Really? no, Really? with Jason Alexander & Peter Tilden

Nuclear power is back in the headlines, fueled by climate goals and the growing demand for electricity. But are we ready for a nuclear renaissance—or still carrying the fears of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima? Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden ask nuclear engineer Dr. Leslie Dewan how reactors work, what happens to spent fuel, and whether small reactors and reopened plants can help meet...

What does it take to get a dog to Westminster—and what happens when the judge starts checking under the hood? Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden welcome Kimberly Calvacca, a third-generation dog show competitor, handler, and breeder, for a funny, behind-the-scenes look at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Kim explains how dogs qualify, why handlers can spend a hundred days a year at shows, and w...

Just because something is going viral doesn't mean it's important but it can be divisive because not everyone is sharing and receiving the same information. But this is how social media platforms can cause us to get in our own bubbles causing serious dangerous divisiveness. Luckily, our guest on this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast, Ruby Thelon, has been studying digital trends and has s...

Auctions are unique psychologically because instead of me putting your product up at a price that you determine, it's determined by the public as a way for the seller to get richer. Whether it's art, livestock or collectible toys, you'll notice that the auctioneer has a certain fast talking rhythm to the job and it's still a trade you can go to college for. Cole Morrison of the Western College of...

New episode next week! In the meantime, in honor of Star Trek: The Original Series turning 60 this year, we’re revisiting Jason and Peter’s 2023 conversation with Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. If you’re new to the Really? No, Really? podcast—or simply want to hear it again—this is the perfect time to catch up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi...

If you had told us to worry about the decline of people having sex fifteen years ago, we would've thought you were crazy. But the latest sociology reports have confirmed these dramatic declines in sexual activity. Sociology Professor, Brad Wilcox, joins Jason and Peter to break down the data and explain how we found ourselves in a sex recession on this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast. Br...

Can you build a store nobody can steal from? Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden ask criminologist Dr. Reed Hayes—and his answer challenges the premise that brought him to Really? No, Really. The founder of the Loss Prevention Research Council reveals what he learns from interviewing active shoplifters, why everyday toiletries end up behind locked glass, and how stores use psychology to make thi...

Last year, Love Island USA got 2.3 billion hours of watch time, creating these huge communities of viewers who watch it together in bars and movie theaters. Especially amongst Gen Z viewers. So how did this show originate from Britain and went to have 8 insanely successful seasons in the United States? Jason and Peter bring in an actual pop culture expert, Doctor and Professor Steven Granelli, to...

Since Jason keeps getting George Costanza deepfake memes, we invited back technologist Hany Farid on this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast. Hany explains that while the deepfake memes are AI generated, social media platforms play a major role in how these deepfakes spread creating the perfect storm for spreading misinformation. Plus, the tchnology has advanced so much that's it's getting...

Here's something may not have known: men's feet are more square and more rectangular and women's feet are more triangular. You'd think companies that design sneakers for women would understand that but instead, what they do is use the anatomy of a male's foot to design a woman's sneaker and then "shrink it and pink it". Creative designer and author of the book, Man-Made, Karen Korellis Reuther, pr...

Here's something may not have known: men's feet are more square and more rectangular and women's feet are more triangular. You'd think companies that design sneakers for women would understand that but instead, what they do is use the anatomy of a male's foot to design a woman's sneaker and then "shrink it and pink it". Creative designer and author of the book, Man-Made, Karen Korellis Reuther, pr...

Why do smart people believe things that aren't true? Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden sit down with legendary magician, skeptic, and author Penn Jillette for a fascinating conversation about why we're so easily manipulated—and why it's happening more than ever. Penn explains how tribalism often beats truth, why persuasion is more powerful than knowledge, how social media algorithms exploit our nee...

Norwegian soccer superstar Erling Haaland went viral when he walked off a plane carrying a stuffed taxidermied raccoon holding a whiskey bottle that he bought for $750 from Wild Bill's Western Store. His team went in and bought some other stuff sold out of all of their inventory and apparently taxidermy has gone through the roof. They have since defined this as the Haaland Effect. Ace Alexander, a...

