680 - Pole Sitting

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You're You're listening to the dollip on the all things comedy network.

This is an American history podcast where each week I, Dave Anthony, read a story from American history to my sworn enemy.

I'm wrong, Gareth Reynolds, who has no idea what the topic is going to be about.

Not your enemy, dude.

You are.

After today, you are.

Buddy,

come on.

After today, you are.

Come on.

We're not enemies.

We're playing games with my life.

We have a will they won't they.

It's different.

You're playing games with my life, with my family's life.

I have a family.

We have things.

It's called a will-they won't they.

We have things planned.

It's called a will-they-won't they.

And when somebody says, we'll do something at this time, I got my times mixed up.

An early morning text saying we'll do it at this time.

And then that person redoes all their plans.

And then you come back and say, no, let's do the original.

Someone shot an arrow through my stomach.

You're a virus.

I had to.

And I'm a vaccine.

I had to save the president's life.

Why would you do that?

Because he's the greatest president of our life.

I always think about the fact that I know a guy who has a father who's a Green Beret.

He passed at this point.

But the first time Trump was going to run for president, he and his other Green Beret guys, old dudes, were like, we should take him out.

I mean, that's just like he talked about.

And they were really considering it.

It's just so crazy.

It is the best.

Tabby Lee Jones, Morgan.

Isn't that just such a movie?

Like these old guys.

Yeah.

It's such a movie.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We got to do this, I guess.

Yeah.

You're going to die.

Just save one of them dies on the mission.

Lewis!

I'm going to die!

I can't do it today.

They forget where they're going.

What do you mean one of them?

I don't think we should do this.

It was your idea.

Gareth, we're going on tour.

Did you know that?

I did.

Yeah, we're going.

It starts in June.

This is 2025, June 3rd.

Sacramento Punchline.

Now, what we've done on June 3rd at Sacramento Punchline is the show sold out.

So we are now doing a second show that night.

I think 9:45.

Is that what time it is?

I think so, yeah.

Um, 9:45, and it's going to be a best of show.

It's a classic.

I will pick the topic this week, so we'll be able to know.

Uh, okay, you will coming very soon.

So, uh, I we should just do like the rube or something.

Like, we should just do a classic.

Should I know what it is?

No, probably not.

I think you hide that from me, too.

I think that's good.

So, we'll do an old episode, but we'll do all new commentary, jokes, all that.

We did it in Albuquerque, and it was very, we did truck nuts, and it would go to our Patreon if you want to listen to that.

It's coming out soon.

But it was very funny.

So, you know, if you're, I guess if you're a big fan, that's a great show to go to.

And if you're not a big fan, what's your fucking problem?

I mean, what are you doing?

Definitely just $40 or less.

What are you doing?

Yelling us on Twitter?

Yeah.

Also,

after Sacramento, then we'll be the next day, June 4th in Boise, then June 5th in Spokane, then June 6th in Seattle, then June 7th in Portland, then June 8th in Ben, and then June 10th in San Francisco, which is where Gareth originally asked me if we want to do a second show.

Not second show.

Look, there's upside and there's downside, buddy.

There's upside and there's downside.

Isn't it hard enough to live in this country and not get misinformation from your own?

Isn't it exciting to figure out stuff randomly that you thought was solidified?

Two things.

One, when we go to Boise, can we call ourselves the bad boiseys?

Okay, two, we really have noticed a drop-off on doll heads being tossed on stage when we walk out, and that's been affecting performance a little bit.

So we noticed that a lot of people are holding on to their doll heads until after the show and gently put, guys.

You are the doll heads.

We are encouraging you to lean into the movement and bring the head of a doll and toss it up there for us.

And we're loving it.

And this

social media-wise, this thing is taking on a life of its own.

So doll heads, if you're out there, toss a doll head on stage.

We're living it.

We're loving it.

You know, so

yeah, just, you know, I mean, again, if you can afford a doll head, if you can't, you people will provide.

If you throw a dollhead on stage, I will back it up.

We agree.

And I will throw it back at you as hard as I possibly can.

That's a promise.

So that's exciting.

So toss a doll head up there, guys, and then Dave's going to pelt them back at you.

But we love it.

We always like to say it's our roses at our opera.

So give it a toss.

Thanks, guys.

May 11th, 1893, here by Lord J Town,

who is just...

Stop.

You got to get the bandanas.

But

he's talking about starting a band, which is something I think the kids are into.

So if you're in a rock and roll band, it's okay to rock for Jesus.

If you're skateboarding, it's okay to skateboard for Jesus.

If you're windsurfing, windsurf for Jesus.

Because Jesus doesn't know he loves it all.

1893, Aloisis Anthony Kelly was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York.

His mom died during childbirth.

So he killed his mom.

Yeah.

That's how.

I mean, that's the baggage you got to carry.

I killed my mom.

Well, it's only weird.

I mean, I don't know.

I kind of like it.

I think anybody who

dies during childbirth, you carry that with you.

Right?

Actually, I wouldn't call it a power move.

I actually don't think it's funny.

And I don't think, I think jokewise.

You just called it a power move.

Yeah, but

I learned a lot since then.

Now, his father had died before he was born.

So

he came out an orphan.

Wow, that's nuts.

That's horrible.

So day one, he's on his own.

Well, somewhat,

what happens in that situation?

Just orphan right away?

Family, I think.

Or orphan.

Yeah, family or orphanage.

Yeah.

His dad was a rigger and worked on constructing the Brooklyn Bridge.

So Al was adopted and raised by a family friend.

And when he was seven, he was said to be annoying an old man one day on the street, and the old man went after him, so he climbed a pole to escape the old man's wrath.

Now, this is, this is,

in my time on this show,

this is important.

This is both facts I've said are important.

I think the climbing of the pole is pretty big.

So is the Brookham Bridge.

Two years later, he, quote, did a human fly routine up the side of a building.

We're jumping.

So this is got to this episode must be a little wild because this is starting big.

Jumped off a building.

Okay.

Apparently he did not enjoy his adopted family and he ran away at age 13 and changed his name to Alvin, which is what you do.

Alvin.

If you're going to hit, his last name is Kelly.

If you're going to hit the streets, pick the worst name possible.

Pick the dorky name.

Yeah, but you're a guy named Dave.

You've always loved to shout Alvin.

Hardcore.

There's no more hardcore name than Dave.

Will you do me a favor?

Will you say Simon Theodore and then yell Alvin?

Simon Theodore Alvin!

Yeah, that's awesome, dude.

You know, in a real way, I am the Alvin of this show.

You are.

Very much so.

This is fun.

Throw those heads on stage, guys.

So Alvin got work as a merchant sailor, which now kicks off a string of risky jobs.

Over the next 15 years, he took jobs that other people really avoided.

Alvin was a steelworker, a steeplejack, a high diver, a boxer, and a stunt pilot doing aerial stunts.

To be passing on...

To be taking jobs that most people pass on in turn of the century

at that time is really

wild.

It is really wild, though.

Yeah, it's

you're out of your mind, right?

Yeah.

You're a two-tutor.

Yeah.

A what?

Yep.

A two-tutor.

Hmm?

I think that's the term.

Not sure.

So he signed up to serve in World War I.

and was in the Naval Auxiliary Reserve.

So he's not a, this guy's not a a coward.

Let's just

put that out there.

No,

he's not afraid of cat.

Yeah.

After three years, he's discharged.

Somewhere along the journey, Alvin had picked up the name Shipwreck.

Hmm.

Now, Alvin said it was because he had survived multiple shipwrecks, plane crashes, and accidents, car accidents.

He also claimed to have survived the singing of the Titanic.

What?

Which is definitely not true because there are Kellys, but they're all women.

There's no last name Kelly bro.

Okay.

And there's certainly no Alvin or Aloysius.

So he pumps up his resume a little bit?

Whatever.

It works.

You got a brand?

Your name's Shipwreck.

Sure, sure.

I wanted to just do a Trump impression, and I want everyone to know that I sat on it because that one guy complained so much.

Others say he was called Shipwreck because

as a boxer, he was knocked out multiple times and he fought under the name Sailor Kelly.

Oh, man.

So they call it shit.

That one makes sense.

