MFM Minisode 445

Speaker 1 This is exactly right.

Speaker 1 Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc with an all-star ensemble cast for his most dangerous case yet.

Speaker 1 When young priest Judd Duplentisi is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, it's clear that not all is well in the pews.

Speaker 1 Written and directed by Ryan Johnson, critics are calling it the sharpest knives out movie yet.

Speaker 1 Watch Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery in Select Theaters November 26th and on Netflix December 12th. Goodbye.
Rated PG-13. This podcast is sponsored by PayPal.

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Goodbye. Goodbye.

Speaker 1 The holidays are here, which means long days, festive nights, and plenty of outfits to pull together. And if your bra isn't keeping up with the season, it's time for an upgrade.

Speaker 1 Most bras are uncomfortable and come off the minute you get home, but Honey Love is different.

Speaker 1 Treat yourself or someone special to the most comfortable and innovative bras on earth this holiday season. Save 20% off site-wide at honeylove.com/slash MFM.
Use our exclusive link to get 20% off.

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Please support our show and tell them we sent you.

Speaker 1 Celebrate this season feeling confident and comfortable with Honey Love. Goodbye.

Speaker 1 Hello, and welcome to my favorite murder, The Mini Sode. We read you your stories.
You go first. Okay.

Speaker 1 This is about a summer job at a cemetery.

Speaker 1 Hi, Karen in Georgia. Day one listener here since 2016 and first time writing you to tell you my hometown murder.
I grew up in a small town in southwestern Wyoming.

Speaker 1 Yes, all towns in Wyoming are small. There's no towns in Wyoming.

Speaker 1 In my late teens, I worked at the cemetery for a summer summer job for my first few years of college in the late 90s, early 2000s.

Speaker 1 I worked on the grounds crew, mostly mowing and repairing sprinkler systems. The job was relatively mundane until the FBI came to exhume two bodies one day while I was working.
I mean, that's...

Speaker 1 For high school, did they say? College. College, yeah.
That's like a big deal. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Rewind to 1996 when the son, we'll call him Joe, of two school teachers in the same town lost his son and wife in a tragic accident. The family was on a fun day trip near a lake in the High Plains.

Speaker 1 They were overlooking a 200-foot cliff. And when Joe went to his car to get a soda, his wife and son fell to their deaths off the 200-foot cliff.

Speaker 1 It was a horrible accident and the whole small town rallied around Joe to support him. Fast forward to 1999 when Joe is arrested for hiring a hitman to kill his school teacher parents.

Speaker 1 The hitman was Joe's childhood friend and the local small-town drug dealer, Jesus fucking Christ.

Speaker 1 However, this drug dealer has morals, so after Joe asked him to murder his parents, he reported it to the police and the FBI began listening in on their phone calls.

Speaker 1 It's a small town in Wyoming. I mean, like, this would be crazy in LA.
In any, it's everywhere. It's like it's to the person.
It's not the place where you are. Yeah.
Someone gets a little idea.

Speaker 1 This is what I'm going to do. Joe eventually took a plea bargain to serve 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder, federal charges.

Speaker 1 However, small town gossip started around the possibility that maybe his wife and son's deaths were not an accident.

Speaker 1 The drug dealer, hitman, reported to the FBI that Joe had asked him to kill his wife and son about a month before their quote accident.

Speaker 1 In 2000, while I was working at the cemetery, the FBI came and exhumed the bodies of his wife and son. In 2001, Joe was charged with the murders of his wife and son.

Speaker 1 The key witnesses were the drug dealer, hitman, and a young woman. The young woman was 13 years old when she met a then 23-year-old married Joe, and they started having an affair in 1996.
She's 13.

Speaker 1 He told her that he wanted to get out of his marriage, but didn't want to get a divorce because he didn't want to have to pay child support.

Speaker 1 He used to bring her on dates to the cliff that he would eventually throw his wife and son off of. This man is sick.
This is so fucked up. It's so bad.
I can't believe we haven't heard of this.

Speaker 1 Also, like, what did they find from the exhumation? Because, like, that seems like you really wouldn't find much, but I guess. Or maybe they were drugged because they didn't fall.

Speaker 1 Right, or bruises that happened beforehand. I don't know.

Speaker 1 Joe was eventually convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and the deaths of his wife and child, two counts of soliciting their murders, and two counts of soliciting his parents' murders, and was sentenced to six life sentences.

