For the last time, Napoleon was not that short: You’re Dead To Me explores history with humor
Aux Features Aux
Crime In Sports
Dogs, Weed & Ladies Of The Night – The Consequentialness Of Nate Newton
Two comedians plumb the seedier side of sports with the subtlety of AM talk radio and none of the FCC oversight. The nearly three-hour episode somehow ratchets up the energy the longer it runs, even as its subject mellows with age and religion. A large man even by contemporary NFL standards, Nate Newton was relentlessly mocked for his weight, which once reached 400 pounds. The Dallas Cowboys’ own media guide said food was all that held him back, and this obsession with his size blinded many to his considerable athletic gifts. On the other hand, he lost out on an $80,000 contract incentive and free Jenny Craig counseling when he took off to Rhode Island to win a rib-eating contest. Never graced with a squeaky-clean image, Newton nonetheless avoided major consequences during his playing days, beating successive drunk-driving arrests and charges related to dogfighting. As for his family life, it’s enough to know that his ex-wife wrote a book called Silent Cry. It was only after his NFL career ended that Newton committed the crimes for which he is best remembered and which landed him in prison: transporting hundreds of pounds of marijuana. [Zach Brooke]
Expeditiously
Killer Mike – The Atlanta Way
T.I. kicks off this episode by sharing that his conversation with Killer Mike spanned five hours, the first three of which are featured in this two-part episode—and it quickly becomes clear that these two longtime friends have a lot to chat about. First, they get into a new business venture they’re pursuing together, which moves the discussion toward the ideas of jealousy and not competing with your brother, but rather focusing on collaboration. They unpack the importance of hard work and why it’s necessary to hustle and motivate yourself and others to build a life on your own terms, and T.I. also discusses his hilarious experience at Kanye West’s popular Sunday Service. Throughout, the two keep returning to their hometown of Atlanta and everything they’re doing to uplift and serve not only their community, but also the Black community as a whole. It’s an engrossing chat between two people at the top of their game, sharing the ups and downs of how they got there, giving listeners the chance to laugh along the way. [Vannessa Jackson]
School Colors
Old School
Half of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a historically Black neighborhood in Brooklyn, is situated in School District 16, which has a higher percentage of Black teachers than any other district in the city. However, the culture of the neighborhood has shifted in recent years, and now fewer than half of its residents are Black and students are rapidly exiting the district. This led School Colors hosts Mark Winston Griffith (community organizer) and Max Freedman (educator and journalist) to research the exodus, and they discovered the reasons for student departures were complicated, involving segregation, gentrification, class, and power. The hosts’ complex findings are being presented across eight episodes, and in this first one, Griffith and Freedman guide listeners through the rich history of Brooklyn’s schools. They cover how hard communities fought to desegregate schools, and how that fight (and their frequent defeats) has influenced Bed-Stuy today. With interviews of individuals who have witnessed this journey firsthand, this podcast brings New York’s past and society’s present together in one beautifully produced series. [Nichole Williams]
The Hilarious World Of Depression
Mara Wilson Had Great Opportunities And Difficult Challenges
Ex-Wits host John Moe is currently rolling out a fantastic fourth season of The Hilarious World Of Depression, a podcast by American Public Media and Make It OK that features conversations with celebrities and entertainers on the topics of depression, anxiety, and various issues related to mental health. The latest episode features Mara Wilson, the child actor introduced to a world of fame after landing roles in Mrs. Doubtfire and Miracle On 34th Street, as well as playing the titular character in Danny DeVito’s 1996 movie, Matilda. Now a writer at 32, Wilson unveils all for Moe by shedding light on her earliest memories of struggling with her mental health, describing her younger self as a “crying, anxious mess” whose imposter syndrome made her believe that nothing she did mattered. When Moe asks her when that anxiety first arose, she candidly replies, “It… It always was.” Alongside Moe, Wilson details the pain and hardships endured throughout her life that gave her a new perspective on living with OCD, depression, and anxiety. She puts her lessons simply: “Mental illness is not an excuse, it’s an explanation.” [Kevin Cortez]
The Open Ears Project
On How We Listen
