Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #354, Yates on Mute
Show Intro
[Show music plays]
Andrew Sims: This is MuggleCast, the Harry Potter podcast discussing everything about J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world. Welcome to MuggleCast Episode 354. I’m Andrew.
Micah Tannenbaum: I’m Micah.
Andrew: And Eric should be here, but he apparently seems to have overslept or was murdered or something. We honestly don’t know; he’s not responding, so pray for Eric. Hopefully he will show up at some point during the show today. But we do have a guest this week, one of our patrons, Ken! Welcome to the show.
Ken: Thank you! Excited to be here.
Andrew: Podcasting from Boston, where it’s in the teens today, huh?
Ken: It is. It’s a little chilly here.
Andrew: Okay. Maybe that’s what happened to Eric; he froze to death.
Micah: Are you excited for the Super Bowl? Are you a football fan? The Patriots?
Ken: I can’t say I’m a big football fan, but I am torn because my family’s all from Philadelphia but I live in Boston, so it’s a split for both sides, I guess.
Micah: And Andrew, Philly, right?
Andrew: I’m Philly. I’m rooting for the Eagles.
Ken: Oh, you’re from Jersey, so you have to.
Andrew: Yeah, exactly.
Micah: Yeah, I am too. I’m a Jets fan, so I do not like the Patriots…
Ken: Fair enough.
Micah: … so it makes it very easy.
Andrew: But I mean, the Patriots have won too many times already, so who wants them to win anyway?
Ken: I know; the Eagles have it coming.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. They’d better win. Wow, this is the straightest discussion we’ve ever had on MuggleCast. Let’s get back to Harry Potter.
[Ken laughs]
Micah: You’re welcome.
Andrew: Micah has been waiting for this moment for 13 years. [laughs] Let’s get your fandom ID, Ken. What are your favorite Harry Potter book and movie?
Ken: Okay, so for book and movie, it’s both the Half-Blood Prince. For book, second place is kind of Order of the Phoenix. They’re both just really… I guess Half-Blood Prince is where it all starts to get explained and you get more details, plus the whole Dumbledore at the end section is just… it’s a great book.
Andrew: Yeah. What are your Ilvermorny and Hogwarts Houses?
Ken: So Hogwarts, I’m a Ravenclaw. Ilvermorny, I’m a Pukwudgie.
Andrew: Is that a good combo? I guess so.
Ken: I’m not sure. I feel like a lot of people tend to match up, but I guess Pukwudgie is pretty common, so it’s fine.
Andrew: Yeah. What’s your Patronus? As decided by Pottermore.
Ken: Pottermore let me know that it was a white stallion. I honestly don’t know much about it, but we’ll go with it.
Andrew: [laughs] Most people know nothing about their Patronus. We have a big article on Hypable with a list of all the Patronuses, and we get so many people searching for, like, “What does white stallion Patronus mean?”
Ken: Yeah, I googled it and it was pretty vague. I guess there’s a lot of mythological references to white stallions, as far as warriors and the sun god and things like that, but I don’t know.
Andrew: Do you have a favorite piece of Harry Potter merchandise that you own?
Ken: Well, since it’s 12 degrees here, I’m going to have to go with my Ravenclaw scarf. But as you were mentioning – I think it was last week you talked about the understated Harry Potter merchandise – I’m a big fan of those pieces, so I have a Ravenclaw tie that I’ll wear to work sometimes…
Andrew: Ah, nice.
Ken: … and it kind of flies under the radar, but every once in a while somebody will be like, “Is that…?” Like, “It is.” [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. Do you have a Globus Mundi sweater yet? They’re all the rage. [laughs]
Ken: I do not. I’m going to the theme park this summer, so maybe I’ll pick one up.
Andrew: Oh, good. Yeah, yeah, good. What’s your favorite book cover? Getting back to our discussion from a couple weeks ago.
Ken: Order of the Phoenix is my favorite one.
Andrew: Oh, okay. That’s interesting that your favorite book and movie are Half-Blood Prince, but not favorite cover.
Ken: Yeah, I’m a big fan of blues, so a blue cover… it’s all very, I don’t know, soothing? [laughs]
Andrew: Hashtag monochromatic.
Ken: Yes.
Andrew: And this relates to our discussion later in today’s episode: Who is your favorite LGBTQ character in the Harry Potter series?
Ken: Well, since none actually existed in the text…
[Andrew laughs]
Ken: … I’m going to have to go with Scorbus, and I’m going to stand by it. They’re meant to be.
Andrew: Yeah, that was a trick question. I was expecting you to say Dumbledore, and then I was going to be like, “Oh, me too. That’s so crazy.” [laughs]
Ken: No, Scorbus.
Andrew: But you’re right. They don’t exist in the text.
Ken: No, all after the fact.
Andrew: And related to that, who is your favorite explicitly straight relationship in the series?
Ken: I mean, there’s so many to choose from. How can you choose? But I guess I would say Tonks and Remus. They’re pretty cute.
Andrew: All right. Well, welcome to the show. It’s nice to have you here. Thanks for your support.
Ken: Of course.
Andrew: And yeah, we’re going to talk about this Dumbledore drama that happened. I will tell our listeners now, I’m not going to be as critical as you might think. I have cooled off on the issue over the past couple days, after reflecting on it more and seeing J.K. Rowling’s responses. But there are things to be concerned about, and we’ll talk about those later. First, there really wasn’t any news over the past week after Celebration of Harry Potter, but there was one of these annual Harry Potter book nights that occurred, I think mostly in England, and Bloomsbury announced that the Harry Potter series has now sold a certain number of books worldwide. Would you two like to guess what that number is?
Ken: I’ll let you go first, Micah. [laughs]
Micah: I feel like I’m going to be way off. I’m guessing it’s in the millions.
[Andrew laughs]
Ken: It has to be in the millions.
Andrew: I would hope so.
Ken: Hundreds of millions?
Micah: Probably.
Andrew: Yes.
Micah: I’m going to go with 540 million.
Ken: I’ll go with 300 million, just to keep it interesting.
Andrew: Yeah, Micah was closest. It’s 500 million. They hit that milestone.
Micah: But I went over, so Ken wins.
Andrew: Yeah, all right.
Ken: Price Is Right.
Micah: Yes, that’s right.
Andrew: That’s pretty crazy, I guess.
Ken: Is that including audiobooks or…?
Andrew: No, I think it’s print.
Ken: Okay.
Andrew: I mean, it’s not as big as the Bible, but we’re getting up there.
Micah: Think of all the trees that were destroyed in the making of Harry Potter.
Andrew: Well, I bet that includes Kindle as well. Harry Potter still has a ways to go before catching up to the Bible.
Micah: Well, the Bible’s been around a little longer, too.
Ken: Just a few years.
Andrew: But according to this informational… this infographic I’m looking at, Harry Potter is the most popular book ever in print, besides the Bible, and this other one, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung?
Micah: Mao Zedong?
Andrew: Are you being serious? I don’t know.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Ken: Yeah, he was the ruler.
Andrew: Oh, see, I didn’t know that. Okay. Congrats to Harry Potter, but I do wonder how many of these are duplicate owners? How many…? So I feel like maybe 50 million of that 500 million are copies of the book sitting in a house that already has copies of a book, right? Because we all buy multiple copies.
Ken: Probably.
Micah: Yeah, that’s a good point. If you think about the seven book series, then how many people own the adult edition from the UK? How many own the kids’ edition from the UK? And then hardcover versus paperback? And the list could go on and on.
Andrew: Yeah, and you look at the popularity of the illustrated editions. I would love to know the stats, like, “One in five people who read the original series are buying the illustrated series” or something like that. All right, so just some interesting information I wanted to share. Congrats to Harry Potter. Maybe they should put a Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in every hotel room around the world; you know how there’s a Bible in the desk of every hotel room? Why not put a copy of Harry Potter in there?
Ken: That’d be perfect; then I can stop packing mine.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Exactly. Andrew, I think you should start the trend; every time you go down to Orlando and stay at one of the Universal Resorts, I think you should just leave a book in the hotel room that you stay. Put it on top of the Bible.
Andrew: [laughs] If MuggleCast is willing to put up the money to buy these books that I distribute in every hotel room I stay in, then yes, I will.
Micah: I think Scholastic should sponsor you in this.
Andrew: [laughs] But you think about it, there have been studies showing that people who read Harry Potter learn empathy, are smart, make the world a better place… I think it would help the world if there’s a copy of Harry Potter in every hotel room.
Micah: And that’s going to lead probably into our next discussion.
Andrew: Yes. But first, I just want to mention there’s a movement going on in the livestream over at Patreon right now; we are starting the “Prayers for Eric” hashtag as we wonder where he is. Before we get to our news this week, Micah, we have a sponsor.
Micah: Yeah, before we continue, we’d like to let you know that this week’s episode is being brought to you by Bright Cellars. Have you ever tried an Accio spell without any luck? Well, now’s your chance to really make some magic happen.
[Ad break]
Andrew: Yeah, I mean, you mentioned how many times do you try to use Accio? I legit try to use Accio in the real world, so I’m glad that Bright Cellars is making that work for wine.
Micah: Definitely. I’ve witnessed this when I visit you…
Andrew: You’ve used Accio?
Micah: No, no, no. When I was visiting Chicago, we were hanging out, you were playing a game on your Nintendo Switch. You were trying to use Accio to get the remote, to get the controller, to do all these things, and I know poor Brooklyn had to get up off the couch, retrieve it for you, and bring it back.
Andrew: [laughs] I mean, that is the best spell in the wizarding world. No? It’s just so helpful. Fighting a dragon? No problem, summon your broom from a mile away.
Micah: I didn’t really buy into that, by the way.
Andrew: I didn’t either.
Micah: That was a shortcut, in my opinion. He really needed to have prepared better for that first Triwizard task than just summoning the broom.
Main Discussion: David Yates’s comments on Dumbledore’s sexuality
Andrew: Well, David Yates might be wishing he could summon some better PR people to help him get through interviews. The fandom was shook this week when Entertainment Weekly asked Fantastic Beasts director David Yates if Dumbledore’s sexuality would be mentioned, included, in this upcoming sequel this November, The Crimes of Grindelwald. He said,
“Not explicitly. But I think all the fans are aware of that. He had a very intense relationship with Grindelwald when they were young men. They fell in love with each other’s ideas and ideology and each other. He’s a maverick and a rebel and he’s an inspiring teacher at Hogwarts. He’s witty and has a bit of an edge. He’s not this elder statesman. He’s a really kinetic guy. And opposite Johnny Depp as Grindelwald, they make an incredible pairing.”
So I read this, and I was honestly not surprised initially. And then I started seeing other people take notice of these comments, and a lot of the Internet was pissed, and then I got pissed. The reason being, at this point in Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s “friendship,” “relationship,” whatever, they’ve already fallen apart. Grindelwald is off doing his thing; Dumbledore is now a professor at Hogwarts. Dumbledore’s love, in theory, his strongest love for Grindelwald, that has now already passed, so for Dumbledore to come into the Fantastic Beasts series and presumably tell Newt about Grindelwald, about his friendship? About his relationship? To not explicitly mention that he was in love with this guy seems BS. And in this world where we see Hollywood studios shying away from including gay characters in their films to not hurt the box office, you can’t help but think that they purposely are cutting it out or delaying it because they don’t want to hurt the box office. And it’s bull… shoot [laughs] because J.K. Rowling always preaches inclusion and acceptance, and she’s a champion of the LGBT community, so this has upset a lot of people, and I don’t blame them. Ken, how did you react to this news?
Ken: I feel like it was kind of a mix. I was definitely initially really annoyed, because I just assumed that that was going to be a piece of this film with… I kind of always just imagined that it would be information included with a flashback about Ariana and the fight that went down between everyone and ultimately her death. I guess that could come later in the film, but it just felt really frustrating that it was getting pushed again. But at the same time, I can’t say I was surprised because it is just so typical of a lot of movies just to mention it on the side, or have an allusion to it without directly addressing it.
Andrew: And the other problem with David Yates’s stupid comment – remember, he upset the fandom a couple months ago about Johnny Depp to the point where J.K. Rowling had to release a statement on her website, which she never does – this line, “Not explicitly. But I think all the fans are aware of that.” What? You’re saying that you don’t have to include it in the movie because fans already know? That is the biggest piece of nonsense. That is the stupidest excuse for not including it. Why adapt these into movies at all if the fans know everything because they read the books? Was this his excuse for not including Dumbledore’s funeral in Half-Blood Prince? “Oh, they already know he was buried. I mean, we don’t need to include that.” That was just a really poor choice of words.
Ken: At least for me, it just harkened back to a lot of the “I’m okay with it, I just don’t want to hear about it” kind of attitude, or “I don’t want to see it” kind of attitude, so it was a little teeth-gritting.
