Make Me A Nerd with Mandy Kaplan

TruStory FM

Hey folks. Mandy Kaplan here. I’d like to share a bit about my intentions and mission for MMAN if you’ll indulge me. You will? Huzzah! Look, I am a lot of things. I’m a writer, actress, mother, and lover of musicals and cats, but NOT Cats, The Musical. Give me a little bit of credit, would ya? So...throughout my life, I’ve been surrounded (and intrigued) by all things nerd. A sister who plays D&D, a Star Wars-obsessed husband, friends who love anime, comic books, video games, and...well, you get the picture. Somehow, I have always held it all at arm's length. Not to get too deep, but maybe I never thought I was smart enough to follow it. Or maybe I have control issues and have never been able to embrace fantastical things like dragons and time travel. Until now! So, with an open mind and heart, I am ready to join this massive (and beautifully inclusive) club and GEEK THE #%$ OUT! It’s time for all my wonderfully strange friends to baptize me into NERD-DOM. Please join me on this journey. Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover or remember a side of yourself along the way. Or at least make fun of me as I try!

  1. Where's the Food? The Hunger Games Book-to-Movie Breakdown with Mona Chatterjee

    HACE 1 DÍA

    Where's the Food? The Hunger Games Book-to-Movie Breakdown with Mona Chatterjee

    Here's the thing about watching a movie one week after reading the book it's based on: you become the world's most insufferable viewing companion. And Mandy—who consumed Suzanne Collins's novel and then immediately sat down for the 2012 film like some kind of dystopian speed-run—has NOTES. Guest Mona Chatterjee is back for what is officially Make Me A Nerd's first-ever adaptation episode, and together they discover that reading the book first is both a gift and a curse, because now you know exactly what's missing and you will not shut up about it.What's missing, weirdly, is food. In a story literally called The Hunger Games, the movie manages to skip almost every meal, every hunt, every lovingly described roast beef with peas and bread and butter. Mandy invokes Andy Cohen's legendary insistence that Real Housewives viewers need to hear what everyone ordered at dinner, which is either the most unhinged comparison in podcast history or the most correct one.Beyond the missing meals, they devour the film's genuinely brilliant visual choices—the bleached-out gray of District 12 versus the candy-colored absurdity of Panem's Capitol residents (who look less Marie Antoinette and more "Andy Warhol meets Pablo Picasso"), the Apollo 11-style control room that gave Mandy exactly the behind-the-scenes Capitol view she begged for during the book episode, and Jennifer Lawrence's performance, which makes you forget you already know the ending.They snack through casting what-ifs (Kristin Chenoweth as Effie would have been INCREDIBLE, John C. Reilly as Haymitch would have been a disaster), why Lenny Kravitz as Cinna was "too mellow and sexy" for a character they both pictured as a fierce little costume gremlin, and the eternal mystery of why Hollywood cast four interchangeable pasty white guys as the male tributes and expected audiences to tell them apart during fight scenes. The answer, as always, is that maybe they all shouldn't have been white.Make Me a Nerd:Website: makemeanerd.com/joinInstagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensTikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.

    46 min
  2. May the Odds Ever Smell of Sweat: A Hunger Games Deep Dive with Mona Chatterjee • The Novel

    16 FEB

    May the Odds Ever Smell of Sweat: A Hunger Games Deep Dive with Mona Chatterjee • The Novel

