About this episode

This episode explores the biology, history, and cultural significance of earwax.

In keeping with last week’s theme of “bodily excretions that are kinda gross that you don’t really think about but are actually really important”, we’re devoting this episode to earwax, aka cerumen. In one hour, we somehow manage to weave together stories of earwax impaction, misadventures in ear candling, glimpses of earwax in art history, and a whale of a tale as revealed by cetacean cerumen. The biology and history of earwax proves to be surprisingly rich and revealing and will have you second-guessing yourself as you reach for that cotton swab. Armed with this week’s episode on earwax and last week’s on boogers, you’ll be ready to take on even the most daunting office icebreaker. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Topics covered

• earwax
• bodily excretions
• health
• biology
• art history
• impaction
• office icebreakers

Keywords

• earwax
• cerumen
• impaction
• ear candling
• art history
• cetacean cerumen
• health
• bodily excretions

Sponsors

Sponsor

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Exactly Right, iHeartPodcasts

Products: cotton swab

Books & works: This Podcast Will Kill You

Places: whale

More episodes of This Podcast Will Kill You

• Ep 216 Cyclospora: Explosive Diarrhea Everywhere · July 21, 2026 · 55 min
• Special Episode: Alev Scott & Cash Cow · July 14, 2026 · 49 min
• Ep 214 Boogers: Digging for treasure · June 30, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Special Episode: Dr. Carl Elliott & The Occasional Human Sacrifice · June 23, 2026 · 58 min
• Ep 213 Burns Part 2: It’s like sci-fi but real · June 16, 2026 · 59 min

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