Patreon Preview #328: Chatterbox 27

Summary

Hey Riddle Riddle: Patreon Preview #328 - "Chatterbox 27"

Release Date: June 20, 2025
Hosts: Adal Rifai, Erin Keif, and John Patrick Coan
Platform: Headgum
Description:
Riddles! Puzzles! WhoDunnits! Adal Rifai, Erin Keif, and John Patrick Coan, three of Chicago's most overrated improvisers, are on the case to solve every riddle, puzzle, brain-teaser, and head-scratcher known to humanity. Some riddles are almost impossible, some are absolutely improbable, and some simply have not aged well. And if you don't like riddles, don't worry! This podcast is barely about them!

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Episode Overview: "Patreon Preview #328: Chatterbox 27"

In this special Patreon preview episode titled "Chatterbox 27," the hosts of Hey Riddle Riddle shift gears from their usual riddle-solving antics to engage in a more laid-back, conversational format. The episode delves into personal updates, favorite documentaries, and listener interactions, offering fans a glimpse into the hosts' lives beyond puzzles.

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Key Sections and Discussions

**1. Experimental Antics and Lighthearted Banter [00:02 – 00:35]

The episode kicks off with the trio reminiscing about a past experiment they conducted, highlighting their typical humorous dynamic.

• Aaron: "We did 'Light as a feather, stiff as a board.' JPC fell asleep and we put his hand in warm water and he shit himself." [00:02]

• JPC: "That was not because of us, though." [00:12]

This segment underscores their camaraderie and playful misadventures, setting a relaxed tone for the episode.

**2. Introduction to "Chatterbox" Format [01:24 – 02:11]

The hosts transition into discussing the new "Chatterbox" format, which is designed to be more conversational and interactive with listeners.

• Casey: "Kind of the conversation within a conversation." [01:32]

• Aaron: "Answering their questions from the discord, et cetera." [01:40]

This format aims to deepen the connection with their audience by addressing listener questions and sharing personal stories.

**3. Personal Headlines and Current Events [01:43 – 02:51]

Each host shares what's currently occupying their minds, providing personal insights and updates.

• Aaron: "Three months behind on everything. Trying to catch up on life itself. Scrambling to not fall over the edge." [01:57]

• JPC: "My entire life is the Karen Reid trial right now. That's all I'm doing." [02:15]

These candid admissions reveal the hosts' real-life challenges and preoccupations, adding depth to their on-air personas.

**4. Documentary Discussions [02:51 – 07:14]

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to discussing documentaries, reflecting the hosts' diverse interests and critical perspectives.

• JPC: "I love documentaries. I think it's my favorite genre of anything interesting." [02:53]

• Aaron: "I almost exclusively only watch sports documentaries nowadays... maybe four or five a year that aren't sports related." [03:02]

• Casey: "The whole idea of the docu series, I feel like has ruined kind of that art form, the genre for me." [05:00]

The conversation touches on various aspects of documentary filmmaking:

• Format Preferences: Debate over the effectiveness of documentary series versus standalone films.

  • "I feel like there's a Garry Shandling documentary that was like two episodes... those are really good." – Aaron [05:34]

• Favorite Documentaries: Sharing personal favorites and their impact.

  • "It's gotta be my top four favorite movies of all time. It's so fun." – JPC [06:14]

• Critiques: Discussing what makes certain documentaries stand out or fall short.

  • "It's all incestuous and weird..." – Casey [07:22]

This segment not only highlights their tastes but also provides listeners with recommendations and critical viewpoints on documentary storytelling.

**5. Listener Interaction and Questions [07:48 – 08:28]

The hosts engage with listener-submitted questions, adding an interactive element to the episode.

• Listener Question: "What's your go-to cocktail at a more typical bar at home?" [07:55]

• JPC's Follow-Up: "If you had to eat a breed of dog, what would it be?" [08:15]

• Casey: "Shiba inu for sure." [08:28]

This playful exchange emphasizes the hosts' ability to handle quirky and humorous questions, further endearing them to their audience.

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Notable Quotes

• Aaron on Life's Chaos:
  "Three months behind on everything. Trying to catch up on life itself. Scrambling to not fall over the edge." [01:57]

• JPC on the Karen Reid Trial:
  "My entire life is the Karen Reid trial right now. That's all I'm doing." [02:15]

• Casey on Documentary Series:
  "The whole idea of the docu series, I feel like has ruined kind of that art form, the genre for me." [05:00]

• JPC on Favorite Documentary Comedy:
  "It's gotta be my top four favorite movies of all time. It's so fun." [06:14]

• Aaron’s Take on 'The Staircase':
  "The funniest thing you could possibly do if your spouse dies is to be like, owl." [04:46]

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Insights and Conclusions

"Chatterbox 27" serves as a refreshing departure from Hey Riddle Riddle's usual puzzle-centric episodes, offering fans a more intimate look into the hosts' personalities and interests. The discussion on documentaries reveals their critical thinking and varied tastes, while the personal updates and listener interactions foster a sense of community and relatability. The episode exemplifies the hosts' versatility, balancing humor with meaningful conversation, and setting the stage for future content that blends entertainment with genuine discourse.

