after the pay for podcast era comes the bored of podcast era?

[Ghost Dad]

Are we nearing comedy podcast overload?


No.

I feel like I get a better and better appreciation of comics I enjoy, and I spend more time listening to better podcasts.

You are a podcaster who tells the same story on 4-5 podcasts? Guess what, I would have gotten bored of you eventually anyway.

You show up on too many podcasts and your comedy voice has become predictable to me? I take a break from your appearances and still enjoy you in smaller doses.


The amount of shows I used to listen to pretty regularly but am now more or less sick of has grown, but that's because I've found other podcasts that better suit my tastes. It's a buyers *snicker* market out there.

[Lustful Gustav]

I agree with you, spectral father.

I was actually furiously typing a long reply to this, but I realized the original article has 200 comments already, so this whole thing is probably just preaching to the converted. I mean, this argument could be had for any other type of media, right? You wouldn't walk into a bookstore and yell, "Hey assholes, I already have a couple favorite books, so let's just cut the shit, okay?"

Also, for fun, I suggest you pop over to Maron's Twitter feed. He flipped out over this too.

On that note, I'm going to go back to listening to the Pod F. Tompkast I'm in the middle of. Because even though he's already done 330 hours of podcasting (http://trackpft.com/), did I still think "Fuck yeah!" when I saw that there was a new episode this week? Yes. Good day.

[JayKnox]

I was trying to decide if I should start a topic on this one of these days. The impending market collapse of podcasting. Call it a tipping-point (some Gladwell reference ya) or whatever maximum threshold but we are about 5 minutes to midnight on this.
I think it might have been Tosh (?) but the gag was yet another comedian friend who is going to start up his own podcast. So this marks the impending crash.
Now, to be clear, this is not really a bad thing either. Free market and all. The best competitors will improve and survive and the least viable swept out of the way. Earwolf will be something like a game of 'brackets' and narrow down to it's sweet sixteen and final four. Riotcast the same.
And Carolla and Maron are already something of the 'NBC Thursday Nights' (and they deserve it).
But would you really start your podcast now? 6 months ago yes. Today you get started? With the 200 others starting up? The bubble is bursting as we speak.
May I suggest this at least: We definitely do NOT need any more ironic hipster podcasts and we definitely do not need anymore stand-up 'Jizz-comics' making podcasts now. We have enough of those.

As for redundancy within podcasts? I'm pretty much with the OP here. It could be that I'm the problem if I'm listening to all 5 Patton Oswald podcast appearances I found that month. Or that Carolla telling the same story for a 3rd time in a year (for just 4 minutes of the podcast anyways) might mean I just skip that and realize many have NOT heard that one. Just because I'm a daily listener. etc.

[jkwall]

I think we'll see a podcast crash in the same way that the internet crashed (albeit on a much much smaller scale). Podcasts as a whole aregoing to continue to get bigger but individually they'll reach a point where just being funny on an episode of someone else's podcast or being really into Game of Thrones won't be good enough reasons to start a podcast of your own. That's just the way these things work. That's why in 2011 no one is releasing 30 seconds of footage of a horse running as a feature film. Onwards and upwards. I think the most immediate change we'll see will probably be in booking. First, I think podcasts will start to rely on themselves a little more and we'll see the interview craze slow down. Second, among the existing interview shows guests will start to think of it the same way they do TV appearances. Harris Wittels will always be to Scott Aukerman as Norm MacDonald is to Conan but those people that aren't just in the regular stable of one specific podcast will learn to spread themselves out. People aren't as inclined to buy your book or listen to your new podcast after they've heard you show up on every other show they listen to in a week.

A lot of these problems are also the fault of us listeners, not the people running shows. The podcast world isn't incestuous, we're just all watching the same top tier. Those few shows are incestuous.

[Mayonegg]

Todd Glass, who came out on a stellar recent episode of WTF, appeared on Comedy Bang Bang in early February, then hosted Paul F. Tompkins that same week in a two-part episode of his own podcast that lasted 175 minutes. Pardo called the podcast scene “incestuous” in an Observer follow-up post. He was a guest on The Todd Glass Show in mid-January.

Fuck the AV Club forever (™ Pete Holmes)

Way to get out in front of this, guys! Please, discourage talented people from providing free content to potential fans!

You assholes give hipsters a bad name.

