S4E3: Jordan Klepper and Teapot Dome

Summary

SNAFU with Ed Helms — S4E3: Jordan Klepper and Teapot Dome

Release Date: October 22, 2025
Host: Ed Helms
Guest: Jordan Klepper (comedian, Daily Show contributor)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Ed Helms welcomes comedian and political satirist Jordan Klepper for a rollicking, deep dive into the infamous Teapot Dome scandal — one of America's largest political fiascos before Watergate. Blending comedic banter with insightful historical analysis, the conversation explores presidential corruption, the perennial challenges of accountability, and the parallels between past and present-day political misdeeds.

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1. Introductions & Personal Histories (01:32–06:52)

Ed Introduces Jordan Klepper

• Ed lauds Jordan as a “delightful” Daily Show contributor and Emmy winner.
• Jordan jokes about Ed using "delightful," threatening to be aggressive but choosing kindness instead.

“You took the swing … Is he gonna cross the Rubicon and say delightful? He did it right off the bat.” — Jordan Klepper (02:03)

Jordan’s Comedy Origins

• Grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan; entered comedy via improv in high school and college.
• Moved to Chicago to pursue comedy, touring with Second City and then relocating to New York for TV gigs and Upright Citizens Brigade.
• Eventually joined The Daily Show as John Oliver’s replacement, after 14 years honing his craft.

Learning Curves in Satire & Politics

• Jordan shares how quickly working at The Daily Show ramped up his political knowledge; Ed recalls having political “random access” during his own tenure.

“My reading level … I thought I was pretty well informed. Walk into those offices at The Daily Show, and Crimea was invaded the first day I walked in … I’m so behind. Somebody get me a map and a tutor!” — Jordan Klepper (05:18)

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2. Setting Up the Snafu: The Teapot Dome Scandal (06:57–16:16)

The Big Political Snafu

• Ed tees up the Teapot Dome scandal as the “biggest, most sensational” U.S. political scandal prior to Watergate, promising echoes of current events.
• Jordan parodically acts shocked that such corruption could ever exist today.

Introducing Warren G. Harding

• Harding described as “milquetoast,” a weak-willed man riddled with scandal and serial infidelity.
• Ed and Jordan riff on old-fashioned nicknames (“Jordy Bean,” “Truck”), and the tradition of giving oneself a “cool” nickname.

Scandalous Presidential Behavior

• Details about Harding’s affairs, including hush payments from the RNC to a mistress so she’d stay abroad while he campaigned.

“We were doing that back then? We were sending women who were having affairs to Japan? I mean, that’s a long trip!” — Jordan Klepper (10:40)

PR Stunt: "Voyage of Understanding"

• Harding and First Lady Florence (“Flo”) undertake a two-month PR trip, visiting Alaska and Canada—the first sitting president to do so.
• Harding confides in his Commerce Secretary, Herbert Hoover, about rumors of scandal, asking if he should "bury it.”
  • Hoover advises transparency; Harding opts for secrecy.

“If you knew of a great scandal in your administration, would you … expose it publicly? Or would you bury it?” — Ed Helms, relaying Harding’s question (13:53)
“You bury that thing so deep … find a cave and fill it with concrete.” — Jordan Klepper (14:13)

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3. What Was Teapot Dome? (16:16–19:16)

The Place and Its Importance

• Teapot Dome: a uniquely-shaped rock formation in Wyoming, also the site of a federally-controlled emergency oil reserve for the U.S. Navy.
• Ed and Jordan laugh about the rock’s supposed resemblance to a teapot (“I’m seeing Castle…some phallic representation…”).

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4. How the Scandal Unfolded (19:16–27:38)

Moving the Pieces—Enter Albert B. Fall

• Harding reassigns control over oil reserves from the Navy to the Department of the Interior.
• Appoints Albert B. Fall, a rancher, lawyer, poker addict—and, critically, his Secretary of the Interior.

“He was a man in the 20s.” — Jordan Klepper, on Fall’s stereotypical vices (20:35)

• Fall secretly leases oil reserves to two tycoons, Harry F. Sinclair (Mammoth Oil) and Edward L. Doheny (Pan American Petroleum), without competitive bidding, justifying it as “for public good.”

Corruption in Plain Sight

• Fall is showered with gifts and $400,000 in cash, equivalent to $7 million today (plus a herd of cattle).
• Ed and Jordan riff about the obviousness of such visible “gifts.”

“You show up at the cabinet meeting and there’s 400 cattle … Where do you get those?” — Jordan Klepper (25:12)

The Oil Barons’ Hubris

• Massive oil reserves, worth much more than estimated, are leased out in sweetheart deals.
• The Wall Street Journal breaks the news when Sinclair-branded trucks are seen at Teapot Dome.
• Jordan: “When you get your shady oil pickups … Don’t wear that fancy suit.”
• Ed: “They didn’t think there was any risk … it was almost like a cultural thing: ‘Yeah, we’re just doing shady business and everybody knows it. Who cares?’” (27:54)

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5. Blowing the Lid Off: Congressional Investigations (27:43–33:24)

From Whispers to Hearings

• Wyoming Senator John B. Kendrick is confronted by local oilmen about not getting a “shot” at leasing Teapot Dome land.
• Investigative journalism follows, leading to a Congressional investigation.
• Ed and Jordan bond over their favorite Congressional investigations (Church Committee, Watergate, etc.).
• Jordan reveals: His former improv roommate in college was Frank Church’s grandson.

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6. Harding’s "Ohio Gang" and Cabinet Corruption (33:24–36:52)

The ‘Ohio Gang’

• Harding’s cabinet was packed with old Ohio friends; many embroiled in various scandals.
• Harding allegedly said:

“I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies, all right? But my damn friends, they’re the ones who keep me walking the floor nights.” — Warren G. Harding (34:21, via Ed Helms)

• Jordan and Ed discuss whether presidents can even have "real" friends, using Trump as a contemporary example.

“Everything has a loyalty test … What happens to a human who doesn’t have an emotional sounding board?” — Jordan Klepper (35:58)

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7. The Scandal’s Climax and Aftermath (39:04–43:52)

Harding’s Sudden Death

• Harding dies unexpectedly from a heart attack in 1923; never faces reelection.

Legal Fallout

• The Supreme Court voids the oil leases, returning reserves to the government (1927).
• Albert Fall: Found guilty, serves one year in prison—the first US cabinet member ever imprisoned for crimes done in office.
• Sinclair & Doheny: Both acquitted of conspiracy; Sinclair serves six months for jury tampering.

