
While Elliott is otherwise engaged this week cataloguing his Oingo Boingo B-sides, please enjoy a repeat performance of this Season 2 episode featuring the hilarious Max Silvestri and Gabe Liedman from the SmartLess Media show I Need You Guys! In this episode, Max and Gabe will tackle some out-of-this-world questions about astronaut movies, and then they'll help words get very slightly smaller in another round of Word Workout! Puzzles in this episode are by Josh Richmond and Brock Mahan. Script by Elliott Kalan. Music and sound effects by Devon Torrey Bryant. Buy Elliott’s book Joke Farming: How To Write Comedy And Other Nonsense HERE. Buy Devon’s album Blame It On My Zodiac HERE or stream it anywhere you listen to records.
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The Bot
While our host Elliot is busy this week cataloging his Oingo Boingo B sides, it is I the Bot. Back with you to host another repeat performance this week, we are joined once again by the hilarious Max Silvestri and Gabe Liedman, co hosts of the comedy podcast called I Need U Guys, I hope you like movies about astronauts and making words very slightly shorter because that's what's happening in this episode. Please enjoy. The Bot commands it Smart Bless me.
Elliot Kaelin
I was looking at the moon the other night because my neighbors told me to stop peeking in their windows, and I couldn't help wondering if the moon's feelings were hurt by how America couldn't get enough of visiting the moon for just a little bit of time. And then we basically ghosted our lunar satellite for the last 50 years. No note, no phone call. Very rude of us, especially since we were finally starting to have some fun with the moon back in 1971, when astronaut Alan Shepard became the first and only person in human history to play what sport on the moon. If you don't know, you'll find out on today's Clueless Clueless Clueless. I'm Clue welcome to Smartless Presents. Clueless, the puzzle podcast that knows when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake. And it knows how creepy it is that it knows that I'm your host, Elliot Kaelin, and I'm not pregnant, but I do have a very full stomach. Today we are joined by some very special guests. That's right, it's Gabe Liedman and Max Silvestri, co hosts of the podcast I need you guys on the smartless network. Gabe, Max, thank you so much for joining us. I just have to ask, what's your favorite smell?
Max Silvestri
Toast.
Elliot Kaelin
Fireplace. Very similar smells.
Max Silvestri
We're going burns.
Elliot Kaelin
We're going burns. You like burn smells. Now I read your future in the stars today and it told me that I was going to ask if you knew the answer to today's opening question. And so I've got to do what your horoscope says. What sport do you know? What sport did Alan Shepard play on the moon in 1971?
Max Silvestri
Let's guess. I'm gonna go something bouncy. Cause you wanna show off the gravity.
Gabe Liedman
Yes.
Max Silvestri
I'm gonn. If I was him, I would do basketball and I would dunk.
Gabe Liedman
You would dunk?
Elliot Kaelin
It would be dunk.
Gabe Liedman
But you think basketball was big enough that like. So you would need a hoop on the moon?
Elliot Kaelin
Yeah. Well, you'd want to take advantage of that gravity. Right. You'd have a hoop that was like 40ft tall.
Gabe Liedman
Right, right.
Max Silvestri
And you would slowly approach it as the entire world watched it on cbs, leaning in.
Elliot Kaelin
Unfortunately, you are incorrect. The answer is not basketball. The answer is golf. You gotta think about what kind of sport is an astronaut gonna play.
Gabe Liedman
Golf course and it was always hanging
Elliot Kaelin
out at in Florida or Texas. They're playing golf. Yeah.
Max Silvestri
Yeah, I guess I assume that's unimaginative of them. And I don't think it would be hard to get a hoop up there. Okay, look what else we got up there.
Elliot Kaelin
The answer is golf. I assume it's really easy to get a hole in one on the moon because it looks like there's holes all over that thing. You hit a golf ball, it's gonna get in a hole.
Max Silvestri
Yeah.
Elliot Kaelin
Now I truly believe that astronauts are the greatest of all knots. So I want to keep the space exploration theme going with today's first game. It's called first and Foremost. First and foremost, I'm going to ask you to name the four things that are the most of something. Now, I'm sure you know that there have been five films in which an actor or actress was nominated for an Academy Award for playing an astronaut or NASA employee. I'm going to tell you the years that the four most recent of those movies came out. And I want you to tell me if you can name these four movies where someone was nominated for an Academy Award for playing an astronaut or a NASA employee, and those movies came out in 2016, 2015, 2014 and 1995, what are these movies where someone was nominated for Playing an astronaut or a NASA employee. Please feel free to discuss it between yourselves. I can't tell you the answers, or I'd discuss it with you, too. Sure. All right.
