Speaker
Josh
Appearances over time
7 episodes
Episodes
7
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Freetown Christiania was founded in 1971 on an abandoned Copenhagen military base and is still operating today, making it arguably the most successful anarchist squat in history.
95 people died at Hillsborough on the day, 700 were injured, and 2 more died in subsequent years, bringing the total to 97.
Don LaFontaine recorded more than 5,000 film trailers over the course of his career.
In 1903, out of 2.3 million miles of roads in the United States, only 150 miles were paved, and all of those were within big cities.
Most music historians point to 1968 as the year reggae was definitively born, marked by songs like Desmond Dekker's 'The Israelites' and the first use of the word 'reggae' by Toots and the Maytals.
Christiania has roughly 800 to 900 residents, approximately 150 of whom are children raised within the community's self-built social infrastructure.
In addition to film trailers, LaFontaine recorded 750,000 television spots, including commercials and promos.
By the end of his life, LaFontaine had a home studio and was averaging seven voiceovers a day.
Transistor radios allowed Jamaicans to tune into Miami R&B stations for the first time in the 1950s–60s, directly inspiring ska and setting the stage for reggae.
Five entertainers — Belushi, Kinison, Candy, Farley, and Hartman — died after being attached to the unproduced Hollywood script 'Atuk,' spanning from 1982 to 1998.
Rocksteady, the slower, vocal-heavy predecessor to reggae, was popular for just about two years but produced major hits including the original 'Tide Is High' and 'Ain't No Sunshine.'
LaFontaine's voiceover career began by accident in 1965 when a scheduled voice actor didn't show, and he stepped in to record radio spots for MGM's 'Gunfighters of Casa Grande'.
Horatio Nelson Jackson wagered $50 (about $1,500 in 1903 value) at the University Club of San Francisco that he could drive coast to coast in under 90 days.
The 9.2 magnitude Alaska earthquake lasted approximately 4 minutes, an extraordinarily long duration that amplified its destructive power across the region.
Liverpool's 10,100 standing-room-only ticketholders were funnelled through just 7 old turnstiles at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium.
Jackie Chan has endorsed so many products in China that statistically, some had to fail — but the pattern is striking. A frozen dumpling company collapsed after a staph outbreak, a VCD company's CEO went to jail for fraud, an air conditioner unit exploded, and at the 2025 Australian Open, three finalists lost after shaking Chan's hand.
The Abenaki tribe considered Brunswick Springs sacred for 12,000 years. Every entrepreneur who tried to commercialize the site met the same fate: their resort burned to the ground. Three separate fires between 1894 and 1931 ended development forever — until the tribe bought the land back and put it in a trust.
Five of comedy's biggest names — John Belushi, Sam Kinison, John Candy, Chris Farley, and Phil Hartman — all died after separately being attached to the unproduced Hollywood script 'Atuk.' The movie still hasn't been made. No other unproduced script has a body count like this.
In 1941, Stalin ordered Soviet scientists to exhume the remains of Tamerlane — the 14th-century conqueror responsible for 17 million deaths. Two days later, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the largest land invasion in history. Stalin reportedly re-entombed Tamerlane around the time the tide turned at Stalingrad.
Tamerlane's conquests are estimated to have killed 17 million people — roughly 5% of the entire world population at the time. He sacked Moscow, Delhi, Damascus, and Persia, yet also left behind the ornate Timurid architectural style still visible in Samarkand today.
On October 6, 1945, Chicago bar owner William Sianis tried to bring his beloved goat Murphy to Game 4 of the World Series at Wrigley Field. He was turned away. Philip Wrigley's reason: 'Because the goat stinks.' Sianis cursed the Cubs on the spot. They didn't win a World Series for another 71 years.
The Abenaki tribe eventually purchased the land around Brunswick Springs and transferred it to the state of Vermont to hold in trust. After centuries of attempted exploitation, the sacred site is now permanently protected from commercial development. The curse, effectively, won.
In 1994, screenwriter Michael O'Donoghue recruited John Candy for Atuk. Both men died that same year — Candy at 43 from a heart attack, O'Donoghue from a cerebral hemorrhage at 58. Two men. One script. One year. Zero movie.
In 2016, Sam Sianis rang the original Trocani Bell worn by Murphy during the 1945 World Series as the Cubs headed into extra innings in Game 7. The Cubs won. For fans who believe in the curse, the bell rang it out of existence after 71 years.
The Cubs' four postseason appearances between 1945 and 2016 — in 1984, 1989, 1998, and 2003 — all coincided with years Sam Sianis brought descendants of Murphy to Wrigley Field. The hosts argue this pattern, more than anything else, actually makes the curse feel real.
The famous tomb inscription warning against disturbing Tamerlane was never actually there. Soviet scholars copied every inscription and published them — no curse. The story appears to trace back to a 2003 Russian documentary citing an unnamed book. But the two-day timing of Barbarossa? That part checks out.
What started as casual hash sales in Christiania's 'Greenlight District' exploded into Pusher Street, home to 40 hash stalls and an estimated $100 million annual drug trade. The Hells Angels and BS Motorcycle Club fought a gang war there, leaving residents — ideologically barred from calling the police — largely powerless.
With no government oversight, Christiania's residents didn't stay chaotic for long. Their first rule was no violence; they enforced it through social pressure and shunning. Their second priority was garbage collection. Even radical anarchists, it turns out, hate litter.
Denmark repeatedly threatened to evict Christiania — setting deadlines, passing acts, and drawing up plans — but never followed through. Courts consistently ruled against the residents, yet authorities never removed anyone by force, leaving the commune in a perpetual legal grey zone.
John Belushi was attached to Atuk in 1982 and died of a drug overdose at 33 before filming began. Sam Kinison took over in 1988, actually got 8 days into filming before a lawsuit halted production, then died in a car crash at 38. Two stars, two deaths, zero movies.
Analysis
What they talk about
- History 32%
- Society & Culture 20%
- Music 12%
- TV & Film 9%
- Science 7%
- Government 7%
- Business 3%
- News 2%
- Sports 2%
- Technology 2%
- True Crime 2%
- Health & Fitness 2%
Connections
Shows they appear on and people they share episodes with. Drag to explore.
