Average Joe Nerdcast

Is Stranger Things really based on a true story?

After the Stranger Things series finale, a casual comment, “You know that’s based on a true story, right?” ...sent me down the rabbit hole of one of the internet’s most persistent conspiracy theories: The Montauk Project.

In this episode of CTRL + ALT + DELUSION, we break down the Montauk Project, a Cold War conspiracy involving alleged government experiments, psychic children, mind control, interdimensional portals, and monsters supposedly hidden beneath Camp Hero in Montauk, New York.

We explore:

What the Montauk Project actually...

What if birds…weren’t real?

In this episode of the Average Joe Nerdcast, Nate dives headfirst into one of the internet’s most absurd (and oddly fascinating) modern conspiracies: Birds Aren’t Real...the claim that all birds were secretly replaced by government surveillance drones.

We break down:

The origins of the Birds Aren’t Real movement

The “evidence” believers point to (yes, pigeons charging on power lines)

Why people latch onto conspiracies like this, even when they’re clearly ridiculous

How satire, internet culture, and misinformation c...

As the year comes to a close, Nate takes a pause before the next level begins.

In this New Year special episode of the Average Joe Nerdcast, we look back at how AJN started, how it grew, and why nostalgia matters more than ever. From loading screens and late-night gaming memories to building a community around shared childhood magic, this episode is a love letter to the things that shaped us...and the people we became.

Nate reflects on the journey of the podcast, speaks directly to his younger self, and invites listeners to do...

Quick note: This episode is intentionally tighter than some previous Halo deep dives. I recorded it while dealing with a rough case of strep throat, so I focused on delivering a clean, focused, emotionally grounded episode rather than pushing for length. Some sandbox and cut-content topics may get their own follow-up later, but this felt like the right way to close the Bungie era.

When Bungie said goodbye to Halo, they didn’t do it with a victory parade. They did it with Halo: Reach...a prequel that tells you from the opening moments that th...

Trigger Warning! Christmas wasn’t born in a manger, it was built across centuries of pagan winter festivals, Roman politics, church rebranding, folklore, and cultural survival.

In this full-length Average Joe Nerdcast holiday deep dive, Nate explores the real history of Christmas: why Jesus was not born on December 25, how the early Church adopted existing Roman solstice festivals like Saturnalia, why Puritans once banned Christmas entirely, and how Victorian England revived it through ghost stories and family ritual.

We unpack the truth behind Santa Claus, defend Christmas magic as a tool for teaching generosity (not de...

In 1979, sixteen-year-old college prodigy James Dallas Egbert III disappeared from Michigan State University, and instead of asking how a gifted kid fell through the cracks, America panicked.

In this debut episode of Nerd Crime Files, Nate explores the true story behind James’ disappearance, the infamous steam-tunnel myth, and how Dungeons & Dragons became a convenient scapegoat for fear, misinformation, and moral panic. From sensational media coverage to pop-culture fallout like Mazes and Monsters, this episode traces the origins of the Satanic Panic and the recurring pattern of blaming imagination instead of addressing mental health.

This isn’t a...

For decades, E3 wasn’t just a trade show; it was gaming’s Super Bowl!

One week a year, the entire industry stopped to watch consoles launch, franchises be born, careers made, and legends cemented live on stage. But somewhere along the way, the biggest event in gaming quietly lost its power…and then disappeared entirely.

In this Checkpoint Extra join Nate as he breaks down:

How E3 became the center of the gaming universe

The landmark reveals that defined entire console generations

Why E3 announcements felt bigger than anythi...

G4TV changed gaming forever...and then vanished.

In this Mainline Monday episode of the Average Joe Nerdcast, Nate dives deep into the rise of G4TV, the cable network that gave gamers a 24/7 home on television. From the early, janky optimism of a dedicated gaming channel to the cultural dominance of X-Play and Attack of the Show!, G4 didn’t just cover gaming culture, it grew up alongside it; awkward puberty and all.

We explore:

How G4TV launched in 2002 and why it felt revolutionary at the time

The TechTV me...

