The Original Fake News

A Jeopardy champion explains his favorite number using an F-shaped stick from childhood, and somehow that tiny piece of logic becomes the perfect on-ramp to a much bigger question: why do people believe what they believe. We start light with Gen X catch-up energy, then roll through Masters weekend fandom, migraine misery, and the kind of sugar craving that turns a coconut cream egg into a full-contact sport. We also compare notes on insomnia fixes, including a true crime sleep podcast that’s oddly soothing even when it still does not knock you out. 

Then the gloves come off. We talk about conspiracy culture, algorithmic rage bait, and the exhausting genre of “gotcha science” takes, from space skepticism to the idea that a splashdown “should” look a certain way on camera. From there, we time-travel to the original misinformation masterclass: Orson Welles’ 1938 War Of The Worlds broadcast, the way the fake news format drove panic, and how later retellings may have exaggerated mass hysteria. The wild part is it happened again in 1968, even with disclaimers, proving that delivery and emotion can beat facts when people tune in mid-story. 

We close by connecting that history to modern AI and deepfake anxiety: when ads, faces, and voices can be generated, skepticism becomes necessary, but cynicism becomes a trap. If you like smart, funny Gen X commentary on media literacy, misinformation, conspiracy theories, War Of The Worlds, and the weird nostalgia that still shapes how we think, hit subscribe, share the episode with a friend who argues with the algorithm, and leave a review with the strangest thing you’ve ever seen people believe.

Transcript

Welcome And Jeopardy Obsession

SPEAKER_05 0:04

Two best friends, we're talking fast. We're mixing to our case, we're having a blast. Seeing these dreams, me on screens, it was all bad. Like you know, it's like whatever. Never never never laughing, sharing, our story forever. We'll take you back like whatever.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Welcome to Like Whatever, a podcast for, by, and about Gen X. I'm Nicole, and this is my BFFF, Heather.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Hola.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

So I want to start this week talking about the Jeopardy champion that's going on right now. Okay. Do you watch Jeopardy? I do not. Okay. Uh his name is Jamie Ding, and he is, I want to say he's won like 21 or 22 games, and he's up to almost like$700,000. Holy is winning big. And he is crushing fools. It is great. You know, these people are so smiley when they get there and they get started. And then like by the end of the first round, he's got like 8,000 and they're like in the hole. And it's just a massacre every week or every day. But the thing I love the most about him, I'm pretty sure he has a touch of the tism. His favorite color is orange, and that's all he wears. Um, but last week, and I have been laughing about this all week, um, during the time when they ask him about themselves and they tell a little story. Yeah. Um, Ken was like, so your favorite number is six, and he's like, Yes. And he's like, Well, why is your favorite number six? And he was like, Because F is the sixth letter in the alphabet, and F is my favorite letter. And Ken's like, and why is F your favorite letter? He's like, Because I found a stick once when I was little that was shaped like an F and I still have it. There's this super smart, nerdy guy. But the way he gets to that, his net favorite number is six, just it's adorable, it's so cute. It makes a lot of sense. It does, it does. F's his favorite letter. It's a good letter. Yeah, because of his stick. And six is a favorite number because F is the sixth letter in the alphabet. It's so cute.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

You know what? What? So if F is the sixth letter, uh Hm is the eighth letter. And what's my favorite number? Wow. Yeah. See that? I didn't even I didn't even do math for that. See, Jamie Ding just helped you figure out. I know. I did. I've always had a thing for eight, and I don't know why. There you go. Now I do. Yep, yep, yep. Look at me.

Masters Weekend And Migraine Misery

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Figuring yourself out. No. So this weekend was well, it was Master's weekend. Let me start with that.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

Oh, first, before we go into the weekend. Uh I just would like to we would like to say um good to see our friend Pat not under the weather anymore. Correct. So yes, yes, yes, yes. For sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Good, good.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Glad you're feeling better, Pat. Um, so I love the Masters. It's one of my favorite sporting events of the year. Yes. Um, and I had it on on Thursday and Friday in my office on my phone.

SPEAKER_03 3:27

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

The whole day that I worked. And then I woke up Saturday with a migraine, which was awesome because the weather here is insane. Yeah. We're like in a heat wave now. And then it's going to drop back down to like, I don't know, negative 10 next week. Yes, exactly. And my sinus can't take it. Pretty sure it's negative 10. And it didn't break till Sunday night. So, but the good news is I got to watch a lot more of the Masters than I normally do because I was forced to just lay there because I felt like death. Right. And my roommate would even stop by and she'd be like, You look awful. She's like, Your whole face is swollen. I'm like, Yes, I know, I can feel it. Um, I did try like hot showers that makes it feel better for like an hour. Right. I was putting pots of water on the stove with steam and just standing over it. I was so desperate to get rid of it. But the Masters was fun. Rory won for the second year in a row, which was crazy. I was actually rooting for Connors because I had taken him at a long shot to win, and he was tied for first going into Sunday. But he didn't win. And I like Rory okay. And then I had to pay to watch the earlier stuff because that's when John Rom was on, and he is my favorite, even though he's gone to live. I just love his butt. He's got a big butt, and I love it. And I saw him in person when I went to a PGA thing once. Well, not thing, a PGA tour tour. Yes, yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I was he was walking towards me and had to go over this bridge, and I stood right there like an idiot with my phone, just giggling as he walked over the bridge. It's one of the greatest moments of my life. Excellent. Yeah, yeah. Let's see what else. Um, I got my coconut cream egg for Easter. Oh, right, right, right. My favorite, my favorite. I didn't think I'd be getting one this year, but I did.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Um I forgot to even go buy Easter candy. I can't be trusted with coconut eggs. Did you eat it all at once?

