The American Journal of Losers

By Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski & Cosmo Nomikos

What's The American Journal of Losers about?

The nation’s #1 academic resource on losers, chumps, and has-beens. Join comedians/scholars Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos as they profile extinct animals, stupid criminals and just about every other kind of failure on God’s green earth.

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The American Journal of Losers episodes:

12.01.2022
AJL Gets Canceled
Friends. It’s time we said goodbye—at least until some Qatari billionaire offers to foot the bill. But first, we need to make an episode so bad that no one will miss us. And also figure out who the biggest loser...
11.09.2022
#69 - The Stanford Prison Experiment
One day The American Journal of Losers will be taught in high school classes as the textbook example of the depths of misery to which human beings will sink, but for now that honor goes to the Stanford Prison Experiment:...
10.26.2022
#68 - Betty and Barney Hill
Eek! The A-SCARE-ican GORE-nal of BOO-sers has taken over once again! This time with strange little gray men from outside this planet who are here to stick to metal objects in our holes. Good thing the three brave hosts of...
10.19.2022
#67 - The Dynamite Fiend AKA Alexander Keith Jr.
The three coolest guys you've ever heard of are back to tell the tale of the Confederate spy from Canada who become infamous for a botched insurance fraud scheme that killed 80 people and ruined a perfectly good barrel of...
10.12.2022
#66 - Centralia, Pennsylvania
Lives are risked, secrets are revealed, and friendships are betrayed on this exciting, no holds barred, episode about the near-ghost town of Centralia, PA; whose five remaining residents make their home above a fire that has been burning for over...
10.05.2022
#65 - The Black Sox Scandal
If you ever hear a bad episode of this podcast, it’s because we made it bad on purpose to get an illegal cut in from some guy named “Money Malone” or whatever; just like the Chicago White Sox did in...
09.28.2022
#64 - Bible Losers Roundup!
Check out Cosmo's Music here! No need to put away your Bible after your pre-podcast prayer because this week we're doing a classic listicle style episode about the top three biggest losers in the Good Book! Or at least, the ones...
09.21.2022
#63 - The Symbionese Liberation Army (Part 3: “Patricia”)
The arrest of Patricia Campbell Hearst and the consequences of her actions (very few, she is rich!) Sources: American Heiress- Jeffrey ToobinThe Radical Story of Patty Hearst - CNNAdam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of...
09.14.2022
#62 - The Symbionese Liberation Army (Part 2: “Tania”)
We follow as Patty AKA “Tania” robs a bank and then goes on the run for over a year! Sources:American Heiress- Jeffrey ToobinThe Radical Story of Patty Hearst - CNNAdam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based...
09.07.2022
#61 - The Symbionese Liberation Army (Part 1: Patty)
In 1973 newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped by a ragtag guerilla group. Two months later, she helped them rob a bank. And here's the big twist: everyone involved in this story was also a huge loser. Sources: American Heiress- Jeffrey ToobinThe...
08.31.2022
#60 - Al Gore: feat. Charlie Kojis (an ADAM ASKS CHUCK PODCAST Crossover)
When Joey loses his precious research notes about presidential hopeful and climate change doomer Al Gore, he’s left with no choice but to ask the world’s least reliable (but most confident) search engine. This is a crossover with the Adam Asks...
08.24.2022
#59 - Violet Jessop: Queen of Sinking Ships
Joey tells the story of the stewardess who survived the sinking of the Titanic and two other ships before finding the story of a cat who did basically the same thing. Sources: The Incredible True Story of The Queen of Sinking Ships...
08.17.2022
Joey’s Big Day Off
Uh oh! Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL.AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts
08.10.2022
#58 - The Children’s Crusade
Joey is so wrong about the size of France that he insisted this retraction be in the show notes. (It’s the 49th largest by area). Aside from that this is one of AJL’s least educational episodes, barely scratching the surface...
08.03.2022
#57 - The Boston Molasses Flood
The boys get into a pretty sticky situation when Joey uses the episode on a lethal food spill as a platform to attack the hardworking Italian Americans of 1919 Boston. Also a little bonus loser shows up at the end...
07.27.2022
#56 Harold Davidson: The Horny Reverend of Stiffkey
RIP Choco Taco. In memoriam we’ll be taking a little trip across the pond to tell the tale of Harold Davidson; the theatrical priest who, after getting defrocked by the Anglican Church, met a bizarre fate during a carnival sideshow! Sources: The...
