Speaker 1: Guess what mango's that will. So when you were growing up,
Speaker 1: was your dad just full of dad jokes? Ah, so
Speaker 1: many dad jokes, Like he made a lot of puns.
Speaker 1: But he also did this thing where he would just repeat,
Speaker 1: like Dana Carvey catchphrases like he loved a SNL so
Speaker 1: so he'd like do his George Bush in an Indian accent,
Speaker 1: and it would just make us grown. I love the
Speaker 1: idea of your dad in an Indian accent doing an
Speaker 1: impression of Dana Carvey doing an impression of George Bush
Speaker 1: or whatever it was, the church lady, whatever it was,
Speaker 1: church lady, Well, my dad was right there with him,
Speaker 1: and he is still full of these dad jokes. And
Speaker 1: in fact, I think part of the fun of having
Speaker 1: my kids grow up around my parents is actually getting
Speaker 1: to see them react to the dad is of dad jokes.
Speaker 1: And if you would have asked them, like which one
Speaker 1: sticks out the most to them, it would probably be
Speaker 1: when we see my parents on New Year's Day and
Speaker 1: they know this is coming. As soon as we pull
Speaker 1: up in the driveway, he's gonna be waiting right there
Speaker 1: to say, I haven't seen you all year. And of
Speaker 1: course you know they roll their eyes, but they love
Speaker 1: every second of it. I know. So I I remember
Speaker 1: my dad making some horrible joke knowingly like about um.
Speaker 1: I think it was about mc Hammer's pala being called
Speaker 1: mc screwdriver or something, you know, I knowingly mess up
Speaker 1: lyrics or like do the floss dance wrong or whatever,
Speaker 1: you know, just to get a reaction like that, ad
Speaker 1: Dad from my kids because it's the best. Do you
Speaker 1: think that if you did the floss dance correctly that
Speaker 1: it would be any less embarrassing for them? I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure doesn't matter. But you know what, Mango, there's actually
Speaker 1: good news for all of us dads. It actually turns
Speaker 1: out there appears to be benefits of these corny jokes.
Speaker 1: So there really fun article from the Telegraph in the
Speaker 1: UK a couple of years ago, and it was looking
Speaker 1: at a few different studies on this. But the author
Speaker 1: of the piece, his name was Rob Kimp. He put
Speaker 1: it this way. He says, by playing with words, dads
Speaker 1: engage their kids and the flexibility of language, encouraging them
Speaker 1: to think about words too. And this other research showed
Speaker 1: that the jokes actually helped build these stronger relationships and
Speaker 1: and in some ways may even help fathers cope with
Speaker 1: their kids growing up. Huh. Well, whether the science behind
Speaker 1: all this is sound or not, I'm in full support
Speaker 1: of this theory me too. As you know, it's Father's
Speaker 1: Day this weekend, so we thought we'd share some other
Speaker 1: fun facts in honor of all the great dads in
Speaker 1: our lives and all the other dads out there. So
Speaker 1: let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to part
Speaker 1: Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and is always I'm joined
Speaker 1: by my good friend Mangues Ticketer, although today Mango is
Speaker 1: joining me from the always Friendly Mouth Media Studios in
Speaker 1: New York City. We always is love recording there whenever
Speaker 1: we're in the city. So Mango, I hate that you're
Speaker 1: missing this here because the man on the other side
Speaker 1: of the soundproof glass with a sharpie and a drawing
Speaker 1: pad holding up one dad joke after another to the glass.
