First up: please take the NST Listener Survey here so we can make the show better! It’s great to get your feedback so we can figure out what’s working moving forward.

This week’s topic came from a listener who asked if micromanaging is a more productive work-style than a more “free range” approach. We used this topic as an excuse to take a trip down memory lane, back to when Devan was a cruel, frankly nasty manager to little old me and Manny. Also covered: performance improvement plans (“PIPs”), handling an incompetent boss, office odors, and more.

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Our guest this week is , historian at Harvard, editor at and author of Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America, who walks us through the history of the corporate work structure and evolution of management styles. Take a listen to the episode and let us know what kind of workflow you prefer. Scroll down for links to research and more.

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Related links

• Micromanagement: When to avoid it and how to use it effectively

• The Micromanagement Disease: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Cure

• Micromanagement: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

• Survey Reveals Employee Productivity Averages 2 Hours and 53 Minutes a Day

• How Productive Is the Average Person At Work? Key Statistics for 2025

• More Harm Than Good: The Truth About Performance Reviews

• The Most Hated Way of Firing Someone Is More Popular Than Ever. It’s the Age of the PIP.

Recommended reading: We enjoyed this piece on work-life in pop culture and why the Obama-era comedy is still timely during Trump 2.0. Check out similar pieces from the Ministry of Pop Culture.

Ministry of Pop Culture

Three award-winning authors go obsessively deep on movies, TV, and culture. Saved a seat on the couch for you.

I also highly recommend picking up a copy of Studs Terkel’s book Working. Great one for the nightstand.

Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And once, more, just in case: fill out the NST listener survey here.

Lastly, if you like the show, drop us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts, and share with a friend, family member, coworker, neighbor, mail deliverer, and/or roommate. It really helps a lot!

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Before we get into this week’s show, we want to point you to our very first NST listener survey. We want to hear from you all to get some feedback on what you like about the show, what you don’t like, and more. Just fill out this survey right here. Okay, now time for this week’s episode.

Growing up, we were told to always recycle plastic to save the planet. But does recycling actually do anything? In this special two-part investigation, we explore the history of recycling, the rise of “disposable” plastics, and find out how effective recycling actually is.

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In part one (with the help of Nayeema Raza, host of Smart Girl Dumb Questions), we hear from Davis Allen, PhD, Senior Investigative Researcher at the Center for Climate Integrity, who alleges that plastic recycling is a deceptive story created by fossil fuel and petrochemical companies to make us feel guilty for using the very plastics which they profit from. Davis says recycling is a distraction from the real problem.

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In part two, we visit a recycling center here in New York and speak with Kara Napolitano, Education Director at Circular Services to find out how recycling actually works, learn the amount of bottles that actually make it to the recycling facility, and reckon with our own individual impact to determine if recycling is a viable solution to our climate crisis or simply a feel-good placebo in an ever-expanding consumer culture. Take a listen and let us know what you think. Scroll down to see some photos and videos from our field trip, links to the Center for Climate Integrity’s reports, and more.

Leave a comment

Here’s some footage from our field trip the Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility:

And check out Circular Service’s Instagram page for some more informative videos, like this:

Related links!

• Check out the Center for Climate Integrity’s report here: The Fraud of Plastic Recycling

• Nayeema’s video for the New York Times:

• Science History Institute on 1950’s plastic bag deaths: This Bag Is Not a Toy

  

• NYC’s Waste Characterization Studies

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Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And once, more, just in case: fill out the NST listener survey here.

Lastly, if you like the show, drop us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts, and share with a friend, family member, coworker, neighbor, mail deliverer, and/or roommate. It really helps a lot!

This week, we dig in to the so-called reading crisis running rampant in our schools. News outlets are constantly reporting on the death of reading. School test scores by measures like the “Nation’s Report Card” say math and literacy levels are down to their lowest rates since the early 1990s. Schools aren’t even assigning full books in class anymore. Are things really as bad as they seem? And if so, does it actually matter? To find out, we spoke to children’s book author Jason Reynolds, an active Chicago public school teacher, and a professor who’s looked into the actual research and says the literacy crisis doesn’t even exist!

