Story Pirates

Hair Hospital/The Real Reason Why Dinosaurs Went Extinct (feat. Hari Kondabolu)

45 min
May 7, 202624 days ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Story Pirates performs two original children's stories: 'Hair Hospital,' a comedic musical about a medical facility that combines hair care with healthcare, and 'The Real Reason Why Dinosaurs Went Extinct,' a absurdist science show parody. The episode features comedian Hari Kondabolu and includes a Story Love segment discussing children's creative writing submissions.

Insights
  • Children's comedy writing thrives on absurdist logic and unexpected genre mashups (medical + salon services, science show + trap doors)
  • Vulnerability and admitting limitations builds stronger relationships and community, as demonstrated by Eric's character arc about needing navigation help
  • Wordplay and linguistic humor resonate strongly with young writers (Memoir Moire, cherry charcuterie, shortlin/shortnin bread confusion)
  • Meta-narrative structures appeal to children's storytelling—stories about stories, shows about shows, and self-aware comedy conventions
  • Accessibility and permission-giving in creative spaces encourages participation—explicitly stating 'it's okay to need help' normalizes collaboration
Trends
Absurdist humor in children's media increasingly blends multiple genres (medical drama + salon comedy, science documentary + game show)Emotional intelligence narratives in kids' content emphasize vulnerability, asking for help, and reframing limitations as strengthsWordplay-heavy comedy writing appeals across age groups, suggesting linguistic sophistication in children's creative outputInteractive audience participation (tongue twisters, sing-alongs) drives engagement in podcast format for family audiencesCharacter-driven comedy with consistent personas (Fancy Accent Guy, Dieselman) creates memorable frameworks for absurdist storytelling
Topics
Children's creative writing and storytelling techniquesAbsurdist comedy writing and genre mashupsEmotional intelligence in children's narrativesWordplay and linguistic humor in comedyPodcast format engagement strategies for family audiencesCharacter development in sketch comedyVulnerability and help-seeking as narrative themesMeta-narrative and self-aware storytellingMusical comedy and song integrationInteractive audience participation techniques
Companies
Quince
Clothing and fashion brand sponsoring the episode; offers premium sustainable materials at 50-80% less than competitors
People
Hari Kondabolu
Featured as special guest on the episode
Lee Overtree
Co-host and executive producer of Story Pirates podcast
Peter McNerney
Co-host and head writer of Story Pirates podcast
Eva
12-year-old from California who wrote 'Hair Hospital' story
Jim
10-year-old from California who co-wrote 'Hair Hospital' story
Fritz
11-year-old from Germany who wrote 'The Real Reason Why Dinosaurs Went Extinct' story
Benjamin Salka
Executive producer of Story Pirates podcast
Quotes
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Eric. Everyone needs help sometimes, even for the stuff that we're good at."
Character in storyMid-episode
"I think having help makes me even better at what I do."
Dieselman (character)Mid-episode
"Always read the small print when you are signing up for clubs."
Lee Overtree (discussing Fritz's story)Late episode
"The soggy sandwich, maybe hazardous to your health."
