Crime in Sports - #451 - Human Christmas Toy - Evel Knievel - Part 4

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

This week, Evel keeps getting crazier, with both his jumps, and his lifestyle. The movie about his life premiers, shooting him into superstar fame. His toy becomes the smash hit of Christmas. He carries trademark cane, sometimes made of heavy lead, and pummels photographers with it. He has no regard for anyone's well being, but he sure does spend a LOT of money! The bigger he gets, the bigger his lies get!!Call George Hamilton names, after he makes you famous, fill your hands with diamond rings "so your family will have security when you die", and pattern your showmanship after Liberace with Evel Knievel - Part 4!!Check us out, every Tuesday!We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!! Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman Donate at... patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: [e-mail] Get all the CIS & STM merch at crimeinsports.threadless.com Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things CIS & STM!!  Contact us on... twitter.com/crimeinsports [e-mail] facebook.com/Crimeinsports instagram.com/smalltownmurderSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Yay indeed Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petragallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us today on part four of evil Knievel He has an absolute mess and Disaster and a wild guy and he's not even really famous yet

Wait till he gets a couple of bucks in his pocket and he really thinks he's above the law then it turns wild It's this is right now. He's just got a name. He's got no goddamn money. Yeah, he's got no money He's got a name people buy him drinks and bars and shit, but that's not He doesn't exactly know he doesn't exactly have you know, anything else going for him at this point So we'll get to all that we'll jump right in very quickly though head over to shut up and give me murder comm Get your tickets for live shows. They are coming up for small town murder We have our virtual live show, of course, on April 19th. It's the 420 virtual live show.

It's Saturday night. It's a Saturday night. We dress up in costumes, and I get Jimmy extremely stoned using weird devices that he didn't know existed. So that's how we. That's our way of lighting that stuff on fire. Scare the hell out of him, and it's a lot of fun. And you're gonna hear a wild murder story

anywhere in the world with internet. You can can get this and it's available for two weeks after that you can watch it ten times if you want do whatever you want with it we're very excited and also get your tickets for the in person live shows yeah next up is st. Louis in Chicago I think st. Louis is about sold out Chicago has some tickets left in May get those right now and the rest of the year too because a lot of shows are getting sold out very quickly so you want to go like to Philly and DC and the rest of the year too because a lot of shows are getting sold out very quickly. So if you wanna go to Philly and DC in December, get them now.

Me too. You better hurry. You better hurry. They might buy my ticket. You don't know. They might buy my seat. You don't know. It could be two guys you've never seen before up there.

That's good. Someone else can do all that fucking work. Good. Someone else can write that story and then we can, then two idiots can talk about it. They'll be very confused. People are sitting on the stage. So definitely do that.

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We're gonna talk about that 2012 Miami Dolphins bullying scandal Oh, yeah, that was a whole big deal New stuff has come out about it and there there's some guys that were involved in it have different opinions about it now. So we'll talk all about that. And then for small town murder, very interesting. We're gonna talk about the Amazon review killer who killed people and then left reviews on Amazon

of the items he used in his murders. To kill people, yeah. Being completely honest about, oh yeah, then I locked this person up and people ha ha ha the responses to it He's dead serious Craziest shit you've ever heard in your life, and he's a serial killer. It's wild so we'll talk all about that and more patreon.com Slash crime in sports that said let's oh you get a shout out to at the end of the show

Oh, yeah, Jimmy. I'll fuck your name all up. Don't you worry about that. That said, let's dive back in or should we say jump back in because it's evil. Back into Evil Can Evil Part four of Evil Can Evil. And it's about 1970 right now. And he has become known. He's become a known quantity. He's on talk shows. He's he's a known guy now. That wide world of sports footage of him crashing

really made him a known guy. They're talking about making a movie about him as we talked about George Hamilton. He put a gun to the guy. He put a gun to a movie star's head and said, read me the script. And he said he held it on him the entire time. All time.

He didn't just like, oh, you know. That too. Yeah, it was, he said, never read faster or better in my life. Like that's how that works. So if you wanna, want a guy to perform a script for you, all you have to do is threaten his life is how the way that goes.

So April 3rd, 1970, there's an article here in the Oregonian newspaper about an 18 car jump set by Evil Can Evil. He's going to try to jump 18 cars now. That's a lot of cars. That's what he's gonna do. If he makes it, he said it'll be a world record, which everything he does.

It's the only one doing it. Nobody else is trying. Nobody, yep. He said this jump will actually be 50 yards farther than I jumped at Caesar's Palace. So he's saying, and he's like, that jump almost killed me. So you know, show up for this one. You might see my head explode like a fucking overripe cantaloupe.

It's going to happen. He said, I should be moving 94 or 96 miles an hour when I take off the ramp for the SIR attempt. He said, I've got 60 horsepower in the rear wheel of that bike. I can go from zero to 60 miles an hour in three and a half seconds. Wow. Cruisin'.

Remember, he's got the new bike now, too. He got the new Harley there. So, yeah, he says that they asked, turning to a man from the track, he asks what kind of cars he'll be jumping, and he said, Cougars, I think. I guess Mercury Cougars. He's gonna jump there They said can you get a forklift and sort of crunch them together smiling a little like hey, maybe you can

Smoosh them in a little bit. Yeah. Yeah make this a little easier for me here. He said Also, he said I may buy some land around Hell's Canyon in Idaho It's a mile deep in one spot and almost a mile wide. So he's like, maybe I'll jump that. I'll just buy it and jump it. Why jump the Grand Canyon if you got that one right there? Fuck it. Well yeah, that's how Snake River comes up.

He said it would be sort of fitting having a guy named Evil jumping Hells Canyon. There he is. So he does it. Yeah, he's got a lot of those. Which at the time were not they were I guess Predad jokes, they weren't even dad's really That's where dad jokes came from yeah, they weren't at the time they weren't dad jokes, you know

Yes, yeah people watch like Seinfeld now and they'll be like, oh, you know, it's too like sitcom He will but it's like no. No, that's what they made that that's there the all the ones after that We're trying to do that. It's the idea. It's not yeah. blah, it's like, no, no, that's what they made that. That's they're the all the ones after that were trying to do that. It's the idea. It's not. Yeah. Yeah. That's the difference. So he made it. Yeah. It's like, no, no, no. People have been hacking that. That's the point. Ah, so original, you fucking idiots. So he did.

He made it 118 feet over 18 parked cars. That's a long way. That's that's a long way, I would say so. And you know, it's funny because 118, it's a long way, but when it's a jump like that, it's over in a snap. It's over right now. So it's... These events, these people pay all this money

and they go, so he had to have like a bunch of, he had like the flying Willenda brothers. You need you need time killer yeah he had a whole crew some openers and some openers he comes out to he'll say something to the crowd then go back into his thing and that's a thing he comes out on the bike does a couple laps like he has to you have to build it up because otherwise it would be like hey we're all here okay you take a bite of your hot dog he goes ring over the cars and that's the end of the fucking now. I gotta finish this hot dog with no fucking suspense All right, then. Thank you very much. Everybody. Good night. The lights are out. You're like

Mustard it's just meat and bun. This is off. This is terrible. I didn't even have time to put mustard on it I don't even know if they have it When they have that big dinosaur that ate cars. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that thing would be I mean it would take no time. It was done It's super good. They're all day. No, well, they put it with a monster truck show That's how they do it right like come see Bigfoot Grave Digger and what the fuck was it called beating Tyrannosaurus? Oh god Something yeah, carasaurus Rex or Car eating dino fuck what the fuck was its name

It had a name that they would announce that like trash events come see gravedigger Bigfoot and Yeah What? What is this? Fucking Google thanks a lot gigantosaurus that ain't no that's not it. It had another it was like Car Rita fucking your asshole is Rex or some shit Car eating Rex is what I'm typing in what does it say the face fucking car eating? That's that's what it is Robo. Sores Robo. Sores

gravedigger Bigfoot and Robosaurus this Sunday Sunday Sunday Robosaurus So stupid crunch crunch, I mean you can only see so much of it obviously so it would be over so fast It's so fast. Yeah, you have to put that after before the monster truck show or afterwards when they're after generally Yeah, they were already all fucked up you send it in Robosaurus put that after, before the monster truck show, or afterwards, when the cars are- It was after General, yeah. They were already all fucked up, you send it in. Bring in Robosaurus. I only saw it once when I was like,

this isn't as good as I wanted. I only saw it once. That's like, most of the kids got to see Robosaurus many, many times, and I only had the pleasure once of seeing a whole Robosaurus in action. There's a Megasaurus too, evidently that that Megasaurus. That sounds like a knockoff somewhere. Yeah, yeah. Somebody I'm sure Robosaurus was the traveling one.

That was the one I remember. Robosaurus. Yeah. Yeah. Good one from the 80s. So here he is in May of 1970. Evil's hurt again in the newspaper, broke his right shoulder and possibly his right hip when he crashed after jumping over 13 trucks. How do you get 17 cars but you can't make 13 now? I think the trucks are bigger. What kind of trucks are they?

I think they're like box trucks. Yeah, I think they're box trucks, they're gonna be bigger. So I guess apparently a newsman accompanying the stunt man as he was wheeled down a hall toward the surgery room Said Knievel seemed calmer than before the jump. It was in good spirits Probably the truck. Yeah, but everybody says that though when he's hurt afterwards or taken away He's totally like calm and chill. But before the jump he's like, I don't want to do this. Oh my god What am I gonna do? Holy shit? Where's my wild turkey?

Man, I knew that was gonna happen Goddamnit, I think he's just used to that. He's like, okay this I understand I get the am but everybody else Yeah, they all we're all panicked and the audience we see him crash like oh no, and then he's on the ground going He said it made it across 13 trucks and onto the ramp on the far side, but it landed on the front wheel instead of the back wheel. Yeah, that's not good. And he couldn't control it. So it twisted away and he was tossed off the thing and he landed on his shoulder.

That's why he broke his shoulder and he was conscious as he was taken away and waved to the crowd, which is they're like, yay, that's what we wanted to see anyway. Yeah, yeah. That's what they were looking for here. So here is from the book, they said, he would break his collarbone when he came up short in Yakima trying to repeat his jump over 13 Pepsi trucks. The promoter, Ted Pollock, said,

this time he wasn't drunk. How do you figure it? When he was drunk, he made it. When he wasn't drunk, he got hurt. I think you just was drunk he made it. When he wasn't drunk he got hurt. I think you just explained it. Yeah. I mean when you're drunk you're... What's the old the Lord protects idiots and drunks or whatever the fuck it's...

One of those things. But when you're sober too, when you do dumb shit you're just like, you're less careful because you think I got this, I got this and then oh no I don't got this. When you're drunk you're like oh I hope I got this. Well yeah're drunk, you're like, oh, I hope I got this. Well, yeah, I think when you're drunk, you're probably more just prone to open up the throttle and being like, we're hitting this bitch and doing it. Whereas you might be holding back a little bit if you're sober, maybe.

Maybe that's what it is. And drunks in accidents get hurt less. They're looser, let's be honest. They're just looser. They just flail. That's why babies get hurt less, because they're loose. They don't tighten up because they don't know

they're getting in an accident. They don't know what the fuck's going on. So they're all loose and they're fine Whereas we tighten up and we're all messed up Or hip and shoulder in this case He said if he survived Vancouver wearing a special brace as he cleared 12 cars He crashed and returned to Seattle International where he cleared 19 Datsuns But bounced off the safety van wobbled and fell, got shipped off to the hospital with several broken bones and ribs and compound fractures of the fourth and fifth vertebrae.

That's bad. Wait a minute. Compound fractures of the fourth and fifth vertebrae? That means they're popping out of your skin, doesn't it? Yeah. In your fucking back? That seems like a lot. That can't be true.

When you see the accidents, you go, I don't see how that wouldn't happen. I mean, literally he's a rag doll thrown off a motorcycle and bouncing off the concrete for fucking 50 feet, but that seems like a major injury that would make you not wanna do this anymore. So, Knievel said to the Los Angeles Times, I've had 12 major open reduction operations. That's when they cut you open and put a plate or a screw in.

I've had about 35 or 40 screws put in me to hold the bones together. Jesus. They said, you know, how do you like the hospital food? And he said, I don't like any hospital food Said if you're hungry enough, I guess you can eat it, but I'm a New York steak and lobster tails man myself Okay, this guy lives in a trailer. He lives in his car He's acting like they used to Back in the day. I read about like Jackie Gleason when he was like a, you know, king of fucking entertainment.

He would eat like, you know, three lobsters and two steaks at like six o'clock in the morning. But he was a fucking millionaire, like in the fifties. Like this guy lives in a trailer with his kids running around. I'm a private jet guy. That's what I am. This is wild. I see.

He said, you don't see much of that in hospitals. They don't seem to go much for oysters Rockefeller either I'm a fancy guy That's a fun a fun name of a dish to say but I bet I'll bet upward 75% of people don't even know what the fuck that means I think you're absolutely correct They say that statistics 88% of statistics are made up on the spot

But I guarantee you three out of four people don't know what the fuck oysters Rockefeller. No not now No, no back in the day that was that was like 20s and 40s It was probably very even by like the 60s and all that that was was like a, it was like a cliche fancy food. You know what I mean? Oh, well, it's not Royster's Rockefeller or anything, but I made a nice meal, you know what I mean? But that, nobody eats Oyster's Rockefeller anymore. No one, fuck that is.

If you see that on a menu, you're in a very old restaurant. Yeah, you're in a very old restaurant, and congratulations on being successful. Yeah, that's the, well maybe it could be an old restaurant that's not successful anymore. It could be, I don't think it's a Denny's though, you know what I mean?

No, no, no, no. It's a pretty nice place. Yeah, it could just be like an old fashioned, like some of those old steak houses we hit. Something on the water somewhere. When we go on tour, they'll have oyster, but it's more of like, oh, look at that, that's nostalgic. There it is.

Yeah, look at that, but nobody, I'm not ordering it. Fuck no. No I don't want that. So he said in the past two years I've had 10 injuries where I've had to have major operations. Jesus I've broken my left arm, my right ankle, foot, my right shoulder, he goes through his whole list. He says that there's a rumor that he's gonna retire, but he's like, absolutely not. Are you kidding me? He started that rumor. Yeah, how can he retire? He has no money.

What's he gonna do? Retire from this and get a day job is what you're gonna do. Yeah, that's, fuck man. So he talks about how some of the races, there's no way to practice and all this kind of thing. And so they're like, well, if you, there's no way to like do a practice run, like how do you do it?

You shouldn't do that. And he said, well, I mean, what am I supposed to do? I'm not a quitter. So, you know, you gotta go do it. The people paid for sitting there. Yeah. I mean, it's the same, like in standup, back in the day, we've walked into some scenarios where you're like, oh, this isn't very good at all for this

This is like so bad. This is gonna go so bad. This is there's like it's there's fucking cars going right behind the people There's like a TV on there's the all the factors and you're like, I mean, I'm here and I gotta do it though I said I would fucking do it. I'll give it a run. Fuck it. I mean granted at the end We there were not wheeled away to the hospital with fucking fucking compound fractures, but Yeah, a lot of times there was There was ten dollars, that's the thing got ten dollars for like yeah gas money to get here Yeah, I can did it did it and you were you felt good cost me nothing and you felt good about that, too

I did when I first started that felt good. You're like, I'm more got laughs and it cost me nothing cost me not free free I got to go to work for free. Yeah That's why when you see a comedian on stage for a crowd and a successful comedian, that's a sick person because they've done so much. When you see us on stage, we come to a live show. You can go, they're sick. How did they get here? They did awful things to get here.

