Episodes

  • Return to Oz with Jessica Jimenez

    Return to Oz with Jessica Jimenez
    Dec 8 2025
    There are childhood movies that sparkle like nostalgia-soaked comfort food… and then there’s Return to Oz, the 1985 fever dream that terrified an entire generation and somehow ended up beloved anyway. This week, Mandy reconnects with returning guest — and one of her favorite humans on planet Earth — Jessica Jimenez, a TV producer, musical-theater mischief-maker, and scholar of the pop-culture deep cut. Together, they dive into the gloriously weird, unexpectedly dark, and unmistakably cult-classic world of Oz’s most misunderstood sequel.Jessica grew up watching Return to Oz on repeat in the Caribbean, where VHS tapes were the lifeline to American pop culture. Mandy, meanwhile, had never seen it — and approaches this movie armed only with her dog-breed expertise, her deep fear of tornado-adjacent bicycle women, and her ongoing emotional recovery from having watched Showgirls for Jessica’s last appearance. The two quickly tumble down the yellow-brick rabbit hole (well… rubble), unpacking everything from claymation rock-faces spying on Dorothy to the Wheelers and their nightmare Cirque du Soleil energy.They marvel at Fairuza Balk, who somehow channels Judy Garland while delivering a performance that’s shockingly grounded for a nine-year-old navigating hallways full of severed heads. They explore why Disney made a sequel that feels more like a Tim Burton acid trip, why Piper Laurie should never be allowed near impressionable Kansan farm girls, and how TikTok (the character, not the app) remains one of the most charming robot sidekicks in 80s fantasy filmmaking.Make Me a Nerd:
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

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    54 mins
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Steve Sarmento

    Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Steve Sarmento
    Dec 1 2025
    If there was ever an episode that proves how deeply a movie can tattoo itself onto someone’s soul, it’s this one. Mandy is joined by beloved TruStory FM collaborator and film analyst Steve Sarmento, a man whose heart has apparently been shaped like Devil’s Tower since 1977. Together, they dive into Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg’s symphonic ode to curiosity, obsession, government lies, blinking lights, and questionable parenting. It’s a conversation equal parts nerdy reverence and incredulous side-eye.Steve opens by explaining why this film imprinted on him. He recalls watching space capsules dock overhead in the actual sky (because he is deeply old by his own admission) and feeling the first spark of fascination with what might be “out there.” From there, 7-year-old Steve was primed for Spielberg’s grounded sci-fi portrait of ordinary people caught in extraordinary encounters. For him, Barry had the same toys he did. Roy looked like every dad in the Midwest. The entire film felt possible in a way that forever marked his imagination. Mandy, meanwhile, approaches the movie as an adult for the first time and has… questions.A lot of questions.They unpack a lot... and of course, they talk aliens—spindly little dancers in silhouette, equal parts eerie and endearing—and what it meant to young Steve to finally see them emerge from that overwhelming light. For him, it was pure awe. For Mandy, it was: “Wait, did they just kidnap a kid and everyone’s cool with this?”In the end, what emerges is a conversation about joy. How a film can be full of fear, family collapse, government conspiracies, and chaos, and still somehow leave you feeling hopeful. Steve calls Close Encounters one of his top five films of all time, and by the time the mothership lifts off, you can hear why. It’s a story not just about aliens, but about longing, wonder, and the hunger for connection in a chaotic world. Mandy may have arrived late to the party, but by the end, she understands exactly why this movie meant—and still means—so much.Make Me a Nerd:
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

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    56 mins
  • Game Changer with Kyle Olson

    Game Changer with Kyle Olson
    Nov 24 2025
    This week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan welcomes back certified nerd-whisperer Kyle Olson—creator of The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society and co-host of Craft and Chaos—to induct her into the gloriously absurd and deeply inventive world of Game Changer on Dropout TV. And if you’ve never heard of Game Changer, think of it as Whose Line Is It Anyway? if it were run by a slightly deranged Willy Wonka with a subscription model and a vendetta against YouTube algorithms. And also: there’s a lot of butthole jokes.Kyle walks Mandy through the origin story of Dropout—the phoenix that rose from the ashes of CollegeHumor—and how Sam Reich, comedy’s least threatening puppet master, created a game show format where the rules change every single episode.¹ We start with Sam Says, where Mandy finds herself increasingly charmed by the players, increasingly unnerved by the absence of a studio audience, and deeply offended by a COVID gag that hits a little too close to home. But then we get to Original Cast Recording, where Mandy goes full musical nerd as Zach and Jess (of Off Book fame) improvise an entire musical that’s so good you’ll want to buy the cast recording and name your next child Mountport. And finally: we Beat the Buzzer in a full-blown improv escape room where contestants sprint through studios, flirt with witches, and try not to break into someone’s bedroom to slam a buzzer.Along the way, we talk about pandemic-era creativity, low-budget brilliance, the science of contagious yawns, the economics of performer equity, and how Kyle’s daughter Zoe is singlehandedly enriching the family’s streaming diet. Kyle also reveals which Game Changer episode was his gateway drug (thanks, Zoe!), which one he’d totally fail at (spoiler: Sam Says), and which cast members he’d happily run from studio to sidewalk for. And Mandy? She makes a strong case for climbing into bed with two strangers in the name of game show victory. Naturally.Whether you’re already deep in the Dropout fandom or just learning what a “game samer” is, this episode will make you laugh, cringe, and maybe—just maybe—subscribe. No cap. Low key. We have the riz.Links & Notes
    • 🎥 Game Changer on Dropout TV
    • 🎙️ The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society
    • 🎨 Craft and Chaos Podcast
    • 🎧 Off Book: The Improvised Musical Podcast
    • 🧙‍♀️ Dimension 20 (D&D on Dropout)
    • 📚 Station Eleven – HBO Max
    • 🎮 Erika Ishii – Ghost of Yotei
    Make Me a Nerd:
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

    ¹ Yes, Sam Reich is the son of economist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. So while his father spent a career fighting corporate greed and income inequality, Sam opted to fight butthole jokes and buzzer-based chaos. Honestly? Same energy.
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    56 mins
  • Yuri on Ice with Zehra Fazal

    Yuri on Ice with Zehra Fazal
    Nov 17 2025
    You might think figure skating is all glitter, grace, and emotional piano music — but Yuri!!! on Ice says, “Oh no, my friend, this is a blood sport with sequins.” This week, Mandy Kaplan is joined by actor and voice powerhouse Zehra Fazal (Borderlands 3 & 4, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, The Chosen Adventures) to unpack the cult anime that somehow manages to combine Olympic-level athleticism, emotional breakdowns, and gay hot tub scenes.Mandy, bless her open heart, has only recently dipped her toe — or skate — into anime. Zehra, meanwhile, is the kind of person who can tell you the real-life skater each character is based on, and yes, she knows the choreographer’s name. Together, they untangle Yuri!!! on Ice’s tangled triple-axel of meaning: Is it a sports anime? A love story? A metaphor for crushing self-doubt wrapped in butt shots and ice shavings?They talk about everything from the meticulous realism — real skaters performed every routine for animators to trace — to the quietly radical queerness at its core. They also cover anime’s emotional shorthand (why everyone screams), its strange obsession with mid-scene “fake ads” for imaginary Hot Pockets, and how Yuri!!! on Ice makes body image, pressure, and perfectionism part of its storytelling language. By the end, Mandy admits she’s still a little confused, but also a little bit moved — and possibly a little bit hot for Victor.This episode has everything: 80s training montages, screaming siblings, existential self-doubt, and the most loving debate about anime crotch shots ever recorded. So lace up your skates, pour yourself some sake, and prepare for a deeply emotional deep dive into nerd culture’s iciest corner.Links & Notes
    • Yuri!!! on Ice (2016 anime series) — Crunchyroll
    • “History Maker” by Dean Fujioka, the Yuri!!! on Ice theme song
    • Follow Zehra on Insta

    Make Me a Nerd
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Truth or Dare with Abdi Nazemian

