What Is...? A Jeopardy! Podcast

The Champions Wild Card finals are here, and they are a doozy, as we get the Jeopardy!-Honored "Game of the Year" and some stellar (no pun intended) play from a fantastic group of contestants. We also get a very self-deprecating response from Harvey Silikovitz, a Julia Child impression, and we preview the upcoming Tournament of Champions. And in a week of boring FJs, John manages to find an interesting angle to dive deep on William Faulkner. If you want some more interesting angles on Jeopardy!, why not support the show? Head on over to patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, where $5/month gets you access to a NEW bonus episode every month! Plus, you'll get access to our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, our Discord, and MORE. Join now! SOURCE: Los Angeles Times: "'The Sound and the Fury', as William Faulkner Imagined, In Color" by Carolyn Kellogg; University of Saskatchewan: "The Composition of 'The Sound and the Fury'" by Gail M. Morrison Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

The Champions Wild Card tournament begins and brings with it a fantastic week of games with tight races for first place in each game, strategic wagering for semifinal berths, and lots of very impressive gameplay. We also get Bill McKinley giving one of the funniest half-hearted attempts to explain away a poor Final Jeopardy! decision in the show's history. We also discuss Ken's Bluesky rants, Stella Trout's resemblance to Snail Mail, and we dive deep on guinea pigs. If you want to be a guinea pig for what it looks like to support the show, head on over to patreon.com/jeopardypodcast! Just $5/month gets you a new bonus episode every month, access to our full back catalogue, our Discord, and so much more! Plus, our latest bonus episode reunites Lisa Hanawalt and our own Emily Heller for the first new episode of Baby Geniuses in over two years! You won't wanna miss out, join now! SOURCE: National Library of Medicine: "Animal Models of Tuberculosis: Guinea Pigs" by Simon Clark, et al.; CBS News: "Peru Pushes Guinea Pigs as Food" by Rick Vecchio Special thank you as always to the Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

How do you do, fellow kids? We try to appeal to the youth this week and so does Jeopardy!, as their older fans predictably fume about them twisting a very regular wordplay category to make a meme joke. But we love it, and we love this final week of Second Chance as some dynamite players return to the Alex Trebek Stage and we get some truly wonderful gameplay. We also discuss small town Canada hotels, Emily's Christmas gift, and we dive deep (plunge deep?) on the history of epidurals. If you want more of this show, there's never been a better time because Baby Geniuses is BACK, baby! That's right, Emily and Lisa Hanawalt reunite for their first Baby Gs episode in almost two years, and it's ONLY on our Patreon! You can also have a bunch of bonus episodes about Jeopardy! as a treat. Plus, access to our Discord and other fun stuff. Join today at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast. SOURCE: National Library of Medicine: "Overcoming Obstacles: The Legacy of Fidel Pagés, Founder of the Epidural, 100 Years After His Passing" by Gregory Chinn, et al. Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

Emily is finally feeling well enough to record a pod and so we do a truncated recap of last week's games, which we are calling "Guy Branum's Second Chance, Presented by Guy Branum, featuring Guy Branum". In other news, Guy Branum joins us to discuss his run to the Second Chance Finals, from feeling like his Jeopardy! journey is satisfactorily complete to what the green room vibes were like. We also watch Michelle Tsai play so well people "react" to a FJ response of hers (they don't even fume!), John gets grilled about watching "Heated Rivalry", and we dive deep on the strange and dark origins of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". If you want to have yourself a belated merry little Christmas, why not donate to the show? It's just $5/month at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast to support the show AND get a bunch of bonus episodes. You'll get a new one every month plus access to our whole back catalogue and we have a VERY special bonus episode coming early next week you won't wanna miss. Join today! SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly: "How 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' Became One of the Season's Most Beloved Songs" by Chris Willman Special thank you as always to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

Emily's constant recommendation of the miniseries "Death by Lightning" pays off as it leads to a get on an FJ, and that's really the headline of this first week of the Second Chance Tournament, where wagering errors and some extremely hard FJs play more of a role in who wins than the actual gameplay. But that's why we play the games, baby! It's high drama and the clue writers get us laughing, J! fans fume over a Ken IG post, and we dive deep on "The Nightmare Before Christmas". If you want to give yourself a wonderful DREAM before Christmas, why not donate to our Patreon? It's only $5 a month and you'll get access to a new bonus episode every month, featuring Jeopardy! guests, live play episodes, and MORE, access to our Discord, and lots of other fun stuff. Join today at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast. SOURCE: Forbes: "'Nightmare Before Christmas' Turns 20: From Shameful Spawn to Disney's Pride" by Scott Mendelson; Business Insider: "Inside the Tumultuous Making of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'" by Jacob Sarkisian Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