SPEAKER_02 5:37

I saved a tiny piece for the next day. But yes, I pretty much. And I'm talking the big coconut eggs. Yeah. I can't, I literally can't stop. Like, I'll put it away and then just sit there and think about it until I get when I get it again. Like they are my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

But I don't know how people stop cravings.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

I don't either. And I don't care to know. No. Because I can hear, like, I can hear it. Absolutely. Yeah. Like, I literally can't stop thinking about it. I'm just like, you might as well just get up and go get whatever it is. Because I'm not going to be able to fall asleep tonight.

Coconut Egg Cravings And No Sleep

SPEAKER_03 6:08

You might as well eat it now and be sad tomorrow. There we go. Then worry about listening to it all night with it bothering you because then you won't sleep. Speaking of sleeping, are you sleeping better? No better? Did you try that podcast? I did. I like it. You don't like it?

SPEAKER_02 6:24

I do. I mean, it was good, but it didn't really help. I found a podcast.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

It's called, hold on a minute. The one you told me?

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Dead sleep. Dead sleep.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Um, and it is, if you're a true fan, true crime fan, it is she just tells you true crime for you to fall to sleep to.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Yes, and the thing that I do like about her, I listened two nights. Um, then I had the migraine, and last night I only got five hours of sleep. It's just been a mess. But um, she doesn't tell you the true crime story because we already know that story. She tells you like the other stuff, like the people it affected, or like what was like different vantage points.

True Crime For Sleep Plus Vomit Wakeups

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Hey, it's Pat Green. Ever feel like your life is straight out of a stranger thing scene? But the monsters were people and experiences? My Hearts of Glass books have that vibe of 80s nostalgia minus the demic organs. Set in the late 80s, Fox Valley Mall near Chicago, it's a story of Cassie, a punk rock girl, Ford, a traumatized former child model, and Jenny, a preppy dreamer, all outsiders who band together. In the middle of neon and trauma, they discover a found family where none existed before. I wanted to capture that raw Gen X truth. After all those iconic John Hughes moments, real life still threw us curveballs. If you've ever craved a story about healing from trauma and growing up with heart, this could be it. Grab Hearts of Glass Living in a Real World and its companion, Hearts of Glass Fade Away and Radiate at Packgreenauthor.com or Barnstormer Publishing.com. It's available in ebook, audiobook, and paperback. Dive into an eighties time capsule with characters who feel like old friends.

Ad Break And Book Plug

SPEAKER_02 8:13

So yeah, she talks about it from like different vantage points of the story. Yeah. Rather than just telling you the story. And I like her voice. Um it yeah, I really did enjoy it. It just didn't help with the sleeping. Yeah, the Xanax isn't even helping with the sleeping, so I don't even know what the hell's going on. I don't know what to tell you then. Frying pan to the to the noodle, I guess. I might have to try that because I'm starting to go crazy. Sunday night after I the migraine breaks, I wake up at like two in the morning feeling like I have to vomit. But not really so much in my stomach, just like my mouth was salivating like it does right before. And I like jump up out of bed and I'm really good at getting myself to stop from throwing up because I hate throwing up. So I stood there and just talk yourself out of it. Talk myself out of it, and I was fine. But I was like, what the fuck was that? Like, seriously, like I need anything else to bother my sleep. Now I'm just gonna randomly wake up throwing up. But it was probably the migraine. Yeah. Even though it had passed, I'm sure that's what it was. Yeah, it was it was brutal, but yeah, again, silver lining. I got to watch a lot of the masters. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I'm good with that.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

I didn't watch the masters.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Oh man, it was good. Saturday and Sunday were both really, really good. Really good. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

I wanted to just take a moment about last week's episode and say that I forgot a couple things.

Space Splashdown Rage And Conspiracies

SPEAKER_02 9:48

And maybe have heard some other things since then. That is true. I have. Plus, you just can't talk about it enough. I can't.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

It was pretty um, it was pretty cool. Then um yeah, the splashdown, everything went well. Yes. I just I I don't I was telling you before, I don't know how I got on this on my algorithm of the flat earthers and the moon deniers and all that, but I honestly think at this point it's just my phone trying to rage bait me. I really, I really do. Because it's everywhere and all. And the one that's just like possibly the like I can let it go that you don't understand math, the math required to go around the moon, like trajectory and all I can I can let that go that you can't understand that. I can let go that you cannot fathom how far away the moon is. That would be me. I can let it go that you can't understand that when a photo is taken on film, it is different than when it is taken digitally. I can let it go that you don't understand what a composite photo is. What I can't let go is saying that when the pod came through the atmosphere at however 2500 degrees and it hit the water, that it did not make steam in the six full minutes it took from the time the parachute opened until it hit the Pacific Ocean. Inner atmosphere. Yeah. Where planes fly and uh get ice on them where clouds live that are just ice where there's hardly any air. Plus they wrap it in tinfoil, kind of, so that that burns off, which takes the heat away.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Like I just I can't like it's funny that they don't they can't understand why there's not steam, but they can comprehend why the thing doesn't burst into flames, right? Coming through the atmosphere. Right. That would be the part where I'd be well, that is the part I was like, the how is this happening? Like this is the most terrifying thing, and I can't even fathom what it's like to be inside of that thing moving that fast, that hot. Yeah, just not on a wing and a prayer, but it has to kind of feel like a wing in a prayer at some point.

unknown 13:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

And then to just splash down, and then you had to hope that you're in the right spot. Yeah. I there is a gorgeous, gorgeous, let's only like three or four seconds from the ISS of it coming into the atmosphere, and it is fucking, I don't care. I don't, I can die tomorrow because I saw video from the ISS of it. Now, had I been on the ISS, I'd be like, that's it. I'm going outside. Nothing can top that. Nothing.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Oh man. Yeah, it was it was just so perfect. Everything went so perfectly.

