How To Do Everything

How To Do Everything

Half advice show. Half survival guide. Half absurdity-fest. (Wait, how does this work again? We're not numbers people.) Each episode, we answer all your burning questions, from how to survive a public bathroom to how to get close to a panda. When we don't know the answer, which is roughly 92% of the time (again, not numbers people), we bring in overqualified experts to help out. So you'll eventually walk away knowing how to do everything. That's what happens when you're one & a half shows. From the team at Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Episodes

November 12, 2025 18 mins

This week: A Broadway star tells us how he finished the New York Marathon and then performed in two shows back to back, a wife seeks advice on how best to shave her hairy companion, plus, are the lyrics to Bye Bye Birdie what we think they are?

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

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This week from the archives: how to stand out at a talent show, how to go to the bathroom during an important phone call, and an unlikely way to check the Wifi on a plane. Plus a “where is he now” 12 years later. 

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.


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This week: Filmmaker Alice Wu shares a clever trick to help you finally finish that thing you’ve been working on, why teenagers are taking over the comments sections of old podcast episodes, and the origins of the phrase “steal your thunder”. Plus we continue in our quest to be your out of office emergency contact.

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

How To Do Everything i...

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This week from the archives:  Mike and Ian search for signs of winter, and Peter test-smells a mystery scent from a professional flavor chemist. Plus a Goodyear blimp pilot reveals more than you’d ever think to ask about blimps including where they go to sleep at night.

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On today’s episode: a bold new way to help out when an earthquake hits, and Mike and Ian help out a listener with the help of a friendly dentist and a dog named Stella. Plus, our continuing commitment to be your Out of Office emergency contact turns into a surprise birthday celebration.

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

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October 8, 2025 20 mins
This week from the archives, Mike and Ian help a high school student nail his performance in the school play. Plus, a listener asks how to compose a catchy jingle, so Barry Manilow joins the show to help out. And a quick tip on how to open your pesky bag of chips.


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On today’s episode, how to get rid of Google’s AI summaries, and we help a listener who wants to exercise in her car during a long commute–with an assist from a very overqualified exerciser and a very overqualified driver. Plus we talk about a possible connection between pizza and war with The Washington Post’s Tim Carman.

You can check out Tim’s piece here and Juan's training routine here. And you can email your burning q...
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September 24, 2025 15 mins

On today’s episode from the archives, Apple’s top-secret guide on how to be a human being. Plus, how (not) to scam the airlines, and a competition you might want to avoid.

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

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Today, Mike and Ian recruit the help of legendary Taste-Tester-Turned-Public-Radio-Host Peter Sagal to rate a new, unorthodox approach to making lasagna. Plus, a listener calls in claiming he’s physically incapable of burping, so the guys ask a medical professional to help him out.

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September 10, 2025 13 mins
On today’s episode from the archives, Fred Armisen helps a grad student set up her wifi router. Tips on how to keep your milk fresh using nature’s little creatures, and how to tie your hair up stress-free. Plus, we finally answer the burning question: does gum really stay in your stomach for 7 years?

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

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We are so back! How To Do Everything returns for a packed second season. This episode, one listener asks Mike and Ian how to write the perfect “out of office” message. So, they confer with the highest language authority in the land, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón.

Comedians Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon join the show to answer your couple’s advice questions, some stranger than others. Plus, a fashion tip for your post-Labor...
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August 27, 2025 2 mins
How To Do Everything is back for season two! With more taste tests, more life hacks and more help for our beloved listeners. This season, Rick Ross gives advice to The Pope, Arnold Schwarzenegger helps a listener work out, Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon host couples therapy and poet laureate Ada Limón drafts the perfect “out of office” message. Seriously, this time around, we’re saving lives.

First episode drops next week....
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On our season finale, when a young listener has a question on behalf of her fifth grade class, we call up an old friend/chimp butt expert to help her out. And Saturday Night Live's James Austin Johnson walks us through his hilarious Donald Trump impression to tend to a listener's curiosities. Plus, Mike and Ian are stressed about some (cryptic) hate mail, so they call Patton Oswalt for some words of encouragement.

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January 8, 2025 14 mins
Today from the archives, a chance to win a free t-shirt if you have a sharp ear for dinosaur moans. And we help a listener with a question about public bathrooms. Plus, why both "Nathaniel" and "Phyllis Isabel Gertrude" are statistically awful names for a child.

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

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Ringing in 2025: Mike and Ian knock out a New Year's resolution with the help of filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg, and a listener calls in to settle a high-stakes bet on the sturdiness of honeybees. Also, the world's northernmost towns are in the middle of months-long darkness. To learn how to survive it, we call an astrophysicist who spent six months in complete Antarctic darkness.

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December 25, 2024 10 mins
From the archives: When cows need help, Ian and Mike create a Christmas miracle, with the help of some adorable reinforcements.

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

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On this week's archive episode, Mike and Ian learn about a unique Catalonian Christmas tradition that celebrates nature's calling. And when a listener calls into question her boyfriend's family traditions, Peter Sagal steps in to give a final ruling. Plus, NFL defensive tackle Gerald McCoy on how to show someone that you care.

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

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On today's episode, Charlie needs help writing a children's book for his wife. So, Mike and Ian call up some of the greatest minds in modern literature, Gillian Flynn and James Patterson. Plus, a slippery way to stay warm on your run and a cool trick to avoid saying "you guys".

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

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December 4, 2024 18 mins
On today's archive episode, when one listener wonders how TV shows get a hold of actors' childhood photos, Mike and Ian ring up a Hollywood mom. Plus, one listener needs help keeping his Velcro bag quiet, so we call in the military.

You can email your burning questions to howto@npr.org.

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