July 15, 2025 • 18 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: actor, comedian, singer-songwriter, and co-creator and star of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rachel Bloom!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This mini
puzzle is in honor of our guest today, a Rachel Bloom.
We are looking for notable people whose names are flowers.
For instance, the actress Rose Byrne is a Rose. Could
be a floral first name or last name. Could be
a fictional or real person looking for flowers in their name.
(00:24):
The answers and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast. The rare yetty footage
in your cryptozoology puzzle Museum. I'm your host, AJ Jacobson.
(00:44):
I'm here, of course, with chief puzzle Officer Greg Kuliska. Greg.
Before the break, we asked listeners to come up with
notable people whose names first or last we're also flowers.
What do you got?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, there are lots of flower first names. Daisy Buchanan,
Daisy Ridley, Uh, Daisy Dukes from the Hazard, Lily, Lily
Taylor good on Lily's as Veronica Flower.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
We talked about this.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Is indeed excellent memory, excellent every all right, Well you
got I'll throw in a couple more. We got Violet
Beauregard from very good from uh what is it? Charlie
and Chocolate Factor.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
And Veruca salt Vuka is also a herb by Oh
maybe not.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
We've got Dahlia, my friend Dahlia Lithwick, who is a
great podcaster. I highly recommend her podcast. But anyway, if
you have others, please let us know at the puzzler
dot com. You can send us an email. But I
brought all of this up because our guest also has
a floral name, and that is Rachel Bloom. Rachel is
(01:57):
the co creator and star of Crazy Ex Girlfriend, one
of the great shows of all time. She wrote a
book called I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are,
and she has a Netflix special death Let me do
my special welcome Rachel Bloom.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Thank you for having me once again.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
We are thrilled. Now we mentioned in the intro your
last name is Bloom, which is a lovely optimistic name.
Do you know the origin of your name?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yes? It was Bachmutski really yes, which which I've looked
up means people who came from the city of Bachhmut
in the Ukraine, which is one of the big fronts
of the current war. Wow. So I was always told
that our family's from something called Alexandrovska, but I think
that was the name. That was what they renamed Bachhmut.
(02:44):
And now it's back to Bachmut. So I think it's
it's we're the Originally that side of my family is
from Bachhmut in the Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Shout out to Bakhmut, shot.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
To anyone listen. So was Bakmunsky. And then somehow came Bloom.
Apparently the myth of Ellis Island changing everyone's name is
is not quite true that a lot of Jewish immigrants
changed their names themselves. I don't know if that's the case,
but there is a I just recently found out with
my family there's some fame semi famous legal case involved.
(03:20):
I don't know if it's Bloom versus the State of
Boston or Bachmutsky. But anyway, a great great uncle of
my trying to said, I think WI are money back
to a friend in in the Ukraine. In or it
was in Russia, you know, it was all the Russian Empire,
and then it was right during the revolution, and so
the bank lost the money, and I think my relatives
(03:43):
sued to be like, well, give me my money back,
and it sets some sort of precedent for the rights
of immigrants in this country when it comes to finances
in banking.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
No way, it's like the Bachmutsky president. Yeah, I'm going
to quote that, and the next time I'm in.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I also fail. It's something that Rebecca Bunch would have
taken on and won.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
We have a lot of lawyers in the family, and
so I was looking it up on my phone if
I could say, oh, here we go. Wait it's called Yeah,
Supreme Judicial Court decision in Bloom versus Nuttile and Shapiro.
