Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why taxidermy is secretly incredibly fascinating. Special guests: Christian & Ellen Weatherford. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5 Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)...
Apr 03, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 139
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why ducks are secretly incredibly fascinating. Special guests: Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5 Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)...
Mar 27, 2023•59 min•Ep. 138
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why pickles are secretly incredibly fascinating. Special guest: Elliott Kalan. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5 Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)...
Mar 20, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 137
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why Ferris wheels are secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5 Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)...
Mar 13, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 136
Hey this is Alex! We made a special SIF episode about the Mario movie. Become a supporter to hear it! To become a supporter, start a Maximum Fun membership here: https://maximumfun.org/join It'll ask which shows you're supporting. Select "Secretly Incredibly Fascinating". Then that leads you to a Bonus Content ("BoCo") page, where there's a special Secretly Incredibly Fascinating Bonus Content Feed AND an all-of-MaxFun bonus feed. Our special episode about the 1993 'Super Mario Bros.' movie is h...
Mar 10, 2023•5 min
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why duct tape is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5 Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)...
Mar 06, 2023•56 min•Ep. 135
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why high fives are secretly incredibly fascinating. They also interview returning guest (and National High Five Day co-founder!) Conor Lastowka. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5 Check out Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while h...
Feb 27, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 134
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why Leap Day is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. And hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5
Feb 20, 2023•56 min•Ep. 133
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why yeast is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. And hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 132
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why barnacles are secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. And hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5
Feb 06, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 131
Alex Schmidt and his *new co-host* Katie Goldin take a look at why paperclips are secretly incredibly fascinating -- on our first-ever episode on the Maximum Fun podcast network! Hooray!!! Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Jan 30, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 130
Alex Schmidt has three big pieces of news to share! 1) SIFpod is joining the Maximum Fun podcast network. 2) Katie Goldin is joining up as Alex's weekly co-host. 3) There's now a Discord hangout for our SIF community. Hear all about it here! You can check out the new SIF page at MaxFun's site: https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/secretly-incredibly-fascinating/ Join in the fun on the SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/D5k9X4Rg [note: this invite link expires in February 2023] And see you Monday with an...
Jan 27, 2023•11 min
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers/podcasters Andrew Ti (‘Yo, Is This Racist?’, Sub-Optimal Pods) and Moujan Zolfaghari ('Mission To Zyxx', 'Tooning Out The News') for a look at why glitter is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Jan 23, 2023•52 min•Ep. 129
Alex Schmidt is joined by author & comedy writer Dennard Dayle (1900HotDog.com, book 'Everything Abridged') and comics & comedy writer Brendan McGinley (1900HotDog.com, comic series 'Citizen X') for a look at why maps are secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. (Alex's podcast hosting service requires a minimum of 5 characters per episode title, so that's why this episode's title has an exclamation point)...
Jan 16, 2023•51 min•Ep. 128
Alex Schmidt is joined by bestselling author Jason Pargin (new novel "If This Book Exists, You’re In The Wrong Universe") for a look at why undersea cables are secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Jan 09, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 127
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedian Billy Wayne Davis (new special 'Testify') and comedy writer/performer Zac Oyama ('Dimension 20' on Dropout.tv ) for a look at why rubber ducks are secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Jan 02, 2023•56 min•Ep. 126
Hey folks -- happy holidays! Please enjoy this holiday hello, plus the first episode of a podcast miniseries Alex made in 2020. (and "Alex" = me, I'm the one writing this) Here's the website for the full 4-episode miniseries: https://www.bisonemojipodcast.com/ You can also find the episodes by searching "1 Way To Make An Emoji" in your podcast player. Have a safe and fantastic rest of 2022, and see you in 2023!
Dec 26, 2022•38 min
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers/performers Sam Reich and Mike Trapp ( Dropout.tv ) for a look at why ball bearings are secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Dec 19, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 125
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writer/podcaster Katie Goldin (‘Creature Feature’ podcast, @ProBirdRights) for a look at why Snoopy is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/sifpod with code SIFPOD.
Dec 12, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 124
Alex Schmidt is joined by author/podcaster Joel Stein ('Story Of The Week' podcast) for a look at why eggnog is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/sifpod with code SIFPOD.
Dec 05, 2022•58 min•Ep. 123
Breaking news: the entire Internet fell for a decade-long Wikipedia hoax about the invention of toasters. Here's the BBC's story about that: https://www.bbc.com/news/the-reporters-63622746 Great news: this podcast is one of the only forms of Internet media that didn't fall for that hoax. (Alex researched the real story!) So please enjoy this re-release of our already-accurate "Toasters" episode, featuring special guests Moujan Zolfaghari and Kimberly Clark. Original air date: June 27th, 2022....
Dec 02, 2022•54 min
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy podcasters/writers David Christopher Bell and Tom Reimann (Gamefully Unemployed, 'Fox Mulder Is A Maniac' podcast) for a look at why the letter Y is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/sifpod with code SIFPOD....
Nov 28, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 122
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedian/podcaster Matt Kirshen (Probably Science, The Jim Jefferies Show) and comedian/podcaster Andy Wood (Probably Science, 4-Time 'Jeopardy!' Champion) for a look at why asbestos is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/sifpod with code SIFPOD....
Nov 21, 2022•52 min•Ep. 121
Alex Schmidt is joined by podcaster and bestselling author Dana Schwartz ('Noble Blood' podcast, new book 'Immortality: A Love Story') for a look at why truffles are secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Nov 14, 2022•51 min•Ep. 120
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers Lydia Bugg (1900HOTDOG, the ‘Trailer Park Boys’ comic anthology) and Dan Hopper (Ranker, The New Yorker) for a look at why the painting "The Starry Night" is secretly incredibly fascinating. Direct link to see the painting: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79802 Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode...
Nov 07, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 119
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/podcasters Rebecca Reeds ('The Villain Was Right' podcast) and Eli Yudin ('What A Time To Be Alive' podcast) for a look at why the North American Great Lakes are secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 118
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedian/podcaster Kath Barbadoro ('What A Time To Be Alive' podcast), writer/podcaster David Roth (Defector, ‘The Distraction’ podcast), and comedian Martin Urbano (The Tonight Show), live at Caveat NYC, for a look at why raccoons are secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and the video version of this live episode.
Oct 24, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 117
Alex Schmidt is joined by bestselling author Jason Pargin (new novel "If This Book Exists, You’re In The Wrong Universe") for a look at why barbed wire is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Oct 17, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 116
This is the bonus show for Episode 62! (Halloween Stores) Alex Schmidt and Jason Pargin explore the obviously incredibly fascinating topic of the U.S. and Canada's favorite Halloween urban legend: what it is, why it's a myth, and how it became one of the most persistent beliefs in North America. Originally released Sept 27th, 2021, exclusively for patrons at http://sifpod.fun/ . Research sources for Alex's new intro: the journal Science: "Fainting From Fentanyl Exposure? Nope." https://www.scien...
Oct 10, 2022•47 min
Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians Caitlin Gill (stand-up album 'Major.', shirt store GuaranteeShirts.com) and Blake Wexler (stand-up album 'A Lifetime Of Laughter', podcast 'Blake's Takes For God's Sakes') for a look at why cardboard is secretly incredibly fascinating. Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.
Oct 10, 2022•55 min•Ep. 115