Gabe Liedman
I got some guesses.
Elliot Kaelin
Gabe.
Max Silvestri
Okay, go for it. I have one, too.
Gabe Liedman
I feel like the 95 is going to be Apollo 13.
Max Silvestri
Love that. I think one of the 2015. 16ish is going to be hidden figures.
Gabe Liedman
I agree. I think we maybe have gravity in there for 2015.
Max Silvestri
I think gravity's in there.
Elliot Kaelin
Yep.
Gabe Liedman
And possibly first man, I was like, did. But that maybe is more recent.
Max Silvestri
Man.
Gabe Liedman
That was Ryan Reynolds. It was the Damien Chazelle.
Max Silvestri
Nah.
Gabe Liedman
Okay.
Max Silvestri
I don't think so.
Elliot Kaelin
Now.
Max Silvestri
I think Ad Astra might be in there.
Gabe Liedman
Or Ad Astra over first. Man. This is.
Max Silvestri
Yeah, I would. I would bet my life on it. Now, the other thing I'm gonna say is. And not because I think it's right.
Elliot Kaelin
Oh.
Max Silvestri
Cause I have no faith in humanity.
Elliot Kaelin
You're betting your life on it just because you love the risk. You're just in it for the risk. Yeah.
Max Silvestri
Yeah. And I expect the worst now.
Elliot Kaelin
Oh, wait, wait.
Max Silvestri
What was the Christopher Nolan one?
Elliot Kaelin
That.
Gabe Liedman
With Interstellar.
Max Silvestri
Is Interstellar in there?
Gabe Liedman
Guys, Maybe someone was nominated for that. I mean, there might have been a supporting.
Max Silvestri
The bookshelf.
Elliot Kaelin
The best supporting furniture.
Gabe Liedman
Timothy Chalamet is like most sick of not eating enough corn or whatever, though.
Max Silvestri
Exactly. I could see something happening with that film.
Elliot Kaelin
Do you want me to.
Gabe Liedman
Stellar is a good guess.
Elliot Kaelin
Do you want to. Do you want to present all of these at once? Or would you like to submit your answers one at a time? Ooh.
Max Silvestri
Well, I think we need to make a pile, look at the dates, and then come back to you. And I don't think it's going to take that much longer.
Gabe Liedman
I do think. I think I'm on board for hidden figures.
Max Silvestri
Okay.
Gabe Liedman
Apollo 13.
Max Silvestri
Yeah.
Gabe Liedman
And gravity.
Max Silvestri
Okay. And what.
Elliot Kaelin
What.
Max Silvestri
What basic year are we left with there?
Elliot Kaelin
Would you like me to.
Gabe Liedman
If you were to line it up, I think 2015. But maybe. Maybe Elliot.
Max Silvestri
Okay, 2015.
Elliot Kaelin
Yes. You are left with 2015. 2015 is the one year that you have not gotten. Because I'll tell you right now, you're right on all three of those hidden figures. Gravity. Apollo 13. You're totally right on those. There's just one Left. It's from 2015.
Max Silvestri
2015.
Elliot Kaelin
Would you like. Would you like a very vague clue?
Max Silvestri
Yeah.
Gabe Liedman
Yeah.
Elliot Kaelin
You have not mentioned it yet. Oh, shocker, shocker, shocker.
Max Silvestri
Drama, drama, drama. Okay.
Gabe Liedman
Oh, wait. The Martian. What about the Martian.
Elliot Kaelin
You got it. I was gonna say it stars an actor from one of the other movies that you mentioned. That's right.
Max Silvestri
The Martian. Of Coins, Hidden figures.
Elliot Kaelin
The Martian, gravity. Apollo 13. In all of those movies, someone was nominated for an Academy Award for playing an astronaut or a NASA employee. Excellent job, wonderful work. Great job. You got them all.
Max Silvestri
Let's talk about the potatoes from Martian. Oh, no, no, no. We can move on.
Gabe Liedman
He hates jazz or whatever.
Elliot Kaelin
Doesn't like jazz. Loves potatoes.
Gabe Liedman
My thumb drive has jazz is what a lot of that movie is about.
Elliot Kaelin
I remember. What I like about the Martian is there's no bad guy in it. The bad guy is reality. It just exists.
