The Worst of All Possible Worlds

Caitlin Nellist (SlowpukeLIVE) joins the lads for a lovely day out with the Egg Council of America as they cover one of the worst and most popular game shows of all time: Queen for a Day. Topics include the ineptitude of Jack Bailey, the bakeries of El Cajon, and the roots of America’s obsession with the exploitation of trauma.

Caitlin “Slowpuke” Nellist: Twitch // Instagram // Bluesky // Paypal

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Queen for a Day
  • Queen for a Day (Radio), VJ Day 1945 - mp3
  • Queen for a Day (ABC TV) 1962 - Youtube
  • Queen for a Day (NBC TV) extra long 1958 - Archive
  • The New Queen for a Day (TV reboot) 1969 - Youtube
• How ‘Queen for a Day’ Turned Unhappy Housewives into TV Royalty - History Channel
• Queen For a Day - TV When I was Born
• Queen for a Day MOVIE (1951) - IMDb
• Interesting telegram from a losing contestant - eBay
• Jack Bailey’s What’s Cookin’ Cookbook
• Jack Bailey Queen for a Day hand towel
• r/askoldpeopole What do remember about Queen for a Day
• This 1950s game show profited from the poverty of a new woman every day
• What Women Watched - Marsha F. Cassidy (book)
• All The Answers - Michael Kupperman

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “The Silver Scepter: Chapters 1-2" // Written by A.J. Ditty (circa 1998) // Performed by A.J. Ditty (circa 2026)

Episode edited by Brian Alford. Interstitial edited by A.J. Ditty. Produced and hosted by Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford. This podcast was recorded under a SAG-AFTRA Agreement.

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall

Snake, it’s Colonel Copywriter. I’m responsible for writing the copy for every product in the world. Have you heard of a podcast called The Worst of All Possible Worlds? They do weekly case studies in the pop culture of a dying empire. And this week, they’re talking about YOU, Snake. Specifically, the Shadow Moses Incident. They’ve even brought on their good friend Manu (Podcast Sans Frontieres, NotACast) to gab about everything from The End of History to how close you come to smooching your clone-brother. The episodes are a lot of fun, Snake, even if they can get a bit irreverent from time to time. You should give it a listen. Also, you can pause the podcast at any time by pressing the pause button.

Manu: Bluesky

Podcast Sans Frontieres: A Metal Gear Solid analysis podcast.

NotACast: is the one true chapter by chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. Hosted by ASOIAF losers ... er, experts PoorQuentyn and ManuclearBomb, this is the place where you can get your ASOIAF fix with weekly episodes that dive deep into each chapter in the book series -- giving special attention to theme, story, plot, character, theories and literary analysis. We also call Renly a godless terrorist who was brought to justice.

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Metal Gear
• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
• Metal Gear Solid
• “Metal Gear Solid - 1997 Developer Interview” by Famitsu Weekly. Translated by Shmuplations.

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “The Tapioca Incident” // Written by A.J. Ditty // feat. A.J. Ditty as “Master/Liquid/Colonel” and Josh Boerman as “Snake.”

Episode edited by Brian Alford. Interstitial edited by A.J. Ditty. Produced by Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford. This podcast was recorded under a SAG-AFTRA Agreement.

It's MINI BEAST WEEK as Brian and Josh from The Worst of All Possible Worlds join Caleb and June from Kill The Computer to discuss The Worst of All Possible Books: Mr. Beast's LLM-ridden slopfest "The Most Dangerous Games".

Check out Kill The Computer: https://www.killthecomputer.com/

Trevor Strunk (No Cartridge) and the lads return to Odyssey for further adventures in cults, US-backed dictators in Latin America, and the reason why you’re not to blame if someone burns down a liberal bookstore while directly quoting you.

Trevor Strunk: Bluesky / Story Mode

No Cartridge Audio: Critical but casual approaches to current, past, and future video games six times a week. In addition, guests will periodically share their own aesthetic and personal experiences with games in conversation!

• Apple Podcasts // Spotify // Red Circle // Patreon

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Adventures in Odyssey
  • #474-475: “Shining Armor Parts 1&2”
  • #479: “Happy Smilers”
  • #1029: “This Is My Story”

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “Communion” // Written by A.J. Ditty // feat. Jessie Cannizzaro as “Dr. Christina Cavalcante” and Brendan Dalton as “Dr. Wesley Winthrop” // Music by 4 in a Bar and Jonny Greenwood

Episode edited by Brian Alford. Interstitial edited by A.J. Ditty. Produced by Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford. This podcast was recorded under a SAG-AFTRA Agreement.

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall

Charlie Kirk is in heaven Charlie Kirk is debating Che in Heaven Charlie Kirk is debating a second Che in Heaven who is standing beside the first Che who is also in Heaven Charlie Kirk is with Jesus in Heaven Charlie Kirk is doing a conga line with Jeffrey Epstein Charlie Kirk is on a Starbucks cup Charlie Kirk is dabbing on the cross Charlie Kirk is in Fortnite Charlie Kirk is hat sales Charlie Kirk is TPUSA Charlie Kirk is a brand Charlie Kirk is riding a unicorn Charlie Kirk is having his face shrunk Charlie Kirk is a song for kids Charlie Kirk is a practitioner of perfect politics Charlie Kirk is fading Charlie Kirk will never fade Charlie Kirk is we Charlie Kirk is flame Charlie Kirk is being carried Charlie Kirk is forever Charlie Kirk is Charlie Kirk is Charlie Kirk is Charlie Kirk is CharlieKirkisCharlieKirkisCharlieKirkKirkKirkKirkKirk01000011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01101100 01101001 01100101 00100000 01001011 01101001 01110010 01101011.

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• “The 21-Year-Old Becoming a Major Player in Conservative Politics” by Rebecca Nelson. The Atlantic. March 25th, 2015.
• AI Charlie Kirk Speaks to the congregation of Prestonwood Baptist in Texas
• “Being Watched: New website seeks to register professors accused of liberal bias and ‘anti-American values’” by Colleen Flaherty. Inside Higher Ed. November 21st, 2016.
• “Charlie Kirk’s AI resurrection ushers in a new era of digital grief” by Jack Jenkins. Religion News Service. September 17th, 2028.
• “Charlie Kirk and the Conservative Death Cult” by FD Signifier
• “Charlie Kirk in his own words: ‘prowling Blacks’ and ‘the great replacement strategy’” by Chris Stein. The Guardian. September 11th, 2025.
• “Charlie Kirk - The Man Who Broke Politics” by Alexander Avila
• “Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way” by Ezra Klein. The New York Times. September 11th, 2025.
• Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith by J.D. Vance. HarperCollins. June 16th, 2026.
• Deposition of Charlie Kirk Regarding January 6th
• “For Trump, Charlie Kirk Is a Deeply Personal Loss” by Robert Draper. The New York Times. September 11th, 2025.
• “How a ‘diaper protest’ imploded a conservative student group” by Deidre Olsen. Salon. March 25th, 2018.
• “Kirkification: How One Man’s Sacrifice Set the Stage for a Year of A.I. Enablement and Cultural Synchronisation” by V.R. Shorley-Courke. The Oxford Student. September 11th, 2026.
• Leaked Audio of Erika Kirk addressing TPUSA
• “The Myth of Charlie Kirk” by Three Arrows
• “Nobody Cares About Charlie Kirk” by Art Chad
• “One Year of Kirkification” by Posting Through It
• “People Punished Over Charlie Kirk Comments Win Millions-and Counting” by Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling. The New Republic. May 28th, 2026.
• “Turning Point USA co-founder dies of coronavirus-related complications” by Daniel Lippman and Tina Nguyen. Politico. July 29th, 2020.
• Turning Point USA Tax Filings from ProPublica
• Tyler Robinson Charging Document
• “The Unaliving of Charlie Kirk” by TrueAnon
• “We Are Charlie Kirk Eurobeat Remix (feat. Kasane Teto)” by Headphone Cat

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “Professor Watchlist” // Written by A.J. Ditty // feat. A.J. Ditty as “Professor Watchlist/Psycho Mantis” and Josh Boerman as “Snake”

Episode edited by Brian Alford. Interstitial edited by A.J. Ditty. Produced by Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford. This podcast was recorded under a SAG-AFTRA Agreement. 

Julian Feeld (Super Structure, QAA Podcast) joins the lads in the end times as they cover the 1978 film adaptation of the father of all Rapture narratives: The Late Great Planet Earth. Topics include the conspiratorial thinking of dispensational millennialism, the nefarious tree-slut Hal Lindsay, and what it means when your rock solid prophecy keeps having to move the goal posts.

Julian Feeld: Instagram

Super Structure: Super Structure is a podcast about the many shapes of power. The power of propaganda, the power of political repression, and the power of revolutionary struggles the world over. We help you — and comedian Jon Gabrus — understand current events, history and politics. So join us as we live, laugh, and radicalize together.

Patreon // Apple Podcasts

QAA Podcast: Conspiracy theories, melted online communities and cursed media — we pry open the cracks in consensus reality and journey into the hidden worlds below. The QAA Podcast is a mix of reporting, comedy, and history hosted by Jake Rockatansky, Travis View, and Julian Feeld along with co-hosts Annie Kelly, Liv Agar and Brad Abrahams. Formerly known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

Patreon // Apple Podcasts

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• The Late Great Planet Earth. Dir. Robert Amram. 1978.
• “Died: ‘Late Great Planet Earth’ Author Hal Lindsey” by Daniel G. Hummel. Christianity Today. November 27th, 2024.
• “The late great Hal Lindsey” by Matthew Avery Sutton. Religion News Service. December 5th, 2024.
• “The Late Great Planet Earth Made The Apocalypse a Popular Concern” by Erin A. Smith. Humanities: Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Winter 2017.
• “Ministry Spotlight: Hal Lindsey Website Ministries” by Brittany Smith. Ministry Watch. February 22nd, 2024.
• “Urgent Personal Message from Hal: TBN Suspends IIB” by Hal Lindsey. hallindseyoracle.com. November 20th, 2005

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “Outtakes from the Filming of The Late Great Planet Earth (featuring Orson Welles)” // Written by A.J. Ditty // featuring A.J. Ditty as “Amram/Hal” and David Armstrong as “Orson”

Episode edited by Brian Alford. Interstitial edited by A.J. Ditty. Produced by Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford. This podcast was recorded under a SAG-AFTRA Agreement.

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall

The lads return to the 4077 for more adventures in poker games, party planning, and saying goodbye to everyone’s favorite Charlie Brown: Walter “Radar” O’Reilly.

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• MASH
  • s6e1: “Fade Out, Fade In”
  • s6e14: “The Merchant of Korea”
  • s7e8: “They Call the Wind Korea”
  • s7e25 “The Party”
  • S8e4&5 Good-Bye Radar Parts 1&2
• “Goodbye Radar” by Ken Levine. October 29th, 2006.
• Making M*A*S*H. Dir. Patterson Denny. 1981.
• “‘M*A*S*H’ Stars Recall the Heart and Humor of David Ogden Stiers” by Marc Freeman. The Hollywood Reporter. March 5th, 2018.
• “RIP David Ogden Stiers” by Ken Levine. March 3rd, 2018.

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “A Third Brief Message from Alan Alda” // Written by A.J. Ditty // feat. Eleanor Philips as “Ellie” and A.J. Ditty as “Alan Alda”.

Episode edited by Brian Alford. Interstitial edited by A.J. Ditty. Produced by Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford. This podcast was recorded under a SAG-AFTRA Agreement.

HEART OF DUCKNESS TICKETS

 

Patrick Wyman (Past Lives, Master of Our Domain, Tides of History) and the lads throw on their bomb suits and chase that adrenaline high as they cover Kathryn Bigelow’s critically-acclaimed 2009 war film: The Hurt Locker. Topics include the thrill of warfare, war films as propaganda, and what it means to exist in a culture full of War Paddingtons.

 

Patrick Wyman: Bluesky // Instagram

 

Masters of Our Domain: A podcast that used to be about Seinfeld and is now about history, from Phoebe Roy, Milo Edwards and Patrick Wyman.

• Patreon // Apple Podcasts

 

Past Lives: History is built by people like you, and Past Lives is here to bring their stories to life. Every week, we’ll focus on the lived experiences of real people in the past, from the Stone Age to the near-present. Peasants, laborers, artisans, merchants, soldiers, and the enslaved are far too often overlooked in favor of kings, generals, and politicians; not here. On Past Lives, we keep the focus where it belongs: on the real people who populate our shared past. By understanding them, we can strive to better understand ourselves. These people were us, and we are them. They mattered, and so do you.

• Patreon // Apple Podcasts

 

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• The Hurt Locker. Dir. Kathryn Bigelow. 2009.
• “A House of Dynamite Visualizes the Unthinkable” by Sarah Fensom. American Cinematographer. January 20th, 2026.
• “Between Iraq and a Hard Place The Hurt Locker’s Editing Team – on Location in the Middle East” by Chris Innis. Women Film Editors. Princeton. March 15th, 2010.
• “Could The Hurt Locker Take Sound Oscars? An interview with Paul Ottosson” by Blair Jackson. Mix. March 1st, 2010.
• “Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd Talks The Hurt Locker” by Scott Macauley. Filmmaker Magazine. November 14th, 2011.
• “The Hurt Locker: A Near-Perfect War Film” by Richard Corliss. Time. September 4th, 2008.
• “The Hurt Locker: Cinematic Addiction, ‘Critique’, and the War on Terror” by Bruce Bennett and Bülent Diken. Cultural Politics: Volume 7, Issue 2. Pgs. 165-188. Duke University Press. 2011.
• “Kathryn Bigelow, Catastrophe Connoisseur” by Robert Sullivan. The New Yorker. January 5th, 2026.
• “The Unorthodox Relationship Between Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal” by Kim Masters. The Hollywood Reporter December 19th, 2012.

 

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

 

Interstitial: “Jeremy Renner Official Official: The Official App of the Jeremy Renner Official App” // Written and Performed by A.J. Ditty

 

Episode edited by Brian Alford. Interstitial edited by A.J. Ditty. Produced by Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford. This podcast was recorded under a SAG-AFTRA Agreement.

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall

HEART OF DUCKNESS TICKETS

The lads return to Odyssey for further adventures in gentrification, mini-golf, and the increasingly complicated corporate espionage of a children’s television production company.

Media Referenced in this Episode:

Adventures in Odyssey

• 468-469: Chains
• 470: Break a Leg
• 471: Fifteen Minutes
• 473: Breaking Point

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “Helena Hotspur” // Written by A.J. Ditty // feat. Hollis Beck as “Helena Hotspur”

Episode edited by Brian Alford. Interstitial edited by A.J. Ditty. Produced by Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford. This podcast was recorded under a SAG-AFTRA Agreement.

(originally Episode 146, aired Sept 2, 2024)

HEART OF DUCKNESS TICKETS

The lads made this episode with their own hands! 😊 Why do episodes like this never get likes? 😢💔 AmenAmenAmen. 🙏🇺🇸 It is our birthday and nobody wished us one. So excited to begin our cake journey. 🎂 Did you notice when it left you? Why don’t you see these anymore? Gone too soon! ✝️ The joy, the bursts of pleasure, the camaraderie? She did good work, we’re so proud of her! 🤩 This is a place of ghosts. King Charles visited Sudan to feed the hungry children! 🫅🇸🇩 And soon you will join us in the mist. Wow, made it to 100, who else can relate? 💯 Amen.

OTHER ZUCK EPISODES

• The Social Network
• Meta Horizon Worlds and the Death of the Metaverse

INTERVIEWS

• Jason Koebler on the origins of Shrimp Jesus
• Mike Isaac on Mark Zuckerberg and the Future of Meta

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Facebook blog posts
  • September 5, 2006 - Facebook deprecates the original Wall in favor of the News Feed. A post made to someone else’s profile can now show up on the home page of anyone who is friends with that person
  • September 5, 2006 - Mark Zuckerberg makes a highly defensive and condescending post responding to negative feedback about the shift to the news feed
  • September 8, 2006 - Zucc makes a considerably more measured follow-up post introducing new privacy settings but doubling down on his commitment to “free flow of information on the internet”
  • November 6, 2007 - Facebook introduces its new social ad platform in tandem with Pages, implementing the final piece of its core user monetization strategy
  • February 12, 2009 - Facebook introduces the Like button
  • February 24, 2016 - Facebook rolls out Reactions (love, haha, wow, sad, angery) globally
• News articles:
  • “Ted Cruz using firm that harvested data on millions of unwitting Facebook users” by Harry Davies. The Guardian. December 11th, 2015.
  • “A timeline of Facebook's privacy issues — and its responses” by Alyssa Newcomb. NBC News. March 24, 2018
  • “Five Points for Anger, One for a ‘Like’: How Facebook’s Formula Fostered Rage and Misinformation” by Jeremy B. Merrill and Will Oremus. Washington Post. October 26th, 2021
  • How Spammers, Scammers and Creators Leverage AI-Generated Images on Facebook for Audience Growth by Renee DiResta and Josh A. Goldstein. Pre-print paper, Stanford University.
  • Facebook’s Algorithm Is Boosting AI Spam That Links to AI-Generated, Ad-Laden Click Farms by Jason Koebler. 404 Media, March 19, 2024
  • Facebook’s AI Spam Isn’t the ‘Dead Internet’: It’s the Zombie Internet by Jason Koebler. 404 Media, May 2, 2024
• Misc.
  • ”AI is Ruining the Internet” by Drew Gooden.

Commercial: “Scrolling Through Your Old Facebook Feed at 4AM”

• Round Here Piano Cover by John Baumgardner