The Best Thing Ever

What do you get when you mix: 🤖A rogue SecUnit who was programmed to kill, but just wants to binge-watch its soaps. 🧑‍🔬 Team of scientists on an alien planet overcoming their prejudices, surviving, and making bot friends and 👾 An evil survey team here to kill anyone who gets between them and their sweet, sweet alien remnant tech? It's Martha Wells's hit novella, All Systems Red, #1 of the Murderbot Diaries, now a hit Apple TV+ show with infinity more Skarsgård! The book's a fast, shooty romp with our sarcastic murderbot who longs to dip out of reality and watch its shows. Girl, same. Liked it? The RIAWlgorithm also recommends: 🍵 The Monk & Robot books by Becky Chambers (Amanda) 🕹️ NieR: Automata (Anthony) 🥇Golden Girls 🐸Amphibia 🦉The Owl House ✨ The Stars Now Unclaimed by Drew Williams.  📞Calling congress, protesting, and helping how you can. Recorded on 4/25/25 (in case you're wondering what specific world craziness we were experiencing) Editing by Zach Hahn Music by @mitrxxx

6/10/25 • 43:56

Why do we slay all day? Why do we serve? Why is it giving? It’s all thanks to drag ballroom culture, and drag’s permeation of mainstream is in large part thanks to Paris is Burning (1990). Across the board, we loved this legendary documentary by Jennie Livingston, with its executive realness, vintage 80s b-roll, and giant trophies. Also: 🌳Tree fan Bri Pruett is back and saw another good tree!😪Anthony’s suffering through sleep regression. 🦋Hunter’s gotta watch out for moths So if you’re looking for some podcast realness and the origin for pretty much all of today’s slang, you might just love Paris is Burning. Liked it? The RIAWlgorthim says may also enjoy: 👀How Do I Look a Paris is Burning spiritual sequel 👑The Queen (1968) a Paris is Burning spiritual prequel 🌹 Funeral Parade of Roses (Hunter’s pick) 🏁RuPaul’s Drag Race (Bri’s Pick) 👏Pose (Bri’s Pick) 📺 I Saw the TV Glow (Anthony’s Pick) Other Recs: 🎲Molly House, the board game by Jo Kelly with additional design from Cole Wehrle & Ricky Royal with illustrations by Rachel Ford.(Hunter’s pick) 🎲Hunter’s hosting a tournament at Guardian Games in Portland 6/27-29 and doing shows! 🤩Bri’s in an award-winning short film, “ Relationship to Patient” with H. Jon Benjamin! (Bri’s Pick) 🤩Also Bri’s doing improv and standup in LA! 🌆 Pre-Giuliani, New York (Anthony’s) 🛏️Sleep. Always sleep. Recorded on 4/11/25 (in case you're wondering what specific world craziness we were experiencing) Editing by Zach Hahn Music by @mitrxxx  

5/27/25 • 55:23

Feeling like a dive into the ultra-bleak world of politics... in 2003?  Welcome to The Thick of It! Before he saved the universe as The Doctor, Peter Capaldi starred as a foul-mouthed fixer in Armando Iannucci's proto-Veep set in the UK. Shaky cams! Old cell phones! Resignations! It's got it all! Also: The Cat in the Hat is no angel. OSHA in the Mushroom Kingdom. So if you like your escapism to be nearly as depressing as reality, you might just find yourself in The Thick of It. Liked it? The RIAWlgorthim says may also enjoy: 📰 The news 💀 Working a dead end job. Other Recs: 😴 Sleep 🏋️🥦 Lifting weights and eating vegetables Recorded on 2/11/25 (in case you're wondering what specific world craziness we were experiencing) Editing by Zach Hahn Music by @mitrxxx

5/6/25 • 57:15

It's a new season of Read it and Weep! Alex has graciously passed the hosting mic on to Ezra and it's gonna get a little weird.   This season, Ezra's trying to break out of his algorithms. He's looking for media that his friends love, but that no one's talking about these days.   First up, Sarah Hatheway brings us Gene Kelly's 1951 Technicolor musical, An American in Paris.   Dream ballets! Questionable 1950s romantic subplots! And rhythm? Yeah, we've got rhythm.   Who could ask for anything more? (Also, the recording date was 1/28/25, thus the timely Oscars talk.)   Editing by Zach Hahn Music by @mitrxxx

4/29/25 • 48:40

Cold soup for the soul.

12/24/24 • 66:22

Wake up shot out of a canon

3/8/24 • 33:35

While Best Thing Ever is on break, we checked in with Anthony about being a new dad including lack of sleep, low expectations, and declawing babies. Parenting is fun and not that hard! 

