The Greatest Story You’ll Hear Today — Bert Kreischer, The Machine

This story has been floating around for awhile, but within the past couple of years, it's really taken off. Imagine a frat boy from Florida State, in Russia, getting in the Russian mob. Well, it happened to Bert Kreischer, who just so happens to be the inspiration for Van Wilder.

It all started with him accidentally taking a Russian class in college. He was going to drop the class, but the instructor asked him to stay because they needed a minimum number of students to keep the class going. As an incentive to stay in the class, Bert would get a "C" for just showing up. Well, four years later, he was close to getting his minor in Russian. All he needed to do was take a trip to Russia with his class. So of course he did. And this simple class trip lead to getting in the Russian mob, running a pool hall scam, and even robbing a train car.