Recent Episodes
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CLASSIC: The Man Who Assassinated Abe Lincoln's Assassin
Apr 19, 2025 – 34:56 -
Paul Is Dead, Part Two: Welcome to the Walrus
Apr 17, 2025 – 45:09 -
Paul Is Dead, Part One: The Beatles versus MI5
Apr 15, 2025 – 50:46 -
CLASSIC: The Cock Lane Ghost: Haunting, Hoax, Hysteria… or Hilarious?
Apr 12, 2025 – 39:34 -
CLASSIC: Roland the Farter and the Weird World of Professional Flatulence
Apr 10, 2025 – 34:32 -
CLASSIC: Gregor MacGregor Invented a Country and Convinced People to Invest in It
Apr 8, 2025 – 57:05 -
CLASSIC: Angry Feds and Deadly Booze: The Story of the Chemists' War
Apr 5, 2025 – 29:24 -
We're Late for the April Fools' Episode
Apr 3, 2025 – 42:58 -
The Ridiculous History of Vending Machines
Apr 1, 2025 – 01:02:21 -
CLASSIC: Fanny and Stella: The Cross-Dressing Scandal of Victorian England
Mar 29, 2025 – 36:13 -
Badass of the Week, with Ben Thompson - Part 2: the Battle of Karánsebes
Mar 27, 2025 – 43:31 -
Badass of the Week, with Ben Thompson - Part 1: History's Most Ridiculous Friendly-fire Incident
Mar 25, 2025 – 37:13 -
CLASSIC: That Time Kansas Imprisoned Women For Having STDs
Mar 22, 2025 – 30:59 -
A Ridiculous History of Processed Cheese
Mar 20, 2025 – 32:21 -
The Darién Gap, or: the Real Reason Scotland Lost Its Independence
Mar 18, 2025 – 39:27 -
CLASSIC: Oregon Was a White Supremacist Paradise
Mar 15, 2025 – 43:33 -
Apple Versus Apple: The Beatles' Decades-long IP War
Mar 13, 2025 – 38:13 -
Ancient Wonders of the Modern World: The (Alleged) Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Mar 11, 2025 – 40:38 -
CLASSIC: Project A119: The Cold War Plan to Nuke the Moon!
Mar 8, 2025 – 30:08 -
The US Camel Corps, Part Two: The Legend of the Red Ghost
Mar 6, 2025 – 49:30 -
The US Camel Corps, Part One: Several People With A Really Weird Dream
Mar 4, 2025 – 46:23 -
CLASSIC: Adidas Versus Puma: A Tale of Two Brothers
Mar 1, 2025 – 45:45 -
CLASSIC: The WWII Naval Battle Won Using Potatoes
Feb 27, 2025 – 33:34 -
CLASSIC: The Korean Soldier Who Fought for 3 Armies During WWII
Feb 25, 2025 – 23:57 -
CLASSIC: Philadelphia's Transylvanian Doomsday Cult: The Cave of Kelpius
Feb 22, 2025 – 45:44 -
CLASSIC: Weird Wars Fought For Dumb Reasons
Feb 20, 2025 – 44:44 -
CLASSIC: The FBI's Quest to Understand "Louie, Louie"
Feb 18, 2025 – 47:12 -
CLASSIC: The Time a Soviet Premier Was Banned From Disneyland
Feb 15, 2025 – 43:54 -
That Time Japan Absolutely Rinsed Russia, Part Two: The Togo Turn
Feb 13, 2025 – 38:01 -
That Time Japan Absolutely Rinsed Russia, Part One: The Race For Manchuria
Feb 11, 2025 – 35:24 -
CLASSIC: Kidnapping, Binge Drinking and Costumes: Voter Fraud in the 1800s
Feb 8, 2025 – 33:59 -
Victorians Got Super Weird With Flirting, Part Two: Courtship and Calling Cards
Feb 6, 2025 – 37:10 -
Victorians Got Super Weird With Flirting, Part One: "Fan Fiction"
Feb 4, 2025 – 41:26 -
Why did people hate the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge?
