Probably Science

It's our first-ever live episode! We're joined by special guest Eddie Ifft of the Talkin' Shit podcast with Jim Jeffries (http://jimandeddietalkshit.com), and we get into topics including: Rocks for Jocks! Global warming denial campaigns! Mormon-backed niceness initiatives! Trampoline Peeping Toms! Shark attacks: Don’t worry about ‘em! Re-routing apocalypse asteroids with pebbles! Roundabout proof that there may have been water on Mars! Freeing whales, breaking laws! People only skated on ponds in the 1950s! Every animal is a rapist! Happy old people make bad decisions! Lasik surgery – thumbs up or thumbs down? Using sparklers at the gas pump! Special thanks to The Mint (themintla.com) for letting us record in their beautiful venue!

We've made it to the big 2-0 with the help of writer/comedian extraordinaire Blaine Capatch (@blainecapatch)! Topics discussed include: Roller Darby O'Gill and the Little People! Blaine’s spelling bee prowess! The Yellowstone supervolcano! Messier gigs! Seeing the Smothers Brothers at an insurance convention! Young Blaine’s first onstage appearance with Red Skelton! Revisiting the airborne version of bird flu! Freaky Friday body switches! Tracking writers’ influences based on content-free words! Color-changing artificial muscles! Racist babies! Titan’s conditions: kind of good for creating life! Venus goes in front of the Sun! Lucha VaVOOM!

Justin Ian Daniels, comedian and co-host of the Rough House Podcast (theroughhousepodcast.com), joins us for a lively discussion of topics including: Members of Slipknot! Dee-Dee Ramone rapping! The Southern Gentlemen of Wrestling! Top-shelf bag-drainings! The origins of the Secret Service! The Find Brooks' Publicity Photo Listener Challenge! The Supermoon! Vibrating suits for Olympians! Learning from heathens! Super-fast wi-fi with common laser pointers! The decline of dinosaurs! New lizard species discovered! Can someone please get Dolph Lundgren to be a guest on our show? Ancient red blood cells! How exactly did Stevie Nicks get cocaine blown up her ass? Accidentally dropping nukes on South Carolina! Justin getting a 50-caliber pantload!

Comedian and host of the podcast The Dork Forest (thedorkforest.com) Jackie Kashian makes her long overdue debut on Probably Science to talk with the gang about: The legacy of Armenian comedy! Tweeting at Margaret Atwood and R.L. Stine! It’s gettin’ hot in here, if by “here” you mean “on wind farms”! Hercules Meets the Three Stooges! Brooks wants to know everyone’s takes on animals! The Wisconsin Dells! Working a summer job in a lame cave! Stalactites vs. stalagmites! Birds with GPS neurons! Donald Trump and his asshole offspring! The Unicorn Song! Number lines: learned or instinctual? Brooks sitting on the beach reading about Magellan! Jackie sells the boys on a new comic book! Are we scaring sharks away from their reefs? Fake DNA! Ghost-finding apps! C.S. Lewis’s *other* books! Andy was almost an extra in Twilight! Venus traipses in front of the Sun! “Drunken helpers” at comedy shows!

Brilliant comedian and master of characters James Adomian (jamesadomian.com) has returned from the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, as have Matt, Brooks and Andy, and they've got stories to tell! Bridgetown tales abound this week, but the gang also get around to discussing: Harry Potter names! Jesse Ventura! Skeletons in hot air balloons! Wrestling moves and pesticides! Particles that are their own antiparticles! Too much free time makes you feel too busy! Giant sharks! Eggless chickens! Asteroid mining with Jim Cameron! Adomian's famed academic grandfather!

Last Comic Standing winner Alonzo Bodden joins us this week, and it turns out he's got more science cred than the average comic, having been an aircraft mechanic for years before getting into comedy. We get into lots of fun stuff, including: Last Comic Standing challenges! Doing comedy for college kids! Fixing crashed airplanes! 600 mile-per-hour tape! Trying Gushers before the general public! Bikers on scooters! Brooks' rollerblading past! Smart sand! Measuring snake strength in units of grandpa shakes! The first use of fire! The refusal of ignorance! Space elevators! Getting stuck in the White House bathtub!

Funnyman Dave Holmes of the podcast A Drink with Dave (adrinkwithdave.com) joins us this week to talk about: Andy’s idiotic attempt at the Master Cleanse! Dave’s half-marathon training! Embarrassing high school stories! Involuntary boners! Diet soda: Maybe it *doesn’t* make you fat? Velveeta Cheesy Skillets! Do antibiotics cause weight gain? Could bacteria cause OCD? The effects of caffeine and speed on a rat’s work ethic! Cheaters at Draw Something! Dolphin gangs! Jeff Bezos digging up spacecraft engines! Dave’s surfing therapist! Matt owes his career to Saved By the Bell! Screech’s standup career!

Comedian Paul Jay of the podcast The Biggest Mistake (thebiggestmistake.net) sits in with the boys to talk about: Armchair astronomy! Getting Robert Plant to guest on the podcast! Pronouncing Led Zeppelin song titles! More horrible segues! How much would you pay to go to space with Tom Cruise? Sub-orbital streaking! Vibrating tattoos! Checking off items on Paul’s Probably Science bucket list! Growing new body parts! The search for Amelia Earhart! Venice is sinking! Brooks asks German kids the tough questions! Hydrogen-powered robotic jellyfish! The theory of circulation! Lobotomies! The Bridgetown Comedy Festival!

Chris Franjola (@ChrisFranjola) of Chelsea Lately, After Lately and Are You There, Chelsea? may not have studied much science, but he has some great takes on topics including: Being a theater nerd! Midwest tubing adventures! KISS-brand deodorant! Dave Grohl and the Heartbreakers! Catching a NASA spy Chris Hansen-style! Audition tips from Brooks! Figuring out why shock therapy works! Does Chris believe in depression? Our phone-obsessed culture! Comedy: Chris’s anti-drug! Have we found the cause of baldness? Tim McGraw and Dwight Yoakam: Two cowboy hats away from being Radio Shack managers! Brooks get a #1 Arthur Fonzarelli haircut for $6! Don’t judge a movie by seeing it on a plane! Why hasn’t the Segway conquered the world? Using lasers to see around corners! Laserdisc nostalgia! Brooks’s racist pet names! Hollywood Boulevard superheroes! Holding a gun makes you think everyone else is, too! Drunk Steven Adler buying Top Ramen! Sean Young crashes Andy’s comedy show! How did we discover mass extinction? Chris’s love of Theodore Rex! Wolfmother intros!

Auggie Smith (auggiesmith.com), winner of the Seattle and San Francisco International Comedy Competitions, sits down with the boys in Andy’s backyard to talk about: Auggie and Andy trying out for Jeopardy! Matt explains what “gunged” means! Guiding lightning with lasers! Matt’s Dickensian childhood! Babies are smarter than computers! Is Carl Weathers a poor man’s Clark Gable? Who’s your favorite painter? Did Bill Murray think “Garfield” was a Coen Brothers movies? Brooks and Andy’s juvenile “Into the Wild” fixations! What do you do when your island ends up underwater? Setting the 3-D nanoprinting speed record! Going to space: Bad for your eyes? Chuck Yeager: Bigger badass than Buzz Aldrin? Thumbs up or thumbs down on foreskins and motorcycles? Isaac Newton’s apocalyptic predictions! Has anyone turned down being knighted?