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510
November 1, 2013

Fiasco! (2013)

Stories of when things go wrong. Really wrong. When you leave the normal realm of human error, fumble, mishap, and mistake and enter the territory of really huge breakdowns. Fiascos. Things go so awry that normal social order collapses.

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Paint-by-number squirrel on fire

An updated version of a classic episode, now including one of the most popular stories we've ever aired, about a police officer and a squirrel.

Prologue

Jack Hitt tells the story of a small town production of Peter Pan in which the flying apparatus smacks the actors into the furniture, and Captain Hook's hook flies off his arm and hits an old woman in the stomach. By the end of the evening, firemen have arrived and all the normal boundaries between audience and actors have completely dissolved. (4 minutes)

By

Jack Hitt
Act One

Opening Night

Jack Hitt's Peter Pan story continues. Jack is the author of several books, including Bunch of Amateurs. (19 minutes)

By

Jack Hitt

Song:

“I Won't Grow Up” by Rickie Lee Jones
Act Two

What We Wanted To Do

A medieval village, a 1900-pound brass kettle, marauding visigoths, and a plan to drench invaders with boiling oil that goes awry. From Ron Carlson's book, The Hotel Eden: Stories, read by actor Jeff Dorchen. Ron Carlson's newest book is Return To Oakpine. (9 minutes)

By

Ron Carlson
Act Three

Squirrel Cop

The first day on the job inevitably means mistakes, mishaps, and sometimes... fiascos. A true story, told by a former rookie cop. (13 minutes)

Song:

“Fox Squirrel” by Muddy Waters
Act Four

Fiascos As A Force For Good

Journalist Margy Rochlin on her first big assigment to do a celebrity interview. It was 1982. The interviewee was Moon Unit Zappa, who'd just released "Valley Girl" with her father Frank. She'd only been interviewed once. Midway through the interview: fiasco! Margy chokes on some coffee, which pumps out of her nose. Moon's mother administers the Heimlich Maneuver. And after that, everyone's so relaxed that Margy gets an interview that becomes her first syndicated article and a big scoop for her paper. When a fiasco destroys social boundaries, it can bring people together. (7 minutes)

By

Margy Rochlin

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Act One: Doing Good By Doing Bad

Ron Copeland is a historical interpreter at the Conner Prairie Living History Museum, outside of Indianapolis.

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