WEBVTT - S4E5: Desi Lydic and the 1977 NYC Blackout 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:03.960 A teenage girl on the Upper West Side lamented that 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:08.480 some boys offered to help carry her looted clothing and radios, 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:11.520 but then ended up running off with them, so she 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:14.360 was quoted saying, that's just not right. They shouldn't have 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:15.560 done that. I love that. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:17.880 Never trust a boy on the Upper West Side. 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.520 The looter got looted. There's some weird justice in that. 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:28.600 I guess. Hello. I'm Ed Helms and this is Snaffoo, 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:32.720 the podcast about history's greatest screw ups. My guest today 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:37.440 is the amazing Desi Lydick, who has been absolutely crushing 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.440 it on The Daily Show since twenty fifteen with her 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:45.200 razor sharp, next level satire and just let's just be honest, 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:49.160 brilliantly funny, insightful and fearless reporting across the board. You're 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.199 so good at what you do, Desi, and I'm so 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:53.240 psyched you're here. Welcome to Snafoo. 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.800 Thanks for having me on. That is a way too kind, 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.880 intro entirely too kind. No, I see your factual, but 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:01.240 I really appreciate it. 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:01.720 Thank you. 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:04.440 This is very cool to be on with you because 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:08.400 I was a regular, avid watcher of the Daily Show 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.480 for many, many years. While you were on, and you're 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:13.080 part of the reason why I wanted to be on 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.399 The Daily Show, admiring your work and John's and Steve 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.120 and Stephen and every Sam. It's just, yeah, this is 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:20.680 very cool. 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:21.360 So thank you. 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:22.880 That is so sweet. Go on. 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:28.320 Yes, well, another thing that I specifically like about your performance? Yes, 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.639 your everyman likability, your razor. 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.200 Okay, okay, okay, this is all get edited out, but 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:38.400 I'm loving it. Yeah, so we do have the Daily 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.080 Show in common. It's been I hate to say this, 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.720 I'm but it's been almost twenty years since I worked there. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.600 Oh my god, it feels insane to me. But you 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:50.520 are there now, and you've been there a bunch of 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:52.440 years and ten. 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.480 Almost ten, which is just crazy too, so badass. 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.200 You guys are How is this transition? So when I 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.639 was there, obviously John Stewart was the full time host, 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:04.760 and I was sort of a part of a cadre 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:08.680 of correspondence and we did focus mostly on field segments 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:13.560 and then the studio pieces with John. But now, and 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.760 that's kind of how you started too, writ with Trevor 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:20.200 h Yes, definitely, at a certain point you transitioned into 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:26.000 also part of this rotating host formula, which I just 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.360 think is so cool and I think it's working so well. 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:32.400 What was that like? What was that transition? 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:34.040 Like crazy? 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.120 There was a period of time where we were kind 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.200 of testing out some different ideas and we didn't really 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.760 know what was going to happen and who the host 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.880 was going to be. And then it started to open 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.320 up a little bit and I kind of threw my 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:51.359 hat in the ring and put my hand up and said, hey, 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:53.400 put me in coach before I could think about it 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.839 too hard and just by some chance that they would 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:01.480 consider me, And then this format came about and John 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.560 came back to the show, and yeah, it was It 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.840 was a little terrifying because you know, being a being 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.839 a correspondent, it's not an easy job by any means, 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.320 but you're you are, you're in character, you're so I 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:15.639 was very accustomed to being on the show as the 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:21.320 character of the correspondent, and when you're hosting, you're basically yourself. 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.760 So it was a it was a whole other type 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:29.000 of type of work and like requires practice and giving 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.040 it a shot, and so I didn't really know if 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.200 I could do it. But the team here is so 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:39.120 incredible it's a well oiled machine. Everyone had our backs 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.960 and we all support one another. And we've got John 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:46.640 who could not be a more exceptional leader, and watching 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:48.680 him every Monday is like a master class. So to 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:53.040 get to try something new creatively and something so exciting 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.760 and to get to look to him is it's beyond 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:58.080 a dream come true. 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.800 I think comedians in general are how many people are 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:06.000 trained or it's almost like an instinct or a reflex 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:10.000 to look for snaffoos. Yeah, we're always kind of trying 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:13.960 to look under the surface at kind of what's going wrong, 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:16.719 and especially at a place like the Daily Show, like 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:21.120 you're looking for what's going wrong in order to generate satire. 