What is...? A Jeopardy! Podcast

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Week of November 4: Getting Nailed Nov 12, 2024

Show notes

Keep on Jolin, baby! Greg Jolin cements his place in the Tournament of Champions as we cement our place as a Jeopardy! podcast of note, hearing from both a past contestant about last week's episode, and a contestant who was on this week's episode, and both have some great intel for us you won't wanna miss. It's also a great week of games, as some really tight games get our blood pumping, Sammy Sanchez perhaps ushers in a new era of anecdotes, and Jeopardy! fans (and us!) are talking about this year's Second Chance Tournament contestants. Plus, we strap on a bulletproof vest and dive deep into Kevlar.

SOURCE: Inventing Modern America: "Insight: Stephanie Kwolek" by MIT.

Special thank you to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

Week of October 28: Remember Your Phrasing! Nov 05, 2024

Show notes

As Emily so aptly puts it, we have a game this week that justifies this podcast's entire existence. A wild cast of characters, a raft of missed clues, and a Daily Double mishap create the type of drama that can only be found on the J! stage. It's a great week overall with some fun new champions, a category so nasty our "Nasty Clue of the Week" becomes our Nasty Category of the Week, and Jeopardy! fans fume about one clue so vehemently it makes it all the way to the pages of People magazine. Plus, we dive deep on Berlin's famed Eldorado nightclub.

SOURCE: New Histories: "Hope Between the Horrors: The Forgotten LGBTQ+ Firsts of Weimar Germany" by Hannah McCann; Advocate: "A Peek Inside Berlin's Queer Club Scene Before Hitler Destroyed It" by Clayton J. Whisnant.

Special thank you as always to J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan.

This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert. Additional material by Chris Thayer.

Week of October 21: You Kill My Father. The Princess Bride. Oct 29, 2024

Show notes

It's a delirious episode of the show as we record this late on a Monday and just squeeze it in for your Tuesday morning commute, and what a week it was! We have a new 4-day champion in Will Wallace who is like the William Wallace from Braveheart, only 1000 times more chill. We are chill too as a contestant has an interesting call sign, we both reveal some decently poor singing impressions, and Jeopardy! fans are very upset that Dave Matthews was referred to as a pop star. Plus, we dive deep on one of the worst songs of all-time. It wasn't one of the ones we sung. But those were very bad too.

SOURCE: Rolling Stone: "Flashback: Band Aid Raises Millions With 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'" by Jordan Runtagh.

Special thanks 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.

Week of October 14: Marineland Blows! Oct 22, 2024

Show notes

For perhaps the first time in the podcast's history, Emily and John side with the Jeopardy! fans who are fuming this week, as Ontario-born John is completely baffled that Jeopardy! clue writers used Marineland as a scientific reference for anything. We go off on that and a lot of other fun stuff this week, as we have a couple very close games, a friend of John's from the J! Discord has a great run on the show (and wears a great shirt), and it's a second consecutive week with a curling anecdote. God bless. We also dive deep on Grimace, everyone's favorite unknown species/taste bud/milkshake/embodiment of a milkshake headache/Gritty's cousin.

SOURCE: The Takeout: "Defiant McDonald's Manager Spits in the Face of Grimace Canon" by Lillian Stone; McDonald's Wiki: "Grimace"

Special thank you to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Art by Max Wittert. Music by Nate Heller.

Week of October 7: Dammit, Bobby Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

We have another Tournament of Champions entrant and perhaps the final ToC entrant of Season 40 (despite this being Season 41), as games taped from last season wrap with Mark Fitzpatrick picking up his 5th win and then subsequently having a great time through his "tired game" that has plagued so many past champions. It was a great week full of curling, nasty clues including a couple tough FJs, and a category that doesn't help Jeopardy! duck the horny allegations. Plus, Jeopardy Fans are Fuming over Ryan Seacrest's performance as the host of Wheel of Fortune and we go deep on the Coca-Cola logo's inception.

