Bird, bird, bird, bird is the word this week on a very special Oddball History Podcast, as Scott learns all about the most legendary birds in history, including the heroic war pigeons of World Wars 1 & 2, Thomas Jefferson's pet mockingbird Dick, Charles Dickens's bitey pet raven Grip, and Jimmy, the top billed bird star of the Golden Age of Hollywood. ALSO: Legendary bird guy John James Audubon pulls a prank for the ages, the triumphant return of the Greek Myth of the Week, and bullfighting!

This week on a very special Oddball History Podcast it's the Cavalcade of Rich Weirdos--three exceedingly wealthy and almost unbelievably weird men straight from the pages of history, from the barely literate American Revolution-era investment wizard Timothy Dexter to the early 18th century British playboy with a penchant for crashing carriages for fun, Mad Jack Mytton, to the always colorful Howard Hughes. PLUS: The highest stakes claw game, robot cars and a really great cheeseburger.

This week on a very special Oddball History, it's the Year of Five Emperors, a wild, bloody, chaotic time even by the standards of the Roman Empire--from Commodus being strangled by his personal trainer on New Year's Eve 192, setting the whole sordid saga in motion, to the great and brutal general Septimius Severus emerging from the pack of would-be emperors as the last emperor standing. PLUS: Fun with 1940s slang, the Greek Myth of the week and of course, Varsity Blues.

This week on a very special Oddball History we're lowering ourselves down into the sewer to learn all about the Great Hanoi Rat Massacre, a grisly and all too true comedy of errors set in 1902 French Indochina, as well as Mao's tragically misguided (but super popular) war on sparrows and the species of toad brought to Australia as a pest control measure in the 1930s, which has been spreading across the country and terrorizing the native wildlife ever since. ALSO: Today in history, dung beetles, and the first ever Greek Myth of the Week!

What's beef? Beef is when you hate someone so much for so long that your hate goes down as a matter of public record, as we learn this week on a very special Oddball History Podcast. From Hollywood icon Joan Crawford claiming her "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane" co-star Bette Davis smelled to Roald Amundsen's "Haha f--k you" letter to fellow polar explorer Robert F. Scott to Queen Elizabeth I grilling a Scottish emissary about whether she or her cousin Mary Queen of Scots was hotter, history has never been saltier.

This week on a very special Oddball History we're going back to the well of weird history that is the Turn of the 20th Century, to a time when Martians were real (or seemed to be anyway). PLUS: Top Comments is back, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives CONTROVERSY, and upwards of two Simpsons references!

This week on a very special Oddball History, Jimmy has retired from history podcasting, leaving Scott to ramble about hippopotamuses--specifically the brief period in 1910 when Congress considered importing hippos to solve a meat shortage.

Come on in, the water's warm. Part 2 of the Oddball History Holiday Classic

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(00:57) The Last Castrato

(09:20) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

(15:31) Scott Goes Ghost Hunting

(23:19) Margaret Howe Does Hand Stuff with Dolphins

(31:12) Tusko: The Elephant That Took Too Much Acid

(41:24) Robert Cornish - Boy Genius

(50:40) Gladiator Blood and Encino Man

(54:35) John C. Woods - The Worst (Best?) Executioner

(01:03:20) Cadaver Synod - A Pope Skeleton is put on trial

Check out our favorite segments from the past 2 years. Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(01:58) Jacques Ferron and the RIghteous Donkey

(08:46) Ken Allen the escAPE artist...get it? escAPE?

(17:13) The First Ever Diss Track - Sumerian Dog Poem

(21:41) Scott Gets Mad at Us - Texas Rangers

(28:25) Gary Suitor gets cut by the Cleveland Cavaliers

(34:47) A Night out with Rube Waddell

(39:32) Georgia Tech Devastates a non-football team

(42:31) Roy Sullivan gets struck by lightning a lot

(47:46) Akitu - Sumerian New Years - All Hail Marduk!

The early 2000s were a different time. A better time? Depends who you ask. We'll be covering Boy Meets Boy, Kid Nation, and My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(02:20) Top Comments

(08:32) Boy Meets Boy (Bravo 2003)

(16:06) Kid Nation (CBS 2007)

(28:42) My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance (Fox 2004)

(35:35) Podcastin'