Speaker 1: That's our friends and producer Tristan McNeil. So what's the
Speaker 1: latest one? It says, Uh, he's holding one up that says,
Speaker 1: what's brown and sticky? A stick? I mean, it doesn't
Speaker 1: get any more. Well, don't think I'm missing out on this,
Speaker 1: because he just texted me spring is here. I got
Speaker 1: so excited I wet my plants. That's terrible. You know,
Speaker 1: the guy doesn't even have kids, but he's actually better
Speaker 1: at dad jokes than we are. But jokes, I'm not
Speaker 1: that surprised, to be honest with you. All Right, Well,
Speaker 1: let's keep the dad thing going. So what's your first
Speaker 1: factor the day, Mango? So I think you can probably
Speaker 1: predict for I'm gonna go with the first fact here.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be an animal fact, isn't it. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: so here's the thing. I feel like we've all heard
Speaker 1: about how incredible like those emperor penguins are just like
Speaker 1: protecting the eggs and keeping them warm. And then you've
Speaker 1: got this fact about seahorses because the males are actually
Speaker 1: the ones who get pregnant. But I actually want to
Speaker 1: talk about a different creature, and that's the clown fish. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's because their paternal instincts are so strong they'll even
Speaker 1: look after eggs that aren't their's. And and this happens
Speaker 1: to be because of a hormone similar to oxytocin, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, that love hormone that makes humans want to
Speaker 1: be loving dad's And what they found in clownfish. Is
Speaker 1: that their paternal instincts are so intense that you could
Speaker 1: actually take a male seahorse and just drop a bunch
Speaker 1: of their eggs from another nest near the clownfish, and
Speaker 1: he'd actually protect them. He'd protect them, You've cleaned them,
Speaker 1: fan them, all of that, just like they were his own. Wow.
Speaker 1: I would assume this would just apply to fish eggs,
Speaker 1: like if you drop some chicken eggs underwater. But but
Speaker 1: but let's think about other fish. Like other fish wouldn't
Speaker 1: do this, No, I mean most of the fish species
Speaker 1: would just eat the eggs. Well, I knew you would
Speaker 1: start with an animal fact, but that is a good one.
Speaker 1: I feel like we have to at least acknowledge the
Speaker 1: inspiration for Father's Day, and that's manned by the name
Speaker 1: of William Jackson Smart. Smart was a Union soldier in
Speaker 1: the Civil War, and several years after the war, Smart's
Speaker 1: wife died, leaving him with his daughter, Sonora, who was
Speaker 1: sixteen at the time, and her five younger brothers. Well.
Speaker 1: Sonora was so inspired by her father's dedication to them that,
Speaker 1: after attending a Mother's Day celebration at her church back
Speaker 1: in nineteen o nine, she decided if there's a day
Speaker 1: to recognize mothers, there should be one to recognize fathers.
Speaker 1: And as she put it several years after his passing,
Speaker 1: I remember everything about him. He was both father and
Speaker 1: mother to me and my brothers and sisters. So I'm
Speaker 1: also going to talk about a dad from way back,
Speaker 1: and actually I'm gonna go way way back to a
Speaker 1: father who was willing to forgive, and that's Charlemagne, who
Speaker 1: was pretty busy doing whatever the Holy Roman emperor did
Speaker 1: during the early Middle Ages, and apparently one of those
Speaker 1: things was having twenty children. But despite having so many children,
Speaker 1: Charlemagne was insistent that his kids be well educated, whether
Speaker 1: they were his sons or daughters, and some of his
Speaker 1: kids were born to wives and some to concubines. But
Speaker 1: his oldest son, unfortunately known as Pepin the Hunchback, was
Speaker 1: eventually passed over to be the next in line to rule,
Speaker 1: and this was likely because he was considered to be illegitimate. Well,
Speaker 1: this didn't sit well with Peppin, and he and a
Speaker 1: few others conspired to assassinate Charlemagne. So you think that
Speaker 1: they would have all been put to death, right, But
Speaker 1: instead the emperor did something merciful, and he decided to
Speaker 1: spare him and instead sent him off to a monastery
Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. Wow, such a forgiving dad.
Speaker 1: That is wild. And twenty kids, that's just unbelievable. All right, well,
Speaker 1: I'm going to hop on over to the world of
Speaker 1: pop culture. And as we know, ron Howard has been
Speaker 1: in the news a lot recently, both directing solo and
Speaker 1: of course he's also the executive producer and the narrator
Speaker 1: of one of the funniest shows ever arrested Development. And
Speaker 1: I'm not sure anyone has had more of an interesting
Speaker 1: career in TV and film than Ron Howard. But the
Speaker 1: world first got to know little Ronnie Howard when he
Speaker 1: was just six years old in his role as Opie
Speaker 1: to Tailor. And if you've ever seen the show, you
Speaker 1: remember that iconic opening scene when Opie and Andy are
Speaker 1: just walking along that dirt path holding their fishing poles.
