SmartDrivel

It’s happened to all of us, too many times to mention. We see something or hear of something or want to do something that seems just fantastic…until it is too late and you realize that it was actually a really bad idea. Jon and Kurt have fun discussing prime examples of regretful choices that just seemed so damn good at the time.

The boys are back at it with a third episode dedicated to fun phrases and their origins. This time, we learn where “pull out all the stops” and “put a sock in it”  and “rule of thumb” come from, among others. We also learn the provenance of “best man” and “honeymoon”. And, we learn the correct way to spell pom-poms er pom-pons.

Jon and Kurt have fun guessing famous slogans that were funny, had double meanings, or were just blatantly bad. From the disaster of the Chevy Nova in foreign markets to the hilarity of a Sega print ad to explaining the beauty that is Guinness, the two hosts share, laugh, and marvel at some of advertising's most interesting attempts at selling products.

Throughout recorded time, certain foods have been elixirs and medicinal remedies for multiple ailments. As Hippocrates famously said, “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” In this episode, Jon and Kurt dig up some really cool uses for every day foods that cure ailments. So the next time you are sick or hurting, don’t run to your drugstore, listen to this episode and open your refrigerator.

Ever wonder where products got their names? Why so many with numbers–409, 57, 40, 7? On top of that, how did companies come up with their names? Was Amazon always “Amazon” right out of the gate? What was Pepsi first called? Where did the name Lego come from? All of these wonderments baffled Jon and Kurt…at first. But then they leaned into the topic and created an episode dedicated to discussing and educating on the very subject. So, grab some Orville Redenbacher popcorn and have a listen.

We have all had them…these knee buckling, mind boggling big questions that we try to make sense of. Like “why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?” or “how is it possible to have a ‘civil’ war?” or “have you ever imagined a world where there are no hypothetical situations?” Jon and Kurt ponder a whole bunch of questions like these working their minds into a pretzel of logic.

With the Surgeon General of the United States officially warning of the harmful effects social media can have on children and teens Jon and Kurt thought it was time to re-air one of their first episodes. Taking on a popular issue facing society today, Jon and Kurt attempt to lay out the pros and cons of social media while waxing poetic about the moment the first fish walked out of the ocean.

Conspiracy theories may seem like they're running rampant right now – and they are – but it's nothing new. Thousands of years ago, well before social media amplified non-stop nonsense, our ancestors looked up at the night sky and came up with some pretty crazy stuff to explain what they saw. This tradition has been well maintained throughout history. The boys dig into and debate some of the all-time great conspiracy theories. Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone? Did we actually land on the moon or was the whole thing fabricated on a sound stage somewhere? Did Paul McCartney really die in a violent car crash in 1966? Who shot JR? Well, we know the answer to that one so never mind.

The Darwin Awards are catnip to any Smart Driveler. They “recognize individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by selecting themselves out of the gene pool by dying or becoming sterilized via their own actions.” What an incredible, fertile bank of content from which to draw. Let’s be frank–these are colossally stupid people who have found the most humorous and ridiculous ways to get themselves out of procreation…and thus saving future generations from having to deal with their genetic offspring. Jon and Kurt have a lot of fun selecting a select few award winners from the past years.

Jon and Kurt have each found certain parts of the human existence that they feel are out of place, unwarranted, just plain wrong. They chalk these up to being some of the (very) few mistakes made by God. In their first episode of this topic, #41, the lads mentioned some things they found to be out of whack, like first rows in movie theaters or oceans of water we can’t drink. Well, they are at it again, this time though they seem to disagree with one another over whether some things are truly mistakes or not. Take a listen and weigh in for yourselves.