Andrew: Right, right. Gay Dumbledore wasn’t in the books and movies, but J.K. Rowling wedged it in after. “Dumbledore is gay in Fantastic Beasts, but fans already know that, so we’re not going to include that in the actual movie.” So like I said, there was a lot of backlash on Twitter, and in fact, J.K. Rowling noticed. A lot of people were coming to her on Twitter asking, “What the hell? This is a big mistake. Why are you doing this?” She released two statements over two days. First of all, she tweeted, “Being sent abuse about an interview that didn’t involve me, about a screenplay I wrote but which none of the angry people have read, which is part of a five-movie series that’s only one installment in, is obviously tons of fun, but you know what’s even more fun?” And then she included a GIF of somebody hitting mute, meaning she was muting abusive people. And look, people should not be abusive to her or to anybody ever, so while I agree people should not be abusive… well, let me read the second tweet before making my point here. Her second tweet was “Lucky I have no intention of doing it, then,” referring to removing Dumbledore’s sexuality. “Oh, and believing every bit of Potter clickbait? Foolish. Just saying. (Winky face.) #Dumbledore, #FantasticBeasts.” So what sat wrong with me about these tweets is that she’s mad at us, and I’m referring to the Internet on a whole, for getting mad at her director’s comments. It’s not our fault he said these things. She shouldn’t be… I think we deserve an answer here, and something that’s not sarcastic and calling content online clickbait. Her director said, “No, he’s not explicitly going to be gay, because fans already know that.” That is just a dumb statement, and because it’s her director, she should take the high road on this, and I thought she should have at least tweeted or maybe made another post on her website saying, “Hey, yeah, Dumbledore is going to be gay in these movies. Don’t worry about it. It is a five-part series. I’m going to work into it.” Right? I mean, I just think she approached this wrong.
Micah: I think that this was another instance where David Yates probably should have just not said anything. And this goes back to – you referenced it, Andrew – but his comments related to Johnny Depp, and now he’s making another comment about Dumbledore’s sexuality, and it seems to only lead down a road that causes this negative feedback, and rightly so in both cases. It’s frustrating to see, as you said, the director of a film series which has created this community that, as you noted here, has traditionally been all about inclusion, all about acceptance of all people from all walks of life, and yet we see these comments being made, and the reaction… it’s saddening.
Andrew: A lot of people are on J.K. Rowling’s side as well. I’m seeing somebody in the chat say, “Why would Dumbledore talk to Newt about his love life?” Well, yes, I don’t expect Dumbledore to be like, “So here’s what I’ve been up to with the boys recently,” but I think it’s absolutely relevant to this story. Dumbledore and Grindelwald are at odds. Why does Dumbledore have this relationship, this bad relationship, that he does with Grindelwald in this movie? It stems from this romance! That is why this story is so epic. He has to duel this guy he fell in love with. It’s completely relevant to the story.
Micah: It is relevant to the story, but at the same time, we don’t know what is going to be included in these flashback scenes – I think Ken brought that up earlier – between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Going back to what happened with Ariana, we know that younger versions of both of those characters have been cast; you would think that they’re going to explore some of this in those scenes. The other thing that came to mind, too, is this confrontation between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. It’s not coming until, presumably, the last film. They have a lot of time to be able to build up to this and to create this history between these two characters. I also thought about the fact that Jude Law spent a lot of time with J.K. Rowling, learning about Dumbledore. We haven’t seen Jude Law yet portray Dumbledore. In a way, Dumbledore needs to be reintroduced to the series, so there is still opportunity here for the relationship to come to the forefront. So Andrew, I’m just interested what you think about that.
Andrew: Yeah, I think J.K. Rowling hinted that, too, saying that this is a five-part film series in that tweet. So yes, I think she will eventually get to it, especially now that there’s been so much backlash. [laughs] However, she announced this in 2007, after the books came out, and there’s always been this lingering kind of disappointment, like, “Why wasn’t…?” Yes, of course, it wasn’t relevant to the Harry Potter stories, but it just… it’s like, why does she wedge it in after? Why mention it at all? And then Harry Potter and the Cursed Child happened about two years ago, and as Ken said at the top of this show, you really think that Scorpius and Albus are going to be getting together, or at least sort of falling for each other, but then it gets “No homo’d” at the end when Scorpius kisses Rose, which just barely makes sense because Rose is barely in the story. So there was that introduction after the books came out, there was Scorbus, and now there’s this. It’s like it was teed up and ready to go. It would have been so easy to please us. And we need some good news from this series. We need… this is one of the redeeming qualities about Fantastic Beasts and this being about Grindelwald, it’s that we would see Dumbledore’s interest in him. That would interest a lot of fans. So it’s just like, why couldn’t it happen now? Why are we waiting till 2020? Are we even going to be alive in 2020? I mean, Eric apparently died overnight. Like, poor guy, he didn’t get to see any of this come to light. Or maybe we’re waiting till 2022 for Fantastic Beasts 4, or maybe Movie 5. Who the hell knows? I just think, why are we waiting?
Micah: I mean, taking a step back for a second, don’t you think that it needs to be built up? Let’s say you’re coming into this series not having the subtext of the previous relationship, not knowing the Potter series. There are people who I’m sure are seeing Fantastic Beasts that have never seen Harry Potter, that don’t listen to these podcasts, that don’t know about the history of Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Don’t you think that it needs to have its proper buildup? I don’t think he’s saying that it’s not going to be included at all, and I think J.K. Rowling validated that part of it a little bit by saying, “Hey, look, I’m the one writing the script. I know what’s in it. This is a five-part movie series. Let’s get to that point.”
Andrew: Yeah. No, I think it does have to be built up. I don’t think Dumbledore should just walk on screen and be like, [emotionally] “I loved Grindelwald, Newt. He was everything to me, and he didn’t love me back.” But there could have been like, “Newt, I need to tell you something about Grindelwald. There’s a reason why I’m so shook over him. It’s because I loved him.” And everybody would be like, “Oh, shoot.” [laughs]
Micah: But don’t you still think that can happen? Or are you just taking Yates at his word here? I mean, maybe for Fantastic Beasts 2?
Andrew: Not for number two, because I would classify that as being explicitly gay. But maybe in this movie, Dumbledore will have a glimmer in his eye when he looks at a photo of Grindelwald or something, [laughs] and they’re going to be like, “Ew, you like Johnny Depp?” But yeah, I think the reason I’ve cooled off on this is because I do look forward to seeing how J.K. Rowling inserts this plot point in future movies. I just wish it was coming sooner, because it looks like we still have about two and a half years to wait, at best, before we get explicit comments from Dumbledore talking about his love for Grindelwald.
