The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 493 - Plennie Wingo

Episode Date: August 10, 2021

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine record holder Plennie Wingo.SourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. Hey you're listening to the dollop on the all things comedy network. Well this

is a bilingual American history podcast where each week I read a story in two languages to my friend from American history. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. How are you? What's this happening? How was your... we don't do a podcast for that. How was your airplanes? Every one of them was really good. Your airplanes were good? Not a problem in one flight. Now if you if you could fly and have your luggage lost and then come back next to a baby which is that good you like? That's why I do it. I do it for the travel. I do it to have open

seating in Southwest and feel like I've got a perfect plot of land only to have someone be like I'm gonna have I'm gonna teach a child about the differences between Earth's pressure and the sky's pressure today. That's nice. I'm gonna see what the baby reacts like when I'm squishing its head with air pressure. Here's the thing about babies. They get it. They get it because they understand what's happening. Dave, like I've been taught, they got places to go. Business babies. Oh wait. Oh god. Aaron, maybe turn this off. Who's watching? Who's watching? Who's watching? How you're blaming Aaron for that is beyond me.

Because he made me unplug it. No, you unplugged it because it was making a noise. And you didn't even play it, dickhole. And called it quote is jam-packed. Jam-packed? I'm the fucking hippo guy. Dave, okay. My name's Gary. My name's Gary. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to become the tiggly-plot guy. Okay. This is like an a five-part coefficient. My room's a place. Now hit him with a puppy. You both present sick arguments. No, sleep down, hippo. That's like a hippo. Action, partner. Hi, Gary. No. Nice to see you done, my friend. No. No. Roda, Roda in the car. January 24th, 1895. Year of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hezoo Christo. First for Czechoslovakian speaking friends. Just get into it.

Plenty Wingo was born to John Newton and Willie Drusella Wingo in River Red County, Texas. Just the first part without the River Red County, Texas one more time just so I'm locking it. Plenty Wingo was born to John Newton and Willie Drusella Wingo. To John and Willie? Her name is Willie. Okay. Okay. Five months later, his dad came down with pneumonia and died. Okay. So we got him out of the way. It's a nice, it's a nice turnaround, too. Mike was looking through the window at me. That's a nice turnaround, though. His mom then married his dad's brother. Sure. And that's what you do. Absolutely. That's the move. The first one was so great. It's close. Yeah. It's close to what you like the first time. It's like getting a new model of the car. It's like getting the spring 2022. A lot of it's similar. A lot of the body parts are probably very similar. Yeah. Just bigger screen, maybe a little, you know, better.

A little different head, maybe a little different head. Sure. The head's different. Pretty similar, I would imagine. Sure. Better head, what? Better head. They had 10 more kids. Jesus, God. Yeah, they were fucking. As a child, Plenty caught and sold rattlesnakes. I'd say they made a little extra cash. She caught and sold rattlesnakes. As you do. Yeah. No, kids love rattles. He waited tables as a teen and he fell in love and married Idella, who went by Della. Okay. Quote, a hard-faced woman from Hayes County. Jesus. What does that even mean? I don't know. Hard-faced? Yeah. It's from that quote. It's from author Ben Montgomery. Unless you say otherwise, all quotes are from him. I don't even know what that means. She had a hard face. What does that mean? It's like a rockish. Okay, sure. She's got a bit of a shale head. It's a shale. It's a shale, a shale situation. Right, okay. Della and Plenty then had a daughter in 1915. So Plenty's 20 years old.

And then they opened a restaurant in, it's got to be different, but Dunney, it says here, Dunney, Texas. Sure. And then they moved to Abilene and opened another one there. Okay. So they're doing well. Sure. And then in 1928, Plenty was arrested for selling, quote, intoxicating liquor at the restaurant. Oh, and this is during prohibition. Yeah. Right. So that's not okay. It's not okay. What a fun dance we had. Can you imagine being in this country without access to alcohol? I wouldn't be surprised if they brought it back. Really? The way everything's going. Things are going pretty bad. I mean, they've already stopped it on certain flights. There's planes worth. I mean, I love that. It's amazing. It really is amazing that we are at the, I mean, we just keep taking, it's just incremental. So it doesn't seem like a lot, but it's like, man, the wheels are really coming off.

I mean, they're literally like, look, you people are so fucking crazy. We can't have alcohol on planes anymore. I mean, they taped a guy to a plane seat. They just taped, and then they were justified. And well, then they, then they suspended the crew and everyone's like, they're totally right. But I mean, can you imagine, like, if you're on a plane getting duct taped, are you not like, I think I've lost the plot. I don't think I'd come off good in this. No, I don't think it was that. But I think when I did it, it was different. It was different. Yeah. It was different. So he gets arrested. Now he had to pay $750 bond to get out. That's a lot of money. And that's like six months of profits from the restaurant. So he's in a hole.

Black Friday came, right? Depression's on. And pretty soon the bank took the restaurant. It's pretty amazing that we've held up the tradition of Black Friday, but made it different. Something so awful in its own right. Unless it's Black Tuesday. Did I say that wrong? Whatever. He took it. What? It's Black Monday, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's Black Monday. So it's not the same. Okay. Three. Monday is the day after Sunday. No, they do, what do they do? Well, they do the whole Amazon Monday or some shit. Oh, Prime Day. Prime Day. Yeah. Prime Day. He took a job at a cafe. So he went from owning a restaurant to now he's working at a cafe for 17 cents an hour. Oh, Jesus.

He's like a cook. Then at Vivian's 15th birthday party, the kids start talking about the fad in America of physical feats. So dance marathons, swimming, the English Channel, pole sitting, walking on airplane wings, all that stuff. Americans just love it. Lose their minds, right? They just love these people doing the stuff. There was a guy who pushed a peanut up a mountain with his nose. I'm sorry. Just... I'm gonna say that again. There was a guy who pushed a peanut up a mountain with his nose. I'd rather not hear it again. A mountain? Yeah, a mountain. It took him a long time. He went through several shoes and a lot of peanuts. Several shoes and a lot of peanuts? Yeah. So he's allowed different peanuts?

He could switch them out. But he could sub. He's subbing nuts. The whole idea is you're pushing up the mountain with your nose. He's subnutting? Yeah, you could subnut. It's in the rulebook. What a nightmare. It's not alive. Why did he do it? Because it was an ad for a peanut company. Because everybody is like, who's making these peanuts? Everybody cares about which peanut company. I wonder how those taste. You know, I didn't like peanuts till I saw that gentleman pushing it up a mountain with his nose. Hero. Hero. Hero is what he is. Master of the nut. I'm starstruck by this guy. I mean, when I see him, I turn into a young lady.

Tee-pee nuts that he got all the way to the top. Yeah. Oh, God, I melt when I see him. Oh, I love. And of course, there was Charles Lindbergh, who is now flying around the country on a victory tour. Thousands of people have come out to see him. Right. Also, in 1928, January 1928, Henry Daredevil Roland climbed the nine-story MIMS building in Abilene as a huge crowd watched. We got the toppy throughout copies of the Abilene Morning News, because it was an ad stunt. Right. I still am with the peanut guy. Yeah. Now, you push a peanut up that building. Oh, you know, you push peanuts anywhere and I'm in. I'm listening with your nose. Peanut, man. You dung beetle peanut. No, I want nose. You look a little bit like Wolverine.

I'm getting closer. Not far away. My hands have been hurting. So, like I said, Americans love it and he's like, oh, you can make money doing this. And then he's sitting at the party listening to his kids talk about it. The kids are like, everything's been done. And he goes. So he's listening to these teenagers and he's like, this is. He's like, there's a thing here. There's something. And then he thinks. I'm going to push a peanut up a building with my cock. What if I walk around the world backwards?

No, Dave, come on. What? Does he know about water? What is the plan? He's got Jesus boots. I'm sure he'll take boats when he gets to the ocean. Well, he better be walking backwards the whole goddamn voyage. Otherwise, he's cheating. Otherwise, you just look for a circuitous route that has no land. No, he would have to walk backwards everywhere. But yeah. Okay. Now, he told his wife she's she for some reason is not down.

She's not. She's one of these people who doesn't respect the dream of someone that she loves. She's a dream killer. What is her problem with the plan that's good? Why does she not understand? You know, it's something about your husband saying he's going to walk around the world backwards. I mean, it's going to take you away from the family, but you also have to understand the importance of a mission. And a mission is a mission to walk around the world, not facing the direction you're going. That's important stuff that needs to be done. So here's what I'd say. I don't even know if it has to do with walking around the world backwards.

I think it's just the whole idea of walking around the world because that's going to take time. She's like, that's going to take that's going to be a timely. Backwards to it adds. It's going to have months probably. That's time. That's time. It's probably it's probably double or around. Although you could probably get a pretty good clip going. Yeah, you'll get used to it. Your head will probably you'll probably be evolving in ways. You'll have a you'll have a Linda Blair head for a while.

Start turning. Yeah. And then once you start putting your suit on backwards, it's really it's a matter of time until people are like, hey, he's going forward. You know, look at the elbows. They're still going backwards. That man is just only rotated his head fully. So so she's not down. And then he talks his daughter into it. She's like, OK, that sounds like a good idea. Mother's being a real asshole. Your mother's really fucked about my great ideas.

I have something I need to tell you. I talked to your mother and she's just being a dream killer as usual. Your dad wants to do something big for you. You have a legacy. OK. And you know, we were trying the restaurants and then that unfortunately I was giving people liquor and I regret that. For the bounce back, your old man's going to walk around the world. Backwards. What?

I'm going to be gone for about five years. Jesus. And I'm going to walk. I'll be like 20 when you get back. And but you'll be ready. You'll be set up for a better life because you'll be you'll be associated with me. People look at you and they'll go, that's the daughter that genius that walked around the globe. The wrong direction.

Don't you think they'll make fun of you for what? Being a trailblazer? Yeah. No. Yes. Listen to me. When you have an idea as airtight and it's perfect. Hold on.

What airtight means? Yes. Flawless. This is a. Let me. All right. Let me ask you this. Ask.

What's the problem with it? Well, it sounds really fucking stupid. Like you sound like an idiot. Well, that's. And a lot. And I think dumb. But I think if you if you were talking to Einstein when he was sort of first kind of kicking around. No, it sounds like the kind of thing that someone would come up with when they were on cocaine.

I do not do that drug much. And what I want you to know is that I'm willing to pull the plug if it's not working. But what I see is a huge celebration. So I love you. I don't. I don't think you do. I do. I love you very much.

