The Spoiler Horn

John has thoughts on Merlin's baked ziti recipe, and Merlin tells John about his family finally getting to see "Hamilton."

For a main topic, your hosts fire off the Spoiler Horn to talk about "Game of Thrones."

This week, Merlin feels a little thin, and John still has to re-position his windows. Every time.

John interrogates Merlin about his heartbeat, and Merlin reveals he’s conducting a personal longitudinal study.

John did not fix the document.

Homework is discussed, and John confesses to once starting the world’s longest book report. John recounts his career of creative abuse of Macintosh skills back in elementary and high school, and Merlin dons his notional 43 Folders hat.

John has some questions about a podcast Merlin likes, and this leads to a discursive walk through what makes a podcast stick.

John has fence problems, Merlin is riding a weird new vehicle, and the guys discuss “Patriot.”

In this week's Spoiler Slot (starting at 1:04:39), your hosts discuss "The Last Jedi."

After firing off the spoiler horn at 1:27:12, your hosts enter the Spoiler Slot to talk about a remarkable documentary called "The Barkley Marathons."

For this week’s main topic (and Spoiler Slot), we find Merlin playing "The Last of Us."

This week’s main topic is Mid-Life Crisis. What even is it? How do you know if you’re having one, and how many will there be?

Merlin gets his time in the barrel as John disabuses him of his self-styled situation as "the dumb one." Merlin tries gamely to change the subject to how status works in improv, but finds his knife further sharpened in the bargain.

This week’s first topic is self-driving cars and how soon they’re likely to be ready, as they say, for prime time. Later, you'll find The Spoiler Slot filled with a discussion of the 2016 movie, Arrival.

The main topic this week is Dad Stuff. Dad Jokes, Dad Hats, and Dad…everything. In particular, when did Dad Jokes become a thing, and exactly what part of that label is supposed to be so bad and insulting?

Lots of follow-up on Free Will, including thoughts on Heisenberg, tail-chasing, and provocative recent scholarship on whether what we see is “reality.” Around 01:45:00, we fire off the spoiler horn for a discussion of season 1 of HBO’s Westworld.

The main topic this week has Merlin probing John’s thoughts on the idea of a thing being “wrong within normal parameters.” John calls someone a “super doof,” and both hosts share their strategy for not ending up on a desert island.

The main topic this week is The Future. Merlin can't contain his fascination and admiration with how John's rationality and long view of history has colored and redirected his own conceptions about what the future holds.

Things kick off with a discussion of Star Wars. In particular, there is extensive discussion of your hosts’ preferences regarding fan restorations of the original trilogy. Next, the spoiler horn fires off for a detailed examination of The Walking Dead.

After a discussion about The Game, which Merlin has finally watched all the way through, the boys tackle the topic of jobs. They discuss what they did or didn't learn from them, and how their younger work lives shaped their future employment choices.