It's still studied in uh law school, and this is
(04:26):
one of my relatives. Yeah, situations involving immigrants were oftentimes
buried and not brought to the forefront.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Anyway. It's a fun one, congrat.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It's good to know that your relative is on the
right side of a famous court. Know.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
That's nice, right, Right, you.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Don't want to be the State versus Button. Right, You're
glad that was in your I.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Do have an ancestor who was involved in the teapot
Dome scandal, whoa I think was pretty, was jailed. So yeah,
I'm no, I'm not pretty.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
That's fun.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Uh so uh well, right, my tenureus segue is that
this puzzle involves names. Great, so whoa, that's beautifully dont
you thank you? This puzzle is about a universe where
everything is one step ahead. It's been moved forward one
notch on various scales. So, for instance, in this universe,
(05:20):
Ariana Grande has been promoted to Ariana venti. Okay, because
as you know, Starbucks scizes go Grandi venti. Another example,
in this universe, there's a playwright named September Wilson, so
the real.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
One would be August Wilson.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Exactly August, because September comes after August and the list
of months. So that's the idea of this universe. And
I'm just going to give you what the something is called,
and you tell me what it is in this universe.
And also I would love to know what is the
scale like months or Starbucks sizes. So are you ready?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, let's do it, all right.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
We got a Russian writer in this place called Virgo Tolstoy.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
This is Leo toast Tolstoy, and this is zodiac signs exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Now.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I got a sense from your specials and just reading
that you're not a huge zodiac fan. No, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Idea. No. I I like it's so funny because there
is this historical the House of Intuition where I really
like to get people presents because I do think they
have nice stuff. But it's all like candles and incense,
you know, with your zodiac sign, and it's like this
is a candle, will bloom, creativity and so so there
is a part of me that wants to believe in
(06:47):
and feels witchy, and at the same time there's a
skeptical part of me that doesn't like feeling taken advantage of.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
There you go, all right, well, we're done with with
a straw.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
I'm not I'm not offending. You're done, by the way.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Okay, good, all right. This is a movie called The
Eisenhower Show. The Eisenhower Show. I love this movie.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Oh this is The Truman Show.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Precisely the Truman Show. And that is of course the
list of presidents. Presidents. That's it, all right. Next up
we have a singer named Bruno Jupiter.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Bruno Jupiter, Yes, this would be Bruno Mars promoted and
promoted from Jupiter. I guess to be closer to the Sun.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Well in this one, I starting at the Sun and
going out, so it gets bigger or farther away.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Okay, God great.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
By the way, speaking of segues, one of your first
big hits was about the author of the Martian Chronicles,
Ray Bradberry, which is I just rewatched it. I saw
it when it came out. It's called and we'll bleep
this out may Ray Bradbury. It is uh and it
(08:08):
is beautiful. Did you ever get feedback from Ray Bradbury.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I really thought you were asking a different question. I'm
glad no.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
I did. I met him. I came. Yeah, I came
out to LA to meet with agents because of that video.
And but before I met with agents, I think I
was like, I can't make this appointment. I have to
go to his home in Chevy At Hills and meet him.
And I was very I really just wanted to talk
to him about his writing. It was awesome and what
(08:36):
was it like?
Speaker 1 (08:37):
What was he like?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
He was, I mean, he was quite aged at the time,
but he was very complimentary. He was very lovely.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So he had seen the video.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
He had he had his friends, His friends had shown
him the video. He had some very lovely friends that
I'm still in touch with, who had shown him the video,
but even then he was still writing. I think it
was either two or four hours a day in the morning.
And I think how daughter was taking dictation at that point.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Well, one of my favorite writing facts ever is that
he wrote Fahrenheit for whatever it is, fifty fifty one
thank You on a rented typewriter in the basement of
some library. It was like ten cents for every half hour.
And that is like some serious motivation, like you've got
to write or else you're losing money.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Well, and also I think it's because of the amount
he wrote, and I have his book. It's called on Writing.
The number one thing people ask me is how do
I become a writer? It's like you have to write,
and you have to write a lot, and writing is
annoying and it sucks and it's arduous, and it oftentimes
you are painstakingly carving something from a block of marble.