In a world where people are constantly talking over each other, listening has become both a valuable skill and somewhat of a lost art. The Open Ears Project has been on a daily mission to celebrate the joy of listening by picking the brains of authors, actors, and musicians for their favorite classical music selections. This episode features Joe Young, a U.S. Army soldier and band member searching for purpose and fighting off depression while on duty in Texas. Because he was often called upon to blow the “Taps” bugle call in honor of fallen soldiers, his life became a repetitive medley of death, sorrow, and shaken confidence. A random grab from the CD bin introduced Young to Steve Reich’s Music For 18 Musicians, a piece that he describes as “a beautiful, calming space to live in.” An unofficial score for long drives, this composition became the sonic second wind that Young had been looking for. “Not only did it change how I listen to music,” Young confessed, “it absolutely changed how I listen to people.” [Jason Randall Smith]
The Re-Solved Mysteries Podcast
Totally Nake S2E2
How many of today’s most popular podcasts owe a debt to NBC’s Unsolved Mysteries? An entire generation grew up with the show’s eerie theme song seared into their brains and sat mesmerized as host Robert Stack presented tales of true crime and the paranormal. Those kids are now adults and are either making or consuming podcasts that are often about those same exact stories. Re-Solved Mysteries hosts Eliza, Alison, and Karlin are going right back to the source by covering the series episode by episode and bringing fresh eyes to these cases. The standout segment of this episode deals with a supposed miraculous crucifix in a Pennsylvania church whose Jesus appears to blink. The trio earn their nickname of “Sisters In Snark” as they tear their hair out trying to understand how anyone could fall for such an obvious hoax while also highlighting the dubious talents of the show’s re-enactors. The hosts also do their own detective work and provide new information that has come to light about each segment since the Unsolved Mysteries episode originally aired. While the podcast might lack the comforting presence of Robert Stack’s trench coat, it has a knack for making those old mysteries seem new again. [Anthony D Herrera]
This Particular Album is Very, Very Important To Me
Sun Kil Moon’s Ghosts Of The Great Highway With Lauren Lapkus
Music makes us feel a certain way and often becomes the soundtrack to certain key experiences and formative times in our lives, and the hosts of this podcast understand that certain music can shape us as people. Joel Spence and Deborah Tarica are joined each episode by a guest who walks them through a specific album that they hold dear, and in this episode, that guest is actor and comedian Lauren Lapkus sharing her history with Ghosts Of The Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon. The great thing about the podcast is how it manages to be both supremely personal and specific while tapping into something universal: Our own associations with a vaguely familiar song can be revisited in the context of someone else’s enthusiasm, and at its best, this enthusiasm inspires us to listen to something or someone completely new. As Lapkus, Spence, and Tarica discuss discovering new music and developing their tastes and identities as young people, listeners can’t help but consider the development of their own identities through this medium. [Jose Nateras]
You’re Dead To Me
Young Napoleon
If history class was never your thing and most history documentaries seem drier than burnt toast, this new podcast from BBC Radio might be the lighthearted entry point you’ve been waiting for. Each episode, host Greg Jenner brings together a comedian and a historian to discuss a fascinating historical figure or movement in a way that even the most fidgety student can enjoy. The discussion this week focuses on history’s favorite punchline to any short joke, young Napoleon Bonaparte, who, it must be said, was not that short! He was, however, quite an oddball. Comedian Dan Schreiber confesses to only having a passing knowledge of the Little Corporal’s life before getting schooled on the finer points by Dr. Laura O’Brien, who maps Napoleon’s trajectory from a middle-class upbringing on Corsica to the head of the newly formed French Empire. Their re-examination of history through a comedic lens serves as a good reminder that in amongst the dry facts and dates there were real people wearing funny shoes and acting awkward at parties. Plus, there’s no test at the end of the week. [Dan Neilan]
52 Comments
he werent that tall neither and he fuckin lost at waterloo. napoleon fucked up at the end of the day.
Vern Troyer however was quite funny as Napoleon in the Bruce Campbell-starring series Jack of All Trades, so that legend is worth it
I suspect that this may not be the only time Jack of All Trades was historically inconsistent. Unlike Brisco County Jr, which was an extremely accurate vision of the wild west.