SPEAKER_03 13:52

Incredibly perfect. Yeah. Just absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

I saw a meme the uh yesterday that said, um, every time I arrive exactly on time anywhere now, I'm gonna say I made it on NASA time. Because it really broke down by the second.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

I mean, and and that's you know, okay, here's the other thing. Conspiracy theorists again. How in the world would they keep this many people quiet? Never mind, they've been broadcasting live the entire time it was up there, so you could literally see what they were doing nonstop. Okay, the other issue. Oh, well, they just got out of the capsule and just walked around like they hadn't been, they were only in zero gravity for 10 days. It's not like they spent six years up there, and they also didn't get out and just walk around. They were helped out and then led over to sit down in the raft, and they sat in there for an hour and a half, re-acclimating to gravity. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Uh man, that would feel so weird. It will go when your leg goes dead. Yeah. And like you realize really how heavy your leg is when there's nothing there to help move it. And the whole body would feel like.

SPEAKER_03 15:09

Never mind that they did they did exercise while they were up there to keep their shit. That's why they do that.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 15:16

Knuckleheads.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

I know we even got rage bait on our posts. I know. I couldn't believe it.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Let us let it go. Let it go. Yeah. It did, it's not a hoax. It happened. I'm sorry if you're not smart enough or you refuse to listen to scientists because the guy you love posts AI photos of him being Jesus. He was a doctor working for the Red Cross. Get it right. I know. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

And people didn't get a sense of humor, so they needed to take it to you.

SPEAKER_03 15:46

I didn't realize the Red Cross just like that, but I'll show you what I did.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

That was another meme I saw today. It was a Halloween costume of Jesus, and it was like Red Cross doctor. And then I posted the meme you probably didn't see because you've been at work that said patient in um Trump AI produced photo dies because he doesn't have sufficient health care.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Man, did Jon Stewart does look like John Stewart. I know. He was hilarious because he he it was that was hilarious. Um so the things I forgot or actually didn't know about because I was too busy reading I mean stars in your eyes. Yes, yes I got I got starstruck. So um there was a one-inch square of fabric from the plane used in the Wright brothers' first powered flight in 1903. So cool. An American flag that previously flew on the first and last space shuttle mission. I did hear that. Um there was a flag that was supposed to fly on board the canceled Apollo 18 mission. It got its chance. And there was also a memory card inside the little, I don't know if anybody or anybody cares enough, but the little guy they've been carrying around with them rise. Yeah. It was filled with a memory card containing the names of millions of people. I knew that.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

I had seen that because I saw uh special on that kid that created it.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

Yeah. Um also there were they reused for the launch pieces of both The Challenger and Columbia. And that had me in tears.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

That would make me nervous as an estrogen.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Um they there was something else, I don't know, I don't remember because I didn't write that part down. Um there was something else that they took of both of them inside so that they would go up and come back. And that's pretty moving. Um I can't remember what else. Uh Taylor Swift. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

The most important part. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:03

The one of them had a Taylor Swift uh uh friend bracelet on for his daughters who are big Swifties. And he is a big Swiftie. What else was that about Taylor? I sent it to you.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Somebody said uh yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_03 18:23

Or he did the heart? Yeah. And then the I know Right, right, right. Yeah. I as soon as I saw that. I just know Taylor Swift was involved.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

We heard Taylor Swift and that was that.

unknown 18:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

As far as I know, she was on Artemis.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

Um but yeah, it was uh I I've gone through the photos many times. Um they still are putting out photos. Just amazing. I can't even imagine what it would be like to do that.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

So it was funny when I was watching the coverage of it, I think it was when it was Land. Well, even leading up to it, there was a scientist that they kept having on, and I was like, where do I know this guy from? And he does like all my like history channel shows and stuff that I like so much. I was like, oh, and I was trying to catch his name because I was watching one of their shows yesterday and I kept missing his name, but he's very animated. I like him. He's a nice guy.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

I I used to I don't have cable. So I used to watch CNN and the guy that they would always bring, like, okay, so the um the plane that disappeared, the Malaysian plate. Oh man, I love that story. I I have been obsessed with Me too.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Me too. If you put out a million documentaries on it, I will watch every single time. Every single one of them. It's insane. What's your theory?

SPEAKER_03 19:45

I crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

I think it was the Americans.

SPEAKER_03 19:50

Do you? I think it just ran out of fuel.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

I think it had something on it. I can't remember the exact theory, but it was transporting something. And it got compromised. So the Americans had to crash it. Was it Bigfoot? Maybe.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

I think I think it just I think something happened. I do too. I mean, it got knocked out and then it just ran out of it.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Somewhere out in that big vast ocean that nobody Yeah. Or there was even like a mountain range in play somewhere that it was around that it could have crashed in and nobody would ever find it.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

It's just it it that whole story is just, I mean, and at the time it was just so gripping because it was like, how does the plane just fucking disappear?

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Yeah, and it went off route and I don't know. I need it, yeah, you're gonna get me all worked up together. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

But anyway, so the person who they would always Miles O'Brien and he would do all he would do all of that stuff, and I loved him, but he's not I don't have CNN and he is not on CNN. I don't watch CNN. So all I had was the YouTube with no little to no uh talking, but yeah. I watched it on I think ABC. Everybody was covering, especially Splashdown. Oh yeah. Um I just rage bait, please. Just please, and then other people are like, oh, we have people starving, and you spent all this money on and look, I get it. There are people starving. There's always gonna be people starving.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

I I am I am one of those people sometimes. People have been starving since Gen X were kids. The kids were starving in Africa. Yes, so we needed to finish our dinner.

