Duncan Trussell Family Hour – Episode 725: NASA 3I/ATLAS

Date: November 24, 2025
Host: Duncan Trussell
Guest/Co-host: Josh
Special Segment: NASA Livestream with NASA scientists (Nikki Fox, Sean, Amit, Tom, Kathy)

Episode Overview

This episode captures a much-anticipated cultural moment: NASA’s first public release of images and findings related to Comet 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar object ever discovered. Duncan and co-host Josh provide real-time reactions to NASA’s live press conference, discussing the wild public speculation (aliens, ancient prophecies, hoaxes), their excitement and skepticism, and ultimately their profound disappointment with NASA’s underwhelming reveal. The episode blends comedy, cosmic curiosity, internet stoner conspiracies, and a close look at how scientific communication lands with the general public.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Cultural Hype and Stoner Expectations

• Duncan introduces the episode (00:00): He excitedly frames this as "the day" NASA finally releases images of the mysterious "Three Eye Atlas" comet that's caused waves of wild internet and real-life speculation (aliens, prophecies, ancient symbols).
  • “At last, at last, NASA got around to releasing pictures of Three eye fucking Atlas.” (00:08)
  • Recaps the rampant conspiracy chatter, ancient alien enthusiasts, and debunker–believer wars raging on Reddit.
  • Expresses a hunger for cosmic significance, “just maybe we won the terrestrial lottery… to be here when one of the great ships is finally spotted in the sky.” (04:05)

2. Anomalies & Alien Hopes: Why This Comet?

• Strange Features of 3I/ATLAS (05:50):
  • The unusual "anti-tail" (a tail going out the front), color changes, possible non-gravitational acceleration, and even cyanide detection fuel speculation.
  • “It seems to have qualities that do not match what we've observed in other comets. This is… pretty agreed upon on both sides…” (05:50)
• Avi Loeb’s Advocacy: Harvard astrophysicist Loeb is name-dropped repeatedly as a credible, if provocative, voice pushing NASA to share more data, suggesting possible technological or non-natural origins.

3. Citizen Science & YouTube Astronomy

• Highlighting “Ray’s Astrophotography” YouTube channel (08:25-11:27):
  • Duncan and Josh react to a local astronomer’s footage of the comet, which shows “no tail, not like a comet” (10:27) and “a giant rock tumbling, circling, with all the coma… but no tail” (10:34).
  • Duncan praises both the skill involved and the openness of citizen scientists to get the public closer to the comet than NASA’s secrecy.
  • Quote: “He got the best view of whatever the fuck this thing is, and he did it before NASA released it.” (11:27)

4. Pre-Press Conference Speculation & Cosmic Humility

• What if it’s aliens? Duncan and Josh float the classic ET questions and muse on the possible consequences, anxieties, and absurdities of first contact.
  • “Do we really want to be visited by a fucking mothership?” (12:43)
  • “Would you want that thing to show up at your doorstep?” (12:59)
• Anthropocentrism & Cosmic Insignificance: Duncan contemplates that humanity could just be “mid, if that” in the cosmic scale – “a flea-covered, tick-encrusted deer” or “just another boring ass rock that caught the monkey’s attention flying through space.” (28:48)

5. NASA Press Conference: Community Watch & Real-Time Satire

• The Build-Up (from 51:18):
  • NASA hosts Nikki Fox, Sean, Amit, Tom, and Kathy.
  • Promises of major revelations, rare interstellar visitor, countdown.

• The Reveal (54:49-59:05):
  • NASA presents… a blurry white blob. “Looks like a fuzzy white ball... That ball is a cloud of dust and ice called the coma…” (54:55)
  • NASA addresses the rumors head-on: “This object is a comet. It looks and behaves like a comet… all evidence points to it being a comet. All right, but this one came from outside the solar system, which makes it fascinating, exciting, and scientifically very important.” (52:44)
• Duncan’s Immediate Lampooning:
  • “They did a countdown for this?” (55:26)
  • “It looks like someone shined a flashlight into a fogged up car.” (55:31)
  • Commentary on the lifelessness of the presentation: “They don’t look like they saw a mothership.” (51:47)
  • Critiques NASA’s communication style for being “condescending,” filled with "bland data," and lacking any humor or magic for the public imagination.

6. Jokes, Memes, and Stoner Disappointment

• “Science Wiggles” and Phone Bridges (72:32; 79:43):
  • Duncan mocks NASA’s technical language:
    • “Oh, the science wiggles, you dumb piece of shit. Those are science wigglers, you dumbass. You stupid fuck.” (72:32)
    • “I have more questions about the phone bridge than about the comet.” (59:37)
• Press Conference Chat & Public Reaction
  • Duncan and Josh read the YouTube chat, noting widespread anger, frustration, and accusations of cover-up, poor production, and disappointment.
  • Duncan observes: “It's like I'm just realizing we overestimate NASA in a lot of ways. For some reason, I thought… these images would be more detailed.” (81:18)

