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.

Just jumping in really quickly at the start of today's episode to tell you about some upcoming opportunities to see us live in the flesh. And you can see us live at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2024. We are doing three live podcasts on Sundays at 3.30 at Basement Comedy Club, April 7, 14 and 21. You can get tickets at dogo1pod.com. Matt, you're also doing some shows around the country. That's right. I'm doing shows with Saren Jayamana, who's been on the show before. We're going to be in Perth in January, Adelaide in February, Melbourne through the festival in April, and then Brisbane after that. I'm also doing Who Knew It's in Perth and Adelaide. Details for all that stuff at mattstuartcomedy.com.

We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On.

My name is David Warnke 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 me on today. Great to have you here Matt and also I've got to say a big welcome back to Jess Bob Perkins. 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 you. Thank you, dude. And she's talking about herself in the third person now. Is this 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 the story I've got my head around it We're not calling it Kona No? Not yet Okay

Yeah, I reckon 2023 we'll be calling it Kona It hasn't been around enough for a cute nickname 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 in a fish episode Not in a fish But yeah, I'm back 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 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. Okay. She hasn't said that officially yet. Sorry. Sorry to try and force that. He's a friend of mine, I suppose.

Well, he's going to be an opponent of yours because at the Comedy Festival this year, I've booked three nights at the Melbourne Town Hall, Monday nights, April 4, 11 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. So I really can't back out.

Yeah, honestly, we've sold, we've just passed the point of no return with the ticket sales. So you kind of have to be there. I'm kidding. I love it. This will 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 learnt a little story, but we've also got some points on the board. So exciting. Can't wait to crush Matt. Yeah. Crush the loser.

Loser will be crushed, that's a rule. I'm also doing a show at the Comedy Festival with Alastair Tremblay-Burche. 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?

Because I think Dave sometimes can get it. But I want to have a go. Honk, honk. Yes. Hubba hubba. That rings a bell. Ring-a-ding-ding. Dave?

That's right. That's correct. Correct. Ding. First point to Jess. Honk, honk. Hubba hubba. Ring-a-ding-ding.

And it's on for the second half of the festival. 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 it 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 of weeks is how this show works. Yeah, Jess, it's been a while.

Do you remember? Do you want me to... I think there's a gong involved. Yeah, that's also at the quiz show. Basically, on the podcast, what we do is we take it in turns 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?

World War II. It is a World War II badass. Do we get half a point there for that? Yeah, that was actually perfectly in unison. I 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. It is a World War 2 Badass. 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 2 Badass. Obviously World War 2 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 Raoul Wallenberg. 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 Raoul? R-A-O-U-L. Right. Raoul. Or Raoul. Yeah, it's like... Raoul.

I always sort of said it like Raoul, but he's Swedish. Right. And in hearing other Swedish people talk about him, it's more like Raoul. Raoul. Yeah, Raoul. 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 it by the end. So I reckon 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 it right. Maybe that's not even true. Fuck, that's actually pretty good. Oh, my God. 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. Yeah. And one heart. And one microphone. We're sharing it. Yeah. So you guys definitely have COVID.

So the story. Hang on. When Maria Wising was six months pregnant with her first child, her husband, Raoul, a Swedish naval officer, died of cancer. Tragedy struck again three months after she gave birth when her father died of pneumonia, Jess, did the character this is about just die in the first seconds? Okay. It did 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 Raoul 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. 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, Raoul 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 Raoul learned languages, traveled abroad and had varied work and life experiences. After spending a year in Paris Raoul heads for the US studying architecture at 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 it in other like World War II kind of topics. It sounds Swedish, doesn't it? Yeah, maybe. It might be like Wikipedia. Oh, right. Right, maybe I have to – Sorry, Wikipedia.

Wikipedia. Yeah, right. I think.org. Oh, not.com,.org. No,.org. Wikipedia. Right. Maybe I have to. Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Oh, yeah, right. I think.org. Oh, not.com. .org. No,.org. Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia.org.

That does sound European. Yeah, I think so. And it's just like a, I don't know even how to describe it, like an encyclopedia of World War II information. Is it an encyclopedia? It's an encyclopedia. Checks out. Why have you cringed every time?

I'm cringing. This is me laughing, Bob. You haven't seen this before? I've never seen it before. That's how rare it is. It looks like a cringe. Encyclopedia. I'm hurting Matt.

