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Radiolab

The Punchline

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

Natural Sciences, History, Documentary, Science, Society & Culture

4.644.5K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Scott was the professional hockey player that every fan loved to hate.  A tough guy. A brawler. A goon. But when an impish pundit named Puck Daddy called on fans to vote for Scott to play alongside the world’s greatest players in the NHL All-Star Game, Scott found himself facing off against fans, commentators, and the powers that be.  Was this the realization of Scott’s childhood dreams? Or a nightmarish prank gone too far? Today on Radiolab, a goof on a goon turns into a parable of the agony and the ecstasy of the internet, and democracy in the age of Boaty McBoatface. This episode was reported by Latif Nasser and was produced by Matt Kielty. Special thanks to Larry Lynch and Morgan Springer. Check out John Scott's "Dropping the Gloves" podcast and his book "A Guy Like Me". Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Amy Pearl, are you there?

0:03.2

Yeah, I am.

0:03.9

Okay.

0:22.0

Hi. Hi. Hi. Are you still allergic to me? Of course you are, right? Yes, totally. It's okay. I don't miss it anymore. Oh, really? Yes, I do. Hey, Chad here. Before we get to the show, I want to reintroduce you to someone. Let's see. My name is Amy Pearl. You might remember Amy from an episode we did a couple years ago about ticks and meat allergies. And we brought her back into the

0:28.2

studio because she is now hosting her own podcast. And it's pretty great. It's called 10 Things That Scare Me.

0:37.1

And this show, 10 Things That Scare Me, name kind of says it all, because a couple times a week, they put out a show.

0:43.8

Would they come out three times a week, so?

0:45.6

Holy moly.

0:46.6

But they're really short.

0:48.0

I mean, for a podcast, unprecedentedly short.

0:50.8

Each episode is only about five minutes, like a little microdose.

0:55.5

And in each episode,

1:01.3

you hear one person explaining their ten greatest fears and explaining why each of those ten things scare them. What was the idea behind it? Well, Chad, I feel like radio is not weird anymore,

1:07.6

for one. And I really wanted, I'm like, let's make it weird.

1:13.9

And so a while back, she heard this recording.

1:16.3

Hi, I'm Ida.

1:17.8

And I'm Noah.

1:18.7

Of some kids.

1:19.3

We are very excited to bring you our first episode.

1:24.4

Yes, a friend from work made me listen to a recording of their kid. Each of us has made a list

1:31.2

of things we think are really scary. A recording of things that they were afraid of. I'm scared of

1:37.4

the laundry room because of the pipes. The pipes are scary when you look up at them.

...

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