667 - Edgar Allen Poe - Part One

Summary

Summary of Podcast Episode 667 - "Edgar Allen Poe - Part One"

The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds
Release Date: January 21, 2025

In Episode 667 of The Dollop, Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds delve into the tumultuous life of one of America's most enigmatic literary figures, Edgar Allan Poe. This two-part series explores Poe's early years, personal struggles, and the beginnings of his illustrious yet troubled career.

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1. Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe's Early Life

The episode begins with an overview of Poe's birth and immediate hardships. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Poe faced tragedy from infancy.

• Roy Wood Jr. (00:00): "Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to actors David Ho Jr. and Eliza Po."
• Gareth Reynolds (07:07): "Child of actors. Difficult start."

Poe's father abandoned the family when Edgar was just two years old, succumbing to alcoholism shortly thereafter, leaving his mother, Eliza, to support Edgar and his four-year-old brother, Henry.

2. Loss of Parents and Foster Care

Eliza Poe's battle with tuberculosis further strained the family's circumstances, leading to her untimely death in 1811 when Edgar was almost three. This heartbreaking loss resulted in Poe and his siblings being split up and placed into foster care.

• Roy Wood Jr. (12:20): "Edgar is almost three, right on the cusp. He's lost both parents and at three."

Edgar was taken in by John and Francis Allen, a wealthy Scottish merchant and his wife, respectively, though he was not formally adopted. This arrangement provided Poe with a semblance of stability but also introduced him to a life of privilege detached from his impoverished beginnings.

3. Education and Early Struggles

Poe's education trajectory was severely affected by his financial instability. He attended the University of Virginia at the young age of 16 but was soon expelled for accumulating significant debt due to reckless spending habits, particularly on extravagant waistcoats.

• Gareth Reynolds (31:15): "He spent a year's tuition on fancy waistcoats."
• Roy Wood Jr. (35:00): "That's the way to end that letter."

Poe's expulsion from the University of Virginia marked the beginning of his strained relationship with his foster father, John Allen, leading to frequent arguments and eventual disownment by 1821.

4. Literary Aspirations and Initial Publications

Despite his personal turmoil, Poe nurtured literary ambitions. At 18, he published "Tamerlane and Other Poems," though interestingly, his name was omitted, listed merely as a "Bostonian." His early writings, however, struggled to gain commercial success.

• Roy Wood Jr. (37:04): "Edgar's name, however, is not on the book. It's just listed as a Bostonian writer."

Seeking purpose and financial stability, Poe enlisted in the army, achieving the rank of non-commissioned officer during peacetime. However, his tenure was short-lived as his dissatisfaction led him to leave the service, further distancing him from John Allen.

5. Personal Relationships and Mental Health

Poe's personal life was fraught with complex relationships and mental health challenges. His emotional dependency on mother figures, notably his best friend's mother, led to accusations of inappropriate affection. Additionally, his tumultuous marriage to Virginia Poe, who was significantly younger, added to the societal and personal pressures he faced.

• Gareth Reynolds (22:57): "He called her 'my love, my own sweetest, my darling little wifey.'"
• Roy Wood Jr. (41:07): "Edgar writes back, saying he's a changed man... but ends with a threat."

Poe's escalating alcoholism further exacerbated his personal struggles, contributing to his reputation as a genius tormented by his own demons.

6. Literary Career and Critical Acclaim

Poe's foray into literature eventually saw him gain recognition as a formidable literary critic. His scathing reviews earned him the moniker "Tomahawk Man," feared by authors for his brutal honesty.

• Roy Wood Jr. (72:25): "He was known as the Tomahawk Man, tearing apart authors with his vicious reviews."
• Gareth Reynolds (72:32): "He accused poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism."

Despite his notoriety, Poe's own literary works like "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Telltale Heart" showcased his unparalleled ability to delve into the macabre and the psychological, laying the groundwork for his legacy in Gothic literature.

7. Financial Instability and Professional Setbacks

Poe's inability to manage finances led to repeated cycles of debt and professional instability. His attempt to publish his own magazine, initially named "PEN Magazine" and later "The Stylus," was marred by poor investment decisions and a lack of substantial backing.

• Roy Wood Jr. (86:29): "He starts writing autobiographies filled with embellishments and lies about himself."

His persistent financial woes were compounded by his deteriorating relationships, both personal and professional, pushing him further into isolation and despair.

8. Conclusion of Part One

The episode concludes with Poe's mounting frustrations and dwindling prospects. Despite brief periods of success, his relentless pursuit of literary acclaim was overshadowed by his personal demons and societal challenges.

• Gareth Reynolds (87:29): "Everyone loves his cruel reviews, but his personal life is in shambles."

The Dollop sets the stage for the continuation of Poe's story in Part Two, promising an exploration of his later years, deeper dives into his literary masterpieces, and the enduring mystery surrounding his untimely death.

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Notable Quotes

• Roy Wood Jr. (07:07): "Child of actors. Difficult start."
• Gareth Reynolds (22:57): "He called her 'my love, my own sweetest, my darling little wifey.'"
• Gareth Reynolds (35:00): "That's the way to end that letter."
• Roy Wood Jr. (72:25): "He was known as the Tomahawk Man, tearing apart authors with his vicious reviews."

Key Insights and Conclusions

• Complex Relationship with Foster Family: Poe's strained relationship with John Allen significantly impacted his emotional well-being and professional trajectory.

• Genius Marred by Personal Struggles: Poe's literary brilliance was consistently undermined by his personal demons, particularly alcoholism and tumultuous relationships.

• Impact of Early Losses: The premature loss of both parents instilled a deep sense of abandonment and longing in Poe, themes that pervade his literary works.

• Legacy as a Critic and Writer: Despite his personal challenges, Poe's dual role as a literary critic and writer cemented his place in American literature, influencing future generations of writers.

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Sources Cited in the Episode:

• A Mournful, A Never Ending Remember by Karen Silverman
• The Mystery of Mysteries and The Death and Life of Edgar Poe by Mark Dawidziak
• Life of the Sea by John Jeffrey Myers
• Quoth Raven, More More by Molly Langmuir in New York Magazine
• Research by Brittany Cohen Brown

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Stay tuned for Part Two of Episode 667, where Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds continue their exploration of Edgar Allan Poe's life, unraveling the complexities of his genius and the shadows that loomed over him.

Transcript

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Hey, podcast listeners. Roy Wood Jr. Here, and I want to tell you about my new stand up comedy special. It's hoolarious and it's streaming now on Hulu. I did this special because the world has lost connection. We don't interact like we used to. You won't talk with your mom on the phone for 10 minutes, but you'll listen to a stranger talk on a podcast for an hour. You can listen to the podcast and call your mom that, too. We all just need a little perspective. So don't miss my new stand up special, Roy Wood Jr. Lonely flowers. Now streaming on Hulu. We're going on tour and this is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's been a while.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

March 2025 is when our tour is happening. First of all, we're going to Tempe, Arizona, maybe our favorite city of all time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's the best.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That is on March 16th. And then we go to Albuquerque, New Mexico, maybe our favorite city ever.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We've never loved the city we've ever gone to.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's on March 17th. And then we go to Oklahoma City.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Which is our fav. We often say that it's our number one.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, it's our number one. The best city I've ever been to. That's on March 18th. On March 19th, we're going to be.

[Gareth Reynolds]

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, our favorite city, without question.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And then we head to Dallas, Texas on March 20th. Our favorite city. There's never been a better city than better.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If you don't like it, you're a Dallas hole.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Thank you. And then we go to Houston, Texas on March 21. City, which is by far the best city. And then we end our tour in Austin, Texas on March 22nd at the Cap City Comedy Club.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's the best city in the entire world. Number one city in the world.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You can get [e-mail] tour. You're listening to the Dollop on the All Things Comedy Network. This is an American history podcast where each week. Hey, Dave. Anthony. Read a story from American history to.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Always a new bottom. Gareth Reynolds, who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. What if this was someone's first episode? Do you think that's good? Do you think that's a good attitude to get someone into the show? Is that a good way to bring.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

The energy, jump into the deep end?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I was gonna say, what I was gonna say to you is you would be probably pleasantly alarmed at how many people are really pushing this Benji thing. You'd be.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I knew that would happen. But also wasn't Beanie baby, your choice or is it mine?

[Gareth Reynolds]

It was mine.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But, like, it was your choice.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, but why? Why?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Remember, we couldn't. We. Because of the fires. We couldn't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, but what's the. The point is not that I released the episode. The point is that you have again disrespected my.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I didn't say it. Your mother did. Oh, what are you talking about? I didn't come up with Benji. That was your mom.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Do you want to take your minute to call your mom?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, she's busy. She's. She's busy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Is she?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes, she is. She's busy. Yes, she is. Because I know she's doing something today. I know she's doing something today.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

She would answer her phone.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. All right, fine, fine. We'll do it real quick. All right. I mean, I'm already conceding that this is probably the case.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Why would I.

[Gareth Reynolds]

How long until they start doing commercials during the phone call? Until the person answers.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh, God.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like, instead of ringing, it'll just be like, not.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You should have said that out loud. That's a terrible new ring. That's what they're gonna do.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Yeah. Your call has been forwarded to voicemail. The person you're trying to. Oh, look at that.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So cute.