A category about holiday movies gets us in our Christmas bag as we discuss Christmas Vacation, Jingle All the Way, and Emily's early crush on Bernard the Elf. Will Riley jingles all the way to bank this week with cash stuffing his pockets after a very impressive run and a very, very confusing finish to it. We also have Jeopardy! fans (and the hosts) fuming over a bizarre category that made no sense and we dive deep on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. If you want to guide your sleigh to a worthy destination, head on over to our Patreon to support the show! For just $5/month at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, you'll get access to ALL of our bonus episodes, our Discord, and you'll get a new episode every single month. This month, we sat down with recent 14-game champ Harrison Whitaker for a fantastic interview that is our most popular bonus episode ever. You won't wanna miss it! SOURCE: Smithsonian Magazine: "The Magical Animation of 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'" by Michelle Delgado; Geekwire: "The Geeky Tech Behind Rudolph" by Frank Catalano Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

It's a big week for superchamps present and former as Harrison Whitaker's time on J! comes to an end but superchamp Ray LaLonde's (evil?) twin, Ron, makes his debut and sets out to carve a Jeopardy! path of his own. Plus, we get another great 2-day champ in Libby Jones, we get perhaps the horniest clue we have ever read in our time as a podcast, and Ken can't stop thinking about wood. Plus, we dive deep on the humble tomato's history as a fruit and/or vegetable. Speaking of Harrison Whitaker, we loved him so much on the show we brought him on for a full-length bonus episode interview! Don't miss the exclusive by donating to our Patreon at ⁠patreon.com/jeopardypodcast⁠ for what was a wonderfully honest and funny chat about Harrison's life and his time on the Alex Trebek Stage. You'll also get access to our entire back catalogue of bonuses, an invite to our Discord, and MORE! Don't delay! SOURCE: Washington Post: "⁠The Obscure Supreme Court Case That Decided Tomatoes Are Vegetables⁠" by Caitlin Dewey Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

The imperial run of Harrison Whitaker marches on, and though he faces a couple tough challenges throughout the week, he heads into the weekend a 14-day champion. Ken also gets to feel like a champion on this episode as we get a few wonderful Ken's Korner moments, Jeopardy! fans fume about his Simpsons residuals, and we dive deep on Jim Thorpe. Plus, Harrison unknowingly gives us a couple gems of anecdotes and a response that tickles us. If you want to be tickled, why not donate to our Patreon? We won't actually tickle you, but our content might! Head on over to patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, where $5/month gets you a bonus episode every month, access to our entire back catalogue, access to our Discord, and MORE! Join today! SOURCE: Smithsonian Magazine: "Why Are Jim Thorpe's Olympic Records Still Not Recognized?" by Sally Jenkins Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

Harrison Whitaker is a joy to watch play Jeopardy!, but he also makes our job very hard this week, as his constant parade of correct answers makes it hard to make fun of anything. But comedy finds a way, as we have Jeopardy! fans fuming over something that makes no sense at all, we learn Harrison and John have a shared experience with the elderly, and we dive deep on Nikola Tesla. If you want some more ELECTRIC content, head on over to our Patreon to support the show! For just $5/month at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, you'll get a new bonus episode every month, access to our Discord, and much more! Don't hesitate! SOURCE: Tesla Universe: "A Story of Youth Told By Age" by Nikola Tesla Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

Now that we have your attention, it's another episode of our Jeopardy! podcast! Googling ourselves leads to some mixed results but there were no mixed results for new champ Harrison Whitaker this week, as he steamrolls the competition on his way to a fantastic week and perhaps superchampdom. Plus, we wonder about his British accent, we dive deep on Queensland, and a contestant gets absolutely brutalized by Ken in the anecdotes. If you wanna get brutalized by more of our content, you can head on over to patreon.com/jeopardypodcast and donate to the show! You'll get a new bonus episode every month, access to our entire back catalogue immediately, and access to our very cool Discord, where we're always talking Jep! (and other stuff). Join today! SOURCE: The Moreton Bay Courier: "The Arrival and Reception of His Excellency Sir George F. Bowen"; Brisbane Times: "Proclamation Day, When Queensland Became a New Colony" by David Gibson; Queensland State Archives: "The Birth of Modern Queensland" Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

