How To Do Everything - A Holiday Special with the NFL's Gerald McCoy and the NPR's Peter Sagal

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

On this week's archive episode, Mike and Ian learn about a unique Catalonian Christmas tradition that celebrates nature's calling. And when a listener calls into question her boyfriend's family traditions, Peter Sagal steps in to give a final ruling. Plus, NFL defensive tackle Gerald McCoy on how to show someone that you care.You can email your burning questions to [e-mail] To Do Everything is available without sponsor messages for supporters of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me+, who also get bonus episodes of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! featuring exclusive games, behind-the-scenes content, and more. Sign up and support NPR at plus.npr.org.How To Do Everything is hosted by Mike Danforth and Ian Chillag. It is produced by Heena Srivastava. Technical direction from Lorna White.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autographcollection.com. It's the holiday season, that's why you're hearing these sound effects. And in Catalonia, one part of the Christmas tradition is the Caganet in the Nativity scene. The Caganet we had never heard of before, really just a couple moments ago. Online to tell us about it is Mark Ignasi Corral.

He's a member of a society called the Friends of the Caganet. Well, the Caganet is a small figure we put into nativities in Christmas, and it's a pauper, it's a guy, a poor being, and it's a quite traditional figure we use here in Catalonia in our nativities. But, well, in recent years it has become a very, very, very popular figure and making any sort of characters like politicians, the sportmen or Hello Kitty for instance or the Queen of England. So I would have say that a little figure of the Queen of England pooping. Yes, or Hello Kitty pooping, yes.

Well so how does this tradition begin? You think of an irregular nativity scene, you've got, I guess, Joseph and Mary, the baby Jesus. Yes. You've got the three wise men. Yes. So at what point did then the Coguenay come into the nativity scene? Or what prompted it? That was centuries ago.

That was centuries ago, around the 16th, 17th century, or maybe even older. And here in Catalonia, we have quite a cathological. For instance, we, instead of having Santa, we have a pooping log. So it's a log that will kick and then will pull the presents, Christmas presents, all right? So we have sort of very cathological here in our culture. Did you say it's a pooping log? Yes, a pooping log?

Yes, a pooping log. A log that poops? Yes, you will go to the forest, get a nice log, and then you would take it home, and you would feed it with water and dry bread. And then Christmas Eve or Christmas, you would cover the log with a blanket, and then you send the kids somewhere else,

and then you put the presents under the blanket, and then they send the kids somewhere else, and then you put the presents under the blanket, and then they come with long sticks and start kicking the lock, and singing songs that if you are not to pull out the things, that will kick you strong. And then they remove the blanket, and then they find the presents, and they go back again somewhere else, they put more presents, put the blanket on, and that the way that the log poops the Christmas presents. Oh, so the log, it poops presents. Yes. I find that astonishing.

Well, I... Hey Mark, just to be clear, the kagane, is there actual poop? Yes, yes, you can see, yes. Well, it's made, it can be plastic or ceramic or whatever, yes. You go internet, you go Google, you write Kagane. You put even Hello Kitty and probably there's pictures from the front and the back. So what's your favorite in your collection, your favorite Kagane? Oh, they're different.

I've got a plastic one which represents Dalí, and I've got a small collection in my case, it's around 150 caganes, so not much to pick around. All right, I want to interrupt. So what's about to happen is Mike is about to ask a question and Mark is not going to hear the question correctly, but we still want to leave it in. Does the Dalí is he is he pooping surreal poop? No it's not real poop it's plasticine poop it's the poo is always the same material than the Kazanese van you don't really get no it's a representation, no, you don't really get... That was very, very melly.

No, it's made of the same material. You know, it's got the plastic cup and then you've got the plastic pool. Yes. Well, Mark, thank you so much for telling us about this. You're very welcome. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. This is How to Do Everything.