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.680 I actually found that I loved it and it was 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.279 like very invigorating. I felt like I was part of 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:33.000 a meaningful satirical voice at the show. But it kind 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.760 of took a toll on me over a long period 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:39.880 of time, focusing entirely on a little bit of the 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:43.799 darker side of things. And I wonder if you've ever 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:48.360 felt that or felt a sense of exasperation. Yeah, it 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.960 can sort of like eat you a little bit. That's 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:51.559 what I found. 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:56.719 Yeah, Yeah, well, Ed, I'm dead inside. So I feel 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:03.599 nothing anymore. It is gone lost all sense of humanity. No, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.440 it is. It is taxing, It really is, and I 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.520 think for me, I've kind of gone up and down 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.120 on it. It's a bit of an emotional roller coaster, 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:16.200 a mental roller coaster, because you're right, there's no escaping it. 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.000 You can't just bury your head in the sand and 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:20.200 be like, well, I'm just going to not pay attention 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:24.000 to the news today. But I will say I think 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:28.159 some kind of action, even for us, even if it's 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.440 just finding the comedy in it, even if it's just 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:35.680 creative action, it feels good to do something and just 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:38.960 talk about it, admit that it's happening in a room 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:42.840 full of people who can kind of provide catharsis and 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.200 support and we can talk it out with each other. 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.960 And then also being forced to find the humor in 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:53.400 it somewhere is my therapy. It is redeeming it really 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:54.640 and especially this year. 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.400 Yeah, so the Daily Show is your therapist, is what 0:05:58.400 --> 0:05:58.880 you're saying? 0:05:59.040 --> 0:05:59.680 It totally? 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:01.200 Is it? Totally? Is? 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:02.479 They should be billing me. 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.039 I'm sure I'll get an invoice in the mail I 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.240 pay them to do the show. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.960 Before we dive into today's snapho. What is a major 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.160 snafo from your life? 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.800 Oh god, I have too many to choose from. I 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:20.040 feel like I'm a snafu a day kind of person. 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:20.440 Sure. 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.920 We were just chatting right before we started here about 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:29.320 old VHS tapes and it brought up this like humiliation, 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:33.520 the snaffhoo that happened. When I was a kid. I 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:38.680 was obsessed with Madonna. Like many young girls, I wanted 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:43.080 to be Madonna. And I think I was maybe somewhere 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.200 around eight. I probably wasn't allowed to watch MTV, but 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:51.520 I was snaking it and Madonna had this performance. It 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:54.720 was her MTV Video Music Awards. I think I must 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:56.280 have been a rerun because I was like trying to 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.960 think of what the timeline was. But she performed like 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.719 a virgin Oh yeah on stage, you remember, yeah, And 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:09.160 she humped like humped the floor, crawled around, gyrated on 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.160 the floor, and I was just I didn't know what 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:13.720 any of it meant, but I was so mesmerized, and 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.520 I knew that she was about to come on, and 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.800 I grabbed a VHS tape and put it in the recorder. 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.680 By the way, your young listeners are going to be like, 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:23.600 what's the VHS? 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:25.200 What is she talking about? 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.960 So I throw a VHS in the machine and I 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:34.400 hit record just really quickly. Oh no. And months later, 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.360 my relatives come over and they go, oh, we should 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.880 watch Tracy's graduation video. Oh yeah, you never got to 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:46.720 see that, nanny, we should put that on. And it's 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.680 Christmas time, and the whole family gathers around. There's like 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:52.920 eighteen of us and we're down in the basement. We 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.200 huddle around the TV and we grabbed my cousin Tracy's 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.920 graduation video and put it in and it's Madonna humping 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.679 a floor and everyone looks to me like jazzy. 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:06.920 So I felt so terrible. 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.040 I'm imagining that like the It's like, right as the 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:15.000 president of the school is announcing your cousin's name and 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:17.840 they're about to walk up on stage, and then it's 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:18.520 just like cut to. 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:25.080 Just the worst for Donna, just all hip thrust. 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:27.680 And the whole family's gathered around. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:29.400 It was so humiliating. 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.360 I'm sure I got grounded for not only taping over 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:36.080 my cousin's graduation but also watching something that was highly 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:37.800 inappropriate for me at that time. 