November 15, 2023 • 10 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us all this week: writer, actor, and comedian Michael Ian Black.
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 Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.
Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
"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.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello Puzzlers, and welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, home of
your daily soothing puzzle bomb. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs,
and today I would like to introduce our guest with
a poem. So here goes. I do like that Michael.
(00:28):
That Michael I am. He's the man who brings laughter
as much as he can. His jokes and his antics
they tickle and tease own. Michael ian Black. He's the
one who will please on a boat or with a goat.
I'd laugh with this man. He makes me chuckle and giggle.
I'm Michael ian Black's biggest fan. Welcome Michael.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Thank you, AJ. That is the nicest poem I think
anybody has ever written about me.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well, I wish I could take credit. It actually is
not me. It was written by chat GBT.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
In that case, it really was a piece of insipid
doggerel exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Well that I bring it up, because that is the
theme of our puzzle today is what command was it
that I gave chat gbt to write that little masterpiece?
So what what do you think I might have put
into chat gbt to get it to.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Write write a poem about the comedy and Michael Iam
Black right.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
But there's more. I didn't just ask him to write
a poem. I asked it to write a poem in
a style.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Of oh uh, doctor zoos exactly. You noticed I gave
it the comedic pronunciation zoo's as opposed to the more
traditional zeus chatch idea. You wouldn't even think of that,
chat GPT, like, what's the comedic pronunciation of Steus zoos?
I did. That's why AI will never replace us staging.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
It's a hack. It's a well I think, as you'll
see today, it's quite hacky. I think you will. It
will make you feel better about your own writing. But
it is the theme of our puzzle. And I'm going
to read you a couple of passages and you have
to figure out what I asked chat GPT. Okay, so
are you ready ready? And feel free to judge chat
gbt's writing style.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I do.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Number one, So there's this gnarly dude just trying to
catch a wave back home to Ithaca after helping his
brus win this war. But the sir super rough and
he's been hanging ten with his total babe Calypso on
his island. And then he's like, I got to get
back to my main squeeze Penelope, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh man, so this is chat GPT. Can you write
me I guess a summation of I want to say
the Iliad? Is it the Iliad?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah? It is close enough. It is close enough. It's
the other one I know. But it's the sequel, right,
the sequel ill he Ad part two?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, the Odyssey in the style of a surfer dude.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Exactly, you got it, all right, brilliant and see what
I'm saying about, Like that is not very sophisticated surfer lingo.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I feel, really is I would? I would hazard to
guess that it's a touch out dated.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Exactly, Yeah, I feel the chat GPT is lord of
Like it's like me, It's like a dad. It's like,
you know, trying to get in the mind of the youngsters.
All right. Number two, what command did I give chat
GPT to write this? The Lord spoke unto the people, saying, behold,
I give unto you the water dwelling squirtle in the rivers,
(03:45):
the winged pigiot of the skies, and the swift mewtwo
of the fields.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Okay, so I don't know any of these words. But
I feel like it's Pokemon, am am, I.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
It is Pokemon.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So give me a chat GPT if you would, a
biblical rendition of Pokemon.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
That's it, of the birth of Pokemon and the I'm
impressed you didn't even know the Pokemon and yet you got.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well it's more like an old Testament.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yes it was old. It was actually a rope in
the style of the King James Bible. Okay, so all right,
well that was that was very well done. And by
the way, I was not as polite as you are
to chat GPT. I didn't say, would you please give me?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I just I just know I'm not like that like
I was. I was at I was at a tratoria
today here in Rome, and there was a Scandinavian group
of four sitting next to me, and the gruff Scandinavian
gentleman said to the waiter, Sultan Pepper, just like that.
He didn't say, please, may I have? And I thought, oh,
I would never address chat GPT in that manner.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Well, that is nice of you. And when they take over,
they are gonna, you know, they'll remember.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I will be last against the wall exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Uh, all right, we got two more. Next one? What
did I ask chat GPT here? So this was a
time when there was peak eat the rich energy tbh,
and they said thank you next to the monarchy and
chopped off the heads of anyone who didn't like their
(05:30):
spicy vibe.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Wow, I'm at c on this one. Give me read
it again.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Okay. It was a time and history where there was peak,
Eat the rich energy.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I don't know what that is, the witch energy, eat.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
The rich, eat the rich energy. And they said thank
you next to the monarch.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Okay, got it, and the.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Heads off anyone who didn't like their vibe.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Okay, So we're talking about the French Revolution here, chat GPT,
Will you please describe for me the French Revolution in
the style of a gen Zer.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
That's it, exactly that gen z Er. That's exactly what
I wrote. Oh, very well done. You know your stereotypes. Okay,
very proud of you. All right, Final one, final one.
And I did I spend I'd say twelve minutes watching
a YouTube tutorial for this one, so on how to
(06:45):
do the accent. So it's pretty flawless, or should I
say pretty flawless?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
All right? Nice?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
All right?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And this one's a little it might be a little trickier,
but I feel you're up to it. All right, all right,
he let me tell you about this top notch Telly show.
It's got geezers and big yellow birds and they're always
having a giraffe. And there are these two blokes who
(07:14):
live together, having a roight blondie over who gets to
wear the trousers in their relationship. There's a bloke named
Oscar who lives in a garbage sedan, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And you said this one was gonna be tricky.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Well, I wasn't sure that my accent was gonna be
so flawless.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Well yeah, it's not so much of the accent, which
is terrible, but pretty much when you say big yellow
bird and Oscar in two blokes, Uh, you were clearly
talking about Sesame Street in Cockney slang.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
That's it Cockney rhyming slang to be exact. But you
got it, brilliant. You listen, chant evt is no no
competence for you.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
It's there to make our lives easier. And these puzzles,
I would say, we're all gentle and fun. There was
not There was no gnashing of teeth or pulling of hair,
So I would say, chat GPT did its job flawlessly.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
All right. Well, so now he sounds like you're endorsing it.
I thought we were.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I like it. Now it's all right.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Well we flawlesslie, but not nearly as good as what
you or I would have done. Wow, thank you, Michael.
Where can we find more of your content? Paid or unpaid? Uh?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I don't know. You can probably find me wandering around
Rome these days. So if you're at the if you're
at the Spanish steps, are the tevy fountain comes say.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Hello, excellent, I'm a fan of Rome. I am a
fanglyptic city. And you chose Rome over over all other cities.
All there are a lot of a lot of other cities. Well,
have a good time, a rivedercee. Is that something they said?
And as always, there's a quick extra credit for the
(09:09):
puzzlers at home. Another chat GBT puzzle. Are you ready
listeners at home? This is an epic tale of the
power struggle between several houses to see who can claim
the iron deep fryer. The House of Grimace in the
(09:30):
mcclury Mountains must battle the House of Falleo Fish, led
by the Seafaring Captain Crook, and there are other battles
to be done, but you get the idea. Puzzlers, Please
don't forget to subscribe to the Puzzler Podcast and I'll
meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will
puzzle you.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Puzzlingly high Puzzlers. Greg Pliska here with the extra credit
from our previous show. On that show, we played a
game of name that very short tune with Michael Ian
Black giving him different sounds and he had to identify
(10:12):
where they came from which game show. Well, and here
was the sound that we played for the extra credit,
and that's right. Game show fans will recognize that as
the zonk sound from Let's Make a Deal. Well played, Puzzlers,
(10:33):
We'll see you next time.
Hello Puzzlers, and welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, home of
your daily soothing puzzle bomb. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs,
and today I would like to introduce our guest with
a poem. So here goes. I do like that Michael.
(00:28):
That Michael I am. He's the man who brings laughter
as much as he can. His jokes and his antics
they tickle and tease own. Michael ian Black. He's the
one who will please on a boat or with a goat.
I'd laugh with this man. He makes me chuckle and giggle.
I'm Michael ian Black's biggest fan. Welcome Michael.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Thank you, AJ. That is the nicest poem I think
anybody has ever written about me.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well, I wish I could take credit. It actually is
not me. It was written by chat GBT.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
In that case, it really was a piece of insipid
doggerel exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Well that I bring it up, because that is the
theme of our puzzle today is what command was it
that I gave chat gbt to write that little masterpiece?
So what what do you think I might have put
into chat gbt to get it to.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Write write a poem about the comedy and Michael Iam
Black right.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
But there's more. I didn't just ask him to write
a poem. I asked it to write a poem in
a style.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Of oh uh, doctor zoos exactly. You noticed I gave
it the comedic pronunciation zoo's as opposed to the more
traditional zeus chatch idea. You wouldn't even think of that,
chat GPT, like, what's the comedic pronunciation of Steus zoos?
I did. That's why AI will never replace us staging.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
It's a hack. It's a well I think, as you'll
see today, it's quite hacky. I think you will. It
will make you feel better about your own writing. But
it is the theme of our puzzle. And I'm going
to read you a couple of passages and you have
to figure out what I asked chat GPT. Okay, so
are you ready ready? And feel free to judge chat
gbt's writing style.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I do.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Number one, So there's this gnarly dude just trying to
catch a wave back home to Ithaca after helping his
brus win this war. But the sir super rough and
he's been hanging ten with his total babe Calypso on
his island. And then he's like, I got to get
back to my main squeeze Penelope, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh man, so this is chat GPT. Can you write
me I guess a summation of I want to say
the Iliad? Is it the Iliad?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah? It is close enough. It is close enough. It's
the other one I know. But it's the sequel, right,
the sequel ill he Ad part two?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, the Odyssey in the style of a surfer dude.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Exactly, you got it, all right, brilliant and see what
I'm saying about, Like that is not very sophisticated surfer lingo.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I feel, really is I would? I would hazard to
guess that it's a touch out dated.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Exactly, Yeah, I feel the chat GPT is lord of
Like it's like me, It's like a dad. It's like,
you know, trying to get in the mind of the youngsters.
