Reviews For Skeptics with a K

I always appreciate this podcast… the episode for international women’s day was excellent

Entertaining skeptical podcast. Informative and funny.

I think I learned of this from the related Incredulous, perhaps the funniest show/podcast I've EVER heard. I always enjoy it. But today, during my hour-long walk--I'm 71 years old and need to for my health--they covered an Internet scam which threatened them with legal action. It demonstrated their valuse as skeptics; they examine items of which they were suspicious and learned more than most of us do. It was utterly fascinating. Aside from that, I love their senses of humor, their approach to healthy skepticism. Dig in, folks. They're beyond valuable!

Thanks for hanging out with these guys. They need your help. I think I started listening in 2009-2010. I’ve looked forward to every episode since.

I look forward to every episode. The crew’s good-natured, easy banter and well researched topics are second to none. A great entry point for anyone interested in science and skepticism.

Alice said she likes reading reviews. And I love listening to you all brilliant skeptics.

I love listening to the hosts having a good time chatting with each other about events in their lives then going in deep about a skeptical topic or two. It’s informative and cozy at the same time.

I give up. There is literally no place to run where politics and the PC issue du jour won’t follow. If you’re very politically and culturally left you’ll probably like this podcast a lot. The hosts are charming, funny, and delightful. Unfortunately all of the skeptical “science” is run through a leftist political and cultural filter that makes it all useless. If I have to double check all of the “facts” to get around the bias what’s the point?

Love the friendship and the banter, the science and the politics. Everyone listening: head to Patreon and throw some $ or £ their way!

I love this pod! The information I’ve learned listening for the past year has helped me get my partner to drop essential oils and quit spending money on orthobionomy when all she needed was ibuprofen and an ice pack. I can’t recommend this pod highly enough. Listen and be better informed.

I just realized I’ve been enjoying this show for a long time and never gave it 5 stars or a review so here we go. It’s great. I’m in the US and look forward to these episodes so keep it up please! Ok carry on

Great podcast! I’m glad I found it through God Awful Movies.

The ostensibly apolitical hosts of SWAK have taken this show from cheeky UK leftism to overt, radical worldwide leftism in the past few episodes. If you subscribe, expect to hear diatribes against the US and leftist political screeds wholly divorced from science or scientific skepticism. The hosts pretend to be honest skeptics, but have zero capacity for self-skepticism of their own political views, and the topics are now dominated by politics. If you’re looking for an apolitical scientific skeptic podcast, you’re better off avoiding the utter crap this podcast has become.

Very informative with a likeable group of hosts.

This podcast is the cheese to my burrito, the ham to my eggs and the iiiiiii to my sush.

Mike, Marsh and Alice do a great job speaking about controversial topics in meaningful ways. It seems clear that each host puts in a good deal of work preparing their talking points for each episode. Besides rigorous dives into each topic, the show has many lighthearted and comedic moments too. Highly recommended if you like Inkredulous or Be Reasonable.

These guys have done a better job than Skeptics Guide in explaining very basic concepts of critical thinking and skepticism. They explain the scientific method, they have done a couple debunking studies of their own, and they tell decent jokes. They taught me how to read scientific papers and how to verify sources to see if something is true or not. They aren't as in depth on scientific studies as the Skeptics Guide, but I do recommend them to people who generally love to learn about "woo" and why it's false.

This podcast is sort of like a British version of the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast. It has three hosts: Mike Hall, Michael "Marsh" Marshall, and Alice Howarth. Mike Hall is the main host of the podcast and is the most comedic of the group. Marsh is a professional skeptic (possibly the only one in the UK) heavily involved in skeptical activism. Alice is the scientist of the group and brings the perspective of a researcher to the discussion. The podcast is loosely structured. It typically begins with the hosts talking about what they have been doing lately (trips they have gone on, something funny that happened recently, etc.). Then there are a series of segments about skeptical topics. This can include things like an evaluation of a news story or recently published scientific paper, a change in government policy regarding things like homeopathy, or some research or investigation one of the hosts has recently done. Finally, upcoming events such as Skeptics in the Pub are announced and the podcast finishes. Serious subjects are discussed but the hosts are not afraid to go off on tangents and make jokes quite frequently. They come across as a group of friends having a good time. If this sounds like something you want to listen to, I recommend listening to the most recent episode to get a taste of the podcast. Be careful, you might find yourself laughing out loud and people looking at you strangely.