My God, Jesus, for, for years, abuse. For years. The abuse. Oh, we're like the Gimp in Pulp Fiction. We don't need a ball gag because we're smiling and enjoying it. Yep, that's the thing. Well, yeah, the ball gag keeps the jokes from coming out,

so they take it off for us to perform at least. Oh, god. That's fucking funny. Oh man. So this this reporter's talking to evil and a phone call comes. That's a friend of his and he's talking to him and evil laughs and then hangs up the phone and the reporter said what happened and evil said the guy told me sorry won't be there to see you jump on Friday but we'll see you in the hospital on Saturday. Oh we'll pop in with some balloons. Which is hilarious you know he's going to. So yeah he's in Vancouver trying his 12 car leap here.

By the way he talks about all these articles about him like basically one article just like kind of references another article which references another article which references another article and at the Core of this at the beginning of this fucked up game of telephone was evil Knievels doing his own PR So by the end of it, it's been in so many newspapers. It's just a fact at that point You know they mean that he's that lives this kind of lifestyle and he's rich and he's this It's just shit. He said It's crazy Nobody knew that right? I know they I assume but I don't even think reporters That's what I mean, and I don't think these reporters gave a shit cuz it was a D

It was a fun story. It's story and it's nothing important. It fills the space hurting nobody yet for him Yeah, what's it hurting fucking people are gonna pay five dollars to watch him jump. They're gonna get to see what one thing about evil He's full of shit. He's a scammer a schemer a scumbag all this shit But if you paid money to go to a show and he is physically able to be fucking lifted onto a motorcycle Yeah, he's gonna fucking fling himself off a ramp. He's gonna do it. He's gonna come off of point A. We don't know where point B will be, but you'll see point A.

You will see this motherfucker try something crazy, which, you know, can't say that for everybody. He at least does what he says he's gonna do when it comes to that, which, you know, that's a big deal. So this. And it's a genius ploy and game that he's doing because, A, there's no competition, he's got the market cornered, that's number one.

And if you can jump 13 cars once, you can jump 13 cars again just by physics and math, this worked, so it's gonna work again. So he can duplicate this in so many ball fields and stadiums, he can do this at halftime at NFL fucking games. And that's the plan. This could have been a forever thing. The problem is every time you jump 13 cars, it's not exactly the same.

So there's always a factor that can go wrong and you crash no matter what. So that's the problem. The other problem is with TV, if I've seen him jump this at the Cowboys halftime game, I don't wanna be at the Redskins game and see the same shit. Same shot, yep. Same foot.

Totally. You better make it 14 cars, and that's the problem there. Is that it's, you gotta go up. And then it's wrestling at that point. It's wrestling. I jumped off of this and I did eight flips onto you. Well, the next week I gotta go higher, and now you've gotten to a point where

they've had to take it back down again because you can't go any higher without these people dying on live television. So, you can't one-up yourself. And nobody wants to watch somebody jump for not the world record. And that's why he's gotta keep talking about the Grand Canyon and shit like that,

because that's something different. And that's what he ended up doing, I think, I don't remember for sure, but it felt like he was just kept, each jump was that if it's not the record what it is is training And getting my body condition so that I can do the grand canyon jump Yeah, and and so that at least there's a an endpoint at some other point place where it's a wild spectacle I got to watch evil do is run up to whatever yeah I mean and also you might get to see a spectacular crash

I mean, that's just you don't get to see him do his last jump That's the and that's the other thing too. That's the big draw of evil is he this guy could be dead today Like you could watch a man die at first that draws a crowd. I don't know what it is He may never jump 19 box trucks because he might die jumping 12 fucking Mercury Cougars. Yeah, he might be like that one guy who crashed into the ramp. Yeah. That poor bastard.

So this article says, and this is just his PR, it says, quote, he's the guy who has built fame on broken bones by jumping a motorcycle over a long row of cars. He's the best there is because nobody else has the guts to make a living in mid-air. He's the one and only. He makes gobs of money. This 31-year-old native of Montana does and Hollywood is doing a movie on his life.

So he has it made, right? Yeah, he has a career that is a lighted fuse and he knows it and he says quote evil says they don't come to see me die they come to see me jump but I get it if they want to be there. So just get just come I don't care why you're coming just fucking show up. Which is it that's the old you know I don't care which I don't care if they're fucking with the records lighten our records on fire. Yeah, motherfuckers paid for June 20th 1970 here the headline in the Daily Chronicle is quote Knievel survives

I don't damn it. I don't want any job where that's the headline that you survived a day at work, and that's a newspaper headline That is fucking hilarious that you survived a day at work, and that's a newspaper headline. Shohayotani survives. Oh, well, what? That is fucking hilarious. Right under that, though, you can get some, we got sales, Jimmy, the sales in 1970, Albertsons. If you're in the Canadian area up here, there's an Albertsons in the Northwest.

What's the Albertsons in Canada? Oh no, this is not, this is in America. This is in Washington Okay. Yeah, cuz it's USDA choice. That would be yeah, not that Canadians wouldn't give a fuck. I don't know what what does that mean? They go. What does that mean? So we got chuck steak USDA choice 59 cents a pound. Oh Jesus we got beef liver and this is the grossest thing I've ever heard beef liver quote young and tasty I don't never apply the

words young and tasty to anything please anything put that on a turkey Thanksgiving young and tasty I'm like yeah I don't want that. It says young and juicy. This says young and tasty. And it's liver, it's, ugh, gross. God damn it. 49 cents a pound, an arm cut. What the fuck is that? That's not from a cow. Cows don't have arms.

Arm cut chuck steak, tender. The only thing with an arm is a person, isn't it? I don't know. I've never heard of arm steak. That's not a cut we use nowadays, I don't think. The old arm steak. It comes from where the buffalo wings come from. That's that's that's, but you can get motor oil for a dollar thirty seven a gallon gallon

No, 20 to 30 weight two gallon tins or a dollar thirty seven you get two gallons of oil for a dollar thirty seven Gallon in a tin. Oh, I know what it is. Yeah, that's the rectangular one Yeah, like a big olive oil container for how much a dollar $1.37 That's so much oil you could drown a man in oil with that for a dollar thirty seven And also what do we got head and shoulders shampoos a dollar twenty seven? Okay, we got tomatoes medium slicers. I Guess medium and meant to be sliced 29 cents pound, five heads of lettuce for a dollar. What a time to be alive.

Five heads of lettuce. I mean, but the salary was like, you know, you made $12,000 a year, so you needed to buy five heads of lettuce for a dollar, so it was tough. At a time, yeah. 99 cents for watermelon, juicy, red, and ripe, but is it young and tasty? That's the question.

Juicy, red, and ripe. is it young and tasty that's the question and then it gets worse peaches sweet and juicy yellow meat that sounds like like a soldier in Vietnam going I like that sweet and juicy yellow meat you know get me some of that on our and on as we get it's from like full metal jacket isn't it pedophile watch Pippi Longstocking said that red long. Yeah, I think you can have juicy red and ripe Holy shit Albertson's dirty ad copy has to know that that can be taken a terribly terribly awful way I would think so even the lettuce it says it says solid heads, fresh and tasty.

It sounds like dicks, right? This is crazy, right? I'm not the wrong one here, I'm not the pervert. This is weird. That yellow meat gives solid head. It gives solid head on the yellow meat. What the fuck, man? Fuckin' Christ.

It is young and tasty. I'll say that much. Wow. So the next article is July 8th, 1970. Evil Knievel is back in the hospital. Here he goes. Yup, he's back at it again it says. The fearless maverick of the motorcycle set went through another of his routines hair-raising

adventures. Now he's laid up in a hospital here after fracturing part of his spine in Seattle over the weekend while trying to vault his cycle over the tops of 19 dots in automobiles. He didn't make it. Knievel says, quote, it's only a broken back. You know, as one does. I plan to be in twins.

It happens to house all of your central nervous system nerves that tells your whole body what to do. All of that stuff, you know, since, it's cool. He says, I plan to be in Twin Falls, Idaho, within a week to warm up for a jump over the Snake River Canyon. The doctor says, you six weeks, and he says, ah.

I'll do it next Monday. So they said, but your doctor says six weeks, and he says, quote, I'm not even supposed to be breathing anymore, according to some M.D.'s. Oh, so, you know, that's a good. Who cares? He's like, I like the houses money. He's like an 88 year old lady who smokes two packs a day. She's like, made it this far. Fuck you, sweetheart.

Have that. I don't know what to tell you. They seem to be working for me. Yeah. Yeah. Like the dad in Grumpy Old Men. That's that guy. Imagine this. You help your little brother land a great job abroad. But when he arrives, the job doesn't exist. Instead, he's trapped in a heavily guarded compound,

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cycle they're calling it now. He had earlier announced he had purchased the property but the property owner said nobody bought shit for me. This is my property. I don't know what he's talking about. Literally what happened know what I'm talking about, yeah. Literally what happened. So he visited Twin Falls last year and expressed a desire to jump the canyon near the Perrine Memorial Bridge. This was deemed impossible since some of the property was government owned.

Right. So he's now trying to purchase private property where he would construct a quarter mile runway for the takeoff. It was reported he was in Twin Falls about two weeks ago studying the site. He doesn't study anything. He drove by at 80 miles an hour and went, that looks good, that's studying. That'll do.

Yeah. Looks flat enough. They make it sound like he's down, like squatted down, like holding dirt in his hands, like let go through his fingers to see how the grip is. He's got a survey guy out there. Yeah. Those roto things. Yeah, he's's looking he's telling evil how it goes evil's writing down cool you know she fucking degree downslope a lot of attitude latitude numbers and shit yeah

I don't think that happened so yeah he said he's going to reach 300 miles an hour and fly over this fucking thing so here we go July 25th 1970 evil Slates jump at Firebird strip tonight. This is in Idaho here. He will shoot for a 14 car jump and Orville the clown will blast himself with a TNT charge and a pair of headline co-features at the Firebird International Speedway tonight. What does that mean? I have no idea but I'll... He's gonna take himself apart in front of everybody? I would pay to blow up a clown.

That I'd watch to... I'd pay to watch that. So... Like he's shooting himself out of a cannon or something? He's gonna blast himself with a TNT charge. I don't know what that means. Explode yourself? It's gotta be that, right?

It has to be, otherwise you're exploded. I would think it's... The thing about TNT is that it will fucking kill you. Wade, I think this is the one where he sits on like a chair on top of it or something and there's like a plate to keep the shrapnel from... like yeah I think I've seen this before actually. Or is it the guy in the car? Because I've seen that too. Oh in the car I don't know. I've seen... There's one in a car? There's obviously a cannon and then the... Yeah obviously've seen. There's one in a car, there's obviously a cannon,

and then the. Yeah, obviously the cannon. That's a classic, the cannon, obviously. The classic cannon. Obviously the classic cannon out there. So yeah, that's, I don't know what's going on there. So he's blowing himself up, and then evil can evil. So you might see two deaths, I think, is the draw here.

Right? It's like eight bucks and you might see two people die. That's pretty much the advertisement. Possibly two bodies. And in crazy ways too. That's the other thing. Have you ever seen one body? We're going to show you two with explosions and a motorcycle.

How about that? You want to see a man splat to his death and be exploded to death. Both wearing silly outfits outfits by the way. That's the other thing. Meanwhile, a crash on a motorcycle on the freeway at 65 will make you turn your head and you will not look at it. But this guy's going to do 300 and you're going to be glued to it. That's the thing.

If you crash going 60, everybody turns their head. If you crash going 300, people come at you with 10 bucks in their hand. They got, they'll take a gander now for a couple of bucks. Put this in your pocket and I won't walk away. Yeah, please let me see this. I won't even blink. I gotta see what this looks like.

The next eight hours, I'm putting toothpicks in my eyes so that I don't blink and miss it. I think this is a 60 mile crash could happen to you. A 300 mile an hour crash through the air. That's only him. I'm not doing that. This dumb fuck's on his own, you know what I mean? I think is a 60 mile crash could happen to you a 300 mile an hour crash through the air I'm not doing that this dumb fucks on his own. You know what I mean? That's a I don't know who this idiot is The Idaho statesman now has an article on the 26th of July saying Knievel to start work on Twin Falls ramp He doesn't own the property

He doesn't have the yeah, no reason to be be there No, he has no trespassing if he did if he just showed up on another man's property and started building a ramp that wouldn't be okay And number two he doesn't have any fucking money to build a ramp This is a quarter mile ramp, you know expensive that would be you'd need engineers for that You can't just get people to come out and just build a quarter mile ramp, right? Yeah, that's something you... You gotta know the trajectory and the slope that goes up. It can't just be like a half pipe. Yeah, I want somebody with one of those square things and they're like drawing on it. I want

the whole... Somebody's gotta know exactly how far this angle needs to be for me to land on the other one. Tell me in math I don't understand why this is gonna work or not work. That's what I want from you. Because if I overshoot the ramp I'm fucked. If I undershoot the ramp I'm super fucked. Like, I gotta land on that ramp.

Otherwise I'm dead. So yeah, he says that since I will take off on my land and finish the jump on Bureau of Land Management property, we'll have to get clearance on that end as well and I've been told that this is forthcoming. He doesn't own the property and he hasn't gotten the permission to land on the other side yet. He has, there's literally nothing. He has an idea that he'd like to jump a canyon. That's all he has. And he's saying some things that are not necessarily accurate because BLM land, you can just go out on it

I don't know that you can't commercially land on to it. I don't know if the entrance has to be a specific way I don't think you can land on it in a flying jet motorcycle. Yeah in a commercial endeavor I don't think that's all right. Probably you can probably walk onto it or drive onto it But yeah, I think you have to be on the ground the whole time, I feel like, you can't fly in there. You can't just arrive in the middle of this plot of land. No, and maybe kill yourself on it, by the way, too. Right, you can.

Which is also a bit of a liability. Probably get ticketed for littering if you just leave a body there. He said, engineers are trying to stake out the land early in the week and we'll start on the road and the ramp as soon as this is complete. Because the other part of this is to get things here, there's no road to the edge of the Snake Canyon.

So you gotta have trucks that bring in things. Through the desert. Porta-potties. Land. Equipment and things to build, camera equipment, lights, seats, things of that. So you need, now you need fucking quarter-way roads here so these 18-wheelers could,

now it's a huge project. This is a giant thing he's talking about. This isn't just. You're essentially putting up a stadium that has to be taken down. Yeah, a stadium without walls, basically, is what you're doing. You're bringing in all the same stuff

and you gotta be able to get it to there. So let's talk a little bit about his outfits at this point, all right? Now, he was known for his leather jumpsuits always and his cape, as you asked about that last time. Yeah, he did. He added the cape around this time. It's a mini-cave.

