the guy who's kind of like the
Speaker 1: hacker of the group. He's trying to crack the safe
Speaker 1: with the drill and Hans comes down to see how
Speaker 1: the progress is going, and THEO tells them it's going
Speaker 1: to take a miracle to get past this electromagnetic lock.
Speaker 1: Very in very short order, the FBI turns off the power.
Speaker 1: But before this, Hans Gruber says, THEO, you asked for
Speaker 1: a miracle, I give you the f B. I. So
Speaker 1: they specifically say there's a miracle in this, in this ship,
Speaker 1: in this movie. Yeah, that's another one, that's right. What
Speaker 1: else John McClean makes it. He makes it back to
Speaker 1: his family. He and his wife are reunited. At the end,
Speaker 1: she gives him her Christmas gifts. She identifies herself as
Speaker 1: Holly McClean. Right, and then ostensibly by extension, I guess
Speaker 1: they're going to go home to their six year old
Speaker 1: daughter for Christmas morning. The sun has not risen yet,
Speaker 1: so it's still Christmas Eve, and there are Barra bonds
Speaker 1: floating down like snow around them, and they even play
Speaker 1: the song let it Snow. So Art points some stuff out.
Speaker 1: He says he went back and looked at reviews that
Speaker 1: he could find because he works for l A Weekly,
Speaker 1: he's a he's a movie critic. I think he sold
Speaker 1: water to me. At this point, he said, I could
Speaker 1: not find any reviews that cited this thing as a
Speaker 1: Christmas movie. It came out in July. Yeah, this this
Speaker 1: is definitely something that has been retrofitted for sure, Right,
Speaker 1: No one called it a Christmas movie back then. Only
Speaker 1: the clever generations of today. So yeah, so he points
Speaker 1: out that, um that no one at the time said
Speaker 1: this is a great Christmas movie as a buddy picture.
Speaker 1: It's how they put it right, um or just an
Speaker 1: action like shoot him up fast, and it was. It
Speaker 1: was a great movie still is right. But the he
Speaker 1: he says that, um, at the same time, there was
Speaker 1: a weird kind of foreshadowing that same year because Scrooge
Speaker 1: came out, which is another a great Christmas movie, and
Speaker 1: that is a bona fide Christmas movie because it's an
Speaker 1: adaptation of a Christmas Carol, there's no question about that.
Speaker 1: But in it, Bill Murray plays a TV executive who
Speaker 1: has green lit a picture called The Night the Reindeer
Speaker 1: Died and it's about a terrorist attack on the North
Speaker 1: Pole in Santa's workshop, and he says, the implication of
Speaker 1: this is that you would have to be some soulless
Speaker 1: TV executive to watch an action movie for Christmas. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't buy it. Oh, I think it just ties
Speaker 1: the whole thing up. It just brings it right back
Speaker 1: to the beginning. Man. No, no no, no, I don't buy
Speaker 1: that you would have to be a soulless uh. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm on board. I think it's a Christmas movie. Art
Speaker 1: Tavanna is the oracle of our time. Uh, so I
Speaker 1: have Are you done with Art Tavanna? Yeah? All right,
Speaker 1: because I've got a very special Christmas gift for you, sir. Okay,
Speaker 1: And I kept this a surprise, thank you. I was
Speaker 1: wondering what this was. You see, I'm holding a piece
Speaker 1: of paper in my hand, and when I have in
Speaker 1: my hand is an email exchange with the writer of
Speaker 1: die Hard. What Jeb Stewart, What this is insider information?
Speaker 1: What I know? Right? Wow? All right? So man, look
Speaker 1: at that smile. I can't believe I'm dizzy. All right.
Speaker 1: So I was able to get this email and he
Speaker 1: was happy to oblige. Uh. He's sort of been making
Speaker 1: the rounds on this, I think interviewed him on it,
Speaker 1: and um, and he's just a great dude. So um.
Speaker 1: I knew that there was a book that die Hard
Speaker 1: was based on called Nothing Last Forever by Roger Thorpe,
Speaker 1: and so I thought, well, when he wrote that, you know,
Speaker 1: was that said at Christmas? Was Christmas a big deal?
Speaker 1: Or did you run with it? So these are this
Speaker 1: is his reply and all this amazing chuck. Uh and
Speaker 1: this is it's not super long, but I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: gonna read the whole thing because that conserves it. So
Speaker 1: he said that, uh uh nothing. Last Forever is a
Speaker 1: dark Nora novel about a sixty us year old man
Speaker 1: who comes to bits forty year visit his forty year
Speaker 1: old daughter in l A. So obviously he changed that stuff.
Speaker 1: Uh and then he and then he, you know, talks
Speaker 1: a little bit more about the writing process, and then
Speaker 1: he says, so back to your question, Yes, Christmas was
Speaker 1: always part of the theme. Thorpe said it on December
Speaker 1: the novel for a very practical reason. We need the
Speaker 1: building as empty as possible. Yeah, so that makes sense.
