Stuff You Should Know
Stuff You Should Know

Selects: Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff?

May 30, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

🎙️ The Voices & The Context

  • The Format: A casual, deep-dive conversation between two podcast hosts, Josh and Chuck, who are clearly fascinated by the topic. It feels like two friends geeking out over a mystery in a pub.
  • The Key Players:
    • Josh: The enthusiastic explainer, who admits this is "possibly my favorite episode of all time." He brings the energy and the big-picture questions.
    • Chuck: The thoughtful, slightly more skeptical foil. He provides the caveats and grounds the conversation, often pointing out where the evidence gets shaky.
  • The Vibe: Fun, Intriguing, and Mind-Bending. It’s an intellectual adventure that’s both educational and hilarious, with a healthy dose of skepticism about conspiracy theories.

🗝️ Key Themes & Topics

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:00) **🎙️ Introduction: Josh & Chuck (Hosts)**
  • 2 (02:08) **The Core Question: Did Shakespeare Write His Plays?**
  • 3 (07:13) **What We Know About Shakespeare**
  • 4 (13:50) **Early Documentation: Greene's Pamphlet and the Will**
  • 5 (25:27) **The Elitism Argument and Shakespeare's Knowledge**
  • 6 (31:29) **The Controversial Bust of Shakespeare**
  • 7 (35:00) **The First Folio and Ben Jonson**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

The question of Shakespeare's authorship has been around since at least the mid-1800s. Is there anything to it? In this classic episode, we dig in to this dense topic to find out.

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