My Autopsy Performing Forensic Pathologist - Dr. Mario Rascon

Summary

Tosh Show – “My Autopsy Performing Forensic Pathologist – Dr. Mario Rascon”

Host: Daniel Tosh
Guest: Dr. Mario Rascon, Chief Medical Examiner of El Paso
Date: June 2, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Tosh Show dives into the intriguing and often misunderstood world of forensic pathology with special guest Dr. Mario Rascon, Chief Medical Examiner of El Paso. Daniel Tosh, with his signature blend of irreverent comedy and genuine curiosity, unpacks what it’s really like to “disassemble bodies” for a living. The episode explores Dr. Mario’s background, the realities of working in a border town, death investigation processes, the emotional toll of dealing with death daily, autism and its impact on a medical career, and even myths about ghosts, corpses, and organ donation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Forensic Pathology: The Realities and Myths

• What does a forensic pathologist do?
  Dr. Mario explains the distinction between forensic pathologists, coroners, and medical examiners.

  • “Coroners are elected officials … Medical examiners are appointed trained doctors.” (19:41)
  • There is a shortage of trained forensic pathologists, with fewer than 500 in the U.S. instead of the 2,000 needed.

• Work Environment and Emotional Impact

  • Dr. Mario never works alone; there’s always at least a technician present. No, he doesn't get nervous around cadavers (22:22).
  • He admits that being constantly around death changes your perspective:
    • “At first it messes up with your head … Then it turns more to your realization that you’re there to document the findings … Then … you do get some appreciation – you rearrange your priorities accordingly. Once you know you can go any day for any reason.” (21:32–22:18)
  • Success rate in determining cause of death is high, with only about 4% of cases undetermined. Bodies that are decomposed can obscure cause of death, but even ruling things out is valuable. (23:01)

• Working on Autopsies and in Court

  • Technique is about efficiency. What looks inelegant to outsiders is just quick, expert dissection. (21:03)
  • Going to court as an expert witness is essential but draining: “The court speaks a language very counterintuitive to how we think, so it’s a little eroding.” (26:18)

• Dealing with Families

  • Most family interactions are indirect, but sometimes Dr. Mario must deliver difficult news face-to-face. He tries to omit gory details to spare families pain:
    • “I will omit certain details that I know will be painful if I can spare them ... but then, yeah, I may omit one gory detail.” (29:21)

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Life, Death, and Dark Humor

• Is Working Around Death Depressing?
  Dr. Mario admits to compartmentalizing: “You do feel it, but you get good at compartmentalizing ... just keep your interests outside of medicine and balance your life.” (53:42–54:14)

• Handling Unusual and Notorious Cases

  • Discusses homicide staged as suicide (“striking”), drug mule deaths, and unique cases such as suicide by Christmas lights (28:13–28:48).
  • On being “offered a bribe” to alter autopsy reports:
    • “Never. I've never even heard of an offer being made.” (27:12)

• Notable Exchange

  • On death's physical oddities:
    • “Can a man have a boner after they're dead?” (Daniel, 31:07)
    • “No.” (Dr. Mario, 31:15)
    • “Have you ever solved a cold case?” “No.” (Dr. Mario, 32:36-32:39)

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Insights Into Border Town and Upbringing

• Growing Up in Chihuahua, Mexico
  • The city is “a lot like El Paso ... less than a million people, and it's pretty quiet." Ironically, not many chihuahuas there. (16:49–17:04)
• Border Life
  • El Paso and Juarez are “twin cities” connected by a bridge; “not a big deal" going back and forth. The violence does not “spill over.” (17:26–18:19)

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Autism and Medical Career

• Personal Diagnosis of Autism

  • Dr. Mario was diagnosed with autism in his 40s, during the pandemic.
    • “It was refreshing when I got the diagnosis ... it explains why I've always been like this or like that.” (37:07–37:53)
  • Discussed how autism spectrum disorder includes traits like literal thinking, routine-focused behavior, social awkwardness, and comorbidities like GI issues (38:23–39:14).
  • “Up to 50% of people on the spectrum have GI associated illnesses.” (38:20)
  • He believes it has helped him in his field due to the focus, attention to detail, and comfort with routine.

• Side Note:

  • The term “Asperger’s” is no longer used because Hans Asperger was a Nazi sympathizer (39:27–39:33).

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Death Investigation & Pathologist’s World

• Distinguishing Cause of Death

  • “Suicide as a medical term … requires proof of intent.” (23:38)
  • Large overdoses (e.g., 200 pills) may be ruled suicide, but lacking intent (note, past attempts) will default to accident. (24:09)

• Drug Trends

  • Fentanyl deaths are down, cocaine up; about 80 fentanyl-related deaths in the county last year (30:35).

• Body Handling Oddities

  • Bodies don’t twitch after death, but accumulate gases: “If someone has been dead for three weeks and it’s now bloated and green ... some gas is bound to exit.” (32:09–32:16)
  • He’s never had a body “spray” him, but there are fluids (32:33).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Fish Resuscitation (Daniel’s story about his wife saving their son’s goldfish):
  • “No one’s ever saved a goldfish right in the history of a goldfish.” (08:21)
• On the Size of Goldfish Tanks:
  • "A single goldfish should be in 30 to 50 gallons. What was he living in? A three gallon bowl?" (09:05)
• On Weekend at Bernie's:
  • Tosh: “How long can a body actually be pliable like that to move around on vacation?”
    Dr. Mario: “You wouldn’t have more than 12 hours.” (41:32–41:48)
• On Bribes:
  • “I thought I could trap you with that question.” (Daniel, 27:15)

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Talk About Death and Children

• Dr. Mario’s daughter knows what he does for a living:
  • “When someone dies, Daddy examines the body and he figures out what happened.” (54:43)
  • Her pet fish’s death hit her hard; she isn’t fully ready for human death discussions. (55:12–55:23)

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Noteworthy Exchanges

• Gift Exchange (42:16–44:07)
  Tosh gives Dr. Mario a dissolvable urn, Planned Parenthood hip pack, charger adaptor, sink suds, and bracelets for his daughter.

  • Dr. Mario gives Tosh several El Paso-themed T-shirts.

• On Organ Donation (44:17–45:43)

  • Dr. Mario is not an organ donor, citing uncomfortable practices by organ procurement organizations and vague criteria for “imminent cardiac death.”
  • “Some people have actually come back [to life] … minutes before the procurement took place." (45:35)

• Tallest Family in Chihuahua

  • Dr. Mario, 6’6", jokes his family might be the tallest in Chihuahua, Mexico, which according to him, is among the top five cities globally for average male height (36:07–36:56).

