Today, we dig into the 80s culture of celebrity charity work! From Live Aid to 'We Are the World', we started a trend where massive movements were spearheaded by celebrities. USA for Africa, the organization responsible for We Are the World & Hands Across America, stands for 'United Support of Artists for Africa' (we wouldn't have guessed that, because it makes no sense). What IS Hands Across America, you ask? It's exactly what you sound like, a human chain of people holding hands, for 15 mins, for $10 a person. It did end up raising money to fight hunger in America - it did not cover the entire country. Taylor argues that people in the pictures are standing WAY too close together - you need to be outstretched hand to outstretched hand, and they could have doubled their mileage.
Today, we dig into the 80s culture of celebrity charity work! From Live Aid to 'We Are the World', we started a trend where massive movements were spearheaded by celebrities. USA for Africa, the organization responsible for We Are the World & Hands Across America, stands for 'United Support of Artists for Africa' (we wouldn't have guessed that, because it makes no sense).
What IS Hands Across America, you ask? It's exactly what you sound like, a human chain of people holding hands, for 15 mins, for $10 a person. It did end up raising money to fight hunger in America - it did not cover the entire country. Taylor argues that people in the pictures are standing WAY too close together - you need to be outstretched hand to outstretched hand, and they could have doubled their mileage.
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Taylor: Did I tell you that we're adopting a tortoise
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson, case number BA09. And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you.
>> Farz: Boom. We are back, Taylor. Live from our shout outs from Dan Carlin. How are you doing today?
>> Taylor: Good. Did I tell you that we're adopting a tortoise?
>> Farz: Yes. And I'm really excited about you. I've been telling Rachel about your tortoise for so like it's been like four days. I've been talking about your tortoise.
>> Taylor: Oh my God, I can't wait. I can't wait to get him. And I'll have you meet him. He's the one that we might get is 32 years old.
>> Farz: Like do you know how big he is?
>> Taylor: I imagine he's pretty big.
>> Farz: What's his name?
>> Taylor: I don't know. I know there's two we might get. There's like the old, the 32 year old male and then there's a like 16 year old female and her name is Lady Gaga.
>> Farz: That is pretty cute. Although there's a sign of a times. I mean 16. Yeah, 16 years ago. Yeah. You named your.
>> Taylor: Yeah, so. Yeah. So I'm super excited about that and I will keep you posted on that. I think there's some other announcement that I wanted to tell you. We talked about fire, talked about the weather. I know.
>> Farz: I hope his name is like Thurgood Thaddeus the fifth.
>> Taylor: Yeah, it'll be fun. Yeah. I name him Dan Carlin.
>> Farz: That's pretty cute.
>> Taylor: Cool. Hi. Thank you. Bars.
Doomed to Fail brings your history's most notorious disasters and epic failures
Welcome everyone to Doomed to Fail. We bring your history's most notorious disasters and epic failures twice a week. And I am Taylor, joined by Farth. And we were talking about some like nuclear things and I have kind of a fun thing. It's easy to make fun of, but it is a thing that has good intentions.
>> Farz: You did post a picture and I again, Taylor doesn't. We don't tell each other what our topics are ahead of time because we want to get like a live reaction to things. But Taylor did post something about what she's going to be covering and I kept guessing in my own mind. I couldn't come with what it was.
>> Taylor: Wait, what did I post?
>> Farz: You posted like it was a. It was a. It looked like what is. Where do kids go when they're born? Like it was like a. Oh no.
>> Taylor: That was from Chernobyl.
>> Farz: Oh, I thought you said. Oh, you know what, you did it ahead of time then. Yeah, the next one. Okay, never mind. Sorry.
>> Taylor: But thank you for looking at her social media. And no. Guess what happened exactly one month after Chernobyl in America.
>> Farz: Three mile Island.
>> Taylor: No. May 26, 1986, in America. And all across America. Guess what we did. Guess what 5 million people did.
>> Farz: I have no idea.
>> Taylor: They held hands. Talking Hands Across America.
>> Farz: I don't know this at all. This is gonna be interesting. I don't know this at all.
>> Taylor: So Hands Across America is a charity event where they wanted people to hold hands for 15 minutes in a human chain all the way across America.
>> Farz: For what purpose?
>> Taylor: I'll tell you. To raise money for, like, hunger in America. And so I always think about it. Because you've seen Beer Fest, right?
>> Farz: Oh, well, yeah, of course.
>> Taylor: So in the beginning of Beer Fest, when they're, like, getting their team together and they get Landfill and they, like, see him at, like, a eating contest, and he goes, I haven't seen you guys since. Hands Across America. And they hold hands and they go Hands Across America. And, like, it's just so funny. And like, Juan and I say that all the time. And then also in. Did you see the US The Jordan Peele movie?
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: They're wearing, like, Hands Across America T shirts.
>> Farz: Like, memory is just, like, crazy good.
>> Taylor: Well, I also just research this, but, like, I do. We do sing the Hands Across America song all the time because we love Beer Fest so much.
>> Farz: Beer Fest is amazing movie.
>> Taylor: It's so good. So basically, yes, the plan was to have people hold hands from New York City to California for 15 minutes and raise money to end hunger in America. They ended up raising $15 million, which is not at all their goal. The goal was, like, 50, but at least they raised $15 million. And then, as you would expect, there were some breaks in the train, of.
>> Farz: Course, which is rivers and.
>> Taylor: And, like, deserts and Texas, you know. Yeah. So there's like, this thing that happened in the 80s, or there were, like, big celebrity philanthropy things that people were really excited about, where, like, every famous person wanted to be involved. And some examples, like beforehands across America. In the UK there was Live Aid, which was in 1984, which was, like, a big concert to raise money. Do you remember this?
>> Farz: I do.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So in Ethiopia, just like, putting it all together. In Ethiopia, in 1983-85, 1/5 of the population died from starvation. They had just horrible drought. It was like, the official cause is war and drought, you know, like policies that made it hard to. To feed people. There were, you know, 200,000 children were orphaned. Just absolutely, you know, devastated that area. So Bob Geldorf, the Geldof, the musician in the uk, put together Live Aid to raise money. So that's what they had. That's what that was. And that was like a big concert. But do you know what song came out of live aid from 1984?
>> Farz: No clue.
>> Taylor: Do they know it's Christmas? Do you hear that song? No, I hate it. It's a Christmas song. It's a Christmas song. Yes. It's like. Well, it's like. I don't know. I don't know how much Christmas music you listen to in the Silk and Sandra household, but here, from, like, mid November all the way through Christmas, I'm listening to Christmas music. And there's always this song. So it's. Do they know it's Christmas?
Some of the words are like, there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas
And basically, it's like, there won't be. Some of the words are like, there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas. Do they even know that it's Christmas time? And you're like, no. What? Dumb. Definitely so is in parts of Africa also. But it was like a song by a bunch of celebrities to raise money.
>> Farz: You know what? This. As you were telling the Live Aid piece of this, what I was thinking about was that one song with, like, Michael Jackson and, like, they all got.
>> Taylor: It, but that's not it. But that's the next one I'm gonna tell you about in just a second. That's where the worlds. Yeah.
>> Farz: I will say that that became, for me, like, the focal point of when we thought that celebrities were better than we are because they would go and sing and then you have, like, everybody saying we are one or whatever. The.
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: It's. It's like that. Ick. The gross cringe crap from COVID You're like, this started that.
>> Taylor: It absolutely did. Yeah. And this is like the first time this is happening. Exactly, exactly. Right.
We Are the World was written to raise money for famine relief during Live Aid
So anyway, do the noise. Christmas, I think, is a ridiculous song, but it was supposed to raise money to help, you know, from Live Aid. So Live Aid also, it was in Webley Stadium, you know, big concert. And you've seen the Queen movie, right?
>> Farz: No, but I've seen the real videos.
