July 14, 2025 • 16 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.
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.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello puzzlers. We have a Broadway themed episode for you today,
So here is your warm up question. How broad is Broadway? Literally?
Is it the broadest Way in New York City? Meaning
is it the widest street or avenue in New York?
Or are there roads that are wider and broader than Broadway?
(00:22):
Should it be renamed moderately Broadway or kind of Broadway?
The answer and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
Welcome back to The Puzzler, the podcast the one click
check out button for your puzzle shopping cart. I'm your host,
(00:44):
AJ Jacobs, and I'm here, of course, with Chief Puzzle
Officer Greg Fliska Greg. Before the break, we asked listeners
how broad is Broadway? And more important, is it the
broadest broad Way in New York City?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Demitzer's Park Avenue is wider?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yes, this is one hundred and forty feet wide at
its widest. Broadway is a mere eighty feet broad at
its widest.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Bric Avenue is a park down the middle.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, and it used to be where locomotives steam locomotives ran.
But anyway, I bring all of this up because we
have a Broadway musical theme puzzle because our guest is
a fan of musical but not just a fan. She
is a creator of musicals. She has made some of
the best musical comedy in recent years. Co creator and
(01:30):
star of Crazy Ex Girlfriend, a brilliant series. She has
a Netflix special called Death Let Me do my Special.
I am so excited to welcome Rachel.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Bloom, thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, we know you are a fan of words and language,
and you mentioned earlier you are a puzzle fan as well.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I am. I am indeed your crosswear what is the crosswords?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, I actually got pretty far on the Atlantic Caleb's
Inferno last night.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You know, which is the one that gets harder and
harder as it goes down. So I'm pretty proud of that.
I usually only get midway through, but that's pretty far.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Well, you're gonna, I feel you're going to get very
far on the puzzler today. Okay, uh, partly because we
have the theme of musicals.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well, this is just my this is just a playtime
for me.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Well, when did you first fall in love with musicals?
Do you remember the moment?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
My parents used to play them for me all the time,
probably seeing guys and dolls though when.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I was five five Guys and Dolls.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Yeah, and it's where my daughter is five now, and
so I'm like, when do I in retrospect?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Maybe maybe I was six because the.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Attention span to sit through a whole two two and
a half hour musical.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I don't know if she has it yet, but I
immediately sparked to it.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
And I was always singing and performing and been in
love with musicals ever since.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Well, you make great ones, and that's kind of a
racey music. I have to say, there are some adult themes.
I'm watching a bunch of musicals with my mom, and
yesterday we watched Paint Your Wagon, which has some serious
adult love. That movie Pro Polyamory is the first pro
polyamory musical.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
That's something that actually is a Paint Your Wagon has
escaped my consciousness and now I want to watch it.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Oh yeah, it's a woman who is married to two
guys and loves it. Everyone's happy.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Oh great.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, and the movies. The movie is terrific. It does
stuff that's a stage show could never do.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
It's very weird, I have to say. But anyway, as promised,
we have a puzzle, and this puzzle takes place in
a bizarro world, everything in the world is opposite. So
instead of Broadway, their shows are on narrow Way, and
all of the titles in the musicals on narrow Way
are the opposite of what they are in our world. So,
(03:45):
for instance, Andrew Lloyd Weber has a musical call Dogs,
which we would great.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I love this Cats, Cats, So you're gonna give me
the opposite of the thing, and I have to guess
what musical it is.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Precisely, I love this. I love that you love it.
And if you've happened to see in any of these
or have any thoughts or opinions, we love to hear
from you. So don't hold back, all right, your first
bizarre own musical is North Atlantic.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
This one is South Pacific.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Of course, of course South Pacific excellent, off to one hundred.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Based on the writings of Missioner, I believe.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Oh good God.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Actual writings of Missioner, which we had to study. As
a musical theater major, we had I had to study it.
I don't think I did that reading so that I'm
realizing now, I think I make that. So if they
want to revoke my degree, I think I read.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
A little bit. Yeah, Bord, But I know it's based
on James Mishner.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well that's more than I knew. So there you go.
