WEBVTT - Human Blockheads: A Real Thing 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:04.440 Hey, San Francisco, we're coming back to see you. Yes, 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.360 our second year in a row. We're gonna be going 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.559 to s F Sketch Fest. What I like to think, 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:13.880 it's the premier comedy festival in the United States, probably 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:17.840 well in the world, you think, so, yeah, what about Beijing? Nope, 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.239 it's a it's a close second, but a second. Well, 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.360 we love San Francisco, we love performing there. Everyone is 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.040 always so kind to us. And by San Francisco we 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:29.920 mean the entire Bay area of course. Yeah. So we 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.120 will be there doing our thing for one time only 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:38.199 show on Sunday, January at one pm. Yeah, it's the 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:45.000 rare Sunday afternoon. We're like the NFL of podcasters. Yeah, exactly, 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.640 That's that's what I've always thought. So all you have 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.080 to do is go to the SF Sketch Fest site, 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:52.680 look at the old calendar, and there are tons of 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:55.760 great people performing. Oh yeah, So I suggest like just 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.280 doubling down and getting tickets all kinds of good shows 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:00.200 for sure, and hurry up and get tickets to ours 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.480 because they've only been on sale for a week or 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:04.760 so and they're already half sold out. That's right, So 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:10.080 please hurry San Francisco. Please hurry. Welcome to Stuff You 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:18.960 should know it's from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.039 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:26.080 Chuck Bryant, and it's just us chickens here in Studio 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:30.679 one A. Yeah, the blockhead is gone. Yeah, Jerry the blackhead. 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:33.720 I'm just kidding. She's not a blockhead. She's a meat hit. 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.040 She is a meat head. This is fun. What else 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:39.520 is she here? We can say whatever we want. She'll 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.720 never hear this, that's true. Two things I've noticed today. 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.160 We're both wearing blue hoodies. Oh yeah, yours is uh 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:52.080 a recreation of the great sweater that Danny wore in 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.240 The Shining Uh, which I think I've told you you 0:01:56.400 --> 0:02:00.120 love Lee Unk of Pixar owns that real sweat her. 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.600 Oh yeah you did tell me that. Yeah, Like, if 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.680 you're like, you know, you got the sweatshirt version. He 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.280 owns the sweater. It's the real thing. But unless he's 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.679 the same size as like a little four or five 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:15.519 six year old boy, he put it on his own kid. Yeah, 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.680 that's probably why he had a kids madness right well 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.320 to model the sweater. Yeah, yeah, uh and I'm wearing 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:31.760 my high school sweatshirt Dan Raiders. Yeah. Dan. The other 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:33.920 thing I noticed is that got new glasses or a 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:38.839 new prescription. My eyes were clearly getting worse, and you're 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.200 fuzzy to me, but my papers are clear. Oh and 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.680 I should have gotten the bifocals, Like he said, vocals, Gramps, 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:50.520 I've been doing a lot of this definitely doesn't aid 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.640 you at all, chuck his pull his glasses down his nose, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.120 and then looked over him. Well, when you're at home 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:58.760 and let's say you got the TV on but you're 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.960 working on your laptop, it's it's troublesome. Have you ever 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.760 heard of that? Um? I can't remember what. It's called 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.600 progressive lenses. No, it's like a type of basically training 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:13.400 your eyes to get better by denying them corrective lenses. Well, 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.839 I did that for forty three years and it didn't work. Well, 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:19.399 I mean, or maybe it did work. Your eyes would 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:21.519 have been way worse had you not done that. Here's 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:24.040 what I know. I know that two weeks ago, like 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:27.200 I never wore my previous glasses prescription because it didn't 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.880 look like they were doing anything. Um, but things were 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.120 getting harder to read. So I went back three years 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:35.800 later and they were like, oh, yeah, things have changed. Um, 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.400 but I was reading two weeks ago. I was just 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:40.800 sort of holding it back a little more maybe. But 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:42.920 now when I put these on, it's like someone turned 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:44.880 on the lights. I was like, holy cow, that's so clear. 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.040 But it's something changed in just the last few weeks. No, 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.120 I think I would just I was just used to 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.040 getting by on as clearly as I could, because once 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.520 I put these on. I just couldn't believe the difference. 