1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Ye 2 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: welcome back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as 3 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: always so much for tuning in. This is part two 4 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: of our Pia Escapade. This is part two of our 5 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:42,840 Speaker 1: history are surprisingly long and interesting history of the act 6 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: of throwing pie at someone for laughs, specifically, No, I 7 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: feel like we should have said that earlier, specifically for laughs. Yeah, 8 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: it's it's definitely for laughs. But we also talked about 9 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: there's some political undertones behind it, the idea of cutting 10 00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:00,279 Speaker 1: down like the upper class, the upper crust. Perhaps it's 11 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: okay um down to size visually with a pie in 12 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: the face. By the late nineteen twenties, this thing, and 13 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: I think I used the term meme status in the 14 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: last episode, but it had absolutely overtaken the zeitgeist. It 15 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: was something that people recognized, and you know that we 16 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: would always talk about ritualization. There's something kind of comforting 17 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: and recognizing something and seeing it come back over and 18 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: over again, like the old gag of someone getting shot 19 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: in the butt and then grabbing the seat of his 20 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,320 Speaker 1: pants and jumping up and down. All of these things 21 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:32,479 Speaker 1: to me really remind me of Looney Tunes. I think 22 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: that's where I got most of my taste of all 23 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 1: of this type of comedy, because I certainly wasn't like 24 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:40,759 Speaker 1: into like weird archival silent films and you know, Buster 25 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,559 Speaker 1: Keaton films and stuff, But Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny 26 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,479 Speaker 1: really took all that and took it to another level, 27 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: because you know, you can do more with cartoons than 28 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: you can with real bodies that you know, get hurt 29 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: and stuff. Yeah, and they are those cartoons, of course, 30 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: are heavily based on vaudeville. We want to shout out 31 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: our super producer ac pegrum Our, producers Max Williams and 32 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: Andrew Howard. I've been Let's get into it. No, let's 33 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: go straight to part two of the History of Throwing Pie. 34 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: I know, I think I jumped the pie a little 35 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: bit there on the beginning. But here we are in 36 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: nineteen with Hal Roach Studios and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. 37 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: You've definitely heard of yes, yeah. At the very end 38 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: of part one we tease the most epic of pie 39 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: fights on film in Laurel and Hardy's The Battle of 40 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: the Century. So now at this point in the late 41 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, everybody knows about pie fights. It's almost expected, 42 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,079 Speaker 1: like it's just it's just one of the ingredients when 43 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,119 Speaker 1: you watch a comedy. It was like you were describing 44 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: Nol similar to the trope of someone getting shot in 45 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: the button then jumping up and down like, Oh, I've 46 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: got shot in the butt. But I'm the duke, all right, 47 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,839 Speaker 1: you know in there, my trousers are sins. Right. So 48 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 1: when this cliche became so familiar, and this is coming 49 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: from that historian Steve Massa we mentioned earlier, there's a 50 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:17,799 Speaker 1: weird psychological thing that happens. The trope starts to recur 51 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: more often in the collective mind than it does an 52 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: actual film. So we're remembering examples of pie throwing, but 53 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: we might be remembering more examples than actually exist. Like 54 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: you said, Nol, how Roach Studio gets stand Laurel and 55 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: Oliver Hardy together. This is a prescient move. They will 56 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: go on to become the most beloved comic duo in 57 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: cinema history. They make several films that year, and one 58 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: of those is a parody of a boxing match known 59 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: as the Battle of the Century. That's right, and and 60 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: that was probably one of the big reasons that these 61 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: types of pictures were cash hours for the studio because 62 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: they were really easy to make, and they just had 63 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: kind of like a core cast of players, and compared 64 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: to like much larger set piece kind of things or 65 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: dramas or period dramas and things like that, you know, 66 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: it was really just some props and some costumes and 67 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: shooting these