https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/make-me-a-nerd-with-mandy-kaplan--6733257
Look, I am a lot of things. I’m a writer, actress, mother, and lover of musicals and cats, but NOT Cats, The Musical. Give me a little bit of credit, would ya? So...throughout my life, I’ve been surrounded (and intrigued) by all things nerd. A sister who plays D&D, a Star Wars-obsessed husband, friends who love anime, comic books, video games, and...well, you get the picture. Somehow, I have always held it all at arm's length. Not to get too deep, but maybe I never thought I was smart enough to follow it. Or maybe I have control issues and have never been able to embrace fantastical things like dragons and time travel. Until now!

So, with an open mind and heart, I am ready to join this massive (and beautifully inclusive) club and GEEK THE #%$ OUT! It’s time for all my wonderfully strange friends to baptize me into NERD-DOM. Please join me on this journey. Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover or remember a side of yourself along the way. Or at least make fun of me as I try!]]>enSociety & Culture© TruStory FMhttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/4b0457e4e1f2935a7824f552e698c704.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/make-me-a-nerd-with-mandy-kaplan--6733257Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:36:29 +0000TruStory FMTruStory FMshows@trustory.fmHey folks. Mandy Kaplan here. I’d like to share a bit about my intentions and mission for MMAN if you’ll indulge me. You will? Huzzah! Look, I am a lot of things. I’m a writer, actress, mother, and lover of musicals and cats, but NOT Cats, The...
Look, I am a lot of things. I’m a writer, actress, mother, and lover of musicals and cats, but NOT Cats, The Musical. Give me a little bit of credit, would ya? So...throughout my life, I’ve been surrounded (and intrigued) by all things nerd. A sister who plays D&D, a Star Wars-obsessed husband, friends who love anime, comic books, video games, and...well, you get the picture. Somehow, I have always held it all at arm's length. Not to get too deep, but maybe I never thought I was smart enough to follow it. Or maybe I have control issues and have never been able to embrace fantastical things like dragons and time travel. Until now!

So, with an open mind and heart, I am ready to join this massive (and beautifully inclusive) club and GEEK THE #%$ OUT! It’s time for all my wonderfully strange friends to baptize me into NERD-DOM. Please join me on this journey. Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover or remember a side of yourself along the way. Or at least make fun of me as I try!]]>falseepisodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/twelve-percent-and-worth-it-sphere-with-kynan-dias--73752378

TruStory FM host page: Kynan Dias

UNLV faculty page: Kynan Dias, MFA

Instagram & Letterboxd: @howdykynan

His shows on TruStory FM:

• The Devil's Details — with Lester Ryan Clark, tracing the devil through art, literature, and pop culture. Currently deep in Mark Twain.
• Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All at Once — also with Lester, going minute by minute through a film that occasionally hands them shots one frame long.
• Sitting in the Dark — monthly horror, with Tommy Metz III, Chelsea Stardust, and Pete Wright, where Kynan was recruited specifically because he's a scaredy cat.

Reference LinksThe Movie

• Sphere (1998) — Letterboxd
• Sphere (1998 film) — Wikipedia
• Sphere (1987 novel) — Wikipedia. The book Kynan has been carrying since childhood.
• Roger Ebert's review — the one Kynan cites, and the last shot that apparently sank it

The Cast

• Barry Levinson — director
• Dustin Hoffman — Dr. Norman Goodman
• Sharon Stone — Dr. Elizabeth "Beth" Halperin
• Samuel L. Jackson — Dr. Harry Adams
• Liev Schreiber — Dr. Ted Fielding, the man who is old at thirty
• Peter Coyote — Capt. Harold C. Barnes
• Queen Latifah — Alice "Teeny" Fletcher
• Huey Lewis — Helicopter Pilot, and yes, he really does deliver the news
• James Pickens Jr. — the man Mandy spotted as Chuck from Roseanne

Michael Crichton

• Michael Crichton — Wikipedia
• The Andromeda Strain — the other one Kynan calls about as nerdy as he gets
• Jurassic Park — the novel, which Kynan would like to come back for
• Disclosure — the one that comes up when the feminism question does
• A Murder in Hollywood — the posthumous novel Mandy stumbled onto
• The Crichton estate's lawsuit over The Pitt — Variety, on the ruling that let the case proceed

Also Mentioned

• Arrival (2016) — Letterboxd. Mandy's recent Denis Villeneuve benchmark, and part of why a glowing ball was a tough sell.
• Contact (1997) — Letterboxd. The other movie where the aliens decline to look like aliens.
• Outbreak (1995) — Letterboxd. Not this movie. Also Dustin Hoffman.
• The Goonies (1985) — Letterboxd. Chester Copperpot.
• Grease (1978) — Letterboxd. For the ending, apparently.
• A Clockwork Orange (1971) — Letterboxd. A blind spot Mandy intends to keep.
• Rod Serling, Isaac Asimov, and Gene Roddenberry — the three-name crash course

Elsewhere on Make Me a NerdThe Kynan Dias Collection — four visits and counting:

• Spirited Away with Kynan Dias
• The Exorcist with Lester Ryan Clark and Kynan Dias
• Everything Everywhere All at Once with Lester Ryan Clark & Kynan Dias — the one that sent Mandy onto their show in return

Also referenced this ep...]]>b6d92998-3b58-433a-bf76-31a8d0d67f14Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMEvery so often a guest arrives having chosen not the safe pick, not the crowd-pleaser, but the one movie they have been quietly waiting years for somebody to ask them about. Kynan Dias picked Sphere. It's a 1998 Barry Levinson picture starring Dustin...

TruStory FM host page: Kynan Dias

UNLV faculty page: Kynan Dias, MFA

Instagram & Letterboxd: @howdykynan

His shows on TruStory FM:

• The Devil's Details — with Lester Ryan Clark, tracing the devil through art, literature, and pop culture. Currently deep in Mark Twain.
• Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All at Once — also with Lester, going minute by minute through a film that occasionally hands them shots one frame long.
• Sitting in the Dark — monthly horror, with Tommy Metz III, Chelsea Stardust, and Pete Wright, where Kynan was recruited specifically because he's a scaredy cat.

Reference LinksThe Movie

• Sphere (1998) — Letterboxd
• Sphere (1998 film) — Wikipedia
• Sphere (1987 novel) — Wikipedia. The book Kynan has been carrying since childhood.
• Roger Ebert's review — the one Kynan cites, and the last shot that apparently sank it

The Cast

• Barry Levinson — director
• Dustin Hoffman — Dr. Norman Goodman
• 2891d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse109fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/neverland-has-xenomorphs-now-alien-earth-with-rick-london--73379621
• Website & book: dancingwolfeman.com
• The Dancing Wolfeman on Amazon: Buy the book
• About the book: dancingwolfeman.com/about-the-book
• Instagram: @ricklondon26
• Facebook: Rick London
• X: @RickLondon1964

If you read it, leave a review. Wherever you bought it. He and Mandy are in violent agreement on this point.Links & NotesThe Show

• Alien: Earth — Wikipedia
• "The Real Monsters" — Season 1, Episode 8, the finale Mandy declares her favorite
• Meet the characters — FX's official character guide, useful for untangling cyborg vs. synthetic vs. hybrid
• Alien: Earth — The Official Podcast — the companion show Mandy tells Rick about, hosted by Adam Rogers with Noah Hawley and cast

The Franchise

• Alien (1979) — Letterboxd. The one Rick insists Mandy watch next.
• Aliens (1986) — Letterboxd

The Cast

• Sydney Chandler — Wendy
• Alex Lawther — Hermit
• Timothy Olyphant — Kirsh
• Essie Davis — Dame Sylvia
• Samuel Blenkin — Boy Kavalier
• Babou Ceesay — Morrow
• Noah Hawley — creator, showrunner, and the throughline of Mandy's entire nerd journey

The 1979 Ensemble

• Sigourney Weaver
• Yaphet Kotto
• Veronica Cartwright
• Harry Dean Stanton
• Ian Holm

Also Mentioned

• Legion — the Noah Hawley series that launched this entire podcast
• Fargo — Wikipedia
• Peter Pan (1953) — Letterboxd. Playing on the screen in the operating room, and not by accident.
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) — Letterboxd. Mandy's Boy Kavalier theory. Solid.
• The Babadook (2014) — Letterboxd. Where Mandy knew Essie Davis from.
• Jaws (1975) — Letterboxd
• The Last of Us — Wikipedia. The one Mandy tapped out on.

Elsewhere on TruStory FM

• Game Over, Man(dy)! It's Aliens with Darnell Smith — Mandy's own trip into the franchise, back in the early days
• Aliens (1986) on the Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast — Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell take the same film from a very different angle

Fact-Check Corner
Because we love our guests and we also love being right.

• Wendy is played by Sydney Chandler, not Cindy Chandler. Daughter of Kyle Chandler, and formerly of Pistoland Don't Worry Darling.
• The $250 million figure is widely repeated in trade coverage but hard to pin to a primary source. What isdocumented: the Thailand shoot alone ran roughly 2.8–3 billion baht (about $85 million), making it the most expensive foreign production in Thai history. Either way, Mandy's point about the drool budget stands.
• The eyeball creature has a name: the Ocellus. Most of the internet just calls it the Eye. Both are worse than the xenomorph, on this Rick and the fandom agree.
• Sigourney Weaver is not, in fact, in all of them. She's in the first four. Prometheus, Covenant, and Romuluswent on without her.

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>254d0c76-4629-442c-8185-aa33b4fca8a9Mon, 03 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMRick London came for Alien: Earth — Noah Hawley's reportedly quarter-billion-dollar fever dream about corporations, immortality, and dying children installed in adult bodies — and he came prepared to defend every last drop of the show's frankly...

Website & book: dancingwolfeman.com

The Dancing Wolfeman on Amazon: Buy the book

About the book: dancingwolfeman.com/about-the-book

Instagram: @ricklondon26

Facebook: Rick London

X: @RickLondon1964

If you read it, leave a review. Wherever you bought it. He and Mandy are in violent agreement on this point.Links & NotesThe Show

• Alien: Earth — Wikipedia
• "The Real Monsters" — Season 1, Episode 8, the finale Mandy declares her favorite
• Meet the characters — FX's official character guide, useful for untangling cyborg vs. synthetic vs. hybrid
• Alien: Earth — The Official Podcast — the companion show Mandy tells Rick about, hosted by Adam Rogers with Noah Hawley and cast

The Franchise

• Alien (1979) — Letterboxd. The one Rick insists Mandy watch next.
• Aliens (1986) — Letterboxd

The Cast

• Sydney Chandler — Wendy
• Alex Lawther — Hermit
• 3097d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse108fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-desire-for-more-cows-arrival-with-justin-jaeger--73190868The Film Board, Trailer Rewind, and the Marvel Movie Minute, and on his YouTube channel, Jayge's Pages, he's working through every book he's read since 2008 (chronologically, from his Goodreads archive), across every genre, with clips now on TikTok too. Catch him at any dive-y karaoke bar in town, thumbing through the songbook for the number that brings the house down.
  • YouTube — Jayge's Pages: youtube.com/@jjaeger44
  • TruStory FM host page: trustory.fm/host/justin-jaeger
  • The Film Board: trustory.fm/the-film-board
  
  Reference LinksThe Main Event
  • Arrival (2016) on Letterboxd — directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Amy Adams as linguist Louise Banks, Jeremy Renner as Ian, and Forest Whitaker as Colonel Weber
  • Mark O'Brien — plays Captain Marks (the soldier on the phone), and yes, also the husband in Ready or Not
  The Movies They Wandered Into
  • Disclosure Day (2026) — Steven Spielberg's alien return, the jumping-off point from The Film Board
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) — the other Spielberg touchstone; Mandy's own MMAN episode on it was with Steve Sarmento
  • The Martian (2015) — the movie Mandy thought Arrival was
  • Project Hail Mary (2026) — the Andy Weir adaptation; she made it 100 pages of the novel
  • Spaceman (2024) — Adam Sandler's trip to the therapist's office in space
  • Uncut Gems (2019) and Punch-Drunk Love (2002) — the Sandler-anxiety spectrum
  • Spaceballs (1987) — not what Spaceman is
  • Enchanted (2007) — Amy Adams as Giselle, the movie that changed Mandy forever
  • The Sixth Sense (1999) — M. Night Shyamalan's twist, spoiled for JJ by a radio ad
  • Erin Brockovich (2000) — Steven Soderbergh and Julia Roberts, and JJ's "trust yourself" tangent
  • Ready or Not (2019) — where you've seen that soldier before
  • Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) — the "is he a stalker or a helper?" guy
  • Sphere (1998) — the Michael Crichton adaptation Mandy's got queued up next (no relation to the glowing Vegas orb)
  Odds & Ends They Name-Checked
  • Doctor Who — origin of "timey-wimey," which JJ used without realizing it
  • Linda Bove — the deaf actress whose Sesame Street work got Mandy hooked on ASL as a kid
  • Louise Brooks — the silent-film actress Mandy briefly mixed up with the character Louise Banks
  • Sphere (Las Vegas venue) — the "Wizard of Oz" immersive experience Mandy wishes she could watch Arrival inside
  Fact-Check Corner
  • Big Little Lies (TV series) and Big Eyes (2014) — the two titles Mandy fused together and pinned on the wrong director (Villeneuve made neither)
  • Prince actually wrote Sheena Ea...
  ]]>05008c30-27f3-4926-941a-088c8e4d2565Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThe instant a movie is pitched to Mandy as "aliens come to Earth," she has already changed the channel, mentally relocated to a spa, and started a calmer life. So naturally, this week she sat down with Arrival, a film she spent years confusing with...The Film Board, Trailer Rewind, and the Marvel Movie Minute, and on his YouTube channel, Jayge's Pages, he's working through every book he's read since 2008 (chronologically, from his Goodreads archive), across every genre, with clips now on TikTok too. Catch him at any dive-y karaoke bar in town, thumbing through the songbook for the number that brings the house down.
  • YouTube — Jayge's Pages: youtube.com/@jjaeger44
  • TruStory FM host page: trustory.fm/host/justin-jaeger
  • The Film Board: trustory.fm/the-film-board
  
  Reference LinksThe Main Event
  • Arrival (2016) on Letterboxd — directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Amy Adams as linguist Louise Banks, Jeremy Renner as Ian, and Forest Whitaker as Colonel Weber
  • Mark O'Brien — plays Captain Marks (the soldier on the phone), and yes, also the husband in Ready or Not
  The Movies They Wandered Into
  • Disclosure Day (2026) — 3555d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse107fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/when-the-music-is-happenating-the-grateful-dead-with-jeffrey-nicholas-brown--73066541
  • Website
  • Instagram
  • IMDb
  • Blue Man Group
  • Nimrods (in theaters August 14)
  
  Reference LinksWatch
  • Long Strange Trip — the official Grateful Dead documentary, streaming on Amazon Prime Video
  • Miss Americana
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
  • Freaks and Geeks
  • Playboy After Dark
  • Grahame Lesh points out Phil Lesh's Real Housewives cameo on Watch What Happens Live
  
  The Band and the Scene
  • Grateful Dead
  • Jerry Garcia
  • Bob Weir
  • Donna Jean Godchaux
  • Ron "Pigpen" McKernan
  • Robert Hunter
  • Dead & Company
  • The Wharf Rats — the sober Deadhead fellowship
  • The Acid Tests
  • Wavy Gravy
  • Camp Winnarainbow
  
  Listen
  • Friend of the Devil
  • Scarlet Begonias
  • Fire on the Mountain
  • Bird Song
  • Uncle John's Band
  • Touch of Grey
  • Dark Star
  • New Speedway Boogie
  • Wharf Rat
  • Teach Your Children — CSNY, featuring Jerry Garcia
  • Workingman's Dead and American Beauty
  
  More Make Me A Nerd
  • Freaks and Geeks with Jeffrey Nicholas Brown
  • The Godfather with Seth Vargas
  Follow Mandy on Instagram at @Mandy_Kaplan_Klavens and on TikTok at @MandyMiscast.Make Me A Nerd is a production of TruStory FM. Want your episodes ad-free and early? Join us at makemeanerd.com/join.
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>204ae390-4a72-4e5a-b6ae-b63fd42039b6Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThe Grateful Dead's own biographer opens their official four-hour documentary by admitting it's really hard to love this band if you're not already a fan — which is a bold marketing strategy, like a restaurant with a sign reading "you probably won't...
• Website
• Instagram
• IMDb
• Blue Man Group
• Nimrods (in theaters August 14)

Reference LinksWatch

• Long Strange Trip — the official Grateful Dead documentary, streaming on Amazon Prime Video
• Miss Americana
• Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
• Freaks and Geeks
• Playboy After Dark
• Grahame Lesh points out Phil Lesh's Real Housewives cameo on Watch What Happens Live

The Band and the Scene

• Grateful Dead
• Jerry Garcia
• Bob Weir
• Donna Jean Godchaux
• Ron "Pigpen" McKernan
• 3433d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse106fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-boy-s-best-friend-is-his-mother-psycho-deconstructed-with-jesse-fister--72948250
  • Trade the Pool: https://tradethepool.com/
  • Instagram: @JesseFister
  Films & Shows Discussed
  
  • Psycho (1960): https://letterboxd.com/film/psycho/
  • Psycho (1998 remake, dir. Gus Van Sant): https://letterboxd.com/film/psycho-1998/
  • The Godfather: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-godfather/
  • Jaws: https://letterboxd.com/film/jaws/
  • Hot in Cleveland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_in_Cleveland
  • Rear Window: https://letterboxd.com/film/rear-window/
  • Dial M for Murder: https://letterboxd.com/film/dial-m-for-murder/
  • Rope (1948): https://letterboxd.com/film/rope/
  • North by Northwest: https://letterboxd.com/film/north-by-northwest/
  • Charade (1963, dir. Stanley Donen): https://letterboxd.com/film/charade/
  • Hitchcock (2012, dir. Sacha Gervasi): https://letterboxd.com/film/hitchcock/
  • The Babadook: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-babadook/
  • Diabolique (1955): https://letterboxd.com/film/diabolique/
  • National Lampoon's Vacation (1983): https://letterboxd.com/film/national-lampoons-vacation/
  • The Maltese Falcon: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-maltese-falcon/
  • Taxi Driver: https://letterboxd.com/film/taxi-driver/
  • Raging Bull: https://letterboxd.com/film/raging-bull/
  People Mentioned
  
