Recreational Thinking

Contestants: James Lasker, David Plotkin, Manas Sarma "I can't believe that went longer than our technical difficulties episode!" -David As only our second episode to cross the 3-hour mark, this one had better justify its length ... and it does!  Episode 6 was the first truly great episode of this podcast, and though I was only able to reunite 2/3rds of its contestant lineup, I've bottled so much...

Contestants: Aaron Lichtig, David Goldfarb, Greg Fanoe You know what you doing?  For great justice (and knowledge), make your time for the next 2.5 hours and enjoy this experimental episode of RECREATIONAL THINKING featuring a categorical collision unlike anything we've ever seen before!  If you're curious about superhero comics, Italo Calvino, Janet Jackson, the Hugo Awards, all sorts of bridges...

Contestants: Daryl Sng, Dargan Ware, Anthony Garino Brain work ahead?  Uh, yeah, I sure hope it does!  Learn about snarky YouTubers, resilient Czechs, murderous Mannerist madrigalists, Freudian chessmasters, poetry-writing Ouija boards, gentleman safecrackers, and technical fouls galore in this installment of RECREATIONAL THINKING so full of meaty twists and turns that one contestant's mother's co...

Contestants: Alexander Darby, Peter Broda, Ben Zimmer Who made the man behind "Happy" cry?  What are E-Girls, and why are they ruining my life?  What innocuous nursery rhyme did Paul McCartney turn into a UK Top 10 hit?  Which James Bond theme drew inspiration from the Hebrew Bible?  How does one stuff a wild bikini? Let's Talk About Love, learn How to Truly Listen, and study pataphysical science...

Contestants: Anu Kashyap, Dan Feitel, Chris Ottolino Welcome to 2022!  It's our first episode recorded since May 2021.  (If you're curious what's been going on in the interim, feel free to check out the streaming show I attempted to launch: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYyq5QTgHTmLfy4kyrnM7j7fHz87ohqSy .)  A former National Spelling Bee champion joins me alongside two frequent quizzing t...

Contestants: Caitlin Joyce, Randall Eng, Chris Miller How did a college student urinating into a potted plant bring down a national government?  In what way is Staten Island a magical realm?  When does Before come after After ?  Can Belgian Waffles ever be wrong?  What is a "mezzo with moves"?  What is "vore"?  (Don't look that up.)  Who is a "pantspreneur"?  How is a hand grenade like an avocado?...

Contestants: Ben Rothenberg, Jimmy Li, Chris Ottolino The Wednesday Academic Purists may be my bitter rivals in CONNECTIONS ONLINE QUIZ LEAGUE and LEARNEDLEAGUE's A Typhoon rundle, but off the quizzing field it's all fun and games ⁠— and besides, now I get to turn them against each other, in a sidesplitting episode that covers everything from RuPaul's Drag Race to 20th century philosophy, the Euro...

Contestants: Mike Samuelson, Colin Smith, Ryan Palmer, Dan Schroeder They think it's all over!  Well, is it?  Only once you're done listening to my ridiculously entertaining crossover with the hilarious and charming men of THE SOCCER THREAD PODCAST.  Yes, I mocked soccer in my description of E11, and for my sins I designed an entire episode around The Beautiful Game.  Yet as we learn about it we a...

Contestants: Daniel Cohen, Eugene Hung, Lindsay Goldstein There are two kinds of RECREATIONAL THINKING episodes: Ones where the contestants already know each other and ones where they find their chemistry over the course of the episode.  This is an excellent example of the latter, along with being a competitive nail-biter in which the lead continually shifts back and forth over the course of the f...

Contestants: Victoria Groce, Troy Meyer, Yogesh Raut Did you notice that this week UM, ACTUALLY released an episode in which their usual host takes a turn in the contestants' chair?  That must be what Jung called synchronicity! Yes, as a birthday present for me in 2021, several friends arranged to satisfy my long-standing wish to understand and experience my own show from the perspective of a play...

Contestants: Oishee Shemontee, Drew Scheeler, Charlie Fritz It's appropriate that in our very last episode recorded using Skype (*sob*) we discovered "Together Mode," as this episode's contestants are all very good friends with each other ... or *were*, until that bond was tested by an unprecedented streak of steals! So come cheer on larceny as we delve into the oeuvres of Blackpink, Taylor Swift,...

Contestants: Ronny Jackson, Joey Goldman, Andrew Fisher Cheerio from across the pond!  We're joined in this episode by three brilliant UK quizzers, including Mimir's Well co-founder Joey Goldman.  Joey is a past victor on UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE and ONLY CONNECT, but has he met his match in RECREATIONAL THINKING?  Listen and find out! Along the way, you'll learn about roguelike video games, Black Boo...

