Oliver Hardy: The Theater Manager Behind the Bumbling Fool
The world's most iconic bumbling fall guy began his career as a meticulous, obsessively controlling theater manager, studying the same 12-minute reels 30 times a week from the projection booth. Oliver...
23 Jun 22min
Phyllis Diller: The Punk Rocker Who Reinvented Female Comedy
A 37-year-old housewife drags a piano into a veterans hospital, and the wounded men scream at her to leave. She keeps playing. That refusal to stop became the foundation of one of the most fearless ca...
23 Jun 18min
Arno Penzias: The Pigeon Poop That Revealed the Big Bang
Two scientists climbed inside a giant metal horn antenna to scrub out pigeon droppings, certain the bird mess was causing a stubborn radio hiss ruining their experiment. They were actually listening t...
23 Jun 18min
Pigmeat Markham: How a Comedy Catchphrase Birthed Rap
The DNA of rap music doesn't start at a 1970s Bronx block party. It starts with a comedian in a graduation cap smacking people with a balloon. Pigmeat Markham's 'Here Comes the Judge' may be the earli...
23 Jun 20min
Robert Wilson: Hearing the Big Bang in the Static
Faced with a persistent hiss no one could explain, two scientists checked the wiring, ruled out New York City, and scrubbed pigeon droppings from a giant antenna. The static turned out to be the coole...
23 Jun 20min
Roseanne Barr: The Roller Coaster With No Brakes
She built a $40 million television empire out of her own life, then got locked out of the house she created while everyone else kept living inside. The story of Roseanne Barr is a roller coaster with ...
23 Jun 19min
The Clash: The Only Band That Mattered Went Broke for Fans
Fierce anti-establishment punks who signed a 100,000-pound corporate record deal, then bankrupted themselves to give fans double and triple albums for the price of one. The Clash turned a major label'...
23 Jun 22min
Theo Von: The Mullet Comic Presidents Now Call
The most powerful people in American politics are bypassing polished network anchors to sit on a casual couch with a guy who might ask about national tax policy and a childhood stray raccoon in the sa...
23 Jun 18min
