July 15, 2025 • 9 mins
Two unique individuals, two curious stories.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
They say that art imitates life, but sometimes in the
strangest ways, life imitates art. What begins is fiction created
to comment on the world, can end up shaping it.
And in a twist no screenwriter could script, the line
between performance and real life disappears. In twenty fifteen, a
new show hit the airwaves in Eastern Europe and instantly
(00:58):
became a hit call Servant of the People. The comedy
followed a character named Vassal Holoborodko, an affable yet absent
minded high school history teacher who lives with his parents
in the big city. After a particularly frustrating day, Vassal
makes a profanity laced rant against government corruption to a friend,
which one of his students secretly gets on camera. The
(01:21):
video goes viral, and suddenly this character, Vassal, find himself
at the center of a grassroots campaign for the presidency,
ordinary people rally around him, and he wins. Although Vassal
at first feels like a fish shot of water dealing
with the expectations of bureaucrats and the closed door deals
of oligarchs, he quickly finds his voice. The comedy series
(01:42):
follows him as he tries to weed out corruption in
the government, often to comedic effect. The show was funny, sharp,
and surprisingly heartfelt. While more than a little cynical, the
show was a hopeful comedy about a normal person making
real change, and the heart of it all was its star,
a comedian. Although he had studied law in school, he
had no political background, just a long career in entertainment
(02:05):
and a reputation for smart, satirical humor. So when he
announced in twenty eighteen that he was actually going to
run for president of his country under a new political
party also called Servant of the People, a lot of
people looked for the punchline, but he wasn't joking. He
ran a serious campaign centered around the very values his
(02:26):
character had stood for transparency, anti corruption, and giving power
back to the people, and in twenty nineteen he won
over seventy percent of voters in the country chose him
for office, tired of traditional politicians and hoping that this
real life Polla Barodco could bring change. At first, the
(02:46):
world watched with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism. They
wondered whether this TV star could actually lead a country,
especially one who was facing constant aggression from its neighbor
to the north, Russia. See back in twenty fourteen, Russia
had invaded and then annexed the Crimean Peninsula, which was
part of Ukraine. Obviously, tensions were high, and people worried
(03:09):
that their president, who was new to political diplomacy, might
bend to Putin's pressure. But then came twenty twenty two,
and everything changed. When Russia launched its full scale invasion
of Ukraine and February twenty fourth of twenty twenty two,
all eyes turned to their new TV president turned actual president.
Instead of fleeing the capitol, he stayed. He filmed a
(03:32):
now famous video on the streets of Kiev, flanked by
his team, saying I'm here, We're all here, We're defending
our independence, and his message was clear. He wasn't going
anywhere from that moment. On Volodimir Zelenski transformed. He wasn't
just a comedian turned president. He became a wartime leader.
He gave emotional, straightforward speeches addressing the world. He negotiated
(03:56):
with global leaders for supports, weapons and sanctions. Came the
face of Ukrainian resistance, wearing practical, humble, olive, drab T
shirts instead of fancy suits, and spoke directly to his
people through nightly addresses. And through it all, he led
with something that had first made Servant of the People
so popular on TV. Authenticity. There was no spin, no
(04:19):
dramatic reinvention, just a man who deeply believed in his
country and its people rising to meet the moment. It's
hard to imagine now that the world once only knew
of Volodimir Zelensky as a comedian. His transformation from entertainer
to head of state to global symbol of resistance is remarkable.
What started as satire has turned into something profoundly real.
(04:43):
Zelensky is no longer just playing a role. He has
truly become the servant of the people. There are whole
(05:03):
online communities devoted to the goal of retiring early. Many
aimed to be done working by the age of forty.
They look at what careers might get them there the fastest,
and then they do everything they can to minimize their
spending and their debt. But one man from the nineteenth
century had them all beat. He reached the pinnacle of
his career at the age of twenty six and spent
(05:23):
the rest of his life doing whatever he pleased. Thomas
wanted to give back after finding so much success at
a young age. By eighteen ninety, he had all the
money he could ever hope for. He noticed that his
home Boston, was dealing with high unemployment, and so he
set out to change that. He learned that shipbuilding was
a reliable source of employment in other ports in New England,
(05:46):
and so he completely changed careers, opening a naval yard
and employing four thousand Bostonians to build ships. But after
a while he felt like he had learned everything he
could about that industry. He longed for yet another challenge,
and so he installed a new president at the company
and enrolled with his wife at MIT. His studies soon
(06:06):
led him to the field of paleontology because he was
fascinated by fossils, but once again, he eventually tired of
that once more, feeling that he had learned all that
he could, and so he reinvented himself a third time.
