The Cracked Podcast

Anthropomorphic goatee and director of 'The Jinx' Andrew Jarecki has recently taken criticism from many sides regarding the ending of his documentary series. Some condemn the way he sat on critical evidence and withheld it from the police, while others criticize how he inserts himself into the story of 'The Jinx' and how its final episode fraudulently plays with chronology. But if Robert Durst goes to prison, do the ends justify the means?Other popular documentaries have an even less legitimate relationship with the truth. Morgan Spurlock's results from 'Super Size Me' haven't been able to be replicated; 'Searching for Sugarman' conveniently leaves out that Rodriguez knew he was world famous in a number of other countries; and 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is basically pure propaganda, yet their entertainment value is undeniable and carries weight despite these criticisms.This week on the podcast, Jack O'Brien is joined by editors Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) and Josh Sargent to talk about the recent documentary boom and some of the genre's most popular entries from the last 10 years. They have a spoiler-filled discussion about 'Serial' and 'The Jinx', talk through the tricks documentarians use to manipulate truth, and whether their ultimate obligation should be to honesty or entertainment.

Here are two scenarios that might properly contextualize Harrison Ford in light of his recent plane crash into a Santa Monica golf course:One. He's Hollywood's Mr. Magoo: a hapless, sensory-challenged old man who creates a chain reaction of havoc and destruction with every misplaced step he takes.Two. He's Wile E. Coyote. His dream job is actually to be a pilot, so he chases that dream (Road Runner) at every chance he gets, using exceedingly shoddy 1940s era machinery and avionics, only to wind up, yet again, in a full-body cast.Do we know anything about Harrison Ford or what drives him? No. Does Harrison Ford listen to podcasts? Probably not. Has he torn his ACL twice while acting? You bet he has. And that's all we need for this week's episode, wherein Cracked editor-in-chief Jack O'Brien is joined by Soren Bowie and Kristi Harrison to talk about some celebrity pet theories that explain their lunatic behavior.They discuss Harrison Ford's aforementioned plane crash and how it relates to Bruce Willis' strange music career, how Garth Brooks is either the world's greatest diva or the universe's least humanoid space alien, and then discuss theories on the deaths of Whitney Houston and Elvis Presley.

Here are two scenarios that might properly contextualize Harrison Ford in light of his recent plane crash into a Santa Monica golf course:One. He's Hollywood's Mr. Magoo: a hapless, sensory-challenged old man who creates a chain reaction of havoc and destruction with every misplaced step he takes.Two. He's Wile E. Coyote. His dream job is actually to be a pilot, so he chases that dream (Road Runner) at every chance he gets, using exceedingly shoddy 1940s era machinery and avionics, only to wind up, yet again, in a full-body cast.Do we know anything about Harrison Ford or what drives him? No. Does Harrison Ford listen to podcasts? Probably not. Has he torn his ACL twice while acting? You bet he has. And that's all we need for this week's episode, wherein Cracked editor-in-chief Jack O'Brien is joined by Soren Bowie and Kristi Harrison to talk about some celebrity pet theories that explain their lunatic behavior.They discuss Harrison Ford's aforementioned plane crash and how it relates to Bruce Willis' strange music career, how Garth Brooks is either the world's greatest diva or the universe's least humanoid space alien, and then discuss theories on the deaths of Whitney Houston and Elvis Presley.

We know it's old news already, but last week when that blue/black/white/gold dress tore the internet and countless marriages apart, it brought up a theme that we like to talk about a lot at Cracked: how our senses are about as trustworthy as Brian Williams' war memoirs.No, it's true. We've even covered on the podcast before that your brain has as many nerves feeding information out to your eyes as your eyes have feeding information back. In other words, a lot of what you rely on as your vision is really just your brain filling in gaps because it's too lazy to do the rest of the work.Co-hosts Jack O'Brien and Michael Swaim are joined this week by executive editor Jason Pargin (aka David Wong), and use the frenzy over 'the dress' to dive into a conversation about perception, consciousness and the harm of saying, "I'll believe it when I see it."