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Our guests this week are author Jason Reynolds, professor Paul Thomas, and teacher Kelsey Clodfelter. Take a listen to the episode and let us know in the comments what you think. Have we evolved past the need for reading? How can we get people to value books again?

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Related links

• Washington Post: Professor Thomas’ op-ed debunking the reading crisis

• The Atlantic: America Is Sliding Towards Illiteracy

• Check out this post from Paul’s Substack to dig more into the “Science of Reading”

@stillateacheri will never give up on the novel 📚#teacher #teachertok #teachersoftiktok #englishteacher #literature

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• Buy Jason’s book Soundtrack

• New data on American reading habits from Pew Research Center

• EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ http://www.nordvpn.com/nst Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee

If you liked this episode, you might like our early episodes on audiobooks and phones in schools:

Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review. It really helps a lot. Thanks and we’ll be back soon!

• Should you keep your eggs inside or outside of the fridge?

• Does medicine actually expire?

• Why do some people sneeze so much louder than others?

• Where does the 24-hour day come from?

• Is grape or strawberry the traditional jelly in a PB&J?

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Below are a few of the articles Noah mentions in the episode.

• Why The U.S. Chills Its Eggs And Most Of The World Doesn’t (NPR)

• Drug expiration dates: Do they mean anything? (Harvard Medical)

• Why are there 24 hours in a day? (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

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And here’s the Osmosis Jones clip I refer to during the sneezing segment, followed by the intro to the PB&J Otter TV Show that Devan inquires about.

Have a question you want us to get to the bottom of for a full episode? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review. It really helps a lot. Thanks and we’ll be back soon!

Now onto this week’s episode, we’re answering a question from a listener named Emma: What do those smiley-face customer-satisfaction buttons you see in airport bathrooms actually do?

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I tracked down the Finland-based company behind most of them, HappyOrNot. Miika Mäkitalo came up with the idea for the company as a teenager, after being annoyed that he couldn’t find any employees at an electronics store to help him buy something.

For this episode I spoke to Scott Erickson, HappyOrNot’s VP of US Sales and Global Channels who gives us a peek behind the curtain, unveiling a hidden world of analytics, cameras, and AI.

If you want to learn more about HappyOrNot check out this profile from 2018 in the New Yorker.

Like this episode? Check out:

DEV-ITORS NOTE: After the interview, HappyOrNot clarified that cameras are standard on their touchscreen devices, but the button devices don’t have them.

Have a question you want us to get to the bottom of? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

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And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review. It really helps a lot. Thanks and we’ll be back soon!

To begin, a couple of shameless plugs to get out of the way before we dive into today’s episode. First up: I wrote a book! It’s called Colored People Time: A Case for (Casual) Rebellion, and it’s a collection of humorous essays about the way time wraps itself around the most personal aspects of our lives. Consider checking it out!

Also, if you’re around NYC, we’ll be doing a live event book talk about my book on March 29th. Get tickets here, it’ll be fun.

On today’s episode, we dive into the bleak world of sports betting in the United States. As a sports betting dabbler, I can see both the fun and the darkness in it. As athletes are getting caught up in sports gambling controversies more and more often though, I wondered about whether players should be allowed to bet on themselves.

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We’re joined by Danny Funt, author of Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling, who breaks down how exactly our country became inundated with sports betting, and whether or not this whole gambling thing was a mistake from the get go.

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Let us know what you think in the comments below. Do you bet? Has it ruined sports? Or are we overhyping all of this?

That’s all for now! Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286, and please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review.

See you again soon!

Before we get into the episode, a few exciting announcements!