Yeah, it's a, yeah, cause it can't get caught in the motorcycle wheel, obviously, if he had a big cape. It'd be. You got one that hangs down to like his ass. Imagine him just, rrraaah, being torn off his seat backwards as he. Also it creates drag, so if you like,

you get up in the air and now your cape. Oh, that's something. Pulls you back, that's not good. I don't think that he concerns himself with matters of math like that But if you've got am I losing? Feels the same An engineer that draws up a certain oh, yeah, I think that you can jump and then you now add a fucking six-foot cape

Evil's response to that is Fuck out of here with that I'm flying. I'll fly, don't worry. I'll make it work. So he, they were always compared to the Elvis Presley jumpsuits, because it's very similar. They're like tight fitting and a similar type of thing.

He switched to the white suit after he switched motorcycles to the Triumph is when he switched to the white suit, because he had the black and yellow before that and in interviews he said the reason he switched because was because he saw how Liberace yeah Liberace was a big influence on him here Liberace was a performer and a showman like one thing you got to give Liberace is like you know I don't know about his music or whatever but he would Liberace is like, you know, I don't know about his music or whatever, but he would come out with like four, you know,

showgirls on each arm, and every finger was full of big diamonds. And I mean, you looked at him. Like, there was no, nobody was gonna look away from this. Like, what the fuck is this guy? That's a, that's, yeah, that's a spectacle. Which if you're, if you're in like a daredevil type thing, that's, you to be a spectacle

So he said that he would Liberace had become not just a performer but the epitome of what a showman should be The full thing, you know what I mean? So he said that's what he was trying to create a his own showmanship like that So he has two variations of the white suit one with three stars across the chest and one with three stars on his right chest And the the three stars on his on the right chest was the one he wore at Caesar's Palace vertical Yes, I think so. Yeah down So he switched to another motorcycle in 69 and that's when and switched his leathers too And that's when he did like the red white and blue jumpsuit with the X across the chest. So that's when he got into that.

And then he adjusted the blue stripes to a V shape. And that is, you see that in the film that he uses there. And for the remainder of his career, variants of the V shaped white star jumpsuit would be a constant, including a special nylon canvas flight suit that matched his white leathers. Each variant would be more elaborate, and then he put the red, white, and blue cape,

the big Elvis belt buckle with the EK initials on it. And in 75, he premiered the blue leathers with red stars on the white stripes for the Wembley Stadium jump to England. Yeah, so that's his that's his deal. He's always which again, that's his he's investing in himself though and trying to Yeah, those suits are not cheap. No, they're very elaborate and the EK is even like really Really cost money. Yeah, like again back to wrestling and it's because it's a similar thing It's a there's really no inherent interest. You have to make interest, you know what I mean? So in wrestling nowadays It's a little bit different because they kind of dress in like outfits

But like in the 70s 80s and even into the 90s guys with the big robes like the big Ric Flair robes A lot of those robes were 10 grand a pop back then, which is a lot of fucking money in 1987. You know what I mean? These guys had, that's the thing. You invest in yourself because that's how you move up the card is that guy looks like a main eventer. He doesn't look like a first, look at him,

he's got a $10,000 robot, he's not a fucking opening match guy, so it helps. And really though, the black and yellow is like the cool one. Yeah, that was the badass one. Yeah, it looks badass. Yeah. The other one just kind of looks fucking, I don't know. It's very fat Elvis, the other one. Yeah. Yeah. But it's also very mass appeal. Yes. Yeah. Very America. The black, red, white and blue. Totally. Yeah. The black and yellow look like fuck all of you. Yeah, and the other one is I represent all of you. Go Steelers, that's what it looks like. Right.

Yeah, take somebody's fucking head off. Fuck all of you, go Pens. Sidney Crosby, all right. Yeah, it's just a very, I don't know, motorcycle gear tends to lean to black and yellow too because you gotta have some sort of accent to it and yellow looks fucking best with black. That's such a great color. That looks cool, they pop.

Yeah, they pop. Yeah, but black specifically because with motorcycles comes grease oil and fucking chalk. That's what I always thought. And it doesn't leave marks when you're fucking close. My thought on the black always was, well there's a lot of grease around and if you're like working on something or something, yeah, I could touch something.

I could brush my leg against this tire, flicking it over the side of the bike. And now I got shit all over my white pants. That's what I mean. You can't have black and you can't see it. That makes a lot of sense. So finally, the here's a newspaper article, August 8th, 1970. And it says he's found a bigger crevice which is hilarious number one is it young and tasty though that's the question it says is it is it is it yellow meat is it right tasty yellow meat evil can evil won't jump grand canyon on cycle but rather than because he can, he's making it because he found a better thing to do. Yeah. Which is pretty fucking hilarious. He wants to. He said he keeps doing it. They're like, so what happened? Did you chicken out and all this type of shit? And he said, no, no, no. I bought myself another piece of land. He said, I bought a piece of the Stake River Canyon. So it's not quite as deep as the Grand Canyon, but you know,

it's still pretty fucking deep. that we different crevices different problems you know more crevices more problems that's what they say he yeah he's in the Poconos by the way and in Pennsylvania there really yeah that's where this article is so these people first time he's been east of the Mississippi is absolutely the first time and it's a big deal the first time he's been. He's all fucked up for this race, too, from what I remember from the book. But he he has to do it because he's like, I'm not coming all the way here. They dragged all their equipment all the way across the country.

He's like, I'm not going to do it now. That would be, you know, fucking insane at that point. So anyway, he says also that he refute He doesn't like to be put to sleep. So now he's saying that he, uh, stays awake for his operations. Stop it. That's his new, it's not even good enough to go. I'm so crazy. I'll throw myself over 15 cars. I don't care if I fucking have compound fractures on my spine, but now he's like, I don't even need to be put under to be in surgery for him. Come on, man.

In fact, I prefer it. I need to feel it. And yeah, it feels good. But people buy this horse shit. Do you want, let me ask you, do you turn your car into the mechanic and then just go sit in the lobby or do you go watch him do it?

You know what I mean? I like, I prefer as evil can evil to stand in the garage. I wanna know. And watch him fix the A-arms. Yeah, I'm paying for this surgery. I wanna make sure you're doing all the work I paid for. I wanna make sure he doesn't just put some old struts back in his car. Is that a new fuel filter?

That's a new one, right? Okay. You just trust people to put a new arm on you? Brand new rotors, right? You didn't just turn those, you cheap son of a bitch you crooked bastard. These are the first time you put the screw in somebody right? You didn't take these out of a corpse correct? Jesus Christ he said blue cross cancelled me. Look I broke this shoulder again yesterday when I fell off a truck.

Will I lose my nerve? Not till I'm 40 and I've got two sons nine and seven both starting on bikes this man's sub 40 oh yeah he's 32 at this point oh they're 31 or something he says a couple of Hell's Angels threw a tire iron at me when I was trying to jump in California I sent 15 of them to the hospital calm down down, Evil. Your naval heavyweight boxing champion bodyguard and half the crowd sent 15 of them to the hospital. That's who did. He did have the balls to get off. He's got the balls to get off and fought the guy, but he didn't send 15 of them.

He's been fighting for every COVID. Yeah, all of them. Those are all mine. All the guys laying down, he goes, yep, that's me. I put all these guys down. Yeah. That is goddamn hilarious, man. So he says that when he makes his big jump, he says it's gonna be nationally televised,

the Snake River thing, it's gonna be big deal. He said, I'll be an instant millionaire. Okay. Yep, he says he's in it for the money, and definitely he says, but I'll do it anyway without the money. Yeah. Oh, don't ever say that.

I don't, never tell anyone that. Don't do it until it's done. Then tell them you would've done it for free, you fucking idiot. Yeah, then go, that was great, would've done it for free, and tell them after the check clears. So he then flashes the reporter his diamond rings.

By the way, he becomes real big on the showy shit. Jewelry and diamonds and just throwing money around. It's very important not only that everyone knows who he is and all of that, it's also important that they that everyone knows who he is and like all of that It's also important that they go. Wow. What a rich bastard look at him. He can do anything He says this one pointing at his ring is one of four stones of its kind And he says it's not it's not just that it's a diamond. There's only four only four. Yeah. Yeah You might have a diamond and It's not like this one.

They decapitated the child who pulled them out of a fucking mountain too. That's how, They don't even want you to know where he got them. These are, there's blood diamonds and then there's these. These are like a whole other level of blood diamond. I have a picture of the child they murdered. His name, his name was Jeremy.

There he is. Weird that his little African child be named Jeremy, but that was his name. They killed him so that even the guy that supplies the diamonds doesn't even know where to get these diamonds. He doesn't know, no. And plus it's part of it.

You get the picture of the child killed that makes you know that you're a big man who got something very important. I got a Jeremy. I got a Jeremy, there he is. He went to Jeremy. Yep. He went to Jeremy. Yep. He went to Jeremy.

Well that's why his name's Jeremy so he's not real Jeremy. The fictional blood diamond. There are no blood diamond children named Jeremy I bet. I bet you how many in history. You didn't picture the kid that actually does it when I said Jeremy, did you? No. You know who you pictured. But he's dead, that's why. He's fucking dead.

Evil goes on to say, I always carry two or $300 bills around with me. You know, because I'm a big shot. Two or three. Two or three, which in 1971, $300 on you was like carrying around three grand now or something on you, which, you know, they say hyperbole is Knievel specialty. But after all is said and done,

he's the one guy who will go flying up a ramp at 75 miles an hour, soaring over 18 Pepsi Cola trucks. Not only does he talk about it, he does it. In fact, he delights in watching films of some of his more excruciating namings He says I think I'll live to be 40. Oh That's what he says. He's wrong. Yeah So then he talks about the rocket bike

He's now calling it the spirit of America. That's the name of it. Yeah, he's out of his fucking mind Went from a jet cycle to a mo fucking bike, now it's the spirit of America. It's genius marketing though, goddamn. Oh he is, he's full of shit as they get. He said, I won't be in a closeted canopy though, I'll parachute out at a specified time. The way I figure it, both myself and the bike will land some quarter of a mile across on the other side.

He's out of his fucking mind. This is ridiculous. And he still doesn't have any land, doesn't have any of that. Doesn't have any opportunity or ability to do this. Doesn't even have the cycle. No, it has nothing, it's no, God no. That's the other thing.

It is just a concept at this point. They're still trying to build it. He hasn't paid anybody anything for expenses. He's just talking about it. It's just talking about it. It's just talking about it. He then breaks his hand during that Pocono run. Remember he's in the Poconos for all this. He broke his hand on that one.

Okay. Yeah, he tried to jump over 13 cars, missed on his landing, and got a broken hand and some broken ribs. But for all of his misses, he still hits the ramp. You know what? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's still not that Billy Badfish and the broken ramp.

You think that was his name? I can't remember, yeah. For the most part, if he had a bike that was made for landing after flying 100 feet in the air, he would probably be fine. Probably. Most of these are just, the bike is not made to land like that

or do any of this shit that you're doing. He's jumping like a like a sportster like don't yeah it's an iron ass bike. It's a road bike. It's just a road bike. It's not a stunt bike. It's fucking crazy. There is no such thing as a stunt bike back then. Right. You'd have to make one. Because a stunt doesn't exist. If he made friends with the Hells Angels I could probably build him one. They knew what they were doing, but he's too busy sending them all to the hospital. Cashing in on COVID. Man, he's then in Buffalo and it says,

Evil Knievel will jump cycle over eight trucks here. That's not a lot of trucks. I wonder if they're big trucks. They must be huge. 18-wheelers lined up in a row. They are, speed only there? What are they are they I don't know. I don't know what they don't say They have to be over something with a with a product on the side to get paid eight nine foot wide trucks

Wow, so that's that's like a big box truck. So that's a lot of truck. That's probably 15 cars. How many of them are there? Nine? Eight. Eight. Eight trucks. 172 feet? Yeah, that's a decent amount. 64? 8x8? What is that? 8x8 is 64, yeah, for sure. So that's a long way, I guess, because you got the other shit. So he said, I was stopped from jumping my jet cycle across the Grand Canyon because the government said it would disturb the wildlife. That's not even close to what happened. Evil but okay. It's like this fucking EPA and all that because they just came out

with it. He says injuries well I total about three cycles a year. I wear a 13 inch one and a half pound steel plate in my left leg and a steel plate in my upper left arm Two scroll screws hold my right ankle together two more my right shoulder my teeth aren't my own Yeah, there is that if you take the knock down easier they probably the bones have probably fused and healed It's not like maybe it's not like he's got plates. I don't know. He's got a couple of plates there. Yeah.

So, yeah, he's all fucked up though. By the way, he's injured in Buffalo as well. Crash is there too. So that's two in a row here. That's not good. Just a bruised hip and some possible internal injuries though, so he'll be fine. They said though, the bike suddenly went out of control and zoomed on Main Street. The brakes failed as the machine hit a passing car.

The driver, are you kidding me? What? Wow. It was an injury suffered in a mishap Friday in the parking lot of WKBW TV. He was doing a TV spot. Yeah. He didn't cordon off the area? No, he was doing a TV spot. Yeah. He didn't cordon off the area? No, he was warming up the motorcycle,

he was dicking around in the parking lot. Okay. Fucking off, and it went out of control and went into Main Street, the brakes failed, and he hit a car. Ha ha ha. So, yeah, he's pretty fucked up, that's fun. So, they said the show's still gonna go on though,

he'll be fine. Yeah. He'll be all right, and you can also see boats in action, it says there. I don't know what kind of action those boats would be in, but that's right under. That sounds like he did that on purpose because brakes on a motorcycle, you have two, there are two master cylinders, there's a front and a rear and you can absolutely 100% slow down with the engine. So that sounds to me like he hit it on purpose to get fucking pressed. Probably publicity, yeah.

I don't think he cares. Yeah, that'll make a big scene. For sure. That'll make a big scene. Evil Knievel hit a car? Wow. If he can't even ride his motorcycle around a parking lot, he's certainly gonna die

when he tries to jump these trucks. Let's watch. And if the brakes fail, that's somebody else's fault, that's not Evel Knievel's fault, Evel Knievel's still perfect. That's the thing, hey, what are you gonna do? I'm taking chances, my brakes aren't even, they won't even work. Yeah, he's a, well, diabolical more like it,

he's really, yeah. He's evil. He should have just ran for office, like this is what politicians do, and he has really nailed it. You can lie your ass off and you can say all, it's crazy. He said, I broke my right hand, some ribs and some other stuff, fractured a couple vertebrae

in the Poconos. My next engagement is in Trenton, New Jersey. After that I go to Rochester, to Buffalo. I'm booked for three years. Except if I get land in the Snake River and then I come up with that. I gotta put the Snake River jump off cuz I've got a gig in Buffalo. Yeah, you know, you know it is He's memorable for other things though including two rings one is gold and diamonds with a diamond motorcycle jumping over a cat sapphire eye

That's worth about seven thousand five hundred dollars.nevel said. The other's a more modest number. It's simply a diamond and gold and is worth only $2,500. The cane he carries is antique and gold topped. It's worth about $3,500," he said. Liberace offered me that much. Like Liberace came to his house and said, Evil, I have to have your cane. I just, I need it, Evil, please. I can't have that made and buy and sell you over and over again, but I need that cane. Why won't you sell it to me, Evil? I don't think so.