Why don't UFC fighters lean into character work a little bit more?

That would be awesome.

Yeah, I agree.

Like Sailor ones and just, you know, just

give your, I mean, take a little bit of the wrestling theatrics.

And

the UFC needs more pageantry when you're watching these guys get.

Alzheimer's on a picture.

It does indeed.

It does indeed.

So Alvin made his way to Hollywood and he started working as a stuntman and a double in films.

And now this is the time of fads.

Popular fads, pieting competitions, dance marathons,

double stones like walking on planes, biplanes.

There's a lot of, I wish I, I, I read through some of them and they're, they're just like, you're just like, how fasting was a fad.

Like there were just all these,

like people would be like, I fasted 63 days.

And it's like, no, you're alive.

So that you didn't do that.

Oh.

On January 1924, a local movie theater hired Alvin to climb up a tall pole and stay there to get publicity for an upcoming movie.

Crowds form.

It's very exciting.

Skype a pole.

Sure.

People are amazed.

Like they can't believe this guy's sitting on a pole.

Sure.

He's just, he's sitting on a pole again for hours.

He's just sitting on a pole.

He is up there for 13 hours and 13 minutes.

I feel like I am aware of this event.

Is that possible?

Maybe.

Okay.

You're aware of a version of it.

So this is in the papers, right?

It's very exciting.

A guy was up with a pole.

And Alvin's interviewed, and he said he also climbed buildings.

Quote, how'd I come to be doing stunts?

Well, I just naturally like to climb around.

That's how.

That's a good answer.

Yeah.

It's in his nature.

That's what he's saying.

Sure.

Plus, remember, his dad worked on the Brooklyn Bridge.

He's working some stuff out.

Climbing up the pole.

Yeah.

Okay.

He's trying to get closer to his parents.

Yeah.

Who would live in?

The press

led to Alvin getting a lot of other offers from businesses.

to sit on a pole in front of their business, and he takes the offers.

I like the idea that

I felt like they were going to have a more creative spin on it, but they're like, what about this?

Sit on a pole again.

But now we've got a great idea.

We're a tobacco company.

So we thought a perfect tie-in would be, what if you sat on a pole once more?

It's working, by the way.

Crowd forms around your business and then people go into your business.

It works.

It's very successful.

So it's mainly for foot traffic.

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

He's not like up there eating a hoagie for Blimpy or something.

Well, that's a great idea.

Thank you.

So he starts touring.

He gets fans and there's people mimicking him and many people.

Many people around the country start trying to break his 13-hour record.

There's a picture of a guy called the human fly.

who is up a flagpole in 1924, but he is just on his stomach with his his arms outspread and he's just like on the pole like that so there's a lot of crazy shit going on sure

but alvin is the og and he quickly starts to make up to a hundred dollars an hour to flagpole sit at store openings now i read somewhere else it was a hundred to five hundred he's at amusement parks he's at county fairs that's that's eighteen hundred dollars an hour in our in our money again he's he's sitting on a pole did i mention that he's just sitting on a pole?

Yeah.

Now, are you confounded because that it's so death-defying, or because

kind of what I was rubbing up against just now was like, if you're at the fair and you're like,

he's at a, you know, I mean, you'd literally just be like, wow.

All right.

Hey, guy have a pole.

Yeah.

I mean, that's it to me, is that he's just sitting on a pole.

Now, it is dangerous.

He can't

fall in.

Nothing else is going on, as we've talked about.

Nothing is going on.

This is a reading.

Or, yeah, or a guy walked backwards into town.

Like that's by the way.

For comfort and safety, he balanced on a small cushioned seat, which was just 13 inches in diameter.

So basically, he has a bar stool that he puts up on top of the pole.

Sure, okay.

And he sits on it.

Basically, so flag poles are being modified for this, and he sometimes puts...

He sometimes will put stirrups on it for his feet, and that helped him keep his balance.

That's a little cheap to me.

That's not as good.

I like the traditional one where you know a guy's slowly frozen.

That's right.

This went, it went in me.

It went in me.

Oh, Sakta.

Ah, ah, ah.

So he would sleep just a few minutes at a time taking naps upright.

Up there?

Yeah, well, now he's now he's because every time he goes up, he has to beat his record.

He's napping up there?

Yeah.

Well, that's not a good thing.

Okay, so he would hook thumbs into holes that he made on the pole, right?

They would modify the pole.

So he'd hook his, put his thumbs into these holes.

And when he starts to lean, his thumbs would hurt and wake him up.

He is, he can't, he is so

he's so unaffected by what he's doing.

This is the most jaded you could be with your work.

He's on a pole falling asleep.

Do you not think that's crazy to nod off up there?

I do think it's crazy.

Like, that would be like me.

That would be like us being like, well, during a show, we need to come up with a way where, you know, if we nod off, we could just wake up right away.

Like, I don't seriously, if I, if I fell asleep during a show, I'd just leave, let me sleep.

I, I did to kill a mockingbird in college, and I was, it was like, I had the smallest part imaginable.

And

I was in the juror's box.

Sometimes we do two shows a day, and I would literally just be sitting in the juror's box as like a human body to be in a juror's box.

And there were a couple times during the live show where I was like, I am genuinely nodding off during this performance.

I was like on stage doing the like nod off head thing where I was like, buddy, you got to lock in.

Wow.

Okay.

So he's passing out a little.

Okay, that seems strange.

But waking up.

He's figuring out a way to do it, right?

Yeah, he's got thumb holes.

So it keeps him in an upright position.

He also used ropes as stirrups to keep his balance, prevent him from falling.

A lot of times.

Now it's going going on for days, right?

So now he's shaving on the pole.

Sometimes he would get someone to come up and cut his hair.

Oh, come on.

Stop.

I'm not sure how that worked with the haircutter.

I couldn't find out how that would work.

I read several places that said he did get his haircut.

He got a haircut?

So it's obviously very stunt-based.

People are like, whoa.

Yeah, it's doing stuff that'll make people.

He's whacking off.

Yeah, well, that got weird.

Ah,

he's polling his pole on a pole.

We really had a Disney sort of version going on, and you took it straight to Penthouse.

Hold on.

I'm getting a text from Disney.

They're out.

I don't know what it is.

It's about the montage, I guess.

They have a note of montage.

You made our sweet little romantic poll thing.

Wait a minute.

These holes aren't just for thumbs anymore.

Actually, I did the whole poll going up your butt.

So what are we talking about?

Look at him now.

He's fitting right in that thumb hole with his Janssen.

So Alvin is spending days, a week up a pole.

He refused to eat solid food while on the pole, which

he doesn't want to shit.

He doesn't want to shit over the side, yeah.

He doesn't want to take a deuce.

But I mean, by the way, if you're talking about stunts that would be great to watch on the pole, like watching someone kind of pulley a toilet up there for him to drop a deuce, that'd be awesome.

Why does they have to pull up a toilet?

He could just drop one down.

He is essentially easily in a squatting position, right?

Hey, hey, but I'm not married to any pitch here.

I love that.

Just drop it over the side.

I love that.

I think that's great.

I think people would cheer that.

That's awesome.

Catch it in your hat, win a pie.

So, Nunn Salt Foods, he would drink broth and

water.

They would hoist it up in buckets to him.

Sure.

He's like a Wim Hoff.

Now, to P, he had a tube hidden

that he would be.

Well, he's called the urethra.

It would somehow, and he somehow hit it.

I don't know how he hit it, but the tube would go all the way down to the ground on the flagpole.

And so I assume that P just went

to the ground down there.

And so, yeah, he's peeing into a tube.

Okay.

That's fine.

Yeah, I'm like, although peeing over the side would be really.

I completely agree with you that if

maybe we're just too early in his timeline, because eventually I would be like, I'm over this.

And they'd be like, did you hear he's shitting and pissing?

I don't know.

I saw him shave up there.

Oh, he's pooping off it now.

Wait, what?

Oh, yeah.

It's good stuff.

So

he also did stunts for charity.

In April 1924, the Los Angeles Evening News reported, quote, people hurting to

hurting.

No, that's autocorrect.

Hurling.

Okay.

People going to and from lunch at 12.30 today who observe a small figure scaling the walls of the Lane Mortgage Building, 8th and Spring Streets, will know that Shipwreck Kelly is doing his stunt again for the benefit of disabled veterans.

