SmartLess Presents ClueLess! 137 - Word Workout (w/ Jeff Max)

On this episode of ClueLess, host Elliott Kalan and constant contestant Sean Hayes invite Sean’s good friend Jeff Max to hit the gym for Word Workout! Each of the words we give you wants to slim down by one letter, and the remaining letters can be rearranged to answer the given clue. Keep track of all discarded letters to defeat the MegaClue! Subscribe to ClueLess HERE. New episodes every Monday and Thursday. Puzzles in this episode are by Josh Richmond. Script by Elliott Kalan. Music and sound effects by Devon Torrey Bryant.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Sean Hayes?

  Hey smarties, it's Sean Hayes here. You may remember that we launched a new bite-sized game show last year called Clueless. In every episode, our hilarious host Elliott Kalin takes me and a friend of mine through a different game, and sometimes they're word puzzles, or chains of common phrases, or robots singing songs we have to guess. It's a whole lot of fun. Here's an episode that came out today with my good friend, actor and comedian Jeff Maxx, where we play one of our favorite new games, Word Workout. Check out Smartless Presents Clueless anywhere you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.

• 0:38Speaker 01

  I'd like to open this episode with a quick financial update. Due to inflation, a bird in the hand is now worth four in the bush. Please adjust your proverbs accordingly. This is Clueless.

• 0:56Sean Hayes?

  I'm Clueless!

• 0:59Speaker 01

  Welcome to Smartless Presents Clueless, the only puzzle podcast, period. I refuse to recognize any others. I'm your host Elliott Kalin, and I come from the future with a warning for all mankind. But first, please welcome the man who's got entertainment in his blood, but don't worry, he's taking something for it, Sean Hayes. Thanks for being here, Sean.

• 1:16Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, I can't get off it. That's the problem.

• 1:18Speaker 01

  That's the problem.

• 1:19Sean Hayes?

  Today, we are joined by an old friend of mine. His name is Jeff Maxx. We grew up in the theater together. If you heard the previous episode, you would know what I'm talking about. He needs a little slapping around sometimes because we gotta keep him real. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Jeff, or Jeffrey, depending on how gay he is that day, Maxx.

• 1:39Speaker 02

  Hello!

• 1:42Sean Hayes?

  And he's gonna sing a little something for us.

• 1:44Speaker 02

  I'm a man with headlifters and ball barrel. That's it.

• 1:48Sean Hayes?

  All right, wow, that's it?

• 1:50Speaker 01

  That was a very little something.

• 1:51Speaker 02

  That's it.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  They say patience is a virtue, but having too much patience is just being lazy. So let's stop waiting around and reveal the answer to last episode's cliffhanger puzzle, shall we?

• 2:01Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 2:03Speaker 01

  You may remember it was an odd one out that went thusly. Which word does not belong? Drove, never, murder, school, or unkindness?

• 2:14Sean Hayes?

  I mean, well, the first thing Jeff, I was thinking was there's a, like a group of crows can be a murder, a group of fish can be a school.

• 2:23Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 2:24Sean Hayes?

  But, but am I on the right track?

• 2:27Speaker 01

  You are very much on the right track, yes.

• 2:29Speaker 02

  Because you, you have a drove of something. You do have a drove of something.

• 2:35Sean Hayes?

  But an unkindness, I don't know what that is. And a never, I don't know, like a group of animals, that's a never.

• 2:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, you're right.

• 2:43Sean Hayes?

  But I don't know a group of animals that's an unkindness. I mean, that's weird, but that does sound like one. I'm going to say never, I'm just going to go for it.

• 2:50Speaker 01

  You're exactly right, Sean. What I, here's what I love about what you did. This is, this is classic professional puzzle playing. You're like, I have a sense of it. I know what some of these things are. I'm narrowing in, I'm getting closer. I'm using my logic to narrow it down to two. And then at the last two, you're like, I don't know which one, so I'm going to take a gamble. Because every game player at heart is a gambler. You're exactly right.

• 3:09Sean Hayes?

  How about that?

• 3:10Speaker 02

  I would have never known there's a group of animals called a murder. I've never heard of that.

• 3:15Sean Hayes?

  Oh yeah, murder of crows.

• 3:16Speaker 02

  A murder of crows?

• 3:19Speaker 01

  And it's an unkindness of ravens.

• 3:21Speaker 02

  Really?

• 3:25Sean Hayes?

  By the way, just so you know, and everybody who works on this show, Jeff's signature is, oh, really?

• 3:34Sean Hayes?

  What's a drove?

• 3:35Speaker 01

  A drove of donkeys. Donkeys come in droves.

