Season 1

Jon and Kurt decide to put their differences aside for a moment and delve into the world of famous rivalries. They find emblematic rivals in different categories: history, politics, fiction, business, sports, music, etc. Some...

The civilization of Ancient Greece emerged into the light of history in the 8th century BC. Normally it is regarded as coming to an end when Greece fell to the Romans, in 146 BC. What is amazing is that this long gone civiliz...

Jon and Kurt hurt their brains in this episode as they attempt to make sense of the world of paradoxes. How can something that seems so contradictory end up being true? Youth is wasted on the young? This is the beginning of t...

The boys are at it again…they each invite four guests for the ultimate dinner party. All will be invited to partake in the conversation, but Jon and Kurt need to first provide the bona fides of their recommendations. Jon veer...

We all go through life blithely using everyday products without knowing why they are what they are or why they have certain qualities. We just accept them for their utility value, not bothering to ask why. Well, phew, thankfu...

Who was “The Minister of Defense”? Which President was called “His Accidency”? Can you guess what Tolstoy’s nickname was? Jon and Kurt jump into the world of nicknames and unearth some absolute gems...like Grover Cleveland’s.

Jon and Kurt return to a theme from the early days of Smart Drivel as they give examples and discuss sayings that just make no sense. Some, like “on cloud 9” confuse one and not the other while others, such as “the exception ...

Jon and Kurt have a ripsnorting time in this episode as they discuss and showcase slang terms from the 1930s. Sometimes they are a bit off the cob, but not enough to ever necessitate putting them in a Chicago Overcoat. They h...

J on and Kurt decide, in this episode, to ask each other some life changing, soul crushing, deep as the deepest depths of Mordor, questions. Like, “if you were a vegetable, what would you be?” And others of equal gravitas. Ta...

While both countries share a common language, the words don’t always mean the same thing in England as they do in America. Jon and Kurt dig into this and expose some of the potentially embarrassing situations that can arise.....

With all our technology and AI and larger frontal cortices these days, you would think that we could solve some of history’s greatest mysteries. And, it is fair to say, many previous wonders and complete bafflements have rece...

Bell bottoms, high heels, cod pieces, popped collars, dickies...yup, once upon a time all of these, and other like-minded trends, were all the rage. Jon and Kurt try to unravel the history of these odd bursts of fashion to be...

Mustaches are having their moment. Previously the signature look of creepy dudes and ‘70s porn stars, the mustache is back, popular, and oh so au courant. Hipster millennials finally are shaving their beards leaving just the ...

Jon and Kurt have fun guessing famous slogans that were funny, had double meanings, or were just blatantly bad. From the disaster of the Chevy Nova in foreign markets to the hilarity of a Sega print ad to explaining the beaut...

Throughout recorded time, certain foods have been elixirs and medicinal remedies for multiple ailments. As Hipocrates famously said, “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” In this episode, Jon and Kurt dig up so...

We have all had them…these knee buckling, mind boggling big questions that we try to make sense of. Like “why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?” or “how is it possible to have a ‘civil’ war?” or “have you ever imagined...

The Darwin Awards are catnip to any Smart Driveler. They “recognize individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by selecting themselves out of the gene pool by dying or becoming sterilized via their own act...

Jon and Kurt have each found certain parts of the human existence that they feel are out of place, unwarranted, just plain wrong. They chalk these up to being some of the (very) few mistakes made by God. In their first episod...

Upon a recommendation from a loyal listener, Jon and Kurt record another episode of fun facts with which to amaze, tantalize, and hypnotize your friends. They run the gamut from expanding landmarks to lacking the body odor ge...

Jon and Kurt recently learned of a fascinating human dynamic: there are many instances where large groups of people all swear they know a fact that is indisputable. Yet they are wrong. Their "fact" is completely made up. It i...

Jon and Kurt had so much fun discovering the greatest April Fool’s pranks that they dove in even deeper and found more incredible hoaxes. Marketers take it as manna from heaven and have had a lot of fun ginning up interest in...

Jon and Kurt decided to capitalize on the fact that they recorded this episode the day after April First and put out a topical discussion about pranks. They found historical jokes centuries old that fooled many middle agers ...