Uh what about Blessed Red Sox?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Blessed Red Sox, This, of course is Damn Yankees.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Damn Yankees is correct.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I was telling my husband about this show. My husband's
a big basketball guy, and he's like, oh my god,
they should do a remake of Damn Yankee's or a
kind of reimagining about basketball.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And I was like, that's actually kind of a great idea.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
That is a great idea. All right.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Well, there was actually a great off Broadway show that
was right near me here that was about a basketball game,
and the actors played the game during the show, so
the staging was all like the cast had to be
able to play basketball because they were playing while they
were doing the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And Oh I like that.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Oh I love that. All right?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I got another one, Ugly and the Human, Ugly and
the Human.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
This would be Beauty and the Beast.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
That is correct. And by the way, Rachel, one of
my you've done so much great stuff, but one of
my favorite videos you ever made is if Disney cartoons
were historically accurate. Yes, can you describe how you came
up with that idea.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Oh yeah, I think I'm a big Disney kid. But
also I have a dark sense of humor and so,
and I grew up with a dad who was always
telling me that if you were to travel back in time,
it would be disgusting because everyone would stink and you
would die instantly of all these diseases. And so if
(06:26):
Disney cartoons were historically accurate, is a song about It's
a natural Disney princess song. But in the end she
dies of I believe it's tuberculosis. It's been a while
she dies. She wants to give birth to a son
and then die right after. Very antisemitic in it, of course,
because it's medieval times. People are getting their hands cut off.
(06:50):
There's a statue of Jesus Christ made of hands of
cut off thieves. And so it's basically I wrote it
before i'd seen Game of Thrones.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
It's Game of Thrones meets Disney.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Well, it is wonderful because it is super disturbing, but
it's sung in such a delightfully chipper tone of voice.
And as you say, historically accurate. The Middle Ages were terrible.
Everything up to who knows five years ago.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Was terrible. I mean, that's well, I mean yeah, I mean,
but then there's I was also reading an article about
how the idea that the Dark Ages was that it
is kind of a myth, and it's just because we've
lost some of the documents from them.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Anyway, I have seen that. I've seen that I'm not
really buying it.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So it sounded awful.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
It sounded norful anytime before, anytime before nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
To me, I'm like, well, that's just barbarism, right.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Let me give you one example is the tobacco enema.
I wrote a book about the seventeen hundreds, and that
was like the biggest that was like the most popular
health thing was to blow smoke up ass like.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
That literally blow smoke up your ass.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Literally blow smoke up your ass, which is where the
phrase might have come from. It's just a mic.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Oh that's interesting, But I think about even my parents
both have memories of getting teeth drilled with no nova came. Really, no,
I'm done, and so what that's probably the sixties.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That is nuts.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Anything before modern dentistry is barbaric.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, all right, I got a couple of more. Great
We're back in the present. High high wormy. That's hi
hi wormy.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
This of course would be bye bye Birdie.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
That is exactly what it is.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But I haven't seen any of these in advance, and
I just keep cracking up.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Oh that's nice, thank you.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
This one is more of a movie musical than Broadway,
but I wanted to include it a background actor. Die,
oh oh, a background actor like an extra the lead.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Lives or the other end of life.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
A star is born, A star is born, That is right.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Although, as you say it a j that's kind of
the plot of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern, right there, a background actor.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Oh, good point. Yeah, there you go. They can rename
it all right. What about buy?
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Be You?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Why be You? Why be You?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Why sell? Rent? Rent?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yes, you got.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It and by the way I saw but I didn't
get a chance to watch it that you had a
little video of Rent part two.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
So a while back at a friend was having a
birthday piano karaoke party, and my husband and I have
decided to be a funny, it would be funny to
do a do that's from like like famous musical theater duets.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
My husband's not a musical theater person.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
So I would do one part of the duet and
then he would have to guess what the other side was,
because we're both impromise.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
And it's based on there's this great improv.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Form called gravid water where one person knows a piece
of a play and.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
The other person doesn't.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
You see anyway, right, And so we were doing this
with musicals, and so we did Light My Candle from
Rent and then two nights ago we did a full
show of this really at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles,
and I'll post clips on my socials where basically we
did a bunch of great duets and one group number
(10:37):
for musical theater where my husband knew nothing, and then
the whole show right now, you can view it on
the website of Dynasty Typewriter.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
They're almost starting their own kind of I don't know, YouTube.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
They are their own kind of comedy archive series where
you can view you can pay to watch.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Live shows, recently Theirs. But anyway, it was called huh, Milton,
that's good?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
All right?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
How how about this one? You're ready, Rachel? Poop country.
