Look back IN TERROR at this collection of spooky stories from the first five years of our podcast. 

Mary Beth's final Chicago show with the Nerds. We love you, MB. 

Mary Beth's last Chicago show with the Nerds is this Saturday. Get ready to say goodbye with the final part of our MBS retrospective!

In this week's archival dive, Mary Beth brings her heart to a terrific musical performance as part of our annual year-end wrap-up show from five years ago (!!). Get ready for some Mountain Goats. 

We're prepping for Mary Beth Smith's farewell show with a dive into some of her most memorable pieces!

It's time for another dive into the archives to celebrate a beloved Your Stories performer! Which one? You'll have to keep listening to find out (although there are lots of people worth celebrating in this, our first ever Fanfiction February, from 2013!).

On today's Your Stories, we take a musical break to present a very special Cover Stories performance.

Last year, CinemaJaw and Your Stories made a plan to cross-pollinate their hosts onto each other's shows. Then real life happened. But today, the crossover is complete! Relive CJ host Matt K's Your Stories appearance from last year on this pod, and then head on over to CinemaJaw.com to hear Eric chat about this show on theirs!

The Chicago Podcast Festival kindly invited us to be a featured show at the Beat Kitchen, and we took the opportunity to celebrate our newest podcast coproduction, Batman at Bat!

One last festival show from our archive, cuz hey, we're doing a live one tonight! This is the first fest we ever did. 

Hey, we're back at the Chicago Podcast Festival for a feature show next Monday at the Beat Kitchen! Here's a throwback to our first recording at the Fest, in 2016.

We're heading to the Beat Kitchen as a feature for the Chicago Podcast Festival in a couple weeks! Seems like a great time to look back on some previous festival appearances. 

The second half of Andrew Bentley's farewell episode (hosted & curated by the man himself!) will make you feel stuff!

Part one of our goodbye to show favorite Andrew Bentley, curated and hosted by the man himself!

Andrew's farewell show is this Sunday! To get you in the mood, we're re-presenting this classic episode featuring perhaps the most beloved Bentley story of all time. 

This month we're celebrating show mainstay Andrew Bentley before he leaves Chicago for greener (hotter) pastures! Enjoy this archival episode from 6 years ago inspired by his love of power metal and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and don't miss his send-off show on July 29!

On July 29 we're doing a live show celebrating one of the performers in this lineup. Deduce who, and enjoy some classic stories while you're at it!

Eric's on vacation this week. This episode was recorded on a sort of Nerd vacation. Enjoy!

Back to Southern Illinois for the second part of an incredible show corralled by the one & only Ben Rathert. 

We took the show down to Ava, IL for a very special evening produced and hosted by the one and only Benjamin Rathert!

This week we're spotlighting the first Your Stories appearance of Mr. Benjamin Rathert, who's hosting our show on the road this week in Du Quoin, IL!

It's Eric's birthday week. Here's a weird thing he did with a lot of familiar voices. 

Our look back at our first live shows ends with this episode jammed with incredible performers that's probably one of the best we've ever done.

Our monthlong tour nostalgia tour continues with us unearthing our first foray into Los Angeles for a couple of the best recordings this show's ever done. 

This time last year, we were in the middle of a tour of the western United States, which was the coolest time. That made us nostalgic for our earliest shows on the road, like this one, from January 2015 in Milwaukee, the first time we ever recorded our show outside Chicago!

A year ago today, Your Stories hit the road for a two-week tour of the western United States. It was awesome. But before that, we did a handful of shows outside of Chicago to prove we could thrive outside our home base. This month, we're looking back at some of them. 

We're popping up all over the place, including living rooms! From a very lovely coach house this past Saturday night, here's our first ever official house show (which is as lively and interesting as anything we've recorded!). 

C2E2 brought us a great crowd and some great stories. Now you can enjoy them in the comfort of your home or wherever! No need for $20 parking.

In honor of the forthcoming Nerdologues podcast mentoring program, we're dusting off the very first Your Stories episode. 

A show recorded at the American Writers Museum should rightly have a lot of literary allusions and pontification on the American narrative. Hey, we got it covered!

Here's the first part of our third annual team-up with International Tom Hanks Day! This time, it's all volleyballs and being stranded. 

Songs are sung, tales are told, and secrets are broken on this second installment of one of the liveliest Your Stories in recent memory. 

The first half of a rowdy night at Challengers Comics. 

We just released an album to celebrate eight years as a group! Here's a recording of the live show and anniversary party we threw to mark that album's release.

The Nerds just made an album. We're releasing it Friday! Here's a couple tracks off of it. 

