Best Nicholas J Johnson Podcasts (2025)

1
Steph Liberatore 52:23

12d ago52:23

52:23

Steph Liberatore, as a writer, specializes in nonfiction, so it stands to reason she founded a new on-line journal focused on short forms of the genre. Inshortjournal.com offers readers and writers alike the chance to savor some very well-chosen words: Flash pieces of 1,000 words or fewer; micro pieces of 400 words or fewer, short-shorts of 100 wor…

1
Scott Strode 30:56

2M ago30:56

30:56

When Scott Strode was 11, he had his first drink. By 15, he was using cocaine. In his 20s, paranoid and fearing death, he got sober, replacing drugs and alcohol with fitness: Biking, boxing, triathlons, mountain climbing. Those experiences led him to start an addiction and recovery organization called The Phoenix, which uses, as he puts it, “The in…

1
Special Episode: Debra Lane & Ann Marie Luce 50:33

2M ago50:33

50:33

In this special episode, guest hosts Debra Lane and Ann Marie Luce, two educators and researchers with extensive backgrounds in leadership development and organizational studies, discuss their new book, Building Inclusive Leadership Beyond the Gender Binary, which seeks to help build the broader understanding of the complexities surrounding gender …

1
Constance Sayers 55:20

3M ago55:20

55:20

Constance Sayers has published three novels (A Witch in Time, The Ladies of the Secret Circus and The Star and the Strange Moon) in four years. All are books that appeared in seven languages and have sold more than 200,000 copies. Reflecting on those works, she discusses what it was like: to write that many novels so quickly how she wove into the f…

1
Paula J. Johnson: Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian 1:04:37

3M ago1:04:37

1:04:37

This episode hosted by Jennifer Disano, features Paula J. Johnson. Paula is a distinguished curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, whose work has brought iconic stories of American culture to life. Most notably, Paula played a key role in preserving the legacy of culinary legend Julia Child. In 2001, she was part of the t…

1
Ray Suarez: A Public Speaking Event 1:11:28

4M ago1:11:28

1:11:28

In remarks delivered at the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University, former National Public Radio correspondent Ray Suarez presents observations drawn from work that led to his book, We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21 St Century—An Oral History. As he notes, the history of America is one of immigration, where migrants of…

1
Charles Baxter 1:00:37

4M ago1:00:37

1:00:37

Master fiction writer Charles Baxter joins host William Miller to discuss his latest novel, Blood Test, in a conversation that spans a wide range of topics. They explore the nature of the main character, Brock Hobson, the story’s action, the underlying ideas, and the embedded themes and connections. The discussion touches on everything from the ini…

1
Chelsea Henderson 58:07

4M ago58:07

58:07

In this episode of Upstart Crow, host Jennifer Disano sits down with Chelsea Henderson, author of Glacial: The Inside Story of Climate Politics. Henderson, an experienced advocate in climate policy, unveils the complexities of climate politics, sharing stories from her work with policymakers and communities impacted by environmental change. They di…

1
Katherine E. Young 1:09:43

4M ago1:09:43

1:09:43

Literary translator Katherine E. Young joins host William Miller to talk about her latest project, the first-time-in-English volume People and Trees by Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli. Set in the Caucuses during and right after War War II, the three novellas capture the coming-of-age story of the narrator, a boy named Sadyk, but also the struggles…

1
Nicholas Delbanco 56:00

4M ago56:00

56:00

In this episode, host William Miller talks to writer and teacher Nicholas Delbanco, who has published thirty-one books of fiction and nonfiction, including the one they discuss together, his memoir, Still Life at Eighty, begun on his 80th birthday, finished on his 81st. The book and this discussion look over his early embrace of art, his adventures…

1
Dr. Charan Ranganath 1:13:55

4M ago1:13:55

1:13:55

In this episode of Upstart Crow, a part of Watershed Lit Radio, host Ken Budd sits down virtually with Dr. Charan Ranganath, renowned neuroscientist and author of Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold On to What Matters. This episode is presented in collaboration with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Fall for the Book, with Bud…

1
Chris Stuck 1:08:17

5M ago1:08:17

1:08:17

In this episode, host William Miller is joined by writer Chris Stuck, who dives into the creative process behind Give My Love to the Savages, his acclaimed collection of nine daring, thought-provoking stories. They discuss his character-driven storytelling; his process for building rich, layered narratives; and why, as one character says, "Race is …

1
Joseph M. Thompson 54:06

5M ago54:06

54:06

In this episode of Upstart Crow, host Jennifer Disano interviews Dr. Joseph M. Thompson, historian at Mississippi State University and author of the book Cold War Country: How Nashville's Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism. Thompson dives into the intricate ties between Nashville's country music industry and the U.S…

