I’m a regular listener to Randy and Jason Sklar’s hilarious “Sklarbro Country” podcast, and their guest over the weekend was Brian Unger, who is probably best known as one of the correspondents on the original, Craig Kilborn-hosted “Daily Show.” Unger talked about his latest project, “How The States Got Their Shapes,” and plugged a 4th-of-July marathon of the show on the History Channel (which still, very occasionally, shows something tangentially related to history).

I have to say I’d never heard of it, but I’ve been watching all morning and it’s fascinating.

It’s a fun-to-watch take on American history and culture, using the creation of various states, and the drawing of their borders, as a jumping-off point for all sorts of discussions. I never realized, for example, that Texas is not connected to the rest of the contiguous U.S. power grid, and therefore is exempt from certain federal energy regulations. Would-be states such as Franklin (in what is now East Tennessee), Jefferson and Deseret are mentioned as well. Even Area 51 gets a segment.

Unger brings just the right amount of humor to the presentation – he never seems to be showing off or calling attention to himself, but he makes the proceedings fun. Some of the segments are  punctuated by man-on-the-street clips shot behind a sheet of Plexiglas on which Unger, for example, challenges people to draw the outline of Texas.

If you happen to run across this in the listings, I’d recommend checking it out.