Chuck Bryant and Josh Clark want you to know they鈥檙e not experts.
The hosts of Stuff You Should Know, the second-most popular podcast in the world, prefer to be thought of as researchers. It鈥檚 a strategic choice.
鈥淚 think one of the things that has allowed us to make it through to almost 1,000 episodes is, from the get-go, we have made clear that we鈥檙e not experts in anything, that we鈥檙e just researchers,鈥� said Clark. 鈥淧eople like to take down experts, take them down a peg, and the fact that we鈥檝e never purported to be experts really helps us a lot.鈥�
But at this point, one has to consider them podcasting experts at the very least. The duo, who will be hosting a live podcast at Vancouver鈥檚 Vogue Theatre on Tuesday, have been manning the microphones for their informative show for almost a decade now, long before podcasts were the cultural force they鈥檝e since become.
鈥淥riginally, Stuff You Should Know was meant to be this way to taking all these amazing articles that were just kinda sitting there on How Stuff Works and getting them out to people who didn鈥檛 necessarily sit around and read articles on the web all day,鈥� said Clark. 鈥淚t just kinda took off from there.鈥�
Nearly 1,000 podcasts later, Josh and Chuck find themselves elder statesmen of a medium whose popularity continues to grow at a surprising rate. The non-experts have an explanation for that.
鈥淚 think it made sense to me because on-demand entertainment has become such a ingrained part of our lives these days,鈥� said Bryant. 鈥淲e鈥檙e so used to being able to queue up whatever television show or movie and stream it whenever we want. (Podcasting) felt like an extension of that.鈥�
But where movies and television require your complete attention, podcasts do not, which is another part of their success. People are busy. Podcasts can be consumed on the go.
鈥淭he modern podcast listener 鈥� which is to say all podcast listeners 鈥� I think generally consume while they鈥檙e doing things. While they鈥檙e jogging, while they鈥檙e on the treadmill, while they鈥檙e commuting, while they鈥檙e cleaning their house,鈥� said Bryant. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great way to learn something or have a laugh, depending on what kind of podcast you like. It鈥檚 a great way to ingest content.鈥�
As for the success of Stuff You Should Know specifically, much of it can be attributed to Josh and Chuck鈥檚 uncanny chemistry, something they鈥檙e loath to overanalyze.
鈥淲e have this certain kind of chemistry that is greater than the sum of its parts,鈥� said Clark. 鈥淲hen you put me and Chuck together in a room and get us to start talking, I think it鈥檚 just something bigger than either one of us are fully aware of. (We) have this chemistry that you can鈥檛 put your finger on.鈥�
Bryant echoed that, saying the pair tries not to think too much about it. They simply met at work, and it worked.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a bit of a magical thing that happened.鈥�
Thanks to that magic, Josh and Chuck now find themselves nearing their milestone 1,000th episode, and selling out massive venues as fans flock to see the duo record the show live.
Their show at the Vogue will be a return, of sorts, to where it all began. Stuff You Should Know鈥檚 first four live shows ever were recorded in Toronto and Vancouver, and the Canadian crowd gave them a rock star鈥檚 reception.
鈥淭he idea that we sold out all of our first four shows in sa国际传媒 was really great. We made a T-shirt and it said 鈥榃orld Tour.鈥� We were pretty proud of it.鈥�
Vancouver will feature in an upcoming episode of Stuff You Should Know as well. Josh and Chuck were hesitant to say too much, for fear of spoiling the surprise, but it鈥檚 about nude beaches.
鈥淲e talked about Wreck Beach in it,鈥� said Clark. 鈥淚t was just like one more cool thing about a very cool town. I had no idea about Wreck Beach until I did the research. The more I read about it, the cooler it sounded.鈥�
Asked to provide advice for aspiring podcasters, which seemingly everyone is these days, Clark offered three tips: invest in good microphones and software, pick a topic you love, and be prolific in your output.
鈥淥ne of the things that we think had made us successful is releasing on a regular schedule, so people know when to expect it and look forward to it,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e never missed a publish date, which is a point of pride for us.鈥�
Josh and Chuck will record a live episode of Stuff You Should Know, part of the HowStuffWorks family of podcasts, at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver on Tuesday, Sept. 26.
