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.

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Episodes

  • Episode 278: Project MK-Ultra (Entry 993.HB0111)

    July 23rd, 2020  |  1 hr 14 mins

    In which the CIA becomes convinced that acid-laced cocktails are the solution to all our Cold War intelligence problems, and Ken suggests a new variant of foosball. Certificate #28598.

  • Episode 277: The Tibetan Memory Trick (Entry 1306.NU0774)

    July 21st, 2020  |  1 hr 14 mins

    In which a Victorian parlor game about poultry and tweezers blossoms into a tongue twister, a comedy act, and a broadcasting test, and John tunes a guitar because Frank Zappa isn't available. Certificate #34596.

  • Episode 276: The Phoebus Cartel (Entry 931.JN0905)

    July 16th, 2020  |  1 hr 58 secs

    In which an evil cabal of lightbulb manufacturers realizes they can sell more product if bulbs burn out faster, and Ken decides he invented Teddy Ruxpin. Certificate #24473..

  • Episode 275: The Guru Letters (Entry 557.PR0513)

    July 14th, 2020  |  1 hr 5 mins

    In which a Siberia-obsessed Russian mystic counts a future U.S. vice president among his acolytes, and John offers up our softest poets to the mosquitoes of Alaska. Certificate #43738.

  • Episode 274: Hanky Codes (Entry 566.EZ1321)

    July 9th, 2020  |  1 hr 19 mins

    In which we look back at the complex and clandestine history of sexual signaling in gay culture, and Ken thinks a lot of decades have the wrong adjectives. Certificate #34366.

  • Episode 273: Fletcherizing (Entry 478.AC0754)

    July 7th, 2020  |  1 hr 11 mins

    In which a Victorian food faddist persuades America and Europe to chew each bite of onion over seven hundred times, and John discovers what Woodrow Wilson would look like if he were an embezzler. Certificate #32596.

  • Episode 272: Deborah Sampson (Entry 1100.JG0512)

    July 2nd, 2020  |  1 hr 19 mins

    In which a patriotic young colonist serves bravely in the American Revolution without anyone realizing she's secretly a woman, and Ken accuses a lot of deadbeat dads of doing murders in Maine. Certificate #37232.

  • Episode 271: Thomas the Tank Engine (Entry 1300.TI0209)

    June 30th, 2020  |  1 hr 8 mins

    In which children's love of model trains is reinvigorated in our era by an odd British TV property with an odd British ideology, and John thinks helicopters are probably hippies. Certificate #49600.

  • Episode 270: Sea Silk (Entry 1120.EX3816)

    June 25th, 2020  |  1 hr 8 mins

    In which surprisingly large mussels provide the world's finest cloth to a shrinking number of old Mediterranean women, and Ken wonders what a Tibetan antelope smells like. Certificate #29379.

  • Episode 269: The 504 Sit-In (Entry 473.LK1413)

    June 23rd, 2020  |  1 hr 5 mins

    In which the Carter Administration waffles so long on a groundbreaking civil rights law that disabled protestors take over a federal building for almost a month, and John considers building a maze full of wolverines. Certificate #30708.

  • Episode 268: Le Pétomane (Entry 926.IS0324)

    June 18th, 2020  |  54 mins 31 secs

    In which a French baker discovers an unusual muscular ability that makes him an international star, and Ken works on his Kegels mid-recording. Certificate #22584.

  • Episode 267: Pulsars, Discovery of (Entry 1008.IS4713)

    June 16th, 2020  |  1 hr 1 min

    In which the discoverer of neutron stars is largely ignored for her achievement, and John wonders about the precise verbiage to summon "Beetlejuice." Certificate #52246.