Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda land Audio in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the
Speaker 1: third season of Criminalia. This season, we're exploring the lives
Speaker 1: and motivations of some of the most notorious impostors throughout history.
Speaker 1: The subject of this show actually is a really fun one,
Speaker 1: which we don't get to say very often around here.
Speaker 1: I'm mariach Markey and I'm Holly Fry, and Maria was
Speaker 1: not kidding about the fun. We are going to talk
Speaker 1: about a man today named Barry Breman. Barry was a
Speaker 1: businessman who earned a living as a salesman. His specialty
Speaker 1: was actually as a novelty good salesman, so he would
Speaker 1: have been selling things like gag toys and whoopee cushions
Speaker 1: and maybe some pet rocks. My personal fingers are crossed
Speaker 1: for a lot of wax lips, right, I mean it
Speaker 1: was it was the time, right, yes, But for seven
Speaker 1: years of his life from to nineteen eighty six, it
Speaker 1: was not for being a salesman that he became well known.
Speaker 1: He was, in fact known as the great impostor of
Speaker 1: the sports world. Barry was born on June thirtieth, nineteen
Speaker 1: forty seven in Bloomfield Hills, which is a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.
Speaker 1: He loved sports, and he was considered an enthusiastic but
Speaker 1: amateur athlete while he was growing up and by his
Speaker 1: early thirties, Barry would also self describe as a professional impostor,
Speaker 1: and I have quotes around that. So after going to
Speaker 1: see a lack of confidence was never really a problem
Speaker 1: for this man. I so admire his confidence. So we
Speaker 1: gotta rewind back to nineteen seventy nine to set the stage.
Speaker 1: Nineteen seventy nine was the year the Iran hostage crisis began,
Speaker 1: and the most serious nuclear power plant accident in the
Speaker 1: United States happened that year at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: On the much lighter side of the news, Sony introduced
Speaker 1: the Sony Walkman that year, and if you're curious, Maria,
Speaker 1: was I actually remember its introduction. I do too that
Speaker 1: I didn't remember this piece of it. I did because
Speaker 1: I had older siblings who I got to when it
Speaker 1: was released. It costs two hundred dollars, which was incredibly steep, right,
Speaker 1: which I'm sure is why I didn't realize it at
Speaker 1: the time. I was little you know, and the Sugar
Speaker 1: Hill Gangs Rappers Delight became the first rap single to
Speaker 1: become a top forty hit in V nine was also
Speaker 1: the year the very Bremen became a household name. This
Speaker 1: wasn't all that long ago, but it was an era
Speaker 1: of high spirited and fun loving pranks, and in particular
Speaker 1: in sports, and they were totally all publicity worthy. For instance,
Speaker 1: a woman who called herself Morgana became known as the
Speaker 1: Kissing Bandit because she was known to run onto Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball fields um and actually other sporting events too,
Speaker 1: to plan to kiss or two on unsuspecting players. It
Speaker 1: sounds so fun and at the time hilarious us. But
Speaker 1: today that would be perceived so differently. Yeah, but we'll
Speaker 1: get we'll get into that in a little bit. So
Speaker 1: as for Barry, he has been described as equal parts
Speaker 1: of these three characters. First P. T. Barnum, the showman
Speaker 1: who founded the Barnum and Bailey Circus. A lot to
Speaker 1: unpack their We're going to say that Barry was associated
Speaker 1: with the more fun association the Shuman Ship. Correct. Second
Speaker 1: Walter Mitty, who, of course, is a fictional character of
Speaker 1: an ordinary person who indulges in fantastic daydreams of personal triumphs.
