Episode 24 — Who Are Our Superfans?

[robstraws 16]

I loved this episode. It really struck a chord with me when they started talking about going to shows alone as I have been doing this for awhile with what little shows I get in the area. For me these podcasts give me a relationship with "live" comedy I have never had since we don't get much in ohio/indiana. Just the other day I finally saw someone with a Sklarbro Country shirt on and had an awesome random talk. Jeff is really right when he talks about the fan base communicating with each other and the overall kindness of the crowd.

[bschap 0]

excellent episode this week. have to agree with a good amount of the questions Jeff asked the superfans. i've been listening to earwolf for about 4 months now. Not enough time in the day anymore. Luckily my job allows me to work and keep earbuds in all day. So thank you jeff and great job superfans, much enjoyed. Psyched to hear Hardwick. Good day wolves.

[Chriswich 1]

I liked this episode. There were some good perspectives from the fans. I have been listening to podcasts since 2005 I think (probably started with some podcast about the TV show Lost). Then, once Adam Carolla got his morning show, I would exclusively listen to that by podcasting it. Naturally, when he got fired and started his podcast, I began listening to that obsessievely and then branched out into other comedy podcasts.

I would like to say that focusing more on production of the shows is not necessarily a good thing. Over-production is exactly what makes most radio so much worse than podcasts. Too much thought is put into gimmicks like sound effects and contrived bits instead of substantive content. That's why I prefer conversational podcasts. From my perspective, Earwolf already has shows that seem to put a lot of planning, forethought and editing into each show. I would not like to hear more shows like The Apple Sisters for instance. I'd rather hear a show that's more about conversation and not necessarily being constantly funny and/or doing characters. The Wolfden is actually my favorite show on Earwolf.

Oh, and as far as actual audio quality goes, every show sounds great to me so I don't know that I would notice that if it improved.

[Jillian S 2]

Great episode! I love the super fans. It was hilarious how Jeff kept insulting them for having no friends, ruining the commercial, or working for a dying industry. (Julia, I'm also a journalist.)

[SmellyInnovator 0]

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[misslaurathomas 42]

A friend of mine got me onto CDR Radio a while back and I've been hooked since.
I'm in Melbourne, Australia, and practically all the guests and hosts on Earwolf are new to me. It's been so wonderful having a whole new bunch of comedians to become fans of. I was able to go see the amazing Paul F. Tompkins at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this year thanks to hearing him on CDR, and I am currently planning a trip to the States that will definitely include as many comedy shows featuring Earwolf guests as I can fit in.
But before Earwolf started taking over my podcast time (approx 3 commuting hours a day), I was a big fan of some Australian based comedy shows – mostly edited radio content, such as Get This, Lime Champions, or The Lonely Hearts Club. British podcast The Bugle has always had a place in my playlists too.
Podcasts serve a very important role in my life these days, making a dull commute enjoyable and I'm often learning stuff or being exposed to a whole new community of very clever, very funny folk.

I really enjoyed this episode, and loved hearing podcasting being described as punk! Thanks Jeff and the superfans!

[Bucho 188]

I liked the episode a lot too - playfully abusive Jeff was fun. So much for claiming you're not funny.

Between work and travel I've listened to between 30 and 50 hours of podcasting a week since I discovered them in 2005 when, like Frank Pulaski said, the vast majority in the comedy section were a loooooooooong way from professional. Then within a week, sometime in September or October of '05, I discovered Keith and The Girl and The Sound Of Young America, two shows which were a significant cut above the rest in terms of both production quality and funny. KATG were the first show I found in the comedy section at Podcast Alley (there was no podcast section in iTunes back then) that seemed to have really decided that comedy podcasting could be done in a professional way. They took the simple conversational format and added in guest comics and pretty much blazed the trail that Pardo, Carolla, Maron and co would later follow them down.

In fact I first heard about The Sklar Brothers from comedy uber-nerd Keith Malley mentioning them on KATG, but it was TSOYA's magnificent Earwolf associated Jesse Thorn who pointed me towards both Comedy Death Ray and Sklarboro Country, and from there I tuned into The Wolf Ded and Who Charted. Whole lifetimes have passed since I first heard KATG and TSOYA, the true pioneers of professional comedy podcasting, and I'm not the least bit surprised that both Jesse and Keith and Chemda have been making their full-time livings from podcasting for a number of years now.