Feb 1, 2025 – 31:30 -
First Ladies Who Weren't Wives, Part One: The Niece Will Have To Do
Jan 30, 2025 – 40:38 -
Some of History's Funniest Honorifics, Part One: The Babymaker, the Debauchee, and More
Jan 28, 2025 – 39:44 -
IP, Part Two: The Baffling World of Trademarks
Jan 23, 2025 – 49:33 -
A Ton of Inventors Died Due To Their Own Inventions, Chapter Two: Li Si and the Five Pains
Jan 22, 2025 – 36:42 -
CLASSIC: The 1904 Racist Summer Olympic Games in St. Louis
Jan 18, 2025 – 33:34 -
The Ridiculously Ambitious History of the World's Fair, Part Two: Things Don't Always Work Out
Jan 16, 2025 – 44:53 -
The Ridiculously Ambitious History of the World's Fair, Part One: A Crazy Plan, and Crazy Success
Jan 14, 2025 – 47:17 -
CLASSIC: Why British Soccer Players Saluted the Nazis
Jan 11, 2025 – 40:44 -
How Dogs Went Domestic, Part Two: Yes, Dogs Know What You're Thinking
Jan 9, 2025 – 51:22 -
How Dogs Went Domestic, Part One: Classic Rom-Com
Jan 7, 2025 – 52:31 -
CLASSIC: Why don't Americans use bidets?
Jan 4, 2025 – 32:56 -
CLASSIC: The Earliest Recorded Mooning Killed Thousands
Jan 2, 2025 – 37:26 -
The Story of Claudette Colvin, with Nimene Wureh
Dec 31, 2024 – 40:56 -
Big Parma
Dec 11, 2024 – 40:30 -
Whatever Happened to Mac Tonight?
Dec 26, 2024 – 47:00 -
CLASSIC: How did Fido become the default name for dogs?
Dec 28, 2024 – 39:15
Recent Reviews
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J ClamPaul is the dead manWhen I was on college radio in Athens, Ga. (WUOG) when Paul was “dead” was big news…I threw the turntable in neutral and played the white album backwards and you really do hear, “Paul is the dead man, turn me on deadman”. Seriously. Not positive it was white. I did a show called “anthologies” where I played all the bands’s albums. I’m old now but audience and myself could hear and understand it. We weren’t high. Well maybe.
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Alex1050Just commercialsThis feels like a series of commercials interspersed with occasional podcast content
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Dudly825SOOO many adsThe content is fine but 45% of the podcast is advertisements. Way more than other shows. Unfollowed.
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Knope24One star is too many.Pretentious hosts, annoying producer, way too many ads. Three strikes.
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DeadzaRidiculous Ads3+ commercials in a 30 minute show with 10min spent actually in topic? Nippity Boppity NOPE
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DatophatcatGood showOne hundred percent the best podcast ever made!
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A good person manCoolNeat
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lilreegsFunFun
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G high forgiving uhhhhhjyhhhgWho is GABE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Can you answer my question and also can you put this comment on your next podcast?
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CeeEhhEssHistory: This Ain’t ItI’ve been fed this podcast as a suggestion for years and finally gave a few episodes a try, and it’s just lame. The hosts spend half the show talking about themselves & patting each other on the back, then they basically slowly read a Wikipedia article but “make it their own” by throwing in words like “dude” or “booo” when they don’t like something, then they add some out of context & pointless modern political comments which literally caused eyerolls. Hey “Dudes,” woke headlines aren’t history, nor is this podcast, and your “edginess” is circa 1986. They scored with a cool podcast name a long time ago, but they just don’t deliver—big waste of time.
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TexasGirl12821Victorians get WEIRDI do remember in the 70/80’s people leaving classified ads for “LOVE” The funniest was a gay publication in Dallas and my LGBTQ friends would check if we knew anyone 😆 As a under 18 girl, thought that is how they met up 🤦🏼♀️ I would have been a terrible Victorian
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Emmalyn H.I love this podcast!I’m a sophomore in high school and I think this podcast is really fun and interesting whether you like history or not. You don’t have to listen to them in order and they’re pretty short so you should definitely check them out if you like interesting history stories
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solid investorLove historyThese guys are amazingly full of themselves and their spin, I’m out.
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History#FanBig Parma episodeGood content, however, the overly cutesy of the two podcasts definitely detracts from it. Unless the intended audience is the middle school crowd.
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Bill 1986More commercials than showMore commercials than show
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Just another mol Elizathe adsthe ads are so out of control these days
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AtotheJ1310NonsenseSo much nonsense talk, too many ads…. Ridiculous.
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Geoff BeeI heart radio ruins everythingI like the content but the over advertising and repetitive ads completely ruins it. I get it, you need to make money but at least vary the ads. Just a word to i heart radio, Ill never listen to your pods or stations snd the stupid ads makes me NOT want to consume any of the products
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SeaSiren11Nice try.Between the ads and the hosts, the show doesn’t hit. It’s a lovely concept but seems to have little actual content of the topic.
