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The History of Fun

The History of Fun

Author: Polygon

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The History of Fun explores the hidden backstories behind the things you enjoy. This season, we’re diving into the amazing origins of your favorite holiday traditions. Join Polygon’s Russ Frushtick, Allegra Frank, and Chris Plante each week as they embark on a new quest to uncover these common-yet-mysterious customs. Produced by Polygon and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

51 Episodes
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There is a war. It's been going on for hundreds of years. And there's only one victim: CHRISTMAS. Chris Plante dives deep into The War on Christmas. Where it started, why it started, and out frickin' ridiculous it is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Join us for another episode of The History of Fun! This week we're looking into the fascinating origins of the dreidel of Hannukah.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A brief history of The Yule Lads and The Yule Cat of Iceland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A brief history of Black Friday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A brief history of Krampus, the anti-Santa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A brief history of the Presidential Turkey Pardon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A brief history of The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chris Plante dives deep into the fascinating origins of Trick or Treating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A brief history of Mischief Night, the night before Halloween Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We're excited to announce that we're doing an extra special second season of The History of Fun, all about the origins of our favorite holiday traditions. Trick or treating! Krampus! The Icelandic Yule Cat! Season 2 of The History of Fun will kick off on Monday, October 29. See you then! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
While this episode is focused on both Brookstone and The Sharper Image, we all know which one sold full-sized replicas of The Predator, so we're just gonna go ahead and call this The Sharper Image episode. This also happens to be the very last episode of the first season of The History of Fun. But worry not! We'll be back in the Fall with a brand new season of fun stuff, probably involving surprisingly grim stories from Allegra. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Karaoke: A Brief History

Karaoke: A Brief History

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This week on The History of Fun, Allegra regales us with the origins of Karaoke and the man that made it all happen. Pro-tip: Make sure you're really good if you ever try to sing "My Way." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SNICK: A Brief History

SNICK: A Brief History

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Alright, it's a Saturday night, it's 1995. What are you gonna do? Well, you're probably going to leave the lights on because you're watching ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? and other SNICK classics. This week, Chris Plante joins us to talk about Nickelodeon's classic programming rock block of All That, SpongeBob and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the water parks. Today Allegra Frank brings you the twisted history of waterparks and where they came from. She also decides to focus on some pretty grim stuff, so if you're a little squeamish about injury or death, you may want to, uh, come back next week? Anyway, FUN! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Manga: A Brief History

Manga: A Brief History

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This week on The History of Fun, Allegra Frank fills us all in on the origins of MANGA and its biggest franchise: Shonen Jump. Yes, if you've always been perplexed about the world of manga, this is the episode for you. And if you're already a fan of manga, there's a fair chance that we mispronounce at least one thing in this episode. Not Allegra, though. She's a pro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week we welcome special guest Matt Patches to discuss the history of Mission Impossible, from its origins as a Cold War-era TV show to the every-4-years film franchise we've come to know and love. We thought we'd look back given that the sixth (and final? who knows!) movie, Mission Impossible: Fallout, comes out on Friday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Whether it's Drug Wars or that weird penguin platforming game, the TI-83 calculator had something for everyone! On this episode we welcome special guest, Jon Bois of SBNation, to talk about the magic and wonder of gaming on a calculator, while also occasionally using it for schoolwork. Fair to say that Texas Instruments has a pretty good scheme going. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With Chris Plante on vacation we welcome none other than Colin Campbell, resident soccer expert (so much so that he calls it football!), to talk about the origins and some of the wacky moments from the history of the FIFA World Cup. Let's all take a moment to celebrate a dog named Pickles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this, the week of America's independence, we celebrate the ability for humans to consume low-grade meat at extremely fast rates. Chris Plante digs into the surprisingly-fraught history of the world famous Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest, as well as its most famous (and controversial) competitor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week on The History of Fun, we're diving into the origins of the roller coaster. We're not talking about your grand pappy's roller coaster! Well, actually we kinda are. And maybe your great great grandpappy's. Suffice it to say, hella old roller coasters. Join Russ Frushtick as he LEAPS THOSE DIPS! Special thanks to Foo Obsessed for the great Reader Only Memories theme song! Soundcloud link here: https://soundcloud.com/foo_obsessed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Comments (15)

Timothy Alexzander Carthan

wow this is not the real black history

Dec 2nd
Reply

Rinzler Rinzler

The girl on here is horrible. She never knows anything. Is it part of her act? It's terrible. The best episode was the mission impossible episode where it was just a bunch of guys talking any the show and movies.

Apr 14th
Reply (1)

Sabene Pleasant

Only wish there were more. Very calming and upbeat podcast. I listen to it whenever I'm down.

Jun 8th
Reply

Austin Holbrook

Heard all the episodes! Love this podcast!!!

May 14th
Reply

Whitney Rodden

Abby's inflections are a bit annoying. She makes every sentence sound like a question. Otherwise, great episode. Very informative. Thanks for the crash course!

Apr 12th
Reply (1)

William McLean

Pretty good podcast, but for me I had to stop listening because we basically differ on everything as far as likes/dislikes go. We like different things, no biggy, and otherwise good podcast.

Apr 5th
Reply

James Wyatt

I think in the roller derby pod you talked about fact checking each other. You should do a '2 truthes and a lie' bit with each pod.

Apr 4th
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Giga Guns

ahahahahah! loved the penguin baby and Bible reference <3

Mar 26th
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Matthew John Eaton

one of my favorite podcasts. entertaining and informative!

Mar 18th
Reply

Sara Jia

this podcast is pretty great!

Mar 18th
Reply

James Deng

good!

Mar 6th
Reply

James McLachlan

You should do Nintendo Gameboy

Feb 21st
Reply

Kalena Archer

A really fun and well done podcast! Definitely give it a listen (:

Feb 14th
Reply
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