Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast - Kathleen Madigan, Charlie McCrackin, James Mannion
Episode Date: June 17, 2024Comedian extraordinaire Kathleen Madigan joins the prestigious CBB one timers club! She talks to Scott about her latest stand-up tour Potluck Party, her ideal acting role, and aliens. Then, Detective ...Jack Cates only has 48 hours to find escaped criminal Albert Ganz and needs Scott and Kathleen’s help. Plus, professor Robert Canasta returns to talk about psychology experiments he’s participated in as a student in college. Get tickets for the Comedy Bang! Bang! Into Your Mouth Tour 2024 over at https://CBBWorld.com/tour
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Welcome to Comedy Bang Bang.
Ah, thank you to Rabbit Fighter
for that catchphrase submission.
Sometimes you have to let the cows out to eat the hay.
I mean, it's as true as it is pithy and catchy.
I don't think it's gonna stick,
but thank you so much to Rabbit Fighter
for that submission.
The hunt continues.
The hunt continues, much like the cows hunting the hay
that they're gonna eat.
Welcome to Comedy Bang Bang for another edition.
We have an incredible show.
I know I say that every week,
but I honestly, 75% of the time I'm lying.
This is in the 25 where I am where I just think this is solid. We have a
policeman or a law enforcement officer. I don't know whether calling a detective a policeman
is an insult. Maybe I've busted him down to just a beat cop suddenly in my introduction, but
he is a detective. We'll be talking to him about all things law enforcement coming up a little later.
We also have a professor, a psychology professor.
So this is a very informative show, I think, if you're interested in those two jobs at
least.
We also have our first guest is a comedian.
So really running the gamut of employees here.
Although I guess the comedian, she works for herself. She's self-employed.
Yeah, this would be a really weird human resource meeting.
These are the three actual jobs.
We have to welcome her to the prestigious one-timers club here on Comedy Bang Bang.
This is an incredible achievement for someone to be on one time.
And we've determined, by the way, that if you're ever on more than once, that means your career is on the down slide.
OK, I will not come back. This is it.
Because the greats have been on one time. Ben Stiller, Donald Glover. They've never returned because they're too busy.
Paul Rudd, way too busy to come back.
Maybe it's the parking.
Could be. Was the parking bad for you? No, it's just I think I took the spot ahead of a couple
other people. I got the good spot. Okay. Well, we'll work all of that out. We do not validate,
by the way. I'm so sorry to tell you. That's all right. But she is, look, Journeyman Standup
has been working for now. God, I want wanna say, let's see, you first started,
I was reading in 1988.
Is that true? Well, true,
but I didn't go on the road till 89.
Right. So a year of, you know.
A year of working out what you were gonna do.
Or yeah, getting 15 minutes together.
So 1989 to now cut to 35 years later.
Yep.
Incredible, incredible career.
She's done all of the television shows.
She did Carson, right?
You did Carson. Not with him.
Not with him. Not with him.
Who hosted? His, Leno.
Leno hosted. Yeah.
Carson was leaving.
And for like the last two years, he just had his friends on.
Really? So I maybe like I remember Jim Macaulay,
the guy that booked Carson, and he would be around the improv and stuff.
But it was too late for us for us. Like he was already, you know, I mean, it was Bette Midler, all of Johnny Carson's friends who want to sing a song and make him cry.
And we weren't going to do it. Did you miss the singing a song to him? No, no, no, no, I don't.
What song would you have sung to him? I do Irish goodbyes. I wouldn't even say goodbye to you.
More or less make a thing out of it and we're crying.
It's all very uncomfortable.
That would be great if you did Carson and just like midway through the show you were
gone.
Just left.
Yeah.
Just act like everybody else is busy.
It's like we're in Kathleen Go.
Yeah, right.
Well, that's happened at many a party, but no, I didn't.
So the first, Leno was the guy.
Leno, Letterman, but you've done, you've done them all.
Yes, all of them.
And so many standup specials,
and her current tour is called the Potluck Party Tour.
Please welcome to the prestigious one-timers club,
Kathleen Madigan.
Thank you.
Hello, welcome to the show.
Yes, I've listened to some episodes.
I think I know what's happening.
Okay, good. Yeah.
If you ever are unsure.
I listen to Fortune.
Oh, Fortune. She's a friend.
Oh, Fortune Feimster.
Yes, yes, yes. She's always fun to listen to. Yes, she Fortune's. Oh, Fortune. Oh, Fortune Feimster's. Yes, yes, yes.
Great.
She's always fun to listen to.
Yes, she's great.
She's wonderful.
She's still on that Arnold Schwarzenegger show.
I don't know.
When you guys were talking about it,
honestly, I didn't know what it was.
I don't want, I mean, I love her,
but I didn't want to say it,
but I don't watch stuff like that.
What do you watch?
What does a Kathleen McGregor watch?
Well, if you're not killing somebody on the ID channel,
chances are I'm not familiar with you.
If you're not on Dateline
and you're not part of some murder thing,
good or bad, whatever side you were on.
Like I, or like I just watched, oh my God,
it was on Apple, oh Joe, what was that called about?
Coco Chanel, but it's got Nazis and World War II.
Coco Chanel and Nazis, I am in.
Well, she was a Nazi sympathizer.
And who knew?
In Christian Dior, it's called The New Look.
The New Look?
It's on Apple TV.
There's like eight episodes.
It's all factual.
It is just the greatest,
because I like historical stuff.
And then you tie in fashion too.
Whoa, whoa, triple, yay, yay, yay.
It was really great.
And they're all like actors you've never heard of,
because they're actually French or they're Europeans.
So you don't have to think about, they're just good at it.
Like there's nothing weird.
You don't have to think about like.
Like Keanu Reeves doesn't appear as a Nazi
where you're like, oh my God, this is so not believable.
And you're like, hey, that's Keanu Reeves.
What's he doing?
Oh, he's playing someone else.
Right, right, right, right.
So I don't know, like weirder stuff.
Do you like fictional crime stuff or non-fictional crime?
Non-fictional.
Just non-fictional?
No, I like everything non-fiction.
Historically accurate if possible.
I was going to say, I just completed Ripley, which is fictional crime.
Oh, no.
I'm not in.
You're out.
No, even with musicals.
I'll buy into the sound of music.
I know what happened, but the rest of it.
Oklahoma technically is a place.
No, no, no, not buying in
The South Pacific is a location. It is the World War two happened. Yeah West Side Story
No gangs broke out in the song. I can't I can't suspend reality like that
But I think there's a lot of comedians that when we're off, we are not watching comedy. Yeah, it's we're overloaded
I hate it. There's got to be something better out there, right? Well, just different like comedy comedy there, you know, like take your Abbott Elementary's
or whatever, it's like, come on, I've never had a funny teacher.
Get the fuck out of here.
If I don't buy the premise, I can't go with the show.
I've just had teachers who like, you know, discipline me and spank me.
That's why the Catholic schools are hard to get into.
That's right. You grew up in the Catholic school system.
And I think people nowadays want to know
that you can hit my kid.
And that's really only gonna happen in a Catholic school.
We still have permission to hit you.
That's the one place you can go if you want your kid hit.
If you want your kid hit, sign up, it's 15 grand.
15 grand?
Well, it depends on what school.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
I mean, I can hit my kid for 13.5.
For free.
Oh, okay.
No, I don't know.
It's just the discipline, I guess, but.
Yeah.
I'm gonna say you're on this current tour,
but really you've been on tour for 35 years at this point.
You're one of the hardest working standups in the business. You work
250 nights a year still?
Yeah, but I don't do side projects. My goal was to do this, and I'm doing it. And then
people are like, oh, media people are, well, what's your next goal? I'm like, why do I
have to have one? That's Oprah putting that shit in your head. I don't need a vision board.
I don't need, well, I don't ever want to shit in your head. I don't need a vision board. I don't ever want to
be in a movie.
You don't ever want to be in a single movie.
I don't care. If a friend asks, I will do it. I've done like two, but I'm just the
bar tanner.
Would you consider me to be your friend because I want you to star in my next movie?
I'll be in your movie if you want, but I don't like acting. I don't have the patience. I
don't want to be in a sitcom. I just wanted to sell jokes and make money
and drink with the staff and that's going very well.
I don't understand why I'm supposed to make myself do more
when this was the initial goal.
So you don't have side, you're not working on a script
while you're out there doing, you're just,
so technically you're working 250 nights a year,
but you're doing an hour and a half?
An hour and 20.
An hour and 20.
Yeah.
And I get there early for Soundcheck and I watch the opener and it's a fun night.
And then I just want to be done now.
We're done.
Like I went, Louis Black is one of my best friends, the comedian Louis Black.
He was on an episode of The Big Bang Theory.
He played some crazy nutty professor.
And we went over there.
This sounds good.
He was like, will you go with me?
I said, Louis, I don't have the patience. He go, play, baby. I go, fine. So I bring a bottle of wine because I know I'm
going to be bored. And his assistant friend, Shannon, she'd be bored. We were there from 4
till 11. 4 AM to 11 AM. No, 4 PM. And then the show came on.
