WEBVTT - A Dry Look at Toilet Paper 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:04.160 Hey, everybody, we're going on tour in two thousand and seventeen, 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:06.440 so listen up. That's right. You can get all the 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:09.600 deeds at s y s K live dot com. Current 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:16.119 cities who love us Toronto, Vancouver, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis. No, 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:18.759 they don't love us so much in Chicago, Oh yeah, 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.200 they're coming around though. In Austin doesn't love us. So 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:23.599 we need Chicago and Austin to come out and see 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.799 us so you can explain why there's no love. Yeah, 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.320 and everybody else, go to s y sk live dot 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:31.480 com and buy your tickets now because they're going fast. 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:37.160 Welcome to Stuff you should know from how Stuff Works 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:46.640 dot com. Hey, you'm welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.760 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and there's Jerry and 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.920 we're about to get our hands dirty the How Toilet 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:59.360 Paper Works episode dumb Dude. There were so many puns 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.800 in this article. I was like driving in pain. I 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.200 will say that this was a a draft of a 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:09.319 future House to Works article. Yeah, I gathered so it 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:11.679 hasn't been through the editing and a process, and I'm 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:15.080 hoping and praying the editor will have some good, the 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:20.560 good taste. To remove some of these euphemisms about poop. Yeah, 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:24.160 because it's not necessary. No, you don't have to get 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:31.600 hilarious about poop. It's hilarious on its own, sure, you know. Yeah, 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:35.960 I like this one. By the way. Yeah, toilet paper 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:40.720 has a pretty interesting history actually, And there's the one 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:46.240 thing I didn't quite realize. It's pretty American actually toilet 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.559 paper is if you go elsewhere in the world, people 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:53.920 have different feelings about toilet paper than Americans do. You 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:58.320 come back and you realize, like, wow, America really really 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.400 loves its toilet paper. And you start to look at 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:06.880 statistics and it really kind of comes home, like, for example, yeah, 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.280 here's some editing that needs to happen. This guy's got 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.840 some numbers wrong. But what I found, Yeah, what I 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:20.000 found was that Americans spend something like six billion dollars 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.600 on toilet paper every year. Yeah, it is about rolls 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.320 per person, is that right? Yep? Per year? Um, and 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.040 we do we do something like we go through something 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.080 like thirty six and a half billion rolls of toilet 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:38.600 paper each year in America. Thirty six and a half 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:42.960 billion rolls of toilet paper every year. That is a 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:48.520 lot of toilet paper, um, and we're we were not 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:50.920 showing many signs of stopping. As a matter of fact, 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:53.680 toilet paper is getting more expensive by the year. It's 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:58.440 it's rising by about two in cost every year, and 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.280 we we're saying give it to us. There's lots of 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:06.760 theories that if toilet paper somehow became a luxury item, Um, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.680 Americans would just say, well, I have to buy this 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:14.800 luxury item. I cannot live without toilet paper. Yeah, but 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.320 it's because we love our toilet paper, and you don't 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:21.079 think about it until you experience something other than toilet paper, 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.320 which is usually a stream of water up your pot. Yes, 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.080 and we've talked about this before, but for those of 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:30.200 you who haven't heard our various statements on this, I 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:32.880 want to officially go on record again saying that toilet 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.000 paper is gross and disgusting and the idea of wiping 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:40.320 poop from your butt with dry paper is counterintuitive. It 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.880 makes no sense. And if you don't involve water in 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:47.760 some way to the process, then you're doing it wrong. Huh, 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:54.760 You're you're a communist. I'm a badatist. Yeah, so do 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:56.600 you have one at home? Well, now I need to 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:58.600 rehook it up. I bought one of the toilet ones 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:00.720 because after I said that a couple of years ago, 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.240 everyone was like, dude, here you go, sent me the 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:07.000 link to the product. I bought one immediately and hooked 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:11.120 it up. But um, we did some bathroom renovations and 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:13.600 it is uh now somewhere in a bag in my 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:15.400 house and I just need to find it and get 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.160 it going again. So you have a bidday floating around 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.760 your house in a bag somewhere. Yeah, what what kind 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.200 is Is it? Like one that's like a toilet lid 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.920 slash biday Uh, it's it. It fits under the lid 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:35.919 and um squirts a jet of water to your butt. 