Max Silvestri
Yeah. It's hard.
The Bot
I'm clueless.
Elliot Kaelin
None of the movies we mentioned so far won that acting Academy Award that they were nominated for. Only one person has ever actually won an Academy Award for playing an astronaut or NASA employee. Can you tell me who was it, or can you tell me what movie it was? And would you like a hint? Would you like the year that movie came out?
Gabe Liedman
Tommy Lee Jones, Space Cowboys. He farted trying to get in the suit.
Elliot Kaelin
Nominated? Didn't win.
Max Silvestri
I see, I see, I see, I see. Yeah, let's. Let's get that year.
Elliot Kaelin
I'll give you a hint. This movie came out in 1983.
Max Silvestri
I go mid-80s. Total recall.
Elliot Kaelin
You thought Arnold Schwarzenegger was nominated for Best Actor for Total Recall.
Max Silvestri
Who was the. Who was the person with three breasts?
Elliot Kaelin
Probably her for Best Supporting Actress. Yeah. Best Supported Actress.
Max Silvestri
Yes, exactly. It's got to be. It's got to be a man, right?
Gabe Liedman
Yeah. Okay. Oh, wait, wait. I know, I know you do. I do know.
Max Silvestri
You do know.
Gabe Liedman
I do know. Ex astronaut who likes to party and pick up older women. I believe it's Jack Nicholson from Whatever is it Terms. It doesn't matter. The movie. The movie doesn't matter, right?
Elliot Kaelin
No, the movie does matter.
Gabe Liedman
It's either Terms of Endearment or, like, the.
Elliot Kaelin
Stop right there. You got it. It's. You're. Of course,
Gabe Liedman
like, I go to parties.
Elliot Kaelin
And I was like, you know, I've been in space. Yeah. Anyway, that's right. It was Jack Nicholson.
Max Silvestri
That's insane.
Elliot Kaelin
In terms of Endearment, I don't remember
Max Silvestri
a single man being in that movie.
Gabe Liedman
Jeff Daniels is also real dope in that.
Elliot Kaelin
Yeah, Jeff Daniels is also in it. He plays the ex husband. Yeah.
Max Silvestri
Are you guys sure? Okay, great.
Elliot Kaelin
But I love that they're like, we're going to give the Academy Award to someone playing an astronaut, but not in a space movie? I don't think so. We don't want to reward anyone for going up in a in a zero gravity plane where they have to float around at any point totally.
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Elliot Kaelin
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Elliot Kaelin
I was just looking on ebay where I go for all kinds of things I love. And there it was.
Gabe Liedman
That hologram trading card. One of the rarest. The last one I needed for my set.
Elliot Kaelin
Shiny like the designer handbag of my dreams.
Max Silvestri
One of a kind. Ebay had it and now everyone's asking.
Elliot Kaelin
Ooh, where'd you get your windshield wipers? Ebay has all the parts that fit my car. No more annoying, just beautiful. Millions of finds, each with a story. Ebay Things people love. Excellent work listeners at home. Did you do as well as Gabe and Max? If not, don't sweat it because that would be gross and because you'll have plenty of chances to sweat in today's main game. It's called Word Workout.
Max Silvestri
Wow.
Elliot Kaelin
Word Workout.
Podcast Producer Devin Tory Bryant
We're working the words out.
Max Silvestri
Word workout.
Elliot Kaelin
Like, for sure. That's my favorite part of that song. It's autumn. You know what that means? Time to get in shape and show off our sweater bods. I've got seven words that want to slim down and lose some weight and. And you're going to help them. For each clue, I'm gonna give you the starting word and ask you to remove one letter and then rearrange the remaining letters to create a new svelter word. You might want a pencil and paper or a pen and paper or a crow quill, whatever it is you write with. You may want one of those and a paper, but I'm also gonna give you a hint for what the new word is. Yep. Okay. Are you ready? Sure. Yes. Okay. Word workout number one. Remove a letter from cartels to find a type of fortress.
Max Silvestri
Okay. Cartels minus a letter.
Gabe Liedman
I think you're gonna. You're gonna want to drop the R and create the word castle.
Elliot Kaelin
Very good. Castle is exactly right. Yeah.
Max Silvestri
Okay. And we're changing the. The order as well. It's not just a subtraction.
Elliot Kaelin
I see. This is why you work as a team, because one person is like, I got it. I understand. And the other person is like, whoa.