[DocSportello]

Three points about this article:

- This article on the podcastboom only mentions Jimmy Pardo twice (once to backhandedly call him a hypocrite (classy)). That's the thing that really angered me.

- I have at times agreed with aspects of the point of this article.

- The frustration only comes forth from not being able to keep up with everything you like. And that's annoying, but you learn to choose. I had a hard time getting everything into a week before Earwolf came along and dropped a bunch of great shows. It's the way it goes.

[ErikNielsen]

Well, there are natural limits to the podcast as a form, the same way there were natural limits to the 3-minute Internet video.

Or the opposite way, rather -- people realized that it was very difficult to establish characters and tell a funny/worthwhile story in 3 minutes, so very few Internet video series got off the ground. Think of it... the vast majority of comics/groups who got anything out of when Internet videos were hot were the ones who were just using it as a form to distribute their one-off sketches. And of course, there are plenty of video sketch groups still around. Some good ones, too. But it's back down to Earth, and everyone has just sort of acknowledged "okay, this can do this, but it'll never be that."

Conversely -- how long does it take even a really good, really prolific comedian to come up with an hour of top-notch material? Maybe a year or two? Which means that if you're trying to fill an hour a week (or whatever), you're going to have to throw a lot of stuff out there that isn't nearly so solid. This is a much less hard-and-fast limit than the Internet video thing, because there are people who can make a pretty good show out of riffing, whatever the radio equivalent of crowd work is, and duct tape. And of course there are shows whose format doesn't depend (as much/at all) on the hosts/guests putting together material. But in a lot of cases, this is just people stretching themselves too thin. The novelty of listening to comedians ramble off the cuff, exchange in-jokes and workshop unfinished material will definitely wear off a little, if it isn't already.

Which is not to say that what's left after the novelty isn't something -- but it's a significantly more niche something than some people have claimed it was. It's no substitute for those same comedians doing their actual material, that's for sure. (Except maybe those select few comedians whose riffing is better than their actual material.)I mean, everyone loves the Beatles, but does someone want to listen to 8 hours of alternate takes of Revolver, studio banter, etc.?

Actually, yeah, there would probably be a market for that. But not THAT much of a market.

[Pimpbot]

I am wondering about the importance/influence of podcast networks and what role they might play in the possible coming of a podcast crash. That is, is Earwolf or Nerdist going to cancel podcasts if they lose listeners? Or, insist on new segments, ideas, etc. to stay on the network? At some point there would seem to be the need for some culling of the podcast glut either through pure attrition or the consolidation of the best podcasts into networks taht sustain them with money and advertising.

[crowbar]

At some point I think companies will realize that the word podcast is a reference to the word iPod and they will try to change the name,

[Smiles Davis]

The article seems to assume that no one new will ever start listening to podcasts. It also assumes that everyone listening to podcasts listens to ALL OF THEM. Neither of these are true. Success of some of the big podcasters has broadened the audiences listening to comedy podcasts past just comedy nerds. In my circle of friends that have no interest in comedy, I've seen nerdish types start listening to Nerdist because of the Dr Who specials Chris has done. I've had NPRish types start listening to WTF because of some interview that got press. Everyone of these people has picked up at least one, and often several, other podcast due to a guest appearance they liked. Plus they've gotten their boyfriends or girlfriends listening to shows. There are always more people starting to listen and they have no loyalty to anyone in particular, they just pick people who catch their ear whether they are established shows or brand new.

I agree that the number of podcasts seems to have reached a saturation point for me and the time I am willing to put into listening to podcasts. That doesn't mean a moratorium should be placed on starting new shows, but instead means I should (and have) been cutting loose shows to which I don't regularly listen. A few years ago, if I met a comedian and could tell them I was a fan of their podcast, it was a compliment because I liked them enough to do the work and seek out their weird side project. If I told someone that today, its still a compliment, but now because I choose to listen to them over any number of other worthy options.

[Kurt]

There are so many of these things that I like that I probably shouldn't like it anymore!

I just wanted to sort of contribute something to this thread before I asked what a "jizz-comic" was. JayKnox?

[Phil]

The podcast crash?? How many people listen to podcasts? Like %0.1 of the American population?

[slothborn]

I just wanted to sort of contribute something to this thread before I asked what a "jizz-comic" was. JayKnox?

Matt Besser?

Honestly, between Comedy Bang Bang and i4h this week people are going to think I'm a cum freak.

[dougbenson]

as gas prices rise, more people are going to have to rely on public transportation, and podcasting will grow because people on buses and trains like to have something to listen to/help them ignore everybody else on said bus/train.

(a theory)

[KeithTalent]

The novelty of listening to comedians ramble off the cuff, exchange in-jokes and workshop unfinished material will definitely wear off a little, if it isn't already.

I don't listen to podcasts because I find them novel. I listen because they're entertaining and/or interesting. Sure, a lot of podcasts are just doing the same thing Pardo or Maron do, but a lot aren't. The Pod F Tompkast is unique. I think Dana Gould's new show is already a remarkably fresh take on the form and there have only been two episodes. Shows like My Brother, My Brother & Me or Uhh Yeah Dude are interesting voices from people who didn't start out in the comedy business. This is a new thing that's just beginning. It's silly and shortsighted that people think it can't continue to grow and change.

People still treat the internet like it's a fad or something. Nobody's going "Howard Stern is going to run out of stuff to talk about any day now." People have been producing radio comedy in the UK for decades. My television has over a thousand channels on it and they're all playing different stuff. And those are media on their way OUT.

I mean this whole notion is contradicted by the one thing everybody claims to be aware of: the internet's going to take over everything. People will continue to produce audio entertainment and comedy videos of all different lengths (this conventional wisdom about the three minute comedy sketch comes from an antiquated way of thinking about the internet, the idea that the only way anyone will watch a video online is when they're "surfing," because nobody would ever sit down to watch something that doesn't come through their cable box) not to mention full-length films and educational materials and indie video games, or awesome things that have no real predecessors (I'm a big fan of http://www.scp-wiki.net/). It'll get cheaper and cheaper to do, more and more people will get on board as fans, and it will eventually replace the (incredibly old-fashioned, when you think about it) broadcast model completely. Most of the young people I know don't get cable when they move into a new apartment because why the hell would you, everything's on the internet.

[ErikNielsen]

I don't listen to podcasts because I find them novel. I listen because they're entertaining and/or interesting.

Exactly. You listen to them to the extent that they're entertaining or interesting.

People still treat the internet like it's a fad or something. Nobody's going "Howard Stern is going to run out of stuff to talk about any day now." People have been producing radio comedy in the UK for decades. My television has over a thousand channels on it and they're all playing different stuff. And those are media on their way OUT.

Nobody said "Howard Stern is going to run out of stuff to talk about any day now", but a lot of people have said "that Howard Stern rambles a lot." Radio is, by its nature, a high-volume/low-yield medium. Casual listeners have to sift through a lot of chaff to get to the good stuff, and you have to make a pretty big time commitment to become emotionally attached to a show. Someone like Howard Stern was successful because a lot of people treated him like background listening in their cars, not because people were hanging on his every word. They could focus in when something funny was happening, tune out when it wasn't, change the channel if they really didn't like a segment, etc.

That's not really a viable method for getting a mass audience in an on-demand era, especially for something online-only... you have to make the conscious choice to listen to a podcast, which means it's competing with other kinds of conscious choice media, such as movies, scripted TV, music, etc. Stuff which has been polished to deliver the maximum impact in the minimum time, and in some cases, is designed for re-listenability. And as far as music etc. is concerned, you can get it in your car, at work, anywhere else where you can listen to but not watch things.

You can say "I'd rather listen to a recording of Jimmy Pardo joking around with his friends than listen to my favorite band's newest album/watch the new Parks and Rec episode/check out a movie/indeed, listen to an actual Jimmy Pardo album" -- but do you legitimately think that's ever going to be a choice mass numbers of people make?

I mean this whole notion is contradicted by the one thing everybody claims to be aware of: the internet's going to take over everything.

As a delivery method. "The internet" isn't a medium. And as people get more connected, there is less and less room for the kind of low-yield entertainment that dominated previous generations because they literally had no better option. Who's going to listen to music on the radio when you can pull up Spotify or whatever and have access to the exact music you choose at any moment? Who's going to watch a three-minute Internet series when the entirety of actual TV is out there for the taking? Who's going to check out the raw material of comedians messing around in front of each other when you can listen to those same comedians actually doing actual comedy? As I said, maybe some obsessive fans... the same kind of people who want to listen to the demos for their favorite band's albums. (And let's face it, most of us probably exist in an environment high in obsessive comedy fans.) But for everyone else, it's just a stream of crude unfiltered content, and I don't envision the next 10-20 years being a great time for the commercial prospects of crude unfiltered content.

[fevre]

When the bubble explodes and we're left to sift our lives from the rubble, I hope they get Matt Damon to narrate the documentary.

Until then I'll say the fundamentals of podcasting are strong.

[KeithTalent]

Someone like Howard Stern was successful because a lot of people treated him like background listening in their cars, not because people were hanging on his every word. They could focus in when something funny was happening, tune out when it wasn't, change the channel if they really didn't like a segment, etc.

People dick around on their phones or Facebook or whatever while they do everything nowadays. Some assholes even do it during Breaking Bad.

I'm not sure what your thesis is. It seems to me the disconnect is you think podcasts are inherently tossed-off bullshit that could never be as entertaining (to anyone who isn't OBSESSED WITH COMEDY) as a scripted sitcom or whatever just because they're often improvised, so nobody would ever choose to listen to them.

But people already DO listen to them. As pointed out by a few people in this thread, only a small percentage of the world is currently familiar with podcasts and a lot of them seem to enjoy listening to them in lieu of music or talk radio on their commutes/while they do dishes/etc. So I imagine that will continue. Most comics don't even put out an hour of material in a whole year, many people drive that far every day. If you're saying that podcasting will never be as popular as music, yes that's true. But I didn't think that's what this conversation was about. As for "mass numbers" on the level of Stern in his heyday, that's not a thing anymore and probably never will be again.

But back to the quality thing...I've heard podcasts that are just as funny as some TV shows I watch. I think Greg Behrendt is funnier on WTR than in his act. Late night talk shows are comedy, that's not honed material. What makes them so much better than a panel show like Doug Loves Movies with some genuine spontaneity instead of the corporate shitshow "actual TV" has become? You think nothing that's "online-only" (which will soon be a meaningless concept) could ever be as good as Storage Wars?

Also consider that the form is in its infancy. Many people have latched onto a certain format and a once-a-week schedule and all that, but the beauty is that it could be ANYTHING. If you think riffing is boring and only scripted comedy is any good then script some! On any kind of schedule you want. There are no rules anymore. There's some validity to complaining about the orthodoxy that's sprung up (and I realize that's a big part of what the AV Club article was saying, I just think they take it to a silly conclusion) but to say that "podcasts" which really means nothing more than "audio files" have nowhere to go is the same narrow-mindedness that has made so many podcasts Three Crackers Bullshitting.


edit: It's funny that the main complaint of "incestuousness" is only a problem if you ARE one of us obsessive dweebs who listens to all the different shows. I'm guessing Maron and Carolla have plenty of fans who aren't also listening to Pardo and Pete Holmes and Todd Glass and Walking The Room (etc etc forever) every week.

[Finnegan TG]

hello. what's an example of an "ironic hipster podcast?"

[JayKnox]

hello. what's an example of an "ironic hipster podcast?"

75% of podcasts on Earwolf.

I just wanted to sort of contribute something to this thread before I asked what a "jizz-comic" was. JayKnox?

Jim Norton, Rich Vos (who i think might have coined the term himself), Jim Kelly, Jim Jefferies, (heck most O&A regulars), Jay Mohr if you let him. Comics who frequently resort to cum jokes, jizz, bits about tasting their jizz, what jizz looks and smells like how (whatever sick-out sex) ends with jizzing ec.

Something touched on but maybe not entirely appreciate yet is the increasing distinctions without difference of media categories between something being a 'podcast' and something being 'radio' and for that matter even television.
Example:
There is no real practical or meaningful distinction between Dennis Millers radio show and Marc Maron's podcast. I 'right click to save' on either website page and 'open with' media player.
Increasingly, there isn't much difference between Jimmy Fallon for me because while I'm doing taxes I might click on Fallon on YT and it autoplays. Where as I might have to click the play button to listen to Dana Gould later.
And 'Podcast Network' isn't even meaningful. I just have 8 podcasts bookmarked. It has no real meaning to me to say "well.. you know that is on the Riotcast network right?". No. its just another bookmark.
The only helpful thing about a podcast network is that maybe I can see a bunch of links on the same website page at the same time so maybe try a new one.