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Speaker 1: Text with technology with tech stuff from how stuff works

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Speaker 1: dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. I

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Speaker 1: am your host, Jonathan Strickland, executive producer here at how

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Speaker 1: stuff Works. And our previous episode was number nine hundred,

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Speaker 1: which by my math makes this one and one. And

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Speaker 1: in episode nine I talked about the founding of how

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Speaker 1: stuff works and how it changed since it first started.

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Speaker 1: Back is the first part of the how stuff Works story.

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Speaker 1: So if you've not heard that, go here that and

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Speaker 1: then come back here and I will I will make

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Speaker 1: you hear other things about how stuff works because in

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Speaker 1: that other episode I focus mostly on the website side

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Speaker 1: of the story. That is the older part of the business,

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Speaker 1: the thousands and thousands of articles about all sorts of subjects,

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Speaker 1: heavily researched and expertly written. So if you're not familiar

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Speaker 1: with how stupworks dot com, I recommend you go check

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Speaker 1: it out. But in this episode I'm going to focus

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Speaker 1: more on the podcast side of the business. How stupp

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Speaker 1: works podcasts got their start in two thousand eight, so

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Speaker 1: ten years after the founding of the website itself. The

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Speaker 1: original idea is that we would launch our shows to

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Speaker 1: complement that website, so episodes were meant to be very

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Speaker 1: short and to cover an article that you could find

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Speaker 1: over at how stupp works dot com. This was thought

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Speaker 1: of as a brand extension, right. It wasn't a way

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Speaker 1: to make money. It wasn't like an article where we

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Speaker 1: would serve up web advertising against the article. There was

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Speaker 1: no plan to monetize the podcast when they first began,

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Speaker 1: and there was not really an easy way to do

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Speaker 1: it if we wanted to. So in other words, this

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Speaker 1: was essentially a marketing expense. We were operating the podcasts

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Speaker 1: at a loss. It costs money to host podcasts, so

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Speaker 1: we were spending on the shows, but there was no

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Speaker 1: way to directly make that money back at the time.

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Speaker 1: The fact that we were allow to launch the shows

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Speaker 1: and choose what to put on there and keep making

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Speaker 1: them for years it's pretty amazing now. Conal Byrne, who

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Speaker 1: was the managing director at how stuff Works at the time,

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Speaker 1: was the guy who said, hey, we should be doing this,

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Speaker 1: and he approached several of us about starting shows in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. I was eager to jump on board.

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Speaker 1: I had been listening to podcasts for a couple of

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Speaker 1: years and one of my favorites was c nets Buzz

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Speaker 1: Out Loud, which was a show that hasn't existed for

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Speaker 1: several years now. I miss it a lot. Molly Wood

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Speaker 1: and tom Merritt and lots of other hosts have been

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Speaker 1: part of that, and they were phenomenal. They gave tech

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Speaker 1: news really cool context and commentary, and I loved their delivery.

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Speaker 1: So I was eager to give this a try myself,

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Speaker 1: and I jumped at the chance to be in on

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Speaker 1: the launch of a technology themed podcast. Now, out of

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Speaker 1: all the folks who started podcasting at that time, there

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Speaker 1: are only a few of us who had a background

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Speaker 1: in performance. Most of the people who started podcasts were

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Speaker 1: coming at it from a researcher and writer perspective, but

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Speaker 1: not someone who would typically perform on microphone. They were

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Speaker 1: not I mean, they had personalities, but they were not personalities.

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Speaker 1: There is a difference. Also, there's a term that is

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Speaker 1: frequently used in the industry to describe people who are

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Speaker 1: podcasters besides jerks. It's the term is talent. And boy

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Speaker 1: does that feel pretentious to be called the talent, as

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Speaker 1: if everybody else who works on this isn't talented, That

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Speaker 1: is patent lee untrue. I have had a sweet, a

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Speaker 1: veritable army of talented people who have made my show

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Speaker 1: and the other shows at How Stuff Works possible and

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Speaker 1: sound great and go out on time. So I object

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Speaker 1: to being called the talent, but that is another common

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Speaker 1: term for it. At any rate, none of us at

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Speaker 1: that time were the talent. We were talented, just not

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Speaker 1: We weren't meant for for performing in on top of microphones.

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Speaker 1: We would instead do research and write an article and

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Speaker 1: submit it and get edits back, and then work on

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Speaker 1: those edits and submit it again. That's that's how we worked.

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Speaker 1: So if you listen to some of those old episodes,

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Speaker 1: those first few of any given show, you might notice

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Speaker 1: some hesitancy, some uncertainty of how to talk into a

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Speaker 1: microphone and how to relate to an audience that isn't there.

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Speaker 1: But most of us, in fact, I would say, everybody

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Speaker 1: who's still around, picked up on it pretty well and

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Speaker 1: now does an amazing job of it. Myself excluded, I've

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Speaker 1: always done an amazing job. Now. Four shows launched that

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Speaker 1: summer of two thousand and eight to extend the presence

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Speaker 1: of How Stuff Works into podcast land. Those four shows

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Speaker 1: where Stuff You Should Know Factor Fiction, which would later

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Speaker 1: become Stuff You Missed in History Class, Brain Stuff, which

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Speaker 1: was hosted by the site founder, Marshall brain and Tech Stuff.

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Speaker 1: All four of those shows still exist, though brain Stuff

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Speaker 1: has changed the most in format since it started. Stuff

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Speaker 1: You Missed In History Class has had several hosts throughout

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Speaker 1: its own history. Only two people have remained co hosts

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Speaker 1: or hosts of their respective shows since the launch of

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Speaker 1: those first four shows. Those two people are Josh Clark,

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Speaker 1: the co host of Stuff You Should Know, and me,

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Speaker 1: host of Tech Stuff. We are the only two original

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Speaker 1: hosts from that original slate of shows who are still

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Speaker 1: hosting those shows, and I will have Josh Clark on

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Speaker 1: this episode a little bit later. Now. Over time, the

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Speaker 1: podcast transformed from brand extension marketing to revenue generating shows,

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Speaker 1: so in other words, we started selling ad spots and

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Speaker 1: getting sponsorships. These days, the podcas ask business is a

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Speaker 1: big one, so much so that were now considered a

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Speaker 1: podcast network company. And this change was a gradual one,

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Speaker 1: but it's also a really big one. It's kind of

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Speaker 1: hard to communicate to anyone outside of how stuff works.

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Speaker 1: How enormous a change this was. When I first started

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Speaker 1: at the company, we didn't even have podcasts, not at

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Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. I mean they existed, but we didn't

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Speaker 1: have any. Later, we were considered a website that also

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Speaker 1: did podcasts these days were a podcast company. So I

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Speaker 1: started off as a staff writer, I became a senior writer,

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Speaker 1: and now I'm a podcast executive producer and host. It's

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Speaker 1: kind of an interesting journey because there was no career

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Speaker 1: ladder that way when I started, because there was no department,

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Speaker 1: there was no podcasting. And a bit will u we'll

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Speaker 1: touch in with a Josh and talk about his perspective

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Speaker 1: on the podcast business of How Stuff Works. But first

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Speaker 1: I thought would be fun to run down a list

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Speaker 1: of shows we've done over the years, a podcasts, not

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Speaker 1: episodes of tech Stuff. And some of these podcasts are

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Speaker 1: still in production. Others have been phased out, which is

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Speaker 1: a nice way of saying canceled. Sometimes shows are canceled

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Speaker 1: because we failed to get a good, strong audience. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: we have to cancel them when we realize the amount

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Speaker 1: of work it takes to put into the show is

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Speaker 1: so much that we cannot do other things that we

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Speaker 1: need to do. Sometimes it's because people who are working

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Speaker 1: on the show move on to go work somewhere else.

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Speaker 1: There are a lot of different reasons, so it's not

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Speaker 1: like we have a cruel taskmaster who is watching a

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Speaker 1: needle and if the needle doesn't get out of the

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Speaker 1: red in a certain amount of time, they just say

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Speaker 1: out the door with you. I want to make sure

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Speaker 1: that you guys realize that. So we're gonna start with

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Speaker 1: the big one, the first of all the podcasts to

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Speaker 1: launch in two thousand and eight, that would be Stuff

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Speaker 1: You should Know. It's still our most popular show by far.

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Speaker 1: It is the the flagship, the rock star of the

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Speaker 1: house stuff Works Network, and it's helmed by Josh Clark

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Speaker 1: and Chuck Bryant. At least it is today. Back in

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Speaker 1: the day, Josh Clark hosted with a couple of other

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Speaker 1: folks on early episodes. He'll talk about that a little

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Speaker 1: bit later. And typically they choose an article and how

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Speaker 1: stuff works, and they each do some supplemental research looking

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Speaker 1: into other sources on their own, and then they meet

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Speaker 1: up to have a conversation about the subject matter. They

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Speaker 1: don't share their notes, they don't share their research. They

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Speaker 1: just sit down at the table and what you hear

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Speaker 1: on the podcast is their conversation it's a really effective

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Speaker 1: and engaging approach. Their chemistry is undeniable. They've posted more

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Speaker 1: than a thousand episodes of their show since it launched

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, and they covered pretty much

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Speaker 1: any topic imaginable, though they tend to leave the technological

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Speaker 1: ones to me. We published several episodes of stuff you

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Speaker 1: Should Know at once so that people would have multiple

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Speaker 1: episodes to listen to right out of the gate. So

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Speaker 1: on April two thousand eight, the first three episodes to

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Speaker 1: come out were how grass Aline Works, How lame Ducks Work,

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Speaker 1: and how Altruism Works. Stuff You Missed in History Class

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Speaker 1: Today is hosted by Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Fry,

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Speaker 1: though numerous other hosts have helmed the show in the past,

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Speaker 1: and they take a deep dive on interesting, obscure, or

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Speaker 1: otherwise overlooked historical events and give them real context and explanation.

