Dumb Nerds: Comedians Talking About Smart Topics They're Too Dumb For

The fanciest and longest episode yet! Guests Muriel Montgomery and Nick Casalini (Hella in Your Thirties Podcast) are a wonderful, married couple/talented comedians who moved to Los Angeles from Chicago three years ago. They all bond over their various day jobs of waiting tables while doing comedy at night. While Cassi worked tacky, chain restaurants like Denny’s and The Cheesecake Factory, Muriel and Nick worked at much cooler and classier places that included wine and cheese pairings! Nick and Muriel teach Cassi how to properly open a bottle of wine at a table and how to tell a good bottle of wine from a disgusting bottle of wine that might have spider legs and squirrel parts in it. Yikes! Muriel and Nick then spoil Cassi by presenting delicious cheeses with different wines of various qualities to try and see which cheese pairs best with what type of wine. It’s a delicious, drunk, fun blast of an evening. Please drink and eat cheese along with us!   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out informatio

Oprah Winfrey has inspired and changed the lives of millions of people including today’s guest, Naomi Villa (Let’s Fall in Love Podcast, UCB). Naomi is a huge fan of Oprah; she grew up watching “The Oprah Winfrey Show” with her family. Host Cassi Jerkins and Naomi discuss how Oprah brought controversial, taboo topics to Naomi’s family along with the rest of America which lead to positive, healthy discussions of acceptance and empathy. Naomi and Cassi also get into Oprah complex life of coming from a hard childhood of poverty and sexual abuse to being raised by her supportive grandma, discovering her talent for radio that lead to her TV show which lead to a magazine, a television network, a website, a podcast, book deals, a cruise to Alaska and so much more! Naomi and Cassi also discuss Oprah’s romantic relationships including Oprah briefly dating Roger Ebert and her friendship with Gayle King. Oprah is one of the most famous, successful people of our lifetime. Come find out why, you might walk away an Oprah f

How many badass things do you know about Cleopatra? Do you know how many languages she knew? How much she loved books? How she improved the economy and well-being of the Egyptian people? How she seduced Julius Caesar, Emperor of Rome? Then later seduced Mark Antony, the new Emperor of Rome who overthrew Caesar? Do you know how Mark Antony and Cleopatra had a Secret Wine Club and would frequently get drunk and go out into the streets to prank Egyptians? Plus so much more crazy fun, nerdy facts about Cleopatra?! Guest Katelyn Hempstead (Lizard People) and Cassi Jerkins get into the amazing life of Pharaoh Cleopatra VII Philopator and how she was a badass, nerdy woman way ahead of her time! Katelyn tells Cleopatra’s life story while Cassi interjects with dark facts about what happens to a person if they get bit by an asp, a deadly snake. It’s always a fun time here on Dumb Nerds! Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stanley Kubrick. What is this famous filmmaker’s deal? Known for making groundbreaking films like “2001 Space Odyssey”, “The Shining”, “Dr. Strangelove”, "Full Metal Jacket", "Lolita" and more, perfecting the steady cam and mastering shots like the reverse tracking shot. Meanwhile some speculate he also filmed a fake Moon Landing for the U.S. Government to beat the Soviet Union in the Space Race. Guest Adam Moshcatel (You’re Gonna Love This Podcast) and host, Cassi Jerkins, nerd out over their favorite Kubrick films, his unsettling behavior on set, his average childhood and discuss their own theories on whether he filmed the moon landing or not. Sit back, relax and enjoy an episode dedicated to Stanley Kubrick.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DOGS! This episode is all about dogs! Actress, comedian Jillian Dunn joins us to talk about her experience growing up with parents who participate in dog shows, specifically with Rhodesian Ridgebacks and Dalmatians. She also talks about her sweet rescue, Gali, and gives tips on how to train your pet and read the body of language of dogs (and their owners). Cassi realizes her cat, Meemo, is the dominate one in her house. They also get into how scientists are studying the DNA of dog fossils in hopes of trying to figure out when and where dogs became domesticated. Results are all over the place and proving to be harder to pinpoint that anticipated. These are magnificent, wonderful creatures we are so lucky to have in the world. Enjoy! Woof woof  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who were the original rockstars? Classical music composers. That’s right, Franz Liszt was the Elvis Presley of his time and created the rockstar entrance we all see today. He was also known to bob his head as he played making all the ladies go wild. Like Beatle mania wild. Women would literally throw themselves at him and try and rip his clothes off. Women would write him so many letter requesting a lock of his hair that Liszt got a dog with his hair color to clip the dog’s hair and send the locks to his adoring fans. Guest Rosie Leisure (Starburns editor, improviser) studied piano performance in college and talks with host, Cassi Jerkins, about the history and musical progression of classical music, along with dishing out some hot gossip about their rockstar, definitely STD-ridden lives. Learn about Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frêderic Chopin and more!   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/

