The Breakdancing Gorilla

“Could a gorilla really make the Olympic breakdancing team?” That’s the question Ben, Skin, KT, and Krystina wrestle with after learning about Zola—the Dallas Zoo’s beloved western lowland gorilla—whose viral dance moves once captivated the internet. The crew dives into the absurdity and charm of Zola’s legendary kiddie-pool spins, debating whether they count as true breakdancing or just pure gorilla swagger.From hilarious comparisons to Flashdance tributes and Adam Sandler movies, to KT admitting he dropped the ball on covering this “global superstar” while Zola was still alive, this segment is packed with laughs, nostalgia, and a surprising amount of passion for primate choreography.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's going on in Dallas?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Three stories, we'll see if we get to them all.
We will start out the Dallas Zoo. Twenty three year
old Western Lowland gorilla named Zela, known for his playful
breakdancing videos and his love of Whitney Houston, has died
this week after a sudden decline in health. No more

(00:38):
details that they could give us there. They noticed he
didn't want to eat anymore, He's looking kind of uncomfortable,
and then he passed just out of nowhere. But I
think it's funny that he was a breakdancing gorilla.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Have you ever watched the video of him breakdancing? No,
so we don't really know. I don't know, we don't
really know that it's true. Could he be in the
Olympics for breakdancing? I mean that one Australian galery? Yeah,
uh yeah, what what does that mean? He's breakdancing?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Come on, yeah, that's that's the whole thing, is like, uh,
I mean, if it's like one thing and you know
they put it on Ellen or whatever, yeah, okay, and
it got fire one time? Is he doing it every day?
Is that what he does? Is that what his purpose was?
Because then I'm more interested. It's doing something one time. Okay,
damn it. It is cute as I see he's in

(01:34):
a little he's in a little kiddie pool that he's spinning.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
Send me a link to that. Is it better than
the glass Barista cup?

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
This is way better than all right.

Speaker 5 (01:49):
I don't know that he's breakdancing as much as he's
just spinning around in circles.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
I think this is one of the things, one of
those things where people don't understand what breakdancing is.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Well, it's not our fault, Australian girls fault.

Speaker 4 (02:01):
Yeah, I agree. I just think he I think he's
I haven't seen it, but I'm assuming he's spazzing out.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Oh, I don't know. I'm starting to see it now.
This appears to be breakdancing.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
Okay, what is it? What is his footwork like? Uh?

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Spread out a little bit. He's got weird toes. I
don't know.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
Is he doing any windmills?

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Now? Rest in peace to him and his family?

Speaker 4 (02:22):
Is he popping in locking?

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Uh? Three?

Speaker 5 (02:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (02:25):
He is?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Look at he's like doing okay, one on one leg.

Speaker 5 (02:33):
I like the the kind of move right before you
jump into the circle where you go back three steps,
come up three steps, your arms cross a little bit
and you yeah, showing your footwork.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, if he does that, I'm in.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
He just did the arm movie. What am I googling here?
Just Soola breakdancing Gorilla and will take you to it
and not a but that also an Adam Sandler movie.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
No, that's Zohan.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah. Uh.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Texas is currently saying four times the number of whooping
cough cases at the same time last year.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
That A.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
That's not just a baby thing, is it?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
No?

Speaker 3 (03:08):
No, it's for everyone last year.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Oh, this is already It's already had thirty five hundred
cases this year, so we're getting a big increase of
the whooping cough.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
I don't care about that. I've now seen Sola is
pretty good.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Right.

Speaker 4 (03:23):
Have you guys ever seen the early eighties classic Flash Dance? Yes,
I think you guys need to watch it because Zola
is doing a tribute to Flash Dance when he is
in the pool and the way that.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
It's LiTi Eca.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
It is a tribute to the Jennifer Beals vehicle. Flash
Dance about about an iron welding woman that wanted to
join the ballet that was the most of the movie
in Pittsburgh. She kind of did some erotic dancing on
the side to make ends meet when she wasn't welding,
and then she.

Speaker 5 (04:00):
God, Okay, so I'm just learning of this break dancing
gorilla now in this exact moment, I now believe it's
the most important story in the world.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
And this gorilla died.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
Have whooping cough, it has whooping It died, but it died.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
He's dead.

Speaker 4 (04:17):
So why did we do more to save this global superstar?
It feels a lot like the Barbara situation and here.
But I mean, there's a lot of things we know about,
Like we know about uh you know, all the Texas
legislature working on THAC. We know about this stuff. Why
don't we know about Zola? Like we had a chance
to appreciate him while he was alive and now he's gone.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
Do you blame I know the answer to this most
of the time, But do you blame the messenger? Because
we are on a show with one of the greatest
newsmen in the history of entertainment, and Kevin Turner, he
never once did a story on this breakdancing gorilla.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
He had lots of opportunity for us to appreciate him.
While he was alive, I would have taken a day
off and gone to the Dallas Zoo. And now I can't.
And now how do I go home and tell my
kids that they're never solo alive?

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Right, you're right, this one's on me.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
It is, And I do want to end this one
with one last quick one. I know it's time to go,
but rest in peace to cleo'hearn, the legend of the
Black Rodeo, our good friend Taylor Hearn's father. Yes, has
passed away, but more famous. When your dad's more famous
than the MLB pitcher, that's pretty wild. Yeah, So shout

(05:29):
out to Taylor and Robins. Local legend, Yeah, local legend.
All right, there you have it. That's what's going on
in Dallas. Coming up next, we go around the sports.
Let's get back into the Nico thing in three minutes