ACS: Ken Burns
Adam Carolla Show
PodcastOne / Carolla Digital
4.5 • 36.9K Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2011
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ken discusses growing up loving baseball, but realizing he knew very little about the sport. He says that he likes to look at each new project as an immersion into something new. He talks about his upcoming projects, including specials on the dustbowl era, prohibition, and the Vietnam war. Adam finds out more about the documentary process, and the guys talk about some of their favorite baseball moments. Ken says it's crucial to tell a story when you make a documentary, and especially with baseball it has to be more than just statistics or who won.
After some discussion about the debilitating effects of steroids, Adam talks about his own career playing baseball in high school. This leads him into a story about filling in for Tommy Lasorda to be the Grand Marshall of Mardi Gras, and also an in depth comparison of baseball to softball.
Adam finds out more about a 'normal day' for Ken Burns, which seems to revolve around either being on the road promoting, or locked in an edit bay 'trying to make something better out of the footage.' Ken discusses how unique it is to have a series on PBS where you can have over two hours of uninterrupted content, and talks about how they raise money and research their topics. They also talk about some of the more complex themes that Ken has had to discuss over the years, and the 'vow of poverty' he took to become a documentarian.
One of Ken's upcoming projects is about prohibition, but Ken says it's really about right wing single issue campaigns that grow out of control. They talk about smear campaigns, and all the unintended consequences of prohibition; including organized crime, female alcoholism, and all sort of other social transformations. Ken also offers a reason for the world's obsession with alcohol, and relates everything to escapism. Lastly, the guys discuss the sensitive subject of race issues here in America, and Adam is very impressed with Ken's opinions and wealth of knowledge.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Chickapes, check out my Man of the Week videos, brought to you by our good friends over |
| 0:05.1 | Jeremiah Weed. I induct a new manly man into my manly ring of honor, and you can watch it all |
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| 0:19.6 | Hey, kitties, thank you for enjoying a best of the Adam Kurola podcast. Hey, kiddies. Thank you for enjoying a best of the Adam Coraola podcast. |
| 0:24.5 | Now, I'm enjoying a little barbecue or a little booze or a little boozee. |
| 0:31.0 | That's where I just dumped the beer right on to the open grill. |
| 0:33.8 | Don't argue with me. |
| 0:35.1 | It works. |
| 0:36.4 | Point is this. |
| 0:40.3 | I don't have to work every GDD. Day of the year, do I? |
| 0:46.7 | How about we play a little best of? How about you enjoy a little I call him Kenny? But you know him as Ken Burns. What a documentarian. Went did a hard-hitting sit-down with him, and |
| 0:52.4 | it was one of my favorite ones of the year. |
| 0:59.4 | You guys probably haven't heard it in a while, if at all, and I'm going to give that to you in a second. Also want to thank you for going on Amazon. I know there's a lot of stuff going on |
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| 1:20.3 | Maybe buying a few piccolo peats or flower or sparkler. Whatever you're buying, outdoor furniture, |
| 1:27.2 | you go to Amazon, fast and convenient. Amazon.com, |
| 1:31.0 | but go ahead and click through Adamcrawler.com so we can wet our beak. Now, enjoy the fourth |
| 1:37.0 | and enjoy some Kenny Burns. Oh, I would be remiss if I did not tell you. Irvine Improv this Sunday. |
| 1:45.3 | Also, Universal City Walk with Brian Cranston doing the live podcast. |
| 1:50.2 | San Manuel, Indian Casino. |
... |
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