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That Happens

Disastrophy Audio

“What am I?” The podcast trudges on through oblivion. Gone are the days of Jeff and Spencer’s asinine jokery, That Happens chronicles the slow deconstruction of the man Patton Oswalt once hailed as having “incredible comedic timing.” Ranting uninterrupted about daily political minutia or tiktok trends, Spencer occasionally breaks down and questions his life, podcast, and reality itself, as Kevin smiles, pained, trying to pull the show back onto the rails with a listener question or quick-fire rhetorical premise. What was is gone, and what’s left is bitter, battery acid-flavored reality. That Happens.

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  • 32 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 1 hr 17 min
  • English

Episodes 32

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  • Yesterday · 1 hr 28 min

    Am I in Psychosis Right Now?

    Between Beaver Nuggets, constipation updates, and crawling into a pile of stuffed Buc-ee's mascots to sleep, Spencer somehow still finds time to unpack the Chorus controversy, dark money in progressive media, and why nobody on the internet actually wants to change their mind about anything anymore. Spencer alsos dive into post-election joy, a deeply personal poetry slam fiasco involving a poem about tempered steel that definitely did not land the way he hoped, and an ongoing Dungeons & Dragons campaign update featuring curse eggs, giant sand worms, a Rat King, and the unstoppable urge every tabletop party has to attack any NPC on sight. But the real gut-punch this episode? An existential spiral into AI-generated code and whether vibe-coding a video game with Claude counts as "making" something, featuring a fictional game that may or may not break our brains and our ethics simultaneously. Is this growth? Is this psychosis? Am I just lonely in Texas? Yes. Plus: mailbag questions about soda flavors, scandalous shirtless photo blackmail threats, core philosophies, and whether Gen AI will ever be financially sustainable. Grab a Cherry Splash Canada Dry and settle in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • November 5 · 1 hr 14 min

    Simon Says Stop for Brisket

    What starts as an attempt to get The Spleen to guest-host the show quickly spirals into several aborted arcs including a Haley Stevens cold open that Spencer admits he didn’t “sign off on,” and a genuine existential crisis about whether he can still do the voice. From there it’s a stream-of-consciousness road trip through Spencer’s temporary life in Austin, Texas, where he’s teaching kids D&D as some kind of storytelling exercise and discovering that managing a classroom of gremlins who want to throw their own party members at dragons is, shockingly, difficult. We get the full breakdown of both sessions, including cursed eggs, a sheep who’s secretly a dragon prince, kids getting arrested in-game, the works. Plus some real talk about the mental load of accidentally becoming a substitute teacher with zero training. Also on the docket: a deep dive into a hairstyle inspired by a stranger at the Dallas airport, a brutal Airbnb bed that may be committing crimes against his neck and shoulders, a surprisingly emotional poetry slam detour, long distance texting with his ex who’s living her best life in Japan, and a genuinely unhinged rant about local LA politics, Karen Bass, and Haley Stevens’ last-minute endorsement flip that he’s still trying to parse days before the election. It’s part political meltdown, part travel diary, part beauty tutorial, and part Bucky’s beaver nugget advertisement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 29 · 1 hr 9 min

    Bad Riddance to Good People

    Spencer Crittenden grabs the wheel and drives us through a stream-of-consciousness episode. After a chaotic cold open featuring an ever-expanding roster of B-team co-hosts, including Biddy Blaze, Dr. Mindflare, and a thoroughly unauthorized Dr. Zoidberg, Spencer accuses his absent business-camp-attending podcast partner of being a backstabbing two-faced bastard before diving headfirst into the real content: a scathing, deeply personal Yelp review of the worst Airbnb in Austin, Texas. We're talking polyester sheets, mystery makeup stains, a rusty bent bed frame, zero fire extinguishers, and gym equipment that's basically a workplace safety violation waiting to happen. From there this episode becomes a genuine Texas travelogue of vibes, weight-gain spirals, and aggressive highway driving commentary, all narrated live from behind the wheel. Spencer dishes on the surprisingly elaborate Dungeons & Dragons campaign he's building for a class full of kids, complete with hermit crab pirates, lava-drinking dragons, cursed eggs, and a Miracle River. Then pivoting hard into grief over the sudden death of Erik Bauza, LA politics drama around the Karen Bass vs. Nithya Raman mayoral race, a drive-by take on the H3 Podcast scandal, and an absolutely baffling real-life encounter with a cowboy demanding Japanese employees at a chicken wing restaurant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 22 · 1 hr 21 min

    Texas Roadgrouse

    Spencer goes rogue in Austin, Texas, flying solo this week while Kevin's still off at "business camp", with Wi-Fi, a printer, and an inflatable secretary... we don't ask questions. What starts as a disclaimer about movie spoilers quickly spirals into a full-blown rant from the road, as Spencer narrates his rental car adventures through Texas' baffling highway system, unlevel parking lots, and traffic signals that apparently operate on their own sense of time. Then we get an extended, surprisingly thoughtful breakdown of the new Street Fighter movie (fight choreography complaints included), a passionate defense of the much-discussed, much-debated film "Digger", as a meditation on art and historical discourse rather than pure doom-and-gloom nihilism, and a deep dive into the Elizabeth Holmes documentary "You Can See Everything", from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, complete with true-crime-style theorizing about manipulation, narcissism, and who's really in control. Plus: gas station chicken sandwich reviews, a eulogy for some cheese grits that may or may not have been a casserole, and a brief cameo from "The Spleen." Everything you'd expect from a solo episode recorded from the driver's seat of a Texas rental car. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 15 · 1 hr 27 min

    One of My Mountain Don'ts

    This week on the show, guest Jabloobie (animator, co-founder of Plasma Spin Studios, and creator of Squeep Toons) stops by to explain his new indie animated series Pasta Fazul, a show about an entire city of supervillains with zero heroes in sight. Along the way we cover the sacred art of pasta fazul, the correct way to drizzle Mountain Dew into any recipe, Knott's Scary Farm merch quality discourse, and the ongoing public safety debate around a certain roller coaster that may or may not be murdering people. We also get a rare, exclusive preview of Frank and Lazo, the breakout background characters turned beloved corporate-clone-debt-slave action duo. Then it's a detour into 9/11 core memories, flash animation nostalgia, Newgrounds lore, couch-surfing through the DMV music scene, and a very contained discussion about a divisive new movie that we are absolutely not trying to spoil for anyone. Plus listener mail about first impressions, eldritch middle-management, and whether Spencer's "say nothing the first time, charm everyone the second time" strategy is a genius social hack or a cry for help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 8 · 1 hr 16 min

    Exejeezies

    Technical difficulties, mystical Bigfoot radio hosts, and childhood abandonment issues walk into a podcast... Spencer Crittenden flies solo, fighting with a possessed webcam before spiraling into an honestly kind of unhinged seven-minute rant about magic, narrative theory, chaos magic, Alan Moore, and why wizards and conspiracy theorists might secretly be doing the same job. From there we go full therapy-session-meets-improv-show, unpacking parental baggage, motivation issues, and why creative work maybe shouldn't come from a trauma response. We also pitch our greatest show that never got made: Secret Bigfoot, the saga of a Joe Rogan-esque talk radio cryptid who doesn't know what he is, can't get a mortgage, and accidentally stumbles into right-wing media hell. It's Berserk meets Coast to Coast AM meets your uncle's Facebook feed, and no, it never got picked up. Also featured: an extremely serious taste test of chicken and waffle Oreos, a passion-fruit Snickers from Brazil, deep thoughts on Oreo flavor fatigue, and a sincere, surprisingly touching monologue about parasocial relationships, internet community, and why making a podcast while depressed is harder than it looks. Equal parts unboxing video, group therapy, and public access TV fever dream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 1 · 1 hr 9 min