Micah: So one question I did want to ask you was if you could wipe the slate clean here, and there’s no Yates comment, there’s none of this that’s going on, and you’re looking ahead to Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald, what would you like to see with respect to this particular dynamic? This relationship?
Andrew: Well, first of all, I would have titled the film Fantastic Beasts: The Sexuality of Dumbledore. I think that would draw in a lot more viewers. [laughs] I think exactly what I just said: In a meeting between Dumbledore and Newt, Dumbledore is explaining how he knew Grindelwald – like you said, we’re getting these flashback scenes as well – and just a line. Just a line. “I loved him.” That’s it. I really think that’s all I would need. And Dumbledore looking a little pained in that moment, and Newt being like, “Oh my God, I know a gay person finally,” and then Queenie is like, “Yaaass, yaaass, werk.” [laughs] How about you, Ken? What would you have liked to see?
Ken: I mean, I think the best kind of films at this point that are identifying it or are addressing it are the ones where it doesn’t have to be an explicit plot line of the characters; it’s just a piece of their makeup and it’s not the whole story. It’s just, “This is an interesting piece about them, but it’s just one piece about them,” so still having that in there somewhere as a piece of their makeup, because it is important to who he is as a character and the story. Just having that in there somewhere is, I think, important.
Andrew: And it would be a huge moment for Hollywood, this major franchise finally including a gay character openly in the series. They would beat Star Wars. They would beat Marvel. They would beat Tolkien world. It just would have been incredible. Star Trek, in fairness, I think they did include something in their most recent film, but it wasn’t too heavy-handed. But it would just be major; J.K. Rowling has that power. She could make this amazing thing happen, and for some reason, she decided, “Meh, later.”
Ken: I think what makes it surprising for me is that she is so politically active and so politically minded that she is aware of what’s going on in the world and how important it is for not just the gay community, but also all different kinds of underrepresented groups to see themselves in literature and in films and have that recognization.
Micah: You were also making a point before the show about the timeframe in which this is all taking place and how that could potentially be playing a role into all this.
Ken: Right, keep in mind the film’s set in the 1920s, so historically, it wouldn’t have been something that would have been completely out in the open. It would have been a lot of what we’re thinking might be coming in this one, as those glances and long stares that have those undertone meanings that you’re supposed to read into it. So maybe it’s a little bit more historically accurate, but at the same time, I feel like she also mentioned something about the wizarding world being more progressive in a lot of ways than their Muggle counterparts, so…
Andrew and Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: And it’s her wizarding world; she can do whatever she wants. It is fictional. It’s filled with fantastic creatures.
Micah: Yeah, just to go off of Ken’s point, though, I mean, you see Seraphina Picquery, an African American female, as president of MACUSA, and when you compare that to the fact that we only elected an African American president eight years ago here in the United States, they are being far more progressive in the wizarding world, even in that time, compared to where we are today.
Andrew: Yeah. And I do also want to say that, in fairness and in praise of J.K. Rowling, she created a story and a fandom that welcomed all types of people. The fandom… I don’t know when I would have come out as gay if it weren’t for the Harry Potter fandom. It was an inclusive place. It was still hard to come out, but the people, the friends I made in the fandom, they helped make it easier. So to her credit, while I don’t agree with her choice for this movie, she has absolutely done things for the LGBT community and other communities. She created a community that is accepting of all people. Let’s see some other comments now from people on Patreon. Morgan says, and I think Morgan is right, “This could still very well happen in the second movie. I wonder if there will be some dialogue that does hint towards Grindelwald and Dumbledore’s relationship, but not explicitly. Maybe that’s all Yates meant? There’s definitely better ways to say it, though.” Yeah, so maybe we’ll get a hint, a longing stare at Grindelwald’s picture.
Micah: Maybe Yates should just be the one that’s put on mute for a while.
Andrew: [laughs] Right, I agree with that.
Micah: That’s the title of the show. “Yates on Mute.”
Andrew: [laughs] James says – getting back to the Star Trek thing I mentioned – he said, “Yeah, Mr. Sulu was gay in Star Trek Beyond. He was shown to have a male partner and a daughter, but it was only for about ten seconds.” And then, remember when Beauty and the Beast…? Wasn’t there some… there was a hint of Lumière being gay, right? It was just a glance or something? So it’s like there’s all these hints in these movies lately, but not something explicitly gay, and it’s time to get explicitly gay.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: What’s so funny, Micah?
Micah: Just the way that you said that.
Andrew: LeFou, sorry. LeFou, not Lumière. LeFou. This is why I love having the chat; people can correct me. All right, I think that’s all we have to say there.
Groundhog Day beasts
Andrew: In honor of Groundhog Day, we’re going to do a little fun segment that Eric came up with. By the way, still no response from Eric. [laughs]
Micah: Hope he’s all right. In all seriousness, this has now been, what, 45 minutes? And no response from him.
Andrew: Yeah, normally he’s like, 10 minutes late. Now he’s 46 minutes late. That’s real bad.
[Ad break]
Andrew: And I’m just thinking now, if we had Accio in the real world, I could Accio Eric right now, and he would fly a couple miles east. He would slam against my window; that would wake him up. Or he’d fly out of Lake Michigan ten feet under. God, I really hope he’s not dead.
Ken: You’d have a lot of Memory charms to do.
Andrew: Yeah. I really hope he’s not dead. It’s going to be super awkward.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: I’d have to do a lot of editing on this show. I joke, because I’m pretty sure he’s not actually dead. [laughs]
Micah: Hungover, maybe.
Andrew: Right.
Micah: And then next episode, 355, he’s going to have to explain what exactly he was doing the night before. But I guess we can read… I mean, probably not going to provide as much color as he would to this fantastic beast that he created for Groundhog’s Day.
Andrew: Yeah, he came up with this segment, too, so it’s a shame he’s not here. But could you do it in Eric’s voice, Micah? We all love your voice, but I think we’d like to hear your Eric impression, or if not your Eric impression, do it as Southern Hagrid or another one of your great characters.
Micah: Oh, wow. That’s a lot of pressure.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Geez. Putting me right on the spot here.
Andrew: I can’t do a good Eric. I just… he doesn’t… he has his own thing, for sure, but I don’t really know how to impersonate it.
Micah: And Southern Hagrid takes a little bit to get into, too. Don’t want to offend people. Although I’ve probably done plenty of that in this episode.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, I think you said something about God not being real or something.