Today on the Average Joe Nerdcast: Checkpoint Extras, Nate's taking a rooftop-level deep dive into one of Nickelodeon’s most soulful masterpieces: Hey Arnold! A show that didn’t shout for your attention…it whispered wisdom in jazz chords and stoop conversations.

For nearly an hour, we explore why Hey Arnold! stands apart from every other Nicktoon. From the music, the city, the characters, the emotional storytelling, and the lessons about empathy that hit even harder today than they did in the ’90s.

We unpack:

Arnold, Gerald, and Helga’s emotional depth

The Suns...

In this massive, 2 hours & 30-minute-long deep dive, the Average Joe Nerdcast unpacks the entire history of Nickelodeon: the rise, the magic, the weirdness, the Nicktoons revolution, the SNICK era, the game shows, the controversies, and the human cost behind the orange glow.

From Double Dare, GUTS, and Legends of the Hidden Temple…to Doug, Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life, Angry Beavers, KaBlam!, Invader Zim, and SpongeBob Squarepants…to Face, Stick Stickly, Nick Jr., and the creators who defined a generation…

…to the darker truths: child star exploitation, the Dan Schneider power imbalance, the systemic f...

Halo 3: ODST isn’t just a Halo spin-off, it’s a full-blown noir masterpiece. A rain-soaked mystery. A character-driven descent into the underworld of New Mombasa. A game that slows Halo down long enough for you to feel the war instead of just fighting it.

In this Average Joe Nerdcast Checkpoint Extra, Nate cracks open Bungie’s most atmospheric and underrated game, examining how ODST was born from contract drama, a cancelled Halo movie, and a “small” side project that got wildly out of hand.

You’ll hear the full story of how Bungie went from “we’re done after Halo 3” to delivering ODST on their way out the door, all while Joseph Staten w...

The conspiracies are BACK.

You thought December meant a break from the madness?

Nope. Not in this house.

In this episode of CTRL + ALT + DELUSION, we’re heading straight into the most notoriously bizarre airport on Earth:

DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

This place has it all:

A giant demon horse statue (“Blucifer”) with glowing red eyes

Murals people swear predict the apocalypse

A capstone signed by the mysterious “New World Airport Commission”

A construction history filled with overspending and delays

Underground tunnels BIG enough to hide…pretty much anything

Illuminati sym...

Happy Nerdsgiving, everyone!

This Thanksgiving Day, the Average Joe Nerdcast is serving up a full-course nostalgia feast: games, cartoons, movies, chaotic fictional dinner guests, comfort characters, the first-ever AJN Thanksgiving Parade, and a heartfelt gratitude finale that’ll hit you right in the feelings.

Whether you’re cooking, commuting, hiding from relatives, or mean-mugging a Brenda across the table, this holiday special is here to keep you company.

In this Nerdsgiving Special, we cover:

The games I’m thankful for (Sonic 2, Final Fantasy VII, Halo, Mass Effect 2 & more)

The cartoons that raised us (Hey Arnold, Dexter’s Lab, DBZ, Gundam, BTAS…)

The mo...

Did Pikachu REALLY have a black tail? Was it “Looney Toons” or “Looney Tunes”? And what do you mean the Fruit of the Loom logo NEVER had a cornucopia?

Welcome to a full-scale nostalgia breakdown.

In this week’s episode of The Average Joe Nerdcast, Nate dives headfirst into the Mandela Effect: the massive cultural phenomenon where millions of people confidently remember things…wrong. From misquoted movie lines to logos that never existed to entire movies we SWEAR we watched (looking at you, “Shazaam”), this episode unpacks why our brains glitch, how memory actually works, and why false memories spread like wildfire online.

We cover:

The wild history behind the origi...

Step into the virtual world, 90s kids! We’re diving deep into VR Troopers, Saban’s wild, cyber-powered Tokusatsu series that fused martial arts, chrome armor, glitchy CGI, and three different Japanese Metal Hero shows into one unforgettable fever dream.

