The Cracked Podcast

If you ask the average American to name ten things from World War II, Benito Mussolini won’t often make the list. But “Il Duce” seized power long before Hitler, spent more than two decades reshaping Italy in his image, and coined that “Fascist” term we all yell these days. Isn’t it strange that we never focus on Mussolini when we hearken back to WW2? Could he be a useful historical touchstone for understanding the present day? And did you know modern Italy is so steeped in Mussolini, its rising political stars CELEBRATE his brutal genocidal legacy?

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by historian & scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat and by comedian & podcaster Adam Tod Brown. They're taking a timely look at the most ignored fascist government of all time. They’ll debunk common myths about Mussolini’s train-centric reign. They’ll reveal the shockingly brazen Mussolini acolytes in modern Italian politics, supported by Fascism’s soccer subculture and normalized legacy. Also stick around for the shocking parallels between 2010s world leaders and Mussolini’s 1920s quest to Make Italy Great Again.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/what-fascist-italy-reveals-about-modern-america/

Notes are annoying. Nobody likes to spend weeks and months crafting an idea only to be told what’s wrong with it. Flip side to that: we often have blind spots when it comes to our creative projects. And that goes for everybody, even the creators of the most famous and successful entertainment of all time, because surprise -- almost every movie and TV show you love needed saving from creative notes that are (in hindsight) blisteringly obvious.

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by Cracked editor/columnist Dan Hopper and by writer/comedian Kandice Martellaro for a look at the most quotable, lovable, Oscar-winning movies of all time...and how they almost fell apart at the ideas step. They’ll also discover series-killing TV episodes that got rehearsed and staged and brought within a hair of terrifying America. And yes, don’t worry, they one hundred percent discover which iconic franchise almost made its villain a confusing monkey.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/10-great-movies-tv-shows-that-were-almost-disasters

Notes are annoying. Nobody likes to spend weeks and months crafting an idea only to be told what’s wrong with it. Flip side to that: we often have blind spots when it comes to our creative projects. And that goes for everybody, even the creators of the most famous and successful entertainment of all time, because surprise -- almost every movie and TV show you love needed saving from creative notes that are (in hindsight) blisteringly obvious.

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by Cracked editor/columnist Dan Hopper and by writer/comedian Kandice Martellaro for a look at the most quotable, lovable, Oscar-winning movies of all time...and how they almost fell apart at the ideas step. They’ll also discover series-killing TV episodes that got rehearsed and staged and brought within a hair of terrifying America. And yes, don’t worry, they one hundred percent discover which iconic franchise almost made its villain a confusing monkey.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/10-great-movies-tv-shows-that-were-almost-disasters

Wars involve a lot of pressure to be cool. It’s why people sign up: the chance to be heroic, the chance to appear mighty, the chance to give a ‘Patton’ style speech in front of a giant version of your national flag. That heroic stuff is all well and good for the right cause. But what if that vibe hides the historical reality that thousands of years of wars often came down to goofy ideas straight out of a cartoon?

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians Logan Guntzelman and Eric Lampaert for a trip through the silliest, strangest, dopiest ideas that have ever won real battles. Discover world wars, civil wars, ancient bloodbaths, and other major conflicts that hinged on drugging honey, catapulting snakes, piling the right trash into the right boat-shaped pile, and other ridiculous "strategies."

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/11-bizarre-military-strategies-that-somehow-won-real-battles

Wars involve a lot of pressure to be cool. It’s why people sign up: the chance to be heroic, the chance to appear mighty, the chance to give a ‘Patton’ style speech in front of a giant version of your national flag. That heroic stuff is all well and good for the right cause. But what if that vibe hides the historical reality that thousands of years of wars often came down to goofy ideas straight out of a cartoon?

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians Logan Guntzelman and Eric Lampaert for a trip through the silliest, strangest, dopiest ideas that have ever won real battles. Discover world wars, civil wars, ancient bloodbaths, and other major conflicts that hinged on drugging honey, catapulting snakes, piling the right trash into the right boat-shaped pile, and other ridiculous "strategies."

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/11-bizarre-military-strategies-that-somehow-won-real-battles

Conan O’Brien’s made 25 years of late night TV (and counting!). You probably know the support of a staff made that possible. But did you know it also took sprinting, packeting, Schwarzenegger-tracking, Central American kidnapping, index card pouch crafting, and more wild elements all coming together to make ‘Conan’ and its forerunners the comedy institution they are today? 