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.599 I've got one of those Japanese UM toilet seats that 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.040 has a bidet and a dryer and everything, and really 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.560 they're fantastic, buddy man. And they're not. I mean it's 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.400 it's it's more expensive than a regular toilet seat, but 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:54.120 there it's not so outrageously expensive that you know. Yeah, 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:57.520 well you probably say some on toilet paper. I do 0:04:57.680 --> 0:04:59.479 a little bit. I mean toilet paper. You still need 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.560 to at yourself dry you definitely do, although if you 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.200 have a dryer, do you. Yeah, but you'd have to 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:10.240 sit there for fifteen minutes to get So what's the problem. 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.560 I remember there was a George Carlin album where he 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.320 was talking about some game show contestant, and one of 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.159 the one of the game show contestants hobbies was, um, 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.720 sitting on the toilet till my legs go numb. That's 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:27.320 so funny. The little things that stand out from your childhood. Yeah, 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.120 like that's locked in there, but you probably don't remember 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.840 something really important about your family, like multiplication. Oh yeah, 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:40.839 we're schooling alright. So history of toilet paper, uh, man, 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.000 like so many things. If you go back to ancient China, 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:48.560 they were apparently future people because it seems like so 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:54.240 many things, Um, the ancient Chinese people thought of and 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.359 then it just sort of went away for a thousand years. 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:01.400 Well they they invented paper, right, so if you're making 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:06.159 paper and you're pooping, eventually you're gonna put the two together, like, oh, 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.680 I'll just use this because at the time, or prior 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.640 to this, all around the world basically humans used whatever 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:16.719 was handy, like leaves. Moss was very popular for men. 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.480 Uh leaves not bad, Yeah, moss, I would say a 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:25.160 little messy but softish beat moss is the bomb, especially 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.200 if it's fresh. It says on here coconuts, I don't 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.960 even know where to start with that. Yeah, I guess 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.479 if you went with the grain it would be okay. 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:37.960 But you I'm sure it's not like a whole coconut. 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.040 You're using like a part of a shell or something 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.119 like a shard. Yeah, don't say shard in that area. 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:47.240 That's but I think a coconut shell, the outer shell 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.440 would be at least like it would probably do the job, 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:54.719 you know, right, it's kind of rough, right, it says shells. 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.760 Yeah that if you live near the coast, you could 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.960 use shells. And there's definitely only some kind of mollusks 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.000 that would be better than others. I saw somebody point 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.120 out that there's such a thing as razor clams. Yeah, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:09.760 I know what a razor clam has. Not want to 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.480 use that? Uh Snow, you're definitely on the right track 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:18.080 with that. Corn cobs huge, huge in America. I think 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.920 that makes a lot of sense. Sure, it's got like 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.040 the kind of rough bits, but it's can turn it 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:29.480 about perfectly shaped, continually turn it and you get you know, 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.680 new coverage. Or whatever. Yeah, the only thing like the 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:34.960 corn cob. Using a corn cob is that you have 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.160 to like, um, play banjo music in your head while 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.760 you're using it. It's the only way to do it. 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:46.040 Sheep's wool not bad. No, And uh, if you were 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:51.000 a rich type frenchie from the Renaissance on, you would 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:54.840 probably use lace. Lace. I saw that, and that, Uh, 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:58.960 that doesn't make any sense because lace is full of holes. 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.280 That seems so French royalty, like I'll only wipe my 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.680 bottom with handmade lace, right. And I think also if 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.240 you were royalty, you weren't actually the one doing your 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:13.840 your own bottom, like for example, um, King Henry the Eighth, 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:17.040 who I know wasn't French, he had a position called 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.160 the groom of the stool. That wasn't just him. No, 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.400 So I think if you were super rich, you had 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:25.960 people wipe for you, which is now the only time 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:27.800 you do that is if you've broken both of your arms. 