Episode 2: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls

The episode for "Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls" was originally released on March 7, 2016 and is #2. **You can listen to it here.** This episode is 43:11 long.This week's ghostwriter: none.

*Previous:* Episode 1: Kristy's Great Idea | *Next:* Episode 3: The Truth About Stacey | *Or,* see all episodes.

## Official Episode Description

Jack and Tanner go fully CSI on the quiet town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut and try to get to the bottom of a 30-year-old cold case involving a rash of high-profile burglaries. In the course of their investigation, they discover a dark secret about one of the town's young residents, Alan Gray. (The secret is that he likes Kristy.)

## Book Description

* Jack: Four small business owners struggle to maintain their professional and personal relationships when their livelihoods are threatened by a stalker, a dangerous thief, and a practitioner of the dark arts.
* Tanner does not finish describing the book in 60 seconds. This episode is the introduction of the 60-second description.

## Segments

###  Alan Gray Will See You Now

Unofficial. Alan Gray is in a prank war with Kristy. He peeps on Kristy from the bushes, is brought in by the police, and then goes with Kristy to the Halloween Hop dance.

###  Burn Of The Week

* Not officially announced, but Tanner brings up Claudia's line about "Who cares what X equals? Why bother finding out, because x equals something different every time." Jack notes that this was the only line he wrote down from the book, as well.
* Tanner brings up the great pranks.

 ###  Pete Black (Back in Black)

Unofficial. Stacey goes to the dance with Pete.

###  Tanner Googles

Not official, but Tanner mentions being about to Google Stephen Hawking's IQ.

## Theories

###  Witchcraft

Morbidda Destiny, freckles. Janine comments about "the human fear process is deeply fascinating". There is discussion about how the tree is haunted. Morbidda gives the girls mouse guts and Tanner says she's lost her power over the girls.

## Jack's References

* Jack describes the book as "a quartet-like structure".
	+ "The obvious comparison is a Gothic novel." and "a pastiche of the Gothic novel".
* Hailing rituals and Marxist theory, masculine dominance.
* Jack says begs the question can only mean one thing, and is therefore unlike X.
* Themes of persecution and alienation, as a meta-text, through the texts in the book: Nancy Drew, The Pond (an environmental book YA), The Witch Next Door, The Witch at Blackbird Pond, Sources of the American Social Tradition (by David J Rothman), and The Secret Garden.
* Wuthering Heights.
* Jack references Inception.

## Tanner's References

* The boys will watch "Grownups 2" after the recording.
* An episode of Black Mirror where people have cameras in their eyes.
* Zhang Yimou, the Chinese film director, and his 2002 film "Hero". (However, Jet Li is the correct star and not Jackie Chan.)
* Brainiac from Superman
* Poltergeist

## Notes

* The boys may only read the 35 original books. (LOL)
* Why are they doing this? Jack's story is unchanged; Tanner "just likes books about 12 year old girls".
* This episode was recorded 6 months after  Episode 1: Kristy's Great Idea.
* This is the introduction of the "one minute summary" book description.
* Jack's list of IQs to be ranked: Janine Kishi, Ashton Kucher, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Bobby Fischer, Galileo, Renee Descartes, and Immanuel Kant.
* Tanner calls Jack "a real Janine stan". He says that Jack is Jeanine to Tanner's Claudia.
* The boys note that the jewel thief phantom phonecall copycat is still at large.

## Notable Non-Sitters

Trevor Sandbourne, Janine Kishi, Alan Gray, Morbidda Destiny

## Sign Off

Introduction of the "Claudia's wearing a bra now, and the way she talks, you'd think boys had just been invented" signoff. Tanner also scolds Jack for a poor signoff and teaches Jack how to sign off.

## References & Links

* Random Page | The One Where...