Take a tour around the swamp with America’s favorite rascal. Florida Man’s always making headlines for punching alligators, stealing meat, and fighting cops in the buff. But does Florida really deserve its reputation as the weirdest state in the union? And is our nation’s most beloved rapscallion the villain of our story, or is he the victim of a legal system that accidentally created a media monster?
Featured image: A stock photo of a man holding an alligator. For reasons I discussed in the episode, I’ve decided not to include any mugshots or photographs of real crime scenes in these show notes. (Image source)
A supercut of some of Jason Mendoza’s lines about Florida in The Good Place.
Dave Barry discusses the Florida Man phenomenon and the difficulty talking about Trump as a local humorist.
Carl Hiassen riffs on the Florida Man meme and his state’s long history of weirdness.
Sources
History and ecology
- The History of the Short-Lived Independent Republic of Florida
- The East Florida Revolution of 1812-1814
- The Short, Strange Tale of the Republic of the Floridas
- Florida Becomes a State
- Florida in the American Civil War
- Who Drained the Everglades?
- LCMAP Change Stories: Hurricanes in the Everglades
- How have invasive pythons impacted Florida ecosystems?
- America could have been a nation of hippopotamus eaters
Demographics and social issues
- United States Census – Florida
- Economist warns Florida tourism industry faces tough spring as jobless claims spike last week
- PolitiFact Florida: Yes, Florida ranks at bottom of states on school funding
- FLORIDA 2021: Florida ranks dead last for long-term care. How can we do better?
- A crisis without end: Florida ranks last among states in spending for mental health
- Editorial: Florida ranks a pitiful No. 41 for health care
- Florida among worst states for pay in the country, study says
- Are improvements coming to Florida’s unemployment system?
- Northwest Florida 2020: Hurricane Sally, Five Mile Swamp Fire, COVID and more
- A Family Tradition – Old School Florida Smuggling
- Cocaine
- Methamphetamine
- How Florida Ignited the Heroin Epidemic
- Florida’s Billion-Dollar Drug Treatment Industry Is Plagued by Overdoses, Fraud
- Florida Gun Laws
- The Florida town that once let the nation… in severed limbs
- America Has a Tiger Problem
- Inside Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump’s Epic Bromance
- Mar-a-Lago should be shut down after New Year’s Eve party violated covid rules, state lawmaker says
Quotes from writers
Florida Man headlines
- Deputies: Florida man arrested for setting opossum on fire
- Florida man accused of sex crimes cuts ankle monitor, starts GoFundMe to flee country
- Florida Man Arrested for Stealing Floating Tiki Hut
- Florida man wearing gloves steals all the chicken wings at 7-Eleven, officials say
- Florida man steals $600 worth of cat blood from veterinary clinic
- Florida man steals 75 pool floats for sex
- Florida Man Hits Cop With Shovel, Steals His Car, Causes Four Car Pileup In Daring Escape
- ‘Florida Man’ snatches woman’s $5 bill, eats it
- Florida man paroled after felony battery on 7-Eleven clerk with Slurpee
- Florida man attacks girlfriend with pumpkin
- Florida man kicked chicken like ‘a field goal,’ deputies say
- Florida man mauled by black leopard after paying for ‘full-contact experience’ at backyard zoo
- Florida man, A.K.A. ‘Python Cowboy’, catches 17 foot python in Everglades
- Florida man makes videos of wild snakes biting him — for educational purposes
- Florida man sentenced for smuggling lizards
- Sheriff: Florida man steals parrot from Venice pet store by putting bird in shorts pocket
- Florida man is bitten by alligator, then by a shark
- Florida Man Grabs Golf Ball That Landed On Alligator’s Tail
- Florida man pulls dog out gator jaws; dog made sheriff’s deputy
- Florida man arrested for driving with a live alligator in passengers seat
- Move over, Florida man: Woman pulls gator from pants during Fort Myers traffic stop
- Florida man accused of pouring beer into alligator’s mouth
- Naked Jacksonville man reportedly steals police car, crashes into woods
- Naked Florida man tells deputies he’s ‘Batman’
- Naked Florida man spent 24 hours vandalizing school, police say
- Florida man loses pants, boxers in wild Wawa fight
- Naked man wielding shotgun reportedly exchanges gunfire with Jacksonville police
- Naked Florida man, high on meth, bites K-9 dog, assaults officer: report
- Naked shoplifting suspect who shoved meat in pants gets Tased on genitals, police say
- Naked Florida man revealed on video sneaking into restaurant and munching on ramen
- Naked Florida man steals yacht’s flag
Sunshine laws and their effects
- How Florida’s Proud Open Government Laws Lead to the Shame of “Florida Man” News Stories
- Open Government – The “Sunshine” Law
- Removing Mugshots from the Internet