This keeps crazy efforts. And he was on like for three minutes. And I go, was that worth it to you, Lou? Seven hours?
I don't know.
I don't know, was he getting paid scale?
He just likes to act.
Is it a guest arbor payment or?
It wouldn't be what he make doing a standup show.
I don't know.
I don't have the patience.
So have you, I haven't taken a look at your IMDB,
which is short, by the way, for the internet movie database.
That's because I haven't taken a look at your IMDB, which is short, by the way, for the internet movie database. That's because I don't update it.
But have you ever been in any movie or any TV show
other than doing standup on?
I was in a movie that Steve Byrne, a comedian,
made on the bartender, right, in that comedy movie.
I don't even feel bad.
The one where he, I don't even remember what it was.
I think he was on the show talking about it.
I'm sure he was.
And I watched it and I don't remember what it's called.
Yeah, like the popular, the Asian kid who's in everything, William...
Shakespeare?
Exactly.
Totes Asian.
I don't know, he's in it.
Okay.
All I know is that...
Who cares?
But you were in that, but it was a favor.
It was, yeah.
Are you playing yourself?
Yeah, well, yeah.
I'm the bartender lady who runs over Mike Knight and he said it would be in an Irish bar
What he didn't say is that the bar would be closed and there'd be no air conditioning or I would have said no Steve
No, you tell me an Irish bar. I'm pictured
I have again is why all this goes on and you all work out all your bullshit and I'll be right here with my
Four lines I got it and it didn't go like that
This is good advice for people who want to be actors out there.
Always check the air conditioning.
Noise. Anything that can make noise.
It's all got to be turned off.
Oh, brutal. In Anaheim, in a strip mall.
I'm like, we're not even, we're in a fake Irish bar.
It's not even, you know, it's one of those kilt-o-something world.
Like, it's Scottish. It's not even Irish. I was so...
So what's the ideal acting role for you
because I'm trying to get you in something here because.
I can play a bartender who just says something
every now and then, but I need the air conditioning
to be on. You need the air conditioning to be on.
Or a door open or something where there's air.
So I'm casting a TV show where the hours are 1pm to 2pm
is when we take. That's good.
The air conditioning is blasting.
Great.
So you can't really hear any of the dialogue.
So far, yes.
It's a yes.
All the doors are open so the lights are shot.
Great.
So far, yes.
This is all good.
Terrible movie, but I'm going to have a lot of fun.
I got to get you in this.
I need the taps in the bar to work.
And you need to get drunk.
It needs to be real beer the entire time?
Yes, yes, yes. There's no, I mean, I'm not going to go into, you know,
yinglings or something harsh, but you know, something that's a session beer,
Michelob Ultra, something simple.
Yeah, so my career is very limited. It's very much in the stand up.
But then what I love about this is you are committed to the art form of stand-up because so many people
Get into stand-up now and they're angling for the next thing or they're angling for a show or what have you or just to be a celebrity
Sure, that's the most annoying one. Yeah, and I can I can spot them like that. I'm like, oh this one doesn't care about stand-up
This is they've figured it out though
That you can use stand-up. It's the quickest way to
that you can use standup. It's the quickest way to, if you can get good at it,
kinda, you know, you can end up on the Netflix
young comedians deal and they're blah, blah, blah.
But it's the ones that wanna be a celebrity,
those are the ones that irritate me the most.
The ones that wanna be actors and stuff,
it's all, it could all be part of it.
It's just not my thing, but it could be your thing, you know.
But the ones who wanna be a celebrity,
who are we talking about here?
I'm not gonna mention names.
Cause I see a lot of-
Well, it's the ones that are celebrities.
You can go Google it yourself.
I see a lot of like Instagram celebrities
who then you look at their page and you go,
oh, you also do stand-up?
Right, right, right.
Not to slam the platform Instagram,
which is of course owned by Metta.
Yeah, it's owned by little fucker Berg himself.
I don't know why the government's so mad at TikTok.
You're mad at the Chinese, but while meanwhile,
Zuckerberg's an actual alien and nobody's mad about that.
Like, is he an alien?
I think so, 100%.
I do not believe he's from this planet.
Do you believe in aliens, by the way?
Are you like a UFO person or what are they called now?
UTIs? Well, I may have joined MUFON in my twenties,
but I have moved on.
I haven't kept my card updated.
What is it?
I don't even know what that is.
The Mutual UFO.
Google it.
It's a big organization.
It's people believe in aliens.
And I was in college.
I'm like, yeah, I'm in.
It's free.
Have you seen any evidence of them at all?
I have not.
My little brother and my dad did.
Really?
What'd they see?
They were driving through some back roads in
Missouri having a conversation. Nobody been drinking or anything like that.
They had gone on a fishing trip and they... And nobody had been drinking on this fishing trip? Well, yeah.
Already your story's falling apart. Nobody was hung over. Oh, okay. That counts. I'll give you that.
Or my dad might have grabbed a highball to go sometimes in the car. None of that
was happening. And they lost three hours of
time and ended up in some town. My dad knew every road in Missouri, every back road, every
highway. He knew everything. And they didn't know where they were. And there was a weird
girl at a gas station, like a back ass woods gas station. And he said, how do you get to
highway seven? And she said, I've never heard of that. It's the main highway that goes through
from Kansas City
to St. Louis, like you can't not know.
Right.
So this girl is an alien?
No, I think they just ended up
in a place that wasn't even real.
Oh, so like an alternate dimension
where this highway had never been born.
But they do have the same gas stations
in this alternate dimension.
And he paid by credit card and it ended up on his credit card bill.
If you want to get logical, there's a lot of holes in this story.
But then shockingly, my brother, so after this incident, they both swear by it and it's
not like I was more of a-
Couldn't this woman just have been like a dumb shit who had never-
She could have been.
Or new?
Completely dumb shit.
I've gotten that same answer in Kansas City where Highway 70 goes through Kansas City and their farm people are like, I don't go on the big roads, but
they are aware of it. They just don't like it. And it's too crazy. But the three hours
in missing time.
That's weird.
And then shockingly, my brother, who I would call a B minus lazy student, all of a sudden
was straight A's and was Latin scholar of Missouri.
He spoke Latin. It was like, fuck it.
So whatever they shoved up his ass made him smarter?
Yeah. I said, well, tell me where you got, you think your time ended because I want to go back
to that spot. And then maybe I could, yeah. So that happened to them, but I don't know.
Interesting. But nothing for you.
Nope. And I- So that happened to them, but I don't know. I wouldn't. Interesting. But nothing for you. No, and I...
And you've been traveling this country and I guess other countries,
but of course, you're in the USA right now.
Love it or leave it.
And but you've been traveling for decades now and you've never run into anything.
No, and just not that long ago.
Well, January, I guess, driving from Wichita to Tulsa in the middle of the night.
You know, you think you hate traffic until there's no traffic, no other cars.
And then you're like, what the fuck is going on?
Like if there was a place to see an alien ship, that was a primo landing spot for them.
Lots of parking. I didn't see anything.
You think that one alien would be like, cause they always go to abandoned places.
So no one sees them.
You think one alien would have made a mistake
and like landed in the middle of LA or something.
Or Times Square.
Yeah, you know what I mean?
Just on some roofs.
Yeah, cause like we get lost all the time.
Well, if they're good enough to get here,
they probably don't get lost.
But also why would you come here?
Why would anyone come here?
That's the thing.
Unless we're their next meal.
Hunting. Hunting.
Hunting?
I mean, you think that your dad and your brother
maybe were a prey for this alien?
Maybe.
And maybe they're like,
yeah, we're not into beef tacos.
I mean, whatever, I don't know.
I don't know how you have three hours of missing time.
That's the thing.
That's the weird part.
The gas station girl, I'm with you.
Could just be a backwoods idiot.
Do you think maybe they pulled over and just fell asleep for a while or were?
Oh, no, my dad would never do that.
OK. No, Mr. Type A, he go.
He would go all day. No, he would never.
He doesn't nap. No.
Well, I'm sold. There's aliens.
I just say they exist.
I do think they do.
I do think there there's something off about Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
They're not, I don't feel that they're normal people.
The emotions aren't there.
Even in the congressional hearings when shit gets really heated, he just cocks his head.
It's almost like...
There's no emotion of a normal, what you would call a normal emotional response to the situation that is occurring.
It's like spending time just coding all day.
Yeah, like their brains are computers.
And then that guy in 1953 wrote a book that there's going to be a man named Elon
who promises to take us all of Mars, and he's going to take us to Mars,
and he's going to crown himself King of Mars.
What did Elon say?
He's taking us all to Mars.
Which book is this?
Google, a book in 1950.
Google book?
No, I don't remember the name.
It's a big thing.
I'm gonna need you to be more specific.
Well, you have to Google it to get the name.
I don't remember the name of the book,
but 1953, Man writes a book about Elon Musk,
predicting Elon Musk.
Google 19, okay.
You gotta bear with me.
Because in the 50s was Elon a name?
1953, Elon Musk book, man-
Mars, just say Mars.
Mars, just say Mars.
What about man?
Do I not need that one?
You can put man.
Can I put man in there?
Cause I'm worried that it's just, okay.
