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

Today we have the lovely and very wise Veronica Gruba (Who We Used to Be Podcast) on to talk about her experience with Christianity, specifically with Christian testimonials. Veronica was raised Christian in Seattle and struggled with finding her own Christian testimonial to share her personal religious experience to others. It reminds Cassi a lot of the documentary “Jesus Camp”. Veronica and Cassi talk about the good parts of having religion and faith in one’s life to the areas they think needs improvement like welcoming all types of people, respecting others beliefs, etc. They also talk about Christian megachurches and their “Glengarry Glen Ross” attempt at converting as many people as possible to Emma Donahue, one of the coolest Methodist pastors in Seattle who hosts “Pub Theology”, a meet up where anyone can come, drink a pint and talk religion. They also talk about how Veronica’s childhood home was haunted, how to detect if your house is haunted or if it’s a faulty air conditioner, bad lighting or carbon

Today’s special guest is Charlie Mihelich (Catharsis: Dramatic Improv & Purgatory) and he comes on to talk about The Terminator movies! Cassi had to sit down to watch “The Terminator 1” and “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” before podcasting with Charlie because she had never seen them before. Turns out, she loves them! Seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator and not Howard Langston from “Jingle All the Way” really changed her opinion about him. He’s a total badass as The Terminator! Charlie gets down to business and talks about his love for The Terminators movies and why the newest one, “Terminator Genisys”, is the worst. They talk about the career of rags-to-$1.79 billion-net-worth-riches James Cameron and how “Avatar” and “Titanic” are the top two highest grossing movies of all time. James Cameron directed both films along with “Terminators 1 & 2”, “Aliens”, “The Abyss”, “True Lies”, etc. His married life is not so great but Cassi takes time up top to talk about why all the women he’s been married to ar

Today’s episode is all about body farms with Steven Ray Morris! ("The Purrrcast", "My Favorite Murder", "Mother, May I Sleep With Podcast"). Body farms are facilities used for the study of decomposition of human remains. Steven and Cassi talk about the history of how body farms got started with the first body farm, also called anthropological research facility, back in 1971 with anthropologist William M. Bass. There are now six in the United States and one just opened in Amsterdam in 2016. The aim of these farms is to gain a better understanding of the decomposition process and for forensic purposes, to permit the development of techniques for extracting information (such as the timing and circumstances of death) from human remains. Pretty cool right?! And if that’s not dark enough for you Cassi goes through the process of how the body decomposes while Steven and Cassi both drink some whiskey to help take in such realities of when the body dies, the blood stops circulating and solidifies, the skin changes co

Today’s episode is everything Titanic with Hannah Kanengieter (The “Hello! And Good News” podcast, LA improviser, actor). Hannah picked the Titanic because she loves the movie and is convinced she died on the Titanic in a past life. This episode is chalk full of quotes from the movie like “You’re so stupid, Rose!”, “God himself couldn’t sink these ship!” and “Full House, boys!” We also get into behind-the-scene facts about the movie such as costs, alternate casting, Enya and how it took the public into an obsessive frenzy. (Cassi had to go to a lot of 6th grade birthday parties that were Titanic screening parties…) They of course get into the real ship itself and why it was such a historic triumph and tragedy. The sinking of the Titanic forever changed safety regulation of ships and a year after the Titanic sank, these changes in regulation saved it’s sister ship, the HMHS Britannic, from having as many casualties when she hit an underwater mine that was set there at the start of World War 1. They also talk

Today’s guest Clark Canez (LA Improviser- Power Lunch, Chaz Dean, Gosh Guys, Hemp-ire Strikes Back) and Cassi get deep into Greek Mythology! Clark proves his Dumb Nerd worthiness by knowing so much about Greek Mythology. Seriously. He schools Cassi with stories of: Chaos; the first leaders of the Universe The Titans; the castrating, baby eating King Cronus; the Cronus killing and wife cheating Zeus; Zeus’ wife and sister Hera; Hercules, the son Zeus had out of wedlock but made up his infidelity by naming Hercules after his wife, Hera; Zeus and Hera’s one eyed son Cyclops; God of Sea Poseidon; Leader of the Underworld Hades; the unwilling Queen of the Underworld Persephone and her mother, Goddess of Agriculture and winter inducing, Demeter; Rockstar Orpheus and the tragic fate of his wife Eurydice; Apollo and the cursed false prophet Cassandra; Flying-too-close-to-the-sun Icarus; Rolling-a-boulder-uphill Sisyphus; and Prometheus, the god who gave fire back to mortals and was punished by being chained to a moun

Special guest Michael Lucid (Drag Lady Reporter Damiana Garcia, Dirty Girls documentary, UCB) and host, Cassi Jerkins, get into the wild, dramatic world of Soap Operas! They discuss it’s long history from starting out on the radio to sell soap to housewives, to having some of the longest running shows in history with glamorous daytime award shows and popular magazines. Now the world of Soap Operas seem to have declined; Michael and Cassi pitch theories on why this may be- No one has TV anymore, everyone just watches the news during the day … What could it be?! Despite Soap Operas recent decline, that doesn’t stop Michael and Cassi from chatting about some of their favorite Soap Opera classics like "Passions", "Swans Crossing", "Dynasty" and many more. They also take a look at some of the famous actors who started out on Soap Operas! Stars like George Clooney, John Stamos, Julianne Moore, Meg Ryan, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ricky Martin and more! They also get nostalgic about 90s-early 2000s obsessions like AIM

Today it’s our dumbest episode yet! Our guest is Lucé Tomlin-Brenner (producer for the Virgil’s “Radio Picture Show”, the Upright Citizens Brigade’s “Sun Valley” and Los Angeles improviser- Garbáge and Parker Posey). Lucé and Cassi try real hard to talk about quantum physics. You may learn something? But you’ll most likely laugh and shake your head at how dumb these two are. Lucé and Cassi start off by trying to go over a basic definition of quantum physics, then they take a look at the math. Yikes! Yep, all aboard the Dumb Train Express! Lucé and Cassi try not to give up too easy. Instead they try to understand quantum physics more by talking about thought experiments and interesting theories like Schrondinger’s Cat, the Spooky Effect, black holes and how the sun would still be as hot if it was made out of bananas. It’s some head-scratching fun stuff! They also talk about UFOs, Mrs. Doubtfire, the Simpsons and how we should all just be cool at parties. Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out i

Today’s topic is the Swedish Prison System with guest Natalie Benedict (UCLA Film & TV; LA improviser- Chaz Dean & Parker Posey). These two nerds come to the table loaded with statistics and theories on why the Swedish prison system is schooling all other prison systems. For example the Nordic countries are closing down prisons while the United States is over-capacitated at 102%. In the US, 76.6% of released prisoners are re-arrested within 5 years of release. In Norway, 20% of released prisoners are re-arrested. This is the lowest recidivism rate in the world. What are they doing differently?! It’s fascinating. We also talk about why Norway’s mass shooter, Anders Behring Breivik, sucks and is a wrench in the Swedish philosophy on rehabilitation and their prison system. We also talk about India and Japan’s prison systems. Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the first episode of Dumb Nerds! Host, Cassi Jerkins, invites a comedian onto the show to talk about a smart topic they wish they knew more about! Today, her guest is Gerald Grissette (Arcady Currency, CBS Diversity Showcase) and they talk about how to buy a house. Both Gerald and Cassi are too poor to buy a house and wouldn’t know what to do if they had the money to buy a house. They go through each step one would have to take in order to purchase a home. Appraisals, Open Houses, Escrow- the whole shebang! They also talk about their dream homes and more importantly, their dream of just marrying someone who has already inherited a house so they can avoid the headache of buying a house.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices