P.T. Barnum (Radio Edit)

You're Dead to Me

BBC

Comedy, History

4.7 • 10.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Greg Jenner is joined by historian Prof Benjamin Reiss and comedian Desiree Burch in 19th-century America to meet the self-proclaimed showman, P.T. Barnum. He was a man famous for his museums and shows as well as "curiosities" such as General Tom Thumb, Bearded Ladies and The Fiji Mermaid. But look beyond Barnum’s infamous spin and you’ll find that contrary to his pop culture image this showman was far from the greatest. For the full-length version of this episode, please look further back in the feed. Produced by Cornelius Mendez Script by Greg Jenner and Emma Nagouse Research by Charlotte Potter A production by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Your Dead To Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously.
0:11.1	My name is Greg Jenner, I am a public historian author and broadcaster and on this podcast
0:15.9	we aim to amaze and astound you with a combination of comedy contortions and historical
0:20.7	hilarity.
0:21.7	And today we are dining our top hat and tails and running away to join the circus to
0:25.8	explore the life of Shomen and Hoaxa, PT Barnum.
0:29.7	And to help us uncover the truth behind the humbugs, we are joined by two very special
0:33.5	guests.
0:34.5	In History Corner, he is the chair of the English department at Emory University in America,
0:38.6	specialising in 19th century American literature, disability studies and health humanities.
0:43.5	And he is the author of the Shomen and the Slave, race, death and memory in Barnum's
0:48.0	America.
0:49.0	It is Professor Benjamin Reese.
0:50.0	Hi Ben, thank you for joining us.
0:51.5	Hi Greg, thanks for having me.
0:53.2	And in Comedy Corner, she is a playwright, actor, storyteller and hilarious stand-up
0:56.8	comedian.
0:57.8	You will recognise her for more sorts of telly, including the Mashra port, QI, live at
1:01.2	the Apollo, taskmaster, flinch and too hot to handle.
1:04.4	And of course, hopefully you remember her from our previous episode of Your Dead To Me
1:07.5	on Harriet Tubman and Josephine Baker.
1:10.0	It's Desiree Birch.
	...

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