The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

The SGU podcast was first released in May 2005. The original lineup of the podcast consisted of the Novella brothers, Steven Novella, Robert "Bob" Novella and Jay Novella, along with Evan Bernstein, and Perry DeAngelis. DeAngelis contributed until his death in 2007, shortly before his 44th birthday. Rebecca Watson joined in 2006 and later left the podcast in 2014.^[1] Cara Santa Maria joined the cast in July 2015.

The podcast is affiliated with the New England Skeptical Society and with the SGU Productions LLC.^[2]

Until late 2018 there were no full-time employees of the podcast. Co-host Jay Novella stated that this was partially a result of the financial drain from a protracted defamation lawsuit, filed by Edward Tobinick, which had "consumed financial resources that would have otherwise been available" for hiring staff.^[3] The transition to full-time status for Jay Novella was a result of three concurrent factors in 2018: the favorable resolution of the lawsuit, the end of Novella's existing career job, and the podcast successfully reaching its funding goal of over 3,000 patrons on Patreon. As the podcast's first full-time employee, Novella's role expanded beyond co-host and website manager to focus on business operations, project management, and growing the podcast's audience, which included launching a new website and newsletter.^[3]

Segments include interviews, discussions of significant but largely unknown figures in science ("Forgotten Superheroes of Science"), and games played with the audience or between the panelists, such as "Science or Fiction" and "Who's That Noisy?".^[4] The show typically closes with a "Skeptical Quote" read by a host.

Most episodes last approximately 80 minutes. On September 23, 2011, the SGU produced a 24-hour live podcast titled "SGU-24" to mark the year 2012 approaching (referencing the 2012 phenomenon), featuring contributions from skeptics worldwide.^[5]

Many Skeptics' Guide episodes contain interviews. Often the interviews feature well-known scientists or skeptics, for instance Massimo Pigliucci or Joe Nickell. Rarely the guests are proponents of fringe or pseudoscientific views. Some episodes have guest rogues, such as Bill Nye, participating in the entire podcast. Notable guests include the following:^[8]

The Skeptics' Guide won the 2009 Podcast Awards in the "Education" category, and the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014 Podcast Awards in the "Science" category.^[19]

It was also a 2014 "Dose of Rationality" Top 10 Podcast,^[20] and a 2010 Physics.org Best Podcast nominee.^[21]

On July 30, 2013, Steven Novella announced that the SGU would begin offering membership and airing sponsors. Novella went on to say that the money raised would go into funding skeptical activities, including but not limited to, development of skeptical educational content and web-series such as "Occ The Skeptical Caveman". The addition of sponsors is not permanent, according to Novella, they shall be removed "if 4% of listeners support the SGU through membership at an average of the $8 per month level."^[22] Though membership has begun, the SGU continues to publish a free weekly sponsored podcast. Membership entitles one to an ad-free version of The SGU, extra content, and discounts to NECSS (The Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism). Membership range from $4/month to $200/month.^[23]

Additional financial support from listeners is provided through Patreon. The SGU has established several goals after achieving a certain number of financial supporters. A major benchmark was reached in 2018 with 3,000 Patreon supporters that sustained enough predictable income for a full-time employee.^[3] Other benchmarks include a 12-hour and 24-hour live show after reaching 4,000 and 5,500 supporters, respectively. These live shows may be located on the most complete and accurate reproduction of the Starship Enterprise Star Trek: The Original Series set, which was built by James Cawley and can be seen on the SGU Patreon page introduction video.^[3]

As of early 2026, the show is supported by over 7,700 members.^[24] This funding has facilitated large-scale projects, including studio upgrades and live touring events such as the "SGU Extravaganza."