    Shotcast Podblast

    Spencer goes on a series of car rides trying to populate the episode with content, while another looks down on the experience from a bird's eye view. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 24 · 1 hr 16 min

    Brad Pitt is Fine

    Spencer Crittenden holds down the fort with special guest Ryan, and somehow the show still spirals into full Kevin-and-the-Spleen chaos anyway. We cover surveillance doorbell cameras as accidental government confessionals, why the new Wolverine game might be a cautionary tale about third-person action game fatigue, and whether Zelda's weirdly "toyetic" new art style is genius or just uncanny valley Playmobil. Naturally this leads into a deep dive on AI doomerism, tech-bro cult logic, crypto flashbacks, and the eternal question of whether ChatGPT can survive our extinction with a healthy mindset. Also, a real-time Zoom Pro upsell that briefly derails the entire episode, an ill-fated attempt to workshop a topical joke live on air, a Mitch McConnell conspiracy theory that gets us cease-and-desisted by imaginary lawyers, and a heartfelt tribute to Brad Pitt's drinking-again press tour. We also pitch a full Hollywood reboot starring disgraced international stunt performers instead of celebrities, and preview a listener-requested trip into Serial Experiments Lain and Evangelion territory for a future episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 17 · 1 hr 29 min

    There's Throw Up In This

    This week on That Happens, Spencer sits down with Steph and Brad from SteelCityMTG to talk about basically everything except the thing we're supposed to be talking about, and then also the thing we're supposed to be talking about. We cover the important stuff first: Game Boy hoarding, cloning Pokémon in Crystal like absolute criminals, and the golden age of buying cheat codes from magazines because the internet wasn't invented yet. Then we get into how Steph and Brad met in college, bonded over a truly cutthroat Yu-Gi-Oh vs. Magic debate, and somehow turned "playing cardboard games in the basement" into a whole streaming operation without losing their minds or their life savings (mostly). We talk shop about running a Magic: The Gathering content channel that's actually built for two people instead of chasing the algorithm, the delicate art of getting bulk commons out of your house before they achieve sentience, and why the internet's ongoing beef with blue mana is just a skill issue wearing a costume. Also featured: birria bombs, aggressively burnt apple fritters, sea lion propaganda on TikTok, nostalgic decks from the "$5 build-a-deck" era, and a heartfelt plea for Wizards of the Coast to make full-size sets again instead of whatever we've been getting lately. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 10 · 1 hr 6 min

    Dolly Partman

    Kevin's out this week, which means Spencer is left completely alone with a car, a phone camera, and 39 miles of gas to somehow make a podcast happen. What follows is an existential spiraling about needing other people to function, a full eulogy for Dolly Parton reimagined as a vampire-hunting vampire from a 2000s anime nobody fully remembers, several attempts at "free associating" like a TikTok improv guy that spin wildly out of control, and a confession about relapsing on weed and inventing a cannabis breakfast cereal. Eventually Editor Spencer cuts in to save us all, reading listener emails about Mountain Dew TikTok guys, why Madame Web should be defended passionately, the ongoing Dan Harmon relationship check-in, an AI-and-coding existential crisis that gets a surprisingly thoughtful non-answer, and a crocheted minion-flower-pot sighting from an anime convention. It's a solo, stream-of-consciousness, driving-around episode that somehow still finds time for a giant 256-episode bracket tournament pitch, a Trinity Blood lore dump, and a promise that Kevin will return to restore order. A solid hour of anime deep cuts, AI anxiety, minions, vampires, and podcasts that fall apart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • August 27 · 50 min