He's such a fucking liar. That's what's- It's so, it's beautiful because at the time, you could lie like this and It nobody knows no internet No, and even if he even if he got caught nobody would give a shit because evil he's a fucking Charlton anyway, he's gonna crash his motorcycle in a parking lot then go to the next town. So who cares, you know And that's what they think they think I have gives a shit

He said I can say fuck I can crack a safe quicker with one hand tied behind me then you could eat a hamburger With both hands he said He's bragging about his old his old past He said he was also a card shark, but he doesn't play that much anymore He said I don't play I don't like to play cards unless I can cheat Jesus Christ man, so um yeah, he said he couldn't race because there was no money in it. And he said, I'll quit jumping when I'm 40. And then my sons will jump. He's already got them in this horrible fucking thing. And they, at least Robbie does there.

So he says, I don't jump rattlesnakes anymore. Now I'm a businessman." He said, yeah. He said, well, um, his wife says, quote, well, maybe he doesn't save money, but he buys things that we could sell. Cause they talk about, doesn't he spend a lot of money? It seems like he spends a lot. She said, well, I mean, it's assets, things we could sell if we need to. Yeah. It's custom rings. These things are worth 10 grand. I mean, come on, Liberace's any of these things I want to get rid of I just call Liberace He sends four or five fucking showgirls over here to pick it up with a check in their hand. No problem Just a private Liberace sale

So yeah every newspaper in The country here has like an article about him and that he's gonna come to town or will he come to town or are we gonna see evil and all this type of shit here the Kansas City what is the Kansas City star has a big article here and this is more about it's more about his lifestyle and more about his bullshit and his legend they say Knievel sat comfortably in the plush cabin of his new truck today and talked bluntly. He said, anybody want to drink? He'll have to drink it out of the bottle. That's the only way I do it.

You got to drink after me and straight out of the bottle, straight out of the bottle. You're going to get whatever I got from that broad last night. That's on you. The two of us will be in the same hospital. He said, they said he took a sip from the bottle at a vinyl upholstered bar. Wild turkey he said is what makes me jump so far which is actually true. Yeah it does that's that's what makes him have the balls to do it. I don't know if he's bragging that it's good whiskey or if he's bragging that he drinks shit whiskey?

Back then I don't know if they knew. I think it was just wild. It's probably middle of the road then. Yeah, I think it was middle of the road and especially for like a mining butte kind of guy like that kind of town. Like wild turkey was probably the fancy one. Butte Montana guy, that's top shelf. That's top shelf.

Yeah, back in the day, you know, back then. He said two months ago I was doing a TV show when the guy had a heart attack driving a car and ran right into me doing 40 miles an hour. That's what he's, he's saying that's what happened at the TV studio. Okay, that guy hit by a guy that had a heart attack? He said a guy had a heart attack

and ran into him going 40 miles an hour. He said, I was just standing there. No, you drove your motorcycle into a parked car. That's what you did. That is fucking wild. He said, Knievel wrote a poem one time called Why, just because so many people asked him why does he do it? Why does he do what he does? Ask him and he'll tell you it's probably for the same reason you do what you do. He says, I'll tell you one thing, I don't have any trouble making myself get up in the morning to go to work. I like what I do." Megan Stoner was a young passionate Republican and a self-proclaimed advocate for mental health. But behind her public persona lurked a master of deception.

I'm Tiffany Reese, host of Something Was Wrong. In season 22, we're diving into the twisted world of a con artist who's been allegedly scamming and making false claims for over a decade. From the U.S. to Canada, Megan Stoner has left a trail of devastation for her victims. But after a brief period of incarceration, she's now back out on the streets. And although she's free now, we're actively working with law enforcement to further justice for the victims of her alleged crimes. This isn't just another true crime story. It's a wake-up call about trust, deception,

and the power of community to fight back. Follow Something Was Wrong on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Something Was Wrong Season 22 ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Hey everybody, we have some exciting news that we want to share. If you want to go on an adventure with Generation Y, we'd love for you to join us. January 26th through the 30th, 2026, we'll be sailing from Miami to the Bahamas on Wondry's first

ever True Crime Cruise aboard the Norwegian Joy. Aaron and I will be there to chat, hang out, dive into all things true crime, and we're thrilled to be joined by some familiar voices in the true crime podcasting world. Surti and Hannah from Red Handed, Sashi and Sarah from Scam Fluencers, and Carl Miller from Kill List. Super excited to hang out with them too. We've got some cool activities, interactive mysteries we can solve,

testing our forensic skills with a blood spatter expert, and so much more. So for some sun, fun, and just the right amount of mystery solving, come join us. If you'd like to know more and secure your spot, visit exhibitseacruise.com for presale information. Well, because you don't get up in the morning, probably. No, get up in the afternoon, get up at two in the afternoon with a strange girl

stank on you in a wild turkey breath. Yeah. Nasty. Uh, he had, he, on all of his helmets, by the way, it says color me lucky on the sides Yeah, which is fucking funny. That's pretty cool. Yeah, he said if anybody can find anybody who'd insure me I'd wish they'd let me know that's why I buy these diamond rings and bigs trucks So my family will have something to sell if I'm killed Won't you just give them the game? You could have put it in like fucking IBM stock back then or something or like...

Anything. There was a lot of like, yeah, portfolio stuff and you could have... So many different ways to do that. Where my shit? Oh yeah. It's gonna have it after. Oh man, he said, I'm the only guy Caesar's Palace ever paid in advance. So?

It's just because the guy offered it to him. He was like, OK, sounds good. Well, that's so that we can at least pay you if you fucking die. Yeah, that's, you know, they only gave him half. He said, Liberace is going to be alive after his show, man. You know it. You're pretty sure he's going to be alive. It's a possibility.

He said, when I jump, sometimes I can't collect later because I'm on the way to the hospital. That's what he's talking about. said when I jump sometimes I can't collect later because I'm on the way to the hospital. That's what he's talking about. Then he's talking about more preparations here and you know he's talking about that. He's talking about everything. In Idaho he said he is going to figure this out, the landing strips for his canyon jump. He said on a motorcycle with a steam jet behind him that he said will

do 300 miles an hour and he said and you wouldn't believe this but guess what we're using for water. Olympia beer tastes better than STP. What? I don't know. So he's saying we're steam powering this jet with the beer from the local region. With cheap local beer. Because local pride. Yeah, we got local pride. That shit is nasty, by the way, Olympia. That tells you how equivalent to water that beer is. It's gross. It's bad, and it used to be in Arizona.

I don't know if it still is, but they used to have it in Arizona. Because when we first, my mom and stepdad, it came in a gold can. My mom and stepdad first moved out there, my stepdad was drinking that shit because he just drank cheap beer for some reason. And he was drinking, I remember I stole one once and it was fucking gross.

Like this is a terrible beer, this is not good. He was putting those down. Oh man, so they said, well, you know, what will you do for an encore once you've jumped a canyon then what do you do? And he said that quote I was going to buy a 747 jet instead of this truck, but Hefner beat me to it I don't like to ride in airplanes. Really. I don't like anything that I don't have control over He totally off Yeah, he said he was gonna he does not have the money to buy a jet

And a 747 that's a lot of playing giant plane. Yeah, not a Lear jet. Not a little fucking private plane. That's $30 million that is fucking ridiculous so the They talked about his debut with his new motorcycle was at the Lions drag strip show outside Los Angeles jumping 13 cars in front of 14,780 people And jumping anything in a in a 747 isn't very impressive I sat down on a guy on a on one of those and the guy jumped the whole country. Yeah That's not what he means. He means to travel in because he's not jumping the truck either

All right, the He means to travel in. Cause he's not jumping the truck either. The truck is to travel in. Okay, got it. To the gigs. He was gonna do it by plane, but Hugh Hefner bought the plane, so he said, I guess I'll just drive. No other planes available. Got it. Yeah, which is ridiculous.

So they said that he crashed in his three previous jumps, the final one in August when he cracked a vertebrae, broke his shoulder and his hand at Pocono and I said nothing here nothing in his next two jumps of the year at the Houston Astrodome. He was fine So he draws 14,780 people in LA that's a fucking crowd Oh, yeah drag strip at a drag strip outside of LA. Like in Pomona?

Yeah, some shit like that. That's crazy. So this is from the book about his fame. Said, his evolving dance with good fortune started in 1971 with nothing less than breathtaking in either a good or bad way, depending on the point of view, for anyone who followed it. As he grew bigger and bigger, richer and richer, he added and changed luxury cars in a hurry. He bought

mink and sable coats and designer clothes that startled the eye, bragged about his sexual conquests. He's married, isn't he? Absolutely. His wife's next to him half the time when he's doing it and she's just like, that's evil, I don't know. It's crazy. He liked to show his $55,000 worth of diamond rings on his right hand alone, taught by a diamond wristwatch. He had cheap replicas of the diamond rings made and gave them away or hid them in bars

or did magic tricks and made them appear. Yeah, he paid $100 to attendants when he pulled into parking lots and told them to keep spaces open on all sides around his latest Maserati. He gave $100 tips to waiters and barmaids. He called the managers of restaurants to his table and said he wanted to buy a drink

for everyone working in the kitchen. Called. That's cool. That's cool. An hour later, he called the manager back and said he wanted to buy another drink for everyone in the kitchen. Oh. Right on.

Every hour, I'm getting them another one. Wow, they're going to be, this food's going to get worse over the course of the night, but that's all right. He said, he's always on the move, going, going, going. Since he wasn't in the hospital after every other jump anymore, he could work out a true schedule. He was in Agawam, Massachusetts, in Hutchinson, Kansas, in Portland, Oregon, down in Tucson,

back in Chicago, Oklahoma City, East St. Louis, Uniondale, New York, that's Long Island, Cleveland, St. Paul, Cincinnati. He crisscrossed the United States. He made money everywhere. He would jump in four different states within a single month. He would jump sometimes in the same city for three or four days in a row. Thing is though, every place he went, he blew through the premises like a force of nature,

a force of nature with money to spend. This is the thing. He is like spending this money before he even makes it. It's just like. So if he's getting 10 grand for the weekend of four jumps. He's gonna spend 15 that weekend. Yeah, yeah. Wow.

That's, yeah. A promoter, that's the promoter Ted Pollock that worked with him in the past said he came to Seattle for us. We were paying him $25,000. That's how far he had come. He eventually was too expensive for us after that. Anyway, he called and asked if I could pay him in cash. That was irregular, but I said it could be done.

He jumped. I gave him the cash. I figured he needed it for something. He did. The next morning he showed up to play golf at the Broadmoor in Colorado. He took the money out of the bag, the entire $25,000 and put it down on the first tee. He was ready to bet it all. And I think he did. What? First shot 25 grand. Who's gonna be closer to the fucking T? Who's gonna be closer to the pin?

Oh my God. He's nuts, that's what I'm saying. It's beyond a matter of I'm in this, buy stuff. It's just, he can't have money. It's just gone. That's nuts. It's insane and that's, the IRS is gonna figure that out in a little while too, that he's's I don't think he's putting half

aside for fucking taxes and expenses and all that shit so January 8 71 it says Knievel eyes 1 million dollars in 1971 It's trying to make a million dollars. He said he He starts his million dollar conquest with a twenty five thousand dollar appearance in the Astrodome Friday And if he's still healthy Saturday as well. So yeah, he's going to do that. He says that's his goal.

Knievel said that's why this thing has got here has got me spooked. The chance you got to make it the runway is the main thing. The track is here is rough and that's a big damn problem. He said. So he only has to jump 40 times in a year to make a million dollars. Yeah. If he does it 25 grand at a clip.

But 40 times a year is a lot of times to jump and not hurt yourself. Yeah, and not make it, right? To a point where you're out of action for a month or two. Yeah. So if you break your leg or something, what do you do at that point, you know? So that's the other thing, it's really difficult.

I don't know, he keeps talking about by the way that he could crack safes and all that kind of thing yeah but didn't he say before that he would steal the key or you know or he would have the combination remember or he would just break them safe cracking it's just he said yeah but he's a liar that's yeah he says they hated to stop safe cracking because I got a thrill out of it. I wasn't a petty thief. I wouldn't rob a place unless it was big enough to have a night watchman.

That made it more thrilling. Bullshit, you've broken your friend's bar and stole things. Right. So. $100 or whatever. Yeah, he said that he was racing motorcycles. He said he was pretty damn good at it. All those first place trophies, no. Not one. No no but he has first place trophies on the wall of his

trailer even though he did not win those where did he get made you can have trophies made if he has replica rings made he can have trophies made safe and walk safe first place 1963 it's fucking ridiculous he said I've got a hundred of them but there wasn't enough money. He was dominating the racing field. Meanwhile, he said he never got paid more than the minimum for a race. And he was terrible at it. Yeah, fuck.

He said, now this is different. I spent $300,000 last year. I'll make $500,000, maybe a million this year. It's according to how long I can keep going. So on January 8th and 9th, 1971, he set the record by selling over 100,000 tickets to back-to-back performances at the Astrodome. Friday and Saturday night.

No, he sold 100,000 tickets. Oh, okay, so 50 grand each. 50,000 tickets to each as the average. There's no way he got the proceeds of that right? That's oh, yeah, fuck. Yeah, he does. That's it. That's his money. Yeah, it's a 90 gate. Probably no They actually I think this is the one he said he got I think that they're paying him a set amount I don't think he's getting against the house I think he's getting he names a price and they pay him and hope they sell the tickets

Yeah, one of those things. Yeah, so that's a shitload of tickets I mean Christ made a lot of money probably you definitely made him over a million dollars probably so that's if he gets $10 a tick I mean the gate is over a million. Yeah, the gate if the tickets average price of 10 I don't know what a ticket went for for that, but 1971 about the movie filming here. All right. The first and this is from the book, the first important Knievel moment in the production of the movie with George Hamilton came on February 28, 1971. The script called for

Hamilton slash Knievel him playing Knievel to reflect on his life while preparing for a world record jump of 19 cars. So, this is the Ontario Motor Speedway outside Los Angeles, and they said the story would jump back and forth from Ontario to the various bits of wackiness that led up to this moment. It's like the movie when Kevin Costner is pitching a perfect game. That's how they're going to fucking do it, essentially. So, they said filming had already begun at Ontario and on the MGM lot.

Hamilton is Knievel, 24 year old Sue Lyon, best known for her role as James Mason's shockingly underage lover in Lolita cast as Linda Knievel. And this was the big money camera shot. Knievel, the real Knievel was supposed to jump over those real American cars before a sellout crowd of 78,810 people. Knievel, the real Knievel, was supposed to jump over those real American cars before a sellout crowd of 78,810 people. Because that's the shot for the movie they need. They don't have a stunt guy.

