Stuff You Should Know

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Showing 20 · updated from the feed

Stand-Up Pt II

#6 trending · Society & Culture

The SYSK boys continue the episode on stand-up comedy in part two, placing it in the rarefied company of other two-parters like Evel Knievel, the Hoover Dam, and the Trai

Oct 8
48 min

Short Stuff: The Style Cycle

Why do clothing styles get stale and then come back into fashion? Listen in to find out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 7
13 min

Stand-Up Comedy Pt I

#30 trending · Society & Culture

Chuck and Josh do their best to tackle “the craft,” which most normal people call stand-up comedy. Stand-up dates back to the vaudeville days but it really started to tak

Oct 6
45 min

Selects: How Bras Work

Bras are loved and hated, sometimes at the same time. But as difficult and restrictive as they can be, they rescued women from a much cruel contraption: corsets. The ques

Oct 3
53 min

Let's Thank Universal Pictures for Monster Movies!

Basically everything you think of when you think of vampires, mummies, werewolves, and Frankenstein all come from a spate of films made in the 1930s, and every one of the

Oct 1
43 min

Short Stuff: The Retirement Curse

Is retirement bad for your health? Well it certainly can be if you don't take steps to prevent it. Listen in to learn more about the "retirement curse." See omnystudio.c

Sep 30
12 min

A Good Walk Ruined: The History of Golf

The history of golf is a bit muddled, but once it was truly born in Scotland, it started the beginning of lifelong obsessions for people dumb enough to pick up a club and

Sep 29
50 min

Selects: Wetlands! Wetlands! Wetlands!

It’s time to get jazzed up for some Earth science of the waterlogged variety. Join Chuck and Josh in this classic episode as they tour some of the most interesting ecosys

Sep 26
46 min

Introducing 3 Putt Bogey

3 Putt Bogey is a golf podcast hosted by Chuck Bryant and Adam Pranica, two mid handicappers who are just good enough to know exactly how bad they still are. The name say

Sep 26
2 min

Emily Post: Ettiquette Queen

In today's episode, we detail the life and times of ettiquette queen Emily Post. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 24
41 min

Short Stuff: Mabon

Mabon is often called the Pagan Thanksgiving but though it seems like it’s as ancient as Halloween, it’s actually only around 50 years old. But, pagan or not, it’s a gre

Sep 23
11 min

Our Big Fat Dream Episode

No you’re no dreaming – go ahead, pinch yourself – we’ve finally made an episode on dreams! We’ve done episodes on lucid dreaming, night terrors, sleepwalking, sleep para

Sep 22
49 min

Selects: Fallout Shelters: Probably Useless (Let’s Never Find Out)

The advent of nuclear weapons and the Cold War kicked off a craze in the US for building rec rooms with foot-thick reinforced walls and outfitted with survival rations an

Sep 19
47 min

SYSK Gets Weird Playlist: What is Collective Hysteria?

Throughout the history of the world, there have been many cases of what is known as collective hysteria - groups of people, usually young women, who all exhibit the same

Sep 18
42 min

SYSK Gets Weird Playlist: What was the Philadelphia Experiment?

The Philadelphia Experiment is a bad movie from the 1980s, and also the conspiracy theory that refuses to die, despite virtually zero evidence of its occurrence. Learn al

Sep 18
48 min

SYSK Gets Weird Playlist: Mermaids: Not a real thing

Mermaids aren't real. That much we know. But the history and lore of these magical and sometimes menacing creatures of the sea is pretty interesting stuff. Learn all abou

Sep 18
41 min

SYSK Gets Weird Playlist: Will We Find Evidence of Aliens by Their Engineering Projects?

In 1960 physicist Freeman Dyson suggested that in the hunt for alien life, we should search for evidence of massive engineering projects that encapsulate stars with solar

Sep 18
45 min

SYSK Gets Weird Playlist: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste

When the Mary Celeste was discovered floating and abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean one day in 1872, the legend of the ghost ship was born. Why did the Mary C

Sep 18
1 h 01 min

SYSK Gets Weird Playlist: The Max Headroom Incident

In 1987, a very strange broadcast intrusion occurred in the city of Chicago. For just a couple of minutes, the odd TV character Max Headroom appeared onscreen in the midd

Sep 18
47 min

SYSK Gets Weird Playlist: Dragons: As Real as Mermaids

Dragons are like mermaids in that they're not real. And that's about where the comparison ends. Learn all about dragons today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in

Sep 18
40 min

Chart trend

Position in the overall Apple Podcasts chart (US), last 90 days.

#1#34#66JulAugSepOct

all-time peak

days in the top 10 since Nov 2024

Chart positions

Where Stuff You Should Know ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 9, 2026).

#32 ▲ 9 All Podcasts US

#4 ▲ 1 Society & Culture US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

So the first episode of the Iran Contra affair (“Shady in the 80s”) got something wrong. The claim was made that the Sandinistas ran the country since the 1930s. In fact the Somoza regime were in charge until the late 1970s, when the Sandinista revolution occurred. An entertaining listen but some critical facts were wrong.

B Zack · Sep 2026

This has been a longstanding podcast in my rotation. Reliably interesting, entertaining, and the hosts are understated and funny. But it was today, when Josh explained why satire might be bad for society (where is he going with this?) that compelled me to write a review. More pet theories!!

SummerOfLuv · Aug 2026

This was the first podcast I started listening to in 2011. Some of the topics I have no interest in when I start it and end up always surprised at how informative and interesting they can make any topic. Feels like tuning into good friends. Love the banter and any side quest the episode brings. Always my number 1 recommendation for podcasts.

RadTech1983 · Aug 2026

Josh and Chuck are the best! Still not totally convinced Jerry is real 😉 They breakdown and explain a multitude of topics, or as I like to put it, “stuff you should know“. All of these episodes are super interesting and explain topics I never would’ve known I was interested in. I listen to them religiously.

Xblanc · Aug 2026

I used to love this podcast since day one but it’s inundated with so many ads now that I spend more time hitting skip than I do listening. Every 10 min there are 15 mins worth of ads, it’s ridiculous. I can’t keep listening to this.

LoHa Street · Oct 2024

This pod is my regular listen, I can always count on new episodes and some interesting content. For the younger crowd (me) - it can get a bit boring during some of the host’s tangents, as they are all references to old guy bands and culture, but usually still good vibes all around. My main criticism is that although they are usually pretty with the times, they can be a bit sexist (and racist) - for example they always make sure to caveat anecdotes in episodes featuring historical women as “probably not true, or could be made up” but for men they usually just say “wow this guy is so amazing!” (see the latest episode on Grand Canyon explorer who they took anecdotal stories told about him as face value). They also sometimes go overboard trying to excuse racist behavior as “a sign of the times” for historical figures in some episodes (see the latest episode about Dr. Suess. Like, we know it was a long time ago, that doesn’t make it not racist…). Overall I would recommend this podcast to most of my friends.

carnivore59 · Jan 2024

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