That's why I'm going to walk around the earth with my head facing forward and my legs going backwards. What? Yeah. Did you not pick up on that part? I'm not walking the right way around. No, it sounds like your body is changing. Well, I hope it will. I'm hoping to adapt.

None of this is a good idea. Every part of it works in every way. And I'm going to need less pushback from you and that mother of yours who likes to squash dreams. Okay. I think you should go. All right. Now watch how I go. Backwards out.

Now get used to that. I don't want to. I'm going to see that walking across the Sahara Desert. I get thirsty. So he goes to a doctor. So doctor, I need to be psychiatrically cleared and medically cleared for a journey that's pretty bonkers. He tells the doctor's plan and the doctor's like, well, amen. He says, quote, Mr. Wingo, if you want to try it, I'll be glad to give it some thought and work out some exercises to develop the muscles you'll need.

Like a lobotomy. Like a lobotomy, like just taking an ice pick right into the forehead. So he's kind of found his Alfred. Yeah. Well, the doctor, look, the doctor's going to set him up with training and the doctor's like, I'm not going to, I don't want any pay. This is a great idea. So why would you pay me?

Obviously, I'm just in this because I know how great this concept is. And so he showed him some things to do to build up those muscles. He was like, you're going to need to, your legs, I'm going to be honest, let's favor building the leg muscles. I assume he just had to walk backwards. There you go. So this first one is called, this first training exercise we're going to walk through is called the backwards walk. And this is where you're going to walk backwards. And we're going to just kind of keep doing this one for the most part.

So really to circle, just you and I'll both do it and I'm going to time you and then you're going to try to beat that time. Yeah. Let's see how fast you can run a mile. So what about hurdles? Is that crazy? So he starts walking. And I jump. He is holding up a mirror like he's got his arm extended out and he's holding a mirror.

He's got a rear view mirror. Well, he has to. Well, how's he going to know where he's going? Well, Dave, just walk forwards for fuck's sake. We have that conversation first. I mean, he jumped. Nobody, no point that he was like, I'll go forwards. And then he's like, I'm further like thought maybe I'll go back.

Like he right away just was like backwards. And then he see in that so he's like this hurt. This is hard walking with my arm out like this. And then he's looking in a magazine and he sees an ad backwards. He's got the mirror. He's like, well, what's that ad? He sees no. He's just sitting down reading.

He's an ad for sunglasses for motorcycle riders that have mirrors on the sides of the glasses. And he's like, this is it. This is it. At least the look is coming together. Yeah. So you'd look at a guy crazy walking backwards, but if he has side view mirrors on his head, that's a person. It's cool.

That's a cool guy. So he buys them. It's going to take a long. He also takes money out of his savings to buy them and then takes a while to get there. And by the time the glasses get there, he's been training for weeks. Weeks. Yeah. So it's all coming together.

Weeks. I don't know. I mean, again, obviously we don't know exactly. We haven't really charted this course a lot, but you know, weeks. Sure. You are trying to walk. Does he know the world? Were they familiar with the world size at this point?

Yeah. Okay. So he started pitching himself to local businesses. And in Fort Worth, the Southwestern exposition and fat stock show hired him. You know, we've been looking for a fat stock mascot for a while. Yeah, we have. You look wonderful. Well, my plan is to walk backwards.

And I really think that this and fat stock obviously pair together greatly. I'm sorry. Well, you have fat stock and I think that my walking backwards, it makes me the perfect spokesman. Fat stock. Walking backwards. Well, they hired him. Of course.

And for 10 days, he walked backwards around Fort Worth and the whole area, local small towns. $250 for the 10 days and crowds were amazed. Crowds started gathering to watch him walk backwards. Wouldn't it be great to see what happened if we never had TV or phones? Yeah. Like what we would be watching now? Yeah.

Yeah. Probably just public banging. People had questions. They were like, how, why are you doing it? How did you learn how to do it? How long have you been doing it? Did you fall? Is your brain intact?

What would happen when you got to the ocean, which was your question? That's a fair question because there's so much water on earth. And then, of course, backwards walking man is in the papers the next day. So just maps. Like knowing where you're going. I mean, it's quite a distant. The backwards part is really, I feel like going to bite him in the ass. I really do.

We'll see. I think it's fine. Okay. It's funny. So the response to this is huge and the stock show breaks attendance records. Okay. Sure. Right?

Yes. Plenty goes to the Chamber of Commerce in Fort Worth. And he, hold on. My computer. Do you want to come backwards? And he says, look, I'm going to walk around the world backwards. You guys sponsor me. Give me 5K.

I'll promote Fort Worth wherever I go. It's an obvious. Absolutely. Obvious partnership. Yeah. How could it not? Taiwan. He's walked all the way to Taiwan somehow.

You guys ever heard of Fort Worth? Do you want to get travel advice from a man who has mirrors on his ears and is walking backwards? But, you know, it's the depression. So the city has no money. Right. Chamber of Commerce has no money. And he thinks about it and then he goes, oh, I will sell postcards as I walk.

I'll sell them to people and that will be my money to pay for the trip as I go along. I mean, again, I don't know if we're trying to get back as fast as possible, but we're talking about adding days and days and days to the trip now if he's stopping selling merch. But they're just postcards. Still. You're stopping. Yeah.

And you're walking backwards. Yeah. Daylight's your friend. Yeah, yeah. I don't imagine a lot of night backwards walking. Well, you don't know. I hope not. And so he sets off to walk around the world backwards.

So he leaves from Fort Worth. So he's going Fort Worth. He sets off from Abilene. Okay. So he's going Abilene to Abilene is the plan. Yes. And when he leaves, he has a black... Is anyone going like A?

Yeah, it's wife. Okay. Absolutely. Only person. There's definitely... There's people... Everyone's like, oh, go. But everyone's also like, what the fuck are you doing?

Not possible, though. Yeah. It's crazy. His mom was just like, oh, I'm worried. Thank God I had 14 others. So he leaves. He has a black notebook to keep records. He has a pen and a new Bible that a street preacher had given him.

That's what he's carrying. That's it. That's it. He doesn't have changes of clothes? I don't know. Are you serious? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That never comes up, but that was a very big concern of mine.

He does not change his clothes. He had to smell so bad. I mean, just in general, you just look shipwrecked. Yeah. You don't ever want to... Like another set of pants or shoes. I would imagine you want to back up her shoes, extra socks. Okay.

All right. Well, I'll tell you what. I was dubious and now I'm really, really worried. Yeah. So his friends gathered and family, when he was setting off, he shook their hands and thanked them, and then he walked off backwards. Well, if you excuse me, I'm off. I mean, that first moment, you're like...

That watch, because usually if someone walks away, they walk away. They turn and they walk away, but this is a slow, long awkward. All right. Well, I'm about to go on the journey now. Okay. I will see you later. Take care, everybody. Bye.

I'll miss you. Okay, bye. Good, gang. Okay, bye. See you later now. Okay. All righty. Okay.

Don't go in until you don't see me anymore. Yeah. I'm going to turn around. Am I going to hit anything? No. Does anyone want to come with me to just sort of point out if I'm going to hit anything? That... Thinking...

Sorry, I don't mean to come back, but... I'm thinking maybe I have a person who comes with me to see if I'm going to hit anything. Yeah, yeah. That would... A spotter. Yeah, spotter. Yeah. Take care, everybody.

So, he was wearing shiny black shoes and necktie, a homemade suit one size too large. I plan on growing. He had... He's five foot four. Okay. Okay. He had the glasses with mirrors and a cane with a buffalo horn handle. All right.

Oh, no. Oh, yes. Oh, my. Are you blushing? Or is she blushing? It looks like what I wore to prom. Yeah. I mean, if you're going to walk around the world...

Yeah. You don't think shorts? Shorts. And look at... Look at the... I mean, even though it's that time, there's no way there weren't better walking shoes. I mean, those are like... No, it's just the work shoe.

Like going to office. I'll be at a wedding and shoes like that and by the end of the day, I'll be like, I can't handle this anymore. I'm just deciding to walk around the world. And then they got little heels, little heel gestures. And I was worried the glasses would look crazy, but then you see them and you go, oh, actually, they just... They don't look...

But he looks insane. Yeah, he looks insane. So... Oh, my gosh. He quickly, as soon as he's out of town, a guy stops him and he's like, what are you doing, man? What's going on here? I'm trying to...

Time's kind of a factor for me on it. Do you want to buy a postcard? If not, I have to keep moving. Well, he talks to the guy and tells him. The guy asked him, the guy's like, how are you going to make money? And plenty says, well, I'm selling postcards. And the guy goes, I'll take one. But he doesn't have postcards yet.

So he didn't have a printed yet. So he takes the guy's address in his book and he's going to mail him one and the guy pays him. I am worried that we've already lost the purpose of the mission. He's now already like... I can hang out in town for a little while. I'm getting them printed. And let me send you one.

So I said, I owe you. I know he's a banker. It's like... So this happens for a while. He's just writing people's names down, taking money, and he's going to send them a postcard. People are doing it. Sometimes people are... He says, I'll do it for free.

It's charity. He's like, whatever you want to pay. So some people give him a buck and some people get 25 cents and some people are just, can you send me one? And he goes, yeah. Yes. But after a while he realized, oh, I should actually just charge them a mount. So he starts charging people 25 cents.

Okay. Apart. Now people would ask to try out his cane and his glasses and he would always say yes. Oh my God. He's saying yes? For a while. After a while he's like, I gotta go. I can't.

I have a family. My daughter's furious. My wife doesn't believe in me. By the way, I'm still in Abilene. It's been six days. It's been six days. I can still see my wife. She's furious.

I think I'm actually going to walk home for the night. I just give somebody postcards for future postcards. So the idea was he would go into a town and he'd go to the Western Union office and the guy there would stamp and sign his book with a date and time. And then once that happened, he could walk forward and spend the night in a hotel or whatever. And then the next day he would start from the Western Union office walking backwards. As he is able to break backward character for a while and walk forwards.

So he's clocking in and out. Oh, thank God. I can walk forward again. He's clocking out. Well, it's a job to him. He's clocking out. It's a weird job. So Dallas doesn't allow people to carry signs and he had a sign on his back that said around

the world backwards. Outside Dallas, he stops at a gas station. He's a friend. He's a friend. He needs somebody to just be a pal and shoot him straight. As I tell him, he stops at a gas station. Walking around the world backwards. You may have been seeing him.

He calls the mayor from a gas station. Hello, Mr. Mayor. It's me. Plenty. I'm walking backwards. I'm in your town. And the mayor's like, what a great idea. It'll be no problem here.