There are no stunt people who are dumb enough to do this shit. Stunt people need to know what the controlled thing is and how they're going to land. They don't just go all fucking wing it. They have it planned. Right. How do I tumble? Right. This guy, they're just flinging himself over cars willy-nilly, so this Knievel is gonna do his own jumps here and Yeah, they have this crowd because it's a NASCAR event

So they're gonna jump before the NASCAR event so they have 78,000 people there which will look great on film They look like it. They're all there for evil So they said the people had mostly been lured by the first NASCAR Grand National Race track in history, the Miller High Life 500, which would be won by A.J. Foit with Buddy Baker, second Richard Petty, third. But Knievel was also an attraction. His jump would take place before the stock car race. By the way, the race, the winner got 207 grand that race, which was the richest in stock car history, NASCAR history.

Hamilton now came, because this is, you know, he's there filming, Evil's doing his thing, and he's there with Evil. Hamilton spent the time before the jump with Knievel in the trailer slash dressing room. The time did not go well while Turkey was involved. Okay. This is Hamilton.

Knievel was drinking and kept talking about the different things involved in the jump. Aerodynamics, ballistics. He went on and on. I eventually decided he didn't give a shit about any of that. He was just getting drunk. That's why he was talking. He was drunk.

He drank all day. He said as the time approached to perform the jump, Evel Knievel became skittish. He said that he might not be able to do it. The wind seemed excessive. And Hamilton said there was no wind, really. I don't know what you're talking about. Knievel said that.

Oh, you don't understand. You know, he said that. You're standing next to the fan, Evel. What are you doing? Yeah, it's windy. He said the track conditions might not be right They said what track conditions Hamilton Hamilton said the conditions were exactly what they were supposed to be. It's a fucking movie They made it perfect

Everything would be ready can evil finally really said what he meant. He wanted more money to do the jump He wanted to be paid more so Hamilton was stunned He pointed out that there was no more money. The budget under Joe Solomon had been stretched as far as it could go. Nothing else would arrive. The cast and crew still had to travel to Butte to film. There was no money. We were stretched on the movie.

He said there's also no backup for this day, this crowd. Everything's in place. This is when the jump had to be done. This is it right now. So Knievel dressed in his leathers already said at last that maybe he would go outside and take a look at the setup and then he'd decide. I don't know, maybe I'll look at it.

He did have one obvious problem. He had jumped nine cars the day earlier in practice in Ontario and the handlebars had collapsed and he had broken his right hand. He broke his motor. So again, if the bike was made to take that, the handlebars wouldn't have collapsed. So Hamilton said, how will you excuse,

how will you jump with a broken hand? I'll tape it to the handlebars, Knievel said. Holy shit. In a tone he would use with a school kid. It's just logic, George. If your hand is broken, you tape it on. Like, hey, what the fuck do you think I was going to do? Stupid. Which can you imagine if he falls off the bike and it's flying and he's being dragged by a hand that's taped to the

fucking thing. That's horrifying. So when the actor and dare, daredevil stepped from the big rig, they were surrounded by photographers. The daredevil did not like being surrounded. Didn't like people in his face. He told them to back off. They didn't back off fast enough. They were photographers. He swung his cane and hit one of them with force. You can't do that. No, the photographer went down. It was an ugly moment. Yeah, I believe it. There's no way you don't go to jail for that nowadays.

Yeah, this is the real evil though. He's showing them who he is. This is exactly who he is, yeah. And Hamilton said Knievel had different canes. This one was really just a lead pipe. It could do some damage. Oh my God, this is his Salter. Yeah, yeah. This is his Crowd Clear.

There had been nothing, there had been a thing too at the Astrodome where he'd use that cane on somebody. It wasn't nice to see. So this is multiple times in a month long period that he's beating strangers with a lead cane and nothing. There's no consequences for this. Like why wouldn't this guy think he could do whatever he wants? Cause there's never any consequences. Yeah. You tend to behave the way the lessons you learn and, uh,

nothing. Nobody stops you from beating up cameramen with red pipe. Sean Penn doesn't do that still because he got fucking arrested for it in 1986 or whatever. That was what would happen. So weird. So, Evil deemed the conditions right for the jump and Hamilton noticed that both the takeoff ramp and the landing ramp seemed off center, not where they were supposed to be. Knievel said that wasn't a problem.

He's fine, it's good. And so he jumped, drunk with his right hand taped to the handlebars, he flawlessly cleared 18 Dodge Colts and one Dodge Van, not a Volkswagen. Dodge Colt, oh, piece of shit. And so it doesn't matter if he lands on that. To set another one of his world records. This one would remain for 27 years

until it was broken by daredevil Bubba Blackwell, who cleared 20 cars on a Harley XR750 on April 26, 1998 in Massachusetts. Other riders have jumped farther and jumped more cars, but not on that kind of bike. No. Saying he's the only guy to be cars, but not on that kind of bike Saying he's the only guy to be able to do it on that equipment like anybody doing these jumps now if you said here Drive a fucking a Harley a 70s Harley fucking road bike. They go. What are you out of your mind? I'm not jumping

I'll pay anybody Good luck 2024 Road King jump it. I dare you. Good luck, yeah. That's what I mean, wow. That's gonna hurt when you come down, man. But even Robbie was jumping a 500 Honda, a dirt bike. Yeah, he wasn't an idiot. Because you don't, yeah, because that's what you jump. Something with long travel that's supposed to be jumped. It's something light. These shit, you're not supposed to jump.

No, absolutely, they're not supposed to leave the ground. Tires on the ground. A dirt bike's probably 350 pounds pounds where a Harley minimum is 900 pounds Yes, things are heavy even if you strip some shit off of it because they said they got it down to like 700 pounds That's still it's huge You you know you're this guy's a hundred eighty hundred ninety pounds flying through the air this thing weighs More than three times as much as you and you're trying to propel both of you through the air. It's ridiculous. Still two dirt bikes with no suspension.

Yeah, it's crazy. He said Hamilton and the crew were relieved. They hadn't known what to expect. They'd just been ready for any result on the jump and they would have been able to adjust because basically they were going to film the scene where they after the jump, they cut to Hamilton being Knievel. So they were waiting till after the jump happened to film that because they didn't know if he'd be in a heap on the ground for the scene or if he'd be sitting you know victoriously atop his motorcycle so they had to wait. In a heap or on a bike? That's it. So Hamilton said I'd seen him get splattered once in Sacramento so I knew what happened in that situation. It was a curious thing. He was hurt and everyone was rushing around and he looked up at

me and winked like he was playing a game on everyone else. I couldn't figure that out. He said, I'm alright. This part I'm used to. So the filming in Butte took place a month later. Ten days of shots of Hamilton slash Knievel kidnapping Sue Lyon slash Linda racing around the richest hill on earth police in pursuit robbing stores causing general mayhem Locals were hired as extras some with speaking parts the director was Marvin Chomsky He said Knievel made suggestions, but mostly quiet suggestions This is fucking great. This is what a crazy shit evil is the director said the one thing He wanted to do was blow up City Hall for a robbery scene.

The actual town City Hall. We need to destroy that. And I told him we couldn't blow up the City Hall. This was a movie. We're not allowed. We can make a replica, man. None of us need to do that one. City Hall.

He said he could get some dynamite no evils like I didn't say are you gonna get permission to blow it up I said we should blow it up that's what I literally that's what he was saying he wasn't saying that would be good like you know let's get permits and I'll talk to the right people it was literally if I get some dynamite let's blow it up that'll look cool city hall so this guy said he said he could get some dynamite. He got some dynamite. He brought he said look I got you dynamite I told you and he said I told him we couldn't blow up the City Hall. We can't do that I told you I'd hold up my end of the bargain and I did I did it's like yeah

You might not get arrested all the time, but I'll go to prison if I blow up City Hall not okay So Hamilton rode the bike to the top of various ramps during the movie and part of the filming He stopped before the takeoff point looked at the distance to the other side thought of jumping though He said the thought of jumping the bike was fucking insane. He was like he said no way I'd do that He said say what you want about Knievel, you never could question his balls. You needed big balls to do what he did. Yeah, he wasn't doing that shit. So 1971, July 14th, 1971, Evil Knievel, the movie, comes out.

I'll show you the poster, looks pretty fucking cool if you're Evil Knievel. Yeah, it's actually called Evil Knievel. It's called Evil Knievel, and this is what makes him reallyvel. Yeah, it's actually called Evil Knievel. It's called Evil Knievel and that's this is what makes him really famous. Yeah. He was famous before but this is your name on every marquee in every fucking town in America. Every single, every time people open the newspaper, look at the movies. You don't even have to go. Nope. Nope. That's brilliant. And it's not, you know, this is a movie about me.

It's called Evil Knievel. So it's just an ad for him, which is crazy. And it's only got a 5.2 rating on IMDB out of 10. Not the best here. So it stars George Hamilton. Who else is it? Is there anybody you would recognize? Eh, a bunch of older people.

These are, yeah, nobody you'd really know here. Bunch of geezers. Bunch of geezers. So the movie opened on July 14th, 1971 with a premiere at Grumman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. It's a big deal. Milius, the screenwriter, remember the one that evil, or George Hamilton had all those curls

that he wasn't allowed to touch until he was done, went into a limo that was behind George Hamilton's limo. Hamilton was dressed in character in the white leathers. A block from the theater, the limo stopped. Hamilton stepped out, put on his helmet, jumped into a way, jumped onto a waiting motorcycle. He rode the rest of the way on the bike straight down the red carpet and onto a ramp. When he stopped, he was surrounded by people mobbed by fans who wanted to shake his hand and touch him and be close. This was different for him. The character trumped the actor. The screenwriter said, George wasn't George Hamilton anymore. He was Evil Knievel. That was

the reaction. You could see that he loved it. The attention. This was red meat for him. This was the red meat on his bones. It was the same for Evil. He said George and Evil were very well suited for each other. They were a couple of carny hustlers. George is just of the Hollywood variety. That's all. A little slicker maybe, but not any less full of shit. They said Knievel was in New York between his stops at Madison Square Garden and the Lancaster Speedway in Buffalo.

He pumped the movie as he went from interview to interview. Quote, George Hamilton plays me in the movie, but all the jumping stunts I do. They've got no stuntmen to double for me, and they never will get anyone to do so. The reviews? Not so wonderful. No? Yeah, no. Chicago Tribune, at the bottom of the pile here gave the offering one star

They called it drivel And said this is the most dismissive sentence of all time the slow dull treatment of one kook's life a Boring story of an irrelevant person is what they said. That is... A lunatic. Wow. The Washington Post said, in order to get the approximately four minutes of poorly photographed jump footage, consider what you have to sit through.

84 minutes of George Hamilton trying to change his image by riding a motorcycle. That is just brutal. This is the movie of a man trying to change your opinion of an actor trying to change your opinion of him. He saw this guy and went, that's the guy I want people to think I am, not this fucking uppity Hollywood guy. Yeah, this Hollywood highfalutin, cappuccino sip in.

Beverly Hills pool guy. Said on top of acting out the neurosis and immature self-centered activities of Knievel. The Miami News liked it. They said the film really is an attempt to characterize a real-life folk hero and the subject is fascinating enough to pull it off. A newspaper in Missouri called the story a most amusing mixture of snippy arrogance and snappy humor.

But the film grossed $2,052,227 in the first 21 days of distribution, first three weeks, which it was only made for 750 grand, so it's already made a profit three weeks in. It would wind up grossing somewhere around 15 million dollars in total. Wow. On 750, that's a killer.

You just made that studio's year. That's a winner. The message Hamilton wanted to send about the American mind, particularly the peculiar insanity of paying attention to something as peculiar and insane as motorcycle jumping largely was missed Yeah, there was no like big like all that's deep man That's what he thought he was doing He thought it was like people are gonna look at this is like a mirror to the American culture

And they were like that guy jumped a motorcycle because it's a movie. They don't care. I wish there was more fireworks Yeah, that's one of those. They only say, what is it, who the fuck said it? Never, no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. That's a fucking quote from like 1890s or something and it's the most relevant fucking quote in the history of the world.

Doug Stanhope says, before you give the power to the people, meet the people. The people are idiots. The people are, yeah, look around. You're all idiots. That's what he said. Yeah. The people are dumb.

Oh man. So they said that, so largely missed. The way he'd been typecast in the public mind was too much to overcome. People mostly focused on whether or not Hamilton should have played Knievel, and more often than not, the verdict was that he was too good looking, too refined

to be a motorcycle daredevil. So it didn't even work in changing his image. The only person this did anything for was the producer who made the money, and Evil Knievel who got the fame, that was it. They said for everyone involved except, poor George, yeah, George. But then later on he leaned into it

and that's all he was playing was a hi, I'm the father-in-law, I'm overly tanned and wealthy. Yeah, that's it. He just said fuck it, that's what I am. Does so little work, even in his dress clothes he's wearing white. Dude, you know it, yeah. No grease is touching him at all.

So they said for everyone involved except Knievel it turned out to be another payday, another project, another number of days at the office. New projects awaited turned the page. For Knievel the effects of the movie were spectacular. He did not share in the profits which bothered him. They just paid him for his life story. But money arrived from other directions. This was the final big bounce off the publicity springboard

he had discovered as he rolled across the parking lot at Caesar's Palace. His name was wallpapered across America now, splashed on marquees found in the movie listings in every small town, mentioned in coffee shops every morning. True to form, he embraced his good fortune and doubled and tripled the bet.

The clothes became flashier. The cars, and he has always been a sucker for the top end cars, moving from rolls to rolls, Lincoln Mark III to Lincoln Mark III, making deals for cars even when he couldn't pay the rent. Now became a never ending string of impulse purchases. Ferraris and Maseratis. He wants that car. dude just it's fast anything fast a good old Cadillac El Dorado every now and then cars that's

always gonna be good by the way I saw it the 57 Cadillac had a mini bar in the glove compartment bottle holders and metal shot glasses that were magnetically stuck to the door. Yeah, it's fucking awesome. That's good shit. He said, cars bought and discarded on a speculative whim. He always liked golf ever since his grandfather bought him a set of Wilson irons, but now he was able to attack the sport, bet on it, invent elaborate propositions.

He always had liked women and a good night out on the town. Well, the nights became longer and far more expensive. The money that he had now went through his hands as if it were on fire. He took that image that John Milius had typed for him out of control flamboyance, the eat drink merriment, and not only lived up to it, but expanded it. Life imitated art this time. Yeah, he was playing his character from the movie. Not the other way around.

He was not the small con character George Hamilton had met the first day at Universal Studios. Evil Knievel was on to the big con now. Hamilton said the movie definitely changed his life. He would never acknowledge that but it did. It's one of those cases I think where if you give credit somewhere else, you feel it diminishes what you've done. Do you know what I mean? He said, you like to think that you've done everything yourself. He loved the idea of the movie in the beginning, then acted like it was signing an autograph or

something, like just another thing. It wasn't just another thing, it changed his life. It's true. The actor and Daredevil never had anything to do with each other once the movie ran its course. The Daredevil grew to call the actor, quote, kind of a pussy in discussions. Okay. Indeed, he always downplayed the movie.

