its first episode was recorded on 28 july 2009, at mike hall's home, and published on 1 august 2009. the dinosaur-wallpapered room, first revealed to the audience on the live filmed episode #077, has been the standard recording location ever since. the podcast features hosts mike hall, michael marshall ("marsh") and colin harris ("col"), in april 2014 replaced by alice howarth, discussing recent events from a skeptical angle. co-host michael marshall described it as, "a fairly-shambolic, overly-enthusiastic and snarky mix of science, skepticism and sarcasm." the idea for "swak" came from the conversations mike and marsh were having in the pub about news and ideas, such as the , that they wanted to share with a wider audience.