>> Taylor: From Freddie Mercury, of course. So, like, the Queen was in it. So there's a. It's a whole day of concerts. But I just wanted to read the last couple people who performed. It was U2, Dire Straits, Queen, David Bowie, the who, Elton John. Freddie Mercury came back and then Paul McCartney. And then that's when they recorded do you know it's. Do they know it's Christmas time? That's Wild at the end of Live Aid, which I did not know that that was like connected, that that's when they did that song. So they raised a bunch of money with Live Aid to help the people in Ethiopia, which was super great. And then in America, we were like, well, we can do this too. Like, we can have a song and raise money and we have our own famous people. Harry Belafonte in particular was like, we should involve black people in this, which totally makes sense. So he was like, we need like a much more diverse group of people singing a song. And so the song that they wrote is the one that you had just mentioned, We Are the World, which I'm sure is in your head right now.
>> Farz: Yeah, unfortunately, it is.
>> Taylor: Totally. So anyway, America is like, we are going to do this too. We're going to write a song and have a bunch of celebrities sing it and have the money go to charity. So We Are the World is written by Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones. What? That's an incredible group of people to write a song.
>> Farz: I mean, listen, like, for what it was, it was a good song. It's just like, I hate. You know what? They did a great song because I can sing it right now in my head and I haven't heard it in like 15 years.
>> Taylor: Exactly, exactly. It is the eighth best selling single of all time.
>> Farz: What's number one?
>> Taylor: Thriller, White Christmas by Bing Crosby, which I love. Also Christmas music. So they started to. They wrote the song and they got it ready. On January 28, 1985, immediately after the American Music Awards in LA, everyone went to the recording studio. So it was like 50 people and like tons of people were not invited because they like couldn't fit everybody in, like any. All of the musicians in. They worked all night till 8am and there were 21 solos. So I feel like if you. You can picture that, I'm going to read you the people who did the solos because it's wild. There's Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Giroux, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Darryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Karnas, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles. So like huge mega stars on that list. They raised $50 million for famine relief.
>> Farz: Yeah, I can believe it.
>> Taylor: Which is pretty, pretty incredible. There's a video. I'm sure you've seen the video. Music video as well. That is great. Also, like, there was a chorus and you remember Dan Aykroyd was in the Chorus.
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: And then the chorus also includes, like, all of the Jackson family members, all three Pointer Sisters. Just like a whole bunch of people are in that as well as. Well, Harry Belafonte is in the chorus. They ended up making a. An album as well that had a bunch of other songs on it. And one of the other songs was by Prince. Prince was, He didn't attend the recording session for We Are the World because Bob Gildof called him a creep and he was mad, so he didn't go.
>> Farz: I mean, yeah, I get both sides.
>> Taylor: So the album that they made won four Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and multiple American music and MTV Video Awards. So huge, huge success. Yeah, people loved it. So one of the guys who was to work on We All We Are the World, his name is Ken Kragan, and he started a group called USA for Africa, which does not stand for the United States of America. It stands for United Support of Artists for Africa.
>> Farz: That is kind of misleading.
>> Taylor: I don't love it. Miles is here. He doesn't know that he's gonna lose $5 because he's in my space. If you come back in the space, I'll. You lose $5. Okay, so. So he says, let's do something else.
Hands Across America was started in 1985 to raise money for hunger
So 1985, let's do, like, a next. The next big thing. Let's include more people. And the next big thing they decided to do is Hands Across America to raise money for hunger here in America. So not for Africa for America, even though it's from United Supportive Artists for Africa. Whatever. They're doing it here. They plan it for May 25, 1986, and they do a huge, like, like, press conference to announce it in October 1985. One of the people who was one of the big sponsors was Bill Cosby in retrospect, Right. So they had 700 company sponsors. Coca Cola, McDonald's were, like, huge ones. There was actually someone in 1976 who had wanted to do Hands Across America to celebrate the bicentennial, but they ended up doing just 10 miles outside of Chicago, which makes me laugh also. But that patent, the trademark on Hands Across America, lapsed. And then Ken Craigen picked it up for the big Hands Across America.
>> Farz: Well, good for them.
>> Taylor: So Michael Jackson was so mad that they didn't use We Are the World as the theme song for Hands Across America that he left the board of USA for Africa.
>> Farz: Yeah, you're dealing with a lot of ego.
>> Taylor: Exactly. People that. Yeah, the. Actually, I didn't mention this, but when they sang we are the world. There was a sign at the front door that said, leave your ego at the door. Yeah, I'm sure they did exactly that. So you were asked to donate $10 to join the chain. That's how they were raising the money. Besides, like, the corporate sponsorships. Eventually people who. Who had not paid got to join anyway because, like, they needed more people. So it didn't really matter. No one was, like, checking your ticket. Like, the day of. They sold a mile for $13,200 per mile that you could, like, sponsor. Prince was actually the first person to buy a mile, and then people could, like, be in that mile for free, basically. So the route that they had planned was 4,125 miles from battery park in New York City to Long Beach, California. It went through 16 states and Washington.
>> Farz: D.C. there's no way 5 million people could do that.
>> Taylor: No. They needed way more people, Right?
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Like, it's amazing that 505 million people did it, but that's not enough people. No, you need more. So they were. Obviously, you can't go through every state, but there were people who were p*****. Ted Kennedy was p***** that I didn't go and go through New England because it went through, like, D.C. and then to. And then Pennsylvania, and then, like, out that way that he started. They did, like, a counter thing in Massachusetts called Hands Across Massachusetts because they were jealous, so they weren't invited. There were, obviously. It was, like, a huge deal to coordinate, so volunteer community coordinators recruited people in their cities, which kind of reminds me of, like, the March of Dimes. And when, like, the women were, like, their community coordinator for the area to raise money for the polio vaccine, it was like, you. You know, you volunteer to do it. You get all your friends to do it, and you register, you take the donations. And then again, like, they let people come who didn't pay. Tons of celebrities came. There was a part of the Susquehanna river in Maryland where you can't go on the bridge, so scuba divers held hands underwater, which is cute.
>> Farz: That's kind of cute.
>> Taylor: Yeah. President Reagan was there last minute. It went through the White House, through the White House lawn. Because Reagan had just said in the news about hunger in America. He had said, quote, where there is hunger, you have to determine that. That is probably because of a lack of knowledge on the part of the people as to what things are available. So, like, blaming poor people for being hungry. And people were p*****. So he joined his Across America last minute, and people were mad. There was A chain of people protesting across of the chain that was in, in the White House holding hands. So they were like a separate chain protesting that part of the chain. And Reverend Jesse Jackson said he should not be in the line. His policies created the line, you know, so like everyone's mad. Most of political stuff in D.C. some places where they didn't have enough people, they had like ribbons and ropes. Some people use like their animals. They're like the one part of it was like cows foot to foot.
>> Farz: Leave the animals alone. Leave.
>> Taylor: Because like why are you doing this? In some places that went through like prison yards and the prisoners held hands, it went through the stadium.
>> Farz: This, if I'm being honest, like everything about this is making me like the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
>> Taylor: I know it's like for a good reason, but it's like also ridiculous. And you, I, I just hope that.
>> Farz: You see also you could just give the I, I think back to that one Ellen video where it was like, I'm gonna ask you a bunch of trivia questions and for everyone you get right, I'll donate a thousand dollars to cancer research. It was like, well, can you.
>> Taylor: The money, the money from the, all of the stuff like went to logistics, you know, like.
>> Farz: That seems like a, like not that much money, right?
>> Taylor: Because like Coca Cola gave them $8 million for logistics. Like just give $8 million to people. Yeah, but, but they wanted. But exactly like you said, this is like the time of like the really big charity thing. And we also talked about this in the pulp in the poll polio thing. Like that time when women and moms were doing March of Diamond stuff and getting people to donate to a specific charity. Like that was brand new, you know, and that was like the 1960s. So we haven't been doing this forever where you give to a specific charity before you would give to a community chest like in Monopoly and then a community board would decide where that money went in your neighborhood.
