Podcasts: An Obsession

I think I first started listening to podcasts in the summer of grade ten. I started with a podcast called the “Drunk tank”, which was made my Rooster Teeth, a popular company on the internet. They would talk about many of my interests, movies, TV shows, video games, but that wasn’t what kept me around, I think it was the intimacy. I had watched the videos they made since about grade six, but now I got to learn who these people actually were, and what their relationships were like with each other, and how they all started. When I would listen to this podcast it sounded like a bunch of friends just hanging out, talking about life, and I was just a fly on the wall. They have made one podcast a week; I believe they are almost at their 150^th podcast, each range from 50 minutes to an hour and a half. This company currently has about twenty people working in it, so each week you get a variety of different people from the company.

 I don’t know what it was, but this is what got me hooked into podcasts. I listen to them everywhere now. When I walk the dog, when I drive to school, during D.E.A.R, literally everywhere I go, I have someone talking in my ear.

I remember in Pineapple Express, Seth Rogan’s character would listen to talk radio, and James Franco’s character said how he thought it was so boring, I partly agree. While I do say many podcasts and talk radio shows would be extremely boring, that is why I stick to the few that I love, and they never bore me.

After the Drunk Tank I moved on to “The Ricky Gervais Podcast”, which is the only overseas podcast I currently listen to. This podcast features Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington. It’s basically about Karl, who is a really dim witted guy, that Ricky and Steve love making fun of. Half the podcast is Ricky laughing, and it is just so funny to hear him laugh at his friend. Ricky’s podcasts are just talking about random stuff, which I love. But then he started releasing individual audio books, that were specifically about one topic, for instance, medicine, or history, and the guys would talk about that topic and see how little Karl knew about the subject.

Then the next podcast I started listening to is called “Jay and Silent Bob Get Old”, which features Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith. The podcast was made so that each week Jason Mewes could inform everybody that he is in fact still sober, and say how many days he is sober. Each week Kevin and Jason talk about how drugs affect their lives, their sex lives, and random things in pop culture. I think I love this podcast for the exact reason I love the Drunk Tank, because I was a fan of Kevin Smith films for a while, and once I found out about the podcast, and got to learn about these people’s lives, I just feel so much more connected to them.

From that podcast these two started a morning show podcast called “Jay and Silent Bob Get Jobs”, in which they talk about news stories and entertainment in a less formal, more casual way. I love it because its so funny how informal it is, they broadcast it live in Kevin’s Smith’s house, so every know and then you hear Kevin yell at his dog to “Shut up!”, because she’s barking. I think even once she peed in the house while they did the show, and you heard Kevin discipline her.

And the final, and my newest favorite podcast is “The Adam Carolla Show”, which features Adam Carolla, Bald Bryan, Alyson Rogen, and a new famous guest each week. This podcast is basically about Adam ranting and complaining about any topic. It’s the only one I listen to that has “drops”, which I like, for this show only, because it feels like the radio.

Interestingly, the main comparison of each podcast, excluding the Kevin Smith Podcasts, is that more often or not there is a lot of arguing that takes place between the people of the podcast, which I don’t know why I love so much. I’m not one for conflict myself, but I do love so much listening to people argue… is that normal? I think I might have a problem. It’s kind of sad and weird, but a while ago I actually had a dream, and while in the dream there was a narration going on of people talking, yes, I dreamed that I was listening to a podcast.