The Dollop – Episode 155: The Past Times with Josh Androsky

Podcast: The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds
Guest: Josh Androsky
Date: December 19, 2025
Theme: A hilarious dive into odd historical newspaper stories, with a recurring focus on eggs, nudity, wealth, and a wild cast of real-life characters.

Episode Overview

This week, comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds are joined by writer/comedian Josh Androsky for another installment of "The Past Times." Together, they comb through a 1938 edition of the Washington Daily newspaper, riffing on the eccentricities, headlines, and societal norms of a bygone era. In typical Dollop fashion, the episode blends absurdity and sharp social commentary, using vintage news stories as a springboard for present-day observations, personal confessions, and relentless egg-related tangents.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Technical Mishaps & Behind-the-Scenes Banter

• [00:44] The episode begins with meta references to past recording issues involving Josh:
  • "You did this show recently and it didn't record properly, so congratulations." – Dave
  • They joke about Gareth and Dave's rocky producer/performer dynamic.
  • Josh describes being “terrified” in the "Weinstein school of producing" as his creative stimulus.

2. Twitter, Muting, and Online Interactions

• [04:48–05:39] The trio discusses the perils and quirks of Twitter:
  • Josh reveals, "I'm off Twitter now because it's very bad for me and it's ruined my life."
  • All agree “muting” is preferable to “blocking” – creating a "pocket universe far away."
  • They muse about internet toxicity and how small infractions lead to being muted or blocked.

3. Josh's Projects & Sports-Owner Riffs

• [06:08–07:22] Josh plugs his comic book "Year Zero," co-created with Chapo Trap House:
  • Mocked connections between supporting the comic and somehow indirectly helping The Dollop.
• Conversations about deferred sports contracts and the morality of billionaire team owners (with recurring Dodgers jokes).

4. Guessing the Newspaper Year & Setting the Scene

• [07:29–08:46] The group guesses the paper's year (1938) and riff on D.C.'s "swamp" reputation, jabs at political slogans and modern politicians, and poke fun at the newspaper's logo.

5. The "One Egg Only" Marital Dispute

• [09:17–17:56] The main story involves a divorce case where a wife claims her husband is too affectionate, restricting him to one egg at breakfast.
  • Egg Obsession:
    • Gareth confesses to being a “big egg guy,” carrying them on tour, and even cracking hard-boiled eggs on van bumpers.
    • “Any surface can be an egg cracker.” – Gareth [10:12]
    • Josh brands hard-boiled eggs “for weak people,” suggesting adults should have “a runny ass egg.”
    • The crew discusses snack culture (pickles vs. eggs), and Gareth invents “egg salad in my mouth—God’s blender.” (11:17)
  • Egg Consumption:
    • Gareth claims to eat “six eggs a day,” buying four dozen at a time at the farmers market.
    • “Are you, like, baking a lot?” – Josh; “No, I’m hard boiling in a pressure cooker!” – Gareth [16:56]
  • Psychological Tangents:
    • Light jabs about control issues, hardboiled eggs as coping mechanisms, and evasions about therapy.

6. Nudity and Marital Expectations

• [18:14–29:32]
  • The husband’s alleged nudism is revealed: “He said pajamas were for storybooks and mail-order catalogs and wanted me to be a nudist.”
  • Josh admits: “I’m a nude sleeper. I feel constricted.” [18:34–18:59]
  • The panel riffs on class issues related to pajamas vs. nude sleeping, rural poverty, and sartorial customs.

7. Eggs as Relationship Metaphor & Personal Anecdotes

• [29:32–33:11]
  • The husband brought love letters and receipts to court, highlighting a blend of tender affection and a fixation on “two eggs for breakfast.”
  • Gareth recounts traveling with a “hard boil machine” to hotels and maintaining an unbroken egg-eating streak.
  • The others stage a joking “inter-egg-vention.”

8. Stories of Cults, Caves, and Religious Mania

• [40:31–51:18]
  • A wild segment about Mark Silverman, who declared himself Jesus, forced his family into cave-living near LA, made them be nude, and fed them walnuts and foraged food.
  • “He destroyed everything in the house. Smashed the china. Burned the bedclothes.” [42:52]
  • The case escalates from religious fanaticism to survivalism, nudity, and suspected mental illness, with the group continually circling back to the impracticality of eggs as mountain grub and container logistics for hauling eggs in the wild.

