Sharing is Caring: Stuff You Should Know

I credit Stuff You Should Know (SYSK) with kicking off my love affair with podcasts, so it felt fitting to profile them as my first ‘sharing is caring’ feature.

SYSK features Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant – two smart, funny, and down-to-earth dudes – discussing a different random topic each episode. Episodes typically average an hour and consist of Josh and Chuck wading through their extensive research on a given topic and breaking it down in an entertaining and consumable manner. They also have a Short Stuff series which are 15 minute podcasts on less meaty, but equally fascinating, topics.

Josh and Chuck have an awesome rapport, they are super bright guys with a great sense of humor, they bring in a lot of pop culture references, and I appreciate and can identify with the lens through which they view the world. They are equally great in person, which I can attest to because I actually flew to Seattle to catch one of their live podcasts in January 2020.

Fun fact: before recording his first podcast episode in 2008, Chuck didn’t even know what podcasts were and had never listened to one. SYSK has won awards galore, has repeatedly come in at #1 on the iTunes Top 10 podcast ranking, and is downloaded more than 1 million times per week.

If you, like me, love acquiring random new information on a range of diverse topics, this is the podcast for you. Since debuting in 2008, SYSK has amassed over 1,500 episodes – I have likely listened to about 20% of them. And since 1,500 is a lot, and it can be daunting to know where to even begin, here are some favourites to get you started.

Josh Clark’s Favourite SYSK Episodes

“How Disco Works”

“Who Owns the Oceans?”

Chuck Bryant’s Favourite SYSK Episodes

“How Schoolhouse Rock Rocked: Featuring Bob Nastanovich of Pavement”

“The Time Nazis Invaded Florida”

“How Cannibalism Works”

“The Wind Cries Typhoid Mary”

“What Are Ninja?”

My Favourite SYSK Episodes

“Is Birth Order Important?”

“The ‘Satanic Panic’ of the 1980s”

“Rock Paper Scissors: Decider of Things”

Happy listening!