Interview with Mike Laidman on Starting Podcasts

Very simple audio. That's the whole point of

podcasting is audio, not video crap. Video podcast

is big biz. No, no, it's not. Nobody wants to

see this fat old ugly off. They can hear me all

they want, but, you know, I went to a conference

a couple of years ago and they in it, they talked

about how listening like On YouTube is up way

higher than anywhere else. And I was like, oh,

that's very interesting information. And I did

nothing with it. And I found a which is actually

why I'm kind of in a better mood now. I found

a good old fashioned Michael Ademan classic.

The one that you sent earlier. I did listen to

it. You did listen to it. I did. I do recall

that one. That was 2012. Good God. Pre -show?

What was the pre -show? So everything you saw

before that was pre... the show? There is nothing

wrong with your podcast player do not attempt

to adjust the volume. Hello and welcome to studio

2009 I am of course TF2 and Mike and joining

me for our latest podcast approach is a part

-time nerd full -time dad who likes eating burnt

popcorn With a classic his fist of justice. It's

Mike Laidman. Oh, wow. You like hit the whole

The whole gamut there just walking one through

rent one right after the other. That's right

Gotta get all that promotion in early Well, one

of them you can one of them you can leave out

because I I don't do that one anymore. It's been

a few years Yeah, but still it's part of our

heritage exactly see, you know, you gotta you

gotta Embrace the the podcasting journey's first

first steps on the road to podcast Avenue I mean

it's not like we left it untitled or anything

no no no unfortunately not. I'm still waiting

for episode one thirteen i'm telling you it needs

to be a halloween episode laura halloween okay

you're waiting. You're waiting for episode 113

of a defunct podcast when there are 61 episodes

of a brand new podcast to take its place and

you're still waiting for that one episode that's

never coming. 61? 61. The newest episode is 61.

Really? Yeah. Did you fall off though? Did you

fall off and you're way behind? No. Yeah, I'm

I'm I'm behind on my on my burnt popcorn enjoyment.

No. Yes. So that's OK. That's OK. I won't hold

it against you. I mean, I did marathon close

to 80 episodes of part time nerds, full time

dads within like a week. Yeah, I feel like you

know more about my kids than I forgotten. Oh,

please. It's funny. All right, getting started

as podcasters, when did you discover podcasts

and what was the first one you listened to? Oh,

God, that's a good question. I mean, I'm trying

to think of what the first I feel like it was

like Nerdist was like the first podcast I listened

to. And because because I was never like big

on getting podcasts on unlike, you know, into

your iPod, right? You know, it seemed like it

was an extra step that I didn't need, you know,

to take, uh, to get more music and stuff. Cause

that's the podcast was, was taking up space that

my, uh, you know, my music could be taken up.

You know what? Now that I think about it, I think

the first podcast I actually listened to was

side scrollers, which is a, an old screw attack

podcast that doesn't exist and screw tech doesn't

even exist anymore. So good luck finding that

one. I'm sure it's archived somewhere. They always

have an internet archive of stuff with a guy

who ran it originally craig skitts miss craig

skitts miss he used to he has a He's a YouTube

channel. That's fairly popular and every so often.

He'll replay Like old bits from the old screwtack

days and cringe at them because that was like

early 2000s internet, right? Yeah Absolutely

How long after you started listening? Did you

want to start your own podcast? I fell into podcasting

like entirely by accident. I actually went to

school for radio broadcasting and mutual mutual

acquaintance of ours, Mike Dodd, applied for

my job while I was working at the radio station.

He was trying to. He was trying to be the radio

stations Video game and tech expert and that

was kind of my gig and and my boss. He sent me

an email He's like, hey this guy's trying to

steal your gig and I actually knew Dodds name

from screw attack because he was a big fan of

screw attack and he participated on their forums

and stuff So I knew that so I emailed him and

I started talking with him and that's actually

how I started Podcasting is because he had me

on this week in geek and and I was on this week

in geek for years Mm -hmm. I can't even tell

you like I I I Think now I feel like I am now

easily though with what we've been doing with

part -time nerds full -time dads I have the longest

single shot of episodes in a row I've ever done

in podcasting, but I couldn't tell you if I've

done more episodes for nerds or if I've done

more episodes for twig Well Untitled Mike and

Laura project was a hundred and twelve not counting

bonus episodes or whatever and then nerd news

That was at least two or three or four years

of the almost 15 years or whatever it's been

for I don't the math on that is just crazy. Yeah,

we did we did commentaries on on there and we

also did I was part of the twig relaunch when

they scrapped everything that they were doing

and they only focused on the on the show and

I was on I was on terrible warriors when it was

originally a twig property and then that went

off and became its own thing and and has become

very successful and I'm very happy for them.

Yeah, absolutely What was your plan in getting

your podcast off the ground? Which one? Any of

them all of them Yeah, I mean with with when

it came to twig. I was just a long for the ride

But with untitled Mike and Laura project that

was the first big one that I took on on my own

and And unfortunately, all of that is gone. I

actually do still have all of the audio. I had

a plan at one point to put all the audio up on

the burnt popcorn site, but I just couldn't.

It's all a matter of time, right? Finding time

to do anything when you have a three -year -old

running around is... It's fleeting like the fact

that I do two podcasts as it is and and now I'm

guessing on the only reason I'm guessing on yours

is because I had time because I'm on hiatus on

one of them, but Exactly. Yeah, so untitled michael

nor project was really just the first one that

I did On my own kind of and that was because

I I had so much fun with my what my then girlfriend

now wife just shooting the shit about stupid

things that it was kind of like, you know what

like enough people have told us that when we're

together we're funny enough that like you guys

should do a podcast and we just did it so that's

kind of because I remember going to a convention

and a whole bunch of people at the convention

were like you guys are funny you should do a

podcast we're like okay and we did a podcast

and that's that was how that one started and

I never really had any like big plans I just

did it because it was fun and then we stopped

doing it because Laura wasn't having any fun

anymore Yeah, and and then when it came down

time to to do a new podcast part -time nurse

full -time dads was the first one and I'm doing

that with my friend who actually did a radio

show with in college my friend Chris Blonsky

and He he was his idea. I hadn't done a podcast

in years and And he told me like hey, you want

you want to do a podcast and it was at first

I was like now because I was kind of holding

out hope that like like you are you're now that

you're now the one that holds out hope that Untitled

Mike and Laura project is coming back and I was

kind of holding out hope that Untitled Mike and

Laura project was going to come back and then

eventually I just was like why why why don't

I do a podcast with him you know because he's

talking to and if anything with both of us having

kids it was a good way to stay in touch and just

you know keep keep talking because like you know

when you get kids it's it's harder to keep in

contact with your friends i mean my brother has

two kids and i heard from him how hard it was

to to keep up with his friends especially friends

that didn't have kids and it was like well this

is an excuse to talk to one of my best friends

every week So that's basically how it started

out. And at the same time, we could also trade

tips on, you know, getting our kids to sleep

or eat food or whatever it was. And then and

then burnt popcorn. That was actually Laura's

idea. She decided that she wanted to to come

out of podcast retirement. And we had actually

been during the pandemic because this was the

pandemic was what started it was we basically

just started ordering pizza and watching old

movies and seeing how well they held up. And

then we just would make fun of them once it was

done. And then it was kind of like, oh, well,

we could be talking about this with other people

or even just putting our thoughts out there.

So we started a new podcast, Burnt Popcorn. And

we started out having guests. And then it just

became too hard to organize guests at the same

time as through the episodes. So we actually

haven't had a guest since episode 24. But as

I said, we're at 61 now. But yeah, it's just

something fun to do. In this case, it's something

fun to do with my wife. I don't even check the

numbers. I have no idea how many people listen.

It might just be you, Mike. No, come on now.

I don't know. As long as you're enjoying them.

As long as somebody's enjoying them, we'll keep

doing them. Yeah, absolutely. I forget if somebody's

enjoying it. As long as we're enjoying them,

we're going to keep doing them. Well, yeah. I

mean, you have to enjoy what you're doing. This

is one of the reasons why it took me. Again,

you had said you were in a podcast kind of funk

for years and whatever else. It took me almost

six years of the eight years that the pull bag

was online to get you to come on there. And that's

essentially how this even got started was because

the pull bag has origin questions all about comic

books. I've now expanded it here to studio all

about podcasting. You're going to have to come

on the tune cast one. Cause that's 30 questions

all about watching cartoons and you can tie that

into your kid and whatever else and all of that.

