Do Go On - 331 - Raoul Wallenberg; The Swedish Schindler

Episode Date: February 23, 2022

How did a Swedish architect save thousands of lives, trick Nazi's, and become an honorary citizen of multiple countries? Check out the story of WW2 badass, Raoul Wallenberg. Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: dogoonpod.com or patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic See us live at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2022/shows/the-quiz-show See Matt and Alasdair at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2022/shows/honk-honk-hubba-hubba-ring-a-ding-ding Stream our 300th episode with extra quiz (and 16 other episodes with bonus content): https://sospresents.com/authors/dogoon Check out our AACTA nominated web series: http://bit.ly/DGOWebSeries​ Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader Thomas REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:http://wallenberg.umich.edu/raoul-wallenberg/the-story-of-raoul-wallenberg/budapest-and-heroism/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Wallenberghttps://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/raoul-wallenberg-and-the-rescue-of-jews-in-budapesthttps://rwi.lu.se/about/about-raoul-wallenberg/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXokkas1CZohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_honours_dedicated_to_Raoul_Wallenberg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serengy Amarna 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there.

Canada, we are visiting you in September this year. If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Hello and welcome to another episode of Doogone. My name is Dave Warnocky and as always I'm here with Matt Stewart and you better believe Jess Perkins.

Hello Dave. Hey Dave. It is so good to be alive and here on this podcast. Thanks so much for having you. Great to have you here Matt and also going to say a big welcome back to Jess Popperkins. She's back, baby. She's back. She's better than ever.

And she's unstoppable, I think is what we've learned. Agreed. Nothing can stop me. Thank you, dude. And she's talking about. about a stuff in the third person now? Is this a some sort of a side effect of Kona? Kona, Kona 2012.

Merging a few concepts there. Obviously, Matt has only just started hearing about coronavirus. It's new to you. You don't know that. I've got my head around it. We're not calling it Kona. Not yet. Okay.

Yeah, I reckon 2023 will be calling it a Kona. It's not, it hasn't been around enough for a cute nickname. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, I am back. Thank you for, you know, holding the fort while I was away and getting guests in. And I'm not listening to any of those episodes. They are not canon to me.

Oh, okay. Not an a fish. Not a fish. But yeah, I'm back. Hey. Where you should say, once again, thanks so much, Cass Page, for joining us. Don't listen to Jess. Yeah, if it was anybody other than Cass.

Unfortunately, Cass is an absolute delight. So it's hard for you to really. It's hard for me to hate her, but I do. No. Not at all. Yeah, thank you. to Cass, and thank you, you guys, for just, you know, lifting me up. Hey, thanks so much for being someone we can lift up.

Yeah. Now, Dave, Jess has been gone for a few weeks. She might not know that we've planned a few things while she's been away. Yeah, Jess, we've got some stuff to tell you about. What do you mean? And we figure you can't say no when we're live on the podcast. Why is this not the first time? This has happened.

What have you done? Well, I for one have decided that we should do a quiz show at the comedy festival. What the fuck? Yeah. And you're going to have to answer my questions as a team captain against Matt, your best friend. So it's really going to cause a rift here. She hasn't said that officially yet. Sorry.

Sorry to try and force that. He's a friend of mine, I suppose. He's going to be an opponent of yours. At the Comedy Festival this year, I've booked this three nights at the Melbourne Town Hall, Monday nights, April 411 and 18. And Jess, why have you been away? We've sold about half the tickets. Okay. And we're very happy about that.

Thanks, everyone. really can't back out. Yeah, honestly, we've just passed the point of note return with the ticket sales, so you kind of have to be there. I'm kidding. I love it.

This would be great. So it's called Do Go On the Quiz Show. I ask the questions, you guys answer them with special guests each week against each other. And basically, it is like an episode of Do Go On

because I pick one topic from history and quiz you all about that topic. So by the end of it, we've all learned a little story, but we've also got some points on the board. So exciting. I can't wait to crush Matt. Yeah.

Crush the Loo. Loser. The loser will be crushed. That's a rule. I'm also doing a show at the company festival with Alastair, Trumblay, Virtual, our resident clit expert and also peen expert. Is that on the poster? I think so.

And the show is called. Can I have a go? Can I have a go? Because I think Dave sometimes can get it, but I want to have a go. Honk, honk, hover, hover. That rings a ring a ding ding ding. Dave? That's right.

That's great. Correct. Correct, ding, first point to Jess. Hong Kong, Habah, Haba, Ring a Ding, Ding. And it's on, for the second half of the festival. Not Monday, on Monday nights, Angus Gordon is playing my role. But, yeah, go see it that night as well. If you want to, no, no, don't go see that night.

Come see our quiz show that night. That's right. See me and Elle on one of the other nights. If you really love us, you'll never see Angus Gordon. Yeah. If I ever see you looking at Angus Gordon, I will feel like you've betrayed me, and you are dead to us. dead to us. Dave,

another thing Jess might not recall anymore because she's been away for a couple weeks is how this show works. Yeah, Jess, it's been a while. Do you remember? Do you want me near? I think there's a gong involved. Yeah, that's also at the quiz show.

Oh. Basically, on the podcast, what we do is we take it in terms to report on a topic, often suggested to us by one of the listeners. We go away, do a bit of research on it, come back and present a report

to the other two who sit quietly and never interject. And Jess, it is your turn. Should have probably confirmed this with you as well. to write a report on that topic and then you always start with a question. Yes. And if you've got a question, we know that another side effect of COVID is getting a question because you never have one.

I never have one. So I do have a question. Wow, you're a changed woman. Yeah, COVID has made me better. Who knew that could happen, but it has. My question is, what is our favourite kind of badass on do-go-on? Oh, World War II. In the World War II bad-ass.

Do we get half a point there for that? Yeah, that was actually perfectly in unison. think people who get your voices confused just heard one voice then. It's funny that people get our voices confused. Do we sound the same? Not at all. Do I sound like that? Yes.

Yes. It is a World War II bad us. We haven't had one for a little while. It's been a while. It's been a while. So excited for a World War II badass. Obviously World War II full of badasses. This is actually one that I've wanted to do for a while.

This is a story that my dad used to tell me a bit. and a couple of people have suggested it as well. It's been suggested by Emily Hessian and Jaden Wright. And it's the story of a man named Raul Wollenberg. Oh, I do know that name. I do not know that name. Do you know much about? A little bit, just because,

and maybe I'll say my story about him at the end. Okay. How do you spell Rao? R-A-O-U-L. Right. Raoul. Raul. Yeah, it's like... Raoul.

I always sort of said it like Raul, but he's Swedish. Right. And in hearing other Swedish people talk about him, it's more like Raul. Raul. Yeah. Raul. That's a cool name. Yeah.

My brain does not quite understand it. Well, I'll probably say it a lot. Great. I'll get up by the end. Just in time, you'll just be able to mimic the sound. Yeah. And that's even... I'm assuming I'm saying it right.

And I don't know that that's true. All right, let me see if I can mimic what you just said. I'm assuming I can say right, maybe that's not even true. Fuck, that's actually pretty good. That was actually pretty good. People if they were confused before, they're going to be fucking bewildered now. We have one voice between the three of us now. Well, we have one mind and one heart.

And one microphone. We're sharing it. So you guys definitely have COVID. So, the story. When Maria. Wising was six months pregnant with her first child. Her husband, Raul, a Swedish naval officer, died of cancer. Tragedy struck again three months after she gave birth when her father died of pneumonia,

leaving both Maria and her mother Sophie widowed. Jess, did the character this is about just die in the first seconds? Okay. Did it feel like that. Oh my God, flashback. I know what you're thinking. How did he get here? No, not at all.

Because in the next sentence, So Raul Gustav Wallenberg was born in August of 1912 and raised by his mother and grandmother just outside Stockholm. So I was just trying to do something a little different rather than born on this date. I was trying to be, you know, raised by his mother and his grandfather, named after his dad, who died. Just before he was born. Just before he was born. His paternal grandfather, Gustav Wallenberg, was a diplomat and a Swedish representative to Japan, Turkey and Bulgaria. and Gustav would be rather involved in his grandson's life,

particularly when it came to education and employment. After high school, Raul completed his compulsory eight months in the Swedish military, and then in 1930 his grandfather sent him to study in Paris. It was important to Gustav that his grandson became a citizen of the world. He wanted to make sure that Raul learned languages, traveled abroad, and had varied work and life experiences. After spending a year in Paris, railheads for the US studying architecture,

the University of Michigan. According to Wikipedia, he used his, sorry, Wikipedia is a website I came across. I don't know if you guys have stumbled upon another, like, World War II kind of topics. It sounds Swedish, is it? Yeah, maybe. It might be like Wikipedia.

Oh, right. Right, maybe I have that. Wikipedia. Oh, yeah, right. I think.org. Oh, not.com. No, dot org. Wikipedia.

That does sound European. Yeah. That does sound European. Yeah, I think so. And it's like, it's just. like a, I don't know even how to describe it, like an encyclopedia of World War II information. Oh, and it's it an encyclopedia? It's an encyclopedia.

Checks out. Why have you cringed every time? I'm cringing. This is me laughing, Bob. Do you not? You haven't seen it before? That's how rare it is. It looks like a Korean encyclopedia.

I'm hurting Matt. He hates it and I don't know what. I'm not hating it. I'm probably trying to stifle the laugh. You are... Because you're being serious about something and it feels very rude to be laughing so it looks like a cringe,

but it's just me trying to stop myself from laughing. You're having a visceral response every time. It's like Lepadia. But you don't want to be seen to be laughing at another language, you know, laughing at Swedish. It's insensitive, yeah. No, no, no, we're not laughing at the language. It's probably my butchering of it.

So according to Wikipedia, he used his vacations to explore the United States with hitchhiking being his... preferred method of travel about his experiences he wrote to his grandfather saying when hitchhiking you have you have to be on alert the whole time you're in close contact with new people every day hitchhiking gives you training in diplomacy and tact oh i was imagining when he said you like you got to be on your guard all the time like he's just got his fists up all the time ducking and weaving in the back of a car just in case just kind of getting used to you know

communicating with different people adjusting your communication style acting with a bit of tact And he's like, I mean, he's, the Wallenberg family and his grandfather quite wealthy. But he wasn't sort of a classic rich kid studying abroad. He like took summer jobs with a lot of his friends. He worked at the World Fair or something at one point. It does, yeah. It did sound like he was rich. I mean, he's like being sent around the world.

Yeah. Studying stuff in the, what, the 19. It's in the 30s. Yeah, he's gone to Paris and then the States. The Great Depression. Everyone's battling. He's just feed up in the first-class spa. Grandfather.

Hitch-hiking in first class. Oh, you must. Oh, you must. Oh, you must travel. You must travel with the average Joes every now and then. So he's studying and he returns to Sweden in 1935, and he found that his American degree didn't qualify him to practice in Sweden as an architect. Oh, my good.

You think someone would look into that? Yeah. Whoops. But don't worry, let's not forget he has a rich and generous grandpa. So a few months after returning from the US, Ryle's grandfather arranged for him to work for a Swedish company that sold construction material, and he moved to Cape Town in South Africa for that job.

And after six months in South Africa, he worked briefly for a branch of the Holland Bank in Israel before returning to Sweden to work at the Central European Trading Company, thanks to his father's cousin, Jacob Wallenberg. So a bit of nepotism there, getting him a good job. Right, but he's been all over the world. Yeah, he has. And he's young. Like he's, he's born in what, 1912. So he's, and this is 1935. So he's still quite young. Yeah, amazing. And he's, yeah, travelled around a lot and had varied experience.

Tell you what, it's what you know, it's who you know. You know what I mean? What do you mean? Well, I mean, sometimes you can have all the qualifications, but it doesn't matter because your dad's uncle's cousin. Yeah. knows there's an opening in South Africa. And he gets your job there. Yeah. And maybe you don't even know about South African wood.

Yeah. But you get the job anyway, even though maybe some guy down there might have been better qualified, might have known more stuff. Yeah. But he didn't know your dad's uncle's cousin. Yeah. He didn't get the gig because they just didn't know about it.

At the interview they say, do you know Barry? Who? Next. Next. Do you know Barry? Yes. Welcome aboard. So I guess just always say yes.

Always say yes. Sometimes I trick you though. Do you know Barry? Yes? Well, he's not actually related to me. He's actually a bit of a dick. Yeah. He's my worst uncle.

Barry's my least favorite. So you said the wrong thing. You guys got the least favorite uncle? No. I'm trying to think. I don't think I do. I try not to rank my uncles. Well, I mean, there's a hierarchy.

but then there's also an equal rung down the bottom. Yeah, I do have some pretty rank uncles. They're all equally terrible. Except my uncle Tim, who listens a lot. Hello, Tim. Love you. Also my favourite Uncle Tim. That's not my uncle Tim.

This guy. No, that's not my Uncle Tim. That's my Uncle Jeff. Anyway. Jeff, also a great uncle. Great. It's an amazing uncle. Love him.

So he's gone. He's working for the Central European Trading Company. And the owner of that company was a hunger of that company. was a Hungarian by the name of Kalman Lauer. That name will come up again. Kalman Lauer. I'm probably also saying that wrong, but Kalman Lauer. Kalman Lauer.

And who's Kalman Lauer, sorry? The owner of the company that Ryle's now working for. Kalman Lauer. Kalman Lauer. Kalman Lauer. Sounds like something you'd get if you finished top of your class at university. I finished Kalman Lauer. I graduated Kalman Lauer.

Wow. So this was around the same time as the Nuremberg race laws, which were anti-Semitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s. And by the late 30s, Hungary had its own version of laws, which were modelled on the OG, on the original Nuremberg race laws. So the Hungarian laws focused heavily on restricting Jews from certain professions, reducing the number of Jews in government and public service jobs, and prohibiting into marriage. According to Wikipedia again, because of this, Wallenberg's business associate, Kalman Lauer, found it increasingly difficult to travel to his native Hungary, which was moving still deeper into the German orbit, becoming a member of the Axis power in November of 1940,

and later joining the Nazi-led invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. So Lauer is Jewish, so it's becoming, obviously, like I just said, increasingly hard for him to get back to Hungary. So he's not able to travel there for business. So Wallenberg became his representative, traveling to Hungary to conduct business on his behalf. But also he spent a bit of time visiting and checking up on Lauer's family who were still in Budapest. He was like checking up on him. He's learning the language. By 1941, he was the joint owner and international director of the company. And he hadn't been there that long, I suppose. but joint owner, international director.

That's a pretty cool title. That sounds like a great. Yeah, did he have to buy his way in? I'm not sure. They just went, you're doing so good at this. I want you. Yeah. I would suppose to be joint owner, you'd have to.

There'd be some sort of, yeah, financial put in, but, you know. I suppose if you literally can't go into a country to do the business. Yeah. The other, you know. And your associate can and he's doing good work and is a, you know. Yeah, and I don't know if that's a big source of the business, maybe you go, All right. I like, he's sending messages.

I hope some of those messages are like, can you go up to some of these Nazis and punch him in the mouth? Did you punch a Nazi? This one comes from Lauer, come louden. Come louder? Calman Lauer. Caldom Lauer. Yep.

Smack. There you go. Yeah, anyway, let us know if you got any reply. I'll be back there next week. All right. All right. All right. That's all.

I think that's all I got. Let me check. Just checking the list. Oh, hang on, sorry. Back of the hand. Yeah, that seems to be it. Okay. Yeah, sorry, I have a case of the Fridays.

DJIF, am I right? Anyway. Anyway, this one's for me, knee and the balls. Matt, it sounds like you think Nazis are bad. Ah, you know, it's just one of my quirks. Okay. I reckon they're real, real, real, real assholes. Yeah.

Like, I don't know if I can put it in stronger terms than that. Um, stronger than real, real assholes. No, I don't think I can think of anything stronger. Yeah, no, I think that's about right, yeah. I don't mean to be impolite, but I dislike them strongly. Whoa. Do you want me to edit that out? You got a bit heated there, mate?

No, you probably should. Yeah. Wouldn't want to offend any Nazis. Oh, now come on. Anyway, so as international director, he also made several trips to Germany and occupied France during the early years of World War II. Meanwhile, the situation in Hungary was deteriorating as the outcome of the war wasn't looking good for Germany and its allies. After the Battle of Stalingrad, in which Hungarian troops fighting alongside German forces suffered a staggering 84% casualty rate. Oh dear.

That's a lot. The regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, Miklos Horthy, definitely said that wrong. began secretly pursuing peace talks with the US and the UK. Hey, it's not going so well. It's not looking good for Germany, so I would like to back out of that place. Yeah. It seems I've,

we've made some wrong choices. And all along, I've actually been on your side. Yeah, I just chose their side because I thought they were going to win. Yeah. But they're not. But it doesn't look like they are,

so now I need to join your side because it's actually looking like you're going to win. Oh, no. I assume that's it. verbatim how that conversation went. Unfortunately... Shrewd negotiators. Unfortunately, for him, Hitler caught wind of this duplicity

and ordered the occupation of Hungary by German troops in March 1944. So Hawthie was placed under house arrest and a pro-German puppet government was installed in Budapest. Like literal puppets? Yeah. Oh! A little Hitler puppet. It could be like it could be Muppet-type puppets or it could be like Thunderbird.

Yeah. Oh, marionettes. Yeah. be fun. Yeah. F-A-B. What was that? Punching Judy type.

Yeah. I hadn't heard puppet government before. I mean, I sort of got it from context, but I did look it up, and it's pretty much what you think. Yeah, like one of the people say like a puppet state. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is a state made up of puppets. Sesame Street is a puppet street. Yeah.

It's like that on a large scale. When somebody has their hand up your ass, you're at a bit of a puppet state. Yeah Instead of going What's happening here? That's happening here Right puppet You know

Like that But you can't You are at there Mercy You have to do what they say You really do it At that point Sometimes I start talking

And I'm like Shut up Jess And they're behind you Talk it out The side of their mouth Bropra Bopopop

Bhop Bha Bha I don't know why I'm so muffled Maybe they got their head in there too maybe

Help me I've got too far I overcooked this Maybe I could get through to the other side That's gross So yeah They kick him out A pro-German puppet government

Is installed in Budapest I'm going to keep saying Budapest But it's like Budapest I think Probably But I think people say I think it's sort of commonly said Budapest

I'm going to say Budapest Now, there's three sections of Budapest. You got Buddha. Yeah. You got Obuda. Mm-hmm. And you got pest. Am I remembering that right?

I don't know why I'm asking. I haven't been. I don't know. Me, I've actually. I believe that's right. Have you been to... I have been. I had a great time there.

In an Irish pub? No, but I think that's the city where I stayed in. It's pretty crook looking back. I mean, I thought it was crook at the time. But it was, I stayed at the Aboriginal hostel. What? And I assumed that it meant like, because Aboriginal means, you know, local or whatever. Yeah, yeah.

So I just thought it was like going to be, it just meant local hostel. But it was Australian indigenous themed hostel. Oh, what? Okay. In Budapest. Yeah. How interesting. Yeah, very, very strange.

I think it was like the person, I said to the guy, I'm like, why? Hey. What's this? What's happening? And he was, he was like, I love Australia. I said, oh, have you been? He said, no. Oh, boy.

It was very strange. But also, like, people aren't going to Budapest to appreciate Australian indigenous culture. Yeah. Well, and I mean, yeah. It was some sort of, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a bit strange. Yeah.

