Charlie Thomas has a new girlfriend named Angela, Pamela, Sandra, or Rita, and despite the fact that she’s a Crime Girl, they are only getting sweeter (the trumpet!). Kristy doesn’t like her because she’s a Baseball Idiot (and she’s not the only one in this week’s book). Car crimes are perpetrated against the State of Connecticut, and there’s a hit new Blade (the vampire/vampire hunter) musical coming to Broadway. This one’s for you, Harry Nilsson, wherever you are now. We can’t live… if livin’ ...
Apr 30, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Parental advisory: There is a lot of kissing talk and smooching talk right up front and there’s honestly no way to avoid it this week because this was a book about kissing and smooching. Claudia kisses and then smooches an annoying but handsome and swoopy-haired boy named Mark Jaffe. The boys kiss the sweet feet of sweet Pete Lerangis (metaphorically speaking). And Claudia’s new friend Josh is kissed by greatness in a star turn as this week’s Baller of the Week. And even if you don’t like kissin...
Apr 23, 2018•1 hr 12 min
Okay, so Jack and Tanner spent a ton of their hard-earned ad revenue on new mics and recorders but then that dunce Jack hit the wrong button and essentially recorded all of this episode and the next one on his laptop mic so it sounds awful BUT there’s still a really solid episode there so try to bear with us. Stacey is a nerd now, the Deep Voice Boys are back with an exciting new role, Jack spends a LONG time perfecting a new character who LOVES smoking drugs and doing 69-ing with people and the...
Apr 16, 2018•1 hr 7 min
This is an urgent message for the Pulitzer Committee: The audio from our original version of Abby’s Twin – which you so kindly singled out as being worthy of your highest honor – has been irreparably lost. But thanks to our precision, our professionalism, and our consummate skill, we have perfectly recreated every note, every beat, every moment of that epoch-defining, award-worthy episode of audio magic and are now humbly presenting that recreation for your consideration. You will not find a wor...
Apr 09, 2018•1 hr 12 min
This week, Jack and Tanner talk about ████ and ████, but then Jack decides to █████ his ████ instead, so Tanner needs to █████ all over the █████. But it's only ███ miles to ████, which ██████ took ██ days to do, but ████ managed to finish in █████. There's also a new ████ in Stoneybrook, and ████ and ████ Tanner and Jack get stuck in segment █████. Music Credits: "Baba Yetu"(Karaoke Version) originally composed by Christopher Tin "Underpass” by James Ross “Silent Night, Hallowed Night” by Haydn...
Apr 02, 2018•1 hr 7 min
In a distant future, in an alternate universe, The Futuresmiths have made a decision that will affect our world, Earth-One, and the mysterious otherworld of the Baby-Sitters Club: They will send Cir-El (Supergirl) back to the present day to set in motion events that will change the multiverse forever. And it is here, in this fateful moment, that we shall find our hosts, immersing themselves in the wisdom of the great Sitters’ Cycle – from the latest news about gentle Mary Anne Spier to the dange...
Mar 26, 2018•1 hr 9 min
Welcome to episode #3 of the new Baby-Sitter’s Club Club podcast, now in the darkest timeline where Claudia is back in the 7th grade, Kristy is only capable of generating bad ideas, Stacey is single, and Jackie Rodowsky is but a boy. The Sitterverse is now a dark and scary place and all the girls and residents are only in it for themselves. Abandon hope all ye who enter here. Music Credits: "Seasons of Love"(Karaoke Version) from Rent "Motion” by Borrtex "Breathing"(Karaoke Version) originally p...
Mar 19, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Your two favorite Partywarts™ are standing by this week with an arsenal of jokes, classic memes, and hilarious burns for your amusement. Which is unfortunate, because this was the week that the Baby-Sitters Club has decided to disband, and the girls are barely even on speaking terms, an occasion that calls for mourning, sober analysis, and bitter, inconsolable tears. Say what you want about the BSCC, but you certainly get the full range of emotions here. Also, Jackie’s back! In time! Music credi...
Mar 12, 2018•1 hr 5 min
This week, the boys hearts are broken right alongside Stacey’s because Robert “Hangdoggy” Brewster has betrayed us all. But don’t worry, because they have the warm, open, waiting arms of both the intriguing and enigmatic Ethan AND the familiar, long-haired Pete Black waiting for all of them to “trampoline” into. Also, the boys are feeling a little Suzane in the membWeyn this week, and because of that, it’s an EXTREMELY segment light week, so STRAP IN FOR SOME ANTIQUITY DISCUSSION. Music Credits:...
Mar 05, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Some alt titles for this week’s episode: “The Tragic Misadventures of Dong and Jaff Schafer” “Kristy and the Corporate Sabotage” “The Increasingly Bittersweet Feet of Sweet, Sweet Pete” “Christian Iconography in Painting – From Signorelli to Soileau” "How to Spell ‘Jacob’ With a ‘K’: A (Surprisingly Robust) Analysis” Pick whichever title you like before you dive in, but don’t forget to strap on your most serious face and prepare your very manliest voice, because we’re going to start things off w...
