Author: Peach Fish Productions

On this Saturday edition, Mike Pesca joins the cast of Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone to explain the dopamine minefield of modern sports betting. He walks Paula and Adam Felber through the mechanics of the "vig," the absurdity of Cleveland pitchers throwing balls into the dirt to cover prop bets, and the time NBA legend Chauncey Billups unwittingly became a "face card" for a mob-run poker game involving marked contact lenses. They also workshop a betting ad campaign starring John Goodman as a sentient thumb and discuss why catching the mechanical rabbit leads to existential dread for greyhounds and podcasters alike.

Produced by Corey Wara

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Mohanad Elshieky joins Funny You Should Mention with stories that make Benghazi feel less like a political Rorschach test and more like the small town where he learned comedy by roasting his siblings and dodging unlicensed militias. He walks us through the dictatorship-era silence around politics, the sudden rise of ISIS-adjacent checkpoints, and the knife-wielding "helper" who hijacked his car only to request a future hangout. We also dig into the Greyhound incident that vaulted him into national headlines, why clapter makes his skin crawl, and how Portland's well-meaning curiosity can feel like its own border crossing.

Produced by Corey Wara

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Mohanad Elshieky joins Funny You Should Mention with stories that make Benghazi feel less like a political Rorschach test and more like the small town where he learned comedy by roasting his siblings and dodging unlicensed militias. He walks us through the dictatorship-era silence around politics, the sudden rise of ISIS-adjacent checkpoints, and the knife-wielding "helper" who hijacked his car only to request a future hangout. We also dig into the Greyhound incident that vaulted him into national headlines, why clapter makes his skin crawl, and how Portland's well-meaning curiosity can feel like its own border crossing.

Produced by Corey Wara

Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thegist@mikepesca.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠ad-sales@libsyn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist⁠⁠⁠⁠

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TJ Raphael, host of the series Liberty Lost, joins Mike to investigate the "Liberty Godparent Home"—a facility on Liberty University's campus where pregnant teens were allegedly pressured into adoption under the guise of spiritual redemption—and discuss why the financial incentives of the "adoption industrial complex" often cause the promise of open adoption to fall apart. Plus, Mike breaks down President Trump's "pardoning fiesta" and does the "Cocaine Math" on whether federal prosecutors are getting high on their own sentencing statistics.

Produced by Corey Wara

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True crime historian Rachel McCarthy James joins to talk about Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder, tracing humanity's relationship between axe and skull, where questions about Axe-related word play are axed and answered. Then the show pivots to how algorithms elevate the most loathed spokespeople on every hot-button issue, from Riley Gaines to Jasmine Crockett and Greta Thunberg, and why our brains can't easily separate "the person" from "the cause." Finally in the Spiel Mike discusses Marjorie Taylor Greene, Zohran Mamdani, and whether renouncing past rhetoric—be it "Jewish space lasers" or NYPD boots laced by the IDF—should earn politicians anything more than a provisional, closely watched second chance.

Produced by Corey Wara

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Daniel Brook and Brandy Schillace trace the life and legacy of Magnus Hirschfeld, the so-called "Einstein of Sex," from his pioneering Institute for Sexual Science to the Nazis parading his severed likeness at the 1933 book burning. They dig into the longer prehistory of Weimar queer politics and antisemitism, discussing how obsessions with masculinity and "degeneracy" turned sexuality into a political weapon. Plus: Donald Trump's astonishing pardon of convicted Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández, and a spiel on what Marjorie Taylor Greene's resignation actually says about her district.

Produced by Corey Wara

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Michael D. Fuller joins to talk about Hulu's Murdaugh: Death in the Family. The conversation digs into what scripted drama can do that true-crime podcasts and prosecutors can't, especially around messy motives and family dynamics that don't fit a neat trial narrative. Plus, an opening segment on Trump's "don't give up the ship" blowup, congressional warnings about illegal orders, and new allegations that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered what may amount to a war crime at sea.

Produced by Corey Wara

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On this Saturday edition, Mike Pesca reaches into the archives for a 2016 classic with actor and author Jesse Eisenberg. They discuss Eisenberg's short story collection Bream Gives Me Hiccups and the "creek vs. crick" linguistic controversy it sparked, while analyzing why a nine-year-old restaurant critic is the perfect vessel for exposing adult hypocrisies. Eisenberg explains why he prefers writing dialogue to describing sunsets, reveals the existence of a spreadsheet tracking whether he or Paul Newman played a role better, and admits that his anthropology background is just an excuse for professional eavesdropping. Finally, the two perform the radio play "Marv Albert Is My Therapist".

Produced by Corey Wara

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Today on The Gist, the late Bob Saget, who reconciles his Full House image with his "Dirty Daddy" persona while admitting he was a "nerd burglar" in his youth. They dissect the difference between misogyny and locker room talk, deconstruct the logic of his famous "Winnebago" joke. Then, cultural critic Chuck Klosterman joins to analyze The Nineties, explaining why the sitcom Coach might be the most significant show of the decade, how the internet ruined the necessary ambiguity of college football championships, and why Nirvana's musical legacy is inseparable from the non-musical impact of Kurt Cobain's depression.

Produced by Corey Wara

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On this Thanksgiving edition Mike Pesca serves up two revitalized classics, starting with Henry Winkler (The Fonz), who joins to discuss his Hank Zipser books, the unique Dutch font designed for dyslexic readers, and his tenure-granting plan to design the world's first consumer jet pack. Then, we revisit a conversation with counterterrorism expert Clint Watts, breaking down his viral congressional testimony advising senators to "follow the trail of dead Russians" while analyzing the distinction between a "Manchurian Candidate" and a "useful idiot", the Russian doctrine that "there is no truth", and why the term "fake news" has become a catch-all for "anything I don't want to hear".

Produced by Corey Wara

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