Patreon Preview #383: Welcome to Nevada 🎰

Summary

Hey Riddle Riddle: Patreon Preview #383 — "Welcome to Nevada 🎰"

Date: July 10, 2026
Hosts: Adal Rifai, Erin Keif, John Patrick Coan (JPC)
Guest appearances: Bree, Kiana

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Episode Overview

This episode continues the "State Series," with the team exploring oddities, personal stories, trivia, and the folklore surrounding the state of Nevada. Conversation flows from regional pronunciation debates to tales of desert wildlife, interspersed with childhood memories and humor. As always, riddles and puzzles are less the centerpiece and more the excuse for a uniquely comedic roundtable.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jumping into Childhood Rhymes & Memories

(00:43–04:02)

• The group opens by muddling through old childhood playground rhymes ("Ms. Susie had a tugboat", "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells", "Ms. Mary Mack"), sparking a conversation about how such lyrics spread seemingly by osmosis.
  • Kiana: “Maybe little girls come pre-programmed with it. I think it was downloaded into my software.” (02:27)
  • Aaron: Shares vivid memories of childhood moments where these cultural touch-points mysteriously appear: "I was like, did I miss a fucking class? How do people at school know this that I don't?" (01:41)

2. State Series: The Nevada Debate

(04:04–06:54)

• The team reveals they're focusing on Nevada in the ongoing "states" series, sparking a lively debate over pronunciation ("Nevada" vs. "Nevada").
  • Bree: Insists on "Nevada" due to her time living there, noting: “No one corrected me when I lived there and said Nevada.” (05:14)
  • Kiana and others riff on “Nevada” vs. “Havadi at the party in Nevada,” veering into puns and faux Harry Potter curses.
  • Discussion of Nevada’s place in statehood history (36th state), key stats (approx. population 3.2 million), and notable cities (capital: Carson City, largest: Las Vegas).
  • Mention of major Nevada landmarks: Hoover Dam, Lake Tahoe, Area 51, and various national parks.

3. Impressions Driving Through Nevada—A Place Apart

(10:46–14:07)

• Kiana: Describes Nevada’s unique emptiness on cross-country drives—few states feel as “empty” (“Even Nebraska feels a little bit more populated… it's fascinating to me.”)
• Aaron: Talks population sizes and the skewed sensation of distance and size when driving through different states.
  • “It's hard…a lot of states feel bigger when you're driving through them. The only state in my mind that I'm like, that's a breeze, is Tennessee.” (11:44)

4. Nevada Wildlife Stories

(12:24–14:47)

• Bree: Shares stories from childhood in Henderson County, including the (possibly illegal) use of the Looney Tunes Roadrunner as a school mascot.
  • Tells how seeing an actual Roadrunner was underwhelming—“They're very flat…not very fast. No meep meeps.” (12:57)
  • Relates a harrowing story of mistaking a gila monster (the only venomous lizard in the U.S.) for a toy and frequent encounters with “tiny clear scorpions.”
    • “Anytime we went anywhere, my mom or dad would be like, shake out your shoes so that you're not stepping on a scorpion.” (13:41)
  • Aaron: Compares scorpions to military machinery—“The scorpion is the military insect…it's like seeing a Panzer tank next to a civilian car.” (14:23)
  • Kiana shares being a Scorpio and commiserates with scorpions as a star sign, “That is a brutal, absolutely brutal mascot for what I am.” (14:47)

5. Lighthearted Banter & State Pride

• The state series format serves as a springboard for playful competitiveness and a strong dose of regional pride, including quick-fire games of state trivia, arguments over state "vibes," and whose home state is more boring, dangerous, or deserving of celebration.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Kiana (on playground rhymes): “Maybe little girls come pre-programmed with it. I think it was downloaded into my software.” (02:27)
• Aaron (on feeling left out of childhood songs): “Did I miss a fucking class? How do people know this that I don't?” (01:41)
• Bree (on real roadrunners): “They're very flat…not very fast. No meep meeps.” (12:57)
• Aaron (on scorpions): "The scorpion is the military insect...it's like seeing a Panzer tank next to a civilian car." (14:23)
• Kiana (about being a Scorpio): “That is a brutal, absolutely brutal mascot for what I am.” (14:47)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |--------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:43–04:02 | Opening banter: childhood rhymes, memories, playground culture | | 04:04–06:54 | The “Nevada” state highlight and pronunciation debate | | 10:46–11:22 | Crossing Nevada: emptiness and the feel of Nevada on road trips | | 12:24–13:41 | School mascot tales, wildlife stories: roadrunners, gila monsters | | 13:41–14:47 | Scorpion anecdotes, wild Nevada creatures, zodiac confessions |

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Tone & Style

The conversation bounces with the hosts’ trademark wit, improv connections, tangents, and the sincere, nostalgic joy of unpacking Americana through personal stories. Friendly teasing and group confession create an inviting, silly, and sometimes surreal listening experience.

