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Introducing SNAFU with Ed Helms - history’s greatest screw-ups

October 16, 2025·39 min·3 clips

Nick Kroll and Ed Helms debate whether to eat a man or a dog first in a survival scenario.

It starts sideways. Ed Helms brings Nick Kroll onto Snafu, and their chat has the loose feel of two friends letting a bleak hypothetical wander into a pronunciation correction. Kroll talks about early New York comedy clubs, bringer shows, and the awkward business of getting stage tape when everyone was still new. Then the ads interrupt. A volleyball promo steps in with League One's final stretch, home fan bases, unfiltered analysis, and Capital One's iHeart Women's Sports sponsorship. The history comes after that. By September, the ice around HMS Endurance is closing in, pushed by wind and currents until the ship is under serious pressure. October is worse. The vessel lists hard, starts taking on water, and Shackleton tells everyone to abandon ship. They set up camp on the ice. The strange little detail is the dogs: the crew builds them small igloos called "dog glues," and the hosts treat that as sweet, weird, and faintly ridiculous. The joke stays dry, including a quick crack about a dog glue housing shortage. That is the Snafu mode here: disaster history with enough odd texture to keep it from going stiff. The ending is mostly credits, with producers, editors, engineers, legal reviewers, and iHeart staff in a long roll call. Helms also plugs his book, Snafu: The Definitive Guide to History's Greatest Screw-Ups, and points listeners to snafu-book.com. It feels more like a handoff than a full episode, but the useful part is clear: friendly comic rhythm, a famous survival story, and the weird small details that make institutional failure feel human.

As heard by us

A loose, funny Snafu introduction turns Shackleton's trapped ship into survival history with sharp little details.

Ed Helms introduces Snafu with Nick Kroll as both guest and comic ballast, easing into Ernest Shackleton's Endurance disaster through loose, familiar banter before the ice closes in.

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Why you'd press play

Ed Helms and Nick Kroll trace their friendship back to an embarrassing New York bringer-show origin.

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