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a blacksmith in Birmingham, Alabama, Nerdette doesn't

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seem like a show that should be

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one of

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my favorites. But due to

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an accident where WBEZ got programmed into

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my Alexa box and I couldn't help

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but listen to it as I was

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working, I got drawn into this show

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and I can't believe it but I

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just love it. All the conversations that

1:01

I of course never would have been

1:03

privy to before. All the book suggestions.

1:05

I mean, I'm going to

1:07

miss you Greta, everybody else. Hopefully

1:11

just a temporary goodbye for now. I'll look

1:14

for you out there. It's

1:16

been a pleasure. From

1:21

WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette. I'm

1:23

Greta Johnson. We did it. We're

1:26

going to have another weekend or at least kind

1:28

of the middle of the week as this episode

1:30

is coming out on a Tuesday. As

1:33

you all probably know, we are calling this

1:35

the Goodbye for Now episode of Nerdette. It

1:37

is our last episode while we are employees

1:40

here at WBEZ. You

1:42

probably also know we are looking for a

1:44

new home for the show. So watch this

1:46

space for updates. But in the

1:48

meantime, I am very excited today to have two

1:50

of my favorite humans on as

1:53

guests. Nerdette

1:56

is the co-host emeritus

1:58

and co-creator of Nerdette. Trisha

2:00

Bobita, Trisha, hi buddy. Hey.

2:03

Also here is the co-host of Nerdette

2:06

Recaps Game of Thrones with Peter Segel,

2:08

and I guess also the host of

2:10

a show called Wait, Wait, Don't Tell

2:12

Me, Peter Segel. Hey, Peter. Hey, Greta.

2:15

Hello, Trish. I

2:17

have missed you so much. The only

2:19

thing missing is the cool montage where

2:21

you find us at our dead

2:23

end jobs somewhere that we've gone into because

2:26

we gave up our ambitions of nerdetting.

2:28

And you're like, you've got to come back one more

2:31

job. You know. So inspiring. I'm going to be able

2:33

to come back and do a podcast. That's what I

2:35

wanted. I know. That's what I wanted to do. But

2:37

I'm happy to be back with you guys. I have

2:39

missed you terribly. Thank you. It's really nice for us to get

2:41

to hang. I'm glad we get to do this. We

2:43

have been playing a game lately on the show

2:46

that I thought would be really fun to play

2:48

with you too as well. It's called Burden or

2:50

Delight, and it is very simple. Essentially, we're going

2:52

to talk about a couple of different topics, and

2:54

we will decide whether the thing is a burden

2:56

or a delight. I want

2:59

to start with a recent story about

3:01

a zoo in China that has

3:03

painted chow chow dogs to

3:05

look like pandas. Now,

3:08

the zoo is saying that they never

3:10

said the dogs were pandas. They called

3:12

them panda dogs. And

3:14

they are indeed very cute, but they are

3:16

also dogs painted to

3:18

look like pandas. So Trisha,

3:21

I want to start with you. What do you think, burden

3:23

or delight? Well, if, as

3:25

they claim, it is a

3:27

natural dog safe dye.

3:30

Yes, a valid concern. Which

3:33

I think is a thing, because I occasionally

3:35

have seen groomers on Instagram and

3:37

such that do very elaborate sort of

3:40

paint schemes on fancy dogs, and

3:42

no one seems to be throwing red paint on them. So

3:44

I think there is a way to dye

3:47

the hair of a dog without hurting the dog.

3:49

And so long as that's what's happening, I am

3:52

delighted. You're delighted? Yes. What about

3:54

the idea of going to a zoo,

3:56

though, to see dogs painted? I

3:58

mean, you know. Yeah, that's a good way

4:00

of putting it. What

4:03

do you think, Peter? Well,

4:07

I think it depends on who you're talking about,

4:09

right? It was a delight to me professionally, because

4:12

we talked about it on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell

4:14

Me, after everybody and their sisters sent

4:16

me the story, because it's perfect for Wait, Wait, Don't

4:18

Tell Me. One

4:20

could even say it's a delight for us right

4:22

now. She has something to talk about. How bizarre,

4:24

how fun. Let me tell you, it's hard these

4:26

days to find stories in the news that are

4:28

amazing. Yet nobody

4:32

gets hurt. I

4:34

think it's a burden on those people who came

4:36

to the zoo looking for pandas, right?

4:38

I mean, I think I'd be very disappointed. Probably also a

4:40

burden on the dogs. Well, that's the

4:42

open question. I mean, did the

4:45

dogs enjoy being done up to look like

4:47

pandas? Were they looking at each other going,

4:49

hey, Phil, you look good? Or

4:52

were they like, this is terrible. This is humiliating.