>> Farz: You know, I guess, I guess I'm looking at the modern lens which is like donations are just like way of life. But maybe like back then you needed to do something like this. I don't know.
Hands Across America raised money for homeless charities and distributed it quickly
>> Taylor: Yeah, it was performative, but I think obviously on purpose. So it went more just more fun facts. It started off in with a six year old girl from Brooklyn who lived in a New York City welfare hotel, which is like a place like a homeless shelter for families. And so she started it to like kind of bring awareness to like her play and like what people are really living through. Then it went over the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey, down through Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Eagles held hands with. With local Little League kids, which is cute. And then Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr. S widow, she was there. So a ton of people, a ton of famous people were there during the 15 minutes. They, like, sang We Are the World. They sang America the Beautiful. Tony Danzo was there. Mickey Mouse and C3PO held hands in Disneyland. Like, stupid. It's so funny. Lionel Richie, Little Richard, Frank Sinatra, Yoko Ono. You can see pictures of her holding hands with people. And, yeah, it just. It just kind of went. And it didn't do what it was supposed to do, but it was just like a fun, weird activity. There was. There's a famous picture of nuns holding hands with H***'s Angels in. And the. In Gallup, N.M. 2000 Navajo were a part of it, which is cool, because there was a powwow that weekend. Like, five people got married during Hands Across America. Somehow they're all divorced there. There were some baptisms, one bar mitzvah. I'm sure there were a bunch of engagements and stuff. And so another thing that happened kind of afterwards is like, this is the 80s also. Like, I don't know how you're collecting the money, but a lot of people who did it and said they were going to donate just never sent their money in.
>> Farz: Yeah, of course.
>> Taylor: You know, so that was another COD days. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, there were 20. They raised $24.5 million, but then 9.5 of that money went to costs. Even though they got corporate sponsorships, in the end, $15 million got to charity. They estimate that, like, about 8 million of promised money never got there. Because people, again, like you said, they just never, never did it. They used the money, distributed it to really quickly. Like, by 1987, they had distributed the money to 1600 local organizations in all 50 states. So they didn't leave any states out of, like, distributing the money and giving it to, like, local food shelters and things like that, which is great. And so, yeah, they raised money. But, you know, it's a funny example of, like, being super ambitious and being like, you could never do that. No one's holding hands over. The.
>> Farz: Scuba divers were kind of impressive, but overall, like, yeah, it's weird. Like, I'm reflecting back my, like, childhood. I'm like, yeah, like, that does feel like the moment when, like, people started being like, oh, my God. These celebrities are like, angels. They're gonna save us from ourselves. It's like they're Just worse versions of us. They're, like, not any better. They're worse.
>> Taylor: Like, they could just quietly give away all their money.
>> Farz: I know.
>> Taylor: Wow.
>> Farz: But whatever. I mean, yeah. Yeah. The whole. The whole singing during COVID thing, I was like. I was like. I was like. That was the one time when I was like, finally people understand why I have this sentiment towards, like, celebrities being like, we can heal everything. And it's like, no, you're just.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Your jobs were, like, what people would do when they couldn't have normal jobs in the 1800s. Like.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Like, you were, like. It was like, a shame.
>> Farz: You were.
>> Taylor: Yeah. You were definitely talking about this where, like, women actors were, like, the same level as, like, sex workers in society. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. And you talked about, you know, to go back to some of our other episodes as well. We did the one on the cult of celebrity that you did. And, like, that definitely. It's like, why are we doing this?
>> Farz: Yeah. Like, I. I'm not, like, actively boycotting things like the Academy Awards. It's more so, like, why is this interesting? Like, why do we, like, sit here and, like, we're like, we're gonna have to get bank. I don't know. Maybe it's just, like. It's culture. I'm stepping outside of culture, I guess.
