Lemonada.
Hey, Story Pirates podcast listeners, Lee here.
Today we have a very special bonus episode for you.
Another new story that was written by not one, not two, but over a hundred different kids in our creator club.
But grownups first.
There is still time to get a personalized video from a Story Pirates podcast host for the Story Pirates fans in your life.
And by doing so, you'll help us finish our season.
And you can still get it before Christmas by ordering by December 21st.
Just make your tax-deductible donation at storypirates.com support.
And, by the way, if you are lucky enough to have more significant resources to spare, we're still looking for larger patrons who want to have a conversation about becoming credited producers on the show.
If this sounds like you, please drop us a line.
And like I said, all donations are completely tax deductible.
Get your personalized video or get in touch about a larger contribution at storypiratescom slash support.
That link is also in the show notes for today's episode.
Thank you so much to everyone who has already reached out and donated.
We appreciate it so much.
On to the show after a few more words for the grownups.
It just filled me up with joy.
My mom loves the jokes.
Yo, yo, my joke.
It made me very proud about my writing.
Yeah, we're just getting like really deep into like, I want to say philosophy.
I definitely think I can be more creative now.
I'm a champion.
The Sully Pirates.
Okay, everybody, here's what's up.
As you may know, every once in a while we invite all of our Creator Club members to join me and Peter on a Zoom to write a story together.
And it's a wild experience.
Hundreds of different kids from all around the world show up and together we write incredible stories like the one you're going to hear today about the origins of of the world's most popular circus.
That's right.
I'm talking, of course, about the infinitely exponential, totally awesome circus.
And P.S.
Grownups.
We're doing the whole thing again on Zoom with me and Peter in January, and it's not too late to get your kids involved.
We're going to write a brand new story together and then adapt it for the podcast, just like in today's episode.
Information on how to join us is in the episode description for today's episode.
So Grownups, check it out and join us.
And now, without further ado, we present to you a story from the Story Pirates Creator Club the ancient history of Mr Lollipants and his 27 tears.
Lollipants step right up to the greatest show on earth, now in its 27th season.
It's the infinitely exponential, totally awesome circus.
All three tents, baby bacon's big top, gooby dabba and the sandwich circus.
All your favorite acts on stage, including monkey trapeze, the fiery flying flippa ladies, the immortal tartar grade i shall never die the glass breaking toddler, Oopsie poopsie.
Sandwich eating contest on the trapeze.
It's the panini.
Underwater box gymnastics.
And so much more.
Hurry, hurry, hurry.
Over here, Sally.
It's right over here.
Oh boy, oh boy, Amir.
I can't wait to go to the circus.
As soon as we turn this corner, you'll be right there.
The infinitely exponential, totally awesome circus.
Where is it?
It was supposed to be right here.
It's gone.
Sorry, sir.
We didn't see you or your wagon full of rotting cauliflowers there.
That's funny.
That's the first thing Mr. Lollipants said to me, too.
Mr. Lollipants?
The sour lollipop who created the infinitely exponential totally awesome circus?
That's the one.
Say you two kids wouldn't want to hear the origin story of the infinitely exponential, totally awesome circus, would you?
Absolutely.
Yes, please.
I thought not.
Well, I best be on my way.
No, we said yes.
Oh, OK then.
Once upon a time, the circus was only in the mind of one person.
Or should I say, one sad lollipop.
Here I am on my way to work.
Mr. Lollipants.
Though I should just call myself Mr. Sourpants.
I'm doomed to a life of being sad.
If only I could get some sort of sign that would tell me how to be happy.
Hey, pal, stop.
What?
You almost walked into traffic right past this stop sign.
Gosh, thank you, kind person.
Goodbye.
Be careful out there.
She's right, Lolly.
You were so busy looking for a sign that you failed to see that...
That stop sign is what I've been waiting for.
I've just got to call my friend Joe the Coconut about this.
I'm coming, I'm coming.
Hello, Joe the Coconut here.
