Ridiculous History

By iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture History

What's Ridiculous History about?

History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.

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Star Trek Almost Never Happ...

01.26.2023

After just three seasons, the original run of Star Trek reached syndication -- which would become key to everything that happened afterward. In the second part of this series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the fundamental cultural shifts triggered by ...

Ridiculous History episodes:

01.26.2023 Star Trek Almost Never Happened, Part Two: In Which We Boldly Go After just three seasons, the original run of Star Trek reached syndication -- which would become key to everything that happened afterward. In the second part of this series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the fundamental cultural shifts triggered by ...
01.24.2023 Star Trek Almost Never Happened, Part One: Pilots and Peril Nowadays Star Trek is more than just a show -- it's a global pop culture phenomenon, with measurable impacts on the real world. In part one of this special two-part series, Ben, Noel and resident Trexpert Max explore just how ...
01.19.2023 “It’s Edible!” The Origin of Breakfast Cereal, Part Two Cereal is everywhere these days. While diet trends come and go, those ubiquitous boxes and mascots seem here to stay -- and, in some cases, it seems people are buying an idea as much as buying a foodstuff. In part ...
01.17.2023 “It’s Edible!” The Origin of Breakfast Cereal, Part One Cereal is everywhere nowadays, but how did it become a thing? For most of us, this stuff is the ultimate convenient breakfast, and even the most sugary varieties claim to offer nutritional benefits and a balanced start to your day ...
01.12.2023 Would-be Presidents, Part One: If At First You Don't Succeed... It takes a lot of skill -- and luck -- to become the President of the United States. We always hear about the folks who won elections... but what about the folks who lost, not once, but multiple times? In ...
01.11.2023 The Leaf Blower Episode Out of all the weirdly specific inventions for your yard, the leaf blower remains the most controversial (by far). In today's long-overdue episode, Ben, Noel and Max cut past the noise to figure out just where these things came from, ...
01.05.2023 The US Navy Teamed Up With Mobsters, Part Two: The Mob Goes to War As the Mob clamps down on possible terrorists in the New York docks, the organization looks for new ways to expand their partnership with Uncle Sam -- as it turns out, they have a lot of connections in Sicily, and ...
01.03.2023 The US Navy Teamed Up With Mobsters, Part One: Luciano Gets Lucky After the suspicious destruction of the USS Lafayette in Manhattan, the Navy became convinced saboteurs may be at work on American soil. There was another problem -- try as they might, they couldn't infiltrate the notoriously shady dockworker culture, which ...
12.29.2022 CLASSIC: When People Thought They Were Made of Glass In 1422, King Charles VI died after ruling France for more than 40 years. He was also remembered as Charles the Mad, in part because he was convinced that his body was made of glass and would shatter upon contact ...
12.27.2022 CLASSIC: Nazis, Churchill and Chocolate When Lord Victor Rothschild first heard the news, he was incredulous -- surely Nazi Germany wasn't seriously planning to assassinate Winston Churchill with an exploding chocolate bar. However, he learned the intelligence reports were solid. In today's classic episode, we ...
12.22.2022 Ridiculous Royal Deaths, Part Two: Don't Drink Mercury Throughout history, despite all their occasional arguments to the contrary, members of royal families have been just as human as everyone else. In part two of this continuing series, Ben, Noel and Max dive into more stories of ridiculous deaths, ...
12.20.2022 Ridiculous Royal Deaths, Part One: Revenge of the Buck-Toothed It's no secret that the lives of historical royalty have often been filled with triumph and tragedy -- and, sadly, many royals have met strange, untimely ends. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive into some of history's strangest ...
12.15.2022 CLASSIC: When Dentist Sold Dentures Made with Corpse Teeth Here in the modern day, most people don’t love going to the dentist — but we still have it much better than the dental patients of yesteryear! In today's classic episode, we join the guys as they dive into a ...
12.13.2022 From Mesopotamia to Hot Dogs: A History of Mustard Mustard! Whether you like it, love it, or hate it, you've almost definitely tried it in one of many varieties. In this installment of their continuing series on the ridiculous history of condiments, Ben, Noel and Max explore mustard's ancient ...
12.08.2022 Coca-Cola, Dr. King, and the Civil Rights When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Prize, Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. spearheaded a interdenominational celebration of King's work -- but many business leaders refused to go along. In fact, the whole thing may have fallen through ...