Kelly will repeat the stunt at 7:30 tomorrow night at the Garland Building, 9th and Spring Streets.

So he's doing it for charity.

He's doing, because he was a vet, he's helping other vets out.

Sure.

While he was doing it, veterans would walk around with their hats for people to put money into.

So that's how the.

Or to catch his crap.

Or to catch his turds.

And after that, Kelly told reporters he was more afraid of LA traffic than climbing buildings.

Colors.

Jokes.

Brother.

I hear you.

Boy, do I hear you.

Boy, that trap.

Sometimes I just sit in that traffic.

I go, what the hell is causing this?

All right.

The dollop's got to be right back.

We'll be right back.

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Yeah, the dollop is brought to you by mood.

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Online cannabis company revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges.

You know, you got sleepless nights, can't sleep a little bit.

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Okay, so we didn't know that the ad was going to actually go in there, everybody.

That was not...

It's not going to be a regular thick.

So Kelly's stunts were not just about the time he spent on the

poll.

He's orchestrating media events.

He traveled across the country.

He's doing stunts all over major cities, Chicago, New York, Atlantic City.

Crowds gather because everyone knows about this now.

They watch him eat and sleep and shave.

He's just living up there, perched on a platform, just dozens of feet in the air.

Other countries

do not get in on it.

This is very much an American thing.

The paper

Yeah.

The paper, The Sport in Adelaide, quote,

a new hobby has broken out in America, the land of dollars and novelties, movies, and prohibition.

It is sitting on a pole.

Just that.

Apparently, Americans have tired of long-distance dances and long-distance swimming, and now they are creating world championships for sitting on flagpoles.

How dare you, Adelaide?

How dare Adelaide, of all the places, of all places we have adelaide

closes at 9 15 on a friday

how dare i know for a fact that if there was someone sitting on a pole in adelaide right now it would be the biggest thing going on in that town a hundred percent

it's satellite

celebrate

He was always trying to one-up himself.

In September 1926, he stood on a flagpole affixed to the top of an airplane and flew over the central business district in New Orleans to advertise a festival at the fairgrounds.

Hey, Adelaide, any comments?

He's now sitting on a plane pole.

Any thoughts on the boring Americans?

You don't need alcohol when you have this going on.

That's right.

Dare you.

The more Almanews thing, the more news reports there were, and the more people wanted to imitate him or break his records.

Because again, there's no skill involved.

I would contend that there is something involved, like a skill.

There's a lack of fear.

Yes, it's a skill.

There's no skill.

That's not a skill.

History is littered with idiots.

Could you shave on a pole?

Could you shave on a pole?

Yes.

Well, buddy, I think we got a new Patreon tier.

Yeah, so more people want to do it.

People are now just sitting in chairs attached to a pole.

On the reg?

Yeah, people are doing it all over the place.

And the press is eating it up.

This is now, it like becomes like the reality show of the 1920s.

Okay.

Reporters are following the daily struggles of the sitters.

You know,

honestly, is there any story we've ever covered that the media doesn't quickly ruin and make shitty?

No.

No.

Like, it's like, I'm not trying to say poll sitting should remain grassroots, but it's like, I don't need to know the life and times of these people.

You do?

No, you don't.

Why are they so sight?

What are they doing it for?

Who are they?

And what does your son think of this?

He misses me so much.

He said he doesn't care if daddy lives or dies, and I'm showing him that he does.

That's why I've got him up on the poll with me today.

I'm sure somebody did that with their kid, but I didn't find that.

So

it is.

It's like the reality show.

The reporters are just covering everything.

And that's why people are so interested, but also,

it makes people more interested in watching them do mundane shit, like shaving and getting a haircut and doing it, right?

And then they're more interested.

So

like there are people who are.

So

potentially you're walking down the street and you're seeing

three to five different people on polls in an area?

No, no, because

it is

one person doing it.

Later on, there are contests where people do it.

Okay, but there's

still pretty much every town has a poll guy?

Kind of, yeah.

I mean, there's kind of poll guys everywhere.

And it's exciting because that's your town poll guy.

Yeah.

And there's like there's pictures of

Alvin just reading a paper up on the poll, like, you know,

brushing his teeth, et cetera.

So in 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri, he spent 147 hours atop the Westgate Hotel, but then they had to call it short because it was February and just brutally cold.

It dropped down to 17 degrees.

But the final nail in the coffin was the wet part of the weather.

He was getting close.

There was rain and snow and smoke from the railroads.

That's one week I won't forget.

I mean, 147 hours.

That's over two days.

Gareth?

No, it is.

I need you to do more math.

It's over three days.

Gareth?

It's over.

It's definitely over three days.

It's over three days, yes.

It's over.

It's also over six days.

It's over 20 days.

No.

It's like seven days, I think.

It's like

60 days.

Can you divide it by 24?

Yes.

Yes.

And

three.

Screw you, Adelaide.

Why?

Why?

You were never a math guy.

I'm the human calculator.

You were never a math guy.

I'm the human calculator, baby.

Give me a number.

Give me two numbers.

It's 6.12 days.

Give me two numbers.

I just gave you four and two, four and two.

What do you want me to do with them?

I don't know.

Put them together.

I don't have a license for that part.

Can't just be doing that willy-nilly.

Are you crazy?

I'll throw my back out.

Yeah.

So a month later, he's in St.

Louis, Missouri.

And it seems to me like he's just, he's touring and taking and taking offers.

So these are all offers.

Like, it's some business that offers them.

That's why he's in Kansas City.

So.

And then, so, like, he's in Kansas City, and the next month he's in St.

Louis because he's just taking the offers and traveling.

Yeah, he's touring.

Again,

he had to cut it short.

This time, he's atop the Maryland hotel roof.

And he now has a manager

who said they're charging admission to the roof to make money.

He made about $2,000 from admission.

He also made money from ads.

He's putting ads out.

And his fans are just like,

the ads stop at 10.41.

So now you have to put him in the middle because

now he's got to put him in the middle.

I thought this guy was like fucking for us.

The St.

Louis Glove Democrat reported Kelly's poll sitting brought in $100,000 down to...

$100,000 to downtown businesses because of all the people coming in.

That's a shitload.

How many people are coming?

Like, that's crazy.

I'm really fighting the Trump impression wants right now.

I think

his manager must have been,

I mean,

yeah, he brought in a guy who knows how to make money, right?

He brought in that's what the manager is.

He's approaching after the first.

Alvin, how are you?

My name's Gush Harard, and I'm one of the, I'm the main poll manager in town.

Boy, I see big things for you.

What do you mean?

I just sit on polls.

I don't need, I don't need a man.

Exactly.

With my help, you'll be sitting on poles by the time I'm in.

I am sitting on poles already.

Yeah, but we're going to go to roofs.

I'm already on a pole.

Most of these are poles on a roof.

It's a flagpole mostly on a roof.

All right.

See you later.

All right.

Thank you.

Yeah, bye.

Take care.

What if you started shitting?

Okay, yeah, what?

Yeah, I don't know.

Um,

so that time in St.

Louis is cut short because of lightning, uh, and wind so strong that his aides had to keep moving the wires around.

So, some of these are

crazy,

they keep the pole fastened by using wires, and the wind is so bad they keep having to move the wires around.

That is, man, dying like that is

unreal to absolutely.

No, fuck that.

Oh, my God.

That feeling as you're trying to climb it down to beat it.

But they had to come up

another way to generate funds.

And after he came down from the poll, he went straight to a furniture store where he was now to

sit on a couch.

He sleep in the show window.

He's just slept in the window?

Yeah.

That's a weak pivot.

Quote, in which he was visible from all directions and entered a day bed which had been prepared for him.

So, straight, so he knew he was going to come down the pole early.

He's going to, he's going to, so he's not going to make as much money.

So, he comes down and goes straight into a furniture store.

They make a deal.

His manager makes a deal.

And then he's just going to sleep.

What if Alban just sleeps in your window?

That is a crazy.

My guess is people are like, I mean, people could not even then.

No, stop.

They loved it.

What the fuck?

Are we about to enter a new zone?