Micah: No, I called the Bible fictional.
Andrew: Oh, yeah, that’s right. [laughs]
Micah: Well, let’s read Eric’s.
Andrew: I’ll read it in my best Eric.
Micah: Okay.
Andrew: [imitating Eric] Okay, guys, so for this segment, I had an idea. You know, Groundhog Day just happened. I loved that Groundhog Day movie a few years ago! [back to regular voice] Yeah, yeah, Eric, moving it on. Move along. [imitating Eric again] Okay, okay, okay. So the Punxatawner, P-U-N-X-A-T-A-W-N-E-R. Let me spell that again for everybody. It’s P-U-N-X-A-T-A-W-N-E-R. It’s native to North America. [laughs] This woodland creature pair bonds with another seemingly identical member of its own species. The two have a long courtship ritual, which involves chasing each other through wormholes that exist in the dark matter of each other’s shadows. So vociferously do they chase each other, at about two-thirds way through the winter season, that Muggles have not only noticed, but mistakenly propped up a pair of famous Punxatawners [laughs] in an annual festival. Once a Punxatawner successfully captures its partner by traveling through its shadow and emerging from the other end, it mates and becomes pregnant, and after a six month gestation period, gives birth to two also identical creatures. [laughs] And now I’m going to give you my favorite groundhog movies.
Micah: Groundhog Day?
Andrew: This is from WTAE Pittsburgh. What’s that, Micah?
Micah: Groundhog Day.
Andrew: Let me find my favorite Groundhog Day movies. And oh, you know what I also want to talk about? Groundhog Day scenes from television shows. [back to regular voice] Eric, will you please stop? We don’t want to hear that. [imitating Eric again] Okay, okay, okay.
Micah: [imitating Southern Hagrid] The Punxatawner, native to North America.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: [imitating Southern Hagrid] This woodland creature pair bonds with another seemingly identical member of its own species. The two have a long courtship ritual, which involves chasing each other through them wormholes that exist in the dark matter of each other’s shadows. So vociferously – dang, that’s a bigass word – do they chase each other, about two-thirds of the way through the winter season, that Muggles have not only noticed, but mistakenly propped up a pair of famous Punxatawners in an annual festival.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Oh, Southern Hagrid. That was great. I’m glad he joined for a little bit.
Andrew: That was good. That was great. It’s like a whole different Micah. That’s kind of freaky.
Micah: That was me? I thought that was Ken.
Andrew: [laughs] Ken, what is your creature?
Ken: Okay, so mine is loosely adapted from some Inca mythology. I’m not a super creative person, so I had to start from somewhere. So mine was the Amaru. It’s a distant cousin to the North American Horned Serpent, and it’s a beast with the body of a serpent, the head of a puma cat, and short, featherless wings that can cause it to be mistaken for a small dragon. It’s located in South America and has been worshiped since the Inca Empire. The Amaru is a creature that is capable of transitioning between environments, living most of its life on land by burrowing into riverbanks. However, when it senses the oncoming monsoon rains, it takes to the water and can be swimming through the rivers in the Amazon, hunting for fish, so the witches and wizards in South America celebrate the Amaru for its ability to predict the approaching monsoons, signaling the South American wizarding community the end of the dry season and the coming of the much needed rains.
Andrew: That was really good. You and Eric did some real research here for this. I like it.
Ken: Keep in mind, it’s loosely adapted, so…
[Andrew and Ken laugh]
Ken: No cultural appropriation intended.
Micah: I can’t even follow that, though.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, so mine is the Simbol. S-I-M-B-O-L.
Micah: Oh, really? Where’d you come up with that?
Andrew: The Simbol.
Micah: Oh. Sounds familiar.
Andrew: Well, and funnily enough, it looks similar to a Muggle podcaster, and every Saturday, around 10:00 a.m., he rises from bed and looks out the window, and depending on how late his co-host is to the episode, determines how much longer we’re going to have of the winter season. And this year, with somebody now 54 minutes late to the show, the Simbol is predicting 54 more weeks of winter.
Micah: You know there’s only 52 weeks in a year, right?
Andrew: [laughs] Well, it’s going to be a super long winter, Micah. Look, I’m just telling you what the Simbol is seeing from his other podcaster. It’s not my fault he’s this late. He raises his wand in the air, he yells, “Accio,” and if the late podcaster comes from the east, we remove ten weeks from the winter forecast. If he comes from the West, we add ten weeks to the winter forecast.
Micah: I just think at this point we’re probably not even going to let him on the show, right?
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: If he shows up?
Andrew: If he showed up right now, yeah, I would say no.
Micah: No, yeah.
Andrew: It’s too late.
Micah: It’s too late. Sorry. Well, I like that. I like that fantastic beast. I think it’s well done, Andrew.
Andrew: Thank you. The Simbol.
Micah: The Simbol. S-I-M, right?
Andrew: Yeah, S-I-M.
Micah: Okay. Well, mine is the Burrowl, and this fantastic beast was actually originally discovered by Newt Scamander. It is indigenous to upstate New York, and the Burrowl has wings, right? As most birds do. But these Burrowls spend their time, in the winter specifically, below the ground, and if, when coming above the ground, their wings change color from blue to red, it signifies the coming of warmer months. And not only that, but as this bird and his flock come from below the ground, if people are around, they engage in this dance, which is called the Burumba. I haven’t actually seen it in person, but I know that Newt knows how to perform it. He’s actually going to be putting out a single after Fantastic Beasts 2, and I’d be interested to see how this dance is performed.
Andrew: That’s interesting. I’m going to change mine to Simbowl, so Sim-B-O-W-L, so it’s like me plus an owl combined. Simbowl.
Micah: Well, so I took that from a burrow owl, which is actually a real creature, and I just combined it together like they would in Pokémon to create a Burrowl. And then I wrote down this whole description, and I can barely read it, so that’s why I was kind of fumbling along in my explanation.
Andrew: You wrote it on pen and paper? That’s so old school.
Micah: I did. I did. Well, I thought it should be… clearly, Eric set the tone here with typing it in, but I thought it should be more of a surprise. It shouldn’t be in the document.
Andrew: Yeah, fair enough.
Listener Feedback
Andrew: All right, so let’s get to some emails, and we also have some voicemails. Looking forward to hearing our listeners’ voices. First of all, we did get a couple of comments about Harry Potter Celebration. Micah and I asked on last week’s episode for people who attended if we could get their feedback. By the way, we only ran into one listener; I’m kind of bummed about that. I’m sorry we didn’t run into more of you.
