Profiles In Eccentricity

This week The Covid Kid aka Johnboy has the bug again so we will be back next week for Barnum Part 2! In the meantime, here is a classic Patreon episode from April where we get into, amongst much else, Caleb Landry Jones, cocaine beaches, and artificial intelligence!

This week Johnboy explores the origins of the pivotal showman, Phineas Taylor Barnum and his initial series of traveling shows that brought him instant worldwide repute with Joice Heth, Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind; a slave woman reported as 161 years old, a dwarf with talent and charisma and an angelic voice who showed Barnum's extent to manipulate the media narrative!

This week the boys venture again into media mayhem with wild punk rock binges in mania, Ice T let loose on blaxploitation and Luchador wrestling and a slew of PSA ads that beg belief! 

This week Johnboy hits the lads with two tales of weirdos! The first is a swamp bandit whose gang ruthlessly attacked police, robbed banks and controlled the illegal alcohol economy in South Florida! The second is a magician that worked in yellow face round the clock before having a very dangerous trick go exceedingly wrong!

This week Johnboy brings the tale of Nicolae Ceausescu, the conniving and cruel dictator of Romania who forced excessive childbirth on the population, razed homes to construct North Korean style palaces and cities, achieved status internationally as a rogue of the eastern bloc and finally was brutally executed along his evil bride on Christmas Day!

This week Johnboy treats the lads to the sordid class war saga of the Johnson County War, where cattle barons openly started a campaign of assassination against smaller cattle farmers before president Benjamin Harrison and local entrepreneurs intervened on either side of the conflict!

This week Matt regales the boys with the legacy of heiress Marchesa Casati, whose style, charisma, wealth and pomp made artists and high society fear and fawn over her exploits with sex, drugs, the occult and exotic animals!

This week the boys revisit the playboy lifestyle of the mid-twentieth century in Europe with the tales of three different playboys who entered the spheres of wealth and high society by virtue of just being hot, fun, connected bachelors!

This week Aaron brings us the story of chemistry prodigy - turned - nuclear threat, David Hahn - the child of divorce who applied DIY ethos to nuclear energy experiments before his creations became too unwieldy for US government agencies and still earned him an Eagle Scout badge!

This week Johnboy brings the tale of the young Australian boy who was trapped in the hostile wilderness of the Northern Territories for two months and became a national hero whose exploits became the basis for the film Crocodile Dundee,  before his legal troubles and drug abuse led him to a bloody showdown with the law!

This week Matt profiles a time and place! The Mississippi River in the early 1800s takes in crime, geological aberrations, natural disasters and local politics in fascinating ways and identifies river folk as their own unique breed!

This week Johnboy shares the tale of "Rubi," the Latin lover, sportsman, diplomat, despot affiliate and international man of mystery who courted the wealthiest and most beautiful women of the middle of the 20th century due to his charismatic magnetism, gentlemanly disposition and big ol' hawg! 

This week Matt shares the story of three Polish American boys- Butch, Pops and Peanuts -who grew up poor in Chicago, stealing food to survive and later went on to be responsible for some of the largest robberies in American history with endless arrests, schemes, bribes, chases, prison terms, bullet wounds, and heists in between!

This week Johnboy shares the story of the chain-smoking combative talk show host that courted controversy and violence in the brief time his show soared in popularity before burning out abruptly!

We're off this week, but here's a little extra episode from our patreon. We talk wild nature, porn blocking, bee facts, SBF, and more. Only $5 per month. Find us at https://www.patreon.com/profilesineccentricity

This week Aaron treats the lads to the far out ideas of John Kellogg, from his progressive ideas about diet, cleanliness and exercise to his problematic notions about sex, genetics and masturbation prevention through genital mutilation! 

This week Johnboy assembles a team of vengeance-driven eccentric characters from the recent past, including a 60s femme fatale film star, an abused-child-turned-abuser-hunter and a man with a chip on his shoulder, meth in his system, and the know-how to wage a one man war on the town that let him down! 

This week Matt tells the lads about the delusional, lazy, universally-loathed narcissist who failed his way through several industries before landing in Republican politics - failing at that as well - and trying to finally attain success as the assassin of President Garfield!

This week Johnboy shares the terrifying story of a woman whose disregard of the poor and greed led her to build a criminal empire in the world of adoption, leading to abuse, death and displacement for thousands of families - including a few notable famed individuals!

In the finale of Matt's Crispo saga, we see drug paranoia mixed with the heights of access, sycophantic sadists and power play into cruel sexual fantasies that lead to a dark crime that bears little justice and darker implications for society as a whole. Plus Joe Kaye!

This week we are joined by fan favorite Joe Kaye to begin exploring the tale of the orphan who ingratiated himself into the elite world of art during a time when gay culture was burgeoning in New York City and Andrew was keeping business fast and loose!

In light of recent events we revisit an old patreon media episode: Our friend Nisa Ward joins us to talk about being duped into appearing in O.J. Simpsons's TV prank show and John fills in with background on Juiced, the strangest and trashiest television show ever created.

This week Johnboy shares the story of "Bumpy" Johnson's rise to power in the world of crime, taking on established Jewish and Italian gangsters, entertaining fame, women, celebrity and prison time after starting as a small plucky kid who might just cut your face!

This week the lads collide with another smorgasbord of clips from the halls of miscellany with odd ads from Jack In The Box, a far too open interview with Vincent Gallo, Orson Welles remembering his time with Churchill and so much more!! Links to all media available on Patreon.