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:58.360 It's good for you for doing something, Yeah, but now 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.920 I gotta I gotta weird glasses all the time, or 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:03.560 not all the time. But when I read, you remind 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.720 me exactly of how I felt in fourth grade when 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:09.480 I got glasses. They came in and they were like, okay, 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:11.720 everybody's doing the eye test, and of course you just 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.440 think it's cursory, like a lice check or something like that, right, 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:15.960 and you went stood in the corner, and then the 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.040 nurse or whoever it was just like, you need glasses. 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.560 I was like, what, You're insane, woman, I think, is 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.599 what I said. But it was a man, right, and 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.520 so that's all they knew. I proved myself insane. Um 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:31.719 yeah right, so uh, I ended up with glasses and 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:34.440 I remember feeling like, oh man, I'm shackle for the 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.080 rest of my life. Yeah, that's a tough age. I 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:38.960 don't know if glasses still had the same stigma on 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:42.000 young kids, but when we were kids, it was definitely 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.800 like four eyes and all that. Yeah, there was a 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:46.800 bit of it. So I showed them. I went out 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.400 and got the most Elton Johnny glasses I could find. 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.120 They were clear, with like a thin blue like wire 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:58.400 running through the frames. They were pretty awesome. Yeah, alright, 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:02.880 so human block Yeah, so, Chuck, have you ever seen 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.880 the human blockhead trick? I should not call it a trick, 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:13.760 just stunt. You're right, I have like in person. Yeah. Also, 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.479 I went to a Gym Rose circus once and that 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:18.479 they had a blockhead that when I went. I'm not 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.080 sure if they still do. Was it Ryan Stock? I 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.680 don't think so. This is a long time ago. Yeah, 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:25.440 he seems a little young to have been in the 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:29.800 original Gym Rose show. Yeah, I mean this was in 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:36.560 like was it at Lallapalooza. Maybe because that was in 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.640 the first the first part of the first Lallapaluza. They 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:41.360 were part of that. Yea, how was that that show? 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:45.080 There you go? Maybe that's where it was. Maybe so well, 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.160 I've never seen a human blockhead, so I mean I 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.799 was aware of it. I'm sure I'd seen like references 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:51.839 to it in cartoons or whatever. But I went online 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.479 because I noticed as I was researching this, I was like, wow, 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.120 I feel like fainting for some reason. I was like, 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.000 this really makes me fainty, and I went online and 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:07.880 just exposed myself to it, and uh, it was Yeah, 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.719 I didn't actually faint, but it's something. Well, we should 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.560 go ahead and say, then, a human blockhead is a person, 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:16.400 and we'll get into the history of it where that 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.520 name came comes from. But it's a person, a performer 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:26.719 who inserts a nail or a camping steak or a drill, 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.479 paris scissors, what something sharp that would make your stomach 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.480 turn if you saw it jammed in a person's nose 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.960 all the way and they do just that. And the 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.960 reason I corrected myself earlier I called it a trick. 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:45.080 It's not a trick. The person who performs the human blockhead, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.120 or who is a human blockhead, um would correct me 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:50.559 and say no, no, this is a stunt. A trick 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.200 suggests that there's some sort of illusion, there's some sort 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.440 of deception or stage magic going on. This is a 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.880 stunt because it's exactly what you think it is. There's 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:02.920 a nail going into the person's skull. Yeah. And if 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:05.240 you don't know and you go to one of these, 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.320 you probably think it's a trick. It's a fake nail. 