A great podcast with intellegent people who automatically sound smarter due to their accents.

I always save this podcast for last when I'm listening to podcasts because it is the one that makes me laugh, makes me think and sometimes as an American makes me apologize to the rest of the world. These are the podcasters I'd most like to sit and have a beer with in spite of the fact Michael appears to be borderline agoraphobic. Cheers!

I've been a listener for years, shame on me for waiting this long to review.

I used enjoy getting these but eventually, it became tedious to listen to the overly long banter in the beginning. Perhaps if they put that part at the end, it might work better? They could just as easily warm up with about three minutes of "what did you do over the weekend" rather than what seems like 10 or 15.

I want to start my review by apologizing for that whole President Trump thing. You guys did Brexit, and you know us Americans...We always have to out-do everyone else, even if it's making disastrous political decisions. Anyhow, This is the best skeptical podcast out there! Your level of banter is second to none, as are your obscure references. I don't know what a Caramac is, but I did learn from you folks that it's a good unit of measure over there. I'm rambling now, so yeah...

I love listening to this show whenever they decide to put one out. I really don't mind it when they talk about their lunch or whatever a "bell end" is-- it's worth it for the long diatribes on the placebo effect. If you're not subscribed already, subscribe NOW!

Love, love, love these guys and their skeptical conversations INCLUDING the inane chatter about Doctor Who, laser tag, liquid dinners in a can, t-shirt suits and Warren.

You guys make me laugh!

Skeptics with a K is my favorite podcast (and I listen to quite a few) Mike, Marsh & Alice are funny and informative. I always laugh, (which can be slightly embarrassing on the bus) I always learn something , and I really appreciate their well-reasoned and insightful opinions. I have listened to every single episode (some multiple times) and they just keep getting better and better! Keep up the good work boys!! Thanks!

You make me feel smart.

I've been without a skepticism podcast for several years, after the shouted quotes and skeptical community politics of a certain other pod turned me off. This pod fills that gap perfectly--it's all of the bants, debunking, and critical thought with none of the shouty bits or infighting. Plus, extra funny and accents!

I enjoy listening to these guys and gal banter back and forth. I like when they take an insane product or paper and break it down skeptically. The only thing I don't like is when they criticize us Americans, as if they don't realize they have an American audience ;) or am I the only one?

Highly informative, wonderfully entertaining, yet unclassifiable (hence the lack of awards "and the award for the podcast about stuff and things and such...".) Alice, Marsh, and that other guy ... oh yeah, Mike Hall (actually an unsung hero in the skeptic community) discuss topics on bad medicine, bad surveys, bad reporting, and practices that prey on the vulnerable and uninformed (which is all of us at one point or another). Their compassion is evidenced by their genuine anger at those who willfully misrepresent bunk and by the causes the three and their parent org support. But the most important part of the presentation remains the fun, humor, and conversational style. We all rooted for Alice as she joined the group just a year ago as a podcasting novice and has grown to become fully engaged in the incessant side-bars that are the core of the entertainment value. To really discover what this podcast is all about I usually point people to episode 100, which gives wonderful examples of the story styles covered. But the quality of recent episodes all demonstrate the entertainingly informative skeptical dissection of recent reporting and events. Congratulations to Alice and those two guys. Since this is an iTunes review rather than a blog, I've horribly abbreviated what should be a more fully reasoned explanation of why this could become your favorite podcast. I'm sorry about that (or I could say "your welcome", depending on what you're looking for.) Random highlights: incessant bad puns, humor that is thankfully not so "British", QED, Alice explaining the biology part of quackery, Mike's universe of music and attire, Marsh being ... well ... Marsh. Btw, I have a thing about parenthetical phrases. I'm seeking help.

The content is always entertaining but still informative.

Skeptics with a K is the terrifying story of homeopathy's growing popularity and support by the NHS in the UK. At least if you listen in reverse order like I do.