Contestants: Lynn Yu, Christine Whelchel, Monya De Two of my favorite contestants from last season re-join us alongside a skilled third, and together they uncover a hidden theme to this episode's questions that I wasn't even consciously aware of.  What is it?  Listen and find out!  Also, you'll get to enjoy questions about very recent popular music, very old popular music (so old it's classical, i...

Contestants: Trevor Alexander, Greg Peterson, Joe Trela Get ready for a streak of some of my all-time favorite episodes!  Coming up we've got another all-brilliant-women episode, an all-UK-quizzers episode, a crossover episode with a soccer podcast, and even a Very Special Episode where I take a turn in the contestant chair myself. None of which is meant to short-sell the return of WHO WANTS TO BE...

Contestants: Gavin Byrnes, Ryan Rosenberg, Jason Luna So I'll start off with an apology.  I kind of let this episode get away from me; I recorded it on way too little sleep, which threw off my energy, and also I tried some experiments in question-writing that, on reflection, didn't pan out.  (None of this is the fault of the contestants, who are awesome.)  Maybe this isn't my favorite episode, but...

Contestants: Tucker Warner, Tom Colocci, Marcus Luna Take us out to the ballgame!  Two of last's seasons most popular contestants and one very entertaining newcomer join us to kick off Season 2 with a game that's not so heavy on the baseball that it doesn't leave room for its cousin from across the pond.  Oh, and plenty of other topics are represented, ranging from ancient Rome to Formula One to N...

Contestants: Paige Feldman, Mik Larsen, Rajay Kumar Fight on! This episode sees me (joined once again by Andrew Darby from E7) re-unite with three dear friends from my days at USC, including E15 standout Rajay, as we re-fight the Civil War, re-visit -- appropriately enough -- some old "Friends," and reference Alfred Hitchcock so many times I may as well have used "Funeral March of a Marionette" as...

Contestants: Isaac Renert, Milan Fernandez, Max Shatan Happy Juneteenth! And now for something completely different: An entire episode devoted to the wide world of cinema, with three millennial cinephiles kindly stepping up and allowing me to experiment with the format. A warning! If you aren't into movies, be prepared to approach this primarily as a learning experience. Also, the subject matter e...

Contestants: Internet personality "Default Friend," Trey Kelso, Tom Colocci College football, DC Comics, The Office, Wicca, and Donny Osmond are all on the syllabus of an episode bookended, for no particular reason, by the works of Stephen King. Come for the realization that your favorite '80s one-hit wonder also wrote your favorite '90s Disney song; stay for the cautionary tale of what happens wh...

Contestants: Dargan Ware, Joshua Hill, Andy Wehrman Order in the court!! Civil law is on the docket in this episode, alongside geography, religion, business, country music, the Founding Fathers, classic Simpsons, and more! By the way, since this episode taped Dargan Ware has published a second novel, "Old Soldiers Never Die." Check out both it and "The Legend of Colgan Toomey" at your favorite lit...

Contestants: David Kendall, Brian Hight, Anupama Srirangan We travel the world in this geography-themed episode (with an emphasis on national flags and anthems), while also covering many other topics, including collegiate sports, organic chemistry, and the Old Dominion state. Like Virginia, this episode is for lovers — lovers of knowledge! Like what you hear? Consider donating via PayPal or Patreo...

Contestants: Jesse Palek-Zahn, Rajay Kumar, Steve Winer We take a grand tour of the humanities, sciences, and pop culture in this episode, with questions covering history, literature, physics, health/medicine, sports, movies, TV, and more! Find out how we go from Walter White to Heisenberg without referencing "Breaking Bad," anticipate the plots of both "Ratched" and "Mank" before either of those...

Contestants: Steve Evenhouse, Bill Pennington, Jonathan Klein And now "Recreational Thinking" has its first truly international episode, with an American facing off against a Canadian native and an actual Australian who got up early to record with us all the way from the Antipodes! (Dig those exotic bird sounds in the background.) Join us as we learn about Canada, medical research, US history, int...

Contestants: Lynn Yu, Arianna Haut, Muffy Marracco This is it, you guys. Yes, it's our first episode with an all-woman lineup, but more importantly it's our funniest and most energetic episode to date (in spite of the fact that I was still fairly illness-drained, albeit on the upswing, at the time of recording). Two of the most masterful masterminds from GSN's MASTER MINDS, Arianna Haut and Muffy...

Contestants: Todd Hunter, Dillon Edwards, Cheyenne Fletcher This episode was recorded at the height of my sickness last March, and I can't say I'm at my best. Still, the contestants and I take an entertaining tour of everything from Australian history to TV cooking shows to quantum mechanics, and still find time for an extended discussion of the roots of hip hop music. Join us as we get quantum ph...