  • Alfred Hitchcock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock
  • Robert Bloch (author of the novel Psycho): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bloch
  • Joseph Stefano (screenwriter): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stefano
  • Anthony Perkins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Perkins
  • Janet Leigh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Leigh
  • Vera Miles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Miles
  • Martin Balsam (played Detective Arbogast): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Balsam
  • Bernard Herrmann (composer): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Herrmann
  • Ed Gein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein
  • Grace Kelly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Kelly
  • Cary Grant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Grant
  • Eva Marie Saint: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Marie_Saint
  • Ingrid Bergman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingrid_Bergman
  • Anthony Hopkins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Hopkins
  • Vince Vaughn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Vaughn
  • Stanley Donen (director): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Donen
  • Patricia Hitchcock (played Caroline): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Hitchcock
  • Taylor Swift: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift
  Music
  
  • Taylor Swift, "The Fate of Ophelia": https://music.youtube.com/search?q=The+Fate+of+Ophelia+Taylor+Swift
  Other Podcasts
  
  • You Must Remember This
  • Make Me a Nerd — The Godfather episode with Seth Vargas
  • Sitting in the Dark
  
  
  
  
  
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>5db4b964-1605-450d-a7c4-f77a27aaccf9Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy has never seen Psycho. She has, however, seen Hot in Cleveland, which — it turns out — quotes Psycho constantly, meaning Mandy has been unknowingly absorbing the cultural shrapnel of a movie she'd never actually watched. It's the kind of...
  • Trade the Pool: https://tradethepool.com/
  • Instagram: @JesseFister
  Films & Shows Discussed
  
  • Psycho (1960): https://letterboxd.com/film/psycho/
  • Psycho (1998 remake, dir. Gus Van Sant): https://letterboxd.com/film/psycho-1998/
  • The Godfather: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-godfather/
  • Jaws: https://letterboxd.com/film/jaws/
  • Hot in Cleveland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_in_Cleveland
  • Rear Window: https://letterboxd.com/film/rear-window/
  • Dial M for Murder: https://letterboxd.com/film/dial-m-for-murder/
  • Rope (1948): https://letterboxd.com/film/rope/
  • North by Northwest: https://letterboxd.com/film/north-by-northwest/
  • Charade (1963, dir. Stanley Donen): https://letterboxd.com/film/charade/
  • Hitchcock (2012, dir. Sacha Gervasi): https://letterboxd.com/film/hitchcock/
  • The Babadook: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-babadook/
  • Diabolique (1955): https://letterboxd.com/film/diabolique/
  • National Lampoon's Vacation (1983): https://letterboxd.com/film/national-lampoons-vacation/
  • The Maltese Falcon: 3396d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse105fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/my-so-called-life-with-sloan-just--72837200
  • Dasha Paprika on Instagram: @dasha_paprika
  • Sloan's previous MMAN episode: Veronica Mars with Sloan Just
  
  Reference Links
  The Show & Its Makers
  • My So-Called Life
  • Winnie Holzman (creator)
  • Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (executive producers)
  • thirtysomething
  • Steppenwolf Theatre Company — founded by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney, and Jeff Perry
  
  Cast
  • Claire Danes (Angela Chase)
  • Jared Leto (Jordan Catalano)
  • Wilson Cruz (Rickie Vasquez)
  • Devon Gummersall (Brian Krakow)
  • A. J. Langer (Rayanne Graff)
  • Tom Irwin (Graham Chase)
  • Jeff Perry (Mr. Katimski)
  • Senta Moses (Delia Fisher)
  • Patti D'Arbanville (Amber, Rayanne's mother)
  
  Films Mentioned
  • The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and The Godfather Part III
  • Pretty in Pink (the Ducky vs. Blaine of it all)
  • Sixteen Candles (Jake Ryan)
  • You've Got Mail
  • Heathers
  • Zootopia
  • Baby Boom
  • 30 Nights of Sex to Save Your Marriage — Mandy's film, on Tubi
  
  Other Shows & Stage
  • Beverly Hills, 90210
  • This Is Us (Dan Fogelman)
  • Family Ties
  • Frasier (Maris) and Cheers (Vera)
  • Hot in Cleveland
  • Growing Pains
  • Three's Company (Chrissy and Cindy Snow)
  • Doogie Howser, M.D.
  • Wicked (musical) (Holzman's book)
  • The Crucible wink. 
  
  People Mentioned
  • Betty White
  • Alicia Silverstone (almost cast as Angela)
  • Judith Light
  • Nora Ephron
  • Alan Cumming
  
  Moments to Watch
  • Jordan Catalano leaning
  • Rickie's dance from "Life of Brian"
  • The Sonnet 130 classroo...
  ]]>343d2905-25eb-4fa1-93a0-06e14f67c79aMon, 06 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThere exists a specific cohort of women who, if you say the words "do you remember My So-Called Life," will respond — instantly, involuntarily, with the faraway look of someone recalling a first love — "Jordan Catalano." They cannot help it. This is a...
• Dasha Paprika on Instagram: @dasha_paprika
• Sloan's previous MMAN episode: Veronica Mars with Sloan Just

Reference Links
The Show & Its Makers

• My So-Called Life
• Winnie Holzman (creator)
• Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (executive producers)
• thirtysomething
• Steppenwolf Theatre Company — founded by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney, and Jeff Perry

Cast

• Claire Danes (Angela Chase)
• Jared Leto (Jordan...]]>3687d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse104fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/dr-horrible-s-sing-a-long-blog-with-krissy-lenz-kyle-olson--72738007Craft and Chaos on TruStory FM, creator of the steampunk queer radio drama The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society, host of The Story Well, and logged 300-plus episodes of The Marvel Movie Minute.
  • Craft and Chaos: trustory.fm/craft-and-chaos
  • Kyle's host page on TruStory FM: trustory.fm/host/kyle-olson
  Krissy Lenz is Mandy's most frequent guest and partner in nerd crime. She co-hosts The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast and Gank That Drank on TruStory FM. Her Most Excellent episode on When Harry Met Sally — featuring a certain mainstream mom — is on the way.
  • Krissy’s host page on TruStory FM: https://trustory.fm/host/krissy-lenz/
  REFERENCE LINKSThe Main Event
  • Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008 miniseries) — Wikipedia
  
  People
  • Neil Patrick Harris — Wikipedia
  • Nathan Fillion — Wikipedia
  • Felicia Day — Wikipedia
  • Simon Helberg — Wikipedia
  • Joss Whedon — Wikipedia
  • Jed Whedon — Wikipedia
  • Zack Whedon — Wikipedia
  • Maurissa Tancharoen (co-writer; one of the three superfans) — Wikipedia
  • Ben Edlund (Bad Horse champion; creator of The Tick) — Wikipedia
  • David Fury (newscaster cameo) — Wikipedia
  • Marti Noxon (newscaster cameo) — Wikipedia
  • Lin-Manuel Miranda — Wikipedia
  • Bo Burnham — Wikipedia
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar — Wikipedia
  
  Shows & Series
  • Firefly — Wikipedia
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Wikipedia
  • "Once More, with Feeling" (Buffy musical episode) — Wikipedia
  • How I Met Your Mother — Wikipedia
  • The Big Bang Theory — Wikipedia
  • The Guild (Felicia Day's web series) — Wikipedia
  • Critical Role — Wikipedia
  • Game Changer (Dropout) — Wikipedia
  • Phineas and Ferb (home of Dr. Doofenshmirtz) — Wikipedia
  • Scrubs — Wikipedia
  • Supernatural — Wikipedia
  
  Films
  • Serenity (2005) — Letterboxd
  
  Stage & Adaptations
  • Hamilton — Wikipedia
  • Hadestown — Wikipedia
  • Six — Wikipedia
  
  Things & Curiosities
  • Box ONE (Neil Patrick Harris's solo escape-room game) — theory11
  • The Magic Misfits (NPH's children's book series) — Amazon
  • Geek & Sundry — Wikipedia
  • "Brand New Day" / "A Man's Gotta Do" / "Everyone's a Hero" — YouTube Music search
  • The 2013 Tony Awards opening (NPH's "Bigger!" number, with the closing recap rap) — YouTube search
  
  From the TruStory FM Vault
  • Game Changer with Kyle Olson (Make Me a Nerd) — trustory.fm
  • Make Me a Nerd show archive — trustory.fm/make-me-a-nerd
  
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit]]>e4965153-8d5f-4532-b940-3222405ec668Mon, 29 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week we have a three-act superhero musical, shot on a borrowed studio lot during a labor strike, financed by one guy's personal credit card, in which approximately none of the songs are allowed to finish. Weird as it may be, it all clicks into...Craft and Chaos on TruStory FM, creator of the steampunk queer radio drama The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society, host of The Story Well, and logged 300-plus episodes of The Marvel Movie Minute.
  • Craft and Chaos: trustory.fm/craft-and-chaos
  • Kyle's host page on TruStory FM: trustory.fm/host/kyle-olson
  Krissy Lenz is Mandy's most frequent guest and partner in nerd crime. She co-hosts The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast and Gank That Drank on TruStory FM. Her Most Excellent episode on When Harry Met Sally — featuring a certain mainstream mom — is on the way.
  • Krissy’s host page on TruStory FM: https://trustory.fm/host/krissy-lenz/
  REFERENCE LINKSThe Main Event
  • Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008 miniseries) — Wikipedia
  
  People
  • Neil Patrick Harris — Wikipedia
  • Nathan Fillion — Wikipedia
  • Felicia Day — Wikipedia
  • Simon Helberg — Wikipedia
  • Joss Whedon — Wikipedia
  • Jed Whedon — Wikipedia
  • Zack Whedon — Wikipedia
  • Maurissa Tancharoen (co-writer; one of the three superfans) — Wikipedia
  • Ben...]]>3554d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse103fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/batman-pulled-a-gun-batman-beyond-with-jason-yeung--72630029Guest SpotlightJason Yeung is a voiceover actor who met Mandy in the voiceover world, where the two have had the pleasure of working together. A self-described huge nerd who "grew up in the space" — and who got his start working the counter at Hollywood Video and Blockbuster, hand-selling underrated gems to anyone who'd listen — Jason can, by his own admission, talk nerd stuff for forever. On this episode he makes the passionate, deeply-felt case for Batman Beyond as one of the most criminally underrated entries in the entire Batman canon.
    Links & Notes
    • Batman Beyond (TV series)
    • Terry McGinnis / Batman
    • Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker — the follow-up film referenced
    • Batman: The Animated Series
    
    Cast & Crew
    • Will Friedle — voice of Terry McGinnis
    • Kevin Conroy — voice of Bruce Wayne
    • George Takei — voice of Mr. Fixx
    • Stockard Channing — voice of Commissioner Barbara Gordon
    • Lauren Tom — voice of Dana Tan
    • Melissa Disney — voice of Curaré (Mandy's friend)
    • Kristopher Carter — Emmy-winning composer of the main theme
    
    Batman on Screen (other adaptations referenced)
    • Batman (1966 TV series) — the Adam West version
    • Adam West
    • Burt Ward — the original Robin
    • Chris O'Donnell — the other Robin
    • Joel Schumacher
    • Tim Burton
    • Batman & Robin (1997) — the "bat nipples" apology movie
    • Batman Begins (2005)
    • Christopher Nolan
    • Christian Bale
    • The Lego Batman Movie (2017) — Will Arnett's Batman
    • Will Arnett
    • Arnold Schwarzenegger — the live-action Mr. Freeze
    
    Also Mentioned
    • Firefly
    • Big Hero 6 (2014)
    • Boy Meets World
    • Animaniacs
    • Power Rangers
    • Beverly Hills, 90210
    • Nine Inch Nails / Trent Reznor — the theme's sonic cousin
    
    Music
    • Theme: "Wonderstruck" by Jane and the Boy
    • Batman Beyond Main Theme — Kristopher Carter
    
    Watch/Hear the Moment
    • Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin apology
    
    In the TruStory FM Universe
    • Watch Me Fly… Serenity with Krissy Lenz — the episode that recruited Mandy as a Browncoat
    • Sensual Creatures: Vampires, Frilly Shirts, and Interview with a Vampire with Jonny Lee Jr. — Mandy's recent vampire deep-dive (the 1994 film + the AMC series)
    • Superhero Ethics with Matthew Fox — the deeper-ethics show Mandy recommends (they covered Batman Beyond)
    
    ---
    Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>4b0df75f-263e-4b27-b8b6-cd61eaca0d33Mon, 22 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMBatman: he does not use guns. This is practically the whole point of him — a man so committed to a single rule that he built an entire personality, a cave, and a frankly concerning number of themed vehicles around it. So when Batman Beyond opens its...Guest SpotlightJason Yeung is a voiceover actor who met Mandy in the voiceover world, where the two have had the pleasure of working together. A self-described huge nerd who "grew up in the space" — and who got his start working the counter at Hollywood Video and Blockbuster, hand-selling underrated gems to anyone who'd listen — Jason can, by his own admission, talk nerd stuff for forever. On this episode he makes the passionate, deeply-felt case for Batman Beyond as one of the most criminally underrated entries in the entire Batman canon.
    Links & Notes
    • Batman Beyond (TV series)
    • Terry McGinnis / Batman
    • Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker — the follow-up film referenced
    • Batman: The Animated Series
    
    Cast & Crew
    • Will Friedle — voice of Terry McGinnis
    • Kevin Conroy — voice of Bruce Wayne
    • George Takei — voice of Mr. Fixx
    • Stockard Channing — voice of Commissioner Barbara Gordon
    • Lauren Tom — voice of Dana Tan
    • Melissa Disney — voice of Curaré (Mandy's friend)
    • Kristopher Carter — Emmy-winning composer of the main theme
    
    Batman on Screen (other adaptations referenced)
    • Batman (1966 TV series) — the Adam West version
    • 3286d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse102fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/leave-the-gun-take-the-nerd-the-godfather-with-seth-vargas--72532725Movie Friends, the weekly film podcast he co-hosts with Michelle Rubinstein on a beautifully simple premise: Seth has seen it, Michelle hasn’t, and together they take a curious, friends-first tour through movie history one title at a time. This is Seth’s second visit to Make Me a Nerd — he and Michelle previously walked Mandy through the strange legacy of Ed Wood. Find Movie Friends on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and on Instagram at @moviefriendspodcast.LINKS & REFERENCESThe Films
      • The Godfather
      • The Godfather Part II
      • Zootopia
      • The Exorcist
      • Rosemary’s Baby
      • The Outsiders
      • Peggy Sue Got Married
      • Megalopolis
      • THX 1138
      • Star Wars
      • Jaws
      • Singin’ in the Rain
      • Hello, Dolly!
      • Miss Congeniality
      • Analyze This
      • Mickey Blue Eyes
      • All That Jazz
      • The Many Saints of Newark
      • Plan 9 from Outer Space
      • Ed Wood
      The Filmmakers & Cast
      • Francis Ford Coppola
      • Mario Puzo
      • Marlon Brando
      • Al Pacino
      • Diane Keaton
      • Robert Duvall
      • James Caan
      • Robert De Niro
      • Lee Strasberg
      • George Lucas
      • Nicolas Cage
      • Hugh Grant
      • Roy Scheider
      • Matt Dillon
      People & History
      • Frank Sinatra — the rumored real-life inspiration behind Johnny Fontane
      • Joe Colombo — the mob boss behind the real protest campaign Seth describes
      • Italian-American Civil Rights League — the organization that rallied against the film’s production
      • The Hays Code (Motion Picture Production Code)
      Watch & Listen
      • Seth’s homework: the Vito Corleone mustache-to-tree dissolve
      • Theme song: “Wonder Struck” by Jane and the Boy
      Previously on Make Me a Nerd
      • Movie Friends Michelle Rubinstein and Seth Vargas on the Strange Legacy of Ed Wood
      • The Exorcist with Lester Ryan Clark and Kynan Dias
      While you’re at it… Check out this great show!
      • Sitting in the Dark — TruStory FM’s monthly horror deep-dive with Chelsea Stardust, Tommy Metz III, Pete Wright, and Kynan Dias
      
      ---
      Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>6849f768-73cf-4265-9c98-b0259499aa37Mon, 15 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThere are two kinds of people in this world: those who have seen The Godfather, and those who have built an entire personality around not having seen it (a group that, until this week, proudly included our own Mandy Kaplan — a grown woman fully...Movie Friends, the weekly film podcast he co-hosts with Michelle Rubinstein on a beautifully simple premise: Seth has seen it, Michelle hasn’t, and together they take a curious, friends-first tour through movie history one title at a time. This is Seth’s second visit to Make Me a Nerd — he and Michelle previously walked Mandy through the strange legacy of Ed Wood. Find Movie Friends on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and on Instagram at @moviefriendspodcast.LINKS & REFERENCESThe Films
      • The Godfather
      • The Godfather Part II
      • Zootopia
      • The Exorcist
      • Rosemary’s Baby
      • The Outsiders
      • Peggy Sue Got Married
      • Megalopolis
      • THX 1138
      • Star Wars
      • Jaws
      • Singin’ in the Rain
      • Hello, Dolly!
      • Miss Congeniality
      • Analyze This
      • 101fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/prince-with-kyle-olson-and-pete-wright--72415792Craft and Chaos, a podcast about staying creative through difficult times, and The Marvel Movie Minute, where they break down Marvel films five minutes at a time. Kyle’s plays can be found at the New Play Exchange (when he remembers to put his name on them — long story, listen to Craft and Chaos). Pete just released his debut work of fiction, a novella called Lattice, available at itsmepete.com, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.The PlaylistPete and Kyle’s Prince playlist on YouTube Music — the listening companion for this episode.Songs Mentioned
        • “My Name Is Prince” — Prince & The New Power Generation
        • “Darling Nikki” — Prince & The Revolution
        • “When Doves Cry” — Prince & The Revolution
        • “Let’s Go Crazy” — Prince & The Revolution
        • “Little Red Corvette” — Prince
        • “Raspberry Beret” — Prince & The Revolution
        • “1999” — Prince
        • “Delirious” — Prince
        • “Head” — Prince
        • “Sister” — Prince
        • “When You Were Mine” — Prince
        • “I Feel for You” — Chaka Khan (written by Prince)
        • “A Case of You” — Prince (Joni Mitchell cover)
        • “Nothing Compares 2 U” — Sinéad O’Connor (written by Prince)
        • “Nothing Compares 2 U” — Prince (original)
        • “Manic Monday” — The Bangles (written by Prince)
        • “Sugar Walls” — Sheena Easton (written by Prince as Alexander Nevermind)
        • “The Glamorous Life” — Sheila E. (written by Prince)
        • “A Love Bizarre” — Sheila E. (with Prince)
        • “Stand Back” — Stevie Nicks (co-written with Prince)
        • “Kiss” — Art of Noise feat. Tom Jones (Prince cover)
        • “Round and Round” — Tevin Campbell (from Graffiti Bridge)
        • “How Come You Don’t Call Me” — Alicia Keys (Prince cover)
        • “Thieves in the Temple” — Prince
        • “New Power Generation” — Prince
        • “Get Off” — Prince & The New Power Generation
        • “Tick, Tick, Bang” — Prince
        • “Tamborine” — Prince
        • “Scandalous” — Prince
        • “Venus de Milo” — Prince (Parade)
        