You can actually wear your sign here because this is a great idea of what you're doing. When he arrived, the mayor had sent a cop to the border and he escorts him through Dallas. Because a giant crowd swells when they see him, people are coming out to look at him. I would. Yeah. I absolutely would. I would. I would go up to him.

I'd be like, buddy, let me buy you a coffee. Let's talk for a minute. It's not a life. They follow him to the West Union and he goes inside and then he comes out walking forwards and the crowd starts to boo. Boo. No, I'm out of character. I'm a regular guy now.

Come on. So he explains to the crowd how it works and then they're like, oh, okay. Sorry, we booed. We didn't understand your weird quirks and sort it out. Yeah, I didn't know because it's a dumb thing that you're making up your own rules. So I guess it makes sense. It makes sense, but it's super weird. All of it's really weird.

I think it would be better if you walked around backwards all the time. I agree with him. I think even at night you should walk backwards and I think you should sleep on your head. Yeah, but whatever it's your own thing. I would, you know, okay. It's weird. That was good. Thanks.

Anyway. Cool sign. Do we clap or what? I don't know. He owes me nine postcards. I don't want one. I don't either really. I'm not.

Yeah. Whole thing seems kind of sad. Do you have any postcards in the Grand Canyon? Where's his wife? So the Dallas Morning News writes up a story about this guy. He finally in Dallas gets postcards printed. He splits them half. He can't afford them.

Does he have time for tasks like this? He pays the guy half and then when he makes enough money, he's going to send money and the guy will forward them to whatever town he's in. The other half. It's hard to know where he'll be for sure. Yeah. Where do you think you'll be in two weeks? That's hard to say.

He's having all his mail forwarded. So he'll go to a town. He'll go to like Dallas and go, okay, now I'm here. Can you forward it to whatever Oklahoma and Oklahoma City? Sure. That's what he's doing. And it's his only connection to his family, so probably important, I would imagine. So he's got the postcards and he's like, I got that to cover traveling costs, but I

just need a sponsor and that'll be for my family to make the money for my family. That's what the whole plan is to get a sponsor and make the big cash. And then after he's done, he wants to sell a book and become super rich. Sure. So he leaves Dallas. He's not always well received in the small town of Allen. He backed into a general store and an employee started screaming at him. He backed into...

Yeah, he's walking backwards into the store. He has to walk backwards until he gets to West Union. To shop. So he walks around the store. He's got to walk around the store. Or rest around the store. And he bumps into a guy and he's like, what are you doing? He's like, read the sign, pal.

I'm on a bit of a mission. The employee in the store yelled, quote, stop that nonsense and get out of here. We don't allow backwards walkers in this town. So he hustles away and then as he's walking away, he heard, he didn't just hear. He could have seen her because he's walking backwards. A woman comes out of the store and yells at him, come back, come back. Oh, God, I got to get, I got to hustle. He hustled back.

I got to hustle backwards. So this woman comes out and she's the owner of the store. And she's like, you're the man walking around the world. Come on, come in. Oh, thank you. And the guy who yelled at him then buys a postcard. I'm sorry. I didn't know that you were the guy walking backwards.

I thought you were a guy walking backwards. And Sherman, when he checked out of his hotel, they told him he didn't have to pay. So people are like, oh, taken care of him. Sure. He walked 109 miles in his first week. I mean, it is a good amount for a very good amount for walking backwards. That's a lot. Now, for the first time in his life, he left the state of Texas.

In Oklahoma, papers across the US and in Europe printed pictures of Mr. Plenty Wingo as he walked backwards. So it's in his one suit. It is one suit. How's that suit smelling? Not good. It's terrible. Not good.

Yeah. He's, yeah, I think he's following, he's just on a highway. Aaron, he doesn't know where he is. He's following highways. Yeah, he's just following the highway. So just going to take the 95 down into Louisiana and then hopefully get into the pit. Oh, God. I'm in Oregon.

Oh, God. No. No. How did this happen? Oh, no. I walked 109 miles in the wrong direction backwards. In Muscogee, Muscogee. Muscogee.

Muscogee. In Muscogee, I always thought that was in Florida. In Muscogee, a man asked him what shoes he wore. Plenty. Quote, it's a good brand, but until some shoe company decides to sponsor me, no one will ever know what kind of shoes I wear. I like the move. And the man was like, fair enough.

I like the move. I like the move. He is a walking NASCAR. Yeah. I like that. And the next day, some teens see him and they're driving along beside him and they start yelling out. Hey, why don't you walk forwards, you old piece of shit?

Basically, what tough gig you got, buddy? All right. You've had your fun, kids. Get moving. That's basically exactly what it was. All right. We had a good time. I remember when I was your age and I used to see dreamers and I used to mock them too,

but get moving. Come on now. By the way, which way is Oklahoma? Oh, you're in it. Oh, thank God. So one of the loudest kids in the car is challenged by his buddies to keep up with plenty for a mile. So a kid gets out and starts walking beside him backwards.

All right. Come on. There's only room for one of us doing this. Come on. Makes it a half mile and gives up. Ah, see you later, quitter. Which way's China? The boy, quote, you can have all the backward walking.

I don't want it. I don't want any of your backward walking, mister. So outside St. Louis. Good Lord. So now he's like curving up. He doesn't know where he's going. He can't see where he's going. He's following highways.

I feel like he's on Route 66. It's always been a dream of mine to walk it backwards. So outside St. Louis, a car pulls over and two men get out. Hey, why don't you try walking forward? They start chatting. They're talking for all. They're very nice. And this happens all the time.

So it's not unusual. And then one of the guys asks, he asks plenty, if he can carry him a short distance. Can I carry you? Would you mind getting in my arms? I'll carry you for a little bit. He's pushing it. Yeah, I don't know. Come on.

I'm a little uncomfortable. Well, I just, you need a break. I'll walk backwards when I carry you. No, I need a break. But that's, it's weird. It's weird. I'm trying to get publicity by carrying a guy walking backwards across the world. So.

Oh, you should have said that right away. I didn't know you were. Get in my arms. All right. Here we go. Oh my God. I feel like a baby. Feels good, right?

Yeah. This is nice. You know, I should get a Bjorn for you. Oh, yeah. We could do one of those things. I would love that. Can I, uh, nurse? Yes, please, please, please have.

Where do I do that? Um, the penis seems good. I gotta go. Okay. So when he asked him if he can carry him, Plenty says, quote, I don't know what your point is, but if you promise not to harm me, I guess it'll be okay. God. He's like a circus animal.

So the man scoops him up. What is with this guy? He's got a really weird little dream. He carries him the way a groom would carry a bride, right? Across the threshold. And he carries him about 20 feet and then he turns around and comes back and puts him down. Oh, he's like, I thought you were going to advance me.

Nah. You're right back where he started. And I don't want you to have an asterisk next to your walk around the world backwards goal. And then the guy lifts up his pant legs. His pant legs are Plenty's pant legs. No, his own pant legs. Plenty then reveals that he has two prosthetic legs.

Oh, wow, okay. And he's a rep for a prosthetics company and said if Plenty loses a leg on the journey, he'd help him get a new one. Wank, wank. You willing to play the game? What a crazy offer. Plenty, we would love to sponsor you with our prosthetic legs. Nothing's going to stand in the way other than the two real legs you're using.

We'd like to get rid of them. We're going to cut off one of your legs. We want to cut off. Put all these bad boys on here and see how far you get. I like the insinuation, too, like if an accident were to find your calf if you catch my drift. So Plenty thanks him. He's like, wow, that's really nice. It's a really crazy offer.

He goes on his way. When he gets to St. Louis, people are looking for him. They're waiting. They know he's coming to St. Louis. Right. They'd read about him and he feels like a big deal when he gets there. Sure. People are like, oh, it's the walking backwards guy.

Hey, something to do today. But he still needs to sponsor. Right. And back home, his brother and father, they've started picking cotton to make money because things are so bad. He's not going to cut his leg off, is he? And Della's letters are seeming very distant. David, David, David, you do not take a cut your leg off offer.

He promised her he would turn this into a fortune. He's promising his wife this is going to be our fortune. St. Louis is the shoe manufacturing center of the world. So he goes to every shoe company in St. Louis. Okay. Nobody's interested. That's crazy to me. Isn't it?

Yeah. That's totally like, because the mission is absolutely stupid. Yes. But the plan of getting publicity out of it clearly works. Clearly works. Yeah. And he could say, I'm wearing Nike. Yeah.

And he would be, yeah. And everywhere he went. And people would be like, oh, it's the Nike. Yeah. It's the Air Moron. 100 percent would totally work. So while he's there, he meets this, it's a lonely rich guy. It's a rich guy.

His family left him a long time ago, but he's super rich. Hello. So when he stays in his mansion. You stay here with me. We are friends. All I have are rooms. Do you want to hang out with an old man who loves your walking backwards? You can walk sideways here.

I won't tell. I need his smithers. Hello. So the guy takes him all over. He takes him to his first professional baseball game. This is the baseball game. Oh, the Cardinals beat the Giants in that one. Fuck you, Aaron.

Hell yeah. And they go to his speakeasies. He just takes them all over. He's just paying for them and they're having a good time. Let's get drunk. And then? You're the best friend I've had since my family left. What an odd duo, eh?

Who'da thunk it? An old rich man alone and a guy who has crazy glasses with mirrors walking backwards around the world in one suit with a Bible and postcards. I gotta go. Okay. I just gotta take off. I need someone to wash my behind. I really gotta go because I am.

Wash it backwards, then you can do it. It's not a thing. We had a great time. I mean, yeah. We are best friends. Up until a point. Friends. No.

You know what? I'm coming with you. No. I'll follow you. No, no, you're good. We got this. We got this. Wrapped up.

I'll drive it. We're not driving. I'll get on your back. We'll do it together like we always do. The duo. We've never done it. Plenty and gramps. Back at it again.

We're doing it one more time. I don't know. I can't. I'll tell you one thing, Plenty. I'm getting a little too old for this shit. I am. I'm kidding, though. I want to do it.

No, you shouldn't. I just, come on. You'll die. I'm dying now. I gotta go. I have days left. Okay, bye. Bye.

So, when he leaves, the guy gives him an envelope, and he goes, only open this when you're really desperate. Okay, I'll open it right now. And I'm desperate. And he leaves St. Louis, he gets an East St. Louis, and an angry cop storms up to him. Quote, you can't walk backwards here. Cops. Come on, cops.

Would you be chill for once? You can't walk. Hey, buddy. Come on. Come on. I got a 419. We got a guy walking backwards. He shouldn't be.

We ain't. We ain't. We ain't just kind of fucking town, buddy. Hey, you're walking backwards. Why don't you go back to St. Louis? You're in East St. Louis now, Jagoff. So Plenty explains to him what he's doing, because it's a whole thing I'm doing, and the cop's like, look, you might get hurt.

