Today’s episode goes to the root of the matter, as it were: Footwear. Specifically, high heels, those painful things that women put on for some reason. Naturally Rombo, having no sense of morality, approves. Hiram does not, thanks to some surprising personal experience.
Episode 11: Stephen Fry
Today’s episode sees Rombo and Hiram debate that brilliant British polymath Stephen Fry. Hiram recognizes the man for his achievements and his awesomeness; Rombo resents him for it. Fortunately, with Mr. Fry around, we have a lot less to fear from the robots taking over.
Incidentally, this may be YouTube’s only video that references both Stephen Fry and Chuck Norris. Plus, Betty White’s thrown in there for good measure. Internet, you may explode now.
Episode 10: Mary Worth
Do you read Mary Worth, the venerable soap-opera comic strip about an elderly advice-giver and the people who come into her life, get single-handedly saved by her amazingness, and then leave? You ought to. It’s surprisingly entertaining. (The Comics Curmudgeon is an outstanding guide to the strip.)
Hiram recognizes this wisdom. Rombo disagrees. (Although he’s got some fairly advanced knowledge about the strip.) Who’s right? Well, Hiram, of course. But who wins the battle? Watch and learn.
Episode 9: Marathons
Be honest: You don’t really trust marathoners, do you? They’re always up to something, and it’s never good, even though it’s hard to prove, aren’t they? Well, Hiram certainly doesn’t like them much. Rombo has a bit more gratitude to them for all that they do. If you haven’t realized by now, that’s probably something you ought to be worried about.
Episode 8: Cats, the Musical
Today’s episode covers the musical Cats. And I’ll freely admit that it’s based off a lame pun. But that’s okay: The lame pun isn’t the point. The point is who got to the lame pun first, and the elevated status that it grants them over weaker, slower debaters who are forced to argue lesser opinions that they may not even believe in. Oh, the humanity!
Episode 7: Canada
Poor Canada. No one ever respects it, do they? In fact, neither Rombo nor Hiram can truly manage a strong opinion about the nation–which annoys Mr. Announcer Man no end. Before that, however, we’ll learn about Hiram’s Aunt Ferdinand, and the very special mission she sent Hiram on when he was 12. (It would be safe to assume that it didn’t go well.)
Episode 6: Pi
Did you know that there is a movement afoot to replace the number pi in mathematics with tau, a value equal to 2pi? There is, and Rombo is a fan, for reasons well-thought and immensely logical. Hiram prefers pi, for reasons that… well, they’re nice too.
Episode 5: The NBA
This one was also ripped from the headlines, although it’s slightly dated now. Or maybe not. It’s all about the NBA, which, as you may recall, went on a millionaires-vs.-billionaires strike for part of this season. This episode was originally released on the eve of opening night.
Ripped from the Headlines: Episode 4: Horses
There’s a lot happening in this episode. It was the first one to do the Law and Order thing — taking ideas from the headlines of the day. Specifically, the news that the ban on butchering horses was going to be dropped. But we also learn some hints about the previously inscrutable Hiram’s background. There’s more on that coming…
Episode 3: Slavery
In Episode 3, Hiram and Rombo take on a topic that you’d have thought would have been settled in this country in the 1860s. Is it ever really fair to apply human standards of ethics and decency to a robot? Especially an evil robot bent on taking over the world?
Well, of course not. The real question is, can you apply evil robot standards of ethics and decency to a human? The answer may surprise you.
Debate a Robot 