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.040 Where here here's the deal. I looked up groom of 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:34.120 the stool because that immediately piqued my interests. First of all, 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.880 they're not talking about a stools in poop. They're talking 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:42.160 about like a stool sample. No, it means like this 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.040 portable commode that looked like a stool that they would 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.240 carry around. I wonder if that's where the term for 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.640 poop stool came from. That I don't know, let's just 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:57.360 say yes, okay. I also found that and this was 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.599 a position that all of royalty held, like it was 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:03.480 he He was not the only one. They're all all 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.280 the kings had them in queens and dukes and duchesses. 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:11.000 But they were their very closest helpers obviously, But apparently 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.319 they didn't actually help them wipe. Um. They would help 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.160 them undress, for sure, they would be in charge of 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:23.439 the commode upkeep, and apparently they would um just kind 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:28.320 of track their meal schedule and dietary goings on, like 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.320 what goes in and what comes out. But I didn't 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.520 see anywhere where they actually like wiped their butts for them. 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:43.120 I see you've pastor beans. It is Tuesday. Uh. Most 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:47.080 of them were nights and King George the third Matt. 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:52.400 King George actually had a groom of the stool. John 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:56.040 Stewart with you, a RT who eventually became Prime Minister 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.560 of England. Wow, how about that man? Thank you for 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.480 bringing us up to date because I was grossly misled 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.920 by this how stuff works article. Well, yeah, it sounds like, 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.480 wipe your butt for you. I failed to do the 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.560 proper outside research, so thank you for saving me and 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.920 shaming me at the same time. Well, that sounds like 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:16.240 I don't blame you. Probably read groom in the stool 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:17.959 and you're like, Yep, don't need to know anything more 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.400 about that. No, but I should have known better. You know, 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.880 I've been doing this for years. I'm supposed to be professional, 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.920 all right. Ancient Greeks used clay and stone, and the Romans, 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:30.400 they were on the right track. They used like a 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.920 sponge on a stick which was wet and that they 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.480 would then clean with saltwater. Yeah. Well, actually taking it 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:43.160 back a second, the Greek's actually used polished bits of stone. Yeah, 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:48.760 puss pussy. And then there was also something called um 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.600 I think a stroiky oh stroiky um, and that was 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.760 where if you would um, if the town was voting 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:01.040 on like kicking somebody out, they would have there be 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:04.679 these like bits of ceramic with the person's name engraved 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.000 on it and they just throw it into this pot 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.199 or whatever. Well, to really show your disdain for somebody, 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.880 you could use one of these astroy kys um as 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:19.480 a stone for wiping yourself. You're wiping yourself with the 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.200 person's name, which is about as bad as it gets. 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.000 But that's where the word ostracize comes from because it 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:31.240 sounds like an Australian like exclamation astro y. People get 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.080 the point. Um. People are using whatever they can to 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:39.280 wipe their butts like it's an issue. Things get messy 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.199 since the dawn of time took took. It was like, 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.000 you know, it doesn't feel good to walk around after 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:48.599 a poop if I haven't cleaned myself. So it was 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:55.520 an issue. And let's fast forward in time two uh seven, 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.080 this is where it's starting to get good. In New 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:02.840 York City. Uh, there was a man named Joseph Gaietti 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:08.560 and he invented something called Gayeties Medicated paper sheets yep. 