Judge John Hodgman: Greasy Rider

March 24, 2016 1:05 PM

With Special Expert Witness Alton Brown! Stephanie brings the case against her partner Jeff, who works as a chef. Jeff will often leave his smoky and bacon-y aprons and detritus in his car. Stephanie thinks that the car should remain neat and clean; Jeff says the mess is manageable, and comes with the job. Who's right? Who's wrong?
posted by crazy with stars (5 comments total)

I think a good ruling. JJH is building up quite a body of case law on what to do with cars of unmarried couples, and for him it always revolves around the ownership of the car. I'm thinking here of 2 cases: the one with the guy who wanted his partner to keep his ex-car cleaner, and the one at the SF live show where the guy wanted to store his skiing gear in his girlfriend's car. This ruling was consistent with those and I think pretty fair.

I'm surprised, though, that the case wasn't about him crawling into bed still gross and disgusting after his long shift. She's bothered by the car she's only occasionally in but not by his daily smell in bed? Maybe that's a lost cause.

Status Conference was a little disappointing -- they've checked in with him before, and not much new in the bat-guy's life. Let's hear from some of the (other) classics we haven't heard from before! What about the British couple with the cat?

Now I really want scrapple!
posted by crazy with stars at 1:09 PM on March 24, 2016

I was kinda underwhelmed with the Solomonic decision in this one. The question of "Whose car is it really?" should have been secondary to the fact that, as a couple (even not a married couple), if a car is gross, it affects both people. I keep my car far cleaner than I normally would, even though I don't typically transport my spouse (who has a higher threshold of cleanliness than I do).

Good to hear from (one of) the Bat Bros, though.
posted by Etrigan at 1:11 PM on March 24, 2016

Alton can't believe there are smells that don't wash out?
posted by starman at 3:23 PM on March 24, 2016

I liked the ruling but this was kind of a nothing case, overall. Alton Brown's presence also felt like filler on that account -- like there was an attempt to pad this out to a reasonable length.

I liked JJH getting super-excited about scrapple, though.
posted by darksong at 4:54 PM on March 24, 2016

I found Alton to be pretty abrasive on this podcast and his earlier appearances. It's a shame he's so bristley on here, he was one of my TV heroes back in the Good Eats days.

The issue of who owns the car didn't matter one bit but Alton and Hodgman mostly wanted to talk about that and what constitutes a legal marriage. Pretty weird considering the couple had been together like, ten years, much longer than many of the law-married couples who go on the show.
posted by tjgrathwell at 7:35 PM on March 28, 2016 [1 favorite]