Calli and Nate interview members of The Explorers Club, and today you’re going to hear from a man who largely represents what The Explorers Club is all about - Josh Gates. Josh Gates is a fearless explorer and adventurer and host of Discovery's popular, long running series Expedition Unknown. He's also hosting a brand new series that chronicles the incredible history of the club, called Tales from The Explorers Club.
Calli and Nate interview members of The Explorers Club, and today you’re going to hear from a man who largely represents what The Explorers Club is all about - Josh Gates. Josh Gates is a fearless explorer and adventurer and host of Discovery's popular, long running series Expedition Unknown. He's also hosting a brand new series that chronicles the incredible history of the club, called Tales from The Explorers Club.
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Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/the-explorers-club-josh-gates
Title:
THE EXPLORERS CLUB: JOSH GATES
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
SCRIPT:
NATE: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery. Time flies when you’re learnin’ super cool stuff. I’m Nate.
CALLI: And I’m Calli. If you’re dropping in for the first time, welcome to Curiosity, where we aim to blow your mind by helping you to grow your mind. If you’re a loyal listener, welcome back! Today, we have something very special for you, new and loyal listeners alike!
NATE: Instead of our usual episode, we got to interview some amazing people who are members of The Explorer’s Club. And today you’re going to hear from a man who largely represents what The Explorers Club is all about - Josh Gates. For the folks at home, Calli who is Josh Gates?
CALLI: Josh Gates is a fearless explorer and adventurer and host of Discovery's super popular, long running series Expedition Unknown. He's also hosting a brand new series that chronicles the incredible history of the club, called "Tales from The Explorers Club." And, we have some exciting news for you. We will be interviewing someone new from The Explorers Club every Friday all summer long! You’ll get to know some of The Club’s most exciting members over the next few weeks.
NATE: I can’t wait for everyone to hear these incredible conversations, this is so exciting!
CALLI: It most certainly is, and when I found out we were going to get to talk to members of The Explorers Club, he was the perfect person to start with. After all, you can’t really understand what makes the Explorers Club if you can’t understand what it means to be an explorer in the first place.
[SFX: Whoosh]
JOSH: People explore for different reasons, right. I think there's good reasons and bad reasons to do everything. Look at like high altitude mountaineering. You know, a lot of people try to climb Everest or take on these these big, you know, challenging mountains for the glory of it, you know, for the for the notch in their belt. And of course, that's the most dangerous reason to ever embark on any expedition is is for glory. I think that the really impressive explorers are the ones that are out there for the purest of reasons, which is knowledge and and to touch the unknown and to try to cast a little light into the unknown, you know, and and yeah, you look at some of these expeditions and you just think, how on earth, you know, did these guys suffer through these just outrageous amounts of time and, you know, biting, cold, -65 degree temperatures and then going to places where, I don't know, look at look at Hillary climbing Everest.
CALLI: And of course, Josh is referring to Sir Edmund Hilary, New Zealander who, along with his sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, became the first people ever recorded to summit Everest.
JOSH: I mean, this mountain had killed everyone who had attempted to summit it up to that point. It was a monster. And, you know, the people just kept daring to go back and try it again. And so I think that, you know, the really good explorers are that that weird combination of incredibly careful and well-planned and also brazen and. Able to take the biggest risks. You kind of have to have both of those traits. I think if you're going to be someone who really pushes the envelope and exploration and that's a funny combination because there are people who are too careful and people who are too risky. And you have to have a lot of, I think, good, good fortune and good luck, too. But so many of these guys, you know, are people who risk everything in the name of science and knowledge.
NATE: And Josh is no stranger to risk. He’s been on an adventure or two in his day, and through his work has gotten himself in a few sticky situations. But that’s the life of an explorer! And one that his new show, Tales from the Explorer’s Club will highlight.
JOSH: The Explorer’s Club is one of those places that like when you tell people that it exists and they’ve never heard of it, the first thing that they think is like, ‘Oh, this must be a joke.’ It sounds like something out of a movie like the Explorer’s Club. It sounds, you know, like, could this really be a real place? And it is. Not only is it a real beautiful clubhouse here in this amazing worldwide organization but its members are real deal explorers. This is not, you know, a club of, you know adventure enthusiasts and weekend warriors. These are people who are changing the world. They’re pioneers. You know, we’re talking astronauts and people that were the first to the poles and the first to the bottom of the world’s oceans. These are really daring individuals, and there’s a lot of amazing science, field science going on that the club is a part of. So it’s one of those places that not only is it real, but it’s kind of even bigger and better than you imagine.
CALLI: And it’s not just the people. Even The Explorer’s Club HQ is legendary. The building is called the Lowell Thomas building, named for the American adventurer and writer Lowell Thomas. You may not have heard of Lowell Thomas but you’ve probably heard of his work - he is best known for writing about T.E. Lawrence, who you may know as Lawrence of Arabia. The building has been a New York City landmark since 1904, and is home to more than 100 years worth of Explorers Club history and artifacts.
JOSH: The building is exactly what you want it to be, right? It's this kind of Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code looking, you know, kind of soaring building on the Upper East Side here in Manhattan. And there's crackling fireplaces and stuffed polar bears. And, you know, it's it's just like this shrine to exploration. And it is a real nexus for explorers. It's a it's a meeting place as much as it is anything else. It's a place for people to connect before and after expeditions, to plan expeditions. So there's a real energy in this place.
NATE: That tradition and sense of history is part of everything the Explorer’s Club does. Early members gathered to share their passion for exploration and there’s been some legendary names on the Club roster.
JOSH: It was basically a group of people who came together at the suggestion of a journalist and an explorer, Henry Collins Walsh. And the earliest members were, you know, Alpine Club members, folks from the Museum of Natural History, people who had a real passion for exploration.
Callie: People like Sir Edmund Hillary who we talked about earlier, but also people like Buzz Aldrin, Theodore Roosevelt and Walter Cronkite. These are only some of the iconic members of the society whose work inspires today’s explorers.
JOSH: You know, I’m really proud to be a member of the club. When you walk around here, you feel like you’re a part of something, you know? Before his passing, Sir Edmund Hillary was the honorary president of the club. Buzz Aldrin, now the honorary president. I mean, these are giants of exploration. The current president, Richard Garriott - you know, the first guy to both poles and outer space and the deepest point in the ocean. I mean these are people who they’re traveling to the ends of the earth and accomplishing incredible things. It's a it's an inspirational place, really, and educational. They have an amazing lecture series. And, you know, just to hang out here is. You never meet more interesting people that than around the bar here. So for me, I'm just thrilled they, you know, let me in the building. It's it's awesome to be here to meet these folks.
CALLI: And, Josh says, his new series, Tales from The Explorer’s Club will capture that same spirit.
JOSH: It’s going to chronicle some of the remarkable feats of exploration from some of the remarkable members of this institution. It's going to be awesome. So we'll be telling their stories and using really vivid cinematic recreations to take folks back in time to these harrowing expeditions.
JOSH: There's so many incredible expeditions that have been launched from this club. I think one of the ones that that surprises a lot of people, just because it remained kind of untold for so long is the first person to the North Pole was an African-American explorer Matthew Henson, who is was African-American, was really the first guy to the North Pole. He really didn't get the credit. He was positioned as a kind of trusty companion to Peary. But but in fact, Henson was this absolutely astoundingly capable wilderness guy. I mean, he was a carpenter, and he he was he was like an. I mean, he really learned the Inuit ways of doing things. He was just this I mean, he was he was born a year after emancipation at the end of the Civil War. And he ends up being the first guy to the North Pole. And yet so many people don't know his story and him and and Peary and their, Inuit guys in their teams, they meet, you know. When five or six attempts to reach the North Pole is just absolutely punishing task, using ships and sledges and dogs and trying to get to this incredibly inhospitable place. And and his story is just one of many of people who, you know, he he did one of the most remarkable things that's ever been done. And yet most people do not know Hansen's name. He's just not you know, he doesn't have the kind of cachet of Armstrong, you know, or Hillary. And he should. So so that's one of the stories I'm really thrilled to be telling, because he's a name that we should all know.
