What the HELL Were You Thinking?

Our Big Summer Series is going to be a HOT one, as Dave digs the dirt on all the scandals that USED to mean the end of a career. Coming in July to a pod feed near you!

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Seltzer Kings Network Shout Out: Puzzy Boyz

Dave is on a “research trip” in the lands of his birth. (He is just visiting his parents, but is claiming he is doing “research” for tax purposes) So we are running one of the other fine podcasts on the Seltzer Kings Network!  So please enjoy Episode 33: The Garfield Movie Review!

Welcome to PuzzyBoyz, a paw-dcast about four middle-aged men who love their cats. Purr-pare for cute stories, cat product reviews, hot takes, and silly bits as comedians Zach Broussard, Nick Maritato, Adam Newman, and Danny Solomon ME-WOW you into thinking it's cool to be a cat guy. Email: [email protected] IG: PuzzyBoyzPod

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Show Notes Episode 451: Blame Old Bumble Butt

This week Host Dave Bledsoe gets into a drunken row with a taxi driver when he claims he should have to pay because he has thumb out and is clearly hitchhiking. (The driver blackened his eye and took his wallet. Again.) On the show this week we look back on the lost art of hitchhiking and why no one does it anymore. (Blame Edmund Kemper)

Along the way we discover that Dave had Tiny Bladder Syndrome as a child. (And today as well) Then we dive right into the long history of thumbing a ride from strangers on the side of the road. (Along with a VERY dubious Chaucer quote.) Then we move along to hitching in America from Depression era necessity to flower children wearing flowers in their hair right up until the murders started.  Then we debunk all that nonsense about the murders.  Finally, we wrap up with the REAL reason we don’t hitch anymore. (Did Dave find a way to blame technology? He did indeed!)

Our Sponsor this week is the Electronic Thumb, taking the fun out of hitchhiking but leaving all the risks! We open the show with Kai’s colorful interview and close with some Canadian Cold Water Review picking up hot chicks on the highway.

Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense

The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast

The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/

The Show on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ

The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq

www.whatthehellpodcast.com

Give us your money on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast

The Show Line: 347 687 9601

Closing Music:https://youtu.be/uZpDRZMWyM4?si=aPWV555CD--CE3rK

We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/

Citations Needed:

Hitchhiker's guide - what you should know?

https://myluggage.io/en/blog/article/hitchhiker-s-guide-what-you-should-know

Looking At America Through A Hitchhiking Lens

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/04/08/hitchhiking-america-jack-reid

HITCHHIKING: a ’60s & ’70s Form of Transportation, Real Human Social Networking, and Fearless Fun!

https://00individual.wordpress.com/2019/12/11/hitchhiking-a-60s-70s-form-of-transportation-real-human-social-networking-and-fearless-fun/

Wikipedia: Edmund Kemper

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Kemper#:~:text=Between%20May%201972%20and%20April,%2C%20smother%2C%20or%20strangle%20them.

Thumbs Down: America and the Decline of Hitchhiking

https://digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/_flysystem/fedora/2023-03/23377-Original%20File.pdf

Thumbs Up, Then And Now: Hitchhiking Stories From The Road

https://www.npr.org/2015/08/09/430079847/thumbs-up-then-and-now-hitchhiking-stories-from-the-road

Hitchhiking’s Dead End (repost from ’88)

https://davemargulius.com/hitchhikings-dead-end-repost-from-88/

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All the things that made the world the way it is now.

Welcome to the podcast takes your nostalgia, tells you the history behind it and makes you ask What the HELL Were You Thinking. Host Dave Bledsoe takes the history, politics and pop culture of the past fifty years and explains what it was like to live through it and why it is still ruining the world today. So join Dave, his hapless Producer Gavin St James every Monday for time capsule of truth! Find us at whatthehellpodcast.com, @thehell_podcast on Twitter, @whatthehellpodcast.bsky.social and the show name on Facebook.

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Show Notes Summer Shorts Volume 1: Toxic Pink Houses

It is Memorial Day Weekend here in the US of Murka and that means that all across the land people are heading out for the traditional start of Summer! That also means Host Dave Bledsoe has retreated to the dankest, darkest, dingiest dive bar he can find, swearing he will not come out until Halloween. (He says this every year, he never lives up to it!) 