4:54

I do not enjoy this. I

4:56

don't know. How do we find out how the dogs

4:58

felt about it? My experience with dogs,

5:00

and I have some, is that they intensely

5:03

dislike being put in

5:05

costumes. Every dog I've ever seen in

5:08

a costume, even if it danes to wear it,

5:10

and my dogs often did not, just

5:12

look incredibly humiliated. And what's the upkeep

5:14

like? Like, have to do this of

5:17

the panda dogs? Yeah, like, are they like in

5:19

makeup for an hour every morning? Or is it

5:21

just like, you know, how

5:23

often are the dogs begrudgingly being painted?

5:25

And how are they rewarded? What

5:28

are the treats like? They're getting

5:30

extra attention, which some

5:32

dogs might really enjoy. My dog

5:34

would not. She would rather be left alone, but,

5:36

you know, to each their own on that front, I suppose.

5:40

Are you sure? She's a dog. And

5:42

not say a cat dressed by Chinese

5:44

zookeepers to look like a dog. I

5:48

haven't seen any Chinese zookeepers in the

5:51

vicinity of my home in Logan Square,

5:53

but it is very interesting. I bought this.

5:57

Come in the middle of the night. Do up your

5:59

cat like a dog. Please. Okay,

6:01

so that's definitely Burton. Okay.

6:06

Okay, so another one that I was really

6:08

curious to ask you to about, because I've

6:10

been feeling kind of conflicted about it, is

6:12

the New York Times game

6:14

selection of daily puzzles. I

6:17

have been, I have like a pretty steady routine

6:19

at this point where like I wake up, I

6:22

start with strands, which is the newest puzzle, then

6:24

I go to connections. Usually I'm very annoyed by

6:26

that point. And then I do

6:28

Wordle and I'm usually like mildly appeased by the end

6:30

of my Wordle journey. But

6:33

I don't, I mean, you know, Wordle definitely had

6:35

its heyday moment during the pandemic. Many people have

6:37

given up on it by now. Peter, I know

6:39

you especially have a lot of very strong connections

6:41

feelings, right? Like where are you on this burden

6:43

to light spectrum? Well I did,

6:46

I did because, and Greta knows this because

6:48

I was posting about it all the time

6:50

on Facebook. My strong feelings about connections. I

6:52

was ranting because I thought

6:54

it was too easy. And

6:56

then almost every time I said this is way too easy,

6:58

the next day I would be

7:00

unable to solve it, which is

7:03

karma. But I have, I lost

7:05

interest. I did. It

7:07

became one of my classic ADHD things, which I

7:09

was like obsessed with it for like

7:11

three weeks or four weeks. I mean you made your own puzzles at

7:14

one point. I made my own puzzles. I mean that's all like I

7:16

was so, and then all of a sudden I was like, yeah, no,

7:18

it's not interesting anymore. And I just stopped doing it. And I can't

7:20

say I miss it. I should go

7:22

back and try it again. I think, I

7:24

don't know why, but the finding

7:27

the solution didn't

7:29

make me happy.

7:32

And I can't explain why. It's like,

7:34

oh, that's what it was. As opposed to, aha.

7:37

Yes. How clever. Brilliant. So

7:40

not to let that. Not to, the only,

7:42

yeah, burden. I just can't understand. What's it

7:44

called? Strings, threads? Strands. Strands.

7:47

Strings, threads. Yes. My

7:49

wife Mara does that and I don't understand it at all. I

7:51

just, I look at it and my old brain

7:53

goes, no, can't learn any new things. So I just

7:56

do the crossword puzzle every day. Oh, that's lovely.

7:58

That's the delight. Because that seems most appropriate. to

8:00

an elderly person like myself. I don't

8:02

know why, but that's my thing. So

8:06

Trisha, what do you think? Are these burdens or

8:08

delights? Or have you just opted out

8:10

entirely? I have opted out of everything

8:13

but the crossword. I've wordled

8:16

and I've tried some of the other ones. I

8:19

mean I think if it's not one of Will

8:21

Short's two passions, crosswords and ping pong, I'm out.

8:24

I just stick to those two things as

8:27

my two favorite word and non-word games. That's

8:30

nice. Speaking of Will Short's,

8:33

you probably know this because you just mentioned it, but

8:36

Will Short's is a huge, I see would put

8:38

it table tennis enthusiast. Yes. That's the phrase he

8:40

uses. And would brag and

8:43

did to me once on the day I met him

8:45

some years ago that he would play table tennis every

8:48

day. Yeah. In fact, it was so

8:50

important to him that he

8:52

would travel with a playing partner for

8:55

fear that he might show up in some place and there'd

8:57

be no one to play table tennis with. I mean so

8:59

he would like make sure there was somebody he could play

9:01

with so he could play every day. Yeah. Yeah. We

9:04

had him on Nerdette 10 million years ago to

9:06

talk about table tennis. I know.

