[patriotic music]
- Alexander Graham Bell is like, Oh, [bleep],
invent the telephone? Yes, please.
- Hold on, hold on. - [gags, spits]
Ah, it's in my mouth!
- She says... I just made this [bleep]
out of some handkerchiefs.
All the girls go crazy.
My boobles are free to roam!
- People came to Edison. They're like,
Hey, look what we can do.
We can project images on a screen.
He's like, Wow. That's amazing.
I can't believe I invented that.
[laughs] That's a great idea.
[patriotic music]
♪ ♪
[upbeat music]
- Let me get to-- today we're gonna learn
about inventions. - Okay.
- All right, ready?
Wait! Wait! I'll be there.
Just wait one second.
Wait, you [bleep]ing prick!
This week's episode is about great inventions.
- Bidet. - The bidet was invented
in 19-- [spits]
- It doesn't matter when it's invented,
it's to clean bowls. - [laughs]
[gags, spits] Ah, it's in my mouth!
- Welcome to "Drunk History." I'm JD Ryznar.
Today we're gonna tell a story
about the invention of the telephone.
Our story starts in the 1870s
with a telegraph corporation Western Union.
And Western Union was trying to go like,
All right, the telegraph is fine,
but, like, what's next?
So, they're like,
We're looking for somebody to, like, invent a way
to, like, talk your voice over a wire to some other dude.
It's a wonderful thing where you call people's homes
and--it's a telephone!
Now, there's a dude whose name is Elisha--
pronounced Elijah.
Elisha Gray sold telegraph parts.
He's like, I invent little telegraph things.
Eh, I'm a cute little inventor. I'm Elisha Gray.
So Western Union is like,
Elisha Gray, invent the telephone.
Elisha Gray's like, Great.
But then Western Union goes to the public and is like,
Hey, everybody--everybody in the world who invents things,
try to invent the telephone and we'll buy it from you.
So this inventor Alexander Graham Bell is like,
Oh, [bleep], invent the telephone?
Yes, please.
- [laughs]
- We're doing good. We're really drunk.
[both laugh]
So Alexander Graham Bell gets to work
trying to invent the telephone.
He's having a hard time. He can't figure it out.
Like murp, murp. It's kinda me talking,
but I sound like a robot.
Alexander Graham Bell's lawyers are like,
This is a [bleep] telephone.
You're not doing a good job at all, Alexander Graham Bell.
And so his lawyer goes to the patent clerk
at the U.S. Patent Office.
Zenas Fisk Wilber.
It's a weird, old name.
Zenas rhymes with penis. That's how I remember it.
Zenas. [laughs] Zenas.
The guy had all sorts of problems.
I'm poor and I'm drunk and I'm depressed, [bleep] it.
Graham Bell's lawyer said Listen, you owe us money--
[groans]
If anybody submits a telephone patent, let me know.
Meanwhile, Elisha Gray is, like, having the same problems
Alexander Graham Bell was having,
he was like Merp, merp, merp.
I'm talking on the phone.
How can I make this electric current
be smoother on the other end?
What if I put a little water in the doodad?
The water vibrates at more subtler tones
and that goes through the wire
and it's clear as silk. Bonanza!
He goes to the Patent Office and he files a patent.
I know how to make the telephone,
and this is how I'm gonna do it.
So sure enough,
Zenas Fisk Wilber at the Patent Office
calls Alexander Graham Bell's lawyers.
Not on the telephone, 'cause it's not invented yet,
on a telegraph or something. He's just like
Hey. Boop boop boop. Beep beep.
Somebody just submitted the patent for the telephone.
Boop boop boop.
Alexander Graham Bell goes to the Patent Office
and goes...
What's up, Zenas Fisk Wilber?
Um, okay... [clears throat]
- Jeez. - Sorry about that.
- And then he swallowed it. - Of course I swallow.
What do you want me to do? Spit it on the floor?
Maybe you can give me, uh...
a little something something about what's going on
with this other guy who filed a patent, huh?
He's like, Well, all right, here it is.
Here's the drawing of, uh...
how he's gonna invent the telephone.
Alexander Graham Bell copies down
Gray's design and turns it in.
Meanwhile, Elisha Gray all of a sudden he hears,
Hey, everybody in America,
Alexander Graham Bell just invented the telephone.
He's like What? I--
I filed a patent for the telephone!
How could he do that? This is--I know--
I made this telephone. This is my thing.
There's a "disputement."
Everybody's like, who did it first?
Who--who was first?
And guess who the Patent Office put in charge
of the investigation?
