The Cracked Podcast

The end of the year brings two things: unrealistic resolutions sobbed out through mouthfuls of pie, and top ten lists from every site on the Internet. You can't reach January 1st without learning every hack writer's opinion of the best movies, albums, and TV shows from the last 12 months. Experiment time: Google a list of the top 10 films from 2004. You either wont recognize half of movies, or you'll find yourself wondering what drugs the writer was on to include "Mr. 3000" and leave out "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."We are terrible at perspective. Things like the Ebola scare or the Sony hack seem nightmarish in their moment, but they fade to the back of our minds as soon as the next awful thing comes about. The fact that next year's Exploding Testicle Flu and Bill Murray email hack will both be much more shocking won't stop either of these from making it into the top ten most important stories this year. If there's one thing new media excels at, it's turning molehills into goddamn Matterhorns.

No matter how cool, young or hip you are, eventually the world of mass media will leave your increasingly-saggy ass behind. Recently, the YouTube channel of PewDiePie, a Swedish video game commenter, became the most viewed YouTube channel in history with over 6.6 billion views. The Wall Street Journal cites that PewDiePie makes around $4 million a year from ads sold on his YouTube account. In the Cracked offices, this feat was met with responses like, "what the hell is PewDiePie," "I've lost faith in society," and, "I have no idea what any of those words mean." We’re old -- not ‘discounts at The Sizzler’ old, but old enough that we’re no longer the gatekeepers of popular culture.Tragically (for us) and normally (for everyone else), pop culture is moving faster than ever: YouTubers are making millions; things that some of us were too old for originally, like Power Rangers, are being rebooted; and 13-year-olds seem to have legitimate grounds to bemoan "kids these days."This week on the podcast, Cracked editors Jack O'Brien, Jason Pargin (aka David Wong), Soren Bowie, and Tom Reimann discuss the specific areas of pop culture that seem to have left them behind. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace and R&R Games. Use the code CRACKED at checkout for some great savings!

No matter how cool, young or hip you are, eventually the world of mass media will leave your increasingly-saggy ass behind. Recently, the YouTube channel of PewDiePie, a Swedish video game commenter, became the most viewed YouTube channel in history with over 6.6 billion views. The Wall Street Journal cites that PewDiePie makes around $4 million a year from ads sold on his YouTube account. In the Cracked offices, this feat was met with responses like, "what the hell is PewDiePie," "I've lost faith in society," and, "I have no idea what any of those words mean." We’re old -- not ‘discounts at The Sizzler’ old, but old enough that we’re no longer the gatekeepers of popular culture.Tragically (for us) and normally (for everyone else), pop culture is moving faster than ever: YouTubers are making millions; things that some of us were too old for originally, like Power Rangers, are being rebooted; and 13-year-olds seem to have legitimate grounds to bemoan "kids these days."This week on the podcast, Cracked editors Jack O'Brien, Jason Pargin (aka David Wong), Soren Bowie, and Tom Reimann discuss the specific areas of pop culture that seem to have left them behind. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace and R&R Games. Use the code CRACKED at checkout for some great savings!

What if Tony Stark built humanitarian robots out of super cheap materials and not a weaponized fleet of mech suits? What if someone could run as far and as infinitely as Barry Allen but at a more human speed? What if you found out that an American president reached power using Charles Xavier-like powers of persuasion. It sounds like a made up version of the Marvel extended universe -- yes, the Flash is a DC property, but just go with it -- but these are actual, recorded talents that you NEVER hear about. Recorded at the Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles, Cracked Podcast co-hosts Jack O'Brien and Michael Swaim are joined by Soren Bowie, Adam Tod Brown, Tom Reimann, Dan O'Brien, and Alex Schmidt for a panel about insane real-life powers the world should know more about, then take questions from the audience.

What if Tony Stark built humanitarian robots out of super cheap materials and not a weaponized fleet of mech suits? What if someone could run as far and as infinitely as Barry Allen but at a more human speed? What if you found out that an American president reached power using Charles Xavier-like powers of persuasion. It sounds like a made up version of the Marvel extended universe -- yes, the Flash is a DC property, but just go with it -- but these are actual, recorded talents that you NEVER hear about. Recorded at the Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles, Cracked Podcast co-hosts Jack O'Brien and Michael Swaim are joined by Soren Bowie, Adam Tod Brown, Tom Reimann, Dan O'Brien, and Alex Schmidt for a panel about insane real-life powers the world should know more about, then take questions from the audience.