He called the actor my stand-in, and the actor was not afraid to use the word crazy when he talked about daredevils So not too fucking bad. Honestly, so he did the movie though did great for everybody I mean, that's just no money for him, but no money for him, but it's all now. It's his price is higher Oh, he did it for exposure. He did it work. Oh, you're move and it paid off for him. It fucking paid off So here's a story here from the book. Nothing showed Knievel's rise to a new level of entertainment notoriety better than his trip to New York to play four nights at Madison square garden between

July 8th and 11th, 1971. That's huge. Four nights. Is he fucking Billy Joel or something? That's like, Oh, that's big. He was in the most famous arena in America in the biggest city in America on display for the most jaded spectators in America. He was a long way from Butte and Moses Lake. Maybe he shared the bill with Jack Coachman's hell drivers and maybe they inherited the dirt on the garden floor and the flies in the garden balcony from the rodeo

which had just left town. But New York was New York. Oh, that's good, it smells like shit in here. Oh Knievel had brought Linda and the three kids with him. Ray Gunn had driven the big rig straight down Broadway. This is the big time. Good luck asshole. Wow. Evil Knievel is twice the man you or I am. This is from a writer here. He makes his living ripping off death while we're trying to live without being ripped off.

Evil is a man, he takes no shit from anyone, he fears nothing. For a dollar, he'll jump over your hell while you cringe from your seat." That, uh, yeah, they didn't describe daredevils that way in the rest of the country, they did in the village voice, which culturally is a big deal. If Hollywood was where dreams were made, the movie that had invented this story, this was where the non-fiction version was typed out. This is where the words were shipped to the provinces. He was a gossip item. They said, how does your wife feel about you risking your life? Syndicated columnist, Earl Wilson asked this question. His answer, quote, who the hell cares? That's, and there's no pause.

What does your wife think about this? Who the hell cares? He said, he said, I wasn't put here to be the slave to any woman. Oh man, he was a self-contained business. He said quote, I make half a million dollars a year, except it depends on the year. Last year I didn't do too well

because I broke my back twice, and after that I got hit by a car while I was on a bike, so that was a bad year. So then the real story is he hit a car while on a bike. He has said he was standing there and a car hit him when someone had a heart attack, and then he said he's on a bike and a car hit him, which is both not true.

He has a whole bunch of stuff that maybe he hadn't even considered, or perhaps never phrased exactly the same way. This one writer said, quote, Knievel is a lean, handsome man with curly hair, a hard-looking exterior, a quick temper, a good deal of humor, perception and charm. Wrote him like he's a cowboy, basically. So, 1971, the Tucson Daily Citizen.

Yeah. Yeah, they say for the past 24 hours, give or take a drink or two, For the past 24 hours, give or take a drink or two, Knievel has been in Tucson making waves and negotiating with Tucson dragway owner Bob Huff for a leap here. Okay, that's great. Knievel doesn't live like people. He started yesterday in Butte, Montana around sunrise and finished it in Tucson long after the sun had set. In between, all systems were go, there were no timeouts.

But what else would you expect from a man who intends to jump a motorcycle over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho? Jesus Christ, man. So he keeps talking about that. He then says, quote, I'm a con man. Yeah, yes, that's true. This is what drives you, if you go, I'm a con man,

people go, I like that con man people go I like that He's honest about that. No, he told the truth, but he's gonna con you in the next breath He just told you that and they don't fucking care people are so fucking stupid when they think they're smart. That's the problem. Oh Jesus, what is that chart? There's a goddamn chart. Okay, and I can't remember Dunning that chart. There's a goddamn chart, okay, and I can't remember dunning something chart where it's a, it's a, it's a real thing that shows when you first learn information, your confidence level and what you know about it is extremely high. When you know a little, you know, 1% of something, but your confidence is higher than, and then they show when you

learn a little more, your confidence drops to zero, because you realize that you didn't know shit when you thought, you just didn't know enough to know you didn't know anything. And then as you really learn it, your confidence rises slower and slower and slower, but never gets to the point that you had

when you first learned two things and didn't know shit else about it. Does depression rise also because your opinion is changing? I think it does, yeah. As you learn things you're like, ah, shit. That too, yeah. Fuck, man. But that's, people don't, that's the problem, is people go, well he said he's a con man

so then I know everything about him so I trust him. Thank God he told the truth. Man, he said I might be the greatest. It's an open book, James. It's an open book, the man just tells the truth, he tells it like it is, he said I might be the greatest. It's an open book, James. It's an open book. The man just tells the truth. He tells it like it is. That's all it is.

Yeah. He says I might be the greatest con man ever. It's possible. But when the front wheel of that motorcycle hits the white line and I'm headed for the ramp at 90 miles an hour, the con is gone. That's also true. Everything else is bullshit, but on there,

that's the real shit. He said I figure the dune still owes me 50 bucks for that jump by the time I quit bouncing I was on their property and I charge at least that much for personal appearances. That's the Caesars one Because he went through it Yeah, so all of these things man. He's all fucked up. He's there. I'm a con man. Oh, okay Thank God you told us. Jesus Christ. They said if you want to plan a vacation to see the Snake River jump, join the party. He said I'm going to spend a million dollars in Butte on a party before that jump. That's

what he claims. He's going to have a million dollar party in Butte. Party. In the early seventies a million dollars. I mean that's's got it that takes cocaine to have a man that takes cocaine it takes whatever fucking did he was doing Yeah, you know take slaves a lot. It's crazy Yeah, he said I'm gonna get an armored truck to follow me around with a million dollars in it He said already there's guys up there trying to buy all the bars so they can be in on the action That's that's not true He said, already there's guys up there trying to buy all the bars so they can be in on the action. That's not true. They said, when will the party be a week before the jump? And he said, well, maybe we better make it two weeks.

I got to sober up. For the jump. Yeah, it's like two weeks to sober up. I love this. Just just this headline. Tucson Daily Citizen in 1972. I compete against death. That's the headline. Yeah, that's fucking hilarious

I what it's true also. He said I'm not a performer. I'm not an entertainer. I compete with death But at least I never have to worry about a losing streak one loss is all I get Jesus he except for you lose twice Yeah, except he's constantly crashing Yeah, that's that's a loss isn't it? I would that's a win think so He's by the way, he's claiming that he bought that property again at the Snake River Canyon, which I'm not sure I don't think he has he said I bought it from a farmer who probably thought I was gonna graze horses up there Later, he saw a ramp 67 feet high and 430 feet long. I guess he figured it was

one heck of a loading chute. Again these people can't look at Google Earth and see that that doesn't exist. He said my motorcycle for that jump is being built now. It's a steam turbine capable of 350 miles an hour in about 8 seconds. Jesus when I get over the canyon there will be a buzzer in my helmet that will tell me when to eject. If I black out from the G-Force, they can eject me from the ground by radio signal. So they're going to hit the button, eject, and then they'll come out like three Mississippi.

If you don't eject, then they do it for you? And then they do it for you. And then you're going to just, your corpse is going to float to the ground. Your limp fucking force knocked out evil will just float to the plump on the ground and that'll be that will come collect him at some point. Hopefully the motorcycle doesn't land on him. So he said plans now are that we test the bike either at Daytona or at the salt flats in Utah.

I'd like to make the jump Labor Day one way way or another, it will be a one-shot deal." He said, all the people involved are first-rate. They've built missiles. They've built toy rockets. They've built missiles. They build hobby rockets for high school kids. He calls them missiles. Missiles. Many of the guidance systems used in our spacecraft No, dog that is a that is a parachute that opens as soon as the engine burns out Yeah, they know how to make a rocket with a parachute. That's what they figured out. That's it And I don't know I think that that parachute pops out because the last bit of the engine shoots that direction Yeah, I mean, yeah, it has a little bit of a pop at the end and that the engine shoots that direction. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It has a little bit of a pop at the end

and that's what opens that chute. But if it doesn't have that pop or it misfires, then it just comes down like a missile. It explodes and just pop, blows it into five pieces. He said, I figure if they can get a man to the moon, they can get me across that canyon, which is what he said about the Grand Canyon.

I'm not as concerned as you might think. Okay, well I don't think. That seems a little bit fucking nuts though, yeah. He, wow, he said Jack Stroh hits his buddy there. They said, wow, Jack Stroh is nervous over this practice session. And they said, for Jack Stroh the answer is a speech, hell yes, let me tell you something about Jack Stroh,

says Evil Can Evil. Jack has more guts than any 10 men. He has to be one of the greatest stunt men living. He does one stunt nobody else does, stands in the middle of a race track while you run your car at him at 80 miles an hour, then he jumps up in the air, does a split and the car passes under him.

He's the only man I know that's done it successfully. I've tried it and I didn't do it successfully. Jack made a jump in my place a couple years ago in Phoenix. I was hurt so he jumped. Heck, Jack couldn't even ride a motorcycle then but he jumped. We all ended up in the same hospital. He said, move the ranchero down the ramp. If I get hurt, don't let anybody else touch my helmet. Don't try to get it off get me in the truck to the hospital tell the doctor to x-ray me before he takes the helmet off if my neck is broken anybody tries to get that helmet off they're

gonna kill me so that's what he's saying so yeah that's that's his instructions his wife says quote or no they ask him there there is a mrs. Knievel here she will fly to see the jump and he says it's a hard life for a woman to watch someone you care about doing what I do has got to be difficult she's asked me to quit several times but I don't feel that a man was put on this earth to satisfy the whims of a woman the whims of a woman he's she's two children that she's going to have to raise alone if you kill yourself. Like it's a whip.

Yeah. Like she told you to switch from wild turkey to another brand or some shit. Like what the hell? A woman's fears for security, the house with the mortgage to school down the block and hold a man back. He never dares, never takes the big step, makes the mark he could make because the woman's fears hold him back. I've never been able to live that way. Yeah. Also the woman's fears and the woman's, a lot of times women keep men

from doing dumb shit. Anybody out there with like a wife that you're married to and happy to she's kept you from doing something dumb at some point in your life where you're like, you know, oh yeah, that was probably a good call on that one. So he said, I believe a man should find something that he can do and stick with it. Maybe he can't be the best, but at least he can be the best he's capable of being. I believe that I'm the best at what I do. As long as people jump motorcycles, there will be records. Those records are going to be mine until I'm dead or I quit.

I've been called a con man. You said you are a con, by you. So proclaimed, dog. What are you talking about? And maybe I'm the best con man alive. That's what he says, but then he does his standard fucking, when I get that bike heading for that ramp, the con's over. That's his standard fucking, when I get that bike heading for that ramp, the cons over. That's right.

Um, Chicago Tribune here. He said, I've never had a press agent. He said, I've never needed one myself. Yeah. Yeah. Of all the things that the motorcycle daredevil jumper told me, that is the one I find most believable. This writer says, which is funny.

Knievel needs a shill about as much as Joe Namath needs an ego boost. As, because this is 1972. As for the rest, I don't know how much of what Knievel told me is true. What's more, I don't even care. He says, for instance, that he's been a lot of things, including a copper miner, an insurance salesman, a safecracker, and a con man. He has made, by his estimate, three $3.5 million in the last six years so he's no longer to practice, so he no longer has to practice any of the first

three occupations. As for the latter, well, it all began, he says, six years ago where he appeared at a thrill show. They go through his bullshit here and yeah, so they go through everything and he says, he's not sure how many jumps he'll make. He said, all I know is I'm making one Friday. If I survive that, I'll make two more of this the rest of the weekend.

This guy says, now do you see why he doesn't need a press agent? Yeah, when you're- He's doing great. When your gig is, hey, I might splatter myself to death right here, people are gonna watch that. You don't really need a press person telling them why they need to see it. Not a lot of press is going to improve that.

Yo, no shit. This is wild to say about your wife in the Chicago Tribune. This woman, he cheats on her right in front of her. Like we said, he had a go-go dancer fucking him in the room while she was sitting in a chair outside the hospital room. He talks about, it's crazy. He says in this, they talk about the Chicago Tribune, February 11th, 1972, he still has the same wife he married 11 years ago, he notes, quite, quote, she was kind of dumb. His wife?

His wife, she was kind of dumb. I had to kidnap her to get her to go with me. Her dad put me in jail. He said, but if I was the father and had a daughter and Evil Knievel was after her, I'd put that bastard in jail too. She was kind of dumb. Holy shit.

So Evil Knievel is, he jumps over 19 cars here. And he calls that a world record, even though I think he's done it before. But she was dumb. But she was dumb, yeah. Well, these people are dumb for believing him, I think is what it is. November 27th, 1972, motorcycle ace zooms over cars.

This is another, I just love the headlines. He says, I got it in my blood. The risk yeah Yeah, I got it in my blood hepatitis. I got it from a bad transplant bad transfusion. It was rough Got it all over the place here, so yeah, he said I used to ride He talks about his riding motorcycle races He said I used to ride so fast that they put me in the back row and I'd still win That's not true you didn't you never know never won shit, but he has fucking trophies made that is hilarious

I wonder if he had the like retrofitted dates on them. Yeah, and the little plaques. I bet he did That's the fucked up part part Yeah, just make them up. So he said I've jumped a bike farther than anyone on earth 150 feet. That's the record That's right. You can do it He said if you make a mistake if you say you're jumping 12 cars But you land short and crash into the 10th car you end up in the hospital Yeah, no shit, yeah, no shit and then they talk about the movie. He said, it's called Evil Knievel. It's based on the incidents in my life. Some things are very, very true and others are fictionalized a bit to protect the guilty. George Hamilton plays

me in the movie, but all the jumping stunts I do, obviously. This is fucking interesting right under this, by the way. It's pretty funny to have it right under him because he's the horniest guy ever. Dangerous sex offenders get hormone aid. What is this? It's from Australia. Dangerous young sex offenders are being given injections of a female hormone to reduce sex drive,

a medical official says. These bitches are frigid as hell. Whatever they've got, let's give it to the guys. Maybe they'll still be horny, but they'll be like less rapey, maybe, I don't know. Dr. Lionel. Maybe they'll let somebody else make the first move. Maybe, yeah, maybe that'll work, and then it's on.

Psychiatrist superintendent of the Melbourne Children's Hospital, Children's Court Clinic said the treatment is used in cases where the only alternative is indefinite confinement. During the treatment, the patients remain at large in the community. The youths are injected every two weeks with a hormone estrogen, obviously,

but the treatment is temporary and completely reversible. Said most offenders who are dangerous child assaulters settle down by adulthood. What the fuck are you talking? who are dangerous child assaulters settle down by adulthood. What? What the fuck are you talking? Wow, we found out the exact opposite is actually true. He's talking about teenage child molesters. Yeah.

They fucking settle down by adulthood. Don't worry, don't worry, they'll age out of it. Wow, that is horrifyingly dangerous. So, now we'll talk about the toy. We'll get into that, okay? Now the toy, he's approached, he did nothing. This wasn't his idea or anything. He's a-

Mattel? This is, no, no, Ideal makes the toy, but that's not who he deals with. He deals with Marvin Glass and Associates. The way this toy is made is there was research and development and you come up with an idea, make a prototype, you take it to the toy cons that they have where everyone brings their new ideas,

like the nap-tea thing for the network TVs and all that shit. Same shit, and then you try to find a manufacturer who wants to buy that idea from you and make it and share profits with you. So these people came up with the Evil Knievel toy. Yes. And they said, okay, we can do this. Now the one guy who runs this joint, by the way,

this toy company, he's a fuckin' trip. He lives near Hugh Hefner. They did a spread about his house in 1970, calling it like the ultimate ultimate they called it swinging in suburbia. And he has an eight person hot tub and like all these, all these weird 70s, jizz covered things, like things that are, you go, Oh God, just pubes and jizz everywhere he had all that shit he was like this weird swinging playboy type of guy and but he made toys which is the weirdest profession to have that in here so he he's the guy they came up with

some toys you would recognize number one operation the game which, which I think was still around. That's from the 60s he invented that shit. Another thing they came up with is, do you know the standard cliche like joke shop chattering teeth? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are his. Wow. Chattering teeth.

The ones that, that, Pssst, you wind them up and they chatter. Yeah, yeah, I mean, out of our dentist office. Every one of them, that's, he invented that. That's his gig. As a novelty thing. That's a great gag. Fuck, it's still being sold. He invented it in the 40s.

Wow. Late 40s, early 50s or some shit came up with that. I think those were at the magic shop at Disneyland. Yup, they absolutely were. That Steve Martin used to sell. I think he said that was his favorite toy to sell. They absolutely are there every like joke shop Or magic shot every one of them has it's a standard

It's the fake glasses and mustache of the of that Eventually, they end up putting feet on them and they would like jump. Yeah, not as fun. Not as fun No, no, it's better when they're all out of control They're all nuts. Yeah, so this guy's a Interesting guy they talk about in the book too. It's pretty cool. They talk about kind of the hits and misses of the toy companies and toy company, what things they made that worked and then other ones that were shitty. And it's kind of interesting that they say basically they 50,000 new toys come to

that conference thing every year and they make about 2000 out of 50,000 new toys come to that conference thing every year, and they make about 2,000 out of 50,000, and then about 200 of those toys are ever profitable. So every year there's 50,000 new ideas and about 200 of those will ever make a dollar. Is that right? Yeah. That's gotta be based on what they'll market and what they won't, because you've gotta believe

that out of that many toys, there's much better ideas. You figure if 48,000 ideas were rejected, somewhere in those 48,000 ideas are ones that would have worked, obviously, yeah. But it's such a hit and miss thing with toys. Like, the reason why the evil-knevel cycle ended up, they ended up working is because they already had the technology of how to do it they had this because you spin this thing and it gets all the way out and then it's all cranked up and then it

shoots off and it's got to have some sort of a digit inside you know I mean yeah yeah that too it's it's on its own little thing at the worth evil Knievel it's kind of that little like kickstand thing okay so they what they did was they had a truck that they invented that for this It sits on its own little thing, or evil can evil, it's kind of on that little kickstand thing. So what they did was they had a truck that they invented that for, this toy company, and the truck didn't work at all. It sold like shit.

It was like in the middle of all these, as a bunch of people were releasing truck toys and it just got lost in the mix. So they were like, we have this technology to make a fucking- Get lost in the Tonka Avalanche man that yeah, that's awesome They were fucking great metal and awesome So they said what if we took that wheel and we made it one wheel and we put on the back of a fucking motorcycle

Yeah, and did it we could kids could crank it up I'm gonna shoot him off on this motherfucker and have it jump 13 Tonkas. That's right So what they did the first year and and we'll talk, get into it, but the first year they just made the Evel Knievel doll, just a little figure, because they didn't have, the bike wasn't made yet. They were still putting it together, but they could make a little figure pretty quickly.

So little figure, suit, helmet that went over his head, cape, and a cane, always a cane too. Oh, the cane came with it. Came with him always. What the fuck? He always had came with him always cuz I was He always had it with him and every interview that was his calling card was that cane So the cane was there too So you could beat a photographer also the kids want to have the full evil can evil play experience

And that's because his leg hurts because his leg hurts and he's violent so it works out really well So and then they had the different outfits and shit like that. And then in 73, that's when they released the Evil Knievel stunt cycle. And it was the best selling Christmas toy for like three years in a row. Really? The first year they made them,

they only sold a certain amount because they said that's all we could make. We couldn't make enough. They said we were getting calls and they said we could have sold two million of them but we couldn't make two million really could make half a million but it was the most you know impressive toy and if you talk to anybody these are people like before my you know what I mean like talk to people ten years older than us they will all be like oh my god that's the greatest toy that's the greatest

toy that's ever fucking had holy shit and they'll tell you a story about how they broke a window or shot it through their grandmother's china cabinet or did something that got them in a lot of trouble because they fired evil Keneval off of it. The technology for that toy is essentially the same as, remember when you would pull the cars back and let them go? Same thing. It's the same type of thing. Just tension. That engine is not in the evil Knievel,

it's in the piece that winds them up. Exactly, so it's in the bike. That way when he flies off and lands, he can fly off the bike too, and it'll be like the real evil Knievel experience. Because that was it. Because you'd build big ramps and then try to jump shit. Because it came with ramps too. You could buy ramps and you try to jump shit. Yeah. So they released several various models relating to his stunt show.

They had a Robbie Knievel doll too that they released at the scramble van. If you look it up, look up Evil Knievel toys. There's a whole, it's like GI Joe or fucking Star Wars or something. There's tons of them. The Scramble. The original ones are still very expensive. They're expensive, yeah. Those toys are like collector's items.

People love those things. But I mean there was millions of them made so you could probably get them. Doesn't even look like it. No, no these Canyon sky cycle a dragster a stunt car even though when the fuck was he doing car shit cars Yeah, and the evil Knievel the stunt world they called it Oh, you get everything a chopper motorcycle a trail but bike also a female counterpart called Derry Daring.

She does the same things, but she's dumb. She's dumber though. That's the only difference. She's dumber and can't tell him what to do. So that is fucking amazing. And wow. There's the stunt car. It looked kind of like a, it's like, dude, it looks like a fucking cartoon.

It's stupid. Yeah, they're stupid, some of those. It looks like a top fuel dragster. It's like big fat back tires, small little front tires, and it's a one-seater. And I don't know what the fuck he did with this. That's what I mean, the bike is the thing. You needed the bike.

That's what it was all about. The rest of it was just, eh, we can set something new. The rest is just him trying to continue one-upping what he does, and you just can't do it. Yeah, it's fucking, it's impossible. He actually did ride in a Top Fuel dragster, James, an Evil Knievel Top Fuel dragster. Interesting.

Here's something that I'd love to know what this is worth here. In 1977, way out of our timeline here, Bally marketed its Evil Knievel pinball machine as the first fully electronic commercial game. It's elsewhere been described as one of the last of the classic pre-digital games, because both the electromechanical

and solid state versions were produced. The electromechanical version is extremely rare with only 155 made. Imagine what those are worth right now. Wow. I don't even know if we could look that up and find out if that would even be wonderful. You can type in electro-magnetic. I mean, they've got Pinball Game. There it is, Pinside. Wow. Evel Knievel pinball game. E-M 1977, $10,000, $11,000. It's actually less than I thought. Yeah.

Jesus, we should raise that for the studio. We should fucking. It says 9,500 to 10,900. So anywhere in between. Holy shit. That doesn't even have one for sale. It's just the valuation of it. Oh. On pinside.com. So that's a pinball game. It's just the valuation of it on pinside.com

So that's that it could be 50 grand. Yeah It's worth whatever somebody is selling it for sets the price if there's two available in the world Whatever they want to sell it for is what it's worth Jesus Christ in the 70s he amf Christ in the 70s he AMF bicycles partnered with him to release a series of bicycles marketed with TV ads and everything else so He was that's Harley Davidson. Yeah. Yeah, he was the hero. I mean think about he's on TV all the time He's all these toys and it's like the kids fucking loved him Which is interesting here. They also the the last item marketed by Ideal Toys

before it was discontinued was the distribution of the Knievel toys was the Stratocycle based on the film Viva Knievel, which we'll I think talk about our next episode. The terrible film. You should check it out before next week, Jimmy. It's on Amazon Prime. Look up Viva Knievel.

It's with the Rift Rack, so they make fun of it. It's pretty Amazon Prime. Look up Viva Knievel. It's with the Rift Track, so they make fun of it. It's pretty goddamn funny. And it's just hilarious. Watching him act is so fucking funny. The opening scene is him busting into this like fucking orphanage at two in the morning. For what? That's illegal. And the nuns are like, what are you evil? You can't be here. It's two in the morning He's like I get the hell out of here He's like drunk and he should fucking bust into the room where all the kids are sleeping in their little orphan cots And he's like hey kids I brought you some toys, and he's just got a box. He's just giving kids the evil kid he's Advertising it's the strata cycle from the fuck that they're average that they made because of the movie

So he's he's plugging his shit, and it's two in the morning and like and he takes a kid with him. It's crazy We'll talk about dude The amount of just taking kids places without any permission is wild in this movie So yeah, that's how that goes. This is from the book Quote hold your breath kids a full-page ad on the back cover of Marvel Comics proclaimed, for your own evil Knievel, more daring than evil himself. Make him leap to fame in his stupendous stunt cycle. He'll do wheelies, he'll do jumps, he powers away on his gyro driven super bike.

Stunts and tricks you wouldn't believe. Yeah. Yeah. Says jumps your set of encyclopedia volumes A through W. Another ad said over a cartoon rendering of that very jump, sensational leaps over your neighborhood ditch. So the success of the Christmas 73 toy where the bike sold a shitload, they said everybody was clamoring for the toy. It opened up endless string of possibilities for 74, 75.

Ideal would expand the line and expand again. The company would put out, like we said, the Scramble Van Chopper Bike GT Cycle, the Stunt and Crash Car Play Set, the Dragster, the Canyon Rig, the CB Van, the Sidewinder, the Stratocycle, the Trail Bike, the Funny car, the super jet cycle, the sky cycle, the stunt stadium, the fast tracker, the road and trail playset, the stunt world playset, the skull canyon playset, and the stunt game and a board game. So he is, he's just a fucking toy salesman. That's it. Yeah But the thing is he doesn't ever fuck with it, too He doesn't ever have to do anything with the toys

All he has to do is go about his life and that sells the toys So he doesn't have to do like, you know Promotional things or like he doesn't have to go on like a talk show to talk about his toy He just jumps and they go that's that's the toy. There you go So that's a lot of shit. Evil Knievel would be at the center of each of these products his name and picture across the top with the new signature number one associated

with the Harley Davidson somewhere on the box. He was a personal- Harley's still selling that number and capitalizing on it. I see that, yeah. That logo is there everywhere. Half their shirts are, it's all over the place. They said he was a personal friend of the kids who owned the toy they not only

Would put him into perilous situations and he would survive they would tuck him into bed at night man and plastic product were intertwined Evil Knievel lived in Butte or Hollywood or wherever he lived He also lived in the toy chest in the corner of every bedroom More than 30 years later almost 40 the toy would still make these grown kids, now with their own family, smile. They would type out comments for Feeling Retro, a website for memories of the 60s and 70s. And here's some. I don't know when this book was written.

I think 2010ish. They said, quote, I used to race it from our living room to the kitchen. Then I would yell, hey, mom, he broke every bone in his body. To this day, I tell everyone that that was one of my favorite toys. I remember back when I was five years old and living in Fort Walton, Florida, this guy says I was playing with my evil Knievel and having him jump a ramp in the front hallway of our condo and having the front door as my stop. Hey, like hay bales, he said. Well, after many successful jumps, I wound him up for one last jump. Off he goes, and that very moment my father came in

and opened the front door, and evil flew right out of the door and fell four stories to the parking lot below. Just like the real evil. One guy said, I wound it up to full speed and then tapped the spinning wheel on the back of my best mate's head. Oh my God, no. Oh, you're, you know exactly where this is going.

Oh my God, this poor fucking guy. Oh God. He said, seemed like a great thing to do as a nine year old. The effect was immediate. My mate was almost scalped as reams of his 70s style haircut were dragged into the mechanism. Holy fuck. It's like a lathe at that point. Not able to remove the bike from my bleeding and screaming mate, he ran home where his mother completed the job and gave him a bald spot 30 years too soon. Holy fuck man.

One guy says, I remember jumping evil over 20 cases of beer at my friend's house, then flipping and smashing the bottom of the window of his mother's china cabinet. Toughest toy ever. One kid said I actually prayed to Jesus for this toy. Well I'm here to tell you that there is indeed a God because on Christmas morning the Red Rider dual action carbon firing BB gun of our generation showed up sure as thunder under our tree upon my 5 a.m. wake up. The memories of this greatest toy, my rosebud, linger with me to this day."

So they talked about when they made this toy, they didn't know about it. They thought because the one guy, one of the marketing guys from the toy company went to the owner of the place and he goes, we should make a toy with this guy. And he said, I don't think so. Because up until, this is going to sound crazy for what we have now, but up until this time, there had been no successful doll sold of a real person. Really? There's no. Everybody, it's a doll of a comic book character.

Of an idea, yeah. Or a thing like that. Not of a real, they said they made a Shirley Temple doll briefly in the 30s and sold OK, but since then, nothing. So they don't make dolls for people. And that's like a rule, because no one, it's too specific. And it's a likeness. And yeah.

And you've got to, yeah. And it's, well, you have to license with comic books and stuff. But one, it's too specific. And it's a likeness, and yeah. And you gotta, yeah, and it's, well you have to license with comic books and stuff, but still it's just too specific and it doesn't sell well. So there's like this, just a general rule that don't make dolls of real people, they don't sell well, period. Meanwhile, it's a stupid outdated rule obviously at this point when these people are on television

all the time. It depends on the person, yeah. Exactly. So they also thought that girl, boys aren't gonna wanna play with dolls. Dolls, right. But one of the guys who worked at the company said, hey listen, we're the people who turned down GI Joe

a few years ago because we said boys won't play with dolls. Boys play with dolls. Look what the fuck happened. So are we gonna make that same mistake again or what and then they said fuck it Let's just do it. That's what ended up happening. So That's uh, yeah, so they said that that we get did he make giant money from this part? Yeah, that's this next thing is exactly about that They said the toy was the final piece of the perpetual dream for Knievel the payoff fortune had joined fame

dream for Knievel, the payoff. Fortune had joined fame. There was never being a public accounting of how much he would make and he always would exaggerate numbers, but Ideal would say, and this is, they have stockholders and shit, Ideal would say that they made, the toy made over $100 million in 70s, in mid 70s money. No, they said, so if he made 10% because I think that's what he had 10% that means he would have made 10 million dollars in the mid 70s which is crazy That's like, you know making 80 million now. It's a shit. Oh, all righty would have been like 20 grand It's yeah, it's not it's not like 40 grand for a far. Yeah

It's not a half million dollar car back then. This could stretch so far. Especially if you buted. But not the way he spends it. Wait till you hear how he spends it. They're talking about him at this one point. He's in Philadelphia. This was after the Madison Square Garden Jump. He's in Philadelphia and the, I guess the toy people,

or some executive went to see him and talk to him. And said he spent the day with him and evil Spent the entire day going from jewelry shop to jewelry shop buying diamonds and jewels and Looking for a special piece for one of the flying Belinda people and that's that's what you can't do You can't do that. You can't MC Hammer the whole thing and just, you know. And a million others. You gotta, you gotta be careful, man.

