Locked cells, surrounded by an impenetrable concrete fortress, surrounded by high barbed wire fences, surrounded by water, on an island in San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz was considered the most 'inescapable' prison in the world. The worst of the worst were sent there. So how, in 1962, did four ragtag criminals manage to escape? Using paper maché and a piano accordion? Frank Morris, John and Clarence Anglin and Allen West went down in history for achieving the impossible: escaping from Alcatraz. So ...
Feb 27, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus! Rosie vs. Jacob: who has the most one-star rider ratings on Uber? Also! Monks on meth! Chatbots are turning into the terminator so that's cool and totally fine! And! Everybody has erectile tissue in this unexpected body part... Follow us on Insta: @justthegistpodcast Send us your suGISTions for stories and guests: justthegistpodcast@gmail.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 22, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Totally awake. No pain relief. Just straight up raw-dogging surgery. In 1686, King Louis XIV’s anal fistula got so bad that he needed to go under the knife. But surgery for an anal fistula didn’t actually exist yet. Enter Charles-François Felix, a ‘Barber Surgeon’ willing to take on the task, as long as he could practice on as many people as he needed to get it right… All The Sun King had to do next was bite down and get through a three hour anal fistula surgery, the results of which changed the...
Feb 20, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: Madonna's face! Pamela Anderson! What the hell is ChatGPT and why does it think Rosie and Jacob are in love? And, in a SHOCKING turn of events, there's a big fight over the correct time to stand up after the plane lands. Links: Watch John Mulaney in 'New In Town': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRD2lTD8J-s And 'The Comeback Kid': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-xUD7pmh5I Listen to Rosie on It's A Lot with Abbie Chatfield: https://link.chtbl.com/IALrosie Howard Stern on Conan: https://po...
Feb 15, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast How many boxes of hair dye does it take to change the colour of an entire race horse? One night in 1984, some very drunk Aussie criminals found out. John Gillespie and Hayden Haitana thought they had a sure fire way to win a lot of cash in horse racing - take a slow horse that nobody expects to win, and secretly swap it with an identical, but faster horse. A genius horse racing ring-in! The only problem? The fast 'Bold Personality' looks nothing like the slow 'Fine Cotton'. So Gillespie and Hait...
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: Harry’s book Spare! Elizabeth Holmes doing a runner! Mormon crabs! Reccos! And a whole lot more… Links: Sarah on Conan: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sarah-silverman-returns/id1438054347?i=1000598170981 Fiona Cox tickets: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2023/shows/going-coastal Follow us on Insta: @justthegistpodcast Send us your suGISTions for stories and guests: justthegistpodcast@gmail.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 08, 2023•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rosie is back! And she's giving us just the gist on her favourite reason to say "why are men": ELON MUSK. We all have a bit of a sense of him - he invented Tesla, right? Also PayPal? He designs rockets for SpaceX? He's the richest man in the world and he bought Twitter? Nobody seems to know much more than the big headlines. But where did Elon Musk actually come from? How did he get rich? And did he really build himself up from nothing to become "the real life Tony Stark" just by being a brillian...
Feb 06, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Who on earth would CHOOSE to run 217km through the desert in the middle of summer in temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius in under 48 hours? In 1987 someone did just that and now it’s become one of the most popular and exclusive ultramarathons in the world. The first person to put themselves through this ordeal BY CHOICE was Al Arnold. He was almost 50 years old when he set himself the seemingly impossible challenge of running from the lowest point in North America at Badwater Basin, to the ...
Feb 02, 2023•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Just a few short years ago a bunch of elite athletes started wearing silicone wristbands with shiny bits of holographic plastic on them (yes, like on a Pokemon card). Why? They claimed the shiny plastic bangles made them faster & stronger & even helped improve their sense of balance. How did they work? Nobody seemed to know… but that didn’t seem to matter. Millions of people around the world were willing to buy a Power Balance Band to see what it could do to enhance their own performance. David ...
Jan 26, 2023•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast In April 1994, two groups of holiday makers on the Zambezi River were ambushed by Africa's most deadly mammal - the hippo. The attacks happened 2 days apart and 200km away from each other. But they ended up being connected to each other in a very surprising way… Each group’s stories is incredible, involving not just hippos but crocodiles, buffalo, lions, hyenas & bloodthirsty ants. But the fact that they were connected by fate/coincidence makes it extra wild. Enjoy! Skip straight to the stor...