9:08

I mean talk about a nerdy enthusiast. Yeah. Yeah.

9:10

It's perfect. Did you ever get to play table

9:12

tennis with him? Oh my god. No. I played

9:14

table tennis with Trisha who's very good at table

9:17

tennis. Really? Yeah. Like good.

9:19

Just better than Greta. I

9:22

think you're quite skilled. Well, in

9:25

the Greta centric

9:27

view of the universe, that's how

9:29

we rank things. Yeah. In fact,

9:31

you know, when I left WBEZ

9:33

now some years ago, I left

9:35

behind a table tennis setup

9:38

that I had over

9:41

many months, you may say years,

9:44

Convinced executives there to add to the building

9:46

because I Thought it was really important to

9:48

be able to like get up from your

9:50

desk for five minutes and go play a

9:52

little table tennis with a friend before sitting

9:55

back down to the rest of your 12-hour

9:57

workday. And So. I.

10:00

Think now. I might need it. that. That's

10:04

a great segue into the last burner delay

10:06

topic that I would love to discuss with

10:09

your which is. Being. Laid off.

10:11

Oh my goodness yeah we're go in there were doing

10:13

at peter have you. Ever been laid off,

10:17

I never have. An.

10:19

Or that has. Something. To

10:21

do with the fact. That in

10:23

my life. I've had

10:25

a centrally two jobs. One

10:28

I have now whatever for twenty six years

10:30

as amazing. I. Know. I

10:33

don't believe it either. And

10:36

another one I had read at a college. which

10:38

I quit. To pursue

10:40

a writing career in a

10:43

freelance writing career has many

10:45

downsides. Of but one upside

10:47

is there is no one to lay you off. So.

10:50

Are at there I

10:52

basically only given to

10:54

other. People's. Less institutions

10:56

the opportunity to get rid of

10:58

me on one I I. I

11:00

sort of preempted them by leaving

11:02

myself and the other one I.

11:04

I can't explain it, but I've

11:06

I've been lucky so far. However,

11:08

I should say. That the

11:10

idea of being laid off fills me

11:13

with terror he has. I was raised

11:15

to a place all of my self

11:17

worth in the hands of others arbitrarily

11:20

chosen by say to him though I

11:22

have nothing but the most utmost respect

11:24

for those of. Those people.

11:27

Who have endured that and gone

11:29

forward? And thrived after.

11:33

Yeah. It's a weird one it's

11:35

I would say. Definitely initially bird

11:37

and I am hoping to uncover

11:39

the delights. Ah I did just

11:41

yesterday. You know on your I

11:43

phone you can like. It's.

11:45

I in the settings you can have

11:47

it auto corrects. Like misspelled words

11:49

to be different words. i

11:52

had it auto correct unemployment to fun employment

11:54

because it kept not knowing the word for

11:56

unemployment and i thought i really would like

11:59

to be able to lean to this. So

12:01

that's a fun, that's a small delight. Trisha,

12:04

I don't know, I mean, I feel like you've gone on

12:06

such a journey over the years in terms of like,

12:08

as Peter's talking about, like, you know,

12:11

self worth and work and also

12:14

enjoying real actual life.

12:17

What do you think about this one? Well, I mean,

12:20

I think to

12:22

be laid off is a burden. Yeah,

12:24

those who lay people off,

12:26

I think also feel some of that burden,

12:28

to be fair. Totally. I believe that. Somebody

12:31

who has been a manager and had to,

12:33

you know, make tough decisions

12:35

about whether people could be hired or

12:37

could stay on or those kinds of

12:39

things. I don't think it's

12:41

a delight for anyone when it's happening.

12:44

That is as gracious as I shall be.