He hates it and I don't know why. I'm not hating it. I'm probably trying to stifle the laugh. You are. You are 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're not laughing at Swedish. It's insensitive, yeah. No, no, no. We're not laughing at the language. It's probably my butchering of it. Yes. Yeah.

No, no, no. We're not laughing at the language. It's probably my butchering of it. Yes. 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 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've 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, the Wallenberg family and his grandfather are 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. Like, he worked at the World Fair or something at one point.

Yeah, it did sound like he was rich. I mean, he's, like, been sent around the world to study and stuff in the, what, the 19... This is in the 30s. 30s. Yeah, he's gone to Paris and then the States. It's the Great Depression. Everyone's battling. He's just fed up in the first class spa.

Grandfather. Hitchhiking in first class. Oh, you must. Oh, you must. Oh, you must. Oh, you must travel. You must summer in Paris. 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 goodness. You'd 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 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 bloody not what you know it's who you know you know what i mean what do you mean well i mean uh sometimes you can have all the qualifications but it doesn't matter because your dad's uncle's cousin yeah has a knows there's an opening in south Africa. Yep. And he gets you a 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. So he didn't get the gig because he just didn't know about it. At the interview they say, do you know Barry? Who? Next. You're out. say, do you know Barry? Who? 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 favourite So you said the wrong thing You guys got a least favourite 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 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. Tim. Love you. Also my favourite Uncle Tim. That's not my Uncle Tim pointing to a photo. This guy. No, that's not my Uncle Tim.

That's my Uncle Jeff. Anyway. Jeff, also a great uncle. Great. 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 Hungarian by the name of Kalman Lauer. That name will come up again. Kalman. Amazing. I love that. You set your watch. I'm probably also saying that wrong, but Kalman Lauer. Kalman Lauer. And who's Kalman Lauer?

Sorry. The owner of the company that Raoul's now working for. Kalman Lauer. Kalman Lauer. Kalman Lauer. 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 is 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 intermarriage. 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, travelling to Hungary to conduct business so wallenberg became his representative traveling to hungary to conduct business on his behalf but also he was sort of he spent a bit of time

visiting and checking up on lauer's family who was still in 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 so and he hadn't been there that long i suppose but joint owner 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 good... 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 to have a piece of it. I would suppose to be joint owner, you'd have to... There'd be some sort of 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 he's 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 them in the mouth? Did you punch a Nazi? This one comes from Lauer, come louder. Come louder?

Kalman Lauer. Kalden Lauer. Yep. Smack. There you go. Anyway, let us know if you've got any reply. I'll be back there next week. All right.

All right. That's all. I think that's all I've got. I'm just checking the list. Oh, yeah sorry i have a case of the fridays djf am i right anyways anyway this one's for me knee in the bowl yeah man 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 assholes. Yeah. Like, I don't know if I can put it in stronger terms than that. 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've got to be heated there, mate. No, you probably should. 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, sorry,

began secretly pursuing peace talks with the US and the UK. Hey. Hey. It's not going so well. It's not looking good for Germany. So I would like to back out of that case. It seems 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 verbatim how that conversation went.

Shrewd negotiators. Unfortunately for him, Hitler caught wind of this duplicity and ordered the occupation of Hungary by German troops in March 1944. So Horthy was placed under house arrest and a pro-German puppet government was installed in Budapest Like literal puppets? Yeah Depends on which ones

It could be like It could be Muppet type puppets Or it could be like Thunderbird Yeah Or marionettes Yeah, love a marionette That could be fun Yeah

FAB What was that? Punch and 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 when people say like a puppet state.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is a state made up of puppets. Sesame Street's a puppet street. It's like that on a larger scale. When somebody has their hand up your ass, you're in a bit of a puppet state Yeah Instead of going, whoa, what's happening here?

What's happening here, right puppet? You know, like that But you are at their 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 talking out the side of their mouth. I don't know why I'm so muffled. Maybe they got their head in there too, maybe.

Help me! Help me! Have you ever gone too far in? 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 Budapesh, isn't it? I think probably. But I think people say, I think it's sort of commonly said Budapest. I'm going to say Budapest. Now I think sort of commonly said Budapest. I'm going to say Budapest. Now, there's three sections of Budapest. You've got Buda. Yeah. You've got Obuda.

And you've got Pest. Am I remembering that right? I don't know why I'm asking. I haven't been. I don't know. I mean, I have 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. Yeah, 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 the guy i'm like why 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 it was very strange 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, it's a bit strange. But were they targeting Australians? I guess, but it's also not, I mean, it worked for me somehow. But really, it was just because it was the cheapest hostel available. Yeah, there's a reason for that too.

Interesting. I just, you know i i was on a tight i was on i was in europe on a shoestring yeah i should write a book about that um so prior to this you know um 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 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 Ivor C. Olsen, 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 Olsen needed to find someone to go to Budapest and organize a rescue program

and he established a committee to find a person place in the newspaper. I feel like a guy I know ticks a few of these boxes. Are you going to say Jesus? Jean-Claude Van Damme. Jesus would have been funny though. 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... 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 Kalman Lauer, Raoul's business partner.

Oh, Kalman Lauer. Lauer introduced Olsen to Raoul Wallenberg 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 recognise that kind of stuff 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 cuz 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 and they just don't know if they can trust him yeah i think so but those concerns were eventually

overcome um 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 like a shit embassy. Yeah, it's like, it's a sub-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 didn't think we'd have so much fun on a topic. So far, we've talked 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 gotta, you know

Because it is so fucking grim Oh, it's absolutely When I heard the topic I was like, oh, okay Yeah But, honestly Badass 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. Yeah, that's right. I didn't include it in the report, but I read a story. It was on Wikipedia. He and his sister went to see a movie.

The movie was like – I'm just gonna 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 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, Raoul 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, exactly. 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 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. 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... Two-thirds have been deported already. Yeah. Wow. We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures.

Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. So here's what they did. Along with fellow Swedish diplomats, he issued protective passports. They were called Schutzpass.

If someone had one of these passports, it 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 is my friend here, Benjamin... I can't remember his name. Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin. But who is this? I don't know who that is. But who is this?

I don't know who that is. Imagine that, geez, the terror of having to show anything but like a forge thing and trying to commit, 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.

I know, 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 delegation 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 Raoul appealed to the wife of the Hungarian minister for foreign affairs because who can convince a minister better than his own wife?

And it worked and the woman was able to convince her husband to honour 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, Raoul rented 32 buildings in Budapest. These buildings were declared extraterritorial, meaning they were exempt from the jurisdiction of local law,

which means these buildings had diplomatic immunity. Oh, I see. And they were, did you say extra? Extraterritorial. Extraterr what did you say? Extra. Extra territorial. Extra territorial. Yeah, fun. Yeah. So he just.

So close to extraterrestrial. Yeah. Which would be even cooler. He 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.

Yeah. Argue that. Argue that, you dog. Knee to the balls again. flying sorry sorry I don't make the rules it is an object yeah 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 a building. Make it a library, no one's going there. Swedish Research Institute, yawn. I'm going to the water park.

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

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

But how is it different to an Italian meatball? Dave? I've eaten meatballs in Sweden and they were fantastic. But I don't know what was in them because I didn't cook them. 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 yum. 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. Wow. 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 site 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 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 enemies like Russia are bombing you as well. So you're just like, it's just what a nightmarish 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 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 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 yeah holy shit and even crediting that to him and mean, that's amazing that they would all do that. But yeah, like a young woman being like,

well, I'll 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. Like 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 Wallenberg, 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 his courage. After Wallenberg had handed over the last of the passports he ordered all those who had one to leave the train and walk 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... I know. People... From both sides, people accepting it and be like, choose, like people from both sides, people accepting it and being like, Oh, you'd feel off.

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, Wallenberg 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? Of course. You know, and then, I know, you're absolutely right, it's incomprehensible, it's horrendous. But that's just a crazy story that he's on top of a train. Yeah, wow, such bravery. Handing in passes, it's wild. And it is a wild idea that they're shooting near him yeah 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 it's third hand and it's somebody hypothesizing about the intentions of these um germans and arrow cross men but who knows but it's pretty wild um he started sleeping in a different house each night to guard against being captured or killed by our arrow cross party members um or by adolf eichmann's men he was one of the major organizers of the holocaust honestly if i reckon if they try to capture him they just sort of like swoop above his head. Yeah. Sounds like they're fucking useless.

Just can't get him. Typical dumb goons. Yeah. Stormtroopers sort of thing. Oh. 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 them. He's confronting and annoying Nazis. Nazis are like, this man is harassing us. He's so mean. Leave us 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 yeah classic nazi bullshit said wallenberg wallenberg fucking yeah you better you're fucking I don't know what to say here. 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. 70,000? Apparently, yeah.

Sometimes the numbers get a little muddled. Different resources say different things, 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. That it's just, yeah.

It's in a way, and the only word I can think is fascinating, that just the psychology of it. You're right. Fascinating. Fascination. It's so of it. You're right. Fascinating. Fascination. 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 with us? So what happens next is widely speculated. All the sources I read said slightly different things. Back to that Michigan University site. It 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 Budapest. 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. What? On the other hand, Wikipedia says that Wallenberg was called to the headquarters of Soviet military commander Rodan Malinovsky.

And Wallenberg's last recorded words were, I'm going to meet Malinovsky, 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 Ryle'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 he's just a guy you know 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 what where's raul? Anybody seen Raoul? They got other stuff on their minds. So it wasn't until June of 1946, so that's a while later. So 18 months 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 uh um uh 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 Why were they keeping him in prison anyway uh it's a wonderful question probably save people's lives yeah yeah i don't understand it wasn't even

he was saving them from nazis yeah i don't get it no it doesn't make a lot of sense i don't yeah i don't really understand 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 into 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 to 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.

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 $1 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 what where was where was this court case

uh in the u.s yeah right so they sued the soviet union which is kind of wild that is a good question i don't i don't really know why this 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, OK, well, there's the Battle of Stalingrad.

You could look into that in a lot more depth than you can look into... Because, well, I mean, as you know from a world war one report um the wars are very complex the world ones yeah the world ones in particular yeah yeah yeah they are quite i've never really thought about it like lots of dominoes falling you know um 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. It is difficult to, like, justify a lot of the stuff the Soviet Union did. They murdered and disappeared millions of their own citizens. Yeah. 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. 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. Or 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. Does that look embarrassing for you? I think 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 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 knew how 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 people say by invading russia yes yeah yeah so yeah during winter foolish that's right yeah we've

talked about that that rings a bell see i remembered something remember that i don't remember stuff from my operation barbara rossa 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 uh braham discussed, discussed the mythologising of Wallenberg's rescue activities. So he said he found, this is from Wikipedia, he found that through personal heroism and diplomatic support, Wallenberg managed to save about 7,000 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 the saviour 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 7,000 to 9,000. Yeah, exactly right. 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 – Well, I think to be fair, you should read out the names of the others. All of them. Yeah, the other historian who says the number's 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 wouldn't be. That's a really good point.

I think there was a lot of, is it New York? A place in America that resettled a lot of Hungarian Jewish people after the war, I think, and massively influenced American culture. Yeah. Yeah, and you just, like you 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. Just amazing. A considerable number of honours and memorials have been dedicated to Raoul 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 Skarsgård.

Oh, who's that? Probably the Skarsgård family. One of the Skarsgårds. Who's the dad of the Skarsgård family Yeah One of the Skarsgårds Who's the dad Of the Skarsgårds Isn't Skarsgård 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 He's played by Daddy Skarsgård 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 just 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 is the one in q yeah the one in q the key that's where i knew it knowing from as well because 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. Ah, 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 wallenberg and i would say 1912 dash no date of death yeah and i'd go oh my god this guy's a hundred 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?

You're waiting for them to chisel it in. Yeah. I was thinking, obviously, an amazing inning so far, but when will all good things come to be updated? Yeah, you're waiting for them to chisel it in. Yeah, I was thinking, obviously an amazing inning so far, but when will all good things come to an end? That's funny. Sadly, it had been like well before any of my time on earth had been gone. 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 of the people who had seen him, you know, one of the prisoner's 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 um but yeah he may well have been a lot of people believe he was executed um so don't know which is fascinating um 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 he could could never receive it. Yes. And the Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States bestows the Raoul Wallenberg Award on individuals, organisations and communities that reflect Raoul Wallenberg'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 Raoul Wallenberg's arrest, said, Wallenberg has become more than a man, more even than a hero. He symbolises a central conflict of our age, which is the determination to remain human and caring and free in the face of tyranny. What Raoul Wallenberg 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 a bridged version of a um a pretty ridiculous and amazing person in life um 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 Raoul Wallenberg. Raoul Wallenberg. What a man. Yeah, what a guy. Well, I think that brings us to everyone's favourite 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 dugongpod.com or patreon.com slash dogoonpod.

