The Daily Zeitgeist - Icon #14 - Leprechauns: Tricksy Lil' Buggers

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

In this episode, Jack and Miles are joined by famously half-Irish comedian/podcaster Matt Lieb to talk about the low-key inspiration for the Oscar-winning film 'Sinners': Leprechauns! They'll explore their evolution throughout history, their inconsistent power set, and their influence on our collective night paralysis demon Ryan Coogler! WATCH: Leprechaun In Alabama Tangentially Related Instagram Reel That Broke Miles' Brain See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to this spin-off episode of the Daily's Ice Guys. Yeah. Oh, so horny. We're calling this version of the show The Iconograph Instead of looking at the Zykeyes through current events On Monday morning

We give ourselves a little bit of a break And we look at the Zikeyes through The powerful, pop cultural For Cruxes That are our icons We use these icons to create meaning To build identity And to learn once again

That a unique hat and a pipe combo continues to be undefeated when it comes to iconography. That's right. Hit it, T, T, T, Tata, Tata. We're talking lepracons. In honor of St. Patty's Day. And because I didn't know how thin their history was, we're talking Leps, baby, chans. I'm thrilled to be joined as always by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray.

Fucking Chons, bro. Chons. I got my Chon-John Valour sweatsuit on. right now. So many spellings of leprechauns throughout the course of the evolution of that term and every one of them a complete disaster. Wow. Chalm. Chalm. Okay. Judge. All right. Jidge. I don't know. You guys do it however you want to. I'm just saying. You should just say as an Irish. As an Irishman, I can say this is bullshit. In our third seat, joined by one of our very favorite Irishmen. That's right.

A comedian. The host of the podcast, the frotcast, pod yourself a gun, pod yourself the wire, mad yourself a man, and bad Hasbara, the creator of the vocal stem. I want to fight me da.

That's right. It's Matt Lou. Odie-D-Tidey-T-T. Are we here to talk about lepracons? I should say, my name's Jack O'Brien, so I'm allowed to make all these jokes. Right, right, right, right.

My name is Matt Leap. I'm half Irish. So that makes me allowed to do this type of racism. Oh, are you, are you half Irish? Oh, yes. I'm half Irish. Wow. I'm an Irish Jew, a Jew from Ireland.

Wow. Welcome. So I'm allowed to do this. And I'm already one of Ireland's least favorite sons. I already call myself, Potatoes O'Brien, terrible Irish accent at the top of the top of shows. And then I started copying your impression of Irish people saying they want to fight their dads. I love that.

I love that. My kids now repeat it. We should, we just had a... Kids love it, huh? Kids really love it. They all do secretly want to fight their da.

They want to fight their da'a. So they're like, oh, that's a fun way of saying something I deeply, deeply want to do. Right. Yeah, rather than I want to kill my dad.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not as fun. Although, if you do it, then I hear a shock. I want to kill me.

father. Yeah. It's that maybe a little darker. But if you just fightin, fucking, right. Going to be in edible. Did you choose me for the leprechaun episode because you knew.

Okay. Explicably. I wanted to make sure. Last week we were like, oh, fuck, St. Patrick's Day is coming. And how the fuck did we not do leprechauns? And I immediately was like, Matt Leeb.

Hit him up. Hit him up. Who do we know? Should we have an aunt, Matt Lebe? Like, oh, yeah. You thought of it. an actual Irish person or Matt Lieb?

And you're like, well, he's got to Matt Lebe. For how flippant this show is generally, yeah. You were the only guess. I feel like this is going to be a fairly flippant icons episode. Yeah. You know, a little thinner than I was hoping.

But it ends up being a... Chon Paul. Talking Chon's... How would I spell the syllable con? C-O-N? No. No, no, no. No.

No. No. course it would be C-H-A-U-N or C-H-A-W-N. Ah. I feel like the spelling of leprechaun needs a very urgent meeting with Justin Timberlake in the social network. Wait, is that where 4chan comes from? Yeah, that's right.

For-on. That makes a lot of sense. The trickster god of St. Patrick's Day and the trickster gods of the internet. Yeah. We removed all the snakes from Ireland and replaced them with racist memes. Circon, surcon. Sure. So I will say, so there hasn't been like a mainstream

Leprecon hit. However, I will say, real G's moving silence like lasagna. Absolutely. They kind of sneak around and like sprinkle some magic dust in the ear of people. And like, lepricon movies have been,

not even the horror lepercon movies. Lepercon movies you've never heard of. presumably most people have never heard of have it inspired the godfather James Bond and sinners they've made those three movies possible so I'm gonna explain

how but yeah just the main kind of way that they're consistent with our previous work on iconography pipe hat theory they've got a they got a unique hat

What's some other examples of that? Santa Claus. Oh, okay. Yeah. Sherlock Holmes. Sure. You get yourself an accessory and some unique headware. And that will get you everything.

Okay. At a minimum, it's definitely like the broad strokes are, is your silhouette recognizable? Yes. If you're a recognizable silhouette, you're in business. And then if your face isn't the thing that makes you unique, then is it a thing that someone can merely put on? and then suddenly you go, hey, you're doing

a leprecha, you're doing Santa, you're doing Sherlock. You're doing leprechaun. Hey, hey, that's leprechaun. All right, all right. You notice that Farrell's stock rose like 10, 10x when he started wearing that hat. Oh, that's super true. Yeah.

Cam Newton all the sudden. He's like, do I want a second act of my career? I'm going to start wearing a stupid hat. Wear the hat. And everybody's going to know me. Donald Trump, to be an example of using it for evil. started putting on the MAGA hat. Oh, yeah, that's a good point.

Yeah. I guess any hat, any hat and any smoking accessory. Yeah, exactly. Okay. The Marlboro man. Marlboro man. God damn. Yeah.

God damn. It's a broad combination, but it works. You're right. It is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just got to give yourself a little bit of business. You're like an actor and an intro to acting class. You know, you want to give yourself a little business.

So, Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro is a banger. Absolutely. Fidel Castro. The hat and the cigar. Yeah. And a weird beard. He's almost overdoing it at a certain point.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, like we just pick two. There's too much fucking shit on me. But I do my banish. Fucking shit going on over here. Yeah. What are you guys' familiarity with leprechauns?

What do you know about them? Lucky Charms? You got it. That's actually it. It was, Leprechauns were invented for Lucky Charms. That's, that's the whole episode.

We're done. I thought maybe you were being serious for a second because I was like, that's probably, it's possible. Yeah. The other one, maybe one of my favorites in high school lepracon in the hood. Yes.

I don't know that one, which is, we're going to get to the Lepircon movies. It's funny because I have a much hornier movie than I realized. I had not seen any of the leprechaun films, and then I watched the trailers for many of them. Yeah. They're very horny.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Warwick Davis, horny little leprechaun. Yeah. You know, in those movies. Oh, was he the lepricon in those horror films about leprechauns? He was definitely in, it's funny. I think lepricon in the hood came out after the, I only saw lepercon in the hood.

Oh. Because I was finally like, finally, a lepercon movie for me. Yeah, I feel represented by this lepercon. the hood. I was like, nah, I can't do all these other ones. Lepricon in the hood featuring Icy and has a cameo by Coelio? Okay. Damn. The cameo by Coelio is

underwhelming. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's in it. That's all that matters. Yeah, exactly. It consists of eye contact. Essentially what happens. I was like, damn, I didn't know is that. What else do I know about leprechauns? I only know that leprecons are like an Irish thing.

You got that? And what is it? Who's the fight in Irish? Notre Dame. Notre Dame and the Boston Celtics. And the Celtics. So those are all those they have. That's kind of it. Yeah.

I'm not going to hit you with too many where you're like, you didn't realize this is like a major lepricons. Those are the three big ones. They all happen within four years of each other for no real reason in the 60s. They're just like, yeah, we're dropping iconic lepracons on your ass. Right. Which we'll get to. I like the, you know, I have a.

a feeling when it comes to doing racism against ethnic whites that not only should it be allowed but encouraged. And so like for me, I love that we still use leprechauns as like Irish iconography. It's a fun,

you know, fun little bit of racism that we can all, you know, and get behind and enjoy. You know what I mean? They're tiny, they're trixy. An Irish word that I kept seeing used

to describe them as tricks. which I kind of like. I like trixie. That's what's... That's what Smigel says about the Hobbits. That's right. They're tricksy and the false. Yeah.

That's right. Damn. Anyway. He was like, I told you they were Irish. I wish I could do the accent, but I can't. I told you. Hey. I told you.

