Best Joey Lewandowski Podcasts (2025)

1
the night circus by erin morgenstern 41:59

1d ago41:59

41:59

our “you” module is winding down, so it feels like the perfect time to cover a book that shouldn’t be in the module at all: the night circus by erin morgenstern. first, though, we talk about the film magazine dreams (with heavy spoilers): what makes it a mess, what went wrong, and how shreds would have ended the movie. then, we pivot to the night c…

1
Please... #FuelFest | Life in the Fast Lane #47 52:51

2d ago52:51

52:51

It's time for another Fast Lane, and this one comes with potentially lore-changing implications. Please... We kick things off as Joey messes up -- and catches himself -- and then messes up again -- and doesn't notice until he edited the episode. Joe tells a story about accidental Pittsburgh pride in Tokyo. We confirm a long-suspected mystery about …

1
Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) 1:04:25

8d ago1:04:25

1:04:25

Viva Pod Vegas returns with Live a Little, Love a Little -- Elvis's third and final film from 1968, and one of his most fun to date! After reading some emails suggesting things to cover in our near future -- and asking if Elvis love dogs more than anything else -- we run through the film's six (!) taglines, which Mike finds issue with. We talk abou…

1
Furious 7 (Lap 15) 1:07:19

9d ago1:07:19

1:07:19

Jordan Polan-Clarke returns to the show to talk about Furious 7 (and the narrative complexity added to the franchise by this movie)! After talking about how a Star Wars-esque scroll could work to abbreviate this film's opening, we look this film up on RunPee and wonder what Deckard has against hospitals and emergency wards. Jordan shares her favori…

1
the diver's clothes lie empty by vendela vida 46:46

15d ago46:46

46:46

shreds continues to physically fall apart on our latest episode as we talk about the diver’s clothes lie empty by vendela vida. joey rejoices as we finally hit a book this module that he loves, and we wonder if there’s a module we can built around the central element in this novel that he loves. we talk about how young and modern this novel feels, …

1
ha ha ha... how do i turn this thing off | Life in the Fast Lane #46 1:06:45

16d ago1:06:45

1:06:45

It's time for another Fast Lane, and, you're not gonna believe this, but ha ha ha... how do i turn this thing off. We kick things off with Tokyo Drift's twelfth minute, including (possibly, unlikely) a new debate. It was a quiet couple of weeks for news, but we had plenty of VIN to Run, including: calculating Vin's payment-per-word for Groot as wel…

1
Timeline (2003) 1:12:00

23d ago1:12:00

1:12:00

It's time to cover another Paul Walker movie we missed, this time with the help of Brian Rodriguez (Twilight Slumber Party): Timeline -- featuring Brian O'Conner in the middle ages! After discussing the adaptation debacle of Michael Crichton's novel, we talk about the Fastnections (Brian Tyler and... John Cena?) before diving into our frustrations …

1
how like a god by rex stout 41:34

29d ago41:34

41:34

our episode about how like a god by rex stout starts with joey immediately killing one of shreds’ bits, setting a vibe. after talking about dave “storyteller” grohl, we talk a lot about shakespeare (including whether hamlet is required reading) before shreds gives this podcast our “ian mckellen on wtf” moment. we talk about how this feels like a ph…

1
Dos Bandoleros | Life in the Fast Lane #45 1:21:35

1M ago1:21:35

1:21:35

It's an exciting time on 2 Fast 2 Forever, as Vin Diesel has teased a new short film, directed by him, which our community (shoutout Randy Carter) has dubbed Dos Bandoleros. Before we talk about what we think and hope that film will contain, we talk about the eleventh minute of Tokyo Drift, which brings past guest of the show Lynda Boyd into our mi…

1
The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift (Lap 15) 1:30:54

1M ago1:30:54

1:30:54

We’re joined by Cody Brown (Studiohouse Designs) to talk about The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift — and how it pushed him toward cars! In talking about Cody’s history with the franchise, we all share memories of bringing grandparents to movies they otherwise had no interest in. Cody explains why Suki is his favorite character and talks about wha…

