TLC's Best Funeral Ever: Extravagant, Unconventional Funerals

The Learning Channel's "Best Funeral Ever" celebrated unique funerals, but Golden Gate Funeral Home faced lawsuits for mishandling remains.

### TLC's World of Entertainment and Contradictions
* 👁 Oompaville delves into the **bizarre and contradictory world** of The Learning Channel (TLC), known for its **unconventional content**.
* 👃 The channel's popular show "Dr. Pimple Popper," hosted by dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee, focuses on **treating various skin conditions**, despite its **seemingly gross premise**.
* 🎂 "Cake Boss," featuring Buddy Valastro and his family creating elaborate cakes, became a hit for its **drama and impressive cake designs**.
* 🏫 Despite TLC's name, its shows, including "Dr. Pimple Popper" and "Cake Boss," offer **limited educational value**, with most learning coming from **associated books and products**.
* 💉 Both "Dr. Pimple Popper" and "Cake Boss" spawned spin-offs and merchandise, showcasing the channels' focus on **monetization**.
* ⚰ In a surprising move, TLC aired "Best Funeral Ever" in 2013, a show about the Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas, Texas, known for its **extravagant and themed funerals**.
* 🎢 The channel's content is characterized by its mix of **entertainment, drama, and contradictions**, challenging **traditional notions of learning and television programming**.

### "Golden Gate Funeral Home: The Rise and Fall of 'Best Funeral Ever'"
* 🎉 The reality TV show "Best Funeral Ever" features the Golden Gate Funeral Home organizing **extravagant and themed funerals**, such as a **Western-style shootout** for a pastor and a **track and field home-going service** for an Olympic athlete.
* 💔 Despite the show's heartwarming and entertaining nature, the Golden Gate Funeral Home faced a lawsuit from 17 families in 2022 for **mishandling remains**, including **mixing ashes** and **improper care of bodies**.
* 🚗 The funeral home's extravagant pricing, such as offering a **$80,000 presidential funeral** and a **reinforced cardboard option for those on a budget**, raises questions about its practices.
* 🎓 Johnny Beckwith Jr., the owner of the Golden Gate Funeral Home, boasts an impressive list of credentials on the website, including **multiple degrees in funeral services and theology**, as well as being a **licensed embalmer, insurance agent, Dallas police officer**, and **"commissioned Admiral in the Texas Navy"**.
* ⚔ However, Beckwith's obituary can be found online, along with headlines accusing him of **desecrating remains**, marking a **bizarre and troubling turn of events**.
* 📺 The "Best Funeral Ever" show received skepticism upon its launch but became an epic part of the TLC Iceberg due to its **unique premise and extravagant funerals**.
* 🌟 While the show has not continued beyond two seasons, the Golden Gate Funeral Home remains in operation as of 2024, though its reputation has been **tarnished by the lawsuits and allegations**.

I am no stranger to The Learning Channel, and if you are a regular viewer or have been of my channel for a while, neither are you a stranger to The Learning Channel. I'm trying to piece this together here. You see, I've made 28 videos involving TLC, The Learning Channel. Welcome to the second episode of the world's strictest parents, my favorite show on TLC. In today's episode of the world's strictest parents, that's like 1%. It's not. It's like a quarter of a percent of all the videos that I've made, but still the point remains that I know a lot about it. And if you've been watching my channel for a long time, you know that we love The Learning Channel on this channel because we love learning. Or do we? Because the last thing I've ever done when watching anything from The Learning Channel is learn. I have been collecting belly button lint for the last 15 years of my life. I've laughed for sure. All right. I've absolutely laughed. I am still a virgin.

oh no. However, today we will all be looking at, and hopefully laughing at, the winning Channel Iceberg to see some of the craziest [ __ ] to ever air on that channel. By the way, a channel intended for learning that didn't do nothing yet. Look, it's already trapped and putting up. I did exactly what you told. This is not even look. Look in the middle. There's really no need to yell. It's The Learning Channel. At the tippy-top of the TLC Iceberg, we have the incredibly popular show Dr. Pimple Popper. Just the sheer size of the Timor, it's completely blocking his nasal passage. A TV show that premiered on January 3rd, 2018, and has been running strong for nine seasons, the last season airing on April 5th, 2023. It's hosted by a woman named Dr. Sandra Lee, a licensed dermatologist who's been posting pimple-popping content online for years, and she really blew up with the use of short-form social media [ __ ].

posting Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. Though the title of the show is centered around pimple-popping, the show deals with so much more than that. Because she's a licensed dermatologist, she gets to deal with all sorts of moles. So let me take a look with the light here. Okay, I got my little magnifier here. Yeah, there... um, you can see what's called um, follicular plugs. There's like all these little dots and some of them growths. 'Well, you must be here for this bump behind your neck here, huh? How long have you had that?' 'I think I first noticed it around 8.' 'Anything fun related to the human skin, how many do you have?' 'I see two, three big ones.' 'Okay, now I see more.' And with my body, one thing I have learned is that the most fun you can have with your body is with moles and growths that come off of your skin. You ever wonder what would happen if you just tossed your vape in the mirror out of an airplane in the mirror? Well, you're going to want to find out once you've tried.