[Gareth Reynolds]

English. Wyatt's an English guy. That doesn't make any sense. But instead of that, it'll just, you know, it'll just be like, get in the zone. Auto zone. Get in the zone. Auto zone. Get in the zone. Auto zone. Get in the zone. Hello.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

All right, the Dollop is going on tour. We have two different little week long tours. We're doing first in March. We are going to the Improvisepe Arizona. Then we're going to Hyenas and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Now, in Hyenas, we were sold out, so we added a second show. The second show will be a best of, and it's later that night. We haven't picked the Best of show.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yet, but what it'll be is we're going to do. Dave is going to reread a story from ages ago that I don't remember, and he probably doesn't remember. Are you gonna prep yourself?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No, I might. I might. I might go through it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You should maybe go through it. But either way. Okay, that's great. That's great. Okay, great.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. And then we're gonna go to Bricktown Comedy Club in Oklahoma City, then Bricktown Comedy Club in Tulsa, Granada Theater in Dallas, Texas, then the House of Blues in Houston and Cap City Comedy Club in Austin. Which is a afternoon show. And then in June, we go to the Sacramento punchline, the Egyptian theater in Boise, Bing Crosby theater in Spokane, Neptune theater, Aladdin theater in Portland, Tower theater and band, and the house of fine arts in San Francisco. You can go to dalitpodcast.com tour to get all your ticket link.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's right, babe. That's right, babe.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, so do.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's right, baby.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Keep it. Keep it sexy. Is that our saying?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. I think you're encroaching on my favorite murder a little bit. So be careful.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Keep it. What do they say? Keep it sexier.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, hot, hot boys don't.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I think they say no.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They absolutely don't say that. That's 100 the opposite of what they're going for.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Who is that boy? Stay effective thing. I don't know what they do over there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's what they're doing.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No. Come on. January 19th, 1809. You have a lord Jtown.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What do you mean sure?

[Gareth Reynolds]

What do you mean?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's a crazy podcast.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It isn't. It's weird.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Every week we thank our sweet J town and for all the rat, all the rad things he's given us and the sweet. The sweet, like food and beverages. Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Whoa.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Even know who that is?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I'm. Wait, I. I don't want to get catfished again on this show and have it be just some dude named maker Poe. And then you'll be like, edgar William Poe. And I'll be like, oh, I thought it was gonna be. I've been making Edgar Allen po. I've been making raven jokes the whole show. And then you'll be like, look at dumb guy thing. And then people online be like, how know that that was not Edgar Allan Po?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. So I. I know the people are.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Right is what we're saying.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

In that story, the people are correct.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Born in Bosses, Massachusetts, to actors David Ho Jr. And Eliza Po.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Child of actors. Difficult start.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Terrible. Particularly with this situation. Eliza was one of America's most famous actresses. She'd been since she was a child. She's done for comedic roles. She's known for being gorgeous. And David is a terrible actor. When they were in a play together, a critic noted, quote, the lady was young and pretty and evinced talent both as a singer and actress. The gentleman was literally nothing. Oh, literally nothing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's gotta be tough. That's kind of me. Well, because you might. As a significant other, you might start by like reading it out loud. You might be like, read. Oh, my God. The. The review's in. She's an unbelievable. And he's a nothing. What does it say about me, hon? What does it say?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You're like a lamp.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Huh?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Like you're like. They're saying that you're like a thing on the stage.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Ah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Like I like one of the couches. Or like a. A board. Like a board of the background. Or like. Or like, not even that. Like, they're also. I guess what they're saying is like, you're not even likable.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, but I am glowing and effervescent and.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Exuding energy and light.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And then you're like. You're like a mystery man. That's not even. You can see through you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. I feel like there's a lot of that that's not even in the. The piece.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Just like a empty husk of a human. Although not a husk.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He just called me a nothing, so I don't think he should be like, vamp, you know? I don't know why you're really on this.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's like if the. If the outside of the husk was gone, it was just the inside, which is nothing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's just. First of all, the husk is just. The husk is consistent throughout. I'm not gonna nitpick your husk bit.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Who's talking?

[Gareth Reynolds]

What?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I hear.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm talking. I'm talking. Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I hear a voice.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is David.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh. Sometimes I don't even notice you're there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. Is that you coughing? Honey? Honey. Oh, my God. Choke. Choke. Die.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

We're gonna. We're gonna come back to that cough in a sec. He was also called, quote, on Abyss of Embarrassment.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, that's way worse.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Bear said he had a, quote, mountain face.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, what the is going on? It's not good, but it's bad to be a. An abyss with a muffin. I mean, muffin face also.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, I guess you had the ground bumpy head. Bumpy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What's the misshapen? Maybe it has like the. Maybe it has the. Like the little doily strips on his face or something.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, Doily. Doily neck area. Yeah. So audience would. Audiences would regularly hiss at him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jesus Christ.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Now, when Edgar was born, they're very poor. And when Ed was 2, David, the dad, who is now a well known alcoholic, just. He just leaves smart. And he died a few months later.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So, I mean, he kind of pulled the dog. He like, went off and then passed away.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He did. But also Like, I mean, it had to have been hard to stay in that marriage. Everyone loves your wife and you're like really bad at what you do and.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, Dave Muffinhead, let's come out in the open and say how we regular. The man made the right call. Men are making these proper decisions off of.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That was what I was getting to. He to go. Sometimes you just have to leave your family for a whiskey.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yep, Dave, that's it. How are you feeling right now?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I'm fine.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Are you sure?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. My dad didn't leave for whiskey. He was a whiskey.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He stayed for whiskey.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What, so his dad's out of the picture now? Now Eliza is only 22 and she has very little money to support Ochre. He's also got a four year old brother, Henry. And then she's also pregnant when David leaves. Months later she comes down with tuberculosis. Oh, I was talking about the coughing. Audiences notice that her, you know, good looks are fading and she's becoming very gaunt and dull adult, like a dull sheen to her. And pretty soon she's bedridden. She can't, she can't do anything.

[Gareth Reynolds]

She.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

She relies on charity people to come help. A nursemaid would come and help with the kids that she, the nursemaid would often give the kids bread soaked in gin to keep them quiet for sure.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Absolutely.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And then Eliza died in 1811. Edgar is almost three, right on the cusp. He's lost both parents and at three.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Years old he's eating gin bread.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. As you do. Gotta keep them quiet. That's the number one rule. Keep them quiet.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just seems.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No, it's. The doctors will tell you that now. They'll be right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Make sure you have enough gin and bread.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There you go. Let it soak up. There you go.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You got. You need a car seat, you need some bibs and then just a lot of bread.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Bread with gin. Just really soak it up.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So now the kids are young, they're split up. Henry goes with a set of grandparents. A local family takes in the new baby, Rosalie. And Anger goes live with this local couple, John and Francis Allen. John is a very generous Scottish merchant. He. He liked to help those.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What would you like? Have it. Like that sort of guy. Is that who we're going for?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Do you do a Scottish accent?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, what you like? Hey, you see anything you like, have it? Is it like that?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. Right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Pick something out. Whatever you like, you can have. Here you go. Why our business model is have it, have it, just take it. That's all that matters. Have A bit. There you are. Just take it. That's nice. I can see you're eyeing that ashtray there, sir.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, yeah. It's a nice. You know I. I'm a ashtray collector but I like to look at them like all.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a nice very make.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I like this.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Do you me a favor. Make an offer.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And let's see. We'll go from there about on the ashtray.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I can't afford an ashtray. I can maybe give you a handshake or a hug or whatever, but I don't have any money.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'll do it for a hug.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Tell your friends.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Well, I don't think so. That was weird. But yeah. That is uncomfortable.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Okay. Don't. So his wife. His wife's name, she went by Fanny and she. She had attended Eliza on her deathbed. She called La Medgar and she convinces John and take him in. But John would never formally adopt him. It's. It's just like a informal and taking care of you situation. The Allens are pretty well off and Edgar is a cute little baby. He's very smart imagination. He. He started reading newspapers at five years old.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Crazy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's a. That's a huge red flag.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like that's probably.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

This one's going to be a nightmare. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yep.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

At six the family was to London because John for to expand his business. And it does well his branch that he opens or does well. And Edgar's sent to boarding school when he's seven, which he doesn't like.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, you're not. That was the whole. Yeah, the idea was never, it was never to be like you're gonna have a great time. It was like we like to parent during the summers.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. I don't want you around. Does that make sense?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. My father, My father went to boarding school like an English boarding school. And dude, he. He will bring it up like anything that gets mentioned. He'll just be like. Boarding school was very tough on me and I'm like, are you talking to me? What's going on? Like, it was very hard.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

John worked way too much. Edgar looked to him as a father. John felt like he was just helping an orphan.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, you're not. You're not my boy. You're an orphan boy. That's what you are.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Keep saying that. Daddy, Daddy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, no, no. Do not say something like that, boy. I'm not your daddy. No. Put your bloody hands hands down. No, Daddy not. Hold Daddy not here. You've no daddy. Daddy drank. Daddy took off. Daddy gone. Daddy not Replaced Daddy. This guy John. Not Daddy. Daddy. Different man. Daddy in the ground. Do you understand? Your daddy's not here. I'm not your daddy. No, listen to me. Not Daddy. Not Daddy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You said it up.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, I've never said that. I've said. No. I'm saying. No, you won't stop saying not Daddy. Not Daddy. Not Daddy, Not Daddy. No c. No. What? Excuse. What did you just. How did. What have you just bloody said to me, boy? I might actually be your daddy. I like that piece of vinegar inside of this lamb. I met it.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I met it in the English where we're in England.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I know, but I still think it's abrasive. If someone were to be listening to this, overhearing it, I still think they'd find that a bit abrasive. I mean, you just shout the C word. Do you know what I mean? They just shouted the bloodies even no matter where we are. I know it, I know it. I know, I know it's the way a bit, but I just don't think. I still think, even with that caveat, that's not like. You know what I mean?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But by the way, Tony Martin, who's English comedian, gentleman, he has a podcast and sometimes they do. Did someone squeak out a fart here? And they played a cut of us thinking we had farted, but it wasn't when I farted, because I remember them all. Yeah, they thought it was me and they said, this is what he farted. I was like, I really didn't fart there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Actually.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's not. So I'm making fart noise when I don't even know I'm making fart noises.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What I. This is like.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I feel.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Of all the things that have happened to us, I feel like this is. I feel like we've made it based on. Yeah, we're being brought into fart conspiracies on other shows. I think that's pretty.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No, I said. I went. They were talking about on Reddit and I went in. They said, I absolutely did. I have farted.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, you addressed it on Reddit.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I said, I will. I will totally cop to what I fart show if you catch me. But this was not one.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, man.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Anyway, that's what's going on out there in the world. That's topical stuff. We'll get back to the story.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, right. Is a history show.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Fanny really doted on anger, but she is also always ill and. And she has a condition where she's in pain a lot. John thinks that's all in her head.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's cool, by the way. That's very.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, he said she was complaining. Like. Oh, you're complaining.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is. Every Scotsman I've come into contact with is pretty similar.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So. So that's one of the reasons he was at a boarding school. So five years later, the London tobacco market falls, and that's a lot of what he sold. So everything just kind of falls apart and they have to come back to Richard, Virginia. But now without. They're nearly as. Not nearly as well off as they were before.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They're right. Financial, different vibes.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's tough, right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Edgar did dig well in school. His schoolmaster called him, quote, a born poet.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And this is when that was good. Yeah. Like, whereas now you'd be like. That's not applicable to this economy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Well, I hear that a lot of. A lot of Silicon Valley and just a lot of new companies are starting to hire.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, have you ever. Have you ever done Uber Poet?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Uber.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Yeah. Uber Poet's great. Oh, it's. I. I gotta tell you, I. It's real dystopian out here now. It's pretty.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, very.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's pretty bad.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yep. We're dystopian. Okay. So he asked. So Edgar asked John if he will pay to publish a book of poems. But John had been warned by one of his professors that it would just give him a big head. So don't do that. So the schoolmaster is the one who's like, yeah, he's really good. But then this professor is like, yeah, no, don't, don't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The one good investment he could be making right now.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Edgar, he's very popular. He's ambitious. He's very competitive, also very athletic. He had. He used to have friends hit him in the chest to show he was fearless.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now, like a boxer. I'm going to. But I'm going to jump in and say that. That, to me, does not actually. That does not venture into athleticism. No, that's.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's not a sign.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