Nice collection of reasonable people. Winners Winners Winners Winners

You asked for reviews, so here you go: I love this podcast, but why does my other favorite Merseyside Skeptics' Society podcast only get released *maybe* once each year (near April 1st) if at all? Skeptics With a C needs to get back to work, because their podcast is the only one I love more than Skeptics with a K.

I’ve been listening to this show forever, and realized I don’t think I have left a review in ages, if ever. That is utterly unforgivable and needed fixed. This is the podcast that was instrumental in helping me move from being an atheist to a skeptic. Listening to Mike, Marsh, the much missed Collin, and now the great Alice provided a humorous look at the way skepticism can be applied to the everyday, lived life. While there are now quite a few skeptical podcasts, this is still my favorite because it’s nice to hear skepticism done with a group of people whom obviously are friends in real life, and see that skeptics don’t have to be dour, humorless individuals. Skeptics with a K also shows how street level skepticism is needed not only for the obvious, but for things like media (4th paragraph rule & Press Releases passing as stories) and claims made about technology (Battery rechargers/music file quality). If you haven’t listened yet, I cannot imagine what you are waiting for.

I wish I lived on the Merseyside so I could stop in and meet the crew at a skeptics in the pub and stare awkwardly at my feet. Perhaps I'll take a vacation someday to do just that.

It’s a great mix of analysis/discussion of contemporary balderdash (woo!) and wicked fast clever jokes and bad puns. The chemistry among the 3 hosts is perfect and there’s rarely a dull moment. They are not mean-spirited, but are fair and reasonable, with plenty of self-deprecation to make them the most lovable skeptics around. I’ve listened to several other similar podcasts and this is by far the best mix of humor and content.

Mike, Alice, and Marsh have great chemistry and discuss interesting topics.

Great show once I figured out that my IPOD wasn't playing at double speed, that's just the way Marsh speaks. I would play it at half speed but then Alice starts to sound like Tim Curry. I grew up with a similar book to the Giant Book Of Fantastic Facts, but it had the title Uncle John's Bathroom Readers. I still quote information from that book and I have no idea if it is true. I live in Columbus Ohio (the only state where voting matters) and used to work in a call center with a fellow from Manchester. I will never forget the day I heard him tell a customer over the phone that he "is speaking English, indeed I am English, and you sir are speaking my language, poorly I might add." Needless to say he did not last long there. I lead a Skeptics in the Pub in Columbus and would love to know some ideas on growing the group and what kind of things you do in your group besides drinking beer and laughing at Sarah Palin. Love the show, Jack Meyers

There are three podcasts produced by the Merseyside Skeptics. This is the best of them. It is logical, erudite, valid (there is an actual scientist and judging from her voice maybe a beautiful one, so remember girls/women, you can have it all), funny, not afraid (as long as there are no physical threats, Marsh) to call a phony a phoney. And of course, listening to this Podcast allows me to watch Morse/Lewis, etc. without subtitles. And, maybe best of all, it actually comes out with regularity.

Rich in useful information, but delivered in a fun, casual way. Very accessible without being insulting, well worth your time

I've actually learned things from this show and I frequently burst out into fits of laughter at work whilst listening to this show. Delightfully witty and amazingly smart.

Love this podcast. Currently my favorite, Marsh is hilarious.

I've been a fairly consistent listener since circa Spring 2010. They remain the benchmark for reporting on unsupported, non-scientific claims of alt medicine, acupuncture and other flim-flam. 'Be Reasonable' allows practictioners of woo thirty to forty minutes free rein. I am surprised that this podcast is not littered with groans of exasperation from the interviewers. My sole complaint is Skeptics with a K contains rough language. Maybe they're sailors.

It’s fun to listen to, contains great information, is well edited, and attempts to help people by riding the world of fraudulent medical practices. Just wonderful!

These guys are sharp and witty and fantastic entertainment.

Entertaining, funny and informative. They cover a wide variety of topics, sometimes the well trodden skeptical ones which they bring a new angle to and sometimes topics you won't hear about anywhere else. They get along well and you can hear that in the friendly, conversational tone of the show. It is also usually a nice, lighthearted break from other skeptical shows which I also love but usually have a more serious tone (skeptics guide, skeptoid etc) or cover topics which can get depressing or enraging. Probably my favourite podcast.