The cyberpunk spy submarine that Bruce & his spy lady friend on Jack of All Trades had might have been a minor historical inaccuracy
No, apparently Ben Franklin sailed around in one all the time. it just didn’t come up much in his biography.
I called in to Unsolved Mysteries and got through to tip line. My hot tip was that the suspect looked Amish so they should investigate Pennsylvania dutch country.
Well don’t leave us hanging, how’d it end?
The operator said thanks and then we hung up. Very anticlimactic
I’ve been having the worst luck with podcasts lately. Every time I start a new one that I really like, it seems like they have their last episode a week later, or go on an unannounced hiatus for months at a time, only to drop the very occasional episode months later (either ignoring the hiatus’ existence or just saying “Sorry, we’re back on schedule now!”) before disappearing again. It’s getting kind of absurd how many dead or dying podcasts are in my catcher now.
I have like 50-75 podcasts that I listen to off and on. If you’d like some recommendations tell me which you like and I’ll see what I can come up with! I’ve found two or three podcasts on Podmass that I really enjoyed but most were medium levels of meh for me.
What do you like? History, sports, etc?
Lately I’ve been on a “bad music review” kick. A la “Why I Hate This Album”, “Pod Minutes To Cast Night”, etc. More generally, good examples of what I like are Last Podcast on the Left, MBMBAM, Comedy Bang Bang, Nosleep Podcast, things like those.
Oh I can’t help you there sorry. I’m mostly a history and sports person.
“And Introducing” is a good podcast about good and bad music, as someone who’s kinda meh on “How Did This Get Made” (despite loving everyone involved!), I really enjoy “How Did This Get Played.” If you like movies and music, “Settling the Score” is tragically not super well-known but is incredibly insightful. And “The Dollop” also has a limited UK series in a different feed that has been almost all bangers.
Thanks for the recs! (and yeah, How Did This Get Played is awesome, haha)
I like that we have an article highlighting podcasts as a regular feature, as it’s otherwise extremely haphazard to discover good podcasts. But the article itself seems to be quite hit or miss in the quality/noteworthiness of the content it identifies. Maybe it’s just personal taste. The feature from a couple of weeks ago highlighted the podcast “1865″, which absolutely blew me away with how good it was. It was beyond all expectations. Conversely, I also followed an earlier recommendation for “Blackout”, and felt like I wound up wasting time on it (really high quality sound engineering, but a contrived plot, and the most insufferably fake New England accents I’ve ever heard).From this article, “You’re Dead to Me” is the one that jumps out as being worth checking out. The involvement of a public radio broadcaster always piques my interest (Canada’s CBC Radio, Britain’s BBC Radio and the U.S.’s various public radio stations have all produced first rate podcasts). Podcasts are kind of a revival of a medium that the public radio stations have been dealing in for decades, so I suppose it makes sense.
I also got into 1865 because of this column, and agree it was incredible. I hadn’t listened to any radioplay type podcasts before, and it sold me on the potential.I wonder who has the rights to the old radioplays and shows from the 30s and 40s. I’m surprised there isn’t a podcast that rebroadcasts Orson Wells’s old Mercury Theater work with updated advertising.
There’s a lot available on Old Time Radio (https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio) , which is where I found the old Philip Marlowe radio broadcasts and some great Welles stuff like The Black Museum. The Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes radio plays are generally available as well.
If you like factual podcasts, I’d heartily recommend BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg. They’re just 45 minutes, and it’s very eclectic: One week it’s about Confucianism, next week it’ll be about the Franco-Prussian War, next week it’ll be about Dark Matter or anti-Protons or Freida Kahlo or the Norse Sagas.They also have top-tier guests. It’s always the Professor of Classics at Oxford University or the Professor of Economics at Kings College Londonor someone equally eminent doing their thing.Plus, it’s been going weekly since 1997 or something so there are over 860 episodes.
Thank you for the recommendation, I’m playing back an episode now.I’ve dabbled with history podcasts, and generally find myself getting irritated with the hosts. You really have to listen carefully to follow along in these podcasts, and a mumbly cadence or a weird verbal tic can drive me crazy. You Must Remember This is a great podcast, except that the narrator pronounces the syllable “ton” as “den”, and it started to drive me up the wall (especially when I was wondering who the hell Buster “Keaden” was). She’s pronounces everything eloquently and sharply, except this one fucking syllable. Hardcore History I also really liked at first, but Dan Harmon started to grate on me as an obnoxious dink, and I grew frustrated with his absolute refusal to use topic sentences to explain what the fuck he was talking about.You’re Dead to Me I’ve listened to a few episodes of now, but it has a hurried tempo—a seeming desperation not to be boring or unfunny—that makes it easy for me to lose the plot if I’m not paying really close attention. Omnibus is the factual podcast that I’m the most into, right now. The hosts have voices that I find pleasant and soothing, I like their personalities, and I find it really easy to follow along with (I can play episodes while I’m falling asleep, or as I’m snoozing through my alarm in the morning, and yet still absorb most of it).
Funnily enough, Melvyn is probably my least favourite thing about In Our Time because of his diction and tendency to interrupt his guests, but I suppose it’s your prerogative when you’re old and 20-years in to your radio show.I’ll definitely give You’re Dead to Me a shot though, as I’ve had it recommended to me a number of times.
Late last week the British podcast ‘My Dad Wrote A Porno’ podcast put out and interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda. The end of last season they had done an interview with Dame Emma Thompson. There should be a new episode out today.
S’up Mike D , how’s Club Med?I gotta say that I was underwhelmed by My Dad Wrote a Porno. Does it ever get more interesting?
I thought Branson Reese’s new D&D podcast “Rude Tales of Magic” shows promise but D&D podcast are a dime a dozen now.
I didn’t know what it was when I started the first episode; I was expecting straight improv and not improv with a hit location table. Definitely enjoyed it but might need to give it a second listen (I lost track of the action due to listening in a few different sessions while I did chores around the house.)
I knew Samwell Tarly would go far in life.
i had this very boomer liberal feminist history professor in college and she was doing this very droll bit about how napoleon’s whole thing was to make up for feeling insecure about his height or something and so i pointed out that he wasn’t and because it was 2002 and I said i read about it online she ridiculed me and had her little posse of boomer hobby students laugh at me and yes i’ll die mad about it thank you very much
On the other hand, there’s no question that Napoleon wasn’t tall. He just wasn’t *short* short — he was of average, or slightly below average, height. Yes, our idea of him being a tiny person was just English propaganda, but like the idea of Trump having tiny hands, it’s an insult based on a grain of truth.
he was about 5-9 which is still a normal, unremarkable height and at that time everyone was smaller because of nutrition and other concerns so it wasn’t even considered short it was just a basic, normal, average, boring height of no particular note
Next we’ll be hearing that Trump’s hands aren’t actually small.Seriously, it is kinda fun seeing the formation of a history myth in real time.
You’re Dead to Me sounds right up my alley. I’m almost finished listening to a four-part series on the Mexican Revolution done by HistoryBoiz. They’re pretty new, but they’ve been a solid mix of history and humor so far.
Does anyone know if Threedom will ever be posting free episodes again?
I mean, I assume they’re still doing the “We need to take a break” pauses in the Stitcher Premium episodes for some reason.
So the ones from this stretch are going to be free after 6 months except the final 6, but they haven’t said if that means the new norm will be all future episodes will be stitcher only, or if it’s just a bonus for stitcher subscribers.
I’m sure the podcast explains it, but the origin of the myth comes from a misunderstanding by the British of Napoleon’s nickname, Le Petit Caporal, which translates into English as, “The Little Corporal.” That is what the French called him, but the “little” part referenced not his height, but the fact that as a young man he was incredibly thin, practically emaciated. Most paintings of him are of an older Napoleon, slightly plump of face and body, living the good life of Emperor. But as a young man he was skinny as a rail and had very angular features. The “corporal” part was actually a compliment, as Napoleon even as a senior officer had a habit of being at the front in the thick of the action.The British seized on the nickname and assumed it meant he was very short. This allowed the Brits to mock him and demystify someone who they were fairly terrified of for many years.
I never listened to the Matt & Shane podcast but I caught the episode they put out a few days ago. I thought it was an interesting listen, and funny at times.
I know, for the time, it wasn’t short. And I know the world average is still around 5′ 9″
But we consider Tom Cruise (same height as Napoleon – 5′ 7″) short
And here’s the kicker:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/09/040902090552.htm
People weren’t that much shorter then.
