Hyperfixed - Hyperfixed Live in Brooklyn: The Dog Story

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

A segment from our recent live show in Brooklyn! We investigate one man's obsession with an incredibly charismatic performer. Please consider becoming a Hyperfixed premium member - you will get bonus episodes and access to our discord and much more, in addition to supporting independent journalism. hyperfixedpod.com/joinLINKS: The Dog Story Slideshow (watch while you listen) Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok. Vaccines are poison. Then your yoga teacher says that sex traffic children are being sacrificed by satanic liberals, but it's all okay. The Great Awakening is coming. What is happening? Every week on Conspiratility Podcast, we explore the fever dreams that suck friends, family, and wellness gurus

down the right-wing cult spiral in a search for salvation. Hey, this is Alex Goldman, and this week's episode is a little different. So I wanted to jump in and give you some context first. If you've been listening to Hyperfixed for the past several months, you probably heard me relentlessly promoting our first ever live show in Brooklyn, which actually happened just last week. And, you know, for a team that makes a show exclusively in our respective homes, in four different states and three different time zones,

it was incredibly lovely to see the impact our... show has had on our audience. And it felt amazing to be in that room. So first of all, I want to thank everyone who came out to join us. For me, Emma and Amor, it was just wonderful to meet everybody. And we really want to do more stuff like this in the future. Now, if you couldn't make it to the live show, don't worry, because we are going to be releasing a couple segments of the show as their own episodes. So you can get in and end the action. And to kick things off, we are sharing a story that never made it to air. You are going to hear this thing as it was recorded in the room on the night of the show,

which means you may also hear some laughs from the audience that seemed to be coming out of nowhere. And that's because on the night of the show, we also added some visual elements to this story by way of a PowerPoint presentation, created by Amor and Emma, and designed by Amor's younger sister, Brisa Esteban. It is very lo-fi and charming and fun, and if you want to see the presentation for yourself, there is a link in the show notes. Also, just one final piece of context for a little more clarity, and then I'll shut the hell up and get on with the show. Back when the team and I were ideating how a live show format of hyperfixed could look, we landed on the idea to produce it like a late-night TV talk show. So we had segments.

I sat behind a desk. Emma made me wear a suit jacket. And like any late-night TV talk show worth their salt, I had to have a band leader. So the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder joined me on. on stage to score segments of the story live, including a very special hyperfixed theme song for this particular story that I got to hear for the first time on stage. So occasionally, you'll hear me interacting with Breakmaster Cylinder as well. Okay, I think that's it. Without further ado, here is Hyperfixed live in Brooklyn, the dog story.

So, I mean, you already know the standard hyper-fix spiel. Each week on the show, listeners are waiting with their problems, big and small, I solve them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You get it, you get it. Each episode, you know, that we do, follows our journey as we attempt to solve these problems. And sometimes the journey is very long and circuitous, takes forever to report. One time, for example, we were investigating a flock of ducks that disappeared from a park in Birmingham, Alabama. And if you listen to that episode, then you know about all the things we had to find out about the ducks.

And that took a year to report. That's the longest story we've done so far, the duck story. And over the course of it, I started to feel a little nuts. The thing is that we, as we're pouring time and energy into solving these big cases, we still have to put out an episode every week. And what that means on a practical level is that when we meet up for our weekly production meetings, we have what we call

Come to Jesus conversations about whether or not to continue pouring resources into a story. And we have to ask ourselves, like, can we solve this? Is it going to be worth the energy to solve? And in the case of the duck story, we took a calculated risk,

and that risk paid off, even if it didn't exactly pay off for the ducks. are, oh, this got so heavy all of a sudden. I don't even know if I want to keep going. Let's just wrap it up, guys. But, you know, not every story has that same payoff. You know, I would say more than half of the stories we presume end up in a no man's land that we call the killed stories folder. I mean, sure, that's a good killed stories theme.

And this is the full. folder in our Google Drive where we keep all the problems and questions that like we fell in love with. We were like, this is a great question. We want to solve this one. But we realized that either we didn't have the resources to solve them or that the squeeze just wouldn't be worth the juice. And, you know, included in this folder are stories like bodies, bodies, bodies, which Amor came up with as an episode title before we ever even approached solving it. And it was about a mummy in a curious, shop in Seattle. Would you be shocked to learn that people who have a mummy in a curiosity shop in Seattle don't want to talk to people about it? We had a story called rotten milk, which was about a

rash of spoiled milk incidents in Canada, the Vanishing Twin story, Joe's Pumpkin Spice House, mom's romance scammer, the list goes on and on. And like, parting with stories that you love is just part of the gig. I've been doing it my entire career. And as a team, we have to know when to say goodbye to a story we love. Except there's one member of the team that has a tendency not to let things go. That's a more Yates.

And the reason that we started the Unsolved Mysteries series is because Hyperfix producer Amorriyates just doesn't like letting go with stories that she loves. The idea of cultivating relationships with listeners who feel passionate about a lost cake recipe, childhood video game, and they're just letting

them go, that is just, she can't let that happen. But as a result of that compulsion and that series, we have solved problems that we did not think that we were going to be able to solve, which brings us to today's problem. Okay, so about a year ago, Amor came to us with a story about a dog. And what I want to confess is that when I heard this pitch, I was like, we tackle some silly stuff. I'm fully willing to admit. But even for a show that made an entire episode about a poop song,

this feels like a lot. And so because of that, we told them more she could pursue it, but like she's going to have to put it down in a couple weeks. And she took some valiant swings at this story, and when she came up empty, we told her to drop the story of the dog and focus on other things. And so she did. She tried to forget about the dog.

She tried to forget about the dog. And a whole year passed. We made 50-something episodes. I went to Australia. I saw the smallest penguins in the world. Thanks, guys. Producer Emma Cortland went to Italy to celebrate her wedding anniversary. Aw.

There we go. Engineer Tony Williams went scuba diving in Bali. you guys are getting good at this and Kat shook neck joined our team and then a few months ago I was like hey we got a person to do a live show in Brooklyn we got to put something together it'll be fine don't worry about it

and Amor was like hey Alex you know what story would really work this is the first time I'm hearing this by the way I want to let it go thank you breakmaster I appreciate that sure This is the dog story. So my name is Travis, and I'm calling from New York City.

This is Travis. He's the guy who submitted the dog question. He's originally from Texas, but he's lived in New York City for the last 15 years. And the reason why we wanted to bring this question to a New York City audience is because New York City is a very special place for him. But it's also the backdrop to his question, which we will get to in a minute. for Travis, moving to New York was the start of a life he always wanted. It's the best thing I ever did.

I mean, I did get stuck underground in the subway one time for over two hours. You know, I've had vomit get on me on the train. So I know I'm a transplant, but I feel like a New Yorker. So now you know Travis. He loves New York City, loves it so much that he's willing to put up with someone puking on him in the subway. And because Travis is a ride or die New Yorker, he has a certain soft spot for New York pop culture, like Saturday Night Live. And this, my friends, is why he reached out to us.

Because Travis loves rewatching old episodes of Saturday Night Live. He watches them at home and on vacation. He's seen some episodes multiple times. And because he's such of a fan of the show, he notices tiny details that would otherwise go unnoticed, like this one. one little performer who made a very big impression on him in 2005. I was watching one of the famous Celebrity Jeopardy sketches as hosted by Will Ferrell. It was actually after Will Ferrell left the show, he came back as host and was doing a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch where he played Alex Trebek. And if you remember 2004, 2005, the Osbournes was huge on TV, like that early,

reality TV, boom. So in this particular Celebrity Jeopardy sketch, one of the celebrities is Sharon Osborne. And at that time, she was notorious for having all of these tiny little dogs around her all the time. She always had like a dog in her purse or a dog in her arms. And in the SNL sketch, she is holding this beautiful, fluffy, light tan pomeranian. gorgeous coat, perfectly groomed. I love a dog that is more of a decor object than an animal. So this Pomeranian is a beautiful knick-knack that just walks around a little bit. And then the iconic part in my mind of the sketch is that

she is trying to kind of antagonize Alex Trebek. And so she gets the Pomeranian and pushes the Pomeranian right in Will Ferrell's face. And the dog knows exactly what to do. The dog is deadpan. The dog even angles its face towards the camera for like the face-to-face, like, smush-together shot. And the dog is perfectly foiling her

because she is so crazy and huge as Sharon Osborne. And the dog is like the straight man. The dog is a star. The dog managed to hold its own comedically against Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell. That is, that's unbelievable. I mean, come on. And here's the crazy thing is that I was watching more episodes from that season. The dog is recurring.

