Fish | Public Figures Ep #34 | Nateland Podcast

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Fish | Public Figures Ep #34 | Nateland Podcast

Public Figures (Nateland) · Episode #34 · Hosts: Aaron Weber, Brian Bates, Dusty Slay · Published Sep 23 2026 · Runtime 1:52:02 · Watch: YouTube

Overview

Aaron Weber, Brian Bates, and Dusty Slay open Public Figures #34 from Zanies Comedy Showplace in Nashville with a long weekend-recap cold open: Dusty’s new favorite town (Portsmouth, NH), Brian’s 5:30 a.m. BNA run-in with Dusty, Aaron’s Conroe/Lake Conroe “more bodies than fish” sightseeing, then college football’s wild Vanderbilt–NC State ending. Comment roundup covers AM radio, dental fillings picking up stations, Lucille Ball Morse-code lore, and Nateland news (Mikey Winfield showcase, Mike Goodwin special, War Memorial Titans-afternoon bill). The fish half is a dense pop-science and bit reel — biblical seafood rules, catfish slime, ichthyology, Ultra + Cozy Earth + Rocket Money reads, starfish/sponges/Herman the Worm, do fish sleep, goldfish memory myths, clownfish sex change, the ichthys fish symbol, seasickness experiments, John Frum cargo cult, seahorses, Greenland shark longevity adjacent chatter, and a closing mermaid / manatee / monkeyface prickleback debate before live dates.

Timestamp directory

  • 0:12 Open — Public Figures from Zanies / Nateland studio; Aaron, Brian, Dusty.
  • 1:03 Live plugs — Aaron @ Stardome Birmingham Oct 1; Brian free outdoor Canton, OH Friday.
  • 1:39 Nashville heat dome — hottest spot in the country; Texas/Florida cooler.
  • 2:04 Dusty falls for Portsmouth, NH — “new favorite place in the country.”
  • 2:49 Street stranger walks Dusty to a water bottle — Japan / Portsmouth cleanliness riff.
  • 3:33 The Federal cigar shop — sidewalk chairs; “Yuckers” lady covering her face.
  • 4:27 Speakeasy basement under The Federal — clean air, great ventilation.
  • 4:41 Life cereal / Mikey “he hates everything” — Dusty as grown-up Mikey.
  • 5:41 Haddock sandwiches in Portsmouth — cod-family North Atlantic fish.
  • 6:23 70-year-old fan — “used to be a real village,” boutiques vs hardware store.
  • 7:35 Aaron booked Portsmouth in January — Dusty hopes he has a terrible time.
  • 8:29 Dusty @ Rivers Casino Des Plaines with Abe Hour — wrong names all weekend (Gabe/Ed).
  • 9:06 Upper Peninsula casino return — cooler weather, different career chapter.
  • 10:49 DJ shout-out Dusty forgot onstage — making it up on the pod.
  • 11:09 Brian 5:30 a.m. BNA security — first person walking by is Dusty Slay.
  • 11:20 Dusty blank-stare “All right” — already hit by two fans; no sleep; coffee + bacon.
  • 12:11 Southwest lounge coming to BNA — “gonna change our lives.”
  • 12:49 BNA fifth-floor bridge cutoff — grand-entrance escalator bit retired.
  • 13:31 Brian NY Comedy Club — four of six comics were prior Nateland guests.
  • 14:07 Lineup name-check — Mark Normand, Gary Gulman, Zeke; and others.
  • 18:45 Aaron flies Houston → Conroe — bartender’s “Texas Pride” town claim.
  • 20:04 Lake Conroe tip — “don’t get in the water… more bodies than fish.”
  • 20:58 Ad: Cozy Earth bamboo sheets — code public figures, up to 20% off.
  • 22:49 Chapter turn — college football’s unbelievable weekend.
  • 24:05 Aaron tracks Vandy on the drive — phone blows up; NC State end-zone fumble.
  • 25:03 Clip breakdown — knee / safety available; fumble TD as time expires.
  • 26:04 Ole Miss beats LSU — Lane Kiffin “built a team I can’t beat” joke.
  • 26:47 Weber family Notre Dame–Purdue showdown tease.
  • 27:06 Diana Williams “drinking water on the podcast — gross, I’m out.”
  • 27:38 Donna Warley loved the AM-radio episode — night-travel physics.
  • 27:48 Comment roundup open — Twitter/IG/YouTube/Apple/mail@natelandpodcast.com.
  • 29:15 Dentist offered to pull Brian’s root canal on-air energy; butt-rock vs classical.
  • 31:32 The Office / David Brent blind-date music digression.
  • 33:45 Suitcase roll-around — Wellborn kid; Dusty once youngest comic at the Opry.
  • 36:45 Henry Cho / new-wave Nashville comic history; Mike Terry @ the Opry.
  • 39:01 “Ferrule” vocab flex — pencil metal band name.
  • 42:01 Week-33 callback / ice-storm trapped bit; “unmoved mover” blasphemy joke.
  • 44:00 Fillings picking up radio — Lucille Ball WWII Morse-code story (hosts’ take: probably didn’t happen / Mythbusters recreate failed).
  • 45:13 Conroe, TX fan — physics textbook signed; Dusty’s grandfather taught the professor.
  • 46:13 Morgan Wallen / Dale Earnhardt lookalike conspiracy that would break Dusty’s heart.
  • 47:20 Nateland news — Mikey Winfield showcase premiere Thursday 7pm.
  • 48:16 Mike Goodwin half-hour special live; Brad Upton Dry Bar / Nateland view king.
  • 48:32 Oct 18 War Memorial — Andy Woodhull, Mike James, Mark Shelley 3pm Titans-afternoon.
  • 49:28 Topic lock: Fish — biblical clean/unclean seafood; Dusty eats fish selectively.
  • 49:55 Catfish vs scaled fish — mucus skin layer; “gross compared to other fish.”
  • 51:27 Pig vs cow stomachs — humans taste like pork; Fried Green Tomatoes stew lore.
  • 53:23 Jesse Daniel Working Man shirt; keep vacation towns clean (Portsmouth values).
  • 54:27 Shout-outs — Derek Stroop / Steven Rogers; Ryan Hamilton cellar spots; Aziz Ansari.
  • 55:30 Dream guest board — Neil deGrasse Tyson toe-to-toe; Bill Nye via Fiona Collie.
  • 58:03 Watson & Crick / Rosalind Franklin DNA credit digression.
  • 58:44 Fish facts open — pescatarianism, marine biology, ichthyology spelling fight.
  • 1:00:45 Jawless fish (eels) — slimy end of the spectrum; 33k species claim.
  • 1:02:46 Ad: Ultra pouches — no nicotine/caffeine; code nateland @ takeultra.com.
  • 1:04:00 Cartilage vs bony fish; camel-relative deep cut; land-exit evolution.
  • 1:07:31 Human embryos temporary gill-like structures — 400M years of nerves.
  • 1:12:02 Starfish have no brain; sponges / SpongeBob parent digression.
  • 1:15:16 Ad: Rocket Money — cancel duplicate subscriptions; join link as read.
  • 1:16:30 Herman the Worm / Opelika Alabama preschool song; Crock-Pot Comedy fish jokes.
  • 1:17:30 Do fish sleep? — rest without deep unconsciousness; Duluth joke-theft lore.
  • 1:23:10 Goldfish 3-second memory myth busted — colors, shapes, feeding times.
  • 1:24:42 Goldfish can live years; tank-size stunting; rearrange the layout.
  • 1:26:17 Why we care less about fish than dogs/cats — personality / touch gap.
  • 1:28:31 Clownfish — dominant male permanently becomes female if queen dies.
  • 1:30:00 Ichthys / Jesus fish symbol — early Christian recognition mark.
  • 1:34:13 Do fish get seasick? — lab motion / plane-dive fish tests; circles.
  • 1:36:06 Catch-and-release as alien abduction; bird-feeding worms bit.
  • 1:37:18 John Frum cargo cult — “John from England” misheard into a religion.
  • 1:38:59 Portsmouth friend Grant tuna fishing — giant bluefin; Big Mouth Billy Bass.
  • 1:40:39 Some fish mate for life — greeting dance; seahorse pregnancy handoff.
  • 1:42:43 Octopus self-impregnation claim; aquarium livestock death curse joke.
  • 1:44:00 Mermaids exist? — sirens, Columbus/manatees, monkeyface prickleback insult.
  • 1:46:15 Nateland cruise night-ocean pitch black — moon navigation empathy.
  • 1:47:57 How many oceans? — seven seas as symbolic “many”; Baskin-Robbins 31.
  • 1:49:53 Next-theme jokes — marsupials / amphibians; “nature podcast” threat.
  • 1:50:10 Live dates — Stardome Birmingham; Brian Cincinnati/Orlando/Raleigh/Wits End.
  • 1:51:18 Close — Loose at Zanies (not clean); “old, fat, and musty” tag.