Can you guys do the, the Gullum? I can't do a Gullim. There we go. There we go. Yeah. And now Miles can't talk for the rest of the show. Like I'm doing some weird fucked up Irish RFK impersonation. So they do go a little bit further back than Lucky Charms into ancient Celtic mythology.

They were part of the, this is spelled aOS SI. Seems like it would be like an operating system. But it is pronounced Ishi, which is a race of supernatural creatures that also includes banshees and shape-shifting goblins. Hell yeah. Which banshees, I think are cool as fuck.

I don't think I know what a banshee is. They're loud? That's the only thing I know. They're at least a comic book characters. How like a banshee. Yeah. The fuck like banshees. According to the Irish

English dictionary, fuck like banshees. Yeah. I didn't know. They fuck like banshees. I heard that. I don't know what it means. I don't know.

How? While they're fucking. Many ways. According to the Irish English dictionary written by me, John O'Brien, my real name. Whoa. For the purposes of this episode. Yeah. Bestselling author Jack O'Brien. I had the same question. Like, what are banshees? I saw banshees of any sure. But when a family is affected by illness, banshees are heard to sing mournful lamentations around their houses by night. Whenever any of the family labors under a sickness, which is to end by death. No families which are not of an ancient and noble stock are believed to be honored with this very privilege. So they're like death alarms for only the wealthy. It's like you can't afford the banshees.

Seems kind of useless to have other than like, well, I guess we know your time's up. You know? Right, right, right. They're like, it's like someone's dying over there. Turn the banshees down. Can you turn down the banshees? Alexa, we got it. I didn't realize you were literally talking about the Irish banshee.

John O'Brien who wrote this thing. I thought you were doing a bit when he said. No, yeah. My name is John O'Brien. My real name is John O'Brien. And this bad for my branding. I should just have one name and stick to it. When you look at on Wikipedia,

you just go to the disambiguation of John O'Brien. Yeah, it's over. It's crowded, my man. It's Joe Smith. It's Joe Smith status. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But today's lepricons are a blend of three separate fairies from Irish Folk. lore, leprechaun, Claricon, and far

daring. The far daring. The far daring. It's better than the near daring. I'll be here all night. You want to keep them away from you. I'll be here all night, tip your waiter. Sorry. But they're also like part of a broader,

there's a lot of European nations that have these lepricon-like you know, figures that are diminutive, that there are Tommy knockers in England, the dumbest sounding of all of them, get fucked England, Cabooter in Holland,

and Tomtie in Sweden. Cabooter. Cabooter. Cabooter. Okay, Cabooter. One theory I heard, not from our well-sourced researcher. This is a Meredith Danko joint.

Shout to Meredith Dango. But while just kind of listening to podcasts about leprechauns and also just like going around the internet being like give me something you guys is one theory is that a lot of cultures have this image of smaller humans in their mind because there is

a evolutionary like offshoot of humans that were alive when humans were alive that are smaller than us like the Neanderthals get all the press but there were smaller versions. of humanity that were alive at the time. So maybe, you know, that's not important, Miles. Sorry, I should have told you before I was to ask a follow-up.

A theory I heard was that it's like an evolutionary memory of them. I think it's also, it just might be our fear of children, like sneaking in there. These sneaky little fuckers. Yeah, yeah. Always trying to steal my shit. They're quiet. They're quiet. they do steal your gold in many ways.

They're expensive. That's true. That steal your gold every day. They eat all your food. They take all your money. Yeah. And they're always tricking you. They really are.

Constantly being tricked by my four-year-old son. Oh, yeah, my kid does that all the time. Oh, I want, I want yogurt. Oh, here's yogurt. I don't want yogurt. Yeah, exactly. What the fuck? And impossible to catch.

That's the other thing. As soon as they're running, it's like, that's it. You can't fucking catch her. You just have to wait until they trip. Never see that kid again. There's a lot of debate over where the word leprechaun comes from. There's an old Irish and middle Irish word called lucrepan, meaning small body. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

That seems like that. If I had to put money, I'd put it on that. Me too. 2019, scholars are like, nope. It actually comes from Rome. It comes to get rid of, we got to get rid of scholars. Fucking scholars are the worst. They found like some Uri-N-N-N-WRow.

text that was like this is where everything came from. Like they were doing the derivations a long time before we thought they were. They found this text. They were like, so this is where this word came from. The word actually comes from Roman priests like in the pagan era known

as Lupercy, which sounds like a disease. And the priest celebrated a festival known as Lupercalia on February 15th, which was like a fertility purification festival. An animal sacrifice. You went skinny

dipping, you killed some animals, you skinned them, wore their heads as hats. Yes. You I love pagans. Pagans are about that line. Honestly, all they do is bullshit. Every time, like, you go back and

look into, like, I totally thought leprechauns were going to be like some St. Patrick's, like, boring Catholic mythology. And it's like, no, man, they go back to, so like the reason the leprechauns are named after them is because the children would then run from skinny dipping run around naked with strips

of the like newly killed animal hides and whip women in the ass and I was supposed to like make them make them fuck more like vigorous and fruitfully like a fertility ritual holy shit

I love like making it so that your kids are the ones to make your wife horny you're just like just chase my wife with a little bit of that cat gut and start whipping her until she gets horny enough. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah. The pagans really knew how to do it, man. They were having a good time. You know, I could see why paganism lasted as long as it did. I get it too, like, while all the other religions, like, they're cheating off their homework that, what they doing over there? I feel like all the other religions sprouted out are like people being like, oh, this pagan stuff is problematic.

Or it's like the prudes. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm not really comfortable getting whipped. on my naked ass with entrails tonight. Yeah. All these damn woke religions like Catholicism showed up. And I don't know. I'm now hearing like comments being like, it's not technically pagan if they were Roman. I don't fucking know.

It's just like not, it's before the church came through and was like, this is named after St. John or saint. Right. You know, it's just like all, like they made everything fucking boring.

And like all the good ideas, like the tree that's inside your house. on Christmas and like the, you know, like the Santa Claus and like all that shit is like basically all the fun shit is pagan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like leprecons. The apricons,

the feasts, all the good stuff. From very early on, leprechauns are described as clever tricksters. The first known stories containing leprechauns actually go back slightly before Lucky Charms to the seventh or eighth century

in the story a story called the adventure of Fergus son of Leti which do you guys know that one right just for the listeners I'll tell them how the story happens the fictional king Are you sure they don't know? Yeah well

we'll just run back For the idiots just for the idiots Run it back for the dummies The fictional king Fergus falls asleep on the beach after a long day Water Sprites known as Lucrepine try to pull him into the ocean

but Fergus wakes up as he's like hitting the cold water grabs them realizes they're magical and makes him grant him three wishes so at this time they had wish granting which I know is like a question about like whether they are wish granting or not I forgot about that but isn't that it

like the leprechauns grant you three wishes I thought who else grants you three wishes? Genies. Genies are the ones that mainly grant three wishes three wishies as I call Three wishes Three little wishes If I like the wishes

Because it's so delicious If I may use the clinical term Three wishies I do just want to Tell you what his three wishes were Okay Wait so this is a king Who passed out on a beach

These little fuckers These little fuckers Try him into the ocean I can pretty much guess It's first wish More Cervasas for favor Wow, you really do know the Irish people. Second wish, ski do.

Well, it is related to water. Third wish, invisibility. Go on. Let me see how close I got. Okay. First wish to breathe underwater in the ocean. I was very close with the- second wish to be able to breathe underwater in a lake.

Well, okay. This guy just wasted. To be able to breathe underwater in a pool of water. You're a fucking moron. How did this guy become king? I don't know. You used three wishes. It could have been one.

To breathe underwater, period. Yes. Passed out on a beach. I didn't even know that was a thing people did back then. Like, I thought that was like a modern thing passing out on the beach. You know what I mean? Yeah.

It feels like such a normal. Like, yeah, bro, I was out there chilling, man. I'm fucking knocked out. It doesn't sound like he's on a, like,

like a beach chair passed out with a little like fucking, with a drink that has an umbrella on it underneath the larger umbrella. He probably thought he was fucking Faced down in the sand. You know he thought he was cooking with those wishes too. He was like, all right. Three wishes. Watch this shit.

Can hold my breath. I can breathe under water. I can breathe under ocean. I can breathe under lake. Under pool. Boom. Oh man. I got to catch more of these sprites so I can have more breathe underwater wishes.

The story ends with him going in his home lock. And they're like, didn't say anything about a lock. He doesn't, he doesn't die. He goes underwater. is still able to swim, I guess,

sees a very scary monster and is so scared that his mouth twists around to the back of his head for some reason. So, what is the back fired?