    Yes, I know—it's 2026, Hunger Games came out almost two decades ago, and we've all moved on now to whatever fresh dystopian nightmare is currently trending. But here's the thing: Suzanne Collins' story about state-sponsored child murder dressed up as entertainment has only gotten MORE relevant, and that should terrify us all.Mandy welcomes back Mona Chatterjee (Miscast alum, Billboard chart artist, international beauty brand impresario) to explore why a book that opens with "the day of the reaping" manages to hook readers from age 12 to 52, and why its themes of inequality, complicity, and manufactured spectacle feel less like fiction and more like tomorrow's damned news.The conversation goes deep fast. Both Mandy and Mona fixate on the people we DON'T see enough of—the peacekeepers who beat kids into submission then go home to dinner, the styling team who beautify tributes before sending them to die, Haymitch drinking himself unconscious because he relives his trauma every single year.Mandy pitches "Below Deck: Panem Edition" to explore how normal people participate in monstrous systems, and honestly? That's the Hannah Arendt question applied to YA literature, and it's exactly what makes this book endure. They also tackle Katniss's backwards trust issues (she trusts Rue immediately but not Peeta, who literally saved her life), the Kaplan Curse (of course Prim's name would be drawn when it's only in there once), and Mandy's recurring obsessions: Why doesn't anyone mention how everything smells?As Mona says, the Capitol's greatest fear isn't violence—it's hope. Hope is what sparks rebellion. Hope is what makes people believe things could be different. Collins wrote this in 2008, drawing on her father's Vietnam experiences and her concerns about reality TV desensitization. Every year since, it's become more prescient, more uncomfortably close to our actual world. So yes, we're still talking about The Hunger Games—because we're still living in the world that made it necessary.Make Me a Nerd:Website: makemeanerd.com/joinInstagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensTikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.

    51 min
  3. It’s Our Time Down Here: A Goonies Comfort Rewatch with Krissy Lenz

    9 FEB

    It’s Our Time Down Here: A Goonies Comfort Rewatch with Krissy Lenz

    This week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan does the bravest thing a grown adult can do: she prescribes herself a medically unnecessary, emotionally essential dose of The Goonies—because sometimes “self-care” is a bubble bath, and sometimes it’s screaming “HEY YOU GUYS” into the void until the void screams back. Joined by recurring fan-favorite guest Krissy Lenz (of The Most Excellent 80s Movies), Mandy revisits Richard Donner’s chaotic, sweet, frequently-overlapping-yelling masterpiece and marvels at how it manages to be simultaneously a kids’ adventure film and a movie that opens with a fake suicide and drops the S-word roughly nineteen times like it’s being paid per syllable.They dig into why the character introductions during the opening chase are basically a clinic in “how to meet an ensemble cast fast,” why Brand deserves a modern reappraisal as the patron saint of big-brother competence, and why pirates apparently had both scurvy and an interior designer on payroll. Along the way, the conversation detours into Corey Feldman lore (including the surreal fact of Corey Feldman calling Krissy directly because he couldn’t get into the recording app), the weirdly persistent “octopus scene” ghost that’s referenced even when cut, and the uncomfortable 80s habit of using fat-shaming as a punchline so routinely you can practically hear a studio executive chanting, “Yes, yes, keep punching down, it’s working.”And because Mandy’s brain is both tender and mischievous, we also get: a brief masterclass in “planning crimes vs committing crimes” (involving a pizza smuggled into a movie theater), a quick Make Me a Nerd sidebar into the threat of scurvy in modern adulthood, and a round of Goonies trivia that ends exactly the way it should: with friendship intact and pride mildly wounded.Make Me a Nerd:Website: makemeanerd.com/joinInstagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensTikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.

    53 min
  4. The Great Pottery Throw Down: British, Boring, & Bang-On Perfect with Jeremy Klavens

    26 ENE

    The Great Pottery Throw Down: British, Boring, & Bang-On Perfect with Jeremy Klavens

    Mandy’s latest “please turn me into a nerd” assignment comes disguised as the most harmless thing imaginable: a British competition show about pottery. And yes, at first it feels like the TV equivalent of a warm cup of tea you forgot you made. But then Jeremy Klavens (return guest, television editor, and the father of Mandy’s child—pending) walks her into The Great Pottery Throw Down and suddenly everyone is emotionally invested in cheese sets, kiln drama, and whether it’s legally possible for one judge to cry at this many objects in one lifetime.What follows is a cozy, gently chaotic tour of why this show hits different: the unusually kind contestant energy, the Bake Off DNA, the “we’re all trapped in a pandemic bubble so now we’re basically family” vibe, and the strange intimacy of watching hands work wet clay on a spinning wheel (this episode contains a brief detour into “is pottery… sexy?” and the answer is: it’s complicated, but also abso-potting-lutely). Along the way, Mandy and Jeremy size up the season’s personalities, judge quirks, and the occasional challenge that feels like the producers asked, “What if we simply made everyone fail at once?”And underneath the jokes, there’s a real question humming: why are shows like this so comforting, and why do we crave “soft competition” where the prize is mostly pride, a tiny trophy, and the right to say “bang on” with authority? If you’ve ever wanted a reality show palate cleanser that still gives you something to argue about on the couch, this is your invitation to the pottery parade. Bring subtitles. Possibly cheese.Make Me a Nerd:Website: makemeanerd.com/joinInstagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensTikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.

    1 h y 7 min
  5. "I Might Knock": Heated Rivalry... the Show We Can't Stop Watching

    19 ENE

    "I Might Knock": Heated Rivalry... the Show We Can't Stop Watching

    Look, if you had told me six months ago that a Canadian hockey romance would become the most culturally significant television event since—actually, I don't have a comparison because NOTHING prepares you for Heated Rivalry. This is a movement. And based on Mandy's conversation with returning guest Jon Cassie (of MMAN Severance fame, but more importantly, of Heated Rivalry obsession fame), we might need to start building temples.Here's what Jon makes clear: this show kicks down the door in the first twelve minutes with full nudity, graphic intimacy, AND a deeply moving love story—all at once. Created by Crave Media (a Canadian company that rejected HBO's ridiculous notes about "saving steaminess for season two"), the series follows rivals Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanoff through a decade-spanning secret relationship. Mandy, who wanted "some conversation before all the effing," eventually gets her Hepburn-Tracy wit in exchanges like "I might knock" / "I might open." The show delivers both physical chemistry and intellectual connection, launching four legendary careers while giving audiences a complete, satisfying journey.Jon hasn't been "swept away obsessively by a show in decades"—and he's watched this one multiple times. That's the power of Hudson Williams and Connor Finley's chemistry, the devastating beauty of feet touching under tables, and a show that respects its audience enough to be exactly what it set out to be. Heated Rivalry isn't just good queer television. It's exceptional television, period. --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.

    1 h y 3 min
  6. The Big Lebowski with David Isser

    12 ENE

    The Big Lebowski with David Isser

    Mandy Kaplan continues her slow, deliberate march into Nerd Territory by taking on one of the most sacred cows in cult-movie history: The Big Lebowski. Joining her is editor, bookstore owner, and self-described “hobbyist nerd” David Isser, who arrives armed with deep affection for the film, a working knowledge of Raymond Chandler, and a willingness to calmly explain why a movie that makes Mandy deeply uncomfortable has inspired conventions, philosophies, and a small but devoted bowling-industrial complex.What follows is less a review and more a thoughtful standoff. Mandy interrogates the film’s aggressively masculine energy, its simmering threat of violence, and its unapologetic embrace of pointlessness. David counters with rewatchability, linguistic rhythm, cinematography, and the Coen brothers’ fondness for rich worlds that don’t care whether you understand them. Along the way, they detour through David Mamet dialogue patterns, noir tropes, Busby Berkeley hallucinations, and Mandy’s firm belief that unwrapping a Russian nesting doll should eventually reveal something.This episode isn’t about convincing Mandy to love The Big Lebowski. It’s about understanding why some art invites obsessive devotion, why other art quietly asks you to leave, and why both reactions are completely valid—even if one of them involves licking a bowling ball.Make Me a Nerd:Website: makemeanerd.com/joinInstagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensTikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.

    59 min
  7. Xanadu with Jonas Vail

    5 ENE

    Xanadu with Jonas Vail

    This week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy Kaplan bravely roller-skates into the glittery fever dream that is Xanadu, joined by writer, brand strategist, and lifelong apologist for questionable cinema, Jonas Vail. Jonas has loved Xanadu since kindergarten.What follows is a spirited interrogation of how a movie with no functional script, no clear protagonist goals, and no apparent understanding of what a musical is managed to spawn multiple chart-topping hits, a Broadway redemption arc, and the literal invention of the Razzies. Mandy presses the case against the film with surgical precision: Olivia Newton-John as a confused hostage, Michael Beck as a charisma vacuum in roller skates, and a plot that appears to have been assembled by shuffling index cards in a wind tunnel.Jonas, to his credit, does not deny any of this. Instead, he offers nostalgia, vibes, and the radical proposition that Xanadu only works if you stop asking it to work. Together, they unpack the soundtrack’s undeniable greatness, Gene Kelly’s astonishing late-career charm, and the deeply suspicious decision to let Olivia sing entire numbers while not physically appearing anywhere near them.Along the way, they stumble into bigger questions: Is Xanadu secretly a proto-MTV artifact? Is the animated sequence the movie’s only sex scene? And how did a roller-disco fantasy with zero internal logic influence everything from Back to the Future to Janet Jackson choreography? It’s messy, affectionate, occasionally unhinged—and somehow ends with a sincere defense of dreams, disco, and donuts-for-dinner cinema.Make Me a Nerd:Website: makemeanerd.com/joinInstagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensTikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.

    57 min
  8. Veronica Mars with Sloan Just

    22/12/2025

    Veronica Mars with Sloan Just

    Mandy brings on longtime friend Sloan Just—former Broadway performer, professional quote-reciter, and unapologetic teen-drama connoisseur—to finally introduce her to Veronica Mars. Somehow, Mandy has made it through adulthood without seeing a single minute of the show, which feels as statistically likely as living in New York City and never seeing a pigeon.They start with the pilot and immediately collide with the thing Veronica Mars does better than most shows: it looks light, talks fast, and then suddenly gets very serious without asking permission. One minute you’re watching a snarky teenager rescue a kid from a flagpole; the next, you’re dealing with sexual assault, class warfare, and a town that runs on cruelty. Mandy and Sloan talk about how the show uses voiceover not as a gimmick, but as a survival tool—and why Kristen Bell is doing far more work here than the genre usually demands.From there, they hop around the series rather than marching through it, landing on episodes that show the show’s range: tight mystery-of-the-week plotting, long-game emotional damage, and a frankly impressive roster of guest stars who all seem to understand the assignment. Mandy struggles—loudly—with the Logan Eccles problem, while Sloan argues that the show’s greatest strength might be its refusal to make anyone simple or comfortable to root for.They spend time with the darker turns too: the way trauma is revisited rather than solved, the messiness of memory, and how often Veronica is wrong, scared, or in over her head.They wrap up with the movie, fan devotion, and the strange satisfaction of reunions—seeing who people became, who didn’t change, and who carried the same damage into adulthood. Along the way there are detours into noir tropes, aging brains, and the kind of pop-culture shorthand that only old friends can get away with. Mandy may not emerge a full marshmallow, but she absolutely gets why so many people still are.Make Me a Nerd:Website: makemeanerd.com/joinInstagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensTikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast --- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.

    1 h y 6 min
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Hey folks. Mandy Kaplan here. I’d like to share a bit about my intentions and mission for MMAN if you’ll indulge me. You will? Huzzah! Look, I am a lot of things. I’m a writer, actress, mother, and lover of musicals and cats, but NOT Cats, The Musical. Give me a little bit of credit, would ya? So...throughout my life, I’ve been surrounded (and intrigued) by all things nerd. A sister who plays D&D, a Star Wars-obsessed husband, friends who love anime, comic books, video games, and...well, you get the picture. Somehow, I have always held it all at arm's length. Not to get too deep, but maybe I never thought I was smart enough to follow it. Or maybe I have control issues and have never been able to embrace fantastical things like dragons and time travel. Until now! So, with an open mind and heart, I am ready to join this massive (and beautifully inclusive) club and GEEK THE #%$ OUT! It’s time for all my wonderfully strange friends to baptize me into NERD-DOM. Please join me on this journey. Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover or remember a side of yourself along the way. Or at least make fun of me as I try!

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