Louis Armstrong & William Shakespeare

We think to ourselves, what a wonderful...all the world's a stage! Our contestants keep the momentum and rhythm going in this battle of wits! Shakespeare stops by with a rap!

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, bet, why are you staring at that book and
clapping while you read? Hey, Elliott, I'm reading the place
by one of our famous figures today, William Shakespeare, and
clapping out the beats of the rhythm in iambic pantameter,
which is the style that he and most playwrights and
poets of his day wrote in. Yeah, but none of
you're here? Would you mind taking over? Uh? Sure, okay,

(00:24):
Now keep that beat, I'm going to use it to
play a song, just like our other famous figure, jazz
legend Louis Armstrong two when at twelve and hey, why
did you stop clapping? I was just getting started. I
was calling that one King Lear, after one of Shakespeare's
most famous plates. Well be it definitely sounded like a

(00:47):
tragedy to me. Come on, I just need a little
more practice. Now hit me with that measure for measure
and put a little English on it. Oh boy, Eric,
please play the theme song you go bloody? Think you
know about the Gates Room? The game is on. Get

(01:08):
somenag and buckle up in your brain, because it's time
to play the Whos podcast. Because it's time to play
books who live from Time to Land or so called
so cow Los Angeles. Welcome to Who Was, the history
quish show that gives contestants the chance to win mega

(01:29):
prizes and podcast glory. I'm Beat, your announcer for whom
all gifts are to be or not to be. And
here's your host, the man who always carries a skull
with him just in case. It's Elliott Galen, Thank you be,
and big twist, it's my skull. Welcome everyone to the
Who Was? Podcast. This show is like Jeopardy, only with

(01:50):
surprise guests, silly games, and pizza roles that we actually
let cool first before we eat. M These are good,
and so is the roof of my map. Great work be.
Our contestants were sent Who Was books about two great
figures from history. Now they're here to show off their
knowledge and the hopes of winning fantastic prizes, prizes prizes.

(02:11):
Today we're talking about two people who love play dates,
Louis Armstrong and William Shakespeare. But before we learn about them,
let's learn about our contestants. Okay, First up, we've got Gia. Gia,
please introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Jia. I'm a lovely pan
tegennist turning into a nineties summer t and tegennist trampoline

(02:33):
and tumbling. How many levels are there in in TNT gymnastics. Um,
so once you go to the ten, you go to
elite and then sorry it's junior ely then elite basically
will So how long have you been tumbling and trampolining? Uh?
Six years? Wow? I have one more question for you
to which do you prefer the trampolining or the tumbling? Tumbling?

(02:57):
Because that's my need advent and that sounds really cool. Mean,
I tumble a lot. I fall down quite a bit
because my balance is not so good. Do you think
I should get into jim Naso stumbling? You know what
I've been stumbling yet? Yeah? That that's like jazz tumbling
is stumbling. Yes, the flips that you don't do, Yeah, exactly.
Well that's very impressive. Yeah, that's fantastic. And our other

(03:18):
contestant port to day is Hazel. Hazel, would you please
introduce yourself. Hey, I'm Hazel. I used state pronouns. I'm
currently second for public form debate and yeah, tell us
more about this debate. I'm I'm curious about it. You
usually get a resolution each year, and for the resolution
last year was to the benefits of space travel out
with harms, and I was on the negative side, which

(03:39):
means I got to talk about environment and pollution and
I got to say how space travel was back and
me and my partner we went to a state competition
and now we're second in state. Oh my gosh, well congratulations.
I love that second place. It means that you're hungry
for the first place, right, Yeah, that competition. That firing you.
And similar to what I was saying to Gee, I

(04:01):
wonder if I should take debate because we have a
lot of debates around my house. But it's more like
it's more like we're having spaghetti for dinner and my
kids go, no, we're not. In my family. It's like
we should have tacos. We should have tacos, like we
debate over like the example, we're on the same page
but still want to fight about it. That's the best
kind of debate where everybody everyone agrees but no, this