But are they targeting Australians, I guess. but it's also not, I mean, it worked for me somehow. Yeah. But really it was just because it was the cheapest sauce sell available. Yeah, there's a reason for that too. Interesting. I just, you know, I was on a tight, I was in Europe on a shoe string. Yeah.

I should write a book about that. So prior to this, you know, Hitler catching the guy trying to make peace talks, prior to this, Hungarian Jews had lived in relative security and safety from the Holocaust. But in April and May of 1944, the Nazi regime and its accomplices began the mass deportation of Hungary's Jews to extermination camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. I read it in a couple of places that the deportations took place at a rate of about 12,000 people a day. Fuck. Absolutely insane. So fucked.

It's just fucked. So a plan was being put together to rescue Hungarian Jews by the newly created War Refugee Board or WRB. The man tasked with the job was Iva C. Olson, who worked in the US Treasury Department and was also secretly employed as a chief of currency operations for the Office of Strategic Services, the OSS, which was like the pre-CIA.

It was wartime espionage, basically. So he worked for them as well. And Olson needed to find someone to go to book Ordupest and organise a rescue program, and he established a committee to find a person capable of the task. Olson was looking for a man willing to walk into the jaws of the Nazi death machine, someone who spoke both Hungarian and German, and someone with an independent spirit who would not need much oversight or direction.

That's quite an ad place in the newspaper. I feel like a guy, I know, ticks a few of these boxes. You're going to say Jesus. Jean-Claude Van Damme. Jesus would have been funny Just every time you start to go I know a guy I'm like it's going to be Jesus

Oh no I know a guy who That's normally always carpentry though Yeah That's true I know a guy who is pretty handy With a chisel Does this also call for a bit of carpentry

So yeah Olsen's put together this committee To find the right person On that committee was Calman Lauer RALV's business partner Calman Lauer. Lauer introduced Olsen to Raulenberg

and Olsen selected Wallenberg for the job. The US officials originally doubted his reliability mostly due to existing commercial relationships between businesses owned by the Wallenberg family and the German government. They were like, we like this guy, but it looks like he had his architecture degree in America. Yeah, we don't recognize that kind of stuff.

Yeah, okay. We don't know what those cowboys are teaching you over there. And we need a qualified architect. Yeah. So they're thinking he, because he's got some close German business ties that he might. Like his family does. Right. Not necessarily him and the business that he's running, but like the Wallenberg family is pretty big and wealthy.

They just don't know if they can trust him. Yeah, I think so. But those concerns were eventually overcome. They made some sort of like a bit of a deal. And Wallenberg reached the Swedish legation in Budapest in July, 1944. Do you know what a legation is? I'd never heard this. It's like an embassy, but like a lower level embassy.

Oh, like a shit embassy. Yeah, it's like, it's a sub-em embassy. Yeah. I had to look it up. I was like, what is this? Underwater embassy. It's an underwater embassy. Under the embassy.

I don't think we'd have so much fun on a topic. So far, I've talked to a lot about Nazis. I think we're trying to think about other things. Yeah, that's right. We're making bad puns where we can. Where we can. We've got to, you know. Because it is so fucking group.

Oh, it's absolutely. When I heard of the topic, I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. But honestly, bad ass. So when they've interviewed, they've reached out to him and they've signed him up for the mission. He knows this is incredibly dangerous. Absolutely.

So, hence the badass part of it. Yeah, that's right. I didn't include it in the report, but on his, I read a story. It was on the Wikipedia. He and his sister went to see a movie. The movie was like, I'm just going to, I'll find it just quickly now.

Wallenberg was directly inspired by Pimpernel Smith, a 1941 British anti-Nazi propaganda thriller. The film had been banned in Sweden, but Wallenberg and his sister Nina were invited to a private screening at the British Embassy in Stockholm. Enthralled by Professor Smith, the main character, who saved 28 Jews from Nazis, Nina stated,

We thought the film was amazing. When we got up from our seats, Rao said, that is the kind of thing I would like to do. Perfect. So don't tell me propaganda doesn't work. Yeah, right. But amazing to have such a real opportunity to do this. To do, yeah, right, wow.

Yeah, exactly what he was inspired by in this film. So, yeah, by the time he gets there in July of 1944, the Nancy, the Nazi campaign had been underway for a few months already. And between May and early July of 44, more than 400,000 Jews had been deported already. Oh my God. When, well... Sorry, how many? 400,000.

Holy shit. Yeah. When Wallenberg arrived, only 230,000 Jews remained in Hungary. So it's already like it's... So two-thirds have been deported already, wow. So here's what they did. Along with fellow Swedish diplomats, he issued protective passports.

They were called Schutz Pass. If someone had one of these passports that identified them to German officials as a Swedish subject, awaiting repatriation and thus prevented their deportation. So they had these little passes that were like, no, I'm Swedish. So I'm going back to Sweden. I'm just waiting on a flight to Sweden.

These were not, in fact, legit legal documents, but they looked it. And they were generally accepted by German and Hungarian authorities, some of whom were bribed, but most of the time. Yeah, I'm Swedish. Wink. Yeah, so as my friend here, Benjamin Benjamin Franklin

But who is this I don't know who is this I don't know who that is Imagine that jeez the terror Of having to show Anything but like a forge thing And trying to communicate Hey no I deserve to live

Oh yeah your life is Some guy Yeah Your life is based on the outcome of the transaction Yeah Oh no so stressful Terrifying Absolutely terrifying

The Swedish legation in Budapest also succeeded in negotiating with the German authorities that the bearers of the protective passes would be treated as Swedish citizens and be exempt from having to wear the yellow badge required for Jews. They had to wear that yellow star, which was a deeply shameful and really dehumanising thing for them.

So the Swedish legation managed to say, if you've got this pass, you don't have to wear it, which is just, I guess, like a little added bonus of something deeply stressful. So at one point the German government took away the validity of the passes. So Raul appealed to the wife of the Hungarian

minister for foreign affairs. Because who can convince the minister better than his own wife? And it worked and the woman was able to convince her husband to honor 9,000 passes that had already been issued. Because they were like, nah, they're not legit. And then he just convinced them. A bunch of money had been raised for the war

refugee board, largely by the Jewish community in the US and with that money raal rented 32 buildings in Budapest these buildings were declared extraterritorial meaning they were exempt from the jurisdiction of local law um which means these buildings had diplomatic immunity oh i see and they're did you say extra extraterritorial yeah yeah so he just so close to extraterrestrial which would be even cooler he declared declared the buildings extraterrestrial. This building's a UFO, but it's identified and it's not flying. Sorry.

Sorry. I don't make the rules. It is an object. Argue that. Argue that, you dog. Knee to the balls again. That's how he communicated. Knee to the balls.

He disguised these buildings with oversized Swedish flags and signs such as the Swedish Library and the Swedish Research Institute. Great way to disguise the building. Make it a library. It's blue and yellow. Swedish Research Institute, yawn. Right, but really this is just an... I'm going to the water park.

One was an IKEA. They made one. Swedish meatball restaurant. And they've realised that was a mistake because they had lines of people trying to get in. Were they just calling meatballs? That's true. Makes you think.

It does like you think, doesn't it? God, I love when this podcast asks the big questions. The big ones. What is a Swedish meatball? That's a big question. I'm guessing it's a Swedish-style meatball. Delicious. What makes it different to an Italian meatball?

Dave? I've eaten meatballs in Sweden and they were fantastic. But I don't know what that was in them because I didn't cook them. Yeah. Yeah, right. There you go. Fascinating. Fascinating.

That's the kind of insight you get when you travel, you know? Sort of experience new things. Get answers to the world. Yeah, I ate a meatball there. What's like me? Very inquisitive. I'm going to like inappropriately named hostels. Yeah.

We're all getting culture somehow. But, yeah, I had it at a place on top of a bed of mashed potato with some fantastic gravy. Oh my God, what a day for Dave. It's the Swedish gods intended. That's a perfect day for you. It was really young. It was very, very nice. So, yeah, these buildings that he had rented were used to house and protect Hungarian Jews.

Apparently, eventually housing tens of thousands of people. There's a Michigan University site. It's about the Wallenberg legacy. And it has some good info on it, so I'll mention it a couple of times. But from that side, it says, In an architecture class at the University of Michigan, Wallenberg had received a grade of excellent for designing a low-cost housing project

that could fit 4,500 people in 16 city blocks. In Budapest, he found a way to place 35,000 people in buildings designed for fewer than 5,000. Wow. So he really is the perfect guy for the job. Yeah, I guess the architectural skills are pretty handy here too. He's got the language. He's super worldly, very confident,

wants to protect these people because he's been really inspired to do so. And then also he is architecturally qualified, literally made a project like this that can house thousands of people in a small space. Amazing. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing. I've seen a few interviews with some of those people. And one woman tells a story about how about 128 of them

were crowded together in a basement cellar after the building they were being housed in was bombed by Russia. And she said food was scarce. And what food they did have was brought to them by Wallenberg himself in the dark of the night. But despite the conditions being dangerous and not far off prison conditions, this woman said morale was incredibly high because, and this is a quote from her, we were considered worthy of saving. And that was just the most incredible feeling.

Wow. Isn't that ridiculous? Like, it's heartbreaking. It's incredible. So heartbreaking. And what a wild situation to be in where you're in a country, you're an enemy in your own country, you're seen as an enemy. But then that country's enemy is like Russia are bombing you as well. So you're just like, it's just what a nightmareish scenario from all angles.

Yeah, absolutely awful. And all these people that I've seen tell stories about Wallenberg and stuff, they speak so highly of him. and they're so, I don't know, they've really got him on a pedestal in a way. I don't know another way to sort of say it, but they just, they think he's incredible. Some of the anecdotal stories, like I was saying, are amazing. I saw a video of a woman telling a story that I also saw mentioned on the Michigan University website. So here's a quote from the site. It says, Jews were frequently tied together three in a row on the bank of the Danube.