Joe the Coconut.
Lollipops.
Joe, I've got another one of my ideas.
Boy, what is it this time?
I just saw a sign on how to finally be happy.
A stop sign.
It was red and white and had such a fun shape.
An aerial view of a circus tent, obviously.
I'm going to start a circus.
As far as your schemes go, LP, this one ain't bad.
I'm in.
We need a venue.
I have the perfect place, or at least a place.
What is it?
It's the basement of a restaurant that only sells mint chocolate chip ice cream, owned by my friend Banana Joe.
Perfect.
Meet me at Banana Joe's.
Wow, look at us here at Banana Joe's four weeks later, ready to put on a circus.
Thank you for your help, Joe the Coconut.
And thank you, Banana Joe, for letting us use the basement and for bringing us such a big crowd.
Of course!
After you assured me that the circus would be, quote, really good, I knew people would love it.
I can't wait to see all the acts.
Oh, uh, the acts?
Yeah, you know, the performers and such.
Right, of course.
All right, Lolly, it's time to start the show.
But, um... Break the leg, gentlemen.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first ever infinitely exponential totally awesome circus!
Yes!
Circus time.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Have we got a show for you.
Without further ado, our first act is this.
A tape deck?
What's he doing?
And play.
Up, right, boom.
Lolly, get off the stage.
Apologies, everyone.
That's our show for the evening.
No refunds.
No refunds.
Show's over.
Oh, no, Joe.
This was harder than I thought.
I didn't realize that I had to put in an effort.
My dream is dead.
Mr. Lollypants, you're crying a single tear.
Listen to me.
You can't give up after one failure.
There's always the next one.
Who would believe in me after that?
I would.
Who are you?
I am Frogsworth the Chicken, and I'm a manager.
A talent manager?
No, an assistant manager here at Banana Joe's ice cream shop.
Oh.
But I'm also independently wealthy.
Oh, I know nothing about show business, but I think you've got something.
You simply must try again.
And if that fails, you must try again and again and again.
So what do you say?
Frogsworth, you had me at independently wealthy.
Let's do it.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second ever, infinitely exponential, totally awesome circus.
Thank you, you are in for a treat tonight.
Everyone, look at the person's head in front of you now keep doing that for three hours.
This was worse than last year.
I failed again.
Oh, single tear.
Welcome to the seventh ever, infinitely exponential, totally awesome circus.
Thank you.
You are in for a treat tonight.
Behold, it's a clown that says, hey.
Hey.
Better, but still bad.
I failed again.
Single tear.
Welcome to the 14th ever infinitely exponential totally awesome circus!
You are in for a treat tonight.
Behold, robots that eat croissants.
They're confused, Wally!
That's an improvement!
We're still not there yet!
It went on and on like this.
He put on 27 circuses and cried 27 tears until finally they did it.
They opened the one that you've heard so much about.
No, and we missed it.
That's what you think.
Mr. Wally Pants!
That's right.
It was me the whole time.
What a reveal.
Welcome to...
The Infinitely Exponential Totally Awesome Circus!
Where did this crowd in Big Top come from?
Joe the Coconut!
Welcome to the 115th ever Infinitely Exponential Totally Awesome Circus!
Feast your eyes upon our list of fantastic acts.
The fortune-telling crocodile.
I can see your future.
Sir and Adonis wheat and apple pie on sale at concessions.
Wheat and apple pie here.
Fenwick the horse eats toes all along the stage.
The clown that just walks around and says, hey.
Hey.
Marshmallow lifting contest.
Mini living apples dancing.
And everyone's favorite, robots that eat croissants!
Could this show get any better?
Finally, to show you my appreciation for each of you, here's a wet dog from France!
This is the greatest thing I've ever experienced, Sally.
Just look at this wet dog!
The end!
And when we come back, it's time for Story Love, where Peter and I read even more stories written by kids.
Hey, grown-ups, Lee here.
