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- [00:00]
A
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartradio. Welcome back to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. Thank you as always, so much for tuning in. Let's hear it for the man, the myth, the legend, Max the cat slave, William.
- [00:43]
B
Oh, kitty got claws.
- [00:46]
A
And there is none other than Mr. Noel Brown, a fellow lover of felines. Noel, how are you feeling today?
- [00:52]
B
I'm pretty good, Ben. We had a mind meld off mic and I'm just going to kind of tease it a little bit. I was walking around today doing my little morning walk around this pond that is also AKA occupied by geese and there is poop everywhere. And every time I go I think, goose poop riot riot.
- [01:15]
A
Throw bananas.
- [01:17]
B
There you go. We're not talking about goose poop riot today. We're talking about catnip riot.
- [01:22]
A
My name is Ben Bullen and we are talking about something that is a riot. Today's episode is a riot. It's not in the way you might assume, fellow ridiculous historians, we're excited for this one and I love the way you teach seasonal. We are excited because this comes to us via a listener suggestion from a fellow ridiculous historian, Stacy R. Over on our Facebook group page, Ridiculous historians.
- [01:49]
B
Aw. Shout out to all the ridiculous historians the world over. And Ben, if we do our job right, or even a little right, today's episode may well also be a laugh riot.
- [02:01]
A
Hey, you know what? We're not going to force it, but I think we'll crack each other up a couple of times.
- [02:07]
B
That's all we can ask for, Ben. That's all we can ask for.
- [02:10]
A
That's all we can ask for, Nolan. We hope it gives you a chuckle as well. Let us know. This episode is also for fellow fans of our furred feline friends. That's a little bit too much alliteration,
- [02:22]
B
but never enough alliteration if you ask me, sir.
- [02:25]
A
There we go, sir. So we established this in previous episodes, Noel and Max, house cats are somewhat unique. Unique in the world of domestication. And there's this pretty convincing argument that they are barely domesticated or self domesticated at all.
- [02:43]
B
I can attest to that as a cat dad, there's still some feral action going on in there in those kitty brains.
- [02:53]
A
Oh, yeah, you may have a cat that absolutely loves you and that just wanders off for a few weeks and then comes back three weeks later, like, what's your big deal? What's your malfunction?
- [03:03]
B
Yeah, and discovers your rotting corpse and then proceeds to eat your eyeballs.
- [03:07]
A
Which dogs will do as well?
- [03:09]
B
Oh, fair enough, Ben. I'm sorry to malign cats in this way. It's something that I always say. But Ben, I would argue that the cats would do it quicker.
- [03:17]
A
Time to experiment. Max, what do you have?
- [03:20]
C
Dark I think the cats would have a lot more fun doing it too.
- [03:23]
B
They'd play with you. They would bat you around like a cat toy.
- [03:27]
C
As a cat dad of a very precious, adorable, feral cat who is 10 years, soon to be 11 years old. You know, I look at her, I'm like, yeah, if you were going to get not feral, it would have already happened, right?
- [03:41]
A
Yeah. All cat owners or cat friends have witnessed some anecdotal evidence about this lack of domestication. At one point or another, maybe your cat has. Like our friend Lauren Vogelbaum, one of her cats decided that she was a crappy hunter and so it started killing small animals and bringing them to her. The list of these events goes on and on. Share yours on our Facebook page. Cats are famously motivated by their own self interest. You know, you can train house cats to some degree, but they're not going to be like dogs, capable of repressing instincts due to training. If a cat doesn't like what you're pitching, the cat's going to throw all that crap out the window.
- [04:27]
B
Literally sometimes, or at the very least, push it off the ledge aggressively while maintaining eye contact.
- [04:33]
A
Yeah, they'll throw it all out the window. All that training is bupkis if they decide they want to do something else. And back in 1909 New York, a bunch of cats banded together to do just that. This is the ridiculous history of the 1909 Catnip Riot. And spoiler, this is also one for fans of our earlier Napoleon episode, Noel. I think folks will see what we mean in a bit.
- [04:59]
B
And you're talking about the. The. The bunny mob.
- [05:02]
A
We're talking a bit about a bunny mob.
- [05:04]
B
Not to be confused with the Goody Mob and the Dungeon family.
- [05:07]
A
Let's get into it.
- [05:10]
D
This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
- [05:14]
B
This episode of Ridiculous History is brought to you by Granger.