I'm Mike. And I'm Ian on today's show, How to Hug Anybody You Might Be Visiting This Holiday Season. But first, hey Shannon, what can we help you with? So I was talking with my boyfriend about holiday traditions and he was saying that they always have a sprite in their eggnog and I thought that sounded terrible but he claimed that everyone does it. I have never heard of that before. No, I love eggnog.

I've never even thought about putting Sprite in it. Right, me neither. Okay, so where are you from? I am from Utah. Okay, and your boyfriend? Utah as well. Okay. Is he from a different part of Utah? Yeah, I'm from the very top of Utah and he's from the very south of Utah. Okay. Does he put Sprite in everything he drinks? No, I've never seen him drink a Sprite before. Wait, wait, does he put eggnog in everything then? No, I've never seen him

drink eggnog either, but apparently they have to go hand in hand. Have you tried it? No, it doesn't sound good to me. No, no it doesn't. How long have you been going out with this guy? About two years. Oh wow. He claimed that if I ever spend Christmas with his family like it Like they'll be drinking that oh Alright Shannon, we're gonna we're gonna do some research on this question perfect. Thank you You know we should the way to answer this is to do a taste test try it ourselves The question though is not whether it's good or bad I think but rather is this a normal thing?

Is this a thing that normal people drink? We're gonna bring in our official taste tester, Peter Segel, and let him try it out. Peter, thanks for coming in. Oh yeah. I understand you're in a bit of a bad mood today. It's post-holiday blues. I think what we have here is gonna pick you back up.

Oh, I'm looking forward to it. I could use a pick-up. Before we get to the taste test, let me ask you this question. Would you describe yourself as a normal person? I would give that a qualified yes. Yeah, I would go for normal. I know people that a qualified yes. Yeah, I would go for normal. I know people that argue with you.

Spent the weekend with some of them. But I can tell you that yes, I would say normal. You feel like your range of interests, the behaviors that you engage in, they're- Certainly within the norm of like, if I, for example, put out a personal ad, say, listing my interests, the things I like to do, it would be so boring as to be completely, you know,

it wouldn't stand out from the crowd. It would just be usual things. Books, movies, long walks on the beach, sort of thing. Okay, so we'd like you to taste something. Oh God. But before you sit, three mugs of eggnog. Yes. They are all different in some way.

I can only start to imagine. We would love you to taste them and just tell us what you think. All right. So we're going to number them one, two, three? Yes. All right. I'm trying to number one. Here we go.

Eggnog. Peter's first mug is plain eggnog. Tastes like eggnog, I would first mug is plain eggnog. Tastes like eggnog. I would say. Yeah, okay. Let's try the next one. This is...

I'm looking at these carefully. This one seems to have little specks of something. I'm hoping nutmeg. We can't explain the specks. Here we go. Eggnog number two. Mug number two is eggnog with Sprite. That's terrible. I mean, it's not disgusting, but it's terrible.

What, describe the taste. Well, there's definitely something like eggnog in it, but something has been added. Yeah. That, uh, has a lighter, it's, if it's light, I'm guessing it's been mixed, I would guess with some kind of soda, is a guess. I mean, a sweet soda, I would say.

And it doesn't taste good. So that was not good. That's no, that's bad. And as a normal person, you think no. I think no to that second one, yes. Okay. All right, let's try then the final mug. All right, this also, this looks a little different.

The final mug is eggnog with malort. Oh, this has a different smell. Hang on. The world's worst liquor. Ah! Ah! I don't know what you guys put in that, but it is bad. Ah! Do you want to guess? Uh, I, it smelled like alcohol.

Um... Yeah. Well, no, it's got like a medicinal aftertaste. It's very, it's like the most chemical, almost like a medicine or... No, it's bad. Mineral oil, did you put? No, I don't know what you... No, we're not gonna poison you.

We can tell you, it's malort. Oh! And eggnog. Should have seen that coming. Didn't have anything to do with the experiment, but we wanted to give it to you. Thank you. We don't want to disappoint you. No.