“Oil barons get off scot-free except for trying to intimidate witnesses, which is hilarious.” — Jordan Klepper (44:16)

Scandal's Legacy

• Public trust plummets. Harding lands “dead last” in historian rankings of US presidents.
• "Teapot Dome" becomes a byword for government corruption.

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8. Reflection: Then & Now (43:52–49:27)

Lessons and Parallels

• Jordan is surprised anybody was even held accountable in 1920s.
• Ed and Jordan agree “exasperation is working in corruption’s favor” today, with constant news cycles and short attention spans protecting wrongdoing.

“I think exasperation is working in corruption’s favor.” — Ed Helms (45:36)

• Federal resources-for-private-gain, the perennial challenge; Ed points out modern attempts to transfer public land to private hands under similar rationales.
• Jordan notes the difficulty of holding sustained public outrage today.

Takeaways

• Ed emphasizes the value of public land and the risks in quietly transferring national resources to private interests for short-term gain.

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9. Closing: What’s Next for Jordan Klepper? (48:28–49:27)

• Jordan plugs his stand-up/lecture tour, “Suffering Fools”:

“Part stand up, part TED Talk …a fun time to get out into all over America and tell some war stories.” — Jordan Klepper (48:28)

• Ed commends Jordan’s performance: “You delivered on delightful.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “You bury that thing so deep … find a cave and fill it with concrete.” — Satirical advice on scandal management (14:13)

• “You show up at the cabinet meeting and there’s 400 cattle … Where do you get those?” — On egregious bribery (25:12)

• “Federal resources quietly getting funneled to private interests … the idea to literally just sell publicly owned land to private interests.” — On persistent dangers of public corruption (45:36–47:56)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:32 — Jordan’s path from Kalamazoo to The Daily Show
• 06:57 — Setting up the Teapot Dome scandal, Harding’s “milquetoast” reputation
• 13:53 — Harding weighs exposing or hiding the scandal
• 16:16 — What is Teapot Dome? Wyoming’s infamous landmark
• 19:16 — Transferring oil reserves, enter Albert Fall
• 23:52 — Cash, cattle, and corruption revealed
• 27:43 — Congressional investigations and journalistic exposés
• 33:24 — “Ohio Gang” and the dynamics of friendship/power in politics
• 39:04 — Harding’s death and the fate of the scandal’s players
• 43:52 — Reflections on accountability, public resources, and modern parallels
• 48:28 — Jordan plugs “Suffering Fools” tour

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Episode Tone

Ed and Jordan maintain a light, witty, goofy rapport, skillfully weaving comedic riffs with earnest analysis. The tone is irreverent but sharp, blending historical detail with a resigned awareness of scandal fatigue and the cyclical nature of American political corruption.

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Final Thoughts & Lessons

• Even monumental scandals are often whitewashed or forgotten, with only symbolic accountability.
• Ethics in government remain vulnerable to the same temptations and loopholes.
• Public vigilance, a robust press, and perseverance in investigation are as crucial now as then.
• “Teapot Dome” reminds us that government corruption is not new — and only relentless attention keeps it in check.

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For more SNAFU episodes or to read Ed Helms’s "Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screw Ups", visit snafu-book.com.

Transcript

[Announcer]

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[Ed Helms]

This episode is brought to you by Audible.

[Jordan Klepper]

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[Ed Helms]

See mintmobile.com he literally got an entire herd of cattle at one point from one of these tycoons.

[Jordan Klepper]

You got to start asking questions.

[Ed Helms]

I mean, it's going to raise a couple of questions.

[Jordan Klepper]

You show up at the cabinet meeting and there's 400 cattle there. Where'd you get that? He's like, don't worry about it.

[Ed Helms]

Why do you smell like, like cow shit?

[Jordan Klepper]

It's these layers. I have to wear all these layers. What am I going to do? I'm weari.

[Ed Helms]

Welcome to snafu, a show about history's greatest screw ups. I'm your host, Ed Helms, and this week I am talking to an Emmy winning comedian, writer, producer and contributor and co host of the Daily Show. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the amazing, insightful and dare I say delightful, Jordan Klepper. Welcome, Jordan.

[Jordan Klepper]

Oh, thank you. I dare you say it. I'm glad you said it.

[Ed Helms]

I dared. I dared.

[Jordan Klepper]

You took the swing. Everybody wondered. They were all wondering. Is he gonna cross the Rubicon and say delightful? He did it right off the bat.

[Ed Helms]

Don't make me a liar.

[Jordan Klepper]

I know this does. I was gonna say I had. It's a high bar. I was gonna take you down today, Ed. I have just a stack of information about you and about your past that I was gonna use against you, wield it with certainty and aggression. But now that labeled me as delightful. I'M gonna set it aside and I'm gonna be kind.

[Ed Helms]

Delight me, Jordan. All right, now, before we get into today's snafu, I'm just curious a little bit about your background. We've, we've known each other a while. We obviously share the Daily show as I, I was on the show back in the early 2000s, a long time ago. I'm curious sort of what your path to the Daily show was.

[Jordan Klepper]

You know the Daily Show. I was, I was a fan of the Daily Show. I remember in college watching it, watching John that was into giving a shit about politics and the world around me. Up until that point, I was sort of just a kid in Kalamazoo, Michigan who only cared about what was happening within a two mile radius, which in Kalamazoo, Michigan was not a lot. It was mostly Little League and people talking about Derek Jeter.

[Ed Helms]

Can I say anybody from Kalamazoo, Michigan, you have to say their full name and from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and you immediately sound like a depression era business mogul. Jordan Klepper from Kalamazoo, Michigan, it just is. It's got such a great zinger vibe to it.

[Jordan Klepper]

It sounds like a Dr. Seuss town. In fact, the buttons in Kalamazoo, Michigan say, yes, there really is a Kalamazoo. You approach Kalamazoo with a disbelief that it actually exists, and the people there will sell you a button to try to prove we are a real thing. We are a small town in southwest Michigan. Embrace the weirdness of it all.

[Ed Helms]

So you're in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and you're just a comedy fan.