(09:47):
It is not it is not easy, and you just
have to do it over and over and over again.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yes, a great I always say I'm a writer, but
I hate writing shell maybe the wrong the wrong No.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
No, I think that the podcast writer writer thing you
could say.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, that was by the way, U. C. L A's
Powell Library.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Where I have been, I don't know if they have
the typewriter on display, but they do make a point
of saying it. Yeah. Yeah, you could go visit.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
One last one, last Ray Bradburry thing because I reread
Fahrenheit four fifty one recently and the seashells they he
predicted air pods. Everyone had their little seashells in their
ears and they're listening to whatever crap so that they
don't have to pay attention.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
To those books are I mean, look, his writing is
really prescient in so many ways, and it's just great.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, he's great.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I got a couple more for you. This is a
dating site called Okay Donner, Okay Donner. The day sight it.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Would be okay Cupid and this is I guess so uh,
I guess Donners and more important reindeer than Cupid? Is there?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You know how the reindeer.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
This was the order according to my deep googling.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Dash dancer, Comet, blitz it on Comet, on Cupid, on
wait Donner and blitzen.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
There you go, the top of the hood to the
top of the wall, dashway, dashway, dashway.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Ah yeah, wow, that was impressed.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I love Christmas.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Uh, you have a you have a lovely song called
Hanukkah honey, which is similar to.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Very similar fantasy. But I also do love Christmas, I
really do.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So do you celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah?
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Yeah, basically, I mean we give Honikah gifts, but we celebrate.
I mean we go to Christmas events and we do
Christmasy things, and the whole house in December just feels
it feels I guess winterry. But but there's no denying
that it's Christmasy. You know the smell of cinnamon and
apples and chestnuts roasting. Sure? Is it Soulstice? See? But
(12:05):
it's Christmas. Sure.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
I grew up.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I grew up. I'd choir for so many years where
you sing so many Christmas songs. So I love Christmas songs.
I love Christmas caroling. I love Christmas.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Well. A lot of the great Christmas songs were written
by Jewish people.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Believe the stat is fifty percent of the top fifty
Christmas songs of all time written by juice?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Because it's assimilation, Because celebrating Christmas, and especially the commercialization
of Christmas, is very American and so you're assimilating in America.
Let me embrace Christmas.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I love it. Yeah, and that was all I know
is white Christmas, wasn't that is it Berlin?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And as is Easter parades.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
There you go, and.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Not God Bless America. God Bless America is also Irving Berlin. Yes, right, who.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Was of course an immigrant, so he you know, I
think getting his.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Name is originally IDs sock. Baileen married a calf like
a Catholic heiress, and she was cut off from her
family's wealth. Really like the great love of his life.
She was she was a Catholic or Christian, she was
not Jewish, and it was a and it was a problem,
but that was his uh, that was his main main lady,
(13:22):
great love.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Well, he made a lot of money from the songs.
I hope, I hope.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
I think he did very well.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yes, thank goodness, Yes, all right, couple more, we've got
to commit adultery a mocking bird. To commit adultery a mocking.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Could you just say to adulterate a mockingbird?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
That's interesting.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So this is very obviously to kill a mockingbird. And
I guess you're going through the biblical.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Sins, that's correct. The ten Commandment Commandments, the sixth Commandment.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
That's very fun.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Promoted to the seventh Commandment. All right, how about we
do Washington Irving. It is in Washington Irving Classic, the
legend of Sneezy Hollow.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
This is the legend of Sleepy Hollow. And these are
these seven dwarves dwarfs dwarves.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yes, I think either esther is fine. I alternate those
two plurals myself.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I mean, I had never given too much thought to
them until I had to type them out twice in
my script. But it is a demented that they have
these names like that is so reduction like sneezy. Sure,
I'm sure he sneezes, but like is that his whole identity?
And can't doc prescribe so man to histamines or something. Wow,
(14:43):
thank you off of thank you, thank you, appreciate it.
All right, I'll have one last one for you, James
Marqus Jones, James Marqust Jones.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
This would be James Earl Jones, and you have I guess, uh,
British aristocracy promoted him.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
That's correct, You've got it from Earl to Marqus Marquest.