kind of sketches. But you're right then, by 68 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: this point the pie trope was so ubiquitous that high 69 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 1: level players like Laurel and Hardy who were trying to 70 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: like come up with the new next thing, we're almost 71 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: kind of like it's kind of been done right there 72 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: in the and the producers felt the same way. But 73 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,600 Speaker 1: in the writer's room, I guess you could call it. 74 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: For that film, The Battle of the Century, there was 75 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: a discussion around a particularly physical comedy scene that involved 76 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: a banana appeal, like you said, and it's not nearly 77 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: as easy to just slip on a banana appeal as 78 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,919 Speaker 1: one might think. But in the discussions, some you know, 79 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: bright eyed young writer said how about we put in 80 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: a pie fight, to which all of the executives and 81 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: writers in the room kind of let up collective because 82 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:04,480 Speaker 1: there was it was kind of hackneyed at that point, 83 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: but Laurel and Hardy saw potential in kind of subverting 84 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: that trope, or at the very least taking it to 85 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: such extremes that it could literally never be done again 86 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,919 Speaker 1: in any more grand a way as they were going 87 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: to end up doing. Yeah, it was brilliant. Laurel attributes 88 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: this to himself. He was talking with an author named 89 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,919 Speaker 1: as Comedians Are Wanting to Do. He he was talking 90 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: with an author named John McCabe, a guy who would 91 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: later go on to write Mr. Laurel and Mr Hardy 92 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: an affectionate biography, and he said, you know what, exactly 93 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: what you're saying, only said, let's give him so many 94 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,360 Speaker 1: pies that there will never be room for any more 95 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: pie pictures in the whold history of movies. So the 96 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,599 Speaker 1: way they have this workout is that Hardy drops a 97 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: banana peal and he wants, you know, he attends for 98 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: Laurel to slip on this in front of a place 99 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: called an a burst of creativity, Ye old pie shop, 100 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: but like coppy like spelled like the old English way 101 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: s h O P pe yes an old O L 102 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: d E. So there's a pie delivery guy he walks by, 103 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 1: he slips on the peel. He's p oed, so he 104 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: throws a pie at Hearty's face hard. He gets mad. 105 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,799 Speaker 1: He throws a pie in retaliation, and instead of hitting 106 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 1: the pie delivery guy, he hits a young woman on 107 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: her bottom. She turns and then she gets another pie 108 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,479 Speaker 1: directly in the face, and then she stomps over and 109 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: matters escalate from there. They really do to absolutely over 110 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: the top proportions. I think there's an estimate, you know, 111 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: and it's probably again it's one of these Hollywood lore 112 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: things that they used four thousand pies, the entire output 113 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: of a local Los Angeles I think it was literally 114 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: called the Los Angeles Pie Company, their entire I think 115 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: it was day's output or was it a week's output. 116 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:53,279 Speaker 1: I'm not going to sure. How many pies can you 117 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:55,599 Speaker 1: make in a day? Yeah, the whole day at least. 118 00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: But like, if you're familiar with the wonderful for edicch 119 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: crescendo of classical work like The Hall of the Mountain King, 120 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:09,160 Speaker 1: this is basically a slapstick version of that dun dunt 121 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: dunt on to because soon as soon as the young 122 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: lady gets involved, pies are going everywhere. There's a by 123 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: standards get involved. There's a guy in a top at 124 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: he gets hit. There's a patient in a dentist's chair, 125 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: they get smacked. There's a guy who's working in the sewer. 