The Compton Cafeteria Riot | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW
[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and this is stuff you should know. it's one of our overlooked history. editions and Chuck this is your pick and. hats off to you wigs off to you yes it. was uh my selection to pass along to. Olivia to help us with but uh this is a.
listener suggestion this came from uh. Gigi cin nice and big Thanks To Gigi. because I and I'm sure you will agree. with me MH found that not only is the. story of the Compton's cafeteria Riot um. interesting in and of itself right uh. but sort of the larger story or a part. of the story is the fact that how we. preserve history because Compton's. cafeteria Riot happened in 1966 and was.
almost lost to history yeah I agree with. all that which is crazy to think about. something that happened in 1966 in San. Francisco could be lost to history uh. but it almost was if not for the efforts. of one Susan striker one person like. like her this may have really gone away. oh totally I mean it had gone away and. she managed to clutch together uh a. bunch of different tiny little scraps of. mentions of it or.
like the neighborhood and just just over. the years cobbled together all this. little stuff and finally got an idea of. it and was able to to corroborate it. like it was gonville until Susan Striker. came along yeah and we'll talk about. what Susan Striker did with this. information but hats off to you Susan. Striker and to Gigi and here we go with. uh the almost forgotten Compton's. cafeteria Riot story yeah and the reason. why it's significant that it's almost. forgotten or it was forgotten for a. while is that um The Stonewall Uprising.
which was a a really great episode we. did on that too um that's considered. like the watershed moment of of gay. rights in history like the the the riot. at the Stonewall Inn that was it that. was what started it all the thing is. when you think of things that way it. erases the stuff that came before that. yeah and one of the things that came. before Stonewall was the Compton's. cafeteria Ro.
in in San Francisco in. 1966 and there wasn't a lot of. difference between the two it was based. on it was a reaction and response to. police harassment that had been building. over the time it was a multi-racial. group of um lgbtq people um like. fighting back against the police that. Spilled Out into the streets like it it. bore striking resemblance to Stonewall. and yet like you said there are reasons. that we'll talk about that it was just. put pushed into the dpin of History yeah.
it's very interesting so uh as way of. setting this up we'll talk a little bit. about the area at the time in San. Francisco called the Tinder loin yeah. this is in the 1960s uh the Tinder loin. has uh has long had a had a reputation. and even still does today uh in some. ways it uh in the 60s it was a place. where you could go uh buy drugs or deal. drugs you could go do some illegal. gambling uh you could uh get involved in.
SE sex work on either side MH uh it was. a neighborhood that didn't have a lot of. money and it was a neighborhood that. attracted uh transients uh people that. um teenagers namely who were either uh. you know run out of their Hometown. because they were lgbtq or maybe even. run out of their family or maybe even. run out of a different neighborhood in. San Francisco to sort of collect in the. tenderloin uh where they could turn to. work uh because they couldn't get other.
jobs uh and they could turn to each. other for support and and Community yeah. a community developed of essentially. what um one of the people Susan Striker. interviewed described as like the the. lowest drawing on the ladder of not just. Society of like including lgbtq Society. at the time these were. unhoused teenage Street trans people and. and like like they had no rights they.
had no respect from anybody and yet they. still came together and looked out for. one another and formed that Community. you were talking about but they lived in. really Dire Straits dayto day and yet. they still formed that community and the. reason why they all kind of ended up in. this the tenderloin is because there was. a a few Square block section of the. tenderloin that that was the only place. they could live and even there they got. harassed but like if they strayed out of.
it they were beaten they were um they. they you couldn't leave that area if you. were Trans in San Francisco at the time. and the I think Susan Striker compared. it to uh ghetto essentially that that. there was the an a trans ghetto in San. Francisco in the 60s that's right and uh. just the MRI people that were. interviewed from the time it's clear. that the cops basically could do. whatever they wanted uh uh in there they.
could arrest someone for um quote. unquote female. impersonation uh one was arrested I. believe Amanda St James who was a. transor there ran a residential Hotel uh. was arrested for obstructing the. sidewalk uh I saw in this uh documentary. that we're going to talk about later um. you know any kind of crossdressing or. drag uh they could arrest you for having. uh the buttons on your shirt on you know. what they deemed the the wrong side.
because uh you know traditionally the. buttons on like men and women's uh. shirts and clothing is reversed I never. understood why was it to draw a. distinction between the two when you're. shopping I think it's just to be. difficult it may be a short Stu at some. point but they would say like oh no your. buttons are on on the wrong side you're. impersonating a female so let me crack. your skull and throw you in the in a. jail cell where you will be abused more. and uh by fellow inmates and by the.
people who ran the jail yeah and one of. the reasons that this this group of. people were in such a pickle was not. just because there was a small area of. the world that they could leave um it's. that they they couldn't even work. because they couldn't get ID that. reflected their gender um the the gender. they identified with if they wanted to. work as the gender they didn't identify. with they could just go back to their. family that kicked them out in the first. place so to be them M themselves to live.
as themselves it's the way that they. they they were who they were they really. really suffered and paid for it um and. were very poor uh resorted to sex work. um almost across the board unless you. were really good at singing and dancing. and you can make a living that way um. and even those people who are successful. at entertaining very frequently were. stuck in that area of the tenderloin too. um so it was a really it was a it was a. tough position to be in I mean just the.
fact that they're like well if I want to. be myself it sucks that Society treats. me this way but I'm going to be myself I. you really have to respect that oh yeah. totally um within this community there. was a place uh called Compton's. cafeteria which uh provided a Haven um. late at night so it was at uh 101 Taylor. Street uh right there in the tenderloin. and it was a restaurant and it was one. of uh quite a few in San Francisco it's. a small chain local chain uh started up.
by a man named Jee Compton in the. 1940s uh this one opened in 54 and it. became a Gathering Place for for these. people late at night uh who were. unwelcomed even at gay bars uh it was. very centrally located it was clean it. was open 24 hours it was well lit uh it. was a place where they could go and have. coffee after you know they got done uh. with work or you know doing whatever. they were doing late at night and what I. really wanted more than anything when I. was learning about the story was like uh.
I wanted to learn that Compton's. cafeteria was a bright spot in the Haven. where the owners would run the cops off. and let these people do as they as they. would and live in peace um sadly that. was not the case I didn't get the idea. that they were um just like completely. unwelcome there but they they did call. the cops uh here and there over you know. over the years and like you know the. cops would come down there and run them. out so that was sort of a one. disappointing spot for me but that's you.
know that's what happened so that's the. way we have to report it so um the uh. the still I mean even having to face. that like Compton was the place you went. to because um like I was saying like. even in the lgbtq community the the. trans community in the tenderloin were. not well thought of like they couldn't. even go into the gay bars in the. tenderloin they were limited also in. where they could go and but one of those. places they could go was cafeteria and.
go be themselves and like a real um like. you could check in on one another um you. could give each other tips to like steer. clear this guy in this car kind of thing. um it was despite it the setbacks and. drawbacks of going there it was a place. that they could go does that make sense. yeah and it was also a time you know we. mentioned that they couldn't even go. into certain gay bars it was a time. where the lgbtq community was starting. to organize a little bit um starting to.
kind of speak up a little bit for like. the most basic rights you could imagine. right and it was it was through the lens. though of uh what we called homophile. organizations uh one was called the. matachine society these organizations. where uh they were gay people but they. were like Hey listen uh I'm I'm middle. class I have a great job um I am gay and. I just I just don't want to be harassed. so they they were organizing but it. wasn't like. uh it wasn't like the kids on the.
streets and they weren't um they weren't. Rabel rousing they weren't radical in. fact within homop file organizations. there were often disputes between some. of the sort of you know middle-age more. you know uh not well-healed but. sometimes well healed people sort of. disagreeing with people in their own. Community some of these younger kids. that were more radical there like we. don't even want you in our group anymore. right yeah and those those homophile. groups are they were the ones that had.
