Episode 77: Jessi and the Horrible Prank

The episode for "Jessi and the Horrible Prank" was originally released on September 4, 2017 and is #75. **You can listen to it here.** This episode is 1:07:42 long.This week's ghostwriter: Peter Lerangis.

*Previous:* Episode 76: Kristy and the Copycat | *Next:* Episode 78: Stacey's Lie | *Or,* see all episodes.

## Official Episode Description

Finally, the episode everyone has been waiting for – a 1-hour extravaganza devoted exclusively to BSC fan favorite character Michael P. Trout (the computer science teacher that Jessi has in this one book and who never appears in the series again). We get into all things Trout this week, answer all your burning Trout questions, and speculate, briefly, about whether Trout died for our sins so that we may all be saved. For folks who aren’t Trout superfans, never fear, because Tanner manages to shoehorn the Stormlight Archive into this, and Jack, not to be outdone, gets a whole minute on T. S. Eliot before anyone can stop him. And of course, there’s dolls, dinosaurs, and a truly sick burn on Claudia.

## Music Credits

* “Letting Go,” by Nicolai Heidlas
* “Morning Walk,” by Jonny Easton
* “Best Dramatic Music Ever,” by JonathanChiu21
* “Through the Woods We Ran,” by Vindsvept
* “Stardust,” by Foxbeat
* “Super Circus,” by Kevin MacLeod
* “Reflection,” by Whitesand
* Original Intro by Scott Lamb
* Heavy Metal Outro by Baby Bee Wolfkiller

## Segments

###  Burn Of The Week

Tanner: "My burn was Chapter 14 of this book." (An epic play)

###  Lerangis Moment

Tanner Sings a Lerangis moment song. Later he sings another one to the tune of "I Will Survive" - Baby Bee Betsy.

Jack's moment comes from the Chapter Two (the boilerplate from the Scholastic lawyers): A History of Stoneybrook, Connecticut. It is long and worth listening. Tanner had the same Lerangis moment.

###  Tearful Moment

Jack: this whole book, tormenting a teacher: "I realized I was seeing him smile for the first time ever"

## Theories

###  Doll Theory

Dolls are back this week. Two teachers: "The Dollies".

###  Factions

Squirt is a dinosaur and speaks their language.

## Jack's References

* It's like The Winter's Tale.
* The planet next to KPAX.
* In the Land of Invented Languages
* Sapir-Whorf theory of linguistics
* Numerical themes in the
* J. Alfred Prufrock "how his hair is growing thin" (T. S. Eliot)

## Tanner's References

* Tanner Sings When 2 Become 1
* "She feels lawful good, and no excellent character is lawful good." — re: Jessi
* Breaking Bad
* Mike Trout went on to a career in baseball; or possibly was actually a primate
* Tower of Babel
* Sounds like Eddie Vedder.

## Notes

* The boys acknowledge that Peter Lerangis contacted them, across the void.
* The boys discuss the current crop of tweets about Episode 74: Dawn and the We ♥ Kids Club, re: California Diaries and how wild they are. "We should read them!" says Tanner.

Jack and Jenkins

 Jack talks about the swell of support for Sweet Sweet Valley Boys, which he is personally pulling for. "That sounds awful," says Tanner. "Let's read the Cosmere Universe." "Sanderson is almost as prolific as Martin," adds Jack.
* Squirtglish was last discussed in Episode 17: Jessi's Secret Language.
* Jack says "heads up seven up". Tanner proposes a game of "duck duck gray duck" because he's Minnesotan at heart.
* Jessi as a Pontius Pilate character.
* Jack talks to Jenkins in the stinger. He purrs very loudly.

## References & Links

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Winter%27s\_Tale
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-PAX\_(film)
3. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Land-Invented-Languages-Adventures-Linguistic/dp/0812980891
4. ↑ the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, or Whorfianism, the principle is often defined to include two versions: the strong hypothesis (language determines thought and that linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories) and the weak hypothesis ( linguistic categories and usage only influence thought and decisions): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic\_relativity
5. ↑ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/44212/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock
6. ↑ When 2 Become 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA5jsa1lR9c
7. ↑ https://www.theringer.com/2017/6/7/16044950/mlb-mike-trout-best-player-mvp-clayton-kershaw-francisco-lindor-af1dff34d925
8. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MVP:\_Most\_Valuable\_Primate
9. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower\_of\_Babel
10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon\_Sanderson#Cosmere
11. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven\_Up\_(game)
12. ↑ https://deadspin.com/duck-duck-gray-duck-isnt-just-a-stupid-regionalism-1819317297
13. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontius\_Pilate

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