The 404 Podcast

Against all odds and defying logic, The 404 has miraculously reached our 404th episode. As shameless self-promoters, we're not afraid to pat ourselves on the back, and we invite a whole cast of friends to help us! A huge Calls From the Public today, plus the origin of The 404 and a Best-Moments Reel!

Thanks for the poster, Blake!

(Credit: Blake Stevenson)

Friends of The 404 celebrate 404 episodes...of The 404!

(Credit: The 404)

Nobody thought we would make it to our 404th episode, and yet here we are! Life just doesn't make sense sometimes, does it? For this milestone episode, we've invited a ton of our favorite guests and friends of the show to join in the celebration, including Clayton Morris, Caroline McCarthy, Natali Del Conte, Randall Bennett, Tim Geisenheimer, Maggie Reardon, MTI, and more!

We kick off the show by telling the story of the show's humble beginnings, when Randall Bennett was the host and it was called The Dudecast...is "The 404" an upgrade or a downgrade from that? Anyway, Wilson also whipped up a hilarious Best-Of reel featuring a handful of funny and memorable moments on The 404, including the first appearance by Space Beer and Subject to You, the Fry Daddy, grocery-bagging competitions, the new Mayor of Hoboken, and many more.

Finally, we end the show with a massive Calls From the Public. BIG, big thanks go out to everyone who left us a congratulatory voice mail. We appreciate them all! If you left one for us and didn't hear it in the show, be sure to download the audio version--we strung them all together at the end of the episode!

A photographic history of The 404

As we finish up our 404th episode, we want to thank all the people that make The 404 possible: Bonnie G,Jason Howell, Blake Stevenson, Gknee, DakLives, the Chatroom, Jamie Lewis, 404 Photoshoppers and historians, our patient managers, Natali Del Conte, Mark Licea, Rich Peterson, Cheryl Holloway, all the guests and their PR, Sarah the Intern, Dan the Mantern, and of course, any females that have ever listened to or even heard of The 404. This list is truncated, so we apologize if we left anyone out!

Meet Koufax

(Credit: Last.fm/R0BB23)

Even with Justin gone for over a week, the show must go on. Caroline McCarthy once again takes the reigns, all while helping to diversify the show. First, we're treated to a mashup made in hell, Rick Astley vs. Nirvana in a little tune called "Never Gonna Give Your Teen Spirit Up". You've been warned. To make things worse, we hear William Shatner's beat-poetry version of Sarah Palin's resignation speech.

Today's Last.fm/Beck's Beer semi-weekly Audio Draft band is Koufax, a tight rock outfit with a love of horns. Its latest record, "Strugglers," is available now.

Also on today's show: new details regarding the AT&T/4chan controversy and we'll touch on Sprint's acquisition of Virgin Mobile.

EPISODE 391

On today's show, CNET reporter and 404 BFF Caroline McCarthy directs us in a live read-through of the actual script for the upcoming Facebook movie and also joins us in talking about 4Chan, Comic-Con, and this weekend's insane hailstorm.

CarMac!

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET)

We love it when Caroline McCarthy drops into The 404 studio because she always brings the juiciest news from the Internet. Last week she revealed to us the details of "The Social Network," a movie about Facebook's seedy origins...and today we read through a scene from the screenplay live on the air! The scene involves Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, twin co-founders of former Facebook rival ConnectU, arguing with their third partner about how to end Mark Zuckerberg's life for stealing their genius idea. After reading a few pages, we quickly realize that none of us even have the slightest chance of having a career in the movie industry. Awful.

Caroline stays with us for the second half of the show for a knee-slappin' Calls From the Public, including one from our buddy Ryan that equates Wikipedia to...well...I'll just give you this hint. Thanks, Ryan!

More stories of the day include the idiots over at AT&T picking a fight with 4Chan, the most notorious group of pranksters on the Internet. Moot, the founder of the controversial forum site, reported on Sunday that AT&T had blocked broadband access to some of the more controversial message boards (including the most infamous /b/), claiming that a denial-of-service attack had "stemmed from IP addresses connected to img.4chan.org." Finally, after a fake overdose story involving AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson surfaced on CNN, AT&T deemed 4Chan "safe" for its customers to visit and cleared the block. Talk about getting close to the fire!

I'll try not to get too sniffly here, but this will be my last blog post for a week, since I'll be heading back to California for a week-long vacation. I'll be back next Wednesday, but Jeff and Wilson will have some truly awesome guests coming in to fill my very small feet! I'll never forget you guys. Goodbye!

We want to thank all of our listeners for the tons of mail we received over the break, it really means a lot. Here's to making 2009 the year of The 404!

So sit back, relax, and enjoy our first episode back. There won't be a show tomorrow, but we'll be broadcasting live everyday from CES 2009 beginning this Wednesday at 8pm eastern.

EPISODE 252

Dan the Mantern is responsible for a majority of the stories in the rundown today, so don't hesitate to burn him at the stake if you don't like what you hear. Personally, I think today's show is hilarious: Craigslist crime, driving exams and racial stereotypes, video game pirates, and the evolution of the Chinese "impossible" space drive. Once again, it's East meets West on The 404!

Big thanks to our buddy Jeff Sparkman for today's show title. We are literally the taint on the massive organ that is CNET.com. Anyway, even though Dan helps us by suggesting the stories for the show, I managed to sneak one by him, and apparently Caroline McCarthy also caught wind. It seems like Craigslist just can't stay out of trouble. This time around, a man used the job listings to post an anonymous ad for construction workers and requested that they show up wearing a blue shirt, yellow vest, safety hat and a blue shirt. The man then proceeded to rob an armored car before stripping his clothing to reveal the exact same uniform, effectively allowing him to disappear into the sea of construction workers. He later reappeared to make his getaway by riding an innertube down the local lake. I love the fact that robbers are getting more creative with their schemes--Jason Bourne over here, did this guy just watch "Ocean's 11" or something? For all that Craigslist has given the internet community (apartments, bikes, jobs, casual "encounters"), I think we can let this one slide.

It's been way too long since we've had Caroline McCarthy on the show! She makes a very attractive Jeff Bakalar replacement, and it's a trade that we'll take any day of the week. On today's show, we solve the mystery of the Natural History Museum whale, touch on virtual iBoobs, join the British Secret Service, and Wilson reads a very heinous headline about (what else?) butts. We also treat ourselves to a very steamy call from the public, over and over and over again...

I must admit that in Jeff's absence, Wilson and I are super stoked to welcome CNET News reporter Caroline McCarthy to the show today. Caroline is an expert in social media and even started her own Internet meme: the tale of the Twittering Natural History whale. For those of you who aren't familiar, the Natural History Museum in New York is home to a gigantic, life-size blue whale. The museum completed the construction of the whale in 1938, and the big boy somehow managed to sign up for a Twitter account. Check out his page and follow his tweets, the tongue-in-cheek humor is on par with DeadBigFoot. While you're at it, follow The404 and Caroline McCarthy as well!

EPISODE 196

EPISODE 108

EPISODE 76

On today's show Phil Ryan and Caroline McCarthy help Jeff get through a lonely Friday. We'll talk about gorilla suit workshops, a California beer tax, and this weekend's disasters at the box office. All that plus an entertainment report from Kamini!

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Beer tax

Reserve your spot a gorilla suit workshop

Hope you're not planning on seeing a movie this weekend

Thanks Sparkman!