"Name That Laugh" w/ Myq Kaplan

Published Jun 6, 2024, 8:00 AM

Hello, Puzzlers! AJ has a new book out! You can order "The Year of Living Constitutionally" right now!.

Puzzling with us today: comedian Myq Kaplan!

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.

Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts! 

"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, and welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, the Heirloom Seeds in your puzzle garden kit. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs. Lord Chesterfield, the eighteenth century British nobleman, said that well bred people don't laugh because laughter is vulgar. Well, here at the Puzzler, we believe that Lord Chesterfield was a bit of an arse an arse hat, even because we are very pro laughter, as is our special guest Salver Mike Kaplan, new York based comedian fellow puzzle junkie who has made me laugh many times.

I appreciate it. I'm happy to be here and I am I know it can be controversial, but pro laugh.

Yes, well that's good because today we're gonna grapple with a laughter related puzzle. The game is called is simply name that laugh, And here is how it works. We're going to play a clip of someone laughing and you have to tell me who is the laugher? H All right, are you ready? We'll laugh number one?

I think I'm as ready as i can be because I've been spending twenty years hearing different people laugh.

Exactly. All right, I'm not sure these people were in your audience. But maybe Okay, ready, laugh number.

One, I have heard it. I do believe that I know that laugh to be the laugh of one Woody Woodpecker.

You got it, absolutely all right, one for one. You do know your laughs. And by the way, historical fact about that laugh, you know who created it? You know who is mel blank oh, which was actually a scandal because he created it for a Bugs Bunny character, and then they used it for Woody Woodpecker, which is not Warner Brothers. So it was all lawsuit and he won and laughed annoyingly all the way to the bank.

Ha ha, that's all right. Laugh.

Are you ready for laugh number two? Here we go.

One more time up to the I'm sad to say that I don't know if I know that laugh.

Is a great laugh. It made me laugh. I have to say that they made me laugh. Well, that laughed is probably influenced by cannabis. That's a little hint, right there.

Is it either cheach and or Chang.

It is neither Cheach nor is it Chong. Okay, but it's sort of a modern day Cheech and Chong.

Oh day Cheach and Chong.

I think his favorite brand is Pineapple Express.

Oh, Is it Seth Rogan.

It is Seth Rogan, very nice? Absolutely, all right, you're ready for a couple more. Let's do number three.

That it sounds like a woman.

Okay, good, you're in the right area.

This is a complete shot in the dark because I or I guess, N don't know. Is it Lucille Ball.

It is not, but it is a sitcom star modern day Lucille Ball. Not a redhead. She is a brunette. She took care of kids and.

An amusing Is it Roseanne?

It is not Roseanne. She she took care of kids for a rich a rich father.

Is it the nanny?

It is the nanny.

Fran Dresser.

That's it, Fran Dresser. All right, let's go to the last one. Are we ready here? It is? It's cute and annoying. It is. The result is sort of a Pavlonovian response from this character when he gets poked.

Is it the Pillsbury dough Boy?

It is the Pillsbury dough Boy? All right, see you got it. I knew, by the way. Side note, I actually knew a struggling actor who would portray the Pillsbury dough Boy at conventions, and he said it was the worst job because the women and children would like poke him in the stomach. He'd had to have to laugh. That was okay, but the men wanted to prove something, so they'd come up and they would punch him as hard as they could in the stomach, which, because of the legs are short, was located at his crotch. So he's Danny hitting the crowd all day and he had to pretend to kill it. Thank you with them in a good time.

So that is what a strange reaction some men had, Like I really have to prove something to the Pillsbury dough boy, Like that's an odd choice to me.

That is toxic masculated Mike. Speaking of laughter, when was the last time that you laughed so hard you could not control yourself?

What a great question. I'm very grateful that I get to laugh a lot, and I don't track all of my laughter. I'll give you two quick answers. One is I watched a stand up comedy special called Cold Lasagna, Hate Myself nineteen ninety nine by the British comedian James Acaster, and I think he is hilarious and I laughed so much during that. And then also last night on the phone. I was laughing with my friend Zach Sherwin, fellow puzzle lover. He has a work of art called the Crossword Show that I recommend to all all puzzlers and all people. But I'm grateful he's my best friend and we laugh a lot together. We were making up. We were sort of diving deep into the concept of the knock knock joke and coming up with new ones that delighted us.

Oh can we hear just one?

That's a great question. Okay, here's the context of this. One is a knock knock joke that we don't recommend telling my favorite guy. Okay, knock knock? Who's there a dolph?

A dolf?

Who a dolphin that got lost on the way back to the ocean? So would you could I stay in your tub for a little while because I just have to wait for my uber to show up, hopefully in uberpool.

Such a wholesome joke.

I love it.

Well, that is great. Please everyone get Mike's latest album, AKA, which will make you laugh, hopefully not so much that you'll burst a blood vessel like Greek philosopher Chrysippus, who died after his own joke about a drunk, junkie, drunk donkey. It's hard to say, uh, but you will laugh before we wrap up. As always, for the puzzlers at home, here is your extra credit whose laugh can be heard here. Come back tomorrow for the answer, and if you have just a moment in your day, please go to your podcast app and rate the Puzzler podcast. It makes a huge difference in helping people find our show. We'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly. Hello, puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska here with the extra credit answer from our previous episode.

We played Hidden NBA with NBA fan Jason Concepsione, and your extra credit clue was This comedian played a coach on the show A Different World and starred in the film Jingle All the Way, But few people know that he was also asked to play basketball for Greg Popovich at the Air Force Academy.

That, of course, is the comedian Sinbad, whose name has the letters NBA right there inside of it.

The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs

Finally, your daily puzzle fix—in audio form! Every day, New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jaco 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 393 clip(s)