NATE: The stories you think you know often have more twists and turns, or a whole secret history that you don’t know. These are the stories that make Tales from The Explorers Club so fun. Josh thinks so, too.
JOSH: Look, I'm like everybody else. I love a good mystery. I love a good story. You know, I love a good hook. So, you know, we try to go after stories where there's active work being done, where there's archeology or exploration being done. But also we want to go to a place where there's a mystery, where there's a question trying to be answered, you know? You know, we've got a whole new season coming up and we're going to be digging into, you know, Nazi tunnel systems from World War Two that are still just now being uncovered. These huge underground installations that we don't fully understand for weapons programs of different things. The tombs in Egypt, you know, Egypt, the world's greatest open air museum, you know, they're just these incredible tombs and artistic treasures that are still coming to light. And so for us, we want to go to places where we can ask a question and really try to understand something about a civilization, something about a lost artifact or a treasure that that we don't know the answer to. And so that's my feeling, is, like, if you if you can present a good mystery, that's a great hope for anyone. You know, good storytelling doesn't really matter where in the world you are. If there's a good hook, you can bring people along with you. So that that that's what we're up to is trying to find a question you can't really Google the answer to because we don't know the answer yet.
[SFX: Whoosh]
NATE: Many people imagine explorers to be the folks in cracked black and white photos. The ones who got there first or fastest. And while much of The Explorer’s Club celebrates those who came before, Josh knows the best is yet to come.
JOSH: My my job is to go around the world and tell stories of great explorers and to meet with explorers and spend a few days walking in their shoes. And so much of that is about trying to spread the gospel that, a, there is so much out there still to be explored and to be found. And also the importance of exploration in terms of conservation and protecting the planet and things like that. And so I think we're at a weird moment where I think a lot of young people especially are losing that sense of mystery, that like, oh, there's there's unknown things in the world. I think most people see the world as mapped. Most kids, they we have these phones in our pockets are magic. I mean, they they seemingly can take us anywhere in the world and they have the entire history of the world, you know, inside of them. And yet, you know, I tell people all the time, there are places in the world that are unmapped. There are sections of Peru in the interior of the rainforest where there is not good data. No, it's not mapped. And there are pyramids in the jungles of Guatemala that have never been excavated. And there are civilizations and cultures never found. You know, I mean, there's so much out there still lurk. And I think that, you know, that's what we try to encourage people to sort of take away from the show, from Expedition Unknown is the that that there is magic and mystery in the world still, you know. There are these incredible new explorers. I had a chance to meet so many of them here at the club that are part of this grant program, that are part of this 50, this explorers club. 50 explorers. You need to know. And these people are just doing the most miraculous work. And, you know, exploration takes on many faces. You know, there are people conserving big cats, conserving cheetahs. You know, there's 7500 cheetahs left in the wonderful. To me, that's not much. We're going to certainly we may our children may see rhinos go extinct. I mean, there are major issues with biodiversity in the world. Is major environmental issues going on? Exploration is, I think, is much now about finding new frontiers as it is telling people where we are in danger and getting people to understand the places in the world we need to protect. So yeah, I'm amazed at all the good work that's going on out there. And for any kid who's listening, who wonders if there's room to be Indiana Jones in the world anymore. Yes, there is. There's so much out there that that still is unknown.
NATE: Oh I’m going full Indiana Jones now. Hat, whip, golden idol, I’m ready!
CALLI: You seem too prepared for this. Please tell me you didn’t already have the whip.
