Do Go On - 514 - Harvey's Wagon Wheel Resort and Casino Bombing

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Early in the morning of the 26th of August 1980, employees at Harvey's Wagon Wheel Resort and Casino discovered a mysterious metallic box. With the mysterious package was a note, explaining is was a bomb! Thus begins the story of 'one of history’s most bizarre extortion plots'!This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 6:59 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report).For all our important links: https://linktr.ee/dogoonpod Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://magazine.atavist.com/2014/a-thousand-pounds-of-dynamitehttps://www.recordcourier.com/news/crime/40-years-ago-tahoe-casino-bombing-was-biggest-in-u-s-history/https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/article/Harveys-Hotel-Lake-Tahoe-bombing-17392736.phphttps://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2009/august/a-byte-out-of-history-harveys-casino-bomb/the-extortion-notehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGo959uECTMBringing Down the House: The Bombing of Harvey's Casinohttps://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/harveys-casino-resortshttps://tahoequarterly.com/summer-2013/the-man-behind-the-bomb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

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

What? Whoa. Whoa. A little pause there, people thinking who's going to be here this week? Oh, my God, who is it? It's Matt Stewart. Whoa. I had that thought and it was us.

Welcome. Which I think is probably, you know, 98% of the time, that would be true. Yeah. So, yeah, I guess now to think about it like that, not as excited. But still fine. But I think it's nice to appreciate the mundane sometimes. Yeah. You know, like the mundane.

The everyday, you know, doing the dishes. Yeah. You know, cooking dinner at home, being in a room with the same people you're always in a room with. I think, yeah, the beauty of life is appreciating those little moments. Yeah. Well, I think of you two as even more than a household chore. Even more? I would like a new to vacuuming.

Okay. Yeah. But you like vacuuming. Vacuuming is great fun. It's one of my favorite chores. I think we all like vacuuming. Yeah. You fight over that, don't you?

Yeah. I'll do the vacuuming. You can do the other thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you take the bins out. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm the bin guy. You're the bingo? Yeah. You're the scrubbing the bathroom? I'm not the scrubbing the bathroom. I do the bathroom. Okay. But not the toilet.

Okay. Really? Two separate zones. Yeah, yeah. Well, the toilet is separate in our house. So I do the bathroom. But the toilet room, that's not my response. I need to ask, does anyone do the toilet room?

Dave, you've been there. You've seen the state of that, John. At this point, yeah, I just go down, I go to the gym if I need to go. I just avoid it. It's just easier. Someone else cleans it. It's a much nicer experience. That door's nailed shut down.

The dog avoids it. So good, Dave. I was really hoping you'd be able to explain a new list of what the show is about. Is it about Jess's disgusting toilet or is there more to it? That's usually every second week. Okay. But we're actually on off week, so we shouldn't talk about that.

We'll save that for next week's episode. On this week's episode, we are going to take it in turns to report on a topic, which is often, not always, but often suggested to us by one of the listeners. We go away, do a bit of research on it,

bring it back to the group in the form of a report. Now, it is Matt's turn to do the report this week, and we always start with a question to get us on the topic because Jess and I, we're in the dark year. We don't know what the topic's going to be. Yeah. Could we turn a light on?

All right. Well, I've turned the light on it. Now, here is the question. Oh, it's disgusting in here. Oh, that's what Jess looks like. That was really rude. And I'm looking particularly good today. Oh, yeah, go.

Nah, too little too late. Fuck off. Is it about the hair? No. Was that two weeks ago? Yeah. New sweatshirt, as the Americans would say. Yep.

Jumper? New jumper? Jeans? You wearing some? You were pre-notified about these. I can't remember. What was it? You were pre-notified.

Ches messaged the group saying, I'm wearing a new jumper and new jeans. So get excited. I said, I expect to parade. Okay. I forgot. Let me have a look.

No, no, no. I don't want it now. No, fuck off. Don't look at my jeans. I've never seen that color before. What is that? Dark blue? Mm, dark blue jeans blue jumper.

Geez. Okay, I wasn't fishing for that. I was just saying. You're crushing it. That is a great royal blue jumper, I reckon. Yeah, it's an electric blue. It's unbelievable. Is that close?

No. Damn, absolutely fucked it. You're embarrassing. Anyway. Yeah, Dave, did you warn that we go off on tedious tangents and dog shit riffs? No, I forgot to warn them that we never go on dog shit riffs. We always sit politely. Yeah.

Once the topic starts, of course, which is going to be seconds away. Yeah, the show is called Do Go on because we always stay on topic and never need to be reminded to get back onto it. All right. So the question to get us on the topic, what is the type of biscuit that used to have an ad featuring a Scandinavian pickled herring begging the viewer to eat the biscuit rather than him. I just love Matt's gone back into obscure. A 1980 slash 1990s commercial? Well, no, this isn't.

I don't think this is obscure. You know, I remember this? A Scandinavian herring? Eat the. Eat the. It's got to be a cracker, right? Yeah. Are we talking cracker?

We're talking sweet biscuit. Really? Because I think if you've got a herring, you're not going to choose between, for example, a Tim Tam and a herring. Yes. I mean, really, the herring doesn't. Wagon wheel. Yes. It's a wagon wheel.

You remember that one? Yes. And it's just like a little herring. For some reason, they're like, in Scandinavia, a popular snack is pickled herring. And then they're like side by side and the herring is like, eats the wagon wheel. It's the wagon wheel. It is. I was going to give a clue if you didn't know.

What was the clue going to be? It's chocolate coated with a marshmallow and jam filling. Yeah, we would have got it then, I reckon. Yep. I would have said, Chocolate Royale. Oh, yeah, that's right. When you crack on your head. And then pick off the chocolate coating.

And then just leave it behind. Fancy thing. And then I would go and suck off the marshmallow, so to speak. So, yeah, this week's topic is. Harvey's wagon wheel resort and casino bombing. Oh! Okay. I'm thinking there's going to be some sort of beautiful tropical paradise episode.

It's a bombing. Yeah, it was really good until the bombing bit. Yeah. Yeah. So, Harvey's wagon wheel resort and casino, now known as Caesar's Republic Lake Tahoe, is located on the shore of Lake Tahoe in state line Nevada, just across the Californian border. This topic was suggested by Roy Phillips from Borehamwood in England.

Borehamwood. That's the one from Macbeth. Borehamwood. God, everyone in English just spat out their tea. Also, Sarah Clow from Hudson. Roy Phillips. Oh my God, he's suggested it twice. Roy, you're back.

Still from Borehammed? Still from Boreham. Or is he moved? Oh, well, no, the first Roy Wells was from Borehamwood. This one's from Borehamwood. Oh, I see. Wow, crazy, two different Roy Phillips. He moved one canny over.

Also, Colin Johnson from LaCross, Wisconsin, Jack Taylor from Brisbane, and John Gasper from Austin, Texas. Hey, stay weird out there. Stay weird, Gasper. Remain weird, Gaspi. Okay, so let us begin. Okay, exciting. Never heard of this.

Early in the morning, the 26th of August, 1980, employees discovered a mysterious metallic box on the second floor of the casino. It was actually in the administration offices. And when I say metallic box, it was really kind of two metallic boxes welded together. Sometimes you just can't quite get a box the size you need. Yeah. You get two? You're like, I'll get two, I'll stick them together.

And, you know, like no one really noticed it come in where it came from. The guy who discovered it was like, oh, there's a door that's ajar there. Normally that wouldn't be. So he went in and he's like, wait, what the heck is this thing? A bit confused, but then noticed a note reading to the management. Stern warning to the management and bomb squad. He thought, oh, this isn't addressed to me. I won't read any further.

Yeah, I'm admin. This is private. Yeah. This could be a love note or who knows what. Yeah. Have I walked into a proposal? Yeah. I haven't ruined it's so embarrassing.

I'm going to back away, back away, back away. Sorry, just yelling, sorry. Sorry, sorry. The warning continued, do not move or tilt this bomb because the mechanism controlling the detonators in it will set it off at a movement of less than 0.01 of the open end Richter scale.

Don't try to flood or gas the bomb. There is a float switch and an atmospheric pressure switch. Both are attached to D. detonators. Do not try to take it apart. The flathead screws are also attached to triggers. So as much as a quarter or three quarter of a turn will cause an explosion. In other words, this bomb is so sensitive that the slightest movement either inside or outside will cause it to explode. This bomb can never be dismantled or disarmed without causing an explosion. Not even by the creator. Only by proper instruction can it be.

move to a safe place where it can be deliberately exploded. So the creator can do something about it. Oh no, it's just going to explode regardless. Yeah. He's like, so on the side of it, there's a heap of switches, just like on-off sort of switches in rows. And basically what the note is suggesting is that I think there's eight different ways that the bomb can be detonated.

Like inside it, there's like basically a cistern toilet. floating. So if they try and flood it to, you know, stuff up the electronics, that will rise up and set it off. Yeah. If they touch the screws and move them, that will complete the circuit. That'll explode. Yeah, we heard the letter as well, yeah. Okay. Um, you didn't seem to take it in, but obviously you did. Maybe you were, you, that's just how your faces. It sounded like, so just in hearing the letter and how intricate it is, I'd be looking at that and going like, I don't understand any of this.

So I think they are legit, like this is, this person knows what they're talking about. Yeah. Or is it a big bluff? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. You can't really take that risk, can you? You know, when people are bluffing as well, like can sort of overtalk it a bit? Yeah, that's right.

Yes, yep. Like it too complicated. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, he's saying there's these eight different ways. One of those ways which will go off, it's got like a pendulum inside of it. And if the pendulum moves, it'll touch the side, which will complete the circuit and set off the bomb. So this admin guy got the letter and the bomb tucked under his arm going, oh. You shouldn't have picked it up.

Oh, no. You're really going to hope that you read the note before. Yeah. Someone just goes and goes, oh, I've got a mopping under here. Yeah, sure. There's a tripping hazard. That's why your parents tell you to open your birthday card before the present. Exactly.

Guess grandma must put a bomb in there. Yeah. It's possible. You'd feel foolish. So you do the polite thing, you open the card, you pretend to read it, you get to your present. Yes. So, yeah, this is what they're suggesting that they can't disarm most of those eight things, but they can disarm the pendulum one, which means they would be able to move.

it to another location. Yes. Where it works. Because there is also a timer in there. Fuck, my gosh. So it's going to explode in a certain amount of time. Either way. Where's a safe place for a bomb to go off?

Well, I guess it's a good thing about being the desert, I guess, but yeah. But still, you know, what about the worms? Oh, my God. Are they worms in desert? No one thinks of it, yes. You see June? Yeah, true. A big ones.

Heaps of worms. Yeah. What about the trees that are sparse? Oh, the sparse trees. You know, when you're going to go. You've got sparse trees, they mean so much more. Exactly right. Every tree is like a diamond.

Yep. You know what I mean? Yeah, every tree's like a diamond. Every tree's like a diamond. But you've got a forest, you're like, whatever. Blah, half this forest, I've so got a fucked-ta-up of trees. Knock them all down. And that's what I was saying before about appreciating what you do have.

Yes. You know what I mean? They're like diamonds. Everything's like diamonds. Yeah. You're like diamonds. Yeah. You're like diamonds to Dave.

Yeah. No, Dave. Matt and I like diamonds to you. Yeah. There's already diamond, Dave. Lee Roth and yeah, sorry, mate. We already have another diamond. Yeah.

But you're great. Hey, you're fantastic. Thank you. You could be like a sapphire or something. But you'd be happily strap a bomb to me and push me into the desert. I never said that. Wouldn't do it happily. You wouldn't do it happily.

I'd be very, I'd be torn up about, well, you'd be more torn up, but I'd be emotionally. I wouldn't be there to judge you that. Well, you would be until the very last second. Yeah. You'd be going, God, that was a real dick, man. Thanks a lot. And then you could haunt me. Oh, thanks.

a lot. So the note continues. God, it's a long note, isn't it? Yeah, geez. Yeah, because it says, I mean, I'm not even reading all of it. So, yeah, with proper instruction, it can be moved to a safe place where it can be deliberately exploded or where the third automatic timer can be allowed to detonate it. There are three automatic timers, each set for three different explosion times.

Only if you comply with the instructions in this letter will you be given instruction. on how to disconnect the first to automatic timers and how to move the bomb to a place where it can be exploded safely. Warning, I repeat, do not try to move to some or enter this bomb. It's pretty big. Like it's got a door at the front. Get in. This is telling you to not have sex with this bomb?

Do not have sex with this bomb. There is a sensor in there. In case Tom Jones is listening. If exploded, this bomb contains enough T&T, to severely damage Harars. Is it Harrahs or Harrahs? Probably Harrahs. The casino across the street.

Oh shit. This should give you some idea about the amount of T&T contained within this box. It is full of T&T. Yeah, okay, mate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's padding now. A little bit of editing would be good, yeah.

Yeah. There's no, you don't, you're not trying to meet a word limit. I think I've got a reason for this. Uh-huh. It was written on a typewriter. You know what I mean? We can't go back.

Like in word, a word processor. Yeah. Online, on a computer. Yeah. Delete, delete, delete. Yeah, you can't do that. Edit, edit, edit. But you've got to start again on a typewriter.

Do a draft by hand or something. Yeah, go to that. Something you've used the word T&T twice in one sentence. Yeah. Loses impact. Yeah, should use it, say explosive the second time or something. Yes. Get a the thesaurus out.

You got dynamite, you got explosives. I honestly this week have gone through that. Because, you know, there are sentences later where I, you know, I'll throw in dynamite and then I'll go at T&T and then I'll go explosives. Yeah, right. You know what I mean? Well, you do. You said it.

Yeah. It is our advice to cordon off a minimum of 1,200 feet radius and remove all people from that area. It'd be funny to cordon off an area, but not to remove the people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, that sort of goes without saying. Do you have a minimum word limit you're trying to hear it here? But whoever's writing it is kind of like, I don't trust, I think these people are dumb. I think they're going to corner it off and then be like, all right, well,

Enjoy your day in there, everybody. No one else can go in. Yeah. But once you're in, you can't leave. You can't get out. Can't let the bomb. Or maybe it's like an English as a second language thing, you know. Also the phrase, our.

Yeah. Not just a lone wolf, perhaps. Yes. Which I think I'd be double guessing everything. They'd be like, if you were a lone wolf, you'd probably say that as well, right? Yeah. To get them off the scent. So maybe it's a bluff.

Or is it a double bluff? Yeah. And it's actually, it is it? multiples. Or is that what they want us to think? Triple bluff. Demands. Okay.

We demand $3 million in used $100 bills. They must be unmarked, unbugged and chemically untreated. If we find anything wrong with the money, we will stop all instructions for moving the bomb. When was this? 1980. The year was 1980. Three mill is a lot then. It's a lot now, obviously.

That is so funny. Well, that was actually a lot of... But yeah, to a casino, it's like the Austin Powers joke of $1 million. They laugh at him. That's not... Yeah. Let me see. 1980, I didn't look that up.

You're right. Three million is a lot to me, but maybe not to a casino. Nah. It's all relative, isn't it? And that's why you need to just appreciate what you have. And I appreciate the $14.72 that I have. Really? You've got that much.

Yeah. Lunch is on me, boys. It seems like it'd be worth one million today would be, oh, one million then would be worth about four million today. So it's about 12 mil. That's not nothing, is it? US. Okay, so that's about 142 million Australian?

Yeah. Well, I think you mispronounce billion. Oh, sorry. I always get those confused. Yeah, well, that's why I'm here. Then the note does go on. That's about half of the note. It goes on to give instructions about how to deliver the ransom.

Right. But I'll talk about that. that in a bit. Gordon Ryan Hoffman, writing for the Tahoe Daily Tribune, security guards initiated an evacuation of the casino and hotel for what they described as, quote, a serious security problem. I guess you don't want to say there's a bomb.

Yeah, that's a bit much. Yeah. I feel like if a casino is, if I'm in a casino and they're going like, hey, you have to get out of here. Because you know how casino is like, there's no windows, there's no clocks. Like, they want you there and they want to keep you there forever. But if they're trying to get me out, I'm like, oh, I'm running.

Yeah, like something's bad. But you reckon if you're at the roulette table and it's spinning, as you're running away, you're looking back being like, was it red? Come on, come on, come on, come, come, come, come, was it red? Everyone saw it was red, right? When we come back in here? That still counts. But, yeah, like, chips were left everywhere.

It was just like abandoned. Get up and go. Wow. Which, I guess, yeah, knowing why they were having to leave. I think that was, that's the right way to go about it. Yeah. I guess so. As far as they know, like, this is a bomb. If it all works properly, there's still eight different things that could go wrong. If any of those features malfunctioned, malfunctioned. Yeah. If anything malfunctioned, we're stuffed. Yeah. I think about that all the time.