>> Taylor: I guess. I mean, I am stalking my new best friend Dan Carlin on Blue Sky.
>> Farz: But that's different, though. That's different. Like, I don't know. Like, I. I feel like that's different.
Dan Carlin told me to do something or what he believed in
Maybe I'm wrong.
>> Taylor: No, I hope. I mean, I think it. I think is.
>> Farz: I mean, Dan Carlin told me to, like, do something or what he believed in. It's like, who gives a. Like, you're not. Like, God. Like, you can't. You're right. You're not infallible. Like, you can also have stupid ideas. Like.
>> Taylor: Totally. Yeah, that's funny. Yeah, that's it. Hands Across America.
>> Farz: I can. I can visualize it, you know, because it's all pixelated and granulated. You can see, like, the blacks aren't really that black. And, like, it's, like, 80s. Yeah, it's so 80s. Like, you can see the flicker of light coming. Yeah.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Oh, my God. This shirt is actually great. This they're wearing in US is like, United States of. Like, in the middle of. There's a bunch of hands, you know, people holding hands. It's just really funny. Like, I. I like.
>> Farz: Even the look in the faces of the people that are doing this. Like, we're Doing something. And it's like, no, you're not.
>> Taylor: I know. And like, I feel like I don't know. So in some cases I'm always like, you know, for charity. Things like, oh, we could just do. I can just give you the money, you know, you don't have to do the thing. Like sometimes the kids will have things like a fundraising drive at school. Right. And then it's like, oh, if you raise like 200 to get this s***** toy and you know, it goes through this website and then I'm sure it's taking a percentage off of it. I'm like, why don't I just give school 50 bucks, you know, and like, save everybody the problem, the time. I can give them cash.
>> Farz: So, yeah, it's.
>> Taylor: I'm the same picture of people in. On the beach in California and they're not in a straight line. And I'm like, that's also part of the problem.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: As the crow flies across America, there's no time for anything else. Imagine the responsibility you would feel if you were a child and you like let go of someone's hand.
>> Farz: Yeah. You'd ruin it.
>> Taylor: This is your fault. And then I think the end of us, the all of like the weird creatures are holding hands. Like Hands Across America. Because it's like, there's a Hands Across America T shirt.
>> Farz: Yeah. There's all these like non profits where like more than 50% of donations go to paying salaries of staff and logistics.
>> Taylor: Totally.
>> Farz: Like, that's.
>> Taylor: I mean, it's so. It's hard. It's so hard because you need people to work there. Like, I know people worked at non profits and we've talked about this where like, you know, they expect to get paid less than you would if you worked in the private sector. That totally makes sense. But also people need to live, you know, so like there's things. Then there's also ones like the Susan G. Coleman the, like the pink for breast cancer. They're f****** awful. They give like 1% to actual breast cancer research. It's all like, it's all performative, you know?
>> Farz: Well, it's partially performative, I bet, because so much money is wasted in like the logistical aspect of running these programs of like, I don't know, I don't work in that industry, so I don't really know. But like.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. I don't really answer. I was. I'm halfway through reading Abundance that you had recommended by Ezra Klein. And it's good. And there's a couple things that I Find super interesting like the, the wealthier city, the more homelessness they have because housing is more expensive, you know, and like that makes sense and like the. How we've lost. Like one thing that he said that I keep thinking about it is like the, the boarding house we lost. So there's no, it's hard to like there's no place to live where you can like rent a room and then there's a kitchen in the middle and you share it with a bunch of other people. You know, like that's, that used to be a thing that people did and that was like a great step up to like adulthood. Like a dorm before grown ups. And like that feels like could solve a lot of problems.