Feb 26, 2018•1 hr 6 min
It’s episode #100! Well, actually it’s probably more like episode #103 or #104? And also, the boys are discussing book #97, but let’s all go ahead and count this as an auspicious occasion, and if you don’t want to, you can kiss dirt. Tanner sings a lot (no surprises there) and Jack talks about Greek word roots a lot (no surprises there either) and both boys talk a lot about Blade Runner (which is maybe a little surprising). You know what they DON’T talk about a lot? You guess it: the book. Impor...
Feb 19, 2018•1 hr 11 min
There’s no easy way of saying this, but we’re legally obligated to warn you: The boys may have accidentally unleashed a vengeful being of pure evil into our community, which you can call a Videogeist – unless you’re an influencer, in which case you might prefer to use some more up-to-date lingo like “Trans-Media Entity.” Anyway, the point is that we’re in a world of trouble this week that is at least as bad as the trouble that local Crime Girl Abby Stevenson gets into when she cheats on a math t...
Feb 12, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Hope you enjoy the sound of two men doing that “Huh?!” sound from Home Improvement, because Jack and Tanner do it A LOT this week. There are also a lot of equations and algorithms in this book, so I hope you also enjoy the sound of two men trying to formulate and then solve math problems. Oh, and Baby Nation, we’re not here to kink shame you, but if you are into “arm stuff” we just ask that you do it safely and responsibly. Music Credits: “My Sharona” (MIDI Version) originally performed by The K...
Feb 05, 2018•1 hr 7 min
Having seen the error of her ways after falling in with Crime Girls, Stacey McGill is riding the baby-sitting dragon again, but she’s not out of danger yet! That’s right, the Herald has appeared, the clairvoyant has spoken her baleful prophecy, and it won’t be too long now before those adorable little Otter Bishops start preaching about the end of days. Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom this week, because the boys are paid a visit by their dear friend Handel, Logan finally decided to put ...
Jan 29, 2018•1 hr 5 min
A life is cut tragically short this week and all of Stoneybrook comes together for a funeral for their friend Amelia. She was just thirteen years old when the ultimate killing machine, Doomsday, escaped its underground prison and fought her on the streets of Metropolis, leading to her tragic and untimely death and ultimately to the rise of four new heroes: Cyborg Amelia, Amelia of Steel, Ameliaboy, and the mysterious Last Amelia of Krypton. But can these new heroes stand up to villains such as T...
Jan 22, 2018•1 hr 15 min
Hello and welcome to “Kissing Advice” with Jack and Tanner! In this very special and extremely timely Christmas-themed episode, the boys will take you through their top tips for tying tongues, whether you’re a seasoned kisser, a first-timer, or just someone who has a lot of mistletoe hanging in your house and needs to brush up on their smooching game. But mistletoe-induced snogging isn’t the only thing these Christmas boys have on their minds, because Mallory Pike’s devastatingly handsome father...
Jan 15, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Reasons we did the podcast this week: To remind you that children are the future. To wake you the f*ck up, America. To ask that you not narc on someone’s orgy. To insist that you shouldn’t club someone to death for narcing on your orgy. To discourage you from dedicating your orgies to the goddess Artemis. To plug the mid-90s rock band Green Jelly. To encourage you to leave a plate out for Ben Brewer next Thanksgiving. To guide you through the dispelling ritual to prevent Drusilla Destiny from ri...
Jan 08, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Who was John Stevenson and what did he know? These are some of the tough questions that this fascinating novel asks us, but it also asks us to look deep inside ourselves and take an unerring look at what we might find there. Which is exactly what our brave boys do this week, as they grapple with difficult truths like whether new baby-sitter Abby Stevenson is the best baby-sitter now that Dawn’s gone; whether it’s ever appropriate to question Kristy Thomas’s authority; and what, precisely, this a...
Jan 01, 2018•1 hr 7 min
If you’re caught up with BSCC episodes, it’s a very special Christmas episode, delivered to you hot and fresh on Christmas day! If you’re not caught up, and you’re listening to this at any other time, sorry about the weird Christmas episode randomly thrown into the middle of your feed! We hope it gets you into the Christmas spirit, even if it’s, like, May or whatever. We’re doing something new this week and watching an episode of a TV program instead of reading a book. But not just any TV progra...
Dec 25, 2017•51 min
It’s a time of rebirth in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Out with the old, in the with the new. Dawn is dead and gone, and in her place, a new sitter must rise. And with a new sitter comes a new baby to be sat, this time in the frightening form of a video/VHS/well/water demon named Drusilla Destiny who Jack and Tanner are definitely going to keep an eye on. Sweet Pete also introduces an incredible new character called Abby Stevenson and she’s an instant favorite, but she comes with a LOT of baggage, ...
Dec 18, 2017•1 hr 13 min
Get your tissues ready and put your crying hats on, Baby Nation, because this one’s a sad one! Set during the First World War, "Farewell, Dawn" follows the fortunes of the American paramedic Frederic Henry and an English nurse named Catherine Barkley. Against all odds, their love blossoms as the bombs and shrapnel explode around them, but they are ultimately doomed, not by the destruction and war where their love was born, but the quiet, aching stillness of solitude where it will eventually die....
Dec 11, 2017•1 hr 4 min
Extra long episode this week, Baby Nation! Tanner is back from a week in Germany, and for some reason, the boys thought it’d be a good decision to do a late night record while Tanner was still reeling from the effects of jet lag, so Jack has a really hard time keeping this one on the rails. There’s A LOT of singing. Too much singing. Sorry for all the singing. Stacey (with a soft ‘c’) or Stacey (with a hard ‘c’) (we’re not sure how it’s pronounced) has a run in with some bad girls who invite her...
Dec 04, 2017•1 hr 18 min
What seems at first to be a very straightforward “paint-by-numbers” installment in the sitterverse (yawn: the sitters hold a day camp for some of their charges) turns out to be an intricate, surprising, and genuinely frightening origin story for Mary Anne Spier herself. As the boys pick apart the strands in this delicate tapestry woven by Ann M. Martin and the great Nola Thacker, they begin to wonder whether they’ve uncovered something that none of us were meant to know. Because this one goes al...
Nov 27, 2017•1 hr 9 min
To really get this week’s episode, you’re going to need to remember a lot of the plot details from Inception, and you’re going to need to know A LOT about the short lived meme that was Dawn Siff’s Vine video resume. Oh, you’ll also probably want to have heard at least a few episodes of This American Life. So, a lot of prerequisites for this one, but it’s really worth it. Claudia gets a radio show on WSTO, Tanner delivers some very interesting factoids about terrestrial broadcast standards, Jack ...
Nov 20, 2017•1 hr 3 min
There’s a ding dang civil war this week, Baby Nation (we’re saying “ding dang” now, apparently), and it looks like the beautiful friendships that we’ve been following for 83 books so far are starting to fall apart at the seams. We always knew that something was going to be the catalyst for the BSC apocalypse we witnessed in this book but never in a million years could either of us have predicted that it was going to be Mary Anne’s pajamas. And to make matters worse, the civil war between the bab...
Nov 13, 2017•1 hr 8 min
Ding Dong, Baby Nation! The witch is dead! Which old witch? Stacey McGill, that’s who! This week Stacey gets into a big fight with all the other members of the Baby-sitter’s Club and they finally do the right thing and cut her loose. And, listen, Tanner isn’t here to say that he told you so, BUT HE TOLD YOU SO! Other talking points include whether or not pineapple is an appropriate topping for pizza (it’s not), a new light-bringer pulling the strings in Stoneybrook, and something else that seeme...
Nov 06, 2017•1 hr 3 min
Looks like we’ve got a Troublemaker gumming up the works this week, Baby Nation! But who, or what, is it? Surely it isn’t sweet, innocent leukemia survivor Danielle Roberts? Might it somehow be that bad, negligent babysitter Stacey McGill? She has been acting VERY strangely of late. Or, and just hear us out here … is there ANY chance that it could be ‘90s Canadian rap and reggae artist Darrin Kenneth O’Brien (aka “Snow”)? Probably not, frankly, but your boys are willing to consider all the optio...
Oct 30, 2017•1 hr 7 min
This week, after father of three Jack Butler loses his job at the Ford Motor Company, he is forced to become a stay-at-home dad when his wife, Caroline, takes a job as a high-powered executive at a prestigious ad agency in Detroit. No wait, that’s the plot of 1983’s Mr. Mom. Shit. Uh, well… pretty much the same thing happens in this book, except it’s Watson Brewer, and he doesn’t lose his job, but he does have a heart attack. (He's fine.) Music Credits: “Fits” by Podington Bear “December” by Kai...
Oct 23, 2017•1 hr 2 min
Here come the bridesmaids, and there goes our sense of basically everything that is right and decent, because Tanner decided we needed to read a Super Special, OUT OF ORDER, this week to make sense of whatever the hell is going on in our next BSC book, Kristy and Mr. Mom. So here we are at this "coast 2 coast wedding orgy," with plenty of brides but not quite enough bridesmaids, as Mary Anne is about to discover to her eternal dismay. All that being said, Ann is kind of burying the lede here, be...
Oct 16, 2017•1 hr 4 min
This week’s book is a clear cry for help from the Primarch of Princeton herself, and Ann – if you’re reading this – we hear you! And if you’re open to notes, we want to let you know that writing a step-by-step guide on how to stalk children's books authors is maybe not the best approach for dealing with your isolation and loneliness. But we’re just humble podcasters. What do we know? Music Credits: “Swing Lo” by Podington Bear “Awaken from a Nightmare” by Dementia “DEAD_LINE” by daPlaque "Bow to...
Oct 09, 2017•1 hr 1 min
