Wonderful! - Wonderful! 328: You Told Me About Stetson

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

Rachel's favorite call signs! Griffin's favorite candy-swapping game! Music: “Money Won’t Pay” by bo en and Augustus – https://open.spotify.com/album/7n6zRzTrGPIHt0kRvmWoya Equality Florida: https://www.eqfl.org/

Hi, this is Rachel McElroy. Hi, this is Griffin McElroy. And this is Wonderful. Thanks for listening to Wonderful. It's a show where we talk about things we like, that's good, that we're into. We know you have lots of choices when it comes to podcasts about things people like, that's good, that they're into.

You could listen to Awesome. That one's done by another married couple, Bob and Susan Jenkins. That show is way bigger than ours. And for good reason, they're great. I would love like a super cut of McElroys coming up with fake names on the fly. I don't know why I can do first names so easy. As soon as I hit the surname,

it's like a wall forms after the first syllable. And that is a common trait, I think, between you and all of your family members. Yeah. I listen to a lot of McElroy products because I'm very loyal and I'm the biggest fan. Yeah. And, you know, I have lots of time.

And that is one thing that is common across all shows is that if you are asked to come up with a name, it's like. First name easy, just a straight over the plate Christian name. Usually Jeremy. Jeremy and Megan Ramblin. See, it's not, I don't know why the surnames are such an issue for me.

I've met lots of people, like so many people. I've met like a hundred people. Wow, probably more, I would think. I don't know, but anyway. Name them all right now. Well, let's see. There's Franklin and Samantha Trail, Trail.

Yeah. There's Philip and Elizabeth Cranstein. I think you don't have to name their last names. I would be happy with first. Oh, then that's easy. Stetson, David, John. You did actually know Stetson, didn't you? Fuck yeah, I knew a Stetson.

Yeah, no, you told me. I don't mean to brag, but he was pretty popular. You told me about Stetson. And I was sort of his friend, grandfathered in from like elementary school when we had like the same nanny, the same like afterschool babysitter for a while. So like when middle school rolled around

and Stetson was the coolest dude in town, you know I got in there. I was like, and- Did he have any nicknames? Did people call him Stet and or son? No, just Stetson for the most part. That's a tough one to truncate, I believe. Do you have any small wonders?

I could talk about Stetson for like an hour. I just want you to know. So could I, his dad ran a candy store. Oh my God. Can you fucking believe it? This seems like a book that you've written. It's not a book, it's real. His dad ran a candy store,

it was right next to the movie theater downtown before the Pullman Square one opened. And so we would hit that up. I would get myself a big bag of chocolate stars and I would go in, you know, watch a flick. Wait, what are chocolate stars? They're just what they sound like. They're little stars that are made of chocolate.

Are they like individually wrapped? Nope, just to get a big old bag of loose chocolate stars. I don't see why you're struggling with this. It's stars. You know how you can have different- I'm just picturing like your chocolatey paw reaching in the bag over and over again. This is maybe where- While I'm watching

the Scorpion King. Where your chocolate popcorn combination started. Maybe, it's possible. You just like reaching your hand in a big bag of melty chocolate. Yeah. Okay, small wonder. Yes.

Gosh, banana pudding, have we talked about it? Fuckin' hell, man. I do a lot of the grocery ordering and a lot of times we have groceries delivered because, well, we have two small children that we don't like to bring to grocery stores unless we have to. And I will say that I noticed banana pudding was an option.

Yes. And ever since then, it's pretty much all I can think about when I order groceries. It's our secret little, well, not secret anymore, huh? I'm telling the whole dang world about it. Did you get more in like today?

No. Oh, fuck. Not yet, but it's on my mind. I cannot tell you the thrill I get when it's like nighttime, we just got the kids to bed, we're watching TV or something, and you're like, I got banana pudding. It's like such an exciting moment. I think we could probably make it ourselves.

Probably, yeah, it doesn't seem that tough. But yeah, I don't know. I'm going to say we have been, we're in a bit of a drought in terms of TV stuff. All of our jammers are kind of off the air. Perfect Match starts back up today, which we're gonna take a look at. Yeah, we're recording this in advance.

