Wayne Knight on Seinfeld, Jurassic Park, Basic Instinct and more!
54m
·
Really? no, Really?
·
Today’s episode could be titled, “Hello Newman” because the internationally loved actor, Wayne Knight visits Really, no Really to talk about his iconic roles... including Seinfeld’s scheming Postman Newman, and Jurassic Park's techno-wiz Dennis Nedry.
In this episode, Jason and Peter get Wayne to discuss what it’s like to get cast in projects based on his weight, being held hostage on the set of Oliver Stone’s JFK, and his bizarre audition with the director of Basic Instinct - Really, no Really!
In addition to the credits listed above, Wayne has appeared on Broadway in the plays Gemini, Mastergate, Art and Sweet Charity plus the movies… Dirty Dancing, Born on the 4th of July, Dead Again, JFK, Space Jam, For Richer or Poorer, Rat Race – and the list goes on!
He also voiced the villainous toy collector Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2, plus characters in Tarzan, Kung Fu Panda, Harley Quinn and many other animated projects.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- Wayne Knight the biochemist?
- Wayne Knight, private Investigator, and his real-life case: “The Husband, The Wife & The Pregnant Au Pair!
- Why he wore a fat suit…Really, no really!
- Meeting Steven Spielberg at the entrance to Jurassic Park.
- The disgusting reality of being spit on by a dinosaur.
- Jason & Wayne compare notes on losing weight.
- Warm? Cold? Unwelcoming? Guest star’s views on the Seinfeld set.
- Googleheim: Who wore it worse? Fat suits in Hollywood.
***
FOLLOW WAYNE:
X: @iWayneKnight
Wayne’s upcoming shows: Amazon Prime’s season 2 of Them and Max’s Bookie.
***
FOLLOW REALLY NO REALLY:
www.reallynoreally.com
YouTube
TikTok
Threads
X
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The episode Wayne Knight on Seinfeld, Jurassic Park, Basic Instinct and more! from the podcast Really? no, Really? has a duration of
54:07. It was first published
More episodes from Really? no, Really?
Your Bad Customer Service was No Accident!
Today’s episode is all about our frustration with customer service… which by anyone’s standards is getting worse and worse! You experience it every time you encounter a phone tree, interact with a chatbot, or deal with increasingly longer hold times. The truly shocking fact, the apparent ineptitude of most customer service departments is by design. Really, no Really!
Jason and Peter had to find out the reason a company would intentionally offer unsatisfactory customer service and became even more bemused when they realized that A.I. is going to impact the entire sector. That’s why they sought out Amas Tenumah, a customer service expert and technologist who has advised DirecTV, Fastly, Wendy's, Teleflora, and Coca-Cola. His work has been featured on NPR, Forbes, The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, and other business journals.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- Poor customer care is part of the design!
- Amas’ secret trick to navigating customer service.
- How companies treat customer service employees: bathroom time tabulated, tethered to headsets, ridiculous scripts, terrible pay, and worse!
- Part of the customer service problem… YOU, the consumer!
- Every Call Center has one: the profanity policy.
- Correlating CEO tenure and inferior customer service.
- Can AI and technology improve people’s customer service experience?
- Peter’s “million-dollar idea” to revolutionize customer care.
- The growing number of companies that have terminated ALL phone interaction with customers.
- When chatbots go rogue!
- Why Amas almost got his hand cut off. Really!
- Google-heim: The Oldest continuously operating company in the world must have the best customer service, right? You will be shocked to learn how long these folks have been in business.
***
FOLLOW AMAS:
Website: AmasTenumah.com
Instagram: @AmasTenumah
YouTube: @AmasTenumah
Facebook: Amas Tenumah
X: @AmasTenumah
LinkedIn: Amas Tenumah
***
FOLLOW REALLY NO REALLY:
www.reallynoreally.com
YouTube
TikTok
Threads
X
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Free Will Might be an Illusion!
Dr. Robert Sapolsky a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant winner and professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University has rankled the scientific and philosophic communities by arguing one simple point: There is no free will! We only THINK we’re making our own decisions. Really, no really!
When Jason and Peter heard this, they realized that they had absolutely no choice but to contact Dr. Sapolsky so they could get him to explain his thesis…in a simplistic way…that even they could understand. And he did!
Dr. Robert Sapolsky is a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research at the National Museum of Kenya, and the author of: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, A Primate's Memoir, The Trouble with Testosterone, Monkeyluv, and his latest is Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. He is a regular contributor to Discover.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- Why a 14-year-old Robert Sapolsky concluded there is no free will.
- Misunderstanding what free will is; Dr. Sapolsky provides his definition.
- Determinism verses anti-determinism.
- How our sense of smell can affect our beliefs and choices.
- Thanks mom! How your pregnant mother’s elevated stress levels gave you a 20-fold likelihood of developing an anxiety disorder.
- Minority Report’s “pre-crime” idea is real and being implemented.
- Professor Sapolsky realizes that most philosophers and scientists reject his conclusions.
- Sapolsky says the world becomes more humane when we accept his hypothesis.
- Right, wrong, ethics, morality, compassion – What do we do with those concepts in a world without free will?