• Sports Talk and Michael Jackson

  • Dr. Mario idolized NBA star Shawn Kemp (50:10).
  • On Michael Jackson’s death: “The certification of death as it came out as homicide is accurate. But I wouldn't say he was murdered." (51:11–51:48)

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Highlighted Timestamps

• [16:22] - Ghosts: “Do you believe in ghosts?” “No.”
• [19:41] - Coroner vs Medical Examiner explained
• [21:32] - How working with death changes you
• [22:22] - Never working alone around cadavers
• [24:09] - Drug overdose: accident vs. suicide
• [29:21] - On omitting painful details from families
• [31:07] - “Can a man have a boner after they're dead?”
• [36:07]–[36:56] - Tallest family in Chihuahua trivia
• [37:07] - Autism diagnosis helps Dr. Mario at work
• [41:32] - Weekend at Bernie’s, real body pliability
• [44:17] - Organ donation reservations
• [51:11] - Michael Jackson: homicide vs. murder
• [53:42] - Dealing with the emotional burden of death
• [54:39] - Talking to children about death

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Tone and Style

• Daniel Tosh is at his irreverent, comedic best, often using dark humor to explore uncomfortable and morbid topics.
• Dr. Mario is straightforward, even-keeled, and occasionally dryly funny, displaying both empathy and clinical clarity.

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Conclusion

This episode offers both a comedic and surprisingly heartfelt behind-the-scenes look at forensic pathology. While Tosh keeps things light-hearted (even in the face of corpses and autopsies), Dr. Mario’s candor about the science of death, his experience as an autistic person in medicine, and his insights into the emotional landscape of his job are illuminating. For those fascinated by crime, medicine, or mortality (and who appreciate a dark joke or two), this episode is both educational and highly entertaining.

Transcript

[Daniel Tosh]

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[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

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[Daniel Tosh]

Do you get nervous ever when you're alone around cadavers?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

We work office hours. It's never really.

[Daniel Tosh]

You never have like a hunch late at night and you have to like go back to work and go in and check on something.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I'll check the next day.

[Daniel Tosh]

Posh show. Posh show. Tosh show for show. Welcome to Toss show. Trump sucks.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

It's good.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's how we start the show. Yeah, we're political or if it's a political show. And then we just say that. We just say Trump sucks. And then the rest of the episode we just talk about things that have nothing to do with politics.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Exactly. But we weed out the people that

[Daniel Tosh]

might want to get the people right away. Like, oh, you have to bring it up

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

later. Turning off.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, man, this is a good episode. How do I know it's good episode when it's just started? I just got a hunch vibe. How was your week, Eddie?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Good.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Great week.

[Daniel Tosh]

Did you do anything fun?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Nope.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's a good week. Listen, what am I going to go do? When you get to Eddie's age, it just. A good week is like, oh, I didn't. Nothing bad happened.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Come back and talk about the dumbest things. I saw Hank from from Breaking Bad at the gym today.

[Daniel Tosh]

Did you?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I did.

[Daniel Tosh]

I sat next to Demetri Martin at breakfast this weekend, but I didn't say hi. Cause I don't know him. Right?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

And I'm like, I don't want to do this.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

But you guys know, I was with

[Daniel Tosh]

my family, my kids. My kids were talking loud he was doing something different.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

He's got the same haircut.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah. Oh, it doesn't matter. Listen, I do want to talk about my wife for a minute. And a lot of times on this show I poke fun at her and people have written like, oh, my goodness, the things that he says. Whatever. It's only funny the way I will tease my wife because our relationship is so solid. But this week, what she did, I mean, my love for her was all time to begin with. But what I witnessed, I mean, I don't know what it was like to watch Jesus perform miracles, but what I watched my wife do floored me.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I can't wait for this.

[Daniel Tosh]

Never loved her more than watching this feat of momism. There's a play date at our house, and my son has a few of his friends over. And then my daughter's joining in. And my son includes his. His younger sister because he's a fucking decent person.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Love it.

[Daniel Tosh]

And they're. They're running out, they're playing with the pig, they're doing random stuff, and they come back into his room. People are getting their. Their bags to leave. And right around the time they're leaving, he shows one of them his fish. And the water's murky. And that's on Carly, my wife, she doesn't clean it as often as she should. And she knows that that's her job. You know, the chickens were also her job. But she, you know, read one time that if you're pregnant and near a chicken coop, it could make your kid, you know, have a peak, be a right winger, so, you know, a re. Republican. Anyway, her job is the fish tank. Then it was cloudy. Anyway, all of a sudden, I hear it from a different room. My son, it burst into tears. His fish is floating. Oh, we've all been there.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

You buy a goldfish, you hope it lasts a week, and then you're done with it. This has been around for a couple years, so now there's just like a bunch of kids sobbing at a dead pet in the house. I'm like, that is a nightmare. And my. Then my daughter, who is not. She's not crying. She just wants to play or do something else. And I'm like, bitch, I gotta fucking handle this right now. I can't be dealing with you right now. She's. So I just yell at her. I'm like, you go down find Panda. Okay, good. Go down to the guest house.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Send her out.

[Daniel Tosh]

I just send her out. And she's. Now she's screaming, crying, because she just Got yelled at for no reason. But I was like, I'm worried about my son who's just crying because of his deadbed. And meanwhile, the parents just show up at this exact moment. So now they're. They're grabbing their kids and they're like, why is everybody screaming? I'm like, eyes. The play date went bad. Pets dead. Get him out of the house. I'll give you an update later. Okay. My wife takes over. She's. I'm consoling my son. I'm telling him, you know, you gave him a great life. Yes, it was. We had fun with him. You know, I'm looking at her going, fucking flush it, let's go. She's over there performing cpr. I don't know what she's doing. She. She gets a bull. She does puts water. She's like, I think I can get him to come back. I'm like, what? I'm just confused. I saw it with my own eyes.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

It's floating.

[Daniel Tosh]

The fish is sideways on the top of the. On top of a dirty tank of water.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Dead.

[Daniel Tosh]

He's swimming now in this other little tiny bull.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

What?

[Daniel Tosh]

She's got him. My son starts screaming again because she's after. He's like, look, I got the. He's. He's starting to move again, but he's got this weird, like, bloody hemorrhage on his forehead.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Uh huh.

[Daniel Tosh]

And I'm like, that's not good.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

He's different now.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, yeah, he's been affected by. My wife basically poisoned him for a couple weeks in this bad water. My wife is like, we got to change 50% of the water at the most. You know, this is. This happened a couple weeks ago probably because I contaminated it by changing too many things out. I'm like, always with fish, you can. You have to like leave some gross water. You have to have some good algae. None of this stuff. I. I completely understand. I just want the tank to be cleared. But we have one goldfish in one bowl. And I'm like, I'm not hiring somebody for this. Figure it out. She's like, I don't know how to test the water. And. Okay. She calls a friend of mine who has a company that, that like, handles all these rich people's koi ponds and everything like that. And she's like, can you save this goldfish? And he's, you know, he was sympathetic because it's like a child's.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

He's like, I'll bring over some fresh, you know, a couple gallons of pond water and I'll fix your system. I'll make it right as rain. And she's like. When? He's like, Monday? And she's like, it's fucking Friday. He's like, well, you want to do like an emergency call? And my wife is like, this, this $1 goldfish. Anyway, he brings over some pond water and the goldfish just jumps back to life.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Wow.

