As part of Perfect Duluth Day’s long-running quest to document every reference to the city, no matter how minor, I add this entry, discovered today while catching up on the fake internet court podcast Judge John Hodgman, where pressing issues are decided by Famous Minor Television Personality John Hodgman, Certified Judge.

During a dispute between two journalists over whether or not a local newspaper should refer to distances using the driving distance or as the crow flies, one of the guest commentators notes that the woman in the dispute must sometimes make arbitrary choices when calculating the driving distance, because there can be different ways to get between two places. Bailiff Jesse Thorn then invokes Duluth in its customary comedic role as shorthand for an absurdly remote location:

“It would be great if she was calculating it by circuitous routes. Like, unnecessarily circuitous routes. She’s like, ‘Well I would go through Duluth. Just ’cause I got to get some of those maple candies I love!'”

The Duluth reference occurs at the 15 minute mark.