One thing that just, I just started hearing about was why there's such a rise
>> Farz: One thing that just, I just started hearing about was like why there's such a rise. And you don't see that. I mean where you're living you wouldn't see this. But like in Austin and la, in other parts, like highly populated parts of the country, there's this like. And not to overuse the word abundance, there's an abundance of new construction of luxury condos. And the logic I'm hearing online, to be fair, but it's like they do that because if it's like somewhat associated with like luxury or like whatever, then they don't have to offer Section 8 housing. And so subsidized housing can't be a part of that. And so you're actually causing more of a reduction in affordable housing in those wealthier areas because they're deliberately trying to take that away.
>> Taylor: Right. And like I get that it's because they want to make money, but also then like people can't afford anything. It is a bummer.
>> Farz: What do you think of the book?
>> Taylor: Yeah, it's good. It's super interesting. I'm. I'm. What? I'm, I'm. They're talking about that and then just a lot about. I know you always mentioned like these regulations, especially in California, like the high speed rail stuff is really, really just wild. You know, all the money has been put into it and how like other countries have like very successfully done it for decades and we can't do it. Really.
>> Farz: It's kind of nuts. We'll see. See where it lands. I'm, I'm. Abundance build.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited. It's good.
>> Farz: Sweet. Well, that was, that was fun. You brought back so many memories of like my childhood. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was very interesting. I remember like you made me reminded me of like when Pizza Hut bought the moon or something. Or Pepsi bought, like, a stationary. There was. We were nuts in the early 90s. Like, we were such a crazy country. Like.
>> Taylor: Yeah. And I also, like, wonder, like, it's so funny and interesting that, like, they had to do these announcements, like, at the super bowl, because when did you get. How do you get everybody's attention? You know, like, things like that I think are so interesting. Like, pre Internet getting. How did we even. How did we know anything? Yeah.
>> Farz: Yeah. You just have to know stuff.
>> Taylor: No, you just have to know. You had to, like, have a friend who did it and. Or whatever. But it seems. I think it would have been. I think it would have been fun. I guess I would. If I would do it. If they were, like, Hands across the Joshua Tree, I would. I would hold everybody's hand looking at.
>> Farz: The pictures of people that did it. I would not want to hang out with them. So I would probably would not do it. But I would donate. I would donate. I do call a check on delivery COD and I would give them a check, and that would be my contribution.
>> Taylor: Oh, here's the. There's. That's it. That's what I'm saying, too. Like, you can just do that. You don't have to, like, do this stuff. There's a gif of them holding hands in Beer Fest and going Hands Across America Fest tonight. I've been watching Tacoma, FDMore. God, I love them.
>> Farz: You know what? The later stuff they did. The Island, Fear island or whatever. Yeah, that was stupid. It was really just.
>> Taylor: It's hit or miss. The most recent one is Quasimodo, and it's terrible.
>> Farz: I didn't even try to watch that.
>> Taylor: Don't even. It's so bad. And we saw Live One time, and it was also terrible. But then, like, some stuff is great, dude.
>> Farz: Super Troopers and Beer Fest, those two are like. They should be in the national archives.
>> Taylor: Super Troopers 2, I think, is better than 1.
>> Farz: I don't think I even saw Super Troopers.
>> Taylor: It's so good. I've seen it more.
I think it's great. Obviously amazing, but we are Broken Lizard fans here
I think it's great. Yeah.
>> Farz: Obviously amazing, but we are Broken Lizard fans here.
>> Taylor: Of course we are. Cool. Well, thank you. That was fun to think about. I have one that Morgan has been bugging me to do that I want to do, and I'm hopefully gonna do that next week. But I'm waiting for a book from the library. Of course, because that's my goal. My life is just waiting for books from Libby and. But yeah. Thank you, everyone, for listening. If you were part of Hands Across America, I want to know what it was like. Did your mom make you do it? You know, let me know. Doomed to failpodmail.com and anywhere you social media. Doomed to fail pod especially blue sky, where Dan Carlin and I are having a very robust relationship, robust conversation. He has answered me twice and I keep telling him he's awesome and he's like, thank you. So it's been great.
>> Farz: Very cool. Awesome. Tell well, thank you for sharing. I'll go ahead and cut it off there.