Speaker 1: That's where that comes from. However, once he established this,
Speaker 1: he sort of abandoned the theme. Since I had a
Speaker 1: lot of dramatic leeway, I took the approach let's go
Speaker 1: for it first. So this all came from Jeb Stewart,
Speaker 1: all the Christmas e stuff. First. I changed the main
Speaker 1: characters ages set up the story about a thirty year
Speaker 1: old guy with old school ideas about marriage coming from
Speaker 1: New York to visit as a strange wife, but everything
Speaker 1: right again with his family. L A represents and conflicts
Speaker 1: with his views of normal Christmas. Music is different, the
Speaker 1: office party and gifts are over the top. His wife
Speaker 1: keeps her maiden name, and the temperature is warm and
Speaker 1: not snowy. It drives him crazy. But once Hans Gruber
Speaker 1: takes over Nakami Plaza, all that melts away, all the action,
Speaker 1: all the struggle become John McLean's long journey to discover
Speaker 1: what really matters his family. You don't appreciate what you
Speaker 1: have until you risk losing it. Since family is at
Speaker 1: the core of the idea of this work, what better
Speaker 1: than what better holiday than Christmas? Uh, there's no question
Speaker 1: in my mind that die Hard is a Christmas movie.
Speaker 1: You have you have it. A Christmas movie has more
Speaker 1: to do with just being said at the holiday. It
Speaker 1: has to include the holiday in the themes of the film.
Speaker 1: Christmas also needs to be reflected in the characters, their
Speaker 1: stories and dialogue. I tried to do this as much
Speaker 1: as possible, even when it means sending a body down
Speaker 1: the elevator with a Santa cap and a message written
Speaker 1: on a shirt saying ho ho ho Now I have
Speaker 1: a machine gun. Anyway, that is my argument that Die
Speaker 1: Hards a Christmas film. I'm happy some people agree. As
Speaker 1: someone once told me, it's not Christmas at our house
Speaker 1: until Hans Gruber falls off nakatmi plaza. Amen to that,
Speaker 1: Jeb Stewart. Wow, that is definitive, Chuck, nicely done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's funny. I had no idea that it was originally
Speaker 1: ho ho ho. Now I have a machine gun. I'm
Speaker 1: sure some exects workshopped it and focus grouped it and
Speaker 1: then they switched it around. Well I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: he's saying that's how he wrote it, but that's wonderful, Chuck.
Speaker 1: Kudos to you. That's a great Christmas present. And kudos
Speaker 1: to Jeb Stewart. He says he's a big stuff. You
Speaker 1: should know fans to take that for what it's worth. Well,
Speaker 1: I just got you some socks. Oh wow, Sorry, I
Speaker 1: got you a personalized letter from Jeb Stewart and some socks.
Speaker 1: All right? Is that the end of our segment? Yeah?
Speaker 1: All right, Okay, which one you want to do next?
Speaker 1: I'm happy to rock around the Rockefeller Christmas Tree. Okay, Rockefeller,
Speaker 1: it's the The r is silent and invisible. So most
Speaker 1: of this information comes from an article this year from
Speaker 1: Dana Schultz The history of Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree a
Speaker 1: New York holiday tradition. Dude. So the Rockefeller Center Tree.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows this thing, right, They probably know more than
Speaker 1: they realized that that statue is Prometheus, the big Golden Statue,
Speaker 1: which and I only say that because I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that until researching this article. But it's an extremely famous
Speaker 1: thing because it's a giant tree, it's in the middle
Speaker 1: of New York and everybody watches it. But it has
Speaker 1: some really sweet, humble origins that I weren't what wasn't
Speaker 1: aware of at all. Yeah, and I gotta say, if
Speaker 1: you've never been to New York at Christmas, do yourself
Speaker 1: a favor and go, because the word magical is thrown
Speaker 1: around a lot, but it is truly magical. It is.
Speaker 1: It's just it's great Rockefeller Center. Uh, it's just it's
Speaker 1: wonderful to go down there. You know, even if you're
Speaker 1: a Scrooge McDuck, I think your heart might melt a bit. Sure.
Speaker 1: Can you just see like Scrooge McDuck duck weeping quietly
Speaker 1: and in public off to the side of the ice
Speaker 1: skating rink, and it would be kind of neat like
Speaker 1: there's a cartoon in real life. So back to the origins,
Speaker 1: where are we? Yeah, and the Great Depression was in
Speaker 1: full swing. This is another thing I didn't realize. Did
Speaker 1: you know the Great Depression is also called the clutch plague?
Speaker 1: Is that what that is? Yeah? I did not know that.
Speaker 1: The only explanation I saw was that the clutch plague
Speaker 1: more refers to the global depression, whereas the Great Depression
Speaker 1: is the American Great Depression. Gotcha, That's all I saw.
Speaker 1: But so the clutch Plague slash Great Depression is going
Speaker 1: on and a group of workers, construction workers are building
Speaker 1: Rockefeller Center at the time, and Christmas comes around and
Speaker 1: the workers decide, hey, we need to Christmas up this
Speaker 1: place a little bit. So they pull their money together
Speaker 1: and they buy a twenty foot tree and they install
Speaker 1: it right there on the construction site. And if that's
Speaker 1: not heartwarming enough, uh, their families made garland to decorate
Speaker 1: the tree with. So it's truly like this great little
Speaker 1: you know, the thing that these people did in the
Speaker 1: in the peak of the depression, the deepest trough of
Speaker 1: the depression, to to increase their spirits as the holidays
Speaker 1: Christmas sweaters always had embroidered up increase. Oh that's good.
Speaker 1: He really stubble that with man Um. So the men
Speaker 1: lined up apparently to get their paychecks at the tree.
