Writing is magic. It is a beautiful, impressive, artsy-fartsy pursuit...AND a way screenwriters and novelists take weird shots at their enemies. On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers Ben Joseph and Chase Mitchell for a look at world-famous villains and monsters created to insult real people. From Godzilla to Goldfinger to the funniest galactic adventure ever written, get ready to learn how Pent-Up Writer Anger generated some of the all-time best evil...

You know American democracy can’t always have a ‘West Wing’ tone. Mud will be slung! Sexploits will be news! Results will occasionally be fishy! However, there is a cottage industry of people claiming the current negatives of American politics are new. They claim we are a few social changes (and a few purchases of MY NEW BOOK) away from “returning” to a more positive past. A past where noble patriots ran “traditional” campaigns and “did things the right way” and “were not divisive.” But what...

They call it “hard work” for a reason. Nobody wants to spend their energy and focus on non-fun stuff. Everybody wants an easier way to make a buck and fund their lifestyle. What if you could get a first-hand account of what it’s actually like to try those get-rich-quick schemes you daydream about? What if today's Cracked Podcast explored weird, silly, and strange get-rich-quick schemes you’ve never even thought of trying? And what if some of today’s stories involve Captain Kirk riding a horse...

There is no way to “stick to sports.” Because here's one way being alive is more interesting than people think it is: a sport like football intersects with everything from social justice to global empire-building to organized crime. Also not all Americans like sports, but did you know all Americans pay taxes that fund pro sports leagues? Did you know basketball caused an international incident this month? And [very Hank Williams Jr. voice] ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBAAAAAAAALL INJUSTICE...

Outer space. The depths of the ocean. Sub-sub-sub-sub-atomic particles. These and more amazing topics are what most of us consider THE FRONTIER OF SCIENCE. But here’s one way being alive is more interesting than people think it is: many of the most surprising scientific discoveries of recent times involve human anatomy! The human body! A thing you would think science already mapped out pretty good! On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt sits down with comedians/podcasters...

Anything can happen in a fictional world. Stories take us to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, or the fantasy-est realms ever conceived, or the grittiest most realistic representations of everyday life. But if all that is true, why do writers and creators lean on the same tropes over and over again? And why are the weakest tropes in a piece of fiction often strange takes on women’s bodies, minds, and lives? On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt sits down with comedy...

Cowboys might be the most iconic type of American. The hat! The pistols! The white man! THESE are the markers of a true cowboy, in our minds. But what if that’s one prominent myth about the Old West? And what if it's one member of a rogues' gallery of b******t you’ve been told about life in the late 1800s west of the Mississippi River? On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, outlaw podcaster Alex Schmidt forms a posse with incredible comedy writers Jenny Jaffe and Elliott Kalan. They’ll gun...

The Indiana Jones movies are true to life. Not about that specific guy being real, or about certain magical canon being real, or about the archaeological profession being a parade of sex ’n Nazis. Still, here’s what ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and its ilk get right: archaeologists dig up crazy nightmare horrors OFTEN. So on this spooktacular episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt joins Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) for a trip through the astonishing horrors found by...

Wealth. Power. Enormous boats. These are just some of the markers of “elite” status in America. Populist candidates win race after race by running against Those Darn Elites. But what if that’s a fake difference? What if the “elites” are merely people who like information? And what if the “populists” are even richer and more affluent than the democracy nerds they keep running against? Most importantly: what if misunderstanding "elitism" in 2020, just like we all misunderstood it in 2016, could...

Have you ever wondered what happens in the world's most exclusive clubs, parties, and airline lounges? Well wonder no longer, because a writer/podcaster/famous minor television personality explored them on your behalf, and captured them like no one else can. On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by the one and only John Hodgman, author of ‘Medallion Status: True Stories From Secret Rooms’. Thanks to John you’ll experience the elegant ridiculousness of Yale’s secret...

“The empire on which the sun never sets.” That’s how the British Empire self-identified. In the 1910s, Britain ruled a quarter of the world’s people, living on a quarter of the world’s land. Do you know how Britain colonized places from India to Australia to most-of-Africa? Did you know the Empire ended within a few decades of its territorial peak? And did you know Alex Schmidt went to the U.K. recently, creating a perfect opportunity to dig into its fascinating history??? On this episode...

Science: it’s often remembered as a story of remarkable linear progress. It’s also a truer, cooler, more incredible story if you stop and smell the roses...and in this metaphor, “the roses” are little-known bizarre stories from the lives of great scientists. On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians Robin Ince and Olga Koch for a special LIVE show at The London Podcast Festival. They’ll explore the weirdest things you never knew about scientific luminaries...

Many science fiction stories go to the past, not the future. Which makes sense, right? Why be a Connecticut Yankee in some random Jetsons city when you can be a Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court, A Place That’s Part Of Your Own Era's Roots, Which Makes Visiting It Meaningful? We all long to vacation in the past, touring its wonders before the germs & backwardness bother us. But here’s one way being alive is more interesting than people think it is: there are a shocking number of...