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.560 And they were it was toilet paper, but it was 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:13.480 not yet on a roll. They were more like a 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:15.520 tissue that you would put pull out of a box 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.319 like Kleenex. Yeah. They were like, if you want a 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:23.440 brand name, Buzzet, that's fine. Proprietary him, uh about fifty 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:25.400 cents for five sheets, and he was so proud. He 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.439 had his name printed on them. But I didn't think 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.839 that through. Um but here's the deal. You had a 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.640 hard time selling it because at the time, and this 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:38.960 is no joke, Americans used literally used the Farmer's Almanac 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.040 and the Sears Catalog to wipe their butts. Yeah. As 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.000 a matter of fact, both of them I think came 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:48.560 with a hole punched in like the top corner to 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.960 make it easier just hang from a nail in your outhouse. Azing. 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.199 So that was definitely one reason why Gaiety's medicated paper 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:59.199 didn't take off. But another part of it was that 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.319 this is like a boo thing, right. You got the 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.720 Sears robut catalog and the mail. It served a couple 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:10.000 of purposes, one of which was unspoken, right, Yeah, like 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.640 the mail. The mail delivery guy would just walk up 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:14.800 and just like kind of hand it to the person 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:19.679 and say, here's your catalog. Thanks, wink wink nudge. Just 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.319 should last year a couple of months, alright. I was 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:24.760 wondering how long it would last. I mean, like, these 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:28.480 things were a couple of hundred pages, Um, so I 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.120 wonder how long it would last. But yes, most especially 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.760 in rural America, that was toilet paper. That in corn cops. 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:37.840 I wonder if there are are arguments to broke out 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.560 in families like ma, it's winter and we're already to 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:46.240 the tool section. Yeah, your own. I'm sure there's always 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:52.760 been miserly jerks who yelled about using too much toilet paper. Um. 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.600 So that was one reason that that gaiety had trouble 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.439 with his medicated paper. Right. Another part was that the 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.199 abou right, no one wanted to talk about that, um, 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:07.680 and he actually sold his thing as like medicine. It 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.240 was meant to be u for the prevention or treatment 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.960 of hemorrhoids, right, which obviously that would help, and it was. 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.800 It was very much what we would consider the first 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:20.400 toilet paper, but um, it didn't take off. It wasn't 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:24.720 until about thirty or forty years later that Clarence and 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.680 e Irvin Scott Scott brothers whose name still appears on 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.640 toilet paper rolls, got together and actually created the first 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:36.800 toilet paper on a roll. Yeah. That changed everything, it 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:40.880 really did. But apparently the shame, the stigma of of 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:45.240 creating toilet paper was so much that they released their 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.440 product in It wasn't until nineteen o two that they 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:54.240 finally acknowledged that it was there their product. Yeah, they 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:57.400 were just a shame. Yeah. Uh, they didn't have to 0:14:57.400 --> 0:14:59.680 put their name on it, I mean no. And apparently 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.560 they use some of the companies that their company owned 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:06.680 to under Yeah. They really were like trying to to 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:09.400 put some distance in between them and the toilet paper 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:11.920 they created. Yeah, I get it. They did manage to 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.800 sell a lot of it though, because they were smart 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:19.520 enough to market it to like hotels and drug stores 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:21.680 and stuff, and so they sold a lot of it, 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.160 not like direct to customer, right, and they said, you 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:27.840 know your hotel needs this. Trust me, no one wants 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:29.280 to talk about it, but just put these in your 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.400 bathrooms and everyone will say great. And and again, like 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:36.880 it was. It worked kind of well. But then, um, 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:41.280 toilet paper as a as we understand it today, really 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.040 didn't become like a staple what what you would call 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:48.320 an icon of American culture, frankly, until like three things 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.000 happened from about the beginning of the twentieth century until 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.320 about the nineteen thirties, right. And one of the first 0:15:55.320 --> 0:16:00.560 things was that America started getting indoor plumbing flushing toilets. 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.240 That deal. I think it was because you can't use 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.000 corn cobs in that any longer. So this is largely 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.760 in the city's um where where you would find indoor plumbing. 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:15.360 Still in rural America, up to the thirties, people were 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.160 still using corn cobs in the Sears and Robot catalog. 