Peter McNerney (reading Quinn's story)Story Love segment
Full Transcript
Hey, Story Pirates podcast listeners! Lee here. On today's episode, the Story Pirates road trip continues with a visit to a delightful roadside cherry orchard, and another visit to a delightful roadside cherry orchard, and finally a visit to a delightful roadside cherry orchard. Plus, we have a fantastic special guest, the hilarious comedian Hari Kondabolu. And of course we have two brand new stories written by kids, and more story love with Lee and Peter, and it's all coming up after a few words for the grown-ups. Okay, Story Pirates, time to wrap up our pit stop. Cherry pit stop, that is. Here at Stonefruits World Famous Roadside Cherry Stand, right in the heart of cherry country. Oh, just one last look at these beautiful cherries. Oh, these cavaliers. I don't know about these cherries, Dimity, but I'm certainly going to be cavalier about eating them. Peter, I meant the famous cherry variety, but you do you. Oh, look at the time. We better get back on the highway. Can you hand me the map? Sure. Let me wipe this cherry pie filling off my chin, with this paper covered in drawings of roads and landmarks. Here, no! Ah, that was the map, wasn't it? You got cherry pie filling all over it. I can't navigate us back to the highway with a messed up map. Can you navigate, Rachel? Who, me? I would love to, but I can't. No, I'm not afraid I'll be bad at it. I'm sure I'll be very good. It's just that I'm on a deadline. I'm writing a book that's the true story of an armoire. It's called Memoir Moire. And I can't navigate, because I have to memorize the entire works of Anton Chekhov right now for reasons. And I can't navigate because I'm holding all these cherry pies. Oh, yeah. I should not do it. I should not do it. I should not do it. I shall do it. Aye, Eric, world-renowned treasure hunter and explorer shall navigate us without a map. Wow! Thanks for the map. Thank you so much. And I won't tell anyone that I'm using my GPS. What was that? Nothing, Megan. I certainly didn't say anything about relying on technology. Oh, okay. But it would be fine if you did. We all use technology to help sometimes. That's not me. Okay, well, we're all going to go pay for our various cherry items while you go and start the ship. Oh, yeah. I'm getting a chance. 100. Phew. That was close. Now to boot up my always reliable GPS. Error. No signal. GPS. Unreliable. Oh, no. My GPS isn't working. We're doomed. Eric, did you just say we were doomed? Nope. I said, we're broomed. I swept up the ship earlier, so everything is nice and clean for me to better navigate my natural-born navigational skills. Great. You want us to grab you a jar of cherry jam? Please. All right, Eric. You're lost somewhere in cherry growing country. Your GPS is broken. You have to do the one thing you'd thought you'd never do. Ask for directions. I love story pirates. It just filled me up with joy. My mom loves the jokes. Yo, yo, my Jack. It made me very proud about my writing. Hey, wait. I'm going to come out of the pit. I definitely think I can be more creative now. I'm the champion. The story pirates. Welcome back to the story pirates podcast. Where we take stories written by kids. And turn them in to sketch comedy. And songs. Eric, are you about ready to navigate us back to the highway? Absolutely. Just one more minute. Not to rush you, Eric, but we do need to get moving. Even though I mentioned my book deadline earlier as an excuse not to navigate, the deadline is real. Oh, I can't wait to read Memoir Moire. French furniture pieces lead the most interesting lives. Wait until you read the sequel. Don't go chess longing waterfalls. That's right. I did the French pronunciation, but I'm keeping the pun. I need a distraction. Hey, everyone, should we do a story right now? Yeah. There's always time for a story. Awesome. And here to introduce it is the author. Hi, I'm Eva and I'm 12 years old. And I'm Jim and I'm 10 years old. We live in California. This is our story. Hair hospital. Hair crisis. I can't drive to the hair salon because of my foot. It's part of her leg. And I can't go to the hospital because of my hair. Her hair crisis. Oh, my poor foot and my leg and my hair. What am I gonna do? They're taking it free and in need of repair. What am I gonna do? Well, you should come down to the. Yes. You should come down to the. The what? You should come down to the. I'm waiting. What is it? Just give me two minutes to check my email. Three hours later. Oh, here it is. You should come down to the. Hair hospital. If you need aid, we'll do some blood work and give you a fade. Are we still on that? Yes, we're still on that. Sorry, it took me three hours to find it in my email. Hair hospital. Heard on the job. We'll patch you up and then you'll get a bob. Replacing your hips while we're frosting your tips. Come to hair hospital. Also, the coffee is fine. Hair hospital. Pushing the bullet. We'll do a cast and throw it off. Exiling turns and styling your perms. Here at hair hospital. For more info and the liability waiver dial this number. 