Q&A with we Got This with Mark and Hal / July 2, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

We have so many great podcasts participating in the 5th annual Philadelphia Podcast Festival, so we're highlighting some of them in this Q&A series. You can find the full schedule of live shows here, and purchase tickets for We Got This with Mark and Hal's live recording on July 21 at 8:00pm at Ruba Club here. There are also VIP tickets that include a meet and greet with Mark and Hal, and all tickets also get you entry to the live recording of Sex with Timaree at 9:30pm.

How did your show come about? How did you meet your co-hosts? When I (Hal) knew the Thrilling Adventure Hour was nearing the end of its run, I told Mark "We're doing a podcast together". I'd had an idea for a simple concept of two people taking subjective arguments and settling them objectively as a lark. I told our mutual friend Eric about it and he said "Oh, like whether you should put ketchup on a hot dog?" and we had our first episode. Mark and I met back in 2002 when we improvised together in front of three people in a small theater in L.A. We definitely knew one another over the years, but it wasn't until Thrilling Adventure Hour that we became super close.

Are there episodes you consider your “greatest hits?” Which ones are good “entry” points for new listeners? I like to think that our first episode ("Should you put Ketchup on a hot dog?") still holds up. Any episode with John Hodgman (our reigning guest-in-residence) is pretty great, especially his first episode with us. I also think that "Liquid vs Bar vs Foam soap" is a great example of our chemistry. Also, "Best Vintage Toy" with Janet Varney is great because she's such an A+ guest. Same with "Calling or Texting" with Paul F. Tompkins.

What do you appreciate most about this medium? How democratic it is. We can create a show, put it out there, and evolve it without any restrictions or interference from a higher authority. Anyone can. It may not be a level playing field, but it's an open playing field.

What do you most look forward to when doing live shows? How does the show change? Our live shows just have more energy. The live laughter is always great, but at any give moment half of the crowd is in vehement disagreement with our stance on something while the other half is in total agreement. It's the best kind of tension.

What are you hoping to do in Philly other than record a live podcast? We both have family here (I'm a hometown boy, and Mark's father is from Philly) that we're hoping to see, and I'm planning on seeing my closest and oldest friends, visiting some of my old haunts, and eating at least one ACTUAL cheesesteak while I'm in town.

Where can people find your podcast and hosts? You can find us at wegotthispodcast.com (which will take you to Maximum Fun, our home for the last two years) and on iTunes or Stitcher or whatever podcasting app you use under "We Got This with Mark and Hal". The show is @wegotthistweets on twitter and this is our Facebook group - on of my favorite places to visit online. Mark is @markgags on twitter and I'm @hallublin.

Q&A with The Flop House / July 1, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

How did your show come about? How did you meet your co-hosts?

Elliott: Dan and I met through performing at a basement comedy theater in New York called Juvie Hall that a mutual friend of ours ran. We became good friends pretty quickly, and it was through Dan that I met the ray of overpowering sunshine that is Stuart Wellington.

Stuart: Dan and I met at Earlham College, where we both went for undergrad. When we both ended up in Brooklyn, Dan and I started hanging out regularly and watching bad movies together. The show grew out of that. I met Elliott when Dan dragged me to Elliott's show in that basement.

Dan: Everyone has already answered the question, but I just wanted to say that I started the podcast in part because I wanted to get Stuart on tape, because I thought he was hilarious, and he wasn’t interested in performing comedy, so he’d never be introduced to the world without a little push. When Elliott joined, he was the motormouthed secret sauce we needed to complete the equation.

Are there episodes you consider your “greatest hits?” Which ones are good “entry” points for new listeners?

Elliott: A lot of people start with episodes for movies they’ve already seen. But I’d recommend the episodes for Bullet to the Head, Foodfight!, and The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure as personal favorites that might provide good entry points.

Stuart: Folks seem to like our Mirrors episode. I really enjoyed watching Easy Rider 2: The Ride Home, and I think that's a really fun episode.

Dan: I think the top ones have been mentioned already, but people also mention Jonah Hex as a favorite. Maybe Fateful Findings too.

What do you appreciate most about this medium?