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:13.600 It's a collapsible or a telescoping nail or something. Um, 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:15.960 maybe some sort of a slide of hand, like the 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.000 old trick where you just turned to the side and 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.640 act like you're pulling something out of your mouth, you 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.240 know that old bit. Yeah, I finally figured that one 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:26.960 out in my twenties. Uh, thanks to your glasses probably, 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:33.400 um so to the uninitiated, it's uh. People probably leave 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:35.520 these performances sometimes saying, well, you know, of course that 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:37.920 wasn't real. There's no way, right, it's true, right, that's 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:42.080 that's what you think. In the performers they play on that, right, 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.600 it's part of the whole thing. But it's actually legitimately 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.120 the nail is not fake, and it it actually is 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:54.800 going into the person's head. But the further misconception is that, okay, 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:56.920 if it is going in the person's head, that it's 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:01.760 being driven into their skull, their bone um, either through 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:05.920 a new hole that they're making because they're crazy, or 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.600 an established hole that they have like um that they're 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.360 they've used time and time again. Like uh, an ear 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:16.080 piercing that it's healed over. Not the case. Yeah, I 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.440 was about to say the body doesn't need any new holes, 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.760 but I forgot about piercing. That you need piercing. But 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.840 that's the only thing I can think of where you 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:31.240 would want a new hole that's legitimate, right, Um, I 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.880 don't know. Some doctors could want new holes for you, 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:38.760 depending like if you got a colostomate or a tricky otomy. 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.800 It didn't even think about that medical reasons. Or stellarc 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:44.880 put an ear on his arm. I was thinking about him. 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.640 I can't believe you remember that guy's name. Yeah he 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.600 was if he didn't listen. Years ago we talked about him. 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:55.840 He was a performance artist who put he molded in 0:08:55.840 --> 0:09:01.200 and grafted a ear look alike onto his arm, survived 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.880 some terrible infections that was bluetooth compatible, so he could 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.920 literally hear through it. Right, I mean you know what 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:10.480 I mean. He yeah, he's probably not literally hear through it, 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:12.520 but it had like a bluetooth mic in the ear, 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:14.840 and then he had like a head phone in his 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.040 own ear, So yeah, he could hear what was going 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.040 in there. With assistance of technology, he should hear through it. Well, 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.040 he's a performance arts what do you expect? But that 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.080 technically wasn't a hole though. No, it was just a 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:27.319 fake ear on his arm. No, it was a real ear. 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.280 Was it? A really? Whose was it? It was like 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:34.720 a cloned ear grafted onto his arm. It was basically 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.120 the cutting edge of performance art at the time. Yeah, 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:38.880 I wonder what he's doing now. I gotta look that 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:41.880 cat up. He's sitting around on people's couch, is going like, hey, 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:44.079 remember that time I grafted in here on my arm? 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.280 That was pretty great? Huh? And he says, hey talked 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:51.480 to the forearm and they say still ark. We never 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:55.640 get tired of that, Joe. Um So should we talk 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.920 about the history first or the mechanism? Let's do history. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.160 I love this guy. Well, by guy I know you're 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.720 talking about because there can be only one Mr Melvin Burkhardt, 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.800 who passed away fifteen years ago in two thousand one, 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.679 at the age of ninety four years old. He's born 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:20.240 in Atlanta uh in seven, grew up in New Orleans mainly, 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.480 and quit school at an early age and became a 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:26.640 well we worked a couple of odd jobs, worked for 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:30.880 Western Union, but then found his calling as a sideshow performer, 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.640 which we've covered on the show. Yeah, along with other 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:38.920 circus arts. Yeah, you you've got it for circus arts. 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.000 I think just about every circus art one we've ever 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.560 done is your pick? Was it? But man, we have 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.920 an extensive library of circus arts. Yes, swort, swallowing, lion taming, 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:53.960 lion taming, fire eating, fire eating. Do we have firewalking? No? 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.280 I don't think so. All right, look for that one soon. Yeah, 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:00.000 for real or tight rope backs. We had a circus 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:04.360 families we did. He's exhausted this, I don't know, man, firewalking? 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.839 We should do the the wheel. We talked about it, 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:12.960 the wheel with the motorcycles in it. What's it called? 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.480 The something of death? Wheel of death? No globe of death. 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:26.360 Maybe maybe he's a globe of death. Clunky clunky ride right? Um? 