People, including kids, are pressing their face against the glass to get a look at this man sleeping.

Outside in the street, vendors announce you can buy a postcard sketch of Kelly's life for 15 cents.

Crowds are forming.

People are very excited.

And he goes to sleep around midnight.

He's tired because he's been up on the pole.

I understand.

What do you think?

I forgot the beginning.

I get the beginning.

But are people enamored because they're watching a human in a window or because it's him specifically in a bed?

It's him.

So he's got that sort of draw where.

What if you could go watch Walton Goggin sleep in the Macy's window?

Yeah, well, look, all right, well done.

I get it.

Well done.

You picked a perfect person

that's perfect.

By the way, I would like to report Walton is a super nice guy.

There are a lot of bad ones out there.

I've had conversations with Walton.

I've never met him.

Can we call him friend of show?

Yeah, I think so.

So, friend of show.

Yeah, we love the guy.

How do you know him?

How did you meet him?

Name drop.

Let's get into it.

What happened?

Josh is really good friends with him.

So I've been to parties and little gatherings where he's at.

I'm going to try.

I'm going to talk to Josh because I think I need to get over there and get a piece.

I don't think so.

It's not for you.

My sort of circle of friends are not your circle of friends.

You know what I mean?

You hang out with

a lower,

you're a Luke level guy.

What if we gave him

What if we gave him a handful of soup as a thank you?

Look, I let you meet David Cross, and I'm regretting that.

Come on.

David loves me.

We're close.

By the way, what's his number?

Yeah.

So that's when 20-year-old Bobby Mack

did it in Los Angeles, September 1927.

There's a photo of her a few feet up a pole.

Really not a lot.

Again, it's on the top of a building, so it's a small pole on the top of the building.

And she's, quote, hoisted in a well-padded chair.

Okay.

She wore blue silk pajamas.

Sex it up a little bit.

Nope.

Pajamas can be hot, if worn correctly.

Are you a little fabric boy?

Is that what you like?

A little hot silk.

Like a little silky rub?

A little weirdo?

Bobby sat up the pole for 21 days setting a new holy shit for breaking the record she was paid 2500 which gareth is 46 000 today

21 days

yeah that's a lot so you you have to poop in that time you have to poop so what's the poop plan

i don't know i mean no one covers that and it is very much just from a human

she has from a human perspective it is I think one of the first people things people think of is what did they do with the

Dave most questions most of the first questions I have where'd the poop in any circumstance yeah you say that almost every dollar but what happened well where did it go where did he go what was he doing did he like to put I gotta assume I gotta assume in a bucket and I gotta assume in a bucket and you let it down right

I don't I gotta assume you're just doing it all in a bucket well you said they were like raising soups up there in a bucket, so you drink the bucket of soup.

I hope it's a different bucket.

No, no, not for me.

See, you're one of these like hoity-toity Hollywood types who names drops Walt Coggins and stuff.

I'm a regular guy.

I'm pooping in my soup bucket.

Hey, boys, you might want to hose out my soup bucket.

Jesus Christ.

So she's doing it for a dance hall that's seeking PR, and the the pole is up on top of the roof of the dance hall.

And her fiancé also breaks a record

for being at the bottom of a pole for 21 straight days.

I've often found that people who are in the pole-sitting world shouldn't date because

it's just like you're kind of competing with the same sort of stuff.

I don't know.

I just like that he had to get in on it.

Yeah, he was, oh, yeah, a man.

A man.

Are you kidding me?

I also could do it.

Woman.

I'll have 22 days.

After she broke the record and came down, they immediately got married that night at 10 p.m.

Papers reported, quote, it is rumored, however, that the happy pair intend to signal several practice flagpoles all around their future home.

Wow.

I mean,

they're going to build.

What else would they do, Gareth?

They're going to build flagpoles around the house.

That's who they are.

It's in their live a regular life.

It's in their blood.

Live their life.

They're polars.

Sure.

They're polemen, pole ladies.

Sure.

I don't know.

Pole they's.

Move on.

Like the pole-themed house, or you'd be like, Jesus Christ, you too.

Shipwreck then sat for 12 days up a pole in Newark.

A month later, Joe Holdham Powers sat on a pole.

Powers.

Very good name.

Yes.

Sat atop the Morrison Hotel for 16 days in Chicago.

When he came down, he had six fewer teeth because a storm slammed him into the pole face first.

What the fuck?

What the fuck?

What are we doing, people?

What are we doing?

Go down.

Get down.

When did the storm happen in the timeline of this pole sit?

I don't know.

Like, he sat up there a little long.

Like, he sat up there days with no teeth.

I couldn't figure it out.

Like, some of these are just very like but he didn't come down because he lost teeth

no i don't think he did i think he came down because the 21 days were up he didn't do 21 days though he did 16 right

uh oh wait i was reading the wrong one uh yes 16 days sorry he came down at the end of 16.

he comes down but it's pretty hard to

end there

well he gets down and this is what he says gareth Ow!

There's just one thing that really concerns me, and that is that some people have the idea that this is just a stunt.

It isn't.

No, it isn't.

It's a serious effort to gather scientific data for the advancement

of America's place in the field of flag pole sitting.

I'm not doing it with any idea of personal advancement.

I'm doing it for flag and country, God,

and Yale.

I can't believe there's a Toby Keith of pole sitters.

Oh my God.

A guy turning it into patriotism that.

And again, no one else in the world is doing this.

I know.

And that's the, it's like he's making it sound like space travel.

You also missed the part where the last thing you said was he was doing it for Yale, also.

Well, I don't understand that part.

They don't either.

He must have gone to Yale.

He must have gone to Yale.

These are for the Yaleites.

Hey, keep us out of there, huh?

This is for the Yale folk.

You're embarrassing us.

Take that, Harvard.

Joe said he thought a new crop of physically fit young pulseitter was due to prohibition and that they would break records no one had yet dreamed of.

I mean, I don't

okay.

Quote, such tremendous advances have been made in this field in recent years, but to attain.

This is the same guy?

Does this guy know what he's actually doing?

He's been up a pole for 16 days thinking about his speech.

He just sat up on a pole.

I mean, he honestly does sound like the Blue Orbit lady crews.

It's like, well, we finally, we came down and we figured out how to solve Earth.

So that's helpful.

But to attain such great things, we must spend money.

We must establish training schools and carry on research in flagpole sitting.

What is he talking about?

I went mad up the pole.

What is he talking about?

What is he talking about?

We are a flagpole sitting nation!

The future of flagpole sitting is before us.

We need to put every single dollar into this cause.

Do you want the Ruskies to climb flagpoles and beat us?

Look, look, we need to put a man on poll

and the people just start chanting usa you

because we chant usa to anything it's we're invading poland

gareth we'll figure out why later

days later vh crouch of new bedford massachusetts broke the record by sitting 17 days in two hours Now, what is the record?

Didn't that woman sit 21 days?

I'm very confused by

man.

I think she broke the lady record.

I think that's what this is.

I'm very confused by this because this is what was in the papers, and they were literally acting like she didn't do it.

But maybe that's just like we treat women.

I know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

She did that.

This man did 17 days

as a man.

A lady sit on polls, lots, not a big deal.

That's right.

That's how babies are made.

So 17 days and two hours, but the LA Times reported another man was already up a poll atop the Rose Room ballroom, and he was being called

the Phantom of the Flagpole.

Jesus Christ.

Dave, Dave, Dave, hold on.

Let me jump in, Dave.

The amount of times in this country

where the dumbest fucking thing that could be thought of happens,

and then it becomes the most popular thing that is happening,

and then it becomes saturated in the most dumb, idiotic possible fashion.

It just happens a lot.

We're almost 700 episodes in, and this is not slowing down.

He was wearing a mask, and the paper reported

no one knew why he was wearing a mask, though some had guesses.

Dave.

Quote.

Some had guesses.

One faction declared.

One faction declared that the Phantom put on a mask in hopes that one might wonder who he is.

I think, okay, there we go.

They're right.

Wow, what a guess.

There we go.

They're right.

That's it.

Got it.

Oh, my God.

But people are too busy wondering why he is sitting.

to wonder any further.