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CK27.5More content pleaseBowing out because of all the ads. I know revenue is needed, but content is needed too.
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imsoannoyednowInteresting TopicsGreat and interesting topics… but my biggest negative is having the hosts read some of the advertisements. Doesn’t fit well, so maybe having the super producer read them might be better.
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panda1082Lots of adContent is good, but so many ads.
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Iamnotarobot0101001All hat no cattleHalf of the run time is adverts, potentially interesting content puttered about with never ending banter. Squishy hosts who won’t commit to being defined by any conventional beliefs who want to tell you about the illuminati. Weak.
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Immersed in whyMolten Gold torture.I think an episode on race through history on mindset of people that led to diabolical inventions. Why make it so gruesome for so many centuries? How did they (the church) justify those tortures on a helpless person in light of Christ teaching you have heard of old Eye for eye but I say to you turn the other cheek (referring to long tradition of slapping a man on one cheek as challenge to defend your reputation with sword, duel) but turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecute you. What was it like for executioners to have to skin a person or pull out their intestines in public setting. Why pull out entrails as they called it? Who cleaned up mess? How did they not go mad over time? How much of this barbarism came from enslaving people? What was brainwashing that would have to be done to survive as a torturer or executioner. How did they live in society—reviled or paid well and anonymous? Take your pick. Lots of rabbit holes here that examine the human psyche. We haven’t lost the barbarism still or have we? The use of rape as weapon of war is so common and horrific. All of it crazy. I won’t get started on injustice in our law enforcement and legal system to women who have been raped but only have injuries that could be said is rough sex. Unless they are barely coherent, sign of beating, strangling or torture a woman might as well not bother to report the violence. No blood test to find use of date rape drug or blood alcohol level. Only difference now is be nice to the victim and stall until she gives up or charge her with false report.
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Fellow youthLove itDiscovered the show about 2 or so years ago. I’ve loved every episode so far, my wife is even able to tolerate this podcast (that is a compliment I promise) have you guys ever heard of The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay?
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The_TardigradeAds and Not Enough Real ContentToo many ads, and these guys don’t seem to know a lot about history either. Good idea, but this podcast is useless to me. I want actual information.
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Brandon 123Too many adsIt is a good podcast but way too many ads. This show has more ads than any other show I listen to on the network. I had an ad only 3 minutes into the show.
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Mason StrykerGreat podThis pod is amazing a just can’t stop listening. I’ve listened to other pods that Ben and nol host like stuff they don’t want you to know. Which is also an amazing pod. 🕒🕗🕜🕡🕦🕓🕘🕝🕢🕧🕔🕙🕞🕣🕐🕕🕚🕟🕤🕑🕖🕛🕠🕥🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
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KimbobinatorGreat show. Great new directionI’m not sure what happened, but their new direction is phenomenal. Stuff I really want to learn about.
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VegetableBloodToo little contentI don’t really mind the tangents, but between those and the constant ads it feels like you hardly talk about the subject matter of the episode. And even when you do, the interruptions and derailings make it impossible to form a cohesive story or conversation around the subject. You do you, but it’s not my thing.
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meh_pshWow!It seems these guys are getting way too political. Especially Ben. He thinks he knows about the right but he’s just a msnbc guy to the core. It’s very sad that you keep speaking down on the right in your subtle way. You keep speaking on project 2025 but you fail to actually take Trumps word at face value when he clearly states he is not following that guideline. Please look at the actual RNC and what they have been saying for months!! The last rhetoric Ben is trying to push is that furries are the far right??? Are you really saying that the furries are the far right because they were doing what the left always does which is tear everything up and destroy property. Get a grip Ben!! I used to really like you but turns out you are just a tunnel vision sheep for the left. Do you darn research please. FURRIES ARE FAR RIGHT!!????! You are ignorant!!!
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True RoninAds Galore with Minimal EntertainmentRather poorly scripted and dumb "witicisms". Became tedious after a few episodes Ads every few minutes.
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QaarismaticCommercials? Yes. Too many!Love the hosts and the content! Hate the frequency and length of commercial breaks. Who made the decision sell ad time that would nearly equal episode length? Five ads at the beginning of the episode. Five ads five minutes in. Five minutes later? Five more ads! Am I exaggerating? Just a tad. You decide.