And in a weird way, it did improve my mood. Thank you. There are certain things that will always be constant. Your sort of general hostility, as expressed through Malort, will always be with me. What's something you love? Something I love. Really? Yeah. Malort will always be with me. What's something you love? Something I love.

Really? Yeah. Well, right now I love the TV show, Jessica Jones. Okay. Does that count? Yeah. I, I also love it. It's great. I was just trying to get you to say something like that.

Cause I think we'll edit at the end that you love, you love Malort. Peter, thank you. Uh, this is where I don't know what to say because usually I'd say it's a pleasure and that's not applicable. I love my lord. I love my lord. I love my lord. I love my lord. Hey, if you have any questions for us, be they holiday or non-holiday related, get them to us at howto at npr.org. We promise that we'll do whatever we can to find an answer to the questions you send us, and we'll find it in an easy way. You won't have to force the answer out of us by hitting us with a stick. Pooplogs we are not. No, we are men. We, human beings who you needn't hit with a stick. You

just have to send your question to howto at npr.org. This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, we like stories that surprise you. For instance, imagine finding a new hobby and realizing... To do this hobby right, according to the ways of the masters, there's a pretty good chance that you're going to have to bend the law to get the materials that you need. If not break it. Yeah. To break international laws. Your life stories, really good ones. This American Life. Hi, it's Ter Terry Gross from Fresh Air.

I just interviewed Billie Eilish and Finneas about many things, including how Billie's signature baggy clothes came from watching hip-hop videos. Instead of being jealous of the women who get to be around the hot men, I would be jealous of the hot men. I wanted to dress like them and I wanted to be able to act like them. Find this fresh air interview wherever you listen to podcasts. It's been a great year for TV, movies, and music, and we are highlighting the best of the best.

We're talking about our favorite moments of the year, including some of the best pop culture you might have missed. Listen now to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Hey, Derek. What can we help you with? I had a question about hugs. I guess it all started in middle school or high school. Some girl gave me a hug and she was like, you're terrible at this. And I guess I've kind of been self-conscious of that ever since.

I know how to hug my girlfriend, but any step less than that, I'm not quite sure on what a friendly hug should be. Describe your current hug technique, when you do it right. I never initiate hugs. So I just kind of, someone's coming towards me with their arms out. I kind of stick my arms out and let them take the lead. The way you tell that,

it sounds like just a stranger on the street coming at you that way. I could be. I wouldn't know how to hug them better. So Derek, when you're looking ahead here, what are you envisioning with your hug situation? Well, I'll be visiting my girlfriend's parents for Christmas, and I'm not sure how to hug them. I understand that she doesn't come from a family of huggers either, really, but I don't

want to seem distant. Yeah. So Derek, I would anticipate you're gonna need to get ready for hugs upon that first initial moment when you get together with the parents. Yeah, that's something I'm a little worried about. All right, we're gonna get on this because I do think that you want to get this right. Awesome, thanks guys. I think we have somebody who can help out Derek. On the line with us now is Gerald McCoy. He's a defensive tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who play football. Now Gerald was the third pick in the 2010 NFL draft and if you don't

follow this, the draft is where the college players get picked by whatever pro team and they go up and meet Roger Goodell, the commissioner. So Gerald, why don't you tell us first of all why you're qualified to help Derek Goodell, the commissioner. So Gerald, why don't you tell us, first of all, why you're qualified to help Derek? Well, the day prior to the draft, the draft picks get to go sit in the office with Mr. Goodell, and wasn't nobody talking, so I just kind of broke the ice and was like, you know, tomorrow, whenever we get drafted,

wherever we get drafted, what types of things are restricted, what can't we do, What can't we do? You know, he was like, I'll tell you this. I just want you to show emotion. Show that you're happy about what's going on. So, you know, I was like, all right. Well, remember you gave me the okay. So when it came, that's just what happened. Well, can you tell the story? Oh, well, after I got drafted, I was very emotional because my mother passed away when I was 19 and she didn't get to see me get drafted. So I was kind of emotional about that. I was emotional about the fact that I had been through

a whole lot to get to this point and now I'm being drafted to play in the NFL, which is what I've been working for my whole life. So I walk on stage and usually, typically, people give him the commission of handshake. Well, I walk on stage, he sticks his hand out, and I walk right past his hand and just give him a huge bear hug. Because I was just happy. I didn't know what else to do.

