Ep. 106: Pass It On, The Good Times

Ben prattles about Uber-Gushers, Brian lauds Flamin' Hot Guitars, and Jimmie "JJ" Walker jabbers on tiny sheep.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and thank you for calling Mrs. Podcast Phone.

(00:03):
If you want to hear, I thought I knew how, a podcast about knitting and life, please press 1 now.
If you want to hear, Lost Unlocked, a spoiler-free podcast about lost, press 2.
For Happy Cast, F edition 106, pass it on. The good times, press 3.
For the engineer-

(00:23):
Answering Phone Ringing
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of HappyCast with Ben and Brian.

(01:01):
HappyCast of course is your number one source for the things that make you happy, the things
that bum you out and everything in between.
I am half of your hosting team Brian and I'm joined by my other half of the podcasting
team Ben.
Ben!
Howdy!
Oh you're going through a cowboy phase now Ben?

(01:23):
Howdy I'm partner Ben.
Giddy up!
Oh so what's your kind of old west job there cowboy Ben?
Are you like a bounty hunter, a prospector, a sheriff?
I'm a ditch digger and...

(01:44):
Important work.
And a saloon cleaner.
Yee haw!
So you dig ditches and you do other odds and ends.
That's good, that's good.
As long as you're not the town drunk although that is a vital role to play in any old west
community.
No I'm a ditch digger, saloon cleaner, and outhouse.

(02:13):
That's it.
The audio cut out a little bit after you said outhouse.
I'm hoping that there was like another word after that and you weren't just an outhouse.
No that's where I stopped talking.
Oh okay you're an outhouse.
My apologies I thought I was having audio issues on my side.
So you are an outhouse.

(02:33):
It's an unfortunate life.
Well alright that's uh well I'm sure that all the folks, fine folks of the community
appreciate your hard work.
My mind is racing with so many questions about how that would work but I'm not gonna get
into it here because honestly they're all far too disgusting to ask on the podcast.

(02:55):
Wait wait is this not our cowboy themed episode?
Well it could be I guess.
Do you have like a cowboy themed happy hour in bummer patrol?
I was going to but you don't really seem all that cowboy so I guess we're not doing a cowboy
episode right now?
I guess not.
I'm sorry Ben.
I see I mistakenly did not prepare for a cowboy scene.

(03:16):
Ah we'll save our west world one for later.
Sure sure next week.
I'm calling it now Ben.
We're calling our shot.
Next week is the long awaited happy cast western episode.
Oh yeah everyone make sure or not say week.
Next time.
Oh next episode.

(03:38):
Whenever that is it will definitely be western themed.
Could be a week from now, a month from now, could be four years as it turns out.
But hey this one probably won't be four years.
If you're hearing this within four years we did it.
Exactly.
Alright well so I alright I'll have to do a lot of prep work between now and then so

(04:03):
I guess in the meantime we'll just move on to the happy hour segment.
Happy hour is the part of the show where we talk about the thing that is making us the
most happy for the week.

(04:24):
Ben you seem like you're in a pretty chipper mood.
What's your happy hour pick?
Well it was gonna be rasslin pigs.
Is that that that that almost seems like just like a like a deep south thing more than like
a western thing.
The western south.
Oh sure the deep southwest got it.

(04:45):
Oh I mean that's like New Mexico.
Yeah sure yeah.
They rassle pigs.
I don't know but partner Ben rassles pigs but not like happy cast Ben.
My happy hour is going to be oh no what oh no what was it.

(05:05):
I have so many things.
Cryptic crosswords.
Oh oh what so I feel like I might have some notion of what that is but could you explain
in detail for me?
Cryptic crosswords are weird crosswords.
You may be familiar with the normal everyday crossword.

(05:28):
Sure you're Will Schwartz's.
Crosswords I mean I was going to explain what a crossword is.
Everyone who's listening knows what a crossword looks like.
Yeah I feel like our listeners have all seen a crossword.
Sometime in their lives.
I hope so.
If you have not please write in happycastfeedbackatgmail.com to let us know.

(05:49):
But so you know a normal crossword.
There are a bunch of rules that a lot of people don't know about crosswords although recognize
one but they won't know stuff about how they almost always are supposed to have a certain
type of rotational symmetry.
So if you rotate it upside down it's the exact same pattern of squares.
There's a whole like series of conventions around how the clues work and how you have

(06:10):
to like match tenses of the answer to a tense of the clue.
Different question marks mean all that nonsense.
Well Megan and I nightly we do the New York Times game stuff of the spelling bee which
is like a jumble where you can reuse letters and there's one letter you're required to
use.
Yes.

(06:31):
And connections which has a board like a four by four board of 16 words or phrases and you
have to put them together in matching groups of fours.
Four of them because that's how 16 divided by four is.
That one actually I don't think originates from but is very similar to a British game
show called game show.

(06:52):
It's probably not right either.
Quiz program called Only Connect which is a real highfalutin type quiz show in the UK
with very complicated connections you have to make and it always ends with that same
four by four board.
We play those every night and we used to do the New York Times crossword and not the one

(07:13):
we're on usually I think we're a couple years behind is what we've been doing.
We do a little at night but that got too easy.
Not that they're all like just super simple but it was all kind of the same and you get
to know how it works and eventually I've been wanting to jump into cryptic crosswords for
some time and I finally buckled down and tried to learn it and now I really like it.

(07:37):
Are they weird in that the clues are weird or do they kind of upend your traditional
crossword conventions?
More of the first one sort of.
They have different rules.
These are typically more popular in the UK and Australia from what I've read but there's

(07:58):
not like not them in the US.
So it will look similar to a normal crossword but a little closer to the kind I hate where
a lot of the words aren't like just intensely interlocked but there'll be lots of letters
that might not connect to anything at all.
Like maybe every other letter is connected to other ones.

(08:18):
I usually hate how that looks on a regular crossword but that's kind of necessary on
this kind of crossword because of how weird these crosswords are.
So where a normal clue is just the clue that tells you what it is you're trying to put
in.
Cryptic crosswords you split in half.

(08:39):
You don't know where the half is.
You have to find that too but one half of it is a normal clue to the crossword and the
other half is like a word puzzle that will help you either figure out or confirm your
answer.
Like here's just an example from random when I'm pulling up it says in favor of channel

(09:01):
for merchandise.
That one spoiler alert I'll tell you it's oh seven letters if he wants to pause and
figure it out.
Yeah I got nothing.
In favor of channel for merchandise is product.
Product is merchandise so you split it there.
So what you have left over is going to be the word puzzle half.
In favor of channel is product.

(09:23):
Okay that's how they do it.
There are a lot of different types of clues that kind of called a charade.
You take the pro and the duck and put them together and you get product.
There are ones where you have to take off like the first letter or a last letter of
something and what you have left over is the answer.
Some are reversals where it gives you part of a clue and you have to figure out that

(09:48):
you have to actually reverse your answer to get the correct ones like how stressed and
desserts are backwards.
There are homophone clues where some you know where a thing sounds like another thing.
They never tell you which thing or which type of clue you need though either.
Which makes it really tricky.

(10:10):
Some are container clues where you take a smaller word and put it inside of another
word and if you slam it all together it makes like one full word if that makes any sense
at all.
Like there's one Megan and I did recently that was my bad Cockney's basketball five
letter or four letters.
Four letters.

(10:32):
Yeah I'm stumped I don't know.
Well see what I like about it is that you don't know chunks of it.
You know kind of within a limit of what you're looking for but you don't know for sure.
So you know you just split it in half and that one half of it is going to be the main
clue like a normal crossword clue.

(10:53):
It probably isn't going to be my or my bad Cockney's.
So probably my bad because the other end it could just be basketball also probably not
Cockney's basketball.
So either way Cockney's is going to be part of the actual like riddle part.
And so I tried to think about what that could mean.
And I mean I thought I was playing it first.
Yeah it's just like oops right.

(11:15):
Yes yeah it's oops.
My bad is oops and Cockney's basketball would be oops.
Okay all right I get it.
I'm picking up with your lane down now then.
They're all like little jokes basically.
Oh and there's an anagram one too.
And what can be hard is there are like certain words that tell you something's going to
be a container or like or at least can hint or indicate it.

(11:37):
Or there are certain words that can mean like hey here comes an anagram.
Usually I mean the easier ones are things like mixed or jumbled that does come up sometimes
on the easy ones.
But also stuff like crazy or like cooked or destroyed like usually violent ones or cooking
ones mean you're going to anagram something usually.
So here is one risky business fringe and good times in high definition.

(12:05):
Risky business risky business fringe good times and high definition.
Risky business.
It's five four it's like two two words.
That one is hedge fund.
Risky business is the clue part means hedge fund.
Okay.
Fringe is edge good times is fun and if you put edge fun inside of high definition or

(12:32):
HD you get hedge fund.
Okay all right.
So so if I just want to make sure I've got this clear it sounds as though that you've
done so many puzzles now that like your standard like your standard run the mill crossword

(12:53):
is not doing it for you.
So you have to go for the stronger like more uncut like puzzles on top of puzzles.
It's like a multifaceted like like riddle within another riddle.
Yeah that's why I like them is there are ones that are written worse or at least worse for
me when I do one if they're really dependent on like local British pop culture or who you

(13:18):
know the leader is of certain areas there.
That's really hard for me.
But if they're more generally written I usually like them.
Okay.
I mean it sounds fun.
I you know I'm a little bit plugged into this world just you know through my interactions

(13:38):
with you and I enjoy a game from time to time but I am surprised I've never heard of cryptic
crosswords before.
Yeah they were always they always felt so a little too far out of reach for me most
of the time until I finally decided I wanted to learn them.
And I think easier is not the right word like you have to learn the rules of it but you

(14:00):
kind of should for like you can stumble your way through a normal crossword but it doesn't
take much to learn the basic rules of a crossword like the tense stuff I mentioned or knowing
like sort of reading a clue and knowing at least vaguely what they're asking you or knowing
that if you see a question mark it means like oh we're being a little cheeky with this one.

(14:20):
The cryptic crosswords just ask a little more learning up front but once you learn the basic
rules I think they're way more fun because there's so many avenues to hit to try to solve
it.
You could try to find the main clue and figure it out from that but in a normal crossword
to confirm you have something right you have to check like every single cross that goes

(14:42):
across it.
In this one if you can make sure that the riddley half of the clue makes sense with
what you have you know for sure it's going to be right and sometimes you can figure
from the riddley half instead or only get half the riddley half and then from there
that might help you figure out part of the word like we Megan and I were doing recently

(15:03):
that I don't remember it's like uncover frisbee in shake or something like that and frisbee
pretty sure is going to be disk so I think the whole word is going to start with disk
and it can't be discover because another crossword rule is you aren't supposed to have the answer
in the clue.
Sure sure.
So it won't be discover because it's uncover but it's probably disk something.