        Albums Mentioned
        • For You (1978)
        • Prince (1979)
        • Dirty Mind (1980)
        • Controversy (1981)
        • 1999 (1982)
        • Purple Rain (1984)
        • Parade (1986)
        • Sign o’ the Times (1987)
        • The Black Album (1987/1994)
        • Batman (1989)
        • Graffiti Bridge (1990)
        • Love Symbol Album (1992)
        ]]>3c6cd805-7bd8-4476-b568-eaa351628839Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMHere’s a fun fact about Prince Rogers Nelson: that wasn’t a stage name. Prince was his actual, legal, on-the-birth-certificate first name. Once you accept that a man named Prince grew up to become the artist known as Prince, you’re already most of the...Craft and Chaos, a podcast about staying creative through difficult times, and The Marvel Movie Minute, where they break down Marvel films five minutes at a time. Kyle’s plays can be found at the New Play Exchange (when he remembers to put his name on them — long story, listen to Craft and Chaos). Pete just released his debut work of fiction, a novella called Lattice, available at itsmepete.com, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.The PlaylistPete and Kyle’s Prince playlist on YouTube Music — the listening companion for this episode.Songs Mentioned
        • “My Name Is Prince” — Prince & The New Power Generation
        • “Darling Nikki” — Prince & The Revolution
        • “When Doves Cry” — Prince & The Revolution
        • “Let’s Go Crazy” — Prince & The Revolution
        • “Little Red Corvette” — Prince
        • “Raspberry Beret” — Prince & The Revolution
        • “1999” — Prince
        • “Delirious” — Prince
        • “Head” — Prince
        • “Sister” —...]]>3563d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse100fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/sensual-creatures-vampires-frilly-shirts-and-interview-with-a-vampire-with-jonny-lee-jr--72275096Jonny Lee Jr. is one of Make Me a Nerd's original guests and a self-described "very well-rounded nerd" — a designation he has now earned across episodes on Zelda, Sailor Moon, and the present descent into Anne Rice's vampire universe. He is an actor and singer with the rare ability to make you genuinely excited about a frilly eighteenth-century shirt, and he has read every single Vampire Chronicles novel, which is the kind of qualification you cannot fake.
          Links & ReferencesPast Make Me a Nerd Episodes Referenced
          • Moon Prism Power, Make Me a Gorgeous Podcaster: Sailor Moon with Jonny Lee Jr.
          • Make Me a Nerd Takes a Hearty Breath of the Wild with Jonny Lee, Jr. — the Zelda episode
          • Mommie Dearest with Abdi Nazemian
          
          Film & Television
          Discussed in depth
          • Interview with the Vampire (1994, dir. Neil Jordan)
          • Interview with the Vampire (AMC series, 2022–present)
          • Byzantium (2012, dir. Neil Jordan) — the Saoirse Ronan vampire film Jonny was trying to remember on air
          • Queen of the Damned (2002)
          
          Referenced in passing
          • The Crying Game (1992, dir. Neil Jordan)
          • Mommie Dearest (1981)
          • Hook (1991, dir. Steven Spielberg)
          • Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991)
          • Desperado (1995, dir. Robert Rodriguez)
          • Philadelphia (1993, dir. Jonathan Demme)
          • Top Gun (1986)
          • Legends of the Fall (1994)
          • Nine (2009, dir. Rob Marshall)
          • Sliding Doors (1998)
          • Game of Thrones (HBO series)
          • Will & Grace (2017 reboot)
          
          Books
          • Interview with the Vampire (1976) by Anne Rice
          • The Vampire Lestat (1985) by Anne Rice
          • The Queen of the Damned (1988) by Anne Rice
          • The Vampire Armand (1998) by Anne Rice
          • The Vampire Chronicles (series overview)
          
          Stage
          • Lestat (musical, Broadway 2006) — music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin
          • Nine (musical) — the 2003 Broadway revival, dir. David Leveaux, starred Antonio Banderas and Jane Krakowski
          
          People
          Creators
          • Anne Rice (1941–2021)
          • Stan Rice — Anne Rice's husband, the real-world basis for Lestat
          • Christopher Rice — Anne and Stan's son
          • Neil Jordan
          
          1994 film cast
          • Tom Cruise
          • Brad Pitt
          • Kirsten Dunst
          • Antonio Banderas
          • Stephen Rea
          • Thandiwe Newton — credited in 1994 as "Thandie Newton"
          • Christian Slater
          • Evan Rachel Wood — the other actress considered for Claudia
          
          AMC series cast
          • Sam Reid
          ]]>39bcc976-cfd9-4491-b9f2-2260acf43518Mon, 01 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMVampires, as a concept, should not work. They are dead. They are allergic to weather. Their entire dating strategy is "what if I bit you." And yet — somehow, Anne Rice took this nonsense, draped it in frilly eighteenth-century shirts (a look Jonny Lee...Jonny Lee Jr. is one of Make Me a Nerd's original guests and a self-described "very well-rounded nerd" — a designation he has now earned across episodes on Zelda, Sailor Moon, and the present descent into Anne Rice's vampire universe. He is an actor and singer with the rare ability to make you genuinely excited about a frilly eighteenth-century shirt, and he has read every single Vampire Chronicles novel, which is the kind of qualification you cannot fake.
          Links & ReferencesPast Make Me a Nerd Episodes Referenced
          • Moon Prism Power, Make Me a Gorgeous Podcaster: Sailor Moon with Jonny Lee Jr.
          • Make Me a Nerd Takes a Hearty Breath of the Wild with Jonny Lee, Jr. — the Zelda episode
          • Mommie Dearest with Abdi Nazemian
          
          Film & Television
          Discussed in depth
          • Interview with the Vampire (1994, dir. Neil Jordan)
          • Interview with the Vampire (AMC series, 2022–present)
          • Byzantium (2012, dir. Neil Jordan) — the Saoirse Ronan vampire film Jonny was trying to remember on air
          • Queen of the Damned (2002)
          
          Referenced in passing
          • 3433d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse99fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/shoot-again-talking-pinball-with-clark-hill--72152456Clark Hill is a theater nerd, Magic: The Gathering player, pinball league competitor, and Mandy's new neighbor — a convergence of circumstances that the universe has clearly been building toward. He is currently active in a pinball league in Van Nuys, California, carries quarters on his person at all times, and has a deep personal relationship with the work of game designer Keith Elwin. He has also, on at least two occasions, had to ask a father to remove a toddler from the glass surface of a pinball machine.Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
            ---
            Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>f8f7655e-6d3b-4c80-8e2f-e65088975442Mon, 25 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMPinball looks like two buttons and a ball. It is not two buttons and a ball. It is a 300-pound machine with layered rules, competitive leagues, wrist injuries, a flow state, and — this will surprise you — an expectation that you will physically grab...Clark Hill is a theater nerd, Magic: The Gathering player, pinball league competitor, and Mandy's new neighbor — a convergence of circumstances that the universe has clearly been building toward. He is currently active in a pinball league in Van Nuys, California, carries quarters on his person at all times, and has a deep personal relationship with the work of game designer Keith Elwin. He has also, on at least two occasions, had to ask a father to remove a toddler from the glass surface of a pinball machine.Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
            ---
            Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2764d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse97fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-truth-is-right-here-x-files-with-chelsea-stardust--72053764
          • Chelsea Stardust on Instagram
          • Sitting in the Dark podcast (TruStory FM)
          • Losers Book Club LA on Instagram
          Chelsea’s Films
          • All That We Destroy (2019)
          • Satanic Panic (2019)
          • Grind (2026)
          The X-Files Episodes Discussed
          • “Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1)
          • “Squeeze” (Season 1, Episode 3)
          • “The Host” (Season 2, Episode 2)
          • “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” (Season 3, Episode 4)
          • “Home” (Season 4, Episode 2)
          • “Drive” (Season 6, Episode 2)
          • “Monday” (Season 6, Episode 14)
          People Mentioned
          • Grady Hendrix — novelist; wrote Satanic Panic
          • Dave Grusin — composer of The Firm score
          • Tommy Metz III on Instagram — Sitting in the Dark co-host
          Referenced Books
          • The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
          • It (Stephen King novel) — referenced for thematic parallels with “Squeeze”
          Referenced Films & Series
          • Scanners (1981) — Cronenberg; cited for the “Drive” cold open
          • Speed (1994) — the spiritual cousin to “Drive”
          • The Goonies (1985) — Mandy’s prior episode reference
          • The Firm (1993) — for Mandy’s Dave Grusin score reference
          • It (1990 miniseries) — Tim Curry as Pennywise
          • Disclosure Day (2026) — the Spielberg UFO film Chelsea referenced
          Past Make Me a Nerd Episodes
          • It’s Our Time Down Here: A Goonies Comfort Rewatch with Krissy Lenz — series hub (specific episode page)
          Make Me a Nerd
          • Make Me a Nerd membership
          • Mandy Kaplan on Instagram
          • @mandymiscast on TikTok
          
          ---
          Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>35383761-8000-49eb-9087-506a5067c96dMon, 18 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThe X-Files is, technically, a show about two FBI agents investigating extraterrestrial activity, government conspiracy, and the unexplained — which is why it's mildly hilarious that filmmaker Chelsea Stardust's curated onramp for Mandy contains, by...
        • Chelsea Stardust on Instagram
        • Sitting in the Dark podcast (TruStory FM)
        • Losers Book Club LA on Instagram
        Chelsea’s Films
        • All That We Destroy (2019)
        • Satanic Panic (2019)
        • Grind (2026)
        The X-Files Episodes Discussed
        • “Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1)
        • “Squeeze” (Season 1, Episode 3)
        • “The Host” (Season 2, Episode...]]>4136d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse98fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/watch-me-fly-serenity-with-krissy-lenz--71954954
        • The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast
        • Gank That Drank
        • Neighborhood Comedy Theater (Mesa, AZ)
        Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
        ---
        Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3720c34d-b30d-434f-8fcb-cdf403cbd86cMon, 11 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMHere is a fact about Firefly, which is to say the beloved Joss Whedon space western that aired on Fox in 2002: the network, in its infinite wisdom, decided to air the two-hour pilot — the one designed to introduce you to the entire world, its...
      • The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast
      • Gank That Drank
      • Neighborhood Comedy Theater (Mesa, AZ)
      Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
      ---
      Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3107d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse96fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/no-time-to-play-ender-s-game-with-erica-cochran--71852152@mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
      ---
      Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>9887767c-d778-4d68-923a-e4c8fd6c44afMon, 04 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy Kaplan has been handed a Hugo-winning, Nebula-winning, Mormon-authored military sci-fi classic about a six-year-old being psychologically tortured into committing accidental alien genocide, and reader, she has THOUGHTS. This week, her son...@mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
      ---
      Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3671d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse95fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/one-for-the-kids-battle-royale-with-jimmy-aquino--71669658
    • Jimmy Aquino — Comic News Insider: comicnewsinsider.com | Instagram: @JimmyAquino | Bluesky
    • Mandy Kaplan — Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens (both with K's)
    • Support the show — makemeanerd.com/join for ad-free episodes, early access, and Mandy's eternal gratitude
    
    ---
    Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>310d6f46-4ec4-4904-8894-61774a9d2c0cMon, 27 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy Kaplan has thoughts about 42 Japanese ninth-graders being forced to murder each other on a deserted island, and honestly, who among us doesn't? This week, Jimmy Aquino returns to Make Me a Nerd for his fourth-or-fifth appearance (he's lost...
  • Jimmy Aquino — Comic News Insider: comicnewsinsider.com | Instagram: @JimmyAquino | Bluesky
  • Mandy Kaplan — Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens (both with K's)
  • Support the show — makemeanerd.com/join for ad-free episodes, early access, and Mandy's eternal gratitude
  
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3574d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse94fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/moon-prism-power-make-me-a-gorgeous-podcaster-sailor-moon-with-jonny-lee-jr--71487787Jonny Lee Jr. is a lifelong anime devotee and one of Make Me a Nerd's original guests, returning this time to make the case for the show he's loved since he was eight years old and jet-lagged in Taipei. His enthusiasm for Sailor Moon is the kind that reorganizes a kid's sleep schedule and never fully lets go.
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>6238c5d7-d12b-4f83-9014-e1cb36dc524cMon, 20 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMSailor Moon was a cartoon made for five-year-old Japanese girls. It aired in America at 6 AM, required an eight-year-old Jonny Lee Jr. to set his alarm for 5:30 every morning — before DVR, before streaming, before any child should be conscious — and...Jonny Lee Jr. is a lifelong anime devotee and one of Make Me a Nerd's original guests, returning this time to make the case for the show he's loved since he was eight years old and jet-lagged in Taipei. His enthusiasm for Sailor Moon is the kind that reorganizes a kid's sleep schedule and never fully lets go.
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3240d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse93fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/from-basement-nerds-to-amazon-prime-the-improbable-and-inevitable-rise-of-vox-machina-with-hem-brewster--71287955Blighthouse Studio, a collective of creators from across the US and beyond making escapist audio and actual-play content. Their shows include:
  • The Lucky Die — a D&D actual play, with Hem as game master
  • The Sprouting — a Call of Cthulhu eldritch horror actual play
  • Plus additional fantasy shows and talk shows under the Blighthouse umbrella
  Find everything at blighthouse.studio, including work from Blighthouse friends and collaborators outside the main umbrella.Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>b83ef4c5-6955-45da-bc2d-2eddc120a212Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat do you get when you take eight adult friends — all professional voice actors — who've been playing a home D&D game for years and decide, on a lark, to put it on Twitch? You get Critical Role, a phenomenon now in its fourth campaign, spanning...Blighthouse Studio, a collective of creators from across the US and beyond making escapist audio and actual-play content. Their shows include:
  • The Lucky Die — a D&D actual play, with Hem as game master
  • The Sprouting — a Call of Cthulhu eldritch horror actual play
  • Plus additional fantasy shows and talk shows under the Blighthouse umbrella
  Find everything at blighthouse.studio, including work from Blighthouse friends and collaborators outside the main umbrella.Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3208d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse92fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/movie-friends-michelle-rubinstein-and-seth-vargas-on-the-strange-legacy-of-ed-wood--71129871
• Movie Friends podcast
• Total Betty Podcast Network

Referenced in This Episode

• Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957, dir. Ed Wood)
• Ed Wood (1994, dir. Tim Burton)
• Glen or Glenda (1953, dir. Ed Wood)
• The Golden Turkey Awards by the Medved brothers (1980)
• Nightmare of Ecstasy (1992, Ed Wood biography)
• Vampira / Maila Nurmi
• Criswell
• Bela Lugosi
• Martin Landau (Best Supporting Actor, Ed Wood)
• The Bride! with Mandy Kaplan (Mandy’s guest episode on Movie Friends)
• Spaceballs (1987, dir. Mel Brooks)
• The Godfather
• Yuri on Ice with Zehra Fazal (Make Me A Nerd)
• You Must Remember This (podcast)
• Christine Jorgensen

Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>a0c6807b-a966-4ebb-b1ce-9208ce2d6ec4Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMHere is a fun fact about the worst movie ever made: it was declared the worst movie ever made by people who hadn’t seen it. In 1980, the Medved brothers published The Golden Turkey Awards, a book crowning Plan 9 from Outer Space as cinema’s all-time...

Movie Friends podcast

Total Betty Podcast Network

Referenced in This Episode

• Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957, dir. Ed Wood)
• Ed Wood (1994, dir. Tim Burton)
• Glen or Glenda (1953, dir. Ed Wood)
• The Golden Turkey Awards by the Medved brothers (1980)
• Nightmare of Ecstasy (1992, Ed Wood biography)
• Vampira / Maila Nurmi
• Criswell
• Bela Lugosi
• Martin Landau (Best Supporting Actor, Ed Wood)
• 3366d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse91fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/nate-mcwhortor-makes-mandy-a-future-folk-fan--70993359Gank That Drank, the Supernatural rewatch podcast where every episode comes with a drinking game. A sports nerd turned theater kid turned 16-year improv veteran, Nate is exactly the kind of guest who shows up with a drinking game, an Arizona tourism angle, and a genuine passion for a 2012 cult film that the algorithm sent him and he never forgot. Gank That Drink is currently heading into its final season of Supernatural — which means now is the time to get in on it. Find Nate and Krissy Lenz at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater at nctphoenix.com.Links & Notes
  • The History of Future Folk (2012) — available on YouTube; reportedly back on Netflix
  • Future Folk — the band
  
  
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2a16eaaa-98d9-4cdb-9517-52174d5dbc00Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMSomewhere between O Brother Where Art Thou and the Lumineers' stomp-and-clap era, a folk comedy duo from the East Village made a movie about two aliens who abandon a mission to destroy Earth because one of them heard music in a Costco and simply could...Gank That Drank, the Supernatural rewatch podcast where every episode comes with a drinking game. A sports nerd turned theater kid turned 16-year improv veteran, Nate is exactly the kind of guest who shows up with a drinking game, an Arizona tourism angle, and a genuine passion for a 2012 cult film that the algorithm sent him and he never forgot. Gank That Drink is currently heading into its final season of Supernatural — which means now is the time to get in on it. Find Nate and Krissy Lenz at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater at nctphoenix.com.Links & Notes
  • The History of Future Folk (2012) — available on YouTube; reportedly back on Netflix
  • Future Folk — the band
  
  
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3391d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse90fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/it-s-manga-madness-with-helen-mccarthy--70826669HelenMcCarthy.net.Referenced in This Episode
  • One Piece — manga and anime by Eiichiro Oda; live-action series on Netflix
  • Nana — manga by Ai Yazawa
  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind — manga and film by Hayao Miyazaki
  Past Episodes You Might Like
  • One Piece with Zach Logan
  • Watchmen with Adam Rose
  • Superman Smashes the Klan with Jimmy Aquino
  Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>44842850-81c5-4308-b271-f0f5579d86fcMon, 23 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMManga has a first-impression problem. It's enormous, genre-defying, visually foreign, and comes wrapped in the kind of devoted fan energy that makes newcomers feel like they've wandered into the graduate seminar by mistake. Mandy Kaplan — who did her...HelenMcCarthy.net.Referenced in This Episode
  • One Piece — manga and anime by Eiichiro Oda; live-action series on Netflix
  • Nana — manga by Ai Yazawa
  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind — manga and film by Hayao Miyazaki
  Past Episodes You Might Like
  • One Piece with Zach Logan
  • Watchmen with Adam Rose
  • Superman Smashes the Klan with Jimmy Aquino
  Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit 3277d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse89fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/wonder-man-a-superhero-show-about-not-being-a-superhero--70656471
• Matthew Fox's hub: TheEthicalPanda.com
• The Marvel Movie Minute podcast (currently covering Captain America: Winter Soldier)
• Wonder Man on Disney+

If you like this episode ... 

• The Goonies (featuring Mandy's Joey Pantoliano confession)
• Agatha All Along
• Captain America
• Thunderbolts (Make Me A Nerd)
• Thunderbolts (Superhero Ethics)
• Thunderbolts (The Film Board)
• The Penguin (with Matthew Fox)
• The Orville (with Matthew Fox)
• Last of Us (with Matthew Fox)

Links & Notes

• Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• Join the nerdy inner circle: makemeanerd.com/join

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>b541c8d5-9b42-47e6-887a-f47436b67343Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWonder Man is, technically speaking, a Marvel show. It exists in the MCU. Captain America is out there somewhere. The Hulk is presumably smashing things. And none of that matters even a little bit, because this is a show about a guy who bombs...

Matthew Fox's hub: TheEthicalPanda.com

The Marvel Movie Minute podcast (currently covering Captain America: Winter Soldier)

Wonder Man on Disney+

If you like this episode ... 

• The Goonies (featuring Mandy's Joey Pantoliano confession)
• Agatha All Along
• Captain America
• Thunderbolts (Make Me A Nerd)
• Thunderbolts (Superhero Ethics)
• 3264d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse88fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/we-need-to-talk-about-the-traitors-and-also-michael-rapaport--70546095Entertainment Weekly and a man who has watched competitive reality television with the devotion most people reserve for religion, joins Mandy to explain exactly how a glorified sleepover game became appointment TV.They go deep on the Season 4 cast — a philosophical grab-bag of Olympic gold medalists, Real Housewives who showed up for the Scotland trip and got ambushed by actual gameplay, and Michael Rapaport, who sucked the air out of every room he entered and somehow made everyone root for his elimination regardless of their feelings about traitors. Patrick walks Mandy through the housewives-versus-gamers dynamic, the unspoken strategy the show deliberately buries to protect its own conceit, and why Rob may be playing the smartest game nobody's being allowed to fully see on screen.And because this is Make Me a Nerd, the conversation goes exactly where it should: the nerd appeal of obsessive post-episode strategy analysis, the surprising parallels to LARPing and Dungeons and Dragons, the UK version filmed in the same castle with completely different results, and why Kristen Kish — Top Chef host, professional chef, person trapped in a Scottish castle with catering — spent three weeks desperately trying to melt candy bar ingredients into something edible.Referenced Episodes
  • Survivor with Patrick Gomez
  • Charmed with Patrick Gomez
  • The Hunger Games with Mona Chatterjee
  • The Great Pottery Throwdown with Jeremy Klavens
  
  Make Me a Nerd:
  • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
  • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
  • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast
  
  
  
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>4f398f58-62c3-47f2-a909-2454516b49fcMon, 09 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThe Traitors is, at its core, a game you play at birthday parties when someone's kid really wants to be a detective. You sit in a circle. Some people are secret murderers. Everyone points fingers based on vibes alone. This should not be compelling...Entertainment Weekly and a man who has watched competitive reality television with the devotion most people reserve for religion, joins Mandy to explain exactly how a glorified sleepover game became appointment TV.They go deep on the Season 4 cast — a philosophical grab-bag of Olympic gold medalists, Real Housewives who showed up for the Scotland trip and got ambushed by actual gameplay, and Michael Rapaport, who sucked the air out of every room he entered and somehow made everyone root for his elimination regardless of their feelings about traitors. Patrick walks Mandy through the housewives-versus-gamers dynamic, the unspoken strategy the show deliberately buries to protect its own conceit, and why Rob may be playing the smartest game nobody's being allowed to fully see on screen.And because this is Make Me a Nerd, the conversation goes exactly where it should: the nerd appeal of obsessive post-episode strategy analysis, the surprising parallels to LARPing and Dungeons and Dragons, the UK version filmed in the same castle with completely different results, and why Kristen Kish — Top Chef host, professional chef, person trapped in a Scottish castle with catering — spent three weeks desperately trying to melt candy bar ingredients into something edible.Referenced Episodes
  • Survivor with Patrick Gomez
  • Charmed with Patrick Gomez
  • The Hunger Games with Mona Chatterjee
  • The Great Pottery Throwdown with Jeremy Klavens
  
  Make Me a Nerd:
  • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
  • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
  • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast
  
  
  
  ---
  Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3624d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse87fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-stardom-burrito-bo-burnham-comedy-nerds-and-chipotle-metaphors-with-tommy-metz-iii--70385777
• Bo Burnham — Make Happy (2016, Netflix), Inside (2021, Netflix), Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous (MTV)
• Christopher Storer — Co-director of Make Happy, creator/director of The Bear
• Stephen Lynch — Musical comedian, starred in The Wedding Singer on Broadway
• Steve Martin — Comedian, actor, banjo enthusiast
• Anthony Jeselnik — Comedian
• Conan O'Brien — Late night host, former Simpsons and SNL writer
• Andy Kindler — Comedian, comedy deconstructionist
• Todd Glass — Comedian
• Dave Attell — Comedian's comedian
• Jeff Ross — Comedian
• Dane Cook — MySpace-era comedy disruptor
• Nate Bargatze — Comedian
• Flight of the Conchords — Musical comedy duo
• Tenacious D — Musical comedy duo
• Matt Friend — Impressionist, TikTok
• Rick Glassman — Comedian, host of Take Your Shoes Off podcast
• Fred Armisen — SNL cast member, Nicholas Fehn character
• Firesign Theatre — 1960s/70s counterculture comedy troupe
• Mr. Show with Bob and David, Kids in the Hall, The State — Sketch comedy shows
• Ben Folds — "Rockin' the Suburbs"
• Zac Brown Band — "Chicken Fried"
• Mortified — Live show and podcast where people read their childhood diaries
• George Carlin — "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television"

Tommy Metz III's Shows:

• All the Feelings Presents: Still Adulting (with Pete Wright) — allthefeelings.fun
• Sitting in the Dark — Horror movie monthly podcast
• The Film Board

Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>eea400f3-c3cf-4ed7-90ce-96641417793dMon, 02 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThere are two kinds of people in the world: people who cross their arms and dare a comedian to make them laugh, and people who show up already giggling before the lights go down. Mandy is firmly in the first camp, which makes it all the more...

Bo Burnham — Make Happy (2016, Netflix), Inside (2021, Netflix), Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous (MTV)

Christopher Storer — Co-director of Make Happy, creator/director of The Bear

Stephen Lynch — Musical comedian, starred in The Wedding Singer on Broadway

Steve Martin — Comedian, actor, banjo enthusiast

Anthony Jeselnik — Comedian

Conan O'Brien — Late night host, former Simpsons and SNL writer

Andy Kindler — Comedian, comedy deconstructionist

Todd Glass — Comedian

Dave Attell — Comedian's comedian

Jeff Ross — Comedian

Dane Cook — MySpace-era comedy disruptor

Nate Bargatze — Comedian

Flight of the Conchords — Musical comedy duo

Tenacious D — Musical comedy duo

Matt Friend — Impressionist, TikTok

Rick Glassman — Comedian, host of Take Your Shoes Off podcast

Fred Armisen — SNL cast member, Nicholas Fehn character

Firesign Theatre — 1960s/70s counterculture comedy troupe

Mr. Show with Bob and David, Kids in the Hall, The State — Sketch comedy shows

Ben Folds — "Rockin' the Suburbs"

Zac Brown Band — "Chicken Fried"

Mortified — Live show and podcast where people read their childhood diaries

George Carlin — "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television"

Tommy Metz III's Shows:

• All the Feelings Presents: Still Adulting (with Pete Wright) — allthefeelings.fun
• Sitting in the Dark — Horror movie monthly podcast
• The Film Board

Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: 3388d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse86fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/where-s-the-food-the-hunger-games-book-to-movie-breakdown-with-mona-chatterjee--70225087
• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>00839600-1b15-4258-a3dc-2937355186e8Mon, 23 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMHere's the thing about watching a movie one week after reading the book it's based on: you become the world's most insufferable viewing companion. And Mandy—who consumed Suzanne Collins's novel and then immediately sat down for the 2012 film like some...

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2775d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse85fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/may-the-odds-ever-smell-of-sweat-a-hunger-games-deep-dive-with-mona-chatterjee-the-novel--70079764

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3040a436-4589-4e07-bf35-8c94057dbcc9Mon, 16 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMYes, I know—it's 2026, Hunger Games came out almost two decades ago, and we've all moved on now to whatever fresh dystopian nightmare is currently trending. But here's the thing: Suzanne Collins' story about state-sponsored child murder dressed up as...

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3037d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse84fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/it-s-our-time-down-here-a-goonies-comfort-rewatch-with-krissy-lenz--69885343The Most Excellent 80s Movies), Mandy revisits Richard Donner’s chaotic, sweet, frequently-overlapping-yelling masterpiece and marvels at how it manages to be simultaneously a kids’ adventure film and a movie that opens with a fake suicide and drops the S-word roughly nineteen times like it’s being paid per syllable.They dig into why the character introductions during the opening chase are basically a clinic in “how to meet an ensemble cast fast,” why Brand deserves a modern reappraisal as the patron saint of big-brother competence, and why pirates apparently had both scurvy and an interior designer on payroll. Along the way, the conversation detours into Corey Feldman lore (including the surreal fact of Corey Feldman calling Krissy directly because he couldn’t get into the recording app), the weirdly persistent “octopus scene” ghost that’s referenced even when cut, and the uncomfortable 80s habit of using fat-shaming as a punchline so routinely you can practically hear a studio executive chanting, “Yes, yes, keep punching down, it’s working.”And because Mandy’s brain is both tender and mischievous, we also get: a brief masterclass in “planning crimes vs committing crimes” (involving a pizza smuggled into a movie theater), a quick Make Me a Nerd sidebar into the threat of scurvy in modern adulthood, and a round of Goonies trivia that ends exactly the way it should: with friendship intact and pride mildly wounded.Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>e72ff615-ecd4-4408-8225-860670dfdba7Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan does the bravest thing a grown adult can do: she prescribes herself a medically unnecessary, emotionally essential dose of The Goonies—because sometimes “self-care” is a bubble bath, and sometimes it’s...The Most Excellent 80s Movies), Mandy revisits Richard Donner’s chaotic, sweet, frequently-overlapping-yelling masterpiece and marvels at how it manages to be simultaneously a kids’ adventure film and a movie that opens with a fake suicide and drops the S-word roughly nineteen times like it’s being paid per syllable.They dig into why the character introductions during the opening chase are basically a clinic in “how to meet an ensemble cast fast,” why Brand deserves a modern reappraisal as the patron saint of big-brother competence, and why pirates apparently had both scurvy and an interior designer on payroll. Along the way, the conversation detours into Corey Feldman lore (including the surreal fact of Corey Feldman calling Krissy directly because he couldn’t get into the recording app), the weirdly persistent “octopus scene” ghost that’s referenced even when cut, and the uncomfortable 80s habit of using fat-shaming as a punchline so routinely you can practically hear a studio executive chanting, “Yes, yes, keep punching down, it’s working.”And because Mandy’s brain is both tender and mischievous, we also get: a brief masterclass in “planning crimes vs committing crimes” (involving a pizza smuggled into a movie theater), a quick Make Me a Nerd sidebar into the threat of scurvy in modern adulthood, and a round of Goonies trivia that ends exactly the way it should: with friendship intact and pride mildly wounded.Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3204d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse83fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-great-pottery-throw-down-british-boring-bang-on-perfect-with-jeremy-klavens--69589805The Great Pottery Throw Down and suddenly everyone is emotionally invested in cheese sets, kiln drama, and whether it’s legally possible for one judge to cry at this many objects in one lifetime.What follows is a cozy, gently chaotic tour of why this show hits different: the unusually kind contestant energy, the Bake Off DNA, the “we’re all trapped in a pandemic bubble so now we’re basically family” vibe, and the strange intimacy of watching hands work wet clay on a spinning wheel (this episode contains a brief detour into “is pottery… sexy?” and the answer is: it’s complicated, but also abso-potting-lutely). Along the way, Mandy and Jeremy size up the season’s personalities, judge quirks, and the occasional challenge that feels like the producers asked, “What if we simply made everyone fail at once?”And underneath the jokes, there’s a real question humming: why are shows like this so comforting, and why do we crave “soft competition” where the prize is mostly pride, a tiny trophy, and the right to say “bang on” with authority? If you’ve ever wanted a reality show palate cleanser that still gives you something to argue about on the couch, this is your invitation to the pottery parade. Bring subtitles. Possibly cheese.Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>964948ca-a561-4a1a-b5d3-e3e98660c6a8Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy’s latest “please turn me into a nerd” assignment comes disguised as the most harmless thing imaginable: a British competition show about pottery. And yes, at first it feels like the TV equivalent of a warm cup of tea you forgot you made. But...The Great Pottery Throw Down and suddenly everyone is emotionally invested in cheese sets, kiln drama, and whether it’s legally possible for one judge to cry at this many objects in one lifetime.What follows is a cozy, gently chaotic tour of why this show hits different: the unusually kind contestant energy, the Bake Off DNA, the “we’re all trapped in a pandemic bubble so now we’re basically family” vibe, and the strange intimacy of watching hands work wet clay on a spinning wheel (this episode contains a brief detour into “is pottery… sexy?” and the answer is: it’s complicated, but also abso-potting-lutely). Along the way, Mandy and Jeremy size up the season’s personalities, judge quirks, and the occasional challenge that feels like the producers asked, “What if we simply made everyone fail at once?”And underneath the jokes, there’s a real question humming: why are shows like this so comforting, and why do we crave “soft competition” where the prize is mostly pride, a tiny trophy, and the right to say “bang on” with authority? If you’ve ever wanted a reality show palate cleanser that still gives you something to argue about on the couch, this is your invitation to the pottery parade. Bring subtitles. Possibly cheese.Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>4031d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse81fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/i-might-knock-heated-rivalry-the-show-we-can-t-stop-watching--69511468Jon Cassie (of MMAN Severance fame, but more importantly, of Heated Rivalry obsession fame), we might need to start building temples.Here's what Jon makes clear: this show kicks down the door in the first twelve minutes with full nudity, graphic intimacy, AND a deeply moving love story—all at once. Created by Crave Media (a Canadian company that rejected HBO's ridiculous notes about "saving steaminess for season two"), the series follows rivals Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanoff through a decade-spanning secret relationship. Mandy, who wanted "some conversation before all the effing," eventually gets her Hepburn-Tracy wit in exchanges like "I might knock" / "I might open." The show delivers both physical chemistry and intellectual connection, launching four legendary careers while giving audiences a complete, satisfying journey.Jon hasn't been "swept away obsessively by a show in decades"—and he's watched this one multiple times. That's the power of Hudson Williams and Connor Finley's chemistry, the devastating beauty of feet touching under tables, and a show that respects its audience enough to be exactly what it set out to be. Heated Rivalry isn't just good queer television. It's exceptional television, period.
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>884eb84e-5fd2-4aa1-bf12-4ff06a816bd3Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMLook, if you had told me six months ago that a Canadian hockey romance would become the most culturally significant television event since—actually, I don't have a comparison because NOTHING prepares you for Heated Rivalry. This is a movement. And...Jon Cassie (of MMAN Severance fame, but more importantly, of Heated Rivalry obsession fame), we might need to start building temples.Here's what Jon makes clear: this show kicks down the door in the first twelve minutes with full nudity, graphic intimacy, AND a deeply moving love story—all at once. Created by Crave Media (a Canadian company that rejected HBO's ridiculous notes about "saving steaminess for season two"), the series follows rivals Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanoff through a decade-spanning secret relationship. Mandy, who wanted "some conversation before all the effing," eventually gets her Hepburn-Tracy wit in exchanges like "I might knock" / "I might open." The show delivers both physical chemistry and intellectual connection, launching four legendary careers while giving audiences a complete, satisfying journey.Jon hasn't been "swept away obsessively by a show in decades"—and he's watched this one multiple times. That's the power of Hudson Williams and Connor Finley's chemistry, the devastating beauty of feet touching under tables, and a show that respects its audience enough to be exactly what it set out to be. Heated Rivalry isn't just good queer television. It's exceptional television, period.
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3767d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse80fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-big-lebowski-with-david-isser--69400247David Isser, who arrives armed with deep affection for the film, a working knowledge of Raymond Chandler, and a willingness to calmly explain why a movie that makes Mandy deeply uncomfortable has inspired conventions, philosophies, and a small but devoted bowling-industrial complex.What follows is less a review and more a thoughtful standoff. Mandy interrogates the film’s aggressively masculine energy, its simmering threat of violence, and its unapologetic embrace of pointlessness. David counters with rewatchability, linguistic rhythm, cinematography, and the Coen brothers’ fondness for rich worlds that don’t care whether you understand them. Along the way, they detour through David Mamet dialogue patterns, noir tropes, Busby Berkeley hallucinations, and Mandy’s firm belief that unwrapping a Russian nesting doll should eventually reveal something.This episode isn’t about convincing Mandy to love The Big Lebowski. It’s about understanding why some art invites obsessive devotion, why other art quietly asks you to leave, and why both reactions are completely valid—even if one of them involves licking a bowling ball.Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>1e8a35db-bd1d-4634-bac8-0fd470767312Mon, 12 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy Kaplan continues her slow, deliberate march into Nerd Territory by taking on one of the most sacred cows in cult-movie history: The Big Lebowski. Joining her is editor, bookstore owner, and self-described “hobbyist nerd”...David Isser, who arrives armed with deep affection for the film, a working knowledge of Raymond Chandler, and a willingness to calmly explain why a movie that makes Mandy deeply uncomfortable has inspired conventions, philosophies, and a small but devoted bowling-industrial complex.What follows is less a review and more a thoughtful standoff. Mandy interrogates the film’s aggressively masculine energy, its simmering threat of violence, and its unapologetic embrace of pointlessness. David counters with rewatchability, linguistic rhythm, cinematography, and the Coen brothers’ fondness for rich worlds that don’t care whether you understand them. Along the way, they detour through David Mamet dialogue patterns, noir tropes, Busby Berkeley hallucinations, and Mandy’s firm belief that unwrapping a Russian nesting doll should eventually reveal something.This episode isn’t about convincing Mandy to love The Big Lebowski. It’s about understanding why some art invites obsessive devotion, why other art quietly asks you to leave, and why both reactions are completely valid—even if one of them involves licking a bowling ball.Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3536d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse79fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/xanadu-with-jonas-vail--69305003

