Comical Historical Events

[Perikuresu]

What about a pope who loved watching horses fuck?

Can I gently suggest that, in circumstances like both of the above quotes, we actually try and put some details in. A name, a rough date, a place ... just about anything that would offer some context.

Otherwise these aren't 'comical events in history', but rather 'unsubstantiated detail-free anecdotes that aren't particularly funny'.

Iirc, there was a Pope (think his name was Alexander VI) who would usually bring in horses into the Vatican, somewhere outside his palace and roar in laughter as he sees them 'doing their business'

[The Archregimancy]

Can I gently suggest that, in circumstances like both of the above quotes, we actually try and put some details in. A name, a rough date, a place ... just about anything that would offer some context.

Otherwise these aren't 'comical events in history', but rather 'unsubstantiated detail-free anecdotes that aren't particularly funny'.

Iirc, there was a Pope (think his name was Alexander VI) who would usually bring in horses into the Vatican, somewhere outside his palace and roar in laughter as he sees them 'doing their business'

Still lacking in detail, but at least enough to allow me to substantiate this via a quote from Alexander VI's Master of Ceremonies Johann Burchard, who left an extensively annotated record - his Liber Notarum - of his time working for several pontiffs:

On Monday the 11th of November, a peasant leading two mares laden with wood entered the city. When they arrived in the place of St. Peter the Pope’s men ran towards them, cut the saddle bands and ropes, threw down the wood and led the mares to a small place inside the palace… There four stallions, freed from reins and bridles, were sent from the palace. They ran after the mares and with a great struggle and noise, fighting with tooth and hoof, jumped upon the mares and mated with them, tearing and hurting them severely. The Pope stood together with Lucretia [Alexander's daughter] under a window… both looked down at what was going on there with loud laughter and much pleasure.

That level of detail took me less than five minutes to hunt down and post.

Edit:

There's no evidence, incidentally, that Alexander 'liked to watch horses fuck' as an ongoing habit; only that on one occasion Alexander and his daughter found it comical to watch a group of horses mate.

[Christian Confederation]

During WWI the Russian Tsar, British King, and German Kaiser were all 1st Cousins through Queen Victoria.

[Nationalist Northumbria]

During WWI the Russian Tsar, British King, and German Kaiser were all 1st Cousins through Queen Victoria.

Do you know the definition of the word 'comical', or, for that matter, 'event'?

[Eahland]

The death of Ragnar Lodbrok. 'Tough' Viking warrior and he dies because a few adders bit him lol. Nowadays millions of people know about him because of a show in which he begs a Northumbrian monk to have sex with his wife.

"Loðbrok" means "Hairy Britches". He got his name from his awesome pants. You can tell they were awesome pants, because more than a thousand years later, we're still talking about them.

[Christian Confederation]

During WWI the Russian Tsar, British King, and German Kaiser were all 1st Cousins through Queen Victoria.

Do you know the definition of the word 'comical', or, for that matter, 'event'?

Funny. Event is a thing at a point in time

[Adamede]

During WWI the Russian Tsar, British King, and German Kaiser were all 1st Cousins through Queen Victoria.

Do you know the definition of the word 'comical', or, for that matter, 'event'?

Nah that one is pretty comical in the ironic sense.

[Daniel-Franklin]

Might not be historical, being in the Bible, but the story of the Samson riddle to the Philistines in Judges is pretty wild.

[Christian Confederation]

That time Jonah ran from God so God gave him 3 days inside of a Whale to think it over.

[Eahland]

That time Jonah ran from God so God gave him 3 days inside of a Whale to think it over.

So having given up on "comical" and "event", you're now demonstrating that you don't know what "historical" means, either?

[Kowani]

In 1996, at their Chicago convention, the entire DNC danced the Macarena, followed by the cast of Rent performing Seasons of Love

There are videos, and yes
Hillary Clinton does the Macarena

[Heloin]

In 1996, at their Chicago convention, the entire DNC danced the Macarena, followed by the cast of Rent performing Seasons of Love

There are videos, and yes
Hillary Clinton does the Macarena

I could have lived my whole life without knowing that and I would be so much happier.

[The Blaatschapen]

In 1996, at their Chicago convention, the entire DNC danced the Macarena, followed by the cast of Rent performing Seasons of Love

There are videos, and yes
Hillary Clinton does the Macarena

I could have lived my whole life without knowing that and I would be so much happier.

Ignorance is bliss.

Kowani could've posted a rick roll and we'd be better off.