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 dogoonpod. And, I mean, link in the show notes. Let's be honest. Check it out.

Give us a gooks. 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 to. There's a bunch of different rewards for supporting, including bonus episodes. We do three per month, including many episodes about 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 found as the season's worn on. And another thing you can do, if you like, is join the Sydney

Schaumburg level and you get to give us a fact or quote or a question that way this section actually has a little jingle I think it goes

something like this fact quote or question he always remembers the ding so if you want to get involved in this you sign up there on the Sydney Schaumburg level

you give us a fact a 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 DeAngel. Great work, Jacoby. Did I get it right?

You normally correct me on how to pronounce his name. I think that is... That was as close as I could get. Yeah, that's right. Jacoby has given himself the title of writer, director and producer of the Dugon movie. Now, Jacoby normally uses this section to give us updates on his work in the movie. Let's see if it's similar this time. Jacoby has given us a brag.

So, it's called Fact Quote or 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. Jacoby's brag is... Oh, love it. I've delegated the other roles on set of the Dugon 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. Was that about a year?

Or was that about a month? I don't know anymore. Time has lost all meaning. But my last fact-quota question, Jess asked if we would be starring in the movie or just consultants. Obviously, you'll be starring. Great. This is answering your question from the Oprah episode.

Okay, thank you. 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&D, and a bunch of people in the Facebook group started a listener campaign, which then split off into smaller D&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, Sean, Ben, Stephen and Jessica. You're all legends.

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 dm 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. I was going to say, you're not a year behind if you know that, but also you consume other media. I was like to say, you're not a year behind if you know that, but also you consume other media. 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. Out of Carnivalet. 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 think they're doing lockdowns anymore. So, anyway. Don't say that. I know. Why don't you say that

idiot matt's knocking on everything uh thank you very much for that jacoby the next one comes from vinnie bonadonna who's given himself the title of official inline roller skating representative oh that's fun and vinnie's asking a question. 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 fill 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 I've seen from you all. It could be. It could be. I really hate. I also really hate your stand-up. I detest your stand-up. I'm curious to wonder what if you all, 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.

He loved the roof seal campaign, I reckon. Roof, roof. The first jokes I ever wrote, they are on YouTube. Oh, wow. They're the ones you've seen. Yeah, they 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 do you have so many spoons? So many spoons. It's a good bit. I still have people telling me, um, actually. And it's like, it's just a fucking joke.

Fuck you. What was the spoon context again? Buying drugs. Oh, okay. As a heroin dealer. Nice. Yeah, a bit of fun. Nice.

I can't really remember the first joke joke probably also spoon related knowing me knowing me knowing you remember one of the first ones i did on stage was about um interbreeding animals and how they, you know, like ligers and meals and stuff like that. And it never worked. But it was, Alistair Trombley-Birchall 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. Yeah.

That does not work. It does suck. All right. It still sucks. But yeah, it was something about, I'm like, I was just double checking. Yeah. That does not work. It does suck. All right. It still sucks. But yeah, it was something about, I'm like, what was it? So I watched this documentary about interbreeding animals and I learned 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'm like, I just thought that was really sad because I was watching it with my friend Gary The children are actually infertile. They can't have offspring themselves. 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... I was like, Gary, 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. Try it years later. 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. Try it again.

And I'll report back. That's funny. That's funny. That is funny. Maybe get to it quicker. I did zone off a little bit, but the punchline really delivers. Are you still talking about animals?

I just remembered I used to do comedy songs and the first one was about being in love with the brand power woman. The lady who comes on and suggests new products. Helping you buy better. Yeah. Sally Williams was the one at the time. So, yeah. Any footage of that?

Of 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, Vinny Bonadonna. Next one comes from Roy Phillips. Roy's got the title, Imaginary Menagerie Manager.

You dog, Roy. You dog. Roy boy. got the title imaginary menagerie manager you dog roy you dog right boy man i was i was stressing the whole way through that all right uh roy's got a question as well yep uh 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.

You could say, Matt said you wanted to see some music in the 60s or something. But the 2060s, what's that like? Yes, it's interesting well roy's answered if you want to hear maybe that'll inspire me yes please uh 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 he doesn't say it but implied at. 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'd know who wins 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. 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 have been hit by an asteroid on fire. Or everything's radioactive or something. Yeah, that's true. Because we assume we can come back. No, we are assuming we can come back. Yeah, we come true. But because we assume we can come back. No, we are assuming we can come back. Yeah, we come back. Because otherwise it's like, oh, everyone I know and love is dead.

Yeah. Yeah. I just 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. Or you having jumped, does that mean that you just disappear? Maybe I'll see a shrine and it says Dave Warnocki born 1992 blank. And I go, what happened to me?

What happened? That would be interesting. Oh, we've got a fourth podcaster just entered the room. Goose. Do you want to say hi, Goose? Hi, Goosey. He did. Good boy.

Goosey's just got home. Pant one for yes. Got home from school. Not really. How was it? Little daycare. What did you learn today, bud?y's just got home from school. Not really. How was it? Little daycare. What did you learn today,

bud? You're going to be so tired, aren't you? That does sound like Jess is just breathing.

He licked my finger. Goosey, come here. Anyway, I don't know. It's a tricky i would say i'd say singers you guys have gone short i'm gonna i'll go long i'll go i'll go 1 000 years into the future i'll go to the year 3000 see how accurate futurama 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. So Goose is back on the mic. That's really funny. Yeah, we're happy to see you too, buddy. Kelly Clark. Kelly Clark.

And Kelly's title is Ask Her of Long Questions, which sounds omin funny. Yeah, we're happy to see you too, buddy. Kelly Clark. Kelly Clark. And Kelly's title is Ask Her of Long Questions, which sounds ominous. Yeah. It'd be so good if she followed it up with a very short question. How you doing? Yeah. Psych. Kelly.

Favorite fruit, go. It's just that. Kelly's got a question and she writes, The 26th of May 2022 is the five-year anniversary of the Uluru 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 Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making and truth-telling. Makarrata is a Yolngu word approximating the meaning of treaty. My question, what word or phrase from Kulin, any of the five languages, or other Australian First Nations languages, captures an idea you like? I'll share a Wadjuk nunga one cardi ginny which roughly means knowing but comes from cart which is head and gin gin which is foot uh so it con uh 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.

Yeah, 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 Kool. For overseas listeners, Kool 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. Perth, yeah. I think that's why she suggested Kulin Nation or other Australian First Nations languages. Do you have a word or phrase from Indigenous languages that captures an idea you like? Captures an idea?

Wow. That's such a beautiful and complex question. Yeah. I don't know if I can think of a word of any language. I could do it in English. Captures an idea you like? Yeah. That's really interesting.

My head is struggling to get around that question. captures an idea yeah that's really interesting my head is struggling to get around that question um i would uh i was reading a listicle recently um about uh some local indigenous words yeah that caught my attention because the headline let me pull it up an introduction to boon warong language from auntie faye stewart muir i'm like, Aunty Faye Stuart Muir? My surname's Stuart. I'm so self-obsessive. Aunty Faye? So Aunty Faye's a Boon Wurrung elder.

And yes, she gives a list. And some of them are real fun. The one that I like the most, and I don't think this quite answers Kelly's question, but maybe it's in the ballpark. I like the most and I don't I don't think this quite answers Kelly's question but maybe it's it's in the ballpark a word

a local word Tarnook 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 right water in the billy that's nice I like that so billy It's sort of like, I'll pop the kettle on. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, basically. Yeah. Water in the billy. 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 cool one. That's a great one. It's a tough one. I mean, it's no secret that the Australian educational system's not amazing in terms of indigenous history so we don't learn a lot about um about language and stuff like that and there's i believe it's getting a lot 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 honestly don't know if I have one that like encapsulates a... No, me either. What about this one I also like as well. Baring Balak, 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 water hole to drink. Just love that idea. I love the idea of just being able to 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 better call Tawonga Zoo. Tawonga Zoo.

Tawonga Zoo. I 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 really do like Kelly's example there. Cardi Ginny means knowing something whole of self. Yeah.

Head to toe. That's really cool. Yeah. Cardi 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 he didn't have a nickname no not really um 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 something like that You know like Paperboy Only he

It was bulletproof paper Yeah Okay let's use that one Okay We can't burn that one That's gold That's too good Alright well if you're up for it

And you have been for the last couple of 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 Droolard. Kevin Droolard. Obviously, for work, Kevin is a firefighter,

which is already quite helpful, but not in the way you would expect. Isn't that right, Dave? Yeah. I totally miss what we're doing i would say firefighter yeah i mean the idea was that they would do a job that doesn't usually help okay never mind okay anyway but in a way that you wouldn't assume firefighter uh The Firefighter. Yep. Okay, go. He, a group of local cheerleaders just could not nail a particular move. And he was driving by in the fire truck one day and said,

I know exactly how to fix that. Yeah. Walked in and said, all right, two, three, four. Walked them through it. And they went on to win national championships. They went to the nationals. They won the nationals. They won the national championships, 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 got. 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 nail the explanation if two of the two people listening didn't get it uh 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 null yeah not surrounded by people called null

and their name is ann and big shout out to ann, 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. Even though this is my only instrument. Just in case Anne doesn't want to be named and didn't give her surname for a reason, I'll just give this second initial because I've got the email address there.

I'll say Anne P if that helps. Is it my mum? No, it's not your mum. Are you sure? Yeah. Are you 100% sure? Is the email jessismum at hotmail.com? Yes. Well, that could be. Anne P, Jess's mum at hotmail.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 much, Anne, and great work with the flamenco guitarist, for starters. That's cool. 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, do they? It's 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. Just made it? And they sent it express post, Caitlin did. Rushed 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 mail type last post. And sent it. Yeah, got it there just in time. Sent it. Was able to deliver the goodies all the way down to Brownhill. 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 thank from Strathmore here in Victoria, a big shout out to Nicola. Nicola.

Hello, Nicola, who is a chef. Yes. Yes. And always has a license to carry knives on the train. Yeah. And normally, it's just like, hey, these knives are just for the chefing. Yeah. But on this case...

These are just to Julianne. 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 Julien open their airway? Yeah, did it in like a beautiful Julian cut. Wow. So very little scarring. Yeah, very little scarring. 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. You are a hero. You're a hero. I'd also like to thank from Mount Gambier in South Australia, William Northcutt. William Northcutt is a... Accountant. Accountant.

An accountant. And we all know they're good for nothing. Except to Mark Jess turning this into a positive. But one time, William was heading to the train station, heading home from work, and a big gust of wind pushed a pram heading towards the train tracks. Wow. And William rushed over, grabbed it.

I mean, there was no train coming, but 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. Slept straight through. Wow. A hero of sleep there. Yeah. Sleep hero. Mum's going to be stoked with that.

Yeah, exactly. She's like, I only just got him down. Great work, William. I'm so glad. And as an accountant, William will be dining out on the most exciting moment of his life forever. Yeah. So great work, William. And finally, I would like to thank from Colorado Springs in, would you believe, Colorado, 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 freaking name? Norm Macdonald 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?

What do we do? Someone started giving him CPR, the person. But then no one could remember how fast staying alive goes for. I fucking knew it. So, of course, he chucks it on, whips out the record. So, he organized the sing-along and CPR at the same time. Save the gig and save the guy's life. He's on a mic going like, and bop, bop, bop.

Very good. Very good. Keeping them calm. That's right. Getting that rhythm right. Come on, a couple of breaths now. Yeah. Recovery position.

Check the airway. One of my all-time favourite film clips is that Stayin' Alive clip. It's just, they're sort of just walking around with coats over their shoulders. Yeah, it's very cool. It's so funny. They're just strutting coats over their shoulders. Yeah, it's very cool. It's so funny. They're just strutting. Pants 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, 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 thank that would be fantastic I would love to thank

from deep within the fortress of the moles from location unknown H. Daver oh that's a good name though H. Daver H. Daver

what do you think some sort of shoe sales person yes yeah yeah absolutely but like pretty good at it

like you'll walk in and they'll be like you're a size 9 oh my god I am and they'll be like looking for these and they'll be like you're a size 9 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 and you're like these are the best goddamn shoes in the world 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 it with a shoe

they'd roll the shoe down and bump it off their bicep one at a time yeah and the other and then they'd roll the shoe down and bump it off their bicep one at a time and the other and then do it over the over the back around pop it up to you yeah pretty sick very cool what about and then uh they actually uh walk home by the beach yes and uh 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, makes a tourniquet. Get out.