The Times also said the Phantom was shaving and eating three meals a day, also smoking 100 cigarettes and drinking coffee throughout the night.

Jesus Christ.

So he's like a guy on a deadline.

He's like a reporter trying to bang out the story.

The diet.

You're going to need to send a cardiologist up the poll.

Why?

But okay, he's taking the mask up to shave?

This man makes very little sense.

I mean,

yes.

Maybe it was just a top of it.

It was probably kind of

It's a bandit mask.

Yeah.

Because I've seen, obviously, seen the pictures.

Obviously.

So 100 cigarettes and drinking coffee is amazing.

He also tied himself to the pole at night for safety.

And the Phantom was said to be reading fiction magazines and requested someone set him up an adventure novel.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

On July 26th, he requested a cork helmet to protect him from the sun.

Can we talk about his packing?

This guy packed horribly.

You got to bring a hat.

He didn't bring anything to cover his face, and he has nothing to read.

It's L.A.

You got to bring a hat.

He just brought a suitcase up there full of cigarettes and coffee grounds.

It's like how a kid packs a suitcase.

So he, after breaking the record, he came down on August 5th, and his identity was revealed that night at the Rose Room during a bathing suit contest.

So

that's going on.

A lot is happening.

Thank you.

And there's all these celebrities there for the bathing suit contest because you can't have a bathing suit contest without all the celebrities.

Yep.

And

so they planned this.

They planned,

it was like an evolution in pole sitting because now you have the masked pole sitter.

So they've, they've the masked.

They've gone from reality show

to a mystery show so

mask pole sitters is now a trend well who yes who i think because i've i've there's other pictures of people in masks so who is this person what is this so it's the masked singer sort of version of pole sitting yes

and then he just comes down to a bathing suit contest

and there on stage that night he is revealed as captain robert hull a 45 year old vet who had fought in the spanish-american war and World War II and the Boxer Rebellion, and he was given $2,500 by the Rose Ballroom, and he said he had set a new record for pole sitting 18 days.

I mean, besides the woman thing.

Besides the asterisk, the woman broke this earlier.

Clifford Stevenson, however, had already begun his quest to set a record

three days before and was now sitting atop the flagpole over Hoyt's Theater.

So before guys are finishing.

Yeah, the other guy's already starting to break the record.

The other guy's already up.

Yeah, give him a minute.

He, on the 22nd, he was on the verge of the record.

The Long Beach Press Telegram reported he was doing radio broadcasts from his chair on the flagpole.

Is he just doing like a top 20 show or it's about the poll?

He's answering thousands of letters that are coming in.

Okay.

I mean, the questions had to just be so limited.

Is it scary?

Does your butt hurt?

Where's the crap go?

You're in Iowa and you're like, I'm going to write that fellow on the flagpole a letter.

Yeah.

Where do you address it?

Yeah, I was just going to say, the mail carrier is like, poll?

It's working.

It is estimated that a thousand letters a day are coming in.

Quote.

And several Eastern states.

I don't know what's crazier, the person doing it or the fans?

The fans.

It is the fans.

The fans.

The fans is insane.

Because the person doing it is trying to get

money.

Yes.

Yes.

This is a lot of money.

Yes.

Yes.

This is the content.

It's just have better taste.

Yeah.

Quote, in several eastern cities, large crowds gathered in front of radio loudspeakers each night to follow the lad's attempt to set a world record.

All right.

And here's another letter.

This question is, is it scary?

Well, I just kind of answered that one.

It is scary, but you get pretty used to it.

You know where like there's not enough news for 24-hour news.

Yes.

And it's just people sitting around listening to people.

It's literally what this is.

Yes.

Yes.

There's nothing there.

There's nothing happening.

Again, there's no alcohol.

There's no alcohol.

You're just sitting around.

You're at a loudspeaker in a radio store sitting around listening to a bunch of other people.

There's nothing happening.

Just.

Just thinking about ale.

Just sitting there just like, booze was so good.

Quiet.

He's about to answer if it's scary he just answered that one well he's gonna do it again

he was said to have spent most of his time trying to answer correspondence during the final two days clifford was offered a week contract for stage performances at hoytz so the theater he's on top of so again this was all built in before obviously And then he was also offered a vaudeville tour.

So they wanted to see how popular it would be.

It was very popular.

So now they're like, we can get you on the circuit.

When Clifford came down, he went straight to a barber, then a Turkish bath, then did a show at Hoyt's, and then went back to a Turkish bath where he got massages to get the kinks out of his back and legs.

Oh, I could only imagine the atrophy.

Gareth, that is the life of a world athlete, though, isn't it?

I guess.

I don't know.

I mean, the Turk.

I don't think so.

No, it's like...

I think...

We're talking about a world-class athlete breaking a record.

It's like when Holdham poker players got big.

Yes.

You were just like, what's going on?

Everyone's like, now I'm a poker genius.

Here's how to be good at poker, but it's just polls.

And you were just like, look at this guy.

This guy, you were just all of a sudden just like, these guys are some of the best athletes ever.

And you'd be like, he's getting cheeseburger on the cards.

So this is how it went.

Pole after pole sitter, one upping the other, week after week.

It's just a constant, month after month, it's just a constant breaking the records.

People would bet on how long they would last.

Venues set up bleachers for people to watch.

Vendors sold snacks and souvenirs.

Alvin remains the big name and kept having to break records to stay on top.

You can see how problematic this is going to get.

That's right.

Yeah, it's not great.

It's setting up for some sort of failure, disaster, death.

He's the ambassador of the sport.

Sure.

And And then in 1929,

kids start getting in on the action.

Ah, nice.

Yeah, that's good.

That's good.

Definitely good.

So they're going to put the little jackass warning up before anyone does a poll?

In Baltimore, 15-year-old Avon AZ

is his nickname.

Foreman climbed up and stayed atop a pole for 10 days, 10 hours, 10 minutes, and 10 seconds at the end of August.

He put an ironing board on top and then just plunkered down.

And as he slid down the pole on August 31st, a crowd of 4,000 people applauded.

Well, they're enabling him.

Yes.

His girlfriend Lena exclaimed, quote, oh, ain't he grand?

Well, this can only set off a terrible trend.

His prizes from different businesses were a set of golf clubs,

a lucky stone.

What that guy was like, someone hands up golf clubs.

I guess, maybe I shouldn't give him mine.

What do you got there, mister?

What is this?

That's a

lucky rock.

Oh, okay, great.

It looks like a regular rock.

What makes it lucky, mister?

It's been

in the

forest, the magical forest, but also

near Polynesia.

Whole forest,

the

emerald.

That's where the

little goblins and such forth.

Okay.

All right, cool.

Well, then they're things.

It's my favorite.

Oh, look, a wreath.

All right.

Yeah, I heard you.

A wreath.

That's awesome.

By the way, I have a lucky rock store.

Please, please, please.

By the way,

you can get more lucky stones

down on 4th Street.

Oh, a trophy.

Look at the size of this actual trophy.

Huh?

There's a lot of lucky rocks for sale at my birth on 4th Street.

full sales.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, it means a lot to me.

Thanks.

Can you kind of move out of the way a little bit?

Some of these people are trying to give me a horse.

It'll heal your horse.

Oh, my God.

All right.

Well, look.

I don't even want to get into a broken leg.

I don't even want to get into it.

I don't have a horse.

It'll heal yourself.

I don't.

Thank you very much for it.

Thank you.

My girlfriend and I are really going to try to go.

Oh, look at that.

Look at all those oysters.

Thank you, sir.

You can win the lottery with my

Look, it's a regular rock.

It is not, sir.

You've told me nothing very special about it.

It's from the Emerald Forest and came from a bed.

You have a lot of corn in your teeth.

You're mid-chew or you haven't brushed them.

Blessed by the elves.

What?

What?

Blessed.

By the forest elves.

The rock?

Hence.

Son.

Sir.

I won.

I got to go.

Sir, I got to go.

There's 4,000 people here trying to celebrate me right now.

I want a yacht.

Okay.

Well,

if you came over here with a yacht to give me, that would be great.

Instead, you just gave me a rock.

The reason why is because I'm assuming the corn in your teeth is there

from before.

Because it's not, it doesn't look like you're chewing.

