WEBVTT 00:00:00.599 --> 00:00:03.500 okay so picture the scene it is the end of a 00:00:03.500 --> 00:00:06.519 really long night right maybe you were at a stadium 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:10.179 and your team just got completely crushed or 00:00:10.179 --> 00:00:12.560 maybe you're at a concert and the house lights 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:15.240 just slammed on blinding you yeah the worst feeling 00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:18.480 or you know maybe you were at a dinner party 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:20.739 that went horribly wrong someone flipped a table 00:00:20.739 --> 00:00:23.039 and now you were just standing in the driveway 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:26.219 the mood is heavy Awkward. Exactly. It's awkward. 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:28.640 You need something to cut the tension. You need 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.460 a phrase that definitively says, this is over. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:34.679 Go home. And inevitably someone says it. Elvis 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:37.520 has left the building. Yes. Whatever tension 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:39.840 was in the room, just... kind of dissipates. 00:00:40.119 --> 00:00:42.340 It is the ultimate punchline. It's the period 00:00:42.340 --> 00:00:44.219 at the end of the cultural sentence. We use it 00:00:44.219 --> 00:00:46.259 for absolutely everything now. Right. Baseball 00:00:46.259 --> 00:00:49.060 home runs, video games, bad dates. But here's 00:00:49.060 --> 00:00:51.659 the thing that really caught me off guard when 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:54.039 we started digging into the Wikipedia archives 00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:56.820 for our source material today. We treat this 00:00:56.820 --> 00:01:02.060 phrase like it's a joke or like it was some brilliant 00:01:02.060 --> 00:01:05.019 marketing slogan cooked up by a genius publicist 00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:08.390 in a high rise office. And the reality is just 00:01:08.390 --> 00:01:10.549 so much grittier than that. I mean, it wasn't 00:01:10.549 --> 00:01:12.450 marketing. It wasn't a joke at all. It was pure 00:01:12.450 --> 00:01:15.769 panic. Panic. Absolute unadulterated panic. It 00:01:15.769 --> 00:01:17.829 was a crowd control device. Honestly, it was 00:01:17.829 --> 00:01:20.909 a fire extinguisher in verbal form. So that is 00:01:20.909 --> 00:01:23.909 our mission for today's deep dive. We are going 00:01:23.909 --> 00:01:26.569 to take this phrase that everyone knows or at 00:01:26.569 --> 00:01:28.829 least thinks they know and trace it back to the 00:01:28.829 --> 00:01:31.469 exact moment it was born. Which is a wild story. 00:01:31.530 --> 00:01:34.420 It really is. We are talking about a chaotic 00:01:34.420 --> 00:01:38.420 night in Louisiana in 1956, a promoter who was 00:01:38.420 --> 00:01:41.579 about to lose his mind and how a desperate plea 00:01:41.579 --> 00:01:44.620 to stop a riot somehow morphed into the way we 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:46.500 say goodbye. And if you really look at it, this 00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:48.540 isn't just a story about Elvis. It is a story 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:51.560 about closure. It's about how desperate we are 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:54.200 as humans to know that the show is actually over. 00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:56.159 Well, let's go find that closure then. Take us 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:59.079 back. We are in Shreveport, Louisiana. The date 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:02.640 is December 15th, 1956. What does the room feel 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:05.000 like? The room feels like a powder keg. This 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:06.859 is the Louisiana Hayride. Now, for people who 00:02:06.859 --> 00:02:09.060 don't know, the Hayride was an absolute institution. 