Favorite Moments

Andrew: So, we all have our favorite moments from the past 49 episodes of MuggleCast that we would like to play for everyone now. So first, we'll start off with Ben's favorite moment.

Ben and Micah's Favorite Moment

[Audio starts]

Jamie: Unless you swing that way Ben.

Ben: Okay.

Andrew: Well, we should talk about how Emma, how Hermione is portrayed in the films.

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: Because...

Ben: Very, very...

Andrew: ...some people take it the wrong way. See it badly, poorly.

Laura: Mhm.

Ben: Okay.

Jamie: Ben thinks, Ben thinks she's portrayed very, very, very, very well.

Andrew: We'll get to that in a minute.

Jamie: Don't you, Ben?

[Laura laughs]

Ben: Oh yeah.

Jamie: He has dreams at night. He has dreams at night of running through a cornfield and they're chasing each other and their arms are open...

[Everyone laugh]

Ben: Oh, come on.

Jamie: ...and you can hear like "Chariots of Fire" going...[hums the tune]

Ben: Okay, enough of embarrassing me. Okay, about Hermione.

Laura: Yeah.

Jamie: Yeah.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

[Audio ends]

Andrew: Aw, poor Ben.

Laura: Oh, memories.

Jamie: I remember that. [sings] Memories.

Andrew: And my voice sounds like I haven't spoken in the past ten years. All right, now we have Laura's two favorite moments.

Laura's Favorite Moment #1

[Audio starts]

Micah: I know I’m not a scientist or anything, but isn’t there a relation between an otter and a weasel, somewhere along the line?

Jamie: Is there? Oh my god!

Laura: It would make sense.

Jamie: Oh my god, that’s amazing! Oh my god!

Ben: Oh my gosh.

Jamie: Oh my god, Micah. That’s absolutely awesome!

Ben: Oh my god. Micah Tannenbaum has discovered the key to the Harry Potter shipping series. Do you guys see this?

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: Fans, send a letter to the P.O. Box.

Andrew: Give us a call.

[Everyone is still laughing]

Jamie: No.

Ben: Send him fan mail. Give us a call. Oh my gosh, Micah.

Andrew: 218-20-MAGIC. Seriously though, no, he makes a good point.

Jamie: That's an awesome point!

Ben: That is true, that is true.

Micah: Now I’m going to have to look that up. Let me look that up.

Laura: That's really cool.

Andrew: I’m going to do Google image searches and compare. Weasel.

Jamie: Can we have ten seconds of silence to appreciate that amazing revelation by Micah?

Andrew: [disgusted noise] Nobody Google image search weasel. I’m sorry I mentioned that.

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: Really? I’m doing it right now of course.

[Audio ends]

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: All right, now number two.

Laura's Favorite Moment #2

[Audio starts]

Jamie: Actually, Ben, this is a perfect moment for this. I've been meaning to ask you this for a - for a while now. I'm afraid I can't get down on one knee, but Ben?

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: Yeah?

Jamie: [laughs] Ben Carla Schoen...

[Everyone laughs]

Eric: Carlo. His middle name is Carlo.

Jamie: Will you marry me?

Laura: Can I be the flower girl?

Ben: Of course, Jamie.

Jamie: Oh, yes!

Ben: Of course.

Jamie: Yes, definitely. Definitely.

Ben: Yeah. [laughs]

Eric: Can I be the best man?

Jamie: Eric, you aren't doing the speech.

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: Eric, you are not doing the speech.

Ben: Yeah, you're definitely not.

[Audio ends]

[Laura laughs]

Ben: Is it just me or...

Jamie: Awww.

Ben: ...I've forgotten half of the stuff we say on these shows.

Andrew: I know. [laughs]

Jamie: I know.

Laura: Yeah, me too. [laughs]

Ben: [laughs] Actually, I've forgotten 99 percent of the stuff we say on these shows.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: I just hate listening to them because I hate hearing my own voice.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

Jamie: Yeah, same here. I can't listen to it.

Laura: I'm the same way. I don't listen to any of the shows.

Jamie: Same.

Laura: [laughs] I feel like such a bad person.