Look. I'm not letting you do it. Look, I know you've been walking backwards for a while now. You're lucky you ain't gotten hurt. Your fucking dream's over, kid. All right. Now walk forwards home. So Plenty picks up a rock, and he draws a line on the sidewalk with it.

And then he walks to City Hall and talks to the police chief. And the chief just laughs, because the chief's like, I've been reading about you in the papers. I know who you are. And the police chief writes him a note saying he can walk backwards anywhere in East St. Louis. And then Plenty goes back to the place where he drew the line and starts walking backwards again. And then the cop sees him.

Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. We talked about this. One more time, you're going to jail the right way. You city fuck. You city folk think you can come here walking backwards.

So he starts screaming at him, and he runs over and grabs him by the collar and starts shaking him, and he's like, you're not walking backwards in my town. And Plenty takes out the note and shows him, and the cop's like, all right, go ahead. Other officers, let this guy walk backwards. Chief. Wow. That's pretty airtight. And the cop says, quote, all right, go ahead and break your full neck for all I care.

And then he lets him go. Thank you. The next day, the St. Louis star printed the story about his run in with the cop. It would have been great if he had to run away from the cop. Geez, this isn't easy. This isn't easy. This isn't easy. So he goes to Chicago.

His aunt lives in Chicago. That's why he's going there, because it's a way out of the way. No, but Dave, when you have family, you have to stop by or it's rude, whether you're driving, flying, or walking backwards on foot. I mean, he essentially, he moved, he went east a little bit, and then just went north. No, it absolutely makes no sense. So as he's walking to Chicago through Illinois, a patrolman stops him, Highway Patrol, and says there's a law against walking backwards on Illinois roads.

How is there a law? There isn't. They just make, it's not a law. It's not a thing. It's like, there's no way it's happened before. No, never. Yeah. This is the first.

And the cop gives him a warning and says, quote, don't let me catch you on again. You better be walking forwards if I see you again. I see you again, kid. You better be walking forwards. How many times, kid? It's over for you. Look, you go to a lot of towns. You can walk forward.

You can walk backwards. You're in Chicago. It's still windy. I put a lot of guys in there. Click for this shit. I've seen some of the best minds of my generation killed by walking backwards, and I'm not going to go through that again. You know how this Capone guy started?

Backwards. That's right. It was backwards. Our Capone was a backway. It was called Backwards Capone at the beginning. Yeah. They called him E-E-E-N-O-P-O-C. That's right.

Backwards. Yeah. I got to go. Yeah. We're taking off. I'm not good at these things. So. So he gets to his aunt's house.

Hey, I'm crazy. Hi, Aunt Grace. He's exhausted, but she's like, ah, I'm inviting over a reporter. So she has a reporter come over from the Chicago Daily News, and he's like, I got a pitch. Newsreels. We want to make a newsreel about you walking backwards. Great. So they film it.

It's just him in different places, Chicago. Walking backwards. Wrigley Field. And he watches himself. Michigan Street. He watches himself on June 25th in a movie theater before the movie. He watches the newsreel. And now he's like, I'm definitely getting a sponsor now, and this shit is blowing up.

And he needed it because Della has stopped writing back to him. OK. Well, she might just not know the address where he's walking. No. Everything is getting forwarded. I know. Oh. It's still crazy.

I know. Again, no one in Chicago wants a sponsor. Crazy. He keeps notes on people he speaks to, just the random people he's running into. Like he meets CG Warwick, who had a big two-wheel bicycle that was really fun. In Indiana, he met farmer TM Forrester, and they had a, quote, tree discussion. I get why his wife's pissed. He's not hustling.

There's no hustle. He's talking about trees to strangers. In Ohio, he spoke to Thomas McGorvey, who had been, quote, convicted for manslaughter. That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a lot. He's talking backwards, and people stop and talk to him, and he writes, man, slaughter.

I'm going to stop for a minute. That's interesting. Tell me about that. Tell me about how you killed the fella. Outside of Canton, Ohio, he's walking, and he's looking at the traffic, and he steps into a hole. It's about goddamn time. From the sound, he knew instantly his ankle was broken.

Oh, no. Oh, no. No. Doc, set the foot going the other way if you can. It'll be really good. Just turn it around. Break the other one, and then turn it the other way, too. Please.

Can you do the whole leg? The man stops and asks if he needs an ambulance, and planning is like, I can't afford this. Leave me. Oh, so it's nice to hear that America's been consistent in some ways. Yeah, yeah. There's nothing ever changes. That the first thing you worry about when you get hurt is don't call an ambulance. Oh, God, no.

I'd rather die here. Somebody don't call 911. So the guy called the sheriff, and they take him to a hospital, and he has taken a mercy hospital, which is run by nuns, and they treat him, and they let him stay there for free until he heals, which is three weeks. Because he's the guy walking backwards. Yeah, I get it. But his wife is just like, Jesus Christ.

I mean, it's over, right? She's already remarried. Well, so he's ready to go again. And he starts walking. Well, he doesn't start walking. He leaves the hospital. He goes back to the hole, and he steps in it, and then starts walking backwards. Damn.

It's like a golfer. Like, no, no, no. I don't cheat. Well, he's worried that someone's going to catch him. Right. But the idea that someone is watching him this closely. No, no one's. Yeah.

So he's heading east. He's very worried that Dull is not running him back. Yes. I think I might need to walk home for a minute. And he gets to West Virginia. He starts running out of money, because people in West Virginia are just basically driving by him and yelling at him to get out of the fucking road, and no one's buying his postguards. Yes.

So he opens the envelope. Okay. 20 bucks. Okay. And that keeps him, he was going to have to sleep on the road that night. Okay. So that keeps him from sleeping on the road. All right.

And then he bumps into a guy. You feel like it's worth it, Dave? Yeah. Okay, so. Just checking it. Yeah, he's like a dream? Yeah. Our man's dream is worth it?

Is that what you're asking? Are you right? Oh, yeah. Very unfair, very unfair. So he bumps into a guy who. Literally. Is selling liquid sulfur cure. So it's a liquid.

It's like one of those many concoctions that people are selling. Sure. Right. Makes you nipples hard, gives you hair on your dick, all the things you need. All right. What? Wait. Turns your feet backwards.

Makes you want to have it. Oh, that one. Makes your family forget you tried to walk backwards around the world for a year and a quarter. I want that one too. Gives you normal looking glasses, and it lets you suit, not smell like horseship. Oh, that's me. Yes.

Well, then you're going to want this dual tonic right here. It's all in one. So he pays plenty, $25 to walk around town wearing an ad board for his cure. So he makes money. That's a lot of money. Sure. So it's got like 45 bucks. Okay.

And he starts writing in his journal all the things he could do with his money, including sending it to Della and his daughter. Sure. But it says he says he got, quote, stuck at a resort in Breezewood, Pennsylvania. So in a way, he doesn't want to go home. Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. He's like, yeah. He's a road comic making up gigs. Yes, he is. Yeah, no, I'm going to be in a deloo. That's an unadvertised feature spot. Delagon. I'm going to be in Delagon doing a show.

We're doing the Delagon improv. Yeah. Real big. It's a good gig. It's going to be great. Don't look it up in any way. No, it's not. It's off the map.

Yeah. Secret. Yeah. Secret. So did you not know about secret states? Secret town. The United States is actually 61 states. That's right.

A bunch of them are shushers. There's only ones just for comedians. Yep. That's what I'm going to Delagon. So he's at this resort and he gets a letter from Della. Okay. She's not written him now in 50 days. Quite a long time when you're alone walking backwards.

Yeah. And she's like, I'm sick of your dumb project. I'm barely getting by, your plan's not going to work and you need to come home now. His daughter also writes a letter and says, mom's losing weight and she's in health. Nice. That's good to hear. It sounds like things are going great at home. Anyway, I'll just continue on with my normal dream.

Glad everything's working out great there. I got stuck in a resort if you'll believe that. What a nightmare. Pictures. Send pictures of mom in this hot new look. Mom's gaunt. All right. I love gaunt.

I love gaunt. That's my thing. So the daughter basically is like, this is your fault. How is this my fault? The nerve. You don't talk to your father like that. What did I do? I've been passive in this whole situation.

You left us and walked backwards. In a lot of ways it felt like the house you lived in walked backwards and left me. That doesn't even make sense. Well a lot of it doesn't make sense. Now, I think we're all saying the same thing. No we're not. Keep going. Not at all.

I will. We're saying the opposite. I'll finish this. We're saying. I'll see you in Greece. Come home now. Your marriage is on the line. I can't.

I have a mission. This mission chose me, fam. Chose me. So he... By the way, do you guys need a tonic, Elixir? No. It's an all in one. No, I heard.

Makes your nipples hard. Hey, dick. Nope. Okay. So, Pliny is absolutely devastated by these letters. But what does he expect? I don't know. I mean...

I mean... It didn't feel like he had support when he left. No, he didn't. He did not. It's like, what, he expects it to go like they're going to get more into it? I do think he expected a sponsor and he would be able to send them money and they'd be like, yay. And probably maybe he would expect bigger press and...

Yeah, and I'm surprised. And he's getting a good amount. He's getting a very good amount. And I think we're both surprised he didn't get a sponsor at this point. Yes, I am surprised. So he gets the letters, he's devastated, and then he sets off and walks backwards toward Washington, D.C. This...

Capital. Just a man walking slowly down the road crying. Yeah, crying. Just like... I love him. I miss him. I miss Rich. I'm going to...

When I get to the end, they're going to love me. They'll be so proud of me. That's not what he's thinking. That's incredible. Incredible, yes. So in Delaware, a cop yelled at him for walking backwards. Of course, in Delaware. Has he left the town the next day?

He's got nothing else to do. Has he left town the next day? Probably one cop. A different cop yelled, quote, get out of town, we don't allow folks like you here. Oh my God. Goddamn freak. He's experiencing walk-ism? You're going to ruin our kids.

We don't like seeing you kind of walking around here. Excuse me, fella, you look like you might be lost. Actually, I'm incredibly lost. I have no clue where I am. I've been walking backwards. Where's your highway? I'm trying to do a highway. I keep looking at this map and then walking backwards and not knowing what in the fuck

is happening. Have you ever tried to follow a map while walking backwards? No gimme. No gimme. No gimme. No gimme. So he gets to New York. Unbelievable.

He walked all the way to New York. And now it's time for the underwater walk. And the fish are like, get out of this ocean. We don't allow a walk on his own. So he knows a guy in New York because a guy he went to high school with left the town and now works at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. Okay. St. Regis Hotel in New York.