fume not that you should ever open a door to an airplane while it's in flight. Of course, fume is an award-winning flavored air device that is leading the movement towards better habits. I've got one right here. I have that black licorice flavor in it. It's my last pod. They sent me more, and I've used them all. Fume is not Vape. It draws flavor into your mouth. It's fun to fidget with. You can use it anywhere. It's genuinely just a cool little thing that is optional, plus the fidgeting thing. I like that a lot. I fidget with it all day long until eventually I have to actually get myself to stop. I said there's a licorice flavor. That's pretty cool. There's also spearmint flavors, orange vanilla. It's one of my favorite flavors, cinnamon hearts, black pepper. It's honestly just cool. I really don't know what else to say about it. Go to the link down below trif nume.com oompaville scan the QR

code use code oompaville get a free fume base when you order the journey pack today. It's completely awesome. Once again for a limited time use code oompaville. Go to trif fum.fi pack today. Join over 300,000 satisfied customers today and discover the better alternative to a habit with fume. This show grew to such popularity that it even had a spin-off show created in 2020 called Dr. Pimple Popper Before the Pop. Which is a terrible name that is absolutely a terrible name that is a ass name that's like an AI name. But in this show Dr. Sandra Lee video calls with people and does some tella health and works with them to deal with pimples over the computer. But because they can't come to the office due to co to maybe have like the neck but the neck could be like over a hundred of them in that area before the pop only lasted until Dr. Lee could return to her office so it makes sense right cuz it's like why would you

ever do the tella Health thing unless you have to. You look pretty good to me. What do you got going on? You got things hiding? Yeah, they're all back here. It's all behind the head. Oh, I see. But anyways, the show was interesting. Some of the popular moments on the show include a man with large growths on his nose that she helps diagnose and remove, a man with a gigantic cyst on his leg which she removes, a man with a massive lump on his jaw that she removes. I think she's done a good job. I don't think I'm going to have much of a scar there. All of these clips on YouTube have millions upon millions of views, and each episode last 42 minutes. There's two to three patients, meaning that they can post two to three 10-minute videos on YouTube for each show. Now it's The Learning Channel, it's TLC, with a show hosted by a medical professional covering medical mysteries. Does the viewer actually learn anything, or is it purely just for entertainment? Guys, with each patient she tries to

explain the patient's medical condition and what it takes to treat it. Dr. Osborne is taking a tube with a camera to be able to see down into Roger's windpipe. And once he sees there's an opening to his lungs, he's going to pass a tube that contains oxygen to be able to supply his lungs so that we can breathe for Roger. And it's a hard watch sometimes. I'm going to be honest, this show is weird. Then she shows most of the process in curing of the ailment, whether that's surgery or some kind of numbing of the area and draining of whatever massive postur cyst these people have on their bodies. I've never had a cyst. How common is that? I've never had a pimple that needs to get popped by a [__] doctor. Is that normal? I didn't even know that was a thing until this [__] started popping [__] and squirting it all over the Internet. What the hell.

yeah, maybe you could learn a thing or two from Dr. Pimple Popper. It does seem that Dr. Pimple Popper offers some form of educational elements to the show while also being relatively entertaining, depending on how rotten your brain is. I don't know if it takes a rotten brain to think that popping pimples is cool, but comment down below, I guess. I've never met anybody who's like, Oh yeah, let me watch Dr. Sandra pop some pimples. There's one right there. Dr. Sandra also X is a bit of a shill for skin products and routines and things like that, which is pretty cool. Love a good shill. Just cleanse, treat, and moisturize twice a day using my SLMD acne system and watch those clinically proven ingredients work. Fe she got her own line, which she has her own separate YouTube channel for, and she uses her brand named Dr. Pimple Popper as a way to direct people to buy her products, which is awesome, you know? It's like you make the TV show, you make the product.

boom, that's how you make the money, right guys and girls? That reminds me, good to sour. G and buy yourself some sour boys candy today. We make this in-house in Texas. Please, for the love of God, buy it. We're running out. Anyways, Pimple Popper really kind of hammers home the point that TLC is not focused on educational elements of even shows that could potentially be educational like the Dr. Pimple Popper show because it's trained medical professionals doing their thing. You know, they just want entertainment and products to tie in their shows and they happen to be called The Learning Channel. That's why this iceberg is fun in the first place because it's so ironic and funny. You wait until we get to the bottom. This [ __ ] is insane. The TLC Iceberg goes deep. Another popular level one show is a show called Cake Boss. She grabs the piping bag and starts squirting my cake. A show hosted by a guy named Buddy.

you come into my bakery, you squirt all ice and all over this cake. You know, buddy Vostro, it's set up inside of a bakery, and it originally premiered on April 19th, 2009, so it is a longstanding Learning Channel show. Cake Boss also has been renewed on and off for nine seasons until it officially concluded on April 11th, 2020. Co rest in peace. Each of these Cake Boss episodes had approximately a 22-minute read time, and within each episode, buddy and his family made edible art for someone in the form of a cake 'cause he's the Cake Boss. He's the level 100 Cake Boss guy. He's a pimp. He looks looks like he makes cakes for a living. Cake Boss also had some other main characters on the show aside from buddy: his wife Lisa, fellow named Joey fagno. You know, he's a little bit of a hothead. When push comes to shove, he knows who the boss is. Maro castano, my brother-in-law. I would say he's my right-hand man, and Frankie Amato Jr.

