Secretly Incredibly Fascinating

Secretly Incredibly Fascinating

A weekly podcast about the history, science, lore and surprises that make everyday things secretly incredibly fascinating. Hosted by comedy writer, emoji creator, and ‘Jeopardy!‘ champion Alex Schmidt. Join Alex & his co-host Katie Goldin for a joyful deep dive into seeing the world a whole new way! (For research sources, bonus episodes, and how you can support the podcast, visit sifpod.fun.)

Episodes

March 20, 2023 70 min

Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why pickles are secretly incredibly fascinating. Special guest: Elliott Kalan.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5

Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped i...

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Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why Ferris wheels are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5

Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)

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Hey this is Alex! We made a special SIF episode about the Mario movie. Become a supporter to hear it!

To become a supporter, start a Maximum Fun membership here: https://maximumfun.org/join It'll ask which shows you're supporting. Select "Secretly Incredibly Fascinating". Then that leads you to a Bonus Content ("BoCo") page, where there's a special Secretly Incredibly Fascinating Bonus Content Feed AND an all-of-MaxFun bonus feed. O...

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March 6, 2023 56 min

Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why duct tape is secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5

Hear Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-w (It's uploaded to YouTube because he filmed his face while he taped it.)

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February 27, 2023 66 min

Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why high fives are secretly incredibly fascinating. They also interview returning guest (and National High Five Day co-founder!) Conor Lastowka.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

Hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5

Check out Alex's new "explainer podcast" about all things MaxFun: https://youtu.be/6kNplapKs-...

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February 20, 2023 56 min

Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why Leap Day is secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. And hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5

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February 13, 2023 63 min

Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why yeast is secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. And hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5

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February 6, 2023 62 min

Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why barnacles are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode. And hang out with us on the new SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/wbR96nsGg5

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January 30, 2023 60 min

Alex Schmidt and his *new co-host* Katie Goldin take a look at why paperclips are secretly incredibly fascinating -- on our first-ever episode on the Maximum Fun podcast network! Hooray!!!

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

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Alex Schmidt has three big pieces of news to share! 1) SIFpod is joining the Maximum Fun podcast network. 2) Katie Goldin is joining up as Alex's weekly co-host. 3) There's now a Discord hangout for our SIF community. Hear all about it here!

You can check out the new SIF page at MaxFun's site: https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/secretly-incredibly-fascinating/

Join in the fun on the SIF Discord: https://discord.gg/D5k9X4Rg [note: this i...

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January 23, 2023 51 min

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers/podcasters Andrew Ti (‘Yo, Is This Racist?’, Sub-Optimal Pods) and Moujan Zolfaghari ('Mission To Zyxx', 'Tooning Out The News') for a look at why glitter is secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

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January 16, 2023 51 min

Alex Schmidt is joined by author & comedy writer Dennard Dayle (1900HotDog.com, book 'Everything Abridged') and comics & comedy writer Brendan McGinley (1900HotDog.com, comic series 'Citizen X') for a look at why maps are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

(Alex's podcast hosting service requires a minimum of 5 characters per episode title, so ...

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January 9, 2023 68 min

Alex Schmidt is joined by bestselling author Jason Pargin (new novel "If This Book Exists, You’re In The Wrong Universe") for a look at why undersea cables are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

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January 2, 2023 56 min

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedian Billy Wayne Davis (new special 'Testify') and comedy writer/performer Zac Oyama ('Dimension 20' on Dropout.tv) for a look at why rubber ducks are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

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Hey folks -- happy holidays! Please enjoy this holiday hello, plus the first episode of a podcast miniseries Alex made in 2020. (and "Alex" = me, I'm the one writing this)

Here's the website for the full 4-episode miniseries: https://www.bisonemojipodcast.com/

You can also find the episodes by searching "1 Way To Make An Emoji" in your podcast player.

Have a safe and fantastic rest of 2022, and see you in 2023!

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December 19, 2022 62 min

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers/performers Sam Reich and Mike Trapp (Dropout.tv) for a look at why ball bearings are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

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December 12, 2022 65 min

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writer/podcaster Katie Goldin (‘Creature Feature’ podcast, @ProBirdRights) for a look at why Snoopy is secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/sifpod with code SIFPOD.

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December 5, 2022 57 min

Alex Schmidt is joined by author/podcaster Joel Stein ('Story Of The Week' podcast) for a look at why eggnog is secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/sifpod with code SIFPOD.

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December 2, 2022 53 min

Breaking news: the entire Internet fell for a decade-long Wikipedia hoax about the invention of toasters. Here's the BBC's story about that: https://www.bbc.com/news/the-reporters-63622746

Great news: this podcast is one of the only forms of Internet media that didn't fall for that hoax. (Alex researched the real story!) So please enjoy this re-release of our already-accurate "Toasters" episode, featuring special guests Moujan Zolf...

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November 28, 2022 60 min

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy podcasters/writers David Christopher Bell and Tom Reimann (Gamefully Unemployed, 'Fox Mulder Is A Maniac' podcast) for a look at why the letter Y is secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week's bonus episode.

See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here nordpass.com/sifpod with code SIFPOD.

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