So you just have a mouthful of half-chewed corn.

So can let me get some of these other gifts, please.

All right.

Look, we're going to get out of here, sir.

Take care, sir.

Why are you smelling your fingers?

Why are you smelling your fingers, sir?

You smell like lucky rock.

All right.

Goodbye.

Baby's still behind us.

I'm not going anywhere, son.

Baby's following.

I'm with you.

No, you're not.

I'm your dad.

Take your rock back.

He also got neckties, a book, free dance lessons, a pair of shoes, a dental exam,

assorted ice cream, cakes, candy, and $60 in cash.

This list with the guy who gave him the rock.

Here's ice cream.

Did you keep an eye on the rock?

Hold on tight.

AZ had originally got up after a local baker offered him $1 a day, and he said he didn't need the dance lessons as he could already do a clog in the Charleston.

Wow, what a prick.

He also said the first three days were the hardest and that that night there was a large community celebration in his honor.

Japanese lanterns were hung on the street, which was roped up for dancing.

The mayor gave a speech.

A band played Hail the Conquering Hero.

Quote, Another prominent guest for tonight's function will be Al Turner, to whom the hero last night graciously presented the cap he wore during his great sit.

Mr.

Turner is considered presenting the cap to a museum.

We've just always been the dumbest country.

We just keep tweaking the details.

We are so dumb.

It is incalculable.

This has never been dumber.

It's just shocking.

This is in Baltimore.

So now Jimmy Jones, 12, announces he's going up on a poll in the backyard of his home and that he would break Avon's record.

This trend is getting bad.

He did not have an ironing board, but would strap himself in at night.

His mother was said to be acting as his manager and handling all PR.

Avon's success led to what one newspaper called an orgy of sitting.

All by kids.

Language needs not be very delicate

for a moment.

Not great.

Maybe, and this is just me

as a journalist observer, maybe we shouldn't use the word orgy when kids are doing something.

Super into this call.

Super agree with this call.

Quote, all over Baltimore, boys and girls took the...

to the tops of trees and poles.

So kids are just climbing trees, which is okay considering the pole option, but they also probably just don't have poles.

But people are putting up poles in their backyard for their kids to climb.

Oh, God, I'm sure they're just barely putting them under, too.

Yeah, it can't be great.

If you're quickly putting up a poll, no, death numbers have to be going up.

I would love to see some of the polling.

The Baltimore Sun reported 25 girls and boys from 10 to 15 years old were battling it out.

The mayor was congratulating and encouraging them.

The fucking mayor is encouraging them.

It shows no-how.

And the American state is...

The mayor should be going, look,

18 is the illegal age.

Oh, so now, so now you probably want to shut down all of our American poll training centers.

Yes, very much so.

Jesus Christ, you want the Russians to win this?

Sure.

The mayor said the kids had grit and stamina, and that was essential in the great struggle of life.

We're seeing great Americans be great Americans today.

And that they had the old pioneer spirit of America.

This is what America was founded on.

This is much like the pioneers.

Yep, this is exactly what our founding fathers did.

Genocide and walking.

This is what they're doing up there.

That's basically what American pioneers used to do.

Son, can you kill a Native American while you're up there?

I can sure try.

Boy, oh boy, that would be awesome.

City inspectors were sent to test the safety of poles all around the city in case kids climbed them.

People wrote in to express their opinions in papers.

Oh, I can only imagine.

Oliver Lewis and Johnny Sudhop were on the same pole, but then Oliver's mother decided to go to Cambridge and said he had to come down.

They were on the same pole?

Yeah.

Well, they probably had some sort of little board.

Board, yeah.

So, so Oliver stunned ended, and that just meant that Johnny was up there alone.

He's eight.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

Jesus Christ.

Well, Gareth, after a couple of days, his mom started to worry and said, quote, he was getting on her nerves up there.

So she ordered him down.

Oh, my God.

She's angry.

He's eight.

He's eight.

14-year-old Charles Wilson was up a pole at 1717 West North Avenue.

He had also placed an ironing board on top, but he was uncomfortable sleeping on it.

And after one sleepless night, his mom ordered him to come down.

I mean, look,

I'm glad they're stepping in, but the idea that they're worried about the sleep schedule seems like a low-tiered issue.

10-year-old Ruth McCrudden

went up a 25-year-old pole in her backyard.

Quote, every preparation was made for her to do her sitting.

Attempt to house her boyfriends.

Wait, what?

At the base of the pole at night, so they could keep her company.

Who was at the base of the pole?

Her boyfriends, the neighborhood boy.

She's 10?

She's 10.

But they're not like boyfriend, boyfriend, like just friends that are boys.

Wow, I don't agree with that either

perch at every modern appliance there was a reclining board and electric light and ruth frequently dined on ice cream and combed her hair in spare moments what the fuck is happening another girl 13 year old dorothy taylor was also up a 17-foot pole she had added even more stuff quote two pillows and a blanket a tent and a light a sweater a cap, a silk scarf, raincoat, umbrella, belt to keep her from falling, magazines, a library book, and a radio.

Dave, Dave, Dave, David.

What?

What?

Dave.

She's got her bedroom up there.

Dave, exactly.

Yes, how are you doing?

How is she doing?

You need more stuff.

How is she doing that?

What do you mean?

She's got a big.

She has a board that

can hold all that stuff.

I have to look at a picture.

I have to see.

She's going to stay for 15 days.

That's her plan.

Look, it's.

Now, Gareth, as with you, a question of ethics began.

Yeah.

People are asking: when is a flagpole sitter not on a flagpole

yeah but some some said it doesn't matter as long as they're sitting up high

they're up high and that's where they're sitting so that's what really matters my ethical issue is different

ruth's mother was upset to learn dorothy had uh

cushions and a backrest and a radio and other comforts and

ruth had none of that gareth she had she wasn't looking to be pampered and make make it easy.

So Ruth's mom went to look at Dorothy's perch and announced, quote, Ruth is sitting on a regular pole and not on a divin 15 feet high in the air.

Oh, my God.

My daughter's doing this the real way.

There's a lot.

What you're saying is overwhelming, and the images are.

Did you find images?

You find any images?

I don't know why.

I recommend everyone just Google pole sitting and you can put kids in there and whatnot because

the images are insane.

It's a madhouse.

I don't

Okay.

Well, describe what you're seeing.

Well

one guy looks like he's in a torture chair

and

he has it's a lot.

He has a lot of stuff atop the pole.

And it actually, huh?

We'll get to that guy.

It actually

does.

I can't believe I'm actually weighing in on the ethical framing of this.

It does, it seems very easy

when you have chairs and boards and stuff.

Here we go.

Part of Alvin's

purist.

So you're like this.

Yeah, you're an old human purist.

Okay, but pole sitting was just a big bit of steel versus an asshole.

Pole sitting advanced, old man, and now we're doing different things.

Oh, it's easy.

You gotta want it to be fun, old man.

It should be a test of your fear of heights and the steel of your bum.

But it is,

it's also just shocking that now everyone's doing.

You know what it is?

It's podcasting.

Yeah.

You're right.

It's podcasting.

Yeah.

Now we have the Rogans.

The mayor came to visit Ruth and told her to have some of her boyfriends come up and keep her company.

And then then he signed her autograph album and he checked the support wires to make sure they were safe.

The mayor.

That's good.

Meanwhile, Dorothy is up there blasting her radio and said she doesn't care about pole sitting ethics.

Quote, I'm sitting anyway.

Some people said Dorothy couldn't fall off if she tried.

Oh, yeah.

I love that.

They're talking about it's not fair because a kid could fall down.

Like other kids could fall down and she can't.

Yeah.

No kid should be falling down.

She's not going to die.

And that's exactly what they're saying.

She's not going to die and I don't like that.

And then people start asking why the mayor isn't visiting the kids in South Baltimore.

Quote, he's spending too much time out on Palmall Road.

He doesn't seem to know that South Baltimore is on the map.

Jesus Christ, what have I done?

I didn't realize.

I honestly didn't realize how stupid this could get.

I really made a mistake.

Now I got to go see every kid.

How's my balling on handling poles?

Dorothy has now gotten so much shit that she ditched her cushions and was now lying on the hard wood.

Jesus Christ.

