Dr. Robert Zubrin of the Mars Society returns to discuss Mars Direct, carbon credits, plans for the moon, and his shout out from Micheal Collins on the 50th Anniversary of the moon landing.

Avery Broderick and the first black hole selfie.

Sep 24th, 2019 21m 29s

Meeting up at the April Meeting of the American Physical Society, Dr. Avery Broderick tells Kevin about the Breakthrough Prize winning first photo of a super massive black hole in Virgo, Kevin's birth sign.

Robert Picardo, Konstantin Batygin and the factor of two hypothesis.

Feb 27th, 2019 46m 54s

Robert Picardo, best known as the holographic doctor on Star Trek Voyager and host of the Planetary Post, meets up with Kevin and returning Surely You're Joking guest star and Planet Nine hypotheses and hunter, Konstantin Batygin, to revel bran

Mark Mammone and the alternate universe.

Feb 27th, 2019 1h 1m

Mark Mamonne is a actor, comedian, and production assistant on Seth McFarland's "The Orville." Mark comes on Surly You're Joking to talk about leaving stand up for acting and to tell us about his upcoming first appearance on the show!

Sumner Norman and the mind-reading robots.

Feb 12th, 2019 1h 18m

Dr. Sumner Norman can do a lot of things, but one of the most amazing is that he can read your thoughts, sometimes even before you realized you thought it. Sumner explains how his work will help disabled people regain control their lives, almo

James Tuttle Keane and the sketch of the farthest snowman.

Jan 30th, 2019 49m 28s

Dr. James Tuttle Keane brings some of his sketches of the most distant (and possibly the oldest) probed object in our solar system named Ultima Thule. In addition to studying planet, James makes brilliant drawings to help explain what we are le

Kevin Hardegree Ullman, Aubree Sweeney and the cosmic piano tuning.

Jan 21st, 2019 57m 25s

First Surely You're Joking episode of 2019! Planetary research and Dr. Kevin Hardegree Ullman and comedian Aubree Sweeney get an update of the Kepler telescope replacement : the TESS satellite, the Rose Parade, and three letter acronyms. Ullman

Julie Jester and the Pasadena prank.

Sep 16th, 2018 52m 46s

Julie Jester is the queen of the prank court. When she's not inventing widgets and working on spaceships, she helping Caltech prank arch-nemesis MIT or building an homage to Hollywood sign pranks of old.

Spyridon Michalakis and the Quantum Realm

Aug 17th, 2018 1h 2m

How does Ant-Man shrink? Quantum Mechanics of course! Professor Spyridon Michalakis, scientific consultant of Marvel's most recent super hero block buster, starring Paul Rudd. It turns out the Hollywood star loves physics, so Spiro explains th

Konstantin Batygin and the quantum planets.

Aug 10th, 2018 58m 2s

Joking's favorite Professor Konstantin Batygin is back to explain how he discovered that equation that governs the quantum world of Schrödinger's cat fame, also describes planetary disks and the formation of solar systems. He also breaks down

Paul Zaloom and the puppet on mars.

Jun 21st, 2018 48m 11s

Paul Zaloom, star of the hit science show for kids, Beakman's World, drops in to tell Kevin about the popularity of his show all over the world, has him trekking across the globe. Paul give the low down on his latest project: puppet astronauts.

Robert Zubrin and the pioneering spirit.

May 30th, 2018 53m 34s

Author of The Case for Mars explains his plans to take people to mars, Mars Direct. Kevin and Robert discus SpaceX, making fuel on Mars, space nuclear, the intellectual dark web, and the uselessness of tollbooths in space.

Andy Weir and the first city in space.

Apr 25th, 2018 54m 39s

"The Martian" Andy Weir returns to Surely You're Joking after meeting up with Kevin and Matthew in the Bay Area to tell us about his new book, "Artemis." Andy also gives his take on why the Moon will be the home of the first Space city, not Ma

Michael Shellenberger and the future of San Onofre.

Apr 13th, 2018 1h 14m

Kevin drives up to Berkley to meet up with environmentalist turned Gubernatorial candidate Michael Shellenberger. Michael is the founder of Environmental Progress, a non-profit devoted to well, environmental progress. Much like Kevin, Michael s

Richard Rieber and the Martian wheel code.

Mar 31st, 2018 1h 1m

Richard Rieber tells of his work on the Martian rover Curiosity and the up and coming rover Mars 2020, the dangers of driving the world's most expensive vehicle at 0.01 mph and what happens when you use wheels to leave your mark.

Liz Friedman, Jimmy O Yang and the South Pole schwag.

Mar 13th, 2018 54m 22s

Physicist Liz Friedman joins Kevin and Jimmy O Yang (right after wrapping Silicon Valley Season 4)meet up at Jimmy's old apartment to talk about detecting high energy neutrinos, in the coldest place on earth. Liz brings Jimmy polar schwag and t

Sarah Keller and the Hohmann orbital ballasts.

Mar 6th, 2018 1h 4m

Comedian Sarah Keller and Mitch tell Kevin how unimpressed they were with the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch, and discuss the secret of living forever, the science of bullfrog mating calls, emotional truck commercials, and three parent babies.

Manan Arya and the origami mohawk.

Feb 23rd, 2018 1h 4m

Rocket scientist Manan Arya uses the ancient art of origami to fold complex space structures, like solar collectors, radio dish antennae, and even mirrors for the next generation of powerful telescopes. Along the way they brain storm on new ori

Irina Skaya and the giant ferriswheel of hooks.

Feb 16th, 2018 1h 1m

Comedian Irina Skaya has strong opinions about politics (and the comedy of politics) and she doesn't care if you're offended by them. Kevin and Irina talk about life of immigrant families. Irina talks about how embracing her Russian/Ukrainian

Vito Gesualdi old-timey popcorn salesman.

Jan 12th, 2018 1h 16m

Viral video blogger, gamer, and comedian Vito Gesualdi joins Mitch and Kevin talks about his adventures trolling politically charged rallies, as the extreme left and right collide, sometimes with frightening results. But what would a SYJ episod

Jessie Christiansen and the Goldilocks retraction.

Dec 11th, 2017 44m 47s

Prof. Jessie Christiansen returns to give Mitch and Kevin heads up on the planet hunting Kepler Space Telescope's final mission update, on how discoveries sometimes have to be walked back a bit, and the "what's up with that?" on Oumuamua, the a

Mitch Burrow and the alien rock.

Nov 9th, 2017 1h 9m

Comedian, Marine and veteran, Mitch Burrow, doesn't let his GED stop him from tackling the genius of Einstein, quantum entanglement, artificial intelligence, and A/2017 U1. the first asteroid to fly by earth from outside our solar system.

Ken Garr and the Space Musketeers.

Oct 25th, 2017 56m 13s

Comedian Ken Garr talks about his time performing in Iraq, starting a new political comedy show, and SpaceX fans and haters.

Monica Nevi and a break in the monotony.

Oct 23rd, 2017 54m 2s

Seattle comedian Monica Nevi from 'Laughs" on FOX stops by to talk about sports injury science, missing the ellipse by just a few miles and the importance of talking about farts and swearing when you want to get your point across. Kevin brings

Jess McIver and the finally not a glitch.

Oct 18th, 2017 43m 40s

On Aug. 17, 2017, a wave of signals reached earth from 100 million miles away of two neutron stars violently colliding. Dr. Jess McIver (sounds just like "MacGyver") was behind the team that published the news to the world. She also helped remo