That's what the Internet says.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
It's not marquis.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I always thought it was.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
That's the French marquis, but the English one is spelled
differently m A r q U E S S. And
it's pronounced Mark West.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
What's the thing in Bridgerton he's it's a it's like
a similar weird is it Mark West? Maybe that's what
it is.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
It is allegedly or it goes Earl Mark West, Duke
Prince King. Excellent, Well done, Rachel, you nailed it. Uh
you know your alternate universes.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Thank you. I'm just looking up the term in Simon
he's a what says he's the Duke of Hastings, But
I thought he was a.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Marquis, viscount or maybe it was a viscount and the
woman is a Martian martianess, marchioness, martian ess.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
It's all nonsense, it really is.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Well there's that too, I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I mean that.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I am very glad America got rid of the titles.
It's right there in the constitution, no titles allowed. All right, Well,
thank you Rachel. You did wonderfully and you are the
marquest of this puzzle. Thank you, listeners. I do have
an extra credit for the puzzlers at home, which is
(16:35):
what is the Mountain Intelligence Agency. In this universe, it's
called the Mountain Intelligence Agency. Here it's called something else.
Let us know what it is and we will.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Oh, that's nice that it took Greg more than a second.
That's always a good thing.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I remember what puzzle were, I got it.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I'm there now.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That does help. So come back to and in the meantime,
check out our Instagram feeds at Hello Puzzlers, where we
post original puzzles, visual puzzles, other pun stuff. And we
will meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that
will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Hey, Puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle Officer, here
one more time with the extra credit answer from our
previous episode.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Rachel Bloom joined us.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
For a game we called narrow Way Hits.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
These are great musicals performed on the opposite of Broadway,
the narrow Way, and each of them, of course, is
an opposite title to the more well known Broadway version.
Your extra credit clue was out the Depths, Out the Depths,
and that of course is in the Heights. In the Heights,
(17:54):
Lynn Monroel Miranda's great musical about his growing up in
Washington Heights. So thanks for joining us here on the
Puzzler and we'll catch you next time for some more
puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This mini
puzzle is in honor of our guest today, a Rachel Bloom.
We are looking for notable people whose names are flowers.
For instance, the actress Rose Byrne is a Rose. Could
be a floral first name or last name. Could be
a fictional or real person looking for flowers in their name.
(00:24):
The answers and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast. The rare yetty footage
in your cryptozoology puzzle Museum. I'm your host, AJ Jacobson.
(00:44):
I'm here, of course, with chief puzzle Officer Greg Kuliska. Greg.
Before the break, we asked listeners to come up with
notable people whose names first or last we're also flowers.
What do you got?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, there are lots of flower first names. Daisy Buchanan,
Daisy Ridley, Uh, Daisy Dukes from the Hazard, Lily, Lily
Taylor good on Lily's as Veronica Flower.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
We talked about this.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Is indeed excellent memory, excellent every all right, Well you
got I'll throw in a couple more. We got Violet
Beauregard from very good from uh what is it? Charlie
and Chocolate Factor.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
And Veruca salt Vuka is also a herb by Oh
maybe not.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
We've got Dahlia, my friend Dahlia Lithwick, who is a
great podcaster. I highly recommend her podcast. But anyway, if
you have others, please let us know at the puzzler
dot com. You can send us an email. But I
brought all of this up because our guest also has
a floral name, and that is Rachel Bloom. Rachel is
(01:57):
the co creator and star of Crazy Ex Girlfriend, one
of the great shows of all time. She wrote a
book called I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are,
and she has a Netflix special death Let me do
my special welcome Rachel Bloom.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Thank you for having me once again.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
We are thrilled. Now we mentioned in the intro your
last name is Bloom, which is a lovely optimistic name.
Do you know the origin of your name?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yes? It was Bachmutski really yes, which which I've looked
up means people who came from the city of Bachhmut
in the Ukraine, which is one of the big fronts
of the current war. Wow. So I was always told
that our family's from something called Alexandrovska, but I think
that was the name. That was what they renamed Bachhmut.
