Here's an Idea...

The face of Idea Channel (center) and his
co-hosts Philosophy (left) and Economics (right).

If the title for this post makes you think of the guy on the right. Then you probably already know about PBS Idea Channel.

If not...well, Idea Channel is a YouTube series where the host discusses such seemly bizarre topics as What do Santa Clause and professional wrestling have in common? Is Buying Call of Duty a Moral Choise? And Is Futurama the Best Argument Against Transhumanism?

Friends and family will probably not be surprised that I love this show. I love a great discussion, especially when it with two ideas so far removed as the WWE and Old Saint Nick.

The show is hosted by Mike Rugnetta a former host of Know Your Meme. Which is where he was working when approached by PBS about making a web series. He is a musician who lives in New York City, and is accused by the denizens of YouTube of talking to fast, and having magical facial hair (watch the Santa video if you need convincing).


(Almost) Every Wednesday Mike and his unseen cohorts take us on strange mental exercises. With a fast mix of dialog, puns, and pop-culture references they might just make things like Surrealism or Economics more palatable or at least easier to understand.

Then on the next episode the questions and comments from the previous episode will be responded to and commented on. Thus not only helping to turn every show into an advertisement for the video before it, but also a conversation.

It's one thing to respond to your fans via text, but to actually respond to a handful in next week's video gives commenters something to aim for and makes those who get a response feel connected.

Idea Channel is just over a year old and as you can probably tell from the links and embedded videos alone their topics are numerous. Their most popular videos are generally related to pop culture (the top 4 are related to My Little Pony, Homestuck, Adventure Time and the Mario Brothers (in that order)) but all the videos are worth a gander, And who knows? Maybe Doctor Who is a religion.

What do you guys think? Is Idea Channel one of your new favorites? Let us know in the comments. And yes I am ripping off their ending, so you should subscribe.