Answer Me This! - AMT335: Lego for the Lovelorn, Oscars for Oscar, and Drugs for Dogs

Episode Date: July 14, 2016

Who let the dogs out? And who got the dogs stoned? We address these canine questions and many more in Answer Me This! Episode 335. Find out more about it at http://answermethispodcast.com/episode335. Tweet us http://twitter.com/helenandolly Be our Facebook friend at http://facebook.com/answermethis Subscribe on iTunes http://iTunes.com/AnswerMeThis Buy old episodes and albums at http://answermethisstore.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Terms and conditions apply. Visit bmo.com slash theiporter to learn more. Are we all doomed or am I being dramatic? Has to be this, has to be this. Why is there a portrait of me in the attic? Has to be this, has to be this. Helen and Ollie, want to start this episode, Helen, by reflecting on a listener who's going through some pretty tough times. That's a lot of them, judging by the questions. I mean,

how does my toaster work? That's a tough time. We all suffer along with that listener. Callum, he says, I'm 27 years old and myself and my girlfriend of nearly three years have split up. Long distance strains proved to be too much. I'm sorry, Callum. So off in the way. Yeah, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a go, in my view. Love can build a bridge. He says, we both fucking love Lego.

And it came between you? It was the third in our relationship. It was a war. Do you think Callum and his ex ever built a Lego bed and had sex on it? Then afterwards, their bodies were pockmarked. I think that would be a really horrible idea. I can't believe you thought of that, Ollie. A few months back, Callum continues,

I bought her a really, really cool limited edition Lego set for her upcoming birthday in September. Nice one. So Helen asked me this, would it be a dick move for me to keep the Lego set that I originally bought for her and build it myself because I really want it? No, I think that's fine. I think it might be a bit weird to give her a really good birthday present this birthday. I think it's probably too soon. Yeah, not just weird, it'd weird it'd be wrong wouldn't it yeah i think you've got to play it down i think for her as well receiving a gift from you at this time she'd be like well i can't really use this lego with pleasure because the breakup is still a bit too recent even if it's amicable yeah you can be lego bodies again in the future yes such a good point but i think why not callum it's

essentially something you bought therefore you own it although the fact that he's asking the question does mean that he has associated this product with his ex would it be feasible to earmark a similarly cool limited edition lego set but not this one and exchange it for that actually sell the one you've bought or see if someone's up for a sort of free cycle type arrangement. Either. Either a swap or a sale exchange. Although it sounds like he bought it quite a while ago so maybe he can't. But yeah, see if you can get something

special but different that does not have that association. I think as much as anything what's interesting about this as well Callum is that you bought your ex-girlfriend something that you wanted. Because then he could have had a go at building it yeah and I didn't and I identify with that because I myself very nearly do that quite a lot I try and restrain it like if I if I genuinely as as in this case Callum it seems like you can honestly say your girlfriend wanted it just as much if I genuinely can say yes my girlfriend wants this just as much as I do then

I will buy it but of course my girlfriend wants this men's suit for a man who's six foot three well so just very recently it was her birthday um and i thought kitchen appliance would be about right now that you've got a kid together yeah no more sexy presents well i'd already got her a sexyish present i bought we bought each other designer sunglasses on holiday oh that's nice i'd already spent like 100 quid but i thought i have to give her something on the day six weeks later you do so i set a budget of under 100 quid but probably on the right side of 50 kitchen appliance seemed about right i knew that she always wanted um a nutribullet yes but i don't understand nutribullet because basically it's a smoothie maker that costs three times as much as a smoothie maker it's a blender. Yeah. So I was resistant to the NutriBullet and then I came here

to AMT Towers and I experienced your SodaStream. Ah. I want a SodaStream. Always fucking have since I was seven years old. I'm amazed you don't

have one actually because you love gadgets, you love fizzy things. Homemade fizzy drinks. Very exciting. Right. So you got her a SodaStream. No, I got her a NutriBullet.

Ah! I bit the NutriBullet and I bought her a NutriBullet. But I so desperately wanted the SodaStream but the reason i didn't is i thought this is for me really and she'll know that and then it's not such a good present well that's good of you as as boyfriend activity goes yeah did she like it loved it okay every day has been prefixed by some sort of liquid plum and kale vile. Here's a question from Jesse from Reading who says, You know those baby-born type dolls that defecate and urinate after you feed them? Helen, answer me this.