So for me, I had to adjust to, well, I love doing

review shows, like taking something like Transformers

generation one and discussing all 98 episodes.

I love doing that, but I hadn't been doing that

for so like I've been in this for 13 years and.

After a while you kinda do get burnt, you know,

there's a little bit too much extra crispy burnt

popcorn on your plate. And I'm like, okay, what

can I do differently? What should I do differently?

And the pull bag with the comic reading origins

things I feel was going so well and doing so

well. And I was getting, and I usually just do

one -on -one sometimes if it's a couple like

for cartoons. It's up to you and it's up to Laura.

If you both want to come on and do that together,

that's fine. That's great. That's awesome. I

have no problem, but basically it's just me one

-on -one with one or two guests. And I basically

do what I'm doing now and just ask questions

and have a conversation and have fun. That's

it. No research, no having to watch 65 cartoons

in a row kind of stuff or, you know, no notes,

no nothing. Well, that's the thing that always

is entertaining to me like I and as much as people

like I mean that's that's your thing, right?

Like I I know I have a friend who's a podcaster

and he told me like I was I was following on

Twitter and he posted a whole bunch of Of like

look at all the research I'm doing and he and

he had stacks like stacks of books about what

the episode was going to be And then when the

episode actually happened, I looked at it and

was 44 minutes long and I'm fairly certain he

did like six weeks worth of research on this

thing. I was like. My god, that's so much so

much work like like for burnt popcorn like we

throw out facts and stuff But it's stuff that

we either learned when we were watching Watching

the movie and looking at IMDb trivia or it's

just stuff that we happen to know Because we've

watched these movies a billion times, you know

things like that I mean you can do a little bit

of research, you know a little bit of research

doesn't hurt anyone Yeah, you know and especially

and I will forever say this and I don't care

what anyone says Wikipedia is your friend I don't

care what anyone says and yes in the olden days

I used to read from Wikipedia and sometimes I

still will say okay so I get that because my

brain even though I never had kids and apparently

because sadly my wife passed away I have no no

obligation for the rest of my I'm not had children

cut that right in the bud but anyway it's just

one of those things where I get focused on one

or two things and I can do that. But if I have

to remember, like if I'm watching a movie or

if I'm watching a TV show, I had doing a podcast

about it. I have to watch it that day, take a

few notes and then get ready for the recording.

Or I will plan to watch, say there isn't, there

isn't one. I wish there was one. I wish they

could make it good, but there isn't one. Oh my

god in twenty twenty two or in two in twenty

twenty one december twenty seven twenty twenty

one the metal gear solid movie is coming like

you know what i mean like if it's a single movie

and i can watch it within two hours and then

start the recording immediately after i watch

it so it's so fresh in my head but if it's like

i have to remember stuff i i don't remember stuff

so well anymore When it comes to something like

burnt popcorn, we watch the movie, we write down

of us. That's really all it is. Part -timers,

full -time dads, we do a little bit more research.

I wouldn't say we do research. We just see something

that we think is interesting during the week,

and then we throw it into a doc. The other one

reads it, and then if it's interesting enough,

we do it together. Pretty low Low research. There's

a lot. There's a lot of moments of okay. Well,

we have these this bunch of topics Which ones

are we gonna do? Did you even read that one?

No, okay. Well, I'll talk about it Yeah with

for those listening to this episode of studio

2009, you know on on part -timers full -time

dads. They usually start out with you know, hey

Mike. Hey Chris, how you doing? How was your

week? You got any kid stories? They might spin

Anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes or so about kids

stories depending on how many kids stories they

each have and then they go into like Topical

news discussions, whatever they want to talk

about and then that's that yeah. Yeah, it's funny

actually because we changed it I Don't say too

early on but if you go into some of the earlier

episodes It's almost like entirely like it just

this this showed evolved entirely as I went on

Yeah. Well, it has to because, and this is the

reason why when I, I was like, Mike Laidman doing

a podcast. Hmm. Okay. I need to devour this now.

And the reason why I say this, and this is how

I always tell people about part -time nerds,

full -time dads. This is the one, if not the

most podcast, you don't really have to start

from the beginning. You can start at the most

recent episode, but this show, you have to start

at the beginning because it is the journey of

Mike Laidman and Chris Blonsky of them and their

respective wives going through childbirth, going

through all of that. It's a story podcast in

the beginning. It's the evolution of what's going

on in your life. Whereas the episodes now are.

Hey, let's catch up with Mike and Chris this

week and see what's going on with their kids

and their wives and what's going on in their

lives. But those first, I would say. 85 episodes

maybe. Are pretty much story based for what's

going on in your life at that time. Yeah, there

was a period where we actually cut a lot of the

story stuff out just because it was like. Well.

Should we really be talking this much like does

anyone even care about this and then I realize

there's actually a different podcast that I listen

to That is it's it's married to the games and

it's about like guys who are our age playing

video games and trying to balance playing video

games with having kids and Their podcast not

even intentionally because like I didn't start

listening to it till after I was already doing

doing our podcast It starts the same way. The

guys talk about what they've been doing for the

last week. They talk about what games they've

been playing. They talk about what they've been

doing with their kids. And I was going through

this moment of like, oh, nobody wants to know

what we're doing with our kids. And then it was

like, but I listen to this podcast and I like

listening to what they're doing with their kids.

So why wouldn't people like listening? If they've

been doing it and they've been doing it for like

400 episodes, if they... have people who have

not told them in 400 episodes to stop talking

about their kids, then I think that people like

listening to them talking about their kids. So,

you know, it's just one of those things where

there are lifestyle geeky podcasts. Hell, they're

just plain old lifestyle podcasts that have nothing

to do with geek culture, but we are geeks. We

always will be geeks kind of thing. And whether

it's video games or TV shows or movies or whatever

it is, you know, you incorporate, especially

with a podcast like part -timers, full -time

dads, you incorporate all of that. And I remember

in a couple of the earlier episodes, you guys

were saying, we're also doing this partially.

So the parents and grandparents can kind of have

weekly updates of what's going on and blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, and whatever else. So you basically

have an audio record of when your children are

born, you know, or, you know, that whole process

of. That whole thing Which do you prefer audio

or video podcasting both as a fan and as a producer

I prefer audio like I mean straight up as a producer

I prefer audio because I don't do any video podcast

so that should answer that question right right

But I like even when it comes down to like podcasts

in general. I I don't watch Even though I was

already talking to you off the top before we

even started recording about how even though

I've seen like stats and figures about how more

people are listening to audio content like. like

podcasts and audiobooks on YouTube than ever

before. That's not me. That's not what I go to

YouTube for. I go to YouTube because I want to

watch something. It's weird because I'll listen

to like music videos, like I'll throw up music

videos on YouTube. But I won't I don't like listening

to podcasts. And I don't know why that is. Like,

I it's not like I have anything against talking

heads or anything like that. Because that's usually

all all those podcasts are on video. But like

I tend to do most of my podcast listening while

I'm doing something, especially now. I listen

to podcasts while I'm cleaning up my kids' toys

or doing the dishes or something like that. That's

when I'm listening to podcasts. So that's why

it's 100 % audio for me over video. Yeah, absolutely.

Audio all the way. For me with video on my phone

or something, Will as long as my phone allows

to do the the split screen with YouTube I will

throw something like clownfish TV if they have

a video I want to have hear their opinions about

and whatever else and I'll throw that on and

I'll sit here and play Candy Crush Soda Saga

or something kind of thing where I'm doing something

else. I specifically remember this I don't remember

which episode it was. I think it was somewhere

in the 80s, but I was in the middle of my PT

nerds FT dads marathon and I had my phone in

my pocket. You and Chris were talking about something.

I was walking down the stairs in the house at

the time and I went to go start doing some dishes

and I'm like, I can't hear them. So I put it

on my Bluetooth speaker, made it a little louder.

Okay. I can't concentrate on these dishes and

listen to them at the same time because I'd rather

listen to them to do the goddamn dishes There

you go, that's the review that's the review for

the advertisement better than dishes What kind

of setup did you have when you started podcasting

and what do you use now oh man When I started

I had the worst microphone like I'm trying to

remember what they're even called. It was one

of those ones where it was like, uh, it was just

like, you know, Bob Barker, how he had like that

one long microphone. Yeah. Yeah. It was like

that is that's what I had. And I remember, I

think I did one episode with Dodd and he was

like, get a better microphone. I was like, Oh

yeah, I guess that makes sense. Cause I mean,

you know, I'm not used to doing, doing podcasts.

I didn't have a good microphone and I got Oh

God, what was it? It was just a USB mic, but

it did, it did me very well for years. And when

did I decide to go? It was when we were started,

when we started doing untitled Mike and Laura

project regularly. Like I think the first few

episodes are recorded on the same like USB microphone,

but when it was like, Oh, well there's going

to be two of us recording at the same time. It

would probably be better if we each had separate

microphones. and I bought like I went all in

and I spent like a ton of money I bought like

a like a mixing board with like four four spots

on it and like uh like I have two microphones

and two microphone stands and I have like microphone

arms now that instead of using the stands and

yeah so my setup is definitely a lot better I

got like a nice sure microphone I've been debating

about upgrading you know even because there's

so much new stuff out there and upgrading some

of to some of that stuff because like there there's

like really high end like microphone arms and

stuff and meanwhile i have like this rickety

ass one that like if i'm not careful is going

to fall over what we're talking but yeah but

yeah it's a much it's a much different setup

than when i started that is for sure so heaven

forbid I hope this doesn't happen because it

just should never happen. If your headphones

or microphone break down, do you buy the exact

same setup or do you use that opportunity to

upgrade? Oh, good question. I mean, it depends

on what it is. Right. You know, like. Because

if there's a lot of cases that you want to just

know, like, oh, this works, because that's that's

what I've done before with certain things that

break. It's like, you know, oh, this I already

know how this works. I'm just going to buy the

same thing and be happy and just go right back

to where I started. But I feel like I mean, microphone,

I think is going to work. Maybe headphones. I

might buy new headphones like the ones I have

right now are nice. My wife says if I buy another

pair of headphones, she's going to kill me because

I have I have to have too many too many. That's

for sure. I remember and the listeners will get

tired of me saying this because I say it in every

one of these episodes are I believe it's a mutual

friend Dustin Van Coor good old Dustin he back

in 2014 he mentioned to me about the JVC H something

I forget what the the actual what is the thing

called on here it's the H a R X seven hundreds

he had mentioned those to me and. I was like,

okay, sure. I've only had to, I bought them twice.

The first time lasted me about five years from

2014 to 2019. And then in 2019, I had to buy

another pair because the, the ear cups were rafting

away and whatever else and the foam on those

or whatever the cushioning stuff. And I'm like,

God, this is a mess. So I just bought those.

But yeah, I I've had a CAD U37 condenser mic

since 2010. And I try my best to find it every

time if I need to replace it. And the sad thing

is I figured, oh, I should upgrade because I

only had a, a generic, I didn't have its original

USB cable. I had a generic USB cable for it.

I'm like, Ooh, I should use this opportunity

to upgrade. I bought one brand new. Instead of

it being the gray version of the caddy thirty

seven it's a black version of my go okay cool

i plug it in. I don't know what that is the mic

side this thing i just buy it it's plug and play

there's no software there's no drivers there's

no there's no nothing it's just plug and it should

work in there. You know to little audio setting

buttons on the front and that's it there's no

mute button on it or anything like that you have

to use the buttons and caster whatever kind of

thing. Well, the new one, the black one, was

giving me some sort of weird audio feedback and

I couldn't figure it out and I couldn't figure

it out, so I went with... I went to my buddy

Steve Megatron who runs GCRN with me. And I said,

what's the, you know, can you hear the difference?

He's like, yeah, no. So basically I bought a

brand new same microphone and I just have the

proper USB cable for it now, which I haven't

had for like three years. So I spent like 50

bucks for a USB cable. Oh, wow. Originally, when

I bought the thing, it was $70, this microphone,

but that's not bad because this mic is pretty

good so far. Did you think you'd be podcasting

for as long as you have? No, I don't know. I

assume podcasting was just going to disappear

once YouTube got popular, but it's still going.

I don't want to say a break because it was over.

When Untitled Mike and Laura Project ended, I

thought that was it. I didn't think I'd be doing

podcasting again. So it was kind of surprising

to not only be doing one new podcast, but two

new podcasts. Absolutely. All right. So you mentioned

your podcast listenership a few moments ago.

As a listener, what defines a good podcast to

you? Chemistry of hosts is usually a pretty big

one. That's that's a that's one that I always

like I'm trying to think of what else like is

it is it also entertaining, you know, like if

I'm just oh, it's it's hard to describe, you

know what describe your taste, you know, and

just whatever because I do listen to all sorts

of different stuff like I do listen to mostly

Mostly a table of people talking about video

games, but in some cases I do listen to, I don't

know if you ever heard of business wars. They

do basically historical recreations of Netflix

versus blockbuster video and stuff. It's super

interesting. And I have a few other podcasts

I listen to like that too. So I mean, there's

no real, you know, like set thing that makes

me tune into a podcast outside of like, does

the subject matter appeal to me? And that's really

the main thing. Like, actually there's another

one that I listened to, 20 ,000 Hertz, which

is just really interesting. And it's, I don't

even listen to every episode. I just listen to

the ones that. that interests me. And it's all

about the science or the stories behind popular

sounds. They did an episode about where Siri's

voice came from, how Siri's voice happened. They

did an episode about how did they create the

dinosaur roars in Jurassic Park. It's all super

interesting stuff, but sometimes it's - It was

Frank Welker. Well, not in this case. In this

case, there was a collar monkey and a baby elephant

and all sorts of stuff. But yeah, it's just stories

like that. How did the Xbox sound get made? noise

that happens on their commercials, things like

that. And sometimes it's like, what about, this

is the sound we're talking about. I'm like, oh,

well, I don't care about that one. So I will

listen to that one, you know? So yeah, as long

as the subject matter appeals to me, it's something

that gets my attention as a listener. Yeah, absolutely.

And for me, I think the, at least as far as I

know, because I haven't actually done the research

on it, the biggest mystery for me right now,

since you mentioned the Xbox sound effect, Who

is the person doing play station remember the

old play. Oh yeah the old yeah yeah yeah like

I've always wondered who did that. I don't think

they've done that one is an episode yet but if

they did I would listen to it I'd let you know

if I'd heard that. So as a listener what does

a podcast have to have to draw you in and keep

coming back for more so let's say you you find

a podcast that has. Let's just say fifty episodes

but you want to start at the beginning to see

where they started on their journey what is episode

one have to have to keep you coming back for

episode two three four five etcetera. Good question

i'm just trying to think of of certain podcasts

that i've listened to like. One of the ones I've

listened to I started at the beginning like they

announced that they were doing it was a YouTube

personality that I followed I followed for years

on other podcasts and they started a new podcast

so that was that's kind of one of the ones that

I'm listening to the most and I started to that

one on episode one so that when I kind of. That

one i kind of stayed with because i was already

a fan of the personalities behind it but then

there was another one the one i was talking about

earlier married to the games that one i didn't

start with episode one on that one i jumped in

cuz i was more. More of a news podcast like the

opposite they talk about they talk about their

families and stuff but i've been listening to

them for the news and i. could have started over

at number one, but they were at like three hundred

and seventy or something like that. And I was

like, I think I'll just stick with it from here.

I got the gist of it. But like the what kept

me going with that one was because I just really

liked. The I like listening to those guys talking

like they there was just a good chemistry between

those guys and and it was really funny that I

remember there was I was just listening to it

and I like to I like this to like this and then

they just made this one joke and it just clicked

with me and I'm like okay yeah I gotta listen

to the next episode and then I've been listening

to it ever since and. Very cool. Very cool as

a listener Do you prefer short 30 minutes to

an hour and 30 minute shows or do you prefer

longer podcast episodes as in two hours or more?

depends on the subject matter I I like longer

podcasts when it's like people talking, you know,

like if it's more straight if it's conversational,

I like longer podcasts if it's more infirm informative

and like Information base like that business

wars when I was talking about that can be short

and I don't mind So I've been doing this lately

with this question and we've kind of already

talked about it where sometimes you skip around

and whatever else But as a listener, do you start

at the beginning of a podcast the most recent

episode or do you just jump jump around? Yeah.