Oh, okay.
In the 1950s, German turned American scientist,
Werner von Braun.
Yes, the Nazi's leading rocket man.
Yeah.
Like that was something-
Which is also the von Braun center in Huntsville, Alabama,
because they all went to Huntsville because of NASA.
He wrote a science fiction novel called The Mars Project.
It takes place in then distant 1980
and features human colonists on Mars
whose leader uses the title Elon.
See? Just saying.
Wow. I mean, this is fishy. uses the title, Elon. See? Just saying.
Wow.
I mean, this is fishy.
I mean, in the 50s, was anybody named Elon?
I don't know.
Maybe, is it a South African name?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I've never heard it.
It's an anagram for Noel,
so it might've been a Christmas thing or?
Yeah, like a Wurdle Scramble or something.
Yeah, Wurdle Scramble.
By the way, Wurdle, I play Wurdle every day.
When are they gonna scramble it?
I can't believe they haven't.
You know what I mean?
We're just solving nonsense gibberish.
Right, and everybody's all in.
Yeah, and everyone's like, oh my God.
Throw a boomerang in there
so my mom's got something different
to talk about on Thursdays.
Well, the tour right now is Potluck Party.
I'm assuming this is based on a joke in your ass.
Actually, this one is just based on,
when they're like what, the people,
it's the media people they always ask.
They always want a title.
They want a title and then they wanna know
what are you doing?
I'm like, well, I'm gonna do an old, new,
and so it's a potluck.
It's a bunch, everything.
So it is a title, it's not based on here.
It's a title based-
It's an actual title.
Yeah, this time.
Because I get tired of trying to explain jokes
to press people.
It's too hard.
Well, here's the thing,
when you do an interview like this
and you have a standup special that's titled something,
there really is nothing else to ask about,
you know what I mean?
So it's like, so I'm always forced with like,
what's the title mean?
Right.
Because other than that, it's just like,
it's a bunch of jokes, right?
Right.
I mean, they wanna elevate what we're doing
to a place where it doesn't really exist.
I mean, I think what I do is actually very important.
But-
You can elevate yourself through your own podcast though.
You can just tell people it's way more a thing
than it needs to be a thing.
Well, you're on tour till the end of the year
and then probably all next year
and probably all next year after that.
And then probably a year after that,
you're still on tour.
There's just road people until I retire.
It's like when they say Stevie Nicks has added new dates.
I love Stevie Nicks.
Of course she has.
Stevie's not quitting.
Yeah.
She doesn't ever take time off.
What would make you quit?
Oh, easy.
A shit ton more money than I have.
I mean, I have enough now.
Like, this is my brother's a financial,
one of my brothers is a financial advisor.
I hate it with financial advisors.
And they'll all say this, where you go,
how much should I have in the bank to retire?
And they go, well, that depends
on what kind of lifestyle you want.
Oh, stop it.
That is a cop out.
That means you don't really know.
Yeah, which person's lifestyle?
Right, right.
You know what I do.
I don't spend money on clothes or jewelry or art.
Like I golf and fish in a bass boat.
So you factor that in.
So how many boats do you own?
Two.
Two boats.
How many golf balls do you own?
85 million. Okay, this is where you own? Eighty-five million.
Okay, this is where you're spending your money.
No, a lot of them are gifts.
They're gifts.
They each cost a dollar.
They're free.
They're free.
They're free.
So I don't spend all that.
And then I give out to my nephews.
But I would like, every time I do a scratch-off ticket, it'd have to be a lot.
It'd have to be a lot.
Or you could start in this show I want to put you in and set you
up for life.
Yeah. Cat Williams wants me to be in a movie. I'll do it if it's Cat Williams.
Okay. Does Cat Williams, does he have other parts that he's casting?
I'm not really sure. We were drunk on a plane and he told me about this. He had a full bottle of liquor. I'm like, Cat, how'd you were drunk on a plane, and he told me about this. And he had a full bottle of liquor.
I'm like, Kat, how'd you get that on a plane?
Yeah, he goes, baby, you gotta get
to know the duty-free people.
Oh, okay.
I'm like, oh, sneaky, sneaky.
Are you allowed to open, just open bottles
of liquor on planes?
Of course not, but he already had.
And then they weren't gonna stop him,
and he was so sweet though.
He was, I was in first class, he was in coach.
And it was the only time I've got on a first class flight,
every single person in there was an older black woman.
And I thought, good, let's turn the tables ladies.
All these white guys, fuck them.
Just every once in a while, we need to turn the tables.
Well, it was all of his mom, her friends,
and there were no more seats left
because I took the last seat.
And he was in coach, yeah.
So when anybody says Kat's crazy, he's a sweet man.
You gave up your seat on this one?
Absolutely not.
No, I told him, get your ass back to coach.
But pour me a drink.
With your huge bottle of liquor.
Your huge bottle of Hennessy.
I'll take a seat before you go.
Well, we need to take a break.
Are you excited to talk
to the person in law enforcement? Very excited. Do you have any family members in law enforcement?
Older, like my grandpa, Irish cops in St. Louis. I wondered. We also have a professor of psychology.
Yeah, I don't have anybody that smart. Okay. Not your brother? Cause suddenly he's an A student.
Well, he became a financial advisor, which is kind of a bulls**ter.
Well, we need to take a break. When we come back,
we'll have more with Kathleen Madigan.
We'll have a law enforcement officer and a professor of psychology.
This is a packed show, everyone.
We'll be right back with more comedy bang bang after this.
Comedy bang bang. We are back. Kathleen Madigan is here.
The Potluck Party Tour just continues forever.
Do you take holidays off?
Oh yeah, I take a lot.
I take weeks off.
You take whole weeks off?
But I'm not like the Red Hat Chili Peppers where it's like a year. No, it's like two weeks in a row, maybe in the summer, and when things are less
crazy. And you do do a few Red Hot Chili Pepper songs when people come to see you. Yeah, it's my
dancing moves. Much like Flea, I'm all over the place. Yeah, so I do. Wonderful. Well, go out and
see her. People can get the information at, I'm assuming, KathleenMadigan.com.
Yes, please don't go other places.
I have all my old relatives.
Why are your tickets $850?
They're not, because you went to some psycho resale site.
They're on the website,
takes you to the link where the tickets are,
the prices they should be.
Okay, wonderful.
Well, we need to get to our next guest.
He is in law enforcement, and he's a detective.
And honestly, that's all I know about him at this point.
But please welcome to the show for the first time,
Detective Jack Cates.
Get this convict.
We are not partners.
We're not brothers.
We're not friends.
I'm gonna put you down and keep you down
till Ganz is locked up or dead.
I'm sorry.
Are you talking to me or?
I am.
Oh, uh, uh, I, I don't believe I am a, uh, a convict or, uh,
Well, we've got 48 hours to find Gans.
All right.
To find who?
You and me.
Gans.
Who's, who?
Gans, Albert Gans.
He's escaped from prison.
Oh, I, I, I.
He's got my gun.
That seems like a mistake. How'd he get that? He stole it from me in an antly tussle. I don't know anything about that. I don't know why. This is Kathleen Madigan, by the way. Hello, Kathleen.
Hello. We're not partners, we're not brothers, and we're not friends. I'm going to put you down and keep you down
till Ganz is locked up or dead. And if Ganz gets away, you you're gonna be sorry you ever met me. Nice to meet you. Okay.
Has he killed people?
Oh, yes.
Oh, okay.
Okay, why are you enlisting us in...
This is a quest of some sort?
I'm sorry, I'm putting in Dungeons and Dragons terms because that's my common reference,
but this is like a side quest or something to find someone?
No.
Gans is out here doing a podcast.
Oh.
And I need a podcaster to get
me close to him. Oh. He has his own podcast now even though he murdered people? That's
right. He's doing a podcast about his time in prison. Oh, okay. I see. So you came to
the pod father. That's right. I need you to get me close to him. Do you have a description?
Yeah. He's a bug-eyed white guy, receding hairline.
That's about it.
Like a Buscemi type?
Yeah, but he's thicker, more muscular.
Like a roided-out Buscemi.
Roided-out Buscemi.
Okay, so like a thick with two C's Buscemi.
But Buscemi with one C.
That's right.
Okay.
Why not go to Conan or someone who's more successful at broadcasting than I am?
You're the one that's closest to me
and you're who I've got.
All right?
Okay, I guess.
We don't have time to be debating this.
We gotta get on the street and find Gans.
We still have a good hour left on the show here.
So is that gonna be all right or?
Well, what can we do while we're sitting here?
Well, you could tell us a little more information
other than it's a bug-eyed white guy.
We need to know if we're supposed to find the guy,
what else am I supposed to be looking for?
He's somewhere in these hills doing a podcast.
We gotta record somewhere near here.
Okay, so you just want us to go door to door
listening for people shouting or listening to white men
talking to each other?
Don't you know the podcast community?
Contact?
I, I, I, I, I mean, maybe I know places where some of them are recorded, but I mean,
and why Kathleen?
I mean, she's just a guest on the show.
Yeah, I don't.
This is a happy accident.
I'm glad to have you here.
You're not part of my plan.
