SmartDrivel

In an effort to arm listeners with cool, interesting, and esoteric facts that will amaze friends at cocktail parties and co-workers at the virtual water cooler, Jon and Kurt share fun little tidbits. These are guaranteed to to make your family/friend/colleague/enemy say “No way that’s true!” Pull out a notepad and give this episode a listen, then go wow the world with your knowledge.

We, as humans, have some awfully strange customs and rituals. In America, we have a bunch that get foreigners to shake their heads in disbelief at best, and guffaw at us at worst. The idea of a doggie bag at a restaurant? Groundhog Day? Pardoning a turkey? Join Jon and Kurt as they take a deeper look at some of these “traditions” and try to deconstruct them.

You might think the common brew/brewski/suds/etc. is just a proletariat beverage more suited to frat brothers than aristocracy. But you would be wrong. Beer has been revered for over 10,000 years as both a nutritious drink and a social elixir. Jon and Kurt follow beer’s impact over the centuries from Ancient Egypt to Medieval Europe to the landing of the Mayflower. Grab a cold one, or two, and hav...

For their milestone 50th episode, Jon and Kurt decide to throw another dinner party for the ages. As before, the party is limited to ten guests chosen from anywhere and anytime in history. The nominated diners can be living, dead, famous, unknown, or figures from fiction...the only restriction is whether they will contribute to making it a truly memorable meal. Our co-hosts will make their cases f...

With the possibility of offending some listeners’ epicurean tastes, Jon and Kurt opine and whine about how certain people absolutely ruin delicious dishes by insisting on adding something that shouldn’t be. Like ketchup on a hot dog. Or pineapple on pizza. Come get your inner-curmudgeon on and yuk some people’s yums.

Ever wonder what it would have been like if you had chosen a different career path? Instead of being a finance juggler, what if you had been a circus juggler? Eschewed accounting for acting, teaching for truck driving, selling for surgery? Jon and Kurt look at their own career what-ifs and ponder the missed (or future) possibilities.

In every category, there always seems to be one product, one event, one person, one object that defines the list, that comes out on the very top, and is the first listed. This element is the example of the topic of discussion..it reflects, resembles, and reinforces the characteristics of the category. In this episode of Smart Drivel, Jon and Kurt discuss the quintessential cocktail, road trip song...

Innovations, modernization, and advances in technology have rendered obsolete some old jobs that used to be critical.  The “knocker upper”, the “groom of the stool”, the “herb strewer”, the “pin setters”, the “soda jerk” etc., at one time were very important but now are no longer. Jon and Kurt discuss many of these old-time professions while also trying to predict which jobs of today will go the w...

The Beatles or the Rolling Stones? Being too short or too tall? Stuck at age 18 or 50? Text or call? You get the idea...Jon and Kurt return to a favorite topic and throw hypotheticals at each other to debate, debase, and debauch.

Jon and Kurt try their hand at challenging each other to spot the lie within three purportedly factual statements. Join in the fun: attempt to guess the right answers, audibly laugh at where Jon and Kurt mess up, and keep score to see if you can earn the title “Top Driveler”.

Human nature is such that we crave what we can’t have, even if the object of our desire is flawed. No wonder we are all missing the joys of getting on a plane and flying off somewhere...anywhere. Jon and Kurt reminisce and discuss what they love about flying. From the genius of the little button hole in the napkin to talking to strangers to the sheer wonder of looking down on earth from 34,000 fee...

Ever wanted to know what the difference is between alligators and crocodiles? Dolphins and porpoises? Further and farther? Whiskey and whisky? Plantains and bananas? You get the gist...this episode has Jon and Kurt exploring and explaining these hugely important differences.

The earth, it’s inhabitants, and it’s natural resources are pretty amazing. Beautiful. Practical. Functional. And then there are the mistakes; things that are just not right...limburger cheese, oceans filled with water you can’t drink, first rows in movie theaters, morning breath.  Well, you get the idea. This episode showcases some of these “God’s Mistakes” in all their un-wonderment.

Stubbing your toe, ice cream headache, hangnail, nose pimple, biting your tongue...well, you get the picture. There are certain small injuries--if they can even be called that--that render outsized pain. Jon and Kurt put on their metaphorical body armor and get into the arena with all these big little pains...what are they and why do they hurt so much?

Did you know Time magazine was actually an acronym? In this episode, Jon and Kurt have fun with explaining, finding, and debating fun acronyms that are used in every day conversation. Please RSVP...if you want to be redundant.

Most folks know by now that Viagra was not originally intended to solve a sexual issue, but they’d be amazed how Lysol was first marketed. In this episode, Jon and Kurt investigate products that became accidental commercial successes in different ways than initially contemplated. Listerine was supposed to cure gonorrhea? Oh boy.

In this episode, Jon and Kurt ponder “what ifs” that will undoubtedly spark good discussions among listeners wondering about the same questions. If you could...be a sports hero, reverse anthropomorphize into a car, time travel, be a famous movie character, paint like an old master or a surrealist, have a superpower, etc....what would you choose? And why?

Join Jon and Kurt in the greatest, funniest, smartest, drivelest episode ever. Yes, indeed, they reveal the biggest, oldest, smelliest, highest, “ests” of all time. Oldest piece of art? Highest IQ? Strongest animal on earth? Shortest novel ever written? Smallest country? Geeze, this is just the best.

The boys are back at it with a third episode dedicated to fun phrases and their origins. This time, we learn where “pull out all the stops” and “put a sock in it”  and “rule of thumb” come from, among others. We also learn the provenance of “best man” and “honeymoon”. And, we learn the correct way to spell pom-poms er pom-pons.

Jon and Kurt set out to find the truth behind certain “givens” that we have always been told: is it safe to swim right after eating? Is the earth round? Did Vikings have horns on their helmets? Was there an apple in the Garden of Eden? Were the pyramids of Egypt built by slaves? Is Everest the tallest mountain on earth? And what the hell does Chuck Yeager have to do with all of this?

Who was “The Minister of Defense”? Which President was called “His Accidency”? Can you guess what Tolstoy’s nickname was? Jon and Kurt jump into the world of nicknames and unearth some absolute gems...like Grover Cleveland’s.

Jon and Kurt have fun guessing famous slogans that were funny, had double meanings, or were just blatantly bad. From the disaster of the Chevy Nova in foreign markets to the hilarity of a Sega print ad to explaining the beauty that is Guinness, the two hosts share, laugh, and marvel at some of advertising's most interesting attempts at selling products.

Are you sick of hearing people tell you “to be honest, we should circle back to the parking lot so we can think outside the box and undergo a paradigm shift.” Well, Jon and Kurt sure are and, in this episode, they submit their recommendations for expressions that should be eradicated from all conversations.

While both countries share a common language, the words don’t always mean the same thing in England as they do in America. Jon and Kurt dig into this and expose some of the potentially embarrassing situations that can arise...such as a Brit in America asking a co-worker for a rubber or a Yank in England not knowing his chips from his crisps from his aubergine.

Jon and Kurt fantasize about the type of stores and establishments they would love to have lining their ideal main street. From a dive bar to an old time movie theatre to a newly created James Bond Experience to a Cajan food stand, they propose favorites and give rationale...albeit not very convincingly.