Speaker 1 Thank God he didn't just get those 10 years. What about statutory rape for dating a 13-year-old? Can we do that too? Oh, Lord.

Speaker 1 Craziest part, even after hearing the FBI recorded conversations in Joe's own voice asking someone to murder his parents, his parents still supported him and did not believe he had tried to hire someone to kill them.

Speaker 1 You just, that's like, you can't. No, no.
You can't go past that. No.

Speaker 1 They also supported him through the murder trial of his wife and son. Stay sexy and don't hire the local small-town drug dealer as a hitman, Shannon, CPA, she, her.

Speaker 1 Shannon was at the core of everything happening in that tiny Wyoming town. Yeah.
I mean, good God. At the cemetery.
Oh, my lord.

Speaker 1 Also, that kind of thing where what a fascinating thing it would be to be like, here's the tragedy that everyone thought was a tragedy and you felt terrible about for 30 years. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then actually the last person in the world that deserves your sympathy. Or if you hadn't then become even more greedy and tried to kill your own parents, you would have gotten away with it.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Forever.

Speaker 1 Takes all kinds. Okay.

Speaker 1 We'll do similar. This is a crime-based one as well.
This object line is superhero great-great-grandparents. So it says, Hi, folks, greetings from Ireland.

Speaker 1 This might be long, so for Jay's sake, let's get into it. Karen, this is your time to shine.
Get your accent out.

Speaker 1 It's just like, I can do that when it's me talking to you. Yeah.
When it's someone from Ireland, no, thank you. Just think of that amazing guy who makes those videos.
What's his name? I love him.

Speaker 1 Is it Sean? Jesus fucking Christ. The I'm Delicious guy.
Yes. Blanking.
I'm his number one fan. He's also coming to America at some point.
I saw that. Oh, my God.
So

Speaker 1 many people tagged me where I'm like, you got it. Yeah, this is crazy.
Don't do it.

Speaker 1 Okay, so my great-great-grandfather, Peter O'Carroll, was a locksmith in Dublin during the Irish War of Independence.

Speaker 1 He was also the father of several active IRA members, including my great-grandfather, Michael O'Carroll. On October 16th, 1920, Peter was shot and killed outside his shop on Manor Street.

Speaker 1 A note was pinned to his chest. that said traitor so that those who found him would believe that he had been a traitor to the Irish cause.

Speaker 1 For decades, our family and wider community believed that he had been murdered by the Black and Tans or the British forces in an act of random brutality.

Speaker 1 Years later, during an episode of Who Do You Think You Are, which is that DNA family trees type of show, my cousin, comedian Brendan O'Carroll, discovered the truth.

Speaker 1 Peter's death wasn't random at all. British forces had given him an ultimatum: either turn in his IRA sons or face the consequences.

Speaker 1 When he refused, he was executed by Jocelyn Lee Hardy, a British intelligence officer infamous for his ruthlessness. Holy shit.
The revelation was both shocking and clarifying for our family.

Speaker 1 It painted a clearer picture of Peter, not just as a victim, but as a man who knowingly stood by his beliefs and protected his children in a time of brutal police violence. Yeah.
Wow.

Speaker 1 He just was like, kill me then. Totally.
And then they fucking pinned Trader on him so that they think he's like an inside. And it's generations then.

Speaker 1 Like the Irish thing is like, it doesn't matter how far removed you are. Yes.
You're the traitor family. Right.
What was the TV show called that was so fucking good? Say nothing. Say no.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, the book, say nothing. But the TV series was incredible as well.
Tell no one, say nothing. Say nothing.
It's Say Nothing. Okay.

Speaker 1 As it happens at the time, my great-grandfather and his brothers were being hidden by the Capuchin monks in a church in Dublin.

Speaker 1 The same church my grandmother and father would be laid to rest in much later. I say I'm pagan, but Catholic a la carte from my upbringing.

Speaker 1 But I thank the deities every day that my great-grandfather was given refuge so that I may know my grandmother and enjoy my father.

Speaker 1 It seems so very small, but in times of adversity, I rest my intuition in my ancestors. My father, great-grandson of Peter O'Carroll, died very suddenly in his 50s.

Speaker 1 From the time I was very small, my father always said that those who go before us never truly leave us. I was barely 21 when my father died.
I'm in my 30s now.

Speaker 1 Whenever I say, dad, I need you now, the issue just resolves itself.

