Clay Loved “Endurance”; Sea Lions Scare Beachgoers

CLAY: I finished “Endurance,” the Shackleton book.

BUCK: What’d you think?

CLAY: Oh, it’s so good.

BUCK: It’s amazing, right?

CLAY: So good, and I read it some on the beach. They’re writing about how it’s minus-20 degrees and they’re sitting in ice, and they’ve all got frostbite and everything else, and I just felt like such an absolute wuss for basically every page. And also every time one minor positive happens, the next time four things that happen are way worse. You just turn the page. “How can it possibly get worse?” Well, then the weather changed or then… Anyway, it’s a great story for anybody out there who wants a story of American triumph. You mentioned the book about the guy who got shot down, ended up in —

BUCK: “Unbroken.”

CLAY: “Unbroken,” which is also the Zampizis.

BUCK: Zamperini.

CLAY: Is an amazing story.

BUCK: Zamperini.

CLAY: This one, too, “Endurance,” and the other one I gave out that you had been reading, “Undaunted Courage,” if you want to read about just positive American triumphalism and overcoming incredibly difficult circumstances, all three of those books are phenomenal.

BUCK: The one that always sticks out for me in the Shackleton voyage is the guy who almost got “got” by the leopard seal. That’s a rough… You don’t want… People don’t realize, those things are very, very large.

CLAY: A thousand pounds.

BUCK: A thousand pounds.

CLAY: They would have to kill ’em and sometimes eat ’em.

BUCK: Yeah, and they’re carnivorous. They eat penguins and things, and one guy actually got chased across an ice floe by one. I didn’t even know that was a thing that could happen, but you did see it? Now, this was far. We are gonna bring back Clay’s Animal Thunderdome, by the way. That is in progress.

We had a great one this week with people in, I think it was the beach in La Jolla. San Diego is one of the most beautiful places. I was just actually talking to a friend of mine in the business about how if I were 22 and it was the nineties and I was starting out again, I would set up shop in San Diego, man. It is so beautiful.

CLAY: It is a phenomenal place. Also, number one in that market. Hello, San Diego. Ron Burgundy voice there.

BUCK: NBD, a little C&B action, number one. And you might have seen the video that went very viral, these people that were on the beach, they get chased. Are those elephant seals that are chasing them?

CLAY: I think that’s right.

BUCK: I think they’re elephant seals, which is massive, ask they’re chasing ’em. And you forget that those big guys can move pretty fast.

CLAY: Well, it’s a scary story. “Endurance.” That big seal, it tracked him underneath the ice! It chased him; then went underwater. He thought he was safe. It saw him underneath, and then popped up on the other side of him, which is pretty terrifying to think about for a thousand-pound animal that can eat you. And those seals had probably never seen a human before.

BUCK: Yeah, it might have been starving to death ’cause you’re talking about being down in the most inhospitable part of the entire globe, basically.

CLAY: Yes.

BUCK: You’re a prey item, my friends. Just remember that. And as we always say, it’s that time… Carrie’s actually going to Yellowstone in a few weeks.

CLAY: Oh, yes.

BUCK: Don’t pet the bison, folks. Leave the bison alone.

CLAY: And how about the guy? That huge seal… Another time, he pretended to be a penguin because they were so hungry — in order to try to get the thing to chase him; so they could shoot it and eat it. You talk about brave, when you’re trying to pretend to be food — because you’re so hungry — so you can kill the thing that’s try to eat you? That’s next level.

BUCK: See. “Endurance,” the Shackleton voyage. I told you, folks. Clay liked it. It’s worth it.