Speaker 1: And third, the paper Lion era George Plimpton. Oh, George,
Speaker 1: a writer who at the time was trying different disguises
Speaker 1: and stunts and writing about them. I still have a
Speaker 1: crush on George, so I'm not even joking. Let's let's
Speaker 1: see if Barry matches up to these figures. It's an
Speaker 1: interesting trio. So in nine, a strange man in a
Speaker 1: Kansas City Kings uniform that's a team that's now known
Speaker 1: as the Sacramento Kings joined the basketball team for pregame
Speaker 1: warm up, and this prank was what began the legend
Speaker 1: of Barry Bremen. Impersonating a professional basketball player at the
Speaker 1: NBA All Star Game in Detroit was one of Barry's
Speaker 1: first pranks. He We're gonna say, borrowed the uniform and
Speaker 1: joined the team as they warmed up on the court,
Speaker 1: and he took several shots before he was outed and
Speaker 1: escorted out of the arena. Quote. I did it on
Speaker 1: a bet, explained Barry. He made his way onto the
Speaker 1: court at halftime during the game in a uniform with
Speaker 1: the name Johnson. Quote. There were thirteen Johnson's in the NBA,
Speaker 1: So it was almost like I fit right in so
Speaker 1: that I did it on a bet. Part of his quotation, mark,
Speaker 1: I know it's it's to the media. I know he
Speaker 1: said it, but I totally think it's a lie with
Speaker 1: my so right, maybe that's it. In general, though, the
Speaker 1: professional athletes that he would get onto the court or
Speaker 1: the field with, none of them were generally really bothered
Speaker 1: by any of his antics, and on the contrary, they
Speaker 1: were kind of taken in by his infectious charm, his charisma,
Speaker 1: and just his general love of life. That probably also
Speaker 1: explains why after an air ball and a couple of conkers,
Speaker 1: the pros actually started feeding him in the ball. The
Speaker 1: real players, I mean, at least a few that we know,
Speaker 1: but we're likely in on some of these antics as well.
Speaker 1: Also in nineteen seventy nine, ESPM launched on cable televisions.
Speaker 1: There was only one then, but it was actually a
Speaker 1: different network that noticed Barry. Sports journalist Dick chap first
Speaker 1: shown the spotlight on Barry after he crashed the halftime
Speaker 1: warm ups of that nineteen NBA All Star Game. Chap
Speaker 1: actually featured him as Sportsman of the Week on NBC's
Speaker 1: Today Show, and it did not take long before Barry's
Speaker 1: anti got him on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
Speaker 1: by invitation, not by a prank, and with that, Barri's
Speaker 1: days of being known as the Great impostor were firmly established.
Speaker 1: That kick started a tour of TV talk shows, including
Speaker 1: Late Night with David Letterman. He went on to become
Speaker 1: the subject of a Jeopardy question, and his appearances on
Speaker 1: TV really seemed to tap into the growing appetite that
Speaker 1: Americans were having for what would later become reality television.
Speaker 1: But here's what Barry had to say about his television
Speaker 1: experiences and appearances, and we quote this. What sinched it
Speaker 1: for me was when Bowling for Dollars called and asked
Speaker 1: me to be the celebrity bowler my kid's favorite program.
Speaker 1: Right right then, I knew I had arrived. I love that.
Speaker 1: That's the effects of his fame for him. I know
Speaker 1: he's like Johnny Carson. Right Bowling for Dollars is where
Speaker 1: we are going to take a quick break for a
Speaker 1: word from our sponsor, and when we return, we will
Speaker 1: talk about the time that Barry impersonated a chicken. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to criminalia. Let's talk about all the times Barry
Speaker 1: pretended to be a professional athlete, among other things. It
Speaker 1: was also in nineteen seventy nine. Clearly he was very busy.
Speaker 1: That year, Barry warmed up with the American League team
Speaker 1: for the Major League Baseball All Star Game while wearing
Speaker 1: New York Yankee pinstripes. That was before he was escorted
Speaker 1: off the field. The following year, in nineteen eighty, Berry
Speaker 1: showed up as an umpire at home plate for the
Speaker 1: World Series. That was when the Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas
Speaker 1: City Royals were playing. But again that did not last.
Speaker 1: He was quickly escorted off the field. Yes, and as
Speaker 1: Holly mentioned earlier, in two he attempted to crash the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl while impersonating a chicken, specifically the famous San
Speaker 1: Diego chicken. But here he was stopped by police before
Speaker 1: he could actually enter. I guess they noticed the chicken.
