WEBVTT - The Stuff You Should Know 2016 Christmas Extravaganza in 3-D! 0:00:01.240 --> 0:00:13.320 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from HowStuffWorks dot com. 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.479 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:21.120 there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and Jerry's over there. And 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:25.640 this is the two thy sixteen Stuff You Should Know 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:31.639 Super Christmas Holiday Spectacular glad Tidings Edition. 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:39.040 In three d oh nice and stinkovision. Nice smellovision. That 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.120 was a real thing, you know, Yeah it was. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.200 It was a great idea that didn't really pan out 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:43.599 very well. 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:44.320 I don't know about that. 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.000 Well, no, it didn't pan out very well. 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:52.000 Well, yeah, funny, I know what you meant. Uh so, 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.840 my friend, I look forward to this every year. Yeah, 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.720 me too, because, as I've said before, I save up 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:02.600 my vacation and take an elmmentary school break for a 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.280 solid three weeks at the end of every year, right, 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:07.320 which also means you get a bit of a break. 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.280 Yeah. It's a de facto decision on my behalf as well. 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:16.920 And this is it after in one hour, roughly you're 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.759 not going to see me again till next year. Yeah, 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:22.880 you know. I like to get small over the holidays. 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:24.960 That's cool, man. I don't blame you. I do too, 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.160 just hold up in the secretly, I'm secretly fine with 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.800 you making that decision for me particular one. 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:32.680 Yeah, so are you? 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:34.680 So? Are you full of cheer glad tidings. 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.440 Well, I'm in a silly mood. So this will who 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:38.319 knows where this goes? 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.119 How's Jerry? Jerry, you're feeling pretty happy? 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:42.320 She is? 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:43.000 She's good. 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.920 Just gave a thumbs up. Yeah, she's fresh faced, but. 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.680 She tailed Are her hauls decked? 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.200 Oh yes, double decked? 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.960 Well, I guess we should welcome everybody chuck to the 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.720 Christmas spectacular. Tell you, first off, to be sure to 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.640 start a fire somewhere in your house. Yes, put on sweater, maybe, 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:12.400 put on some slippers, put on pajamas, make yourself some eggnog, 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:16.040 hot butter room, something like that, and just sit down 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:17.240 and enjoy yourself. 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.600 Yeah, and we did our holiday special every year we 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:23.520 like to cover. I'm always afraid we're going to recover 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:25.919 something which I actually pitched, something we had already covered. 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:28.120 I've got a list, so don't worry about it. 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.560 Oh okay, great, well then let's ring in the holiday year. 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:36.280 Hey. Also, we should say, if there are any little 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:39.359 true believers among you, you may not want to let them 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:40.280 listen to this one. 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.240 Well, yeah, there, I was going to give a warning. 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.080 They can listen to most of it, but there is 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.840 one feature of the show where where you may not 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.480 want your kids to listen to some of the detail 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:53.840 the deats, and we're going to give you a warning 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:56.520 before that comes on. Yeah, so you can. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:02.960 It'll sound like this wringling knowing that's the Christmas warning. 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:06.440 Well, all right, let's do it. 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.960 All right, everybody sit back as we begin our annual 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:26.360 Christmas special. So Chuck, we're gonna hop in our over 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:38.280 there sleigh and head on over to Catalonia. Yeah, parts 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:42.680 of Spain, parts of Spain, part of Spain, and there's 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.400 a Catalan tradition. There's a couple of them actually that 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:51.640 are really interesting and are scatological in nature. And the 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:53.800 first one is called Cagatillo. 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:57.560 Yeah. I had never heard of this, but I put 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.160 out and you'll see you later in the show. We 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.200 put out a call on face book for some unusual 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:05.040 family traditions from listeners, and a couple of people mentioned this, 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:07.760 like saying, we don't do this, but I've heard of 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:09.000 it and it's really strange. 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:15.240 Yeah, it's definitely a thing, and in large parts of Spain, Portugal, 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.160 even some parts of Italy too from what I understand, 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:23.559 but specifically in the Catalan region of Spain, cagatillo, which 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:31.440 means poop log basically in Catalan, is a It's a 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.560 Christmas tradition that starts on December eighth when the family 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:38.120 gets around and while they've gone out, I think either 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:41.480 made one or they purchased a cagatillo, which is a 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:43.880 log with a face on it. 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:46.120 Yeah, I get the idea that part of the fun 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.839 and correct me if I'm wrong, Spanish among you, But 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.400 part of the fun is making it with the family. Sure, 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.520 but I'm sure you can buy them though as well, 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:58.000 right full featured. 