Public figures: history & religion
82 people with no personal tie to the brothers in the registry, grouped by the field in their registry kind, most-mentioned first. Back to the people overview.
| person | date | role | what is said | video |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adolf Hitler (historical) | 2007-05-11 | subject | Hank asks whether it would be okay to kill baby Hitler ('he's just a baby'), says he doesn't know, and calls this why time-traveling heroism would be so hard. | May 11th: Heroes (00:01:26) |
| 2007-05-14 | subject | John says Hank's Friday video sparked an intense debate on Brotherhood2.com over whether Nerdfighters should build a time machine and kill baby Hitler. | Brotherhood 2.0: May 14: The Evil Baby Orphanage (00:00:00) | |
| 2007-05-30 | cited | Hank sings an original song about Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar, portraying her cruelty and weighing her killings against those of history's other killers, including Hitler. | May 30th: Ranavalona and Clean Coal (00:00:44) | |
| 2007-06-08 | joke | John's 'clue in my pants' turns out to be evil-baby drawings: evil baby Stalin and, he thinks, evil baby Hitler. | Brotherhood 2.0: June 8: Studying the Clues (00:00:43) | |
| 2008-01-04 | joke | John jokes that mustaches on 20th-century world leaders are a bad sign (Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kaiser Wilhelm II; Genghis Khan), so by comparison Musharraf is 'kind of a winner'. | Nerdfighting in 2008, Pakistan, and Hillary Clinton (00:02:04) | |
| 2008-05-20 | joke | Choosing between a million dollars and punching Hitler, John would time-travel to put evil baby Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin and others in the Evil Baby Orphanage in Tibet, then sell the time machine. | Guys Love Giraffe Love (00:02:42) | |
| 2008-05-22 | cited | Hank also asks about anagrams in math, whether evil people like Hitler or Stalin had pets, and what an iota is. | Adorable Puppy Injury!!!! (00:03:05) | |
| 2008-06-24 | cited | Lots of evil people had pets: Hitler had a German Shepherd, Blondi, who apparently died by poison pill, the same way as Hitler and his girlfriend. | Questions Answered! (00:02:08) | |
| 2009-04-05 | cited | John explains Brooke's compromise: go back in time, kidnap evil baby Hitler and take him to the Evil Baby Orphanage, a school designed explicitly for evil babies in "like, Tibet or something". | The EVIL BABY ORPHANAGE Returns for North Korea (00:00:39) | |
| 2009-04-08 | cited | Hank says the brothers disagree on the orphanage as a story: John wants well-known evil babies like Stalin and Hitler, but then why does the world still suck? | Become a Time Traveller TODAY! (00:00:40) | |
| 2011-02-11 | passing | Hank also shows two giraffes, Cowboy Bebop's Jet, his junior-cotillion photo, a Pro Image of soccer-days John, VidCon and LeakyCon programs, an 'evil baby Hitler' and a concept Chevy Volt. | 200 People in Your Pants (00:01:09) | |
| 2011-06-08 | subject | Hank says Hitler put pink triangles on gay people during World War II to label them, so that he could later kill them more efficiently. | Punishments, Floods, and Pink Hitler Babies (00:00:39) | |
| 2012-04-27 | subject | Asked whether he would kill baby Hitler, Charlie wonders why Hank asks after years of the Evil Baby Orphanage; told the orphanage is not an option, he says he would kill the baby. | Hank Talks to Charlie McDonnell (00:01:35) | |
| 2012-05-01 | subject | John can't believe Hank still asks the baby-Hitler question five years after the Evil Baby Orphanage began; he would not kill baby Hitler but kidnap him. | Moon Farts: Being Charlie While Running Errands (00:00:53) | |
| 2012-07-17 | subject | John says a producer from an unnamed cable channel loved Crash Course and suggested a TV show, but said television must cover things people enjoy, like Hitler and sex. | Hitler and Sex! (00:00:00) | |
| 2012-08-10 | cited | Hank recalls the Evil Baby Orphanage as an idea he and John conceived to escape the dilemma of killing baby Hitler: you could instead abduct him to an evil baby orphanage. | I Don't Have a Favorite Pony (00:02:40) | |
| 2013-01-15 | passing | John retells the Evil Baby Orphanage: Hank asked about killing baby Hitler, a commenter proposed an orphanage for evil babies, inspiring fan fiction, web comics and now a professionally produced card game. | An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall (00:57:30) | |
| 2016-04-19 | cited | John says the phrase 'reductio ad Hitlerum' was coined in 1951 for arguments that compare others' positions to the Nazis or Hitler. | Literally Hitler (00:00:11) | |
| 2019-02-05 | cited | John says Hitler did the same to Goebbels and Lenin to Trotsky, and it happened often in China, most famously in a photo of Mao's funeral without the Gang of Four. | Deepfake: A Brief History of Unreliable Images (00:01:57) | |
| 2023-11-24 | quoted | Hank says FDR's opponents mockingly called it Franksgiving, and his main Republican challenger said he had sprung it on an unprepared country with the omnipotence of a Hitler. | It Wasn't Supposed to be Thanksgiving Yesterday (00:02:05) | |
| 2024-11-22 | cited | Hank says Father Coughlin, an early radio preacher attacking elites, banks and Jews, drew millions of listeners and spoke of Hitler with great appreciation. | Populism, Media Revolutions, and Our Terrible Moment (00:03:51) | |
| 2025-05-02 | passing | Hank says Spain belongs in England's time zone but uses Germany's, because Franco put it there to curry favour with Hitler, so Spaniards eat lunch and dinner late. | I Found the Dumbest Time Zone (00:03:04) | |
| 2025-08-15 | cited | Hank says that in 1933 Hitler purged German universities, replacing hundreds of scholars with party loyalists. | What Trump is Doing to Universities (00:00:10) | |
| George Washington (historical) | 2008-12-15 | quoted | John notes that John Adams's last words, that Thomas Jefferson still survived, were untrue: Jefferson had died earlier that same day, July 4, 1826. | Famous Last Words (00:00:25) |
| 2009-01-18 | cited | John recounts that at the first inauguration in 1789 nobody had a Bible, so one was taken from a Masonic lodge for George Washington to swear on; he plays the last-minute scramble for laughs. | PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA Inaugurated: Some Historical Background (00:01:23) | |