07.20.2022
#55 - New Coke
We're changing the tried and true formula of AJL . This week Cosmo is in charge of the episode! It's kind of a new take on an old... what's that? Everyone hates the change we've made? Nevermind we're giving it...
07.13.2022
#54 - Martin Shkreli
On this week’s episode (of the American Journal of Losers) our parasite-ridden boys talk about infamous “Pharma Bro”, Martin Shkreli, who became the most hated man in America when he upped the price of a life-saving AIDS medication from $13.50...
07.06.2022
#53 - Bir Tawil: It's Free Real Estate
There's about 800 square miles of unclaimed desert in between Egypt and Sudan in case anyone was looking to pick up a few hundred miles of unclaimed desert. Also: we get some fan mail from our neighbor! Joey's highly detailed...
06.29.2022
#52 - The Donner Party
We're back from our summer break but mentally we're still very much at the beach. That's right, baby, this episode about the grim history of the Donner Party may as well have been recorded by King Jimmy Buffet himself! Snow?...
06.15.2022
#51 - Balloon Boy: The Heene Family Hoax
Go ahead and mark “episodes about balloons” tied with “episodes about birds” as this week we talk about the family behind 2009’s zaniest media fiasco: when inventor/reality tv star wannabe Richard Heene accidentally sent his son Falcon into the sky...
06.08.2022
#50 - Giant Pandas
It’s been almost a calendar year and over 50 episodes but still Joey, Adam and Cosmo are finding new things to call losers. This week it’s the absolutely adorable and completely helpless symbol of endangered animals everywhere; the giant panda....
06.01.2022
#49 - Typhoid Mary
A curmudgeonly Irish-American chef isn’t the only thing “infectious” about this episode. If you’re not careful listening you’re bound to come down with a fit of grade-A giggles. Usually I listen to these episodes before writing the descriptions but this...
05.25.2022
#48 - William Bligh and the HMS Bounty
There are a lot of perfectly good reasons to commit treason. In the spring of 1789 twenty British sailors found, perhaps, one of the coolest: they wanted to hang out with their Tahitian girlfriends. This week AJL takes to the...
05.18.2022
#47 - Sisyphus
This one. Oh boy, this one. In an attempt to tell the myth of the Corinthian King who was subjected to an afterlife of meaningless toil we end up rolling a few boulders of our own. We’d wager this episode...
05.11.2022
#46 -John Turmel: Canada's Losingest Politician
We stare into the mouth of madness this week as we try to decipher the anti-usury politics of Ontario's own John Turmel, the perennial candidate who has run for office (and lost!) over 100 times. John's Very Old School WebsiteSources: The...
05.04.2022
#45 - The Great Emu War
AJL is going Down Under to tell the story of Western Australia's 1932 crusade against the emu menace. Listen to Joey do some of the worst accents imaginable, but not before diving deep into a post-9/11 Do Not Play list. Sources: The...
04.27.2022
#44 - The Prank-Murder of Kim Jong-nam (ASSASSINAPRIL WEEK 4)
ASSASSINAPRIL comes to its bloody conclusion with the unbelievable story of the death of Kim Jong-nam, the disgraced heir apparent to the Supreme Leader of North Korea, who was killed by two women who thought they were on a Japanese...
04.20.2022
#43 - Yolanda Saldívar (ASSASSINAPRIL WEEK 3)
ASSASSINAPRIL continues with the story of the fan club president who killed Selena, the young Queen of Tejano music. Sure, this counts as an assassin!Sources:American Justice: The Life and Death of Selena - Full Episode (S7, E17) | A&EHow Yolanda...
04.13.2022
#42 - Dr. Doctor Willard Bliss (ASSASSINAPRIL WEEK 2)
No, that’s not a typo. ASSASSINAPRIL continues with the story of a man named Doctor-- who became a doctor-- whose negligence led to the death of President James A Garfield after his 1881 shooting. This episode has got it all:...
04.06.2022
#41 - Mark David Chapman (ASSASSINAPRIL WEEK 1)
It’s ASSASSINAPRIL on the American Journal of Losers: four weeks, four assassinations, four losers. We’re kicking it off with the story of the man whose interpretation of The Catcher in the Rye led to his 1980 murder of John Lennon....
03.30.2022
#40 - The Cuyahoga River/Balloonfest ‘86
Our first ever double header episode is AJL’s ode to the Mistake on the Lake. Not one, but TWO losers from the great city of Cleveland, Ohio. First we talk about that time the Cuyahoga river caught on fire. Then...
03.23.2022
#39 - Hiroo Onoda: The Last Man Fighting World War II
Lieutenant Onoda of the Imperial Japanese army maintained an effective and deadly squadron of guerilla fighters on the Philippine island of Lubang… 29 years after his country surrendered. This week, we’re dropping planeloads of propaganda about the bizarre phenomenon of...