(04:22):
stuff exactly. And it's also the best kind of debate
because you get tacos. That dan sound. Yeah, every tacobates
all end in tacos. Well, thank you so much both
of you for joining us today. We're very excited to
have you on the show. And also thank you to Eric,
our musician providing our mythic contestants music and all the
music you're here today. So that's who is. Now let's

(04:42):
find out who was Louis Armstrong with four fast facts.
Louis Armstrong was born in nineteen o one and died
in nineteen seventy one. Louis started playing the cornet, a
brass instrument similar to a trumpet, when he was seven.
Louis became one of the most famous and influential voices

(05:02):
in jazz. Speaking of voices, Louis was also known for
his distinctive, gravelly voice. Fools, those facts were crazy interesting
you said it'd be. Louis Armstrong lived a very interesting life. Now,
I don't like to toot my own horn, but I'm

(05:24):
happy to let you folks continue. Louis Armstrong. A shout
out to the who was app for helping you get
here today? Who was wandering in the past? Oh, I
came here out of curiosity. I was just wondering if

(05:45):
either view fine contestants play an instrument or no anyone
who does. That's a great question. How about it? Do
you have time to play an instrument when you're not
tumbling your trampoline. Yes, I planned to be. That's great.
And Hazel, what about you do playing in I also
play viola and I also play piano to start viola,
So today I'm going to ignore the piano. I'm saying

(06:07):
it's viola versus viola. We've got a real viol off
as it's the It's w w V World War Viola
today on the Hula's podcast. Very exciting and very cool. Okay, Louis,
you came all this way. I would hate for you
to just leave after asking one question? Would you like
to post our first game? It's called true or false? False?

(06:27):
Is a true or false? Is it false? Or is
the true? Is the truth that it is false? Is
it false that it was true? Or true? True or fault?
In this game, Louis will ask our contestants a question
and they will let us know if it is true
or false. It's right there in the title. It's our
first game of the game, so each question is worth
one point. First question goes to Gia Ready when you

(06:50):
are Louis. When I was a little boy and the
other kids called me did Berth because I was a
huge gravity false fan false. That's right, it's false. They
didn't have gravity falls back then. Back when Louie was
a kid drinking water, it was kept in buckets. A
ladle called a dipper was used to pour water into
a cup. But all the kids like to drink straight

(07:10):
from the dipper the same way. My son's only want
to drink right out of the faucet, and Louie he
could drink an entire mouthful in one gulf, so the
kids called him Dipper. Now as a grown up, he
was known by the nickname Sachmo. Mr Armstrong. Why did
they call you Satchmo? That's a good question. That was
short for satchel mouth. People just couldn't stop talking about

(07:30):
my mouth. Well, it is a great mouth. Okay. The
next question goes to Hazel. When I first started playing
music professionally, I played clubs at night. It slept all day,
like some kind of jazz dracula. I think it's half true,
half false, because I remember in the book it said
that you only slept for a few hours before going
back to work. Yep, we'll take it. We're gonna say false.

(07:53):
But you provided exactly the reason why Louie's early music
careers started out in nightclubs called honky tonks. Honky talks
paid musicians very low wages, so LOUI had to have
a day job. He'd played long into the night to
sleep for a couple of hours and then go back
to work. Sounds more like a jazz batman to me. Okay,
the next question goes to you, Gia. I didn't learn
to read music until after I was already a professional musician. True,

(08:17):
that's right, it's true. Louis didn't learn to treat music
until he was nineteen years old, already a professional. He
was playing on a steamboat called the Dixie Bell. This
steamer took long trips down the Mississippi River, so he
used the spare time to learn to read music. Up
until then, his natural talent let him learn songs and
tunes just by hearing them. Okay, Hazel, here comes the
final question of the round. Wow. Recording a song of

(08:40):
mine called he Beat Gebs, I dropped the sheet music
and without the music, I just started singing silly nurses
like scooba to bob Bob do bo bamboo. True. That's right,
it's true. Back then, musicians had to record a song
all the way right through in one take, so if

(09:02):
you made a mistake, you couldn't stop. Lewis's scadding was
essentially a mistake, but people liked the sound. In fact,
some musicians say he invented scat singing. Okay, Elliott, I
don't know about invented. Now made better by Bop. I'm
here to talk to you about your car insurance. By

(09:23):
you know you can bumble and stay with Geico. The
best scatting always involves car insurance. And let the Armstrong
taught us that true and true, true, true hororful. Great
job both you, Ge and Hazel. A round of applause
to you both, the applause of an adoring audience south
to an artist's ears here. Yeah, we came here together.