Frankie, hello little Frankie. He's family, I mean, he's my cousin. I'm Godfather to his daughter. However, there are over 20 other [__] that have appeared on Cake Boss or have been a part of the show in some way or another. The show, by the way, immensely popular after its release. You've probably heard some very regular people talking about it on a consistent basis for a few years, sort of Duck Dynasty level of people, but instead of being from the south, they're from the north. I guess they've got cake instead of duck. I really don't know, man. Ping duck, that's some Chinese [__]. What the [__]. Season one of Cake Boss was incredibly popular and averaged 2.3 million views per episode, which is like a really good episode of cold ones. It's really not that popular, but it's, you know, for TV, it's pretty good. TV sucks nowadays. Subsequent seasons retained nearly those views, most of those views, at least a million per episode for most episodes. Massive show.

huge deal lot of cake very nice this thing looked awesome it was a life-size piano cake baby something a little interesting that you probably would expect is the real life Bakery which the show is based on and around was located in Hoboken New Jersey it brought in thousands of visitors to the city and was so popular that in 2010 the corner in which it was located at renamed to Carlos Bakery way in honor of the bakery Centennial what that's crazy they renamed a street because of Cake Boss The Learning Channel strikes again what does it mean we have no idea our buddy buddy Vostro has also made millions of dollars off this TV show and this can be seen from his mega mansion that he's bought he's like the Hassan [ __ ] of baking on his bakery's website where he more than likely makes millions of dollars there as well based on the wide range of products that he sells and the prices he charges it's pretty similar to what Dr pimple poppers does you use

famous entertainment IP to make money. No learning, very little learning. Maybe with cake, you could learn some cake stuff by watching it. So like, there's a bit of an argument to be said. But by no means are either one of these shows in any way related to learning. Buddy's house is so big that he has a bowling alley in the basement. That is so just Northeastern. It's just such a Northeast person thing to do. I'm from Virginia, so I'm like well aware of Northeastern people from Appalachia TBF smash. Like, okay guys, in a more unfortunate turn, this bowling alley is the place where Buddy would get seriously injured trying to fix the pin machine. This piece slides into here, you can see, and his hand got pinned up against here, right in here like that. And his hand was right here, and this part went right through, yeah, like that. Which led, fortunately, to a spin-off TV show called Buddy Valastro: Road to Recovery. It was an hour and a half long TV special that detailed his recovery back to health. TLC.

and Buddy are doing everything they possibly can to try to keep the Cake Boss IP alive and well. And let's not forget monetizable and stuff. By no means is that the only spin-off though. There's multiple spin-off shows, including the Next Great Baker. We're all here competing for the title of Next Great Baker, which has people competing for cash prizes and an apprenticeship in Carlos's Bakery by creating the best cake or trying to figure out how to create the best cake. You guys have 8 hours to make four-foot-tall Christmas-themed cakes for my family's Christmas party. Another show is just called Kitchen Boss. It's Buddy showing off his family recipes. What the [__] I'm getting hot and spicy in the kitchen today. That is a show about his family recipes. Who is this guy? This guy's a damn genius. Then there's the third spin-off show called Buddy's Bakery Rescue, which is a similar format to Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Quality of your food is inconsistent.

got way too many products here. I disagree with you. It's very important for Tom to listen now because if he doesn't, I don't know that we'll make it. If you don't stop making all this stuff every day, you're going to be at a business. The show also had cookbooks that Buddy wrote: Baking with the Cake Boss is one of them, 100 of Betty's Best Recipes, Decorating Secrets of Cake Boss, Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia. Funnily enough, according to a heat map of the amount of Facebook likes on the Cake Boss official Facebook page and hashtags, especially, I'm sure it's hashtags. Appalachia is a big fan of the Cake Boss. He runs in my family. I mean, yeah, this is the type of [ __ ] we consume. All right, guys, back in Appalachia. I'm in Central Texas now. I'm in dairy country. Okay, I'm in milk country, but cowboy country used to be from Paw Paw countries. Upart. I get Paw Paw fruit. Upart.

so what really seemed to make this show popular was just the insane cakes that they produce on the show. I love this looks like a good taco, huh? For example, a coffin cake made for a Halloween party so the vampires get Danny laid on his final resting place. They made this cake for a group of people who believe that they were sanguine individuals, sangu Fage, sanguino Fage individuals, vampires. The cake even had hydraulics that squirted out blood out of the neck of the thing. It's crazy. And Buddy and his family are just standing on the hill overlooking the whole ordeal in some awkward stances, looking like nervous weird middle schoolers going through puberty at a dance, and calling the people who he made the cake for weirdos. What a bunch of weirdos. It's actually funny, dude. Weird. There's also this epic cake that was made for a teen girl sweet 16 that fell down the stairs. The cake fell because the people carrying it didn't know how to carry.

heavy objects downstairs, and buddies stomping around like a child barking orders. He's like some kind of infant man. It's very odd watching him upset. Did you do Danny's fault? This is for today. I told him I had to reposition my hand, and he pushes the cake towards me. Bring the thing inside. Another cake gets ruined by one of Buddy's bastard cousins. These sheets that Anthony baked are a mess, and the show highlights the drama by bringing everybody into the shot and standing back. Some of them acting look phoned in, so bad. Seems like cousin Anthony is the main catalyst for drama on the show, though. This guy is a massive piece of [ __ ]. All right, I say we find him on Facebook, and then we give him a real heat map. What do you say, Army of Oompa villains? Let's not actually do that. That's assment. I'm going to poke him on Facebook. Another large cake gets dropped. They like dropping cakes. This [ __ ] makes my Palms sweat a little bit. Listen, this