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.680 Even if you bought one fully featured, there's still some 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.240 some ritual that you the family have to go through 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:04.440 that would be kind of fun. 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:05.080 Exactly. 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.800 So with with Kagatia, with the log, he's got a face, 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:12.880 but very importantly, he also has two front arms, so 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.520 he's kind of propped up right yeah, yeah, And when 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.400 you bring Kaigatio home, he also has that that the 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:26.320 standard Catalan red kind of overhangy hat yeap, yes, exactly, 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.440 And so the family brings him home, and on December eighth, 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:33.480 they get him prepared for the Christmas season. Right, They 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:38.080 wrap them in a blanket, and they basically wrap them 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.359 from what would amount to the waist down in a 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.040 blanket to keep them warm, to. 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:48.080 Keep him warm, and to maybe incubate what dwells inside 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:51.240 of the log. Yeah, because that's where we're headed with us. 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:56.720 They feed this thing orange peels, a Spanish nugat called 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:02.080 torone's that right, Yeah, And apparently, as tradition is held, 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:06.680 the more you feed the cagatillo, the more gifts it 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:11.000 will bestow to you through the traditional route, which means 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:12.160 out of the rear end. 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:16.359 Right. So the kids every night while they're caring for cagatiu, 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.080 and I imagine probably more than just every night. I'll 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:20.960 bet this thing gets fed a lot of orange peels 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:28.440 and nougat. They feed it. And as the Christmas I 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.480 guess Christmas Day, I also saw Christmas Eve approaches, they 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:39.960 they prepare to extract the stuff from cagatio. Yeah, and 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:44.400 they do that by by hitting cagato with sticks. And 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.680 they have a traditional chant. You want to you want 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.200 to give them the translation of the chant? 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.839 Yeah, not that not the original in English, it translates 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:58.480 literally as poop log, poop torone, hazel nuts and cottage cheese. 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:00.839 If you don't poop, well, I'll hit you with a 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:02.120 stick poop log. 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:08.600 And so once they've beaten Kagatio with a stick enough times, 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:12.160 they'll look under the blanket and see that he's pooped 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:16.559 out a bunch of candy and treats and gifts. And 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.920 it's an amazing, wonderful little Christmas tradition. 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:21.160 It's wonderful. 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.600 But that's not the only unusual poop based cautle on 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:28.320 Christmas tradition either, is it. 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:28.480 No. 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:30.400 I was kind of surprised to know that there was 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:36.680 more than one. How do you pronounce this that coganer, coganaire, cogganaire, Yeah, 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:40.160 pretty close. So this is this is just a it's 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.120 not a log. It's an actual carved or now you know, 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:49.200 readily manufactured sort of dull figurine that has dropped its 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:50.640 pants and is just pooping. 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.720 Yeah. And and with the little traditional figurine, there's a 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.360 little pile of poop beneath his rear end on the ground. 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.560 So not only is he poopy, he has pooped. And 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:05.000 if it's the original version, it looks like a Catalan peasant, 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.840 so he also has that red hat. He's probably smoking 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.440 a pipe. And these things are designed to be put 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:14.400 into the Nativity scene as one of the figures along 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:20.080 with the Holy Family, and a lot of Westerners find 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.480 that offensive and don't understand that it's it's not meant, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.760 even in a joking manner. It wasn't. Originally, it was 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:31.000 meant because the Kaganair represented things like fertility or good 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.600 fortune or good luck and as poop did. But over 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:36.960 time it's definitely evolved, and now you can find Kagan 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.840 Air figures of all sorts of famous people, from Barack 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:46.920 Obama to the Star Wars crew has a Kagan Air collection. 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:47.480 Of course. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:48.719 Did you see it? 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.880 Well, yeah I saw. I mean there are all kinds 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:55.040 of pop culture icons now with their pants pulled down pooping. 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.480 But did you see the Star Wars one in particular? 0:08:57.559 --> 0:08:58.280 No, no, it was it good? 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.680 Yeah, it's pretty great. See three pooped out a nut 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.120 like a bolt nut. 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.800 Not a nut like one might traditionally find in a stool. 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:14.400 No, no, it's not a peanut, a walnut. Oh man, 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:16.959 who knew this one was going to be so uh gross? 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:17.680 Yeah? 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:19.120 Well I guess we could have guessed. 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.800 Yeah, you found the stuff, so yeah, what else can 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.240 we mention here? There was a world's record, of course, 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:29.000 on December tenth, I'm sorry, December twenty ten, there was 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:33.880 a nineteen foot pooping figurine placed in the shopping center 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.719 and won the record for world's largest Kagan air. 