Ventriloquist and comedian Jeff Dunham joins us on this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast. Jeff joins Jason and Peter to discuss his journey from going from getting his first puppet as a Christmas gift to being a smash hit in the comedy clubs to selling out massive arena tours. Jeff also has a lot of great stories about his first time performing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to ro...

I'm looking at a robotic dog that's freaking me out because it's kind of acting like a real dog in the way it looks at you, the way it responds. And I wasn't sure how I would feel about an animatronic dog design. I think specifically for people who have issues, neurological issues like Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and what this dog can do for those people. And is it for those people, or is it fo...

We originally wanted to title this episode "How the worst day of life became the best day of life", but we realized it was better to let Pete Holmes explain everything that happened to him leading up to his stand-up career and the creation of his HBO show, Crashing, that he made with Judd Apatow. On this episode of Really? no Really? Jason and Peter do a deep with Pete on how an incident liking ca...

When comedian Rick Glassman was first diagnosed with autism, he loved talking about it in his act because it was a new discovery for him. But then he became more self-conscious about it because of people's preconceived ideas of what being on the spectrum is. On this episode of Really? no Really?, Rick explains to Jason and Peter how he found himself in these positions where he was teaching, explai...

Steven Cyr, long time Las Vegas casino host, Vegas Insider, and a man who spent decades standing at the intersection of money, addiction, psychology, ego, luxury, and absolute human madness. That's a six way intersection, by the way. On this episode of the Really? no, Really? Podcast, you're about to hear the secrets of Vegas revealed, including whether casinos use coolers. The cooler. That's the...

Chad Maisel and Neale Mahoney, authors of the report, Taking On The Annoyance Economy, explain why every app, website, airline, pharmacy, streaming service, grocery store and parking meter now feels like it's determined to break you on this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast. We used to think companies wanted loyal customers. Now it feels like companies want hostages. Everything is designed...

Jason had an emergency this week and could make this episode but Peter held down the fort. With the Olympics heading to Los Angeles in 2028, the issue on how cities bid to hold the Olympics is one that drives Peter crazy. On this episode of Really? no Really? Podcast, Peter speaking economist, Andrew Zimbalist, author of the book, Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and...

Gary Gulman is one of the sharpest and the most respected stand up comedians working today. Known for his brilliantly detailed observational comedy, Gary has built a career turning the smallest human anxieties into epic philosophical events. Whether he's talking about state abbreviations, Trader Joe's childhood misunderstandings or the emotional collapse triggered by a routine email, he somehow ma...

You know you've made it in the music industry when "Weird Al" Yankovic requests to parody your song. "Weird Al" has spent more than four decades turning hit songs into time capsules that often outlive the originals. In a career that includes Grammy Awards, Platinum records, best-selling tours and the number one album decades. On this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast, Jason and Peter sit d...

Eighty-seven million households in the United States own pets. Over $147 billion in spending for the pet food industry and related services, such as grooming. But we bet of the 87 million pet owning households, nobody feels confident that they're feeding their pet the right food. On this episode of Really? no Really? Jason and Peter speak with Bonnie Wertheim, Cultural Bureau Chief for the Wall St...

Alcohol consumption globally has hit it's lowest rate since the 1930s. This has resulted in $830 billion of liquor stocks being wiped off. Multiple US distilleries have filed for bankruptcy. There's supposedly a lake of 220 million gallons of alcohol somewhere that can't be sold. Wineries all over the world are backed up resulting in wine revenue down over $1 billion last year. So who's to blame f...

You have to appreciate the guys who are getting hit for the love of the game, not for the money. And you know what's funny about it? It's just taking one. On this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast, Jason and Peter learn more about the psychological and biological rational behind UFC Founder, Dana White's latest phenomenon, Power Slap. Writer and Essayist, Ander Monson, wrote about how Powe...