| 2009-06-17 | cited | Hank lists Rockefeller, Washington and Bell and their achievements, but says he knows none of the men who called them sons. | The Fathers of the Founding Fathers (00:00:12) | |
| 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) | |
| 2011-06-01 | subject | John asks how to decide who is a good Evil Baby Orphanage candidate, taking George Washington, seemingly a terrible candidate given the War for Independence, the Constitution and his presidency. | The Evil Baby Orphanage Returns...for George Washington? (00:00:29) | |
| 2011-06-03 | subject | Hank says the discussion of whether George Washington was an evil person spread across Nerdfighteria, on Your Pants and in the comments. | I AM A BAD PERSON! (00:00:09) | |
| 2011-12-14 | joke | Hank says 'Socrates'; John says it is either Greek or Latin, which Hank will soon find out in episode 3 of Crash Course. | Greek Phallic Disco Golf Balls: A Free Association Game (00:02:39) | |
| 2012-02-07 | subject | John says George Washington's dentures were not wooden but more disturbing: gold, lead, hippopotamus, ivory, dead people's teeth and donkey teeth. | 10 Misconceptions Debunked! (00:02:51) | |
| 2012-10-09 | cited | John notes the Capitol and the Washington Monument stare at each other, the monument's red aircraft lights making Washington look disapproving of Congress. | Attacked by Squirrels and Neoclassicism: Thoughts from Places, Washington D.C. (00:01:38) | |
| 2013-09-24 | joke | John says Drake did not start from the bottom either: his mother is a teacher, and from a very early age he had a lucrative role on the TV programme Degrassi. | Started from the Bottom: Benjamin Franklin and Drake Compared (00:02:26) | |
| 2016-10-25 | cited | John notes it is sometimes said Washington's greatest presidential moment was handing office to John Adams, setting the precedent for ceding power. | Will the U.S. Presidential Election Be Rigged? (00:03:56) | |
| 2019-10-30 | cited | John says George Washington was a big pineapple fan; he left the North American mainland only once, visiting Barbados at 19, where he tasted many new foods including avocados. | this is a video about pineapples. (00:02:26) | |
| 2021-01-26 | cited | John says George Washington once measured a sycamore tree over 13 meters in circumference. | The Sycamore Tree: The Anthropocene Reviewed (00:08:29) | |
| 2023-12-24 | passing | John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated (02:00:25) | ||
| Joseph Stalin (historical) | 2007-06-08 | joke | John's 'clue in my pants' turns out to be evil-baby drawings: evil baby Stalin and, he thinks, evil baby Hitler. | Brotherhood 2.0: June 8: Studying the Clues (00:00:43) |
| 2008-01-04 | joke | John jokes that mustaches on 20th-century world leaders are a bad sign (Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kaiser Wilhelm II; Genghis Khan), so by comparison Musharraf is 'kind of a winner'. | Nerdfighting in 2008, Pakistan, and Hillary Clinton (00:02:04) | |
| 2008-02-21 | joke | For a trip to the Evil Baby Orphanage John would take A Love Supreme by John Coltrane and something by the Mountain Goats, though evil baby Stalin would steal them. | People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes (00:01:14) | |
| 2008-05-20 | joke | Choosing between a million dollars and punching Hitler, John would time-travel to put evil baby Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin and others in the Evil Baby Orphanage in Tibet, then sell the time machine. | Guys Love Giraffe Love (00:02:42) | |
| 2008-05-22 | cited | Hank also asks about anagrams in math, whether evil people like Hitler or Stalin had pets, and what an iota is. | Adorable Puppy Injury!!!! (00:03:05) | |
| 2008-06-24 | passing | Lenin loved cats and had lots of them; Hank adds that Lenin sort of opened the door for Stalin to take over after he died. | Questions Answered! (00:02:42) | |
| 2008-08-12 | cited | John says that in 1921 the USSR invaded (he says "invaded Russia") and Georgia became part of the USSR; he jokes that Georgian-born Stalin wanted it easier to kill about 500,000 Georgians later. | PEANUT BUTTER FACE (while discussing the Georgia-Russia War) (00:00:00) | |
| 2009-04-08 | cited | Hank says the brothers disagree on the orphanage as a story: John wants well-known evil babies like Stalin and Hitler, but then why does the world still suck? | Become a Time Traveller TODAY! (00:00:40) | |
| 2010-11-11 | cited | John says this happened under the Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilien Robespierre, a paranoid despot who foreshadowed Kim Jong-il, Saddam Hussein and Joseph Stalin. | REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution, Part III (00:00:46) | |
| 2014-03-04 | criticized | John says that after Ukraine joined the USSR, as many as 10 million Ukrainians starved in 1932-33 because of Stalin's 'stupid' and 'actively evil' agricultural policies, in what is now the world's third-largest grain exporter. | Understanding Ukraine: The Problems Today and Some Historical Context (00:01:10) | |
| 2015-09-08 | subject, quoted | John adds that Stalin probably never said the line about one death being a tragedy and a thousand or a million a statistic; he quoted it the way a Soviet historian did. | Understanding the Refugee Crisis in Europe, Syria, and around the World (00:00:00) | |
| 2019-02-05 | cited | John says Stalin often had former allies airbrushed out of photos once they became enemies, such as his secret police head Nikolai Yezhov after his execution. | Deepfake: A Brief History of Unreliable Images (00:01:27) | |
| 2021-06-29 | cited | John says people saying outrageous things online, like Stalin was underrated, lower legs needn't be washed or Grease 2 is the canonical Grease, lodge in many minds, though not positively. | Sneezing is not normal. (00:02:14) | |
| 2022-03-15 | criticized | John says that in the Holodomor of 1932-33 millions of Ukrainians starved because Stalin's policies took food from Ukrainian homes and fields and sent it elsewhere in the Soviet Union. | Ukraine and Russia: What Caused the War? (00:01:27) | |
| Benjamin Franklin (historical) | 2007-01-05 | personal story | Hank is back home in his basement, surrounded by things he loves: orange juice, Mental Floss magazine, Benjamin Franklin, old college collages including a map of Narnia. | Brotherhood 2.0: January 5th (00:00:10) |
