Who gets to own tigers, chimps, and deadly snakes with Tiger King creators Eric Goode & Jeremy McBride | VICE Culture Club Ep13

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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SPEAKER_2 (0:16)

The wild world of college football continues Labor Day weekend. On Saturday, East Carolina looks to shock Alabama, and Baylor and Auburn battle it out in Atlanta in the Aflac kickoff game. Then, Clemson hits the road, looking to spoil Lane Kiffin's Death Valley debut.

Sunday night, it's Louisville versus Ole Miss in Nashville, in the inaugural Liberty Mutual Music City kickoff game. College football Labor Day weekend continues Saturday and Sunday on ABC and the ESPN app.

Eric Goode (0:47)

There was this cult called Synanon, and the leader of the cult was really paranoid about this journalist that was writing bad stories about Synanon, which was a sort of a commune cult. And he went and he took a rattlesnake and put it in the journalist's mailbox.

And the journalist put his hand in the mailbox and got bit by the rattlesnake. And so that was a guy retaliating by using a rattlesnake to kill someone that he didn't like. And in this case a journalist that was writing bad stories about synanauts. But there are countless stories about reptiles and using them as basically a weapon and escaping from people's houses all over the country.

Jeremy McBride (1:30)

Hardcore way to go, a rattlesnake bite.

Jackson (1:45)

What's up, welcome back to VICE Culture Club. I'm your guide to what's going on at VICE and what's going on in the world this week. We've got some great docs out on VICE, check them out, here they are.

SPEAKER_7 (2:17)

So right now, I don't want to like ever be in a mental hospital or in and out, or like psychosis or anything. I like, I hope I can stop it before it happens, you know?

Jackson (2:27)

Today, we've got a really cool show with Eric Goode and Jeremy McBride. The creators of Tiger King, Chimp Crazy, and now a new one called Monsters of God. It's like a trilogy on exotic pet ownership. We get into some crazy stories, some updates of what's going on with Tiger King cast, updates what's going on with Chimp Crazy cast, talking about reptiles, venomous snakes that get out, tigers that get out. It's super interesting. He talks about how he got bit by a snake one time.

Eric Goode, Jeremy McBride, super interesting. Stick around.

SPEAKER_8 (3:01)

I'm married to these animals, but I'm most intimate with my king cobra.

SPEAKER_9 (3:09)

I lost it after these animals.

We were obsessed with reptiles.

It's a addiction, dude. We were rogues and I was the king.

SPEAKER_10 (3:21)

How deadly is this king cobra?

SPEAKER_11 (3:23)

Well, you would certainly die. Jurassic Park made everyone want to have their own dinosaur in their house.

SPEAKER_12 (3:33)

He wanted the most rare and unusual, no matter the consequences.

SPEAKER_9 (3:44)

The Americans seriously paid crazy prices, And they were all very competitive with each other, so I was able to exploit that.

SPEAKER_11 (3:54)

Even though it was illegal, I thrive.

SPEAKER_9 (4:00)

75 tortoises were stolen from the sanctuary.

SPEAKER_13 (4:04)

That was fun.

Eric Goode (4:06)

What was the fun part? Just getting away with it?

SPEAKER_13 (4:08)

Bro, smuggle some fucking turtles, and then you'll feel the rush.

SPEAKER_9 (4:15)

There was a parallel between the people that smuggled reptiles and the people that smuggled the drugs.

SPEAKER_10 (4:21)

They took the reptile smuggling industry into a dark and violent underworld. I fantasize about arresting someone like you.

The most prolific wildlife smuggler in the world, is Anson Wong, the Pablo Escobar of reptiles. He's a dangerous. So you should still be careful when you're dealing with him.

SPEAKER_12 (4:44)

There was just a cat and mouse game, and there was lots of cheese.

SPEAKER_10 (4:49)

The minute we went after the National Zoo, all hell broke loose.

SPEAKER_9 (4:53)

Everybody was just out for themselves.

Jackson (4:58)

All right, we've got Eric Goode on, Jeremy McBride, the creators of Tiger King, Chimp Crazy and now Monsters of God, which is about reptiles. Is this like a trilogy you guys are doing on conservation or animals?

Eric Goode (5:11)

It just happens to be the case right now, but we are working on other things that don't include, at least wild animals, they always include us, which are animals.

Jeremy McBride (5:22)

Well, you have this cinematic universe quality of characters coming in and out. You may have seen Dwayne Cunningham, who was in Chimp Crazy, also was very much involved in his early days, basically smuggling lizards off of a cruise ship. So we do have some overlap here and there.