Episode 20: Claudia and the Bad Joke

The episode for "Claudia and the Bad Joke" was originally released on July 11, 2016. **You can listen to it here.** This episode is 47:31 long.This week's ghostwriter: none.

*Previous:* Episode 19: Stacey's Mistake | *Next:* Episode 21: Kristy and the Walking Disaster | *Or,* see all episodes.

## Official Episode Description

This week, Jack and Tanner meet to discuss the very complex mechanical and metaphysical implications of traversing the Planes of Chaos, also known as the Immaterium, from the Warhammer 40k universe, and whether or not the human mind is capable of making sense of a senseless reality where the laws of motion and energy do not apply. But, then we cut all that out, so I guess you'll just have to listen to them talk about The Baby-Sitters Club books instead.

## Music Credits

* Jack's re-cap song is "Touch" by Mattia Cupelli
* The Burn of the Week song is "Tell Me" by Killercats
* The Signs and Signifiers music is by Paul the Trombonist
* Original Intro by Scott Lamb

## Book Description

“Deadly serious.”

Tanner finishes with ten seconds to spare and uses the remaining time to warn about asbestos in itching powder.

## Segments

###  Burn Of The Week

Two good pranks: Betsey vs Dawn (ice cream); Kristy vs Betsey (movie theater).

Actual burns:

* Jack: Queen Elizabeth prank call
* Tanner: “God made rivers, God made lakes, God made Claudia, well, we all make mistakes.”

 ###  The Future

Introduction of this segment. It is the year 2036 and all podcasts are dead, except for The Baby-Sitter’s Club Club, which has run the gamut of American literature. “A dystopian future in which Mikayla and Lakelan are discussing Neo-modern literature.”

Mikayla (Tanner) and Lakelan (Jack) roleplay. The BSCC is the only podcast there is, and they want to know why it’s called this. Mikayla and Lakelan pray at the altar of Jack and Tanner each day.

Hi hi, Lakelan.

 ###  Tearful Moment

Jack: The way the babysitters rallied around Claudia in her time of need.

Tanner: Claudia donates her flowers to Cindy, her hospital roommate.

## Theories

###  Amber Theory

Baby-sitting in this book is a metaphor for leaving your youth.

## Jack's References

* Books in The Future segment: dystopian literature, Orwell, “We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

Boethius

Commedia dell'arte Troupe on a Wagon in a Town Square, by Jan Miel, 1640
* Jack is pleased by how Tanner got incepted by Jack’s Boethius references and notes the literal Wheel of Fortune reference in the book.
* Commedia del'Arte of the cinquecento
	+ From Jack’s original notes on babysittersclubclub.com, now accessed through archive.org: *The Commedia del'Arte of the cinquecento is known primarily for its stock characters, many of which appear in evolved forms in the plays of Shakespeare and other Elizabethan playwrights. It probably owes its characterizations to the Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence and the New Comedy tradition that preceded it in Greece (viz., Menander). Martin nods at this tradition through the "Slapstick film festival" the girls attend at the beginning of the novel and by populating Claudia and the Bad Joke with peripheral characters (Trip, Logan, Janine) who have stock traits that will be instantly recognizable to anyone who is familiar with the form.*
* ”Every Breath You Take” by The Police
* a section in Jack’s notes: “the free play of signs and signifiers”
	+ Elephant jokes (last discussed in Episode 7: Claudia and Mean Janine) - a stand-in for absurdity and signifiers divorced from meaning
	+ Unanswered phone calls
* ”Don’t participate in the death of the subjunctive.”

## Tanner's References

The Immaterium, also called the Realm of Chaos, from theWarhammer 40K mythology.

* Podcasts: Serial, This American Life, Planet Money, WTF with Marc Maron
* Books in The Future segment: Baby-Sitter’s Club, Little Sister, Baby Sitter’s Club Mysteries, The Doll People by Ann M. Martin, Sweet Valley High, Shakespeare, Proust, “the modernist movement of the 20th century”, the works of Goethe
* Joker from the Batman mythology
* Tanner mocks Jack by describing how relevant Boethius is to this book.
* Fatalism (and Boethius) is dumb - you just have to live your life.
* ”laughing mask and sad mask”
* ”I Believe I Can Fly” by R. Kelly
* ”Hero” by Enrique Iglesias
* Heisenberg rainbow principle (not a real thing)
* Tanner calls out Jaime for not reviewing the podcast on iTunes, but then plugs her podcast, The Catapult.
* Immaterium (Realm of Chaos) from Warhammer 40K

— This sub-podcast is the stinger for the episode, sped up.

## Notes

Tanner: Yeah, I did.
Jack: You did.
Tanner: Because we commit to the things we set out to do. We’re both —
Jack: achievers?
Tanner: — driven, achievement-oriented, creative individuals. And when you said we needed to commit ourselves to at LEAST 35 episodes of the show, because there are 35 canonical Ann M. Martin-penned Baby-Sitter’s Club books, I told you, “yeah man. I’m in.”

* Roleplay as Ann M. Martin, last heard in Episode 17: Jessi's Secret Language. The boys call themselves “AnnHeads”.
* Baby Bee Joel researches the Doll People series, and identifies the main doll character as “Annabelle”. Jack points out that this is a famous haunted doll, and Tanner references the 2014 horror film Annabelle.
* Betsey Sobak is an agent of chaos.
* First reference to the D&D alignment chart: Jack calls Betsey chaotic neutral, and Tanner argues for chaotic evil.
* Jack lettered in wrestling in high school.
* ”Mr. Spier, go to her.”
* First use of “nipple deep”.
* First use of “I love you and I kiss you” to thank Baby Nation for listening from the beginning.
* Ashley Wyeth is the anti-sitter.

## Sign Off

“I love you and I kiss you” is introduced as part of the signoff this week. Claudia’s wearing a bra now…

## References & Links

* Random Page | The One Where...