If You're Listening Matt's producers present the weirdest tales from the basement
7 snips
May 4, 2026 
Adair Shepard, a producer who dug into North Korea’s surprising push for women’s football and its scandals. Pat Sunderland, a producer who explored 1930s technocracy and its eccentric leaders. They trade bizarre historical episodes and uncanny sports tales in short, oddball vignettes.
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Technocracy Framed Governance As Engineering
- Technocracy pitched running society like a factory, led by engineers rather than elected politicians.
- In the 1930s Howard C. Scott framed societal problems as inefficiency solved by technical experts, promising things like a Universal Basic Income of $20,000 a year.
Howard Scott's Big Presence Couldn't Save A Bad Speech
- Howard C. Scott became the movement's face through credentials, doomsday rhetoric and a towering 6'5" presence.
- His Hotel Pierre speech bombed; attendees called it confused and Will Rogers mocked its short lifespan compared to miniature golf.
Operation Columbia's Grey Motorcade Backfired Spectacularly
- After WWII Scott moved supporters to Los Angeles and launched Operation Columbia: grey cars, grey suits and a coast-to-coast motorcade.
- The Nazi-like aesthetics and propaganda film provoked ridicule and media alarm, ending the movement.