Decoder Ring
Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.
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76
Fall 2022 Teaser
Decoder Ring's upcoming season.
1 min
77
McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Crime Pt. 2
Did a trench-coat wearing dog’s catchy anti-drug anthems actually work?
42 min
78
McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Crime Pt. 1
The unlikely origins of the trench-coat wearing bloodhound who tackled personal safety, guns and drugs.
32 min
79
Slate Plus Exclusive: The Making of This Season
1 min
80
The “Sex” Scandal That Made Mae West
Before she hit the big-screen, the sultry actress starred in a 1927 tabloid trial.
41 min
81
The First Alien Abductees
The alien abduction narrative started right here on Earth.
36 min
82
The Most Famous Poet No One Remembers
Searching for Rod McKuen.
43 min
83
The Mall is Dead (Long Live the Mall)
For a supposedly dying place, the mall keeps hanging around.
40 min
84
Summer 2022 Teaser
Decoder Ring's upcoming season.
1 min
85
The Storytelling Craze
How storytelling became a product.
35 min
86
“We Got Ourselves a Convoy”
How a fake country star gave voice to frustrated truckers across America.
29 min
87
The Sideways Effect
How one movie changed Americans’ wine drinking habits.
33 min
88
The Madness Behind ‘The Method’
Isaac Butler on how method acting became so widely misunderstood.
42 min
89
“F--k Everything, We're Doing Five Blades”
The story of how razors came to have so many blades.
36 min
90
Spring 2022 Teaser
Decoder Ring's upcoming season
1 min
91
Custer's Revenge
Custer's Revenge is widely considered one of the worst video games ever made.
41 min
92
The Fame That Got Away
Today on Decoder Ring: Three stories about fame, and one about monkeys.
37 min
93
Truly Tasteless Jokes
What's the difference between garbage and a girl from New Jersey?
43 min
94
The Philosophy of Vampires
In literature, the choice to become a vampire is a metaphor for transformative experiences.
31 min
95
You Just Lost The Game
When you think about the game, you lose the game.
21 min
96
The Alberta Rat War
Rats live wherever people live, with one exception: the Canadian province of Alberta.
37 min
97
The Great Helga Hype
In the summer of 1986, both Time Magazine and Newsweek ran blockbuster cover stories on the same subject: a secret cache of provocative, intimate paintings by Andrew Wyeth, one of America's most famous artists.
49 min
98
Selling Out
What happened to selling out?
46 min
99
Tattoo Flash
Today, four stories about tattoos whose meanings have shifted with the passage of years, decades, or centuries.
46 min
100
The Tootsie Shot
You know the Tootsie Shot. Why is it so sticky?
34 min