Do By Friday

Merlin Mann and Alex Cox

A weekly challenge show hosted by Alex Cox and Merlin Mann.

  1. Your Session Crashed

    22 HR AGO

    Your Session Crashed

    LinksPatton Oswalt - KFC Famous Bowls - YouTubeReconcilable Differences #279: I Promised Myself I Wasn't Going to Be Excited - RelayJeremy Renner Official - WikipediaThe Rock Diet - What Dwayne Johnson Eats in a DaySeries 7, Episode 7 - 'The perfect stuff' | Full Episode | Taskmaster - YouTubeDon't Blink! | Blink | Doctor Who - YouTubeBlink (Doctor Who) - Wikipedia"The Stallone Tangent" - Episode #133 - The Flop House Podcast - YouTubeI Fifteen Love You | Do By FridayDBF Episode 62: I Fifteen Love You : r/DoByFridayMerlin Mann’s Taskmaster Starter Episodes - YouTubePrompt 3iTerm2 - macOS Terminal ReplacementDrafts MCP Server for Claude/AI Integration - News & Updates - Drafts CommunityClaw: macOS app for Claude CodeSynologyCleanShotMacWhisperNora’s Wu-Tang Tattoo on The Leftovers: The Story Behind ItChappelle's Show - Wu-Tang Financial (ft. RZA and GZA) - Uncensored - YouTubeDigital Underground - The Humpty Dance (Official Music Video) - YouTubeRobert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character, by Kay Redfield Jamison (Alfred A. Knopf) - The Pulitzer PrizesRobert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire a book by Kay Redfield Jamison - Bookshop.org USU.S. Citizens Testify Against ICE Agents in Minneapolis - YouTubeRenee Good’s Brothers Give Emotional Testimony on DHS Tactics - YouTubeTubi - "Orlando" (1993)Next week's challenge: watch Orlando (1993)

    1h 30m
  2. Future Clowns of America

    28 JAN

    Future Clowns of America

    LinksThe Nutty Professor (1963) Jerry Lewis as Professor Kelp / Buddy LoveHank Azaria on Professor Frink Based him on Jerry Lewis in The Nutty ProfessorTropic Thunder Simple Jack; "you went full [redacted]"Be Kind Rewind Video essays on women in film historyStewart Lee British comedian; Paul Nuttall of UKIPStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle BBC Two series (2009-2016)Tailscale Mesh VPN; part of the Iron TroikaAmphetamine macOS app to prevent sleepAutoMounter Keeps network shares mountedSynology NAS; Merlin's home server setupTP-Link Archer AX55 The routerNextDNS DNS with ad blocking; Iron Troika memberCloudflare Third member of the Iron TroikaDynDNS Dynamic DNS; the old wayLet's Encrypt Free SSL certificatesPasskeys Passwordless authenticationHide My Email Apple's email aliasingLinda Stone Coined "email apnea" and "continuous partial attention""Are You Breathing? Do You Have Email Apnea?" Linda Stone's original articleClaude Code as elevator music Matt Webb on the contemplative rhythm of working with Claude CodeJ. Edgar Hoover FBI director; Clyde TolsonCary Grant & Randolph Scott Lived together; "Riding the Trails Alone"The Carter Family First family of country musicCowboy Carter Beyoncé's country albumCountry Music (Ken Burns) 2019 documentary seriesTrypophobia Lotus seed pods; a clown situationPansy Division Queercore band; pun on Panzer DivisionReformation Iconoclasm Defacing religious art