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>213c50d6-ad57-4148-9b41-cbb76e736d0fMon, 05 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy Kaplan bravely roller-skates into the glittery fever dream that is Xanadu, joined by writer, brand strategist, and lifelong apologist for questionable cinema, Jonas Vail. Jonas has loved Xanadu since...

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3449d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse78fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/veronica-mars-with-sloan-just--69165920

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>1b662dea-8131-4c26-b05d-ab973f1a9562Mon, 22 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy brings on longtime friend Sloan Just—former Broadway performer, professional quote-reciter, and unapologetic teen-drama connoisseur—to finally introduce her to Veronica Mars. Somehow, Mandy has made it through adulthood without seeing a single...

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3938d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse77fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/hangman-adam-page-with-kevin-ryan--69054683Tyrant in Training, a show in which guests build and rule their own fictional country while Kevin shape-shifts into various advisors, bureaucrats, and chaos agents. (Mandy herself recently appeared as a Supermodel-Tyrant, which feels exactly correct.)Kevin may live all the way in Ireland, but he arrives ready to induct Mandy into the lore-heavy, storyline-infested, deeply theatrical, occasionally violent world of AEW. He explains babyfaces and heels (good guys and bad guys, but with more spandex), demystifies why everyone has long hair (physics!), and unpacks the epic ongoing saga of Hangman Adam Page — the anxious, whiskey-swirling cowboy who somehow embodies the millennial hero’s journey.Mandy, meanwhile, wrestles (pun intended) with a set of entirely reasonable questions:• Why is everyone bleeding?• Why does the “good guy” burn down someone’s childhood home?• Why does the ref seem like a frantic unpaid intern who’s given up on life?• And why on earth does everyone look like they’re auditioning for a shampoo commercial?
Not everything lands for Mandy — including one infamous Dark Order Christmas video that contains acting choices best described as “porn-adjacent.” But the surprising part? Mandy begins to understand the nerd appeal of wrestling: the world-building, the lore, the serialized storytelling, the soap-opera energy with a side of pyrotechnics. It turns out AEW is basically Days of Our Lives if everyone was constantly flipping off turnbuckles and crying in stylish leather boots.Kevin brings the jokes, the enthusiasm, and the blanket — literally, the man owns a blanket featuring Hangman Page sitting calmly in front of a burning house. Mandy brings the questions, the honesty, and the allergy to sweat. Together, they bridge two nations through the universal language of niche fandom.Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>e07ee9f9-ea20-454c-bfbe-1aa8b391a409Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week, Mandy dives into one of the most intimidating corners of nerd culture she’s ever faced: professional wrestling. Yes. Wrestling. AEW wrestling. The one with the hair flips, the pyrotechnics, the questionable fashion choices, the crowd...Tyrant in Training, a show in which guests build and rule their own fictional country while Kevin shape-shifts into various advisors, bureaucrats, and chaos agents. (Mandy herself recently appeared as a Supermodel-Tyrant, which feels exactly correct.)Kevin may live all the way in Ireland, but he arrives ready to induct Mandy into the lore-heavy, storyline-infested, deeply theatrical, occasionally violent world of AEW. He explains babyfaces and heels (good guys and bad guys, but with more spandex), demystifies why everyone has long hair (physics!), and unpacks the epic ongoing saga of Hangman Adam Page — the anxious, whiskey-swirling cowboy who somehow embodies the millennial hero’s journey.Mandy, meanwhile, wrestles (pun intended) with a set of entirely reasonable questions:• Why is everyone bleeding?• Why does the “good guy” burn down someone’s childhood home?• Why does the ref seem like a frantic unpaid intern who’s given up on life?• And why on earth does everyone look like they’re auditioning for a shampoo commercial?
Not everything lands for Mandy — including one infamous Dark Order Christmas video that contains acting choices best described as “porn-adjacent.” But the surprising part? Mandy begins to understand the nerd appeal of wrestling: the world-building, the lore, the serialized storytelling, the soap-opera energy with a side of pyrotechnics. It turns out AEW is basically Days of Our Lives if everyone was constantly flipping off turnbuckles and crying in stylish leather boots.Kevin brings the jokes, the enthusiasm, and the blanket — literally, the man owns a blanket featuring Hangman Page sitting calmly in front of a burning house. Mandy brings the questions, the honesty, and the allergy to sweat. Together, they bridge two nations through the universal language of niche fandom.Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3418d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse76fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/return-to-oz-with-jessica-jimenez--68942053

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>b0e200ec-3cc5-4541-8539-7cd8b66d933aMon, 08 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThere are childhood movies that sparkle like nostalgia-soaked comfort food… and then there’s Return to Oz, the 1985 fever dream that terrified an entire generation and somehow ended up beloved anyway. This week, Mandy reconnects with returning guest —...

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3217d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse75fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-with-steve-sarmento--68816558

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>b35da796-bd43-4fd0-8293-13b07fb0730aMon, 01 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIf there was ever an episode that proves how deeply a movie can tattoo itself onto someone’s soul, it’s this one. Mandy is joined by beloved TruStory FM collaborator and film analyst Steve Sarmento, a man whose heart has apparently been shaped like...

Website: makemeanerd.com/join

Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3370d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse74fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/game-changer-with-kyle-olson--68720399

🎥 Game Changer on Dropout TV

🎙️ The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society

🎨 Craft and Chaos Podcast

🎧 Off Book: The Improvised Musical Podcast

🧙‍♀️ Dimension 20 (D&D on Dropout)

📚 Station Eleven – HBO Max

🎮 Erika Ishii – Ghost of Yotei

Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

¹ Yes, Sam Reich is the son of economist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. So while his father spent a career fighting corporate greed and income inequality, Sam opted to fight butthole jokes and buzzer-based chaos. Honestly? Same energy.
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>31968677-2743-4fed-81bd-564434b0c6b9Mon, 24 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan welcomes back certified nerd-whisperer Kyle Olson—creator of The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society and co-host of Craft and Chaos—to induct her into the gloriously absurd and deeply inventive world of Game...

🎥 Game Changer on Dropout TV

🎙️ The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society

🎨 Craft and Chaos Podcast

🎧 Off Book: The Improvised Musical Podcast

🧙‍♀️ Dimension 20 (D&D on Dropout)

📚 Station Eleven – HBO Max

🎮 Erika Ishii – Ghost of Yotei

Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

¹ Yes, Sam Reich is the son of economist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. So while his father spent a career fighting corporate greed and income inequality, Sam opted to fight butthole jokes and buzzer-based chaos. Honestly? Same energy. 3388d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse73fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/yuri-on-ice-with-zehra-fazal--68600668

Yuri!!! on Ice (2016 anime series) — Crunchyroll

“History Maker” by Dean Fujioka, the Yuri!!! on Ice theme song

Follow Zehra on Insta

Make Me a Nerd

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
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• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>5c9a820e-e751-4f4a-a807-e80577d5aaffMon, 17 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMYou might think figure skating is all glitter, grace, and emotional piano music — but Yuri!!! on Ice says, “Oh no, my friend, this is a blood sport with sequins.” This week, Mandy Kaplan is joined by actor and voice powerhouse Zehra Fazal (Borderlands...

Yuri!!! on Ice (2016 anime series) — Crunchyroll

“History Maker” by Dean Fujioka, the Yuri!!! on Ice theme song

Follow Zehra on Insta

Make Me a Nerd

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3734d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse72fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/truth-or-dare-with-abdi-nazemian--68494738

Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991), dir. Alek Keshishian

Strike a Pose (2016)

Like a Love Story, Exquisite Things, Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian

Dick Tracy soundtrack (I’m Breathless)

Blonde Ambition Tour / Like a Prayer album

Madonna’s Nightline interview on Justify My Love (1990)

Make Me a Nerd

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>bd11f277-5ea9-428e-9fbe-49590f6753d0Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMYou know how some documentaries just happen and others ignite a cultural revolution in a cone bra? This week, Mandy reunites with her former roommate, award-winning author, screenwriter, and Madonna scholar-in-chief Abdi Nazemian, to talk about the...

Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991), dir. Alek Keshishian

Strike a Pose (2016)

Like a Love Story, Exquisite Things, Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian

Dick Tracy soundtrack (I’m Breathless)

Blonde Ambition Tour / Like a Prayer album

Madonna’s Nightline interview on Justify My Love (1990)

Make Me a Nerd

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3647d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse71fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-last-kingdom-with-matt-boren--68397163

⚔️ The Last Kingdom on Netflix

⚔️ The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die

📖 Minister of Loneliness by Matt Boren

📚 Folded Notes from High School by Matt Boren

📖 Brackish Waters by Matt Boren

🎥 Matt Boren on Instagram

Make Me a Nerd

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

¹ Matt Boren may not identify as a “nerd,” but any man who quotes General Hospital while explaining 9th-century Anglo-Saxon land disputes is at least a Level 12 Soap Mage. That’s canon.


---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>f3c4f1c4-74ba-4242-be54-77471da53b45Mon, 03 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan straps on her metaphorical codpiece and dives headfirst into the sword-swinging, land-grabbing, god-invoking world of The Last Kingdom with guest Matt Boren¹—actor, author, screenwriter, and senior prom date...

⚔️ The Last Kingdom on Netflix

⚔️ The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die

📖 Minister of Loneliness by Matt Boren

📚 Folded Notes from High School by Matt Boren

📖 Brackish Waters by Matt Boren

🎥 Matt Boren on Instagram

Make Me a Nerd

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

¹ Matt Boren may not identify as a “nerd,” but any man who quotes General Hospital while explaining 9th-century Anglo-Saxon land disputes is at least a Level 12 Soap Mage. That’s canon.
3675d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse70fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/dracula-with-lester-ryan-clark--68294926

Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Devil's Details

Find Lester on Social Media:

• All platforms: @LesterRyanClark

Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_Kravens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992)
• "Renfield" (2023) - starring Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Holt
• Janice Hallett - British mystery author who writes in epistolary format

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>a8fdb3ea-b6b2-48f9-8e44-015af6ba36b6Mon, 27 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMDracula is a book where the title character shows up for roughly four chapters and then just... leaves. It's like if "Jaws" spent most of its runtime following insurance adjusters filing claims about boat damage. And yet, somehow, this 1897 novel...

Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Devil's Details

Find Lester on Social Media:

• All platforms: @LesterRyanClark

Make Me a Nerd:

• Website: makemeanerd.com/join
• Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_Kravens
• TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992)
• "Renfield" (2023) - starring Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Holt
• Janice Hallett - British mystery author who writes in epistolary format

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or...]]>3510d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse69fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/masters-of-the-universe-with-krissy-lenz-and-nathan-blackwell--68211629

Masters of the Universe (1987) on IMDb

Krissy & Nathan’s Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast

Gank That Drank: A Supernatural Drinking Game Podcast

Squishy Studios – Nathan Blackwell’s films

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>33d1c97b-bb94-4de2-9f7e-316b4e585b22Mon, 20 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat happens when you take the most toyetic franchise of the 1980s, hand it to the kings of schlock at Cannon Films, and tell them to make the next Star Wars? You get Masters of the Universe—a movie so gloriously confused that it can’t decide if it’s...

Masters of the Universe (1987) on IMDb

Krissy & Nathan’s Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast

Gank That Drank: A Supernatural Drinking Game Podcast

Squishy Studios – Nathan Blackwell’s films

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3410d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse68fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/bluey-with-kelly-vrooman--68116222

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

Kelly Vrooman on social media: @KellyVrooms (Instagram/TikTok)

Kelly Vrooman's YouTube: Kelly Vrooman

Bluey on YouTube

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>e49d94cc-5270-46a5-b10f-a6aae3e09bc6Mon, 13 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMLook, I need to tell you something about a children's television program featuring animated dogs, and I need you to stay with me here because this is going to sound absolutely bananas. There exists—right now, in this timeline, on this increasingly...2686d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse67fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/twilight-with-ben-raffle--68029146---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>6a0b2b6a-e181-48d7-b484-9d6ee6ace8d7Mon, 06 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan asks the big, baffling question: how does a grown man in his forties, with a child, a career, and a functioning brain, become obsessed with Twilight? Enter Ben Raffle—software executive by day, nerd savant by...---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3409d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse66fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/spirited-away-with-kynan-dias--67938092

Find Kynan on his shows: Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Devil's Details, Sitting in the Dark

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>d8d19f52-d505-4d87-a81b-59ceaf5da8d9Mon, 29 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week, Mandy Kaplan discovers that “family road trip” in Japan doesn’t mean stopping at a rest area for gas and Funyuns. No, it means your parents turn into pigs and you’re suddenly employed at a haunted bathhouse run by a chain-smoking witch with...

Find Kynan on his shows: Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Devil's Details, Sitting in the Dark

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3563d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse65fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/charmed-with-patrick-gomez--67849330---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>73a2cb23-b33f-46d7-8687-d525cceeab96Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy is joined by the magnificent, the glamorous, the slightly crop-top-obsessed Patrick Gomez—yes, that Patrick Gomez, the Editor-in-Chief of Entertainment Weekly. Together they dust off the spell book, step into a...---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3773d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse64fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/black-mirror-with-tara-sands--67845254

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>c941407d-c830-49e8-b528-1a3dd7a34aa9Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy is joined by someone who has been part of her life nearly forever—voiceover legend and dear friend Tara Sands. You might know Tara from her work bringing Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and countless anime characters to life,...

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3714d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse63fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/freaks-and-geeks-with-jeffrey-nicholas-brown--67681731Links & Notes

• Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)
• Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>c2e4a101-c73b-4af6-92ad-96cf4ce948c6Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan welcomes actor, drummer, writer, and all-time Blue Man Grouper Jeffrey Nicholas Brown—yes, an actual Blue Man.The two dive headfirst into Freaks and Geeks, the show that lasted only one season but somehow...Links & Notes

• Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)
• Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3722d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse62fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/godzilla-minus-one-with-riki-hayashi--67681716

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>7bdfa0e3-2d89-4afb-a7b4-d99cb5d015feMon, 01 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy welcomes fellow TruStory podcaster and kaiju enthusiast Riki Hayashi for a dive into one of the most critically acclaimed monster movies in decades: Godzilla Minus One. If you’ve ever thought Godzilla was just a big...

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

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---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3566d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse61fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-rehearsal-with-megan-parlen--67681725

📖 Bloomsbury Books – support Megan’s Bookstore!

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>f3fa29d9-a2e2-4be4-8d82-49cc5c9efd88Mon, 25 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat happens when comedy meets ethics, performance art meets aviation safety, and a TV host decides to build an airport just to see what happens? This week, Mandy is joined by her brilliant and ever-curious friend Megan Parlen to dig deep into The...

📖 Bloomsbury Books – support Megan’s Bookstore!

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3279d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse60fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/jurassic-park-with-tommy-metz-iii-andy-nelson-pete-wright--67681726

Pete Wright (Headstone, Sitting in the Dark): trustory.fm/headstone

Andy Nelson (CinemaScope, The Next Reel): trustory.fm/cinemascope

Tommy Metz III (Sitting in the Dark): trustory.fm/sittinginthedark

Links & Notes

• 📖 Bloomsbury Books – support Megan’s Bookstore!
• Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)
• Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3f57e87a-9997-496d-a36d-1f294f8a11f0Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy Kaplan has never seen Jurassic Park. We know. Breathe. She’s finally corrected this cinematic sin, and to walk her through the prehistoric magic, she’s joined by Pete Wright, Andy Nelson, and Tommy Metz III—three full-grown nerds whose love for...

Pete Wright (Headstone, Sitting in the Dark): trustory.fm/headstone

Andy Nelson (CinemaScope, The Next Reel): trustory.fm/cinemascope

Tommy Metz III (Sitting in the Dark): trustory.fm/sittinginthedark

Links & Notes

• 📖 Bloomsbury Books – support Megan’s Bookstore!
• Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)
• Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3864d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse59fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/showgirls-with-jessica-jimenez--67681710

Watch Storage Wars!

