The Biggest Problem in the Universe

***The Biggest Problem in the Universe*** was a podcast hosted by Maddox, Dick Masterson, and Sean Jacobson.

   The show's premise was two problems, be they issues facing the world at large or minor inconveniences experienced by the common man, introduced by hosts Dick and Maddox; who held a debate to decide whose was the more significant problem. A week later audience votes would be tallied from the show's website and a winner would be decided. Winning debate topics were added to an online compendium of the biggest problems in the universe. The show ran 107 episodes, 18 bonus episodes and accumulated 343 problems. Debuting on May 20th, 2014, the show featured weekly uploads until its not-so-grand finale on May 31st, 2016.

*"A comprehensive list of every problem in the universe."*

-*Biggest Problem* tagline

Historically, *The Biggest Problem in the Universe* was considered one of the great American podcasts. It was topical, professionally produced, formulaically sound, and most importantly - hilarious. The hosts' clash in perspective drove comedic styling that no traditional comedy medium could deliver. Ironically, it was this very chemistry that resulted in the show's downfall - which, ugly as it was, was imperative in the foundation of both Madcast Media Network and *The Dick Show*.

A full archive of unedited episodes can be found here

### **The Biggest Hosts in the Universe**

   Maddox (age 36) is an internet satirist turned author who ran the once-acclaimed *Best Page in the Universe* website, a blog considered by many to be the cornerstone of internet satire. After the success of his first book, *The Alphabet of Manliness*, Maddox turned to YouTube and television, making multiple pitches to Spike TV and FOX Animation. Politically liberal-leaning, Maddox's style of debate was often statistics-driven. He approached problems from an outside perspective, choosing to express his debate topics from an exponential standpoint.

   Dick (age 34) is an author and television anomaly. He published *Men Are Better Than Women* in 2008 and made a subsequent appearance on the *Dr. Phil* show which was so destructive that it had to be pulled from syndication. Afterwards Dick joined Maddox in a failed cartoon venture before starting *The Biggest Problem*. Politically libertarian, Dick's debate-topics were often universal concepts that were not typically addressed or, adversely, minutia that everyone suffers through but never questions.

### **The Biggest Story in the Universe**

In 2010 Dick and Maddox unsuccessfully pitched *The Hard Way,* a cartoon they produced alongside Judy Schaeffer at Titmouse, Inc. for FOX Animation. In the wake of this they were persuaded by friend Randy Holiday to record a podcast, which neither man was particularly interested in doing. Nonetheless, three "demo" podcasts were recorded at Maddox's house over the following months. They slept on the idea until May 2014 when episode 1 debuted on the 20th of May. Dick was initially tasked with producing the show but his quality was unsatisfactory, leading to the pair enlisting Sean to engineer and produce the series from then on.

*"I'm Dick Masterson and the biggest problem in the universe is you Maddox."*

-Dick

### **The Biggest Problem LIVE**

In late 2014 Dick and Maddox hosted a four-part series called *The Biggest Problem in the Universe LIVE*. While not "live" in the sense of being streamed online, *LIVE* was filmed on a sound stage in front of a studio audience where

    hosts Maddox, Dax, and a special guest each make their case for a problem. The audience voted on their smart-phones and a winner was decided at the end of each episode. *LIVE'*s structure was noticeably different from the podcast. Banter between guests and hosts was limited and presentation bits were rehearsed. Most notably, Dick Masterson was introduced as "Dax." With structural similarities to a talk show in mind as well as the abolishing of the "Dick Masterson" brand (which at the time could only be linked to *Men Are Better Than Women*), It can be deduced that Dick and Maddox designed *LIVE* with the hopes to develop it into a television or web series.

### **The Biggest Problems in the Universe**

Where to begin? For starters, communication between Dick and Maddox between shows was sparse and typically one-sided. Maddox frequently attempted to reach Dick over issues he saw with each other's performance which Dick often ignored. Maddox's desire to communicate and Dick's lack of desire were major points of contention very early on. While this was a problem off-air things continued amicably for over a year. It was later observed by Dick, and perhaps some members of the audience, that Maddox's problem-topics began to grow to encompass world issues and take on a political nature. Dick's response was to counter such topics with even more ridiculous or minuscule problems, resulting in such debates as "Domestic Violence and Crickets" (episode 90), "The War on Drugs and Autocorrect" (episode 101) and "Fuckface Donald Trump and Shitting After You Shower" (episode 80). Compounded was Maddox's growing tendency to become a rage during the show, going so far as to have told Dick that he could sometimes taste blood after recording.

### **The Biggest Edits in the Universe**

Early in the show's existence, Maddox, who made the final-pass edits of episodes after Sean, would heavily cut episodes down from their

    original length. While many reasons for an editor to do so can be explained such as dead-air, vocal crutch removal and shortening conversations for brevity, Dick and Sean soon discovered that Maddox's edits almost exclusively focused around his speaking parts - cutting up sentences, removing bad jokes and even removing entire segments. This trend of selective editing was exacerbated when Maddox began removing episodes and re-uploading them with additional edits on himself and Dick. Due to this, two archives of episodes exist; one hosted by Dick which contains the original cuts - and the second contains episodes as they aired. Maddox defended his practice in his DickLies video; explaining that the content he cut conflicted with his beliefs.

### **The Biggest Falling Out in the Universe**

Two days after the events of The Red Wedding, episode 77 of *Biggest Problem* aired with Asterios Kokkinos standing in for Dick Masterson, who according to Maddox "couldn't make it" to the show. In reality Maddox had spoken to Dick the day before berating him over having apparently slept with his ex-girlfriend.

*"I told him, 'No, I would never do that to you,' and she told him the same. We both lied because I wanted to keep the show going."*

Sean later arrived at Dick's house to let him know the podcast was going to be recorded without him. According to Asterios, when he and Sean arrived at Maddox's house he was in tears saying he was going to end the show. They pressed on and episode 77 was recorded without a hitch. Dick returned on episode 78 and remained until episode 106. It was in the days after that Maddox gathered Dick, Sean, Randy and Denzel to pitch the creation of the Madcast Media Network, which they all agreed would be a worthy investment. The project failed before anyone could get their hands on it, however, because on May 10th, 2018 Maddox canceled *The Biggest Problem in the Universe*. One month later Dick debuted the first episode of *The Dick Show* and Maddox debuted *The Best Debate in the Universe*. While Maddox has claimed that he will never collaborate with Dick again, Dick shared the same sentiments until a Tweet made in May 2019 where he offered the possibility of having Maddox on *The Dick Show* if Maddox reached out to him.

### **Trivia**

* In December 2019 Dick Masterson appeared on Ethan Ralph's *Killstream* to argue about Disney's *Star Wars: The Mandalorian* with internet personality Boogie2988. The debate was well-viewed and well-received and fans urged Dick to consider launching a new podcast with Boogie. This has led to talks of Dick and Boogie re-launching *Biggest Problem*.