555 and a 555. 5555. One more time. 555 and a 555. 5555. Actually, let's do it again. 555 and a 555. 5555. Warning. Be wary of lice, fleas, burt poop, short style and bad scientists. We really love you a lot. At the hair hospital. 555. 555. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd. I'm a little bit of a nerd.哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎 lake, go on down past the cherry trees, keep going down, turn left, take another left, and you'll be on your way before you know it. Thank you so much, Mr. Stonefruit. Call me Dieselman. It's my name. Bye-bye now. Alright pirates, let's board our ship and be on our way. Oh, everybody, we got this! I'm so full of pie. I'm so full of concern that we're falling behind schedule. That's a good thing we have a world-renowned treasure hunter navigating us back on course. Yep, that's me. No devices, no map, just pure Eric know-how. And I know how to get us back to the highway. Take East River down toward Fife Lake, go down past the cherry trees, keep going down, turn left, take another left. It's that easy. Alright, let's go! Hey, while we're driving, anyone have suggestions on how to pass the time? How about you, baby, with a mustache? Oh, of course I do. Watch this! Mama's little baby loves shortlin, shortlin, mama's little baby loves shortlin bread. Mama's little baby loves shortlin, shortlin, mama's little baby loves shortlin bread. Yeah! Oh, that's pretty good. Top buckle. Great job, baby, with a mustache. You really made time fly by. Now to take that second left and... Huh, that's weird. We might as well get off the ship and check it out. This looks familiar. Is this the same cherry stand? Nah, couldn't be. This is cherry country, Lee. There's gotta be a hundred cherry stands just like the one we stopped at. There's no way this one is owned by... Well, hello there. What? Dieselman's stone fruit? What are you doing, popping up from behind that rack of 100% pure tart cherry juice? Right from the freshest cherries. Who wants to try some? Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! I navigated back here totally on purpose because I forgot to buy sour cherry candy for my cherry charcuterie board. Well, you can't do cherry charcuterie without sour candy. The flavor profile is all wrong. Cherry charcuterie? You didn't shorten it to cherry charcuterie? No! Because then I'd get it confused with Rachel's book, Cher Cudery, a history of cute chairs. A book so nice, they discontinued it twice. While I talk to Deezerman here about cherries and nothing else, why don't the rest of you look at more cherry products? Oh, cherry! Cherry! Okay! Now that you're distracted, I got a bone to pick with you, Deezerman. A bone to pick, eh? Not a cherry to pick? Because if there's one pick, I'd pick. It's cherry picking. Hey, wanna try some cherry nut mix? No! Well, actually, yes. Oh, delicious. But you gave me bad directions. Oh gosh. Did I? Awful sorry about that. Here, take some chocolate covered cherries and cherry salsa as my way of saying sorry about that. Thanks, but- And I'll set you up with new directions. Get your ride as rain. You take East River, away from Fife Lake, go down past the cherry trees, keep going down, turn right, another right, and you'll be on your way before you know it. Ugh, I guess I have no choice but to follow these directions. Okay pirates, all aboard! Oh, look at Eric's cherry hall. I can't wait to try that cherry charcuterie board. Here, you take them. Oh, I'll look at that. Oh, you're so cute. You're so cute. You're so cute. You're so cute. Now, back to the highway, guided by me, navigator and explorer extraordinaire. Baby with a mustache, take it away. Mama's little baby loves shortlin', shortlin'. Mama's little baby loves shortlin', bread. Mama's little baby loves shortlin', shortlin'. Mama's little baby loves shortlin', bread. Woo-hoo! Yeah! Oh baby, right! Somehow even better the second time around. And now we're… Whoa! Whoa! Back at the cherry stand? Hello there. Oh no. We'll be right back after a few words for the grown-ups. Hey grown-ups! Today's episode is sponsored by Quince. You know lately I have been a little more serious about what I wear every day. I've been leaning into pieces that feel effortless, comfortable and still put together. You know, it just makes getting dressed simpler and I look better. And Quince has been my go-to. The fabrics feel elevated, the fits are flattering and everything just works without me overthinking it. You know, Quince makes it easy to refresh your everyday this spring. With pieces that feel as good as they look, they use premium materials like 100% European linen, organic cotton and ultra soft denim. Their lightweight linen pants, dresses and tops start at $30 and are effortless, breathable and easy to wear on repeat. Everything at Quince is priced 50-80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middleman. So you're paying for quality and craftsmanship. Not brand markup. You know, in one of our recent Story Love videos I wore this really nice white Quince sweater that I have and I gotta say it really upped my look for once. I was not dressed like a teen headed off to summer camp and instead I looked like a professional kids and family podcaster. Right? And then I wore the same sweater home and my family was like, hey, do you have something fancy today? And I was like, no. And they just stared at me. They didn't say anything for like a full minute. You see, it's just confusing to see me wearing something so nice and flattering. Thanks Quince! Refresh your everyday with luxury you actually use. Head to quince.com slash story pirates for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash story pirates for free shipping and 365 day returns. Head to quince.com slash story pirates. Eric, is everything okay? Absolutely. You all wait on the ship while I deal with something. Something? Did you want to be more specific? Uh, nope. Welcome back. Life without cherries gave you the scaries. Made you quite wary. Your fears stem from no cherries. Enough. Uh, okay. Mr. Stromfru, you gave me bad directions again. Oh gosh, that wasn't very neighborly of me. Let me make it up to you with some of our famous cherry summer sausage. Just the directions. Please. Of course. You take Fife River away from East Lake. Going up before the cherry trees start. Keep going up. Turn left. Turn right. Turn right. Turn right. Turn left. Turn right. Turn right. Turn straight and you'll be on your way before you know it. Thank you. And I will take that cherry summer sausage and see you again. Never. Everything okay, Eric? Fine. We're fine. And nobody ask any follow-ups. Okay, we're back on the road. Baby with the mustache starts thinking. The role I was born to play. Uh-uh. Mama's little baby. Whoa! What? Intarnation. Eric, we all love the cherry stand. But did we need to come back a fourth time? There's a very good reason I did this, Nemony. I just need to go find out what it is. You there with the mustache. Hello there. Where is Dieselman's stone fruit? Who? Oh, you must have this cherry stand confused with another roadside cherry stand. I'm Sneezelman clone fruit. Owner of clone fruit's world famous roadside cherry stand. You can clearly see I'm not the guy who gave you bad directions on account of the mustache. That does make sense. But let me just see something. A fake mustache? You are Dieselman's stone fruit. All right, you got me. It's true. What's with the bad directions, Dieselman? Well, look, I'm lonely, okay? It's the end of cherry season and I'm not getting a lot of business. It's boring. I don't have anyone to talk to except for Cash Register Bot 5000. Welcome to Stone Fruit's world famous roadside cherry stand. All it ever asked me is whether I'm paying Cash or credit. I'm not paying, robot. I own the cherry stand. I thought if you kept coming back, we might become friends. Maybe even hang out like two cherries in a pod. Cherries don't grow in pods. Not the ones you know about. Are you paying Cash or credit? I said not now, Cash Register Bot 5000. So Cash Register Bot 5000 helps you? Yeah, couldn't run the cherry stand without it. And you're not embarrassed to tell people that? Why would I? In fact, I think having help makes me even better at what I do. Huh. You know, Dieselman, I think you might have just blown my mind. Will you come aboard the ship with me? I've got something I want to tell the rest of the story pirates. Nothing would make me happier. Hey, Eric. And hey, cherry stand owner guy. Call me Dieselman. It's my name. I brought Dieselman here on board the ship because, well… Why the hesitation, Eric? It's almost as if you have something embarrassing to admit to everyone on board the ship. The thing is, I don't know where we're going. Gasp! I'm not a natural born navigator, okay? When you all found me in my one man submarine, I've been lost underwater for weeks. I rely on my GPS but I couldn't get a signal down there. And I was too embarrassed to admit I could navigate without it. There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Eric. Everyone needs help sometimes, even for the stuff that we're good at. Like how Nimini is helping me with editing Memoignoir. Or how Lee is helping me memorize my check off lines. Or how I help myself to all these pies. Or how Dieselman here is going to help me navigate as my new friend. Friend? Really? You mean