00:02:09.400 --> 00:02:12.379 It was country music's proving ground. It was 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:14.639 conservative, family friendly, Saturday night 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:18.599 entertainment. And then you drop 1956 era Elvis 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:21.560 Presley right into the middle of that. That feels 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:24.419 like mixing oil and water. Exactly. And to make 00:02:24.419 --> 00:02:26.659 matters worse, they had to move the venue. Usually 00:02:26.659 --> 00:02:28.780 they were at the Municipal Memorial Auditorium. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.659 Nice, respectable place. Right, a theater. But 00:02:31.659 --> 00:02:34.699 because Elvis was on the bill, the ticket demand 00:02:34.699 --> 00:02:37.620 was just insane. They had thousands of teenagers 00:02:37.620 --> 00:02:40.639 screaming for tickets. So the organizers moved 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:43.580 the show to the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum on the 00:02:43.580 --> 00:02:46.280 state fairgrounds. OK, so now we are in a coliseum. 00:02:46.419 --> 00:02:49.060 Bigger crowd, louder acoustics. And a totally 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:51.490 different vibe. This wasn't a polite theater 00:02:51.490 --> 00:02:54.689 anymore. It was a cavernous sports arena filled 00:02:54.689 --> 00:02:57.729 to the brim with hysteria. And here is the logistical 00:02:57.729 --> 00:02:59.449 nightmare that I think a lot of people miss. 00:02:59.930 --> 00:03:02.169 Elvis wasn't the headliner. Wait, hold on. It's 00:03:02.169 --> 00:03:05.250 December 1956. Heartbreak Hotel has been out 00:03:05.250 --> 00:03:07.669 for nearly a year. He is the biggest star on 00:03:07.669 --> 00:03:10.610 the planet. Why on earth would you not have enclosed 00:03:10.610 --> 00:03:13.370 the show? It seems like management malpractice, 00:03:13.490 --> 00:03:15.669 doesn't it? It really does. But you have to remember 00:03:15.669 --> 00:03:18.469 the format of the Hayride. It was a variety show. 00:03:18.729 --> 00:03:21.289 They had a roster of regulars, country singers, 00:03:21.509 --> 00:03:23.889 bluegrass bands, comedians. Oh, I see. Yeah, 00:03:23.930 --> 00:03:26.490 I had a rigid structure. They slotted Elvis in 00:03:26.490 --> 00:03:28.729 right in the middle of the second half. Oh, man. 00:03:29.210 --> 00:03:32.500 I see where this is going. So he comes out. does 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.639 his set, shakes his hips, drives the crowd into 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:38.099 a total frenzy, and then just leaves. And then 00:03:38.099 --> 00:03:40.180 leaves. But the show isn't over. There are other 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:42.520 performers waiting in the wings. Poor guys with 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:44.560 acoustic guitars who have to follow the atomic 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:47.300 bomb that was Elvis Presley. That is a death 00:03:47.300 --> 00:03:50.039 slot. Nobody wants to hear a banjo after they 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:52.710 have just seen The King. Precisely. So Elvis 00:03:52.710 --> 00:03:55.810 finishes his set, the curtain drops, and the 00:03:55.810 --> 00:03:58.250 crowd, they don't move. They don't sit down. 00:03:58.409 --> 00:04:00.550 They just keep going. They are screaming. They 00:04:00.550 --> 00:04:02.949 are surging toward the stage. They are completely 00:04:02.949 --> 00:04:05.229 convinced that if they make enough noise, he 00:04:05.229 --> 00:04:07.289 will come back out. And meanwhile, the rest of 00:04:07.289 --> 00:04:09.289 the show is just grinding to a halt. The show 00:04:09.289 --> 00:04:11.710 is dead in the water. You cannot send the next 00:04:11.710 --> 00:04:13.710 act out there. They'll be booed off the stage 00:04:13.710 --> 00:04:16.930 or completely ignored. The noise level is deafening. 00:04:17.170 --> 00:04:20.389 It's chaos. Enter Horace Logan. The Man of the 00:04:20.389 --> 00:04:23.009 Hour. Horace Logan was the show's producer and 00:04:23.009 --> 00:04:25.949 the main emcee. He's watching this unfold and 00:04:25.949 --> 00:04:29.110 he realizes he is actively losing control of 00:04:29.110 --> 00:04:31.750 the building. It's getting dangerous. Exactly. 00:04:31.970 --> 00:04:33.910 This isn't just about a schedule anymore. It's 00:04:33.910 --> 00:04:36.970 about safety. He needs to break the spell. So 00:04:36.970 --> 00:04:40.610 what does he do? He grabs the microphone and 00:04:40.610 --> 00:04:43.009 he doesn't use his showbiz voice. He doesn't 00:04:43.009 --> 00:04:46.310 say, stay tuned for more. He uses his dad voice. 