It depends on when I hop into the podcast. Like

20 ,000 Hertz was a podcast that had been around

for a while. And the way that that one's based,

it's an informative one. It's not like news or

anything like that. So I jump around to what

appeals to me. The Business Wars one that I started...

I jumped to the story because I didn't start

listening to that one at the beginning. I jumped

to the war that appealed to me most and I started

there and then I continued on from that. If it's

news based, I usually just jump into whatever

the newest one is and then move on and move on.

There was a period where there was a couple of

news podcasts that I stopped listening to. There

was one I was listening to. It was Daily. and

I fell so far behind on it because it was a long

podcast. It was like an hour and a half every

day. And I would listen to it and I would, but

it was only like five, it was five days a week,

but still five days a week is a lot at an hour

and a half each, right? And I started to fall

behind and I'm like, I'm never gonna catch this

up. And I just jumped ahead like 20 episodes

because I was that far behind. And even then,

I still found myself falling behind because of

just that exact same thing, like the frequency

of it and how many episodes there were. So in

that case, I started to jump around, too. And

then I actually found, funnily enough, the Married

to the Games podcast I listened to, one of the

hosts on that one guessed it on the other one.

And that's how I heard of that podcast. And once

I jumped to the other one, I stopped listening

to that one. I haven't listened to an episode

since. Yeah, okay, so I consider anyone that's

on a podcast is a host or co -host So when I

ask this next question, it's just anyone that's

on the show So as a listener, how many hosts

are too many on one episode? More than four Yeah,

yeah more than four is way too many Yeah, three

is the sweet spot. The only way you can do four

or more is if you have a specific track for like,

you know, you take the top 100s that we do and

that we've done in the past, animated series,

animated films, transformers, whatever. You know,

you have like me or Kevin or Steve or whomever.

As the host to ask the questions and then they'll

say, okay, what's your opinion, your opinion,

your opinion. So in that case, you know, having

more is fine. But if you're just doing like what

we're doing here, like what you and Chris do

over on PT nerds, FT dads, or what you and Laura

do on burn popcorn. Three is a sweet spot. I

find three is fine. Four sometimes can be tricky.

Anything more than four is. Disastrous. Yeah,

like the one podcast I listen to that has four

is somewhat of a structured show. So they'll

they'll they kind of roundtable it. So, you know,

so it's not really like they're talking over

each other so much. So it's it's manageable.

But, you know, if if you have a podcast where

it's like, you know, four people and they're

just anyone who wants to talk and talk at any

time, that's when you start to lose people. Yep.

Speaking of which when do you stop listening

to a podcast altogether? In some cases when I

find a better alternative A perfect example that

I just gave it was was the marriage of the games

one it was I was listening it was a gaming podcast

a gaming news podcast I was listening to and

it was daily and part of my problem with it was

that they were doing this thing where they were

rotating hosts, like they have a lot of guest

hosts. And the main reason I started listening

to it in the first place was because of who was

initially hosting it. And then that guy just

stopped appearing like they'd go by like 15 episodes

and he wouldn't be on it once. And, and it was

like, okay, well, like, I feel like I'm starting

to lose this podcast and I'm kind of getting

done with it. And then this other guy popped

on the podcast and he was like, Hey, this is

why this is the podcast I'm on is married to

the games. And, and, you know, we're a bunch

of 35, 40 year old guys who, who try to balance

life and gaming and with kids and the wives.

And I'm like, that's literally what I do every

day. Like this is this is now suddenly cuz cuz

that's the other thing that people who are hosting

a show world young all young single. You know

no kids it was like i can't i don't relate to

this anymore you know so it was kind of like.

It was for me it was easy to jump to that other

podcast because i related to it more these guys

on the other podcast i'm talking to her listening

to they're like oh yeah i jump from one game

to the next cuz i have nothing to do and nowhere

to go and then i was like. this other podcast

that I'm listening to, they struggle to get,

Oh, what game are you playing this week? What

one game are you playing this week? Because you

have no time to do anything else because you

have, you know, dance recital or something to

go to this week. And that's, that's, that's what

life is like for me now. So I relate way more

to that than I do to, to what was going on in

the other podcasts. Yeah. And I mean, for me,

it's like, you know, like I've told you before

off air, it's like, Hey, Mike Lidman's doing

a podcast. I remember when I used to love listening

to Mike doing a podcast. And it's like, it doesn't,

for me, it doesn't matter the way I look at it.

And like when you and Chris tell stories about

your kids or what's going on or whatever it is,

I'm like, I love listening to these guys because

I don't have to deal with any of that stuff.

What podcasts are you currently listening to?

I've already mentioned Mary to the games. I listen

to business wars. I listen to sacred symbols,

which is another PlayStation was a PlayStation

specific podcast. Those are the main three that

I jump between, but I also will hop on to 20

,000 Hertz. There's a podcast that all of a sudden

I cannot remember the name of Which is very sad.

Hold on. My phone is right here. I can just pull

up the... There you go. I'll just pull up Stitcher.

I'll tell you exactly what I'm listening to.

What is the name? It's got pixels in the title

and I don't know why I cannot remember it. Well,

it couldn't be pixels in the animation because

that's mine and TV's mr. Neal show and that heavily

Heavily pixelated is a show that I listen to

yeah It's about people who have had video games

help them get through hard times in their lives

and it's it's very interesting like there's people

who talk about like how playing through, you

know a game help them get through like a loss

of a loved one or something like that and it's

very interesting to listen to people like uh

you know just talk about how they relate to gaming

in a way that's not just like you know i'm playing

halo again this week you know something like

that yeah those are the main ones i have a whole

bunch on here that i've completely fallen off

on or i listen to pick and choose how did this

get played is a good one that's uh one where

they uh i don't know if you know how did this

get made it's kind of a spin -off of how did

this get made so it's basically it's how did

this get made for video games and that's uh that's

a good one too very cool very cool I have just

added pixel heavily pixelated to my Spotify.

Yay. Yeah. They haven't done a new episode in

a while. Um, that's the beauty of podcasting.

If a podcast has a specific, cause I always set

out, like, especially with review shows. If you

like, again, going back to what the GeekCast

radio network was founded on transformers. G1

only has 98 episodes there's not much more you

can do with talking about the cartoon after you've

talked about all 98 episodes so a podcast has

a beginning. And that's the greatest thing if

a podcast does end and you find it you know much

much later like. Here's hoping and i know this

probably won't happen but if you ever find the

time to put. the Untitled Mike and Laura project

back up and we cannot listen to it again on whatever

feed we want to listen to it on and just have

it be a historical thing and that'll be great.

You know, we still have all that fun audio and

everything else. So I mean, that's the way I

look at podcasts that either are on hiatus or

have ended where it's like, oh, I can listen

to all the, it's the same thing as like watching

TV shows. What's your favorite TV show of all

time, Mike? My hair t -shirt. Yeah, my favorite

TV show of all time is actually Legend of Korra

Okay, is that still going or is it ended? It's

done. They only did four seasons of it and it's

finished Okay You can go back wherever that show

is streaming or whatever or if you have it on

DVD or whatever if you you know You have access

to it You can go back and watch that show anytime

you want you can go back and watch your favorite

episode the same thing with podcasting you can

go back through the catalog as long as the audio

is still hosted. So as long as the audio doesn't

disappear on us, you know? Sometimes that happens.

Sometimes that happens. Case in point. Case in

point. Case in point. I'll give you a case in

point. We're going to take a quick break. You're

going to hear some ads and some other stuff,

and we will come back to talk about Mike's podcast

production after this. Buy some stuff. Hello

Geeks and Geekettes! Looking for a podcast that

covers a vast array of topics? Then check out

Altered Geek Unleashed, where we discuss our

thoughts on this week's geeky news, tech, gaming,

television shows, movies, cartoons, comics, and

more. So, get Altered Get Geeky with the Altered

Geeks, every Friday on the Geekcast Radio Network.

