Probably Science

Troy Conrad (troyconrad.net) is a comedian, writer, director and producer, and he's the man behind the hilarious improvised standup comedy show Set List. He joins Matt, Andy and Jesse Case on this week's episode to talk about: Breaking Bad spoilers! Improvised debate! House/career dysmorphia! Hot tub clothing regulations! Comedy Jesus! Troy's Scientology experience! Probably History! Religions with boats! Beetles with handles! Howard Bloom! Tracking space debris! Inappropriate cell phone conversation volume! Keeping bread from growing mold! The Grand Canyon: Older than we thought?

Matt, Brooks, and Andy celebrate the 50th episode of Probably Science with their first repeat guest! Kyle Kinane, fresh on the heels of his Comedy Central special "Whiskey Icarus," sat down with the ProbSci crew to talk about: Brooks's love woes! Convincing housekeeping to let you watch a space jump! Free Jacuzzi! Public boners! Peeing in the shower! The cotton gin! Young Einstein! The deadliest bird! Brooks touched Bruce Springsteen! Undercover Boss! Log Cabin Republicans! Karaoke guitar solos! Barenaked Ladies cruises! Comedians opening for bands! Macy Gray! The physics of a halfpipe! Catfish eating pigeons! Japanese rollercoaster commuter trains! A parasite that makes mice fearless! A giant Texas meteor! Spending almost a billion dollars to go to the moon! Seeing extra colors! An attempt at historical science!

Comedian Tom Sibley (twitter.com/TheTomSibley) joins Matt, Brooks, and Andy to talk about: Advent calendars! Alternate endings to The Grey! Tom's secret robot teacher! Being sent to the bathroom during science class! Throwing your milk in a locker! Almost Live! Deep Blue Sea! Brooks travels to Hawaii! Matt's close encounter with a pod of killer whales! Instagram-iquette! Robotic snakes! Matt puts Miracle Balance energy bands to the test! Matt and Andy compare their Movember takes! Saturn's rings: A moon factory? Vernor's Herzog! Ice on Mercury! Alcoholic fly larvae! Doing comedy in Vegas!

Comic/actress Marianne Sierk (@MarianneSierk) of Tru TV and the upcoming reboot of Best Week Ever joins Matt, Andy and Jesse Case this week to discuss: The surplus of exposition in Lincoln! Impressions of Breaking Bad characters! Historical spoilers! The downside of co-education! Marianne's wiccan phase! The OCD nature of religion! D'Nealian and mumblety-peg! Finding your mother's diaphragm! Insects with giant testicles! Bug doctoring! Small-town sex! The lack of women in science jobs depicted in TV and movies! Girls who want to be princesses! Smother parties! Un-discovering an island! Chemtrails! Matt's kosher house! Making more rational decisions in a second language! Art therapy! Bees and birds solving the traveling salesman problem! Gus, the Kato Kaelin of dogs! Love You, Mean It with Whitney Cummings! The last week of Movember!

Comedian and actor TJ Miller (twitter.com/nottjmiller) hosts Comedy Central's new show Mash Up, co-hosts the hilarious podcast Cashing In with TJ Miller, and has been a scene-stealer in movies and TV shows too numerous to mention. Matt, Brooks, and Andy venture to his loft this week to talk about: Being a fan of high school theater productions! Andy and Matt's competing Movember 'staches! Dad teachers! Name-dropping famous meals! Utica circuses! Major League pseudo-nudity! Mastering the art of sushi! John Stamos's parallel universe version of Full House! Matt's Hogwarts education! George Clooney's penis! TJ's brother Dennis! Growing your own balsa wood! Charles Darwin getting 4,000 write-in votes! Congressmen who don't believe in evolution! Hollywood billboards that aren't kid-friendly! Nic Cage's dinosaur skull! A wandering planet! TJ's fear of astronomy! Stephen Hawking using his mind to kick you in the dick! The great white shark isn't descended from megashark! TJ's juggling audition to become a member of the Magic Castle! Diseases of aging! Brooks's attempt at making a bloomin' onion! Which part of the brain helps you freestyle rap? TJ's arteriovenous malformation and subsequent brain surgery! Going crazy while making Yogi Bear 3D! Talking your friends and family into being ok with your possible death! Being a government-sponsored junkie! Belly button biodiversity! Prosthetic navels! The thrill of having your own Comedy Central page! Pick your favorite Probably Science mustache and donate to Movember!

