Advertise on podcast: The American Journal of Losers

Go ahead and mark “episodes about balloons” tied with “episodes about birds” as this week we talk about the family behind 2009’s zaniest media fiasco: when inventor/reality tv star wannabe Richard Heene accidentally sent his son Falcon into the sky in a homemade flying saucer. Or so he says. Tune in to find out if Cosmo has COVID!  Sources:  The Balloon Boy Hoax—Solved! Balloon boy hoax in Fort Collins, Colo., still amazes 10 years later Balloon Boy | The Untold Story "Wife Swap" Heene/Martel (TV Episode 2008) - IMDb Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

It’s been almost a calendar year and over 50 episodes but still Joey, Adam and Cosmo are finding new things to call losers. This week it’s the absolutely adorable and completely helpless symbol of endangered animals everywhere; the giant panda. Listen  to hear AJL’s official stance on Taiwan and stick around for a much over-hyped announcement!  Sources:  How America Fell in Love With the Giant Panda | History| Smithsonian Magazine 50 Years Later, Some Question Value of US-China 'Panda Diplomacy' - The New York Times A Brief History of Panda Diplomacy - The New York Times Pandas Getting a New View of their Mating Ritual The Flapper and the Panda Ruth Harkness and Su Lin: The first panda to leave China - BBC News Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

A curmudgeonly Irish-American chef isn’t the only thing “infectious” about this episode. If you’re not careful listening you’re bound to come down with a fit of grade-A giggles. Usually I listen to these episodes before writing the descriptions but this time I just texted Adam and he said we talk about poop a lot so that's probably pretty fun!    Sources: "The Curious Case of Typhoid Mary" by George Soper Biography of Typhoid Mary, Who Spread Typhoid in Early 1900s How Typhoid Mary left a trail of scandal and death - BBC News Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

There are a lot of perfectly good reasons to commit treason. In the spring of 1789 twenty British sailors found, perhaps, one of the coolest: they wanted to hang out with their Tahitian girlfriends. This week AJL takes to the seas to discuss history’s most famous mutiny and the lieutenant who just had the kind of face you just want to violently overthrow.  Sources: Complement of the HMS Bounty History's Mysteries - The True Story of Mutiny on the Bounty Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

This one. Oh boy, this one. In an attempt to tell the myth of the Corinthian King who was subjected to an afterlife of meaningless toil we end up rolling a few boulders of our own. We’d wager this episode is only half about Sisyphus and the other half is about one cohost’s insane quest to catch his supposed shoe thief (guess which one).   Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

We stare into the mouth of madness this week as we try to decipher the anti-usury politics of Ontario's own John Turmel, the perennial candidate who has run for office (and lost!) over 100 times.  John's Very Old School Website Sources: The biggest loser: John Turmel is making his 99th try for office this fall | CBC News Meet John Turmel, Canada's most-defeated election candidate | Full 2018 Ontario Election Coverage Meet the candidate: Independent John Turmel has run (and lost) in nearly 100 byelections 'No regrets': world's biggest election loser runs for 96th time in Canada Danforth byelection: John Turmel has lost 74 elections, and is ready to lose another on Monday. | The Star Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

AJL is going Down Under to tell the story of Western Australia's 1932 crusade against the emu menace.  Listen to Joey do some of the worst accents imaginable, but not before diving deep into a post-9/11 Do Not Play list.   Sources:  The Great Emu War-Scientific American Blog Network The Great Emu War-Sydney Morning Herald The Messed Up History Of Australia's Emu War Ridiculous History: The Emu War | HowStuffWorks Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

ASSASSINAPRIL comes to its bloody conclusion with the unbelievable story of the death of Kim Jong-nam, the disgraced heir apparent to the Supreme Leader of North Korea, who was killed by two women who thought they were on a Japanese prank show. No, for real.  Video of Doan Thi Huong's "Prank" Sources:  Assassins (2020)  How North Korea got away with the assassination of Kim Jong-nam | Malaysia | The Guardian Kim Jong Nam's Disneyland obsession helped to ID his body Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

ASSASSINAPRIL continues with the story of the fan club president who killed Selena, the young Queen of Tejano music. Sure, this counts as an assassin! Sources: American Justice: The Life and Death of Selena - Full Episode (S7, E17) | A&E How Yolanda Saldívar's Obsession With Selena Turned Deadly - Biography The True Story Of Yolanda Saldívar, The Unhinged Fan Who Killed Selena Quintanilla Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

No, that’s not a typo. ASSASSINAPRIL continues with the story of a man named Doctor-- who became a doctor-- whose negligence led to the death of President James A Garfield after his 1881 shooting. This episode has got it all: puss, blood, bacteria and a return of the fan favorite “shoving food up your rectum”.  Sources:   Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard Watch Murder of a President | American Experience | Official Site | PBS Damn Near Killed Him. Rectal feeding and the case of… | by Simon Carryer | Medium The inept doctor who killed President Garfield Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

It’s ASSASSINAPRIL on the American Journal of Losers: four weeks, four assassinations, four losers. We’re kicking it off with the story of the man whose interpretation of The Catcher in the Rye led to his 1980 murder of John Lennon. Plus tips on how to cheat if you’re currently in middle school!  Sources:  I Just Shot John Lennon: The Mark David Chapman Story Who Was The Man Who Killed John Lennon? | The Man Who Shot John Lennon | Timeline The shooting of John Lennon: Will Mark David Chapman ever be released? | The Independent Cosmo's Change.org petition Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts

Our first ever double header episode is AJL’s ode to the Mistake on the Lake. Not one, but TWO losers from the great city of Cleveland, Ohio. First we talk about that time the Cuyahoga river caught on fire. Then the story of the scheme to release over a million balloons into the sky right before a storm moved in.  Sources:  The Cuyahoga River Caught Fire at Least a Dozen Times, but No One Cared Until 1969 | History| Smithsonian Magazine The Disastrous Cleveland Balloon Fest of 1986 The Myth of the Cuyahoga River Fire | Science History Institute How Releasing 1,500,000 Balloons Went Horribly Wrong- BE AMAZED Adam McShane, Joey Bednarski, and Cosmo Nomikos are stand up comedians based out of Chicago, IL. AJL is part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network: https://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts