June 2, 2025 • 7 mins
HELP DAD GET SMARTER IN THE CAN With the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, a fantastic compendium of useless but very interesting information in book form. Today I've got the guy behind the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Brian Boone at 2:00 to chat about it. Buy yours in time for Father's Day here! Here is some of the nonsense you might enjoy:
- Some of the best facts and stories to help dad become the most popular guy at the barbeque.
- Some real bathroom humor, including the story of “Roland the Farter.”
- That wonderful piece of trivia regarding the late Mr. Rogers and his affection for bodily functions.
- ‘Tis the season: The baseball plot to kill Castro.
- What a “rear end robot” is.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Luckily for me my guests that was scheduled there and
I was thinking about this. So I've had my own
show since two thousand and five where I was a
big cheese and I think I first spoke to Brian
Boone from The Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, probably in two
thousand and seven or eight at the latest. If you're
not familiar with the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series, these
(00:22):
books are awesome and joining us now he is Brian
Uncle John Boone, and he's joining me once again in
what I believe, Brian, I think far and away, I
have interviewed you more than any other guest on my
shows since two thousand and like seven or eight.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm not kidding, because we've done this every year for
a while.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
That's an honor.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Yeah, absolutely, it's it's an honor. It's great to talk
to you every year and talk about all the fun
and silly stuff that I find that we get to
put in these books.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
It's a thrill.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Let's talk about the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
This is your thirty seventh edition.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
How did this art get start?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well back in the eighties.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
My predecessor, who was really named John John Javna he'd
written a bunch of trivia books, and he decided that
you know, there should be there should be something that
you read in the bathroom. It's a you're a captive audience.
He was stuck in there reading the side of a
shampoo model, and you realize, you know what, I bet.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
A lot of other people have this problem.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
They're they're stuck in here for five to ten minutes,
hopefully not any longer than that, and they need something
to do with their time. So you might as well
muzzle be productive, mus well learn something and be entertained
while you're in there, do your business.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I love these books because they are basically like, in
my mind, they are the books that you want to
read if you ever want to go on Jeopardy okay,
because they are so of like this completely diverse set
of information. Most of the entries are a couple pages long.
So to your point, Brian, you can read it while
(01:57):
you're resting comfortably in the restroom and then pick it
up again the next time and not feel like you
have to go back and find out what you missed.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Is that the intention just to read it, and so.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
That's the intention.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
You should be able to just pick it up open
at random, and you'll find something, something short, something interesting.
You know, feel free to flip through the pages because
there's a little something for everyone. There's history, there's science,
there's word origins, there's stuff about movies and TV. There's jokes,
there's stuff about food, which seems strange, but it's in there.
(02:29):
A lot of bathroom humor, but not too much because
we know that makes people a little squeamish.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
So yeah, you can.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You can open it up to anything and you'll find something.
You'll find something that you like. We guarantee it.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Well.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I got your press release, Brian, and something jumped out
at me because in our family we have a long
running joke about buffalo and bison being the same thing. Yes,
but in the section what's the difference between you talk
about buffalo and bison? What is the difference between buffalo
and bison?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
If any uh, there's there's actually quite a few. They're
they are completely different animals. What we call in North
America the buffalo that's actually a bison, and you can
tell them apart because they have a hump on their
shoulder and they're also the ones that have the beards
and buffalo don't have don't have the beards or the
(03:23):
humps on their shoulder, but they do have much much
bigger horns. So that's how you can tell the difference.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Where Buffalo, if we have bison, were Buffalo.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Asia, Oh okay, then Buffalo or in Asia?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
All right, Well, then I actually am somewhat vindicated from
this little piece of knowledge that you just gave me,
and I will be rubbing it in the family's face
accordingly when I get home. What's your favorite what's your
favorite story in the Uncle John's Action packed Bathroom Reader
this year?