- [05:18]
A
This is the story of the 1.
- [05:20]
B
As a maintenance tech at a university, he knows ordering from multiple suppliers takes time away from keeping their arena up and running.
- [05:29]
A
That's why he counts on Grainger to get everything he needs, from lighting and H Vac parts to plumbing supplies, all in one place.
- [05:36]
B
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- [05:42]
A
Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop
- [05:46]
B
by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [05:49]
E
Everyone deserves to be connected.
- [05:51]
F
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- [06:20]
B
What happened to her?
- [06:21]
A
From the studio that brought you weapons and producers James Wan and Blumhouse what
- [06:27]
B
was our daughter doing in a 3,000
- [06:28]
A
year old circ sarcophagus comes a terrifying new vision.
- [06:32]
B
Katie was meant to stay buried.
- [06:35]
D
What really happened to her?
- [06:37]
E
She's different.
- [06:40]
B
I just want my daughter back.
- [06:44]
A
Lee Cronin's The Mummy only in theaters April 17. Rated R under 17.
- [06:48]
B
Not admitted without parent Ben I think you know that our bags aren't quite packed yet, but our brains sure are because we've got this incredible trip planned to Baja Mar in Nassau.
- [07:00]
A
We're talking incredible food, get this over 45 restaurants and bars folks. Plus beach days that turn into pool afternoons and nights that don't need a plan because they just work.
- [07:11]
B
Yeah, you've got a massive casino, live music, a 15 acre water park.
- [07:16]
A
There's excited and then there's Baja Mar excited.
- [07:20]
B
Start planning@bajamar.com Support for the show comes
- [07:24]
E
from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
- [08:28]
A
So a brief bit of foreshadowing, a brief bit of background and context here. You've heard the phrase gig economy. We all have, right guys?
- [08:41]
B
Yeah, it's become a bit of a buzz phrase in this our modern era, specifically referring to folks who maybe are no longer able to maintain the old school type of employment, a salaried full time job and instead perhaps has to do multiple gig bank like driving Uber or delivering groceries for Instacart or being a task rabbit. I know all the ones that I'm listing are Internet based, but that is kind of what it's become and I think usually how it's used.
- [09:13]
A
Yeah, yeah. Taken on other temp work. And it's weird because at least here in North America, so in Canada, Mexico and the United States, people are still divided on whether this is a good neutral or a very bad thing. A lot of folks in power recently have tried to sell this gig economy thing as an overall benefit to public society and they've said hey, you know, at TED talks around the world or at symposiums, they've said hey, a lot of folks in this gig economy, guys, they like it, they want it that way. It gives them more flexibility with their families or going to school or pursuing hobbies.
- [09:55]
B
And there's some truth to that. It absolutely can be a flexible way of seeking employment and I'm certain that there are folks that do it and are able to look at in that exact way. But sadly, the nature of our economy is moving further and further away from traditional type employment, especially as things like AI come into the picture and all of that good stuff. Bad stuff, really?
- [10:18]
A
Yeah. Yeah, Agreed. Well put. Because a lot of other people are going to argue that these claims about this shiny penny of a gig economy, those claims are window dressing, smoke and mirrors. Pretty much everybody, the critics say would prefer a reliable, well paying single job with a clear growth path with stuff like benefits, equity, et cetera. Wherever you fall on that debate, it's a bag of badgers for another day. You might ask why oh pray tell, are you bringing this up in the first place, guys? That is because the gig economy is not a new thing, you know.
- [10:57]
B
Certainly not.
- [10:57]
A
No. I was thinking about this earlier when we were researching some various other episodes. At numerous points throughout history, the gig economy was normalized. A ton of people, especially with the rise of merchant class, they were laboring under gig economies just like the Lazarote in Naples.
- [11:19]
B
Oh, much like the previously mentioned, I think on stuff that I want you to know, folks that we see around here in Atlanta doing little pop up fruit stands or selling Easter baskets around the Easter holiday season. Or to your point, pivoting to whatever holiday holiday it might be like Valentine's Day.
- [11:36]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The, the Lazzaroni from our supreme Pizza episode were not homeless, but they were living hand to mouth. They were searching for whatever daily work they could find. Or a hustle, we would call it in the modern day. Just like the folks you were mentioning, you know, in gas stations across the United States, especially in city citified areas, especially in our fair metropolis of Atlanta. Then we also historically see cases of nomadic seasonal labor fairly common in U.S. history. You've got itinerant job seekers who would travel sometimes across the country picking up one farm gig before moving on to another. And in some cases these folks would crisscross the nation multiple times chasing whatever crop was in season. So the gig economy is very much not new. People often had a lot of different side hustles. And our hapless hero of today's story, G. Herman Gottlieb, he is no different. He is an early 20th century businessman in New York City.