00:04:46.610 --> 00:04:50.389 He uses the voice of authority. And I want to 00:04:50.389 --> 00:04:52.529 look at the specific words he chose here because 00:04:52.529 --> 00:04:55.750 this wasn't poetry. It was evidence. I actually 00:04:55.750 --> 00:04:57.810 have the transcript right here. It is fascinating 00:04:57.810 --> 00:05:01.009 because you can almost hear him sweating through 00:05:01.009 --> 00:05:03.649 the words. He says, All right, Elvis has left 00:05:03.649 --> 00:05:05.310 the building. I've told you absolutely straight 00:05:05.310 --> 00:05:07.529 up to this point. You know that he has left the 00:05:07.529 --> 00:05:09.670 building. He left the stage and went out the 00:05:09.670 --> 00:05:11.430 back with the policeman and he is now gone from 00:05:11.430 --> 00:05:13.410 the building. Notice the specific details there 00:05:13.410 --> 00:05:16.509 with the policeman out the back. Yeah. Why include 00:05:16.509 --> 00:05:18.939 that? Because the crowd was skeptical. They thought 00:05:18.939 --> 00:05:20.800 it was a trick. They thought Elvis was hiding 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:22.839 behind the curtain just waiting for the applause 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:26.019 to get louder. Logan had to provide forensic 00:05:26.019 --> 00:05:28.720 proof. He had to say, look, he's not just gone. 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:31.680 The cops took him away. He is physically not 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:34.519 in the zip code anymore. It's the I've told you 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:36.740 absolutely straight up part that gets me. It 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:38.720 sounds like he is bargaining with a toddler. 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:41.600 I'm not lying to you. He is really gone. It is 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.420 exactly that dynamic. He needed to puncture the 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:46.720 fantasy. The crowd was living in a fantasy where 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:49.620 the concert goes on forever. Logan had to be 00:05:49.620 --> 00:05:52.240 the reality check. Elvis has left the building. 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:54.980 Wasn't a catchphrase yet. It was a factual statement 00:05:54.980 --> 00:05:57.000 designed to lower the heart rates of 10 ,000 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:58.920 teenagers so the banjo player could finally come 00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:01.560 out. And it worked? Eventually, yeah. The crowd 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:03.959 realized, OK, the policeman took him. It's over. 00:06:04.170 --> 00:06:07.329 And they sat down. The show went on. Logan wiped 00:06:07.329 --> 00:06:09.089 the sweat off his forehead and probably thought, 00:06:09.209 --> 00:06:11.110 well, I am never saying that again. Little did 00:06:11.110 --> 00:06:14.389 he know. Right. Because that phrase, it had power. 00:06:14.689 --> 00:06:18.029 It had a rhythm to it. Elvis has left the building. 00:06:18.410 --> 00:06:21.910 It's almost iambic. It bounces. And because Elvis 00:06:21.910 --> 00:06:24.910 was, well, Elvis, the phrase followed him. So 00:06:24.910 --> 00:06:27.470 it moves from a riot control tactic to something 00:06:27.470 --> 00:06:30.329 a bit more ceremonial. When does that shift actually 00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:32.410 happen? Because surely they didn't keep using 00:06:32.410 --> 00:06:34.910 it to stop riots every single night. Not riots, 00:06:35.110 --> 00:06:38.170 no. But the encore problem never went away. Elvis 00:06:38.170 --> 00:06:41.250 fans always wanted more. So the phrase started 00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:44.069 to travel with the show. According to the archives, 00:06:44.189 --> 00:06:47.750 we see a major turning point in 1961 at a benefit 00:06:47.750 --> 00:06:50.680 concert for the Pearl Harbor Memorial. A benefit 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:52.740 concert sounds a lot more civilized than the 00:06:52.740 --> 00:06:54.980 Hayride. A little bit, but the ritual was the 00:06:54.980 --> 00:06:57.800 same. Elvis closes with Hound Dog. The band hits 00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:01.000 that final, crashing chord. And then, over the 