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You know it's probably Roland the Farther, of course, Well,
I was, I was curious.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I saw something on TV.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
This is often the inspiration something on TV about court jesters,
you know, the we think of them as you know,
the the you know, kind of foppish, you know, court
jester comedian like in the in the hat with the
funny hat with the bells on the end, and they
were a real thing. But there there were all kinds
of performers who would who would you know, entertain the
(04:21):
service and pleasure of the king and his court. And
Roland the Farter wouldn't really tell jokes. He would fart
on command.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
That was his talent. He could fart, and King Henry
the Second.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Of England thought that was the most hilarious thing ever,
because it is.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
The most hilarious thing ever, being able to fart on command.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
And his special trick that he could do is he
could jump, whistle and fart all at the same time,
and that apparently brought down the house in twelfth century England.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And with second raiders today as well, and jumping, farting
and wait, not sneezing. He was jumping, farting and whistling, right.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Jumping, jumping, whistling and farting all at the same time,
which which sounds easy, but it's, uh, it's not. We all,
we all, we all, we all tried around the office
in the comfort of our own, you know, we did
it on our own, but we all, but we all tried.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
To see if we could do it, and it's it's
it's hard to do.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I'm not a big farterer on command myself, so I
don't think I'm going to just let you guys try that. Brian,
in a moment of seriousness about this very fun and
silly book I've been recommending this book for Forever to
parents of teenage boys.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Hear me out.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So teenage boys are not really many of them are
not super into reading and not they don't necessarily want
to spend some time reading, And now that kids have
phones glued in their hands, it's even harder. These books
are full of the useless, idiotic information like roll in
the Farterer, And it's in such such a small dose
that if you've got a kid that is not reading
(05:54):
as much as you'd like them to say, look, I
want you to read this. It's at least it'll be
interesting to you. And I've got emails from parents who said,
thank you for letting me know about this book, because
it keeps his attention, although he does regale us with
whatever he's learned at dinner that day, in the book,
it has finally given them something that they can read
that's not overwhelming, that gets them more into the habit
(06:15):
of reading. So I just want to throw that out there.
It's not a selling point for you, guys, but I'm
telling you it's a selling point for you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
That is.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
That is the most wonderful compliment I think I've ever
received about these books.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
And that's really that really affects me, and knowing that
we're making an impact and we're getting people involved with reading,
and just because.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Reading should be entertaining, it should be engaging. It's it's
theater of the mind. And we always say that we
were the Internet Before the Internet. There's little little doses.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
And you know, you know, you're always seeing you know,
wacky stories on the Internet and stuff, and we just
we just put them all in one place for you
and we find the best stuff and try.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
To make it entertaining and informative for people.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
So thank you so much, no problem, it is my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I love these books. I've got them all. I think
they're fantastic. They make a great gift for dad. You know,
if your dad doesn't have enough useless facts to spout
off at the family barbecue, you are going to load
him for bear. If you just go and up put
a link to buy this, it will be here by
Father's Day. If you go ahead and do this link today.
It is the Uncle John's Action Packed Bathroom Reader thirty
(07:23):
seven And Brian Boone, thanks for making time for us today.
And I'm so glad. I told Brian off the air
with all of this stupid information available on the internet.
I'm always afraid that they're going to stop making the
Uncle John's Reader. And I'm happy every year when I
get the email that says we're back. We got a
new book and we should talk about it, so keep
up the good work. Man.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, thank you so much. Thanks that. It's always always
great to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
That's Brian Boone from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I love these books. You will too.
Luckily for me my guests that was scheduled there and
I was thinking about this. So I've had my own
show since two thousand and five where I was a
big cheese and I think I first spoke to Brian
Boone from The Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, probably in two
thousand and seven or eight at the latest. If you're
not familiar with the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series, these
(00:22):
books are awesome and joining us now he is Brian
Uncle John Boone, and he's joining me once again in
what I believe, Brian, I think far and away, I
have interviewed you more than any other guest on my
shows since two thousand and like seven or eight.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm not kidding, because we've done this every year for
a while.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
That's an honor.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Yeah, absolutely, it's it's an honor. It's great to talk
to you every year and talk about all the fun
and silly stuff that I find that we get to
put in these books.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
It's a thrill.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Let's talk about the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
This is your thirty seventh edition.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
How did this art get start?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well back in the eighties.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
My predecessor, who was really named John John Javna he'd
written a bunch of trivia books, and he decided that
you know, there should be there should be something that
you read in the bathroom. It's a you're a captive audience.
He was stuck in there reading the side of a
shampoo model, and you realize, you know what, I bet.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
A lot of other people have this problem.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
They're they're stuck in here for five to ten minutes,
hopefully not any longer than that, and they need something
to do with their time. So you might as well
muzzle be productive, mus well learn something and be entertained
while you're in there, do your business.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I love these books because they are basically like, in
my mind, they are the books that you want to
read if you ever want to go on Jeopardy okay,
because they are so of like this completely diverse set
of information. Most of the entries are a couple pages long.
So to your point, Brian, you can read it while
(01:57):
you're resting comfortably in the restroom and then pick it
up again the next time and not feel like you
have to go back and find out what you missed.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Is that the intention just to read it, and so.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
That's the intention.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
You should be able to just pick it up open
at random, and you'll find something, something short, something interesting.
You know, feel free to flip through the pages because
there's a little something for everyone. There's history, there's science,
there's word origins, there's stuff about movies and TV. There's jokes,
there's stuff about food, which seems strange, but it's in there.