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Speaker 1: We guess, out of all of our shows that we

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Speaker 1: produce here at the company, that's the one that requires

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Speaker 1: the most in depth research. And my hat is off

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Speaker 1: to them, because I do about eight hours of research

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Speaker 1: per hour of tech stuff that you hear. I think

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Speaker 1: they do even more than that because it requires it

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Speaker 1: to to find out as many sources about these historical

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Speaker 1: events as possible and corroborate with other sources to make

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Speaker 1: sure that they are communicating the most accurate information. The

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Speaker 1: first episode of Stuff You Missed in his Street Class

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Speaker 1: was did Genghis Khan really kill one million, seven forty

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Speaker 1: eight thousand people in one hour? And that it published

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Speaker 1: on June nine, two eight. Now you know all about

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Speaker 1: tech Stuff. It's the show you're listening to right now.

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Speaker 1: But originally tech Stuff was a two person show and

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Speaker 1: my editor, Chris Pallette was my co host and the

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Speaker 1: purveyor of puns. If you think my puns are bad,

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Speaker 1: you need to listen to some old shows. Our first

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Speaker 1: episode was and I'm embarrassed to say this, how the

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Speaker 1: Google Apple Cloud computer will work? Yeah. I published on

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Speaker 1: June tenth, two thousand eight. So our show is one

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Speaker 1: day younger than Stuff You Missed Industry Class. There show

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Speaker 1: came out the day before ours. Brain Stuff was originally

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Speaker 1: hosted by Marshall Brain that is his real name, and

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Speaker 1: the episodes were really really short, like a couple of

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Speaker 1: minutes each When it first came out. Each one would

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Speaker 1: answer a question and a quick overviews such as how

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Speaker 1: Nano Solar Works. That shows still around, and I hear

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Speaker 1: that there are some interesting ideas that might be happening

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Speaker 1: with brain Stuff in the near future. So if you

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Speaker 1: haven't listened for a while, you may want to go

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Speaker 1: and subscribe. I have a feeling there's going to be

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Speaker 1: some changes made in all sorts of interesting ways, a

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Speaker 1: lot of experimentation. Um, but that's all I can say

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Speaker 1: about it because it's still in flux at the moment.

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Speaker 1: But the first episode of the show was How Stealth

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Speaker 1: Technology Works, and it published on July four, two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eight. Best Deal Day. Car Stuff is a show

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Speaker 1: with Ben Bolan and Scott Benjamin used to be called

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Speaker 1: High Speed Stuff and then they changed it eventually as

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Speaker 1: a show about vehicles, and it's really incredibly entertaining. Scott

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Speaker 1: is a treasure trove of car information. If you've heard

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Speaker 1: any of the episodes where he's been a host here

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Speaker 1: on tech Stuff, he has phenomenally informed about vehicles and

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Speaker 1: it's also fun to break his heart by talking about

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Speaker 1: autonomous vehicles. And then Ben, well, he's he's pretty smart.

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Speaker 1: Ben's a very funny, smart guy. He's also my arch

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Speaker 1: nemesis here at How Stuff Works. I declared that pretty

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Speaker 1: much my first month of working here, because I wanted

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Speaker 1: to have an arch nemesis who was actually very courteous

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Speaker 1: and friendly and would sometimes bring me lunch. One of

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Speaker 1: the hardest working folks here at the company would be

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Speaker 1: Mr Ben Bolan. Their first episode was How kar Theft Works,

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Speaker 1: which honestly does not surprise me at all because Ben

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Speaker 1: an interesting look at music and music product action and

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Speaker 1: related topics. The first episode was called How Debut Albums Work,

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Speaker 1: which is pretty clever when your first episodes about debut albums.

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Speaker 1: It published on December thirteenth, two thousand and eight. The

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Speaker 1: itself has returned and now has new hosts Emily Airies

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Speaker 1: February four, two thousand nine. I suspect the answer is yes,

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Speaker 1: because we can't all share the same one. On January

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Speaker 1: but we would rebrand this. This is sort of like

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Speaker 1: is known as Stuff to Blow Your Mind. This is

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Speaker 1: a science based podcast. It's currently hosted by Robert Lamb,

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Speaker 1: Joe McCormick, and Chris stout Sayer. Although our editor Alison

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Speaker 1: and the first episode ever was called Amazing Investations. In

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Speaker 1: to Make You Smarter. This was hosted by Rob and Chris,

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Speaker 1: who were not actually part of the editorial department, and

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Speaker 1: this show explored all sorts of various topics but didn't

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Speaker 1: May second, two thousand eleven and was called of Cinema

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Speaker 1: and Sound The Story of Music and Film. The final

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Speaker 1: Bully Proof? And it published on September. So this was

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Speaker 1: So that I suspect was the reason why this podcast

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Speaker 1: Um just imagining it was along those lines. It certainly

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Speaker 1: quite good. You can still go back and listen to them.

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Speaker 1: All of these, by the way, are still online, so

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Speaker 1: Now I've got more to talk about with the podcasts

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Speaker 1: that were and still are with the House Stuff Works Network.

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Speaker 1: But before I do that, let's take a quick break

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Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor. All Right, we're back. We got

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Speaker 1: a few more shows to talk about before we get

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Speaker 1: to the interview with Josh Clark of Stuff You Should Know.

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Speaker 1: On August nine, we published a new show called Stuff

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Speaker 1: for a Stylish Home, which was a d I Y

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Speaker 1: and home decor show hosted by Christie and Sarah, and

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Speaker 1: their first episode was the importance of having things unique

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Speaker 1: to you in. The final episode, which published on February nine,

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Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, was Move Away from the Carpet Flooring Alternatives.

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Speaker 1: This was another one of those shows we launched and

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Speaker 1: canceled in just a few months, and I never really

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Speaker 1: I really wasn't in the realm where that show was

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Speaker 1: something to do with it. I honestly don't know what.

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Speaker 1: It may have had something to do with our our

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Speaker 1: relationship with TLC. Now. Before they became the hosts of

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Speaker 1: of Stuff You Missed in History Class, Tracy V. Wilson

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Speaker 1: and Holly Fry also hosted a show called Pop Stuff,

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Speaker 1: which was all about pop culture. The first episode published

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Speaker 1: on October It was about time traveling through Fall TV.

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Speaker 1: It was actually all about the shows that the hosts

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Speaker 1: shows in two thousand eleven Holly and Tracy were really

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Speaker 1: waiting to see, you can go and download that episode

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Speaker 1: The final episode of Pop Stuff would air on June third,

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Speaker 1: two thirteen. It was called Greatest Hits Perfume The Culture

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Speaker 1: of Scent. I used to host a show called Forward Thinking.

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Speaker 1: It was a video series, and it had a companion

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Speaker 1: a speculative look at the future. Often this would center

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Speaker 1: on technology, but we'd also take science, art, culture, and

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Speaker 1: other topics into consideration. Joe McCormick and Lauren voege Obaum

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Speaker 1: hosted this show with me, and our first episode was

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Speaker 1: called The Internet of Things More Efficient than You and

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Speaker 1: it published on February fi fun fact, that was my

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Speaker 1: sixth year work anniversary the day that show went live.

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Speaker 1: Later that same year, Ben Bolan and Matt Frederick launched

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Speaker 1: a new series called Stuff They Don't Want You to Know,

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Speaker 1: which focuses on strange stories and French theories. I actually

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Speaker 1: gave the show that name. That name was my idea.

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Speaker 1: It's one of like three good ones I've had since

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Speaker 1: I started How Stuff Works. Noel Brown has since joined

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Speaker 1: that show, and their first episode ever was called Edward

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Speaker 1: Burnet's the Most Famous Man Man You've Never Heard of?

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Speaker 1: That published on octobirteen. Julie Douglas, one of our editors

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Speaker 1: actually she used to edit my articles, hosts a show

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Speaker 1: called The Stuff of Life. Her show tends to publish

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Speaker 1: in seasons and it requires a lot more work, both

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Speaker 1: on the research side and the post production side, but

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Speaker 1: it's a really cool show. You should check it out

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Speaker 1: a few episodes if you're not familiar with it. The

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Speaker 1: Stuff of Life had both a trailer and an episode zero,

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Speaker 1: as did many of the other shows that I will

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Speaker 1: The Power of Fear and published January two thousand sixteen.

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Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum hosted a show called How Stuff Works Now

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Speaker 1: for a while that was based off the blog posts

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Speaker 1: that folks like myself we're writing for the Now brand.

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Speaker 1: We've since discontinued that brand and the series, but the

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Speaker 1: first episode of that podcast published on April two thousand

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Speaker 1: sixteen and was titled Microbots, Babies, trust, and lead contamination.

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Speaker 1: Three things you don't want to go together. Lauren and

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Speaker 1: Annie launched a show this year in March called Food Stuff,

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Speaker 1: in which they explore the amazing world of food. So

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Speaker 1: if you like food, you should check it out. It's

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Speaker 1: pretty awesome show. The first episode is titled Champagne and

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Speaker 1: Sparkling Wine and it published on March first, two thousand seventeen.