Well, I can't be.
I can help.
Great.
I'd appreciate it.
We gotta find Gans.
He's got $500,000 he's trying to recover.
He's trying to recover? Where's the $500,000 he's trying to recover. He's trying to recover?
Where's the $500,000?
I mean, honestly, Kathleen, this is-
Well, if we can find the $500,000, we'll find Gans!
Wait, he has it?
He's looking for it.
He hid it?
That's why he broke out of prison to find it.
And he hid it somewhere in the Hollywood Hills?
That's right.
Uh-oh.
This is kind of the life-changing money
we were talking about.
Right, yeah.
Maybe you and I should go-
Yeah, well, no.
Go look for this $500,000 and maybe like...
It's a good start.
...split it 75-25?
Yeah, sure.
You know, because I know the hills obviously better than you.
Yeah, better, definitely.
That's stolen money. That's state's evidence.
Age, you didn't give 40s, 50s, 60s?
Yeah, one of those for sure.
All right, sure.
How do you not know this information about him if you're on the hunt for him?
He's a master of disguise.
Oh, you didn't mention that.
Sometimes he wears a tank top.
Sometimes he wears a full shirt.
This is not a master of disguise.
He's changing his shirt.
It fools me.
It's enough to fool me.
Okay, so is the bug eyes and all that, the receding hairline, is that a disguise?
Is that like spirit gum?
I don't know, it could be.
Okay.
I'm not sure.
What did he do originally?
Killed a bunch of drug dealers, took their $500,000.
Well, that's kind of all okay though, right?
Yeah, it's a bit pointless.
Well, he was one of the drug dealers.
Oh.
Right, so fine, we're still good, right?
Well, we can't let him benefit.
Well. I mean,
how many drug dealers?
He killed seven drug dealers.
Four cops.
Oh, you didn't mention that cop part.
Bad cops.
That's why you're mad.
Oh, bad dirty cops?
Oh, dirty cops.
They were drug dealers too.
You can just call them cops.
So, I mean, why should we care about this?
Honestly, this is like... This seems like an internal matter.
Because if I don't find Gans in 48 hours, you're going to jail.
Why me?
That's right. Why?
You, both of you.
Both of us?
Both of you. Same jail?
Different jails.
Different jails, okay.
I would hope there's not a co-ed jail.
That'd be really weird.
There is one co-ed jail.
Oh, where's that?
It's in Iowa.
Oh, oh.
I don't know.
So progressive for Iowa.
I wouldn't mind going to coed jail with you.
Well, I just think it could cause problems, but at least it would be protection.
Yeah.
It's only technically coed. They don't have both men and women there right now.
Then how is it technically coed?
They're open to it.
So this is like a mental thing?
That's right. Only women have been arrested and put there. Oh okay. So far.
So far. I could request maybe going to the jail? I don't think you can request.
It sounds like a dream to me, like being in jail, you know, thousands of women, one
man. Yeah, you're gonna do just fine in jail. What jail did Gans break out of?
San Quentin.
Wow!
Geez.
Oh, the big one.
The big one.
The big house.
Yeah.
So how did he break out, if you don't mind me asking?
Killed seven guards.
Dirty guards?
Yeah, dirty guards.
Okay, well then.
Four dirty guards on a bus.
Four dirty guards on a bus and three dirty guards somewhere else?
That's right.
Okay.
They were crossing state lines.
Why?
They were transporting him.
To where?
Uh, therapy.
Are you the only one looking for him?
These liberal judges made him be able to have therapy in jail, but they couldn't get him
one in San Quentin.
They were transporting him to a therapist.
Oh, okay.
Are you the only detective looking for him actively?
Yes, that's right.
And I'm doing this off the books. Why? Just do it on the books. I gotta get my gun back.
I don't want to let them know that he stole my gun. Okay, this sounds like a you problem.
This doesn't sound like a you problem. And if we don't get it back in 48 hours, you're
all go to jail. Got that conflict? I don'tin, do you want to help him? Well, he could physically get me,
but I don't think he physically get you.
So he doesn't have a gun. We know that.
It's been stolen.
Oh, I've got a gun. I've got a spare gun.
Oh, you have an extra gun.
I got my extra gun.
The one that I keep in my shoulder holster is gone.
Say your spare gun is your main gun.
There's numbers on these things.
What? I didn't know that.
Oh, shit, I'm in trouble.
Yeah, numbers, barcodes, all kinds of stuff.
Microchips nowadays.
Oh man, this is a sticky situation.
Well, if there's a microchip, I'm guessing your bosses know that your first gun...
Yeah, why not put like a low jack on your gun or something?
Your first gun isn't with you.
I don't have a computer! I don't know how to search for it.
What?
The rest of the police could find my gun if I told them
that I lost my gun, but I don't want them to know that I lost my gun.
Okay. I don't know, I say we help. I mean a guy without a gun, this is a poor story.
I feel bad for this. I do have a gun. His spare gun is holstered. The more you say you have a gun,
the more I think you don't have a gun. I move the one for my ankle holster up to
my shoulder holster, but my ankle holster's
empty.
It's just got a buck knife in there.
Wait, you have a buck knife?
Where was your buck knife?
My buck knife was in my hip pocket.
Okay, so what's in your hip pocket now?
A cookie!
So you didn't have a cookie before?
You moved the cookie into your hip pocket?
No, I didn't have a cookie.
I needed something to balance the weight out.
Yeah, have the cookie right now, because it seems like you're low blood sugar.
What is this, a Snickers commercial? No way.
Why is it capped at 48 hours? Why can't we?
What's the ticking clock aspect of this? It just helps move the action along.
Okay, but are people going to find out about your gun in 48 hours?
Yeah, let's say that.
Why can't we have all week? There's a lot of houses.
Within 48 hours, Dan's is gonna get that money. He's gonna be across the border.
Oh, you think he's going to go to Mexico for sure?
Or Canada.
Or Canada, right. North or south?
I can't tell. We're closer to Mexico.
So it makes sense you'd go to Mexico.
But he might double cross me by going north to Canada.
Where is he from originally?
San Quentin.
He's actually from the town of San Quentin?
He's a jail baby.
Oh, he was born in jail.
That's right.
Never had a chance.
Boo hoo, tell it to the therapist.
Never got there.
Can't do it.
Sorry, bub.
I mean, I do feel bad for the guy.
Is he born in jail?
Well, can't won't or don't.
That's that 10%.
He's in it.
Can't, won't or don't.
Yeah, that's the excuse.
Couldn't do it, wouldn't do it, didn't do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Not capable of doing it.
Yeah, blaming it on the system.
Yeah, I'm with him.
I'm against this liberal bullshit.
If we do join up with you, do we get guns?
I mean...
No way.
Why not?
Don't touch my gun.
Well, you want me to go door to door with no weapon and you say there's a murderer out
there.
That's right.
You want me to go just knock on doors?
That's right.
Can I have a knife?
You don't have a choice.
I need you to do this and you're going to do it now.
Can we have like brass knuckles or like a katana sword or something like that?
Do you have those things?
Yes.
Then you can bring them with you.
I can?
Yes.
Okay, why don't I just chop your head off then?
Oh, good luck.
I have a chainsaw.
It's electric.
So I could only go as far as the cord goes.
What did you just say?
Did you just say boogie woogie?
It's electric.
Yeah.
Is that like from a song? Yeah, the boogie woogie? It's electric! Is that like from a song?
Yeah, the boogie woogie electric.
Why?
I think it's the electric slide.
Okay, but why are you a detective saying that?
I love wedding dances.
It's the only time I can really cut loose.
Alright, top ten wedding dances. Go.
The electric slide.
That one from the Casper movie.
You know, for a guy who loves wedding dances, you can't even name two.
I did too. It was just the Casper remix of the Cha Cha Slide.
What's the other one? YMCA.
Okay.
How many more do I have to do?
Seven.
Seven? Goodness gracious.
Celebrate Good Times.
The Chicken Dance.
Chicken Dance? There you go.
The first dance with the bride.
Okay, now.
What about the Macarena?
Macarena, thank you very much.
I was getting to that and saving it for last.
That was gonna be my topper.
Three more.
Let's see.
Three more.
Dance with the dad.
The garter dance.
Wait, wait, what was the first dance with the, oh, dance with the bride and groom.
The first bride and groom dance.
Dance with the dad.
Garter takeoff dance. Garter takeoff dance.
Garter takeoff dance.
They play a song under that while the groom pulls the garter.
Yeah, but people aren't dancing.
I wouldn't say.
You don't dance during that?
It's hard not to, I agree.
I do all the time.
I get my groove on watching, get a preview
of what they're gonna be doing on their wedding night.
It's a weird thing, isn't it?
To be taking off a garter in the middle of the,
I don't know.
And they always say, good choice.
Of garter?
Or when I see, when I see what's going on underneath that dress, I say, good job.
How many weddings have you been disinvited to?
Usually right about then's when I take off.
All right.
We'll help you.
I'll, you bring your electric chainsaw.
Don't say boogie woogie woogie, please.
You gotta say, it's electric.
Exactly.
If you would buy me an extension cord,
I could go to more houses.