When did the first of those toys appear? 1933. And whose was the bright idea that came up with it? F&B. Is that a name? Yeah, I think because the initials and b yeah it's spelled f and b like farrow and ball they just use the phonetic spelling of f and b because the people who ran the company's initials were f and b right but they spelt it e double f

a n b double e how cute and weird yeah okay um and surely parents were a bit freaked out when the toy was released. Why would they have been freaked out? Because the parents were the ones who had the buying power. If parents were going to be freaked out by it, these things wouldn't have worked. And there was such a massive success that within a year, there were loads and loads of imitators of the F&B original, the Di-D doll, which came in five sizes and peed out of a hole in its

buttock. I'm pretty sure that even in the 1930s that wasn't anatomically correct. I think at the time the babies had no genitals because they did not have genitals in the 1930s. Because of Russian industry. It was so successful though that Didy became the standard name for these dolls, even if

they weren't F&B. But the super popular version that came out in 1934 and ruled this market was the betsy wetsy oh and awful isn't it so f and b launched a patent infringement lawsuit but the judge ruled that you cannot patent drinking and urinating but actually that hints at my question on all of this. Okay. Because if it's so valuable to have toys that piss and shit themselves, why is it still 70, 80, 90 years on from that invention, why is it still the case that it's only baby dolls that do that and your teddy bear doesn't crap?

Oh, you can get a pissing Elmo. Really? It doesn't really piss, though. It's potty time Elmo. Ah, yeah, well, okay, that's a a pissing Elmo. Really? But it doesn't really piss, though. It's potty time Elmo. Ah, yeah, well, okay. That's a potty training device. But I think he doesn't get wet because the fur would get soiled.

Like, all of these babies have to be wiped clean. A lot of them, they made a feature of the fact that they come with baby wipes and you can bath them, whereas the furry ones, I think their fur would get matted and disgusting. I guess. What a lot of them have now are sensors so they don't make actual mess

because a lot of these toys do misfire and they leak everywhere. The poo, I think you feed them a powder that you've added water to and if things go wrong or you don't get it out of the doll quickly enough then it just solidifies in the doll. Oh, your doll's got impacted faeces.

Yeah, and I was reading some Amazon reviews that were saying the doll oh your doll's got impacted faeces yeah and i was reading some amazon reviews that were saying the doll was vomiting out and it was just like this bride of chucky moment and it would just like squirt this kind of yellowy brown liquid all over everybody's faces so the pooing ones sound really bad after the popularity of all the didy dolls they added features so um they got different types of hair you could get like enameled hair painted on or a lambswool wig uh you could get rubber ears that you could clean with a q-tip you get nostrils and you could get tear ducts so that they cried but the tear ducts look like someone's just jammed a skewer into the bridge of the baby's nose not even near the eyes so just like someone's stabbed the baby's face i think i think it's supposed to teach kind of care and

compassion for someone else i think that's the idea i think that's supposed to teach kind of care and compassion for someone else. I think that's the idea. I think that's the idea of dolls generally. I still find it quite odd. I always did find it odd, particularly the ones that urinate and shit, because you think, I get it. Like I get it, a teddy bear that learns your name, a teddy bear that says, I want cuddles. I get that.

A teddy bear that says, I need to go for a poo. It's like, there's enough of that in the world. I know, exactly. It's not escapist, is it? No, exactly. It's as much of a drag as real life i've got the question then email your question to answer me this podcast at google mail.com answer me this podcast at google mail.com answer me this podcast at google mail.com answer me this podcast at googlemail.com Answer me this podcast at googlemail.com

So retrospectives, what historical events are we ticking off on this week's run of Today in History? On Monday we bring you the real story of the mutiny on the bounty. On Tuesday the anniversary of the day somebody invented the meatball, but who? On Wednesday the iconic British car that ripped off an iconic American car. On Thursday,

how American airlines invented air miles. And on Friday, the UFO sighting that gripped colonial America. We discuss this and more on Today in History with the Retrospectors. Ten minutes each weekday wherever you get your podcasts. Here's a question from Andrew in Newcastle about weddings.

Specifically wedding etiquette. He says to add to your growing library of thoughts on the matter of wedding etiquette. We have done quite a lot of it. There's so many weddings. So much etiquette. He says, this year I am due to attend a friend's wedding. Yay. Aren't we all?

Good that he's happy about it. Yes, that's often not the gist we get from attending friends weddings i have learned says andrew that for their wedding favors they will be providing each guest with a national lottery scratch card oh brilliant i love scratch cards and then he says in brackets unscratched that's even better just wow what a bonus uh which led me to wonder helen answer me this what would be good etiquette if and hopefully when i win it's good to plan for this absolutely andrew says i was thinking if i won a grand i should probably offer to buy everyone drinks that would take care of it straight away in most weddings uh do you know in other european

countries by the way the idea of a pay bar at wedding is just a completely bizarre concept i agree uh but it's just it's because brits drink so much that people just acknowledge oh my family's coming we can't afford to pay for the drink then don't invite them but every other country they're like it's a wedding the drinks should be free i do agree with that andrew continues if i won a lot more than a grand say fifty thousand pounds to a hundred thousand pounds well good luck yeah It's not really to do with luck, is it? I wish sometimes on daytime TV, instead of saying it with a big smile, they had that scepticism when they said good luck.