    Dour Hour

    We hit a real milestone this week and decided the only appropriate way to celebrate was with the triumphant return of the Dour Hour, a healthy dose of existential dread, and a time-travel plot so convoluted it makes the MCU look coherent. A mysterious, dying visitor claiming to be "us, but from the future" shows up begging for help preventing a mysterious anomaly from destroying the podcast (and possibly the universe), and against our better judgment, we go along with it. What follows is a multiverse-of-madness style show where we bounce between branching timelines, run into past versions of ourselves who definitely do not remember any of this happening, and try to figure out if the real threat is a cursed shirt, a hot sauce marketing meeting, an AI-generated void slowly eating a bedroom, or just the concept of getting canceled. Naturally, the only way out involves some extremely questionable cybersecurity practices, and the return of a gun that shoots people through the internet. Along the way we revisit some all-time deep cuts, including several increasingly unstable Spencer-from-the-future variants, appearances from Ariel Day, and the eternal question of why Spencer only owns one shirt. Is it a clip show? A time travel story? A cry for help? Yes. Join us for 250 episodes of this nonsense as we attempt, and mostly fail, to save the timeline, the podcast, and whatever's left of our dignity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • August 20 · 1 hr 16 min

    Dominated by Conan O'Brien

    Alright, chat, We're back with a Robert De Niro impression that doesn't have legs, a hostile takeover of Schrab Home Video, and a heartfelt discussion about whether saying "chat" out loud in real life is a bit or a cry for help. Spencer breaks down why this podcast is basically a turtle? Surviving 249 episodes purely by refusing to move, grow, or improve, because maybe, just maybe, the Spleen bit has plateaued.Then it's soda review corner, where we crack open an Italian blood orange beverage and a Canada Dry strawberry ginger ale, and we workshop a full unified theory of why "refreshers" are taking over gas stations. From there we spiral into an extremely legally-vetted, extremely non-political metaphor involving an uncle, a barbecue, a stroke, six million dollars of prime rib, missing missiles, and Crazy Jeff doing butterfly knife tricks near the children... pure coincidence if any of it sounds familiar. We also get into some real talk about masking, meatspace vs. podcast-space personalities, psychic drawings, being wrongly (or rightly??) diagnosed as bipolar via email, and why internet micro-celebrities are the new tabloid targets now that actual celebrities are too rich to care. Grab a refresher and settle in. Nothing happens, but it happens with maybe a good episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • August 13 · 1 hr 21 min

    Scorpion Tales

    This week, Kevin has lost his voice, so in his place we welcome a very special honk-based replacement guest who may or may not be an actual honk-girl (spoiler: it's Amelia Marino, Doughboys associate producer, professional poop-reviewer, and reluctant TikTok comment-section warlord). We cover the essentials: why air conditioner repairmen are secretly all undercover conservatives who gaslight you about humidity, the deep lore of curly hair maintenance, and a heartfelt tribute to Mr. Biao, the TikTok legend who dries wet things and wets dry things for reasons no one can fully explain. We also get a rare and vulnerable look behind the curtain of Amelia's ongoing identity crisis: she's tired of being known for her poop-adjacent humor and wants a full image rebrand. So we workshop options like Amelia Bedelia, Ameals on Wheels, and Salvation Armelia, none of which fully escape the poop of it all. Along the way: a surprisingly deep dive into the emotional economics of being a Doughboys PA, a mutual confession of unclockable improv-anxiety, a very good "Scorpion Tales" podcast pitch involving Amelia's dad, and a rousing round of "What's Kevin's Deal" that gets solved almost immediately, threatening the very structure of the segment itself. Also: bug reviews, marine biology dreams, thrifted Brooks Brothers sweater vests, and a passionate defense of humidity as a personality trait. This week's focus is mental health, chronic illness, honking, and the eternal question of whether you can ever truly rebrand away from diarrhea-heavy content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • August 6 · 1 hr 17 min

    We've Got to Summon Batman

    This week we let YouTube's AI suggest future episodes, resulting in gems like "Spencer reads your toxic parenting books while Kevin plays high-stakes countdown" and other completely incomprehensible AI slop that somehow still sounds like something we'd actually do. We spiral into a real conversation about whether AI is hitting a wall or just getting weirder, complete with tangents on math proofs, translation earbuds, and a demonetization streak we're desperately trying not to jinx. Then it's a full taste-test of disappointing Miller Lite-flavored Pringles (beer cheeseburger, beer braised steak, and beer battered onion rings) alongside a lineup of Japanese grape candies, because no episode is complete without Kevin subjecting Spencer to mystery snacks. We also open the mailbag for listener emails covering chaos magic, egregores, servitors, Thelema, tulpas, whether Alistair Crowley was really summoning demons or just tripping balls, and an extremely unhinged improvised origin story (courtesy of the Spleen) explaining exactly how Kevin ended up working with Dan Harmon in the first place. Along the way: a genuinely emotional detour into breakup anger, limerence, and the impossibility of ever getting real closure, a Baki anime rant that gets surprisingly not-safe-for-YouTube, and a serious discussion about whether AI-written podcast blurbs are secretly just what dreams sound like to someone who wasn't there. Grab a sad beer-flavored chip and settle in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • July 30 · 1 hr 20 min

    The Honk Man

    Honk, honk, folks! Mike Mitchell (of Doughboys fame) stops by the "studio" to hang with Kevin and the Spleen, and things immediately spiral in the best way. We cover the sacred art of recording ads in your closet, why the future of podcasting is probably just one guy who sleeps and streams in the same room, and how to know your favorite sponsor might secretly be a evil corporation. Mike opens up about long COVID, food noise, GLP-1s, losing (and regaining, and re-losing) 100 pounds, and why "doing it the right way" is a myth big guys tell themselves before caving and trying the miracle shot anyway. We also get the full origin story of Mike's path from Catholic-guilt theater kid to UCB sketch guy to being cast in a Chris Pratt movie because of a podcast success story... Plus some hard truths about writing alone in a room slowly convincing yourself you're a nightmare human being. Naturally, we cap things off with a deeply important lightning round of Doughboys style fork ratings covering drinks, streaming services, and the Irish Potato Famine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • July 23 · 1 hr 18 min

    Peanuts: Nature's Beans

    This week, we survive their own opening theme song getting cut off at the worst possible time, so we ponder the eternal mystery of what exactly gets a podcast demonetized, and somehow still manage to get demonetized anyway. We've got The Spleen's shocking skydiving related divorce announcement, a deep dive into why people binge relisten to old comedy podcasts they claim to hate, and some very unqualified therapy speak about internet strangers with emotional neglect wounds. Then it's time for the main event: a truly unhinged taste test of Bush's Best limited edition Apple Pie, Dill Pickle, and Rocket Pop flavored beans, live and (mostly) uncooked. Spoiler alert: the beans do not go well, Kevin nearly vomits off camera, and we debate whether canned bean colloids belong anywhere near dessert. It's ASMR for people who hate themselves. We close out with some big brain nonsense about anime nostalgia, TESCREALism, AI psychosis, Sam Altman conspiracy theories, and whether Elon Musk's Hyperloop was ever real to begin with. Plus, a heartfelt discussion on capitalism eating creative labor, because why not throw some late-stage capitalism dread in with your bean reviews? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • July 16 · 1 hr 18 min