Potterotica shines and things get equal parts sexy, terrifying, and hilarious in the second part of our sixth annual Fanfiction February celebration!

We're back with our yearly February tradition! Yes yes yes yes. 

Our Fortnight ends with one of the all-time great Your Stories pieces courtesy of James D'Amato and a vastly underrated band unfortunately named Extreme.

One member of our favorite storytelling family (the D'Amatos) teaches us about romance and partnership in nature; Dwight, Claire, and Eric pay tribute to the Fellowship that is the Damn Yankees.

Today's Fortnight entry features tributes to Harrison Ford and the Purple One. 

Day 11: A study of how technology impacts romance by two incredible podcast producers, and a throwback to a 2010 one hit wonder from Dwight and Eric. 

Nerdologues member Katie takes the spotlight in this episode about sexual awakenings and Uncle Jesse (weirdly not connected). 

The second half of our pair of couple stories, today's Fortnight installment features the always-wonderful Chris Crotwell with a lesson on why his first marriage failed... and includes an introduction recorded by his then-girlfriend (now fiancee) Shelby Mongan from our Best of 2013 episode. Relationship inception!

Today we've got the first of two stories from a real-life couple that met in part because of our show. Also, Dwight puts cat makeup on himself. 

Things get steamy on today's fortnight entry (FINALLY), plus a classic Upstairs Gallery-era singalong. 

Today's Fortnight installment features a harrowing break-up and a tribute to bro love. 

Today's Fortnight entry brings us one of the most shared YS pieces ever (about a date gone horribly awry), plus a nice shot of Meat Loaf.

Today we're exploring the macabre side of love with a couple of pieces from our Halloween episodes. 

Today, we've got deep thoughts for anyone who's coupled up, plus maybe the least romantic power ballad of all time. 

Failed relationships, personal growth, and AOR -- these are all important parts of a Fortnight from the Heart, and they're all here!

Our fortnight begins with this pair of archive pieces showing some real love for show pillar Mr. Dwight Haesler. 

More heartfelt stories, more power ballads! From the classroom at 826CHI, a really wonderful local organization. 

826CHI is one of our favorite organizations in Chicago. For our first live show of 2018, we teamed up with them to get all emotional. 

Get ready for this Sunday's live show -- and the upcoming few weeks of the pod -- with this episode of another Nerdopod, Blank Cassette.

It's the second half of our sixth birthday celebration from the main stage at the Beat Kitchen, featuring more favorite performers from 2017!

Happy New Year! What better way to kick it off than with the first part of our sixth birthday party on the main stage at the Beat Kitchen? 

For the first time ever, Your Stories drops on Christmas. We put together a compilation of some of our favorite holiday tales from the past six years to celebrate. 

Before we close out our Best Ofs, we wanted to look back on the first ever (and only?) Your Stories tour!

Here's the second batch of favorite stories and songs from the past 12 months of podcasting chosen by you! 

Some of our favorite stories and songs from the past 12 months of podcasts. So much goodness here. 

More celebrations of adventures gone awry, plus a musical collaboration between our house band and Rich Jones!

We partnered with Chicago hip hop artist Rich Jones for a super sweet night of stories and songs about adventures that maybe went a little bit awry. 

From sister pod MBSing with Mary Beth Smith! Dig into the journey of wrestling superstar Colt Cabana as he talks to MB about his love of a thing he's very, very good at. 

This week, we're timesharing with another Nerdologues podcast that does storytelling with a more musical twist. 

It's time for us to prep our annual year-end live show and podcast, and as always, we'd love your input to do it! Plus a sweet little musical nugget from an upcoming Nerd project. 

Caves, social conformity, horrible customers, and exes -- truly the stuff of horror stories. 

It's that time of year again. We're very happy about that.  

This week, a solo Eric interlude from another Chicago storytelling show. 

For the first time, we rocked out the big stage at the Beat Kitchen to celebrate the award-winning Muscular Clown and their latest production, the Street Wizard's Apprentice webseries! 

Few things are more radical than our collaborations with the Chicago Design Museum. This just formalizes it.

Turns out a bunch of nerds really love movies. Who knew? 

Can a podcast take you to the movies?? No, of course not, that's dumb. But it can give you a bunch of great stories and songs inspired by America's Favorite Pastime (that's movies, right?).

We continue our exploration of the wild women of the woods with an award-winning poet, a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-recognized spinner of intrigue, a gender-flipped Stephen Sondheim song, and so much more. 