You can now experience the beloved Harry Potter stories like you've never heard them before on Audible with Harry Potter the full cast audio editions.
Now, you know that I love audio-only storytelling.
I think it's one of the best things you can expose your kids to because there's no screen.
Audio storytelling has this special way of activating kids' imaginations, which I think is super powerful.
And the Harry Potter full cast audio editions have the highest possible quality you can ask for.
Hundreds of unique voices and immersive sound design that brings the wizarding world vividly to life in Dolby Atmos, as well as an electrifying new musical score.
The adventure surrounds you.
You'll hear footsteps echoing off the walls of Hogwarts and the whoosh of a golden snitch as it darts past your ear.
And I love the casting.
I just noticed that Matthew McFadden is playing Voldemort.
Sorry, I said his name.
I know.
But Matthew is one of my favorite actors.
He's just incredible in everything he does.
I just watched this amazing show with him.
He's fantastic.
And there's so many other actors that I just personally love doing this.
These full cast audio editions are a spellbinding experience for longtime Harry Potter fans and a delightful new way to introduce the stories to a new generation.
The first story in the series is available now, with new audiobooks in the series releasing every month.
It's Harry Potter like you've never heard it before.
Go to audible.com slash hp1 and start listening today.
Welcome back to Story Love, where we take stories written by kids and we talk about them.
Peter, hello.
Lee, hello.
I was thinking that today we could talk about stories written by kids.
That sounds like a plan, and specifically the plan we had when we arrived here.
That is indeed the plan.
Would you read the first story for us?
I would be delighted, Lee.
This story comes to us from a 10-year-old from Tennessee named Rosa.
And Rosa's story is called The Case... of the third-person infection.
What a title.
It's another day for me, Rick Lawson, when somebody walks into my... Wait.
Do I have to talk about myself in the third person?
What is the point?
I, Rick Lawson.
No, I did it again.
Why, oh, why must this happen to me, Rick Lawson?
No, I did it again.
Have I always done this?
Let's look at my baby pictures.
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
And after some close examination by me, I realized, hey, I did it.
I didn't say it in third person.
I am gonna go convince other detectives to stop this bad habit.
That's the daily case for me, Rick Lawson.
Darn it!
I said it again!
Well...
Time to stop this curse.
Hey, Vicky Burns.
Hi, Rick Lawson.
It's another day for me, Vicky Burns, when, wait, wait, Vicky, stop doing that.
Doing what?
Talking in third person.
Okay, I, Vicky Burns, will try.
Bye.
All right.
Time to go help Matt Hayes.
Hey, Matt Hayes.
Hey, Rick Lawson.
It's another... No, no, no.
Don't say it's another day for me, Matt Hayes, okay?
Why?
That's how I, Matt Hayes, talks.
I don't care how you talk.
It's infecting your brain.
But I have to.
Hey, you did it.
Bye.
Hopefully they will spread the word.
Hey, I haven't said I Rick Lawson or me Rick Lawson all day.
Pretty much.
I beat the infection.
The end.
Wow, so good.
I, Peter McNerney, for one, loved that story.
Wow, I loved it too.
I love how noir tropes like detected noir tropes like this have really, really carried on to the next generation.
Yeah.
It's kind of surprising, isn't it?
I've thought about this because we get a lot of stories from kids that like to play with this genre thing.
But how many new movies or TV shows actually use it?
Well, there's certainly no earnest ones of it.
There's only parodies.
So this is like parodies of parodies.
Yeah.
This is a parody of a parody of a parody.
Yeah.
Seemingly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And the fact that you just said that a few times in a row sounded very parody.
You think that's where the word parody came from?
No.
Don't you sort of wish it was, though?
Yeah, I do.
That really changes it.
If the word parody just came from it, that was a little parrot-y.
Well, I mean, I guess, like in some ways, like when a parrot is repeating something someone else said, they're doing a parody of it.
It's exactly right.
That's exactly right.