1
Jessica Anthony 57:38

5M ago57:38

57:38

"The responsibility we have as novelists is to not be colonizers of another life, but we are to instead, live that other life." - Jessica Anthony The Most by writer Jessica Anthony lives up to its title—it takes place in a day but it is about all the days that have gone before in the lives of Kathleen and Virgil, and all that they have done wrong, …

1
Eric Weiner 52:38

5M ago52:38

52:38

“Couldn’t you see Ben Franklin using noise-cancelling headphones and a MacBook Air Pro?” - Eric Weiner Is that a big stretch or not so much? While Ben was one of the United States’ founders and earliest statesmen and diplomats, he also was a scientist—remember his experiment with the kite and key?—and a writer—Poor Richard’s Almanac, remember that?…

1
69: Detecting Misinformation with Steve Rathje 56:53

1+ y ago56:53

56:53

PATREON MY STUFF STEVE'S WEBSITE STEVE'S TIKTOK I’ve been sick for the past few months. Which is why there has been an episode of a Scamapalooza in a little while. Instead, I’ve been spending a lot of time in bed feeling sorry for myself while trawling tiktok. Among the craft videos, slime reviews and video game analysis, I came across a video of a…

1
68: Collecting Magic with Kent Blackmore 48:26

1+ y ago48:26

48:26

Support the podcast on Patreon! Magicians have secrets that you don’t see on stage. I’m not talking about HOW they do the tricks—the trapdoors and mirrors—but the mundane secrets that make the show happen. The tour schedules, the marketing plans, the box office reports and the horror stories of gigs that went off the rails. Kent Blackmore, digs up …

1
67: Nobody's Fool with Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris 53:19

1+ y ago53:19

53:19

Support the podcast on Patreon! If I had an origin story as a magician/con artist/science communicator it would be me, in the early 2000s, hunching over my computer trying to count how many times a basketball is being thrown while completely missing the full-size gorilla walking right through the middle of the shot. The creation of psychologists Ch…

1
66: Snake Oils with Dr Jo Clyne 40:18

1+ y ago40:18

40:18

Imagine it's 1850 and you live in a rural area, far away from doctors and the latest advances in medical technology. And then you get sick. What would you do? It's this fear that gave rise to The Snake Oil Salesmen, travelling hucksters who sold ointments, tinctures, tablets and the eponymous snake oil. In this episode, I talk to historian Dr Jo Cl…

1
65: Deceptive Animals with Lixing Sun 44:08

1+ y ago44:08

44:08

Support Scamapalooza On Patreon I busted my cat scratching the couch yesterday. As soon as she caught my eye, she stopped scratching and started to stretch instead, acting as if she’d hadn't just been digging her claws into our brand new four seater. The question is, did she KNOW she was trying to deceive me? Or did it just look like that through m…

1
64: The Sting 2 with Nick Mason 1:15:05

2y ago1:15:05

1:15:05

I’m often asked what my favourite con artist movie is and I always have a different answer. Usually, I’ll say Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men or David Mamet’s House of Games. If I’m feeling a little pretentious I might name drop Fellini’s Il Bidone or Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket. At the same time, I also have a soft spot for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, …

1
63: The Little Golden Calf with Maya Vinokour 39:46

2y ago39:46

39:46

If I told you that “the cafeteria is permanently closed for the schnitzel inventory.” what would you think I was saying? If your Russian, the chances are you’d know exactly what I was getting at. The novel The Little Golden Calf is the story of Ostap Bender a con artist trying to become a millionaire in 1920s Soviet Russia, a time when millionaires…

1
62: Corporate Bullshit with Ian McCarthy 36:40

2y ago36:40

36:40

Have you ever had to deal with corporate bullshit? Had your projects “put on the back burner”? Or had your job “right-sized”? Also, what the hell is “disruption?” Ian McCarthy is the Professor of Innovation and Operations Management at Simon Fraser University. His paper Confronting indifference toward truth: Dealing with workplace bullshit introduc…

1
61: Card Counting with Steven Bridges 49:38

2y ago49:38

49:38

If I had to guess what the cardinal rule for card counters was, “Don’t draw attention to yourself” would be way up there. While card counting isn’t illegal, casinos aren’t too keen on having players use probability to actually win at blackjack. Flying under the radar seems like common sense. What I wouldn’t expect is for a successful card counting …

1
60: The Shell Game with Nick Stein 1:02:47

2y ago1:02:47

1:02:47

Every other week, I am sent a video of someone playing The Shell Game. Maybe it's a cat finding a single treat under three cups, or maybe it's a magician impressing audiences with hand-carved replica walnuts and silicone peas. However, despite being one of the most famous scams in the world, The Shell Game is also one of the most misunderstood. Eve…