[Daniel Tosh]

Just happy as can be in this pond. And he's like, don't worry about it. You know, if you ever need me in the future, just give me a call. I'm like, oh my goodness. This guy Kevin's saved my, my goldfish. My son is just happy as can be. Meanwhile, in like three or four days, this, this hemorrhage on his head is completely gone.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I want to drink some of this pond water.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, I don't know if it's the pond water. It was just my wife's quick thinking, all of it. I just, I was just baffled. I was like, I can't believe you pulled this off. No one's ever saved a goldfish right in the history of a goldfish. Here's now let. But I get involved because I was forced to be involved, and I'm looking things up. While she's in his room switching the fish from one aquarium to a bowl to some pond water, I start looking. So one goldfish. Guys, how many gallon tank should a single goldfish be in? Just a normal child's goldfish. Go ahead, place your bets.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Five gallon.

[Daniel Tosh]

Go. Okay, what's your guess?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

One gallon.

[Daniel Tosh]

Three. What's your guess, Pete?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

One.

[Daniel Tosh]

The answer is between 30 and 50 gallons. What is what one goldfish should be in. If it's two, it better be 50 gallons. What was he living in, a three gallon bowl? He's about two inches now. He's getting too big. That blew my mind. So he says to me, my buddy says, hey, he's too, too big for this. And my wife doesn't want a big aquarium. It's one goldfish. He says, why don't you let me take the goldfish? I'll put it in one of our, our ponds, one of our nice ponds. I'll have a beautiful life. Your son can come visit, being one of your neighbors koi ponds or whatever. And I'll. You just, I'll give you a tiny fish that's meant for this three gallon aquarium that you got. And I'm like, that's a great idea because the goldfish is now alive and well. And then we say he's outgrown this, he needs to go to a bigger place. Let me run this by this idea by my son. I just cas. I mean, I just talking like, what if we. You think maybe if your goldfish is too, too big for this, what if we know a big place that he could go to that we don't have? And as soon as I bring it up, he's just wise to the whole thing. You're going to take my pet just starts wailing, crying again. I'm like, oh, no, no, we're not going to take him. No, mom and I just wanted to. Want to know what size should we go 30 or 50?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Oh, it's good. You have quick.

[Daniel Tosh]

No, we're going to do it. We'll buy a bigger tank. We haven't. We haven't yet, but we will, I guess. I'm. He seems to be thriving now. I might just have them. Just. I, I think what's happening now is I'm going to be on the hook once every two to three weeks, having them come in and do the full water treatment, make sure it's clean and pay them 60 bucks and just be like, whatever. I have a 60 bucks every three week expense that I shouldn't have. But it's better than having the conversation with my son about we bought a fish and we're not responsible enough to put him in what he deserves to be in.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I mean, yeah,

[Daniel Tosh]

should have gotten him a Beta. Well, again, it's all my wife's problem now. If he were to die, I would have performed an autopsy on him and I probably would have spent a fortune on that just to prove that it was my wife's fault in the first place that he was in that situation. She wasn't cleaning the aquarium regularly enough. And then when she would, she would clean it too. Well, good algae, bad algae. Listen, life is fragile, whether it's a goldfish or, you know, some guy who was murdered by the drug cartel. Today's guest, he can get to the bottom of it. Enjoy. The weather is finally warming up, which means it's time to liberate your thighs from their wintery captivity. They've been trapped in jeans for months. Pale, confused and forgotten. But now it's officially suns out, thighs out season. I think that's how the saying goes. Guys, it's chubby season.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

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[Daniel Tosh]

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[Daniel Tosh]

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[Daniel Tosh]

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[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I'm doing well, thanks.

[Daniel Tosh]

First question, do you believe in ghosts?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

I think this ends the bit.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah, that's it.

[Daniel Tosh]

If Mario doesn't believe in ghosts, then that's it. We know. I mean, if anybody were to have seen a ghost, it would be Mario.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I think so.

[Daniel Tosh]

Mario, you were born in Chihuahua, Mexico. Tell me what it's like to grow up in a city full of small, aggressive dogs that never stop barking and shivering. No, for real. What is Chihuahua, Mexico like?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It's a lot like El Paso. It's the same weather. We're in the desert. It's relatively small. It's less than a million people, and it's pretty quiet. The dog, I think it's supposed to be from there, but ironically, there's not a whole lot of Chihuahuas in Chihuahua, I would say.

[Daniel Tosh]

Did you know that I replaced the Chihuahua for the Taco Bell campaign commercials?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I did know that.

[Daniel Tosh]

And do you hold that against me? Is the next question.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Oh, no.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. What's it like living in a border town?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I mean, I've lived in el Paso for 14 years, and I was always familiar with it, so it's never been, like an experience for me.

[Daniel Tosh]

I was just there, the back and forth. Is it no big deal, jumping, going back and forth?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No, it's not a big deal. Juarez and El Paso are basically. If you wanted to, they.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's twin cities, right.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

They're just separated or joined by a literal bridge. You can go have lunch in Harris and come back and that. That should be fine.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, I feel like when people don't travel and they've never lived anywhere near the border, they have this idea of, like, that it's scary.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yes. There's some people from El Paso that had lived all their lives in El Paso. And you ask him about this restaurant in Juarez and it's like, no, no, I haven't been there. Okay, when was the last time you went to Juarez? I've never been there, but they have

[Daniel Tosh]

an opinion, so they even have an opinion there. That's peculiar, right? The only thing I know about Juarez is what I've learned from Sicario.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Mostly accurate, I think. People have the idea that violence will spill into the US but that's really not the case. It's different law enforcement, different problems, different gangs. If anything, if you want to off someone in El Paso, you may want to wait till they go to Juarez and do it.

[Daniel Tosh]

There's a. So is that the right move?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It may even reduce violence in El Paso.

[Daniel Tosh]

You initially thought you wanted to go into psychiatry. Tell me, how many patients did you have to listen to drone on about their stupid problems before you decided to pivot to hanging around dead people all

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

day hearing about people's problems was what I thought psychiatry was. What drove me away from it was that you realize most true psychiatric patients are kind of like beyond treatment. You're just managing, you know, their symptoms or whatever. I actually thought psychiatry was more like psychotherapy. So when it was not that, just medicine for this, medicine for that, that actually swayed me away from it. And then I fell back on my initial, like early medical school courses like anatomy, histology, that concerned themselves more with the disease rather than treating or seeing patients. And I just kind of never look back.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is there a difference among forensic pathologists, a coroner and a chief medical examiner, or are they just simply titles?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

They're titles, but there's a difference. So the main concept, I guess, is everyone does medical, legal, death investigation for the most part. Coroners are elected officials. You have to run for the coroner's office. And medical examiners are appointed trained doctors. They have to go to medical school. Do your residency in pathology, go subspecialty training in forensic pathology, and then you may or may not end up working for a coronary jurisdiction. The main issue is the shortage of forensic pathologists. So there's studies that have said that you probably need like around 2,000 medical examiners to. For every medico legal autopsy to be performed by a trained physician. And right now there's less than 500. So in comes the coroner system, which has people other than doctors, I guess, signing those death certificates. So trained forensic pathologists much prefer to work under a medical examiner jurisdiction because they actually signed the death certificate.