Good luck. Good luck. Dream on. Andy Peters is here with details of a car you definitely won't fucking win. Andy Peters himself is the prize. He so is. If he won £100,000, continues Andrew,

should I offer to pay for the wedding or honeymoon? No, it will cost probably more than what you're going to win. Yeah, yeah. If you won fiver, it's not really an issue, is it? I think if you won £50,000, it would be a nice gesture to give the couple something, wouldn't it? Well, this is it. So, he concludes

with this question. Is there a minimum amount I can just keep without seeming heartless um i'm trying to think of how i would have felt if we'd done this at our wedding which i kind of wish we had and someone had won i don't think i would expect them to give me money but then if they'd taken us out to dinner we would have thought that's nice if someone won 50 grand at your wedding i mean maybe not me personally but like to to pay a big chunk towards their honeymoon would be quite a nice gesture

wouldn't it that's true but think about this not from the point of view of the bride and groom or andrew winning 50 grand just think about this from the point of view of you helena martin are at a wedding andrew wins 50 grand yeah so you're at a wedding you don't know the bride and groom that well you're just there as friends at the back of the room a man stands up screaming with joy oh my god i've won 50 grand then you'd think oh that's brilliant like when you see a wrap it's exciting it's exciting i if i were you in this scenario that i've imagined keeping myself out of it i don't know why um i would be thinking good on him yeah it might be quite nice if he buys us a drink yeah definitely it wouldn't occur to me oh he's 150 grand he needs

to buy the bride a honeymoon oh no so therefore just because andrew's worried about it that seems to me to be anxiety everyone else in the room will be thinking well the bride and groom decided to leave a scratch card on your table you've won good luck to you yeah i think that's fair but i suppose andrew to even be thinking about this is quite a generous chap so i think maybe give them 10 of whatever you win above 200 quid giving them a tenner out of 100 quid is sort of rubbish i think if you won a thousand pounds spend the hundred quid on giving them a nice meal for their honeymoon or something like that an experience because the amount they spent on the wedding and the scratch cards alone well the scratch cards exceed that they've probably spent at least least £250 on the scratch cards, haven't they?

Depends how many people are there. If they've got 10 people at their wedding, then that's a manageable expense. But then if you won £50,000, I think giving them £5,000 would be a lovely gesture and leave you with £45,000, which is a very good get out of a wedding scratch card. Agreed. Andrew concludes that it would all be a lot easier if they'd just given little pots of chutney and some love hearts. Yeah, but that would have been crap.

You don't know how lucky you are, Andrew. So you do think the scratch cards idea is a good one? I think it's a fun one. It depends whether there are a lot of people at your wedding who would disagree with gambling. Either that or they have a strong religious objection. Like at a Muslim wedding, I think this would be a bad idea, wouldn't it? Probably, yes.

I think it's funny. I think it's deconstructing the idea of the wedding favour in a fun way. But also, actually, when you're pissed, it's exciting even to win a tenner isn't it it's great because then you can invest it in more scratch cards you can you can imagine if they made a feature of it everyone scratched your scratch cards now a few people like bingo in a room of let's say there's 100 guests three people are gonna go oh i've won a tenner that would be quite fun yeah and then if someone wins 10 grand that's the story isn't it i think think it's Andrew himself that is gripped by the feeling that he can't keep it all for himself.

I think it would be fine to do that. I don't think you're that obligated to buy everyone in the room something. I think I'd probably only enjoy a scratch card in that kind of communal way. The idea of people who sort of buy them, you know, with a magazine. Well, actually, as I'm saying this, I was just about to say, don't do that. I went with my friends, Ben and Nikki, and our children. Our children. Yeah, I can say that now.

To go and look at bluebells in the spring around St. Albans. That's lovely. Yeah, it was a very wholesome day. I brought gambling addiction into it. Of course you had to ruin that idyllic day. After an hour or so of looking at bloody flowers, we went to the pub. And I went across the road and i said i'll buy some ice creams i'd had a few drinks and i just felt the joie de vivre i was i was paying for

the magnums you were feeling lucky i had three quid in change and i was like ah give me three scratch cards oh nice i haven't done it for 10 years but then i took the scratch but it was communal because we all did it together i think for me it's got to be about the doing it together doing it alone feels wrong. I'll tell you what feels really wrong. Digital scratch cards. What? You can go on the National Lottery website now

and play a digital scratch card. That's rubbish. You need to do it with a coin or with your key or even a thumbnail. Martin and I do them together as well on the twice a year that we buy one. Do you?

