About

Machine Politics wide shot

Actually Happening is a weekly panel game podcast chock-full of obscure trivia, historical nonsense and terrible puns. Led by the obviously related Kevin and Dennis Clark, and with the help of their distinguished and not-so-distinguished guests (currently Steven Padnick and Anna Grafton), our teams attempt funny (and occasionally accurate!) answers to questions put to them by referee Victoria Nece. If you happen to learn something along the way we swear it’s not our fault.

Just a heads-up for those of you with sensitive ears: we earn our explicit tag. Yes, it’s history, but it’s history with cussin’.

If you still can’t get enough of our trivial banter, grab your friends and play against us at the Big Quiz Thing, alternate Mondays in various NYC locations. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Actually Happening is recorded in front of a live studio apartment.

What we’ve been up to:


3 Responses

  1. Ian Fay
    Ian Fay at · Reply →

    Hi guys!

    Love the show.

    Was listening to this week’s podcast regarding WWI era sabotage and I was shocked, SHOCKED I SAY, to find that you had all neglected to mention one of the weirdest, most insane disasters to ever strike in the USA:

    The Boston Molasses Disaster of 1919.

    Yeah, you heard me:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster

    While it was probably caused by a faulty tank, at the time it was blamed on anarchists. Here’s a description of the blast itself from Wikipedia:

    “The collapse unleashed an immense wave of molasses between 8 and 15 ft (2.5 and 4.5 m) high, moving at 35 mph (56 km/h), and exerting a pressure of 2 ton/ft² (200 kPa).[6] The molasses wave was of sufficient force to damage the girders of the adjacent Boston Elevated Railway’s Atlantic Avenue structure and tip a railroad car momentarily off the tracks.”

    And here’s a picture of the aftermath:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BostonMolassesDisaster.jpg

    There’s even an excellent book about it called Dark Tide which covers the event in detail, as well as the Trial of The Century that followed.

    Anyways, I hope y’all include this in your show at some point. It’s one of my favorite strange history moments of the city I love.

    -Ian

    1. victoria
      victoria at · Reply →

      Thanks — that’s going on the list for sure! :-)

  2. goro toshima
    goro toshima at · Reply →

    Hi,

    I’m a content editor at Swell (www.swell.am), an app that delivers curated content/podcasts to our listeners–basically, a Pandora for podcasts. Recently, TIME magazine recognized Swell as one of the 50 best iPhone apps of 2013. And we’re a 5-star rated app in iTunes and have been featured several times in the App Store since last July.

    Just wanted to say hi and let you know that we love “Actually Happening”. It’s up and available on Swell…

    Would you please tweet and/or announce on your podcast that the show is available on Swell (@swellapp)? And if you do tweet, could you add that Swell is an app that is a Pandora for podcasts?

    Also, if possible we’d love for you to add a Swell banner on your website (you can find assets/instructions at: http://www.swell.am/banner-assets/).

    Thanks.
    And let me know if you have any questions.

    Best.

    Goro

    p.s. if interested, please download/check out the Swell app:
    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swell-radio/id557048779?ls=1&mt=8

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