[Daniel Tosh]

How is your bedside manner, or does it even matter?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I think it matters because we have. I mean, we have other employees. We have sometimes visitors, law enforcement officers or things like that. So you always have to. I mean, you carry yourself.

[Daniel Tosh]

When you're doing surgery on. I mean, do you call it surgery still?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

If they're doing it, we call them autopsies.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. When you're doing just autopsy, are you careful? Are you allowed to just open up and go to town?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Or, I mean, depending on your definition of going to town. But part of the training is to make your motions efficient. And that means saving a few seconds here and a few seconds there that add up and that can look to the untrained eye as, you know, inelegant, maybe. But if you know what you're doing, then it's just a dissection.

[Daniel Tosh]

How much has it changed your view on death? Just being around bodies?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I think for me, it has gone through this almost learning curve where at first it messes up with your head a little bit. You start thinking of your own mortality. Then you see a case of, you know, someone that age that does the same thing. So you start thinking about that. Then it turns more your realization that you're there to document the findings and your kind of how you feel or your opinion about that doesn't really matter. And then it kind of goes full circle where you do get some appreciation of, you know, like today. Not to sound corny, but you start rearranging your priorities accordingly. Once you know you can go any day for any reason.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you get nervous ever when you're alone around cadavers?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Well, I'm never alone around cadavers.

[Daniel Tosh]

Never?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No, that's never, because at the very least, there's autopsy technician doing the case with you, office hours. It's never really.

[Daniel Tosh]

You never have like a hunch late at night, and you have to, like, go back to work and go in and check on something.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

No, I didn't look under the fingernails.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I'll check the next day. Check the next day.

[Daniel Tosh]

They're not going anywhere. Right. The case doesn't have to be cracked tonight. Oh, it's so funny. What's your success rate of solving? Why, when you have a case, can you always figure it out?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Most of the times I think the acceptable undetermined determination for cause and manner of death is around like 4%. And most forensic pathologists that I know have that. And it's not really defeat on itself. Sometimes, you know, the body is decomposed and whatever cause of death was there is obscured by those changes. Sometimes you don't arrive at the cost of death. But you've been able to rule out a whole lot of things. That he was poisoned, that they were beaten up. And those are also answers.

[Daniel Tosh]

How do you distinguish between accidental overdose and suicide?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

So suicide as a medical term for manner of death determination requires proof of intent. So without that person sending out text or, you know, actually writing a suicide note or having prior past attempts or things like that, then the threshold gets pretty high to say, no, I think this was an attempt to hurt yourself.

[Daniel Tosh]

So no matter how many pills somebody ingest, unless there was, like, you can. It can be. It's considered an accidental overdose.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Sometimes in that specific case where there's like 200 pills, then I think most medical examiners would say, well, the sheer amount of pills that were ingested by itself represents an attempt to hurt yourself, so they may sign off that as a suicide. Based on that, how often do you

[Daniel Tosh]

have to do an autopsy? What constitutes. When do you not do an autopsy?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

The reasons why you must perform an autopsy differ from case to case. Okay, sometimes it's to figure out what the cause of death was. Sometimes it's, you know, the cause of death. But you have to properly document everything that is seen there, like a gunshot wound of the head. You really don't need a degree to say, hey, that's the cause of death. But that case likely will go to court. And then in court, you're gonna be asked about the range of fire, like how far from the body the weapon was, the trajectory.

[Daniel Tosh]

Everything is about covering your ass.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Isn't most of medicine like that?

[Daniel Tosh]

I know.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

So forensic pathology is no different.

[Daniel Tosh]

A little depressing. Who do you deal with most at your work? Who's the person that is constantly checking on your work? Are you dealing with detectives, family?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah, there's a lot of phone calls. It could be attorneys, law enforcement. Families. I have to say, really only get to talk to me after they've gone through, like, other filters, like the investigator that was at the scene or have some admin issue or help.

[Daniel Tosh]

Are families not allowed to directly contact you?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No, they are allowed. What I'm saying is most of their questions have to do with, you know, orientation for funeral arrangements or where can the body be released. And they don't really need my input. There's a whole administrative wing of the office that deals with that. So my interactions are with, like, people I report to, which is the county administrator and then, yeah, attorneys. The bulk of that would be setting up a trial where I'm going to be testifying as an expert witness.

[Daniel Tosh]

How fun is going to trial?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Not very.

[Daniel Tosh]

How often do you have to do this?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Personally, I probably will. Like once a month.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, yeah. Oh, that's. What a headache.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It's probably one of the more impactful, important things that we do. But it's also. It's time consuming. And, you know, the court speaks a language that is very counterintuitive to how we think. So it's a little eroding.

[Daniel Tosh]

Does it ever get contentious in there? Are they attacking what your findings were.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yes, it's all sorts of degrees to that. Criminal defense attorneys are crossing crafty. And they're supposed to be crafty. And they will argue with you on the science or on the facts or just on you.

[Daniel Tosh]

Now, there's no way that you're going to be able to answer this question. I'll give you that. Heads up. But has anybody ever walked in and said, hey, why don't you take this huge stack of money and go ahead and say that this is why this person died? You get any of that stuff there?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Never. I've never even.

[Daniel Tosh]

I thought I could trap you with that question.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Very crafty, Daniel. Very crafty.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I've never even heard of an offer being made.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

To any foreign.

[Daniel Tosh]

Seems like you're really, really trying to push the. I've never been involved in this. Maybe too much, some would argue. Can somebody just automatically request an autopsy regardless and pay for it and you'll perform it, or is that not something you can just order?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

So in Texas, you're bound by this thing called the code of criminal procedure that stipulates when a case is the purview of the medical examiner. So we're bound by law to take jurisdiction on certain cases. Now, if we decline jurisdiction because we think it's a straight up natural debt, and we don't really concern ourselves with debts due to disease alone, then a family can hire a private pathologist to conduct an outcome.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, what are some of the stranger cases that you've had to come across?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I don't know. I mean, homicide staged as suicides can be striking.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you feel like they're trying and those are set up specifically, like, to trick you? Are some of them done poorly? And you're like, oh, come on.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yes. Yeah. The striking part of that statement is like, oh, man, that guy wanted to get away with this. Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's so funny. You had one case where someone had hung themselves with Christmas lights.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

That's correct.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, you have to be able to kind of chuckle at some of this stuff. It's just this is what you do all day long. Were the Christmas lights on?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. Well, I mean, I just. And then my follow up question to that would have been, were they blinking? That's. That's bad. All right, let me. Let me compose myself. I gotta get professional again. Have you ever considered lying to. To a family to give them closure that isn't so horrific?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I mean, yes and no. I will omit certain details that I know will be painful if I can spare them. And sometimes I may, yeah, I'll stick with the truth, but then, yeah, I may omit one gory detail.

[Daniel Tosh]

Are you speaking to them or do you. Is this just like writing some form out?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No, they will make an appointment and meet me at the office.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, and you have to sit down.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Right. And I'll tell you this much. So all the families are appreciative of, you know, the time that we spend with them. A lot of families hear something they didn't want to hear, like. No. Yet my opinion is that your loved one, in fact, committed suicide. And even if you tell them something they don't want to hear, even that still puts them a little closer to closure. So I think any interaction is a good one. Now, if someone says, my loved one died in a car crash and they said he made it to the hospital and they worked on him for two hours and then died, and then I would tell them, oh, you know, he had the type of injuries that I'm sure he didn't feel pain.

[Daniel Tosh]

Right.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

And you know, like, that's not nothing.

[Daniel Tosh]

No, I know, but it's a lie.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

If I actually believe that there's a chance he didn't feel pain because of the structures in his brain that were injured. Yeah, I'll say it.

[Daniel Tosh]

How many bodies are rolling through a week?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Anywhere between 10 and 20.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is there a busy season?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

All right. I don't know. I didn't know. Volv's light. This is when people drop off, talk about the smells. Are there smells at work?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah. Is it horrible the first couple of times?

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, so it's horrible. If you're telling me I have to get used to it, that's not good. It's not case by case?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some cases are not smelly.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, that's good.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Some cases are smellier than others, but yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

Can a man have a boner after they're dead? No. Okay. That blood goes away.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Now this is good. I've never had to answer that question.

[Daniel Tosh]

Hasn't someone died while doing something erotic or making love? And then I Want to know if their boner sticks around or does it shrivel up immediately when you die?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I think that's a case by case thing, but mostly intuitively I would think it would seed, it would go away.

[Daniel Tosh]

Now you're completely desensitized, probably to a naked human dead body. But I'm sure it's in your time where you've seen an unusually large or unusually small penis, you've been like, holy

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

cow, maybe, maybe silently answer. That's not something we will discuss.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, that's fair. What about noises? How long after death are the bodies still doing any twitches or gases or any of that stuff happening?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Not twitches, but gases is pretty common.

[Daniel Tosh]

For how long? Weeks?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It could be.

[Daniel Tosh]

We could. Oh, I didn't know that.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

In fact, a body that's been decomposing has more gas in them. So if someone has been dead for three weeks and it's now bloated and green, if you turn them or whatever, then some gas is bound to exit.

[Daniel Tosh]

Any of it like liquid? Does it get sprayed? Any of that stuff happen to you?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I've never been sprayed, but yeah, there's fluids.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, there's fluids. Have you ever solved a cold case?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

How often do you get cold cases?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Every year or so. We'll get an email, but it's not, you know, everything about this job is like very compartmentalized, so I don't, I wouldn't ever even think of myself as solving anything. We're really just doing the autopsy and producing a report and having an opinion. But the rest is like law enforcement work and, and the legal system doing its thing.

[Daniel Tosh]

Are you allowed to talk about cases?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I think all of that is just whatever your common sense dictates.

[Daniel Tosh]

But there's not like rules.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

There's not a law that says you shouldn't. No, you're not allowed to discuss an ongoing court case, for example. That's by law. But once it's done, it's done.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

No HIPAA rules?

[Daniel Tosh]

Yes. HIPAA a factor?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Not for the medical examiner.

[Daniel Tosh]

How often is fentanyl a cause of a death? Are you seeing it?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yes. This past couple of years it's gone slightly down, but then cocaine compensates.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, so it's one or the other.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Right. I think last year we had around, I don't know, maybe 80 fentanyl related deaths in the county.

[Daniel Tosh]

Fentanyl scares me just because I don't like it when I hear of something where it's, oh, somebody else just thought they were taking some random sleeping pill and next thing you Know they're dead. And I don't worry about that for me. I just worry about my kids doing something stupid when they're in college. Does this make you paranoid about everything?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I would say worried, yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah. Do people use bodies as drug mules?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I don't think so.

[Daniel Tosh]

You've never opened up a body and been like, oh, no.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Oh, we've had cases of mules that died while transporting mud there.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's what I'm looking for.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I thought you were talking about dead bodies being stuffed with drugs afterwards. Afterwards.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, if you. I don't know if you're gonna send a body back over the border to a family, and maybe. Maybe that's. I'm sure that's actually work. Right. Not a lot of people are, like, opening up a casket to.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Nope.

[Daniel Tosh]

Anyway. But you have seen people die from being drug mules carrying bags inside of them. They exploded or what?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yes. So the way at least that case was is just tightly wrapped cocaine bags. And then, yeah, one of them perforates, and it's basically like you swallowed, you know, 50 grams of cocaine, and then you get a heart attack and you die.

[Daniel Tosh]

Whenever I think of those before, if I were the mule in this scenario, and you're like, either put it up your butt or swallow it, I would be like, you know what? Hey, why don't we just try taping it to my leg? And let's just see if that works

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

for one or two pellets. But these people had. This person had, like, a hundred of those. I'm guessing drug traffickers want a mule that can carry, like, half a kilo.

[Daniel Tosh]

Were you fine as a kid in school dissecting the frog?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah, yeah, I was. That. I was that kid that was like, yeah, yeah, I got it.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it. Give him the big one. Give him the big frog. He's fine with it.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

How tall are you? I went all the way to rabbits. How tall are you? I'm 66.

[Daniel Tosh]

You're 66? Yes. Nah, that's a great height, huh?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It is 6 6.

[Daniel Tosh]

Are you the tallest in your family?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I am.

[Daniel Tosh]

By a lot.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah. So I have two brothers. One is six. One that's the oldest, and then the other one is six four. We make fun of the six one.

[Daniel Tosh]

As far as Mexican, I mean, are you guys the tallest Mexican family in your city?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Maybe.

[Daniel Tosh]

I think you might be.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

So I'll give you this piece of trivia now, okay? There's some. And I don't know if there's a way to verify it?

[Daniel Tosh]

No, we won't verify it, but there's, like.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

If you order, like, cities by average male height, I think the top city is somewhere in the Netherlands. And Chihuahua specifically is, like, top five. So, I mean, what? Northern Mexican. Northern Mexicans are tall?

[Daniel Tosh]

I'm a fan of that fact.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Northern Mexicans are tall, and it's in the top five. Is it men or just all women, too?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

The way I remember the stat is male.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, man, that's a good stat. And the irony from Chihuahua.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yep.