How you know if you're going to be a good boxer is if you can just take endless punches to the chest.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't think anyone. I think there's a whole. I think there's a lot of other stuff you could be working on besides how hard are you taking bars.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You can go to the heart, headbutts to the nose.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's the Scottish. That's the Scottish influence there.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. So he also was a swimmer. Very good swimmer. He once swam six hours.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Ass. Why don't you just marry him?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He never became an island, though. He just remained Edgar Poe. And his brother and sister were both adopted by the families they were with. He was kind of close with them. He'd see Rosalie a lot, and then he'd write to Henry a lot. And as a teen, he really loved Fanny. He called Fanny Ma.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I love Fanny as a teen, too.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Remember what we were saying about keeping it clean?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. No, but I think it's a family. Every now and then, you got to take a bite of the low hanging fruit, Otherwise it spoils.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

We're gonna shoot. We're gonna have to check the super explicit box on itunes for this one.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like, crazy explicit as a teen. I checked a super explicit box sometimes, too. Oh, I'm a skimp today.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he calls Fanny mob. But he also is always, like, seeking mother type figures to be in his life. He gets really close with Rosalie's adopted mom. He calls her Ma also. So he's calling two women ma.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He starts seeking affection from his classmates. Mothers.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, now we're starting. Now I'm little. Little troubling.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He gets really close with his best friend's mother.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, boy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And a lot of people thought he was infatuated with her, calling her, quote, angel to my forehorn and dark in nature. Oh, I've done that. That's like how. That's how I talk about my mom.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's just. That's like.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's actually my dad. That's more my dad. But. Yeah, you don't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You don't want your friend to be, like, forlorn for your mom.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No, no, no, you don't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's where you're like, hey, you know, you're not coming over anymore. Please. She.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

She would listen to all his problems and she would encourage his poetry, but she was very depressed, which annoyed her husband, who told her to just, quote, have a cheerful temper.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now I can't get over ever. The level of which. Just like all the mental health issues that women were going through to have a guy be like, shut up.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Get over it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's crazy right now.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh, I know. I see that you're bleeding out of your eye and it's hanging out of the socket. Let's go. Get over it. Pop it. Pop it in. Let's go.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It just. I. All the time, all I think about is how I'm unhappy and everything in the world is just so tough, and.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I really feel overwhelmed.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I know, but I just feel. I need. You're My husband. I just feel overwhelmed by everything. And honestly, there are times when we go. Hold on. There are times where we were going to go out and I just feel the highest levels of anxiety. And I want to be there because I know you want me to be there and you want someone to be.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

There for you, but it's very tough for me. I did not marry you. To hear a bunch of whiny. I married you because I love you and I like the parts. But the whole thing about when you talk.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I know.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And say things that make me slightly uncomfortable.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It makes me feel a little weird. And I don't appreciate that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And she. And she has to be like, I'm sorry. You're right. That was.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Thank you. Was it so hard to apologize?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, I just. No, you're absolutely right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Dude's rock. I think that's what we're.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dude's rock. And then. But then it's also like, you gotta. It's just thinking of being a man back then would just be. It would be so easy. Like, not that it's hard now, but you'd just be like, stop talking. It's bumming me out. And you're just like, drunk all the time in your office. She's like, you drink too much. Oh, my God, enough.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Let me be a man.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm a man. By the way, I've impregnated your sister. You can't go.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So she dies at 31. And that crushes Edgar. Another mother figure gone. He becomes super withdrawn and he becomes pretty mean. He would go to the cemetery at night and cry at her grave.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's just.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's just how you do it. It's tough now. John is irritated.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You can do that through an app now. So that's better. Yeah, go ahead.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Absolutely. John is irritated because Edgar, his not real son, is now sulky.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's the worst situation for this love quote.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

The boy possesses not a spark of affection, not a particle of gratitude for all my care and kindness toward him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just awful.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He becomes by what he sees as Edgar being unappreciative. Rosalie's dad said John always reminded Edgar that he was dependent upon him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's cool. That'll get him out of the dumps.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's great. That's how you treat a kid. That's like.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Everyone says that.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yep. Edgar falls in love with Elmyra Royster and they're. They're secretly engaged as her parents don't like him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So the parents. The parents start intercepting the letters that he sends so Elmira thinks he's done with her because she's not hearing from him, and she gets engaged to somebody else.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Ah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So John gets this big inheritance, and they move into a fancy house. And Edgar goes to the University of Virginia at 16.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Other students say he's super moody now. He said two. Two moms die.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Two moms die. And then his letters intercepted, and his. His girl got engaged to someone else.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, the. And this still has a really bad culture.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And he lost both of his parents, and he's been sent to boarding school. I mean.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, it's not good.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, you were, like, teeing him up.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So the school has really bad culture, and he's younger than everyone else, so that's also harder. So there's all these entitled upper class students. They're very rowdy. They're very cruel. There were campus riots, and at one brick, they threw bricks at a professor.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's a. That's a good grace.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Absolutely.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's a way. That's a. One of the ways.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Don't forget. Well, once the. Once that's over, they'll clean the slate. And nobody. You know.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah. They don't care.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Professors won't. Won't be influenced by that log, sir. When you threw a brick at their back one.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Through a bottle of urine through a professor's window.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, that guy. That guy elevated the whole thing.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He really did. Eating was super common at the school. Students had drinking and gambling. Fights were super common. There were student gangs that just roamed the campus. And some professors were even.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Can I just be clear that this was a school. Are you sure? I'm kind of okay. Because it just sounds like a professor prison.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But some of the professors would join in with the gangs.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's the best when you're just like, Mr. Schmidt. Like this place.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Edgar is pretty unnerved by all this. And he would write to John, trying to get some reassurance or some hopeful words.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This guy as nobody.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And God, I.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wish someone would bloody intercept these layers. This is absolute.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He once wrote John about seeing a student's head get bashed in with a rock. And at this. And like, sometime soon after, one student shoot at another student, and he saw a student bite and rip the flesh off another student's arm with his teeth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. What the.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

This sounds like they're in it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What are they. What are they. What are they mad about?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I think it's just gangs fighting.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So there's just really. No.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What are the Crimson Bloods mad about? Like, it's just generation.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, no colors. That makes sense. I mean, that is. Imagine getting a letter from Finn that was like, hey, I saw guys. I saw a guy's head get bashed in with a brick, and then another guy got flesh ripped out of his arm. There's roving gangs. Sometimes the professors join in on the brick tossing at the other professors.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, but how's the chemistry class?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Pretty bad.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, well, you got to get a grade up. So, like I said, shooting is common. So he writes this letter, and it's a terrifying letter. Edgar, he's just asking, hoping John will, like, reassure him that it's gonna be okay or whatever. But John doesn't do that. He only visits one time, and he just happened to be in on business. And he becomes. He becomes annoyed with Edgar because he doesn't think Edgar is handling his finances.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, Edgar's handling his own finance as well.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No, John would send him money.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. Right. I love. I mean, I'm. Again, if you are a heartless piece of shit, life's a lot easier. Like, if you're just like, I don't want to go there. Violent. Sounds horrible.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he isn't good with his money. He says John doesn't give him enough money to live. He's like, you give me half the amount that I need. And he starts gambling. And I think he uses not having enough money to start gambling as, like, well, I'll make more money to get by.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Whatever.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He gets into debt. And now John is furious that he has to send Edgar mine to buy books. And then when Edgar asks a second time for book money, John refuses. He's like, I already gave you fucking book money. So Edgar starts borrowing money from people, and he won. Now, here's an example. He's not good with money. He won. Spent a year's tuition on fancy waistcoats.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. What the.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow. That is just. That is an incalculable.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And a vest. Sorry I let that out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't even know the difference. I would just. To me, I think they're the same thing.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I think a waistcoat goes around. It's a coat that goes around the waist.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The vest is. I feel like this is, like, it sounds. He probably made that distinction as an excuse for why. You know what I mean? He was probably like, oh, I'm bloody waistcoats. And he's like, and vest.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Vests and vests.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Don't sleep on the vests.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

At the end of his first year, Edgar comes home in shame. He's $2,000 in debt, which is a lot of money for them. I didn't put it in, but, you know, 2000 in the early 1800s.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And he starts getting taunted by the people that he grew up with who were once his friends. John refuses now to send him back. He's like, you're not going back to fucking school. And a. He's like, no. He makes. He makes him be a clerk at his company.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

One day, Edgar gets invited to a party, and he shows up, and then he finds out that it's an engagement party for Elmyra.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, Christ.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So things aren't going well for. This is not a good start. That's horrible. Students now are pursuing him to. To make him pay his debts.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Pursuit.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

They are after him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, because. Right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

The gambling and the borrowing, they're coming for him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And again, this is at college, you said.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Well, it's like. It's. This would be like the summer after your first year of college.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, cool.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He. He is threatened with jail, but John is still like, I'm not covering your. Your debts.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Nice.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So they. They start arguing a lot. And John throws Edgar out of the house. And then Edgar writes him a really angry letter saying John had humiliated him and said he. He'd never achieve great things and that he had no affection for Edgar. So John, you're basically saying you're. You didn't give me enough money and you made me look like a fool. And you keep saying I'm never going to become a thing and you don't like me that much.