SPEAKER_03 21:46

Yes, and I didn't then. No, and sometimes I am starving, and sometimes I don't have money to buy anything but bread. So I eat bread and butter. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

It's close to payday. I eat a bagel for lunch today. You have to understand it's two entirely separate things. First of all, SpaceX, Amazon, they're all dumping money into this. Second of all, NASA is not really our country alone anymore. It's a conglomeration of a lot of countries. And this is money. NASA is not that their money is not earmarked for that. Maybe, I don't know, spend some of the ginormous military budget on the actual human beings in the military or who had served in the military instead of dropping bombs on places, then we have no business dropping bombs. I don't know. Try that.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

Yeah, and while the AI-generated um thing was laughable. How mortifying is it that the president of the United States is arguing with the Pope? The man closest to God on this earth. I know. And he went he says he's not tough enough on crime and foreign policy. He's not a politician. He's the Pope. He's supposed to encourage peace and love and yes, no war. Yeah, that's that's his job. That's his thing. He's not supposed to back the president and say, yeah, kill everyone that lives in Iran. All of them. Fuck yeah. God doesn't like them anyway. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:31

Wrong God. Anyway, that's my 10 cents on things. Um stop rage baiting me.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Yeah, yeah. I'm hoping that that helped you to get some of that out.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

It didn't I'll be angry as soon as I go back on Facebook today. I know. For the 1800 more flat earthers that are like, oh, you can't prove the earth is round. Right.

Tales From The Crypt Is Streaming

SPEAKER_02 23:53

And if you come at us uh with it on our posts, we're just gonna ignore you. So shut up. Type away. We don't care. No, you're wrong. We're not taking the bait. You are wrong. Yeah. But we're still not taking the bait. One more quick thing I wanted to say before we get into anything is um, and I text you this this week. If you are a Tales from the Crip fan, oh right, right, right, right. Uh apparently there's a streaming service called Shudder that you probably know about that I did not know about. It's a horror streaming service. And for the first time ever, Tales from the Crip is going to be streamed on there. So what's that face for?

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Nothing.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

My listening intently. That was it. That was the whole thing. But in case we have any Tales from the Crip fans out there, keep an eye out. I forget when it said it starts, but anyway.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

I forget what you said.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Yeah, you told me. It's coming. Yep.

unknown 24:50

All right.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

So like, share, rate, review. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us on the socials at Like Whatever Pod. We are on YouTube at Like Whatever. Uh you can send emails to likewhateverpod at gmail.com. And we have a website at likewhateverpod.com. All right. So in the spirit of conspiracy theories and how gullible and dumb people can be. All right, I don't want to say dumb. I swear I wasn't going to say anything.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Uneducated.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

No. I don't think uneducated and ignorant work for it either, because you're choosing to believe that. That's you could really study the scient the actual science from people who do science. Do science and know what they're talking about rather than just your random opinion because that's what you think. Or it's because what the tinfoil told you.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

Stick that tinfoil in the oven for 350 degrees and then take it back out and then touch it 30 seconds later and tell me if it's still 350 degrees. Oh, it's not? What? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Leave it there 30 seconds and drop it in your sink of water. Is there steam? Is there steam? Negative. Houston. Wait, you have no steam. None. All right.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Let's find uh also hold on. Okay. I just thought of one. Go for it. Also, the camera was so far away from there. What did you how did you think you would see steam? It's not like they had high def cameras posted on it. It was really far away. Really far. Even if there had been steam, which there wasn't, how would you have seen it? It's fucking steam. And guess what? Shower steam? It's not the same thing. It's condensation.

War Of The Worlds And Mass Panic

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

Yes. It's like a fog. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

You need to spend like a week looking at kitten videos and reset your algorithm. All right. Let's fuck around and find out about a lesson in gullibility.

SPEAKER_03 27:04

Yeah. Motherfucker.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

My references come from history.com and detailedpedia.com, which I believe is part of Wiki the way it looked. So I just want to make that apparent because I always like to share that I used wiki because it's not legit. But that's where I got the info from. All right. So I'm going to start with one story and then I'm going to tell you another story. And it's going to be about gullibility and how people will believe anything. Um time to be alive. And maybe you should uh maybe you should do your research instead of just following the sheep. Um from one snowflake to a sheep. See if there's steam when it is. As the clock struck 8 p.m. in New York City on the night of October 30th, 1938, Orson Wells stood on a podium inside a Madison Avenue radio station. A 23-year-old theatrical star who had graced the cover of Time magazine months earlier prepared to direct 10 actors and a 27-piece orchestra for the Columbia Broadcasting System's weekly Mercury Theater on Air program. Millions of Americans, as they were every night, huddled around their radios, but relatively few of them were listening to CBS when it announced that Wells and his fellow castmaster cast members were presenting an original dramatization of the 1898 H.G. Wells science fiction novel The World of the War. It's all that sleep I'm not getting.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Because how why would you even have the dummy there? Like I can sit here and tell you people that I need a more dummy.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

But I don't I don't know, but I feel like everyone got what they deserved because they were watching a ventriloquist or listening to it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

They weren't even watching. Ventriloquists are the worst. Okay, right there. You already lost.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

You already, you people already served everything you've got. Um aliens should have come for you. Channel surfing, however, was not a modern day invention, and disoriented listeners who stumbled onto the Mercury Theater on the air without having heard the disclaimer at the top of the radio play, were thrust into the middle of an hour-long drama that left some believing that the country was under attack. The CBS program, penned by Casablanca screenwriter Howard Koch or Cook. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

I apparently mispronounced it last week.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Yeah, apparently the astronaut's name is Cook, even though it's spelled K-O-C-H. My bad. That's okay. I mean, it's an honest mistake. Um, opened serenely with the dulcet dance music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra. Then an actor portraying an announcer broke in with a fake news report that several explosions of incandescent gas had occurred on Mars. In quick succession came a series of increasingly alarming suspense-building news flashes that culminated with Martian spacecrafts crashing into a farm in Grover's Mill, New Jersey.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Why would aliens go to New Jersey? Why wouldn't they? They fit right in. My family's from Jersey. I know. I guess you're right. Um, for the rest of the hour, terror crackled over the airwaves. Breathless reporters detailed an extraterrestrial army of squid-like figures that killed thousands of earthlings with heat rays and black clouds of poison gas as they steamrolled into New York City. Wells and the rest of the cast impersonated astronomers, state militia officials, and even the Secretary of the Interior, who canily sounded like President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Human germs, rather than human armies, ultimately did in the mythical Martian Invaders, and at the end of the hour, the direct director wrapped up the radio drama by telling the audience, this is Orson Wells, ladies and gentlemen, out of character to assure you that the War of the Worlds has no further significance than the holiday offering it was intended to be. The Mercury Theater's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying boo. Burn.