Max Silvestri
And I've never read about cadls.
Gabe Liedman
You have to do them before you give birth.
Max Silvestri
I see.
Elliot Kaelin
I mean, you should. Yeah. Question 2. Remove a letter from painter to find a type of legal guardian.
Max Silvestri
Okay. I think we have one in our midst or two in our midst. Oh, and we're going to take out the I, and it's going to be a parent.
Elliot Kaelin
Very good. It is parent. Very nice. And I like the extreme smugness of the answer. That was very well done.
Gabe Liedman
It took me. I didn't have it. I didn't have it when you had it, Gabe.
Max Silvestri
Yeah, it felt good.
Elliot Kaelin
Question number three. Remove a letter from creased to find another word for holy.
Gabe Liedman
From what word?
Elliot Kaelin
Priest? Creased. C, R, E, A, S E, D. Creased.
Max Silvestri
Oh, I see.
Elliot Kaelin
Yeah.
Gabe Liedman
Ah, I think. Yes.
Max Silvestri
You got this one.
Gabe Liedman
Yeah. I think we're going to remove the E and. And make the word sacred.
Max Silvestri
And we're going to make it sacred.
Elliot Kaelin
Very good. Wonderful. Number four. Remove a letter from carbon to find a type of lesser nobility. Okay.
Max Silvestri
Carbon.
Gabe Liedman
You got this, Gabe.
Elliot Kaelin
Lesser nobility. No, lesser.
Max Silvestri
Yeah, Nobility.
Gabe Liedman
I think I have it.
Max Silvestri
You do?
Gabe Liedman
You do?
Max Silvestri
What is it?
Gabe Liedman
I think we're going to remove baron. Baron.
Elliot Kaelin
Yeah. Very good.
Max Silvestri
Which is what I am. And that's why I don't have kids.
Elliot Kaelin
Question number five. Remove A letter from Stories to find the proper address of a nun. Okay. Remove a letter from Stories. Stories to find the proper address of a nun.
Max Silvestri
Oh, that's cute. Okay, now we're gonna get rid of that O, and it's gonna be Sister.
Elliot Kaelin
Very good. Continuing the no children theme.
Max Silvestri
That's right. Sisters only.
Elliot Kaelin
Yes. Wonderful.
Max Silvestri
Doing it for themselves.
Elliot Kaelin
Doing it for themselves and God and the Lord.
Max Silvestri
Yeah.
Gabe Liedman
Go on.
Elliot Kaelin
Question number 6. Remove a letter from action to find an excellent mixer. Remove a letter from action to find an excellent mixer.
Max Silvestri
I see.
Gabe Liedman
I don't have this. If you have a gift.
Max Silvestri
Oh. Okay. We're going to take away the A, and it's going to be a tonic.
Elliot Kaelin
Excellent. Very good.
Gabe Liedman
Killing it.
Elliot Kaelin
You're doing great. You are blazing through these. There's only one question left in this game. Remove a letter from lantern to find what you get when you spend all day at the beach.
Max Silvestri
Lantern.
Elliot Kaelin
Remove a letter from lantern to find what you get when you spend all day at the beach.
Gabe Liedman
Oh, you're gonna. You're gonna remove the L and you're gonna get Tanner.
Elliot Kaelin
Very good. You are gonna get Tanner.
Max Silvestri
DJ Specifically. That's who you're going home with.
Elliot Kaelin
That's the member of the family that you're gonna get at the beach.
Max Silvestri
That's where she lives. So, yeah, if you want Michelle, go to the mountains.
Elliot Kaelin
I didn't realize they all had different biomes that they belong to.
Gabe Liedman
Yeah.
Elliot Kaelin
No pain, no gain. Like, for sure. You have done amazingly well on that game. You got all of them, right? Seven out of seven. But just like a good gym doesn't just let people leave their excess pounds lying all over the floor, we also like to clean up our leftover letters, and we do that with a Mega Clue. Mega clue question. Whoa. For today's Mega Clue, I want you to take all the letters you removed from these words and rearrange them to find something you probably lost while using your brain to solve this puzzle. And to remind you, here's what those letters were. They were R, I, E, C, O, A, and L. What thing that you can lose? Can you rearrange those letters into R, I, E, C, O, A and L? Wow.
Gabe Liedman
What can you lose?
Max Silvestri
What did we lose?