In this full-length Checkpoint Extra, Nate breaks down Ryan Steele, J.B. Reese, Kaitlin Star, Grimlord’s digital nightmare, the chaotic editing magic behind the scenes, and the emotional story that gave VR Troopers more heart than anyone remembers.

We’re talking:

Fox Kids history

The Metalder / Spielban / Shaider footage fusion

Skugs, Combat Cyborgs, and the most dramatic villain transformation in TV history

Are world leaders secretly shapeshifting reptilian overlords from another dimension…or just rich, awkward humans who blink weird on camera?

In this episode of CTRL + ALT + DELUSION, join Nate as he dives headfirst into the Lizard People / Reptilian Elite conspiracy theory, the wild idea that politicians, celebrities, and billionaires are actually cold-blooded alien reptiles hiding in human skin suits and feeding on our fear.

We’ll break down:

How ancient serpent gods, dragons, and snake myths evolved into modern “reptilian overlord” lore

The rise of David Icke and how he turned lizard p...

Crank up the Fox Kids theme and dust off your Beetle Bonders, this Checkpoint Extra is diving helmet-first into Big Bad Beetleborgs.

Join Nate as he breaks down how Saban went from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to chrome-plated bug armor, haunted mansions, and a ghost with a pompadour named Flabber. We’ll talk how Beetleborgs was born out of the Power Rangers boom, the difference between Super Sentai and Tokusatsu, why Hillhurst Mansion was basically a year-round Halloween special, and how a trio of comic-book kids accidentally unleashed some of the most chaotic villains in 90s TV.

This week we’re rolling up our sleeves (literally) for a deep, hilarious, fact-checked roast of one of the wildest conspiracy mashups of our time:

“Vaccines contain microchips!”

“5G towers control your thoughts!”

“It’s all part of the global mind-control plan!”

Spoiler: It's Not!

This is CTRL + ALT + DELUSION, the second episode in our November series built to help you survive Thanksgiving debates with your conspiracy-loving relatives. From cowpox and Dr. Edward Jenner’s OG anti-vaxxers to the Bill Gates microchip myth and 5G hysteria, we’re tracing the history of vacci...

Sometimes the real conspiracy isn't Big Pharma or The Lizard People...it's your own editing software.

This week's CTRL + ALT + DELUSION episode hit a technical meltdown in post-production, throwing every sound effect into a parallel dimension. So, while Nate wrangles the chaos back into sync, enjoy this quick update on what went wrong, what's coming up next, and how AJN is making sure it never happens again.

No grand plots here, just transparency, a sense of humor, and a reminder that even the best timelines need a reboot.

Please Rate & Review to keep...

“IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME!”

Before the memes, before the morphers, before parents threw elbows in Toys “R” Us aisles, there was a cheap little show stitched together from Japanese monster footage and American teen drama.

And somehow, it worked!

In this Checkpoint Extra, Nate rewinds the click to uncover the wild, warts-and-all story of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers - from Haim Saban’s hotel-room pitch and Fox Kids’ risky greenlight to the chaos of on-set exhaustion, toy mania, and the cultural explosion that shaped an entire generation.

Along the way, we honor the legends...

It’s November, which means two things: turkey season…and arguments with relatives who “did their own research.”

So for the entire month, every Mainline Monday of the Average Joe Nerdcast is going full-tilt conspiracy with a new series: CTRL + ALT + DELUSION - your official pre-Thanksgiving survival kit.

First up: The Flat Earth Conspiracy.

From Victorian chaos gremlins and YouTube “scientists” to ice walls, domes, and merch-slinging influencers, Nate fires up the roast of all roasts - tearing down the world’s dumbest theory with humor, history, and just enough physics to make your uncle cho...

Ever heard that Halloween was “the Devil’s holiday” or that it started as All Hallows’ Eve and was corrupted by pagans?

Yeah…about that.

In this feature length Holiday Special episode, Nate grabs the shovel and digs all the way back to Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival of fire and fear, before tracing how Rome, the medieval Christian Church, and eventually capitalism each stole a piece of the party.

What you’ll hear:

Before social media, before algorithms, before doomscrolling…there was the 1990s.