03.16.2022
#38 - Atari’s E.T.
Finally an episode for the gamers! It’s often called one of the worst games of all time and is credited with tanking the nascent video game industry, but how much damage could a crappy rendering of a beloved alien really...
03.09.2022
#37 - Pluto
It’s time at last for AJL’s episode on the little planet that couldn’t. Joey knows everything unless you ask him any follow-up questions, Adam creates his own handy mnemonic devices and Cosmo is absolutely shattered by the cosmos. Sources:Timeline of the...
03.02.2022
#36 - Tipper Gore: Enemy of Rock and Roll
Guard the delicate ears of your young ones from this week's piping hot riffs! We're looking at the legacy of Tipper Gore: co-founder of the Parent's Music Resource Center which fought for the use of those corny little "Explicit Content"...
02.23.2022
#35 - The Kellogg Brothers (Part 2)
The Kellogg saga continues this week as we learn more about the mad doctor’s little brother William Keith and his adventures as a cereal magnate. Sources: Dr. John Kellogg Invented Cereal. Some of His Other Wellness Ideas Were Much Weirder - HISTORYHow...
02.16.2022
#34 - The Kellogg Brothers (Part 1)
The boys are back and part of a complete breakfast as they discuss the health theories of Seventh Day Adventist Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. (This may sincerely be our grossest episode yet. Frankly, we don’t know why you would listen if...
02.09.2022
#33 - Erwin Kreuz: The Loveable Lost Tourist
AJL is back to tell the tale of Erwin Kreuz; the roly-poly German whose sleepy misunderstanding made him a household name across the United States. Cosmo is definitely on this episode. Sources: The Curious Case of Erwin KreuzThe story of how a...
01.26.2022
#0 - The Dodo Bird
The unaired pilot of AJL featured a certain “unaired” bird. (Because the bird couldn’t fly. Do you think this joke works? We held onto this episode because we were worried this description wasn’t funny enough) Sources:Dodo - WikipediaDutch Mauritius - WikipediaAdam...
01.19.2022
#32- Phoenix Jones: Guardian of Seattle In… The Incredible Tale of the Rain City Superhero Movement!
That’s right, true believers! AJL tells a thrilling tale of real life superheroes turned real life antiheroes. Also we say the most beautiful phrase in the English language: Manitoba Spider-Man. Sources: The Fall of Phoenix JonesPhoenix Jones and the Rain City...
01.12.2022
#31- Grafton, New Hampshire: The Freest Town in America
Tucked away in the woods of western New Hampshire, the sleepy town of Grafton is being invaded by two opposing forces: on the one side a national movement of free thinkers and mavericks who wish to boost the power of...
01.05.2022
#30- Nikola Tesla
His name is a hot commodity now thanks to certain giant nerds who suck, but during his lifetime Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla languished in relative obscurity. This week AJL blinds you with science as Joey takes the boys through Tesla’s...
12.22.2021
Loserpalooza 2021
As a special end of the year treat (?) the AJL guys are covering three very special losers… themselves??? That’s right, not only are Adam, Joey and Cosmo your favorite podcasters (!) they’re also humongous losers in their own unique...
12.15.2021
#29 - Kony 2012
Somewhere in between Gangnam Style and Susan Boyle singing Les Mis, a different kind of video went viral on YouTube; a heart wrenching 30 minute documentary about a Ugandan warlord named Joseph Kony. This week AJL is raising awareness about...
12.08.2021
#28 - Millennial Comedian Dan Nainan
Dan, if you want to put us on your list of haters our email is [email protected]:Dan Nainan, The Media's Favorite 'Millennial,' Is 55 Years OldDan Nainan Is The Worst Human Being Ever: The Definitive Email CollectionThe Rise and Fall of...
12.01.2021
#27 - Florence Foster Jenkins
In 1944, a 73 year old soprano sold out Carnegie Hall for an evening of classical vocal performance. The catch? She didn’t hit a single note. This one goes out to all the AJL listeners who also love Grand Opera;...
11.24.2021
#26 - Sam Patch: America’s First Daredevil
Some things can be done as well as others! This week the Losers pencil-dive straight into the short but extreme life of “Jersey Jumper” Sam Patch and ask the question that will one day be asked about this very podcast:...
11.17.2021
#25 - Lefties
Calling 10% of our audience losers because of which hand they use? Yeah, I guess you could say we’re “on one” this week. We’ve got a lot of questions about lefties and science has got… well not answers exactly, but...
11.10.2021
#24 - Pope Michael of Kansas
What if everyone else was wrong and you were the only one who knew the truth? (This is probably not the case, for the record. If everyone disagrees with you it’s probably because you’re wrong.) But what if everyone had...

