The logo for Stuff You Should Know. |
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| Hosting | Josh Clark and Charles W. Bryant |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Updates | Twice Weekly |
| Length | ~30 minutes |
| Audio format | Stereophonic/MP3 |
| Debut | 2008 |
| Provider | HowStuffWorks |
| Website | http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/stuff-you-should-know-podcast.htm |
Stuff You Should Know, often abbreviated as SYSK, is a podcast created and released by the website HowStuffWorks. It is currently hosted by Josh Clark[1] and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant[2], both writers at HowStuffWorks. Clark has been a mainstay on the podcast since it began on April 17, 2008. Before Bryant took over the co-hosting duties on July 15, 2008, Clark was joined by several of his editors.
The podcast, released every Tuesday and Thursday, educates listeners on a wide variety of topics, often using popular culture as a reference giving the podcast comedic value. Episodes are normally around 30 minutes in length, although for more in-depth topics the show has run as long as an hour. When the show first started recording, episodes were very short, and often less than 10 minutes.
Contents |
The podcast covers a variety of odd questions and topics, like How Twinkies Work, Do Zombies Exist?, How Tickling works, and How Albert Einstein's Brain Worked. These unique subjects earned them a place in Podcast Awards's Education category.
In 2011, the podcast added "Bonus Videos" to the podcast feed. These consist of humorous 60 second videos where Josh and Chuck converse about subjects they covered on previous podcast episodes while doing a variety of random activities (playing checkers, getting fitted for a suit, going to a doctor, driving through a car wash). As the speak, the scene changes repeatedly to something completely different, though their conversation continues uninterrupted as though nothing had happened.
The podcast is available free on the iTunes Store[3] and Zune Marketplace and is one of the top downloaded podcasts on both stores.
Along with the other podcasts offered by HowStuffWorks, Stuff You Should Know has its own blog updated daily by its hosts and often featuring the same type of material found in the podcasts, often with show followups. There is also both a Twitter account and Facebook page for SYSK.