NATE: I might have. You gotta be prepared, Calli, you have to be ready as soon as adventure strikes! But seriously, I love that Josh said that. It’s so easy to fall into the trap that Earth has already been mapped, but there is so much out there to see.
CALLI: Josh has been exploring so much with The Explorers Club, and… okay wow I’m just looking ahead a little, a whole new season of Expedition Unknown also starts on May 25th, and according to Josh it’s going to be a stellar season.
JOSH: There's so many cool stories this season. Like, I'm a big aviation. I love the history of aviation. And this is another one of those stories that I feel like people don't know about is everybody knows Lindbergh in the spirit of Saint Louis, Lindbergh the first person to fly nonstop solo across the Atlantic. I think what a lot of people don't know is Lindbergh was competing in this thing called the Unity Prize, which was this competition effectively to see who could be the first person to pull this off. And he very nearly wasn't the guy. There was another team in France that were just a few weeks before Lindbergh. We're going to fly in the opposite direction. Lindbergh flew from to Paris and this team was flying the other way. And they had this plane called the elusive black or white bird. And their pilot was this guy, Shaman Gasser, who was this like, you know, World War One, flying ace, French hero. I mean, he was a national hero in France. And that plane vanished on its trip across the Atlantic and was supposed to land on kind of a water landing in front of the Statue of Liberty. And then thousands of people turned out in New York for the landing, and he never arrived. And so this plane is one of the great mysteries of aviation. This plane called The White Birds, Never Been Found. And there's this question of what happened to him and what happened to that flight. And, you know, the history of the world was almost very different. It was almost a French team across the Atlantic first. And Lindbergh would be a name, maybe we wouldn't know. And so, you know, we're we're traveling to Paris, we're traveling to Newfoundland, we're traveling to the woods in Maine, to all these interesting places to meet historians that are trying to still piece together the story of this missing plane. So I don't know. For me, I just every one of these stories for me is just like it's a little world or a big world that I didn't know everything about. And that's what I'm happiest when it's like I'm learning and I'm out there, you know, for the first time experiencing these stories. And so the whole season is filled with a lot of great adventures like that. We're going to be digging into the Knights Templar. You know, again, everyone's heard of the Knights Templar, but nobody really knows anything about them. We we we think of them as this shadowy conspiracy of an organization. And they only had the Holy Grail in the beginning, you know, all the the sort of Dan Brown mystery of it all. And but what's the real deal? Who who were the Knights Templar? You know, is there any truth to this idea that they held these these incredibly rare relics? And where did those stories come from? So we're going to be digging into things like that. We're digging into, you know, famous stories here in the U.S., the Dalton Gang, the famous Wild West gang that supposedly left behind a treasure, a Dutch Schultz who was a gangster and a moonshiner in upstate New York. Digging into his story, another kind of fascinating character. So it's going to be a really exciting season of big characters and big mysteries.
[SFX: Music out]
CALLI: Okay sign me up! I can’t wait to watch. Thank you so much to Josh Gates for joining us today to give us the rundown on The Explorer’s Club, and all his adventures.
NATE: Speaking of adventure, we’re exploring new waters here on Curiosity! Each Friday we’re dropping a very special interview with a member of The Explorer’s Club. Next week we’ll be talking to Richard Garriott, who is the current president of The Explorer’s Club.
CALLI: Oh that’ll be a good one. Happy listening, and until next time, stay curious!
NATE: Curiosity Daily is produce by Wheelhouse DNA for Disocvery. You can follow our show wherever you get your podcasts and we’d love it if you could take a second to leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Our Discovery executive producer is Christina Bavetta.
CALLI: Our Discovery coordinating producer is Krishna San Nicholas. This show is hosted by us, Calli Gade and Nate Bonham. Our showrunner is Matt Mayer.
NATE: Our writers are James Lynch and Jordan Trout. Our researcher is Thomas Martin Messersmith. Sound design, audio engineering and editing by Nick Carissimi.
CALLI: I’m Calli Gade.
NATE: And I’m Nate Bonham.