This week: Acclaimed filmmaker Richard Linklater takes us behind “the Pine Curtain”… Satirist Christopher Buckley on international (etiquette) relations… Actor Rich Sommer goes Mad about board games… Brooklyn band Violens cues up a dinner party soundtrack… Brendan sips indie spirits… We toast Spider-Dan’s [sic] epic climb… Three hysterical histories… Plus, sexy literary hoaxes, humor from troubadour Todd Snider, and a listener letter – from a dolphin.