Stories

Portsmouth is Dusty’s Japan

2:04 Fresh off a private theater corporate in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Dusty crowns it his favorite place in America: no loud mufflers, brick sidewalks, a stranger who walks him to bottled water, The Federal cigar shop with a clean speakeasy basement, and haddock sandwiches. A sidewalk “Yuckers” lady is the only rude note. Aaron is booked there in January; Dusty openly hopes he has a miserable cold-weather time so the town stays unruined.

Brian meets Dusty at 5:30 a.m. security

11:09 Flying to New York to promote his special, Brian clears Nashville airport security before dawn and the first human past him is Dusty Slay — who answers “Dusty?” with a blank “All right” because two fans already hit him that morning. They regroup for coffee (Brian sneaks bacon while Dusty’s in the bathroom), then mourn the closed fifth-floor BNA bridge that used to be Brian’s grand-entrance bit.

Lake Conroe: more bodies than fish

18:45 Aaron’s Conroe, Texas stop yields a bartender who sells the town as “near Texas Pride” and a local who warns him off Lake Conroe swimming because “there’s more bodies than fish.” They still drive out; people are knee-deep having a normal lake day. The grisly tip becomes the episode’s accidental bridge into the fish theme — and the Cozy Earth read.

Vandy wins on the last snap

24:05 Aaron leaves a family event drive convinced Vanderbilt is cooked, then his phone detonates. NC State, up three with seconds left, only needed a kneel/safety sequence — instead they fumble in the end zone and Vandy scores as time expires. Table watches the clip on loop; Ole Miss over LSU gets the Lane Kiffin “I built a team I can’t even beat” tag.

Amadeus on the recommendation list

32:50 Dusty pushes Amadeus (Best Picture Mozart film). Another host hasn’t seen it and says he’ll report back next week.

Fillings, Lucille Ball, and a physics textbook

44:00 Commenters keep the AM-radio thread alive: dental fillings as antennas, the Lucille Ball WWII Morse-code story (the hosts’ take: she told it on TV, but speculation says it probably didn’t happen and Mythbusters couldn’t recreate it), and a Conroe, Texas fan who brought a physics textbook — Dusty’s grandfather had been that professor’s teacher at South Alabama. Morgan Wallen–Dale Earnhardt doppelgänger talk nearly breaks Dusty.

Nateland showcase flex

47:20 Mikey Winfield’s Nateland showcase (Aaron hosted; The Office warehouse-lottery credit) premieres Thursday at 7. Mike Goodwin’s half-hour is already up. Brad Upton is crushing view counts across Dry Bar and Nateland. Oct 18 War Memorial afternoon: Andy Woodhull, Mike James, Mark Shelley — Titans fans looking for something to do after another loss.

Ichthyology hour

49:28 The fish block stacks biblical scale rules, catfish mucus, Fried Green Tomatoes pork-stew lore, Watson/Crick/Franklin, jawless eels, brainless starfish, SpongeBob taxonomy, Herman the Worm, sleep-without-REM, the goldfish memory myth, tank-stunting, clownfish sequential hermaphroditism, and the ichthys Jesus-fish symbol — broken up by Ultra and Rocket Money reads.

Fried Green Tomatoes goes dark

51:47 Pig/human-taste tangent lands on Fried Green Tomatoes (Kathy Bates / Mary-Louise Parker named) stew-for-the-investigator beat; table mixes it up with How to Eat Fried Worms.

Seasick fish and John Frum

1:34:13 Lab motion tests that left fish swimming in circles lead to catch-and-release-as-abduction, then the John Frum cargo-cult story (“John from England” misheard into a religion). Portsmouth buddy Grant’s bluefin photos, Billy Bass nostalgia, seahorse pregnancy handoffs, and octopus self-fertilization claims keep the table in nature-podcast mode.

Mermaids, manatees, monkeyface prickleback

1:44:00 Dusty argues mermaids (or siren-class weirdness) belong in an ocean that already has monkeys’ evolutionary cousins and a fish literally called the monkeyface prickleback. Columbus/manatee demystification gets pushback; Nateland cruise pitch-black Atlantic memory sells how easy it would be for pre-modern sailors to invent monsters. Seven seas turns out to mean “many,” Baskin-Robbins has 31, and they threaten a marsupial episode next.

Quotes

2:04 “That’s my new favorite place really in the country.”

— Dusty Slay, on Portsmouth, NH

20:04 “Don’t get in the water… more bodies than fish.”

— Aaron Weber, relaying a local’s tip

11:20 “First person I see walk by me, Dusty Slay.”

— Brian Bates, BNA security

32:51 “You ever see the movie Amadeus?”

— Dusty Slay

1:45:47 “If a monkey exists, this exists. Why couldn’t a mermaid exist?”

