TEASER: Members Only Mailbag September 2024

It's the Judge John Hodgman podcast, and it's me, producer Jennifer Marmor.

I'm back this month to let you know that there's a new members-only mailbag episode in the Maximum Fun bonus feed.

So here's a little clip that I pulled for the regular feed.

John is telling Jesse and me about his first experiences with Teslas in the wild.

If you're wondering why on earth are we talking about Teslas, it's a totally reasonable question.

And I think you know what I'm going to say next.

The answer is in the full episode, which you can only listen to if you are our Maximum Fund member.

So if you're a member, check that bonus content feed right now.

If you're not a member, don't worry.

It's really easy to become one.

I'm serious.

Just visit maximumfund.org slash join and any membership will get you immediate access to our entire catalog of bonus content across the network.

That's all of the Judge John Hodgman bonus content, including our monthly mailbag episodes and everything else on the Maximum Fund network.

Maximumfund.org slash join.

And hey, if you're in St.

Paul, we're going to to be at the Fitzgerald Theater tonight as of this episode's release.

So please come see us and please say hi to me if you see me.

All right, let's get to that clip.

The first Tesla I ever saw in the wild,

I was driving

north on Laurel Canyon Boulevard over the mountains.

Los Angeles.

Los Angeles.

That's in Los Angeles.

Going to visit Lindsey Buckingham or something.

Yeah,

I was going to Joni Mitchell's old house.

Her house is a very, very, very fine house.

They paved it and put up a lot of people.

You can't see that yard.

I don't know if you've been there.

Well, you know what?

The parking was very convenient.

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean, it's a shame, but yeah.

And as I'm driving up the hill,

cresting the hill, coming over the hill in the opposite direction,

J.K.

Simmons

driving a Tesla

maybe three days after he got, I think it was best supporting Oscar for

Bad Jazz Man in

jazz drums or whatever that was called.

Yeah, that was called Yell Man.

They called that movie, that movie was called Ace

the Movie.

Whiplash was the name of the movie.

And I don't, look, I liked that movie.

I thought he was.

definitely deserving the Academy Award for that performance, which was horrifying and good.

And I was like, and I was like,

you drive Tesla King.

You earned that car.

And that was 10 years ago, at least, at a time when Tesla still had a veneer of

the cool to it, I suppose.

Or not, it wasn't, it wasn't so firmly associated with pure, pure unrepentant assholism.

Yeah.

And then our, I mean, look, maybe this guy doesn't have this Tesla anymore, but one of the nicest people that

I've ever known in my life, a comedian that we all love,

had gotten himself a Tesla around the same time.

You could say it, Jackie Mason.

I'm not going to say who it was, but he gave me a ride in his Tesla, and I was like, this is a cool car.

I was like, if.

If vacation land is a big bestseller, I'm going to get one of these cars.

Well, lucky for me,

moderate seller.

And ended up not getting one because the reputation and frankly, the quality of those cars, if they were ever good.

The one time I ever drove one was recently.

I went to go see a mountain goats show with my son, who's a whole human being in his own right in

Carrboro, North Carolina, at the cat's cradle.

We just flew down to see the show.

And

I made a reservation at uh budget or whatever, manager's special, you decide, manager.

Yeah.

Please, manager, you should decide.

That would be great.

And they gave me a Tesla.

It's the first time I ever drove one.

And it felt like I was driving a toy.

Cheap as S inside.

As expensive as it is,

all of the stuff that you touch inside.

Feels like it's going to crumble in your hands.

I didn't enjoy the driving experience.

Wasn't cool.

Hey, manager, should have given Hodgman a Hyundai like I drive.

You have a Hyundai, an electric Hyundai, right?

I do.

I have an EV, or is it a Hyundai Ionic 5?

And you like it?

I like it.

There's a lot of interior room.

Car talk is a very popular thing to do on a

into radio phones.

Sure.

Radio phones.

Radio microphones.

Yeah, we're just a couple of we're just a couple of local gearheads that are nuts about our wheels.

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