Let us now consider the most vexing of philosophical questions: Is a hot dog a sandwich? Does the driver get to choose the music? Can you drop a bag of dog poop in your neighbor’s curbside garbage can while out on a walk?
It was, of course, the last one that generated the most public comments on “Judge John Hodgman,” the popular podcast in which the quirky comic applies an absurdist spin to Judge Joseph Wapner of “The People’s Court.” On the podcast, Hodgman works with real people who disagree, sometimes heatedly, about the proper way to load a dishwasher and other matters of seemingly no importance.
Hodgman and Jesse Thorn, his co-host and bailiff, will bring their improvisational show to Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse on Sunday, Oct. 29, as part of a fall tour across the country. They solemnly swear to entertain you.
“We’re very pretty,” Thorn said. “And we wear outfits. I wear a bailiff uniform, and I have a real-life bailiff badge that I had to fax in an affidavit saying I would not use it to impersonate a law enforcement officer. And yet there I am onstage, defying my affidavit.”
Hodgman plays dress-up too.
“Jesse dresses like the character Bull from ‘Night Court,’” Hodgman said in the tag-team phone interview. “I have my own rather dramatic set of judicial robes. And unlike many live podcasts shows, we do something rather novel which is that we actually stand up and walk around the stage rather than cower behind a microphone. Jesse sings a song. I sing a song.”
They will also adjudicate cases between Atlantans in real time.
“Essentially, it’s a bit of improvisational theater,” Hodgman said. “We’re always constantly surprised at the incredible things that come out of people’s mouths of the people who put their trust in us.”
Hodgman was once known for playing the smug Resident Expert and the Deranged Millionaire characters on “The Daily Show,” as well as for a series of Apple computer TV ads starting in the mid-2000s in which he played a square and clueless Microsoft PC, in contrast to the hip and nimble Mac, played by Justin Long.
“I was looking for something to do that was my own,” Hodgman said. “I wanted to play a version of myself that is just normally absurd, not really absurd.”
Maximum Fun, Thorn’s company, had several podcasts, including Thorn’s comedy interview show, “Bullseye.” Thorn suggested they try a “Bullseye” episode that would be a cock-eyed knockoff of “The People’s Court.” The initial show back in 2010 asked whether chili is a soup.
“The answer is no, it’s a stew,” Hodgman said with Solomonic certainty.
Credit: Ibarionex Perello
Credit: Ibarionex Perello
Thirteen years later, “Judge John Hodgman” is reaching its 640th episode. In 2015, Hodgman spun off the idea into a weekly New York Times column as well.
Although his judge persona does deliver “settled law” from on high at the end of each show, he’s not really a know-it-all like the “Daily Show’s” Resident Expert.
“It’s my courtroom,” he said, “but in truth what I’m doing on the podcast and the live show is not saying I’m right, but trying to learn from the litigants what the real problem is cause behind every dishwasher that is being loaded the wrong way by your spouse, there are underlying emotional conflicts that I’m trying to get to the heart of.”
That type of displaced anger inherently interests Hodgman.
“I’m curious about the world and what’s going on with people and getting to the heart of what’s behind this dumb fight they’re having over whether mom’s ashes should be flushed down a toilet at Disney World,” he said.
Yes, that was a real show with real people.
Thorn chimes in: “‘Judge John Hodgman’ is ultimately about people who care about each other. There’s something in their way, and John’s role is, through absurd bluster, to show them what is standing in the way.”
It hasn’t all been mom’s ashes flushed down a toilet, though. One of the most popular words-to-live-by verdicts was “Be mindful of the work you leave for others,” which showed up on a now-discontinued promotional poster.
‘We got an email from Raquel Montoya-Lewis,” Thorn said. The email read: “’I noticed your poster has gone out print. I wonder if you have any left. I was recently appointed to the Washington State Supreme Court and wish to display it in my office.’ Our minds were blown. She’s the first Native American on the Washington State Supreme Court.”
Hodgman was touched.
“We were impressed by her commitment to genuine justice, as opposed to some career judges who have a particular political bent or have their credit card debt paid off mysteriously,” he said. “We were so touched we only charged her $5,000. That’s capitalism, unfortunately.”
EVENT PREVIEW
“Judge John Hodgman”
8 p.m. Oct. 29. $35. Variety Playhouse. 1099 Euclid Ave. NE, Atlanta. 404-524-7354. variety-playhouse.com.
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