Needed to get a better lawyer. Pretty dumb. He fucked himself by making it specific. He fucked himself. It's a watery tale about the need for powerful people

to have a good legal team bond. Absolutely. Good litigators. 13th century Lepercon story. begin to include more details about their abilities and appearances. They start very small.

Shortly cut grass reaches just up to their knees. And for some reason, they can float around in goblets. So. Goblets. Yeah. Like in a cup? Yeah. In a fancy cup.

Well, I mean, they're so small that, like, they can treat a goblet like a hot tub is what you're saying. It's more of a perspective thing. Oh, I was thinking like they float through the air in goblets, which is like. So the goblet is flying. Yeah, I think, I think so. That would make more sense. Yeah. Okay, so at this point, they're Irish now, right?

Yeah, yeah. Okay, they're fully Irish. Okay, they're fully Irish. They're just like, and they're so small, they immediately go into the cup of beer and they can float around in it. Yeah, yeah, just like, I knew they were Irish when they were like, one of their powers is floating around in beer. It's just like, yeah, they could just pretty much sail off on a pint, you know,

like the Irish. do. It feels, yeah, kind of like when people put, you know, like on Reddit and they're like, what is this thing? Diet Coke can for scale. It's like floats and goblet for scale. Yeah, right. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think I understand it. They wear scarlet cloaks at this time.

There is a lot throughout their history. So they were Bloods? We're wearing. Oh, yeah. It was like a Bloods Crips thing for a long time. And then in the 20th century, they switched to green. Around the time that, the Irish nationalist movement is wearing green.

And so it's thought that maybe as they become like sort of associated with Ireland, they're like, we're going to make them more Irish and less like the fucking red coats. Yeah. I like that. By the 19th century, Irish stories had honed in on a pretty consistent leprechaun character. They're Ronan.

They've like lost their clan and become solitary creatures. Oh, hell. Yeah. Never taller than two to three feet, which feels a little bit more like what I have in mind for lebracons, not like finger-sized, but like, you know, little men.

They're cobblers. That's something that comes up throughout that hadn't really reached me, is that they make shoes. They make shoes. They make shoes. And like one way you can find them is by being very quiet and seeing if you can hear the little mini hammer strikes of a tiny cobbler making tiny shoes.

I love the imagination on these people. They didn't have shit else. to do. Let's just think of lore. World building. Yeah. Coming up with lore all day. I don't know.

They make shoes. It sounds like when Matt Graining was coming up with the Simpsons in the lobby. Right. What else can they fucking do? They take cobblers or some shit. I don't know. Sometimes he's the banker in charge of the fairy world's entire fortune or sometimes he's just makes such good shoes that he's super rich.

but he always has a lot of money. And he hides it in pots found at the end of rainbows or elsewhere. So that's hitting around the 19th century. As someone who is a Irish Jew, there is something that's ringing to me. It does feel a little anti-Semitic. Doesn't it feel like they're like, oh, yes, the leprechaun, the Jew of the fairy world. It's like a little bit of the. Cobbler who loves gold.

Yeah, he's a cobbler. He loves gold. He's the banker for the fairy world. world. Yeah. And we're talking, you said this is 19th century now? Yeah. Yeah.

So it's kind of matching. I feel like it's matching. Yeah. First draft of the protocols of the elders is I had a bunch of leprechaun shit. And they're like, I don't know if we need all this. Another thing that might lead you down that path is that they're just immediately hostile towards them. Like the next sentence in the setup is, if you catch one and threaten to harm him,

he may reveal that gold, but only, if you keep your eyes on him the entire time because he's shifty, you see. I love that. If you threaten to harm them, they may give you money. You mean like anyone? Yeah. That's, like, if you, you mean robbing someone? It's immediately

hostile. It's just like, if you catch one and you know, beat the shit out of them. Yeah, right. Break his kneecaps. Gotta beat the shit out of them. Right. I love that. Like, I would assume that the thing started with like some morality

or it's like they're going to trick you, if they trick you out of their gold, your gold, then you can use it. But it's immediately just like, just understood. Yeah. You know, it would be a thing where you, you know, beat, yeah. If you see one, you got to beat his

ass because he's a bitch ass lepergon. And beat the shit out of them until he can't take it anymore. He might give you his gold. There you go. Come here, you cheeky fucker. Wait, so we're the bad guys here, right? You just got gold and we're assaulting him to try and get it from him? He's dumb because he's

little, dude. Yeah. So you can take that. And he's so greedy the way he's charge and interest on all the gold brings. Right. Fucking usury. He's doing usury. Maybe they wouldn't be so tricky if people weren't unilaterally attacking them without

justification. Yeah. It's a bit of a chicken or egg situation. But I guess is that like sort of racism also feed into like anti-Irish? Like people's view of the Irish too? Yeah. Maybe the Irish's view of them. selves, right?

Like they're getting the shit beaten out of them all the time. They're always the smaller nation, you know, getting the shit kicked out of them by the bigger guys. Did the Irish, did they identify with the leprechaun or with the people beating the shit out of the leprechaun? I don't know. It's hard to say. I do think they use leprechauns as sort of a, well, like eventually letting them wear green

would suggest like they're, you know. They're one making them part of the thing. They're one with the lepricons, yeah. Right. But if they switched from red to green, so they went from blood to what, Floreencia 13? Yeah, I suppose so. They're in a Tracea gang now. Oh, man.

All right. As it evolves, we start to hear about the specific nature of their trickiness. The favorite amusement of the leprechaun is riding a sheep or goat or even a dog when the other animals are not available. And if the sheep look weary in the morning or the dog is muddy and worn out with fatigue, the peasant understands that the local leprechaun has been going on some errand that lay a greater distance than cared to travel on foot. Aside from riding the sheep and dogs almost to death,

the leprechaun is credited with much small mischief. He will make the pot boil over and put out the fire. Then again, he will make it impossible for the pot to boil at all. He will fling the baby down on the floor, throw the few... Wow. Yeah, we've all been there. Yeah, I mean, listen.

The few poor articles of furniture about the room with a strength and vigor altogether disproportioned to his diminutive size. Uh, pranks seldom go further than to drink up all the milk and then filling the bottle with water. And then when very angry, uh, will sometimes lead to the fire up to the thatch, startling the inmates of the cabin with his laugh as they rise, frightened to put out the flames. And then sometimes, you know, if it's feeling particularly mischievous, it beats me wife. This is 100% a drunk guy who's just like, no, it's a leprechaun who threw the baby and drank up all the milk. That is exactly what I have here. It feels exactly.

It would never be mean just who would throw down their own baby. Had to be a leprechaun who did that. Oh, that black eye. She had that black eye because of the leprechaun that came in here. Throwing furniture, accidentally lighting the house on fire, drinking all the baby's milk and then trying to replace it with water. Like people wouldn't notice is like such a. If a baby's drinking breast milk still,

you can't give them water. Yeah, I know. But it is drunken logic to be like, I just watered it down a bit. For the last time, the reason the dog is dead from exhaustion is because of the leprechaun. Yeah, I do want to know what they were doing

to that fucking dog. Just a normal sized person drunk off their ass riding their dog. Put a saddle on the dog or dog. Or it's like maybe like Christopher from Sopranos. You just sat on the fucking dog. Yes, 100%. I'm going to ride this thing.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I sat on posette. She must have crawled under there. For warmed. So sorry. I didn't. Yeah.

Hey, I'm Jay Chetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Hillary Duff, singer, actress and multi-platinum artist. Hillary opens up about complicated family dynamics, motherhood, and releasing our first record in over 10 years. We talk about what it's taken to grow up in the entertainment industry and stay grounded through every chapter. It's a raw and honest conversation about identity, evolution, and building a life that truly matters.

You desire in family like this picture, and that's not reality a lot of the time it's for people. My sister and I don't speak. definitely a very painful part of my life. And I hope it's not forever, but it's for right now. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know Roll Doll, the writer who thought up Willie Wonka, Matilda, and the BFG. But did you know he was also a spy? Was this before he wrote his stories? It must have been. Our new podcast series, The Secret World of Roll Doll, is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary

controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans. And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either. Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you. The guy was a spy.

Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelt's? Played poker with Harry Truman and had a long affair with a congresswoman. And then he took his talents to Hollywood where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent

wind up as the most successful children's office? or ever, and what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids. The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the secret world of Roll Dahl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, this is Joe Winterstein, host of the Spirit Daughter podcast, where we talk about astrology, natal charts, and how to step into your most vibrant life. And I just sat down with a mini driver.