It's not battery powered.
You gotta do it on a cord.
That's dangerous.
It's a plug in, it's old school.
It's not gas powered either.
Yeah.
Can you get an extension cord?
These are our demands.
Okay, extension cord.
I gotta bring my katana.
And the brass knuckles.
And the brass knuckles, yeah.
Is there a stipend, like a day per diem?
Two per diems, because we got 48 hours.
Okay, so two per diems a piece, so four total.
Four per diems total.
How much is the per diem, do you mind me asking?
150 bucks.
A day?
That's not terrible. It's all right, there's been more stone out there
in this day and age.
I mean, three meals, 50 a meal with the tip and everything.
Can't buy breakfast with it.
Like, legally?
Right, that's one of those,
the stipulations if you get the per diem.
Is this gonna be one of those no alcohol included
in your dinner thing?
You can buy all the alcohol you want.
Oh, great.
You can't buy breakfast.
Why no breakfast?
I don't want to get into it.
It's on the envelopes.
When you sign for it, you're gonna have to sign no breakfast.
So are we not allowed to have breakfast
or we just can't pay for it?
Right, you're all doing intermittent fasting
until we're done for the next two days.
Okay, 48 hours.
I don't know if I can do intermittent fasting.
Breakfast is an important meal.
I am not a breakfast person.
And I'm not a dietician, I'm not a nutrition, and I'm not a chef. It sounds like you are. You're
talking about intermittent fasting. Right. I don't even know the details and you
know them. You're saying I can do it. I don't know. I never read about it. Just
skip breakfast. I have no problem with that. Don't eat while you sleep. Don't
eat at night. All right. Okay. I don't think I have a problem with not eating
while I sleep. All right.
Do you have a camera on you while you're sleeping?
No.
Do I need a camera on me?
You want to make sure you're not eating while you're sleeping.
Yeah, he's saying you're going to get up like an ambient stupor and go have a whole meatloaf
and go back to bed.
This feels like it would take up most of my day than watching myself sleep for the rest
of the day.
Like, I sleep eight hours, so I'm supposed to the next day spend eight hours watching myself sleep. Yeah watch it, fast forward or something. What happens to you if they don't find them?
We don't find GANs? Yeah. So what who do you think we're talking about? If they find out that a
criminal's got my gun and he uses that gun to commit a crime they're gonna pin it on me and
think I'm a dirty cop just like the four dirty cops of the seven that were killed.
Wait a minute, so all these dirty cops, he used their guns, are you sure that he,
they didn't just lose their guns?
I was there when it happened.
I was posing as a dirty cop. I was a double dirty cop. I wasn't dirty, but I was clean.
And then why were you not killed?
He took my gun and while he was looking at the numbers on it, I jumped over a bush.
Rolled down a hill. We were up on the top of a hill.
It doesn't look like you could jump that high. No offense.
Didn't say it was a tall bush.
Okay.
How tall is it?
The smallest of the plants.
Why is he looking at these numbers? Just to make sure that it wasn't a gun he'd used before?
That's right.
That's what I do with all money. I look at the serial number. If I use this one.
If it's good for liar's poker. Yeah. It's the only reason to look at it. All right. So, but you
think you will go to jail. They'll think you were a dirty cop. They'll frame me. They'll think I'm
part of this killing drug dealers and dirty cops and trying to get this $500,000.
All right. All right. And then we would all be in prison together, I guess,
because- Yeah, because if I go down,
you're all going down.
Okay.
I mean, if we all go to the co-ed prison,
I think I'm okay with this, actually.
Yeah, Aya was fine in the summer.
Yeah.
Can one podcast in prison?
Well, Gans didn't have a podcast till he broke out.
So I don't think so.
It's an interesting career move to just like segue
into podcasting from being in San Quentin. We got don't think so. It's an interesting career move to just like segue into podcasting from being in
San Quentin.
We got so many terrible stories.
Just a horrible life he's had in there.
And that's what he podcasts about?
Yeah. People love to hear about it. How do you, what do you, how do you eat the
food that's in there? What do you get at the commissary? That's the same thing.
So you've, you've listened to a lot then.
Yeah. Are you a fan? Yeah if I think you're a secret fan
Yeah, absolutely. Do you work for the police department?
Not on this case. I have been retired for some time. Okay, so you're just a podcast fan who's heard this guy
I'm against it. I
Didn't sign up
Want to meet this guy no, he's got my gun. I gotta get it back. Oh got some of his merch. You just want to meet this guy.
No, he's got my gun and I've got to get it back.
The more he talks about this gun.
Well, he's sticking with that story.
As the daughter of a lawyer, I'm going to say he hasn't wavered from his initial story.
So then you kind of have to believe that part is true.
I don't know about the rest of it.
Yeah.
All right, well, look, if we can find Gans, you know, we can go down to, you know,
I guess that your Wolf offices. Well, I could do what?
That sounds promising.
What company is this with?
I don't know. I don't know.
You don't listen to the stings at the end?
I need you to walk me through the city underbelly of the podcast world. Please don't tell your
father.
No, I won't.
Now that I know your dad's a lawyer, please don't tell him.
All secrets safe here.
Yeah.
Okay, all right.
Well, can you stick around though?
We need to take a break and then talk to another guest
before we do this.
Oh my God, I'm gonna be pulling my hair out this whole time.
It's okay, it's okay.
Just try to relax.
Like you're on a podcast now.
So you're sort of like this guy, this Gans guy.
You know what I mean?
And you're not really doing anything active to find him. You're counting on us.
So it doesn't matter till we're done.
All right.
We can put out an APB
while we're recording the rest of the show.
All right, you can finish the show,
but I'm keeping you on a short leash.
Okay, great.
So if anyone out there, any podcast fans out there
have seen like a weird, reedy looking bug-eyed guy
with a receding hairline, could be 40s, could be 50s,
could be 60s, anywhere in there, hairline, could be 40s, could be 50s, could be 60s,
anywhere in there, maybe 70s, could be 30s, wearing either a tank top or like a shirt
with sleeves, then call in, let us know and we'll be on the hunt for them.
I am in agreement with that.
Okay, great.
Okay, that's all I ask of my guests is to agree with everything I say.
Well done.
All right, we need to take a break.
When we come back, we'll have a psychology professor.
Maybe, oh, this would be interesting.
Maybe he could help us get into the mind of this killer
and he would help us track him down.
All right, that sounds good.
I'm in for that.
You really relaxed now.
You're not on edge at all.
I think you're enjoying this as much as Gans does. You're podcasting a situation.
Well, you've made me understand. Here I am.
I'm sitting at a table. I got a mic in my face.
I got cans out of my head.
So you're even calling them cans now.
The rise of Gans.
Okay. Does this come up on his show or?
Yeah, yeah. Cans in the Gans.
Cans in the Gans, yeah. We need to take a break.
When we come back, we will have a. Yeah. We need to take a break.
When we come back, we will have a psychology professor.
We'll have more with Detective Jack Cates.
We'll have more with Kathleen Madigan.
We'll be right back with more Comedy Bang Bang after this.
Comedy Bang Bang, we're back.
Kathleen Madigan is here.
The Potluck Party Tour continues apace and people can get the info.
I was gonna say information, but I just,
and then I said, well, let me shorten this.
And I said, info.
All right, you can go in for everything on the website.
Yeah, that's not a bad way to shorten information, right?
Like, well, we've all agreed on info being so great.
How about info?
Or inform.
Inform, thank you, yes.
People can get that at KathleenMadigan.com.
We also have Detective Jack Cates here
who's really relaxing at this point.
Like, are you drinking something Cat Williams style?
What is going on?
I'm drinking Pepto Bismol, cause my God.
Oh.
Oh, I'm so stressed out about this.
Okay, well we still have another segment on the show
we have C-Block to do, but then we can get out there
and we can look for what's his name again?
Gans, he was housed in C-Block.
Oh, okay.
Well, that's quite a coincidence.
Wow.
Yeah, what's his first name?
I think I said Albert.
It's not Danny.
Not Danny Gans.
It's not Lowell?
No.
Okay.
Of screenwriting fame?
No, I don't believe so.
No.
Okay, all right.
He's a rogue one.
Okay, yeah.
Albert, Albert Gans?
I think that's right, Albert Gans.
It's not the hardest name for, you know what I mean?
It's just a real guy's name.
Okay, I'm just saying-
He wasn't named by a screenwriter
who was trying to make him sound tough and ominous.
I'm just saying, if he ever wanted to punch up his name,
I mean, it was tougher sounding names out there.
He was named by a woman named Gans who was also in prison.
So he spent his entire formative years in prison?
That's right.
Wow. And he never did anything wrong?
Well, I mean, he was born to a convict.
Okay.
That's bad enough for Freddy Krueger.
Freddy Krueger, one of the bad guys out there of cinema.
He's the son of a thousand criminals.
Yeah, but Kathleen wouldn't know what we're talking about
because you don't like fictional crime.
I've never seen those movies.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm aware of them.
Do you know who he is?
He's Catholic.
Freddy Krueger?
Yeah.
Is he the one with the mask?
No, I'm gonna say no.
He has a burned face.