Sidney Gottlieb is a name you do not know. If you did, you’d know about decades of CIA projects ruining countless minds with drugs and torture. You’d also know about the CIA’s secret San Francisco bordello, collaboration with Axis Powers war criminals, and borderline wacky fixation on turning drugs into brain-controlling weapons. On this week’s episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt sits down with scholar, journalist and author Stephen Kinzer, diving into astonishing stories from...

Streaming services revolutionized the TV-watching experience. There’s no denying it! Everything’s different now that we have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and the three new companies that launched while you were reading this sentence. There are now lots of ways to watch lots of great shows...but what if that system is unsustainable, counterintuitive, and worse than plain old cable in sneaky surprising ways? And what if there are other new amazing TV technologies that are comically weird...

"What if the Marvel Entertainment Monolith never happened?" That alternate historical premise might sound insane to you if you were born after the turn of the millennium. But here’s two things you Post-9/11 Babies may not know: “Y2K" was a big weird panic that’s funny in hindsight, and Iron Man used to be a niche unknown thing. Within the past 11 years, random comics characters like Captain America and a raccoon with a gun went from minor doodles to global megastars. And on this episode of...

Good news: this single podcast episode is two shows at once! Because on this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians Caitlin Gill and Kandice Martellaro for a walk through the latest greatest science news you haven’t heard yet. From there, they’ll spitball the fun & funny sci-fi movies waiting to be adapted from that real life science. Because here’s the #1 news story to remember: being alive is more interesting than people think it is. Footnotes:...

Five thousand murders go unsolved in the United States every year. That means each American killer has a 38% chance of not getting caught, remaining free to listen to the inevitable true crime podcast about their deeds. People all over the world love sharing stories of lurid murder. But what if true crime fans could do more than just listen? What if modern technology and marketing skills can help you solve those crimes yourself, while ALSO blowing the lid off a decades-old 'Star Wars'...

If you lend a filmmaker your fighter jet, what do they owe you in return? Thanks to America’s military might and the world’s appetite for cinematic explosions, that weirdly specific question get asked a lot. Did you know the U.S. government influences dozens of movies and shows every year? Do you think Hollywood would pass up free Pentagon stuff to protect Hollywood's “artistic vision” for Transformers 8? And if you find out what the government cut out of movies and TV, does that tell you...

Empathy is down 40% among American young people. That’s the finding of a study analyzing dozens of other studies across decades of responses. That also sounds sort of insane -- if nothing else, empathy might not be something you think percentages can measure. But what if it is measurable that way? And what if poll responses about empathy, morality, and dogs in mortal danger open up cans of worms so enormous there’s no way to contain them in a single podcast episode? On this episode of The...

Forty-eight people (and counting!) have been Vice President of the United States...and if you can name more than a few of them, you might love history as much as Alex Schmidt does. After all, VPs do a little-respected job that’s "not worth a bucket of warm piss.” And that’s not us saying that. That’s Vice President John Nance Garner (Veep #32) self-roasting with that. Still, look closer at that history, and you’ll find nine out of forty-eight VPs became the P. Nine out of forty-eight! 18.75%!...

You can have too much money. (Not YOU specifically -- you are a valued listener and deserve Scrooge McDuckian riches.) The world’s movie studios, TV networks, and other visual-fun production companies think they need an infinite budget to make the next 'Star Wars'-type cultural phenomenon. But what if we told them the history of film & TV is packed with enormous successes that sprang from running out of money? And what if one of the prime examples of that is 'Star Wars' itself? On...

Where do you get your news? Because whether it’s from a range of sources, from a curated Twitter feed, or from one nightmare cable channel monetizing hate, there is more happening than any one of us can track. The world is all news all the time. A lot of it seems grim. But what if we told you those true sad stories exist beside a range of incredible good news? What if we told you there are all kinds of bright spots across the world if you know where to look? And what if at least one of the...

You: “Emoji are killing the English language.” Me: “eMoJi ArE kIlLiNg ThE eNgLiSh LaNgUaGe” plus a specific screencap of SpongeBob Squarepants acting like a chicken. If you understand the above text, this might be your favorite episode of The Cracked Podcast. If you don’t understand that text, this WILL be your favorite episode of The Cracked Podcast, because everything you read online is about to make more sense. On this week's show, Alex Schmidt is joined by linguist Gretchen McCulloch...

Nothing says “summer” like a massive alien invasion of the planet Earth. Oh sure, that invasion never happens in life. But in movie after movie, space alien fleets descend on our little blue marble with intent to kill. Why do they tend to time that invasion with Northern Hemisphere summertime? Why are there so many common bonds between all alien invaders, even though the universe contains an infinite array of extraterrestrial possibilities? And how are audiences up for the same aliens losing...