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.740 PA system, you hear it. But this time, it's not 00:07:03.740 --> 00:07:06.220 desperate. It's definitive. It has become part 00:07:06.220 --> 00:07:08.139 of the show. It's almost like the closing credits 00:07:08.139 --> 00:07:10.959 of a movie. Exactly. And by the 1970s, it's fully 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:13.360 codified. You have Aldevoran, who was the announcer 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:15.360 on the road with Elvis. He's the one who really 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.199 made it iconic. But with the voice? Yes. He had 00:07:18.199 --> 00:07:21.449 this deep... booming voice. Ladies and gentlemen, 00:07:21.930 --> 00:07:24.629 Elvis has left the building. At that point, it's 00:07:24.629 --> 00:07:27.550 a branding element. It's the seal of authenticity. 00:07:28.129 --> 00:07:29.970 I love the detail in the source material about 00:07:29.970 --> 00:07:32.279 the backup singers too. Oh, isn't that great? 00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:34.259 Yeah, in the later years, sometimes the backup 00:07:34.259 --> 00:07:36.319 singers would chant it or say to the crowd to 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:39.040 calm them down. It feels like a transition from 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.139 security announcement to absolute gospel truth. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:44.759 It became liturgy. It was the benediction of 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:47.319 the Church of Rock and Roll. But here is where 00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:49.939 the utility of the phrase gets really interesting, 00:07:50.139 --> 00:07:52.860 because if it had just stayed with Elvis, it 00:07:52.860 --> 00:07:55.300 would have died with him in 1977. But it didn't. 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:57.410 No, it jumped the fence. It went mainstream. 00:07:57.589 --> 00:07:59.689 It went universal. Yeah. And I think the reason 00:07:59.689 --> 00:08:02.709 is that we, as a culture, just love a dramatic 00:08:02.709 --> 00:08:05.370 exit. And who loves a dramatic exit more than 00:08:05.370 --> 00:08:08.509 sports? Oh, absolutely. Sports is entirely about 00:08:08.509 --> 00:08:10.850 the buzzer, the final out, the clock hitting 00:08:10.850 --> 00:08:13.329 zero. Right. And broadcasters are always looking 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:16.670 for new, colorful ways to say it's over. The 00:08:16.670 --> 00:08:18.670 notes bring up baseball, which makes perfect 00:08:18.670 --> 00:08:21.470 sense geometrically. The ball leaves the stadium. 00:08:21.889 --> 00:08:24.649 Elvis leaves the building. It works. But the 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:26.990 one that I think fits the actual spirit of the 00:08:26.990 --> 00:08:30.629 phrase best is hockey. Why hockey? Because hockey 00:08:30.629 --> 00:08:33.309 is chaotic. It's fast. It's violent. It's loud. 00:08:33.809 --> 00:08:37.269 It is much closer to that 1956 Hayride energy 00:08:37.269 --> 00:08:40.889 that a big baseball game is. You have Mike Lange, 00:08:41.029 --> 00:08:42.710 the legendary broadcaster for the Pittsburgh 00:08:42.710 --> 00:08:46.129 Penguins. A true master of the catchphrase. He 00:08:46.129 --> 00:08:49.059 would use it to seal a home win. Elvis has left 00:08:49.059 --> 00:08:51.759 the building. And in that context, it's triumphant. 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:54.700 It's not, please go home. It's, we won, go home. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:56.799 It is a victory lap. But you can flip that coin, 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:58.639 too. You can use the phrase to be the villain. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:00.779 We are talking wrestling now, aren't we? We are 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:02.220 definitely talking wrestling. The Heartbreak 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:04.480 Kid, Shawn Michaels. OK, for people listening 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:06.899 who aren't wrestling nerds, which shame on you, 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:09.120 by the way. Shawn Michaels had this period where 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.340 he was the ultimate heel, the bad guy. He was 00:09:12.340 --> 00:09:15.340 arrogant. He was vain. He was obsessed with his 00:09:15.340 --> 00:09:17.519 own looks. And he used a variation of the phrase. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:20.360 He'd say, the heartbreak kid Shawn Michaels has 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:22.899 left the building. That is such a jerk move. 00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:25.940 I love it so much. It is. It is weaponizing the 00:09:25.940 --> 00:09:29.120 exit. He is telling the crowd, I am the star. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:32.580 You paid to see me. And now that I'm gone, this 00:09:32.580 --> 00:09:35.559 show is worthless. He's channeling that original 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:38.919 Elvis energy, the idea that the star is bigger 00:09:38.919 --> 00:09:41.080 than the venue, but he's using it specifically 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:44.600 to make you hate him. It's amazing how elastic 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:47.529 this single sentence is. You can use it to stop 00:09:47.529 --> 00:09:49.649 a riot, you can use it to celebrate a hockey 00:09:49.649 --> 00:09:52.509 game, or you can use it to insult 20 ,000 wrestling 00:09:52.509 --> 00:09:56.129 fans. And that elasticity is exactly why it survived. 00:09:56.429 --> 00:09:58.309 But, and this is the part of the research that 00:09:58.309 --> 00:10:00.269 really made me laugh, sometimes the elasticity 00:10:00.269 --> 00:10:02.769 snaps. We're getting into the mutations now, 00:10:02.830 --> 00:10:04.830 the really weird stuff. The mutations, because 00:10:04.830 --> 00:10:07.450 once a phrase becomes this famous, people start 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:10.110 messing with it. Yeah. Sometimes they trip right 00:10:10.110 --> 00:10:12.169 over it. You are definitely thinking of the Dennis 00:10:12.169 --> 00:10:13.889 Comedie moment. I have to be honest, this is 00:10:13.889 --> 00:10:16.230 one of my all -time favorite moments in broadcasting 00:10:16.230 --> 00:10:18.590 history. OK, set the scene for us. This is Australian 00:10:18.590 --> 00:10:21.990 football, right? Australian rules football, a 00:10:21.990 --> 00:10:24.429 sport that is already chaotic enough on its own. 00:10:24.649 --> 00:10:27.289 You have a match where a player named Nicky Windmar 00:10:27.289 --> 00:10:30.429 is playing. Now, crucially, Nicky Windmar's middle 00:10:30.429 --> 00:10:33.149 name is Elvis. Nicky Elvis Windmar. OK. So Windmar 00:10:33.149 --> 00:10:36.070 gets tackled. A massive player named Paul Salmon, 00:10:36.269 --> 00:10:38.970 they called him, the big fish, crashes down on 00:10:38.970 --> 00:10:41.649 top of him. It's a huge pile up. They are slowly 00:10:41.649 --> 00:10:44.850 untangling themselves. And Dennis Cometti, the 00:10:44.850 --> 00:10:47.700 commentator. sees this. He knows Windmar's middle 00:10:47.700 --> 00:10:49.720 name. He thinks, I'm gonna make the greatest 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:52.240 pun of my entire career. I can just see the gears 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:53.960 turning in his head. He wants to say something 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:56.940 like, the building has landed on Elvis. where 00:10:56.940 --> 00:10:59.320 Elvis is under the building. But in the heat 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:01.460 of the moment, his brain just completely short 00:11:01.460 --> 00:11:03.740 circuits. And what actually comes out? He says, 00:11:03.899 --> 00:11:06.500 with total confidence, just as Wynmar landed, 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:09.200 big salmon came crashing down on top of him. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:11.620 They're slowly getting up, and now I can report 00:11:11.620 --> 00:11:13.659 the building has left the Elvis. The building 00:11:13.659 --> 00:11:16.340 has left the Elvis. It is magnificent monsens. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:19.139 It sounds like a surrealist painting. The building 00:11:19.139 --> 00:11:21.700 has left the Elvis. Like, did the stadium just 00:11:21.700 --> 00:11:23.860 stand up and walk away from the man? But the 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:26.389 funny thing is... Everyone knew exactly what 00:11:26.389 --> 00:11:29.230 he meant. The cultural reference is so strong 00:11:29.230 --> 00:11:31.529 that even when you mangle the syntax completely, 00:11:32.049 --> 00:11:34.490 the listener's brain autocorrects it. You know 00:11:34.490 --> 00:11:36.990 he means, the big guy got off the little guy. 00:11:37.090 --> 00:11:39.509 That is the power of a true idiom. You can break 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:41.730 it into pieces, and it still works. Exactly. 