Probably Science

Comedian Shane Mauss (@shane_mauss) returns to the podcast in the midst of his A Better Trip tour to talk with Matt and Andy about having his van broken into, his new line of plant activated products, the connection between Amanita muscaria mushrooms and Mario and Santa, the trendiness of ketamine, a psychedelic toad venom that may have therapeutic uses (and that, of course, Shane has already tried), a wounded orangutan using a plant as medicine, and discount presale passes for To 29 and Beyond that are available until the May 10th announcement of some big lineup additions!

Comedian Sierra Katow (@sierrakatow) joins Jesse, Andy and Matt to talk about her new standup special Funt, the upcoming appearance on Roots of Comedy with Jesus Trejo, the underrated Earth to Ned, Sierra's computer science background and childhood obsession with Neopets, Andy's head-scratching interaction with Anthropic's Claude AI, deadly pathogens that are attracted to human blood, the importance of robot insurance, the security issues raised by quantum computing, online Oregon Trail, a black hole lurking surprisingly close to Earth and To 29 and Beyond, coming to Outpost 29 on June 7-8, with Bobcat Goldthwait, NASA's Farah Alibay, stargazing, trivia, live music, karaoke and more, sponsored by Visit 29, Merch Kitchen and Sky Watcher Star Tours. For 15% off a Sky Watcher stargazing tour, use the code "29BEYOND".

Comedian Bec Hill (@bechillcomedian) joins Andy, Matt and Jesse to talk about What3Words, Bec sneaking dicks into things, a surprise from decades-old cans of salmon, ghost particles, a possible Stonehenge moon connection, ancient Stonehenge feasts, Willy's LA Chocolate Experience, A Problem Squared, Enemy In Paris and of course To 29 and Beyond, coming to Outpost 29 on June 7-8, with Bobcat Goldthwait, NASA's Farah Alibay, stargazing, trivia, live music, karaoke and more, sponsored by Visit 29, Merch Kitchen and Sky Watcher Star Tours. For 15% off a Sky Watcher stargazing tour, use the code "29BEYOND".

Comedian Joshua Snyder (@nerdyvirgin) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about Bobcat Goldthwait headlining To 29 and Beyond, Jesse's love life, building a guitar, a lack of solar eclipse whimsy, the Star Trek punk on a bus, toxic epi-pens in space, a mouse with legs instead of genitals, dog comprehension, the great podcast Free With Ads and a SPATS update.

Comedian Carmen Morales (@TheFunnyCarmen) joins Andy, Jesse and Matt to talk about Matt's chipped tooth, the pros and cons of home dentistry, a nuclear fusion record, CRISPR and HIV, Andy's friend's Pioneertown-to-Big Bear breakdown, a million mice eating seabirds alive, letdowns from CBD, Carmen on HBO, updates from the Large Hadron Collider and our live event To 29 and Beyond, taking place June 7th and 8th.

Comedian/juggler Marcus Monroe (@marcusmonroe) joins Jesse, Matt and Andy to talk about inventing the knorch, siteswap juggling notation, getting banned from Delta Airlines, a Montana man pleading guilty to creating massive franken-sheep, getting helium from the moon and To 29 and Beyond, now taking place June 7th and 8th.

Actress/writer Tara Flynn returns to the show to talk with Matt, Jesse and Andy about having no sense of smell, Renaissance Faires, the magic of the Irish, fake Scottish Wikipedia, fake grunge slang, a death ray science project, a fish as loud as an elephant, boiling water to remove microplastics, a 13,000-year-old sand dune, Liver King, Oscar talk, To 29 and Beyond coming to 29 Palms on June 1st and Tara's podcast Now You're Asking.

Comedian/musician Adam Newman (@adam_newman) joins Andy, Matt and Jesse to talk about sweep picking, Antarctic scientists developing their own accent, Adam and Jesse's dreadlock pasts, Adam's upcoming special Jew Versus The Volcano, Purim talk, how humans lost their tails, the Willy Wonka AI experience debacle in Glasgow and its insane script, Wake Up and Smile, the upcoming live event To 29 and Beyond and Adam's podcast PuzzyBoyz.

Comedy legend Wendy Liebman (@WendyLiebman) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about Wendy and Jesse's Letterman overlap, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Wendy's psychology background and transition into comedy, the evolutionary advantage of ADHD, bizarre AI rat genitalia, using AI to advance fusion research, OpenAI's amazing/terrifying Sora breakthrough and Will Smith actually eating spaghetti.

Comedian Jeffrey Baldinger (@Jeffbaldinger) joins Matt and Jesse to talk about earthquakes, Santa Claus' dad, a strange new type of star in the middle of our galaxy and distinguishing between earthquakes and nuclear tests.

Comedian, actor and author Matt Knudsen (@mattknudsen) returns to the podcast to talk about his new book Have I Seen You In Anything?, working on soap operas, being in an iconic I Think You Should Leave sketch, going back to school, learning to tap dance, testosterone reducing the Audience Effect and a bat that uses its huge penis as an arm.

Comedian Leah Bonnema (@LeahBonnema) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about Matt and Leah's road gig adventure, Jesse being snowed in, going to the bathroom outside, the science behind the munchies, Japan's Moon Sniper making contact with the lunar surface, Leah's love of Love Island, 45,000-year-old tools and bones found in eastern Asia, the Levallois technique and everyone's lack of awareness of Bill Knapp's.

Comedian and author Moshe Kasher (@moshekasher) returns to the show to talk with Andy, Jesse and Matt about his upcoming book Subculture Vulture, chronicling his deep involvement in the seemingly disparate worlds of Hasidic Judaism, deaf culture, comedy, sobriety, rave culture and Burning Man, as well as digging into the possible de-extinction of the dodo.

Comedian Kim McVicar (@KimMcVicar) joins Andy, Matt and Jesse to talk about famous hecklers, Kim's dancing background, musicals and their parodies, coin flips not being as 50/50 as you think, neanderthal early birds, Daylight Saving Time talk, holiday penile fractures and the crazy waves hitting the west coast right now.

While the gang take a little holiday break, we thought it was worth revisiting Andy's conversation with AI researcher and UC Berkeley Professor of Computer Science Stuart Russell from wayyyyy back in 2019. Now that we're well into the era of generative artificial intelligence, it's interesting to look back at what experts were saying about AI alignment just a few years ago, when it seemed to many of us like an issue we wouldn't have to tackle directly for a long time to come. As we face down a future where LLMs and other generative models only appear to be getting more capable, it's worth pausing to reflect on what needs to be done to usher in a world that's more utopian than dystopian. Happy holidays!