Reply All: #134 The Year of the Wallop
January 17, 2019 8:20 AM - Subscribe
New Year! Alex Goldman's audacious plan to get punched in the face, plus special guest Jason Mantzoukas returns for a very Azkaban Yes Yes No.Tweet from the episode
I was very pleasantly surprised by Jason Mantzoukas’ deep knowledge of HP and reply all back-catalog. Literally laughed out loud at work when he told Alex to go back to India and figure it out.
posted by Lucubrator at 11:49 AM on January 17, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Lucubrator at 11:49 AM on January 17, 2019 [9 favorites]
I'm not usually appreciative of large amounts of Jason Mantzoukas, but it was difficult for me to not burst out laughing in my cube.
posted by dinty_moore at 1:07 PM on January 17, 2019
posted by dinty_moore at 1:07 PM on January 17, 2019
"hitherto"
Aaaannd, that's the point in my bus ride home where I had to hit pause cuz I was laughing so hard. (Also, I was only a couple blocks from home and decided it would be best to save the rest till I got home with a cocktail.)
hi-THHere-toe...
posted by dnash at 4:25 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
Aaaannd, that's the point in my bus ride home where I had to hit pause cuz I was laughing so hard. (Also, I was only a couple blocks from home and decided it would be best to save the rest till I got home with a cocktail.)
hi-THHere-toe...
posted by dnash at 4:25 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
Also, I had not heard this thing from Rowling about "wizards used to just poop on the floor then magic it away" before and I am totally on Mantzoukas's side with the "how is that the only option? why not magic toilets?"
posted by dnash at 4:39 PM on January 17, 2019
posted by dnash at 4:39 PM on January 17, 2019
There are so many issues with it. Wizards don't learn the vanishing spell until they're fifteen. The Romans had plumbing. What the fuck were the reactions of ye olde muggleborns. Just why. Why any of this.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:01 PM on January 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by dinty_moore at 6:01 PM on January 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
I mean, just imagine: You're a muggleborn in 1680. You find out magic is real and you have the power to use it! These people can do amazing things - make light whenever they want, turn into animals, brew potions that can stopper death. They know the hidden arts and can reveal the mysteries of the universe.
All you've got to do is shit yourself for the rest of your life.
Do you go along with it, or do you slowly back away?
posted by dinty_moore at 6:43 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
All you've got to do is shit yourself for the rest of your life.
Do you go along with it, or do you slowly back away?
posted by dinty_moore at 6:43 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
I am finding Jason Mantzoukas pop up on various shows and podcasts I listen to and I find him incredibly delightful in these doses. This was way more entertaining than I thought it would be.
(Current wish: appearance on Judge John Hodgman)
posted by hijinx at 7:00 PM on January 17, 2019
(Current wish: appearance on Judge John Hodgman)
posted by hijinx at 7:00 PM on January 17, 2019
Also, I had not heard this thing from Rowling about "wizards used to just poop on the floor then magic it away" before and I am totally on Mantzoukas's side with the "how is that the only option? why not magic toilets?"
It's even simpler than that. I can believe that Hogwarts, being thousands of years old, was built before the advantages of indoor plumbing were widely understood. But before indoor plumbing the state of the art was a chamber pot in your bedroom that you used and then your slave/servant/own low-class self emptied it out via the most expeditious means. It's an incredibly low leap to "You vanish the pot clean/a house elf deals with it/the pot cleans itself automagically"
I can totally believe "Shit removal" was once a vital magical skill, but even implying that wizards might shit themselves or just shit wherever they felt is a gross failure of world-building. Could you imagine a time with rich nobility or royalty just shitting anywhere because they have servants to clean them up afterwards? Or a far-flung future where nanomachine-infused clothes instantly whisk away fecal matter, freeing you from the need to concern yourself over such mundanity? Think about human nature. There's no human culture that doesn't maintain some level of taboo about the whole thing, so even Wizards of the past are gonna have some variation of the three seashells.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:32 PM on January 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
It's even simpler than that. I can believe that Hogwarts, being thousands of years old, was built before the advantages of indoor plumbing were widely understood. But before indoor plumbing the state of the art was a chamber pot in your bedroom that you used and then your slave/servant/own low-class self emptied it out via the most expeditious means. It's an incredibly low leap to "You vanish the pot clean/a house elf deals with it/the pot cleans itself automagically"
I can totally believe "Shit removal" was once a vital magical skill, but even implying that wizards might shit themselves or just shit wherever they felt is a gross failure of world-building. Could you imagine a time with rich nobility or royalty just shitting anywhere because they have servants to clean them up afterwards? Or a far-flung future where nanomachine-infused clothes instantly whisk away fecal matter, freeing you from the need to concern yourself over such mundanity? Think about human nature. There's no human culture that doesn't maintain some level of taboo about the whole thing, so even Wizards of the past are gonna have some variation of the three seashells.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:32 PM on January 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
This episode was hilarious, wasn’t fully onboard with Jason Mantzoukas’ brand of humour previously but this has convinced me!