| 2008-12-15 | quoted | John notes that John Adams's last words, that Thomas Jefferson still survived, were untrue: Jefferson had died earlier that same day, July 4, 1826. | Famous Last Words (00:00:25) | |
| 2009-10-22 | cited | Hank says that in 1770 an inventor unveiled the Mechanical Turk, a chess-playing 'robot' that beat Napoleon and Benjamin Franklin, with a man hidden inside. | The Top 10 Greatest Hoaxes of All Time (00:01:56) | |
| 2010-10-08 | cited | John reads last words from the book's F's: Douglas Fairbanks ('I've never felt better'), Ben Franklin, composer John Field, Richard Feynman ('this dying is boring'), Marshall Field II, Robert Frost. | GEEKING OUT Over Dying Declarations (00:00:55) | |
| 2011-01-03 | subject | John mocks the present tense and indefinite article of 'is Benjamin Franklin a president?' (as if there were several US presidents, or Franklin were in the band The Presidents of the United States of America) and solemnly informs 'the Googlers of the world' that Franklin has died. | Is bronchitis contagious? Is black a color? (00:01:13) | |
| 2013-04-23 | cited | John says that, it seems, a few honorary doctorate holders used the title, including Benjamin Franklin, who called himself Dr. Franklin after a 1758 honorary degree from William and Mary, but that today it is frowned upon. | DOCTOR GREEN (00:01:32) | |
| 2013-09-24 | subject | John, rereading Franklin's autobiography, says Franklin was a founding father who invented the lightning rod and bifocals and started universities, fire departments and libraries. | Started from the Bottom: Benjamin Franklin and Drake Compared (00:00:29) | |
| 2015-01-09 | subject | Hank says Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to the Royal Society, 'Fart Proudly', calling for a prize for a scientist who could make farts smell good. | 14 Fart Facts for my Flatulent Friends (00:00:43) | |
| 2015-08-07 | cited | Hank says it is widely accepted that 'drunk' is the English word with the most synonyms, first proposed, he thinks, by Benjamin Franklin — hard to argue with mainly because slang is hard to measure. | Is This Video Cool? (00:00:38) | |
| Napoleon (historical) | 2009-10-22 | cited | Hank says that in 1770 an inventor unveiled the Mechanical Turk, a chess-playing 'robot' that beat Napoleon and Benjamin Franklin, with a man hidden inside. | The Top 10 Greatest Hoaxes of All Time (00:01:56) |
| 2010-11-05 | joke | John says the problem will get better, then worse, then much worse and finally 'Napoleonically worse', and tells viewers to stay tuned for the next part. | God and Grain: The French Revolution, Part I (00:05:06) | |
| 2010-11-11 | subject | John says the military was the only institution people trusted, which is why they were initially pleased when General Napoleon Bonaparte seized power. | REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution, Part III (00:03:23) | |
| 2010-12-13 | cited | John calls Henry's new habit of pointing where he wants to be carried 'the Napoleon', joking that Henry believes John is a horse. | 8 Things I Love (00:02:58) | |
| 2011-10-19 | joke | There will be exactly one Hanklerfished and Yetified copy of The Fault in Our Stars. | Question Wed — THE COVER OF THE FAULT IN OUR STARS! (00:02:30) | |
| 2015-11-03 | subject | John says Napoleon started the 13-year Napoleonic Wars, conquering and then losing most of Europe, but never conquered Great Britain or Russia. | Monkey Hangers (00:00:56) | |
| 2019-02-05 | cited | John says faked photos have long spread disinformation and changed history: Mussolini hid that he needed a horse trainer to look like Napoleon. | Deepfake: A Brief History of Unreliable Images (00:01:27) | |
| 2022-08-02 | passing | John says Napoleon Bonaparte became France's de facto leader in 1799 and crowned himself emperor, and was succeeded by King Louis XVIII, the previous Louis's brother. | Liberty Leading the People: How Revolutions Turn (00:00:29) | |
| 2026-06-19 | joke | Hank notes Napoleon is buried nearby and died, remarkably, of cancer, when you'd expect a different death. | You Have to Poop in the Eiffel Tower (00:05:07) | |
| Ranavalona I (historical) | 2007-05-29 | cited | John is particularly impressed by Queen Ranavalona I among the book's evil women: he likes saying her name. | Brotherhood 2.0: May 29: The Goth Scene and Evil Ladies (00:01:46) |
| 2007-05-30 | subject | The description offers Hank's Ranavalona song for sale on iTunes. | May 30th: Ranavalona and Clean Coal (00:00:00) | |
| 2007-05-31 | subject | John thanks Hank for the Queen Ranavalona song, which he says rocked. | Brotherhood 2.0: May 31: Yogurt eating (00:01:15) | |
| 2007-08-16 | cited | John notes that yesterday was the anniversary of the death of 'noted evil lady baby' Queen Ranavalona, for which secret sisters made a happy death day cake. | August 16th: Finding — and Licking — a Cat (00:00:57) | |
| 2007-12-14 | joke | John thanks Nerdfighters for names for his hypothetical puppy, lists favorites (Rana Valona, Chomsky the Nerdfighting Puppy, Wootponer, Optimus Prime, Johnny Funtimes) and picks Norbert Wiener the Puppy as winner. | Dec. 14th: John and Maureen Johnson: LIVE FROM NEW YORK CITY (00:01:52) | |
| 2008-02-08 | subject | After struggling to pronounce her full name, John judges Queen Ranavalona more of an evil lady than Elizabeth Bathory. | QUESTION TUESDAYS (On Friday) (00:01:35) | |
| 2008-02-19 | passing | Hank shows several valentines: one 'from Helen Hunt', one naming Queen Ranavalona, a 'place head here' card, and one shaped like Nerdfighter fingers; he promises to treasure them. | Your Spying Thieving Valentine: Hank (00:02:28) | |
| 2008-05-20 | joke | Choosing between a million dollars and punching Hitler, John would time-travel to put evil baby Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin and others in the Evil Baby Orphanage in Tibet, then sell the time machine. | Guys Love Giraffe Love (00:02:42) | |
| Aleksander Gamme (explorer) | 2015-11-11 | cited | Hank shows a train lover thrilled to see a historic engine he had waited months for, and Aleksander Gamme screaming with joy at treats he had left in his final cache while hiking across the Antarctic. | Watch This If You Want To Smile (Pizzamas Day 3) (00:01:01) |
