Who Knew The Morgue Was Funny?

Two forensic toxicologists hop into the car and immediately bring humor, humanity, and a few unforgettable morgue stories. From unexpected job hazards to the strange things they’ve learned about people after death, this episode is a blend of dark comedy and scientific insight. A surprisingly warm conversation about a field most of us only see in crime shows.

Their workplace anecdotes paint a vivid picture: pathologists skateboarding into morgues, minimal protective equipment during autopsies, and standing in business attire next to colleagues covered in blood. As they put it, they're "the black sheep of the medical field" who've become desensitized to death. One passenger sums up their job security with grim pragmatism: "As long as people are dying and they like drugs, we're good."

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About: Foundation Digital Media | Kuna Video

Transcript

Welcome to Rideshare Road Talk

Speaker 1 0:11

Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk Conversations in Motion, a podcast where we create unfiltered talk space that examines the meaningful lives of my passengers while engaging in personal and topical discussions. I'm your host and driver, John Fod Faunus, and we're cruising the streets of Washington DC. Buckle up, let's drive. Hi ladies.

Speaker 2 0:34

Why your name come up, came up, yyz, but that's your license plate. That's the license plate You're from Toronto.

Speaker 1 0:39

That would be a really funny name if it was. I was like I'm confused. Yyz is the airport code for the toronto airport and do you like rush? Thank you. Thank you for completing me.

Speaker 3 0:53

I appreciate that rush the band, oh yeah it's a famous song yeah, they did okay, um I waited 15 years to get that plate.

Speaker 1 1:02

It was unavailable for 15 years, john. Oh, now I came up, john.

Speaker 2 1:05

It wasn't good for your name, it was only coming up for your license plate.

Speaker 1 1:08

I'm so confused. I'm John.

Forensic Toxicologists Who See Dead People

Speaker 2 1:11

I'll give you a head start. We're both forensic toxicologists, so what would you like to know? We see dead people.

Speaker 1 1:16

You're forensic toxicologists.

Speaker 3 1:18

We see dead people every day.

Speaker 1 1:19

All the time. Do you mind if I curse? I?

Speaker 3 1:22

do not care, that's fucking awesome. Thanks, fuck is my problem.

Speaker 1 1:25

I mean you're working with dead bodies. Who cares if I curse?

Speaker 2 1:27

Yeah, no, we're pretty sick and twisted in the head.

Speaker 1 1:31

So you see dead people.

Speaker 2 1:32

Yep Sure do.

Speaker 1 1:35

Every minute of every day. So the stereotypical narrative scene in any docudrama is the medical examiner is phased by nothing and you're eating sandwiches, like, while you're doing your thing that's pretty accurate, is it really?

Speaker 3 1:52

I mean, we don't maybe not the sandwich part, but like we're pretty much phased unfazed every now and again you'll get something.

Speaker 2 2:01

You're just like whoa or if like you weren't expecting it.

Speaker 3 2:04

Yeah it has to be like the kids bother me the most.

Speaker 1 2:08

Yeah, yeah, kids are really sad.

Speaker 3 2:10

Oh, that's not, that sucks people do a lot of stupid shit in miami. Yeah, well sure, okay.

Speaker 1 2:16

So so walk it back for me, like there was the first time, right, like the first time that you did that you're, you're in the room, you're doing your thing. Is it like? What the hell did I my, my doing here?

Speaker 2 2:28

no, I was there for my interview like the first time I never really been in a morgue where they were cutting bodies. I was walking in my suit and I knew one of the fellows who worked there and she was a doctor and was cutting and I hadn't seen her in a long time. So I just went down to say hi and I just stood in my suit next to her covered in blood. She's like hi, totally looks like a scene out of a murder mystery. Wow, completely covered. She's like I'd hug you.

Speaker 3 2:58

But I was like no, thank you my first one was I see a body just hanging off of a gurney. And then, um, one of our pathologists used to skateboard into the morgue.

Speaker 1 3:10

Uh, before I started, as one will do so that's what he was doing.

Speaker 3 3:15

And then he would. He would wear minimal um protection when he was cutting. He'd wear like gloves and maybe a skull cap, and then he'd just, you know, go to town. He was fun. You, he'd wear like gloves and maybe a skullcap, and then he'd just, you know, go to town, he was fun.

Inside the Morgue: Dark Humor & Reality

Speaker 1 3:28

You know, the stereotype is that you know odd characters. Oh yeah, pretty accurate to do that kind of work.

Speaker 3 3:34

They were the black sheep of the medical field.

Speaker 2 3:37

I mean, we kind of you kind of just get desensitized to it over time.

