Small Talk: Birthday clown, the oldest booze cruise?
Kai Ryssdal: This final note, a chance on a Friday to get away from big news and catch up on what didn’t quite make the headlines. Courtesy of Rico Gagliano, Brendan Francis Newnam and the rest of the Marketplace staff.
Rico Gagliano: Shereen Marisol Meraji, Wealth and Poverty reporter, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Shereen Marisol Meraji: Well, you know in L.A. there are a lot of medical marijuana dispensaries. And there’s one right near the Dodgers’ stadium that has a big sign out front — I read this in the Eastsider blog — that says, “Your official Dodger dispensary.” So they’re trying to get Dodger fans to buy weed.
Gagliano: I’m sure it’s official. I’m sure they’ve got permission from the top on this.
Meraji: Yes, and it says “Dodger patient discount inside.” I don’t know what that means.
Gagliano: Do you get a bobblehead with every joint?
Meraji: Maybe you do.
Brendan Newnam: Heidi Moore, New York bureau chief, what’s your story?
Moore: Well, scientists are talking about recreating 170-year-old beer that they found in a shipwreck.
Gagliano: Is this really the best use of scientists’ time?
Moore: Actually, it’s pretty fascinating. Maybe you’re not a beer drinker, but Finnish scientists discovered living bacteria in beer from a shipwreck. And they think they can use the bacteria to replicate the beer.
Gagliano: So that’s kind of a unique form of treasure to find in a shipwreck.
Moore: Well, they actually also found the world’s oldest bottle of champagne on the same ship.
Gagliano: I think I’m starting to see why this ship wrecked.
Moore: Yeah, sounds like a party barge!
Gagliano: Ethan Lindsey, producer of the Marketplace Morning Report, what story are you gonna be talking about this weekend?
Ethan Lindsey: So my wife’s birthday is coming up, and I’m thinking about hiring an evil birthday clown.
Gagliano: I can almost guarantee you she doesn’t want that. Why are you talking about evil birthday clowns?
Lindsey: Dominc Deville, this birthday clown in Switzerland, got an idea about being sort of the scary birthday clown. Parents pay him to stalk their kids for a week, on their birthday week. And then at the end, he smashes a pie in their face.
Gagliano: Somewhere there’s a psychiatrist just eager to get his hands on this gentleman.
Lindsey: It’a natural this clown is from the land of Freud.
Ryssdal: Clowns are scary, man, that’s not funny. The radio show Brendan and Rico do is called The Dinner Party.
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