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:43.400 Today's snaffo is also kind of tech related. I want 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.400 to take you into a truly insane historical snaffoo. It's 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.240 a story that gets very dark, very fast. And I 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:55.080 mean that in every sense literally, figuratively, socio, politically, and 0:08:55.200 --> 0:09:04.320 possibly even spiritually. Are you ready? Yes, it's July nineteen 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:07.240 seventy seven in the big appital Baby. That's right, disco 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.000 punk and rent you could actually afford. But it wasn't 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.440 all Studio fifty four and Skyline dreams. The city was 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.600 a bit of a mess. Unemployment was at twelve percent. 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.480 Subway fares had just doubled from twenty five cents to 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.880 a whopping fifty cents. What is it now, it's like 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:29.079 three dollars? Yeah, and thanks to budget cuts, city services 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:33.240 were pretty much in the toilet. Libraries, schools, sanitation, even 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:37.720 the NYPD had all taken major hits. Oh and just 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.000 to spice things up, the Son of Sam was still 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.040 on the loose. You're aware of that, all guy? Yeah, guy, 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.600 that all creep. The serial killer who claimed a demon 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.760 was speaking to him through a barking dog. So yeah, 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.240 it was a hell of a time in New York City. DESI, 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:57.800 this was New York at one of its most sort 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:01.600 of chaotic and volatile moments. But let's be real, the 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.800 city's always pretty intense. Do you thrive on that intensity? 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:09.000 Do you kind of find your own calm and the chaos? 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:10.400 Like what kind of New Yorker are you? 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.600 Yeah, I've had to kind of thrive. I've had to 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.800 adapt to it, that's for sure. But you know, if 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:17.920 you watch Fox News, they will tell you that it 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:22.839 is this sort of nineteen seventy seven version all day 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.560 just a city of hell. It's just a walking nightmare. 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:27.439 I don't know. 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.560 Yes, it's intense and it's chaotic, but I love it. Yes, 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.240 you have to be out in the middle of it. 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.200 You have to interact with other people, good or bad. 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:40.600 I was walking down the street with my dog the 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.840 other day and I look over and there was just 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.640 a guy selling my little ponies with a light bulb 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.360 coming out the top, just thirty of them on the street. 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.080 I thought, God, only in New York do you have 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.679 this kind of quirkiness out out And he was making 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:57.120 a killing. 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:58.240 People were buying him. 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.120 That's so funny because my only in New York story 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:05.000 is like seeing people like defecating in the middle of 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:05.679 Fifth Avenue. 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.839 Yeah, well there's that too. I'm sorry about that, by 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:10.439 the way, I really had to go. 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:15.320 No, But I agree with you. I agree. I think 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:19.240 there's there's like something super special about the intensity of 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.120 New York and it kind of, I don't know, it 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:28.200 makes me feel creative, inspired, and also just knowing the 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:32.400 density of cultural history that has happened and transpired, like 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.520 all of the incredible people that have lived and thrived 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:39.080 in New York. It's just I just yeah, I love it. 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.000 I really miss it a magical place, even among all 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:46.440 the defication and masturbation on the subway, it's really it's 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:47.120 so special. 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:50.400 It is in spite of all that. Anyone who's ever 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:52.200 been to New York City during the dead of summer 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.760 knows that it is a particularly brutal time. But in 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:59.480 nineteen seventy seven, it was next level brutal. The city 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:01.720 was in the grip of a record heat wave, with 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:07.280 temperatures hitting ninety seven degrees for nine straight days. So yeah, 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.320 the concrete jungle is basically like a concrete oven. Now, 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.240 I'm from Georgia, you're from Kentucky. We know a thing 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:17.920 or two about heat. But there's something uniquely punishing about 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.199 New York City summer. Right, as much as we love 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:22.720 New York like, it gets hard. 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.880 It's brutal because it's humid. It gets humid more so 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.640 than you think, and the buildings really trap it all in, 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.600 so you're just stuck in it and you can't escape 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.079 into your air conditioned car very easily because you don't 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:37.240 really drive in New York. 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.760 So can we talk about the smell? Can we talk 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.800 a little bit about the smell. It's like the trash 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:46.480 is just baking. It's like the trash cans are these 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:50.000 little ovens that bake everything. And then of course anything 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:54.840 any street runoff is like just cooking on the hot 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.719 asphalt and rising into the humidity. 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.200 Cooking up a stew. A city. 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:03.480 Yeah, it's you're in there's even here where we film 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:07.440 at The Daily Show in Lovely Hell's Kitchen. We're in 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.160 between a subway restaurant which has the lovely aroma of 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.559 baked bread, and on the other side are the horse stables, 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:18.080 so it's just horse shit and a little bit of 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.480 baked bread and then garbage, and you'reine smell from the 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.120 dom park across the street. Summer over here gets real, real, 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:26.240 interesting real quick. 