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Podcast: I Tell Stories
Episode: Oh Canada: Brothels, Brigades, and Bozos
Description: Send a textA clown and a fireman walk into a brothel... It sounds like the setup to a joke, but this bizarre collision sparked one of the most consequential riots in Canadian history and forever changed the face of Toronto.The Toronto Circus Riot of 1855 erupted when rugged performers from S.B. Howe's Star Troop Menagerie and Circus—think less birthday party entertainers and more hard-laborers who could erect massive tents and wrangle exotic animals—encountered local firefighters at the White House Tavern, a notorious brothel. These weren't your friendly neighborhood firefighters either. Known as "...