The Cracked Podcast

Zak Toscani went to his office job last week, thinking it’d be like any other week. By Monday, he was international news. In this special bonus episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt dives into the recent Twitter thread that captivated the world, with its L.A. comedian author. Zak breaks down the entire chain of events, revealing new details about the shrimp fried rice caper’s victim & perpetrator. And he & Alex explore the bizarre worldwide phenomenon of intra-office lunch theft that somehow no one was talking about till now.

Zak's website: http://www.zaktoscani.com/

The famed Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/zaktoscani/status/979448251546927104

Additional footnotes: https://goo.gl/tskeUi

Spring is upon us. And spring is like a starter pistol for the annual sale of 72 million major league baseball tickets all across America Plus (“America Plus” is our fun brand name idea for The United States + Toronto). Whether or not you like baseball, you know it’s been the United States’s national obsession for over a century. But what if we told you baseball is ALSO a fascinating Rosetta Stone-like guide to a slew of bizarre truths about America? And what if we told you those truths might blow your mind EVEN MORE if you DON’T follow the game?

On this week's episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedian/writer/TV show creator Rhea Butcher and Cracked editor Dan Hopper for a deep dive into American culture, economics, morality, and awesomeness, all through the surprisingly revealing lens of Major League Baseball. They’ll tackle the racist 20th century cartoon that 21st century kids love. They’ll reveal how your tax dollars go into your nearest big city rich guy’s pocket, thanks to Congress’s ongoing bipartisan support. And they’ll rolodex the drugs, imperialism, sausage races, and goofy scooters that make America’s pastime as uniquely baffling as America itself.

Footnotes: https://goo.gl/prxJyE

Spring is upon us. And spring is like a starter pistol for the annual sale of 72 million major league baseball tickets all across America Plus (“America Plus” is our fun brand name idea for The United States + Toronto). Whether or not you like baseball, you know it’s been the United States’s national obsession for over a century. But what if we told you baseball is ALSO a fascinating Rosetta Stone-like guide to a slew of bizarre truths about America? And what if we told you those truths might blow your mind EVEN MORE if you DON’T follow the game?

On this week's episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedian/writer/TV show creator Rhea Butcher and Cracked editor Dan Hopper for a deep dive into American culture, economics, morality, and awesomeness, all through the surprisingly revealing lens of Major League Baseball. They’ll tackle the racist 20th century cartoon that 21st century kids love. They’ll reveal how your tax dollars go into your nearest big city rich guy’s pocket, thanks to Congress’s ongoing bipartisan support. And they’ll rolodex the drugs, imperialism, sausage races, and goofy scooters that make America’s pastime as uniquely baffling as America itself.

Footnotes: https://goo.gl/prxJyE

Everyone has dreams of greatness. Some hope to be important leaders. Others hope to break barriers and change peoples’ lives. Still others want to be war heroes with superhuman Rambo-like invincibility. Well the cool thing about history is that it’s full of those leaders, pioneers, and supersoldiers -- all you gotta do is look closely. And the even cooler thing about it is that history is so chock full of badasses, one great American was a “leader/pioneer/supersoldier” rolled into one, and lived in our lifetime.

On this week's LIVE episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians Emily Heller (Conan, Late Night with Seth Meyers), Greg Edwards (The Improv, Wisecrack) and Zack Bornstein (SNL, The New Yorker) for a sequel to one of our all-time favorite Cracked Podcast episodes. You’ll discover over a dozen incredible humans from across a thousand years of human civilization. You’ll come across women & trans people who HIS-tory should’ve celebrated sooner. And for the first time ever in our “little-known badasses” series, you’ll hear the tale of one hero who’s a panelist’s ancestor.

Footnotes: https://goo.gl/WJsnTY

Everyone has dreams of greatness. Some hope to be important leaders. Others hope to break barriers and change peoples’ lives. Still others want to be war heroes with superhuman Rambo-like invincibility. Well the cool thing about history is that it’s full of those leaders, pioneers, and supersoldiers -- all you gotta do is look closely. And the even cooler thing about it is that history is so chock full of badasses, one great American was a “leader/pioneer/supersoldier” rolled into one, and lived in our lifetime.

On this week's LIVE episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians Emily Heller (Conan, Late Night with Seth Meyers), Greg Edwards (The Improv, Wisecrack) and Zack Bornstein (SNL, The New Yorker) for a sequel to one of our all-time favorite Cracked Podcast episodes. You’ll discover over a dozen incredible humans from across a thousand years of human civilization. You’ll come across women & trans people who HIS-tory should’ve celebrated sooner. And for the first time ever in our “little-known badasses” series, you’ll hear the tale of one hero who’s a panelist’s ancestor.

