Speaker 1: Hello, puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler podcast, The Complex Tannin
Speaker 1: in your glass of puzzle pino noir. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: AJ Jacobs, and I am here with our guest for
Speaker 1: the week, the legendary Mike Reese, longtime writer for The
Speaker 1: Simpsons and author of the new book What Am I
Speaker 1: Doing here? A Simpsons writer visits the world's hell holes?
Speaker 1: So you don't have to thank you, Mike, and welcome.
Speaker 2: So nice to be here. When I heard about the podcast,
Speaker 2: they said, why haven't they called me? I was really hurt,
Speaker 2: so here I am.
Speaker 1: We were intimidated. That's why you're just too good a puzzler.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, that's it. People know that you're a
Speaker 1: comedy a legend, but they might not know you have.
Speaker 1: Let me just go quickly some bona fides of your puzzling.
Speaker 1: Do puzzles in the Simpsons writer's room before starting a script.
Speaker 1: You are a member of the National Puzzlers League, the
Speaker 1: oldest puzzle organization in the world. You've written puzzles for them,
Speaker 1: and you include puzzles and puzzle themes in the Simpsons.
Speaker 1: So thank you for that.
Speaker 2: I do. Can I give you two more? I've written
Speaker 2: about twenty Will Schwartz puzzles for the NPR Sunday Puzzle.
Speaker 2: That's yeah, that's a big one. That's the one. People
Speaker 2: who don't care about any of my TV work get
Speaker 2: very excited. Oh, I heard you on NPR and I
Speaker 2: won an Edgar Award for a mystery story, which is
Speaker 2: a Time one mystery. I got an Edgar and I said, well,
Speaker 2: I'm never doing that again.
Speaker 1: Can you give us one example of an NPR and
Speaker 1: hope that Will Swartz doesn't hear it ensue us because
Speaker 1: they're very sure.
Speaker 2: A nice, easy one, reasonable one. It's a two word
Speaker 2: name of a very popular TV show. The first word
Speaker 2: contains the first name of a of a comedic actor,
Speaker 2: and the last second word is a homophone for his
Speaker 2: last name.
Speaker 1: Interesting, all right, we're not gonna How about we'd wait
Speaker 1: until the end to give the answer, so that that's
Speaker 1: you gotta listen, You gotta listen to the whole seven minutes. People,
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And you also once told me I interviewed for you
Speaker 1: for my book The Puzzler because you are and you
Speaker 1: told me that you think that jokes and puzzles are
Speaker 1: sort of kissing cousins. They're like in the same genre.
Speaker 2: They're so close you know the other. The only difference
Speaker 2: is when you're writing a joke, it's like doing a
Speaker 2: puzzle but not being sure there's a solution to it.
Speaker 2: And Simpsons were always coming up with funny names for stores,
Speaker 2: and you're just going, Okay, what is the overlap between
Speaker 2: let's say a gun a place that sells guns and
Speaker 2: popular names of stores, and you're just looking, what's the overlap,
Speaker 2: what's the connect what's the ven diagram? And you know
Speaker 2: that's how they came up with blood Bath and beyond
Speaker 2: for a gun shot perfect.
Speaker 1: That is an excellent example. Well, in honor of that,
Speaker 1: we have a puzzle today that combines the Simpsons, a
Speaker 1: comedy powerhouse with puzzles. We call it Master of Your
Speaker 1: Don't Mean, which I know is not a Simpsons reference,
Speaker 1: so it's a little confused, but I liked it, so
Speaker 1: I went with it. And the answer, I'm going to
Speaker 1: give you some clues, and the answers to all of
Speaker 1: the clues are going to be a word with the
Speaker 1: sound dope in there somewhere. But to get the highest score,
Speaker 1: and you want the score because there are no prizes.
Speaker 1: We request that you pronounce all of the does in
Speaker 1: the style of Homer Simpson.
Speaker 2: I will do best.
Speaker 1: I know you're not You're not Dan.
Speaker 2: I will do my best.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 2: Oh, isn't that awful?
Speaker 1: Okay? Are you ready?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: So, I mean this is not a clue. But just
Speaker 1: if if the answer were condominium, you might say con dominium.
Speaker 2: That would be a pretty easy clue. Condominium.
Speaker 1: Okay, please, are you ready? Okay? Homer might not be
Speaker 1: so good at this number puzzle, but Lisa probably is.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that would have to be Sue. Don't
Speaker 2: you have.
Speaker 1: A good dough? You downplayed it. You told me that
Speaker 1: is impressive. Okay, how about this? Homer wore one of
Speaker 1: the when he went to the prom. He went without Marge.
Speaker 1: You might remember, because she broke his heart by going
Speaker 1: with someone else, so he wore this to his prom.
Speaker 2: Well, I wrote that episode, and I know he wore
Speaker 2: a TUXI don't.
Speaker 1: I love it? And I loved that episode. Homer and
Speaker 1: Marge took a trip to Italy where they used this
Speaker 1: type of vehicle. I don't know in Venice.
Speaker 2: That's the key. They they must have taken a gond.
Speaker 1: They took a gon yes unless you two.
Speaker 2: It gits old, doesn't it? Okay?
Speaker 1: We got it's just starting, it's just getting it right.
Speaker 1: We've got four more. Uh. By the way, I looked
Speaker 1: up how Dan Castellaneda. Is that how you say his
Speaker 1: name Dan? How he came because he is the origin
Speaker 1: of Joe? Is that correct?