Speaker 1 Thanks for letting me share. Stay sexy.
Trust your ancestors and don't get murdered. All the best, ladies, to you and yours always, E.
Wow. That's epic.
Yeah. Say nothing.

Speaker 1 Make sure you watch that TV show. Yeah.
I mean, that's incredible. Yeah, so good.
Thanks for that. It's so tragic that like that's the choice you had to make back then,

Speaker 1 which is so unnecessary because you can't take over a fucking country. But the sacrifices that people make in the day-to-day that we'll never hear about.

Speaker 1 It's such a cool thing to be able to tell that story where it's like that O'Carroll is one of many. There's so many of the stories out there.
Yeah. Totally.

Speaker 1 Who people are just were like, well, it's for the betterment of my children. Right.
Amazing.

Speaker 1 Every family has so many amazing stories that no one has ever heard before. That's why Story Worth memoirs are perfect for your loved ones this holiday season.

Speaker 1 It might sound a little intimidating, but it's so easy. They'll love it.
It's a gift they won't see coming, something that makes them feel truly special. And it turns out it's a gift for you too.

Speaker 1 Their magic layout and new book designs make your books and photos look even more beautiful. What's not changing? Customers love for StoryWorth.

Speaker 1 They've printed over a million books and preserved 35 million family stories since their founding 13 years ago. They have over 48,000 five-star reviews on Trust.
Press Pilot.

Speaker 1 Wirecutter, The Strategist, CNN, Fox News, and more agree StoryWorth is the perfect gift for the people people you love most. I mean, what a great thing.

Speaker 1 There's always the gift list for people that are impossible to buy for, people that you've bought everything for, on and on.

Speaker 1 This gift truly is like different than any other gift you give because it's literally giving your family members their own memories back to them.

Speaker 1 Totally, and it's something that you can share and cherish for generations, really. So, give your loved ones a unique keepsake you'll all cherish for years: Story Worth Memoirs.

Speaker 1 Right now, save $15 or more during their holiday sale when you go to storyworth.com/slash MFM. That's storyworth.com slash MFM to save $15 or more on your order.
Goodbye.

Speaker 1 Taking care of our mental health usually ends up at the bottom of the to-do list.

Speaker 1 It's somewhere between cleaning out the junk drawer and going to the post office, so basically, it isn't going to happen. But Talkspace makes it easy to fit therapy into your life.

Speaker 1 Talkspace is the number one rated online therapy provider, bringing you professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatrists that you can access anytime, anywhere.

Speaker 1 Talkspace is also in network. It's covered by most insurers, and most insured members pay a copay of $0.
Talkspace is affordable even if you pay out of pocket.

Speaker 1 Part of the mission of Talkspace is to provide quality care that's accessible and affordable, whether or not you're insured.

Speaker 1 You can switch providers at no extra cost, so you'll be sure to find a licensed provider that fits your needs.

Speaker 1 Here's why I love TalkSpace, because they're making it actually affordable for people in 2025. Very important these days.
We need it the most now and we can't afford it the most now.

Speaker 1 So let's fucking do it. Yeah, let's get it all covered by our insurance and let's get some therapy.

Speaker 1 As a listener of this podcast, you'll get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to talkspace.com slash MFM and enter promo code space80. That's S-P-A-C-E 80.

Speaker 1 To match with the licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com slash MFM and enter promo code space80. Good.
Goodbye.

Speaker 1 This is embarrassing, but. Must be done.
This one's called A Fart Machine Saved My Family. Oh, okay.
So it's kind of the same. It's, you know, thematic.
Oh my God.

Speaker 1 What is this show? Okay. Greetings, Karen, Georgia, and Pets.
Long time listeners, even longer time sisters, first time writing in together.

Speaker 1 They're sharing the same chair. I love it.
Each one has their hand on one side.

Speaker 1 I love it. And they're fighting.
They're absolutely pulling each other's hair. Here we go.

Speaker 1 To set the scene, we grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and while it was great, it was pretty easy to run out of things to do in town.

Speaker 1 So one spring day in the early 2000s, our parents packed up the Honda minivan with us and our brother and took us on a day trip an hour's drive south to the town of Hot Springs.

Speaker 1 After parking, we began walking down the main street toward a cafe for a bite to eat.

Speaker 1 The three of us kids and my mom were a little ahead of my dad passing antique stores, ice cream parlors, and souvenir shops when my dad spotted something in the window of a toy store and called us back to come look.