SPEAKER_03 31:51

Look. Okay. I'm not surprised that we gave them disease and they died. I mean, if they're coming into New York and America, the white man is gonna give you a disease and you're gonna die.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Yeah, that's what we do. Plain and simple. It's how we killed the Native Americans.

SPEAKER_03 32:07

It's how we kill everything.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

That's how we're killing the environment. Second of all.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

I mean, I guess. I don't.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

No, I don't. I mean, I would be listening to it like this is bullshit. But I'm like that too. I watch like um, like remember that show, um shit. They used to play pranks on their friends, but it was scary. I don't remember. And Tracy Morgan ended up hosting the second round of it. It was like a prank show, but it was scary stuff like aliens or murder or things like that to scare friends. Um watching that, I'm like, there's no way I would fall for that. Like I would be like, somebody's fucking with me. Right.

SPEAKER_03 32:56

And not like you think back to like September 11th when it was actually unfolding on on TV where we were watching it and they were telling us what was happening. We were like, no way.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Are you sure? You guys have taken this joke a little too far, I think.

SPEAKER_03 33:13

I mean, are you sure it was terrorists and that just two, three, four random planes?

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Just yeah, that very first one I was like, oh man, that poor pilot must have had a heart attack or something. And the other pilot must have been in the bathroom. Like, I don't know what happened there. Then the second one, I was like, oh another heart attack.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

I guess if you had and I I mean, I guess I guess because I didn't live during the 30s, so I'm not exactly sure. Maybe they were all still malnourished from the depression and some of them not fully brain developed or whatever, but yes, and I know that this is pre-gen X for anyone that's wondering, but it's a story we all heard as children.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

Like I definitely remember hearing about this as a kid.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

Also, fun fact if you want to kill aliens, you gotta shoot them in the nose. Or play weird music.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Oh and then their heads explode. For some reason, this reminded me too. Dan Aykroyd has a show on like the History Channel. I forget what it's called, but it's pretty good. And it's about aliens mostly. But one of the theories of how aliens get here is that their eggs are planted on asteroids, and then asteroids hit the earth. We just had one hit Ohio. Mm-hmm. There's probably alien eggs there then. And then the eggs feel certain that there probably already was alien in Ohio. Yeah. They're the cousins of the people from Florida. All right. The fright that Wells put into America, however, was much greater than he thought. Although the program included a reminder at intermission that it was a dramatization.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

Okay, now you're really nah. I'm done. Okay. No.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Thousands of anxious and confused listeners believed it to be real. They besieged police departments, newspapers, and CBS with phone calls. In New Jersey, ground zero for the fictitious invasion, National Guardsmen wanted to know where they should report for duty.

unknown 35:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:15

Come on.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

And the Trenton Police Department fielded 2,000 calls in under two hours. All right, that doesn't make any sense because phones in the 30s. How many that poor lady on that switch?

unknown 35:29

How about I have a hip?

SPEAKER_02 35:32

How can I direct it all? How many phones did they have at the police department, though, for 2,000 calls to come in? I don't. That's a thousand calls an hour, so over a hundred and some per minute. That seems made up, Trenton police. It does. You're exaggerating. Um, in Providence, Rhode Island, hysterical callers begged the electricity company to cut power to the city to keep it safe from the extraterrestrial invaders.

SPEAKER_03 35:55

You wanted to cut the power at the end of October. What's wrong with you people? No. Shut your lights off then.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Fear and anxiety had become a way of life in the 1930s, and it took little to rattle jittery Americans. The depression, like you said, had emptied their wallets. And apparently their heads. The gathering crisis in Europe threatened to ignite into war. And just weeks earlier, the hurricane of 1938 had roared ashore. I don't know that one. Um, plus the Hindenburg disaster, which had been broadcast over the airwaves just the year earlier before, was still fresh in the country's collective psyche.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

You know what's crazy that we don't use blimps. I know you used to see the I don't know if you used to see the good job. All the time.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

And now it's I know it used to fly over every sporting event. It used to fly over the races all the time. Up and down the coast. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. We just don't see blimps these days. Nobody cares about blimps anymore. No. Now we have droids. Is that what the word? No. Yeah. Yeah. The things that fly. Is that a droid? I don't think it is. It's the drone. Drone, that's the one.

unknown 37:17

Oh good lord.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

We're talking about how stupid these people are. These people are stupid. We got droids. The newspaper industry also felt uneased from the increasing popularity of radio as an informational and advertising medium. And seeing a chance to strike back at its growing rival, it gleefully collected the sporadic reports of individual confusion generated by the War of the Worlds and weaved them into a narrative of mass hysteria. Newspapers reported suicide attempts, heart attacks, and exoduses from major metropolitan areas.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

That seems excessive. Not New Jersey.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

Along with the photograph of a war victim, a woman in a sling who had heard the reports of black glass gas clouds in Times Square and ran out from her midtown apartment into the street where she fell and broke her arm. Similar stories of woe were printed from coast to coast and unleashed a media frenzy. This newspaper showed the radio. This lady broke her arm. We're going to report it.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

We don't have no ventriloquists and their dummies on radio. With threats of lawsuits swirling in the press, CBS went into damage control. At a hastily called press conference, a doe-eyed Wells displayed his theatrical acumen and expressed his remorse and shock at the public reaction.