Oh, maybe that's what I'm thinking of.
He's the guy with knives for- Oh yeah, yeah. Culturally, I know. Cult no, he has a burned face. Oh, maybe that's what I'm thinking of. He's the guy with knives for-
Oh yeah, yeah.
Culturally I know.
Culturally you know.
But I don't watch horror films.
His mom was a nun.
Is that true?
How do you know so much about Freddy?
I'm a big fan.
So the two things you like,
the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise,
and this guy Albert Gans who has a podcast.
I don't like Gans and I watched Nightmare on Elm Street
to get into the mind of criminals.
Okay, well, speaking of getting into the mind of criminals,
hopefully our next guest will help us with that.
He's returning to the show.
He's, we need to welcome him
to the prestigious Two Timers Club.
Please welcome back to the show,
Professor Robert Canasta.
Greetings, Scott, Kathleen, Detective Kates.
Wonderful to be here, thrilled to meet you all.
Wonderful that well, I mean, you're meeting these two,
but we have met before.
That's right, Scott, we have met.
If I recall last time I was here,
we shared a few beers and some apparel together.
I don't recall that.
I think you were on the show
and then I had you leave immediately.
Not to no-but you, but...
Well memory is an interesting thing.
Something that I study in psychology sometimes.
Memories are, yes.
Remind everyone, what did we talk about?
Well I gave you a little bit of backstory about me,
how I got into psychology, if you'll recall.
That's what I'm asking you for is like,
give us that backstory again,
because it's been months and months and months.
So when I say remind us of what we talked about,
I'm not saying like.
Remind you about,
the fact that we talked.
In a meta-textual sort of way,
the fact that we were discussing my backstory.
Just you feel-
You prefer for me to just repeat what we did last time.
Not repeat the entire thing.
I just want to know because I don't remember anything about you.
Of course.
Well, I, uh, uh, I explained that when I was a college student, in order to get extra beer
money, I would participate in psychology studies at the psychology department. For instance, the first one I ever
participated in, I was taken into a room and given a Cheerio on a plate and the researcher told me that I could either eat the
Cheerio or if I waited five minutes for the researcher to come back without eating the Cheerio, I would get a second
Cheerio and I
without eating the Cheerio, I would get the second Cheerio and I immediately ate the first Cheerio and went home furious, but I got $20 out of it to get some beer money and-
Why didn't you buy Cheerios with it? Because it seems like you really loved the Cheerios and
you wanted that second Cheerio. Well, because I guess really it was the context
of being in a situation where they were giving me a task
to get the Cheerios, it's really what made me want it.
And was there a stipulation much like Detective Cates here
where you were not allowed to buy Cheerios
with the $20 that they give you or?
They did have me sign a form when they gave me the $20
that said I wasn't allowed to eat breakfast.
And that, I believe, included Cheerio.
This seems like a common thing these days, the non-breakfast clauses in contracts.
It's pretty standard.
Okay.
How much time did they give you to choose?
Uh, to cho- Oh, well-
It wasn't a 48 hours kind of situation, or?
They said that they would be back in five minutes, so all I had to do was wait for five minutes, but I couldn't even wait that long.
Was it just a regular or a honey nut?
Now I'm thinking back to that delicious bite of Cheerio that I had as soon as they walked
out of the room.
I believe it was just regular Cheerio, which was good for me at that time, but once they came back and said that I couldn't have
a second Cheerio, I went red and-
You flew into a rage.
I flew into a rage.
But then the next morning I realized, oh, how fascinating that I lost control of myself
in that moment.
And that's what led you into getting into psychology.
Exactly, yes. Up to that point, what led you into getting into psychology. Exactly, yes.
Up to that point, what had you been studying in school?
Oh, I believe it was gynecology.
Okay.
That's not a choice I'm making in the moment.
That was something that was established last time.
So it seems like there are so many other things to lead you into being interested in that
more than just a cheerio leading you to be being interested in psychology, but that's
how funny life is.
It just like takes you to places we don't expect.
Well, when you think about it, we spend so much time in our own heads trying to figure
ourselves out that I thought, okay, well, maybe I'll devote the rest of my life to learning
more about human consciousness, why it is that we do the things that we do. This Gans character sounds like an interesting
example of the type of behavior that we in psychology might want to understand.
Jared Sure.
Robert It actually reminds me of another study I was involved in as a psychology student where we were trying-
This is one, by the way, the first study you were not a psychology student at the time.
No, that-
You were a gynecological student.
I was, well, I guess I was pre-med with the intention of eventually becoming a gynecologist.
So then suddenly now cut to or smash cut to-
Yes, I did a few studies as a student and then realized I want to change my major to
psychology.
So now you're a psychology student, you do another study and what is this one?
Well this was a study that was designed to learn more about the environment that we're
raised in and how that affects our behavior.
It sounds like Gans you you say, was born in prison. Well,
that's fascinating because that's certainly an intense environment that would certainly have all
sorts of consequences for your future behavior down the line. This particular study that we'd
been devising was actually originally intended to be performed on rhesus monkeys.
Hmm. And they performed it on humans instead?
Well, what happened was the shipment of rhesus monkeys that the department was
supposed to get was delayed, so they turned to me and they said,
Robert, why don't we, with the time we have, because this grant money is burning,
why don't we just throw-
Burning a hole in their pocket? Is that-
It's burning a hole in their pocket. We're dying to spend this grant money. We can't wait. So
we've already got the experiment set up. Why don't we put you inside of it since the whole
purpose of this is to learn about human beings- Sure.
Through testing- Why do these animal tests just go straight to the human?
Let's cut to the chase. Yeah, exactly. So what they did was they placed me inside of a cage.
In the cage, there was a large bottle of milk. The bottle of milk had a face of a mature female
rhesus monkey placed onto it.
Placed it, it wasn't a bottle that came with that.
They placed it onto it?
No, they printed out a face
of a mature female rhesus monkey and taped it on the bottle.
The rest of the bottle was surrounded
in a soft terry cloth fabric.
Okay.
So they placed me in this cage.
I look at the bottle that's soft and it has this
female rhesus monkey's face and I said, okay, this must be my mommy. It's, she's soft, she nourishes me with her milk, she loves me. Wow! I felt comfortable, I
felt cared for, I felt wonderful. Then they, what would have happened in the
experiment is they would have released the rhesus monkey into an environment
with other rhesus monkeys and observed how it reacted.
But since there were no other rhesus monkeys there, they said, okay Robert, just go out
into your life and report back what happens.
Well, I left that cage.
I left my warm mommy's embrace and I went out into the world.
I was confident. I was happy. I found it
easy to make friends. I had a girlfriend all of a sudden. Just like that. I made a
girlfriend that day. I went to a party. Everybody was calling me Rob the Slob. I
was losing. Is that a good thing or? In college, that's a great thing to be called. I was partying. I was dancing on top of a table.
I was twirling around carefree the best night of my life. I went back the next day, I reported
what happened and they said, great, thank you very much. The next day-
what happened and they said, great, thank you very much. The next day.
So this is, so then they said, thank you very much.
Then you went back to your house?
No.
Or your dorm, I guess?
I was back the next day to report how my night had gone.
So they didn't just say thank you very much and you left?
No, they said, thank you for your report.
They took their notes and then it was time
for the second part.
The second part.
And do you get extra money for that?
They promised me that at the end of the two days,
they would pay me two per diems at the end of that.
I see, so you didn't, after the first day,
get half the money.
No, I didn't get any of the money yet
because they didn't want me to,
they needed me to be in the same state
both days as a control.
Okay, interesting.
So this took 48 hours.
This took 48 hours, yes.
Standard two day per day of no breakfast.
Exactly.
The second day they said, okay, we're putting you back in the cage. Now all of a sudden the bottle with the mature female
rhesus monkey's face on it was covered in wire and sandpaper. My mommy was cold. She was not comforting. She seemed to not care
that I was even there.
Yes, she would give me milk, but it felt like a
functional thing just to keep me alive, because
if she didn't, she'd be considered a bad mother.
But I didn't get the sense that she really cared
whether I lived or died.
Then they took me out of the cage
and they released me back out into the world.
I was scared.
Everyone seemed alien to me.
My girlfriend asked me if I wanted to go get dinner
and I got annoyed.
Why?
It's a common question in a relationship.
I don't know. Something about it felt transactional.
It was like all of a sudden I was like, what does she want from me?
Or maybe I was thinking, what can I give her?
I can't give anybody anything.
Well, you could have given her some of your upfront money.
I could have.
But that's beer money though.
Well, the beer money, I hadn't received my per diem yet.
Wait, this is the end of your 48 hours though.
Well, this is yes.
This is what happened.
Well, the-
Fox ticking.
This is the second day of the 48 hours where the second day I'm in the second cage.
So this is a 48 hour, three day process.
This is a-
That's a whole nother 48 hours.
Sounds like a 72 hour.
The first 48, the first 24 hours,
what I'm saying is the entire thing-
So you get to the cage, clock starts.
Yes, the first cage with warm, embracing, loving mommy. Next day you're in the the cage, clock starts. The next day- The first cage with warm, embracing, loving mommy.
