Episodes

  • Week of January 19: The Layout of the Boy Aquarium

    Week of January 19: The Layout of the Boy Aquarium
    Jan 27 2026
    The Tournament of Champions is HERE and we love to see a bunch of our faves back on the Alex Trebek Stage. John nails a bunch of his predictions (including the one about the herbal candies), we get some great sports-related anecdotes, and we see some great gameplay as we continue on with this Jeopardy! postseason. Plus, John finishes watching Heated Rivalry, Emily updates us on what fans think is an editing snafu, and we dive deep on the famous photo taken at Iwo Jima. If you want some more moments of this show that are so famous you may want to take a picture, why not join our Patreon? It's just $5/month and you'll get a new bonus episode every month including this week, as Alison Betts and Drew Goins join us to play a rock and metal music board that goes about as well as both of those J! legends think it will (badly). You also get immediate access to all of our back catalogue of bonus episodes, access to our wonderful Discord community, and MORE! Join today at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast. SOURCE: Colliers: "The Picture That Will Live Forever" by Joe Rosenthal and W.C. Heinz; Pulitzer.org: "Joe Rosenthal and the Flag-Raising on Iwo Jima" Special thank you as always to the Jeopardy! Fan and the J-Archive. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 37 mins
  • Week of January 12: Herbal Candy

    Week of January 12: Herbal Candy
    Jan 20 2026
    The Champions Wild Card finals are here, and they are a doozy, as we get the Jeopardy!-Honored "Game of the Year" and some stellar (no pun intended) play from a fantastic group of contestants. We also get a very self-deprecating response from Harvey Silikovitz, a Julia Child impression, and we preview the upcoming Tournament of Champions. And in a week of boring FJs, John manages to find an interesting angle to dive deep on William Faulkner. If you want some more interesting angles on Jeopardy!, why not support the show? Head on over to patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, where $5/month gets you access to a NEW bonus episode every month! Plus, you'll get access to our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, our Discord, and MORE. Join now! SOURCE: Los Angeles Times: "'The Sound and the Fury', as William Faulkner Imagined, In Color" by Carolyn Kellogg; University of Saskatchewan: "The Composition of 'The Sound and the Fury'" by Gail M. Morrison Special thank you 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 23 mins
  • Week of January 5: That's An Overline

    Week of January 5: That's An Overline
    Jan 13 2026
    The Champions Wild Card tournament begins and brings with it a fantastic week of games with tight races for first place in each game, strategic wagering for semifinal berths, and lots of very impressive gameplay. We also get Bill McKinley giving one of the funniest half-hearted attempts to explain away a poor Final Jeopardy! decision in the show's history. We also discuss Ken's Bluesky rants, Stella Trout's resemblance to Snail Mail, and we dive deep on guinea pigs. If you want to be a guinea pig for what it looks like to support the show, head on over to patreon.com/jeopardypodcast! Just $5/month gets you a new bonus episode every month, access to our full back catalogue, our Discord, and so much more! Plus, our latest bonus episode reunites Lisa Hanawalt and our own Emily Heller for the first new episode of Baby Geniuses in over two years! You won't wanna miss out, join now! SOURCE: National Library of Medicine: "Animal Models of Tuberculosis: Guinea Pigs" by Simon Clark, et al.; CBS News: "Peru Pushes Guinea Pigs as Food" by Rick Vecchio Special thank you as always to the Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 30 mins
  • Week of December 29: 6,7

    Week of December 29: 6,7
    Jan 6 2026
    How do you do, fellow kids? We try to appeal to the youth this week and so does Jeopardy!, as their older fans predictably fume about them twisting a very regular wordplay category to make a meme joke. But we love it, and we love this final week of Second Chance as some dynamite players return to the Alex Trebek Stage and we get some truly wonderful gameplay. We also discuss small town Canada hotels, Emily's Christmas gift, and we dive deep (plunge deep?) on the history of epidurals. If you want more of this show, there's never been a better time because Baby Geniuses is BACK, baby! That's right, Emily and Lisa Hanawalt reunite for their first Baby Gs episode in almost two years, and it's ONLY on our Patreon! You can also have a bunch of bonus episodes about Jeopardy! as a treat. Plus, access to our Discord and other fun stuff. Join today at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast. SOURCE: National Library of Medicine: "Overcoming Obstacles: The Legacy of Fidel Pagés, Founder of the Epidural, 100 Years After His Passing" by Gregory Chinn, et al. Special thank you 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 23 mins
  • Week of December 22: Barbra Joan Streisand w/ Guy Branum

    Week of December 22: Barbra Joan Streisand w/ Guy Branum
    Jan 2 2026
    Emily is finally feeling well enough to record a pod and so we do a truncated recap of last week's games, which we are calling "Guy Branum's Second Chance, Presented by Guy Branum, featuring Guy Branum". In other news, Guy Branum joins us to discuss his run to the Second Chance Finals, from feeling like his Jeopardy! journey is satisfactorily complete to what the green room vibes were like. We also watch Michelle Tsai play so well people "react" to a FJ response of hers (they don't even fume!), John gets grilled about watching "Heated Rivalry", and we dive deep on the strange and dark origins of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". If you want to have yourself a belated merry little Christmas, why not donate to the show? It's just $5/month at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast to support the show AND get a bunch of bonus episodes. You'll get a new one every month plus access to our whole back catalogue and we have a VERY special bonus episode coming early next week you won't wanna miss. Join today! SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly: "How 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' Became One of the Season's Most Beloved Songs" by Chris Willman Special thank you as always to The Jeopardy! Fan and J-Archive. This episode was produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 22 mins
  • Week of December 15: Emily Recommends "Death by Lightning"

    Week of December 15: Emily Recommends "Death by Lightning"
    Dec 23 2025
    Emily's constant recommendation of the miniseries "Death by Lightning" pays off as it leads to a get on an FJ, and that's really the headline of this first week of the Second Chance Tournament, where wagering errors and some extremely hard FJs play more of a role in who wins than the actual gameplay. But that's why we play the games, baby! It's high drama and the clue writers get us laughing, J! fans fume over a Ken IG post, and we dive deep on "The Nightmare Before Christmas". If you want to give yourself a wonderful DREAM before Christmas, why not donate to our Patreon? It's only $5 a month and you'll get access to a new bonus episode every month, featuring Jeopardy! guests, live play episodes, and MORE, access to our Discord, and lots of other fun stuff. Join today at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast. SOURCE: Forbes: "'Nightmare Before Christmas' Turns 20: From Shameful Spawn to Disney's Pride" by Scott Mendelson; Business Insider: "Inside the Tumultuous Making of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'" by Jacob Sarkisian Special thank you 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 32 mins
  • Week of December 8: ❤️Bernard❤️

    Week of December 8: ❤️Bernard❤️
    Dec 16 2025
    A category about holiday movies gets us in our Christmas bag as we discuss Christmas Vacation, Jingle All the Way, and Emily's early crush on Bernard the Elf. Will Riley jingles all the way to bank this week with cash stuffing his pockets after a very impressive run and a very, very confusing finish to it. We also have Jeopardy! fans (and the hosts) fuming over a bizarre category that made no sense and we dive deep on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. If you want to guide your sleigh to a worthy destination, head on over to our Patreon to support the show! For just $5/month at patreon.com/jeopardypodcast, you'll get access to ALL of our bonus episodes, our Discord, and you'll get a new episode every single month. This month, we sat down with recent 14-game champ Harrison Whitaker for a fantastic interview that is our most popular bonus episode ever. You won't wanna miss it! SOURCE: Smithsonian Magazine: "The Magical Animation of 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'" by Michelle Delgado; Geekwire: "The Geeky Tech Behind Rudolph" by Frank Catalano Special thank you 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 25 mins
  • Week of December 1: Globes of the Devil

    Week of December 1: Globes of the Devil
    Dec 9 2025
    It's a big week for superchamps present and former as Harrison Whitaker's time on J! comes to an end but superchamp Ray LaLonde's (evil?) twin, Ron, makes his debut and sets out to carve a Jeopardy! path of his own. Plus, we get another great 2-day champ in Libby Jones, we get perhaps the horniest clue we have ever read in our time as a podcast, and Ken can't stop thinking about wood. Plus, we dive deep on the humble tomato's history as a fruit and/or vegetable. Speaking of Harrison Whitaker, we loved him so much on the show we brought him on for a full-length bonus episode interview! Don't miss the exclusive by donating to our Patreon at ⁠patreon.com/jeopardypodcast⁠ for what was a wonderfully honest and funny chat about Harrison's life and his time on the Alex Trebek Stage. You'll also get access to our entire back catalogue of bonuses, an invite to our Discord, and MORE! Don't delay! SOURCE: Washington Post: "⁠The Obscure Supreme Court Case That Decided Tomatoes Are Vegetables⁠" by Caitlin Dewey Special thank you 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 33 mins