Gabe Liedman
Well, say the clue again. While we were playing this game, we
Max Silvestri
may have lost something.
Elliot Kaelin
You may have lost using your brain, working out your brain while playing this game and solving this puzzle.
Gabe Liedman
Oh, yes. Calorie. Calorie.
Max Silvestri
We may have burnt one calorie.
Elliot Kaelin
Exactly. You may have burnt exactly one calorie. Just one. Thinking is not Great exercise. That's why you gotta move around a little bit more. But exactly right. Calorie listeners at home, did you get the answer? If not, that's okay. Pretty soon you'll just be able to have an AI do these puzzles for you.
The Bot
Anyway, I'm clueless.
Elliot Kaelin
Well, as Benjamin Franklin once said, fish and podcasts stink after 15 minutes. So before we outstay our olfactory welcome, let's bid this episode adieu. But first, I'd like to thank Gabe Liedman and Max Silvestri for finding religion and fitness with us today. And I'd also like to thank you, the listener, for everything that you do. I kept that vague because I don't really know what it is that you do. I don't know you that well, but I hope to find out someday. We'll be back next week with more Smartless presents Clueless. Until then, I'm Elliot Kaelin reminding you to look before you leap, but don't look before you sleep because it's scary in the dark.
Podcast Producer Devin Tory Bryant
Yeah, Clueless, you have been listening to Smart Smartless presents Clueless, a Smartless Media production in association with SiriusXM. Your host is Elliot Kaelin, who also writes our scripts. Today's contestants were Gabe Liebman and Max Silvestri. Check out I need u guys anywhere you get your podcasts. Your producer, editor and engineer is Devin Tory Bryant, who is me. I also write all the music and sound effects. Today's puzzles were written by Brock Mahan and Josh Richmond. Talent producer is Anne Harris. Associate producer Matty McCann. Social media producer Tommy Galgano. Executive producers are Elliot Kaelin, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett and Jason Bateman. Executive producers for Smartless Media are Richard Corson and Bernie Kaminski. Remember to follow, subscribe, rate and review the show. It really helps. That's all for now. We will see you again for more.
Elliot Kaelin
Smart med.
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Episode: Re-release: 202 – Word Workout (w/ Max Silvestri and Gabe Liedman)
Host: Elliott Kalan
Guests: Max Silvestri and Gabe Liedman
Date: March 16, 2026
In this bite-sized, brain-stretching episode, host Elliott Kalan welcomes comedians Max Silvestri and Gabe Liedman (co-hosts of "I Need U Guys") for a space-themed puzzle session, featuring wordplay, Oscar trivia, and brainteasers designed to test both wit and wisdom. The bulk of the show is devoted to “Word Workout,” a puzzle game where words are trimmed—literally—and a mega clue ties it all together.
Opening Banter:
Elliott riffs about America’s lost romance with the moon, setting up the space theme with a trivia question about Alan Shepard's moon-sport exploits.
Moon Sports Trivia:
Game: First and Foremost
Elliott challenges Max and Gabe to name the four most recent films (by year: 2016, 2015, 2014, 1995) where someone was Oscar-nominated as an astronaut or NASA employee.
Their Answers:
Fun guesswork includes tangents to Interstellar and Ad Astra and Max’s tongue-in-cheek wager:
“I would bet my life on it. Now, the other thing I’m gonna say is... not because I think it’s right...” (05:54)
Elliott’s gentle prompting leads to the correct final answer (“The Martian”) with a classic host tease:
Further Oscar Trivia:
Only one actor has actually won an Oscar for playing an astronaut or NASA employee.
Elliott introduces “Word Workout,” in which contestants must remove one letter from a given word, then rearrange the result into a new target word based on a clue.
Format Example:
Q: Remove a letter from “cartels” to find a type of fortress.
A: Remove "R" to unscramble “castle.”
“Very good. Castle is exactly right.” (13:49)
All Seven Puzzles & Solutions:
Mega Clue:
Using all removed letters (R, I, E, C, O, A, L), find something you lose while using your brain...
This fast, funny episode provides both trivia for movie buffs and interactive wordplay for puzzle lovers. Max Silvestri and Gabe Liedman’s camaraderie keeps the puzzles engaging, and Elliott Kalan’s dry humor and nerdish charm guide the ship effortlessly.
If you love puns, film trivia, and flexible thinking, this episode is a bite-sized treat—perfect to play along with and guaranteed to have you laughing (and maybe burning a calorie or two).