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This episode is classic "Hey Riddle Riddle": it’s barely about riddles, but all about the connective tissue of memory, state lore, and the shared absurdity of growing up in America (especially its weirder corners). An enjoyably meandering, punchline-packed journey—from the playground to the Mojave desert.

Transcript

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[Bree]

Ms. Susie had a Something there's something, something something Ding

[Kiana]

ding

[Bree]

the boys are in the Zipping up their flies around the ceiling

[Kiana]

I know I'm not famous for knowing lyrics, but Ms. Susie had a tugboat the tugboat had a bell ding ding Ms. Suzy went to heaven the tugboat went to hello operator, please give me number nine.

[Bree]

I knew 10 seconds ago and I was flailed dead.

[Kiana]

I was dead. You're at my funeral. And then that brought me back cause I know the lyrics to something. Finally.

[Bree]

I was drowning in the ocean and you were screaming from the shore. Try a life fest.

[Aaron]

There are two swim vivid memories of like, of childhood for me. And one of them is. And they're both beamed up by those

[Kiana]

aliens and they scrambled your brain right up.

[Aaron]

Beamed down. Aaron Beamed down. Oh yeah, I don't remember the up.

[Bree]

You went to hell, good sir.

[Aaron]

I think it was probably, I don't know, second grade, maybe third grade. But it was walking out onto recess like this like blacktop parking lot that we used for recess and hearing a girl in my class do that Ms. Susie song and never having heard it at all before and being like what, I miss a fucking class? Like when did this thing start getting passed around? How do people at school know this that I don't? And then the other one was walking home maybe like seventh grade with some friends and everybody was like had started smoking weed. And I was like I guess I smoke weed now. I was like okay. I was like this is fine. I guess, I guess this is what it's going to be now for the next couple of years.

[Kiana]

I guess I smoke weed now. JPT to your point, I don't remember ever being taught that song. I think that maybe little girls come pre programmed with it. I think it was downloaded into my software.

[Bree]

There's epigenetic springs into their DNA like a sleep Reagent. I do remember the same thing happening with. When I was in grade school. The Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin Lays an egg. Where like, three people started. Somebody started singing it. Three other people joined in. And I was like, is this from something? And they're like, no. And I'm like, how do we all know this? And they're like, you don't know it. And I'm like, okay, can I learn it, please?

[Aaron]

Can somebody help me out, please?

[Kiana]

Also, Ms. Mary Mack, I guess I don't remember as much. Ms. Mary Mack, Mack, Mac. All dressed in black, black, black with silver buttons, buttons, buttons, all down her back, back, back. Remember that one?

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Bree]

You're not supposed to say that into a mirror because then. Miss Mary.

[Kiana]

She's here.

[Bree]

Oh, okay.

[Kiana]

Hi, Mary. How are you? Good to see you.

[Bree]

It's more of a gray than a black.

[Kiana]

Oh, my God. I gotta put the tea kettle on for Mary. She's here. God, she's gonna yammer at me for hours.

[Aaron]

Ms. Mary Magdalene. That's Jesus, mom, right?

[Kiana]

No, his wife, who. He washed her feet. It was like a perfect thing about feet. I don't know. It's none of my business. Magdalene is my confirmation name. So that's how God sees me. Because that was my little rebellion. Well, Adol. JBC.

[Aaron]

Yes. You got it right.

[Kiana]

We have $50,000 on the line today. No, we don't. We are just going to go back to our state series. Anyone have a guess of what we're doing?

[Aaron]

States. Oklahoma. State series. We're doing our states series.

[Kiana]

Jpc. Technically. Right, But I rule at this game,

[Aaron]

not Oklahoma rule at this game.

[Bree]

Give me a region.

[Kiana]

Okay. Start at Oklahoma and then move a little bit. And then I'll tell you if we're going in the right direction.

[Bree]

East. Oklahoma.

[Kiana]

No, West.

[Aaron]

Oklahoma.

[Kiana]

Yes.

[Bree]

Move a little bit.

[Kiana]

All right.

[Bree]

Nevada.

[Kiana]

Yes.

[Bree]

I say Nevada.

[Kiana]

Nevada.

[Bree]

Nevada. Hold up. Nevada. Your Honor. Nevada.

[Aaron]

A senator from Nevada. Your Honor.