cake is from my cousin and my sister-in-law. Okay, you guys, it's filled like my, you know, what it looks like crap. I'm busy working on this cake. What do I got, a babysit this and watching people climb around on buildings from Great Heights. I don't like that. [ __ ] makes my palm sweat. Also, watching people carry cakes and drop them, apparently. See, would you put that camera down on it? This cake was intended for a family member's wedding. There's just a lot of dramatic music and screaming and one-on-one interviews with our old pal buddy. Hey, shut up with the no. Hey, shut up with a shut up. You a shut up with a shut up. Shut up your face. Now, am I a dog? I want a shut up. Why you know shut up? I make you shut up. A shut up. Hey, I poke out of my head. They do a great job of consistently amplifying the intensity of every single situation. It's excellent TV. Not a lot of learning this Vinnie and

Daniella cake is just a massive collaboration of people making one mistake after the other. Let's just solve it, that's all. Come on the show saw most of its success from the drama that went on during the filming of the show, similar to every other reality TV show that followed families like this or the Kardashians. Cake Boss is kind of like the Kardashians but with cakes. I can't believe you put this in the refrigerator, it's all melted. I'm sorry, come on man. Outside of just family drama, there's a bit more larger drama. For example, right after the show began to air and gain popularity in 2010, it faced a lawsuit from a company called Master's Software Inc., which owned and operated cakeboss.com where they sold computer software for bakeries. No, every time they would upload a new episode, the website would have to be shut down because of all the traffic. It's so funny. The lawsuit claimed that the producers at TLC didn't check if the domain was

already checked, and that the massive influx of site traffic and having to shut the website down was damaging their business seems like a bunch of nonsense to me. But Master software would win the lawsuit and be able to keep their domain. But the Cake Boss TV show massively overtook it and [ __ ] kept on going crazy. What a weird way to start in the domain for the Cake Boss show. Was TLC. Discovery.com sltv slake dboss, and TLC as a result of the lawsuit had to work on their marketing to direct viewers away from the software website, which is so funny, dude. Today, the Cake Boss TV show domain can be found at https colo. tlc.com slow- boss TLC dv- us. Anyways, it's enough Cake Boss. So was there any educational elements to Cake Boss? Not really, not really. All the education came from the books you had to buy, pretty much. You guess, guess you could learn some stuff like how to have a really unhealthy toxic family dynamic or whatever. That's just like being, being.

from the Northeast in general the show was focused purely on drama and the cakes made in the Carlos's kitchen. When they were baking, they weren't really giving step-by-step instructions on how to make the cakes or anything like that. It wasn't Jamie Oliver teaching a bunch of middle-aged women how to cook, nothing along those lines. They would sometimes talk about different design or ingredient choices, but other than that, there's no educational content. Pretty big L TBH, you be sleeping on that cake info. What the hell man, give me some of that cake info. I hate baking, to be honest. I had no idea there could be so much petty toxic family drama within a kitchen, but by God, the producers of this show, they did, and they mastered this [ __ ] and made this one guy really rich, get his big mega mansion. That's crazy. Seriously though, the producers of TLC shows are the masters of anarchy 'cause the issues in this whole thing. How do you even come up with this? How does this happen? This can't be real on to level.

two of the TLC Iceberg. They say that nothing is certain except for death and taxes, and also getting nagged at by a goddamn rotten every single day of my whole life. What the [__]. Just kidding. Anyways, just because Death is certain, though it doesn't mean it has to be a sad affair. TLC's 2013 show Best funeral ever tried to shine a little bit of light on a typically dark time in people's lives. That is basically what you think it's about to be. Yeah, this is a TLC show. The show follows the Golden Gate Funeral Home run by John E Beckham Jr. in Dallas, Texas. What was Tip's favorite game at family reunions? [Applause] Domino's. Tip's favorite hat. Thank you. Now I want to point out, if you look up images on Google, it makes it seem like this place is a gentleman's club rather than a funeral home because of the luxury vehicles that are shown off, which is really cool 'cause that's hilarious too.

think that there's a funeral home that looks like a gentleman's club when you look it up on Google. That's awesome. But before we move too far on, is the window on the pimpers, the window on the pimp hurse for people to see in or for dead people to see out? Let me know down below, guys. What you think. I want to know your thoughts on the pimpers. The show's description reads like a brochure for a funeral home trying to entice you to do business with the good people of Golden Gate. They boast about the celebrations of life and throwing unforgettable parties that reinvent the traditional funeral. They're also all themed, and each funeral tries to be unique and cool and unlike the others. Think about it, young man. You know, like the people that are being buried, individuals, man. As soon as we let go of these big labels, we'll all be individuals, man. We'll all also eventually become piles of flesh, assimilated flesh, completely devoid of valuable muscular and nervous tissue.