Speaker 1 As we peek through the glass, we see what my dad is staring at, a remote-controlled fart machine.

Speaker 1 Dad,

Speaker 1 stop tearing

Speaker 1 tracks. Yeah.

Speaker 1 In case you're not familiar, a remote-controlled fart machine allows a prankster to hide the device in a couch or under a chair, push a button on the remote from afar.

Speaker 1 I mean, this is like high-tech whoopee cushion. No one needs this explanation

Speaker 1 in the world. And let one rip on an unsuspecting victim by emitting a fart noise.
And how is that battery operated, or do you plug it into the wall? No, you have to charge it.

Speaker 1 This one in particular had a variety of different farts to choose from, from, varying in length and disgustingness.

Speaker 1 For my dad, as the youngest of eight kids growing up in the 60s, this was something he could have only dreamed of. Yeah, true.

Speaker 1 As my dad and little brother stared in admiration, my mom, myself, and sister waited impatiently while rolling our eyes. After about 30 seconds, we convinced the boys to move on.

Speaker 1 At the exact second we were dragging them away, a car suddenly veered off the main street onto the sidewalk and smashed straight into a storefront only a few steps in front of us.

Speaker 1 The fart machine saved the family. Yeah, but it gets that could be enough, but it gets weirder.
Okay. From that moment, chaos ensued.
Shattered glass flew everywhere.

Speaker 1 People were screaming to call 911 and others went to check on the driver and the people stuck in the store. At one point, a woman in the store thought her baby was trapped under the car.
Fuck.

Speaker 1 Unharmed by the crash, my siblings and I watched and shocked from the sidewalk.

Speaker 1 Sometime during the mayhem, as my mom was on the phone with the police and my dad and others were checking that no one was under the car, I looked up and noticed that a man was now running away from the scene of the crash, carrying my three-year-old brother over his shoulder.

Speaker 1 No, what? I know. I panicked and screamed, he has my brother, which caught the attention of bystanders and my parents who hadn't noticed that their youngest child was being abducted.

Speaker 1 The man stopped, walked back, and put my brother down and proudly exclaimed to my son parents, I saved him.

Speaker 1 The man then took the opportunity to request compensation for his, quote, heroic efforts, picked Picked him up and was like running out of the way of the car, but the car had already crashed.

Speaker 1 Yeah, let's talk about compensation.

Speaker 1 Right? Karen just put up two knuckle sandwiches. Yeah, you can have these two sandwiches, and then we've got this whole crowd would like to.
Seriously. I mean, how fucking remaining.

Speaker 1 Where's that baby? Okay, go ahead. The baby's fine.
The baby's fine. Okay.
There's no baby under the car. Okay.

Speaker 1 My dad, in shock and wanting to end this interaction, handed him a $20 bill and grabbed my brother, effectively paying his ransom. Yeah, fuck that guy.
Dude.

Speaker 1 Chaos monster. Chaos.
All in all, it was a freak accident, and luckily no one had any major injuries. My brother doesn't even remember getting kidnapped or that my dad thought he was only worth $20.

Speaker 1 That's a really good point. That is good.
But he is still upset that he lost his beloved green Power Ranger toy at some point during it all.

Speaker 1 But had we not stopped to see the fart machine, our entire family would have been in the exact spot where the car came speeding onto the sidewalk.

Speaker 1 Stay sexy and always take time time to stop and smell the fart machines. That's fine.
That was really good. Allison and Caroline, sister team.
Oh, sister team. Yeah.
That was great.

Speaker 1 Guys, as two sisters, you did an amazing job with that. One of you did a little bit better than the other.
We're not going to tell you. We won't say how.
Do you know what's crazy?

Speaker 1 Is that actually happened? Me and my sister, we were at my grandparents' house. They lived in Sonoma.
We lived in Petaluma.

Speaker 1 It's connected by Highway 12, where every 10 or so years, high school students are killed because it's a windy back road with almost no lighting. Yikes.
And my mom was like, we're leaving.

Speaker 1 Put your shoes on. But both me and my sister were taking a really long time because MASH was on and we wanted to see the ending.
How boring. And so we basically.

Speaker 1 That's just what? That's all we had. It's all we had.

Speaker 1 So we basically delay my mom by 15 minutes, essentially. And then...
as we drive home come upon a like five-car pileup on highway 12. And I was like, we would have been here.