| 2015-11-12 | subject | John says his current number one goal in life is to someday be as excited about something as Cheez Doodles Guy is about cheese doodles. | Cheez Doodles Guy, Ringo Silver, and Dad Jokes (Pizzamas Day 4) (00:00:15) | |
| 2015-11-20 | passing | John marks the final day of Pizzamas 2015: they laughed, cried, suited up, learned some art history and met Cheese Doodles Guy. | On Mental Illness (and the end of Pizzamas) (00:00:00) | |
| 2015-12-29 | joke | John says he is excited about how well the Project for Awesome went this year (2015), 'like Cheez Doodles guy', and imitates the scream. | How to Give Away Over a Million Dollars (00:00:20) | |
| 2016-01-19 | joke | Asked the title of his new book, John says he doesn't know and asks viewers to leave title ideas in the comments. | The Looking for Alaska Movie, Davos, and Hufflepuff Shade: It's Question Tuesday (00:00:49) | |
| 2016-11-01 | joke | John says his excitement about the baby is at the level of Cheez Doodles Guy, and screams. | BABY! BABY! BABY! (And the 10th Annual Project for Awesome) (00:00:09) | |
| 2016-12-13 | joke | A montage of P4A 2016 livestream moments: confetti, Save the Children staff, Big Bird, YouTuber guests, John answering questions and the Cheez Doodles Guy. | P4A 2016 Hilarity Reprise - OVER $2M RAISED!! (00:00:00) | |
| Gussie (historical-private) | 2011-02-18 | cited | Walter Manlove's wife Gussie was 28 when he died; John imagines her committing to a plot beside him without knowing her future, and pictures that she might have lived to 113 or, likelier, remarried. | Thoughts from Places: Small Town America (00:02:06) |
| 2011-02-23 | subject | John points to Nerdfighters in Your Pants who are currently trying to solve the mystery of Gussie Manlove, Walter Manlove's wife; link in the description. | WE ARE 812 YEARS OLD (00:01:20) | |
| 2011-02-25 | subject | Hank announces that with Nerdfighteria's hard work and John's detective work they have tracked down Gussie Audrey Horsey Gowen Manlove Brown. | Gussie Manlove UNCOVERED! (00:00:00) | |
| 2011-02-28 | subject | John notes Gussie died as Audrey Brown and was born Gussie Horsey, which he calls the worst name ever, until he researched the topic. | Harry Baals & Dick Trickle: The Funniest Names in History (00:00:24) | |
| 2011-03-18 | passing | Impressed by Nerdfighteria's Gussie Manlove hunting, John sends them on a new quest: a 427-year-old mystery starring Ivan the Terrible. | TERRIBLE (00:00:04) | |
| 2011-10-24 | cited | John recalls that Nerdfighters uncovered the story of Ivan the Terrible's library and found the truth about Gussie Manlove. | Signing Psychosis Takes Over (00:02:11) | |
| Phineas Gage (historical) (historical) | 2010-06-29 | subject | Instead of thinking too much, Hank will just tell the fascinating tale of Phineas Gage. | Stabbed in the Brain: Phineas Gage (00:00:07) |
| 2010-06-30 | subject | Hank's Phineas Gage video made John think about the human brain; he loves brains and all the crazy, wonderful things they can do. | Poopy Nintendo Mystery SOLVED WITH SCIENCE (00:00:00) | |
| 2010-10-29 | personal story | Hank won't be Rocky, Dr. Frank or Phineas Gage (an idea he long considered and gave up) for Halloween; he is going as Dexter. | Hank Has Questions (00:03:19) | |
| 2010-11-03 | subject | Hank sings that Phineas Gage was 25 in 1848, working on the railroad, when he forgot the tamping sand and the tamping rod destroyed his left frontal lobe. | Phineas Gage: A Song (00:00:10) | |
| 2011-02-09 | cited | Nerdfighters keep doing amazing things worldwide, from dressing as Phineas Gage for Halloween to drawing 'regular squids of rational debate and source citation' and attending anything-but-clothes parties. | NERDFIGHTERS UNITE! (in your pants) (00:01:53) | |
| Andrew Jackson (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2015-04-10 | cited | Hank says Andrew Jackson killed a man in a duel, but only after the man shot him in the chest, leaving a bullet near his heart for the rest of his life. | This Video Makes No Sense (00:02:59) | |
| 2016-03-25 | joke | Asked about Snapchat filters, John admits he barely knows Snapchat, but says in Jordan their interpreter used the filters with kids, who loved them, and he found them amazing. | Snapchat Question Time! (00:01:27) | |
| 2016-10-25 | cited | John says if no candidate gets an electoral majority the House chooses the president, as in 1826 when Congress chose John Quincy Adams although Andrew Jackson had more votes. | Will the U.S. Presidential Election Be Rigged? (00:01:02) | |
| Elizabeth Báthory (historical noblewoman) | 2008-02-08 | cited | After struggling to pronounce her full name, John judges Queen Ranavalona more of an evil lady than Elizabeth Bathory. | QUESTION TUESDAYS (On Friday) (00:01:35) |
| 2008-05-20 | joke | Choosing between a million dollars and punching Hitler, John would time-travel to put evil baby Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin and others in the Evil Baby Orphanage in Tibet, then sell the time machine. | Guys Love Giraffe Love (00:02:42) | |
| 2010-05-07 | cited | Path four: Hank says Elizabeth Bathory thought bathing in the blood of virgins restores youth; he doesn't know if it works but will steer clear. | How to Live Forever (00:01:27) | |
| 2012-08-28 | joke | In the description John notes he has clearly underestimated Nerdfighteria again, beside the link to the Nerdfighter Kiva group. | In Which the Candle Dies (00:00:00) | |
| James K. Polk (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John says James K. Polk's last words ('I love you Sarah. I love you for all eternity.') would be good last words for him too. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:01:31) |
| 2012-10-16 | personal story | John names favourites: James K. Polk, "Napoleon of the Stump", as president, Gandalf over Dumbledore, and the Mongols as his favourite period of history. | Burning Peeps, My OTP, and Velociraptors: It's Question Tuesday (00:02:32) | |
| 2014-01-28 | joke | Asked which US presidents should play TFIOS film characters, John casts the whole film, e.g. Obama as Gus, Jefferson as Hazel, Andrew Johnson as Van Houten, Carter as Patrick. | Question Tuesday! TFIOS Movie Trailer, Penguin Knees, and Backflips (00:02:24) | |
| 2017-08-22 | cited | John says a cholera pandemic about 160 years ago killed tens of millions of people, including over 150,000 Americans, among them the 11th US president, James K. Polk. | The Causes of Cholera (00:00:29) | |
| Mao Zedong (historical figure) | 2008-06-24 | cited | Some evil people hated pets: Mao declared pets a symbol of bourgeois oppression and had them killed in the 1960s and 70s, tens of thousands of dogs and cats. | Questions Answered! (00:02:53) |
| 2012-07-17 | cited | John shares a favorite word, 'monorchid', a person with one testicle, and lists prominent monorchids: Mao Zedong, Lance Armstrong, Hermann Göring and the drummer from Green Day. | Hitler and Sex! (00:01:45) | |
| 2018-07-13 | passing | The 1960s spurt ending with China was rightly seen as scary, possibly especially because Europeans saw China as a non-European, non-white country, and because Mao Zedong was a pretty scary dude. | Why Do So Few Countries Have Nukes? (00:02:33) | |
| 2019-02-05 | cited | John says Hitler did the same to Goebbels and Lenin to Trotsky, and it happened often in China, most famously in a photo of Mao's funeral without the Gang of Four. | Deepfake: A Brief History of Unreliable Images (00:01:57) | |
| Richard Nixon (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John says the last words of Franklin Pierce, Chester A. Arthur, William Howard Taft and Harry Truman are unknown, and Nixon's and Reagan's were not recorded. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:03:25) |
| 2016-05-17 | cited | John says Nixon's press secretary Ronald Ziegler answered reports on the scandal by blaming 'hearsay, innuendo, guilt by association' and saying no one in the White House directed sabotage. | A Brief History of the Non-Denial Denial (00:00:14) | |
| 2017-09-26 | cited | Some have argued it amounts to obstruction of justice, which John says is the charge Richard Nixon was eventually impeached for. | Trump and Russia: An Introduction to What We Know (and What We Don't) (00:05:14) | |
| 2017-09-26 | passing | The description corrects the video: Nixon resigned before he was impeached. | Trump and Russia: An Introduction to What We Know (and What We Don't) (00:00:00) | |
| 2025-12-05 | cited | The guide says this Saturn V never launched because President Nixon cut the program over budget and war problems and to save costs, while a new winged spacecraft idea arose. | Why Don't Rockets Melt Themselves (00:03:44) | |
| Saddam Hussein (historical) | 2007-04-06 | passing | Among the things that never rest John lists Dick Cheney, whom he accuses of intentionally misleading Americans about a relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. | Brotherhood 2.0: April 6: Nerdfighters Never Surrender (00:00:56) |
| 2008-01-04 | joke | John jokes that mustaches on 20th-century world leaders are a bad sign (Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kaiser Wilhelm II; Genghis Khan), so by comparison Musharraf is 'kind of a winner'. | Nerdfighting in 2008, Pakistan, and Hillary Clinton (00:02:04) | |
| 2010-11-11 | cited | John says this happened under the Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilien Robespierre, a paranoid despot who foreshadowed Kim Jong-il, Saddam Hussein and Joseph Stalin. | REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution, Part III (00:00:46) | |
| 2023-10-05 | passing | Striker Ali Al-Hamadi left Iraq as an infant after his father was imprisoned by Saddam Hussein's regime and is now a superstar for Wimbledon and Iraq's national team; John loves him. | America's Second Favorite Fourth Tier English Soccer Team (00:02:26) | |
| Christopher Columbus (explorer) | 2008-09-04 | joke | John says much of Paper Towns is set in Orlando, Florida. | Paper Towns Tour Dates! (00:02:13) |
| 2010-04-19 | cited | Hank says 500 years ago Columbus sailed expecting to run into India, not knowing North America was there. | I Shall BLOW YOUR MIND (00:00:00) | |
| 2014-11-13 | cited | John: the exchange between the Americas and the rest of the world that began with Columbus in the late 15th century was disastrous for life on Earth in many ways, but made pizza and about 90% of today's foods possible. | The History of Pizza and the History of John: Pizzamas Day 4 (00:01:10) | |
| Francis of Assisi (saint) | 2015-09-29 | passing | John tours the wall's relics: Willy, a puppy-sized elephant, a card of Hank humping Peeps, Daniel Biss's 'bloated triangles' paper, an Agloe road map, An Imperial Affliction 'stolen' from the movie set. | Writing, Walling, Racing, and Wizard Schooling (00:01:35) |
| 2019-03-26 | passing | John's favorite Catholic saint is probably St. Francis, but Sister Corita Kent would be his favorite if canonized, as a recent Art Assignment video explains. | Optimism and Spider People: Question Tuesday from the Looking for Alaska Set (00:01:57) | |
| 2026-02-13 | passing | John shows the background behind his desk, filled with things Nerdfighters have given him over the years. | Project for Awesome 2026 Kickoff! (03:08:43) | |
| Harry S. Truman (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John says the last words of Franklin Pierce, Chester A. Arthur, William Howard Taft and Harry Truman are unknown, and Nixon's and Reagan's were not recorded. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:03:25) |
| 2010-02-17 | passing | Hank cites Einstein writing to Harry S. Truman that World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones, and telling a friend his own mathematics difficulties are greater. | WRONG WRONG WRONG (00:01:03) | |
| 2013-01-01 | passing | John contrasts this with the famous 'Do-Nothing Congress' of the Harry Truman era, which passed more than 900 bills. | Why Does Congress Suck? (00:00:56) | |
| Marie Curie (historical figure) | 2009-06-17 | cited | Hank sings that great women - Earhart, Nightingale, Curie, Tubman - were polished by their fathers into 'powerful pearls'. | The Fathers of the Founding Fathers (00:00:39) |
| 2011-04-01 | subject | John says Marie Curie is the only person to win Nobel Prizes in both chemistry and physics, and her daughter Irene also won one, making Curie the only Nobel winner who is mother of a Nobel winner; then asks 'Or is it?' | Many Truths, 1 Lie! (00:01:14) | |
| 2011-10-31 | joke | Saying Halloween can sexify anything, Hank playfully challenges the world and Nerdfighteria to create a sexy Marie Curie costume for him; he has not found one yet. | Pumpkin Slashing, Sexy Watermelons, and Zombie Tools with Jayne (00:00:20) | |