[Gareth Reynolds]

John's like, that's right. I'm glad you're finally picking up on all the things I've been. I felt like my auctions have been quite clear until this point.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he sends that at the end of the letter. He asked John for more money.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's the way that. But to be fair, Dave, that's. That's the way to end it. That's the way to end that letter.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, you better.

[Gareth Reynolds]

My real dad, you've never treated me like anything, and you'll never amount to anything. And as far as I'm concerned, you're nothing. Can I have a few thousand dollars? Not for books, money man.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So John sends back an angry reply, and he makes fun of anger for asking for money.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Bloody hell. That's the starts. The first line. Are you sure you've not had your head bashed in with a concrete brick? Boy, you must be out of your bloody tits at this campus. I don't know what they're teaching You. But it's certainly not picking up what I'm laying down.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Edgar writes back a nicer letter. He asks for his clothes, letters.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, we've talked about this before, but it is so goddamn funny to have to let her argue.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It really is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The patience between the arguing is so fucking funny. Like to see that letter and be like, I'm gonna have to sit down to read this one.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I mean, you must just be like. Because you get a letter, it's like days or weeks. Bring it. So you must just be reading the letter over and over and just like pacing back.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. And just thinking and checking the mailbox. Just like, is there. I mean, I'll even do that now. Over like some stupid. But like for a response from your father who you're having a letter fight with.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Son of a. Not even today. Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Edgar writes his night letter and he's asking for his clothes, which apparently he didn't get when he got kicked out. He says he hasn't eaten in two days and he has nowhere to sleep. But John gets a letter and he doesn't respond. All he does is flip it over and write on the back, pretty letter.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's our sponsor right now. See, that's. And he sends that back. Yeah. So that is like.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's actually the worst version. That's worse than a ghost thing. Waiting that long, thinking you have it, being like, this is my letter and flipping it over and being like, pretty letter. Oh, my God.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So good. So Edgar goes to Boston and he gets work at a merchant house. And in 1827, he's 18 years old. He publishes a book of poems called Tamerlane and Other Poems.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a great. For those of you who haven't read it, it's a great read.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's real. Yeah. Ed Edgar's name, however, is not on. I don't know why name is not on the book. It's just. It's listed as a Bostonian. Wrote this. So I. I don't get why that happened. But he joins the army for five years because he's got nothing else. He's got. What else can he do? And it's peacetime, so he rises to the highest rank a non commissioned officer can get. But he wants. After tears, like, I can't do this for five. So he talks to an officer and the officer says he can leave. But only he reconciles with John.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What's a sort of loving arm. Look, all right, I understand you want to go away. Well, and we get that I do.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. It's really hard.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And, of course, that makes total sense. There's not much going on, so we're gonna. We will. We will release you.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Thank you. Thank you very much.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I really appreciate. So you could pick up. What I would do is go to the barracks, get all your stuff. We have your. We will discharge you. There's just one thing that we here at the army are looking for in exchange for this understanding is we're gonna need you to. We just want you and your dad to kind of mend fences.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Wait, what?

[Gareth Reynolds]

We're looking for you and your daddy to have a little bit of a. I'm sorry, this is the relationship to hug.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

This is the United States army, correct?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'm your superior, and I'm not going to say this is an order because you'll be dismissed. But, you know, I think just. Just go talk to your dad and go. Well, tell him.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Can I just get. Can I just get out of the Army? I can't just lead.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, no, no, the dad part's big. We, all of us have talked about it, and we just. This whole thing with your dad is just. It's cutting us up.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

All of you have talked about it?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, we're all talking about it, and we're just real cut up about it. And we've.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What, the whole Army?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Here's what we're thinking. We're thinking. Yes. We're thinking that what we do is you go in and you charge through the door. If he won't let you in through that way, going through the back, then we want to load you up with arms as far as both of your arms. We want them wide open, waiting for a hug. And you run towards. Hold on. And you run towards him. And this is Operation Papa Love you. And you go up there and you just hug him and you just cry. Cry and apologize and tell him how much you love him and tell him how much you care and let him know that you need him and that you love him and that we.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hold on, hold on, hold on. We want to send. We want to send a sergeant with you to be there to watch.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Sir, it sounds like this is your. You're bringing a lot of your own issues into this.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Your son or your father or whatever.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You have a dad?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. Now, listen, when you get back. No. When you get back.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And when you get back and you tell him. My dad exploded. My dad popped. My dad popped.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What does that even mean?

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's hard to explain, but that's Just what the doctor said. And you hug him and you love him, and when you're there, you tell him you love him.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Or you could serve longer.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So I'm gonna do the hug thing. Yeah, for sure.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Such a.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

All right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Will you send the next guy in? He's got a. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no problem. He's. He's got to propose to his wife before we let him go, because he's about to let a. He's about. Hold on. I'm not done. He's about to let a good one go.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So. So the officer then ended up writing to John, and John responded.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So inappropriate.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So weird that John responded, quote, he had better remain as he is until the termination of his enlistment. So he's like, duh. Yeah, don't even bother.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Keep him in there for three more years.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. No interest. Edgar then writes. He's very. He's very calm, and he said he's a changed man. He's more mature. But at the end of the letter, he includes a threat. Quote, if you determine to abandon me neglected, I will be doubly ambitious, and the world shall hear of the son whom you have thought unworthy of your notice.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Here's what's great. It's.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's. It's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I love how he's just. At the end, he doesn't have a closer. He. He's like the opposite. Like, he just go. He's just, like, alienating you at the end of the letter. And what's great is to write something like that and then have us bringing it up in a podcast a couple hundred years later is like, this showed this dude.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's true. John doesn't respond to that at all. Edgar writes again. Again, no response. He writes again. This time, he takes responsibility. His past actions at the university and all that. But he also chastises John for not responding. Just read his letters. And then Fran. He finds out Franny is sick, and he rushes home, but by the time she gets there, she's. She was buried the day before.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's tough.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He's crushed. Even though he didn't write her the whole time that he was well, still.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He was crushed, right?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

John is now surprisingly nice. Right? He just lost his wife. So, yeah, he's all of a sudden super nice to Edgar. He buys him a new suit and clothes, and he agrees to help Edgar leave the army and get him into West Point.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Which is what Edgar wants. So John says he, quote, forgives all, and he writes secretary of War, who apparently has a relationship with to help get Edgar into West Point.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, we'll let it. We will accept Edgar. But we just want to see you guys really hug it out. We're really. We've all been talking about it and it's just pretty.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I'm starting to wonder what you guys do at.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, we're burning down. We're in a downtime right now, so we're sort of, you know, we're in between wars and stuff like that. So we're really trying to.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Mostly familiar relationship things we're trying to fix.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Trying to. Trying to. Trying to fix a lot of families. Yeah. Is that crazy?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What I would. What I. What I would suggest is go find your dad and. And give him a big, big, big hug. And don't be afraid to press your face into his neck. And then it's easier to say, I love you, Daddy, and see what he says. That's the sort of stuff we're really excited to see here. Sounds good from.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I gotta get out of here. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And we're excited to have you, but we're just gonna need to see you. We're just gonna need to see you really lay it all emotionally on the line here.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I made bad choices.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. And tell that to you. Tell it to your sweet old dad, John. Tell him. Hey, before you go. Hey, before you go do that, how about a practice hug on the commandant? Come here.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No, I.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Come on. Come here. There you go. Oh, you lost. Oh, I love you. I love you. God, you got a good smelling set of hair. Oh, you do though, huh? Get out of here, you little. Bugle them out, boys. Play the bugle for him. We love you, buddy. We're excited to see you, buddy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Edgar's put on the way list at West Point, but months go by and he's not getting in. And John starts to get suspicious. He thinks Edgar isn't trying hard enough and doing what he has to do to get in.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Gambling.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And they fight. They get into. They start getting. Arguing a lot. And one time John gives Edgar a hundred dollars. But then Edgar's like, oh, my cousin stole it. I have 100 more. So they really get into it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is classic.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

John gets really airy when Edgar says he has written a really long poem called and he's looking for a publisher, but he's using the money John gave him because publishers won't print it unless they're reimbursed ahead of time in case the poem doesn't sell.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's great. Great insurance policy these publishers have. So what do you do Exactly. I'm the guy who makes it happen. But I'm also. I gotta cover my ass. What are you talking about? Can't just be laying it on the line. If I published every poem, I'd be in the fucking hole a shitload.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Edgar. So he asked John for a hundred dollars to do this. And John is going to give money for something as unimportant as a poem. And he's annoyed that Edgar is spending any time on poetry. He should be trying to get into West. But then a famous editor published some excerpts from the poem and he calls it exquisite nonsense but says a big future.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So weird.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Edgar is elated. Now a publisher comes forth and is willing to publish him. And so he publishes. This is called Alter Tamerlane and Minor Palm. And he publishes under Edgar. A P.O. a for Allan. So he's throwing in his.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Do you know why? Why we did that for you, Edgar? Do you know why we did that for anybody?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Why? Why?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I just think it's a nice thing to do for your. Your sort of dad. You know what I mean? Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. I mean, I just feel like everybody is like. I just.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Come on now. We're just trying to.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I just want to just kind of do my own thing and not. I don't like having.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. We love the. We love the. We love the work. We love the work. We love the work. Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Get into my business.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We love the work.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Absolutely.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

With my not, dad, by the way. Not with my not.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, let's. Come on now. Let's. Let's not say stuff we can't take back in front of all the time. Oh, Edgar. Edgar. There's no doubt the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But I just think.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What?