(09:48):
But he said he wanted to make a fashionably late entrance.
We'll look at that Elizabethian rock and I'd say it's
just a late entrance. Seems that we've gotten appearance by
the green Heart monster. That phrase is one that I wrote,
but feel free to use it. Yes it is, I
poets playwright, the Bard of Avon. But please call me will.

(10:13):
I'm willing. Where there's a will, there's a way. The
O g MC and yeah, I wrote a few plays.
I came up for several phrases that you still use today.
So let me lead you on to hear this one
wild Google. She let me break the ice because there's
a method to my madness, ask Camlet. I can be funny,
I'll be tragic. I love words like Juliet loves Romeo,
like Antonio said the Sebastian. I'll teach you how to fly.

(10:35):
I am the concentrata. Yeah, I set the program that's
for stories that will be told three hundred years later
on cameras. But isn't it the worst. Let's be a
riddle universe, and it's so hidden in the words they
get a little bit discursed. So forget if you heard this.
Bart was only for the birds, right, for everyone, from
peasants to Elizabeth the First. I am literally literature. You
know how they came up with the Lion King and

(10:55):
west Side story. I won't make you guess my stories,
so as you like it. I wrote sword fights and
in Sinkings, also true Love Blooming in midday strings. I
was so busy writing I have not slept one wig.
So I'll endo my intro here unless we have too
much of a good thing. Wow, that slaps yes, a
true boy, Thank you, thank you. It was totally off

(11:16):
the cuff part. And I know we're from different times.
Did off the cuff mean practice all the way here
in your era? Louis? I love your honest nature and
your wonderful horn. Speaking of which, didn't you mention jamming
out with Jimmy Hendricks later? Surely it's become later, Okay, okay,

(11:37):
oh raspberries right. I've had a lot of fun with
you folks today, especially these contestants, even even if they
are players. About his cabattle farewell, the sachement made the
delicate hand of fake guide your every step. Yeah, sure whatever, cool? Good,
mean you too, man? And thanks again? Who was that?

(12:04):
We should also get going to a short break, that is,
we'll check in with producer Jane with the scores right
after this. Eric play us some jazz draccula music. Please,
it's the blood you don't drink that matters, you know.
Welcome back to the Who Was? Podcast? Today we're learning
all about who was Louis Armstrong and who was William Shakespeare?

(12:27):
And now back to your host, Elliot Kalin. Thanks be
let's scat on over to producer Jane with our scores
so far Elliott, be uh Scooby, pop pop up Up, Dewey,
Hazel and Gia are tied at two. Oh nice one, Jane,
you love that scatting and rhyming with the scatting. A

(12:50):
very talented producer, thanks me. It's as close as a
game can get all tied up. So let's go on
to the next game, because here's the thing. The plays
the thing. So let's find out who was William Shakespeare
with four fast facts paspacts. William Shakespeare was born in
fifteen sixty four and died in sixteen sixteen. To this day,

(13:12):
he is considered the world's greatest playwright. Take that, Tom Stoppard.
He coined hundreds of words and phrases that are still
in use today. Some of Shakespeare's plays include Hamlet, Romeo
and Juliet, King Lear and Othello fo faspacts. Did anyone
know that in the corridor there's a machine field with

(13:32):
chips made of potato and something encased in chocolate called newgat.
It's a remarkable time, oh William Shakespeare. I'm glad you're
still here. We're actually about to start a game called
by any other Name, And it seems appropriate that maybe
you could host it, seeing as how you wrote the
famous line a rose by any other name would smell
as sweet in the play Romeo and Juliet. If you'd

(13:54):
like to host the game, of course, the games the foot.
In this game, William Shakespeare will describe some aspect of
his life, but use an odd rhyming word or phrase
instead of the exact word that we're looking for. So
you must decipher what he's saying and tell us the