Speaker 1: It's hard to, you know, keep it on the d
Speaker 1: L when you're walking around in a chicken suit. I
Speaker 1: might know that from personal experience. Maybe maybe not. During
Speaker 1: a nine six batting practice at the All Star Game
Speaker 1: in Houston, Texas, Barry, who was wearing a new York
Speaker 1: Mets uniform with the number thirteen on it, but no name.
Speaker 1: Actually fielded a few fly balls when the manager of
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tommy Lasorda, it's a very recognizable
Speaker 1: name in Major League Baseball, noticed him, and loss Orta
Speaker 1: ran onto the field bat in hand. Again, no surprise
Speaker 1: if you know anything about Tommy Lasorda shouting and we quote, hey,
Speaker 1: hey's a whole lot of expletives behind it. That's exactly
Speaker 1: what I expect from Tommy. Started yes. Lossorta, who was
Speaker 1: serving as the National League coach for the game, told
Speaker 1: the media, I knew something was up when he couldn't
Speaker 1: go to his right. He continued quote, he said he
Speaker 1: was living his fantasy, and I said it was my
Speaker 1: fantasy to get his bleep off the field. That's me bleeping.
Speaker 1: Before leaving, Barry explained that he just wanted to take
Speaker 1: batting practice and get one hit. That was all, just
Speaker 1: one hit. Barry's big dream prank at this time actually
Speaker 1: was to masquerade as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Being Barry,
Speaker 1: he did it. He lost twenty three pounds and shaved
Speaker 1: his legs. He practiced routines with his wife and he
Speaker 1: had a custom made cheerleader uniform mate to pull it off,
Speaker 1: he probably spent about a thousand dollars, if not a
Speaker 1: little bit more of his own money. So he made
Speaker 1: his move at a Dallas Cowboys Washington Redskins game. In
Speaker 1: those hot pants boots, he had some breast enhancers and
Speaker 1: blonde wig. Barry danced with the cheerleading squad during the
Speaker 1: last two minutes of the game, and he also got
Speaker 1: out a single cheer of go Dallas before Cowboys security
Speaker 1: grabbed him. This part of the story that that right
Speaker 1: there wore is my heart. The image of Barry dancing
Speaker 1: with the cheerleaders, Like, I just love this part of
Speaker 1: his story. The team vice president Joseph A. Bailey did
Speaker 1: not love it. He called Barry quote perverted, and when
Speaker 1: Barry called the cheerleader's manager to try to explain that
Speaker 1: it was all just in good fun, she replied tersely, quote,
Speaker 1: you are not a female. So the way that Barry
Speaker 1: played imposter, it's a little different than the way that
Speaker 1: we talk about other impostors in this season. He didn't
Speaker 1: cause himself or anyone else any harm. He didn't do
Speaker 1: anything physically or financially wrong, but the Cowboys sued him
Speaker 1: to the tune of five thousand dollars for trespassing and
Speaker 1: for creating a nuisance. They wanted to ban him from
Speaker 1: Cowboy games for the rest of his life. Barry's reaction
Speaker 1: was pretty berry. He said, what are they going to do?
Speaker 1: Put wanted posters at every entrance? This is ridiculous. I
Speaker 1: was just having fun, and in the end of the
Speaker 1: team did drop the lawsuit. This is one of those
Speaker 1: things where I kind of see both sides. I fall
Speaker 1: on the side of fun, but I could see where
Speaker 1: someone who was not particularly humorous about their job would
Speaker 1: be very irritated by this whole business. Um amidst Amid
Speaker 1: start talking about his infiltration of the Cowboys cheerleading squad,
Speaker 1: we really have to pivot a little bit and talk
Speaker 1: about Barry's golfing prowess. On three yes, that is correct,
Speaker 1: three separate occasions. Barry played golf in the US Open
Speaker 1: practice round, which is amazing, right, and he actually was
Speaker 1: considered a pretty good golfer according to the man himself.
