Episode #21: Wurst Case Cynario

4:25 – Mindy Kaling’s first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Sadly, Jenny cannot offer a ringing endorsement of the book because it’s front loaded with a lot of body/weight talk that’s somewhere in the same zip code as the place known as Trigger Town, USA (at least for those of us who prefer not to hear their comediennes define obesity as “unhealthy overweight.”) Which isn’t to say the book isn’t worthwhile. Just that you might want to skip the first couple chapters.

14:30 – A detour to talk about the specific pressures faced by actresses who are not Hollywood-standard size 0. Christina Hendricks most recently, but also Buffy‘s Amber Benson back in the day.

18:30 – Sidetrack: the difference between being the 20s and 30s; how age affects the way you perceive yourself and how strangers interact with you. ~It gets personal~ Also, Jenny draws a parallel with the Dog Whisperer, LET HER FINISH. Plus: an hilarious Cynara blue hair anecdote.

40:20 – A nice show on Discovery called Oddities, about weird people bringing weird stuff to a weird shop in Manhattan. Books bound in human skin, anyone? How about a “horaffe”?

58:15 – Jimmy Kimmel’s YouTube challenge where he got parents to convince their kids that the parents had eaten the kids’ candy. The kids do not react well. We explain why (it has to do with the economics of childhood), and also explain why lying to kids is NOT COOL, OK?

PLUS: Why hasn’t Amy Poehler written a book? What is the name of Tina Fey’s baby? Why does Cynara tell weird iguana stories?

Links:

YouTube Challenge – I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy [YouTube]

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling [Random House]

Oddities [Discovery Channel]