(14:15):
real word that rhymes with the nonsense word so okay.
For example, if the answer is big deal, Will would
say something funny that rhymes with it, like pig reel,
which is what I call the outtakes from Baby Pig
in the City. It's a movie starting a pig. And
because this is our second game, each question is worth
two points. Hazel, you're a first will break a leg.
I maybe considered the world's greatest play right now, but

(14:38):
I shall always proudly be the son of a humble
above faker. Uh, leather maker or glovemaker. That's right, The
answer is glovemaker. Remember the answer needs to rhyme. Glovemaker.
Will's father made gloves, belts, purses, and aprons, all leather products.
Will's family was firmly middle class, which means while they

(15:01):
weren't poor, they weren't rich or the nobility either. Okay, Gia,
you have the next question. When I first moved to London,
I was not put you a call well off. But
I still love to stand and watch plays with the
other bound things. I don't know, that's all right. The
answer is the ground lanes. In Will's time, tickets to

(15:22):
a theater performance were sixpence or sixpennies for the best seats.
That bought you a seat with a cushion. Must be nice.
The cheapest tickets were a penny allowed you to stand
close to the stage with the other cheap ticket holders
that were known as groundlings because they were standing on
the ground. Okay, Hazel, this next one is for you.
I use Iambic pentameter to write in what was a

(15:43):
wonderfully lyrical style called drank first. In fact, some say
I became a master of that style, and I'm not
particularly prone to disagreement. I don't know. This is a
tough one. The answer is blank verse. Blank verse doesn't rhyme,
but it does have rhythm. I ambic contamperater is the
fancy name of this rhythm or pattern. And if you

(16:05):
clap to this rhythm, every other beat is loud. So
here's an example. Be could you do the example? Yes,
there you go, riveting. Yeah, that pattern repeats five times
in each line of blank verse. Thank you Be and Jia.
Here's the final question for you. During the horrible, difficult

(16:26):
time of the bubonic plague, it was not possible to
perform on stage, so I became a poet and started
writing bonnets. That's right. The answer is sonnets. Sonnets are
fourteen line poems with a very complicated rhyme pattern. Will
wrote a hundred and fifty four sonnets over the years,
and books of his sonnets are still in print today.

(16:47):
And that, Folks, is the end of by any other name,
great work, both of you. That's a tough game, and
you both did really And now exit to Jane. Pursued
by the scores. It's a fancy, fancy way of asking
for the scores exactly, and that's that's the what I'll

(17:07):
do is tell you, uh, and so Hazel and Gia,
I must implore you know that you both scored four
oh so I am a contamina. Thank you. Beautifully done,
beautifully done. I think we've got a modern day Shakespeare
right here. Sorry, sorry, I mean I mean, I mean Shakespeare.

(17:31):
You're great too, You're great too. Okay, close game, very close,
just like Jane's abilities are very close to Shakespeare's. And again, Shakespeare,
thank you so much for joining us today. It was
truly a delight. But now, dear friends, I must away
to go eat chicken fingers, poultry, not poultry with my
great colorades, and I'm carried gracefully on the wings of

(17:53):
the Who Was? App Who Was More? Cool? Good meeting
YouTube man. We'll be back with our final game after
this break. Eric, would you happen to have some glove
and purse making music you could play for us? Please?

(18:14):
Driving Moves, Daisy Sally? Who was there? Marie Curie? You
may remember me from winning multiple Nobel Prizes, or perhaps
from my episode of the Who Worst Podcast where I
played myself. I wanted to take a moment to read
one of my favorite reviews about the Who Was podcast.

(18:37):
This is from Shaken Bay and it reads loved this
Me and my little sister love this show more. Please,
our faith is Ariet Toman. If you want to hear
your review right on the air, make sure to subscribe,
like and review to the worst podcasts in the I
Heart Radio up or wherever you give your podcasts revoir

(18:59):
or should say abio. Welcome back to the Who Was Plodcast?
Today we're learning about old school players Louis Armstrong and
William Shakespeare. Before the break, Gia had four points and
Hazel had four points. Lots of tip. Now back to
our host, Elliot Kalin. Thanks me. You know, I was

(19:21):
just thinking about how film is the modern day equivalent
to what plays were in Shakespeare's day in terms of
popularity and you know, in words for people. I thought
it'd be fun to ask our contestants what's their favorite movie? Jia,
do you have a favorite movie? What is it? If
you do, um, it's actually an old movie. It's Baseball.
Oh what a great movie. Good answer. That is a

(19:43):
really funny movie. Hazel, what about you? What's your favorite movie?
I also actually prefer old movies. My favorite movie right
now is Bend It Like Beckham, how sad for me
that that is considered an old movie now? I also
feel similarly as those are movies that came out when
I was a kid. That's all right, it came up
when I was an adult. Well, those are both great movies.

(20:07):
I will say. I also love old movies, but like
really old movies, and I think my favorite movie is
probably The Wizard of Oz. I find it very magical
and I always kind of cry a little bit at
the end. Be what's your favorite movie? Well, my favorite
movie is B Movie, of course. Yeah. Sure, B Movie
is a fun movie. No, it hasn't been made yet.
It's the screenplay for my bio pick. I hate to

(20:28):
break it to be, but there's already a B movie
like the kind of bee that flies around? I fly
around in my movie. I have this great idea that
Jerry Seinfeld is going to do my voice. Okay, no,
be Well, we'll talk about this after the game. After
our final game, which is coming up right now, Converge
of Greatness. In this multiple choice game B, we'll read

(20:57):
questions where our two strocal figures overlap or con urge.
And because recovering two times the history, this game is
worth three points for each question. It's not a math podcast.
Picked the best option as your answer, Jia. This first
question is for you take it away be. Both Armstrong
and Shakespeare did not mince words when it came to
talking about those in power. But while Shakespeare and other

(21:18):
poets of his day often flattered the monarchs with their work,
Armstrong was more outspoken. Who did Louis call an uneducated plowboy?
Was it a President Jimmy Carter be Governor of Arkansas?
Or ol Fabis or see the King Elvis Presley B.

(21:39):
That's right. The answer is be. During the Little Rock
nine incident, when the governor of Arkansas was refusing to
end segregation in the state schools, Louis Armstrong was so
outraged at what he saw he called the governor an
uneducated plowboy. Lou was a very popular black musician at
the time, and he risked a lot when he was
speaking truth to power and giving his support to the
civil rights movement in the nineteen sixties. Hazel you right next.

(22:02):
Both Louis Armstrong and William Shakespeare worked in team based professions.
Louis was in many bands in his career before leading
his own. When William moved to London, he joined an
acting troop called a Lord Chamberlain's Men b Mystery Men
or see the fun time play guys. A, that's right,

(22:22):
The answer is A. Shakespeare not only joined the troop,
but thanks to the money from his poetry, he was
able to become part owner of the company. In fact,
he'd stay with this troop for the rest of his career,
which is how you know it's not an improv troop. Boom,
take that improv Gia. Back to you for the next question.
Louis Armstrong and William Shakespeare were both writers. Most people
know Louis Armstrong wrote music, but he also wrote books.

(22:45):
His first book was called A Swing That Music. B.
Please stop talking about my mouth or see the Hunger Games. A.
That's right, The answer is A Swing That Music was
published in nineteen thirties six. Not only was it louise
first book, who was also the very first autobiography by
a jazz musician. Over the years, he wrote two autobiographies,

(23:07):
over ten magazine articles, hundreds of pages of memoirs, and
hundreds of letters. And that's aside from the dozens of
songs he wrote that are considered jazz classics today. Oh,
I suddenly feel like I should dust off my to
do list, Hazel. The next and final question of the
game is yours. Both Louis and Shakespeare got creative with words.
Jazz musicians had their own way of talking. Cat meant

(23:30):
musician and gig meant job, and he was great at
improvising words when he would scat in a song. Shakespeare
is credited with introducing many words and phrases we still
use today. Which of the following is not one? Shakespeare
supposedly created a cold blooded be puppy dog or see

(23:51):
on fleek. See that's right the answer to see Shakespeare
didn't invent on fleek. Kayla Newman a k a At
peaches Monroe's credit with that phrase. The phrases like cold
blooded or wild goose chase make their first appearances in
Shakespeare's scripts. He also supposedly came up with every comedian's
favorite phrase, knock knock, who's there? The winner is? The

(24:14):
winner is who We're about to find out just after
this That sound means we're at the end of the game,
and alas at the end of the show. Parting is
such sweet sorrow when we wait for Jane to tell

(24:34):
you the points I'd love to hear from the contestants. Hazel,
what's the favorite thing you learned about Shakespeare or Louis Armstrong.
I didn't know that Louis Armstrong's book was actually the
first autobiography published by jazz musician. I thought other musicians
would have done that one by now, but they hadn't.
It's what's funny to think about is how kind of
new jazz was to most people at that time. Jazz

(24:55):
back then it was kind of like what well I
was about to name what the new music is now?
I don't know what the new music is now because
I'm too old for it. What's the new music now, Ja, Hazel,
what's the music now? Tell us what the new music
is now? Kids are back into vintage. We kind of
like just pretending that we were all born in the
year two thousand. It's nice. I guess maybe viola music

(25:15):
is is the new the new anything on the on
the block. Yeah, the future of music is that viola sound.
That's right. I can't wait to hear it. Thank you
so much both of you for sharing that with us.
And now it's time for the big moment. Jane, please
announced our winner. Hell and b I will not lie.
Hazelnia had ten points both and that's a time amazing.

(25:38):
We've got two winners today, and we've got to rhyme
im and all the time. Jane, the raming is getting
out of control. Thank you for nursing. You're welcome. Well,
it's fantastic, Jia, Hazel, we both played great games. You're
both winners, so you both get ten seconds for shout outs.
G if you'd like to go first. Who would you
like to thank for helping you to this sheer victory today?

(26:02):
My sisters because they said for me to keep reading
and reading and reading the books. That's fantastic. And Hazel,
you've got ten seconds. Who would you like to thank
for your victory. I'd like to thank my friends Evie
and Ali, and I'd also like to thank my cats,
fake awesome, fantastic for a cat Wow. We have some
great pet names today, especially a helpful cat. Our winners

(26:23):
and their libraries of choice. We're receiving a selection of
Who was books, and I'm going to give my own
shout outs to intern zactly, to Jane, to Eric, to
Ryan Darbon or Darwin for being our Louis Armstrong and
Adam protect Her for being our William Shakespeare and of
course to be and a big thank you to both
in our contestants who played a fantastic game, And to
you wherever you are for listening. Thank you so much

(26:44):
for being with us. Until next time. This is Elliott
stop talking about my mouth kable and saying we are history. Goodbye.
Everybody got a question for any of our famous figures,
Send us a voice memo at who Was Podcast at
gmail dot com. It might just end up on the show.
Who Was Podcast is produced by a radio point I
Heart Media and Penguin Workshop and is based on the

(27:06):
best selling who h Q series published by Penguin, hosted
by Elliott Caylin with co host Megan O'Neill as b
also starring Jane Baker as Producer, Jane, Eric Shackney as Eric,
Adam Protecter as William Shakespeare, and Ryan Darwin as Louis Armstrong.
Executive producers are Richard Porson, Alex Bach, Elliott Caylin, Megan O'Neil,

(27:28):
Daniel Powell, and Houston Snyder. Our executive producer for Penuin
Workshop is Francesco Sadda. Our executive producer for iHeart Media
is Lindsay Hoffman. Written by Devin Coleman, Elliott Caylin and
Megan O'Neill, produced by Bernie Kaminsky and Taylor Kawalski. Our
talent producer is Jane Baker. Our theme song and music
composed and performed by Eric Shackney. Additional music by Adam

(27:50):
Protect and Alan Elvardo, edited and mixed by Kate Moldenhower.
Recorded by Joanna Samuels. Special thanks to Zach Timpson, Charlotte DeAnda,
and Michael Lewis Howard. Sound services provided by Great City
Posts Podcast. Because it's standard Flabor Worlds, whos