[Gareth Reynolds]

What man? What man? Let me ask. Let me ask you this. And I'm saying this just as. Just as a guy. Don't shake your head. What man is not going to listen when a man comes to him, even if it's his son. Is not son. But a guy he helped raise for a long time comes to him, hat in hand and says, I'm sorry for the things I did wrong. I love you so much. Have you tried doing something like that? Okay, well, the. The knife is. Put the knife away. Put the knife away.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, I written some letters saying exactly that he doesn't want to be.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But you're not. Can we call.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

How would you know?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, hold on. How about a poem called Daddy's Baby Boy?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I gotta go.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Can you write something like that? Just try.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I'm not writing Daddy Poems I write.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Creepy. I know. And then we love you for it. Bud.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's my style. I'm not gonna switch.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And we love your style. But maybe you kiss your dad a little on the neck.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Have you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm not gonna kiss my dad on the neck. Why?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Because it's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's a good guy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What the. Is your.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Come on. Don't be like that.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Gosh.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Artists.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

The dollar brought to you by Squarespace. Your Squarespace is. It's our best friend.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's our best friend. Our lovers. How about this? Last night I'm doing a show and I don't even remember what I'm talking about. And someone shouts out Squarespace. That's how much we love Squarespace. It's a public.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And that person. That person was correct.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Squarespace is an all in one website domain. They got everything. Everything you want to do in one little situation. They got it. We have all of our websites with Squarespace. I personally. Your personal. We have the dollop podcast.com where you can get your tour tickets and our source page. We're all in everybody. Because they're the best. Because it's super easy to use. 247 support templates are fantastic. That's why I first started using them. And I've been working with squarespace for over 10 years. That's how.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So have I. Don't. They.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

They babysat Finn for a while.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. I've been with Squarespace a lot longer. I've been with Squarespace since 88.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I thought they had a restraining order.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, yeah. But that. That. Stop. Let's just skip back to the copy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

If you want to do like Gareth does and have a video collection. Gareth had a lot of feet. Stuff up. Like. You can host video content. You can organize your video library. You can showcase your content on these really great video pages. Sell access to your videos with. With the narrator. Like Gareth does. He's got. I think he was out of the toes. Right? Like big toe.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Toe. It's all of it. Whatever. All the piggies.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. You can have an online store. You can sell your products where you use it. Digital service products. They got everything you need to start selling online. And you can do custom merch. You can sell it and create a passive income scream stream if that's you want to get it and get the audience.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You can design your products in production and inventory and shipping. It's all handled for you right there. Save you time and money. It's all Squarespace. Squarespace is all you need. That's all you need in life.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You don't need. You don't need anyone or anything.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Head to squarespace.com for a free trial. When you're ready to Launch, go to squarespace.com dolop Save 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Boom.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

The dollop also is brought to you by HIMS. You looking for a little boost in the bedroom? HIMSs is here to help. A little personalized ED treatment. It's all online.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yep.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's all anonymous. You can do without going to see someone, talk to them in the face, do it over the phone so you don't have to make it awkward. Comes in a little brown package to your door when you order it. You know, life is stressful sometimes. Sometimes a little guy doesn't work out. I know for Gareth it doesn't work a lot. And him provides treatments that can help you stay hard and last longer.

[Gareth Reynolds]

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[Roy Wood Jr.]

Gives a little boost of confidence if you have.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Who doesn't want that? Who couldn't use a little more?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Look man, if you're having problems in the area, honestly get help. There's no reason to suffer through that. Not, not, not in today's world. Absolutely not. You can go to hit, calm up, get right back on the horse as they say. And if it's a horse, take yourself to the doctor because or the police.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Historides it's got a bunch of different doctor trusted eating treatments like Chill hard mints and Viagra and cialis generic. So 95% cheaper which 100% online. Like I said, no uncomfortable doctor visit where you have to look at a guy like Gara. So to start your free online Visit [e-mail] $That's H I M s.com dollop for your personalized ED treatment options. Hiss.com dollop the products mentioned are chewable compounded products which are not approved or verified for safety or fairness. The FDA prescriptions require an online consultation. A healthcare provider will determine if appropriate restrictions apply. See website for details and important safety information. Subscription required. Price varies based on product and subscription.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There you go.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Hey, Gareth here. Brought to you by Nutrafol.

[Gareth Reynolds]

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[Roy Wood Jr.]

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[Gareth Reynolds]

It works, it works.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's great. You got a little secret that you can, you can use and, and sure it grows your toe hair too. If you're a hobbit.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't think that nobody's required. No, no, no. I don't even think world. I don't think in a hobbit world. That's counting for much.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, okay. I just thought, well look, thinning hair, it's very common. It's very frustrating for us to deal with. How's he super. It causes you to be stressed and then you lose more hair. It can be anything from nutritions to hormones to lifestyle. So there's a lot of internal factors that come out through a bald head. And then you got nature fool to help you. That's what it is. I mean look, if you don't like you going bald, try something.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There you go again.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

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[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So the it's mostly received as promising but people think it's needlessly over complicated. He does get accepted into West Point. He's a very good student, but he lies a lot while he's there to make himself seem more exciting than he is. He says he's traveled the world. He said he graduated from an English university and he said he was Benedict Arnold's grants.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh shit. Oh shit.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's the biggie. That's when you're like, that's a cocky lie.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's when you're like man, these are really playing out well. It's a cocky fib.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He also wrote little sort of vicious little poems about instructors and all the cadets loved it. During, during his first year, John gets remarried to a much younger woman. So John, it turns out, had also been having an affair, Fanny. And he had illegitimate kids. So now he has illegitimate kids and he also has. He's going to have kids with this younger woman. So it doesn't look good for any money John, I mean, Edgar will ever get, right? So John sends Edgar what he called his final letter, saying he wants nothing more to do.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's firing him.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, he's like, I got a new hot lady. I got some side going on firing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Your kind of stuff.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I don't need a weird kid thing going on. You're fired. So, I mean, that's like the last sort of tether of anyone in the world that he, you know, could have relied on.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Edgar wrote back and, oh, he, he, he said he, he had heard that Edgar was talking to an officer at West Point about him. So that was like the final straw for John.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's so like, system. I mean, I heard you've been talking a lot of shit, so fuck off, I'm done. I've got new ones in her.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Edgar writes back and says, well, if you do that, I'll quit West Point. And John just doesn't respond because he's like, no, I remember the D thing. I'm done.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So Edgar stops doing his duties. He starts getting tons of disciplinary, disciplinary infractions and then they court marshal him for gross neglect of duty and disobedience and he gets himself kicked out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Is that when you don't flush the toilet? So when you don't flush, gross neglect of duty.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Even though he had been, he'd been happy there, like he was happy, but he, he blows it all up to spite John. So he has no money and he's out in the world. So he goes south, as you're going south, he becomes sick and he writes to John, quote, my ear discharges mud and matter continually and ask for money. Which is how you do it. You're like, that's not do it. That's how.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, fuck.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

This is the best money ask yet. Like, he's like, man, my ears discharging. There's so much blood coming out, coming out of my ears. Can I get a 20?

[Gareth Reynolds]

What do I have in common with my ear? We've both been discharged. And he's like, I'm bloody hell, boy. I said, I am done with you. Stop bloody writing me. Hey, dad. So, so my ear's a bit of a bloody gunk.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he doesn't even respond. Or John doesn't respond. He's like, yeah, he's gone. Bloody ears. Bloody ear, guys saying done is done, man.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, to the Scottish too. That doesn't sound as. But it's like, dad, I've got a bloody ear. We've all got bloody ears. Two of them. God gave them to us.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Edgar goes to Baltimore because he has an aunt Maria who is known as Muddy and her 6 year old daughter Virginia. And they live there, but they're very poor. But he, he, he moves in with them and he. That's also where his brother Henry is. So he reunites with Henry and they. They're very close. Oh. But then Henry dies of alcoholism a.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Couple of months later. Jesus Christ. Just don't get attacked.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Let me just say dying of alcoholism at 24 means you were fucking Ballin. Like you were killing the alcohol.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jim Morrison.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. 24. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You're really.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You're going for it. I mean. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Gin bread.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So obviously that doesn't help. Is already depressed state. He gets. He gets another pamphlet of his poems published. Poems of Edgar a Poe, second edition. It doesn't sell at all.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sticking with that. Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, the names are right. So it doesn't sell. And two reviewers just said it. Bizarre. The penis death.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's a great like critic thing. Bizarre.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Well, this is weird. What is this? My review is. What is this?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Not good. Super confusing.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's all about death. Now Death. Popular on death is usually it consoles the reader but Edgar's does not do that. He. So it. That makes it not popular. So he struggles to make money and he. He writes love poems to young women that he meets, including to a cousin. And he starts seeing Mary Star and then proposes to her, but he can't support himself. And then. And then another thing happened where once he showed up at her house and he was super drunk and he ended up chasing her down an alley. So that, that's not great for corking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, that's. I mean that's. That's what. We all express love differently.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yes, that's what I was going to say.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's not. You're not chasing to attack. You're chasing to hug and kiss. It's so vastly different.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Down and.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, I. I think. I think these alley chases often get framed as predatory, which I just think.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. And they're not. They're just.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He does become known in Baltimore's literary scene. A paper published one of his stories, but didn't include his name. It. I don't know why they do that. It was about. It was about an orphan's revenge. Imagine. I don't know where that subject came from. He published comedic stories, which included a lot of violence. He enters writing contests. He does win best story once it was published in the paper that ran the contest, the Visitor. But he had also heter for best poem. And then he learned best poem lost to the Visitor's editor, who was using a different name.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he goes down to the Visitor's offices and insults the editor, then punches Edgar. And then they get to a little scrap and they get separated. Wow. So in 1980, in 1833, John dies. Edgar is not in the will. He later wrote to a friend, quote, the want of parental affection has been the heavy end of my trial.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, that's sad.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I say he's not doing well. I mean, this is a terrible life so far.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes. Totally agree. A lonely life. A man pining for love in any direction. And he's. It's expressing through his poems that are going so. So.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And, you know, every time he attaches to someone, they're dying or. Yeah, whatever. His clothes now are just like, old and passion falling apart. And a friend invites him to dinner, but he said he can't go because he has nothing to wear. And the friend gives him $20 to buy clothes. When he arrives at the dinner, the friend said he felt he'd bought Edgar back from, quote, the very verge of despair.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he's just craving anything, Right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He did have some hope, though. He was corresponding with Thomas White, who was editor of the Southern Literary messenger in Richmond, Virginia. And white offers him $6 a week to write. That's not 2,000. That's good. That's a good Valerie. And Edgar also falls in love with his cousin Virginia.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Who he'd been living with since she was six. She's now 12.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, no, no, no, no. Edgar's 26. Oh, Christ.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That is just so. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What is that?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's the nature versus nurture. But back then, well, it was just like.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I know it happens, but. And I've said this before, I think on here, I can't imagine watching a girl grow up.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And then wanting. When she's older. She's not even older here, but I can't imagine that side of it. If you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If you were the same age.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Maybe I could see something there.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I'm talking about an adult looking down at a. It's just child grow up.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But that's what I mean. Like, what is that? Like, it's just obviously we still have that. But it just seems like back then you were like, you're like, whatever. It's a complicated. I mean, look, it's complicated. She doesn't have a job. I, I, I'm in between gigs. Like, we don't have the money. I'm a grown man. She's a child.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he Samaria. But then he finds out a cousin of theirs, Nielsen Poe, offered to Tate and Muddy and, and Virginia because he wants to save her from marrying edgar. Because she's 12.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, good. Finally, this is our hero.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Bad. It's even then people are like, what are you doing? She's 12.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Stop it. Come on.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But her financial and social standing would improve living in Nielsen's. And Edgar thinks if she does go live with Nielsen, he'd never see her again. He did concede she might be better off. Yeah. In that life. But he berates Muddy for even considering it. Quote, oh, Auntie, you love me once. How can you be so cruel now?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, I honestly, this is like. That is some really gross.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