We're jumping back to May with our first episode recorded at our new home, the Beat Kitchen, which doubled as a fundraiser for Chicago Women's Health Center! Get ready for some Good Witches Doing Good. 

Summer's ending soon. Get inspired  to enjoy it while you can with these stories about the great outdoors (but not The Great Outdoors). 

More dogs! More summer! What a lovely time!

Sit Stay Read is one of the coolest nonprofit organizations in Chicago, and last month we teamed up with them to do some good and hear some stories! We've got dogs, we've got summer, we've even got a tribute to George Romero in this first part. 

Bit Bash is coming soooooon. Don't miss out, and get amped with the second part of our team-up with the super sweet Chicago indie gaming event!

We're back in Chicago for the first podcast recorded at our new local home, the Beat Kitchen! Check out part one of our partnership with Bit Bash and get stoked for their event on August 12!

We reunite with Claire Friedman and the tour comes to a close. 

Here's the second part of our tour stop from my favorite city! We're almost at the end!

Seattle has long been kind to the Nerds. This tour stop was no exception. So many friends! So many great stories!

Some of the loveliest people you'll ever meet tell stories on this podcast. Well, maybe you'll never meet them. But you can feel like you did by listening to the second half of our San Francisco tour stop!

The Your Stories tour hits San Francisco and we meet some lovely friends and family members with sweet stories to tell. Also, this was the best burrito I had on the trip.

Our Your Stories trip hits Denver for a bunch of tour firsts, including the first Nerdologues reunion!

In a kind of atypical tour stop, Eric performs a bunch of songs and tells a couple stories to a lovely audience at a day home just three hours west of Chicago. 

After a few weeks hanging out in LA, we're finally back with the second part of the Your Stories Tour Chicago kickoff episode! A little out of order, but it's still good, baby!

We continue our celebration of the launch of Let's Get It On with more stories from some of the show's wonderful contributors celebrating the radio! Plus, the smooth jams flow. 

To celebrate the launch of the Nerdologues' newest podcast, the brainchild of Mr. Gary Lucy, we threw a launch party in LA!

Eric's taking Your Stories on tour. This episode sends him off and explains why. 

Last week, we teamed up with the Chicago Design Museum for the fourth time to help celebrate the launch of their newest exhibit, featuring radical Modernist artist Dan Friedman. What a radical couple of episodes we got out of it. 

This week, Nerds Kevin and Joe talk about what inspired them to make the Nerdologues' new card game Competition Kitchen, currently on Kickstarter! Also, the now-defunct Nerdologuecast gets the series finale nobody asked for!

You've heard of Rocktober, but Aprock?? In the second of our musical episodes to kick off April, Eric shares some audio from another, much looser benefit show he recently played. How loose? Well, the venue's sound tech joined him on stage for a 90-minute set. They'd met about a half hour prior. 

Kicking off a couple weeks of musical episodes! Once upon a time (like 6-7 years ago), Eric was a one-man Springsteen tribute called My Own Boss. Last week, he brought that act back for a special one-night-only fundraiser for the ACLU, and he brought some friends along. Here are those friends!

International Tom Hanks Day is this Saturday, and we loved teaming up with them for the second year in a row, giving us a set of stories and songs that need to be caught!

We're back for a second year of episodes teaming up with International Tom Hanks Day! This time, we added some travel and intrigue to the mix. 

Once again, the Nerds are teaming up with International Tom Hanks Day for March's Your Stories episode, and once again, we're doing an Our Stories to talk about our love of TH himself! This year, Katie gets in on the fun, because the fact that she missed last year's episode is a crime against humanity. Do you know how much Katie loves Tom Hanks?? You will now!

Fanfiction February 5 continues (don't check the calendar!) with a trio of bonus tales not heard at the live recording!

Fanfiction February 5 rolls on with pieces both fictional and inspired by the power of fiction. Create, people!

It's time for our annual celebration of fanfiction - and this time, we invited Chicago mediamakers VStheUNIVERSE to join in!

The second part of our show from the Nerdist Showroom at Meltdown Comics is here for your enjoyment and sober reflection!

Man, it was really cool to record a show in the Nerdist Showroom at Meltdown Comics. Here's the first part of that show!

This week, we're taking a brief break from your stories (but not Your Stories) to give you some comedy, Nerdologues style! Here's part of our latest sketch show, recorded at UCB Franklin last Thursday!

As 2017 continues its march (or at least its January), here we are with another batch of reflections on the theme Resolution. 

In our first show recorded in the new year, the Nerds and friends meet 2017 head-on. 

