Rich Hall's Red Menace

2019 marks the 30th year since the fall of the Berlin Wall and, ostensibly, the end of the Cold War. In light of this, Rich Hall embarks on an examination of the relationship between the West and the East, America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In his unique way, Rich looks at the propaganda, ignorance, fear and secrecy, and the natural offspring of these, paranoia, and considers how a 40-year stand-off between the superpowers brought the US and Russia to the verge of nuclear war.
The documentary does not look at the Cold War from an American perspective alone. Rich Hall also delves into the psyche of those living in the Soviet Union, of those who took part in the machinations, plots and conspiracies, and of ordinary citizens who, like Rich, lived through this most tense of times.
The Cold War and America’s obsession with communism and the Soviet Union isn’t just about the race to produce the atom bomb and conquer space. It’s about spying, political scheming and the fear of communism in Hollywood, in literature and on television.
It was science fiction. It went from the absurd to the ridiculous. It even created incredible sporting drama. Rich uses the bizarre, the extraordinary and previously untold stories to give us his take on the Cold War and America’s hysterical preoccupation with the ‘Red Menace’.

[@MrDino1953]

Rich Hall, the Tom Waits of comedy, and now documentaries. A global treasure.

[@grindelston5968]

He'd been making these yonks ago

[@maxheadrom3088]

🤣🤣🤣

[@iainherridge6253]

Yeah couldn't agree more!

[@zetetick395]

These Rich Hall 'documentaries' are fantastic, I had no idea he'd done so many! \😸/

[@abergethirty]

His socialist leanings are more popular in Europe.

[@homosexualpanic]

Watch Inventing the Indian if you haven't already

[@trevorfarr529]

Rich is brilliant

[@akadacat]

@@abergethirty Actually, they're pretty popular everywhere that has an understanding of history.

[@iainherridge6253]

​@@akadacat So not in the USofA?

[@Firebrand55]

Rich Hall; a fizzog that would guarantee MAD....but the most compelling presenter around...not one wasted word, a voice that dares you to not listen.....and folks; he is so entertaining already!

[@Evilzionistbabykillers]

Rich hall never disappoints, informative and entertaining at the same time 🤔

[@dwm1156]

HallThan you Mr Rich, and thank you Britain for giving this man a voice and vision. Well done! 🇨🇦

[@meirwise1107]

Rich Hall is one of the most intelligent, articulate Americans ever to broadcast in Great Britain.

[@upperleftcoastchelseafan7718]

And in America. Yes, I'm a yank.

[@Skelanth721]

that's a low bar

[@eugenio1542]

And to The World at large but pityfully small

[@ianpickles4485]

yes its unusual for americans

[@mnbv990]

agreed.

[@anguspearson1]

Another great 'hang-dog'umentary by the legendary Rich Hall. Gotta love the guy. How can you be well-researched AND funny at the same time? - It's almost like walking AND chewing gum at the same time I guess!

[@FieldMarshalFry]

to be fair Rich... the total nuclear annihilation of Southampton is technically gentrification

[@matthewmitchell6899]

You must be from P*rtsmouth, where your sister is your mother.

[@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6ts]

Put Pompey and Lee park in too😂

[@stalfithrildi5366]

"How is it on the south coast sir?" "They've completely destroyed Bexhill. Party starts at 7 in the Common Room."

[@robertjones-eb4xo]

Brilliant , could watch Rich all night . !!!!!!!

[@profitgeoff4313]

Rich: "Reagan didn't break the Russians! They did it to themselves! He can't take credit!" Rich, five seconds later: "Oh and the Russians gave up because Star Wars - a Reagan portfolio - broke them." Good job, Rich. I was worried intellectual disjunction was out of style.

[@iscovidoveryet7828]

And here I thought it was all because of a flailing economy under a corrupt centralized government, and the Nuclear Meltdown of a power plant in Ukraine.. Silly me.

[@RatelHBadger]

I missed Rich's fantastic documentaries.