And the guy's like, you can stay with me because I guess he lives in the hotel. But you gotta walk through the whole world. Just in the hotel. Jesus Christ, can you just please? So he stays with him and they start looking up all the shoe manufacturers in New York. No one will sponsor him. I feel like he's blacklisted or something. I feel like big shoes working against him.

I wonder if they meet him and there's something off. I mean what that could be. A man who smells terrible with backwards glasses, what do you think is the red flag they see? I'm very curious what you would think the problem would be. Oh, I gotta check my wife. Check your wife? That she's stuck in an airport. Which one?

She's in line between two Gen Zers who are yelling at their parents because they aren't going to make their connections. Yelling, this whole thing was mom's idea. Oh, yes. She's 100% getting stuck in Denver. Okay, cool. Oh, that was just there. It's great.

Tell her to go look at the crazy shit. Tell her you're in terminal B. Oh, yeah. So yeah, so they're trying all these, I mean, you know, there's a million places in New York and just no success. He also needs money to get on the shoe. It'd be great if like a platform shoe or a high heel company was like, we're interested in that.

No. Ladies high heel shoes. Sounds a little tough. I guess I'll give it a shot. Have you heard of stripper shoes? I'll try. Oh, this is adding months. Ow.

I re-broke it. He also needs to take it to get on a ship to go to Europe. He doesn't have enough money to get on a ship. So the Brooklyn Eagle writes a story about him and said he was trying to get to England. Still, nobody comes forward. And he starts thinking about giving up. He's like, is this dream happening? Sometimes I feel like this dream is just crazy.

Isn't that nuts because it's not? It's an amazing dream. I wouldn't give it a... It's a good dream. Yeah. Yeah. It's the best dream. Some people are like, I want to be a professional basketball player.

Some people are like, oh my God, what if I was an actor? Everyone's doing that. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. Everyone's doing that. Or someone's like, I want to be the best cowboy. Or, you know, there's all kinds of dreams. Some guys are just like, I want to be a good janitor or, you know, really solid dreams.

But you're just like, I want to, you know... Do something that seems so cool. Everyone thinks it's dumb. It's great. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, everyone's really impressed with it. You're an idiot.

Yeah. Look at me going like, there's the guy that gets it and is right on the money. Yeah. It is doing it right. Dumb as... Amazing plenty. I know. Anyone could be this dumb.

Calling plenty because he's got plenty of good ideas. He's a ship for brains. Pretty good. He's a good, agreed. He's got good brains. It's not great. Yep. Great stuff.

Happy to hear it. Back. So, he feels bad that he's living with his buddy in the hotel. So he gets a job in a cafeteria and takes a room in a boarding house. Dave, I did not think there would be job breaks. I didn't either, but there are. I guess I got to work at a cafe for a year. No, I got a wife and a kid, but this is better.

I'm interning at Rolling Stone. I'm not sure what's happening, but I will get back to it. I swear to God, hon. And then one day he meets a guy named Alexander Schwartz, and they start talking and plenty tells him about his situation. Quote, he says, I've tried about everything I can think of except maybe walking around the Empire State Building, and then Schwartz yells, that's it. You genius.

You've cracked it. Schwartz knows a guy who works at the Empire State Building, and he's like, I can get you on the roof. Plenty would walk around the top while a wire is holding him so he doesn't fall off. And no one down below can see it. Literal nightmare. No one down below can see it. And then everyone on the street will chair, and they'll sell ads to this show event.

They'll make money. So they go down to the Empire State Building, and they tell the guy the idea. The guy just laughs. He takes him up there, and it's so windy, there's no way. You cannot do it. It's like completely physically impossible. So then Schwartz go, hey, what about the Hirsch Tower? What if you die doing it?

Yeah, what if you... Then we get a coffin spot, sir. And on the way down, we'll be like, this is the one of the first guys to fall backwards up to his death. So he's like, what about the Hirsch Tower in Elizabeth, New Jersey? That's 14 stories, right? So they go and they look at it, and they're like, yeah, let's do it. The building's like, yeah, you can do that.

So they start looking for sponsors in Elizabeth Town. All the businessmen seem to know Schwartz, and not like Schwartz. Interesting. But they agree they'll sponsor it only if they pay afterwards. They're not going to pay him before. Not a red flag. Did you say it was red flag? Well, I'm still processing, but if I were a computer, my pinwheel would be spinning.

So he walks around Elizabeth backwards, Elizabeth Town, is it Elizabeth Town or Elizabeth? I think he said Elizabeth Town. I think he said Elizabeth Town. Whatever. So he walks around the town backwards with an advertising board on, and he's going to do this event. Crowd gathers, gets up on the roof, starts walking backwards. Now it has like architectural things that come up and block the way of the walkway.

So he's got like little things to worry about. So he's got to walk backwards, and then when he gets to them, the whole crowd gasps. And then he has to climb over it backwards, and every time he got everyone, they would all cheer. And then he walks the complete walk. Imagine giving him an iPhone. The crowd goes fucking bananas. This is amazing.

Holy shit, they have to invent television, they have to invent television. We need something to do. Ridiculous. And then he's done, and Schwartz is gone. Good. And so he waits for Schwartz at dinner they're supposed to have, he doesn't show up, he doesn't come to the hotel. Next day he goes to see the businessman, Schwartz already collected the money.

Great. Okay, good. Well, there we go. That's good. That worked out great. $86. Great. Didn't need that.

So that's cool. Plenty realizes he's been scammed. He's really bummed. It's something I'll go to Hearst Tower and ask the manager for a letter of endorsement. This guy does a good job with his backward walking. If I was ever going to hire someone who'd just walked backwards, it would no doubt be this guy. This is the guy.

And of all the... There's two others. Oh yeah, Randy's really good. Randy's unbelievable. I would do Randy. I'd go to Randy. I'd go to Randy. Yeah.

Yeah. So as he gets into the top of the building, and there's Schwartz, and Schwartz runs into another office and hides for a while, and then... Easy to outrun a guy walking backwards. He's not walking backwards. Oh, okay. I'll get you. I'm ready.

But he's probably atrophied now. He's like, I don't know how to go forward. No, I think when he walked forward, it was weird. Ow! Howie! So he waits in the stairwell because he knows that Schwartz will probably try to escape down the stairwell. And he does, and he beats the shit out of Schwartz.

It seems so out of character. I know. Totally out of character. He's just punching and punching him. He's not just punching Schwartz, he's punching his decision-making, he's punching the no shoe sponsors, he's punching his wife's anger towards him. He lost the restaurant. The disappointment of his daughter, yeah, the loss of his restaurant.

Schwartz must be old because he punches Schwartz's dentures out. Well, Dave, he's old. And finally, Schwartz is like, the money's all gone, I don't have any of the money. Good. He reaches into his pocket, he takes out six crumpled dollars. Yeah. So, plenty starts hitting him again, Schwartz runs, and he makes it out to the sidewalk and flags down a street cop, and then plenty is arrested for aggravated assault.

Took a dark turn. Yeah. Took a dark turn. Okay. Can you cuff me in the front? Because the way I do this... It will be my back if you think about it. Yeah, it'll be...

Please do it that way. It's my back. It's technically my back. Front to the back. Please. He gets put in jail, then all the local businessmen who hate Schwartz, they hear, and they come and they bail him out. Okay.

They're like, thanks for beating the shit out of that guy. Basically. And then they go to a hearing, and at the hearing, Schwartz is suing plenty for his dentures, which he never got back. The dentures were knocked out. Yeah, but he had 80 dollars. Right. And the judge is like, okay, fuck you, no one's getting fined, you're both just get out of

here. This is the dumbest shit I've ever heard. It does sound like a people's court case. It's on the level of insanity that I would expect it to be, either on Judge Judy or Greg Mathis. It's not a regular case. The defendant is suing the backwards walking man for denture assault in a stairwell. So he now heads for Boston because someone had told him of a shoe soul making company

that might sponsor him there. Okay. And he goes through Providence and in Providence, there's a letter waiting for him at the post office. Is his wife? It's from Della. I've got a good feeling. Yes, she wants a divorce.

Why? What about this doesn't work for her? I don't know. Why is she so difficult? Women are so selfish when it comes to- Support a dream, would you? Thank you. I can't do this without you, Della. I asked if you wanted to walk backwards around the world with me and you said that was crazy

too. So he signs the divorce papers and he keeps moving on. Man, can you imagine being single on this journey? Oh shit. Look out. Talk about. Ladypile. Backward banging.

So he's now wearing shorts. Is that a picture of Della? No, that's not Della. So he starts wearing shorts. Okay. Which the Boston Globe- Boy, somebody's single. Which the Boston Globe called, quote, sawed off knee pants. They never heard of shorts?

It's the best. They never heard of shorts. It doesn't matter. It's the best. Did I wear pants or my sawed off knee shorts to the beach? Did anyone have any thoughts? Just let me know, sawed off. Now his legs.

So his calves are basically on the front. My god, yes. Yeah. Like literally. He's built up that area. That muscle is enormous. And his calves are like, ow. And the back is nothing compared to the feet.

Right. Yeah. He's like, I mean he's developing like. Freak coming through. Freak. Put some goddamn pants on. You're scaring the children. The dogs.

The dogs are scared of you. These are sawed off pants. Jesus Christ. This is all crazy. So he gets to the guy at the shoe company in Boston and the guy's like, I can't. Well, I walked quite a distance backwards for this meeting. Yeah, it's not. It's not something.

I would really love you to reconsider. I've walked so far. I would, but your legs are upsetting in a way that I've never thought. They're fine. I want to throw up. Dear, relax. I don't want to calf shame, but you're fucked. You're fucked up.

You're fucked. You're a fucked up man. Look at the front of my legs. You should not be wearing shorts or sawed off pants. They're sawed off pants. You should be wearing sawed off knee pants. Well, I mean, I don't know what. We got off on the wrong foot.

Whoopsie. Why is one of your feet actually turned the wrong way? That was, they reset it the wrong. It's, I'm evolving in a way that's different. It's not good for business. It's not bad for business. What I'm suggesting here is that you have a one of a kind model here with me. And what I am pitching is that we get into the shoe biz.

You've got souls. I got goals. Let's do this. I don't want to. Let's start from the top again. Okay. From the top is I would like to not let you in my office. You wouldn't say that.

You let me in. It's so hard for me to accept what has happened with your calves. I'm plenty. Are those even calves anymore? They're. What do you call them? Leg parts. They're back legs.

They're the back legs. It's not back legs. It's a front. I have fraps. It's a front muscle. I have a front calf. It's a fraf. It's not.