All right. Number two, what command did I give chat
GPT to write this? The Lord spoke unto the people, saying, behold,
I give unto you the water dwelling squirtle in the rivers,
(03:45):
the winged pigiot of the skies, and the swift mewtwo
of the fields.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Okay, so I don't know any of these words. But
I feel like it's Pokemon, am am, I.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
It is Pokemon.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So give me a chat GPT if you would, a
biblical rendition of Pokemon.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
That's it, of the birth of Pokemon and the I'm
impressed you didn't even know the Pokemon and yet you got.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well it's more like an old Testament.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yes it was old. It was actually a rope in
the style of the King James Bible. Okay, so all right,
well that was that was very well done. And by
the way, I was not as polite as you are
to chat GPT. I didn't say, would you please give me?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I just I just know I'm not like that like
I was. I was at I was at a tratoria
today here in Rome, and there was a Scandinavian group
of four sitting next to me, and the gruff Scandinavian
gentleman said to the waiter, Sultan Pepper, just like that.
He didn't say, please, may I have? And I thought, oh,
I would never address chat GPT in that manner.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Well, that is nice of you. And when they take over,
they are gonna, you know, they'll remember.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I will be last against the wall exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Uh, all right, we got two more. Next one? What
did I ask chat GPT here? So this was a
time when there was peak eat the rich energy tbh,
and they said thank you next to the monarchy and
chopped off the heads of anyone who didn't like their
(05:30):
spicy vibe.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Wow, I'm at c on this one. Give me read
it again.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Okay. It was a time and history where there was peak,
Eat the rich energy.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I don't know what that is, the witch energy, eat.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
The rich, eat the rich energy. And they said thank
you next to the monarch.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Okay, got it, and the.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Heads off anyone who didn't like their vibe.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Okay, So we're talking about the French Revolution here, chat GPT,
Will you please describe for me the French Revolution in
the style of a gen Zer.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
That's it, exactly that gen z Er. That's exactly what
I wrote. Oh, very well done. You know your stereotypes. Okay,
very proud of you. All right, Final one, final one.
And I did I spend I'd say twelve minutes watching
a YouTube tutorial for this one, so on how to
(06:45):
do the accent. So it's pretty flawless, or should I
say pretty flawless?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
All right? Nice?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
All right?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And this one's a little it might be a little trickier,
but I feel you're up to it. All right, all right,
he let me tell you about this top notch Telly show.
It's got geezers and big yellow birds and they're always
having a giraffe. And there are these two blokes who
(07:14):
live together, having a roight blondie over who gets to
wear the trousers in their relationship. There's a bloke named
Oscar who lives in a garbage sedan, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And you said this one was gonna be tricky.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Well, I wasn't sure that my accent was gonna be
so flawless.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Well yeah, it's not so much of the accent, which
is terrible, but pretty much when you say big yellow
bird and Oscar in two blokes, Uh, you were clearly
talking about Sesame Street in Cockney slang.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
That's it Cockney rhyming slang to be exact. But you
got it, brilliant. You listen, chant evt is no no
competence for you.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
It's there to make our lives easier. And these puzzles,
I would say, we're all gentle and fun. There was
not There was no gnashing of teeth or pulling of hair,
So I would say, chat GPT did its job flawlessly.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
All right. Well, so now he sounds like you're endorsing it.
I thought we were.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I like it. Now it's all right.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Well we flawlesslie, but not nearly as good as what
you or I would have done. Wow, thank you, Michael.
Where can we find more of your content? Paid or unpaid? Uh?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I don't know. You can probably find me wandering around
Rome these days. So if you're at the if you're
at the Spanish steps, are the tevy fountain comes say.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Hello, excellent, I'm a fan of Rome. I am a
fanglyptic city. And you chose Rome over over all other cities.
All there are a lot of a lot of other cities. Well,
have a good time, a rivedercee. Is that something they said?
And as always, there's a quick extra credit for the
(09:09):
puzzlers at home. Another chat GBT puzzle. Are you ready
listeners at home? This is an epic tale of the
power struggle between several houses to see who can claim
the iron deep fryer. The House of Grimace in the
(09:30):
mcclury Mountains must battle the House of Falleo Fish, led
by the Seafaring Captain Crook, and there are other battles
to be done, but you get the idea. Puzzlers, Please
don't forget to subscribe to the Puzzler Podcast and I'll
meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will
puzzle you.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Puzzlingly high Puzzlers. Greg Pliska here with the extra credit
from our previous show. On that show, we played a
game of name that very short tune with Michael Ian
Black giving him different sounds and he had to identify
(10:12):
where they came from which game show. Well, and here
was the sound that we played for the extra credit,
and that's right. Game show fans will recognize that as
the zonk sound from Let's Make a Deal. Well played, Puzzlers,
(10:33):
We'll see you next time.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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