That's the type of hard-hitting question we answer on the show this week, as John returns from his one-week layoff to tell tales about visiting Reno, Nevada and Emily buys a hat that prompts said conversation. Emily also narrowly avoids jury duty, we meet a potentially very strong champion in Allegra Kuney, and a Jeopardy! clue has us pondering everything we ever knew about The Flintstones. Plus, we dive deep on Pong. If you want even more of your bold J! questions answered, head on over to patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, where $5/month helps support the show AND gets you a new bonus episode every month, including the most recent, where John trains on a movie board with our friend, comedian Josh Gondelman. Plus, you'll get immediate access to our entire back catalogue AND access to our Discord. Fun! SOURCE: The Week: "Pong at 50: The Video Game That 'Changed the World'" by Julia O'Driscoll; IGN: "Al Alcorn Interview" by Cam Shea Special thank you as always to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

It’s fun careers week on Jeopardy! John is off licking his World Series wounds, so Emily is joined by Jeopardy! Master & 9-game champion Isaac Hirsch. We discuss Aaron Levine’s run, the history of Martha’s Vineyard, and Isaac’s short-lived career as a fake elevator operator. Jeopardy! fans fume about the one question they’re sick of answering, so we ask some others, like: how many head injuries should you claim on the Alex Trebek stage? Did Bakersfield ever have an apostrophe? And, oh my god, is Diana Nyad a fraud?? If you want to help support the show, consider donating at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, where $5/month gets you access to a new bonus episode every month PLUS access to our entire back catalogue, our Discord, and MORE! Last week, John went back into the dojo to train on a movie board written by our friend Joel Bergen and our other friend, comedian Josh Gondelman, also comes along for the ride. You don't wanna miss it! This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

Apologies for the delay but John was up late watching the Blue Jays game because he is an idiot!!! No idiots on J! this week though, as we watch two very good champions dominate the proceedings over the course of a great 5 days of J! including an EPIC game. Plus, Emily gets fooled by a JFAF headline, we get a Response of the Year candidate from Tom, and we dive deep on the Algonquin Round Table. Want to be part of a brilliant and progressive club yourself? Join our Patreon! For just $5/month at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, you get all of our bonus episodes (including a new one every month), access to our Discord, and more fun stuff! This week, John is back for some training as our friend Joel gives John a movie board to help him out and our friend Josh Gondelman comes along for the ride. You won't wanna miss it! SOURCE: New York Times: "The Algonquin at 75" by Arnold W. Erhlich; "Wit at the Round Table: Was It, Er, Um, Square?" by William Grimes Special thank you as always to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Art by Max Wittert. Music by Nate Heller.

We are back and we are delirious as John is coming off of a work trip and the fact his Toronto Blue Jays just minutes prior to recording clinched a spot in the World Series. But hey, we have a fun week of one-day champs concluding with Dargan Ware, a guy that you simply have to see. Elsewhere, we get a very charming Jeopardy! anecdote, John very much agrees with what the fans are fuming about this week, and we dive deep on Agatha Christie. Donate to the show! We had Paolo Pasco on a bonus episode last week and he was delightful and charming and made some puzzles for us. Plus, you get immediate access to our entire back catalogue and access to our Discord! Join now: patreon.com/jeopardypodcast SOURCE: The Home of Agatha Christie: "About Agatha Christie"; Irish Times: "Agatha Christie: A Realist Writer Who Created True Literary Magic" by Jan Carson Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

TJ Fisher makes it to the Tournament of Champions and we learn about the duality of Jeopardy! headlines as the US Mirror goes wild over his victory (and defeat). We go wild for this great week of games too as Ken gets a Trebek-like slam on a contestant's anecdote, we go heavy on Wager Talk™, we get a "Name of the Year" candidate, and we dive deep on VeggieTales. Speaking of tales, we spin a few in our brand-new bonus episode out this week as 7-game champ Paolo Pasco joins us for an interview and for the first edition of "Paolo's Puzzle Corner", as he runs Emily and John through some of his famous puzzles. It's only available at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, where $5/month gets you access to all of our bonus episodes, access to our Discord, and lots of other fun stuff. Join today! SOURCE: Yahoo!: "Secret DIY Origins of 'VeggieTales' Success"; DigitalMediaFX.com: "VeggieTales: What's the Big Idea?" by Noell Wolfgram Evans Special thank you always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was producer by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