the connections to say the press or they. had a working relationship with the. police department um they were trying to. show the the the rest of society they. were respectable people living. respectable lives and so being inclusive. of unhoused trans teenagers who were. also sex workers um kind of it didn't. really stand up to their argument so. they they just pretended they weren't. there they excluded him they kept them. out but what's cool is those same. unhoused teenage um trans sex workers.
they were like well we'll go organize. ourselves and they were really really. fortunate to have in the neighborhood a. couple blocks away from Compton's a. place called Glide Memorial Methodist. Church probably one of the more. Progressive churches in the United. States of all time yeah I think so there. was a reverend named Cecil Williams he. was a civil rights movement vet and he. um was very much interested in. supporting these trans kids who were.
just getting abused one way or another. by every quarter of society and he. helped them organize actually and they. organized into an organization called. Vanguard that's right and tiesa Williams. is still alive my friend oh yeah he's 94. years old I saw um footage of him. preaching and he looked pretty cool yeah. so uh that church was there and like you. said uh just just to have any formal. organization on your side. for these kids uh who were trying to.
radicalize the movement was a really. really big deal so Vanguard had formed. in ' 65 and uh through the church and. through Cecil Williams and Vanguard they. eventually would help get the tenderloin. recognized as a war on poverty Target. District in May of. 66 uh usually when these districts were. recognized it was um they were you know. impoverished communities and uh usually. racism was sort of at the core what they. were facing uh but these uh these kids.
basically stood up with CA Williams and. they're like well no it's we're we're. suffering the same way and so we should. be recognized thusly and they were in. May of 1966 yeah that was a big deal to. get those kind of Grants um and it ended. up there was like a a center for the. kids living on the street there was a. van that um doled out Medical Services. like it it had a pretty good effect as. we'll see yeah so you said that um that. that. there were times when Compton's.
cafeteria would call the police on their. their patrons their trans patrons. apparently that really picked up after. Vanguard after it became clear that. these trans kids weren't just like. keeping them themselves as much as they. could that they were starting to have a. little bit of self-respect that they. were organizing that they were getting. political that's apparently when it. really started to step up and um the uh. as Vanguard I think at one point. picketed outside of Compton that was one.
of the things that they did uh and that. was a month or so before the riot. happened so you've got these trans kids. organizing starting to have like a. certain amount of self self-esteem and. self-respect that's coming out of their. community and um that that usually leads. to push back from establishment and. that's what happened that sounds like a. great place for a break my friend thank. you all right all right well Josh set it.
up perfectly and we'll be right back to. knock him down right after. [Music]. this I don't know why a bowling analogy. happened just there I don't I don't know.
but it was great I love your sports. metaphors is is bowling a sport sure oh. boy I'm G to get in trouble for that yes. you are I said sure. everybody so this is how lost to time uh. the Compton cafeteria Riot has been is. they're not even positive still what the. exact date was yeah uh Striker did a lot. of research Susan Striker who we. mentioned and who we'll talk a lot more. about in this segment uh eventually er. uh narrowed it down to August 27th uh.
which was a Saturday the last Saturday. of that month uh but we can safely say. it was in August of 1966 probably late. August uh very early in the morning uh. as in Saturday leading into Sunday and. the story is a lot like like you said. it's a lot like Stonewall um the police. get called in uh because things are kind. of Rowdy the police get there start. being very uh physically aggressive with. uh with these people and then one of. them through coffee in one of the cops.
faces and it it was on after that. basically it went downhill pretty fast. uh other patrons joined in the cops. started fighting back uh the cops. eventually go outside and Retreat wait. for. reinforcements uh the management you. know closed the place up and the people. inside started breaking the windows they. started trashing the place they flipped. the tables over they started wrecking it. and you know the cops showed on uh. showed up on mass to deal with a about. 60 people or so that fought the police.
with their their purses and throwing. high heels and uh I think they destroyed. a police car by the end of the night and. set a news stand on fire I saw Chuck I. saw um potentially hundreds of people. like the the nearby hotels like drained. um the bars drained like it it went it. it got serious like after they left um. comptons yeah so unsurprisingly some of. them were successfully arrested uh and. taken to jail and um Compton's you know.
for for their part basically said uh. from now on uh you know they they called. them you know drag queen patrons at the. time said you're not allowed here. anymore uh no more gay Hustlers uh. apparently there were um there were. pickets after that like the ensuing days. were kind of a mess they would some. people would still go down and picket uh. they wouldn't be allowed in the. restaurant they started closing at. midnight instead of being 24/7 and just. closed I think like 5 years after that.
permanently yes but um they they it it. had immediate effects first of all it. took that kind of sense of organizing. among the trans kids in the. tenderloin um it it like bolstered it it. gave them like a feeling like oh we. actually can make things happen together. even if it it was violent in the face of. police violence um and apparently it had. an effect that they they the police kind. of stopped so casually harassing or. beating or even kidnapping um the the.
trans kids in the uh the tenderloin. after that immediately after that there. was an immediate effect yeah for sure um. they ended up having a an ally in a. community relations cop named Elliot. Blackstone who uh basically was like you. know I would like to help you folks out. uh I'm going to advocate for an end to. these anti crossdressing laws he won't. get harassed for for dressing how you. want to dress uh I'm going to help you.
get the services that you need um. eventually a public health unit called. the center for special problems uh. started offering their support as well. including uh getting IDs that reflected. their gender identities which is what. you're talking about that kept a lot of. them from getting jobs and that allowed. many of them to go get legal work and. you know they could leave sex work. behind yeah I mean it had a significant. impact especially considering that it. was forgotten really quickly after that. um that was also given credit for um.
establishing the national transsexual. counseling unit which is a support group. for Trans people probably the first one. in history um and it was a place where. like if you needed a place to stay they. could tell you who to go ask they could. help you fill out applications for. hormones and tell you what doctor to go. to um it was a mail drop for some people. who had just showed up and didn't have a. place to to live yet like basically. everything that supported uh unhoused.
trans kids in tenderloin in the. tenderloin in the the late 60s this this. the cancelling unit did and again this. Compton's cafeteria Riot is is directly. responsible for not just saying like hey. we have these needs that are being. completely unmet we're we're the police. are beating us with impunity anytime. they feel like it I read I I read one. story where this kid had just shown up. to San Francisco. and one of the first things he saw was.
another kid laying on the street um in. agony saying his ribs were broken and. the kid who just got into San Francisco. was like well we got to call the police. and the kid with his rib broken said the. police are the ones that did this to me. and that that guy I think he was one of. the Vanguard uh Founders he's like that. just crystallized the situation for him. almost immediately but but in responding. to that with violence it's sad that it. took violence but they finally stood up. and said no we're done putting up with. this and that actually had a positive.
impact in in um drawing attention to. their needs and then getting the city to. start responding to those needs or at. the very least recognizing that they. exist yeah absolutely um boy it would be. a uh kettle of fire as an episode but I. wonder if one day we could tackle uh. protests non-violent and and violent. protests okay through the years because. it is a fraught topic supposedly I don't.
know where I saw this but I think I just. saw it today something like 50. n% of nonviolent organizations or. non-violent movements succeed in their. goals but only like a quarter of violent. movements do so usually you want to back. the nonviolent ones is the if you're if. you're betting on it if you're betting. on outcomes of of civil movements so we. mentioned forgetting uh about the riot.
and how that could happen in 1966 not. even that long ago relatively. speaking. um historically speaking I guess I. should say and how does that happen and. here's how that. happens uh no one really wrote about it. even in San Francisco the the the. straight uh quote unquote straight. Publications didn't write about it and. largely the gay Publications didn't even. write about it much uh I believe there.
were a couple of members of the local. gay community who wrote about it uh a. gentleman named Raymond brashier uh. wrote about it in the. 1972 so this is five years later he was. a local uh very very radical Reverend. who was also gay I think he was a. Vanguard founder too so he wrote about. it the 1972 gay pride program so uh just. in a in a program for a gay pride uh. event and then a drag queen uh at the. time named Sandy green uh mentioned it.
just mentioned it in a letter to the. editor again this is six years later uh. I'm sorry five years later I guess um. seven seven years wow pretty bad we got. there the 73 issue of Gay Pride. quarterly uh but it was not uh it wasn't. even remembered in the lgbtq community. in San Francisco right forget about the. rest of San Francisco or America at. large and the question is like why did. Stonewall become the thing uh and there.
there's a few reasons one is that it was. in New York and it was the center of of. publishing so that certainly didn't hurt. that's a big reason in media uh another. is that uh these homophile groups that. we talked about um in the that kind of. short three-year span from 66 to 69. started to model themselves a little bit. more uh after things like the black uh. Power movement and the woman's rights. movement and were a little more sort of.
activist and uh action oriented than. they were before when they were just in'. 66 saying like you know can we just have. rights like everyone else they got a. little more aggressive I saw I saw it. put um in in that there was more. kindling like they were just starting to. bring the kindling out at the time of. the Compton riots but by the time. Stonewall happened there was a lot more. kindling to go up totally okay and. that's you know that's another really. big reason yeah it's pretty uh pretty. interesting stuff also I think the fact.
that like it was almost purposefully if. not purposefully ignored or just kind of. relegated to the sidelines by the larger. lgbtq community in San Francisco because. you know it was a riot and that really. again doesn't jive with the idea that. hey we're just respectable middle class. Americans who want to live a quiet. respectable life and be left alone. rioting doesn't really kind of coincide. with that so when you put all all those.
things together it definitely makes. sense that the Compton's cafeteria Riot. kind of was lost to history and the fact. that it was written about in just two. two places or it was mentioned directly. um is really significant like it really. underscores what Susan Striker did um. when when she came up with. the I guess the detective work of. putting the whole thing together I think. that's another great spot for a break oh. man I didn't even mean to do that you're.
just so good uh we'll be right back. [Music]. everybody so um back in I think the.
early 90s maybe even 91 Susan Striker. was um she was wrapping up her PhD at UC. Berkeley she was a trained historian at. the same time she was also transitioning. to a woman and this is 1991 so she's. basically like I I might as well not. even apply for jobs in Academia because. I'm not going to get one um because I'm. trans so instead she um started. volunteering she wanted to put her. historian chops to work um and she. decided to volunteer at the gay and.
lesbian Historical Society in San. Francisco in the. Castro um and it was there that I think. she first came across that 1972 gay. pride parade program that Ray broers. wrote um that mentioned the Compton's. Riot and she's like what is this guy. even talking about six years later I. think it said. four eight 92 just terrible uh yeah and. you know when you see this uh. documentary that I promise you were.
about to to name it uh you can like. Susan Striker is. struck by the fact that like she was. just like I couldn't believe what I was. reading almost like how did I not know. about this like I'm an active member of. this community and and everyone knows. about Stonewall like how did I not even. know this well she questioned that it. might not have even been a thing or if. it was a thing that brochers was maybe. blowing it up out of proportion yeah but. you know if uh in ' 66 you know.
obviously way pre- internet there's uh. there's there's traditional media and if. traditional media didn't cover it at all. the only thing you're left with is. people and oral history so that's what. Striker did um she at first tried to go. the city archist to look for police. records and arrest records and the. archist said you know in the 60s and70s. they basically shredded and burned a lot. of stuff uh because of police misconduct. so we don't have anything for that. period or or event at least and so Susan. Striker was like all right I guess I got.
to start finding people like literal. humans who were either there or were. nearby and knew about it firsthand and. that was really hard to do that I mean. all of a sudden it's like real detective. work going on cuz Susan Striker is. having to track these people down uh. these people that that were living on. the margins you know 50 years ago I. guess at the time about 40 years ago so. or no less than that 30 something years. ago I'm trying to think so something. like that uh and there were plenty of.
different stories like in one story she. found a transwoman who was a cook at. Compton's uh but was put in a Men's. prison uh was not allowed an interview. and ended up dying before Susan Striker. could speak to her um she thought about. writing a book and ultimately said you. know what I think this should be it'll. get to more people if I make a. documentary out of this so at long last. we can uh say that the name of the. documentary uh that Susan Striker along. with Victor Silverman made was called. screaming Queens colon the riot at.
Compton's cafeteria in 2005 which I. watched on YouTube that's great uh in. full it's under an hour it's like 55 56. minutes uh but it's also dramatized uh. which I have not seen but I'm going to. check it out tonight and Netflix's show. tales of the city in 2019 that I believe. Elliot page stars in oh is that right I. think I saw uh Elliot page in the cast. but I didn't dive too deeply yet so um.
there's a there's a unsung History. Podcast episode that interviews Susan. Striker and that she kind of goes into. detail about putting this whole history. together and it's kind of thrilling. actually like um it turns out one of her. her cohorts at the gain lesbian. Historical Society um was a geographer. and helped put the like create a map of. this vanished area in The Tender Loin. together so she started to have like. visual like a visual idea of where these. things were happening and when she was.
able to finally talk to people who were. there she knew that this thing actually. had happen because she didn't she didn't. say hey here's all the stuff I found out. is this right she was like have you ever. heard of this and then would they would. give her all the same information that. she already had she knew that she was. definitely on to something um so it's. definitely worth checking out it's a. great great episode um and definitely. watch screaming Queens too and the name. I think Chuck was in that there's an. initial like news reel about the.
tenderloin the red light district down. there and they mentioned how Compton's. cafeteria recently had to start closing. at midnight and they chalked it up to a. sidewalk fight between screaming Queens. is how they put it like they just. basically made it sound like it was a. cat fight that got out of hand the. police weren't even involved wow and and. that's how they explained how Compton. started closing at midnight so even then. like this is an old news reel even when. it like right after it happened it was. being ignored yeah like yeah that's.
really hard to believe but also easy to. believe in some ways um sadly so these. days you can uh you can still go over to. 101 Taylor Street uh that building is. still there it is um obviously not the. the restaurant any longer uh it is still. a home for uh many trans people and the. tenderloin itself is still uh still has. that sort of um that sort of spirit and. undercurrent there uh people are you. know it's sort of how San Francisco has. treated both this area and this Riot is.
is really interesting for a progressive. City uh because they haven't done the. right thing in many cases over the years. uh some people have tried in 2015 there. was a developer uh name called group I. that uh proposed building a hotel and. Retail project there uh with a nonprofit. space uh a couple of blocks away from. the location at Compton's and you know. different people were on board and then.
uh like within the gay community and. then we're like no I don't think we. should do this here because uh it's a. historical um area and we should just. preserve it as that uh and I think. that's just sort of like a lot of people. are fighting back against that in. general in San Francisco kind of no. matter what the cause uh yeah for sure. so they finally um I guess they went. along with it or it just was going to. happen one way or another but they got. some concessions out of the developer. and the City and um one of the things. that was um that came out of it was that.
the area on Taylor Street that Compton's. cafeteria used to be along they renamed. it Jean Compton's cafeteria way yeah and. at first um everybody was like okay. that's a compromise because we wanted it. called Compton's cafeteria Riot I guess. way and the city was like no we're not. putting Riot on an actual official. street sign so they said well we'll call. it Jean Compton's cafeteria way and then. later on they're like No actually that's. terrible name for it because it. commemorates one of the people who was.