Jan 19, 2023•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the Dollysode! This is one of our most frequently requested topics, and it’s our pleasure to finally serve up the gist of Miss Dolly Rebecca Parton’s rise from rags to rhinestones. They call her the Backwoods Barbie, the Smoky Mountain Songbird, the Dolly Llama. She's probably the #1 most beloved & respected person on the planet, and by the time you’ve finished gistening to this one, we hope you’ll appreciate her even more than you already do. Yeehaw, y’all. Skip straight to the story: ...
Jan 12, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast So, we didn’t know this, but apparently there’s this special spear that makes any army that wields it totally invincible. Yeah. It’s called the Spear of Destiny and it's believed it was first used to kill Jesus Christ, then various different emperors & kings took turns owning it, and then Hitler got his hands on it. Over the centuries, every man (of course it was only men) who owned the spear was victorious in almost all his battles… until he inevitably lost or dropped the magic stick & ...
Jan 05, 2023•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast New year, new you? To celebrate the start of a new year we invited friend-of-the-pod Adam Densten to relive and recap the classic 2001 rom-com Bridget Jones’ Diary. It’s an iconic film we all know and love (especially Jacob): Renée Zellweger plays Bridget, an allegedly overweight “spinster” in her early thirties who smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish and is desperate to find a man. Will she choose the cheeky sex god, Daniel Cleaver, or the stuffy, pompous Mark Darcy? We chat about all the...
Dec 29, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's a Breakin' Nooz recap and recco bonanza! Elizabeth Holmes is going to prison (probably), Elon Musk got booed at Dave Chappelle's comedy show, the man with the penis on his arm is doing fine, and Rosie is still waiting for one of you to steal Caleb's plinth from their backyard. This is what we think you should be watching, reading & listening to over the holidays: TV The White Lotus The Dropout Fisk Peacemaker Caleb Hammer on TikTok or YouTube PODCASTS You’re Wrong About – Flight 571: Su...
Dec 27, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Merry Gistmas to all! We forced our pal Symon Lovett to sit through all 90 excruciating minutes of the 1989 slapstick “comedy” National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, then we brought him into the studio to relive and recap it scene-by-scene. Whether you’ve seen the movie recently, long ago, or never at all, we hope you can all appreciate the disdain we feel for it. Join us as we discuss Chevy Chase's mantrums, the film’s side-boob quota, and the blatant nationalistic propaganda. We promise you it...
Dec 22, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Transcript available on Metacast You didn't think we'd end the year without a Rosie update, did you? This is just the gist on where Rosie's been this year and what "looking after her health" has looked like. We talk about suicidal ideation and self-harm briefly from 18:10 - 24:45. If you're not up to listening to this, please skip ahead. If you need support with this, Lifeline is available 24 hours a day on 13 11 14. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Dec 21, 2022•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1987 the Royal Family needed to win back the hearts & minds of the commoners who were starting to revere the monarchy less than they had previously. Prince Edward, the youngest of Queen Elizabeth’s kids, came up with what he thought was the perfect solution: have the Windsors dress up in silly costumes & play wacky, slapstick games with celebrities on a TV special that would be broadcast around the world. The end result was a bizarre fever dream in which famous faces like John Travolt...
Dec 15, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast It could’ve been the start of a strong friendship between two of history’s most brilliant authors. It wasn’t. When Hans Christian Andersen invited himself to stay at Charles Dickens’ house, Dickens was too polite to say no, and besides, maybe it’d be pleasant having him around the house for a few weeks. It wasn’t. Andersen wore out his welcome the same day he arrived, made everyone he encountered uncomfortable, extended his stay, ruined a marriage, and destroyed his relationship with Dickens. He...
Dec 08, 2022•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's the American Dream: open a nightclub, transform it into a strip club, become Hugh Hefner, and have anyone who stands in your way assassinated. It's the true story of Somen Banerjeet, the creator of Chippendales Male Review, and the ruthless lengths he went to as he built his empire. This wild story has just been adapted into a TV series called 'Welcome To Chippendales' and we're obsessed. So to celebrate, we're re-releasing our episode about the Chippendales Murders from December 2021. Welc...