(02:44):
And now it's back to Bachmut. So I think it's
it's we're the Originally that side of my family is
from Bachhmut in the Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Shout out to Bakhmut, shot.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
To anyone listen. So was Bakmunsky. And then somehow came Bloom.
Apparently the myth of Ellis Island changing everyone's name is
is not quite true that a lot of Jewish immigrants
changed their names themselves. I don't know if that's the case,
but there is a I just recently found out with
my family there's some fame semi famous legal case involved.
(03:20):
I don't know if it's Bloom versus the State of
Boston or Bachmutsky. But anyway, a great great uncle of
my trying to said, I think WI are money back
to a friend in in the Ukraine. In or it
was in Russia, you know, it was all the Russian Empire,
and then it was right during the revolution, and so
the bank lost the money, and I think my relatives
(03:43):
sued to be like, well, give me my money back,
and it sets some sort of precedent for the rights
of immigrants in this country when it comes to finances
in banking.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
No way, it's like the Bachmutsky president. Yeah, I'm going
to quote that, and the next time I'm in.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I also fail. It's something that Rebecca Bunch would have
taken on and won.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
We have a lot of lawyers in the family, and
so I was looking it up on my phone if
I could say, oh, here we go. Wait it's called Yeah,
Supreme Judicial Court decision in Bloom versus Nuttile and Shapiro.
It's still studied in uh law school, and this is
(04:26):
one of my relatives. Yeah, situations involving immigrants were oftentimes
buried and not brought to the forefront.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Anyway. It's a fun one, congrat.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
It's good to know that your relative is on the
right side of a famous court. Know.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
That's nice, right, Right, you.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Don't want to be the State versus Button. Right, You're
glad that was in your I.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Do have an ancestor who was involved in the teapot
Dome scandal, whoa I think was pretty, was jailed. So yeah,
I'm no, I'm not pretty.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
That's fun.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Uh so uh well, right, my tenureus segue is that
this puzzle involves names. Great, so whoa, that's beautifully dont
you thank you? This puzzle is about a universe where
everything is one step ahead. It's been moved forward one
notch on various scales. So, for instance, in this universe,
(05:20):
Ariana Grande has been promoted to Ariana venti. Okay, because
as you know, Starbucks scizes go Grandi venti. Another example,
in this universe, there's a playwright named September Wilson, so
the real.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
One would be August Wilson.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Exactly August, because September comes after August and the list
of months. So that's the idea of this universe. And
I'm just going to give you what the something is called,
and you tell me what it is in this universe.
And also I would love to know what is the
scale like months or Starbucks sizes. So are you ready?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, let's do it, all right.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
We got a Russian writer in this place called Virgo Tolstoy.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
This is Leo toast Tolstoy, and this is zodiac signs exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Now.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I got a sense from your specials and just reading
that you're not a huge zodiac fan. No, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Idea. No. I I like it's so funny because there
is this historical the House of Intuition where I really
like to get people presents because I do think they
have nice stuff. But it's all like candles and incense,
you know, with your zodiac sign, and it's like this
is a candle, will bloom, creativity and so so there
is a part of me that wants to believe in
(06:47):
and feels witchy, and at the same time there's a
skeptical part of me that doesn't like feeling taken advantage of.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
There you go, all right, well, we're done with with
a straw.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
I'm not I'm not offending. You're done, by the way.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Okay, good, all right. This is a movie called The
Eisenhower Show. The Eisenhower Show. I love this movie.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Oh this is The Truman Show.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Precisely the Truman Show. And that is of course the
list of presidents. Presidents. That's it, all right. Next up
we have a singer named Bruno Jupiter.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Bruno Jupiter, Yes, this would be Bruno Mars promoted and
promoted from Jupiter. I guess to be closer to the Sun.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Well in this one, I starting at the Sun and
going out, so it gets bigger or farther away.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Okay, God great.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
By the way, speaking of segues, one of your first
big hits was about the author of the Martian Chronicles,
Ray Bradberry, which is I just rewatched it. I saw
it when it came out. It's called and we'll bleep
this out may Ray Bradbury. It is uh and it
(08:08):
is beautiful. Did you ever get feedback from Ray Bradbury.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I really thought you were asking a different question. I'm
glad no.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
I did. I met him. I came. Yeah, I came
out to LA to meet with agents because of that video.
