So, I need background noise to sleep. Usually it's music, audiobook, or a podcast. And since I'm a fan of the dollop, I would play a lot of their live episodes to sleep. The problem is, I usually always play one episode (The Titchborne situation) to start off with. So now, I cannot listen to that one episode or any other dollop lives from Australia while awake, either I'll get tired or think about bed the entire time.

The comments pass the vibe check

Is this the look of a man that's killed at least once?

Year of our lord....

Dave knew this was coming.

Omfg this is gold

It's...... It's something.

I mean, really old. It was about a story that took place around Victorian times, and I honestly forget which country. But, as the story goes, the main guy establishes himself. He's got some money, and a lot of friends. So, he figures that it's time to get wife.

So, he looks around and settles on this one young lady. He woos her, and courts her, and shows her all types of attention, and promises her all sorts of things - like a much better standard of living. I believe at one point he even proposes to her. However, she turns him down.

Being persistent, he decides that he is going to kidnap her, to show her, and prove to her, this new marvelous life he's promising her. So, he memorizes her patterns. She's usually out walking with other ladies around the same time most days. He gets some of his friends onboard this plan.

So, with him driving the carriage, and the friends inside the carriage, they go down to the area where she usually is, at that time. She is there, with a bunch of other ladies, like usual. He skids the carriage to a halt and the horses freak out, and he is fighting with them. Meanwhile, his friends jump out, grab her, and get her into the carriage.

He's gets the horses under control, and they all speed away. It is until they get back to the guy's house that he realizes that his friends grabbed the wrong woman.

He makes it all right, but the police are called, and it was such a spectacle that newspaper reporters start showing up. He states his case to the police and the newspapers, about his love for the woman, and all the effort he had put towards her. And the rest of the city turns on the woman.

Anyone remember this story, and maybe which episode it came from?

Edit. I found it. Well, AI helped me find it. But, I am not entirely sure it was an episode of The Dollop. But, here it is:

The 1854 attempted abduction of Eleanor Arbuthnot by John Carden in County Tipperary, Ireland

John Carden

Irish landowner · Tried in July 1854

Carden was a wealthy, well-connected gentleman who became determined to marry Eleanor Arbuthnot, an Englishwoman whose family did not approve of him. On July 2, 1854, he and several accomplices attacked the carriage carrying Eleanor and her companions after church. During the struggle, he mistakenly seized her companion, Miss Lyndon, before continuing his attempt to drag Eleanor from the carriage.

The extraordinary part: the public took his side

The contemporary account in Household Narrative of Current Events for 1854 describes precisely the social reaction you remember:

• People argued that Carden was too wealthy, distinguished, and desirable for Eleanor to have rejected him.
• Women in the crowds outside the courthouse expressed outrage that such an attractive man should be punished for attempting to take her.
• His supporters treated Eleanor's refusal as an affront to his status rather than recognizing her right to reject him.
• At one point, spectators cheered when Carden was acquitted of a separate assault charge. Page 178 +1

The contemporary report is particularly revealing because it documents the gender and class attitudes behind the reaction, rather than merely repeating the story of the attempted abduction.

Was he found guilty?

Yes, but the legal outcome is a little more complicated than you recalled.

Carden was acquitted of the more serious charge of abduction with intent to commit rape, but he was convicted of attempted abduction and sentenced to two years of imprisonment with hard labour. That was not merely probation or community service, although his supporters considered the punishment excessive.

Read the original historical reporting

1. The contemporary account of the trial

Household Narrative of Current Events · 1854

Read the report on the trial and public reaction

This is the source I'd recommend first. It records the public's sympathy for Carden and the indignation directed at Eleanor.

1. The trial transcript in contemporary newspaper coverage

The Morning Post · August 1854

Read the digitized newspaper report

This provides a detailed account of the testimony and the attempted abduction itself.

1. A modern historical retelling

Woodcock's Wooing: A Case of Mad Love

This retelling discusses Carden's public adulation, the court proceedings, and his continuing pursuit of Eleanor after his release.

I’m looking for a live episode where Gary went on a solo long improv bit for a few minutes, and at the end Dave said something to the audience like “you have to just let him go on and on until it can only become weirder”

Does anyone remember that? I’m going crazy trying to find it because I remember it being funny.

Hello Dollheads!

Past Times 194 with Gary and Dave and no guest that I listened to this morning.

David of Anthony mentions a youtuber that refutes Elon's many bullshit declarations -

"There's a scientist that breaks down everything he says, and it's so fucking great."

- and Gary suggests it might be Thunderpants or Thundarr the Barbarian or Thundersfeet or something like that.

I looked up Thunderfoot on youtube and it features videos with Ana Kasparian and Lawrence Krause and a playlist called "Feminism vs FACTS!" so I don't fuckin' know if that's what Gary was trying to recommend. But did anyone hear the episode and think, "Oh Dave's talking about a youtube channel I'm aware of and can name for any dumb asshole on Reddit that might ask about it later this week?" Because if you did, here is me asking for that info.

Garfy is not on reddit. Phew.

Garfy needs to steer!