Episodes

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 Ku...

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...

Stretching their word retrieval abilities, Jon and Kurt have fun in this episode by coming up with words that have ‘art’ embedded within them. Art means one thing on its own (the beautiful category of expressionism–be it pain...

Stones. They are a big part of history (Blarney, Rosetta), fiction (Philosopher’s), music (Sly and the Family), people (Emma, Sharon), etc. Well, if stones really do have that big an impact across all of humanity, then they m...

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...

Adam & Eve. Romulus & Remus. Gin & Tonic. Bert & Ernie. Oscar & Felix. Jon and Kurt identify, laugh, and survey just a few of the many famous pairs throughout history. It is a rollicking, fast, fun adventure.

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 ...

The lads, Jon and Kurt, have a good ol’ chinwag discussing obnoxious passengers on airplanes, crazy words like apricity, Queen Victoria’s family squabbles that played out across a global stage and, at some point, they even di...

Shakespeare wrote at least 38 plays and 154 sonnets, and the official count is 884,647 words and 118,406 lines. Within this prodigious output, he invented over 1,700 new words and countless phrases that we use every day. Jon ...