126 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: He peeps up from a manhole. Smack. There's a person 127 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: at a lunch counter smack. There's a guy who just 128 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: got a haircut. He's admiring himself. Smack. There's some lady 129 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 1: mining her own business, tending flowers. Smack, smack, smack. At 130 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: one point, Laurel is inside of the pie delivery guy's 131 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: truck and he's filling orders for people who are buying 132 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: pies to throw at other people. It's amazing. It's an 133 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: amazing melee. It also reminds me of that I Love 134 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: Lucy sketch, where they're she and Ethel are working at 135 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: the chocolate factory and they're like putting the chocolates into 136 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: these little tins or whatever they are as the assembly 137 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: line goes by, and then July they increase the speed 138 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: of the assembly line until they're like trying to keep 139 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:06,559 Speaker 1: up their shoving chocolates in their mouths and down their 140 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: you know, dresses and stuff. It's that kind of your 141 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: right and that escalating frenetic pace and tension that just 142 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,559 Speaker 1: leaves you kind of like with your jaw dropped, you know. Yeah. 143 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: And even the literary crowd got on board with this, 144 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: the famous writer Henry Miller, Yes, very steamy writer. Yes yeah, yeah, 145 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: he was known as a perennial bohemian, so everybody have 146 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: fun with Google on that one. But so he describes 147 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: this a bit with a bit of hyperbole. I think, 148 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: as quote, the greatest comic film ever made because it 149 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: bought pie throwing to apotheosis. There was nothing but pie 150 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: throwing in it, nothing but pies, thousands and thousands of pies, 151 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: and everybody throwing them left and right. Oh. I can 152 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: see how that could appeal to a bohemian are kind 153 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: of a hedonistic type dude like Henry Miller, you know. Um. 154 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: And then this film critic, this top film critic of 155 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:03,079 Speaker 1: the of the Age from nineteen forty nine, James A. 156 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:07,200 Speaker 1: G commented, thus Lee for Life magazine, And this is great. 157 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: This is like such a poetic description of what's ultimately 158 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: an absurd thing. The first pies were thrown thoughtfully, almost philosophically, 159 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: then innocent bystanders began to get caught into the vortex 160 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: a full pitch. It was armageddon, but everything was calculated 161 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: so nicely that until late in the picture when Havoc 162 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 1: took over, every pie made its special kind of point 163 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: and then piled on its special kind of laughter. Wow. 164 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: Just like it also reminds me of like again, this 165 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: is such a trope, and a trope within a trope. 166 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 1: At this point, that's scene in Wayne's World where I mean, 167 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:45,960 Speaker 1: I think it's Wayne's World two where he's on the 168 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: way to the wedding chapel to keep Christopher Walking from 169 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: marrying Cassandra, and there's like the two dudes with the 170 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,560 Speaker 1: glass that are walking across the street and there's like 171 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:57,320 Speaker 1: chicken coops or something, you know what I mean, one 172 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: of those scenes where everything that can go wrong does 173 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: in this Rube Goldberg chain reaction. It's very expertly choreographed 174 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: to you know, the if you look at the film, um, 175 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:10,320 Speaker 1: it really is a thing to behold, and four thousand pies, 176 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: there's nothing to sneeze at. And like we talked about 177 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,600 Speaker 1: earlier in the previous episode, doing one of these sequences 178 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: to get it wrong requires so much resetting, you know it, 179 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: Literally everyone would have to change costumes and shower off. 180 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: You can't get this wrong. It's like the scene where 181 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:28,959 Speaker 1: you blow up the entire town. You get it's gonna 182 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 1: be an absolute disaster if you have to do it again. Yeah, 183 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,079 Speaker 1: especially because you want to go with practical effects. A 184 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:37,959 Speaker 1: c g I pie just won't cut it. And it's 185 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 1: weird because the world of comedy for a time reacted 186 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: against the pie troupe. By the time the nineteen twenties 187 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: come around, by the time Laura and Harder are doing 188 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 1: this brilliant work, the public is tired of the custard 189 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: pie bit. There were even comedies coming out that we're 190 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: advertising the fact that they did not have a pie 191 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:02,240 Speaker 1: throwing scene, and like ads were so snarky back then. 192 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:05,120 Speaker 1: They would say things like a custard pie and pretty 193 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,920 Speaker 1: girl too in a bathing suit do not make a comedy. Yeah, 194 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 1: this would have absolutely become like the broadest comedy of 195 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: the time, like the way we would think of like 196 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: maybe gross out comedy today, like the Fairly Brothers movies. 197 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: There no not not to diss the Fairly Brothers movies. 198 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: Some of those are quite funny, but there are things 199 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 1: that are considered low, you know, like in terms of 200 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:29,960 Speaker 1: critical circles. And obviously the Laurel and Hardy bit was 201 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: high minded enough and absolutely genre busting that even the 202 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: literati we're getting in on it and saying this is 203 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: kind of cool. But that really was the high water 204 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 1: mark for pie throwing, right and then after that it 205 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: kind of became ghost to do it. And of course 206 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,199 Speaker 1: we're mentioning pies. A lot of our fellow listeners in 207 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: the audience today may have wondered why we didn't mention 208 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:02,079 Speaker 1: one of the infamous trios Triumvit of comedy, a Trinity 209 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:06,679 Speaker 1: of slapstick, the Three Stooges. Between nineteen thirty and nineteen sixty, 210 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 1: they made like two hundred and twenty films, and they 211 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:12,839 Speaker 1: loved a pie gag, That's the thing. Then the whole 212 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: position I was talking about earlier, I think was more 213 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,439 Speaker 1: like the critical perspective that this was, you know, sort 214 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,319 Speaker 1: of like old hat or old pie or whatever. But 215 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:22,440 Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that the public didn't still kind of 216 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:24,679 Speaker 1: love it, and there was what you could maybe call 217 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: a pie resurgence. Did it ever really leave? I don't know. 218 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: The Three Stooges were kind of at the core of that, 219 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: with those two hundred and twenty films, many of which 220 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,080 Speaker 1: were like pie films in the the it even had 221 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,679 Speaker 1: the word pie in the title films like in the 222 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: Sweet Pie and Pie Yeah in one and Pies and 223 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 1: Guys in nineteen fifty eight. And they even remade movies 224 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: that had pie in the title, right. Yeah. So there 225 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: was a nineteen five remake of Max Sinnett's The Great 226 00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 1: Pie Mystery. They just changed the title to Spook louder So. 227 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: In this film, there's a segment where Larry, Moe and 228 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: Curly are trying to control this weird machine that appears 229 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 1: to throw pies out of thin air. And uh, it's 230 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: not you know, it's not maybe the best work and though, 231 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:17,079 Speaker 1: but it's useful for our episode today. Well, they're catching 232 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: up with the times right now, robots are throwing pies. 233 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 1: This is like the brave new world of pie throwing. 234 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: They have to like take it to the next level, 235 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: right And Larry Fine would later recall that there was 236 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: some blood, sweat and tears involved in the pie business. 237 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 1: He said, sometimes we would run out of pies, so 238 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: the prop man would sweep up the pie goop off 239 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: the floor, complete with nails, splinters and tax and he said, 240 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,680 Speaker 1: you know, he still had what I'm just gonna arbitrarily 241 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: called the Arbuckle problem from now on, which is you 242 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:53,600 Speaker 1: had to get people to convincingly appear as though they 243 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,320 Speaker 1: did not know a pie was coming your way. And 244 00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: so he talks about how they would fake each other 245 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,720 Speaker 1: out with this, the same way that maybe a nurse 246 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: might fake out a kid who's getting a shot. They 247 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: would say, Okay, we're gonna we're gonna count to three 248 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:07,320 Speaker 1: and then we're gonna throw it. But then you'd lean 249 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: to the person throwing it and they would be like, okay, 250 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 1: throw onto diabolical Yeah, and then no, you're absolutely right then. 251 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: But it was really important to get that absolutely authentic reaction, 252 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: otherwise the comedy wouldn't land, you know. Yeah. And so 253 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: now we've got the stooges Laurel and Hardy. They're big, big, big, 254 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 1: and the pie throwing game, and a bunch of other 255 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: people are copying them. Children's shows like The Little Rascals. 256 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: They love a good pie throwing scene. Also to the 257 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: earlier point, Bugs Bunny being very much descended from vaudeville, 258 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 1: it's also throwing pies. And then you see you see 259 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 1: an attempt to get towards more of that Hall of 260 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:52,920 Speaker 1: the Mountain King pie throwing madness. In a Little Rascal 261 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: short nineteen thirty called Shivering Shakespeare, the kids are doing 262 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 1: a play and then things ultimately to center into a 263 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: bunch of adults throwing desserts and pies at kids and 264 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,800 Speaker 1: vice versa. That's right, Ben, And like we talked about earlier, 265 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: cartoons really started getting into the mix, because, as we know, 266 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: there was a time where cartoons would you know, proceed 267 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: like the feature or whatever. I mean that even happened, 268 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: Like I remember a cartoon preceding Who Framed Roger Rabbit 269 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: and a couple of other like Warner Brothers features that 270 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: when I was a kid, there would be a cartoon 271 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: before it. And obviously Pixar has kind of like you know, 272 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: continued that tradition with all their Pixar shorts. But the 273 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: Looney Tunes really kind of we're mimicking so many of 274 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: these tropes that were so big in Hollywood and kind 275 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:42,280 Speaker 1: of like you know, making it even more absurd. And 276 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 1: when you go back and watch some of the old 277 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: Liney Tunes cartoons, you can really see the different styles 278 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: of pie and represented like in Slick Hair, the Liney 279 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: Tunes cartoon where Bugs Bunny is, you know, torturing Elmer 280 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: Fudd as usual. They're working in some kind of bakery 281 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: and he's tricking him into baking pies, only that hit 282 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 1: him in the face with every single pie that he 283 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: finishes making. And in that clip, Humphrey Bogart makes an appearance, 284 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: of course, but those pies are custard. They're like dripping 285 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,040 Speaker 1: off of their faces with this kind of beige liquid. 286 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: But there's also Bugs Bunny cartoons where you see another 287 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: version of the pie that for like contrast reasons and 288 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 1: you know, costume coloration reasons, they used blackberries. And when 289 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: you see like the kind of heavier crusted pies dripping off, 290 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: there's like different versions of it in all these Liney 291 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: Tunes cartoons. I think that's such a cool mimicking of 292 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: kind of the history of this. Yeah, and they're also 293 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: something smart. They're mimicking the dependence upon pie throwing that 294 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: earlier comedic minds did seem to have during that era 295 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: proceeding the rise of Looney Tunes. But it doesn't in there. 296 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:48,160 Speaker 1: If we jump forward to the sixties and seventies, we 297 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: see the same kind of commentary happening again. In mel 298 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:57,280 Speaker 1: Brooks Blazing Saddles four, there is a pie fight, but 299 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:03,160 Speaker 1: it's also satire, make in fun of Hollywood's reliance on 300 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: the idea of the pie fight. So it became this 301 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: sort of visual metaphor for unoriginal comedy exactly. Yeah, even Chaplain, 302 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: you know, way back because he always kind of had 303 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: his like finger on the pulse of what was going 304 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,160 Speaker 1: on in Hollywood and kind of trying to upend it 305 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:22,719 Speaker 1: and you know, sort of subvert a lot of these tropes, 306 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: like right when they were happening, finger in the pie 307 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,879 Speaker 1: maybe a million percent um. And back in nineteen sixteen 308 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,479 Speaker 1: in a film that we mentioned in the previous episode 309 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 1: behind the Screen, it is behind the scenes in a 310 00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: made up film studio showing this kind of like absurd 311 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: dependence where like it's almost like a factory where large 312 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: groups of actors are like lined up practicing their pie 313 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 1: throwing skills because it was such an important thing that 314 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: you had to like have special training, like some sort 315 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,159 Speaker 1: of Navy seals operation and the interstitial in what was 316 00:17:57,160 --> 00:17:58,959 Speaker 1: a silent film, you know the ones where like they 317 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 1: have the action and then some lines come on, says 318 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,480 Speaker 1: the comedy department rehearsing a new idea. And the idea 319 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:06,680 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixteen that it was a new idea was 320 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 1: in and of itself like kind of mocking the whole practice, right, 321 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,080 Speaker 1: And now the pie fight itself doesn't just seem to 322 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:16,359 Speaker 1: be waning in popularity. Even the idea of making fun 323 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,640 Speaker 1: of pie throwing seems to have gotten a little bit old, 324 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,880 Speaker 1: but it hasn't disappeared. You'll always see a shout out 325 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: popping up in the oddest places. We mentioned children's TV 326 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:30,399 Speaker 1: and part one of the series. But you know, I 327 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: think a good pie to the face is never gonna 328 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: quite go away, just because it's so easy, and now 329 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: it's inherently its own kind of commentary. And not only 330 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:47,679 Speaker 1: will pie fighting probably never go away completely, but you 331 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:50,640 Speaker 1: can also see it in some very high minded films, 332 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: perhaps most infamously in nineteen sixty four's Doctor Strange Love 333 00:18:55,600 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: by Stanley kober Yeah. Well, you might not be able 334 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 1: to see it in the actual cut of Stanley Kubrick's 335 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: Doctor Strangelove. Maybe there's a version where you can get 336 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: This deleted scene might be a little too early. It 337 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: might have just been lost to time. But there apparently 338 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: was a scene shot between the generals and the politicians 339 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: in the war room. Because it's one of my favorite movies. 340 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 1: I love Dr Strangelove so much, where they got into 341 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 1: like a massive pie fight. I'm kind of glad they 342 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: cut it. It seems like that would have been a 343 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: little over the top. It's it's kind of subtle the 344 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: way it is as extreme and bizarre as it gets. 345 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: But that's so funny to know that that happened. Yeah. 346 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,880 Speaker 1: The thing is that the reason Kubrick decided to cut 347 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,960 Speaker 1: this scene is because he felt the actors playing the 348 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: generals were having too much fun. Their jubilation, he said, 349 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: felt inappropriate. And there's another political reason didn't make it 350 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:02,400 Speaker 1: in there. In this scene, Peter Sellers plays President Monthly, 351 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: and the President Monthly is hit with a pie in 352 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:09,640 Speaker 1: the face as a general yells out quote, our gallant 353 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 1: young president has been struck down in his prime. This 354 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 1: scene was shot before the assassination of President JFK in 355 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: November of nineteen sixty three, but the film wasn't released 356 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,879 Speaker 1: until afterwards, so they felt like it would have been 357 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 1: a bad look to keep it in. Yeah, it's sort 358 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 1: of the past equivalent of like removing shots of the 359 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: World Trade Center, for example, in films that were you know, 360 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: in production before that event happened, and even for many 361 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:38,600 Speaker 1: years after. Uh, those shots were removed, even from like 362 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,800 Speaker 1: the openings of long running television shows. Yep. And if 363 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: you want to see the Laurel and Hardy epic pie 364 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 1: fight that is now acknowledged as the pie fight to 365 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 1: end all pie fights, you are in luck because for 366 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: a long, long time this battle was lost to history. 367 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: For decade, half of the short was missing. It was 368 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: twenty minutes on two reels, and that second reel had 369 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:10,400 Speaker 1: been lost. So film historians have been trying to put 370 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,320 Speaker 1: in the gaps of the Battle of the Century with 371 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 1: exploratory title cards, but these could never really replicate the 372 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: work the actors have been doing. And so it wasn't 373 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:27,919 Speaker 1: until twenty fifteen when a toxicologist named John Mer salas 374 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,919 Speaker 1: toxicologist by day, that's his part Kent stuff. He's a 375 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,360 Speaker 1: he's a film collector and scholar. That's his superman at night. 376 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,600 Speaker 1: He's like a film scholar like Dexter, almost you know, 377 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:41,239 Speaker 1: like by day he's like working for the man, you know, 378 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,359 Speaker 1: like trying to right wrongs and solve crimes, and by 379 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 1: nine he's doing this completely other thing, a little different. 380 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,239 Speaker 1: But that's so great that he is the one who 381 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:51,880 Speaker 1: kind of cracked the case on this, right. Yeah, and 382 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: he didn't realize what he had at first. He mentioned 383 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,399 Speaker 1: it at a film conference in Virginia. He put the 384 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:04,280 Speaker 1: real into his projector and he's played the film. And 385 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: then as he looked at Laurel and Hardy walking down 386 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,359 Speaker 1: the street and has reported that New York Times article 387 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: you mentioned earlier, he noticed he was seeing something he 388 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: had never seen before. He saw the lead into the 389 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:19,240 Speaker 1: Pie Fight. He had seen the Banana Seller. And then 390 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,159 Speaker 1: right after that he started making plans to restore and 391 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:26,679 Speaker 1: reunite both reels. And so that is why now you 392 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:31,400 Speaker 1: can watch the Pie Fight as it was intended, thank god. Yeah, 393 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,119 Speaker 1: the article in the New York Times comedy Sweet Weapon 394 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,439 Speaker 1: the Cream Pie was from and that was when kind 395 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 1: of efforts to restore this were underway. You can at 396 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:42,440 Speaker 1: the very least watch this on YouTube, and I would 397 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 1: hope that it exists in some kind of you know, 398 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: restored like four K version. This seems like the kind 399 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: of thing you should see in four K, but you 400 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 1: can't find it on YouTube. If you just searched for 401 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:53,639 Speaker 1: Laurel and Hardy Battle of the Century, it's like three 402 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,639 Speaker 1: minutes forty seconds. If you're for by the People is 403 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: like me, You can also receivably recreate your own pie fight. 404 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,359 Speaker 1: Just have that that. How about that as a mass 405 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:08,880 Speaker 1: post pandemic party, you just sign up where we get 406 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,399 Speaker 1: We'll we'll rent out a park, We'll get like a 407 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:16,120 Speaker 1: hundred something people in thousands of pies. Ah, I mean 408 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,439 Speaker 1: this needs to happen. Then this needs to be a 409 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:20,720 Speaker 1: yearly thing. I think we should bring it back. But 410 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: let's not. And without talking about something that we alluded 411 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:27,679 Speaker 1: to earlier but didn't really follow through with Buster Keaton, 412 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,160 Speaker 1: we talked about how he was kind of like the 413 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,400 Speaker 1: brain behind the sort of elevation of the pie hit 414 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,960 Speaker 1: as an art form, and as it became so much 415 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 1: more popular and then kind of waned in popularity, it 416 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,440 Speaker 1: became really important to use it for much less slapsticky 417 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,160 Speaker 1: and much more kind of cultural reasons. Right, So there 418 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 1: became this language of who was okay to hit with 419 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 1: a pie? And who was not who was fair game? Yeah, 420 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:57,920 Speaker 1: this is the this is the matter of pie ethics 421 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 1: a heast the very end of episode one. Yes, not 422 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 1: only was this a preemptive two parter, but we also 423 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:10,199 Speaker 1: followed through what they're going to do. So Keaton is 424 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 1: in this interview with a storian and broadcaster named Studs Turkle, 425 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: which is an awesome name. That's nineteen sixty two, and 426 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:21,679 Speaker 1: Keaton says, you know, you could hit the wrong people 427 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,119 Speaker 1: with a pie and getting an audience mad at you. 428 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:27,359 Speaker 1: There are certain characters you just don't hit with a pie. 429 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: We found that out a long time ago. There are 430 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:32,960 Speaker 1: just certain people you do not hit with a pie. 431 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 1: That's all there is to it. And he provided an 432 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: example of this, didn't he. Yeah, and this is in 433 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:40,959 Speaker 1: the sixties. This guy is kind of like, you know, 434 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: in his twilight years, and he still talks like a 435 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:47,080 Speaker 1: cartoon character. I wish we had tape of this, but 436 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,199 Speaker 1: we should. I want to put it in like a 437 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,520 Speaker 1: weird mid Atlantic, you know, early film accent. But I'm 438 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:55,479 Speaker 1: just gonna read it because the words say enough on 439 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: their own. If I had a grand dame who was 440 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 1: dogging it and putting it on a gray haired woman 441 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: but so overbearing and everything else that the audience would 442 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 1: like to hit her. Then you could hit her with 443 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: a pie and they laugh their heads off. But if 444 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,479 Speaker 1: she was a legitimate old lady and a sincere character, 445 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: you wouldn't dare hit her. If she's a phony, that's different. 446 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,120 Speaker 1: The same thing goes for a man. It's the same 447 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 1: thing with any character where you have to, you know, 448 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 1: empathize with the character, and if you don't, it's sort 449 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: of like a minor villain. Right, this gray haired old 450 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,399 Speaker 1: woman who's overbearing and Keaton's mind is a minor villain 451 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,119 Speaker 1: who deserves some sort of retribution in the form of 452 00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,479 Speaker 1: a pie in the face. And of course there are 453 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 1: real incidents of actual people, often prominent politicians, thought leaders, 454 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 1: being hit with pies. One of them was Bill Gates 455 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: get hit the pie by a pie thrower named Noel Goden, 456 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: writer and uh and god And targeted Bill Gates for 457 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,200 Speaker 1: this pie because he thought the guy was getting quote 458 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 1: too haughty and so so there was a meeting between 459 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:09,240 Speaker 1: like the there's a meeting Brussels, Bill Gates, the Flemish 460 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: minister and the president at the time and go to 461 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: and step forward through cream pies at Bill Gates face, 462 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: and then he just said, my work is finished here 463 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:23,679 Speaker 1: and Bill Gates, Old Billy g responds and like a 464 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 1: pretty strange and and somewhat impressive way. The reports say 465 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,680 Speaker 1: that Gates was initially really startled, but then he tried 466 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: to react casually. A little bit later he got cleaned up, 467 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,880 Speaker 1: and then he said, you know, I was just surprised 468 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,920 Speaker 1: because the pie wasn't all that good. Yeah. Well, as 469 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,639 Speaker 1: we everything we know about pie throwing says that, you know, 470 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: maximum impact in a pie throw, it is not necessarily 471 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: a delicious pie. Equal God, I'm surprised that the guy 472 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,119 Speaker 1: that did this didn't get like sniped by somebody up 473 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: in a in a tree or a turret somewhere. I 474 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:56,400 Speaker 1: mean Bill Gates. That guys like a government into himself. 475 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:01,200 Speaker 1: That's right. This was I believe when he threw the pie. 476 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: So maybe it was a slightly different time. But shout 477 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 1: out to you pie throwers of the world. There's no 478 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: one who should be considered above it, but there are 479 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:13,879 Speaker 1: some people who deserve dignity. We hope that we have 480 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,440 Speaker 1: alongside a slice of comedy history, we hope we have 481 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: also given you a little Ala Mode of pie Ethics. Yum. 482 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,480 Speaker 1: You can find us on the internet. We are Ridiculous 483 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,400 Speaker 1: History on all the places you find podcasts on the internet. 484 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,720 Speaker 1: You can also find Ben and I as individual human persons. 485 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,920 Speaker 1: I am at how now Noel Brown on Instagram. Throw 486 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: a digital pie my way over on Twitter where I'm 487 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,080 Speaker 1: at Ben Boland hs W or you know, toss me 488 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:43,880 Speaker 1: some of your favorite bits of comedy history over at 489 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:47,439 Speaker 1: Instagram where I'm at Ben Boland. That's bow l I 490 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 1: n big big pie in the face, well deserved to 491 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: our friend slash nemesis Jonathan Strickland a k. The Quister 492 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,960 Speaker 1: huge thanks to Alex Williams, who composed our theme. He 493 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,080 Speaker 1: doesn't get a pie unless he, you know, is in 494 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 1: the mood for a pie. Christopher A sciotis here in 495 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,639 Speaker 1: spirit our research associate extraordinary Gabe Luizier. You know I 496 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,680 Speaker 1: would throw I could see Christopher because he plays such 497 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 1: an excellent straight man. I could see him being a 498 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:16,400 Speaker 1: pie victim in fiction, but I don't know a very 499 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: dead pan reaction right exactly. Yes, I can visualize it now. 500 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:24,160 Speaker 1: Thanks also, of course, through super producer Casey Pegram our 501 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: producers Andrew Howard and Max Williams and Noel. Thanks to you, man, 502 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: Thanks thanks for not sabotaging with a pie low these 503 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 1: many years. It's it's gonna be very difficult to do 504 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: it through the zoom, Ben, But maybe I could rig 505 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 1: up some elaborate device that would secret I could spirit 506 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:43,959 Speaker 1: into your home that on the push of a giant 507 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,400 Speaker 1: red button would slap you in the face with a pie. 508 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: Or has somebody done this already a delivery service. That's 509 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: like the old singing telegrams back in the day where 510 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,000 Speaker 1: someone opens up the door and you just say, you know, 511 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:59,800 Speaker 1: like you just say like kind regards from Ben and Noel. 512 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,040 Speaker 1: They throw a pie at you when they run away. 513 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,840 Speaker 1: That that would be a dangerous job. That's basically assault. 514 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: That's a non consensual pie. Then we talked about this. 515 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 1: You have you have to have you have to have 516 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,520 Speaker 1: consent for for the pie in the face. Man, this 517 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:15,320 Speaker 1: was a fun one. We'll see you next time, folks. 518 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I 519 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to 520 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.