Penn Radio

Penn Radio was an hour-long talk CBS radio show which ran from January 3, 2006 to March 2, 2007, hosted by Penn Jillette and Michael Goudeau and produced by "Happy" Jack Landreth and Patrick DiFazio.
It was broadcast on the Free FM brand radio stations (usually) live, with theme music by Mike Jones.
Format.
The show dealt with topics in the news regarding science, skepticism, religion, entertainment and politics. Jillette promoted his libertarian and atheist perspectives from the "nut point of view" to encourage listeners to call and email with their stories and opinions about the topic. Early shows tended to be without structure, with Jillette and Goudeau talking about whatever came to mind, taking the occasional caller and reading the occasional email. Later shows had tended to formalize around a current topic and a call-in talk show format.
Jillette and Goudeau would usually broadcast from Jillette's Vegas area home ("The Slammer"). The broadcast was done from Jillette's personal recording studio, Vintage Nudes Studio.
Celebrity guests, usually friends of Penn, often featured on the show. Guests included Criss Angel, James Randi (often with Paul Provenza), Mac King, Gilbert Gottfried, Trey Parker, Joe Rogan, Dennis Miller, Lisa Lampanelli, and Lawrence O'Donnell (nicknamed "L.O.D." by Jillette).
Penn Radio was well known for its special feature "Monkey Tuesday", which was discontinued in January 2007 (soon superseded by "Pull of the Weasel Friday").
Regular features.
Monkey Tuesday: Hosts Penn Jillette and Michael Goudeau read emails and took calls from listeners with stories about chimpanzees, orangutans and other primates, yet because monkey is a "funnier" word, all were referred to as monkeys.
Monkey Tuesday originated when Penn told a story of a party held at his house where he had invited Tarzan, a performing chimpanzee and Arturo, a dwarf, forgetting that chimpanzees fight for dominance with people of small stature. Goudeau had expressed surprise at Penn's naivety. "I thought you were circus," he criticized, informing Penn regarding the dangers of having both a dwarf and a chimp at the same party. After phoning Arturo to uninvite him but not having the heart to follow through, Penn worked out a compromise: Tarzan and Arturo could both be at the party as long as they were in separate rooms. As an added measure of security, Penn and a posse of trusted party attendees armed themselves with knives.
However, Tarzan and Arturo met poolside and predictably, Tarzan charged Arturo. Rather than jump into the swimming pool as planned as chimps hate water (Chimps, lacking buoyant body fat, sink like rocks in water), Arturo "hauled ass" into Penn's house. Tarzan pursued Arturo but got distracted by the other guests. The guests shuttled the chimp into various rooms to allow Arturo to move around, and later found Arturo a tall bar stool to stand on. Tarzan, confused, decided not to challenge.
On April 18, 2006, the first show where the phrase Monkey Tuesday was used, Penn read an email from a fan describing a childhood trip through a wildlife park where the fan and his brothers fed monkeys Certs through a car window. When the Certs ran out, the monkeys reached into the car and grabbed his brother. His mother sped up in an attempt to shake off the monkeys while at the same time his grandmother rolled up the back window, trapping the monkeys' hands. The window was lowered with the car still traveling at high speed, causing the monkeys to fall off the car and spit out mouthfuls of Certs as they hit the ground.
The tradition continued on May 9 when Penn read several letters and listeners called in with amusing monkey stories. There were enough monkey-related stories from listeners that one show a week could be devoted to them. Since both of the original stories were told on a Tuesday, Penn quipped they had inadvertently invented "Monkey Tuesday". The name and day stuck.
Layperson Penn: Penn Radio had occasional days called "Ask Layperson Penn" where Jillette and Goudeau provided advice and answers on any topic to callers, although the hosts constantly reiterated their complete lack of qualification and title. This feature was partially a jab at radio hosts such as Laura Schlessinger (who offers psychological advice as "Dr. Laura" though her doctorate is actually in physiology, not psychology) who give advice on topics outside their range of expertise. However callers were instructed by the call screener to address Jillette as Doctor Penn, and were invariably corrected by Jillette. In one show Patrick can be heard yelling into the studio "it's Doctor Penn!"
At times, when Penn and Goudeau needed a pre-recorded show to cover a vacation day, they would record an extended "Ask Layperson Penn" off air for later broadcast.
Libel Wednesday: On Wednesday, November 8, 2006 Penn asked listeners to call in and tell their "swear-to-god true stories" about their experiences hanging out with former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. After stressing to his listeners that their stories must be true, Penn and Goudeau proceeded to tell wildly fictional accounts of times they had spent with "Rummy" and listeners understood the cue to do the same. On the January 10, 2007 episode (also a Wednesday), Penn asked that anybody with advance knowledge of the 2007 State of the Union Address President Bush was to give that night to call in and let them know what it will contain, again stressing that the information must be true. Listeners called in and gave their own fabricated accounts of what would be in Bush's speech. The term "Libel Wednesday" was coined in an email by frequent emailer Christian (the Skeptical Atheist) and was an occasional feature on the show.
Pull of the Weasel Friday: The February 2, 2007 show featured a new Friday segment called "Pull of the Weasel". Listeners called or emailed Penn and Goudeau with stories where they successfully or unsuccessfully fought the "pull of the weasel". Penn describes the pull of the weasel as "You know something is wrong, but somewhere in your gut a little weasel is telling you to do it." The term came from the January 29, 2007 episode where Penn commented that his wife sometimes succumbs to the "pull of the weasel" and claims high value items in the lost and found that are not technically hers. On the January 29 show, Goudeau mistakenly referred to it as the "call of the weasel" and this seems to have become an alternative term/title, especially among the show's Goudeau-sympathizing faction.
Repeats.
Penn and Goudeau turned down offers by CBS to run repeats to cover their vacation days. Typically Penn tried to do a remote broadcast if he was away from Las Vegas on business. Alternatively, Penn and Goudeau prerecorded interviews with comics headlining in Vegas and did extended "Lay Person Penns" for later broadcast.
Themes.
Show closers.
At the end of each show, Penn often recited some recurring phrases. These included:
Music.
The Monkey Tuesday theme, composed by Penn & Teller's band leader Mike Jones, debuted on the April 25, 2006 show. It quickly became the most requested piece of music in Jones' repertoire. Despite having published seven albums, he was asked three or four times a night by Penn Radio listeners at the Penn & Teller show to play the Monkey Tuesday theme.
The theme was played at the top of a Monkey Tuesday show. Also, whenever either Penn Jillette or a caller said "Monkey Tuesday" the board operator (Patrick) would play the theme. Penn sometimes would say "the Tuesday of Monkeys" to not invoke the music. The music was, however, not to be played for Michael Goudeau, although while he was away fill-in co-hosts such as Mac King were allowed to trigger the music.