I think I just malfunctioned. And it is pretty, pretty badass or wild to talk about, not the damage to the building, it's in, but talking about the damage to the building. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. So, okay, to us, that implies that this building that it's in is gone. Yeah, don't even worry about this. Yeah. Right, but I feel like this letter writer would be like, so that means this hotel.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Because they really like, they should be reading between the lines. They're riding between the lines. They're spoon feeding it a lot, yeah. Yeah, this is, yeah, it's not double spaced. Every line is accounted for in this letter. But yeah, Hoffman continues.

For some guests, the lack of information and direction fueled a frighten. frightful experience. No one told us where to go, what to do, hotel guest. Marjorie McComb told the newspaper. Okay, so she lived. It was frightening. Okay. We didn't know what to do.

We. There was also an hour before. We, an hour. They can mean. Do we think there was more than one guest at the casino? Or do you think Marjorie? I think Marjorie might be in on it. Oh my God.

If that's even a real name. If she keeps using phrases like, we, she's putting a target on her head. Oh my God. Arresta. There's a bunch of great resources about this. I watched a video on YouTube on this channel, which is called QXIR, which I believe is pronounced, Kuk sir. And in it they said, the device consisted of two steel boxes.

The larger contained nearly a thousand pounds of T&T. The smaller box, welder on top, contained the circuitry and triggers. On the side of the box, there were 28 switches. Then I said there was a bunch of switches. It says rows and rows of switches. It looks like, you know, if it wasn't so stacked with TNT, it seems like, oh, this would be a fun little game. Crack the code.

Yeah. 28's too many to crack the code. Anytime I'm playing a game on my switch and I have to crack a code like that, I'm like, this is fun for about 10 seconds, and then I'm like, just fucking open. But that's a me problem. Do you just jump a line and search for the answer? Sometimes.

But God, it's satisfying when you do get it. And the good thing with this one is, you know, if it is taking too long, just get it wrong. Just get it wrong. Game over. Yeah. You'd have to worry about anymore. Oh, the sweet relief.

It's like those switches. And if you didn't like the switches, don't worry, they're gone too. Yeah. So they, yeah, the idea was that to be flicked in a precise order to disarm the pendulum part. And that was the information they were going to get once the money was delivered. I mean, you shouldn't do that in a room full of gamblers who are used to taking big risks. Yeah.

I reckon. For three million? Oh, you give me one and a half million. I'll have a crap. I'll have a go. I reckon you go, top row of one. I'll have to go. Third from the right.

I'll go, I'll go $12. I just really want $12. I'll do it if you let me use the breakfast buffet. I'm not staying here. I'm across the road. That's a saving of $11. I've heard it's one of the best buffets of the city. There's a...

There's also a documentary you can watch on YouTube. There's another doco. This was a TV doco, but it's been uploaded to YouTube called Bringing Down the House, the bombing of Harvey's Casino. And in it, they interview a few of the agents who are involved, including probably one of the great names I think we've come across, Bill J-N-J-K-E-Y. Yes.

How's J-O-N-K-E-Y? Oh, wow. It's not like, I was thinking it was going to be like, J-O-N-K-E with a little umlaut or something. Yeah, yeah. It's actually yonk from the old country, but it's jonky. Bill Junkie. And is he like officer junkie or something like that? Detective Junkie?

Maybe special agent Junkie. Special agent Junkie. Best possible answer. President Junkie would have been even better. I'm sorry, I'm like, President Junkie. Anyway, he later recalled, Junkie. So again, Jess, you could maybe infer there that he survived. I just remember looking at that and thinking, my gosh, this is the biggest thing that I've ever seen.

Really? It's the biggest thing. You're talking about the bomb? The bomb's the biggest thing. He's ever seen a horse? Yeah. He's never seen a house? I forgot, how big is it?

Is it bigger than a horse or a house? No. It's inside a building. Yeah. So he's seen a building bigger. The memory of a goldfish. He's bigger, I assume. Oh, it's tall up.

Is he pocket size? Well, he was the one that I worried about entering. There's a little door and he's like, I could go out. No. Junkie? Junkie. Ah, leave it. Another one who was interviewed FBI Special Agent Chris Roneh recalled,

we had never seen anything quite like it. Okay. It was huge. There's a box on a box. I actually need to apologise to Junkie because I'm really going him for saying it was the biggest thing he's ever seen and I'm someone who constantly says

that's the funniest thing that's ever happened so you know, okay a bit of hyperbole he's just saying it's big yeah and when he says thing he probably means bomb yeah which is what he just used bomb so many times

in the previous sentences he was like I got to change up the word thing thing that won't haunt me that's not bad By the time the docker was made, he's got a big silver handlebar mustache. That's how I imagine you when you're even older. Oh, I appreciate you think that I'll still be around.

Sure, you've got to go great at some point. Yeah. In the thousands of years you've been alive. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. In the next few thousand, I guess. Maybe, yeah. Who knows?

Yeah. Which we'd be around to see it, Jess? Oh, yeah, we'll be gone. We'll be gone. Maybe I'll diet for you. We'll haunt you. Oh, great. That way, I'll still be able to see what he's up to.

Yeah. And see how his hair's going. Appreciate that. Just check you on your hair. Just for hair. I'm just haunting you for your hair. Checking your hair. And I want to be clear, ghosts do not have to talk that way. We're doing it just to fuck with you.

Yeah. Oh, I think it's a fun way to be. Yeah. No, I just Josh her, mate. How's it going? How's it going, mate? Oh, did we wake you? Sorry about that. Oh, bed hair.

Oh, he's got bed hair. For SFGate, Ariana Bindman writes, For hours, agents tirelessly photographed it, scanned it for fingerprints, and x-rate it for access points. But even the most skilled explosives experts couldn't find a way in without accidentally detonating it.

I mean, theoretically, they didn't accidentally detonate it. That makes it sound like they've all tried. No, detonated again. Oh, God. Who else wants a go? I'm exploded now. Does anyone else? Anyone else?

Okay, well. Anyone else? I'll haunt over your shoulder while you have a go. Yeah. Oh, I wouldn't touch that. That's where I went wrong. Junkie. Get out of there.

Johnke. A bomb threat in Tahoe's casino district was not uncharted territory by 980. According to the FBI I was going to say we could have let it go But we wouldn't live The FBI Is that like a 1940s

1940s To rack woman drinking a shardine Ah the FBI Special Agent Junkie FBI According to the FBI Nevada casinos Are often the targets of quote disgruntled losers

Now, what sense are we calling them a loser? Well, I think in maybe two senses here, one of them being gambling-wise, and the other being, you know, they aren't taking it on themselves that maybe they shouldn't have done that. I think if you lose any money at a casino, you're a loser. Yeah. That's what I think. Me, I only win. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Seeing a reporter in the newspaper, disgruntled loser.

You go, oh, come on. Hang on. You read the article and you're like, oh, see, they mean it in the way that I lost a lot of money. Yeah. Because I'm doing this to really take back control of the scenario. Yeah. As Hoffman continues,

the marriage of money, booze, hope and loss would occasionally birth a third-rate extortion attempt that almost always ended with the discovery of a fake device or no bomb at all. That was a beautiful bit of writing there. Yeah. I liked that. Hoffman, you've done it again. That was nice.

This left authorities wondering if this too was a fake. I mean, that was more or less what they were used to. Another bomb threat. What are we got here? A couple of boxes well together. Nothing in here. All right. A little X ride just in case.

A couple of bricks. All right. Yeah, Captain Ron Perini from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office recalled. You start to wonder if it's really a bomb. What is it? I mean, it's either a bomb or a fire. fake bomb, man. What's the third option?

What is it? It's just some sort of bed? Yeah. How can I sleep in there? Is it a chair? It's just not big enough. It doesn't make sense. It's the biggest thing I've ever seen, but it's not big enough to sleep on.

A bed. A bed. A bed would be bigger. A side table. Maybe, I guess. Or Ottoman, maybe. But I don't need an Ottoman. It's a very uncomfortable. Ottoman.

But if it's not a bomb, what is it? A steel poof? Yeah. The accompanying letter, with all that details, made the bomb experts think, this seems pretty legit. It seems like he knows what he's talking about. Oh, right. It's not so over the top that they go.

This is impossible to build. But I also said, based on that, that I reckon this is legit and this guy knows what he's doing. Yes. I reckon he's former bomb squad himself. Oh. Like in Speed. Yeah, exactly. Spoilers.

Is that true? Former Bombs squad. Remember we watched Speed together a few months ago? Yes. I mean, I've seen it many times. But the guy, former bomb squad. Yeah. Discrime.

God, he's good in that movie. Anyway. He's so good. And then he had to retire early because a bomb blew up his hand. Yeah. Hoffman continues. The intricate details described in the letter signaled to investigators that they were not dealing with a spontaneous swindler.

As mentioned, the letter claimed that the bomb had at least eight triggering mechanisms that would prevent it from being moved or taken apart. It could never be disarmed without triggering an explosion. Caught on a junkie, there was shock and awe just to the size of it and to the apparent degree of sophistication. Junkie's obsessed with the size of this thing. This thing is huge. How big is it again? I forgot.

That's sort of the size of what, like above your waist. Okay. I've seen bigger things. It's about what's taller than Dave, but not taller than me and you, Jess. So that'll help you understand? But how do you get it in? Well, Dave's a bit junkie-esque in that way. Yeah.

How did you get it in? Yeah, that's a great point. Oh, the bomb, not you into it. How do I get in there? After x-rays were concluded, the bomb experts concluded very... Conclusively. I'd just say concluded to us. And that's another thing that we're talking about before.

That is not how I write. But you wrote this little typewriter? Yes, but I also just misread my own writing. I want to say my own writing. I mean, it's typed. It's not like I can't even read my own writing. I've chosen a really confusing font. It's called Doctor's Script.

It's so weird. I either have diabetes or pregnant? I don't know. After x-rays were conducted, the bomb experts concluded very quickly that the bomb was legit and just as intricate and booby-trapped as the accompanying letter suggested. Booby. Yeah, he said booby. Yeah, booby.

I mean... Matt, booby. Oh my gosh. I mean, remember, we're in Nevada. It's casino time. There are breasts around. What? It's the year not in 80.

Oh, true. There were boobs then. You know what I mean? Yeah. Greed is good. I think boobs were invented in the late 70s, so that makes sense. Back in the 80s, they used to always say greed is good. Boobes are better.

I'd say boobs are better than greed. Put it on a shirt. That's good. Yeah. Shirt, hat, whatever you like. Yeah. All right, so who is this titular Harvey of the casino anyway? Yeah.

Who is Harvey? What's his deal? Yeah. First name or surname? Let's find out. Well, according to Bindman, Harvey Gross was a former butcher. Yeah, you're not going to call a gross casino, are you? But it is funny.

You just kind of assume surname. Yeah. But then, yeah, gross casino. I didn't think of that. But yeah, that's... Where are you guys staying this summer? Oh, we're going to head down to the gross resort? Yeah.

No. A little too honest. But also, like, if his name was like Matt or Dave, it would sound so amateurish. Oh, Dave's casino. Go on down to Dave Resort and Casino. Fun for the whole family. I'm Dave. What is this in your tree house, mate?

Dave, I think I'd come and say your casino. Dave's a resort casino. Family discount, like friends' rights? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah, great. I'd come. I give you 50% off the buffet. What kind of attractions are at your resort and casino?

We've got a huge popcorn machine, 24-7. Come on down, self-serve. Whoa. How big? How big's huge. The biggest popcorn machine you've ever seen. Whoa. It's bigger than a horse, but smaller than a house.

Okay. That is really big. So it fits inside. It fits inside. Yeah, it's inside. There's also a hat shop. Whoa. I love hats.

Over 24-7. Really? Self-serve. I have not. staff. No one would stay on the books. They all left me. So, so did my wife. So is it like a trust system? On a system. Yeah, it's like when you see on the side of the road like lemons for sale or something, you're just going to leave five bucks and take a bag. Just got a bucket of hats. Yeah, there's a bucket of hats and then an empty bucket next to for your cash. And then a sign that says God is watching.

More and more, I'm thinking I'd love to summer at Dave's Resort. This sounds fantastic. Is there a pool. Oh, yeah. Has it got water in it? It's out of action. Okay. Okay, I'm glad I asked. But there is a pool, technically.

Yeah. Bro, sure, because there is a pool, no questions. Don't ask any question. It's more of a hole in the ground of the world. So, of this man, Harvey Gross, Carrie Rothberg for encyclopedia.com rights, Harvey and his wife, Llewellyn, opened Harvey's wagon-willed saloon and gambling hall in 1944. So good.

Yeah, I didn't write it down, but I think they found a big wagon wheel and that was sort of, they decided to make it like a Wild West themed. Okay. So the sign when the bomb was planted, like the logo was like a bull skull and a wagon, wild west. And we are, and just to confirm, it is a wheel of a wagon and not the biscuit. Yes, that's true. Just double-taking, just double-taking.

They found a very big biscuit. Just to make sure we're all visual. was in the same thing. So, yeah, so I love the name, like right off the Harvey's wagon wheel saloon and gambling hall. It's as well, because he was a butcher and he's decided to just go all in on this. Made great cash. And then, yeah, bought a few acres of land.

But initially it wasn't probably as impressive as it sounds. It was one room. It was a log cabin. There was a six-stool lunch counter, three slot machines. Two blackjack tables, but they also had the only gas pump that was open 24 hours a day for miles around. Wow. There's a big, people come for the gas, stay if you can get a seat at the lunch counter. They're six to choose from.

The grocers were a devoted couple, partners from the start, according to Rothberg. It was Llewellyn's idea to give the club a Western theme with the wagon wheel and longhorn. skull. Their son-in-law, William Ledbetter, described the two as, quote, complimenting each other, saying that she was, quote, a woman of action, and he was, quote, a plotting business. He was of a, quote, plotting business nature. Seems less glowing that one. But you can see why he got name rights. You know, he was the plotter. He's the plodder. She was a woman of action. Yeah. Taking a backseat. naming was. Well, yeah, I guess probably the same reasons we were saying before.

Louellon's casino also sounds kind of... Yeah, and it can't be Harvey on Llewellens. Yeah. What was it? Saloon. It's already so long. It's already so long. Wagon wheel saloon and gambling hall.

And their joint, the thing they share is their surname and their surname is gross. So you can't be grosses. No. Yeah. I think they pick the right one. Yeah, I think so. And probably, you know, she's a woman of action. I imagine she was one who suggested that.

Yeah, it was her idea. Yeah. And he went, all right, I'll plot along and make it happen. I'll register the paperwork. Could take a couple of days. For a big casino man, from what I've read, he seemed like he was a pretty good guy. You kind of assume, ah, this guy's making cash off misery. Yeah.

But he seemed, maybe he was all right, seemed to care about people and stuff. Yeah. Anyway, let's get back to the bomb. The letter went into great detail about how. the ransom should be delivered, which Hoffman summarises. I thought about reading it all, but, you know, I did that before and I can see your eyes glazing over. So Hoffman summarizes writing, just tell us about the bomb. It was to occur at night via helicopter. An unarmed pilot was to park by the Lake Tahoe Airport building at 11pm and wait for instructions to come by taxi or a nearby

pay phone. There's a lot of things like someone will come via taxi. They'll be. They'll be. They're They won't be connected, but they'll deliver a message. Or you'll get a phone call at this time. If we can't get a cab that time of night, you know, it's a bit of a nightmare. Yeah. The bomber set conditions. The news media was to be kept in the dark about the transaction. The pilot was to be alone and unmonited.

Failure to comply could result in the unnecessary taking of lives. The helicopter was to be fully fuelled. The extent of your cooperation will make the difference. If you cooperate fully, it will ensure a very safe. speedy exchange. We don't want to burden your business opportunities or cause more loss of money than is necessary the note read. Once the money was received, there would be a progression of instructions for neutralizing specific triggers, which would allow the bomb to be removed from the casino and detonated at a safe location. So that's what the bomb are requested, but Harvey, as it

turns out, was not interested in paying the ransom. Oh. As soon as he was satisfied, no one was going to be hurt. He's like, we've cleared the area. The only only thing that's going to be heard if I don't pay is my casino. I'll cop that. I'm not paying this prick, basically. Yeah, it's like let it rip. Yeah. I'm insured. Yeah. I can't want to see this happen. Can we sell tickets? It's actually, it'd be kind of sick. I hate this place. Yeah, it'd be good to start fresh. The Western theme was weird. It's just because we found that wagon wheel. But we're too far in it now. You know, I'm stuck now. I'm wearing a big cowboy. I don't even like this look. But if we blow it up, I'll call it like Harvey's big bomb casino.

Yes. Which I love. I love bombs. It could be Harvey's Futurama and I could wear a space suit like they will in the future. That would be awesome. Yeah. My passion was butchery anyway. The butcher casino.

