Stephens Island Wren and the Cobra Effect: Citation Needed 6x03

Please welcome our guest panelist Will Seaward, as we run through ecological disasters and unintended consequences!
BONUS MATERIAL: • Will Fits In: Citation...
FULL PLAYLIST: • Citation Needed, from ...
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[@TomScottGo]

If you're able to vote in Britain today, and you haven't yet: go do it before watching this! Otherwise, please enjoy 15 minutes of nobody reminding you to vote.

[@ciaranreed91]

In Britain, too young.

[@jobblejosh9713]

It doesn't matter who you vote for, as long as you vote and do your part!

[@DanTheStripe]

Hell, even if you don't like any of the parties make sure to spoil your ballot as a protest vote! Not turning up at all is the worst possible outcome!

[@Quintinohthree]

Joshua Pearson Well it does matter who you vote for, but it matters most that you vote.

[@rorybrookes]

Monster raving loony party!

[@DED_MEEM]

Will Seaward ain't foolin' me. I know a wizard when I see one.

[@Tonatsi]

_You’re a harry, Wizard_

[@alexschutze993]

Hagrid actually wasnt trained to br a wizard

[@obliviousotterI]

@@Tonatsi Will seaward is indeed a hairy wizard

[@nixtheclause9984]

_Panthers?_

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

The words "Mustrum" and "Ridcully" leap stridently to mind, if you give him a few decades.

[@maniakkid25]

As a fake prize, I am both sad and proud that I thought of this. You've won a memory game made by the author of "Discworld" in which you pair together identical axes. It's "Terry Pratchett's Hatchet Match-it".

[@KnowledgePerformance7]

YUS

[@matthewbowers88]

That’s just fantastic, I try to come up with my own but I’ll not bother, I’m not beating that.

[@beardedemperor]

I've had it in my head for some time now that "throw another shrimp on the barbie" is Paul Hogan's bogan slogan. That's all I've got.

[@lol...]

Yee I have one (which I had thought of just now): an animal with a mental illness from the arctic- a bipolar polar polar....oh wait its leaving! Bye bye bipolar polar polar

[@klungusxyz]

A professional wrestler's motto based on a DC superhero = Hulk Hogan's Logan Slogan

[@rmsgrey]

I knew the cobra effect, but only because of the late Sir Terry Pratchett, whose character, Lord Vetinari, faced with the consequences of a bounty on rat tails, solved it with four words: "tax the rat farms"...

[@silaspoulson9935]

You know where this is?

[@mirjanbouma]

@@silaspoulson9935 one of the Diskworld novels.

[@silaspoulson9935]

@@mirjanbouma thanks, you know which one? Have read quite a few but haven't read this bit

[@hatstack9094]

I'm tempted to say Guards Guards

[@zaphod888]

silas poulson Soul Music, I think

[@JHYW]

I met Will Seaward once, at York Uni's PantSoc 10th Anniversary party. I still don't believe he's real; the phrase "larger than life" was invented for him!

[@dominateeye]

Please tell me "PantSoc" means "Panthers Society".

[@xmlthegreat]

@@dominateeye God I really hope so

[@kevinm5940]

@@dominateeye oh, I was thinking "pants society"

[@enochliu8316]

Pantomime Society

[@Victinho6D]

Tom's facial expressions when he asked where Stephens Island was and Chris replied "The Sea!" are just priceless

[@NimbusEntry]

Will is like if Weird Al was turned into a viking

[@GumSkyloard]

.. How the hell did you come up with that? And how are you so right?

[@debries1553]

Sorry, but I feel the mystery biscuit should've gone to the "french alleyways". That was just brilliant.

[@hiperalee]

My sides were completely obliterated

[@A_2the_lex]

noob

[@richardmillhousenixon]

@@A_2the_lex ok boomer

[@chrisoddy8744]

The thing is, everyone missed the best bit - it goes through, or "traverses" french alleyways. I don't know how someone can come up with a pun of that calibre that quickly.

[@GumSkyloard]

@@chrisoddy8744 Someone needs to go back in time and make sure Will gets Biscuited.

[@DoccieDraaiorgel]

I really want Jay Foreman as a stand-in now!

[@MarstonGreen]

Presumably whoever's off.

[@tf9462]

Nillie probably Matt since he’s never there

[@romainsavioz5466]

Trey Faucheux who's that matt ?

[@mirzaahmed6589]

And Geoff Marshall.

[@thelastcube.]

THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN

[@JorWat25]

I'm not convinced Will is a real person...

[@JorWat25]

I think he's really Brian Blessed.

[@s6th795]

Speaking of Brian Blessed, if you haven't already seen it, pull up Tom's video about self-checkout voices.

[@iavv334]

JorWat25 He looks like a pirate on the Pirates of the Carribean ride that got loose.

[@DarkYuan]

Perhaps... "panthers?"

[@Johnyknowhow]

Definitely a panther. He just dropped the pipe on the way in.

[@RoseArtemis24]

Will's laugh is simultaneously the most pure and impure thing on this planet and it never fails to make me smile

[@EuanTodd]

panthers?

[@whitepointstarproductions8905]

euan todd panthers

[@OrigamiMarie]

paaanᵗʰᵉʳˢ?

[@PKMartin]

I need that as my text alert...

[@MrKcspot]

PKMartin I second this

[@matthewfennell7886]

euan todd *paanthers?*

[@torranstewart5871]

Will has the most enjoyable laugh. I think of English Santa.

[@agodlessmonstrosity]

So Father Christmas

[@infiniteplanes5775]

Is there a major difference in their laughs?

[@rawchicken3463]

*_panthers?_*

[@alexbaumgartner441]

I was on a Harry Potter tour last year and this guy was my tour guide

[@devburns8504]

harry potter killed my muv

[@FateEverywhere]

Harry Potter killed my NPC on the way back from the Formidine Rift.

[@iLikeTheUDK]

Alex Baumgartner Were any panthers around by any chance?

[@ciangrant3042]

@@iLikeTheUDK panthers??

[@GigaBoost]

Alex the transphobe

[@Nefariouspat]

I miss Matt, but this guy has a positively regal laugh

[@matthewjbarron]

"A light-house keeper's cat named Tibbles." I'm am just now recovering my breath, my face drenched with tears. No, it's not what you think. After that comment, I'm throwing my depression meds away.

[@justhere7311]

8:38 To this day if you look this up you still get the same result. I shouldn't be surprised but I do find it amusing.

[@ebiljebus]

You've won an egg-and-cream-based dessert from a recipe created by a famous American Civil War officer which will be applied to your nether regions. ...that's General Custer's Genital Custard.

[@MorallyUnacceptable]

I was thinking Jefferson Davis Cream Pie

[@shotgun3628]

i hope for as long as i live, i never have to read the phrase "genital custard"

[@ZeldaTheSwordsman]

SPIRITUS SANCTUS, no. No no no no no no no no no no no. Go away. Go away. Remove this unholy stain that calls to mind a certain unlicensed Atari game to all who have the misfortune to know of it.

[@mistaecco]

Was Gary yelling "Get out of my office" the thing that made you laugh for a full minute in the youtube editing room, Tom?

[@CraftQueenJr]

mistaecco nah, _Panthers_

[@notthatcreativewithnames]

That "Panthers" can be a good distractionator for the next Battle of the Beer.

[@robertlinke2666]

for that "release the cobra's" is even better

[@UltraAceCombat]

This needs to be a 5 person show now

[@skthejanner]

Will only needed to eat Matt because Jay Foreman stole all of his food

[@obliviousotterI]

God that's an obscure reference

[@AgentTasmania]

Ah, vintage

[@twojuiceman]

Run awaying without paying puts me in a good mood

[@hallamhal]

I've always worried what kind of world we'd inhabit if Brian Blessed ever passed away But Will Seaward has given me hope for the human race

[@jamestaliaferro258]

May we have more CN with Will? He fits in well. (doesn't have to replace Matt but we need more of him.)

[@jamestaliaferro258]

Nillie The puns would just grow and take over everything like a hilarious, cringey tumor!

[@MianCowell]

It'd be a pun off

[@dawnqwerty]

Mian Cowell matt would pun off with the prize.

[@glossaria2]

Coincidentally, there's also a Stephens Island off the coast of British Columbia (other end of Canada from Nova Scotia, alas). Both named for the same person, Sir Philip Stephens, Secretary of the Admiralty (because apparently once was not enough).

[@rosettasmith2119]

I voted.I hope that Matt Gray will be in the next Citation needed !

[@TomScottGo]

Will's in for the next episode, but Matt will be back for the last two of this season!

[@anonym3017]

Tom Scott please get will in in the next season. Just replace everybody once or twice. Because he is great.

