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TIL Fran Drescher’s stalker changed how sitcoms were made. To stop him from sneaking into the studio audience of The Nanny, they began to cast the audience from extras. Good/loud laughers were picked in casting, making the show feel funnier to home audiences. This became an industry standard.

0dbRy TIL that a Persian King named Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ordered two servants to be executed for being too loud. But since it was a holy day, he delayed the execution by a day and made the servants return to their duties. The servants murdered the king in his sleep that night.
V4Y4 TIL Jack And Meg White of the White Stripes did a strange tour in Canada consisting of many obscure venues, (senior home, bowling alley) and “a show that lasted for a single note. (It was an E. The crowd chanted, “One more note!”)”
J85Q TIL a CIA handbook taught torture methods, and stressed the importance of psychological over physical torture. The threat of inflicting pain triggered fears more damaging than the pain itself, because people often underestimated their capacity to withstand pain.
vPvmB TIL Barry Manilow thought "Last Christmas" by Wham! was so similar to his 1978 hit "Can't Smile Without You" that he took George Michael to court. But the case was thrown out after a musicologist presented 60-odd songs from the past century that had a comparable chord sequence and melody.
01e5 TIL That you don’t really need to brush twice a day AFTER meals. Brushing is really just about cleaning the plaque which houses microbes on your teeth. It’s better to clear the plaque before meals so that your meals don’t feed the plaque which feeds the teeth-damaging microbes.