it? Absolutely. You're generous with all your cherry wares and you help me realize it's okay that I need a little help navigating. Oh gosh. Look at me blush. Like a cherry. Haha. Well it's easy to get back to Route Zero. It's literally right behind you. Oh, that's embarrassing. And that's okay. Thank you so much friend. But I feel bad leaving you here Dieselman. You know, without a friend to hang out with. Well, well, well, if it isn't my old friend of me, Dieselman, Stonefruit. Sneaselman, Clonefruit, as I live and breathe. Wait, Sneaselman, Clonefruit is real? I'm going to need a ride back to my cherry stand, Sneaselman. You got it, Dieselman. I guess a friend of me is a kind of friendship. Should we do another story? Yeah! And here to introduce it is the author. My name is Fritz. I'm 11 years old and I live in Germany. This is my story, the real reason why dinosaurs went extinct. Since the dawn of time, humanity has wanted to answer the biggest questions. Where do we come from? What is out there in this great big world of ours? Why is bedtime always so early? Welcome to Science. I'm your host, Fancy Accent Guy. Today we will be discussing the real reason dinosaurs went extinct. And as always, if I don't like the answer my guests provide, I'll what? Grow them into a pit full of spicy stuff. Which is... Mighty, Mighty, Spicy! Now please welcome our first guest, Scientist One. Sorry, I heard something about a very deep pit full of spicy stuff. No, you didn't. Scientist One, tell us, what is the real reason the dinosaurs went extinct? Well, Guy, fossil records and other DNA evidence we've uncovered shows it might have gone. Something like this. Just kidding! Good morning, Stegosaurus! Good morning, T-Rex. Hey, what should we get up to today? I just feel like there's nothing to do on Earth. I know! It's all hunt and roar and hunt and roar and hunt and roar and then sometimes go to a birthday party. For a dinosaur you're not even really that close with. Well, I know what we could do. Let's say it together. Okay. One, two, three. Get in a spaceship and go to space because there's so much more to do out there for a dinosaur with a dream in their heart. And a lot of free time since they learned that it's pretty easy to survive as an apex predator. And away we go! Wheeeee! And so you see, the dinosaurs never returned to Earth. Wrong. What do you mean wrong? Your answer is wrong, which I know as I have a fancy accent. And that means I know science. Now, you get dunked in the spicy stuff pit. I don't understand. Where am I? Where is this place? Mmm, hot and spicy queso? Yum. Wow. We're two minutes into science and we still don't know the real reason dinosaurs went extinct. But I know my viewers trust me to get the answers. That's why we have our next guest, it's scientist 2. Pleasure to be here. Come sit over here by this trap door. I mean front door. I mean chair. Okay. I do love chairs. Now, scientists 2 tell us what is the real reason dinosaurs went extinct? I think the most likely event was something like this. Whoa, check it out, Stegosaurus. We made it all the way to space. There are so many cool things we can do in space. Explore new planets, see whether there's life on them. Watch a star twinkle from just a few feet away. So many things. What do you think we should do? I think we should stick magnets on the whole spaceship. But why? Why go even further into space when we could bring space closer to us? Is that how magnets work? Yes, look at this magnet I brought that looks like a rhinoceros. Whoa, cool. Let's stick on the magnets. Done, now our spaceship is covered in magnets and more attractive than ever before. I guess I don't really know what that does for us though. But wait, what's that in the distance? I think it's a tennis ball. No, it's bigger than that. A basketball? Medicine ball? 100 foot marble. A giant boulder that's moving very quickly towards us? A marble the size of a skyscraper. A meteorite. It's attracted to the ship? And I'm in love with it. Whoa! And in the end it did end up hitting the dinosaurs causing them to go extinct. So your scientific conclusion is that somebody stuck some magnetic stuff onto the dinosaur spaceship causing the meteorite to be attracted to it and fall in love with the ship? Yes. I see. Wrong. What? You get dunked into spicy stuff pit and need to eat it. My answer was pure beauty. Hello? Can anyone hear me? Yeah, I'm right here in the spicy stuff pit. It's actually pretty nice. Wish I had some chips though. Hey, can you send down some chips? Pita chips would be great. Well, audience, we still don't know the real reason dinosaurs went extinct. But I assure you I will interview as many scientists as it takes. Because this is science. Please welcome our next guest. They are someone I met outside the studio who knew what a beaker was. Please welcome scientists three. Uh, hello? Tell us, what is the real reason dinosaurs went extinct? Um, the thing is now that I've seen the trapdoor I kind of don't want to say my answer anymore so... I'm sorry you have no choice. But it feels like there's no way for me to be right so... Wrong! I actually think it was an ice age at the time! Oh, hey. What's up, doc? Did you bring chips? Not to worry, dear science viewers. I will not let you down. If it takes me all day, all night, and a full montage, I will find the real reason the dinosaurs went extinct. Here we go. Scientists number 100 tell me why did the dinosaurs go extinct? They all went into the sea and became walruses? Wrong. No! Scientists number 200. They couldn't find enough food because the sabertooth tigers got to it first. Wrong! Aaaaaah! Scientists number 300. They decided to all leave at once so they could seem mysterious and cool. Aaaaaah! Three billion spicy stuff pit dunks later. And now, introducing literally the last person who knows anything, literally anything at all about science on this earth, scientists 300 septillion two. Aaaaaah! No, I won't do it. This is ridiculous. If the smartest scientists in the world couldn't figure this out, how could I, buddy? I don't know anything about dinosaurs. Certainly don't know why they went extinct. I'm not your guy. I'm scientists 300 septillion two. That's correct. What? All I said was I'm scientists 300 septillion two. Which is the correct answer to the question, what's the real reason dinosaurs went extinct? I'd never thought about it like that before, but it makes perfect scientific sense. Oh, I don't get it, but okay, what do I win? You get 300 septillion two euros. I love euros. Really? Nope. Oh. Earlier when I said that the correct answer was your name, I lied, it actually isn't the answer. Into the pit? If you insist. No, that's not what I... Hey, there's enough of us to have a conference. Oh, buddy. Oh, should you do a big call? Science! You see, the truth about the real reason the dinosaurs went extinct is that they are not. Dinosaurs are coming for you. Just kidding. Or am I? Thanks for watching Science. I've been Fancy Accent Guy. Oh, excuse me. The end! And now, Lee speaks with the author. Okay, Fritz, so first thing I need to know is about Fancy Accent Guy. Is he like on a TV show or what's the context that you imagined for what you wrote? I kind of imagined it more like a club kind of. And the club just happens to have a pit of spicy stuff that everyone potentially can fall in? Yeah. So tell me more about Fancy Accent Guy. What gives him the power to do this to all the different people who have ideas? It was the small print for joining the club. They needed to sign something and there was a small print. The Fancy Accent Guy has the right to throw you all in the spicy stuff pit. That is a good lesson. Always read the small print when you are signing up for clubs. Yep. What exactly is in the spicy stuff pit? Like what are the ingredients in there? Well, for that part, my dad always eats like this spicy, crunchy red pepper flakes. He puts it on like food and then, yeah, that's how I thought of it. So do you know why dinosaurs went extinct? And I promise if you don't, I won't put you into a spicy stuff pit. No, I don't. Really? No. Well, no. Well, sorry to say. I lied when I said I wasn't going to put you in the spicy stuff pit. Oh, now I'm scared. Here we go. Ah! How did you open the half door in the ground? I just pressed this button right here. Where did you even get the money for all of this? I've been saving up. Is there anything that you want to share to convince me to let you out of this pit before we go? Story Pirates is my favorite podcast. Oh, all right. You can get out. Yeah. How exactly? And that's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for joining us Fritz, and thanks for letting us perform your story. Hey, wait. I'm going to come out of this pit. Bye-bye. We'll be right back after a few words for the grown-up. Welcome back to Story Love, where we take stories written by kids and we read them. My name is Lee. My name is Peter. And together we are Peter and Lee. So the Story Pirates, we get tens of thousands of stories a year, and we respond to every single one. Some of them we get to put on our podcast, and some of them we talk about in this segment, Story Love. This is all true. Peter, I'm going to read our first story. If that's okay with you. It is very okay. Okay. From a six-year-old named Ethan in Canada, this is called Robot Haircut. Ooh. And first of all, this is probably the most incredible drawing I've ever seen. It is wild. There's so much going on here. First of all, obviously the centerpiece is this seven-faced monster. I love this guy at the very bottom, right? Yes. With the multiple eyes. A lot of eyes. Lots of arms