That also means the start of our series of minisodes (OK, slightly shorter than normal episodes) so the WTH Team can take some time off. (Dave is making Gavin regrout the WTH Studio Bathroom over the long weekend.  What a dick!) These are episodes with topics we found just a little thin for a full length show but didn’t want to give up on entirely. (Because content is content!) This week we are talking about MTV’s Paint The Mutha Pink contest where they gave away a house to a lucky listener! The catch, the house is on a toxic waste dump! (Yay Capitalism!) 

Our return Sponsor is Davey Beer, the cheap beer with Dave’s face on the can. Please enjoy it responsibly. We open with the winner of the house and close with Amanda Watkins talking real estate.

Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense

The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast

The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/

The Show on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ

The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq

www.whatthehellpodcast.com

Give us your money on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast

The Show Line: 347 687 9601

Closing Music:https://youtu.be/4vHIl9l-1jk?si=IvspnvtMhNuakWDT

We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/

Citations Needed:

MTV’s Pink Houses John Cougar Mellencamp Contest Disaster

https://www.ghosttownpod.com/blog/mtvs-pink-houses-john-cougar-mellencamp-contest-disaster/

Neal's Landfill (Bloomington)

https://www.toxicsites.us/site.php?epa_id=IND980614556

Viacom to Buy MTV and Showtime in Deal Worth $667.5 Million

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-27-fi-25404-story.html

Pink Houses, Black Lives, And John Mellencamp’s Misunderstood Legacy


https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/news-and-opinion/news/pink-houses-black-lives-and-john-mellencamps-misunderstood-legacy%E2%80%A8/

Pink Houses, Yuppie Scum and Beastie Boy Kidnappings: Relive MTV’s Most Insane Contests

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pink-houses-yuppie-scum-and-beastie-boy-kidnappings-relive-mtvs-most-insane-contests-832009/

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Show Notes Episode 450:”Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me”

This week Host Dave Bledsoe staggers into what he thought was a cornfield drunk out of his gourd on moonshine. Only to be kicked out of the WalMart Garden Department for telling off color jokes to the other shoppers. (again) On the show this week, we celebrate nine years of podcasting by paying tribute to the wellspring of all our humor: Hee Haw!

Along the way we discover why Dave is the uncultured oaf he is. (Don’t blame his Aunt Bonnie, she TRIED!) Then we dive right into the story of Hee Haw, after we explain why Nashville is the heart of Country Music. (Hint: A lot of out of work musicians.) We follow two Canadians who came south to make television and the reasons why they made the greatest comedy variety show of all time in a fake cornfield. (The sets were left over from Green Acres.) We meet the hosts and cast of Hee Haw and then explain why Hee Haw is more than just bad jokes and hillbilly stereotypes. (We mean, there is a LOT of that too!) Finally we explain why Dave chose Hee Haw to celebrate nine years of this show. (He misses his Papaw.)

Our Sponsor this week is the Kornfield Kounty Chamber of Commerce who say “SALUTE” to all the visitors! We open the show with KORN News and close with Pickin and Grinnin’

Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense

The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast

The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/

The Show on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ

The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq

www.whatthehellpodcast.com

Give us your money on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast

The Show Line: 347 687 9601

Closing Music:https://youtu.be/2m7FifTu39I?si=EpIS16ux4R47HOgf

We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/

Citations Needed

Wikipedia: The Nashville Sound

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_sound#:~:text=The%20Nashville%20sound%20is%20a,tempos%22%20associated%20with%20traditional%20pop.