posted by ellieBOA at 11:48 PM on January 17, 2019
posted by ellieBOA at 11:48 PM on January 17, 2019
This is one of those tweets that I would have been solid "no" without realizing it. I'd have written it off as some sort of "this guy is evil" reference without any understanding. Neat! But, also, people have had specific places to poop for ten thousand years. Surely a wizard outhouse, or a don't-need-to-poop spell makes more sense. But, I'm in favor of weird, and this is definitely weird.
As cross-podcast advertising for the co-host, though, it had the opposite of the intended effect on me. If I wanted to spend time with loud blowhards who primarily communicate by insulting people, I'd be a junior high teacher.
posted by eotvos at 9:31 AM on January 18, 2019
As cross-podcast advertising for the co-host, though, it had the opposite of the intended effect on me. If I wanted to spend time with loud blowhards who primarily communicate by insulting people, I'd be a junior high teacher.
posted by eotvos at 9:31 AM on January 18, 2019
> Could you imagine a time with rich nobility or royalty just shitting anywhere because they have servants to clean them up afterwards?
Yes! I'm reluctant to search this too deeply, but I Was Taught In School that in 18th century London, it was considered fine among the upper classes to use the commode in front of other people, including one's guests, including using it to poop. So not quite pooping on the floor a la early wizards, but definitely less private than one does today.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:18 PM on January 18, 2019
Yes! I'm reluctant to search this too deeply, but I Was Taught In School that in 18th century London, it was considered fine among the upper classes to use the commode in front of other people, including one's guests, including using it to poop. So not quite pooping on the floor a la early wizards, but definitely less private than one does today.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:18 PM on January 18, 2019
> loud blowhards who primarily communicate by insulting people
Yeah, the mean bits went on too long for me. I liked this episode, but I hate hearing people tear other people down over small (and admittedly funny) mistakes.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:20 PM on January 18, 2019
Yeah, the mean bits went on too long for me. I liked this episode, but I hate hearing people tear other people down over small (and admittedly funny) mistakes.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:20 PM on January 18, 2019
Beauxbatons is not an all girls school. In the film they show it as such, but it isn't, and Mantzoukas, if he listened the the audiobooks, should know better.
I haven't quite finished the podcast, and though, as a rule, I am sick of Mantzoukas in my TV shows (B99, TGP, please, no more of him), I enjoyed him a great deal on this episode.
I get what you mean about the meanness -- don't listen to the back catalogue, where for a while I figured the cohosts hated each other and was going to quit listening until it changed all of a sudden.
posted by jeather at 7:22 AM on January 22, 2019
I haven't quite finished the podcast, and though, as a rule, I am sick of Mantzoukas in my TV shows (B99, TGP, please, no more of him), I enjoyed him a great deal on this episode.
I get what you mean about the meanness -- don't listen to the back catalogue, where for a while I figured the cohosts hated each other and was going to quit listening until it changed all of a sudden.
posted by jeather at 7:22 AM on January 22, 2019
One of the weirdest things about Jason Mantzoukas is that he is the only person in radio or podcasting who looks exactly how he should based on how he sounds
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:16 PM on January 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:16 PM on January 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
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posted by Tevin at 8:50 AM on January 17, 2019 [3 favorites]