That remains cartilage, cartilage, hair, teeth, nails. That will be all that remains of you and me soon. In October, I'm not going to play dumb here. I have heard the trope that rather than viewing a funeral as a morning of someone's passing, it should be a celebration of life, right? Celebration of, you know, we lived and we all had all these great memories. You should be reliving it. Like every time I try to play Red Dead Redemption 2, I try to make it not sad. But anyways, making a show out of that with TLC as the production doesn't seem like a good idea and seems a bit F unhinged. But that's how TLC is though, so it does maybe it does make sense. Today we're celebrating the life of a young man that left us too soon, Mr. Quinn Beast. I thank God that he's a to feed us. So let's just start by diving into one of the funerals that they aired and see just how outlandish a

reality TV show surrounding themed funeral parties. Exactly can be you try if you. You try to cook your head on I'll put it on I'll do it just for you. Well, I can't go back on my word. I'll be to cook. The episodes of the show are split so that each one has two funerals. You know, two human deaths in each one, guys huge. And each episode approximately 20 minutes in length. It's the average TV show length. Each funeral is covered in about a 10-minute segment. So, they're pretty quick. You know, they're pretty quick. I really like The Following episode, an episode where a beloved Pastor gets a dramatic Western-style snoff. They're interested in a dramatic snoff, one that represents the pastor's Larger than Life personality. Our old buddy John Beck with JR sends two of his funeral planners, Deborah and Loretta, to meet with the family of the deceased and to get to know the loved one who will be celebrated. Ply hate the word poisly.

hate saying that word postly. Postly, he like the Western shows Bonanza, oh, I'm a gun smoke Long Ranger, oh, that's my favorite Long Ranger. God forbid that you delete the TV show off of the DVR, oh my God, it was World War II in the house. Maybe we could do a like a western movie and this information is all they need to build an entire based and red pilled sweet ass funeral. I bet, yep, we right, that's exactly all they need, check that out. Oh, wow, that's pretty, that's pretty cool. It's kind of a funny thought though, 'cause it's like, you know, you like those TV shows, what if you like the show dirty jobs or uh, the Kardashian show, something along those when a Kardashian themed funeral or sewer themed funeral, like a goddamn rat for a western themed funeral. I'd think that they maybe give themselves a window of time to accomplish this, but the staff at the Golden Gate Funeral Home only have 24 hours to make this funeral happen. We're 24 hours away from Pastor prices.

western movie homegoing Celebration and the Golden Gate staff is harded work Ian Cal are right no western song. It's a wild wild west in the Dirty South there town I guess it makes sense right you can't really plan out a funeral that far in advance shit's got to got to happen quick for that body stretch to rot all right for that body starts to rot and decompose cuz that's what happens you start to rot decompose you get embalmed and you're like start to look like Joe Biden after a while after a couple days start to stink they find a quaint historic western town to hold the funeral at complete with a jail a bank and a general store. They also have some massive plans for this short notice funeral they want there to be a bank robbery listen we're going to have a bank robbery bank robbery I mean and we're going to have people coming in on horses they wanted the late Pastor to participate in his shootout now this is

going to be the real kicker. The pastor is going to be in his casket. He's actually going to be part of the shootout, and he's going to actually shoot the bad guy. Sounds like you guys are passionate about it. Yeah, that's awesome. Not exactly something a godly man would do, I wouldn't assume, but awesome nonetheless. The funeral itself, I've got to say, does come together quite nicely. They prop him up on barrels in front of the tumbleweed hotel, and aside from the fact that there's no chairs for those in attendance, he receives a nice eulogy. We are here today because our friend and our brother, Pastor Price, it was a great loss not only to our community, but to his church and to his family. Oh yeah. But alas, the eulogy is cut short by a bank robbery. We'll be able to let everybody know that there is a friend in Jesus. And in a crazy twist of fate, the bank robber is John E. Beckwith's Junior son. Holy [ __ ]! He robbed the bank!

wife of the deceased gets to shoot the bank robber at her husband's funeral monu get him get him get him but celebrations of the bank robber being thwarted are cut short when another nerell strolls into town sizing up the casket and our very special Pastor special old man it's a shame he's dead he might really actually enjoy this we're going to let Pastor Price H this the casket gets stood up and after a brief standoff they draw and the pastor wins the shootout think about it young [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] man then there's a song sung about him and his exploits like the duel between Texas red and the Arizona Rangers with a big iron on his hip he's big he's bad he's the best this town ever had with the big iron on his help Big Iron oh boy gets carried off into the sunset it's it's pretty cool now this whole event is much different from any event like this I've ever seen

but it seems fun. It is also eventful and it includes the interests of the person being remembered and celebrates him. I think it's a w. I think it's a. I think it's a w. I want to give TLC as many L's as possible, but I think it's a w. Now let's pivot to one a bit more silly. I know you guys are probably like, How the [ __ ] is that humanly possible to pivot to one that's a bit more silly than what we just watched? Well, in another episode, The Golden Gate Funeral Home helps an Olympic Athlete run down the track one last time before being laid to rest. A tightnit family just recently lost their loved one, and they came into Golden Gate Funeral Home to make film arrangements. And as it happens, the deceased is someone kind of famous. What is his name? Ronald Rayi. Ronald Ray Smith, the winner of the gold medal for the 4X 100 relay in the 1968 Summer Olympics, was being celebrated by family and

friends on TLC's reality TV show posthumously, of course, 'cause he died. They wanted to celebrate him by seeing that he's able to run one more lap before being buried. All right, so it's obvious we need to do a track and field home-going service for Mr. Ronnie Smith. So how's that possible? Well, I'll try my best to just, I'm just going to show you in trying to explain it. The Golden Gate Funeral Home is working with a bit more time this go-around, with 48 hours to plan the funeral for, sorry, I was yawning, but I didn't want to stop. I just have a lot that I need to get off my chest. Okay, the first plan that the Golden Gate Bros attempt is to put out tarps and make them slick so they can push it up and down like it's a slip and slide. They nearly fall and drop the casket just trying to get it onto the tarp. [Music] This thing is working. This is crazy. We've got it. I would love to be a passerby.

