Stuff You Should Know is a grand weekly adventure into the nature of things and a podcast of information, education and insight heralded by the charming and ever insightful duo of Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant. Meandering across topics as various as ‘no-fly zones,’ ‘sleepwalking’ and ‘gold,’ Chuck and Josh are true runners of the gamut of existence, hosting with an enthusiasm and ease that creates a winning and great learning atmosphere. No wonder it got turned into a TV show.By now there are a great many podcasts discussing the nature of the world out there, and specifically a plentiful supply from this podcasts home (the ever informative howstuffworks.com) but SYSK can hold it’s head up high in this pantheon. This is in large part thanks to the way Chuck and Josh roam about in these subjects with a light and inquisitive energy, one that speaks of a love of informing the listener and their own shared enjoyment of one another’s company. The duos conversation about the ideas perfectly parses them into common parlance, taking occasionally complex, intricate topics and making them into something altogether more digestible and understandable. This is in large part due to their alliance of humour and use of an ‘everyman’ type dialogue, making them seem like better informed normal people, rather than experts, their patter into something altogether more involving than the standard bookish type of information transference. Their partnership is too clearly one emergent of a friendship, and possessive of an ever improving chemistry, with the ease and grace of firm friends, rather than work colleagues. As a final bonus they simply seemed pleased and excited to have been given this podium to speak from, throwing themselves into the show with verve and vigour, duly telling anyone who’ll listen all about allergies, capitalism or the Bermuda Triangle.
Josh and Chuck and sign and mic!
Quite beyond the level of personality, the quality of information they pass along is also excellent, mixing the anecdotal with the expert in a fluent and intriguing way, one that invites and informs the listener in equal measure. Culled from professional research and personal insight and undecovering, SYSK is less of a lesson and more of a learned conversation. Perfectly jumping the gap between lecture and discussion, they can use this to construct and deploy information in a much quicker and more entertaining form, which is the perfect combination for their chosen medium. Which is a convenient and apt boon for all involved.
A podcast that charms as much as it teaches, really benefiting from the light-hearted and joyous charms of its hosts, Stuff You Should Know is more than informative, it’s also great entertainment.
You can find the podcast on iTunes and at howstuffworks.com, as are the articles which they work from, so go check them out!