Micah: They were waiting in line; that’s probably why.
Andrew: [laughs] I guess so, I guess so. Amanda sent a very long email, so I’m not going to read all of it, but she said that she headed down to Celebration kind of on a whim. She hitched a ride with her husband while he was at the Daytona race. And she was a little disappointed with the line situation after being so impressed by Disney World’s organization. On one night, they were sitting and waiting for the Hogwarts show to occur – this was on Friday – for the new Hogwarts light show to occur. They were sitting with a bunch of other people in the park waiting for it to start, and about an hour after waiting, an employee comes up to them, this whole large group of people waiting, and said, oh, there would be no lights that night, and they didn’t know what was going on. [laughs] So everybody left after waiting an hour plus for a Hogwarts light show to happen that never happened, and she had received a push notification on her phone telling her it was going to happen, so that was weird. And actually, I had a similar experience. Look, I love Universal, but it was a little disorganized. When we were there, I believe Friday night, later that night for a press event I was trying to figure out if the park would be open after the light show occurred, and somebody told us no, right, Micah? An employee who was standing right there, they were like, “Oh, yeah, the park’s only open just for the show, and then it’s closing down.” And I was like, “Well, I don’t know if I believe that,” because we just walked into the Leaky Cauldron and they had tons of food available, freshly cooked food. We end up leaving because we’re tired, but sure enough, the park was open till, like, 12:30 that night. Full. Everything was open. So that was strange.
Micah: I’ll read the next one, sure, from Philip, who’s a longtime listener and proud patron of the show. He says,
“Hey guys. Attended the HP Celebration for the first time this year and had an absolute blast. We spent 15 hours straight in the parks on Friday, from 9:00 a.m. all the way through 12:30 a.m.”
So yeah, Andrew, this ties into what you were just saying.
“We visit the Wizarding World at Universal Orlando about six times a year and this was by far the best visit we ever had. We did a little cosplay. Admittedly, it was subtle; we went as Hogwarts alumni and I was able to proudly support the green and silver of my noble House. The energy and passion from the fans was contagious and once again proved Harry Potter fans are some of the coolest people you could ever want to meet. I am a huge MinaLima fan and was able to meet them both (went a little fanboy on them). They were so awesome and talked to me one-on-one for quite a long time, even signed and personalized all five prints I purchased at the event. I totally agree with your observations that the opening ceremony went a little too corporate. The reaction from the crowd after the announcement that the Exhibit was going to Milan was lackluster to say the least. Fantastic Beasts had nowhere near the representation it should have had, and I can only hope they are saving it up for later Celebration events. Your idea of fan-based forums, like MuggleCast, is brilliant. The real energy of the event comes from the fans, and an amphitheater full of MuggleCast listeners would be a blast.”
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Yeah, agree with that.
“I hope you guys had as much fun as we did, and keep up the great work.”
Andrew: Okay, well, thank you for that feedback, Philip. Sounds like you had a great time, so glad to hear that. Have you been to the parks, Ken?
Ken: I haven’t. I’m going in July, so looking forward to it. It’s going to be really hot. Any main tips that I should take with me?
Andrew: Ahh. We actually get this question a lot, and we never actually answer it.
Micah: Have some hot butterbeer so Andrew doesn’t call you out.
[Andrew and Ken laugh]
Andrew: You could probably knock everything out Harry Potter-wise in about two days, so don’t feel like you have to be there for a whole week or something.
Ken: Okay.
Andrew: Get there early because you can probably knock everything out in a day if you really wanted to. So maybe get there early, knock everything out within six/seven hours, and then spend a second day re-exploring everything at your leisure. Diagon Alley, there’s so much to pop in and out of. Feels like a town, whereas Hogsmeade, it’s just like one street, whereas Diagon Alley is multiple streets. So just enjoy the ins and outs of Diagon Alley, I would say.
Ken: Yeah, I feel like I’m going to want to explore every nook and cranny and just see everything.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. The dark area of Diagon Alley, Dervish and Banges. It’s dark and cold in there, so if you need a break, just hang out in there. It’s also like a Hot Topic, I think I said to Micah. [laughs] So emo.
Micah: Yeah, but that’s a good call, especially… you said you may look at going during the summer months?
Ken: Yeah, we’re booked for July.
Micah: Oh, okay.
Ken: So it’s going to be hot.
Micah: Yeah, definitely hit up Nocturn Alley, because it’s air-conditioned over there.
Andrew: Yeah. Nice thing about Diagon Alley, too, is it’s very tall, so I feel like it’s a lot more shaded than Hogsmeade is. So maybe start your morning in Hogsmeade – which is probably the right way to go; you want to start at Hogwarts anyway – and then as the day gets warmer, get over to Diagon Alley, where it’s still going to be hot, but at least there’s a lot more shade. And my only other tip would be make sure you ride the Hogwarts Express both ways, because you see a different show on the train each way.
Ken: Good to know.
Andrew: Yeah. Ooh, we didn’t mention this, Micah: We had a train car on the Hogwarts Express to ourselves with two of our friends we were with. Haley, who’s a listener. We were with her.
Micah: And Robin.
Andrew: And Robin. That was fun. I’d never been in one of those train cars before, just with your own group of friends. Normally you have to share with a couple other people. I wanted to do something really goofy in there. We didn’t; we couldn’t think up something other than me laying across the seats, which was kind of gross, come to think of it. But yeah, that was a neat first time experience just having a train car to ourselves.
Micah: Yeah, it’s definitely cool to do, and would recommend, as Andrew… I don’t know that I’ve ever taken the train from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley.
Andrew: Oh, should have done that for you.
Micah: Now that you mention that it’s a different show.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, there’s different stuff happening. All right, well, Ken, hope you have a good time there. Post some pictures in the…
Ken: Yeah, it should be fun. I’m looking forward to hearing the voices on the train. Was it Hermione’s voice that you guys said was off?
Andrew: Yes. [laughs] Yeah, you’re going to want to jump out of the train once you hear it. All right, here’s some voicemails now. Let’s listen to this first one.