[@JJONNYREPP]

Rich Hall's Red Menace 0230am 4.8.23 a contrived race for military hardware and space... as to which side your siding with as, let's face it, the convoluted b.s that came with the demarcation of the political process engendered bemusement confusion and subversion - nothing more..... i suppose you will find that out with the equally contrived withering of the state wherein you encounter a philosophical and ideological dead end - which will piss the commies off far more than it will the alleged bloated capitalists (irony upon irony...)... i like rich hall's skits - irrespective of what you think... as for dr strangelove - a film which keeps coming true...................... most notably in the old eastern bloc.

[@MM22966]

"Baltic Beergut". That is never going to get old.

[@nigelbagguley7606]

Probably the most positive result of the HUAC b.s. was that Hollywood director Sam Wannamaker decamped to London and spent the rest of his life raising funds and overseeing the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre,sadly Sam did not live to see the completed Theatre open as a working theatre.

[@wiretamer5710]

We did blow ourselves up. The cold war was fought with self inflicted nuclear explosions, until the scientists told them they couldn't do that any more. But the tests, plus the occasional unforced disaster, represented the most (self) destructive campaign in human history.

[@avavincent9481]

I've just discovered Richard's work, love it and he is truly providing a great source for entertainment that's factual.

[@ronniebrown2517]

i am a 71 year old white guy born in alabama usa and living in texas usa for 45 years now....i had personal experience with all the stuff mentioned here...my day was army, stationed in germany the day jfk was killed....i volunteered for the army and vietnam....all this crap was happening around me...the cold war was most of my life....i only knew rich hall as a snl comedian....perfect documentary here and the one on texas...shall watch more of these....the editing crew deserves some kind of awards....to put all that footage together and present it so well is hard to believe....great documentary that stayed historical....this could never be described as woke

[@johnkeith2450]

64 and Texas all my life. First memory of cold war was getting under my desk at school. Duck and cover!

[@Disco_Biscuit_X]

Why do Americans always insist on telling you there ethnicitie?

[@synchc]

@@Disco_Biscuit_X Dunno. Why do children always exaggerate?

[@grindelston5968]

Because race is important

[@iainherridge6253]

Woke are those who are AWARE!

[@markstevens8696]

"Who'd have thought the fatal flaw of communism is there's no money in it?" A. Whitney Brown

[@jean-lucpicard5510]

They had a disadvantage. Their country had been ravaged by four years of war. Rebuilding cities is time consuming and expensive.

[@colin5577]

@@jean-lucpicard5510Didn’t seem to hold the Japanese back much.

[@aldocoffee]

Meh, it's just "A Whitney Brown". It's not THE Whitney Brown.

[@user-on1oe2ds4i]

​@@colin5577Japan is a lot smaller both in size and population. It also had a lot of help from the US. Russia was on it's own.

[@alancranford3398]

I'm impressed that you filmed part of this video at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History at Albuquerque, New Mexico.

[@danielspain7231]

Got to love Rich Hall’s character, bizarre to find a guy dressed like Indian Jones, sounding like a 50’s wiseguy and standing in a random street in contemporary London, presenting a documentary about nuclear war, that is fairly random

[@pulsereading]

Brilliant and entertaining!

[@alczervik3908]

My best friend & I would do bong hits & watch The Rich Hall show as kids- it was like our third best friend had a show. “Steaming hot cup o Joe”. ☝️

[@hhairball9]

This is even better than The Atomic Cafe!

[@mikeburton7077]

Love Rich Hall ! Always presents thi gs so well !

[@EndingSimple]

This is actually educational. I never knew about the Igor Gouzenko business.

[@EndingSimple]

@sydmccreath4554 The man is a comedian.