The second part of our Five Year Anniversary show at the Hideout is a real freakin party. Thanks for letting us be around this long, everybody. 

I promoted the heck out of this show for months on the podcast, and now you can relive it forever! From the Hideout, here's our Five Year Anniversary show, complete with full band plus some of our favorite storytellers!

From December 2011 to now (well, technically to October 2016), the producers behind this show share with you their all-time favorite stories and songs. 

A few weeks ago, we asked you to tell us your favorite stories and songs from the past year of podcasts. Here they are!

This is it! Claire leaves!

The Nerds were so stoked to be a part of the first annual Chicago Podcast Festival. Here's the show we recorded there!

The second part of Claire's goodbye ep features more pondering on America, traveling, and what's to come. 

At the end of the month, Claire's going to New York City. She put together this really wonderful Your Stories to send herself off. 

This week, Eric and Mary Beth hit the studio to talk up the Chicago Podcast Festival, including their own shows in it, coming this weekend! 

A few weeks ago, Nerdologues founder Kevin Reader was an artist-in-residence at his alma mater the University of Illinois. The last night of his residency, he closed out the week with a wonderful Your Stories show!

For the first time ever, Your Stories comes out on Halloween! To celebrate, we've taken some of the spookiest stories from the last five years of our show to reshare!

The second part of our second annual night of frights!

We're back for our second annual Horror Stories episodes! It's like Treehouse of Horror, but nerdier. 

We can always use more Friendship! 

This week, Jenn and Trin of the Friendshipping podcast (and also the wonderful new Kickstarter Friendship postcards) join us to co-curate a night of stories and songs about a theme very close to their hearts. 

Here's the second piece of our episode recording at UCB Sunset for your listening enjoyment!

Hey, we did a show at UCB in LA! Here's the first part of that show!

In anticipation of next week's UCB Your Stories with the same topic, Joe, Katie, Mary Beth, and Eric get together to ruminate on the theme of long distance!

Jando, Katie, and Eric get together to talk about mixtapes and also the Nerdologues' new podcast, Blank Cassette!

The second part of our collaboration with the creators of Taylor Swift: Girl Detective proves just as INTRIGUING (point to cieling) as the first!

We partnered with the creators of Taylor Swift: Girl Detective for an enchanting night of stories and songs, of which this is the first half. How INTRIGUING. 

Here's the second of two pieces of audio we recorded from our Denver trip in June, a document of our board game panel at the Denver Comic Con!

Remember when we went to the Denver Comic-Con in June? We also did a comedy show there! Here're excerpts from that show, including sweet stories from Friends of the Nerds Mark Colomb and Mel Evans and Nerd expat Alex Talavera!

Your Stories has recorded at a lot of cool places this year, but possibly no place cooler than Dimo's Wicker Park for this episode, our team-up with the US Pizza Museum!

Puck & Grind 2016 was last Saturday, but that doesn't mean we can't hear some wonderful grit-inspired tales from some of their crew and more!

Puck & Grind is a really sweet fundraiser for LGBT players in sports. This episode, we're spotlighting the work they do -- and featuring stories from some of their organizers plus other awesome people!

The second part of our collaboration with Postloudness brings more stories from the fringe!

The first part of our team-up with Postloudness brings some fantastic stories from the fringe.

Here's the second part of our celebration of Design Week with the amazing people at the Chicago Design Museum! 

Once again, the Nerdologues partner up with the Chicago Design Museum for a night of goodness. 

The Nerdologues + Breather + Common Threads = a night of rad stories and songs. 

This week's episode comes courtesy of the Chicago Public Library Maker Lab, an amazing place you can learn all about RIGHT NOW BY LISTENING TO THIS. (Also there are lots of rad stories and songs.)

Dwight didn't get off with just putting together one episode. Oh no. He gave us a whole night of Your Stories goodness for his birthday. Here's the second part of that!

You all know Dwight Haesler as the cherubic voice of a lot of our music. Did you know he can put a show together too?! This year, for his birthday, he did!

Hey, we did a show at the Chicago Cultural Center! Here are a bunch of stories from some wonderful creative people we love!

This week, we've got audio from Eric, Claire, and Dwight hosting the kickoff show for Chicago's 2016 LakeFX Summit, a really amazing gathering of creative folk in this city we love. 

This week, Katie and Eric talk about Attend the Tale of Danny Tanner: A Full House Musical, then they play a game with Joe, who doesn't think he's seen a whole episode of the show!

More great storytellers, comedians, and musicians ruminate on the theme "I Thought I Knew" in this episode full of wonderful people!

