May 21, 2025 • 20 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: actor and podcaster, Joshua Malina!
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast. Let's start with
a quick puzzle. Our guest today is actor Josh Malina,
who is not only a talented actor, but he also
has a highly anagrammable last name, meaning you can rearrange
the letters to create lots of good stuff, as he
pointed out last time, so he scooped us on this.
(00:24):
But uh, he pointed out, Malina M A L I
N A can be rearranged to the word animal. So
that is the only actor I know whose last name
rearranges to animal. However, there are some other act celebrities,
notable people who's.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Just just in. I think I'm anal am I wrong?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I think that. Wow, that is breaking news. Veris and
would you consider that an accurate statement? Are you an
anal No?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I think I'm Uh there's type well, I was thinking
more like type A type R.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'm not organized or meticulous or particularly good at anything
you've done.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You've done pretty well for yourself being a type are Uh.
So there's some type A in there somewhere.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
But yes, so Josh, who you just heard, is the
only uh person I know with an animal anagram in
his last name. However, there are many celebrities whose last
names anagram to a type of animal a species of animal.
For instance, actress Lena Olin O l I n her
(01:38):
last name becomes lion. Josh is shaking his head, nod
in his head.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You know, I got it.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, you can try these other ones. This will be good. Okay,
all right, here are a couple of animals, and you
can tell me what famous person also has a last
name with those same animals. Sometimes there's more than one person.
We've got four, which is eel. That's e E L. Second,
(02:08):
Harper Lee. Sorry, oh he's doing it?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Are you supposed to We'll wait till the end.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
We'll wait till the end. But yes, it was Harperley
or Bruce Lee or Angley. All right, this one's you
have to You have to say in your say it
in your inside voice, interior.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Voice, thoughts, not words. Shot, that's it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Uh deer as in d E E R and horse
h O R s E. And finally, this is a
tough one, suggested by Julie my wife bear b e
A R. So come back after the messages for the
answers and more puzzling goodness. Hello, Puzzlers, Welcome back to
(02:54):
the Puzzler Podcast. The Clear t s a pre check
global entry in your puzzle airport. Before the break, we
asked Josh, our guest uh and you listeners about anagrams
of famous people's last names that when rearranged spell animals.
We had E E L Eel, which, as Josh pointed out,
(03:18):
anagram's the last name to Harper Lee. What about dear
d E E r Any theories on that, Josh?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Any of the famous reads Robert Reid?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yes, mister Brady, I think uh dating almost as cool.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
As as as.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Uh Donna Reid? What about Yeah, Donna Reid. I'm dating
myself now that's even before my time. What about horse
h O R s E.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Anything coming to go with another old man's choice? Dinah
sho nice one.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
There's a slightly less old man's choice, which is Paulis.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And we also had Bear b E A R the
animal bear. Anyone come to mind? That would be Lily
rob r Abe, the actress Lily Robbed Julie suggested it
a tough one. She's known for her American horror story appearances,
and she received a Tony nomination for the Merchant of Venice. Congratulations,
(04:24):
Lily Rob. Now, the reason this all came up is because,
as I mentioned, Josh Molina is our guest. Anagrams to animal,
but he is so much more than an anagram. He
is a great actor, and.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I'm not an animal. I'm a human being exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
He is a human being and award winning human being.
He is. He's been on West Wing, Scandal, The Leopold Stocked,
the Broadway Show, so much more. Thank you for returning
for one last show, Josh, Thanks for having you. We
are delighted. Now, Josh, I did listen. When I was
researching you, I found out that you graduated from a
(05:04):
very prestigious school, bartending school.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yes I did.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I did.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I put in two weeks that I wish I remember
the name of it. I probably have the diploma on
my wall somewhere, but yes, two weeks in New York
City to train as a bartender.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And you worked as a bartender a little.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I worked as a bartender at the Broadway Theater where
Leniz was playing. It's the lowest form of bartending job
because you essentially worked for fifteen minutes during intermission. It's
not an exalted calling as a bartender. And then I
worked in the back bar of a restaurant in Manhattan,
and I was so green that occasionally the waiters are
(05:42):
coming with their drink orders and I have to bend
down behind the bar and flipped through my index cards
that I'd made.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I was like, what's a salty dog again? Do you know?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I remember?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I feel like it's grapefruit?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Hold on, because that was one.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
See whether I'm right.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yes, you're right, vodka grapefruit.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I've still got it. You get yeah, kids, get that
education because it will do you well for the rest
of your life.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Nicely done on the salty dog. And by the way,
when you say that's the lowest form, that sounds like
the highest form of bartending. Having to work fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I guess. But the remuneration is not icy.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, the chips would not be idea right, all right? Well,
because of your vast knowledge of salty dogs and.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Other drinks, Yes, here we go.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
We have a We have a puzzle that is about cocktails.