Poop Country.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
There's so many things that could be the opposite of
poop country.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Golden rainbow poop.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
The opposite of poop is beauty, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Well, I was actually.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Number you're in town.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
You're in town. That is exactly right. And I felt
comfortable doing that, even though it's a little low brow,
because you have written some wonderful thoughts on bathrooms in
your book. You open with, oh, it's all over, Yeah
it is. Uh, it's all about your toilet training, which
is quite interesting and unusual.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Everybody, everybody poops some better than others.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I'd say, well, now, yes, you had trouble starting out,
but now, yeah, I assume you're a good pooper.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I really am excellent.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Things I was expecting on the show tobacco and.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Oh, yeah, that's true. We have gone seeing a theme,
all right. I got a couple more great dishwashing liquid,
dishwashing liquid grease. Wow, that was fast. I did not
expect that. Now, have you appeared in Greece? I saw.
I didn't know whether it was a joke that you
played Sandy number five in uh in a kid's for
(12:29):
a production that was a slight exaggeration.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I played Sandy.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
I played second act Sandy in a kid's production in
a park.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
It was like a It was a local.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Uh sponsored by the City Kids Theater program, where it
was so janky. We didn't have actual karaoke tracks. We
just sang over the movie recording. No, no child should
do grease.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I just I think, just just don't do grease, do
other things.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
My son was in a musical where he did alternating
nights with another kid, and it's very stressful because, like,
you know, what if you think the other kid is better,
my kid was much better, by the way.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
But oh well, Sandy second act is thankless. You get
really and that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
No, oh you got ripped off.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I didn't get hopelessly devoted to you.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I didn't get any of the like Sandy asides. It
was I just remember singing goodbye to Sandra Dy. That's
what I remember singing.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Got it. I think you've done You've done well since then,
Thank you very much. Yes, I hope that gives you
some comfort.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
All right, I've got two more. How's that do it?
Big box outlet Store of Delights, Big box outlet Store
of Delights.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
This is, of course, Little Shop of Horrors.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
That is act Little Shop of Horrors. Oh, by the way,
I started this with with dogs. Now, I know, have
you ever been in a production of Cats?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Have you have not?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
No, it wasn't a small part of Crazy Ex Girlfriend You.
They wanted to put it on at at the Prison.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Oh yeah, yeah, we take a dump on We took
a dump on cats all the time in Crazy X.
And that was before the movie Cats came out. There's
this delightful recording of them on an April Fool.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Well.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
The rumor is that I don't even know.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
It's a rumor, but Andrew lad Webber hated the Cats
movie so much that he then it inspired him to
get a dog. And then there is a very funny
April Fools recording he made a couple years ago where
he just makes a song.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
He goes like dogs, I'm talking of dogs. It's very funny.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
That is. Look at that.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I didn't even know that when we wrote this. Yeah,
let's get him on the puzzler. All right, Well I'm
gonna finish up with your your biased gentleman, your biased gentleman.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Let's see you're my Oh yes, my fair lady.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
My fair lady. That's right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I love this.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Uh well, you you cruised on through you were I
have a bunch more, but we'll save them for another time.
But I do love your own musical numbers, whether it's
from crazy ex girlfriend or your new special where you
have a lovely lullaby to your daughter with such lyrics
as Hush, go to sleep and please don't die.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Correct, which is what having a baby feels like.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, exactly, that is why I'm having one child.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I don't want to do that again. I can't. I can't, no, no,
no enough.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Well, it's a great special. It's it's funny and touching
and all about how we need to think a little
more about death because we kind of rush it to
the side and it's a big, big part of life.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yep, I agree.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Obviously it's my own point, So I agree.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
You've made it in a kind of more musical and
interesting way than I did. But yes, well, thank you, Rachel.
We are so excited to have you back tomorrow. I
do have an extra credit for you. So what is
this musical? In bizarro world? It is called out the Depths.
Out the Depths. Come back tomorrow for the answer. And
(16:31):
in the meantime, you can get more puzzling goodness at
our Instagram feed, which is at Hello puzzlers, and we
will see you here, of course tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles.