12:47

I was going to say that is very gracious of you and

12:49

I appreciate it. But

12:52

I think that the opportunity

12:57

potentially to move on to get

12:59

to try new things with new people who appreciate

13:02

you more can be very

13:04

good for that sense of self worth that

13:06

is for sure shaken

13:09

by the idea of a layoff. I

13:12

do think that public media in

13:14

particular has a

13:18

often unhealthy connection

13:20

for people between their identity and self worth

13:22

and their work. I

13:25

don't know. I did not have that same

13:27

conversation with my therapist yesterday. Listen,

13:30

it's been a few years since I

13:32

left public radio and there has been

13:34

plenty of therapy on this side of

13:37

the Zoom call as well. And

13:39

I do think that it is a culture,

13:41

and it's not a singular culture. There are many

13:43

workplaces and jobs, I think, that have this kind

13:45

of enmeshed sense

13:48

of self and work. I think it's true. Yeah,

13:50

I think a lot of non-profits. I think a

13:52

lot of non-profit workers, I think a lot of

13:55

people who do something that they feel is of

13:57

service feel really connected to their work. And I

13:59

think there's a beauty to that

14:01

too. But I think

14:03

to Peter's point, it can make a layoff sting

14:05

even more. But

14:08

what I hope about this incredibly

14:11

awkward public layoff that you're going through and

14:13

that the Nerdette team is going through is

14:16

that if there's one silver lining, it's that

14:18

it's sort of made news and you've been

14:20

able to talk about it a bit. And

14:22

so you've been able to get from

14:26

listeners, from co-workers, from

14:28

other podcasters in the industry, some

14:32

compassion and some some

14:35

space to go like, this

14:37

sucks, what's next is

14:39

going to be better definitively for

14:42

all of you. But

14:44

you've gotten to hear from a lot of people I think

14:46

in the last few weeks who get

14:49

to get a chance to say goodbye and let you

14:51

know what the show's meant to you, even

14:53

if it is goodbye for now. Yeah.

14:56

So yeah, speaking of goodbye for now, we actually got a

14:58

really lovely voicemail that pertains to Nerdette Recap.

15:00

So I thought it would be fun to listen to it

15:02

now. This is Morgan

15:04

in Texas. I've been listening

15:07

to Nerdette almost from the very beginning, but

15:09

you truly became my friend during the

15:12

early days of the pandemic with almost

15:14

daily episodes and talk of George Michael.

15:16

I'll miss the Burden and

15:18

Delight segment, the book club,

15:21

the recaps, Greta and Tricia,

15:24

all the guest visitors and so

15:26

much more. Thank you for all that you've given us over

15:29

the years, Nerdette. We've had at

15:31

least one other person call in also and say that

15:33

they think about the patriarchy jingles on like a

15:35

daily basis. That's a

15:37

really lovely gift that we've been able to

15:39

give people to think, Peter. Oh,

15:42

yes, I'm so happy. I occasionally get people

15:44

who come up and hum them at me,

15:46

which I really, oh my God. Yeah. Let

15:48

me say one more thing. I was inspired

15:51

by what Tricia had to say, which I thought was very

15:53

smart as usual. I

15:55

said that I quit a job before they could lay me

15:57

off. I don't think they were going to lay me off. Who knows? quit

16:00

was because I realized that there were things I wanted

16:02

to do and I couldn't do them if I had

16:04

that job. Yeah. And it wasn't

16:06

so much a matter of time management, which is, well,

16:09

a thing for me. It

16:11

was that if

16:13

I wanted to be what I had at

16:16

that point very much wanted to be, which was a

16:18

writer, I couldn't be this

16:20

other thing, which was the person with that job and

16:22

that title. And even though, yeah,

16:25

sure, I could, like, Wallace Stevens worked as

16:27

an insurance agent for his entire poetry career.

