We pick up where we left off with Kiely, Jenna, and their sperm donor Dominick. This time it’s Jenna’s turn to get pregnant. And, unlike last time, things do not go according to plan. To join the conversation, go to www.longestshortesttime.com!

This episode is brought to you by Third Love, Paper Culture, Olive & Cocoa, Toca TV and Little Passports.

Self-proclaimed “Bodhi Sad-va” (Suzi Barrett) may be the Buddha incarnate, but she’s having trouble maintaining enlightenment in the face of global anxiety. Mark and Pete ask her about coping strategies in the wake of the election, how to cleanse yourself of thetans, and Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie. Make it so!

Three months with no new deaths: investigators were beginning to believe that the Boston Strangler’s killing spree had ended. Then, on December 5, 1962, a roommate found the body of 20 year old Sophie Clark, and the case took a terrifying new turn. Had the killer changed his M.O.? Were two or more Boston Stranglers at large? Host Portland Helmich digs into the details surrounding Clark’s murder, and learns much more about the obsessive patterns serial killers usually follow. She also talks to Jane Caputi, an expert who studies the ways in which society turns some serial killers into outlaw heroes.

This episode is brought to you by Parcast, Casper Mattresses, Blue Apron, Audible, and Investigation Discovery.

Actor, comedian, and musician Ben Roy joins Howard and Kulap this week to discuss open mic fests and to dish on his band Spells. During the Music Chart, we hear about the joys of Philadelphia and Ariana Grande’s entrepreneurial spirit. Ben shares his vast knowledge of western films during a Colorado-themed Movie Chart, and finally, Howard runs down LA’s binary soccer stich while the gang counts down Kevin’s Hot Picks on Two Charted.

This episode is sponsored by HBO’s Pete Holmes: Faces and Sounds.

A “dolphin” personality type. Betrayal. Anger. Lunch at a buddhist temple. This week’s caller has it all.

This episode is brought to you by AMEX, Mailchimp, Stamps.com, Harry’s, and Talkspace.

Joe Praino, comedian, actor, and co-host of The Dirty Sports podcast joins Matty and Jensen to talk about his new comedy special “Joe Praino Takes The Stand,” getting up OFF the news, hating Trump, greeting cards, how we were dead wrong about watching others play video games, and many other things.

This episode is brought to you by Omaha Steaks, Tipsy Elves, and Cameron Hughes Wine.

Comedian Dan Levy joins Deanna and Emily post Mannequin Challenge to open up on what it’s like to raise children on social media on this week’s OMFG! Dan also tells us how a trainer helped him go from being a Zebra to a Lion, being obsessed with real estate apps, and being an original comedy nerd ever since his Bar Mitzvah.

The boys are joined by D’ARCY CARDEN from The Good Place to talk about who gets to go there and other big questions.

This episode is sponsored by SockFancy.

This week, rising comedian Jak Knight joins Randy and Jason in the twilight of Sklarbro County to discuss the challenges of breaking into the stand-up comedy machine. Daniel Van Kirk brings stories about a foul-mouthed educator, a nine-hour long drunk drive, and a miscreant with “superhuman” strength. Finally, the Sklars listen to a voicemail from prosecutor Ken Kratz about his new holiday album.

This episode is sponsored by Charles Tyrwhitt and MVMT Watches.

It’s pretty safe to say that after years of Sherlock Holmes adaptations and countless CBS crime procedurals (he was the supreme leader of a cult, but now he’s leading the Supreme Court!) most people with a pretty steady diet of TV and movies think they’re pretty good armchair psychologists.

If you learn of a prison riot on the news, you’ll cite the Stanford prison experiment and claim that we’re all just a baton and a uniform away from turning into monsters. If the news later reports of a man who stabbed his mother, you’ll find a Freudian explanation for the crime that speaks of Oedipal repressed sexuality and the phallic nature of stabbings.

Bad news: turns out everything you learned about psychology from the shiny little box in the center of your living room isn’t totally accurate. Not only do movies and TV shows take giant liberties with how psychology works, the psych field itself has a hard time getting out of its own way: studies can be biased for multiple reasons, the replication crisis impedes the verification of discoveries and news outlets only report on the grabbiest psych headlines and and skew the truth.