We have been exploring the offerings of Dropout, which is the former sort of college humor streaming service. I'm glad we're talking about this because I feel like all we get on social media is people recommending it. Like recommending it, yes. Yeah, like, hey, hey, if you watch Dropout, it seems like you would like it, and they are correct.

Yeah, they're right, yeah. I mean, obviously we did a season of Dimension 20 called Tiny Heist. I've been a dropout subscriber for a while and I've sort of watched stuff here and there whenever I like see a clip of something that's very, very funny, I will like dip in. But Rachel and I, as we have hit this sort of TV drought,

have been watching a lot of, specifically Game Changer, and man, that goes down so fucking smooth, so funny, so ambitious and just high touch production. They are doing a, they're in the middle of a finale right now of Game Changer for this season, which is basically the circle with a bunch of very, very, very funny comedians. Everybody is playing fake personas.

Yeah, they have to create a character and then answer as that character. But the whole goal of it is that these are all people that work together regularly and they have to try and guess who is playing what character. Right, and so there's layers of deception. Like Brennan is playing a bug with a big ass, which he modeled after sort of the comedic sensibilities

of Rekha to like try and trick me. It's very, very good. And Allie Beardsley is playing Brennan. Yeah, they are absolutely hysterical too. It's fucking great. It's a great platform. I'm so like, I don't know, I'm so happy it exists because it's like people making stuff that is very good,

that they're very into and are seemingly succeeding quite a lot with it. So I love that, makes me very happy. You go first this week for the big show, The Big Wonder. What are you cooking up in the lab? I wonder, as you open your laptop. I do this every week. We have someone that edits the show.

I know, but. You don't have to. Is it the silence between us? Does it make you anxious? Not just us, silence between me and any other human being. I just feel like someone should be talking right now. Okay, to be honest, I can't remember really how I came up with this topic.

Hell yeah. I came up with this topic. Hell yeah. I came up with it though several days ago. In a dream. And like prepped several days ago. Okay. So if you had to ask me where did this come from, I couldn't tell you because it's been several days.

I love that. Who could remember something several days ago? But I can tell you how I found out about it. My topic is secret service code names. Yeah, sure. This is not anything I knew about until we watched the West Wing. Yes.

Do you remember any of their code names? Let's see, there was Backpack was, I believe, Zoe's name. Technically Bookbag. Bookbag, sorry. Their eagle, I think, is always sort of the president, right? Isn't that always the case? No, not at all, but it is the case on West Wing.

Okay, CJ was something like a flamingo. Yeah, that's exactly right. Was that exactly right? Wow, yeah. I don't remember any of the other ones. Sam Seaborn had one. Sam, I don't know. All I remember is flamingo because CJ was so upset because she's a very, very tall woman.

Sam Seaborn was Princeton. Princeton is awesome. Which seems right. Most political figures of significant importance, like enough to have Secret Service, have code names. This is not actually anything the Secret Service chooses. The White House Communications Agency maintains a list that candidates choose from,

often choosing ones that resonate with them personally. Oh, that's so good. Mm-hmm. That's so cool. So wait, what's the bar, right? Is it just like, does Secret Service just serve the executive branch? And so it's like higher ups

in the sort of presidential line of succession or like the senators. In the article I read, presidents, vice presidents and their families aren't the only people who get code names. The Secret Service also uses them for other prominent people, such as some top government officials,

dignitaries and celebrities. Celebrities? Why do they get Secret Service? It made me really wonder though, like, wait, wait, wait,ies, and celebrities. Celebrities? Yeah. Why do they get Secret Service? It made me really wonder though, like, wait, wait, wait, wait, what celebrities? But I didn't have time to look into that. So this apparently has been around, if you look at Wikipedia,

the first entry is Woodrow Wilson's wife. Woodrow Wilson's wife? That's fun to say. What was her? So Woodrow Wilson was president from 1913 to 1921, and Woodrow Wilson's wife was grandma. Ha ha! That's the first one that they came up with?