Yeah. We can keep the cows horn. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. But we'll just put axes everywhere. Real ones. Axis and sword.

Loosely attached to the walls. So, so yeah, it seems like as far as your average casino mogals go, he wasn't super greedy. He was often asked why he didn't expand his booming business into more locations. Booming business. Oh my gosh. It was very profitable. And people like, oh, you could open more locations around the rest of Nevada or whatever. And apparently he always gave the same answer.

I have a nice little business. How many steaks can I eat? That's nice. Yeah. It's like, you know, it's a stress, I don't. Yeah. I'm living a good. I think that's kind of our vibe too.

Yeah. We could be the number one. We could overtake Joe Rogan easy. Easy. That's three of us only one of him. I know. Yeah. But we're, you know, we don't want to.

No, that's a thing of the stress that comes with being Joe Rogan. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah. I mean, yeah. How many steaks can we eat? Two of us don't even eat meat. And I don't really like steak. So.

Yeah, as a, as a child, I wept in butcher shops. Yeah. Like you would just go in there just to weep? Yeah. Why are you laughing these childhood pain? You monster. I'm laughing that child's part. Sounds a lot like a movie I've recently watched.

Yeah, maybe we'll be discussing it on our future episode of our Patreon series. Do you go on the movie club? Maybe. Maybe. What sizzle? Maybe it's already out. Yeah. Depending on when this is being released.

With Nail and I. Classic. Anyway, I cannot tell. What is he? cannot touch uncooked meat. As a child, I wept in butcher shops. This is that, Richard Griffiths? He's so good.

Yeah, it's so great, Monty. Uncle Monty. It's a side is crime, not ours. Anywho, instead of paying up, the authorities decided that they would cut up newspapers into the shape of notes and weigh it so that it it was accurately what a $3 million in $100 bills would weigh. And I think maybe they put about $5 grand of real cash on the top of the bag.

Put a few good ones on top. Yeah. I think I'd know just by the feel. Yeah. That's three mill. Yeah. Because I handle that so often. Yeah, you go, all right, that's only 2.08.

Yeah. Come on. Come on, guys. Don't stooge me. And the, yeah, they talk about it like, we knew that was important to get the weight right. It's like, okay. But maybe if this person is so particular of the book, Well, maybe they actually have their way of counting it quickly is putting it on a scale

and knowing that it weighs 24 kilos exactly. And it would be a silly reason to get, you know, done for it. Yeah. It's like, oh, you just didn't spend a little bit of time to weigh it. And it must weigh heaps, right? Yeah, what do you think so? That's a lot of money. Yeah, what do you think?

Like 20, 30 grams? I don't know. Plus? 32? 32 plus? No. Plus the bag? No.

Oh, yeah, plus the bag. The bag. The bag weighs 50 kilos. Yeah, I think. It was a really heavy bag. And I think the scales to account for that just like at a supermarket. So, yeah, authorities basically decided not to follow the instructions. They were going to pretend to with things like fake bag of money.

They also didn't follow the instruction of no weapons and for the helicopter to just have the pilot alone. And so they landed like a full plane. plane, 50. Ignored everything. They said exactly. Well, they ignored everything, but on the face of it, the facade was that they were following all the instructions. So it looked like there was just a solo pilot in the helicopter, but there was also a gunman

hidden inside the helicopter with a machine gun. Wow. For instance, there was also a second helicopter with a SWAT team flying well above, sort of out of sight, but they were there as well. The guy who took the instructions was meant to not have any radio or anything, but he was wide up. Was just carrying a walkie-talkie. Yeah, he had a boombox on the shoulder. I have just Googled how much just $3 million way.

Sorry if I missed this detail. Was it in particular bills? $100 bills. Okay. In $50 bills, a million dollars, one million weighs approximately 20 kilos or 44 pounds. That's where the plus comes in. Right. So it's half that.

Half that for one million. For one million. So he's about 30 kilos for three. Yeah. Well, I mean, you're going to have to pay for extra luggage on most, you know. Yeah. Yeah. What's it?

You have to pay for, pay more for that. That was the false starting on remember what? On trying to remember the word or the phrase budget airline. Oh no, on a budget airline. Sorry, I also saw it. Someone was about to throw a stick. Throw it, throw it, throw it, throw it. Throw it to me.

Do remember when we checked in for our flight over to Berlin last time? And the guy, like, we checked our bags and they were heavy. And then he wouldn't quite let you take your backpack. Oh, yeah. As carry on? Because he's like, that won't fit. And you're like, I've. traveled a lot with this backpack.

It'll fit. And then you're looking around and some people are like trying to bring in a suitcase the size of a tank as carry on. The biggest thing you've ever seen. The biggest thing that I've got a backpack. You got a reasonably size backpack. And I'm like, no, just put it on the floor in front of me. He's like, I don't know if it's going to fit, mate.

I don't remember that at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it was that our bags were like pushing the limit and he wanted to punish us somehow. Yeah. But, yeah, he wouldn't let Dave take his back. Well, he did in the end. Dave was sort of like, no, I'm, I'm. I'm sure it'll be fine because I've flown many times with this backpack.

And he's like, okay, well, it's your decision. It's kind of really, yeah. You're like, oh, you can't stop me, right? He can't. He's behind the counter. You say, I'm not actually taking another plane. I'm going to go give it to my cousin. Yeah.

He's, I just, I forgot accidentally. He dropped me off. I'll take it back to the car. You know, like there's no, at that point, truly only people on the gate that can stop you. That's what we should have said. That's interesting. I don't worry. He's taking it back to the car.

Like the most soft set of you. No, he's going to give it to his cousin. This isn't even, I didn't even pack my own bag. No way, this isn't my bag. I don't know what's in it. It's ticking, but I don't know. No idea. Shibut's a big clock.

The biggest clock I've ever seen. On the way in the dog was very excited to say me. So, yeah, so they're not following any instructions, but they're pretending that they are. Love that. I love how, so Harvey said, don't worry about it. If it blows up the casino or whatever. But are the people across the road like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Yeah, yeah. He's going to damage us too, apparently. We like our theme. Yeah, yeah. I guess he probably, I wonder if he was bringing them in on the conversation. I'm not sure that he was. So that's what they decided to do, and that's what happens. Obviously, it's a pretty quick turnaround.

They don't have weeks to think about this. It has to happen pretty quick. So I think it's that evening maybe. They arrive at the first, or the man arrives at the first location, you know, by himself. In the helicopter. With a wire. Yeah, he gets a helicopter, goes to the telephone booth,

expecting either taxi or a call, and right on the dot, whatever time was, 11 something or in the evening. Phone rings, says, taped underneath the phone or instructions. Whoa.

So he reads out these instructions aloud, which would probably seem, apparently, firstly, the guy who, who calls up has a southern accent briefly, but he drops it really quickly. Well, how do you? How do you? How do you? Anyway, so a 10. That's the code. Okay. Then underneath there's a little piece of paper.

So, yeah, the, the guy reads out these instructions, basically so the FBI can hear what the instructions are. That's so sucks. So what you're telling me is, so yeah, sorry, I'm a, I think better out loud. So the instructions basically were like fly at a certain height in this direction over a certain spot. And once you hit, once you pass over the spot, we want you to land. There is a light that will go off because the sensor will go off. And when that light goes off, you'll know that's where you've got to land. Okay. That can't be super safe in a helicopter.

You know what I mean? I'm just like, just look for the light and then just land. Yeah. Like, what am I landing on? Okay. The light. The light. And the light.

We've put the light in a spot that's flat enough to land a helicopter. You're all good. This is so fucking sick. I'm loving how much Dave is loving this. This is so cool. And then it all falls apart. Unfortunately, they're flying round in circles where they believe the instructions to have instructed them.

No light goes off. They're flying around and around. No way to contact them. No light. No way to contact them. They circle, they circle, they head back. Seems like maybe it's not the best plan. Yeah.

Just fly until you hit a light goes off. Yeah, it's like very specific, but yeah. So yeah, they have to go back to base empty-handed, apart from, you know, of course they still have a bag of shredded newspaper. So is that? So you're not fully empty-handed. In the meantime, the bomb's still sitting there. And they know there's three timers.

There's all these different reasons why it could go off. So, you know, they're sweating on it. And the local police force, they're in charge of escorting guests from the casino to safety. So it was done quickly, but it's a lot of people. And they're, you know, they're in hotel rooms there. They're on the floor. They're in restaurants. Hotel rooms.

There's a breakfast buffet. Yeah. Hotel rooms. Yeah. It's just a fun emphasis. I like it. They're at casino rooms. The rooms probably could go without saying.

Yeah, and now we're all loaded up into buses and taken to some local high schools. Hang out in the gymnasium. Wouldn't that be fun? You're on this. Oh, so excited for this vacation. Yeah. Saying in a nice hotel room. Yeah, don't worry, I book the penthouse suite.

Yeah. It's our 30th wedding anniversary, nothing but the best for us. Five years ago. You're in a high school canteen. Yeah. We met in high schools This is pretty up This is beautiful actually

Yeah Babe it was red wasn't it You saw it You saw it You saw it you'll back me up If it doesn't blow We collect Neighboring buildings

Bordered up their windows Protect from the potential blast And it really captured The public's imagination As you probably would expect Also they did tell the media Even though they were told not to Yeah the media

Came in from around the country Well it was I mean, they're evacuating a large casino. So I guess word would get out. You got to say gas leak or something. Yeah. It's a gas leak, man. It's cool, actually.

We're feeling actually really cool. It's actually really great. I might go back in there. Like, they start believing their own story. Go get another whiff of that gas, man. So, yeah, all of a sudden, you know, they've got the barricades, the barriers, they've created the perimeter. Yep.

Yeah. Like, you know, with a bit of distance. And, you know, gorkers were attracted to it. You know, they're like, what's going on here? Yeah. Oh. You know, it's almost like setting up an area for the grandstands. Oh, this is front row?

For what? God, I love to gawk. I want to have a look. Can I have a gawk at this? I love to gawk. Can I get it early for whatever this is? I wonder who it is. Did you think it's Beyonce or something else going on?

Oh my God, I'd love to go on. I'd have to goawk at her. I don't think she'd maybe just got born this year in 9-08. About that? How old is Beyonce? Maybe she's not quite. I reckon she's maybe 82. Really? That's my guess.

She's 82 years old. Really? 82. I don't know. She looks good. What do you think? Dave, what are you guessing? I reckon 1983.

81. What? September 81. She's 43. years old. Beyonce's mom. Could it be Beyonce's mom? You know what I mean?

All right, let's all guess Beyonce's mom's year of birth. Okay. I've got it. 956. 958. 54. We always go, you know, give them the benefit, which is what you should do when someone asks you their age.

Oh, okay. I'm like the benefit of what? Give them the benefit of youth. Like, in what way are we giving them? You got to give them the benefit of youth. I thought you were saying, give them the benefit of youth. All you were saying, give them the benefit, that they were younger when they gave birth. Given the benefit.

Give them the benefit. Don't worry, they were not one of those yucky old mums. Yuck. Dave, what are you saying? I respect old moms. Always have. Well, that's, well, I'm a feminist and you're not, I guess. Put that on a t-shirt.

Yeah. I respect old moms. I respect old moms. The older, the better. The odds are the better. As far as I'm concerned. So, yes, the rest of the casinos remained open. Sadly, Harvey's had to cease doing business.

And apparently, the other casinos even took bets on whether or not the bomb would go off. Fuck off. Or even more specifically, what time it would go off. That's bizarre. Humans are so weird sometimes. That is so strange. And there's a bit of a conflict, too, to be like, I reckon it's going to go off at 331 and the bombers there are like, well, I could collect on this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've written down ACAB, always casinos accepting bets. I wrote that very late last night, I recall. Always casino. All casinos except bets. Yeah, yeah, that's probably better. Because I think I'd started off wanting to do an ABC thing. Always be casinos or whatever.

Yeah, always be collecting. And I think you've got me there. I didn't go back and start again. It's like maybe could have. Just like our bomber could have done a draft of a letter. Exactly right. And I am doing this on a top writer, so. Yeah.

People don't know that about you. All casinos accepting bet. Always casinos accepting. Wait, what did you say? Neither of my, I don't think either of them are great, actually. Sorry, AJ will edit this out, I'm sure. AJ will punch it up. It'll make it good.

Oh, if you could just, don't edit it out, edit it up. Yeah, punch it up. Punch it up. Punch it up. A, B, C, A.J. B. A. A.J. B. A.C. word for improving. Conjuring. That's all quite right. A.J. B. Conjuring. A.J. B conjuring. A.J. B conjuring. A.J. B conjuring. Yeah. We'd be breaking the rules that we'd start it. The Covenant. I warned that we wouldn't do that. Yeah. Okay. Great. So we haven't. So we're fine.

Yeah. Because we did that now. We'd be breaking the rules that we started. The Covenant. Always be Covenant. So all the while, the bomb is still sitting in the casino. Junkie and his fellow FBI agents were getting nervous, saying, we just didn't think we could contain the perimeter a whole lot longer. Like, these people are really want to see Beyonce's mom. Yeah.

Or whatever's happening. They misheard bomb. They thought they said Beyonce's mom. It's just an accent thing. Easy mistake to make. Bianca's mom. Sounds like bum. So for this reason, they decided to act fast.

Meetings were held and they pitched different options. There were no perfect solutions. But they took a vote and it was unanimous that the best way forward would be, according to Hoffman, involving separating the top steel box which contained the switches from the bottom box which contained most of the dynamo. If the boxes and wiring could be severed almost instantaneously, and they're like, they'll be able to do it within a fraction of a second, the theory went that it would prevent the charge from actually reaching the explosive material.

And how would this be achieved? Well, by doing a little explosion of their own. They're going to use explosives on a bomb. I'll explode this before it explodes. Yeah, I'm going to pre-explode this bomb so it doesn't explode. We'll explode the bomb so the bomb doesn't explode. Huh? Easy.

Yeah. Do I have to say it again? I'll be home for dinner. Everyone's got their hands up. We're in. Fantastic. Yeah, great. Duh.

We're all born too. Well, slow the bomb so the bomb doesn't explode. I said I wouldn't say it again. Do not make me say it again. They were pretty aware that it was an ambitious plan and they knew that it wasn't a sure thing, but they're like, you know, it's better than nothing. Is it better than nothing? Yeah.

Well, nothing means the bomb will explode. This way, it means the bomb will probably explode. So you get it. But this way, the bomb will explode, definitely. We're guaranteeing an explosion. Yes, some of the bomb will explode. What are waiting for. It's what they want.

Betts have been made. Yeah. Oh, imagine the FBI. Jockey is like, yeah. What time? 425? Yeah. No worries.

Oh, that's funny. That's the time that I've got jotted down here. put these gloves on. There's no way to put like, build a wall or something around it. Oh my God, this is this Trump shit again. Dave's always with this shit. That's my answer for him. Build a wall.

Funnily enough, they did the exact opposite. So. They knocked down a wall. They knocked down surrounding walls inside. They just took sledgehammers and started knocking down walls. Because if the more enclosed it was, if it did explode, then the energy has to go somewhere and into the walls

that would go under the structure and apparently it would do more damage so the idea was you know you perforate the walls pre-explode the walls pre-explode the walls yeah can't explode something that's already been exploded

I'll think you put like I'm not fine I quit it's that kind of vibe yeah yeah yeah you don't break up with me I break up with you you don't explain me I explode you exactly right

it's the Dave Waterkey no fuck you don't fuck you I think you put like some sort of like really strong closh over the top of it. Drill that down. Drill that down and then whatever. Yeah, something that they would,

everyone comes back to the casino. Blows up the floor. Sure, we fix the floor. Get someone from the local nuclear plant. They'd have some stuff when they to protect things. Yeah, it's really thick. You're right, get a big closh. The Nevada nuclear plant.

Bring it in. Well, that's true. I mean, they would have a fancy restaurant with closhes galore. Yeah, just get three. Melt down multiple closhes to make one sort of superclosh. Super-closh. Yeah. Dave, that's a very good idea.

Are they consider that? Dave, time travel, once it happens, let's get you back to the 27th of August, 1980. Okay. Or even earlier than that, I guess, and you could tell them not to put a bomb in there. Oh, then I could put the bed on what time it explodes. So it is the 27th of August.

It's approximately 35 hours, maybe a little bit less, 30-something hours after the bomb was discovered. So it was discovered on the 26th of August. Yeah. Is that what I said before? I really thought that maturely you had not commented on being your birthday at the start of the episode, but apparently you just didn't hear. Did not hear it. Just then when he said 27th, I was like, oh. He said the 26th of August 1980, I thought, oh, 10 years before Jess was born, but I thought.