What's The American Journal of Losers about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The American Journal of Losers episodes:

AJL Gets Canceled

#69 - The Stanford Prison Experiment

#68 - Betty and Barney Hill

#67 - The Dynamite Fiend AKA Alexander Keith Jr.

#66 - Centralia, Pennsylvania

#65 - The Black Sox Scandal

#64 - Bible Losers Roundup!

#63 - The Symbionese Liberation Army (Part 3: “Patricia”)

#62 - The Symbionese Liberation Army (Part 2: “Tania”)

#61 - The Symbionese Liberation Army (Part 1: Patty)

#60 - Al Gore: feat. Charlie Kojis (an ADAM ASKS CHUCK PODCAST Crossover)

#59 - Violet Jessop: Queen of Sinking Ships

Joey’s Big Day Off

#58 - The Children’s Crusade

#57 - The Boston Molasses Flood

#56 Harold Davidson: The Horny Reverend of Stiffkey

#55 - New Coke

#54 - Martin Shkreli

#53 - Bir Tawil: It's Free Real Estate

#52 - The Donner Party

#51 - Balloon Boy: The Heene Family Hoax

#50 - Giant Pandas

#49 - Typhoid Mary

#48 - William Bligh and the HMS Bounty

#47 - Sisyphus

#46 -John Turmel: Canada's Losingest Politician

#45 - The Great Emu War

#44 - The Prank-Murder of Kim Jong-nam (ASSASSINAPRIL WEEK 4)

#43 - Yolanda Saldívar (ASSASSINAPRIL WEEK 3)

#42 - Dr. Doctor Willard Bliss (ASSASSINAPRIL WEEK 2)

#41 - Mark David Chapman (ASSASSINAPRIL WEEK 1)

#40 - The Cuyahoga River/Balloonfest ‘86

#39 - Hiroo Onoda: The Last Man Fighting World War II

#38 - Atari’s E.T.

#37 - Pluto

#36 - Tipper Gore: Enemy of Rock and Roll

#35 - The Kellogg Brothers (Part 2)

#34 - The Kellogg Brothers (Part 1)

#33 - Erwin Kreuz: The Loveable Lost Tourist

#0 - The Dodo Bird

#32- Phoenix Jones: Guardian of Seattle In… The Incredible Tale of the Rain City Superhero Movement!

#31- Grafton, New Hampshire: The Freest Town in America

#30- Nikola Tesla

Loserpalooza 2021

#29 - Kony 2012

#28 - Millennial Comedian Dan Nainan

#27 - Florence Foster Jenkins

#26 - Sam Patch: America’s First Daredevil

#25 - Lefties

#24 - Pope Michael of Kansas