Speaker 1 And my mom's like, Oh my God, you're completely right. Like, I put it together where I was like,

Speaker 1 this was us.

Speaker 1 This was a final destination situation if it wasn't for the quality writing of Mr. Alan Alda and everybody else that worked on MASH.
Look, I love Alan Alda. Don't fucking at me.

Speaker 1 I totally understand that. Everyone loves MASH.
It's actually a good show. Just as a child, I was traumatized by it.
And so no child wants to watch an army show. Exactly.
For the jokes. No.
No.

Speaker 1 For the adult jokes. Yeah, no.
Okay, go. Okay.
Oh, I forgot that wasn't mine. This one is for all the theater kids out there.
Oh, dear. The subject line is: I grew up in a prison town.

Speaker 1 Here's a story about my favorite prison break. Okay, it says, Hi, friends.
Let's jump right in.

Speaker 1 I just listened to the episode about the 2006 prison break in Lansing, Kansas, and immediately started squealing. That's my hometown.
I'm here right now. The prison is only a few miles away.

Speaker 1 Oh my gosh. After calling my non-Maritarino husband, that's a given.
You don't have to say that. It's a double entendre, is that what that is? Yeah, it's redundant.

Speaker 1 Who feigned a lackluster interest in my excitement, I knew it was time to write to people who actually care. That's right.
That's what we're here for. We moved here when I was a junior in high school.

Speaker 1 My siblings and I were a little nervous about living so close to the correctional facility, but my parents reassured us.

Speaker 1 If a prisoner escaped, their goal would be to get as far away from town as possible. That's a good point.
So technically, Lansing might be one of the safest places to live. Oh, they will.

Speaker 1 You need to change your clothes real quick in a car. Yeah, sometimes you have to hurt a person for that car before you can leave the area, right? Listen, it's parent logic.

Speaker 1 They're like, here's why you never have to worry about this ever again. How about you? Shut the fuck up.
Yeah. Eat your spaghetti with your fingers at the pool.
That's from last episode. Oh, sorry.

Speaker 1 They were, but man, don't you want to hear what that's all about? Good callback. Teaser.
They were proved right on multiple occasions, but let me tell you about my favorite prison break.

Speaker 1 First, you need to know I'm a theater kid. Yes, one of those insufferably enthusiastic ones who unironically loved flash mobs and belted

Speaker 1 and belted wicked at the top of our lungs in the car. My senior year, our high school musical was Beauty and the Beast.

Speaker 1 We had a gorgeous set, a stunning cast, and our directors went all out and rented elaborate costumes for us.

Speaker 1 We were deep into dress rehearsals, and the costumes were not easy to move in, especially during the be our guest scene. I bet.

Speaker 1 The silverware costumes were top-heavy, and the plates were so wide they could probably take out a freshman if you turned around too fast. Then we got an emergency notice.

Speaker 1 Two prisoners had escaped from the correctional facility that night. Matthew Glenn Allander and Chad Duane Amick were on the run.
They were considered armed and dangerous.

Speaker 1 The biggest concern during prison breaks around here tends to be car theft.

Speaker 1 Since we were all naive teenagers, our entire cast had to shuffle outside and lock our cars before locking ourselves inside the auditorium to finish rehearsal.

Speaker 1 I say don't make it it harder for them to get a car. Like unlock everyone's car and put your keys in there and get them out of there.
Get out of there. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Yeah.

Speaker 1 But rather than carjacking someone in their car. Very true.
Especially a teen. That's my but also the now I'm going to play the insurance adjuster.
Hey, watch those rates. Okay.
Okay.

Speaker 1 And in parentheses, it says, why didn't they cancel rehearsal during the prison break? Great question. I have no idea.
The show must go on, I guess.

Speaker 1 So then it says, I know the escapees were probably nowhere near the high school, but I like to imagine that what they would have seen if they had been, a waddling teapot, silverware clumsily clanking together, high schoolers in giant cardboard plate costumes trying not to be knocked over by the wind, and two volunteer dads standing guard with baseball bats that they'd found in the property.

Speaker 1 Oh my God, dad. They were trying to look intimidating, but let's be real.
They were just happy to be there.

Speaker 1 If I were an escaped prisoner and saw that on my way out of town, I would have turned around and broken back into prison. Fucking theater kids.

Speaker 1 And then it says, These days I'm a teacher in Lansing and still an insufferable theater kid, but at least I'm a little more self-aware.