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:39.240 Yeah, in Barcelona. 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:40.240 Pretty good. 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.440 Yeah, I looked at a picture. I couldn't find any 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:46.920 actual specs on it, but by my estimates, the pile 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.640 of poop is about three feet tall. Oh okay, yeah, 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.000 in the middle of the shopping center, the Marra Magnum 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:54.359 shopping center in Barcelona. 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:56.280 Nice. Well, my sister lives in Portugal. Now I'm going 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.440 to hit her up and see if she's seen any 0:09:58.440 --> 0:09:58.920 in this action. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.199 Yeah, for sure. Ask her to mail us some caganaiirs. 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:02.840 I'd love one. 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:04.360 You can order one online? 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:06.440 Yeah, yeah, I'll bet she can get a better deal 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:07.280 on one there. 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:14.200 Uh, should we take a break, No, Josh, we shouldn't. Oh, yeah, 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:18.360 we shouldn't because as of per tradition, our Christmas episode 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.120 is ad free. It's one of small little thing we 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:20.560 like to do. 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:26.440 It's ad free with one hundred percent more Christmas. 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.640 That's right, all right, So let's pile on our sleigh 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.920 and let's head on over and see how doctor Crampis 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:32.360 is doing. 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.960 Yeah, over in the Alps, in the Alpine regions. 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.240 Yes, of Austria. So well, let's talk about Crampis. It's 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.240 a it's a weird thing, but then it's not any 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.559 weirder than Santa Claus if you really look at it, Yeah, 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.000 or bringing a tree into your home. 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.400 He's this. No, it's really not. And it actually makes 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:01.760 a lot of sense too, because you know, Santa Claus 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.640 is so good and pure and happy and joyful, and 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.719 Crampis is all the opposite. So as as it was 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:11.600 put in this one Smithsonian article I read, Crampis is 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.440 the Yen to Saint Nick's yang. Yeah, and they actually 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.800 hang out together. And we should probably describe Crampus a 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:19.040 little bit first, huh. 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.480 Yeah, So here's the legend, is that Crampus shows up. 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.720 Crampus is sort of a beast of sorts, a demon, 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.600 a demonic, impish beast. 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.720 With a long tongue. And Claus, his name, in fact, 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.960 is derived from the German word for claw, I. 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:42.160 Believe, Yeah, what's that, uh, Crampin' huh was it that simple? 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.760 So Crampus he shows up. He shows up in the 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:50.360 town the night before December sixth, which is also known 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:56.000 as Crampas Snacht or Crampus Knight. And uh, that's also 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.679 a Nicholas taug or Saint Nicholas date. December six is. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:02.040 Right, So they show up on December fifth, the night 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:02.640 of the fifth. 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.200 Yeah, and you know, like the light in the dark, 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:07.880 Crampus is like, no, no, no, Saint Nick can't just 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.720 show up. I will show up as well and try 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:11.640 and ruin the good time. 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:17.240 Right. So what's interesting is like on Crampus Knocked the 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.440 Saint Nick goes around and leaves little goodies in the 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.600 shoes of good kids. Sure, and then birch sticks in 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.640 the shoes of bad kids, ostensibly for their parents to 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.640 smack them on the behind with for being bad. But 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.920 there's another level reserved for the truly bad kids. And 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.640 that's what Crampus is there for. He's there to abduct 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:43.520 and torture and potentially eat the really bad kids. He's 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:46.959 actually going around with Saint Nick visiting people's home. 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.600 Yeah, say, how bad are you? Do you need to 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:50.800 be tortured and eaten? 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.960 Are you bad, or like crampist level bad. 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.840 And this hearkens back the first thing I thought it was, 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.320 of course, our episodes on the Grim's fairy Tales very 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.560 much sort of aligns with that where children are readily 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:10.240 offered up as food for beasts. You know, like no 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:11.800 one cared back then. 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.600 No, they definitely treated their children more harshly, for sure. 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:17.680 There was a lot more like getting lost in the 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:19.959 forest and no one coming to find you, going on. 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:22.880 Yeah, so Crampus obviously, over the years there have been 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:25.880 a lot of people who have been like, let's abolish this. 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:30.120 This is not in the modern Christmas spirit. He is 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.440 the son of the Norse god of the underworld hell 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:37.439 h l And during the twelfth century the Catholic Church 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.520 tried to ban Crampus, and then more recently in the 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:45.560 nineteen thirties when Austria's conservative Christian Social Party came in 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.240 came around, they definitely tried to get Crampus outlawed, but 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:52.920 people would not have it. They needed their Crampus. 