rant · moment 22 of 33
Coney Island and the Father-Son Con Artist Team
from #213 - Who's Gonna Put You In Jail | The Tim Dillon Show · #213
6 min
Tim describes trips to Coney Island with Ray Kump, the freak show attractions, and a memorable story of getting scammed (and then un-scammed) by a father-and-son grifter duo selling fake Cyclone tickets.
- Coney Island freak show performers are actors who moved to New York and learned to dislocate their joints for pay.
- The freak show appeals to families on the edge of breaking up but don't know it yet.
- Tim notes woke people don't complain because the performers are doing this voluntarily.
- Coney Island sideshow is nothing like Broadway—you can point, yell, and heckle the freaks without consequence.
- A father-and-son con artist team approached Tim and Ray at Coney Island offering fake cyclone tickets.
- Tim describes being too large for the Cyclone's safety bar, which had to be pressed into his fat to latch.
- The father told Tim the tickets were a deal because he and his son had to leave the park early.
- When confronted, the father immediately returned Tim's money without argument because he knew he was caught.
- Tim realizes the father and son run this scam repeatedly and the kid's sad face revealed how often they pull it.
- Tim admires the closeness between the father and son as a con team, a relationship he's never had with his own father.
Coney IslandConey Island Circus SideshowCycloneDick ZygunNathan's