I was just so happy, man. And I'm a hugger, I'm from the South, man. I'm from Oklahoma, so that's what we do. We don't really shake hands, we hug in Oklahoma. So when I got out here to Florida and everybody was shaking hands, it was kind of weird. I didn't know how to, you know, take it. I hugged. So that's just what I did. So for people, you know, so they can picture this image properly. Can you tell us how big you are? Yeah, I'm six-four-three-hundred. That's a big hug.

Yeah. And what did the commissioner do once you got him in that bear hug? Well, he kinda, I think I kinda squeezed the air out of him cause he kinda made like a grunting noise, like I was hurting him. So I let him go, but you know, he was happy. You know, he seen that I was excited and he just had fun with it, so it was good.

So Gerald, you broke the hugging ice did other draftees hug him after that? It was a continuous cycle like it was like five straight people came out with hugs it was ridiculous and then a year after everybody was hugging the commissioners it was pretty cool. Well we heard that this year at least he went before the the draft starts he advises players that they can hug him but to please be careful basically don't don't squeeze me to death right so you are responsible for a new rule at the draft yeah I didn't mean to

break his back he's a pretty tough guy yeah well so we are a how-to show and one of our listeners Derek wrote, and he is going to visit his girlfriend's parents, and he's worried about hugging them properly. So as one of history's great huggers, do you want to give Derek some advice? Go for it. Just go for it. Chuck, you're visiting your girlfriend's parents. You don't want your girlfriend's parents to think that one, you're weak, and

two, that you're not really into their daughter. So just act like you're excited to be there and you're happy to be in that girl's life. When you go to meet somebody's parents, if you're happy to be in that person's life, then everything that comes with it, you know, you're just happy to be around. So if you go and you're there and you're excited, you know, because most people would be apprehensive and real cautious when they get around the significant other's parents. They just get real cautious and don't know how to act. If you just show them that you're happy to be there,

then I think they'll accept you even more. So just go for it, man. Just give them a nice squeeze. Southern hospitality, my brother. Well, this has been great. Thanks so much for helping out there. All right, no problem. That does it for this week's show.

What we learned today, Mike? Well, I learned about the kagane, which I didn't know about the pooper in the Nativity scene. I mean, you think about the three wise men who come. They bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You wonder if maybe there wasn't a fourth guy at one point who was just like, hold on, you guys, I'm coming. No, you're not, you're not,

we're not gonna call you one of the wise men. There's three wise men and one disgusting man. I love the idea of the pooping log. I find it astounding, as I said. But I also, when you think about it, Santa Claus has, he seems to enjoy what he's doing. Yeah. You know, he's jolly, he's happy all night,

he's with his reindeer friends. Yeah. The pooping log gets dragged from its home in the woods, covered with a blanket, and kicked by children until it poops out presents. Do you think that Santa has seen what happens to the pooping log, and that's why he sneaks into the chimney and he gets out before anyone sees him.

Because he knows that if he gets caught, that's what's going to happen. Yeah, you're going to cover him with a blanket and kick him right in his bowl full of jelly. Come here old man. Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! How to Do Everything is produced by Nadia Wilson with Technical Direction from Lorna White.

Our intern this week is stinky Candice Mattel. That just seems to me. She's... What? She's not holding the cheese anymore? She is. Yeah, when she doesn't have the cheese... Oh, I apologize, Candice.

Our website is howtodoeverything.org. Our email address is howto at npr.org. I'm Ian. And I'm Mike. Thanks. It's a pooper. I'm Jesse Thorne. 2024 is almost over, but before it's gone,

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