The Irish traveler said when I was 16, you're going to have a terrible time with men. Actor, storyteller, and unapologetic Aquarian visionary. Aquarius is all about freedom-loving and different perspectives. And I find a lot of people with strong placements in Aquarius are misunderstood. A son and Venus and Aquarius in her seventh house spark her unconventional approach to partnership. He really has taught me to embrace people sleeping in different rooms, on different houses and different places, but just an embracing of the isness of it all. If you're navigating your own transformation or just want to chart side view into how a leading artist integrates astrology, creativity and real life, this episode is a must listen. Listen to the Spirit Daughter podcast starting on February 24th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief.

A nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny, baby. is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict? A villain. A nurse named Lucy Letby. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story?

The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, doubt the case of Lucy Lettby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived in. To ask what really happened when the world. world decided who Lucy Lettby was. No voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level of the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to doubt the case of Lucy Lettby on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton Eckerd, and in 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. Unfortunately, it didn't

go according to plan. He became the first bachelor to ever have his final rose rejected. The internet turned on him. If I could press a button and rewind it all I would. But what happened to Clayton after the show made even bigger headlines. It began as a one-night stand and ended in a courtroom with Clayton at the center of a very strange paternity scandal. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped.

This season, an epic battle of He Said, and the search for accountability in a sea of lies. Listen to Love Trapped on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. So that's how we get to the 20th century. There's a big influx of Irish immigrants to the U.S., 4.5 million people between 1820 and 1930, and, you know, they embrace stories and symbols from

their homeland as they face, you know, poverty and discrimination. And one of those symbols is the Lepricon. They switch it to green in the 20th century when green becomes synonymous with Irishness. And they become associated with St. Patrick's Day primarily in the early 20th century. Hell yeah. And they have a combination of traits. evolved from lots of different intrant myths and also contemporary Irish clichés, red beards, green clothes,

pots of gold, wish-granting power, basically a symbol of Ireland, good luck. And this is where, so that's the version of the leprechaun that comes to us in the 20th century. The movies that, like the pop culture

that have done something with leprechauns, in 1948, there's a movie called the luck of the Irish that is about an American reporter from Ireland and a grateful leprechaun who acts as his servant and conscience. And the guy who plays the leprechaun was nominated for an Oscar. Just tears in the theaters over this performance. Jesus Christ.

That's incredible. I love that someone who played a lepricon in 48 was nominated. they were like, this is serious work. Yeah, that's wild. That's like when fucking, you know, Heath Ledger won for the Joker. Right. Yeah, yeah.

People are going to be looking back. No, you got to watch Chris Nolan's leprecha lepricron movie. It was a darker, grittier leprecha. 1959 comes Darby O'Gill and the Little People, which is a Walt Disney movie.

A wily old codger matches wits with the King of the leprechauns and helps play matchmaker for his daughter. This one stars Sean Connery. And they're doing really good forced perspective work in this, which actually

is then used by the writer-director Tom Holland for the child's play movies, which I didn't mention, but that is a reason. So this was a live action movie about leprechauns starring Sean. Starring Sean

Connery who's like the young hunk and uh and he's Scottish too I know but they they were like oh we actually don't give a shit they're like we can't tell the difference just talk weird keep doing that weird talk so Walt Disney had Irish heritage wanted to make a movie about Ireland he like labored over this movie for years was like we're starting a picture on the lepracons and like I'm so so excited about it and he spent a bunch of time in Ireland research searching folklore, speaking with experts to develop the movie. And it was a critical and box office failure. This was his megalopolis.

Yes, exactly. But some interesting impacts. Producer Albert Broccoli saw a preview of the movie. Nasty's wife, Dana, what she thought of Sean Conner. She said he believed he had sex appeal, which led to his test for the role of James Bond. Yo. Wait.

What? Yeah. That is him. Like the, the acting it is really, it's like, this is one scene where the leprechaun visits him in his sleep and he's like, huh?

What? And he's like having a conversation while asleep in a real, like the sort of acting you do when you're pretending to be asleep, but you haven't been. It's like, what are you talking about? I was just asleep. I didn't even know that it was happening.

I didn't drink up all the milk and sit the house on fire and throw down the baby. So, yeah, that's one of the thing. So that's how we got our James Bond. That's crazy. Yeah. And it also might, like, because Child's Play, you know, did a good job with forced perspective. And, you know, we get Lord of the Rings, which is all forced perspective. So you could, if you wanted to stretch it, you could say that it heavily, leprechauns heavily influenced the Lord of the Rings franchise.

Right. And all forced perspective, which is, by the way, my favorite force power. Next to force choke and forced jump. Force perspective. Lord of the Rings, which I have never seen beyond getting really high during the first one and not remembering the ending. And then I was like,

I feel like I get it. That's a good cultural blind spot for you. I know, I need to do something. It's fun. It's fun. I want to show it to you, though, because I think you'd like it.

I think I would too. I read The Hobbit as a child and was like, this is my shit. Like, I love it. What? Then you've got to do it. I know. I was just, I don't know why I didn't, I never did it.

I got distracted by the Red Wall series. Oh my God, Jack. You see the siege of Gondor, bro. I know. So sick. Bro. I kind of enjoy having the blind spot. Yeah.

Yeah. I will say a third kind of impact of this movie is we're about to see a massive boom time of leprechauns in popular culture at this point in history. For some reason, I wonder if it like has to do with like Disney, giving it the seal of approval. But in a four-year span, starting in 1964, we get the three most popular lepricons in current U.S. popular culture, I would say.

I wonder if I'll know any of them. You will. We've already talked about them up top, actually. Oh, oh, oh, oh, I thought we were talking about lepricon movies. Okay, got it, got it, got it. So in 1964, we get hit with Lucky the Lepricon. Hell yeah. Lucky Charmed serial mascot,

dropped on all of our asses. Sir Charms to you. Lucky is a nickname. Yeah. That's crazy. I don't think he was knighted. I think they just... Yeah.

Better fucking not be. Was he a Protestant at this point? What the fuck happened? Obviously known for his catchphrases. They're after me lucky charms. Yeah. They're magically delicious. Yeah.

That's right. And also, I'm going to throw down that baby. Give me that baby. Give it here. You're drunk lucky. I'm going to. Fight me, duh. What kind of fight?

Hit me in the end zone. In 1975, in 1975, in 1975, he was almost replaced by a wizard named Waldo with trials conducted in New England, according to one former advertiser.

Like, he wasn't very friendly for the kids. They were always chasing him, and he wasn't really sharing. I'm like, they almost fired him for doing his exact job. Yeah, that's what, Leprecons do. Yeah, dude. That's what we gave him that job to do.

Also, you're in control of what you have your cartoon character do. What are you talking about? Lucky isn't performing very well. He's not sharing with the children's. This guy's not in control, man. Real. What about Waldo the Wizard? That sounds so fucking dumb.

I know. They really dodged a bullet there. It's because they wanted to keep magically delicious, but they forgot that, you know, anything British is automatically unlucky. That's the whole thing about Irish. They're lucky. That's right, right. What are you going to do?

According to the cereal brand, Lucky is 12 inches tall, which seems too small to me, but I'll allow it. And he gets his power. Oh, yeah. Tell me how thick, though. 12 inches tall and. Around. Why? He's a spear.

He's a spear. Lucky Chode. His, I didn't, I didn't realize that the cereal's marshmallow. known as marbits. Ew. Could have worked a little bit harder on that one. I don't like that at all. They're always chomping on my marbits.

Marbits? Marbits. Lord. Are the things that give him his powers? Didn't know that he had those. But so these children are essentially trying to rob him of his, because like, so they have it broken down. Like heart gives him life.

Purple horseshoe gives him speed. Red balloon gives him float, which is, my favorite of the powers. Yeah. That's like that it power. That's a pennywise power. Yeah. A pot of gold illumination. Blue moon invisibility. Green hat with clover,

luck, shooting star, flight, and rainbow travel. They really were like, I don't know, let's just keep saying the same one. Float and flight and travel. Yeah. Yeah. Time travel. Do we need all this lore?

That's the question I have for a serial box. It's like, you know how back in the day, you read like an old ad, it was like covered wall to wall with text. And it was just like, damn, you wrote like a whole story about why I need to buy this pan. Yeah, this could have been a 30 second commercial, dude. Yeah, show the picture of the pan go buy pan, new. And like they're probably written by like Kurt Vonnegut. Right.

