I try my best to fill my brain with woke voices dissecting current events, but when I need to catch my breath and quiet my rage, I turn to a couple of decent, left-leaning, self-effacing American podcasters who talk about – stuff. A gloriously random cornucopia of stuff.
Those podcasters are Charles W. “Chuck” Bryant and Josh Clark, and their podcast is Stuff You Should Know (SYSK to longtime fans). SYSK has been one of the top-rated podcasts on the iTunes charts since the early days of the medium (those long-ago pioneer days of 2008). Nearly 1000 episodes have been released under the SYSK banner, each one dealing with some random topic that Chuck and Josh think listeners should know about, like toilet paper, scabies, frogs, breastfeeding, elevators, make-up, fireplaces, and pizza.
Chuck and Josh (given the amount of time they spend in my ear buds, we’re on a first-name basis; also, their names are verbs) record the bulk of their podcasts in Atlanta – they’re part of the How Stuff Works family, where their sibling-podcasts Stuff Mom Never Told You, Stuff You Missed in History Class, and Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know are similarly binge-worthy, although given their areas of focus, not always a suitable distraction from all the scary shit going on in the world – but they occasionally take their show on the road to discuss an array of stuff in front of live audiences, and they’re doing just that at the Vogue Theatre this Tuesday.
Chuck and Josh seem genuinely interested in whatever they’re talking about (if you doubt this, give their episode entitled How Grass Works? Yes, How Grass Works a listen). The topic for the Vancouver show has yet to be announced, but if it's anything like their 950+ other shows, you're going to learn something – maybe not something that you should know, but something that will interest you, entertain you, sustain you, and serve as useful dinner party factoids.
To prepare for Chuck and Josh’s triumphant return to Vancouver (they previously performed a show at the Rickshaw in 2014), here are 11 of my favourite Stuff You Should Know episodes.
Why Are So Many Disembodied Feet Washing Ashore in British Columbia?
The Great Nuclear Winter Debate of 1983
What Would Happen If the World Stopped Spinning?
Josh and Chuck Make It Through Male Puberty
The Time Nazis Invaded Florida
Live from San Francisco: How Malls Work
Stuff You Should Know Live takes place at the Vogue Theatre on Tuesday, September 26. Tickets at SYSKLive.com.