That's, yeah, I mean, that I have here in front of me. That's rough, man. I wouldn't like that. It was really with Harry S. Truman that it became like the norm, and that every president and their spouse That's rough, man. I wouldn't like that. It was really with Harry S. Truman that it became like the norm and that every president and their spouse had a code name. And then often the children, anybody,

like any family member that lived in the White House had one. Right. And it started following a convention pretty early, I think with Lyndon Johnson, that they would use the same first initial for every code name. So like if a family was in there, so for example, Lyndon Johnson was volunteer, Lady Bird was Victoria,

Linda Bird was Velvet, and Lucy Baines was Venus. So they all use the same letter for their code name. Victoria's a weird one. I don't feel like- I know, that's just like a name. That's just a name, that's just a regular name that would get very confusing. One of the ones I found that was kind of funny,

so Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, who was Gerald Ford's Vice President. I was gonna say I've never heard of this fucking dude in my life. I looked that up, I did not know that. I mean, obviously Rockefeller is a memorable. Yeah, I mean, sure. Rockefeller's wife's name was Happy.

Aw, wait, her, hold on. No, her real name. Okay, so that's, okay. Wait, let me confirm that actually, because it's a little hard to believe. Happy Rockefeller? Maybe that is what her code name became. Secret service code name was.

I mean, you can have the name Happy, I'm sure. I've never met any Happies, but. Okay, no, I think her code name became Happy. Okay. Because at one time, it was Shooting Star, which as you can imagine, was a challenge. Yeah, I bet if you are on comms and you hear your Secret Service buddies like, Shootin'. Yeah, with the word shooting. Yeah, I bet if you are on comms and you hear your Secret Service buddies like,

shoot it. Yeah, with the word shooting. Yeah, not right. And then she became Stardust. So maybe her nickname was Happy. Oh, that's cool. Stardust is cool, I want that one. We live in DC now, what do you think the odds are that I could get myself a Secret Service code name?

So specifically Stardust. I mean, can we start with you getting Secret Service? Because I feel like that would be the first step. I don't wanna do... You just want a code name? Yeah. So I mentioned that it can also be people that are of importance.

Some of them are funny to read. So presidential candidate and former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich in 2012 chose the name T-Rex because of his fondness for dinosaurs. Fucking shit. Dude just like dinosaurs. I guess. I mean, yeah, I mean, credit where credit's due,

that's a pretty strong choice. Air Force One can be known as Angel or Cow Puncher. Cow Puncher? Cow Puncher, that must be like a slang for a plane in the old days, I don't know, I don't know. What were we doing with planes that that became? Obviously, you gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelet and discover the secrets of flight,

but if I learned that the Wright brothers were secretly smashing their planes into lots and lots and lots of cows, then maybe it wasn't worth it. You know what I mean? Huh, no, okay. So cow puncher means a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback.

Again, I gotta check the Yelp review of that particular ranch hand if I gotta go, I gotta go on Glassdoor and check out who's punching cows because I don't actually want that energy at my ranch. Thank you so much. The presidential state car is called Stagecoach, which I enjoy. And then the US Capitol is often called Punch Bowl

and the White House is often called Castle. Now, code names for folks I kind of get, right? Is the intention that your communication about this very obviously sensitive thing that you have to protect, a misdirect of anyone who might be within earshot, they don't know who Stardust is? I think that was originally part of it.

I will say it's also brevity, because obviously when you're referring to the president, there are certain ways you should do it. And sometimes you're in a situation where there are multiple presidents. Yeah. And then also, yeah, I mean, kind of what you're mentioning, like the secrecy of it.

I guess I don't understand why one would need to be secret about like a building. Like, you know what I mean? Well, because it's faster in order, it's faster to, you know, if you're talking about the White House, it's faster to just say, what is the castle? I do like Punchbowl for Capitol building a lot, actually. I think that's- Yeah, I know, isn't that fun? I think that's kind of good.

Some of my other favorites. I wonder what Rudy Giuliani's Secret Service name was. It says here fart ass. Can that be right? Let me see, let me see. Most people that run for president, they get Secret Service and they get code names because of that.