• 3:38Sean Hayes?

  Okay, murder is crows, drove is donkey, school is fish, unkindness is ravens, which is very close to crows, and a never is nothing.

• 3:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, and an oh really of Jeff's, I guess is the.

• 3:50Sean Hayes?

  Oh, really of Jeff.

• 3:52Speaker 01

  I love, this is what we're missing is we've never had a guest with a catchphrase before, and I'm very excited about that.

• 3:56Sean Hayes?

  And by the way, a catchphrase that caught on in literally 10 seconds.

• 3:59Speaker 02

  Well, you also have to follow up, follow it up with, I never knew.

• 4:07Sean Hayes?

  Also, get a couple of drinks in them, and that oh really is about two octaves higher, and about, and about 20 decibels louder.

• 4:13Speaker 02

  What? Drinks?

• 4:24Sean Hayes?

  Thank you to Monopoly for supporting today's episode.

• 4:27Speaker 01

  Clueless listeners, Monopoly has created three new ways to play with expansions you add on to your classic Monopoly set.

• 4:33Sean Hayes?

  If you want to own the whole board, the Buy Everything expansion lets you do just that. That's right, every space on the board is up for grabs.

• 4:41Speaker 01

  Go to jail? Buy it. Free parking? Yep, that too. And with the Buy Die, you get even more ways to win fast.

• 4:47Sean Hayes?

  If you're the kind of person who likes to press their luck, like Elliot, the Free Parking Jackpot expansion is your jam. Land on free parking, spin the wheel, and boom, cash in big. But don't get too comfortable because it's risky. One spin could have you rolling in money or losing it all. It's high stakes, fast, and definitely for the competitive players.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  And if you're a mastermind who loves a little chaos, like Sean, the Go to Jail expansion is a game changer. Jail isn't a punishment, it's strategic. Bribe, steal, and collect corruption cards to mess with your opponents. Turns out, crime does pay, at least in Monopoly.

• 5:18Sean Hayes?

  So whether you're a risk taker, rule breaker, or moneymaker, Monopoly has three new expansion packs for you to explore. Pick your pack, or grab all three, and let the game get a whole lot more exciting.

• 5:29Speaker 01

  Available now on Amazon. All is fair in Monopoly expansions.

• 5:33Sean Hayes?

  Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro.

• 5:45Speaker 01

  Listeners at home, did you get the answer? If not, that's okay. Postmodern theory tells us all truth is relative. But let's pretend there's such a thing as objective reality for just a couple more minutes, so we can play today's main game. And it's called Word Workout.

• 5:58Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 6:05Speaker 03

  Like, for sure.

• 6:06Speaker 02

  Good. It's really good.

• 6:08Sean Hayes?

  Isn't that good?

• 6:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's really good.

• 6:11Speaker 01

  These are great songs. I can't wait for the album to come out. Now, okay, we've got seven words for you. Each of them wants to slim down and lose some weight, and we're going to help get them into shape. For each clue, I'm going to give you the starting word, and then ask you to remove one letter, and then rearrange the remaining letters to create a new spelter word.

• 6:27Sean Hayes?

  I love this. I love this. I love this.

• 6:28Speaker 01

  Let's have an example. If the clue was, remove a letter from cinema to get a type of Japanese animation, what would you do?

• 6:35Speaker 02

  Anime.

• 6:36Speaker 01

  Yep, exactly. You take out the C, rearrange them, you get anime. Are you ready to send these words to the gym?

• 6:41Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 6:42Speaker 01

  Excellent.

• 6:42Speaker 02

  Word workout.

• 6:43Speaker 01

  Let's start with question number one. Remove a letter from candle to get a series of rhythmic movements. Rhythmic? Movements.

• 6:54Sean Hayes?

  Dance.

• 6:55Speaker 01

  Yes, very good. Damn, I would have never gotten that. Tell me, which letter did you remove out of there?

• 6:59Sean Hayes?

  I removed, well, if you speak the English language, I removed the letter L.

• 7:05Speaker 01

  Question number two: Remove a letter from basket to get a prime cut.

• 7:11Sean Hayes?

  Oh, I was gonna say brisket.

• 7:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:12Sean Hayes?

  Wait, to get a prime cut.

• 7:15Speaker 01

  Take a look at those letters and see which ones you might be able to rearrange to me. Oh, you got it, yes. Steak. You take out the B, which is the part of the cow you don't use anyway. Sure. And you get the steak, yeah.

• 7:25Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 7:25Speaker 01

  Wow, that's good.

• 7:26Sean Hayes?