12.06.2022 William Mitchell Was Basically a Real-life Willy Wonka Do you like Tang? Are you known to gobble Pop Rocks, or find yourself lying awake at night, worried about the world's supply of tapioca substitutes? If so, you might be surprised to learn one brilliant, prodigious food scientist single-handedly ...
12.01.2022 The Olympics Used to Have an... Extraordinarily Weird Art Competition Everyone's heard of the Olympics. This global competition brings athletes from around the world together to compete in various sports -- but, not too long ago, one man led the charge to bring artists, sculptors, musicians and more into the ...
11.29.2022 A Circus, or a Cult? The Strange Story of Shen Yun If you live near any large city outside of mainland China, you may have seen advertisements for the world-famous Shen Yun Performing Arts Company, a US-based non-profit known for its elaborate shows in over 130 locations across the planet. But ...
11.24.2022 How A Massive Turkey Screw-up Created TV Dinners Hey, it's us, your pals Ben, Noel and Max from Ridiculous History. We figured the holidays can be stressful for everyone, and we're pretty sure you've heard the history of Thanksgiving countless times. So instead of telling you that story, ...
11.22.2022 J. Paul Getty, Part Two: A Kidnapping Discount For members of the mob, the plot to kidnap J. Paul Getty's grandson was a home run -- after all, what's a few million to a literal billionaire? Yet, as it turns out... the mob didn't know who they were ...
11.17.2022 J. Paul Getty, Part One: Money Doesn't Make You Happy It's often said that money doesn't buy happiness -- and, in the tragic case of the Getty family, it seems that saying holds true. In part one of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore Getty's origin story, his ...
11.15.2022 Have you heard of Andorra? While it may be unfamiliar to many folks outside the region, the 6th-smallest country in Europe has a fascinating history all its own. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive into the strange origin story of Andorra, from its ...
11.10.2022 How Smart Was Alex the Grey Parrot? Picked at random from a pet store, a humble grey parrot named Alex went on to fundamentally alter the way humans think about animal cognition. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore how animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg and her ...
11.08.2022 Surprising Former Careers, Part 2: Truman Can't Sell Hats Years before he became a world-famous actor, Christopher Lee did wetwork with elite special forces during World War II. Before entering public office, Harry Truman almost ruined his life by starting a haberdashery. In part two of this continuing series, ...
11.03.2022 The Ancient -- and Surprisingly Divisive! -- Story of Ketchup Ketchup is in almost 97% of US homes today -- and, while this statistic may sound surprising, it turns out there's a long story behind this humble condiment. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max trace the origin of ketchup ...
11.01.2022 The Bizarrely Xenophobic Origins of Scotch Tape There's no two ways about it: tape is a pretty handy, amazing thing -- and one we often take for granted. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive deep into the origin story of Scotch tape, uncovering the weird ...
10.27.2022 Lost Media, Part Two: We Didn't Start The Fire Silent films took the world by storm, but the material they were manufactured from was notoriously -- cartoonishly -- flammable. Soon multiple studio buildings were burning to the ground. There wasn't always a spark involved, either: sometimes this stuff just ...
10.26.2022 Lost Media, Part One: What Happened to All Those Silent Films? For a relatively brief period of time, silent films rocked the world of entertainment. However, these nitrate- and acetate-based films proved both fragile -- and downright dangerous. In the first part of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max dive ...
10.20.2022 A Ridiculous History of Hot Tubs While hot tubs may not always have the... best reputation in some circles, there's no denying people across the world love a good, hot soak after a long day. And we've loved this since antiquity, all the way back to ...
10.18.2022 Eugene V Debs, Part Two: A Prisoner Runs For President As a known agitator, Eugene V. Debs soon caught the attention of the US power structure -- and his outspoken nature led to him to court. In part two of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore how the ...
10.13.2022 Eugene V Debs, Part One: Railroad Workers Fight The Power You may not have heard of Eugene V. Debs before this podcast -- but in his day this political activist was one of the most prominent (and at-times controversial) figures in the United States. In part one of this two-part ...
10.11.2022 The Michelin Man was an Unhinged Lunatic Virtually every foodie is aware of the Michelin Guide -- the last word in high-end restaurant ratings -- but originally came about as a way to sell more cars (and, ultimately, tires). In today's episode with research associate Geoff Bartlett, ...
10.06.2022 The Yukio Mishima Story, Part Two: Mishima's End In his heyday, Japanese author Yukio Mishima was one of the most well-known writers in the world. But where did he come from -- and what on Earth led to his strange demise? In part two of this two-part episode, ...
