rant · moment 15 of 20
Carnival Culture, the Hermaphrodite Grip, and the Ice Cream Cone Incident
from Carney Code · #123
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
5 minTim describes getting into carnival/freak show history, then tells a long personal story about working on a student film as a kid with a bearded woman crew member who showed him a book of freaks, culminating in a fight over a thrown-out ice cream cone at a truck stop.
- 55:48Tim shot a movie called Truck Stop as an NYU student in the late nineties, featuring a woman with a mustache who worked as a grip and showed him a book of circus freaks.
- 56:46At a truck stop in Jersey with a make-your-own ice cream machine, Tim made a cone that was too big, threw it out, and made a second one.
- 57:00When confronted by the counter woman about throwing out the first ice cream, Tim denied it, but Stephanie the grip corroborated the woman's story.
- 57:24Tim told Stephanie to stay out of it, she grabbed his wrist demanding he pay, and he threw the ice cream cone at her head and missed.
- 57:40The woman called Tim a slur and kicked him out; Stephanie paid for the ice cream and disappeared for an hour.
- 57:52Stephanie told Tim he'd pulled some real bullshit, then got on her knees and predicted he'd have a horrible life—and he says he did.
- 58:24Tim wants to find the Truck Stop film; he was nominated for an acting award in it and doesn't want his guest shitting on his performance.
- 59:03Guest compares Tim's dramatic indignation to the Sean Penn death-row scene from Dead Man Walking.
- 59:17Tim insists he recognizes talent and is a fair-minded critical poet, not someone who would trash his acting.
truck stopStephanie