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:57.320 Yeah, I mean, Crampus predates Christianity. He has some staying power, 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:02.120 you know. He was originally like a German demon of 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.280 pagan folklore. Yeah, yeah, he would be tough to get 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.120 rid of, and probably now more so than ever because 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.520 some sort of weird Streisan effect apparently happened, and now 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.360 more people are aware of Crampis than ever before, and 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:19.320 he's celebrated big time. People love him. There are mostly people, 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.360 Oh yeah, there was yeah, a good horror movie. Well 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:23.800 I don't I can't say if it was good. I 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:28.320 haven't seen it, but it looks good. But people who 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.160 are who get sick of the holiday spirit being crammed 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.640 down their throat for you know, after X number of 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:37.840 weeks usually turned to Crampis to kind of find some relief. 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.040 I looked up this other thing because at the end 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.320 of this article it mentions a couple of weird things 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.840 demons in other countries Christmas demons and the one in 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.840 Greece Cali Kans. Did you look that up? 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:52.680 Yeah? 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:58.080 Yeah, this is crazy. These are little, impish demons that 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:02.080 speak with a lisp and eat worms and frogs and things. 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:05.720 They only come out at night. They're afraid of the 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.840 sun fire holy water, and then the rest of the 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:10.320 year they live in the center of the earth and 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.040 attempt to chop down the tree of life. 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:16.680 Right, but at Christmas time they emerge to wreak havoc 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:17.400 above ground. 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.040 Right, Yeah, And apparently one of the legends of the 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.640 Calikansari is that they can only count to two. Did 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:26.080 you see that? 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:29.480 Oh no, I didn't actually, but I'll bet I know 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:30.240 where you're going with this. 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.640 Well, they can only They won't say three because it's 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.720 a holy number supposedly, so they only count to two. 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.160 So if you want to guard your home against these 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.960 little imps, you leave a calendar on your torch step. 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.120 So they go mad trying to count the holes. They 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.560 just go one to one, two, over and over until 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:48.720 they commit suicide. 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.080 That's yeah, that's a pretty standard. 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:53.000 It's very strange, you know. 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.480 You know what is strange though, too, is that that's 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.720 a remedy for protecting yourself against vampires. The original vampires 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:02.000 could count, and they would just go nuts trying to 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.000 count like seeds. I think you're supposed to leave. 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.360 Oh that's right, yeah, remember, but they were like. 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.320 They originated in Greece too, I think. 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:11.160 Yeah, so it's all all. It was a. 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:15.520 Surefire remedy that just works for everything. One size fits all. 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:16.200 Yeah. 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.680 Did you see the one about Danny the South African 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:19.480 ghost boy. 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.000 Yeah, that was really that. This was just like scary. 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:27.000 So if you're a kid in South Africa around Christmas time, 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.080 you need to keep an eye out for the ghost 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.760 of Danny, who was a little boy who whose grandmother 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.240 made a batch of cookies for Saint Nick and Danny 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:39.040 just couldn't help himself. He ate the whole batch of cookies. 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.320 So grandmother murdered him and now his ghost haunts Christmas 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:45.600 in South Africa. It's a weird tradition. 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.360 Yeah, it really drives home that we're in an all 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:53.840 time high in terms of regard for children in the world. Yeah, 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:56.280 you know, yep, we're finally doing it right here in 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:57.000 twenty sixteen. 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:01.760 Yep, no children's murdered, children into ghosts on our watch. 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:05.440 You ready for the next segment or you want to. 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:07.800 I'm so psyched about this one. Let's get in this slate. 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.879 Yeah, let's ride on over to TV Land. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:23.480 Yeah, which exists in our imaginations and in Culver City, California. 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.520 That's right, of course, we're talking about a Charlie Brown 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.600 Christmas and just a little bit of its history. It's 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:35.600 one of my favorites. After all these years, I still 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:37.320 love watching that show. 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.240 Yeah, and after all these years, is right. It's been 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.520 on every year since nineteen sixty five, which actually makes 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:49.480 it the second longest running animated cartoon special in history. 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.480 After it's in second place after Rudolph, which came out 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:56.640 the year before and has run every year since as well. 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.159 The Rank and Bass Rudolph, Yes. 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.399 Which is kind of Charlie Brown, just can't come in first. 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:04.240 But it's a very Charlie Brown thing though. 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:05.600 Yeah, it's kind of reassuring. 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:07.920 Well, that's one of the things I always loved about 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.919 Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang was the and this 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.239 article points it out as the melancholy behind it. It 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:18.880 was never just some happy go lucky dumb kids thing. 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:22.960 There was always just so much melancholy and pathos and 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:25.680 those characters. It really look I don't know, it spoke 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:26.440 to me as a kid. 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.399 Yeah, And so I guess the executives at CBS and 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.600 the ad agency for Coca Cola were expecting something totally 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:36.960 different from everything that Charles Schultz had done up to 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.720 that point with this Christmas special when they heard it. 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:44.040 Right, Yeah, well, it almost wasn't even ordered. There was 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.480 a producer named Lee Mendelssohn, who did a little documentary 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.280 short about Charles Schultz called a boy named Charlie Brown. 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.160 And for the first time for that little documentary, they 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.479 just did a little animation because previous it had been 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.440 a comic strip only, and so they just a little 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:01.640 bit of animation. 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:04.280 By a guy named Bill Melendez. 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.760 Yeah, exactly. And so they put that famous jazz piano 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:14.480 score by Vince Garli, which is amazing, and people saw 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.119 it and they were like, hey, maybe this would be 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:18.480 a Christmas special and they said no, no one wanted it. 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:25.680 Yeah. They somebody though, heard about this documentary, which apparently 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.280 was just lost to history pretty quickly, and said, have 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:31.600 you guys ever thought of just doing just a straight 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:35.560 up Christmas special? And apparently Lee Mendelssohn heard the first 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.280 rule of Hollywood, which is you answer yes to every question. Yeah, 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:42.280 of course, and he said, yes, of course we have 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.640 and apparently wrung up Charles Schultz the next day, and 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.840 that next day they had basically all the rough outline 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:53.440 points of what would become the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.080 Yeah. They're like, we need this music because we love it. 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.280 We want some ice skating, we want a Christmas pageant, 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.920 and we want the theme that well, sort of a 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:06.840 religious theme, like Charles Schultz apparently insisted on that. 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.359 Well he was, yeah, he was pretty religious, and yeah, 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:14.560 he definitely insisted on it. And again the executives who 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.879 were waiting with baited breath for this thing to be 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:21.800 delivered to him, were like, this is awful, Like what's 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:25.359 going on here? Like this is super religious? It's not. 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:29.000 It's not hilarious and joyful. It's like you said, it 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:33.120 has path posts, but it's a children's animated Christmas special. 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:35.520 Where's the laugh track? They wanted to put a laugh 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:36.120 track in. 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:39.919 Yes, and they definitely wanted a Linus reading from the 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:40.920 Bible out. 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.399 Well, yeah, they definitely did, and Charles Schultz said, nope, 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:45.280 it's staying in. 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:50.359 And they also wanted to cast adult voice actors. And 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:52.560 it kind of occurred to me that I never knew 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:57.240 who did any of those. So just four quick shout 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:01.240 outs to some of the characters. Charlie Brown was voiced 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:05.640 by Peter Robbins that these great classic iconic voices were 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:10.040 just little kids. Linus was Christopher Shay, Sally was Kathy Steinberg, 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:13.760 and Lucy was Tracy Stratford and you can go look 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:15.120 up with the rest of the cast if you want. 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:16.679 But that would be weird if we read out like 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:18.000 eighteen people, right. 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:20.880 But the other kids actually, so the ones you named 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:24.159 were professionals. The other kids were actually neighborhood kids. And 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:27.800 Bill Mendelssohn, the animator and director's neighborhood. Yeah, so they 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:31.040 were like, not just kids, they were legit kids and 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:35.159 not fake Hollywood kids, right exactly, who are actually like 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:40.000 thirty five or forty Yeah, But the use of kids 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.439 was unusual for sure, and they hadn't really thought it 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:45.880 through from what I saw, because some of these kids 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:47.800 were so young that they didn't know how to read yet, 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.240 Like the kid who played Lionus didn't know how to read, 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:53.280 so he had to be told what lions to say, yeah, 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:55.840 because he couldn't read the yeah. 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:58.280 And Snoopy actually was the only one not voiced by 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.840 a kid. He was voiced by the animator himself. Right, 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:03.879 So that's kind of neat. And it was a huge 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:10.080 hit despite the uh, the doubtful nature of the of 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:13.800