Yeah, so wild. Is this your? Yeah, I can't find that. Gooey Giuliani was his code name? Oh, wouldn't that be nice? Doesn't make any sense. Okay, so some other ones that I enjoyed. One of the things that I thought was kind of funny,

so George H.W. thought was kind of funny, so George H.W. Bush was Timber Wolf, Barbara Bush was Tranquility, and then the Bush children. At the time, George W. Bush, who was kind of known for his antics, related to his- And continues to be known for that, I would say, largely. Related to his drinking in particular was called Tumblr,

but when he became president, changed it to Trailblazer. That's so peak bush. That's like peak bush. Timber Wolf was HW? Yes. Damn it. I mean, that's pretty good, too. Damn it.

Donald Trump was mogul. Fucking hell, man. Perhaps even worse, Melania was muse. Oh my God. I thought the douche chills of that whole situation had reached the zenith point. I did not know that there was more road to ho in that category.

That's rough stuff. I will say some of the funnier ones. So like, obviously there's some ego involved when you like choose. Oh, it sounds like it, maybe a little bit. Paul Ryan, for example, chose bow hunter. Because that's what he really. Okay.

I just did. There's a degree now, this is crossing a threshold into like LARP territory. But I wasn't necessarily anticipating, but like maybe that's Paul Ryan's like vibe that he's always wanted to sort of like embody. Yeah. You know what I mean?

And now he has this opportunity. It's like when I make a character in Baldur's Gate 3, I'm gonna spend a long time trying to pick one out. The idea that this is happening on such a high, important, exceedingly douchey level is really, really fascinating. I know, there are tons more. They're all available on Wikipedia. I also found articles that kind of get into the story.

So for example, Ronald Reagan was known as Rawhide because he was a known rancher, was in a lot of Westerns. But yeah, you can find a lot of the stories. It's really good. It's really good and it's fun to think about kind of these like comic book personas. Yes, belonging to these oftentimes monstrous humans.

Exactly. Can I steal you away? Yes. ["The Last of Us"] People say not to judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Which is why here on Just the Zoo of Us, we judge them by so much more. We rate animals out of 10 in the categories of effectiveness, ingenuity, and aesthetics taking into consideration each animal's true strengths.

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And together we are The Flophouse, a long running podcast on the Maximum Fund Network where we watch a bad movie and then talk about it. And because we're so long running, maybe you haven't given us a chance. I get it. But you don't actually have to know anything about previous episodes to enjoy us and I promise you that if you find our voices irritating, we grow endearing over time. Perhaps you listened to one of our old episodes and decided that we were dumb and immature. Well, we've been doing this a while now.

We have become smarter and more mature and generally nicer to Dan. But we are only human, so no promises. Find the Flophouse on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get podcasts. This one is a bit out of left field, I will confess. I want to talk about poker. I have talked in the past about playing poker for Halloween candy, I believe like four years ago. I have talked in the past about playing poker

for Halloween candy, I believe like four years ago. But I don't think that was really necessarily about the game as much as it was a good way to kind of distribute candy between kids who maybe aren't excited about the candy that they got. There is a game that came out this year called Bellatro, which is like a, it is like a very complicated card game that is sort of based on poker rules,

but it throws like all these crazy like modifiers and stuff into it to turn it into like this big complex. Are you guys all still playing that or has that- Not so much anymore, but I mean, for a good month and a half. Yeah, it was all you talked about. It's like all anyone played that I know. But playing that has gotten me to like, realize that I do kind of miss playing poker.

And then it got me to think about the fact that like, there was a period in my life and in sort of the consciousness of the globe where poker was like really popular for a while. And that was such a strange little bubble that I feel like popped. And that was such a strange little bubble that I feel like popped. And so I wanted to like kind of like learn a little bit more about it.

There is a name for it. It is the Poker Boom that peaked between 2003 and 2006. So I'm gonna talk about that specifically, like I'm talking about Texas Hold'em, which is kind of the most popular form of the game. Yeah, I remember I was in college during those early days and it was like everybody I knew was playing poker online. Just everyone.

Yeah. And I was a freshman in college in 2005. Everyone was like crazy about poker. I know a lot of people who were doing like the poker stars like online thing. I had multiple different groups of friends who like put together poker nights and it was on TV like constant.