(15:27):
We haven't finished that one yet we're still on that one actually right now.
I'll give you one more and then I'll stop ranting not ranting positive ranting raving
is it yeah yeah raving that's the that seems like the term for a positive rant that's so
raving I don't know I like that's so raving I know that a rave also seems like it could
be negative though like maybe if you rant and rave it's bad.

(15:52):
Sure I'm ranting and I'm raving.
Although raving about this new Broadway musical Hamilton.
People are going off about you know about how the price of milk is too high and then
they're raving so they're like dancing with glow sticks that's raving right.
Oh no yes stark raving mad.

(16:13):
Yeah it's true.
I don't know I guess I'll we'll do our new segment ask an AI but it's not gonna be that
exciting I'm just gonna ask an AI what the positive version of ranting is.
Although like but if like a movie came out had like rave reviews that would be very positive.
English is confusing.

(16:33):
It is it is that's why I always hear from people who pickling English up as the second
language is that it's much more difficult than others.
You know that's I'll just yeah I sign off on that.
I took French class for like two or three years and I've retained zero French.

(16:54):
How about you Ben?
Je m'appelle Claude.
Is that French Ben?
I have no idea what you're saying.
I think I think I'm pretty sure that's French.
I think I learned that from an episode of Friends where Joey had to learn French.
Je suis that's it I am that's all I remember is I am.

(17:16):
That's enough because that means you think right.
I am therefore I am that's what is just we ego.
We that's French Popeye.
Megan would know a little more about the French stuff she took that for several years.
I took Latin for two and then like a year or something of German.

(17:41):
So I only have bits and pieces of both of those took a lot of English though.
Yeah I'd like to learn a second language.
Maybe I'll do that one day.
This just in my Microsoft co-pilot I think it's Microsoft.
I asked the positive version of ranting and what I was given were six choices so we can

(18:03):
choose gushing raving loud louding louding prattling effusing or jabbering.
I mean prattling jabbering still seem bad.
I mean raving was number two right.
I think we should just lock raving in as the definitive answer.

(18:25):
But gushing that one's pretty good.
Fruit does that.
Well I sure do not think about like fruit snacks.
I mean they're not called fruit snackers.
They're called fruit ravers.
I mean like I'm just saying I've been into an apple I wouldn't say that the apple was
gushing.
What if you've been to a fruit gusher.

(18:45):
Yeah sure they do gush by definition.
So I'll give you that.
Oh like you're gonna like mail them or?
Yep yep I'm gonna send you some gushers in the mail.
You have a P.O. box right.
Those things are gonna melt together before they get here.
So one uber gusher.
I'll leave you one more clue though and then I'll stop gushing.

(19:07):
No I don't like gushing raving.
Gushing sounds like you have like a wound like you've actually like sliced your hand
open or something.
I think that might be true.
Right here this is an eight letter one.
It's Rocky Marciano's pasta.
Rocky Marciano's pasta eight letters.

(19:29):
Yep.
So I don't know who that is.
Is that important to know who that is?
Isn't that Rocky's last name?
Like from the movie?
Yeah.
Oh it's Rocky Balboa.
Oh yeah it is because the movie's Balboa.
Yeah yeah there's like the sixth one is called Rocky Balboa.
Yeah.

(19:49):
Oh wait no isn't Rocky Marciano like an actual.
Yeah he's a real boxer.
Real boxer who was maybe an inspiration for the Sloan character perhaps?
Ah yeah okay that's who that's who I was thinking of.
I'm not like incredibly stupid just slightly.
Yeah so it is a sportsman so he got that right.

(20:10):
Um his favorite pasta so boxing, pasta.
Well see that's the thing.
Oh I didn't mention probably should have.
You need to have very little normal crossword knowledge to solve these.
Like normal crossword once because that would be like a trivia contest.
Like you'll need like the capital of Ghana or something.

(20:32):
That is rare in cryptic crosswords.
Okay so it's more about just like cracking the I don't know if riddles is the right word
but like the the puzzle within the puzzle within the clue.
Yeah like you maybe it would help to know if he's a boxer but not actually in this case.
So what's tricky with this one is if you know how long it is and you suspect there's a chance

(20:56):
of an anagram in it just see if any of the words have that many letters and then see
if something around it is maybe hinting at that.
Okay.
This one is Rocky is an anagram hint because like it's uneven it's you know messed up.
So if you anagram Marciano you get macaroni.
So the answer is macaroni.

(21:18):
Yes because the Rocky Marciano is pasta.
You split it in half right before pasta.
So the real clue is just pasta which is macaroni and the riddle clue is saying to anagram Marciano.
I'm a little ways away from getting into cryptic crosswords Ben.

(21:39):
I just started doing regular New York Times games.
So oh well these are also slightly harder ones that's from a cryptic crossword book
I ended up buying but they also make a how to do cryptic crosswords book that Megan and
I went through so we could learn them and those are nice much nicer ones.

(22:01):
I mean it's conceptually very cool.
I you know I've enjoyed learning about them.
And now you know what I'm happy about.
So what about you?
Well I mean I also enjoy a good crossword Ben.
I've been doing the New York Times games.
I so I've been enjoying the mini crossword which is the dumbed down simple crossword.

(22:22):
That's a good learner one.
It's been a lot of fun and at times how long it takes you to do the very little crossword
and I guess we got finished it in a minute flat and we're friends on the app.
So I checked I'm like oh I feel okay about that a minute's not bad.
I looked and you did it in 18 seconds.
I was like oh but not not not that good.

(22:45):
No a minute is still good.
That's still a good time for that crossword.
The 18 seconds is because these things like what usually max six by six or maybe a little
more than that.
And this one I think with my five by five.
So like you get five across is five downs on this one.
I just happened to immediately know all of the acrosses.

(23:06):
So I put them in and I didn't have to do the downs.
I just said I was right.
I didn't have to like double check him or anything.
Well I'll keep working on it.
I've only been doing it for less than a week now so maybe I will get better.
Oh no for sure.
It just takes a lot of like getting used to crossword and what really helps if you do
like regular crosswords a lot is you're going to recognize certain clues that come up a

(23:31):
lot.
I mean like crossword constructors probably hate having to put these words in but it's
the only way to make them interlock sometimes.
Like you better know a yoli.
That one.
Oh sure.
I like an a yoli.
All I know is how to spell it and vaguely what it is.
Yeah it's like a it's like a fancy mayonnaise right.

(23:53):
It's a sauce.
It's like an egg.
It's like an egg based sauce.
I believe you.
Is it also oleo?
That's a good one to know.
I don't know oleo.
You got two kinds of oleo.
That's the audio site that we used to host the Lost Unlocked podcast on right.
Yeah that's what the crossword clue usually is.

(24:14):
Yeah.
Okay great.
The podcasting website that made Lost Unlocked lose several of their episodes.
Destroyed my life's work.
At least a lot of people laugh at it.
That's true.
That's true.
I think it's like a yoli with an i and oleo with an e and one means like miscellaneous
and one is like a breakfast food dip thing.

(24:38):
I don't remember.
I know if I recognize it the other way.
All right.
Well I could as I've just gotten into the New York Times games app I could talk to you
about that for a very long time because I need tips and hints and I have hot takes on
some of these games.
I don't understand motifs is I don't get it.
A puzzle segment.

(24:58):
Oh we should do that.
I was very upset with yesterday's connections because it was all movie titles and then I
switched into my movie brain and I'm like all right well I mean these these three movies
share producer but these came out in the 70s.
I don't know.
It's like oh no no these have animals in the title.
Oh I didn't I was not thinking at the right level.

(25:18):
These kind of rhyme.
Yeah exactly.
Kind of rhyme.
These are slant rhymes at best.
If you want to hear that one listen to our puzzle segment on the next Western episode.
Our Western puzzle segment.
Yeah we'll talk about things like crosswords and not about things like Sudoku.

(25:39):
Those are like Eastern puzzles.
Yeah there you go.
Western puzzles.
That's how it works.
OK so my happy hour pick Ben.
I currently reside in a house Ben.
You visited my home.
I have.
I have new Megan had came to visit and I've you know their their space their rooms which

(25:59):
is fun.
It's good because I do have like a son and a dog and a cat.
But which one do you love the most.
No you know like I've known the cat the longest so we have more history but I can't I can't
get into it right now.
But you know the dog the second longest right.

(26:20):
That's true therefore I probably.
I'll just click this one out and save it to send to him when he's old enough.
Oh great great.
The dog.
Oh no obviously obviously I love my son the most.
Followed by the dog and then the cat like the cat's great.
The cat less needy.

(26:41):
Honestly sometimes I forget the cat even exists.
It won't bother me for like the whole day.
That's the dog.
The dog is very clingy.
Weird yeah our cat is kind of the opposite.
We don't have a dog.
Well you've you've met my dog.
She's a she's got boundary issues.
What about what about your kid though.
Where does where does he fall on the scale.

(27:03):
He's a number one obviously.
Oh like needy to clingy and independent.
Oh gosh he needs so much attention.
It's can't can't leave him alone for a minute.
Have you tried yet.
No.
I've been like a sink full of knives.
No no.
I you know I the best I've had to do is you know put him in the the pack and play.

(27:30):
I guess is there another name for it.
But if I say pack and play you know what that is right.
It's like a playpen.
Oh OK.
I was going to guess playpen.
Yes yes.
Or like an Amazon warehouse.
I have to set him there you know to like go to the bathroom or something.
That's the most time I get.
For him to go to the bathroom.
Oh he just goes to the bathroom whenever he wants.
Like there's not no schedule.
You can do that too if you wanted.

(27:50):
He probably doesn't even know when he's going to the bathroom.
It's probably a surprise to him.
He hasn't figured that out yet.
This old.
Yeah.
But you know but you know he needs a lot of attention.
Obviously he's great.
I'll have him.
Are there any cops listening.

(28:10):
But the thing about living in a house Ben is that there are a lot of things.
Well you know I'm not a house an apartment any kind of home that you're responsible for.
Things break.
Things seem to break a lot.
I had an incident where I dropped a bowl.
Well a Pyrex bowl like a Tupperware like heavy duty Tupperware and it bounced off the floor

(28:33):
hit the door to my oven and shattered the door.
Those things are apparently glass and it shattered.
Oh no.
So my first thought is I probably need to buy a new one.
But after a little bit of research you can just buy the door.
You don't have to buy a whole new oven.
Really.
Yeah.
So I bought it.