Listeners who enjoy understanding the minds behind their favorite podcast will find "Chatterbox 27" both engaging and insightful. The episode underscores the importance of connection and conversation, inviting the audience to partake in the hosts' ongoing journey beyond the realm of riddles and puzzles.

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Conclusion

Patreon Preview #328: "Chatterbox 27" showcases Hey Riddle Riddle's adaptability and the hosts' ability to engage in candid, multifaceted conversations. By sharing personal experiences, engaging in meaningful dialogues about documentaries, and interacting directly with listeners, Adal Rifai, Erin Keif, and John Patrick Coan offer a deeper connection with their audience. This episode not only entertains but also invites listeners to see the personalities and passions that drive the intriguing minds behind the riddles.

For more engaging content and to support the hosts, join the Clue Crew for weekly bonus episodes at Patreon.com/heyriddleriddle.

Transcript

[Aaron]

Okay, so we've done. Light as a feather, stiff as a board. JPC fell asleep and we put his hand in warm water and he shit himself.

[JPC]

That was not because of us, though.

[Aaron]

Yeah, it was. Seemingly.

[Casey]

We'll never know. You know, we can't isolate the experiment, so we'll never really know.

[Aaron]

Your eyes were open the whole time.

[JPC]

Your eyes were open the whole time.

[Aaron]

You're talking to us.

[JPC]

Wide open.

[Aaron]

Talking to us while you're sitting. What else? Put Aaron's underwear in the freezer. That was funny.

[Casey]

Yeah, we did Saran Wrap over the toilet seats.

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[JPC]

Maybe all there's left to do is talk to each other.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I think so. Unless one of us wants to, like, fuck Casey's dad or something.

[JPC]

I can try again.

[Casey]

Aaron tried to fuck Casey's dad, but she couldn't get it up.

[JPC]

I couldn't get it up. The courage. I couldn't get the courage up to.

[Casey]

Ask sickos to ask, can I fuck your dad? You were asking. Casey. Casey. Your parents, no chance they ever heard.

[JPC]

Your dad's hand in sex. Serves up my guy 100%. Well, now that you want, like. I don't know. I don't know.

[Casey]

I don't know.

[JPC]

I don't know if you're into me, your dad, It's. I'm not really sort of sticking it to you anymore.

[Aaron]

So my kink is Aaron, someone else's dad.

[JPC]

Hey, brother. Zane.

[Casey]

Zane.

[Aaron]

Yeah. I guess we should probably talk to each other. So this might be maybe like a chatterbox kind of thing.

[Casey]

Oh, that could be fun.

[JPC]

Okay.

[Casey]

Kind of sort of talking to each other, but kind of sort of talking to the listeners as well. Kind of the conversation within a conversation.

[Aaron]

Answering their questions from the discord, et cetera.

[JPC]

Hanging out. What's sort of like the main headlines of your life right now before we get into some discord questions like, what's going on with you guys?

[Casey]

Nothing.

[JPC]

Okay, perfect. Great.

[Aaron]

I think the main headline for my newspaper is, three months behind on everything. Trying to catch up on life itself. Scrambling to not fall over the edge. A lot of that.

[JPC]

That's relatable. Okay.

[Aaron]

Aaron, what about you?

[JPC]

My entire life is the Karen Reid trial right now. That's all I'm doing. That's all I'm thinking about.

[Casey]

Possibly still be going on. Wasn't that going on weeks ago?

[JPC]

Yeah, it's been like a couple months worth of stuff. Probably by the time this comes out, though, it's over and we've heard a verdict.

[Casey]

That's sad.

[JPC]

No, I mean, do you Think we'll.

[Aaron]

Get a season two spin off.

[JPC]

This was technically the season two.

[Casey]

Yeah, yeah.

[Aaron]

Can we follow one of the other characters?

[JPC]

Yeah. I actually cannot wait for this to this trial to get its own documentary and then everyone's going to be talking about it and people are going to be obsessed with it and I will, I'll already be an expert. So that's sort of the only thing that's going on in my life.

[Casey]

How often are you guys watching documentaries?

[JPC]

A lot. I love documentaries. I think it's my favorite genre of anything interesting.

[Casey]

Adol you watch. Do you watch many documentaries?

[Aaron]

I used to watch a lot more documentaries than I watch now. I almost exclusively only watch sports documentaries nowadays. If there's a last dance or a 30 for 30 that's new or something like that, I'll watch a lot of that kind of stuff. I think besides that, every once in a while there'll be a documentary that I'll hear people rave about and I'll want to check it out, but I'd say maybe four or five a year that aren't sports related. What about you, jpc?

[Casey]

I'm trying to. I think the last documentary I watched was like years ago. It was, I think it was the one where it was like interviewing interracial couples about having biracial children and their experiences. But it was like it was all people that were in San Francisco and they all had like a lot of money. So it was like the data was a little bit skewed. You know, everyone's parent was like, you know, like a famous guitarist and stuff like that. I was like, okay, well this is not really.

[JPC]

We like to eat caviar.