    1 hr
  3. Backpack Full of Stones

    24 JAN

    Backpack Full of Stones

    LinksTLC - "Waterfalls" Alex was four.No Such Thing as a Fish QI researchers' podcast; Merlin's been listening for yearsNo Such Thing As Debreadtion — No Such Thing As A Fish — Overcast The episode Merlin mentionedKen Burns' Jazz Episode 9 "The Adventure."TLC - "Unpretty" Merlin's favorite TLC song.Dead Drop Spycraft term for passing info without meetingKen Burns' Baseball Source of the Lincoln "tiredest" quoteA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms New Game of Thrones spinoffWhy Are Icelandic Horses Not Called Ponies? (Iceland Mag) Pony-sized but Iceland said it's a horseShip of Theseus (Khan Academy video) The philosophical paradox behind "Thesean Horse"Saint John Coltrane Church (KQED) Yes, there's literally a church for this albumJohn Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1965) The album that inspired the church"Is he quare?" Comedy repetition referenceHarry Enfield British comedian; "Is he queer?" sketchPaul Whitehouse The other half of the old men in the clubI Spy books (Walter Wick Studio) Merlin's analogy for how Claude Code sees things"40, 45 Years" - Stewart Lee The callback kingClaude Code (Anthropic) The AI tool Merlin won't shut up aboutRik Mayall: Lord of Misrule 2014 BBC tribute documentary; narrated by Simon CallowThe Young Ones (IMDb) What you most likely know Rik Mayall fromThe Young Ones - "Bambi" / University Challenge (YouTube) Fry, Laurie, Thompson vs. the ladsNell (1994) Merlin's first memory of Liam Neeson as a leadNell (1994) Trailer "Can't abide a canna peas," is a line Merlin feels like he remembers Jodie Foster's Nell sayingScotiabank Saddledome: Building Design Say it soft, and it's almost like praying.Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing Bob and Paul's fishing showGame of Thrones - "Fire and Blood" (Fandom) Season 1 finale; Daenerys and the dragon eggsLucy Liu on the "Dragon Lady" Stereotype (NextShark) "I could have been wearing a tuxedo and a blond wig"The Slop Hash Merlin's project to get you excited about making something cool."I never said she stole my money" has 7 different meanings Stress a different word, get a different sentence.The Butterfield Diet Plan (YouTube) "The results have been increbidle"The Night Left Eye Burned Down Andre Rison's Mansion (Investigation Discovery) It started with sneakers in a fiberglass bathtubMemento Mori "Remember you will die"Anterograde Amnesia The condition from Memento — can't form new memoriesOne Hundred Years of Solitude García Márquez's masterpieceKieran's very good post "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father was discovered and taken by ICE."Hammer A tool so durable it works across timeCottaging: History of the Term (Idiom Origins) How they got John Gielgud, Wilfrid Brambell, and poor Brian Epstein.Brian Epstein (Beatles Bible) Beatles manager; arrested 1957, blackmailed for years, died a month before decriminalizationClarke's Three Laws "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"Ducking Stool Chair on a stick for dunking witches and scoldsRoget's Thesaurus (Project Gutenberg) Category 1: Existence12 Facts About Taking of Pelham 123 (Mental Floss) They fictionalized the dead man's switch to foil copycatsThe 36-Hour Day (Johns Hopkins Press) Read it before someone you love has dementiaSome folks I love and admire do come off sounding a little like the same people who loudly hated Little Richard and disco music. Honestly, sometimes it's legit difficult to notice when we've gotten more emotionally invested than we'd realized in seeming right. And that shit is a LOT to decide to carry forever. 🐘

    1h 55m
  4. Recursive Hallucination Loop

    14 JAN

    Recursive Hallucination Loop

    LinksGround loop (electricity) - WikipediaHallucination or Confabulation? Neuroanatomy as metaphor in Large Language Models - PMCGraze: Custom Feed Builder for Bluesky · GrazeServerless Statusphere: a walk through building serverless ATProto applications on Cloudflare’s Developer PlatformAT ProtocolHow to Transfer Your ChatGPT MemoryWorks for ChatGPT Data - Google DriveStewart Lee - WikipediaStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - WikipediaStewart Lee vs The Internet - Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - Series 3 Episode 1 Preview - BBC - YouTubeEnglish Arrested for Being English? Stewart Lee's Humorous Take on British Culture | TikTokStewart Lee S4E6 - Childhood - YouTubeStewart Lee S3E3 - Satire - YouTubeStewart Lee - [1/2] Give It To Me Straight, Like Pear Cider That's Made From 100% Pears - YouTubeStewart Lee - [2/2] Give It To Me Straight, Like Pear Cider That's Made From 100% Pears - YouTubeStewart Lee On The Challenge Of Stand-Up - YouTubeComedian Stewart Lee on why he won't tour Trump's America - YouTubeStewart Lee in Conversation with Alan Moore - YouTubeJerry Springer: The Opera - WikipediaTaskmaster Origins - Rare Footage of the First Ever Show! (Edinburgh 2010) - YouTube

    1h 44m
  5. Shiny Boob Beaver Book

    8 JAN

    Shiny Boob Beaver Book

    LinksI am the mucus man. | Do By FridayPlayboyPenthouseOui (magazine)HustlerGentLiquid IVImodiumMr. Microphone By Ronco (Commercial, 1978) - YouTube"Supply is limited" scene from The Simpsons (TV Episode 1992) - YouTubeThe Simpsons: Sending Our Love Down The Well - YouTubeROYGBIV - WikipediaStewart Lee - WikipediaStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - WikipediaStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - YouTubeStewart Lee - Emigrants - video DailymotionLazy Comedy Slags - 28 years old - YouTubeI'm Alan Partridge - WikipediaMortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing - WikipediaThe future of being trans on the internet | The VergeNetNewsWire: Free and Open Source RSS Reader for Mac and iOSLumberjanes - WikipediaMallory Ortberg Accidentally Inspired A New Episode Of 'Black Mirror' By Making Fun Of The ShowNext On "Black Mirror" - The ToastBrian Regan - Big Yellow One's the Sun - YouTubeBrian Regan - The Emergency Room - YouTubeMBMBAM / Adventure Time: Curse A Real Sword - YouTube

    1h 18m
  6. I am the mucus man.

    31/12/2025

    I am the mucus man.

    Late Night with David Letterman - "Camping With Barry White" (May, 1983)

    50 min
  7. A Considerate Dancer

    17/12/2025

    A Considerate Dancer

    LinksNurse Ratched - WikipediaRatched (TV series) - WikipediaSarah Paulson - WikipediaBlue Lights (2023 TV series)The Now Habit a book by Neil Fiore - Bookshop.org USGetting Things Done a book by David Allen and James Fallows - Bookshop.org USMakebelieve Help, Old Butchers, and Figuring Out Who You Are (For Now) on VimeoYeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (Official Music Video) - YouTubeTed Leo - Since U Been Gone / Maps - YouTubeMargaret Qualley - WikipediaBleachers - Tiny Moves (Official) - YouTubeJack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley Take Us Behind the Scenes of "Tiny Moves"Jack Antonoff - WikipediaSteel Train "I Feel Weird" - YouTubeKenzo World feat. Margaret Qualley - YouTubeKenzo Perfume BTS: Spike Jonze & Margaret Qualley’s Creative Journey - YouTube

    1h 13m
  8. Three-Eyed Raven of His Dreams

    10/12/2025

    Three-Eyed Raven of His Dreams

    LinksEp. 1. "Shifty: The Land of Make Believe" (Adam Curtis, 2025) - YouTubeAdam Curtis on the BBC, Politics & AI - YouTubeAdam Curtis - WikipediaHyperNormalisation - WikipediaCan't Get You Out of My Head (TV series) - WikipediaShifty (TV series) - WikipediaSHIFTY – A brand new Adam Curtis series - BBC - YouTubeThe True Story of the Aberfan Disaster in The Crown Season 3The Queen Learns of the Aberfan Disaster | The Crown (Olivia Colman) - YouTubeDeath of Diana, Princess of Wales - WikipediaRyan White - WikipediaOliver Sacks - WikipediaWilliams syndrome - WikipediaOliver Sacks: The Mind Traveller - 'Don't Be Shy, Mr Sacks' - YouTubeStrong Songs – Season 07 Episode 08 - "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" by The PoliceMr Blobby - WikipediaJack Whitehall is Terrified of Mr Blobby - The Big Fat Quiz Of The '90s - YouTubeThe 10 Most Bizarre UK No. 1s of the 1990s - YouTubeSentencing Review: Deposition of the Captain | kung fu grippe

    1h 45m
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Hosts & Guests

About

A weekly challenge show hosted by Alex Cox and Merlin Mann.

Information

  • Creator
    Merlin Mann and Alex Cox
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    447
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Do By Friday

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