Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn are two of the best podcasters around. They just did a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) about their show Jordan, Jesse, Go! Whether you’re new to the show or a long-time fan, check out some of our favorite moments.
A regular feature of the show is “Momentous Occasions” where listeners call in after an important life event. Sometimes, on a slow week, the event doesn’t have to be that important, but it almost always makes for a good bit. Like the time an eagle and a pelican became friends.
Redditor flyingbrothers asked:
My question is about momentous occasions. How many do you usually get a week and what’s the process used to sift through them?
Thorn replied by saying:
[Maximum Fun intern] Brian sifts through them. It really depends on the week – it varies from just barely enough to have interesting ones (like seven or something) to a few dozen.
Pretty straight forward question and answer, but then user lawjr3 jumped in:
I’m pretty sure Pelican and Eagle came during a slow week.
Source: I’m Pelican and Eagle and I get embarrassed every time I hear my voice…
Yup. Fans of the show may remember lawjr3 as the guy who called in the pelican and eagle story that quickly became a fan favorite. People kind of ran with it.
Pelican & Eagle concept art: http://t.co/XhmPkmk8 #JJGo
— Jesse Thorn (@JesseThorn) January 19, 2013
You can listen to that episode with comedian Kurt Braunohler right here.
Thorn, who we’ve interviewed on this site, hosts and appears on a number of other podcasts on his Maximum Fun network, including his NPR show Bullseye (which we love) and runs the menswear blog and webseries Put This On.  He’s a busy guy, but along with his bustling professional life, he has a busy home life as well. A wife, two kids, and dogs. User thecynthesizer asked him about his work/life balance.
Jesse, I would love to know more about your work/life balance. It seems like you have so much going on work-wise, with Bullseye, Put This On, JJGo, and running MaxFun in general. Then you’ve got the wife, kids, and dogs, and sometimes you play baseball video games. Do you not sleep? Any productivity/time management tips? Do you delegate MaxFun duties to employees?
Thorn answered honestly:
Honestly, it’s brutally difficult.
I delegate a lot, and have gotten better about that. It doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m an independent, self-reliant, non-trusting type of guy. Also we have the resources now to hire some people, which we didn’t have in the past.
I’m not a great time manager, either. I mostly just work constantly, way more than I should.
He added in response to a second question on the thread by saying:
…I think there will be a point where I can focus on creative stuff and let an expert run the business.
Thorn and Morris met as students at UC Santa Cruz. User groverjefferson asked:
What were your first impressions of one another way back at UC Santa Cruz? Did you know you’d be pals right from the start, or did it take a while?
Thorn said:
Jordan a resident on my hall when I was an RA – I’m a year older than he is. I remember being surprised at how annoying how many of my residents were (though Jordan and Jim Real, the Master of Would You Rather, were among them and remain among my closest friends). I think because I went to arts school I thought it would be like that, but I realized quickly that a lot of 18-year-old theater dorks are really truly theater dorks. I liked Jordan right away but was a little confused by his Southern Californian-ness and a little annoyed he was funnier than me. I was confused by everyone’s Southern Californian-ness, though.
Fans of either Jordan, Jesse, Go! or Penny Arcade may know that years ago the guys from Penny Arcade appeared on the show, and the results were kind of a trainwreck for everyone. User quack2thefuture admits to first hearing about JJGo through Penny Arcade, but slowly coming around.
I first heard about you guys from reading penny arcade and thought “what a couple of assholes”. Now years later I’ve come full circle, I think you guys are rad and realized those guys are total assholes. Just wanted to let you know.
Also, How can I live my life to the fullest chort in 2014?
Thorn ignored the bit about Penny Arcade, probably because it was from back in 2010 and it’s already been discussed a bunch. He did, however, answer the second part:
Work really hard on something you care about. Doesn’t really matter what.
According to a Facebook post on the JJGO page earlier today, Thorn and Morris answered over 200 questions. This is obviously a small sample of some of our favorites, but there’s a lot more on the Reddit AMA page itself.
(via Reddit, image via MaximumFun.org)
- Thorn and Morris Kickstarted this video to give away 1,000 ice cream cones
- Take a look behind the scenes of Bullseye With Jesse Thorn
- Morris and Thorn worked on this e-Cigarette parody video