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Speaker 1: In twenty seventeen, our company also hired Will and Mangesh,

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Speaker 1: who had co founded the magazine Mental Flass back in

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Speaker 1: two thousand one. They joined our company and they launched

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Speaker 1: a new podcast called Part Time Genius. Their first real episode,

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Speaker 1: getting Past the Trailer in episode zero, published on June seven, seventeen,

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Speaker 1: and it's called What Are the Sunniest Places to Hide

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Speaker 1: My Taxes? Jack O'Brien, who was once an editor of Cracked,

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Speaker 1: joined How Stuff Works in twenty seventeen as well, and

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Speaker 1: in October of seventeen launched a news oriented comedy show

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Speaker 1: called The Daily Zeitgeist. Now that show is particularly timely,

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Speaker 1: so listing titles and launch dates doesn't really apply because

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Speaker 1: it's dependent upon the news. But trust me, it's there.

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Speaker 1: You should check it out if you haven't heard it already.

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Speaker 1: On October nine, we launched the show Tech Stuff Daily.

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Speaker 1: If you haven't heard of it, it's a short form

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Speaker 1: show and yeah, it proves I can show it up

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Speaker 1: if I have to covers tech stories that are part

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Speaker 1: of the current conversation, and then I explained the context

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Speaker 1: behind them all within seven ish minutes or less. The

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Speaker 1: first episode was about augmented reality, and then we launched

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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History with Noel Brown and Ben Bullen, which looks

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Speaker 1: into really odd historical events. Their first episode is The

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Speaker 1: Wild Hippos of Pablo Escobar and it went live on

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Speaker 1: octob You should definitely tune into that show. I hear

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Speaker 1: a rumor that a certain text stuff podcast host might

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Speaker 1: be showing up regularly un ridiculous history to quiz people unfairly.

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Speaker 1: I won't tell you where I heard that. One of

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Speaker 1: the most recent shows that we launched is called Movie Crush.

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Speaker 1: That's a show hosted by Chuck Bryant and which he

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Speaker 1: interviews notable people about their favorite films. And the first

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Speaker 1: episode featured Janet Varney and it's all about Tron. So

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Speaker 1: you guys who heard my interview with Mr Listburger should

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Speaker 1: definitely check that one out. The Movie Crush first episode

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Speaker 1: published on November three. And we've had all sorts of

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Speaker 1: interesting celebrities come in and out of our office. There

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Speaker 1: are times when I'm recording and I'll look through the

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Speaker 1: window and I'll see someone I recognize, and I just

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Speaker 1: have to keep everything together and keep recording as if

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Speaker 1: I didn't just see someone super cool walk by the window.

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Speaker 1: It is a challenge. We've got a lot of other

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Speaker 1: shows coming up soon. There's one called Atlanta Monster that

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Speaker 1: is going to be all about the Atlanta child murders

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Speaker 1: that happened in the early eighties here in Atlanta, and

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Speaker 1: that that promises to be a very hard hitting, serious

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Speaker 1: investigative piece. So if you are a fan of that style,

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Speaker 1: that genre of podcast, you owe it to yourself to

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Speaker 1: check it out. I've seen some of the early work

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Speaker 1: and it is phenomenal, and we've got a lot more

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Speaker 1: planned in the future. So if you are a fan

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Speaker 1: of how Stuff works, you should be on the lookout

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Speaker 1: for new podcast that will be coming out mostly through

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Speaker 1: and beyond, so you never know what might pop up next. Now,

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Speaker 1: let's go ahead and take a listen to an interview

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Speaker 1: I did with a certain Mr Josh Clark of Stuff

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Speaker 1: you should know Fame. Joining me in the studio today

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Speaker 1: is my good buddy, my co worker, who I don't

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Speaker 1: see nearly as frequently as I used to. Josh Clark,

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Speaker 1: Welcome back. I think the last time you joined us

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Speaker 1: for Tech Stuff, we talked about toilets we did. That

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Speaker 1: was a good episode. Did you know that after that

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Speaker 1: episode I actually got to visit one of the toilets

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Speaker 1: we talked about in that episode. We talked about the

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Speaker 1: toilets in Scara Bray, the little community in Ireland where

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Speaker 1: or Scotland rather, I'm sorry, in Scotland, where they had

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Speaker 1: dug out trenches underneath the seaside village of Scara Bray

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Speaker 1: that would carry waste away into the ocean. And I

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Speaker 1: actually visited the village of scare A Bray on my

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Speaker 1: on my trip to Scotland and I it was fine. No,

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Speaker 1: that was I was told specifically not to use those facilities,

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Speaker 1: largely because there are no walls anymore, and apparently it's considered. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but that's not what we're here to talk about today.

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Speaker 1: We're not here to talk about my proclivities for dropping

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Speaker 1: trout at the drop of a hat. The hats and

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Speaker 1: trousers they just drop everywhere. We were talking about now,

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, this is a surprise because this is your life. No,

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Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. So we're talking about the how Stuff

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Speaker 1: Works story, Josh, and a big part of that. Now.

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Speaker 1: In our previous episode, I covered the sort of the

431
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,440
Speaker 1: evolution of the website site side of How Stuff Works

432
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,800
Speaker 1: because that was what we were known for for the

433
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:47,680
Speaker 1: majority of the time. That you and I have been here.

434
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,040
Speaker 1: It was mostly known as a website that also did

435
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,399
Speaker 1: some podcasts later on, and now we really think of

436
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,600
Speaker 1: ourselves as a podcast network, so we're kind of transitioning

437
00:24:57,640 --> 00:24:59,639
Speaker 1: into that. And I want to talk to you a

438
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 1: little bit. Let's let's you know, Stuff you Should Know

439
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,199
Speaker 1: are our most popular show, of which you are a

440
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,600
Speaker 1: co host half for third A third a third? Yeah,

441
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 1: is another another thirty three point three repeated. Yeah, that's

442
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 1: kind of sort of like the episodes, right. You guys

443
00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 1: just recently celebrated your one thousand episode. Yes, congratulations and

444
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,800
Speaker 1: congratulations to you at number nine hund thank you so much. Yeah.

445
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 1: Who would have thought back in two thousand and eight

446
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,639
Speaker 1: when we were first talking about they so going into

447
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,880
Speaker 1: that mindset, Josh, can you and I know you've talked

448
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,240
Speaker 1: about this recently, but can you talk a little bit

449
00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:42,680
Speaker 1: about how Stuff you Should Know even came about? So? Uh,

450
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:46,639
Speaker 1: the Stuff you should Know was the brainchiwl though this

451
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: guy named Conald Burn, Yes, who used to run the site,

452
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:52,920
Speaker 1: as you know, and uh left and then actually came

453
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,719
Speaker 1: back and now runs the site again. Yeah, and he

454
00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: had this idea that they were on how stuff works

455
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 1: that there were a lot of really really well researched,

456
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:06,240
Speaker 1: well written articles, but that not everybody sits around and

457
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,080
Speaker 1: reads articles on the web all day, right, So he

458
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,400
Speaker 1: wanted to get those articles out to people who don't

459
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 1: read on the web, and he thought podcasts, we'll try that.

460
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:19,680
Speaker 1: So he he came to me and Jerry and said,

461
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,440
Speaker 1: you guys, just just try this, just give it a shot.

462
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:28,160
Speaker 1: There is no stakes to this whatsoever. Um. I overheard

463
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,879
Speaker 1: a conversation where the phrase low hanging fruit was used

464
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:38,360
Speaker 1: to explain why they were using writers as hosts, and um,

465
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,199
Speaker 1: it just kind of took off from there right like

466
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:44,720
Speaker 1: we were. There was nobody paying attention. We were totally

467
00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:49,000
Speaker 1: figuring out as we went along, and I think because

468
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: there was so little risk involved, we felt really free

469
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:56,120
Speaker 1: to just try whatever, and we were able to kind

470
00:26:56,119 --> 00:27:01,720
Speaker 1: of find our footing without being under screw, which really helped. Right.

471
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,960
Speaker 1: We could stumble around a lot and no one was

472
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:05,679
Speaker 1: going to pull the rug out under us and make

473
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,160
Speaker 1: us fall flat. That's if I if I can continue

474
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 1: my stumbling metaphor, right right, But I mean it was

475
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:13,399
Speaker 1: that that that's that's a lot of pressure, and that

476
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,360
Speaker 1: pressure wasn't there because we were all just having fun

477
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,200
Speaker 1: at the time. Yeah, we weren't. We weren't monetizing podcast.

478
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,879
Speaker 1: There were no ads, there were no sponsorships, no, and

479
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:24,399
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, that the podcast program was

480
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 1: you know, um under real scrutiny more than a few

481
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,680
Speaker 1: times of course of its lifetime. We'll get into that, Okay, alright,

482
00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: well I'm going to stop myself there. Yeah, when we

483
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:40,879
Speaker 1: we get into the realm after how Stuff Works left

484
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: the umbrella of the Convex Group, right, So when we

485
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 1: both started, it was part of of convex So, which

486
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 1: is this company that also owned web md. That was

487
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 1: the really big property under the Convex Group. Yeah, originally

488
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: a guy named Jeff Arnold founded group. When we came

489
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 1: in the house, Supports was kind of sort of operating

490
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 1: a little bit like an internet startup, had a little

491
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 1: bit of that feel to it. It wasn't super crazy.

492
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,600
Speaker 1: But again, like two thousand and eight, that was when

493
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 1: we started doing this podcast stuff, and it was considered

494
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,399
Speaker 1: kind of a brand extension. It wasn't really considered a

495
00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,360
Speaker 1: revenue generator. In fact, it wasn't for many years. Um.

496
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: I remember when tech Stuff began, which was a few

497
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,440
Speaker 1: months after stuff. You should know. It started that we

498
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 1: were following certain rules that you guys had already kind

499
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,920
Speaker 1: of set, not really rules, but you know, just the

500
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,440
Speaker 1: following the sort of yeah, where we were taking articles

501
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 1: that existed on the site and using those as the

502
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:40,720
Speaker 1: launch point and the guy the the real the real

503
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,080
Speaker 1: goal for us was to guide people to go to

504
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,440
Speaker 1: the website. That's hard to do. It's hard to do

505
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 1: from a where you're you're trying to get people to

506
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 1: transition formats, right, like they're listening to something and you're

507
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 1: trying to convince them two. Then next time they are

508
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,720
Speaker 1: at a computer terminal or a smartphones were barely a

509
00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:01,360
Speaker 1: thing two thousand and eight, But if they were using

510
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 1: a smartphone to then navigate to a website, that's hard

511
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 1: to do. But it was kind of our mandate for

512
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 1: a while. I also remember that we had very strict

513
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,960
Speaker 1: time limits early early on in our podcast, like keep

514
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,720
Speaker 1: it ten minutes or a shorter five yeah, initially, and

515
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 1: I think that came from iTunes. They were like, people

516
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 1: are just kind of into really short podcasts, and I

517
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,360
Speaker 1: guess we heard five minutes and we just could not

518
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 1: be contained in five minutes. No, I mean just the

519
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:32,240
Speaker 1: introduction alone would take about five minutes. Uh. And you

520
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 1: you even had like Chris Palette was one of your

521
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:37,560
Speaker 1: co hosts early on and stuff. You should know. He

522
00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 1: became my co host for tech stuff, And I believe

523
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 1: Candice did a couple of episodes with you early early on,

524
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 1: and then you did some episodes with Chuck, and the

525
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: chemistry was undeniable. You and Chuck just worked so well

526
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:51,560
Speaker 1: together from the get go, And of course that's only

527
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 1: gotten better as the show has gone on. It was

528
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: already great. So yeah, we can't people ask us, like,

529
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,120
Speaker 1: what you know, what's the secret in obviously the secret

530
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:03,840
Speaker 1: first stuff you should know is the chemistry between me

531
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,560
Speaker 1: and Chuck. But we have like no idea, like I'm

532
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 1: not like here, I'll push this button on Chuck and

533
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:12,680
Speaker 1: he'll push this button back, and like the chemistry just emerges.

534
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,720
Speaker 1: It's just it just so happens that if you take me,

535
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: you take Chuck, and you put us in the room

536
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 1: together and we start talking about an article that we

537
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 1: both read and did supplemental research on, it just has

538
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:28,320
Speaker 1: a little certain verve to it. I guess. Yeah, I've

539
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 1: experienced similar things in the acting world where you go up.

540
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,240
Speaker 1: You'll you'll be in a scene against one actor and

541
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,239
Speaker 1: everything's fine, like there's nothing bad about it. But then

542
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 1: you go into a scene with a totally different actor

543
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,640
Speaker 1: with whom you have real chemistry, and suddenly something that

544
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,480
Speaker 1: was just going to be fine is elevated. And the

545
00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 1: same thing is true a podcasts. So we could have

546
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: two very intelligent, well spoken people having a conversation about

547
00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:56,600
Speaker 1: an interesting topic, and that would be a decent podcast.

548
00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:58,520
Speaker 1: But then when you get that chemistry, when you get

549
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,800
Speaker 1: those two people who just their personalities mesh so well

550
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,440
Speaker 1: and complement one another. So it's not like a it's

551
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,000
Speaker 1: it's it is a Venn diagram, right, You've got overlap,

552
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:09,240
Speaker 1: but you also have stuff on on the edges for

553
00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: both of you. Yeah. I think of it more not

554
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,360
Speaker 1: like a Venn diagram, but more like a Yin Yang symbol,

555
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 1: where there's like they compliment and fulfill one another and

556
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 1: create a larger hole. Yeah, where it really it's just

557
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 1: two weird looking commas. But if you put together, oh,

558
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,480
Speaker 1: it's a circle. Yeah, And I think that that has

559
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 1: served the show very well. So you have the benefit

560
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,880
Speaker 1: of two hosts with great chemistry, and of course You've

561
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 1: had no shortage of really interesting topics, many of which

562
00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,560
Speaker 1: have come from articles from How Stuff Works. Yeah, we

563
00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 1: still basically follow that original model where when we record

564
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 1: the we start off with an article from How Stuff

565
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 1: Works almost I would say probably nineties something percent of

566
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,160
Speaker 1: the time. And then we you know, we we agree

567
00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,200
Speaker 1: like this is the one we're going to use to

568
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:03,120
Speaker 1: basically structure the episode on and then that's it. We

569
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 1: don't talk about it anymore. We both go off do

570
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 1: our own research and we come back together and we

571
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: sit down and we have a conversation about that topic

572
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,239
Speaker 1: based on what we found out, and um, Jerry records it,

573
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: and you know, probably about five or six things have

574
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 1: to be edited out, which we indicate with a peep,

575
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,080
Speaker 1: and Jerry's got to go find the beeps and make

576
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,680
Speaker 1: sure that they're all taken care of. Um, and then

577
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:29,520
Speaker 1: that's it. One take, and that's the that's the show.

578
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:32,280
Speaker 1: That's that's how Chris and I would record as well.

579
00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:34,080
Speaker 1: It's nice way to do it's a cool way to

580
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 1: do it. It's Chris was the only co host I've

581
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: had where besides guest co host, where I've been able

582
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,760
Speaker 1: to do that where we did our our research completely independently,

583
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:46,480
Speaker 1: didn't even share notes. If anything, we might sit down

584
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 1: just before we start recording and saying this is kind

585
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:51,680
Speaker 1: of the sequence I was thinking about, but it'd be

586
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,760
Speaker 1: like a very general kind of outline, just like like,

587
00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: let's start this. To me, makes the most logged logical

588
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,200
Speaker 1: sense to start from here and progress. Obviously of the

589
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:04,080
Speaker 1: shows have evolved quite a bit since they first launched.

590
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 1: I mean, we've seen them grow much longer. Uh, there's

591
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:10,600
Speaker 1: definitely a limit I think to it. Like we found

592
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:14,480
Speaker 1: that once you start pushing the sixty minute mark, it's

593
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 1: starting to get a little long. But that led to

594
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 1: a new innovation for us, which was the two part episode. Yes,

595
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 1: and tech Stuff has certainly no in fact tech Stuff.

596
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 1: We've done some two and three partners because some some

597
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:28,240
Speaker 1: especially some of the big companies, if we want to

598
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 1: do a full history on them, it really requires done

599
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 1: three partners. Xerox Story was three parts, Nintendo was three parts. Yeah,

600
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:41,600
Speaker 1: there's certain certain companies that have had enough really important

601
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:45,840
Speaker 1: historical moments that have impacted technology to require Yeah, and

602
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 1: Zerox surprisingly Xerox Park never mind, all my listeners just

603
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:51,520
Speaker 1: heard about that a month ago, So I'm not gonna

604
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,560
Speaker 1: go into it again, but yeah, I feel the same way.

605
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,400
Speaker 1: It's actually one of the things that we should mention,

606
00:33:57,880 --> 00:33:59,840
Speaker 1: and I've talked about before on the show, is that

607
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,720
Speaker 1: the prep time for a podcast is deceptively long. Right.

608
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:07,840
Speaker 1: A listener may listen to you talk for an hour,

609
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: and because that conversation seems very natural and effortless, they

610
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,799
Speaker 1: may come away thinking like, oh, these guys, you know,

611
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,240
Speaker 1: maybe they did like an hour or two a research

612
00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:20,640
Speaker 1: and then they got together and had a conversation. Typically

613
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,279
Speaker 1: it's way more work than that, for sure, at least

614
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 1: a full day of research um per hour of podcasts. Yeah,

615
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 1: I would say that's a pretty good rule. Um. Um.

616
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:35,160
Speaker 1: The uh, the thing about it though is you never

617
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:37,799
Speaker 1: go into the podcast. But I should say I never

618
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,880
Speaker 1: go into the podcast with feeling prepared. No, like I

619
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 1: can keep researching up until you know, the last moment,

620
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:47,880
Speaker 1: and um, that's not always a luxury I have. But

621
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 1: even if it is, when I when I get in

622
00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 1: and sit down, I'm like, what else am I missing?

623
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:54,879
Speaker 1: You know what, what obvious fact am I gonna walk

624
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 1: right past? Or what group am I going to not

625
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:02,120
Speaker 1: include in in in advert only offend you know, um,

626
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 1: there are all considerations that that kind of make going

627
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 1: in and recording. There's a certain amount of anxiety to

628
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 1: the whole thing, even after uh ten years of it.