[@EndingSimple]

I've watched some more of Rich Hall's documentaries. He now reminds me of the late Steve Allen. Allen originally wanted to be an intellectual and a serious man, but he was too poor to get an education. But he was smart enough to realize that he could get money and fame from being a comic and a entertainer. He was able to educate himself, but he was never quite taken seriously because of his background as a comic and entertainer. He wrote a book called Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking With 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind. and he created a PBS series called Meeting of Minds that was sort like a talk show with famous historical figures. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nny1qY2JhNZ0j9k

[@MarcColten-us2pl]

Did this documentary win any awards? Certainly deserves something.

[@leonardhirtle3645]

Rich Hall ‘s documentary’s are intelligent and informative. Thank you Rich.

[@billfarnsworth7536]

Yes and very entertaining too.

[@theobserver9131]

Very amusing and entertaining version of "history"! ...however distorted.

[@MarcLatham]

I was surprised Hall only cited Cosmic Voice revealing the Mayak nuclear disaster (1.10) in June, 1958, as if it was unknown before that. I just searched it and found an article saying it was reported in the Western press in the spring: 'Although vague reports of a “catastrophic accident” causing “radioactive fallout over the Soviet and many neighbouring states” began appearing in the western press between 13 and 14 April 1958, it was only in 1976 that Zhores Medvedev made the nature and extent of the disaster known to the world.'

[@inhale.exhale.2527]

this man makes sense of massive evolutionary moments with a mobile intellect that makes comic books every bit as momentous. bravo rich. you deserve more shows on every part of the globe, including bognor and blackpool.

[@mrrolandlawrence]

i love that "the war room" that subsequent US presidents wanted to know where it was only to be told it was not like in dr strangelove.

[@bikerfirefarter7280]

Thank you, Rich.

[@theParrotForeign]

Great as always Rich Hall, knows his business, cares about it they should've done more of these

[@sentra0209]

Amazing. Thanks for this.

[@flatback09]

No mention of the 1972 Canada - USSR hockey series. Shee-it Rich, you really dropped the puck on that one.

[@dfunckt]

And he left out Rocky IV

[@scottoneil8618]

This is fantastic.

[@emitindustries8304]

Beyond hilarious and atomically comical. Rich Hall is a cross between Will Rogers (from the 30s) and George Carlin. Painfully insightful. I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the ducking beneath the school desk, to avoid the A bomb's blast. I remember seeing fallout shelters being sold on the corner in the town, like they were Xmas trees in December, and monthly air raid siren tests. Several times, we came THAT close, like the space between these 2 points: * *. Yep! That close, or closer. How humanity has gotten this far, like right now, this minute, without blowing up the world, seems like a miracle, of good judgment and some bad electrical connections.

[@PORRRIDGE_GUN]

Stanley Kubbrick always intended this to be a satire and the blackest of comedies, but he lied to Slim pickens to get him to take the role. I'm sure he realised after reading the script kind of film it was going to be. Ie. Fucking brilliant!

[@davidlean1060]

He figured people would 'get' the film more if it was a comedy. All his films are comedic, if not outright comedies. The shining makes me laugh out loud for example! Eyes Wide Shut, for all the serious discussion, is still the story of a guy who can't get laid...even at an orgy! Kubrick had a great sense of humour.

[@BadWebDiver]

Great music in this program!

[@helenamcginty4920]

I have tried twice to watch this but will put it back into watch later storage. Its too disturbing just now with warbin Ukraine, Nagorno Karabakh, several African countries, the Middle East still a mess. And political instability in my native country, the UK, my adopted country, Spain, and scariest of all, the US. Im off to the opiate of an Agatha Christie aufio book. 😢

[@garyhambly3769]

I like your style.... I'll join you... 😮

[@stopukpovertyuk2392]

I love Rich Hall. I like his mind and he makes me laugh. Great presenter, too. He has his own style and unassuming gravitas. In another dimension, he and I are happily married. He likes it when I wear his cowboy hat in the bedroom. 👍

[@onpsxmember]

So there is a chance for moe.

[@markfairhurst6186]

he s got lots of good stuff

[@ElRel]

...and the boots?