A decade that traded Cold War dread for day-care demons, trench-coat paranoia, and talk-show hysteria...when America turned fear into entertainment and the 24-hour news cycle made anxiety a national pastime.

In this Nerdoween Checkpoint Extra, Nate rewinds through the moral panics that shaped a generation: the Satanic Panic hangover, the “superpredator” myth, video-game witch hunts, Y2K, and chain-email urban legends that made even our inboxes haunted. With humor, heart, and real data, this deep dive unpacks how the Fear Machine of the ’90s became...

Welcome to the grand finale of Nerdoween 2025: The Final Fright.

After a month of monsters, haunted hardware, cursed VHS tapes, and cult horror kings, Nate closes the book on Nerdoween with one last deep dive into what makes fear human.

In this feature-length episode:

Monster Manual: The Zombie - a breakdown of horror’s oldest metaphor.

Movie Monster Spotlight: Ghostface - the slasher who knew the rules.

The What-If Crypt: What if Bungie had made a Halo horror spinoff? What if John Carpenter directed RE 2? And many more!

...

Today, the fog rolls back.

It's Nerdoween, and we're cracking open the VHS vault for two of the creepiest shows ever to haunt a 90s kid's living room: Unsolved Mysteries and Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction.

From Robert Stack's trench-coated terror to Jonathan Frakes' smug smirk of doom, these were the bedtime boogeymen that made us lock our doors, question our closets, and love every second of it.

Join Nate for a nostalgic look back through fog, fear, and VHS static as we reopen the cold cases that shaped a generation - including...

Halloween has gone corporate, the monsters have evolved, and fear itself has a brand.

In Week 3 of Nerdoween, Nate claws into the next phase of horror - from the tragic curse of the Werewolf to the cinematic rise of sci-fi terror and the viral birth of digital boogeymen.

Explore how the 2000s turned fear into a franchise, relive LAN-party Halloweens full of Halo 2, Saw, and screamo soundtracks, and discover how gaming made horror personal with icons like Pyramid Head, Alma Wade, and the Clickers.

Then, in our new Behind the Screams segment, we...

Pull up a chair by the fire, this one’s for every 90s kid who ever whispered “Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society…”

In this Average Joe Nerdcast: Checkpoint Extra, Nate heads back to the woods to revisit Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? - the cult-classic anthology that taught a whole generation how to enjoy being scared.

From the smoke-filled carnival of Zeebo the Clown to the haunted pool of Dead Man’s Float, this episode digs into the stories that burned themselves into our brains.

We’ll break down how...

Lightning strikes twice for Nerdoween Week 2 as Nate cracks open the next chapter of the Average Joe Nerdcast Monster Manual!

This time, it's all about what we build - and what builds itself.

From Mary Shelley's storm-born Frankenstein to the chrome skulls of The Terminator, from cursed consoles and lost cartridges to real-life hauntings sent in by listeners, this episode dives head-first into the machines, monsters, and memories that refuse to die.

Segments this Week

Monster Manual - Frankenstein's Monster: the fear of ourselves, from Shelley's 1816 vision to AI and digital...

Step into the haunted halls of the Scholastic Book Fair as Nate cracks open Goosebumps - the paperbacks that taught a generation how to laugh before they screamed.

From R.L. Stine's wild origin story and those hypnotic Tim Jacobus covers, to the Fox Kids TV show, the book-banning panic, and the legacy that still shapes our imaginations today; this Checkpoint Extra is one big love letter to 90s safe scares.

Hear how Goosebumps sparked a lifelong passion for horror, inspired a generation of readers, and maybe even trained us to stay cool when real...

The Nerdoween season has begun!

In this special kickoff episode of The Average Joe Nerdcast, Nate dives headfirst into the haunted heart of pop culture; from classic monsters to gaming's creepiest legends.

Inside this episode:

Monster Manual: Dracula-the original prince of darkness, from folklore to film to pixels.

Top 5 Slashers Ranked: Ghostface, Michael Myers, Freddy, Jason, and Chucky battle for the crown!