Speaker 1: And a couple of years later, uh n three, Rockefeller
Speaker 1: Center said it. You know what, let's make this a thing. Uh.
Speaker 1: We're gonna actually erect a tree and have a lighting ceremony.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fifty tall. And this is now, uh,
Speaker 1: just a great new tradition here in New York City. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah, in nineteen what was that three? They've been
Speaker 1: doing it ever since. And they actually were smart enough
Speaker 1: to broadcast it on the radio. Uh. And then twenty
Speaker 1: years later they started broadcasting it on television. And apparently
Speaker 1: today like tens and tens, if not hundreds of millions
Speaker 1: of people watch the tree lighting Except me. I wasn't
Speaker 1: one of them. I forgot to watch it. I have
Speaker 1: never watched it. I haven't either, but I always go.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I'm in New York City in the wintertime,
Speaker 1: I always go by Rockefeller Center. Sure. So, there's actually
Speaker 1: some pretty cool facts about the tree that um, I
Speaker 1: wasn't aware of. They tend to be a typical species
Speaker 1: the white spruce. Yeah, and apparently that's because they are
Speaker 1: generally very straight and very strong, uh, and grow about
Speaker 1: the height that they want, which is, you know, between
Speaker 1: generally between eighty feet right. Um. And they find him
Speaker 1: by scouting by helicopter, like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, upstate New York.
Speaker 1: Apparently they got one from Ohio once that had to
Speaker 1: be flown in the world's largest cargo plane. Yeah, how
Speaker 1: about that pretty cool? So they they I mean, they
Speaker 1: put a lot of thought and this is not like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's a big tree, and they want him to be upright.
Speaker 1: And the head gardener who his job in part is
Speaker 1: to go scout throughout the year to find a tree. Um,
Speaker 1: his name is Eric Pose. He says that you want
Speaker 1: to not be able to see the sky through it.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, you wanted to be dense enough that you
Speaker 1: can't just see the sky through it. Yeah, So they
Speaker 1: erect that thing. Um. It usually does not derive by
Speaker 1: world's largest cargo plane, as he really in a truck. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then they have these guy wires. Of course, is
Speaker 1: so large they have guy wires supporting it. Right there
Speaker 1: at the midpoint, they have a steel spike in the
Speaker 1: base and for many, many years. They've had scaffolding installed
Speaker 1: around it so they can obviously get up there to
Speaker 1: decorate it. And they've been using LED lights for how long?
Speaker 1: I thought I saw a year here, two thousand seven, alright,
Speaker 1: so about ten years they've been using the L E.
Speaker 1: D s about fifty thousand. So these trees are usually donated,
Speaker 1: and I get the feeling that's a great honor. Sure.
Speaker 1: I think some guy from New York City lands helicopter
Speaker 1: in your field and says, can I have that tree
Speaker 1: for free? Well, we'll mention your name in the press release.
Speaker 1: And the city slicker just takes advantage of the poor
Speaker 1: country folk and gets a tree out of them in
Speaker 1: the true spirit of the season. So the one of
Speaker 1: the things that grabbed me was those LED lights. They
Speaker 1: save twelve hundred kill a lots of electricity a day,
Speaker 1: which is enough to power a two thousand square foot
Speaker 1: home for a month, Which means that about four years
Speaker 1: worth of energy for a two thousand square foot home
Speaker 1: is saved every year from the like month and a
Speaker 1: half that the tree is lit. That's what gets you.
Speaker 1: That's nuts. That's so much energy, and that's not how
Speaker 1: much it uses that's how much they saved by transferring
Speaker 1: to l e ed s. You know, it gets me.
Speaker 1: What So, starting many years ago, they started to recycle
Speaker 1: the trees, um. And for a while what they would
Speaker 1: do was uh mulch it up and then spread it
Speaker 1: around the walking paths of Central Park, which is pretty great.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a good way to do it. Um.
Speaker 1: But for the past eleven years, I think, including this year,
Speaker 1: what they do is they donate the tree to Habitat
Speaker 1: for Humanity, so it comes down on January seven, and
Speaker 1: then they mill the wood, make that into lumber and
Speaker 1: they build homes. So there are Habitat for Humanity homes
Speaker 1: that people are living in, built from the rocket fellow
Speaker 1: Christmas trees, and you can sell them for a million bucks.
Speaker 1: That's so great. It is pretty great. I mean, just
Speaker 1: the Habitat for Humanity parts great enough. You know. I
Speaker 1: think when they were moltenate, they got about thirty thirty
Speaker 1: three bushel bags of mulch and everyone involved in the
Speaker 1: spreading of the molts was mugged. Yeah that's Central Park.
Speaker 1: It's nineteen well I guess back then maybe, yeah. So, Um.
Speaker 1: One of the other things that that grabbed me was
Speaker 1: the star that's now become pretty famous too. It's I
Speaker 1: think it was introduced in two thousand four. It says
Speaker 1: it's made of twenty five thousand crystals, right, and the
Speaker 1: thing is like ten ft tall and weighs five pounds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's crazy. It's nine a half feet wide. It was
Speaker 1: designed by an artist, a Geman artist, Michael Hamas And uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's they've been using that thing since two thousand four. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've had fifty pounds of star. Can you imagine if
Speaker 1: that thing just came off the top up? It would
Speaker 1: it would kill somebody Because there's actually a pretty good
Speaker 1: chance that it could kill somebody. Chuck, because three quarters
Speaker 1: of a million people come see that tree every day,
Speaker 1: so the chance of it following on somebody or pretty high.
