A.J. Jacobs: I think your novels could be the best most trivia-filled novels ever.

[John laughs]

John Green: Well I think that's because we both have a past with Mental Floss Magazine, A.J. And when I was writing my first couple books I was working full-time for Mental Floss and so I was constantly writing trivia alongside writing novels. And so I love including some trivia in my novels, that's for sure.

A.J.: That's how I met you, is Mental Floss. So I'm grateful to Mental - and [to] Neely Lohmann, [she] was the editor of Mental Floss. And she is a producer now on The Puzzler. So -

John: It's a small world when it comes to Mental Floss. We're all still interconnected.

Greg Pliska: And I was an avid reader of Mental Floss. So I just -

A.J.: Really?!

Greg: - received all the, you know, greatness.

A.J.: You're part of the family.

John: They were the first people ever to pay me to write.

A.J.: Is that right?
 
Greg: Wow. 

John: Yeah.

Greg: Oh that's great.

A.J. You wrote a book for them. All about cocktail party banter. How to survive at a cocktail party. 

John: And indeed I struggle at cocktail parties so I probably should re-read that book.

A.J.: [laughs] You should re-read it. It's good. One other memory I have of Mental Floss which you wrote about in the intro to your Mental Floss book was that we celebrated Genghis Khan is Dead Day. Do you remember that at all? 

John: I do. I do remember that.

A.J.: We had a diverse staff. We didn't want to commit to one religion for the December holidays but everyone can agree that Genghis Khan, kind of a jerk.

John: Or at least he's dead, right? I mean the one thing that we're absolutely sure about is that Genghis Khan is dead, so regardless of your position on Genghis Khan's leadership style we can agree that he is deceased and that is something that we will acknowledge at our holiday party.

A.J.: Back to Mental Floss we have a puzzle today that pays tribute to Mental Floss.