Country Music by Ken Burns: The Nashville Sound

https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/country-music/nashville-sound-branches-of-country-music

How Did Nashville Become the Hub of Country Music?

https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/nashville-become-hub-country-music.htm

Wikipedia: Peppiatt and Aylesworth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppiatt_and_Aylesworth

John Aylesworth, a ‘Hee-Haw’ Creator, Dies at 81

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/arts/television/04aylesworth.html

Hee Haw Television Show

https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/hee-haw-television-show/

Wikipedia: Roy Clark

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Clark#Career

The Weird History of Hillbilly TV

https://bittersoutherner.com/the-weird-history-of-hillbilly-tv

In praise of Hee Haw’s old-time country laughs – and music

https://troymedia.com/in-the-news/in-praise-of-hee-haws-old-time-country-laughs-and-music/

Reconciliation Blog: How Hee Haw Changed My Life

https://edwardg.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/how-hee-haw-changed-my-life/

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Episode 291: “The Ruror Furor” Redux

This week Host Dave Bledsoe is taking off to recharge his batteries. (Meaning he suddenly came into some money we are unable to find which shitty bar he is currently on a bender within.) So while we waited for him, we thought we would run a companion piece from the archives to last week’s AND next week’s show.  It is one of our favorites and includes the single finest topic segue in podcasting history.  (According to Dave anyway.) So  sit right back and hear a tale about the time CBS canceled every show featuring a pig on their network! It was called “the rural purge”

Show Theme: https://www.jamendo.com/track/421668/prelude-to-common-sense

The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast

The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/

The Show on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ

The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq

www.whatthehellpodcast.com

Give us your money on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast

The Show Line: 347 687 9601

Closing Music: https://youtu.be/hV85sDCRGkE

We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/

Citations Needed:

Rural Purge Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge

American Rural Comedies of the Sixties Part Six

http://mercurie.blogspot.com/2013/09/american-rural-comedies-of-sixties-part_23.html

All In the Family Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_in_the_Family

Mobituaries Podcast The Rural Purge: Death of the Country Broadcasting System

https://www.mobituaries.com/the-podcast/the-rural-purge-death-of-the-country-broadcasting-system/

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Show Notes Episode 449: “Good Evening From Captain Midnight”

This week Host Dave Bledsoe was found trapped on the 8th floor fire escape of his building after drunkenly trying to install an illegal cable hook up.(Which is odd since he doesn’t own a TV, but again, he was drunk at the time.) On the show this week we travel back to the golden age of satellite dishes when millions of Americans had a big ass dish in the front of their trailer homes. 

Along the way we discover that Dave’s parents TRIED to teach him valuable skills as a child but he just wanted to become a podcaster. (He CLAIMS he was very ahead of his time!)  Then we dive into a brief history of all the ways one could get a television signal into your home. (Many of them are kind of illegal) Then we take you to the brief heyday of free pay cable channels if you had a couple of thousand dollars for a satellite dish. (A surprising number of people went for it!) Finally we explain how HBO ruined it for everyone and what one man would do in the name of justice.  (Briefly interrupt HBO’s signal in the middle of the night.)

Our sponsor this week is Mega Dish, because bigger is BETTER! We open the show with news coverage of Captain Midnight and close with Luca Carpenter’s space obsession..

Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense

The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast

The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/

The Show on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ

The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq

www.whatthehellpodcast.com

Give us your money on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast

The Show Line: 347 687 9601

Closing Music:https://youtu.be/5s1pGVCawKs?si=PMo4aYojvt7EEeWn&t=8

We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/

Citations Needed:

Wikipedia Telstar Sattelites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstar#:~:text=Telstar%201%20launched%20on%20top,was%20launched%20May%207%2C%201963.

Deep Dish: For a short period in the early 1980s, giant satellite dishes ruled the land.

https://tedium.co/2015/08/27/early-satellite-dish-history/

TUNING INTO SATELLITE TV

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/14/business/tuning-into-satellite-tv.html

SATELLITE DISHES SURVIVE GREAT SCRAMBLE OF 1980S

https://web.archive.org/web/20171007120130/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/81378/SATELLITE-DISHES-SURVIVE-GREAT-SCRAMBLE-OF-1980S.html?pg=all

Signal to Noise dot net archive: The Story of Captain Midnight

https://archive.robertianhawdon.me.uk/sites/~ian/pages/signal_hijacking/captain_midnight_hbo/

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Show Notes Episode 448: Outrageous, Egregious, Preposterous!