Bad Moments on MuggleCast

Andrew: We'll play the moments from myself and Eric in a little bit. And, by the way, Eric dropped out because he was at a Barnes and Noble using wireless internet but then it broke down on him and he's going back to his house where power is now restored. He had lost power earlier today. But Laura, you're going to tell us a little bit now about some bad moments that we've had recording MuggleCast because every once in a while, we do run into a hiccup.

Laura: [laughs] Well, actually, I was kind of hoping Eric would be here to recount those because I don't remember them very well.

Jamie: [laughs] Yeah.

Ben: There were quite a few.

Laura: But there was - there was Episode 46 which I'm sure we all remember very well.

Jamie: Oh my god.

Laura: This was our attempt to record our first live show...

[Ben laughs]

Laura: ...over the Internet and well Andrew, you - you had a very good description of what it sounded like whenever we went into that room, so why don't you tell us a little bit about that.

Andrew: What had happened was we were using SkypeCast to do this live show because we thought, "Oh, it's Skype. There couldn't be any problems." We use them every day to record and talk to each other. So, we created a SkypeCast and you can fit up to 100 people in a room and for some reason - because we had two rooms open or something - whenever we tried to talk to each other, just us co-hosts, there was this huge noise that sounded like wind and it almost sounded like a hurricane?

Jamie: But Andrew...

Andrew: Or...

Jamie: ...can I interrupt very quickly...

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: ...and just point out one glaring error in the name you just gave?

Andrew: Oh. What?

Jamie: It wasn't SkypeCast. It was SkypeCast Beta.

Andrew: Ohhh. That does explain a lot.

Laura: Ah, yes. [laughs]

Jamie: Very important in this story.

Andrew: It does.

Ben: [laughs] Yeah.

Jamie: I think it is very prominent in this story you are about to tell.

Andrew: Yes. It does explain a lot. So, we just heard this giant hurricane, wind-like noise so we all had to yell over top of each other because - not over top of each other, over top of this...[laughs]

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: ...gigantic noise that we heard. It was so funny and we were all in tears from laughing.

[All laugh]

Andrew: It was...

Ben: [laughs] That was so funny. That was so funny.

Laura: It really did. [laughs] It really was. It got to the point where we were just dying laughing and I don't even know what was so funny about it, but... [laughs]

Andrew: It was the funniest thing we’ve ever done [laughs], but it was also a pretty bad experience, because we kind of screwed all the people we were hoping to listen to us record the show live. Now, another bad experience we had was Episode 13, which was our Halloween Episode. It was timed nicely, because it was on lucky 13, but it was also a very unlucky episode for recording [laughs]. Right, Laura?

Laura: I think we recorded that one twice, didn’t we? I think we recorded it twice, and then we had to record it again because I think Eric’s computer was messing up, and I don’t even remember if Jamie was on. Ben probably wanted to go to sleep. I was probably yelling at everybody to shut up.

Ben: Well, actually, I hadn’t been on for three episodes, and finally, I was like, "Yes! I’m finally back on the show again!" And I come on the show, and record - record an episode, and I think it’s fine, and then I go (I probably left to go get some food or something), and I come back three hours later. I’m a big eater, you know? I come back three hours later, and Andrew tells me, "Hey! We re-recorded the show while you were gone."

Andrew: Hee hee hee!

[Laura laughs]

Ben: I was like, "Uh... thanks for calling me!" Yeah.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: I can’t remember actually why I didn’t call you.

Ben: So, I... Yeah.

Laura: I don’t even remember why we decided we needed to re-record it. It was just - I think we decided it wasn’t a good show. It was bad and rushed.

Ben: Just a washed episode.

Andrew: Every once in a while, we’ll hit a show where we just can’t get everyone...

Ben: Well, every once in a while, we’ll lay here on Skype for four hours trying to start...

[Laura laughs]

Ben: ...and then finally, we’ll just be like, "Let’s do this tomorrow."

Laura: Yeah, if by - if by, "Every once in a while," you mean almost every week...

Ben: Yeah [laughs].

Laura: ... then, yes [laughs].

Andrew: It’s too bad Eric’s not here right now, because he could tell us all those horrific stories about how he’s lost his audio file quite a few times.

