Pynchon Pals

Pynchon Pals
  • 4.9 (17)
  • BOOKS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Pynchon Pals is a podcast about finally reading Thomas Pynchon. Join co-hosts and good friends Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long as they talk through, break down, and identify exciting new recipes from the works of one of American literature's foremost figures. Just saw One Battle After Another? Picked up Shadow Ticket? Had Gravity's Rainbow on your shelf for a decade? Or just a longtime fan looking to revisit your favorites? Everyone's welcome to be a Pynchon Pal! Support us at patreon.com/pynchonpals for additional bonus episodes, and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.

  1. 6D AGO

    17: In which we tour Mr. Pynchon’s Mysterious Society for Peculiarly Gifted Bureaucrats (Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.17-1.21)

    Do we dare go beyond “Beyond the Zero”? Well, first we’ve got to meet a bunch of characters who will surely—surely—be important later. Then, this book heard you liked the occult, so it put a séance in its séance so you can speak to the dead while you speak to the dead. Finally, Roger and Jessica just keep breaking our hearts.  Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 2.1 and 2.2, or pp. 181-208 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition.  Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.  For the month of May’s bonus episode, we’ll be watching Hitler's Secret Weapon: The V-2 Rocket at Peenemunde (1977) (link via Archive.org), V2: Nazi Rocket a.k.a. Hitler's Space Rocket (2016) (there seems to be a couple cuts or versions of this one across streaming platforms and maybe international distributors—but here’s a link to one version on YouTube), and “V2 Assembling and Launching” (1947) (link via YouTube). Show Notes: “Hark the Sound,” by William Starr Myers, a.k.a. “Far Above Cayuga's Waters,” a.k.a. “Annie Lisle,” a.k.a. the Yoyodyne “Hymn” via the UNC Library  Picasso’s “Las Meninas, or one of 58 anyways, via the Guggenheim Museum “Is Time Real? The Physics Behind the Illusion of Time” with Carlo Rovelli, via Quanta Magazine “Six Degrees of St. Elsewhere,” by Dwayne McDuffie, the origin of the Tommy Westphall Theory, via CBR  Thomas Pynchon Name Generator (spoiler alert?) Gwenhidwy’s Drink, via Thomas Pynchon’s Liquor Cabinet Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, genocide, albeism, antisemitism. --- Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long. Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social). Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.

    3h 12m

  2. APR 22

    16: In which Crest the savior is born (Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.14-1.16)

    GR just keeps getting V.-ier and V.-ier. Luckily, there’s a funny scene about candy waiting for us on the other end. And hey, it’s our favorite couple Jessica and Roger! Oh dear, they look very sad… Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.17-1.21, or pp. 139-180 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition.  Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.  Show Notes: “Kristen Lopez on FREAKS (1932),” via Turner Classic Movies “Tulipmania: A Garden Historian's Perspective,” via University of Oxford Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, genocide, ableism.  --- Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long. Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social). Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.

    2h 46m

  3. APR 8

    15: In which a real live rocket launches (Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.8-1.13)

    Discussions of Pavlov bookend interdepartmental conspiracy and pseudo-domesticity. Meanwhile Slothrop, like Benny Profane and Herbert Stencil before him, ventures into the sewer. Makes you miss the alligators! Next time—I misspoke in the episode!—Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.14-1.16 (not through 1.17), or pp. 94-139 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition.  Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.  Show Notes: “Lavarand,” the physical cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator I couldn’t remember in the episode. It’s lavalamps!  Related, “Generating Random Numbers With A Fish Tank,” by Tom Nardi via Hackaday. Scans of “The Kenosha Kid,” by Forbes Parkhill via Archive.org.  Our previous episode on “Mondaugen’s Story” in V.  “How to pay for genocide: Namibian victims of German colonialism want a say,” by Shola Lawal via Al Jazeera.  “Namibia’s Blue Book of record: Part one,” by Catherine Sofianos via Mail & Guardian. “Little Albert study,” entry by Ronna F. Dillon, PhD and Amber D. Dillon via Ebsco Ariadne entry via the Encyclopedia Britannica  Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, genocide, animal abuse, pedophilia.  --- Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long. Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social). Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.

    2h 53m

  4. MAR 25

    14: In which the Pynchon Pals, in their arrogance, thought they could talk through more of the book in three hours (Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.1-1.7)

    Well, we’ve arrived at The Big One. Or, The First Big One, anyways. Join us -- again or for the first time -- as we puzzle out plots, diagram arcane organizational structures, and go long on bananas.  Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.8-1.13, or pp. 48-94 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition.  Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.  Show Notes: “Banana Breakfast,” by Tom Pynchon’s Liquor Cabinet  “There Will Be Bananas,” by NPR’s Throughline podcast “Vintage Original Chiquita Banana 1940's Commercial Ads Complete Series!,” via YouTube “Bananas Don’t Taste Like They Used To. Here’s Why,” by Brandon Summers-Miller via Epicurious The Morrison shelter and other Battle of Britain era protections via the Royal Air Force Museum “Some Things that ‘Happen’ (More or Less) in Gravity’s Rainbow,” by Michael Davitt Bell. The simplest and most useful quick reference for the goings on in Gravity’s Rainbow we’ve found so far. Spoiler warning, obviously, for things we and maybe you haven’t read yet—and, less obviously, for references to things that will be (but aren’t yet) important. Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, racism, misogyny.  --- Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long. Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social). Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.

    3h 11m

  5. MAR 11

    13: In which we wonder, what if this book was, like, six times as long? (The Crying of Lot 49 Ch. 6)

    Angels, dark and light, descend on Southern California, and we bid adieu to Arnold Snarb, I mean, Edna Mosh.  Next time, Gravity’s Rainbow sections 1.1 through 1.9, or pp. 1-60 in the U.S. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition.  Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.  Show Notes: “The Simple Art of Murder,” by Raymond Chandler, online e-book via Faded Page.  Thomas Pyncon’s introduction to Richard Fariña’s Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me, via pynchon.pomona.edu.  Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, misogyny, suicide, antisemitism, pedophilia.  --- Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long. Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social). Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.

    2h 48m

  6. FEB 25

    12: “In which the Pynchon Pals retell Platonic dialogues and Porky Pig cartoons” (The Crying of Lot 49 Chs. 4-5)

    The devil is in the details in this episode—or should we say, the demon? We follow Oedipa up north and into the entropic underground. Groovy…  Next time, The Crying of Lot 49 Ch. 6.  Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.  Show Notes: Spoilers for Twin Peaks Season 2 around 2:31:50 to 2:32:05! Thomas Pynchon, in correspondence, on The Crying of Lot 49 as a “potboiler,” via Mel Gussow in the New York Times archive “The Crisis of the University Started Long Before Trump,” by Clifford Ando via Compact, on the Bayh–Dole Act and its implications for patents on government funded research “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” by Jorge Luis Borges, .pdf via University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign “Encuentro,” by Remedios Varo (1959) via the National Galleries of Scotland  The “Batusi” in Batman (1966) via YouTube Project OXYGAS (Dolphin Training) via the CIA online reading room “The dolphin who loved me: the Nasa-funded project that went wrong,” by Christopher Riley via The Guardian (or, the one about LSD trials on dolphins) Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, misogyny, racism, suicide, genocide, antisemitism --- Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long. Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social). Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.

    2h 50m

  7. FEB 11

    11. In which the Pynchon Pals, unseen, do a little dance (The Crying of Lot 49 Chs. 1-3)

    Move over Benny, Rachel, Stencil, and Paola, it’s time for a new book! Journeying into the swingin’ 60s, we talk on the phone, watch television, and even go to the theatre. Hey, wait a second, I know that kazoo tune… Next time, The Crying of Lot 49 Chs. 4-5.  Support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes at patreon.com/pynchonpals and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.  Show Notes: “Embroidering the Earth's Mantle,” by Remedios Varo (1961) via Obelisk Covers for The Crying of Lot 49 via thomaspynchon.com  The Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air via YouTube Droodles by Roger Price (1953) via Wikipedia Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, misogyny, racism. --- Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long. Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social). Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.

    2h 46m

  8. JAN 28

    10: In which a ludicrously high budget is needed to produce the V. adaptation of our dreams (V. Q+A)

    We hope you enjoy listening to this Q+A episode as much as we enjoyed making it! If so, you can now sign up to support the show via the brand new patreon.com/pynchonpals to get access to future Patreon-exclusive bonus episodes featuring Q+A’s, movie discussion, and more.    Next time, The Crying of Lot 49 Chs. 1-3. (Wow, a whole new book!) Show Notes: Content warnings: strong language, physical and sexual violence, misogyny, racism. --- Featuring Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long. Produced and edited by Patrick Fiorilli (www.patf.io and @patfio.bsky.social). Our theme music is “Horology,” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license on the album Polygondwanaland.  Follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.

    2h 7m
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4.9
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

Pynchon Pals is a podcast about finally reading Thomas Pynchon. Join co-hosts and good friends Patrick Fiorilli, Andrew Tillett, and Duri Long as they talk through, break down, and identify exciting new recipes from the works of one of American literature's foremost figures. Just saw One Battle After Another? Picked up Shadow Ticket? Had Gravity's Rainbow on your shelf for a decade? Or just a longtime fan looking to revisit your favorites? Everyone's welcome to be a Pynchon Pal! Support us at patreon.com/pynchonpals for additional bonus episodes, and follow us @pynchonpals.bsky.social.

Information

  • Creator
    Pynchon Pals
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Pynchon Pals

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