Elliott: I love a lot of things about the podcasting medium. There’s an intimacy and immediacy to podcasts that really makes listening to them a more valuable experience. You get the feeling that you’re in a conversation (a one-sided one, sure, but still) with the people you’re listening to, and that you inhabit a kind of special private space with them for the duration of the show. A lot of people tell us that listening to our show makes them feel like they’re hanging out with their friends and that they feel closer to us than they do to people on, say, television. It’s an intimate medium, which means you can get away with being both really earnest and emotional and super random and goofy and stupid, often in the same show.

Dan: I couldn’t have said it better.

What do you most look forward to when doing live shows? How does the show change?

Elliott: The thing I look forward to the most is the immediate reaction from the audience, which energizes me to no end. I don’t have to wonder if a bit will go over well or flop, and I have a better sense of when to stop talking (not a strength of mine normally) if I’m losing the audience. It’s a real thrill to have people sitting there in front of you, enjoying the nonsense jabbering we do.

Stuart: It definitely adds a bit of urgency to our conversation. And I love any excuse to mug for an audience.

Elliott: The change to the show is 1) we do visual presentations before the show that don’t get recorded and only the live audience sees, which are fun to put together and perform and 2) instead of reading listener letters at the end of the show we take questions from the audience. Which can be more fun because you can interact with the fans and also more unsettling and frightening because you can interact with the fans.

Dan: I look forward to being terrified ahead of time, and then suddenly feeling totally comfortable the moment I step on stage. It’s a weird bit of psychological magic that happens every time. I also just look forward to seeing the crowds – knowing that this silly thing I started as a kind of a lark has grown into something that’s genuinely important for a lot of folks.

What are you hoping to do in Philly other than record a live podcast?

Elliott: For me nothing beats seeing the Duchamp collection at the Museum of Art. He’s been one of my favorite artists since I was a teen, and Philadelphia is lucky to hold all his major works in one place.

Stuart: My wife and I will definitely make a stop over at the 4th Street Deli, which feels like a little slice of Brooklyn away from Brooklyn. I will probably hit up The Reliquary to go record and tabletop game shopping afterwards.

Dan: I was in Philly to cover the political convention for The Daily Show recently, so I might spend my extra time checking out other podcasts at the festival.

Where can people find your podcast and hosts?

Elliott: Our site is at www.flophousepodcast.com and we’re also part of the Maximum Fun network, along with a lot of other great shows, at www.maximumfun.org. On Twitter I’m @elliottkalan.

Stuart: You can find me in Brooklyn at Hinterlands Bar, a bar that I own with my wife. I'm on Twitter as @flophousecat.

Dan: I’m @dankmccoy.

Q&A with Lulu and Pop / June 30, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

We have so many great podcasts participating in the 5th annual Philadelphia Podcast Festival, so we're highlighting some of them in this Q&A series. Lulu and Pop will be recording live on Saturday, July 15 at 6:00pm at Tattooed Mom. You can find the full schedule of live shows here.

How did your show come about? How did you meet your co-hosts? We met while working at a Starbucks in West Philly, I was Mark’s Supervisor, we started a friendship, a few weeks later we were dating, and a few weeks later we moved in together. Four years later we were married!

Are there episodes you consider your “greatest hits?” Which ones are good “entry” points for new listeners? One of our favorite episodes is episode number 13 which we recorded in Punta Cana but we also recommend episode 01 which is a good introduction.

What do you appreciate most about this medium? We love that we can do it together. It’s basically another fun date for us where we get to have these conversations about things we find important or funny and then can then share them with whomever wants to listen!

What do you most look forward to when doing live shows? How does the show change? We look forward to connecting with our listeners and possibly making some new ones. We are looking forward to the audience aspect of it and the fact that we can interact with other people. Also we’ll have to wear pants….which rarely happens on the show.

Where can people find your podcast and hosts?
Instagram: @Luluandpop
Twitter: @lulupop
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luluandpop Spreaker: https://www.spreaker.com/show/lulu-and-pop-an-interracial-love-jawn

Q&A with Sawbones / June 27, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

How did your show come about? How did you meet your co-host?

Well, Sydnee and I met around 20 years ago in a community theater production of Wizard of Oz. We dated, broke up for a decade then reconnected and got married. The podcast came later. We wanted something that would emphasize Sydnee's medical knowledge (she's a family physician) with my complete ignorance of even basic functions of the human body.