McCauley Colkin's birthday. Really? He was born 1980. Yep. He's exactly 10 years older than me. Oh, yeah. You've spoiled her a bit, but he was born, his mom exploded him out. His mom was the biggest thing I've ever seen She was heavily pregnant that day She was ready to pop is what they say

She's ready to pop, ready to blow Wow His mom was a bomb Sorry for making it about my birthday No, I, well Stuff's probably going to happen the next day Is well then If this keeps going

If this keeps going It could be my birthday too It's bad that I died and read that date and think that. Why would you? It would be so weird, honestly, if you read that and went, Oh, Jess's birthday. Now your birthdays are in the 20s of August. Yeah.

You do know that, and that is true. And I know also that they're 26th of August. Yeah. I know that like the back of my hand. Yep. Running it down on the back of my hand right now. Got it. Yes.

So, yeah, 34, 35. This comes out on the 27th of August. No! That's why I was just look at that up. This is going to come out of the 27th. 45 years later, exactly. What the heck? Happy birthday!

To this potential bombing. Yeah. Well, I mean, we know an explosion happens. True. But what kind? We're about to find out. Blow out the candles. It's like a loony tune.

cartoons. Oh, you know what I realized this week? You know, I just always assumed tunes was because it's cartoons, but it's just Americans say tunes as tunes, and it's actually loony tunes. And I would have seen that run down so many times. And it's like, it's a play on like Disney had a thing called like wacky songs or something. Is it?

So it's tunes as in music, not tunes. Yeah. as in cartoons. Yeah. I guess I would have said loony tunes. Yeah, loony tunes. Okay, well, don't even worry about it. But I would say loony tunes.

Yeah, but I did also think that maybe it was spelled the other way. I don't know why. Apparently it was a play on Disney's silly symphonies. Oh, and they did loony tunes. Yeah. There you go. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I probably knew that on some level, but I was just like,

ah, I was, but I just, I read somewhere else that, Americans say tunes and tunes both as tunes. Oh, yeah, okay. I was like, oh, that's... Like, play as a tune. Play us a tune. Which also, like, in context, makes sense. But I think if Looney Tunes wasn't a cartoon,

obviously wouldn't have been confused by. Yeah. Anyway, a bit of fun. Bit of fun. Sorry, someone held up a day. That's another stick. Frisbee. So, local bomb squad captain, Danny Daniel.

What? Danny, Danny Hell. Danny Hell. Danny Dale. That's, no. Don't like that? There's so many names. Stop giving your kids the same name twice.

Danny Hell. Spell the last name. D-A-N-I-H-E-L. Daniel. D-I-N? D.A. Yeah. Do you say this to Ronald McDonald? You know, when you're hanging out with him? I don't think you do. It's not McDonald McDonald. Or Ronald. Or Ronald Ronald. Ronald. I think that was like a VFL footballer named Donald McDonald. What do you think of him? I don't think anything of him. He's fine. His parents are assholes.

So yes, Danny Dania, bomb squad captain, made his way to the bomb up to the. bomb in the abandoned casino where he set up the controlled explosion before heading back to the perimeter to detonate it. I believe it was him. That's what I read. Like, there are things like they'll change, like different sources sort of mucked up little details. It's like, I was actually, what was our man's name?

Tangie or a, junkie. Jongy. Tangy's a pretty normal name, really. Compared to Junkie, yes. Junkie. And I love Junkie, by the way. When I say normal, normal does. doesn't mean good.

Normal's boring. Norse sucks. Yeah. You know how many Jess Perkins is around the world? Blu. Bler. Boring. 17.

Yeah. Plus. So boring. So yeah. He sets up and apparently he was interviewed, if it was him or whatever the guy's name, was interviewed in that TV doco. And he's like, it was so surreal being in this casino, which I'd been in many times before, and it was all noise and action.

And for to be in there, it's silent. There's still chips all over the tables, decks of cards and everything. It was like, it was so surreal. Yeah. Going in, knocking down some walls, setting up the explosion and also the pressure of that as well. And also, it's a live bomb. So, you know, he knows in the back of his mind, he's like, this could just go off at any second. Yeah.

Especially three timers. Yes. And he's setting up an explosive ride on it. And he knows it if he accidentally slips and nudges it. I'd even be worried about when they're knocking down walls. He'd sort of be like, let's not make too much movement or vibration. Yeah, 0.01 on the Richter scale doesn't seem like a lot. No, I reckon I've farted bigger than math.

You reckon? No one farted the casino. Just holding it in. I've got to explode here. Why did I eat beans? My body instinctively knows that now that I'm alone in a big building, this is the perfect time. My body's saying let her rip. But if I do.

She might let her rip. So yeah, he was like, it was very surreal, but he's talking about this later. He's putting a bomb on the bomb. He's putting a bomb on the bomb. He sets it down, you know, leads the wires out, goes back to the perimeter or whatever. And then Bindman writes, When the countdown to the explosion was broadcast on the police radio network, hundreds of tired, exhausted and confused vacations,

sheltering at the Whittle High School Gymnasium two miles away, fell quiet. They could hear on the radio. Three, two, one, nothing. Amid the silence, people tentatively turned around and looked at one another confused. Didn't it work? Then they heard it. Hoffman writes, hopes of successfully disarming the bomb evaporated with a loud boom,

followed by a cloud of debris, that spread outward and then upward. You could feel the explosive wave, Junkie said. Binman writes, according to witnesses, it was so powerful that it ripped apart balconies and hurled slot machines into the street, turning large chunks of concrete into shrapnel

and shooting twisted metal beams nearly 150 yards into the nearby parking lot. The whole front went out, a security guard told them. By the time the dust settled, the hotel was completely gutted. Had tourists not been evacuated, the damage obviously, would have been much worse.

Whoa. Wow. So the plan didn't quite work. Okay. They exploded it and then it exploded it. Yes. So they're in charge. That's right.

They're in charge of the charge. And no one was hurt. Wow. So the perimeter held so much damage was done. Yes. But no deaths and I don't think even like injuries. Wow. Wow, that's, oh, that's very lucky.

But yeah. And there's footage of it because the media were in town. Oh, whoa! You can watch video of it from afar, from multiple angles. And does it look pretty big from the street? Yes. You know, there's big puff of sort of smoke and dust. Wow.

Cool. Cool because nobody was hurt. Yeah. It feels almost like a controlled demolition. Yeah. And that, like, yeah, the kind of thing that goes. Corkers will attend. Corkers love that stuff.

Corkers are all over a control. Then someone's like, uh, is Beyonce's mum still coming? Yeah, she, what's happening? Sorry, is this, is this going to affect Beyonce's mum's? She, she okay? Did Tina get out? That's the mum. Tina Noles.

Did you look that up? Did you know that? You knew Tina Noles's name. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How many celebrities' mum names do you know? Oh, what a fantastic question. Dolly Parton's. Ooh.

Dolly Senior. I don't know her mum's name. Interesting. I know Dolly's middle name is Rebecca, but Dolly isn't the eldest. So, you know, Dolly Parton, mum. Avey. Avey. Yeah, that's a hard name to remember.

That's nice. Yeah. So just Tina, it sounds like. Just Tina. Or like, probably like Nepo babies. Oh, gosh. Cota Johnson's mom is Melanie Griffiths. Yes, and dad is Don Johnson.

Don Johnson. Which is a great name. And her stepdad is Antonio Banderas. That's amazing. Yeah. She would never enough going to succeed. Yeah, yeah. I did not know that.

Yeah. And her stepmom's Gwyneth Paltrow? No. Who's the one that was married to Chris Martin? Gwyneth Paltrow. Now, doesn't she date Gwyneth Paltrow's ex-husband? But that wouldn't make Gwolder. Berndeth Poulter, her step-mom.

That's the joke there, though. But you all looked at me so talked, I thought, I've said the wrong actors. But also, they've split up. Did they? Apparently. I don't think, I looked at you like, I don't know what's going on. Yeah, that's fair. I wasn't sure.

I'm like, is the joke that just all celebrities are together or? All celebrities end up. I'm like, I like it. So my phrase didn't suggest I'm enjoying it. I just assumed that I must have said the wrong name and I'm like, so is a stepmom, Tina Faye? I'm not as up to date with such things as you. might think.

Apparently neither of mine. I didn't know they'd broken up. Oh. Yeah. And according to comments on the internet, it was because eight years and no ring. Oh, yeah. That can happen. And that matters to everyone.

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, you know, as a woman without agency, she obviously... She was really requiring that. Yeah. And I hadn't come up. I mean, she obviously couldn't bring it up. She was just waiting patiently. Yeah, that's right.

They wouldn't have discussed it. And if you don't get married, your relationship isn't real. Yeah. Well, you, I mean, you've got to basically X marks the spot, right? This is mine. Yes. I'll put a ring on it. Yeah, brand, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, Beyonce said it. Yeah. If you like it. If you like it so much. Yeah. That was the tone. Tina's daughter. Yeah.

Yeah. The first, Tina's daughter's first draft of that song was, if you like, if you like the milk, you should have bought the cow for it. Yeah. And she's like, oh, that's a bit. It's a bit clunky. Bit clunky. Yeah.

But the message. is what I'm here. Put a ring on it. Yeah. If you like it, you should put a down payment on her. Yeah. Somehow, a workshop in a ring. Oh, ring on it.

That's got a certain, I don't know how to say it, but it's got a good, good sound to it. Can that the sores out? So yes, no desk, no one was hurt. But neighboring casinos apparently shook, but punters who weren't watching, they were still, you know, at the table. Fuck off. While the building next door, exactly. exploded. Yeah.

That's crazy. That's fun. I think the ones that are the closest casinos, I think, areas were probably shut off. Areas. Areas. Yeah, yeah. That's wild. Yeah, you think you would shut down like a lot.

You would hope so. But you got to keep gambling. That's right. Yeah. ABG. I was about to say ABG. Ah. We're so in sync.

So, um, the way. But, yeah, the ones who weren't gambling. And, like, if you're there, come on, guys, you should be gambling. Yeah, what are you doing? But the others who weren't gambling, enjoyed the explosion as if it was put on for their own entertainment, cheering as the bomb went off. No! Yeah! That's so wild.

Cordona Bindman, during the explosion, one man who apparently lost a lot of money at the casino, even reported to yelled, take that, Harvey! I mean, such a wild thing to do when an anonymous person was. person is just... Yeah. Yeah. I have a motive. Okay.

Yeah. And no alibi, probably. This worked out great for me. My bum worked. I mean, uh, it's from figure speech. Figure speech. I really thought that it was like an overcomplicated sort of hoax. Yeah, right.

Like maybe there was TNT in there, which is because they're X rated, of course, but there's so many of those, those eight ways it could go off. Come on. Yeah. That's from a movie. That doesn't really happen. Yeah. And so, I'm just applauding.

Don't Americans love to applaud as well. I love to applaud. Everything gets a standing ovation there. And, like, I always found it funny as a kid. You'd, like, film clips on, you know, a rage or whatever. Music, what do people say? That's of Australia? Music videos.

Yeah. MTV. Like live clips, as soon as the first words were saying, American orders, yeah! Yeah. Love this one. I was like, oh, man, we do that at the end. This is, this is so efficient, actually. Yeah.

Just applaud now. They do it all the way through. Yeah. Yeah. Three hour colds and, woo! Have you catching planes over there? I thought it was like a cliche or whatever, but they actually, they'll applaud at the end of flights. Or it happened once anyway.

I've extrapolated. that to an entire nation. But I know that Americans applaud landing of planes. Oh, no. No, you didn't experience that? No. Okay. No.

It's happened on like maybe one or two flights I've ever been on, but I think they've been in Australia. Right. And probably, I think that it makes sense if you're like, were fearing that you were going down for a bit. Sure. Oh, right. Thank goodness we made it.

But just a run of the mill. Sydney to Melbourne. I was going to say Melbourne to Sydney. A really easy flight. You're up. You're back down. And I look, I think if we applauded. the piles, we've got to applaud everyone doing their job.

I agree. Dropped off by a taxi. Good job. Thanks, mate. Couldn't have done it without you. That was beautiful. It's probably a bit rich coming from us who we get applauded for doing a live podcast where we sit on the stage.

Uh-huh. It's really hard on our butts. That starts and ends with applause usually. Yeah. So yeah, I actually retract everything I've said. There's no way we do anything. And this is going to shock you, how humble I'm about to be. I don't think what we do is.

as impressive as flying a jumbo jet. I think a pilot would disagree. Yeah. I'd say, sure, I can fly an airline. What's the dream, the dream liner? Yeah. Is that what it is? Yeah.

I can fly that, no worries. Bloddy, I get stage fright, though. Couldn't get up on a stage and talk in front of people. A couple hundred people, absolutely not. But get me on the PA. But that's when your audience is, you can't see him. Yeah, exactly. You know?

You can't hear him. Yeah. That's the thing. Who we clap, we're clapping, he can't hear us. That's interesting. No, I think we should know, I've come full circle. Let's applaud everyone who finishes any job. Yep.

Mailman puts it in the slot. You have to hear how dirty everything you just said was. We should applaud everyone who finishes a job. And then mailman puts it in the slot. No, I don't understand it. Come on. I don't really, yeah, get it. You know, golfer puts into the hole.

Well done, buddy. They do. They do that. They do that's got its own name, golf club. Yeah, yeah. I couldn't think of anything sexual, apart from... Hot dog man puts the hot dog in the bun. Hot dog in the bun.

Right in there, buddy. Squirt sauce all over it. Too early. Not cooked yet. Oh. Pardon? Bun's not even in yet. He's pre-sourced the bun.

There's a pill for that Well no The pill's for the opposite of that isn't I? I wouldn't even know What? Okay I wouldn't even know If that is the thing that happened

People at my young age They don't need such things Unless they do and that's fine I'm losing it You're doing that thing When we let you keep talking Yeah Did have a coffee before we got here

So yes Always room for more They applaud the explosion. A guy yells out, take that Harvey. Wild. Wild, thank you. Associated press reporters were shocked that tourists were celebrating such a catastrophic event, perhaps because everyone left unscathed.

Since no one was hurt, it seemed to be a celebration that the tourists kind of enjoyed and took part in. Can I just say, when a bomb goes off, you don't know that immediately. It takes a while to get in there to make sure everyone's okay. Yeah, like someone slept through. One of those hotel rooms was still full. That were just, yeah. It was like, you know, a couple of employers were having a bone on their break

and they were hiding and they, oh no, now they're dead. Having a bone on their break. Well, I reckon, you know, yeah, good. That'll teach them. You're boning on the job. Won't do that again. No, not on the job on the break. Oh, that's fine.

Oh, tragic. Yeah. Hey, I was just trying to squeeze one in. in a gap between work, you know what I mean. I'll miss something. Anyway, that quote that I just said was from retired FBI agent Rone. He said that letter in an interview. He said that letter in an interview.

Bindman continues at the California-N Nevada border. 18-year-old Greg Davis and 14-year-old Rocky Young set up a stand on a sidewalk and sold $9 t-shirts that said, I survived the bomb Lake Tahoe August 980. That's awesome. Other retailers sold shirts that said, I got bombed at Lake Tahoe. Fuck me. They're being so casual about it.

I had a dynamite time at Lake Tahoe. But yeah, again, it's because they know. Well, actually, you know, they printed those t-shirts off before the bomb. They printed those weeks ago. It's like, oh, this actually tides up really nicely. Apparently, one of the venues also started selling a cocktail called Harvey's Wallbanger, bit of fun. That is good. That's very clever.

The casinos all quickly got back to business. You know, to be honest, they never really stopped. Apart from Harvey's, of course, it was a hole in the ground. Much like, my pool, Dave's resort and casino. Well, to be honest, you know, it was a hole in the ground. And there was, there wasn't blown up entirely. The structure broadly was still standing, but it was gutted from the inside. Wow.

Apparently it ripped a five-story cavity. Shit. According to Hoffman, the blast transformed Tahoe's oldest casino into a scene resembling a war zone. Cement and fixtures hung from twisted rebar, debris including gaming chips and money littered the area. There was money everywhere, Pirini remembered. The National Guard worked with law. enforcement and Harvey security staff to gather all the chips and money as investigators analyze the scene. They said...

I'd be pocketing a handfuls of cash. Apparently, officially all of the money and chips were accounted for, but apparently punters were like, that's not true. I had stuff that went missing and you know, maybe they were serious or maybe they were just opportunists. Yeah, $50,000. Yeah. Fell out of my pocket when I was running out. Where is it? You owe that to me. While zero people killed, the damage to the building was a gut punch for Harvey Gross, according to Hoffman.

He started crying and he said, thank God we didn't hurt anyone, Perini said of Gross. We didn't hurt anyone. As he surveyed the wreckage. Do you think that's an inside job? I mean, he was pretty like, don't pay him. Happy for it to explode. Maybe he was. It's an insurance.

