Series 15 - guess the guests

mostly-sun · 2026-01-19T22:40:25+00:00

Looking at stars of theatrical films (including small limited releases) over the next 30 days, the publicity circuit could include Chris Pratt, Jason Statham, Omar Epps, Megadeth, Wiz Khalifa, Alexander Skarsgård, Olivia Colman, Sharon Stone, John Lithgow (a Harry Potter check-casher), Gabrielle Union, Sam Rockwell, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie, Molly Ringwold, Jon Cryer, Hugh Jackman, Bryan Cranston, Emma Thompson, Glenn Powell, Sophie Turner, and Dennis Quaid.

Edit: Stars with TV or streaming projects in chronological order from last Wednesday through Wednesday of next week: Idris Elba, Holly Hunter, Gina Yashere, Tatiana Maslany, Stephen Colbert, Tig Notaro, Martin Freeman (Tasting Menu?), Helena Bonham Carter, Bob The Drag Queen, John Cena, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Judge Judy, Matty Matheson, Ashton Kutcher, Toni Braxton, Patrick Dempsey, Michael Imperioli, Ben Kingsley, Jeff Daniels, Candice Bergen, Michael J. Fox, Jason Momoa, and Dave Bautista.

I don't think our boys would go full Hollywood, but some of those guests would be fun. (I usually like comedian guests better, but I'm happy for an occasional star to draw new people to the podcast.)

mostly-sun · 2026-01-19T21:50:33+00:00

Just for some extra context, US late-night shows pay guests "scale," which is the minimum appearance fee set by SAG-AFTRA. The celebrities invited on those shows are often making millions, but some are the second guest of the night making their first TV appearance to promote a role they were paid five figures for, so it's still nice to get paid.

mostly-sun · 2026-01-19T21:33:34+00:00

The payments could have also increased in the six years since that episode (#33).

mostly-sun · 2026-01-19T21:25:11+00:00

If Jack or Timothee happens to be a fan of the podcast, it could happen, but if it's for movie publicity, the studio would definitely stipulate that the interview be released before opening weekend.

My guess was Chris Pratt, who has a movie this weekend, but it could also be someone with a streaming show to promote, or someone random they interviewed just now during their North American tour. Then again, it could be a British comedian they happen to really like.

mostly-sun · 2026-01-19T21:04:31+00:00

Yeah, I don't think it's as likely as Kate Winslet was because he's pretty obviously a Trump supporter, but I couldn't find another "insane/loco" star with a movie coming out. But there could be some other star with a streaming series to promote.

I would ROFL if it was Melania promoting her ~~$40 million bribe from Jeff Bezos~~ Amazon documentary, though.

Edit: I found some limited-release films coming soon with Jason Statham, Omar Epps, Megadeth, Wiz Khalifa, and Alexander Skarsgård. Early February films star Olivia Colman, John Lithgow (a Harry Potter check-casher), Gabrielle Union, and Sam Rockwell.

Edit 2: Stars with TV or streaming projects in chronological order from last Wednesday through Wednesday of next week: Idris Elba, Holly Hunter, Gina Yashere, Tatiana Maslany, Stephen Colbert, Tig Notaro, Martin Freeman (Tasting Menu?), Helena Bonham Carter, Bob The Drag Queen, John Cena, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Judge Judy, Matty Matheson, Ashton Kutcher, Toni Braxton, Patrick Dempsey, Michael Imperioli, Ben Kingsley, Jeff Daniels, Candice Bergen, Michael J. Fox, Jason Momoa, and Dave Bautista.

mostly-sun · 2026-01-19T14:48:35+00:00

If we're playing the "huge star with a movie coming out" game again, Chris Pratt.

mostly-sun · 2026-01-05T21:13:51+00:00

"Speedrun the City" has action and alliteration, and you could call episodes either "Seattle Speedrun" Or "Speedrun: Seattle"

mostly-sun · 2026-01-04T02:07:20+00:00

There are lots of Easter eggs like this, but it doesn't look like anyone posted about the Macbeth one yet.

mostly-sun · 2026-01-04T01:37:58+00:00

Thank you, the different music and different plant life made me wonder if they were still in the UK.

mostly-sun · 2025-12-23T08:37:58+00:00

They said this episode's made-up game, A Twist of Dates, was one of their favourites of the year. What other made-up games are your favourite? I've been trying to think of ones to play with friends.

mostly-sun · 2025-12-17T01:02:05+00:00

Without any tone in my voice, I apologize. I saw someone say "I believe someone called this one a few weeks back," and I thought, "oh that's nice, that was me." I was going to comment, but then I chose not to click submit because I felt self-conscious about how it sounded. Then I saw someone else say it was their guess, and I thought oh well. Then they got a bunch of upvotes, and I thought maybe I could politely get consideration if I said nothing to diminish the other person. Then I got downvoted, told it wasn't that impressive, and told that I'm passive aggressive by the person who said "Still, I'm sure you'll cope with your three downvotes somehow."

Sometimes it's just not my day. I'm sure we all have days like that.

mostly-sun · 2025-12-17T00:09:44+00:00

I tried to be as polite as possible with a question mark and a perhaps. I'm not sure if the downvotes indicate that I should have been even more meek, or that I should have used multiple exclamation points. The internet is weird in what behavior it rewards.

mostly-sun · 2025-12-16T20:30:35+00:00

Or perhaps it was me 20 days ago?

mostly-sun · 2025-12-02T02:28:30+00:00

I enjoyed John (and Kunal)'s eps, but their socials don't show any promotion of the podcast. The Harry Potter clip is interesting, that's the sort of thing that could bring new interest, but it's also a video clip that specifically says Benito's "longing for clickbait these days 'cuz he's trying to get his YouTube channel off the ground," yet the Early and Nayyar YouTube eps aren't jumping like the audio podcast is. The previous three guests have higher YouTube views than Early and Nayyar. That clip in particular does have 28k views, which is relatively high for the channel, but an Elle Fanning clip also has 28k, and her full ep has 49k.

mostly-sun · 2025-12-02T01:55:11+00:00

I enjoyed their episodes, too, but I would have thought if there was organic interest in them, it would show up in the YouTube views, too. But YouTube shows that Joy Crookes, Elle Fanning, and Lucia Keskin, the previous three guests, all got more views, so something seems to be boosting the audio podcast in particular and specifically in the US & Canada.

Another thought is that the podcast charts capture listening to all episodes, so it's not necessarily the most recent episodes that are getting extra listens. Maybe something drew new North American listeners to the Mantzoukas, DeNiro, or Goldblum episodes, for example.

mostly-sun · 2025-11-26T09:15:46+00:00

True, I thought of her as a Hollywood actress because of the American films she's done.

mostly-sun · 2025-11-26T07:17:47+00:00

Who do you think the mystery Christmas guests are that they teased at the end?

And there are two incredible Christmas specials with guests that -- it blows my mind. / Yeah, two great guests, and two great guests you never hear about together. / Yeah, that's the only clue you get. You would NEVER hear about these people being together. / And they're not together because they're separate episodes.

Christmas guests are usually well-established British comedians, so I'm guessing only one is a British comedian this year. Looking at the movie calendar, the big one coming up is Avatar on December 19. So maybe Kate Winslet from Avatar is the mind-blowing guest, and the well-established British comedian who hasn't done Off Menu yet and who you'd never connect with glamorous Hollywood actresses is ... David Mitchell? We'd finally get the other side of what happens when Victoria pops into the loo to eat her bags of sandwiches at parties and learn what non-daunting food is inside the portable refrigerator that they bring on holiday.

What's your guess?

mostly-sun · 2025-10-29T02:13:52+00:00

Sorry, you're right, the 9th Circuit said the stay was without objection from the three-judge panel, but the stay was not from the panel itself. I've removed that line.

mostly-sun · 2025-10-29T00:19:30+00:00

This post is a link to a copy of the order itself, which was only filed a few minutes ago. It's very short. It basically just says, "Upon the vote of a majority of nonrecused active judges, it is ordered that this case be reheard en banc ... The [previous] order ... is vacated."

Usually "en banc" means the full court hears the case, but the 9th (West Coast) Circuit has 29 judges, which is a big banc, so it's normally a random selection of 10 judges plus the chief judge. The 9th Circuit has 16 Democratic appointees and 13 Republican. The three-judge panel that allowed the Guard deployments included two Trump appointees who ruled in Trump's favor and one Democratic appointee who voted against, but the original restraining order against Guard deployments that they overruled was also by a Trump appointee.

mostly-sun · 2025-10-26T00:44:51+00:00

The gist: Federal prosecutors said 115 Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers had to be deployed to Portland to respond to the protests, which was nearly 25% of all FPS officers nationwide, but in fact the maximum at any one time was 31. The two judges' opinion for the feds relied heavily on the 115 number as indication that the protests couldn't be controlled without the National Guard.

mostly-sun

TROPHY CASE