- [12:45]
B
Not quite a tycoon, but bit of a hustler, bit of a self starter, bit of an early kind of startup type dude. And he came up with a pretty sweet hustle. We don't know a ton about him, as you said. We do know is that he wasn't of that higher echelon class, as you already said, Ben. And so in the newspapers of the day, the term businessman was often used a bit more generally and diplomatically. Whereas today we might call someone like him a scrappy hustler. That would have been considered rude or
- [13:24]
A
at the very least somewhat demeaning. Right? You would usually only see papers calling a merchant of some sort a broke hustler or a tinker or a peddler if they had gained notoriety for doing something unseemly, selling bad meat or swindling people or hawking illegal goods. So our guy Gottlieb, the best way to think of him is like so many peers of his in New York during this time. Herman is a merchant at large. Think of like your modern day street vendor. We both spend lot of time in New York City and other very highly developed areas. And what I think we have all noticed is that there are tons of street vendors, especially in the tourist streets, in the tourist districts, and they're selling any number of things, and their wares may change day to day. And Gottlieb is kind of in this situation. It's unreliable income. Fast forward. We're in August of 1909, and our buddy Herman Gottlieb is hard up for cash.
- [14:38]
B
Yeah, it's a good point that you make, too, Ben, about the variety of wares. Because as we know, in this day and age, short of skirting the law, which certainly can happen, there's a lot more regulations around the types of things that one could get away with selling, especially in terms of ingestibles, let's just say. There we go.
- [15:00]
A
Diplomatic as ever. No? This guy Gottlieb. I'm laughing because that was excellent. This guy Gottlieb, his usual means of income, whatever they may have been, had either dissipated or they were on pause. But as we know, bill collectors are not famous for caring about that stuff. It's not as if your expenses take a vacation when your income peters out. So set the scene. One August day, our buddy Gottlieb leaves his home.
- [15:30]
B
Home.
- [15:31]
A
It's at 188 E. 99th St. And he is armed with the clothing on his back, a little money for the subway, two big empty baskets, and a crazy dream. He knew all the other street vendors in the area. He was aware of the industries through the city. He wanted to sell something other people weren't shilling. So we headed to this area off Dyckman Street. D Y, C K Man street, which at the time was Woody, was forested. This is in the Inwood section of Manhattan. And there, Noel Max, fellow ridiculous historians, he located a specific plant he identified earlier in his in his constitutionals in his walks around town.
- [16:21]
B
Love a good constitutional, man.
- [16:23]
A
Right, dude, he thought. But this special herb could turn his fortunes around. It is Nepetita cataria, commonly known as catnip. This episode of Ridiculous History is brought to you by Pesti Ben.
- [16:40]
B
Here in Atlanta, we've been experiencing spring having sprung. We got warmer weather. But I think while we both love that, we're both also a little bit frustrated by the creepy crawly critters that like it, too.
- [16:51]
A
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- [17:17]
B
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- [17:30]
A
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- [17:35]
B
That's P-E-S-T-I-E.comhistory for an extra 10 percent off. This episode of Ridiculous History is brought to you by Baha Martin.
- [17:45]
A
Okay, folks, there's regular excited and then there's vacation excited. We all know the difference and we are vacation excited right now.
- [17:53]
B
Oh my gosh, it's true. Because we've got this incredible trip planned to Baha Mar in Nassau. And to be honest, we're already there. Mentally checked in. Ready to go.
- [18:03]
A
Oh, yeah. Oh, so ready. What we love here is that you can do your Baha Mar vacation your way. Because there are three different luxury hotels all in one place. The Rosewood, the playfully hip SLS or the stylish Grand Hyatt. Whether your vibe is relaxed or glam or somewhere in between, they've got you covered.
- [18:24]
B
And then, you know, there's everything else that's on offer there. One of the Caribbean's largest and most luxurious casinos. Not to mention Ben over 45 restaurants, bars and lounges.
- [18:35]
A
And then at night, you've still got so many ways to keep things going, like the Jon Batiste Jazz Club. We're huge fans of this guy, so we can't wait to see it live.
