Episodes

Bowing to popular demand, Jon and Kurt are back with a whole new episode dedicated to words. Revisiting a favorite topic – fun facts about words–our two co-hosts provide a bevy of tidbits, etymologies, backstories, and really...

Join the fun as Jon and Kurt take turns asking each other provocative questions that, as you would expect, span the smart and the drivel. Find out who they would switch lives with for just one day, what they loved …

Join the fun as Jon and Kurt take turns asking each other provocative questions that, as you would expect, span the smart and the drivel. Find out who they would switch lives with for just one day, what they loved …

It was time. Our curmudgeonly co-hosts had held out from getting annoyed by people, things, society, etc. for just so long that they couldn’t hold it in anymore. Ergo, we get another “Pet Peeves” episode with all new nuisance...

In part 2 of a two-part mini-series (the boys are influenced by all the streamers), Jon and Kurt continue to opine on and proffer their submissions for certain country’s best gifts to the world. They randomly chose ten countr...

In this two-part mini-series (the boys are influenced by all the streamers), Jon and Kurt opine on and proffer their submissions for certain country’s best gifts to the world. They randomly chose ten countries and make a case...

Ever wonder what it would be like to live as a dog? To sleep most of the day, get your tummy rubbed, and give away all your emotions with a simple wag of your tail? Jon and Kurt channel their …

Jon and Kurt finally dig into today’s topic after a bit of verbal disagreements and wandering around. The discussion was a debate about U-Turns and their pros and cons. Each co-host had to choose a side: Kurt went for the …

Jon and Kurt explore the root words that we all know and use often in their “negative” or “reverse” meaning. Where did these words come from? If “disgruntled” is a word, then shouldn’t “gruntled” be a word? And, if so, …

What is a contronym you ask? The definition is “a word with two opposite meanings.” Huh? You mean to tell me that you can use a word, feeling good about it, and then all of a sudden that same exact …

The Smart Drivel lads, Jon and Kurt, decide to revisit a favorite topic in this week’s all new episode…famous phrases and their origins. Previously, they have told us the backstory of “one for the road”, “turn a blind eye”, “...

Whether you call them urban legends, urban myths or old wive’s tales, there are certain stories that enter the zeitgeist. Some start with “I swear this is true” and others as “did you hear about…?” Whatever the provenance, th...

Harkening back to episode #1, The History of Pi vs Pie, the boys are at it again with looking at waffle the food vs waffle the verb. Trying to connect the two is quintessential drivel that has Kurt espousing wild …

“Hang up the phone.” “Roll up your window.” To a Gen Z-er, these expressions make no sense. In their lifetime, they have rarely or never been exposed to a physical phone to actually hang up or a car window that …

Are you sick of hearing people tell you “to be honest, we should circle back to the parking lot so we can think outside the box and undergo a paradigm shift.” Well, Jon and Kurt sure are and, in this …

As Americans, we tend to be ethnocentric when we travel. We expect, stereotypically and categorically, that things “over there” will be what they are back in the States. We seem to be shocked and/or humored by their lack of i...

Holidays used to be the domain of religions, banks, or governments. Recently, however, there is a new phenomenon in nationwide–global even–celebrations as certain days on the calendar become elevated above others. There is Pi...

In this episode, Jon and Kurt turn their attention to the room in the house where we spend a good chunk of our waking hours–the bathroom. How did this space–borne out of necessary cleaning of our bodies and expunging of …

Jon and Kurt explore everyday products that got their start in the military. How did something originally developed for the battlefield end up in our everyday life? From the practical to the hysterical, the co-hosts examine a...

Humankind loves to guess, predict, and wonder at what the future holds. Countless sci fi books and movies have taken a shot at imagining what the years ahead will look like and there has been no shortage of pundits claiming …

With the advent of globe spanning media technology and distribution platforms in the early 20th century, millions of people have been exposed to singular events–some tragic, some horrific, and some inspiring–that have been ca...

Two people are thrown together into the annals of history by a singular event. This one moment forever links them and they cease to exist as their individual selves, instead they are always referred to as a tandem. Jon and …

The Vegas odds-makers lost their shirts on the over/under of number of Smart Drivel episodes. In fact, after hearing just the first fourteen episodes, they put their money on the under…well, guess what, dear listeners, Jon an...

Anyone who has spent any time at a Thanksgiving dinner knows the angst and joy that comes with seeing siblings interact. In this episode, Jon and Kurt discuss some intriguing, successful, dysfunctional, and world changing sib...