Laura: Yes. [laughs]

Ben: Guys. Guys, guys, guys, my Audacity crashed. Guys... [laughs].

Andrew: That’s the number one thing we hear from him.

[Andrew, Ben, and Laura laugh]

Eric's Favorite Moment

Andrew: All right, now, here is Eric’s favorite moment. Of course, it’s a moment of his:

[Audio starts]

Eric: Okay. So, no - okay. Quiet, Micah. All right. So now, you think Tootsie Rolls...

Micah: Because I say so much.

Eric: Now, everybody knows what a Tootsie Roll is. Everyone’s had a Tootsie Roll. Everyone, if they haven’t, they’re going to have a Tootsie Roll. So, I’m thinking, I’m sitting here, looking at this whole tube of what used to be Tootsie Rolls (actually, I ate them all), and I’m thinking, "Who manufactured these?" Nobody knows! Nobody knows what company owns Tootsie Roll, unless you work for that company, I’m thinking, but they’ve sold millions. I mean, how many Tootsie Rolls have you sold - have you bought in your life? That’s a lot of Tootsie Rolls.

Andrew: [laughs] So, what’s your...

Eric: So, the point...

Andrew: [Continues laughing] So, what’s your point?!

Eric: So, the point is, Andrew and Micah and Laura and viewers at home, that you don’t know who manufactures Tootsie Rolls, yet you buy them anyway. And in the case of MuggleCast t-shirts, you know who manufactures them. You know that you’re going to get your money’s worth from MuggleCast. You know exactly who that money is going to and why it’s going to them. And you can support the show by buying this, just like you support Tootsie Roll manufacturers. Like the CEO of Tootsie Roll - the CEO of Tootsie is sitting there on a desk chair, and he’s not doing anything for Harry Potter fans, but we are, and that’s why you should buy a MuggleCast t-shirt.

[Audio ends]

Andrew: Wow. That was inspiring. Long, lengthy, and inspiring...

Eric: Hey, hey Andrew? Andrew?

Andrew: ...but we really appreciate it.

Laura: And full of Tootsie Roll plugs [laughs].

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: The thing that I found funny about that [laughs] is that, is that all of us picked somebody else’s comment so we didn’t seem arrogant...

[Laura laughs]

Jamie: ... but Eric’s favorite bit...

Andrew: Yeah.

[Ben and Laura laugh]

Jamie: ... Eric’s favorite bit just happens to be a half-an-hour monologue by himself.

Andrew: How typical.

Ben: But still - actually, I’ve given Eric a lot of crap back in the day, well, actually, every day. And...

Laura: Back in the day?

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: Not even close.

Ben: And I just thought that actually, that was pretty funny, and his little spiel there.

Andrew's Favorite Moment

Andrew: All right. And now, here’s my favorite moment, which is mainly for the comment that Laura makes later in this audio clip:

[Audio starts]

Andrew: But think about the situation: Lily was born among two mudblood - she’s not...

Laura: Muggleborn!

Ben: So was Hermione.

Andrew: Oh! Whoa, whoa, whoa...

Laura: Muggleborn...

Ben: Yeah!

Laura: ... Andrew, gosh!

Ben: Geez!

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: What?

Laura: Muggleborn!

Ben: Muggleborn, not mudblood!

Laura: God, you’re so prejudiced!

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Geez!

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: Okay! So... Oh, oh, I see, you guys are trying to be courteous.

Jamie: What did you say, Andrew?

Andrew: I didn’t catch it, you dorks.

Jamie: What did you say? I missed it.

Andrew: I said mudblood! [laughs]

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: Andrew! Andrew!

Andrew: All these dorks are like, "Don’t say that!"

Eric: They’re both mudbloods. They’re both worth nothing, anyway.

Jamie: Hey...

Andrew: You guys are such dorks [laughs].

Laura: Shut up! You work for the site, too!

Andrew: I thought I was actually using the... [laughs] I thought I was using the wrong term. You made me feel all stupid.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

[Audio ends]

Ben: Did you...

Laura: You should’ve felt stupid, Andrew. I'm just kidding.