| Martin Van Buren (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2014-01-28 | joke | Asked which US presidents should play TFIOS film characters, John casts the whole film, e.g. Obama as Gus, Jefferson as Hazel, Andrew Johnson as Van Houten, Carter as Patrick. | Question Tuesday! TFIOS Movie Trailer, Penguin Knees, and Backflips (00:02:24) | |
| 2018-03-16 | subject | Hank says OK would have been forgotten like the other acronyms if the Democratic Party had not applied it to Martin Van Buren. | The Most Popular Word in the World (00:02:47) | |
| Padre Pio (saint) | 2010-04-16 | recommended | John recommends Padre Pio, a relatively recent saint whom many consider a bit nutty, as patron saint of YouTube, and shows he keeps him in his wallet. | The Patron Saint of Youtube (00:02:00) |
| 2011-08-17 | personal story | Hank keeps Kermit on his ceiling as his 'household god'; John says that is where he keeps Padre Pio, a Roman Catholic saint. | Hank's Question Tuesday DEBUT! (00:01:33) | |
| 2023-12-24 | passing | John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated (02:03:50) | ||
| Pope John Paul II (pope) | 2016-05-24 | quoted | John says he knows sports are silly, but cites Pope John Paul II: of all the unimportant things, football is the most important. | Easier Than IKEA: A Video in Two Parts (00:03:34) |
| 2018-03-13 | quoted | John quotes Pope John Paul II: of all the unimportant things, football is the most important. | Who Should We Root For? (00:03:28) | |
| 2020-06-30 | quoted | John kept thinking of the old line often attributed, probably incorrectly, to Pope John Paul II: of all the unimportant things, football is the most important. | i like it (00:03:40) | |
| Walter Manlove (historical-private) | 2011-02-18 | cited | Bored, John walks to the huge Knightstown cemetery; he loves cemeteries partly because their many names help a writer, reading out names such as Walter Manlove and founder Waitsell Cary. | Thoughts from Places: Small Town America (00:00:29) |
| 2011-02-23 | passing | John points to Nerdfighters in Your Pants who are currently trying to solve the mystery of Gussie Manlove, Walter Manlove's wife; link in the description. | WE ARE 812 YEARS OLD (00:01:20) | |
| 2011-02-25 | subject | From the marriage record of the couple on the tombstone, Hank says, Gussie was born Gussie Audrey Horsey and was listed as a divorcée when she married Walter Manlove. | Gussie Manlove UNCOVERED! (00:00:18) | |
| Aesop (ancient Greek fabulist) | 2014-11-14 | passing | Hank corrects John: the star John saw in his last video was Jupiter, recognisable as a planet because it is so bright and does not twinkle like stars. | A Surprise Relationship Between John and Hank! (00:00:01) |
| 2020-09-15 | cited | John says Chaucer wrote a version two centuries before Shakespeare, and Aesop made a similar observation 2,600 years ago. | All That Glitters Is Gold (00:00:29) | |
| Alexander Graham Bell (historical figure) | 2009-06-17 | cited | Hank lists Rockefeller, Washington and Bell and their achievements, but says he knows none of the men who called them sons. | The Fathers of the Founding Fathers (00:00:12) |
| 2010-10-15 | cited | Hank says in 1876 Western Union, owning America's communications, rejected Hubbard's telephone patent as an 'electrical toy'; Bell then founded AT&T and the telephone became history's most valuable patent. | TOP 7 FAILS OF HISTORY (00:02:24) | |
| Andrew Johnson (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2014-01-28 | joke | Asked which US presidents should play TFIOS film characters, John casts the whole film, e.g. Obama as Gus, Jefferson as Hazel, Andrew Johnson as Van Houten, Carter as Patrick. | Question Tuesday! TFIOS Movie Trailer, Penguin Knees, and Backflips (00:02:24) | |
| Benjamin Harrison (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2021-12-03 | cited | John says 'publicist' then meant a person concerned with or expert in issues of the public. | John and Hank at the Cemetery (00:02:31) | |
| Charlemagne (historical ruler) | 2011-01-10 | cited | No. 1, the Phantom Time Hypothesis, holds that the years from 614 to 900-something AD never happened and were invented with all their events and artifacts, so Charlemagne is fictional. | Top 5 Ridiculous Conspiracy Theories (00:00:45) |
| 2021-05-21 | subject | Hank's history fact: Charlemagne may have been killed by his beloved asbestos tablecloth, which he cleaned by throwing it into a fire. | The 19 Best Facts (00:02:28) | |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2018-09-04 | credited | The Eisenhower Matrix, also called the Eisenhower Square or Box, is named for US general and president Dwight D. Eisenhower and sorts fixable problems by importance and urgency. | The Eisenhower Matrix (00:01:30) | |
| Genghis Khan (historical) | 2008-01-04 | joke | John jokes that mustaches on 20th-century world leaders are a bad sign (Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kaiser Wilhelm II; Genghis Khan), so by comparison Musharraf is 'kind of a winner'. | Nerdfighting in 2008, Pakistan, and Hillary Clinton (00:02:04) |
| 2012-08-21 | joke | John takes up long-time Nerdfighter roxinpunch's Tumblr question whether college, with its overpriced degrees, is even worth it, as relevant to students and to people still repaying loans. | Is College Worth It? (00:00:02) | |
| Grigori Rasputin (historical) | 2007-08-16 | cited | John says the Evil Baby Orphanage is like evil baby Rasputin: no matter how hard you try, you can't kill it. | August 16th: Finding — and Licking — a Cat (00:00:09) |
| 2011-11-30 | joke | Many wildlife biologists speculate that cheetah cubs look like honey badgers as an evolutionary adaptation, since predators avoid attacking honey badgers. | Honey Badgers: The Crazy Truth (00:01:23) | |
| Grover Cleveland (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2015-04-10 | cited | Hank says Grover Cleveland, as sheriff of Erie County, personally carried out two executions of murderers, though he could have paid a deputy ten dollars apiece to do it. | This Video Makes No Sense (00:03:07) | |
| Herbert Hoover (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2019-07-30 | passing | As the Depression deepened, unemployment and anti-immigrant sentiment were rising and President Herbert Hoover's administration promised real jobs for real Americans. | The Mexican Repatriation (00:00:58) | |