And then said, your remaining foot, size 11, come see me. I'll give you a free shoe on Monday. Leaps into the ocean, kills the shark, turns it into a pair of shark fin 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 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. 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'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'm gonna beat this shark to death with this pair of shoes This is my shark killing boots. So big shout out to H. Daver. Shark killer but also a lifesaver. Yeah I would also love to thank from Thomastown here in Victoria Len Dines

What else does Len do? Sorry, 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. Builds a beautiful, perfect

brick wall And one time Doesn't even need One of those Doesn't even need a trowel Doesn't even need a trowel Doesn't even need his bare hands Just places it down Smooths it over

Perfect Every time Every time Incredible First 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 a brick knocks that person down okay not Not dead But enough time for the local constable

To get the assailant And land straight back to the wall The assailant was a Young man, a 23 year old Approximately 6 foot 3 He was proceeding on foot Did Len pick up the brick that he'd thrown And just put it straight back in the wall?

Straight back in. Covered in blood. You'll notice it, but obviously it tells a story. Luckily it was a red brick already. And you know, 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 go, yes, I know, Dad. We know, Dad. You threw the brick at a milk bar. A man was almost getting away with a Toblerone. That is not on. They're good on you, Len. And finally, I would love to thank

from Butler in PA, Pennsylvania. Yeah. Butler. The only peace state in America, I believe. Oh, yeah. Cody Daly. Cody Daly. Cody Daly. Cody Daly 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 uh but on one occasion yeah cody daly uh he just creatively consulted yeah uh with one of his top clients yeah uh 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 briefcase. No, he was crossing the road and he saw, Dave. He saw, what did he say? He saw that there'd been a car accident. Yep. A couple of people with minor injuries. Okay. And then they said, look, they were crying even though they weren't injured.

He was like, shouldn't you be happy that you're alive? And they said, well, the were crying even though 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 will get you back on the road. Oh, God. Wow. What a hero. Cody 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'd like to do is welcome a few people into the Triptych Club. To get into the Triptych Club, you just have to be a supporter on the shout-out 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're in a bit of theater of the mind i'm standing on the door got the guest list on a clipboard for the velvet rope ready to lift up or 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 stage, he's emceeing the night. Yo, 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 Nelly? Jess also normally comes up with a cocktail based on today's topic. What's today's cocktail? Branvin. Yep. Branvin. It's schnapps. Are you on wikipedia.org?

I'm on 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.

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? It wasn't. The Hives. Jess?

I was thinking 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. ABBA is the number one, but... I don't know why that makes way more sense. Ace of Base. Can't wait. They saw a sign. I saw the sign. And it opened saw a sign. I saw the sign. And it opened up my eyes.

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 favorite 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.

Amazing. 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? Oh, I don't know. I think. It's the way of the future. YouTube, 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. All right. 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. All right. From Bundura in Victoria, Australia, it's Celeste Van Grynsven. 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 Haines City in Florida in the United States, it's Jason Frey. Oh, I thought you were going to say free. Okay. 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 good. Edited as appropriate. Let's lock that one in. Yeah, that was good. Edited as appropriate. From Rupp and Yup in Victoria, Australia, it's Brad Teasdale. Oh, it's a big Rupp and Yup from me. From Vermin in Connecticut, I reckon, in the United States, it's Brianna Spencer Lirich in brackets.

Not sure if I'm meant to read that out or not. Nice. Sorry, that really threw me off. Very temperamental. Brandis, Brandis, Brandis, I'll give you a tensor. Yes! Would have been, I mean, tensor, tensor. Yeah, okay.

You're a real princess to me. Shut up. This is not yours to play. From Dungarvan in Ireland, it is Thomas Goodall. This is not going to be a battle. It's going to be a goodall. Yeah, Thomas is here. And finally from Princeton in New Jersey in the United States, it's Lisa Ballard.

I'm not sure about Princeton, but I'm sure about Princess-ton. 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. You 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, is there anything we need to tell people? Just that if they want to see what we look like, you can head over to DoGoOnPod at all social media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. You can get in touch with us at DoGoOnPod at gmail.com or our website, DoGoOnPod.com. It's where all the cool people gmail.com or our website dogoandpod.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 a little sick to think about they say you need

to get your 10,000 up to be an expert 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'm a i clear the inbox how do you what do you delete them if it's not relevant i delete it uh 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't delete 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.

Bam has lost its mind. I'm deleting those. It's time to recharge your dork bell. 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. All right. Well, don't email me. Email us.

Do go on potatomail.com. We'll be back next week with another episode. Until then, I'll say thank you so much and goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye. We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water.

We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future.