Speaker 2: That is correct? It was written in the script just
Speaker 2: as annoyed grunt, just the stage direction, and he came
Speaker 2: up with don't. But he's very quick to credit that
Speaker 2: he just took it from an old nineteen thirties movie
Speaker 2: comedian named Jimmy Finlayson. And if you watch old Laurel
Speaker 2: and Hardy movies, you see this this beefy man in
Speaker 2: the movies going don't don't. And in fact, then there's
Speaker 2: a nineteen fifties Looney Tunes cartoon and it's about a
Speaker 2: family of bears, but they're a lot like the Simpsons,
Speaker 2: and the bear father also says don't.
Speaker 1: Oh. Interesting. Well, I looked up on YouTube the Laurel
Speaker 1: and Hardy actor doing it, and his is a longer,
Speaker 1: though his, I feel is more like do yeah.
Speaker 2: I think Dan is very generous with credit on that
Speaker 2: that is the origin story.
Speaker 1: Homer is not so good with shaving, so in the
Speaker 1: afternoon he often has one of these, Oh.
Speaker 2: I think he has a five o'clock shadow.
Speaker 1: Don't exactly. A couple more, when Bart thought Krusty the
Speaker 1: Clown was dead, he might have sent this type of
Speaker 1: note to Krusty's family.
Speaker 2: If he weren't Bart, he would have sent a condoldolence.
Speaker 1: No excellent, all right. Two more Bart skipped classes at
Speaker 1: the Springfield Martial Arts Academy. The local.
Speaker 2: Uh oh oh, the local do joe exactly.
Speaker 1: And finally, when Homer went to a restaurant to celebrate
Speaker 1: with Marge, he said to the waiter, bring me your
Speaker 1: second least expensive bottle of champagne. I remember that because
Speaker 1: that is also my strategy for ordering.
Speaker 2: Yes, so did you know I'm going to interject that's
Speaker 2: the most overpriced bottle in any restaurant is the second
Speaker 2: cheapest bottle because that's what people order, So that's it's
Speaker 2: much much cheaper in value, and then they mark it
Speaker 2: way up because so many people like us order it.
Speaker 1: So it's a bad strategy.
Speaker 2: It is a terrible strategy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense because Homer, you know, he probably
Speaker 1: does not use the best strategy. Well, all right, thank
Speaker 1: you for that news I can use. I will stop
Speaker 1: using that strategy. But if he didn't order champagne, he
Speaker 1: might have ordered this red wine from France.
Speaker 2: Oh, he would have ordered a or dope.
Speaker 1: That's it. Excellent. Well, thank you. I should have come
Speaker 1: up with a dough pun. You can come up with one.
Speaker 1: But you did great. And where can people find more?
Speaker 2: Mike Greece, Well, yeah, I guess you can listen to
Speaker 2: my podcast. Everyone has a podcast. Mine is called What
Speaker 2: Am I Doing Here? And they're short like this if
Speaker 2: you like a short podcast, just little fifteen minute stories
Speaker 2: of my horrendous exotic travel that I take. But I
Speaker 2: also hope you'll pick up the book version of it.
Speaker 2: It's called What Am.
Speaker 1: I Doing Here?
Speaker 2: You can get it on Amazon. It's a big cinder
Speaker 2: block of a book. You could kill a man with
Speaker 2: my book.
Speaker 1: So that is yes, if you want to commit violence,
Speaker 1: this is a good weapon and it's funny and interesting.
Speaker 1: I love it. Well, thank you, Mike, And we're actually
Speaker 1: going to talk more about your travels next episode. Oh okay,
Speaker 1: and before we go, Mike, what is the answer to
Speaker 1: that tricky puzzle you wrote for NPR.
Speaker 2: Yes, or just a reminder. It's a two word TV
Speaker 2: show title. First word contains the first name of a
Speaker 2: comic actor. Second word is a homophone of his last name,
Speaker 2: and it's American idol, which contains Eric idol.
Speaker 1: Oh. That's good. That's good.
Speaker 2: That's a good one.
Speaker 1: I did not get it. I had an excuse. I
Speaker 1: was busy giving you a puzzle. Well, thank you for
Speaker 1: that buff As always for the puzzlers at home, a
Speaker 1: little extra credit. Homer has a similar body type to
Speaker 1: this actor who has made offers you can't refuse and
Speaker 1: who could have been a contender, the later, older version
Speaker 1: of this actor, by the way, not the young version. Puzzlers,
Speaker 1: please don't forget to subscribe, and also if you're enjoying
Speaker 1: the show, please tell friends, spread the word, give ratings.
Speaker 1: The Puzzler Podcast will meet you here tomorrow for more
Speaker 1: puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2: Hello, Puzzlers, this is Chief Officer Greg Pliska, and I'm
Speaker 2: here to deliver to you the extra credit answer from
Speaker 2: our previous episode. We played odd one out where we
Speaker 2: gave a collection of items and you had to tell
Speaker 2: us which one does not belong for the extra credit,
Speaker 2: I listed four states, Delaware, Hawaii, Minnesota, and West Virginia. Now,
Speaker 2: to find the odd one out, you need to take
Speaker 2: the state abbreviations, which are DE, HI, MN, and w V.
Speaker 2: And now you've probably figured out that the odd one
Speaker 2: out is West Virginia because the other three have the
Speaker 2: letters in their abbreviation in alphabetical order, D E, H, I,
Speaker 2: M N, but West Virginia has them in reverse alphabetical order.
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you'll play again
Speaker 2: with us soon