Laughing Gas: Gunsmoke (March 9, 1958)

“Laughing Gas” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 9, 1958. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Matt Dillon and Chester attend a laughing gas show that has come to Dodge City, where the traveling performers Mr. and Mrs. Stafford demonstrate the intoxicating effects of nitrous oxide on volunteer audience members. When the volatile Claude Marsh takes the gas and becomes the subject of laughter, Doc warns that a man of Marsh's temperament may seek revenge for the humiliation.

Dodge City, Kansas, at the Long Branch Saloon and a traveling laughing gas show

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Doc, Miss Kitty, Sam, Mr. Stafford, Mrs. Stafford, Claude Marsh

Listen for: The demonstration of nitrous oxide's effects on volunteers and Doc's concerns about Claude Marsh's violent nature leading to trouble.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.