On strange facts, British podcasts and pulling an ‘all-nighter’

A couple of weeks ago, I pulled my first “all-nighter” in at least a decade.

Well, I attempted an all-nighter, anyway.

The truth is, as I wrap my head around turning 61 next month, I have to grudgingly accept that some things are just not as easy as they used to be. There was a time when staying up until dawn was not too big a reach. It was, in fact, fun. Maybe it was while driving down to L.A. to set up my game booth at the Renaissance Faire (a story for another time), or pushing to meet some self-imposed writing deadline. I did that a lot in my 20s, tucked inside my apartment bathroom, my electric coffeemaker at my side, rolled-up towels at the base of the door so the tapping of my typewriter would not awaken and/or anger my neighbors.

Other nights, I’d sit in my car with a friend or two, after a midnight screening of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” or something, talking until sunrise because we just didn’t want the conversation, or the night, to end. And of course, back when my kids were babies, I pulled more than a few all-nighters.

That’s just what you do.

But all of that was then, and this is definitely now, and I must confess that last month, my valiant plan to stay up all night — to experience a 20-hour “No Such Thing as a Fish” marathon on YouTube — was harder to accomplish than I had guessed it would be. My all night adventure may even have included a spontaneous nap somewhere in the wee hours. And though I did wake up from that nap in time to watch the final 90 minutes of the marathon, the effort certainly took its toll on my body.

As I write this, I may not technically have fully recovered.

But I’m glad I did it.

Yes, it was kind brutal, but it was fun.

“No Such Thing as a Fish” is a British podcast in which four brilliant and very funny game show researchers take turns sharing their favorite weird facts from the previous week. I discovered the weekly show last October, when it got a write-up in Entertainment Weekly.

I’ve been listening every Friday since.

In late February, the four hosts — James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray, Anna Ptaszynski and Dan Schreiber — announced that they would be holding a fundraising marathon in March, as a benefit for Comic Relief. Beginning at 3:30 p.m. in England (7:30 a.m. here), they would be hosting 35 special guests for 35-minutes each, riffing and tangentializing on a total 35 bizarre facts for a brain-busting 20 hours straight. Though normally “Fish” is an audio show, the marathon would be televised on YouTube. The promised guests would include author Neil Gaiman (“American Gods”), Michael Palin of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Sandi Toksvig of “The Great British Baking Show,” American science-writer Mary Roach (“Stiff,” “Packing for Mars”), comedian actor Eddie Izzard, songwriter Tim Minchin (“Matilda the Musical”) and Oscar-nominated actor Carey Mulligan, plus a slew of others, all prepared to share their own favorite strange facts.

I rather enjoy strange facts, and over the last year, I’ve also come to appreciate the healing power of a good belly laugh during stressful times. So I decided I would ride that raucous roller-coaster to the very end.

Admittedly, it began on a work day, so for a while I merely ran the event on the TV in the next room, popping in from time to time to see which famous person was making jokes about what weird thing. And throughout the day, I did learn a number of memorable facts, including Mary Roach’s 6 p.m. revelation that the term “Dung Lung,” to describe hydrogen sulfide poisoning as a result of exposure to liquid manure, was coined by Dr. Robert Crapo.

At 7:35 p.m. I similarly discovered, thanks to Neil Gaiman, that the person who coined the term “Science Fiction” also invented something called the “isolator,” designed to free a person from distractions by placing them inside what sounds like a suit of armor with a diving helmet on it. And much later — I can’t quite remember when — I learned from Tim Minchin that, in 1950, a church in Nebraska exploded due to a gas leak, and despite there being a choir practice scheduled for that time, no one was injured because all 15 members were late, each for a different reason.

And though it was technically not one of the “facts” explored during the show, I also learned, somewhere around 15 hours into the program, that the “No Such Thing as a Fish” theme song is actually a piece of music called “Wasps.” It’s performed by a London band named Emperor Yes. I learned that on my own when, early in the morning, shortly before I accidentally fell asleep on the couch, I spontaneously Shazamed the catchy little tune, during one of the marathon’s short interstitial moments, which is when I assume the hosts took their bathroom breaks or something.

Kudos to them, by the way, the mighty hosts of “No Such Things as a Fish.” It may have been rough for me, staying up (most of) 20 hours, but they actually did it. And they remained lucid, funny and smart throughout, ultimately raising over 100,000 pounds for Comic Relief along the way.

Me? I just wandered around the house, learning stuff, laughing often, napping (a little) — but waking up just in time to catch Eddy Izzard reveal that during World War II Winston Churchill slept, bathed and drank champagne in a disused underground railway station — finally stumbling to bed at 5 a.m., and sleeping until 1 in the morning.

Oh, right, and I did make a donation, because ... well, that was kind of the point of the whole undertaking.

For me personally, the main point, I suppose, was just to see if I could do it. Testing ourselves, from time to time, is one of the ways we humans learn about who we are and what we are capable of. When we are young, things like all-nighters are a way to prove something about ourselves to the world, as Bruce Springsteen alluded in his song, “Prove It All Night.” When we get older, we might have other things to prove, but I don’t think we ever get over wanting to prove something, do we? This last year especially, for some of us it’s been more important than ever to remind ourselves that we are capable, when we have to, of pulling a metaphorical all-nighter, setting out to do something hard and then (more or less) doing it.

Even if we are only proving it to ourselves

So, I did my all-nighter.

And I’m grateful for the time I spent with all those interesting and funny people. Even the ones I slept through.

And if the “No Such Thing as a Fish” folks do announce another similar marathon, next time I’m going to just record it and watch the thing in pieces at some more reasonable time.

“Culture Junkie” runs every other week in the Argus-Courier. You can reach David at david.templeton@arguscourier,.com.