So, yes. If Tom Cruise is short, and the average height hasn’t changed much, then Napoleon is considered short. Especially today.
From https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/09/040902090552.htm“Men living during the early Middle Ages (the ninth to 11th centuries)
were several centimeters taller than men who lived hundreds of years
later, on the eve of the Industrial Revolution,”[…]According to Steckel’s analysis, heights decreased from an average of
68.27 inches (173.4 centimeters) in the early Middle Ages to an average
low of roughly 65.75 inches (167 cm) during the 17th and 18th centuries.Napoleon was born in the 18th century, well after the Middle Ages, so not that short.
“so not that short” for a midget
Fair – but still short
Is Tom Cruise really that short though? Or is it just the seeming absurdity of him being an action star doing crazy stunts and beating up giant people while being only 5’7 that people find notable? Lots of other actors are around his height—Jack Black, Humphrey Bogart, Jonah Hill, Al Pacino, etc.—and none of them get mocked for it with nearly the same frequency. If Cruise wasn’t a larger than life action star and hadn’t dated taller than average women like Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes, I doubt that we’d consider him notably short.Though, in the interest of full disclosure, I say this as a man of around 5’7 myself. I’ve always considered myself to be short, but not abnormally so. Being two inches below the average US male height of 5’9 doesn’t seem like it should be a defining characteristic for someone.
I think Cruise’s height is less notable than the extent to which Hollywood goes to conceal it. Nobody says “Cruise is only 5’7″ what a shortass!” But we do note how in Top Gun, he looks only a bit shorter than Val Kilmer, who is 6 foot even.
Well, people do think those actors are short. And yes, your point stands. I’m 6′ 2″ so I do think 5′ 7″ is short, and I live in an area where a surprising amount of people are as tall or taller (Santa Barbara), and come from a family of trees (I’m the shortest boy for instance), so that’s why I included the caveats about understanding the world averages etc.
To your point:
Tom Cruise is peculiar in this in how much he tries to hide how short he is:
He famously required that he be on a box or platform shoes for everything related to his ex-wife Nicole Kidman in movie shoots.
The lengths he goes through (I get that directors and producers are very clearly also to blame) but (and this is rumor based) he seems to have language specified by him in his contracts to obfuscate his heights.
And not to be a stickler for this, but I don’t feel that I’m actually that tall. Tall to the relative population, yes. But compared to the average height of an NBA player, which has the top % of tallest people? I’m short.
The distance between me and you in height is the same as the distance between Devito and you in height, (which is to say, he’s very small).
I don’t think anyone should be ashamed of their height at all – it is something that is legitimately out of our control.
But discussing “short” and “tall” is arbitrary, and people still see 5′ 7″ as short (which is unfortunate).
Compare him to modern world leaders.
George Washington, for instance, was 6′ 2″: A surprising number of presidents hit 6 ft.
Lincoln was also only 6′ 4″ and we consider him a giant lol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heights_of_presidents_and_presidential_candidates_of_the_United_States
Do you reckon it’s now two full generations whose first exposure to Napoleon is: “Napoleon Bonaparte is an historical figure who wasn’t that short goddamnit!”
This happened on Doughboys
Incidentally my RC LEGO tank Bonaparte is named after the tank from “Dominion/Tank Police”, which in turn is probably named after Napoleon Bonaparte. I tend to think the extremes he went through to be percieved as taller are what cemented the incorrect idea. Although, some people seem to think the idea of him being shorter compliments my tank which is not even a foot tall and can shoot people with tiny cannonballs, so I’ll take it.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=byeXVMX2csI
Sorry, Napoleon was short. 5’7″ is short. Sorry, short people, but that’s short.
5’7″ is pretty short.
Ditto on that episode of The Open Ears Project. The series has been good, with mostly recognizable pieces, the standard repertoire. And then this episode, and this soldier opening up to us while Reich’s Pulse movement bubbles up in the background… They only play that opening Pulse movement but it’s enough to want to dig up and listen to entire 55-minute long piece. If you haven’t already been introduced to it, do so ASAP. It’s really, really something.
Well he wasn’t Mitch Albom short. That guy is shorter than his books.