[Daniel Tosh]

You were recently diagnosed with autism. Do you think having lived with it your whole life has helped you in this particular field?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yes, very much.

[Daniel Tosh]

Wait, how old were you when you were diagnosed?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I was 40. 1. Was during the pandemic.

[Daniel Tosh]

If you would have had this diagnosis, let's say at 5, how do you think it would have shaped your life differently from where you are now? Or do you think it wouldn't have?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No, I think it would with, like, the proper, I guess, support or strategies or whatever. Growing up wouldn't have been as weird. Or at least you would have an explanation for how this otherness that you've always felt that you don't quite belong into, like, any particular group. That was actually what was refreshing when I got the diagnosis as an adult, because it was like, oh, so that explains why I've always been like this or like that.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, it's great. I've always wanted. There's a group of dads here that I live around that I've always wanted all of us to go get tested and just give me some closure. Because when I'm talking to some of these people, I'm like, guys, we've all. Trust me. I know I'm probably undiagnosed for a million things. IBS is at the top of the list.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

But what is the, you know, up to?

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, go ahead.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I was just gonna say I was gonna. Out you go. You can cut it. Up to 50% of people on the spectrum have GI associated illnesses.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yes, it all makes sense, Dan.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, that, to me, is as good enough as a diagnosis. There's your test. Oh, it's so 50%.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

That's great.

[Daniel Tosh]

50%. It's such a perfect number. Why is it so perfect that it's 50?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

And most people up to 80% will have another mental health stuff, mostly add. I think 80% of people on the spectrum have also add, and they can have sleep disorders. They can have all sorts of things from anxiety all the way to, you know, proper bipolar disorder. Although that's a minority.

[Daniel Tosh]

If you don't mind sharing, what are some of the key traits that you had?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Autism Spectrum disorder, which is, like, the proper name. I guess they don't want to call it Asperger anymore because he was a Nazi.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is that why they stopped calling it.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

So we're not saying Asperger's anymore. I didn't know that. All right, good.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Hans Asperger was a Nazi sympathizer that ran a bunch of studies with children with autism.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, so he loses his title.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It's a neurodevelopmental disorder, meaning your brain is formed in a different way than the usual brain, and it gives you difficulties in, let's say, five different domains. So it would be the social domain, communication, the verbal, motor, and repetitive behaviors. And then the spectrum part of it comes from. Not everyone has the same difficulties to the same degree in the same domain. So that's why it's a spectrum. So some people are just either socially awkward. That's when you hear, you know, they. Eye contact. It's a bit of an offensive thing. Your energy gets drained when you're out in public and you need to recharge on your own. So that would be one thing. The communication thing is with the literal thinking. Like, if you're not told exactly the instruction, then it's like it never happened. And then there's inflexibility with your routines that you get really distressed when, you know, some people like to eat the same thing every day. Some people on the spectrum or at the same time or. Right.

[Daniel Tosh]

How accurate are TV dramas when it comes to your line of work? And can you watch them, or do

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

they make you cringe so they're not accurate? I've never really watched a.

[Daniel Tosh]

You never watched a CSI or anything like that?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I watched the first season of the first csi, the Vegas. Right.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

And I liked it enough.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean, it was a decent show.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I wasn't even into forensics at the time, so this is when I was in medical school. I haven't even discovered forensic pathology.

[Daniel Tosh]

Weekend at Bernie's. How did that affect you as a child? Did you watch that and go, oh, my goodness, this is my calling?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

How could you keep a body, by the way?

[Daniel Tosh]

How long can a body actually be pliable like that to move around on vacation?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

They were.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

They were.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

That was a warm place, right? There was a beach.

[Daniel Tosh]

I mean. Yes. Yeah, they were definitely doing the whole.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

You wouldn't have more than 12 hours

[Daniel Tosh]

before they shot that whole movie. In under 12 hours. Weeks. That is impressive.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Weeks with that guy.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's great. All right, well, everybody's on my show. Mario gets gifts. It's just stuff around my house, okay? So don't get excited. But I know that you're. You're going straight from here, and I appreciate you stopping here first before you go fly. So we got you some of these new ear buds. Raycon. You're going to love them. Have you heard of water cremation?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, you got to look into this.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Are you going to be this thing where they turn you into a plant or something? Or they.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, well, they do whatever afterwards? No, it's just a way. The same way of getting your body down to ash. But you're putting this water and they put this chemical in it and it. Within like four to six hours, you're. You're done. Some people don't like the idea of fire.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Right?

[Daniel Tosh]

Burning. So this water cremation is starting to get popular. Our buddy Steve does it in Florida, but he lives here. Anyway, he. He gave me an urn. And this urn dissolves in the water. So if you wanted to throw your body into, like, the ocean, then this would dissolve. And. Anyway, I. I'll be honest with you. There's no chance my body's going in this. So I want you to have this urn. It's nice.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Thank you.

[Daniel Tosh]

You're welcome. Then here's what I got you. I know you're traveling. You need to keep. You need to have a hip sack on you at all time. You get the planned parent. It lets people know, hey, I'm American, but I'm also an ally. Yeah, whatever. I got you an adapter in case you didn't have one today. This one's got all the chargers on. Did you have an adapter?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I bought one yesterday.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, you bought one yesterday. Now you got two, and that's fine.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Awesome.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's good. Here, this right here, I got. I travel with these, too. Okay. You know what this is? This is sink suds. It's laundry detergent for your sink. You put your underwear in it. You clean everything up. That way you don't have to. I bought this a long time ago. Gilbert Godfrey used to do his laundry in the sink on the road as a comic, and I always thought these were hysterical. Anyway, you'll like that.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I will use it.

[Daniel Tosh]

This I got. This is just some fun bracelets to give your. Your daughter when you get back from the trip. This one was I took my wife. This is from Europe, so you can say that some of them are nice. I don't know, but my wife just is like, yeah, just give her a bunch of these. She's an 8 year old. They'll love it.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I can tell she liked them.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, there's some real things in here. I don't know, but some of this is. Some of it's probably garbage. Who knows? Some of it's not even open. This one's got an eyeball on it. Are you an organ donor?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

Why are you not an organ donor? Is there going to be a real sad answer that I'm going to be mad about?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, let's hear it.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I'm sure it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. I don't like how. I guess eager is too much of a benign word. Their organ procurement organizations are really sneaky and pushy and I think treat the families in an unfair way. And then there's some other layers to that where I think organ procurement, sometimes it even violates the very rules that they're supposed to operate under. There's this thing, and I don't know how in depth you want to go into this. There's this thing called donation after cardiac death. So it typically, the way organ donation is, you're pronounced brain dead. And that is irreversible. No one has ever come back from being pronounced brain dead. Now there's different layers now that they have added saying, oh, he's not brain dead, but his death is impending. And then they call it, you know, cardiac imminent cardiac death. Now some people have actually come back from that. There's people that just recover in the or minutes before the procurement took place. So I don't really like to roll with that.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, man. Imagine being in there waiting for that and then they're like, oh, man, he's back. Okay. That was the longest I've ever gone with stuff on my desk. My head was about to explode. By the way, here's just a little journal in case you ever want to. But I left one jokes that I started writing in there. It's a negative joke about my wife, but I don't want to get into it. Put this over here and let you put this on the desk. Okay, sounds good. By the way, I didn't think I was going to stumble across such a gem when it came to the organ donation. I am an organ donor, but I am just all for my body being ripped apart as soon as possible and scattered everywhere. Just let it happen. I want my eyes in, hopefully my wife's new husband's face. That would be nice.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

That's kind of Neat.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'm still around.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Is it only if someone else can use it? Because some people can donate their cadavers to, like, anatomy labs in medical school.

[Daniel Tosh]

What about that? Would you do that?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I wouldn't do that. No. Not personally, but I know the medical school.

[Daniel Tosh]

You got to help your own. Your people.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I am helping my people by doing the athletes.

[Daniel Tosh]

You brought me something as well. Okay. Here's a spleen in his World Series of Poker backpack. Hopefully it's a stack of high society. Oh, what is this? It's a bag inside a bag.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It's a bag inside a bag. These are T shirts.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, geez. How many T shirts?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

There's five. There's. I thought. Well, yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, you mean to give to other people? Yeah, it's all, say, El Paso.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

You get to pick, I guess.

[Daniel Tosh]

Is it all El Paso reveal.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

El Paso stuff?

[Daniel Tosh]

It's a one.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

So our AAA baseball team.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, I like it.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Is the Chihuahuas.

[Daniel Tosh]

In fact, the Chihuahuas of El Pa. Do you watch? You ever watch the games?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I've been to a couple of games, yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It's fun. It's a nice park.

[Daniel Tosh]

University of Texas, El Paso.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I just. I just like the image there.

[Daniel Tosh]

Why.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Why are they kind of funny?

[Daniel Tosh]

Why are they miners?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I don't know. Say mine.

[Daniel Tosh]

What is this? This is.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

That's just like an El Paso.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's just an El Paso shirt.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah, it has, like, a mountain.

[Daniel Tosh]

I get it to you. Describe it shirt for me. This right here. This might be my favorite. Guys. This right here. You're going to see me wear this. You know a city in Texas. I can't. I just can't stand. I'm gonna go say San Antonio. No, I like San Antonio. San Antonio. While I hate the. Good gosh. How much more? What is this junk? Oh, this is nice. This is. Guys, this is official office of the medical. Do you think, by the way, can you hold something up? Do you hold up a wallet and, like, show a badge and get in places?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

We have a batch and so many mediums. I don't know how you're the only one that's tall.

[Daniel Tosh]

We're all a bunch of mediums. I'm six four. Not everybody's tiny just because you're six six.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Well, I'm sure you know someone who's a medium, Dylan.

[Daniel Tosh]

There you go. His mom drank while she was pregnant. I like San Antonio. I love San Antonio. Performing there. I. I hate the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk's garbage. I don't care about that at all. No, the city That I hate in Texas. Lubbock.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Lubbock.

[Daniel Tosh]

I cannot stand it when I'm in Lubbock. It's the worst. That's all. Anyway, this is very nice of you. Thank you for getting so many shirts. Did you actually peel the tag prices off?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I did. I thought it was weird.

[Daniel Tosh]

Well, yeah, I get it, but, like, I can't believe you bought stuff that's even crazier.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

He's at the airport.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's nicer than what I did. You get this at the airport? God damn it, no.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No, I didn't.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I would love that so much.

[Daniel Tosh]

These are nice. Thank you so much. Are you like a firefighter that when you see kids, you go, hey, here you go. Have one of these.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Nah, nah.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

It's a funny keychain for a kid to have on the office of the corner.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It's funny if a kid has a key.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's great.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

El Paso.

[Daniel Tosh]

It's not the corner. Quick.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Medical examiner.

[Daniel Tosh]

Medical examiner. Okay. He's not. He's not an elected official. You think you'll ever run?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Never.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, you'd get my vote.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Thanks. Get my vote.

[Daniel Tosh]

We'll be right back. PA show. Are you a Spurs fan?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you watch any sports?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I watch football and the NBA. When? It's the playoffs. Like, right now.

[Daniel Tosh]

Right now. You're not watching the Spurs.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I grew up idolizing Shawn Kemp and the SuperSonics, which then turned into the Thunder.

[Daniel Tosh]

Remember when Shawn Kemp grabbed his testicles at the Olympics hanging on the rim and he just grabs his nuts? Do you remember that? Oh, are you kidding me?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I actually don't remember.

[Daniel Tosh]

The Rain man dunked and grabbed his nuts, and it became like a big. It was like, oh, we shouldn't do this as Americans. This is so disrespectful.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I've been at Shonkin, lifelong fan, and I didn't know that.

[Daniel Tosh]

Do you know how many children he has?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Seven, I think.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'll take the over.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yeah, it could be. I take the over.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'll take the or. I'm gonna look it up. Somebody give me. How many kids does Sean Kemp have?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It's seven with. With six women.

[Daniel Tosh]

You think? All right, you might. Mario's a super fan. I can't believe you don't remember the nut grab.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Seven.

[Daniel Tosh]

What is it?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It says at least seven with six different women.

[Daniel Tosh]

It says at least seven. Well, that's good. He's a good guy. In your medical opinion, was Michael Jackson murdered?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

So murder. And I'm gonna get, I guess, pedantic on words. So Murder is like a legal term. And the term, I wouldn't even say equivalent. But the terminology that the medical professionals use specifically in death certification would be homicide, which literally means death at the hands of another. So in that sense, if he was injected as improperfol by someone else and then he died because of that, technically the certification of death as it came out as homicide is accurate. But I wouldn't say he was murdered.

[Daniel Tosh]

All right, well, a follow up question. In your medical opinion, was he a pedophile?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I don't.

[Daniel Tosh]

You have to answer it. But follow up to that. Can we still listen to his music and should we go see the new movie?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I don't know. I know there's always a debate about separating the artist from the art.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

And I don't. I don't even know where I stand on that. So if you like their music, just listen to the music.

[Daniel Tosh]

Yeah, well, I mean, some of their songs you have to listen to. I'm not going to stop listening to man in the Mirror. I love that song. If I go suspicious or not, when I die, I need you to perform an autopsy. Not because I think my wife is up to some shady stuff, but I just want her to have to deal with this for a little bit. Where some people are questioning why I died.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

So the way to turf a case to the medical examiner, and some of them may not like hearing me spill the beans, is to introduce either trauma or drugs. That's kind of like the key words that would make us go like, okay, yeah, maybe we need to take a look into this.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

He was found dead in bed, but, you know, yesterday he hit his head and he was woozy.