We know it's old news already, but last week when that blue/black/white/gold dress tore the internet and countless marriages apart, it brought up a theme that we like to talk about a lot at Cracked: how our senses are about as trustworthy as Brian Williams' war memoirs.No, it's true. We've even covered on the podcast before that your brain has as many nerves feeding information out to your eyes as your eyes have feeding information back. In other words, a lot of what you rely on as your vision is really just your brain filling in gaps because it's too lazy to do the rest of the work.Co-hosts Jack O'Brien and Michael Swaim are joined this week by executive editor Jason Pargin (aka David Wong), and use the frenzy over 'the dress' to dive into a conversation about perception, consciousness and the harm of saying, "I'll believe it when I see it."

When your favorite sitcom characters take their obligatory once-a-series trip to Vegas, unless that specific episode is about how Chandler loses it all on black, or Kramer comes up with a scheme to count cards, we never see them face the mundane consequences of taking an expensive vacation: eating ramen for a few months, missing the trip back home for Thanksgiving, putting off the wisdom tooth surgery.Movies get money wrong too. Why does every post-apocalypse just look like a dirty Los Angeles when the present-day hovels in India, China, and Brazil seem much worse?This week on the podcast, editor-in-chief Jack O'Brien is joined (in-studio!) by editors Kristi Harrison, and Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) to discuss how TV and movies have completely shattered our expectations when it comes to how money actually works.

When your favorite sitcom characters take their obligatory once-a-series trip to Vegas, unless that specific episode is about how Chandler loses it all on black, or Kramer comes up with a scheme to count cards, we never see them face the mundane consequences of taking an expensive vacation: eating ramen for a few months, missing the trip back home for Thanksgiving, putting off the wisdom tooth surgery.Movies get money wrong too. Why does every post-apocalypse just look like a dirty Los Angeles when the present-day hovels in India, China, and Brazil seem much worse?This week on the podcast, editor-in-chief Jack O'Brien is joined (in-studio!) by editors Kristi Harrison, and Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) to discuss how TV and movies have completely shattered our expectations when it comes to how money actually works.

As we've previously covered on the site, before JK Rowling had even finished the 'Harry Potter' books, an interesting fan theory started popping up on Potterverse fansites. The speculation went that perhaps the chosen one wasn't our boy Harry, but actually lovable dunce Neville Longbottom, and that all the whole 'Harry is chosen one' nonsense was Dumbledore intentionally misdirecting he-who-shall-not-be-typed.Whether or not Rowling had planned this, we all know what we got in the end: another textbook hero's journey that would've made Joseph Campbell proud. But isn't that first theory a lot cooler? We think so.Outside-of-the-box fan theories like this are what we're discussing on the podcast this week. We cover a range of pop culture from movie franchises like 'Star Wars' and 'Harry Potter' to the indelible black mark on the internet: Rebecca Black's 'Friday.' Recorded live at the San Diego Comedy Festival, cohosts Jack O'Brien and Michael Swaim are joined by Soren Bowie, Adam Tod Brown, Cody Johnston, Dan O'Brien, and Alex Schmidt.

As we've previously covered on the site, before JK Rowling had even finished the 'Harry Potter' books, an interesting fan theory started popping up on Potterverse fansites. The speculation went that perhaps the chosen one wasn't our boy Harry, but actually lovable dunce Neville Longbottom, and that all the whole 'Harry is chosen one' nonsense was Dumbledore intentionally misdirecting he-who-shall-not-be-typed.Whether or not Rowling had planned this, we all know what we got in the end: another textbook hero's journey that would've made Joseph Campbell proud. But isn't that first theory a lot cooler? We think so.Outside-of-the-box fan theories like this are what we're discussing on the podcast this week. We cover a range of pop culture from movie franchises like 'Star Wars' and 'Harry Potter' to the indelible black mark on the internet: Rebecca Black's 'Friday.' Recorded live at the San Diego Comedy Festival, cohosts Jack O'Brien and Michael Swaim are joined by Soren Bowie, Adam Tod Brown, Cody Johnston, Dan O'Brien, and Alex Schmidt.

We've all heard about the butterfly effect: a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, and weeks later that results in a hurricane somewhere else. But that doesn't actually happen, right?We can't prove that a butterfly can affect the weather, but we certainly can tell you that the weather affects us in huge ways. It's been proven that sunny weather yields a good day for the stock market, and that a rainy election day typically results in a Republican win. So maybe that imaginary butterfly has a bigger grasp on our lives than we think.This week on the podcast, Cracked editor-in-chief Jack O'Brien is joined by Michael Swaim and Dan O'Brien to discuss some examples of this very phenomenon and show how the tiniest of mistakes can change the course of history.