You know, that's how Kurt Vonnegut was like eating his kids was like writing a short story about a mom at home and how much this pan changed her life. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's crazy. So that's 64. We get lucky to lepricons. 65, we get the Notre Dame leprechaun. So the name originated as a pejorative term chanted by rival fans at Notre Dame's players around the turn

of the 20th century. Then the school reclaimed the term. Wait, leprechaun was? No, fighting Irish. Calling them the fighting Irish. Oh, I love that. They were doing it raciously back in the day. doing it raciously and they reclaimed the term

and adopted the fighting Irish in 1927 and there's a fucking crazy story. So the way that like the the reason they officially reclaimed it is that in 1924 the Clu Klux Klan, which was like Indiana was like their capital. The clan in the 20s loved Indiana. And they went to South Bend because they hated Catholics

and we're like, we're going to fuck these Catholics up and 500 Notre Dame students I think it's unwritten but like almost definitely got shit faced and just like started beating the shit out of the clan sort of like ripping the hoods off their head and stuff and like keeping them and then like went to the clan headquarters

and started like fucking it up and then one of the clan members like pulled a gun on them and they're like all right well not like that that sucks so then they were like we're we're the fighting out of in a good way. I love that. Wow. Just like a colonizer, bringing a gun to a fist fight.

That's right. Dude, that is fucking, that's an incredible origin story for reclaiming fighting Irish. I love that. So that's when they're like, yeah, fuck yeah, we're the fighting Irish in 1927, 1965. They're like, what about this little leprechaun? What about this little angry leprechaun asshole? And it's like a little lepricom with like two dukes up.

Yeah, yeah. With his hat, like at a jaunty angle. See when it's just pummeling a fucking clan member until they're blow's off. And you're like, hell yeah, bro, that's a t-shirt right there. Yo, I didn't know they were based. That's the rules. I mean, that's the thing. That's always like the thing about Irish culture, right?

Is like we're always getting this flattened version and not like the real history of like fighting colonialism and shit where it's like that shit's a tremendous value to society. But you're not in America, they're going to be like, oh, are they fighting Irish or something? Yeah, right out of us. the shit out of us, man. So scary. I love the idea. All we know is just like, oh, we drink green beer and there's four-leaf clovers.

And we don't know anything about the like, you know, putting on the fucking, what is it, the balaclavas and fucking throwing Molotov cocktails. Yeah, no, we write that right the fuck out of there. We don't want anybody to know about that shit. Not white people doing that. Yeah. Nah. 1968, we get a movie called Finian's Rainbow, which is only another just like complete miss. But it is Francis Ford Coppola's first movie.

He directed it at 27. Wait, his first movie is a lepracon movie? Yeah, it's a lepricon musical about an Irish immigrant and his daughter moving into a town in the American South with a magical piece of gold that will change people's lives, including a struggling farmer. African American citizens threatened by a bigoted politician. And I think a lepercom pops up in there somewhere. That rules. Wow. But also working on the set of this movie is a 22-year-old George Lucas, who's a production

assistant. And Francis Ford Coppola is like, hey man, I'm making a movie over here and you keep like stage yawning. Like, wow, you're supposed to be working on it. He's like, yeah, I know. I'm watching you make a movie. but it's really boring. I don't want to make these kinds of movies and they become best friends because he's like,

yeah, me neither man. This shit sucks. Oh, I love that. That's a beautiful story. When keeping it real, goes right. Yeah.

One of the rare cases. Yeah, but it was a box office flop with negative reviews and sometimes gets partial credit for ending the big budget movie musical era. You know what? That's a win though. Yeah. Honestly.

When that came back in like the early odds, I was like, ah, guys, come on, what happened? It was great when it was gone. Wait, I'm sorry. Is one of the, it's, I'm reading the description, they said, Woody's good friend and business partner Howard and African American botanist determined to develop a tobacco and mint hybrid? Are they forcing menthol cigarettes? Yo. That's fucked up.

Well, this is my fuck are trying to meet the first new port? They're magically delicious. Or is that just like, do, I'm assuming menthol cigarettes probably predates this, I hope. It's got it, right? They're like, what, wait, hold on? What was that guy trying to do on the leprechaun movie? That's a tobacco mint hybrid. Okay.

I kind of want to watch this movie and listen to the music. I think it did get nominated for some of the songs, maybe. People are like, you can't deny that those songs fucking slapped. Yeah. Oh, wow. I think Francis Ford Coppola had directed movies called B movies, like the playgirls and the bellboy and dementia 13.

Oh yeah. But this was his first major motion picture. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah. And then the same year as Finian's Rainbow, we get Lucky the Lepricon in his current incarnation,

the lepricon leaning on a crooked stick spinning a ball on his finger comes out. There had been an earlier incarnation of Lucky the Leprecon that was drawn by Zang Auerbach, brother of Celtics legend

Red Auerbach. Yeah, that's crazy. I just want to show you what his version of Lucky the Lepracon looked like. Oh, I hope it's racist. I just put it. What the fuck?

You can tell it's a Nepo fire because he looks mostly like brain damaged would be the first thing. Yeah, he looks like Jughead and he's wearing a crown that just says NBA on it, which is kind of,

that's very, I don't know, Rob Lowe wearing the NFL hat at the Super Bowl. He's like hopping and it's like, it's so hoppy. Like you just hopping up or now. Like the body shape, like the position of it's like,

you look stupid as hell. He's doing like a bunny hop type thing. Also, I'm just reading too. Around this time, this was definitely like at the height of the tobacco industry targeting black people with menthol ads. So I think this movie was just feeding into that.

And black people have like, and black people have liked, menthol cigarettes since time in memory. And you see the design of like what the whole thing is. And it's like, oh, this is when they were doing a menthol cigarette put. Yes, when the blacks and the Irish got together and invented pools. Right. Yeah.

I love that. And then all the way. So that was a real burst of like iconic leprechauns there in the late 60s. And then the next real iconic leprechaun we get is, 1993, which is when we kick off the Lepircon horror movie franchise. Wow. Yeah, I mean, definitely hornier than I thought it was going to be just based on the trailers. That I was prepared for.

You know, I think I've seen some of one Leprikan movie, but I don't remember if it was part one. Was Jennifer Aniston in it? It was when I was real, real young. and it was pre-friends. Yeah, this was so, I think it was something my brother rented and I watched it and I was like, this is too scary for me because it was like a, it was a weird little leprechaun with sharp teeth. And I was like, oh, this doesn't seem like a lucky charms type guy. Yeah, yeah.

He's pretty gross looking. What is, I don't even know the premise of leprechaun. I assume it's a bunch of teens find a leprechaun and he starts trying to kill them. So it's best viewed as, like, not really a series so much as, like, an anthology thing. Like, so in the first movie, the only way to kill him, I think, is, like, getting his gold. Whereas in the second one, it's like, you have to stab him with a rot iron. Like, it's like, the rules don't work from movie to movie. Or, like, one of them, maybe the first one is a four-leaf clover.

You have to find a four-leaf clover and that kills him. Yeah. But it's like they don't even bother to make anything make sense or have continuity from movie to movie. It's just like it's a horror film. Another reason to show tits, right? Like is there tits in it? Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay.

Well, then that's great. I think there might be. I don't know. There weren't in the previews, but they're definitely. Yeah. If there's not, there is the promise of Tits. The promise of Tits. Yeah.

Yeah. Which is reason enough to make a movie in my opinion. Yeah. Well, in that era, too. I'm sure like the pitch me, like, all right, when did it was. the when do you see the booth? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

When the titties come in? Give me the time code. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's your inciting breast incident in your first act? Please let me know. So I watch your cut of a movie called Forrest Gump, Milosh. And could I need a few more titties in there in order to green light it? I'm sorry, who are you, sir?

It doesn't matter who I am. The point is I'm the one who controls things around. Only the first two lepricom films got wide theatrical releases. The rest straight to VHS. Straight to VHS. Warwick Davis remains the leprechaun for the first six of the first six. Six? Six.

Damn. And the first lepricon stars Jennifer Aniston, who now talks about finding it embarrassing. Director Mark Jones said, I bumped into her about three years after friends had been on the air. And she was a superstar. and she came up to me and she goes, you know, there's been articles sometimes that I don't look at leprechaun fondly.

I just want to tell you, I've been misquoted and it's not true. It was a lot of fun. And I said, Jennifer, if I ever have the success you have, I'm going to deny I directed leprechaun, so don't worry about it.