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>b88866b3-c442-4d41-8c89-6e1e9cdb7a99Mon, 11 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat do you get when you cross Elizabeth Berkley, a pile of glitter, and the worst pool sex scene ever committed to film? Showgirls, of course — and this week, Mandy dives headfirst into the chaotic, cringe-glittery mess with TV producer and camp...

Watch Storage Wars!

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3193d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse61fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/k-pop-demon-hunters-with-jimmy-aquino--67681723

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Jimmy Aquino’s Comic News Insider Podcast

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>b83583c2-7fb7-486d-88c6-4ec735238e21Mon, 04 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMJimmy Aquino is back and brings K-Pop Demon Hunters, the surprise Netflix hit that blends idol culture with demon-fighting destiny and music bangers that have conquered the Billboard charts. Mandy and Jimmy break down the film’s animation style,...

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Jimmy Aquino’s Comic News Insider Podcast

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3407d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse57fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/x-men-with-jp-karliak--67681707Links and Mentions:

• Join the Nerd Herd for Bonus Content
• X-Men ’97 on Disney+
• JP Karliak’s Instagram
• Adam Pascal performing in Hawkeye’s in-show musical

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>fa4cecc3-918c-4823-ae75-47774468924eMon, 28 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMHe’s back and nerdier than ever! Mandy welcomes voice actor, activist, and self-proclaimed snappy dresser JP Karliak to discuss X-Men (2000)—the film that helped launch the modern superhero era and still sparks passionate debate among comic fans,...Links and Mentions:

• Join the Nerd Herd for Bonus Content
• X-Men ’97 on Disney+
• JP Karliak’s Instagram
• Adam Pascal performing in Hawkeye’s in-show musical

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3017d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse56fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-big-bang-theory-with-lisa-arch--67681743

Join the Nerds – Become a Member

Lisa Arch on IMDb

Follow Mandy on Instagram

Follow Mandy on BlueSky

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>4561941e-1bc2-49e1-a115-6a901aebf131Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIn this delightfully nerdy episode, Mandy Kaplan welcomes actor and host Lisa Arch to discuss The Big Bang Theory, the show that launched Mandy’s “nerdification” and hooked Lisa over time with its layered friendships, character arcs, and perfect...

Join the Nerds – Become a Member

Lisa Arch on IMDb

Follow Mandy on Instagram

Follow Mandy on BlueSky

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3314d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse55fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/suit-up-for-squad-20-d-d-with-justine-huxley--67681711

Watch Squad 20 on YouTube

Justine Huxley on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @JustineHuxley

Six Sides of Gaming: https://www.sixsidesofgaming.com

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>39986521-c5c6-41a8-91b2-4b091d7bd4bbMon, 14 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMLet’s say you’re a respected voice actor. You’ve brought beloved characters to life in video games, animation, and probably at least one fan convention that smelled vaguely of beef jerky and dry-erase markers. Then one day, someone says: “Would you...

Watch Squad 20 on YouTube

Justine Huxley on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @JustineHuxley

Six Sides of Gaming: https://www.sixsidesofgaming.com

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2163d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse54fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/sega-v-nintendo-with-danny-brown--67681722

Danny Brown’s shows and socials: https://dannypod.com

Five Random Questions podcast: https://5randomquestions.com

Watch The Great Console War

Watch The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>a03d161a-763c-49f8-a37d-1ac88cd773e5Mon, 07 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIn 1991, a small blue hedgehog in red sneakers launched a cultural revolution. But the story of Sonic—and the rise and fall of Sega—isn’t just about pixels and processors. It’s about loyalty, rebellion, and the strange way that consumer technology...

Danny Brown’s shows and socials: https://dannypod.com

Five Random Questions podcast: https://5randomquestions.com

Watch The Great Console War

Watch The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3062d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse53fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/thunderbolts-trauma-marvel-gets-mental--67681708

Justin Jaeger’s book review channel: Jagye’s Pages on YouTube

Listen to Justin on The Film Board from The Next Reel

Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

Join the nerdy inner circle: makemeanerd.com/join

Support The Show!Love this episode? There’s more! Join us at makemeanerd.com to become a member and unlock bonus content—like Misty giving a behind-the-scenes look at producing Go Help Yourself, what it’s like reviewing 325+ self-help books, and how to navigate the chaotic sea of personal development content with humor and heart. Members enjoy early episodes, ad-free listening, and the bonus segment!
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>ddd0b57d-d10f-4fac-bff5-1468b18a8de1Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWho knew anti-heroes could teach us about healing?This week, Mandy sits down with Justin Jaeger—True Story film board favorite, book reviewer, and passionate MCU buff—to break down Thunderbolts. If you’re expecting a by-the-numbers action flick, think...

Justin Jaeger’s book review channel: Jagye’s Pages on YouTube

Listen to Justin on The Film Board from The Next Reel

Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

Join the nerdy inner circle: makemeanerd.com/join

Support The Show!Love this episode? There’s more! Join us at makemeanerd.com to become a member and unlock bonus content—like Misty giving a behind-the-scenes look at producing Go Help Yourself, what it’s like reviewing 325+ self-help books, and how to navigate the chaotic sea of personal development content with humor and heart. Members enjoy early episodes, ad-free listening, and the bonus segment!
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2912d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse52fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-now-a-word-from-our-host--676817043867644a-1e15-40b8-bf4d-488188f1d006Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMHey! We're taking a short break to regroup, recharge, and do a little of the summer stuff that we're told grown-up nerds do. So you should do the same! We'll catch you in about a month... stay tuned! 41d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalsebonushttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/dragon-smut-lightning-kisses-fourth-wing-with-misty-stinnett--67681732

🎙️ Go Help Yourself Podcast

📖 Bloomsbury Books – support Mandy’s favorite local shop

🖥️ Misty Stinnett on IMDb

🎉 Bonus Content Reminder!Love this episode? There’s more! Join us at makemeanerd.com to become a member and unlock bonus content—like Misty giving a behind-the-scenes look at producing Go Help Yourself, what it’s like reviewing 325+ self-help books, and how to navigate the chaotic sea of personal development content with humor and heart. Members enjoy early episodes, ad-free listening, and the bonus segment!
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>dce9475f-dde9-4a77-ab3c-1df35caef815Mon, 02 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat happens when a self-help comedy podcaster and a self-proclaimed mainstream mom dive headfirst into the high-stakes world of dragon-based erotica? Fire. Literally.That’s right, this week Mandy welcomes Misty Stinnett to Make Me a Nerd for a...

🎙️ Go Help Yourself Podcast

📖 Bloomsbury Books – support Mandy’s favorite local shop

🖥️ Misty Stinnett on IMDb

🎉 Bonus Content Reminder!Love this episode? There’s more! Join us at makemeanerd.com to become a member and unlock bonus content—like Misty giving a behind-the-scenes look at producing Go Help Yourself, what it’s like reviewing 325+ self-help books, and how to navigate the chaotic sea of personal development content with humor and heart. Members enjoy early episodes, ad-free listening, and the bonus segment!
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3192d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse51fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/captain-america-the-first-avenger-with-john-mundy--67681713

🌐 Join our Nerds at makemeanerd.com

📸 Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

🐦 Find Mandy on Bluesky: @MandyMiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>0ce0a4d4-8cea-43ea-9b94-e24e606b7aaaMon, 26 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMLet’s talk about America. No—not that America ... Captain America, who—despite being a science experiment in high-waisted pants—somehow manages to be the most grounded Avenger in a sea of flying metal suits and literal gods with hammer fetishes.This...

🌐 Join our Nerds at makemeanerd.com

📸 Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

🐦 Find Mandy on Bluesky: @MandyMiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2970d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse50fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-nerd-who-wrote-everything-a-conversation-with-bruce-vilanch--67681709🛒 Links & References:

• 🎧 Libro.fm Audiobook Version – narrated by Bruce Vilanch himself
• 📖 Bloomsbury Books – support Mandy’s favorite local shop
• 🖥️ Bruce Vilanch on IMDb
• 🎭 Avenue Q School Edition – yes, it’s real

🎉 Bonus Content Reminder!

Love this episode? There’s more! Join us at makemeanerd.com/join to become a member and unlock bonus content—like Bruce playing rapid-fire word association about his legendary collaborators. Plus, members get early, ad-free access to every episode.
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3a5bc949-eb87-4458-8633-2dac739ce29fMon, 19 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWelcome to the show, everybody! In this very special episode of Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan sits down with Bruce Vilanch—Emmy-winning writer, cultural historian of kitsch, and the man behind some of the strangest, most infamous moments in television...🛒 Links & References:

• 🎧 Libro.fm Audiobook Version – narrated by Bruce Vilanch himself
• 📖 Bloomsbury Books – support Mandy’s favorite local shop
• 🖥️ Bruce Vilanch on IMDb
• 🎭 Avenue Q School Edition – yes, it’s real

🎉 Bonus Content Reminder!

Love this episode? There’s more! Join us at makemeanerd.com/join to become a member and unlock bonus content—like Bruce playing rapid-fire word association about his legendary collaborators. Plus, members get early, ad-free access to every episode.
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2819d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse49fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/labyrinth-with-krissy-lenz--67681714Links & Notes

• 🎧 The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast
• 🍸 Gank That Drink: A Supernatural Drinking Game Podcast
• 🌐 Join our Nerds at makemeanerd.com
• 📸 Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• 🐦 Find Mandy on Bluesky: @MandyMiscast
• 🐦 Find Krissy on Bluesky: @KrissyLenz

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>6d862998-1a30-48d8-ab81-92cbbc26a39eMon, 12 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMDo you remember a time when David Bowie’s pants were tighter than your schedule, owls were CGI nightmares, and puppets had a suspicious amount of emotional range? No? WELL, YOU’RE IN FOR A TREAT. Because this week, Mandy steps right into the sparkly,...Links & Notes

• 🎧 The Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast
• 🍸 Gank That Drink: A Supernatural Drinking Game Podcast
• 🌐 Join our Nerds at makemeanerd.com
• 📸 Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• 🐦 Find Mandy on Bluesky: @MandyMiscast
• 🐦 Find Krissy on Bluesky: @KrissyLenz

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3151d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse48fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/black-mirror-with-tommy-metz-iii-pete-wright--67681739Links & Notes

• 🌐 Join our Nerds at makemeanerd.com
• 📸 Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• 🐦 Find Mandy on Bluesky: @MandyMiscast
• 🙀 Catch up with the new season of All The Feelings with Pete and Tommy as they tackle Adulting!

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>be35997d-cf9f-4c9e-9f9c-6c430886682bMon, 05 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWelcome back, nerdlings, to Make Me A Nerd — the show where one mainstream mom dares to plummet headfirst into the gelatinous pit of sci-fi anthologies, death anxiety, and…digital pigs. This week, Mandy Kaplan reunites with podcast übermensch Pete...Links & Notes

• 🌐 Join our Nerds at makemeanerd.com
• 📸 Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• 🐦 Find Mandy on Bluesky: @MandyMiscast
• 🙀 Catch up with the new season of All The Feelings with Pete and Tommy as they tackle Adulting!

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3816d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse47fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-new-doctor-who-with-manny-patel--67681747

Watch Manny Patel’s mashups on YouTube: @MannyPatel

Support Make Me a Nerd

Find Mandy on Instagram

Find Mandy on Bluesky

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>6bf79be0-17b9-4fb5-8260-7cec01366344Mon, 28 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat do you get when you cross a mainstream mom, a Time Lord, and the Spice Girls? A deliriously joyful trip through time, space, pop culture, and puppets. This week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy welcomes back the dazzlingly encyclopedic Manny Patel—Doctor...

Watch Manny Patel’s mashups on YouTube: @MannyPatel

Support Make Me a Nerd

Find Mandy on Instagram

Find Mandy on Bluesky

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3230d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse46fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/andor-with-yoshi-stone--67681718Links & References:

• Mandy Kaplan on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• Join the Community for ad-free episodes and bonus content: makemeanerd.com/join

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>841fc23f-8253-49ac-b75e-23e2e56ca01cMon, 21 Apr 2025 10:27:00 +0000TruStory FMIn 1977, George Lucas introduced the world to a galaxy far, far away—a universe filled with lightsabers, Jedi mysticism, and the eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil. In the decades since, Star Wars has alternately soared and stumbled,...Links & References:

• Mandy Kaplan on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• Join the Community for ad-free episodes and bonus content: makemeanerd.com/join

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3115d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse45fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-last-of-us-with-matthew-fox--67681755

🎧 Superhero Ethics Podcast

✨ Star Wars Generations Podcast

🌐 Join our Nerds at makemeanerd.com

📸 Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

🐦 Find Mandy on Bluesky: @MandyMiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3ff82622-d3cd-4def-800e-8a1d19baa7adMon, 14 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy attempts to survive a full-blown fungal apocalypse—emotionally, spiritually, and occasionally by camouflage. And she’s not alone! She’s joined by three-time guest and ethics enthusiast Matthew Fox, who gently guides...

🎧 Superhero Ethics Podcast

✨ Star Wars Generations Podcast

🌐 Join our Nerds at makemeanerd.com

📸 Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

🐦 Find Mandy on Bluesky: @MandyMiscast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3362d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse44fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/eras-with-tommy-metz-iii--67681760

Become a member for bonus content: Monthy • Annually

Follow Mandy on social media:

• Instagram: @Mandy_Kaplan_Klavans
• Blue Sky: @MandyMiscast

Listen to All The Feelings!

Watch Eras on Apple TV+

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>30c42558-7319-4965-8280-a1548503152aMon, 07 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMLadies and gentlemen, Swifties and skeptics, gather round, for today we embark on a journey of seismic cultural significance. No, not another election cycle. No, not the discovery of yet another billionaire’s secret doomsday bunker. We are talking...

Become a member for bonus content: Monthy • Annually

Follow Mandy on social media:

• Instagram: @Mandy_Kaplan_Klavans
• Blue Sky: @MandyMiscast

Listen to All The Feelings!

Watch Eras on Apple TV+

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>4811d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse43fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/severance-with-jon-cassie--67681754MakeMeANerd.com and join today! You’ll get to sign up to your very own personal podcast feed full of all the extended editions of the show!So, grab your outdated work computer, stare longingly at your reflection in a darkened elevator, and press play. Welcome to Make Me A Nerd. You may not remember how you got here, but you’ll never want to leave.
Links & References:

• Become a member for bonus content: Monthy • Annually
• Follow Mandy on social media:
  • Instagram: @Mandy_Kaplan_Klavans
  • Blue Sky: @MandyMiscast
• Listen to Jon’s education podcast Many Windows
• Watch Severance on Apple TV+

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>874c6c78-4ff4-47ba-ad04-721abd466438Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMYou wake up. You’re at work. You don’t know how you got there. You don’t know who you are outside of this fluorescent-lit, carpeted labyrinth. And worst of all—you have to attend a melon party. This week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy takes a cubicle tour...MakeMeANerd.com and join today! You’ll get to sign up to your very own personal podcast feed full of all the extended editions of the show!So, grab your outdated work computer, stare longingly at your reflection in a darkened elevator, and press play. Welcome to Make Me A Nerd. You may not remember how you got here, but you’ll never want to leave.
Links & References:

• Become a member for bonus content: Monthy • Annually
• Follow Mandy on social media:
  • Instagram: @Mandy_Kaplan_Klavans
  • Blue Sky: @MandyMiscast
• Listen to Jon’s education podcast Many Windows
• Watch Severance on Apple TV+

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3972d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse42fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-with-lester-ryan-clark-kynan-dias--67681746

The history of butt plugs (yes, really).

The actual existence of a 2017 Everything Everywhere script written for Jackie Chan.

The moment Mandy considered abandoning the movie entirely—only to be emotionally wrecked by the final act.

And, most importantly, what the hell is up with those raccoons?

So strap in, grab your fanny pack, and prepare for a cinematic discussion that will leave you questioning existence itself—while also wondering why you suddenly desperately need a bagel. And if you’re listening on Apple, leave a five-star review, or Mandy will personally send Jamie Lee Curtis to audit your taxes.Links & Notes

• Become a Make Me A Nerd member for ad-free episodes & bonus content: makemeanerd.com/join
• Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• Listen to Lester & Kynan’s Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All at Once podcast
• Check out The Exorcist Minute
• Kynan’s horror podcast Sitting in the Dark

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>5c69910a-fd51-44ee-ab0c-42966cf053d1Mon, 24 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMEverything Everywhere All at Once. It’s the film that took home a million Oscars, melted a billion brains, and somehow made hot dog fingers emotionally resonant. This week, Mandy sits down with Exorcist Minute co-hosts Lester Ryan Clark and Kynan...

The history of butt plugs (yes, really).

The actual existence of a 2017 Everything Everywhere script written for Jackie Chan.

The moment Mandy considered abandoning the movie entirely—only to be emotionally wrecked by the final act.

And, most importantly, what the hell is up with those raccoons?

So strap in, grab your fanny pack, and prepare for a cinematic discussion that will leave you questioning existence itself—while also wondering why you suddenly desperately need a bagel. And if you’re listening on Apple, leave a five-star review, or Mandy will personally send Jamie Lee Curtis to audit your taxes.Links & Notes

• Become a Make Me A Nerd member for ad-free episodes & bonus content: makemeanerd.com/join
• Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• Listen to Lester & Kynan’s Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All at Once podcast
• Check out The Exorcist Minute
• Kynan’s horror podcast Sitting in the Dark

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>4036d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse41fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/wheel-of-time-with-audrey-kearns--67681745

Geek Girl Authority – geekgirlauthority.com

Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

Support the Show for Bonus Content – makemeanerd.com/join

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3b5e37ba-43cb-40c1-bfdb-47407582a3faMon, 17 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWheel of Time—a sprawling, epic fantasy series filled with magic, palace intrigue, and, apparently, an unlimited budget for breathtaking visuals and absurdly attractive people. This week, Mandy welcomes back Audrey Kearns, aka the Geek Girl Authority...

