The trick is to avoid shows that don’t have a clear objective unless they are comedians who are actually funny most of the time. “Three friends just sitting around talking about life, the universe, and everything!” -like descriptions are a major red flag. Extra deductions if their logo shows a glass of whiskey or a beer.
Funny you should say that. I’m already a terrible musician. I’ve got a solo gig and a band gig this weekend. I just wanted the podcast to complete my middle aged white dude punch card because my cargo shorts just got here the other day.
I’ll have everything prepped to start it up drunk at 2am on Sunday morning. This ain’t my first rodeo and my brisket will be ready to slice by dinner Sunday evening.
BG3 occasionally, Elden Ring once a week, and once a month or so I’ll break out a classic NES or SNES game. Plus I play Battle for Wesnoth with dad when he’s not on the road.
if a random comment on the internet is enough to destroy
your dream
then it was a weak and shitty dream. Get a new one.
do it anyway. Who cares. You know what’s the worst that could happen? You try, and it doesn’t work out and then you can look back at it and consider it “gave it a good shot, didn’t work out”. And then you can point to all the people who still sit on their couch and didn’t even try.
This is good advice for people who are serious about their dream. I was not. I’ve had a crazy life and got to at least kind of hit all the high points of my dreams. My only other one is to retire while I’m young enough to get into trouble and I’m doing my damnedest.
It’s not gatekeeping to point out that having no aim or objective for your show usually leads to a boring show people don’t want to listen to because it inevitably devolves into a bunch of inside jokes between the hosts that no one else understands, punctuated with the same jokes every podcast like that makes. insert “well no one listens to our show anyway!” line
It’s like choosing to grab two random people at a bar and just listen to their conversation when commuting. Most of it is nothing you care about. It doesn’t mean you can’t make a good show like that, but it’s like saying “I’m going to make an album” when you don’t know what instruments you plan on using as you walk into the recording studio. Most people are not going to make something folks want to listen to.
If your show is good, your show is good. Most shows like this are not good. Visit any podcast forum and see the hundreds of posts starting with “thinking of shutting it down after 50 episodes because we only have 20 listeners and can’t seem to grow.” If you want to take a crack at that genre then be my guest, I’m not saying you’re forbidden. Just that it’s common, easy, and usually attracts no listeners. But hey, plenty of folks do podcasts just for themselves which is totally valid.
TL;DR: who sits down to write a book without deciding what it’s even broadly about?
Edit: forgot to add, these shows never edit. At all. They don’t mute mics, they don’t have any mic discipline, they tap on tables and cough, then they do no content cuts. They don’t even bother running a basic compressor or leveler. It’s maddening.
I think you did good, I took no offense. I often get insecure about “Are they joking? I’ll give a serious reply in case they’re not, or in case someone else thinks they might be serious” myself, so I’m usually more concerned with the question “Is this clear enough as a joke?” than with blaming other people for not getting that.
I have an irrational aversion to suffixing my posts with tone markers like “(joke)” that I probably should do something about. It would certainly help with that confusion.
Either way, offering a serious take as a safety measure is a good thing, and I appreciate that you took the time.
Yeah, if you’re not a comedian then you can’t just ramble and expect people to enjoy it. Whereas Bill Burr can talk about any old shit and make it interesting.
Everyone overestimates how interesting and funny they are.
Unfortunately I can’t find a good link because someone made a book about Warhol with the same name in 2023, but he wanted to start a show called “Nothing Special.”
It’s a form of parasocial relationship. It can trigger the same feelings as if you were in a room with some friends chatting. You get to “know” the people’s personalities, you can anticipate their reactions to things, you get invested in their personal relationships.
Start with a topic you’re interested in. For me it’s movies so my weekly rotation is The Film Cast and The Big Picture for general contemporary movies. Then Blank Check, The Rewatchables and Unspooled for retrospective movies depending on which ones they’re doing.
The trick is to start with your interests and start trying some stuff out. If you don’t like a show, just bounce and try another. Eventually you’ll find a selection of shows that works for you.
Other interest based podcasts in my rotation that I would recommend:
Music: Song Exploder, Switched on Pop, 60 Songs that Explain the 90s.
it doesn’t even have to be music, or have a point, just something to make you say “ok…wtf” and it’s more interesting to me than “shootin the shit w mah dudebro brother dudes” type podcasts
The most recentish eps (from about a month or so back) have been hitting me a lot better than their “during Covid” era for sure. I got into them late though, sorry to hear what they are now isn’t what you enjoy of them anymore. I had the same feeling about Game Grumps right around when they stopped doing episode numbering.
I’d say it’s worth checking out a more recent episode or two to see if they’ve gotten better, but I’d also totally understand just being done.
Personally, I’m super glad I stuck with it because otherwise I’d probably also have dropped The Adventure Zone, and the newest Dracula arc has been really satisfying to me.
this is interactive though-- everyone can participate in the conversation. i guess you can talk to people in tiktoktube comments, but not with the people who are the focus of the entire “gathering.” maybe podcasts are like watching sports on tv. meh, doesn’t matter. enjoy what you enjoy
here’s the same but Jesus is with a korean flight attendant
here’s the same but jesus is with a starving brown kid
Here’s the same but the brown kid is missing limbs
Here’s an uncanny AI picture of people, in military kit, missing limbs, in wheelchairs, sitting in
the middle of the highway, with signs
Here are AI comics with midcentury styled nuclear families, and soldiers, in situations, and with text, that is surreal, at best, and nightmarish, at worst
These are all with titles like “people don’t want to see pictures like these anymore”, “no one wants to support the troops”, “you won’t share this”, and they are all tagged #BOOMchallenge
I list n to podcasts about science, space, farming, linguistics, and literature. They’re actually rather interesting. I don’t think I could do just random bullshit
I listen to a variety of podcasts for different moods, and I also use it like music. Sometimes I’m in a music mood, sometimes I decide I need to hear how terrible Kissinger really was, sometimes I want to hear Dan research and refute all the lies Alex Jones spouts (the last two come often with the benefit of learning the origin of bullshit being spouted by some internet personalities), and sometimes I want to hear 3-5 guys who I find funny discuss movies and/or Wikipedia articles. I also like listening to factual and historical podcasts that have more detailed researching.
Why listen when I could look up and read it? Well I do look up and read specific topics, but that takes my full attention. I have ADHD and my mind can wander without additional input if I’m doing something tedious. So I listen while driving, cooking, cleaning, working, and even gaming. Gaming isn’t tedious per say, but sometimes you have bursts of that (farming items, repeatable dailies, etc). I pause when I really need to, but some games I also play for relaxation, and I can relax and listen to a funny podcast at the same time. If it’s work or gaming where I need focus, music works better.
I actually really enjoy “stuff you should know” it’s a podcast with 2 guys from the “how stuff works” network that explain everything from “how cranes work” to the “Tulsa race riots.” They’re good people that like to joke with each other so it’s not just straight boring facts.
That said, they aren’t experts and will sometimes read emails that correct things they got wrong lol
The only time they appeal to me is when the facehole flappers are genius comedians like Norm Macdonald or Tom Green. Tom was doing his own streaming live shows before Youtube existed and before most others had even realized it was possible.
I have one podcast I listen to like this because I know them personally, and it’s like hanging out with them. I need to have a hook to listen.
I like Making It with Jimmy DiResta, David Piccutto, and Bob Clegatt (I like to make stuff on YT) because they’re makers and youtubers. They do talk about random crap sometimes, but they also talk about making stuff and youtube and being middle aged with all those things in the mix.
I mean, it just comes down to entertainment ability. Some podcasts like Spitballers can talk about random stupid stuff and make it hilarious. Some podcasts just try that and…don’t quite pull it off.
i wish i could understand the appeal of listening to people sitting around flapping their faceholes about pointless shit
The trick is to avoid shows that don’t have a clear objective unless they are comedians who are actually funny most of the time. “Three friends just sitting around talking about life, the universe, and everything!” -like descriptions are a major red flag. Extra deductions if their logo shows a glass of whiskey or a beer.
That was my entire idea for a podcast. Thanks for shitting on my dream. I guess I’ll never start it now.
With that attitude, better become a Musician pronto
Funny you should say that. I’m already a terrible musician. I’ve got a solo gig and a band gig this weekend. I just wanted the podcast to complete my middle aged white dude punch card because my cargo shorts just got here the other day.
Two gigs in the same weekend? Who’s going to keep an eye on the smoker?!
I am an actual cliche. Dang.
I’ll have everything prepped to start it up drunk at 2am on Sunday morning. This ain’t my first rodeo and my brisket will be ready to slice by dinner Sunday evening.
Sounds like you’ve got an awesome weekend in store!
Cliches are often very powerful and hold a lot of potential for talent.
You’d look way cooler in something fast and shiny…
My motorcycle is plenty shiny and fast.
Seriously, my superhero name should be Average Middle Aged White Dude. The only thing I’m not doing is getting more conservative as I get older.
I guess I’m going to have to wear some white tube socks with my slides and saying shit like “Working hard or hardly working?”
Apparently Gen Z is all about long socks now and only old people wear ankle socks lmao
Socks are weird in general for so many reasons and at so many different levels.
Where we at with video games?
BG3 occasionally, Elden Ring once a week, and once a month or so I’ll break out a classic NES or SNES game. Plus I play Battle for Wesnoth with dad when he’s not on the road.
your dream
then it was a weak and shitty dream. Get a new one.
do it anyway. Who cares. You know what’s the worst that could happen? You try, and it doesn’t work out and then you can look back at it and consider it “gave it a good shot, didn’t work out”. And then you can point to all the people who still sit on their couch and didn’t even try.
do it.
This is good advice for people who are serious about their dream. I was not. I’ve had a crazy life and got to at least kind of hit all the high points of my dreams. My only other one is to retire while I’m young enough to get into trouble and I’m doing my damnedest.
Well, in that case. Thanks SteveFromSpace for saving us from that one…
Why not make a podcast about gatekeeping and use this as your first example? There, you’ve got an objective.
It’s not gatekeeping to point out that having no aim or objective for your show usually leads to a boring show people don’t want to listen to because it inevitably devolves into a bunch of inside jokes between the hosts that no one else understands, punctuated with the same jokes every podcast like that makes. insert “well no one listens to our show anyway!” line
It’s like choosing to grab two random people at a bar and just listen to their conversation when commuting. Most of it is nothing you care about. It doesn’t mean you can’t make a good show like that, but it’s like saying “I’m going to make an album” when you don’t know what instruments you plan on using as you walk into the recording studio. Most people are not going to make something folks want to listen to.
If your show is good, your show is good. Most shows like this are not good. Visit any podcast forum and see the hundreds of posts starting with “thinking of shutting it down after 50 episodes because we only have 20 listeners and can’t seem to grow.” If you want to take a crack at that genre then be my guest, I’m not saying you’re forbidden. Just that it’s common, easy, and usually attracts no listeners. But hey, plenty of folks do podcasts just for themselves which is totally valid.
TL;DR: who sits down to write a book without deciding what it’s even broadly about?
Edit: forgot to add, these shows never edit. At all. They don’t mute mics, they don’t have any mic discipline, they tap on tables and cough, then they do no content cuts. They don’t even bother running a basic compressor or leveler. It’s maddening.
You are completely right.
I was trying to make a joke, piggybacking off the other guy’s joke, but I can see that was poorly communicated.
All good my dude. There was like 5% of me that wondered if you were joking so I tried to make it a point to not get all shitty or name-calling lol
I think you did good, I took no offense. I often get insecure about “Are they joking? I’ll give a serious reply in case they’re not, or in case someone else thinks they might be serious” myself, so I’m usually more concerned with the question “Is this clear enough as a joke?” than with blaming other people for not getting that.
I have an irrational aversion to suffixing my posts with tone markers like “(joke)” that I probably should do something about. It would certainly help with that confusion.
Either way, offering a serious take as a safety measure is a good thing, and I appreciate that you took the time.
May life be as kind to you as you are to others!
Man I feel that I hate adding “/s” and crap like that lol
Have a good rest of your week!
Was the name gonna be “Three drunk Texans”?
Yeah, if you’re not a comedian then you can’t just ramble and expect people to enjoy it. Whereas Bill Burr can talk about any old shit and make it interesting.
Everyone overestimates how interesting and funny they are.
White dudes and microphones lol the ultimate expression of how self important and insightful we feel all the time 😅
Some people like listening to some of them, though, which is how they get famous in the first place.
Sure, I produced several of them lol but most fizzled out due to lack of interest/“podfade”
I once had this idea for a show about nothing…
Easy there Warhol
ConfusedSeinfeldLook.jpg
Unfortunately I can’t find a good link because someone made a book about Warhol with the same name in 2023, but he wanted to start a show called “Nothing Special.”
This is exactly why I like Bad Friends.
Some shows can pull it off! But it takes focus and a little discipline, even if it doesn’t feel like they have any
Oh shit. I hate that bro.
Goddamnit…
Yeah and I mean these people are just sitting around talking about the most mundane stuff as if anybody would be interested in hearing it.
Oh shit. I hate that bro.
It’s a form of parasocial relationship. It can trigger the same feelings as if you were in a room with some friends chatting. You get to “know” the people’s personalities, you can anticipate their reactions to things, you get invested in their personal relationships.
Like the Kardashians for middle-aged men.
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Nick Mullen is my best friend
Most of the stuff I listen to is either professionally funny people or specialized topics that I’m interested in.
You need to find better podcasts to listen.
How? I’ve never figured it out.
Start with a topic you’re interested in. For me it’s movies so my weekly rotation is The Film Cast and The Big Picture for general contemporary movies. Then Blank Check, The Rewatchables and Unspooled for retrospective movies depending on which ones they’re doing.
The trick is to start with your interests and start trying some stuff out. If you don’t like a show, just bounce and try another. Eventually you’ll find a selection of shows that works for you.
Other interest based podcasts in my rotation that I would recommend:
Music: Song Exploder, Switched on Pop, 60 Songs that Explain the 90s.
TV: The Watch, Prestige TV
Science: Twenty Thousand Hertz
Marketing: Under the Influence
Tech: Engadget, Vergecast
Videogames: DLC, Windbreaker
Curiosities: Search Engine, Decoder Ring
I listen to My Brother, My Brother and Me because I like to listen to the three brothers be funny at each other.
Some people don’t need or want intellectually challenging media all the dang time.
Most music isn’t intellectually challenging
Even dumb music is way harder to make than a shit podcast
it doesn’t even have to be music, or have a point, just something to make you say “ok…wtf” and it’s more interesting to me than “shootin the shit w mah dudebro brother dudes” type podcasts
https://youtu.be/rk8OZeZavQ0
I don’t know what to tell you. Sorry that my preference isn’t your preference?
It’s light entertainment, who cares what other people like?
glad you enjoy it
It’s not challenging for the listener though.
I also listen to music?
I can do more than one thing, and I enjoy listening to them.
I don’t get why this is getting pushback. It’s weird to refuse to understand that other people have different tastes in media consumption.
Because you’re lowering our collective IQ listening to cringe bullshit as entertainment.
/s
I rather call these pointless convoys challenging media. I understand nothing, yet it’s quite annoying noise to my ears.
fair enough
Episodes 1-250 were great. They’re insufferably flanderized now.
The most recentish eps (from about a month or so back) have been hitting me a lot better than their “during Covid” era for sure. I got into them late though, sorry to hear what they are now isn’t what you enjoy of them anymore. I had the same feeling about Game Grumps right around when they stopped doing episode numbering.
Fair! I gave up at about 300. I still revisit 1-100 sometimes though. So good.
I’d say it’s worth checking out a more recent episode or two to see if they’ve gotten better, but I’d also totally understand just being done.
Personally, I’m super glad I stuck with it because otherwise I’d probably also have dropped The Adventure Zone, and the newest Dracula arc has been really satisfying to me.
That’s when i read a simple manga or something. Those poor ears.
I’m not saying your approach to how you spend your free time relaxing with the media you enjoy is wrong or bad.
I’d really like people to stop insinuating that my approach to how I spend my free time relaxing with the media I enjoy is wrong or bad, though.
Fiction makes me depressed sometimes
The same appeal as reading the pointless shit people type out while sitting on toilets.
this is interactive though-- everyone can participate in the conversation. i guess you can talk to people in tiktoktube comments, but not with the people who are the focus of the entire “gathering.” maybe podcasts are like watching sports on tv. meh, doesn’t matter. enjoy what you enjoy
It’s like Facebook in the early days.
Here’s a picture of my breakfast yogurt.
Here’s a picture of me getting on the bus.
Here’s a picture of my desk setup.
Here’s a geotag of where I’m having lunch along with a photo of my BLT. It was so yummy! Duck face pic!
Here’s the geotag and photo of the place I got coffee on the way back to work! Luv u all!
or facebook today:
here’s a picture of my cat
here’s a picture of my cat
here’s a picture of my cat
here’s a picture of my cat
here’s a picture of my cat
here’s a picture of my OTHER cat
here’s a picture of my cat
If that were true, I’d still bother with Facebook once in a while.
Here’s a picture of the REAL president telling the TRUTH about COVID 19
The Other Cat is going to get a complex from that favoritism.
I thought facebook today was more like
here’s an uncanny AI picture of Jesus
here’s the same but Jesus is with a korean flight attendant
here’s the same but jesus is with a starving brown kid
Here’s the same but the brown kid is missing limbs
Here’s an uncanny AI picture of people, in military kit, missing limbs, in wheelchairs, sitting in the middle of the highway, with signs
Here are AI comics with midcentury styled nuclear families, and soldiers, in situations, and with text, that is surreal, at best, and nightmarish, at worst
These are all with titles like “people don’t want to see pictures like these anymore”, “no one wants to support the troops”, “you won’t share this”, and they are all tagged #BOOMchallenge
I wish Facebook was still like this.
Now it’s 90% ads and posts from groups I didn’t subscribe to with a post from a friend sprinkled in every so often.
OK but desk setups are fun to look at
I list n to podcasts about science, space, farming, linguistics, and literature. They’re actually rather interesting. I don’t think I could do just random bullshit
I listen to a variety of podcasts for different moods, and I also use it like music. Sometimes I’m in a music mood, sometimes I decide I need to hear how terrible Kissinger really was, sometimes I want to hear Dan research and refute all the lies Alex Jones spouts (the last two come often with the benefit of learning the origin of bullshit being spouted by some internet personalities), and sometimes I want to hear 3-5 guys who I find funny discuss movies and/or Wikipedia articles. I also like listening to factual and historical podcasts that have more detailed researching.
Why listen when I could look up and read it? Well I do look up and read specific topics, but that takes my full attention. I have ADHD and my mind can wander without additional input if I’m doing something tedious. So I listen while driving, cooking, cleaning, working, and even gaming. Gaming isn’t tedious per say, but sometimes you have bursts of that (farming items, repeatable dailies, etc). I pause when I really need to, but some games I also play for relaxation, and I can relax and listen to a funny podcast at the same time. If it’s work or gaming where I need focus, music works better.
I actually really enjoy “stuff you should know” it’s a podcast with 2 guys from the “how stuff works” network that explain everything from “how cranes work” to the “Tulsa race riots.” They’re good people that like to joke with each other so it’s not just straight boring facts.
That said, they aren’t experts and will sometimes read emails that correct things they got wrong lol
Man, I know. Especially when they go off the actual topic and start talking about some random shit while cackling like a bunch of dumbasses.
The only time they appeal to me is when the facehole flappers are genius comedians like Norm Macdonald or Tom Green. Tom was doing his own streaming live shows before Youtube existed and before most others had even realized it was possible.
Don’t think Norm is putting out a lot of podcasts these days. :(
Yep unfortunately so. So I don’t watch podcasts much, and that’s fine.
I have one podcast I listen to like this because I know them personally, and it’s like hanging out with them. I need to have a hook to listen.
I like Making It with Jimmy DiResta, David Piccutto, and Bob Clegatt (I like to make stuff on YT) because they’re makers and youtubers. They do talk about random crap sometimes, but they also talk about making stuff and youtube and being middle aged with all those things in the mix.
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Not all podcasts are about pointless shit. Here are two guys talking about books:
https://www.ifbookspod.com/
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I mean, it just comes down to entertainment ability. Some podcasts like Spitballers can talk about random stupid stuff and make it hilarious. Some podcasts just try that and…don’t quite pull it off.