Hey gamers, TV's Mr. Neil here. The Gaming Hipster

is my personal podcast in which I take you on

a journey through my history of gaming both new

and old. Each month is a new topic show in which

I bring you my console memories, give reviews

of my favorite video games, and talk with cool

guests. People have made cartridges. I've actually

played Netflix on Nintendo. I was making sure

that I got everything. I was writing it all down.

They fixed that for the third fake prototype.

And that's the first time I remember seeing real

animated boobs. Find the podcast at Geekcast

Radio. You also get various topic shows, my commentary

podcast, the big bad movie show, commercial free

geek cast stuff and more. All at Patreon .com

slash Mr. Neil and RavingHipster .com. Because

the world needs another movie podcast. The Geekcast

Radio Network presents for your listening pleasure,

The Cinege. Hosted by Amanda, Kevin, Matt and

Dan. Each week we dive headfirst in the landscape

of movies as we discuss movie news. play movie

games, go in depth on reviews, and even have

a top 10 countdown or two. Also, don't miss our

director retrospective series, where we review

line is, if you love movies and you love podcasts,

you need to experience the Cinema Geeks. You

can find us on iTunes, Blog .Radio, or GeekCastRadio

.com. Hi, my name is Dr. Andraela Namendi, clinical

psychologist. And I'm Brian Ward, nerd. And we

want to invite you to listen to our new podcast,

The Arkham Sessions. It's a podcast dedicated

to the fun. And geeky. Analysis of Batman the

animated series, episode by episode. We pay tribute

to the writers and the stories of the animated

series. While also exploring the very real psychology

behind Gotham's robes. And maybe even its heroes.

All of this and more. Each week. On The Arkham

Sessions. at UnderTheMaskOnline .com. Toycast

is back. We are talking toys once more here on

the GeekCast Radio Networks toy and action figure

podcast from breaking into the display case to

our toy topic talk and the brand new origins

in toy collections where we get guests to tell

us their toy story of how they got into toy collecting.

Toycast is the only toy podcast you will ever

need. Find us on geekcastradio .com and any podcatching

client you choose to use. Now go forth, transform

and transcend your toy collecting today while

listening to Toycast. I got something! Since

2009, we have been the premiere cartoon podcast

here at the Geekcast Radio Network. We are Tooncast.

From taking you beyond the cartoons we grew up

with to seasonal saucy toontalk, and now we get

the origins of toonstars everywhere as we ask

guests 30 questions about their cartoon watching

experiences. Plus so much more. Tooncast is back.

Join me, TF2 and Mike and the rest of the GCRN

crew as we give you all the toon talk you will

ever need only on the GCRN and wherever you consume

your podcasts we are beyond good beyond evil

beyond your wildest imagination we are all toons

all the time here on toon cast yeah all right

we are back and it is time to talk about podcast

production as a producer do you find yourself

listening to podcasts less and less I I would

say so So as I was going through what I was talking

about just a few moments ago, I have three podcasts

I listen to on the regular. When the day comes

and that new episode comes, I'm listening to

it. But a lot of my podcasts, I listen to them

sporadically. I'll be like, oh, I've listened

to those other ones. What's left? You know, so

I've definitely I've definitely gone from listening

another reason I stopped listening to so many

podcasts too is also because I stopped commuting

that That really takes a chunk out of your podcast

listening time. That's for sure That's true.

That's true All right. Let's see here as a producer.

Are you a podcast planner? Are you just throwing

stuff at the microphone to see what sticks a

little in between little in between Um, there's

a, there's a structure to the podcast that I

have. So I have to do some, some planning involved.

There's some planning involved in making sure

that that structure is, has gone through. Like,

like you said, when we talking about, uh, how

part -time nurse, full -time dads is it's basically

structured intro. We talk about our kids. We

talk about prominent news stories. We're done.

And then, but, but how we get to that, like we'll,

we'll talk off air, like, Hey, how do you want

to talk about these? Like, we won't tell each

other the kids stories in advance. We are hearing,

we're hearing our personal stories at the moment

we're being, they're being told for the first

time. I think that makes it better because that

way. You each have a genuine reaction of, oh,

we haven't told each other what's, I mean, obviously

if something heaven forbid happens to either

one of y 'all's families, obviously you would

talk about it beforehand and damn the podcast.

But you know, that's what makes it so cool to

me is I can hear in your all's voices when you

do tell the stories. It's like they haven't.

They don't know about this. Yeah, Chris and I

have admitted fully to each other that we have

not like we have. purposely not told each other's

stories that we think would be funny because

we're waiting to tell them on the podcast. Exactly.

And that's what makes part -time nerds, full

-time dads, one of the best dad podcasts out

there. But then the second half, the second half

of that show where we talk about stories, that

is like completely structured. We know going

in what stories we're going to talk about, the

order we talk about them, maybe not how long

we're going to talk about them. Like we just

let the conversation go and then Eventually,

when I figured that we've talked as much as we're

going to talk about a certain topic, then I'll

terribly segue into the next topic and we'll

move on. Then for burnt popcorn, there's a structure

to that show where it's basically, here's the

movie, here's where it came out, this is what

the world was like when it came out. What do

you remember about this movie because that's

the whole thing we're trying to remember see

if the movies better than our memories or still

lives up to our memories or is terrible compared

to our memories so we do our memories and then

we we talk about the movie and like the only

structure to that point of the conversation is.

we just talk about the movie in the order the

movie happened. Laura and I do not share our

don't look at each other's notes or anything

or discuss how we're going to talk about the

movie beforehand. We just have a conversation

about the movie and sometimes we hit all the

points on our notes and sometimes we don't. And

then when we get to the end of the movie, we

give our thoughts and whether we thought the

movie aged well or didn't at all. yeah i mean

and then that's the thing like if you're so if

i sit here and let's just say if i sit here and

i want and you and i want to make a top 10 list

of the best kojima characters or whatever or

the best middle gear solid characters or whatever

Whatever's on my list should be a surprise to

you just as whatever's on your list should be

a surprise to me so that way again it's a genuine

reaction like I don't share notes with people

because it's like why would I why would I want

them to already know about it and just agree

and move on that's not what makes A good podcast

what makes a good podcast is if you watch so

i married an axe murder and you each take notes

and you each come at it from a different angle

that's what makes an interesting podcast is you

have two interesting hosts that have two different

opinions about whatever and sometimes you have

the same opinion and that's fine too because

you you each enjoyed it or didn't enjoy it there.

I like that so i married an axe murder was your

pole. I don't know. I was just trying to think

of a movie that was a one -off. And that's where

you win. So I married an axe murderer. There's

so many movies. I mean, do you want me to pull

out a gold member or something? It could be anything.

I mean, yeah. That's the thing. It you're still

pulling out Mike Meyers movies your Name a bunch

of movies if I asked you to name a bunch of movies

you turn around and you'd be like Wayne's World

To Shrek just go through Oh God Shrek anyway,

anyway, anyway As a producer are you a one -man

show kind of host or do you prefer working with

other co -hosts? I like I like co hosts and this

boils down to my radio days to actually when

I was in school for radio, we would do we would

do the you know, like the practice radio broadcast

and stuff. And we actually had a college station

where we had where we had, you know, we did our

actual broadcast, like we did real radio broadcasting.

And I always found That when i worked solo i

hated it so much because i never knew if anything

i said was interesting or registering with people

or funny or anything like when you have that

co host with you you have a hundred percent live

feedback. And you can tell whether if if they're

in the same room by their faces or by the tone

of their voice or if they're laughing. If what

you're actually saying is either interesting

funny or whatever so i've always preferred i've

always prefer to be part of a group. Yeah absolutely

yeah i'd much prefer. Working with people because

that way i can bounce off of them and they can

bounce off of me and we can each throw out ideas

and whatever. So obviously one of your oldest

friends is your co -host obviously your wife

is your co -host but in general How would you

go about finding co -hosts for whatever other

show you might want to create in the future?

Usually when it comes to like I can give you

an example for like I said, we haven't done guests

in a while for for burnt popcorn, but usually

when it comes to guests we'll ask someone like

You know, hey, I know you really like this movie.