Speaker 1 When people find out I teach at my old high school, they usually give me a weird look.

Speaker 1 High school was hell for a lot of people, but I feel like being back gives me a chance to make it better for someone else. I love it.

Speaker 1 Maybe some of my students will have a better experience than my friends and I did.

Speaker 1 Every time you read one of these sweet emails about how a teacher changed someone's life, just know it works both ways.

Speaker 1 Our students change our lives too. We love them unconditionally and we're always excited to hear from them again.
Stay sexy and keep your car doors locked. Sarah, she, her.
Sarah. That's nice.

Speaker 1 You're a beautiful person. Sarah, were you a plate or a fork?

Speaker 1 We must know, but how much did those costumes cost and who, where'd you get the money from? I mean, hardware?

Speaker 1 That makes sense.

Speaker 1 Every family has so many amazing stories that no one has ever heard before. That's why Story Worth memoirs memoirs are perfect for your loved ones this holiday season.

Speaker 1 It might sound a little intimidating, but it's so easy. They'll love it.
It's a gift they won't see coming, something that makes them feel truly special. And it turns out it's a gift for you, too.

Speaker 1 Their magic layout and new book designs make your books and photos look even more beautiful. What's not changing? Customers love for Story Worth.

Speaker 1 They printed over a million books and preserved 35 million family stories since their founding 13 years ago. They have over 48,000 five-star reviews on Trust Pilot.

Speaker 1 Wirecutter, The Strategist, CNN, CNN, Fox News, and more agree Story Worth is the perfect gift for the people you love most. I mean, what a great thing.

Speaker 1 There's always the gift list for people that are impossible to buy for, people that you've bought everything for, on and on.

Speaker 1 This gift truly is like different than any other gift you give because it's literally giving your family members their own memories back to them. Totally.

Speaker 1 And it's something that you can share and cherish for generations, really. So give your loved ones a unique keepsake you'll all cherish for years.
Story Worth memoirs.

Speaker 1 Right now, save $15 or more during their holiday sale when you go to storyworth.com slash MFM. That's storyworth.com/slash MFM to save $15 or more on your order.
Goodbye.

Speaker 1 Taking care of our mental health usually ends up at the bottom of the to-do list.

Speaker 1 It's somewhere between cleaning out the junk drawer and going to the post office, so basically, it isn't going to happen. But Talkspace makes it easy to fit therapy into your life.

Speaker 1 Talkspace is the number one rated online therapy provider, bringing you professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatrists that you can access anytime, anywhere.

Speaker 1 Talkspace is also in network. It's covered by most insurers and most insured members pay a copay of $0.

Speaker 1 Talkspace is affordable even if you pay out of pocket. Part of the mission of Talkspace is to provide quality care that's accessible and affordable whether or not you're insured.

Speaker 1 You can switch providers at no extra cost so you'll be sure to find a licensed provider that fits your needs.

Speaker 1 Here's why I love Talkspace because they're making it actually affordable for people in 2025. Very important these days.
We need it the most now and we can't afford it the most now.

Speaker 1 So let's fucking do it. Yeah, let's get it all covered by our insurance and let's get some therapy.

Speaker 1 As a listener of this podcast, you'll get $80 off your first month with TalkSpace when you go to talkspace.com slash MFM and enter promo code space80. That's S-P-A-C-E 80.

Speaker 1 To match with the licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com slash MFM and enter promo code space80. Google.
Goodbye.

Speaker 1 Therapy Dogs.

Speaker 1 MFM crew, human and animal. In episode 486, Georgia told the incredible story of Smokey the Hero Dog and mentioned that Smokey was one of the inspirations for current therapy dogs.

Speaker 1 It made me want to tell my personal therapy dog story. My oldest son is 15 and is the dream child.
Polite, responsible, sweet, the whole package.

Speaker 1 Last October, we learned that my son would need to get chemotherapy and radiation treatment on cysts on his arm that kept coming back despite surgical removal. Oh, scary.

Speaker 1 As you can imagine, it threw our lives into total disarray. Each chemo chemo round involved a three to four day admission at nationwide children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where we live.

Speaker 1 The absolute highlight of three admissions was when the therapy dogs would visit the oncology floor. When you're going through a tough time, having a sweet baby dog to snuggle for a bit is wonderful.

Speaker 1 Those dogs demonstrated the power that animals can have on our lives. The people who train these dogs are absolute heroes to families going through a difficult medical situation.

Speaker 1 I'm happy to report that my son is cancer-free and is ready to start his sophomore year of high school, SSDGM, and give your furry friends an extra squeeze for me. Chris, he, him.

Speaker 1 And Cookie's in the sound booth right now, too. Chris is like a new believer in like dog power and the effect of dogs on people.
Like we all, you didn't know that?

Speaker 1 You didn't know about dogs?

Speaker 1 You should know. You should get into dogs.
Are you new to dogs? Because you don't have to be going through bad shit either. You can just come home from work and be like totally.
Oh, my God. Thank God.

Speaker 1 That's a really good point. Just wake up in the morning.
That's sweet, though. And I'm, thank God, that's the story because how frightening.
It's your beautiful, perfect first child. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then this thing happens. And I bet you, like, those therapy dogs were as important for the family as they are for the patient.
Totally. And to see their kids smiling.

Speaker 1 I'm sure all the kids on that floor, you know. little kids wanting to see that.

Speaker 1 Beautiful. Adopt.
Don't shop. Make sure you adopt and turn your dog into a therapy dog if he behaves better than Cookie.
That's right.

Speaker 1 Also, let's just wrap it up with something superficial and stupid. Great.
And it says, Malibu, Celebrity Encounters, How Barbara Streisand Ruined the Summer of 1998.

Speaker 1 In that summer, my cousins were neighbors with Barbara Streisand. Oh, really? In Malibu.
Okay. Point Counterpoint.
So we should probably get them on the phone on a live line.

Speaker 1 What if this was from one of your cousins? It's really weird. Yeah.
Okay. It says, greetings all.
And I just want to say this. Georgia has family that could actually counterpoint this.

Speaker 1 We have no stake in the Barbara Streisand game

Speaker 1 whatsoever. Oh, no.
Shit's about to get talked about her. Oh, no.
Okay. I'm just saying I'm just here to read the email.
Yeah. This is just my job.
It's a dumb gossip. Yes.
Okay.

Speaker 1 Because that's what we ask people to do. Right.
But this is for entertainment purposes only. Allegedly.
Allegedly. Don't add us.
Alan Alda, Barbara Streisand. Don't ask.
Don't.

Speaker 1 We're big fans. MASH, the whole fucking thing.
Okay. Got that out of the way.
Okay. So the email goes like this.
Greetings all. I know time is short, so I will jump right in.

Speaker 1 I attended college in the mid-late 90s in a beach town just north of Los Angeles where lots of celebrities reside.

Speaker 1 Unfortunately for me and my roommates, Barbara Streisand lived just across the highway from our condo complex in her massive compound.

Speaker 1 Well, that summer, Babs was getting married to James Brolin on July 1st, 1998. I think they're still married.
Yeah. I think it was real.

Speaker 1 And also, she has a mall in her basement.

Speaker 1 Did you know that? No. She built a little shopping area so she could go shopping because she can't just go to the mall.

Speaker 1 I love that story.

Speaker 1 I'm going to do that makes me sad.

Speaker 1 I know, because it's an actual prison. Yeah.

Speaker 1 She's in a prison of fame. Yeah.
For all the negative things that are said about her, I'm going to try to think of a positive. I mean, she's an incredible actress.
How about it? Okay.

Speaker 1 I just watched a thing where somebody did like a blind reaction to a Barry Gibbs her song. And they were freaking out.
And I was just like, this is this, right? Yeah, like, this voice is incredible.

Speaker 1 We're just like, really? Freaking Barbara Streiser. I love this.
But this is different because this is about traffic in LA. And so everybody's.
I remember my cousins talking about this wedding.

Speaker 1 Okay, amazing.

Speaker 1 So they're getting married. She's marrying James Roland on July 1st, 1998.
For all caps, months ahead of the big event, the paparazzi and news vans were lined up on the highway in front of our home,

Speaker 1 which is truly a two-lane highway. Yeah, PCH, for sure.
They blocked traffic. They blocked our driveway, left garbage strewn all up and down the road.
That's very irresponsible.

Speaker 1 And caused General Mayhem 24 hours a day, all to try and get a glimpse of Barbara and James.

Speaker 1 As the nuptials approached, even more helicopters and news airplanes circled over the property, completely disrupting our pool and hot tub time.

Speaker 1 How dare you? In Malibu, it's so difficult.