Geek Girl Authority – geekgirlauthority.com

Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens

Support the Show for Bonus Content – makemeanerd.com/join

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3655d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse40fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/survivor-with-patrick-gomez--67681767

Boston Rob and his accent, which sounds like an actor badly pretending to be from Boston.

Sandra, the queen of “As long as it ain’t me,” and why she is the best player of all time.

Russell, a man who exudes the chaotic energy of someone who has definitely tried to start a cult in a Walmart parking lot.

Parvati, whose flirty villainy makes Mandy want to punch a wall.

The time a contestant faked his grandmother’s death to win a challenge.

And, of course, why the pizza rewards look like something that was legally ruled “not food” by the FDA.

Plus, if you become a Make Me A Nerd member, you’ll get access to an Oscars special where Patrick spills behind-the-scenes secrets from Hollywood’s biggest night. Because if there’s anything more cutthroat than Survivor, it’s awards season.So, grab some wine, drop your buffs, and prepare for an episode so packed with drama, you’ll want to vote someone off your couch just to process it all.Links & Notes

• Become a Make Me A Nerd member for ad-free episodes & bonus content: makemeanerd.com/join
• Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• Follow Patrick on social: @PatrickGomezLA
• Read Patrick’s work on Entertainment Weekly: EW.com

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>39ae4ee4-0d9f-4aae-bc47-fdf5314c15f9Mon, 10 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy marches barefoot into the unwashed, coconut-scented, betrayal-laden world of Survivor. And who better to guide her through this mosquito-infested fever dream than Patrick Gomez, Editor-in-Chief of Entertainment...

Boston Rob and his accent, which sounds like an actor badly pretending to be from Boston.

Sandra, the queen of “As long as it ain’t me,” and why she is the best player of all time.

Russell, a man who exudes the chaotic energy of someone who has definitely tried to start a cult in a Walmart parking lot.

Parvati, whose flirty villainy makes Mandy want to punch a wall.

The time a contestant faked his grandmother’s death to win a challenge.

And, of course, why the pizza rewards look like something that was legally ruled “not food” by the FDA.

Plus, if you become a Make Me A Nerd member, you’ll get access to an Oscars special where Patrick spills behind-the-scenes secrets from Hollywood’s biggest night. Because if there’s anything more cutthroat than Survivor, it’s awards season.So, grab some wine, drop your buffs, and prepare for an episode so packed with drama, you’ll want to vote someone off your couch just to process it all.Links & Notes

• Become a Make Me A Nerd member for ad-free episodes & bonus content: makemeanerd.com/join
• Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
• Follow Patrick on social: @PatrickGomezLA
• Read Patrick’s work on Entertainment Weekly: EW.com

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>5113d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse39fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/star-trek-deep-space-nine-with-manny-patel--67681719

Watch Manny Patel’s mashups on YouTube: @MannyPatel

Support Make Me a Nerd

Find Mandy on Instagram

Find Mandy on Bluesky

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>d1843ed5-2719-4b6f-995f-fe2bff46835eMon, 03 Mar 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIn 1993, a television show did something radical. It eschewed the traditional frontier, the ever-expanding voyage, the endless pursuit of the unknown. Instead, it stood still. It stayed put. It built a world—not on a starship, but on a space station....

Watch Manny Patel’s mashups on YouTube: @MannyPatel

Support Make Me a Nerd

Find Mandy on Instagram

Find Mandy on Bluesky

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3338d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse38fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/outlander-with-amy-crofoot--67681750Sassenach Gin (from the distillery of Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie, a hunky main character). But what is it about this series that inspires such devotion? Is it the escapism? The complex characters? Or the way the show tackles weighty themes with a blend of historical accuracy, fantastical imagination, and nudity?Could Outlander be more than just a guilty pleasure? Could it be a cultural phenomenon that bridges the gap between mainstream entertainment and the passionate world of fandom? Tune in to find out!Links & Notes

• Support Make Me a Nerd
• Find Mandy on Instagram
• Find Mandy on Bluesky

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>37438072-ade5-4152-b7f4-344e6c90d791Mon, 24 Feb 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIs it possible that a historical drama with time-traveling elements could captivate a mainstream audience, birthing a fandom so fervent it borders on the delightfully obsessive? This week, Mandy wades into the world of Outlander to find out.As her...Sassenach Gin (from the distillery of Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie, a hunky main character). But what is it about this series that inspires such devotion? Is it the escapism? The complex characters? Or the way the show tackles weighty themes with a blend of historical accuracy, fantastical imagination, and nudity?Could Outlander be more than just a guilty pleasure? Could it be a cultural phenomenon that bridges the gap between mainstream entertainment and the passionate world of fandom? Tune in to find out!Links & Notes

• Support Make Me a Nerd
• Find Mandy on Instagram
• Find Mandy on Bluesky

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3375d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse37fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-exorcist-with-lester-ryan-clark-and-kynan-dias--67681740Links & Notes

• The Exorcist Minute: A podcast that examines the movie The Exorcist minute by minute with Lester Ryan Clark and Kynan Dias
• MakeMeANerd.com: Come support the show!
• Every Minute of Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: Same Lester and Kynan but with more Hot Dog Fingers!
• The Devil's Details: A spin-off show that Lester and Kynan do, which covers the history and evolution of the devil through art and literature.

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>017053d7-f23f-4d12-b600-af459c8c6162Mon, 17 Feb 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIs "The Exorcist" just a scary movie, or is it a cultural artifact, a theological debate wrapped in celluloid? Mandy Kaplan confesses her way into the abyss with Lester Ryan Clark and Kynan Dias, the minds behind "The Exorcist Minute," a podcast...Links & Notes

• The Exorcist Minute: A podcast that examines the movie The Exorcist minute by minute with Lester Ryan Clark and Kynan Dias
• MakeMeANerd.com: Come support the show!
• Every Minute of Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: Same Lester and Kynan but with more Hot Dog Fingers!
• The Devil's Details: A spin-off show that Lester and Kynan do, which covers the history and evolution of the devil through art and literature.

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3891d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse36fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/jungle-book-with-justine-huxley--67681759

Join the Make Me a Nerd community: MakeMeANerd.com

Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandi_kaplin_klavins

Follow Mandy on BlueSky: @MandyMiscast.bsky.social

Follow Justine on all platforms: @justinehuxley

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>256062f3-ed9c-480d-9456-df9d15e3f4deMon, 10 Feb 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat makes a nerd? Is it the obsessive cataloging of obscure details? The unyielding commitment to lore? The passionate embrace of minutiae deemed trivial by the larger world? This week, Mandy the Mainstreamer welcomes back Justine Huxley, a voiceover...

Join the Make Me a Nerd community: MakeMeANerd.com

Follow Mandy on Instagram: @mandi_kaplin_klavins

Follow Mandy on BlueSky: @MandyMiscast.bsky.social

Follow Justine on all platforms: @justinehuxley

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3764d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse35fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/blade-runner-with-paul-j-salamoff--67681712

Paul J. Salamoff’s website

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram

Make Me a Nerd Membership

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>a8e0959f-27f8-47b1-9534-665023d5deb6Mon, 03 Feb 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat does it mean to be human? And, perhaps more importantly, what does it mean to feel human?On today’s episode of Make Me a Nerd, host Mandy Kaplan embarks on a journey with writer, producer, and director Paul J. Salamoff—a man whose career spans...

Paul J. Salamoff’s website

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram

Make Me a Nerd Membership

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3307d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse34fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-penguin-with-matthew-fox--67681762Star Wars Generations and the Superhero Ethics Podcast on TruStory FM. Their subject? Not the bombastic exploits of a costumed crusader, but the surprisingly nuanced rise of The Penguin on Max.This is a visceral exploration of power, betrayal, and the intoxicating allure of respect. Think The Godfather, think The Sopranos, but with a dash of, dare we say, avian peculiarity. Matthew is a returning champion of nerd culture explication and unpacks the layered history of the Penguin, tracing his evolution from quirky gangster with an umbrella gun to the complex, almost sympathetic figure portrayed with chilling brilliance by Colin Farrell. The conversation meanders through the intricacies of Cobb's physicality, his burning ambition, and the surprising tenderness that lurks beneath his hardened exterior.The true revelation lies in the electric presence of Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone. A woman forged in the crucible of a criminal dynasty, Sofia's journey from reluctant heiress to ruthless power player is nothing short of mesmerizing. The interplay between Sofia and Oz, fueled by a shared history of both loyalty and betrayal, crackles with a tension that transcends the typical will-they-won't-they trope.Join Mandy and Matthew as they unpack the complexities of The Penguin, exploring the unexpected brilliance of a show that dares to ask: what happens when the villain takes center stage, and we find ourselves, against our better judgment, rooting for him?
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>925ee4d3-cb5a-404e-b42d-746d2c76d0c3Mon, 27 Jan 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWe’re slogging into the murky depths of Gotham, not with capes and cowls, but with gabardine and grit. This week on the show, Mandy navigates the shadowy alleys of nerddom, guided by the insightful Matthew Fox of...Star Wars Generations and the Superhero Ethics Podcast on TruStory FM. Their subject? Not the bombastic exploits of a costumed crusader, but the surprisingly nuanced rise of The Penguin on Max.This is a visceral exploration of power, betrayal, and the intoxicating allure of respect. Think The Godfather, think The Sopranos, but with a dash of, dare we say, avian peculiarity. Matthew is a returning champion of nerd culture explication and unpacks the layered history of the Penguin, tracing his evolution from quirky gangster with an umbrella gun to the complex, almost sympathetic figure portrayed with chilling brilliance by Colin Farrell. The conversation meanders through the intricacies of Cobb's physicality, his burning ambition, and the surprising tenderness that lurks beneath his hardened exterior.The true revelation lies in the electric presence of Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone. A woman forged in the crucible of a criminal dynasty, Sofia's journey from reluctant heiress to ruthless power player is nothing short of mesmerizing. The interplay between Sofia and Oz, fueled by a shared history of both loyalty and betrayal, crackles with a tension that transcends the typical will-they-won't-they trope.Join Mandy and Matthew as they unpack the complexities of The Penguin, exploring the unexpected brilliance of a show that dares to ask: what happens when the villain takes center stage, and we find ourselves, against our better judgment, rooting for him?
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>4257d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse33fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/squid-game-season-2-with-jimmy-aquino--67681717

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Jimmy Aquino’s Comic News Insider Podcast

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>d0f1c361-c283-4df2-9eb3-107dd7d5fc8fMon, 20 Jan 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat compels someone to willingly re-enter a labyrinth of death, deceit, and desperation? Is it revenge? Redemption? Or is it something darker—something unspeakable? In this week’s episode of Make Me A Nerd, Mandy welcomes back friend-of-the-show and...

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_klavins)

Jimmy Aquino’s Comic News Insider Podcast

Join Make Me A Nerd for Bonus Content

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3054d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse32fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/king-of-kong-with-megan-isser--67681757

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_clavens)

Make Me A Nerd – Official Website

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (IMDb)

Twin Galaxies – Official Website

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>ae306fb6-36ca-4d8c-979c-ec22fc3b228dMon, 13 Jan 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat happens when obsession becomes a refuge, when a high score becomes a legacy, and when a rivalry turns into a morality play? This week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy Kaplan goes deep into the pixelated world of Donkey Kong, a place where the stakes are...

Mandy Kaplan on Instagram (@mandy_kaplan_clavens)

Make Me A Nerd – Official Website

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (IMDb)

Twin Galaxies – Official Website

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3146d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse31fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-with-kyle-olson-pete-wright--67681733

Evan Ross Katz's book, Into Every Generation a Slayer is Born

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Hulu/Disney+)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (JustWatch)

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>5a7c657a-fcbe-4449-b5fe-d1e94672d2edMon, 06 Jan 2025 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week, Mandy slays into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show she'd previously avoided. Joined by Pete Wright and Kyle Olson, she confronts her assumptions about vampires and the supernatural in stake and song.Before the nostalgia kicks in, Kyle...

Evan Ross Katz's book, Into Every Generation a Slayer is Born

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Hulu/Disney+)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (JustWatch)

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3901d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse30fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-court-of-thorns-and-roses-with-dana-ogle--67681748

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass

Fourth Wing

BookTok

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>764d2b46-0438-4e4d-a014-795ff4cf264fMon, 23 Dec 2024 18:00:00 +0000TruStory FMDive deep into the swirling vortex of nerddom with Mandy and Dana as they dissect the wildly popular A Court of Thorns and Roses. Mandy grapples with the thorny intricacies of faerie lore, romanticy, and the age-old question: just how does one...

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass

Fourth Wing

BookTok

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3237d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse29fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-babadook-dook-dook-with-tommy-metz-iii--67681787

Find Tommy on All The Feelings

The Babadook on streaming platforms

Photos referenced during the episode

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2bd5f3bb-94bf-431c-b0f5-c63bb05dffd9Mon, 16 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat happens when fear isn’t just in the shadows, but in the walls of your own home? When the weight of loss becomes a creature you can see, hear, and—perhaps worst of all—cannot escape?This week, Mandy invites filmmaker, podcaster, and friend Tommy...

Find Tommy on All The Feelings

The Babadook on streaming platforms

Photos referenced during the episode

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3309d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse28fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-love-letter-to-star-trek-deconstructing-the-orville-with-matthew-fox--67681720

The Ethical Panda

Star Wars Generations

Superhero Ethics

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>d80e50a9-d13a-4a97-a502-4ca522cdc2c7Mon, 09 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy Kaplan embarks on a cosmic quest to decode the enigmatic realms of sci-fi aboard the USS Orville, captained by the comedic stylings of Seth MacFarlane, with Matthew Fox, host of Star Wars Generations and Superhero Ethics.This isn't a show that's...

The Ethical Panda

Star Wars Generations

Superhero Ethics

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3536d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse27fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-unexpected-heart-of-one-piece-with-zach-logan--67681765

One Piece Podcast

Zach on Bluesky

One Piece Podcast on Bluesky

One Piece Podcast Patreon

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>8b2fc2c5-5665-4597-83f7-8f3b944e597fMon, 02 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy embarks on a quixotic quest to decode the enigmatic world of One Piece. Yes, that One Piece – the sprawling, seemingly endless saga of pirates, devil fruits, and a rubber-limbed protagonist named Monkey D. Luffy. Now, before you dismiss this as...

One Piece Podcast

Zach on Bluesky

One Piece Podcast on Bluesky

One Piece Podcast Patreon

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3192d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse26fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/marvel-magic-the-case-of-agatha-harkness-with-matt-cole--67681742

Debate This!

Avenge This!

Bahnfyre PR

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>05ec06dc-e5a5-4b7b-808c-773f241643d1Mon, 25 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy goes deep into the bewitching woods of "Agatha All Along," a spin-off of the already perplexing "WandaVision." To help her grapple with the show's unique narrative structure, its blend of sitcom tropes and...

Debate This!

Avenge This!

Bahnfyre PR

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3400d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse25fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/breaking-into-the-mcu-through-the-tva-loki-with-justin-jaeger--67681741

Jayge’s Pages (Justin's YouTube book review channel)

Loki on Disney+

WandaVision on Disney+

The MCU Timeline Guide for Beginners

Tom Hiddleston's Thor Audition Tape

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>a32bccf2-32f1-4aa1-afea-8a0f41b1d9bdMon, 18 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIn this delightfully nerdy episode, Mandy joins the ranks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the (sort of) first time with podcaster and comic book aficionado Justin Jaeger. Like a modern-day anthropologist venturing into uncharted territory, Mandy...

Jayge’s Pages (Justin's YouTube book review channel)

Loki on Disney+

WandaVision on Disney+

The MCU Timeline Guide for Beginners

Tom Hiddleston's Thor Audition Tape

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2966d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse24fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/wynona-earp-with-melody-mccune--67681764

Geek Girl Authority

Wynonna Earp (Syfy)

Wynonna Earp (Netflix)

Wynonna Earp Vengeance (Tubi)

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>afc0e8df-5d12-4179-9d82-0d48366900d2Mon, 11 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week, Mandy sits down with the Earp-erific Melody McCune from Geek Girl Authority, who's here to school Mandy (and all of us!) on the wild world of Wynonna Earp.Mandy bravely ventured into Season 3, Episode 7 before realizing she needed some...

Geek Girl Authority

Wynonna Earp (Syfy)

Wynonna Earp (Netflix)

Wynonna Earp Vengeance (Tubi)

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3468d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse23fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/mommie-dearest-with-abdi-nazemian--67681729

Abdi Nazemian's website

Six Degrees of Joan Crawford from You Must Remember This

Susan Sontag's Notes on Camp

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>94fc85b0-1ea9-4ff0-94f4-4e5c56366df5Mon, 04 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000TruStory FMJoin Mandy and her favorite roommate of all time, Abdi Nazemian, for a deep dive into the gloriously campy world of Mommie Dearest! Mandy gets schooled by Abdi, an award-winning author and certified Mommie Dearest expert, on why this so-bad-it's-good...

Abdi Nazemian's website

Six Degrees of Joan Crawford from You Must Remember This

Susan Sontag's Notes on Camp

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3768d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse22fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/blown-away-with-justine-huxley--67681744

Justine Huxley

Apex Legends

DreamHack

"Blown Away" on Netflix

Edgar Valentine's on Instagram

Chihuly Garden and Glass

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>bab1cb55-2150-448e-93c2-e2e535d72e40Mon, 28 Oct 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy's chatting with the multi-talented Justine Huxley – voiceover artist, musical theater star, and, as it turns out, a total nerd in her own right.Justine's nerdiness spans the spectrum. She reminisces about belting out...