Oh, that's great. But yeah, I mean, I get it. Listen, she's at this point, she's a huge sitcom star, you know. It's nice of her to even

acknowledge the existence. It's crazy that she talked to him. Yeah, right? Honestly, what is she doing? It was early in her success. The movies go, Lepricon, Lepricon 2, Leprocon 3, Leprocon 4 colon in space. Oh shit. Wait, well, he went to

space. Leprecon 4 colon in space. When did he go to the hood then? That would be Leprocon 5 Leprecon in the hood. Although they just stopped counting them at that point. because they want to be ready for leprecha colon back to the hood. Yes, yes.

And spell correctly, Jack, T-H-A, the hood. Oh, yeah, that's right. Because I remember the first one is repricon in the hood, T-H-E. And they're like, we got a little flavor. Let's lean into this now, okay? Also, I just love the idea. It's like, well, before we maybe include black people this franchise, let's go to outer space.

Yeah, I'd rather go to space than talk to anybody in the hood. you know the progression of astronauts. Yeah, you know the progression. You know, keep it white people then. I guess you go to space and then fucking, yeah, I guess you're in the hood now. I also just like the the format of the type, leprechaun four colon in space. Question mark. Is there a question mark?

It kind of feels like it. Or it feels like are there multiple leprechaun force? Like is there leprechaun for the reckoning, leprechaun four in space? Yeah. Yeah. Lebron for colon in space is the horny. Like the trailer is just so horny. Like he basically kidnaps a very attractive woman and is like at first she's like, no, I don't want this.

But then eventually she's like, yeah, I actually fuck with you quite a bit. She's like, oh, you're rich. Yeah, right. You got a pot of gold? Okay. I guess so. Yeah. The leprong of the hill one's fucking vile because it's like dudes find this, like,

like room of gold. And then like the leprechauns like in a medallion and shit that they take and that like freeze the leprechaun. But they're also like aspiring rappers who like have to go pawn a guitar for a new speaker system. It's all like like my fuck wrote this shit. Damn. Yeah.

That's a lot of plot. Or don't they do like a church rap? That's when Coelio comes in and starts dancing. And it's like, these guys have something. Yeah. But he also has zombie fly girls is what the lepercon has. He has like these ladies that he's enslaved to like. There's a,

the most famous scene from leprechaun in the hood is a rap scene where the lepericon wraps at a strip club and is enslaving women. And you can tell they've been lepricon slaved because they have bright green eyes now. That makes sense. And they're on the hook. Don't you miss that? There was that sweet, sweet period in the early 90s where they just made things rap. you know what I mean?

Oh yeah. And by the way, this is in the year 2000. What? I missed it by a little bit. Oh, that's crazy. This is a full decade after rap and Rodney. At least it's not after 9-11. That'd be crazy because after 9-11, they stopped doing that.

There is a weird, because he doesn't know what rap is. He is kind of like, he's like off the beat and like so are the actors. They made him do it? Yeah, he raps. And he said that. he's not on beat. I love that. He's like blue face.

Yeah, yeah. Yep. Then there's also a part where like one of the guys, the leprechaun wants some of the guys to blow him. What is? In it, yeah,

he's dressed in drag. It's insane. And they're like, you got to smoke this joint lace with four leaf clovers. So we can take his powers. Yeah, he takes like massive bong rips and,

um, the best part, we used to say it in school because he goes, a friend with weed is a friend indeed. A friend with gold is the best I'm told. And you would say that all the time in the session. Yeah, that was like the way we kicked off like a bong session. We'd be like, a friend with weed is a friend indeed.

Just anyway, thanks, Worry. A quote from Ice-T who appears in the middle. Well, actually first, so to your point, producers noticed that mostly non-white audiences were turning out for these movies. So it was a big thing at the time to cater horror movies to black people. This happened with the Killjoy movies. And that's why you've got L.L. Cool. J and Halloween H2O and Buster

Rhymes in Halloween Resurrection seems like a lesson they could have learned about all movies because they only learn about like movies that are past the fifth sequel in their horror franchises. And you've gone to space already. Yeah, yeah, once you've been to space.

But Ice-T appears in this. Ice-T said I got the offer to do it. And of course I was like, get the fuck out of here. At the end of the day, my son was a big leprecha fan and he was like, dad, you've got to be in this movie. You got to do it. So I did a little more research. And I found out the leprechaun had like four movies already.

This motherfucker was an institution. So I signed on for it. Sounds like Chris Maltesante being like, Ghostbusters. There's another fucking money machine. He's going to do it because of the franchisness of lepracons. You heard of these assholes tea? Yeah. Little green men and shit.

I don't know what you're going to do. Yeah. So we've also had a leprechaun back or leprechaun back to the hood in 2003. Oh, he came back. Lebercon at Orange Jones 2014. Leopardone returns 2018. Sci-fi does a lepericon marathon on St. Patrick's Day every year. So what is that?

Eight, nine movies? Yeah. Way, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Yeah. But I do want to mention this movie that came out in 2001 called The Luck of the Irish. The Disney Channel original. movie premiered. Shile above? Is he in that?

It's not, but it looks like it could be him. Okay. So we have two luck of the Ira, because the first one of your time I was one from the 40s, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. This is a new one. I thought there had been enough time to head passed. Let's try it again. For a movie aimed at children. Let's try it again.

Maybe we'll get Sean Connery back. It is essentially the plot of Teen Wolf, if anybody's old like me. I remember this fucking thing. Yeah, it's Teen Wolf, but he's a leprechaun. So he comes home and he's like, why are my ears doing this, mom and dad?

And then his parents are both leprechauns, and they're like, we've been meaning to have a talk with you. We're Irish, son. He's been good at basketball, right? It's the, he's already good at basketball because he's prednaturally lucky,

but then once he, oh, it's his luck. Makes him not even skill. It's like, bro, you know, like that shit could do Irish. Yeah. What the fuck is that? Yeah, and then his luck kind of runs out.

It starts getting, fucked with. He gets pointy years because he's a leprechaun for some reason. I didn't think that was part of the thing. Right. But it is, it has been called Disney Channel's strangest original movie. In 2025, Ryan Coogler

credited this film as an inspiration for sinners. Get the fuck out of here. Look at an Irish. On a panel, he said, the luck of the Irish increased his interest in the similarities between Irish culture and black culture, which would eventually lead to the

creation of Jack O'Connell's character Remnick, Cougler said, that was our first introduction to some of the similarities in Irish folk music to basically our music. There was a small Irish community in the Bay, and we would talk about it. That movie was kind of a touch point for us to jump off of, crazy enough.

We've been fascinated with that culture in my family. Holy shit. And this was the entry point for Ryan Cougar. It was a luck of the Irish. What the fuck? That's amazing. This is fucking amazing. That is wild.

And for it to have affected something like so good. So good. Like probably one of the most, in a movie that was already very good, one of the most, I don't know, amazing parts. Like it was watching that kind of similarity between the Irish music. Irish folk music and the black music at the time and the way in which they kind of like threaded the needle of making both a predatory vampiric

but also a cycle of colonial violence. I was like wow, that was weirdly genius for just a vampire movie. Yeah, I got this year from the Disney Channel movie Look at Irish. That's fucking crazy. And you're like, Ryan Coogler, you're a fucking genius, bro. You're just, you're so tapped in.

You're like, mm-hmm. I can find the meeting. That's wild. I got to hear him say it in his most East Bay accent, though. There's a clip of it. All right, so there's a lot of fans of you in Oakland, California. Right now, we should watch that movie like crazy. But that was our first introduction to some of the similarities in Irish folk music to, you know,

by seeing our music. That's crazy. Hearing him earnestly say it. Like that. Oh, my God. And I love it that the person who pitched it is in the room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who was just like, oh, yeah, I was in that meeting.

Well, the pitch was, uh, hey, what if we, uh, make teen wolf but with leprechauns? Yeah. Right, right, right. That's wild, dude. I love that. We just have the idea as like, what would, uh, what would it take for a white kid to be really good at basketball? He needs them. Luck.

An ancient, an ancient Irish gold coin. That's right. So funny. And then, of course, Time magazine's top 50 videos in the history of YouTube, the Crichton Lepricon, which is one of a small neighborhood just north of Mobile, Alabama, was overrun by leprechaun sightings. Yep. This was in 2006. What? What is?

I've never heard of this. Oh, you've never seen this video? If everyone knows it colloquially as lepricon in the hood. the news video. Oh, I do know this. Yeah. Hey. Who all seen the lepericon?