SOURCE: ThoughtCo: "The History of Coca-Cola" by Mary Bellis; CITMA: "The Evolution of the Coca-Cola Logo" by Laura Morrish

Special thank you as always to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert. Additional material by Chris Thayer.

Week of September 30: Hornier and Hornier Oct 08, 2024

Show notes

Jeopardy! continues its slow descent into horny madness and we can't help but follow them there with the absolutely ridiculous category, "An Ocean of Lotion". There's an ocean of great content on this episode too as John records at 1 am in Charlottetown, PEI and we get delirious. It's a slow week for anecdotes and JFAF, but the horniness comes to save us all. Plus, John visits a legendary literary locale, Emily celebrates her birthday, and we dive deep on the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, Alexander Selkirk.

SOURCE: Smithsonian Magazine: "The Real Robinson Crusoe" by Bruce Selcraig.

Special thanks to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Art by Max Wittert. Music by Nate Heller.

Week of September 23: [three woman symbol emojis] Oct 01, 2024

Show notes

It's a delightful week on Jeopardy! as we meet one of the most likeable contestants in recent memory and surefire Second Chancer Drew Goins. And this is not to mention a very sharp 3-game run from surefire Champions Wildcarder (or maybe direct-berth TOCer) David Erb, who also reveals he's led a very interesting life from being an astrophysicist and making key discoveries to his wife being the author of the revered "Lessons in Chemistry". Plus, Jeopardy! fans point out a "rare occurrence" that actually isn't rare at all in JFAF, John turns even more Canadian, and we dive deep on the life and times of Mae West.

SOURCE: Criterion Collection: "The Self-Created Immortality of Mae West" by Farran Smith Nehme.

Special thanks as always to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Art by Max Wittert. Music by Nate Heller.

Week of September 16: Oh Cool. Awesome. Sep 24, 2024

Show notes

It is a cool and awesome week on the show as we rue the fact that we got two candidates for Anecdote of the Year last week and then a whole lotta duds this week. But that's ok! We have a ton of fun with Aiden's three appearances on the show, we beg for a Second Chance for Will, and Jeopardy! gets its own "Hot Priest". Plus, we continue our investigation into Jeopardy's increasing horniness, we go deep on Fantasia, and Emily claims the ultimate triumph: a successful Blind Final Jeopardy guess at home.

Please follow the show on Instagram at @whatisajeopardypodcast and on Twitter at @jeopardypodcast for more news and updates about the show.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times: "Fantastic 'Fantasia': Disney Channel Takes a Look at Walt's Great Experiment in Animation" by Charles Solomon.

Special thank you to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive.

This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

Week of September 9: Fruit in the Toilet w/ Tawny Newsome Sep 17, 2024

Show notes

We're back, baby! It's Season 41 of Jeopardy! and Season 2 of our little show about the smartest show on television. Of course, all your favorite segments are here and as good as ever. It's a wild week that accurately mimics the start of a new season, with some nervous energy from a lot of contestants, some weird buzzer form, and two anecdotes that will almost surely be in contention for Anecdote of the Year in the 2025 Jeoppys. Plus, J! fans (and us) are rightfully upset about a particular figure showing up as a J! clue, we go deep on Ringo Starr, and Tawny Newsome joins us to give us her insight into being a Jeopardy! clue for the first time.

Please follow the show on Instagram at @whatisajeopardypodcast and on Twitter at @jeopardypodcast.

SOURCE: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "Ringo Starr: The Hall of Fame Essay" by Parke Puterbaugh.

Special thank you to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan.

This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Art by Max Wittert. Music by Nate Heller.

The 2024 Jeoppys Aug 29, 2024

Show notes

It's time to celebrate! Season 40 of Jeopardy! and Season 1 of our podcast is in the books, and while it was a strange season full of tournaments and this podcast didn't start until halfway through it, we are still giving out awards! It's a look back at the wildest anecdotes, responses, and headlines of the year as we crown our first-ever Jeoppy award winners. And yes, we are going to make physical trophies and give them out to the winners.

Produced by Producer Dan. Art by Max Wittert. Music by Nate Heller.

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