[Jordan Klepper]

I'm a comedy, yeah. I think basically I'm a Whose Line Is It Anyway? Improv guy in high school. But I'm a nerd who gets a math scholarship to go to the tiny liberal arts college, Kalamazoo College, as a math major with eyes towards finding something that's inspiring to me. And I find comedy, I find improv. I finally got on stage in my college life, did some improv jokes and people thought I was funny. And that drug sent me to Chicago and on a path to kind of find and forge this comedy career, which for the longest time, which was like nine years in Chicago learning improv, touring with the Second City takes me to New York where I start doing stuff with the Upright Citizens Brigade and a lot of comedy and, you know, like the New York life was writing gigs for MTV shows. It was creating my own little videos and trying to get whatever I could out there finding a little bit of success. But it's like, 14 years, 10 in Chicago, and then I'm in New York for four years, and the Daily show comes a knock in when John Oliver steps aside.

[Ed Helms]

Now, did you always have an inkling towards sort of commentary or satire or political engagement of any kind, or was that really a product of joining the Daily Show?

[Jordan Klepper]

For me, it was always exciting to do shows that were commenting on something that was happening. Sure. You jump into the Daily show and that just gets bumped up tenfold. And my reading level, which I thought in Chicago and in New York was a pretty good. I was like, I'm pretty well informed. I, like, walk into those offices at the Daily show, and Crimea was invaded the first day I walked in, and John wanted to do a piece on Crimea, and I'm like, I don't know where Crimea is. I don't know. I thought. I skim a couple New York Times articles every day, and now I'm like, oh, shit, I'm so behind. Somebody get me a map and a tutor. I can't do this job.

[Ed Helms]

You know what I will say? That's something I miss from my years on the Daily Show. I could like it. Like, a couple of years into the Daily Show, I could step into any, like, topical conversation about politics or sort of current events and just be on fire. Like, I had everything at random access, because you're just steeped in it day after day. You're studying it. You're, you know, you're. You're engaged in policy discussions, like, whatever's going on, you know everyone's names in Congress. You've gone to the conventions. It's just like, it's really fun. It feels like you're kind of near the sort of, like, burning hot sun of American sort of political current events. Well, it's a very, very cool job. You are obviously crushing it and have been for a very long time. Keep up the great work. Let's get into today's snafu, shall we?

[Jordan Klepper]

Ooh, I love it.

[Ed Helms]

All right. Well, given your day job involves a gosh darn lot of keeping up with political dramas, I thought it would be perfect to journey into a snafu today involving one of the wildest early political scandals our country has ever seen. In fact, before Watergate, it might have been the biggest, most sensational scandal America had even been through, filled with all kinds of presidential corruption and bribery, which will surely remind you of absolutely nothing going on right now.

[Jordan Klepper]

Do you want me to connect this to anything? Because it feels like sci fi right now. What you're pitching me, Ed Right.

[Ed Helms]

Are you ready?

[Jordan Klepper]

I'm ready. Let's jump in.

[Ed Helms]

All right, great. We begin our journey in 1920 alongside a man who several contemporaneous publications described as, quote, milquetoast. This description, of course, refers to a man of weak character who is indecisive and or easily influenced. All of which will come into play very shortly. Milquetoast is kind of a rude nickname. Did you have any nicknames, Jordan Klepper?

[Jordan Klepper]

Milquetoast would have been a fine one for me. I would've accepted Milktoast. I think I've been as pale as what I can imagine. The delicacy of Milktoast is I was Jordy Bean to begin with.

[Ed Helms]

Jordi Bean.

[Jordan Klepper]

Jordy Bean, because I was thin as a string bean. Okay. I have this weird, long head. So that became the case. And then when I got into an improv group, I gave myself a nickname, Truck, which was absurd to the people there. And I was called out for the absurdity of giving yourself a nickname.

[Ed Helms]

You can't give yourself a nickname.

[Jordan Klepper]

That's illegal. That was the argument. And yet that becomes, in and of itself, a bit about giving yourself a nickname. And now, fast forward 15 years later, I'm trucked to a small group of people in Chicago, and I proudly. I proudly did it myself.

[Ed Helms]

That's a very cool nickname. That's the problem with nicknames. You pick yourself is like, they're too cool.

[Jordan Klepper]

They're too cool.

[Ed Helms]

Hey, man, here comes old Truck.

[Jordan Klepper]

What's he gonna do? He's got some good improv up his sleeves. Oh, that guy's got great improv. And trunk, of course, was somebody who at that time drove his parents Dodge Intrepid. So I've gotten nowhere near a truck.

[Ed Helms]

Sure, but you hauled good improv skills.

[Jordan Klepper]

Ain't that the truth? Sixteen wheels, baby.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. Well, underneath the feeble exterior of this particular person was a sexual miscreant with a penchant for scandal. In fact, he's on record having told the press, quote, it's a good thing I'm not a woman. I would always be pregnant. I can't say no.

[Jordan Klepper]

That's a fun guy to hang out with. I gotta say it.

[Ed Helms]

I guess. So, yeah, he's just sort of like a yes man. Like, all right, I'm in. Whatever you got.

[Jordan Klepper]

You know what? Honestly, in the 1920s, for a phrase that starts, it's a good thing I'm not a woman, that's probably the nicest answer you're going to find. Oh, that's a modern man. Right there. How lovely. He didn't bring in any other minorities to make fun of or hound. Perhaps that comes later in the story. Right now that's a PG answer for 1920.

[Ed Helms]

All right, any guess who we're talking about?

[Jordan Klepper]

Oh, God, I. No, I'm at a loss.

[Ed Helms]

Well, it's the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding.

[Jordan Klepper]

That's Harding.

[Ed Helms]

That's who we're. It's Harding. We're talking about Harding.

[Jordan Klepper]

It's classic.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. His wife's biographer pegged his number of mistresses at 7, including the wife of one of his best friends. In fact, the steamy affair was so problematic, none other than the Republican National Committee paid the woman a $2,000 monthly stipend on top of a $25,000 trip to Japan and China, just so she'd be far out of the spotlight while our Mr. Milquetoast campaigned for the American presidency.

[Jordan Klepper]

We were doing that back then. We were sending women who were having affairs to Japan. I mean, that's a long trip. Yeah, that's a very long trip.

[Ed Helms]

Also, like kind of a nice little silver lining to an affair, honestly. Yeah, you just get a trip to China.

[Jordan Klepper]

You know, it was hard enough and so expensive to see any other culture at that day and age. Probably your most effective bet was to sleep with the president and see if the government would pay for it.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, There you go. $25,000 trip to China and Japan. That was the cheapest rate you could get at the time. A lot of powerful men have affairs.

[Jordan Klepper]

Here we go. Ed, I told you we can't talk about this. And we can't talk about this. Ok, Put this on me. You said, oh, we're just gonna talk history. We're gonna talk history. We can't go into all of my infidelities, Ed, please.

[Ed Helms]

It's dangling right in front of us. You are known for having thousands of affairs. No, but honestly, it's well into the summer of 1923 and Harding is nearing the end of his first term. All those swirling allegations of misconduct are starting to threaten his reelection. So he and the first lady. Florence Harding. Isn't that like a fairy tale name? I love that.

[Jordan Klepper]

That's Florence Hardy.

[Ed Helms]

Fl.

[Jordan Klepper]

She had to be a Flo, right? You take Flo.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, yeah. At that time. Of course, she's a Flo.

[Jordan Klepper]

You go with Flo. You go with the Flo.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. So Warren and Flo set off on a two month adventure to show some serious leadership and earn back voters trust. Face to face. There's Even a semi wholesome photo of Harding at the helm of a locomotive in Alaska here. Do we have that photo handy? Can we take a look?

[Jordan Klepper]

Oh, is that.

[Ed Helms]

I guess he's in there. He's hanging out the window there.

[Jordan Klepper]

I mean, they might not have had zoom technology, but the photographer could have walked up a little closer. Correct? Yeah. I assume this wasn't a moving locomotive.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, no, I think you're right.

[Jordan Klepper]

Although I tell you, you zoom in on this right now and I look and I'm like, oh, yeah, that guy fucks. Right.

[Ed Helms]

Right?

[Jordan Klepper]

I mean, yeah. Yeah. You see that? Look at that. Look at that glove.

[Ed Helms]

Look at that. That creepy glove that he's wearing.

[Jordan Klepper]

Yeah.

[Ed Helms]

I don't know. He's got a lot going on there. Well, so he called this giant PR stunt the voyage of understanding. And it surprisingly held some historical significance. It was the first ever instance of a sitting president visiting the remote regions of Alaska as well as Canada. How are we doing with Canada right now? Do you think relations are better or worse than they were back in 1923?

[Jordan Klepper]

Oh, God. Well, yeah, I hate to say it. I think we're on a downward spiral with Canada.

[Ed Helms]

I don't know why it's so random.

[Jordan Klepper]

I know what it is.

[Ed Helms]

It's so random. Like, why the hate Canada? Why are you coming at us with so much hate?

[Jordan Klepper]

Yes. So what, we talk about making you the 51st state or throwing tariffs on you for coming? Yes. We're the fun older brother who's ribbing you right now. Enjoy it. You're part of the conversation. Welcome.

[Ed Helms]

So throughout this tour, it wasn't just the scandalous affairs that were weighing on old Warren G. Harding. There was also something else going on. Something way worse. During the boat ride in Alaska, Harding anxiously asked his commerce secretary, Herbert Hoover. Yes, that Hoover for advice. He said, and I quote, if you knew of a great scandal in your administration, would you, for the good of the country and the party, expose it publicly? Or would you bury it? Jordan, what's the right answer here?

[Jordan Klepper]

You know what? I think we all know. You bury that thing so deep.

[Ed Helms]

Too deep.

[Jordan Klepper]

As deep as you can go.

[Ed Helms]

You try to. Yeah, you try to find a cave and fill it with concrete.

[Jordan Klepper]

Fill it. Fill it with concrete. And then you blame whatever remnants on whoever you want to go down, whoever you're running against next.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. That's the right advice, obviously.

[Jordan Klepper]

Yes, that's the American advice.

[Ed Helms]

So while Hoover emphatically said, you gotta tell the American people, they deserve to know. But to your point, Harding ignored this sage Wisdom and tried to keep this mysterious scandal under wraps. It wouldn't stay hidden for very long, as massive political scandals tend to do. It started to emerge. There was a dark cloud forming over Harding's presidency. And this cloud was very much in the shape of a teapot. Ooh. Yes, that's right. Jordan Klepper, do you know much about the Teapot Dome scandal?

[Jordan Klepper]

The Teapot Dome scandal, I'd like to say that rings a bell, but I don't think I know a thing about it.

[Ed Helms]

It's like eighth grade. Like, I can picture sort of like political cartoons of the time of the day with like a teapot of which there were many. But. But it feels evocative. I remember before digging into this, I was like, yeah, what exactly is that? Well, it is. It is one of the biggest scandals in American political history. So let's rewind a bit. So he's on this tour in 1923 to sort of bolster his reelection. But now let's go back to 1921. What exactly was Teapot Dome? Well, first off, Teapot Dome is a real place. It's a landmark rock formation in Wyoming that sort of resembles a teapot. The specific location was one of three major oil reserves designated by the US government in the early 1900s as emergency oil supplies for the Navy. Now I think we have a photo of this Teapot formation. And can we take a look?

[Jordan Klepper]

Oh, wow.

[Ed Helms]

Wait, is this.

[Jordan Klepper]

That's Teapot Dome.

[Ed Helms]

I think this is a modern photo. This is teapot. This is. There's actually, there are old photos of Teapot Dome where the spout is still intact. The spout was knocked off by a tornado in 1962. But this, and I think this is. This is after that. Yeah.

[Jordan Klepper]

If you got without a spout.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Jordan Klepper]

I mean, we're just talking. We're talking crackles. I'm seeing Castle.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Jordan Klepper]

I'm seeing some phallic representation there. I mean, but you have to admit.

[Ed Helms]

You have to admit it does also also look short and stout. You know what?

[Jordan Klepper]

I don't have to admit that. You know what? Frankly, it looks tall to me, but everything around it makes it look tummy. I'm not sure.

[Ed Helms]

Here is its handle. Here is its spout.

[Jordan Klepper]

But there is no handle.

[Ed Helms]

I know, you're right. It's not.

[Jordan Klepper]

Now I'm supposed to trust you?

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[Jordan Klepper]

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[Ed Helms]

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[Jordan Klepper]

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[Ed Helms]

In 1921, the newly elected Harding made an interesting move. He shifted control of these oil reserves from the Navy to the Department of the Interior. Now why in the hell would he want to do that? Mind you, this was a time when there was a lot of debate on whether to conserve the country's natural resources or to Allow private industry to take hold of these resources and milk America dry for the benefit of. Yes, you guessed it, private industry. Now enter a character named Albert B. Fall, Harding's new secretary of the interior.

[Jordan Klepper]

And a fall guy. Is this guy. Does he become the fall guy? Is this one of those American stories? This is a great my name is mud kind of situation.