The middle person was shot, sending all three into the freezing water to drown. Oh, my God. A woman from Wallenberg's office recalled an occasion when Wallenberg heard that Hungarian Nazis were shooting women and children at the river. He asked his staff who could swim. We went. It was a cold night and jumped into the Danube. The water was icy cold. They saved 50 or 60 people.

Wow. And this woman telling this story was young. Like I don't know if she was a teenager or, but like she was young when this happened. And he sort of said, who's a good swimmer? And she was like, I'm a great swimmer. And so she went with them. It was freezing cold. And they saved 50 or 60 people.

And she was like, we couldn't have saved those people if it wasn't for Wallenberg. And it's like, you saved people. You saved people's lives. Couldn't have saved them if you weren't a good swimmer either. Holy shit. And even crediting that to them. And I mean, that's amazing that they would all do that. But yeah, like a young woman being like, well, just go jump into this icy cold water and save some people.

And you also assume that it's not like they're just doing that without danger anyway. Exactly. Yeah. Just there, people are getting shot. Yeah. Incredible. So they saved a bunch of people that night as well. This is a story from Wikipedia.

What was it, Wikipedia.org? It's pretty badass as well. Sandor Ardai, one of the drivers working from Rollenberg, recounted what Wallenberg did when he intercepted a trainload of Jews about to leave for Auschwitz. He said he climbed up on the roof of the train and began handing protective passes. through the doors which were not yet sealed. He ignored orders from the Germans for him to get down. Then the Arrow Cross, which was a far right Hungarian nationalist party,

the Arrow Cross men began shooting and shouting at him to go away. He ignored them and calmly continued handing out passports to the hands that were reaching out for them. I believe the Arrow Cross men deliberately aimed over his head as not one shot him, which would have been impossible otherwise. I think that what they did, I think this is what they did because they were so impressed by courage. After Wallenberg had handed over the last of the passports, he ordered all of those who had one to leave the train and walked to the caravan of cars parked nearby, all marked in Swedish colours. I don't remember exactly how many, but he saved dozens off that train,

and the German and Arrow Cross were so dumbfounded that they let him get away with it. Oh man, that's ridiculous, but how brutal to be, like, choose, like, people, from both sides, people accepting it and being like, oh, you'd feel awful. You know, it's just. I know, yeah. But obviously no one, none of their fault that they're in that scenario. So it's just, everything about it is just so fucked, like incomprehensibly fucked. Exactly right.

Yeah. You can't, like, you can't, Wollemberg can't save every single person on that train maybe this day, but does that mean he doesn't try? Yeah. He doesn't at least try and save some, you know? And then I know, it's, you're absolutely right. It's incomprehensible. horrendous.

But that's just a crazy story that he's on top of a train. Yeah, wow, such bravery. Handing in pass, it's wild. And it's a wild idea that they're shooting near him but purposely trying to scare him and he's not scared. Yeah. And then...

I mean, I suppose you sort of have to take that story with a grain of salt because you don't know, it's third hand and it's somebody hypothesizing about the intentions of these Germans and arrow cross men, but who knows, but it's pretty wild. He started sleeping in a different house each night to guard against being captured or killed by Arrow Cross party members or by Adolf Eichmann's men. He was one of the major organisers of the Holocaust.

Honestly, if I reckon if they try to capture him, they'd just sort of like swoop above his head. Sounds like they're fucking uselessly. Just can't get him. Typical dumb goons. Yeah. Stormtroopers sort of thing. apparently his car was blown up one time

but nothing stopped him from tirelessly confronting manipulating, bribing and harassing Nazis I just like that I like that he's just harassing him he's confronting and annoying Nazis Nazis are like this man is harassing us he's so he's so mean

I think that's alone we're just trying to go about our Nazi business I'm just doing my job, okay? I'm just following orders. Just following orders to do my job. Yeah, classic Nazi bullshit said... Wallenberg. Wallenberg. Raoul, Raul, Raul.

Fucking, yeah, you're better, you're fucking... I don't know what to say here, but... Feeling a lot of feels. Feeling a lot of things. In the last days of the occupation, German troops, along with Hungarian Nazis, assembled around the Jewish ghetto in preparation for a massacre. When he learned of the plan, Wallenberg confronted the Nazi commander, persuading him that if he allowed the attack on the ghetto to go forward,

Wallenberg would see to it that he was hanged for his crimes against humanity after the war. The frightened Nazi, who knew Hitler was about to be defeated, called off the assault. The lives of about 70,000 Jews were saved. Seventy thousand. Apparently, yeah. Sometimes the numbers get a little muddled, different resources say different things, but it was a very big area that the Hungarian Nazis were just going to storm into and start shooting.

Imagine being like, hey, look, we're going down, but I'm really committed just to killing innocent people. Yeah, I know. It's like, oh, we're going to lose this in a couple of days. So if we're going to do some killing, now's the time. Because all's fair in war. Yeah, like assuming so indoctrinated into this hate. Yeah. It's just, yeah.

It's in a way, and the only word I can think is fascinating, just the psychology of it. You're right. Fascinating. Fascist nation. It's so fascinating, isn't it? Don't you think? Such an interesting sociological experiment.

Just fascinating. Is that an article on Wikipedia? Wikipedia says, just fascinating. What's wrong? So what happens next is widely speculated. All the sources I read said slightly different things. Back to that Michigan University site says on a mid-January morning in 1945, 20 Soviets arrived at Wallenberg's door.

Speaking haltingly in Russian, Wallenberg explained his mission to rescue the Jews and asked to be taken to the highest Soviet authorities. He spent that night at Russian headquarters in Buddhist. The next day he returned home with an escort to pick up his belongings. Friends described him as calm but with an edge in his voice, assuring them he would be back in about a week. Wallenberg's friends and family never saw him again. On the other hand, Wikipedia says, Wikipedia says that Wallenberg was called to the headquarters of Soviet military commander Roden Malingowski.

And Wallenberg's last recorded words were, I'm going to meet Malinowski, whether as a guest or a prisoner, I do not know yet. So he trusted the communists only slightly more than the Nazis. He allowed himself to fall into their hands because he hoped that the Soviets would allow him to stay in Hungary to take part in the post-war revitalisation of its society. It's believed that he was transported to Moscow and held in Lubyanka prison.

While we now know the extent of Rao's efforts, at the time of his disappearance, his achievements were relatively unknown. So the Swedish government was far more interested in maintaining good relations with the Soviet Union than finding out what had happened to a Swedish citizen employed by the United States. So at that stage, he's just a guy.

They can't chase up every single person who goes missing during a war. So it's not really like high priority for them to be like, where's Rao? Anybody's seen Rao? They've got other stuff on their mind. So it wasn't until June of 1946. So that's a while later.

18 months later. Under pressure from the Swedish public and the foreign office, that the Swedish minister to Moscow finally requested an interview with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to discuss Wallenberg. Though the Swedish foreign office had evidence that Wallenberg was imprisoned in Moscow, the minister volunteered that he personally believed that the great humanitarian had been killed in Budapest. offered an easy out, Stalin said, yeah, that's what happened.

Right. So the Swedish Foreign Office had evidence that Wallenberg was in prison in Moscow, but this minister is like, I reckon he's probably dead, hey, he probably died in Budapest, don't you reckon? And Stalin's like, strange is that? Yes, that is what happened. Isn't that odd?

Doesn't make a lot of sense. That conspiracy of silence continued for 11 years. Wallenberg's immediate family never gave up hope of locating him and from the moment he disappeared pressed their case relentlessly. It was only in 1957 during the political thaw following Stalin's death that the Soviets broke their official silence on Wallenberg's fate. They admitted that he had survived the war and even that Stalin had been holding in prison at the time of the 1946 meeting

with the Swedish minister. But they claimed that Wallenberg, a healthy 32-year-old man at the time he was abducted had died in prison of a heart attack two years later. Why did they... Why were they keeping him in prison anyway? It's a wonderful question. Because he saved people's lives.

Yeah, yeah. I don't understand. It wasn't even... He was saving him from Nazis. Yeah. I don't get it. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense. I don't really...

Yeah, I don't really understand why the... why the Soviet Union was keeping him, I don't know. However, several former prisoners have claimed to have seen Raul after his reported death. Some of these claims are well into the 60s, 70s, 80s. Wow. People saying they saw him. They heard of a Swedish diplomat being held in the prison and, yeah, even into the 80s. Pressure was put on US President Jimmy Carter in the late 70s to investigate further

to what happened to Wallenberg. Soviet Union would not answer questions to America about a non-American citizen. So a bill was created to declare Wallenberg an honorary US citizen, just so they could get more info. It eventually passed by a 396-2 vote and was quickly signed into law

by newly appointed President Ronald Reagan, making Wallenberg the second honorary American citizen in history after Winston Churchill by an act of Congress. Amazing. It's only the second ever. So with his citizenship now granted, the Wallenberg family successfully sued the Soviet Union in 1984

over his disappearance for 39 million or one million per year that Wallenberg's fate had been unknown. However, the Soviet Union ignored the suit, did not pay any of the damages awarded by the judge, and they also did not offer any information into his disappearance. Where was this court case? In the US. Yeah, right.

So they sued the Soviet Union, which is kind of wild. That is a good question. I don't really know why he was taken by the Soviet Union. That doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? Well, not to me, but I'm not that smart. There's definitely some information I'm missing. I've made this. It's one of those stories that, like, you could go down so many different rabbit holes

because it'd be like, okay, well, there's the Battle of Stalingrad. You could look into that in a lot more depth, and then you can look into, because, well, I mean, as you know from a World War I report, the wars are very complex. The world ones? Yeah.

The world ones in particular, yeah, yeah, yeah. They are quite... Yeah, I never really thought about it like that. Lots of dominoes falling, you know? Lots of moving parts. Yeah. So they do get a little complicated. Yeah, wheels were in motion.