driving by this funeral home and seeing this happen, I'd be like, oh, there's probably a guy in that. I certainly hope there's not, especially not 1968 4X 100 relay winner Ronnie Smith. Now, try to guess the next option given what we know so far. If you get, trying to build a frame around a go-kart so they can place the casket on top of it, then you guess correctly. Got the go-kart from a garage. Cale, we built this frame. The casket goes on top of the frame. Made sure everything is stabilized. Here we go. This ends up being the method that they go with. Very cool. We're only level two down the TLC Iceberg, by the way, just in case you're wondering. We're not that far in. It's still, there's a lot more. There's a lot more to go. There's quite a bit of flame. There's quite a bit of heat left in this B [ __ ] old sexy motherfu [ __ ] for the service itself.

they have a lighting of the Olympic Flame by a man that is completely painted gold, and then after a eulogy for Rony Ray Smith, they load the casket on top of the go-kart build that has a little window cut out for the driver, and then they fly around the [Music] track. Casket doesn't fly off around turns, it all works out perfectly, and Ronnie wins the race. The Big Race, he won the big race at the Inception of life, and his out of his father's ball sack, and he won the big race going out thanks to the Golden Gate Bros, so yeah, Ronnie w got put up on a Podium for first place, pretty goddamn cool, pretty pretty cool, pretty big big chungus moment there, love it, and the winner of the Golden Gate games, Mr. running Ray SMI, seems like silliness is a large piece of these funerals, whether it's intentional or not, I can't help but find absolutely I'm I'm I'm getting silly and

I'm putting out silly. I think it's silly, and it's making me feel silly, and I kind of like it. I think this may. This should be like a thing. I think I want to say. I don't know if it's disrespectful. I know a lot of people probably would be like, Oh, oh God, old people and stuff. They get crazy about death and, you know, caskets and whatnot. I think it's funny though. I watched this, and I was like, Wow, that's really cool. My mom said she just wants to get burnt in a field. I'm going to send her around the track. She don't have a choice. She'll be dead. It's really funny because they have so little time to slap these bad boys together, and they have massive goals for it. It's kind of heartwarming and sweet in a way, and I do think they do a great job of celebrating the people that they're trying to celebrate while also being entertaining for viewers at home. I really don't think there's a lot of learning.

though I love this show, it's so awesome. One episode in particular made us feel like it should actually be an episode of Black Mirror. However, the episode in question is one where they turned the funeral into a game show. The funeral is in celebration of Alfred Tip Anderson, The Man Who Loved game shows. Alred Tip Anderson. I want you to try and imagine in your head, picture in your head where this is going to go, okay, do that right now. Tip's brother James fondly remembers Tip and how close their family was, never living further than three blocks from each other. So it's a really tight-knit family group. We've always stayed kind of close to each other. We stayed here in Dallas, and we stayed within three, two or three blocks of each other. And of all the game shows in which Tip was a fan of, there were quite a few of them. Wheel of Fortune was his absolute favorite. I don't blame that, shit's fun to watch. What else about Tip? He loves some game shows. Which ones would you think he would really be like?

hey Fortune got wife to the Golden Gate boys agree to give tip a game show themed funeral SL homegoing party going home home death celebration thing they try making a wheel the casket can sit on we trying to make this caset work on this wheel this doesn't look very stable the family has no idea this is in the works we believe they're going to be blown away when they see what we have plans but building a game show in a matter of days is difficult and they really are crunch the day of the funeral to get everything ready it's the day of the game show funeral and we're all feeling a crunch there are some very funny clips for this part here the wheel won't spin why isn't it spinning it's supposed to spin line delivery and memorization isn't what John wants welcome to the number one TV show on was that your best welcome the family is here to celebrate their loved ones lives there's no joke about that they don't have a pastor hey Jerome

Pastor B's out sick, so we need a replacement for the funeral today. Get here as soon as you can. The replacement pass finds out 10 minutes beforehand that the funeral is actually a game show. Body is SE, so I'm going to need you to host the game show funeral. I'm a preacher, I don't host. No, I'm going need you to host the homo. No preaching host, you're the host. Okay, so the name of the show is Say What? Say What? So the game show starts off with introducing the host, the guest of honor, Tip, and the contestants. So let's meet our guest of honor, Tip. Step on down. Now why I say this is like an episode of Black Mirror is because they use his casket as the podium for the contestants, and it holds the buzzers, and it's very done. Our best to make sure pres odd and slightly unsettling but also funny. Another addition to this bizarre nature is because the winner of the game show will be receiving Tip's belongings, such as his watch that is a

watch that tip used to wear the questions by the way are tip related trivia and by getting the answers right you get the prize you you know a little bit about tip you can get his [ ] you're a beneficiary if you just know a little bit if you just listen to them what was tip's favorite game at Family reunions Domino watching this my immediate fear is what if no one is able to answer these questions that would be really embarrassing but they did fine they did very well actually then they put tips casket on the big wheel and spun it it landed on salvation so tips playing all the game shows he can dream of up in heaven with God and the angels and uh and Jesus I guess I just really can't stress enough how Preposterous some of the ideas that they had in this show were really wild stuff that's bold bold move ironically they got a guy that loved candy they had a funeral for him this could be me this could be me go to sour. and buy some

