879-FriAug14

comedy4cast #879

Odd News Times Twos for August 14, 2026

"No Signs Of Tussle"

Written by

Clinton Alvord

CAST

(in order of appearance, where possible, otherwise by actor)

ID ANNOUNCER.......................COMPUTER
CLINTON............................CLINTON ALVORD

INTRO: COMEDY4CAST STUDIO

MUSIC: COMEDY4CAST NETWORK ID STING

ID ANNOUNCER

The comedy4cast network. Let's dog ear that for now.

MUSIC: ID MUSIC UP AND OUT.

CLINTON

This is comedy4cast, episode 879, "No Signs Of Tussle".

MUSIC: OPENING THEME MUSIC IN AND UNDER.

CLINTON (cont'd)

It's time, once again, for the August Dog Days of Podcasting challenge. For more information and to hear shows from all the participants, go to dogdaysofpodcasting.com.

comedy4cast is taking this time to provide you with some interesting, yet totally useless Odd News. In fact, TWO Odd News stories that we thing deserve each other. So, let's have some fun with "Odd News Times Twos"!

MUSIC: INTRO THEME MUSIC UP AND OUT.

SFX: TRANSITION WHOOSH.

STORIES NUMBER 1 AND 2 ARE COMBINED.

CLINTON

Our first story today takes us to England!

SFX: ELECTRONIC WHOOSH.

SFX: PASTORAL AMBIENCE.

CLINTON (cont'd)

And here we are! In The Cotswolds. Oh, don't worry. It's not something that will mess up your shoes. It's an area in Southern England along a range of rolling hills or "wolds". That, I guess were "cot" here.
The Cotswolds stretch across the boundaries of several English counties: mainly Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and parts of Wiltshire, Somerset, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire. And yes, I'm sure.

Cotswold Stone is quarried here. It's limestone with a natural golden color. But it's not gold, it's oolite which is comprised of ooids. And yes, I'm sure.

Anyway, a large area within the Cotswolds, some 787 square miles, has been designated as a National Landscape, an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". And yes, it is lovely, isn't it? In fact, where we are, specifically is the Borough of Tewkesbury, a civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire.

Tourists from all over the world come to Tewkesbury. And not just to try to spell Tewksbury, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, either. They're here for the views.

Ah. But there is a problem.

However, before we can dig deeper - or at least until we hit Cotswold Stone, which sounds painful, we need to jet off to Texas to investigate our second Odd News story.

SFX: ELECTRONIC WHOOSH.

SFX: RATTLESNAKE RATTLE.

CLINTON (cont'd)

Here we are, in a small Texas town with a big identity crisis. At least when it comes to road signs.

The town, originally known as Truss, after resident John Truss, is in the Eastern part of the state. situated on the junction of Farm to Market Road 1550 and Texas State Highway 34. Current population: 15.

SFX: HAWK CRY.

CLINTON (cont'd)

I mentioned that the town was originally known as Truss. But it was given a new name back around 1890: Bug Tussle.

Like any great name, Bug Tussle has many origin stories. And, of course, all -- or none -- of them are true. The most popular local legend is that a church ice cream social was ruined by an invasion of insects. Although I'm not quite sure that kind of thing is grounds for changing the name of your town. Otherwise you'd pass through a lot of places called Traffic Jam.

Another origin story says that Bug Tussle's name springs from an incident where two residents got into an argument over changing the name from Truss to something else. Apparently they eventually found themselves distracted by the sight of two dung beetles fighting. If that's the case, who really won that argument? I mean, the name used to be Truss.

Still, locals love the name and they wouldn't change it for anything. Which is what really matters. And it appears they're not alone, Local officials say that more than 70 Bug Tussle road signs have been stolen over the years by those who appreciate the unusual name. Maybe a bit too much. Because now the Department of Transportation refuses to provide the town with new road signs.

Does that worry the good people of Bug Tussle? Nay nay. They've built a huge, HEAVY wooden sign that's four feet high and five feet wide that proclaims "Welcome to Bug Tussle, Texas. Y'all come back now, ya hear!"

And, as far as we know, it's still there.

But we can't stay HERE to check, we need to get back to The Cotswolds

SFX: ELECTRONIC WHOOSH.

CLINTON (cont'd)

Here we are, back in Tewkesbury, in the heart of the Cotswolds. Which still sounds funky.

Regardless, the town is looking to maintain the Instagramable beauty of Tewkesbury, by proposing a fine on local residents and businesses who leave their trash bins out too long.

It appears their trash is affecting the town's cash from tourism. But fines will only be issued to "persistent offenders" as a last resort.

Tewkesbury's Civic Society chair, said the town’s conservation area is being "severely degraded" by domestic bins. They say town residents report visitors saying things like "It's a pity about the bins." adding "You wouldn’t really want to have a row of bins if you were photographing here. Would this be the kind of background you want?"

So, what did we learn today. I think it's that Bug Tussle solved its problem by replacing boring, standard manufactured signs with a terrific hand-made one. And maybe Tewkesbury should prioritize rethinking town trash bin designs before fining residents for dealing with trash the way other people do, including those griping Instagrammers.

OUTRO: COMEDY4CAST STUDIO

MUSIC: END THEME IN AND UNDER FOR...

CLINTON

That about wraps it up for today's "Odd News Times Twos". But first, a very special shout-out to my Patreon patrons, including Producer-level patrons, Paul Barrie, from the A Window to the Magic podcast, Kirby Bartlett-Sloan, Chuck Tomasi from the Technorama podcast, Kyle Nishioka, Brian Martsolf, Amy Murphy, and Steve Ng from steveng5.com, that's s-t-e-v-e-n-g the number 5 dot com. You, too, can support comedy4cast. Just search for comedy4cast, all one word with the number 4, on patreon.com.

Talk to you again next time! But for now, that's it. We're done, done, done, done, done. Bye bye!

MUSIC: 'END THEME' UP AND OUT.

=== THE END ===