Paul Tremblay is a lifelong scaredy-cat: he sleeps with a desk lamp on when alone, still runs up the basement stairs too fast, and admits to having a 2% belief in the supernatural that wakes him in the night — even though the other 98% of the time he's a card-carrying skeptic atheist.
Where this was said
At 10:08 · chapter starts 8:08
One of the episode's most surprising revelations comes early: Paul Tremblay was a high school math teacher for 30 years at a local Catholic boys' school before finally going full-time as a writer. The hosts react with stunned delight. Paul explains that the teaching job was his 'artistic safety net' — it meant he could write weird books without financial pressure, say no to publishers, and experiment without fear. He traces his path to horror through a college English class where Joyce Carol Oates' 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' made him say aloud, 'I didn't know people wrote things like this,' and then through reading Stephen King's The Stand in graduate school. He also discusses the current horror renaissance — citing Publishers Weekly data showing 25% year-over-year growth in horror acquisitions — and credits Get Out as the cultural turning point that forced mainstream reviewers to take the genre seriously, while crediting an exciting new wave of own-voices horror authors.
Publishers Weekly reported horror novel acquisitions were up 25% year-over-year, two years running, signalling a potential bubble.
Paul Tremblay wasn't even a big reader until a mandatory freshman English class in his senior year of college, where Joyce Carol Oates' 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' made him say aloud, 'I didn't know people wrote things like this.' His wife then gave him The Stand, and the rest is horror history.
Robby Hoffman isn't fearless — she's terrified all the time. The difference is she does it anyway, because not doing it feels worse than the fear itself.
John Mulaney texted Robby Hoffman out of nowhere saying he'd been a fan for a while and wanted to make a Netflix special with her. Robby called it 'shocking, horrifying, anxiety-inducing, surreal and thrilling' — and said yes.
Mulaney is buttoned-up, suit-wearing, classy. Robby is gritty, raw, and undefined. Together they made the collab nobody expected. Batman and Robin. Eminem and Dido.
Music had Pope Gregory forcing notation. Comedy has had 'magical thinking' — he's just got funny bones. But jokes work through discoverable, teachable mechanics. Writing down the rules doesn't kill the magic; it gives more people access to it.
Howard Ashman had one insight nobody else had: animated Disney films should be Broadway musicals. The third song of every great musical is the character sitting alone explaining what they want. That's 'Part of Your World.' That structure — combined with Alan Menken's compositions — generated Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, and turned Disney Animation into the most profitable creative engine in entertainment history.
The Lion King musical has been running for 30 years across Broadway, London's West End, and global touring companies. It has grossed over $11 billion in total revenue — more than Avatar, more than Avengers: Endgame, more than any album, more than any video game. It generates an average of $350 million in revenue every single year. Disney owns it outright.
The anonymous French artist Invader has hidden 1,500 pixelated mosaic artworks across Paris alone, with thousands more scattered across 80+ cities — affixed to the Eiffel Tower, the Hollywood sign, and even sent to the International Space Station. He might be even busier than Banksy.
The Flash Invaders app turns city streets into a treasure hunt, letting players scan Invader's hidden mosaics for points. Players have collectively logged over 47 million flashes. Unlike most mobile games that glue you to a screen, this one forces you to look up and engage with your surroundings.
New York draws thousands of young, talented performers every year chasing Broadway stardom — but the hard truth is that most of them never make it. Zelig Williams was one of the rare exceptions.
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