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Speaker 1: Stevie Lane. Hello, So now you have a story I

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Speaker 1: do to tell to share with the nation. Yes, does

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Speaker 1: your grandmother what's your grandmother's name again, Philip, Ruth?

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Speaker 2: Ruth close?

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Speaker 1: Has she listened to your stories in the past?

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Speaker 2: She has?

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Speaker 1: Has she listened to my stories?

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Speaker 2: No? Not as much, not at all.

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Speaker 1: Should we call her up on the telephone to tell

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Speaker 1: her that you have a story?

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Speaker 3: Who's this?

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Speaker 2: Hi, Grandma, it's Stevie. Oh.

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Speaker 3: Oh, it just said New York. I almost wasn't going.

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Speaker 4: To take it.

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Speaker 3: Okay, fun, how to do it?

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Speaker 2: I was just calling because I wanted to tell you

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Speaker 2: that I'm hosting today's episode of Heavyweight.

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Speaker 3: Oh and of course, you know what, I'll hear you

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Speaker 3: better because I just came back from the audeologist. She

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Speaker 3: fixs my hearing aids so I can hear a little better.

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Speaker 3: And no, everybody who listens, you know, so I we're

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Speaker 3: hearing age.

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Speaker 2: Oh, Grandma, I think that most ninety five year olds

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Speaker 2: have hearing aids.

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Speaker 3: And right now you're told everyone I'm old.

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Speaker 4: I am.

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Speaker 3: I was going to say I'm only eighty nine, but okay,

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Speaker 3: I've got to say ninety five.

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Speaker 2: I'm sorry.

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Speaker 3: No, I was only teasing you, and I don't care.

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Speaker 3: I don't know me so well, but they don't know

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Speaker 3: I don't look my age. You'd have to tell them that.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, So for everyone listening, she does not look

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Speaker 2: her age.

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Speaker 3: Good.

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Speaker 2: I'm Stevie Lane and this is heavyweight, Today's heavyweight short.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, sir, I'm ready to hear it.

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Speaker 2: Now you may right after the break. Hello, Hi is

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Speaker 2: this Yasir? Yes, this is he. Yaser is twenty eight.

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Speaker 2: He lives in Saudi Arabia and he's a dentist. I

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Speaker 2: love going to the dentist.

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Speaker 5: Actually, oh nice, I see you floss.

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Speaker 2: Every day and I have a water floss.

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Speaker 5: Wow, A plus do it.

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Speaker 2: I could talk about my oral hygiene all day. Cavities,

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Speaker 2: zero gum recession. If anything, my gums are advancing. But

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Speaker 2: we're not here to talk about my superior dental health.

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Speaker 2: We're here to talk about Yaser and a cartoon he

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Speaker 2: first encountered when he was a kid. Yaser hasn't seen

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Speaker 2: it in twenty years because it's completely vanished. Yasser grew

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Speaker 2: up in a small Saudi town. He loved cartoons. This

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Speaker 2: was back before streaming, so his mom would go to

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Speaker 2: the video store to buy VHS tapes for him, and

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Speaker 2: one day, when Yaser was about eight years old, she

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Speaker 2: came home with a cartoon that changed his life.

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Speaker 5: The show is called Little Eliphonteau. It's about a family

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Speaker 5: of elephants living in suburbia.

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Speaker 2: The elephant family was called the boom Mills.

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Speaker 6: The father works in a company and he's always worried

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Speaker 6: about his bonus.

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Speaker 5: Oh, when is my boss going to give me my bonus?

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Speaker 2: And the show was dubbed in Arabic. Yasser always assumed

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Speaker 2: it was originally American.

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Speaker 6: You know the fact that they're living in suburbia, that's

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Speaker 6: very American. The father's financial woes also American. Brown nosing

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Speaker 6: with the boss and trying to make him like him,

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Speaker 6: that seems to me very American as well.

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Speaker 2: I take offense at yas theer's assumption that all Americans

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Speaker 2: are career obsessed sick offense, But I just laughed politely.

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Speaker 2: After all, I have an interview to finish, and I

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Speaker 2: want to make my talented and intelligent boss, Jonathan Stuart

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Speaker 2: Goldstein proud. Maybe this year I'll finally get that bonus.