Footnotes: https://goo.gl/WJsnTY

If 'The Prestige' hamfistedly taught us anything, it’s that movies are big ol’ magic tricks. Lights shine on a screen, colors dance in front of our eyes, and we feel like we went to space...even though we’re still sitting in that movie theater in Glen Ellyn, Illinois that we walked into two hours ago. And the biggest trick of all might be how much baffling universe-building washes over us as we watch. Like in ‘Liar Liar’, why is Jim Carrey’s son a god? In the ‘Indiana Jones’ franchise, how is every god real? And according to Actually Oscar-Nominated Film ‘The Boss Baby’, is human history a nightmare psy ops forever-war?

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by Dan Hopper (Cracked, CollegeHumor), Dave Schilling (Bleacher Report, Grantland), Amy Nicholson (Variety, Earwolf's The Canon), and a live UCB Sunset audience, for a deep dive into some of the biggest movies ever made. Find out why there are secretly terrifying characters and plotlines in everything from Star Wars to Wonder Woman to the finest film ever made (i.e. The Emoji Movie).

Footnotes: https://goo.gl/7s8C3z

If 'The Prestige' hamfistedly taught us anything, it’s that movies are big ol’ magic tricks. Lights shine on a screen, colors dance in front of our eyes, and we feel like we went to space...even though we’re still sitting in that movie theater in Glen Ellyn, Illinois that we walked into two hours ago. And the biggest trick of all might be how much baffling universe-building washes over us as we watch. Like in ‘Liar Liar’, why is Jim Carrey’s son a god? In the ‘Indiana Jones’ franchise, how is every god real? And according to Actually Oscar-Nominated Film ‘The Boss Baby’, is human history a nightmare psy ops forever-war?

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by Dan Hopper (Cracked, CollegeHumor), Dave Schilling (Bleacher Report, Grantland), Amy Nicholson (Variety, Earwolf's The Canon), and a live UCB Sunset audience, for a deep dive into some of the biggest movies ever made. Find out why there are secretly terrifying characters and plotlines in everything from Star Wars to Wonder Woman to the finest film ever made (i.e. The Emoji Movie).

Footnotes: https://goo.gl/7s8C3z

If you’ve never received a free lunch at school, you’ve avoided the most persistent and institutionalized form of bullying in American society. Because that food that doesn’t cost money DOES cost a level of shame that other kids don’t have to experience. It’s also shame that’s often coming from official school rules, doled out by authority figures, because our society has low-key written that into law. Which begs the question: why are we dunking on our own poor kids, when they never asked to be born into that jam?

On this week’s episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt gets to sit down with Jason Pargin (better known as David Wong) and with John Cheese, for a look at how and why America’s arranged itself to make sure poor people feel that way every day. They’ll also look back on Jason & John’s shared Midwest childhood, explore the idea that destroyed Newt Gingrich, and discover why everyone from people to monkeys freak out in a rigged system. And good news: they’ll find a way we can all make life better for every American.

Footnotes: https://goo.gl/wLMgZW

If you’ve never received a free lunch at school, you’ve avoided the most persistent and institutionalized form of bullying in American society. Because that food that doesn’t cost money DOES cost a level of shame that other kids don’t have to experience. It’s also shame that’s often coming from official school rules, doled out by authority figures, because our society has low-key written that into law. Which begs the question: why are we dunking on our own poor kids, when they never asked to be born into that jam?

On this week’s episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt gets to sit down with Jason Pargin (better known as David Wong) and with John Cheese, for a look at how and why America’s arranged itself to make sure poor people feel that way every day. They’ll also look back on Jason & John’s shared Midwest childhood, explore the idea that destroyed Newt Gingrich, and discover why everyone from people to monkeys freak out in a rigged system. And good news: they’ll find a way we can all make life better for every American.

Footnotes: https://goo.gl/wLMgZW

If recent interviews with music legend Quincy Jones are any indication, every famous musician hangs out with every other famous musician (and yes, we know Quincy Jones also said......other stuff). Which kind of makes sense, right? Once you’re in that upper echelon of winning Grammys and living in the Hollywood Hills, you’d probably at least run into each other at whatever the rich people equivalent of 7-Eleven is (8-Twelve?). But here’s the amazing thing: a lot of those hangouts almost led to bands and team-ups that would’ve changed the course of music history.

On this week’s episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by Jack O’Brien and Miles Gray (The Daily Zeitgeist) for a reunion of sorts, as they mentally reunite music legends who almost built mind-blowing awesomeness together. And we’re not just talking “the Beatles do more stuff” awesomeness. We’re talking “Paul McCartney and Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis BECOME A BAND” AWESOMENESS.

Footnotes: https://goo.gl/yUq29X