Zenas Fisk Wilber himself.
And so Alexander Graham Bell's lawyers were like,
Listen, let's fricken... just let
Alexander Graham Bell's patent come first.
Like, what's up?
So he's like, Guess what?
Alexander Graham Bell, you invented the telephone.
You win! - Whoo-hoo!
Alexander Graham Bell goes off
and builds the first telephone
off of Gray's plans.
Meanwhile, Elisha Gray is busy fighting it in court.
I invented the telephone. It was me!
This is--this is garbage. He copied me.
And even though he got Ze--Zenas Wilber
to testify in court, like,
Listen, I took a bunch of money
from Bell's lawyer so he could invent the telephone
and that's the truth.
Still...Alexander Graham Bell is so well-known at this point
that the Supreme Court's like, Alexander Graham Bell wins
and he's the inventor of the telephone forever.
Well, good work. [blows raspberry]
Elisha Gray is like, Oh, God,
I guess I didn't invent telephones.
I did, but, like, I lose.
Anyway, what's his name, um...
I don't remember his name.
Ugh. What's his name?
What's the other guy's na-- Wilber!
No. Walt Disney?
No. Telephone.
- [laughs]
- Meanwhile, Alexander Graham Bell
went on to make 1800s equivalent of billions
off the telephone and then was like,
[groans] I made the Bell Company.
I don't--I don't care.
I don't--I don't gi-- I don't even like telephones.
I don't even want one in my office.
That's what a [bleep] snob Alexander Graham Bell was.
Meanwhile, who uses the Alexander Graham Bell
telephone anymore?
Nobody!
Except old people...
and poor people.
- [laughs]
[both laughing]
- All right, let's go. Let's learn.
- Shh. Are you ready?
- I'm-- - Don't!
- Well, I'm-- - Shh!
- Am I allowed to answer if I'm ready?
- No, you just shush it.
Hello, everyone. My name is Paget Brewster.
- No, not everyone. - [gasps]
- Just hello. - Hello.
My name is Paget Brewster and I'm talking to you--
- And today. - Oh, my God.
- [laughs] - You guys ready?
- [laughs] - Are you all done?
Shut your mouth! You ready?
I'll [bleep]ing do it, but shush it.
Hello, eve-- [laughs]
- [laughs]
- Hello. My name is Paget Brewster
and today we're talking about Mary Phelps Jacob,
the inventor of the bra.
In 1910 women were cinched in
to tiny corsets all the time,
but then there is a 19-year-old girl--
Mary Phelps Jacob,
setting up to go to a debutante ball,
and she is like,
Uh, I got this beautiful silk dress
and I have to put this dumb piece of [bleep] on.
Stupid corset with whale bone inserts.
Ugh, it's so goddamn dumb.
All right, I'm--I'm-- I'm--I'm out. I'm out.
I can't take this. Marie!
Her maid. Marie!
Get me two handkerchiefs, some silk cording,
ribbons, and a sewing kit.
She sews together
two handkerchiefs onto herself
and goes to a ball.
[epic music]
All the girls are like,
What is going on with you, girl?
You look better than you have ever looked.
And she says, Yeah, I just made this [bleep]
out of some handkerchiefs.
The girls go crazy!
And she's like My boobles are free to roam.
And they all say - I want one.
- I want one.
- All right, whatever, I'll make you some.
I'll make you my new thing, whatever,
with some handkerchiefs.
Then she gets a letter in the mail
from someone she's never met saying,
"Hey, I'll give you a dollar to make me a bra."
And then she realizes, Oh, this could be a business.
So she goes to the Patent Office
and she said, Hey, I've made this thing.
It's a brassiere.
The Patent Office guy was like,
Everyone's had boobs for goddamn forever.
I understand that you think you made something,
but you [bleep]ing didn't.
And she said No, I did.
The last piece of [bleep] patent flattens your tits
into nothing but one boob. Do you want one boob?
And he's like, I don't--I can't even--
I don't even know if I can answer this.
No, you want two [bleep]ing boobs.
They separate and lift.
Give me the patent for the backless brassiere.
And he says, Yeah, okay, all right.
I've never seen that. I will give you a patent.
Slam. He gives her a patent.
Oh, God. I'm--
I'm not gonna throw up, but I am--
I'm pretty--
Gonzo bonzo. - [laughs]
- So she opens the Fashion Form Brassiere Company.
Meanwhile, she marries this guy Harry Crosby
and Harry says, Hey, babe,
because you're gonna be my wife Crosby,
I feel like you should have a "C" name.