Speaker 1: At least he allegedly had a seven handicap, But great
Speaker 1: or not, most golfers still do not it to play
Speaker 1: around with a talent like Jack Nicholas or Fred Couples,
Speaker 1: right or he did, but Berry did right. So again
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy nine, Barry snuck into the club that
Speaker 1: was hosting the US Open and he played a practice
Speaker 1: round with Jerry Pate, who was actually unaware of who
Speaker 1: Barry actually was. At the US Open in nineteen eighty,
Speaker 1: he played so poorly that a spectator actually asked that
Speaker 1: the United States Golf Association's representative how an amateur golfer
Speaker 1: could make it through qualifying? Um, But it's Barry. So
Speaker 1: Barry didn't actually go through qualifying. That's why it was
Speaker 1: his third time doing this in five where things went
Speaker 1: well a little differently for him on the golf course.
Speaker 1: While he was scouting the Oakland Hills Country Club, he
Speaker 1: happened to meet pro golfer Fred Couples and the two
Speaker 1: men hit it off, and Couples would later remember Berry
Speaker 1: saying quote, I had a great chuckle with him. So
Speaker 1: when it comes to this nineteen event, a friend who
Speaker 1: was a club member also helped pull off this caper.
Speaker 1: He's the one who smuggled Berries clubs and his caddy
Speaker 1: into the club. Barry were a disguise, which I love,
Speaker 1: included a fake mustache along with a wig, and he
Speaker 1: claimed to be a qualifier named Mark Diamond. Once he
Speaker 1: was in he found Couples, who was playing a practice
Speaker 1: round with Jay Hass. According to Couples, and this is
Speaker 1: a long quote, so stick with me, he came out
Speaker 1: of the shrubs on the second hole and hit this
Speaker 1: tea shot that buzzes the spectators. He had on this
Speaker 1: big wig and advisor and looked a little out of place,
Speaker 1: but we didn't care. He just did his deal and
Speaker 1: had a great time. It didn't take long for people
Speaker 1: to scream out, who's that guy? I mean, the cat
Speaker 1: was out of the bag after a couple of holes,
Speaker 1: but we didn't get into trouble and no one came
Speaker 1: out to get him. I suspect having the pro golfers
Speaker 1: not really carrying helped a whole lot in terms of security.
Speaker 1: At the tenth hole, the threesome turned into a fiveesome,
Speaker 1: four professional golfers and Barry quote. When we played as
Speaker 1: a fivesome, according to Barry, that's when I got a
Speaker 1: little nervous. All they said was we don't mind you
Speaker 1: playing as long as you keep the ball in play.
Speaker 1: I think that's fair. I think that's fair good nature
Speaker 1: right out of all of his stunts, Barry always said
Speaker 1: that he was proudest of his golf antics. He said, quote,
Speaker 1: I was out there for the longest time and I
Speaker 1: was never caught. He called this particular four and a
Speaker 1: half hour prank his favorite impersonation quote, no question about it.
Speaker 1: It was wonderful. He also said, quote during one point,
Speaker 1: as I was playing, I remember thinking what a great
Speaker 1: place this is. I mean, is America a great place?
Speaker 1: Or what? Berry can do crazy things that are completely
Speaker 1: untoward and still get away with it. So let's just
Speaker 1: call them. They're all fun. We're going to take a
Speaker 1: quick rake for award from our sponsor, and then we'll
Speaker 1: be back to talk about Barry's stunt, not in the
Speaker 1: sports world, but at the Emmy's. Welcome back to criminal lya. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's talk about why Barry needed to apologize to entertain her,
Speaker 1: Betty Thomas. This is one of Barry's non sports related pranks.
Speaker 1: He brazenly accepted Betty Thomas's Emmy. This was not a
Speaker 1: small prank either. It's not like running onto the basketball
Speaker 1: court at halftime. Betty Thomas to give you some context,
Speaker 1: started her acting career alongside Bill Murray, Harold Ramos, and
Speaker 1: John Belushi on stage every night at Second City. She
Speaker 1: has started hit TV shows. She moved into directing, eventually
Speaker 1: giving us such hits as The Brady Bunch Movie and
Speaker 1: Dr Doolittle, and her two thousand nine film Alvin and
Speaker 1: the Chipmunks. The Squeak Wol became the first female directed
Speaker 1: picture to gross more than two hundred million dollars. It
Speaker 1: makes her one of the most successful directors of all Tommy,
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, squeak one. So this is the first
Speaker 1: time you encountered the Squeaks as an animation person. I
Speaker 1: knew all about the well Alvan, I got that, but
Speaker 1: the Squeak well, I just um, I can go now.
Speaker 1: I think she definitely has Hollywood credit. But for our purposes,
Speaker 1: we're talking about the time earlier in her career when
Speaker 1: Betty landed a role as police officer Lucy Bates on
Speaker 1: Hill Street Blues. So this show actually ran between nine
Speaker 1: seven and Betty received during that time seven yeah, I said,
Speaker 1: seven Emmy nominations for her work as Outstanding Supporting Actress.
Speaker 1: But it was this year she took Home and Emmy.
Speaker 1: That's the five season of the show, and that's also
Speaker 1: the same year that Barry interrupted it. Yeah, she basically
Speaker 1: got nominated every single year for that one. So there's
Speaker 1: Barry at the thirty seven Annual Emmy Awards in the
Speaker 1: Pasadena Civic Auditorium, dressed all up in a rented tuxedo
Speaker 1: with a pink tie and cumberbund He said, quote, I
Speaker 1: was a little tanned. I looked, Barry, Hollywood. I'm going
Speaker 1: to interrupt you for a second that if anyone actually
Speaker 1: wants to google that, there is a photo of Barry
Speaker 1: at the lectern in his pink tie and cumberbund um
Speaker 1: accepting this award. It's very blurry like someone took a
Speaker 1: screen capture of it, but it exists and it's he was.
Speaker 1: He was lightly tanned. He later explained that he had
Speaker 1: gotten into the event with a three hundred dollar ticket
Speaker 1: that he purchased pretending he was with the media, and
Speaker 1: with that ticket he ended up in a third row
Speaker 1: aisle seat. Berry, over the course of the evening, met
Speaker 1: several celebrity is, including this story about actor Robert Stack.
Speaker 1: I told him, Barry said, I was here to accept
Speaker 1: an Emmy, and I asked him what it was like
Speaker 1: to work with some of his friends. Barry then continued,
Speaker 1: he didn't say much. He acted like he knew who
Speaker 1: I was, but I knew he didn't. So when Betty's
Speaker 1: name was announced, it was Barry who straight to the
Speaker 1: lectern and whispered to the presenter, who happened to be
Speaker 1: the actor Peter Graves, that he would be accepting the
Speaker 1: statue on Betty's behalf. But everyone, including Peter, was confused
Speaker 1: by this, and then it happened, Much to the surprise
Speaker 1: of everyone on stage and at the event, Barry went
Speaker 1: ahead and accepted the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in
Speaker 1: a Drama Series, explaining in his short speech that Betty
Speaker 1: Thomas was unavailable to do so herself. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Betty was there in the audience. She got up to
Speaker 1: try to get her award, and by the time she
Speaker 1: reached the stage, Barry was already wrapping up his acceptance
Speaker 1: speech with a thing you to sportscaster Dick Chap. Chap,
Speaker 1: you'll recall, was the first person to put Barry on
Speaker 1: television as Sportsman of the Week back in ninety nine,
Speaker 1: after being ushered off stage. Barry recalls that when he
Speaker 1: was backstage, Betty seemed and we quote Barry startled and
Speaker 1: he said to her, I'm sorry, I'm the impostor. He
Speaker 1: later said that there was no specific reason that he
Speaker 1: had targeted Betty. Quote. I never met Betty Thomas and
Speaker 1: I've never seen Hill Street Blues. But when I got
Speaker 1: up there, I said I had just talked to Betty yesterday,
Speaker 1: and then I took the award. His act Actually wasn't
Speaker 1: the first time someone crashed the Emmys, or actually any
Speaker 1: award show. Robert Opple made history when he streaked across
Speaker 1: the stage during the forty Academy Awards. In of all
Speaker 1: that he had done, this was the biggest trouble that
Speaker 1: Barry got himself into. He is quoted as saying he