[@vel0city96]

Get Will and Matt in the same room and make an extended outtake of just 20 minutes of horrible puns.

[@AgentWaltonSimons]

I should not have watched this on the train. Now I have a carriage full of commuters who think I'm crazy because I've been laughing so hard...

[@Trek001]

Thanks to some new google detection coding, searching "fecking big eagle" will bring this episode up at the top of the results in chrome - clicking the link will take you directly to 8:36... Well played

[@johnstevenson1709]

Always nice to see parsley the lion getting work.

[@joelwriter9583]

To actively forget you have to put yourself in situations in which you don't think about it, while unlearning is avoiding actions with something supplementary with you don't forget but reverse practice. So to for get you have to not think of it, to unlearn to you have to remember not to.

[@mousetvalerie]

To provide a timestamp for the now immortal moment: 5:04

[@markpenrice6253]

Instant corpsing. Thank you.

[@seamuscavanaugh5933]

Will is definitely the ghost of christmas present

[@WilliamBoothClibborn]

Why isn't Will famous? He has the best voice and evidently the best name!

[@LunaIsOnYoutube]

Will Seaward is just is a monarch from 18th century france

[@ulischmidt03]

Someone needs to hire Will to be a videogame announcer

[@zJoriz]

While checking the wiki for Bill Oddie I found a reference to "Pallas's reed bunting" and I'll be damned in hell for the full timespan that contains eternity if that wouldn't make for a nice Citation Needed. EDIT: It also took me multiple years to realize 'Conserve them' and 'Saved these' are both species conservation vs. food puns.

[@Qwesr118]

I legit had a dream last night where all it was with me sitting in a room hearing him say panthers

[@MikeJones-ye6li]

At 6:52 Gary Brannan manages to effectively sum up the plot of Battleblock Theater.

[@InuKun2008]

A special thank you Tom as I did a presentation in Biology about the Stephens Island Wren in Biology last week and how it had evolved (with emphasis on how it was perfectly fine with its traits until cats showed up on the island) and got 99/100 for it (The one point off is because I had to pause to take a sip of water which the professor was against). Also, I've emailed you the link to the video of Route 3 in Virginia with its accidental tribute to Beethoven's 9th (Although due to complaints by drivers who apparently didn't want to hear it, VDOT have now repaved it as of Monday (Nov. 6th) to get rid of the groves from the last paving job).

[@demonking86420]

Did you say "Panthers?"

[@GenevieveJ]

These videos are terribly fun to watch. It feels like hanging out with hilarious, and yet so very clever, friends.

[@cousinit796]

So when I was a kid Kelloggs did a poster of animal facts which you had to cut off the back of the variety boxes and stick them to said poster, the poster itself had the Latin names for the animals on it and I remember missing one animal off it, the only thing I can remember was it the same word twice, bout 90% sure I've just found out what animal I was missing

[@robjapan]

Well this was a delightful surprise. I love your educational videos and then.. this pops up. Now I'm off to enjoy all the previous episodes!!

[@Kalobi]

Is it bad that I knew what this is? My head is full of useless trivia.

[@frostplatypus]

No trivia is useless, as demonstrated by this show

[@volbla]

It may help you win Citation Needed one day!

[@LizTiddington]

I knew the whole Stephenson's wren story... my head is also full of useless things

[@kagitsune]

*release... the cobras* 🐍🐍🐍🐍

[@MrTrilbe]

Odd story but my great uncle was a WREN, they misspelled his name as Edwina instead of Edwin

[@BlinkWhite]

Will should've said "this isn't even my final form"

[@ThatGirlWithTheCoffee]

Love that Chris gets to use his Ornithologist stuff here, even if his first answer is wrong :P Also, love seeing Will Seaward!!!!! Adored him on Questionable and he's brilliant here too!

[@willadams5758]

OMG how have I not found this yet? This is GREAT

[@scorinth]

Around 12:57, the captions show Gary saying, "I can never go to the cinema" but when I listened to it earlier, I heard "I can never go to the zoo." I'm not sure which is correct but, perhaps more importantly, I don't get the joke if he said "cinema". What's going on?

[@terrotorotbart8319]

As they're talking about panthers, Chris makes jokes about Disney, so it's possibly a joke on that.

[@CrazyPilf]

Will was brilliant and his laugh is utterly delightful

[@RubenSmitGooglePlus]

If you look at the window behind Tom, for instance at 3:11, there is an optical illusion at each crossing.

