Touring History 6-19-25

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Touring History Podcast Script - June 19th, 2025

 

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Opening

DAVE: Welcome back to Touring History, where we turn calendars into entertainment and pretend we understand the complexities of human civilization. I'm Dave—

LANE: And I'm Lane, and before we dive into what might be one of the most historically significant dates we've ever covered, let's talk about something that's been consistently significant since 1952—Randy's Donuts.

DAVE: Oh, you're going straight for the donuts today? I respect that.

LANE: Dave, when you're about to talk about Juneteenth, the Rosenbergs, and the first Father's Day all in one episode, you need proper fuel. And Randy's Donuts has been fueling Los Angeles with perfection for over 70 years.

DAVE: That giant donut sign isn't just a landmark—it's a promise. A promise that inside, you'll find donuts that'll make you question every other bakery decision you've ever made.

LANE: I was there yesterday, actually, and got one of their chocolate old-fashioned donuts. It's like they took everything good about chocolate and everything good about donuts and just... combined them into something that shouldn't be legal.

DAVE: That's the Randy's difference right there. They don't just make donuts—they make experiences. Classic glazed, specialty filled donuts, bear claws that are basically breakfast pastries having an identity crisis in the best possible way.

LANE: Check them out at randysdonuts.com, because if you're going to learn about history, you might as well do it with optimal blood sugar levels.

DAVE: And speaking of history, today is June 19th, which means we're talking about Juneteenth—the day that actually ended slavery in America, even though most people didn't know it happened.

LANE: Plus we've got executions, naval battles, civil rights victories, and somehow the first Father's Day gets squeezed in there too.

DAVE: Oh, and the day that advertising became legally required to tell the truth. Which, honestly, feels like it should have been obvious, but here we are.

 

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Birthdays

LANE: Before we get into the heavy stuff, let's talk about who was born on this day, because it's a fascinating mix of people.

DAVE: Jose Rizal was born on June 19th, 1861. Filipino nationalist, writer, and basically the guy who helped inspire the Philippine independence movement.

LANE: Rizal is one of those historical figures who was way ahead of his time. He was writing novels that criticized Spanish colonial rule when that was basically a death sentence. Which, spoiler alert, it eventually was for him.

DAVE: The man wrote "Noli Me Tangere"—which translates to "Touch Me Not"—and it was such effective anti-colonial literature that the Spanish authorities banned it immediately.

LANE: And then we have Aung San Suu Kyi, born in 1945, Nobel Peace Prize winner who spent years under house arrest for opposing Myanmar's military government.

DAVE: Suu Kyi's story is complicated, though. She was this incredible symbol of democratic resistance, and then when she actually got power, things got... messy.

LANE: Right, the Rohingya crisis really complicated her legacy. It's a reminder that heroes can be complicated, and liberation movements don't always lead to the outcomes you expect.

DAVE: On a much lighter note, we've got Blair Underwood turning 61, who basically defined "smooth" for an entire generation of TV watchers.

LANE: Blair Underwood in "L.A. Law" was peak 1980s television sophistication. Th