9. Wealth, Empathy, and the Supreme Court

• [54:01–58:17]
  • Conversation shifts to Supreme Court retirements, Chuck Schumer’s longevity, and how public office-holders never seem to want to retire.
  • Debates over how wealth warps empathy, with Elon Musk and Joe Rogan roasted as icons of self-absorbed, disconnected billionaires.
  • “Winning this game has no actual value.” – Dave [57:24]
  • “Money good. You become less empathetic, but that’s because you get more money.” – Josh [58:52]

10. Crime, Gender Nonconformity, and Social Attitudes

• [59:27–62:17]
  • Article about “two youthful gun molls” who robbed and killed a bus driver, with the press fixating on the “mannish” appearance of one girl.
  • “It’s also just funny to be, like, policeman sees first lesbian.” – Josh [62:37]
  • The group critiques historical press attitudes and reflects on changing norms in gender and sexuality.

11. Egg Culture: Exotic Eggs & Willingness to Experiment

• [46:29–48:10]
  • Gareth enumerates animal eggs he’s consumed: chicken, duck, quail, caviar.
  • “Number one egg is a very grain fed, healthy life chicken. Although duck… don’t sleep on it.” – Gareth [47:15]
  • “Shells are good for you. Shells are good!” – Gareth [48:22]

12. Closing Shoutouts

• [66:37–67:46]
  • Josh re-promotes "Year Zero" (badegg.co), and Gareth commits to trying “any egg you’re gonna eat.”
  • “I would love to try a human egg. I’ve done everything I can to get my grubby little paws on one.” – Gareth [67:52]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Egg Mania:

  • “I make egg salad in my mouth. God’s blender.” – Gareth [11:20]
  • “How many eggs are you taking down a day?” – Josh; “Six. Every day, six eggs.” – Gareth [12:19–12:25]

• Online Detente:

  • "I'm off Twitter now because it's very bad for me and it's ruined my life. But when I was on, I was a big muter instead of blocker." — Josh [05:13]

• Nudity Confessions:

  • "I'm a big kiss guy. And I...I'm going to announce it here on the podcast. I'm a nude sleeper." – Josh [18:34]

• Egg Logistics:

  • "I bring a hard boiling machine and you bring the eggs in a hard boiling machine into your hotel room." – Gareth [32:43]
  • “Four dozen at a time. ...You don’t know if they’re gonna not be there next weekend. It’s always good to get ahead of the eggs a little bit.” – Gareth [17:09–17:29]

• Historical Irony:

  • “Now, we finally got. ... the tax rate was where one billionaire could build an army of robots. Right?” – Gareth [35:55]
  • “You could take all that money in and buy a baseball team and run concentration camps.” – Gareth [56:20]

• On Wealth:

  • “It is crazy that we actually have proof that the guy with the most money in the world allegedly is the saddest, lamest guy of all time.” – Dave [57:24]

• On LBGTQ Presentation in the Past:

  • "It's also just funny to be, like, policeman sees first lesbian." – Josh [62:37]

Quick Reference: Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:44–01:36: Show meta, past recording failures, team dynamic jokes
• 04:48–05:39: Social media rants, muting/blocking
• 06:08–07:22: Josh promotes "Year Zero"
• 09:17–33:11: Egg-eating lifestyle, marital “one egg” story, disability and control
• 40:31–51:18: Mark Silverman “Jesus” cave cult and survival
• 54:01–58:17: Wealth & empathy, Supreme Court, Musk, billionaire culture
• 59:27–62:17: Gender, “gun mols,” and changing norms
• 46:29, 67:32: Exotic eggs and “would you eat…” game

Episode Tone & Style

The vibe is unfiltered, irreverent, and improvisational, blending mock history, absurd extended metaphors (especially about eggs), personal oversharing, and deft social critique. The hosts' camaraderie and willingness to chase the silliest thread—no matter the tangent—make the episode both a lampoon of history podcasts and a warm, bizarre conversation between friends.

For New Listeners

Even without prior knowledge of The Dollop or "The Past Times," you'll find this episode a riotous exploration of not just old headlines, but also of the quirks and obsessions of the hosts themselves. Eggs, nudity, wealth, and crime are the running themes—always filtered through layers of comedy and cultural insight.