Yeah. And, you know, our people were talking to their people. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is difficult to, like, justify a lot of the stuff that the Soviet Union. They murdered and disappeared millions of their own citizens. So you can see why maybe they arrested him. He says the wrong thing to the wrong person.

And they go, actually, I don't like you. Yeah. And then it becomes a diplomatic thing. Oh, we've killed this guy that people are looking for. And then they just, let's be silent about it. Don't say anything. Or keep him locked out. I don't know, yeah.

Yeah, I'm not really. Well, once that Stalin said, yeah, that's what happened. He died. Like you can't five years later be like, actually we've had him the whole time. Yeah. It's that all look embarrassing for you. I think they, they, the Soviet Union were accusing him of espionage essentially. So I think it was more to do with that rather than saving people.

Yeah, but I mean, I don't, yeah, I think I think Dave's right. I think it's just they can't really go back on it. Really? The espionage he was doing was against their enemy. Yeah, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Yeah, you would think so. I mean, you had to say that in Russian. But Russia were on Germany's side for a lot of the war, were they not?

No, until 1941. And then Germany made the fatal mistake, which many people say by invading Russia. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. During winter, foolish. That's right. Yeah, we've talked about that. That rings a bell. See, I remembered something.

Do you remember that? Don't remember stuff from my own report. Operation Barbarossa. Is that what it is? What? I've never heard that before in my life. So the number of people that Wallenberg saved is also pretty contested now. The number 100,000 often comes up.

Wow. But in a 2004 paper, Hungarian historian, oh, that's fun to say, and Holocaust survivor Randolph L. Bram discussed the mythologizing of Wallenberg's rescue activities. So he said he found, or this from Wikipedia, he found that through personal heroism and diplomatic support, Wallenberg managed to save about 7 to 9,000 Jews. However, during the Cold War, his death was exploded in Western anti-Soviet propaganda. In order to make the Soviet crime seem worse,

his rescue operations were greatly exaggerated. Wallenberg was incorrectly identified as a savior of all the Jews in Budapest and at least 100,000 of them, or at least 100,000 of them, in official statements as well as many popular books and documentaries. As a result, the rescue efforts of other agents in Budapest have been marginalised or ignored. So I think the thing to take away there is he's not the only person, obviously, who was working really hard to save innocent people. And the lowball number is 7 to 9,000.

Yeah, exactly right, yeah. And another historian places the number more at like 4,500, still a huge number of people. Unbelievable amount of people. Yeah, and he's working with plenty of other volunteers as well, I think, like, around maybe 300 people or something. So there's lots and lots of people that were working really hard to save these innocent people. And so I think it's hard because you don't, that's not to discount all the work he did, but putting all of the accolades on him discounts the work of a lot of other people as well. So I think it's just kind of, yeah.

Well, I think to be fair, you should read out the names of the other people. all of them. Yeah, the other historian who says the number is more like 4,500, points out that the focus on heroic actions taken by Wallenberg and other non-Jewish rescuers, obscures the heroism of Jews who carried out rescue actions in Budapest in the final months and were forgotten after liberation. So just something to sort of, you know, keep in mind there as well.

But still, I mean, that does not take away from the remarkable work that he did. And like we were saying, he's kind of the perfect person for the job. having like all the exact kind of skill sets that you want him to have and if you say 4,000 people 80 years ago think about how many people alive today yeah wouldn't be that's a really good point I think did I think there was a lot of uh is it New York or there placed in America that had resettled a lot of Hungarian Jewish people after the war I think and really like massively influenced American culture yeah um yeah and you just like say the amount of generations and generations.

Yeah. So many people are alive today. The flow on effects, yeah. Because of things he did and everyone else. Yeah. Just amazing. A considerable number of honours and memorials have been dedicated to Rale Wallenberg all over the world. Numerous films have been made about him, including one called Good Evening Mr. Wallenberg,

where he's played by Stellan Scarsgard. Oh. Oh, who's that? From the Scarsgard family. Yeah. No, there's like one of the Scars Guard. He's the Dad. In Scarsguards.

Is it in Scarsgard a place in the Thor movies? He is in the Thor movies. Oh, it's a person in the Thor movies. I thought it was one of the places they went. I thought that was pretty cool. That is cool. That is cool. Daddy Scarsgard.

He's been made an honorary citizen in the US, in Hungary, Canada, Israel and Australia. Wow. In fact, he was our first honorary citizen, which is kind of cool. Wow, remarkable. Yeah. There are multiple monuments in Australia, including a couple in Melbourne. And the reason that his name is always sort of stuck in the back of my head as like a report I'd like to do later is that to drive over to the studio where we record the podcast, I drive past one of his memorials. Which one?

The one in Q? Yeah, the one in Q. That's where I knew, know him from as well. Yeah, right. I used to drive, so it's at Q Junction. Yeah. And every week for about six years, I on a Wednesday night would drive from my house to a pub in Richmond where I did my Wednesday night trivia. Yeah, yes.

And the first time was about 10 years ago, and I'd drive past that every time. And it's funny if you do the same drive once a week, every week for the year, because, like, you see the same area in different conditions, different light, different heat, different rain, all sorts of weather conditions. But it would always be, I'd see this monument you pull up at the traffic lights that always stop you there. And I would see it and go, Raul Wollemberg, and it would say 1912 dash no date of death. Yeah.

And I'd go, oh my God, this guy's 100 years old. That's amazing. And then I reckon it's probably about three years in. I was like, this guy's 103. Incredible. I've got to look up who he is. And I was absolutely gutted to find out that he'd probably been dead since 1945. Yeah.

Or maybe not. Or maybe not. But like, yeah, I was like, yes, this hero is over 100. 103. Amazing. Keep going. But yeah. You're waiting for it to be updated.

Yeah. I was thinking. Obviously an amazing innings so far But when will they When will all good things come to an end But sadly it had been like well before any Any of my time on earth he'd been gone Yeah

Well yeah probably And I guess like that's why a couple of people who suggested it I think at least one of them was like And it's a mystery And it kind of is because it's like He may have lived And there was one One of the people who had seen him

You know, one of the prisoners' testimonies was like mentioning somebody in the prison who'd been there for 30 years. So there's some people say that he was alive into the 70s or 80s. But yeah, he may well have been, a lot of people believe he was executed. So don't know, which is fascinating. He's been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize twice. I don't think you can win one if you're dead. So it's tragic that you could never receive it. Yes.

And the Raal-Wollembourg Committee of the United States bestows the Raul-Wollberg Award on individuals, organizations and communities that reflect Raul-Wollberg's humanitarian spirit, personal courage and non-violent action in the face of enormous odds, which is pretty amazing. And to sum it up in 1985, US ambassador to the United Nations, Jean Kirkpatrick, speaking on the 40th anniversary of Raul-Wllenberg's arrest, said Wallenberg has become more than a man, more even than a hero.

He symbolizes a central conflict of our age, which is the determination to remain human and caring and free in the face of tyranny. What Raul-Wolleberg represented in Budapest was nothing less than the conscience of a civilized world. There you go. Well put. So that is my report. A fairly, I would say, abridged version of a pretty ridiculous and, amazing person and life.

And a little bit of a mystery. Still people searching for answers, trying to find information on what exactly happened. Was he killed in prison? Did he, you know, die of old age in prison? Not 100% sure. Oh, 30 years in a Stalin-Russian prison. I don't know if that's any good.

No, that's not a good way to go. But yeah, that's my report on Raul-Wall-Wollberg. Rale-Wall-Wall-Lohenberg. What a man. Yeah, what a guy. Well, I think that brings us to everyone's favorite section of the show where we get to thank a bunch of our great supporters. If you want to support the show, you can go to dogoonpod.com or patreon.com or patreon.com

slash dug on board. Let's read that out so quickly. Sorry, for anyone who can't type that quick. Sorry, Matt, I've got my pen here. How do I spell this? Patreon.com slash dogoon pod. And, I mean, link in the show notes. Let's be honest.

Check it out. Give us a gooks. But basically this section is where we get to thank and appreciate the supporters who keep this show running. Get involved if you want it. There's a bunch of different rewards for support, including bonus episodes. We do three per month,

including many episodes about, you know, different reports. And we do games, and we do a Brendan Fraser, appreciation podcast called phrasing the bar and it's just a lot of fun and you better believe we appreciate him oh big time that's what we're found as the season's worn on

and another thing you can do if you like is join the Sydney-Schenberg level and you get to give us a factor quote or a question that way this section actually has a little jingle I think you go something like this fact quote or question

do you always remembers the da-da-ding so if you want to get a involved in this you sign up there on the Sydney Schenberg level you give us a factor quote or a question and then I read it out on the show you also get to give yourself a title

first up this week is Jacoby Austin de Angel great work Jacoby do you normally correct you on how to pronounce his name I think that is as close as I could get yeah that's right Jacobi has given himself the title of writer director and producer of the

Dugan movie now Jacoby normally use this section to give us updates on his work in the movie. Let's see if it's similar this time. Jacoby is given us a brag. So it's a cold fact, quote, a question, but now you can also give us brags or suggestions. Are there any other ones I forget? They're the main ones.

Yeah, yeah. It can be honestly anything at this point. Yeah. A recipe. Yeah, go for it. That sounds like a recipe. For disaster. Jacobi's brag is.

Oh, love it. I've delegated the other roles on set of the Dugan movie to better focus my artistic vision, as you last suggested. Oh, that's right. He was doing everything. He was doing a lot. Delegate. I'm like a year behind on the pod and catching up now, so it's okay if you don't remember. It was the Oprah episode.

That was a while ago. Is that about a year? Or was that about a month? I don't know anymore. But my last fact, quite a question. asked if we would be starring in the movie or just consultants. Obviously, you'll be starring. This is answering your question from the Oprah episode.