- [18:45]
B
Start planning your perfect getaway@baja.mar.com support for
- [18:49]
E
the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available@public.comDisclosures have you heard about Klarna?
- [19:52]
D
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- [20:50]
G
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- [21:55]
B
Catnip. It's true. Weed for cats basically.
- [21:59]
A
What is catnip anyway?
- [22:01]
B
Well, it's a kind of mint as it turns out. Also referred to sometimes. There's a different varietal of it. Nepeta Musini Double S, double I, triple I actually, but two eyes right together there at the end. Catmint they're the most readily available types with common catnip being the ones that cats seem to dig the most. You'll often hear cat owners describing their. I gotta read. I gotta read this as written. Then their nip loving felines. Because that sounds like something else. It sounds like they just can't put down the teat. But as seeming to be a bit, you know, a bit loopy on the stuff. Rolling on the ground, looking all blissed out and goofy. You know, there's of course that video that you also reference here of David Hasselhoff lounging around in a drunken stupor with cheeseburgers.
- [22:52]
A
He looks like. He looks like a human version of a cat in that video.
- [22:57]
B
Yes. And I don't know this video, Ben, but I'm going to get me to a YouTube platform and check it out immediately.
- [23:03]
A
It's not his best moment.
- [23:05]
B
Okay, fair enough. But you know, you love to see it. David always seems like he's got his stuff together so much. It's nice to get a little glimpse into the. The real David Hasselhoff. So what's happening here is, you know, there's chemical stuff going on and it's actually quite interesting. So if your cat's getting high off the nip, it is actually just really and high on smells.
- [23:26]
A
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's just super vibing with these aromatic oils that are contained in various species of what we call catnip. The active organic compound that is futzing with your cat, making it go Hasslehoff is something called nepeta elostetone.
- [23:50]
B
Correct.
- [23:51]
A
It's kind of like huffing in humans.
- [23:53]
B
It's a little bit like the ether scene in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where they're. Yeah, yeah. Sniffing the ether and rocking.
- [24:01]
A
Or Charlie Day huffing painter. Anybody who does whippets.
- [24:05]
B
That's true. Whippets. That's correct, Ben. It is very, very similar to that type of bad behavior in humans. Cats inhale the aromatic oils of the nip. Because I'm never gonna stop calling it that. Where they then come into contact with receptors in the cat's noses. These receptors are linked directly to the brain and affect the cat's behavior in often silly willy ways.
- [24:33]
A
In such silly willy ways. And I love that phrase. So this is why your cat will tend to sniff, rub, lick, chew the stuff. It's usually gonna be sold in, in a powdered or a dried variety. Right. And so you sprinkle it around and then the cat goes crazy, the crowd goes wild. But you can Also get, you can also get fresh versions of these herbs. The reason they're doing this is because doing so agitating the plant substance releases more of that volatile oil and that mood modifying compound. Thanks to our friends at places like Vet west, we know the effects can significant. One of the big myths. Not every cat is affected by catnip. Young cats, senior cats, they don't dig it.
- [25:31]
B
No, jump in here.
- [25:32]
C
Sylvia is one of them.
- [25:33]
A
Oh no.
- [25:35]
B
Yeah. I don't know.
- [25:36]
A
I guess it's 10 to 30%. Yeah.
- [25:38]
B
Okay.
- [25:39]
A
I mean, but the, the cats, to your point there, Noel, the cats that are affected may seem intoxicated or in ecstasy, drooling, rolling around on the floor, making that weird face when they're exposing their smell.
- [25:53]
B
Recept rubbing and licking, sniffing and chewing.
- [25:56]
A
Yeah. It is believed that this is a similar reaction cats have when they are exposed to feel good pheromones. The kind of things that get released during courtship or sexual activity.
- [26:09]
B
I do think it's kind of funny that there doesn't seem to be a negative stigma against the stuff because it does kind of seem like you're getting your cat high.
- [26:18]
A
You were very much getting your cat high or putting it in a altered state of mind. Some will become super, super active. A lot of excessive vocalization that happens with some of my cats. They might chase and hunt and their predatory behavior might go wild. They might just get the zoomies, you know, and it's a short term high. The effects for nip sensitive cats, we're talking about five to 10 minutes before wearing off. Which again Noel reminds me of humans huffing. I don't know how long whippets or ether lasts or short lived.