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PrancyDanDo youThey’re all getting checked regularly. The most attractive elbows are on tables
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TXgal-inGALots of commercials!Not exaggerating, about 10 min of show then 5 min of commercials. Cannot even get into the show with the frequency and length of commercials. Too bad because it was pretty interesting.
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Astrid VueOttoman Harems just pushed me to unsubscribeThere are too many commercials to start and then their absolute dude-bro treatment of the material made me sick to my stomach. Britannica was your source? Are they a sponsor, too? Maybe their attitude was due to their discomfort with the material? I stopped looking forward to this show long ago, so it was time to prune it.
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MattzthatsmeBig StinkLove the show as always, but I was literally yelling at my phone for you to make the connection that Kit Harrington, a.k.a. John Snow is actually related to the Harrington gentleman that invented the modern toilet lol
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hellaweedinformative & nice interesting break from intensitysurprisingly interesting despite the presumed mundane topics presented in the titles of each episode. i like to listen to intense real stories of injustice and crime-related topics. this is an amazing pallet cleanser and provided me with many interesting additional to add to conversations that actually grab people’s attention. started from the oldest and am working my way up to the most current. it will take awhile since it started on the precipice of the podcasting game. a proven and utterly fascinating podcast. from the role butter played in the disruption of medieval catholicism and it’s power, to the neat things our history books omitted e.g., our strategic plan to get china addicted to opiates and then systematically ensuring a war on chinese restaurants by using the tactics we implemented to create an addict riddled economical threat and turning it around by propagandizing the idea that it was the chinese emigrants who were trying to trick us into a world of sin by opening chinese cuisine restaurants. an interesting, unbiased, and lacking in editorializations. rare these days. and yes it’s true, it’s not left or right podcast. just interesting history told with transparency sans agenda.
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Dust_SpleefAwesome!It’s awesome because most podcasts just tell the history but these guys put their own stories and opinions in it
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Bette with an eRidiculously FulfillingYes, I enjoy history and no I don't have much time for entertainment at this stage of my life, but i do have time for these gents to fill my cup with ridiculous history! I listen while I'm doing dishes or laundry or on the way home from work , even as I'm winding down to go to sleep. To the people complaining about ads, come on …its that or consumer funded. I’m personally not looking for pay as you listen content.
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GoldilocksSFI love your podcast but Chex mixChex mix was a cereal first. Delicious with milk as they fill up with milk like a pillow. Then people started making a savory mix with Worcestershire and then Chex mix started packaging the mix.
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LadyWood007One of the greatsGreat podcast filled with interesting, and a lot of little known stories of history. The hosts are charismatic and provide great tangents. After listening to a couple of episodes you catch on to their vibe and settle in to listen like a “silent” friend on the couch. I came over from Stuff You Should Know and happily added this podcast to my weekly listening schedule.
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Mr.J.BeauregardToo many tangents…..…. and going down rabbit holes.
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cs102If you are in NYC check out The City ReliquaryLoved the show. You were saying you were going to be in NYC soon. Check out The City Reliquary 370 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn. Lots of ridiculous NYC stuff.
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Doe2010I love the banter!!!One of the best things about this show is the random things that come up in conversation!!! It feels like just straight up being with friends and chatting. It’s the best!!!!
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KittyFourteenGod AwfulGuys, too much kibbutzing, not enough substance.
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tygroomWay to much random banter and gigglesTried listening but it’s more like buddies just rambling what they know. I like the idea a lot but after 1 episode I just can’t do it.
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cbacchettiFun and informativeNew listener here. I’ve only listened to a handful of episodes so far (jumping around out of sequence) but I find the topics fascinating and well researched. I knew when I heard a Dennis Reynolds’s reference in the Saltan Sea episode, it was a winner.
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RolthToo many ads and off-topic rantsJust as it says. 11 minutes of ads for less than 30 minutes of content is the worst. I’m still in the 2019 episodes so this might get better, but for not I spend way too much time skipping ads. Also, Ben needs to learn to breath quieter and less often. He one word between his very loud intakes just makes me cringe.
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Pb#1Podcast on hot sauce.Decided to listen to this podcast after ad on radio. Picked the podcast on hot sauce. I struggled through listening as the hosts worked too hard to be funny, and they weren’t. l reached my limit when they had to interject their ‘wokeness’ when they asked if the owners of Tobasco have apologized for the original creators of Tobasco having slaves!! Are you kidding!! You are not perfect so stop being high and mighty. Just tell the history of hot sauce. Ridiculous is a good name as this podcast is ridiculously non-entertaining.
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