That was a parody of what I just said for sure.
That was a parody of what I just said for sure.
And it makes me feel a little sad.
And it makes me feel a little sad.
Why is it that if you just repeat and exaggerate what somebody says, it's mockery?
It's mockery?
Why is it?
Why is it?
As long as I turn it up, I can send it back to you.
Let's try.
I'll say something real straight.
I gotta go.
Lee, I love your shirt.
Oh, Lee, I love your shirt.
Oh, Lee, I love your shirt.
I see what you're doing, but I feel like it just made fun of you worse.
Oh, Lee, I love... Yeah, now I look just a little... I don't feel good.
But honestly, this is a very good shirt.
Thank you for noticing. um i really love this story rosa thank you so much for sending it in incredible all right let's get on to our next one this one's from a nine-year-old in california named l and l's story is called carson the capybara once upon a time there was a capybara named carson h finton the third or carson for short he was the king and he loved movies One time he was watching a movie and a mean lion came and ate his candy.
Then Carson hugged it and the lion became a sloth.
The sloth then bought some candy for everyone in the jungle.
The end.
Lee, the capybara has love hugs.
Yeah.
Magical love hugs.
Magical love hugs can turn a lion into a sloth.
But not just any sloth, a sloth that then pays it forward.
That's right.
And buys candy for everyone in the jungle.
Yeah.
Presumably to eat while they're watching movies.
Yes.
I love also that the Kepibara being a king does not play into the story at all.
But it explains maybe why, how he became king.
Right.
If you can do a love hug to turn a lion into a sloth, a generous sloth then I think you're probably well-suited to be king.
How long do you think it took the sloth to give candy to everyone in the jungle?
Well, most jungles are pretty big.
But their borders are ill-defined.
But a sloth is also very slow.
That's true.
I hadn't thought about that.
Incredible story, Al.
We loved it.
Thank you so much for sending it in.
And we got one more here, Peter.
Why don't you read it?
I'd love to.
This last story comes to us from an eight-year-old from Texas named Colin.
And Colin's story is the guy who sells skyscrapers.
All right.
Just another good day of selling skyscrapers for me, the skyscraper guy.
Oh, he's got the third-person infection.
Yeah.
Today, somebody walks into the store and they ask for a skyscraper.
I say, sure, how tall?
The person thinks for a second and says, 1,000 feet?
Then I ask, where would you like it?
He replies, on top of Town Hall.
Okay, I say.
I get into my crane.
I put it on top of Town Hall, but the whole building starts to wobble.
Then it crashes and all the skyscrapers start rolling everywhere.
So I call my alien friends.
I went to space once.
I met some aliens and we had a little talk.
We traded stuff for a bit and became friends.
While I was there, I accidentally got hit by an alien ray, and it gave me the superpower of telekinesis.
Then they gave me a little calm to talk to them whenever I needed to.
This translated so I could understand the alien's language.
I didn't know how handy this would be Later.
Okay, I got it.
Continue.
So here I am, skyscrapers rolling everywhere, people running and screaming and suddenly I remember I can call the aliens.
My comm is a little rusty, but it still works.
The aliens reply, that's no problem.
We need skyscrapers anyway.
All of the troops of aliens show up and they take the skyscrapers back to their planet.
They find out that some power lines broke.
Then I say, I have an idea.
Then I snapped the power line cord but I found one that's super tight but it secretly goes up to the aliens and we were able to still talk.
Then I put the one skyscraper I wanted to keep back at my house.
I climbed up to the top, did a backflip off, and shouted, The end!
Wow, best ending ever.
More stories need to end with backflips.
I've been saying it for years.
I don't think that there is any story that couldn't end with.
I climbed up to the top, did a backflip off and shouted the end.
I like the idea that the the end fades.
The end!
Yeah, incredible.
Such a good ending.
The story's great, too.
Do you think that the people in the skyscrapers got taken up to space with the aliens, or was there time for evacuation?