Is it a spontaneous decision or do you have it marked in the calendar? Scratch card day, dear. Christmas and birthday. Martin used to buy them when he felt the world owed us something because he was having a really crappy time. But yeah, I think if he'd done them on his own, then it would have seemed a little sadder.

However, I'm sure there was one time where he came home and said, I've got you a present. And it was a scratch card he had done. He'd not won anything. He was essentially giving me something that he was too lazy to throw away himself. Oh yeah, that wasn't really a present. No, it wasn't a present. I'm glad you realised that now. Yeah. Well now it is

time for us to take an intermission. Yes! I've been desperate for a piss. And you're desperate to hear this part of episode 186 from back in 2011? Everything was in black and white then. And this seems to be quite a popular part of Answer Me This in the memories of our listeners.

But you can buy all of our first 200 episodes on our website. AnswerMeThisStore.com I need your help, guys! Okay. On the 13th of September, one of my best friends, Verity and I, are going to see Owl City Play at the HMV Institute in Birmingham And I have to say we are so excited

Being as we are massive fans Of Adam Young I assume he's a resident of the Owl City Or maybe it's mayor How do we push our way to the front We don't want to cause arguments But we really want to be as close as possible As well as this

We have a little owl and two letters To throw onto the stage I am an A student in PE So I can throw well But I don't want to hit anyone What's this owl made of? Logs? So can you give me tips on getting the gifts on the stage?

You wouldn't throw would you Ollie? That would put your shoulder out If the crowd's on your side Rachel you could just pass the letter up from row to row i think that's very risky ollie because presumably anyone who's in front of her is going to like owl city even more than rachel does which as we know is a very very very very lot yeah and so they're going to be working against her because they don't want to be denied the handed marriage of adam owl they're going to rip that letter to shreds. I think it's all about being a little bit savvy.

I know you've been a bit savvy by writing to us to try and work out your master plan. Well done for thinking ahead. We'll have a word with Adam from Owl City. Hoot! Hoot! I think we should take a question from our question line, Helen. It comes to us all, Ollie. But if you want to leave a question on our question line, then you need to dial the following number.

0-2-0-8-1-2-3-5-8-double-7 Or you can Skype Answer Me This. Hi, Helen and Ollie. It's Beth. And Liam. From Sheffield. And we'd like to know how many people called Oscar have won an Oscar. One. Is it Oscar Isaac?

It's not. Who's Oscar Isaac? He's my perfect man. Is Llewyn Davison inside Llewyn Davison in Star Wars? And standard in the film Drive. Right. Ring any bells yet? No, never heard of him.

You didn't see the Star Wars? Of course I didn't see Star Wars, Helen. I thought it was the kind of thing you would have got drunk and gone to see. No, I absolutely made a stand this time round. You're an idiot. It was by far the best Star Wars movie. I heard it was really good, yeah. I like J.J. Abrams as well and I like the Star Trek reboot. It's a fun movie. It doesn't matter. I've spent

too many hours of my life watching Star Wars that I was just not prepared to do anymore, even if it was good. Well, no Oscar Isaac for you then. So wait, you sat through the really shit ones in order to make a stand on this one. Yeah. Anyway, the one person who has won an Oscar who is called Oscar is...

Hammerstein II. Or as they probably call him in Hollywood, Oscar Hammerstein II. Bigger and better. Was it for... What's it called? West Side Story? It wasn't.

It was... He's actually won twice uh best original song both times obviously songwriter uh he won in 1941 for the last time i saw paris from the film lady be good uh i've heard of the film i think i don't know that song no i think ebenezer good was one of the songs i've I've never heard that one. And Johnny Be Good was the rousing finale. What an amazing family. And then in 1945, again, best original song for It Might As Well Be Spring from State Fair.

Jeez. Isn't it weird? Like, you know, less than 100 years later, the Oscar Hammerstein songs we can name are not the ones he won Oscars for. But Scorsese won an Oscar, didn't he? Eventually, but not for a film that... Something a bit rubbish, yeah.

Yeah, like... Not even Shutter Island. What was it? Bring Out Your Dead or whatever it's called. No, it wasn't as bad as that. What was Scorsese won an Oscar, didn't he? Eventually, but not for a film. Something a bit rubbish, yeah. Yeah, like... Not even Shutter Island. What was it? Bring Out Your Dead or whatever it's called. No, it wasn't as bad as that. What was Scorsese's Oscar for? Wasn't Casino. Should have won for Casino. Oh, no, hold on. It was The Departed. Yeah, yeah, Bring Out Your Dead. The ambulance thing. Yeah. It wasn't. It was The Departed.