What? The dog appears in multiple sketches. So Sharon Osborne makes another appearance, Amy Poehler as Sharon Osborne holding the dog. But then also, Hillary Swank has only hosted us in a one time. And there was a parody of the people's court. And she walks in and she's holding the Pomeranian. And he is wearing the red leather jacket from Michael Jackson's thriller video. So when I saw that, I was like, oh, my God, the dog can do costume drama, too.

The dog is so multifaceted. He can model. He's well-behaved. The dog is a constant professional, never breaks, knows when to look at the camera, like not look directly at the camera, but like be facing the camera. And so I actually did have the thought, like, that dog really like knows what it's doing. And I think you can't teach that. I think the dog just, it's instinctual. And so what I really, what I wanted to know was, what is the story behind this dog? Who is this dog? Travis is thinking this dog is like a generational

talent. Surely ranks among the great canine performers last. Lassie, old yeller. Are there any other canine performers? Oh, Airbud. Okay. Travis is like, he's got to have a Wikipedia page. It's got to be a mile long. It's going to be, you know, it's going to be like Lassie's Wikipedia page.

And full of factoids about how he trained at like the London Academy for Canine Comedic Arts or whatever and was once considered for the role of Canine James Bond. But when Travis goes digging for information about this dog, he cannot even find a name. I even went on IMDB. I tried to find if in the cast it listed like the dog handler, dog trainer or whatever. But there's, I could not find anything. Like no one on Reddit is talking about the S&L Pomeranian from 2005. You're singular in this respect.

I think so. I can realize it's a little insane to notice one Pomeranian and multiple old reruns of S&L. But I love Pomeranians and I have an eye for them, I guess. So we don't know the dog's gender, but you are using he when you describe the dog. So in my mind, the dog is the he because... Why is that? So I think, okay, look, if we're going to be very stereotypical, I think most people would assume that a Pomeranian is a feminine dog because, you know, they're small, decorative, fluffy. I think people, look, I don't agree, but I think people would say that Pomeranians are more feminine.

in. And so I like the idea that it's this feminine dog, but it's actually a boy. And like, I know this is a silly question, but like, how often is this dog on your mind? I mean, I'm not going to say that I'm waking up every morning and the first thing on my mind is this congerranean from 2005. But whenever, you know, it pops up in my mind from time to time, especially when I was going back and rewatched these old episodes and then I would catch a new appearance of the dog. I was like, oh my God, that must have been so exciting. Yes. It was so exciting. So my question, I guess, is like, why this question? Why did you, why did you send this question to us? I thought it was a perfect question for you because it was something that would

require a lot of research, but also was, and I say this with love, a little frivolous. This was my ultimate dream, because I knew that this would be kind of hard because I couldn't find anything listed about this dog. I mean, at least on IMDB, I could not find any sort of like dog handler listed or anything. Yeah. And so I just want to,

I feel like, oh, that dog never got. It's 15 minutes. Hyperfix catching strays from Travis, man. What the fuck? After the break, the Hyperfix team is determined to give this dog the recognition and it so sorely deserves.

Welcome back to the show. Before the break, we told the story of a hyperfixed listener named Travis, who developed a hyperfixation with a particular dog, a Pomeranian that had been in a couple of Saturday Night Live sketches back in 2005. And even though Travis fully admitted that this curiosity was trivial, and probably not of interest to anyone except himself, the fact that he spoke about this dog was such a deep and palpable, passion. And the fact that this hyperfixation was so acutely and comically personal, it gave birth to a

hyperfixation of its own for hyperfixed producer Amor Yates. So after our interview with Travis, we unleashed Amor. And, you know, we told her, again, not to go too nuts on this story, because as much as we enjoyed, Travis's love and enthusiasm for the dog, we could not imagine it possibly having an interesting enough backstory to justify this entire episode. And guys, it turns out we were right. Even the dog's handlers were not interested in talking about it. Through a very serendipitous chain of events, Amor was able to connect with animal wranglers who were working with S&L back in 2005.

Now, because this particular sketch came out 20 years ago, we were sure that this dog had already passed. He's busy. So talking to this animal, Wrangler, felt like, like our only viable hope for connecting with someone who had connected with the dog. And when Amor sent screenshots of the performer in question, who we have decided to call Minnie, since that's what Sharon Osbourne's character calls him, the animal wrangler Linda replied with this.