The Ghost of Merv Griffin is here and so is the ghost of John and Emily's 30s, as Emily finally hits the big 4-0 and John is soon to follow. We discuss the feeling of getting older, Emily's big birthday bash that was attended by some high-profile J! contestants, and a suspect gift that was given to Emily by one of those very same contestants. Oh, and a week of Jeopardy! happened in where we get a couple Response of the Weeks from the same player in the same category and the Jeopardy! fans fume and fool Emily over a RARE Final Jeopardy! occurrence. Plus, we dive deep on Secretariat. If you want to be a generational talent, you can sign up for our Patreon and help support the show! It's just $5/month for a bunch of additional content, access to our Discord, and more fun stuff! Give it a whirl at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast! SOURCE: Sports Illustrated: "Pure Heart" by William Nack. Special thank you to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

We say goodbye to one great champion last week and welcome another this week as Steven Olson has a great run and comes up with a couple Responses of the Week along the way. We also get some wagering controversy in Friday's game, Ken reflects on his fashion choices during his 74-game run, and we dive deep on Occupy Wall Street. If you want to dive way deeper into our show, help support it at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, where $5/month gets you our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, access to our Discord, and a new bonus episode every month. Or two, if we are super busy and can't record one in time because we are stupid. SOURCE: The New Yorker: "Pre-Occupied: The Origins and Future of Occupy Wall Street" by Mattathias Schwartz Special thank you as always to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Art by Max Wittert. Music by Nate Heller.

Obviously if there is a Final Jeopardy! about Borat, we are going to discuss Borat. And we talk about some other stuff this week too, as Paolo Pasco continues his fantastic run all the way to a Tournament of Champions berth, we have a new player in the JFAF game (The National Enquirer!) and a contestant has a reaction to missing a clue that greatly tickles us both. If you want to be tickled by more content, head on over to our Patreon at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast and support the show! You'll get a bunch of bonus episodes, access to our Discord, and more fantastic bonus content on the way. Don't miss out! SOURCE: NPR: "Kazahstan Embassy Responds to Borat" by Phyllis Fletcher and "'Very Nice!': Kazahstan, Outraged No More, Embraces Borat In New Slogan" by Bill Chappell; BBC Culture: "What Kazakhstan Really Thought of Borat" by Yerlan Askarbekov This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert. Special thank you to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

That's right, your very favorite comedy podcast about America's Favorite Quiz Show is BACK for Season 3 of our show and Season 42 of Jeopardy!'s. And we go all the way deep on this one as we reconnect with Jonathan Hugendubler, we meet a few listeners of our show who find success on the J! stage, and the week proves ripe for anecdote and response of the week candidates. Plus, J! fans are fuming over Ken becoming an empty nester and we dive deep on the Spelling Bee. For our patrons, of course, our show never stopped, as we did bonus episodes all summer long over at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, and had a blast doing it. John got a crash course in Broadway from Louis Peitzman, we watched Matt LeBlanc's porno, and we got lots more where that came from. Join today and never miss a new bonus episode PLUS hang out in our Discord with our very cool listeners! SOURCE: The Outline: "When Spellers Became Athletes" by Ann-Derrick Gaillot; The Boston Globe: "At This Year's Spelling Bee, Make Way for Meaning" by Ben Zimmer; New York Times: "Frank Neuhauser, A Speller's Speller" by Margalit Fox This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert. Special thank you to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan.

The most prestigious night in show business is here, it's the 2nd Annual Jeoppy Awards, presented by What Is...? A Jeopardy! Podcast. All the stars are out as we hand out the coveted awards to the surprise of the season, the Ken's Korner Award for Ken Jenningsism, and of course, the legendary Anecdote and Response of the Year. Plus, we introduce a few new awards, get our first-ever live acceptance speech, and we start the show with a monologue, featuring jokes about this past season of the show, written by professional TV writers! And John. The show will return for Season 42 next week, and our podcast will return for Season 3 on September 16th. Until then, join our Patreon, won't you? It's a great way to support the show and catch up on all the bonus episodes you missed before a new season gets underway. Head on over to patreon.com/jeopardypodcast for all the details! This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert. Additional material by Peter Miller.