- [26:55]
B
Most things that you enzy sulfate or inhale in that way are typically quite short lived. They're quite intense and quite short lived.
- [27:03]
A
Okay, so I read.
- [27:06]
B
So I read.
- [27:08]
A
Right, so we learned from the DARE program which totally worked for us. So the thing with the catnip exposure to felines is that the effects are not repeatable for around one to two hours. Similar to how we have read. Certain hallucinogens are not effective if you keep taking them over and over.
- [27:36]
B
Right, right. There's diminishing returns. You gotta have a little cooldown period.
- [27:39]
A
That's what it is. The cooldown period is what we need. But the cats in question don't know that. They tend to recognize the smell from earlier and chase that dragon, chase that high of catnip. And people were already aware of this by 1909. Our buddy Herman G. Is no exception. And he knows exactly where the nip grows wild. He knows also.
- [28:03]
B
Wild nip.
- [28:04]
A
Yeah, wild nip, baby. I'm a wild nip. He knows. New York has a lot of wealthy cat owners. This seems like a win, win. And so, as we said, he's out there in Manhattan. He's gathering up these two enormous baskets of catnip. It takes most of his day. And he's not going to sell it there, Noel. He's not going to sell it in the broke neighborhood where he lives.
- [28:28]
B
No, no. This is like a luxury for the swells and their feline friends, their feline familiars.
- [28:35]
A
And so Gottlieb takes the subway to Lenox Avenue and 110th Street.
- [28:41]
B
Ah, yes, the Upper west side.
- [28:43]
A
Just. So he starts going house to house on fifth Avenue. Super posh area. Trying to sell catnip to well to do families with spoiled pet cats. That's right, folks. A door to door cat treat salesman.
- [28:58]
B
Really quickly, lest any New Yorkers out there ding me for this. I don't think we're quite in Upper west side territory yet, but we are uptown, so. And you know, we know. We know the old uptown girls trope. That's where the. That's where the wealthier folks live. Uptown Fifth Avenue, of course, the shopping district with all kinds of boutiques and fancy shops. So this is indeed what's happening. He is trying to. It's like going trick or treating in the. In the rich neighborhoods.
- [29:25]
A
It is exactly like that. That's well done. Yeah, but it's a grand scheme. Unfortunately, in Herman's case, this does not go as planned. Because he was correct in recognizing that New York City has and had a lot of cats.
- [29:42]
B
But.
- [29:43]
A
But one thing he missed is that just like the human residents of the Big Apple then and today, New York's feline population also has a stark social divide. There are a lot of. There are loads of indoor cats living lives of luxury in the city's finest brownstones. But there are so many other cats living rough on the streets. Strays.
- [30:06]
B
Like in Oliver and company.
- [30:08]
A
Sure. Or like in that cursed adaptation of T.S. eliot's Cats.
- [30:14]
B
Oh, good lord.
- [30:15]
A
What a. I forgot about it. I watched a clip of this. A clip of it for this.
- [30:20]
B
Apparently there's a secret cut of it where they have buttholes.
- [30:24]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [30:26]
B
It's an urban legend. I do know that. There was a version.
- [30:29]
C
I heard there's a story about somebody having to go back and like, Photoshop out all of them.
- [30:34]
B
Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying. So Therefore there must be some at least version of the SFX shots that maybe one day we'll see the light of day. I don't need to see that. It was a already cursed without.
- [30:44]
A
You need to see it. I, yeah, I, I, I know real life animals that already have butts.
- [30:51]
B
So that is not a good movie, guys.
- [30:53]
A
I didn't love it, but I take do love the, I do love the original poetry.
- [30:59]
B
The poetry is great. I wasn't even, and I'm a big musical guy, but I just, I didn't even get the musical. It was such a cocaine coked out fever dream like it was clearly someone was quite high on their own supply of human cats.
- [31:13]
A
I think. Yeah, it teaches us.
- [31:14]
B
And by someone, I mean Andrew Lloyd Weber.
- [31:17]
A
It teaches us something that a lot of 1980s pop music taught us, which is sometimes drugs make you want a. Yes, and too much.
- [31:26]
B
A little too much. And also both nostalgia and cocaine are hell of drugs.
- [31:31]
A
Right? And so here's what happens. We've got this massive population of strays that Gottlieb's not really thinking about.
- [31:39]
B
And I'm seeing where this is going and I'm scared. I'm scared.
