Learning is Fun!: The Mexican Jumping Bean

By: Rick Mosely
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Oh, British people! You can even make something so boring (but intriguing!) as a lesson about why the Mexican Jumping Bean jumps at all exciting! This video from the BBC show “Weird Nature”, via The Awl, is best experienced as every British-produced documentary is best experienced, after a hearty ingestion of hallucinatory drugs.

The lesson is fun enough – Spoiler: Something’s living inside of the beans! – but I’m just curious as to what the production meetings behind the video were like:

Producer: “I got it! We’ll use toys to show the various attributes of the Mexican Jumping Bean.”

Assistant: “Um, why?”

Producer: “Because the Mexican Jumping Bean is literally the ‘toy’ of nature!”

Assistant: “Okay …?”

Producer: “Also, I’m a little short this year and need to get my kid’s Christmas presents from somewhere.”

Assistant: “I’ll get F.A.O. Schwartz on the line.”

And scene!