[@theakeane]

😂

[@billyhack9673]

When I was only 13 I learned of someone who had been swept into the American version of the Gulag. Such an institution existed.❤I was a babysitter for my neighbor who lent me a book of poems written by someone who was a Korean veteran who had earned a silver star in Korea and who had been extensively hospitalized recovering from his wounds. After the war he had taught high school in Florida. He refused to sign a loyalty oath so he was fired. He had wrote the poems while he was in hospital to recover from his wounds. But he could not find work ever again as a teacher, not in Nevada where I met him, nor in Florida. He was destitute and had a family to support. The only place he could find to live was in Carver’s Town, a segregated community near Las Vegas. I remember many times having to sign loyalty oaths for some of my low level jobs like draftsman and survey crew. Those were extremely hard times that gave rise to monsters like Nixon, Reagan, and Bill Williams, a big time right wing governor of Arizona. Our country has been in the thrall of neofascists for much too long. If I had a hammer…

[@billyhack9673]

My Father had earned a bronze star in WWII and i know what he had to do to earn that. I imagine a silver star is just one or two mouse clicks away from a Medal of Honor.

[@eldorados_lost_searcher]

​@@billyhack9673 A silver star is what they give to the enlisted guy that did everything that the officer who got the Medal of Honor did, but had the unfortunate liability of having dirt under his nails at the time. In all seriousness, a Medal of Honor usually requires everything to go wrong and for the recipient to bend the laws of the universe to their will, and mostly die for the attempt. Then there's the distinguished service medal, and then the silver star. I think I only saw one when I was in, and the guy wearing it wouldn't talk about it.

[@peterlewis6820]

Hes amazing Rich,educated and very funny also the same age as me

[@greyareaRK1]

Wow, this is fantastic.

[@leow3696]

Having seen 'Oppenheimer', that bit about Leslie Groves is now even funnier.

[@dama3979]

Fascinating

[@mightymartinpetrov]

I've been working my way through these Rich Hall docs over the last few days, and this is the best so far. Magnificent stuff. I'm hoping to get my 12 year old to watch it as it contains plenty of things he's interested in but 90 minutes might be pushing it....

[@TheLisclark]

I'll say my dad's constant documentary and long-form research consumption created the lifelong habit in me via Osmosis. And I have a beastly case of inattentive ADHD😅. But hyperfixating on history and art is one of the best habits I've clung to.

[@dmisso42]

Thanks Rich, for relieving me of the guilt of never having read Dr. Zhivargo. Can you do a similar thing with A Clockwork Orange, which sits on my bookshelf never having been opened beyond the first two pages of Blake Morrison's 19 page Introduction to the Penguin Edition.

[@olavbjortomt1596]

It's not a long book, so not exactly like reading a whopping great Russian novel like Zhivago. I recommend it, if you can stand all the Nadsat that it's written in

[@davidpaylor5666]

Read "A Clockwork Orange" mate, you get used to the weird style within a few pages and it is every bit as good as you have heard.

[@fatfrreddy1414]

intro's are nearly always a waste of time; tho' often ok if by their author...(IMO)!

[@michaelharrison3602]

I think you meant Dr Strangelove not Dr Zhivago which wasn't made by Stanley Kubrik like clockwork orange and Strangelove if fact was written by a Russian(Boris Pasternak)and the film was made by the British director David Lean

[@darralpphillips]

How did we never blow ourselves up? It ain't over yet.

[@pauladouglas9891]

In high school, my history teacher would show a movie once a week so he could have a day off from teaching, we knew this because the films shown often had nothing to do with what we were currently studying. I wish ee could have had a teacher who was creative, intelligent and funny like aRich Hall.

[@ToudaHell]

The opening remind me of an epic history class where the entire hour was devoted to the development of weapons in the west. We had a 8-9min video of just bigger and bigger mushroom clouds.

[@gailtaylor6488]

Rich Hall you are brilliant,Rich Hall for President 💖🤔

[@michaelkallekarlsson5777]

this is realy good.

[@alancranford3398]

I was five during the Cuban Missile Crisis and during those two weeks my family slept in the fallout shelters located in the basements of the base housing apartment buildings.

[@robertmoye7565]

Another brilliant, highly watchable, and entertaining documentary by the master.

[@lamarwinters6130]

Diving under my school desk and fantasizing about being trapped in a bunker with the 1st grade girl in my class with whom I was in love. Yes folks.

[@leedswiggy]

Come on Rich, make some more.

[@craignl]

Canada had its own 'Miracle on Ice' eight years earlier!

[@BugoHossBH]

I love to hear eloquence in southeren accent. Great series.

[@kimstipcich8492]

Best tour guide of history I've met... for all his derision, irony and lampooning of America, I feel that there's this lovin' spoonful. Love this stuff!

[@Ammo08]

My dark sense of humor came from building nukes for the USAF in the early 1970s...

[@Draculhitz]

QI bought me here ... like from decade old episodes .... he looked so young in the earlier episodes!

[@rayceeya8659]

Depending on the day of the week, Dr. Strangelove is either my favorite or second favorite movie EVER!

[@itsROMPERS...]

It's been recently determined that the insulation that led to the criticality that killed Slotin was not caused by the beryllium shells, but by Slotin's own hand on top of them.

[@jaslinc3371]

"Is there a hue? I like a pinkish hue." "Yes there's a hue ... "

[@michaeldowson6988]

Canada was a member of the Manhattan Project, and our own research reactor attained critical mass a month after Japan surrendered. Before the year was out Canada declared nuclear non-proliferation, only making peaceful use of nuclear knowledge. Today, the worlds' largest escape room is the govt nuke bunker in Ottawa Canada. Built during the govt of PM Diefenbaker, it's known as the Diefenbunker. 100,000 sq feet of space to escape from in 90 minutes.

[@Christian-ve1wi]

Wow all we're missing is some Vault Tec experiments and Mr House. I think Rich Hall would make an amazing Robert House smart, funny and satirical perfect fit.

[@bbillbill3919]

Very very good thanks Rich, you held me for the entire time

[@fromthedumpstertothegrave3689]

As a Brit the line "Oh its not too bad, only Southampton got hit" in the propaganda film is fuckin hilarious.

[@ImTash]

I can't get over how much this guy sounds like Al Jolson.

[@andrewwebb2866]

54:09 what a banger! Russian Son of a Preacher Man - I can't find this tune anywhere.

[@1funkyflyguy]

Yes, I want a copy this russian version.

[@ramonlowlands2914]

It is Swedish : Sylvia Vrethammar - En Lärling På Våran Gård Greetings from Holland.

[@andrewwebb2866]

Awesome, thank you!@@ramonlowlands2914

[@williamsimmons7093]

Right on great 1950's songs

[@neilreading3552]

More people should use the expression, "how in the wide world of sports did that happen"?

[@adrianred236]

Dagglian and Slotton deserve Darwin awards

[@rayceeya8659]

Back in the 90s I was living across the river from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and very close to a large chemical weapons depot. We were still doing drills even then because of the threat of "accidental release". Kids today have no close how terrifying it was. One little button and pfft, there goes you and me.

[@jmp01a24]

Great comedy... that character commenting 🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@blackironforge2879]

Striking history lesson Rich.

[@thebonesaw..4634]

0:19 - So, I don't think it was anything super specific about the stop light itself. Szilard had just recently attended a lecture by Ernest Rutherford, when a question about man splitting the atom came up; a notion that had come about after the recently released novel by H.G. Wells, _"The World Set Free",_ within which Wells had prophesized man controlling the atom. Rutherford (then known as "The Father of Nuclear Energy") scoffed at the idea and had stated it was impossible, he called the very idea of it _"moonshine"._ After the light went green and as Szilard took his first few steps into the crosswalk, the idea hit him... _"What if we could find an atom that, when bombarded with a single neutron, released two neutrons after being split?"_ I don't know if that thought came to him without regard to the stoplight or if it was the fact that there were three lights (so 1+2) that made him think of it, but that's all it was... there was no great secret about stop lights that spelled out the method by which man could purposefully split and control the atom.