- [31:42]
A
In some way to exercise empathy or in some way, we could say these strays are very similar to Herman Gottlieb because they're working their own day to day gig economy of survival. They're out to get whatever they could
- [31:56]
B
get, you know, pick up the scraps, you know, right?
- [31:59]
A
And a few perfect. A few scraps. A few leaves of catnip fell from Gottlieb's baskets and stray felines in the area honed in on this. They began rolling and chewing and nipping their little hearts. And soon after, their other friends joined them, drawn by the spell. At first, Gottlieb is like, shoo, shoo or whatever you say,
- [32:26]
B
young sir, away
- [32:28]
A
with you, away with ye, shoo thou. And it didn't work. He couldn't shoo the cats away because he was walking. He was like a walking ice cream machine or something.
- [32:39]
B
He was a bit of a Pied Piper of cats.
- [32:42]
A
That is what, that's what Hatching Cat nyc, a great source for this story tells us. Even though he was pushing these cats away, he was probably just to be honest, because of the time, he was probably lightly kicking some of them or just pushing them with his calves and his ankles, but they were still rubbing against his legs. They were marrying and Ben, under the
- [33:06]
B
most sober of circumstances. You know what happens when you push a cat away, when it's got a mind to be rubbing up on you.
- [33:12]
A
Yeah. Now you've put it in a situation where it's like the human doth protest too much, right?
- [33:19]
B
I mean, like, God forbid you're trying to play a video game or something or watch a movie, they have no that makes no nevermind to them. They will climb right up on my chest when I'm on my beanbag and obstruct my view of my borderlands. And no matter how many times I push him away, he comes right on back.
- [33:35]
A
I've got a cat doing that right now. Shout out to Dr. Venkman. This episode of Ridiculous History is brought to you by Pesti.
- [33:44]
B
Ben, here in Atlanta, we've been experiencing spring having sprung. We got warmer weather. But I think while we both love that, we're both also a little bit frustrated by the creepy crawly critters that like it too.
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A
The bugs love it. The people not so much. So our question for you is, have your bugs been MIA since you sprayed Pesti? What? Folks, folks, let's be honest. Other pest control companies are going to charge you hundreds of dollars, but this is a DIY kit, so that means there are no strangers in your house. There are no tedious appointments to make time for. It's a win. Win.
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B
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A
Go to pesti.comhistory for an extra 10% off your order.
- [34:40]
B
That's P-E-S-T-I-E.comhistory for an extra 10 percent off. This episode of Ridiculous History is brought to you by Baha Mar.
- [34:50]
A
Okay, folks, there's regular excited and then there's vacation excited. We all know the difference, and we are vacation excited right now.
- [34:58]
B
Oh, my gosh. It's true. Because we've got this incredible trip planned to Baha Mar in Nassau. And to be honest, we're already there. Mentally checked in. Ready to go.
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A
Oh, yeah. Oh, so ready. What we love here is that you can do your Baha Mar vacation your way because there are three different luxury hotels all in one place. The Rosewood, the playfully hip SLS or the stylish Grand Hyatt. Whether your vibe is relaxed or glam or somewhere in between, they've got you covered.
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B
And then, you know, there's everything else that's on offer there. One of the Caribbean's largest and most luxurious casinos. Not to mention Ben Over 45 restaurants, bars and lounges.
- [35:40]
A
And then at night, you've still got so many ways to keep things going, like the Jon Batiste Jazz Club. We're huge fans of this guy, so we can't wait to see it live.
- [35:50]
B
Start planning your perfect getaway@baja mar.com support
- [35:54]
E
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- [36:55]
D
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- [37:25]
G
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- [38:30]
A
So in no time at all, at least 40 cats. Cats were following this guy. And that's why people started calling Gottlieb the Pied Piper of Catnip after this. If you also, if you go to contemporary reports from newspaper.com or so on, you'll see things like the New York Herald and the Washington Times from August 19, 1909. And they're having a lot of fun with how they.
- [39:00]
B
Good writing here. Yeah, classic early turn of the century newspaper writing.
- [39:06]
A
All right, do a voice, please.
- [39:07]
B
I'm gonna. I think I'm. I'm gonna just do it straight because the words are enough to put you in. You know what, what am I talking about? Of course I'm gonna do a voice. Shame faced felines whose permanent addresses were alleys and backyards came stealthily forth. All of them rich and poor aristocrats from the sofa cushions near the front windows. And thin plebeians from the areaways struggled mightily to get into the two baskets of nip. I had to say it that way. It was actually written catnip, but two baskets of nip. Come on.