And so it's like C. Crosby.
I would really like it if you change your name
to Clitoris. - [laughs]
- It's [bleep]ing true. - [laughs]
- And she says Na--what? No.
I'm not gonna change my name to Clitoris.
And he's like No, it's with a "Y".
Still, I'm sorry. I love you, man,
honey, but... not even with a "Y"
will I name myself Clitoris.
What about Caresse?
That's better than Clitoris.
Certainly.
He says to her Hey, Caresse--
Car--she's now Caresse.
You're kinda bored with the bra business
and it's not taking off.
I'm kinda rich. Why don't you just let it go?
She says All right, fine.
She sells her patent
to the Warner Brothers Corset Company
for $1,500.
She's like I'm out. I'm good.
Had fun.
So, wait. I have to fast-forward.
I also have to pee.
- Which one you done do first?
- No, I have to pee. - Okay, well, then pee.
- I'm gonna. - [snickers]
- In 1929 the bra took hold.
Everyone bought bras.
The corset was dead.
The Warner Brothers Corset Company
makes $15 million
off of her patent alone.
- That's a lot of titties. - I-- [laughs]
- [laughs] - Here's the thing about
Mary Phelps Jacob. She never give a [bleep].
She was like Oh, okay.
I sold the patent.
Not gonna dwell on it.
I'm gonna open a publishing company
that publishes every modern writer known to man.
Hemingway, James Joyce,
Henry Miller, Edgar Allen Poe,
uh--uh-- there's so many more.
Someone look it up on an iPhone.
You'll see. - [laughs]
- Then was writing pornography
for money!
And she was great at it.
And at the end of her life,
someone asked her about, like,
Hey, uh, you invented something.
And she said Yeah, yeah.
My invention-- it wouldn't take the place
in history of something like the steamboat,
but, yeah... I invented the bra.
The bra is kind of a big [bleep]ing deal.
No one gives a [bleep] about a steamboat.
Do you know anyone who doesn't have a bra?
I do love bras. - I can see.
You have lots of-- - More than steamboats.
- Sorry, bras. [sneezes]
I'm allergic. - You're allergic?
- I'm allergic to bras. I didn't want to tell you.
[epic music]
both: Stay tuned for more "Drunk History."
- Bras! - Ow!
- [laughs]
- Have you ever heard that Edison
made the movie camera? - I knew that.
- Yeah. - But it was one of those things
where you got all of these other people
that are never gonna get any credit for it.
I guess you could call him the first patent troll.
- Yeah. Yeah. - You know?
That kinda thing. - Yeah. And I always say,
every invention that comes out now,
is just one more step to making you
be all right if you lost your legs.
[both laugh]
To great inventors. - To great inventors.
- What are we drinking?
- Vodka. - There's a moth.
- There's so many-- - I wasn't swatting at you.
- No, I know, I have a moth infestation.
[laughs] - I see that. I got to get a [bleep]ing--
[laughing] - Classic--
- It's the worst! [smacks]
There's a--I don't want to kill him, though.
- Why? - 'Cause they deserve to live.
There happen to be in the cave
of a super-advanced monkey species
that wants nothing more than to kill them
just because they don't fit in.
To inventors.
Thank God for you.
Let's do this, man. I feel so drunk.
[blows]
Good day.
My name is Duncan Trussell...
and today we're gonna talk about Edison.
[laughs]
[cheerful music]
This story starts in New Jersey with Thomas Edison.
One of the great inventors of the time.
Known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park."
He would get poor geniuses, gather them together,
and he's like Just make stuff for me.
If it's good I'm gonna say it's mine. Whatever.
You're gonna make money, so just do it.
An inventor by the name of Muybridge
came to New Jersey, shows this incredible device.
He managed to take a bunch of pictures
of a horse running and spin them on a cylinder
in a way that gave it animation.
And Edison's like You know, great.
A hor--a horse... running.
[chuckles] Cool invention or whatever. Bye.
And then he's like We gotta [bleep]ing
figure this [bleep] out because people are gonna
wanna watch this stuff.
We gotta start working on this [bleep]...
right [bleep]ing now.
And then in 1893 Edison is like
I figured out how to do it, guys!
I can--I can photograph
and make a movie. We can make movies now.
I came up with the very first camera, the Kinetograph
and I figured out a way to look at the strings
of moving pictures-- a Kinetoscope,
and it's all my idea. My idea!
He has people-- [laughing]
I'm too drunk.
Why would I take another drink?
So Edison needed content for his Kinetoscopes
and everything he was putting out was [bleep].