Dec 06, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today there are more than 16 million Mormons around the world. The Mormon Church is one of the fastest growing religions worldwide and it’s the third wealthiest. Pretty impressive for an organisation started by a conman from New York less than 200 years ago… Joseph Smith Jr was 25 when he declared himself a prophet who spoke to God & Jesus Christ, published an updated bible he’d “transcribed” from an ancient text (the Book of Mormon), and founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Sain...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1988, Arno Funke was a broke, 38-year-old German man with a plan turn his life around. He decided to bankroll his dream of starting a food truck business by becoming…an extortionist. His method was simple: he detonated pipe-bombs in fancy department stores and warned the police that if they didn’t pay his ransom demands, he’d detonate more. Over the course of six years, Arno, or Dagobert (the German name for Scrooge McDuck), as he was more affectionately known, led the cops on a wild goose ch...
Nov 24, 2022•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2002 the first Spiderman film was breaking records at the box office. Studio executives asked themselves how they could squeeze even more money from it and the answer was obvious: a stage musical. But this was no ordinary stage musical. It featured the music of U2, shared the same director as the incredibly successful Lion King stage production and would see Spiderman and the Green Goblin flying through theatres using technology that not only hadn’t been invented yet, but hadn’t even been tes...
Nov 17, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's another midweek dinner party treat for ya, Gisteners! This time with Claude Elliott, the former Mayor of Gander, Newfoundland. A few months ago we shared the story behind the musical 'Come From Away', when 38 planes, carrying 7,000 people, were grounded in the small town of Gander in the far eastern corner of North America, during 9/11. You loved it, we loved it, and to celebrate the return of Come From Away to Sydney, we sat down with the former Mayor of Gander, Claude Elliott to find out ...
Nov 15, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast On March 23rd, 1911, the luxury passenger ship, the SS Yongala started its 99th voyage from Mackay to Cairns. But much like Betty White and Prince Phillip before her, the SS Yongala didn’t live to see its 100th voyage. Not long after setting sail from Mackay, a tropical storm warning forced all ships to return to port. All ships heeded the message...except the SS Yongala, which never arrived in Cairns and was assumed to have sunk. It would take 47 years before a recreational diver named Bill wou...
Nov 10, 2022•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast We invited Lewis Hobba to come by for a little midweek dinner party treat and asked him to BYO some stories about the wacky competitions he’s been researching. Lewis Hobba is a stand up comedian, co-host of triple j's Drive show and adjudicator of his brand new TV show 'Australia's Best Competition Competition' with Michael Hing. So sit back, relax and enjoy his stories of pool parties at George Harrison's house, being hypnotised to get over his crippling fear of custard, covering himself in oil...
Nov 08, 2022•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast On a Sunday morning in March 1990, two security guards arrived at the prestigious Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston ready to start work, only to find the museum had been robbed overnight. Thirteen artworks were missing and so were the two security guards who’d worked the night shift. The value of the missing art was around $500 million USD in today’s money, making this heist the largest art theft, and largest property, theft in history. The suspects included a stoner security guard, disg...
Nov 03, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Happy Halloween, Gisteners! You might have seen the new Netflix series based on this story. Trust us when we tell you the true version of events is more chilling than the fictionalised version... This spookiness starts when Derek and Maria Broaddus buy their dream house, a $1.6 million mansion in New Jersey. Before they move into their new home, menacing letters start appearing in the Broaddus’ mailbox from someone who called themselves “The Watcher”. This mysterious letter writer claimed to hav...
Oct 27, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Possibly our wildest story yet! On June 10th 1990, British Airways flight 5390 took off from Birmingham en route to Malaga, Spain. 13 minutes into the flight, 6 kilometres up in the sky, the windscreen of the plane's cockpit blew off & Captain Tim Lancaster was sucked out the hole where the window should be. By pure chance, Captain Tim’s legs anchored him to the plane…but they were also forcing the plane into an accelerating nosedive. What happened next? You’ll have to listen to find out… Sk...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2003 a retired maths genius from a small town in Michigan, Jerry Selbee, discovered a flaw in the state's newest lottery game, “Winfall". He realised that if he bought enough tickets in certain games he could almost guarantee he'd win a 50%-80% profit without relying on winning the jackpot. It seemed he was the only one who understood statistics well enough to know this & over the next 9 years, Jerry & his wife Marge became professional lottery players & millionaires. And they’d s...
Oct 13, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, animal trainer/stand up comedian Emma Malik is telling us about the history of animals in the armed forces & how we ended up in a world where dolphins are trained to (allegedly) kill. Turns out, during the early years of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union started using dolphins as part of their naval defence strategies. Over the years, dolphins have been deployed on increasingly complicated missions, and they’ve become such an important part of Russia’s operation...
Oct 06, 2022•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