[@TheToonMonkey]

19/10/2022 this feels like it could be dated really soon.

[@wk4max263]

Rich Hall is Brilliant!! loved what he said about us British loving nothing more than complaining its so true!! 😂

[@KokowaSarunoKuniDesu]

The 6 part series Oppenheimer produced by the Beeb in 1980 gives another perspective on this. And documents the crucifixion of J. Robert Oppenheimer by the new McCarthyite Spook Industry.

[@eugenio1542]

Wot ? No reference to " On the beach" 1957 and / or 2000 ? Or "The coming war on China" by John Pilger.

[@Coldcasereview]

John Pilger? Who takes that "man" seriously?

[@massgeneral9873]

would love to see an adam curtis/rich hall collaboration.

[@thehowlingterror]

Well done Aunty Beeb

[@rapman5791]

Where’s the Beef was a television commercial from 1984, not the 70’s Touting the hamburgers from Wendy’s as having more meat than its competitors. The premise is that when a consumer got his grubby hands on a burger from burger joint X, they presumably will take one look at the small sandwich and exclaim “WHERES THE BEEF??”

[@rorychivers8769]

17:20 I always thought the absurd Simpsons parody of Radioactive man was joke, but now I realise that life was making a joke out of Radioactive man. There is no way to really know how we would react, if we ourselves were hit by A-Bombs

[@ProudOgreDad]

I found a near-mint copy of the Sniglets board game at a thrift store a few years ago and immediately purchased it for $4.00. If you're unfamiliar with the term Sniglets, then you know nothing of Rich Hall.

[@kenjones2973]

So, like to enlighten the rest of us.? Pretty pointless comment otherwise.

[@tomlondon6795]

Anybody knows the song at 13h07?

[@zetetick395]

You know, I've always wondered... With those old pieces of B/W nuclear blast test footage that we all know so well, somehow, even as the rest of the landscape is getting utterly smithereened the camera itself never shakes with the blast!? Not even a wobble! How is this possible??

[@Cruisey]

The cameras are set into concrete blocks and anchored into the ground.

[@JPGotrokkits]

Telephoto lenses.

[@margyeoman3564]

A bit extra mean on Pasternak , and Dr. Zhivago.

[@gregoryjclark81]

41:50 Good stuff right there regarding rumors in the event of a nuclear strike. "Like someone's gonna stagger out of a nuclear fallout shelter with their skin dripping off and go, 'Hey, I hear Rock Hudson's gay.' Yeah, now you've got a problem."

[@robmain9921]

Anyone know where the location at 1 hour 30 is?!

[@MrClayson]

Sedona, Arizona.

[@davids4313]

'Many tickets still available'. Thanks Rich.

[@donovanmedieval]

@40:18 Were you involved with the "Tippy Turtle" cartoons on SNL?

[@penelopegreene]

True about comics, Rich, however, there was at least Classics Illustrated... The Spark Notes of Four Color Comics! 😂

[@RogerLareau-qx2cy]

It's good that modern Americans realize that the biggest threats are our fellow citizens.

[@profitgeoff4313]

Oooh hard fail at 1:28:39. Man, that Piss Dossier is the gift that never stops tripping up that party, huh? =D

[@glenn6583]

Hall is good. Sometimes funny too.😊

[@kielmeakin4901]

"they were not asked how do you think we should use this" ... they built a bomb bro

[@ian87294]

I love this. His "review" of Doctor Zhivago makes me laugh every time. 😂

[@liamtaggart57]

One sane guy left on earth.thanks Rich 👍🇮🇪

[@liamtaggart57]

@sydmccreath4554 we’re all out of the same sows litter 👍☘️🇮🇪🇺🇸

[@silvergalaxie]

If Rich were alive today,he'd hav spectacular updates 2hrs long. ; )

[@Lepocoloco]

What’s wrong with you?