Well, we showed that 10-year-old girl, didn't we?

That'll teach this kid to do something.

Thank God we stepped in.

Jimmy Jones' mother didn't give a shit.

Quote, she had entirely too easy most of the time.

It's impossible for her to fall out.

Oh my god, just go kill her.

Why don't we just kill?

We'll throw her in fire.

But then she then did say that she hoped Jimmy would come down soon.

Quote, I've been up for eight nights now.

I just can't go to bed and leave him up there out alone.

He's only, he's only a child, and I just have to stay up.

What are you having?

talking?

There's another option.

He's your child.

He's a child.

I haven't been able to sleep since my child went missing up that pole, I can see.

Oh, fuck.

Young Melvin Floyd wrote the son to say he had started his sit on August 6th at 9 a.m.

and he wanted the paper to send him what the rules were.

The Pikesville police were upset by how young Ralph Knott had been treated by the press and said he deserved better write-ups.

Others said the same about Harry Jeffrey, who was on a 30-foot pole.

Quote, he's sitting on the highest pole in town, and he's really sitting too.

Were the cops saying that?

Yeah.

They just start shooting people on lesser poles.

Someone held a pole party.

Oh, my gosh.

And Avon,

that was called an orgy.

Avon came as the guest of honor.

The son chastised the criminal who stole the mayor's signature out of Ruth's autograph book while she was sitting on her pole.

Oh my God.

Dave, it.

Go ahead.

I'm not even.

When Avon heard that someone had stole the mayor's signature, he went to see Ruth and told her to have courage.

New kids were climbing poles daily.

One climbed a tree, but fell after an hour and broke his arm.

He was 10.

I'm shocked.

That's the worst thing we've heard so far.

All the kids put donation boxes at the base of the pole.

Ruth collected.

Now we got to pay for it.

Ruth collected $22 in nine days.

Jamie Stanton took on $40 in nine days.

William Vettel had $20.

Then everyone just kind of got tired of it, probably because so many kids were.

I was saturated.

Yeah, you were probably like, I don't see kids on the ground anymore.

Then it was like, this kid stayed on the ground for nine days.

By September, the whole thing had just kind of faded away.

Everyone just stopped paying attention.

That was it.

That's classic us too, the burnout.

We just can't do it in moderation.

You can't have that many kids claring poles and everyone's like, all right, kids are going to be.

I know.

I said, no, no, no, it's an epidemic.

it's only interesting if it's is this how polio started yes whoa

but it's only interesting if it's a couple people once it's 20 30 all over the place it just doesn't mean anything yeah podcast

uh in july 1930 almond's current record was 23 days and that's when william penfield a professional steeplejack decided to break it.

I don't even

want to know what a steeple.

No, I don't even care.

They go up onto churches to repair steeples.

Oh, okay.

I thought it was a little more graphic.

Or build them or install them, whatever.

Sure.

He lived in Strawberry Point, Iowa, and decided to pay.

They should have been called steeple people.

Go ahead.

I'm done.

Go.

Just talk.

And decided to pulse it atop the town's 100-foot flagpole, which he himself had installed five years before.

So that's high.

That's very high.

But at the same time, at this exact moment, Alvin is pulsing in Atlantic City City trying to break his record.

Businessmen in Strawberry Point love the idea that Bill is going to go up and they back him.

Now, Bill made a special chair, which is, I think, is the one you probably saw.

The chair basically looked like a barber's chair with all the fix-ins.

He could sit, lie down, and stand up in the chair.

He had a heavy rubber blanket for rain and cold and a quilt.

He's camping.

A phone.

Yes, he is camping now.

A phone was put on top of the pole so he could communicate with the ground.

Now, I haven't been a purist up until this moment.

Well, the problem with your late purity in the game is that some of us have been saying this is what's going to start to happen.

And you let the line get pushed, the line get pushed.

And now the fact that some guy's up there in a lazy boy, you actually have an issue.

Well, tough shit, Jack.

If you jumped on board what we were going for a little bit earlier, maybe you'd have a pole to stand on.

But you no longer do.

Because now there's some guy up there who's basically got a studio apartment and you're just sitting down there going, I have an issue with this.

Well, yeah, some of us had issues with people who were sitting on boards.

Some of us said real polling was when it was a man, yes, a man, a pole, and an anus.

And that was it.

You let them push it.

Look, I made mistakes.

I think we all do.

We were caught up in the fever.

Not all of us.

Not all of us.

I'm not a pressure.

I'm a popular guy.

I can go bring a couch on a pole.

I apologize, but let's just fix it.

It's

not regulations.

Well, what's the line?

We need to regulate it.

What are you going to regulate?

What is the rule you're going to make?

Bar stools only.

It's a pretty good pitch.

And we'll call it bar stool sports.

I can't see it getting weird.

And I'm going to run it.

I'm going to be a fucking dick.

Nah, I don't like it all.

I'm a real piece of shit, Dave.

I'm,

I'm out.

I'll see you.

So, yeah.

So, he builds this.

I mean, the paint, like you guys can look it up.

It's William Penfield, and he's up on this chair.

It's like you can't, like, it's just like, what are you, like, it's really like, what are you doing now?

Now it's absolutely, now it's just like, I'm, well, just go sit out on the fucking levee or something.

Like, go on a balcony.

He also has a phone up there, so he can communicate with the ground.

Crazy.

The city council is worried about liability, and they tried to get an injunction to stop him before he goes up.

So he, so they got it, but he climbed up at 3 a.m.

before it could be served to him.

Oh.

That I respect.

Yeah, he just the race.

That's American, man.

But what are they trying to get?

Why they're trying to get him to not do it?

Why?

Because it's so stupid.

And it's dangerous.

He could fall and then sue them.

Like, it's the whole thing is just a bad idea.

It's a bad idea.

It's a bad idea.

Right, okay.

Okay.

From just a, from just a, yeah, it's like a garden could fall.

Yeah.

The business guys love it because it's going to break a business, but the government's like, what the fuck are we doing?

Yeah, right.

So once he's up there, though, there's no way to get him down except by maybe shooting him.

I'm not above it.

Within two days, 600 people have gathered.

Of course.

And they're watching him shave.

Five days later, it's 6,000.

Oh, my God.

People for coming from other states.

A week later, the temperature hits 108, but he remains.

Oh, my God.

He's on top of a thermometer.

Oh, I'm out.

For sure.

I'm so out.

I don't want to be anywhere when it's 108.

No, I'll wear my rubber blanket

because he's just cooking.

Bands come and play.

No one, it's a small town.

No one, it's a town of a thousand.

No one can find a place to park.

A traffic jam into town goes on forever.

After 46 days.

Holy fuck.

He says he has no plans to stop.

Oh my God.

He said he had put on weight.

from eating milk, milk, toast, chicken, fish, cantaloupes, and fruit, and then just sitting there.

It's not like you can exercise.

I guess it could exercise.

You could find a way to exercise up there.

I really think it's very limited.

Mainly core.

Very hard.

A lot of bends.

Yeah.

Sit-ups.

I would focus on diet.

Yeah, I would focus on diet, but my core would be fucking rocking.

Okay.

I'd have abs.

I'd come down from that thing, and people be like,

Jacked.

Instead of coming down 40 pounds heavier.

No, my arms and my legs are really small and weak, but my abs are just like

stallone abs.

It's crazy.

I look like the weirdest man alive.

Jesus, what happened?

All abs.

All abs and everything else is just absent.

I took it for 60 days in a chair.

But I can barely lift my arms.

Like, it's crazy.

My arms don't work.

Only one visitor went up, and he was a fellow of Steeplejack just to say hi.

He listened to the radio.

He and his wife celebrated their 23rd anniversary at the poll.

At the same time, Alvin is in Atlantic City up his poll, and he sets a new record.

20,000 people gathered to watch.

Jesus.

You can't get close to see it.

Now you're not watching anything.

No.

It's like going to see comedy at the Madison Square Garden.

It's not, it doesn't work.

Well, unless it's Dane, but go ahead.

This is Dane Cook.

Yeah.

20,000 fucking people.

Crazy.

49 days.

That's how long he was up there.

On September 10th.

Alvin.

Yeah, no, Alvin, yeah.