Next day, you're in the second cage,
that's 24 hours have elapsed.
You have another 24 until the third day.
So this is like what they do in hotels where you're like,
oh yeah, you're staying for seven nights, six days,
or the opposite, I don't know.
The second cage was the next day.
I basically came back and reported what happened
on the first day.
I immediately was placed back.
24 hours are now elapsed.
Yes.
You have another 24 to go.
You have to return on the third day.
Oh yes, I see what you're saying.
Oh, thank God.
I guess if I, yeah.
48 hours, give or take a few hours
because I have to come back and give my report.
Might be talking 50, who knows?
Were you arriving at the same time every day?
Oh gosh, this was like 1973.
Well, it seems like you remember every other detail.
Well, I could go through my calendar.
I really don't want you to do that.
Anyway, what happened on the third day?
On the third day, I came back,
I reported what happened to them,
and I explained that everything had changed,
that I felt distant,
that I felt completely dead inside.
I said, could you please put me back in the cage with the warm mommy?
They said, no, the experiment's over. Here's your two day per diem. Get the hell out of here,
except come back for class later because you're a student in the psychology department.
Pete And so, all of that is to say that an environment such as the one that Gans grew up
in could have a serious
effect on someone's behavior. So if Gans was given to his warm loving mother
after he was born and not thrown into an empty jail cell that would have changed
his makeup going forward psychologically? I believe so based off my experience... Of this one test back in 1970, what'd you say, three?
1973.
Hmm, I don't know.
Or just a warm monkey wouldn't even have to be Israel, Mom.
Yeah, with a photo of a face on it.
Yeah, or a photo of a person on a monkey?
That probably would have been better than nothing, a cold cell.
What happened to all these recess monkeys?
Oh, the recess monkeys did eventually arrive.
They did?
They did, yes.
What ended up happening to them?
A couple weeks later, they decided to actually run the experiment with the recess monkeys.
Yeah, you're calling him recess just like he is.
Interesting how the mind plays tricks on you.
Well, I mean, you would know.
I would know.
Yeah.
Recess monkeys.
So they re-ran the experiment with the monkeys.
Did it have a different result or?
Uh, it basically showed the same thing that I experienced and weirdly they didn't
really include my whole part of it in the final paper they published on the retreat.
That is strange, yeah.
Do you have a mother, a real mother?
Do I have a real mother?
Yeah.
Because it seemed like five minutes in that cage
you were like, this photo's my mom and I'm a monkey.
You forgot that you were an adult.
We didn't talk about him thinking he's a monkey.
I mean, maybe you just-
At one point he said,
there were no other monkeys there.
Oh, okay.
That's like, hey, Mr. Freud.
Yeah, now all of a sudden the cop here's got your.
Yeah, I guess it's sort of fuzzy.
It's hard to remember if I have a real mother or not.
When I think mother in my head,
I really just have the last impression
of sandpaper wire, cold monkey.
You don't remember having parents, mother?
Well, I suppose I remember being raised by two human beings who gave me a pretty good childhood.
I don't really remember anything out of the ordinary.
You're sure it was a good childhood because it seemed to me like the very first instance of
a substitute mother just being a warm glass of milk comes along, you're ready to throw her overboard.
Well, I suppose...
You're like casually interested in gynecology.
Yeah, I don't think you're very attached to these...
I had a pretty bad drinking habit. The whole reason I was doing this was to get extra beer money in the first place.
So you already had beer money, so this is extra beer money?
Oh.
Well, yeah, to get extra beer.
Well, I had some money.
So you had money for beer.
Yeah, but you have money.
It wasn't allocated toward beer specifically.
I'm just saying, like, if you've upped your intake of alcohol,
you know, maybe that plays into it as well. I don't know. You're not making the best life decisions.
No, I suppose I wasn't. The best life decisions I was making were those 24 hours after being with
the Terry cloth mommy.
Well, a lot of people your age
would have donated their blood for money.
Seems like a lot less dramatic.
Or semen.
Yeah.
Right?
Did you ever think about that?
Yeah, donate your blood for semen.
No, you're semen for money,
I think is what I was saying.
Wait, what a weird trade that would be.
Well, you can only-
Not safe.
I think that you can, well, I guess,
well, blood, you can only donate it that so frequently, right?
I mean...
Probably.
You can't go donate blood every day.
I guess you could donate semen pretty often.
I guess you could donate semen every day.
Psychology studies were easy to sign up for.
It seemed like...
I don't know why I'm being grilled about the decisions I made to make $20.
To be honest-
To be honest-
It seems very traumatic.
Yeah.
You're the one who brought it up immediately, and it was only $20, really?
So 10 in 10?
This is a three-day process.
In 1973 money.
Yeah, that's right.
That's a good point.
Yeah.
Well, I just was bringing up, I brought it up because Gans made me think of this experiment
that I did.
I don't think Gans is the one that made you think, I feel like you've been thinking about
this for the last 50 years.
You think so?
I'm not a psychologist.
You're the psychologist.
I am. Well, this was just like one in a series of experiments I've
been involved in. I mean, not all of them ended horribly. Another experiment I was
involved in after that one, my advisor said, okay, we'd like you to help us with
we'd like to help. This is after the experiment?
This was after this experiment.
So we don't need to talk about the actual experiment
or this is the experiment you just talked about.
This is a different experiment.
So we don't need to talk about that experiment,
we're cutting to right to after the experiment.
Okay, I just wanna be clear.
Oh, after the previous experiment we were talking about.
Got it, okay.
I guess I didn't realize until now, like, how much that was.
So this is sequentially the next experiment.
Well, it was after.
Okay.
Look, I don't know why I care.
Just keep talking.
I guess I didn't realize that this particular experiment may have had such an impact on me because there were so many.
So many experiments.
And there were none others that you remember?
Like this?
Were that traumatic?
This next one, uh, uh, uh, sticks out in my mind.
I don't remember it being particularly traumatic, but it was certainly just one of many experiments
I've been involved in.
My advisor said, would you like to be a part of running an experiment?
And I said, okay, that's fascinating.
I will get to be on the other side of things. And the way that it was set up was that my advisor would be reading a quiz,
asking questions of a participant in one room. I would be in a room next door,
in front of a machine that was hooked up to the participant. Each time the participant gave an incorrect answer,
my advisor would instruct me to administer
an electric shock to them.
Why isn't the advisor administering the electric shock?
So it seems like there's a middle man suddenly,
like you're involved, like he has to tell you
to do the shock.
Well, I think he wanted me to be in a different room
so that there would be some separation
between me and the participant.
It seems like we could get rid of one of the rooms
and one of the people involved.
Well, these have to be designed in a very specific way
to be able to test it. I'll take your word for it.
I really don't know.
Anyway, continue.
And so each time the participant
answered a question incorrectly,
I would be instructed to administer a shock, and each time the shock would get more and more powerful.
And so, the participant would answer some questions correctly, then they would get one
wrong, I would administer a shock, I would hear them scream, then I would have to raise
the dial. They would answer some more questions
and so on. Each time getting them wrong, I would administer a more and more powerful
shock until finally I was administering such a high voltage that the screams were unbearable
and then eventually they stopped. I kept pressing the button.
Without incorrect answers?
Well, I wasn't sure what was happening in there because all I could hear was-
Oh yeah, when in doubt, just keep pressing this button.
Well, because I would just hear the command and I would do it.
Okay. And I would do it. And then they came into my room.
They said, Robert, that person wasn't the
participant of the experiment.
You were not administering any electric shocks.
That was a paid actor.
You were the subject.
And without questioning for even a moment,
you administered several lethal shocks.
Wow.
And I said, wow.
So what, does that make me some kind of asshole?
They said, yes.
Some kind of asshole.
You're the asshole.
So this is like, am I the asshole?
But in 1973-
That's what they titled the paper that they published.
It's called, am I the asshole?
Am I the asshole?
Really?
And so, you know, I've been involved
in a number of experiments like that.
Who knows what sorts of psychological-
You started this by saying they haven't all been bad.
That sounds horrible. Well, like- I suppose I learned something quite fascinating about my nature that day, which is that
if someone gives me an order, I'll obey the command.
I'll obey the command.
If you had met the... If the monkey one had been reversed and you met the wiry one first,
and then the second day you met the soft one,
do you think you would have tried to kill that guy?
Hmm. So if the last imprint of motherhood I had was that soft, hairy cloth mommy,
perhaps I would have had the self-esteem
to question my boss, is what you're saying.
Yeah.
Jesus.
I have to say.
More confidence.
Robert, as you're a guy who's supposed to know
psychology and all this, I mean, Detective Jack Cates is here.
He's just bringing up just, you know, the bare minimum
of what anyone
would know about this stuff and it's surprising you? Well, I mean, this was back when I was a student.
And I'm a cop. I'm an expert on human behavior. That's true. What do you see, Detective Jack
Cates, when you see Robert, Professor Robert Knaut? I'm surprised you're a professor, honestly.
Did you graduate? It seems like these guys were just performing
experiments on you every single day.
I, I did graduate some.
That's a good question.
I think I did.
I was a participant in enough.