Comedian Taylor Williamson (taylorwilliamson.com) of Last Comic Standing joins Matt and Andy this week to talk about: Election results! Bad presidential impressions! The historic Alex Theatre! Jeopardy! Novelizations of Jim Carrey movies! Acid rain experiments! Fake anti-Semitism! Beakman's World! Grapple forks and rock buckets! Watching Simon Pegg movies with subtitles! Show-off sharks! Aladdin sequels! Math anxiety creates actual pain! High school Republicanism! The diabetes/flu link! Doubling down on jokes that don't work! Being poor causes bad decision-making! Bar mitzvah DJ sets! Cybersquatting! Shia LaBeuof naked! Growing charity facial hair!

Actor/comedian and host of the Travel Tales podcast Mike Siegel (funnymike.com) joins Matt, Brooks and Andy on a lovely November afternoon to discuss: Favorite Boogie Nights scenes! Brooks Skywalker! Matt's Movember mustache! The Iowa wrestling legacy! Pick-up grappling! The unifying power of soccer! Mike's scientist parents! The venomous, egg-laying, otter-footed, beaver-tailed, duck-billed platypus! Australia: penal colony for all species! Mike's world travels! Winnipeg's giant teepee! Felix Baumgartner is anti-space exploration! Self-fixing concrete! Red Bull Flugtag mishaps! A planet made of diamond! Andy's Pioneertown zombie prom! The health impact of drying your clothes! Psychic powers disproved! Brooks Wheelan selected as one of Comedy Central's Comics to Watch for 2012!

Writer/comedian Chip Pope (Austin Stories, Beavis & Butthead, Last Comic Standing) joins Andy, Brooks, and Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) for this week's Probably Science, with a spook-tacularly unnecessary intro courtesy of the built-in effects on the mixing board. Topics discussed include: Working with Mike Judge! Luke and Owen Wilson: Actually brothers? The upcoming Probably History spinoff! R. O. Manse! Rabbits overtaking Australia! Steely Dan: Not just for dads! The Texas town that busts tour buses! Vote "no" on all ballot propositions! The degree symbol comes from hieroglyphics! Decoding the oldest-known writing system! The Wachowski siblings! Probably Science Blind Items! Moving asterozone hole! oids with paintballs! The incredible shrinking ozone layer hole! The Red Hot Chili Peppers playing in Brooks's neighborhood! The obsolescence of representative democracy! Hermit crab key parties! The Milky Way munching on star clusters! Jesse pays for $40 worth of gas and drives away! Rugrats conspiracy theories! First Internet experiences! Chris Brown beating up an Avid!

Comedians Josh Cheney (twitter.com/JoshCheenee) and Dax Jordan (twitter.com/DaxJordan) join Andy and Brooks this week to talk about: King Tuff vs. Pearl Jam! The Hot House comedy show! Josh's role as Professor Kelp on The Homework Show! Dax vs. Josh in Weird Al fandom! Watching Armageddon and grabbing boobs! Celery-based science fair projects! Dax's disappointing attempt at crossbreeding carrots! Comparing Christmas gift-opening traditions! Felix Baumgartner's record-setting jump! Ball lightning: What is it? How long would it take for something to fall to the center of the earth? A commitment ceremony for the smashing-together of two galaxies! Is anything really bad for the planet? Should we protect polar bears? Tickling baby penguins! Traumatizing mice, then trying to fix said trauma! Brooks finally unveiling his Red Hot Chili Peppers tattoo! What memory would you erase if you could? A rogue climate hacker dumping 100 tons of iron sulfate into the ocean for science!

Emery Emery, host of the podcasts The Ardent Atheist (ardentatheist.com) and Skeptically Yours (skepticallyyours.net), makes his first Probably Science appearance with a full cast of Matt, Andy, and Brooks to talk about: The origin of Probably Science! Andy putting his foot in his mouth on Emery's podcast! Neil Young burying the Skynyrd hatchet! Blowing up a rat with 8 M-80s! The Bogdanov Affair! Trusting expertise! Brooks giving himself nicknames! Pegged jeans! Andy's ukulele project! Cheating yo-yos with mechanical clutches! Robot bee brains! Emery gets revenge on Andy via Shane Battier!