Oh, is that not the ambulance movie? No, it's the thing with Leonardo DiCaprio. Oh, that stupid thing where everyone's a fucking spy. It's fine. It's good. Oh, it's crap. Everyone's working for... It's a thing with Leonardo DiCaprio. Oh, that stupid thing where everyone's a fucking spy. It's fine. It's good. Oh, it's crap. Everyone's working for... It's not crap.

It's a men running around film. It's a four-star New York gangster film. It's really not. It's three and a half stars. I thought it was set in Boston. It could be Boston. Fine. East Coast.

It's a four-star city film. Anyway, it's not even in Scorsese's ten best. But I sort of think it's probably always been the case. If you look at the musical winners of the Oscars now all the big names in popular music have won Oscars but not for the not really for the songs that anyone can remember them doing oh we can nominate Bruce Springsteen for an Oscar let's do that

even if you know it's not going to be a particularly memorable number or we can get Adele along for a song she wrote in 10 minutes by her own admission although it was great when Brett from Flight of the Conchords won an Oscar. Yeah, for the Muppets. Yeah.

That was fun. So I remember that and I remember 3-6 Mafia winning with the It's hard out here for a pimp. I can't remember

how the song actually goes. Harder than you think. So I have to sing it like it's a show tune. There have been four other people called Oscar who have been nominated

for Oscars. Oscar Isaac. Oscar Isaac is not on the list. Bad luck, Martin. Brodney for writing the Glenn Miller story in 1954. Okay. Great thing about that title is I haven't seen the film,

but I know what it was about. All these years later, the marketing still working. Ken Basie, right? Yeah. Although Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is not about Virginia Woolf. So don't trust anything. It's a clever title, though, that makes the observant reader think, ooh, I wonder if that is about Virginia Woolf.

You're questioning it. You think it might have something to do with Virginia Woolf. And fear. It's not called The Virginia Woolf Story, then it would be weird if it wasn't about Virginia Woolf. He's afraid of Glenn Millen. That would be a good movie. Oscar Homolka was nominated for Best Supporting Actor

for playing Uncle Chris in I Remember Mama in 1948. Oscar Lagerstrom, the sound director of Raffles, was nominated in 1929. And the final Oscar to be nominated but not win was Millard for writing The Frogmen in 1951. So the Oscars' success at the Oscars was very much an early part of 20th century. And in the last 50, 60 years, Oscars have not made much of a mark at the Oscars' success at the Oscars was very much an early part of 20th century. And in the last 50, 60 years, Oscars have not made much of a mark at the Oscars. Correct. Anyway, your question, Beth and Liam, got me thinking.

Can I broaden this out? Has anyone called Tony ever won a Tony? Oh, I bet they have. They have. I'm not quite sure what Tony is. That's the Theatre Award, right? Yeah, they've just had them. I thought possibly Anthony Hopkins.

But I couldn't be bothered to Google how many Antonys had won. Yeah, they've just had them. I thought possibly Anthony Hopkins, but I couldn't be bothered to Google how many Antonys had won. Yeah, I think that's okay. Although, well, it's not really okay, because actually the Tonys is rather like Oscar. Oscar is the slang name, and they're actually called the Academy Awards of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences. The Tonys are actually the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre.

Oh, I wonder how many Antoinettes have won one Exactly So I should have looked into that too But again, couldn't be arsed because everyone calls them Tonys Just Tonys 1973 Tony Walton for Scenic Design on Pippin Great He won again in 1986 for The House of Blue Leaves

Go Walton And again, Walton was very prolific He's over-representing the Tonys. He's skewing the data. Yeah, I think that's right. For scenic design on Guys and Dolls. The second Tony to win a Tony is Tony Stragis, but here's a weird thing, also for scenic design.

What's in the water, Tonys? Why are all the Tonys doing scenic design? They've got a calling. Tony Stragis, scenic design for Sunday in the Park with George, 1984. And then the final Tony was a playwright. The play was Angels in America. And the author was Kushner. Tony Kushner.

But what I didn't know is he won in 1993 and 1994 because apparently there are two Angels in America plays. Really? Yeah, you wouldn't think it was the sort of thing like Lord of the Rings, would you, to be split across two parts, but apparently it was. That's a good wheeze, isn't it? Do you think that there's something to do with naming trends there? Like maybe Oscar

was not a popular name for a part of the 20th century which meant there weren't enough Oscars coming up to be nominated for Oscars and maybe Tony was a very popular name for people who were at their career peak in the 70s and 80s and early 90s And working in scenic design, specifically.