candy by the way. Okay, we're probably still in stock restock by the time you finish this video. They had a funeral for a fell that loved candy. They dipped his casket in chocolate and people ate it off the casket. That's insane. They also turned a breakfast lover's funeral into a breakfast buffet. That's also insane. When let us know you can have breakfast. I have no idea why a show like this would only get one season when it's got so much going on. I would love to see more of this. Why was it cancelled? I can kind of imagine why potential but uh you know relax liberal it's star humor. I would also like to know who exactly propositioned who in regard to this television show. Did TLC reach out to the Golden Gate Funeral home and be like hey we like to give you a reality show or did John Beckham Jr reach out with a pilot episode saying we do crazy funerals you should give us a show. It's probably that probably the

latter. I'd also be curious to know what The Learning Channel was trying to teach people with a show like Best Funeral Ever. Funerals don't have to be sad. Maybe is what they were trying to teach. Maybe the fact that there is a better way to remember your lost loved ones. Fact, because we can see it from the show. It did teach me that maybe you don't need to mourn them. Maybe you can just have fun and humiliate them after death. Or maybe here's a way you can get away with making crazy ass parties a business expense that you can claim on your taxes. As you probably imagined, the show received a lot of skepticism upon its launch, understandably, I'd say, due to the intriguing premise. But it still is an epic part of the TLC Iceberg. So yeah, it's pretty cool. A lot of time has passed since the show came out. Is the Golden Gate Funeral Home still around? Well, now in 2024, 11 years after the show aired, it's still around, but they've had

some drama, TBH. Back in 2022, they were sued by 17 different families for mishandling remains. Golden Gate has been known for throwing these extravagant, over-the-top, out-of-the-box funerals, many of which were shown on its TLC show several years back. It spanned two seasons. This is a huge operation both here in Texas and Louisiana, but now 17 families are coming forward to sue. Not exactly the funnest thing to be sued by about when you're a funeral home or the most fun group of people to be sued by when you're F Funeral Home bad Big L. One mother lost her son to a motorcycle accident, and after going to the Golden Gate Funeral Home for a funeral service as well as cremation for her son, she allegedly had terrible experiences with them. In my contract, I picked out a red ear, probably about that big, but things quickly didn't feel right, she says. Golden Gate wouldn't return calls or emails, and it took almost two months to receive her son's ashes.

wouldn't return calls, emails, anything like that. Took her 2 months to get her son's ashes, and when she did finally get them, they brought out one NN and then brought out another one. They go back there and they bring the urn out and hand it to me. Then in a minute, the guy that does the cremations, he said, Hold on, here's your other one. And I said, Why do I have another n? Both of them are tremendously heavy. I mean heavy, heavy. Her lawsuit alleges that the nns contain ashes from at least three adults and that neither ear has identification, a violation of the Texas Health and Safety Code. So not that big of a fan of the Golden Gate Funeral Home. Unfortunately, they kind of fell off. Another lawsuit says that a woman showed up for her mother's viewing and found her still in a hospital gown with no makeup and partially decomposed. In a separate lawsuit, another client alleges she showed up for her mother's viewing to find her still dressed in a hospital gown without any makeup or cosmetics.

partially decomposed. She goes all out for some people, but it seems like the average person that just wants to come and have a humble celebration of their mother or their son's life is just kind of left there. I can't even fathom that. That's got to be traumatizing, you know. Hopefully that's not true, but there's a lawsuit stating it. The response from Golden Gate in regard to all of this was one reinforcing their dedication to providing quality services and compliance with standards and regulations in the state of Texas, and you know, sending people out with a bang. But that claim from Golden Gate is a stark difference from the experience another woman who turned over her father to Golden Gate Funeral home had with them. Nia Webster told D magazine that when she went for the viewing after her father's death, she was in a large room surrounded by other bodies and mourners with only a small partition separating them, so it was like a buffet of deceased.

people plus the partitions and buffet style hangout were unable to prevent the smell of decomposing bodies from one of the other groups from permeating every other groups that were in the partitioned off area. Terrible dude, so hard to even think think about. They also said that the Golden Gate Funeral Home employees would spray Lysol around the room in a poor attempt to mass the smell. DEA also inspected her father's remains and while he appeared fine, she noticed that no one had bothered to clean his fingernails, which is like a pretty important thing you do when in bombing someone try to make them seem alive again. I say just me up dude, if I die just [ __ ] rotten a p present me as a pile of teeth, fingernails, connective tissue, no nous tissue, no skeletal tissue, just separate all the important [ __ ] out. When n arrived for the funeral the next day, there were still many issues. There was dirty tissues from another funeral, they didn't play the music that Nia had.

requested they handed her another family's DVD slideshow. On the way out, they suck. It seems like Golden Gate seems to have really fallen off hard after their Peak beautiful Prime Time back in 2013 2014. What a fallof that sucks. He loser n would then spend the next several weeks trying to contact Johnny Beck with JR, but she never heard back. She wanted to talk about how poorly everything had gone and see why, and maybe see if there's some consideration or some level of reconciliation or some other word that I don't really know what means what it means. And then I just say it and it makes sound smart. But alas, all was not well for Nia months later. After moving on, she realized that she never even received her father's ashes, which is also terrible. The people at Golden Gate seem to be pretty extravagant people living high-profile lives. In spite of all this drama and all these haters, it seems like they posted a YouTube showing off their lineup of expensive cars less than a year ago.

