Jan 27, 2026
This week, it's truly the highlight of any Fill Me In Season, because Ben Zimmer joins Ryan and Brian to talk about the 2025 Word of the Year! There's still plenty of the same slop there's always been, but jump ahead to about the 31-minute mark if you're just here for The Barnacle.
Stuff to click:
Jan 20, 2026
This week, Ryan is off doing Ryan things, so Shannon Rapp (aka Norah Sharpe, an expert in sconces; the name is fake but the puzzles are real) steps in for discussions of crosswords, sandwiches, and thunder gods -- yup, even without Ryan, the topics still don't really change.
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Jan 13, 2026
This week, Ryan and Brian continue to suffer from bronchial ailments despite having both gotten all the appropriate vaccines. To be clear, we still believe in vaccines! Things we don't necessarily believe in: whether we should move to Malta, whether Hello Kitty is a cat, and whether the host of a murder mystery party...
Jan 6, 2026
This week, Ryan and Brian attempt to launch into 2026, but Brian is exhausted from a trip to Portugal and Ryan has "a throat thing." All that plus recording the show on a Friday just means that the year is off to a stumblier start than anyone expected.
If you get bored (how could you?!), write something for the Fill Me...