12/1/23 • 41:57

Alex Falcone and Ezra Fox accidentally became mummy romance experts when they wrote their best-selling young adult novel (http://unwrapmyheart.com). For Spooktober they're reviewing three classic pieces of mummy pop culture and analyzing how good the mummies are if they can get it. Today they dive into a young-adult romance that is close to mummies but crucially different: zombies. With Warm Bodies (2016) we find out why zombies bit the love bug before mummies did. It's the gooshy bois vs the bony bois on the finale of the Mummy Minute.

11/1/23 • 47:31

Part two of our mini-series about mummies for spooky month. This time we talked about the most famous mummy romance novel (besides ours): The Mummy or Ramses the Damses by Anne Rice. Next week we'll wrap things up (sorry) with a slant rhyme on mummies, zombie romance.

10/27/23 • 63:38

Alex and Ezra accidentally became mummy romance experts when they wrote their best-selling young adult novel (http://unwrapmyheart.com). For Spooktober they're reviewing three classic pieces of mummy pop culture and analyzing how good the mummies are if they can get it.

10/13/23 • 57:11

All good things must come to an end and so must all okay things! With that, we're calling this the official end of season 1. We talked about 27 things all of which could have been the best thing ever but today we decide once and for all which one is (you'll be surprised). Plus a mini ranking and a bunch of list stuff sure to annoy almost anybody. Enjoy! Thanks for the support this season and we'll see you again in a bit! 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show ☕ Join the awesome coffee club and get 30% off w/ code ALEXFALCONE

9/14/23 • 73:26

Since 2017 our boy Hunter has been one of the most famous players of the uber-complicated boardgame Twilight Imperium. His show Space Cats Peace Turtles chronicled the game's evolution from 3rd to 4th edition and allegedly helped shape the rules that turned it into an internationally competitive game. He takes us back through that history and carefully avoids explaining too much of the game. But we think it's about war? And furries? Hard to say. But it's final ranking will probably surprise you! 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show ☕ Join the awesome coffee club and get 30% off w/ code ALEXFALCONE

9/7/23 • 81:05

The bad news is that you're dead. The good news is that you're part of an exceptional cast on a surprisingly high-concept NBC sitcom with a high jokes-per-minute and good moral center.  📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show ☕ Join the awesome coffee club and get 30% off w/ code ALEXFALCONE

8/25/23 • 77:28

In 1969 two men walked on the surface of the moon (and their friend waited in the car). It was without a doubt the greatest publicity stunt of all time. But even more than that, it was the only time everybody in the world watched TV at the same time because of good news. Plus we talk about why Michael Collins was a national treasure and guess how much shit we left on the moon. 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show ☕ Join the awesome coffee club and get 30% off w/ code ALEXFALCONE  

8/18/23 • 76:50

They outnumber us 3-to-1, they make breakfast possible, and they're cute as heck. They're chickens and they're everywhere. We welcome back comedian and writer Phoebe Bottoms to talk about her love of chickens plus we tell the story of their history from wild jungle fowl to backyard friends. It's a new top 10 topic! 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show ☕ Join the awesome coffee club and get 30% off w/ code ALEXFALCONE

8/10/23 • 83:15

Look, this definitely isn't an episode we slapped together because of a guest mishap. It was the plan all along to talk about the joys of taking the easy way out, of minimizing effort, of doing enough for it to still be called an episode. We presented three mini stories this week about what really happened at Roswell, Scandinavian modesty culture, and Ezra's favorite middle school teachers. It was so fun we might half ass again in the future. 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show ☕ Join the awesome coffee club and get 30% w/ code ALEXFALCONE

8/3/23 • 72:22

What's uld is nu again as everybody's favorite mashup of hip hop and metal music (and costumes) is gaining in popularity for the first time since the 90s. Anthony takes us on a deep dive of the music's history including his favorite nu metal bands that actually hold up. It's never a serious contender for a top spot on the master list but at least we understand it better. 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show 💵 Support the Patreon

7/26/23 • 75:34

This week we've got comedian Monica Nevi here to tell us why women's basketball is the best thing ever. Along the way we'll learn about Iowa 6-on-6 and why Brittney Griner was in Russia in the first place. 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show 💵 Support the Patreon

7/20/23 • 73:34

We're not going to tell the story of how the movies were made (mostly) and we're not going to talk about whether or not their good (except a bit) but instead Anthony's going to tell the story of the different ways Star Wars was a watershed in film making. And then we'll talk a bit about how bad Attack of the Clones was. 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show 💵 Support the Patreon

7/14/23 • 84:32

If there's one thing Ezra loves it's human children. In particular, his children. Ezra loves his children. Over the last 10 years he's learned a few things about raising kids that he'd like to share today such as "remember they're new here" and "you're always worried about the wrong thing." 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show 💵 Support the Patreon

7/6/23 • 69:53

The world has seen many heros over the years. But it has never seen a puzzle-solving sword-wielding short king constantly dressed for a night at a gay dance club until Link came along. We discuss a little history of the Zelda franchise, the different ways we each approached Tears of the Kingdom, and Alex's conspiracy theory about princess Zelda. 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show 💵 Support the Patreon

6/28/23 • 73:36

Are arcades the best thing ever? For three guys raised in the 90s, we definitely think they could be. They've got games, they've got yelling, they've got variety. Lots of the things that are high on the list already.  Plus Hunter finally unveils his definitive list of the 11 best arcade cabinets of all time and number 1 will SHOCK YOU. 🌐 Listen to Hunter's video game podcast Old Gamer's Almanac 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show 💵 Support the Patreon

6/15/23 • 77:04

We've got TikTok sensation and creator of wild projects Kyle Scheele on but he disagreed with the entire premise of the show. So instead of picking one best thing ever we just talked about four random interesting things: Ball Jars, the meta-sweater, tragedy themed commerce, and the hype cycle.  🌐 Learn more about Kyle and buy his books 📊 Follow along with the Figma 📡 Subscribe to the show 💵 Support the Patreon

6/8/23 • 76:05

Brilliant comedian Myq Kaplan and RiaW favorite Amanda Leinbaugh joins us to talk about his favorite thing, advice columns. We do a shallow dive into the history from the first one ever to the sibling rivalry that defined advice for many decades. Then we play a new game called The Second Opinion where Ezra, Amanda, and Myq competitively answer advice questions not directed at us. 🌐 Learn more about Myq and watch his newest special 📺 Watch on YouTube 📊 Follow along with the Figma  

6/1/23 • 79:36

Comedian Liz Glazer loves the NordicTrack Ski Machine. She's bought and sold many over the years, has received them as gifts, and worked out on one this morning. Why does she like it so much? You'll have to listen to find out. Plus we have a history of fad workouts and difficult ranking on the Master List. 💿 Listen to Liz's new album "A Very Particular Experience" 💻 Follow along with the Figma 📺 Watch on YouTube 💸 Support us on Patreon 🎙️ Subscribe to the pod

5/25/23 • 82:59

The podcast just keeps getting hotter and hotter and this week we tackle a job that can cool things off in just the right places: firefighters. The most respected civil servants, the rescuers of treed cats, the makers of pancakes. And sometimes they even fight fires. Learn about the history of firefighting as Anthony takes you from the Romans to present day. 📊 Take the BTE listener survey 💻 Follow along with the Figma 📺Watch on YouTube 🎙️Subscribe to the pod 💰Support us on Patreon

5/18/23 • 76:34

The sun AKA the Evil Day Star AKA Sky Daddy. It shapes our days and burns our noses. There's nothing more powerful in our solar system (except maybe Emma Thompson). But is it the best thing? Find out as we give a complete history of the sun, a complete future of the sun, and a series of fun facts about the sun that will have you saying "I have to wear sunscreen those facts are so fun.  📚 Learn more about Robyn Bennis's books here 📊 Take the BTE listener survey 💻 Follow along with the Figma 📺Watch along on YouTube 🎙️Subscribe to the pod 💰Support us on Patreon

5/11/23 • 63:24

What is the best thing ever? We've got 8 new nominees forged in the fire of a topic draft. Okay, it was more a friendly discussion but I think it was really interesting. Watch now to find out what the next era of BTE will look like. 💻 Follow along with the Figma

5/4/23 • 61:07

What do you bench, bro? Can you dead lift me? If I'm dead? It's powerlifting and it's good for you body and mind, apparently. At least Rachel likes it, and she's here to tell us why. Learn the history of powerlifting, learn about a few cool powerlifters including a nine year old who can lift 3x her body weight, and learn about our new funding idea: a brain supplement called Triple Blind where you don't know if you're getting the real supplement or a placebo and we don't know if we own the company or not. Triple Blind Supplements: Bust a Nut In Your Cortex. 💸 Get Alex's NEW new shirt/poster: Faux Chello 💻 Follow along with the Figma 📺 Watch this episode on YouTube 🤳Follow Rachel Friedland

4/27/23 • 77:32

It's our first ever Hunter episode and he takes things in a slightly different direction, deeply personal journey across state lines to his favorite late night eatery, the one and only Waffle House. He teaches you how to order properly, the traps to avoid, and whether or not you should start anything with your server. Plus he calls out David. Seriously, David. What the hell man. 💸 Get Alex's new shirt/poster: Fauxchella 2023 💻 Follow along with the Figma 📺 Watch this episode on YouTube

4/21/23 • 75:29