How many people who are grandmothers have won Grammys? And how many people called Emma have won Emmys? How many Brits did Britney Spears win? I did look in to see whether Laurence Olivier had ever won an Olivier. But they're named after him, so that doesn't really count. Well, no, but it could have been possible, because it turned out,

because they weren't originally called the Olivier Awardsier awards they were called you know the something awards for theatrical arts they they named it in tribute to him so i thought well obviously when he popped his clogs no they'd been called the olivier awards since 1984 he didn't die till 1989 yeah but was he working in the 80s so this is it well i thought well is there a chance that maybe he got an honorary award at the oliv? He didn't get a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Olivier's. He really wasn't trying, right? I just think that would be amazing if it happened, because there he would be on stage clutching an award, which is his own face.

But anyway, no, it never happened. He'd won plenty of the predecessors to the Olivier's, and that's why they named them after him. If you could win any of the big awards, which would you like to put on your mantelpiece it's got to be the oscar hasn't it no i think the emmys are really pretty and that's your that's how you judge it yeah look how nice it is someone holding a little astrolabe a lot of awards are a boring lump of perspex i'd like to win one that is a statuette yeah but not of a golfer I don't think you're very likely to win I'm really good at mini golf We had a friend who

represented one of the writers of The Thick of It who then got Oscar nominated for In the Loop and when she used to talk about going to the Oscars I did get, but that is a glamorous anecdote isn't it It's a glamic date, you'd never think that's ever going to happen to me Yeah but it's a glamic date to have been there but then what they say is like

well it's really hot and sweaty and there's no food and everyone is just outside smoking and there's a seat filler in their seat and it's seven hours long yeah the seat filler thing is the thing that everyone tells you isn't it what's the what's the seat filler when angelina jolie goes for a shit someone comes in and sits in her seat but But I mean, you know. And then when she comes back, they have to go and shit. I don't understand. So if there's like a long shot, it looks like she's still there. So that the auditorium doesn't look half empty.

It's an interesting tidbit, isn't it? But it's not the thing that if I went to the Oscars, I'd tell everyone. But if you're Angelina Jolie, you would go for a really long shit, wouldn't you? Because it's going to be a lot of technical stuff. It's the only time she gets alone from her kids. I don't know if you've heard but the former Prime Minister Tony Blair has written a book

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That is yours to keep and even if you cancel your trial And wherever you are in the world So you can go to our website click the link And it'll take you to your local Audible site Yes so head on over to AnswerMeThisPodcast.com Slash Audible Yippeeee i.o it's a question from stewart who says i was listening to the song who let the dogs out by the baja men

helen answer me this who did let the dogs out and why i think it's a bystander i think the baja men traveled together to the shops in their su, left the dogs in the car, and someone came past and thought they looked really thirsty and they jimmied the door open so they could get some fresh air and not die in the car. That is not reflected by the lyrics. Oh, what are the lyrics about? The lyrics describe a party at which the men have started catcalling the women

and then there is the line... Catcalling, to mix animal metaphors. I couldn't think of another word because my brain was like, animals, pets, pet words. And then there is the line. I heard a poor man shout out who let the dogs out. And then there is the chorus. So it's really a rhetorical question. So you could interpret it as being an insulting reference to women, implying they're unattractive.

Or it could be the men being the dogs with their rampant behavior well i always imagined you know when there's the bit in the bridge where they sing a doggy is nothing if he don't have a bone that's suggestive isn't it uh yeah exactly i always assumed that meant baha man boner therefore the baha men themselves are the dogs they're describing themselves who let them as the rampant dogs out who want to have doggy sex I don't think it is about them but either way we're talking about humans being the dogs yes it's an analogy they are self-determining yes and they let themselves out and I think it is the men because the songwriter Anselm Douglas wrote it

as a riposte to women being called bikes in popular culture at the time. Isn't the dog not just a man but the animalistic id? Who let the sexually charged animalistic part of these people's nature out? But it is a cover. It's not from the Baja men's own brains. And do you know who did it first that gave the Baja men's manager the idea? Was it Cat Stevens? No. It was Jonathan King the sex pest DJ yeah I mean the convicted child molester it doesn't I mean actually on the one hand I'm

astonished because he's British he's white he's middle-aged and he's completely from a different era let's just leave aside the sex thing um but another way I'm not because he had his finger in a lot of god you can't say anything can you but he did have his finger in a lot of pies musically Well this was under his His band name Fat Jack With 2Ks and his pack of pets Right He didn't write it though you just said who the songwriter was

So why did Jonathan King sing it Right they heard it as a catchy thing So it's quite complicated actually the genesis Of who let the dogs out surprisingly I think ironically Jonathan King Br brought genesis together oh geez um the origin of it is in the chorus which was an advertising jingle um on wblk 93.7 fm buffalo the oldest urban fm station in america two men were working there writing these jingles patrick stevenson and leroy williams and apparently leroy will Williams kept using the phrase, who let the dogs out, which is slang he'd picked up in Miami in the bass and hardcore rap scene of the time.

