jakebartel 🐜

January 27 is an important day in history for a lot of reasons! It's the day the iPad was announced (2010), the Outer Space Treaty was signed (1967), and the beginning of the trial of Guy Fawkes (1606). MORE IMPORTANT than all that, it's the birthdate of Joe Bob Briggs!!! On this day in 1953, the Dallas area had more than 40 drive-in theaters. Little did they know that John Irving Bloom — the man we'd all come to know as Joe Bob Briggs — was fighting his way out of the womb with a Lone Star in one hand and a bolo tie in the other. How he got access to either of those things is a mystery to us all, but those highfalutin doctors didn't dare take them away from him. Now, there might not be any official documentation that that's how it went down, but I'm pretty sure that was the way of it. Either way, here we are 73 years later, and the man who's always reminded us that the drive-in will never die (and who I compete with for my wife's affections) is still going strong and bringing an insane amount of joy into our lives. I myself remember watching Joe Bob as a kid right after WCW Saturday Night went off in the mid-90s, and hearing about his comeback in 2018 was enough to put a month-long smile on my face. Fortunately, that "farewell" marathon turned into a years-long love affair. Joe Bob, from the ones who have been with you since Dallas to the folks who have discovered you along the way, we can't begin to describe what it's meant to have you in our lives. We all come from different backgrounds and ways of life, but for a few hours every here and there, you bring us all together as one happy Mutant Family. Joe Bob, all that to say: we hope this birthday brings you even half the joy you bring into our lives, because if it does, it might just be the best damned birthday this planet has ever seen. Happy 73rd, and here's to 73 more! (You hear that, medical big wigs? We're gonna need you to start working on that NOW) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOE BOB! #HappyBirthdayJoeBob #MutantFam #HappyBirthday