Speaker 1: You remember this, right, yeah, of course, every time I
Speaker 1: think about it makes me want to whistle. Right. Well,
Speaker 1: you probably also remember the part where Opie picks up
Speaker 1: a rock and tosses it into the water. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure why, but apparently this was an important part of
Speaker 1: the scene to the director, because it turns out Opie
Speaker 1: wasn't quite strong enough or coordinated enough to get the
Speaker 1: rock all the way to the water, because it's not
Speaker 1: like it was that far away. So they tried a
Speaker 1: couple of times, and both times the rock fell short
Speaker 1: of the water. So what they did was they had
Speaker 1: a prop man hide behind a bush, and when Opie
Speaker 1: through the next one, the assistant director then yelled throw it,
Speaker 1: and the prop man tossed another rock the rest of
Speaker 1: the way so that it would splash in the water.
Speaker 1: And so that's why if you're watching closely, and you
Speaker 1: may have noticed this before if you've been watching really closely,
Speaker 1: but you'll see a bit of gravity defiance in that
Speaker 1: lag from the throw to to the splash. So I'm
Speaker 1: totally going back and watching this online now. And unrelated
Speaker 1: to this, despite all that Ron Howard is accomplished, it's
Speaker 1: hard for me not to immediately think of one of
Speaker 1: his appearances on Saturday Night Live. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: we're both longtime SNL fans, and and this was back
Speaker 1: in the Eddie Murphy days. I actually already know exactly
Speaker 1: where you're going with this. Yeah, when Murphy mixed up
Speaker 1: two of his most famous characters, Opie Taylor and then
Speaker 1: Richie Cunningham from Happy Days, and then called him Opie Cunningham.
Speaker 1: And then he proceeded to try and get the studio
Speaker 1: audience to chant Opie Cunningham. So great. Alright, So, so
Speaker 1: what do you have next? Well, I also have one
Speaker 1: from the world of pop culture, but I think I'm
Speaker 1: gonna save it and instead talk about the record for
Speaker 1: the oldest person to father a child. Now, they have
Speaker 1: not surprisingly been several claims to this title, since it's
Speaker 1: often really difficult to verify the date of birth for
Speaker 1: people born a century ago. But the one that seems
Speaker 1: at least pretty close to accurate is an Indian man
Speaker 1: by the name of rum Groov who had his first
Speaker 1: child at the age of ninety four. And I say
Speaker 1: first child because he had his second and ninety six,
Speaker 1: and I believe he's still alive at the age of
Speaker 1: a hundred two ish. That is incredible. Wow. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: he's kind of the poster boy or poster old man
Speaker 1: from vegetarianism, because that's actually what he credits for his quote,
Speaker 1: stamina and virility. You remember how you were a vegetarian
Speaker 1: for so long. I mean, you're mostly vegetarian these days,
Speaker 1: but you've been vegetarian for years, but your diet consisted
Speaker 1: of I would guess. I actually, scientifically, i'd put the
Speaker 1: estimate at six was McDonald's French fries. And then, of
Speaker 1: course we learned that they've been cooked in animal fat
Speaker 1: for all of those years, which is a for effort, right,
Speaker 1: I guess. All right, Well back to history. So did
Speaker 1: you know that the term Founding Fathers wasn't actually coined
Speaker 1: until the twentieth century. So the term first appeared in
Speaker 1: a speech by Warren G. Harding. This was, of course,
Speaker 1: the same man who won on his inspiring campaign slogan
Speaker 1: a return to normalcy. I feel like get goose bumps
Speaker 1: just hearing that phrase. Yeah, me too. Well, anyway, in
Speaker 1: his nineteen twenty acceptance speech, he said it was the
Speaker 1: intent of the Founding Fathers to give this republic a