[Ed Helms]

Kind of. And this is a point of contention. So fall actually does become the fall guy of this story. And a lot of people think that that is the origin of the term fall. Gu. That is disputed. It is apparently not the origin, but it's awfully convenient. He's harding's new secretary of the interior and a former senator from New Mexico. Fall was also a rancher, lawyer, and poker addict. Wasn't Everybody in the 20s who downed plenty of whiskey. Didn't everybody in the 20s in the midst of prohibition?

[Jordan Klepper]

He was a man in the 20s.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, exactly. He was just a dude in the 20s. Now we've got a photo of him.

[Jordan Klepper]

Ooh, ooh, I like this.

[Ed Helms]

He's very scandalous. Doesn't it look like he's holding something creepy? Whether it's his genitals or like there's. He looks like he's hiding something.

[Jordan Klepper]

He looks. I mean. Well, the handlebar mustache definitely alludes to a man who is hiding something. Although the quality of that coat, I always, I'm always. It's amazing the quality of the clothing of that time.

[Ed Helms]

I agree.

[Jordan Klepper]

Right. Look how thick that coat is.

[Ed Helms]

But the crazy thing is, like, everybody wore a suit all the time in the 20s. Like even you would see even like a dirt poor farmer out working in the fields. Like they're wearing a suit for some reason or like, you know, like beggars on the street of New York City. They're wearing suits. Like everybody has suits.

[Jordan Klepper]

And the sweat got the smell of the 20s. It feels like that's something you can't encapsulate. But I can only imagine if everybody's wearing three piece suits, wool three piece suits that, you know, they're not washing. The dry cleaning industry had not come into full fruition.

[Ed Helms]

No, they didn't have the chemicals.

[Jordan Klepper]

No. So they're they're just. They're sweat sweating away the smells of this man, this fall guy. I can only imagine.

[Ed Helms]

Now, Harding had campaigned on a slogan of return to normalcy. Fall was not on board with normalcy. It turns out he really coveted power and wealth. And to get it, he needed access to those reserves. Almost immediately, he secretly commenced his money grubbing intentions. He Leased the naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome and also a place called Elk Hills and Buena Vista, California to two private oil tycoons, Harry F. Sinclair of Mammoth Oil and Edward L. Doheny of Pan American Petroleum. Now, you may know the name Doheny from Doheny Drive here in Los Angeles. It is the same Doheny, and it's just a couple of blocks away from me right now, which is just a meaningless factoid.

[Jordan Klepper]

Does anybody know that I'm in New York? Would I have known that? People who live on Doheny Drive know that.

[Ed Helms]

They probably don't know for whom Doheny Drive is named, but. But now they do.

[Jordan Klepper]

You really are providing a service, Ed. You really are.

[Ed Helms]

And they're thrilled. This is really. The point of this podcast, is just to give people useless information.

[Jordan Klepper]

Can you tell me why? Why 3rd Avenue is called 3rd Avenue? Is there a story behind that here in Brooklyn?

[Ed Helms]

That one's tricky. Yeah, there was a. There was a. Arnold J. Third was a. A local bridge building tycoon?

[Jordan Klepper]

No, it was a poker aficionado, if I recall.

[Ed Helms]

Of course. So these deals that our dear friend Albert B. Fall made with Sinclair and Doheny, these deals were made without competitive bidding. And Fall justified this by saying it was, quote, for the public good and national security. But then all of a sudden, a weird thing started to happen, which is that his bank account started looking very, shall we say, well oiled.

[Jordan Klepper]

Ooh, we should say that. That's the. Yeah, exactly.

[Ed Helms]

Thank you. At the time, Harding doesn't know his secretary of the interior is being like, shady as hell. Do you believe that? Do you think he was totally oblivious or do you think he was just turning a blind eye?

[Jordan Klepper]

You know, I gotta believe it's blind eye. Yeah. I'm often confused about how people communicated pre cell phone era.

[Ed Helms]

Right.

[Jordan Klepper]

So the fact that had no easy way to communicate. I'll give him a little leeway. I don't know how fast these horses are. Back in those days, that train looked like it wasn't moving very fast either. So, you know, I'll give him. Perhaps he's not, up to the moment, informed, but I don't know. You've given me very little little to rest my hat on when it terms in terms of trusting Warren G. Harding.

[Ed Helms]

Sure. Well, it turns out there's actually good reason to believe that Harding was relatively unaware at this time. President Harding was quite busy dealing with the extensive aftermath of World War I, jostling through labor disputes and flirting with not named Florence. Still, you'd think he might have noticed when Fall started receiving gifts and loans totaling over $400,000, which in today's dollars would be a little over $7 million. He literally got an entire herd of cattle at one point from one of these tycoons.

[Jordan Klepper]

So, yeah, you gotta start asking questions.

[Ed Helms]

I mean, it's gonna raise a couple of questions.

[Jordan Klepper]

You show up at the cabinet meeting and there's 400 cattle there.

[Ed Helms]

Where do you get those Don' Stink. Why do you smell like cow shit? Just be honest, Paul.

[Jordan Klepper]

Like, what's going on? These layers. I have to wear all these layers. What am I gonna do? I wear these layers?

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, I guess we all stink a little bit, right?

[Jordan Klepper]

It's wool.

[Ed Helms]

We're wearing wool. Okay. But it's not just how much money he was receiving, it was how obvious he was about it. I mean, the guy was living large in D.C. buying up ranches, handing out cash, strutting around like a gilded age Gordon Gecko with a bolo tie. Now, are you a frugal guy? Like, if you fell into this kind of money, would you be chill about it, or would you be putting on a zoot suit and hitting the nightclubs?

[Jordan Klepper]

Oh, yeah. See, I don't think I'm creative enough to spend money like that. My mom told me when I got. I got a show after the Daily show, and I was like, oh my God, I got a TV show. What do I do with this? My mom was like, you need a good chair. She goes, what I would buy would be an Eames chair. And I was like, I don't even know what an Eames chair is. And then I googled. For the next two weeks, all I thought about was Eames chairs. And that was the thing I bought. I was like, you know what I will buy? I'll buy a chair that I'll have for the rest of my life. So that's the one fancy thing, that advice I love.