- [39:34]
A
I've been having too much fun with using the word nip here. But yes, yes, Ed, perfect voice. Can we get an applause cue for Noel? Max?
- [39:43]
B
Thank you.
- [39:43]
A
Thank you. So.
- [39:46]
B
All right.
- [39:48]
A
It continues. So the paper says when Mr. Gottlieb saw Police Sergeant John F. Higgins on 114th street, he cried out with joy. At last he thought someone could help him disperse this band of felines. Sergeant Higgins wasn't so kind though, and he immediately arrested this catnip peddler for causing a crowd to collect. Which was against the law.
- [40:13]
B
No, it was against the law.
- [40:15]
A
What's your problem, sir?
- [40:16]
B
Uh huh. Exactly. It goes on though, with Gottlieb making a bit of an absurd statement. I'm gonna say right up front here. Why don't you arrest the cat? Now that is collecting the crowd, not me, bro, I think you're missing the point here. I Think.
- [40:32]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, agree. But to be clear, Herman's big hustle is not going the way he wanted it to go. Like, he hasn't sold all the catch up. The strays are after him, and now the police are on his case. And he's like, oh, God, why am I in a. What's that? What's that Adam Sandler film about jewelry?
- [40:54]
B
Oh, oh, uncut gems.
- [40:56]
A
Yeah, he's in like an uncut gem situation. He's going, why is this getting worse? Sergeant Higgins, again, per the papers, replied, come on. Before the cats from the Bronx in Jersey get here. And he takes Gottlieb to the police house on East 104th Street. Cats are still following these guys aggressively. And they follow them inside the station house. And Sergeant Higgins says, okay, I've got to go to my superior, a guy named Lieutenant Lasky. He reports the arrest. He's like, lieutenant, your boss, you're not going to believe this one. You can look around the police station. You see how they're like more cats than usual? It's this dude's fault. And then Lieutenant Lasky says, we can't hold this man. The law says a man must not cause a crowd of people to collect. The law doesn't say anything about cats. And Higgins is also having a bad day at this point. He's kind of pissed. He says, the law doesn't say anything about people, sir. It says a crowd. A crowd of cats is certainly a crowd. So they start arguing over how to interpret the laws. And more and more cats are coming into the station because they're following the scent of those cats. Nip baskets. The police do have two feline officers of their own. One is asleep at the wheel, and the other one named Pete, starts fighting off the intruding cats.
- [42:33]
B
Wait, police cats? Ben, that's absurd.
- [42:36]
A
Police cats? Well, a lot of things are absurd.
- [42:39]
B
That's true, Ben, that's true. The human police did join Pete in eventually driving out the mob of nip crazed kitties. Authorities put Gottlieb and his baskets into a paddy wagon. Then they escorted him back to his home at 188 East 99th Street. I think it's okay. We're not doxxing him because he's, you know, not alive anymore. And then, of course, the cats hotly pursued. Oh, yeah.
- [43:01]
A
Oh, yeah. They were no match for the speed of the wagon, most of them.
- [43:05]
B
This is very Napoleon carriage. Jurassic park bunny mob coated.
- [43:10]
A
Is it catnip riot? So the thing we have to remember, too, just logistically, is that as the wagon is moving through town, it's encountering other stray cats who catch the smell of the nip. Right. They want to chase that herbal dragon. So Gottlieb finally gets back to his place. As far as we can tell, he did not himself own a cat. There was one single old tom from across town still in dogged pursuit, according to the story.
- [43:43]
B
Catted pursuit.
- [43:44]
A
Catted pursuit. Even better. According to the story, Herman G. Is running to his front door, or is running to the door of his place, and he turns around because he sees this one last cat after him, and he's mid run. He throws a handful of catnip leaves.
- [44:03]
B
That's his old time pocket sand.
- [44:05]
A
Yeah, exactly.
- [44:06]
B
And he.
- [44:07]
A
He apparently yells, don't tell your relatives or your friends. And then he slams the door shut. This is the ridiculous history of the 1909 Catnip Riot. I mean, is that not similar to the Napoleon rabbit attack?