[Voicemail plays]
“Hey, MuggleCast. My name is Asim. I’m from New York. I’ve been listening since Episode 1. Anyway, I wanted to add to the conversation about book covers from the last episode. After the last book had come out, I was looking for other ways to keep magic in my life, and I happened to stumble upon tarot cards. Time and energy previously used for book sleuthing was now used to study symbolism and the archetypes from the cards and even learning how to do readings. I hope Laura Mallory is listening. Anyway, my favorite archetype is the magician. Traditional depiction has the magician standing with one arm raised skyward, wand in hand, and the other towards the Earth. This position is often interpreted as him having mastered both divine and material energy to conjure what is needed. That’s something that I would call magic. He’s shown standing with relics representing all four suits from the deck, the cups, coins, swords, and wand, indicating that he has mastered the use of all four elements. This also alludes to the concept of the Deathly Hallows themselves. The moment in which we see Harry on the cover is essentially when he has become Master of the Hallows and a fully-fledged wizard, exactly what the magician represents. I always wondered if Mary Grand-Pré was conscious of these parallels during the design process. Anyway, let me know what y’all think.”
[Voicemail ends]
Andrew: That is very interesting. I don’t know how Mary Grand-Pré designed the covers, like what kind of inspiration she was looking at or looking for, but that was really well-researched, Asim, and thank you for sharing that. Studying tarot cards, very interesting way to expand your love for Harry Potter. All right, let’s listen to another voicemail. This caller left a couple of voicemails, actually.
Micah: Were they drunk?
Andrew: [laughs] No, 2:09 p.m., 2:07 p.m., 2:11…
Micah: Time means nothing.
Andrew: [laughs] I think he was thinking maybe, like, “If I leave a bunch of voicemails, I’ll have a higher chance of having them played.”
Micah: Oh, of getting on the show.
Andrew: Yeah, as if we get tons of voicemails, [whispers] but truth be told, we don’t get a ton. [back to normal voice] All right, here’s one of his voicemails. [laughs]
[Voicemail plays]
“Hey, MuggleCasters. This is Brad again, from Fargo, North Dakota. I just wanted to call and let you guys know how much I appreciate the show. Having access to old episodes is definitely awesome. I just relocated to Fargo, and I don’t know many people, so getting used to a new area is kind of difficult when you don’t know anybody, so you guys have definitely been helpful, keeping me company while I am off work, and I appreciate being able to listen to your show and get a few laughs and just listen to Harry Potter, and it’s awesome. Thank you very much, and I’ve been a long time listener. My first episode was when Jamie kept talking about Prison Break in Episode 87 or 85 or something like that, that live show that you guys did. It was hilarious and actually encouraged me to watch Prison Break, and it was awesome, so thanks, Jamie, wherever you are.”
[Voicemail ends]
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: We ask ourselves that question all the time.
Andrew: Man, Jamie was obsessed with Prison Break, and Wentworth Miller, who stars in that show. But thanks, Brad. I really appreciate that. MuggleCast… we’re what, 13 years old now? It’s been a constant in many of our listeners’ lives, so when they do move, like Brad was just saying, it can be helpful to still have that, and it’s certainly been a constant in our lives, and it’s been helpful in our own moves and life changes as well. So thank you for sharing that. And in one of Brad’s other 30 voicemails, he asked if we’re going to do Half-Blood Prince Chapter by Chapter. That’s the one we still haven’t done. I think we should, Micah.
Micah: Yeah, why not?
Andrew: Why not? Well, Eric would object, but he’s not here, so…
Micah: [laughs] That’s right.
Andrew: … we can commit to it.
Micah: Yeah, we’re doing it live on air, so can’t take it back now.
[Andrew laughs]
Ken: Is Eric reading all of it? Are you signing him up for that now?
Andrew: Well, the thing is, he has done this other podcast where they went chapter by chapter through the entire series, including Half-Blood Prince, so he doesn’t want to do it. But Micah and I are like, “Well, that’s not our problem. You decided to do it on the other podcast. We’re talking about our podcast, yo.”
Micah: Exactly.
Ken: You can’t pull a Scholastic and just print one new edition and then bail out on the rest of them.
Andrew: Right. But you know what? To clue people in to future show plans here, I’ve been slowly rereading the books, and there are certain things that I want to discuss on the show. So I think… we haven’t come up with a name for it yet, but I want to start doing a semi-regular segment where we’re looking at particular points in the Harry Potter series that maybe we look at in a different light now that we’re older, and we kind of ask ourselves, “What if this scene, for example, happened differently?” Or I’m finishing up Goblet of Fire right now; I’m thinking, “Wow, Rita Skeeter really sucks, and how irresponsible of the Daily Prophet to print these fake stories about, for example, Harry and Hermione’s relationship.” So stuff like this I want to look at again now that we’re older, so I think that would be fun. More to come in the future. Here’s one more voicemail.
[Voicemail plays]
“Hey, MuggleCast, it’s Jenny from Dallas. Been listening for a long time; love the show. I just had a thought: I’m rereading the books and listening to you guys and a few other podcasts. But Dumbledore talks about always using Voldemort’s name, and is very specific about using his name, always using his name. I know in the flashbacks, he calls him Tom. Why doesn’t he still call him Tom Riddle? It’s just bugged me for a while, and specifically with this reread, so love to know your thoughts, and I’ll be listening for an answer. Have a good day. Bye.”
[Voicemail ends]
Andrew: Why does he not call him Tom Riddle anymore? He doesn’t recognize who he once knew?
Micah: [laughs] The nose is missing?
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: No, but doesn’t he do that in Order of the Phoenix? He says, “It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom.”
Andrew: Yes.
Micah: I always thought… and again, it’s been a while since I’ve read the series, and I need to, and I’ve probably seen the movies way more times than I’ve read the books, honestly. But I remember in the series, the book series, that Voldemort being Tom Riddle was not as explicit as it is in the films. For example, at the end of Goblet of Fire… or was it the beginning of Order of the Phoenix? I forget. When Dumbledore is addressing the students, he calls out Tom Riddle specifically, and I, for whatever reason, when reading the books, remember that it was a well-kept secret that Tom Riddle was actually Voldemort until later on in the series, at least publicly.
Andrew: So you’re saying Dumbledore didn’t really want to get into the fact publicly that he used to be Tom Riddle.
Micah: I think so. And people who are listening right now can feel free to jump in, but for some reason, I remember that. Maybe I’m just making it up in my head.
Ken: No, I kind of do remember it that way, too, that it was such a close kept secret because he was trying to unravel Tom Riddle’s history? But I could be mistaken.
Andrew: In terms of him saying, “It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom,” that is, I think, putting Tom Riddle/Voldemort in his place, right? That’s Dumbledore not speaking down to him, but reminding him of where he came from, reminding him of their history.
Micah: Yeah, that’s what it was.
Ken: It’s a very teacher thing.