titled We Thank You. So, they thank people for spending exorbitant amounts of money on funerals so they can buy expensive cars and clothes. I guess I don't really know. I know my uncle is a very wealthy man, but he's got a good Funeral Home. His funeral home is pretty cool. If I die, I want to go there, but he won't be. I'm sure he'll die before me, so maybe not. The pricing section on the Golden Gate Funeral Homes website paints a really full picture. You can have a presidential funeral for $80,000. What the does that mean? Whatever that means. If it's too expensive for you, you can always get the reinforced cardboard option. That's nice, dude. You might as well just throw people in the ocean and [ __ ] why. I just let you get eaten by Wolves or something fun return back to the Earth. Yeah, shit's expensive though. Dying is really expensive, it seems like. I think they're so expensive with Gold. Golden Gate specifically because old Johnny Beck Jr.

needs to pay off the seven limos and eight escort vehicles. The SWAT team as well of all of his student debt from all of his schooling and accomplishments. This genius awesome master of our time has. He loves flaunting on the about section of his website. It's really embarrassing. This is a wild what a rabbit hole but Les we forget our Lord and savior Johnny Beck Jr has a degree and applied silence and funeral services. He also has a bachelor's degree of Science and funeral service management. How what is that how's that even possible along with a master's and doctorate in theology. Guy is very smart and spiritual plus he's a licensed in Balmer as well as an insurance agent. Les we l we forget he graduated from the Dallas Police Academy. Our brother in Christ is a lion officer in the state of Texas. He apparently has the rank of Captain Deputy Constable at the Dallas County Precinct 1. He's also a firearms instructor which that he seems like a cool guy honestly all these things are pretty lit plus he claims to be a

commissioned Admiral in the Texas Navy. He's got a lot going on. How the does he do all this? He might as well just focus on either one of those things. Seems like you could live a whole life focusing on any of those things. Maybe make the funeral stuff less shitty so people aren't having their lives ruined and the memories of their loved ones when they're dying ruin. That would be better to focus on that one, I think. Also, if you look him up, you can find his obituary, which is a bit bizarre, along with a bunch of headlines about him accused of being accused of desecrating remains, which is not good to be accused of. I think that's like some Skyrim. Like I didn't know you could even do that in real life, but oh well. Anyways, part two coming very soon. It gets insane. We got a lot of to talk about level the deepest level of the iceberg is unbelievable.

The TLC Iceberg...

poorly researched, long, etc. follow me on twitter @oompaville

oompaville

Pimple Popper is a highly popular show on TLC, hosted by dermatologist Dr.

Sandra Lee, known for removing various skin growths and cysts.

The show's success has led to a spin-off called Dr.

Lee provides remote dermatology services.

The YouTube clips of the show's procedures garner millions of views, raising the question of whether the show is purely for entertainment or educational.

Pimple Popper's show combines entertainment with educational elements, featuring the process of curing different skin conditions and promoting skincare products.

Sandra Lee, has her own skincare line and uses the show to promote her products, creating a successful business model.

On the other hand, Cake Boss, a long-standing show on TLC, gained immense popularity, leading to the renaming of a street in honor of the bakery it was based on.

The host, Buddy Valastro, has achieved great financial success through the show and his bakery business.

The two shows demonstrate the blend of entertainment, education, and business within the TLC network.

The Profitable Empire of Cake Boss TV Shows

The Cake Boss franchise has expanded into multiple spin-off shows, cookbooks, and a strong social media presence, all focused on extravagant cake making.

The TV shows are more about drama and entertainment than about teaching baking skills, with a focus on creating sensational and often disastrous cakes.

Despite the lack of educational content, the Cake Boss IP remains highly profitable and popular, especially in Appalachian regions.

The Chaotic Journey of Cake Boss and the Unconventional Funerals on TLC

Cake Boss faced a lawsuit from Master's Software Inc.

for taking over their domain, leading to a marketing revamp for the show.

The TV series lacked educational content, focusing mainly on drama and cake making.

TLC's "Best Funeral Ever" showcased the unconventional and themed funerals organized by the Golden Gate Funeral Home, aiming to celebrate life in unique ways.

A TV show features themed funeral parties, with each episode covering two funerals in about 20 minutes.

The show depicts unique and extravagant funerals, such as a Western-style sendoff with a dramatic shootout, and a celebration of an Olympic athlete's life by allowing them to run down the track one last time.

The unconventional approach of the show aims to celebrate the interests and passions of the deceased in a fun and eventful way.

Unconventional Funerals: A Unique Way to Say Goodbye

The Golden Gate Funeral Home plans a track and field home-going service for Ronnie Smith, using a slick tarp and a go-kart with a casket on top.

They also organize a game show themed funeral for Alfred Tip Anderson, with a wheel for the casket, facing challenges to get everything ready in time.

The unconventional funerals, filled with humor and creativity, aim to celebrate the deceased in a unique and entertaining way.

The TV show "Best Funeral Ever" featured game show funerals and extravagant, over-the-top funeral events.

The show received skepticism but was a significant part of TLC.

The Golden Gate Funeral Home, known for the show, is now facing 17 lawsuits for mishandling remains, impacting their reputation.

Golden Gate Funeral Home is facing a lawsuit for providing poor services and not meeting standards and regulations in Texas.

Customers have complained about unprofessionalism, unsanitary conditions, and missing ashes of their loved ones.

, has an impressive list of qualifications but is facing accusations of desecrating remains.