Let me say, yeah. Yeah. And the look back. Yeah. The look back from him saying, let me hear you say, yeah. Everybody says,

yeah. And then he looks back at the camera. Like one of the greatest performances. I told you what it is. Everybody's seen a lepricon. This is where they show the, an artist. An artist rendition of the lebricon.

It is just a hat with like two, like, there it is. It looks like an alien. and gray with a hat. Yes. Yes. Well, just in time for St. Patrick's Day, crowds are coming by the dozens

to get an up-close view at what some say is a piece of Irish folklore. Some people in the Crichton area of Mobile say a leprechaun is taking up residents in their neighborhood. A lepracorn. NBC 15's Brian Johnson has more. Curiosity leads to large crowds

in Mobile's Crighton community. Many of you bring binoculars, cancorders, even cameras. See, after seeing this, they're like, You're saying black people don't fuck with leprechauns. I know. Right. Look at this.

To take pictures. To me, it looked like a lepericon to me. I got to do look up in a tree. Who else in the leperkins say, yeah. Yeah. There it is. He's so happy. He's like, yeah.

Look, I told you. But, yeah. So this was cut down. Originally, the person who filed the report was in it, and then they cut him out of it. It's weird. like he tells the story in the second person. He's like,

you look through binoculars. You like he's talking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like Bright Lights big city, but about this community, you're seeing a leprechaun. It's very like artistic. I want to see the Snyder cut of this.

Some people have suggested that he actually drew the picture in the thing and that this was all just like he created his own local news. Like nightcrawler style. Right. Wait, so the report, Like they're saying this was general, like the reporter had his hands all over this and then had to remove themselves. So it was like, some people, well, no, they just cut him out because they're like, I don't know who we don't need his ass in it.

Yeah, it's boring. Get his face out of there. But there are debates as to who drew the picture. And like some of the community members claim that like they drew the picture, but then some people say that the reporter actually drew the picture. And like the way he talks about it when he's like, this drawing that you say looks like the. Leopardon suggests that it could have been, like he leaves it open for it to be him. They introduced somebody who's in all camo, who's like the local leprechaun expert. And he says he has a magical flute and it's like a piece of scaffolding.

Jack, it looks like PVC pipe that was painted brown to look like. If we said, this is my magical Irish flute because I have Irish ancestors. Yeah. That guy's name was DeMarco Morissette. Yeah. And he has then found and questioned about the video. And he's like, you know, I didn't think it was at first. And then I saw something weird. And like even the cameraman for it said like, I saw the shadow that actually did look like a leprechaun. The shadow looked like a small individual's head with a little top hat. I did not speak with the leprechaun. Apparently when I turned the light on my camera, he ran away. But people were there. they saw and like I will say everyone from this news team is on some shit I mean

I would say this is how leprechaun started like leprechauns were like bigfoot they were like you know cryptids that were cited around the world mainly in Ireland and then in the US like you can go into Reddit

and there are people who are like I saw a lepracon people I hit a lepracom with my car there's one like a cop hit a lepracom with his car These are just killing kids and just going to doll out, dude, it was a leprechaun. It was him or me. It was him or me. There's one on Reddit where a person wakes up in the middle of the night and like turns

around and there's a lepricon like on their toes like doing a weird like dance over them. What the fuck? It's fucking horrifying. Like it really feels like something from like a elevated horror movie, you know? Right. Yeah. But I don't know. It's, uh, it's become a.

staple of the internet. They sell cardboard cutouts of that amateur sketch. The original amateur sketch was auctioned off in 2006 on eBay for $1,100, which I feel like that. I got, you know, it's crazy. We were talking, remember how we were talking about this and we watched the video maybe last week again? Like, yeah. Kind of not in preparation because we were all laughing about Lepicon. In preparation for this episode.

Hey, Jack, you know what we got to do is watch the Crank Mepern. But that fucking day, bro. on fucking Instagram, I got served and added like, yo, buy the leprechaun sketch hat right now. And I was like, you motherfuckers. Got my ass. About that shit.

I will say an underrated part of the report as they interview someone driving past who says she thinks it might be a crackhead who got hold of the wrong stuff. Yeah. And like climbed up in a tree. Well, it made them climb up in a tree because they kept seeing them up in a tree,

which does go back to our theory of like what lepricons. The original purpose of lepracons were just like magical figures for Irish people to explain their drug addiction. Yes, I love it. It's just an excuse for your addiction. And I love that. I love that. As someone who's an addict in recovery, I will say sometimes you do hear stories that sound very much like, damn.

Oh, I've done that. You're in some like lepricon ass hijinks. Yeah, you're toe in the line here. Yeah. People end up in weird places, you know. in their addiction. So I could see them, you know, people confusing some behaviors for, you know, leprechaun stuff.

Yeah. It makes sense to me. One of my favorite stories from, you know, knowing people in recovery and being in recovery with somebody said they came to from a blackout walking towards the party. And everyone at the party was screaming, he's coming back. Oh, no. That's great. Oh, God.

Yeah. That's some lepracons. That's sort of. thing that yeah exactly yeah yeah like riding a dog coming back riding a dog and he's riding he's riding an even bigger dog

this time hide the mail but all the babies on the ground already he likes them when they're off the ground yeah such an adventure coming to from a blackout yeah I'm like why am I walking with purpose

on the third floor of this parking garage I wish I had something that funny. Me, it would just, I'd wake up from a blackout

in like Vallejo and being like, well, how did I get to Voleo? Oh, no. And then you may have, who knows,

you may have inspired Ryan Coogler. Yeah, that's true. If you're up there in Vallejo. Yeah, we saw this one Irish

Jew crossing the Karkina's bridge late at night. Strong out as fuck. Trong out as fuck. So I said, uh, photograph of you looking like

the big foot sighting. Yeah. And that's when I wrote Black Panther. Uh, Matt leads. such a pleasure having you on this special icon episode. Where can people find you, follow you, all that good stuff?

You can find me on Instagram at Matt Leap Jokes. And yeah, listen to one of my many podcasts. If you like TV rewatch podcasts, listen to Pod Yourself a Gun. We've talked about Subrano. It's talked about The Wire. Now we're talking about Mad Men, episode by episode. And then Bad Has Bar the World's Most Moral podcast is a Jewish anti-Zionist podcast where we make fun of Israeli propaganda.

Check that out wherever you get your podcast. Check it out. I'm going to be back in a moment to tell you the stuff I forgot to mention in the notebook dump. I'll talk to you in a couple minutes. Bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Hey, I'm Jay Chetty, host of the On Purpose podcast.

My latest episode is with Hillary Duff, singer, actress, and multi-platinum artist. Hillary opens up about complicated family dynamics, motherhood and releasing our first record in over 10 years. We talk about what it's taken to grow up in the entertainment industry and stay grounded through every chapter. It's a raw and honest conversation about identity, evolution, and building a life that truly matters. You desire in family like this picture

and that's not reality a lot of the times for people. My sister and I don't speak. It's definitely a very painful part of my. life and I hope it's not forever, but it's for right now. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know Roll Doll, the writer who thought up Willie Wonka, Matilda, and the BFG. But did you know he was also a spy? Was this before he wrote his stories?

It must have been. Our new podcast series, The Secret World of Roll Doll, is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans. What? And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either. Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you.

I was a spy. Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelt's? Played poker with Harry Truman and had a long affair with a congresswoman. And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock, before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever? and what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids.

The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the secret world of Roll Dahl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, this is Joe Winterstein, host of the Spirit Daughter podcast, where we talk about astrology, natal charts, and how to step into your most vibrant life. And I just sat down with a mini driver. The Irish traveler said when I was 16, you're going to have a terrible time with men. Actor, storyteller, and unapologetic Aquarian visionary. Aquarius is all about freedom-loving and different perspectives,

and I find a lot of people with strong placements in Aquarius are misunderstood. A son and Venus and Aquarius in her seventh house spark her unconventional approach to partnership. He really has taught me to embrace people sleeping in different rooms, on different houses and different places, but just an embracing of the isness of it all. If you're navigating your own transformation or just want a chartside view into how a leading artist integrates astrology, creativity and real life, this episode is a must listen. Listen to the Spirit Daughter podcast starting on February 24th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief.

A nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny, baby. is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict? A villain. A nurse named Lucy Letby. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story?

The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, doubt the case of Lucy Lettby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived in. To ask what really happened when the world. world decided who Lucy Lettby was. No voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level of the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to Doubt, the case of Lucy Lettby on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Clayton Neckard, and in 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. the first bachelor to ever have his final rose rejected. The internet turned on him. If I could press a button and rewind it all I would. But what happened to Clayton after the show made even bigger headlines. It began as a one-night stand and ended in a courtroom, with Clayton at the center of a very strange paternity scandal. The media is here. This case has gone viral.

