“A Piece of String” the Perfect Mix of Science and Comedy

I didn’t know I wanted a combination of Science Friday and My Brother, My Brother and Me until I heard A Piece of String.

In A Piece of String, two of the most popular podcast genres, comedy and science, are tied together to make something delightfully informative, usually. Each episode begins with a question–something like “Where is the grass actually the greenest?” or “What happens if you fight fire with fire?”–which the hosts then discuss in a broad sense. The next segment is a sort of spot-the-lie setup in which facts on a theme are given as submitted by the hosts except for one, which is true. The hosts then have to think the facts through to decide with is true. At the end of each episode, a winner is chosen with the same arbitrary manner as Who’s Line Is It Anyway?.

The podcast features a semi-rotating cast of scientists, some of whom are also comedians, asking big questions. The key here is the combination of the actual expertise between the hosts and their comedic timing with each other. The hosts have the energy of genuinely close friends: their comedic timing is effortless and organic, but it also doesn’t alienate the listener with in-jokes and an excess of comfort. It’s clear that the hosts are actively aware of giving their audience a good episode in a way that keeps the conversation funny and relevant, not forced.

It helps that while science plays a prominent role, the comedy is a more central focus. The hosts are brilliant people, but they also find themselves in conversations that spawn things like a conspiracy theory that the world is actually just filled with air, and that the rich people are living inside. One host asks, “Are we being Truman Show‘d by the people on the inside [of the earth, which is filled with the good air]?” and another immediately answers, “Probably.” The combination of interesting trivia and absolute nonsense keeps the show from being too educational or too standard in its jokes.

The interactive element of the podcast also helps its engagement with the audience. As the hosts try to figure out which statement is true, it begs speculation from the listener as well. While I enjoy listening by myself with my headphones, I found the most enjoyment listening in the car with my husband during our commute to and from work. While the episodes do have some audio normalization issues–we consistently found ourselves turning the volume up and down, which was distracting–A Piece of String is an otherwise ideal road trip listen. You can listen with someone else and take guesses, making your own competition parallel to the hosts’. As you listen to more episodes, it’s also easy to add a second game onto this: which of the hosts wrote which of the facts?

As with most comedy podcasts, the episodes have a tendency to be somewhat hit or miss just depending on your sense of humor–some jokes will land with you, and some might fall flat. Thanks to the rotating hosts and quick pacing, though, A Piece of String is sure to keep you laughing and guessing each episode.

Listen: Apple | Stitcher | Website