629
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:16,880
Speaker 1: Almost yeah, there the first few times staying down at

630
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 1: a microphone, it's such an unnatural thing, you know, to

631
00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:22,879
Speaker 1: try and have a natural conversation with somebody, but you've

632
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:26,520
Speaker 1: got this construct in between you. It also, to me

633
00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,680
Speaker 1: was the weirdest thing finding out people were listening, because

634
00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,480
Speaker 1: the way we work typically is that we're recording at

635
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,399
Speaker 1: least a little ahead of time, so that we have

636
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,320
Speaker 1: a bit of a buffer for times when you're traveling,

637
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,799
Speaker 1: you're on vacation, you maybe have a sick day, something

638
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 1: along those lines. And that means that by the time

639
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: something has gone out, you've already been working on two

640
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:52,439
Speaker 1: or three or more podcasts further down the line, and

641
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,719
Speaker 1: so you're constantly thinking not just of the next thing,

642
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,800
Speaker 1: you're thinking of the thing that's two or three episodes ahead,

643
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 1: and it very quick you can lose track of the

644
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: fact that people are listening to the stuff you talked

645
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,240
Speaker 1: about two weeks ago or three weeks ago. I remember

646
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 1: the first time we started getting fan mail. That was

647
00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:13,400
Speaker 1: incredible because it was a reminder that hey, you're not

648
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:15,640
Speaker 1: just talking into a microphone and then you leave the

649
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:19,480
Speaker 1: room and then it's all done. It's still living out there. Uh.

650
00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:23,360
Speaker 1: And that to me still to this day is something

651
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 1: that I take. I don't take it for granted. It

652
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:30,760
Speaker 1: surprises me to this day. Yeah. You know, Um, after

653
00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:34,280
Speaker 1: as many emails as we've all gotten over the years

654
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,480
Speaker 1: from listeners, it would be kind of easy to just

655
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:44,400
Speaker 1: get kind of jaded. UM, but I'll still read a

656
00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:47,800
Speaker 1: lot of the emails that come in, and when I do,

657
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:50,960
Speaker 1: I'm finding like, like, no, these are this is really

658
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,920
Speaker 1: like important stuff that these people are saying, like like

659
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:58,279
Speaker 1: we helped them with anxiety. Um. Some people have said

660
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:01,920
Speaker 1: that they have not committed suicide or tried to um

661
00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:06,480
Speaker 1: die by suicide because we were there for him. Like

662
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,439
Speaker 1: there's just there there are things that that we're doing that. Yes,

663
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 1: it does not come through when you just are sitting

664
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,200
Speaker 1: in the studio like we are right now, because the

665
00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:20,360
Speaker 1: world is physically cut off from us right now. So

666
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:22,160
Speaker 1: the idea that we're putting it out there and it's

667
00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 1: having these impacts on all these multiple different people. Um,

668
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:30,160
Speaker 1: and even even nothing quite so dramatic. Knowing that there's

669
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,200
Speaker 1: somebody out there sitting on a subway laughing at a

670
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:38,279
Speaker 1: joke that I made. That's extraordinarily satisfying. That the key

671
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,880
Speaker 1: is to remind yourself to stop and think about that

672
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:44,160
Speaker 1: once in a while. Absolutely, because it is definitely work.

673
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 1: We're all working like crazy around here, and um, it's

674
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 1: easy to not do that, but when you do, it's

675
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:52,799
Speaker 1: it's it makes it quite satisfying. It is. It is

676
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:56,319
Speaker 1: kind of fun for me now because a lot of

677
00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:59,240
Speaker 1: my shows I'm live streaming. Uh, not the ones whenever

678
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:01,080
Speaker 1: I do interviews, I don't live stream because I don't

679
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:03,319
Speaker 1: want to put added pressure on the person I'm talking to,

680
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:07,520
Speaker 1: But but I'll live stream all the solo shows and

681
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:11,480
Speaker 1: it's great because it reminds me even even though the

682
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:14,120
Speaker 1: chat room tends to be fairly modest, it's a small group,

683
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,440
Speaker 1: but it's they're very responsive that if I if I

684
00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:20,800
Speaker 1: let loose with I don't know if you know this, Josh,

685
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 1: but occasionally I like to let loose with a pun.

686
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:28,799
Speaker 1: I know, shocking, right, but to see a reaction to that. Um.

687
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:32,320
Speaker 1: Also occasionally we're recording in the other studio where Ramsey

688
00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:33,799
Speaker 1: sits in the same room. And if I can get

689
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:37,640
Speaker 1: Ramsey to chuckle or snort or or make any kind

690
00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:40,200
Speaker 1: of noise that might possibly get picked up on the microphone,

691
00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:42,719
Speaker 1: I consider it a personal victory. Yes, I feel the

692
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,600
Speaker 1: same way with Jerry, Like making Jerry laugh is that's

693
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:47,920
Speaker 1: it's nice? Yeah. And I did the same thing to

694
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 1: Dylan all the time. If I could get Dylan to laugh,

695
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:54,440
Speaker 1: it was the best thing, because yeah, absolutely, and only that,

696
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:56,880
Speaker 1: but it did reminded me that hey, they're actually listening

697
00:38:56,920 --> 00:38:59,879
Speaker 1: and just saying there with their headphones on. Um, so

698
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,320
Speaker 1: let's also talk a little bit so stuff. You should know.

699
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:06,879
Speaker 1: Obviously it became a big success. It is the most

700
00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:09,880
Speaker 1: successful of our shows here at How Stuff Works. So,

701
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:13,759
Speaker 1: h thank you for pointing that up. I mean, how

702
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:17,440
Speaker 1: could I not? At what point did? Did you? Was

703
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:21,600
Speaker 1: there like a day or a moment where you heard

704
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:24,880
Speaker 1: about a statistic or okay, so tell me about the

705
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,840
Speaker 1: moment where you're like, this is this is way bigger

706
00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:31,279
Speaker 1: than I expect that. Yeah. So, um, there was a

707
00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 1: specific day. I think it was in November of two

708
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:39,359
Speaker 1: thousand eight. Um. We started in April two eight and

709
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 1: by November it was strictly me and Chuck and have

710
00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:47,399
Speaker 1: been for a while. And um, somebody pointed out the

711
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:51,920
Speaker 1: iTunes charts, the podcast charts on iTunes, and our podcast

712
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:56,360
Speaker 1: was number one. The number one podcast in the United

713
00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:01,759
Speaker 1: States was our podcast and U that drove it home.

714
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 1: That was astounding. It was like, you know, I used

715
00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:08,480
Speaker 1: to get a lot of participant ribbons and stuff and

716
00:40:08,680 --> 00:40:11,359
Speaker 1: sports and things like that. I imagine this is what

717
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:14,640
Speaker 1: it felt like winning the Big Game or something. Finally,

718
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:17,680
Speaker 1: it was amazing. Took first place the egg Toss and

719
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:21,920
Speaker 1: we we number two was this American Life. Yeah, so

720
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,359
Speaker 1: that just made the whole thing that much more astounding. Well,

721
00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:28,960
Speaker 1: NBR had been doing podcast since two thousand five, right,

722
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:32,200
Speaker 1: so like right after podcast became a thing, NBR was doing.

723
00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:35,319
Speaker 1: Although NBR was doing segments of shows, like not even

724
00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:37,680
Speaker 1: full episodes at that point, but they had they had

725
00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:41,320
Speaker 1: had a deep level of experience in that space, whereas

726
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:44,800
Speaker 1: we were the newcomers. In fact, Connal, the person we

727
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:47,719
Speaker 1: mentioned before, had said a few times that we were

728
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:50,319
Speaker 1: late to the game on podcasts. Yeah, which is kind

729
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,319
Speaker 1: of funny now that you know you look at the

730
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:56,960
Speaker 1: podcast industry and how established it. We're pioneers were considered

731
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,160
Speaker 1: pioneers now right, but at the time we were thinking

732
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:01,680
Speaker 1: we were pretty late to it. And it is interesting

733
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:04,400
Speaker 1: to note that podcasting itself has gone through these cycles

734
00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:07,640
Speaker 1: where it gets rediscovered and thus people are like, hey,

735
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:11,040
Speaker 1: podcasts are back. I'm like, I don't mean to quote

736
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:14,000
Speaker 1: L L cool J, but you know I've been here

737
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 1: for years. That's all I'm saying. But a direct quote phrase,

738
00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:24,120
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I like to paraphrase. I like to put

739
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:26,960
Speaker 1: this into my own voice. Yeah, paraphrasing and puns. That's

740
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 1: really the alternate title to tech stuff. So tell me also,

741
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:36,040
Speaker 1: because stuff you should know has been in a great

742
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:38,239
Speaker 1: position where you guys have been able to go to

743
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:42,799
Speaker 1: amazing places and do your show live. Tell me what

744
00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:46,560
Speaker 1: that experience is like for you. It's nuts and neat

745
00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:51,680
Speaker 1: and fun to do um because again, when you're when

746
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:55,120
Speaker 1: you're in the room recording, it's just you know, you

747
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,320
Speaker 1: and the guest and Ramsey. When it's me and Chuck

748
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:01,640
Speaker 1: and Jerry, it's just us. When we do it live,

749
00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 1: it's us. But then there's a bunch of people there

750
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:09,400
Speaker 1: who are laughing and what we're saying, which is amazing

751
00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:11,560
Speaker 1: to to get a laugh out of people or a

752
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:15,600
Speaker 1: gasp is another really satisfying one to UM. So to

753
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 1: get that immediate feedback from people, uh, for us is

754
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:24,759
Speaker 1: really really um just just really gratifying in thrilling too

755
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:27,880
Speaker 1: because a good word to use, but um. It also

756
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:31,799
Speaker 1: is a really unique experience for the listeners who are

757
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:35,320
Speaker 1: coming to the show because normally listening to a podcast

758
00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:40,959
Speaker 1: is a almost always a solitary pursuit. People just listen

759
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,000
Speaker 1: to them with their headphones on and they're the only