Who will I play? I've been waiting for this answer. Originally, I had the idea to cast some big Hollywood stars, but let's face it, you guys are way too hot to just be consultants. Thank you. Thank you. Finally, someone said what everyone's thinking. Anyway, my brag is also referencing a past episode.

A while ago, you guys did. do go d and d and a bunch of people on the facebook group started a listener campaign which then split off into smaller d and d groups don't know if any of the others are still surviving but after nearly two years my group is still going strong shout out to max karen shorn ben stephen and jessica you're all legends uh we spent most of the time on the campaign as the amazing adventuring group the left ways we always go left who spread communism everywhere they went to start revolutions. I do not understand D&D.

Start revolutions, further their own goals, and of course get filthy rich. Makes sense. Recently, we started a whole new campaign to change things up and let Steve take over DMing for Sean. It's been an awesome semi-weekly thing to look forward to during a worldwide pandemic. and general awfulness everywhere do go on, create a strong friendship

between a handful of people all over America who mostly didn't know each other before this, so we'd all like to say thanks. Sorry for it being a bit long, this one. I'll keep it short, the next one. Keep up the great work.

P.S., congratulations on getting engaged, Dave. Thank you. Are we... I suppose I was going to say, you're not a year behind if you know that, but also you consume other media because I put on Instagram. I was like, hang on.

How does he know that? Thank you so much, Jacoby. Appreciate that. And what a lovely, I didn't know that people were still playing D&D. Yeah, that's so cool. That's really cool. We're meaning to do it by now, but we are going to do another campaign. Yeah, we're in talks.

Yeah, we're in talks. I think that, you know, I've said it before that it's coming up soon. I reckon I said that a year ago. Yeah. Look, I mean, yeah, various lockdowns have made it difficult, but we definitely have that in the works. It's a plan. Yeah.

And I don't, yeah, I don't think they're doing lockdowns anymore. So, anyway. Don't say that. I know. Why don't you say that? Don't you fucking jinx us, you idiot. Matt's knocking on everything. Thank you very much for that, Jacoby.

The next one comes from Vinnie Bonadonna, who's given himself the title of official in-line roller skating representative. Oh, that's fun. And Vinny's asking a question. Like, I should remind everyone, I don't read these out until I read them out, so. Hopefully the question doesn't need too much notice. You people are quite hilarious, loving this so far. Yeah, this is great.

Beautiful question. Great question. I'll feel this one. The answer? Yes. Correct. And I enjoy that you make me laugh on a weekly basis. Okay.

I also really, I really missed out the word. I'm going to assume it's like. I also really like the little stand-up of seeing from you all. It could be, I really hate. Hey. Hey. I also really hate your stand-up. I detest your stand-up.

I'm curious to wonder what, if you all remember, the first jokes you've ever written. He says, I wrote my first joke at 10 years old. Here it is. What did the dog say while it was on top of the house? What? Roof. Oh, that's good. That's good.

That is good. They loved a roof seal campaign, I reckon. Roof, roof. The first jokes I ever wrote, they are on YouTube. Oh, why. Yeah, that would be the ones you've seen. That was my seventh ever gig for the raw national final. Those are the first jokes I ever wrote.

Do I think they're funny? No. But, you know, it was seven years ago now. Why? You have so many spoons. So many spoons. It's a good bit. Still have people telling me, um, actually?

And it's like, it's just a fucking joke. Fuck you. What was the spoon in context again? Uh, buying drugs. Oh. This is a heroin dealer. Nice. Yeah, a bit of fun.

Nice. I can't really remember the first joke. Probably also spoon-related knowing me. Knowing me and knowing you. Uh-huh. Remember one of the first ones I did on stage was about interbreeding animals and how they, you know, like ligas and meals and stuff like that. And it never worked.

But it was Alice Trambley virtual found it really funny. So I tried it a few times. And then I waited a few years, tried it again. I'm like, I was just double-checking that that does not work. It does suck. It does suck. But yeah, it was something about, I'm like, what was it? So I watched this documentary about interbreeding animals.

And I'll learn a really sad fact about it in the documentary. that they can't, the children are actually infertile, like they can't have offspring themselves. And I just thought that was really sad because I was watching it with my friend Gary and he's a monkey man. I was like Gary and he's a monkey man and I just think he would have made a really great dad.

That's funny. That's a good bit. You should try that again now. I think you've got the delivery now. You're smooth now. Yeah, you've been doing this a long time. I'll try it again. I'll try it again.

And I'll report back. That's funny. That's funny. That is funny. Maybe get to it quicker. I didn't turn off a little bit, but the punchline really delivers. I think still talking about that on also. I just remembered, I used to do comedy songs, and the first one was about being in love with the brand power woman.

Oh. The lady who comes on and suggests new products. Helping you buy better. Yeah. Sally Williams. just the one at the time. So yeah. Any footage of that?

Your early songs? Did you ever release an album? No. Sadly, it's not on Spotify. Probably just as well. Thank you very much for that question. Vinnie Bonadonna. The next one comes from Roy Phillips.

Roy's got the title, Imaginary Menagerie Manager. Ooh. You dog, Roy. You dog. Roy, boy. Man, I was, fucking, I was stressing the whole way.

through that. All right. Roy's got a question as well. Yep. The question is you get to travel forwards in time just once. When do you go? What do you go to see and why? This is amazing because Dave, we did one of these recently with Cass.

A question similar. Where would we go in time? Yeah, but that was backwards in time. Oh, this is forwards. So it's difficult to say because obviously you have hindsight and you can say. Yeah. Matt said you wanted to see something. music in the 60s or something.

But the 2060s, what's that like? Yes, that's interesting. Well, Roy's answered if you want to hear. Maybe that'll inspire me, yes, please. For me, I think I would jump forward 50 years and look to see the scientific and medical advancements and bring them back to modern day. Okay. Are we allowed to do that?

He doesn't say it, but implied at a profit. Yeah, because what I was thinking is I'd go forward at least maybe like 10, 15 years and I'd get an almanac. And then I know who wins like all the big games in the next. So you're doing Back to the Future 2. Yeah. But yeah. And then I would just make big bets.

And then I'd accidentally leave it in the time machine and Biff would take it and he would become a Trump like president. Yeah. That's what I would do. That's the film they supposedly predicted Trump becoming president. Which was a slightly long bow, but I sort of get it. Uh, Dave? I guess... I don't want to know when I die.

Are you going to be safe? Yeah. Are you protected from dying? Well, I guess you're making up the rules here. I guess I'd probably just go a century in the future, just out of curiosity. A century? Oh, you're worried that if you go too far, it might be... The atmosphere and not be breathable, yeah.

Might have been hit by an asteroid and on fire. Or everything's radioactive or something. Yeah, that's true. But, because we assume we can come back. No, we are assuming we can come back. Because otherwise it's like, oh, everyone I know and love is dead. Yeah. Yeah.

I just don't want to, yeah, I don't want to be a century in the future. Also, do you see what happens to you? Yeah, I don't want to know. Have you having jumped? Does that mean that you just disappeared? Maybe I'll see a shrine and it says Dave Warnocky born 1992, blank. And I go, what happened to me? What happened?

That would be interesting. Oh, we've got a fourth podcast that's just ended the room. Goose. Do you want to say hi, Goose? I'm gipsy He did Good boy Goosies just got home

Got home from school Not really How was it Little day cake What'd you learn today bud You're going to be so tired aren't you That does sound like Jess is just breathing

He lifts my finger Oh yeah Oh yeah Oh yeah I don't know That's a tricky one I would say I'd say singers, you guys are gone short.

I'll go long, I'll go 1,000 years into the future. I'll go to the year 3,000. See how accurate future armor was. Yeah, okay. But yeah, hopefully my time machine is atmosphere proof or whatever. Yeah, hopefully you're safe.

Interesting question, though. Thank you very much to you, Roy. And the last one this week comes from Kelly Clark. Kiss of Goose is back on the market. That's really funny. Yeah, we're happy to see you too, buddy. Kelly Clark. Kelly's title is Asker of Long Questions, which sounds ominous.

It'd be so good if she followed it up with a very short question. How you doing? Psych. Kelly. Favorite fruit, go. Which is that? Kelly's got a question, and she writes, The 26th of May, 2022 is the five-year anniversary of the Lurier.

statement from the heart, which occurred after governments asked Aboriginal people to tell them how we could achieve reconciliation. The statement calls for a voice to Parliament and for a Macarada Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making and truth-telling. Macarada is a Yon-Gu word approximating the meaning of treaty. My question, what word or phrase from Kulin, any of the five languages, or other Australian first, First Nations languages captures an idea you like. I'll share a wadjak Nunga one. Cardi Ginny, which roughly means knowing, but comes from cart, which is head and gin,

gin, which is foot. So it kind of connotes, is that right? Connotes a whole of self way of knowing. Oh, that's fun. So it's like from head to toe basically. Right. Okay. Your whole.

That's cool. Cardi Ginny. Can you give us the question again? It was like a word that... A word or phrase from cool. For overseas listeners, Cool. Nation is where we live, sort of the areas in and around Melbourne. Because Kelly's from...

I've met Kelly before. She's from Perth. So I think that's why she suggested Cool and Nation. or other Australian First Nations languages. Do you have a word or phrase from Indigenous languages that captures an idea you are? Captures an idea. Wow.

That's such a beautiful and complex question. Yeah, I don't know if I can think of a word. I could do it in English. Captures an idea. Yeah, that's really interesting. My head is struggling to get around that question. I was reading a listical recently about some local indigenous words. It caught my attention because of the headline, let me pull it up.

An introduction to Boon-Worong language from Auntie Faye Stuart Muir. I'm like, Arnie Faye Stuart Muir. My surname's Stuart. I'm so self-obsessing. So, Arnie Faye is. a Boon Wurong elder and yes she gives a list and some of it's real fun the one that I I like the most and I don't I don't think this quite answers Kelly's question but maybe it's it's uh in the ballpark a word a local word tanuk ut Barney means water in the billy or it's basically an

invitation to share food with each other and sit around and share stories that's nice yeah pretty cool it's sort of like I'll pop the kettle on yeah oh yeah yeah basically Yeah. Water in the bill. That's nice. I like that. So Billy is like, it's basically like a bush kettle. Yeah.