It's awful. It is. Have you ever seen a guy who looks like he has his butt up front? No. Oh, well, you got to meet my friend, Rich. He's got crumpled. Jesus Christ. I wanted him to come with me.

I feel like this should less be about us advertising with you and more about getting you into a mental hospital. What shoe would I wear there? That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Let's join forces. We're not. I know a banana company because you're going bananas.

I'm going through a divorce. So. After that one, I took a sip. My wife has some smarts issue. Yeah. She's a smart lady. I've been gone about a year. Yeah.

I'm still in America. Barely. Six more to go. But the guy at the shoe company, he's like, we got a shipping guy. Maybe he can help you get on a ship to England. So it would have been good to plan some of this. So on January 12, 1932, the guy calls him up and he goes, I can get you to Europe. It's going to be Germany.

And he's like, okay. That's fine. I'll walk there. So on January 12, 1932, he gets on the Seattle Spirit ship and he's headed for Hamburg, Germany. Very quickly. Is he trying to do the most land possible or at this point he's just sort of like whatever I can get.

Most land possible. Okay. So when he gets on board, he comes on board and he says to the crew, quote, hello, hello everybody. Here I am. Bad idea. Bad idea to see him. And they're like, yeah.

The crew already knew he was getting passages of favor. Ship steward doesn't like it. Nobody likes it. But also think of how crazy he looks. Yeah. He's got that weird suit suit on. And he's wearing shorts. He's got his crafts.

Yeah. The glasses, the whole thing. Crazy glasses. And then he announces. It's like, yeah, dude, we know it's you. We knew it was you when we saw you walking backwards up the ramp to the ship. Guess who's here? It's me.

Backwards guys. Anyone on the ship? I can't hear you. Who wants a weirdo in their cabin? Hello. So they, the steward tells him he has to squeegee 14 cabins. Excuse me? That's not, that's going to take like days and days and days.

Like he's got a squeegee 14 cabins. So the first day he gets really seasick. He's in his bunk vomiting for four days, but the stewards still make him get up and work. He's got more to squeegee. He's squeegeeing and then vomiting where he squeegeed and then. That's tough for business. Yeah. Just like, they'd be like watching a window washer just throwing up on the windows.

He's cleaning. Oh no. Good poison. During that time as he's laying there sick, one of the crew comes in and he starts talking to him and he's being really nice, caring, you know. And at one point planning tells the guy, he goes, I was told I wouldn't have to work that much on this trip and now I'm having to work all the time. And that guy was just a snitch.

He was the stewards assistant. He goes to the stewards, steward is fucking livid. So he's complaining. Yeah. And he tells plenty, you're going to work eight hour days every single day until you get up this goddamn shit. No. And the steward just like hates him more and more every day.

And then one day he goes, look, I might not release you when we get to Germany. I might not let you go. What? And then plenty goes to the cab and he goes, is that something that can happen to the cabins? Like, yeah. Yeah. You can live here forever if we want you to. So did you not know that?

That's a ship. Did you not know ship rules? Yeah. The whole thing is that if we choose to have ownership over you, we can. Yeah. It's like slavery. So we're doing that. So yeah.

Yeah. Anyway. Hey, you walked really far though. Yeah. You had a good run. All right. When they land in Hamburg, Germany, the stewards like, I'm going to Italy, it's like 20 some odd days or something.

And he puts his assistant in charge of plenty. They have plenty's passport. So he needs his passport. Oh, shit. But they do have him by the boss. Yeah. And he's like, he gives him a job to do. He's like, you got to do all this work before you can go.

And he tells the guy, only give it to plenty when he's done with his work. So he's working like crazy. And after all these days, he finally gets his passport back. Okay. Now, while he was working, he found some lie. Okay. And once he gets his passport back, he had taken some of the lie. And he goes into the stewards cabin before he leaves the ship and he puts the lie in

his bed. Oh, Jesus. So. The irony. And then he gets off the ship and he goes to, he finds a boarding room in town, avoiding the hotel in the area where he knows the crew is staying. Yeah, of course. Steward comes back that night.

Oh, I'm just going to have a lie down. Takes a shower. Okay, I want to get nice and clean before I get into bed. And then gets into bed and starts fucking screaming. Skin is burning. Oh, what a crazy move. He knew right away who had done it. I've got my passport.

I guess I'm just going to chemically burn the captain. And he goes looking, so he goes looking for plenty because he's going to kill plenty. And that's purely a revenge move. He could have just snuck off the ship. No, but the, I mean, he was done basically. The steward was being a fucking monster. So. Yes, but I mean, you could have just walked away.

Yes, he could have left. This was a, this was a like, I don't like you. I do like that he's beating people and he's making lie beds. Yeah, he's definitely, he's definitely getting a little, he's finding his courage. Yes. Like the lion and the. Yes. Yeah.

Is it the lion that gets his courage? The lion gets his courage. He's the cowardly lion. What does the clown get? The clown, the clown, the clown was murdered in the first act. The clown was murdered. The clown was murdered in the first act. But the monkeys, they just ravaged him.

The underground monkey. Yeah, I've never seen clown meat. Yeah. But that was pretty good. Yeah. I would love to watch a movie where monkeys rip a clown apart. Make it happen. So he goes to his boarding room and he just stays in there and the, the stewards out looking

for him in Hamburg, they finally have to like drag the steward back on the ship. They're like, you can't, cause he's like thinking about just staying in Hamburg. I'm going to actually live here to kill him. Kill him. Is that cool? Yeah. I'm going to live here to kill him. And then after a few days, he goes to the harbor, sneaks around to make sure the ship's

gone. It is. And he starts walking backwards. The idea that he's like, ah, you're kind of a psychopath it turns out. So what's the deal? All right, well, that was a little breather and unpause because he had to start from the dock. Yes.

Of course. He's made a lot of rules. I've made up rules for my magic walk. This person who's been following him has also followed him to Hamburg. He'd found out about the, what happened with the lie and all that because one of the guys on the ship wrote him a letter and the crew loved it. Okay. Yeah.

Good, good last prank. So the Germans were interested in the walking backwards man on the street. They're all gathering around. It's curious how to weaponize him. It's crazy. Look at this. Could be a bomb. Pretty soon a reporter starts asking questions.

That's the deal. Why do you do this? Why you walk backwards? Seems very crazy and bad. Americans say, yeah. So he goes to the American Embassy, tells him what he's doing, they're like, oh, that's cool. They give him two cartons of cigarettes and wish him luck.

Hey, it's pretty stupid. Here's some smokes. He goes, he goes to a German police station. He's smoking? Everyone smokes. Yeah, I think so. He's just walking backwards, smoking. He, yeah, I know.

He goes to a, or he sold them maybe, I don't know, but I think he's smoking. I think everybody smokes. I think it's the law. That's just a crazy. What do you want? Camels? Marbles? Whatever.

My life's not really a life anymore. So, fun and out, whatever you want. So he goes to a German police station because he just doesn't want any trouble in Hamburg. Right, he wants to make sure, yes, he's been paraded before. He just wants a clear walk through Germany and so they have a little meeting and they talk about it and they go, it's not safe. We don't like this idea. So he whips out his glasses and he throws them on and he walks around the station to

the front door zigzagging between desks and like, when he gets to the door, the whole police station breaks into applause. It's just not what you would, it doesn't feel real. It doesn't feel German. Yeah. You have somehow warmed our hearts and changed our minds. I feel alive! We didn't know that you were such an adept angler.

So that's it, he's off across Germany. You zig, you zag. I zig, I zag. Very. Yeah, so he's just walking across Germany now. He's meeting people, everyone's very kind and they're helping him. There's not really hotels, it's not really a thing, so he needs help from strangers. Would you invite this smelly backwards walking?

It just seems like back then a lot of people let a lot of other people stay in their house. Yeah, no. They just leave doors open. It's crazy. Yeah. So, um, so they're giving him food, they're letting him stay for the night, communication very hard, right? Sure, yes.

So he's usually using pantomime or charades to communicate with people that he needs a place to stay. Cut off pantomime. And then he's walking around the world backwards. So, me, me, me, American, American, and my wife, not supportive, huge asshole. Yeah, finger off, finger come off. Well, the ring comes off. And then I'm walking the wrong way backwards around the world, you know, the whole thing's

the world. Yes. Yes. He's walking in circles. No, around the world. Uh-huh. Yeah. And I'm walking backwards.

Uh-huh. Around the, I need to sleep. He's tired. Yeah. I need to sleep here. He's a tired one, yeah. And eat. No, no, no.

You want porridge? Food. Yes, to be a porridge. Yes. In the bears. Yeah, no bears. Sorry. See, someone said bears, which is alarming.

The three. Oh, Goldilocks are the three bears. Sure. Yeah, sure. And whatever temperature, because I'm going. He's jogging. This way backwards. He likes to exercise.

Yeah. And I have one suit. I smell like shit. He needs to go poop? No, no, no. No, I smell like I pooped. He needs to make boom, boom. I smell like I made boom, boom because of my suit.

He wants to shit in his shirt. No, no, no. No, no. No, it smells like I shit in my shirt. I didn't. But it smells smelly. Ooh. Uh-huh.

His smell is awful. Yes. Yes, bad. Yes, bad. Yes. He likes to smell of his own. Actually, I'm sorry. I did shit my pants.

I just realized I actually did shit my pants. I'm sorry. I should. I did shit. He has medical problems. I did shit my pants. He's unable to hold within himself his shit. Sure.

I shit my pants. I just say I shit my pants. You must be a thing here. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So do I live here for a couple of days? Please go away.

Okay. Well, that's a lot of energy I just expounded on my pitch for you to just tell me to go away. I mean, you were very positive when it came to the porridge and stuff. And now it's... I think France more for you. It's really far. I'm walking backwards.

I'm not walking forwards. I'm not jogging. You just seem very French. I'm... No. Why? Because I'm smoking so much. It's just gross and you're shitting yourself.

I didn't... Are your neighbors cool? I'm going to every house. Okay. You're a real dickhead. You know that? Hello. Bye.

Bye. Hello. So in Berlin he goes to the Paramount Pictures Corporation because he'd met a man in Connecticut who told them to look up his cousin when he got to Berlin and they filmed another newsreel. Wow. That's crazy that that actually worked. Yeah. He goes to the American Consulate.

They... Stupid American tries dumb shit. They had a letter there from his mother addressed to the man who walks backwards. Well, that'd be me. And then when he left, they gave him two cartons of cigarettes and wished him good luck. Good luck.

I don't smoke. You don't now? Try. So winter comes and he's walking in the snow. Oh my God. Not great. Also doesn't have, he's still got that fucking suit. He doesn't have the right clothes.

