March 31, 2019

EP. 285 — 17 Surprising Tales From Inside Conan’s 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

Recent Episodes

January 26, 2020

Freedom sucks…and that is why we have to defend it. Because our democracy involves doing a lot of stuff that takes energy, takes time, and lacks that Michael Bay Quality that only a surprise missile launch can provide. So on this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt and special guest Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) are exploring the ways being afraid of everything (an easy action) can stop us from being free. Discover the decades-long tradition of some Americans wanting to give up everything in exchange for not needing to think, the centuries-long tradition of people inciting fake panics, and the reasonable ways you can help change things for the better.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/why-fear-based-democracies-arenE28099t-free-with-jason-pargin/

January 19, 2020

How’s your local shopping mall doing? Have you checked on it lately? Swing by sometime, because its department store might’ve turned into a call center or a hospital or a go-kart track. On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by the one and only Kai Ryssdal (Marketplace, Make Me Smart) for a look at surprising, strange, and shocking stories from all over the U.S. economy. Discover an international pig flu, a 26-word statement that built the modern Internet, and more amazing ways cash is ruling everything around you. By the way, if you’re an American listener, you spent the past few years funding an astonishingly huge bailout. Surprise! Listen for details!

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/5-parts-u.s.-economy-that-are-stranger-than-you-think

January 12, 2020

Movies, TV, gaming: three things that are theoretically a waste of time. Oh sure, they deliver value in the art sense, and comfort in the goofing-off sense. But what if they’re more valuable than that? What if consuming shows and playing video games (accidentally) turns people into real-life heroes? On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/writers Caitlin Gill and Alex Watt for a look at the surprising number of times that exact thing happened. They’ll explore stories of regular people who saved a life thanks to skills gained randomly from cartoons, sitcoms, ‘World Of Warcraft’, and more silly entertainment.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/9-times-pop-culture-accidentally-taught-people-to-save-lives/