Chicago storytelling pro and amazing dude Scott Whitehair co-curates a night of fantastic stories from fresh storytellers!

Four Nerdologues members, one car, a bunch of sharing. 

Today, on a Very Special Episode (VSE) of Your Stories, Kevin, Joe, and Eric talk about where the Nerdologues have been -- and where, with your help, they can go. 

We're back with more International Tom Hanks Day goodness! This episode is as jovial and inviting as the man himself.

We teamed up with the folks behind International Tom Hanks Day for a couple live episodes celebrating the film icon and also lots of other stuff!

We love Tom Hanks! We're gonna do a show all about that on Sunday. This week, to whet your appetites, the Your Stories musicians talk about the man and his work. 

Katie, Jando, and Eric get into the "studio" (Eric's apartment) to swap concert stories. 

After nearly 20 years, it can be revealed: here is a piece of fanfiction starring He-Man and She-Ra Eric wrote when he was in high school, dramatically read by the Nerdologues. Oh boy. 

Fanfiction February is back! It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (TM). 

Eric hits the studio with the Nerdologues' Mary Beth Smith and Joe Gennaro to talk their new podcast, Sports Retorts! We also tell stories, duh. 

The second part of our special team-up with the Chicago Design Museum is full of more stories and music -- lots of music -- inspired by the theme "Beginnings." 

Hey, we did it three years ago -- why not take a run at it again? This episode, we team up with the wonderful Chicago Design Museum for another look at Beginnings!

More guests from the One Shot Podcast and more friends share stories about their own character generation and it gets. so. real!!

We welcome the talent behind the One Shot and Campaign podcasts (plus some Nerd friends) to share stories about defining who they are. 

Our fourth year as a podcast is OVER! We've got some of our favorite storytellers from 2015 sharing new pieces plus some songs we really liked from the year!

We're kicking off our fifth (!!) year as a show with some favorite storytellers and songs from 2015! 

For the last Your Stories episode of the year, we've pulled together some of your favorites! So much goodness here, friends. 

In this first of two year-end wrap-ups, Eric picks some of his favorite stories and songs from the past year. 

The second part of our team-up with the Shithole has more great stories and people, as was our intention!

This episode, Your Stories teams up with The Shithole for a really special evening of stories and comedy!

More stars! This week, we did a mini-Your Stories opening for Improvised Star Trek at iO. It was tons of fun and now you can enjoy it!

Improvised Star Trek and other great friends return for more stories and songs!

The cast and crew of Improvised Star Trek are absolutely stars of the Chicago podcast scene, and they're joining us for a trio of episodes inspired by the celestial bodies that inspired Gene Roddenberry so many years ago!

This past Saturday we performed to an oversold house at Pittsburgh's Arcade Comedy Theater. Here're some of the stories, songs, and comedy from that night!

Eric, Dwight, and Kevin sit down in the studio to share pieces and reflections on THE ART OF CINEMA. 

We've got more spoooooky stories and songs just in time for Halloween! DON'T LISTEN IN THE DARK, especially if you're driving or something. 

It's our first Halloween episode in four years. SPOOOOOKY. 

More Peaches and Hot Sauce, more music, more tales of youth on this second part of our "Kids Again" episode!

Our friends in Peaches and Hot Sauce join us for an evening reflecting on childhood!

The Nerds liked last week's episode's theme "Cards on the Table" so much we decided to take it into the studio to talk about it ourselves!

We recorded a show at PAX with some really great guests! THIS IS THAT SHOW!

The second part of our "Authentic" episode with friend Shawn Smith has more great stories and songs; plus, for the second month in a row, we send a great friend of the show off. 

Friend of group Shawn Smith help us put together this first of two episodes featuring stories inspired by the word "Authentic." 

Nerdologues members Mary Beth Smith, Kevin Reader, and Joe Gennaro share their favorite stories associated with the great city of Seattle in this, the first of the in-studio "Our Stories" episodes. 

Our second Adler Planetarium episode has more runt stories from fantastic Chicago comedians and scientists!

Our first of two episodes recorded at the Adler Planetarium celebrates Pluto and all other things runty!

We sent Mark Colomb off to Denver - and he helped! More stories, more songs, more friendship, more Fans within. 

We say goodbye to Mark Colomb, hello to Jim Snedeker, and hooray to a bunch of fantastic stories in the first part of this month's episode co-curated by Mark.

It's part two of our team-up with the Chicago Design Museum for a wonderful Design Week recording featuring the theme "Discovery"!

The Nerdologues teams up with the Chicago Design Museum for an illuminating night of stories based on the theme "Discovery"!