[Casey]

Yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't quite so insane, but it was like you could just see like filming gets analysis. And I'm like, okay, look, there's one. There's an economic component of this, like racial argument we're making, but we're not really talking about it to a certain degree. But okay, but yeah, but I, I don't, I don't know that I like seek out a documentary. Well, but I don't watch anything. So it's like if I watch one movie a month, I don't think it's going to be like, I don't think I'm going to choose to watch a.

[JPC]

Documentary in my one movie a month time, whatever months. Next, like rolls around. For the newsletter, I will write my top five or ten favorite documentaries of all time. And you guys can, if you ever are feeling lost of what to Watch. You can check out that list.

[Aaron]

Is the Staircase on there?

[JPC]

I don't love the Staircase. I don't, I don't think any, I don't know if any true crime documentary is going to make my top 10.

[Aaron]

I think the funniest thing I haven't watched the Staircase. I just know it's, it's very popular. I think the funniest thing you could possibly do if your spouse dies is to be like, owl.

[JPC]

Yep, it was an owl.

[Aaron]

Owl did it.

[Casey]

And I don't know if it's still going on, but I know at least for a while, like there's like a documentary and I enjoy a documentary. Like, hey, this is gonna be 90 minutes. It's gonna be one documentary. But the whole idea of the docu series, I feel like has ruined kind of that art form, the genre for me. Cause a lot of times you can tell a story in an hour, you can tell a story in 90 minutes. You don't need eight episodes to tell a story. And it sucks that that's kind of. But there's nothing wrong with the streaming model or anything like that. So everything's fine. It's all gotta go well.

[Aaron]

The only ones I like that are longer, typically two episodes are like the recent comedian ones where it's like there's a Garry Shandling documentary that I think was like two episodes. There's the Hughie Herman one, the Steve Martin one. Those are really good. And I think it's like with clips and with. To cover the span of a career and stuff that makes sense.

[Casey]

Yeah. I think that if you're telling one story of a thing, you don't need that long. If you're going to tell like if you're going to do like a documentary about Steven Spielberg, it's like, well, yeah, like you could do long. Way longer than that. Right? Like there's, you know, it's.

[JPC]

I understand that my favorite genre of documentary is niche interest documentaries because those oftentimes will end up feeling more like Christopher Guest movies. Oh yeah.

[Aaron]

Isn't there like an Australian one about people getting tickled or something?

[JPC]

Yeah, that one is. That one takes a strange turn.

[Aaron]

But really, Aaron, the documentary about people.

[JPC]

Getting tickled takes a strange turn. It's even weirder than you think. You're gonna call me at like 4 in the morning when you finally watch this and you're gonna go, I'm so sorry.

[Aaron]

I'm so sorry.

[JPC]

But I love like the Barkley marathon one. I love the, my. I think the best comedy of all time. It's not even trying to be a comedy is Set, which is the table setting competition documentary.

[Aaron]

I always mentioned that.

[JPC]

It is. I think it's like my favorite. It's gotta be my top four favorite movies of all time. It's so fun.

[Aaron]

I would assume Gray Gardens is in your top 10.

[JPC]

Yeah, I love Gray Gardens. I love. What is it called? Mad Hot Ballroom.

[Aaron]

Oh, yeah.

[Casey]

Well, you're spoiling your newsletter. Eren, you said this is just gonna be repeats for your newsletter at this point.

[JPC]

No, no, there'll be other stuff. There'll be other stuff.

[Casey]

Other stuff.

[JPC]

Okay.

[Aaron]

Has anybody watched the documentary about the Ren Faire guy?

[JPC]

No, not yet.

[Casey]

No, I heard about that one as well. Yeah. It just seems like from talking to Arnie about Ren Faire people, it's like.

[Aaron]

Yeah, it's all incestuous and weird and.

[Casey]

Yeah, anytime that you have a person who's like, thing is that they're running a business, but their primary skill set is not running a business, you're like, yeah, well that maybe was a disaster waiting to happen. Right?

[Aaron]

And see, I think the country should be running like a business. So we're an opposite.

[Casey]

Certainly the post office should be. How's the post office? Losing money, Fucking people. Fucking ftm, dumbass.

[Aaron]

Let's get to some questions. Listener questions.

[Casey]

Let's get it on.

[Aaron]

Let's get it on.

[JPC]

Okay, so this one is from Court Jester. We all know how great a tiki bar speakeasy is, but what's your go to cocktail at a more typical bar at home and then JPC for you, what would be like for me? Like for you to answer the question like your typical like bar eats like or.

[Casey]

I thought Aaron was just gonna ask another question for me and like, okay, so JPC and for you, like, what's. If you had to eat a breed of dog, what would it be?

[JPC]

Everybody else, but answer that question please. And you can't say hot dog.

[Aaron]

Shiba inu for sure.

[Casey]

Oh man, I'd love to have a shiba inu, but shiba out of you is fucking a night hurt, you know? 1, 2, 3, 4. Hate Riddle. Riddle's clue crew Listen to the rest of the episode now by starting your free 7 day trial at patreon.com heyriddle riddle.