Omnibus

An encyclopedic reference of strange-but-true stories compiled as a time capsule for future generations.

About the show

Every week, Ken Jennings and John Roderick add a new entry to the OMNIBUS, an encyclopedic reference work of strange-but-true stories that they are compiling as a time capsule for future generations.

Omnibus on social media

Episodes

  • Episode 326: The River of Doubt (Entry 1076.PS7208)

    January 21st, 2021  |  1 hr 8 mins

    In which Teddy Roosevelt and his son celebrate the end of his manly presidency by almost dying in South America, and Ken is tricked into discussing Mato Grosso. Certificate #27531.

  • Episode 325: Allegheny Time (Entry 032.MT2436)

    January 19th, 2021  |  59 mins 16 secs

    In which a series of traumatic train accidents and a broke astronomer conspire to re-invent time as a flat circle, and John accidentally attends a clock unveiling. Certificate #13818.

  • Episode 324: Otokichi (Entry 879.2C1125)

    December 31st, 2020  |  1 hr 4 mins

    In which a freak Pacific storm in 1832 makes one young castaway an unusual ambassador for the Empire of Japan, and Ken is unable to justify the Gospel of John. Certificate #37850.

  • Episode 323: Woodstock '99 (Entry 1441.IS2808)

    December 29th, 2020  |  1 hr 19 mins

    In which a fiery apocalypse outside Rome, New York marks the cultural endpoint of the 1990s, and John spends his whole childhood reading about armaments in Janes publications. Certificate #27287.

  • Episode 322: Kon-Tiki (Entry 692.MT1424)

    December 24th, 2020  |  1 hr 17 mins

    In which a Norwegian amateur anthropologist sails a raft from Peru to Polynesia to push a pet theory, and Ken covets ink and gold. Certificate #18688.

  • Episode 321: The War Before This One (Entry 1409.NH0109)

    December 22nd, 2020  |  1 hr 18 mins

    In which we follow the long, strange journey that finally got World War I and World War II their names, and John goes for drinks with his high school principal. Certificate #24737.

  • Episode 320: Slab City (Entry 1170.IS3501)

    December 17th, 2020  |  1 hr 12 mins

    In which itinerant snowbirds turn an abandoned desert naval base into a trash-mountain utopia, and Ken hopes a nuke lands on his head. Certificate #33204.

  • Episode 319: Carlo Gesualdo (Entry 526.HE1304)

    December 15th, 2020  |  1 hr 18 mins

    In which modernity discovers a late Renaissance composer with a history of ahead-of-his-time harmonies and lurid murder, and John scats like Cab Calloway after midnight. Certificate #39859.

  • Episode 318: The Guardian Angels (Entry 554.EX2320)

    December 10th, 2020  |  1 hr 14 mins

    In which a Brooklyn-born fast food manager slaps some paramilitary berets on local kids and starts a new community policing movement, and Ken wonders how to allocate the stripes on the American flag. Certificate #25639.

  • Episode 317: B. Traven (Entry 1332.PR2502)

    December 8th, 2020  |  1 hr 8 mins

    In which we trace at least four secret identities of the most reclusive novelist in literary history, and John gets a terrible fake ID from the fake ID store. Certificate #39453.

  • Episode 316: Dingbat Apartments (Entry 351.AC2830)

    December 3rd, 2020  |  1 hr 11 mins

    In which we learn why Los Angeles and other post-war American cities have tens of thousands of the same apartment complex, and Ken wonders where Philip Johnson's water heater is. Certificate #25380.

  • Episode 315: Ultrarunning (Entry 1357.IS4031)

    December 1st, 2020  |  1 hr 16 mins

    In which a throwback British baronet (sort of) completes seven marathons on seven continents in seven consecutive days, and John runs like a rhinoceros. Certificate #20800.