  You know, I'm gonna go ahead and put the L from candle in steak. No, I'm kidding.

• 7:31Speaker 01

  And get steel.

• 7:32Sean Hayes?

  Get steel.

• 7:36Speaker 01

  Question number three: Remove a letter from course, spelled C-O-A-R-S-E. So, course is in rough. Remove a letter from course to get the sports results.

• 7:47Sean Hayes?

  To get the sports results?

• 7:49Speaker 01

  Score! Yes, very good. You remove the A and you get score. Number four: Remove a letter from cereal, as in things in order, S-E-R-I-A-L, to get some long tracks.

• 8:02Sean Hayes?

  Long tracks.

• 8:04Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 8:04Sean Hayes?

  Long tracks.

• 8:06Speaker 01

  Long tracks. Long tracks. I was hoping you would also say long tracks, Jeff, so we'd all say it.

• 8:12Sean Hayes?

  Rails.

• 8:13Speaker 01

  Yes, rails, exactly.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  You remove the E and you get rails. Damn, Sean, you're kicking my...

• 8:20Sean Hayes?

  Come on. You got, you got score, right?

• 8:25Speaker 01

  I think I said that with you.

• 8:26Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  Question number five: Remove a letter from barber to get a kind of fitness activity. Remove a letter from barber to get a kind of fitness activity.

• 8:40Sean Hayes?

  Huh.

• 8:42Speaker 01

  Barber.

• 8:43Sean Hayes?

  B-A-R-B-A-R, right? Or is it E-R?

• 8:46Speaker 01

  B-A-R-B-E-R, yeah.

• 8:48Sean Hayes?

  Not the elephant?

• 8:51Speaker 01

  Barber the elephant is a different story. He holds the scissors in his trunk. It's pretty cute.

• 8:56Sean Hayes?

  Wait, um.

• 8:58Speaker 01

  Ab, no. Would you like a hint or a clue? Sure.

• 9:02Sean Hayes?

  A hint.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  Okay. The hint is, this is a ballet-based fitness activity. That's the hint. If you want a clue, I'll tell you what letter to remove.

• 9:10Sean Hayes?

  Oh, it's a ballet-related activity.

• 9:13Speaker 01

  Ballet-based fitness. Bar. Yes, bar. Exactly right.

• 9:18Sean Hayes?

  B A R R E.

• 9:19Speaker 01

  Yes, you removed the B to get bar. That was good, but that's a hard one. That was a really hard one. I hope you walk away from this knowing that you got a really hard one and it just gives you confidence for whatever you're doing next.

• 9:29Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, wait, a fitness what?

• 9:31Speaker 01

  Activity.

• 9:32Sean Hayes?

  So what do you do there? You just hang out on the bar?

• 9:34Speaker 01

  The bar. No, when you do bar, you do like a bunch.

• 9:38Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, but I would think it's more dance-related and that, I don't know, anybody goes to the gym and rushes to the bar.

• 9:44Speaker 01

  Does bar. Well, they do. Well, they, it's a, they've, they've started to, it's a, you know, they can turn anything into fitness. They turn ballet exercises into fitness.

• 9:52Sean Hayes?

  Oh, is that new? Okay, great.

• 9:53Speaker 01

  Just like how Pilates used to be just plates.

• 9:56Sean Hayes?

  Right.

• 9:56Speaker 01

  Fitness.

• 9:57Sean Hayes?

  Right, very good.

• 9:58Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 10:00Speaker 01

  Question number six. Remove a letter from ringer to get the span of a monarchy. Remove a letter from ringer. Rain.

• 10:08Sean Hayes?

  Rain.

• 10:09Speaker 01

  Yes, rain. Very good.

• 10:13Speaker 01

  And now, finally, our last one for this game. Remove a letter from sellout to get away to mess up someone's hair.

• 10:21Sean Hayes?

  Tussle.

• 10:22Speaker 01

  Yes. That was good. Very good. That's, I thought that was gonna be the hardest of them, but instead, if anything, it was the easiest of them.

• 10:30Sean Hayes?

  How about that? Well.

• 10:31Speaker 01

  Wow, that was good.

• 10:32Sean Hayes?

  How about that?

• 10:34Speaker 01

  Excellent work, but now that we've sweated off all those unsightly extra letters, we've got to find some way to dispose of them. How about we recycle them as today's mega clue?

• 10:46Speaker 01

  To solve the mega clue, I want you to take the letters you removed from those words and I'll remind you what they are. And I want you to rearrange them to reveal a piece of workout equipment you could buy a drink from. And the letters are L, B, A, E, B, R, and L.

