The Ridiculously Inspiring Story of Free Public Restrooms, Part One: Everyone Has To Poop
Ridiculous History
iHeartPodcasts
4.2 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 15 July 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
Today a great many people in the United States take free toilets for granted. Yet, as Ben, Noel and Max discover in the first part of this two-part episode, there was a long -- and ridiculous -- road from the origin of public toilets to the free facilities we enjoy today. Tune in to learn how the United States decided to 'solve' a public health crisis by charging people to poop... and stay tuned to learn what happened next.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ridiculous History is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome back to the show. |
| 0:27.8 | Fellow ridiculous historians. |
| 0:29.5 | Thank you, as always so much for tuning in. |
| 0:32.5 | Let's hear it for The Man, the Myth, the Legend, our super producer, Mr. Max Williams. |
| 0:37.0 | I want to brag about Max just a little bit because this guy, I'm Ben Bowling, you're Noel Brown. |
| 0:45.7 | No, I got to brag about our super producer, Mr. Williams, because Max, if you could, explain how you went from long, flowing tresses |
| 1:00.5 | to donating your hair to an actual charitable society. |
| 1:06.3 | Well, I'm still working on that. I got the hair right here, actually. |
| 1:10.2 | He's got his hair in a bag. I have to get a, it doesn't fit in a normal envelope, so I have to get a larger envelope. |
| 1:15.6 | But I, no, I'd rather more talk about the mustache, but I guess if you really want to hear. I love it all, man. I think the cut looks dope. It suits you. The stash is rocking, and it's all for a good cause. So, I mean, there's no downside, frankly. I've been growing that hair for about seven years now, |
| 1:29.9 | so it feels really great to cut it rocking and it's all for a good cause so i mean there's no downside frankly i mean i've been |
| 1:28.2 | growing that hair for about seven years now so it was it feels really great to cut it all off and uh |
| 1:32.6 | ship it out to hopefully somebody who has better use for it wasn't locks of love it was the other one |
| 1:37.6 | right that you were shooting for it's one of them one of them you're just seeing hold two you just |
| 1:41.7 | any takers i got it and welcome to the mustache mafia, Max. |
| 1:47.8 | It's a pleasure to have you. |
| 1:49.3 | As always, |
| 1:50.5 | quick question by way of an awkward segue. |
| 1:54.3 | When you were getting your flowing locks, |
| 1:59.0 | severed, |
| 1:59.4 | severed, |
| 2:00.6 | there we go. Thank you, Noel. Did you have to use the restroom? Absolutely. Of course I did. But the place I got my haircut was really nice and it was like one of those really fancy restrooms that have like real towels that like, you know, you unroll, you wash, you dry your hands with. Are you saying you had to use the restroom mid-cut? |
... |
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