Insurance, you think. Let's find out. Hoffman continues, the total cost of. the damage was estimated to be around $18 million. Oh, that's a lot more than the rats. Although the damage was significant, it didn't take long for the gamblers to return. Part of Harvey's reopened just 48 hours after the plus. No way.

Jockey said, they went back to gambling pretty damn quick. Yeah, apparently, they were operating with a crater still inside. FBI's sifting through. but they put up temporary walls sort of to cordon off the damage areas but put windows in those walls so people could have a look at the debris while they gambled

sort of turned it into a bit of a win A bit of a tourist attraction Yeah Come see the hole My God I love it Yeah There's like

There's someone of American culture to me is it's just so interesting. Yes. I mean, I don't think they get everything right, but I think they go all in. You know what I mean? It's a huge country with very broad and different cultures.

Yeah. But overall, that American sort of culture. Yeah. It's beautiful. It's something. And a shout out to all our, and God bless to all our American listeners out there. Harvey Gross offered half a million dollars as a reward for info, while, you know, they also try to revamp and fully reopen the casino. And then the following year in May, it was, the renovation was completed and the casino was relaunched.

Bloody quick. Ribbon cut. Oh, wow. I mean, yeah, it's almost like they just have a heap of cash. And I get, yeah, it must have been insurance, right? I didn't read that necessarily, but I'm assuming that, you know, it was paid for with insurance as well. While the casino was being rebuilt,

authorities were scratching their heads about who's behind the bomb? Yeah, how did it get into like a back office room without anybody noticing? Yeah, because it was the biggest thing anyone's ever seen. Yeah. Yeah. Not the kind of thing that you could just sneak in, right? Do they have security cameras back then? I think I think CCTV was around in 1980.

Hmm. Well, it feels like that would be your first point of reference then. But did they all get blown up? Oh. They would have looked at it beforehand, surely. You'd think so. You'd hope so. And you'd think if you were, their CCTV was around, and you'd think if you're going to put it anywhere, a casino would be a... Yeah, it's probably a good spot for it.

These days, I'm not sure back then, but every square inch would be covered. Yeah. For the Tahoe Quarterly, Matthew Render writes, the FBI interviewed 500 suspects. I saw another say 400 suspects, but a lot of suspects. But which is it? I'm going to say 400 plus. More than 400.

Yeah. So they had to interview them all, ruling them out one by one, you know, checking alibis and all this sort of stuff. One lead the agents followed came from Nancy Domenico, owner of South Lake Tahoe's Balaho Motel. She provided them with a lot. license plate number of a suspicious white van. Oh.

A white van that also, they believed, was acting a bit suss at the casino that morning. Oh. The morning of the bomb being dropped. Three men were staying at a hotel, motel, the night before the bomb was delivered. And Renda writes that after one of them made an untoward comment towards it, didn't say what?

But, yeah, one of them made an untoward comment to her, She's like, oh, these guys are weird. Went out, jot it down there. Nice. Number. Corner rendered, the van registration information led investigators to the home of one John Burgess Jr. But when they arrived, baby John. Baby John, J.B.J.

Was found living with five housemates amid a litter of empty beer cans and bags of marijuana, not the profile for an intricate bomb building mastermind. They're like, oh, right, this doesn't seem, right? Sort of like a real party pad. Yeah. Yeah, not a, not a guy building crazy bombs. Yeah, criminal mastermind. Seemingly, it was just another dead end.

But when J.B.J. Baby Jr., John Burgess. John Burgess, Jr. Baby John Jr. I'm just calling him J.B.J. And his girlfriend, J.B.J. and his girlfriend broke up. She started dating another guy. And apparently, she made.

mentioned to her new boyfriend that she overheard her ex, J.B.J. Talking about the bomb plot in some way. In some way. He was talking about it in some way. He saw it on the news and went, wow, there was a bomb of the thing. Yeah. Huh. I don't write that day.

Very interesting. I think maybe he was talking more in like a first person kind of. I did it. Current tense. That was a B. So yes. As it turned out, it seemed he was involved after all. Her new boyfriend called the FBI claiming the half a mill reward or trying to claim it.

And after surveillance, JBJ was taken in for questioning. Under interrogation, the FBI caught J.B.J. in a lie. Apparently, it was about his whereabouts during August 26th, and August 27th, the day before Dave's birthday, maybe. Correct. And, yeah, he said he was out Lake Tahoe, but he was there just to grow marijuana. Is that a crime?

Is that a crime? Yeah. Okay. Well, why would I admit that if I was actually there to bomb? Did you say? I haven't even heard of this. That's a good point. But the FBI are like, that doesn't make any sense.

The climate there is not right for growing marijuana. The FBI, like, we've tried. That's really hard. So, yeah, anyway, whatever, there was some inconsistency where they're like, all right, you've, that's perjury or whatever. You could go away for this, mate. They arrested him and said he'll do jail time. Wow.

If he doesn't spill the beans on his co-conspirators. His brother Jimmy, so Johnny and Jimmy were brought, both brought in, and the two of them, hold over. On each other? Telling all. Wow. Not on each other.

As it turned out, the mastermind was their father. John Burgess Sr. JPMI and Johnny fingered their dad for immunity. I'll do anything for immunity. Almost exactly a year after the bombing, John Burgess Sr. was arrested. So, who was he? That was a great question.

John Burgess Sr. was born Janos Burgess, maybe Janos Burgess in Hungary in 1922. His life was a roller coaster from the start. His dad was an alcoholic and he was sent to live with his grandparents at an early age, I think about the age of three. I think he spent nine years living with them and apparently it was quite good, but he was sent back. I don't know why maybe grandparents might have got too old or whatever. and life was tough again back with his alcoholic old man.

Then he ran away in his teens. So he was living, I think, in a rural area. He ended up running to Budapest where he was taken in by a butcher and his family. Just got purely coincidental that... Butcher? Yeah. Harvey Gross was also had a butching background. Butching.

Butchering. You butcher that? So he worked as a butcher apprentice. with that family. Then for the Adivus magazine, I'm going to quote from this a bunch, this does like a full deep dive, you know,

almost like a novella about it. This is, and I discovered this later in my reading, but it's so good. With all the other articles and subs, well, we'll link in the show notes. But it goes into a bunch of details that I won't go into.

If you are looking for, you know, a deeper dive onto it. It's really great. Written by Adam Higgins. And he writes, in 1941, Hungary entered World War II on the German side and sent troops to support the invasion of Russia. That was the year that Janos, JBS, John Burgess Senior, enrolled in the Royal Hungarian Air Force Military Academy. By the time he graduated and entered the Royal Hungarian Army Air Force as a pilot in 1944, the tide of the war had turned. The Nazis had formerly

occupied Hungary and the Red Army was approaching its eastern borders. Higginbotham continues. US records show that in 1945, a month after the Hungarian capital fell to the Soviets, Burgess was arrested by the Gestapo in Austria. He was charged with disobeying orders, but escaped. He was arrested again in 1946 by Hungarian military authorities, but released without charge. I'm only reading out some of these things, like the article goes into more, but But he lived a wild time during these years in the war. Hungary was now entirely under the control of the Soviet Union. And it was around this time.

Burgess would later claim that he began working for the US military intelligence in Austria. Oh. This has not been verified, but I also assume, like, if you've got secret spies, how much paperwork are you keeping about it? True, or admitting, yeah. Yeah, in the 1940s. because people have tried to corroborate it much later, and they're like, we can't find anything.

So, I don't know. Anyway, Higginbotham writes that in April of 948, he was arrested by Soviet secret police in Hungary in charge with espionage. The trial lasted seven minutes, and he was sentenced to 25 years of hard labor and was sent to a gulag in Siberia. Wow. He spent almost eight years there,

cutting down trees to make railroad ties and twice contracting jaundice. So he was like hell on earth kind of stuff. But after eight years, he was released. And this was at the same time as thousands of access prisoners of war were repatriated from captivity in the Soviet Union. So he was returned to Hungary. And at this point, he's like 25 or 26. All of that. Wow.

Because while to be first arrested by the Gestapo for not doing your job on the military and then afterwards the opposition arrest you for doing your job. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like in the army, you're like, I can't keep anyone happy. Yeah, come on, gosh. That's awful.

Yeah, it was a hard laugh. Not to give him too much sympathy. He's, you know, becomes or was pretty evil. In 195, he met a married woman named Elizabeth, who he soon asked to marry him. I think, yeah, they met a couple of times. She was still married. He proposed. She agreed.

Was divorced quickly and they were married in early 1956. According to Higginbotham, the early days of the marriage were a brief period of tranquility for Burgess, but less than a year later, the Soviet Union moved to suppress a revolution in Budapest. So, yeah, in 1956, there was something called the Budapest uprising, aka the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which was a spontaneous nationwide action against the Hungarian communist government and Soviet policies, which escalated from student protests in Budapest

into a large-scale national revolt. It's so funny in these sort of reports, it's like, just a side-knowing, oh, there was a revolution. Yeah, yeah. He was there during this revolution. Yeah. it was crushed by the Soviets in the end and thousands were killed. Higginbotham writes, Janos, Jabias, and Elizabeth, found themselves among the 200,000 refugees who fled the Soviet crackdown.

Burgess later said that as soon as the uprising began, he joined in, including using a jackhammer to help a friend escape from prison. But he was again arrested when Soviet troops crossed the border. But he was released and was even given a passport by a sympathetic Soviet officer, and he and Elizabeth escaped into Austria. There he worked as a German-Hungarian interpreter for the Red Cross until months later he was granted political asylum in the US. According to that Kukseer video, he arrived penniless, but spent the next few years working various construction jobs. I think he landed in Jersey, but he ended up over in California. And in all these sort of jobs he took on, he picked up skills such as working with dynamite, a bit of welding. Getting switches.

Yeah, I love to switch. And then in 1964, he started his own landscaping company in California. A couple of years before that, 1960, they had their first son, Johnny, and then 1962, another boy named Jimmy. coordinator Higginbotham by 1972, John Senior or Big John, as Higginbotham calls him. Big John and little John. He was a millionaire. His landscaping business took off. Wow.

He started other businesses as well. He had 26 odd employees. Some of them were normal as well. And also lucrative contracts with California municipalities and golf courses. He bought three Mercedes. Like, he's living the big life. Big John, big life. Yeah.

But he lost his license for speeding. So he bought his own plane. Got too fast on a plane? Yeah. Stop me now. Stop me now. Come on. But you can't.

What am I doing? Sorry, what was I doing? Oh, okay. You can speed in a plane. I didn't know that. I don't have a license. So he used that to fly around job sites because he, you know, he had sites around California. So he'd fly to work.

That's awesome That is awesome Gordon Higginbotham He liked to pull terrifying low altitude stunts Sometimes with his son's on board buzzing water skiers on a lake To watch them scatter

Or flying under a freeway Overpass Sounds like really reckless crazy stuff Sounds like a mania Yeah I think he might have been And a bad dad Yeah

And that I mean Yes He really was an awful dad. Great. But yeah, apart from being an awful dad and a reckless flyer, he was a tinkerer. Yeah. He invented a bunch of stuff.

Apparently he had a few times where he came up with what would have been quite a lucrative invention and he was just beaten to the patent office. But, you know, he liked a tinker. He was, yeah, he was this close. And then he was like, oh, they've existed for ages. He forgot to go. and he's like, if only I had a way to remind myself. Yeah, he forgot to go.

He forgot to go to the Peyton office. Not to whee. I forgot to we. Again. I pissed my pants. Great. Now I'll never get respect as a tinkerer. I'm a tinkler.

That's so stupid. Yeah, so Jess, you guess that very correctly. I mean, with a bit of information, but he was awful. to his sons. He beat them. He was brutal of them in a bunch of different ways, like using different ways to beat them. He made them do backbreaking work for his company. Their holidays were just filled with working, you know, digging ditches and whatnot, working nights. But then this was a strange thing that Higginbotham talked about. He would only let him get one hair cut of gear.

It's like a strange thing. And it would be, he would shave their heads off at the start of summer each year. And that would be the... Shave the heads off. He was a bad dad. They would grow back over the year. See you next year. He'd shave their hair off.

Yeah. That's a bit bizarre. Yeah. And especially because he'd do it at the start of summer. And apparently then he's forcing him to work out side in the summer all year long, digging ditches and apparently, you know, their heads would just burn and blister. So odd. Yeah.

They didn't have hats back in the 70s. John Sr. and Elizabeth's marriage was also tumultuous, to say the least. She often just went away for chunks of time. He assumed it was because she was having affairs, and that was, I guess, probably true. They would get into screaming matches. According to Higginbotham, when Elizabeth finally filed for divorce in November of 1973. She moved into a travel trailer behind the house just so she could

at least keep an eye on the boys. Like she was obviously worried she wanted to leave but was worried to leave them there. And yeah, by that time, Big John was making plans to retire and he sold off the landscaping business to his foreman. He began flying up to Lake Tahoe in his plane more frequently to gamble his favorite casino being Harvey's wagon wheel. You don't say. His favorite, so he decided. Well, how do you show love? Oh, you guys know.

Yeah. By being pretty mean. Yeah, exploding us. Then I went and spoiled it all. Little Simpsons, remember that one day? Yeah. Thank you so much. Such a Bob.

Such a Bob. Elizabeth started bringing her new boyfriend to the shack at the back. But they, and they continued arguing, you know, her and her ex-husband. And she continued to sort of go away for chunks of time. But then Higginbotham writes, at the end of July 1975, she disappeared again, but this time it was permanently. she left behind her car her Mazda pickup truck which was parked just outside with the keys in the ignition

her pocketbook was on the passenger seat and apparently Big John didn't even seem to notice three days later her body was found in a field behind the house an autopsy showed a lethal combination of alcohol and valium in her bloodstream yeah the coroner ruled a suicide but something never seemed quite right about that. Her stomach was full of whiskey and Jimmy who's who's often interviewed he was in

that documentary. He said she only ever drank vodka and they never found the bottle. So super suss and while it was officially ruled a suicide, people think that the dad. Yeah. And maybe this all help suggest why Johnny and Jimmy didn't take too long to roll over on their dad, you know? Yeah. After Elizabeth's death, John Senior Change, starting to dress up more. You know, he was getting a bit sharper. And then he would fly to Harvey's more and more regularly. He started getting a reputation as a big spender there, you know, including they,

oh, they say give him free meals, maybe even free buffet access. Whoa. You've got to be a big spender for that. Yeah, you've got to really be known there. They give him the honeymoon suite, brings his girlfriends there and that sort of stuff. The honeymoon suite? Whoa. In the meantime, he basically, his kids who, you know, were early teens, they were basically now parenting themselves.

Yeah. They were probably happy about that, right? Because their dad was so brutal. Yeah, I imagine, you know, it's still not ideal, but probably better. He's one of the rare dads. it's better to not be there at all. And apparently he would just, like, at one point he bought $8,000 worth of canned food just to be delivered and the house was just full of it.

It's like, there you go, you can solve on that. Eight grand's worth is so much. Wow. How long does he plan on beat? Just give the kids cash or something. Didn't trust them with the money. Give them eight grand. Yeah.

And it wasn't the same. Just like one. Yeah. Yeah, it was all Brussels breath. And 1980s Brussels. That's a really good. That's a full meal. According to Higginbotham, in April of 1976, Big John, then in his 50s, this is cool, married an 18-year-old waitress from his restaurant that he owned, the Villa Basque.

The marriage lasted barely a year. And then in 1970s, he started seeing another woman from the restaurant, Joan Williams. Williams was in her 40s and a mother of four. It was also a university graduate with a degree in Spanish literature who liked a bowl and play golf in her spare time. Okay. So it's like a well-rounded person. Yeah, she was separated from her husband.

She had a full-time job and worked weekends at the Villa Basque. So she was busy. Apparently when she introduced Big John to her parents, they didn't like him. He was like a, they're like, he's a slick. smooth talk and go, I wouldn't trust him. But she wasn't dissuaded, and within a year she moved in. She would eventually also participate in the whole bomb scheme. Oh.

Big John was not a good gambler, to say the least. He sold his business for a big chunk of cash. He had a house. He had to end up having to remortgage it. He just lost everything from gambling. He'd just burn it on the blackjack table. Then there was a suspicious fire at his restaurant, the Villa Basque restaurant. Luckily, he got a $300,000 insurance.

How'd you $300? We'll give you a meal voucher. But the kitchen's burnt down. What use is that? No, 300 grand. So he's like, oh, great. He gambled that really quickly. And made more money?

and made less money. He was getting at the point where debt collectors from the casino were traveling to him to go, hey, those checks you wrote bounced. Like, you know, there's a lot of goodwill you've given a lot of money, but we're going to need you to pay the stack. And he'd say, I'll come back and he would pay off bits and pieces, but, you know, it's becoming increasingly flaky. And yeah, basically he became a classic disgruntary.