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Speaker 2: The show quickly became a classic in Yasser's home, He

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Speaker 2: and his brother would watch it every morning before school

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Speaker 2: with a breakfast sandwich and a big cup of Nest Cafe.

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Speaker 2: The star of the show was the baby elephant, Filo,

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Speaker 2: who was.

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Speaker 6: Very young and still in diapers and has a teddy

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Speaker 6: bear named Hong.

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Speaker 2: Filo and Hong would go on imaginary adventures together.

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Speaker 5: Fodo was so magical to me whenever we would go

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Speaker 5: on camping trips or desert outings.

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Speaker 6: Every time we would go, I would try to discover something,

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Speaker 6: a secret door, a treasure like Fido.

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Speaker 2: Yes, or love the show because like Philo, he was

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Speaker 2: a kid with a big imagination, the kind of kid

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Speaker 2: it would pretend that inanimate objects were alive. He tells

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Speaker 2: me about one time when he was driving down a

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Speaker 2: bumpy road with a friend.

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Speaker 6: I was kind of imagining the car, kind of going, oh,

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Speaker 6: what are you doing to me?

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Speaker 2: Oh, calm down, slow bloo. But in Yaser's small town,

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Speaker 2: he didn't feel like there was a lot of support

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Speaker 2: for kids like him, kids who looked drawing and making

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Speaker 2: up stories.

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Speaker 6: And I longed for a place to bring my creativity

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Speaker 6: to light.

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Speaker 2: Pursuing a creative field didn't feel like an option for Ya, Sir,

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Speaker 2: And when he got older, he chose a career that

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Speaker 2: was practical and prestigious dentistry. Now a decade later, Yasser

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Speaker 2: admits that he doesn't love it. He's always been this

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Speaker 2: really imaginative person, but in his daily routine, he's not

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Speaker 2: that excited by what he does. He spends his days

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Speaker 2: looking at rows of teeth and checking gums. There's no

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Speaker 2: sense of wonder like there was when he was a

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Speaker 2: kid living in his imaginary world. He's nostalgic for that

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Speaker 2: feeling and sees the cartoon as a sort of portal.

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Speaker 2: He knows that watching Philo would bring him right back

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Speaker 2: to his childhood. The only problem is Filo is gone.

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Speaker 5: I tried to find it everywhere. No one ever recognizes it.

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Speaker 5: No one knows this show aside from our family. It's

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Speaker 5: so insane. It almost feels like a like a dream

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Speaker 5: we had as a family.

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Speaker 2: It's as though Little Philo has been wiped from existence.

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Speaker 2: Yaser has poured over media archives, has tried googling Elephant

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Speaker 2: cartoon in every language he can think of. Once, he

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Speaker 2: even heard an actor's voice on TV and recognized him

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Speaker 2: as one of the characters from the show.

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Speaker 6: So I looked up the guy on Facebook, and then

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Speaker 6: I find Hi.

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Speaker 5: I tell him about this show. He does not recognize it.

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Speaker 2: In a last ditch effort, Yaser made a drawing of

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Speaker 2: the characters from memory, the dad and his bowtie, invest

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Speaker 2: the mom in her green, ruffled house dress. He bought

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Speaker 2: ads based on Instagram and posted the drawing to see

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Speaker 2: if anyone could identify it. Nothing.

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Speaker 6: I keep thinking there must be like some like cartoon

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Speaker 6: lunatic guy living in a basement that would like instantly

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Speaker 6: pick it up.

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Speaker 5: But I just don't know.

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Speaker 2: I mean lunatic basically cartoon guides.

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Speaker 1: So you want to break it down with the maestro?

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Speaker 1: Is that what this is about?

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Speaker 2: From Gimblet Media, he's Jonathan Goldstein, post of Most Heavyweight Episodes.

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Speaker 2: I tell him about my conversation with Yaser and his

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Speaker 2: beloved TV show about a family of elephants.

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Speaker 1: Can I stop you and ask a question?

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Speaker 2: Please?

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Speaker 1: This family of elephants is one of them wearing a crown.

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Speaker 2: I know what you're thinking. You're thinking Babar. I'm thinking Babar.