760
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:45,719
Speaker 1: ones listening to them, so it's us and them. Now

761
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:47,879
Speaker 1: at a live show, it's us and them and then

762
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,040
Speaker 1: all the other people who it's normally us and them

763
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:54,400
Speaker 1: with and everyone's combined, so they're hearing gasps and laughs

764
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,439
Speaker 1: from people who are laughing with them at the same

765
00:42:57,480 --> 00:42:59,839
Speaker 1: thing at the same time, and it has a really

766
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:04,440
Speaker 1: kind of surreal, I think, um warm, communal feeling for

767
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:07,319
Speaker 1: the people who come to the shows. And we found that,

768
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:09,279
Speaker 1: you know, usually when people come, they come to the

769
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 1: next one and the next one too. Yeah, and podcasting,

770
00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:14,680
Speaker 1: I'm glad you pointed that out because podcasting really is

771
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:18,239
Speaker 1: a very intimate kind of it is production, right, Like

772
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:20,319
Speaker 1: if you go to our shows, it's us sitting at

773
00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:23,120
Speaker 1: a table with a tablecloth on the stage talking into

774
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,120
Speaker 1: mix to to the people in the audience, Like it's

775
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:29,640
Speaker 1: it's extremely intimate. But if you're listening just regularly, I

776
00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:32,640
Speaker 1: mean you're listening to voices talking right into your ears

777
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:36,000
Speaker 1: about whatever the topic may be. Uh, it's that level

778
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:40,000
Speaker 1: of intimacy. I think that has elevated podcasts over certain

779
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:43,360
Speaker 1: other types of media because it feels like the people

780
00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,880
Speaker 1: you're listening to our speaking to you directly. And then

781
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:47,880
Speaker 1: when you go to one of these live events you

782
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 1: realize that there's this communal aspect. I'm glad you use

783
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:55,880
Speaker 1: that word, because I think that also can create bigger responses.

784
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:59,719
Speaker 1: Something that might have made you chuckle softly suddenly your

785
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:02,400
Speaker 1: laugh thing at because you're sharing that with other people

786
00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:05,520
Speaker 1: and you're being your your your response is reinforced by

787
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:09,279
Speaker 1: the responses of other people. Yeah, and and reinforced and

788
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 1: in biggend yes, in bigened and then uh, we we

789
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:16,520
Speaker 1: see that and it's a very perfectly cromulent word. We

790
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,640
Speaker 1: as again as a stage performer, like I've had that

791
00:44:20,719 --> 00:44:23,439
Speaker 1: experience of performing in front of an audience and their

792
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:28,080
Speaker 1: reaction energizes my performance. So you yeah, if you have

793
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:32,120
Speaker 1: a crowd that's not really playing off of what you're doing.

794
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:37,520
Speaker 1: Not only does it not energize you d energy because

795
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:40,000
Speaker 1: you pour more and more of yourself like you will,

796
00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,120
Speaker 1: you will try to fill that like it. It feels

797
00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:44,840
Speaker 1: feels like you're you've got a picture and you're pouring

798
00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:46,840
Speaker 1: water into the picture, but for some reason the picture

799
00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:48,600
Speaker 1: is not filling up. So you're just like, I just

800
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:51,440
Speaker 1: gotta pour more water. And it's that's how it is,

801
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:55,040
Speaker 1: except you're talking about your your energy or performance energy

802
00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:57,439
Speaker 1: as you're trying to do this. You know, No, I've

803
00:44:57,440 --> 00:44:59,360
Speaker 1: performed in front of those crowds too, but but you

804
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:01,960
Speaker 1: get a good out and it's just amazing. Oh yeah,

805
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,160
Speaker 1: like they just booy you like a draft on a

806
00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:08,759
Speaker 1: red balloon. Yes, yes, it's uh, it is, it is.

807
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:10,960
Speaker 1: I was having a Nina moment there with ninety nine

808
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:14,440
Speaker 1: of those red balloons. I was thinking more French movie. Yeah, no,

809
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:18,600
Speaker 1: I I think that's a better visual honestly than the

810
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,759
Speaker 1: than than a than a song that that warns you

811
00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:25,399
Speaker 1: against nuclear war. It was needed at the time it

812
00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:28,319
Speaker 1: was and maybe again, but that's getting off on a

813
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:32,320
Speaker 1: different tangent. So do you have any particular favorite memories

814
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:35,520
Speaker 1: as far as the stuff you should know, podcast goes

815
00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:39,319
Speaker 1: like anything, uh, from whether it's a fan interaction or

816
00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:41,440
Speaker 1: an episode you did. I mean, I know of one

817
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:43,879
Speaker 1: episode that has to be in your top five, which

818
00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:49,080
Speaker 1: was the Necronomicon because that was Yeah, so I wrote

819
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:51,879
Speaker 1: an article about how the Necronomicon works. And Josh, you're

820
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:54,360
Speaker 1: a fan of Lovecraft as well, like you like Lovecraft's works.

821
00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:57,719
Speaker 1: So Josh and Chuck, we're going to record an episode

822
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:00,480
Speaker 1: about the Necronomicon. And this was back when your city

823
00:46:00,520 --> 00:46:03,960
Speaker 1: we were in. Our office was in Buckhead, Atlanta. I

824
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:05,840
Speaker 1: just remember sitting at my desk. I think this was

825
00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:08,359
Speaker 1: still when we were on the fifteenth floor and yeah,

826
00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:11,080
Speaker 1: the original Yeah, the original space. And I remember you

827
00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:12,880
Speaker 1: would come by and you tap me on the shoulder

828
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:16,359
Speaker 1: and you're like, hey, hey, Strick, how do you say

829
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:18,520
Speaker 1: the name of the guy who wrote the Necronomic And

830
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:20,920
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, the mad arab abduell L has reads

831
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:23,200
Speaker 1: like thanks, thanks, and I'd say like three times and

832
00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:26,200
Speaker 1: they go away, and then like maybe three minutes later,

833
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:29,960
Speaker 1: you can hey, Strick, what's the place where Cathula lies dreaming? Like, oh,

834
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:32,920
Speaker 1: that's real? Yeah, yeah, real, yea as our apostrophe a

835
00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:38,000
Speaker 1: L Yeah, And I said, well, you know, there's differing

836
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:40,600
Speaker 1: opinions upon it, but the Lovecraft himself says that the

837
00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:43,640
Speaker 1: human tongue is incapable of actually pronouncing it. So really,

838
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:45,920
Speaker 1: you're you've got a lot of leeway. And eventually he

839
00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:49,040
Speaker 1: Josh comes back and tells me on the showers, Hey,

840
00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:52,319
Speaker 1: just come into the studio. And that's how I ended

841
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:54,640
Speaker 1: up being on an episode of stuff you should know. Yeah,

842
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:57,680
Speaker 1: I still do stay And I'm impressed by that because

843
00:46:57,719 --> 00:47:00,120
Speaker 1: I think God knows what you're working on, probably an

844
00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:03,440
Speaker 1: update about how the iPod works or something, because you

845
00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:06,360
Speaker 1: know they just released the second one that month or something. Yeah,

846
00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:09,960
Speaker 1: and um, you just stopped, stood up, came into the

847
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:14,640
Speaker 1: studio and spent thirty minutes talking totally without zero, with

848
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:17,799
Speaker 1: zero preparation, totally off the top of your head, but

849
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:23,399
Speaker 1: with full authority about Lovecraft and and his mythos, and um,

850
00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:26,680
Speaker 1: it was quite impressive. I would direct anybody to go

851
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:28,759
Speaker 1: listen to that episode, whether you're interested in that kind

852
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:32,520
Speaker 1: of thing or not, just with the knowledge that you

853
00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:36,440
Speaker 1: had no forewarning that you were going to be coming

854
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:38,640
Speaker 1: in recording right then, and that was it, Like that

855
00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:41,080
Speaker 1: was the first take that we did. There there maybe

856
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:43,600
Speaker 1: a dozen topics out there that I could pull that

857
00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:45,960
Speaker 1: off with. Lovecraft just happened to be one of them.

858
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:48,920
Speaker 1: So it was. It was a good It was a

859
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:54,960
Speaker 1: good uh alignment of the planets for that particular situation. Uh,

860
00:47:55,200 --> 00:47:57,560
Speaker 1: let me ask you about Let you know, we alluded

861
00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:02,840
Speaker 1: to some some changes over time in the scrutiny area

862
00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:06,200
Speaker 1: of podcasts, and uh, I think it's good to talk

863
00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:08,600
Speaker 1: about that too. And I mentioned it. I'm sure I

864
00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:11,400
Speaker 1: say this because I'm recording this before I record the

865
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:16,440
Speaker 1: actual website section, which will publish before this, But I'm

866
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:19,040
Speaker 1: sure I mentioned about the evolution of ownership of how

867
00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:21,560
Speaker 1: stuff works. How Stuff works after it was part of

868
00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:26,520
Speaker 1: Comics Group got sold to Discovery Communications. Discovery Communications had

869
00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:30,000
Speaker 1: a slightly different approach of some cases, a dramatically different

870
00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:34,759
Speaker 1: approach to uh, keeping an eye on and sometimes guiding

871
00:48:35,480 --> 00:48:40,400
Speaker 1: the content of certain podcasts. I assume stuff you should

872
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:43,040
Speaker 1: know had to do a Shark week episode at some point.