| James Buchanan (historical) | 2009-08-30 | criticized | John names James Buchanan the worst president. | 100 QUESTIONS ANSWERED!!!!!!! (00:02:06) |
| 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) | |
| Johnny Appleseed (historical) | 2008-08-25 | joke | Oh John Green, You're 31 (00:03:48) | |
| 2012-10-26 | subject | Hank says Johnny Appleseed, unlike Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill, was a real person: John Chapman, a businessman, nomad and missionary who crossed the American frontier in the early 1800s supplying apple saplings. | Apples! CGP Grey Style (00:01:38) | |
| Lyndon B. Johnson (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2018-06-22 | passing | The black bear can thrive, whereas every other bear species has declined. | Stumping EDU Creators - Trivia at VidCon (00:01:03) | |
| Mahatma Gandhi (historical-figure) | 2007-02-15 | cited | Voicing the popular side as George W. Bush and Tom Brady, John answers poker-style with famous nerds, from Bill Clinton and Lincoln to all four Beatles, and declares 'We win!' | Brotherhood 2.0: February 17, 2007 (00:01:39) |
| 2009-05-17 | cited | John says Burmese people see Aung San Suu Kyi as Indians see Gandhi, and she is so popular the generals are scared of killing her. | Burma! Myanmar? BURMA! (00:02:31) | |
| Simón Bolívar (historical figure) | 2010-08-06 | quoted | John points out real places from the book, from the interstate exit and local shops to the swan, the cafeteria and the swing where Alaska tells Miles Bolívar's last words. | Looking for Alaska at My High School (00:00:49) |
| 2015-01-13 | quoted | John says the endpapers carry 'I go to seek a great perhaps', François Rabelais's last words, and 'How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?', Simón Bolívar's last words. | On Writing, Looking for Alaska Turning 10, and Winning the Project for Awesome (00:01:48) | |
| Ulysses S. Grant (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2014-01-28 | joke | Asked which US presidents should play TFIOS film characters, John casts the whole film, e.g. Obama as Gus, Jefferson as Hazel, Andrew Johnson as Van Houten, Carter as Patrick. | Question Tuesday! TFIOS Movie Trailer, Penguin Knees, and Backflips (00:02:24) | |
| William McKinley (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| 2026-06-02 | cited | No one could watch McKinley or Lincoln be assassinated frame by frame, but people could witness JFK's, only two-dimensionally on a screen, as now with countless horrors. | The Instagramification of Human Experience (00:02:26) | |
| Amelia Earhart (historical figure) | 2009-06-17 | cited | Hank sings that great women - Earhart, Nightingale, Curie, Tubman - were polished by their fathers into 'powerful pearls'. | The Fathers of the Founding Fathers (00:00:39) |
| August Klein (historical-person) | 2019-03-05 | subject | The other picture was a postcard sent home by the boy in the middle, August Klein, as he and Otto prepared for war. | Way, Way Down the Rabbit Hole (00:01:27) |
| Calvin Coolidge (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John says Calvin Coolidge was famous for never saying anything, telling the anecdote of his two-word reply to a woman who bet she could get more out of him. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:02:57) |
| Charles Gowen (historical-private) | 2011-02-25 | subject | Hank says Gussie's family took in boarders, among them a 28-year-old man, Charles Gowen, when Gussie was 16. | Gussie Manlove UNCOVERED! (00:00:32) |
| Chester A. Arthur (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John says the last words of Franklin Pierce, Chester A. Arthur, William Howard Taft and Harry Truman are unknown, and Nixon's and Reagan's were not recorded. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:03:25) |
| Clare of Assisi (saint) | 2010-04-16 | cited | John says St. Clare of Assisi is patron saint of television because, too sick to attend Mass near her death, she saw the Mass appear on her wall. | The Patron Saint of Youtube (00:00:32) |
| David G. Swaim (historical) | 2009-10-04 | joke | John says Swain, named in Garfield's last words, was Garfield's chief of staff. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:02:22) |
| Erna Hanfstaengl (historical figure) | 2012-07-17 | cited | John says of the other two likely lovers, Maria Reiter attempted suicide during her break-up with Hitler, and Erna Hanfstaengl tried to kill or overthrow him in 1943. | Hitler and Sex! (00:02:22) |
| Eva Braun (historical figure) | 2012-07-17 | cited | John says Hitler was controlling, possessive and domineering, with all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship; four of the six women he most likely had sex with killed themselves, including Eva Braun, married 40 hours before. | Hitler and Sex! (00:01:59) |
| Florence Nightingale (historical figure) | 2009-06-17 | cited | Hank sings that great women - Earhart, Nightingale, Curie, Tubman - were polished by their fathers into 'powerful pearls'. | The Fathers of the Founding Fathers (00:00:39) |
| Geli Raubal (historical figure) | 2012-07-17 | cited | John says Hitler was controlling, possessive and domineering, with all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship; four of the six women he most likely had sex with killed themselves, including Eva Braun, married 40 hours before. | Hitler and Sex! (00:01:59) |
| Harriet Tubman (historical figure) | 2009-06-17 | cited | Hank sings that great women - Earhart, Nightingale, Curie, Tubman - were polished by their fathers into 'powerful pearls'. | The Fathers of the Founding Fathers (00:00:39) |
| Hermann Göring (historical figure) | 2012-07-17 | cited | John shares a favorite word, 'monorchid', a person with one testicle, and lists prominent monorchids: Mao Zedong, Lance Armstrong, Hermann Göring and the drummer from Green Day. | Hitler and Sex! (00:01:45) |
| Isidore of Seville (saint) | 2010-04-16 | cited | John notes possible candidates: St. Clare, established in screens, or Isidore of Seville, who died in 636 yet is patron saint of computer nerds. | The Patron Saint of Youtube (00:02:00) |