00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:44.169 But then you have artists who break it on purpose. 00:11:44.710 --> 00:11:47.190 We can't ignore the music world? Well, of course 00:11:47.190 --> 00:11:49.070 not. Musicians are always going to reference 00:11:49.070 --> 00:11:52.649 the king. But the tone varies so much. You have 00:11:52.649 --> 00:11:55.409 Frank Zappa, for instance. Zappa, the ultimate 00:11:55.409 --> 00:11:58.370 satirist. He has a song from 1988 called Elvis 00:11:58.370 --> 00:12:00.929 Has Just Left the Building. But knowing Zappa, 00:12:01.070 --> 00:12:03.830 he's not paying tribute. He is making fun of 00:12:03.830 --> 00:12:06.409 the worship. He's mocking the idea that we treat 00:12:06.409 --> 00:12:08.889 these pop stars like literal deities. And the 00:12:08.889 --> 00:12:10.809 band Dire Straits did something, too, right? 00:12:11.129 --> 00:12:14.370 Yes. On their track, Calling Elvis. Mark Knopfler 00:12:14.370 --> 00:12:17.039 actually sings the line. Did he leave the building? 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:19.820 It's used almost like a mythic question there. 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:21.559 And then you swing all the way to something like 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:24.139 Tyler, the creator. That was a really jarring 00:12:24.139 --> 00:12:26.840 find in the source material. Yeah, this is on 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:29.639 his track window. He says the line, but it's 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:31.840 not funny, and it's definitely not reverent. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.799 No. In the song, the line is followed immediately 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.159 by the sound of a gunshot and screaming. Oof. 00:12:37.470 --> 00:12:40.929 That is heavy. It recontextualizes the exit entirely. 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:43.190 Leaving the building isn't going back to the 00:12:43.190 --> 00:12:46.570 hotel. It's death. It is the final exit. Which 00:12:46.570 --> 00:12:48.549 is actually how a lot of people use it now, right? 00:12:48.710 --> 00:12:50.730 If an old celebrity dies, you see the headlines, 00:12:51.210 --> 00:12:53.629 Elvis has left the building. It has become a 00:12:53.629 --> 00:12:56.460 euphemism for mortality. Which is a pretty heavy 00:12:56.460 --> 00:12:58.440 load for a phrase that started with a guy just 00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:00.539 trying to clear a dance floor. Speaking of heavy 00:13:00.539 --> 00:13:02.500 loads, we have to talk about Grand Theft Auto 00:13:02.500 --> 00:13:05.840 2. Because if Tyler, the creator, was dark, this 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:09.139 is just bizarre. This is the absolute peak of 00:13:09.139 --> 00:13:12.200 video game dark humor. So in GTA 2, there is 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:14.679 a literal line of Elvis impersonators walking 00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:18.340 down the street. Yes. A conga line of Elvis's 00:13:18.340 --> 00:13:20.899 in their full white jumpsuits. And the game gives 00:13:20.899 --> 00:13:22.980 you a secret challenge. If you can run them all 00:13:22.980 --> 00:13:25.220 over, kill... every single one of them in under 00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:28.259 five seconds. No way. Attached flashes on the 00:13:28.259 --> 00:13:30.340 screen that says Elvis has left the building. 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:33.539 And you get a massive point bonus. That is so 00:13:33.539 --> 00:13:36.559 deeply cynical. It is. But think about what it 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:40.039 represents. In 1956, the goal was to preserve 00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:42.720 the safety of the fans and the artist. In the 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.200 video game, the goal is to destroy the icon. 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:48.179 You get rewarded for wiping Elvis off the map. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:50.899 It's pure deconstruction. You are literally running 00:13:50.899 --> 00:13:53.179 over pop culture to get a high score. And then 00:13:53.179 --> 00:13:55.679 you have Godhand, that cult classic fighting 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:57.460 game. Where they just straight up name a villain 00:13:57.460 --> 00:14:00.340 Elvis. Right. And when the character Bells defeats 00:14:00.340 --> 00:14:03.299 him, he says, Elvis has left the building. It's 00:14:03.299 --> 00:14:05.340 unavoidable. It's like a law of physics at this 00:14:05.340 --> 00:14:08.080 point. If a character is named Elvis and he leaves 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:11.220 or dies, someone simply must say the line. It 00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:13.679 is so fascinating to see how far we've traveled. 00:14:13.870 --> 00:14:16.929 We started with Horace Logan in a sweaty fairgrounds 00:14:16.929 --> 00:14:20.149 coliseum pleading with teenagers, and now we 00:14:20.149 --> 00:14:22.750 are running over pixelated impersonators in a 00:14:22.750 --> 00:14:24.970 video game. But the core need hasn't changed. 00:14:25.190 --> 00:14:26.970 What do you mean? Why do we love this phrase? 00:14:27.129 --> 00:14:30.389 Why do we use it in games, in sports, in arguments? 00:14:30.669 --> 00:14:33.370 Because we crave closure. Closure? Think about 00:14:33.370 --> 00:14:36.149 the modern world for a second. Think about how 00:14:36.149 --> 00:14:40.250 messy our lives are. Relationships drift apart 00:14:40.250 --> 00:14:43.750 without a clear breakup conversation. Work emails 00:14:43.750 --> 00:14:47.429 come in at 11 p .m. The news cycle never ever 00:14:47.429 --> 00:14:50.529 stops. We are constantly in a state of on. That 00:14:50.529 --> 00:14:52.610 is really true. There is no the end card anymore. 00:14:52.950 --> 00:14:55.370 Exactly. But Elvis has left the building that 00:14:55.370 --> 00:14:58.070 is definitive. It is an authority figure stepping 00:14:58.070 --> 00:15:00.330 up to the mic and telling you, stop waiting. 00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:03.590 It is done. Go home. That is a very comforting 00:15:03.590 --> 00:15:06.480 thing to hear in a chaotic world. Horace Logan 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.759 gave those kids permission to stop screaming. 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:11.379 He gave them permission to let go. That's actually 00:15:11.379 --> 00:15:13.559 kind of beautiful. We are all just looking for 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:15.120 someone to tell us we can stop screaming and 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:17.980 go home. But here is the problem. And this is 00:15:17.980 --> 00:15:19.720 the thought I want to leave you with today. Hit 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:22.539 me. We mentioned the internet earlier. The internet 00:15:22.539 --> 00:15:25.039 is the ultimate building that never closes. You 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:27.860 can log off, but the timeline keeps scrolling. 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:30.779 The notifications keep piling up. Your digital 00:15:30.779 --> 00:15:33.179 self is still there, even when you are sleeping. 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:36.059 Oh, man. I see where you're going with this. 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:39.120 In a world of constant digital connection where 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:42.620 no one ever really leaves, do we still have moments 00:15:42.620 --> 00:15:45.500 final enough to earn this phrase, or has the 00:15:45.500 --> 00:15:48.240 building simply become too big to leave? Wow. 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:52.279 That is terrifying. We are all just trapped in 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:54.500 the lobby waiting for an encore that's never 00:15:54.500 --> 00:15:56.200 going to happen. And the policemen aren't coming 00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:58.700 to escort us out. We have to find the exit ourselves. 00:15:58.899 --> 00:16:01.419 Well, on that existential bombshell. Yeah. I 00:16:01.419 --> 00:16:03.399 think it is time for us to find our own exit. 00:16:03.659 --> 00:16:05.460 I think so too. Thank you for listening to this 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:08.019 deep dive. We will catch you next time. Goodbye. 00:16:08.500 --> 00:16:09.879 The hosts have left the building.