Speaker 1: was quote going to try to work something out, and
Speaker 1: he pretty much did just that. He was questioned and
Speaker 1: booked by Pasadena police, and according to Barry, quote they
Speaker 1: got a little pushy for a while. He always spent
Speaker 1: an hour or two in jail before he posted the
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty dollar bond, and on his way out,
Speaker 1: he signed autographs for some of the officers that gives
Speaker 1: you an indication of the level of celebrity that he
Speaker 1: had achieved at this point for this impostor business. Absolutely
Speaker 1: there Later, though, Barry did acknowledge that Betty Thomas deserved
Speaker 1: an apology from him and that he we quote did
Speaker 1: not want to take the thunder away from anyone. I
Speaker 1: guess I deserved it, right. I mean, you take an
Speaker 1: award from somebody on Hill Street blues, I guess you
Speaker 1: should be thrown in jail. And when asked about that
Speaker 1: hour that he was locked up, Berry replied, well, for starters,
Speaker 1: I was the only guy dressed in a tuxedo, and
Speaker 1: then there was the fact that I was conscious, you know,
Speaker 1: not drunk about that. Emmy prank Berry continued, quote what
Speaker 1: I thought I was doing, what I hoped I was doing,
Speaker 1: was accepting an award for someone who I didn't think
Speaker 1: was there based on her slow reaction of getting up.
Speaker 1: He then added, I guess I missed my mark. I
Speaker 1: should have accepted for Jane Curtin. Jane Curtain was named
Speaker 1: Best Actress that year in a comedy series that was
Speaker 1: for the sitcom Katon Alley, but she was a no show.
Speaker 1: So afterwards, Verry said of the whole affair, and this
Speaker 1: is a quote from him. Let me put it this way.
Speaker 1: From now on, I am going to strictly stay in sports.
Speaker 1: The ball players are more receptive to these things than actors.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you had taken a ball players
Speaker 1: award accepted speech, they may have felt equally chagrined. But
Speaker 1: we'll never know. So we're going to jump forward to
Speaker 1: and that year, Barry told the Associated Press that he
Speaker 1: was semi retired from his impostor days, mainly, as he said,
Speaker 1: because he didn't want to be mistaken for the quote
Speaker 1: real nuts who run onto sports fields for attention or worse.
Speaker 1: He referenced the knife attack that had happened on tennis
Speaker 1: star Monica Sellis in as an early game changer for
Speaker 1: security breaches. Barry's son Adam, explained that his father did
Speaker 1: all of these things because it made people smile, but
Speaker 1: when asked to give advice to people who may also
Speaker 1: want to try it out, Barry said, and we quote this,
Speaker 1: don't do it. It's against the law. Stay away, and
Speaker 1: then he joked, this is my act. You know. I
Speaker 1: could see where people would want to do the copycat thing.
Speaker 1: But I think he was mentally ready for the repercussions
Speaker 1: when things went poorly, and not everybody would be agreed.
Speaker 1: And all of this, of course went even deeper than that.
Speaker 1: In two thousand five, when Barry was asked if he
Speaker 1: planned to completely retire from his role as the Great impostor,
Speaker 1: he replied, and we quote, you've heard of the Taser gun,
Speaker 1: you've heard of nine eleven. They don't ask questions anymore.
Speaker 1: And he's totally right. Security in a post nine eleven
Speaker 1: world is not the same as it was in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy nine. It was far less intense then. Although sometimes
Speaker 1: Barry was arrested, he never spent real time in jail.