anti-tr who like got us who kicked us. out of his his cafeteria routinely why. would we want to commemorate him we want. to commemorate this Uprising instead and. um they finally uh changed it to um what. did they change it to well they dropped. uh the name comptons because uh they. didn't want to honor um someone who they. said you know would frequently call the. cops on them right so I I can't remember. what they named it I think it might be. like transgender Corridor Way or.
something like that and the reason why. is because there's a transgender. Cultural District there now um and do. you remember our uh colleague uh uh she. was a transwoman Raquel Willis uh oh. yeah sure I read an article about this. new um Cultural District that she wrote. in I think Out magazine it's pretty good. that's great great too so um there it's. the probably the first transgender. Cultural District in the entire world. and it's very appropriately in the.
tenderloin because this is like kind of. like where a lot of the like Ground Zero. was for the trans community in America. and um this this Cultural District has. like a I think a entrepreneurial. incubator um it helps people um looking. for housing and jobs it's it's. everything that uh you would kind of. want as a start for a community that's. just now starting to to have its needs. met that's great I think so too what if.
when they when the uh City said oh we. can't have the name Riot on a street. sign what if they were like what about. Quiet Riot Boulevard on Russian Hill. you're awfully quiet about that one is. there really a quiet right at Boulevard. I got you for once okay and the fact. that you placed it in Russian Hill is. what got me that was well done oh thank. you very well done all right uh okay. well if you want to know more about the. competence interior by it definitely go. watch screaming Queens uh and go listen.
to that episode of unsung history and. thanks a lot Gigi for the idea great one. and since I thank Gigi that means it's. time for listener. mail uh yeah and you know that makes the. overall gullible score uh Josh 463 Chuck. one hey at least it's not a big goose. egg for you I got points on the board. that was a sports. metaphor right that's right followed by. uh following A Quiet Riot shout which is.
probably not something you expected to. hear in this podcast no but they hold up. all right I'm going to call this the. hand. burger and quite frankly the only reason. I'm reading it is because of that word. because I think it's hysterical what. this guy says M this is from Danny hey. guys just finished it to uh the latest. episode uh and listener mail Sam. mentioned he was hesitant to try the. show cuz the title of the show sounded. condescending as if it was suggesting. that he should already know certain. things at this point in his life I've. heard you mention this about other.
people it always cracks me up cuz that's. exactly why I started listening uh it. started about 7 years ago the person I. was dating at the time would constantly. poke fun and belittle me for not knowing. certain things that's so one day I huh. that's abuse it is abuse uh so one day I. literally typed stuff you should. know into Google hoping to find a list. of things that I ought to know awesome. true story is what this guy says uh what. I found instead thank God was your show. uh admittedly it took me a while to.
realize you two weren't simply. performing a public service to the world. informing idiot boyfriends of their. obvious knowledge gaps and remedying the. situation it probably wasn't until the. Jackhammer. episode that I asked myself should I. really know this that's abuse too that. is Danny uh this is the best part though. needless to say but I'm going to say it. anyways the relationship did not work. out uh what I learned though is that. everyone has some knowledge gaps so what. if I thought it was a hand Burger rather. than. hamburger um I think that's important.
there's no ham and you eat it with your. hands is what Danny says it makes sense. but everyone else calls it a hamburger. so or a steamed. ham steamed ham right I'm only going to. call them hburg from now on though yeah. cuz it makes a really good case for why. you would call it a hburg uh or that I. didn't know IV stood for intravenous. what am I a doctor who gives a. rip I like this guy yeah uh all that to. say thanks for doing what you do guys. for teaching me stuff I want to know as.
well as some things I probably should. know keep it up until the better end. Danny thanks a lot Danny that was an. excellent email um and we're glad that. you're on board I wonder what Danny. thought IV stood for I don't know or if. it was like IV y or something right he's. like four like why are you going to put. Ivy in my. arm uh where was I oh yeah if you want. to be like Danny and send us a rocking. email we would love to hear from you. wrap it up spank it on the bottom send. it off to stuff podcast iheartradio.com.
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