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Season 7, Episode 8: What About Orcs?

 

In this uncomfortably probing episode, Tony and Kevin wrestle with the largest question they could come up with: “What about Orcs?” Why did Tolkien first insist that orcs were goblins and then change his mind? Are orcs a racist reference to Turks or to Czechs and Serbs? And what about that caravan coming from south of the border? After these issues are nimbly resolved, the show moves first to the return of Johnny Hambone, Library Bouncer. Now on armed (what?) work release, Johnny encounters an old grad school rival, and shots are fired in a dispute about George Eliot’s Middlemarch. Next, the Arts and Business Beat brings us the “Visualization Coach.” Sure, you can learn how to visualize victory by reading his book, but what if your opponent reads the book too? What then, Listener? Eh? Then finally, the return of our favorite parasitic existentialists, Hans and Jacques, who are trying to buy Hovercraft tickets. Sound harmless? Don’t be fooled…

 

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