Micah: Yeah, not only that, but if you were to say that Voldemort and Tom Riddle were one in the same, you also then have to look at Tom Riddle’s history and the fact that he wasn’t pure-blood, yet this was what he was preaching as Voldemort. And so when you think about all the different families that he recruited to his cause as Death Eaters, these were all pure-blood families, but yet Voldemort/Tom Riddle is not, right? His father was a Muggle. So if that got out, if that was made public, it kind of undermines everything that Voldemort stands for because he’d be completely hypocritical, so I think that was part of it.
Andrew: All right, well, hopefully that answered your question, Jenny. Hopefully you’re enjoying the reread of the books as well.
Quizzitch
Andrew: Hey, Micah/Eric, it’s time for Quizzitch.
Micah: All right, so…
Andrew: Oh, wait.
Micah: What?
Andrew: He didn’t put in a new question.
Micah: No, there is.
Andrew: Oh, yes, he did. Sorry, sorry.
Micah: He did, he did, yeah. All right, so this is actually two weeks ago we asked this question. We didn’t do Quizzitch last week; Andrew and I were, as mentioned, in Orlando for the Celebration, so we forgot to do Quizzitch at the end. But Eric posed the question back on Episode 352: What character do we know that was chosen by all four Ilvermorny Houses? And the answer to that is Seraphina Picquery, who we also mentioned earlier on in this episode. And we have a few winners to call out. Eric explicitly wants to state that Jess B. on Twitter cheated because she answered during the livestream, so clearly Eric has very strict rules for this game. And then Anders Drew, Rebecca Jones, Crystal, Victoria Rose, Lindsey Mac, Ayden, The Lady Ash, Dawn Ivers, Tate Anderson, Felicia Grogan, Kate K., and Nedi_Spaghetti.
Andrew: That’s a fun name.
Micah: Congratulations to all of… that’s you, Andrew?
Andrew: No, I just said it was a fun name.
Micah: Oh, fun name. I thought you said, “That’s my name.”
Andrew: Oh. Seraphina Picquery. Perfect Picquery getting put in all four Ilvermorny Houses.
Micah: There you go. So this week’s question… so Jess B., do not answer during the livestream, or something. I can’t say what Eric is going to do, because I don’t know where the hell he is. This week: In Chapter 10 of Half-Blood Prince, “The House of Gaunt,” Hermione is seen working on an essay entitled “Principles of ______.” Please fill in the blank.
Andrew: By the way, I wanted to mention that Universal listened to our episode last week, and Micah and I kept bringing up “The door slamming, the door slamming,” which apparently didn’t come through on the recording. But Universal was like, “Oh, guys, I’m so sorry to hear about the door slamming. Next time you’re down here and you need to record, you can use our recording studio.” [laughs] I’m like, “Oh, well, that’d be fun.”
Micah: Good to know.
Andrew: But it really, really wasn’t a problem. We were just kind of having fun on the show. [laughs] But it was very nice of Universal to do that; they’re always very accommodating, and we’re glad that they want to have MuggleCast down there. And actually, speaking of people who listen to the show, the team behind those Harry Potter live concerts are interested in setting up an interview on MuggleCast with the creators of the Harry Potter film concert series, so look forward to that in the weeks and months ahead. Fun to have them on the show to hear how they make that magic happen.
Micah: Right. I would say that’s a really cool experience that I would recommend to all of our listeners if they have the opportunity, and they’re touring internationally with this. If you’re able to go see a film that’s set to the music of the Potter series, I thought the Orlando Philharmonic was really, really cool to listen to last weekend, and can’t say enough about that. So if it’s coming to your city, we’ll share the link to the schedule in our show notes and let you guys check it out. But they’re going a lot of different places over this next year, and it’s definitely worth checking out.
Andrew: And they’re only doing the first four movies right now, but they’re going to eventually move on to the rest of the series, so that’s pretty cool as well. You can collect them all if you really want.
Micah: Yeah, like Pokémon.
Andrew: Yep.
Micah: Pokémon gets so much promotion on this show; I feel like we need to strike a deal there.
Andrew: [laughs] I mean, it’s a cultural institution, so I don’t know if we really owe them anything. I think they’re doing fine whether or not we talk about Pokémon.
Micah: That’s true.
Andrew: But you can look forward to Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, hopefully coming later this year.
Micah: That’s true too.
Andrew: We’re also going to probably have an interview with the creators of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, whenever that is released. Ken, I hope you had a good time on the show today. Thanks for joining us and ending up filling in for Eric.
Ken: [laughs] My pleasure.
Andrew: If he doesn’t ever return, you can just take over full time. You were good. A good replacement.
Ken: Perfect. I look forward to it. [laughs]
Micah: And thanks for indulging my Super Bowl discussion earlier in the show.
Ken: My dad will be happy. Finally talking about football.
Andrew: Yeah, so thanks for coming on, and thanks for your support. We really appreciate it. Just a couple plugs here: Please check out MuggleCast.com for everything you need about the show. We have a new advertiser deals page, by the way. If you hear our promos on the show, if you forget the codes or the links, just go to MuggleCast.com and there’s a new link at the top called “Advertiser deals,” and you can get them all. And they all stay active, as far as we can tell, so even if we did an ad a few months ago, like maybe BarkBox or…
Micah: Casper?
Andrew: … Canvas People, or Casper, yeah. They’re all still active, so feel free to get discounts on products that we love.
Micah: Yeah, I think the real reason, Andrew, that you created this page is because every couple weeks, I’ll send Andrew a text message and I’ll say, “Hey, what’s the code?”
Andrew: Casper. You asked about Casper last week.
Micah: I did; I asked about Casper. I think I’ve asked about Canvas People before that. So this page was really made for me, but hopefully you all benefit from it as well.
Andrew: And I try to talk with Micah as little as possible, so I’m trying to cut out all the times… as much as I can, my talk time with him, so I made this page just for you, Micah.
Micah: Thank you.
Andrew: In the code, I hid a little text. In the HTML. “Damn it, Micah.” [laughs]
Micah: What does it say?
Andrew: It says, “Damn it, Micah.”
Micah: Ah, damn it, Micah.
Andrew: [laughs] If you want to support us a different way, we have our Patreon, Patreon.com/MuggleCast. You get lots of benefits over there, including a livestream. Thanks to everybody who joined us on this Saturday morning. And thanks to Ken, who has been a Slug Club supporter. We appreciate it. And here’s hoping we see Dumbledore the way J.K. Rowling made him to be in a future film, right? Thanks, everybody, for listening. I’m Andrew.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Ken: And I’m Ken.
Andrew: Goodbye.
Micah: Bye.