He's got the shorts, but he doesn't have like the right clothes for this at all. So some men in a pub ask him what he's doing and then he tells him and they give him secondhand clothes for the winter. Okay. So at least he's got that. He's still walking through the snow backwards

which is a fucking nightmare. Well, by the way, it's also what every parent told our parents they did as a child. That's right. One man actually did do it. Yeah, no, I walked backwards through the snow. So he crosses into Czechoslovakia. Oh my God.

It's just, I cannot believe that he is this. I mean, he walks through America. Yeah. And now he's in Czechoslovakia. Yeah, it's insane. It's insane. And he goes into the small village. Now he still has the sign on his back

but now it's in German because they made it for him in German. I bet you it said something like dumb shit. And the locals they see him and they are fucking furious. Okay. They start screaming at him. They're running up and spitting in front of his feet in the dirt.

Some are holding others back because they're trying to attack him. Oh my God. And he's like, I'm gonna have to fight my way out of this village. Backwards. They hate backwards people. Yes. And the further he goes into the village,

the more people coming out. And then they just a mob is formed and they're starting marching towards him. And then a cop comes out of nowhere and he tells all the people to stop. And he takes plenty into like a small tavern and sits them down. Tries to talk to him, realizes he speaks English,

goes and gets a translator. And then he listens to his story. And he goes, oh, the villagers thought you were German because you had a German sign on your back. Oh. And they fucking hate Germans. I hate Germans too. They were gonna beat the living shit out of you.

They would not let me stay there. Even when I pooped. So. And they're like, no, you're fine. You're American. You're good to go. Oh, okay. So they don't kill him. Wow.

But it is way funnier to think that the Czech people are just living in a backwards walk or are going to kill him for that. So he goes on to Prague and he meets a rich guy there who loves his story, buys him a new suit. Oh my God, talk about needed. In Vienna they write a story about him in Romania. Romania?

In Romania he's like, oh my God, it's been a year. I've been walking for a full fucking year. Crowds of Romanians are following him around Bucharest in Bulgaria. A Methodist minister gets him a few days in a hospital for free because he looks so sickly because he's so skinny. Things are not good when someone's like,

you probably just need a few days in a hospital. Like you're not, but someone's just like, go to, just take three days in a hospital. Just go to the ICU for a few, would ya? Honestly. He walks across Greece, he gets to the Turkish border. Oh my God. And they're not amused.

They arrest him, they throw him in jail. Oh my God, it's just, it's just, it's just, I mean, he's crazy, that's bullshit. You can't just literally throw a guy in jail for walking backwards, it's just like, come on. A man who speaks English comes and asks him what he's doing and if he had enough money to get through Turkey, could anyone send him money from America?

Obviously they're trying to get money, right? And after a few days they release him and he gets to Istanbul and he realizes they sent word head, because right when he gets there, a bunch of cops come and arrest him again. Right, so they now have a money-making scheme. Yeah, they take him to the capital city murder jail.

Sure, yep, right, that's pretty, that's certainly, that's what, yep, that doesn't sound like a Marvel name. That's fine. We're gonna take you to murder jail. Every morning they would take him to a courtroom and he would pantomime to a judge and then we put back in his cell. So, okay, me, me, not from here,

walk backwards around the world, me, me, oh fuck. Then one day he's in the jail and he hears someone talking English and he yells out and the guy comes over, he's an assistant American ambassador and he goes, I'll look into your situation. So in the US, the AP has now printed a story about his imprisonment.

Oh my God, imagine being his ex-wife, like Jesus Christ. It was headlined Texas Crab in jail. Texas Crab in, yeah, it's the Crab. Because he walked backwards. Yeah, but crabs don't walk backwards. No. So the American console, the guy, the ambassador is just not interested in helping Plenty.

He thinks his walking backwards is just fucking dumb and pointless and if he decided to do that, he can find his way out. Plenty still doesn't know what the charges are. He doesn't know why he's in jail and then he finally finds out through this assistant ambassador, he doesn't have enough money to get through Turkey and walking backwards is a public nuisance.

So he's a public nuisance. Yeah. And he, the guy goes, you need a credible person to sign for you and say you won't do anything illegal and you'll be on the up and up. Then you can maybe walk backwards. And then you can walk backwards. So he begs the assistant ambassador to do it.

Another AP story is printed. This one had a Plenty quote. If only, if they'd only let me go backwards, it wouldn't be so bad. But I get all tuckered out now when I have to walk forward. It uses such different muscles. Wow. He has completely swapped his leg muscles.

Yeah, his leg muscles are completely reversed. He's like an astronaut. When he's probably got like, he really probably does have like hooves at this point. I just, I can't imagine what his legs look like. I would love to know what they, I mean, they must just look like, that's right. They probably claws.

That's why they call them the crab. Yeah. So the assistant ambassador finally agrees to sign the papers, but he still can't convince the Turks to give Plenty his passport back. Now this, I don't understand. He's trapped in Turkey walking backwards. They're saying we want you to have money to beat,

we want you to have enough money to be here, but we're keeping your passport. So I don't know what the fucking deal is. Right. Plenty stops by the ambassador to see if the, embassy to see if the man ambassador is there. He's not. And as he's walking out, he meets this rich Italian guy,

A.R. Sarelthi. Sarelthi. And they, they need to become friends. They start talking, they hit it off. And Sarelthi has, he's really rich. And he has a very fancy hotel room and they go back there and he's like, look, man, if you want to stay here, like I know you're totally fucked.

There's many rooms in this hotel room. And you know, why would you pay money if you don't have any? So he goes, you can totally stay here. And he does. And they start hanging out and he's taking, he's taking Plenty all around Istanbul, paying for everything. Does he, does he walk backwards when he's

recreationally going out? I think he is now, but I can't say for sure. But based on what he said to the paper, I think he is. That's good. That's nice. That's good. He's completely. And he's like, can I pay for some of this?

And the guy's like, look, I'm rich. It doesn't, like, why? It doesn't matter. And money is not an issue. So he goes back to the ambassador and to try to get the ambassador, he gets his passport back and the ambassador's like, I don't like what you're doing.

Because I can't, I can't condone it. He's sure that if Plenty walks onward to Persia, that he's fucking dead. He says, quote, there are places in these countries where there are no roads at all, just desert, jungle, mean people, heathens, wild animals, snakes. Let him walk through the jungle though.

Let him please walk through the jungle. I want to hear him walking through like Cambodia. I want to see him figure out how to get out of a Puma attack. Oh, backwards. To be fair, the ambassador has been all over the world and war is happening in Persia at the time. And he's probably right on some level, like a dude walking through the jungle

at the very least is going to get malaria. That's dangerous. Yeah. But that's it. So his journey is- That's it. Ended. He can't get out of this.

Okay. So he's in Turkey? Yeah. Okay. And so he finally accepts it. He's like, I guess I gotta go home. And he's like, I'll- Gonna be a long walk back, but I'll do it.

Here's what I'll do. I'll go to New York and then I'll somehow get to California and then I'll walk backwards from California to Texas to wrap it up. Okay. So he tells his Italian friend and they spend more time partying all around Istanbul. Like he's just having a great fucking time.

Sure. But Plenty's a little bit suspicious because this guy's being really generous. And then when he's speaking to business associates, they would always look at Plenty and laugh. Because they're talking in Turkish and doesn't know what they're saying. And the ambassador's like, look, this isn't normal

for someone to be this generous. I would just keep your eye out. Like there's something off here. Oh boy. And then Serelti's like, hey, I will, I'm going to France. My business is up here. I gotta go to France. I'll pay for your way there if you wanna go there

and you can get back to America from there. It'll be easier. And then they get on the ship and he brings two extra trunks and you guys, can you tell people these are your trunks? It'll just, it'll save me money. Sure, yeah. And the guy who has tons of money is not trying to save a couple of bucks.

I've watched Lock Up Abroad to know where this is headed. Will you just take these two cocaine? I mean extra bags. Bags of cocaine, boxes, cocaine boxes. Extra suitcases with Coke. Did I see cocaine boxes? What I meant is Coke. No, suitcase, jam.

Box, it's a box. This is clothes. It's a closed box. Don't open these. Full of their clothes. Don't sniff it either. Don't need to do anything. Don't lick it. So plenty's like something's off here and he runs off the ship and tells the ambassador

what's going on, gets back on. Wait, he runs and tells the ambassador, hey, this dude's giving me like cases. Yeah, he's reminding, it's shady. I'm gonna, and then he goes back to keep up appearances, okay. So when they get to Merci, the cops are waiting, but there's nothing in the trunks.

The ambassador thinks that the drugs were unloaded at a stop in Naples. Okay. Plenty would later write that he helped catch a drug dealer, but there's zero record of it. We gotta go with the ambassador's version, which is there was nothing there, but something had gone down.

Right. Most likely, Plenty tipped the guy off and got money. Okay, right, okay. But then they watched Plenty when he was in France for three days and he was staying in the worst places and acted like he had no money. Okay. But, so the French consulate gets plenty of job

on a steamship heading back to the US and he arrives in New York on June 15th, 1932. Okay. He never said, so this guy is like, hey, I'm going to California. He meets a guy going to California, driving in a Ford. Jesus Christ. I don't know how this shit happens with him,

but he meets a guy that guy's like, hey, I'll take you to California. Sure, are you cool or crazy? Either let's do it. You seem normal, you're just walking around the world backwards. Four or five days with a car with you. So.

You have to drive backwards. Oh, fuck. Is that cool? Yeah. Thank you. So he agrees to split gas money and pay for hotels. Now, where did he get the money to do that? Hmm.

And then when he gets to California, he goes to the Summer Olympics and he's watching the Olympics. Sure. He's probably like, I can't believe they don't have a backwards walking around the world event. It's crazy.

I'm sure they will at some point. Sure. They can scam. So he starts walking backwards again and in Anaheim, people surround him at a gas station and a cop sees, pulls up, tells everyone to get out of there, scatter. Now, play has changed a little bit

and he's like, look, it's not illegal to walk backwards and I can talk to these people. There's nothing illegal going on here and the crowd starts to boo the cop and then shout at him. The cop gets in his car. He's had enough. Yeah.

He's no longer rolling over. Yeah, someone has found their courage. Yes. So then he walks through the fucking desert. Oh, backwards. Backwards. It's 120 degrees in the desert. It's August.

Time to start pushing that peanut. Yes. It's fucking August. He sleeps on the side of the road or shitty hotels if he can. In Phoenix. Oh, nice. Phoenix in August.

