Political Gabfest

The “2017 Conundrums, Featuring They Might Be Giants” Edition

Listen to Slate’s show of listener-generated conundrums, answered live before a Boston Gabfest audience.

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On this week’s Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz dig in, dissect, and debate listener-generated conundrums, with special guest performances by They Might Be Giants, live from Boston.

Here are some conundrums from this year’s live conundrum show:

  • Would you rather put clean clothes on your dirty body or dirty clothes on your clean body?
  • Your cellphone somehow connects to cell towers in 2025. You don’t know how long you have to stay connected. What do you do?
  • Would you rather work for a great boss who’s a terrible person OR work for a person who’s terrible at his job but a great person?
  • Would you rather stop aging at 30 and live for 30 more years OR stop aging at 70 and live for 70 more years?
  • What would you do if you found out William Shakespeare behaved like Harvey Weinstein?
  • Is it insulting to get someone the gift of a cleaning service?

And many more!

Join Slate Plus! This week’s Slate Plus segment is a conundrum lightning round with They Might Be Giants. Slate Plus members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gabfestplus.

Topic ideas for next week? You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest (#heygabfest). (Tweets may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Become a fan of the Political Gabfest on Facebook. We post to the Facebook page throughout the week, so keep the conversation going by joining us there. Or follow us @SlateGabfest. The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Links compiled by Izzy Rode.

About the Show

Voted “Favorite Political Podcast” by Apple Podcasts listeners. Stephen Colbert says, "Everybody should listen to the Slate Political Gabfest." The Gabfest is hosted by Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz. Listen for the debates, stay for the cocktail chatter.

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