In nineteen ten, at the age of fifty six, Thomas
became fascinated by Shakespeare. He moved to England and studied elocution,
(06:27):
the art of clear and effective speaking. It was a
pursuit that eventually led Thomas to perform on stage. Then
he took those skills back with them to Boston, where
he put on plays and gave lectures. He died in
nineteen thirty four at the age of eighty, having pursued
every passion he could think of throughout his life. Those
he encountered may very well have wondered who this middle
(06:49):
aged man was who seemed to be free to pivot
careers and do as he pleased. Well, they needn't look
no further than his last name, Watson. No, he wasn't
Sherlock Combs's actual sidekick, but Thomas Watson was famous for
being an assistant, and his fame predated the first Sherlock
Holme story. In eighteen seventy six, when a young Thomas
(07:10):
Watson was working as an assistant to the inventor Alexander
Graham Bell, he became the first person in history to
be on the receiving end of a telephone call. Bell's
famous words from that first call were said to be,
mister Watson, come here, I want you. And while it
sounds like a mild request by one boss to his assistant,
it was much more urgent. You see, Bell had just
(07:31):
spilled a vial of acid on himself due to his
excitement at his invention working. He really did need Thomas
to come and help him. Luckily, they recovered from that snafu,
and over the next few years, Bell and Thomas further
developed the invention together. In fact, you could argue that
Thomas was really the one who made it what it was.
In the months and years following that first call, he
(07:52):
designed the ringing and the receiver hook functions that became
an essential part of telephones, well at least until cell
phones were invented, but most of us are probably old
enough to still appreciate the original. The telephone caught on
at an incredibly rapid pace. There were soon millions of
telephone lines all over the world, and Bell and Thomas
profited from all of them. In nineteen fifteen, Thomas took
(08:16):
a break from his adventures around the globe to reunite
with Bell for one last history making milestone. Thomas traveled
to San Francisco simply to pick up the phone, and
once again Bell was on the other end of the line,
calling all the way from New York. This time he
said hello, mister Watson, can you hear me? And Thomas replied,
I hear you perfectly. It was the first Atlantic to
(08:39):
Pacific call. Never before had a country been so united
by a new invention. Just a few decades prior, it
would take a month to get a letter from one
end of the nation to the other, and now people
could contact each other within seconds. Thomas and Bell left
a huge mark on the human race, but Thomas didn't
let it go to his head. He kept seeking out
(08:59):
new adventures, remaining curious about the world that he had
connected through his genius. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on
Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting
Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me
(09:21):
Aaron Mankey in partnership with How Stuff Works. I make
another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
book series and television show, and you can learn all
about it over at the worldoflore dot com. And until
next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
They say that art imitates life, but sometimes in the
strangest ways, life imitates art. What begins is fiction created
to comment on the world, can end up shaping it.
And in a twist no screenwriter could script, the line
between performance and real life disappears. In twenty fifteen, a
new show hit the airwaves in Eastern Europe and instantly
(00:58):
became a hit call Servant of the People. The comedy
followed a character named Vassal Holoborodko, an affable yet absent
minded high school history teacher who lives with his parents
in the big city. After a particularly frustrating day, Vassal
makes a profanity laced rant against government corruption to a friend,
which one of his students secretly gets on camera. The
(01:21):
video goes viral, and suddenly this character, Vassal, find himself
at the center of a grassroots campaign for the presidency,
ordinary people rally around him, and he wins. Although Vassal
at first feels like a fish shot of water dealing
with the expectations of bureaucrats and the closed door deals
of oligarchs, he quickly finds his voice. The comedy series
(01:42):
follows him as he tries to weed out corruption in
the government, often to comedic effect. The show was funny, sharp,
and surprisingly heartfelt. While more than a little cynical, the
show was a hopeful comedy about a normal person making
real change, and the heart of it all was its star,
a comedian. Although he had studied law in school, he
had no political background, just a long career in entertainment
(02:05):
and a reputation for smart, satirical humor. So when he
announced in twenty eighteen that he was actually going to
run for president of his country under a new political
party also called Servant of the People, a lot of
people looked for the punchline, but he wasn't joking. He
ran a serious campaign centered around the very values his
(02:26):
character had stood for transparency, anti corruption, and giving power
back to the people, and in twenty nineteen he won
over seventy percent of voters in the country chose him
for office, tired of traditional politicians and hoping that this
real life Polla Barodco could bring change. At first, the
(02:46):
world watched with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism. They
wondered whether this TV star could actually lead a country,
especially one who was facing constant aggression from its neighbor
to the north, Russia. See back in twenty fourteen, Russia
had invaded and then annexed the Crimean Peninsula, which was
part of Ukraine. Obviously, tensions were high, and people worried
(03:09):
that their president, who was new to political diplomacy, might
bend to Putin's pressure. But then came twenty twenty two,
and everything changed. When Russia launched its full scale invasion
of Ukraine and February twenty fourth of twenty twenty two,
all eyes turned to their new TV president turned actual president.
Instead of fleeing the capitol, he stayed. He filmed a
(03:32):
now famous video on the streets of Kiev, flanked by
his team, saying I'm here, We're all here, We're defending
our independence, and his message was clear. He wasn't going
anywhere from that moment. On Volodimir Zelenski transformed. He wasn't
just a comedian turned president. He became a wartime leader.
He gave emotional, straightforward speeches addressing the world. He negotiated
(03:56):
with global leaders for supports, weapons and sanctions. Came the
face of Ukrainian resistance, wearing practical, humble, olive, drab T
shirts instead of fancy suits, and spoke directly to his
people through nightly addresses. And through it all, he led
with something that had first made Servant of the People
so popular on TV. Authenticity. There was no spin, no
(04:19):
dramatic reinvention, just a man who deeply believed in his
country and its people rising to meet the moment. It's
hard to imagine now that the world once only knew
of Volodimir Zelensky as a comedian. His transformation from entertainer
to head of state to global symbol of resistance is remarkable.
What started as satire has turned into something profoundly real.
(04:43):
Zelensky is no longer just playing a role. He has
truly become the servant of the people. There are whole
(05:03):
online communities devoted to the goal of retiring early. Many
aimed to be done working by the age of forty.
They look at what careers might get them there the fastest,
and then they do everything they can to minimize their
spending and their debt. But one man from the nineteenth
century had them all beat. He reached the pinnacle of
his career at the age of twenty six and spent
(05:23):
the rest of his life doing whatever he pleased. Thomas
wanted to give back after finding so much success at
a young age. By eighteen ninety, he had all the
money he could ever hope for. He noticed that his
home Boston, was dealing with high unemployment, and so he
set out to change that. He learned that shipbuilding was
a reliable source of employment in other ports in New England,
(05:46):
and so he completely changed careers, opening a naval yard
and employing four thousand Bostonians to build ships. But after
a while he felt like he had learned everything he
could about that industry. He longed for yet another challenge,
and so he installed a new president at the company
and enrolled with his wife at MIT. His studies soon
(06:06):
led him to the field of paleontology because he was
fascinated by fossils, but once again, he eventually tired of
that once more, feeling that he had learned all that
he could, and so he reinvented himself a third time.
In nineteen ten, at the age of fifty six, Thomas
became fascinated by Shakespeare. He moved to England and studied elocution,
(06:27):
the art of clear and effective speaking. It was a
pursuit that eventually led Thomas to perform on stage. Then
he took those skills back with them to Boston, where
he put on plays and gave lectures. He died in
nineteen thirty four at the age of eighty, having pursued
every passion he could think of throughout his life. Those
he encountered may very well have wondered who this middle
(06:49):
aged man was who seemed to be free to pivot
careers and do as he pleased. Well, they needn't look
no further than his last name, Watson. No, he wasn't
Sherlock Combs's actual sidekick, but Thomas Watson was famous for
being an assistant, and his fame predated the first Sherlock
Holme story. In eighteen seventy six, when a young Thomas
(07:10):
Watson was working as an assistant to the inventor Alexander
Graham Bell, he became the first person in history to
be on the receiving end of a telephone call. Bell's
famous words from that first call were said to be,
mister Watson, come here, I want you. And while it
sounds like a mild request by one boss to his assistant,
it was much more urgent. You see, Bell had just
(07:31):
spilled a vial of acid on himself due to his
excitement at his invention working. He really did need Thomas
to come and help him. Luckily, they recovered from that snafu,
and over the next few years, Bell and Thomas further
developed the invention together. In fact, you could argue that
Thomas was really the one who made it what it was.
In the months and years following that first call, he
(07:52):
designed the ringing and the receiver hook functions that became
an essential part of telephones, well at least until cell
phones were invented, but most of us are probably old
enough to still appreciate the original. The telephone caught on
at an incredibly rapid pace. There were soon millions of
telephone lines all over the world, and Bell and Thomas
profited from all of them. In nineteen fifteen, Thomas took
(08:16):
a break from his adventures around the globe to reunite
with Bell for one last history making milestone. Thomas traveled
to San Francisco simply to pick up the phone, and
once again Bell was on the other end of the line,
calling all the way from New York. This time he
said hello, mister Watson, can you hear me? And Thomas replied,
I hear you perfectly. It was the first Atlantic to
(08:39):
Pacific call. Never before had a country been so united
by a new invention. Just a few decades prior, it
would take a month to get a letter from one
end of the nation to the other, and now people
could contact each other within seconds. Thomas and Bell left
a huge mark on the human race, but Thomas didn't
let it go to his head. He kept seeking out
(08:59):
new adventures, remaining curious about the world that he had
connected through his genius. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on
Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting
Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me
(09:21):
Aaron Mankey in partnership with How Stuff Works. I make
another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
book series and television show, and you can learn all
about it over at the worldoflore dot com. And until
next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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