Three Questions, Three Drinks with Chris Mikolay

HIGH SCHOOL REUNIONS! 30 years ago, Amanda Adams, Matthew Jordan and Chris Mikolay matriculated from the same suburban high school. Fast forward three decades and they're now slugging back beers large and small (literally) while unpacking their 30 year high school reunion. Do people change as they age? Do social hierarchies still matter after decades have gone by? And how, exactly, should one prep...

RESOLUTIONS! A new year has arrived, which means it’s time to make bold promises you’ll quietly abandon by mid-January. But fret not: Chris, Amanda and Matt have returned from a long podcasting hiatus with 3 drinks and a plan to ensure 2026 is your best year ever. Unfortunately, things quickly fall apart after Amanda pours a drink laden with half a stick of butter while admitting she has no abilit...

MORTALITY . After a jarring family event flips his world upside down, Chris confronts some of life’s biggest questions: What does it mean to live knowing our time is finite? How do we find purpose in the face of our own impermanence? And can confronting death actually teach us to live more fully? Joined by 3Q3D regulars Amanda Adams and Matt Jordan, this conversation about life’s ultimate deadline...

MONEY & WEALTH! Chris kicks Episode 92 off with a (clearly very legitimate) pyramid scheme sales pitch to Amanda and Matt, who prove, yet again, that there's a sucker born every minute. But the talk quickly shifts to hard-hitting money truths—childhood lessons we ignored, what “F-you money” really means, Rockefeller’s quip about craving “just a little bit more,” and how ego sabotages our savin...

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE! These days, AI is all the rage, but it’s also fueling more late-night doomscrolling than many care to admit. Whether we like it or not, though, Artificial Intelligence is no longer the stuff of science fiction — it’s here, it’s evolving faster than we are, and in some unsettling ways, it feels like we’ve begun teaching rocks to think (what could go wrong?) . On the bright...

BIG, DIFFICULT, FASCINATING QUESTIONS (THAT WE’LL HAVE TO FACE IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE) . It seems only fitting that Matt Jordan – with his genetically perfect beard – should assume command of the USS 3Q3D for a conversation that tackles the toughest bioethical questions of our not-at-all distant future. Joined as usual by Amanda Adams and Chris Mikolay, the group wastes no time discussing whether...

STYLE! (Part 2). In the final installment of a special two-part series on Style, serious style is apparently found at…Costco? While Chris begs to differ, Matt makes a case for a closet full of Kirkland Signature and – provided Roman chic someday makes a comeback – at least one quality toga. Clearly, the 3Q3D crew is not afraid to break all the rules as they arrive for this second serving of style...

STYLE! (Part 1) . In the first of a special 2-episode double feature, Fashion Week has made its way to 3Q3D headquarters and the drinks aren’t the only thing in vogue. Amanda, Matt and Chris have upped their sartorial game, arriving to the studio dressed to the nines and ready to pour cocktails that are as elegant as their names (Tuxedo No. 2, where have you been all our lives?!). The group wonder...

WINTER SURVIVAL TIPS. With over a foot of fresh fallen snow blanketing 3Q3D headquarters in Northeast Ohio, Amanda, Matt and Chris wonder why they live in a locale with such harsh winter conditions. However, as the drinks go down and the conversation warms up, the group looks at the bright side of shorter days and colder nights, debates which animal has winter figured out (hibernate like a bear, o...

ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC OR PESSIMISTIC ABOUT AMERICA? Despite recording from a sun-drenched back patio on a postcard perfect Autumn afternoon, anxiety is running high among the 3Q3D crew. This year, October’s beauty is bittersweet, with red and blue political signs competing with Fall’s glorious oranges and golden yellows - and raising the nation’s collective blood pressure. But is everything truly ter...

RISK, RANDOMNESS & DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY. Caspar Berry has led many lives, from screenplay writer, actor and director, to professional poker player, poker commentator and renowned keynote speaker. He also once served as the poker coach to Daniel Craig and the actors in Casino Royale, and beyond coaching others to merely look like they know how to gamble, Caspar believes there are parallels...

TRAVEL & VACATION TIPS! Before you pack your bags and load up the station wagon, make sure to download 3Q3D’s long list of summer travel tips. From why it’s okay to spend every morning away from your vacation companions, to proper picture taking techniques (sorry not sorry, but it’s a big thumbs down on the coordinated family beach photo), this episode is as spicy as Amanda’s Chile Salt Michel...

HOW TO BE A (LITERAL) BOSS. After several months of working sunup to sundown for The Man, 3Q3D’s long sabbatical is finally over. But fear not, 3Q3D Nation: Amanda, Chris & Matt waste no time getting back in the saddle to show you who’s boss – while discussing how to actually be a boss. Whether you’re a seasoned executive, an aspiring leader, or just someone curious about what it takes to be a...

To celebrate 3Q3D’s third anniversary, the original crew regroups and recreates the show’s very first episode down to the exact same questions. While Amanda, Chris and Matt are certainly more comfortable on air, they begin to question nearly everything (including * gasp * backing into every parking space) and end up lamenting democracy writ large. While the questions from Episode 1 return, the dri...

THE MOVIES! Amanda Adams sits in the director’s chair for this big, buttery episode about the movies we love – and the movies we love to hate. And, as she guides the OG 3Q3D crew through a conversation about the films that framed our youth, what makes a movie objectively great, and why we love some movies that are objectively terrible, Amanda can’t help but get sentimental about a certain Legendar...

PARENTING! With 13 children between them, Amanda, Matt and Chris debate unconventional parenting do’s and don’ts, discuss whether parents today spend too little or too much time with their kids, and ponder how much our parental actions ultimately determine our children’s fate. In classic 3Q3D fashion, this conversation zig-zags between the insightful and the absurd while steadily building to a thi...

DRINKING & ALCOHOL. Alcohol is the only drug where, if you don’t use it, people assume you have a problem. Kind of weird, right? It seems that alcohol – and our culture of drinking – are topics worth exploring. Hence, in this special “crossover” episode, 3Q3D regular Amanda Adams, and occasional 3Q3D visitor and fan favorite Colt McCutcheon, sit down with Chris Mikolay at the halfway mark of h...

THE YEAR IN REVIEW / THE YEAR AHEAD. For the 3rd time, Amanda Adams, Matt Jordan and Chris Mikolay record a New Year’s episode that reviews the year’s biggest headlines – from events both consequential and alarming, to stories immaterial but impossible to ignore. After lively discussion (and Amanda’s cocktail redemption), the group turns the page on 2023 and makes bold predictions for the year ahe...

AUSTRALIA vs. ENGLAND vs. AMERICA! In this special transcontinental episode, Chris invites an awesome Aussie, Belynda Thomas, and Englishman extraordinaire, Elliot Grey, into the studio to spill the tea on what it’s like living in America from an ex-pat perspective. As the group sips and snacks on Elliot's "posh pigs in a blanket", things escalate faster than American portion sizes – from friendly...

THE POLITICS EPISODE. With an introduction as long as the Gettysburg Address, Chris explains (by using his beloved Cleveland Browns as an incredibly strained metaphor for political tribalism) why he has actively avoided political conversation on the podcast thus far - and why it's now finally time to analyze our nation's current political divide. Chris is joined by longtime 3Q3D cohost and politic...

THE SHARK TANK EPISODE. At some point in our lives, we all have a million-dollar idea. The biggest difference between a successful idea and one that fails, though, is often simply this: whether or not one takes action. In today's episode of 3Q3D, you'll meet three women who not only have big ideas, they’re turning them into reality. Over three great drinks – including a cocktail inspired by one of...

FEELING BURNED OUT – AND FINDING BALANCE. If you’ve wondered why it’s been a minute since a new episode of 3Q3D dropped, well, Chris has been totally burned out, man. But fear not, because Matt and Amanda come to the rescue with a few great questions about the nature of burnout and how one can restore balance to a busy life. While the questions are excellent and the conversation vintage 3Q3D, the...

WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE. RIGHT? Matt Jordan takes over for the second time as host of the good ship 3Q3D, and in so doing, leads a fun and fascinating conversation with Chris Mikolay and Sam LiPuma – an author, professor and 3Q3D newcomer – that explores several of the most interesting questions ever posed on the podcast. Over 3 drinks as unique as each question, Matt, Chris and Sam debate whether...

MYSTERY TOPIC! In the final installment of a 3-part series of shorter episodes designed to pare nicely with one quick drink, Chris experiments with variations on the classic Aperol Spritz – and pays dearly for it. However, just as Amanda Adams and Matt Jordan were in the dark on the topic of this episode, you, dear listener, will have to wait and see what topic might prompt a discussion about sogg...

WOULD YOU RATHER? While this second round of a special 3-part series of mini episodes may indeed be shorter than the typical 3Q3D fare, it isn’t short on controversial conversation. While Amanda Adams serves up a super sweet Tequila Sour, Chris asks a series of increasingly ridiculous “Would You Rather” questions that leave Matt Jordan feeling quite flustered. Apologies in advance to anyone simila...