This week Host Dave Bledsoe angrily insists he should NOT have to pay for the drink that he drunkenly spilled all over himself because the bartender clearly knew he was too drunk to lift it! (The case was settled out of court when the bouncers appealed to his sense of self preservation) On the show this week we talk about that time that McDonald’s burned an old lady’s vay jay jay and refused to pay!

Along the way we discovered where Dave’s terrible taste in coffee originated. (He takes it black, like his men) Then we dip into the history of coffee (because we have a formula and we stick to it) and finally get around to telling you about that time in the 1990’s when an old lady suffered massive burns on her Hoo Hah because McDonald’s crappy coffee was served WAY too hot! We also explain how the media helped their corporate masters spin the story to fuck over all us little people in court. (Again!)

Our Sponsor is “Cuppa Damn Coffee” the place where you can get a cup of damn coffee!  We open the show with Kramer seeking legal counsel and close with La La Life starting their day!

Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense

The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast

The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/

The Show on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ

The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq

www.whatthehellpodcast.com

Give us your money on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast

The Show Line: 347 687 9601

Closing Music:https://youtu.be/HfjPrbatsMg?si=g8df5a5_EJWXnAYC

We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/

Citations Needed:

How America’s Coffee Got Bad — and Then Got Great

https://www.eater.com/22966312/coffee-history-america-third-wave-dark-roast

A Brief History Of American Coffee Culture

https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/a-brief-history-of-american-coffee-culture

Did Cocaine Users Cause McDonald's to Replace Their Coffee Spoons?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stirring-response/

Remember the Hot Coffee Lawsuit? It Changed the Way McDonald’s Heats Coffee Forever

https://www.rd.com/article/hot-coffee-lawsuit/

Calculating the optimum temperature for serving hot beverages

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18226454/#:~:text=Hot%20beverages%20such%20as%20tea,can%20cause%20significant%20scald%20burns.

Liebeck v. McDonald’s The Hot Coffee Case

https://www.tortmuseum.org/liebeck-v-mcdonalds/

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Show Notes Episode 447: Tell Him About the Twinkie

This week Host Dave Bledsoe insists he cannot be legally responsible for this bar tab because he was drunk when the charges were incurred! (The bartender dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the bouncers threw him in the dumpster out back. Again.) On the show this week we examine how a snack cake entered the lexicon of American jurisprudence. (Hint: It was the media.)

Along the way we learn why Dave was such a fat little boy! (Little Debbies ARE delicious!) Then we explain the history of the Twinkie, which has absolutely NOTHING to do with the court case we eventually get around to talking about! (This is a very circuitous episode.) Finally we get into the court case in which case the aforementioned Twinkie is tangentially relevant. (We have a formula, folks.) We talk about the San Francisco murders of Harvey Milk and George Moscone. But mostly we talk about the defense their murderer Dan White used in court. (Ergo, the Twinkie Defense.)

Our Sponsor this week is Low Rent Legal, because even bad lawyers are still technically lawyers.  We open the show with an explanation of the Twinkie and close with Larry Groce, who has a problem.

Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense

The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast

The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/

The Show on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ

The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq

www.whatthehellpodcast.com

Give us your money on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast

The Show Line: 347 687 9601

Closing Music:https://youtu.be/jQnIL-XPerQ?si=rFol2hlE5KBieNUl

We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/

Citations Needed: 

LGBT culture in San Francisco

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_culture_in_San_Francisco#:~:text=San%20Francisco%27s%20LGBT%20culture%20has,a%20town%20where%20anything%20goes%22.

SUSPECT SOUGHT JOB

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/28/archives/suspect-sought-job-moscone-had-been-asked-to-reappoint-him-as-a.html

The Trial of Dan White: An Account

https://www.famous-trials.com/danwhite/599-home

Myth of the 'Twinkie defense' / The verdict in the Dan White case wasn't based on his ingestion of junk food

https://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Myth-of-the-Twinkie-defense-The-verdict-in-2511152.php

Dan White's Motive More About Betrayal Than Homophobia

https://web.archive.org/web/20120805184657/http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-01-30/news/white-in-milk/1/

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