I was related to enough studies that were published by other
people.
You got course credit for this and then you just graduated?
It was enough to get my PhD.
PhD.
and you just graduated? It was enough to get my PhD.
PhD?
But to be honest, mostly I've been
the subject of every experiment that I've been involved in.
I can tell you this by looking at him.
He's got a piece in his back pocket tucked into his jeans.
You have a gun, a weapon in the back pocket of you.
That's a dangerous place to keep it.
I've got a gun in my back pocket.
I can tell by the way you hold your weight.
Well, uh, I don't think he does.
I would pay that no mind.
Don't go for it.
Cause I definitely have a gun.
If I didn't have a gun, I don't think I would say I would pay that no mind.
That wouldn't be like...
I mean I would pay no mind the way I'm shifting my weight around in my chair.
Oh, there might be another reason for it?
Or it's none of my business!
That's what I'm saying.
Which one?
I think there are two options.
I'd say you should stop this line of questioning, partner.
I can't stop till I get to the bottom of it. If you think
that I've got some sort of gun that I took off of someone else because because I'm crazy. Wait,
hold on a minute. Well, that's because you got the wrong monkey. Wait, wait, wait. Did you steal
that gun? No, I'm- Do you have a podcast? That's what I came on here to-
You're here to promote your podcast?
Oh, God, everyone-
You've gotta help me find GANs.
I think this guy is GANs.
Yes, I would love to help you find GANs.
You and me, a detective and a psychology professor teaming up to find Gans could be really wonderful.
You just keep your hands where I can see them, convict.
Okay, will do.
Do we have to be involved now?
Because it is- I think we're out.
Yeah, it seems like the more people get involved in this,
like the more crowded the car is,
and I need a lot of leg room, you know?
Yeah.
All right, but don't leave town.
Don't leave town?
No, we'll be right here at this table if you need us.
I'm going to Paraguay tomorrow.
You might wanna come back on. Paraguay! I'll do it, if you wanna come back town? No, we'll be right here at this table if you need us. I'm going to Paraguay tomorrow. You might want to come back on.
Paraguay?
I'll do it if you want to come back on.
Okay.
I'll be here.
Yeah.
All right, you'll be here.
Kathleen can host, I'm going to Paraguay for only a month.
Is that okay?
For a month?
No.
$48 max.
You gotta get back from Paraguay in 48 hours.
I can't, just getting there takes at least...
Put a ticking clock on it, it makes it more fun.
Oh my god. Well, I don't know, Kathleen, what do you think about this?
It's a long road for this man.
Yeah.
I hope he does all his neurons and...
I mean, you're an elderly...
Finishes up. You're awfully old. I mean, college in the 70s.
I made you 20 in the 70s.
Yeah, I mean, you're in your 70s. I made you 20 in the 70s. Yeah, I mean you're in your 70s.
Yes, that's true.
If you went to college in the 70s, you're in your 70s.
That's always been true.
Yep.
If you went to college in your 70s, you are in the 70s.
You are in your 70s.
If you went to college in your 70s.
In the 70s.
Get this right, professor.
There's smoke coming out of that. There the 70s. Get this right, professor.
There's smoke coming out of that.
There's a lot riding on this.
If you went to college in your 70s.
Come on, just don't start saying Barston again.
Well, it wouldn't make sense for me to say Barston
because that's one of the three stooges
and we're not talking about that right now.
All right, professor, I don't know.
You don't know?
I don't know.
I don't know how to help you.
I don't know how to harm you.
I don't know what to do with you.
Well, I just wish that, you know,
like my wish for my mommy, that you would just support me.
All right, we only have time
for one final feature on the show.
And that is of course, a little something called plugs. What is it?
Ooh, that was What is It by Keith from Deer Leap.
Thank you to Keith from Deer Leap.
If you have a plugs theme, head over to cbbworld.com
slash plugs, upload it there and you can be famous
for a week and Keith from Deer Leap,
you are indeed famous this entire week.
Enjoy it.
All right, well, let's get into plugs.
Kathleen, what do we want to plug here?
Well, I have a special on Amazon,
Hunting Bigfoot, you can go watch that.
And then go online and get tickets,
come see a real show.
Yeah. Yeah, live show. It'll all get tickets, come see a real show. Yeah.
Yeah, live show.
It'll all be different.
Comedy's better in person.
Yeah.
So is music.
Every show is different.
For the most part.
You do a new hour every night.
Every night, every night.
Yeah, faster than Seinfeld though.
You know, there'll be something new.
Yeah.
One of the greatest.
And Detective Jack Cates, what do you want to plug? Are you gonna catch the old sitcom classic AP Bio on Peacock
that's still banging around out there?
Otherwise...
They have air conditioning on that show.
Uh, from what I heard, they had those big tubes
that they would bring in in between scenes
to pump cold air in and then it had to be turned off.
No good.
No, not at all.
Not on my show.
Constant blasting of air conditioning on my show.
So nice.
I'd like to work security for you for that job if that's possible.
Oh, great.
Yeah, I'd love that.
Yeah.
So APBio is on Peacock right now.
Yes.
Great.
And then you can check out Charlie the McCracken on Instagram.
He does not post, but there's some old photos of bread.
Okay, great.
All right, wonderful.
Professor Robert Canasta, what do you want to plug?
Well, um, I'd like to plug on behalf of one of my students, James Mannion.
You're teaching?
Uh, yes.
I don't think this has ever come up.
Oh, uh, yeah.
It, I am a teacher.
I do research mostly, but I do teach psychology 101.
101.
To college students.
Introductory story.
Uh, and one of my former students, James Mannion,
he is in an improv group, Leroy,
that performs fourth Wednesdays at the month
at the UCB Theater.
In Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, and look out for the show,
the live show, Comedian Feud, at the Elysian Theater.
There will be one in May and June.
Hmm, what about, none in July?
What's going on?
None in July or August,
but then it will be back in September.
What's going on in July and August?
Not enough comedians feuding or?
Yes, there's the detente.
They've decided to stand out.
Put aside their differences.
For the summer so that they can go on vacation.
Hmm, wonderful.
Well, I wanna plug, hey look,
the Comedy Bang Bang Tour is out there.
We're going from June, June till the end of August.
We're going to 30 some odd cities.
Going to a city near you, hopefully.
And if you don't live near one of these cities, honestly,
just pack your shit up and move
and just get near one of these cities.
I mean, honestly.
Go head over to cbbworld.com slash tour,
and you can see all the dates there.
And while you're at CBB World, subscribe.
Look, we have so many great shows.
We have ad-free episodes of this,
as well as all the previous episodes. We have ad-free episodes of this, as well as all the previous episodes.
We have ad-free Freedom.
We have College Town.
We have Neighborhood Listen.
We have Scott Hasn't Seen.
We have CBB Presents, where people from this show have their own shows.
Probably not Professor Robert Canasta here.
I don't know that you're gonna get a spinoff.
Do you want a spinoff?
Oh, why sure.
Anything that would bring in more grant money to help.
More beer money is a-
Oh, well, yes.
And what was the Aperol thing?
Oh yeah, there was a thing where the only alcohol
I had in my dorm room was beer and also Aperol,
but we only drank them separately.
Anyway, head over only drank them separately.
Anyway, head over to CBBWorld.com and you can get all the details for all that stuff.
All right, let's close it by Barry Overton. Oh, yeah. Oh, who was that? That was,
Is Ip by Barry Overton. Thank you so much to Barry Overton for that wonderful
closing up the plugs theme.
And guys, I wanna thank you so much, Kathleen.
So wonderful to meet you.
Thanks so much.
It was a really nice time.
Yeah, continued success to you.
And, you know, hopefully our paths will cross again,
but I don't know if you wanna get out of the one-timer club.
Look at the two-timer club over here.
Yeah, it's looking rough.
Yeah, rough stuff.
Sweating, sweating.
And speaking of which, Professor Robert Canasta,
thank you so much for returning.
Good luck with all the beer and your students
and everything you have going on, your bottle of milk.
And honestly, if you could just clear off
a little bit of that counter space,
I know your mother would feel better about things.
So it's my fault. It's always my fault isn't it?
I'm not, look don't confuse me for a parental figure okay? I'm not daddy.
It's always my fault. There's a few drug dealers that get in my way
or a few corrupt cops that get in my way
and that's my fault, huh?
Soundin' real Gansy over here.
Oh, I'm not Gans.
I'm-
You're not Gans?
I'm Professor Canasta.
I think you might remember the name of the therapist
that Gans was supposed to go see
on his way out of San Quentin.
Wait a minute, wait a minute, Detective Jack Hates, first of all, thank you for coming.
But, uh, so did you take Gans's place? Did you murder Gans and take his- why would you do that?
He's a convict and then escape?
And have I been dragging down some sort of a psychologist?
It was the greatest experiment yet.
Growing up inside of a prison.
Wait, you grew up inside this prison?
Switching places.
Don't move those hands.
Keep your hands where I can see them.
Seeing if someone who grew up in, if I could, if I could take over the life of someone who
oh my god inside of a prison he's reaching behind his his pants all right you just wrecked your
cookie oh all right we'll see you next time thanks bye