Alex Schmidt is joined by Sarah Pappalardo (Reductress) and Dave Weigel (The Washington Post) for a look ahead at an election that’s practically happening tomorrow. Could one party take both houses of Congress? How is the Presidential race shap

5 Weird Ways The 1990s Never Ended

May 25th, 2020 1h 5m

Alex Schmidt is joined by Adam Tod Brown and Chet Wild, the hosts of Unpopular Opinion’s “The 90s Sucked” podcast. They’re exploring huge, meaningful, world-altering ways the 1990s never stopped happening to us. They’ll also reveal which elemen

6 Little-Known Crises And Lockdowns Of U.S. History

May 18th, 2020 1h 11m

Alex Schmidt is joined by Jody Avirgan (FiveThirtyEight, 30 For 30) and Nicole Hemmer (historian, author 'Messengers Of The Right'). Jody & Nicole host a fantastic new podcast called 'This Day In Esoteric Political History'. On this show, the t

7 Bizarre Moments From Bizarrely Long-Running TV Shows

May 11th, 2020 57m 15s

Alex Schmidt is joined by the incredible Andy Daly, star of ’Review’ and all of the rest of TV. This podcast is inspired by Dalton Wilcox’s long-simmering project ‘Bonanas For Bonanza’, a rewatch podcast (theoretically) tackling all 431 episode

Bizarre Myths & Amazing Facts About Animals & Coronavirus

May 4th, 2020 1h 5m

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writer & “Creature Feature” podcast host Katie Goldin for a run through animal-specific myths springing up around coronavirus. They’ll break down whether nature *really* is “returning”, what the heck is going on

Common Beliefs That Make Disasters Worse (with Jason Pargin)

1 Apr 27th, 2020 1h 19m

Alex Schmidt is joined by New York Times-bestselling author Jason Pargin (pen name David Wong) for a close look at mistakes society needs to stop making now, and stop making always. Alongside that, they’ll explore ways you can help people survi

Sports In The Time Of Coronavirus (with Jason Benetti)

Apr 20th, 2020 43m 6s

Alex Schmidt calls up Chicago White Sox play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti, to explore what it’s like simulating a sports season that may never happen outside of his PlayStation 4. They’ll also examine the weird way virtual sports can turn me

6 Things Shut Down By Coronavirus (That Shouldn’t Return)

Apr 13th, 2020 1h 1m

Alex Schmidt is joined by Adam Tod Brown (Unpopular Opinion, MTV, Playboy) and Dan Hopper (Ranker, The New Yorker, CollegeHumor) for a look at some things COVID-19 put on hold -- specifically the most foolish, inefficient, straight-up bad thing

The Surprising Scientific Truth About Living As An Outsider

Apr 6th, 2020 1h 2m

Alex Schmidt is joined by journalist Olga Khazan, author of ‘Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World’. They’ll take a deep dive into personal stories and scientific studies about life as a weirdo. Discover the cultural, social

11 Bizarre Psy-Ops Real Governments Tried To Pull Off

Mar 30th, 2020 48m 49s

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/podcasters Adam Tod Brown (Unpopular Opinion) and Jeff May (Sideshow’s Side Show) for the strangest, silliest, oddest psychological warfare ever plotted by national governments. Discover tales of elected offi

11 Little-Known Dumb Details Of Big Historical Events

Mar 23rd, 2020 51m 37s

Alex Schmidt is joined by Billy Wayne Davis (Conan, Adult Swim) and Kandice Martellaro (Stan Against Evil, Femmebot PhD) for the silliest minutiae that slipped through the cracks of IMPORTANT HISTORY. Listen for surprisingly wacky elements of W

11 TV Shows That Secretly Gave Themselves Baffling Canon

Mar 16th, 2020 1h

Alex Schmidt is joined by Siobhan Thompson (Rick and Morty, Dimension 20) and Andrew Ti (Mixed-ish, Yo Is This Racist?) for a trip through the strangest canon ever grafted onto a TV show. They’ll turn up late-season canon decisions that broke e

8 Famous Movie & TV Locations (Ruined By The Fans)

Mar 9th, 2020 55m 20s

Alex Schmidt is joined by Dan Hopper (Ranker, CollegeHumor, The Washington Post) for a look at movie & TV locations that fans are pilgrimaging into oblivion. Discover the most neighborhood-snarling, pizza-chucking, monastery-crumbling behaviors

7 Weird Jobs The Children Of Rich Maniacs Bought Themselves

Mar 2nd, 2020 56m 13s

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/podcasters Kate Willett (The Late Show, ‘Reply Guys’) and Eli Yudin (‘What A Time To Be Alive’) for a look at the weirdest ways the children of rich maniacs bought themselves professional careers. Listen for

10 Regular Things We Should All Stop Mistaking For Aliens

Feb 24th, 2020 1h 1m

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians & alien comedy experts David Christopher Bell (Gamefully Unemployed, "Fox Mulder Is A Maniac") and Moujan Zolfaghari (Mission To Zyxx, 'At Home With Amy Sedaris'). They’re digging into the most common lazy me

9 Bizarre & Surprising Stories Of Famous People Hanging Out

Feb 17th, 2020 51m 37s

Alex Schmidt is joined by special guest Jesse Thorn (Bullseye, Jordan Jesse Go, Judge John Hodgman, THE LIST GOES ON)! They’ll explore the surprisingly common phenomenon of two famous people meeting up, hanging out, and (often) having an extrem

11 Major Recent Movies (With Secretly Bizarre Productions)

Feb 10th, 2020 55m 6s

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers Gonzalo Cordova and Alan Denton. They’ll explore the biggest recent movies, and the extraordinarily strange work that went into making them. Find out which Oscar movie got patched like a video game, seve

9 Infamous Scandals (With Crazy Details Everybody Forgot)

Feb 3rd, 2020 50m 35s

Alex Schmidt is joined by the incredible Dana Gould for a trip through world-famous scandals that somehow never get a closer look. With each story, they’ll dig into the forgotten and astonishing details of those scandals that were apparently to

Why Fear-Based Democracies Aren’t Free (with Jason Pargin)

1 Jan 27th, 2020 1h 21m

Alex Schmidt and special guest Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) are exploring the ways being afraid of everything (an easy action) can stop us from being free. Discover the decades-long tradition of some Americans wanting to

5 Parts Of The U.S. Economy That Are Stranger Than You Think

Jan 20th, 2020 50m 16s

Alex Schmidt is joined by the one and only Kai Ryssdal (Marketplace, Make Me Smart) for a look at surprising, strange, and shocking stories from all over the U.S. economy. Discover an international pig flu, a 26-word statement that built the mo

9 Times Pop Culture Accidentally Taught People To Save Lives

Jan 13th, 2020 57m 4s

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/writers Caitlin Gill and Alex Watt for a look at the surprising number of times movies, TV, and gaming gave heroic powers to the exact right person. They’ll explore stories of regular people who saved a life

9 Everyday Objects With Incredible Secret Powers

Jan 6th, 2020 52m 58s

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/podcasters Jamie Loftus and Atsuko Okatsuka for a look at everyday objects with incredible secret powers. Find out how old bras, loose salt, random mayonnaise and more common items became useful tools for mak

6 Brain-Stretching Calendar Systems You Never Knew Existed

Dec 30th, 2019 52m 49s

Alex Schmidt rings in “the new year” with comedians/podcasters Billy Wayne Davis and Danielle Radford. It's a special double-topic show, beginning with the strange history and complex present day of the “normal” calendar. Then they’ll explore t

Why The Holidays Are Secretly Crucial To Our Survival

1 Dec 23rd, 2019 1h 6m

Alex Schmidt and his special guest Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) are taking a Christmas-sparked look at the overall, global, all-encompassing meaningfulness of holidays. Why does your culture, no matter who you are, spend

14 Villains & Monsters Created To Insult Real People

Dec 16th, 2019 50m 49s

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers Ben Joseph and Chase Mitchell for a look at world-famous villains and monsters created to insult real people. From Godzilla to Goldfinger to the funniest galactic adventure ever written, get ready to lea