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:30.800 All right? So back to Mr Brookhart. He started performing inside. 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:35.280 He did so he was. He kind of fell into performing. 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.840 He used to go to the theater a lot. And 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:39.880 one day when he was I think fourteen or fifteen 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.800 or something, Uh, he jumped to his feet when the 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.760 people on stage ask for volunteers to come on stage, 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.280 and I guess he tripped or fell. I don't, I 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.120 didn't know if it was purposeful or not, and drove 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.240 a nail through his for her right, and everyone's just 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.079 laughed and laughed. Um, he did get some last not 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.160 for the nail yet, that came later, but um, he 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.040 was invited back for the next show, and within a 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:05.600 day or two he found himself with a contract to 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.800 do an amateur performance. So he started um performing at 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.280 a very early age. And and um, his his thing 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.959 initially was and I think throughout his career he was 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.920 what was called a talker, a master of ceremonies at 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.280 a side show. Yeah, uh, you might call him a 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.080 barker or something like that. But um, they were the 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.720 ones who kept the show going. They introduced the new 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.880 side show performers as they came on and went off, 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:33.319 And he did his own act in between the other acts, 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.760 and part of his act ended up being the uh 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.760 the nail, the human blockhead trick, among a bunch of 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.440 other stuff. Yeah. So one of these quotes that I 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.080 got his New York Times obituary and um, which are 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.120 always great, but one of the quotes from one of 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:52.040 his counterparts, and Coney Allen was so funny. He said, 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:56.360 this was from Dick Zigon. Uh, he's a side show guy, 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.680 and he said, anybody can insert objects in their nasal passage, 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.160 their nasal passage, but Melvin's patter and comedy made it 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.360 an act. And then the other guy. It's two great quotes. 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.400 Todd Robbins, as a magician, uh, who was also a 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:13.160 blockhead at times, says, anyone who has ever hammered a 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.160 nail into his nose it was a large debt to 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:19.880 Melvin Burkhart. Yeah, there's a little bit of tongue in 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.040 cheek in that oh bit that I'm sure Burkhart would 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:25.680 have appreciated. Um. That Todd Robbins guy actually has traced 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:33.120 it back um to the Joddu Wallas, basically the Indian 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:38.040 the Hindu performers, street performers, UM. And they apparently did 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:42.600 a human blockhead trick long ago. And I don't know 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:47.160 if it was just totally coincidental that Melvin Burkhardt stumbled 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:49.760 upon it himself, or if he had heard about it 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.880 or seen it himself. But at any rate, as far 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.240 as it goes in the West and the modern conception 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:57.960 of the human blockhead, Melvin Burkhart was the guy who 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.640 invented it. Yeah, I'm sure they're probably people in India 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:05.800 scoffing at that notion. But he was soon discovered by 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:11.560 none other than um Mr Ripley himself, and he took 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:15.319 him on to his auditorium in Manhattan, had him performing, 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:18.400 and supposedly is the one who came up with the 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:22.560 name human blockhead for this act. Man that Robert Ripley, 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.120 he coined a lot of stuff. I don't get it, though, 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.120 I still don't get why blockhead this is. It's a 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.120 dumb name. I would have called it, like, I don't 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.200 know what I would have called it. Give me ten minutes, though, 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.200 and I'll think of about Okay, shout it out when 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.480 you got it all right? Well, I mean, like you 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:41.560 can hammer nails into a block of wood. I guess 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.440 so is that what? It's a stupid name, But without 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.800 it we wouldn't have the Lucy from peanuts favorite Um 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.880 put down. Remember she called everybody a blockhead? Oh yeah, 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:56.520 what about the human pincushion. That's not quite right, though 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.920 it's okay. It's actually a lot more accurate. But at 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.160 think there are other human pin cushions, aren't there people 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:07.720 who do? That would be very confusing. I'm the pin cushion. No, 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:12.240 I'm the pin cushion. You're a blockhead? Um? So he uh, 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:14.720 he actually ended up And this is where this story 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:19.400 ties into Flee circuses. Actually, uh at Hubert's Museum on 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:23.440 Fort Street, which I believe is where the Hecklers had 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:28.280 their Um Flee circus for decades and where the where 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:33.800 it appeared in Easy Rider. That's right, Yeah, that's right. Uh. 