Keys!

Episode notes

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writers/podcasters Soren Bowie (‘American Dad’ on TBS, ‘Quick Question with Soren and Daniel’ podcast) and Daniel O’Brien (same podcast, and ‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’ on HBO) for a look at why keys are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.

(Alex’s podcast hosting service requires a minimum of 5 characters per episode title, so that’s why this episode’s title has 1 exclamation point)

LINKS FOR THE GUESTS:

• ‘Quick Question with Soren and Daniel’ podcast
• American Dad (TBS)
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

• native-land.ca
• U.S. Department Of Arts And Culture
• Museum of Durham History

RESEARCH SOURCES:

• Keys and locks in the Collection of the Cooper Hewitt Museum by Bert Spilker
• Largest key (Guinness Book of World Records)
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: “Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov” (HBO)
• The Evolution of Car Keys Is More Interesting Than You Think (Car and Driver)
• Wikipedia page for the Toyota Corona — it’s a jumping-off point, and please lemme know if you find a better resource for info on that car!
• How Google Image Search Made Me a World-Famous Moron (Soren’s old Cracked article)
• What Can You Open With a Key to the City? (Slate)
• Kendrick Lamar to Receive Compton Key to the City (Billboard)
• Giants Star Victor Cruz Honored in Hometown (NBC 4 New York)
• How to Tell If a Key Is Made of Brass (Hunker)
• Interested in a great source for the history of locks? Check out the 99% Invisible podcast episode “Perfect Security”, or the book The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester
• Guess Who Got The Key To Detroit? (CBS News) — the answer is Saddam Hussein
• Does the Key to the City Actually Open Anything? (Mental Floss)
• Rapper Pitbull Visits Kodiak, Alaska, and Gets Bear Repellent (ABC News)
• Feline groovy: Mittens unlocks more hearts with Key to the City (City Of Wellington website)
• The History and Future of Locks and Keys (Gizmodo)
• Why the disappearance of hotel room keys marks the end of hospitality (Quartz)
• Hotel room keys an endangered species (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• The Bastille (Encyclopedia Britannica)
• How the Key to the Bastille Ended Up in George Washington’s Possession (Smithsonian Magazine)
• The Bastille Key Case Conservation (George Washington’s Mount Vernon)
• Rick (Simpsons Wikia)