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:20.840 That's when the second thing that that took place that 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.560 changed everything happened. The Sears catalog went to a clay 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.280 based glossy paper and no longer was it soft and 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.440 absorbent any longer. It was slick and you you can't 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:36.000 use that to wipe your bottom after pooping. That was 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.440 the second thing that happened. And lastly, the third thing 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:43.000 that happened was um a company called the was it 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:50.280 the Hubert Hubert Paper Company Hoberg Paper Company released a 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:55.520 brand of toilet paper called Sharman, and they very very 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:59.720 wisely branded it in such a way that this focused 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:04.080 on it's femininity, it's softness, it's gentleness, and you could 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.840 talk about how soft and gentle and wonderful this product 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.880 was without talking about what it was actually used for, 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.520 which meant that now you could market it to the public. 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.800 And as a result, Charman took off. Yeah, I mean 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.200 that that's sort of became the name in toilet paper 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.320 for many years, uh, in no small part thanks to 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:25.760 a man named Dick Wilson, who, from nineteen six to 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:30.080 eighty five and more than five hundred TV commercials played 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:34.520 the beloved Mr. Whipple George Whipple grocery store manager, who 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:39.800 very famously would urge usually women in the commercials not 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:44.000 to squeeze the charmon because apparently, from sixty four to 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:48.480 eighty five, women and grocery stores were compelled to squeeze 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:53.359 toilet paper yeah constantly, always feels so nice and soft, 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.640 which apparently did something wrong to the toilet paper. Well, yeah, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.920 you didn't want your toilet paper, that's who You bought 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.119 a toilet paper for yourself so you could squeeze in 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.399 the comfort of your own home. So at exact, John 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:11.360 schure Focus actually came up with that tagline um or phrase, 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:16.480 and the actor's original name was Ricardo the Googliemo. The 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:21.520 Googlielmo from from England. That did not anticipate that. I 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.440 thought it was gonna say Rome, Italy. Another little known 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.840 fact about Dick Wilson is that he is the father 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:33.680 of Stephanie Balki's love interest in Perfect Strangers in real life. Yeah, 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:39.359 that's his daughter. And another factoid is, uh, he was 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.560 in Bewitch, the TV show. Yeah, he played the drunk 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:45.080 that you'd see at the bar who just couldn't believe 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.480 the witchery he had just seen, Mr Whipple. Uh so 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:51.560 did you say that he was in more than five 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:55.600 hundred of those Sharman ads, Um, there was a point 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:57.879 where he was. There was a pole that was taken 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.959 in and found on that in America, he was the 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:05.760 third most recognized person by Americans after Richard Nixon and 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:09.640 Billy Graham. That's so America. That is a home run 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.760 for an ad AD agency. That's just so America. The president, 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:18.679 a preacher, and a toilet paper guy. Mr Whipple, I 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.400 love it. Do you want to take a break, Yeah, 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.520 we'll take a break in. Um kind of bring us 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:46.800 into the modern age of butt wiping. All right. So 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:52.000 we're at a point now where Sharman has uh, well 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:55.600 before that, uh, we were at a point where toilet 0:19:55.600 --> 0:20:00.200 paper was now being championed by plumbers by doctors as 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.320 being a good thing. Sharman comes along said, man, this 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:06.640 stuff is soft and don't squeeze it though, But boy, 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:09.760 I know you want to Johnny Carson's joking about it 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.119 on the Tonight Show. Yeah, that was that was kind 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:14.520 of a significant thing. Yeah, he said that there was 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.639 And this was uh in nineteen seventy three when there 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:22.879 were like gas shortages and energy shortages, and Johnny Carson 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.360 made a joke about their being a toilet paper shortage, 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:28.120 and people thought he was serious and apparently went out 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:30.560 and like bought out grocery stores the next day. Yeah, 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:35.600 and it was a self sustaining um. Yeah, when people 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:37.920 when people ran out and bought it, it it created the shortage. 