    It Goes Well

    Spencer and Kevin are back with a "political roundtable" that spirals almost immediately, featuring special guests Brentz Platner(?), a beeping Mitch McConnell(??), and the late Lindsey Graham(???), channeled via Baba Yaga because Spencer can't do the voice. From there we cover McConnell's mysterious health saga, Maine's messiest Senate race gossip, and why AI-generated food photos on delivery apps look like they're covered in acne. Of course, no episode is complete without a soda taste test: this time it's the return of Mountain Dew Supernova, plus a deep dive into the forgotten history of Mountain Dew's "Dew-mocracy" flavor elections (RIP Revolution and Typhoon, we hardly knew ye). We also get sidetracked into biohacker Bryan Johnson's autoimmune disease, gold-injecting influencers who think ancient alchemists cracked immortality, a surprisingly heady tangent on Greek "genius" vs. Roman "daemon" concepts and narcissism, and the great Wild Cherry Pepsi tweet discourse of the week (is "permission" now a slur, or did everyone just have assault on the brain because of the news cycle?). We close things out with a weird dive into the data center water usage panic, with Kevin bringing actual industry insight on cooling systems, UV filtration, and why the viral "cyclospora outbreak caused by data centers" theory doesn't quite hold water (pun intended). Politics, parasites, Pepsi discourse, and a vintage computer terminal cameo is just another That Happens for us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • July 9 · 59 min

    Now That’s What I Call Happens: Volume 9

    Now That’s What I Call Happens! Volume 9! Party with The Spleen while you enjoy this rehash of old bits from That Happens! It’ll have you saying "Now That’s What I Call Happens!" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • July 2 · 1 hr 20 min

    Licking a Lithium battery

    We kick things off with The Spleen at war with robot delivery drones after Spencer got revenge on Chipotle's automated phone system in the most creative way possible. Zoom's aggressively updated facial tracking software keeps mistaking a Jigglypuff plushie for Spencer's face, then we debate the finer points of anti-drone technology including tandem puppets and dazzle camouflage. From there we drift into a full breakdown of the Ice Cube War of the Worlds movie that came out in 2025 after apparently sitting on a shelf for five years, and we cover all the reasons aliens who travel across the galaxy specifically to eat data make absolutely no scientific sense. Kevin licks a battery for content, immediately regrets it, then accidentally covers his hands and keyboard in blue dye. The Mountain Dew Dunkin' donuts get reviewed (a slightly sad lemon loaf), alongside a Canada Dry strawberry ginger ale that smells better than it tastes. We also get serious for a bit: The election was probably rigged (twice, different people each time), Gaza and voter apathy are actually connected, and the blood is on all our hands whether you voted or not. Then we pivot to the 35th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog, why the original ugly movie design was an inexcusable disaster, and a spirited debate about base-12 mathematics sparked by a listener manifesto. If you're searching for: weird snack reviews, political rants, AI drone paranoia, Sonic anniversary, election conspiracy theories, base-12 math, or just two guys completely failing to run a competent video call... this is That Happens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • June 25 · 1 hr 16 min

    Flaming Bags of Dog Complaints

    We kick things off with Sir Spleenington, the distinguished British predecessor to Spencer's lovably grating alter ego "The Spleen", hiding from Flock cameras and ankle monitors while Spencer attempts to explain that this podcast is technically an American reboot of a British podcast. Kevin actually laughs audibly, which may be a first in recorded history. From there, we cover the very real and very poisonous warehouse fire burning in Boyle Heights, LA, where Spencer went out handing N95 masks to street vendors who promptly did not put them on. We also get into the World Cup bringing tourists to America who are discovering chips and salsa, bottomless refills, and tailgating for the first time, leading to what is probably an AI-generated viral tweet about a Japanese man being spiritually defeated by a basket of tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant. Then things get truly personal. Spencer recounts a weekend of cascading indignities: a terrible fake-Caesar wrap from Doghaus, a multi-hour Chipotle customer service odyssey involving AI phone bots, a rude supervisor, a robot that hung up on him, and a very long drive to find no crispy chicken. A Magic: The Gathering card he wanted wasn't even in the deck it was supposed to be in. He survived all of this, and his emotional recovery time is getting shorter, which we declare as growth. We close out with Spencer pitching a structured belief system built around summoning a personal "familiar", essentially harnessing the placebo effect and humanity's religious tendencies into something useful and non-cult-shaped. Kevin says he'd join immediately. Spencer considers writing a self-help book. The Spleen is somewhere hiding from cameras. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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