[Ed Helms]

Cuz it's just sort of like, yes, like little creature comforts. They're important and they kind of make. There's these little things that just make your life experience nice. All right, so now, speaking of making instant millions, according to a senate survey, the three reserves, these big oil reserves, held an estimated 435 million barrels of oil, which at the time would have been equivalent to the amount of oil produced by the country as a whole up to that point in time. Now, crazy fact, that number was well under the actual amount of oil that was dredged up eventually from those sites. Elk Hills alone has produced more than 1 billion barrels in its 100 years of existence. Meanwhile, whispers began reaching Congress of some shady stuff going on. On April 14, 1922, the Wall Street Journal broke the news of the Te Pot Dome as a few local Wyoming boys noticed trucks with the Sinclair logo roaming about. Yeah, so I don't know. I mean, I understand the power of branding, but maybe you don't put your logos on your shady truck deliveries or.

[Jordan Klepper]

Yeah, when you get your shady oil.

[Ed Helms]

Pickups.

[Jordan Klepper]

That'S what gets it. Nine times out of 10, it's that person who wants to strut. You strut, you know, don't do it. Don't wear that fancy. Don't wear that fancy suit.

[Ed Helms]

I think it all.

[Jordan Klepper]

That's like a plot in the Godfather, one of the Godfather, weirdly.

[Ed Helms]

I think that the flagrancy of using your Sinclair trucks to transport sort of ill begotten oil speaks to the fact that they didn't think there was any risk here. It was almost like a cultural thing. It's like, yeah, yeah, we're just doing shady business and everybody knows it. Who cares?

[Jordan Klepper]

I mean, it speaks to one of the truest thing not to bring up Mr. Donald J. Trump, but if we're to connect it to comments like when Trump got called out for not paying tax. Taxes, you know, he, he holds that up to like, yeah, because I'm smart. Right. I think there's always been an idea with the, the billionaire class that like, proof of my expertise and acumen come in. The fact that I get away with shit.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Jordan Klepper]

And so, like, you see that there? It's like, oh my God, how'd you get away with that? It's like, I'm smart. So this, this is what I get for being so smart.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. Just let's not even bother asking questions of character about any of that stuff.

[Jordan Klepper]

Stuff.

[Ed Helms]

Oh, boy, that's a black hole that we could go down.

[Jordan Klepper]

But I'm gonna keep going.

[Ed Helms]

One Wyoming senator, John B. Kendrick, was pestered with questions from other local oil men, mostly as to why they never had a shot at leasing the land at Teapot Dome. Suspicions kept growing. They grew and grew. The Denver Post followed soon after with a front page expose calling the events, quote, one of the baldest public land grabs in. In history. Finally, the floodgates were opening, which led to a congressional investigation that took over two years. Now, I find congressional investigations like this seriously badass. At least when they're like, well intentioned and well executed. Do you have a favorite congressional investigation?

[Jordan Klepper]

Oh, my God. This is a nerd how much time do we have?

[Ed Helms]

Come on. This is a very nerdy question, but.

[Jordan Klepper]

The way they're framed, I mean, you think about Watergate, you think of. About, what was it, The Oppenheimer when he was investigated. And I think all that red scare stuff, they're not always used in the best of, best of ways. And I think the Mueller investigation was such a. I think that's the. Or the January 6th investigation presentation, congressional hearings felt like such a. I think they were framed as such a partisan affair and such. Such theater that you almost forget the functionality of them all.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, that's pretty heartbreaking when that happens. I agree. There was one. One of my favorites is definitely. We covered it in SNAFU season two. Frank Church, a senator from Idaho, led the investigation into cointelpro and all of the malfeasance of J. Edgar Hoover and how sort of corrupt the FBI had become at that time. And. And he just was so. Had so much sort of integrity and character and was so respected in the Senate, and he had an incredible staff and the people that were working for him on that investigation. And it really accomplished a lot. And it was perceived as nonpartisan at the time. And it became the only reason that we have any congressional oversight over the FBI, the CIA, the nsa, all of these intelligence institutions that up to that point had been operating in total secrecy, which also basically total impunity for whatever corrupt practices were going on. And it's really cool. People like Frank Church, they seem hard to come by these days to go.

[Jordan Klepper]

Full circle on this. I told you how I got into the world of improv and comedy, and it was doing improv. And my roommate, fellow improviser in college, was Frank Church, the grandson of Senator Frank church. No way. 100%.

[Ed Helms]

Oh, that's so cool.

[Jordan Klepper]

Are you still in touch? I am still in touch. Is he from Idaho?

[Ed Helms]

Did he grow up in Idaho?

[Jordan Klepper]

He grew up in New York. Because I don't want to bastardize Frank's life, but I feel like Frank Church was such a hero in Idaho and ran for. I think ran for president as well, or attempted to. And then his son, my Frank father, became a large priest. Cut it to the stars in New York. Wow.

[Ed Helms]

Fascinating.

[Jordan Klepper]

Yeah. And so Frank, my Frank grew up in New York and then came to Kalamazoo. That's so wild.

[Ed Helms]

That is wild.

[Jordan Klepper]

I'm realizing now I have newfound guilt for the lack of respect I gave my friend Frank Church back in college.

[Ed Helms]

Did you bully a young Frank Church?

[Jordan Klepper]

Were you just like, oh, yeah. Oh, your family was Important. Yeah. Why haven't I ever heard of a.

[Ed Helms]

Sorry, sorry for all the wedgies, Frank, Why are we now just like denigrating this poor guy?

[Jordan Klepper]

I think we're celebrating. We're celebrating Frank Church. The history of my Frank Church. Your Frank Church. All Frank Churches.

[Ed Helms]

All the Frank Churches. Diving back in. Albert Fall had actually already stepped down as Secretary of the Interior in January of 1923, so, you know, he could enjoy his new ranch as well as help Sinclair and Doheny with other oil deals abroad. Clearly, Fall had pulled some corrupt shit. Might be worth mentioning here that President Harding was really feeling the heat by this point in his presidency, particularly relating to a few crooked folks he had appointed in his administration. Now, have you ever heard of Harding's Ohio Gang?

[Jordan Klepper]

No. Should I have?

[Ed Helms]

No.

[Jordan Klepper]

As a Michigan boy. As a Michigan boy, we don't give much respect to anybody from Ohio. So perhaps it's not my own ignorance, it's just my own prejudice.

[Ed Helms]

There you go. Yeah. So this was the nickname for some of Harding's appointees, basically because he'd hired or appointed so many of his buddies from his days in Ohio. And a lot of them were ruffling feathers and drumming up scandals from all angles, from influence peddling to selling illegal permits for confiscated government alcohol. These dudes were just awful, basically. So it kind of makes sense that Albert Fall and his oily mustache twirling fit right in. And yes, if you recall the photo earlier, Fall had a big old snot mop.