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Speaker 2: I think it's Babar. What's Who's b bar? B Bar

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Speaker 2: is the elephant with a crown? But Yaser sent me

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Speaker 2: the drawing he made and it looks nothing like Babar

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Speaker 2: or bab Bar.

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Speaker 1: Oh, now you're calling him babar. Huh.

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Speaker 2: I'm just trying to I'm just trying to be agreeable,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 1: Can can you hear this?

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Speaker 2: You're ready? Oh? I think you're right? I mean you

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Speaker 2: were right. I knew I was right.

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Speaker 7: I just didn't.

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Speaker 1: Let's see one more, one more, hang on, here it comes.

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Speaker 4: Oh did you hear that?

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Speaker 2: Okay, so you're gonna take the set what sounds like

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Speaker 2: a barely literate child and use that.

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Speaker 1: Who would know better? Who would know better than a

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Speaker 1: ba bar?

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Speaker 2: Okay? So let's just say we're both right. Well, Jonathan

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Speaker 2: says he isn't the basement dweller. I seek he does know,

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Speaker 2: just the guy.

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Speaker 1: He has a very quick mind, very quick on his toes,

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Speaker 1: fleet of foot and fleet of mouth. It's like everything

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Speaker 1: that he says sounds like it could be scored to

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Speaker 1: flight of the bumblebee? Does that make sense?

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Speaker 8: Not really?

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Speaker 1: You'll you'll see what I'm talking about.

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Speaker 2: Hi, Stev, how are you? This is Howard? And Jonathan

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Speaker 2: was right. Talking to Howard feels like clinging to an

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Speaker 2: electric fence. Like here's what he says when I send

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Speaker 2: him asters drawing.

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Speaker 9: They actually look like elephant seals. Holy shit, they have

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Speaker 9: known known that they are elfan seals. They would have

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Speaker 9: they would have flippers. They're They're definitely most evil animals

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Speaker 9: on the planet. I think male elephant seals. They smother

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Speaker 9: their babies to death. What Dolphins are also not the nicest.

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Speaker 9: I love dolphins so much, but they're really mean. They're

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Speaker 9: mean to sharks.

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Speaker 2: Howard is a cartoonist himself and has an extensive knowledge

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Speaker 2: of all things animation. I tell him all about the

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Speaker 2: boom Mill family and some of the other characters, like

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Speaker 2: the janitor elephant with a cigarette butt hanging out of

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Speaker 2: her mouth.

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Speaker 9: That changes a lot. Then it's most likely not an

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Speaker 9: American or Canadian kid series because they would never put

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Speaker 9: a cigarette in the mouth, especially if it was like

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Speaker 9: late nineties, early two thousands.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's a good point.

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Speaker 9: I'm going to find this Philo Elefanto little Elephants.

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Speaker 2: I'm obsessed with this now. I expect to hang up

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Speaker 2: and get a call from Howard in a few days

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Speaker 2: with the answer. Instead, he launches into his investigation right

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Speaker 2: then and there with a dizzying speed. He turns to Wikipedia.

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Speaker 9: And if Philiu camp Plasio, Chico Bombon, Edward and Friends, Elephant,

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Speaker 9: Edward and Friends. That's who that is clearmation Now see

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Speaker 9: Jungle Cubs, Kirian Lou knowing Asanski Wikiyaku jungle junction, as

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Speaker 9: of tay Lulu's islands. Well, I'm searching. We can have

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Speaker 9: all kinds of discussions without other things. It's spaghetti here,

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Speaker 9: Philu are you talking about Tarzan? You're not talking about

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Speaker 9: tet now, I'm sorry, Yo, Nakima Ton Tour, Tonturs elephant

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Speaker 9: mean the Tarzan san any adventures remember that ton Tour

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Speaker 9: Elephant Magic adventures A mumpy now he's sound right. My big,

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Speaker 9: my big big friend. Nelly the elephant arguing the cock

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Speaker 9: coroaches meet Poco yo. What's is poco yo? The one's

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Speaker 9: called Nelfie Nelly, No, sorry, Nelly. The resk in mompfy

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Speaker 9: tesc and moumfy Oh.

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Speaker 4: I found it.

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Speaker 2: I found it. What are you saying? He's holding a

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Speaker 2: teddy bear. This has got to be him. It's all

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Speaker 2: in Arabic.

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Speaker 9: Is a little baby elephant and he's holding a teddy bear.

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Speaker 2: A teddy bear my heart sores and the teddy bear

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Speaker 2: is like a panda and sinks in Yasser's drawing, the

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Speaker 2: teddy bear is not a panda. It turns out all

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Speaker 2: Howard has found is a book called The Elephant Learns

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Speaker 2: to Share about an angry elephant who keeps everything for himself.

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Speaker 2: It was never adapted into a TV show, which is

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Speaker 2: probably why the Elephant is so angry. After Howard's failure,

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Speaker 2: I lose faith in guy's and basements everywhere. I need

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Speaker 2: a professional, one who dwells above ground. So I call Ramins,

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Speaker 2: a heat editor in chief of Animation Magazine, and send

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Speaker 2: him Yaser's drawing. He'll post it to the magazine's Facebook page,

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Speaker 2: which has hundreds of thousands of follows. A few days later,

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Speaker 2: I get an email Stevie exclamation Point. We found it,

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Speaker 2: exclamation Point. At the bottom of the email, there's a

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Speaker 2: YouTube link to an animated show about a family of elephants.

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Speaker 2: Many of the details match up with what Yaser had

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Speaker 2: told me about Filo, right down to the little kid

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Speaker 2: elephant with a teddy bear, and it's an Arabic flo

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Speaker 2: Filo Helentie Hula. I don't speak Arabic, but I feel

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Speaker 2: like I can hear them saying Filo. Surely this must

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Speaker 2: be it. I am like ninety percent sure this is

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Speaker 2: not it. This naysayer is my producer, Mona. She speaks Arabic,

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Speaker 2: so I ask her to take a look at the clip,

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Speaker 2: and she says. There are a number of differences between

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Speaker 2: this show and what Yaser described. For one, the baby

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Speaker 2: elephant isn't named Filo. That's just a way of saying

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Speaker 2: elephant in air. And like this show is extremely boring.

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Speaker 2: I would say that's like my strongest reason that I

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Speaker 2: don't think this is it. Yaser described a magical show

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Speaker 2: where Philo went on fantastical adventures. The episode of this

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Speaker 2: show that Mona watched was about watering a neighbor's plants.

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Speaker 2: Hat in hand, I returned to the Maestro to see

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Speaker 2: if he has any ideas.

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Speaker 1: Is it not possible or even likely that he is

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Speaker 1: Key and his family have conflated a couple different cartoons

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Speaker 1: into one.

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Speaker 2: Is it? I look at Yaser's drawing again, and this

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Speaker 2: time I noticed that the elephants don't even really look

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Speaker 2: like elephants. Their trunks are scrunched and wrinkled, much more

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Speaker 2: like snouts. They look a bit like alf drawn in

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Speaker 2: the style of Maurice Sendak, and over the next few months,

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Speaker 2: my luck in finding Philo doesn't improve. I reach out

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Speaker 2: to the Museum of the Moving Image, the UCLA Film Archive,

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Speaker 2: the Pale Media Center. I speak to a professor of

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Speaker 2: animation at Saudi Arabian University. I do a reverse image

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Speaker 2: search on Yaser's drawing. I even wait on hold for

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Speaker 2: three hours on a live Colin radio show Who's prompt

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Speaker 2: that week? As Luckwood have it is for movies and

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Speaker 2: TV shows that people can't quite remember the names of,

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Speaker 2: but everyone just says the same thing.

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Speaker 3: The only elephants family I can think of is Bar.

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Speaker 5: The elephant was very famous.

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Speaker 1: Maybe I'm just confusing it with people are saying bomb

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Speaker 1: al bab Bar. It's pretty close.

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Speaker 2: Somebody said bi Bar, So.

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Speaker 5: There was something was elephants.

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Speaker 2: Are you thinking of Bibar?

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Speaker 5: Yes, yes, yes, I'm thinking of Okay.

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Speaker 2: It's not ba Bar, And I gotta tell you, like, yes, sir.

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Speaker 2: At this point, I'm like starting to doubt your memory

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Speaker 2: a little bit.

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Speaker 6: I'm starting to doubt my own memory, are you sometimes?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Did I actually imagine this show? Or is it a

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Speaker 5: real thing that existed at one point?

