"Chuck Chuckle" w/ Chuck Bryant

Published Oct 10, 2024, 8:00 AM

Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: friend-of-the-show Chuck Bryant, host of the long-running podcast "Stuff You Should Know."

Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.

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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas. 

Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.

The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions. 

Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.

Hello, puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, the Caramelized Onions in Your Puzzles Philly Cheese Steak. I am your host, AJ Jacobs, and I am here with today's guest, the awesome Chuck Bryant, a podcasting giant, co host of Stuff You Should Know and movie Crush And as I've said before and I stick to it, a mench he is a full on mench Welcome Chuck.

Thank you.

I'd like to think I'm either the cheese whizz or the pro bolone on that cheese steak, depending on how you roll.

You are both well, speaking of cheese, speaking of cheese. Actually it's a great segue. When I was researching this puzzle, I looked up Chuck E Cheese and because I was curious, what what's the E? What's the Do you know what the E is in Chuck?

I do. Yeah, I think you should. Unless you want me.

To know you, I want you. You're the Stuff you should Know guy.

Well, this is one of the fun little factoids is that the full name of that character is Charles Entertainment Cheese.

If I'm not mistaken, that's it.

Entertainment is Chucky Cheese's middle name.

Yeah, I should change my name. That's a heck of a name. My middle name's Wayne.

That's no fun, Wayne, it's a pretty good name. Well what about Well what about this? Because I think you are not just an entertainer, You're an edutainer. So like Chuck Charles entertainer by Charles Edutainment Brian, You're one of the greatest edutainers who ever lived. And I say that as an edutainer myself, Like, I love the genre and you have done so much for it.

So yeah, well thank you man. Glad to be back.

So we've got a new name for Charles Chuck Edutainment Bryant. I love it, and I bring it up because Chuck is the theme of our puzzle. Any boy, you are Charles, right, that is you've got yeah, and that is a little weird that Charles to Chuck like that. Yeah, it's like the Margaret to Peggy like Arles to Uck is have you looked into that at all?

Because I no, In fact, I never even second guess my my name until just now.

I'm sorry to put you in an existential crisis.

But it's a weird shortening though.

Yeah, all right, but we love it. So this puzzle, the theme is uh that we add the letters L E. So all of the answers in this puzzle are going to be two words, one without the lee and one with an ellie added. So, for instance, if the clue where podcaster Bryant's laughs, the answer would be chuck chuckle. So you got chuck, You add the L E, and you get chuck chuckle. Okay, yeah, you got it.

Uh sort, I mean, I'm man, I just don't know if I've got.

It and you to add the L. Also, one last, since you are a fact based podcast, I looked up the origin etymology of chuckle to laugh. Apparently, in the Middle Ages, chuckle meant to laugh uproariously convulsively.

So which is not a chuckle now it's sort of a mid last.

Yeah, it's the opposite. It's like a soft laugh. So yeah, if people say I chuckled it at your book, I can just say, well, thank you. I'm assuming in the Middle Medieval version of the word chuckle, you liked my book. All right, That's how I'm going to reframe it to shave my ego. I love it all right. First one, this is a place of worship for short short term employees. I'll try it again, a place of worship for short term employees.

So okay, I've got it.

Oh he's gone already. Okay.

Uh, that would be a temp temple.

Exactly, temp temple. All right, so you do have it that you were all right? Uh, this is psychologist Carl's dense forest, probably outside his house. He had one of these, a dense forest in the yard of the famous psychologist name first name.

Oh yeah, yeah, that would be a Jung jungle, a young jungle exactly.

Bonus points for the pronunciation. Yeah, I'm sorry, you've done the stuff you should know. On Carl Jung, do you remember.

Well, I mean not just one on him by himself, like biographically, but Jung has definitely popped up a lot over the years, as you would expect.

I think he was the extroversion introversion. He created those categories.

Which yeah, I think so.

And I have to say, I think I think I am. I was born an introvert, but I have forced myself to become a moderate extrovert, like I pushed myself along. So I just in case he's listening, he should know that like you can be sort of like you know, you can transition. I feel you can transition a little.

Yeah, I'm in actually an introvert in disguise as an extrovert, because, as you know, if you know anything about introversion extroversion, it's not just hey, you're outgoing in fun and at a party means you're an extrovert. It's actually what takes your energy from you and where you get your energy. And I'm very much an introvert, but.

You wouldn't know it.

By the way, I'm always running my mouth at a party.