10.05.2022 The Yukio Mishima Story, Part One: Confessions of a Mask In his heyday, Japanese author Yukio Mishima was one of the most well-known writers in the world. But where did he come from -- and what on Earth led to his strange demise? In part one of this two-part episode, ...
09.29.2022 Wait, How Do I Know It's Funny? A Rollicking History of Laugh Tracks We've all heard them. You're watching or hearing a show, a character says something, and -- boom! -- an invisible choir of audience members loses their minds in riotous laughter, awws, or applause. But how did where does this come ...
09.27.2022 Who, exactly, were the Luddites? Today you'll hear people described as 'Luddites' if they don't care for -- or don't understand -- some newer piece of technology, but where did this phrase come from? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and guest producer Tari trace the ...
09.22.2022 Instant Noodles Changed The World, Part Two: Going Global As Momofuku Ando's instant noodles take Japan by storm, he sets his sights on the global horizon. In part two of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the expansion of instant noodles into the United States, the rest ...
09.20.2022 Instant Noodles Changed The World, Part One: An Origin Story Today, instant noodles are ubiquitous. You can find them in almost every grocery store, in any number of flavors sold by any number of brands -- but where did they come from? In part one of this two-part series, Ben, ...
09.15.2022 The Accidental Invention of Holding Music We've all been there -- you're calling a bank, a loan company, you name it, and boom: you're put on hold. But where does that music come from? In today's episode, Ben and Noel dive into the strange origin story ...
09.13.2022 Inventors Killed By Their Own Inventions: Flyin' or Dyin', Part Two How far would you go to fly? It's a question many inventors have asked themselves over the ages and, tragically, for every successful breakthrough it seems there were also dozens of failures, flops and -- sometimes -- fatal crashes. In ...
09.08.2022 Inventors Killed By Their Own Inventions: Flyin' or Dyin', Part One Humans can swim, though not as well as a fish. Humans can run, though not as swift as a cheetah. From ancient civilization to the modern day, no human being can fly unaided. In this first of a long-running series, ...
09.07.2022 Wilhelm Reich and Orgone, Part 2: Willy vs. The Feds If Reich's concept of orgone was simple pseudoscience, why did the US government ban -- and burn -- his books? In part two of this two-part episode on Wilhelm Reich and orgonomic vibes, Ben, Noel and Max explore Reich's activities ...
09.01.2022 Wilhelm Reich and Orgone, Part 1: Sexy Psychoanalysis Born in 1897, Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, as well as -- for a time -- a follower of Sigmund Freud. Today, he's most often associated with his life's work: the study of a ...
08.30.2022 The History of Pringles: Once You Pop... Pretty much everyone recognizes Pringles -- these tasty, not-quite potato chips come in tons of at-times bizarre flavors, all neatly packed in a nifty tube. But where did Pringles come from? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Matt dive deep ...
08.25.2022 Lincoln Loved Cats, and Other Presidential Pets Are you a cat person, a dog person, or somewhere in between? It turns out that famous trash-talking wrestler -- and former President -- Abraham Lincoln was also a huge fan of cats. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max ...
08.23.2022 CLASSIC - Presidents Love Their Ridiculous Pets In today's episode, we venture into the podcast vault to talk about some snuggly friends, many of the ridiculous variety. It's no secret that, until very recently, US Presidents were known as huge fans of pets -- and they didn't ...
08.18.2022 What Happened to Ronald McDonald? Part Two: Supersizing A Mystery In a world where the iconic McDonald's arches became as recognizable as the Pope or Mickey Mouse, Ronald McDonald himself became synonymous with not just fast food -- but the United States, western imperialism and capitalism overall. In the second ...
08.16.2022 What Happened to Ronald McDonald? Part One: Everybody Loves A Clown Today, billions of people across the world recognize McDonald's — it's one of the planet's most well-known brands. Yet, in recent years, McDonald's has also become home to an enduring mystery: What exactly happened to Ronald McDonald? In part one ...
08.11.2022 The 1904 St. Louis Marathon Was Absolutely Bonkers It's no secret that the Olympics have evolved over time, and met with their fair share of controversy over the years -- but the 1904 Olympic marathon remains a tale of ridiculousness for the ages. In today's episode, Ben and ...
08.09.2022 Andrew Jackson Beat the Snot Out of His Would-be Assassin Known as Old Hickory to his fans, and King Andrew to his critics, Andrew Jackson was an outspoken, deeply divisive figure. When he was attacked by an assassin while leaving a funeral, the killer's gun miraculously misfired not once, but ...

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