Everything on Nothing

How much do you miss looking through the TV Guide and reading it cover to cover and doing the puzzles and highlighting things? Is there anything comparable to that today? That’s the question. And answering it obviously means we have to discuss Neanderthals, whistling, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, electricity, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, telegraphs, Morse code, the Titanic, phonographs, radio,...

Who was Indigo’s PR agent? That’s the question. And answering it obviously means we have to discuss Isaac Newton, ancient Persia, India, British colonialism, Gandhi, Nazis, blue jeans, birds trying to get laid, Pluto, Prince, and some deeply cursed crayons. We get into: Aristotle and the original rainbow. Persian scholars adding colors to the conversation. Indigo: the plant that isn’t blue. Britis...

Is cheese political? That’s the question. And apparently, the answer requires Mickey, Christian, and Ian to discuss ancient Rome, government cheese, raw milk, war, capitalism, comedy, mold, Upton Sinclair, American food, and the horrifying process by which humanity apparently discovered what was safe to eat. Also, Jacki isn’t here. This is the first episode of Everything on Nothing without her, so...

Are the Dutch evil sons of bitches? That’s the question. Mickey, Jacki, and Christian attempt to answer it, which obviously means we have to discuss swamp people, imperialism, weed, cheese, Civilization, Nazis, Taylor Swift, and approximately 2,000 years of Dutch history. We get into: Neanderthals. Obviously. Rome, Germany, and defensive wars that get… less defensive. The Netherlands: literally th...

In this Everything On Nothing episode, we tackle the question: “Is Dropout TV the most ethical streaming service out there?” We talk: Dropout TV, CollegeHumor, and the increasingly unusual idea that a company might actually like the people who work there Brennan Lee Mulligan’s “Evil is boring” philosophy and why being good turns out to be considerably more complicated Sam Reich, creative control,...

In this Everything On Nothing episode, we tackle the question: “Why did Ske Lo want a ’64 Impala?” We talk: Skee-Lo, “I Wish,” and why he walked away from the music business The Good Life Café and the LA hip-hop scene that came out of it Why the 1964 Chevrolet Impala became such a big deal in hip-hop Lowriders, hydraulics, murals, candy paint, and cars that cost more than the house Black and Chica...

In this Everything On Nothing episode, we tackle the cursed Facebook classic: “Why do women get so mad when they see a man relaxing?” We talk: Slammed screen doors, stolen Saturday morning cartoons, Catholic indoctrination, and Mickey getting trained young that if someone is working, you get your ass up and help Mr. White Christmas the belt, paddles with holes, fly swatters, the springy Tupperware...

In this Everything On Nothing episode, we ask the only real question about wrestling: “WWE … WHY?!” How did a grimy little carny hustle turn into the loudest, shiniest wrestling empire on Earth? We talk: Carnivals, the Gold Dust Trio, and the moment wrestling decided to fake it on purpose The National Wrestling Alliance, the McMahons grabbing the Northeast, and why Madison Square Garden was the ch...

“Was Woodrow Wilson a bad President?”  In this Everything on Nothing episode, we drag Wilson off the dusty earnest progressive bookshelf and dump him out as a segregation-obsessed admin nerd who helped invent the modern presidency, the modern propaganda machine, and the modern who counts as a person problem, all while insisting he was saving the world. We talk: Princeton’s sweater vest god king of...

Esports has UNIFORMS?! In this Everything on Nothing field trip, Mickey chucks the teacher hat at Christian, who drags us from single‑celled organisms trying to win lunch all the way to five kids in matching jerseys, approved footwear, and sponsor logos beaming out on a jumbotron. We talk: Bacteria as the first little freaks chasing “high score” by eating each other. Ancient board games and ball c...

Is The Warriors just a grimy ’79 gang flick with face paint and leather vests… or a neon‑lit Greek epic about outcasts, cops, capitalism, and who actually runs New York after dark? We start with the question, “Is The Warriors a popular movie?” and immediately end up asking, “Then why does everybody know the quotes but not the film?” In this episode of Everything on Nothing, Mickey, Christian, and...

Is punk rock just loud, fast music for pissed‑off teenagers… or was it the first time a bunch of weird kids collectively realized, “Oh, the system is bullshit, actually”? We start with the question, “Is punk political?” and very quickly end up asking, “How could it not be?” In this episode of Everything on Nothing, Mickey, Christian, and I pull at the loose threads of punk until the whole sweater...

Is Yahoo where the internet goes to die… or is it the awkward grandparent that accidentally invented half of the modern web and then tripped over its own shoelaces for 30 years? In this episode of Everything on Nothing , Mickey, Jacki, and Christian crack open the purple time capsule and dig through Yahoo’s weird, winding legacy: from two nerds in a dorm listing every website on Earth, to the excl...

This whole episode exists because Mickey tried to answer his kid's very simple question: "So... what do you actually believe?" Or in Mickey's own words: the question in front of us today is, "what my religious thought was." Cut to one dad, one atheist son, and a lifetime of half formed theology crashing into Douglas Adams, CCD worksheets, and way too much late night c...

This whole episode exists because we were watching South Park, met the character Wing, and had the same chaotic thought at the same time: “Wait… is she real?” Cut to: three adults, multiple tabs, and a full spiral into the world of outsider music, asking out loud: “Is outsider music exploitative?” Not “haha funny bad singing” exploitative. The real kind. The kind with power imbalances, mental illn...

One day, we heard someone say autistic people are “more Neanderthal,” and our brains would not let it go. Not a meme, not a throwaway tweet.... a full-on, late-night, Google-tab-rabbit-hole of a thought: “I am autistic. Am I derived from Neanderthals?” This episode starts with that question and then refuses to stay simple. From there, Mickey, Christian, and Jacki tumble down a Neanderthal‑shaped r...

One day, you realized Steve Buscemi was in every weird movie that got stuck in your brain. The VHS your older cousin wouldn’t rewind. The cable re-run you caught at midnight. The indie DVD your film-major roommate wouldn’t shut up about. This episode starts with one question: How did Steve Buscemi become the backbone of modern pop culture? From there, Mickey, Christian, and Jacki slide down a Busc...

You never planned to watch USA Network, did you? You just ended up there... Like the mall food court, Blockbuster on a Friday night, or your friend's house with the mysteriously free cable. This episode starts with one question: How did the USA Network get started? Which sends Mickey, Christian, and Jacki into a rabbit hole involving: satellite technology cable pirates Kay Koplovitz changing...

Why are so many people obsessed with the Roman Empire? In the debut episode of Everything on Nothing, Mickey, Christian, and producer Jacki start with a simple question and somehow end up wandering through wolf-raised twins, political assassinations, slave revolts, Christianity, Napoleon, modern corporations, artificial intelligence, and the uncomfortable realization that Rome may never have actua...