16:30

I could have done that. I realized that if I was

16:33

going to go do the thing I wanted to be, I had to

16:35

stop being that. And that's so it

16:37

was a preemptive move that I took. But I think

16:39

the same thing applies to you and everybody else. Not

16:42

so much that you've been held back, I

16:44

don't think you have, but if in

16:48

order to go be what you can be, what you

16:50

will be, I think, this

16:53

may have been ultimately necessary. And I would

16:55

bet, I would actually bet money that

16:57

someday a year, two years from now, you will look back

17:00

on this and you will see that's exactly what happened. And

17:02

I think that's true of everybody, all the talented people who

17:05

have lost jobs, not just at B-E-Z, but across

17:07

the country in the system, because man, it is

17:09

a hard time. It is a

17:11

hard time. It's a really hard time. Yeah,

17:14

Trisha, also to your point,

17:16

I got a really delightful text

17:18

message from someone who

17:20

used to host an afternoon show at WBEZ and the

17:23

show was canceled and she was laid off several

17:25

years ago. And she said the

17:27

great thing about being laid off in a public fashion is

17:29

that it's almost like getting to go to

17:31

your own funeral because there is

17:33

just like such a huge outpouring of support, which

17:35

I know I've said this on the show before,

17:38

I'm sure I'll say it again, like the fact

17:40

that so many people have shown up the way

17:42

they have over the past six

17:44

weeks, it's been now has been

17:47

so lovely. I mean, y'all

17:49

know like the, we're

17:51

just making stuff and putting it out there, but

17:54

to actually get that response of like, oh, what

17:56

we're making is actually resonating with people in these

17:58

really beautiful and profound ways. It's like

18:00

there's nothing more validating to hear than

18:02

that, you know? Yeah,

18:04

no, it's great. You

18:07

know, and I'm happy to give

18:09

you a eulogy right

18:11

now. Let's

18:14

save the eulogy. Do you really beloved? Well,

18:18

let's not do a eulogy, but I would love to

18:20

know, I mean, while the three of us are back

18:22

together, like what some of your favorite memories have been

18:25

over the years where it's funny because, you know, I

18:27

had both of you on almost exactly a year ago

18:29

to celebrate ten years of Nerdette. So it hasn't been

18:31

that long since we have had a chance to reflect

18:33

together, but it has been a whole

18:36

last year. I don't know. I

18:38

mean, people really like come up to you and hum patriarchy

18:40

jingles, Peter. They do. And

18:42

I get one of the things I get a lot

18:44

is how much people enjoyed the various recaps we did

18:47

primarily, but not entirely, or rather, primarily, but not only

18:49

Game of Thrones. And also

18:51

how much they wish we could do it again. And

18:55

I say, well, you know, we have to find something

18:58

that all of us are really interested

19:00

in that Tricia knows everything about and

19:02

that Greta actually hates. And there's such

19:04

a few small intersection of the Venn

19:06

diagram. I

19:10

mean, Peter, I will learn everything about

19:12

anything Greta hates. I know. I

19:15

know. I

19:17

mean, the recaps were pretty fun. It was obviously really

19:19

fun to do that with the two of you every

19:21

time we did it. But the live events we had

19:23

for those, I think

19:25

I feel like they made great memories professionally.

19:28

Every now and then, I think of

19:30

the thing we did at the German beer hall. And

19:33

I just can't get over how

19:35

much fun that was. And

19:37

all those people came out in their costumes. If

19:40

I remember, I can't remember, was the woman

19:42

who won came as the Queen

19:45

of Thorns? Yes,

19:47

with the... Olenna? Is that... Olenna.

19:50

Olenna Queen of Thorns with the meme Sunglasses Cigarette.

19:52

It was awesome. Dude. Yeah,

19:55

it was amazing. And there were a group of friends

19:57

who came as an elaborate wall costume that made it

19:59

very difficult. They all had to navigate and they all had

20:01

to sit in a row. There

20:03

was a lot of really good stuff there that

20:05

night. Oh my God. It is pretty, I

20:07

mean, we got away with having a lot of fun. I have to say.

20:10

We did. We really did. And

20:12

I love a couple of things. I love how

20:14

many people enjoyed it. I love how many people

20:17

revere. I love the fact that HBO actually got

20:19

into it, right? Yeah. They were

20:21

like, sure, you guys, you're great. No problem. We'll

20:23

bring out. We did that, not feeding the

20:26

live events. We got to watch the opening episode

20:28

of the final season. And

20:30

an HBO person brought it in a can,

20:32

right? Like a secret

20:34

microfilm. I remember it was like, really? Yeah, like

20:36

handcuffs to them. Yeah, it was insane. It was

20:39

that level of theory. And they were like, this

20:41

is great. Yeah, that was awesome. And so it was

20:43

great. And gosh,

20:45

it was, how best to

20:47

say this, how much fun it

20:49

was to argue with both of you. I

20:54

miss it. We need

20:56

something we can argue with. It was

20:58

a treat. Yeah, such a treat. Well,

21:00

and just from the early days of

21:02

the sort of flagship regular nerd debt,

21:05

which, you know, some people

21:07

listening probably don't know the backstory. I'll do

21:09

the like 60 second or less version. Is

21:11

that okay? Sure. I

21:13

remind folks that we were both working

21:15

at WBEZ in capacities

21:17

that did not require us to

21:20

make a podcast by any means. We were

21:22

temps. We were both temps. And

21:25

someone asked me in the office if

21:28

I had seen Star Wars and

21:30

I sort of furrowed my brow at them

21:32

and said, is that a question you have

21:34

to ask? And

21:37

from across the office, I heard

21:39

that laugh, which

21:42

prompted us to then go get brunch

21:44

and decide that we were annoyed that

21:47

all the podcasts about all the things we

21:49

loved were only hosted by dudes. So why

21:51

shouldn't we have a podcast too? And

21:54

what was stopping us? And then

21:57

that first year with no

21:59

additional production. at all.

