Selects: Iran-Contra Affair: Shady in the 80s, Part 1

**Josh Clark** (0:00)
Hey guys, it's me, Josh, and for this week's Select, I've chosen our 2019 episode on the Iran-Contra Affair.
We called it Shady in the 80s for two good reasons. One, it took place in the 80s, and two, it was probably the shadiest thing the US government has ever done. And that's really saying something.
Anyway, if you like your You Should Know episodes eye-popping, then prepare for this one.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:31)
Welcome to You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

**Josh Clark** (0:41)
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. There's Jerry over there eating with chopstick as a matter of fact.

**Chuck Bryant** (0:50)
You know, when Jerry pulls up the chopsticks.

**Josh Clark** (0:52)
It's time to record.

**Chuck Bryant** (0:53)
That's right.

**Josh Clark** (0:55)
She's got Facebook open and she's sitting there with her chopstick. So we're recording now.

**Chuck Bryant** (0:59)
Jerry's been fork free since 83

**Josh Clark** (1:03)
Speaking of 83

**Chuck Bryant** (1:05)
Your shirt?

**Josh Clark** (1:07)
I guess it's kind of 83-ish.

**Chuck Bryant** (1:08)
Looks very Thomas Magnum.

**Josh Clark** (1:10)
It does, Chuck. It does. Not just the shirt, the whole outfit. Look at the jeans, the shoes.

**Chuck Bryant** (1:15)
Yeah?

**Josh Clark** (1:16)
Yeah.

**Chuck Bryant** (1:17)
You got the Ferrari out back?

**Josh Clark** (1:18)
Thank you for noticing, man. I look like a chubby Thomas Magnum.

**Chuck Bryant** (1:22)
It's funny because I just finished Stranger Things 3 and saw that there was a... Have you seen it yet? Are you into that?

**Josh Clark** (1:31)
No, I liked the first season, and I never really got back into it after that. No offense to anybody.

**Chuck Bryant** (1:36)
Sure. The main, the sheriff guy, Hopper, wears a shirt kind of like that through most of this season.

**Josh Clark** (1:43)
Is that right?

**Chuck Bryant** (1:44)
And so someone did a cut of like a Magnum PI intro and had him running around and shooting things and jumping into cars all set to the Magnum thing.

**Josh Clark** (1:53)
Very cool.

**Chuck Bryant** (1:53)
And it really fits. All you gotta do is throw that song with the guy with the shirt like that and it's Magnum.

**Josh Clark** (2:00)
Yep.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:01)
Of course, he has the mustache too.

**Josh Clark** (2:02)
Well, I'm a mustache-less chubby Magnum.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:05)
You should wear a mustache. That looks interesting.

**Josh Clark** (2:07)
I don't know. It do solve a lot of mysteries though.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:10)
Nothing can change the look like mustaches.

**Josh Clark** (2:12)
Oh, dude. Especially, right, especially a fake mustache because you just put it on and bam, you're done.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:18)
That's right.

**Josh Clark** (2:20)
So, I tried, I'm going to go back to the 83 segue.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:24)
Yeah, we're here, right? We're right in the middle of the 80s.

**Josh Clark** (2:26)
Yeah, like, this was super 80s. This is as 80s as it gets. The Iran-Contra affair. That's what we're talking about. Some people call it Iran Gate. I poo-poo that name.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:36)
Iran-Contra.

**Josh Clark** (2:37)
Sure. I remember this going on at the time.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:41)
Me too.

**Josh Clark** (2:42)
I remember watching Oliver North testify.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:45)
Me too.

**Josh Clark** (2:45)
And my sister was like, he's so dreamy. Look at how much poise he has.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:50)
He got his dress greens on.

**Josh Clark** (2:52)
Right. Exactly.

**Chuck Bryant** (2:52)
All those medals.

**Josh Clark** (2:53)
Had his Boy Scout three fingers up, like swearing. I really think he did do that. But even as an adult, like everything I knew about Iran-Contra, like until researching this, it was just the glossiest version.

**Chuck Bryant** (3:08)
Well, I mean, I was like 10 and 11, so you were like 7 and 8

**Josh Clark** (3:13)
Sure, sure. But I mean, like still over time, as you age, you're like, oh, that's what was going on, or, oh, I understand that. Even as an adult, my conception of it was not very thorough at all. And as I dug into it, I'm like, this is one of the shadiest things America has ever done, ever.

**Chuck Bryant** (3:30)
Yeah, and it was really great to do this, and like now I know it. Now I have a full understanding of what happened, and if it ever comes up at a party, and people are like, what was that all about anyway? I'm going to be like, well. Please sit down for an hour. And I'll just pull up my smartphone and play our episode.

**Josh Clark** (3:48)