and legs. Yes. Just maybe tentacle hair. Ethan, if this was the only thing you submitted to us, it would still be one of the best things I've ever seen. All right, here's the story, though. Once upon a time, there was three monsters that destroyed a Yeti and people, and then they get to the city and they took everyone's money to buy paper and rocks and scissors. And by accident, they all gave each other a haircut at the end. Now, you know what my first reaction to this story was, which is this is an origin story for the game Rock, Paper, Scissors. Oh, how so? Well, this is a story we used to, everyone used to tell each other about the time that all the monsters came and they destroyed the Yeti. They went to the city and people kept telling the story over and over, and then it turned into a game and it just kept getting simplified. And today all we remember is Rock, Paper, Scissors. But we don't remember the tragic events that led to its creation. Wow, that's a really interesting theory. I, here's my interpretation. Yes. The monsters were in there like monster dimension, wherever it is. Uh-huh. They looked over into our dimension just as two kids were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. Oh. And they were like, that's the most valuable thing. This is how they do battle. This is, you know, what the currency is. And so when they came, they were like, give us all your Rock, Paper, Scissors. And jokes on them that they stole all that money to buy rocks. Right. Rocks are free. That's true. But how do you give an accidental haircut? That's what I want to know. Oh, that's a good point. And by accident, they gave each other haircuts. I know why, because they were like, give us your money. Oh, we're going to buy all that paper and all those rocks and all these scissors. Whoa. Right, right, right. Boo. I think you, uh, you explained it very well. Yeah. Ethan, absolute genius, my friend. Thank you so much for sending this in. Lee, I'm going to read this next story. If that's okay with you, please do. This story was written by a 12 year old from California named Quinn. And Quinn's story is called the soggy sandwich. The soggy sandwich. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Get the soggy sandwich. The soggy sandwich package comes with one, a sandwich, two, a bag of water, and three, instructions. Step one, take out the sandwich. Step two, dunk the sandwich in the water. Step three, leave it in there for a while. Leave it in there for eight hours. Step four, after eight hours go by, take the sandwich out. Step five, eat and drink your newly completed soggy sandwich. The soggy sandwich comes in PB&J, BLT, turkey and cheese, and grilled cheese. Disclaimer, the soggy sandwich maybe hazardous to your health. The end. Wow. That was unbelievable. So much there. I have to take a little bit of issue with your reading of it. I know what you're going to say, and it's also what I wanted to talk about. The first three lines are all caps are, colon, you hungry. All caps are, colon, you thirsty. All caps get, colon, the soggy sandwich. So to me that reads are, you hungry. Are, you thirsty. Get the soggy sandwich. All right. Can I try it? Yeah, please. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Get the soggy sandwich. Which is genius. I mean, it's like pinter-esque, the way that punctuation is being used here to convey meaning. I will say, but the first time I read it, because it said all caps are, colon, I thought that was the character's name. Yeah, I did too. Are, speaking, otherwise that would be you hungry, you thirsty, the soggy sandwich. That's the character known as get. That must be Frank. Get sounds like that. The soggy sandwich package comes with one, a sandwich, two, a bag of water, and three, instructions. Nothing to be done, but eat a soggy sandwich. Unbelievable story. I'm not going to eat a soggy sandwich. I also did love the way you read the disclaimer. That was the correct way to read it, like find print, the soggy sandwich. Maybe I was just going to be off. How fast can you read that? The soggy sandwich, maybe hazardous to your health. The end. Hazardous was a little money. I know. The soggy sandwich, maybe hazardous to your health. The soggy sandwich, maybe hazardous to your health. Pretty good. Really hard to say. Grownups and kids send us videos of you saying that as fast as you can. The soggy sandwich, maybe. Everyone do it. Everyone do it right now. We'll take a break right now. One, okay, remember, the soggy sandwich, maybe hazardous to your health. One, two, three, go. Did you feel that? Really good. Good work, everybody. The whole world just did it. But best work of all goes to Quinn. Whoo! Quinn, awesome story. Mm-hmm. You have a future in comedy, my friend. Lee, will you read the final story for us, please? I would love to. A seven-year-old