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.319 It's funny how consistent that smell is, Like every summer, 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:33.200 it's just the like, you know, like that's hot city 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:37.160 smell and it's not good, but weirdly, I'm just gonna 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:39.880 say it, it's kind of nostalgic. Now, it's like it's comforting. 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.240 It's like fresh cut grass, like it brings back memories. 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.520 Maybe we should start in Aroma company, Like we should 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:50.080 make a candle that has that New York summer smell, 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:51.960 and we could. We could go out with it. 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.880 You would sell city summer funk. 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.920 The fun, City summer funk, the city. 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:00.520 Sun, City summer fun. 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.800 I think it would sell. I'm not gonna say like 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:04.760 hot cakes. 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:06.199 I'm just throwing it out there. 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.160 I'll take it. Picture yourself in the middle of this 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:12.720 heat wave throughout the Five Burrows. It's the summer seventy seven. 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.359 And remember in the seventies people wore a lot of polyester, 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:21.480 which is not exactly breathable or moisture wicking. So at 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.320 this point you might be saying, wow, this is like 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.880 pretty bleak already, and you'd be right. But we're just 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.880 sitting the stage here. We haven't even gotten to the snaffo. 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.240 Yet I'm sweating a little bit, can you tell? Can 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:33.880 you see I'm sweating? 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:39.000 Drink some water, stay hydrated, because here we go. Now 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.800 it's July thirteenth, nineteen seventy seven. To quote the Love 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.040 and Spoonful, it's hot time, summer in the city. And 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:50.640 as the sun goes down, the sky starts to churn, thick, 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:55.800 ominous clouds rolling in like they've got unfinished business. Storm's 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.200 a bruin, and not just any storm, a monster electrical storm. 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.280 At eight thirty seven PM, a massive bolt of lightning 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:07.920 strikes the Buchanan South substation in Westchester County, tripping two 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.760 critical circuit breakers. This lightning strike, combined with a loose 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:15.320 locking nut, and of course some delayed maintenance, prevented the 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:20.280 breakers from resetting, cutting off a major power source. Minutes later, 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:25.400 at eight fifty five pm, another lightning bolt strikes the 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:30.480 sprain Brook substation in Yonkers, knocking out two more vital 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:34.520 transmission lines. The system, already strained, begins to falter. Operators 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.200 at con Edison, the city's power provider, attempt to bring 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.560 additional generators online, but some were actually unmanned, like there 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.800 was nobody there and the others just failed to start remotely, 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.920 So by nine to twenty four pm, the situation had 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:54.440 deteriorated rapidly. The remaining power lines were overloaded, and the 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:59.360 city's largest generator, Ravenswood Unit number three, nicknamed Big Alice, 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:04.400 show down to protect itself from damage. Minutes later, nine 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:09.680 thirty six pm, the entire Coneedison system collapsed, plunging New 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:14.400 York City into darkness, and thus began what would become 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:19.040 known as the seventy seven Night of Terror. 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.880 What a perfect storm of a snaffoo, Just a series 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.080 of mishaps, one right after the next. 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.040 There's always in these snaffoos, there's always a lot of 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:35.480 human error. I mean these these obviously, like the lightning 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.600 is insane. This was like a really exceptional electrical storm. 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.480 But yeah, like there's always like somebody messing up. Not 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.080 enough maintenance was done. There was a loose nut somewhere. 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.360 Did you as a kid, did you like in the 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:52.360 South were familiar with big lightning storms? Oh yeah, did 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:54.880 you like a lightning storm? Oh it was kind of fun. 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.320 I mean I never liked having to come in from 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:01.720 being outside playing because back in those days we played outside. 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:03.360 Kids played outside. 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:05.160 I don't even know what you're talking about. 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.639 Yes, the younger the younger generation doesn't get it. 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.960 We played outside the rainstorms, like even through like electrical storms. 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:14.119 We didn't even we didn't care. 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.120 Our parents also so because in the South, a thunderstorm 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:20.600 would last sometimes like three and a half minutes and 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:21.560 then it would clear up. 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:22.159 You know. 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:24.920 We also had tornadoes. Did you have tornadoes? 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:28.639 We had very rare tornadoes. Did you did you like 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:29.640 when the power went out? 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.480 I remember I was in I was actually in New 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:38.320 York during Sandy, which was that was probably the closest 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:42.400 to like the seventy seven blackout, but similar, I mean, yeah, 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:44.840 And that was kind of that was terrifying. That was 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.040 such an eerie feeling to look outside and for sure 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:51.440 see darkness all the way down Bowery. 