In this episode of “Make Me A Nerd,” host Mandy Kaplan welcomes a special guest – her husband, Jeremy Klavens. The couple, married for nearly 18 years, takes listeners on a journey into the world of "Game of Thrones,” in which Jeremy delicately introduces Mandy to the complex wordplay of the title of the show vis a vis, well, characters who are trying to sit… you know… on a throne.
Jeremy himself is a reluctant GoT nerd. But it’s hard not to be drawn in by the show’s attention to detail and immersive world-building.
The episode takes an unexpected turn when Jeremy reveals his distaste for the show’s more fantastical elements. OK, specifically he doesn’t dig on dragons. No, Jeremy is more of a Thrones policy wonk, preferring political intrigue and power struggles to witches and giant fire lizards.
As the conversation winds down, Mandy confesses to using a character guide to keep track of the “unshowered people with beards,” while Jeremy shares a FUN FACT about a real dead deer used in filming – a detail that simultaneously impresses and disgusts his animal-loving wife, but introduces a new opportunity for a sound effect, and a producer’s hope for a long-running segment to come.
Even in a world of dragons and white walkers, the real magic lies in the ability of a married couple to find common ground in the fantasy between them.
Not that kind of fantasy, pervs… the other kind.
Whatever.