[Ethel mermania]

In 1996, at their Chicago convention, the entire DNC danced the Macarena, followed by the cast of Rent performing Seasons of Love

There are videos, and yes
Hillary Clinton does the Macarena

I could have lived my whole life without knowing that and I would be so much happier.

So we shouldn't talk about Hillary's nude pictures?

[The Archregimancy]

That time that Christian Confederation insisted on posting pointless content- and humour-free anecdotes in the NSG 'Comical Historical Events' thread despite the eye-rolling irritation of other thread participants.

Wacky and consistent.

[Luziyca]

In 1996, at their Chicago convention, the entire DNC danced the Macarena, followed by the cast of Rent performing Seasons of Love

There are videos, and yes
Hillary Clinton does the Macarena

That last video is very captivating. I am not entirely sure of the vibes but at the same time, I just can't quit watching it.

Anyway, to go back to actually funny historical events, Gerald Ratner managed in two sentences to nearly destroy his company in 1991, causing him to be fired as CEO, and causing his company to change its name from Ratner Group to Signet Group because he completely tarnished the Ratner brand.

[Shrillland]

Speaking of corporate blunders, how about the time Hoover Europe managed to commit suicide by giveaway?

In the early 90s, Hoover had a massive excess of product, not just vacuum cleaners, but other appliances, that they had to get rid of. So they had a promotion where anyone who bought £100 worth of stuff would get round-trip tickets to several European destinations like the Costa, Vienna, Rome, Munich, etc. Bear in mind, this meant they were buying the tickets at a relatively minor loss because Ryanair and the like weren't around yet. The promotion worked so well, and they still had a lot of stock to get rid of before making new stuff, that they did the stupidest thing imaginable...expand the promotion to include tickets to New York and Orlando.

These tickets cost £600 apiece at the time, and so the demand exploded as people were now buying vacuum cleaners and washers that they didn't need just to get a cheap vacation to America. Worse still, they didn't stop the promotion when they ran out of stock, so they just kept making new products whilst trying to buy more tickets...and when the tickets ran out, they canceled the promotion, which meant they were still legally on the hook for millions of pounds worth of free tickets for those who bought before it ended, which lead to a flurry of lawsuits, Hoover Europe executives being sacked, and Hoover Europe selling itself to Italian appliance company Candy just to get out of the ocean of debt.

[Farnhamia]

Speaking of corporate blunders, how about the time Hoover Europe managed to commit suicide by giveaway?

In the early 90s, Hoover had a massive excess of product, not just vacuum cleaners, but other appliances, that they had to get rid of. So they had a promotion where anyone who bought £100 worth of stuff would get round-trip tickets to several European destinations like the Costa, Vienna, Rome, Munich, etc. Bear in mind, this meant they were buying the tickets at a relatively minor loss because Ryanair and the like weren't around yet. The promotion worked so well, and they still had a lot of stock to get rid of before making new stuff, that they did the stupidest thing imaginable...expand the promotion to include tickets to New York and Orlando.

These tickets cost £600 apiece at the time, and so the demand exploded as people were now buying vacuum cleaners and washers that they didn't need just to get a cheap vacation to America. Worse still, they didn't stop the promotion when they ran out of stock, so they just kept making new products whilst trying to buy more tickets...and when the tickets ran out, they canceled the promotion, which meant they were still legally on the hook for millions of pounds worth of free tickets for those who bought before it ended, which lead to a flurry of lawsuits, Hoover Europe executives being sacked, and Hoover Europe selling itself to Italian appliance company Candy just to get out of the ocean of debt.

I knew someone who visited the States on that deal.

Once upon a time, speaking of corporate blunders, Chevy couldn't figure out why their Nova automobile wasn't selling in Latin America. Someone pointed out that "No va" means "Doesn't go" in Spanish.

[Australian rePublic]

What about a pope who loved watching horses fuck?

Can I gently suggest that, in circumstances like both of the above quotes, we actually try and put some details in. A name, a rough date, a place ... just about anything that would offer some context.

Otherwise these aren't 'comical events in history', but rather 'unsubstantiated detail-free anecdotes that aren't particularly funny'.

I couldn't find details

[Bendicion]

Can I gently suggest that, in circumstances like both of the above quotes, we actually try and put some details in. A name, a rough date, a place ... just about anything that would offer some context.

Otherwise these aren't 'comical events in history', but rather 'unsubstantiated detail-free anecdotes that aren't particularly funny'.

Iirc, there was a Pope (think his name was Alexander VI) who would usually bring in horses into the Vatican, somewhere outside his palace and roar in laughter as he sees them 'doing their business'

Wasnt he the same one who died while having sex with a farmer’s wife during his time in escaping from rome?

[Bendicion]

Iirc, there was a Pope (think his name was Alexander VI) who would usually bring in horses into the Vatican, somewhere outside his palace and roar in laughter as he sees them 'doing their business'

Wasnt he the same one who died while having sex with a farmer’s wife during his time in escaping from rome?

Oh that was apparently Pope John XII

[Big Bad Blue]

That time Jonah ran from God so God gave him 3 days inside of a Whale to think it over.

Paul's joke, in Galatians iirc, about how those claiming people needed to be circumcised to be Christians should just cut it off balls and all.

It's worse than that - and arguably even more darkly comical in full.

Nedeljko Čabrinović was indeed one of the assassination team (Princip was merely the only successful member of a team of otherwise incompetent assassins).

Čabrinović's station was on the Archduke's motorcade route as it passed along the Miljacka River. He threw a bomb at the Archduke's car, but it bounced harmlessly off the lowered convertible cover, and into the street - where it exploded under the next car, injuring up to 20 innocent people.

His cover fairly spectacularly blown (pun intended) Čabrinović then attempted to commit suicide by swallowing his cyanide pill and jumping into the river. He would surely either be poisoned or drowned. Unfortunately for the would-be assassin, his cyanide pill was so old it merely induced mild vomiting, and due to the unusually hot and dry summer the river was less than 15cm deep. He was captured by a mob who almost beat him to death until the police were able to take him into custody.

Even Princip was lucky. The Archduke's motorcade took a wrong turn after leaving Sarajevo hospital, and as they were attempting to turn around on a back side street his driver stalled the car directly in front of Princip, who could hardly believe his luck. Princip mounted the car and shot the Archduke and his wife at point-blank range.

So the entire sequence of events was arguably a comedy of errors - though one with horrible consequences.

The following 5 years afterwards are going to be really empty on the comedy front so we take what we can get. Well, I guess there is some humor in just the name "Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo" but that's really where it stops being funny.

I will disappoint anyone wishing to bring up the other fun Princip fact, the story of him eating a sandwich in the seconds before assassinating the Archduke is almost certainly pure historical fiction.

The three times the Germans used poison gas on the Russian front:

1) One time the attack was a resounding success, emptied out all the Russian trenches, but the Germans, not seeing anything happening in front of them, waited around until the trenches were all reinforced.

2) Another time the wind shifted and blew the gas back onto the German positions.

3) The third time it was so cold the gas failed to deploy, just puddled around by where the gas shells landed and did no damage to anyone.

[Christian Confederation]

That time George HW Bush said "Read my lip no new Taxes!" Before immediately raising taxes.

[Heloin]

The three times the Germans used poison gas on the Russian front:

1) One time the attack was a resounding success, emptied out all the Russian trenches, but the Germans, not seeing anything happening in front of them, waited around until the trenches were all reinforced.

2) Another time the wind shifted and blew the gas back onto the German positions.

3) The third time it was so cold the gas failed to deploy, just puddled around by where the gas shells landed and did no damage to anyone.

The best these three examples get is the second one which is technically true in that all sides did that at least once. The rest of the premise is absolutely false. Chemical warfare claimed tens of thousands of lives on the Eastern front. Russia employed chemical warfare against the Germans as well it's just that Germany had better counter measures and for whatever reason Russia didn't use the vast part of their chemical weapon stockpile. And a chemical weapon UXO still an extreme danger, these people aren't stupid they see the bomb filled with deadly chemicals they very quickly and carefully need to deal with while likely dozen more of exactly the same shells land around them.

That time George HW Bush said "Read my lip no new Taxes!" Before immediately raising taxes.

I dread to see your stand up circuit.

[The Blaatschapen]

During the building of the Berlin wall, the east Germans weren't always building it straight at the border. They cut a few corners, so pieces of East Berlin were on the west Berlin side of the wall.

A Turkish immigrant to west Berlin, saw such a piece of unused land and started growing vegetables there.

The east Germans kind of let him, provided that he did not build a tunnel and that the shed he builds is lower than the wall.

The west Berliners, lacked any jurisdiction to do something about it.

Today it still stands, unlike the wall that made it possible.

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumhaus_an_der_Mauer