1
59: The Music Man with Em Chandler 43:39

2y ago43:39

43:39

There is a popular image of a con artist that doesn’t exist in the real world. It’s an image of well-dressed, suave, fast-talking swindlers who—despite their dodgy dealings—always does the right thing in the end. After all, they have a code. Johnny Hooker and Henry Gondorf in The Sting. Danny Ocean and his gang in the Ocean’s film. The casts of sho…

1
58: Deepak Chropa's Bullshit with Gordon Pennycook 35:19

2y ago35:19

35:19

I have long suspected that Deepak Chopra spouts garbage. Despite being a trained physician, the author and self-help guru’s trademark new-age ramblings have always struck me as little more than pseudo-scientific garbage. But, I’m also the kind of guy who doesn’t like to dismiss ideas out of hand, just because I don’t understand. It turns out that m…

1
57: Cassie Chadwick with Tori Telfer 38:29

2y ago38:29

38:29

How does the daughter of a railroad hand become a millionaire in an age when women couldn’t even open a bank account? If you’re Cassie Chadwick, the answer is you pull off one of the most audacious scams in history, a fraud that took millions from US banks and saw the richest man in America turn up at her trial. On this episode of Scamapalooza, I t…

1
56: Performing Deception with Brian Rappert 1:02:18

2y ago1:02:18

1:02:18

Have you ever thought about how magicians learn their tricks? Not the methods—the smoke and mirrors behind the illusion—but the actual process of learning a new effect. Even magicians don’t think too much about how they learn magic, treating our instructions like a recipe that—if followed—will create a moment of wonder. Brian Rappert, a Professor o…

1
55: Science Magic with Dr Matt Pritchard 37:47

2y ago37:47

37:47

If you know me then you’ll know that my nemesis is Dr Matt Pritchard. For the last few years, this evil genius has been creating impenetrable optical illusions on social media. A toy elephant vanishes in a split second in impossible circumstances. A lego pirate ship appears in a clear glass bowl. A bike helmet is suddenly filled with coloured balls…

1
54: Hocus Pocus Practice Focus with Amy Kimlat 29:04

2y ago29:04

29:04

My kid just performed their first solo magic show. In front of 300 of their peers, they correctly predicted a randomly selected TV show, vanished a bottle of coke and tricked the principal into opening a can of spring snakes. Classic comedy! But why do so many kids, particularly girls, give up on magic? Amy Kimlat is a children’s author and former …

1
53: Card Shark with Nicolai Troshinsky 39:48

2y ago39:48

39:48

Why have there not been more video games about card cheating? I remember playing Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist as a kid and thinking that the stage of the game where you have to catch the Wheaton “Aces” Hall cheating was the best bit. Why couldn’t that be the whole game? Game designer and illustrator Nicolai Troshinsky has taken up the challe…

1
52: The Life Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit with John Petrocelli 50:15

2y ago50:15

50:15

Did you know the world “bullshit” might just be an Australian invention? During World War I, Australian troops found themselves arriving at the front and suddenly under the command of British officers. These officers were obsessed with appearances and would have the Australian soldiers bull polish their shoes constantly, regardless of whether they …

1
51: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child with Lee Cohen 47:33

2+ y ago47:33

47:33

Magicians have a complicated relationship with the Harry Potter franchise. On the one hand, the success of J K Rowling's creation has given them hours of work at movie premieres, book launches, and themed events. On the other hand, it's hard dealing with constant jokes about where our broomsticks are and whether we were raised under a staircase. Th…

1
50: Bro Science and The Liver King with Dr Vyom Sharma 39:01

2+ y ago39:01

39:01

There's been a weird evolution in the wellness industry. What was once a market dominated by new age, holistic, self-care has seen a recent rise in hypermasculine, ideology-driven bro science. Forget Gwenyth Paltrow’s jade vagina eggs, these are health products that advocate eating raw liver, dangerous workouts and tanning your testicles. In this e…

1
An announcement from Nicholas 5:03

2+ y ago5:03

5:03

Scamapalooza is back. New episodes are dropping in December 2022. Make sure you're subscribed so that you don't miss out on the wild chats with magicians, authors, psychologists, con artists and other liars. www.conman.com.auBy Nicholas J. Johnson

1
48: Counting Cards with Dale Sadler 1:02:31

7+ y ago1:02:31

1:02:31

Imagine you're a professional magician, performing a few card tricks at function when you're approached by a mysterious stranger who wants to make use of your unique set of skills. He wants to turn you into a card counter. That is exactly what happened to Dale Sadler, a magician turn card counter who spent years making his living winning at blackja…

1
47: The Truth About Lies with Dr Celine Van Golde 46:11

7+ y ago46:11

46:11

What would you say is the best method of detecting lies? A truth serum? A polygraph machine? A body language expert? The truth about lie detectors is…they probably don’t work. So why do they show in popular culture on reality tv shows and, most disturbingly, in criminal investigations? And what are the ramifications of putting our faith in these do…