It's called sock Fails, And what it is is it's
about a bar where they have tons of type but
they did not hire a copy editor for their menu,
so they have a lot of mixed brinks instead of
(06:58):
fixed brinks. So I'm I give you the name of
the typo written item, and you have to tell me
what is the real drink. Now, we're gonna start with
the sort of the introductory round where it's the first
letter of these drinks and they usually have two words.
(07:20):
The first letter is the one that's wrong.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
So you're easing us into this game.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
You got to ease in exactly, all right? Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
What about a bum and joke? A bum and joke.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I think that's going to be a.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Rum and coke exactly, you got it. What about a
demon prop? Demon prop?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Mm hmm. I think that would be a lemon drop.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Exactly, a lemon drop. And we're not going to ask
you what's in it, but you may know.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, please don't.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You've got to dropping goodbye pre done in a bottle.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Oh there that's an easy one. Also, very good at tomics.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Very good? All right? How about a mob toy mob toy.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
The classic cocktail, the rob Roy.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Exactly Rob Roy. How about we go with a lusty fail,
A lusty fail.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Sure, no idea what's in it? But I do recall
a rusty.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Now exactly, and it's Scotch, whiskey and drambooi in case
in case any.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
I'm sure we covered it in my two weeks exactly.
I should still know.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
So did you actually have to make all of the
drinks as the final exam or just run?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
My memory is that there is instruction and then eventually
there was a Now make me this drink and do
it correctly, and do it in a certain amount of
time in order to get your your covetant certificately having
passed the course.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Now did you do any like Flare bartending, like Tom Cruise?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
No, I never got I never reach that level. You
were lucky if you got the ingredients you ordered. Forget
about them being dazzlingly assembled in front of you.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
All right, What about a fake comb, A fake comb,
A little bit of a tricky one fake comb? The
first letters are different. This one you probably didn't make
because it's not a very sophisticated drink. It is and
it doesn't rhyme. Neither word rhymes with fake or comb.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Interesting A sack bomb, I would have been going. So
that's the kind of thing I fixated. I would have
been looking for the rhyme. I needed you. I needed
you on my shoulder to help me.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
As I said in an earlier episode, I don't naturally
go to.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Lateral ways and thinking. I'm very literal. So I see
the word, I know it's going to run. I have
to open my brain up to other possibilities when I.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Gave well, you opened it successfully, So congrats, but you're
gonna have to keep it open because we're going to
round two. That's a little bit trickier where the typos
could come anywhere in the two words. They could be
the first letter, the last letter, somewhere in the middle.
So what about is it a single letter your gun
letter per word?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Just one letter per type of gotcha?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
One one typo per word. Yes, they're very strict about
that when they make their typos. Uh, gun and topic,
gun and topic.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Okay, the aforementioned.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
The aforementioned exactly because the U the I becomes a
U and the end becomes a P. Gun and topic.
I didn't change and to ant, but you got the idea.
How about man tan man.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Tan man tan would be the type of verb of
a my tie.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
That is correct, my tie. How about broody Marx, that's
like Carl Marx, M a r X and broody. So
it's an unhappy room in which I think Carl Marx
was probably brooding quite a bit. I'm guessing.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Uh that's a tough one, bloody Mary.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Exactly, not too tough, not too tough. Oh and here
was silty dig, which was salty dog, but you dog.
You already mentioned that this one's a little a little
PG thirteen or rated R. All right, so yes, Apollo,
but it's you know, it's just biology folks, semen and
(11:42):
sever semen and sever h.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah, that's a seven and.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Seven exactly, a seven and seven, which is seagrim seven
crown and seven up.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Uh, yeah, that was easy enough to remember, that's.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Right, Yeah, I mean seven up. They are. They are
lucky that I got there. How about uh, whisker soup.