Minnie looks like a Pomeranian, sorry, but I've retired and I don't want to do an interview. As you can imagine, we were a little disappointed. And Amor let the team know, and we were like, okay, story's dead. we're putting it in the killed folder, we are getting on with our lives. But the thing that you need to know about Amor is when she's presented with an opportunity for merriment, she becomes, and please pardon the phrase, a bit like a dog with a bone. Even when she's told to let go, a part of her will always be holding on. So when I came to the team and was like, hey, we're doing a live show,

the wheels in her head visibly started turning. And she pitched us this idea, and then we pitched it to Travis. So listen, Travis, we're bummed that we could not solve this problem for you. But, you know, even though we couldn't solve it in the way that we hoped, we did have an idea to bring the story to a live studio audience in Brooklyn. Oh, my gosh. So that this dog is memorialized somehow in front of a group of people. And I'm wondering what you think of this.

I love it. I do think the dog needs to be memorialized somehow. I mean, maybe a Hollywood Walk of Fame star is maybe a little bit too big, but, you know, something to remember the dog, because it had its moment on S&L. If you can make an audience laugh on S&L and you're a dog, I think that that's, I think that's worthy of admiration and remembrance. The way you couldn't even get that word out without laughing. It was really funny.

All right, guys. So without further ado, we would like to present you with an Academy Award style in Memorium, devoted entirely to this nameless Pomeranian that Travis never forgot who we call Minnie. So Amor, if you could hit the lights. Um, thank you. Oh my God, isn't this beautiful? Let's cue the Sarah McLoughlin, please. At this point in the show, the stage lights went down.

Amora and Emma approached the stage, where dozens of LED candles had been arranged along the ledge. And when they turned on the candles, it looked like we were in a Gothic church. The audience sat quietly and then exploded with laughter as they watched photos of this nameless dog that we call mini cycle past, along with videos of its greatest performances from 2005. And if I can editorialize for a minute, Travis is not wrong. I don't think I ever would have clocked this dog's performance, but once he drew attention to it, this dog is magnetic.

It knows where the camera is and will look directly at it. It has like comic timing. How does a dog have comic timing? And then the lights came back up, and the audience exploded with applause. And when we moved to the Q&A portion of the night, Travis, who happened to be at the show, stood up and thanked the crowd for how much it meant to him that they'd all been there to give Minnie his 15 minutes of fame. Or her 15 minutes of fame. Who knows?

It was a perfect end to a perfectly sweet and ridiculous evening. But there was one part of the story I didn't share with our live audience that I wanted to share with you now, and it's this. Before we decided to build this in-memorium section, we realized there was one. other way this story could end. One other way that we could learn a bit about this furry performer. And that was to hear about him from his closest scene partner, Amy Poehler. So in the lead up to the live show, Amor started trying to get in touch with Amy. She emailed everyone associated with Amy's popular podcast, Good Hang, and said, you know, if Amy doesn't have time to talk about Minnie, maybe she could just record a little message

acknowledging the dog's existence. We knew that this was a little bit of a little message. We knew that this was a weird and silly and perhaps feudal ask. And we knew that Amy probably didn't have many memories of this dog, but it felt like the kind of full circle moment that could help us put a bow on the end of this story. And for months, we tried to make contact. And then just a couple days before Amor flew out to New York City for the live show, she received an email from Amy's publicist saying that they were kindly passing on this request. But we don't call Amor the Relentless Amor Yates for nothing.

Even though the live show is over, part of the reason we decided to share the story on our main feed is in the hopes that Amy Poehler will hear it and feel so tickled that she'll be moved to share a memory about her time working with this little dog that Travis never forgot. So, Amy, if somehow you're listening to this, balls in your court. Hyperfixed is produced and edited by Emma Cortland,

Amor Yeats, and Kat Shookneck. The show is engineered by Tony Williams. The music is by myself and the mysterious breakmaster cylinder. Special thanks this week to the staff of Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn and X1 Entertainment. I just wanted to highlight for our non-premium members that last week on the premium feed, we did an extended interview with Academy Award-winning sound designer Mark Mangini. It is such a fun conversation. He did some of the sound design for Dune,

and he talks extensively about how he made the sounds for the sandworms and for the ornithopter, which is that sort of dragonfly-shaped spaceship they fly around. in. It was such a cool conversation. I could have talked to him forever. Anyhow, thanks so much for listening. We'll see you soon. Radio Topia.