The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. Please search warrant. This is unlike. anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. This season, an epic battle of He Said,

and the search for accountability in a sea of lies. Listen to Love Trapped on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, that was our episode. Thanks to Matt Leeb. Great to get the origin story of, I want to fight me da. First of all, shout out to in the name.

of the father, and shout out to Matt Lee. Worth the price of admission for that alone. Plus, we got the Coogler of it all. First of all, that he was inspired by a Disney. Original movie, which I think the log line must have been pitched straight up as Teen Wolf but Leprecon. Ryan Coogler was inspired by that movie to make the most nominated film at the Oscars last night.

I'm recording this before last night, so I don't know how it. did, but did pretty well this year. And that story gave us a new vocal stem that just dropped. Had to get involved with that. Ryan Coogler as a sleep paralysis demon, truly terrifying stuff. All right. This is the No, No, No, No notebook dump. We ended on the Crichton Lepricon. I just want to make it clear that is not the only sighting. Leprechauns are cryptids with countless sightings. just like Bigfoot, just like the grays. That's right. We went back to back tiny cryptids in the past two weeks for our icon episodes,

unintended. But you can go check out our episode about the alien grays with Jason Pargin last week. But yeah, just because they're serial mascots and basketball mascots doesn't mean they're not being seen all over the place by, you know, people who believe in haunted houses. In 2009, the people of Cowlingford, in Ireland got a European Habitats Directive for the protection of plants, wild animals, and lepracons. And there's an 81-year-old man who claims to be Ireland's last leprechaum whisperer.

He says he engages in weekly conversations with 18-inch tall creatures. We never really did land on a standard height, did we? I always had them about two to three feet in my head, but it certainly seems like they're just as often 18 inches or smaller. So, you know, much like a Hollywood celebrity will kind of never know. It does seem like the sightings used to be more common. One possible explanation for that that I ran into while doing research for this, I found this clipping from a 1908 newspaper. The headline is A Strange West. You know, Meath report. And it says, quote, a strange creature has been observed for some days in the district. Several persons, mostly children from the school, are reported to have seen it and they

describe it as a little creature resembling a man of dwarfish proportions clad in a red jacket. I remember they used to wear red. Suiting the traditional description of a leprechaun. Then it says, many are inclined to regard the creature as a monkey escaped from the care of some traveling Oregon grinder. Now, this caught my attention mainly because it was like that magic number of times you see a reference where you're like, all right, fine, I'll bite what the fuck is an Oregon Grinders monkey. did some research after a lifetime of not knowing what the Simpsons or Bob Dylan was talking about when they referenced a organ grinder's monkey. An organ grinder was someone who played a barrel organ.

It's just like a wooden round musical instrument with a crank on top. And they're just out there grinding. They're on their grind set. It sounds like sort of a haunted analog, eight-bit music is kind of what comes out of it. And he just cranks, makes haunting music, and then for some reason they have a monkey on a leash in a suit begging for tips and organ grinders with monkeys were like one of the most common street performers.

The barrel organ was called a monkey organ because it was just like those went hand in hand for some reason. So the theory would be that there were so many organ grinders with monkeys that they were losing them and that was driving the rash of lepros. I'm not saying it's my favorite, but now you know what an Oregon grinders monkey is. So you're welcome. I will say the fact that lepracons make movies that lead to good luck for the people involved, but don't actually get seen by anybody, don't actually make money themselves. Seems kind of on brand for them. They want to remain hidden.

They don't want you to get their gold, but they do sprinkle a little bit of trixie, good luck, and pixie dust around. I did get scared. as we were going through the origin of the Notre Dame nickname and logo, I did get momentarily scared that the logo isn't actually a leprechaun. Like after covering the origin story of their nickname, I was like, oh, shit, this is probably just a cartoon of an Irish guy. Why would it, why would it be a leprechaun?

But no, it's a leprechaun. If you search Fighting Irish logo, the Wikipedia headline is Notre Dame leprechaun, which when you know the backstory is really funny that they settled on a leprechaun. Like, just walk with me on the origin of Notre Dame's logo. So fighting Irish starts out, top of the 20th century, as a slur against Notre Dame students being like, you know, you're a bunch of angry Irish drunks, you know, a bunch of Protestant

kids whose parents came over on the Mayflower who all go to like Harvard and Yale. They're like, look at these Irish trunks. Then the Notre Dame students do something awesome, beat the shit out of the KKK, possibly while drunk, we won't dwell on it. And then they're like, you know what? We're taking it back for ourselves. We are the fighting Irish. We fight assholes like this while like ripping off the KKK mask,

lifting up their little KKK skirts. And then a few decades later, they're like, and the logo to represent this fighting spirit, the spirit that we carry inside us inherited down from our historically oppressed you know, ancestral nation that never stopped fighting against the forces of oppression and colonialism, despite living on the doorstep of the premier colonial power of the 19th century, the British Empire that drove us to live here in the U.S. across the tides of history, our logo to represent that fight, all of that will be an angry little leprechaun with his little

dukes up. That's basically, that's what those like, Harvard and Yale guys would have drawn to make fun of you in the first place, guys. Which, you know, as an Irish guy who loves laughing at myself and making fun of the Irish, I do have to respect it. It's just funny that that's where we landed on that. Speak of lack of respect for leprechauns. This is the last thing I'll leave you with. My son brought home a thing that, based on some like Googling,

is a new, like, traditional fun thing for kids around St. Patrick's Day. I think it came from his kindergarten teacher who does this every year, which is these little DIY traps for lepricons. And these are not well thought out traps, like a trail of gold coins leading into a box propped up by a popsicle stick. These traps have very little respect for the cleverness of the supposedly tricksy little lepracons. And I will say she is definitively not an Irish woman. And I did kind of want to ask her, do you think this is what we as an Irish people think is clever?

When we're talking about clever leprechauns, like I think I've seen one online where it's just a little ladder going up into a pint glass. Is this what you think of us? But this is, however, the son who has picked up me saying, I want to fight me, da. So I was a little worried that he'd said that around her. And I really wouldn't. have a leg to stand on, would I? She has a kid in her kindergarten class with the last name, O'Brien, who's talking about I want to fight me, da.

And then I'm like, hey, got to respect, got to respect us. Check out this Notre Dame logo. All right, that's going to do it for this episode. Thanks to Meredith Danko for the great research on this one. Thanks to Matt Leav. Thanks to Miles Gray. We are back next week with another one of these icons. episodes. We are leaving the cryptid world. I think, as far as I know, there aren't Bart Simpson sightings

in the wild. But we got Bart Simpson with Tam Yahia. It's a great episode. And we will talk to you next week. We're obviously here all week doing the zeitgeist. But talk to you soon. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Bye, bye. You know, Roll Doll. He thought up Willie Wonka and the BFG. But did you know he was spy? In the new podcast, The Secret World of Roll Dahl, I'll tell you that story, and much, much more. What? You probably won't believe it either. Was this before he wrote his stories?

It must have been. Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Listen to the Secret World of Roll Dahl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton Eckerd. In 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. But here's the thing. Bachelor fans hated him. If I could press a button and rewind it all I would.

That's when his life took a disturbing turn. A one-night stand would end in a courtroom. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. Listen to Love Trapped on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, it's Joe Interestine, host of the Spirit Daughter podcast, where we talk about astrology, natal charts, and how to step into your most vibrant life. And today I'm talking with my dear friend, Krista Williams. It can change you in the best way possible. Dance with the change. Dance with the breakdowns. The embodiment of Pisces intuition with Capricorn power moves. So I'm like delusionally proud of my chart. Listen to the Spirit Daughter podcast starting on February 20, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. Ego Wodam is your host for the 26 IHart Podcast Awards, live at South by Southwest. Hello, is anybody there?

Raised by a single mom, Ego may have a few father-related issues. Are we supposed to talk about your dad? Her podcast, Thanks, Dad, is full of funny, heartfelt conversations with actors, including fellow S&L alums, comedians, musicians, and more about life and their wonderfully complicated relationships with their fathers. I think and hope that's a good thing. Get to know Ego. Follow Thanks Dad with Ego Wodom

and start listening on the free IHeart Radio app today. Hey, I'm Jay Chetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Hillary Duff, singer, actress, and multi-platinum artist. You desire in family like this picture and that's not reality. My sister and I don't speak. It's definitely a very painful part of my life.

And I hope it's not forever, but it's for right now. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.