Put it on the fire and you have gum leaf tea or something like that. Yeah. That's a good one. That's a great one. It's a tough one. I mean, it's no secrets that the Australian educational system is not amazing in terms of indigenous history. So we don't learn a lot about language and stuff like that. And there's...

I believe it's getting a lot better. better with like you know since our time at school it has improved a lot absolutely but yeah we didn't we didn't learn all that much and there are hundreds of languages too so i don't i don't i don't i honestly don't know if i have one that like encapsulates a no me either what about this one i also like as well barring ballack which means many footprints so this is a tracking device when out hunting but also to see what animals or birds have been down to the waterhole to drink. Oh. I love that idea.

I love the idea of just, you know, being able to, you go, oh, I can see who's been here. Yeah. There's an emu. Yeah, that's cool. There's a kangaroo. There's an elephant? Somebody's lost. Somebody's been to call towonga zoo.

Toonga zoo. Toonga zoo. I've made up a zoo there. That's a great question, Kelly. not one that I have an answer to off the top of my head but if you have like a resource or something that you think could be interesting for us to have a look at you know feel free to let us know but yeah I don't have one off the top of my head

but I like your example and Matt you found some good ones there that's cool yeah right well and I do I really do like her Kelly's example there yeah Cardi Ginny means knowing something whole of self. Yeah. Head to toe.

That's really cool. Yeah. Carding Ginny. All right. Thank you so much to Kelly Roy, Vinny and Jacoby for your facts, quotes and questions, and you brag, Jacoby. We also like to thank a few of our other great supporters. Normally, Jess comes up with a little bit of a game to play here based on the topic at hand. Yeah.

I do often do that. Yeah, this one, maybe this one's trickier. This one is very tricky. He didn't have a nickname. No, not really. I mean, he had a, he had a kind of like a, I would say maybe something like an unassuming job that is used for good in a way that you'd never expect. Like architecture, but somehow save lives. Maybe it's something like that, you know, like Paperboy.

Only he, uh... It was a bulletproof paper. Yeah. Okay, let's use that one. Okay. We can't burn that one. That's gold. That's too good.

All right, well, if you're up for it and you have been for the last couple hundred episodes, do you mind if I go first? Please. Okay, great. Well, I'd love to thank from Modesto in California in the United States, Kevin Drulard. Kevin Drulard. Obviously, for work, Kevin is a firefighter, which is already quite helpful, but not the way you would expect. Isn't that right, Dave?

Yeah, I totally miss what we're doing. I would say a firefighter, yeah. I mean, the idea was that they would do a job that doesn't usually help people. Okay, never mind about firefighter. Okay. Anyway, but in a way that you wouldn't assume, firefighter, the firefighter. Yep. Okay, go.

He, a group of local cheerleaders just could not nail a particular move. and he was driving by on the fire truck a day and said, I know exactly how to fix that. Yeah. Walked in and said, all right, two, three, four, walked him through it. And they went on to win national championships. They went to the national.

They won the national championships. They won the world championships because it's America. Wow. So, yeah. That is amazing. Pretty cool. That is so cool. Okay, so a job and then something that they held.

Yeah, it was going to be like dull sort of jobs. Like architect. Imagine an architect who may have saved 100,000 people's lives. That's surprising. So it was going to be not necessarily saving lives, but helping in some unexpected way. And I went for firefighter because I also didn't quite understand. Well, I obviously didn't name the explanation

if two of the two people listening didn't get it. The next person, I wonder if they'll even know we're talking about them because they are from address unknown, can only assume deep within the fortress of the null, The knolls. Yeah, now surrounded by people called null. And their name is Anne.

Anne, big shout out to Anne, who is of course a flamenco guitarist. Oh, yes. Very dull job. Very dull, boring. Very dull job. And scaled a tall building to rescue a baby

and Anne carried the baby, put the baby inside the flamenco guitar case and carried the baby 90 stories. back down. What about the guitar? Anne threw that away. Anne was like, that means nothing to me.

That's a hero. Whoa. Now, even though this is my only instrument. Just in case Anne doesn't want to be named and didn't give her name for a reason. I'll just give the second initial because I've got the email address there. I'll say Anne P if that helps.

Isn't my mum? No, it's not your mom. Are you sure? Yeah. Are you 100% sure? Is it email jess's mum at hotmail. Yes.

Well, it could be. That'd be too obvious. Jess's mum at Holmau.com. So thank you very much, Anne, and great work with the flamenco guitarist, for starters. And then the work you did from there is also fantastic. I'd also love to thank finally for me from Brown Hill in Victoria, Australia. Beautiful Hill. A brown one.

Yeah, don't ask any questions about what the Hill's made of. It's just brown, okay? It's just how it is. Caitlin Louise from Brown Hill. Caitlin Louise, a journalist. Yep. And they don't help anybody, did I? It turned their writing pen for good by writing a letter to Santa Claus for a kid who forgot to do it.

And it was right at the last minute. Oh, just made it? Senate Express Post, Caitlin did. rush down to the last post. Yeah. Which I think is often a bugle. But in this case, it was a, in this case it was a male type last post.

And Senate, yeah, got it there just in time. Santa was able to deliver the goodies all the way down to Brown Hill. Wow. Great work, Caitlin. Fantastic work. Finally some good news. Yes. And Dave, would you like to thank a few names here?

Yeah, of course. I'd like to think from Strathmore here in Victoria, A big shout out to Nicola. Nicola. Nicola, who is a chef. Yes. Yes. And always has a license to carry knives on the train.

Yeah. And normally, just like, hey, these knives are just for the chefing. But on this case... These are just to Julian. Yes. But whilst on the train on the way to work, Nicola heard the distress call of one other passenger. Turns out they needed to have their...

airway cut open. Oh, Jesus. To live. Yeah. Did Nicola Julian open their airway? Yeah. Did it in like a beautiful Julian cut. Wow.

So very little scarring. Yeah, very little scouring. Wow, that's nice. Didn't even need stitching. Wow. Yeah. No stitching. No stitching.

But okay. I don't understand how. That's a magical cut. Wow. By Nicola. That's a sharp knife. Great work, Nicola. You are a hero.

No hero. I'd also like to thank from Mount Gambia in South Australia, William Northcote. William Northcote is a accountant. An accountant. And we all know they're good for nothing. Except I'm just turning this into a positive. But one time William was on the, heading to the train station head home from work. And a big gust of wind pushed a pram.

heading towards the train tracks. Wow. And William rushed over, grabbed it. Everybody, I mean, there's no train coming, but it was still. It could have been very scary

for the sleeping baby. And he grabbed it in such a gentle motion that the baby didn't even wake up. Slipped straight through. Wow, a hero of sleep there. Yeah. Sleep hero. The mum's going to be stoked with that.

Yeah, exactly. She's like, I only just got him down. Great way, William. So I'm so glad. And as an accountant, William will be dining out on the most exciting moment of his life for the rubber. Yeah.

It's a great work, William. And finally, I would like to thank from Colorado Springs in Would You Believe, Colorado. What? Jonathan McConnell. Jonathan McConnell is an incredible name. What about Jonathan McConnell is a DJ? Yes. Very dull job.

Someone had a heart attack. Stop breathing at his gig. Was there a murder on the dance floor? There was a murder on the dance floor. The heart did the murder. So that What's his Frickin' name?

Noel McDonald's bit about He was attacked By his own heart Well that's what happened On the dance floor But DJ Jonathan McConnell Everyone's like What do we do?

Someone started giving him CPR The person But then no one could remember How fast staying alive I fucking knew it So of course he chucks it on Whips out the record Ah

Ha ha ha ha Steiner So he organised To sing along And Ceprong And Ceper at the same time. Save the gig and save the guys life.

He's on a mic going like and but, but, but very good. Very good. Keeping the, keeping the calm. All right. Getting that rhythm right. Come on a couple of breaths now. Yeah. Recovery position.

Check the airway. One of my all time favorite film clips that Stayed a Live clip. It's just they're sort of just walking around with coats over their shoulders. Very cool. It's so funny. They're just strutting. Pets so high. Chops in full view.

The chop is in full view. Chops. chop out lines burned into my brain much like Dave's was after the last UK tour sorry that everyone I was wearing very high pants

and strutting around the apartment and he has every right to do so may I thank some people as well I'd love to hear you think that would love to thank from deep within the fortress of the malls from location unknown H. Deva

oh that's a great name though H. Daver Hdaver anything like some sort of shoe salesperson yeah yeah absolutely but like pretty good at it.

Like, you'll walk in and they'll be like, you're a size nine. Oh my God, I am. And they'll be like, looking for these. And they'll just hand you the type of shoes you're looking for. And you might be like, hmm, I don't know. And you try them on. You're like, these are the best goddamn shoes in life. It's like magic.

And they'll get the shoes to you like people, you know, used to roll the ball down their arm and bump it up. Yeah. They'd do with the shoe. They'd roll the shoe down and bump it off their bicycle. One at a time. Yeah. And the other.

And then do it over the, over the back around. Pop it up to you. Yeah. Yeah. pretty sick. Very cool. And then they actually walk home by the beach. Yes.

And someone had been eaten by a shark, or attacked by a shark, lost their leg. Yeah. They're bleeding out. Luckily, H. Davis on the scene, fresh set of shoelaces. Okay. Makes a tourniquet. Get out. And then said, you're a remaining foot.

Size 11, come see me. I'll give you a free shoe on Monday. Free shoe. Leaps into the ocean, kills the shark, turns it into a pair of shark's skin, shoes. If I don't know if that's a real thing or not. It is now. But made two right shoes because that's what the person will need from now on.

The shark attack victim's like, it's not the shark's fault. I was swimming in his home. And he's like, I don't care. I'm killing that shark. I'm going to make this shark pay. I'm a hero. I'm really, please don't. The shark didn't mean it.

I'm just, I'm swimming. He doesn't know. I was in the wrong. It's the least I could do. Please don't kill that shark. I've got to beat this shark to death with this pair of shoes. This is my shark killer boots. So a big shout out to H. Deva.

Shark killer, but also a lifesaver. Yeah. I would also love to thank from Thomestown here in Victoria, Len Dines. Lend Dines. What else does Lend do? Sorry, Len, Len, had to do it. Len doesn't get that a lot, I'm sure. Len Dines.

Hopefully he doesn't dash as well. Len Dines is a brickie. Yes. Now you're talking. builds a beautiful, perfect brick wall. And one time... Doesn't even need a one of those... Doesn't even need a trowel.

Doesn't even need a trail. Doesn't even need a trail. It doesn't with his bare hands. Just places it down, smooth it over. Every time. Every time. Every time. Great work, Len. Len's colleagues like to watch him work because he's just like the beautiful rhythm he gets into.

And one time he was there, he had headphones in. He's just like getting a wall done, right? And then a milk bar across the road gets robbed. No. Somebody comes out of the milk bar, they're running down the street. Len, in this perfect rhythm, just picks up a brick, stands up, throws it. Throws a brick. Knocks that person down.

Not dead, but enough time for the local constable to get the assailant. And Len, straight back to the wall. The assailant was a young man, a 23-year-old. Approximately 6-foot-3. It was a proceeding on foot. Did Len pick up the brick that he'd thrown And then just put it straight back in the wall Covered in blood

You'll notice it but obviously it tells the story Like it was a red brick already So you know like A lot of the charm is the imperfection In a brick wall You want a bit of blood on it Every time Len walks past that wall He taps that brick and goes

I nearly killed a man with that And Len's kids goes Yes I know dad You know dad You threw the brick at a milk bar rubber A man was almost getting away With a Toblerone That is not on

They're good on your lend And finally I would love to thank From Butler in PA, Pennsylvania Yeah The only P state in America Oh yeah Cody Daily

Cody Daily Cody Daily Cody Daily Is a creative consultant Yes I don't know what it means No nobody does Cody doesn't really either

But Cody's doing all right He's doing all right He does it perfectly well Yeah Although clients are always happy He's like, I don't know what I did, but they seem happy. But on one occasion, Cody Daly, he just creatively consulted with one of his top clients. And he's like, another job done, I guess.

And on his way home, he, feel free to take this up whenever you're ready. He was crossing the road, Jess. Yes, yep. And then. And then. someone came out of the milk bar he grabbed a brick he had a brick in his brief

no he was crossing the road and he saw Dave he saw what did he say he saw a he saw that there'd been a car accident yep a couple of people

with minor injuries okay and then they said look I've, they were crying even though that they weren't injured. He was like, shouldn't you be happy that you're alive? And they said, well, the thing is, I've got no insurance. This is going to ruin me. And he said, I'm a creative consultant.

I've got a great idea. I will turn this scene into a bit of art. Yes. And from the profits from this art, we will pay for the damage you've caused to the other vehicle and I'll get you back on the road. Oh, God. Wow. What hero.

Cody didn't, like, he didn't owe those people anything, But he just did this nice thing. Don't say creative consultants don't do anything because they do. Wow. They change lives creatively. That's incredible. Thank you so much for that fine work you did, Cody, as well as Len H. Jonathan, William, Nicola, Caitlin, Anne and Kevin.

Thank you, one and all. And finally, the last thing we like to do is welcome a few people into the Triptitch Club. To get into the Triptitch Club, you just have to be a supporter on the shoutout level or above for three straight years. you get welcomed into the club. It's a one-way ticket to Paradise, baby. Once you're in, you're in for life, whether or not you want to leave. You're in.

A bit of theatre of the mind. I'm standing on the door. Got the guest list on a clipboard for the velvet rope, ready to lift up. Once I call your name, I'll welcome you in. Everyone who's already in the club is waiting there,

clapping along, cheering your name, then Dave's on the mic, on the stage. He's MCING the night. Yo, yo. He's going to pump you right up. Hell yeah.

with a pretty weak bit of wordplay. And then Jess will support Dave, even though it must be really hard to do, to be honest, because some of it is genuinely dog shit. What the fuck? Who is this guy? Who is this negative Nellie? Jess also normally comes up with a cocktail based on today's topic.

What's today's cocktail? Branvin. Yep. Brannvin. It's shnaps. You want Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Wikipedia. I said Swedish alcohol.

So yeah, a few cocktails of that and of course Swedish meatballs. Fantastic. Sounds delicious. Dave, you've normally booked a band? Yes, as a tribute to the great Rahul Wallenberg, who is Swedish, I've booked a Swedish band. Yeah. You think of one Swedish band. Get it in your minds?

What are you thinking of? Is it ace of bass? It wasn't, no, but. It wasn't. Who wasn't? The hives. Yes? I was thinking of, um,

of another band. Abba is the other one. I was thinking of the cardigans. Wow. They're Swedish. There you go. I thought they were Irish. That makes way more sense.

There you go. Abra is the number one, but... I don't know why that works. Way more sense. Ace of bass. Can't wait. They saw a sign. I saw the sign.

And it opened up your mind. I saw the sign. Yeah. Great song. Can't wait to hear it. Actually hated that song. As a kid, but just hearing us sing it then. I love it again.

My favourite is first aid kit. They're Swedish? Oh, yeah. They are. You know, my band was booked to open for them once. Get out. Really? Then they cancelled the gig, and by the time they came back,

they were way too big to play at the Northgate Social Club anymore. Suddenly they're like, oh, no, we're doing Festival Hall. We'll get a big local act. And didn't they get their break by covering Fleet Foxes on YouTube or something? And they were discovered that way? I don't know. I think. It's the way of the future.

YouTube. You heard of that? I think it's what the kids are into these days I don't know Isn't that how Bieber was discovered by Usher or something Stop me when I'm making things up I don't know Alright anyway so we've got

Seven inductees into the club this week Are you ready Dave? I am ready I saw the sign here we go Alright from Bandura in Victoria Australia It's Celeste Van Grimesvin Oh Celeste is best Yes

From Holly Spring in North Carolina. Fun fact there. Fire trucks are blue. It's Paul Jacob. Impossible to feel blue around Paul. Yes. Oh my God,

amazing. Thank God he added that dumb fact. I had nothing apart from that. From Mahan City in Florida in the United States, it's Jason Frey. Oh, I thought you were going to say free. Okay. I'm Frey.

Jason, hey! Yeah, Frey's the way. Make way for Jason Frey. Let's lock that one in. Yeah, that was good. That was appropriate. Rupp and yupp in Victoria, Australia. It's Brad Teesdale.

Oh, it's a big ruppin'yup from me. From Vermin in Connecticut, I reckon in the United States. It's Brianna Spencer Lyrich in brackets. Not sure if I'm meant to read that out or no. No. Sorry, that really threw me off. Brana Spencer. Very temperamental.

Branna Spencer, I give you a tensor. Yes. Would have been, I mean, Tenser, yeah, okay, yeah, they're a real princess to me. Shut up, this is not yours to play. From Dungarvin in Ireland, it is Thomas Goodall. Oh, that's not going to be a battle.

It's going to be a goodall. Yeah, Thomas is here. And finally from Princeton. And finally from Princeton in New Jersey. In the United States, it's Lisa Bella. I'm not sure about Princeton, but I'm sure about princess turn. Lisa Ballard.

Yes. What? I'm saying she's a princess. She's royalty. Come on in. We're very happy to have you here. Come on in, Your Highness.

Yes. God, Matt. You ruined everything. I'm interested in some snaps. Do you want to meet Ace of Base? I know the singer. Can make it happen. Thank you very much to Lisa.

Thomas, Brianna, Brad, Jason, Paul and Celeste. Welcome into the club. Make yourselves at home. Grab yourself some Swedish meatballs and cocktails. Enjoy Ace of Base. And yeah, everyone's very friendly in here. Have a great old time.

But that brings us to the end of the episode. Bob, do you want, does there anything we need to tell people? Justin, if they want to see what we look like, you can head over to Do Go on Pod at all social media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. You can get in touch with us at do go on pot at gmail.com or our website. on piety.com. It's where all the cool people hang out.

I'll be there. I'm online. Yeah? You're on the World Wide Web. I've just seen that Dave has 10,883 unread emails. God, that makes me feel to think about.

They say you need to get your 10,000 up to be an expert in something. So it sounds like you're an expert in not opening emails. That makes me very anxious. How many have you got? None. Like I'm at, I clear the inbox.

How do you, what do you delete them? If it's not relevant, I delete it. Yeah. Like this is just all junk. I'm just deleting it right now. It's gone, done. My inbox is empty. What happens if you need to find something later?

I don't delete like things that I need. I delete junk. But otherwise it just sits there. So you're telling me that I don't need an email from Booper saying smile, you've got a new neighbor. No, I'd be deleting that. Really? It's time to recharge your doorbell.

Up to 60% off Qantas wine stock take sale. Yeah, I'm deleting those. I'm deleting those. It's time to recharge your doorbell. You keep those. What does that mean? I'm so sorry to derail just as we were trying to wrap up. Dave.

We are different people. Dave, please wrap this up. Dave, wrap it up. Hey, thanks so much for listening. You can email us like we say. And then clear your fucking inbox. Yeah, right. Well, don't email me.

Email us. Do you go on pot or email.com. We'll be back next week with another episode. Until then, I'll say thank you so much. And goodbye. Bye. Don't forget to sign up to our tour mailing list so we know where in the world you are. and we can come and tell you when we're coming there.

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