So on this week’s podcast, we’re putting a bunch of psych myths in a straight jacket, tossing them in a padded room and throwing away the key. Cracked’s Jack O’Brien, Daniel O’Brien and Michael Swaim are joined by Peter McGraw, an expert in behavioral science and a marketing and psychology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. They dispel pop-psych stories like the Milgram experiment, power posing and the Mozart effect.

Also make sure to buy tickets to our next LIVE podcast taping on Saturday, December 10th at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Jack and the crew will be giving a much needed, “good riddance” to the year 2016 with our annual Year In Review In Review. The Cracked staff and some special guests will fill in the gaps where most of of the other ‘Years In Review’ leave out half of the story. Tickets are only $5 and available here: https://goo.gl/zMwKua

Footnotes:

Peter McGraw: https://goo.gl/IFYreS

Video: Peter McGraw TED Talk: https://goo.gl/JzSR6T

Article: Scientific American: Five Fallacies of Grief: https://goo.gl/dMLN8F

Video: Elizabeth Loftus: How Reliable Is Your Memory: https://goo.gl/3PGGyq

Video: Derren Brown Conversational  Hypnosis: https://goo.gl/AwvHw5

Article: The Atlantic: Questioning The Milgram Experiment: https://goo.gl/X1nZVc

Article: New York Magazine: Is There an Antidote for Emotional Contagion: https://goo.gl/5rjrTK

Article: New York Magazine: How the False Story of Kitty Genovese’s Murder Went Viral: https://goo.gl/26EdLM

Article: Cracked: 5 Ridiculous Lies You Probably Believe About Psychology (#3 Stanford Prison Experiment): https://goo.gl/HtM7wr

Video: Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are (Power Posing TED Talk): https://goo.gl/7Y5nKC

Article: Slate: The Power of the Power Pose: https://goo.gl/pd09xM

Article: The Verge: The Mozart Effect Myth: https://goo.gl/CXBhrN

Article: Wired: Scanning Dead Salmon in fMRI Highlights Risk of Red Herrings: https://goo.gl/zcZxUq

Article: Cracked: 6 Mental Illness Myths Hollywood Wants You To Believe (#4 ECT Therapy is Torture): https://goo.gl/q3z4y

This episode is brought to you by VMware, HUAWEI, The Bouqs, and MVMT Watches.

At long last, we get to meet the object of Usidore’s wizardly affections.

Credits:
Arnie: Arnie Niekamp
Chunt: Adal Rifai
Usidore: Matt Young
Jyn’Leeviyah: Felicia Day
Mysterious Man: Tim Sniffen
Tricia: Kate James
Craig: Ryan DiGiorgi

Producers: Arnie Niekamp, Evan Jacover, Ryan DiGiorgi
Editor: Chris Rathjen
Theme Music: Andy Poland
Magic Tavern Logo: Allard Laban
Audio Assistance: Jason Knox
Production Assistance: Garrett Schultz

This episode is brought to you by Cards Against Humanity and The Hornblow Group.

Matt Belknap (Never Not Funny) grew up listening to hip hop artists like Run-D.M.C. and Public Enemy, but he wasn’t initially convinced that he would like a hip hop musical. Then he listened to the Hamilton cast album from start to finish on a family car trip. He hasn’t really listened to any other music since, he says. He joins Travon and Mike to explain what won him over and why he’s planning a one-month “Hamilton fast.” Plus, their three-way “Aaron Burr, Sir” sing-along is one for the books.

This episode is brought to you by MVMT Watches and Wonders.

Paul F. Tompkins welcomes all who feel that they need to be welcomed to this week’s episode of Spontaneanation! This week, Paul’s special guest is Oscar Nunez of The Office and People of Earth! They chat about why Oscar cares about God, his former job as a dental technician, and his time spent in customer service at Bloomingdales’s in New York. Paul is then joined by Craig Cackowski, Jean Villepique, and Gary Anthony Williams, to improvise a story set in East NYC Village. And as always, Eban (only the best) Schletter scores it all on piano!