And but before I met with agents, I think I
was like, I can't make this appointment. I have to
go to his home in Chevy At Hills and meet him.
And I was very I really just wanted to talk
to him about his writing. It was awesome and what
(08:36):
was it like?
Speaker 1 (08:37):
What was he like?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
He was, I mean, he was quite aged at the time,
but he was very complimentary. He was very lovely.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So he had seen the video.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
He had he had his friends, His friends had shown
him the video. He had some very lovely friends that
I'm still in touch with, who had shown him the video,
but even then he was still writing. I think it
was either two or four hours a day in the morning.
And I think how daughter was taking dictation at that point.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Well, one of my favorite writing facts ever is that
he wrote Fahrenheit for whatever it is, fifty fifty one
thank You on a rented typewriter in the basement of
some library. It was like ten cents for every half hour.
And that is like some serious motivation, like you've got
to write or else you're losing money.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Well, and also I think it's because of the amount
he wrote, and I have his book. It's called on Writing.
The number one thing people ask me is how do
I become a writer? It's like you have to write,
and you have to write a lot, and writing is
annoying and it sucks and it's arduous, and it oftentimes
you are painstakingly carving something from a block of marble.
(09:47):
It is not it is not easy, and you just
have to do it over and over and over again.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yes, a great I always say I'm a writer, but
I hate writing shell maybe the wrong the wrong No.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
No, I think that the podcast writer writer thing you
could say.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, that was by the way, U. C. L A's
Powell Library.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Where I have been, I don't know if they have
the typewriter on display, but they do make a point
of saying it. Yeah. Yeah, you could go visit.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
One last one, last Ray Bradburry thing because I reread
Fahrenheit four fifty one recently and the seashells they he
predicted air pods. Everyone had their little seashells in their
ears and they're listening to whatever crap so that they
don't have to pay attention.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
To those books are I mean, look, his writing is
really prescient in so many ways, and it's just great.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, he's great.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I got a couple more for you. This is a
dating site called Okay Donner, Okay Donner. The day sight it.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Would be okay Cupid and this is I guess so uh,
I guess Donners and more important reindeer than Cupid? Is there?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You know how the reindeer.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
This was the order according to my deep googling.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Dash dancer, Comet, blitz it on Comet, on Cupid, on
wait Donner and blitzen.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
There you go, the top of the hood to the
top of the wall, dashway, dashway, dashway.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Ah yeah, wow, that was impressed.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I love Christmas.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Uh, you have a you have a lovely song called
Hanukkah honey, which is similar to.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Very similar fantasy. But I also do love Christmas, I
really do.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So do you celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah?
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Yeah, basically, I mean we give Honikah gifts, but we celebrate.
I mean we go to Christmas events and we do
Christmasy things, and the whole house in December just feels
it feels I guess winterry. But but there's no denying
that it's Christmasy. You know the smell of cinnamon and
apples and chestnuts roasting. Sure? Is it Soulstice? See? But
(12:05):
it's Christmas. Sure.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
I grew up.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I grew up. I'd choir for so many years where
you sing so many Christmas songs. So I love Christmas songs.
I love Christmas caroling. I love Christmas.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Well. A lot of the great Christmas songs were written
by Jewish people.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Believe the stat is fifty percent of the top fifty
Christmas songs of all time written by juice?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Because it's assimilation, Because celebrating Christmas, and especially the commercialization
of Christmas, is very American and so you're assimilating in America.
