If you tuned in to late-night WOR radio in 1950s New York, you’d enter the secret world of Jean Shepherd. Shepherd’s nonconformist style, off-beat humour and love of pranks gathered a small but loyal following. These “Night People” loved being in on the joke, while the oblivious “Day People” were often the butt of it. Shepherd’s show is long gone, but his spirit lives on in corners of the internet. Today, though, Night People go by a different name.
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Further Reading
This episode relied on Eugene Bergmann’s biography Excelsior! You Fathead: The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd, the fan website FlickLives.com, and Matthew Callan’s article in The Awl, The Man Behind The Brilliant Media Hoax Of “I, Libertine”.
Whitney Phillips’ book on 4chan is This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture.While the book “I, Libertine” may be a disappointment, a truly explicit and salacious account of sex in the 18th century can be found here.