They said these, so if he would've made 10 million, they said the success of the toy also brought other deals negotiated by Marvin Glass and associates that would bring money from directions Knievel never had imagined. His name would be on bicycles, bedspreads, pinball machines, lunchboxes, candy bars. Name a product, any product, an assortment of products.

Some would sell, some would not. Money would be involved in all of them. Evil had to make $50 million. That's the amount of kids with a fucking Evil Knievel thermos back then in lunchbox. The combo? Fuck you. And then t-shirts too. That was when t-shirtsshirts like that for things started to become real big in marketing and oh my god

They said he was caught in a fat tornado of capitalism that visits very few people in their lives He was in the highest of demand One guy here skip Skip Van Lewin said, quote, I was with them once. Oh, this is the, okay, I'll tell you this. I was with them once drinking. He said there was all these guys in another room. They'd paid $5,000 just to sit down with him to make a presentation. What the fuck? Five grand just to pitch him on something that would involve him That's five thousand dollars just to sit down this guy goes on to say he says they were waiting and we were drinking and he Said fuck it. Let's go play golf

Yeah, he told all those guys they'd have to come back the next day just like that He was so big. I worked with Mike Nesmith at one point. He was in the monkeys. I'd go out with him I said I go out with him. I'd go out with evil There's no comparison in the attention they got evil was ten times as much crazy ten times as much as a monkey Yeah, they were a big deal but they could probably blend in a little more than evil can evil which he's not a blender if If evil doesn't have a jumpsuit on, he could blend. I get it, if he doesn't have all of his shit on, because he's got, even when he doesn't have a jumpsuit,

he's got a giant collar, gold rings, a fucking flashy cane, blonde curly hair, he's acting crazy, being a spectacle. And then the Philadelphia one, that he said, he always liked to let people know he was a big dick The one guy said meeting a swinging dick not an asshole He spent money. He liked to tell you he was a member of the Mile High Club made love in an airplane things like that I never saw him dead drunk or anything, but he was hard to take

I always thought he was abusive we were people that worked hard for him, and he never seemed to appreciate it So that's the kind of guy he was here. I think we'll leave it off with there. Wow, he was such a big deal. We'll start off with a story next week of some crazy outings because now that he's got so much money, you thought he was crazy before. Yeah. Now he's like fucking Bill Murray at the end of fucking Kingpin, where he's like, Big Earn is finally above the law. That's where he is now.

Like, he is a mess. Uh-huh. What do you think? So there you go. What do you think Robbie Knievel was worth at his death? I mean... Not even anything close to evil.

He couldn't have been worth anything, right? Nothing. No. He was just another guy who was doing weird jumping tricks by then He was probably got to be worth whatever was left over from his dad Yeah, which I doubt was anything honestly. I doubt was much couldn't be much So yeah, because I mean evil was he caught lightning in a bottle. He was like

No, that never happened for anybody who's ever touched a motorcycle again, you know, I mean zero charisma Yes, so depressing. He didn't have the shit his dad had he didn't grow up. He's the he's the Kyle Petty Richard is the most boring son of a bitch That's that's what Robbie was the poor bastard He's and that this is all and this isn't like a in racing You can just win and be as boring as you want You still make a shitload of money. This has nothing to do with your skill level He's a, and this is all, and this isn't like a, in racing you can just win and be as boring as you want. You still make a shitload of money.

This has nothing to do with your skill level. It just has to do with who wants to buy tickets to see you. You gotta sell what you're doing. Yeah, this is wrestling or comedy. It has nothing to do with skill level. It has to do with who wants to come see you. That's it, who will pay. Kyle and Eddie are very good at it either.

No, no, there you go. So anyway, there you go everybody. That is Evil Knievel part four. He's rich now, so we've taken you from a broken sort of famous man to now a rich national celebrity. And it's gonna be, the next one's gonna be a crazy episode because I think we'll get into the Snake River Canyon jump and all of his appearances.

I'm gonna play a few talks. Maybe we will. Maybe, you never know. Just like Evil, we may do it next time. It might be part six, we don't know. But we'll definitely, I'll bring some videos here on my laptop and we'll watch some of these videos of him on these talk shows,

because they are, the things he says in public are fucking insane and they're hilarious. So we need to definitely talk about those. So if you like the show, tell everyone about it. Tell everyone to listen to more evil, can evil stuff here and do that for sure. You can get on whatever app you are listening on and give us five stars. That is tremendously helpful. We'd love it if you did that.

You can also head over to shut up and give meder.com and get your tickets for live shows. Tons of them out there, including the 420 virtual live show, which will take place Saturday, April 19th. I'm going to get Jimmy Stone. We're going to dress up in costumes. It's going to be just like a regular live show, except in your fucking living room or wherever you want to watch it in the world that has internet. Can't wait to see you guys. Thank you so much.

And then the regular live shows as well. Get your tickets for Chicago in May. That's the big one that's coming up. Grab that. So do that and that's shutupandgivemurder.com. You may also want to follow on social media at Crime in Sports. You may also, and you should also, subscribe to Patreon.

Patreon.com slash Crime in sports is where you get it. It's not just, hey, I wanna support the show. You do support the show and you do that, but you also get something for it. We're gonna give you way more than your money's worth. Put it that way. You're gonna get hundreds of back episodes of bonus stuff you've never heard before available

immediately upon subscription, and new episodes every other week. One crime in sports and one small-town murder and you get it all $5 a month this week for crime and sports. We're gonna talk about the 2012 Miami Dolphins bullying scandal As new stuff has come out about that and apparently like the one guy's mom was involved in it a lot. Yeah Yeah, his it's weird, dude. Richie? No, no, no, no.

Jonathan Martin, his mom was involved. It's a weird ass thing, we'll talk about that. Then for Small Town Murder, it is the Amazon review killer who, dude, what he did was crazy as far as the murders and keeping women hostage for months and all this type of shit. But on top of that, the products he used, like locks and things of that nature, he left honest reviews on Amazon about them and about the uses that he used them for and people

thought it was hilarious because they didn't think he was serious. Holy shit. So check that out. Patreon.com slash Crime and Sports is where you get all that and you get a shout out like God damn now. Jimmy, hit me with those like evil Knievel hitting a fucking hay bale after a bad jump. Hit me with them right now.

This was executive producer Christopher Bottomley, Gary Howard, Jessica Boshanay, Boshesny, Bocchezny, I think it's Boshanay. Cody Weber, see ya. You put like an Italian, Bocchezny. Boshanay. It's today. I'll see you in a five, you put something. I'll have the rigatoni beauchinet. Beauchinet, please. I hear it's good tonight. Cody Leversey in Detroit. You're the best, Cody.

Hey. Shelly Roberts. Larry Butterfast. You're terrific, too. Hey, Larry. Yes, absolutely. And they're in Orange County. Julia Hayes.

I think he's in Orange County. Is he in California, still? I think so. I think he is. Yeah, yeah. He drove all the way there to see us in Phoenix. Yeah, that's right. From Orange County.

How's our guy? I always, because of the way he's dressed, I think he's a little bit more of a guy. I think he's a little bit more of a guy. I think he's a little bit more of a guy. I think he's a little bit more of a guy. I think he's a little bit more of a guy. I think he's a little County. Is he in California still? I think so. I think he is. Yeah, yeah, he drove all the way there to see us in Phoenix. Yeah, that's right. From Orange County, that was our guy. I always, because they're gray and both rad, I mix him up with the rock and roll scientist in Philly. Oh yeah, yeah, that guy rocks too, yeah.

They're equally awesome dudes and both of them. Yes, you're right about that. Both of them texted me on my birthday and I was like, oh no. And somehow I never put that together, that they were similar and they are. They're very similar dudes. They're exactly alike. That's awesome. East and West Coast guys and they're both red.

Julia Hayes, Peter Gozinia. Of course it does. You know that guy. He's a great guy. Tara L. And there was clearly a concerted effort to donate to PayPal because I had a birthday and I can't thank you guys enough. It was incredibly kind of all of you. Thank you so much. We will use it to buy lots and lots of weed for the 420 show. We'll celebrate in a couple of months.

Lovely. Lovely, lovely. Other producers this week are Peyton Meadows, Jennifer Ward, Alana Zamil, Alana Zamil, Zemel, Isabel Gill, Happy Hour in Tallulah, Louisiana, he checked in. Jennifer Ward, Janice Hill, Danielle Garouge, Melanie Fielkowski, Brian Fingleton, Large Marge, Joshua Reagan,

Keira would know last name, Tramee Holiday, Brian Fingleton, Large Marge, Joshua Reagan, Kira with no last name, Jamie Holliday, Abby Forsbrook, Sierra B, Mattis Ryber, Les Sniper, Janey with no last name, Brada with no last name, Nicole Frazier, Zachary Jensen, Emily Walker, Chris Gavin, Nikki Campbell, Casey McGrath, Ed Cuthane, Koolhane, Kuhl and I don't know. Andrew would know last name. Krista Capps, Zachary Burns, Kim Gravater. Gravater? Karee, Karee. Oh, Karee rising back. Karee, thank you so much.

Shannon Hovater, Havater. Davis Miller, that's yeah, Davis Miller. Two last names for the name. Wow, Davis Miller. Glistopher, Craig Yamamoto, Glistopher gives no last name. Valerie Jensen, Nicole Sandland, Randy Howard, Haley would know last name, Jason McClain, Jeff Solomon, Jason Barber, Landon Wood, Andrea McAllister, Susan Rozelle-Razenet, Reisenet, Reisen, maybe.

Raisinet. Jenna Wisnowski is a name. Colby Robinson, Kyle Landrum, Jenna Crawford, Brian Forbes, Jimmy Asslicking, Wes, why would you want that said? I don't understand. Is there a joke that we missed? I don't know. Are you trying to be insulting?

Or supportive? We don't even know. That's how out of it is. We don't even know if you're being insulting or supportive. We don't know whether to say thank you or fuck you. If we can't tell her to say thank you or fuck you, it's weird. I'm sorry. I think you've missed the mark.

Mini Graham, Renee would know last name. This is Sparta. Ind Renee would know last name, this is Sparda, Indy would know last name, Tim Schwartz, Jake Simpson, Becky Elms, Sherry Tullier, Diane Davis, Cassandra Byrd, Carly Harris, Amanda Jedi Empress, Amanda S. James, she loves Star Wars evidently. Cool, I guess so. I know that much about Star Wars that I know the Jedi's are from there. I would hope so. They returned in one whole movie. Monte Tudal, Tracy Richard, Alex Miles, Debbie Stevens,

Bea Bradley, Josh with no last name, Nick Messmer, Dan Dan, Revolution, Brayden Evans, Gregory McGrath, Chris Butler, Joshua Baker, Larry, Laura, Laura Milner, Milner, Milner, M-L, that's a possibility? How do you even pronounce that? What do you do? That's a possibility? What am I supposed to do?

You gotta put a vowel in between there. Jeffrey Boyer, Rita Martinez, Molu, M. What is this? Josh Tetris, Brandon would know last name. Michael Ahn, Nicole Meyer. Michael On. Nicole Meyer. Yeah, that's Meyer. Avery Lampka. Lempka. Mogwai Warbucks, James. It's his father though. It's seen here. I'm just Mogwai. That's Mr. Warbucks is my dad, really. Call me Mogwai. Brianna Mitchell. Homebrew Murder Crew. Wooden Monkey. Donato Nulfi, April Hansen, Meg Hinton,

Buddy Priest, Linda Madison, Alexandra Panky, Southpaw 17, Florida 1. I don't know what that is. Is that an NFL game or play that we're calling? I don't know. Nolan, Southpaw 17, Florida 1. Let's go on on three, on three. Drew would know last name, Kobe Bryant, probably not, more than likely not.

Kathy Bain, Megan Jackson, Harley Posada, Jenny would know last name, Aaron would know last name, Alex Greenberg, Rachel would know last name, James Vogel sang, Chris would know last name, Jamie T. Hernandez, Hugh Janus, James. No, he's. Hernandez, Hugh Janus, James. Oh, he's with, he's out there. Hugh. That's with what's his name from before.

They're together. Ass licking Westman. No, no, the other ones. The other one, the first one, we had another one of those tonight. They love these. I don't understand what the fuck is. They love the Bart Simpson calling Moe's bar. Kaylee Payneck. And you know what? One point in time I loved a good pun. Kaylee Payneck? Panic? I don't know. Craig Carl? No, it's Carl Craig. Devin Brown? Kathley Survish? First names, that's what you get. Get it together with the last name guys and exchange something

and you both come away with two fucking normal names. Crystal Cooper, Patrick Whitmore, what is this Karen Buckley, David Spear, Money with no last name, Abby Richie, Gillian, Jillian, Jillian Scott, Brian Scott, oh both the Scott brothers or brother and sister. Hey the Scots are here. Misled Chef with no last name, Pixie with no last name. Jamie, Ericwin, Ericwin. Seemunker, what? What is that?

That's got to be a misspelling. I'm so sorry. Spelunker? Seemunker. Christie Wilcox, David Valerio. Waverly, that's a cool name. Bushki, Bushki, Bushk, Bushk. Kelsey Havlick. Go ahead, say a cool name. Bushki, Bushki, Bushk, Bushk. Kelsey Havlick. Go ahead, that's a cool name.

Holly Wilmers. Megan with no last name. Joan Gill. Amanda Bishop-Vott. Jennifer Sawyer. Abe Blinken. You know what? That's my favorite pun so far.

That's pretty good. Maybe that's why I like puns, because Robin Hood Men in Tights, there was an Abe Blinken pun in there that's fantastic. Hayden Powell, Purvey, Reid, Jonathan, Hebert, Hebert, I hope it's not Purvey, that's tough. Hebert, Hebert, Dakota Landorf, Vee with no last name, Heather King, Tom, Wonelli, Wonell, that's all, Jamie Lynn, Tara Love, I like that, that's a, alright. Shane Whittaker, Whit Acre, it's probably It's probably Whitaker Eric Kimball Cassie Gill Amber Luciani and all of our patrons. I love you guys more than you know Thank you. Thank you guys so much for everything you do for us for real. That's just thank you. It's crazy

We have to get through that every week is we can't thank you enough The amount of you guys that give a shit about this show and it stays consistent every week It's wild with the amount. It's we've been waiting for everybody to give up for fucking years now And it just keeps you keep hanging with us. Thank you for that. We won't stop. We'll keep doing the same shit We we're not capable of change. So yeah, this is what we've got. We don't have another speed Yeah, we don't have another speed. This is it So if you like this fuck you're in for a long time of joy We don't have another speed. Better people. Yeah. We don't have another speed. This is it. So if you like this, fuck you're in for a long time of joy.

If not, then I don't know what the fuck to tell you. So thank you for hanging out with us. If you want to follow us on social media, shut up and giveymurder.com has links to all of that and more and live from the Crime and Sports Studios. We will see you next week. Bye. next week. on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. exclusive content, and a seamless ad-free listening journey. With Wondery Plus, you'll get access to hundreds of podcasts, including more than 50 true crime series like Dr. Death,

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