873
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:46,719
Speaker 1: We did. We did a few Shark episodes and and uh, yeah,

874
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:49,200
Speaker 1: first you kind of bristled at that thing. But one

875
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:53,480
Speaker 1: thing that we learned was Um, when you, uh, when

876
00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:55,720
Speaker 1: you get a shark week assignment, you turn it into

877
00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:59,719
Speaker 1: some great shark episodes. Yeah, now they're I agree that

878
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:02,600
Speaker 1: there were definitely that initial reaction of like, oh, I'm

879
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:05,799
Speaker 1: not so sure I'm cool with having to you know

880
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:07,799
Speaker 1: now that I'm because I've been so used to being

881
00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:10,760
Speaker 1: able to dictate what goes on my show. That's something

882
00:49:10,800 --> 00:49:12,759
Speaker 1: I don't think a lot of people realize is that,

883
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:16,960
Speaker 1: like we all basically had total creative control over our

884
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:20,719
Speaker 1: own shows. Like we choose the topics, we decide what

885
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:24,640
Speaker 1: goes in, we decide what comes out, we decide um,

886
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:29,399
Speaker 1: the tone, the the you know, the language that's used,

887
00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:32,839
Speaker 1: like like we yeah, it's it's the Like. That's one

888
00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:35,000
Speaker 1: thing that this company has always been great about is

889
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:38,880
Speaker 1: giving the creators creative control. And so so, yeah, when

890
00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:46,200
Speaker 1: when we were kind of given a suggestion that you know,

891
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:48,680
Speaker 1: shark weeds coming up, don't you think the podcast should

892
00:49:48,719 --> 00:49:52,080
Speaker 1: all do some something that has to do with sharks. Um, Yeah,

893
00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:54,839
Speaker 1: it could cause a little bit of bristling, but that

894
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:59,120
Speaker 1: was that was it. And and uh, you know, I

895
00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:01,040
Speaker 1: think most people we listen to stuff you should know. No,

896
00:50:01,239 --> 00:50:04,280
Speaker 1: I'm not much of a corporate apologist. But that really

897
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:08,399
Speaker 1: was the extent of of the mandate, or it could

898
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:13,520
Speaker 1: have been much much more. So what's cool about it

899
00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:16,880
Speaker 1: is that every single show that did something on sharks,

900
00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:20,840
Speaker 1: um did something really cool about sharks. And I would

901
00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:25,520
Speaker 1: direct you to stuff you should knows. Shark Diaries episode, Yeah,

902
00:50:25,760 --> 00:50:30,480
Speaker 1: Chuck put together and wrote and directed and yeah, a

903
00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:34,839
Speaker 1: lot of the other hosts did voice acting. Um and

904
00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:37,560
Speaker 1: uh it's it's one of this. It was like a

905
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:41,080
Speaker 1: radio play basically, but it was all based on historical

906
00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:44,080
Speaker 1: fact about these shark attacks in like, um, New Jersey,

907
00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:46,640
Speaker 1: I think maybe nineteen sixteen or something like that. It

908
00:50:46,719 --> 00:50:51,640
Speaker 1: was some of the stuff that inspired Jaws, right, yeah, um,

909
00:50:51,719 --> 00:50:54,600
Speaker 1: so it turned out to just be this really neat

910
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:58,040
Speaker 1: interesting episode that we otherwise never would have done. Yeah.

911
00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:00,480
Speaker 1: I I was one of the voices in that. I

912
00:51:00,480 --> 00:51:03,680
Speaker 1: remember doing that, yeah, the tech stuff episode for that

913
00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:07,319
Speaker 1: first one, because we Chris and I really struggled because

914
00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:09,520
Speaker 1: there's not so many, so many pieces of tech that

915
00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:11,480
Speaker 1: we could do what you guys do. We ended up

916
00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:16,000
Speaker 1: doing Bruce the shark in Jaws. So we talked about that. Well.

917
00:51:16,719 --> 00:51:19,080
Speaker 1: Apart from those little moments that I mean, there were

918
00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:21,880
Speaker 1: some restrictions on tech stuff, but that was largely because

919
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:24,680
Speaker 1: we were working for a company that had a big

920
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:29,040
Speaker 1: interest in cable, so a lot of those topics were

921
00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:33,720
Speaker 1: we were gently guided away from covering because of conflict

922
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:36,120
Speaker 1: of interest and that which makes some sense. It made

923
00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:39,600
Speaker 1: it a little complicated to talk about certain topics, but

924
00:51:39,640 --> 00:51:42,520
Speaker 1: we did our best um And obviously we've gone through

925
00:51:42,560 --> 00:51:44,560
Speaker 1: a couple of changes since then, but I would say

926
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:47,680
Speaker 1: that the Discovery era was probably the only one where

927
00:51:47,719 --> 00:51:52,920
Speaker 1: I felt like there was even a small amount of

928
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:56,920
Speaker 1: of corporate oversight in that sense, like and even then again,

929
00:51:56,960 --> 00:52:01,279
Speaker 1: it wasn't that restrictive guy a TV show out of it,

930
00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:03,799
Speaker 1: That's true. I remember we were doing a lot of

931
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:07,880
Speaker 1: ads for like national brands at the time, too, is it. Yeah?

932
00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:11,400
Speaker 1: I remember thinking as I watched the pilot episode of that,

933
00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:15,080
Speaker 1: and I watched your your Nemesis character on there, I thought,

934
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:18,279
Speaker 1: who did they model this after? Or is this just

935
00:52:18,440 --> 00:52:20,960
Speaker 1: totally fictional? Because I have a feeling that every single

936
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:24,240
Speaker 1: other podcaster in this room is thinking, is that supposed

937
00:52:24,239 --> 00:52:27,640
Speaker 1: to be me? Yeah? I'll never tell all right, that's fair.

938
00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:29,920
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna grow you on that

939
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:31,680
Speaker 1: I mean that to me is something that needs to

940
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:35,120
Speaker 1: be revealed on your show, not mine. I also I

941
00:52:35,160 --> 00:52:38,120
Speaker 1: had I got to be one of the extras in

942
00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:40,719
Speaker 1: one of the episodes. Did Yeah. I got to walk

943
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:44,640
Speaker 1: down the hallway and talk to actors I know personally

944
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:47,719
Speaker 1: who were pretending to be my co workers in a

945
00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:51,960
Speaker 1: fictional office setting. It was bizarre. Yeah, but that walk

946
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:54,600
Speaker 1: was one of the best. I really thought it was great.

947
00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:56,560
Speaker 1: I was so sad that it. I don't think it

948
00:52:56,640 --> 00:52:59,600
Speaker 1: made it into the show, but I thought it did.

949
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:01,360
Speaker 1: Maybe it did. You know what, I'm gonna have to

950
00:53:01,400 --> 00:53:04,319
Speaker 1: go back and watch him now like every week, you know,

951
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:11,080
Speaker 1: I blush. Uh. So these days, of course, we've got,

952
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:15,480
Speaker 1: you know, more things in production than ever before. We

953
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:17,560
Speaker 1: have a lot more shows that have come out. I mean,

954
00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:20,360
Speaker 1: there's been some podcasts that have come and gone since

955
00:53:20,360 --> 00:53:22,799
Speaker 1: we started. There's some that I wish could come back

956
00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:25,240
Speaker 1: in some form. I still miss stuff from the b Sides.

957
00:53:25,239 --> 00:53:27,200
Speaker 1: That was one of my favorites. Yeah, that's how everybody's

958
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:29,919
Speaker 1: going to for one that just got canceled because of

959
00:53:30,080 --> 00:53:32,560
Speaker 1: not enough ears. But it was a great show between

960
00:53:32,840 --> 00:53:37,080
Speaker 1: Chuck and John Fuller. Yeah, they were it was like

961
00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:40,719
Speaker 1: a just music talk. Basically, it was fantastic and we've

962
00:53:40,719 --> 00:53:43,919
Speaker 1: got some other new ones coming out soon. We've got

963
00:53:43,960 --> 00:53:45,919
Speaker 1: stuff that's in development that we can't really talk about

964
00:53:46,040 --> 00:53:49,880
Speaker 1: yet because it's it's still in various stages and hasn't

965
00:53:49,960 --> 00:53:53,640
Speaker 1: yet gone live. But I do highly recommend everybody listen

966
00:53:54,200 --> 00:53:56,520
Speaker 1: and pay attention because we've got to have some new

967
00:53:56,560 --> 00:53:58,879
Speaker 1: shows coming out that some of them have been coming

968
00:53:58,880 --> 00:54:02,080
Speaker 1: out over the over the course of Part Time Genius,

969
00:54:02,760 --> 00:54:05,200
Speaker 1: but where you're going to have a lot more of those. Well,

970
00:54:05,239 --> 00:54:07,480
Speaker 1: you know, Chuck's got a new show out. Yeah, it's

971
00:54:07,480 --> 00:54:09,759
Speaker 1: just launching, Well it will have launched by the time

972
00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:13,080
Speaker 1: this comes out about It's called Movie Crush, and um,

973
00:54:13,880 --> 00:54:20,240
Speaker 1: it's him interviewing famous people about what their favorite movie

974
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:23,760
Speaker 1: is and through that he kind of like he uses

975
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:26,880
Speaker 1: that as a pretext to find out about them, the people,

976
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:30,480
Speaker 1: the person. Yeah, and um, he's had I think he

977
00:54:30,560 --> 00:54:33,799
Speaker 1: started out with Janet Varney Tagnitaro. I don't know if

978
00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:36,359
Speaker 1: he's announcing who else, but from what I understand, there's

979
00:54:36,360 --> 00:54:39,479
Speaker 1: some like it's going to be a pretty cool interview show.

980
00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:43,120
Speaker 1: We've seen a few famous faces passed through the Hell

981
00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:46,479
Speaker 1: Stuff Works office over the last few weeks, including ties

982
00:54:46,520 --> 00:54:49,560
Speaker 1: where I was recording in here, seeing famous faces pass

983
00:54:49,600 --> 00:54:52,640
Speaker 1: in front of the podcast studio and having to keep

984
00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:59,560
Speaker 1: my cool, maintain maintain radio professionalism. Yeah, so we obviously,

985
00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:02,960
Speaker 1: oh An and I have a show coming out. Oh

986
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:05,320
Speaker 1: I didn't know if it was ready to be talked about,

987
00:55:05,520 --> 00:55:06,759
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to say I have a show

988
00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:10,439
Speaker 1: coming out. To look for it in January February, and

989
00:55:10,760 --> 00:55:13,080
Speaker 1: hopefully I'll knock everybody stucks off. I have a show

990
00:55:13,120 --> 00:55:14,960
Speaker 1: that's in the pitch process, but who knows if he'll

991
00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:18,880
Speaker 1: go any further than that. We have anything coming from you.

992
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:22,799
Speaker 1: Strick is dynamite. Man, there's so much. Can I just

993
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:24,920
Speaker 1: take a second here, Yeah, I just want to tell you,

994
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:30,719
Speaker 1: quite sincerely, congratulations on nine episodes you've gone through. You've

995
00:55:30,760 --> 00:55:34,879
Speaker 1: had several hosts, and then when you were fresh out

996
00:55:34,880 --> 00:55:38,719
Speaker 1: of hosts, you just kept going by yourself, on your own,

997
00:55:38,760 --> 00:55:41,319
Speaker 1: you know, with the help of producers of course the

998
00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:45,360
Speaker 1: great Ramsey who's helping you now. But you have carried

999
00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:48,359
Speaker 1: this brand and built it and grown it and kept

1000
00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:52,880
Speaker 1: this this loyal audience for all these years. And my

1001
00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:56,040
Speaker 1: hat is off to you with with a tremendous amount

1002
00:55:56,080 --> 00:55:58,840
Speaker 1: of respect I say, congratulations, thank you so much, Josh.

1003
00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:00,879
Speaker 1: That means a lot. That means a h I really

1004
00:56:00,920 --> 00:56:06,120
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Uh. And obviously the producers and my listeners. UH,

1005
00:56:06,160 --> 00:56:08,680
Speaker 1: they're the reason why this show really keeps going, and

1006
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:11,799
Speaker 1: I'm just very thankful to be able to do it

1007
00:56:11,960 --> 00:56:15,719
Speaker 1: every week. There might be some weeks where I'm going

1008
00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:18,200
Speaker 1: to be recording on a Wednesday and it's Tuesday afternoon

1009
00:56:18,239 --> 00:56:19,680
Speaker 1: and I'm still not really sure what I'm going to

1010
00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:21,560
Speaker 1: talk about, and I'm beating myself up because i know

1011
00:56:21,600 --> 00:56:23,239
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to do a lot of research in

1012
00:56:23,280 --> 00:56:25,280
Speaker 1: a short amount of time. But there are other weeks

1013
00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:28,000
Speaker 1: where you know, I I've just I feel great, I've

1014
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:31,640
Speaker 1: got like tons of research. Sometimes the best feeling in

1015
00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:34,520
Speaker 1: the world is when I get messages from people who say,

1016
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:37,440
Speaker 1: I want you to talk more about this thing that

1017
00:56:37,480 --> 00:56:40,759
Speaker 1: you mentioned, Because to me, that's saying that thing you're

1018
00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:42,840
Speaker 1: doing that you love to do, could you please do

1019
00:56:42,920 --> 00:56:46,319
Speaker 1: that more. That's the best request you can never get.

1020
00:56:46,600 --> 00:56:48,560
Speaker 1: Right If if anyone says I love your show but

1021
00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:50,960
Speaker 1: it's too short, it's the best complaint in the world

1022
00:56:51,320 --> 00:56:52,799
Speaker 1: because it says I love what you do and I

1023
00:56:52,840 --> 00:56:55,319
Speaker 1: want you to do more of it. Um, there's just

1024
00:56:55,360 --> 00:56:58,239
Speaker 1: so many hours in a week, so we're giving a

1025
00:56:58,280 --> 00:57:01,520
Speaker 1: lot and we want to keep living. But eventually we

1026
00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:03,680
Speaker 1: get to a point where, if you know spoon theory,

1027
00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:07,440
Speaker 1: we run out of spoons. So just keep that in mind, guys.

1028
00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:09,200
Speaker 1: But we're gonna keep We're gonna keep going to the

1029
00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:11,800
Speaker 1: spoon store for you guys, as much as we can. Josh,

1030
00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:14,800
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate

1031
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:18,080
Speaker 1: you taking the time to talk about your experiences at

1032
00:57:18,080 --> 00:57:20,960
Speaker 1: stuff you should know as well as everything helps. We

1033
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:24,400
Speaker 1: have both done here at How Stuff Works, and I

1034
00:57:24,440 --> 00:57:28,960
Speaker 1: wish you tons of success and a thousand more amazing episodes.

1035
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:31,520
Speaker 1: I can't wait to hear what episode two thousand is about.

1036
00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:43,320
Speaker 1: Thanks buddy. All Right, Well that's it for episode nine one,

1037
00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:46,800
Speaker 1: Part two of the How Stuff Works story. Clearly I

1038
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:49,760
Speaker 1: could have got into a lot more detail, but I

1039
00:57:49,800 --> 00:57:53,000
Speaker 1: didn't want it to become too self serving. But it

1040
00:57:53,200 --> 00:57:56,200
Speaker 1: is really a phenomenal place to work both as a

1041
00:57:56,280 --> 00:58:01,959
Speaker 1: writer and a podcaster. Everyone here does amazing work. They

1042
00:58:02,120 --> 00:58:05,040
Speaker 1: are all experts in their various fields, and they know

1043
00:58:05,240 --> 00:58:08,880
Speaker 1: so much about so many things. It is a joy

1044
00:58:08,960 --> 00:58:11,520
Speaker 1: to come here and work, whether it's too podcast or

1045
00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:14,880
Speaker 1: two you know, sabotage someone else's work, as I have

1046
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:17,640
Speaker 1: been known to do upon occasion. If you are not

1047
00:58:17,680 --> 00:58:20,560
Speaker 1: familiar with some of the podcasts that I've mentioned in

1048
00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:23,600
Speaker 1: this episode, I highly recommend you go check out some

1049
00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:25,440
Speaker 1: of them. If there are any that I mentioned that

1050
00:58:25,480 --> 00:58:27,480
Speaker 1: you thought I didn't even know they had ever done that,

1051
00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:29,800
Speaker 1: go check it out. If you go and listen to

1052
00:58:29,840 --> 00:58:31,920
Speaker 1: Stuff from the B Side and you think that was

1053
00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:35,400
Speaker 1: an amazing show, bring it back. You should tell people

1054
00:58:35,640 --> 00:58:40,240
Speaker 1: because then it might happen. But that's true for all

1055
00:58:40,280 --> 00:58:42,680
Speaker 1: the different shows that we've done, and you never know,

1056
00:58:42,920 --> 00:58:46,080
Speaker 1: you might find out that the next podcast you download

1057
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:49,200
Speaker 1: becomes your brand new second favorite. Because you've got a

1058
00:58:49,280 --> 00:58:52,680
Speaker 1: reserve first place for me. I do not give it

1059
00:58:52,800 --> 00:58:55,560
Speaker 1: up willingly. All right, Well, if you guys have any

1060
00:58:55,600 --> 00:58:58,880
Speaker 1: suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, whether it is

1061
00:58:58,920 --> 00:59:02,480
Speaker 1: a famous person in tech, a company, a technology anything

1062
00:59:02,520 --> 00:59:05,000
Speaker 1: along those lines, or maybe you have a specific guest

1063
00:59:05,040 --> 00:59:08,160
Speaker 1: host or interview subject that you think I should have

1064
00:59:08,160 --> 00:59:10,880
Speaker 1: on the show, let me know. Send me an email.

1065
00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:14,280
Speaker 1: The address is tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com,

1066
00:59:14,400 --> 00:59:17,000
Speaker 1: or draw me a line on Twitter or Facebook the

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Speaker 1: handle there's tech Stuff hs W. You can also find

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Speaker 1: us over on Instagram at tech stuff hs W. If

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Speaker 1: you have not checked that out, you need to. Crystal

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00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:28,560
Speaker 1: is doing amazing work with that. And you can also

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Speaker 1: watch me record this show live, stumbling my way through

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00:59:32,120 --> 00:59:35,200
Speaker 1: the world of technology, one paragraph at a time at

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Speaker 1: twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff. We've got a chat

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Speaker 1: room over there. You can join in there have a

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Speaker 1: grand old time. I also love to chat with everybody

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00:59:43,800 --> 00:59:46,480
Speaker 1: who's there, and I hope to see there. We record

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00:59:46,520 --> 00:59:49,960
Speaker 1: on Wednesdays and Friday's typically. You can find the recording

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00:59:50,000 --> 00:59:53,400
Speaker 1: schedule at the website Twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff

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Speaker 1: and I will talk to you again really soon for

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01:00:02,840 --> 01:00:05,200
Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics because at

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Speaker 1: our stuff works dot com