You should hope that you don't make any mistakes as big as these.
Let's talk about that.
♪ (theme music) ♪
- Gooooooood Mythical Morning! - It has been said that those who cannot
learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
- Oh yeah? - Yeah. This is why, despite my better
judgment, I keep going back to The Sizzler.
- (Link and crew laugh) - Ohhh, my goodness. The Sizzler?
Yeah, threw a little Sizzler in there! Little Sizzler joke!
- The Beta Club awards was at the back room - (both) of the Sizzler!
- Or was it a Golden Corral? - No, that was the Western Sizzler,
- which is-- - Western Sizzlin'!
- Western Sizzlin'? - It had an N on the end.
Yeah, it was different. It was a totally different thing.
So we have... corralled, ah... the cows of mistake.
- Golden Corralled. - I really tried to make it work.
The biggest mistakes in history. Am I going first? Can I give you this one?
- You are! Yeah, don't make a mistake. - Let me take you to the year 1788 in what
- is modern-day Romania. - Oh, nice.
- 100,000-strong Austrian army, okay? - Mmhm.
... was setting up camp to attack the nearby Ottoman Empire. Actually, they were
preparing for an attack by the Turks, the Ottoman Empire.
- Okay. - And they sent a group of scouts over the
- Timis River, into the invading... - Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts?
Hold on, I gotta picture this right. Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts? They had cookies
or are they tying knots? I gotta get this right in my mind.
- They were soldiers, Rhett. - Oh, neither. This is pre-Boy Scouts and
- Girl Scouts. - Right, but this is where they came from.
- Okay. - The Austrians.
I'm gonna picture Girl Scouts because of the cookies.
So they send some scouts, sans cookies, across the river. They're over there and
they don't find any Turks, but what they do find are--
- Thin Mints. - Nope. Some roaming Gypsies...
- Ah. - selling their wares, and this is where
it gets interesting, because the wares specifically were schnapps.
- The Gypsies were selling schnapps. - Liquor?
- Liquor. - Like peach schnapps?
Peach schnapps. I don't know if it was peach; I don't know if it's fig schnapps...
- Wow! - I don't know what they would've had.
- You can get in trouble with that stuff. - Oh, and they did. They started buying
barrels of that stuff and then got to drinking, and then they just
- hung out over there. - Straight peach schnapps? Didn't mix it?
- I don't know, Rhett! - Stick a Thin Mint in there.
- (both laugh) - So after a while, the rest of
- the Austrian army comes-- - What's another kind of Girl Scout cookie?
- Just remind me. - The peanut butter ones are my favorite.
- What do you call that one? - Peanut-- I don't know. They know.
They're saying it in the comments. Read the comments and you'll know.
- Okay. I won't-- - Um, do you guys know?
- (crew) Tagalongs. - Nobody knows right now? Tagalongs.
- Tagalongs. - Tagalogs?
- Tagalongs. - No, that's a... that's a language.
Um, anyway, they never show up, so then the army goes after them. They go over
there and they're, like, seeing 'em drinking up the schnapps and they're like,
"Give us some of those schnapps!" and you know what they do? They say "No!" and the
scouts build a barricade around the schnapps and they start fighting over the
schnapps, like yelling and stuff. But then someone has the bright idea--
- Infighting! - Infighting. But they're just, like,
shenanigans. But then someone fires off a weapon.
- Oh no. - And then someone else yells,
"Terci! Terci!" which means "Turks! Turks!" The enemies. And then they start shooting
at each other and they kill 10,000 of their own peeps!
- Over some schnapps! - Two days later, the Ottomans actually do
show up and just-- oh, the 10,000-- you know? Just walked right through 'em
- and took care of business. - And got a little extra schnapps.
That's a big mistake over a little bit of-- don't-- listen. The rule is:
- Share da schnapps, all right? - (Rhett and crew laugh)
- Share that schnapps, y'all! - Sharing is truly caring, especially
when it's not killing 10,000 of your own people.
Yes. How 'bout this? In April of 1846, 87 travelers set out from Illinoisssss--
(gruffly) I put the S on, yes I did. (normally) Illinois. Set out to California
in about 20 wagons headed by two brothers: Jacob and George Donner. You might
- recognize that name. - The Donner Party?
Yes. They began their journey on the California Trail, a well-known wagon route
that took about six months. But they were like, "You know what? We should take a
short cut. How 'bout that? Let's take a short cut called Hastings Cutoff."
Possibly an unintended foreshadowing of what was about to happen, if you know the
- Donner Party story. - Not really.
Well, you're about to. Lotta rugged terrain. They end up losing a bunch of
wagons, they end up losing a bunch of cattle, they end up having some infighting.
- They didn't have Google Maps? - No schnapps, either. They didn't have
- schnapps, but they had infighting. - Cookies?
No cookies that I'm aware of. They ended up getting stuck in the Sierra Nevada
mountains and they were trapped by an early heavy snowfall.
- Got it. - So, they're stuck up there. They send
some people away to try to get help. They get stuck through the winter for
four months, okay? They were not prepared for this.
- Okay. - They didn't have the provisions for this.
The way they ended up surviving-- actually 48 of them ended up surviving
out of the 87-- was by eating each other. Well, they waited until you died, and then
- they ate you. - So was the mistake eating their own party?
- I think so. - Or was it making the wrong turn?
You know what? That is a philosophical question, Link.
- (crew laughs) - You be the judge of that. But I will say
that they did have one prescription, and that was: You cannot eat your own relative.
You had to eat... an acquaintance. 'Cause you knew this person, you know?
And they had to write a prescription? Like, "I prescribe for you to eat... Donny."
- (crew laughs) - I don't think there was a doctor involved.
- But, you know, I always say-- - Didn't eat your own relative.
- That's cool! - Better eat a friend than a brother.
- I've never heard you say that. - (crew laughs)
And this brings us to the question of... if we were stranded and I died,
- would you eat me? - Yes.
'Cause I'm not related-- okay, good. What part?
That's easy. Did you think that was gonna be difficult?
- What would you start with? - What part? Now, that's difficult.
Um... I don't know what part, but I do know that I would face you the other
direction so you wouldn't be looking at me.
- Oh. - Like I wouldn't want--
- I'm not gonna eat your face. - You could just cut my head off.
- Yeah, I-- - And then it depersonalizes me, and then
you just-- play soccer with my head, I don't care.
- Here's a philosophical question: - Yeah?
Um, could you lop off a part of your own body, like your leg, and then eat that
- in order to survive? - I've tried. I lost heart before
- I actually made any contact. - Gosh, that's gross. I shouldn't have
- asked the question. - Don't take shortcuts, you might end up
- eating people. - Is that the lesson?
- Yeah. - (crew laughs)
Um, here's a really fascinating one. July 16, 1969 was one of the pinnacles of
- humankind. Crowning achievement. - Yes. Right.
- You know what it is? - (Rhett) The Moon Landing, man.
(Link) Yes you do, you know. All right, now, the mistake didn't happen--
- If you believe in that kind of thing. - (crew laughs)
Oh. Oooh. -- until, like, closer to the 2000's. So the mistake was not landing
on the moon, that was really awesome. I mean, people around the whole globe
gathered around their television sets for a live broadcast, which was a feat in and
- of itself. - Right.
But the interesting thing was, the famous footage that we now know and rewatch and
that they were watching live was not actually footage, it was footage of
footage. They had a television camera pointed at a giant wall monitor...
- Moonception! - at Mission Control in Houston. So they
were filming the screen which had this footage on it.
It's like somebody pirating a movie in China.
Right, exactly. It was a copy of a copy. Now, NASA was recording high quality, raw
telemetry video. I don't even know what that means.
- Yeah, you don't need to know. Who cares? - It sounds like-- they had it on lockdown.
They were actually recording it for reals.
- And archiving it, of course. - Right. As you would when you do
- something like land on the moon! - Maybe you see where I'm going with this,
but flash forward to the late 90's, early 2000's, they find this archive reel in
Australia and they think these are the pristine originals of the feed.
- Right. - But they can't play 'em there, they
gotta send 'em back to the US to be played on a special device, and then they realize
this isn't it. And then they realize... we don't know if we have the actual
- original footage of the Moon Landing. - Mmhm.
And then they spent the next few years trying to find the actual footage of this
historic event, and they never find it! In the 80's... Here's what they concluded:
In the 80's, NASA procedures mandated the re-use of old recording media to
- save money. - Oh, I see where this is going.
They taped over the Moon Landing raw files, guys. Can you imagine the moment
they realized that? The sinking feeling of that mistake?
Well, did the guy who actually did it, did he ever realize it?
- Or was he gone by that point? - They didn't pinpoint anyone.
They couldn't pinpoint the tapes. They don't even know what's over it. But it
reminds me of my father-in-law, who, every day, tapes The Young and the Restless
soap opera on the same VHS tape for the past 20 years. And I am not lying
- or exaggerating. - He still does this.