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Speaker 2: An answer to that question after the break. Hi, yes, sir, Hello,

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Speaker 2: can I play you something?

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Speaker 4: Okay?

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Speaker 10: Okay ha ha, Oh my god, No way, that's the intro.

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Speaker 2: You recognize it?

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Speaker 5: Oh, that's it.

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Speaker 2: You found it. We found it, and here's how we

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Speaker 2: found it. As a last resort, I posted Yaser's drawing

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Speaker 2: from the Heavyweight Twitter account and asked for help. A

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Speaker 2: man named Simon in Germany responded, I found your show,

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Speaker 2: he said. I wasn't hopeful. How many times had I

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Speaker 2: already heard those very same words from Howard, from Amen,

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Speaker 2: from anyone and everyone who's ever seen Babar. But Simon

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Speaker 2: sent a YouTube link to a German cartoon called Auto's

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Speaker 2: Autifantin and the characters looked exactly like the ones in

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Speaker 2: Yasser's drawing. And as it turns out, Simon didn't even

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Speaker 2: have to be one of those lunatic basement cartoon guys,

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Speaker 2: because in Germany the autifants are famous. They're on lunchboxes

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Speaker 2: and in video games. There's a whole museum dedicated to them.

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Speaker 2: Simon told me anyone on the street would have recognized

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Speaker 2: Yasser's drawing. Then, in my own Wikipedia frenzy, I learned

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Speaker 2: that the characters were created by a famous German comedian

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Speaker 2: named Otto Vodkas. He's sort of like a German Robin Williams.

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Speaker 2: If you ever moved to watch the movie ice Age

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Speaker 2: in German. He's the voice of Sid the sloth.

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Speaker 4: Hello, this is so.

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Speaker 2: I called Auto at his home in Fort Lauderdale to

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Speaker 2: find out more about the Odifants, and it was easy

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Speaker 2: to imagine how he made a famous cartoon character, because

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Speaker 2: he's basically a cartoon character himself.

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Speaker 4: I have a studio up in the first floor here

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Speaker 4: with a little diving board. From there, I can jump

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Speaker 4: in my pool. No, yes, I love it.

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Speaker 2: If talking to Howard was like clinging to an electric fence,

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Speaker 2: talking to Auto was like trying to catch a super

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Speaker 2: bouncy ball in a room full of trampolines. Like when

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Speaker 2: I tried to ask him about Yaser's favorite episode, That's

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Speaker 2: my favorite, and then without warning, he suddenly became the Grinch.

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Speaker 4: I'm going to steal Christmas.

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Speaker 2: Before whiping out a guitar.

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Speaker 7: I wonder, like under one ring Star, I wonder if

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Speaker 7: you know it's funny, like you say dog when you

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Speaker 7: said that.

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Speaker 2: Only when I finally was able to squeeze in a

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Speaker 2: question about the otifans. Otto told me he's been drawing

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Speaker 2: them ever since he was a child. It all started

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Speaker 2: one day in school when Otto was doodling at his desk.

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Speaker 2: He tried to draw a self portrait.

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Speaker 4: It was so I changed the eyes a little bit,

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Speaker 4: extended the nose, a little bit of the legs, A

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Speaker 4: little elephant.

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Speaker 2: They call it fund Ottiphant, a mash up word of

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Speaker 2: Auto an elephant. Auto based the boom Mill family on

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Speaker 2: his own. The character Filo, who in Germany is named

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Speaker 2: Baby Bruno, was meant to be Otto himself.

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Speaker 4: I had my little teddy bear. You know this crystal

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Speaker 4: hug because it was made in Hong Kong. That's why

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Speaker 4: I called him Honk.

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Speaker 2: Growing up in post war Germany, Otto's family didn't have

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Speaker 2: a lot of money for paint and paper, so he'd

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Speaker 2: make drawings on the backs of wallpaper scraps. I showed

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Speaker 2: Otto the drawing Yaser made of his audifence, and Otto

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Speaker 2: was delighted. He asked me to record a message.

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Speaker 4: Yes, Sah, when you were here in America, in Fort Lauderdale,

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Speaker 4: you gott to visit me. I have a diving board.

