SYSK Gets Weird Playlist: What's the deal with blue people?

Charles W. Bryant (0:03)

Hey everybody, winding it down with a couple of more here from me at least with the Stuff You Should Know Gets Weir playlist.

Have you ever seen The Blue People? There's a thing where, I'm not going to spoil it, but let's just say there's a thing that happens where people's skin can turn blue. And this is the episode called, What's the Deal with Blue People? And no, not David Cross in Arrested Development or the Blue Man Group.

SPEAKER_2 (0:29)

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

Josh Clark (0:39)

Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there, and Jerry was just here. She said, peace out, suckas.

And this is Stuff You Should Know, of course.

Charles W. Bryant (0:51)

It was nice of her to log on to say goodbye.

Josh Clark (0:54)

You're right.

Charles W. Bryant (0:56)

Now, we're just kidding, Jerry. She's been busy lately.

Josh Clark (0:58)

Yeah.

Charles W. Bryant (0:59)

That happens.

Josh Clark (1:00)

It totally happens in this busy go-go world of 2021, almost 2022, the double deuce.

Charles W. Bryant (1:07)

This year has just flown by.

Josh Clark (1:10)

It really has. I think mercifully, because this is going to be part of the lost years when we look back, you know?

Charles W. Bryant (1:19)

Yeah, it felt like 2020 took 18 years.

Josh Clark (1:22)

Right.

Charles W. Bryant (1:23)

And somehow 2021 has just like been in a snap. Yeah. I don't know what's going on.

Josh Clark (1:29)

I don't think anyone does anymore, Chuck, so don't feel bad.

Charles W. Bryant (1:33)

Can we shout out the people and sources that helped us along for this one?

Well, our buddy Dave Ruse wrote an article for How Stuff Works. Ta-da! And I found a great article from Wired. I forgot how much I love Wired. That's from Mallory Pickett. And BBC News, ABC News, NPR Morning A Dish, which is always a fun listen, National Library of Medicine here in the US. And then, as always, I feel like it makes appearance in every episode, jamaicahospital.org.

Josh Clark (2:06)

That's right.

Charles W. Bryant (2:08)

Surprisingly helpful.

Josh Clark (2:09)

Yeah.

Charles W. Bryant (2:09)

Maybe not surprisingly.

Josh Clark (2:11)

I wonder, is it Jamaica Queens or Jamaica Jamaica?

Charles W. Bryant (2:15)

Oh, you know what? I was thinking Jamaica Jamaica, maybe Jamaica Queens.

Josh Clark (2:18)

Yeah. Should I Jamaica seen Jamaica Queens?

Charles W. Bryant (2:22)

My neighbor across the street neighbor has is from Jamaica, the country. And I feel like a heel now, because I was like, hey, that hospital website's great, Pat.

She's like, what are you talking about?

Josh Clark (2:35)

She's like, OK, great. Glad you like some random hospital website.

Oh, boy. So we're talking today, you went and found some medical stuff. That's why you went to look at jamaicahospital.org, I'm guessing, because we're talking about a really interesting condition, and actually a few kinds of conditions that have something unusual in common, and that is that the people who suffer from these conditions have blue skin. Blue skin. You heard it here first, everybody, even though this really first started hitting the presses in 2008

Charles W. Bryant (3:12)

Yeah. I mean, you didn't hear it here first. I mean, this is all over the Internet. But we're talking about not the Blue Man Group, but the Blue People Group of Kentucky. It's a family that is, I guess, it's pronounced Fugate.

It's not Fugate.

Josh Clark (3:28)

No, that's Italian. He was from France.

Charles W. Bryant (3:31)

Well, that's a spoiler.

Josh Clark (3:33)

Oh, is it? I'm sorry. I take it back, everyone.

Charles W. Bryant (3:37)

You know, it's not a spoiler, but for some reason, when I saw that the original Martin Fugate was from France, from, I'm not sure what part of France, but I was like, huh, that's surprising. I was like, I don't know why it would be.

Josh Clark (3:51)

Yeah, he could have come from anywhere in the world, and he would have been like a completely overlookable person, I think totally lost the history, had it not been for the rare genetic mutation that he happened to carry with him. And even that wouldn't have gotten him into the history books, Chuck. Even that wouldn't have.

Instead, it took Martin Fugate to happen upon, against all odds, to have found a wife who he was not related to, who was a total stranger from a totally different country, who also happened to have that same rare genetic mutation. And when the two get together, kapow, blue kids start popping out.