Are there episodes you consider your “greatest hits?” Which ones are good “entry” points for new listeners?

We did an episode on Medical Cannibalism. Seriously, Victorian people eating mummies for vitality. That's my favorite.

What do you appreciate most about this medium?

It's an intensely personal thing to be piped via headphone directly into someone's brain. It's so flattering to be invited in like that, and we try to always be respectful of that.

What do you most look forward to when doing live shows? How does the show change?

Well, we don't curse on our show which adds a thrilling difficulty modifier when doing it in front of a live crowd. Also, sometimes we add songs!

What are you hoping to do in Philly other than record a live podcast?

We do a podcast about medical oddities, so naturally we're going to go to the Mutter Museum!

Where can people find your podcast and hosts?

We're at http://www.sawbonesshow.com or on iTunes, Stitcher, etc.

Q&A with Overdue Podcast / June 26, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

We have so many great podcasts participating in the 5th annual Philadelphia Podcast Festival, so we're highlighting some of them in this Q&A series. Overdue will be recording live on Sunday, July 23 at 5:00pm at Kitchen Table Gallery. You can find the full schedule of live shows here.

How did your show come about? How did you meet your co-hosts?

We've actually been friends since really early in college, where an enthusiasm for Katamari Damacy and two-ingredient cocktails brought us together. Overdue was initially a selfish way for the two of us to stay in touch, born out of us both saying "I don't read enough." Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it), enough people started listening that it took on a life of its own.

Are there episodes you consider your “greatest hits?” Which ones are good “entry” points for new listeners?

Our "greatest hits" tend to be one of two types of book: a seminal classic that we can poke fun at while still discussing why it was canonized and installments in the Fifty Shades of Grey series. We'd point new listeners to the Fifty Shades books for a thorough deconstruction of a bad story, or to our Infinite Jest, Jane Eyre, or Peter Pan episodes if you want to hear our takes on some well-regarded classics.

What do you appreciate most about this medium?

Podcasts are a pretty intimate medium - most of the time you're listening with your headphones in or alone on your commute, so you really feel like you're developing a relationship with the hosts. We love getting emails and tweets from people who look forward to spending time with us every week, or people who say that we helped get them through a tough time. We're sure that happens in other mediums, but those connections feel closer in podcasting.

What do you most look forward to when doing live shows? How does the show change?

Live shows change the show by adding a third voice in the mix. We live for bad jokes, so there's nothing like making a roomful of people groan when usually it's just the two of us. We've also found that certain books work better than others for live shows. If it's a newer release or a book that's gone under-appreciated, it isn't as easy to crack jokes because our audience might not be as familiar with the story. When they're listening at home, they can rewind or go look up a synopsis if we make things really confusing. When they're in the room with us, we just want them to sit back and enjoy two goofballs having fun with a good book.

Where can people find your podcast and hosts?

The show's at www.overduepodcast.com! Andrew is on Twitter at @AndrewWrites and Craig is @mcgetting.

Q&A with A Quest for Magic and Steele / June 23, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

We have so many great podcasts participating in the 5th annual Philadelphia Podcast Festival, so we're highlighting some of them in this Q&A series. A Quest for Magic and Steele will be recording live on Saturday, July 15 at 2:00pm at Amalgam Comics and Coffeehouse. You can find the full schedule of live shows here.

How did your show come about?

Love of audio medium, started voice over and narration then found podcasts and wanted it to be something we could do as a family

How did you meet your co-hosts?

In my house. They are family. All my children and friends of them.

Are there episodes you consider your “greatest hits?” Which ones are good “entry” points for new listeners?

It's an episodic journey, so starting at 1 is best for story arc. But as for quality, it's not our best. One of our best that is fun and funny is linked on our main page: MagicandSteele.com

What do you appreciate most about this medium?

Being able to listen to anything about any subject. There is so much to choose from so I can keep what I like and delete what I don't. As for us, I like that we can share our joy with the world and hopefully make someone's day brighter.

What do you most look forward to when doing live shows?

Interacting with the audience.

How does the show change?

We are selfish at home. No one to interact with except ourselves and the dogs.

Where can people find your podcast and hosts?

SteeleEmpire.com has links to all of Facebook.com/steelepod. We are very active on twitter.com/empiresteele

Q&A with Call Your Girlfriend / June 21, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

How did your show come about? How did you meet your co-hosts?

Aminatou and Ann have been besties since 2009, when they met through a friend (HI, DAYO!) at a Gossip Girl viewing party in Washington, D.C. Ann met Gina through mutual friends after she moved to LA in 2011. We get confused sometimes about who first planted the seed for the podcast (Gina, probably?) but in 2013, Ann and Amina decided that Call Your Girlfriend was the perfect podcast name. Amina promptly bought the domain name, they got in touch with Gina, and the rest is history.

Are there episodes you consider your “greatest hits?” Which ones are good “entry” points for new listeners?

We're proud of our interview with Huma Abedin, and got a lot of positive feedback about our episode immediately after the election—which was definitely not the easiest to record, given how we were all feeling at the time. We also recommend some of our interview-heavy episodes, like our episode on guns in America from last year, and our recent episode about women running for office.

What do you appreciate most about this medium?

The intimacy and realness of podcasting are really what draw us to the medium. Writing is often edited. Video has a lot of production to it. Radio is very rigid but with podcasts you often feel like you get to know the hosts on a very authentic level. The fact that we can publish on our own schedule and focus on topics that would otherwise be deemed too niche is pretty compelling too.

What do you most look forward to when doing live shows? How does the show change?

There are lots of news stories and funny memes we don't get into on the podcast because they rely on a great video, gif or photograph. If you've seen Amina on social media, you know she is an unparalleled internet investigator. One of Ann's secret talents is putting together delightful graphics and slide decks, so the live format lets us get into visual media we're excited to share with our fans. In a past live show, we delved into the friend-web of Wendi Deng, Rupert Murdoch's pie-slaying ex and sometime Putin paramour. We also love the energy of sitting in the room with our listeners, not simply chatting into their earbuds.

What are you hoping to do in Philly other than record a live podcast?

Our listeners are truly the best in all of podcasting. They’ve sent us an extensive list of bars, restaurants and sights to check out. Zahav and Bok Bar seem to be favorites. Amina was in Philly a few weeks ago and is looking forward to returning to the Colored Girl Museum

Where can people find your podcast and hosts?

Our audio archive and show notes are at callyourgirlfriend.com, the domain that started it all. We have fun on instagram @callyrgf. Aminatou is everywhere @aminatou and opining elsewhere online. Ann is @annfriedman and has a jam-packed newsletter. The third member of our triumvirate, podcast witch Gina Delvac is @gdelvac. (Gina, get a website).

We Got This with Mark and Hal joins Philly Podfest 2017 / May 25, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

Exciting news! We Got This with Mark and Hal will be performing live at Philly Podfest 2017. Mark Gagliardi and Hal Lublin will bring their debate to Ruba Club on Friday, July 21. VIP meet and greet (and signed Festival poster) starts at 7:00pm, and the show starts at 8:00pm. Get your tickets now!

But wait, there's more! We Got This will be followed by Philadelphia's own Dr. Timaree Schmit recording her podcast, Sex with Timaree, at 9:30pm. Tickets are available and you are not going to want to miss this.

At 11pm, Honeytree EvilEye is hosting the Philly PodFest After Party at Ruba Club!

Added: Dates & Times for Podcasts at Philly Improv Theater / May 22, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

Want to see some great comedy podcasts record live? Check out the Philly Podfest lineup at Philly Improv Theater. Be sure to get your tickets ASAP so you don't miss out!

Stark Raven Mad - Tuesday, July 18 @ 10:00pm
Kid Goggles - Sunday, July 23 @ 1:30pm
Should Have Gone Home - Sunday, July 23 @ 3:00pm
My First Sketch - Sunday, July 23 @ 4:30pm

Get Your Tickets! / May 19, 2017 by Teagan Kuruna

In addition to more than 45 free live podcast recordings, the Philadelphia Podcast Festival is thrilled to welcome Sawbones, Call Your Girlfriend, The Flop House, and Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Be sure to get your tickets now before they sell out!