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Speaker 4: We can talk about Baby Bruno and we can draw,

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Speaker 4: and I saw your drawing at a really excellent I'm

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Speaker 4: looking forward to meeting you. Holda nity. I can bark

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Speaker 4: that I'd do anything for you. Okay, oh my god.

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Speaker 5: Wow.

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Speaker 2: Back on the phone with Yaser, we debrief about the

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Speaker 2: creator of his favorite TV show. He and Otto were

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Speaker 2: similar kids, always drawing, always imagining. They both identified with Philo,

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Speaker 2: and yet Otto's life went one way towards a career

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Speaker 2: in the arts, while Yasers one another. That's the thing.

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Speaker 2: Yasers particularly fixated on how Auto stayed true to his

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Speaker 2: childhood passion followed his dream of being an artist.

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Speaker 5: It's all inspiring.

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Speaker 8: I wonder when he made that decision and how did

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Speaker 8: it affect his.

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Speaker 5: Life, Like did he have to break up with someone,

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Speaker 5: did he have like trouble in his household?

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Speaker 8: Was it a good decision or did he regret it?

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Speaker 2: It feels like these are questions he answer is asking

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Speaker 2: himself rather than Auto. Maybe questions he's been asking himself

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Speaker 2: for a long time, questions he's still asking.

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Speaker 8: I think that no matter how older you get, no

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Speaker 8: matter what position in life you're in, there's always the

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Speaker 8: question of who.

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Speaker 5: Am I and what purpose do I fulfill?

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Speaker 8: I just always kind of like, never really feel sure

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Speaker 8: of what I'm doing, and in my work sometimes I'm like,

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Speaker 8: what do I want out of this?

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Speaker 5: What purpose?

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Speaker 6: I think that we're always in search of our truest self.

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Speaker 2: And it turns out there's a reason Yasir is reflecting

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Speaker 2: so much on his life because Yaser tells me he

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Speaker 2: and his wife just found out that they're having a baby.

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Speaker 2: Oh yes, sir, I'm so happy for you.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 2: Yeser might still have questions about his truest self, but

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Speaker 2: when it comes to his future child's there's one thing

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Speaker 2: he knows for sure. Yaser wants something different for his

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Speaker 2: kid than what he had. He says that if his

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Speaker 2: kid enjoys making art as much as he did, He's

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Speaker 2: going to encourage that in any way he can.

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Speaker 6: Or even if they're not artistic and just kind of

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Speaker 6: are crazy about.

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Speaker 3: Math and robotics or whatever.

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Speaker 5: I'll try my best to support that.

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Speaker 2: A few weeks after we talk, Yasser receives a package

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Speaker 2: from Germany. It's full of Audi fund and swag, sent

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Speaker 2: by Auto to his number one fan in Saudi Arabia.

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Speaker 2: There's a hat, a T shirt, a toe bag, and

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Speaker 2: a little stuffed animal otifhant Yasser says he's going to

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Speaker 2: give it to his baby, his own little Felo. This

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Speaker 2: Heavyweight short was produced by Mohemi mcgouger and me Stevie Lane,

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Speaker 2: along with Phoebe Flanagan. Our executive producer is Jonathan Goldstein.

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Speaker 2: Our senior producer is Khalila Holt. Special thanks to doctor

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Speaker 2: Mohammed Gazala, Pia Gadkari, Bobby Lord, and Tom Sharpling over

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Speaker 2: at the Best Show editorial guidance from Emily Condon. Bobby

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Speaker 2: Lord makes the episode with original music by Christine Fellows,

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Speaker 2: John K. Sampson, Blue Dot Sessions and Bobby Lord. Additional

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Speaker 2: music credits can be found on our website gimlipmedia dot

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Speaker 2: com slash Heavyweight. Our theme song is by The Weaker

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Speaker 2: Theands courtesy of Epitaph Records. Heavyweight is a Spotify original podcast.

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Speaker 2: Follow us on Twitter at Heavyweight, Instagram at Heavyweight Podcast,

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Speaker 2: or email us at Heavyweight at gimlipmedia dot com. You

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00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,359
Speaker 2: can also follow our show on Spotify and tap the

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00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:29,160
Speaker 2: bell to receive notifications when new episodes drop and speaking

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Speaker 2: of new episodes, will be back with a brand new

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Speaker 2: one next week