[Bree]

Just chewing taffy. Nevada. Yoana is very. That's a. That's a phrase.

[Aaron]

That's a. That's a curse in those Harry Potter books that we don't talk about because of the terrible turf. Nevada.

[Kiana]

Yana.

[Bree]

I used to live there in Las Vegas, and I would say Nevada. Now, everywhere I went, from the point I live there on, I say Nevada. And everyone always corrects me to Nevada. But in my defense, I used to live there. No one corrected me when I lived there and said Nevada.

[Kiana]

What were they saying when you lived there?

[Bree]

Nevada.

[Kiana]

Oh, okay. Then Nevada. I'll say Nevada.

[Aaron]

No way.

[Kiana]

Havadi cheese.

[Aaron]

Not trying to get my cheese.

[Kiana]

We're going to have Havadi at the party in Nevada.

[Bree]

Aaron. That's an unforgivable curse.

[Kiana]

Oh, God, I'm so sorry. Oh, I'm torturing a bunch of you. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Nevada. Nevada.

[Aaron]

You're saying that, right?

[Kiana]

Yeah, the Silver State. It is our 36th state. I thought it was going to be later. I don't know why I thought it was going to be like, yeah, same. The 43rd or whatever. But 36 state population, approximately 3.2 million as of a couple years ago. The capital is.

[Aaron]

That's low. 3.3.

[Kiana]

Nope, it's 2.

[Aaron]

Las Vegas.

[Kiana]

Something city.

[Bree]

Carson City.

[Kiana]

Carson City. Biggest city is Las Vegas. It's most, I think, wildly known and associated with Las Vegas, but it also is very mountainous. We got Hoover Dam, we got Lake Tahoe, Valley of Fire State Park, Great Basin National Park, Red Rock Canyon, and then a little thing called Area 51, which doesn't exist. Or does.

[Aaron]

Or.

[Kiana]

But not in the way that we. Steven Spielberg hit it. I play all of Disclosure Day right here.

[Aaron]

We'll just put the full movie disclosure Day into the episode right here. That shouldn't be a problem. Casey, work out your magic. Put Disclosure Day, the movie into the episode.

[Kiana]

Hey, guys. Can't talk long. A very crazy week. I've got about 60 seconds to hang out with you guys. I'm really on the go this time of the year.

[Aaron]

Okay, we don't have to talk. I just want to kind of spend our minute hanging out, cuddling if everyone's cool with that.

[Kiana]

Yeah, I'll be the big spoon, as per usual. You know what's been helping me so much this week, guys? Having my Tempo meals. Tempo delivers fresh chef created dietitian approved meals right to your door.

[Bree]

Well, Aaron, sweetie, that's. And let me just snuggle in between here. That's the thing is with Tempo, each meal is perfectly portioned for lunch or dinner and ready in just two minutes. That means real food, real fast without, you know, like sad podcast studio lunch or like drive through regret.

[Aaron]

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[Bree]

Ow.

[Kiana]

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[Aaron]

The Let me get my tiny fork. And that.

[Bree]

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[Kiana]

Wow.

[Bree]

Don't say a word Maria. But thanks for coming.

[Aaron]

Dynamite smile.

[Bree]

Even she swears by Tempo for balanced meals that help them stay on top of their wellness goals. Bye Maria. Thanks for stopping by.

[Aaron]

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[Bree]

Sharapova, you're snuggling us too. Don't say a word.

[Kiana]

Don't say a word. It's really nice to see you.

[Bree]

Don't say anything.

[Aaron]

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[Kiana]

And we're back now. I have driven through Nevada, Brag several times on my way from Chicago to la. Those few, like, four times I've done that drive. And I've also driven to Vegas many times. And Nevada is. It feels so empty to me. Like, I just. There's no other state when you're driving on the highways there that you feel like, where are all the people? Like, even Nebraska feels a little bit more populated. And it's. Yeah, it's fascinating to me, but it's not.

[Aaron]

Right. Like, is Nebraska more populated than Nevada or. You said Nevada's 3 million, which seems like it's gotta be on the lower side. But it's, like, big. More popular than Wyoming, right? That's like 500,000. I don't even think they have a million in Wyoming

[Bree]

is, like, way bigger than Nebraska or Oklahoma, right? Maybe not Oklahoma.

[Aaron]

It's hard. It's hard because I know these states a lot from, like, driving through them. And I feel like there's a lot of. Like, a lot of states feel bigger when you're driving through them. The only state in my mind that I'm like, that's a breeze. Is, like, Tennessee, where I'm like, I'm in. I'm coming south from Indiana. I'm through Tennessee in 15 minutes.