I will puzzle you puzzlingly
Hello puzzlers. We have a Broadway themed episode for you today,
So here is your warm up question. How broad is Broadway? Literally?
Is it the broadest Way in New York City? Meaning
is it the widest street or avenue in New York?
Or are there roads that are wider and broader than Broadway?
(00:22):
Should it be renamed moderately Broadway or kind of Broadway?
The answer and more puzzling goodness after the break, Hello puzzlers,
Welcome back to The Puzzler, the podcast the one click
check out button for your puzzle shopping cart. I'm your host,
(00:44):
AJ Jacobs, and I'm here, of course, with Chief Puzzle
Officer Greg Fliska Greg. Before the break, we asked listeners
how broad is Broadway? And more important, is it the
broadest broad Way in New York City?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Demitzer's Park Avenue is wider?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yes, this is one hundred and forty feet wide at
its widest. Broadway is a mere eighty feet broad at
its widest.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Bric Avenue is a park down the middle.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, and it used to be where locomotives steam locomotives ran.
But anyway, I bring all of this up because we
have a Broadway musical theme puzzle because our guest is
a fan of musical but not just a fan. She
is a creator of musicals. She has made some of
the best musical comedy in recent years. Co creator and
(01:30):
star of Crazy Ex Girlfriend, a brilliant series. She has
a Netflix special called Death Let Me do my Special.
I am so excited to welcome Rachel.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Bloom, thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, we know you are a fan of words and language,
and you mentioned earlier you are a puzzle fan as well.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I am. I am indeed your crosswear what is the crosswords?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, I actually got pretty far on the Atlantic Caleb's
Inferno last night.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You know, which is the one that gets harder and
harder as it goes down. So I'm pretty proud of that.
I usually only get midway through, but that's pretty far.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Well, you're gonna, I feel you're going to get very
far on the puzzler today. Okay, uh, partly because we
have the theme of musicals.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well, this is just my this is just a playtime
for me.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Well, when did you first fall in love with musicals?
Do you remember the moment?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
My parents used to play them for me all the time,
probably seeing guys and dolls though when.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I was five five Guys and Dolls.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Yeah, and it's where my daughter is five now, and
so I'm like, when do I in retrospect?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Maybe maybe I was six because the.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Attention span to sit through a whole two two and
a half hour musical.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I don't know if she has it yet, but I
immediately sparked to it.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
And I was always singing and performing and been in
love with musicals ever since.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Well, you make great ones, and that's kind of a
racey music. I have to say, there are some adult themes.
I'm watching a bunch of musicals with my mom, and
yesterday we watched Paint Your Wagon, which has some serious
adult love. That movie Pro Polyamory is the first pro
polyamory musical.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
That's something that actually is a Paint Your Wagon has
escaped my consciousness and now I want to watch it.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Oh yeah, it's a woman who is married to two
guys and loves it. Everyone's happy.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Oh great.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, and the movies. The movie is terrific. It does
stuff that's a stage show could never do.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
It's very weird, I have to say. But anyway, as promised,
we have a puzzle, and this puzzle takes place in
a bizarro world, everything in the world is opposite. So
instead of Broadway, their shows are on narrow Way, and
all of the titles in the musicals on narrow Way
are the opposite of what they are in our world. So,
(03:45):
for instance, Andrew Lloyd Weber has a musical call Dogs,
which we would great.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I love this Cats, Cats, So you're gonna give me
the opposite of the thing, and I have to guess
what musical it is.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Precisely, I love this. I love that you love it.
And if you've happened to see in any of these
or have any thoughts or opinions, we love to hear
from you. So don't hold back, all right, your first
bizarre own musical is North Atlantic.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
This one is South Pacific.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Of course, of course South Pacific excellent, off to one hundred.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Based on the writings of Missioner, I believe.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Oh good God.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Actual writings of Missioner, which we had to study. As
a musical theater major, we had I had to study it.
I don't think I did that reading so that I'm
realizing now, I think I make that. So if they
want to revoke my degree, I think I read.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
A little bit. Yeah, Bord, But I know it's based
on James Mishner.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well that's more than I knew. So there you go.