    Truth or Dare with Abdi Nazemian
    Nov 10 2025
    You know how some documentaries just happen and others ignite a cultural revolution in a cone bra? This week, Mandy reunites with her former roommate, award-winning author, screenwriter, and Madonna scholar-in-chief Abdi Nazemian, to talk about the pop documentary that practically reinvented fame itself: Madonna: Truth or Dare.Abdi literary résumé is already Hall of Fame (Only This Beautiful Moment, Like a Love Story, Exquisite Things)— and he returns to Make Me a Nerd to nerd out about the film that shaped him, inspired his art, and very nearly ruined his high-school Spanish play. (That’s right: the man skipped Madonna for drama club.)Together, Mandy and Abdi dissect the film’s legacy with the obsessive joy of two grad students armed with eyeliner. They talk about Madonna’s audacity, the film’s accidental queerness that became very intentional, and the moment every gay teen of the early ’90s realized: “Oh, so this is what freedom looks like—with backup dancers.” Abdi recounts how the documentary cracked open his world, how its fearless visibility still echoes in his own banned-book-era storytelling, and why he’s still chasing that mixture of defiance and grace three decades later.Along the way, they tackle everything from Warren Beatty’s “human raincloud” energy to Madonna’s evolving accent to the question that divides all fandoms: “Can you be both bratty and brave?” The answer, obviously, is yes—if you’re Madonna. Or Abdi Nazemian.Links & Notes
    • Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991), dir. Alek Keshishian
    • Strike a Pose (2016)
    • Like a Love Story, Exquisite Things, Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian
    • Dick Tracy soundtrack (I’m Breathless)
    • Blonde Ambition Tour / Like a Prayer album
    • Madonna’s Nightline interview on Justify My Love (1990)
    Make Me a Nerd
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • The Last Kingdom with Matt Boren

    The Last Kingdom with Matt Boren
    Nov 3 2025
    This week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan straps on her metaphorical codpiece and dives headfirst into the sword-swinging, land-grabbing, god-invoking world of The Last Kingdom with guest Matt Boren¹—actor, author, screenwriter, and senior prom date emeritus. And if you’re wondering how the man who wrote Folded Notes from High School and Minister of Loneliness became obsessed with decapitations, Danish warlords, and subtitles thick with blood and Old English vowels—well, Mandy is too. But it turns out: it’s all just General Hospital with furs and beards.Matt lays out the appeal of The Last Kingdom not as a history lesson (God no), but as an ongoing saga of trauma, identity, and—most crucially—soap-operatic betrayal. We learn that he came to the show late, post-Game of Thrones awakening, and stayed for the storylines that feel pulled directly from daytime TV: surprise siblings, secret lineages, and more brooding than a Shakespeare festival in the rain. Mandy, meanwhile, is just trying to keep track of who’s who, why everyone is named Uhtred, and whether “Sieges are for Turds” is historically accurate or just someone’s idea of a bumper sticker.Together, they cover three episodes: the brutal pilot, the climactic battle of season three, and the series finale disguised as a prequel to a disappointing movie. Along the way, they debate teenage kings, historical trauma, and whether The Last Kingdom is actually just The Princess Bride with more fire and fewer laughs. Mandy confronts her own aversion to violence (there’s so much head stuff), and Matt admits he watches most of the beheadings out of the corner of his eye—because, like most writers, he’s here for the emotional subtext, not the arterial spray.Plus: the quiet horror of teenage monarchs, the eternal trauma of land disputes, and why Mandy wants everyone to just share the damn land already. Also: Matt confesses he may in fact be a “quotationist,” and Mandy delivers her thesis on why all television—yes, even this—is basically Friends with fewer coffee mugs and more impalings.Links & Notes
    • ⚔️ The Last Kingdom on Netflix
    • ⚔️ The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die
    • 📖 Minister of Loneliness by Matt Boren
    • 📚 Folded Notes from High School by Matt Boren
    • 📖 Brackish Waters by Matt Boren
    • 🎥 Matt Boren on Instagram
    Make Me a Nerd
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast
    ¹ Matt Boren may not identify as a “nerd,” but any man who quotes General Hospital while explaining 9th-century Anglo-Saxon land disputes is at least a Level 12 Soap Mage. That’s canon.


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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Dracula with Lester Ryan Clark

    Dracula with Lester Ryan Clark
    Oct 27 2025
    Dracula is a book where the title character shows up for roughly four chapters and then just... leaves. It's like if "Jaws" spent most of its runtime following insurance adjusters filing claims about boat damage. And yet, somehow, this 1897 novel created pop culture's most enduring monster. That's the central mystery Mandy and guest Lester Ryan Clark tackle in this Halloween extravaganza.Lester teaches Dracula to high schoolers every year (and gradually transforms into Gary Oldman's Dracula throughout Halloween week because he's clearly the best kind of teacher). He confirms what Mandy discovered reading the novel for the first time: Bram Stoker committed the bizarre act of writing a vampire book and then immediately getting bored with his vampire. After a genuinely creepy opening with Jonathan Harker trapped in a Transylvanian castle with a mustached count who climbs walls like a lizard and definitely doesn't eat dinner, the book pivots to diary entries, newspaper clippings, and an excessive amount of Victorian-era day drinking. It's an epistolary novel where characters somehow recall four pages of precise dialogue from memory for their journal entries, which—and stay with me here—doesn't really track.But here's where it gets interesting: Stoker's failure might have been his greatest success. By giving us almost nothing, he forced everyone else to fill in the blanks. We got Bella Lugosi's suave count without a mustache (sorry, Bram), Christopher Lee's menacing aristocrat, the Lost Boys' leather-jacketed vampires, and yes, even Twilight's sparkling immortals. Dracula survives by adapting to whatever each generation finds sexy, which is apparently the most vampire thing possible. The conversation explores why there are so many characters named John/Jonathan/Harker/Hawkins (looking at you, Stoker), why Mina is the book's actual hero despite Victorian men having feelings about her man-brain, what's going on with Renfield eating progressively larger animals, and why the climactic battle happens from a distance through binoculars.They also discuss how Dracula represented Victorian anxieties about foreigners, disease, and women with agency (witches used to be scary because they were "women with power and their own transportation system"), and why the novel works as proto-found-footage horror. Plus: the drinking. So much drinking. Brandy as medicine, brandy to stay awake, brandy to celebrate, brandy to mourn. It's a wonder anyone in Victorian England remained vertical.The episode ends with both agreeing that every film adaptation correctly identified the problem and added more Dracula scenes, because giving people what they want is occasionally good business. Who knew?Links & NotesLester Ryan Clark's Podcasts:
    • Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All at Once
    • The Devil's Details
    Find Lester on Social Media:
    • All platforms: @LesterRyanClark
    Make Me a Nerd:
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_Kravens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast
    Mentioned in the Episode:
    • Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992)
    • "Renfield" (2023) - starring Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Holt
    • Janice Hallett - British mystery author who writes in epistolary format



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    59 mins
  • Masters of The Universe with Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell

    Masters of The Universe with Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell
    Oct 20 2025
    What happens when you take the most toyetic franchise of the 1980s, hand it to the kings of schlock at Cannon Films, and tell them to make the next Star Wars? You get Masters of the Universe—a movie so gloriously confused that it can’t decide if it’s fantasy, sci-fi, or just an over-extended toy commercial. Mandy Kaplan is joined by returning guest Krissy Lenz and first-time guest Nathan Blackwell to revisit Dolph Lundgren’s He-Man, Frank Langella’s unexpectedly Shakespearean Skeletor, and Courtney Cox’s denim-skirted grief arc.Krissy admits she was more of a She-Ra kid than a He-Man fan, Nathan reveals how his early nerd DNA was written by toy catalogues and VHS rentals, and Mandy discovers that her new haircut may have made her look more Eternia than she ever bargained for. Together, they marvel at Billy Barty’s sweaty “space gnome” Gwildor, dissect the bizarre mashup of swords and laser guns, and debate whether Dolph Lundgren’s dubbed dialogue or Evil-Lyn’s parenting-by-imitation scam is the bigger cinematic crime.And of course, Frank Langella steals the show as Skeletor—chewing scenery, rewriting dialogue, and turning what should’ve been a paycheck gig into one of the greatest villain performances of the decade. It’s camp, it’s chaos, it’s nostalgia, and it’s a reminder that sometimes the best way to watch a movie is with tacos, two beers, and friends who know how to laugh at laser-pew-pews projected from a rainbow mist.Links & Notes
    • Masters of the Universe (1987) on IMDb
    • Krissy & Nathan’s Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast
    • Gank That Drank: A Supernatural Drinking Game Podcast
    • Squishy Studios – Nathan Blackwell’s films

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    57 mins