[Bree]

That's in state you would love Rhode Island.

[Kiana]

You would love Rhode Island. You sneeze and you miss Rhode Island. I would have thought that the population of Utah would be several more million than Nevada, but it's only like the difference between a couple hundred thousand people. Isn't that crazy?

[Aaron]

Interesting. Yeah, that's wild.

[Caldwell]

But.

[Kiana]

Oh, go ahead.

[Bree]

I was gonna say, I remember I went to school in Henderson county, which is right outside Las Vegas, or the county Las Vegas is in, maybe. And I went to Lewis E Road School. R H O D E. Lewis E. Road School. And our mascot was the Roadrunner, which was just straight up the Looney Tunes Roadrunner, which. I don't think that's legal. But we would see Roadrunners in Nevada, and they did not look anything like the cartoon.

[Aaron]

Oh, that's a riff off.

[Bree]

They're very flat. They're very. They don't do much. Not very fast. No meep meeps. And then we.

[Kiana]

Not even one meep. Adol. Please tell me there was one meep.

[Bree]

They would say EEP when you hit them with your car.

[Kiana]

Try again.

[Bree]

And then I Remember as a kid playing in our backyard in our place in Nevada, and I had toys strewn all over the place and. And I went to pick up a toy and it hissed at me and it wasn't a toy, it was a gila monster. Gila monster. I'm pretty sure the only poisonous lizard.

[Aaron]

Interesting.

[Bree]

Venomous lizard.

[Kiana]

Scary, scary.

[Bree]

So a lot of. And a lot of tiny clear scorpions.

[Aaron]

Yep. I remember the scorpions and I think

[Bree]

the tiny clear ones are like the worst because you don't see them always. And so anytime we went anywhere, my mom or dad would be like, shake out your shoes so that you're not stepping on a scorpion.

[Kiana]

Ooh, scary.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I remember being in Nevada and a kid, we had relatives that lived in like West Vegas, I think, and just being outside and seeing tiny scorpions on the ground and being like, what the fuck? Like, what are we doing here? We got just scorpions here on the ground.

[Kiana]

Yuck. No, thank you.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I don't really fuck with scorpions. Scorpions are a, what a terrifying. Like a combination of features on a bug, you know, Three, like three pronged attack.

[Bree]

Yeah, fair.

[Aaron]

It's not, it's not. It's a, it's not fair. And B, it's like, it's like seeing like a Panzer tank next to like a, like a Humvee. You're like, oh, yeah, that's a, that's like a civilian car and a military car. Like the scorpion. The scorpion is the military insect. You know, it's like, I feel like

[Bree]

Aaron, it's like if a snake had arms and then was holding like two box cutters.

[Kiana]

Yeah, that's insane. And that is. That's the symbol for my star sign. Like, that is a brutal, absolutely brutal mascot for what I am.

[Aaron]

1, 2, 3, 4.

[Kiana]

Hey, Riddle.

[Aaron]

Riddle's Clue crew. Listen to the rest of the episode now by starting your free 7 day trial at patreon.com heyriddle riddle.

[Caldwell]

Welcome to a magical place where dice are rolled and stories are told. Welcome to the Fantastic Castle. Hi there, I'm Caldwell. You might know me from NADpod. But now I am teaming up with my friends Kiana, Raj and Bree.

[Kiana]

Hi, everybody.

[Raj]

Hello everybody.

[Caldwell]

For an all new take on Dungeons and Dragons cooperative storytelling shows. And this one is for the whole family. Fantastic Castle has all the excitement of D and D without the cussing and filthy jokes that make most other D and D shows guilty as charged. Awkward for kids and parents to listen to together. New episodes drop every Friday, so subscribe to us on [e-mail] fantasticcastle or check us out wherever you get your podcasts. So come join the adventure because everyone is welcome in the Fantastic Castle. See you there.

[Kiana]

Hi, I am Mandy Moore.

[Bree]

Sterling K. Brown and I'm Chris Sullivan and we host the podcast that Was Us now on Headgum.

[Kiana]

Each episode we're gonna go into a deep dive from our show.

[Raj]

This is Us.

[Podcast Advertiser]

That's right.

[Kiana]

We're gonna go episode by episode. We're also gonna pepper in episodes with different guest stars and writers and casting directors.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Bree]

Are we gonn cry? Yes, a little bit. Are we gonna laugh a lot?

[Aaron]

A whole lot.

[Podcast Advertiser]

That's what I'm hoping.

[Bree]

Man.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Listen to that Was Us on your favorite podcast app. Or watch full video episodes on YouTube or Spotify. New episodes every Tuesday.

[Raj]

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