That was just there in August. Let me tell you. A cop stops him in Phoenix and says it's against a lot of walk backwards. He handcuffs him and takes him to the station. Was it Joe Arpaio? Yes, he was around back then. Takes him to the station, takes him downstairs

and then downstairs there's an old friend of Plenty's waiting, there's a police chief and reporter, ha ha, it's a joke. Okay, ha ha ha, good joke. Yeah, it's great because it's based on my trauma that I've gone through. It keeps happening. For the last 18 months.

And you're in a Turkish prison. They threw back, this lets you know it's not so funny because I was put into Turkish prison. So he gets to Texas, now he knows people in every town he's in because he's getting back home and he finally walks into Abilene. People there on the streets are waiting for him. It's a big, big to do.

His brothers, his family, Della and his daughter. Della. Della's now a nurse, Vivian's a hostess in a restaurant. So they're doing okay. Okay. People are like, why did you do it? I don't know. But yeah, I mean, basically his reasons changed

and he just says, I wanted to see the world. Okay. Sure. And he also says, Fort Worth has given me a big wad of cash. The postcard. The commerce. But that's not true.

That was, he was just making that up. No one was giving him money. I think he just didn't want to see it. Yeah, he didn't want to be like, I came back broke. Yeah, this didn't work out at all. Well, I'm actually talking to a guy about cutting off one of my legs. So that's a deal I'm looking to kind of just

thread the needle on. So there's no money. The entire trip took one year, six months, nine days and he had four dollars. Well. But he did see the world. Worth it. He did see the world.

He met people in a way you don't meet people, right? I mean, there was that. Yeah, sure. So afterwards he lost his wife. Yep. But she probably sounds like he wanted to a little bit. Like he... It seems like you don't go walking backwards alone

if you're like, I love you. Yeah, yeah. So he moved to Archer City and he got a job as a cook. Della then moved there and in the late 30s, they remarried. Aw. Did you just do me one favor and don't walk backwards across the world again? No promises, babe.

Okay, I love you. And then they looked at the camera. They opened another cafe together but then they divorced in 1943. Well, I'm off. In 1945, he got a job at another cafe and fell in love with a waitress. Okay.

She was 18. Oh, Jesus. He's 51. Jesus, God. I wanna show a picture of her for Gareth. He married Juanita in 1946. I'm sorry, is that the waitress? Yeah.

And she's wearing his crazy glasses, which now that I'm seeing up close are even crazier than I thought. Yeah. And he's wearing flashlight glasses? Yeah. Okay. She's, yep.

Okay. All right, that's, sure, but yeah. So they would move around the country just working in hospitality for years. They were house parents at UCLA at the fraternity, a fraternity UCLA for a couple of years until a pledge choked on raw liver during hazing and the frat was shut down.

Well, that's good that that's consistent. He would always, for the rest of his life, tried to make money off of his walk. He carried his journal around and his newspaper clippings with him all the time and would show them off. Ha! He brought it up so much that it annoyed everybody. I bet.

Yeah. It is, it is. Just people he knew, he would just always, yeah, that time I walked around and was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we remember plenty. Yeah, we know, Jesus Christ. You know what that reminds me of? Yeah.

You know what Guacamole reminds me of? Fuck what? Do you know what Guacamole reminds me of? No. You really don't? No. When I walked around the world backwards for 18 months. All right.

Just. Do you see, because I saw some, I saw avocados on my walk backwards. I gotta let you go, I can't have you work here anymore because it's intolerable. I was like go once when I was walking around the world backwards. Don't do this.

I need this. It was gutting. To end the conversation. I had a lot of tough spots there. Dello was upset. The conversation ended, I needed to end. I know what it's like to feel like things need to end because when I was walking backwards around the world,

I was like, this has gotta stop. But I didn't want to stop. Yeah, that's the. Broke a old man's dentures. Yeah. If I don't look at you, or say anything, will that be helpful? Well, if you're having trouble looking at someone,

I'd recommend putting out a pair of glasses with mirrors on the side. I did that actually when I was walking around the world backwards for a good couple years. That's fair, it's not fair. And it was a way to sort of see behind you. I was very agreeable to my own thoughts when I was walking around the world backwards for a while.

So I was sort of like doing what you do. I'm like, and I was kind of doing that to myself. I need poison, I need. I felt like that too. This guy actually had this all-in-one tonic that sort of reminded me of poison. The bottle looked like poison. I was walking around the world backwards at that time.

So that's very interesting that you say that. That's obviously very connected. This guy had an all-in-one elixir. And then I met a really rich guy. And that was when I was walking around the world backwards. Yeah, fuck, that's something I didn't do a lot of when I was walking around the world backwards, I'll tell you that.

My calves were fucked though. But no, Della left me. But that was when I was walking around the world backwards, which I did do, not the whole world. Because eventually I got some places and they, I mean, I was looking at a backwards walk through the jungle and they told me that those monkeys will just rip me apart like a clown.

So I was like, I can't do that. Are you laughing? I didn't do a lot of laughing when I was walking around the world backwards because there wasn't a lot of light thoughts in my head. Yeah. I'm so tired. So?

You know what made me really tired? He worked on the book for 30 years. He finally finished the book in 1966, 1966. It's full of mistakes, it has tons of photos. Well, he only had 30 years. One chapter was, quote, I startle the mule. That's a good one.

Yeah! That's how you know those days were filled with a lot of entertaining stuff. You know which chapter we could probably lose is the one where you startle the mule? So no one buys it. Interesting. He was in Ripley's, believe it or not,

and the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest backwards walk, 8,000 miles, still is. Crazy. Johnny Carson had him on The Tonight Show in July 1976. He's 81 years old. That was to promote a backwards walk he was doing from LA to San Francisco, 400 miles, at 81 years old. And he did it because he was getting $500

from Ripley's, believe it or not, where the walk would end. Oh my God. He also got $370 from The Tonight Show. That haul was the most he ever made from the walk. One of his sisters died in 1988, and when the funeral was over, he set up a card table to sell his books in the church.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Now you know why he didn't get a sponsor. Oh no. Right? He didn't get a sponsor because he was crazy and annoying, I think. In 1990. Are you okay?

That's hard. You know, we all agree, in different ways. I actually wrote a book. Have you ever startled a mule? You're gonna love Chapter 19. Oh, and I have googly eyes, if you want to buy those for $2. I'll miss her, but at least I have these things.

The book then, and at least I have a two for one sale. Oh yeah, yeah, so it's just, it's six bucks each, or it's two for 10. In 1991, he was living in Wichita Falls, Texas. 91. Yeah. He had medical bills, so he called the reporter and said he was willing to sell the rights

to his feet after he died. The story was in all the papers in the US. No one took his offer. He died at home on August 2nd, 1993. Wow. How old is he? What? Jesus.

90s? He's in his 90s, yeah. Wow. Was he in his 90s? 86. 70s. 605. No, he born in 2000.

Yeah, it was almost a hundred. Wow. Late 90s. Most of this, all of it, was just from the book, The Man Who Walked Backward by Ben Montgomery. Wow. It's a great, great history book. What a great little story.

Isn't that crazy? That's crazy. It's crazy that, I mean, I guess it makes sense. You've never heard of him in a way, because it's like, he didn't really do too much. But I, you know, you talk about hearing things on this show where you're like, this is exciting. Hearing the thesis statement of a man

is going to walk backwards is exciting around the world. I mean, what in the fuck happens in people's brains? You know, we all process trauma in our own ways. I mean, is this shit? It's none of this shit. The flagpole sitting, which was a big thing, people would sit at flagpoles for days. None of this is different than the shit you see on YouTube

where people just desperately trying to, none of it is. It actually reminds me of David Blaine. Like, it's like that level of, because it isn't a way mind over matter shit. It's like, that is a crazy thing to do. To walk that far, you really, I mean, obviously at times they're thinking about stopping or getting depressed about it.

I mean, just imagine how, I mean, he must have been in so much pain. I would think he would be in so much pain. I mean, I just can't imagine swapping your calf muscles to the front of your leg. No. It must be very strange. Oh, it's gotta be insane.

And the fact that, why not? Yeah, all your hamstrings, everything would be all out of whack. Yeah. You would think for years. He would be on Rogan. Oh yeah, he would be on Rogan for sure. I just, I don't know.

I'm like, I do, it is, it's hard to get a profile on this man's mental state. It's not great. It can't be great. There is also, I think, for me, it just seems like it's a desperate desire for fame. That's all I wanted. It was just fame.

That was it. It's true. He didn't want anything else. He didn't care about his family. No, YouTube is a good comparison. It's like, he's just, he's trying to go viral. Yeah. Yeah.

He was trying to go leg viral. And I'm sure the selling of the books and the funeral, that's just to get people to see what he did. I don't think that's wrong. I don't think that's wrong. I remember when my grandmother died. I was selling CDs.

Well, yeah. I mean, the funeral parlor that we took my dad to, they have a merch area. Yeah. And they get a 25% discount. Well, that's my favorite thing to ask anyone who's officiating some sort of funeral. What's the merch situation?

Do I do merch before or after? I feel like get them on the way in so they're not sad. Is that crazy? You know what I'll do? I'll set it up and I'll do it before and after. Now, we got the, we have the earn and we have, we have the date I'll set up. Okay.

Do you, would you like us to make shirts? Would you like, we can make hats. I think hats and koozies. Yeah, we can make koozies for sure. People love koozies. Well, they're cheap to make and people love them. And they're cheap. And they're tasty.

We can make them very tasty. And it's easy to pack and stuff. They don't need to be tasteful. We can do like a goodbye gams. We can do a, I would maybe lean. I would maybe go more in the direction of like, you know, we're all grieving, but only one of us has felt that walking around

the world backwards. Oh, oh. You know, tilt it my way. I love that. Tilt it my way. I love that. I think that's the way to go. And then.

We also have fake turds. That's great. That's great to hear. Yeah. I'm gonna definitely want those on the merch table. And I'm thinking while we cremate, maybe I'm walking backwards along the stage and putting out the candles or something.

Sure, we could do that. Whatever it is. And maybe I'll walk around the coffin a couple of times backwards when you, and I also think what would be cool if you're down, maybe we bury her and then exhume it, sort of like a backwards funeral. Just to kind of play into the whole theme

of my life and career. We can sell a shirt of her coming back up out. That's great. That's great. That's great. My heart's in the right place. I love what you guys are doing here. This is gonna be awesome.

I'm really excited for my sister's funeral. Let's do this. Let's fucking do this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, normal stuff, Dave. Normal stuff. Normal stuff, as usual. We did it again. We did it again. All right. Bye. We sign calves.

Bye.