About SYSK Podcast

The Stuff You Should Know podcast – known commonly as SYSK – has been around since 2008 and is hosted by Josh Clark and Charles Wayne “Chuck” Bryant. Several episodes of the podcast are released each week, and in each episode, the hosts discuss a different topic that is meant to educate the listeners. 

The SYSK podcast has remained popular since its inception because it makes learning fun by being both informative and entertaining. You will learn about obscure events and things, and also learn new information about stuff you already knew about! 

Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant are both former senior writers at HowStuffWorks.com, which is where they met. HowStuffWorks is the website version of the SYSK podcast. They wanted to expand their brand and step into the world of podcasting, which is how SYSK was born.

Josh was the only host of the SYSK podcast in the beginning, and he was occasionally joined by several editors. One day, Chuck joined him as the co-host, and it was apparent that they both had excellent chemistry together. So, they decided to co-host the podcast together to educate people on everything under the sun. 

While studying history and anthropology at the University of Georgia, Josh Clark started his first ever newspaper. After college, he began pursuing a career in journalism and worked as a “cub reporter” in Henry County, Georgia. He also became the founding editor of The Washboard Weekly, a tabloid that was known for being “edgy.” He joined HowStuffWorks in 2007 and recorded the first episode of SYSK in 2008.

Chuck Bryant majored in English Literature at the University of Georgia, following which he studied screenwriting at New York University’s film school. He has authored six screenplays and has worked as a production assistant on a few TV commercials, indie movies, and music videos. He started working at HowStuffWorks a month after Josh joined. 

Themes and Topics Covered 

The SYSK podcast educates listeners about pretty much everything under the sun while using popular culture as a reference. Currently, the podcast has more than 1500+ episodes, with each episode covering a different topic. In 2018, a decade after its launch, they started releasing additional episodes called “Short Stuff.” These were to cover small topics that didn’t need full-length episodes. 

Whether you want to know how game shows and easy bake ovens work, or just want some extra information on bird migration or Dorothy Parker, Josh and Chuck have got you covered! 

Let’s take a look at three of their past episodes to understand their content better. 

Feb 11, 2023: Cave Diving 

Did you know that there was something called cave diving? It is one of the most extreme adventure sports a human being can take part in on Earth! It entails diving into the ocean and swimming miles and miles into caves where no human has ever been before. Essentially, it is scuba diving into caves.

Sounds thrilling and a bit scary, right? I didn’t even know such a thing existed until this episode in the SYSK podcast! Here, Josh and Chuck introduce this wonderful new concept to us while also talking for a bit about their own underwater adventures. 

Jan 14, 2023: How Therapeutic Hypothermia Works 

Therapeutic hypothermia? Is that even a thing? Apparently it is, and in this episode, the podcast duo are here to tell you all about it! Apparently, centuries ago, physicians noticed that people with serious medical emergencies recovered a lot faster when exposed to cold temperatures. This is how the concept of therapeutic hypothermia was born!

Today, modern medicine is working on discovering how to medically induce hypothermia in order to treat traumatic injuries that may otherwise be fatal. In this super science-y and interesting episode, Josh and Chuck teach you everything you need to know about this fascinating topic, including real-life instances where this approach has worked!

Dec 10, 2022: How Polar Bears Work 

In this wonderful episode, the pair talk about the lovely and dangerous beasts that are polar bears. Learn about their habitats, how they hunt, eat, sleep, and take care of their kin, how their population is in danger due to global warming, and many more fascinating facts!

Reach of The Stuff You Should Know Podcast 

The SYSK podcast has 126k subscribers on YouTube, 91.4k followers on Instagram, and 101.2k followers on Twitter. Josh Clark has 59.7k followers on Instagram while Chuck Bryant has 47k followers. 

On YouTube, where view statistics are readily available, it appears that the average episode receives between 3.3k to 33k views, with some even receiving as many as 50k views. 

As on January 2023, the SYSK podcast was ranked #7 on the Apple Podcasts chart. 

Based on this analysis, we estimated that the SYSK podcast receives [team will edit this] listens each time an episode goes out across Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and YouTube podcast networks. 

The Format of The Podcast 

The format of SYSK is quite simple. The episodes start out with some advertisements of other podcasts produced by iHeartRadio before moving on to a brief introduction by the hosts. After introducing the topic, the hosts start having a conversation about it, which includes how they first stumbled upon this topic, any stories they heard about it, or any books/ research papers they read on it, and so on. The episodes are also interspersed with a few commercials here and there.

The SYSK podcast doesn’t feature any guests other than the occasional editors from HowStuffWorks who like to join in. 

Reception and Impact 

Ever since its launch, the podcast has consistently found itself among the top 10 spots on iTunes and is one of the most popular podcasts of all time, which is an amazing feat considering that the first ever episode of SYSK aired in 2008! One of the main reasons for its popularity is the conversational tone that the hosts use as well as the entertaining way in which they talk about the topics. Their camaraderie makes things better!

Josh and Chuck always pick topics that are fascinating and they make sure to hold your interest, no matter how obscure the topics might be, which the listeners seem to like. You can listen to it while you are on a walk, when you are traveling, or even when you are finishing some house chores. After each episode, you are only bound to become smarter! 

However, keep in mind that the hosts do talk about their own opinions and views on certain things throughout the episodes. 

Check out the Stuff You Should Know podcast for yourself to see what the hype is all about. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, or you can watch it on YouTube.