7. The Debrief: Meaning, Magic, and Institutional Boredom

• Duncan’s Takeaways (92:47ff):

  • “What I gathered. I've learned some new things … Number one, space is big… We now know there's something called Science Wiggles… I guess they're confused… the pictures suck. Go back and play it some more. Let's get mad. We'll get out of here.”
  • Emphasizes the gap between “stoner hope” for mind-blowing revelation and the strict, careful materialism of institutional science.
  • Quote: “People like us… we've all had some sense there's something else going on, something more than just kind of a stoned intuition, and you just want things to be a little more magical than that… Why even call it a phone bridge?” (84:32)

• Final Satirical Exchange:

  • After NASA’s long answer to “Did you ever take seriously the proposition this could be an alien spacecraft?”, Duncan paraphrases: “Well, you see, Josh, you know, the world, the universe, trees and life and the sky. Who hasn't looked up at the sky and wondered, are we alone? We want magic. There's magic in NASA…” (90:33-92:47)

Notable Quotes & Timestamped Moments

• “At last, at last, NASA got around to releasing pictures of Three eye fucking Atlas.” (00:08) – Duncan
• “But the essence of the thing is it has what's known as an anti tail.” (05:58) – Duncan
• “Well, yeah, it's a YouTube channel… Ray's astrophotography. And go give him a subscribe, man.” (08:26) – Duncan
• “It looks to me like it is circling, tumbling. And most asteroids and comets do that when they are in the space... but no tail, not like a comet. So this is an interstellar comet.” (10:34) – Astronomer/Expert
• “Do we really want to be visited by a fucking mothership?... Is that real?” (12:43) – Duncan
• “Probably millions of stoners are gonna get incredibly disappointed.” (13:46) – Duncan
• “It's not any one thing that's gotten all of us worked up into a froth. It's a combination of things. It's the anomalies… It's the Avi Loeb fanning the flames.” (11:27) – Duncan
• “I just assume it's probably not real, and I'm gonna be disappointed. But then I still enjoy it.” (23:44) – Duncan
• “We're now 20 minutes away from potentially all of human history being changed forever as we see the first picture of an alien mothership.” (26:48) – Duncan
• “The thing did get hit with three solar flares, which is pretty insane… This thing's fucking fine. That's another anomaly.” (31:44) – Duncan
• “12 minutes away from… abject and profound disappointment as we realize yet again, we are just Gilligan's fucking Island out here.” (35:44) – Duncan
• NASA: “This object is a comet. It looks and behaves like a comet. All evidence points to it being a comet.” (52:44) – NASA Scientist Amit
• “They did a countdown for this?” (55:26) – Duncan
• “It looks like just like someone shined a flashlight into a fogged up car.” (55:31) – Duncan
• “You do not get these views unless you have spacecraft farther from the sun than the comet is so that you can see it backlit.” (71:08) – NASA Scientist Tom
• “Space is big. I didn’t realize that. I thought, you look up and you’re like, yeah, it seems like, you know, medium, but now we know space is big.” (75:02) – Duncan
• “I can't do it again. We can't go back to this.” (81:10) – Duncan
• “We overestimate NASA in a lot of ways… these images would be more detailed… they've got fucking old iPhones or something strapped to a fucking tin can. Those pictures suck.” (81:18) – Duncan
• “Thank you guys so much for tuning into the DTFH… Don’t let the Warlocks Guild frustrate you. I’m sure that thing was a fucking mothership. It came to me in a dream.” (102:26) – Duncan

Timestamps: Segment Breakdown

• 00:00 – 15:30: Setting the stage; Duncan’s anticipation, background on 3I/ATLAS, stoner culture, Avi Loeb, anomalies, hopes for paradigm shift.
• 15:30 – 44:00: Viewer questions, fake leaks & hoaxes, data nihilism, the symbolic meaning of the comet, waiting for NASA’s stream to start.
• 51:18 – 92:00: NASA press conference — opening statements, reveal of first images (fuzzy blobs), NASA’s explanations, Duncan/Josh real-time reactions, biting humor, reading the public chat.
• 92:00 – End: Duncan's satirical summing-up, lampooning NASA's communication style, final rants on magic, meaning, and cosmic disappointment.

Final Thoughts & Tone

• The episode is classic Duncan Trussell: exuberant, digressive, absurdist, and simultaneously thoughtful and irreverent about cosmic topics.
• Disappointment is a central theme (“the anticipation was the best part”), but the underlying longing for meaning, connection, and “magic” persists.
• The banter with Josh keeps the energy comedic and self-deprecating, while NASA’s press conference is portrayed as a deadpan, bureaucratic contrast to the audience’s cosmic hopes.
• The episode ultimately reminds listeners that the universe can still be experienced through awe, humor, and psychedelia—even if government agencies can’t deliver on our wildest sci-fi dreams.

For anyone who hasn’t listened, this episode delivers a pointed, hilarious, and poignant take on the intersection of internet culture, public science, and the eternal human yearning for something beyond the ordinary—whether that’s ancient sky dragons or just a less pixelated comet photo.