Adam Conover has made his career in comedy. Now, on his podcast Factually, he interviews some of the world’s most brilliant minds. Every week, the show features a different expert – from scientists to authors to philosophers and journalists – and invites them to dive deep on fascinating topics.

This week, Adam joins Leah-Simone Bowen to share how the show came about, what it was like to work with Barack Obama, and his tip for conversing with intimidatingly well-read folks and asking them ignorant questions (spoiler alert: you’ve got to embrace the ignorance).

He’s also sharing his favourite podcasts. We’ll hear the story of how his friend was once fired from an acting gig by Tom Hanks for having “dead eyes,” and a snippet from the scripted comedy podcast about Edith Wilson, who secretly ran the U.S. after the First World War, while her husband Woodrow was sick.

Featuring: Factually! With Adam Conover, Dead Eyes, Edith!, The Cooligans

For links and more info head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.