Weekend Favorite: "Earbuses" w/ Dax Shepard and Monica Padman

Published May 4, 2024, 8:00 AM

From time to time on the weekends, we’ll be bringing you some of our recent favorite episodes. Enjoy your weekend, and we’ll be back with a brand new puzzle on Monday!

Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: the hosts of "Armchair Expert," Dax Shepard and Monica Padman!

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 Weekend, where we bring you some of our favorite episodes from the vaults for your weekend listening. This is the weekend of the Kentucky Derby. So do we have a puzzle in the vaults about horse racing? We do not. What about a puzzle about car racing? Well, we don't have one of those either. I did look, but I did notice that we have episodes with Dax Shepherd, who is a huge fan of car racing and hosts a podcast all about car racing. So that's something sort of anyway, it seemed like a good excuse to run a great episode with Dax and his co host Monica Pappen. Please enjoy. Hello Puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast. The mint flavored mouthwash at the end of your puzzle dental cleaning. I am your host, AJ Jacobs, and today's guests are the legendary Dax Shepherd and Monica Padman, hosts of Armchair Expert, the podcast the flagship show of the Armchair Expert Empire. Welcome Dax and Monica.

Thanks for having that your It's kind of a preposterous inro, but we'll take it. You're one of the funnest guests we've ever had in six years. The notion that we got to just puzzle our way through two.

Hours, yes, so fun. Well it was. I'm not making that this was. It was a highlight of my life. It's like my wedding, my kids being born. Like it's in the top five. So and I also love that you talked about that you love puzzles, your puzzle fans.

Oh, not only that, an update for you, AJ that didn't exist when we had you on is that my now third grade daughter has entered a phase of riddles in her teacher gives out riddles NonStop, so she's coming home every day with a riddle and it's like, I can't believe how blessed my life is now.

I love that. All right, Well, I hope you do better on these than I did. I feel good. I feel you nervous because this is a type of puzzle that we invented here at the Puzzler in the Puzzler Laboratory, and we think of it as a ribus for your ears. So we call this sort of an earbus trademark pendum. So the way it works is I'm going to say a word in a certain tone of voice or an accent, and if you combine the word and my manner of speaking, it's gonna reveal the answer, which is a two word phrase. So it's easier than it sounds. It's easier. So if I said, for instance, if I said tied slow tie hi ti exact or rising time or low to high.

But yes, you're gonna hate us as guests because we just we can't help but go along. But I just want to say that one of the funniest moments I was I was banned from doing this in a game we would play called what was that game Categories or something where you're gonna try there's like fifteen words out on the board and you're gonna say, Okay, I'm going to say one word and you're gonna be able to guess three of the code names.

Oh I love that game.

Yeah, And this was an outlawed clue that I you'll remember it because I said totalgist because Australian was one of the things, and and like doctor was one, and then toilet or something, and everyone was really mad. I used an Australian accent. But it's very similar tools.

Bad you ready for your first earbus is banna? No, it's banner, Yeah, but do you know it?

Yeah?

But go ahead, let's do it on three one two three.

But I love it and I love the I love the delivery. All right, Well you're a natural. You're two naturals. Ready. We got live er, live er live. I like their looking up. That means they're thinking live er. It's just so you know. It's sort of in the genre of banana split. It's like pause live l L I V E R. But I'm pausing between live and er. What happens with wife?

No?

No, it's got the word liver. Yeah. The second it's something liver, got something.

We got liver and onions.

We got chopped liver, chopped liver, liver, nicely done. All right, you're right for more. You are all right? Scientist, man, scientist, Look at that. No hesitation, no hesitation, unbelievable.

He went on into infinity. We would sit here, we would This is like our favorite kind of entertain It's like a button that I have drug button for I got no plans.

Yeah, that's great, all right, Well what about this one example example example example, it's a two word phrase.

For example, great job, you're on fire. For example, sorry, it's great, we're playing it fast the spelling of four. But yeah, you're gonna get hung up on that.

I loved that because I loved you solved it as you said it that way. Yeah, that's always fun. All right? What about this one.

Move slow motion? She had to look, she was trying to be kind. She already had it before, I was saying. She had already had time to look.

At me to go like, go ahead, all right, we only two more? Only too, because you're not in your head too, So like, if there's any effort to let me think I had it before you, you blew that by nodding your head as.

You looked at me.

You are doing much better than I did with eight fours. Okay, ready, sash.

Goodness, And you weren't even like condescendingly looking at me defensive over there intelligence And it's a compliment to you that I'm you're upset.

I think you both are right in there. Well, this one, this is a little callback to something Dack said, rules football.

Rule English rules football.

Well that I have it. I'm a terrible actor. So is it Scottishish? That was no say it again. It's so bad rules football.

My Australian rules football.

Exactly how did you do it?

What does that even mean? I don't get it. Well that you're hearing it for the first time, which puts you at a deficit for sure.

What is that?

I have heard that? I have no clue what it is. I don't know.

It's like a game. It's like sort of rugby mixed with football, Australian rules football. I mean, it's fun to watch. They don't wear they don't wear helmets and they just like beat up on each other.

Everyone have cauliflower here? Well, if you haven't, gray gray for you, Okay, Yeah, I didn't mean to shame anyone.

I didn't know about that.

That one.

My apologies on the That was a hard one because my accent it was was more like key charms, leprechaun or something. I don't know what it was. All right, Well, you did fantastic even with the accent, So thank you. Where can people find more Dax and Monica content.

Anywhere you consume podcasts? Look for us on Mondays for Celebrities, Thursdays Experts, and Friday's Crazy Stories.

From listeners, and we have some other shows too, So just listen to us every day.

Yeah, just stop everything you're doing and listen, and don't ever stop.

Don't ever stop. It's good advice. It's an empire. Before we wrap up, as always for the puzzlers at home, an extra credit here goes we fall. The answer is going to be three words. We fall.

Same game we're playing? Yeah, same same game? Yeah, yeah, okay, I didn't hear anything distinct on the delivery, did you.

Yeah, there's a pause, oh.

There, Oh, oh I know.

But you don't need to do it. This is all for the audience. But you can you get Oh they're whispering. I like it.

Oh, good job.

I think they got it. I think they got it. I read something. Puzzlers, please don't forget to subscribe to the Puzzler podcast and we'll meet here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly. One last thing to all the puzzlers in the New York area, if you are interested in the puzzle of our democracy, please come to a talk that I am giving. It is on May ninth at the ninety second Street Why It's free, and I'll be talking about my new book the year of living constitutionally with New York's Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado. It is free, but you have to register for a ticket. So just google AJ Jacobs and the ninety second Street why and the site should pop up. See you there, I hope Z

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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