Speaker 1: I've never been by when it's just desolate. I'll say that. No,
Speaker 1: I can't imagine three quarters of a million in a day.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. So that's it for the tree. Huh, that's
Speaker 1: all I got. One of these days, we're gonna watch
Speaker 1: the lighting. Will make some popcorn, Get our coziest socks on,
Speaker 1: get our eggnog on. Oh yeah, I think that that
Speaker 1: just went without saying, so, Chuck, this is one of
Speaker 1: my favorites of all time, which one I had no
Speaker 1: idea that well, like finding out about a little weird
Speaker 1: pop culture things that happened before I was born, I
Speaker 1: had no idea about It's one of my favorite things
Speaker 1: in the world. And you've delighted me by sending this
Speaker 1: thing to me about Christmas in space in Did you
Speaker 1: know about this already? No? But I was just thinking,
Speaker 1: like you, you have been diligent about keeping a list
Speaker 1: of what we've done every year so we don't repeat ourselves. Um,
Speaker 1: and it's getting tough. I gotta say, there's only so
Speaker 1: much Christmas that's happened. I literally looked up like I
Speaker 1: think two or three different things. I was like, we've
Speaker 1: never done this, and then I saw your list. I
Speaker 1: was like, ah, we've done that. So um, I thought,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, like astronauts spending Christmas in space, that's
Speaker 1: that's gotta have happened. Oh, you had an independent thought
Speaker 1: about it, like it wasn't You didn't just come across it.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I had an independent That is magnificent,
Speaker 1: a Christmas miracle. It must have increased your holiday spirit
Speaker 1: tremendously by at least thirty eight percent. So Christmas in
Speaker 1: space happened for the first time in nine There was
Speaker 1: actually like a holiday transmission basically, um the Apollo eight
Speaker 1: crew starring Frank Boorman who was the commander, Tom Hanks
Speaker 1: slash Jim Level was the pilot, and William Anders was
Speaker 1: the Lunar module pilot, and they orbited the Moon on
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve, and they knew they were going to be
Speaker 1: orbiting the Moon, so they planned to transmission from space
Speaker 1: to basically they launched on December twenty one, like, oh,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, I didn't Oh oh man, Yeah, did
Speaker 1: you pack a Bible for them to read from? I
Speaker 1: thought you did. Well, somebody thought about it because they
Speaker 1: had a Bible up there or else they have like
Speaker 1: a bunch of scripture rehearsed and memorized because they decided
Speaker 1: to go with Christianity that year for Christmas, which is appropriate,
Speaker 1: and they from space they read some scripture and uh
Speaker 1: and bestowed blessings on the Earth below them. And apparently
Speaker 1: a billion people watched this transmission of their live pictures
Speaker 1: in their audio over the like from the lunar module. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so they sent out this transmission. Uh. They closed with
Speaker 1: the message good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and
Speaker 1: God bless all of you, all of you on the
Speaker 1: good Earth. That was a great Frank Bourman, you know, Burman,
Speaker 1: very stiff. I thought that was nice. It was kind
Speaker 1: of velvety. Oh well, I appreciate that. Right. So the
Speaker 1: the Christmas and space thing, it was kind of sporadic
Speaker 1: for a while. Sky Lab U five years later where
Speaker 1: the next group to UM spend Christmas in space. They
Speaker 1: made a little Christmas tree out of food cans. There
Speaker 1: was a Space Shuttle launch or a Space Shuttle mission
Speaker 1: in ninety four or nineties. I'm sorry, UM they spent
Speaker 1: Christmas in space and they fixed the Hubble telescope on
Speaker 1: that mission, which was huge, huge, it changed everything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a big deal. Um. The first time there
Speaker 1: was Christmas in space on the Russian mirror, American astronaut
Speaker 1: John Blaha I went up there and said, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: appear with cosmonauts, but I guess I'll celebrate Christmas anyway.
Speaker 1: And I believe, uh, I believe that was his second
Speaker 1: Christmas in space. Yeah. That guy was just showing off
Speaker 1: by then. Yeah, He's like, I don't have a family
Speaker 1: I care about, Just go ahead and send me up.
Speaker 1: This was just a single guy. I got some plants
Speaker 1: I don't take very good care of. And you know what,
Speaker 1: my parents are gone to some mothers and Father's Day.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and send me right, They always said him,
Speaker 1: whether he wanted to go or not, if it wasn't,
Speaker 1: if it wasn't in space, he was eating by himself
Speaker 1: and kind of weeping quietly at Cracker Barrel. So which
Speaker 1: one is it gonna be? You choose? Buddy? Is cracker
Speaker 1: Barrel on Christmas? Is it? Yeah? I knew waffle House was? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You mean I ate there for Thanksgiving this year at
Speaker 1: waffle House? No? I think Cracker Barrel. Okay, it was
Speaker 1: actually really good. I ate waffle House Thanksgiving one year
Speaker 1: by myself outside. Is that? Did you really? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: can't remember the deal, but it was one year where
Speaker 1: like my family wasn't around, or maybe I was away
Speaker 1: from them and everyone was gone, and so I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, scattered some mother and cupboard. Well that sounds
Speaker 1: pretty good. It was great actually that Thanksgiving. Ever, So
Speaker 1: that's I was gonna say, like, what was it? Actually? Like?