- [44:22]
B
Hugely so. And if anyone needs reminding, you should go back and check out the episode, if only to see what we were like in the earliest days. I actually stand behind that one. I think it was pretty damn good. But, yeah, that was about Napoleon, of course, in his opulence, basically demanding a sort of staged rabbit hunt. And of course, nobody knew about domestication, so they just had all of these kind of wild rabbits who did not behave as expected. And they ultimately created like that movie critters, you know, where they become a giant ball of critters. It was very similar to that. Ben, I want to try something out on you and Max real quick.
- [44:58]
A
Sure. Let's go for it.
- [44:59]
B
The idea of being surprised by someone while in the bathroom or doing that, you either are Jurassic Parked or you ju. Jurassic park somebody. Like that scene when the lawyer is in the toilet and gets T. Rexed. Can we make this happen, man? Can we make Jurassic park happen?
- [45:18]
A
Yeah, yeah. I got you six.
- [45:20]
B
Okay. Thanks, buddy. I appreciate that.
- [45:21]
A
So, to be clear for all of us listening, all right, if you are surprised while you're in the restroom, you got Jurassic Parked. If you surprise someone unfogrante, then you are Jurassic parking the them. Awesome. Yeah. Got it. Let's mint it. That's up there with straight seahorse teeth. Let's get.
- [45:42]
B
Now, ideally, either of these actions would be completely by mistake. You don't want to do this to somebody on purpose. That would be problematic.
- [45:51]
A
I've had to do it before in emergency situations, and I didn't really like it. I've been on both sides of the stall or the latrine. There, but it is a super awkward moment when you know somebody is pooping, which is a very vulnerable position and because of an emergency you have to be like, sorry man, bad time, but the building's on fire. So not saying now, but finish up when you can. Just get off Reddit, please.
- [46:23]
B
We want you to live.
- [46:24]
A
We want you to live. We're going to keep this one short. This is more a self contained one parter with big big thanks to again our listener who inspired this Stacy of are over on our Facebook page, Ridiculous Historians. Now before we do our outros, Max, I see you pop back in the chat. What's up man?
- [46:44]
C
Oh, just confirming that I am down with the term Jurassic parking. And also Falcazar Falazar is another one we're trying to get going.
- [46:54]
B
What's that remind me?
- [47:00]
A
Like falcon.
- [47:01]
B
Falcon. And what is it a portmanteau of Help me out. I wanna be a part of this.
- [47:06]
A
No one knows.
- [47:08]
B
No one knows. You also, you know, I know we're wrapping it up and I'm totally down with that, but you did find a handful of really, really fun other kind of unusual riots. From a piece over a mental flaws, I do propose perhaps that maybe we save those for one of our kind of leftovers episodes.
- [47:28]
A
Yeah, agreed, fully. Let's keep those other historically weird riots or ridiculous riots for a story in the future. But folks, as Noel was saying, spoiler, it turns out that history is chock full of ridiculous riots. This one was with Cats, the other one was with Bunnies. There are so many others out there. Thank you so much for tuning in, folks.
- [47:57]
B
Don't forget about the Zoot Suit Riot.
- [47:59]
A
Don't forget, never forget about the Zoot Suit Riot. Why does that sound somewhat offensive? Big thanks to our super producer, Mr. Max Williams. Big thanks to Alex Williams, his biological brother who composed this track.
- [48:14]
B
Yes. And our brother in arms and in song. Huge thanks to Christopher Osiotis and Eve's Jeffcoats here in spirit, Jonathan Strickland The Quizzister and AJ Bahamas Jacobs, the Puzzler.
- [48:26]
A
Dr. Rachel Big Spinach Lance, the rude dudes at Ridiculous Crime. If you dig us, you'll love them. I've been our research associate for this episode. And big, big thanks, Noel. Not just to you, you know, you're my, like one of my main guys. But also big thanks to all the cats in our lives who have yet to eat our eyes.
- [48:47]
B
Oh, Ben, that's really great rhyme and a really lovely sentiment. We'll see you next time, folks, For more podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows at cvs.
- [49:07]
D
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- [50:11]
H
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- [51:28]
D
wasn't that delicious? So good.
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B
Your bill, ladies. I got it. No, I got it.
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D
Seriously, I insist.
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I
I assisted first.
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D
Oh, don't be silly. You don't be silly.
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B
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D
Rock, paper, scissors for it.
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B
Rock, paper, scissors.
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H
Shoot.
- [51:50]
A
No.
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B
The Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Terms apply.
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D
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.