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:37.120 Boy's all coming together, isn't it really? Uh? And he 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.760 was what was known as um like some people are. 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.080 You know, when we did our side show podcasts, a 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:46.800 lot of people were born with physical deformities. If they 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.880 would um, some people say we're exploited. Other people say championed. 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:53.640 But he was not that. He was what was known 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.760 as a working act. So he just had some talent 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:02.400 and fortitude to do some of these things. He wasn't 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.640 necessarily born with any strange nasal passage, although he does 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.720 say he was a boxer and broke his nose such 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:14.160 that they removed nasal bones that he thinks created this 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:21.000 passage to um inserting a nail into your sinus cavity. Um, 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:24.440 But it is, it exists in everyone, Okay, So that 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:26.600 to me is a great place to put a break. 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:57.560 All right, you're ready, Yes, here we go. All right, Chuck, 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.880 you may mention that, um, Melvin Burkhard was a boxer, right, 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:06.200 So apparently during his boxing career, he was getting some 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:11.600 bone that had been shattered in his face removed around 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.480 his nose, around his nasal cavity, and the story goes 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.640 that he noticed that the doctors were having a really 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:23.320 easy time sticking like a scalpel or pincers or all 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:26.640 sorts of little medical instruments in his nose. Rubber Chicken. 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:32.160 Henny Youngman was his doctor. Just look him up, everybody, uh. 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.399 And he was like, well, jeez, if these guys can 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.040 put the stuff in my nose, I'll bet I could too, 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:41.119 And if I combine it with my pattern comedy, I 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.720 could really make a good show of this. And apparently 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.440 that's where he was inspired to do the human blockhead trick. 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:49.440 I can make fifty a week. So he had something 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:53.560 like a dozen pieces of bone removed from his nasal 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:57.560 cavity area from his skull for medical reasons right speak 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:01.520 from his boxing career. Um, so he apparently had a 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.399 larger than normal nasal cavity as a result. Well that 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:08.920 makes sense. But it's like what you said. Everybody has 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.280 a hole in their face and it can be exploited 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:14.480 to do the human blockhead trick. We have a lot 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:16.520 of holes in our face. So let's talk about the 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:21.919 holes in our face. Right, Chuck, just put his glasses on. 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.480 I'm tired of looking over you and feeling like I'm seventies? 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:29.800 So how do I look without? Like? I gotta get 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:32.600 a picture of this? How do you look when I'm 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:36.199 looking at you through the glasses. Without the glasses? You 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.440 look great? How do I look with the glasses on? 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.240 Not so great? Larger and fuzzy. So look at me 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.760 over the clare you go wow. Alright, we'll put that 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:51.840 up on Instagram. Alright, the holes in our face? Um, 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.119 let's talk about the skull. The skull while it appears 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:59.040 as if it's just one big solid bowling ball with 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.679 a face on the front of it. Right, Um, it 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.640 is not. It is twenty two bones and all. And 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.159 if you look, if you've ever seen a human skull, 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:09.840 you can see this because they have sutures where it's 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:15.160 joined together. It's a big patchwork of of goodness, protective goodness. 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.159 And for the most part, when you look at someone's 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.919 face and you say, hey, high cheekbones, prominent chin, um, 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:24.439 look at the size of those teeth and how pointy 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.720 they are, that's crazy. These are these are actually like 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.520 features of either the bone themselves, are the bone underneath 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.360 the skin. That's your facial features. Right. But there's one 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:38.280 very prominent exception to this rule, um, and that's your nose. 