meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Go Fact Yourself

Ep 16: Jonathan Ames & Janet Varney

Go Fact Yourself

MaximumFun.org

Game Show, Comedy, Quiz, Podcast, Trivia, Arts, Helen Hong, Angel City, J. Keith Van Straaten

4.6786 Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2018

⏱️ 62 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jonathan Ames created several TV shows, including Bored to Death and Blunt Talk. He’s also the author of many books, including You Were Never Really Here, which was recently adapted into a movie. Janet Varney stars in the TV show Stan Against Evil and hosts of the podcast The JV Corner. In this episode, we’ll learn about Jonathan’s experience with having his book transformed into a movie and why, for all his literary expertise, he still has trouble pronouncing certain words. We’ll also hear more about Janet’s involvement at the annual Sketchfest and why she enjoys talking to women about their awkward teen years. And both Janet and Jonathan wonder what Jodie Foster is up to while they are on stage. Is she watching TV with someone while getting a nice neck massage? We may never learn the answer to that question. But GFY listeners will learn other things by listening to this episode. What’s the difference? What’s the difference between a “Presidential Pardon” and “Presidential Commutation”? What’s the difference between “Avenge” and “Revenge”? Areas of Expertise Jonathan Ames: 1990’s New Knicks, Detective Novels/Noir Literature and the works of Pema Chodron. Janet Varney: Jodie Foster movies from the 1970’s to the 1990’s, New York Times crossword puzzles, Alt. Rock 1990’s bands Appearing in this episode: J. Keith van Straaten Helen Hong Jonathan Ames Janet Varney With guest experts: Tom Nolan, crime novel reviewer for the Wall Street Journal and author of several books. Johnny Whitaker, actor who’s had roles in shows like Family Affair and General Hospital Go Fact Yourself is coming to New York for two live tapings on July 21st and 22nd at Caveat NYC! For information on guests and to buy tickets go to gofactyourpod.com. Go Fact Yourself was devised by Jim Newman and J. Keith van Straaten, and produced in collaboration with Maximum Fun. The show is recorded at the Angel City Brewery in downtown Los Angeles. Theme Song by Jonathan Green David McKeever is the Live Sound Engineer. Maximum Fun's Senior Producer is Laura Swisher The show is edited by Julian Burrell.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Are you a real no-it-all? Do you annoy your family by shouting the answers while watching

0:10.4

Jeopardy? Do you drive people crazy when you start a sentence with, well, actually? Well,

0:16.3

guess what? You can go fact yourself. Hi everyone, welcome to go fact yourself, the show where we take the smartest people we

0:26.6

know and make them look dumb and then smart again.

0:29.6

I'm Helen Hong and now from the Angel City Brewery in downtown Los Angeles, here's our moderator,

0:35.6

Jay Keith Van Stratton.

0:36.6

Thanks, Helen. Thank you, everybody.

0:39.4

Helen, how are you?

0:41.3

I am great, Jay Keith.

0:43.2

What have you been up to since our last podcast recording?

0:46.4

Let's see. I guest hosted, wait, wait, don't tell me.

0:51.5

What?

0:55.3

And fingers crossed, it went great.

0:58.4

Okay.

0:59.4

So you're doing some pre-prediction of the past.

1:02.0

And it went great?

1:03.0

It did go great.

1:04.5

All right, today on GoFact Yourself.

1:05.9

Two guests will compete to answer questions about facts they know, facts they might not know, and frankly, facts they should know. Plus, we'll meet actual experts on two very different topics, and finally,

1:15.1

we'll declare one of our guests the winner of today's show. Let's get started and meet

1:18.7

the first of today's guest. Helen, who is up first? He is a prolific writer who created the TV

1:23.9

shows Bored to Death and Blunt Talk, and whose book, You Were Never Really Here,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from MaximumFun.org, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of MaximumFun.org and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.