Whisker soup so w h I s k e r
and so.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Must be whiskey sour exactly, all right.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
How about this one I am proud of. This is
a blank and wand blank and wan, which is one
spelled w a n thank you, Yes, blank b l
a n k and one w A n.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Is.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
It's with I'm gonna let I'm gonna let it sit.
I'm gonna let it sit just because you've been cruising
seeing the words.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I should be able to get this blank.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
And one blank and wan.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I give up. I've taken two more.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
All right, Well it is two colors like blank and wan,
but they are.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Too black and tan. I actually like to drink a
black and tan Guinness. It's Guinness with usually harp or
another logger on top.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
It has to be assembled by a real crafts person
to be done well.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Right, there are ten should have gotten it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
No, no, no, there's plenty of excuses. And by the way, yeah,
that is that's a hard one as a bartender, I imagine,
because it's like the tequila sunrise. It's the layers you
got to do.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
That's exactly right. And I just remember I went with
my podcast. We did a live event or two live
events in Dublin, and so we drank a lot of
well I.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Shouldn't say WESHI doesn't trigger.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I drank a lot of guinness and I was that weird,
ugly American tourist because it takes a while to pour
a guinness properly, and I would keep reaching for it,
and the bartenders were like, hang on, it's the poor
you let it settled, and I had to. I had
to ease into it, as with my puzzling, and I
had to learn patience.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Oh no, you are you were well. I will say
that you are very patient in that you pranks I
feel require patients because you cannot like ruin the punchline.
And that's why I'm not good at pranks. I can't
but you.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That is true.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Like revenge and borsh, they are best served cold exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Remind me what a couple of your pranks were. I
know a prank that was played on you by Jimmy
Kimmel that.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Was the biggest of all time, proving that people who
are pranksters themselves are no less scullible than the people
upon whom they pread.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, and that was just since we're on it, you
want to remind people.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
They got me so bad.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Well, after years of pranking my castmates on Scandal, often
with the help of Jimmy Kimmel as an accomplist, they
got back to me horribly, but we did. This was
an idea I had titched to sort of promote the show,
like we should drop in on people watching the show
that are having Scandal parties and hey, some actors from
the show are there, so when it and this is
(15:01):
the kind of long ball they played. They did it
once and it aired a Good Morning America with Tony
and I can't remember another the actors, and then they're like,
it is your idea, you got to do the next one.
And I showed up and one of the producers said
to me, Okay, you're gonna go in there. It's a
nice couple and their mom, and here's a confetti canon
that you'll do the confetti canon and it'll surprise them.
(15:21):
And I didn't really want to do it, but I
was like, okay. I grabbed the convetti and we barged in.
I was with Katie Low's also on the show. I
did the confetti canon, and the older woman whom I
thought was their mother, it turns out they were all actors,
and I was getting set up started to have some
sort of cardiac discomfort and as if I had scared
her and now she was having a cardiac event.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I fell for it completely.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Next thing I knew, we stopped filming these I heard
an ambulance.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I was living by her, trying to cover my ass.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
If I can't say that or Cya by saying they
gave me the canon I didn't want.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
To do, just trying to cover myself legally.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And then the paramedic runs in and it's Jimmy Pimmel
and they grabbed me and they stick me in the
gurney and they bring me outside, and then there was
a fire truck on the driveway that hit me with
the hose I fell for it a hook line and
sinker and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
You can find it on you.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
You were very nice though, You're very nice to the
ailing woman. You were very careful well.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Having triggered what I thought was potentially fatal heart attack,
I thought it could be as calming as possible in
your final moments.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
And what was one prank you did that?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I mean nothing nearly that bad.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
One thing I did do that Jimmy helped me with
was I told the rest of the cast that I
wanted them to record happy Birthday readings for Jimmy, and
I had pre written them, so I'll just do it
with my phone and just say this, And I got
them all to do it. But we had Jimmy his
writing staff and I worked out what the messages would
(16:56):
be so that we could recut them into things that
were not flattering to the speaker. So you know, made
Bellamy Young say I'm an unbearable vegan, and I went
on the show and they we just cut them all
so that they were all saying these horrible and we're.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Some of them were actually legitimately mad.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