Ooh, you think the aliens took the skyscrapers and sort of went, shake, shake, shake.
Oh, yeah.
Like when you have a log full of ants.
Like salt.
Get out of there.
I need this log.
I'm making holiday crafts.
That's right.
With a log I found.
That's right.
I'm going to cut it.
You ever see those reindeer?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm making one of those.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Yeah, you take a log.
This might be a spoiler for some of my family members this year.
Are you carving reindeers for your family for Christmas?
I'm carving them, but I got a log and I cut them into segments and I made a head and a body and sticks for antlers and this.
And I did.
It's adorable.
It was my wife's idea.
Wow.
Anyway, I may have recently been shaking branches full of ants.
Wow, which is why you thought of it.
It is why.
Can we talk about this part of the story that I think we both really enjoyed, which is the so I call my alien friends?
I went to space once.
Oh, I forgot the backstory.
Let me get through it real quick.
I love that you kept that emotional beat throughout the story.
For two paragraphs.
I went to space once.
I met some aliens.
While I was there, I accidentally got hit by an alien ray.
Telekinesis gave me a calm so I could understand the alien's language.
I didn't know how handy it would be later.
Okay, back to the story.
So here I am, skyscrapers rolling everywhere.
I love getting sidetracked like that.
Oh yeah.
Really, really funny story.
Colin, you did it.
Great work.
Thanks for sending it in.
And that's it for today's Story Love.
To read all of today's stories, just head to storypirates.com.
And remember you can watch an even longer version on the Story Pirates YouTube page, with help from your grown-up.
Now it's time for you to write us a story, because the holidays are a great time to sit down and finally write that story you've been thinking about.
Grown-ups can submit stories at storypirates.com.
And remember, we respond to every single story we receive.
That's it for today's bonus episode.
Grownups.
Don't forget to check the show notes for today's episode to find out how your kids can join us for our next Create a Story session in January.
We'll be back soon with more new stories.
Until then, stay creative and stay kind.
Bye!
The Story Pirates Podcast is a production of Story Pirates Studios.
Executive produced by Lee Overtree and Benjamin Salka.
This episode was produced by Sam Baer, Peter McNerney, Andrew Miller, and Lee Overtree.
Recording, sound design, and mixing by Sam Baer at The Relic Room in New York City.
Additional production by Brett Tuvin.
Theme song by Bobby Lord.
Musical scoring by Eric Gerson and Jack Mitchell.
Our head writer is Peter McNerney.
Staff writers are Megan O'Neill and Alexis Simpson.
The ancient history of Mr. Lollipants and his 27 Tears was adapted by Megan O'Neill.
Episode artwork by Camilla Franklin.
This episode features performances by Abel Arias, Chris Ferry, Caroline Lux, Martha Marion, Peter McNerney, Megan O'Neill and Sam Reith Passerew.
All right, so we met the immortal tardigrade in that circus story, but you're telling me that you are the immoral tardigrade.
Immoral tardigrade at your service.
That is correct.
What does that even mean?
Well, frankly, Lee, not only am I a microscopic creature, but I'm also incredibly unethical.
What?
Why not just call yourself, like, the bad tardigrade?
Why not call yourself unimaginative guy?
Because it doesn't sound good.
Immoral is better than bad.
I see.
Okay.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a pyramid scheme to start.
All right.
Bye, immoral tardigrade.
Bye now.
Takes me a very long time to walk out of a room.
I am microscopic.
But I insist that you stand there until I'm gone.
Oh, I'm running.
I'm running.
Again, microscopic.
I have moved one centimeter, which is a long way.
It's a long way for a tardigrade.
I'm not respecting your time.
I'm immoral.
But I'm sprinting.
Again, microscopic.
Three quarters of an inch.
I'm also changing from the imperial system to metric willy-nilly.
It's not immoral, it's just annoying.
One inch!
Wow, I'm flying!
I insist that you keep waiting.
Taking a nap.
Good night.
