Probably Science

Comedian, actor and author Matt Knudsen (@mattknudsen) returns to the podcast to talk about his new book Have I Seen You In Anything?, working on soap operas, being in an iconic I Think You Should Leave sketch, going back to school, learning to tap dance, testosterone reducing the Audience Effect and a bat that uses its huge penis as an arm.

Comedian Leah Bonnema (@LeahBonnema) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about Matt and Leah's road gig adventure, Jesse being snowed in, going to the bathroom outside, the science behind the munchies, Japan's Moon Sniper making contact with the lunar surface, Leah's love of Love Island, 45,000-year-old tools and bones found in eastern Asia, the Levallois technique and everyone's lack of awareness of Bill Knapp's.

Comedian and author Moshe Kasher (@moshekasher) returns to the show to talk with Andy, Jesse and Matt about his upcoming book Subculture Vulture, chronicling his deep involvement in the seemingly disparate worlds of Hasidic Judaism, deaf culture, comedy, sobriety, rave culture and Burning Man, as well as digging into the possible de-extinction of the dodo.

Comedian Kim McVicar (@KimMcVicar) joins Andy, Matt and Jesse to talk about famous hecklers, Kim's dancing background, musicals and their parodies, coin flips not being as 50/50 as you think, neanderthal early birds, Daylight Saving Time talk, holiday penile fractures and the crazy waves hitting the west coast right now.

While the gang take a little holiday break, we thought it was worth revisiting Andy's conversation with AI researcher and UC Berkeley Professor of Computer Science Stuart Russell from wayyyyy back in 2019. Now that we're well into the era of generative artificial intelligence, it's interesting to look back at what experts were saying about AI alignment just a few years ago, when it seemed to many of us like an issue we wouldn't have to tackle directly for a long time to come. As we face down a future where LLMs and other generative models only appear to be getting more capable, it's worth pausing to reflect on what needs to be done to usher in a world that's more utopian than dystopian. Happy holidays!

Comedian Shane Torres (@shanetorres) returns to the show to talk with Matt, Jesse and Andy about his new special The Blue Eyed Mexican, his unique Covid experience, more SPATS chats, finding the lost space tomato, what happens when you take your gun into an MRI scanner, someone else who wasn't as lucky with the MRI, the most extreme rogue wave on record, and the sound that warns a tornado is coming.

Comedian and author Ryan Conner (@rconnercomedy) returns to the show to talk with Matt, Jesse and Andy about his porn doppelganger, the process of researching and writing his new satirical novel The Party, an AI ProbSci ripoff, SpaceX rockets punching holes in the sky, deep brain stimulation to help TBI patients and a tree-dwelling shrimp found in the Cyclops Mountains.

Comedian Dustin Ybarra (@dustin_ybarra) joins Jesse, Andy and Matt to talk about the recent Formula 1 race in Las Vegas, Erdős–Bacon numbers, the first mammal embryos grown in space, space travel's effect on erectile dysfunction, trying to deter orcas with heavy metal, a message laser-beamed from 10 million miles away, the rise of 6G and the ouster and return of OpenAI's Sam Altman after a rumored AGI breakthrough.

Comedian Jenny Zigrino (@jennyzigrino) joins Jesse, Andy and Matt to talk about skunks, the Vegas F1 race, smelling in stereo, the upside of anger in completing tasks, dominant eyes, Iceland volcanos and the ultra-creepy hamster test or sperm penetration.

Comedian Steve Benaquist (@stevebenaquist) joins Andy, Matt and Jesse to talk about Halloween, Unversal Monsters, neck bolts, Frankenstein's Doug, sandbagging, goldbricking, carpetbagging and teetotaling, a radioactive toy from the 1950s, an unfortunate pig heart update, people who can't feel pain, Frozen Dead Guy Days, physics-defying sperm, a wind-powered car that goes faster than the wind, a tiny particle accelerator and Andy's Airbnb.

Comedian Aparna Nancherla (@aparnapkin) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about her new book Unreliable Narrator, the ubiquity of impostor syndrome in Hollywood, childhood memories of carob, a new insanely hot pepper, roosters recognizing themselves in mirrors, a drunk dude fighting his reflection, and AI besting humans at Street Fighter.

Comedian, musician and now author Dave Hill (@mrdavehill) joins Jesse, Andy and Matt to talk about his lifelong love of hockey, his new book The Awesome Game, bowling lane oil patterns, figuring out how cats purr, bespectacled chickens, and the first-ever fine issued for space junk.

Andy's away, but Matt and Jesse are joined by Kevin Kataoka and returning guest Brian Malow to talk about pseudolegal grifts! Why you shouldn't talk to the police! Scientists who've grown a human embryo!  Brian May side projects! Hedy Lamarr's inventions! Military subterfuge and ghost armies! And sailing a satellite out of orbit! You can join our Patreon to hear a bonus story about NFL jersey numbers.

Comedian/biomedical engineer Pallavi Gunalan (@PallaviGunalan) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about her path from science to comedy, working on open-source ventilators, the oldest living skydiver, the oldest surfer, growing human kidneys in pigs, the surprising intelligence of jellyfish and a misread of one of Newton's laws.

Andy's back from Burning Man to give the gang an update on how not big of a deal the rain was and to talk about Jesse's love of the band Ghost, middle-age music obsessions, the viral sensation "Sitting" by Brian Jordan Alvarez, debunking a Da Vinci tree rule (and figuring out what, exactly, bunk is), the greatest-ever opening line of a textbook, the risks of eating a single super-hot chip and how much you'd have to pay Jesse to do it.

Comedian, Kimmel writer and now author Jesse Joyce joins us to talk about his new book about the killer of Lincoln's killer! Plus live brain worms! The Indian moon landing! Unimpressive household robots! And who should go to Mars! Click here for a free trial of Scribd and read/listen to Jesse's book.

Comedian, actor and host of The John Fugelsang Podcast and SiriusXM's Tell Me Everything John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) joins Jesse, Andy and Matt to talk about Prince's showstopping Beatles solo, reconciling science and the Bible, Russia crashing a lander into the moon, the steampunk LK lunar module, warnings of the submersible implosion, the 1970s SoCal Hurricane Kathleen, the reason it takes a while for a tan to show up and a view of Hurricane Hilary from the ISS.

Comedian DeAnne Smith (@DeAnne_Smith) joins Matt, Andy and Jesse to talk about DeAnne's new special Chiweenie in a Tank Top, getting Canadian citizenship, advances in pig-human transplantation, the possibility of regrowing human teeth, the game Pizza Party and the Radiolab episode about Alpha Gal.

Comedian Jamel Johnson (@NonProfitComic), host of too many podcasts to count, joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to mourn Paul Reubens, discuss Amazing Larry and his deleted scene, the Cabazon dinosaurs, Sonic & Knuckles, Michael Jackson's Sonic connection, how to help striking film and TV workers, a tick bite that can cause a meat allergy, leprosy on the rise in Florida, Mars spinning (slightly) faster, crushing a design contest for kids and connecting old mice to young mice.

American Gladiator Danny Lee "Nitro" Clark joins Andy, Jesse and Matt to talk about the hit Netflix documentary Muscles & Mayhem, how his "raw meat" tryout ad-lib landed him the role of a lifetime, the analogies between management's treatment of the Gladiators and the current WGA/SAG strikes, the odd experience of seeing yourself as an action figure, nostalgia for the monoculture, Nitro's romance with Ellen Degeneres, the role genes play in determining your endurance ability, introducing height classes into basketball, and Tony Vainuku's other Netflix doc about Manti Te'o.