Howard alum Keith Benn, host of the Build Different podcast on the Watts Productions Network, returns to Black and Snerdy for the first time since episode 50 to sit down with Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo “Kid” Licorish (@licorishislegit). Keith explains how a producer’s pitch for a politics podcast became Build Different, a show about perspective, Black love and late-night rabbit holes about life. The conversation moves from Black boy joy and the case for men to frolic more, to his uncle’s argument that Good Times was more realistic than The Cosby Show, to Howard University’s range of backgrounds and the professor who asked a full class who had been called “not Black enough.” Ode adds her childhood love of Avril Lavigne, Billie Holiday and Harry Potter, along with a pointed word about J.K. Rowling.

Pop Topics opens with the sentencing of Duane “Keffe D” Davis to 40 years to life for orchestrating Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing, after his book and Vlad TV interviews, with Keith drawing a comparison to O.J. Simpson. The hosts honor RJ Mitte of Breaking Bad and an Atlanta teacher who died on the Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia, then celebrate Druski hosting Saturday Night Live. Ryan Coogler’s X-Files reboot with Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel gets a full breakdown, from Coogler’s mother’s love of the original to hopes for David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson cameos. The episode closes with the federal raid on Representative Ilhan Omar’s home, Howard Homecoming, Jools Lebron’s new teeth, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and John Boyega’s growing family.

Find Keith Benn on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithingtonb

Find the Built Different Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@BuiltDifferentKB

Connect with the Snerdy Crew:

Watch, Listen, or Sponsor the show: ⁠https://beacons.ai/blackandsnerdy⁠⁠

Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome S. Carlos Carbon, co-host of The Blerd Effect podcast and founder of Harlem Cinematic Universe, to this Black and Snerdy bonus episode. Carlos traces his fandom from West Baltimore, where Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and Kevin Conroy's Batman were his way into DC Comics, to a Harlem cafe where a barista's latte art led him to Demon Slayer. He lays out why The Blerd Effect treats One Piece, Attack on Titan and Code Geass as political texts, and why Black nerds need institutions of their own. That conversation runs through Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Octavia Butler, W.E.B. Du Bois and Afrofuturism. Mo counters with his case for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Hirohiko Araki, while Carlos argues that Demon Slayer moved anime forward and compares the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack to Waiting to Exhale.

The interview closes with My Hero Academia, the Deku and Bakugo scene that made Carlos cry, and a Golden Girls versus Living Single breakdown he uses to coach new podcasters. Then comes an anime edition of Emoji Me, Senpai, with clues for Tanjiro, All Might, Light Yagami from Death Note, Eren Jaeger and Mikasa from Attack on Titan, Guts and Griffith from Berserk, Anya from Spy x Family, Speed Racer and Roronoa Zoro. The mental health check-in covers therapy, anxiety medication and managing bipolar II. We Big Mad takes on a Hasan Piker interview with Symone Sanders, split streaming rights for Spy x Family on Netflix, and AI deepfake channels that manufacture Black trauma stories. The closing segment turns to Big Brother on CBS, Black women's friendship, and the weekly return of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run.

Check Out S Carlos Carbon's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/s.carloscarbon

Connect with the Snerdy Crew:

Watch, Listen, or Sponsor the show: ⁠https://beacons.ai/blackandsnerdy⁠⁠

Black and Snerdy clears out months of headlines in this bonus episode, as Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo “Kid” Licorish (@licorishislegit) record from opposite coasts, with Mo in Oakland and Ode at home in Brooklyn. Their one-word rapid fire round opens with #EmmysSoWhite after the 2026 Primetime Emmys, Jasmine Guy’s return as Whitley Gilbert in Netflix’s A Different World sequel, and ER Fightmaster’s resurfaced comments, along with the responses from Drew Afualo and Franchesca Ramsey. From there, they react to Sky’s documentary on the Duane “Keffe D” Davis murder trial, Jay-Z’s accuser recanting her claims in the Tony Buzbee lawsuit, and Crystal Mason’s acquittal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The round wraps with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s $131.5 million DoorDash settlement for New York City delivery workers and Stanford and Arc Institute scientists using AI to design bacteriophages that fight drug-resistant E. coli.

The hosts also pay tribute to Angela Stribling, The Mighty Sparrow, Christy Knowings of All That, Michael Wright of The Five Heartbeats, and AEW wrestler PAC. Then they take on the viral Views from the Seven clip claiming nobody on Living Single was attractive. Mo answers with a three-point rebuttal, and Ode breaks down the colorism, sizeism and homophobia in the take while celebrating Khadijah James and Queen Latifah. The mental health check-in covers Ode’s experience with a new anxiety medication and the five-minute stillness challenge Mo gives her. In We Big Mad, Ode discusses an Arizona congressional candidate’s account of being assaulted and Mo argues that GTA VI could become Sony’s excuse to end physical media, before the episode closes on Opal Lee’s 100th birthday and the planned National Juneteenth Museum.

Connect with the Snerdy Crew:

Watch, Listen, or Sponsor the show: ⁠https://beacons.ai/blackandsnerdy⁠⁠