Uh what about Blessed Red Sox?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Blessed Red Sox, This, of course is Damn Yankees.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Damn Yankees is correct.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I was telling my husband about this show. My husband's
a big basketball guy, and he's like, oh my god,
they should do a remake of Damn Yankee's or a
kind of reimagining about basketball.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And I was like, that's actually kind of a great idea.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
That is a great idea. All right.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Well, there was actually a great off Broadway show that
was right near me here that was about a basketball game,
and the actors played the game during the show, so
the staging was all like the cast had to be
able to play basketball because they were playing while they
were doing the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And Oh I like that.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Oh I love that. All right?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I got another one, Ugly and the Human, Ugly and
the Human.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
This would be Beauty and the Beast.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
That is correct. And by the way, Rachel, one of
my you've done so much great stuff, but one of
my favorite videos you ever made is if Disney cartoons
were historically accurate. Yes, can you describe how you came
up with that idea.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Oh yeah, I think I'm a big Disney kid. But
also I have a dark sense of humor and so,
and I grew up with a dad who was always
telling me that if you were to travel back in time,
it would be disgusting because everyone would stink and you
would die instantly of all these diseases. And so if
(06:26):
Disney cartoons were historically accurate, is a song about It's
a natural Disney princess song. But in the end she
dies of I believe it's tuberculosis. It's been a while
she dies. She wants to give birth to a son
and then die right after. Very antisemitic in it, of course,
because it's medieval times. People are getting their hands cut off.
(06:50):
There's a statue of Jesus Christ made of hands of
cut off thieves. And so it's basically I wrote it
before i'd seen Game of Thrones.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
It's Game of Thrones meets Disney.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Well, it is wonderful because it is super disturbing, but
it's sung in such a delightfully chipper tone of voice.
And as you say, historically accurate. The Middle Ages were terrible.
Everything up to who knows five years ago.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Was terrible. I mean, that's well, I mean yeah, I mean,
but then there's I was also reading an article about
how the idea that the Dark Ages was that it
is kind of a myth, and it's just because we've
lost some of the documents from them.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Anyway, I have seen that. I've seen that I'm not
really buying it.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So it sounded awful.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
It sounded norful anytime before, anytime before nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
To me, I'm like, well, that's just barbarism, right.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Let me give you one example is the tobacco enema.
I wrote a book about the seventeen hundreds, and that
was like the biggest that was like the most popular
health thing was to blow smoke up ass like.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
That literally blow smoke up your ass.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Literally blow smoke up your ass, which is where the
phrase might have come from. It's just a mic.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Oh that's interesting, But I think about even my parents
both have memories of getting teeth drilled with no nova came. Really, no,
I'm done, and so what that's probably the sixties.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That is nuts.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Anything before modern dentistry is barbaric.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, all right, I got a couple of more. Great
We're back in the present. High high wormy. That's hi
hi wormy.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
This of course would be bye bye Birdie.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
That is exactly what it is.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But I haven't seen any of these in advance, and
I just keep cracking up.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Oh that's nice, thank you.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
This one is more of a movie musical than Broadway,
but I wanted to include it a background actor. Die,
oh oh, a background actor like an extra the lead.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Lives or the other end of life.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
A star is born, A star is born, That is right.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Although, as you say it a j that's kind of
the plot of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern, right there, a background actor.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Oh, good point. Yeah, there you go. They can rename
it all right. What about buy?
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Be You?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Why be You? Why be You?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Why sell? Rent? Rent?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yes, you got.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It and by the way I saw but I didn't
get a chance to watch it that you had a
little video of Rent part two.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
So a while back at a friend was having a
birthday piano karaoke party, and my husband and I have
decided to be a funny, it would be funny to
do a do that's from like like famous musical theater duets.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
My husband's not a musical theater person.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
So I would do one part of the duet and
then he would have to guess what the other side was,
because we're both impromise.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
And it's based on there's this great improv.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Form called gravid water where one person knows a piece
of a play and.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
The other person doesn't.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
You see anyway, right, And so we were doing this
with musicals, and so we did Light My Candle from
Rent and then two nights ago we did a full
show of this really at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles,
and I'll post clips on my socials where basically we
did a bunch of great duets and one group number
(10:37):
for musical theater where my husband knew nothing, and then
the whole show right now, you can view it on
the website of Dynasty Typewriter.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
They're almost starting their own kind of I don't know, YouTube.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
They are their own kind of comedy archive series where
you can view you can pay to watch.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Live shows, recently Theirs. But anyway, it was called huh, Milton,
that's good?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
All right?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
How how about this one? You're ready, Rachel? Poop country.