— Dusty Slay

People

Aaron Weber

Official site

Host. Opens the show; Conroe/Lake Conroe travel; Vandy watcher; fish-block quizmaster. 0:12

Brian Bates

Official site

Host. Early BNA Dusty sighting; New York Comedy Club Nateland-alumni lineup; Southwest-lounge excitement. 11:09

Dusty Slay

Wikipedia

Host. Portsmouth love letter; airport zombie mode; mermaid believer; grandfather-physics textbook lore. 2:04

Nate Bargatze

Wikipedia

Referenced — Nateland founder. 47:20

Abe Hour

Comic Dusty worked with at Rivers Casino Des Plaines — answered to Gabe/Ed all weekend. 8:36

Mark Normand

Official site · Wikipedia

On Brian’s NY Comedy Club bill; prior Nateland guest. 14:07

Sam Morril

Guest-set mention on Brian’s NY Comedy Club bill. 14:01

Joe List

Named in the NYC cellar-spots / apartment run. 54:40

Gary Gulman

Named on the same Nateland-alumni NY bill. 14:09

Mikey Winfield

Nateland showcase Aaron hosted; The Office new-warehouse lottery hire; Thursday premiere. 47:21

Mike Goodwin

Half-hour Nateland special called out as looking “unbelievable.” 48:11

Brad Upton

View-count king across Dry Bar + Nateland showcase uploads. 49:04

Andy Woodhull

Oct 18 War Memorial Nashville bill with Mike James and Mark Shelley. 48:36

Ryan Hamilton

Took Aaron around NYC spots; prior Nateland-orbit comic. 54:59

Aziz Ansari

Name-checked with Ryan Hamilton in the New York cellar-spots run. 55:05

Henry Cho

Early Nashville “new wave” comic reference beside Dusty’s Opry youth. 36:45

Lane Kiffin

Ole Miss coach in the “built a team I can’t beat” riff after LSU loss. 26:11

Lucille Ball

Fillings/Morse-code WWII radio legend — hosts’ take challenges the story. 44:06

Morgan Wallen

Dale Earnhardt lookalike conspiracy in the comment bag. 46:13

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Dream Public Figures guest — Dusty wants a no-audience toe-to-toe. 56:44

Bill Nye

Secondary science-guest ask; Fiona Collie charity-event crossover mentioned. 56:58

Rosalind Franklin

DNA photo-51 credit in the Watson & Crick digression. 58:12

Kathy Bates

Fried Green Tomatoes cast named when the stew lore hits. 52:31

Mary-Louise Parker

Named with Kathy Bates in the Fried Green Tomatoes cast aside. 52:37

Places

Nashville, Tennessee — Zanies / Nateland studio home base; heat-dome open. 0:22

Portsmouth, New Hampshire — Dusty’s new favorite town; haddock + The Federal. 2:04

Conroe, Texas — Aaron sightseeing; Lake Conroe body lore. 18:45

Nashville International Airport (BNA) — Dawn Dusty sighting; bridge / Southwest lounge talk. 11:09

Des Plaines, Illinois — Rivers Casino gig with Abe Hour. 8:31

Upper Peninsula of Michigan — Dusty’s cooler-weather casino return. 9:06

Canton, Ohio — Brian’s free outdoor Friday. 1:17

Birmingham, Alabama — Aaron @ Stardome Oct 1. 1:06

Movies / TV

Products

Cozy Earth — Bamboo sheets sponsor read; code public figures. 20:58

Ultra pouches — Nicotine/caffeine-free focus pouches; code nateland. 1:02:46

Rocket Money — Subscription-cancel / bill-tracking sponsor mid-fish block. 1:15:16

Life cereal — Mikey “he hates everything” bit. 4:41 · Amazon

Big Mouth Billy Bass — Nostalgia prop after bluefin / Sopranos talk. 1:39:54 · Amazon

Ads

  • Cozy Earth (20:58) — Bamboo viscose sheets; code public figures up to 20% off; post-purchase survey shout-out.
  • Ultra pouches (1:02:46) — Nootropic/adaptogen pouches; code nateland 15% at takeultra.com; watermelon flavor callout.
  • Rocket Money (1:15:16) — Find/cancel duplicate subscriptions; join link as read.

Passing, unlinked:

DJ (UP shout-out); Zeke; Diana Williams; Donna Warley; Mike Terry; Fiona Collie; Jesse Daniel; Derek Stroop; Steven Rogers; John Caparulo; Christopher Columbus (manatee); Grant the Portsmouth tuna friend; haddock sandwiches (Portsmouth staple).

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