- Google-heim: No free will BUT the best things in life are free! (Sort of.)
***
FOLLOW ROBERT:
His latest book: “Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will”
TikTok: @ aprimatestiktok
***
FOLLOW REALLY NO REALLY:
www.reallynoreally.com
YouTube
TikTok
Threads
X
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
BONUS EPISODE: Blunt Truths on Marijuana
The cannabis available today is much, much stronger than the weed grandma was smoking back in her day and the effects on our brains are much more significant than previously thought. Really, no really!
Jason and Peter sought out Dr.Ryan Sultan an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University to understand the underlying reasons for our growing inability to get along but when we had him in studio we also picked his brain relating to his expertise in cannabis. He's also an expert in the areas of anxiety, mood disorders, depression, ADHD, and substance abuse. Ryan graciously agreed to help us understand why Peter has been so edgy lately since he's gone cold turkey off marijuana.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- Peter isn't alone in having a hard time coming off pot.
- Lung cancer, stroke, anxiety, a shrinking brain? The new huge study on long-term cannabis use.
- The effects of long term cannabis consumption.
- What happens to your brain when you stop regular use of pot.
- Cannabis, rebound anxiety + ADHD.
- The reason kids should stay away from pot until at least age 25.
***
FOLLOW DR. SULTAN
He is the director ofIntegrative Psych, as well as being director ofSultan Lab at Columbia University.
Instagram @rsultanmd
X @DrRyanSultan
***
FOLLOW REALLY NO REALLY:
www.reallynoreally.com
YouTube
TikTok
Threads
X
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What’s Driving Public Bad Behavior?
It’s becoming impossible to ignore the epidemic of public incivility. Tirades in supermarkets, performers pelted with projectiles, drunken movie goers brawling, tantrums on airplanes, and of course, the Oscar slap seen around the world! This can’t all just be coincidence. Social media constantly churns out evidence of this growing trend which begs the question: Which came first, the incivility or the smartphone cameras capturing it all? Really, no really?
Jason and Peter sought out an expert in human behavior to help discover the underlying reasons for our growing inability to get along. And Dr.Ryan Sultanan Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University graciously agreed to help us understand society’s current decline in decency.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- What is “Main Character Syndrome” and is it real?
- Performers who’ve spectacularly called out disrespectful audience members.
- How COVID affected people’s temperament and children’s ability to mature and develop.
- How our reality has been impacted by smart phones, social media, and curated feeds.
- Anger, happiness and the algorithms that feed us.
- The restorative power of interpersonal relationships - can they be replicated online?
- Airplane tantrums, toxic Yelp reviews, prolific road rage, are there common threads instigating these behaviors?
- Is the “Karen phenomenon” new or are we just catching it on camera more?
- Broadway memories – How Jason dealt with onstage outbursts.
- Google-heim: Stemming the tide of incivility using the 4 Agreements.
***
FOLLOW DR. SULTAN
He is the director ofIntegrative Psych, as well as being director ofSultan Lab at Columbia University.
Instagram @rsultanmd
X @DrRyanSultan
***
FOLLOW REALLY NO REALLY:
www.reallynoreally.com
YouTube
TikTok
Threads
X
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Harvard’s Taylor Swift Course -What You’re Really Learning!
Harvard is teaching a course on…Taylor Swift? Yes! Harvard University, the one in Cambridge, Massachusetts has a new course about T-Swizzle whose Eras Tour has earned over 1 billion dollars so far. And whose latest album just broke multiple streaming records within hours of its release. Really, no Really!
Our initial reaction was to poo-poo the Harvard course because we happen to be congenital born poo-poo-ers. But when we investigated the course syllabus, we found it fascinating, and an easy A it’s not.
Jason and Peter have enlisted the talents of Professor Stephanie Burt -who teaches the Taylor Swift course at Harvard - to not only discuss her class, but to also take a closer look at the woman, her music, the music industry she has upended and her rabid fan base, the Swifties.
Professor Stephanie Burt is the Donald and Catherine Loker Professor of English atHarvard University and has published various collections of poetry and a large amount of literary criticism and research. The New York Times has called Professor Burt "one of the most influential poetry critics of her generation".
You’ll also hear how Jason and Peter gave Taylor a job, way back in the day. Really, no Really!
IN THIS EPISODE:
- How Prof. Burt sold Harvard’s Administration on doing a Taylor Swift course.
- Is Taylor Swift just about skewering her x-boyfriends?
- Do you have a Hermeneutic Friendship with Taylor? And what does that even mean?
- Does Taylor use “lects”? And what does that even mean?
- How Swift’s social media consciously builds and deepens community with her fans.
- Taylor Swift’s success: amazing business acumen or smart consultants?
- The songs a Swift novice should listen to first.
- GoogleHEIM: Quiz: Who sung it - Taylor Swift or the Sex Pistols?
***
FOLLOW PROFESSOR BURT:
X: @accommodatingly
BlueSky Social: @notquitehydepark.bsky.social
Podcast:teamupmoves.com
***
FOLLOW REALLY NO REALLY:
www.reallynoreally.com
YouTube
TikTok
Threads
X
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.