Let me embrace Christmas.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I love it. Yeah, and that was all I know
is white Christmas, wasn't that is it Berlin?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And as is Easter parades.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
There you go, and.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Not God Bless America. God Bless America is also Irving Berlin. Yes, right, who.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Was of course an immigrant, so he you know, I
think getting his.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Name is originally IDs sock. Baileen married a calf like
a Catholic heiress, and she was cut off from her
family's wealth. Really like the great love of his life.
She was she was a Catholic or Christian, she was
not Jewish, and it was a and it was a problem,
but that was his uh, that was his main main lady,
(13:22):
great love.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Well, he made a lot of money from the songs.
I hope, I hope.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
I think he did very well.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yes, thank goodness, Yes, all right, couple more, we've got
to commit adultery a mocking bird. To commit adultery a mocking.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Could you just say to adulterate a mockingbird?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
That's interesting.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So this is very obviously to kill a mockingbird. And
I guess you're going through the biblical.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Sins, that's correct. The ten Commandment Commandments, the sixth Commandment.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
That's very fun.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Promoted to the seventh Commandment. All right, how about we
do Washington Irving. It is in Washington Irving Classic, the
legend of Sneezy Hollow.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
This is the legend of Sleepy Hollow. And these are
these seven dwarves dwarfs dwarves.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yes, I think either esther is fine. I alternate those
two plurals myself.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I mean, I had never given too much thought to
them until I had to type them out twice in
my script. But it is a demented that they have
these names like that is so reduction like sneezy. Sure,
I'm sure he sneezes, but like is that his whole identity?
And can't doc prescribe so man to histamines or something. Wow,
(14:43):
thank you off of thank you, thank you, appreciate it.
All right, I'll have one last one for you, James
Marqus Jones, James Marqust Jones.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
This would be James Earl Jones, and you have I guess, uh,
British aristocracy promoted him.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
That's correct, You've got it from Earl to Marqus Marquest.
That's what the Internet says.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
It's not marquis.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I always thought it was.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
That's the French marquis, but the English one is spelled
differently m A r q U E S S. And
it's pronounced Mark West.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
What's the thing in Bridgerton he's it's a it's like
a similar weird is it Mark West? Maybe that's what
it is.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
It is allegedly or it goes Earl Mark West, Duke
Prince King. Excellent, Well done, Rachel, you nailed it. Uh
you know your alternate universes.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Thank you. I'm just looking up the term in Simon
he's a what says he's the Duke of Hastings, But
I thought he was a.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Marquis, viscount or maybe it was a viscount and the
woman is a Martian martianess, marchioness, martian ess.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
It's all nonsense, it really is.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Well there's that too, I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I mean that.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I am very glad America got rid of the titles.
It's right there in the constitution, no titles allowed. All right, Well,
thank you Rachel. You did wonderfully and you are the
marquest of this puzzle. Thank you, listeners. I do have
an extra credit for the puzzlers at home, which is
(16:35):
what is the Mountain Intelligence Agency. In this universe, it's
called the Mountain Intelligence Agency. Here it's called something else.
Let us know what it is and we will.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Oh, that's nice that it took Greg more than a second.
That's always a good thing.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I remember what puzzle were, I got it.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I'm there now.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That does help. So come back to and in the meantime,
check out our Instagram feeds at Hello Puzzlers, where we
post original puzzles, visual puzzles, other pun stuff. And we
will meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that
will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Hey, Puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle Officer, here
one more time with the extra credit answer from our
previous episode.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Rachel Bloom joined us.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
For a game we called narrow Way Hits.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
These are great musicals performed on the opposite of Broadway,
the narrow Way, and each of them, of course, is
an opposite title to the more well known Broadway version.
Your extra credit clue was out the Depths, Out the Depths,
and that of course is in the Heights. In the Heights,
(17:54):
Lynn Monroel Miranda's great musical about his growing up in
Washington Heights. So thanks for joining us here on the
Puzzler and we'll catch you next time for some more
puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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