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The End of the World with Michael and Stu

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

The Apocalypse is Everywhere. The End of the World with Michael and Stu is a (hopefully) insightful and (hopefully) humorous exploration of the rise of apocalyptic news, apocalyptic thinking and apocalyptic culture. Each week, we’ll be looking at a work of art, a piece of media, or an historical event related to the (hopefully not) impending End of the World.

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Top 10 The End of the World with Michael and Stu Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The End of the World with Michael and Stu episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The End of the World with Michael and Stu for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The End of the World with Michael and Stu episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

The End of the World with Michael and Stu - 54: The Birds of Leaving Call to Us

54: The Birds of Leaving Call to Us

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

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02/04/25 • 63 min

This week we're talking about the first season of the hit Apple TV+ show Severance. We examine the ways the show functions as a reflection of our current, corporation-dominated world, exploring questions of work/life balance as well as the potential abuses inherent in a severance-like procedure. We also ask the all important question: what if severance could go even further? Is the severance procedure merely the first step in a Frankensteinian process moving humanity ever closer to the dreaded singularity?

We open the episode with a discussion of recent article by Seymour Hersh regarding the first Trump administration's initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak in late 2019.

This episode contains spoilers for Severance Season 1.

Link to Seymour Hersh's piece on Substack:

Trump's First Covid Mistake

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The End of the World with Michael and Stu - Episode 28: I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

Episode 28: I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

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08/13/24 • 60 min

We're journeying back to 1998 to consider one of the greatest of all cinematic masterpieces, Michael Bay's Armageddon. Along the way we point out a few of the more...improbable...scientific elements of the film, while also noting the remarkable way such an apocalyptic event was depicted in the less politically charged environment of its era. This is a lighter episode, as there is not much of, shall we say, substance, in this film, but your hosts still heroically tease out the latent Freudian themes lingering just beneath the surface of this subtle depiction of world saving heroism. We also, for some reason, roast Rob Thomas.
This episode contains spoilers for Armageddon.

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The End of the World with Michael and Stu - 65: Across the Great Divide

65: Across the Great Divide

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

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04/22/25 • 54 min

This week we are discussing psychics, specifically psychic medium John Edward of Crossing Over with John Edward. This program which ran from 2001 to 2004 purported to connect living people to their dead relatives by means of Edward's psychic mediumship. We go over a brief history of psychics from ancient times to the present before digging into Edward's methods and claims; does he really offer a genuine line of communication between the living and the dead, or is he merely a mediocre practitioner of cold reading who is taking advantage of grieving people in order to acquire wealth and fame? We also get into the century old antagonism between mediums and stage magicians.

We open the program by noting the recent passing of Pope Francis I by revisiting a tweet from an old friend, the legendary poster Louise Mensch.

Episodes of Crossing Over on Archive.org

John Edward's appearance on Larry King Live

John Oliver's takedown of psychics from 2019

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The End of the World with Michael and Stu - 59: A Man of Wealth and Taste

59: A Man of Wealth and Taste

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

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03/11/25 • 70 min

This week we are diving into the weird world of Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr., the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services in the second Trump administration. We go over his history of environmental activism and chart how this morphed into a profoundly conspiracist worldview that, with him now in control of the levers of power in the American health sector, has the potential to do enormous harm to the well-being of the citizens of this country and indeed the citizens of the world. We honestly had too much material for this episode, and even having gone a bit longer than we normally do, we still left out much that could have been discussed, but we focus in on his vaccine skepticism, his opposition to drinking water fluoridation, as well as his specific criticisms of Dr. Fauci and the governmental response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The sources for our research can be found below. We also discuss some of the wackier incidents involving...animals.

We open the episode discussing the recent protests outside Tesla dealerships as well as the efforts to crush free speech being carried out by the Trump administration.

We didn't mention it in the episode, but next week we will be diving into the crisis of the late Roman Republic.

The New York Times on RFK Jr.'s history of vaccine skepticism

Think Global Health on the origins of RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine activism

Claremont Review of Books review of RFK Jr.'s book on Anthony Fauci

CBS News on RFK Jr.'s anti-fluoridation stance

Protect Our Care on why RFK Jr. is the worst imaginable HHS Secretary

The Cut on RFK Jr. initiating yet another examination of autism and vaccines

Stat News on RFK Jr.'s nieces attempts to discuss covid with him

NPR on the infamous Central Park Bear incident

The AP on the time RFK Jr. drove home with a severed whale head on his roof

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The End of the World with Michael and Stu - 60: We're Together Dead and Lonely

60: We're Together Dead and Lonely

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

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03/18/25 • 62 min

This week we're discussing the run up to the final collapse of the Roman Republic, charting such characters as Scipio Aemelianus, the Gracchi Brothers, Gaius Marius, and Sulla and attempting to map them and their historical circumstances onto some of the events of recent American history. While the analogies are imperfect, there are enough similarities for the comparison to be...troubling. We use the book The Storm before the Storm by illustrious podcaster Mike Duncan as our guide in relating this story, a book the author himself has remarked has only become more timely and prescient now that we have entered the second Trump era. Is Trump the Marius of our moment? Was Biden a failed Sulla? To find out you must listen!

We open the episode with a discussion of Senator Chuck Schumer and some of his...missteps of late in leading the opposition to that aforementioned second Trump presidency.

Order Mike Duncan's The Storm before the Storm

NBC News on the Backlash to Schumer

The Hill on Schumer's positioning of the Democrats

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The End of the World with Michael and Stu - 66: I Cursed the Gloom that Set Upon Us

66: I Cursed the Gloom that Set Upon Us

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

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04/29/25 • 47 min

This week we are discussing Ridley Scott's 1982 classic sci-fi noir Blade Runner. While we praise the visual depiction of a post-nuclear-war American city, we both found the plot somewhat difficult to hook into, so to speak. While the essential examination of the question of humanity, and what it would mean for an android to achieve a fully realized humanity, we both had some issues with the way the film attempted to raise this issue. Stu contrasts this with the novel on which the film is based, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which we will be returning to for a full treatment sometime soon.

We open the episode going over the recent massive blackouts in Spain and Portugal; another omen of the impending end of the world? Perhaps!

This episode contains spoilers for Blade Runner.

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The End of the World with Michael and Stu - Episode 12: Civil War

Episode 12: Civil War

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04/23/24 • 63 min

We're back in the Alex Garland space, confronted, once again, by one of his ideology-free films. Civil War asks us to imagine an America that is UNDER SIEGE from internal forces...but does it, in any way, explain what is motivating those forces? Does the movie offer answers as to what might heal a similarly divided nation? Is the moral of the film simply: objective journalism is good and VERY possible? In order to find the answers to these and so many other crucial questions, you must, of course, listen to this week's episode.
This episode contains spoilers for 2024's Civil War.

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The End of the World with Michael and Stu - Episode 22: The End of the World with Donald and Joe

Episode 22: The End of the World with Donald and Joe

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07/02/24 • 56 min

Election fever has gripped the United States and we are here to break it down, specifically the June 27, 2024 debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. We discuss the debate itself briefly, but focus mostly on the aftermath, and what it bodes for the future of our republic. Topics covered include Donald Trump's (potentially disastrous) Project 2025, what (if anything) to expect from a second term for Joe Biden, and some historical precedents for...societies in decline. The pod also explores Michael and Stu's dark history of watching election related events together.
This episode contains spoilers for the first 2024 presidential debate.

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The End of the World with Michael and Stu - Episode 24: The 2012 Phenomenon and the Current Looming Catastrophe
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07/16/24 • 54 min

This week we spend the first twenty minutes of the show discussing the ramifications of the attempted assassination of former President Trump before diving into a consideration of the apocalyptic 2012 Phenomenon, with special attention paid to the 2009 blockbuster, Roland Emmerich's 2012. At the episode's conclusion we adroitly knit the two halves of the conversation together by thinking about apocalypticism and messianism, and how the hoped for Utopia to be ushered in in the wake of a disaster never materializes in the way that adherents might have hoped.
This episode contains spoilers for the film 2012 as well as for the year 2012.

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The End of the World with Michael and Stu - Episode 46: Shadow on the Things You Know

Episode 46: Shadow on the Things You Know

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

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12/10/24 • 54 min

This week we are discussing avian flu and the possibility that it might be the next pandemic ahead of us, just over the horizon. We get into the history of influenza outbreaks originating in domesticated animals, such as, most famously, the so-called "Spanish flu" of 1918 in order to calibrate how potentially worrying such an outbreak could be should it arise, particularly in the post-COVID political context in which we now live.
We also discuss the recent assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson (we mistakenly call him Brian Johnson in the episode, apologies), the sudden fall of the Assad regime in Syria, as well as a worrying new disease which has recently emerged in Congo.
Reuters story on the Congo mystery illness:
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-sends-experts-help-congo-diagnose-mystery-disease-2024-12-06/
ABC News story on early human cases of avian flu:
https://www.abc15.com/news/state/arizona-sees-first-case-of-human-bird-flu-in-pinal-county-health-officials-report#google_vignette
LA Times story on another early human case:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-12-07/possible-h5n1-case-in-marin-co-child-source-of-infection-unknown
Scientific American story about the dangers of this influenza strain:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bird-flu-virus-is-one-mutation-away-from-adapting-to-human-cells/
NPR story on raw milk and bird flu:
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/06/nx-s1-5220272/testing-usda-bird-flu-raw-milk-california

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FAQ

How many episodes does The End of the World with Michael and Stu have?

The End of the World with Michael and Stu currently has 67 episodes available.

What topics does The End of the World with Michael and Stu cover?

The podcast is about Literature, Film, History, Apocalypse, Comedy and Podcasts.

What is the most popular episode on The End of the World with Michael and Stu?

The episode title 'Episode 18: "I Just Want to Say One Word to You: Plastics"' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on The End of the World with Michael and Stu?

The average episode length on The End of the World with Michael and Stu is 58 minutes.

How often are episodes of The End of the World with Michael and Stu released?

Episodes of The End of the World with Michael and Stu are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of The End of the World with Michael and Stu?

The first episode of The End of the World with Michael and Stu was released on Feb 6, 2024.

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