So wait, are you saying after this show you are just going to collapse and take an eight hour nap because it's so exhaust.

No, not from this, because this is filling my cup, my friend, But that's nice. After big gatherings, I do tend to just sort of want to be in in a dark place myself.

Very good, All right, Well I will yes, I won't invite you to any parties. Okay, this is a marvelous tale from Esop wrote some of these, and this is a particularly marvelous one.

Uh well, I mean Ept wrote fables. But it can't be fable because that already has.

Well, what if you go the other way, take off the la what happens? Oh?

Oh a fab fable?

A fab fable? Okay, have you done? I'm sure you've done an esop. I should go listen to that.

I think we did a long time ago.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

By the way, I forgot to mention this puzzle is written by associate puzzler Andrea Schomberg. Thank you, Andrea. Wo uh all right? What about? Uh? Now, I should have looked this up because we have done this before, and I forget how to pronounce it revely revere you know when you wake people. That's it. Ye. I hope it's not copyrighted and we have to pay for that. I don't think it is. All right. So this is a revey instrument, the instrument you might hear playing revey, but an insect one, a little tiny one.

For that would be a bug bugle.

Exactly, bug bugle. Uh. A callback perhaps to your first appearance on the Puzzler, where we did a Chuck bry Ant puzzle hidden all right in uh and you did well wait, there was one you had. Oh it's Timothy shallow May, tim Mothey shallow May that you yeah, chucked you up. But others you got guy and actually have heard you drop his name on the show. He's just a funny name. I guess he's like.

Yeah, I mean, I think he's a heck of an actor. I'm looking forward to that Bob Dylan movie looks pretty good.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, ah, what about a tingling sensation from a bloodsucking parasite? Oh, sticking with the insect theme. Look at that. I didn't even know, and yet there it.

Is, and there it is. Nice segue to tick tickle.

Exactly, tickle all right, just two more, just two more. This is a an e reader filled exclusively and with feel good reads, self help books, happy tales.

An e reader brand of e reader, not.

That oh, a kind kindle, Yes it is.

It is a kind kindle exactly.

I'm a book guy, so I had to really search for that kindle because I don't do the e books.

Oh you do? Interesting? What well? First of all, as an author, thank you, because it is better for our sales. Yeah, but I am terrible. I am a kindle guy. I and worse, I read it on my iPhone right o, ag what you I don't know? And the worst thing is now I want to kick where I'm reading, like nineteenth century, so like poor Charles Dickens would be.

That's pretty fun.

Yeah. I also this is a particularly guilty one. Like sometimes I will watch movies on my iPhone, like and not just like epic movies.

That like like Lords of Arabia on the iPhone.

Yeah, on double speed like that kind of thing.

Uh aj Just I like to say there's not too yuck at yam or there's no wrong way to do something.

But you're you're doing the movies wrong.

I am sorry.

I know if you're a reader, but you're doing the movies wrong.

I know you're and it's coming from a movie. If I knew it would offend you. I don't know why. I yeah, I'm a troll. Uh all right. Last one, this is a romantic pair who overthrow a government together. That's a nice date, you might uh.

Just oh, I mean that would be a coup couple.

A coup couple. Excellent, nicely done, especially since like it's got that little trick where it's not a cowpel or couple.

That's right.

Uh, well you are, despite your initial trepidation, you are an l e adding master.

So thank you. This is a lot of fun done.

I loved it. And yes, fingers crossed, we will go to season three and you will return for some more can't wait, non metric I promise, non metric puzzles. I have one for the puzzlers at home, an extra credit, which is this is a soup server for a young boy, A soup server for a young boy, a little utensil they might use. And while you're thinking about that, if you do have thirty extra seconds, please go rate or review the puzzler on your favorite podcast platform because it helps people find our show and we want people to find our show. And other than that, all I have to say is we'll be back tomorrow with more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly. Hey, puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska here from the Puzzle Lab with your extra credit answer from the previous episode.

Chuck Bryant did some metric movies with US movie titles that we redefined using terms of measurement, specifically the metric measurements for more familiar at least familiar to Americans measurement units.

O clue was slap forty four millimeters, and that, of course is the movie slap shot. An old Paul Newman Hockey movie.

Well, I hope you enjoy hockey, I hope you enjoy the Puzzler, and I hope you'll keep listening next time.

The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs

Finally, your daily puzzle fix—in audio form! Every day, New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jaco 
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