Ben: To me it sounded like you arbitrarily chose ten seconds of a random show...

Andrew: No, I didn’t!

Ben: ...and called it your favorite moment [laughs].

Andrew: No! I thought that was a funny clip.

Laura: No, actually, I’ve seen - I’ve seen people with that whole thing quoted in their profile over at the forums. So, apparently...

Andrew: Oh, really?

Laura: Yeah. Apparently, people find it funny.

Jamie's Favorite Moment

Andrew: Oh, cool. Well, here is Jamie’s favorite moment, now:

[Audio starts]

Ben: Everybody, welcome to MuggleCast Episode 32, coming to you live from Moundridge, Kansas. I’m Ben Schoen.

Andrew: Sims, Andrew.

Ben: [Impersonating Kevin] I’m Kevin Steck.

Eric: [Impersonating Jamie] I’m Jamie Lawrence.

Andrew: [Imitating Laura] I’m Laura Thompson.

Eric: I'm Eric Scull.

Ben: [Impersonating Micah] And I'm Micah Tannenbaum.

Ben: We have a full house here this week, people.

Andrew: We do.

Ben: We have Eric, Andrew, Kevin, Jamie, Laura. Geez!

Andrew: [Impersonating Laura] Yeah, this is great. I love this.

Eric: [Impersonating Jamie] Can somebody post the schedule? Can somebody post the schedule?

Andrew: [Impersonating Laura] No, why do you keep asking?

Eric: [Impersonating Jamie] Give me the schedule. I want the schedule.

Ben: Okay, Jamie. I gave you the schedule three minutes ago.

Eric: [Impersonating Jamie] Go into the Writely. Dude, go into the Writely and get the schedule.

Ben: [Impersonating Micah] Hey Ben, I forgot to do the News this week.

[Ben laughs while this is playing]

Ben: [Impersonating Micah] What are we going to do about that?

[Jamie laughs while this playing]

Ben: Micah...

Andrew: Micah, can you stop asking questions?

Ben: Andrew, what are we going to do about him?

Andrew: I don't know. Laura?

Ben: [Impersonating Kevin] Hey, don't be so mean to Micah! Micah is a good person. I am backwards compatible with Windows 3.1.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: [Impersonating Laura] No you're not. You've got Windows XP. Windows 3.1 doesn't exist.

Ben: Okay. The jig is up. The jig is up

Eric: Oh, quiet down Laura. I used to have Windows 3.1.

Andrew: [Impersonating Laura] What are you talking about?

Ben: Okay.

Eric: Laura, okay, whatever.

Andrew: [Impersonating Laura] Stop it!

Ben: Okay. Okay, guys.

[Audio ends]

Laura: Way to go, Andrew. You made me sound slow. Thank you.

Andrew: [laughs] That was my best portrayal of you.

Laura: You’re such a good Laura impersonator. I think you should - that should become your profession.

Andrew: Oh, thank you.

Ben: That was definitely a good opening for that.

Jamie: I thought that was funny. That was funny, funny, funny, funny.

Andrew: Ben, you kind of sounded like you were getting annoyed at the end of that, though, with us doing the impersonations.

[Jamie and Laura laugh]

Ben: No, I’m talking about the [impersonating Kevin], "I’m Kevin Steck."

An Evening With Harry, Carrie and Garp

Andrew: Well, all right. That concludes our Episode 50 talk. We’ll discuss a little bit later in the show just a little bit more, but for now, of course, there was a big event this week: An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp, featuring, JK Rowling, of course. What did you guys think of it? It was a huge event. We all went. What’s up, Laura?

Stephen King

Laura: Well, what did you guys think of Stephen King?

Ben: He was awesome. I really thought he was cool.

Laura: I thought it was......

Jamie: Stephen King rocks.

Laura: ... absolutely awesome to see him.

Ben: Lard Ass Hogan.

Andrew: Yeah [laughs]

[Laura laughs].

Andrew: Jamie, what did you think of Stephen King?

Jamie: Well, I read It. I think I read It a very long time ago...

Ben: You read what?

Jamie: ... or I saw the film. I thought it was...

Ben: You read what?

Jamie: It. Stephen King's It, you know?

Andrew: The book he wrote.

Ben: I know.

Jamie: Oh [laughs].

Ben: I’m messing with him [laughs].

Jamie: So, anyway. I read that a while ago, and I thought it was absolutely awesome. And I think it’s interesting because everyone thinks of him as a sort of weird horror writer who comes up with disgusting stories, but he’s really, really normal. And he explained how he comes up with these stories in very practical, logical ways. So, I think it was really, really interesting to hear that. Yeah, I thought it was fun. I thought John Irving told an extremely good story, and as Eric said, he answered his questions very well, but Jo just stole the night, obviously. But it was an awesome, an absolutely awesome event. I thought it was really, really, really good. And fun. And I’m so glad I went to it.

Andrew: Yeah, me, too. And Stephen King’s entry was also - his big entrance - was also pretty cool [laughs]. Because it kind of reminded me of - I feel like an idiot saying this. I know Ben - Ben knows what I’m thinking [laughs].

Ben: Because he looked like Bono from U2 coming out to City of Blinding Lights.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

[Jamie laughs].

Andrew: No, but it was very U2-ish. It was like these six lights pointing out onto the - towards the audience, and he walked out, and you could only see his silhouette, [laughs] and it was just kind of cool, and then the lights came up and stuff. I just thought that was neat. And it’s a shame J.K. Rowling didn’t come out that same way. She just walked out, although she still had a big entrance with the applause.

Jamie: Mhm.

Eric: Oh, come on!

Laura: Jo doesn’t need an entrance.

Eric: She doesn’t need an entrance!

Andrew: Well, that’s what I’m saying.

Eric: She still got a standing ovation. She had the biggest applause. You know that.

Andrew: Right, right. Definitely. And it was funny, because we mentioned this on the live NYC Podcast, too, but every time her face came up on the intro video, this huge applause...

[Eric laughs]

Laura: Everyone just freaked out, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Andrew, Eric, and Laura laugh]

Jon Stewart

Andrew: And then, of course, another big surprise for almost everyone in that audience was when Jon Stewart came out to introduce Jo on that first night, and that was really exciting [laughs].

Laura: [Gasps] Oh!

Eric: Oh, my gosh!

Jamie: Andrew, Andrew literally...

Laura: Oh, I got very excited.

Jamie: Andrew, I...

Laura: Poor Micah! He was sitting next to me, and I screamed when I saw Jon Stewart come out [laughs], and I felt him kind of flinch.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: I have never seen Andrew so excited.

Ben: Micah did?

Jamie: Andrew, you looked so excited when that happened.

Ben: Micah looks like Jon Stewart.

Andrew: Well, it was a big surprise.

Laura: No he doesn't.

Andrew: And I’m always watching him on TV. It was the first time I actually saw him in person.

Eric: [To Ben] A little bit.

Andrew: So, it was pretty cool [laughs]. Ben, would you care to explain for our listening audience, for those who weren’t at the event, could you tell everyone the order of the events?

Rundown of the Evening

Ben: It started off with Whoopi Goldberg doing an introduction that was written - it was written for her by... I don’t remember who wrote it for her. It was probably Scholastic. And the intro - she was reading it, and it sort of fell apart, so she had to improvise a bit, but she did a really nice job. She was really funny. And then she called out Kathy Bates, who came out and started talking about her personal connection to Stephen King, all these types of things, and then she introduced him. Stephen King came out and read a section of a story he wrote called, The Body, and it was, "The Legend of Lard Ass Hogan," which has a lot of throwing up in it.

Andrew: Hmmm.

Ben: It’s a very funny story.

[Eric and Laura laugh]

Ben: But, it can also make you sick to your stomach if you’re not feeling too well. And then I forget the name of the guy who came out to - after Stephen King - to introduce John Irving. Do you guys remember?

Laura: Ummm...

Eric: It was a different guy both nights.

Ben: I'll talk about the first night...

Laura: Wasn't it...

Andrew: I'm not sure, but whoever it was, he wasn't very interesting.

Ben: Yeah, I don't remember. But anyway, a guy came out and introduced John Irving.

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