Episode 544 - Sam Pasternack

Comedian/writer/NPR host Ophira Eisenberg (@ophirae) joins Andy, Jesse and Matt to talk about her podcast Parenting Is a Joke, her upcoming special produced by Lewis Black, the effect of venting on anger, a rage room show Andy worked on, why you should leave uncontacted tribes alone, the wombat-thief influencer and why you should speak up to seagulls.

Comedian Jess Zenisek (@jeffzenisek) joins Andy, Jesse and Matt to talk about tennis, homophobic sports stereotypes, Jesse's new ski persona, Mr. Wizard, Jeff's hair care regimen, a tiny tyrannosaur, a better rock-paper-scissors strategy, gray hair's relationship to cancer, the worst music to play during sex and the banger Parked By The Lake.

Comedian/playwright Drew Droege (@drew_droege) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about his new off-Broadway play Messy White Gays, X-ray NBA poker fraud and why birds sing after a solar eclipse.

Wonderful NY comic Mehran Khagani (@themehran) joins Jesse and Matt to talk about escaping from Iran, working at the Harvard School of Public Health, hyrax  butt drag fossil marks, Canadian  heart transplants and the  most pristine star in the universe! In the patreon bonus we get into penguin micronaps. Click here to support Probably Science via Patreon  

Comedian/actor Jen Kober (@jenkober) joins Andy, Jesse and Matt to talk about comedy in Louisiana, Oktoberfest, buxom wenches, the connection between fish buttholes and fingers, a koala chlamydia vaccine, Jesse's newfound raccoon fame, light-powered gears that fit inside a strand of hair and Jen's membership in the Star Wars canon.

NASA astrophysicist and JPL Exoplanet Science Ambassador Anjali Tripathi joins Andy, Jesse and Matt to talk about exoplanets and the different ways of finding them including radial velocity, transits and gravitational microlensing, the challenges of studying planetary atmospheres, why telescopes are built in deserts or in space, Anjali's time at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, science communication projects like the Logic 44ever rap video, the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, dark matter, lasers in astronomy, Halloween at the White House, the odd "smells" of other planets and how to take a virtual tour of JPL.

Comedian Michelle Murphy (@meeshoffleash) joins Andy, Matt and Jesse to talk about playing tennis for Grinnell, the Enhanced Games, celebrities trying their hands at winter sports, Jesse's accidental mermaid book purchase and the Dr. Seuss book he was aiming for, Burning Man missionaries, LSD to fight anxiety and surprisingly not too uncommon iridescent mammals.

Comedian Ken Reid (@kennethwreid) joins Jesse, Matt and Andy to talk about growing up a child of television, mud wrestling, Ken's podcast TV Guidance Counselor, an HIV prevention breakthrough, the insanity of Movie 43, the human washing machine no one asked for, blasting plastic waste with a plasma torch, Doja Cat's nod to Max Headroom, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, the reason plastic recycling mostly ended, Andy's Oktoberfest shows in Lake Arrowhead and John Williams polka music.

Comedian Ryan O'Flanagan (@ryanoflan) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about Ryan and Andy's chance encounter in a bar in Leadville, Married With Children tattoos, neanderthals and homo sapiens interbreeding, a novel telescope shape to help search for exoplanets, an insane impression of a neanderthal voice and Ryan's podcast Laser Show.

Comedian Myq Kaplan (@myqkaplan) returns to the show to talk to Andy, Jesse and Matt about growing out his eyebrows during the pandemic, babies distinguishing Ps from Bs, linguistics, sign language variations, standups aping Shane Gillis, the Mr. Beast voice, birds' preference for crapping in the air, strong link versus weak link problems, Ryan North, whether you should pay for bad art, what sequels always get wrong and Myq's great Substack.