Speaker 1: Way more amusing than you thought like, that's how it
Speaker 1: was for us. I was like, is this gonna be
Speaker 1: like sad or great? And it was great. They serve
Speaker 1: traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, and again it was really good.
Speaker 1: I mean, just as salty and tasty and fatty as
Speaker 1: you would imagine Thanksgiving a cracker barrel to be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we do. Uh, Thanksgiving is my mom's jam. So we
Speaker 1: always go to Diane's place and I cook up my cornbread,
Speaker 1: dressing and mashed potatoes is what I bring. Very nice.
Speaker 1: But this is not about Thanksgiving, No, it's about Christmas
Speaker 1: and space, that's right. So now it's become kind of routine.
Speaker 1: Charles um Ever since they launched the International Space Station.
Speaker 1: It's been continuously occupied since November of two thousand, so
Speaker 1: every year there's astronauts and space from all different countries
Speaker 1: aboard the I S S. And one of the cool
Speaker 1: things I saw about that was that they at any
Speaker 1: time you're on the I S S, you you go
Speaker 1: around the Earth about every ninety two minutes, So in
Speaker 1: any given day you see about fifteen sunrises. But on
Speaker 1: Christmas Day that means that the astronauts get fifteen Christmas
Speaker 1: mornings throughout the whole day. I thought it was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: That is pretty cool, and every year that you know,
Speaker 1: they make a big deal about it. Now, um, I
Speaker 1: think it's a bit of an honor to to go
Speaker 1: up and be at the I S S on Christmas
Speaker 1: now and imagine they have you know, it stinks to
Speaker 1: be away from your family, but imagine they have a
Speaker 1: great familial experience together up there taking care of business
Speaker 1: they do for the future of humanity. You got anything else, space, No?
Speaker 1: All right, well we'll move along right after this jingle
Speaker 1: to some great great Christmas toys of the twentieth century.
Speaker 1: M Okay, Chuck. I don't know if you remember this
Speaker 1: or not, but the twentieth century was just seventeen eighteen,
Speaker 1: nineteen years ago. Yeah, I remember it. Okay, I remember
Speaker 1: it too. It formed a substantial portion of my life.
Speaker 1: Those were our best days. Yeah. And one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why they were some of our best days is
Speaker 1: because there were some of the greatest toys ever invented
Speaker 1: came out of the twentieth century. Yes, dangerous, dangerous toys
Speaker 1: that you had to have the first time in in
Speaker 1: world history that anyone ever had to have a toy
Speaker 1: on Christmas happened in the twentieth century. All right, before
Speaker 1: we get to these, I'm gonna ask you, do you
Speaker 1: have a standout memory of one Christmas where that was
Speaker 1: something you had to have? I can't. I think that Nintendo,
Speaker 1: the original Nintendo was probably it. UM and I don't remember.
Speaker 1: I don't remember if I got it for Christmas or
Speaker 1: some other time or whatever. But UM, for me, I
Speaker 1: remember opening a robot arm, which I hadn't asked or
Speaker 1: but turned out to be like one of the coolest
Speaker 1: things I've ever had, opening a robot arm. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a robot arm. And then there was another UM
Speaker 1: like zip Racer, Remember the cord that that would like
Speaker 1: make a motorcycle go really fast, which we talked about
Speaker 1: in the Evil Kinevil episode. I remember that. I remember
Speaker 1: opening that on Christmas morning too. Is the robot arm
Speaker 1: something that you could wear? No? No, it was like
Speaker 1: on a tabletop robot arm you could pick stuff up with. Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: So do you have a must have toy that you remember? Well?
Speaker 1: I do. I have a couple. One was the year
Speaker 1: that the pac Man Atari cartridge came out. That was
Speaker 1: a big one. UM And little did we all know
Speaker 1: that that game sucked really bad pac Man did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was okay actually, but you you wanted it to
Speaker 1: be like the Arcade game. Oh it wasn't high. I
Speaker 1: don't remember playing pac Man on Atari. Yeah it was
Speaker 1: instead of waka waka waka, it went dot don't don't, don't,
Speaker 1: don't don't. Oh yeah, yeah, when it ate one of
Speaker 1: the things like it was, it was pretty bad. Uh.
Speaker 1: And the other big one before that was when I
Speaker 1: was younger, I wanted more than anything. One year, I
Speaker 1: wanted a stretch armstrong and did you get it? Well
Speaker 1: that they my parents actually did the old trick a
Speaker 1: ruski on me, like, oh, is there one more thing
Speaker 1: over there? Because I was disappointing because I didn't get
Speaker 1: stretch arms song, so they actually pulled one over on
Speaker 1: me and I got stretch Uh. It would have been
Speaker 1: funny if they were like, oh no, there isn't anything.
Speaker 1: Is there one more thing under the tree? Oh no,
Speaker 1: that's just dog poop, right, which we wrapped up for
Speaker 1: some reason. All right, but getting to these iconic twenty
Speaker 1: century toys. First on your list is uh, the iconic
Speaker 1: iconic cabbage patch kid. I had one of these. Maybe
Speaker 1: I got it at Christmas. I don't remember well at
Speaker 1: our house, and I may have told this story before
Speaker 1: we had the original um dolls, the ones that these
Speaker 1: were later ripped off from. Yeah, the original all cloth
Speaker 1: dolls handmade by Xavier Roberts I think was his name,
Speaker 1: because they were made right here in Georgia and Cleveland,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, not made born in Cleveland, Georgia where baby
Speaker 1: Land General still is. But my sister got I think
Speaker 1: the seventy five or one ever made that was signed
Speaker 1: by him, and it's worth some dode today. Do you
Speaker 1: still have it? Oh? Yes, Michelle's got it, so she has.
Speaker 1: It was one of the top hundred ones made and
Speaker 1: it became pretty valuable. And then I have My mom
Speaker 1: ended up getting my brother and I to each which
Speaker 1: I literally have never touched. But I'm just waiting for
Speaker 1: those to gain enough in value and I'm gonna sell those.
Speaker 1: Is this still like in the box? No? No, no not.
Speaker 1: They didn't come in boxes. They were they were just
Speaker 1: like on a shelf. Oh oh wow, those were early ones.
Speaker 1: The ones I got came in a box. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: when they I think. I can't remember who took it over.
Speaker 1: Kalico y Colico took it over. They got plastic heads
Speaker 1: and those were sort of the mass market version, and
Speaker 1: I guess Xavier Roberts probably got rich. Oh yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: not that deal. I would think so. So the Cabbage
Speaker 1: Patch Kid three was when Kalico took over and it
Speaker 1: became like just a breakout hit. It was one of
Speaker 1: the first times, if not the first time, when there
Speaker 1: were reports of people like shoving and punching each other
Speaker 1: in the face and paying like way more than the
Speaker 1: actual value of the doll Like apparently people were selling
Speaker 1: it for like ten times what the dollar went for,
Speaker 1: which was twenty five bucks, which back in bucks is
Speaker 1: not cheap. I have no idea how much it would
Speaker 1: be now, but I'll bet it's a lot. And the
Speaker 1: Cabbage Patch Kid craze was so significant it's spilled over
Speaker 1: to the next year and there if so, Christmas of
Speaker 1: Night was just as crazy as Christmas of nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 1: And apparently they made two and a half billion dollars
Speaker 1: off of Cabbage Patch Kids between nine eight three and nine. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that is uh. I think nine eight four was just
Speaker 1: two point five billion, wasn't it. Oh my goodness? Is
Speaker 1: that right? Yeah, that's that's just one year, dude, that's
Speaker 1: so many. That's like a hundred million cabbage patch kids. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they, like you said, it went all the way
Speaker 1: through nineteen eight. This is not a one year craze. Um,
Speaker 1: and it's just nuts. You can, like I said, you
Speaker 1: can still go to Babyland General. And the whole deal
Speaker 1: with those was they were born and not made, and
Speaker 1: they were I mean, that was like the little cute
Speaker 1: ce selling point. But the dolls came named. Yeah, do
Speaker 1: you remember your name? Well? I remember. I don't remember
Speaker 1: my two original dolls they were they were like the
Speaker 1: little TV stars or something that was on their T shirt. Um,
Speaker 1: but my sisters I remember because her doll and it
Speaker 1: is even kind of misshaping. Those early ones were kind
Speaker 1: of funny looking, like his hairline was crooked and stuff
Speaker 1: because it was like folksy and handmade, and it was
Speaker 1: routinely drunk while he was making. But her doll's name,
Speaker 1: the one that's so valuable is Chuck. No. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: a sign from God. YEA. Mine was Webber din No
Speaker 1: white is that first and last name. No, that was
Speaker 1: his first and middle name. His last name was Clark.
Speaker 1: Obviously Webber Dino d I n oh, yep, Webber Dino Clark.
Speaker 1: Pretty weird. Huh, I didn't I didn't name him. That's great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you U still have it. Oh no, no, imagine those
Speaker 1: probably are worth much money. No, probably not in the
Speaker 1: shape he was in by the time I aged out
Speaker 1: of him too, did a mohawk and stuff. I don't
Speaker 1: think his head was attached any longer. Yeah, eventually he
Speaker 1: blew up that doll. Right, so there's more chuck and
Speaker 1: we gotta go backward in time. That's right, this next one,
Speaker 1: because it turns out and we talked about this in
Speaker 1: the Action Figure episode a little bit, but so Star Wars.
Speaker 1: When Star Wars came out, it was such a total
Speaker 1: surprise to everybody that um Kenner, who had the rights
Speaker 1: to make the action figures, hadn't even started production by
Speaker 1: the time Christmas came around. Yeah, I mean no one.
Speaker 1: No one thought the movie was going to be big,
Speaker 1: much less the ancillary products associated with that movie. So
Speaker 1: little kids got vouchers, remember that. Did you have a voucher?
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think I got the toys
Speaker 1: a little bit later. Okay, because this is Christmas, of
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, God, we got caught with our pants down.
Speaker 1: Get some vouchers out quick. So little kids got vouchers
Speaker 1: wrapped up his presence that they were finally able I
Speaker 1: guess in eight sometime, um to to trade their voucher
Speaker 1: and or the actual action figure. Yeah, and they were
Speaker 1: a hot ticket for a solid seven years. Uh. And
Speaker 1: I certainly had a ton of them. Um. I did.
Speaker 1: Had no idea that there was a thing that people
Speaker 1: did where they left them in boxes and didn't play
Speaker 1: with them. I didn't know that was the thing. So
Speaker 1: I've played with mine and they were all very well worn,
Speaker 1: which I think is the way to do it. Same here,
Speaker 1: I've still I think I still have like a box
Speaker 1: of like busted up g I Joes that are in
Speaker 1: no way shape or form sellable. Yeah, my brother and
Speaker 1: I have a bunch of these. But yeah, unless you
Speaker 1: have some super rare java. Uh. And I'm not on
Speaker 1: gonna get it wrong, but it's either the cloth cape
Speaker 1: or the plastic cape. Cloth one. Is that the valuable one?
Speaker 1: I don't remember. There are nerds out there that are
Speaker 1: freaking out right now, I'm so sorry, or loose skywalkers,
Speaker 1: take your eye out, lightsaber right the double telescoping. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that was that was worth a lot of dough. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But back in Christmas, the nineteenth of any seven, no
Speaker 1: one had any idea and little children were unwrapping presents
Speaker 1: and going I had no idea what a voucher was
Speaker 1: until just now, thanks Mom and Dad. And they said,
Speaker 1: well that's good, because here, Mom and Dad, I have
Speaker 1: what I got you as vouchers for a backscratch in
Speaker 1: breakfast in bed free hugs so cute. And then lastly,
Speaker 1: Chuck is tickle Me Elmo, and I have to say
Speaker 1: shout out to history dot com. They came up with
Speaker 1: this article. I think there was a lot more to it,
Speaker 1: but these are the ones that held the most water.
Speaker 1: But Tickle Me Elmo. If you thought the cabbage Patch
Speaker 1: doll craze was nuts, tickle Me Elmo. Was it just
Speaker 1: off the chain? Yeah, Elmo. I think we've even talked
Speaker 1: about this before for some weird reason, but it became
Speaker 1: way after me, probably in the Muppets episode. Uh So,
Speaker 1: I was never an Elmo aficionado because this was by
Speaker 1: that point I was fifteen years old. I didn't care
Speaker 1: about things like that. But my daughter loves Elmo and
Speaker 1: it has transcended, uh since then for sure, because almost
Speaker 1: still super popular. You were twenty five, by the way,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I was thinking eight six. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: was way too old for real, right, he'd been more
Speaker 1: so than being fifteen would have been. Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: still drunk in Athens, Georgia. But I think that's cute
Speaker 1: that that, um she's still into that or that almost
Speaker 1: still around for kids to be into today because almost
Speaker 1: just too cute and great a character just just go
Speaker 1: away because of some stupid craze. You know. I agree,
Speaker 1: And I had the I have the curse of doing
Speaker 1: too good of an Elmo impression. So now almost every
Speaker 1: morning still I have to start out by doing Elmo
Speaker 1: voices with the Elmo doll. Oh that's sweet, it is sweet,
Speaker 1: so um on. In October, I guess there was a
Speaker 1: big surprise on the Rosie O'donnald Show when she debuted
Speaker 1: the Tickle Me Elmo doll, which most people hadn't heard
Speaker 1: of by this time. And if you remember, do you
Speaker 1: remember the doll? Right? I think you like Pressett's belly
Speaker 1: or maybe even tickle it. And I'd be like stop
Speaker 1: stop right, yeah, I think he gave it a squeeze
Speaker 1: and he giggled right, and it was super cute and
Speaker 1: it just captured America's heart. And Rosie O'donnald's show was
Speaker 1: huge at the time, like Oprah level huge. So it
Speaker 1: was a huge plug for the tickle miomo makers and
Speaker 1: they were totally caught off guard. They had no idea
Speaker 1: that this was coming. And since it was October, there
Speaker 1: was a huge shortage of this suddenly very much in
Speaker 1: demand doll by the time Christmas rolled around. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: they did not do vultures, right, didn't they. Um, they
Speaker 1: just did raffles or something. I think they did raffles
Speaker 1: and um stampedes. Those are the big ones, the classic stampede. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was a report of a Walmart employee in Fredericton,
Speaker 1: New Brunswick who was trampled and had to go to
Speaker 1: the hospital because yeah, they did this the smartest thing
Speaker 1: possible line up. But then when we opened the doors,
Speaker 1: it's every person for themselfs for themselves. Yeah, and this
Speaker 1: is the final thing from history dot com. It says
Speaker 1: in New York, the son of jailed mob boss John Gotti,
Speaker 1: along with his friends, dropped eight thousand dollars at a
Speaker 1: toy store and report will be made off with a
Speaker 1: case of Tickle me Elma. Pretty smart. I hope it
Speaker 1: is too. That would be so great. So what's the
Speaker 1: must have toy this year? Do you know? I have
Speaker 1: no idea? Do you have no idea? Nope? All right,
Speaker 1: we'll find out one way or another by hanging out
Speaker 1: at toy stores. I guess I get the feeling there
Speaker 1: isn't a Well maybe that still happens sometimes, like a
Speaker 1: single must have. Oh yeah, it definitely happens sometimes. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is, though, I guarantee it's not
Speaker 1: going away like the Ferbi remember that that silly thing.
Speaker 1: Now it's hatchamles. Oh well that might be the thing.
