The Absurdists
The Absurdists is a weekly comedy podcast where Marlo Anderson and co-host Brandi Mastrud take you on a hilarious, thought-provoking journey through the bizarre, the whimsical and the downright absurd parts of modern life. Whether they’re digging into strange laws, peculiar inventions or the everyday nonsense we all accept as normal, Marlo and Brandi bring humor, curiosity and light-hearted banter to every episode. (Mary Murphy co-hosted Seasons 1 and 2, and every one of those episodes is still here.) Tune in for funny conversations, amusing stories and a reminder to embrace the absurdity in your own life!
Episodes
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Season 3 Premiere: Everyday Absurdities
Why does a basic greeting card cost $8 now? Season 3 of The Absurdists kicks off with new co-host Brandi Mastrud, who brings Marlo Anderson a list of everyday things we all accept as normal but are kind of ridiculous when you stop to think about them.
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Meet Brandi: The Absurdity of Waiting
Season 2 of The Absurdists wraps up by welcoming a new co-host: hairstylist and content creator Brandi Mastrud, who Marlo Anderson met on a riverboat during North Dakota Music Hall of Fame weekend. (Don’t worry, Mary Murphy will be back from time to time.)
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Absurd Medical Practices of the Past
Doctors once drained your blood to cure a fever, drilled holes in your skull and prescribed powdered mummy for your wounds. In this episode of The Absurdists, with Mary Murphy traveling, Marlo Anderson is joined by guest Justin Cancilliere to dig through the most absurd medical...
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25 Absurd Moments in U.S. History
Parents once mailed their children. A bank was mailed across Utah, brick by brick, by parcel post. And the CIA tried to turn a cat into a spy. In this episode of The Absurdists, Marlo Anderson and guest Ginger G celebrate America’s 250th birthday by counting down 25 of the m...
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DIY, But Why?
Why make butter when four sticks cost a few dollars at the store? In this episode of The Absurdists, Mary Murphy brings a different kind of show: DIY and homemade everything, and the moment you wonder why you’re doing it at all. Mary is on her third batch of homemade butter (and $60 of gear) an...
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Products That Come From the Map
Is cheddar a place? It is: a village in England. In this episode of The Absurdists, Marlo Anderson switches topics at the 11th hour and quizzes Mary Murphy on products that come from the map, starting with cheese: cheddar, plus Colby, one of the few cheeses born in the USA. Mary adm...
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Two Truths and a Lie, Absurdists Style
Wombats really do make cube-shaped poop. But do flamingos turn neon blue? In this episode of The Absurdists, Mary Murphy brings a game: Two Truths and a Lie, packed with absurd facts, and Marlo Anderson has to spot the fake in every round. Before the game starts, Marlo teases...
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Lights, Camera, Absurdity: Decoding the Movie Business
What exactly does a best boy do? In this episode of The Absurdists, Marlo Anderson is joined by filmmaker Nolan Johnson of Quantum Digital to decode the absurd world of making movies and TV. It starts with Marlo seeing The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere in Las Veg...
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Observe the Absurd: Half a List of Everyday Absurdities
Why does bottled water have an expiration date? In this episode of The Absurdists, Marlo Anderson shows up with a list of everyday absurdities he has been observing (observe the absurd!), and he and Mary Murphy start working their way down it. First up: we no...
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Out to Lunch: When Urgent Care Isn’t Urgent
What do you do when the urgent care is closed for lunch in the middle of your emergency? In this episode of The Absurdists, Mary Murphy tells Marlo Anderson about her not-so-urgent care adventure: doubled over in pain, she is told the doctor is about to go to lunch...
Warning labels exist because somewhere, somehow, someone actually did that. Marlo Anderson and Mary Murphy explore the outrageous warnings, bizarre instructions, and ridiculous disclaimers hiding on everyday products. From fishing lures and frozen pizza to Superman capes and garden hoses, they uncover the absurd product labels that make you laugh, cringe, and wonder what on earth happened.
On this episode of The Absurdists, Marlo and Mary take absurdity to new heights—literally. Broadcasting as a simulcast with The Tech Ranch, the duo dives headfirst into the story of astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who blasted off for an 8-day mission… and stayed for
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Welcome to our latest deep dive into the wonderfully weird world of absurdity! In this episode of our absurdist podcast, “Curtains, Curses, and Coded Chaos: An Absurdist Odyssey,” hosts Mary Murphy and Marlo Anderson explore an eclectic mix of theater superstitions, digital mishaps, and offbe...
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Welcome back! After a holiday hiatus, Marlo and Mary dive into the bizarre, funny, and often dark origins of common expressions we use every day. From “raining cats and dogs” to “kick the bucket,” this episode explores the fascinating history behind these sayings and how they’ve evolved over time. Along the way, you’ll hear hilarious bante...
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Numbers: we use them to measure time, count calories, and set speed limits. They’re supposed to bring order to the chaos of life—but what happens when numbers get a little too absurd? In this laugh-filled episode of The Absurdists, co-hosts Mary Murphy and Marlo Anderson unpack the bizarre world of numbers with stories so ridiculous, they’ll have you checking...
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The Mandela Effect: When Our Collective Memory Plays Tricks On Us
Remember when Darth Vader said, “Luke, I am your father”? Or when Captain Kirk would regularly say, “Beam me up, Scotty”? Well, prepare to have your mind blown – neither of these iconic phrases was ever act...
Marlo Anderson and Mary Murphy dig into the most absurd accidental messages ever sent: the "big cucumber" text to a professor, a pharmacy that kept emailing about a cat's prescription, a cat that sent the CEO a banana bread recipe, a printer that only printed "Hello," an office lunch thief that turned out to be raccoons, autocorrect disasters, and the lawyer stuck behind a cat filter in court. Plus Mary's blue velvet season and bat...
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In this delightful and laugh-out-loud episode of The Absurdists, co-hosts Mary Murphy and Marlo Anderson take us on a whimsical stroll through the past. Together, they explore a variety of once-popular phenomena and inventions, rating them as either “Baby, Come Back” or “Forget About It.” Prepare yourself for an entertaining blend of nostalgia, absurdity...
Marlo Anderson and Mary Murphy dig into the most absurd world records they could find: Ted Hastings wearing 260 T-shirts at once, David Rush balancing a running lawnmower on his chin for over nine minutes, the longest fingernails ever grown, a 125-scoop ice cream cone, watermelons smashed with a head, sprinting in high heels, a man who breaks toilet seats with his head, and Marlo's own record for the world's longest chicken dance. ...
Marlo Anderson and Mary Murphy laugh their way through the world's weirdest rituals: why we say "bless you," the science behind our daily routines, presidential turkey pardons, Groundhog Day, cheese rolling, cherry-pit spitting, ostrich racing, and festivals where people jump over babies and carve radishes. The Absurdists, where logic takes a back seat.
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