1
46: Women In Magic with Carisa Hendrix 49:15

7+ y ago49:15

49:15

I have always assumed that it must be hard to be a woman in magic. It’s an industry dominated by men and populated by old guys with outdated ideas of gender, young boys who got into magic to pick up girls and antisocial men of all ages who struggle to talk to ANYONE, let alone members of the opposite sex. We have the organisations like the Internat…

1
45: The Ethics Of Mentalism with Jon Archer 49:12

7+ y ago49:12

49:12

What’s the difference between a con artist and a magician? A great magician tells you they’re about to lie you. They admit it out right. And then fool you anyway. But a great con artist will suck you in and leave you refusing to believe you were ever deceived. So what then, about mentalism, that branch of magic that brings to life psychic phenomena…

1
44: The Doctor Will See You Now with Dr Vyom Sharma 49:38

7+ y ago49:38

49:38

How do working GPs deal with alternative medicine? These frontline healthcare practitioners have to deal with constant red tape, constant education, strict laws and pesky professional ethics. Alternative medicine practitioners, on the other hand, are so unburdened by professional oversight, rules and regulations that they can sell remedies that do …

1
43: OzLockCon and Lockpicking with Topaz. 32:51

8y ago32:51

32:51

OzLockCon is Australia’s first conference dedicated to locksport and physical security. From the amateur lockpicker to the professional security expert, the conference has something for everyone interesting locks. On this week's episode OzLockCon organiser Topaz talks about the event and explains how to pick a lock. https://ozlockcon.com…

1
42: The Gullibility Test with Alessa Teunisse 39:25

8y ago39:25

39:25

Why, given the constant need for people to measure everything from their personalities to their intellect, is there no test for gullibility? Alessa Tenunisse, a pHd student at Macquarie University’s Department of Psychology, has spent several exploring gullibility and it's relationship to scams. On this week's episode, Alessa discusses her work whi…

1
41: Fake News with Toby Halligan 54:31

8y ago54:31

54:31

We are living in a golden age of bullshit. Nowhere is this more evident than in the media where fake news is now almost indistinguishable from the real deal. So how do you spot fake news? How do you spot it spreading? And how do you deal with that weird relative wanting to spread pizzagate conspiracy theories on facebook? On this week's episode, sa…

1
40: Paper Moon with Sarah Baggs 1:14:48

8y ago1:14:48

1:14:48

🎶It's only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea.🎶 And this week's episode is only pop culture queen Sarah Baggs exploring the whimsical and heartwarming world of Paper Moon. From the Peter Bogdanovich film to the Joe David Brown novel to the Jodie Foster starring TV series, Sarah and Nicholas explore what makes this rare con artist film a cla…

1
39: The Annals of Gullibility with Stephen Greenspan 37:58

8y ago37:58

37:58

Stephen Greenspan has dedicated a large part of his career to explaining why people act gullibly. As a psychologist and author, he’s drawn from research, literature and his own personal experience as a victim of Bernie Madoff to help explain the psychological underpinnings of why otherwise smart people do stupid things. On this week’s episode, Nich…

1
38: I Love Phillip Morris Vs FOCUS with Martin Dunlop 1:38:05

8y ago1:38:05

1:38:05

There are no two con artists films less alike than I Love You Phillip Morris and FOCUS. One is a true story, the other fiction. One is slick and cool, the other bright and slapstick filled. One features two men falling in love in prison while the other features a run of the mill Hollywood romance. On this week’s episode, Nicholas talks to Martin Du…

1
37: Charles Dawson at The Labrastory (LIVE) 22:21

8+ y ago22:21

22:21

The Laborastory is a science storytelling event in Melbourne that comes to tell the stories of science – the heroes, the egos, the breakthroughs and the mistakes of genius. From forgotten history and lonely laboratories, science and scientists quite literally take centre stage. On this week’s episode, Nicholas talks at the monthly science event abo…

1
36: Brain Magic with Tony Barnhart 1:01:27

8+ y ago1:01:27

1:01:27

Anthony “Magic Tony” Barnhart is a cognitive psychologist at Arizona State University. He studies the psychological processes underlying handwritten word perception and the psychological foundations of magic and illusion. On this week’s episode of the podcast Tony discusses his work while Nicholas tries to sell Tony on his crackpot theory connectin…

1
35: Now You Seem Mean 2 with Nick Mason 1:21:44

8+ y ago1:21:44

1:21:44

Nick Mason, from the Weekly Planet Podcast, returns to help Nicholas deal with complex feelings about the 2016 film Now You See Me 2. The sequel to the surprise 2013 hit, Now You See Me 2 features more magic, more heists and more confusing plot twists than the original.By Nicholas J. Johnson

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