Speaker 1: Actually that was last year, right now, Yeah, because I
Speaker 1: remember Noel had trouble finding one for his daughter. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: but you came through it, and you know he did.
Speaker 1: It was a Christmas miracle, It was all right. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna have another little jingle and come back with
Speaker 1: our traditional Christmas boozy recipe. Yeah, okay, So I have
Speaker 1: a little background here because we're talking about Wasstle. Did
Speaker 1: you see the background thinking? Did I send it to you?
Speaker 1: So the etomology not the entomology the etymology of wostle.
Speaker 1: The word w A s s a I l. Yeah,
Speaker 1: apparently it comes from the Old Norse vest hile, and
Speaker 1: then the old English, because most English words come from
Speaker 1: the Norse or Germanic words, right, wass hall, and the
Speaker 1: whole thing was basically like a greeting or a toast,
Speaker 1: which was being good health. Eventually it was turned into
Speaker 1: wass hale and then wostle, and wostle is so old
Speaker 1: that it actually appears in Bao Wolf as a greeting,
Speaker 1: right again being good health. So there was this tradition
Speaker 1: of going on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, I can't
Speaker 1: remember which one um or you would basically just go
Speaker 1: to people's houses around town, like during a whole day
Speaker 1: and hang out and maybe bring them a little present
Speaker 1: or eat some food. And it was like kind of
Speaker 1: a roving Christmas party, and that was called wostl ng.
Speaker 1: And then eventually this warm punch that you would serve
Speaker 1: your guests came to be called wostle. And because it
Speaker 1: kind of came out of this tradition, there's no one
Speaker 1: watle recipe, but it's usually a very strong, drinky, boozy,
Speaker 1: warm punch is basically the only the only requisite for it.
Speaker 1: That usually has something like nutmeg or something in it.
Speaker 1: That's right, And uh, you're the cocktail man, so you
Speaker 1: want to go over the recipe here. Well, there's two.
Speaker 1: Did you see both? I only saw the one that
Speaker 1: was super rummy? Okay, well will this go with that
Speaker 1: one then? Because the other one is pretty traditional. This
Speaker 1: one is not just rummy, but it's beery. Oh so
Speaker 1: sounded funny. I gotta admit, I'm I'm ready to try
Speaker 1: this one. Chuck two quarts of lager beer. And you
Speaker 1: don't have to just use beer that comes in a
Speaker 1: court size. As a matter of fact, you might want
Speaker 1: to just steer clear those all together for this one.
Speaker 1: A court of rum they just get giddy. Five ounces
Speaker 1: of simple syrup, three ounces of lemon juice, a teaspoon
Speaker 1: of grated nutmeg. You want that freshly grated, teaspoon of
Speaker 1: grated ginger, you want that fresh too, and then fruit
Speaker 1: slices for garnish. Pretty simple stuff that you can really
Speaker 1: kind of put together, uh, from from just about any store.
Speaker 1: Yeah that sells such things. So you take the beer,
Speaker 1: the simple syrup, the lemon juice, the nutmeg and the ginger,
Speaker 1: and you put it together in a sauce pan and
Speaker 1: you warm it on low heat for about ten minutes.
Speaker 1: You want to get a nice steam off of it,
Speaker 1: but do not let it boil. If you boil it,
Speaker 1: all the alcohol will cook off, so don't do that.
Speaker 1: You add the rum and you stir it, and then
Speaker 1: you place some that fruit in a heat resistant bowl
Speaker 1: or some sort of serving vessel, and you pour the
Speaker 1: watle in there um and then you have wastle. You
Speaker 1: drink it. So you haven't had this, No, I haven't.
Speaker 1: I just found it the other day, all right, it's
Speaker 1: for this recipe was from the spruce. And there's another
Speaker 1: one they have which has brandy and sherry in it,
Speaker 1: but beer and lagger. Two quarts of beer in one
Speaker 1: quart of rum. That's a party. It's a party in
Speaker 1: your mouth, it is uh. And of course, always drink
Speaker 1: wastle responsibly. And if you're over twenty one in these
Speaker 1: United States, yes, And if you're watling and someone's home
Speaker 1: and they ask you to leave, do the Christmas e
Speaker 1: thing and leave, that's right. Interpretor in the UK you
Speaker 1: can be like twelve years old and drink probably is
Speaker 1: that true. No, I don't know. I think it's probably eighteen.
Speaker 1: Is that a Christmas legend? Yeah? I think so so, Charles.
Speaker 1: We've reached the end here, that's right. This has been
Speaker 1: maybe our best one yet. I like to think each
Speaker 1: year they get a little bit better. The guests appearance
Speaker 1: from the writer of Die Hard, Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: That was pretty pretty great. The socks that I got
Speaker 1: to those are amazing. Yeah, rate, that was very surprised.
Speaker 1: They're magic fingers toe socks. Uh. Well, Happy Happy Christmas,
Speaker 1: Merry New Year, and all that stuff. To all of
Speaker 1: you people out there, we hope you have just a
Speaker 1: wonderful holiday season, no matter how you celebrate it, no
Speaker 1: matter what your religion, no matter whether you have no
Speaker 1: religion at all, no matter where you are in the world,
Speaker 1: we hope you have a very very warm and glad
Speaker 1: holiday tidings, right agreed, Thanks for joining us, and uh
Speaker 1: we'll see you next year in two