Justine Huxley

Apex Legends

DreamHack

"Blown Away" on Netflix

Edgar Valentine's on Instagram

Chihuly Garden and Glass

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3275d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse21fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/quantum-leap-for-grown-ups-with-darren-grodsky--67681738MakeMeANerd.com/join and become a member of the "Make Me a Nerd" community. You'll gain access to ad-free episodes, early releases, and exclusive bonus content that will take your nerd game to the next level! And this week in the member after-party, Darren takes us on a wild journey through his best friend's tumultuous childhood, revealing the perfect blend of humor and heartbreak that makes his podcast so addictive.Links & Notes

• Discover How to Destroy Everything
• Unlock a treasure trove of nerdy goodness by becoming a member of this very podcast and learn more about the history and making of How to Destroy Everything at MakeMeANerd.com/join

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>92961e4d-7053-47a5-88e0-c6ef4ce37781Mon, 21 Oct 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week, Mandy sits down with Darren Grodsky, a writer, director, and the mastermind behind the smash-hit podcast "How to Destroy Everything."Mandy and Darren take a timey-wimey trip through "Quantum Leap," the iconic '80s and '90s sci-fi series...MakeMeANerd.com/join and become a member of the "Make Me a Nerd" community. You'll gain access to ad-free episodes, early releases, and exclusive bonus content that will take your nerd game to the next level! And this week in the member after-party, Darren takes us on a wild journey through his best friend's tumultuous childhood, revealing the perfect blend of humor and heartbreak that makes his podcast so addictive.Links & Notes

• Discover How to Destroy Everything
• Unlock a treasure trove of nerdy goodness by becoming a member of this very podcast and learn more about the history and making of How to Destroy Everything at MakeMeANerd.com/join

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3675d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse20fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/dragonlance-deconstructed-with-simon-petrie--67681735---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>6096185c-c757-4ea4-aa4c-29702d0f6b55Mon, 14 Oct 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMHark, adventurers and nerds both fledgling and seasoned! Gather 'round the flickering hearth of Make Me a Nerd, where tales of fantastical realms and digital dungeons unfold. In this episode, our intrepid host, Mandy Kaplan, embarks on a quest into...---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3068d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse19fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/decoding-007-matt-degroot-on-goldfinger-s-hidden-agenda--67681736VoteSaveAmerica.com to make your voice heard. Because in this world, silence is complicity.So, are you ready to enter the world of shadows and secrets? Tune in to Make Me A Nerd for a thrilling deconstruction of Goldfinger and its enduring legacy. Discover the hidden power dynamics at play and uncover the truth behind the world's most iconic spy. But be careful who you trust, because in this game, betrayal is always a possibility. And remember, the power to change the world is in your hands.
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>e7e82ff3-fec5-47a4-a3b2-2464a7a06be1Mon, 07 Oct 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMEver feel like you're trapped in a world of gilded villains and shadowy agendas, where the fate of nations hangs in the balance? Then step into the thrilling world of James Bond with Matt DeGroot, Vice President of Production at Crooked Media, as he...VoteSaveAmerica.com to make your voice heard. Because in this world, silence is complicity.So, are you ready to enter the world of shadows and secrets? Tune in to Make Me A Nerd for a thrilling deconstruction of Goldfinger and its enduring legacy. Discover the hidden power dynamics at play and uncover the truth behind the world's most iconic spy. But be careful who you trust, because in this game, betrayal is always a possibility. And remember, the power to change the world is in your hands.
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3414d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse18fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/death-blossoms-in-bloom-the-last-starfighter-with-andy-nelson--67681737podcast producer and "slutty nerd" Andy Nelson. Together, they blast off for a journey back to 1984 to revisit the cult classic film, "The Last Starfighter." This sci-fi adventure, often hailed as the best of the "Star Wars ripoffs," tells the story of Alex Rogan, a trailer park teen who achieves the highest score on an arcade game, only to discover it's a recruitment tool for an intergalactic war.Andy shares his nostalgic love for the film, praising its surprisingly grounded characters and relatable themes of ambition and escapism. Mandy, new to the world of "Starfighter," compares its vibe to a mashup of "WarGames" and "Footloose," highlighting the film's unique blend of futuristic action and small-town charm.Sure, it's a film with some quirky humor, from Robert Preston's charismatic performance as the alien recruiter Centauri to the grumpy, snake-faced alien. But it's also a film with some surprisingly sophisticated special effects. That's right, note the use of repurposed "Blade Runner" props and groundbreaking CGI that captivated audiences at the time.This is a film with enduring appeal and has a prized place in the pantheon of 80s sci-fi films. So embrace your inner nerd and relive the magic of this classic film, and make sure Andy knows his nerd promiscuity is welcome here!
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>44a5c9ab-f3d1-4780-bfa2-8a3886009971Mon, 30 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy sits down with https://trustory.fm/host/andy-nelson/. Together, they blast off for a journey back to 1984 to revisit the cult classic film, "The Last Starfighter." This sci-fi adventure, often hailed as the best of...podcast producer and "slutty nerd" Andy Nelson. Together, they blast off for a journey back to 1984 to revisit the cult classic film, "The Last Starfighter." This sci-fi adventure, often hailed as the best of the "Star Wars ripoffs," tells the story of Alex Rogan, a trailer park teen who achieves the highest score on an arcade game, only to discover it's a recruitment tool for an intergalactic war.Andy shares his nostalgic love for the film, praising its surprisingly grounded characters and relatable themes of ambition and escapism. Mandy, new to the world of "Starfighter," compares its vibe to a mashup of "WarGames" and "Footloose," highlighting the film's unique blend of futuristic action and small-town charm.Sure, it's a film with some quirky humor, from Robert Preston's charismatic performance as the alien recruiter Centauri to the grumpy, snake-faced alien. But it's also a film with some surprisingly sophisticated special effects. That's right, note the use of repurposed "Blade Runner" props and groundbreaking CGI that captivated audiences at the time.This is a film with enduring appeal and has a prized place in the pantheon of 80s sci-fi films. So embrace your inner nerd and relive the magic of this classic film, and make sure Andy knows his nerd promiscuity is welcome here!
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3064d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse17fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/who-watches-the-watchmandy--67681728check out Adam’s work on Huge Detective right here!
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>c4465e62-61c7-4952-8faf-949663d7b7daMon, 23 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy explores the world of the inkstained wretch in the complex world of graphic novels with comic book author Adam Rose. Having dipped her toes in the shallow end with lighter reads, Mandy bravely tackles the seminal...check out Adam’s work on Huge Detective right here!
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2786d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse16fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/game-over-man-dy-it-s-aliens-with-darnell-smith--67681730---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>7030e162-e0a7-40e5-b142-6e7d702fe423Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week, Mandy embarks on a mission to appreciate the appeal of Aliens, and a genre she admits to having little experience with. Her guide through this new territory is Darnell Smith, a longtime friend and self-proclaimed sci-fi expert. For their...---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3638d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse15fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/visiting-doctor-who-rolling-with-krissy-lenz-finding-danny-bonaduce--67681715---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>50b8146b-becd-48d6-93de-fb16ab881364Mon, 09 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, host Mandy Kaplan dives headfirst into the swirling vortex of Doctor Who with the help of returning guest and self-proclaimed "nerd-maker" Krissy Lenz. Mandy, still riding high from solving a real-life murder mystery,...---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2981d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse14fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/second-breakfast-for-mandy-a-lord-of-the-rings-rundown-with-richard-hellstern--67681727---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>c8fc6a62-d1ac-4e10-9146-3e776834af59Mon, 02 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan dives headlong into the fascinating world of The Lord of the Rings with her guest, friend, and Tolkien superfan, Richard Hellstern. Despite her notably limited travel across Middle Earth, Mandy bravely boards...---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2994d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse13fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/superman-smashes-entire-ideologies-with-jimmy-aquino--67681752

Comic News Insider Podcast

Superman Smashes the Klan • Amazon

American Born Chinese • Amazon

Listen to The Adventures of Superman Radio Show

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>826e6a8f-d3ab-4813-99f7-4b6db450fc60Mon, 26 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMOn this episode of Make Me A Nerd, Mandy welcomes her longtime friend (and comic book expert!) Jimmy Aquino to the show. Jimmy dives deep into his lifelong love of all things nerd, from childhood cartoons to his impressive Batman tattoo.Then, Jimmy...

Comic News Insider Podcast

Superman Smashes the Klan • Amazon

American Born Chinese • Amazon

Listen to The Adventures of Superman Radio Show

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3239d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse12fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/following-buckaroo-banzai-across-the-8th-dimension-with-pete-wright--67681766---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>c600d8ce-5abd-45a6-a4a0-e566dcfd3cf2Mon, 19 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy sits down with her producer, confidant, consigliere, part-time chef, and friend Pete Wright to dive into the wacky world of the 1984 cult classic, "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension." Discover the enduring charm and...---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3390d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse11fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/through-the-farscape-wormhole-with-audrey-kearns--67681721Check out Geek Girl Authority
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>ec185596-6343-4a55-9769-eceddb299790Mon, 12 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMandy embarks on a journey into the weird and wonderful world of Farscape with none other than the "geek girl authority" herself, Audrey Kearns. The two reminisce about their comedy days at Acme before diving headfirst into the uncharted territories...Check out Geek Girl Authority
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3452d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse10fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/resistance-is-futile-a-star-trek-intervention-with-brian-bradley--67681758Brian Bradley on IMDB
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>45958ab9-d98f-4390-ad79-b1be4f58ad3bMon, 05 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week, Mandy welcomes an old friend and collaborator, the multi-talented Brian Bradley, to the show. The pair reminisce about their shared history at the sadly now-defunct Acme Comedy Theater. But what secrets lie hidden in the NDA-protected...Brian Bradley on IMDB
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3626d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse9fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/zehra-fazal-helps-find-the-golden-ball-in-king-s-quest-iv-the-perils-of-rosella--67681761$5/month or $55/year today!Follow Zehra on Instagram and here she is on IMDB!
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>9e181687-6d54-4915-8ceb-4e5850bfd05cMon, 29 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week in nerddom, Mandy Kaplan embarks on a pixelated journey to the 1980s with special guest Zehra Fazal, a renowned voice actor known for her roles in countless animated series and video games. Zehra, a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for...$5/month or $55/year today!Follow Zehra on Instagram and here she is on IMDB!
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3214d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse8fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/make-me-a-nerd-takes-a-hearty-breath-of-the-wild-with-jonny-lee-jr--67681734Mandy, a self-proclaimed extrovert and musical theater aficionado, finds herself out of her element as she navigates the vast, often lonely landscape of Hyrule. Armed with a controller and a shirtless avatar named Link (for eye candy purposes, of course), Mandy embarks on a journey filled with puzzling button combinations and the occasional accidental jump instead of a slash.
You might wonder, dear listener, if Mandy will continue her Zelda adventure or retreat to the comfort of her beloved musical theater. One thing is certain: watching a gaming novice navigate the world of Hyrule is an entertaining journey in itself, filled with laughter, frustration, and the occasional longing for the simplicity of an Intellivision controller.
Follow Jonny on InstagramGo play Zelda

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>b68d3746-9d72-4bbb-8356-27a23491d7faMon, 22 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIn the latest installment of the podcast "Make Me a Nerd," host Mandy Kaplan ventures into the world of gaming with the help of guest and dear friend, Jonny Lee Jr. This week's mission? Tackling the fan-favorite Nintendo Switch game, Legend of Zelda:...Mandy, a self-proclaimed extrovert and musical theater aficionado, finds herself out of her element as she navigates the vast, often lonely landscape of Hyrule. Armed with a controller and a shirtless avatar named Link (for eye candy purposes, of course), Mandy embarks on a journey filled with puzzling button combinations and the occasional accidental jump instead of a slash.
You might wonder, dear listener, if Mandy will continue her Zelda adventure or retreat to the comfort of her beloved musical theater. One thing is certain: watching a gaming novice navigate the world of Hyrule is an entertaining journey in itself, filled with laughter, frustration, and the occasional longing for the simplicity of an Intellivision controller.
Follow Jonny on InstagramGo play Zelda

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2442d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse7fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/married-north-of-the-wall-game-of-thrones-with-jeremy-klavens--67681763Jeremy himself is a reluctant GoT nerd. But it’s hard not to be drawn in by the show's attention to detail and immersive world-building. 
The episode takes an unexpected turn when Jeremy reveals his distaste for the show's more fantastical elements. OK, specifically he doesn’t dig on dragons. No, Jeremy is more of a Thrones policy wonk, preferring political intrigue and power struggles to witches and giant fire lizards. 
As the conversation winds down, Mandy confesses to using a character guide to keep track of the "unshowered people with beards," while Jeremy shares a FUN FACT about a real dead deer used in filming - a detail that simultaneously impresses and disgusts his animal-loving wife, but introduces a new opportunity for a sound effect, and a producer’s hope for a long-running segment to come.
Even in a world of dragons and white walkers, the real magic lies in the ability of a married couple to find common ground in the fantasy between them. 
Not that kind of fantasy, pervs... the other kind.
Whatever. 
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>b5faeb91-8dd6-416a-b41e-0c52d737831dMon, 15 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIn this episode of "Make Me A Nerd," host Mandy Kaplan welcomes a special guest - her husband, Jeremy Klavens. The couple, married for nearly 18 years, takes listeners on a journey into the world of "Game of Thrones,” in which Jeremy delicately...Jeremy himself is a reluctant GoT nerd. But it’s hard not to be drawn in by the show's attention to detail and immersive world-building. 
The episode takes an unexpected turn when Jeremy reveals his distaste for the show's more fantastical elements. OK, specifically he doesn’t dig on dragons. No, Jeremy is more of a Thrones policy wonk, preferring political intrigue and power struggles to witches and giant fire lizards. 
As the conversation winds down, Mandy confesses to using a character guide to keep track of the "unshowered people with beards," while Jeremy shares a FUN FACT about a real dead deer used in filming - a detail that simultaneously impresses and disgusts his animal-loving wife, but introduces a new opportunity for a sound effect, and a producer’s hope for a long-running segment to come.
Even in a world of dragons and white walkers, the real magic lies in the ability of a married couple to find common ground in the fantasy between them. 
Not that kind of fantasy, pervs... the other kind.
Whatever. 
---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3124d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse6fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-supernatural-crash-course-with-krissy-lenz--67681749

Gank That Drank: A Supernatural Drinking Game Podcast

the Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>427e8f9c-cfed-4496-a52f-10d8bee27076Mon, 08 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week, Mandy settles into the passenger seat of the old Impala with comedian and podcaster Krissy Lenz for a road trip down the highway of "Supernatural," the long-running TV series about two brothers hunting monsters across America and facing...

Gank That Drank: A Supernatural Drinking Game Podcast

the Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3019d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse5fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/ocean-s-one-a-star-wars-heist-explained--67681751Listen to Ocean’s new show, “The Adrian Moment,” right here on TruStory FM!

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>1682eb6f-a2eb-4e54-941f-8c9e35bf46aeMon, 01 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMEver wonder what happens when you mix a sci-fi novice with a medium-level nerd and throw in some Star Wars? Well, buckle up, because that's exactly what this episode of "Make Me A Nerd" delivers.Mandy Kaplan, whose imagination may have gone the way of...Listen to Ocean’s new show, “The Adrian Moment,” right here on TruStory FM!

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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2826d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse4fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-enduring-legacy-of-star-wars-with-kyle-olson--67681724---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>c5324313-d87b-400c-b58b-56d458df2fffMon, 24 Jun 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMIn this week's episode of "Make Me A Nerd," host Mandy Kaplan welcomes her friend and fellow podcaster Kyle Olson to discuss his deep love for all things Star Wars. Kyle, a self-proclaimed geek who considers his fandom a core part of his identity,...---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3505d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse3fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/whip-it-good-mandy-takes-on-castlevania-with-jp-karliak--67681756Nerds Vote to encourage gamers, cosplayers, and pop culture fans to get out and vote, and Queer Vox  to provide training and professional support for LGBTQIA+ voice actors in the entertainment industry while advocating for equitable opportunities and authentic representation in voice performance work. JP brought Castlevania as an entry point for Mandy because of its manageable 4-episode first season and gothic horror themes, which he thought might appeal to Mandy's sensibilities. The series, based on a long-running video game franchise, follows monster hunter Trevor Belmont as he battles Dracula and his demon army.Will JP’s thorough exploration be enough to make Mandy a convert? Listen in and find out … maybe it’ll be just as enticing for you!Learn more about JP on his website at JPKarliak.com.
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>be2e45a5-6ad1-4db6-a069-d6c24a40eb78Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMThis week, Mandy is joined by voice actor, writer and activist JP Karliak to discuss the animated Netflix series Castlevania.JP, a self-described "voiceover artist, queer activist, snappy dresser", has voiced characters like Morph in X-Men 97, Boss...Nerds Vote to encourage gamers, cosplayers, and pop culture fans to get out and vote, and Queer Vox  to provide training and professional support for LGBTQIA+ voice actors in the entertainment industry while advocating for equitable opportunities and authentic representation in voice performance work. JP brought Castlevania as an entry point for Mandy because of its manageable 4-episode first season and gothic horror themes, which he thought might appeal to Mandy's sensibilities. The series, based on a long-running video game franchise, follows monster hunter Trevor Belmont as he battles Dracula and his demon army.Will JP’s thorough exploration be enough to make Mandy a convert? Listen in and find out … maybe it’ll be just as enticing for you!Learn more about JP on his website at JPKarliak.com.
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>2643d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse2fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/legion-a-superhero-show-for-non-believer-with-tommy-metz-iii--67681753Watch Legion on FX/Hulu
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>493f63b8-4569-424e-a7a6-86001a7898c6Mon, 10 Jun 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMWhat does it mean to be a nerd today? That's the question explored in the premiere episode of Mandy Kaplan's new show, "Make Me A Nerd.” To help out, she’s joined by filmmaker and frequent collaborator Tommy Metz III who brings something he nerds all...Watch Legion on FX/Hulu
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Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.]]>3272d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalse1fullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-trailer-about-all-the-things-i-don-t-understand-yet--67681705e8a4d4fe-9700-4bbe-838b-6ac6e0716ab1Mon, 03 Jun 2024 10:00:00 +0000TruStory FMMake Me a Nerd is a podcast for full-blown nerds and those who are nerd-curious. Its host, Mandy Kaplan, is a mainstream middle-aged mom who loves all things Football, Taylor Swift, and Housewives. Each week, she will be introduced to some form of...112d&d,gaming,marvel,nerddom,star trek,star wars,technologyfalsetrailer