- He still does it. - Does he do super long play?
- Super long play. - Six hours?
And it totally degrades the quality. So we don't have that moment in time, so that's
- a huge mistake. - This really just feeds the whole
conspiracy theory, though. I mean, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but we don't have
the originals? It was taped over? Oh, come on, give me a break. It never happened!
- It was in Arizona and we all know that! - Here's what feeds it even more:
They did take the TV footage that we all know and love and they remastered that
at a Hollywood remastering place here in Burbank. So it was done by Hollywood
people to bring the grain out of it and everything. So that kind of perpetuated...
- Bring the grain out! - your little stance.
- Okay... - Put your videos on laserdisc!
- Ain't nobody gonna tape over that! - In 1962, two bands auditioned for
- Decca Records. The Silver Beatles... - Okay.
- And Brian Poole and the Tremoloes. - Brian Poole and the Tremoloes?!
Yeah, they were known for the-- ♪ arararararararararar ♪
- ♪ Tremolo-o-o-o ♪ - ♪ arararararararararar ♪
- Really? Not really. - That's a tremolo. That's the sound of it.
Hold on. Were these the guys who posed on one-legged air chairs on their album cover?
Yeah. One of 'em had a rope around his neck and they were all pulling it? Yes.
- (Link) Oh yeah, yeah! - (Rhett) Oh, you're familiar with them!
- (Link) You showed me that earlier today. - (Rhett) Right here. They're all wearing
- brown suits. Anyway... - Don't know 'em.
They both auditioned, and Dick Rowe, the executive who was listening to
- the demo tapes, - Okay.
ended up going with The Tremoloes, because they were in London.
- They were based in London. - Oh, Dick Rowe lovin' The Tremolo-o-o-s.
He did. And because the Silver Beatles were based in Liverpool. Silver Beatles?
Liverpool? Yes, you're right, he rejected The Beatles. They ended up signing...
(British accent) I really love that tremolo.
They ended up signing with EMI, ended up taking "silver" off of their name, just
- becoming The Beatles, and selling-- - Ooh!
six hundred million dollars worth of albums, which is probably more than
The Tremoloes sold, even though they had a great album cover and the rope
thing happening.
I actually got goose bumps from how bad of a mistake that was.
- Really? - Like a chill.
- You didn't make it! - I got chills from that mistake.
- Okay. - And I'm not even lying.
Well, the lesson learned here is if you ever have two bands audition on the same
day and one of them is called The Silver Beatles and the other is called
Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, pick The Silver Beatles.
(while tremolo-ing) Silver Beatles for 500... Pat! (normally) What's his name?
- (tremolo-ing) Paul? Ringo? - Wow, you got Jeopardy and
- Wheel of Fortune mixed up. - (all laugh)
Don't you feel better about the decisions you're making in life?
- Right! - Thank us in the comments...
- and for liking. - (all laugh)
You know what time it is.
Hi, I'm Lindsey from Russellville Kentucky, and it's time to spin
the Wheel of Mythicality.
The Streamy Awards are happening again this year and we would really appreciate
it if you would help to nominate Good Mythical Morning, the show, as well as
- Rhett & Link, the people, - Yes!
for some awards. The links are in the description.
Two links! In the one description. Us and the show, vote. Click through to
Good Mythical More. I came close to having a fistfight with a guy...
- Uh oh. - and I have to tell you about it.
- Seriously. - Link is jealous of Rhett's clothes.
(nasally) So, you think you're gonna come in here and wear that shirt, huh?
- Yeah, look at that. Whup! - (crew laughs)
- It's a great shirt. I love how... - Look at that.
- Ptht ptht ptht ptht ptht ptht! - ... the pockets...
- Where'd you get it, man? - Look at this.
Oh man, that's so great. I wish my shirt would do that.
- (crew laughs) - And I think I saw that shirt on
- Jurassic Park. Jurassic World? The movie? - Yeah you did.
(normally) Man, I wish I could get one of those Jurassic World shirts.
- Like the nerd guy? - Jake Johnson.
- Man! - That's right. You didn't see him do
- this, though. Ptch-ptch-ptch.... - No, he didn't. His was unbuttoned all
- the way, but it had a t-shirt underneath. - I don't have that t-shirt.
Man, I wish I could get that t-shirt. I hate you right now.
[Captioned by Caitrin: GMM Captioning Team]