• First up, we made an appearance on Monday’s episode of The Tamron Hall Show, where we got to talk about the pod and reviewed some of our favorite debates. You can check out our appearance below. Thank you #TamFam

You can watch part 2 here.

• For NST New Yorkers: On March 29 at 12pm, we’re celebrating the release of Manny’s new book, Colored People Time, with an event at Caveat. You can buy tickets here. Hope to see you there!

  

  Now onto the episode…

Real Suchers might recall our episode from last May on conspiracy theorists, in which we put a call out to our listeners for their own pet theories. One such submission was that none other than founding father Benjamin Franklin was a scammer taking credit for way more things than he deserved. Friend of the show Rich took umbrage with this, and blew up his personal group-chat with NST. So we had no choice but to put this debate to tape and solve it once and for all.

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With the help of Claire Aubin, historian and host of This Guy Sucked, we investigate the roots of our nation to find out if the esteemed Ben Franklin, face of the $100 bill, is actually all he’s cracked up to be. We dive into how he was able to accomplish so much, what he thought about older women, comparisons to Travis Scott, and what it means to properly evaluate historical icons, separating myth-making from reality.

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Related links

• Franklin’s “Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress” (1745)

• His pro-farting manifesto, “Fart Proudly” (1781)

• A short piece in TIME from historian Gary Nash on Franklin’s relationship with slavery.

• LeBron James high school football highlights. Oh, what could have been…

Special thanks to our debaters for this episode, Kelsey and Rich. Below is a taste of what it’s like to live in Philadelphia.

Let us know what you think in the comments below. Does Benjamin deserve the accolades? Who else deserves a reexamination?

Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review. It really helps a lot. Thanks and we’ll be back soon!

We’ve all been there… you’re seated back, mouth open, instruments scraping your teeth. And all of a sudden your dentist says you have ten cavities and they all need to be treated immediately! Is that true, or does that dentist just need some cash?

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On today’s episode, we ask the question: Are dentists scamming us? We dive into the dark history of dentistry, find out why dental insurance sucks, hear from someone who uncovered a dentist drilling teeth for profit, and talk to a startup founder who’s looking to upend the whole industry.

Lilly Kaplan — licensed therapist and Reality Test newsletter author — sits in for Manny this week.

Our guests this week are:

• AJ Jacobs, journalist and New York Times bestseller.

• Dr. Sarah Stuefen, general dentist in Iowa and spokesperson for the American Dental Association.

• Dr. Cheryline Pezzullo, general dentist and clinical associate professor.

• Dr. Brandon Zeidler, doctor of dental surgery.

• Tyler Burnett, cofounder of Wally Health.

Here’s a photo of me post-bowling incident:

Related Links

• One in Three Young Adults Skip the Dentist, and That’s a Problem

• Dental Fear is Widespread—But Most People Want Treatment

• ​​I Have Dental Insurance. Why Do I Pay So Much for Care?

• A Brief History of America’s Most Outrageous Dentist

• The Truth About Dentistry by Ferris Jabr

• The Politics of Everything Podcast: More Reasons to Hate the Dentist (ft. Ferris Jabr)

• Dr. Brandon Zeidler breaks down his experience with Dr. Lund in way more detail

• WV Dental Loss Ratios Published

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Have a question you want us to answer or a dentist story you want to share? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286

Nearly 10 years ago, Noah, Devan, and I annoyed everyone around us at work by having a rigorous debate about which film better: A Bug’s Life or ANTZ. Noah and I believed ANTZ was attempting to convey something a little more interesting than A Bug’s Life, and Devan thought we were crazy.

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Today, we’re still having that debate. But we’re also wondering why “twin films” occur so regularly in the first place. A Bug’s Life (1998) and ANTZ (1998)…Armageddon (1998) and Deep Impact (1998)…Friends With Benefits (2011) and No Strings Attached (2011)…Madagascar (2005) and a Disney movie I’ve never heard of called The Wild (2006)…these pairs of movies, and hundreds more, all have basically the same plot and were released within a year of each other. What gives?

The good folks at the What Went Wrong podcast join us today to break down why this happens so often (and why, maybe, it’s not happening as often as we think).

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To give you a sense of the sheer number of these things, here’s a Wikipedia article listing some notable examples.

And when it comes to Armageddon (1998), please enjoy this video from the movie’s DVD Extras, where Ben Affleck makes fun of the plot.

Any favorite twin films examples we didn’t mention in the episode? Leave a comment! And as always, if you like what you’re hearing, consider giving us a five-star review and sharing with a friend.

See you next week.

This week, I got to use the podcast to settle my own personal grievance with my internet service provider. Over the years, I have spent hours on the phone with my ISP’s customer service line hoping to get better speeds, or at least shave off a few dollars from my monthly bill, to no avail. And the worst part is I have no other options in my neighborhood.

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Emily Stewart, senior correspondent at Business Insider, helped explain how our internet situation became so dire, how it could improve, and why Americans should be worried about monopolies (and oligopolies).

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Related links

• Emily’s story for Vox on ISPs: America’s monopoly problem, explained by your internet bill

• More from Emily: Broadband in Chattanooga!

  

  @anissahm15spectrum plsssss get better customer service i literally just called nicely to cancel my service😩😩. #spectrum #meanlady #customerservice #fyp #helpmefindher

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• When can we launch NST Wireless?: Vulture on SmartLess Mobile

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Are you happy with your internet provider? Let us know in the comments below.

Have a question, episode idea, or other feedback? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review. It really helps a lot. Thanks and we’ll be back soon!

It feels like every week there’s a new headline about AI coming for all of our jobs. A few weeks ago, Amazon announced it’s laying off 16,000 employees, in part because of AI. And Elon Musk has said that in 10–20 years, AI will be so good that work will be optional.

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So on today’s episode, we’re taking a peek under the hood to see just how close AI really is to replacing all of us (including Manny). We’ll talk to two guys who tried to build an all-AI startup for what I’d call a pretty great podcast, Shell Game.

Listen to Shell Game

Investigative reporter and Shell Game host Evan Ratliff joins us alongside AI researcher and Shell Game technical advisor Maty Bohacek to give us a firsthand account of just how good these autonomous AI tools actually are. They’ll break down what they do well, where they still fall short, and how much we can expect them to improve in the future.

• Most Americans use AI but still don’t trust it (YouGov)

• How Americans View AI and Its Impact on People and Society (Pew)

• Bullshit Jobs: A Theory (David Graeber)

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Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review. See you next week.

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Our guests this week are psychologist and YouTuber Maika Steinborn and sociologist Jessica Calarco, author of Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net, we dig into the science, sociology, and cultural forces behind divorce, masculinity, and midlife reinvention.

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Who are your favorite divorced guys? Do you think DGE is real? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review! See yah next week.

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For the occasion, we brought in Kate Lindsay — ICYMI host, Embedded author, and proud cat lover — to sit in for Manny as we go deep on everything you’ve ever wanted to know about your cat. We’re joined by Dr. Mikel Delgado, a cat behaviorist, scientist, and author of Play With Your Cat!

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We’re going to go live on Substack Friday at 10 am ET to chat through our favorite cat facts with Kate and discuss some learnings that didn’t make it into the episode. So tap in.

If you haven’t already, check out Kate’s first appearance on NST:

Some other business… Last week we had Lilly Kaplan — who you may remember from the Do you need therapy? episode — in the studio for another upcoming episode. We had some extra time so we recorded a mini part two to our What happened to Kanye West? episode. We react to his WSJ apology ad, and Lilly breaks down bipolar I disorder.

And check out this interview friend of the pod Justin Maiman did with Ocean Vuong on Ocean’s new photography show at CPW Kingston. So many gems in this one, including “If I’m brave enough to press the shutter, the camera says yes, even when I say maybe.” Ocean is one of my favorite authors, and it’s always a pleasure to hear him talk about his process.

Last, but certainly NOT least, we’re working on an episode about WORK. Does micromanaging actually work? What’s the best way to ask for a raise? We need your job-related questions. Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

Follow us on Instagram and if you like the show, leave us a 5-star review and tell us which episode is your all-time fave! See yah next week.

What do Melania Trump, Paul McCartney, and Gucci Mane have in common? They all, along with countless other celebrities, have been subject to rumors that they are actually clones. This week, with the help of Chelsey Weber-Smith (host of American Hysteria), we investigate the main ideas behind these clone conspiracy theories. Along the way we touch on all the usual topics: The Illuminati, Tila Tequila, UFO cults, and Tom Brady.

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We hear from a man who claims to be a clone himself, and talk to Henry T. Greely, director of Stanford University’s Center for Law and the Biosciences, to find out just how likely human cloning actually is. Take a listen and let us know what you think. Scroll down for links to some research, other related info, and a playlist of music by alleged clones!

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Related links

• The New York Times take a look at the legacy of Dolly the sheep:

• Former NST guest Alexandra Horowitz on pet dog cloning in the New Yorker: Would you clone your dog? In case you missed it, here’s our episode with her:

• And the New Yorker again: The dire wolf is back

• One of many interviews with cult leader Raël on YouTube:

• And guest Henry Greely on why we haven’t seen any human clones yet, for STAT News

• Here’s a playlist we put together with musicians rumored to be clones. Let us know if we missed any big ones! (And for the Apple Music heads, we got you)

Leave a comment

Would you clone your pet? How about a human? Any big clone conspiracy theories we didn’t touch on? Hit the comments below.

Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review. It really helps a lot.

Thanks and we’ll be back soon!

It’s the first NST episode of the year, and we’ve got a special one for you today.

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Recently, California Governor Gavin Newsom has been on social media mocking Donald Trump by, well, sounding exactly like Donald Trump. You know the style: ALL CAPS POSTS, random Capitalization, and quotation marks around words that don’t “need” them.

Gavin’s behavior certainly seems to resonate with the resistance liberal crowd, but it got me thinking about the use of humor in politics in general. Is this a worthwhile political strategy, or just noise that doesn’t actually help much?

To find out, I spoke to humor historian Mark Rolfe of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, who taught us a bunch about how humor was employed throughout American political history. Then, I had a conversation with comedian Mike Birbiglia of the Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast, who had some thoughts on the politician jokes found below.

And here's Amy Klobuchar’s joke.

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NST CALLOUT!

We’ve got two episodes in the works that we need your help with. If you have any questions about cats, or any notable stories from your trips to the dentist, send ‘em to mannynoahdevan@gmail.com, or better yet, leave a voicemail at (860) 325-0286.

And finally, due to foreseen circumstances (I’m having a baby), we’ll be off for the next two weeks. See you back here on January 28th. ‘Til then.

2025 is coming to a close, which means it’s time for our second annual end-of-year wrap-up. Thank you for taking this journey with us. We’re stoked to be recognized by The Atlantic, Apple Podcasts, and Esquire as one of the best shows of the year. Below, you’ll find links to everything we reference in this episode, along with an NST-curated playlist in Devan–Noah–Manny order.

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Best Music

Apple Music Link

Manny

Lorien Testard (Expedition 33 Soundtrack) — Flying Waters - Rain from the Ground

Noah

Michael Hurley — Broken Homes and Gardens

Skinhead — It’s a Beautiful Day, What a Beautiful Day

Devan

Bon Iver — SABLE, fABLE (The isolated strings from If Only I Could Wait — below— give me goosebumps every time)

Djion — Baby

Lorde — Virgin

@thelordeclubthe crowd and dance party in the pit @Lorde <3 #msg #nyc #lorde #ultrasoundtour #aworldalone

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Addison Ray — Addison (Addison’s team needs to write fr00dle a check for single-handedly keeping Diet Pepsi alive)

@fr00dlesomething shifted with this one I fear @nalediwilde #dietpepsitok #addisonraetok

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Nourished by Time — The Passionate Ones

Best Movies

One Battle After Another (Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson)

Noah

Peter Hujar’s Day (Directed by Ira Sachs)

Manny

No Other Choice (Directed by Park Chan-wook)

Devan

Sorry, Baby (Directed by Eva Victor)

Best TV Shows

Manny

Common Side Effects

Devan

Hal & Harper

All the boys

The Chair Company

The Rehearsal (Season 2)

Fave NST Episodes

Have a question or feedback for the show? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review. It really helps a lot. See yah in 2026.

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So take a listen to a remastered version (thanks Steve) and check out our horses newsletter below for some BTS photos.

On next week’s episode, we’ll be sharing our favorite music, movies, TV, and NST moments, so I thought I would take the opportunity this week to share some podcasts I loved this year.

• Revelations with Jack Dunphy: Dads A weirdly intimate discussion about dead dads and creativity

• Song Exploder: Clipse: The Birds Don’t Sing Pusha T and Malice talk about losing their parents. This one made me cry

• WTF with Marc Maron: Regina King Like many people I made my way back to Maron with the show ending. A really thoughtful conversation about grief.

• Shell Game Season 2 Evan Ratliff tries to start an AI-run startup. If that doesn’t sell you, in episode 4, one of the AI employees goes rogue and calls a real person for a job interview at 9 pm. I couldn’t stop giggling.

• Question Everything The podcast I try to get all my journalist friends to listen to. Brian Reed is pretty great at this. Recommend starting with Blindfolded and Arrested on Assignment in Israel or A Mystery in Marion

• Canonball with Wesley Morris: The Perfect Neighbor is an American Nightmare Wesley Morris is a national treasure. Still Processing is one of my all-time faves, and I’m so happy he’s back. In this episode, Wesley and Parul Sehgal take on the disturbingly entertaining Netflix doc The Perfect Neighbor, which was one of the most striking things I watched this year.

• Search Engine: Is it ok to work all the time? Most of you are probably already familiar with this little podcast called Search Engine. But PJ’s episode with Ira Glass from last January is still something I think about A LOT.

• Debtheads I had the pleasure of meeting Jamie and Rachel a few weeks ago, and if you, like me, are fascinated by money, take a listen. Their approach is fresh, and the story feels all too relatable.

• ICYMI: How “Hockey Romance” Went Viral From friend of the pod Kate Lindsay. She chats with Heated Rivalry expert Angelina Mazza about how my two boyfriends took over the internet.

• Hyperfixed: The Lords Work Alex helps a family find their favorite cake from a local bakery that closed down.

• Death, Sex & Money: Samin Nosrat’s Recipe for Self-Compassion I’ve been listening to DS&M for forever. Anna Sale is one of the best to ever do it. Brought this episode up in therapy this week so you know it’s good. And if you can’t get enough of Samin, check out her podcast with Hrishikesh Home Cooking. It feels like a giant hug. And this is coming from someone who tries to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible.

• Mixed Signals Friend of the pod Max Tani hosts a little show called Mixed Signals check out their conversations with Adam Friedland and Andy Richter

• No Easy Fix Found this on Apple’s best of list. A three-part series by Ethan Brooks diving into one man’s journey of trying to get clean in San Francisco

• So True: Rachel Sennott is Popping In I think Caleb Hearon is the funniest person in the world and Rachel Sennott really shouldn’t be allowed to drive.

• Good Hang with Amy Poehler: Regina Hall What isn’t Amy Poehler good at? Yeah, it’s on every year-end list. But this show is actually great. And Regina Hall reminds me of my funny, rich aunt with no kids.

• This American Life: College Disorientation I never miss an episode. TAL continues to slap.

• Pablo Torre Finds Out Manny recommends the Clippers Saga and if sports isn’t your thing check out The Invisible Hitmaker Behind Your Favorite Tracks

What podcasts should we be listening to? Drop your recs in the comments.

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Have a question or feedback? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

And lastly, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts and write a nice review. It really helps a lot. Thanks—and we’ll be back soon!

Now that we’re in the thick of the holiday season, we thought it would be a good time to reflect on some of the bigger questions. Is there a God? What happens after you die? Does bowling make you happier than Catholic Mass? And mainly: are religious people happier than others? While some data point to an increase in religiosity among young people, there’s been a worldwide decline overall. We dive into the research to find out how religion impacts well-being, and I go to synagogue for the first time in decades.

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Our guests this week are Dr. Harold G. Koenig, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University, and Rabbi Jason Klein of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. Below, you’ll find links to some related research, and a quick scene report from Shabbat service.

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Scenes from Shabbat

On a crisp fall Friday evening, my wife and I walked into Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, a non-denominational progressive synagogue here in New York. On the way there, I realized I haven’t been inside a temple for maybe 15 years. As everyone milled around making small talk before the service began, we were promptly greeted by various members, asking who we are and if we’ve attended before. This is when I had to confess that I was there primarily for podcasting purposes, but that excuse is what gave me the push to do something I really wouldn’t have done on my own. And I had a nice time! It’s kind of incredible (and unfortunate) how unusual it is to have such an easy way of meeting new people. Yes, in 2025, I learned why people have been congregating in religious services for thousands of years.

The main event got underway, this evening’s particular service being a commemoration of the November pogroms and Kristallnacht of 1938, featuring music by German and Austrian Jewish composers. On the whole, it was a very engaging and fulfilling night, a comforting way to cap off the week. It was nice to have space to sit in my thoughts, to reflect on history both ancient and recent, and to connect with those around me.

I can’t say yet that I’ll be making a weekly visit to temple, but even this one outing was instructive as to how valuable it is to have a simple and accessible outlet to connect with people in your own community. I’ll wrap this up for now, but a big thanks to Rabbi Jason Klein and the rest of the team at CBST for their hospitality. For more, check out their website.

Related links

• ISRN Psychiatry: Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications

• Pew Research Center: Religion’s Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World

• Gallup: Religion and Wellbeing in the U.S.: Update

• New Barna Data: Young Adults Lead a Resurgence in Church Attendance

• New York Times Op-Ed: New York’s Hottest Club Is the Catholic Church

Here’s the trailer for the referenced Bill Maher documentary “Religulous.” Different times…

I also highly recommend The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrère about the early days of the Christian church.

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Today’s topics:

• Is it bad to send B-list wedding invites?

• Should you side with your spouse or your family in a fight?

• If you ask your friend a question, and they send you a link to ChatGPT, should you feel insulted? (Think, the old “Let Me Google That For You” gag)

• Should your partner express disgust that you drink plain milk?

• Should you use the hallway outside of your apartment as storage for shoes, coats, etc?

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🎄 NST HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 🎄

After the Hotline segment, we also shared some products that we think could make good gifts this Christmas holiday season. Noah suggested purchasing this backgammon set from the MoMA Design store as a low-stakes gift for fun and/or decorative purposes.

Devan recommends purchasing a loved one a subscription to their favorite podcast, or making them a mixtape like we did in the olden days.

And finally I suggested Loops Switch earplugs, which are designer plugs that allow you to choose how much sound you filter out based on your environment. Loops also have much cheaper options that don’t allow you to “switch,” but are still a very helpful barrier to the world’s loudest sounds.

As always, feel free to e-mail us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286 with any questions you’d like us to tackle, or if you just want to say hi. If you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts, write a nice review, and/or share with a friend.

Thanks, and we’ll be back next week!