| Jack Daniel (historical figure) | 2009-06-17 | cited | Hank sings that dads are only talked about when parenting goes bad, so good dads are underrated and need a day to be appreciated. | The Fathers of the Founding Fathers (00:01:24) |
| James A. Garfield (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John says Swain, named in Garfield's last words, was Garfield's chief of staff. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:02:22) |
| James Earl Brown (historical-private) | 2011-02-25 | subject | In 1927 Gussie married James Earl Brown, becoming Audrey G Brown; they bought a house in a nice Indianapolis neighborhood and lived there the rest of their lives. | Gussie Manlove UNCOVERED! (00:02:02) |
| James Madison (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| James Monroe (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| Jessie Watt (historical figure) | 2025-02-25 | cited | John says Watt became obsessed with a chemical treatment for phthisis after his daughter Jessie died of it at 15 in 1794 and his son Gregory fell ill. | EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS (00:00:59) |
| John D. Rockefeller (historical figure) | 2009-06-17 | cited | Hank lists Rockefeller, Washington and Bell and their achievements, but says he knows none of the men who called them sons. | The Fathers of the Founding Fathers (00:00:12) |
| John McIntosh (historical) | 2012-10-26 | subject | Hank says every McIntosh apple descends from one tree Scotsman John McIntosh found on a farm in Canada in 1796. | Apples! CGP Grey Style (00:03:10) |
| John Tyler (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| Leif Erikson (explorer) | 2008-03-07 | passing | Hank finally shows the tri-tube's contents: Secret Brother Tom's rubbing of 'On this spot in the year 1000, Leif Erikson built his house', done in every green of Crayola's 64-pack. | Shawty Got Low, Tritube and Blurbing (00:00:50) |
| Manderup Parsberg (historical nobleman) | 2009-12-06 | cited | John warns MIT that one day there will be a decisive contest for 'internerdial domination' and Nerdfighteria is coming for them. | LOSERS!!!! (00:03:19) |
| Maria Reiter (historical figure) | 2012-07-17 | cited | John says of the other two likely lovers, Maria Reiter attempted suicide during her break-up with Hitler, and Erna Hanfstaengl tried to kill or overthrow him in 1943. | Hitler and Sex! (00:02:22) |
| Otto Krieger (historical-person) | 2019-03-05 | subject | John learned of two pictures apparently never publicly seen, one a Sander photo taken three years earlier of one of the boys, Otto Krieger, with his family. | Way, Way Down the Rabbit Hole (00:00:58) |
| Pope Benedict XVI (pope) | 2009-02-08 | passing | John reports that Pope Benedict recently lifted the excommunication of Richard Williamson so the church could possibly rehabilitate him as a bishop. | All Aboard the Fail Boat (00:00:44) |
| Pope Gregory XIII (pope) | 2016-01-01 | subject | Hank says in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII, on astronomer Aloysius Lilius's proposal, mandated the Gregorian calendar: 97 leap years per 400 years instead of 100; it is still basically used. | Why Does January First Start the New Year? - New Year's Explained (00:03:00) |
| Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (historical figure) | 2013-02-08 | cited | At the National Museum of Archaeology Hank chains objects across Irish history: axe heads 5,800 years before brooches, then Strongbow's death, a library, bog mummies, Christ Church's mummified cat and rat. | The Space Time Continuum: Thoughts from Dublin (00:01:49) |
| Rutherford B. Hayes (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| Saint Fiacre (saint) | 2010-04-16 | cited | John says the patron saint against hemorrhoids (name heard as 'St. Theocra') is also patron of cab drivers, who get hemorrhoids from sitting and driving. | The Patron Saint of Youtube (00:00:32) |
| Saint Nicholas (saint) | 2010-04-16 | cited | John says St. Nicholas of Myra, the original Santa Claus and not white, is patron saint of children because he resurrected three children murdered and pickled in brine. | The Patron Saint of Youtube (00:01:31) |
| Saint Patrick (saint) | 2010-03-17 | joke | Truth or Fail candidate facts: one four-leaf clover per 100 three-leaf clovers; by legend St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity to pagan Irish. | Side-Boob is Not my Ultimate Concern (00:03:16) |
| Unity Mitford (historical figure) | 2012-07-17 | cited | John says Hitler was controlling, possessive and domineering, with all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship; four of the six women he most likely had sex with killed themselves, including Eva Braun, married 40 hours before. | Hitler and Sex! (00:01:59) |
| Vlad the Impaler (historical-ruler) | 2008-05-20 | joke | Choosing between a million dollars and punching Hitler, John would time-travel to put evil baby Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin and others in the Evil Baby Orphanage in Tibet, then sell the time machine. | Guys Love Giraffe Love (00:02:42) |
| Waitsell Cary (historical) | 2011-02-18 | cited | Bored, John walks to the huge Knightstown cemetery; he loves cemeteries partly because their many names help a writer, reading out names such as Walter Manlove and founder Waitsell Cary. | Thoughts from Places: Small Town America (00:00:29) |
| Warren G. Harding (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| Wilhelm II (historical) | 2008-01-04 | joke | John jokes that mustaches on 20th-century world leaders are a bad sign (Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kaiser Wilhelm II; Genghis Khan), so by comparison Musharraf is 'kind of a winner'. | Nerdfighting in 2008, Pakistan, and Hillary Clinton (00:02:04) |
| William Howard Taft (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John says the last words of Franklin Pierce, Chester A. Arthur, William Howard Taft and Harry Truman are unknown, and Nixon's and Reagan's were not recorded. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:03:25) |
| Woodrow Wilson (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |
| Zachary Taylor (historical) | 2009-10-04 | cited | John recites the recorded last words of each dead US president in order, from George Washington to Lyndon Johnson, noting where they are unknown. | NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words (00:00:27) |