[Daniel Tosh]

So basically, Even if I'm 100, right before I take my last breath, I need to whip out a hammer, give myself a couple bruises. All right, listen, I'm not above doing this. What's the end game? Are you gonna just do this? Are you gonna be one of these doctors that, oh, I love my work. I'm gonna do it till I'm 85 years old?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

No, the plan is definitely not doing that.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay. Right.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

I want to do 20 years, 25 most, and then maybe pivot into just something else.

[Daniel Tosh]

Write a book.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah, maybe.

[Daniel Tosh]

Ah, I'd read that book. How do you handle dealing with death day in and day out? Does it ever just bum you out?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

It does. And I think it's a good thing that you feel it. Most people think you're, you know, you're desensitized already. You don't feel anything. And that's not totally, totally accurate. I think you do feel it, but you get good at compartmentalizing, so you're there to do a job, and then you get good at not taking that job, home or work stuff. So that I think the key to dealing with is leaving work at work and just keep your interests outside of medicine and balance your life.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'm not wired to where I could do it, where I could keep it at work. I mean, it's just if you have a sad case that doesn't, you can't just. You just go home and go, oh, okay, well, now it's Friday. Let's get to Bennigan's. Is Bennigan's still a restaurant?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I don't think so.

[Daniel Tosh]

I don't think it is.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Let's get to Bennigan's.

[Daniel Tosh]

I don't know what people do after work. All right? I never had a job. Do you tell your daughter what you do for a living?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yes, she knows.

[Daniel Tosh]

And, like, how do you talk about it?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

So you're being gradual because she started asking when she was maybe four. Right now we're up at, like, when someone dies, Daddy examines the body and he figures out what happened.

[Daniel Tosh]

So she's very comfortable talking about death

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

already to that degree, yes.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'm so. I'm struggling. My oldest is seven, and now death is a real thing and knows about people getting killed. And I'm just like, ugh. Every time, I'm like, ah, here we go. I gotta explain this to you?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah. No. Her pet fish died a couple of weeks ago, and that was. It surprised me how. How affected she was. So I don't think she's fully ready to talk about human death.

[Daniel Tosh]

What you needed, what your daughter needed was my wife. She is a goldfish miracle worker. I'm just saying flatlining, that won't stop her. She'll bring him back. Mario, thank you for being on the show. I hope next time I see you, you're slicing me open and framing my wife.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Deal.

[Daniel Tosh]

All right.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Deal.

[Daniel Tosh]

Carl, show. I want to thank Mario for being the show. Can you believe that, Carl? A six foot six Chihuahua. That's not. That's not racist. That's where he's from.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

That's right.

[Daniel Tosh]

From the city of Chihuahua. I love that guy. I mean, what a life. He's seen it. Man, has he seen some stuff. I know patreon.com tosshow that's where you get some extra, extra laughs.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I'm going right now.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's where you go to get the extra laughs, right? Look at that.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Yeah.

[Daniel Tosh]

Tossshowstore.com. that's where you go to get all the cool wears. My first farewell tour tickets are on sale now. Guess what? Blue dot fever. We got vaccinated.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yes, we did.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, we got vaccinated on my first farewell tour. So we are not suffering from blue dot fever like the rest of the entertainment industry is. Now, if you don't know what blue dot fever is, that's where concerts this summer are canceling and the artist will say personal reasons or some other bullshit. But the reality is it's blue dot fever that they have. And that's where when you go to the seat map for the concert, there's blue dots everywhere because they're not selling tickets.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I like it.

[Daniel Tosh]

That's it. That's why you get vaccinated. Okay, Important trump sucks. Now there's music, and when there's music. Carl, where did you go, man?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

You.

[Daniel Tosh]

Come on. You used to sit up for this whole segment and now you're completely laying down. Up. Let's go. Up. Come on. Let me see you just side eye me. Are you a part of the show or not,

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

man?

[Daniel Tosh]

Let's. Do they love me? They love me not. What do you got?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Okay. From Josh Bizarro. Daniel is so cool. He makes me wish I had IBS Again.

[Daniel Tosh]

I want to point out I've never actually been diagnosed with ibs. I just shit my pants a lot.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I feel like that's a diagnosis.

[Daniel Tosh]

No, that's not professional.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Well, not professional.

[Daniel Tosh]

I've never had. I've never had it written down. Can you die from ibs?

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Probably.

[Daniel Tosh]

Did you like it when he dropped that bomb today? About 50% of people on the spectrum have gastro issues. Oh, my goodness. That was like. There was, by the way, he said three or four things that I was like, oh, my goodness. I. I have to get tested. But I'm only getting tested again if my entire wife's friend circles. Husbands also get tested because I want all of these autistic fathers to be outed.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

I like it.

[Daniel Tosh]

I'll do it.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

IBS cannot kill you.

[Daniel Tosh]

IBS cannot kill you.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Non life threatening.

[Daniel Tosh]

Does not shut the. Are you drunk right now? What is happening?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

He knows a lot about ibs.

[Daniel Tosh]

Just starts, Dylan. Just starts celebration. Daniel, you're gonna ask the question an hour ago, Dylan.

[Dr. Mario (Forensic Pathologist)]

Well, this gin and tonic got in the way.

[Daniel Tosh]

All right, let's. Let's do the we always. The first one was they love me. Yeah, that's a weird way to say they love me, but okay, I'll Let it slide. What do you got for they Love me?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Not from natch derringer. From the Heather Alfano interview. Daniel interviews the one who got away.

[Daniel Tosh]

Okay, Stupid. I read comments too and I was even joking with Heather about it where people thought that there was a strong sexual bond between us or, or I bet they had sex. I don't get these people that have never had a real relationship with a person of the opposite sex that wasn't sexual. I've never had sex. I would never have sex with her. Certainly not now. Oh, but it's just. And these people are like, oh, you can't have a relationship with a woman. And it's not, you know, be. What are you fucking Mike Pence?

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yeah, that's right.

[Daniel Tosh]

Oh, I can't sit next to a woman.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Remember.

[Daniel Tosh]

What? I don't think we can say his name. You remember what's his name? The comic and he would tell stories like, oh, he got sat next to a good looking girl on the plane and he had like go to the bathroom in the back and jerk off. I've never understood guys like this that, that they can't have a relate. I get. Listen, I guess that's why it's scary to be a woman because you don't know if you're sitting across from a guy that could go 25 years just being your friend genuinely, or somebody that's like, oh, the second I get the opportunity I'm going to pounce. Well, anyway, no, I've never, I've never had a relationship with her or, you know, half of my good girlfriends. And anytime I do cross the line with a girlfriend, you know, it ruins the relationship with my current girlfriend.

[Eddie (Co-host/Friend)]

Yes, it would. Yeah, I guess. So.

[Daniel Tosh]

See you next week.