I thought the loser. He apparently saw the end of 1979, the end of the 70s at the casino. He took a girlfriend there. But at this point, like, his name was mud there. He wasn't a high roller anymore. So he's like, oh, I thought I'd come stay in the honeymoon suite or whatever. And they're like, sorry. And he's sort of, he's like, come on, man.

I brought this girl here. I was trying to impress it. and apparently the guy goes, oh, we'll sort it out. He gets in there, but minutes later he comes back knocking on the other, sorry, actually someone else needs this room, and they took him to this tiny room instead. And apparently the girl he was there with was like, I thought you were a big deal. Apparently, and apparently he woke up the next morning, you know, started on an 80. This is according to one of the accounts, he's like, this casino is going to pay.

That was like, that was like the final straw. Wow. They never took responsibility for his gambling problem. That's amazing. They didn't give me the honeymoon suite because I keep not paying them for stuff. Oh, that's it. That's it. I didn't get a free upgrade.

Last chance. What the fuck? He actually, because he was a high roller. He knew Harvey, you know, personally they'd chat and stuff. I think he'd even been in Harvey's helicopter and whatnot. Wow. But can you do that at a hotel say, come on a man, try to repress this girl. Can I happen for free?

Come on. Well, I guess he could because he could, because he could. out of relationship with him, but, and they would probably, you'd still be like, are you gonna, are you just going through a rough trot and you are going to again, just like pour hundreds of thousand dollars into it? Yeah, yeah. So, they're kind of gambling on him. They're like, he might, he's not paying now, but he might later.

Yeah. I mean, and it's funny to feel sorry for a casino. Yeah, true, I don't feel sorry for anybody really. No, yeah, it's like that, isn't it? I just mean in general in my life. Yeah. Do not feel sorry. Yeah, you don't have empathy.

What do they call that one? Sociopath? Is that that one? You're one of those ones. I'm one of them. Yeah, one of the good ones. Potato potato. So he's still tinkering, but now he's tinkering on a new gadget.

Not one to help his landscaping, but more of a, I don't know, like a complex explosive device. Like a really good ditch digger. Yeah, yeah. It could really blow a hole. into a, you know, hey, hey, Johnny, Jimmy, no more digging boys. And he got his boys involved, pretty sweet. Family affair. Their relationship were pretty strained at this point.

I think they were in their early 20s. Yeah, I guess they were sort of young adults at this stage. And their relationship was strange, but probably, you know, they probably had some, still had some fear for him. Maybe they even were feeling a bit sorry for him because, you know, You know, his life was turning a shit before their eyes. For whatever reason, they agreed to be involved. Apparently, they would talk, like, he explained parts of the idea to them,

and privately they would laugh, like, this is a crazy idea. He'll never actually do this. Yeah, he'll never do it. We'll hear room for a bit. Exactly. At every step, like, yeah, well, obviously. But at every step, they kept going and kept going on. A bob with eight separate ways of going off.

Yeah. Okay, Dad. No, no, yeah, yeah. Great work. Good tinkering. So step one was getting their hands on the explosives. I don't know if it was John Jr. or John Senior, but one of them knew of a big hydroelectric project going on

that was going to have a lot of T&T. So they went up there. I think maybe someone who was working on the site, gave them a bit of an inside job, and they were able to get up there, get a ton a thousand pounds I don't know what a ton is

is that a thousand pounds a thousand pounds of dynamite and they cover their track with branches so it was like perfect crime it was discovered the next day but they had no leads no idea who it was

wow a thousand pounds is a lot from there John Sr big John spent the following months completing his complex bomb testing it working on it nonstop. And once he was happy with it, he contacted one of his old employees, a guy called Bill Brown saying, I got a bit of a cashie for you. I know we haven't worked together for a while.

And when he called Bill Brown, Brown was deep into a booze session with Terry Hall. Brown was like a lifelong con convict in and out of jail and whatnot. And yeah, they were boozing up. and Big Jongos got a job, cash, cash in hand, a couple grand, need you to come over my place right away. Like, no worries. Like, yeah, we're just delivering someone to a casino over at Lake Tahoe. Like, oh, yeah, right of you. So, they drive, you know, in the early hours of the night, still boozing along the way.

Once they got there, they all, I think builds like, all right, let's go do the drop. But for some reason, Big John's like, actually, all right, I'll probably need a bit of a rest. They go to a motel, specifically the Balaho Motel in South Lake Tahoe. And this is when one of the three drunkenly said something weird to the owner, Nancy Domenico. Oh, yes. Something I'm toward. Oh, yeah. So that had drunk said something weird, and she's like, these guys are being weird.

Right. Can I go out? Just note down the number plate. And this was unfortunate because they had signed in with fake names. Apparently Bill was out on parole and crossing the state border was actually against his parole. So he put down fake names, fake addresses and stuff. But unfortunately, the number plates were real. They hadn't quite stolen and attached fake plates yet, which they were planning to do before dropping off the bomb.

So the number plate she got was accurate, which is why it was being able to trace back to the son, the son whose van they were borrowing. And I keep like some of the, some of the ways it's recounted, they talk about how Bill and Terry didn't know what they were doing. They were just dropping something off, but they must.

It was obviously something pretty crazy. They must have known some of such as going, but apparently that is... He's like, no, that's a really nice thank you present for the casino for all their years of hospitality. I can't tell you exactly what it is because I know you're not good with secrets. Looslip Bill, that's what they call it, bind you back,

sorry to, oh, now I'm the loose lips, aren't I? Yeah, apparently they didn't know they'd deliver a bomb until after it was done. Either way, I think he basically told him, you've delivered a bomb. If you rat, you're dead. Yeah. Yeah.

So to get it into the casino, what you're wondering, Big John had a plan. He got, he got them onesies, overalls. Yep. For the, for the two blokes, like Harvey's official overalls, depending on the account, either white or blue, important detail. And he also got a big fabric IBM cover, and he sheathed the bomb in that. So basically, it looked as if it was a photocopy machine or a computer or something. And, yeah, basically they just wheeled it in into the elevator, had a quick look around. There were people there.

You know, they were on high alert. The guy behind the desk sort of looked over and came out behind the desk like, fuck. And he walked off in the other direction. It's like, huh. Yeah. But yeah, like, they were hyper aware, but no one. Yeah.

To everyone else, they're like, oh, they're just a couple of workers just delivering something, whatever. Took it up, dropped off on level two in the office. office, took the cover off, put it into a Harvey's casino bag the Big John had given them, put their onesies in there as well, overalls. And yeah, went out the back steps. Apparently they sort of put glue and stuff the lock to that exit out, so the door couldn't be open.

And done. Dunzo. Wow, very Ocean's 11. Yeah. So from there, we basically know the story. I've obviously told it in a slightly odd way, but trying to... That's a good reveal, good reveal. You know, there's not much left to tell you,

but there's a few details from the other side of the early steps that I wasn't able to reveal before. But yeah, we know the drop didn't happen. They did step one. They got the phone call off. Whoever was on the call started with the southern accent and dropped the perfect thing. How do it? Ah, ha.

Big John, I'm bloody good to hear, wars. But yeah, it sounds like it didn't happen due to a comedy of errors. So the reason the helicopter couldn't find the drop location is apparently because Big John and the boys forgot to bring a battery to power the light. No. Oh, my God. So they tried to steal one. They went to a farm property and tried to steal one out of a car. and the owner came out with a shotgun shot out of the air.

I'll kill you if you don't get off my property. Then they went to like an automotive supply store. And I said, we just need a car battery. And apparently the guy behind the counter is like, oh, yeah, well, what kind of car do you want? And Big John's like, doesn't matter. Just need a car battery. And he goes like, well, I don't want to sell you a car battery that's not going to fit your car. You're driving a Volvo?

Because we might not actually have one that. appropriate. I can check out the back, just give me a fucking battery. Whatever you got? It doesn't matter. It's that. But yeah, for whatever reason, the light didn't end up happening. I think they would probably suggest that the authorities didn't find the right spot.

They didn't follow directions. But the authorities are like, they didn't even remember a battery. That light never came up. Yeah. And like I said before, Joan, Big John's girlfriend, she was meant to help. But apparently she got in a car accident on the way over. Shit. Which I wonder if that's like me, I'm like, I'm going to do something really bad.

How do I get out of this? What's an actual excuse that's acceptable? I was in a car crash. Is Big John going to believe it? I better crash my car. But really, all of this was probably lucky for Big John. Because as we know, the helicopter didn't really have the money anyway. Yeah.

And the helicopter did have hidden in it. a man with a machine gun. Yes. And there was a SWAT team hovering above. Yep. So it was never going down the way he wanted it to. His plan was to get the pilot out of the chopper, leave the money in. He also had all these plans of like, I'm going to get you to shine a lot inside to show us that there's nothing in there that we don't expect to be.

And we're going to be watching with binoculars and stuff. Obviously, never got to that. How would you hide the man with the machine gun? His plan was... His dress is a seat. So his plan was basically to take the pilot out, you know, tie him up, leave him there. And he, because he could fly, he was going to fly off with the boys and the cash to a new life. Right.

But actually his plan had sort of apparently become like he was going to start doing this regularly. He was already ready to extort a different company. He's lost so much money at casinos. He's obviously got that sort of like, it's. He's addicted to that rush of the win, but he's losing a lot. See, I can see why he's like, I'm just going to rob casinos. This could be my new career. Yeah.

I haven't done it once yet, but I am planning my second one. If I do this every day for a year, three million. I'd be a billionaires. Bloody hell. Yeah. So Big John was not happy. It all fell apart. But he knew the time aside at least three days left before the first one would go off.

I think he suggested it was less than that. but he allowed more time for safety. The FBI didn't know this though, as far as they knew, it was going to go off sooner. Big John made contact, hoping to organize a second attempt at the money drop. He was like, we better do it right this time. But the authorities obviously had other ideas, as we know, detonating the bomb themselves.

Yeah. Have you seen that other than he's like, what? Yeah, do you think he was disappointed? Yeah, he was. He's like, that was mine. bomb. I was going to do that. And also, like, all his leverage is gone.

It's like, what are you going to do? So he's like, duh. I'll blow it up again. Yeah, I can do it. I can do it again. Yeah, so he was done. His boys, like, they'd given a full account. They were like, tell us what you know, thinking they might have known bits and pieces.

Like, oh, you knew a lot of the plan. Oh, yeah. This was really detailed. They thought maybe these kids had seen someone being dodgy and they're like, oh, no, It was your dad. Oh, you wrote the book on it. Okay, okay. All right.

He told you most things. Okay, great. Great. So there were two cases, federal court where he's found guilty. Also a state trial where he was able to represent himself. Of course. So good. Which apparently he used a big chunk of that time,

getting his boys on the stand and berating them, sort of tearing strips off him and stuff. Wow. Really focused on what's important here. But he was also, like, quite arrogant. So, like, he would, I think he had a story that the mafia, had made him do it and these sort of things. But he was also like, his arrogance would be like,

that your recreation of the bomb you've got up there, that's not quite right. This is how I do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So he was found guilty sentenced to life in prison and his boys were granted immunity for finger in him. That's good.

And the other two Bill and Terry refused to talk. and I ended up both doing time. I think they did like seven years-ish each or something like that. I'm writing down something I, a joke I just thought of that I don't want to say at the podcast. Okay. I'll tell you later.

Okay. Well, yeah, maybe you'll have to do it for the patrons as well when they ask. No. It's a pretty crook. I mean, the sizzle on this is hectic. Can we just like, what if we leave like? No, no, no, that's fine. Like an hour of silence after the episode.

And then you say, You really have to want to listen to. They could skip ahead very easily. But they'd have to want to. And then there's another two hours of heart. So it's somewhere in there. Yeah. And I think, you know, I think legally that means because they tried to hear it, you're off

the hook. Yeah, they're the first. For the thing that you're, that I imagine, savage, an awful slur that you're. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jeez, you've got a rotten heart. Yeah, I'm sick. So Bill and Terry. Bill and Terry, they go to jail as well.

not for as long obviously not life but they they do a chunk of time just because they wouldn't talk and yeah that i mean that's basically the end of the story big john he was actually pretty sick already uh but he survived um i think 12 odd years behind bars he died in 996 at the age of 74 of cancer um and still to this day the bomb has talked about as probably the most of most complicated bomb the FBI has dealt with. Sorry, the FBI who? The FBI. Is that what you mean?

I'm like, did I say that wrong? FBI. What did I say that a ride? He said it right. And the most complex, really, because I'm amazed that he's not like a bomb maker by trade. Yeah. He's a tinkerer, yeah. But like, you would think that you have to work your way out, go through different types of bomb because there's very complicated devices.

Oh, yeah. And he's made the most complicated. Yeah, that's right. I guess sometimes you don't know the rules, you know to break the rules. Yeah, true. Yeah. Wait. That's the opposite of one.

If you don't know the rules, you'd break the rules, but you didn't know you broke the rules, you know what I mean? You know what I mean? You don't know the rules, you just break the rules. You make your own rules. A lot of the most interesting rock guitarists, is self-taught, you know what I mean? Yep. Whoa. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Name one. You can't. I can't. So, yeah, they, based on Johnny and Jimmy's tales, they were able to build a replica bomb. They used that in court to show what it was all about, which of course, big John's like, that's not quite right. It's not of that.

But, yeah, apparently they still use that replica bomb in training to this day. And then that TV docket I was talking about, I just figure I'll finish with these. This is what the doco finish. It was from 2024. And it did, you know, the classic title screens at the end of where they are now. Yeah, love that. Love that.

It said, Harvey's hotel and casino still operates in state line Nevada. It is now owned by Caesar's entertainment. Jimmy Burgess, who was the son that was featured as an interview subject on the show, has a successful metal working business and a brewery partnership in Fresno, California. He says the federal agents and prosecutors from the bombing played a key role in helping him move on and lead a productive life. It was really interesting. It was like, it was so much awful stuff. stuff, but he's like, I've lived a really lucky life, which, you know, his childhood sounded

anything far. Bill Junkie, Chris Rone, and Danny Daniel all worked at the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings as well. They use techniques refined from their work at Harvey's, which are still used by bomb squads around the world. And finally, to date, no one has been able to fully disarm a model. of the Harvey's bomb. Like, all experts of Slaver go and they can't.

Wow. Hmm. It really was disarmable. Yeah. Not disavable. It was disarmable. It was non-disarmable. It was armable.

No. It was not disarmable. So that's the story of Harvey's wagon wheel resort and casino bombing. And like I say, yeah, if you want to learn more, there'll be a link to that doco, bringing down the house. also Kukseur's video, which is like a more of a cutesy kind of animated recap. But yeah, that atavist article by Adam Higginbotham, if you want to read more as well. Oh man.

And I also, is this grim? Is this grim? I want to watch the footage of it blowing up. No one to get hurt. Yeah, I think that's what makes it, you know, not too grim. Yeah. It's just a, you know, get ready to applaud as well. You'll probably be standing.

Standing out. sending out, standing out for the big blow. Yes, and yeah, thanks again to Roy, Sarah, Colin, Jack and John for suggesting the topic. It's fascinating. Yeah, I've just never heard of it. No. Just to bring it up. Oh my gosh, that is a big explosion.

Holy crap. Look at that thing. It exploded both horizontally and vertically. Yeah, as described. It is as described. Very yellow building. Yeah. a very attractive building.

No. It's why they wanted to, we're happy to blow it up. It was from a different angle. Oh, different angle? Less impressive from that angle. Yeah. Yeah, that camera crew were like,

they got the wrong area. They're like, fuck, fuck. But yeah, I can see how it went 12 stories up. That's a big blow. It's a big blow. It's a big blow. Great story, Maddie. Yeah, fast.

I love what I hear about something I've never heard of before. Well, if I live and breathe, no. You can live and breathe. Well, that brings us to the explosive end of this episode. Wow. If people had died, that would have been really poor taste. But because nobody did, that was fucking awesome.

Okay, great. Like, we cheered the explosion and we cheered that segue. Yeah. Bring it down. Bring it down. How do you feel? I feel like, yeah. Do you think that's an American thing or is that just a people thing?

Clapping? Mm. No, I mean, I remember watching like the Ellen DeGeneres show. and they just clap everything. Yeah. Oh, I was thinking about the warm-up act for that. How good must they be? Yeah.

To get them. How good must they be? Or just how easy is their job? Yeah, I wonder. Like, are they a very easy crowd? Because they're thinking, you know, we're going to see, Alan, we're going to dance.

We're going to maybe win a Mercedes each. Every show I went to in New York City got a standing ovation. Right. Do they all deserve standing ovations? No. I think that becomes the problem. You're sitting down and going, bullshit.

I think you have to earn a standing ovation. As Americans are just like, you did your best and a great job and I had a great time. And I think they're right and I'm grumpy. But I think Dave made a great observation in his fantastic special, even hotter in real life about Cannes. Is that right? Oh, the Cannes Film Festival. Yes. And their addiction to longstanding oath.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. If you don't get a multi-minute standing ovation, it's like a slap in the face. Wow. So they've created this thing. It's like encores at gigs where they've created a thing where it's the basic is now what would have usually been the thing you give for an extra performance. Similar to tipping, I guess.

I know in some places it is just not factored into the pay and that makes it complicated. But I think in Australia it's normally your tip if it's like, what a, thank you so much for the. Yeah, you tip at like fine dining restaurants for really good service here. It's not... Yeah, when you've already spent a fortune, I imagine. You tip even more. Yeah, makes sense. It makes sense.

When they've already like exorbitantly up their prices. Yep. Because the big plates and tiny servings have got a little squiggle of some sort of a sauce. A ju. Yeah. But you have to remember, the waiter takes your order without writing it down. And that is powerful. Fantastic.

And stressful. Because you're like, did you get that? Did you get the side of hashbrown? grounds or not. They're important to me. I feel like I'm regurgitating 1980s stand-up topics.

And I think it's about time someone did. Bring her back. So anyway, this is everyone's favorite section of the show where we spent a little time just thanking our great

patron-s supporters. And the way we do this is we wait for you to sign up at patreon. com slash teagornpod. We wait patiently. Yes, we wait by the phone. And, you know,

It's ringing. You know, it's sort of like tipping. Yeah. This is the standing ovation of podcasting. Yeah. Please. Joining the Patreon. Yeah.

And it's like now it's just expected. Everyone who listens should just sign up to the Patreon. That's right. Just 10% of everything you earn. Yeah. To us. And I don't think that's too much. Sorry, $10.

$10. $10 of everything you earn. Yeah. So if you get paid a few times a week. Yeah. Every, $10. Every paycheck. If you get paid by the hour, it's $10 every hour.

Pay hour. Wow, okay. I was struck. Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. This seems insane, you guys. There's a bunch of different levels. One of them, probably, I think by far the most popular on, is called the Dreamboat Cooper level, which gives you four bonus episodes a month, including a D&D campaign, a bonus report every month, a movie club episode, and something else like a quiz, or our pain is intended brand new original game, Am I a Dead Woman?

That's right. But also add free listening Oh, add free listening as well And you get to vote on topics The people on that Oh no, actually no, it was this episode was voted on by the people on the city Seanberg level Level above, I'm so sorry

That's the deluxe package I'm just closing the curtain that separates the two sections now Let me talk to the city Sean burgers Who also get involved in this section of the show The Fact Quote or Question section Which actually I think has a jingle go somewhere like this Fact quote or question He always remembers the jing

She always remembers the thing And the part of the show That is the Sydney-Sharmberg level aka the fact quote of question section Is where people on the Sydney-Shaunberg level Or above get to give us a fact or quota of question Or a bragg or a suggestion Or really whatever they like

I'll read them out for the first time on the show They also give themselves a title And this week Read out three First time comes from Chris Torres who's given himself the title of official North Carolina who lived in Ohio and Austin, stay weird, and who has a family living in Gary, Indiana,

of the podcast. Whoa. Your family tree is giving me family wood, if you know what I mean? No, I don't. I thought there might have been some of there, but no, family would is, I don't, I regret that. Let me save you.

Can we just right? You know, when you get a stiffy with your family, wait, no, no, wait, right. When the whole family gets stiffing. Sorry. What? It's not weird of all doing it. I was really connecting just tree and wood, but the family thing really.

Really muddied the waters there. Sorry to do that too, Chris Torres. If Chris was to marry someone from Vermont, he would have ticked off all of our favorite places. Yes. Well, and Dollywood, of course. Yes. That's where the honeymoon is. But it doesn't have to, probably not Dolly, what's the state?

Tennessee. Tennessee. I think Tennessee would be ideal. Chris, could you just go introduce yourself to someone from Tennessee? Is that too much to ask, Chris? And from creamy country Come on Creamy country

Chris Come on Chris come on Again that's the honeymoon Oh You two are being Absolutely failed Hang on I didn't know what I said

Chris Well I don't think I've seen this before Chris is offering us A request for leave In the section where you can say Fact Quote a question I would have you like Writing hey gang

It really depends on who else is on leave at that time But okay Hey gang See what we can do I hope things are going really well Just the hey gang really got me in the Eric Banner

You know that old Eric Banner character It was probably a spoof of a real guy Body by Jake Hey gang Do you want Rock hard abby dabbies Do you want No but I want to see it so bad

Because the last time you pointed out Tide Bicey wipesies What do you want You don't remember that No The last Eric Banner sketch You pointed out was the Great Durs of History

And I've watched it like 50 times So good It's really good Everyone get out The building's on fire Oh duh Like a firefighter's saying that It's so funny

Or a kid The mom says to the kid When the man goes green We're allowed to cross Oh Duh It's like a grown man So funny

Great Durs of history So anyway Chris has written Hey gang I hope things are going well I'm writing about one tiny little thing I'm sure it won't be a big deal, but would you guys mind if I pop out of the Triptitch Club real, real quick? I don't think I could make it any clear.

You can't leave. What's you and you can't leave? Does Chris give any kind of reason as to why? Is that it? No, I guess I'm saying, I'll totally be right back. It's just that a rare bird was just sited nearby and my girlfriend, Christina, is a really big time birder, and I'd love to go with her. It's rare that she gets to see a bird she hasn't seen before, and I think it's super cute.

when she tells me it's a good bird and we love you when she finally gets it. Please, my family is starting to worry about me. Promise to bring several bags of ice back with me for all of our hot beverages that keep getting out of hands. Thanks and books forever. Okay, hang on, two things. Chris and Christina.

Fantastic. That's insane. That's perfect. No, that's terrible. Second, here's the thing. Christina can still tell you about it, but you think it's really cute when she tells you about a bird.

Well, guess what? We have phones. Yeah, we do have phones. We have video phones. You can FaceTime. You can FaceTime live as a hell of out of. Yeah. I don't understand why you have to leave for that.

Well, you don't have to leave, Chris. I think that's the point. And it's really... Why do you need to leave? We have everything you need right here. Chris, it's just, it's a... We don't want to set that as a word... Precedent.

Precedent. Get the sort out. Because if you're going to start asking to leave, others are going to ask to leave. Can I just suggest them? What if we were allowed? to leave on this one occasion. But he has to go in one of those Hannibal Lecter slash Steve Boshimi and Conair style masks slash like sets

where he's fully wheeling him along. He's got no, he can't move his limbs. Why? So that we know, that way we know he's definitely coming back. But precedent wise, other people are then going to be like, I'll, How many of these trolleys are we going to need? Exactly. I'm going to put on that creepy mask and head out for the day too.

There's a big game at the G and everyone wants to go. All of a sudden we have to hire a bus. Now we're offering a shuttle. service. Hundreds of these. Actually, I wouldn't mind driving a bus. Or we could get a plane with a bunch of cages on board. Including Nicholas Cage.

Okay. And then transport them that way. You might have won me over with Nicholas Cage. Can I drive the plane though? Absolutely. Okay. What about this? Chris, you can, but we all have to come with.

And you cannot tell the others that you've left. No, I mean all of them. We all going. Oh, all go. Okay. So you want to try and rank. Because you know a bunch of them we're going to try and run for it. No.

That's why I'm suggesting the animal had to think for everyone. Yeah. No, I think they're all happy. I think we hire a bus. I'll drive it, but we lock it. You can look at the bird from inside the bus. Yeah, okay. That seems fair to me.

Yeah. And Chris can get out and go and look at Christina being super cute, but I do have a shotgun to his back. Oh, which is great. Feel that, Chris? If he starts running, he is dead. Why don't we just shoot the bird and bring it back with us? Oh, that's better. You can look at it forever.

We'll stuff it. Yeah. And we'll put it on display. You can look at that forever. And Christina, you can be like, oh, that's a great bird. You can be like, you're so cute when you tell me a bird's good. Okay, so we're going to table this, Chris. We'll bring it up at the next meeting.

Yeah, we'll see. When we're all there, of course. So you'll be able to have you to put in your two cents. But the rest of the trip ditch will have to vote on it. Yeah, probably unanimous. It has to be unanimous. What's that from? I don't know.

That's something deep in my head. It has to be unanimous. Yeah, it's vaguely familiar, and I was going to say it'll drive me crazy, but I'll forget it in two minutes time. Dave's Googling. Look, but that's not enough because it's the intonation of it has to be unanimous. Dave, you're going to have to Google with that intonation, please. I have tried.

Maybe capitalize has. And then, man. Hmm. Anyway. Thank you so much, Chris. Next one comes from Kevin West, aka the unenthusiastic confettiettietti. Oh, I like that. He's offering us an improv game.

My goodness. Yes, Don't worry. Stick with me. I've done two levels, about 10 years ago. Thank God, because I'm not good at improv.

Pass both. What? Yeah. Okay, you never mentioned that before. Because unlike Alastair, Trambley Burtchel, I didn't have to go to hospital. And because my partner, Alistair's, do you remember that series?

No. I think he's not on the pod before. His partner was in hospital. So he had to go and, yeah, they didn't let him pass because he didn't, He didn't make some of the sessions. Was she giving birth? Yeah.

This is so funny. I mean, even if she was in hospital for a sprained ankle, reasonable, but she'd given birth and they're like, well, yeah, but you didn't come to class. Yeah, you missed. Imagine if he'd left, he's parted her in the hospital. He's like, I won't pass level two. And she's like, fair enough. We have named our child, level two.

He was the one dragging me along. So once he was out, it meant I was out. So win, win. Although I was, you know, it was great. I met Ray when Pickering there, so. And a few other great people. That's an insane story. Anyway, improv game.

Yes. Jimmy Stewart, in brackets, Jess. Jeff the talking mongoose, in the brackets, Dave. In the brackets. And Julian Miguel from YouTube pronunciation channel. Are on the Al-Kali sex raft in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when it springs a leak. Three minutes go. Three minutes.

Suthercott. We simply did not have three minutes. I can't remember what Jeff the Mokos does like. Oh, yeah. That's a very deep cut. That is a long time ago. That's a Patreon bonus episode, and I'm just going to have my time ago. I'm looking at how long ago Jeff the Talking Mungoose was because it was in 2018, Dave, so you should know.

Pronunciation. Okay, I, okay. Jeff. Hang on. So you just, we seem to have sprung a. Are you already? Okay, yep. Oh, wow!

What do we do? Hmm, I don't know, Jeff, you got anything? Have you got anything to say? Oh, I think we should have some sex. I think we should have some sex with these men. I think most of my characters have a pretty high-pitched voice, so it's probably safe to assume this is probably what I'm doing.

That's probably, yeah. Jeff, uh, has Jeff, uh, says, uh, Oh, that bongers could talk. With that friend. Aieze, uh, Jeff coined. And he holds a goal. He sees a leak. He wants to plug it.

Hey, can I have a definition there, please, uh, Julian? Of what? Can you please, a definition of, um, uh, up, up, up, up, up a river without a paddle. What does that mean? Up a riddle, without a paddle. Riddow. Up a river Up a riddle

Without a piddle Without a piddle A means You're a fart I'm going to subscribe to this guy Learning a lot Yes Are you managing to get much friction

On that leekhole Oh yes I'm getting a lot of friction Actually I actually started a fire Jimmy's passed out by the way Jimmy, Jimmy, why go we need you? Jimmy, it's a wonderful life, please. Jimmy got really scared that that mongoose was talking and he's fainted. And scene.

Wow, I'm sure that's what everyone hoped for. Everyone wanted that, everyone was impressed by that. Didn't look at the clock, but I assume that was at least three months, felt longer. Thank you so much, Kevin. What a beautiful suggestion. If you're going to do that, maybe give Dave an option from the last eight years. years.

His memory is the best on the pod, so I think it's fair enough. You picked one from the most distant past, but I think Dave probably absolutely nailed. I assume so. We've got a lot of great feedback about that bonus episode, but I haven't listened back in a long time. No, me either. Final one comes from Zoe D.L, aka Magpie Kara for the pod, with a question and recipe writing. My question is, would you drink the Dublin iced tea served on Royal Caribbean Cruises? The ingredients are

One shot Picardy One shot Jamison One shot cognac One shot port Topped with Guinness In a tall glass with ice She says All right

Recommend answering before you continue to read Well I'll say yes That's a no from me I want a sip Yeah Yeah we'll have a sip of mats Three straws Three straws

Oh it's like cute when we do that And is it Do we have the drinks package Because if it's something That I could have a sip and go I'll have something else. But if I have to throw it over there, yeah, yeah. I've got to pay $40 for that.

I don't want to pay that for a sea. You throw it into the ocean. Drink overboard. No, I'm sure. I'm assuming where this is like work for us. We're gigging on the ship. Yeah. And I assume when you're working on a cruise, they just open bar.

Surely. Give you the top shelf stuff for breakfast. Yeah. All right. Zoe continues to answer my own question. Unfortunately, my answer was yes, which was a big mistake. As soon as my partner and I saw it on the menu, we decided we would have to try it at some point. I'm in my,

early 20s, if that helps explain our logic. Well, I don't know how it helps explain my logic. When the time came, I was already very drunk, but it still was the worst thing I've ever tasted. Yeah. I made the mistake of chugging mine while my partner, smartly, had a few sips and decided it was not for him. It doesn't sound good, but also, I think I'm burned from the time I was also already pretty drunk and went to a club and they were doing ABC shots. And I went, that sounds like a good idea. Always be casinos. Be casinos and I had one and was, and don't remember most of the rest of the night. So anytime when it's like, all right, here's just a bunch of random shots.

It's never good. No, it's a, it's a weird thing. It's a, it's a weird thing to do. Yeah. Because, yeah. And they're all, they feel like very different flavor palettes to me, you know? Yeah. If you're like, yeah, we've got like peach snaps and a pineapple liqueur and, you know, and everything's kind of fruity and you go, I guess that kind of makes sense.

That's, that one sounds insane. That's a no for me. Just lots of different browns mixed together. Yeah. Yeah, just imagining what it would look like. I'm brown. It's over ice, though, brown on ice. Or brown ice.

And the Guinness would make it quite a dark brown. Yeah, well, that's my favourite type. I mean, what's Coke, if not brown on ice? Oh, fantastic. Jess is drinking brown water on ice right now. An ice latte. That's true, I'm like, ugh, brown on ice. Zoe says the rest of the night, it's from his perspective.

I still feel sick just thinking about it. And it was two years ago now, it haunts me. I don't even like any kind of beer or whiskey or port. Yeah, that was a brave choice. Yeah, I'm kind of impressed that you're committed to it. The only ingredient I actually like is Picardy, and I like that to be in a mojito. If any of you answered yes, which I sincerely hope you didn't, let me tell you it's not worth it, not for anything, never again. Anyway, I love the pod.

Hope you enjoyed my first fat quarter question. Thank you. Love it. Cheers. And also, your emphatic, you know, really insisting at the end there, like, don't do it. It's not worth it. I feel like that is only going to inspire Matt Stewart even more to take it, to drink it.

Well, also, the other thing, not necessarily, I think, but because she said doesn't like nearly any of the ingredients and I like nearly all the ingredients. Yeah. So to me, maybe it would be a different experience. True. Maybe it would be a flavor sensation Maybe it would be your new favorite drink It has to be unanimous There's no way you could wake up without a hangover

After having that Absolutely I mean what if it's just the only drink you have You're just sipping it over dinner I still don't think I still think that's a hangover Yeah I guess because it is one shot Every shot's a standard drink

One two three four And then top probably Maybe five standard drinks in a glass Yeah that's probably a bit much Too much Thank you so much Zoe Welcome to the fact quote or question club. That's a good question.

What a beautiful debut. Love it. Or debut as well as Kevin and Chris. The next thing we'd like to do is a shoutout to other great supporters of ours on the shoutout level or above, which I believe is the ass prod level. And Jess, you normally come up with a bit of a game for this section. That's true. That is true, isn't it? It is true.

And this is about, this one was about a bombing. Well, I was thinking maybe it could it be, you know how there's eight booby traps? Maybe we come up with like, you know, maybe sillier booby traps. Okay. You know, like they're like if you nudged or stuff, but maybe one of them is if you say a certain word or, you know, whatever. Yeah, love it. All right, we got 10 this week because I got a message from the first name and she is well overdue for being in. So I've added it to the list.

How do we want to do this? Do you want me to read out the names and the places? Sure. You guys feel like you're... All right. We're on fire here. Okay, really? Got it.

First of all, so this is the first person that's well overdue from Glasgow. Thank you for your patience. And we appreciate you ever so much. Georgie Stewart. Welcome, Georgie. Georgie has included the booby trap that if the word... Uh-huh. That's just reading the ransom.

note here. If the words Dublin iced tea said near the bomb, it will go off. So definitely don't be ordering that near the bomb. But they're in a casino. They might be ordering it. They've got cocktail specials. And yes, George, you said, going to see me at my Edinburgh show in a couple of weeks. Can't wait.

Maybe less than a couple of weeks now. Are you back at the monkey barrel? Back in the monkey barrel. Great venue, people turn up. It would be great. So pumped. Hopefully your podcast will be recorded by Merlin. Oh, I hope Merlin's.

Love you, Merlin. I love you, Merlin. I love you, Merlin. He was such a very chilled out guy who was very all over the tech. They had, what was it, eight microphones on the audience? It was unheard of. Yeah. Very professional setup.

We love that. So thanks, Georgie Stewart. Next up, I would like to thank from a location that has not been provided to us. We can only assume they are deep within the fortress of the moles. Hello, and thank you to Matt Pollard. Matt Pollard, um, uh, uh, this. Hello, Matt. Hi, Jess.

And this booby trap is if you approach it and you're wearing a fragrance that contains Bergamont. Oh, no. That's a big old grey drinker. Yeah. Or is it only fragrance you're wearing? Like a, yeah, it's probably, I don't think it would be strong enough. I don't think so.

Okay. Well, it depends. If the tea, like, if you've had a cup of tea and it's like on your breath a little bit fine, but if you're like holding a teapot in front of it, blowing the steam off it. And it's a well-steeped pot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you added extra Bergamont.

Then, yeah, probably. I'd play it safe and not take the teapot with you. Yeah, just in case. Yeah. Oh, okay. Thank you. Right. And Matt Pollard, same goes for you.

Thank you very much. Next up I'd like to thank from a location also unknown. Probably right next to Matt, deep in the fortress of the moles. It's Katie McCann. Oh, and Katie has added a booby trap that is pretty ingenious. because Katie in this scenario is anaphylactic and has put in a thing, any trace of nuts will set off the bomb.

So it's like, I try to ask you not to bring nuts to the workplace. You know how it affects me. Yeah. Oh, this is a great way to find out. Do it again. Who keeps bringing peanuts to work? Yeah, that'll be the one who gets exploded. That's great.

Yeah. And also, I hope Katie carries an EpiPen with them because I learned like CPR and first aid and stuff at the start of this year, and I'd really like a go at sticking an epipan someone. They're a really, it's a big needle. Yeah, it's great. It's full on. In those movies where people have to do it to themselves, like it's adrenaline or an epipan or something.

I'm sure they're different kinds of needles, but they just look like, it's not a needle. It feels like they're stabbing themselves with a... It's big. It looks like a flare. A flare is like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I kind of want to have a guy. It's like a batten from a relay race.

Yeah. Oh no, that was a baton. Katie, good luck out there. Ingeniously, Katie. So clever. Yeah, that's right. We'll know who did it and they'll never do it again. That's right.

No more snickers around the office. Next up from Woking. Or Woking, I think I've heard Woking. Woking, I think. In Great Britain, it's Tina Burton. Tina's added a booby trap that you have to approach the bomb hopping on your left foot. Then it will go off or it won't? It won't.

Oh, so it's. As soon as you put your right foot. If you take a regular step left right. And it can tell that gate. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Wow.

I think, I'm a right hopper. I'm a right hopper. That's not good. And also. I don't have great ankle, so I wouldn't confidently hop. Shit. You are hoping that you're hopping over to pick up that note that explains it. True.

Yeah, yeah. Thankfully, you just, you just happen to be hopping because you have a sore left angle. No, right angle. Right angle. Tina's lost a lot of casino. us. Next up from a location unknown to us, probably in the fortress. It's Emily, and your email ends in a dot-C-A.

So maybe that will let you know that's you. Emily really just heard booby-trab went, I got this. Anyone's, the high beams are on, nips up, bombs off. You know what I mean? So you've got to keep the room pretty warm. Yeah, soon as nips, So cutting through your top. Wow.

Poking through. Yep. But what if... Caboom. What if you're wearing... Caboob, caboom. Caboob. What if you're wearing?

Because I want to know if it's only if it's real nip. Because, like, Kim Kardashian and her skims range do have, like, bras that have a fake nipple in it. So you can have the high beams on without actually having to have the high bits on. I wonder if it can tell. That's now a sort of a fashion thing. If Kim K says so, yes. Yeah. You do quadruple beam?

Like if you... It was really cold. Or would your naturals go through? Oh, I don't know. It's got to be padded as well. So two fakes. Yep. Two realies.

Yep. Quadruple beam. Okay. Oh, quadriple beam. Sorry. I just said triple beam. Double double. I've seen both versions and both go triple boobs.

Have you seen both? The remake did. It has triple boob too. Yeah. That's great. I mean, I guess they're like, this is the bit that people remember. Have that been at the lady malfunctioning? Two weeks.

Yes, they do a version of that as well. Probably it's that sophisticated. It knows, it knows their genuine nips. Wow. That's very impressive. So probably layer up. Yeah, layer up. And yeah, maybe turn the thermostat.

Or ship out. Yeah, or blow off. Thanks, Emily. Next up from Rexum. I would like to thank Fiona Clark. Fiona's added a booby trap where you have to kick a miniature soccer ball. into a miniature bin. Oh, whoa.

It's quite small, so it's quite a precise. You'd think it would be a goal, but it's a little bin. And that stops it going off. How often do you have to be doing this? It's on the hour every hour? Yes. Oh, my God. So someone's got to be there.

You kind of, and I can't stress how miniature it is. Welcome to Rex. And there's a fan in the room that's like blowing, so you've got to try and get the, timing right. We went to one of your local pubs, Fiona, me and Dave, a few years ago, and we Dave. We did go to Rexham, had a lovely... Is it the race course hotel maybe? It's the one next to the, that they go to on the...

It's basically attached to the ground. Which I still haven't watched. Haven't you? I've been there. Well, look, you've had a chat with the publican? Yeah, that's right. Her uni was a big deal because he's quite a main player on that show. Got a pick with him?

He was a nice man. Then we had a lovely, lovely couple of pints. We were meant to have a quick one. Suddenly was dark. It was really one of the... You're walking to a pub for a quick beer and then like hard cut. Yeah. It's nighttime.

I'm a little tipsy. Well, that's right. I had to keep myself very tidy because I was driving. Yeah, and you were very tidy. Yeah, but it was lovely, lovely. Love to be there in Wrexham. Next up, I would like to thank from Robinsdale in California. Thank you to Anthony de Aloia or Aloha.

No. Is it a lawyer? Yeah. De lawyer. Anthony do lawyer I'm happy with that I think so Anthony

I don't see how it could be Aloha I just wanted it to be I think I wanted it to be Yeah that's fair I'm sure Anthony does too Anthony's added a

PC booby trap anything un PC Anything a little off It blows Oh God So everyone's Cats are gone bad

Everyone's dads are fucked Yeah When the cops turn up, they go, are you a dad? Get out, get out, get out, now! Wait, I can't say anything anymore. It's a boomer dad. It's a boomer dad. That's right.

You can't hear the phrase. You can't say anything else. That's why they come boomers. You can't go, what? What? What? Can't do that. Can't say any.

Oh, come on. That, you can't say that. But he is from there. Yeah. It's not relevant to the story, though, Dad. Oh, just given context. That was unnecessary. I was just guessing.

Oh, I was just guessing. where the person was born. What's the problem with that? Having a guess? Anthony, good luck out there. Next up I'd like to thank from Golden. Sounds beautiful. In I believe Colorado, it's Thren. Thren. Thren has included a booby trap that is a 50 metre swimming pool. You have to swim 50 metres. Yes. To the bomb to get the letter. That's the movie trap.

Yeah, there's a swimming pool. It's like, how hard was the drop of? Well, the bomb getting in there was surprisingly easy. But now, let me tell you about the rest. Ding, an Olympic-sized pool. It was over budget and over-sheduled. It took us months. I can't believe we got away with it.

Walking into the back room of the casino, know, funny, I don't remember a 50-meter pool being in our break room. Why does he smell like chlorine now? It's very humid in here. I kind of like it. He takes a step in the whole room as water. He's in the water sort of bobbing up. This doesn't feel right.

Something's off. Okay, I panicked, all right? No, I love it. On your Thren. Good luck in the water. Second last but second, not least. From Camberwell here in Victoria, thank you to Becky Whitney. Becky Whitney.

When I think Camberwell, I think underage pop punk concerts back in the day. Oh, yes, at the town hall. So I'm going to say if you do any double entendres about masturbation, the bomb will blow. One of them, you know, probably been about blowing. So you've got to be really careful around a bomb. This bulb's got to blow. That's what your mum says, huh? Yeah, yeah.

Dave was in a band like that. He'd be dangerous, I think. Yeah, I'm not allowed to need this bomb. No, yeah, there's a photo of Weed Hornet at the door of the casino. Just with the circle and the cross-to-it. No Weed Hornet. They have to ask every person as they come in. Final question, were you ever a member of the band Weed Hornet?

No. Yes, why? Yeah, you're on a list with Blink 182. And finally, I would like to thank from a location. Unknown to us, probably in the fortress. Thank you to Hamish Miller. Hamish has added a trapeze.

At some point along the way, we lost. What do you mean? I mean, we found it. No, and when you say we, you mean me. Because you didn't love the pool. I love the pool. You're not on board with the trapeze. Well, I just don't know.

I don't fully fall how it's a booby trap, but I... I'm thinking like Indiana Jones booboo. Yeah, you're like Indiana Jones level fish. Sure. I'm imagining the penitentment will pass. I've been playing a lot of video games where you have to get through things. Yeah, your movie chaps are to do it to even access the bomb. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why you would want to do that, I'm not sure.

I think there's a bomb over there. I'm going to risk my life to go look at it. Well, I'm going to swim 100 metres and then trapeze the rest of the way, I guess. I've got to see Indiana Jones. You've got to. I'm thinking about... Does he have to do a decathlon or something? Yeah, he has to do a decathlon.

I'm thinking about bringing it in for the movie club soon. Oh, great. Yeah, okay. Because I've been holding it back for primates for a while, but we could do it as a double at the time. Yeah. And just do a monkey-focused primates episode as well as a... Perfect.

Non-monkey-focused. Yeah. Well, a non-human primate-focused one. Gotcha. Harrison Ford, I think, is one of those. Glad to clarify. Got a double check. I think.

I'm not sure. Oh, so thank you again to Hamish, Becky Thren, Anthony, Fiona, Emily, Tina, Katie, Matt and Georgie. And the last thing we need to do is welcome some people into the Triptitch Club. I believe there is just the one inductee this week. Dave, what is the Triptage Club? This is our clubhouse slash Hall of Fame where once you're in, you can never leave, even if you petition us to go look at a bird.

Well, we'll take it to a meeting, but I don't know. I'm not, yeah, I'll be voting no, so. Nice strike, Chris. It has to be unanimous. Someone's going to let us know where that's from. Yeah, because I'm like, is it from some niche Aussie kids show from the 90s? I'm like, is it Pugwall or something? But no, you guys know it.

So it's going to be some sort of American. I don't think I know it. Yeah, you might be on your own here. I think you created them. You can have a humoring me. I'm going, yeah, yeah, that does sound familiar, hoping you won't bring it up again. That's right. It's pronounced we zal.

That absolutely goes through your mind. So, basically, this is our clubhouse. People who have been on the triptych, sorry, who've been on the shout at level or above for three consecutive years. We'll welcome them into this club, which is a bit of a theatre of the mine sort of thing. And we organise music, entertainment and food. Jess, in charge of the food. Yep. Oh, Jess is off this week.

Luckily, I've taken over and I'm doing a Dublin, whatever that cocktail was. What about the Harvey Wallbanger bomber something? I'm offering two. Okay. The Harvey Wallbanger? Yeah. Harvey is warbanger, sorry. Otherwise, it's just the same thing.

And also the Dublin iced tea, maybe, was it? Maybe, yeah. Because it's like a long ice tea. And that means Jess, you're on the door. No. How dare you? I think in improv you can say no. Yeah.

Because I have food as well. Did you think of food or only drinks, Matthew? Yeah, I thought of food. What do you got? The explosive. Uh-huh. Trying to give a more appetizing word than the one in my head. So I've got one.

Oh, burger. Explosive burger. Like it's really spicy? Yeah. Your guts all explode? Yeah, it's got... For dessert. All kinds of spice.

You guys know a chocolate lava cake? Not anymore. Chocolate bomb cake. Oh. You got to eat it before it explodes. Wow. But it won't explain, didn't you? It might.

Oh. No, I won't. Once it interacts with the stomach acids, it might explode. That's only way to neutralizing. Yep. Only way. Very neutralizing. the acids in the tum.

And David, you book a band, is it true? You're never going to believe it. I've booked in one of my all-time favourites and performing their second album in full called In Casino Out. It's at the drive-in. Whoa.

Can you believe it? Including one of my favourite songs of theirs, Napoleon solo. Huge. Take it away. Exciting. Really pumped up for that. But amazing, it was a casino episode.

Oh, I didn't even connect that. Didn't even realize that. What are the chances? So we've got one name. I'm going to read it out. I'm on the door. refuses to be and I'm going to do everything around here and so when you hear my name uh run on in when you hear your name when you hear your name when you hear Matt's sure everyone this runs

everyone starts right woo it's the one loophole if he says you don't know we're all out in how am I allowed to be doing this why are you letting me do this bit we've been asking for 10 years it's a communications thing it's a communications thing I should be sitting in the corner yes chipping in with nonsense every now and then what I don't understand understand why did it happen that I sort of run this part of the show? It's a great question. I just asked if you wanted to. And I said?

No. Because I'd already thought of the chalk lava cake thing. And I thought it was really worth getting out there. And it was. It was fantastic. Can't want to eat it. So just one name. I'm going to read it out if you hear it.

And it's yours. It's got both things after we happen. Run on in. Dave's going to be up on stage, hopping up the crowd, getting him to chant your name. He'd be mainly warming him up with a bit of weak word player on either your name or your place of existence.

And, yeah, Jess will be hyping Dave up as in this part of the show. And I'm going to request everyone to give an American-style standing ovation. Oh, yeah, big standing o'clock. Yeah, I think that'd be right. Okay. So, please welcome in from Madison, Wisconsin, or the West Indies. It's Cat Parra. Open up the Cat Flats!

Got her own door. Ooh, Cat Parra. Standing a-o. We're all doing it. We'll all stand it. Oh, yeah. But if we stand and we're not at the mics, these mics don't get high enough.

But then the mics can hear our crotches. Oh. That's important. Yeah. Our crotches were giving us standing out as well. Boo. Welcome in Cat Parra. Make yourself at home.

And just have a bit of fun out there. Have a bit of fun. I reckon it was Wisconsin because that was the state and not the West Indies. Probably not the West Indies. Yeah, well, that brings us any of the episode, anything we need to tell anything we need to tell. Anything we did. Just anything. Need to tell anyone?

That we love them so much if you want to suggest a topic you can. There's a link in the show notes. It's also on our website, which is do go on pod.com. And you can find us on social media. Do go on pod and do go on podcast on TikTok. Oh, that's so good. They do mind of myself, tell people that this time next week, Matt Stewart will be in the United Kingdom. Turing, who knew it?

So pumped. His fantastic stand-up show that both just not have seen. Bad Boy, it's not the one that you can watch online with the stand-up special. No, this, yeah. Believe it or not, he can do multiple. I have up there on the Humdinger website, Ney Stupid L Studios website, and they're still available to watch anywhere around the world. But if you are in the UK, I'm doing six. States over there and cannot wait.

Can't wait. And let me just say that people always request when we go to Bristol, which is pretty close to Wales. Hey, why don't it come to Wales? Matt is actually doing Wales for the first time. Swansy. If you turn up there, let me tell you that we'll try and make it happen for the going on as well.

This is the real test. We'll well, Welsh people actually turn up. We do, it's funny. We do tend to use me as a bit of a canary down the mine with the tours and stuff. Not on purpose, but that is sort of what's happened. Yes. And, hey, I love the role. And you do it well.

I love the role. If you see me nodding off, there's probably a gas leave. So without further ado, thank you again for listening. We'll be back next week with another episode. But until then, thank you so much. And goodbye. Later. Bye.

Don't forget to sign up to our tour mailing list so we know where in the world you are and we can come and tell you when we're coming there. Wherever we go, we always hear six months later, oh, you should come to Manchester. We were just in Manchester. But this way you'll never. It will never miss out. And don't forget to sign up, go to our Instagram, click our link tree.

Very, very easy. It means we know to come to you, and you'll also know that we're coming to you. Yeah, we'll come to you. You come to us. Very good. And we give you a spam-free guarantee.