1
the malady of death by marguerite duras 34:26

1M ago34:26

34:26

the malady of death by marguerite duras is likely the shortest text we’ve covered on the main feed so far. like suicide last week, it’s also european as all hell. after celebrating the 100th book covered on our show, which we missed, we pivot into the malady of death. horny module alert! we explore the mystery behind this book’s publication, try to…

1
Speedway (1968) 1:12:43

1M ago1:12:43

1:12:43

Happy tax season! Viva Pod Vegas returns with Speedway, which features an almost unbelievable main storyline for Elvis. After running through the film's taglines, we talk about how Bill Bixby continues to sully his reputation and how good Elvis looks (and acts!) in this movie. We begin to understand why people condescendingly said "just number Elvi…

1
The Mayan Queen and Scarlett | Life in the Fast Lane #44 1:11:57

1M ago1:11:57

1:11:57

We're back with another Life in the Fast Lane, and this one is all about the Mayan Queen and Scarlett (whoever they may be). After a Tokyo Drift minute that teaches us a new word, we parse some likely false rumors for Fast 11 and look at the goofs from Fast & Furious 6, which includes an IMDb user bringing proof and facts to the world's longest run…

1
Knockaround Guys (2001) 1:05:59

2M ago1:05:59

1:05:59

Brian Rodriguez returns to the podcast to talk about Knockaround Guys -- and to tell the backstory behind one of our podcast network's great untold sagas. (This time, he's in front of the paywall -- and has to bite his tongue accordingly.) We talk about how Knockaround Guys exists within a very specific era of mobsters, mob movies, and public fasci…

1
suicide by édouard levé 39:32

2M ago39:32

39:32

the next book in our second-person module is suicide by édouard levé, which kicks off a mini-module of shorter writing that is also european as hell. after discussing a gem of a film we discovered on the criterion channel, we talk about suicide‘s up-ending afterward and the manipulation found within the text. we discuss suicide as the defining mome…

1
Vin Diesel's Evolution Through the Ages: Art, Film, & Revolution | Life in the Fast Lane #43 1:07:31

2M ago1:07:31

1:07:31

We're here for another Life in the Fast Lane as we track Vin Diesel's evolution through the ages across art, film, and revolution. First, though, we discuss a minute from Tokyo Drift that is exciting to watch but difficult to research and look at a preview for Universal's new F&F rollercoaster. We then luxuriate in nine new Run the VIN posts (in ju…

1
Fast & Furious 6 (Lap 14) 1:23:35

2M ago1:23:35

1:23:35

We welcome back Aaron Neuwirth (2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla) to talk about his new podcast, Fast & Furious 6, and the future of the Fast franchise! We ask: which Godzilla movie is the most Fast & Furious? How is Fast & Furious 6 is like Avengers: Age of Ultron (complimentary)? Who gets the “with” and “and” credits in these movies? Does a California …

1
bright lights, big city by jay mcinerney 47:51

2M ago47:51

47:51

welcome back to the penn badgley module. today’s episode is the most “normal” book we’ve read in a while: bright lights, big city by jay mcinerney. we talk about the novel’s deadpan humor, whether it feels tied to the 1980s, and how the main character ends the book while still sort of spiraling. we explore the current irony of a plot about fact-che…

1
Stay Away, Joe (1968) 1:14:18

2M ago1:14:18

1:14:18

Viva Pod Vegas returns with Stay Away, Joe, which is the lowest-rated movie of Elvis’s career. Is it as bad as we were led to believe? Yes… and no! After Mike sifts through shoddy taglines to try to find one he approves of, we debate whether watching these movies more quickly would help or hurt us. Mike works his way through a theory about Burgess …

1
Find Your Bear Country... | Life in the Fast Lane #42 1:08:31

2M ago1:08:31

1:08:31

We return to Bear Country with another Life in the Fast Lane and another minute driving through Shangri-La in Tokyo Drift, where Joe talks about Victorville, Calif. and Arizona oil. We watch (twice, accidentally) the Haagen-Dazs Super Bowl commercial and talk about a live Fast & Furious-related event in NYC. We Run the VIN and continue to learn who…

1
Pleasantville (1998) 1:08:11

3M ago1:08:11

1:08:11

We welcome Jordan Polan-Clarke back onto the show to talk about Paul Walker's ascent into stardom in Pleasantville! (This movie is a real bummer to watch right now.) We talk about the history of toilets in movies and try to parse what color represents in this movie (spoilers: we don't know because this movie doesn't know, either). We talk about Ple…

1
if on a winter's night a traveler by italo calvino 46:05

3M ago46:05

46:05

our next second-person novel is if on a winter’s night a traveler by italo calvino, which features an all-time great first chapter. before we talk about the novel, though, we simply must talk about the season 5 trailer for “you.” we then talk about incarnations of the text’s “gimmick” in other mediums, whether this is a “horny book for dudes,” and …

1
Blended (2014) | Life in the Fast Lane #41 1:23:14

3M ago1:23:14

1:23:14

It's time for another Life in the Fast Lane, and we're taking a Blended family trip to Africa. Kind of. A little bit. First, though, we continue to race through Shangri-La in the Tokyo Drift Minute, where we get splashed by toilet water from three (?!) separate Port-o-Potty companies. We preview the Fast & Furious x Super Bowl ice cream commercial,…

1
Fast Five (Lap 15) 1:29:03

3M ago1:29:03

1:29:03

We're joined by Brittany Friesner (@midwesttisbest) to talk about Fast Five and how she's bringing Fast & Furious to IU Cinema! She shares her rankings with a couple of unusual placements -- and a nice addition -- before recommending that we watch one of Joey's favorite movies. We talk about how good Dom is at geometry, whether this version of Hobb…

1
Clambake (1967) 1:28:30

3M ago1:28:30

1:28:30

Oops, it took too long, but Viva Pod Vegas is back! We're trying to figure out what a Clambake is, and why there's only one in this movie. After opening the long-overdue mailbag, we learn how to pronounce Fabares and talk about this movie being a pivot point in Elvis's career and life. We try to make sense of Elvis as a water ski instructor who onl…

1
interior chinatown by charles yu 31:23

3M ago31:23

31:23

our second-person module kicks off with interior chinatown by charles yu, which gives us literary whiplash both in terms of difficulty and perspective. we talk about the type of racism that charles yu captures in the book (and the type we “expected” to find), the way he takes down hollywood in the novel (and the similar representations we’ve seen o…

1
babe wake up, Vin Diesel just posted | Life in the Fast Lane #40 1:17:35

3M ago1:17:35

1:17:35

It's time for another installment of Life in the Fast Lane, and babe wake up, Vin Diesel just posted. We kick things off with the sixth minute of Tokyo Drift, which gets some car racing action! (And also creepy sexualization.) We try to make sense of Andy Tudor's intriguing posts on X, Vin's sly "Dwayne" at the Golden Globes, and the mystery behind…

1
season thirteen theme and reading list 12:14

4M ago12:14

12:14

it’s time for another season of lottery pod, and today’s theme reveal is news to everyone, including joey. (well, not everyone. shreds knows. he made it.) we discuss the theme as structure (rather than content), the inspiration for this theme, and the only book most people know that fit this theme. we talk about our goal of aiming for something les…

1
Annapolis (2006) 59:57

4M ago59:57

59:57

It turns out that Annapolis, directed by Justin Lin, is basically the same movie as The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. It's perfect for the Oops! lap. We talk about how it feels like every movie you've ever seen, Tyrese... with hair?, and how Brian Goodman essentially plays Sean's Dad in this movie (but also the exact opposite?). We break down …

1
blake butler interview (author of 300,000,000, aannex, void corporation, uxa.gov) 1:03:21

4M ago1:03:21

1:03:21

after covering four of his novels — 300,000,000, aannex, void corporation, and uxa.gov — we talk to blake butler about his work. note: there are spoilers in this conversation (at least as much as you can spoil blake’s work.) we ask him about what he focuses on when he reads, his double book launch, and whether his nonfiction writing helps inform hi…