He's like Let's get [bleep]ing cats boxing, man,
and then vaudeville scenes, people chasing each other.
Let's film a blacksmith's shop. Everyone's gonna wanna see that.
Right, guys? Right? Right!
And they filmed it.
People were into it, man. Freaking out.
Everyone's like Have you been to the Kinetoscope parlor?
Oh, you've got to go. It's incredible!
So people came to Edison, they're like
Hey, look what we can do.
We can project images on the screen.
He's like Wow. That's amazing.
I can't believe I invented that.
That's incredible. I am so [bleep]ing smart!
Let's patent this [bleep].
Movies take off. People love it.
They went to these places called nickelodeons.
For a nickel you're in a Greek theatre.
Come on in!
People would sit in those theatres and be like
This is awesome.
So then Edison creates an industry town
and everyone comes to Fort Lee to start making movies
and Edison squeezes all of them.
He was like Join me in what we're gonna call
The Edison Trust and all of you assholes
can join together with me and we're gonna make it so that
no other mother[bleep]ers make movies except us.
Got it? Write it down in your notebook.
And everyone's like Great, let's do it.
I don't want you to sue me, so I'll just agree
to whatever you say because you're super-rich
and I just wanna make art. So, great.
Sounds good.
They created a monopoly on all filmmaking.
There was a--a fellow by the name of Carl Laemmle.
He went to one of Edison's [bleep] shows.
He's like That is so bad.
People are paying a nickel to watch this [bleep]?
Why don't we try to make our own movies?
And so Carl Laemmle starts making movies.
He creates his own theatre and Edison's like
No. No.
I'm sorry, you-- what are you doing?
You're not allowed to... make movies.
And you're definitely not allowed to show movies
on my [bleep]ing equipment without paying me
a [bleep]ing licensing fee.
How dare you?
He sues Laemmle 284 times.
Laemmle's number one dream,
I just wanna one day make enough money
to take my family on a vacation in Europe.
And Edison is like
I'm gonna squash you like a [bleep]ing bug.
I'm The Wizard of Menlo Park!
Take your [bleep]ing family on a vacation up my ass!
- [laughs]
- [kisses] Oh, God, he was just--
he was just eating a turd in the yard.
- [laughs]
- Elon Musk, he's doing the opposite of what Edison did.
He's giving away his patents
and it's no accident that Elon Musk's company
is named after the guy that Edison f--
metaphorically mouth [bleep]ed.
- [laughs] - Edison was a bastard!
But Leammle was like Imagine[bleep] you.s, man.
I'm gonna keep making these movies.
And Edison, faced with true opposition,
started sending thugs to Leammle's movie theatres.
People were just sitting and enjoying movies
and all of a sudden Edison thugs would come
crashing through the door and be like
[bleep] off! No one's watching this [bleep]!
This is not an Edison film!
They would go to the productions,
beat up the [bleep]ing actors,
but Laemmle didn't back down.
There's three guys who kept making movies.
Laemmle, Fox, and Zukor, and finally they realized,
What the [bleep] are we doing in New Jersey?
We're shooting films in New Jersey
and on a daily basis getting sued and beaten up.
Let's get the [bleep] outta New Jersey.
How about we go to [bleep]ing Los Angeles
where it's sunny all the time
and you don't get your ass kicked by a dick.
That's-- [laughs]
That makes great sense. [laughing]
That's a great idea. [laughs]
[snorts]
They headed to L.A. and those three heroes
created Universal Studios,
Fox, and Paramount.
The United States government recognized
that the Edison Trust was a monopoly
and they broke it up.
Uh, sorry, Edison, you can't have control
over all film being made in the world.
If we let you have your way, then people would be looking at
cats boxing until the planet blew up, you [bleep].
You're trying to ruin your species,
and you don't even realize it,
you greedy, reptilian [bleep] bag.
Still people are gonna think you're great, though.
No one's gonna know, so...
congratulations, demon.
[epic music]
I'm not saying inventors don't--don't deserve to be
rewarded for their inventions, but instead of suing people,
you work with them and then the end result of that
is the entire planet wakes up,
we experience what's called the singularity,
everybody gets dissolved by nanobots,
and we travel through the universe
as infinite beings of love.
[laughs]
[patriotic music]
♪ ♪
[Electric Light Orchestra's "Telephone Line" plays]
- ♪ Doo be doo doo wah ♪
♪ Doo wah doo lang ♪
♪ Blue days, black nights ♪
♪ Doo wah doo lang ♪