SPEAKER_03 39:04

I can imagine the going into that press conference, they're like, listen, Orson. Everybody believed it. And he's like, What? What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_02 39:16

Now he thinks the prank's on him. Like there's no way.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

But at halftime, we said, JK, what everybody turned the ventriloquist dummy back on at halftime? They needed to calm their nerves. And we're like, whoo, where is that weird guy with the dumb with the dummy that we can't see? He could be talking with his mouth wide open. We wouldn't know. It's not very impressive to have a ventriloquist dummy on the radio.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

I can't imagine an invasion from Mars would find ready acceptance, he said, when asked if his prank if he pranked the country. Decades later, however, Wells admitted the kind of response was merrily anticipated by all of us. The size of it, of course, was flabbergasting.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

I imagine that press conference that he the his his gasters were flabbered the whole time. How do you keep a street? His flabber. He probably was like, Is this real?

SPEAKER_02 40:20

Are you you really want me to say this is payback for me trying to be funny and full of prank? Okay. Scare tactics. That was the name of the show I was trying to think of. Ah, right, right, right. That was a good show. Um, the Federal Communications Commission did not sanction CBS or Wells, and the radio dramatist quickly spun his Halloween trick into a treat. Thanks to what became known as the Panic Broadcast, the radio program signed Campbell's Soup as a sponsor, and soon after, Wells inked a deal to direct Citizen Kane, named by the American Film Institute, as the greatest movie of all time. So I guess it worked out for him. I guess so. I don't know. All right, but it happened again. Bum, bum, bum. In 1968.

SPEAKER_03 41:16

It happened again last week.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

They told me.

SPEAKER_03 41:23

This thing went around the moon like that can happen. And then came down and landed in the ocean with no steam.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

And then a few days later, we found out our president is actually JC in the flesh. Like crazy. Who knew? Crazy stuff. Crazy stuff going on. Who knows? The Pope's not a good politician. I'm just the world, what is going on? Upside down. It's upside down. World is upside down. We are in the upside down here. We're somewhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

Let's hear some music about Nicole's 1984 diary.

SPEAKER_04 42:00

Because I repeat your life, but I can feel her teenage life. So I guess that's your soul.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Alright, so today, my 1984 diary. It is Wednesday, May 16th. Um, last week we read from May 7th. So there was a gap. Gap.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

A little gap there. All right. Today I had a great urge for writing in my diary. Oh. Mm-hmm. You had an urge. Great urge. Great urge to write in my diary. Well, today I was in gym, and this really sounds stupid, but I made I made my wrist bleed so bad I had to go to the nurse and get a bandage.

SPEAKER_03 42:45

What did you do?

SPEAKER_02 42:46

Now here's how I did it. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 42:48

Great. I was hoping what we were gonna tell me.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

With my own fingernail.

SPEAKER_03 42:53

Jeez. I didn't have fingernails in 1984. Oh yeah. I've always had pretty nice nails.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

Um as I scratched my foot. Humble brag. Humble brag. Farby pink fingernails. Um all right. Um today we started DMI math testing. That was back in the day, um, state. So it would have been the Delaware maths. Whatever. Yeah, but you were private. Yeah. Yep. Um last night I had my first band concert. It was nice. Afterwards, I went to McDonald's to get a Sunday. Oh that's back when the ice cream machine still worked every day.

SPEAKER_03 43:32

It did, it always worked. You know what I had a is that it? That's it? So I had a memory the other day, and I had to text my mom because I was like, Did I fever dream this or is this a real thing? I don't know if you did this, but I remember we went to McDonald's and they had a fingerprint kit that you could get. And it was like a special day, and you went down there and they had the police down at McDonald's and they fingerprinted you, and it was like a Little passport, and then they had your mom brought like your school picture from that year, and it would like come in and out, like like you know, like it would tuck in to the little things, and then it had all your fingerprints in it.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

I don't necessarily remember that around McDonald's, but I do remember that. I think it started around the time of the milk carton. Yeah. So they wanted to get all your info for the milk carton if they needed it for when you got kidnapped by uh when you were hitchhiking. So I do remember some kind of that.

SPEAKER_03 44:32

This was like it was an actual like it had Ronald McDonald on the front, like a like it was like a passport and like the fingerprints pulled out, but it was like sponsored by which brilliant marketing McDonald's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. For real, for sure. But she said, Yeah, it did happen that I was not, it was not a fever dream. So if anybody else had that happen, let me know.

The 1968 War Of The Worlds Repeat

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Yeah, I think it was real. I don't know. Anyway, okay. Okay, back to our program. Uh, the War of the War of the Worlds was a radio drama originally aired in Buffalo, New York radio station WKBW 1520 on October 31st, 1968. It was a modernized version of the original radio drama aired by CBS in 1938. Danny Kriegler served as the director of the radio drama while Jefferson Kane served as its producer. The broadcast, its subsequent re-airings and remakes, and multiple airings alongside the original 1938 radio drama, made Buffalo, New York the War of the World's Radio Capital of the World in a 2009 resolution by the New York State Senate. Good for Buffalo, New York. Yep. It's a great use of your time, Senate. WKBW direct program director Jefferson Kane, a big fan of the original Orson Wells version from three decades earlier, wondered what the War of the Worlds would sound like if it was made using up-to-date uh radio news equipment covering the story of a Martian invasion. Until this point, most radio renditions of the 1938 broadcast were simply script rereadings with different actors or had minor variations to account for significantly different geographical locations. Kay decided to disregard the original script entirely, move the action to Grand Island, New York, and use actual WKBW disc jockeys and news reporters as actors. Other changes reflected the changing state of the industry. Instead of the old-time radio programming fair of the 1930s, WKBW's War of the Worlds broadcast was interwoven into the station's top 40 programming. Initially, a script was written for the news reporters to act out. However, upon hearing the rehearsals, it was evident that the news reporters, except Irv Weinstein, a professional radio actor at the beginning of his career, were not adept adept to at scripted radio acting. So instead, Kay wrote an outline based on the events that were to occur, and the news reporters were then asked to describe the events as they would covering an actual news story.

SPEAKER_03 47:14

Smart.