Speaker 1: dependable and enduring popular government. But even after that, the
Speaker 1: term wasn't really that common until Kenneth Bernard Umbright published
Speaker 1: the book it was called Founding Fathers, Men who shaped
Speaker 1: our tradition. Okay, well, we each have one more fact
Speaker 1: to go. But before we get to that, let's take
Speaker 1: a quick break. Welcome back to part time Genius, where
Speaker 1: we're sharing facts about father's Okay, well, so what's your
Speaker 1: last fact of the day. All right, Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I was curious to look at which culture has put
Speaker 1: a greater emphasis on father spending time with their children,
Speaker 1: and it was really interesting to read about the Acca
Speaker 1: Pygmy people in Central Africa. And this was for a
Speaker 1: couple of reasons. So first, a few studies have shown
Speaker 1: that of fathers spend more time with their infant children
Speaker 1: than any other society, with one study showing that they
Speaker 1: have their infants within arms reach nearly fifty of their
Speaker 1: time now. But another thing that was interesting to me
Speaker 1: just in general about the Aca is just how interchangeable
Speaker 1: the male and female roles are. In fact, they almost
Speaker 1: don't have male and female roles. So sometimes the women
Speaker 1: will hunt and the men will take care of the children.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's the reverse, sometimes the men will prepare meals
Speaker 1: while the women are preparing the next camp, and of
Speaker 1: course you know vice versa. That's really interesting. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: for my last fact, as promised, I'm gonna go back
Speaker 1: to pop culture and a couple of years ago, g
Speaker 1: Q had this online poll slash tournament where they were
Speaker 1: trying to determine the greatest dad in TV history, and
Speaker 1: the final four came down to Uncle Phil from the
Speaker 1: Fresh Prince Tim the to a man Taylor J. Pritchett
Speaker 1: for Modern Family, who by the way, beat out himself
Speaker 1: as Al Bundy just to get there. And and then
Speaker 1: there was Homer Simpson and Uncle Phil ended up winning.
Speaker 1: And and yes, he was, of course a good dad.
Speaker 1: But I actually think I agree with the g Q
Speaker 1: writer John ort Ved who wrote of Homer quote, he
Speaker 1: takes a night job at the quickie Mart so he
Speaker 1: can afford a pony for Lisa. He sends Bart to
Speaker 1: summer camp, even when Bart fails to make the grades
Speaker 1: of creed upon to earn the indulgence. He gives up
Speaker 1: his dream job at a bowling alley so that he
Speaker 1: can afford to support a third child. I mean, for
Speaker 1: as much of a goofball as Homer Simpson is, it's
Speaker 1: obvious he loves his kids. Oh there's no doubt about that.
Speaker 1: So I would wish upon all of us that may
Speaker 1: we all have the dedication of the Akka Dads and
Speaker 1: the sacrifice of Homer Simpson so you know, I was
Speaker 1: going to give the fact Off Trophy to you for
Speaker 1: that last fact it was a good one, but then
Speaker 1: you know, I thought maybe we should give it to
Speaker 1: all the dad's out there for Father's Day. But you know,
Speaker 1: I got the same angle. I don't know, if you've
Speaker 1: been watching Tristan these last few days over there with
Speaker 1: these sea monkeys he's been raising on his desk, if
Speaker 1: you caught a glimpse of this at all, I have,
Speaker 1: and you can see how proud he is of each
Speaker 1: and every sea monkey, every single one of them, and
Speaker 1: only about half of them are dad at this point,
Speaker 1: so he's just doing a great job. So here's to Tristan,
Speaker 1: and happy Father's Day to our dads and all the
Speaker 1: fathers and father figures out there. Thanks again to Mouth
Speaker 1: Media for hosting me today, and thanks to Eve's Jeff
Speaker 1: Coche for always helpful research. And we'll be back with
Speaker 1: a full length episode on Wednesday.