(28:53):
I got a new oven door and it took a couple of weeks to get.
So I was like no without oven.
So I was living off of like the microwave and the air fryer and the instant pot.
You know I mean check you use the soap top but I am a big fan of the oven Ben.
You can bake cookies.
You can do all kinds of things.
That's true.

(29:13):
So I get the oven door and then the second part of my problem emerges where I realize
like I don't know how to install this oven door.
Uh oh.
But so this is how we get to the happy hour part of the segment is even though I don't
know if I've done it on this show I probably have.
I have a habit of ranting and raving about how the internet is a net negative for society.

(29:46):
It's had a real negative effect on a lot of things.
Overall it was more bad than good.
But one of the best things about the internet that I have really appreciated is that you
can just go to YouTube and then put anything in like how to install a Samsung oven door.
And within two minutes I am now an expert in putting the oven door on.
That is the magic half of the internet.

(30:06):
Yes.
Yes.
That's the good part of the internet which you know when I was young and the internet
was you know on the rise and becoming more prevalent that was the part that everyone
was locked in on not the you know the cyber bullying and all the all the bad parts the
identity theft just real negative stuff.

(30:27):
But so yeah so I just enjoy any time I get to fix a thing on my own just by watching
a couple of YouTube videos like oh I need to there's a problem with my car it needs
to spark plugs.
Internet tell me how to change those like OK here's what you do.
And then that's great.
I just enjoy being able to fix things myself.
Yeah I agree.
Thanks to Professor Internet.

(30:49):
Well you know about the internet it's just sort of a fact of life sometimes you have
to take the good and take the bad.
You take them both and then you have the happy acts of net.
Oh yeah the happy cast.
That's what we are happy hour above a patrol.
Oh I'm not the not to call it my dear dear sweet mother who I do love tremendously very

(31:15):
much.
She was over the other day and she was on her phone.
This is me talking about like the dark bad parts of the internet where she was on her
phone and she's like oh wow like look at this thing like this product is you know like this
supplement that like solves all these health elements and it was it's been endorsed by

(31:39):
everyone on Shark Tank and I'm like what.
He's like I'm going to buy it.
I'm like all right what's the name of the thing you're looking at.
She told me I googled it and I pulled up real quickly like oh yeah this is a scam that a
lot of people like to use fake endorsements from people on Shark Tank to sell snake oil
and she was very upset but also I was like well aren't you glad that I stopped you from

(32:02):
spending thirty five dollars on nothing.
So that's good.
We were able to sidestep that part of the problem but that's true.
And you just can't believe anything you see on the internet then.
That's what we were always told growing up.
That's true.
That's true.
I have also had to fix things and use the internet to tell me how.

(32:26):
Lots of ways really with the coding and all.
But oh sure.
But especially with we've had car issues.
I mean there's a lot of stuff that's happened in the last several years.
We have a new car though.
Before that we had a 99 we were still driving and I still drive which seemed less old before
but it's I guess because it is increasingly older.

(32:47):
It's getting older every day.
But it just feels exponentially older every day.
We've had a lot of issues with that and having to change all sorts of things like the window
rolly motor things that make the window go up and down and.
Oh sure.
All sorts of stuff.
But the internet has been there for me to learn how to safely take off the door panels

(33:10):
and reach in there and what is OK to unplug and won't blow the car up or anything.
Yeah and that's good for that stuff.
I enjoy it.
I've changed tail lights because of the internet.
Oh yeah.
Oh I have to tell and head.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's just you know I really appreciate the internet for teaching us things that realistically

(33:31):
maybe we should have learned in like a like a home at class at school or maybe like like
auto auto class.
Is that the thing?
Did you guys have an auto class?
I don't know for sure.
But the thing is it's so different in so many different cars that you can't learn all of
them.
You can learn like maybe vaguely how to do it.

(33:52):
But if you want to do it without definitely breaking something you need these random people
online.
So these heroes of the internet.
Yeah.
So maybe honestly so I guess what we should do and maybe I'll do this as a service to
the community.
We should have a class where we teach people how to look things up on the internet like

(34:13):
look if you need a video on how to how to replace a door knob.
This is what you Google.
This is what you look for.
You look for a video that's this length and it's like longer than five minutes.
That's too long.
Don't bother with that.
You skip the first 30 seconds.
You don't need the intro.
That's not important.
And no matter what you do no matter what they say never like and subscribe ever.

(34:37):
I I'm I this might not be true because of the long the internet has like a long history
now but I don't think I've ever liked or subscribed to an internet video.
I have a handful of people who I like to watch regularly like funny people or just interesting
ones.
So I have subscribed to those and I have liked some that I if they're like usually not if

(35:00):
it's already big because what's the point but if it's like a newer creator or smaller down
who I want to help out you know pass pass it on the good times.
No it pay it forward.
That's it.
Pass it on the good times.
Remember that movie called Pass it on the good times.

(35:28):
That's what you do right.
Yeah.
I guess technically you're not wrong.
That's the second time good times has come up.
Oh interesting.
If we do it one more time it becomes a scene.
They show up.
Yeah.
If you say it one more time then Jimmy JJ Walker will appear.
Dynamite.

(35:48):
All right.
Let's let's move on to Bumper.
Bumper Patrol is part where we talk about the things really bring us down and real quick
real quick before we move on.

(36:09):
Just I want to call out the great new bumpers that Ben put together for the show.
They're terrific.
I really enjoyed those.
Oh yeah.
Our old ones were still made in 2010 and a lot of them have like traveled between computers.
There's one time when I thought I lost most of them and maybe I did and I think I had
to clip them out of episodes that were already uploaded and I had like three or four versions

(36:32):
of each one and they were all like real pissy at a certain point.
I thought with our new logo which iTunes refuses to update but is on everything else.
Do we at least need to like refresh the bumpers?
Sure.
You know they that's what they say.
You know every podcast deserves a fresh coat of paint every 14 years.

(36:54):
Was I supposed to use paint?
Yeah you're supposed to use MS Paint.
That's how you made the new logo right?
I used paint.net.
That's close enough.
Oh yeah for that but what about the audio?
How do I I don't know what to how do I paint the audio?
I'll I'll I'll show you once the podcast is over.
I'll enroll you in one of my online classes I'm doing now.

(37:16):
Well is this like a tutorial thing like the one you were talking about or?
Yeah I'll teach you how to Google how to do that.
Okay.
How would people find your course?
Well that's a very good question.
There's a there's a second class that teaches people how to find it so.
Okay but what about that?

(37:39):
And so for that one I just actually go around to you know hot spots around town.
I post flyers where you have to pull a phone number and then they call me and I talk to
them on the phone how to do it.
You live in the hot land to every spot's a hot spot.
That's true that's true.
Wait what's Bumper Patrol?
Oh sorry.
Bumper Patrol is you saved me from saying something dumb and nonsensical.

(38:03):
We would never do that.
It's the it's the end of the happy hour gang Ben where we just talk about you know they
can't all be sunshine and rainbows.
And things are gonna kind of drag you down.
So it can be therapeutic to share those things with us as well.
So what's what's got you what's got you feeling blue Ben?
What's your Bumper Patrol?
Yeah you don't want to you know stuff in the Bumper Patrols and just like repress them

(38:27):
forever until you explode like Hank Hill.
Yeah no you don't want to share your happy hours and you hold the Bumper Patrols in then
you're just you know your body becomes you know how it's mostly water eventually become
mostly Bummer Patrols.
So eventually you'll explode like dynamite.
Exactly like the late great Jimmy JJ Walker.
He exploded?

(38:47):
Yeah.
What an ironic death.
Well see now I all right you know what I'm just gonna ask I was gonna google it but I
mean AI is our new overlord right so I was gonna ask is Jimmy JJ Walker dead?
Did he blow up?

(39:08):
And we will see in a little bit what happened.
My Bummer Patrol is it's weird and kind of maybe minor but I mean that's nothing new
I guess.
I have to get used to this that we usually complain about minor things.
That's true.

(39:29):
That's true.
Rarely do we talk about like the big issues that we're facing as a society unless you
are a friend of the show Wootenator who really I think dropped the Bumper Patrol to end all
Bummer Patrols where he talked about the inevitable slow heat death of the universe which I still
think about every day.

(39:49):
About the Wootenator?
About the podcast?
Or about entropy?
Yeah all of them.
Oh no.
According to co-pilot Jimmy JJ Walker has not exploded.
Okay and he's alive too.
Yes I think so.
I think to this one at least.
It made sure to tell me that he has maintained a successful comedy career spending nearly

(40:11):
four decades with two citations and then so no explosions that unfortunate incidents just
a talented comedian still making people laugh.
Smile emoji, sun emoji.
Good for him.
Good for him.
I'm glad that the AI overlord is helping us in this way and that you're using it for good
unlike me who eventually we're gonna have like a bigger AI conversation but my limited

(40:36):
interaction with it has been like asking it things like what what podcasts would Frazier
listen to and it's like the daily.
I'm like ah yeah we would listen to the daily.
Thank you AI.
I appreciate that.
That's a good use still to me.
We could have a big talk about AI which we have one-on-one before but we haven't forced
other people to hear our opinions on it.

(40:56):
Yeah yeah well yeah.
Well I think honestly that does seem like an inevitable future segment of this podcast.
Oh no it our tech segment on the episode two weeks from now where it is.
Let's stop calling our shots like this.
This is really paying ourselves into a corner.
It's a Sweeney Todd themed episode.

(41:17):
Oh my god okay.
I guess I'll have to rewatch that to prepare.
We can just do Sondheim generally if you want to include like into the woods or his murder
mystery parties he used to hold.
What?
Yeah I'll get that.
Oh yeah we'll have to get into this more.
That'll be a story for two weeks from now.

(41:39):
Oh let me think if I just draft onto like a micro bummer patrol I did ask the AI overlord
what podcast Joey Tribbiani would listen to.
Turns out Big Joe Rogan guy so there you go.
Really?
Yeah.
I take that as a fact now.
That's how you should treat all AI.
And honestly you know I read it and I can see it sure.

(42:02):
I haven't really listened to enough of Joe Rogan to know.
The main thing I know is that he makes people eat bugs.
I mean I can see Joe from Friends eating bugs.
I think that might be like a season nine episode.
It probably is.
But yeah no there are good uses for AI.
That's the small thing I'm saying.
I think there are good and bad uses but yours is a perfectly good one.

(42:23):
And mine is fine because it's just fun.
I'm not like using this to write an article for a paper or something.
Yeah no no.
The good use is asking it to generate an episode of Cheers where Coach's ghost visits the bar.
That's a perfectly good reason to use AI.

(42:44):
That's way better.
Is that gonna be one of their Halloween episodes?
Sure you know I mean long time listeners of the program might remember my pitch for a
series of supernatural themed Cheers episodes.
Where Sam and Dean Winchester show up.
Yeah sure we can do crossover stuff.
You know Cliff finds a monkey's paw.
That's gonna be a good one.

(43:04):
Coach's ghost comes back on the anniversary of his death.
Were the Halloween ones the one where the other bar was in or was that just the thing
that happened a lot?
Oh you're thinking about the bar wars episodes.
Those were not Halloween themed.
Oh okay I was mixing those.
It's been a while since I watched those.
Anyway Bumber Patrol.
Yes.
So pizza.

(43:26):
You know about pizza right?
Oh yeah love it.
Big fan.
That's your Bumber Patrol's pizza Ben?
No.
Oh no.
No I'm pretty sure that's been my happy hour at some point.
In fact I'm gonna have to check the Happy Cast Bible now to see if we were talking about
pizza before.
It looks like number three we did a you don't know Ben about my favorite pizza topping and

(43:46):
it wasn't nothing.
And episode or sorry Epidition I have to keep consistent.
Epidition six vastly varying valiant vigilantes.
That one's hard to say.
My happy hour was pepperoni pizza.
Okay.
So I'm bringing the facts.
I mean I'm glad that you could fact check live.

(44:07):
I'm gonna ask my AI assistant what my Bumber Patrol was for episode 87.
Oh I'm curious what it says.
It says it does not know what Happy Cast with Ben and Brian is.
It seems to think that we are a fictional podcast.
A fictional what?
Yeah no sorry Ben this is our unscheduled series finale in which we find out that we're

(44:31):
actually fictional characters.
It's like the very end of Saint Elsewhere where we're in the snow globe or I don't know.
So there's like a Twilight Zone called Five Characters in search of an exit where everyone
just ends up being an action figure right?
Does that sound real?
I don't know it well enough other than I know I think Futurama or something parodied that

(44:55):
episode title.
It feels like something did.
Well I believe the episode title itself may in fact be a riff on a pre-existing play.
I could be wrong though.
We're learning a lot here today.
This is not our educational segment.
That's gonna be later.
Oh yeah special education with listener Anne?

(45:16):
Yes, yes I'm excited.
I've not heard the segment yet so you know I can't wait to get there.
So let's do Bumber Patrols.
What's got you feeling down Ben?
Yeah that's just a little teaser.
It's like a segment within a segment like a container clue in a cryptic crossword.
Bumber Patrol has to do with pizza.

(45:40):
Have you heard of this hut where they sell pizzas and bring them to you?
Yes, yes I'm aware of this pizza hut.
Oh okay good that's an important thing to know here.
Did you know that at least our local one, you probably don't know that but maybe it's
elsewhere, ours now uses DoorDash for their delivery.

(46:02):
Oh I did not know that but I believe that my local Papa John's franchise does the same
thing.
I think that's not uncommon.
Do not like it.
Yeah, yeah no no neither do I.
No I would mind it less if they at least had a pizza warming bag to carry it in like the

(46:25):
delivery drivers usually do but they don't and when there's a problem with the order
and you tell the person, a normal delivery person at least in our experience here, be
like oh no I'm so sorry let me look at the receipt I'll go get it I'll be right back
I'm so sorry.
You tell the DoorDash one they're like oh not my problem.
Yeah.
No they're like I got like 10 more of these to do.

(46:50):
Yeah or and I have watched the little tracker car.
Sometimes our food will like I this problem I know happens with DoorDash itself where
you have to pay extra to get it like immediately to you sometimes or else you might be like
the fourth or fifth meal in the car and it will eventually get to you.

(47:11):
Which fine whatever if you're from DoorDash but if you're ordering from Pizza Hut I kind
of expect it to come directly from Pizza Hut to me.
Sure sure that makes sense.
And not other random pit stops on the way unless it's other pizza going to a place that's
on the way to me.
And I don't know if Pizza Hut is transparent about this but with Papa John's they did

(47:33):
not tell me upfront I didn't figure it out until after the fact like oh you guys are
outsourcing to DoorDash now.
Yeah we had no idea.
At the very least they should probably communicate that to the customer.
Yeah you'd think so because is my tip going to the DoorDash now?
Yeah that's true and then well are you tipping are you tipping cash or tapping in or tipping

(47:55):
an app?
Usually just in the app thing because we don't have a lot of cash on us.
That's true I nobody does I try to get some cash strictly for tipping that way I know
that the person I hand it to is getting that money because I'm also suspicious how these
electronic tips are being divvied up.

(48:16):
Yeah well there's that that's a good thing to be suspicious of but also I am regretting
it sometimes I'm like oh I tipped you pretty well because like your drivers have been reliably
good but now I'm giving this money to a person who has been sucking the last several times
but I don't know in advance they're gonna suck.

(48:37):
Oh yeah also yeah so also I guess like a sub bummer patrol within your bummer patrol is
like tipping in advance seems like a not ideal situation.
I think the only time or the kind of times that would make more sense is if it's like
I mean I've never done this because I haven't been to a fancy enough hotel but if you have

(49:00):
like a regular person who comes to you over and over to help you with stuff right right
right a bellhop who you're gonna keep seeing or like the room service person you're gonna
keep seeing you can go ahead and tip them now because that's gonna you know continual
good service.
That's yeah I guess that.
But not like a random person I don't know who's driving a car with political statements on

(49:25):
their windshield and rear windshield and with a car wrap that has certain political figures
on it.
Yeah I need to I need to hear more details about this off mic because you're talking
about something amazing.
I saw talking about car wraps to hijack your segment I saw somebody driving around with

(49:48):
a car wrap with a like a vinyl decal advertising their podcast which I won't give free advertisement
here on this podcast because you know they got their own word of mouth thing going out
there but I just I was just I was really admiring the extra effort like oh well you paid for

(50:10):
you paid for this I looked their podcast up it doesn't seem like it has that big of a
fall it's like all right you're trying to get the word of mouth out there I guess like
driving through the streets advertising your podcast.
So what I'm saying then is that we should put a vinyl happy cast decal on your new car.
Are you okay with this?
I was gonna say was it me from the future?
Is that what you saw?
You looked at our podcast and I don't know about that many listeners.

(50:32):
No no the this guy this guy was called the mailman so.
Oh L E or I L.
I L.
Okay.
Yes.
So you know what you know it was full of car wraps hit my ride.
That's true a lot of car wraps on there that's a good point.

(50:55):
True.
So what's what's the controversial take that you would put on the back of your car on a
bumper sticker Ben?
I would I would have one that says the last Jedi is not canon.
Oh Brian.
I don't know most people wouldn't care about mine.

(51:17):
It's about the lost ending being good.
About it being good ending of lost was good.
Oh can I briefly talk about a new car just real quick?
Sure go ahead.
All right a year or two ago we got a a new new car because I mentioned briefly way the
99 forever we got a in 2023 we got a 2023 Toyota Corolla hybrid.

(51:43):
It's really cool.
We like it because we mostly drive in the city anyway so that's perfect town whatever.
I'll get into another bumper troll the time that it was in an accident within a month
of us getting it.
Maybe Megan should be on for that one because she was there more than I was.
You probably had literally like 30 miles on it at this point right?

(52:04):
Yeah we hadn't we hadn't even done our first payment yet on it officially.
But that'll be for then.
Oh yeah but we got a vanity plate for it and what we wanted was something to represent
our interests and we both play D&D a lot.
We play it with a couple of our friends and a couple well we play with several of our

(52:25):
friends but at a friend couple's house and we want it to be based on that and there's
a very common or popular creature in the game called a beholder.
It's like a big floating meatball man not not look like a meatball but he's just a big
ball of flesh.
He has a single eye like a big one in the middle of his head.

(52:47):
He has a giant mouth very jagged teeth and he has 10 tentacles coming off of his head
and each of those is an eye on it too and it can like shoot beams and do all sorts of
crazy things with those things.
It's a weird monster.
But that was too long for our vanity plate.
So we put B-H-O-L-D-R.
Buh-Buh-Holder.

(53:09):
That works.
We could just go B-Holder but I realized later it could also look like B-Hold Doctor.
Yeah that's true.
So what do you think the ratio is of people that see Beholder versus B-Hold Doctor?
Well I think people who don't know D&D wouldn't know why it said Beholder unless they're like

(53:30):
oh they must be vain and think that they're beautiful.
But also Megan works around medical stuff.
She worked at a hospital for a few years or like 10 years I think and now she works at
a different medical place doing a lot of admin stuff, administrative, making sure people

(53:51):
get healthy and all that.
So you think that people might think that she's the B-Hold Doctor.
She might be the new Fox show.
After the good doctor.
Sure, sure.
Jeff Foxworthy is the B-Hold Doctor this fall on ABC.
Check it out.

(54:13):
What's okay so we're talking about like proctologist right?
Is that the actual word the world needs more?
I assume it could just be like Dr. House.
No, no I mean like the actual term.
If we just keep saying B-Hold Doctor.
They would think that she's like a proctologist.
Is that the correct term?
No no no no I'm pretty sure B-Hold Doctor is like the official medical term.

(54:33):
Oh that's the medical term.
It's like Greek I think.
Oh right right.
It does also seem like Beta-Hold Doctor I guess.
It seems vaguely reminiscent of a Seinfeld plot.
Do you know the one I'm talking about?
I watched all of it but I don't remember.

(54:56):
It's about a proctologist with a band he plays.
Really?
Yeah yeah yeah it's a pretty good episode.
I believe it's the episode called The Silly Jerry.
So check that out if you want to see that.
I'll have to.
Is that the one where it says a new start?
No, you're thinking about a season four episode of Arrested Development.

(55:18):
Ah well that's mine though.
Not B-Hold Doctors.
DoorDash doing Pizza Hut deliveries without me knowing that that's what they're doing.
I think I looked it up and once and it said like they only do that when they have to supplement
but they seem to always be supplementing but also when you call there's a different issue

(55:40):
because they keep saying like oh we're now hiring drivers.
I'm like no you're not.
Right.
We're outsourcing to DoorDash.
I co-signed that Bumber Patrol index.
Yeah I think that our app driven gig economy is a bigger issue that I don't feel equipped
to tackle on this podcast but it is a bummer.

(56:01):
Maybe on our tech segment two weeks from now.
Stop doing that.
So my Bumber Patrol it ties into my happy hour.
It'll be quick and to the point.
Longtime listeners of the podcast will recall 30 minutes ago where I talked about installing
an oven door and it's great and oven works wonders now as it originally should.

(56:28):
The Bumber Patrol part of it is that due to let's call my negligence and maybe using a
tool a way that is not designed to I did slash the palm of my hand.
So that's kind of a bummer.
I don't love that I did that but you know it's worth it not having to pay somebody to

(56:50):
put that door on for me.
So I you know I enjoy that.
Is that where your gush anecdote came from?
That was I was thinking about that when you're talking about gushing.
I'm like yeah I mean it's not it's not very deep.
It's you know pretty superficial but there was blood and yeah that's bandaged up and

(57:11):
it'll be fine now I think a few days and keeping it clean it'll be fine but just be careful
with the with the way you use tools.
That's my public service announcement here.
Is There Was Blood the prequel to There Will Be Blood?
That's the sequel right?
There Will Be Blood and then There Was Blood would take place afterward.

(57:32):
Oh I forgot how tenses work.
See that's I mean I'm kind of brushed up on tenses because of all the crosswords I've
been doing so I'm really keyed into tenses.
I haven't had to worry about it too much.
It still comes up on the cryptics but this is part unrelated but I just said I think
something I forgot I meant to mention earlier.

(57:52):
Did I tell you that I tried to make a few crosswords a few years ago?
Yeah I don't know if we talked about on the show but I do remember talking to you about
your adventures in crossword making.
I'll talk more about them another time but I made one that was a cryptid crossword where
the crosswords tend to have like fourish big theme answers that are related and they were

(58:13):
all different cryptids.
Oh that's good.
I thought so.
Can we?
Will Schwartz's other editor didn't.
Oh no.
Call him out publicly.
Can we can we make a Happycast themed cryptid crossword to put on the Facebook page Ben?
If I do that it seems like a lot of work.
No that's pretty easy.

(58:34):
You already have it mostly done.
Although it would just wouldn't be Happycast related it would just be cryptid related.
I don't know it's got to be Happycast themed.
I could maybe do that.
A word search is a lot easier.
Oh sure sure it is.
I could make a word search.
The crossword took me a while but I could do that sometime.
It does seem very time intensive.
So what tool were you using versus what you should have been using?

(58:57):
I was using a flathead screwdriver and yeah I you know I think I you know I was using
it in a valid way.
I just should have been more careful with it.
So you think they should teach some sort of tool safety class in some kind of online course?
I mean wouldn't be a bad idea.

(59:19):
I would call this a one-off kind of like a fluke you know.
It's bound to happen from time to time.
I've used tools before and haven't injured myself so you know I got this one out of the
way so statistically it probably won't happen again.
I don't know if that's how statistics works.
Yeah yeah if you do something then it's less likely to happen again right.

(59:43):
So go ahead and do it first.
Just get it out of the way and then it's not going to happen again.
Yeah do the most dangerous thing immediately just so you're covered for a while.
Yeah it's like a double jeopardy right?
Okay that's it we're done.
Are you breaking up the podcast?

(01:00:05):
This podcast isn't working for me anymore Ben.
Just because of the double jeopardy sound?
It was too much.
It was you know I've been feeling this way for a while.
No what if I get the new today to put in her version of the double jeopardy sound?
Oh maybe maybe you know what I think that might save the podcast.

(01:00:29):
Then also I look forward to hearing about it when the new today is a guest on this podcast
three episodes from now.
Not next week on the cowboy one?
No should she be on the cowboy one?
She has been before I think.
Next episode not week Ben.
Oh yeah sorry sorry.
I'm pretty sure she was on our old wait did we have an old west episode before?

(01:00:53):
Oh right she was the pun slinger right?
I think that might have just been the intro.
I don't know.
Maybe.
I don't know we've done a lot of dumb stuff.
It's a dumb podcast.
I love it.
It's amazing.
Well so bum patrol's over so let's move on to our next segment.
I'm looking at my notes here and it looks like it's going to be a round of...

(01:01:14):
You don't know Ben.
Okay so if you listened to last episode you heard who's the Brian in which Ben asked me
five questions.
A rapid fire to learn more about me as a host of this podcast.
So this is the other side of that coin where I return the favor and I have five questions

(01:01:38):
for Ben.
Ben are you ready?
I will be in one 15 second gap.
I must first tell you our old west episode was Epidition 48 body slam me.
Okay yeah she was on that one right?
Yeah the new today was on that one.
She was happy about pop finals and bummed about smelling?

(01:02:02):
Smelling?
That's what I have written down.
Okay.
I think maybe her nose might have been stuffed.
So being unable to smell.
Maybe well someone listen to that one and let me know because I don't have time.

(01:02:24):
Yeah other than that I am ready to answer five questions.
You'll have to set the timer first though.
Okay I'm winding it up.
The questions start in 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, we're gonna fast forward to 3,

(01:02:53):
2, 1 and go.
Ben what is your social security number?
481-516-2342.
Question two.
Ben what is your mother's maiden name?
B-B-B-B-Books.
Ben question three.

(01:03:15):
What's the name of the street you grew up on?
Which time?
We moved several times.
I don't know how would you answer this question if you were I don't know filling out a security
question for your bangs?
62nd street.
Okay great.
Question four.
Name of your childhood pet?
Which one?
The dog.

(01:03:36):
I didn't have a lot of dogs.
Your favorite childhood pet?
I know as a kid I had two fish named Fred and George.
Okay all right and question five is what is the name of the best book you ever read?
Oh no I'm thinking not Ready Player One.

(01:03:59):
Listen to episode 28 where we trash Ready Player One.
Needful things.
Oh just in time wow.
Ben I'm gonna be honest with you.
I don't think I got the information I wanted from this segment.

(01:04:22):
Really?
Well I don't know.
But you got to know me better.
Isn't that what you wanted?
Well I mean I'm just in putting this information into this electronic field and it's just not
I'm just not getting the results I need.
Oh no.
What can I do to help you?

(01:04:43):
Why well I don't know we'll try again another time.
So I kind of feel like it was a bust.
We can I guess we could do another we could do another one.
We could do it we could do redo if you're up for it.
I do have a second set of questions.
I guess.
Before we start that one we talked about Ready Player One on Epidition 66 who squatches the

(01:05:05):
Squatchmen.
Oh the one which Bigfoot was a guest.
Great I love it.
Yep.
Which no wait it's the one before we have Bigfoot on.
Oh sorry that's the one where we were just kind of like laying the tracks for it.
We were doing the groundwork.
Yeah we were looking for Bigfoot and then Bigfoot is on later.

(01:05:26):
And I remember at first Ready Player One I was kind of like medium to okay on and I got
progressively more annoyed at it the more I described it.
Yeah I feel like I kind of I feel bad.
I feel like I kind of beat you down on that one.
No no it's it's true.
Not know what you said but about it.
Okay so I do have my five backup questions here so let me set the timer once again.

(01:05:50):
All right.
And.
I think we'll start with five this time.
Here we go.
Five four three two and we do say one.
I was ready for you.
If you could live in a video game world for one day which video game would you pick and

(01:06:11):
why.
Oh Lord.
I got to answer fast.
One day you said.
For a day a full 24 hour period.
Arcade paradise.
That's not a game.
It is.
What we'll talk about later.
If you could go back in time and give advice to your younger self but only through the

(01:06:36):
use of a song lyric what would it be.
Dare to be stupid.
Question three if you could master any bizarre skill like extreme ironing or competitive
beating what would it be and why.
These are really complicated questions to answer fast.

(01:06:57):
I'll make the next one easier.
Podcasting.
What's your favorite number.
That's hard to.
Forty two.
And question five what is the weirdest dream you've ever had and what do you think it meant.
What is a dream or drink.

(01:07:18):
Dream.
What's the weirdest dream you've ever had.
And what do you think it meant.
What my drink would have meant.
What do you think that drink meant.
That meant you were thirsty.
Is it like a nighttime dream or just like a dream for the future.
It's open to interpretation.
I don't remember my dreams well enough.
So I'm going to dream nothingness.

(01:07:42):
Bonus question if we were visited by aliens tomorrow you had to pick one movie to show
them that sums up the entirety of the human experience.
What movie would you pick.
UHF.
OK.
Oh man.
Just as the time went off that is.
Whoa.
Oh man we are good with that timer.
I just it always works out that way.

(01:08:04):
It's weird huh.
So question one was if you had to live in a video game world for a day what would it
be.
You picked arcade paradise.
Yes.
OK.
OK.
That is a game I've been playing pretty recently.
It is a game about an arcade.
Well really you are like 19 years old and your dad he's rich or a businessman somewhere

(01:08:32):
or something.
He's like oh well you're old enough here work at our family laundromat and you have to take
in the laundry put it in the dryer or the washer wait for the timer to go down put it
in the dryer wait for it to go down and then deliver it.
But during all that you find out you have like three or four arcade machines in the
back room and for people to like play while they're waiting for their clothes to wash

(01:08:56):
or dry.
And so you can play those little arcade games in the game because the more you play them
and the more like little goals that you complete on those games the more popular they get.
So they'll start earning more money and then you can start increasing the size of the arcade
portion of the business compared to the laundromat version and you can buy a bunch of new arcade

(01:09:22):
games to put in and for you to play and for like the customers to play.
Then you have to think a little bit about like the popularity of machines.
If you put a popular one next to a less popular one it'll help boost the popularity of the
less popular one too.
And there are like 43 different little arcade games to play.

(01:09:45):
Eventually your whole your entire business becomes all arcade and you're having to deal
with like fixing broken down machines, unclogging the toilet sometimes, cleaning up the trash
and the gum stuck on stuff, but also trying to get done all of your arcade tasks for the
day.
Okay.
Okay.
So it's like a management sim.

(01:10:06):
I'll put it in terms that I understand.
So it sounds like a roller coaster tycoon game which you're turning your family laundromat
into an arcade.
A little bit, but the management thing is there, but that's really only there so you
can get more money or upgrades to play on the machines more.

(01:10:26):
Because the real fun is actually getting, I mean I like being able to, you can design
where you have a lot of your arcade cabinets.
So you can kind of, like you have a space that looks very 90s, oh it takes place in
the 90s.
It's a very 90s arcade carpet and lighting and everything.
And you can move around the arcade cabinets in like different locations and areas to what

(01:10:49):
you think looks the best.
It's a first person game.
Okay.
But then getting to play all of the games I think is really cool because some of them
are like full arcadey, like stuff like Asteroids type things or Defender, I think.
They have some games that are like that, but they have some games that seem arcadey, but
actually have progressive upgrades.

(01:11:10):
So there's like a top down space shooter, but you can get permanent upgrades for the
ship, which you kind of have to do because for most of the game you're having to juggle
doing the laundry quickly so you can make a lot of money from it.
If you wait and like leave the laundry like in the washer dryer too long, you'll get a
worse grade on it and get less money, which means fewer arcade games you're buying.

(01:11:37):
So a lot of the games you have to like, it's almost like a slightly bigger version of Wario
Ware's micro games, but smaller than Mario Party's mini games.
He's like jumping to like a match three fruit game, but then you're like, oh no, oh, the
dryer is done and you have to run and go to get the dryer.
Like, oh, well I better go play this Pac-Man GTA mashup.

(01:11:59):
All right.
I'm intrigued.
Where can you play this game?
What platforms is it available on?
I think if you are a VR person, I think it recently came out on Quest.
I don't know enough about VR to know, but it's on Xbox, Steam, Switch.
It's on everything.
Normal.
Sounds cool.

(01:12:19):
I'll check that out.
You should.
It's really fun.
I very recommend it.
Check it out.
Question two was about if you go back in time and give yourself advice, but only through
the use of the song lyric, you would go with, dare to be stupid.
Yes.
Because, see, I'd have to couch that one in a lot that young me maybe wouldn't understand.

(01:12:44):
It's okay to be stupid sometimes.
I'm not saying don't learn things or be like willfully ignorant kind of stupid, but do
silly goofy things like host a podcast with a bunch of characters on it.
Sure.
Sure.
I mean, I do.

(01:13:05):
I think that this podcast is joyfully stupid at times, so I can appreciate what you're
saying.
Yeah.
There's definitely a difference between good stupid and bad stupid.
Fear factor is bad stupid.
Indeed.
Yeah.
I would not advise myself to eat bugs.
Question three was if you could master a bizarre skill, what would it be?

(01:13:27):
You said podcasting?
Isn't that a bizarre skill?
I guess so.
I could see it.
It's not, I mean, it's more common now.
I think everyone has a podcast now.
I think you're assigned a podcast at birth.
My one-year-old son has a podcast in which he reviews old episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

(01:13:49):
Does he do it with one of the stars of The Big Bang Theory?
So it's actually, it's a prequel series.
It's hosting with this other baby who actually got cats to play youngish Sheldon in Big Bang
Babies.
So that's coming out.
Wow.

(01:14:10):
Can we hear a clip?
Yeah, I brought a clip.
Here we go.
Cuckoo zingga.
Man, I don't know my view, but I can't wait to check that out this fall.
Oh, I know that.
I don't even know which character that was.

(01:14:31):
I don't know enough about the original show.
Will I have to?
I know.
No, it stands on its own.
It's like Muppet Babies.
You didn't have to watch the great Muppet Caper to watch Muppet Babies.
You do, I think.
You're going to really miss some important context.
I mean, sure.
You're not going to get like all the Easter eggs and the mythology of the Muppets, but
you can enjoy it on another level, on a base level.

(01:14:54):
I guess it's like the boring level.
Next question, I asked you your favorite number and I don't...
Did you get me an answer to that?
Did you say it was too hard?
I said 42.
Oh, sure.
Hitchhiker's Guide, right?
But it might be 815.
Oh, 815's good too.
But I said 42, so I'll go with that one.
I just didn't know if that would be too generic because of Hitchhiker's Guide, which I've

(01:15:17):
never read.
It's also a lost number though, so you're pulling double duty on that one.
Oh, duty is right.
It comes more from the lost half.
That's where I thought of first before I realized that, oh yeah, this is like a typical number
that will be chosen by a nerdy person.

(01:15:38):
Typical nerd number.
You know, some people, the lost numbers, they might incorporate those numbers into, I don't
know, like banking passwords.
Is that something that you would pick about doing?
There are just so many lost numbers.
Would it be 4 or 8?
316?
Sorry, sorry.
It's actually, I had one more question lined up.

(01:16:01):
If you had to use a lost number in your password, which one would you use?
316.
Oh, like the Aziraflight that brought the Oceanic Six back to the island in season 6.
Yes.
5, 6?
When did that happen?
6, 3, 16.
Okay.
All right, good, good.
I'm writing this down and okay, great, great.

(01:16:23):
Yeah, I hope that's helpful.
There was one more question in which I asked you, I can't remember.
It was about the weirdest dream you ever had and then you said nothing.
Nothingness.
I mean, I didn't say nothing.
I said nothing.
Oh, okay.
Nothingness.
I don't remember most of mine.

(01:16:45):
I might have talked about it before.
I did have what I'm sure is not uncommon, but I had a series of dreams one time which
led to me waking up and being like, oh, thank goodness I'm awake.
And then at a certain point going about my day and then realizing I'm still dreaming
and waking up again.
And that happened maybe like eight times.

(01:17:06):
Oh, in a row or separate?
Oh, in a row, just like back to back to back.
And I was like on a different location and I would wake up and I'm on like a cruise ship
now.
I'm like, oh my God, I'm so glad to be out of that dream.
I get out and I'm walking on the deck and I'm like, oh, wait, why am I on a cruise ship?
I'm still dreaming and I wake up again.
So like in a Black Mirror episode?

(01:17:27):
I might have been living a Black Mirror episode, but the really unsettling part was like finally
actually waking up and then for like 10 minutes being really uneasy.
Like this, I feel like I'm awake, but I don't know.
I need to find my totem.
I need like my inception top to know if I'm really dreaming or not.
So yeah, that was the weirdest dream I've ever had.

(01:17:52):
I misheard and I thought you meant like you needed your pet dog to help you through the
dream you were having.
Yeah, sure.
I mean, yeah, Tabor could have helped me get through the dream a lot, I think.
Well, I thought like, because I mean that Wizard of Oz is a kind of a dream, right?
There's a dreamlike quality to it.
Sure.
I mean, she wakes up.
Sure, sure.

(01:18:13):
And all the people were there.
You were there and so were you.
Yeah, but she had to find her Toto to help her out through her adventures there.
Yeah, she missed the rains down in Africa like Toto.
Yep, Toto has never been to Africa.
Exactly.
Exactly.
We both have seen this movie know what it's about.

(01:18:35):
Which one?
Wizard of Oz?
Oh, I thought you meant Inception.
I have not seen Inception still.
Oh, no, I know you haven't.
It's good.
I enjoy it.
I keep meaning to, but it feels like a lot of work now.
Yeah, at this point, I wouldn't bother.
It's not going to be worth it.
See, now I'm going to because you're reverse psychology me.

(01:18:55):
That's not my intention.
Really, really don't do it then.
Don't.
It's not worth it.
No.
So I don't remember most of my dreams long term.
I know I have them short term, but then they, I mean dreams, like dreams do.
But I also know that I've had several deja vu dreams that I vividly remember telling
people about like decades ago.

(01:19:18):
And then I'll have a real life experience recently.
I'm like, oh, this is that dream I told so and so back about back in Boy Scouts way back
then.
So I'm saying I'm psychic.
I believe it.
Just like Raven.
Oh, that's so Raven.
Dynamite.
I then are you familiar with Letterboxd?

(01:19:40):
I know it is a website that has something to do with movies.
Yeah, it's like a social media thing where you review movies and connect with other movie
people.
I have been using it just to log the things I watch and then just keep it as a personal
record for myself because I realized something I've done for a while actually, I used to

(01:20:03):
keep like a composition notebook where I would write, if I watched a movie, I'd write the
name down, I'd write the date and then I'd make a note if I liked it or not.
And then I just had pages of pages like, oh, this is the movie I watched this day.
Okay, great, great, great.
And then I stopped doing that.
And then I started doing the thing where I would just make a Facebook post if I watched

(01:20:23):
the thing just because I wanted a record like, oh, here's the thing I watched.
That seemed maybe annoying to my friends.
So I just started doing a Letterboxd and not promoting it, just doing it for myself.
So thanks to that, I can tell you that I watched Inception April 12th and I gave it five stars.
It's been around that long.

(01:20:44):
Oh, it's been around for many years.
But my final question was if aliens would enter, what movie would you show them to make
them understand the entirety of the human experience?
You said, weird, weird, yes, yeah, it would tell you plenty.
Everything you know, Code of the Librarian, Gandhi, parodies enough of our 80s pop culture.

(01:21:07):
That's all that's really relevant.
I'm pretty sure it has a type of humor in it.
There's a humor.
Sure, sure, sure.
There is.
It gives like the the the TV media experience.
You know, I was unsure when you said it, but you've won me over.
I think UHF is the only choice to show the aliens.

(01:21:27):
Plus maybe you don't have to know a lot of the language jokes to get it.
So the aliens who might not speak English, it'd be fine.
Oh, right.
I forgot about language being a barrier.
So really, maybe show them something that could work as a silent film almost like Gold Rush.
Although you have to be able to read, right?

(01:21:50):
It has title cards.
Then maybe.
I don't know if you need to be able to read.
I just showed the Mad Max Fury Road.
I think, you know, you mute that.
You don't know that you don't need the dialogue.
You can follow what's going on.
They're chasing these people over there and turning them and chasing them back.
And then they would know about our culture, our flaming guitars and you know, all the

(01:22:13):
flaming hot guitars.
Sure, sure.
I have a guitar covered with two ears.
That's my answers, right?
Did you need the ones about like my my fish and stuff?
No, no, we'll double back and work on that.
Oh, that'll be that'll be an ongoing project.
Oh, all right.
All right.

(01:22:34):
What's next?
Well, now it's time for listener feedback.
Hey, you know what that means?
Mail time.
Welcome you've got mail.
Goodbye.
Okay, if you want to listen to the show, I mean, you have to thank you.
Thank you so much for listening.

(01:22:54):
But I mean to say, if you'd like to contact the show, our email address is happycastfeedbackatgmail.com.
We would love to hear from you share your own happy hours above and controls or if you
know anything you want to talk with your boy.
Like you're type it out or send a voice memo.
Ben, do we have any feedback this week?

(01:23:16):
We have two feedbacks.
The first is from the Mrs. Panther herself, who helped out with that little intro on the
start of our last episode edition.
And here is her feedback.
Hey, Ben and Brian.
Hope you've had a good week so far.

(01:23:40):
I just wanted to Oh, I forgot to say this is Mrs. Panther.
And I just wanted to say that my happy hour this week would have to be this candy that
I discovered at Walgreens called I have to look at the packaging because I always forget
it's called it's called Wiley Wallaby soft and chewy classic red natural strawberry flavored

(01:24:00):
licorice.
They're very good.
They're strawberry flavored is like the default.
Well, I guess technically the default is licorice but gross.
But this is classic red strawberry.
And they also have watermelon which I discovered.
And those are also very amazing.
They're not too sweet.
They're the perfect what I like to call palate cleanser if you just need something to like

(01:24:24):
get a certain taste out of your mouth after eating a meal with lots of flavor you just
need like a mellow taste recommend.
My bummer patrol would have to be the fact that Selena our cat likes to wake me up super
early in the morning by like pawing at my face trying to get under the blankets because

(01:24:46):
she gets cold in the morning.
And I may or may not have taught her that so yeah I mean it's really cute because I
love to cuddle with her but at the same time I'm half asleep so it's like I need to sleep
a little longer please don't bother me.
So yeah that's about it guys.
Key stay happy.

(01:25:09):
Thank you Mrs. Panther for the feedback.
I've seen these licorice in the stores before and I considered buying them and now because
of your endorsement I shall try them.
I think I saw like a black licorice flavor which I'll stay away from but the strawberry
sounds pretty good.
We have also stayed away from the black licorice one but we've recently found the watermelon

(01:25:31):
one and that one's really good.
Hmm.
All right so maybe the next time I'm going to the cinema to catch a picture I'll get
some Australian licorice is this correct?
They pretend to be Australian.
I think it's American.
But it's not.
Is it manufactured here in the good old US of A?

(01:25:53):
I can't remember.
We did look at it once.
Mrs. Panther write in and let us know where they're from because I cannot reach the bag
right now.
Okay.
I'm looking forward to this follow up.
Next week on the Western episode.
Next time.
Next time.
Next episode.
Epidition.

(01:26:13):
Should we need to get better at this?
Bumble patrol I can relate.
I've also been woken up, awakened early in the morning because my pet wants to get under
a blanket so I've been there.
But yes they're very, you know, they're cute so we forgive them.

(01:26:35):
Did you teach your pet that?
I don't think I taught her that but you know I do keep the house rather cold so I feel
bad that you know it gets cool in the morning she wants to get under a blanket.
She has her own blanket in her dog bed but maybe it's not warm enough.
Maybe we need to give her an upgrade or I don't know put one of those little dog sweaters

(01:26:56):
on her.
Who knows?
Megan was trying to teach our cat Selena to like try to cuddle with us and get under a
blanket and so Megan kept trying to get her to do it and that is what the problem is because
yeah now Selena knows to try to beg for that.
Well you know hopefully she doesn't have a lot of trouble going back to sleep after being

(01:27:24):
awakened because as a father of a young child I have learned how to go back to sleep very
quickly now.
It used to be a problem but now I'll wake up, I'll change a diaper, get a bottle, do
what I need to do and then as soon as he's good I'm out like a light.
Oh you're a super dad.

(01:27:46):
You got to get to sleep where...
I mean especially when he's like number three on your list.
I think he was number one.
I'm pretty sure I was very clear about that.
I thought you said it went like by seniority so it was cat dog baby.
No no no no.
Cat dog baby is also the cat dog prequel series coming this fall to Nick Jr.

(01:28:09):
It's not cat baby dog baby, it's cat dog baby.
I will watch that.
Three weeks or three episodes from now.
Impeditions.
I think I brought a clip.
Let's see.
Let's listen to it now.
I'm sure I'm a baby dog.

(01:28:30):
What about the cat?
What's gonna happen next?
You have to pull the cats.
Oh do I?
But we're attached at the butt aren't we?
No we don't have a butt.
I'm confused.
It's not like a cat dog, one is a cat, one is a dog.
It's not like a human centipede does.
A human centipede they weren't attached butt to butt.

(01:28:52):
But there is no butt, they just have like a torso if it's connected.
I thought there's one of them.
Never mind.
Oh sorry Ben I just got a note from the network.
Cat dog baby has been cancelled preemptively so don't worry about cat dog baby.
Cancel culture strikes again.

(01:29:13):
Another one balling.
Alright what's our other key pack?
The other one is from listener Anne with our special education segment.
And I'm sending you a voicemail because you can't make me use Skype.

(01:29:33):
You just can't.
It's not gonna happen.
But my name was invoked.
I sprang into action and I'm here with an answer for you.
So you are asking whether a jungle and a rainforest are the same thing and one is one and the
other isn't necessarily the other.

(01:29:55):
So the jungle is a rainforest but it's a rainforest in the tropics and there are also temperate
rainforests like in Washington state and I think like lower parts of Alaska and probably
some in Canada and stuff like that.
But forests that qualify as rainforests that are not jungles.

(01:30:18):
So there you go.
I knew this information.
And then you gave us the challenge to answer the things.
So what color food would I have?
Whatever color you want to call steak.

(01:30:38):
So is it red?
Is it brown because it's cooked?
Is this a technicality?
I don't know.
But if I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life it would be steak colored
things.
Because I would not want to give up steak.
It is amazing.
The weirdest thing I've ever had in my mouth I probably I don't remember because it was

(01:31:00):
probably traumatic and I'm guessing it probably had to do with raising my children.
Oh I know.
It would be the time when I was talking to my daughter and she turned and looked at me
directly and coughed directly into my mouth.

(01:31:20):
So whatever resulted passed from her mouth directly into my mouth in that moment that
was the weirdest thing that's ever been in my mouth.
If I had to replace grass everywhere in the world with something else I would replace

(01:31:40):
it with sea pinks which are this lovely little flower that grows in northern climates, rocky
climates.
They're little green leafy plants and they have pink flowers that poke up above them
and they're so pretty.
They're called sea pinks and I think the whole world should be covered in sea pinks.

(01:32:05):
What holiday would I declare?
I would say that June 1st would be a national international holiday where everybody gets
to take the day off and give gifts and enjoy themselves because it's my birthday and also
because Ben's birthday is the day after and I want everyone to be so partied out on June

(01:32:32):
1st because it's the superior birthday that when Ben's birthday rolls around they're just
like oh yeah and here's I guess we forgot your birthday again because we were so busy
celebrating Anne's birthday that here's a subway token.
You don't mind right because we all had a good celebration the day before so that would

(01:32:55):
be the holiday I would create because I'm kind of mean sometimes.
And then what would you steal and why?
I would probably steal a flock of weissant sheep because they are such tiny little sheep
and they're so cute and they're like little shrunken sheep and I would have enough room

(01:33:23):
to keep them and people would be so baffled by the fact that their sheep disappeared they'd
just be like well who would steal sheep I guess we just have to go get more and then
I would have a little flock of sheep and my husband wouldn't be like oh this is so expensive
because I just would have the sheep they wouldn't have cost the same thing and they're small

(01:33:46):
enough they can just eat what's available to them so that's my thing.
And then I wanted to just say that my favorite segment is the segment segment where you guys
talk about what segments you have and what segments you wish you had and what some potential
segments might be.
And this is just keeping going you guys have been gone for four years so there's a lot

(01:34:10):
there's a lot so you talked about hiring a social media manager who's younger in new
things and I have done that this year I don't know if you guys have heard but jobs for young
people are very scarce and so my wonderful youngest daughter could not find work for
the summer and I was like man I need an assistant so I hired her to do like general assisting

(01:34:36):
and then also to manage my social media and I told her if she could get my Instagram account
to 10,000 followers by the end of the summer I would do like I'd give her a bonus and she's
decided that the best way to do that is to create reels cat reels that are themed around

(01:34:57):
knitting and stitchery and stuff which is the niche that I work in and it's you know
what 19 year olds have interesting ideas if you want to see the sort of things that she's
been creating for me my Instagram account is I thought I knew how and I think they're
really funny but I don't know if they're gonna work to get additional followers and I need

(01:35:22):
additional followers because I know Ben has said he finished his schooling I've actually
gone back to schooling and I'm studying creative event management now so that's I'm doing a
master's degree in that so that's my big change over the last four years and you know you
got to have a big following if you're gonna sell events to people so I'm looking to boost

(01:35:45):
that and during that four year time that you guys have been gone to I also was hosting
knitting tours to Shetland and which is an island off the coast of Scotland that I've
absolutely fallen in love with and yeah that's been that's been my happy my happy thing has
been discovering the happy place of Shetland and how much I love it there my bummer patrol

(01:36:13):
I think would be listening to episode and hearing but why is everything Ben focus this
is really weird and I swear I'm not stalking Ben and Megan should not come beat me up but
the moment when Ben realized that he took German 17 years ago and you could hear his

(01:36:34):
entry into the old person club and that gave me a little bit of bummer ness on Ben's behalf
and yeah because that's a hard realization but once you've realized it it gets easier
and Brian I I hope that you're doing well with everything I'm excited for you and your

(01:36:57):
little boy and future stories and stuff and that's all I have to say okay listener and
out whoops Wow thank you listener and for the voicemail a lot to cover a lot of bases
to cover so we'll start out the difference between a rainforest and jungle it sounds
like a rectangle square situation where all rectangles are squares but not but squares

(01:37:21):
aren't rectangles right who knows all all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles
are squares oh did I flip that okay yeah because I'll I don't want to get into the squares
sure no yeah I mean well we'll see if our future square segment for all addition from
now yeah called hip to be square don't we haven't called that I feel like I have that

(01:37:44):
song downloaded my happy cast folder it's very likely very very likely the main thing
I took away is that a rainforest is a forest where it rains a jungle is the place that
Guns N' Roses welcomes you to they don't welcome you to the rainforest no no not at all you
are not welcome in rainforests the rainforest does not want you thank you and then you know

(01:38:09):
I'm glad listener and did know that information and we called it yeah that's good that's fun
I I think we call upon a lot of people to tell us a lot of things when we rarely hear
from them so that was actually very exciting it was you know actually the new happy cast
challenge everyone make a voice memo and send it to happy guest feedback at gmo.com or if

(01:38:33):
you can't find that just like message me somewhere and we'll figure it out I want to know what
you were up to over the last four years oh sure yeah we should that should be a segment
where we just check in and catch catch up people for the last four years and you know
well we're like living through you know pardon the reference bin I'm a bit of a bit of a

(01:38:54):
comic book nerd but kind of like after Avengers Infinity War when everybody came back and
in game there's that gap you have to cover so I think at least I think that's what happened
I didn't see that movie but where were you during the blip that's what we want to know
they didn't cover a lot of that in that movie they most I mean you're thinking of desperate

(01:39:16):
housewives again right I'm sorry that's the I should have went with the pop culture reference
that that people know about that they would go for desperate housewives instead of Avengers
that makes yeah that's why I have season three or four or something all right and then listener
and also answered all the who's the who's the Ben who's the Brian questions sorry who's

(01:39:41):
the Brian so we'll go over that state-colored food good call I'd like to change my answer
to state-colored food okay it's too late yours is already in like in stone what I say green
I think green it's good yeah what a like a green apple like a Granny Smith they're for
baking but I just eat them like they are they're for baking I think I think not exclusively

(01:40:03):
but I think people use them a lot in baking maybe I don't know I'm not a baker I have
no idea I don't I don't have information to back up the claims I make on this podcast
Ben you know what that sounds like something listener and might know I don't think we can
do this every week what was the most question to on the on the five was question was it

(01:40:32):
about the the weirdest thing they've had your mouth yeah yeah yeah which unlocked repressed
memory for me and which I also might have held my son up in the air and then had him
spit up directly into my mouth so that's the worst thing I think that beats a mouthful
of ants especially if your kid was eating ants I don't think he was I mean he does try

(01:40:58):
to eat everything but I have to be vigilant and preventing from doing it so I don't think
he had any ants oh good good good then it was replaced grass oh sure yeah good answer
good answer better than astroturf which Ben opened my eyes to how terrible that is so

(01:41:18):
I mean unfortunately I'm locked in it has to be astroturf but I feel bad about it yeah
you are I'm sorry for that but at least listener and does have a better better answer for when
it comes her time to decide the fate of the universe yes yes then question four was about
new holiday oh a new holiday so a bit of a correction on this one then correct me if

(01:41:41):
I'm wrong in the correction she said that your birthday is the day after hers but I'm
pretty sure your birthday is the day before hers as I'm looking at my calendar the Facebook
birthday so I know who to post the cake photo on the wall which day I think you're the day
before listener and you are correct take that listener and everyone will be pre gaming on

(01:42:06):
my birthday and I'll get extra gifts because my day is the day before yours so I mean but
you'll be like the Christmas Eve to her Christmas day you know I mean Christmas day or Christmas
Eve that's when people go to like the ceremonies and have like their little parties so you
could have the you know the together time that can be sometimes stressful depending

(01:42:29):
on who it is on the actual day and I was gonna have party and have fun on my day so I think
I've won I think I've won this time I do I mean if we're like placing a holiday on the
calendar it feels a little close to Memorial Day for my taste stuff like that like a little
bit of a buffer at least a month between holidays but I'll make an exception here and then our

(01:42:53):
fifth one is if you could steal one thing without getting caught and she named tiny
sheep tiny sheep good answer good answer that is that is a good answer and then we talked
and she talked about quietly thing that I've enjoyed watching over the years via social
media I don't think we've talked about it how listener and has become a knitting influencer

(01:43:18):
so she has a podcast I in fact as that that voicemail was playing for me the first time
here on the show I jumped on the Instagram so I could follow her account really quick
because I just want to see her daughter get that bonus also I want to see these cat videos

(01:43:40):
which one first I don't know let's call it a tie wait what if promoting it on this podcast
is why it gets to 10,000 does that mean we get the bonus I don't think so can we get
the bonus if we get it to 10,000 well here's a here's a live update as of this recording

(01:44:04):
she currently has 8,884 followers wow that's pretty good so she's not that far off she
said the end of the summer it seems very obtainable I think you might hit the skull I think so
and I think we need a trailer like this year oh oh I thought you meant like a trailer like

(01:44:28):
you would do camping or something that we need a trailer to go on one of those knitting
tours to Shetland because that sounds amazing that does sound fun there are ponies from
there yeah that's what I know them for the what about the segment of segments she mentioned
is that a thing we did that right we've done it a lot both episodes the petitions talking

(01:44:50):
about the things that we have covered that's true and then she also talked about you talking
about taking German 17 years ago and I was like oh that was this episode and then I had
the realization that I think we just talked about like the same five things over and over
and it's usually not that I took German the things have changed I guess I suppose so we've

(01:45:12):
grown been I mean not a whole lot man we'll see you do you really keep growing when you're
in your 30s yeah I'm actually I'm actually three inches taller than I was when I turned
30 so I just well getting bigger yeah what do you know like seven to that's seven foot
to I've got taller than Shaq Shaq you'll O'Neal well I mean he but has been shrinking over

(01:45:37):
time too to be fair well I mean he's older so you keep growing until you hit the middle
age made like 52 and at 52 you start shrinking again so people think a lot of people think
that you Benjamin Button where you start at one side and go to the other but it's really

(01:45:58):
it's really more of like an arc so you hit your apex at 52 and you start shrinking again
at the same or at the negative rate of your growth though right exactly it's like a parabolic
arc so you like really start shrinking near the end I mean and eventually you're nothing

(01:46:18):
at all nothing at all nothing at all nothing at all just how you started that means your
middle age is 52 then which we talked about last expedition oh right so now we officially
know the lore of aging and growing I'm glad that we were able to solve this mystery here
on the show also I'm sorry if I talked too much about me Brian talk more about you ah

(01:46:42):
no I mean I think we've talked equally in this episode right expedition yeah expedition
expedition I think the problem is because I go first a lot that's true that's true I
don't like going first though I like you to kind of set the template that was that everything
that's everything that's all the feedback so thank you thank you callers for the feedback

(01:47:05):
callers voice members um anyone else wants to reach out happycastfeedback.gmail.com is
that address again and oh I'm looking at my watchband I can't believe it but I think that
is the end of yet another expedition I think it is should we give one more plug to Anne's

(01:47:30):
daughter before we close for the for the Instagram yeah so yeah yeah the Instagram is I thought
I knew how I followed then did you follow I don't get on Instagram a lot but I will
next time I'm on Instagram probably when I'm editing and I hear me say this oh to be fair

(01:47:52):
I'm also not a heavy Instagram user so I don't know if I count but I did follow though so
if Listerine wants to look at that number and subtract one because I don't count as
an engaged user that's fine oh yeah only influencers count I think I guess we're sort of influencers
right I don't think so we're podfluencers um it still seems like a stretch we'll see

(01:48:20):
maybe that'll be an episode for expeditions from now the episode with all the all the
empty promises yeah I'm gonna take these notes when I'm editing this and make sure we have
it on our little schedule okay put it in the happy cast Bible yes all right well that does

(01:48:40):
it another podcast in the books thank you for joining us and we hope to hear you next
week here on another episode of happy cast until then remember

(01:49:14):
what if Frazier had his own podcast oh see what would it sound like Frazier to his own
podcast oh dear listener I'm delighted to introduce to you the most refined and intellectually

(01:49:36):
stimulating podcast in the land the Frazier Crane show join me dr. Frazier Crane as I
delve into the world of art culture and of course psychiatry my wit is sharper than ever
my insights are more profound and my banter with my trusty psychic bras is simply well
it's simply divine from dissecting the nuances of fine wine to dissecting the human psyche

(01:49:59):
no topic it's too mundane or too sophisticated for my expert analysis and let's not forget
the witty reprote with my beloved brother Niles Chuckles do yourself a favor pour a
glass of a fine Merlot settle to your favorite armchair and perhaps and prepare to be edified
entertained and perhaps even enlightened by dr. Frazier Craig smirks after all as I always

(01:50:25):
say I'm not just a psychiatrist I'm a cultural icon how likely would it be that Frazier would
get Ross and Niles on his podcast I mean they couldn't even get miles on the new show so
probably not on the podcast I don't remember a lot of Niles Ross scenes oh sorry there's

(01:50:47):
one more line pauses for dramatic effect now if you excuse me I have a podcast produced
good listening dear fellow do it again but jokes jokes he said he's witty that's not
witty at all ah dear listener are you tired of podcasts that are as dull as a butter knife

(01:51:08):
well fear not my friend the dr. Frazier crane show is the intellectual equivalent of a finely
sharpened well something very sharp join me dr. Frazier crane as I dissect the world of
art culture psychiatry with the precision of a surgeon or at least a slightly tipsy

(01:51:31):
surgeon my way to sharper than my brother Niles's suits my in that's better I like
that one my insights more profound than a Kardashians thought on existentialism and
my and my banter with Roz is simply well it's a verbal tennis match but without the grunting

(01:51:53):
and spandex links from the absurdity of modern life to the absurdity of my own life choices
no topic to mundane or sophisticated rags or analysis let's not forget the witty repartee
of my beloved brother Niles were like two peas in a pod except one piece slightly more
pompous and the other piece slightly well more Niles oh yeah that's not where I thought

(01:52:18):
he was gonna go with that I was gonna say I felt like it was gonna be a joke it just
was just end it or one of them is more pompous do yourself a favor for a glass of fine Merlot
tell me if you've ever on shared yeah this is the same I'm not just a psychiatrist I'm

(01:52:41):
a cultural icon with a podcast and a dwindling social calendar now if you excuse me I have
a podcast produced and by produce I mean convinced by producer group that should be another latte
good this is my beard listener so so what we've learned then you knew you'd have more

(01:53:01):
experience in this field than I AI can't write jokes
ah dear listener are you tired of podcasts that are as dull as a butter knife well fear
not my friend because the Fraser crane show is the intellectual equivalent of a finely

(01:53:24):
sharpened well something very sharp chuckles join me dr.
Fraser quain as I dissect the world of art culture and psychiatry with the precision
of a certain or at least a slightly tipsy surgeon laughs my wit is sharper than my
brother Niles suits my insights more profound than a Kardashian's thoughts on existentialism

(01:53:47):
and my banter with Roz is simply well it's like a verbal tennis match or without the
grunting and spandex winks from the absurdity of modern life to the absurdity of my own
life choices no topic is too mundane or too sophisticated for my expert analysis and let's
not forget the witty repudy with my beloved brother Niles we're like two peas in a pod

(01:54:11):
except one piece slightly more pompous and the other piece slightly more well Niles laughs
so do pour yourself a glass of fine Merlot settle into your favorite armchair and prepare
to be edified entertained and perhaps given enlightened by the inevitable dr.
Fraser crane after all as I always say I'm not just a psychiatrist I'm a cultural icon

(01:54:36):
with a podcast and a dwindling social calendar laughs pauses for dramatic effect now if you'll
excuse me I have a podcast to produce and by produce I mean I have to convince my producer
to set me another latte but listening my dear fellow that's a podcast bye