Lately, you can't swing an undead cat without hitting the end of the world. Whether it's the pure escapism of 'The Walking Dead' or high art like 'The Road', every story hits the same beats: it's every man for himself against the hoard of zombies or cannibals or nuclear Nazi mutants, and the only ones who survive are the badasses with shotguns willing to shoot their best friends for a Pop Tart. Even your general post-apocalyptic dystopia movies fall in the same lazy traps -- every city looks like a warehouse or a desert, not because it's an accurate depiction of such a society, but because they're cheaper to film in. But whether it's a case of art reflecting society or storytellers accidentally tapping into a human desire -- and running with it until it's as bloated and decayed as their crew of extras -- it says something about us that's pretty uncomfortable to think about. The apocalypse is just the new Old West, but instead of conquering the "savages," we just revel in being way better at savagery. We like the idea of the fall of civilization because it allows us to elevate basic human decency to heroic decency, and escape the complications of the modern world -- even if most of us would die without it. But that’s why every disaster in the history of ever has shown that it doesn’t play out that way at all. This week, Cracked editors Jack O'Brien, Soren Bowie, and Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) discuss the rote ways in which apocalypse movies and TV shows always get the demise of civilization wrong.

Lately, you can't swing an undead cat without hitting the end of the world. Whether it's the pure escapism of 'The Walking Dead' or high art like 'The Road', every story hits the same beats: it's every man for himself against the hoard of zombies or cannibals or nuclear Nazi mutants, and the only ones who survive are the badasses with shotguns willing to shoot their best friends for a Pop Tart. Even your general post-apocalyptic dystopia movies fall in the same lazy traps -- every city looks like a warehouse or a desert, not because it's an accurate depiction of such a society, but because they're cheaper to film in. But whether it's a case of art reflecting society or storytellers accidentally tapping into a human desire -- and running with it until it's as bloated and decayed as their crew of extras -- it says something about us that's pretty uncomfortable to think about. The apocalypse is just the new Old West, but instead of conquering the "savages," we just revel in being way better at savagery. We like the idea of the fall of civilization because it allows us to elevate basic human decency to heroic decency, and escape the complications of the modern world -- even if most of us would die without it. But that’s why every disaster in the history of ever has shown that it doesn’t play out that way at all. This week, Cracked editors Jack O'Brien, Soren Bowie, and Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) discuss the rote ways in which apocalypse movies and TV shows always get the demise of civilization wrong.

When the founders of OkCupid started one of the most popular dating sites on the Internet, they didn't intend to find out all of humanity's deep, dark secrets. All they wanted was to help people make babies. However, they accidentally ended up with a treasure trove of information about the difference between what people say (and even think) about themselves and what they actually do – and you won't like it. By analyzing the language and behavior of OkCupid users, they've determined that you're probably a lot more racist than you think, and you can actually guess someone's race with a stunning degree of accuracy based on what they care about. (It involves lumberjack music festivals.) You're also probably a lot gayer, unless you actually label yourself as bisexual. The Internet as a whole is rife with this data -– you can even track the voting results for the 2008 election by mapping which areas of the country Googled racist jokes. But you shouldn't be afraid of leaving these trails of data, because it means that in the future, history will no longer be written by the winners, and every one of us is a potential Anne Frank. This week on the podcast, Cracked editors Jack O'Brien, Michael Swaim and Alex Schmidt are joined by one of the cofounders of OkCupid, Christian Rudder, to discuss his recent book, Dataclysm, and how the 21st century will be defined by the enormous amounts of data that can be found by digging through your virtual trash.

When the founders of OkCupid started one of the most popular dating sites on the Internet, they didn't intend to find out all of humanity's deep, dark secrets. All they wanted was to help people make babies. However, they accidentally ended up with a treasure trove of information about the difference between what people say (and even think) about themselves and what they actually do – and you won't like it. By analyzing the language and behavior of OkCupid users, they've determined that you're probably a lot more racist than you think, and you can actually guess someone's race with a stunning degree of accuracy based on what they care about. (It involves lumberjack music festivals.) You're also probably a lot gayer, unless you actually label yourself as bisexual. The Internet as a whole is rife with this data -– you can even track the voting results for the 2008 election by mapping which areas of the country Googled racist jokes. But you shouldn't be afraid of leaving these trails of data, because it means that in the future, history will no longer be written by the winners, and every one of us is a potential Anne Frank. This week on the podcast, Cracked editors Jack O'Brien, Michael Swaim and Alex Schmidt are joined by one of the cofounders of OkCupid, Christian Rudder, to discuss his recent book, Dataclysm, and how the 21st century will be defined by the enormous amounts of data that can be found by digging through your virtual trash.

Hollywood never fails to remind us that we only use 10% of our brains. That statistic is bullshit, but it's true that around 90% of the activity in our brains is completely unconscious. We make most of our decisions without even knowing it. Our brains are constantly making decisions for us before we even know it, and it's our conscious mind that fills in the rest of the details, crafting this decision into a narrative. That's how a guy like Dennis Rodman could know where every ball was going to go as soon as it left a player's hand -- it's also how most racism happens, and the reason why "when the judge ate last" is the best predictor of how he'll rule. This week on the podcast, Cracked editors Jack O'Brien and Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) discuss the conscious and unconscious sides of human decision-making, how they're tied together, and the unexpected biases they produce. They'll also talk with writer and improvisational comedian Ali Farahnakian to learn how these theories can be applied to comedy. Listen now to get some solid advice on improvisational humor -- and to learn why your political preferences might be less the result of your own decisions than of how your brain is hardwired.