22:01

We made 50 or

22:03

52 episodes. We made 50 episodes that first

22:06

year and then continued on

22:09

from there for me

22:12

for five years, you for a decade. But

22:15

very early on, there was a Adler

22:18

Planetarium, which is the big planetarium

22:20

in Chicago event, which again,

22:22

the events were super fun because we got

22:24

to meet the nerds. Yeah.

22:27

And this super

22:29

cool, very nerdy, probably

22:33

12 or 13 year olds with bright,

22:35

tardis blue hair, kind

22:37

of shimmied up to us

22:39

where we were with our microphones and

22:42

just leaned in and whispered, I'm a

22:45

nerd too. And

22:50

that was kind of what it was all about. Right?

22:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

22:56

I think, you know, Trisha, I mean,

22:58

the show has changed a lot over the

23:00

years. But I think like the the curiosity

23:02

and enthusiasm is something that you and I

23:04

believed really strongly in and that I believe really

23:07

strongly that has continued to and I'm really

23:09

just so grateful to

23:11

have gotten to do it. And I'm

23:14

really glad that the three of us got

23:16

to hang out again too. This is really, really special.

23:18

Well, unlike you said, at the start, it's

23:20

just for now. Yeah, goodbye for

23:22

now. Yes, Anna. Yeah, that's

23:25

your cue. Why does everything have

23:27

to be so hard? Maybe

23:30

you'll never find your purpose.

23:32

That's what people don't. Then

23:34

I don't know why I'm even alive.

23:36

Well, who does really? Everyone

23:39

goes round a

23:46

little empty inside.

23:49

Take a breath. This is from

23:51

the Broadway musical, Avenue Q. You

23:54

know, I have no idea. I know. But

23:56

I'm still crying. Like

24:01

combine full no suprise.

24:04

See all the. Same

24:08

they the same of the see. That's

24:21

the one identify with most of the citizens

24:23

of her now. Oh My. God. Through so

24:25

that overzealous thing I was hoping you were

24:27

in a play? The one about the internet

24:30

being for porn. but you know that's also

24:32

the number. Of things

24:34

are given a real Peter Bruce. You

24:36

know. That's

24:39

what I live. I live from that

24:41

source file. After he'd say something referring

24:43

to figure out. What

24:46

is? It is possible that this

24:48

was the best the Brethren musical

24:50

Avenue Q. It's features humans, But.

24:53

Like they're standing next to him

24:55

there muppet selves. Than exciting that

24:57

I think is just a really

25:00

beautiful reminder that ah, Whatever.

25:02

Is happening. Is for now.

25:06

That's really beautiful and I can't

25:08

stop crying. Well

25:10

lower your cholesterol. Delayed for

25:13

sure. New Oberlin. Well

25:15

in the meantime, tissue Peter, I love you

25:17

both. Very much thank you for coming know I

25:19

love you As he says I love you too

25:22

to. And

25:24

eleven to in both are homophones

25:26

is never far as I ruin

25:28

the moment again. sorry, that's. Right

25:39

after the break we are going to

25:41

hear from you listeners all about where

25:43

he loved about Ner. Ner

25:50

Dead is supported by the Synthesizer

25:52

podcast from H B O. join

25:54

host Silicon when in conversation with

25:56

the cast crew and author of

25:58

Yet Time When. as they

26:00

discuss the making of this historic HBO

26:02

original limited series. Stream

26:05

new episodes of HBO's The

26:07

Sympathizer Sundays exclusively on Macs

26:10

and listen to The Sympathizer Podcast wherever

26:12

you listen to podcasts. Hey,

26:32

Nurdette. This is Allison from the

26:34

Bronx. My first response to the news

26:37

is, I

26:43

have so enjoyed listening to you.

26:46

And I think what most stands

26:48

out is a consistent kindness and

26:51

joy that you will bring to

26:53

your work. I don't

26:55

know who turned me on to it, but some

26:57

good friend, obviously, and Trisha Bobito was on the

26:59

show and it was so delightful to

27:01

hear you two chatter. And

27:04

it was so delightful to get turned

27:06

on to books and ideas through the

27:11

podcast. I especially love

27:13

that you replayed your interview with Ross

27:15

Gay because his Book of

27:17

Delights was just really

27:19

important to me. There's more delight than

27:22

you're aware of, you know. And

27:24

I learned about that from your show. I saw

27:26

the word Nurdette and I was like, I

27:28

do not currently listen to this podcast and I

27:31

clearly need to change that. My

27:33

first episode I listened to was about

27:35

the CRISPR technologies. Hey Pops, you ready

27:37

to talk about eyeball? Anytime, got

27:39

a couple. And then I heard

27:41

an episode for Tom Hanks about typewriters.

27:44

Have you explored this typewriter? Not as much as you

27:46

have right now. And I

27:48

thought, what is this podcast that

27:51

is all of the things that I love so much

27:53

and it's smart Thanks to Nurdette.

27:55

I've been introduced to delightful TV shows

27:57

and movies, recipes, and so

28:00

many excellent books. But I have

28:02

to say the main effect on my life is

28:04

now how often I use the light bulb on

28:06

a daily basis. When my husband

28:08

got into grad school at Northwestern my first thought

28:10

was, oh my gosh I get to move to

28:12

the land of Nerdette. I've been listening

28:14

to you for ages ever since you ended

28:16

every episode with do your homework. Sometimes I

28:18

still yell do your homework at the end

28:21

of an episode. You have been

28:23

a constant joyful delightful nerdy presence in

28:25

my life for all of those years.

28:28

Nerdette was such a great companion

28:30

especially during the pandemic. It's

28:33

me Susie over at Curious City. I've

28:37

loved Nerdette from the very beginning

28:40

but especially during the pandemic.

28:43

I don't know if I ever told

28:45

y'all but having the amazing book recommendations

28:48

and the feeling that

28:50

you're chatting with your close

28:52

friends about it helped me

28:54

so much during that time. So Greta

28:57

and Anna I love you guys so much

29:00

and I hope you'll be my boss one day.

29:02

I don't call them

29:04

lounge wear. I call them soaked pants.

29:07

I think about the patriarchy jingles. A

29:14

lot of the favorite books that I read

29:16

last year were recommended by you. Your podcast

29:19

is more than just

29:21

20 or 30 minutes of

29:24

entertaining noise in my ears

29:26

every week. It's a

29:28

community. I've listened I

29:31

think to every single episode that you have ever

29:33

put out of this or any

29:35

Peter Siegel rolling a spin-off and still

29:38

hum some of those jingles to myself when I'm

29:40

listening to WaitWait. I am so

29:42

thankful to you all for the books that

29:44

I have read and the eddies

29:46

and byways of knowledge that I

29:49

have discovered because Greta led

29:51

the way there. I have friendships

29:53

that have deepened over a shared love

29:55

of Nerdette. My friend Lindsay left me

29:57

a Galentine's message with you all this

29:59

year. She's also the first person I

30:01

can call to ask her whether it's safe

30:04

to eat the leftovers in my fridge. And

30:06

I just wanted to say thank you so

30:08

much. It's been 11 years of 100% delight

30:10

and 0% burden. I

30:14

discovered Nerdette at the

30:16

beginning interviewing nerds. I

30:19

remember the oboe episode with Rainn

30:21

Wilson. You know what's even cooler

30:23

than the saxophone? You know what's the coolest

30:25

possible instrument is? The bassoon.

30:29

I really appreciated this really

30:32

frank way that you talk about how

30:35

tired you are or what's

30:37

in front of us as a society and

30:39

then always, always with humor, which is the only

30:41

way we're going to get through. And

30:44

then after, through the pandemic, you started saying,

30:46

we made it through another week, which somehow

30:48

still seems hard to do. So thank you.

30:52

I'm just so angry and

30:54

disappointed. And I'm so

30:56

tired of being angry and disappointed. Nerdette

30:59

has meant so many different things to me

31:01

over the years. It feels impossible to capture

31:03

the legacy that Dada and Trisha

31:06

created. I have so many

31:08

memories of listening to episodes on road trips

31:10

with my parents, while on walks in Florida

31:12

and Mississippi and Germany. I

31:14

hope this isn't really goodbye, that it's not

31:16

the end of Nerdette, just a moment of

31:19

transformation. But for right now,

31:21

I'm so thankful to Dada and Anna and everyone

31:23

that's been part of the Nerdette community for being

31:25

a shining light that fills me up every week.

