Hey, everybody, it's Jay Keith. We've got our very special listener tournament episode coming right up,

and it is all part of the wonderful two-weekish-long celebration that we call Max Fund Drive,

where we get to celebrate you, our listeners who support our show financially, and you get to

support our show financially. I maybe could have started with that. Well, I am here at my

home in Los Angeles. Normally, I would be joined by Helen Hong, but she is actually in Korea with her snefew, or I would be joined by my co-creator and producer Jim Newman, but he's at a big trivia event in Wisconsin. But don't worry, I'm not going solo. We have a very special guest. It is our co-producer and editor Julian Burrell. Hello, Julian.

Hello, Jake Keith. You know where I am? I am at Max Fun HQ. What better place to be during the Max Fun Drive? Julian, hard to believe, but there may be some people listening who do not know what Max Fun Drive is. Will you succinctly tell them so we can get to this great show?

Absolutely. Max Fund Drive is the one time of year that we interrupt our programming very heavily

in order to remind you that this does not happen by magic.

It only happens by the support of some wonderful people who have decided to give a monthly contribution

to the shows that they love, including this one,

go fact yourself by going to maximum fund.org slash join go fact.

That's right. Now, for that $5 a month, do they get nothing other than giving us their money?

Well, no. Let me just give you. I love a short answer to a question. No, we are giving them so much. It's probably the

greatest value in all of podcasting, dare I say. When you sign up to become a $5 a month

member, you get access to the max fun, BoCo library, not just for GoFact yourself, which

continues to grow every single month. You get it for every

single show across the network. And when I say it is a great value, it's because it constantly

gets added to. It never shrinks. And in a world where you're not sure how your money's going,

you can understand that this is an investment that only appreciates. Absolutely. And speaking of

appreciate, we appreciate our listeners. And this episode that you're about to hear is a sign of

that because it features two listeners who supported us in the 2025 Max Fund Drive. They were

entered into a listener tournament and were selected to appear on this championship episode.

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