Season 15
Gold Flake Drink
Musical Urge
The Origins of Electricity
Outside New York
Back of the John
Myths
Historic Rooms
Compost Heap
Hollering
Image Distortion
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Shep gets taken for a ride by a woman with expensive tastes in alcohol. In this program from July 19, 1973, he recalls the shock of seeing his bar tab after finding out exactly what was in the liqueur that flowed freely throughout the bar during an unsuccessful romantic endeavor.
Television programs. Colleges and universities. Countries. Everything has a theme song. This week we go back to July 12, 1965, as Shep recalls his time in the Army Signal Corps and realizing there was no official song for his unit.
Grownups sometimes think they can just wing it when a child asks them a tough question. In this program from July 5, 1966, Shep remembers how he stumped The Old Man by asking why people called electricity "electricity".
Take a New Yorker out of the Big Apple, and they might think they've gone back in time. In this program from June 28, 1973, Shep shares some examples of his contemporary writing being mistaken for happenings of past decades.
When a woman in New Jersey suggested everyone put a brick in their toilet tanks to conserve water, it brought back bad memories for Shep. In this program, originally aired June 21, 1972, he recalls something he and Schwartz found in the back of the toilet at school.
Urban myths can be widespread or localized. Some of them take place within the family unit. In this program from June 10, 1964, Shep tells some of the tall tales his parents passed along to him as he got older.
When you think of historic places, you often picture rooms of national significance. But sometimes our personal history harkens back to rooms that might be inconsequential to others but important to us as individuals. In this program originally aired June 8, 1972, Shep recalls one such room in his life.
When a Lithuanian family moves into the neighborhood, some of their conservation habits cause others to hold their noses. In this program from May 31, 1963, Shep explains exactly what they were doing in the backyard and why it caused such a fuss.
Before the days of electronic communication, having a loud voice was beneficial. In this program from May 24, 1972, Shep describes the scene at the National Hollerin' Contest in North Carolina and demonstrates some of his own rebel yells.
Selectively using someone's words can turn even the world's kindest person into one who appears to be the epitome of evil. In this program from May 17, 1972, Shep explores why some political figures go underground close to an election to avoid having their words twisted by the opposition.