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:42.720 Your nose is not the result of uh protrusion of 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.960 bone with skin stretched over it. Most of your nose 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:50.280 is made of cartilage, right, So there's actually very little 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:53.280 bone involved in your skin. Just on the bridge or 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:55.399 with your nose. Just on the bridge of the nose, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.120 that's right, Okay, So beneath the bridge of the nose, everybody, 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.600 I want you to to take your anger, put it between 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.840 your eyes and then just pressed down. That's the bridge 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.080 of your nose, not too hard, Not that hard, okay, 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:09.480 and then just go slides, start to slide a little 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:13.560 further down. That is not bone any longer, that's cartilage. 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.920 And behind that cartilage, friends, there's a big old hole 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.359 in the center of your face. Have you ever had 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:22.520 your nose broken? Let me just knock on with like 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:26.800 fifty times. No. Have you ever been punched in the nose? Yes, 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:31.359 but didn't break it? No, Okay, I've never had my 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:35.000 nose broken. I've never been punched. Knock on wood at all. Yeah, 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:39.159 uh no, never been in a fight. That's great, it is, 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:40.679 but I kind of feel like I should get in 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:47.639 a fist fight. That There's this thing called bars, and 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.679 if you go out at certain times, you can get 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:52.720 into a fight pretty easy. I was always the guy 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.320 that was breaking up like like, oh, guys, like it 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:58.480 would be much more fun if we all just kept 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:02.240 drinking and not get in a fight like that. That 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:04.840 there's nothing that will ruin a night more than a 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.080 bar fight. It's all over bar fight suck. Yeah, across 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:11.119 the board. Plus, I never always had a very strong 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:13.960 inclination to not get punched in the face. I think 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.000 that's a sensible inclining. So I was, well, not really. 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:19.359 You know, you see how some people act and some 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:21.960 people some dudes love to fight, some ladies love to fight. 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.320 You know. Yeah, I could go out looking for it. Sure, 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.240 I don't know that that's to be admired or celebrated 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:33.359 in anything anyway. It's the worst those people like. And 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:38.080 when I lived in Arizona that short year, I picked 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:42.680 up just you know, friends at my restaurant, and one 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:44.359 of the friends of the dude that worked there was 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:47.600 one of the most uncomfortable people to hang out with 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:51.439 have ever experienced. He was always looking to get in 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.960 a fight every where we went, and it just I 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:58.280 was so fraught with anxiety, you know, tons of anger inside. 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:01.000 And is it just don't you wonder stuff like that 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.680 is hormonal, Like that guy's hormones are tuned a little 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:06.480 out of I bet you there's a lot of factors 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:12.880 hormones upbringing anger from childhood. But all I know is 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:15.720 is that I was like, I felt like I was 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:17.320 gonna have a heart attack every time I was near 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:19.440 this dude. So I was just waiting for the inevitable 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:22.840 fits fight. Wouldn't it be need If that guy listens 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:26.160 listening right now, knows who you're talking about. And it's 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:29.040 just started sobbing uncontrollably, like he's just had a breakthrough. 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.520 Would be great because you mentioned his childhood. He's not listening. 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:37.240 I'm can guarantee you that. So um oh yeah the nose, 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:39.680 yeah yeah, so cartilage, the nose is easy to break, 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:42.800 is kind of where I was getting. But technically you're 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:47.120 not really breaking yet really because it's cartilage. I guess 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:52.200 you can break cartilage. Don't listen to me. So. Um. 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:55.560 What you've also got in that in your face up 0:22:55.560 --> 0:23:00.760 front of that skull is um, all kinds of spaces. Uh. 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:06.000 There are these little hollow places called sinuses. You got 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:10.080 your eye sockets of course. Uh. And then you're the 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:14.320 old reliable foreman magnum, which is where the brain stem 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:17.280 exits the skull. That really has nothing to do with 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:19.560 this episode, It doesn't. This is just sort of a 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:22.440 breakdown of what's going on in your face, Tracy. By 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:24.920 the way, this is a Tracy Wilson joint. Sure, um, 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:26.840