That is odd. Well, I know you also have a
nice prank war with Bradley Whitford from Yes.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yes, that is a long long brewing, well not brewing,
it's on. That's been a long standing feud.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Well, I love all sorts of things to each other.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
When I did read Twitter, I love reading your tweets
at Bradley Whitford, and he got you with when he
wrote an episode of West Wing which.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
He wrote an episode of West Wing in which my
character Will Bailey doesn't want to go out and do
a press conference where he's going to have to get
some misinformation to pretend he doesn't know something, and he
has my character say I can't act. I'm a terrible actor,
and so he literally created the sublot just to make
me say that I can't act on television, which hat
tip is one of the great friends.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That is good. Well, I love that you're a good
sport about being pranked as well as pranking. All right,
we'll end with just have a one more before we go. Okay,
this is a brand of beer, and again, don't try
to rhyme. The rhyming won't work dog equip So if
you have a dog and you try to equip it, Oh,
(18:23):
you got it.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I believe I've got it. I think we've got.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Exactly dozekies the Mexican beer. Well, fantastic. Thank you for
puzzling with us and having well, we'll have to have
you come back. I do have an extra credit for
the tipplers at home, and that is punk lazy. It
has two letters changed somewhere in each of those words,
(18:51):
one in punk and one in lazy. And we will
end there. Uh if you uh, If you have time
after the show, check out our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers,
where we post original puzzles and other fun stuff. And
we'll meet you here tomorrow, sadly without Josh, but there
(19:12):
will be more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzling.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Hey, puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska up from the Puzzle Lab
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. We
did some Audio Connections with Josh Molina and we gave
you this extra credit clue. These three songs.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
It's like a hungle.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
Sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep them going.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Hello, I'm out of PI, don Shine to go, Paul
ont of my Chaine.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
Asspent on you, and that is correct.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Those were the Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious
five Payphone by Maroon five, and ABC by the Jackson Five.
I always feel like ABC is a good puzzler themed
song anyway because of the letters. But you've surely picked
up the connection by now. Those are all bands with
the word five in their names. And we are so
(20:26):
glad that you're here playing this and every other puzzle
with this And we'll see her next time for some
more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly
Hello, puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast. Let's start with
a quick puzzle. Our guest today is actor Josh Malina,
who is not only a talented actor, but he also
has a highly anagrammable last name, meaning you can rearrange
the letters to create lots of good stuff, as he
pointed out last time, so he scooped us on this.
(00:24):
But uh, he pointed out, Malina M A L I
N A can be rearranged to the word animal. So
that is the only actor I know whose last name
rearranges to animal. However, there are some other act celebrities,
notable people who's.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Just just in. I think I'm anal am I wrong?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I think that. Wow, that is breaking news. Veris and
would you consider that an accurate statement? Are you an
anal No?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I think I'm Uh there's type well, I was thinking
more like type A type R.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'm not organized or meticulous or particularly good at anything
you've done.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You've done pretty well for yourself being a type are Uh.
So there's some type A in there somewhere.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
But yes, so Josh, who you just heard, is the
only uh person I know with an animal anagram in
his last name. However, there are many celebrities whose last
names anagram to a type of animal a species of animal.
For instance, actress Lena Olin O l I n her
(01:38):
last name becomes lion. Josh is shaking his head, nod
in his head.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You know, I got it.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, you can try these other ones. This will be good. Okay,
all right, here are a couple of animals, and you
can tell me what famous person also has a last
name with those same animals. Sometimes there's more than one person.
We've got four, which is eel. That's e E L. Second,
(02:08):
Harper Lee. Sorry, oh he's doing it?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Are you supposed to We'll wait till the end.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
We'll wait till the end. But yes, it was Harperley
or Bruce Lee or Angley. All right, this one's you
have to You have to say in your say it
in your inside voice, interior.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Voice, thoughts, not words. Shot, that's it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Uh deer as in d E E R and horse
h O R s E. And finally, this is a
tough one, suggested by Julie my wife bear b e
A R. So come back after the messages for the
answers and more puzzling goodness. Hello, Puzzlers, Welcome back to
(02:54):
the Puzzler Podcast. The Clear t s a pre check
global entry in your puzzle airport. Before the break, we
asked Josh, our guest uh and you listeners about anagrams
of famous people's last names that when rearranged spell animals.
We had E E L Eel, which, as Josh pointed out,
(03:18):
anagram's the last name to Harper Lee. What about dear
d E E r Any theories on that, Josh?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Any of the famous reads Robert Reid?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yes, mister Brady, I think uh dating almost as cool.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
As as as.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Uh Donna Reid? What about Yeah, Donna Reid. I'm dating
myself now that's even before my time. What about horse
h O R s E.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Anything coming to go with another old man's choice? Dinah
sho nice one.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
There's a slightly less old man's choice, which is Paulis.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And we also had Bear b E A R the
animal bear. Anyone come to mind? That would be Lily
rob r Abe, the actress Lily Robbed Julie suggested it
a tough one. She's known for her American horror story appearances,
and she received a Tony nomination for the Merchant of Venice. Congratulations,
(04:24):
Lily Rob. Now, the reason this all came up is because,
as I mentioned, Josh Molina is our guest. Anagrams to animal,
but he is so much more than an anagram. He
is a great actor, and.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I'm not an animal. I'm a human being exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
He is a human being and award winning human being.
He is. He's been on West Wing, Scandal, The Leopold Stocked,
the Broadway Show, so much more. Thank you for returning
for one last show, Josh, Thanks for having you. We
are delighted. Now, Josh, I did listen. When I was
researching you, I found out that you graduated from a
(05:04):
very prestigious school, bartending school.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yes I did.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I did.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I put in two weeks that I wish I remember
the name of it. I probably have the diploma on
my wall somewhere, but yes, two weeks in New York
City to train as a bartender.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And you worked as a bartender a little.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I worked as a bartender at the Broadway Theater where
Leniz was playing. It's the lowest form of bartending job
because you essentially worked for fifteen minutes during intermission. It's
not an exalted calling as a bartender. And then I
worked in the back bar of a restaurant in Manhattan,
and I was so green that occasionally the waiters are
(05:42):
coming with their drink orders and I have to bend
down behind the bar and flipped through my index cards
that I'd made.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I was like, what's a salty dog again? Do you know?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I remember?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I feel like it's grapefruit?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Hold on, because that was one.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
See whether I'm right.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yes, you're right, vodka grapefruit.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I've still got it. You get yeah, kids, get that
education because it will do you well for the rest
of your life.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Nicely done on the salty dog. And by the way,
when you say that's the lowest form, that sounds like
the highest form of bartending. Having to work fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I guess. But the remuneration is not icy.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, the chips would not be idea right, all right? Well,
because of your vast knowledge of salty dogs and.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Other drinks, Yes, here we go.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
We have a We have a puzzle that is about cocktails.
It's called sock Fails, And what it is is it's
about a bar where they have tons of type but
they did not hire a copy editor for their menu,
so they have a lot of mixed brinks instead of
(06:58):
fixed brinks. So I'm I give you the name of
the typo written item, and you have to tell me
what is the real drink. Now, we're gonna start with
the sort of the introductory round where it's the first
letter of these drinks and they usually have two words.
(07:20):
The first letter is the one that's wrong.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
So you're easing us into this game.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
You got to ease in exactly, all right? Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
What about a bum and joke? A bum and joke.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I think that's going to be a.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Rum and coke exactly, you got it. What about a
demon prop? Demon prop?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Mm hmm. I think that would be a lemon drop.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Exactly, a lemon drop. And we're not going to ask
you what's in it, but you may know.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, please don't.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You've got to dropping goodbye pre done in a bottle.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Oh there that's an easy one. Also, very good at tomics.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Very good? All right? How about a mob toy mob toy.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
The classic cocktail, the rob Roy.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Exactly Rob Roy. How about we go with a lusty fail,
A lusty fail.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Sure, no idea what's in it? But I do recall
a rusty.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Now exactly, and it's Scotch, whiskey and drambooi in case
in case any.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
I'm sure we covered it in my two weeks exactly.
I should still know.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
So did you actually have to make all of the
drinks as the final exam or just run?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
My memory is that there is instruction and then eventually
there was a Now make me this drink and do
it correctly, and do it in a certain amount of
time in order to get your your covetant certificately having
passed the course.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Now did you do any like Flare bartending, like Tom Cruise?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
No, I never got I never reach that level. You
were lucky if you got the ingredients you ordered. Forget
about them being dazzlingly assembled in front of you.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
All right, What about a fake comb, A fake comb,
A little bit of a tricky one fake comb? The
first letters are different. This one you probably didn't make
because it's not a very sophisticated drink. It is and
it doesn't rhyme. Neither word rhymes with fake or comb.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Interesting A sack bomb, I would have been going. So
that's the kind of thing I fixated. I would have
been looking for the rhyme. I needed you. I needed
you on my shoulder to help me.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
As I said in an earlier episode, I don't naturally
go to.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Lateral ways and thinking. I'm very literal. So I see
the word, I know it's going to run. I have
to open my brain up to other possibilities when I.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Gave well, you opened it successfully, So congrats, but you're
gonna have to keep it open because we're going to
round two. That's a little bit trickier where the typos
could come anywhere in the two words. They could be
the first letter, the last letter, somewhere in the middle.
So what about is it a single letter your gun
letter per word?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Just one letter per type of gotcha?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
One one typo per word. Yes, they're very strict about
that when they make their typos. Uh, gun and topic,
gun and topic.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Okay, the aforementioned.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
The aforementioned exactly because the U the I becomes a
U and the end becomes a P. Gun and topic.
I didn't change and to ant, but you got the idea.
How about man tan man.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Tan man tan would be the type of verb of
a my tie.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
That is correct, my tie. How about broody Marx, that's
like Carl Marx, M a r X and broody. So
it's an unhappy room in which I think Carl Marx
was probably brooding quite a bit. I'm guessing.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Uh that's a tough one, bloody Mary.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Exactly, not too tough, not too tough. Oh and here
was silty dig, which was salty dog, but you dog.
You already mentioned that this one's a little a little
PG thirteen or rated R. All right, so yes, Apollo,
but it's you know, it's just biology folks, semen and
(11:42):
sever semen and sever h.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah, that's a seven and.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Seven exactly, a seven and seven, which is seagrim seven
crown and seven up.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Uh, yeah, that was easy enough to remember, that's.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Right, Yeah, I mean seven up. They are. They are
lucky that I got there. How about uh, whisker soup.
Whisker soup so w h I s k e r
and so.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Must be whiskey sour exactly, all right.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
How about this one I am proud of. This is
a blank and wand blank and wan, which is one
spelled w a n thank you, Yes, blank b l
a n k and one w A n.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Is.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
It's with I'm gonna let I'm gonna let it sit.
I'm gonna let it sit just because you've been cruising
seeing the words.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I should be able to get this blank.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
And one blank and wan.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I give up. I've taken two more.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
All right, Well it is two colors like blank and wan,
but they are.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Too black and tan. I actually like to drink a
black and tan Guinness. It's Guinness with usually harp or
another logger on top.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
It has to be assembled by a real crafts person
to be done well.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Right, there are ten should have gotten it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
No, no, no, there's plenty of excuses. And by the way, yeah,
that is that's a hard one as a bartender, I imagine,
because it's like the tequila sunrise. It's the layers you
got to do.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
That's exactly right. And I just remember I went with
my podcast. We did a live event or two live
events in Dublin, and so we drank a lot of
well I.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Shouldn't say WESHI doesn't trigger.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I drank a lot of guinness and I was that weird,
ugly American tourist because it takes a while to pour
a guinness properly, and I would keep reaching for it,
and the bartenders were like, hang on, it's the poor
you let it settled, and I had to. I had
to ease into it, as with my puzzling, and I
had to learn patience.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Oh no, you are you were well. I will say
that you are very patient in that you pranks I
feel require patients because you cannot like ruin the punchline.
And that's why I'm not good at pranks. I can't
but you.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That is true.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Like revenge and borsh, they are best served cold exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Remind me what a couple of your pranks were. I
know a prank that was played on you by Jimmy
Kimmel that.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Was the biggest of all time, proving that people who
are pranksters themselves are no less scullible than the people
upon whom they pread.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, and that was just since we're on it, you
want to remind people.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
They got me so bad.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Well, after years of pranking my castmates on Scandal, often
with the help of Jimmy Kimmel as an accomplist, they
got back to me horribly, but we did. This was
an idea I had titched to sort of promote the show,
like we should drop in on people watching the show
that are having Scandal parties and hey, some actors from
the show are there, so when it and this is
(15:01):
the kind of long ball they played. They did it
once and it aired a Good Morning America with Tony
and I can't remember another the actors, and then they're like,
it is your idea, you got to do the next one.
And I showed up and one of the producers said
to me, Okay, you're gonna go in there. It's a
nice couple and their mom, and here's a confetti canon
that you'll do the confetti canon and it'll surprise them.
(15:21):
And I didn't really want to do it, but I
was like, okay. I grabbed the convetti and we barged in.
I was with Katie Low's also on the show. I
did the confetti canon, and the older woman whom I
thought was their mother, it turns out they were all actors,
and I was getting set up started to have some
sort of cardiac discomfort and as if I had scared
her and now she was having a cardiac event.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I fell for it completely.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Next thing I knew, we stopped filming these I heard
an ambulance.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I was living by her, trying to cover my ass.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
If I can't say that or Cya by saying they
gave me the canon I didn't want.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
To do, just trying to cover myself legally.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And then the paramedic runs in and it's Jimmy Pimmel
and they grabbed me and they stick me in the
gurney and they bring me outside, and then there was
a fire truck on the driveway that hit me with
the hose I fell for it a hook line and
sinker and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
You can find it on you.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
You were very nice though, You're very nice to the
ailing woman. You were very careful well.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Having triggered what I thought was potentially fatal heart attack,
I thought it could be as calming as possible in
your final moments.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
And what was one prank you did that?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I mean nothing nearly that bad.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
One thing I did do that Jimmy helped me with
was I told the rest of the cast that I
wanted them to record happy Birthday readings for Jimmy, and
I had pre written them, so I'll just do it
with my phone and just say this, And I got
them all to do it. But we had Jimmy his
writing staff and I worked out what the messages would
(16:56):
be so that we could recut them into things that
were not flattering to the speaker. So you know, made
Bellamy Young say I'm an unbearable vegan, and I went
on the show and they we just cut them all
so that they were all saying these horrible and we're.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Some of them were actually legitimately mad.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
That is odd. Well, I know you also have a
nice prank war with Bradley Whitford from Yes.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yes, that is a long long brewing, well not brewing,
it's on. That's been a long standing feud.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Well, I love all sorts of things to each other.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
When I did read Twitter, I love reading your tweets
at Bradley Whitford, and he got you with when he
wrote an episode of West Wing which.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
He wrote an episode of West Wing in which my
character Will Bailey doesn't want to go out and do
a press conference where he's going to have to get
some misinformation to pretend he doesn't know something, and he
has my character say I can't act. I'm a terrible actor,
and so he literally created the sublot just to make
me say that I can't act on television, which hat
tip is one of the great friends.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That is good. Well, I love that you're a good
sport about being pranked as well as pranking. All right,
we'll end with just have a one more before we go. Okay,
this is a brand of beer, and again, don't try
to rhyme. The rhyming won't work dog equip So if
you have a dog and you try to equip it, Oh,
(18:23):
you got it.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I believe I've got it. I think we've got.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Exactly dozekies the Mexican beer. Well, fantastic. Thank you for
puzzling with us and having well, we'll have to have
you come back. I do have an extra credit for
the tipplers at home, and that is punk lazy. It
has two letters changed somewhere in each of those words,
(18:51):
one in punk and one in lazy. And we will
end there. Uh if you uh, If you have time
after the show, check out our Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers,
where we post original puzzles and other fun stuff. And
we'll meet you here tomorrow, sadly without Josh, but there
(19:12):
will be more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzling.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Hey, puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska up from the Puzzle Lab
with the extra credit answer from our previous episode. We
did some Audio Connections with Josh Molina and we gave
you this extra credit clue. These three songs.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
It's like a hungle.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
Sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep them going.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Hello, I'm out of PI, don Shine to go, Paul
ont of my Chaine.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
Asspent on you, and that is correct.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Those were the Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious
five Payphone by Maroon five, and ABC by the Jackson Five.
I always feel like ABC is a good puzzler themed
song anyway because of the letters. But you've surely picked
up the connection by now. Those are all bands with
the word five in their names. And we are so
(20:26):
glad that you're here playing this and every other puzzle
with this And we'll see her next time for some
more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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