named Jasper in Washington sent us this story. It's called The Book That Read Itself. One day, George walked into his room. He was bored, so he pulled a book out. He started to read. Then the book started reading itself. Ah! He screamed. He told his mom. His mom said he was lying. He said, I'm not. His mom said, geez, you don't have to yell. It's not like I'm a mile away. Ah! Screamed George. It's an earthquake. I am a mile away. George, that is normal. Said mom. Oh, said George. I don't get it. I'm not going to read the end. No, I wanted to watch TV. Oh, then do that for the real end. Bye. I got to say, as I was reading this, I would use it as mom said, geez, you don't have to yell. It's not like I'm a mile away. I know you thought it. I read it as his mom said, geez, you don't have to yell. It's not like I'm a mile away. Right. I knew. Do you know that I knew ahead of time that you would make that because I always read the stories before we start filming and Peter lives in the moment. Lives in the moment. Because when I first read that, I was like, geez, no, it's geez. Actually, you want to know a secret? I did read this before and I still thought it was geez. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. Because it's an amazing story. You know why? Why? Because I'm a silly geez. You silly geez. Okay. So the other thing I love about this is that you don't have to yell. I'm not like a mile away and then the earthquake happens, which pulls them a mile away. Did you understand that? Yeah, now I do. Yeah. And the mom's like, yo, it's totally normal for an earthquake to make you a mile away from me. Don't act like this is weird. That's right. So don't freak out. Come on, George. You silly geez. I like a mom who's like, everyone calm down. She's like, it's been worse. That's right. And George is like, I don't get it. He's never been through an earthquake before. Yeah. And the first time you're in an earthquake, you know what? It's earth shattering. Jasper, incredible story. That's it for Story Love to read all of today's stories. Just head to storypires.com. This earthquake may be houses to your health. And make sure to watch the new videos every week. And grown up Story Love isn't just the name of a segment on our show. It's also the name of our incredible corporate volunteer program to find out more about Story Love or Story Quest, our digital creative writing program or Story Pirates change makers, our nonprofit arm. Check out the show notes for links. That's it for today's episode. Thanks to today's authors, Aviva, June and Fritz. And guess what? You can still send us your stories and we respond to every single story we receive. Grownups, your link to submit stories is in the show notes for today's episode. We'll be back next week with another brand new episode. Until then, stay creative and stay kind. Bye. The Story Pirates podcast is a production of Story Pirates Studios, executive produced by Lee Overtree and Benjamin Salka. Co-executive producers are Holly and Rizwan Kasim, Manya Lissie, Murray Sampson, Jack Schaefer and Jacob Vaughn. This episode was produced by Isabella Ricchio, Sam Baer, Peter McNerney, Lee Overtree and Brittany Stahl. Recording sound design and mixing by Sam Baer at the Relic Room in New York City. Additional production by Brett Tubin. Theme song by Bobby Lord. Musical scoring by Eric Urson and Jack Mitchell. Our head writer is Peter McNerney. Staff writers are Megan O'Neill and Alexis Simpson. Contributing writers are Dylan Fugle and Lee Overtree. Episode artwork by Camilla Franklin. Special guest, Hari Kondabolu. This episode features performances by Eric Austin, Colin Batten, Ben Blackman, Dewey Kedel, Sasha Diamond, Kara Halpern, April Laval, Martha Marion, Mary McDonnell, Peter McNerney, Megan O'Neill, Lee Overtree, Dave Kignones, Rebecca Robles, Anna Rock, Rachel Winitsky, Nimini Ware and Brandon Zelman. Hair Hospital was written and produced by Eli Bolin and Mike Petrie with Vocal Direction by Jack Mitchell. Hey, Kelsey's Bakery. This is Kelsey. Hi, I'd like to make an order for delivery. What would you like? One order of shortland bread, please. Shortland bread? Yes, one order of shortland bread. Uh, shortland bread. Yes, bread of the shortland variety. We don't have any shortland bread. Really? You're sold out? No, we're not sold out. We just never had any shortland bread. What? You don't carry shortland bread? We have shortnin bread. Shortnin bread? Yes, bread of the shortnin variety. But no shortlin bread. Just shortnin bread. Oh well, I'm looking for shortlin bread. You know, like the kind mama's little baby has. Mama's little baby? Love shortlin shortlin mama's little baby. Love shortnin bread. Shortlin bread. Shortnin bread. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Lin. Well, thanks anyway. Thanks for calling. Bye.