Men in Charge in Brief(s)

In this episode, Tony quickly dispenses with the title, “Objet d’Eric,” and lurches off in an unprecedented rant about shame-shaming and the idiotic “Who’s to say…?” question, until Kevin presses hard with his strangely soft philosopher hands to bring Tony down from his sputtering summit. With a deft segue, they then move into the episode’s segments. First, “Spic and Spandits 2”: Chloë and Madison go on tour with their redecorating banditry but bang into the long, hairy arm of Johnny Law. Next,

In this episode, Tony quickly dispenses with the title, “Objet d’Eric,” and lurches off in an unprecedented rant about shame-shaming and the idiotic “Who’s to say…?” question, until Kevin presses hard with his strangely soft philosopher hands to bring Tony down from his sputtering summit. With a deft segue, they then move into the episode’s segments. First, “Spic and Spandits 2”: Chloë and Madison go on tour with their redecorating banditry but bang into the long, hairy arm of Johnny Law. Next, there’s a commercial for “Kent Jennings’ Puzzle Grubs,” a handy solution to the problem of jigsaw puzzles further ruining an already ruined beach vacation. Finally, we return after many years to “Wine tasting with Men in Charge,” but it’s moved to the Next Generation—and this time the bad idea is Kevin’s. Is he ashamed? You bet he is.

It’s the midseason end of Season 9 and thus the beginning of reruns/the Apocalypse. Many End Times predictions go under the discussion knife, however untreatable. But this episode's three and a .5 segments will help the Listener prepare for the next End Times. First, we have a commercial for “Don Capoblanco's Pizza Village,” a mafia-run entertainment center for the whole family! Next, we go to the Threadbare Preparatory Academy to listen in on a faculty meeting, which is the heart of every

It’s the midseason end of Season 9 and thus the beginning of reruns/the Apocalypse. Many End Times predictions go under the discussion knife, however untreatable. But this episode's three and a .5 segments will help the Listener prepare for the next End Times. First, we have a commercial for “Don Capoblanco's Pizza Village,” a mafia-run entertainment center for the whole family! Next, we go to the Threadbare Preparatory Academy to listen in on a faculty meeting, which is the heart of every school, where we learn what fire alarms are really for. Next, Kevin and Tony host a Big Name NPR reporter, showing her a good time by collecting dangerously realistic sound effects. Finally, Tony and Kevin wish everyone—absolutely everyone—a happy holiday, regardless of the holiday and whether on not anyone actually wants one.

This episode is the only one bold enough to address the overly casual use of modifiers (ie: “Actual”) and their power to corrupt the very concept of a “category” and thus the mind’s ability to form patterns. Tony and Kevin had better not be the only ones pissed off about this. But tempers are tempered by the episodes’ segments. First, the call-in show “Ask Your Weasel Trainer!” ruins a promising NPR career because of too much clawing and biting. Next, “Octadextromethylcyclotetradiazepam” tells

This episode is the only one bold enough to address the overly casual use of modifiers (ie: “Actual”) and their power to corrupt the very concept of a “category” and thus the mind’s ability to form patterns. Tony and Kevin had better not be the only ones pissed off about this. But tempers are tempered by the episodes’ segments. First, the call-in show “Ask Your Weasel Trainer!” ruins a promising NPR career because of too much clawing and biting. Next, “Octadextromethylcyclotetradiazepam” tells the cruel story of a drug that is far too successful at changing your life at the expense of others’. Thirdly, in “Bad Nancy Drew,” two teenage girls try to undo Nancy Drew’s legacy by building criminal cases against the innocent. Finally, “Existentialists on a Hovercraft 3!” finds our hovercraft-wrecked protagonists all damp from the surrounding water as they wait for rescue from either the Coast Guard, the Salvation Army, or an exciting new hybrid!

What’s worse—selling your body or your very soul and the soul of your country? Let Tony and Kevin answer that, because apparently the New America can’t. Maybe this episode’s segments will help, or maybe not… First, “Dr. Orville Preacher, On Your Healthiness” returns with more pseudo-quasi-medical advice, and hapless sidekick Tim Wattles melts into his final, gelatinous phase. Then we make another visit to the rocky west of Ireland for “Fiona Lynch’s Irish Burrito Stand and Backyard Boxing Gym.”

What’s worse—selling your body or your very soul and the soul of your country? Let Tony and Kevin answer that, because apparently the New America can’t. Maybe this episode’s segments will help, or maybe not… First, “Dr. Orville Preacher, On Your Healthiness” returns with more pseudo-quasi-medical advice, and hapless sidekick Tim Wattles melts into his final, gelatinous phase. Then we make another visit to the rocky west of Ireland for “Fiona Lynch’s Irish Burrito Stand and Backyard Boxing Gym.” Will young Liam McTaggert be plucked away from Fiona’s clutches by a wealthy American relative? Finally, there’s “Kitty McQueen,” a feline chanteuse who has trouble with a Manx boyfriend and a top dog cop. Boy can she sing, though… (These segments were written by Kevin Decker, Tony Flinn, and Ann Porter, which no one thought to mention during the show, damn it!)

From his earthen bunker, Tony describes how he ended up even farther into the depths of the earth while just trying to make some extra room for new rats. From his sewer, Kevin smiles benignly. This episode attempts to get at the nature of some strange relics they both found while exploring their pandemic-era digs: glassware in the shape of cans, with removable lids. When cans were made of glass, indeed! And the confusion doesn't stop there, as we travel back to the Sumerian Era of Mesopotamia

From his earthen bunker, Tony describes how he ended up even farther into the depths of the earth while just trying to make some extra room for new rats. From his sewer, Kevin smiles benignly. This episode attempts to get at the nature of some strange relics they both found while exploring their pandemic-era digs: glassware in the shape of cans, with removable lids. When cans were made of glass, indeed! And the confusion doesn't stop there, as we travel back to the Sumerian Era of Mesopotamia for Fertile Crescent Sumerian Investigators's latest episode, "The Big Ziggurat" and Lieutenant Lugalzaggesi is excited about a new form of torture: waterboarding. After that, Roger Basement, host of "What's New with You?" talks with his newest guest about Videoconferencing Tips. Listen in and you'll be communicating online as effectively as Jeffrey Toobin in no time! Finally, Vladimir Putin is summoned to Laboratory X below the Kremlin to examine a new time-travel device. In "Back to the Putin," he gets to test wits with his teenage self, and things only go downhill from there.