Speaker 1 3:42

I mean it's like being an accountant You're never going to be out of work.

Speaker 2 3:45

That's true. Yeah, as long as people are dying, they're dying, and they like drugs. Yeah, so we're good.

Speaker 1 3:52

Drugs are bad. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 3:54

They're bad, but they do keep us in business.

Speaker 1 3:56

So the toxicology part, that's a specialty inside of the umbrella of that work, like you're just doing, science yeah yeah oh, so you're not like doing like our organ harvesting? And like that kind of stuff. No, we're just testing the bodies for drugs, wrongdoing and all that stuff. Yeah, helping the pathologist determine the cause of manner of death yeah, okay, well, you don't come across that every day, thanks, thanks for sharing. So what's fun and exciting tonight?

Speaker 3 4:30

I went to a bookstore. I love used books so I always have to go to a used bookstore everywhere I visit.

Speaker 2 4:37

We don't really have very many in South.

DC Nightlife & Exploring the City

Speaker 3 4:40

Florida. People don't read in Florida. Insert joke somewhere, right yeah right, it's hard to come by.

Speaker 1 4:48

How long are you in town for Until?

Speaker 2 4:50

tomorrow.

Speaker 1 4:50

Oh, okay, I was going to say if you like books but you missed your window, the Library of Congress has a happy hour in the main room, which is spectacular, it's like one of the best rooms in the world.

Speaker 2 5:07

Yeah, all the monuments are really cool very pretty city at night yeah, I like to see it's such like a I feel like it's so calm down here is there areas that you mean there's a lot of like nightlife, oh absolutely, yeah, what do you?

Speaker 1 5:20

what are you into? No, I'm not into it. Well, we're just. Is there areas that you mean there's a lot of nightlife in Tennessee? Oh, absolutely, what are?

Speaker 2 5:22

you into.

Speaker 3 5:24

No, I'm not into it.

Speaker 2 5:25

Well, I guess we're just curious where everyone is yeah, it just looks so dead around here.

Speaker 1 5:29

This is kind of like the downtown, lower downtown. During the day, during the week this is all bustling and just politics and business, blah, blah blah. But if you go north you'll have neighborhoods like Adams Morgan, very eclectic, lots of different types of cuisine going on, bars and stuff. Georgetown is very touristy but it's that old federal architecture. The neighborhoods are stunning. If you get over there to walk around at night in the neighborhoods it's really neat.

Speaker 3 6:01

I'm going to go see the Exorcist stuff.

Speaker 2 6:04

Yeah, that's fun. I've never seen the Exorcist, so I'm just going for moral support.

Speaker 3 6:08

It's one of my favorite movies.

Speaker 1 6:09

There's a continuity flaw. Do you want me to ruin it for you, or do you just want to go?

Speaker 3 6:13

and enjoy it. You could say it, I think, I know it, it's, it's.

Speaker 1 6:18

I'm a film guy by trade and I was like astounded when I figured this out, like if you watch the movie and you know how it ends the stairs. Yeah, it's physically impossible for him to have gone out that window and wound up there, because the house is center block and the stairs are not. Yeah, that makes sense so it is a suspension of disbelief, right, yeah, but most people are like, oh wait, you didn't fly there.

Speaker 3 6:44

No.

Speaker 1 6:44

Yeah, but they're wicked steep, oh my God.

Speaker 3 6:47

Yeah.

Speaker 1 6:48

They're crazy.

Speaker 3 6:49

It reminds me when I see them. It reminds me of Portugal, All the stairs in Portugal are like that.

Speaker 1 6:55

There is an area called the Wharf that was kind of redeveloped. That's really fun. Right along the water there's some really cool restaurants. There's an incredible music venue there called Anthem. Might be fun to go walk around, especially on a Saturday night, get coffee or something fun late. That's kind of cool.

Speaker 2 7:19

Is that Wharf area walkable after we do the steps? Like is there anything around the steps that we could like go do or see tomorrow before we leave?

Sightseeing & Local Recommendations

Speaker 1 7:27

Tomorrow. I mean, if you go to the top of the steps, that's basically like the top of Georgetown. Georgetown University is right there and those really cool neighborhoods, um, are back in there. That's kind of fun to walk around, especially if it's nice out. Neighborhoods are back in there. That's kind of fun to walk around, especially if it's nice out Very affluent areas and the architecture is really fun to look at and then you can just, you know, putz around Georgetown and get coffee and shmai and do all that. I'm trying to think where else. The other ones are kind of just obscure. There's a place called Noma. The other ones are kind of just obscure. There's a place called Noma Union.

Speaker 2 8:02

Market, none of it's walkable.

Speaker 1 8:03

You'd have to get into an Uber or a rideshare or something to go do it. Yeah, logan Circle, dupont Circle those are all fun places to go hang out. A lot of nightlife restaurants, stuff like that.

Speaker 2 8:20

Thank you.

Speaker 3 8:21

I like DC, it's really nice. You restaurants, stuff like that. Thank you, mm-hmm, I like DC, it's really nice.

Speaker 1 8:24

You know it's interesting. It's like it's the center of the universe for a lot of things, right, yeah, politics of course, but it's still very much a small town and politics and business and all that it's like. It's just it still has that weird southern kind of sensibility to it, where it is small word, travels fast, but it's not like claustrophobic like New York. You know that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 8:53

It's very clean.

Speaker 1 8:54

It can be. I see I'm taking you back to the Hyatt Yep. That's where that's home base, Yep.

Speaker 3 9:00

Right next to the Hyatt Yep, that's where that's home base. Yep, yeah, right next to the strip club Perfect.

Speaker 1 9:05

I didn't realize. I mean hang out long enough, you might have some work.

Speaker 3 9:10

I was just like oh, I did not realize it.

Speaker 2 9:15

I mean they were very insulated. We didn't hear anything. Yeah, insulated. Yeah, we're on the eighth floor, so like I think that probably has helped our noise thing.

Speaker 3 9:28

Yeah, you don't hear, like you know, people outside.

Speaker 1 9:32

Well, so much to do with so little time.

Speaker 2 9:36

Yeah, that's usually how it goes. I've been here. This is my third time here. Yeah, I've been here too.

Speaker 1 9:41

Have you been inside the old post office which was our orange friend's hotel and now it's not. It's the Waldorf Astoria now.

Speaker 3 9:51

Oh, no, it is spectacular. It was a Trump hotel.

Speaker 1 9:55

It was the old post office pavilion. Spectacular architecture. I mean you, spectacular, it was a trump hotel. It was the old post office pavilion. Spectacular architecture. I mean, you'll see, when we drive by um, and then he bought the naming rights to it of course um, and now he doesn't have the naming rights and hilton, uh, occupies it. They renovated it and did a whole bunch of fun stuff. Um, that's it right here on the left oh wow stuff.

Speaker 1 10:22

That's it right here on the left. Yeah, I mean, it's spectacular. If you go in there, there is a lobby bar. I think lobby bars are like the greatest thing on earth yeah crossroads of the world, you know. Just hang out in a Waldorf?

Food Options & Hidden Gems

Speaker 1 10:30

yeah, hi end hotel like that, yeah it's called a Peacock alley and the room is spectacular. Go have a drink or coffee or whatever and a snack, and it's just a great place to hang out in, kill an hour and, uh, there's a really nice restaurant there too. Um, can you wear good here, anything good?

Speaker 3 10:52

we went to the dauphine last night, okay, so that was good. Yeah, just because it was walking distance and everything I don't think there's anything like quintessentially dc right that it's like dc is known for I know there's a lot of ethiopian food

Speaker 2 11:06

there is a lot of like northern african yeah I've eaten at old evick grill last time I was here yeah, I mean that that's the one place that always seems to be.

Speaker 1 11:17

It's okay, but the cool thing about it it really is like a mix of confluence of actual like working politicians and you'll see, like some relatively famous people in there and tourists and regular locals.

Speaker 3 11:30

Because, it's like the oldest bar or something like that, I don't even know my uncle had come here.

Speaker 2 11:35

It's like, oh, it's like the food's good Like it's like a historic bar and I was like okay. So when my parents and I came to visit, we ate there and it was good. It was really hard to get a table, though we like walked in and ate at the bar.

Speaker 1 11:50

Oh, I'm sure.

Speaker 2 11:50

In like a back corner well you know, strip clubs are notorious for having great hamburgers like 15, 20 minutes south, like an exit down in Micanopy, which is like literally middle of nowhere, podunk florida, and I had friends in college that went there and they're like, yeah, their burgers are great.

Speaker 1 12:25

Like why that's not sound there's someone in the back that takes their craft very seriously.

Speaker 3 12:34

I was gonna say they're like you know they're like it might be a strip club, but I'm going to show them.

Speaker 1 12:39

You never know where the next artist is going to come from. Yeah, ladies on the right here.

Speaker 3 12:47

I will yeah.

Speaker 1 12:48

Okay, I missed your little service entrance. Is this okay? You want me to go around?

Speaker 2 12:51

Yeah, you can get out.

Speaker 1 12:52

Okay, have a great rest of your trip. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Have a great rest of your trip. Thank you very much. Be careful getting out. Enjoy the steps.