Gaming Urban Legends: Polybius, Ben Drowned, Lavender Town, and other haunted games that blurred the line between code and curse.

Movie Monster Spotlight: The Xenomorph-a...

Go Team Venture! In this monster cut of AJN Checkpoint Extras, Nate hijacks the feed to celebrate The Venture Bros. - his personal crown jewel of Adult Swim. From Jonas Ventures Sr.'s toxic legacy to Rusty's failures, Brock's loyalty, the Monarch's obsession, and the Guild's ridiculous bureaucracy, this 45-minute-deep dive explores why a parody cartoon grew into one of the richest serialized stories in animation.

We'll revisit essential episodes like Tag-Sale You're It!, Ghosts of the Sargasso, Operation: P.R.O.M., and more-plus character arcs for Hank, Dean, Gary, Sheila, Red Death, the Pirate Captain...

Step into the kingdom of Cartoon Network of the late '90s to the early 2000s. From the wild experiments of Cartoon Cartoons to the anime revolution of Toonami, the late-night absurdity of Adult Swim, and the nostalgia vault of Boomerang, this episode is a full deep dive into the network's golden age.

Join Nate as he takes you back to the late '90s and early 2000s; when after-school TV felt like an event, Courage was fighting off creepy villains, TOM was captaining The Absolution, and Adult Swim was rewriting comedy one surreal bumper at a...

In this very first AJN Checkpoint Extra, Nate dives deep into the untold backstory of Master Chief-John-117. From his abduction on Eridanus II and the brutal Spartan-II program on Reach, to his first missions against Insurrectionists and the Covenant, this lore drop explores how a boy became humanity's greatest supersoldier.

We'll briefly cover:

The Human Insurrection and why ONI resurrected a shelved supersoldier program.

Flash Clones, augmentations, and the cost of becoming a Spartan-II.

John's earliest missions: Operation TALON, Chi Ceti IV, and Silent Storm.

The promotion that made...

Eighteen years ago, on September 25, 2007, the world lined up at midnight to grab Halo 3; and gaming culture was never the same. In this episode of the Average Joe Nerdcast, Nate fires up the nostalgia machine to relive the Fight We All Waited to Finish:

Midnight launches, Mountain Dew Game Fuel, and Forge nights until sunrise.

Bungie's scars from Halo 2 and how they restructured to deliver closure with Halo 3.

Legendary campaign moments: Sierra 117, The Covenant, Cortana, and the Warthog finale.

Multiplayer chaos: Forge, Theater Mode, custom games, MLG, and why Halo 3 defined...

Halo 2 wasn't just a sequel, it was a revolution. In this episode of the Average Joe Nerdcast, Nate breaks down the story behind one of the most influential video games of all time. From Bungie's infamous "cathedral in a hurricane" development chaos, to the midnight launch madness of November 9, 2004, to the introduction of Xbox Live multiplayer that redefined online gaming forever, this is the definitive Halo 2 deep dive.

We'll cover:

The turbulent development of Halo 2 at Bungie-leadership shakeups, canceled levels, and that unforgettable cliffhanger ending.

How Halo 2's expanded sandbox changed the game...

Welcome to the very first episode of the Average Joe Nerdcast! Nate kicks things off by taking a deep dive into the game that changed everything: Halo: Combat Evolved (2001).

From Bungie's scrappy indie beginnings with Gnop! and Marathon, to Steve Jobs unveiling Halo at Macworld, to the infamous "Duke" controller and latenight LAN parties, this episode explores how Halo didn't just launch the original Xbox, it redefined the entire FPS genre.

We cover:

Bungie's history before Halo (Pathways into Darkness, Marathon, Myth)

How Microsoft's acquisition saved the Xbox launch.

...

Welcome to the Average Joe Nerdcast! This teaser episode sets the stage for what's to come: a podcast where we celebrate the games, movies, and nerd culture moments that shaped a generation. From LAN parties to comic book crossovers, host Nate brings nostalgia, stories, and a casual vibe straight from the heart. Hit follow and get ready for deep dives, fun tangents, and plenty of nerdy goodness.