Episodes

Enjoy all of our episodes, complete with show notes and transcripts.

New episodes come out every other Tuesday.

Latest Episode

Ep. 59

Bratwurst

26 September 2023

A group of friends from college, now middle-aged, gather for an Oktoberfest celebration. Their host intends to tell his comrades about his illness and impending death, but he isn’t able to find the right time to share this grave news. Over the course of the same weekend, he begins to reconnect with his estranged father and learns more about his mother’s affliction with the same illness.

Previous Episodes

Penny

29 March 2022

This week on Almost Plausible, we attempt to decide which story to develop through a literal coin toss. Our protagonist finds a penny, but will it bring her luck, or is her penny dreadful? And minor spoiler alert: We finally tackle a story about time travel. Join us for an episode full of excitement, insights, and a ton of references.

Paper Bag

22 March 2022

Pack your lunch in a paper bag because on this week’s episode, we explore ideas for a movie about a paper bag. It’s time for another quirky romantic comedy from your favorite fake screenwriting trio. How can a paper bag be romantic? And what problems will our protagonist face along the way? Does she have everything in the bag, or does she end up getting sacked? (Insert Shep grumbling here…) The only way to find out is to listen!

Toilet Brush

15 March 2022

You probably don’t think much of your toilet brush. Oh sure, you may be grateful it gets shoved into your toilet to do the cleaning so you don’t have to stick your hand down there, but no one would ever make an entire movie about a toilet brush right? Well…

On this week’s episode, we get down and dirty with the idea of a toilet brush playing a central role in a film. What could our toilet brush movie even be about? How could it be anything but gross? And how does Denny’s fit into it all?

Printer

08 March 2022

Printers have come such a long way in our lifetimes. Forty years ago we had noisy dot matrix printers that frequently jammed. Today we have mind-boggling 3D printers that frequently jam. Progress!

As we explore a printer-centered plot, we discuss… Well, killer printers, mostly. It’s interesting that all three of us came up with killer printer pitches. But were any of those ideas worth the paper they were printed on? You’ll just have to listen to find out.

Pillows

01 March 2022

This week’s theme is one you probably know very well. Most of us spend several hours every day with our pillow, but have you ever thought about how a pillow would play a crucial role in a movie?

Our pillow talk on this episode includes a Western set in a pillow world, a fortune-telling pillow, and a boyfriend pillow that comes to life, but don’t worry, you won’t lose any sleep over this one!

Ceiling Fan

22 February 2022

Are you a fan of this show yet? Well perhaps after this episode you will be, because this week we tackle ceiling fans. This was a tricky subject for us, and all three of us had a hard time coming up with pitches. We went around and around for a bit, but once we finally settled on an idea, coming up with the rest of the story was a breeze.

Chicken Noodle Soup

15 February 2022

What’s more comforting than chicken noodle soup? Whether it’s homemade or out of a can, there’s just something about it that we all love.

In this week’s episode, chicken noodle soup steps into the spotlight. Once again we accidentally pitch a few existing movies, but we don’t chicken out, and eventually settle on an idea that we all feel is just as comforting as the soup at the center of the plot.

Pockets

08 February 2022

Is that a new episode of Almost Plausible in your pocket, or are you just happy to see us? Probably both! Have you ever thought about how weird pockets are? They’re like little pouches that live inside your clothes. And why don’t more women’s clothes have pockets? Seems silly to us.

In this episode, we explore magically linked pockets, pickpockets, and how pockets were invented in the first place as we work out a movie plot based around a pocket.

Calculator

01 February 2022

Welcome to Almost Plausible! We’re three friends who love movies and making up stories. On this podcast, we have less than an hour to take an everyday object (in this episode, it’s a calculator) and create a story where that object takes a central or critical role in the story.

Join us as we create characters, work out the plot, solve some problems (ha!), and have fun along the way.

Almost Plausible Trailer

20 January 2022

Welcome to Almost Plausible! The podcast that takes ordinary ideas and turns them into stories. Join Thomas, Emily, and F. Paul Shepard as they come up with an entire movie plot in under an hour, all centered around some everyday object.