At least we eventually figured out we could just take them and put them on an island. Oh.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He includes in the letter to Buddy includes a note for Virginia. Quote, my love, my own sweetest, my darling little wifey. Think well before you break the heart of your cousin Eddie.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I cannot believe you name drop cousin in that as well. I mean, just seriously, you got a lot of. I mean, you're throwing a lot of weights on this uphill struggle. Ugh.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He lies. And he says he has now a very lovely little house in Richmond.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is, this is what dads. Hug your sons. Even if you don't mean hug your sons. Give your sons a hug.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And then at the end of the notes, he says he'll kill himself. Christ.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So he's 12, she's 1800s.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

12. Yes. Edgar starts drinking heavily at this point and gets fired from his job. So he goes down to Baltimore and gets a marriage license. It is believed they then secretly wed again because she's way too young. Yeah, that's why it's really wet. Because even for 1840s Virginia, she's too young. So he takes Virginia and Muddy to Richmond. There he learn be learned that he.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Doesn'T have a house.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Must in a greater. He talks White into giving him his job back, but he has to swear not to drink. Quote. No man is safe who drinks before breakfast.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Who's saying that?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Boss?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, I was gonna say, I was like, yeah, no, yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's your employee.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes, absolutely. This is a revelation of the times.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Sidegar swears up booze and White hot aim Edgar as an editor because it could hurt his reputation. But that's basically he does. He. He did publish a lot of work of his own work in the magazine. His stuff is. Is vivid and creepy and very different that White wants to embod what he called Virginia simplicity for his. His well off readers. One Edgar story, Bernice A Tale is about a man becoming infatuated with his female cousin's teeth. The cousin is buried alive and he digs her up and rips her teeth out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

This dude is. But okay, so what. So he writes what your dreams would be when you're going through, right? So that's, that's the kind of thing that you'll be like, hey, to your, your shrink. You'd be like, so I had this dream where I rip out my cousin's teeth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And like. And you go. And then she's like, do you think guys with you plucking a 12 year old out of her life to destroy her and marry her?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like, it like you're not like, hey, let's print this. Like, imagine reading the paper. Like, I feel freaking sick. It's crazy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

People, people wrote in to complain, like, what the is it? So he, he's basically writing in what is a very popular gothic fiction style, which is like known for stars with rotting corpses and haunted portraits and stuff like that. People at this time are very terrified of being buried alive because of premature burial. So coffins had bells in case you got.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I remember Wake up buried. Yeah, I think that's like the shark tank of that. Hi, sharks. As you all know, we're all struggling with this new buried alive thing, which is why today I present to you the Ring Funeral. So basically what the Ring Funeral does is this is a way that if you are in your coffin and you do wake up and gain total consciousness, you can communicate with those above soil that you are actually in there and should be dug up again.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Now, is this something you're looking to license or do you want to sell it?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I need a partner. I need a partner. I need somebody. Look, our sales aren't there, but we just haven't gotten the word out just yet. You know, obviously this is an epidemic right now. So.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, I'm concerned about it. I mean, I think we're all concerned about waking up alive in a coffin.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And while my margins don't reflect necessarily the growth you want, you have to understand that once I can make these in bulk, I'll be able to save a Lot of money. Right now. I'm being a coffin guy, a bell maker.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Can you do any. The blood coming out of my ear.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's just. That's a separate. That's a separate. That's a separate pitch. That's a.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Okay, I'm out now.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Who's that?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Who's that young girl behind you?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, sorry, I should point this out. This is my child wife. She is super helpful. Yeah, go ahead. I handed around buckets if you guys want to take a look at them. Yeah, all right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I'm gonna pass.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. And there's just one shark in this time, so that's pretty much it, I guess.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So, Edgar. Edgar's a big reviewer of other people's work. Like he. In each issue, he would do about 15 pages of reviewing stuff over.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Edgar has more issues than this newspaper.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Edgar for this. The things he wrote. But in his lifetime, he was known for his reviews.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He was. He was known as like, a vicious critic. He just rip apart, shank, grammatical errors, whatever. He tear it apart. Sometimes he'd rewrite lines to show how the writer. Writer could be improved. So he'd rewrite what someone written and be like, you should have done it like this.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He became known as the Tomahawk Man.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He made fun of Davy Crockett's book. Or it's vulgarity of language.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There we go. I like that. Finally.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You like. You like vulgarity of language.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, I like that he's like, taking it to Davy Crockett, this pedophile.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He call. He called another book a jumble of absurdities. Another Crockett book. He loved just tearing apart popular books and authors. He hoped to make American authors become less of an embarrassment on the international scene. Oh, that's what he.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is the guy who's going to help with that?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, okay. That's right. But that's what he is. He's a literary reviewer. That's what he's most famous for.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right? Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He is happy with his family, living in a boarding house. Not the little house he promised. He. He married Virginia Pablo. She turned 14. So it's time. It's time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know how that things are bad when you're like, we've waited long enough. Let's go public.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But even then, even that, it's considered too young.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Good.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, that's. That's weird. So, yeah. So they get mother publicly married. He tells everyone She's 21. Is very. She's not 21.

[Gareth Reynolds]

She.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

She looks.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

This is where it gets even. Creepier if you can get treated it get. It's about to get creepier.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is. I think we're entering no joke zone.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

She looks like a child. She is described as plump and small for age. So her. His sister brings Virginia to the school she teaches at and said Virginia was quote, as much a child as any of the pupils joining in their sports of swinging and skipping rope. So. So she's a child. She. She's an. Even though she is now 14, married to a grown man, she's an immature 14. And why. Part of that might be because, you know, she didn't get a child took her. But as far as sex, Edgar said he did not act as a husband toward Virginia for two years.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean after this 14 year old wedding, some.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Well, I don't know. Right. Because officially 14s. Maybe that's what he was talking about.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Some historians question whether they ever had sex and they believe. People believe he's. He was impotent and that love for him was more like a brother to a sister. Maybe. Maybe. But I don't know. He is a great alcoholic, so I don't like. This is not. Yeah, whatever.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There's gross.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's honestly trying to be like, here's why it's not as bad.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He couldn't get his dick hard.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So White is very nervous about Edgar's past and all of his. His brutal reviews. And he asks Edgar to resign. So Edward. Edward doesn't. He leaves Richmond completely. Now there's no record of Edgar for about two years. He. Muddy in Virginia, lived in New York City for a bit and then they moved to Philadelphia. He took odd jobs as a printer. A friend of the family said Virginia and Muddy waited on him hand and foot as if he had been a child. So he's really drinking now. He's really drinking. He doesn't publish much, but he did write his only novel, which was the narrative of Arthur Gordon. Him and that got some positive reviews but didn't make him any money. In 1839, I move outside Philadelphia and living in a completed section of an.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Unfinished home, like that is like. That is the most. That is the most like upselling of the space ever. This is a completed section of an unfinished home. $2,500 a month.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Any of the other rooms you can't use because obviously there's no walls. They're just.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There's no. This is a room based on floor and furnishings and some.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

There's not floor in a lot of.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes, right there is missing floor, but it Is that. But your area is what we call completed, so 2300amonth, pretty standard. Parking is included because there's nothing around it, so that's great.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Also, there's no.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, there's no cars. Right? There's no cars. So that's not even going to be an issue. Pets are okay. Pets are accepted. I'm trying to think what else. Yeah, Excuse. I'm sorry, are you.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What were you talking about? What do you mean when you said parking? I mean, so there's no cars here. So I'm just wondering what a car is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What a car is.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, you said there's no cars yet. Right. But when the cars come, what will the cars do? I guess, is what I'm asking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They'll be able to park right around here. That's what they'll do.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Okay, but what. What is parking?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Parking is a fun time.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Are you a wizard? Are you. Are you a real estate wizard? I'm just asking very, very plainly, as I've heard, there have been a lot of real estate wizards around here, and I think you know the punishment.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right, fine. You figured it out. Hug your father.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So. So he's poor, but he does have enough. He scrapes together enough money to buy a piano so he can hear Virginia play.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And it's crazy. Just the absolute. The financial instincts are not good. Such a purchase, especially putting in a, like, completed section of an unfinished. Like, you don't. I'm guessing you don't have piano space.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. He's job as an editor at Burton's Gentleman's magazine run by actor William Evans Birkin. So he has to write about things he doesn't care about, like flower painting and using parallel bars and gymnastics and stuff he really doesn't care about.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, to be fair.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But he still wrote in brutal literary reviews, even though Burton told him to stop being so cruel to everybody.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He called Washington overrated.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He accused poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism. Burton is like, stop with this. To increase sales of his work, asked Irving for an endorsement, pleading poke. Even a word or two, and my fortune would be made.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is so, like, I cannot. Dave. This is one of those ones where I'm like, I don't know much about this guy, obviously, but I'm like, what I'm picturing and what he is are just so different. Like, I'm. I am picturing a guy with, like a quill and an inkwell, just sitting there being like, this is it. But instead, it's just like, this guy is just like, such a degenerate piece of.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, he's just a drunk begging for.

[Gareth Reynolds]

A word or two.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yes. Ah, so good. But I love that he insults the guy and then immediately asks him for.

[Gareth Reynolds]

A just a word endorsement.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

During this time, he wrote the Fall of the House of Usher, and he wrote William Wilson, who. It's about. It's about a man who's followed through life by an exact double of himself that he cannot escape. That's very. That's a. That's an alcoholic thing where they'll say, like, I have a little monster inside of me, or something like that. Like, that's very, like, the unconscious.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So I bought him a drink. One for me, one for the monster by me. Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He's not paying much at Burton's. He. He has to take out loans. He did do some freelancing for some family papers, writing stuff like getting sugar from beets and swimming. He published puzzles, and then he asked readers to stump him by sending in their own puzzles. That became so popular. Asked people to stop spending puzzles.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow. Wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He. He put out another collection of. Of work, Tales of the Grotesque and Aberis Arabesque. He got mixed reviews on that one. A critic called it, quote, one of the most extraordinary narratives ever penned, while another said, quote, a greater amount of trash within the same compass would be difficult to fight me. But I think I. I think that's common for people who are really good at something. What I think that when no one is, like, out there on the edge as an artist and doing that other people don't want to do, I think that. I think that there are people that just don't understand it and like it. And other people are like, well, this is amazing. Like, that's really common, right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Not for everybody. Yeah, I think that's very true. That's probably one of the things today about trying to be like, in the creative space that's so annoying is that it's like. Yeah, you know, it's like you. Yeah, it's just there's so many critics now that you actually hear it all.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Everyone's critic now. So he lived for praise. He loved praise. A friend quote, no man living loved the praises of others better than he did.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And that whenever really speaks to the fact that he just wanted love, like he's dying. I mean, that's. They say that all the time about comedians and stuff. It's like you're damaged to some extent. You're looking for the approval of strangers. To some extent.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

However, then with, like, Social media, we now see that. That lives in all of us.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. This guy was born in 1990. He would be a stand up comedian.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes. And if he was born in 2010, he would be on Instagram and TikTok and do streams.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. He also said, whenever I happen to communicate anything to him, touching on his abilities as a writer, his bosom would heave like a troubled sea.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That's me and you. I give you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Sometimes he anonymously wrote compliments of his own work in Burton's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I do like that a lot. I like that way he got mad at that editor for winning that poetry competition and now he's just doing it.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But that's like when. When Elon gets caught, like, responding to himself on Twitter.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. What is that? Andrew Adrian Ditman.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I think people. I think they determined that that guy's real. But.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But Elon, if that guy's real, let's just drown him. That guy. That guy can't be real.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Well, they. I think he is, but I don't know.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Look, look, I choose to believe that it's all Elon.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I mean, Elon, the guys who love me a lot.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a problem.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's a problem.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a problem.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he only worked at Burton's for one year, and they left because animosity between him and Burton, he. He pushed friends away. Like, that was kind of his thing. He was a big guy who pushed friends away. As PO expert Steve Medieros said, if Poe was knocking on your door, quote, you wouldn't answer the door because he would want something. As much of a genius as he is, charming as he could be, he could also be a real pain in the ass. So Edgar wants to start his own magazine. That's like. He's like, this is how I'll get out of, like, all this. I'll start my own people, like my writing figures can get out of debt. He can speak his mind. He can free from being, quote, forced to model my thoughts at the will of men whose imbecility was evident to all but themselves. So he's fucking idiots. He doesn't want to be around fucking idiots.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yep. Understand.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He would call it PEN magazine. He went to Richmond to get funding. Promising first issue in six months, starting on January 1, 1841. So he gets subscribers, he gets investors, but there's no magazine. Is that January 1st?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Is that. Do you need that to have one?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He said starting it was a lot harder than he anticipated. I've also been sick for a little while, but the first issue is coming in March.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You said your sweet fucking app. And it's going to be, quote, glorious. Glorious.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Great.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So March comes. No magazine.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. So.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But there have been a bank panic. So that's why he didn't. He. Now he needs. Now he needs to get a job.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Grant magazine, it was owned by George Rex. Graham hires Edgar for 800 a year.

[Gareth Reynolds]

A year.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's eight. It's, it's very successful. Doesn't really polish enders kind of stuff. It was known for illustrations of fashion trends and piano music that people would play at home.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He did get a piano for his child wife.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Thank you. So he knows the world.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He, he, he goes back to his cruel reviews. He just starts doing in this one. Snarky author Henry James would later call his reviews, quote, pretentious, spiteful and vulgar. But they contain a certain deal. They can turn a great deal of sense and discrimination as well. George Bernard Shaw called Edgar the greatest journalist at great critic of his time. So people love his reviews. Right? They love them.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

In April 1841, he published a short story called the Murderers in the Room Org in Graham's magazine. It was about a man who solves two women's murders in Paris. So this is the world's first modern detective story.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Ooh. Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And it's a new genre. People fucking love it. One magazine said, quote, it proved Mr. Poe to be a man of genius. Grand subscription rate shoots up. Edgar is now earning more than he ever has. But he complains, quote, I feel more and more disgusted with my situation.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Let's just say there's been two moments in his light when it's been going well. West Point, he destroyed that. Graham, now he got it going, especially.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Because he's creatively writing.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, but he was sick for writing for a magazine he doesn't like and didn't like it. When Graham asked own it down, Edgar felt he was praising ninnies. And in April 1842, he quits.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow. Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

One day, Virginia is sitting at her piano playing 1. Blood starts to drip out of her mouth. Just tuberculosis. It's not good. It's not supposed to do that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, that was my question. I wasn't sure if it of the era of people were doing that or.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No, I. No, this wasn't. It wasn't good then either. It's not a time thing. Your body's not supposed to believe from its mouth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So there's just to be clear, anytime you're doing that, that's you don't want that. Okay. I just think sometimes people don't.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yep.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Right. Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No, go to a doctor. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Got it. Okay. Thank you.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

She has tuberculosis. For two weeks. She. You know, they give her rest. They put her in this room. It's so cramped that her head almost touches the ceiling when she's laying in bed.

[Gareth Reynolds]

She's probably laying on a piano.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

The family also lives across the street from an open sewer lot. What's an open sewer lot, you ask? Well, that's where people bring all of the feces from the outhouses and chamber pots, and they spread it out to dry so they can be used as manure. So they're living across the street from there. I'm gonna say bad property.

[Gareth Reynolds]

How much feces are you dropping off? So I know how much I've got to spread out, get the big knife.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh, that job she can barely bring. Well, the whole thing. The job, the block, the air, all of it. The whole. Bringing it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right, well, I'm gonna go to the farm.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Doing that where people don't live.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Seriously.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

That'S not option. Edgar would let anyone discuss the obvious condition she had. Whenever anyone would mention it or say that she was dying, it, quote, drove him wild. He writes a story called Life and Death, in which a painter takes his very young, makes her pose for hours and will not accept his wife's death when it happens. He also wrote the map, her death describing Ellis, much like Virginia's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hmm.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So now he starts drinking again. Hard. On a trip to find work in New York, he drank so much that he botched an interview at a newspaper, and he blamed it on others encouraging him to drink. It's not my fault, Sky. Larry's like, do you. Who's Larry?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Who is Larry?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh, that's why I keep asking. So, Larry.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, who's Larry? Who's Larry?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He's the guy with the whiskey.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He was just like, well, why did you. Why did you let. Why did you consume this before the interview?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I can't say no.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, why did you. But that's the problem. This isn't hilarious. Larry's fault. No, it's not a route. Well, it's a newspaper. I mean, we need CDB on your game. No, I did hear you. I don't know if you remember the beginning of this interview, Larry. No, I don't need to hear any more about no.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And Larry was like, no.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, then you should. Don't hang out with Larry. I mean, a lot of us don't.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Think there's a. I Don't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Then how is he getting the whiskey in? You explain that there all the time. Why wouldn't you leave if you knew that a horrible influence like that was there?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Maybe he was sent by God.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, but then you believe. Then you're working. Are you drinking with him or not? Do you like him or not?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He's outside.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, then don't go near him. I don't know. You're not. Listen, you. You can't be here this drunk and get the job. That's just like. That's just a non starter.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

What job, man?