SPEAKER_02 47:16

Just yeah. The results were much more realistic for its time, and this was the process used for the actual broadcast. They were yes ending. Mm-hmm. Yep, yep. The play began a few minutes before 11 p.m. Eastern Time with a somber introduction by Danny Nieverth, tackling the comparison of radio broadcasting technology during the original broadcast and the upcoming production. Uh Kneeverth later restated the forewarning of the broadcast fictitious nature. The initial part of the broadcast altercated alternated from top 40 hits to news break-ins and back in until 11:30 Eastern time when continuous reportage and worsening situations on the ground take over. One by one, radio and TV newsmen are killed off from Jim Fagan until uh Jefferson Kay. After Kay's character dies, Neverth returns again with his closing speech taken from the novel's epilogue. Despite an exhaustive advertising campaign by WKBW for the show, several people were still convinced. There's always gonna be several people upon listening to it that the events unfolding in the show were genuine.

SPEAKER_03 48:40

There's always gonna be a couple. Oh, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 48:45

I was hoping this would help you feel better. This is why we have flat earthers and moon deniers. There's always gonna be a couple of them. Among those fooled included a local newspaper, several small town police officers, and even the Canadian military, which dispatched troops to the peace bridge.

SPEAKER_03 49:05

Come on, Canada.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

Yeah, we we put you on a higher pedestal than that. Uh the Air Force base attached to the Niagara Falls International Airport received uh dozens of calls from concerned citizens. Is there an alert? Invasion? Are we under attack? What is the Air Force going to do? Uh, much to the amusement of the airmen manning the switchboard who were aware of the broadcast. They explained it was a special Halloween broadcast, and to listen for the disclaimers, the station was airing periodically. Pay attention. Just fucking listen.

unknown 49:42

God.

SPEAKER_02 49:43

Although the public concern over the legitimacy of the broadcast was not as great as was alleged in 1938, and even that may have been uh overstated due to an ongoing feud between newspapers and radio at the time. Creator Kay and director Dan Kriegler feared that they were going to lose their jobs as a result of the broadcast. Kay claimed that he actually submitted his resignation, certain that he was going to be fired the next day. However, no one involved in the broadcast was fired and the resignation was not accepted. Part of the reason for the elevated concern, even compared to the original, was that although the Wells broadcast aired on a little heard program with no sponsors, WKBW was one of the most listened to stations in Western New York at the time, with a 50,000 watt signal audible throughout Eastern North America. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 50:41

What is that saying? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

SPEAKER_02 50:47

During the broadcast, the show was interrupted every few minutes with commercials from A M and A's and other sponsors, ending with the disclaimer that it was just a dramatization.

SPEAKER_03 51:00

You are too fucking stupid for your own good. Like you how are you still alive? How?

SPEAKER_02 51:09

Yeah, I wonder that about people. How do they even make it through the day? How? How do they get out of bed and like feed and dress themselves?

SPEAKER_03 51:15

How? How do you get in the car? How do you drive yourself places? Um how do you eat without choking to death? Like I don't I don't know. How do you remember to breathe? Right. Blink.

unknown 51:30

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 51:31

Not look it up in the shower. I mean.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

However, at four minutes before midnight, Jefferson Kay interrupted the taped events to give this disclaimer, but not until after he threatened director Danny Kriegler that he would rip the still-playing tape off its machine and run along Buffalo's Main Street with it if he was not allowed to break in, as the number of calls received by the station from fighting listeners were getting out of hand. What you are listening to is a dramatization of HG Wells War of the Worlds on WKBW Radio 1520 on your Buffalo dial. I repeat, it is a dramatization. It is a play. It is not happening in any way, shape, or form. What you are listening to is a dramatization of HG Wells War of the Worlds as being portrayed on WKBW 1520 Buffalo. The time is two and one half minutes before 12 o'clock.

SPEAKER_03 52:31

On Halloween.

SPEAKER_02 53:02

This version was edited down to 63 minutes from the 78-minute original. Kay reprised Danny Neverth's role in the 1968 broadcast, but added more emphasis on the aftermath of the adaptation from that year. This was rebroadcast in 1988 by the station in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the original broadcast. In 1973, Shane the Cosmic Cowboy was the opening DJ, and the rest of the broadcast was identical to the version two years earlier, albeit with Ron Baskin added as newscaster. However, this version was not a standalone broadcast as other WKBW produced radio thrillers bookend this dramatization. Unlike the previous installments, the disclaimers of this is a dramatization has been placed before and after commercial breaks. WGWE rebroadcast this edition in 2012. So they had to put it before the commercial and after the commercial. I don't know. In 1975. Considered by many to be the weakest of the versions, this edition contained sloppy editing done to eliminate on-air talent no longer with the station, notably Kay, who would later become WPVI's action news announcer until his death in 2012. 1978, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the original Orson Wells radio drama KSEI in Pocatello, Idaho, adopted the 1971 WKBW version for their own staging of the War of the Worlds using this news department personnel. And in 1998, a totally new remake was produced by 97 Rock to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first WKBW version. KM Weinstein, uh, in one of his last appearances before his retirement at the end of that year, reprised their respective roles in the original, while personalities such as Don Postels, Larry Norton, Erie County Executive Dan Dennis Gorsuch, and Mayor Anthony Mestiello participated. This was rebroadcast in 2001. It was rebroadcast a second time in 2018.

How To Fact Check Then And Now

SPEAKER_03 55:17

So, okay, I I get it. Right. I get that in 1931, eight? Yes. I don't get it, but I get it. Like, so when let's just pretend. I know that it to to compare now to then is apples and oranges, but we're gonna compare the trees. So when I'm on Facebook and I see something that comes up that's like so-and-so died, what is the first thing that I do? I sign, I get out of there and I go to Google and I Google the person's name. Now, I know what you're thinking. They didn't have Google in 1938. No, but they had a radio dial that changed to stations. So if you're listening to this and you're like, holy shit, is this real? What is happening? Turn on another radio station.

