We got to celebrate Christmas with our listeners, and now it's time to celebrate New Year's, with this NYE episode that has us feeling great about 2025! And it must have Laura Faddah feeling great too, as she retires for a few months a 7-day champ with a little bit of luck and some very timely responses carrying her to a ToC berth as we head into the J! post-season. It was a fun week all around as John vibes with a Québécois contestant, Emily vibes with a particular Daily Double response, and we dive deep on Smokey Bear (not Smokey THE Bear, as you'll learn). Plus, Emily herself fumes as this week sees a near-record number of unread clues.

SOURCE: Alta Journal: "Smokey Bear: More Than an Icon" by Joshua Wheeler; Smokeybear.com: "About the Campaign".

Special thank you as always to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Art by Max Wittert. Music by Nate Heller.

An episode of your favorite Jeopardy! podcast on Christmas Eve?! What a gift! Emily and John share some memories of Christmas past as we also share some memories of this week of games which see Ashley Chan fall just short of the ToC threshold, but as Ken says: we'll see her again. We also get another couple of NASTY Final Jeopardy! clues that leave J! fans FUMING about the writers maybe being on VACATION (but still writing the clues while doing so apparently), we get some strange wagers from the contestants, and John helps Emily avoid jail time by diving deep on the RICO Act.

SOURCE: Federal Criminal Appeals Law Firm: "What is the RICO Act?"; TIME: "Law: Showdown at Gucci" by Alain L. Sanders and Priscilla Painton

Thanks to the Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

Look, sometimes we get things wrong. Ok, we get things wrong all the time. But we were very surprised Dave Bond didn't go deeper, as we say goodbye to him on Monday and hello to Bill McKinley and Ashley Chan, who both have a nice week. And we have a nice week too, as John coordinates a Jeopardy! surprise for his Blocked Party cohost Stefan Heck, J! continues their run of Final Jeopardy clues that swing wildly from quite difficult to dead easy, and Emily is really, really committed to getting out of PE. Plus, we dive deep on "I Dream of Jeannie" and its creator, Sidney Sheldon.

SOURCE: Forbes: "'I Dream of Jeannie' Home, A Jim Beam Whiskey Bottle, Expected to Fetch $100,000 At Auction" by Roberta Naas; New York Times: "Sidney Sheldon, Author of Steamy Novels, Dies at 89" by Margalit Fox

Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

John is back and we have an absolutely fantastic of week of games, as we fall in love with Evan Jones and then fall in love all over again once Stevie Ruiz is introduced. And by the end of the week, it's Bond, Dave Bond, who runs roughshod over the competition and looks like a potential ToC contender while giving us another contender for Response of the Year. Plus, we get an anecdote that makes us feel stupider than some of the clues do, Jeopardy! fans can't believe a clue uses the word boob, and we dive deep on the Pied Piper of Hamelin, who apparently might have been a real guy (???).

SOURCE: BBC Magazine: "On the Trail of the Real Pied Piper" by Lizz Pearson; Medievalists: "The Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Medieval Mass Abduction?"

Thanks, as always, to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

With John away this week, Emily is joined by comedian, writer, and current Jeopardy contestant-pool member Guy Branum! They break down: the rise and fall of Episcopal priest Kevin Laskowski, the best movies to watch with your family during the holidays, and how to communicate through your Jeopardy! anecdote that you have lived a LIFE. Also discussed: Chuck E. Cheese, and the fortunes made and lost in bringing him to life.

SOURCE: New York Times: "Farewell, Chuck E. Cheese Animatronic Band" by Jesus Jiménez; IEEE.org: "Chuck E. Cheese's Animatronic Band Bows Out" by Allison Marsh.

Special thank you as always to The J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan.

This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

It's a Daily Double double this week as Mehal Shah pushes all-in twice in a row to give us one of the season's marquee moments. He also gives one of the responses of the year in FJ, prompting Ken to ask a very pertinent question. We say goodbye to Paul Clauson, who seemed poised to go deeper than he did, and we end the week with a new champion in Adam Hersh, who thankfully didn't throw up. Plus, Jeopardy! fans have finally had enough of video categories (and so have we!), we go deep on Carrie Nation, and we find out who will be in the Champions Wildcard and Tournament of Champions fields, which provokes some...thoughts.

SOURCE: Kansas Historical Society: "Carry A. Nation, Parts 2-8".

Special thank you as always to the Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Art is by Max Wittert. Music is by Nate Heller.

It's an up-and-down week on the show as Joey DeSena goes on a brief run before succumbing to the powers of women's tennis, Evan Dorey can't quite mount a run, and we end the week with "lovable nerd" Paul Clauson looking like a future contender. We also start a brand-new feud with Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, Jeopardy! Fans Are Fuming about the topography of Scotland, we dive deep on the quietly sinister Sarah Polk, and Steven Czekala pulls off a rare feat...actually landing a joke on Jeopardy!.

SOURCE: Smithsonian Magazine: "How First Lady Sarah Polk Set a Model for Conservative Female Power" by Anna Diamond; Tennessee State Museum: "Sarah Polk: A Natural Politician When Women Couldn't Vote" by Peggy Burch.

Special thank you as always to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Art by Max Wittert. Music by Nate Heller. Additional material by Chris Thayer.

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Keep on Jolin, baby! Greg Jolin cements his place in the Tournament of Champions as we cement our place as a Jeopardy! podcast of note, hearing from both a past contestant about last week's episode, and a contestant who was on this week's episode, and both have some great intel for us you won't wanna miss. It's also a great week of games, as some really tight games get our blood pumping, Sammy Sanchez perhaps ushers in a new era of anecdotes, and Jeopardy! fans (and us!) are talking about this year's Second Chance Tournament contestants. Plus, we strap on a bulletproof vest and dive deep into Kevlar.

SOURCE: Inventing Modern America: "Insight: Stephanie Kwolek" by MIT.

Special thank you to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

As Emily so aptly puts it, we have a game this week that justifies this podcast's entire existence. A wild cast of characters, a raft of missed clues, and a Daily Double mishap create the type of drama that can only be found on the J! stage. It's a great week overall with some fun new champions, a category so nasty our "Nasty Clue of the Week" becomes our Nasty Category of the Week, and Jeopardy! fans fume about one clue so vehemently it makes it all the way to the pages of People magazine. Plus, we dive deep on Berlin's famed Eldorado nightclub.

SOURCE: New Histories: "Hope Between the Horrors: The Forgotten LGBTQ+ Firsts of Weimar Germany" by Hannah McCann; Advocate: "A Peek Inside Berlin's Queer Club Scene Before Hitler Destroyed It" by Clayton J. Whisnant.

Special thank you as always to J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan.

This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert. Additional material by Chris Thayer.

It's a delirious episode of the show as we record this late on a Monday and just squeeze it in for your Tuesday morning commute, and what a week it was! We have a new 4-day champion in Will Wallace who is like the William Wallace from Braveheart, only 1000 times more chill. We are chill too as a contestant has an interesting call sign, we both reveal some decently poor singing impressions, and Jeopardy! fans are very upset that Dave Matthews was referred to as a pop star. Plus, we dive deep on one of the worst songs of all-time. It wasn't one of the ones we sung. But those were very bad too.

SOURCE: Rolling Stone: "Flashback: Band Aid Raises Millions With 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'" by Jordan Runtagh.

Special thanks as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan.

This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.