Paul & Eban will be doing their first all-music show at Largo! Featuring songs with Aimee Mann, Ted Leo, Open Mike Eagle & special surprise guests! Join them all for an evening of eclectic song choices and unique new arrangements. And all proceeds benefit Planned Parenthood & The American Civil Liberties Union! Saturday December 3rd & Sunday December 4th – Get tickets at paulftompkins.com/live!

This episode is brought to you by HUAWEI, MVMT Watches, Mikedoughty.com, and Harry’s.

Feliz Novi-Doggie! Musical legend and CBB TV band leader “Weird Al” Yankovic joins Scott to share his thoughts on the series finale of Comedy Bang! Bang!, the possibility of retiring from public life, and a potential all accordion album. Then, Detective James P. Garetty of the Boston homicide department stops by to ask Scott a couple of questions as part of his investigation. Later, local celebrity Kole Kringle arrives to tell us about the different ways he is the opposite of his brother Kris. Finally, we get some much needed fashion tips from fashion designer David!

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, Leesa.com, and Omaha Steaks.

Vote for the Best of CBB Live 2016 here: http://poll.fm/5pkz5

Vote for the Best of CBB 2016 here: http://poll.fm/5pjur

Recorded live from Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles, Neil Casey (Ghostbusters) and Emily Heller (Baby Geniuses) join Paul and Jason to discuss the 1992 science fiction action horror film The Lawnmower Man. They’ll talk about the Stephen King short story that the movie is based on, virtual reality sex, smart chimps, and much more.

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, Sonos, ZipRecruiter, and TBS’ Search Party.

Get yourself a BB-8 “What Is Its Mission?” T-shirt or Tote Bag over at http://howdidthisgetmade.bigcartel.com

Where to Find Jason, June & Paul:

Paul is in the new Nicolas Cage film “Army of One” available on VOD.

Paul’s new comedy Filthy Preppy Teen$ is now avail on the FullScreen and you can see June and Paul in their old show NTSF:SD:SUV:: on HULU. Paul also appears on Fresh off the Boat on ABC.

June stars in Grace and Frankie on Netflix, as well as Lady Dynamite alongside with Jason.

Jason can be seen in How to Be Single, Sleeping with Other People, and is still indeed in The Dictator.

For Thanksgiving, we’re revisiting a conversation David had with Patty Stonesifer. She had a successful career at Microsoft, but Stonesifer gave it all up to run a not-for-profit in Washington, D.C.

In this episode, she talks to David about how her organization is trying to increase access to food – and how we can do the same around the country.

This episode is brought to you by Children’s International, SockFancy, Proper Cloth, and Goedeker’s.

This week, actor Martin Starr (Silicon Valley) joins Randy and Jason for a special post-giving episode of Sklarbro Country. We hear about an enterprising NBA player and a revenge plot by Steve Francis during Takes followed by a chat with Martin about pro bowling strategies and his new movie “Operator.” Joe Thomas Sr. gets his yard take counted and Dennis Rodman’s latest venture is recapped during Quick Hits, and finally, the Sklars take a call from Mark Wahlberg to find out what he’s thankful for this holiday season.

This episode is sponsored by Enclosed.

This week Bryan whips up Oprah’s favorite turkey recipe while Erin shares her hatred for the holidays. Also Texas Senator Konni Burton proposed a law that would require schools to out LGBTQ students to their family, and Dr. Fraud (aka Dr. Phil) filmed an extremely exploitative interview with a very ill Shelley Duval, anything for the ratings! Plus, Guest Orlando Soria is here to discuss the true meaning of eau de toilette, his lifestyle blog Hommemaker, and being the Creative Director for Homepolish. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The podcasting industry is often characterized as being like the “Wild West,” which is very similar to how digital publishing was regarded in the 1990s. Media analyst Ken Doctor was at the forefront of journalism’s first online forays while working at Knight-Ridder Digital, and now he turns his lens to podcasting. He sees parallels with early internet publishing, but also important differences. On this episode of the Wolf Den he tells Chris and Lex what he thinks podcasters and the podcast industry need to do in order to grow smartly and sustainably. He analyzes Apple’s current position as the still-dominant platform for finding and listening to podcasts, and offers his thoughts on how Apple could best support the medium. Ken also weighs in on the viability of subscriber-funded models and what podcasters should focus on in 2017. You can follow Ken at http://newsonomics.com

Casey and Danielle join the gorgeous and hilarious Elisha Cuthbert and take it back. Way the F back. To the OG OC. They revisit the pilot episode of Orange County- where it alllllll began. In a sleet private gated community called Coto de Cazo. The girls are live at EW’s PopFest in this bonus episode and Elisha is not impressed. Come back in time with them, won’t you? To when Slade was rich and Laurie worked for Vicky in her house and Donn had no idea how much his wife (‘s face) was about to change…

This episode is brought to you by Adam and Eve, NatureBox, and Madison Reed.

Dialing it up with Steve Dahl.

This episode is brought to you by MVMT Watches, Mott & Bow, and Soothe.

Comedian and Hannibal’s gambling buddy Kevin Bozeman is on this week’s Handsome Rambler! They remember elementary school basketball stars, share their worst heckler stories, and wonder whether Hannibal needs to learn to parallel park. Later, Tony shares a terrifying story about an identity thief.

This episode is brought to you by Mack Weldon and Seeso.

NOTE: Hannibal will be in Australia the week of 12/1; the next Handsome Rambler will be out 12/8!

Comedian and writer Louis Virtel joins Sarah and Susan to talk about The Carpenters “I’m Caught Between, Goodbye And I Love You,” Other People, Cate Blanchett in Carol, Ordinary People, and “Satisfied” from Hamilton the Musical. Happy Thanksgiving!

This episode is brought to you by Hungry Squared, Third Love, and MVMT Watches.

Dean Obeidallah (SiriusXM) and nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot join Negin for a special holiday edition of Fake the Nation. They share Thanksgiving memories of food and family, including the saffron-flavored basmati rice and currant stuffing that horrified Negin as a child. Plus, are you feeling orphaned this holiday? We have just the song for you, care of Gaby Alter.

This episode is brought to you by Casper Mattresses.

John Gemberling and Gil Ozeri join Matt Besser this week for scenes about the origin of Speed Weed, quilting with the boys, and being forced to read during your formative experiences. Later, band groupies bestow excessive praise and a man avoids defending his wife from a verbal assailant at all costs.

This episode is sponsored by MVMT Watches.

The Shrimps take on the The Shecago Bulls at pan North Weddington Gymnasium and Fun Palace. Matt Gourley and Mark McConville call the action.

The Shrimps on Twitter: @pistolshrimpsbb
The Shrimps on Instagram: @thepistolshrimps
Pistol Shrimps Radio on Twitter: @shrimpsradio
Pistol Shrimps Radio on Instagram: @pistolshrimpsradio

Matt Gourley on Twitter and IG: @mattgourley
Mark McConville on Twitter and Instagram: @markmcconville

Two more murders bring the total to five, terrorizing the city. As the police come up short in their attempt to protect the city, women take desperate measures to protect themselves. In this episode, host Portland Helmich meets a granddaughter of the Strangler’s fourth victim, and she follows the Boston police as they launch and attempt to control one of the largest manhunts the city had ever known. We’ll hear the voice of the late detective Phil DiNatale, meet his son, John, and explore the family’s vast archive of original Strangler notes, photos and diaries. Portland also interviews Mark Safarik, a retired FBI agent, who specializes in the homicides of elderly women. Safarik explains that with an unprecedented crime, traditional crime-solving techniques are almost never effective. 

This episode is brought to you by Mack Weldon, Audible, Blue Apron, and Casper Mattresses.

Check out Howl Premium and use promo code FRANCHISE to hear the entire Season 4 of The Franchise: Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts.  Join Kyle Newman and Razzle Dangerously as they tackle the most successful film series of all time. In Episode 1, We kick off Season 4 with a look at the film that launched the phenomenon The Sorcerer’s Stone as well as its darker sequel The Chamber of Secrets. Friend of The Franchise, concept artist Paul Bateman (who also appears in the film series!) joins to chat all things Harry along with actress and Potter-fanatic Georgie Flores, star of Freeform’s upcoming series Famous in Love.

Writer Christine Nangle (Inside Amy Schumer, Kroll Show) joins Andrew this week to talk about the current state post election, protest culture, Mike Pence at Hamilton possibly being a distraction, and much more. As always, leave us a message about anything you think is racist at (323) 389-RACE.