[@JossieMimo]

This is the best episode of the season so far.

[@bryndal36]

It's been 5 minutes since the video finished and I'm still laughing my socks off.

[@twojuiceman]

Will Seaward looks like he jacks lorry loads from the Sainsbury's warehouse on the A1M in Hatfield.

[@LegoAssassin098]

Will Seaward looks and sounds like an old timey jolly pirate and/or warrior.

[@asd1234asd1234asd]

I never laugh so hard yet so silence. My parents are asleep and I am trying to hold the laughters

[@benjaminbrady2385]

I loved Seaward in questionable btw!

[@Skywalker-zu7od]

Tom Scott and Jordan Peterson conversation as ultimate KZbin video.

[@ciaranreed91]

I like the reference to the podcasts.

[@pinacolon]

its been just a couple of hours and this video number 3 on google search results for Stephens Island wren. bet you get a lot of traffic from that search ;-)

[@MattTathamis]

I will be damned if Will Seaward is not just a young clone of Brian Blessed.

[@TheEzzran]

omg I love Will. Bring him in more often.

[@sebastianyarrick2041]

SEAWARD!!! SEAWARD!!! SEAWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@syafizzaq]

hey duncan

[@sebastianyarrick2041]

hey

[@noshei21]

Will killed it, and by it I mean the Wren.

[@ChloeStandingUpstairs]

is anyone else noticing the black dots in the window pane behind chris joel?

[@scunner3rd]

Yes! Loving guest stars.

[@Sir_Uncle_Ned]

That is the most British chortle I have ever heard

[@GuanoLad]

As soon as I saw the title I thought "that's from New Zealand" and now I don't know why I knew that. Aside from my also being from New Zealand.

[@taba1950]

The window behind Tom has that dots illusion

[@ZipplyZane]

-What do they say after rats? About --4:30- Nevermind. This is why captioning is good even for those of us who can here.

[@branislavkocic3518]

This is my favourite episode, love it!

[@nelsondisalvatore9812]

the frame of the window has that weird dots optical illusion

[@alexanderchilvers1243]

"Can you make anything not sound kinky?"

[@MasterHigure]

The cameras are focused on the wall behind the guys instead of the guys themselves.

[@ltaproductions7989]

PLEASE KEEP WILL

[@Jayden.Savage]

9:00 As an Australian, that was funny as heck!

[@sayi50]

Will's hearty laughs got me. Also Panthers?

[@FocusSight]

Personally love Will, amazing personality that works well with the format to me. Can understand why he's not liked by some but those are good traits in my mind.

[@IronbornBTW]

Will's laugh gives me life.

[@erikhoffman3370]

WE NEED MORE WILL

[@allyouneed71]

dammit, I was so close.. I was thinking :Freddy Teddy

[@nardgames]

I love Will's laugh.

[@InuKun2008]

Although to be fair to Chris, it was rendered extinct on the two main islands of New Zealand by the Polynesian Rat when the Maori arrived in New Zealand.

[@Lergurker]

Wills laugh is the best!

[@LReBe7]

Will was ridiculously good!

[@TheMan83554]

I like this new guy.

[@knighthawkprime6534]

Will's voice is basically Thor.

[@ziploc53]

Love these

[@devburns8504]

thanks Mike. -Muv

[@scotiabricks]

Nova Scotia Hype!

[@elijahvanvlack3704]

What sort of accent does Will have? It is really pleasant to hear.

[@KielEire]

It was Lyle in the Light House with the cat... Or was it a Cobra?

[@RealLuckless]

Okay, watching this right after getting a large mug of tea was a very silly idea.

[@petertauscher316]

Also: Chris ALWAYS drinks at the wrong moment!

[@HunterRodrigez]

i love his laugh... you know who iam talking about

[@tarmil]

- So what are your achievements? - Well, there's a species of bird named after it. - Oh that's cool, did you discover it? - No, I caused its extinction by bringing my cat Tibbles to work.

[@TheSmilingTurtle]

Shower: Gentle human irrigation system.

[@eurydamas1744]

"Then the cats ate the lighthouse keepers. Then the cats took over the lighthouse and turned off the light. Many ships were wrecked. Those crews also were devoured." The Meowst Dangerous Game

[@kiyalee7887]

I thought Gary was going to bring up computer malware and rumors of anti-malware companies writing said viruses.

[@popartlover101]

I love Chris 😂😂

[@lazypizzaguy]

hes like a young brian blessed.