[Jordan Klepper]

Handle.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jordan Klepper]

I mean, even. Even if we're besmirching the guy, I don't think we want that image in our head.

[Ed Helms]

I mean, it's funny, but it's gross.

[Jordan Klepper]

It's funny, but yeah, it's one of those things. It's like moist. We're like, okay, that might be the right word, but I don't want to hear it.

[Ed Helms]

So President Harding said at the time, I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies, all right? But my damn friends, my God damned friends, they're the ones who keep me walking the floor nights. Now that's very Godfathery, that is.

[Jordan Klepper]

You really leaned into it too. The performance there was nice. Thank you. Yeah. My friends, just when I think about, they pull me back in.

[Ed Helms]

Who?

[Jordan Klepper]

The Ohio Gang. I thought I made that clear.

[Ed Helms]

I do wonder though, like someone, you know, you look at these presidents, whether it's a Trump or a Barack Obama or somebody, you're like, how many good, like close friends are they able to maintain at that point? I would think someone like Trump is like, so hard to get close to and so hard to sort of like, feel a sense of trust with, even if you're, if you match his core values, whatever they are, like, it just seems, I don't know, their life is so public and it's so committed to the public eye.

[Jordan Klepper]

Yeah. I mean, I think, like, yeah, the usage of a friend as somebody who you could truly be honest with and, and empathize with and you could be vulnerable with. I see people like Trump who sees almost everybody as like a means to an end. Everything has a loyalty test and even things, you know, not to besmirch any relationships, but those don't seem to be the most friendly and open. Those seem transactional as well. And you're like, oh, what happens to a human who doesn't have an emotional sounding board or compatriot that isn't tied up into your own personal success?

[Ed Helms]

Are you expressing, are you starting to express deep compassion for Donald Trump?

[Jordan Klepper]

Oh, my God. I stumbled on it. We've created a monster and I just want to give him a hug.

[Ed Helms]

That's what probably all he needs.

[Jordan Klepper]

Jordan, just give him a hug.

[Ed Helms]

Group hug. I want in on that.

[Jordan Klepper]

Come on, man, let's do it. Let's break through this. Come on. You can be a better person.

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[Ed Helms]

In the new podcast Hell in Heaven, two young Americans move to the costume Rican jungle to start over. But one will end up dead, the other tried for murder. Not once. People went wild, not twice, stunned, but three times. John and Anne Bender are rich and attractive and they're devoted to each other. They create a nature reserve and build a spectacular circular home heart on the top of a hill. But little by little, their dream starts to crumble and our couple retreat from reality.

[Jordan Klepper]

They lose it.

[Ed Helms]

They actually lose it. They sort of went nuts. Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. At this point in our tale, we are sort of circ. We're coming full circle. So as you recall, we sort of started with this, this voyage of understanding and then we jumped in 1923. Then we jumped back to 1921 and sort of told the unfolding of the Teapot Dome scandal under Harding's administration. Now, now we're back. We're back on the trip with President Harding and suddenly he began complaining of shortness of breath. And then suddenly he was just gone. A surprise heart attack took him very swiftly in August of 1923 at the ripe young age of 57. So there would be no reelection for Mr. Harding after all. Now, what do you think happened to the Teapot Dome scandal in light of Harding's past?

[Jordan Klepper]

Boy, that is a great question. My guess is the fall guy rides away to a very successful life and the story moves on to Other, more pressing things. Yeah, as in there's never accountability. I guess that's what I've learned to believe in American politics is that accountability is a rare, rare mineral.

[Ed Helms]

It's very elusive. You're largely correct here. There was a whole lot of legal wrangling over the course of several years. And at long last the supreme court ruled in 1927 that the leases had been illegal and all of the oil reserves were returned to government control. In 1929, Albert Fall was convicted of accepting bribes from Sinclair and served one year in prison, which sounds light until you consider this was completely unprecedented. At the time, Fall was the first cabinet member in U.S. history to go to prison for crimes committed in office. Also, I can only imagine a year in Prison in 1923 is pretty bleak.

[Jordan Klepper]

I mean, I can't imagine there's making a lot of space for rec time or rehabilitation.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. Now the one nice thing about this was that it sort of set the standard that even cabinet members aren't above the law. And I truly hope that ethos carries through. I think it's a little wishy washy at times, but it's nice to see some little measure of accountability, even if it feels small. Now, Sinclair and Doheny were totally acquitted of their charges of conspiracy to defraud the government, although Sinclair did end up serving six months in prison for contempt of court and contempt of Congress. Why? Because he hired private investigators to follow and intimidate the jury during his trial. These guys just, they feel like they're just like they can do anything.

[Jordan Klepper]

Come on, oil man. Come on, relax. You got the win.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. This is the golden age of oil barons where they can just do whatever the fuck they want. I mean, they're just, they're all the Elon Musk's of their day, I guess.

[Jordan Klepper]

Yeah, 100%.

[Ed Helms]

So needless to say, damage was irrevocably done. Public trust in the government tanked. Harding's legacy. Despite dying a quite popular president, his legacy was permanently stained. In 1948, Arthur M. Schlessinger, a Harvard historian, put out a poll amongst fellow historians and government officials to assess the greatest and worst presidents. Up to that point. Harding landed dead last and continues to place near the bottom of the barrel in annual polls to this day. And Teapot Dome became shorthand for political corruption ever more. Which is kind of funny. It's like, I like how scandals, ever since Watergate, every scandal, you just add the word gate at the end of it and it becomes like, that's the scandal. But I Wonder if before Watergate, it was like, you know, it was like the Firehouse Dome scandal. Like, everyone just added the word dome to stuff.

[Jordan Klepper]

Now. Now I feel like Qatari jet is just so much cleaner.

[Ed Helms]

Ooh, good. That's a good one.

[Jordan Klepper]

Yeah.

[Ed Helms]

Although that's not a scandal. That's not a scandal. It's literally not a scandal scandal.

[Jordan Klepper]

Honestly, you are right. Yes. There has been no kerfuffle on the other side of it. We're just moving on.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, we're just moving on. It's kind of refreshing. There's no such thing as a scandal anymore.

[Jordan Klepper]

It's just like, why are we gonna waste time, bother everybody, spend years looking into this. Just keep moving on.

