Josh fight & Joshua Swain interview (transcript), CBC Radio's As It Happens

This is a direct transcript from the 26 April 2021 episode of CBC Radio's As It Happens. I have only included in this document the part pertaining to the Josh fight and Joshua Swain.

To see the transcript of the episode in full, go here: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.6002269/april-26-2021-episode-transcript-1.6004094
(Please note that that transcript features the whole episode's transcript, so it may take readers a while to find the part where this topic is discussed).

The transcript of the Josh fight-related part is exactly as follows:
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Josh Battle

Guest: Josh Swain



CH: As a Chris I know what it's like to get lost in a crowd of Chrises. Heck, there are between two and three Chrises working on this program at any given time! [sigh] It's fine. Marias, Mohameds, and Michaels can relate. And so can Josh Swain. Mr. Swain is an Arizona Josh, who was fed up of being just one Josh among many. So he proposed the Joshes fight it out for the right to be named Josh. And while he may have been joshing, a lot of Joshes were apparently ready for the battle royale -- and they all gathered this weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska, for the inaugural Battle of the Joshes. We reached Josh Swain back in Phoenix, Arizona.



NK: So, Josh, paint me a picture of what this weekend's Battle of the Joshes looked like? If we were there, what would we have seen?



JOSH SWAIN: If you were me and you showed up about 90 minutes early, you would have seen already about 30 people there that I had, just complete strangers. And just every time you turned around, you would see more people coming and coming. And until there was like about a thousand people, I believe. And I think in total we had 50 Joshes. The energy was incredible. Just the atmosphere was something else that I don't even know if I could describe.



NK: It sounds exciting, but there's also a pandemic right now. So without being a downer, I have to ask, how did you do this safely?



JS: No, yeah. I really appreciate you asking that. The curious thing about this event was that whether I was there or not like the thing was going to happen regardless. And one thing that I really wanted to emphasize was the use of masks. I bought about 200 masks before I arrived, and I was passing them out during the entire event. And thankfully, the majority of people there were wearing a mask,



NK: You said this would have happened whether or not you were there. It's because you, you posted this originally online just on a lark, right?



JS: Yeah, just as a joke. So, I mean, I make, I make jokes on Twitter all the time for friends just to get like 20 or 30 likes or something like that. I have always, like, tried to register my name as my username for social media sites like Just: @JoshSwain. But, unfortunately, that's always been taken. And I was wondering like, hey, like they're apparently so many people that I can never get this username taken that are just named Josh Swain. And so like as a joke, I thought of that like, we need to figure this out, just figure who is deserving of this title. And so that's where kind of the idea spawned is when I added them all to the group chat. And then that eventually evolved through the game of telephone that is the Internet, that it just became a Josh event, you know, not just a Josh Swain event. But luckily, we had one other Josh Swain there and then about 50 other Joshes.



NK: Yeah. So you ultimately had two fights, right? A pool noodle showdown among all Joshes, and then a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" battle for Josh Swains specifically. [chuckling] So, how did each of those battles end?



JS: Yeah, so the Josh Swain "Rock, Paper, Scissors" battle was a, it was a one-of-one game. We had three times in a row. And then on the final one, I threw rock, the other Josh Swain threw scissors, and I was crowned the victor and they Josh Swain. So that was awesome. But as my first decree as the Josh Swain, I think the other Josh Swain doesn't have to change his name because, you know, he was... he was cool enough to show up, and he was actually a really awesome guy.



NK: [chuckling] Very magnanimous of you. [ the Josh Swain chuckles] With great power comes great responsibility, as they say.



JS: That's correct.



NK: And not to leave people in suspense. But how did the pool noodle all-Josh showdown go down?



JS: It was, it was a glorious fight. Everybody slowly took their out as they were hit by a wave of pool noodles. However, there was a four-year-old named Josh Jr., who kept slashing at people's ankles and eventually bested everybody. And we crowned him the victor. And we made this event, and we also use it to support the Children's Hospital and Medical Center Foundation, which provides health care to children across the state of Nebraska. And this, Josh, actually happened to have received treatment when he was two years old from this hospital that we supported. And so that was just an incredible, like, bow on top of this whole event.



NK: Well, this idea of reconnecting, we're all longing for, obviously. But this is connecting on such a huge level. That must have felt very special?



JS: No, yeah, I mean, you know, we've had, everybody's had a hard year. And like to finally just kind of win one for once was, was really something.



NK: But before you made the trek up to Lincoln, what was going through your mind, like this was actually happening?



JS: Um, anything and everything was going through my mind, like every possible thought you could have. When I first sent out the tweet, you know, I thought zero people would come. I didn't think it was going to actually be an event. Then three months leading to the event, like people said they were coming. I thought it was just going to be like ten people. And I was just going to show up like just as a joke. And then the week of, I thought they. Maybe 20 to 50 people are going to show up. And then, like the night before, I was scared and had no idea or any gauge of how many people would show up. So I was so worried, just like if people were going to show up and, like, try to actually fight. Again, like the mask thing, that was also on my mind. Like, no, just like how many people would, you know, be courteous to the other, the other people at the event? But it's incredible how it turned out.



NK: Were there any officials from the town around or police? Like [laughing] did anyone ask what the heck is going on?



JS: No, yeah. Like I called the Lincoln Police Department. I was like, hey, like we have a charity event. There might be a few people. I don't really know. But we just want to let you know. And then the guy was just like, yeah, OK. [NK chuckles] And I took that permission, I guess, so.



NK: Wow! It's a very different state of affairs in Nebraska than much of Canada, certainly, and many other parts of the world. But if we can step away from the event itself for a second, you know, as someone with a unique name, even where I'm from in Turkey, it's a very different experience for you, I can imagine. What is it like to be among so many Joshes?



JS: You know, before I used to take it as a burden, like kind of, like, oh, like, you know, people have my name. Like, you have to refer to me as my last name or, or, you know, some other aspect of me. But now I take it kind of like a badge of honour. Like I am a josh amongst all these other Joshes. Like we are, we are, we are this community now. And so that's been really cool.



NK: Well, listen, I'm glad it all went safely. Stay healthy. And thanks for your time, Josh.



JS: No, thank you so much.



NK: The Josh Swain, I should say. [the Josh Swain laughs] Just for legal reasons. Thanks, Josh.



JS: All right, take care. Thanks so much.



NK: You too.



CH: Josh Swain is the Josh behind this weekend's Battle of the Joshes in Lincoln, Nebraska. We reached him in Phoenix, Arizona. And we've got more on this story on our webpage at: www.cbc.ca/aih.



[music: classic rock]