Speaker 1 I can enjoy the pool, but the noise. The helicopter blew the brie off of our charcuterie board.
Fuck you.

Speaker 1 We didn't get a moment of peace the entire summer. It was a total nightmare.

Speaker 1 The helicopter thing, if you live in LA, if it's above your house for hours on end, you know how you want to just go crazy. That's why I moved out of Silverlake.
Really? Yeah. It was nonstop.

Speaker 1 For months on end, I would lose my mind. Yeah.
This is really more about the out-of-control paparazzi, though, than anything else.

Speaker 1 We did see Barbara in the flesh around town from time to time. She was not particularly pleasant or nice to encounter.
I'll do the counterpoint. Can you imagine?

Speaker 1 If every time you fucking went to get yourself a donut, someone was judging you and going to tell all all their friends right and then screamed at you and forcing an encounter it's not the way they want it to be they whip right around on you she's a bitch cruller crawler crawler crawler crawler crawler okay i actually don't know why did i use that one i couldn't have used anything else go try it again

Speaker 1 thank you never saw james though or josh and then in parentheses it actually says hubba hubba which is hilarious did my mom write this email we did see many other celebrities but since our town was also their home we were counseled as incoming freshmen to ignore them and let them go about their date.

Speaker 1 So, this is more of a general report because this person went to Pepperdine. Right.
And so, they're like, I went to Pepperdine from some other town where there's no celebrities

Speaker 1 and was delivered into Celebrity Central. Yeah.
And the Pepperdine was like, be fucking cool. Don't give us a bad name.
Yes. Don't make the Starbucks ban you.
Right. So they say.

Speaker 1 Top sightings include Pierce Brosnan in parentheses. He's shorter than he looks on film.
They all are.

Speaker 1 Woody Harrelson, Tom Hanks, and Rita Wilson in parentheses, very nice people. Robert Downey Jr.
in parentheses. This was during the bad years, so he was a mess.
So glad he overcame his demons.

Speaker 1 This is literally just, we're hanging over the back fence.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Just gabbing with our neighbor.
What's up in Malibu? G.M.E. Shibli.

Speaker 1 Oh, and Nick Nulty, always in a dirty brown bathrobe and bunny slippers in the middle of the day because he's Nick Nulty and he can do what he wants. It fits.

Speaker 1 I no longer live in that dreamy little slice of California, but my friends and I plan on returning there someday when we are retired to live together once again at the beach, wear caftans, drink cocktails, and scare college students with our bad grandma antics.

Speaker 1 Love the podcast. Keep them coming.
SSDGM, love B. Wow.
That's a good one. Truly, actually not.
We didn't have to be defensive of Barbara because they were.

Speaker 1 It wasn't about, it wasn't like the flowers were tacky. No.

Speaker 1 Not at all. It wasn't a takedown.
No. Except for the thing of the criticism, which is just like, just,

Speaker 1 truly try to put yourself also to that level. She's been famous since

Speaker 1 Broadway in the early 60s. Broadway, another Broadway, yeah, for sure.
So, our message to you is give Barbara a break. Leave Barbara alone, leave Barbara alone.
Thank you for listening.

Speaker 1 Stay sexy, don't get murdered.

Speaker 1 Goodbye, Malibu.

Speaker 1 Elvis, do you want a cookie?

Speaker 1 This has been an Exactly Right Production. Our senior producers are Alejandra Keck and Molly Smith.
Our editor is Aristotle Aceveda. This episode was mixed by Liana Squolachi.

Speaker 1 Email your hometowns to myfavorite murder at gmail.com and follow the show on Instagram at MyFavorite Murder.

Speaker 1 Listen to MyFavavite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now you can watch us on Exactly Right's YouTube page.

Speaker 1 And while you're there, please like and subscribe. Goodbye.
Bye-bye.

Speaker 1 No one brings out your inner monster like a bad neighbor.

Speaker 1 Claire Danes and Matthew Reese find that out for themselves in The Beast in Me, a new eight-episode drama from the team that brought you homeland. Danes plays Aggie Wiggs, a grieving writer.

Speaker 1 Reese plays Niall Jarvis, her new neighbor and possible murderer. But who's the monster and who's the bad neighbor? That's another story.

Speaker 1 It's a game of cat and mouse that sets them on a collision course with fatal consequences. The Beast in Me, now playing only on Netflix.
You will not want to miss this. Goodbye.
Goodbye.

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Goodbye.

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Goodbye. Goodbye.