• 11:06Sean Hayes?

  And what's the clue?

• 11:08Speaker 01

  And the clue is a piece of-

• 11:09Speaker 02

  Barbell.

• 11:10Speaker 01

  Well, you don't even get the clue anymore. It's too late. That's the right answer.

• 11:13Speaker 02

  Yay!

• 11:14Speaker 01

  It was a piece of workout equipment you could buy a drink from, and the answer was barbell.

• 11:18Sean Hayes?

  And it's not a bar again? B-A-R-R-E?

• 11:21Speaker 01

  No.

• 11:21Sean Hayes?

  Okay.

• 11:22Speaker 01

  No, this time it's just the, it's just the other kind of bar.

• 11:26Speaker 02

  Let's not lose our pleasing disposition.

• 11:32Sean Hayes?

  And it's not an elephant. It's not a French elephant. Okay.

• 11:36Speaker 02

  Yay!

• 11:37Speaker 01

  We've narrowed it down.

• 11:38Sean Hayes?

  A bar.

• 11:41Speaker 01

  Nice work. Great work, guys. Well, listeners, did you do as well as Sean and Jeff? If so, your steak is free. But before you chow down, make sure you keep a little room for today's cliffhanger puzzle.

• 11:55Speaker 01

  Oh, the haunting wham, wham, wham of the cliffhanger puzzle. The cliffhanger puzzle is like if a genie let you wish for more wishes, except you only get one more wish, and it's a puzzle. And today's cliffhanger goes thusly. I'm going to read a sentence to you. Can you replace five parts of this sentence with five uses of the same one word, while keeping the meaning of the sentence the same? So again, I'm gonna, I'm gonna read the sentence to you. There's, I want you to replace five parts of it with the same word, while keeping the meaning the same. And that sentence is-

• 12:25Speaker 02

  Got it.

• 12:26Speaker 01

  "After watching a concert and part of a tennis match on my TV, I put dishes on the table, then turned my clock back for daylight saving time."

• 12:35Sean Hayes?

  Okay.

• 12:35Speaker 01

  Again, I'll read you that sentence one more time.

• 12:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, slower.

• 12:38Speaker 01

  A-ther-

• 12:43Speaker 01

  "After watching a concert and part of a tennis match on my TV, I put dishes on the table-

• 12:50Sean Hayes?

  Oh, God.

• 12:50Speaker 01

  ...then turned my clock back for daylight saving time." So for next episode, can you replace five of the parts of that sentence with the same single word, and keep the meaning of the sentence the same?

• 13:02Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah. Okay, very good.

• 13:04Speaker 01

  Well, the feds are here, and this time they've got a warrant, so we better ring this episode to a close. But first, I'd like to thank Jeff Max for finding the quickest path to our hearts. And I'd like to thank Sean Hayes for taking a more roundabout route to the heart, but he's getting there.

• 13:17Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah, still on the road.

• 13:19Speaker 01

  Exactly. And I'd like to thank you, the listeners, for accepting these sound waves into your head right now. Until next time, this has been Smartless Presents Clueless, and I've been your host Elliott Kalin, saying that by the power vested in me by the Universal Life Church and the state of Montana, I now pronounce you married to whoever you're sitting next to right now. Mazel tov!

• 13:36Speaker 04

  Very good.

• 13:40Speaker 04

  You have been listening to Smartless Presents Clueless, a Smartless Media production in association with Sirius XM. Your host is Elliot Kalin, who also writes our scripts. Your constant contestant is Sean Hayes, dreamer, adventurer. Your producer, editor, and engineer is Devon Tory-Bright, who is me. I also write all the music and sound effects. Assistant engineer, Kyle McGraw. Today's puzzles were written by Josh Richmond. Talent producer is Ann Harris, associate producer Matty McCann, social media producer Tommy Galgano. Executive producers are Elliot Kalin, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett, and Jason Bateman. Executive producers for Smartless Media are Richard Corson and Bernie Kaminsky. Remember to follow, subscribe, rate, and review the show. It really helps. That's all for now. We will see you again

• 14:25Speaker 04

  for more.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  Thank you to our partner, Monopoly, for supporting today's episode. Just like Clueless is a shorter, faster show from Smartless Media, Monopoly is introducing three new expansion packs that you add on to classic Monopoly for fresh twists, faster gameplay, and a modern take on the game you love. I'm talking about Monopoly. Look out for the all-new Buy Everything, Go to Jail, or Free Parking Jackpot expansions to spice up your next game night. Pick your expansion and level up your game. Available now on Amazon. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro.