OUR RATING:
Where the Past Gets Wonderfully Weird
If you’ve ever wondered about the time a U.S. President got stuck in a bathtub (he probably didn’t), or how a chicken lived for 18 months without a head (that definitely happened), then “Ridiculous History” is about to become your new obsession.
Hosted by the dynamic duo Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown, this podcast from iHeartRadio takes all those bizarre historical footnotes your teachers were too embarrassed to mention and transforms them into hilarious, well-researched explorations that will make you the most insufferable person at your next dinner party.
Unlike your high school history teacher who droned on about textile innovations during the Industrial Revolution, these guys understand that history is at its most memorable when it’s at its most absurd. Each episode unravels the strange, the unexpected, and the downright ludicrous events that somehow didn’t make it into your textbooks. And thank goodness for that, because I’m pretty sure learning about the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 would have kept me awake during the third period.
What “Ridiculous History” has done to curry my favour from the crowded field of history podcasts is its perfect balance of scholarly research and “are you kidding me?” entertainment value. While many history shows either put you to sleep with excessive academic jargon or insult your intelligence with superficial storytelling, Ben and Noel manage to be both educational and entertaining without sacrificing either. They approach each topic with curiosity that’s hard to fake and enough factual rigor to satisfy history buffs, while maintaining the conversational tone of two friends who can’t believe what they just discovered in the archives.
“Ridiculous History” is more than worth your precious ear time as the chemistry between the hosts. Ben and Noel have the comfortable rapport of longtime friends who genuinely enjoy each other’s company, complete with good-natured ribbing and spontaneous tangents that somehow always circle back to the topic at hand. Their producer, Casey, serves as the perfect straight man to their occasional flights of fancy, keeping the show grounded while contributing her own insights and occasional exasperated sighs.
In a world where history podcasts tend to either mythologize the past or reduce it to a dry sequence of dates and battles, “Ridiculous History” reminds us that our ancestors were just as weird, shortsighted, and occasionally brilliant as we are today. It’s the historical equivalent of finding out your dignified grandmother once got arrested for skinny dipping, simultaneously humanizing and hilarious.
If you’re tired of history being treated like a sacred text that must be approached with reverent solemnity, do yourself a favor and let Ben and Noel show you the gloriously ridiculous side of our collective past. Your commute (and your sense of historical perspective) will thank you.
Where to listen to Ridiculous History
Episodes.fm | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Pocket Casts | Castro
Discover the best episodes of Ridiculous History