WEBVTT - Introducing: SNAFU with Ed Helms

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<v Speaker 1>Man. I loved the eighties arcade games, fanny packs, acid

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<v Speaker 1>washed genes, Jane Fonda doing jazzer size. I mean, what's

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<v Speaker 1>not to like smiling and feeling so fine? Oh yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>the looming threat of nuclear war.

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<v Speaker 2>The temperature of a UK fabo is twenty million degrees.

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<v Speaker 1>Cooh boy, situation called We're all fucked ump Yep. The

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighties weren't all Robotron and Rube's cubes. There was

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<v Speaker 1>also that out of control nuclear arms race between the

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<v Speaker 1>United States and the Soviet Union, and a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>people spent the eighties deeply existentially terrified of nuclear war,

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<v Speaker 1>including me. But what most people don't know is, in

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<v Speaker 1>November of nineteen eighty three, the United States and the

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<v Speaker 1>Soviet Union almost started an actual nuclear war entirely by accident,

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<v Speaker 1>and none of us knew anything about it, which makes

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<v Speaker 1>me think of a story. I'm at Helms and I'm

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<v Speaker 1>hosting a new podcast called Snapfu. It's a show about gaffes,

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<v Speaker 1>the disasters, history's greatest screw ups. On season one of Snaffo,

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<v Speaker 1>the story of Able Archer eighty three, the NATO military

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<v Speaker 1>exercise that nearly triggered World War three, you know.

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<v Speaker 2>This is more like two drunks in a bar circling

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<v Speaker 2>one another. And it's not so much that anybody would

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<v Speaker 2>deliberately choose to start the war. It's just that things

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<v Speaker 2>would spiral out of control. This is a true.

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<v Speaker 1>Story about what really happens in the highest echelons of power, deception, espionage,

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<v Speaker 1>political miscalculation, all while the fate of the human race

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<v Speaker 1>hangs in the balance. It's a story with an a

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<v Speaker 1>list cast, a Hollywood actor turned president. It did give

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<v Speaker 1>me a real understanding of the communist menace. A paranoid

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<v Speaker 1>Soviet dictator, Ohmadica he's preparing a sudden cow consa two

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<v Speaker 1>trees and his spies totally immersed in this world of

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<v Speaker 1>espionage and surveillance. And a dauntless sleuth who wanted to

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<v Speaker 1>get to the bottom of it all. Hell out the folder.

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<v Speaker 1>Open it up, and it has this green card that

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<v Speaker 1>says every historian's nightmare classified. So what's the real story

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<v Speaker 1>of Able Archer eighty three that lies buried in government archives?

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<v Speaker 1>Is it just a story of an almost armageddon? Or

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<v Speaker 1>is it a mind game all its own? To find

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<v Speaker 1>out how close we were to doomsday and why most

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<v Speaker 1>of us have no idea it even happened. Subscribe to Snapo,

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<v Speaker 1>premiering October fifth, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or

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<v Speaker 1>wherever the hell you get your podcasts.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, it is a miracle. We did not all

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<v Speaker 2>die like it's just goofy