Answer: you did not know that, until you heard this episode of The Cracked Podcast! Alex Schmidt is joined by the multitalented Jessie Gaskell and Mike Sweeney: comedians, writers for ‘Conan’, and hosts of ‘Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast’. They’ll dive into how they got started, how late night shows function day to day, and surprising stuff from behind the scenes that you'd never know from watching at home. Plus: stick around and click through for a slew of insanely funny characters, sketches, and more that make this one of our funniest footNOTES sections in Cracked Podcast history.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/17-surprising-tales-from-inside-conanE28099s-late-night-shows

Conan O’Brien’s made 25 years of late night TV (and counting!). You probably know the support of a staff made that possible. But did you know it also took sprinting, packeting, Schwarzenegger-tracking, Central American kidnapping, index card pouch crafting, and more wild elements all coming together to make ‘Conan’ and its forerunners the comedy institution they are today? 

Answer: you did not know that, until you heard this episode of The Cracked Podcast! Alex Schmidt is joined by the multitalented Jessie Gaskell and Mike Sweeney: comedians, writers for ‘Conan’, and hosts of ‘Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast’. They’ll dive into how they got started, how late night shows function day to day, and surprising stuff from behind the scenes that you'd never know from watching at home. Plus: stick around and click through for a slew of insanely funny characters, sketches, and more that make this one of our funniest footNOTES sections in Cracked Podcast history.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/17-surprising-tales-from-inside-conanE28099s-late-night-shows

The phone you are reading this text on is easy to hold...if you’re a man. That’s according to statistics on average hand size & average phone size. If you’re a woman? Good luck taking one-handed pictures on this slightly-too-big brick that might give you repetitive stress injuries men don’t experience. Of course a phone is merely a device (that you do everything in your life on). But what if there’s a mountain of data proving women get erased from all aspects of modern society, from design to media to medicine? And what if that erasure is a full-on life-or-death issue that (almost) no one is talking about?

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by journalist, activist, and author Caroline Criado Perez. They dive into an array of facts, figures, and critical lacks of data, all gathered in her amazing new book ‘Invisible Women: Data Bias In A World Designed For Men’. They’ll also explore the conscious & unconscious biases that drive women out of the workforce, swing voters into screwing over their own countries, and cause massive problems we could fix with a little more awareness...and maybe even a modest investment in studying human organs besides the penis.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/the-bizarre-hassles-women-face-in-our-world-designed-men/

The phone you are reading this text on is easy to hold...if you’re a man. That’s according to statistics on average hand size & average phone size. If you’re a woman? Good luck taking one-handed pictures on this slightly-too-big brick that might give you repetitive stress injuries men don’t experience. Of course a phone is merely a device (that you do everything in your life on). But what if there’s a mountain of data proving women get erased from all aspects of modern society, from design to media to medicine? And what if that erasure is a full-on life-or-death issue that (almost) no one is talking about?

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by journalist, activist, and author Caroline Criado Perez. They dive into an array of facts, figures, and critical lacks of data, all gathered in her amazing new book ‘Invisible Women: Data Bias In A World Designed For Men’. They’ll also explore the conscious & unconscious biases that drive women out of the workforce, swing voters into screwing over their own countries, and cause massive problems we could fix with a little more awareness...and maybe even a modest investment in studying human organs besides the penis.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/the-bizarre-hassles-women-face-in-our-world-designed-men/

Novelists are a little bit invincible. Oh sure, it’s hard to write a book, and you are required to stop writing your book if you die. But barring that untimely demise, you can to see your novel through to the bitter end as long as you have enough grit to get there. What if a writer didn’t get to do that? What if you built out a narrative for tens of millions of fans, only to have a couple of executives tell you it’s over before anything resolved? And what if that “what if” describes the actual experience of making many TV shows?

On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by working TV writers Ben Joseph and Chase Mitchell for tales of TV cancellations that turned stories into madness. They’ll dig into TV’s distant past and recent hits for narratives that became baffling cliffs audiences fell off of, all because the network felt the show wasn’t selling enough soap.

Footnotes: http://www.cracked.com/podcast/12-tv-cancellations-that-caused-horrifying-cliffhangers/