And what did it mean? Randy Men. So they put it into a jingle and then one of the host's brother-in-laws, Anselm Douglas, heard it, asked if he could incorporate it into a song. And then he wrote the verses as his song Doggy. But then there was a lawsuit because Stevenson and Williams never got any royalties or ever a songwriting credit. When you say then there was a lawsuit, presumably it was a massive international hit. And then there was a lawsuit. No one wanted a bit of a song covered by Jonathan King, I'm guessing.

Yeah, well, yeah, I think it was a hit in the year 2000 and the lawsuit was in 2001. Thank you. The lawsuit was in favour of the jingle writers. And then the Baja Men's manager heard Jonathan King's version of it and said it was the most horrible record I'd ever heard, but I couldn't get the hook out of my mind. It is one of those, isn't it?

Yeah. And then the Baja Men said, we don't want to cover that. But then he persuaded them. It was on their sixth album. They've been together since the 70s under different guises and slightly different lineups. But I think it's kind of better, isn't it, to to be a sort of one hit wonder band because at least everyone remembers

i think it's a fun hit yeah it's like chesney hawks or lou bager isn't it it's that category of hit well i think if you associate your one hit wonder with summer yes then you've got a greater chance that in the future people will think fond of you hi this is elaine in bristol helen and ollie answer me this what is the link between theatres and Italian restaurants? I've worked in about 10 theatres over the years, and every single one of them had an Italian restaurant within 20 metres of Stage Door. Is it a mafia thing? In Britain, actually, no. I haven't ever heard of an Italian mafia controlling the West End's theatre land restaurants. It would explain a lot about Spaghetti House, though, because that's not there for the food.

Well, I agree with you. That and cafe pasta. God, does that still exist? In a blind taste test, would you know the difference between Spaghetti House, cafe pasta and Garfunkel's? Or hospital food. There are a few things that I'd consider in this equation, though. Firstly, I think it's worth remembering that Italian food,

almost more than any other foreign food, has an enormous markup. Flour is cheap. Exactly. I mean, if you're ordering the Dover Soul, fair enough, that's expensive at market price. Most people are ordering pasta and pizza and garlic bread. It costs about 50p to make your meal. You're paying 25 quid. So that does mean that if you're paying expensive west end rents which is where the theatres are because the theatres are hundreds of years old in britain generally obviously there are a few new ones they tend to be in good positions that have been there for hundreds of years those buildings are expensive those locations are central italian restaurants are good businesses to put there because of the relatively high profit

margins compared to other cuisines so that's one thing the other thing i would say is that also because the buildings are old the locations are old generally um it means that people have been going to the theater and then having a meal two activities that go well together in that place for perhaps decades and therefore you have to look at the sort of history of foreign food cuisines coming into britain and you know before we had curries before we had sushi before we had uh american barbecue italian restaurants were the kind of staple thing that was different to a british caf that if you were having a night out going to the theater you might think oh this is exotic linguine oh a candle stuck in a wine bottle exactly and then it becomes habitual doesn't it it's not only that the businesses are there so the businesses continue because the same clients

go back and back another thing it could be is that these restaurants build up their theater connections not just because people go there for their pre-theater meal but because actors go there after the show now if you've just done a show it's 10 30 at night you want comfort food and you don't want to spend too much money you don't have a curry every night but i could imagine that you go to a relatively inexpensive italian restaurant every night after the show that That's why it becomes Simon Callow's favourite and then it becomes a theatre joint. What I wonder is whether the process could work the other way round because in Crystal Palace there is the Italian quarter

where within about 30 yards there's Patp, pizza at the palace that we've talked about before, across the road from that there's Lorenzo's, across another road because it's a crossroads, there is both the Godfather pizza and Il Ponte pizza and other Italian foods. So surely that means a theatre must follow. It's only a matter of time. Down and lonely, life is so confusing. I need some answers, preferably amusing.

Now I find a podcast that will suit. I listen to Helen and Ollie on my half-hour commute. Here's a question from Maria and Lauren who say, We have an ageing rescue dog named edie who takes prozac great opening sentence because there because the gray winters here in seattle are very long in truth in true america isn't it the gray winters are long they're long here too but our canines are generally not on drugs in truth they, they say, she has anxiety, and she is proof positive of better living through chemistry.