Like it's somebody we know. Like they haven't

been. That's not true. We have had one guest

on burnt popcorn that I never had met until the

moment that they came up on the show and Laura

hadn't met them either. It was she just kind

of threw out. Does anyone want to talk about

this movie? And it was the craft and I hated

it. But but that that was. It was for the most

part we asked you know, hey who do you want to

go on the show? And you want to do talk about

this movie? But yeah, so like well I usually

when it comes down to asking for these guests

It's somebody that I know and I know personally

which is why I was been able to have guests on

the show because I know their interests. I want

my friend who's really into Bruce Campbell movies

to come on to talk about Army of Darkness or

my friend who is really into Godzilla movies

to come on and talk about the 1998 Godzilla movie,

something like that. Which I will say on one

hand, when you're doing a podcast about does

this movie hold up, if you invite the people

on knowing that they really like those movies,

they all like them. So, yeah, there's never,

there's never any mystery, never any mystery

on whether they liked it or not at the end of

the episode. Yeah. You know, as long as the chemistry

is there, that's really what matters. I mean,

again, like I said, if you and I liked inner

space, you know, we can each have our issues

with it but at the same time it's okay if we

both like the movie or um what's another one

let's see uh frequency yes i'm throwing denis

quaid movies out now folks uh which okay let's

see where am i here okay as a producer do you

feel you need a mixing board and all the fancy

stuff that would essentially be found on a radio

station Or are you good with a great mic and

a set of headphones? If you'd asked me a few

years ago, I would have said, yes. If you wanted

to sound professional, you needed a mixing board.

You needed blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But

there's so much stuff out there now that's geared

towards production of content. Because it's basically

thanks to all of the streaming. Streaming is

so popular that there's so much, so much stuff

out there. that you really, if you're, or even

if you're not a one man operation, there's plenty

out there that will work. Like it really depends

on what you're doing. Like if you're doing something

like you and I are doing right now, I mean, we're

not in the same, we're not even in the same country.

Forget the same room. Like we, all we needed

here was you needed a microphone and I needed

a microphone and we have Zen cast to do the rest

of the work for us. And like, all I would have

needed if I had just been getting started was

headphones and a microphone. That's it, because

all of the rest of it's being done through that.

But again, if you're doing something like what

I'm doing with my wife, where we're both recording,

unless I want to send her to another room. to

record off a laptop, we kind of need that setup

to be able to record both of us at the same time

kind of a thing. So yeah, it really depends on

on what your setup is. But I don't think by any

means you need the big professional setup if

depending on your needs. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,

it's funny sometimes in person, like especially

with you with you and Laura, it's you know, You

live together of course you're in a podcast together

again why would you want to put on a laptop and

throw runs and cast or whatever you're gonna

throw up audacity or whatever and just record

through whatever thing you have there you're

gonna sit next to each other you know looking

to each other's eyes and glare when somebody

says the wrong thing or the quote unquote incorrect

opinion on films or whatever kind of thing you

know it's like and that's what makes. You know,

certain in -person live pot, not live, but you

know what I mean? Podcasts to the point of that's

what makes those great because you can be there,

but at the same time, stuff like this is also

great because we're each in our own space. We

each have our own comforts around us or whatever.

I have a turtle van sitting next to me with a

bunch of DVDs in it now. Uh, anyway. you know

so I mean it's one of those things where yes

sometimes in person which is a question you know

down it was it's this next next question after

this one as a producer how much time do you put

into the editing of the show too much too much

time too much time it depends like in both my

shows it's funny because we record we record

Zen using Zen caster part -timers, full -time

dads. We originally did the first, I think it's

the first eight, eight episodes are done in person.

Like he would, Chris would come over after he

finished work on Fridays and we record this before

he went home. And then he realized like, if I,

if I come to your house after work and record,

then I see my child for like two minutes, because

by the time I get home, he goes to bed. So that's

why we started doing it remotely and, and Zen

caster worked out great. I didn't even know it

existed until I had need for it. And, but the

problem with doing it with Zencaster is it introduced

more work to me. And, and it, it really, it introduced

more work to it because of my own insanity. And

so what happened was when we first started, well,

and actually, no, and we didn't even start doing

Zencaster at first, what we started doing was

we would do like, An audio clap like he would

record himself on audacity and I would record

myself on audition We'd record ourselves. He'd

email me the audio I'd use the clap to sync up

and then I'd edit the show together from there

and Then we ended up using Zen caster and Zen

caster records everything very nicely for you

get separate tracks blah blah blah great but

the problem was is as soon as we started doing

the The separate recordings is we started talking

over each other because we didn't have that in

-person vibe going on. And at first, I kind of

left it, and then it just really started to bother

me, because I'd listen to episodes back and I'd

be like, oh, this sounds terrible, because we're

constantly being like, oh, wait, what did you

say? Well, you go ahead. No, you go ahead. Like

that would, that kept happening. And it just

sounded to me like it was super distracting and

it just really bothered me. So once we started

recording with the, with the Zencaster and the

two audio tracks, I started going through and

any time we talk over each other, I edited out

like just entirely. Like I do so much editing

now, like when it comes to the, to part timers,

full time dads, like if you listen to part timers,

full time dads, It is pristine. There are no

like, there aren't even any ums. The only times

I leave ums is if somebody says it in a way that,

uh, that you just can't take it out. You know,

like it just doesn't sound natural. If you take

it out, like, like there's a very obvious cut

if it's still in there, you know, um, or or what

I'll do is like, if we talk over each other,

I'll cut that out. Or if one of us is just listening

to the other one talking and going like, uh -huh,

uh -huh, uh -huh, and adding nothing to the conversation,

I will cut that out too so it's just the other

person talking. So I just do that. But then if

you listen to burnt popcorn, which is recorded

in one take on one track with both of us in the

same room, a lot more of that stuff stays. Because,

um, you know, I don't have the other saying,

um, yeah, I'm making tons of work for you. This

is how much work I have to do it on myself is

because I say I'm so much Chris is even worse,

but with Laura and myself doing it, you know,

I can't take some of that stuff out. It's, it's,

I can't fix some of those talking over each other

points, which bothers me because in some cases,

one of us will say a really funny joke and then

the other one talks over it and it's worthless,

you know, something like that. I can fix that

stuff in the double, the double record stuff,

but I can't fix it in just the, the one -on -one

in the same take kind of a thing. Yeah, absolutely.

I want to find some sort of sound engineers,

software guru that could help us create a piece

of software that you could add to Adobe audition,

or you could add to any editing software for

audio that automatically takes out. Um, because,

Oh my God. That's what I spend the most time

taking out is ums, ahs, pauses, long pauses.

Yep. If the conversation, have you been watching

Hawkeye? Yeah, I've been watching. Okay. Okay.

So if we're talking about Hawkeye season, well

series, cause it's only as they say, it's only

going to be a six. episode limited series thing

but let's just say season one episode one and

we have a discussion and we're both talking and

that's fine and great and whatever and we get

to a point where it's a stopping thing or we're

getting to a point of transition of going to

the next part of discussing the episode and somebody

says um And there's a little bit of silence.

I will then go back and throw in a piece of audio

from the actual episode of the show that we're

talking about, because if it's a natural conversation

stop point, I feel like I can throw in a piece

of audio from whatever we're talking about to

say, Hey, this is a, you know, here's an example.

Of the show that we're watching or here's a this

or I, you know, my favorite quote was, this is

going to be the best part and Christmas ever.

Not that that was my favorite quote, but again,

that's a short clip thing that you can throw

in at the end of a conversation. Right. We've

kind of already talked about this and we've talked

about the differences, but do you prefer as a

producer in -person recordings or over the internet

recordings? I used to prefer in -person like.

I mean, I mean to the point of like, I don't

ever want to do, you know, like a remote recording

again. I do like in person better. I do feel

that the, the conversation does flow a little

more easily. Like even it's gotten better. Like

stuff like Zen casters made it a lot easier to

be more More close together, you know, like when

when we were doing what I like what I mentioned

at the beginning when Chris was recording himself

and I was recording myself and we put it together

with an audio clap to sync it up that That was

the worst like there was the chemistry suffered

so much because of you know waiting for your

turn to jump in and talking over each other and

stuff, but once we got back into something like

Zencaster and started watching that we started

doing video with each other. We were able to

do more, you know, knowing each other's rhythms

again, you know, like we picked up better. The

episodes started to improve again and they started

to be more like they were when we were recording

them in person. But I mean, you just can't beat

the in -person process versus remote. I used

to really be against remote, which is really

funny because when I did like twig and stuff,

it was like a hundred percent remote, you know,

like how often whereas I actually there for a

recording, but like it's, I, I, um, I prefer,

I prefer in person, but I have nothing against

doing remote. That's for sure. I've always done

remote. I find it being the easiest thing. I

have done two in -person recordings. One was

an interview with, uh, Barbecue joint owner in

Illinois and the other was when Steve Megatron

came into my wedding at the time we did a little

podcast after the wedding and Unless my apartment

or whatever has a Square table round table whatever

and the computers there and people can each sit

around with a mic like I can't sit here with

my microphone, throw it over to the side so we

can both talk. I don't have multiple microphones.

I didn't at that time, and I don't now. So it's

like, I have to focus on talking to him, make

sure Audacity is doing what it's supposed to

do. You know what I mean? At least with this,

at least with the remote thing with Zencaster,

it's like, oh, I think... In the hour and seven

minutes that we've talked so far, I think I've

checked it twice just to make sure things are

doing what they're supposed to do, because just

in case the internet craps out or the world gets

destroyed or something. It happens. Yeah. As

both a listener and a producer, do you prefer

one feed have everything or should each type

of show have its own feed? So basically you create

something that you want to talk about comics,

movies, music, cartoons, blah blah blah. Should

each of those episodes be on all in one feed

or should they each have their own specific feed

for that specific audience? I like the separate

feeds just because like you might not be into

everything that that a certain one does. Like,

I mean, a perfect example. And I'm not going

to single you out here, Mike, because I know

you guys do the single feed is a podcast that

it's a it's an old wonder podcast where like,

well, actually wonder he does it all the time.

And it really bothers me is they'll put in like

an episode of Some other show that they're doing

that has absolutely nothing to do with what you're

listening to to be like, I mean, I know they're

advertising, right? But like, I listen to the

business wars show. Well, when you suddenly throw

in sports wars, you know, like an episode of

sports wars to try to get me to listen to sports

wars that bothers me, you know, I want to, so

if you look at my business wars feed, it's like,

listen to listen to listen to listen to didn't

didn't because they throw in all these extra

ones i prefer to just have this nice clean feed

that i can just jump from the next episode right

into yeah i've always had the separate because

again i am do i have always done for the last

13 years specific podcast topics or review shows

i am not going to throw every episode of the

boy and girl meets world podcast onto our main

feed where we have all the normal geek topics

or whatever same thing with this show the whole

point and the audience knows this if we even

have the audience for this podcast for studio

two thousand nine the thing that steve megatron

i came up with this is anything that is in the

audio and visual realm tv movies video games

you know audio books music whatever and then

i came up with the podcast approach to talk to

other podcasters like yourself and have this

fun discussion or whatever else so you know this

all has its own thing that is separate from everything

else and once you get to thirteen years of podcasting

folks you've recorded probably over three thousand

episodes yeah i'm a machine i don't know how

you do it I have no wife. I have no wife, have

no wife anymore, you know, all that. And it's

like, you know, it is what it is. How do you

use social media to promote your shows? I don't.

I'm very bad at it. Very bad. I think that really,

it really comes down to the fact that I'm just

bad at social media in general. Usually there's

a, Chris does all the promotion for part -timers

full -time. full -time dads, and he does it a

little better than I do. He usually does a link

to the episode on Twitter and Facebook, and then

later in the day there's a reminder in case you

missed it, and then that's usually it. And then

burnt popcorn, there's usually a tweet and a

Facebook post, and that's it. But the one difference

that I will say that I do over uh, burnt popcorn

that we don't do it part -time. I tried to get

Chris to do it, but he's like, no, I don't have

time for this and just stop doing it was we do

promotional videos that go out on, uh, if, so

if you're watching on Twitter, if you're watching,

if you would see it on Facebook, there's a small

clip from the episode to kind of. you know get

you to try and listen to it usually it's usually

it's something that was very funny or something

that was very weird from from our observations

from the movie you know just a short minute and

a half clip or so but usually a good one i will

trade my social media skills for episode 113

of the untitled mike and laura project That's

not going to happen, Mike. I'm telling you. The

show needs to have a proper ending. You're leaving

us like alphas did. You bastards. Yep. Sorry.

It was just a cliffhanger that will never be

resolved. What is your favorite topic to discuss

on a podcast? Oh, good question. Good question.

I feel like it's video games just because like

It's a big thing for me like I I've been a gamer

since like I was a little little kid I have a

big big you can't see it because you're not looking

at me on a camera or anything But right behind

me there's like a big wall full of games like

I have a huge collection of games And like I

know like a ton of stuff like I invent video

games interest me in ways that other things Don't

like I watch like a lot of like you know, making

of stuff about video games. And, and I like to

listen to, you know, people telling stories about

how things got made and things like that. Like,

it's, it's like DVD commentaries for, for video

games and things like that. And, and I know,

I know that I've listened and learned way too

much about video games. When when I'm listening

to podcasts, and the hosts make a comment, and

I'm like, you're wrong. Like all the time. It

happens way too often. Like, don't get me started

when it comes to dates. Like I'm not good at

dates, but if you have like, you know, if somebody

says something, the effect of like, Oh yeah,

I remember what game that, that this was, it

was this one and it's called this. And I'm like,

Nope, that's the sequel. The one you're talking

about is this one, you know, or something like

that. And, uh, and it always, like, I don't know.

I mean, it's, it's, I still listen to those shows,

but I'm like, Oh, you get it wrong. It's this.

It's this. Well, that's why you listen to those

shows, because you can then interact with those

people again. I've written you guys very few

emails, but since when I was doing the marathon,

I'm like, okay, this, this, this, this, and this,

this, this, this, this, and this, whatever it

is. And I wasn't trying to write in to correct

what anything that you and Chris said, but I'm

like ... Okay. I listened to you guys talk about

this. Here's my thought kind of thing. You know,

again, you have to, if you're lit and not everyone

has to, you know, you don't have to do this.

I feel I have to do this. If I am listening to

a podcast. I want to be able to, number one,

let them know that I'm listening. Number two,

interact with them in a way that, you know, obviously

is, you know, healthy or whatever else. I'm too

lazy to stalk people, so it's like, you know,

whatever. I just don't give a shit half the time.

I'm too lazy to stalk people. I could do it if

it wasn't hard. No, no, no, no, no. But my point

is, is that, you know, you're not like... Some

people might send a podcast 10 emails within

two days kind of thing. Whereas I'm like, I'll

send you a two page email with everything I thought

about these last 80 episodes or you know what

I mean? Like something like that where it's like

you have to interact with them because that way.

They know you're listening. They know that you're,

you know, the list, you know, the, the hosts

now know that people are listening and you just

need to, again, it's all about interaction. And

I, when we started, I was like, if people listen,

great. If we get comments, great, if we get iTunes

reviews, fine. But I'm like, I don't want to

deal with the people. And now I'm the complete

opposite where it's like, yes, please send us

feedback. I don't remember the last time I got

an actual email for feedback, but anyway. Yeah,

people then did not email. I find it's social

media or anything. Yeah. What do you see as the

differences between podcasting versus being on

the radio? Music. True. That's a big one. I mean,

it's funny because obviously I don't know if

this is a question you ask everybody. Yeah. It

just so happens I have a radio. background. And

obviously, the main difference is just because

I know this is what the purpose of radio is,

is like, podcasts are like having a conversation

like that. That's the thing that you go to podcasts

for is you want to either information where you

want to hear people you like talking. The radio

is trying to get you to listen to the next ad

break. That's that's what the radio is. And it's

it's I almost feel like it's disingenuous. I

mean, it's what I did. I was on the radio for

a few years. The whole point is like, okay, well,

we have ads that we have to get you to listen

to, and we're gonna tell you what's going on

after the break. The information that you really

need to know is after the break. Or the information

that they give out is only there to... To inform

you of something to keep you there, you know,

like they tell you the weather so that you'll

because you people need to know the weather that

kind of thing. Like nobody's talking on the radio

just because I really like talking about X and

I'm going to talk about X, you know, like think

of a pot. No, there's no radio show where some

dudes talking about every episode of X files

because he thinks X files is great. The guy on

the radio is, oh, he's telling this story because

he thinks that that story is going to be the

story that keeps you here for the next 15 minutes

for his ratings. Absolutely. If you've done any

interviews with famous people, which was your

favorite? I've done a single interview with a

famous person and it was Phil Lamar, so that's

my favorite. Oh my goodness. It was, it was great.

Like I have had a couple, I've had a couple like

opportunities to do interviews and I, I don't,

I, I don't say, I wouldn't say I turned them

down. It's just that I, I feel like I'm intruding.

I mean, I know these people do these all the

time, but I feel like I'm intruding when, or

I'm bothering people, you know, like I actually

had a really great chance to talk to. I have

somebody that I really, I mean, I'll just say

who it is. Like it doesn't really matter. And

I'm sure you know is David Hader. I came, I came

this close to talking to David Hader. Like I

was talking to his, his assistant, like every

day for a few weeks of trying to set up an interview.

And it was, and she was like super nice and everything

was going really great. And Basically what happened

was we were literally in the process of setting

up a time and day to talk and the news came out

that he wasn't going to be snake in Metal Gear

anymore. And I came to the conclusion in my own

head that he probably didn't want to talk about

Metal Gear because he was pissed off about whatever

was going on. Now. I don't know. I don't know

if that's actually how he felt, but I kind of

just dropped it. And I never emailed back, because

I felt like that's what was going to happen.

And I don't know. How long ago was this? This

is like 2014. 2014. OK, so it's been about seven

years. Yeah. Well, if he has the same contact

information for his agent. We'll get it set up.

It's no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I

don't need to do it. I don't do interviews anymore.

It's fine. I'm good. I'm good. See, for me, I

always with the famous people interviews that

we've done because we've talked to a lot of people.

You definitely have Rob Paulson, Maurice LaMarche.

Uh, uh, let's see. Who else? I miss I miss talking

tunes. That's a podcast. It didn't did Rob stop

that he did He used to do it live at some, you

know in the stuff, but I didn't realize he completely

stopped it Wow. Well, that's ours But you know,

it's like with the interviews it just depends

on You know, again, who it is, what it is, the

timing and, and everything else. I've always

wanted to talk to David Hayter because I like

you, I'm a huge Metal Gear fan. I'm probably

not in it as much as you are, but between solid,

solid two and what is it? Four, I think. Is it

guns of the Patriots or whatever? Yeah. Whatever

deals with all that stuff with the. You know,

all of that. I was not a fan of snake. I know

what snake eater is. I know what it is. I just,

I was not a fan of the prologue story. But anyway,

I don't know. I just, I always, cause I remember

we used to have, and I still have these. I have

the Metal Gear sound, like the, the, the Kodak

pick up sound and then the Kodak hang up sound

and the exclamation mark sound is my text message.

Notification that was mine for a long time. Yeah

Yeah, cuz cuz any time I'm out and it goes off

people are like, what's that? It's just metal

gear in my pocket Yeah, I had too many weird

looks for that and I stopped Was there ever a

moment and I know there was so but was there

ever a moment when you were completely done with

podcasting and What happened and why was it that

it happened? Uh, yeah, I mean, I guess we talked

about it before it was when untitled Mike and

Laura project ended We just we just didn't do

anything for like four and a half years. Just

nothing. I Think no we did one thing in four

and a half years There was a twig anniversary

special where Laura and I ordered like a 30 -second

like wow ten years or something like that Yeah,

and that was it that was like the only thing

that we did in that time between that between

the end of Untitled Mike and Laura project and

the beginning of the part -timer. So yeah, it

was in I it was Laura was burnt out and I was

disappointed that Laura didn't want to do it

anymore. And I think that that's really what

you know, the person I enjoyed doing it the most

with was didn't want to do it anymore. And when

that happened, it was like, okay, well, I guess

it was fun. and we just stopped for a while.

And then I needed somebody to remind me that,

oh, yeah, you can talk to someone else and a

podcast. This is why I've been doing it with

multiple people over 13 years, folks, because

anybody can do it. Blah, blah, blah. What advice

do you have for new and veteran podcasters in

the art of podcasting? It's easy. It's incredibly

easy to get into to doing it I would never do

it unless you're Don't do it to get famous because

I've been doing it long enough to not get famous

and And I can tell you, you know It's it's some

people will make it big and some people won't

make it big The really important thing is that

you're having fun while you do it And if you're

don't pick a topic to talk about that you're

not passionate about. Like, don't just pick it

because it's the popular thing. Pick something

that you enjoy talking about. And it was, it's,

it's, it's less of, of kind of, I want to say

work. I, work's not the right word, but you think,

I think you get what I mean is, is it's once,

if you're talking about something that you really

enjoy, then it's, it just flows out and you know,

no time at all goes by. And then you suddenly

have 160 odd episodes. That's right. Absolutely.

Where can the bill will find your shows? Right

now you can find part -time nerds, full -time

dads at www .part -time nerds, full -time dads

.com or basically on any podcast service. We

pretty much did our best to try and get on every

single one of them. Of course, part -time nerds,

full -time dads is on hiatus right now because

Chris needs a break. He's a, he's a dad of two

very young, you know, two kids under three. So

it, uh, he's very busy and, uh, and then also

burnt popcorn, which you can find at burnt popcorn

.ca or in any of your podcast listening services.

Uh, and that one is done with, uh, my wife, Laura,

who I suppose I should name. Absolutely. You

think you should, you know, absolutely. Uh, I

think that's it. That's the last question, folks.

Do you have any other thoughts you would like

to impart on the listenership, Mr. Laidman, sir?

I mean, once you do this long enough, you get

to a point where nothing can faze you. For example,

while we were doing this podcast, while I was

talking, at one point in the podcast, I can't

tell you when, and it wasn't just now. It was

a long time ago. My cat bit me and I didn't scream

or anything like that. You just get into a flow

and you keep going. I was mid topic, like I was

just talking and I was getting bit and I'm like,

okay, we're done with you. Bye bye. Continue

to talk. You'll get into a flow and you'll just

keep going. Yeah, absolutely. And I think for

good measure, this may or may not work, but I'll

have to edit this out, but here we go. Oh my

goodness. Classic, classic. This is that Phil

Lamar thing, man. Of course, man. Absolutely.

All right. Thank you for joining us here inside

the studio. If you'd like to get in contact with

us, we'll leave feedback for the show. There's

several ways to do so. Visit the website geekcastradio

.com where you can listen to and comment on all

of our content. Send any email to feedback at

geekcastradio .com. Here are all the ways you

can listen to us nowadays. Apple and Google podcasts.

Leave us reviews, please. Yes, iTunes is still

a thing. Spotify and any other podcasting client

you choose to use. Follow us on Twitter at GeekCastRadio

is for the network at itsitsstudio2009. All one

word is for the show. I have at TFG and Mike,

what are your Twitter's, sir? Mine. Mine is at

Mike Laidman and then at PT nerds FT dads and

then at burnt pop pod. Cast things that burn

path. Yeah at burnt pop podcast burnt pop podcast.

I think so. That's right Say that five times

fast folks. Yeah become a fan of Facebook go

to facebook .com slash key cast radio network

You can also search out 2000 studio 2009 podcast

over there as well as finding part -time nerds

full -time dads and burnt popcorn Next time I

have no idea what we're doing. I have not planned

anything yet It's probably gonna be a movie or

a TV show or Something no clue. Just do a clip

show you do. Oh After 13 years, I guess I am

oh 13 years and they don't read it with a clip

show go back to your first podcast and go play

your first podcast and then commentate over how

bad it is. Oh, God, no, I've heard that audio

in the last five years. Leave in all the noise

and everything. Don't do any noise reduction

on it. Try not to make it better in any way.

And then just make fun of how bad you used to

be. How bad I used to be is I thought I had to

be and I tell the story all the time. I thought

I had to be the guy before Robin Williams and

Good Morning Vietnam. Today, the clouds are going

to move this way and then the winds from the

southwest are gonna come this way. No, no, no,

no. For now, I am TF2 and Mike with... Mike Leibman!

You'll hear us back in the studio soon. Stop

hitting the mic. No, it's to emphasize my point.

You can make any noise anywhere else, stop hitting

the mic. That fucks it up, don't do that! Oh

my God, you're such a baby. And maybe even a

Spider -Man review. Until next time, I'm Mike.

And I'm Chris. And we'll talk to you again soon.