1
An Hour and a Half of BS? | Life in the Fast Lane #39 1:10:53

4M ago1:10:53

1:10:53

We're back with "An Hour and a Half of BS?" on this all-new Life in the Fast Lane. In the Tokyo Drift Minute, we get the debut of baseball (and, perhaps, a legendary musician). We find Vin grooving to Christmas music, we revisit the Interquel question, and we raise the BDWHAPFY stakes (in a confusing way). We run through boring goofs from Fast & Fu…

1
uxa.gov by blake butler 43:24

4M ago43:24

43:24

the final book in our blake butler module is uxa.gov, which may be his hardest-to-understand book we’ve covered. we talk about why we thought it would be more approachable, as well as why we should know better by now. we discuss the premise and whether it feels or reads like a film being described, the importance of font choice in the printing, and…

1
Fast & Furious (Lap 15) 49:25

4M ago49:25

49:25

We're headed back to Mexico for the fifteenth time as we're joined by Matthew Anderson to talk about Fast & Furious! After learning about Matthew's history with the franchise, his favorite character, and his franchise power rankings, we discuss if Fast & Furious is the most fitting "oops!" movie in the franchise. Joe uncovers what Dom Toretto and K…

1
Up Here in Bear Country with All His New York Thespians | Life in the Fast Lane #38 1:06:48

4M ago1:06:48

1:06:48

It's time for another Life in the Fast Lane, and we're coming to you live from Up Here in Bear Country with All His New York Thespians. After sharing our tips and tricks for New Year's Eve TV watching, we dive into Tokyo Drift's fourth minute to get our first dialogue of the movie and learn about Nikki Griffin's (Cindy) career. We talk about The Fa…

1
void corporation by blake butler 50:21

4M ago50:21

50:21

our blake butler module continues with a slight swerve and schedule pivot as we discuss void corporation (formerly titled alice knott). we talk about the text’s new foreword from blake, the approachability of this novel (especially in comparison to his other work), and the benefits of having read more of blake’s other novels to compare to this text…

1
Red One (2024) 55:24

5M ago55:24

55:24

Merry Christmas! Our holiday movie this year is Red One, starring The Rock and written by Chris Morgan. Does it feel Fast & Furious? We debate. Also, we know it's ironic to whine about what's essentially a F&F movie, but... we wonder if they could have leaned more into the Christmas creativity, whether or not we should be rooting against Kiernan Sh…

1
Thrashin' (1986) 1:17:46

5M ago1:17:46

1:17:46

Mark Hofmeyer joins us to help us clean up another loose end by covering one of our overlooked '80s action sports movies: Thrashin'! After Mark rails against the city of Jacksonville, we try to find things of interest in the black hole of information that is the history of this movie. Joe talks about earrings that are important to him, Mark talks a…

1
NOT IN OUR POND | Life in the Fast Lane #37 1:03:22

5M ago1:03:22

1:03:22

It's time for another Life in the Fast Lane and we're telling our arch rival high school: NOT IN OUR POND. GO DUCKS! After covering another minute of Tokyo Drift that brings us closer to the actual movie, we review the 2 Fast 2 Furious goofs (including an all-time great one, which makes us investigate... a sound?). We Run the VIN to explore his Tha…

1
aannex by blake butler 43:11

5M ago43:11

43:11

our blake butler module continues with aannex, which apocalypse party describes as “a post-joycean neo-slipstream sci-fi cult dream encyclopedia composed as algorithmic code compiled in-soul.” we talk about how we viewed the novel while reading it, and we unpack what “difficult” means with regards to this specific text. shreds poses some questions:…

1
2 Fast 2 Furious (Lap 15) 1:34:39

5M ago1:34:39

1:34:39

It’s another all-timer tonight as we are joined by Leesa Charlotte (who met Paul Walker!) to talk about 2 Fast 2 Furious. We get her rankings of the Fast and Furious movies (which caused great emotional turmoil) and her unusual picks for favorite character in the franchise before we discuss the ads at the start of the 2 Fast 2 Furious DVD (and the …

1
300,000,000 by blake butler 55:38

5M ago55:38

55:38

we’re kicking off our blake butler module with 300,000,000: a novel that proves there’s still room to push the medium forward. we discuss whether or not this novel qualifies as horror (especially considering the queasy nature of its violence, how much of the text should be taken as literal (and how much of the unconscious is literal), and the text’…

1
MARCUS ZONE AREA #1 | Life in the Fast Lane #36 58:57

5M ago58:57

58:57

We find ourselves in MARCUS ZONE AREA #1 on today's Life in the Fast Lane, as we cover another Tokyo Drift minute where the only sound is music to ask: is Sean in remedial math? Are they currently shooting Fast 11? We investigate. We also brace ourselves for our Christmas episode alternatives as we pore through a lot of news (and "news") about Dway…

1
season twelve theme and reading list 12:17

6M ago12:17

12:17

we’re dropping another surprise module on you (and on us) with a new format: a deep dive into the work of blake butler. we talk about how the module came about, why shreds has been intimidated by blake’s writing, and the idea of knowing “about” blake before reading his work. we discuss a throwback to an earlier time of creating successful and chall…

1
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 47:26

6M ago47:26

47:26

Our first pit stop this lap is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which lent heavy inspiration for Chris Morgan's screenplay for Fast Five. We talk about whether or not "The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy" has bad mouth feel, whether Paul Newman and Robert Redford are more evocative of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker or George Clooney and Brad Pitt, an…

1
blood meridian by cormac mccarthy 52:18

6M ago52:18

52:18

we conclude our first great american novel module with blood meridian by cormac mccarthy and a simple question: what is this novel about? we talk about blood meridian‘s ties to an original american sin, whether or not the judge an antagonist, and mccarthy reacting to americans’ view of war. shreds sets a record in mentioning nominative determinism.…

1
Does This Girl Look Like She Eats Sushi in Oro Valley? | Life in the Fast Lane #35 1:42:35

6M ago1:42:35

1:42:35

We’re kicking off the Tokyo Drift Minute (and catching up on so much life) in this episode of Life in the Fast Lane! We have a very important question — does this girl look like she eats sushi in Oro Valley? — and we explore the life of Lucas York Black. We do a roundup of semi-Fast news, decode clues to uncover that Ryan Gosling is joining the Fas…

1
The Fast and the Furious (Lap 15) 1:09:29

6M ago1:09:29

1:09:29

We're kicking off Lap 15 with a momentous occasion: Brian Rodriguez (2 Fast 2 Forever: After Dark) is completing his out-of-order lap by joining us for The Fast and the Furious! We begin with our new conversation starter question (and an explanation of how we're mixing things up a bit this lap) and discuss what this movie would be like if it came o…

1
moby dick by herman melville 1:02:34

6M ago1:02:34

1:02:34

the time has come for us to cover our first great american novel, moby dick by herman melville, which by definition makes it our greatest american novel yet. we talk about the insanity of ahab’s quest, the common misunderstanding of who the protagonist is, and who’s hanging dong aboard the pequod. we wonder if other novels provide a more apt compan…

1
Shaky Shivers (2022) 1:04:03

6M ago1:04:03

1:04:03

Happy Halloween! Before we start Lap 15, we're taking a quick detour to cover Sung Kang's directorial debut: Shaky Shivers! We talk about the complicated backstory of this movie's release, the stunning lack of background info on this movie, and why Sung Kang chose THIS movie to make. Joe makes a pitch to re-frame this story in a better way and Joey…

1
season eleven theme and reading list 11:40

7M ago11:40

11:40

we're adding in a brand new type of module here on lotto pod as we continue to get conceptually more difficult. welcome to the first installment of the great american novel module. what is "the great american novel"? where did that phrase come from? we try to figure that out. we talk about whether or not any of our previous books qualified for this…

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