Poop Country.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
There's so many things that could be the opposite of
poop country.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Golden rainbow poop.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
The opposite of poop is beauty, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Well, I was actually.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Number you're in town.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
You're in town. That is exactly right. And I felt
comfortable doing that, even though it's a little low brow,
because you have written some wonderful thoughts on bathrooms in
your book. You open with, oh, it's all over, Yeah
it is. Uh, it's all about your toilet training, which
is quite interesting and unusual.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Everybody, everybody poops some better than others.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I'd say, well, now, yes, you had trouble starting out,
but now, yeah, I assume you're a good pooper.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I really am excellent.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Things I was expecting on the show tobacco and.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Oh, yeah, that's true. We have gone seeing a theme,
all right. I got a couple more great dishwashing liquid,
dishwashing liquid grease. Wow, that was fast. I did not
expect that. Now, have you appeared in Greece? I saw.
I didn't know whether it was a joke that you
played Sandy number five in uh in a kid's for
(12:29):
a production that was a slight exaggeration.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I played Sandy.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
I played second act Sandy in a kid's production in
a park.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
It was like a It was a local.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Uh sponsored by the City Kids Theater program, where it
was so janky. We didn't have actual karaoke tracks. We
just sang over the movie recording. No, no child should
do grease.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I just I think, just just don't do grease, do
other things.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
My son was in a musical where he did alternating
nights with another kid, and it's very stressful because, like,
you know, what if you think the other kid is better,
my kid was much better, by the way.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
But oh well, Sandy second act is thankless. You get
really and that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
No, oh you got ripped off.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I didn't get hopelessly devoted to you.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I didn't get any of the like Sandy asides. It
was I just remember singing goodbye to Sandra Dy. That's
what I remember singing.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Got it. I think you've done You've done well since then,
Thank you very much. Yes, I hope that gives you
some comfort.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
All right, I've got two more. How's that do it?
Big box outlet Store of Delights, Big box outlet Store
of Delights.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
This is, of course, Little Shop of Horrors.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
That is act Little Shop of Horrors. Oh, by the way,
I started this with with dogs. Now, I know, have
you ever been in a production of Cats?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Have you have not?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
No, it wasn't a small part of Crazy Ex Girlfriend You.
They wanted to put it on at at the Prison.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Oh yeah, yeah, we take a dump on We took
a dump on cats all the time in Crazy X.
And that was before the movie Cats came out. There's
this delightful recording of them on an April Fool.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Well.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
The rumor is that I don't even know.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
It's a rumor, but Andrew lad Webber hated the Cats
movie so much that he then it inspired him to
get a dog. And then there is a very funny
April Fools recording he made a couple years ago where
he just makes a song.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
He goes like dogs, I'm talking of dogs. It's very funny.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
That is. Look at that.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I didn't even know that when we wrote this. Yeah,
let's get him on the puzzler. All right, Well I'm
gonna finish up with your your biased gentleman, your biased gentleman.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Let's see you're my Oh yes, my fair lady.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
My fair lady. That's right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I love this.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Uh well, you you cruised on through you were I
have a bunch more, but we'll save them for another time.
But I do love your own musical numbers, whether it's
from crazy ex girlfriend or your new special where you
have a lovely lullaby to your daughter with such lyrics
as Hush, go to sleep and please don't die.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Correct, which is what having a baby feels like.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, exactly, that is why I'm having one child.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I don't want to do that again. I can't. I can't, no, no,
no enough.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Well, it's a great special. It's it's funny and touching
and all about how we need to think a little
more about death because we kind of rush it to
the side and it's a big, big part of life.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yep, I agree.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Obviously it's my own point, So I agree.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
You've made it in a kind of more musical and
interesting way than I did. But yes, well, thank you, Rachel.
We are so excited to have you back tomorrow. I
do have an extra credit for you. So what is
this musical? In bizarro world? It is called out the Depths.
Out the Depths. Come back tomorrow for the answer. And
(16:31):
in the meantime, you can get more puzzling goodness at
our Instagram feed, which is at Hello puzzlers, and we
will see you here, of course tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles.
I will puzzle you puzzlingly
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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