But then on September 10th, just a few days later, Bill passes Alvin's record.

So it's the same thing.

You set a record, but there's a guy waiting for you to get down so that he can set the record.

Yep.

Two days later, a lightning storm drove Bill to the ground 51 days.

Wow.

But there's a problem.

The town had planned a celebration for the 19th.

They had a stage, they had speakers coming in, bands.

So Bill goes back up on the 14th.

Can't take a break.

And then he comes back down on the 19th for the...

Well, you can't clock it.

It's not a job.

You don't get to go have land breaks.

He went back.

I'm going back up.

He's down for two days.

He's like, all right, I'll go back up.

How's it luck?

Bill, we got a whole thing planned.

What are you doing?

It's consecutive, though.

That's what we're going for, not cumulative.

Look, you can go back up.

No one will know the difference.

People are just excited to see.

Send a double.

He had hoped this stunt would make him rich, but after expenses, he made $1.

He needed a manager.

What's that in today's money?

It's like $500.

It's not much.

Whoa.

He really needed a manager.

Yeah.

He went into a grind.

He was an amateur.

He didn't know what he was doing.

Wow.

But here's the thing.

Offers roll in then.

In 1831, he was paid $3,000 to stay up on a radio tower for 79 days.

Holy shit.

A few days later, someone broke that record, but he had enough money.

He had a money for you to stay on a radio tower.

It's great.

He bought an 80-acre farm, though.

So

he won.

Sure, sure.

In 1930, a mass pole sitting contest was held in Baltimore with over 20 competitors simultaneously turning the city into a carnival.

But the luster is coming off.

There's accidents.

Sure.

I mean, you could just go in and if you go into like a newspaper site and you could just pull, sitter, fall, pole, sitter, accident, and they just come up like crazy.

Michael Pole Sitter was electrocuted to death in Chicago when he touched the wires on top of the pole.

Well, don't touch the wires.

Well, you picked the wrong pole.

Yeah.

Look, you're either going to die or become the Hulk.

In Buffalo, the health inspector forced a man down, calling him crazy and a moron.

So the tide is turning.

Yeah, right.

In Kentucky, a 16-year-old fell and broke his neck.

Oh.

Local governments became worried about the safety issues.

Some began requiring permits.

Permits?

A fishing license?

For polls?

That's so American.

It's so dumb.

Wow.

Look, people are dying up there.

So what do we do?

What do we do?

Well, the stupidest thing we could possibly do is what we'll do.

People get licensed to sit on top of one.

And they'll pay a small fee.

And that'll go to the city.

Yeah.

And we make sure they've been to like one of the training camps.

Yep.

Yep.

For sure.

Yep.

Yep.

Oh, Oh, man.

Look at this good.

Good show, Adelaide, who's boss.

That's right.

Good job of governing here today, boys.

Yeah, real good.

I think in the future, we'll be good to go.

Others just banned pole sitting.

New York City did.

Religious leaders were calling it frivolous.

By the late 1930s, public interest had waned.

Radio and movies were the dominant entertainment.

People.

So many times

in this show, it's just like, and then there was TV.

So that.

And then there were movies.

So people are like, hey, what the fuck have we been doing?

We can go watch something that's actually entertaining.

It also didn't seem exciting anymore because of the depression because people were literally suffering everywhere.

And then watching a guy go up on a pole to suffer is not as exciting.

I'll tell you,

if that Blue Orbit space mission had just gone a little more south,

that would have been a nice release for society.

Man, they have no idea.

Like, if that had crashed, they would be absolutely shocked, shocked at the celebration.

Shocked.

It would have been space Luigi.

So, you're right.

So, people don't want to spend money to watch people sit on polls because it's the depression.

And Kelly starts to be seen as a nuisance.

Okay.

In 1935, he tried to break his flagpole sitting record in Bronx, but cops stopped him after a day.

Freeze.

So he took work as a gigolo in a Broadway dance hall.

Of course.

This is why you need a manager.

I mean, ladies probably want to dance with him, right?

Sure.

I know I would.

See what he's got down there.

And he did do some pole sitting on the side.

Well, that must have been his stomach.

In 1939, don't ever say nothing like that again.

Why?

And just don't.

It's an interesting take.

And it's not what we're here for.

It's fun.

We're not those kind of people.

Ivan

making a little bit of fun out of your words, and I'll do it again.

The eye rolls across America.

Those are drum rolls.

In 1939, Duncan Donuts sponsored Alwyn to perform a stunt for National Donut Week.

Once again, America is rare.

He was photographed selling donuts while doing headstands on a wooden plank sticking out of the 54th floor of the Shannon building.

Just this probably is the end.

When World War II came, Alvin joined up.

His last pole sit was in October 1952 in Orange, Texas, while sitting on a 65-foot pole.

He had multiple heart attacks and then announced his retirement.

Oh my God.

Wow.

Because you're not supposed to do it as an old guy.

It's not an old guy thing because it's hard on your body.

Multiple heart attacks on the pole?

That's how I do it.

Oh, my God.

I would have a shard attack.

Oh, Jesus.

You get it.

A few days later, he was back in New York and he was walking in Hell's kitchen on the street and he collapsed and died.

He was holding a book full of clippings of his pole sitting career.

Wow, that's fucking weird.

That's like when you die and someone looks at your Google and you just Googled yourself.

His wife had died.

His son was serving overseas and his body went unclaimed.

Almond Kelly was eventually buried at Long Island National Cemetery.

People tried to revive pole sitting in the 60s and 70s.

Did people sit at half masts that day?

People tried to revive pole sitting in the 60s and 70s.

There was a bunch in the Netherlands, a bunch of like people, you can see online, people

sitting in polls in the water.

Well,

look at Peter.

But it never came back.

It never came back to the way it was.

And that's the history of poll sitting in America.

Well, Dave, it's completely ridiculous, totally stupid, and the most believable story of America I've ever heard.

That's right.

Sources, Los Angeles Evening Express,

The Sport in Adelaide, The Reading Times, the Long Beach Press Telegram, St.

Louis Globe Dispatch, Baltimore Evening Sun,

the book, The American Popular Culture Through History by Kathleen Down and Patrick Huber, blurred by Limes.com,

the

1920s flagpole sitting the legacy of Alvin Shipwreck on medium.com.

Of course, all these are through newspapers.com, Thegrunge.com, MentalFloss.com, SevenDayAdventure.com, 1947project.com, TheGazette.com, old magazines.com.

I never liked doing Mental Floss because they just never put up their sources.

They don't list their sources, but whatever.

Yeah, so that's all the sources.

So that was fucking weird, right?

Yep.

Super weird.

I mean, do you feel good?

I mean, I'm not kidding.

I could have done several episodes.

There are so many people.

You said the research for this was TV.

I thought it was going to be super easy.

And then I was just going through newspaper story.

Like in the 20s, it's just guy competing after guy competing.

And it's just insane.

It's fucking insane.

There was even one young woman who was black.

And so that became like a civil rights thing or like a, you know, like this is an achievement.

And like black newspapers are coming.

Like

it's just,

it's

pointless.

It's the, yeah, it's the, it was the most pointless endeavor because there was, again, nothing to do.

Yeah.

There was nothing to do.

Nothing to do.

And we sensationalize the dumbest shit, and it's effective.

And but nothing to do was also better.

I totally agree.

Yeah.

Totally agree.

Yeah, we, we, we, we, we had some sort of fight.

Yeah.

Now we're just like,

let's not do this.

All right.

Hey, dollop fans.

I know you love the dollop.

You love listening to the dollop.

Do you want to watch the dollop?

You're like, Gareth, what are you talking about?

By the way, it's not Gary, it's Gareth.

Well, we have partnered with Lakeside Animation, and we are starting to animate some of our episodes.

So if you want to go watch a five-parter animation, which is actually like a 22-minute episode or 30-minute episode, I can't remember, of the Rube, you can go to Lakeside Animation on YouTube and watch a really awesome animation of the Rube.

It really genuinely kicks ass, and we're very proud of it.

And the more you share it, the more you give it to people, the more you follow Lakeside, all that stuff, the better chance we have of making a lot more of them.

We're already making a second one, so go there and watch The Rube.