31:32

I was trying to do this without crying,

31:34

but I can't. And I don't think that

31:36

you need the burden of me crying at

31:38

you about Nerdette being canceled. But

31:42

I just wanted to thank you. I

31:46

feel like you really held my hand

31:48

during a very lonely

31:50

pandemic. I am someone

31:53

like television's Moira Rose,

31:55

who when I am very sad and

31:58

overwhelmed, do

32:00

seek solace sitting on the floor

32:02

in my closet and there was

32:04

something about you recording from the floor of

32:06

your closet that like really

32:08

made me feel like I

32:11

wasn't alone. I work with words all

32:13

the time and this is hard. I

32:16

mean the big words that I need to say are thank you and

32:19

also it's been an incredible

32:21

ride. I mean really an

32:23

incredible ride. You

32:25

have expanded my universe and

32:28

I cannot be the only one. So

32:32

again thank you and

32:34

you'll be missed and good

32:37

luck on whatever

32:39

it is that life has

32:41

for you next because

32:43

you are incredible and

32:47

your voice matters. So be

32:49

loud and delightful and wonderful

32:52

and gloriously you again and

32:55

let us know where to find you. I

32:59

don't know how to say goodbye to it so

33:01

I'm just going to pretend that I'm not and

33:03

that it's for now and Maury's going

33:05

to come. I'm very excited

33:07

of whatever the next

33:09

step is and the next iteration because

33:12

it doesn't have to be exactly a

33:14

nerdette for me to know that my

33:16

support is behind it and I appreciate you

33:19

all. So I hope

33:21

that the next thing

33:23

is a good thing. This isn't goodbye just

33:25

to see you later. I'm excited

33:27

to follow to whatever

33:29

comes next in

33:31

my RFS feed. I'll follow you. Where

33:34

you go? And please I

33:36

hope you find a new home. Thank you

33:38

for the years of entertainment. I can't wait

33:41

for you to come back to us. Thanks.

33:43

Thanks again. Thank you so much. Thank

33:50

you. The first time I

33:53

heard the draft of those

33:55

voicemails I cried so hard

33:58

and they were both like

34:00

very sad tears and

34:03

very happy tears because

34:05

y'all are the best. I mean, it's so

34:07

amazing to hear how many of you have been listening

34:09

for so long. I think

34:11

that's such a beautiful testament to just how

34:15

steady and loyal y'all are. And I'm

34:17

so grateful for that. I really, really am.

34:23

This is bringing me back to pandemic days, sitting in the

34:25

closet alone crying, but here I am. It's

34:28

weird to cry into a microphone. It's not my favorite

34:30

thing, let me tell you. But

34:34

anyway, thank you. I

34:38

mean, I literally couldn't have done it without you, but I also

34:40

couldn't have done it without you. So thank

34:43

you, especially to Laura and Alison in

34:45

the Bronx and Alison Detroit and Allie

34:47

in Germany and Eva in Peoria and

34:49

Chris and Catherine and Sweet Freya and

34:52

Holly and Lindsay in Winnipeg and Mary

34:54

in Cleveland and Morgan

34:56

in Austin and Sonia in Seattle

34:58

and Susie from Curious City and

35:00

Becky in Massachusetts and Liz in

35:02

Minnesota and Claire in Dallas and

35:05

Eric the blacksmith in Birmingham and

35:07

Dina in Chicago and Emma from Brooklyn.

35:10

A number of you also sent really beautiful

35:12

emails and were like, listen, I cannot record a

35:15

voice memo without crying, which I completely respect.

35:17

I mean, here I am, I get it. Thank

35:20

you for all of your just absolutely

35:22

gorgeous notes, too. It has just meant

35:24

so much to me to

35:27

have you all on this very weird

35:29

ride. And I just really, really, really

35:31

appreciate you. As I

35:33

mentioned at the top of the show, we are looking

35:35

for a new home for Nerdette. I

35:37

am still not sure what the future holds, but

35:39

it does just mean so much

35:41

to know that y'all are along for

35:43

the ride. We for sure want

35:46

y'all to keep in touch. And there are a

35:48

lot of different ways that you can do that.

35:50

First of all, Nerdette headquarters on Facebook is really

35:52

lovely. You can join that if you go to facebook.com

35:55

slash groups slash Nerdette HQ.

35:58

You can also follow. both me

36:00

and Nerdette producer Anna Bauman on Instagram.

36:02

She is at Anna

36:04

Bauman Nation, which

36:06

is an amazing pun if you ask me.

36:09

I am at Greta M. Johnson. Also,

36:12

I just started a newsletter. I'm really

36:14

excited about it. It's called Gretagram, and

36:16

you can find that if you Google

36:19

Gretagram sub-stack. We

36:21

will see you someday,

36:24

I hope, through your

36:26

homework. Nerdette is

36:28

supported by the Sympathizer podcast from HBO.

36:32

Join host Philip Nguyen in conversation with the

36:34

cast, crew, and author Viet Thanh Nguyen as

36:36

they discuss the making of this historic HBO

36:38

original limited series. Stream

36:42

new episodes of HBO's The Sympathizer Sundays

36:44

exclusively on Macs, and

36:47

listen to the Sympathizer podcast wherever you listen

36:49

to podcasts.