(02:29):
A lot of bathroom humor, but not too much because
we know that makes people a little squeamish.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
So yeah, you can.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You can open it up to anything and you'll find something.
You'll find something that you like. We guarantee it.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Well.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I got your press release, Brian, and something jumped out
at me because in our family we have a long
running joke about buffalo and bison being the same thing. Yes,
but in the section what's the difference between you talk
about buffalo and bison? What is the difference between buffalo
and bison?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
If any uh, there's there's actually quite a few. They're
they are completely different animals. What we call in North
America the buffalo that's actually a bison, and you can
tell them apart because they have a hump on their
shoulder and they're also the ones that have the beards
and buffalo don't have don't have the beards or the
(03:23):
humps on their shoulder, but they do have much much
bigger horns. So that's how you can tell the difference.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Where Buffalo, if we have bison, were Buffalo.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Asia, Oh okay, then Buffalo or in Asia?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
All right, Well, then I actually am somewhat vindicated from
this little piece of knowledge that you just gave me,
and I will be rubbing it in the family's face
accordingly when I get home. What's your favorite what's your
favorite story in the Uncle John's Action packed Bathroom Reader
this year?
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You know it's probably Roland the Farther, of course, Well,
I was, I was curious.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I saw something on TV.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
This is often the inspiration something on TV about court jesters,
you know, the we think of them as you know,
the the you know, kind of foppish, you know, court
jester comedian like in the in the hat with the
funny hat with the bells on the end, and they
were a real thing. But there there were all kinds
of performers who would who would you know, entertain the
(04:21):
service and pleasure of the king and his court. And
Roland the Farter wouldn't really tell jokes. He would fart
on command.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
That was his talent. He could fart, and King Henry
the Second.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Of England thought that was the most hilarious thing ever,
because it is.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
The most hilarious thing ever, being able to fart on command.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
And his special trick that he could do is he
could jump, whistle and fart all at the same time,
and that apparently brought down the house in twelfth century England.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And with second raiders today as well, and jumping, farting
and wait, not sneezing. He was jumping, farting and whistling, right.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Jumping, jumping, whistling and farting all at the same time,
which which sounds easy, but it's, uh, it's not. We all,
we all, we all, we all tried around the office
in the comfort of our own, you know, we did
it on our own, but we all, but we all tried.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
To see if we could do it, and it's it's
it's hard to do.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I'm not a big farterer on command myself, so I
don't think I'm going to just let you guys try that. Brian,
in a moment of seriousness about this very fun and
silly book I've been recommending this book for Forever to
parents of teenage boys.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Hear me out.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So teenage boys are not really many of them are
not super into reading and not they don't necessarily want
to spend some time reading, And now that kids have
phones glued in their hands, it's even harder. These books
are full of the useless, idiotic information like roll in
the Farterer, And it's in such such a small dose
that if you've got a kid that is not reading
(05:54):
as much as you'd like them to say, look, I
want you to read this. It's at least it'll be
interesting to you. And I've got emails from parents who said,
thank you for letting me know about this book, because
it keeps his attention, although he does regale us with
whatever he's learned at dinner that day, in the book,
it has finally given them something that they can read
that's not overwhelming, that gets them more into the habit
(06:15):
of reading. So I just want to throw that out there.
It's not a selling point for you, guys, but I'm
telling you it's a selling point for you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
That is.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
That is the most wonderful compliment I think I've ever
received about these books.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
And that's really that really affects me, and knowing that
we're making an impact and we're getting people involved with reading,
and just because.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Reading should be entertaining, it should be engaging. It's it's
theater of the mind. And we always say that we
were the Internet Before the Internet. There's little little doses.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
And you know, you know, you're always seeing you know,
wacky stories on the Internet and stuff, and we just
we just put them all in one place for you
and we find the best stuff and try.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
To make it entertaining and informative for people.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
So thank you so much, no problem, it is my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I love these books. I've got them all. I think
they're fantastic. They make a great gift for dad. You know,
if your dad doesn't have enough useless facts to spout
off at the family barbecue, you are going to load
him for bear. If you just go and up put
a link to buy this, it will be here by
Father's Day. If you go ahead and do this link today.
It is the Uncle John's Action Packed Bathroom Reader thirty
(07:23):
seven And Brian Boone, thanks for making time for us today.
And I'm so glad. I told Brian off the air
with all of this stupid information available on the internet.
I'm always afraid that they're going to stop making the
Uncle John's Reader. And I'm happy every year when I
get the email that says we're back. We got a
new book and we should talk about it, so keep
up the good work. Man.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, thank you so much. Thanks that. It's always always
great to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
That's Brian Boone from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I love these books. You will too.
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