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:52.200 It was crazy. 0:17:56.440 --> 0:18:00.280 Things were getting real spooky. Traffic lights stopped working all 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:04.280 over the city, Subway trains stopped moving, streets and stores 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.439 were pitch black all over town. At Shay Stadium, the 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:09.479 Mets were losing two to one against the Cubs when 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.040 the lights went out in the bottom of the sixth inning. 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.920 Mets third basement Lenny Randall was up to bat and 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.719 later said, I thought to myself, this is my last 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:21.280 at bat. God is coming for me. Can you imagine, 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:25.360 like those lights are so bright right in those ballpark 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.560 stadiums and they just a yeah, like blackout, that would 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:33.159 be that must be jarring, terrifying. Yeah, there was a 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:37.440 pretty big problem right away responding to the power routage. 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.800 Many of the emergency personnel first responders, police officers, and 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:44.560 firefighters lived outside of the city in New Jersey, and 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.399 because of the blackout, they were unable to get into 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:49.359 the city. So things are about to go seriously off 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.200 the rails here. But for the record, I was in 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.040 NYC for the blackout of two thousand and three. No, 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:56.720 that's not true. I was not actually in the city. 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:58.880 I was on a daily show field Shute in two 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.760 thousand and three. I was in Birmingham, Alabama, on a 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:06.440 field shoot, and I was getting word that, like all 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.960 my friends were in this blackout in New York City. 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.040 Was funny because all I heard were these great stories 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.639 of like, oh, I met the love of my life, 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.359 or I had this incredible one night stand, like I 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:19.919 went I went out and had like, you know, some 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.639 potato chips on my stoop and met these traveling musicians 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:27.320 and we we traped around the city the serenading like 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.879 that sounded like such a wonderful blackout. This this is 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.240 about to go so so dark. Do you think New 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.200 York City is a good place or a bad place 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:39.120 for a disaster? 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.040 It's all the things, I think it really Yeah, I 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.280 think there's capacity for all of it, because there's just 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.199 so many different people in New York City and so 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:51.960 many but like the state of the world certainly plays 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:52.399 into that. 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.119 Definitely. That's huge, and that's gonna You're exactly right. The 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:00.399 state of the world is a major factor. So this 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.080 blackout happens, and at first the city holds its breath 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.600 in the darkness. But around ten PM, just a half 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.480 an hour after the lights went out, New Yorkers began 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.159 to emerge, and it didn't take long for things to 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:17.159 go from a sort of mild curiosity to completely spiraling 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:21.199 out of control. Looting erupted across the city in neighborhoods 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:25.240 already strained by unemployment and economic hardship. To your point, 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.520 the blackout was a catalyst for unrest. Over the next 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:32.120 twenty five hours, more than sixteen hundred stores were damaged 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:37.119 or destroyed. Arsonists set over one thousand fires, overwhelming the 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:41.480 city's fire departments. Mostly it was a very dark time, 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:45.000 no pun intended. But there are a few anecdotes that 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.320 I dug up that revealed some dark irony. Here's what 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:51.480 I found in Time magazine. A teenage girl on the 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:54.720 Upper West Side lamented that some boys offered to help 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:58.639 carry her looted clothing and radios, but then ended up 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:02.000 running off with them. So she was quoted saying, that's 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:05.080 just not right. They shouldn't have done that. I love that. 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:07.639 Never trust a boy on the Upper West. 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:12.119 Side with your looted belongings, No, they will like the 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:15.040 looter got looted. There's some weird justice in that, I guess. 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.080 Does it freak you out how quickly like we just 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.439 as a society we can just unravel in something like that. 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:26.440 Really, it is like it's just just the second some 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:29.840 people have that opening. It's like now's my time, now's 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:30.440 my time. 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:31.879 Yeah. 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.880 It goes from yeah, you're like lighting candles one minute 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:39.480 and then it's just like full on purge vibes. Yeah. 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:41.800 I think if you're on the verge enough, if your 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:44.960 needs aren't being met, for whatever reason, Like you know, 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.120 if I was in a particular headspace, I might see 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:48.560 an opening. 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.639 Go you know what I'm gonna Let's put these candles down, 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:52.520 Let's go rob a bank. 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.160