USA’s Independence Day to Americans means getting drunk at a BBQ and watching fireworks, right!? But why BBQ? Why fireworks? Why Independence Day? Host Cassi Jerkins does some dumb research and discovers some pretty fun, interesting things! For instance, why Americans celebrate their Declaration of Independence on July 4th doesn't make much sense. The representatives of the 13 colonies voted on the declaration July 2nd and most of them didn’t sign it until August 2nd. The Liberty Bell was first rung after a public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8th, 1776, and the White House didn’t throw their first Independence Day party until 1801, and made the 4th of July an official holiday in 1870. While the US was figuring it’s hot self out, BBQs and fireworks have been linked with Independence Day since the beginning! John Adams loved fireworks and pitched to the other representatives that there be fireworks every year and everyone said, “Yeah, let’s do it.” BBQs were used to get people to come out

Romantic Comedies? Do you love them or hate them? Guest Dominique Johnson loves them! From the predictable formula to the fights that reveal to characters their one-and-only true soulmate, rom coms to Dom are the best! Host Cassi Jerkins is cynical. She unveils how unrealistic these characters are and how they are problematic to our expectations of love. (Not to mention this whole conversation is very heteronormative.) Dom and Cassi get into romantic comedies like “When Harry Met Sally”, “Love Actually”, “Annie Hall”, “La La Land” and Dom’s favorite, “Serendipity”. Dom also shares his own real life meet cute with a girl reading a book in a bar and how when he sees an opportunity to turn a moment in real life into a scene from a romantic comedy, he takes it! (He’s done the boom box outside a girl’s house move before.) Meanwhile, Cassi discards the notion of soulmates and ponders if it’s even possible for people to have healthy romantic relationships. Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out infor

Bigfoot! We all know the legend but what about the facts? It’s 2017 and people still believe in Bigfoot. There’s even an active scientific research organization dedicated to exploring the bigfoot/sasquatch mystery. They’re known as the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. Today’s guest, Sara Iyer (The Purrrcast) comes on to share evidence behind why Bigfoot could exist. This includes Bigfoot sightings throughout the world including specific recent encounters, reasoning behind why it’s so hard to get good footage of Bigfoot (apparently they’re very cautious), all the way down to the belief that Bigfoot have a big old sweet tooth for Kit Kat Bars and cereal. It’s a great episode that will remind you fondly of the movie “Harry and the Hendersons”. Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you have an intuitive gift? Clairvoyance, clairsentience, clairaudience and/or claircognizance? These psychic abilities are also known as clear seeing, feeling, hearing and knowing. You ever have a dream only to see it realized in real life? Feel connected to your family and know when something is wrong with one of them? How about massaging corpses to learn about muscles to become a super masseuse? Improviser Cory Webster comes on to talk with host, Cassi Jerkins, about intuitive gifts. They even go through steps on how to harness your gifts! Steps like meditation, eating well, reading tarot cards, practicing psychometry, playing with Zener cards and talking to your pet. It’s another fun, dumb, nerdy ep. Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shaun of the Dead. Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Hot Fuzz. These are some of the great, super fun films directed by Edgar Wright. Guest Cody Ziglar (UCB Podcast Producer, Host of “2nd Team” & “Blerds with Friends”) was inspired by Wright’s films and watched “Shaun of the Dead” over and over. Later in film school, he broke down a scene shot-for-shot as an assignment. Super nerdy! Zig and host Cassi Jerkins get into movies that inspired them to come out to LA to pursue their dreams. They get nerdy about famous shots from filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino and movies like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. Zig throws out some deep cuts that inspired Edgar Wright in his filmmaking. They also talk about the difference between great acting and mediocre. The actors who make you believe and feel something vs the actors that make you giggle because it’s so bad. This is a great episode that we hope inspires and invigorates you to go out there and keep pursuing your dreams! And we give tips to help you pursue yo

LOST. One of the top greatest television shows of all time and comedian Matt Apodaca (UCB) is on to praise it and argue why it’s so great. Host Cassi Jerkins has never seen it and only knows it’s about some people on an island and some strange things are happening. Matt gets into the basic premise, some major plot points, characters and mysterious. Matt and Cassi also talk about the impact of the writer’s strike and the controversial series finale. They get into other great shows like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, True Detective, Game of Thrones and Jeopardy. They also talk about the importance of shows intros, diction and being super chill. Warning: There are some spoilers! (From shows that are long off the air. And one “Game of Thrones” spoiler.)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The most important episode yet! Jk, but it’s a fun one! Improviser/Actor/Artist Bryan Rainstein comes on to talk with Cassi Jerkins about Ben Folds! They’re both big fans and they have a blast talking about Ben Folds, his former band Ben Folds Five, concert experiences, his work with William Shatner and Nick Hornby and so much more. It’s chalk full of Ben Folds, including Bryan’s story of running into and meeting him at the Landmark after a screening of “Don’t Think Twice” and Cassi participating in Ben’s National Geographic anachronistic assignment that got her a like and comment on one of her photos from her rock hero! It’s a great day! Bryan and Cassi also talk about being tall at concerts, Patton Oswalt and this somewhat recent emergence of fuckboys. (Yuck!) Cassi also gives a shout to Eurovision’s 2017 winner Salvador Sobral from Portugal and her cat, Selma, makes several destructive appearances! Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m

Today comedian and actor Jacquis Neal (“Against the Grain” podcast, Dramedy) comes on to teach listeners how to raise their credit score! Jacquis gives insightful, stress free tips to manage your finances, get that score back up and still live your life. Learn how to obtain your free credit report, what those numbers mean, how to get delinquencies taken off your record, negotiation and of course, avoiding those collector calls! It’s a fun and educational episode! Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Today on Dumb Nerds we have on the super hilarious and talented Dhruv Singh (I'm Too Effin’ High, UCB) to talk about one of his heroes, Muhammad Ali. Dhruv talks about why Muhammad was so great and admirable in and out of the boxing ring, how Muhammad stood up for black rights and as a proud Muslim in the 1950s and 1960s when hardly, if any celebrity would. Muhammad Ali wasn't afraid to be himself and be unpopular in a predominant white American society. Today he is popularly looked up to as a hero. Dhurv and Cassi talk about the switch from hated man to a cherished and beloved American icon. They also get into some of Muhammad’s most famous fights like “Rumble in the Jungle” where 32 year old Muhammad Ali took on 25 year old George Foreman, and ended it in the eighth round in Kinshasa, Zaire. There was also “Thrilla in Manilla”, the 1975 fight for the heavyweight championship of the world against Joe Frazier at the Philippine Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City, Philipp

Today our guest is actress/comedian Katie Nathan and she comes on to talk about figure skating’s most dramatic and unnecessary event, the infamous Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan debacle! Tonya Harding conspired with her husband, Jeff Gillooly, to take Nancy Kerrigan out of the running to compete in the Olympics by whacking her above her right knee cap. The job was poorly done, Nancy recovered in 10 days and was able to compete in the Olympics and win the silver medal. Meanwhile, Tonya went on to compete in the Olympics too and had to perform along side Nancy while the feds were breathing done her neck to figure out what happened. Tonya buckled under pressure, made a big embarrassing show and finished in 8th. The world watched this whole thing go down in real time. What a weird, trashy world we live in! Tonya denies that she had any involvement in harming Nancy while Jeff Gillooly, now Jeff Stone, takes responsibility for his actions, assures Tonya was involved, along with his team of criminal buffoons, Shane St

Actor/Comedian Grant O’Connell (“Attack of the Killer Donuts”, Garbáge) is on to talk about chess! Chess has been around since 6th Century in India and today there are tournaments around the world and the current greatest chess player in the world, Magnus Carlsen, has a Twitter with 152K followers. There is controversy whether Magnus is the best player. Many argue Viswanathan Anand is the best and he currently has 371K followers! People love chess! Grant and Cassi bond over how they were both in Chess Club back in grade school. (Cassi is way more nerdy about it than Grant.) They talk about the history of chess, how’s it’s evolved, Alan Turing and the Turing Test, Bobby Fischer and his controversy with the US about participating in a chess tournament in the Soviet Union. Cassi’s cats, Meemo and Selma, make a few cameos; and Grant talks about how he hates magic, in chess he uses his self-taught “Might Ducky’s method” and he grossly refers to pawns as nipples. Grant also thinks the fast food chain Wendy’s is way

Today we have the lovely and hilarious Cara Meyers on to talk about the not-so-lovely and not-so-funny Dark Web! Cara and Cassi are deeply curious about the Dark Net but have yet to venture on to it. The Dark Web is a surprisingly large place online that people can ensure anonymity. That doesn’t stop them from talking about how to get on it through sites like Freenet, I2P and Tor. They also get into what goes on the Dark Web like buying drugs, illegal pornography, hiring hitmen, anonymously crowdfunding assassinations, acquiring and spending bitcoins, getting malware, gambling and finding out deep, dark secrets. They even talk about one of the infamous Dark Web leaders, Ross Ulbricht, also known as Dread Pirate Roberts, and how he revolutionized the dark web by being a Darknet market operator with his dark web business, “The Silk Road”. He had a net worth of $28.5 million before he was caught by the FBI and is now spending the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Is the punishment too

Today guest Edgar Momplaisir (Arcade Currency, DiCaprio) is on to talk about his love for Kanye West. Cassi and Edgar get into Kanye’s life, his mother Donda West, his marriage to Kim Kardashian, Kanye’s frustration with breaking in as a rap artist instead of remaining a rap producer, how he’s the David Bowie and Madonna of rap music with his high production shows, persona and videos. They talk about how he continues to revolutionize rap music with the use of speeding up old school tracks, incorporating orchestration and keeping every album different. We also get in Kanye’s battle with depression which gets both Edgar and Cassi to open up about their own mental health battles and how they both sucked in high school. Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s Dumb Nerds’ guest is Mark David Christenson (“I Will Watch Anything Once” Podcast) and he comes on to talk about his love for the comic book series, “Saga”. “Saga” was created and written by Brian K Vaughan and the awesome artwork is done by Fiona Staples. Instead of going into spoilers and the full story of “Saga”, Dave encourages listeners to go out there and pick up a copy at their local comic book store! Cassi and Dave talk about the beginning of the series, some of the characters, some controversy in the artwork like in Issue #12 and the cover of the very first “Saga”issue. They also talk about the distribution company Image and how it split from Marvel in 1992. Dave goes into a rant on why he doesn’t buy DC and Marvel comics because of their ad placement. For example, you’re getting into your comic about Superman or Robin and then Nick Lachey from 98 Degrees appears to sell you a Twix bar! Not cool. They talk the comic book series “Preacher” and compare the great use of narration in “Saga” to th