Speaker 1: That there was, you know, a couple hours on that
Speaker 1: one night after taking the award. He was mostly just
Speaker 1: verbally reprimanded and then find Today his escapades would be
Speaker 1: seen differently. They would likely attract attention from far more
Speaker 1: than sports fans, and quite possibly from organizations like homeland
Speaker 1: security or the FBI. So also early two thousand's when
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl was in Detroit in two thousand and six,
Speaker 1: the Detroit News asked Barry what he had planned for
Speaker 1: the big event, and his answer when he he whispered
Speaker 1: into the phone, was I've been in the stadium for
Speaker 1: four months. I brought enough food and water. I bought
Speaker 1: the uniform of every team with a chance to go
Speaker 1: into the playoffs. But he couldn't maintain that lie. He
Speaker 1: was He was fifty eight at the time, and he
Speaker 1: just started laughing, and he admitted that he actually was
Speaker 1: planning to stay home comfortably, maybe playing golf and watching
Speaker 1: the game on TV, a much more low key way
Speaker 1: to do it. When he was asked what his wife
Speaker 1: thought of all these pranks, Barry replied, she gets nervous.
Speaker 1: It's an odd advocation. I am a little different. And
Speaker 1: when asked what's next, Barry admitted, I have no idea.
Speaker 1: Maybe Johnny Carson will ask me to be on his
Speaker 1: show and they'll say, here's Johnny, and I'll come out,
Speaker 1: Oh Barry, that would have been funny. So whether he
Speaker 1: whether he'd chosen life as an impostor or not, the
Speaker 1: way Barry lived his life demonstrated a joy and a
Speaker 1: passion that many of us wish we two could have.
Speaker 1: I do what I do for the fun of it.
Speaker 1: He was quoted in a Detroit Free Press article that
Speaker 1: and for the fantasy of just being able to participate
Speaker 1: in these incredible events. There's no social significance. I feel
Speaker 1: like that statement cannot be made today in the era
Speaker 1: of social media and have any of the same resonance.
Speaker 1: Very different time. Barry unfortunately died of his off a
Speaker 1: deeal cancer on June in Scottsdale, Arizona, know where he
Speaker 1: was living with his wife, Margot. She once described him
Speaker 1: and his outlook on life as quote, if you have
Speaker 1: no guts, you have no glory in your life. After
Speaker 1: his death, a lot of people spoke kind words about Barry,
Speaker 1: and we're going to share some of those because he
Speaker 1: was very clearly quite well loved. So let's start with
Speaker 1: sports reporter and the son of Dick Schapp. So his
Speaker 1: name is Jeremy Schapp, and he admitted that he admired
Speaker 1: Berry's we quote absolute refusal to take no for an
Speaker 1: answer and his ability to see padlocks and velvet ropes
Speaker 1: not as obstructions but as provocations. Uh Neil Ruben, a
Speaker 1: Detroit News columnist who wrote about Berry on several occasions,
Speaker 1: remember he lived in Detroit for quite a while, had
Speaker 1: kept in touch with him over the years, and said
Speaker 1: quote he was just this guy who sold novelties out
Speaker 1: of a cluttered office at suburban Detroit, and this was
Speaker 1: his way to be something different. He never heard anybody
Speaker 1: for Barry. It was all about the moment. Let's end
Speaker 1: with this quote from Rabbi Tamara Colton, who officiated Barry's
Speaker 1: memorial service. She called him quote more than a man,
Speaker 1: he's a force. He's a force to remember the part
Speaker 1: of us that yearns to do something a little different,
Speaker 1: a little extraordinary, a lot of fun. What the world
Speaker 1: needs is more forces like Barry. And we actually have
Speaker 1: two more stories about Barry, but we couldn't confirm them. Uh,
Speaker 1: they are still really really great stories, but just remember
Speaker 1: that they're apocryphal and they're part of his allure, but
Speaker 1: we don't know if they're true. Right. They came up
Speaker 1: and maybe maybe one source that we ran into. But
Speaker 1: one of them is that Barry once sang a song
Speaker 1: on stage with Harry Tapin, but after two songs, the
Speaker 1: singer wondered who that guy was. It says a lot
Speaker 1: about shape spirit of like I don't know what's happening,
Speaker 1: but I'm booked for this gig and I'm gonna do it. However,
Speaker 1: they're trying to do it. I'm just gonna keep singing.
Speaker 1: The other story is about the time when Barry addressed
Speaker 1: a gathering of police chiefs. Quote. I pretended to be
Speaker 1: someone else. I wore a polyester suit, and I spoke
Speaker 1: on the legalization of prostitution. Everyone just figured I was
Speaker 1: from Los Angeles or Las Vegas. So I like to
Speaker 1: think that the singing one may be true, but that
Speaker 1: the second one doesn't sound as much like Barry to
Speaker 1: me as the first one does. But I maybe the
Speaker 1: very wrong get him in the right mood, right, He's
Speaker 1: up for it, right. So, speaking of getting us in
Speaker 1: the right mood, what's our mocktail this week? So this
Speaker 1: one is one that I'm doing in honor of Barry,
Speaker 1: and I'm calling Aoidevieve good name for him. I wanted
Speaker 1: to make something that was very bright and fun and
Speaker 1: had like a good crisp flavor. So you're gonna start
Speaker 1: this involves muddling, one of my favorite things. I enjoy
Speaker 1: it as well. You're gonna start with six to ten
Speaker 1: mint leaves, depending on your love of mint. I go
Speaker 1: heavy because I love them, and you're gonna muddle those.
Speaker 1: A word of caution about muddling. People tend to like
Speaker 1: pulverize their mint. No, No, you really just want to
Speaker 1: press them enough that you kind of break the leaves
Speaker 1: open lightly to let all of that yummy, yummy mint
Speaker 1: essence out. But then after you've muddled your mint, you're
Speaker 1: gonna throw three to four blueberries in there and also
Speaker 1: smish them with your muddler. Again, you're not pulverizing, just
Speaker 1: give them a good smush. On top of that, you're
Speaker 1: going to add four ounces of passion fruit juice and
Speaker 1: a half ounce of lime juice, and this should all
Speaker 1: be in your cocktail shaker, and you're gonna give it
Speaker 1: a good hard shake, because anything with juice multifies and
Speaker 1: incorporates better when you give it a good shake. And
Speaker 1: then you'll strain it over ice, so you don't want
Speaker 1: the blueberries and the mint leaves to come with you. Uh,
Speaker 1: And then you will top it off with a little
Speaker 1: bit of soda. I like to garnish it with a
Speaker 1: pretty sprig of like the end of your your mint
Speaker 1: tendril where they have one of those nice clusters of leaves.
Speaker 1: This is so delicious and refreshing. It's a little bit
Speaker 1: tart but it's super duper yummy, and it does give
Speaker 1: you a sense of joade vie so um for my
Speaker 1: drinkers in the crowd, you may have noticed that this
Speaker 1: share some DNA with a mohito. It certainly does. A
Speaker 1: mohedo would also involved some muddled mint and some lime
Speaker 1: juice or some citrus juice, and you would instead put
Speaker 1: white rum and that so you can, if you want,
Speaker 1: just add an ounce or an ounce and a half
Speaker 1: of rum and uh, you know, spin that up and
Speaker 1: you'll get kind of like a blueberry passioned fruit mohedo
Speaker 1: out of the deal. Also very delicious and full of
Speaker 1: joade vive. I bet, I bet it sounds like an
Speaker 1: excellent drink. I have made several in the last couple
Speaker 1: of days, both both with rumen without because they're really
Speaker 1: really yummy. And I'm like, I got the juice on
Speaker 1: an it's called testing shure, it's called testing testing andree
Speaker 1: four or five, six, seven eight, And then I ran
Speaker 1: out of juice. No I still have some left. Um.
Speaker 1: I love, I love, I love, I love this drink.
Speaker 1: It's one of my favorite markbils I've done so far. Excellent.
Speaker 1: So hopefully if anybody else tries it, you will feel
Speaker 1: similarly full of jois uh We We hope that you
Speaker 1: are experiencing some choas or joy or however you wished
Speaker 1: to say it these days, and we want to make
Speaker 1: sure we thank you for spending this time with us.
Speaker 1: We will see you right here again next week with
Speaker 1: another impostor. Criminalia is a production of Shawonda land Audio
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Speaker 1: Shonda land Audio, please visit the I heart Radio app,
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