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.320 And then the successive waves of people came and saw 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:42.800 for themselves that there was no toilet paper, so they 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:45.359 panicked and they bought whatever they could, and apparently for 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.560 weeks in some places there there was you couldn't find 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:50.720 you couldn't buy toilet paper because it had been hoarded 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:55.200 because of Johnny Carson's joke. Man, and he took it back. 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:57.360 But you know, back in those days, it takes little 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:00.159 while for people to get that information. Sure you been 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:04.720 on the Tonight Show, that's right. So, um, this one 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:08.840 article you sent was great, the history one, which one 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.320 you're said kind of the longer one. Oh the I 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:14.720 think it was a Mental Floss article. What absolutely was? 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:18.280 You're right, so I always love to use mental floss articles. 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:20.960 Oh and by the way, we would be remiss if 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:24.200 we didn't mention that Will and Mangus, who started Mental 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:27.040 Floss are colleagues. Now, yeah they are. They have a 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:31.520 podcast called Part Time Genius that's put out by our 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:35.480 venerable umbrella brand company. That's right. And I made a 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:37.400 guest appearance, and I think you're probably in the queue 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:41.320 as well. Uh. Yeah, I have not been approached, but 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:45.240 I just assume I thank you. I think so, let's hope. 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:48.360 So But anyway, congratulations to Will and Mango for Part 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:50.680 Time Genius and go check it out. You cannot find 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:54.119 it anywhere you find us stuff you should know. Yeah, 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:58.280 so anyway, Uh, they made a pretty good point here 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:00.280 at the end of it, which I never really consider dared. 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:05.000 But toilet paper is actually sort of a marker of 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:09.320 where you are as a country. Uh, Like developing nations. 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:13.240 When they start buying more toilet paper, that means they 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.879 are getting more sanitary as a nation, means they have 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:20.160 extra money to spend as a nation. Uh, that means 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:25.080 that they're basically just sort of ah, their demographics are 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:29.399 changing in a positive direction. Speaking from a neoliberal standpoint, 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:32.960 that is correct, right, Yeah, but it's interesting and ever 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:36.240 thought about it. Like Brazil they've doubled the amount of 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:39.200 toilet paper they've sold since two thousand four, Yeah, which 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:44.800 is pretty significant considering, um, American toilet paper has plateaued, 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:47.560 like we buy as much as we we possibly can. 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:50.840 Were saturated, but I mean we're still spending six billion 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:53.240 on it, you know. Yeah, and all over the world 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:56.040 there are I mean, you know, when we went to Guatemala, 0:22:56.119 --> 0:23:00.359 we certainly saw the bucket, uh and the wall here 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:03.320 next to the toilets. There are still many places all 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:08.000 over the world where you clean yourself with whatever water 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:10.359 you have, and you and if you do have something 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:12.800 to wipe yourself with, you don't even flush it down 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:15.040 the toilet. You you know, you have a little water 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:17.399 hose in a bucket maybe and kind of take care 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:22.600 of business right or with There are some places, um 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:26.480 where the plumbing just can't even handle actual toilet paper. 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:30.320 You just throw that away as well. Yeah, you want 0:23:30.359 --> 0:23:33.959 to talk about how toilet papers made? Yeah, I mean 0:23:34.000 --> 0:23:36.640 we can talk about it for sure, but I strongly 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:40.600 encourage everyone to go uh to YouTube and watch a 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:44.399 little six minute Discovery Channel bit from I think it 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:47.040 was from How It's Made Canadian How It's Made? Oh, 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:49.600 is that what it was? The lady just stopped short 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:53.200 of saying, hey, I did kind of notice that. Yeah. 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:57.080 It's amazing though, And I know I can obsessively watch 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:01.200 manufacturing videos like all day and all night, but this 0:24:01.240 --> 0:24:03.960 one was especially cool looking. Chuck, did you get the 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:06.919 same sense where like you were just watching those huge 0:24:07.040 --> 0:24:09.439 rolls of toilet paper going over the rollers and just 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:11.919 think like that is so delicate, Like all you have 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:13.920 to do is lift your hand up and just completely 0:24:13.960 --> 0:24:17.600 throw production off. It was just I didn't feel like 0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:19.640 I wanted to do that, but I kept wondering, like, 0:24:20.200 --> 0:24:23.320 how in the world are these machines just rolling this 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:28.200 toilet paper so fast without breaking? Yeah, it's it's pretty impressive. 0:24:29.320 --> 0:24:32.280