Edie is a 55-pound mutt. As she ages, she has developed aches and pains in her hips and legs and other mystery ailments that we've not been able to diagnose without spending thousands of dollars in veterinary x-rays and specialist consults. We would like our dog to be comfortable in her twilight years. Of course. Our veterinarian offered us the choice of Prozac or doggy pain relievers. Apparently her liver cannot handle both. We remember vividly how challenging she was in her pre-Prozac days

and we don't want to relive them. We got to thinking, what about doggy edibles? We live in Seattle and marijuana is legal. Some local shops sell marijuana-laced treats specifically for dogs. Okay. So Ollie answered me this. Would it be madness to introduce Edita Reefer? To clarify, we would only give our dog very small doses of marijuana edibles occasionally

to manage her pain. Are we being irresponsible dog owners if we try this? I actually can't label you as irresponsible wherever I go from this point you're being very thoughtful exactly you're putting more thought into whether or not you should give your dog drugs than most people do before they themselves have a smoke of a joint aren't you good point you won't be surprised to know that there aren't many scientific studies on this uh although actually i mean there are more than none i bet there are some happening right now well this is it i i'm not quite sure why there aren't any because this particular scientific report would get well covered by the tabloid news wouldn't it and i do think i mean martin you're the scientist

in the room i mean if you if you represented a dog weird scientist but if it's all the same if you were in physics dog weed whatever if you were in a struggling university and you were the head of veterinary science, wouldn't you think, get some easy headlines, get some funding, give some dogs some weed. That's a fun research project. Because there's nothing more an academic likes than lots of attention from the Daily Mail.

Are you being serious? You wouldn't like your study to be widely reported in the tabloids and for people to be talking about it on radio and TV? You wouldn't like to work in an office full of stoned dogs. I think the big problem with this is dosage, isn't it? I mean, I don't think people are judging their own dosage, but if you're looking at an animal which is much smaller than a person,

the danger is you just get the dog really badly stoned and they don't have a tall and nice time. I think that's why she's talking about small dosage first. I think that's right. But she's also a 55-pound dog, which is quite a big dog yeah the combination with prozac though let's talk about that because generally marijuana advocates will tell you oh there's no drug that it's been proven that if you combine marijuana with that drug there's no drug at all that's been proven that the effects are worse have those studies been done well they have but just because you can't prove that it like you know causes death

or cancer or something um both marijuana and prozac can cause problems with uh decision making skills motor skills that's why you feel relaxed when you take them right so if you're effectively multiplying your dose of a relaxant even if the two drugs aren't bashing up against each other in a problematic way mentally you're still not going to want to be operating heavy machinery now for your dog that might mean catching a bone or walking down the stairs or shitting everywhere they might start shitting everywhere so think about that but this seems like palliative care they're not expecting a cure for ed they just want to make her twilight years more comfortable which feels like a safer time to experiment than if edie was say four years old and they might be dramatically

shortening her life i understand that you want to offer palliative care and i'm not a dog owner but i am a cat owner and i am a father and i'd want to know that it was the right thing. So until there's the scientific studies that say this is good as the veterinary medicine, I wouldn't trust myself to self-medicate. Here's an idea. Seattle, what's that, three-hour drive from Portland? I bet that they've been working on marijuana for dogs for years.

Someone there. Yeah. Go down and have a chat with them. Take a left turn by the compost share. Oh, well, with that, I think it's only right that we end this episode of Answer Me This. It's probably for the best. But it's also for the best that there is another one in two weeks time so please supply your questions by email phone or skype all of those contact details are on our

website answer me this podcast.com where you can also find details about how to download our first 200 episodes and buy our albums and our apps what a lovely thing to do for yourself it is another lovely thing you can do for yourself is listen to our other work online you can binge listen to both series of the modern man my podcast modern man m a double n dot co dot uk 20 episodes of that up there trend sex culture that kind of thing helen yeah the illusionist that still exists uh the illusionist.org and martinist with an a since you spelt yours out yeah and Martin songbysongpodcast.com we're on to Tom Waits' fourth album

what is his fourth album? Small Change really good record now that's what I call Tom Waits it's my my favourite and if all that

wasn't enough for you remember as well to get your free audiobook by going to answerwithispodcast.com slash audible thank you

remember when there wasn't much to listen to apart from this show and the sound of your own breathing and Tiki Bar TV remember that

that's probably still going probably is that we used to nudge up against that in the podcast chart thought this is unfair it's a video podcast no it feels retro well Tiki Bars

feel kind of retro they do but they always did okay anyway this is a reference for probably only other podcasters back in two weeks bye