[Ed Helms]

Well, this. This does lead me to my favorite portion of this, this podcast, which is the sort of reflection here, Jordan. And I'm curious, what are your takeaways? Have we learned any lessons or are there lessons we still need to learn from a Teapot Dome type scandal? Are there any parallels to the modern moment? We've touched on a few throughout the episode. What jumps to mind?

[Jordan Klepper]

Well, I mean, frankly, I was shocked that there was some amount of accountability. It's humorous that the oil barons get off scot free except for trying to intimidate witnesses, which is hilarious. But the fact that there was sustained pressure and a governmental organization that continued to stay on it to punish somebody for abusing the public trust is refreshing to hear, but I think so sad in the light of what we are seeing right now, it seems as if, like, oh, there's no appetite for that. There's no bipartisan appetite for comeuppance for somebody abusing this. And like you said, I think you stumbled on it with the Qatari jets. Like, we have such obvious examples of corruption. And there's also Donald Trump's personal. What is it? Cryptocurrency as a form in which people are paying our government. These are scandalous things. I think back in that time period, it's a barrage of information that things are getting washed out with new information, new information, new information, and just a wash of devices that are in our pockets that make us forget the things that we perhaps could be or should be outraged by. I look back at that time and I'm like, oh, I feel like they were able to stick to process these things. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Ed Helms]

It's a great question. Yeah. I think you're raising a really. A really meaningful question about contemporary moors, which is like, has our sort of ethical or moral compass degraded in recent time, or are we just too Overwhelmed to actually compute these things as they happen. And I can say, honestly, like, I think exasperation is working in corruption's favor. There are a few points that I think Teapot Dome raises, for example, federal resources quietly getting funneled to private interests. What's happening now in this big beautiful bill is this idea to literally just sell publicly owned land to private interests. And of course, those private interests won't be local ranchers or farmers or people who want to build their homes and live there. They will be these massive real estate conglomerates and, or mining interests or the people that can afford to buy huge swaths of land. So it's far more permanent than a sort of literature, police arrangement. And, and it's really interesting. That one's an interesting one because it's starting, it really is fracturing a lot of Trump supporters, I think a lot of conservative folks are like, oh, hold on, this publicly owned land, this is land that we all own and that we all benefit from. You know, there's a, there's a, there's an impulse, I think, on the right to vilify government and vilify the sort of scale of government. And there's some good reasons for that, of course. Course. But we forget, or I think a lot of times someone with a right leaning mindset might forget that government and the government ownership of things is actually public. It means that it's all of us. It means that we all are owners, are sharing this thing. And when it comes to huge amounts of natural resources and, or just beautiful public land like Yellowstone or all of our national parks, parks, our state parks, like that is, that's publicly owned. And it's amazing. These are incredible resources for all of us.

[Jordan Klepper]

There's conversations about where those lines are being drawn and be curious where the ramifications of something like the big beautiful bill and how that affects people like that who are using this public land in those ways aren't gonna see the kickbacks. I worry that what we talked about is it's so hard for us to have sustained attention on anything that isn't completely outrageous.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. Jordan Klepper, what are you up to? What can you tell us about. Obviously, you're still crushing it on the Daily Show. What else do you have going on?

[Jordan Klepper]

That takes up a lovely part of my time. And then when I have free weekends, I hit the road and I do a show called Suffering Fools, which is part stand up, part TED Talk. I got a bunch of slides and trying to make sense from some of these stories. I've got from being out on the road. So that's a fun time to get out into all over America and tell some war stories.

[Ed Helms]

I love it. I really want to see that show. And if you're out there anywhere in America, go see Jordan Klepper. The guy. Yeah, he's funny, he's smart, and I will say you delivered on delightful.

[Jordan Klepper]

Pretty delightful. Thank you.

[Ed Helms]

I mean, you were kind of delightful. I feel like I carried a lot of the delightfulness.

[Jordan Klepper]

You were very delightful.

[Ed Helms]

Yes, but you met it. You met the standard and I appreciate it.

[Jordan Klepper]

Well, thanks for having me. And you know what? I learned something. I don't know if I like Harding any more than I did coming in and out, but I understand the man more. I'm more confused about fall guy, but I'm glad to see a little bit of a moment of accountability. So thank you for that.

[Ed Helms]

So glad to have you on the pod. Jordan Klepper. All my best, buddy.

[Jordan Klepper]

Thanks, Ed.

[Ed Helms]

Snafu is a production of iHeart podcasts and snafu Media, a partnership between Filmation Entertainment and Pacific Electric Picture Company. Our post production studio is Gilded Audio. Our executive producers are me, Ed Helms, Mike Falbow, Glenn Basner, Andy Kim, Whitney Donaldson and Dylan Fagan. This episode was produced by Alyssa Martino and Tori Smith. Our video editor is Jared Smith. Technical direction and engineering from Nick Dooley. Our creative executive is Brett Harris. Logo and branding by the Collected Works Legal review from Daniel Welsh, Megan Halson and Caroline Johnson. Special thanks to Isaac Dunham, Adam Horne, Lane Klein and everyone at iHeart podcasts, but especially Will Pearson, Kerry Lieberman, Nikki Etor, Nathan Otoski and Alex Corral. While I have you, don't forget to pick up a copy of my book the Definitive Guide to History's Greatest Screw Ups. It's available now from any book retailer. Just go go to snafu-book.com thanks for listening and see you next week.

[Announcer]

What happens when tragedy uncovers the secrets we thought were buried forever? See Paramount pictures. Regretting youg October 24th the powerful new romance film based on Colleen Hoover's best selling novel. Starring Alison Williams, McKenna Grace, Dave Franco and Mason Thames, this heart tugging story explores the fragile, beautiful bond between a mother and daughter tested by love, betrayal and loss. Bring your mom, your best friend or your whole book club and don't forget the tissues. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll leave feeling everything. Regretting you. Only in theaters October 24 Thursday Night.

[Ed Helms]

Football is on and it's only on Prime Video.

[Jordan Klepper]

That's gonna be on this week.

[Ed Helms]

The Minnesota Vikings head west to face the Los Angeles Chargers.

[Jordan Klepper]

They will take that all day.

[Ed Helms]

Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern with football's best party, TNF tonight presented by Verizon.

[Jordan Klepper]

Not a Prime member? Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial.

[Ed Helms]

It's the Vikings and the chargers Thursday at 7pm Eastern only on Prime Video. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com amazonprime for teachings.

[Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast.