What Was That?

Pop-ups (17 · 2 fan picks from YouTube comments · 2 clips to watch whole)

1. Martinelli's for the Quaid Army

   1:01

   Seth's second bottle of Martinelli's sparkling apple juice arrives from a listener, positioned as the official beverage of the Quaid Army.

   One detail here is not in the transcript.

   I'm very happy to report Scott from Seattle sent me what is my second bottle of Martinelli's sparkling apple juice.
   Quaid Army

2. Quid and poll results

   3:33

   The hosts report that 84 percent of listeners approved of the British term Quid and the phrase "punt us in the tits" as the way to address them. The term Quid is a British Quaid.

   By 84%. They're totally fine with it.
   Quidpunt us in the cuntus

3. Quant and Quaid naming debate

   3:42

   The hosts discuss other proposed names for listeners in different countries, including quants for Australians and Quaids for Canadians.

   We talked about how Aussies would be quants.
   Quaid

4. Quiwi and crossword wordplay

   4:26

   Andy answers the New Zealand listener name as Quiwi, which the transcript renders as Queewees. The crossword and Winter Soldier references tie back to the pod's word game culture.

   Queewees. Yeah, 100%. You got it.
   Quiwiwinter soldier

5. Winter Soldier crossword joke

   4:40

   The hosts joke that the crossword puzzle is trying to activate them like a winter soldier, a recurring bit about being triggered by word games.

   Why are they trying to Winter Soldier, bro?
   winter soldier

6. Song was written during album sessions

   19:07

   The hosts explain that "What Was That?" started as an album track and that they expected it to go on the album. They later decided it did not belong there after it aired.

   But I thought it was going to go on the album. But I thought, yeah. Yeah. Yes.

7. Air-time lesson for the album

   19:18

   After the short aired, Andy and the group decided it would not go on the album. Andy says the lesson made the album better.

   I'm so glad we did that because now our album is going to be better.

8. The dissonance of the horror joke

   19:32

   Andy explains that the short's joke rests on children hearing about the worst events in history and then the character telling them to hit the showers. He says the mismatch is what makes it funny to him.

   The joke being like, to anyone, like a child, the horrific things that people have done throughout human history, you're just like, what the fuck?

9. Arcade Fire's synth line stands out

   24:18

   Andy singles out the synth line that comes in when Arcade Fire starts singing as the best part of the song. The hosts guess the producer might be Drew Campbell, but they are unsure.

   I really like the synth line that comes in at the end when Arcade Fire starts singing.

10. Watch the whole thing

    SNL Digital Short: What Was That? - Saturday Night Live

    24:44

    The hosts play this one in 5 parts from 24:44 (120 seconds of it in all, talking over the rest). Watch the whole thing here, from Saturday Night Live on YouTube.

    Watch the whole thing (3:03) Saturday Night Live on YouTube

11. The Hollywood Dish junket sketch

    39:24

    Hollywood Dish is a junket press sight-gag sketch in which an actor is interviewed by a series of interviewers. The spit-take and the Jersey Shore question become recurring gags.

    So this is where you, you, a movie actor sit in a chair and just like different interviewers come through.

12. Watch the whole thing

    Hollywood Dish with Scarlett Johansson - SNL

    41:01

    The hosts play this one in 3 parts from 41:01 (102 seconds of it in all, talking over the rest). Watch the whole thing here, from Saturday Night Live on YouTube.

    Watch the whole thing (5:13) Saturday Night Live on YouTube

13. Wiig drenched in the Hollywood Dish gag

    41:13

    The Hollywood Dish scene escalates as interviewers pile food and drink onto Kristen Wiig, with a spit-take and a bowl of popcorn dumped on her head.

    He did a spit take into Kristen Wig's face, then he took like a slurpee and threw it in her face.

14. Fans point here

    44:09

    2 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 1 likes.

    and so maudlin, I apologize for this incessant nictating. What's nictating? It's a Latinate verb synonymous with blinking. Hey, I think you're gonna be fine. I think you do know these words. Really? Would you say this…

15. Vocabulary Man reuses Griff Banks

    44:46

    Seth notes that the Vocabulary Man sketch repurposes Griff Banks, a sketch that had already failed twice. The hosts say the crying and voice came from that earlier idea.

    What you have tried to do there was repurpose Griff Banks.

16. Griff Banks callback

    44:46

    The hosts link the Vocabulary Man sketch back to Griff Banks, a bit that appears again in later episodes.

    One detail here is not in the transcript.

    What you have tried to do there was repurpose Griff Banks.

17. Griff Banks sketch

    44:58

    The hosts describe Vocabulary Man as a sketch that reuses the same concept and crying that had failed in an earlier attempt called Griff Banks.

    It was the crying that was the Griff Banks. And the voice.

18. Vocabulary Man as an update feature

    45:05

    The hosts say the Vocabulary Man sketch was an update feature in a weird episode, not a standard main sketch.

    This one was an update feature. Well, there you go. It was a weird episode.

19. Fans point here

    45:39

    3 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 5 likes.

    Well, or he was like, yeah, he was doing his best to like catch her eye, you know? Yeah. And it worked. They come and go like, uh, tumbleweeds at a Seth Meyers, uh, standup show. Good. Wow. It took me a second. It took… — Andy

20. Spelling Bee squeaky clean win

    47:48

    Andy announces he finished the New York Times Spelling Bee squeaky clean, meaning Queen Bee with zero hints. Squeaky clean is a fan term for that level of achievement.

    I got Queen Bee squeaky clean. I got it squeaky. Zero hints of any kind.
    squeaky clean

21. Forte as a nice-guy liability

    49:54

    The hosts joke that Will Forte's niceness can be a liability, with examples ending in absurd results.

    there are times when Forte's so nice that it's arguably a liability.