SPEAKER_01 56:10

And when it's still the ventrilic was dummy, maybe be like, huh.

SPEAKER_03 56:16

Either they're not listening to this, or maybe it's all made up. I'm just saying. Yeah, yeah. They even had movies in 1938. I know. Like talkies.

SPEAKER_02 56:33

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 56:34

Did you think Scarlet O'Hara was really a real thing?

SPEAKER_02 56:38

Maybe. Dorothy. Dorothy? Uh-huh. And the lion person and the real scarecrow.

SPEAKER_03 56:46

Come on.

SPEAKER_02 56:49

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know either, but that was really fun.

AI Doubt And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_03 56:56

This is why. This this is what is gonna be our downfall. I'm gonna tell you that right now. Look, sorry to say it, but because survival of the fittest no longer exists, where this it's anybody can live. Apparently. Anybody. They fix you and they send you back out. Yep. Stupid. Yep. And and then you're like, oh yeah, well, I was on it. No, you should have died in that situation. And now you should be ejected from the gene pool. Look, I should have died when I was born. I ejected myself from the gene pool. Because I was I didn't die. So I done I said, you know what, I was supposed to die. So my genes are junk. I already know that. Don't don't put them on anybody else. So I didn't. That's that's called survival as a fittest. And that's and now we just play God every day. We do. And then this no. If you died, if you were sick and you were supposed to die before you had children, then you should not have children. Like you should be taking that's your exit because you should have died. You're dirtying up the gene pool. And that's what happens. Then you believe War of the Worlds, or you believe that we didn't go to the moon. That they did it in some Hollywood studio. That by the way, it's cheaper to actually send someone to the fucking moon than it is to do all of that in a sound stage. It is literally cheaper to send someone to the actual moon than to make the whole rigmarole of what they just put out. Sorry, but that is the truth.

SPEAKER_02 58:53

Uh I see I didn't help you calm down any. I just, you know.

SPEAKER_03 59:01

I don't know where we went wrong. Oh Lord. That Neanderthal should have wanted to. They were on, they were doing a podcast with their teeny little arms, and they were like, Where have we gone wrong? Yep.

SPEAKER_02 59:18

Listening to the radio, being like, What?

SPEAKER_03 59:21

What are people believing these days?

SPEAKER_02 59:24

There's humans from another planet on this planet.

SPEAKER_03 59:27

Get out of here. There's things called mammals. No way. What has become of us? And then whoever's in charge was like, okay, time for you to go now. And that is exactly what is gonna happen to us.

SPEAKER_02 59:47

I think you're right about the gene pool thing. It's too contaminated.

SPEAKER_03 59:50

It is because if you die I'm sorry, if you lived. You know, I g if due to the miracles of modern technology, you lived that you weren't supposed to. You're supposed to die. And I don't if you can tell me all about how it's God's place. It's not God's God, God wanted you to die.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:13

Science saved you. So it's science's fault. I blame science. Yeah. That's a thing I wish I had never said, but I did. God wanted you dead, and science said nothing.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

See, that would make me nervous too. If God wanted me dead, but science saved me, God's gonna be like, I'd be looking over my shoulder everywhere I went. Like, all right.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:32

That's when you just say, hey God, guess what? I'm not gonna pollute the gene pool. I I should have been dead. You were right. I was wrong. I'm sorry. I will not have children. Just let me go about my day. And then when I really die, that's it. Yeah, that's it. So I'm in a field. Yeah, it's gone. Eliminate it. I have a bad heart. I have a weird heart. I I was born not breathing. I numerous times I should have died. And yet, here I am with a big old hole in my heart. Making a podcast. Not sharing my genes with anybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:12

Oh my gosh. That was that was really fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:18

Good times. Yeah, yeah. So you know, it I wish that we had come further than we were in 1938. Right. Unfortunately. Apparently not.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:34

Technology went way past us. And which is why the robots are gonna take over.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:40

Well, and here's the thing like some of this AI, some of this AI, you wa you're watching it and you're like, I don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:47

It's I don't I even watch commercials now and it'll be like a drug commercial, and I'm looking at the actor and I'm like, is that a real person? Or is that a like I don't trust my eyes at all anymore? Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:59

Some like and then you know, there are the ones that you're like, all right, come on now. Well, yeah, that's crazy. Yes. Like, how did that lady just become a million cats? That just can't happen. Yes, but like some of it you're like, hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:12

Yeah. Is that real or and if I was musicians, I'd be pissed. A lot. Because they're creating pop stars.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:20

That are on the top of the charts. Yeah. That aren't real people.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:25

I mean, maybe maybe that's the big joke. Maybe someone is currently playing a big joke. I don't know. I hope so.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

It's the Orson Wells of 2026.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:36

And they have us believing that there are robots. And we just didn't hear the disclaimer. I don't know. We didn't get the that is exact maybe that is what happened in November. We didn't get we didn't hear the disclaimer. We did. This is all fake. Yes. That this is all figment of our movie. They're long playing the joke.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:07

It's not funny anymore.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:08

It's not. Maybe it's time for a commercial break with a disclaimer on both ends. Because we're gonna need that memo. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:20

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:22

Oh well, that was fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:23

That was fun. Thanks. That was really fun. Great time. Yeah. Next week you get me again. I know. That's what I'll come up with.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:38

Well, if you enjoyed this too, like, share, rate, review. Please. Um, give us a little follow on the socials. And you can like rate review. Yep, yep, yep. Don't talk about the earth is flat there. So that is not a place.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:56

Yeah, we're just gonna ignore you like discuss. You're literally getting nowhere with that. The shape of the earth. Yeah. Okay. Exactly. It's not. Yeah, we're talking about real stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:05

Everybody knows it's a hexagon. Um you can follow us. I did send that. You can go to our website, likewhateverpod.com. Um you can send us an email with the disclaimer that this is all fake. We'd love to hear that. To likewhateverpod at gmail.com or don't like whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:41

Bye.