And I remember I used to watch that. It was on at like one in the morning or something. Yes, what was the other? I never really watched that much of like the world series of poker, mostly because like the big personalities in there sent absolute shivers up my spine. But what was the celebrity poker tournament thing

that like, I think Dave Foley was a host of? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, I watched a lot of that also. I think the last time that I've played poker was like 2015 with our group of friends back in Austin before any of us had kids. But I do still have like a deep fondness for the game. I think that deep down, it kind of scratches that itch

that like Werewolf and other kind of like hidden role games scratch for me of like, you know, deception and like risk assessment and like straight up kind of luck. Texas Hold'em is like I said, the version that kind of popped off. That's due to a few factors. I think that it's probably the simplest form of poker.

There's lots and lots and lots of other types where like it gets kind of confusing who goes when. Texas Hold'em, if you're not familiar, everyone gets two cards face down. There's a round of betting. Then there's three cards laid up on the table that everyone kind of uses with their two cards to build the best five card hand.

There's another round of betting, fourth card comes out, another round of betting, fifth card comes out, and then a final round of betting, and then everyone reveals. I think what I always really, really loved about playing poker with my friends is that I am not the type of person who lies a whole bunch to my group of friends, nor do I constantly keep my head

on a swivel for deceit. So you're a good person. Well, I guess, but I don't know. That idea, I usually take people at face value if they are like, if I am friends with them, right? I don't have that, maybe this is a luxury of like the sort of experience I have had in my life, but like I don't look at people and think like,

are you telling me the truth right now? Like very often, if it is somebody who I'm like close with. So to be placed in a situation where that is all that I'm doing, feels kind of like taboo and feels kind of like exciting and fun. It is taboo in kind of a like harmless way because now it's like, oh, I'm getting to see what my friends are like when they're being a little sneaky,

when my friends are maybe not on the level right now, and then trying to figure out like what that looks like for each individual person. I always found that to be like intoxicating. I think once you know enough about poker, you're really able to play that way. I will say for me, like watching it on television, there were a lot of times where I was like,

I don't know, is that good? Is a three and an eight good? Is there a reason that I would want the three and the eight? Trying to figure out, is this person bluffing or is this some hand I don't know about? Yeah, I mean, there is, poker kind of occupies a weird space in the world of games of chance

or casino games or anything like that where it's not a situation where the game is inherently weighted against you in favor of the house, right? It is just a game of like looking at the cards on the table, trying to figure out who has which hands. And that really is predicated on you kind of like knowing what the hands are, like what you are possibly shooting for

and what everybody else can possibly be shooting for. In that sense, I think it is a much more accessible game than for instance, a Blackjack, which has a codified, here's what you're supposed to do if you have these cards and the dealer is showing this card, like here's the flow chart that you follow. I've never really vibed with Blackjack for that reason, but poker is much more about like, you know,

guessing what other people have based on their sort of social cues. I have never played for like a great deal of cash. That is not my, I am not big into sort of gambling in general, and so I don't want this whole segment to come off as a full-throated endorsement of gambling because- Yeah, it's a legitimate, like when this was popular,

there were a lot of people who were really becoming addicted. Horror stories. To like online gambling. Right, so to get into that a little bit, I just like the game. I'm not saying that I like the, you know, wagering your livelihood on it. So, Texas Hold'em's been around since like the 1950s,

I think, but there was this poker boom between 2003 and 2006. Before 2003, the game had been growing in popularity largely because the internet made things like, you know, online poker rooms like possible. There was a movie that came out in 1998 called Rounders, which I adore on a deep and unironic level. It's got Matt Damon and Edward Norton

as like poker hustlers. It's got John Malkovich as Teddy KGB and maybe my favorite role of John Malkovich's whole career. I think like most dudes who I was like going to, who I went to college with were like, oh, fuck yeah, man, rounders, baby. Yeah, of course. It was very much that type of movie.

So in 2003, online poker sites were like a big thing. There was a guy named, and this is his real ass name, Chris Moneymaker. So that was his real name? Real name. No. Yeah. And it's-

He didn't legally change it? I don't think so. I think that was his real name? Real name, is it? No. Yeah, and it's- He didn't legally change it? I don't think so. I think that was just his name. I'm not going to Google it, because I want to continue living in a world where that was the man's real name. I remember seeing him on those poker tournaments. Yeah, and the way he kind of made his big splash

is he was playing in this online satellite tournament of the World Series of Poker that like, you know, you could join in and the buy-in was 86 bucks and you get to join this qualifier, basically this online qualifier. He won that, made it to the World Series of Poker and then he won the World Series of Poker in 2003 and he won $2.5 million off of his $86 buy-in

online tournament thing. So that is the reason most people attribute, it's called the moneymaker effect, where people learning about this, watching the World Series of Poker at home are like, well, if this fucking guy can do it. I know, it could be me. That led a lot of people down a Primrose path

that I imagine was bad for them, right? But it also led to an explosion of this sport. Also during this period, I think it was 2004 was when the NHL lockout happened. And so all of a sudden, like ESPN had huge scheduling blocks open up that they started to show more and more poker during. Interesting.

So there was like a number of sort of things that had contributed to poker becoming this like huge explosion of things. And then things like Poker Stars and various like online poker gambling services just sort of like grew and flourished, which like there were local and state gambling regulations that these online platforms

just kind of like ran roughshod over, because it's like, it's the internet. The internet's not in a state, it's up in the sky. Yeah. It moves through and around us all. How can you regulate this? And yeah, that's why a lot of states had to come out, I think, and make their own legislation,

because it didn't. Well, no, what happened was that in 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 was passed on a federal level, and all of a sudden, like PokerStars stock fell like 60 percent, like overnight. Well, but you know when you see an advertisement for online gambling and then they like have to list every state?

And they're specific. Yeah, so because of this, right? Because of this act. After this happened, PokerStars and other services still kept going. But I think 2011, there was a huge crackdown on this and most of those services then moved overseas and continued to operate on on like an overseas platform.

It's a mess, right? It's a huge mess. And again, I recognize that this is for so many people, like a very, very harmful thing. And I don't wanna make light of that. I just, I don't know. I find it very, very fascinating. I can't think of too many things like this in my life

where there was like a game that just exploded in popularity. And literally everyone I knew was playing it. And I was playing it like a couple times a month in like group settings and having just a good ass time. I don't think I played for anything more than like a $10 buy-in for like an $80 pot, which when you're in college is a fucking huge amount of money,

but it's not, I wasn't losing my shirt. I just, I always really liked it. I found it cool to play. It is a fun, I think, way to spend an evening with a group of people because you can make it last as long as you want to make it last. As long as you don't go. Did you have a poker table briefly?

I did have a poker table. Yeah, I remember when you were in Chicago, right? I'm trying to remember, I think so, yeah. I feel like I remember you trying to sell that thing before you moved to Austin. I feel like I inherited it, I think it was maybe Travis's. I don't remember, I remember we got it off like Craigslist for like 30 bucks or something like that.

Spoiler alert, we mostly used it for like last night on earth and other like nerd as board games that we played with our friends when we were in Cincinnati. I think very little poker was ever played on that table. Really after college, like my poker playing completely like fell off the face of the earth. And again, it's been nine years since I have played this game,

but playing this Bellatra game is really kind of like, I don't know, scratch that itch and made me remember like, with some fondness, like this weird time in my life where me and everyone I knew was like playing poker all the time and now they don't. And that's kind of cool, I think. Yeah, I don't know if you know this about yourself, but you are a person that loves games.

I do love games. Yeah. Yeah. So it's not surprising to me that poker would be one of those games. I do love social games, too. I remember when we did the Joko cruise. Yeah. The game I only ever wanna play is craps,

cause it's just a bunch of people standing around a table yelling and cheering. That is fun. That's fun, that's all I give a shit about. I do not think I'm going to make money. In fact, I'm 100% sure I'm gonna lose money. Here's the other thing about poker. I'm not very good at it.

I don't think I ever want a poker night, ever, in my life, because I don't, because for the reasons I outlined earlier, I am not a particularly- Because you have such an expressive face. Every time you look at the cards, you'd be like, whoa! No, I think it's more that like, I'm bad at being kind of like insightful about deceit.

Right? Like I am bad at reading people. I know. Well, that's terrible. So I'm not good at it, but I still really enjoy it. Here's some small wonders from our friends at home. I'll save the name on this one until I read it.

My small wonder is when toddlers first start saying names, they always get part of it slightly wrong and you never know what fun new nickname you'll have temporarily until they can say it correctly. That's from Cassie or Sassy, Cashie or Casa. It's very, very good. I love that. This is how Nani got her.

Yeah, and to this day. To this day. Still Nani. I forget her real name. I always spend an unreasonable amount of time trying to decide how to spell Nani at Christmas time. N-O-N-N-E-E, baby. Do you remember how that was decided?

No. The spelling was never that big a deal, but it was Justin tried to say Donna, which is her name, and it came out Nonny, and the rest was history. He knew what he was doing. He knew exactly what he was doing. Huge into branding back then. Dee says, I'm a librarian, and my small wonder is setting up a display and then later seeing the books

from it have been checked out. It makes me so happy to see people resonate with the books I've chosen and that those books are getting used. I bet that's nice. Oh, I love that. I bet that's real nice. I always wanted to do this when I worked at GameStop.

I always wanted to get this thing going. I was like, let's put out like- You didn't? No, they wouldn't let us. Oh. Yeah, they were very, very intense about following- I always love that at video rental stores, just like these are all themed

or these are all my favorites. So it's fun to get a little window. It was a fairly buttoned up kind of buy the book environment. Video game store. Yeah, no kidding. Thank you so much for listening. Thanks to Bowen and Augustus for the use of our theme song, Money Won't Pay.

You can find a link to that in the episode description. We got some new merch over at McElroyMerch.com, including a choice new fungalore poster if you're living that life. Go check that out. We got a bunch of shows that we just announced. Yeah, more, more shows. So, so, so many shows.

And I'm going to tell you all about them in exactly 10 seconds. A lot of them are cities, located in different places. Thank you so much, yes. What you'll do is you'll buy a ticket and you'll see the show in that city. It feels better, right, to vamp? You're like, and you're like really good at it.

Next week, or perhaps, when is this coming out? Yes, next week we are going to be in Kansas City, Missouri, June 21st, St. Louis, Missouri, June 22nd, and Tyson's, Virginia on June 23rd. All those are gonna be Mbim Bams. We're gonna be doing wonderful in the St. Louis show. So that'll be fun.

Or Chesterfield as it is sometimes called. As they call it sometimes. But we're also going to be doing a mixture of My Brother, My Brother and Me and Taz. July, we're gonna be in Detroit and Cleveland. August, we're gonna be doing a bunch of stuff at Gen Con. September, we're gonna be doing Orlando and Atlanta.

October, we're gonna be in Denver and Phoenix. November, we're gonna be in Indianapolis and Milwaukee. Go to bit.ly slash Macroi Tours for tickets and more information. Whew. I know. It's a lot of. It's a big year.

A lot of time on the road. A lot of time on the road, but you know. Somebody's gotta do it. Someone has to do live podcasts. If you don't have someone out there doing live podcasts, then I'm terrified. You know how like 20, 30 years ago, everything was terrible and then there was podcasts

and then everything got much better? Wait, wait a minute. Why are you just a darn tootin' second? I think the opposite is true. Well, I'm not blaming podcasts. It sounds like maybe you are a little bit. Back when it was just poker and no podcast, everything was fucking great.

Podcast buys the shoes for people in this house. I'm never complaining about podcasts. That's true, but only the shoes. It's weird the way that we have set up our finances. No, we're not able to spend it on anything else. No. That's what we've heard from our financial advisor. Jesse pays us in what he calls shoe bucks.

Yeah, which actually sounds realistic based on the style choices of Jesse Thorne. I believe he would really appreciate shoe bucks. You know, I bet you he's got a line on like, very cost, like affordable style of shoes. Probably involves the flea market purchase, I'm guessing. Probably. We're really spiraling as we try to find the off-ramp.

Our podcast about shoes, and of course we would end it talking about shoes. Of course. Bye! Money won't pay, work can't help it. Money won't pay, work can't help it. Money won't pay, work can't help it. Money won't pay, work can't help it. Money won't pay. Work it off, money won't pay.

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