[Gareth Reynolds]

The newspaper job that you're interviewing. Interviewing? To work at this paper.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh, newspaper guy. Yes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I don't know.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I don't think you heard.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What I just said to you is my. I don't know, puzzles. What are the points people love?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I. Me too. You know.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm sorry, are you still trying to get the job that I've told you there's no way you could get because of your relationship with Larry, who whether you like it or not, is. Did you just look at my crotch?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

This is the thing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

This is the thing. You guys always blame everything on Larry.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I know you did. You literally. That's literally what you came in here and did.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I want to write a story about you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. But not for us. Say please go black the black shit of publishing. Okay, whatever. Why don't you go? Why don't you? Well, I will leave the room. I don't want to be around you anymore. But you know, you go. Okay, I'll go. All right. I'm out of here. Left. Okay. All right, look, I'm coming back in. Get out of the office. Get out of the office, I said. I know it works.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I'm getting out of here.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Good.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So it's New York. He decides he's going to go see his own Mary Star, right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

She's married. She's married. So he goes to Mary's husband's work and get their address. I don't know why the husband gave the address, but the husband gave the address.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's a cool guy. He's a cool guy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It might have been because Edgar was very drunk.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's a cool guy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Now Edgar is so drunk that he gets. He gets on the ferry to go over to Jersey City and he can't remember the address. So he's on the ferry. Just keeps asking people on the ferry if they know where Mary Star lives. And the ferry just goes back and forth with him asking people, oh my God. He somehow figures out where she is. Goes to her house and is just yelling outside that he loves her. And he doesn't really love her husband. He only leaves after she agrees to play his favorite song on the piano.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That is a great. That is some real pathetic. What a great negotiation. Just go. I, I. But just play my favorite song. Okay?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I mean, so, I mean, this guy is just a nightmare. This guy's a nightmare.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's bad.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But he doesn't go back home. He's just in New York somewhere. He doesn't sell Virginia or Muddy anything. He just doesn't come back. So Muddy goes to New York and trying to find him, she goes to Mary. Mary doesn't know where he is. She's just going all around New York asking if anybody knows where he is. And then they finally find him wandering around in the woods in New Jersey.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. What? Jesus Christ, look at him. What a search you have to go through for that.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Anyway, our artist tortured. Yeah, sometimes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sometimes, yes.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh, God, what a. Wow. Just. I mean, sure. So.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he made light of. Of this whole situation, which people know about, because he's relatively well known now, right? So he writes about it. He says that Mary's just a worry wart and she's overbearing and on a Virginia for friend, quote, what a thing to be pestered with a what?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, this guy, he married a child. Married a child. It's like, boy, don't get married. They're right up your ass. She was 12. Oh, come on.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

A man wander around like some sort of bush.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Can't a man get lost in the woods for a week and a half on a blackout?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He, he now promises, like, all right, I'm gonna stay sober. Doesn't last.

[Gareth Reynolds]

See, Right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He was. He's the type of alcoholic that even just the tiniest amount of alcohol, bam, he's gone. So it touches his lips and then off he goes. His drinking becomes widely joked about. In Philadelphia, a Baltimore relative wrote him to warn him about how destructive alcohol was on their family night. I mean, his brother died at 24, right. So he's 33. He is desperate for a job. A friend puts in a good word for him for a government job at a customs house.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I was going to say get him involved in government.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah. But they tell him repeatedly that he's not going to get the job. They're like, yeah, we're going to hire you. Still, he's getting. He goes to D.C. where he's going to talk to the President. This isn't set up. He's just going to do it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. That makes a lot more sense about the job.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He's like, if you want to get a custom house job, you go straight to the President.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, I would say a presidential endorsement is pretty good.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It's a lot easier to get into the White House then. Like, you could just not.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Just walk in. Are you going to get a job?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

On the trip, he decides to find another backer for his magazine that he still hasn't started. And he says he's going to change the name. It's no longer going to be called Parents Going to become the Stylist. And he does. He has one partner. This. So in D.C. he is. He had a friend who says he's going to introduce him to the President. At least this is his story. And then the friend got sick and couldn't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's just. You just bail. I can't introduce you to the President. I'm sick.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I don't feel good.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So I don't exist.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He's like, well, I'll just get drunk here. He gets introduced to poet and journalist Jesse Dow, who can help him find a job because he's super connected. But Ed. Or gets so drunk that he wears his cloak inside out. Then he gets a haircut and doesn't pay. Then he insults D. And his wife. He insults his sixth friend, insults the President's son. He kind of insults everyone who could maybe get him a government job.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's an interesting tactic.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Dow writes to Edgar's new magazine partner, his name is Clark, that he's worried about getting Edgar back to Philadelphia safely.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It. Wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Now Clark is surprised a couple days later when he goes in was a. And there's Edgar. And he looks fine. He's not. How have you been?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Have you ever died in the Jersey woods? I have.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I. I'm fine. I did it disappear, but I'm good. Edgar. Edgar tells me just. I was just a little sick. And then he writes these playful letters to Dow and another friend in D.C. asking them to pass on his apologies to everybody for, quote, making such a fool of myself and blamed being drunk on being offered rummy coffee.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's those damn rummy coffees.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So if Larry, man, he.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, what did Larry do? What did he do?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He had rummy coffee.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What does that mean? What does that mean? That's just rum and coffee. Yeah. Why did you drink it? Why did you drink it?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Well, why.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That doesn't mean you have to drink it, though. Well, Larry, why did you drink Larry's rummy coffees? First of all, stop hanging out with Larry. Well, don't be around him. I don't be around him? No. What do you mean you don't know? Well, this is the. This is the disconnect. Don't be around him. You know, he's gonna have rummy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He's a good guy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, he's not. He's ruining your life again. We wanna. We would love to get eyes on him, but if he is real, don't hang out with him.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He's real.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay? So stop hanging out.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Several. There's a lot of them.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

A lot of Larry's. They're all over.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, there's more than one.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So much whiskey and rotten coffee.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, well, that's a big problem for you. You. You have a drinking problem. Do you understand?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

No, no.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, yeah.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

If it wasn't for Larry, I'd be fine.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, exactly. I think you're accidentally making our point very clearly. No, no, no, I'm not. No, I'm. No. Do you have a little.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. Dude, what the. This is what we're saying to not do.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I'm not doing it. You.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And there's no Larry around. Sure. Okay. All right. You know what? I don't even remember what this was, but I'm leaving.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yep, we're gone.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, you stay here.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You're fired.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't work for you, idiot.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Now you're really fired. You don't call your boss an idiot.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You just.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Larry. Son of a.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Your cloak's inside out, idiot.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Yeah, it's called Fashion. I work for Fashion magazine.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right. Okay, okay, all right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It'S Larry guy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So it's too much for Clark. Clark, he pulls his money. The backing he was going to put into the Stylus. And Edgar said he was, quote, being deprived through the imbecility, or rather, idiocy of my partner.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

So he's got to fix his reputation because just people know now. So he gets short autobiographies published in two magazines. Friends who have magazines, they're filled with embellishments and lies about him. Said he's adopted by John. He graduated from the University of Virginia with first honors. He's at the top of his class at West Point. He once leapt 21 and a half feet.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What the Is that one?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You start. Well, Manson, you start drinking and then they get.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's such an 1800s bragging.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I went to University of Virginia, graduated.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's great. Plausible.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I went to West Point, graduated. I can jump 21 and a half feet.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The other two are probably Alive.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

But when they printed it, he was upset by the illustration that accompanied the piece because he thought it made him look fat.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's an illustration.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

He's like us. It's like you be this. He's like. He was drawn by Fosdike.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That was my favorite. That was my favorite email exchange before we went to Australia on the last trip, James sent the art and you wrote back, james, you made me look fat. And his reply was, I made you look powerful.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Edgar published some of his most well known tales, like the Pit and the Pendulum, about a prisoner being tortured during the Spanish Inquisition. The Telltale Heart, about a murderer being driven insane by the sound of his victim's beating heart. He won $100 in a short story contest with the Gold Bug. It was incredibly popular, but with no copyright protections, it was repeatedly stolen and reprinted. 300,000 copies and he did not make a dime.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Damn it. That's crazy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And Gareth, that's the end of part one.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. It's a two parter.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh, yeah. Oh, buddy. Wait until he gets into the ladies.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, no, no.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Oh, wait until he gets into the ladies.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, no.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Because it is his.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, no. It.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

It gets. Look, alcoholism is progressive disease, and this dude goes full progressive.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, I had no idea.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You didn't have any idea, did you?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You had absolutely no idea.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Holy.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

I mean, yeah, it's. It's. It's fantastic. So, sources for this Edgar Allen. Oh, A Mournful, A Never Ending Remember by Karen Silverman. The Mystery of Mysteries. The Death and Life of Edgar Poe by Mark Dawadziak. Edgar Allan Poe is Life of the Sea by John Jeffrey Myers. Quoth Raven. More More by Molly Langmuir in New York Magazine. And all the research that was was done by Brittany Cohen Brown, who is working on something fantastic for us. He's already at work on 700.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

And 700 is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What number are we at?

[Roy Wood Jr.]

667.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow. Teasing.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

770 is what reminded you for a long, long while. He's one of the OG OG GO FARs.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, all right.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Say what it is. I'll just say what it is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Why not? Why not?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Because that's the whole. That's the whole thing.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

You're gonna know it, but may not. I read the name.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, then wait. Till then. Stop looking at me. All right, that's the end of the show. Show's over. Oh, you like this podcast, do you? Then you're gonna love me on the road doing stand up. Go to garethreynolds.com if you are in Richmond Heights, Missouri, St. Louis, let's be honest. January 7, January 8, Indianapolis, Batavia, Batavia, someone said online. Illinois, January 9 through the 11th Cedar Rapids, Iowa, January 12 Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 15 through the 18th. Then I'll be in Buffalo, New York on January 30 Rutherford, New Jersey, January 31 through February 1 Brea, California, February 7 Eureka, California, February 11 San Francisco, February 12 Sacramento, February 13 Naples, March 24 Charlotte, North Carolina, April 13, April 14 I will be in Raleigh, North Carolina. Virginia Beach, April 15 Richmond, Virginia, April 16 Lutherville, basically Baltimore, I think. April 17, 18th, 19th, 2019. It cuts off there. And Winnipeg this summer in May. Go to garethreynolds.com for tickets and information. You're the Gear Force. We need you. Gear Force. Hashtag Gare Force.

[Roy Wood Jr.]

Gear Force.