Interview with Michael David Sims on Podcast Production

This is Kevin Conway, and I am the goddamn Batman.

This is Batgirl, and you're listening to the

Deepcast Radio Network. There is nothing wrong

with your podcast player. Do not attempt to adjust

the volume. Hello and welcome to Studio 2009.

I'm, of course, Tier2 and Mike. And for this,

our latest podcast approach, I've got a person

here in the studio that helped me on my journey

to starting my own podcasting. I give this person

the highest marks of helping me through email

back sometime between 2008 and 2010 when email

was still a thing. He has recorded and released

over 1 ,500 podcasts, 52 of those were for better

or worse, which needs to make a return. Earth2

may seem like a small -knit family, and it is,

but things are always bigger on the inside. This

person has gone to the edge of forever and back.

He's definitely one of the world's finest podcasters

I know. He is Michael David Sims of Earth2 .net,

the show fame, a website and podcast that will

soon be 20 years old in a few years. So there

is no drinking here yet. We are going to take

Mike through how he listens to podcasts. And

how he and the fine people he's collaborated

with over the years created the dynasty that

is the earth to done it family of podcasts hi

mike how are you. Hey i'm doing ok mike thank

you that was awesome. It's going to be a christmas

episode most likely because your comic origin

has to air before this so this will be coming

sometime in december. So there there is that

and i tried to. I wasn't going to put it in the

intro, but I tried to go through every 100. And

from Star Wars to Batman to Superman to the Crow,

TMNT, F4, no, not fantastic. Maybe. I don't know.

And so much more. You have done so much in nearly

20 years of podcasting. Wow. That's a mouthful.

So Mike is here Mike is back this well, he's

here for the first time on this show, but he's

back with me talking about podcasting and We

have 30 questions all about listening to and

producing podcasts When did you discover them

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

you know, I'm not entirely sure Where I first

heard of this thing called podcasts, you know,

it was probably as you said I've been doing this

a long time. So it was probably on MySpace is

where I first heard of them. But wherever I somehow

fell backwards into hearing about podcasts, the

first ones I would have listened to would have

either been Word Balloon by John Suntress, who

I think he might still be doing the show. He

is an amazing interviewer. He interviews comic

book. Professionals for a living after a living

but as part of that's what a show does or it

would have been comic geek speak unless they

checked they're still around as well and you

know their interview shows their comic review

shows. And I think, again, I haven't listened

to them in a long time, but when I sort of fell

off listening to them for no reason other than,

you know, time, they were like daily. So they

were, you know, they were really pumping them

out. So those are really the two earliest ones

that I would have been listening to back before

I started. Very cool, very cool. Well, according

to Spotify, he's got two episodes he released

today as far as word balloon comics podcasts.

Yeah. So he's he's still going. Good. Yeah, he

is. Like I said, like with Comic Geek Speak,

it's been a while since I've listened to him,

but, you know, I could just listen to him all

day because I think he comes from a radio background.

So, you know, he's got a professional background

and as he knows what he's doing. Absolutely.

How long after you started listening, did you

want to start your own podcast? It would have

been pretty quickly. Probably just a couple of

months, honestly. And it stems from not so much,

and sorry for getting ahead of you here, it stems

not so much from listening to the podcast. It's

Back when I was about like 16 17 and you know

You're at that point where you're like, you know,

what am I gonna do once I hit 18? I'm out of

high school, you know, if I'm gonna go to college

when I could go for I gave serious consideration

to Becoming a radio personality. I don't want

to say a DJ because I never wanted to be a Howard

Stern Man cow type. Hey, hey, hey, this is the

morning show. Let's get to the music You know

kind of guy never wanted that nor did I quite

want to be a news presenter But I did want to

do something in radio and for one reason or another

that you know, it doesn't matter So I won't go

into it That's just not what I went to school

for so I always had that sort of itch To do that

and then you know this thing called podcasting

came around. I was like, oh, oh I could do this

So yeah, only a couple of months really only

a couple of months after I started listening

to their shows did I Decide that I was gonna

start earth to net the show Yeah, absolutely.

I think I've told you this before. It took me,

I don't know, from 2008, so from July or so up

until December when I started my first one, so

it was only the first few months. I think I told

you initially when I first found World's Finest.

I was like, ooh, Bruce and Paul and everybody.

And I'm like, wait, no, that's, this is so much

better. Not to say anything against those lovely

creators that created the content, but you know.

So what was your plan in getting the podcast

off the ground? None. I had none. Literally nothing.

I just, you know, I had a, an old school iPod.

I think it was like a generation two iPod. So

one of those. old white bricky ones, you know,

and I bought a little adapter that snapped into

the top that could record audio. And I recorded

it on that. And at that point, I had already

I already had started Earth to net the website

that had been around for. About a year. Yeah,

I want to say about a year, either a year or

a year and a half, because I know I started the

website. I in march but i don't know if i started

in march twenty thirteen or twenty fourteen thousand

four. Four i'm sorry but it's not that long i

don't even remember the numbers in front of the

end of it but so i already had the website so

i just was like well record this and i'll upload

it and. I you know figured out how to create

an rss stream how to post it on. iTunes and do

all that. And I was just like, I'll just put

it out in the ether and blast it out on the various

social medias. And there you go. It was very

just, here it is, enjoy kind of situation. There

was no plan or anything like that. See, that's

why I spent a year and a half or whatever it

was from 2007 into 2008. And I'm like, Oh, I

need to create a plan. I need to figure out what

this is going, you know, after by December of

2008, when I started, I think you guys were already

maybe up to Superman. Uh, maybe I don't know

on world's finest. And I was like, Oh, Transformers

generation one, it's only 98 episodes. It's not

a whole, you know, series of, well, Transformers

has multiple cartoons, but at least that one

cartoon was only 98 episodes. All right. Which.

Do you prefer audio or video podcasting as a

fan and as a producer? Audio. I've never tried

video. I appreciate video shows, but just as

a listener, you know, if I'm sitting down at

my computer, I'm doing other things than like,

not that I'm not watching YouTube. or whatever,

right? But for me, I just don't have a lot of

time for YouTube or video podcasts. So for me,

it's just audio, because I can listen to them

on the go. And sure, you could listen to video

ones without the visual content on the go. But

for me, it's just audio. It's just where I come

from, what I prefer. So yeah. Yeah, I am the

exact same way. I don't mind watching YouTube

videos and YouTube reviews where it's like, you

know. five, six, seven minutes, whatever it is,

that's fine. And YouTube video to me is completely

different from an actual podcast episode. Podcast

episodes, as we will discuss later on are very,

very long form. Yet most people prefer the short

form version of them. But yeah, audio all the

way. I can't, when it comes to podcasts, I would

much rather marathon audio than video. Yeah.

Yeah there's definitely video show you know like

youtube shows i do spend a while but that i do

watch but it's one of those things where maybe

she is going to bed i know i'm gonna stay up

instead of watching a movie or a tv show or something

i'll throw on one of these videos and i'll just

sit there you know what i mean just sort of watch

that until i get sleepy and i go to bed but that's

that's pretty much the only time i really do

it or if i'm watching waiting like trying to

find a video game tutorial you know like oh that's

how you beat that level okay okay you know. Yeah,

there's video game tutorials on YouTube. Oh,

Lord. There's one guy I watch and I don't because

I don't do like, honestly, the I don't do video

games anymore. I just don't because of the cerebral

palsy. I learned to do it one handed when I was

a kid. But now it's like I'd much rather just

watch somebody do a long play of it just so I

can see the game, let alone so I watch a bunch

of people on YouTube for that. Yeah. So when

you started you mentioned your brick of an iPad

or iPod not iPad iPod what setup did you have

initially and what do you have now. Initially

yeah it was it was the iPod with an adapter that

changed. within, I want to say like three or

four episodes. And then I got a Logitech USB

microphone that costs like 20 bucks at Best Buy

or Target or something. And I went through, I

wish I could remember the model number so people

can look it up, because it's the cheapest looking

piece of crap. But I went through a ton of those,

probably like, I say a ton, it was probably like

three or four of those. There were fine mics,

whatever. I never really intended my podcasting

to be anything professional grade. Because back

then, there was no way to monetize it. There

was no A -cast. People didn't understand what

podcasts were, so they didn't understand how

you could throw money in it. That did start happening

in very niche ways, and I did have sponsorship

for a good while on the show through DCBService

and StockTrades .com. You know when it comes

to like bigger sponsors big money sponsors, I

didn't have it So I didn't care, you know, so

then I stopped using those and then you gave

me a mic I forget the the make a model you gave

me that and I worked with that one was there

Sorry, go ahead. It was the cad u -37 condenser

mic. Yeah Yeah, so I used that one for a while

and then I switched over to the one I'm literally

recording with right now that I've had maybe

Three four years at this point and it's a yeti

blue You know just with the little sock on top

no pop filter or anything like that and I just

use whatever skull candy Headphones and that's

it. That's that's really it. You know, I've played

with soundproofing Little boxes you could put

around the mic and whatnot, but I'm I record

in a room that I'm lucky isn't too echoey or

anything like that. So it just sounds fine. I

mean, you definitely pick up background noises.

You know, you can hear this, that and the other.

But again, I'm not doing this professionally.

So I don't it doesn't bother me if people hear

that life's going on around me. I mean, to me,

that's part of the ambiance of podcasts. You

know, it's like, oh, yeah, that's right. These

people have lives. You know, it might be sitting

in a studio doing something, but a lot of them

are just sitting in a spare bedroom or a lot

of people in a closet just record. recording

these for our pleasure. I could not do a closet

recording. First of all, it's 6 '1", almost 400

and something pounds. I don't think I could fit

in any of my closets. Second of all, I'm in my

living room, in my one bedroom apartment, which

is fine. And you're right, the soundproofing

stuff, I'm sure it works, but you need more space

currently. Back in 2010... One of the biggest

gifts my mom at the time ever got me was she

bought me this six foot by nine foot desk. Yeah,

I still have it. It's currently in storage, but

like this is the ultimate, like this is my podcast

desk I have, but I don't have it currently. I'm

actually currently using my kitchen table. So

it is what it is and we have to adapt and whatever.

Yeah. Yeah. The cadu 37. I actually tried to,

I've had the same one I've had since 2010 when

I upgraded to it. And I upgraded to the HVC,

not HVC, JVC headphones over the, and I can't,

I don't understand half these kids out there

wearing these ear, but I can't have anything

in my, I don't mind if something's over my ear.

I can't do in -ear anything. You know, but I've

had the same one ever since and I've had to replace

it a couple of times. The sad thing is when I've

tried to replace it, it sounded like crap. So

I just take the. the USB cord from the new one

and just use the same old one I've had since

2010. Yeah. So if your headphones or mic breaks

down, are you going to buy the same stuff or

are you going to upgrade? I would replace the

Yeti Blue. It's been a really good, solid microphone

to have. If the headphones break down, I don't

care about getting skull candy again, but I definitely

prefer wired. over wireless headphones to podcasting,

including editing, just because I find them a

little more reliable and you could, you can hear

the audio, for me at least, I can hear the audio

breaks a little better with wired than wireless.

So I would buy the microphone again, the headphones,

I don't care so much about as long as they're

wired. Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate the wireless

headphone stuff, and that's great if you're going

to be someone who's on the go, who's doing all

this gym stuff and exercising and everything

else, but sitting here at home, it's like, just

plug it into the computer and go. Question seven

is interesting because I know, but did you think

you'd be podcasting for as long as you have?

Yes actually from episode one no i didn't even

think about it but once i got the bug for it

i never saw myself stopping slowing down sure

that i definitely have done you know there was

a point where i think i had. Three or four. like

shows at the time and right now i technically

have three shows that i produce and host there's

definitely the one i do with dan and dave and

windy and will but that's Dan show he produces

that so technically I do a fourth one But the

outside of earth student the show which doesn't

come out as often as it used to you know I figure

on the inside and the edge of forever Which you

might have alluded to in your intro which was

awesome by the way I should have recommended

you for that you know those don't come out as

often There's you know the idea was those were

gonna come out every other week You know, and

now it's like they come out when they come out,

you know, but as much as I still love podcasting,

it's just like I said, slow down. But yeah, after

the bug got me, it's like I don't see myself

ever stopping. And, you know, I always see myself

doing it in some way or another. I can't necessarily

guarantee a schedule, but I can guarantee my

voice will be out there. Yeah, absolutely. And

you were. One of if not the first person that

i learned about the whole cuz i was always a

cartoon kid i was never like i comics were. They

were there yeah but i mean i'm. Two two years

younger than you are and it's just one of those

things where i was a cartoon kid in the eighties

and nineties and yes watching the. The 90 spider

I'm gonna go to Walden books and check out the

comics just to see blah blah blah but when you

started doing your previews I was like oh so

this is what's coming up this is what I can look

forward to this is how you know and that's how

I learned with it and I remember a long time

ago like you said things have obviously changed

I remember a long time ago at one point or another

you had seven days of content every week no matter

what it was whether it was you or whether it

was whoever you were you know having send in

segments what. And that was where I got my thing

was, I was like, okay, we need to have at least

one piece of content every day of the week. It

doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter

if it's my voice or somebody else's. We need

to have at least one post every day. So at least

that constant content is always there. Yeah,

that was a goal of mine. Once Earth 2 .net got

rolling and podcasts became kind of the central

feature of Earth 2 .net. That was definitely

a goal of mine I was proud very proud When that

happened and I was able to maintain that for

a while now that sort of fell away because life

happens, you know again You're not professional

podcasters. We're not getting paid for it. So

I can't say to the host I'm gonna stop my fist

on the desk and say you must give me your show

every Thursday the first Thursday of the month

and why isn't it here? I can't do that, you know

But yeah you know that's that's not the way it

is anymore when that was that period where that

was happening off that was that was that was

i was i was professionally and personally pleased

when we were able to do that yeah. I still try

to do that but i usually cuz i when i edit i

go through and we'll talk about your editing

style later but when i edit i go through every

single second of audio to make sure it sounds

the best i can have it sound and i don't mind

sitting here for a whole day. To release it the

next day because I know I have something else

that I've already worked on. That's, you know,

whatever. So yeah, you mentioned your goals and

all of that and, and that time and, and podcasting

back then, like a lot of these people today don't

understand that. It was, we were still podcasting

is make up the rules as you go. We were making

up the rules as we went, we were doing this,

we were doing that. There were no. I'm going

to say this person's name, even though I don't

care about him or his popularity that he's there.

There were no Rogan's, there were no hams. Like

radio and podcasting is two completely different

worlds. Yes. I think they need to mix formats,

but like, like you were saying earlier, like

you're not one of these, you know, drive time

at five, let's go. Here's your traffic. Like

we're not doing that. We're not. spending like

we spend time to do the things, but we're not

like doing a five hour shift in the morning.

So earlier you mentioned your goals from the

time you started. So now how have they changed?

The goals? Yeah. Um, you know, as, as I was saying

a moment ago, you know, it was very much, you

know, earth two at the show specifically, I forget

what the original schedule was it shifted a little

you know it was like i'm just saying i don't

think it was but like it was coming out weekly

on thursdays or whatever but it got to a point

where it was twice a week uh one show dropping

on a saturday the other one dropping on a tuesday

i don't know why i chose that schedule i just

did i think that might have been because world's

finest podcast was slotted into every other wednesday

so i think in my brain somewhere it just made

sense to do uh, the show on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Again, I don't know how that happened, but you

know, then as much as I enjoy doing that, you

know, just energy, time and age, you know, all

sort of came together to conspire to make it

that I just can't do them, uh, that often. So

now, you know, I would love to do one every other

week, hell, even once a month, you know, but

you know, sometimes it just doesn't, uh, um,

It just can't happen that way. And I'm speaking

specifically of Earth to that at the show. But

I'm lucky that I have a ton of contributors that

allow me to keep producing episodes of the show.

We have the 18th anniversary show that's going

to drop as of this recording this Tuesday. And

that's all thanks to Ian and his guests on the

show. I'm not name checking them because I don't

know all the guests and I don't want to name

the wrong people. But I'm very lucky that I have

a rotating a cast of guests and co -hosts to

help me produce that show. So, but for the goals,

it very much was set in stone. It had to be this.

It had to be Saturday and Tuesday. It had to

be, you know, da -da -da -da -da. And now it's

just like, just have fun. My goal is just to

have fun with the people I'm recording with.

And that's the goal. That's it. I mean, that's

always been my goal from day one. It's always,

you know, have fun with the people you're recording

with. As far as the production -wise goes, yes.

Try your best to have, you know, stick to the

schedule. Like when I created the pull bag in

2013, new comic book day generally is Wednesday.

So that's when that show is supposed to come

out. But if I haven't pre -produced it or if

I haven't recorded it yet, well, then there's

going to be an after almost a decade of that

show. That show turns 10 years old next March.

You know, that, you know. It is what it is. And,

you know, you were episode 500 and, and all that

over on that show and everything else. But yeah,

I mean, we're, we're old folks, folks. We're

not, we're not the young podcast spring chickens

we used to be. There's a few, few feathers loose

in the barn over here. All right. So listenership,

you're, you're podcasting how you, as a person

were listening. What defines a good podcast for

you as a listener? Every episode, this is a very

Marvel, 1980s Marvel Comics answer, a very Jim

Shooter style answer. Every podcast has to be

accessible to a new listener. You can have your

in -jokes, you can have your continuity from

episode to episode, of course you're going to.

I don't expect every episode to be a pristine

entry point, but it should be accessible. There

is a podcast I'm listening to right now, I won't

name check it, where I might be dropping it because

the in -jokes are so thick. that it's even to

someone who's been listening since day one and

gets the in -jokes. I'm like, this isn't what

I'm here for. I'm not here for your in -jokes.

I'm here for the content. I'm here for what you're

talking about, not this weird thing about whatever.

Again, I'm not even gonna give any clues what

it is. So yeah, you have to make it accessible.

You know whether you're talking about a movie

from 40 years ago or comic book that came out

yesterday You know or whatever it is. I really

think you you you just have to want new listeners

and by Like again having in jokes and all this

and that you're inadvertently I was gonna say

gatekeeping. That's not the right word, but you're

putting up a wall around yourself in your show

Well, for in jokes, you're putting up an expectation

that someone who listened to episode 998 is back

for 999, and then they're going to sit there

and listen for 24 straight hours, which we'll

talk about that a little bit later. That's the

problem with too many injured, you know, it's

like have a few have it. And again, it, for me

within jokes, it like, I consider myself a podcast

host where I am directing the traffic. I, you

know, I am more of a director than anything else,

unless it's something I'm talking about and whomever

is with me, they're the guest or they're the

cohost or whatever. And we collaborate and I.

Oh, I co -host with a bunch of people. Like I

don't just want, cause my voice is the voice

that people always hear. I don't want every episode

to always be on, on, on specific shows. Like

the, the pull bags specifically, I have comics,

like I define that show by the comic series that

we cover. So I might do. Which because this is

coming out and well, it's not going until this

podcast will be out in December of 2022 What

I just recently saw as of this recording won't

be out until next year I think but I just saw

the the comic trailer for deadly neighborhood

spider -man That's coming out and I'm like, oh

This looks interesting. What did they do this

time? What what what crazy thing is has the ghost

of Stanley made Marvel do this time? Because

it look hello deadly neighborhood spider -man

Wouldn't you want to read that just by the title

alone without having to see or know anything

about it? So I'll take various spider -man series

or various comic series and like Mike I've covered

all of IDW's TMNT and I've done that with one

person so I you know, but yeah I have a cavalcade

of people that that I use and and all that and

you're right you you have to have something that

brings in the new people as well as catering

to the old people and the end jokes aren't always

the best way to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Cause you

know, if you assume the same people are listening

every, every week, then you're just going to

make an eye on yourself. Right. All right. So

as a listener, what does a podcast have to have

to draw you in? So you, you click play, you listen

to like the first five minutes, maybe your first

minute and a half. What keeps you listening after

that first episode that you hear? Huh, that is

an interesting one because I haven't tried new

shows in a while. You know, I have the ones I

listen to and that's pretty much it. But it has

to have it's going to sound weird because it's

because you're like, you know, you press play

and why do you stick with it? It's more for me.

Like, why did I listen in the first place? You

know, but it has to have that topic that I want

to hear about, whether it's something geeky related,

whether it's something news related or whatnot.

If I, you know, sticking with it, though, it

really has to. It has to. It has to do what it

says on the 10. There was one that Shayna and

I had started a couple of weeks ago. It was a

news related podcast and they advertise it as

one thing and we got maybe like about five, six

minutes in and we looked at each other and we're

like, this isn't what they build it as and we

stopped. So if you say you're going to be just

as an example, you know, talking about, I don't

know, you mentioned the deadly neighborhood Spider

-Man, you're going to be reviewing the deadly

neighborhood Spider -Man. And it turns out the

show is actually why you hate, you know, Batman

66, the movie. What are we doing? You know, like

so you really have to like say what the show

is about and get there. And there could be preamble.

There could be stuff afterwards, stuff weaved

in and out or the show is noon for its tangents.

Sometimes we can't get through the credits of

a movie, the opening credits of a movie without

going into tangents. That's fine. But just just

talk about what. you said you were going to be

talking about, I guess is for me what it has

to do. Yeah. And that's the thing. We're currently

in 2022, almost 2023. Let's just say for you

and I, podcasting has been around since 2005

and 2008 respectively. I mean, yes, I listened

to before I started producing, but like, It's

almost been 20 years since we first discovered

this new form of of audio content and Unless

you're a show that you know, you're a general

like we have geek cast radio. We have the show

here studio 2009 Steve and I created this in

2020 because At the initial outset of the network

back in 2009, we had a movie show, which was

all about movies. We eventually had the comic

show that I've taken. We've got the cartoon show

where we talk about it. So we've taken these

various things like films, comics, and animation

and put them in. And by 2020, we're like, can

we just have one show where we talk? And the

goal of this podcast is to talk about anything

we want to in the audio or visual realm. It doesn't

matter if it's. You know an old school record

of Whatever Star Trek play you decide to put

on or whatever it is is life It's audio or video

will will cover it at some point. We I have no

set schedule for this It's just like oh Whatever

we feel like talking about or whatever anniversary

is coming up or whatever But we stick with like

I don't specifically put comic book stuff here

because obviously I have the pull bag and that's

whole other bag of tricks, but like We could

talk about a comic book trailer. We could talk

about a comic book movie trailer or whatever

because it's in the visual audio and visual realm

kind of thing so So yeah, you don't want to sit

there and sit like you were saying. Oh Let's

talk about this new, you know, let's give our

impressions of this new deadly neighborhood spider

-man But oh wait, we're gonna you know, Adam

West you and talk about The fact that years ago,

DC decided to go dark and put Batman's dick on

the cover of a cometer. No, don't do that. This

is going to get into your producing a little

bit, but 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, three hours, 10 hours or more? Yes. You

know what? It depends on what I'm listening to,

honestly. I don't want to get ahead of us here

and you know, but yeah, some of the shows I listen

to are. It's weird to say, they straddle the

line between amateur and professionally produced.

So some of them are like, this episode really

has to only be 35 minutes at a push, or at a

max, pardon, because there's someone else waiting

to use the studio in their offices. So they know

this topic, they have to get in, talk about it,

and get out. And I appreciate that. But those

same people will then also sometimes do like

an hour and a half long. like weekend recap of

what was going on in the week in that particular

topic. Sometimes it's longer because they're

doing their version of like a of like a DVD audio

style commentary. And those can then be two and

a half, three hours long, you know. So I like

the short ones because I could listen to them

on my commute, you know, and I like the long

ones because that allows me to say, hey, you

know what? I'm going to do the dishes and I can

listen to 20 minutes while I'm doing that. I

can pause it. Walk away. Hey, I'm doing the laundry

now. I can press play and pick back up where

I left off. And so I like the long form ones

for that reason, because the ones I listen to

definitely allow you to start and stop, you know,

and it's by virtue of the topic you you can or

the topics you can just sort of do that. So but

I saved the longer ones for the weekend. Not

for the week. I will say though, I just started

a new job. The area, it's not quite an office,

it's not quite a cubicle that I'm working in,

was like, it looked like a tornado went through

there. So I've spent a good week cleaning it

up. And that's allowed me, uncharacteristically,

to listen to some of the longer ones at work.

where again, normally I save those for the weekend.

So it's not a simple yes and no with me. I love

the forum so much that I appreciate that people

can do, hey, here's a 30 minute episode about

X, Y, and Z, and here's a three hour episode

about that same topic or something else. Absolutely.

Yeah, it's so funny that it just depends what

you're doing and what you're trying to do. Like

we already said for you and I, we basically,

we don't, I'm never going to sit here and say

a podcast is background noise, but we put it

on and then we can listen to and pay attention

to it while we are also paying attention to something

else or what, like you said, doing chores or

doing this or doing that. And it's just the way

it is. Yeah. As a listener, do you start at the

beginning of a podcast the most recent episode

or do you jump around? I jump around and I look

for episodes that I might be interested in. There's

a wrestling promotion that's been around for

about three years now called AEW. And they have

a podcast, I think it's called AEW Unrestricted,

is that what it's called? And it's hosted by

Aubrey Edwards, one of their referees, and Tony

Schiavone, one of their commentators. And they

bring various wrestlers in to interview. And

I don't listen to every episode, but I will go,

oh, they're going to talk to this wrestler. I

like that wrestler. Let me give that one a shot

or hey, I've wanted to get into that wrestler,

though I've never seen any other matches. I'll

listen to that one. But there's some where I'm

just like, I don't need to hear that particular

episode. Or if I'm if I'm finding like a new

movie review show, I'll go, oh, they're going

to talk about this movie. I'll download that

one, whether it's their newest episode or one

from a year ago in their archives. It's very

rare that I will go back and start with episode

one or in some cases like an episode zero or

something like that. The only times I would do

that is if I was trying to follow along with

a show. There was a podcast. called a podcast

horseman, which followed along with BoJack Horseman,

which I had just before the pandemic started,

I started getting into BoJack Horseman and the

podcast started. So I started, let's say in like

November, 2019, watching that show, the podcast,

I think in like January or February. So I did

start on the ground floor with that one to listen

along, but. had I not had I found it after the

podcast had been going for a while. That's when

I would have started with episode one to go,

oh, well, I'm watching the show or so I want

to hear their thoughts from start to finish.

So it really depends on the content and what

my aims are as a listener. Yeah, there is a show

there. They haven't produced anything in a little

while, but there was a show that started, I think,

right? 2019, somewhere around there, maybe 2018.

I forget. It's called part -time nerds, full

-time dads. And it's from a buddy of mine, Mike

Laidman, who I had listened to on other shows

before. And I was like, Oh, well, part of their

initial journey with he, he and his friend, Chris,

they're both married. Chris has kids, Mike. And

at the time his wife, Laura, they were about

to have a kid and they went through this whole

journey of, you know, telling everybody about

the pregnancy and about the birth. And so it

was kind of like, oh, you kind of have to follow

along. So I generally will go, you know, start

at the beginning just to get the initial, like

what hosts want the show to be. And then you're

right. Most of the time I end up skipping around

to find the, to find the topic that I want to

listen to or whatever. Do this along those lines

i name checked a podcast horseman because that

one started just before coven nineteen disrupted

the world that show winds up becoming sort of

an audio journal of the hosts and i say this.

Very this isn't meant to be a joke sort of like

the decline of their mental state. Because and

it's interesting doing it with a show like Bojack

Horseman, which I don't know if you've watched

at all. Yeah, you have it. It's a hard watch.

That show is like you can't if you if you binge

watch that show. Be very careful about your mental

health, because they go into some very deep,

dark, disturbing places. Just because it's a

cartoon doesn't mean it's all, you know, fun

and games. Of course, we know the animation doesn't

have to be. But anyway, so they're covering that.

And, you know, everybody's like, OK, we'll be

locked down a couple of weeks. OK, it's a couple

of months. Oh, shit, we're a year in. You know,

sir. You know, so if you do start from the beginning

there, it's like pre COVID and they're like,

oh man, we can't wait to talk about this show.

And now you're like halfway through the season

or the series. And they're just like, what is

going on with the world? You know, it's, it's

fascinating. It w that was not the intent of

the show, but it became almost the thesis of

the show. Because sometimes with the content

that you're like, you look at something like

the blacklist or. Breaking Bad. I had such a

hard time with Breaks. The first time I watched

that I was like, because I am very, very straight

edge. I have drank alcohol in the past. I've

never smoked. I don't do drugs or anything like

that. So, you know, show about a guy needing

to make meth. Not exactly my thing, but I eventually

came back around to it and I watched it again.

But that show is like, really freaking hard and,

and, and deep and whatever. And, you know, like

you were saying with, with, with COVID happening,

you know, there's things, man, it's just, if

you're doing a podcast at any length of time

and something happens in real life, you know,

that's then becomes a part of the podcast. If

you want it to become a part of that, like, Hey,

you know, that's the whole thing. when you, you

would make certain announcements or do certain

things on our show. It's like, look, life is

happening. An episode may be late or this may

be happening, or this is, you know, I want to

be as honest and as open with the audiences I

can be. And that's just the way from what I remember

you always doing. And that's pretty much the

way I've always done it too, where it's like,

you know, look, this happened and there's nothing

I can do about it. whatever else and this is

what we're going through and this is where you

know it's just the way it is i mean you can't

just like part of this show what we've done what

i've tried to do is because we started it in

2020 right as the pandemic was starting i figured

oh let's do like we did episode i think it's

episode three we did our top 10 favorite batman

actors So Steve and I counted down and it didn't

matter if it was live action or voice acting.

Cause let's face it. I mean, Kevin Conroy is

always going to be number one. I mean, come on,

you know, but like, you know, I wanted to create

an escape for people, you know, kind of thing.

So that's kind of where all that started and

whatever else, but yeah, you're right. I mean,

what's the point of having an audience and being

a host to a podcast where you can't. sometimes

Ferris Bueller the hell out of this shit and

say, Hey look, you know, this is going on kind

of friggin it. And just, man, that, that, and

podcasting is all about journeys. You yourself

have been on from episode one of earth two .net

to episode 11, 26, a lot has changed in nearly

20 years for you. So, you know, that's, that's

why I love this medium so much with the audio,

because you can. definitely feel, I feel closer

to a lot of the podcasters and podcasts that

I've listened to than I have ever felt with,

there's maybe two radio pro two or three radio

programs in my lifetime, but I have actually

felt close to those people because I've actually

either met or connected to those people in some

way or another. The rest of it, it's like, they're

just talking, just play the music, please play

the music. Yeah. And I mean, that's, that's the

thing with, you know, I keep saying, you know,

we're, you know, citizen podcasters or whatever,

you know, we're, we're, we're, you know, I don't

consider myself a professional. I'm not going

to name check who you name checked earlier. A

certain Mr. Uh, name rhymes with, uh, please,

please don't insult Hulk like that. Please come

on. Uh, I think I will insult him. Oh no. Oh

yeah. He's very problematic. But anyways, the

point. is, and I don't know if I can technically

consider him a professional podcaster anyways,

because he, whatever, I won't go into it. The

point is, what I'm getting at is because we're

just people sitting down with microphones on

our desks, in our kitchen, in our spare rooms,

in a closet, wherever, you do. Kind of wind up

fostering a relationship with the audience even

if you never interact with them or vice versa

Yeah, you know You know you might interact with

them on social medias or a chat forum or wherever

just in the wild sometimes that happens I know

Dan had told me he's he's ran into I think I

know what happened at least once But you know,

Dan was like someone heard his voice was like

wait, are you? You know, it's like, oh yeah,

yeah, you know, so it happens, but you do, you

foster this relationship. So it's easy to be

open about your life experiences where if you're

doing it as a paid gig, as part of your job,

like let's say it's an extension of like a TV

show you're doing, right? Like if you're actually

a news presenter and here's this. You know, you're

going to keep a certain level of distance from

the audience. You're going to power through for

30, 60, 90 minutes, however long, whatever is

going in on your life. You can turn that off.

And then once it's over. You can go back to whatever

you were doing where with our kind of podcast,

you don't have to do that. You can be open with

the audience. So yeah, you do see these life

journeys and it winds up being an unintentional

journal of our lives. Whether you do it for just

a few months or for as long as I have, this is

an audio record of, okay, if I'm 44 and I've

been doing this 18 years, what's that mean? I

started when I was... 26, is that the math? Yeah.

26, 27, somewhere around there. Yeah, that's

crazy. But I'm not the same person I was at 26

that I am at 44. I'm completely different. And

if you do dare to listen from episode one, don't.

Two, up through 1100 plus as we are now, do.

You're going to hear a completely different guy

than that person. that was recording on an iPod

with a little adapter trying to whisper through

an intro so I didn't disturb my girlfriend at

the time in the other room, you know? So, yeah.

Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, here's some inside

baseball for you. I'm the fan. He's the creator.

You know, like literally, I am not worthy. I

am not. Get up. You're worthy. It's okay. But

it's one of those things where, and I'm glad

he mentioned it because I was going to say, well,

when you create a for your whispering like this.

You know, it's like, yeah. But I mean, you know

what? Look, like you said, it's an audio record

of your life. We are essentially creating without,

over which I find, cause I'm more of a machine

than anybody else that I know. So I have, if

I... As of 2018, I know I had 2011 podcasts produced,

recorded and released as of 2018 from 2019 to

now. I didn't do a lot in 2020 because my computer

was in storage and all of that and everything

else. But I did maybe I would say the way I've

always approached it. And this is just for you

because you're here and you're doing this. I

start January 1st and I do my damnedest to work

up to Halloween. Once Halloween starts. Okay.

It's holiday holidays and Thanksgiving's coming.

I'm going to slow down. I'm going to cut back.

And if I can produce in those 10 months, anywhere

from 100 to 200 to 300 podcasts per year. I'm

gonna do it because I don't have a day job. I

can't because of the disabilities and the mental

stuff that I have like literally in 2019 I went

through brain surgery because there was excess

fluid on my brain like I didn't like And finding

out that I don't I never actually was never born.

I don't have a with a it's a corpus column So

it's the thing in the back of your brain that

basically divides the left and the right hemispheres

so instead of having to Small waiting pools where

the the spinal fluid and all that I have just

one giant lake of spinal fluid and all of that

excess and everything else so it's like. I don't

function like not like like normal people function

so I don't have or this is my quote unquote job

and yeah you're right I don't technically get

paid to make my own content not that I would

ever expect to but I've made. friends and whatever

and I've gotten listeners and people have donated

to me over the years and like I just had to fund

a Cross -country trip to change my entire life

and I didn't have the money to do it and luckily

so many generous people came out and so no man,

it's like Podcasting is all about making the

connections and making the friends that you can

and it's not about the celebrity aspect of it

Yeah, it just, it not for us. Like we're not

insert whatever hack you want to insert here.

That is not us. Yeah. Yeah. No. And, and I'm

just so appreciative of all of it. And You know

the last episode that you were on over on the

pullback. It's like yeah I've been trying to

get you to do this for 14 years, but This episode

specifically here on seo 2009. It's like hey

you did this let's talk about this because 20

year almost 28 like you said 18 years is is impressive

and you know close to 20 as a Listener how many

hosts are too many on one episode? Um it that

come that's a great question that comes down

to how well the host can wrangle them. For me

personally, I prefer hosting ones that are three.

I can do four. But if you go above four, you

start at accidentally inviting cross chatter,

you know, because it just happens, you know,

and as an editor, that's like. If everybody's

not on their own track which can sometimes happen

you know based on your recording software it

just becomes a bear. You know, as a listener,

I kind of am there as well. Three, four at a

push. Five is OK, but you really have to be able

to manage them. You know, I mentioned it earlier,

you know, the show that Dan produces with Wendy,

Dave, Will and myself. You know, there's five

of us and I should name check it. It's Channel

37's Midnight Movie Show. It's a great fun podcast.

Like I said, there's five of us and Dan does

in one a wonderful job, like an amazing job as

a host, making sure we're not talking over each

other, that everybody has their say, they get

their word in, and then he moves on to the next

person. So it really comes down to you, not you,

Mike, but you out there as a host. So yeah, three

to five, anything more than that, even with a

very deft host, you're inviting trouble. If you

have more than six people on, you might as well

just be Howard Stern doing stupid things. Right.

Exactly. Yeah. So when do you stop listening

to a podcast altogether when you've been listening

for a while and then something happens and you're

like, nope, done, bye? You know, I kind of mentioned

earlier, there's a show I'm on the brink of maybe

stopping listening to because even as someone

who's listened since episode one, the content

is becoming impenetrable. But more often than

not, I don't make a hard cut on a show. It's

more that time will just wind up dictating that

I don't have the time to listen to it anymore.

And it just sort of fades away. And maybe I'll

go back and try to play catch up or I'll just

go, OK, we'll just sort of restart with whatever

their most recent episode or episodes were. So,

yeah, it really is just like. Look, I've only

got so many hours in the day and sorry, your

podcast, I just can't make time for it anymore.

And it could still be a great show. It could

still be one I really want to listen to, you

know, but I just can't do it, you know. Yep.

Yeah, absolutely. It just depends on what it

is. I mean, it. I groan every time and I don't

know why editors can't edit it out and people

say that, oh, it's filler words, it's this, but.

Present company excluded. Anytime anyone says,

um, and I say this every episode I record, I

don't care what show it is. It takes 10 seconds

to edit out. Um, you know, but it is what it

is and that's how people talk. And I, I don't

know, but yeah, I don't really have a hard, like,

like you said, there is no hard stop thing. Like

it's more of, Oh, I. That's the other thing,

you know, it's kind of bridging the listener

to producer thing. It's like when you're a listener,

you can listen, even though you may not listen

to everything or every single podcast. Cause

no, not even I could listen to every podcast

that's out there. Not that I have any interest

to, but that's, I don't need to be in the Guinness

book of world records for podcasting folks. Not

for listening, producing maybe not for listening,

but it's one of those things where I just don't,

you know, once I got into the production, it's

like, you know, I can go back. I actually have

a folder where I think there's like 20 or so

emails between you and I over the years. And

it's like, Oh, I know exactly when I almost stopped

listening because in 2011, we started doing bigger

things with the network and, and everything else.

And it's like, Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll, I'll catch

up in 10 more years. So what podcasts are you

currently listening to and what would you recommend

for our listeners? Right now, the main ones I'm

listening to are, you know, of course, the shows

on Earth two dot net. I won't name check them

specifically for, you know, favoritism. But right

now, my primary podcast listening is dedicated

to wrestling podcasts. So I will listen to the

podcasts. from what culture and what culture

wrestling or is it WW? I forget, I think they

changed their name. So what culture wrestling's

brand of podcasts, along with cultaholics podcasts.

Those are pretty much my daily go -to. Like I

said, I'm commuting, walking around doing the

dishes kind of shows. But then at night, what

happens is when Shayna and I are finished having

dinner, and we're cleaning up, we're doing the

dishes, we're getting ready for bed, we throw

on news adjacent podcasts, political podcasts.

So we'll do shows like In the Bubble, we'll do

Beg to Differ, trying to think of some of the

other ones, The Bulwark, just because we try

to stay on top of the news as best we can. And

these are people that have been in the news of

the political sphere for years, if not decades

of their lives, and they are doing it professionally.

So it is very clean. It's very well produced.

So we listen to those so we can just stay on

top of what's going on in the world. Usually

more in U .S. politics, but sometimes the world

politics come up. So that's sort of where I am

right now. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. Awesome.

Yeah, I because I'm online so much I see. All

the various like most, not impressive, the most

relevant news stories from whatever news channel

I follow. It's like, oh, that's the news or oh,

that's this news or oh, oh my God, this happened

or oh my, I don't think I could listen to like.

I just don't think I'm not that politically inclined

to. Not saying it's not entertainment, but for

me, podcasting is an escape. I understand and

I respect how you do it, but that isn't in my

brain. It's like, oh, that's the wrong escape

to LA. That's the remake. No, no, no, no, no.

Alright folks, we're gonna take a quick break.

You're gonna hear some ads. That's 15 out of

the 30 questions so far. Like I said, you're

gonna hear some ads and some other stuff and

we'll be back with Mike from Earth2 .net the

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inside studio 2009 it is now time to talk about

podcast Production as a producer. Do you find

yourself listening to podcasts less and less?

No I found myself listening more to other shows

really just to see what was out there and maybe

to see what I could learn from them. Yeah, I

find that I have equal amounts of time for the

production that I do compared to like in the

beginning when I first started like back in like

two thousand twenty ten twenty eleven we were

really ramping up but now it's like i have. Is

i don't do anything else i have twenty four hours

in a day so it's like oh yeah. Twenty four hours

that's yeah marvel countdown. It actually took

me two days for the marvel countdown. I forget

what episode number that was, but the two parts,

the Marvel, the five hour Marvel film countdown

you guys did, I don't remember. It was you and

Donovan and somebody else. It was on Earth too.

I forget which episode it was. And you've kind

of talked about this already in the beginning,

there was no plan, but as a producer, are you

a podcast planner or are you throwing stuff at

the mic to see what sticks? Don't throw stuff

at me, please. Yeah, I don't I mean if if it's

a show like world's finest podcast where we have

to say This is what we're covering or a bigger

on the inside where it's like, you know, we're

doing all of Doctor Who or the edge of forever

You know all of Star Trek, you know, there's

definitely a plan there But when it comes to

like earth to that not the show It's just like

whatever the hell we feel like talking about

that episode So yeah, there's there's really

Very little planning that goes and it's like

you want to talk about this. Yeah, sure. Okay,

let's do it When do you want to do it? That's

great. Let's do it. Hit record and go. Yup. Yup.

Yeah. It's, and the funny thing is, so we do

my buddy Steve, who is the main, main person

who helped me get into all this outside of you.

And I have other influences, but Steve pretty

much runs the website and does all the stuff

that he's essentially my version of you, uh,

you know, and, and he has his show altered geek.

And we taught, we, I, Podcasters are not news

reporters. We've kind of talked about this already,

but we, we don't report the news. We are news

reactors. We give opinions on new, like, you

know, uh, I know, uh, again, even though this

will be released later as of this recording,

black Adam is in theaters and oh my God, the

rock and all this. Oh, the audience score versus

the critics score. It's like, oh God, audience

versus critics. Can we please stop that? But

yeah, I mean, you know, we are reactors to various

things and things like that. But yeah, with the

planning, it's like. Unless you have, like you

said, unless it is one specific thing, it's like

there's somewhat of a plan, but it's like, Hey,

what do you want to do this week? Oh, okay. Let's

do that then. So. Alright now for you this is

gonna be interesting as a producer are you a

one man show kind of host or do you prefer working

with co -hosts. Oh i prefer working with co -hosts

i hate recording alone i really do i mean if

you go through the earth2 .net the show archives

there are some i've done solo and i absolutely

hated recording those you know i take that back

i shouldn't say hate. because it depends. If

it's ones like where I was going through the

previews, the previews catalog, that's one thing,

because I'm just reading copy, setting it aside,

making my comments, and that's fine. But when

it comes to reviewing comics or a movie by myself,

I don't like it because I ain't got no one to

play off of. And that's what I want. I don't

want my opinion to be the end -all, be -all on

the topic. Not that it is, it's everybody, they're

going to watch that movie. read that book and

go, Oh no, no, I agree or I disagree or not even

remember what I said. I don't care. But just

for that episode is what I mean. It's like, I

want someone that is going to counter what I'm

saying. They're going to add their own piece,

you know, and it's just so much easier for me.

Yeah. So doing it by myself is I'll do it, but

I really struggle with it. Yeah. All is I can

think of. And I, and I know you'll, you'll remember

this, but The radio announcer before Robin Williams

comes into Good Morning Vietnam where he's like

today in Saigon the weather is going to be 50

miles out of the you know, the wind is gonna

be 50 miles out of them and I was That's what

I was like when I first started and I'm like,

no, I I need somebody to bounce off of yeah It's

just it's just easier that way Now as a listener,

I know you asked me as a producer, but as a listener,

I don't mind one person chose. I want to make

that clear. But as a producer, it's completely

different. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

As a listener, it depends on if the person can,

like you said, like when you're doing your, you

know, you know, the previous episodes that you,

do you still do them or did you still? No. I

stopped because of, basically, I changed a lot

of what I did once I started the Patreon feed.

So I stopped doing the previews episodes and

I stopped doing the audiobook episodes because

I didn't think it was fair to the patrons to

put up content that I didn't. Yeah, I'm recording

in my own voice the previews, but I'm just reading

copy that somebody at Marvel DC Image or wherever

wrote. And, you know, yeah, I might be adding

my input, but I just didn't think it was fair

for the patrons. So I just sort of cut those

ones out. Yeah. Okay. I mean, but, you know,

when I was listening to you doing those, it's

like, oh, I should write this down or I should

write there. I should mark that off or I should

tell my comic shop to order, you know, it's like,

and you you did a really good job of it. And

there are there are A number of hosts that I've

liked over the years that are one man shows,

but maybe they'll eventually get co -hosts or

whatever else. But yeah, it's always fun with

at least one other person. Yeah. Yeah. So how

do you or did you go about finding your co -hosts?

Dear God, I don't even know. Starting with James

Doe for World's Finest Podcast, we knew each

other through a wrestling forum called The Oratory.

In fact, a number of the oldest, I didn't mean

it in terms of age, but in terms of contributors,

in terms of the oldest contributors to earth2

.net and earth2 .net the show and the forums

too, we all came from The Oratory, the wrestling

forum. So, you know, we just I saw, you know,

I saw what the oratory was doing. I'm like, oh,

I like this. Let me do it for comics and just

stuff. So I created the forums and the website.

And those people just became the earliest host

because I knew them. I had known them for like

maybe like a year or so at that point through

there. So when it comes to then like Des, who

was one of my earliest I honestly don't remember

how like that came about. I don't remember if

I was looking for contributors and he reached

out as a writer. And then we started podcasting

together. I genuinely don't know. I do know when

it comes to Dan, he was writing for the site

already. I have maybe like a couple of months.

He had done a couple of things, maybe more than

a couple at that point. And there was an episode

of, I want to say it was, is it Wednesday yet?

But it might've been waiting for the trade, but

I can't remember which one it was, where Dez

couldn't make it. And this is back when the show,

I was very much like, it has to come out every

Tuesday or whatever. So I needed someone to sit

in for him. And I just kind of put the call out

there and Dan raised his hand and was like, hey,

I'll do it. And I was like, oh yeah, yeah, I

love your writing. You know, this is great. You

know, we already knew each other. history from

there. I think next, I think round about this

time next year, Dan and I will have been podcasting

for like 15 years together. That's awesome. Like,

what? Like, how? Like, how did this happen? You

know, so yeah, that's, that's really what it

is. It's most of the people, you know, were either

contributors already to the site or were part

of the forum. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And it's

so funny when you brought Dan on, I'm like, oh,

it's home now because I used to be able to pack

the car and have it. Yeah. I was born in Stoughton,

Massachusetts. I lived the first 13 years of

my life and I'm just like, Ooh, Boston Dan. I

like this. And it was so funny back in over on

the pull bag when. My ultimate goal of getting

you for episode 500 was, you know, oh, if I can

convince Dez to do episode 401 and tell his comic

book story, if I get Dez first, I'd know I can

get Mike after that. It's like, get your hooks

into one, get your hooks into the other. And

with Dez. And this is just so silly and stupid

and i don't even think the post is there anymore

but i made a post somewhere on the forums about

nickel back and i i'm not sure nickel back on

apologetic nickel back fan and he had said something

about. Yeah i only like seeing the backs their

heads so i can kick him cuz he had some some

real life encounter with jack robert i was like.

You know whatever, but like I love talking to

des an episode for a one of the pull bag It was

so fun to like he was talking about Savage Dragon

and everything else and all the stuff he liked

and so yeah Here's hoping Dan's the next guest

on yeah on the pull bag But yeah, I mean you

just you know you find people that you know like

I said earlier you you Say hey are you interested

in this or would you like to do this and then

you obviously have to test and make sure you

each have you know chemistry with each other

and. And that was what one of the things that

was so great about world's finest podcast is

you and James each approach it from a different

aspect and everything else and it was just so

fun how eventually your. camaraderie came together,

whether it was in continuity or not. And sorry,

there's a certain show on that podcast that is

not in continuity. If it comes before Batman,

then how could it be in continuity? I know, I

know. As a producer, do you feel you need a mixing

board and all the fancy stuff that would essentially

be found in a radio station or are you just good

with a great mic and headphones set up? I've

contemplated the whole mixer thing, and for me,

I don't need it. If I was doing in -person podcasting,

more than two people in a room, sure, I would

definitely consider it, but you had mentioned,

for better or worse, the show that my wife and

I did, and we just put the mic in front of us,

and that was fine, just between us. But yeah,

if you're gonna do more than that, you definitely

need a mixer. But yeah, I mean, if you wanna

add sound effects and audio clips and all that,

then yeah, go for it, get one. It would be a

very valuable tool. But for me, any sounds or

clips, I just add them in post while I'm editing.

So I don't need that in front of me. Yep, absolutely.

So how much time do you put into the editing

of the shows? Okay, this has changed over the

years. I used to edit every um and uh out to

the best of my ability. I used to shrink longer

pauses down for fear of people thinking there

was dead air and that their, back in the day,

their iPod, now their phone, had died. I don't

want someone to pause to be so long that they

can pull their device out of their pocket to

look if it's still playing. So that said, I would

definitely put in take an episode, double or

triple its length. And that's how much time I

would put into editing. And I used to have the

stamina to do that in one sitting. I would literally

record an episode. And so let's say an hour,

an hour long episode just for easy math and grab

the files. and go, OK, I've already sat here

for an hour and I'm going to do another two to

three just to get this done. And then I can move

on with the rest of my day. Now, I'm not so strict

with my rules. I leave the ums and uhs in. I

still cut them out. I do my best to cut out coughs

and things like that. I still do shrink the those

quiet moments, those quote unquote dead air moments,

but not as much as I did, because sometimes they're

there for effect. You don't need so i will leave

those and so it's it's definitely changed also

how i edit has changed greatly the way i used

to do it. Like in the early days of the show

maybe up through episode two hundred as i was

recording i would have a sheet of paper in front

of me and i would shot down the times that needed

an edit. Okay. Okay. The problem is, let's say

you mark and edit at the, just again for easy

math, at minute one, minute five, and then minute

10. And you make that edit at minute one. Now

the edit at minute five is now maybe at minute

430, and at the five minute mark. You see what

I'm saying? Yep. Because you're shrinking the

track. So what I did was I edited backwards.

So I had my list of edits and I would say, OK,

the very last edit that least while recording

that I wanted to make was at the one hour mark.

I'd start with that one because then that doesn't

change the time structure working backwards.

You see what I'm saying? So I used to do that,

but then it got to the point where. If I was

recording with someone in person, it got to be

kind of if I realized it was kind of rude because

they're seeing me right down while they're talking

and they're they're realizing that I'm. going

to edit something out that they're literally

saying in that moment. You know what I mean?

And also, it was just like, well, no, it just

became too much work. And maybe I was missing

something, too. And I wasn't 100 percent, maybe

just 95 percent engaged in the editing, if that

makes sense. You know, editing in the in the

recording part of the recording. Yeah. Yeah.

So I stopped doing that. Now I just listen from

start to finish and just go. But like I said,

so now instead of being double the length of

the show, maybe it's like the length of the show

plus half. Yeah. So for me, I, I've never like,

I will make edit points. Like I will, like if

something happens where somebody knocks on my

door, I will say something like, and this is

not currently happening folks. This is an example,

but I will say, I will say, okay, hang on one

hour, 16 minutes and 33, 34 edit. I'll stop I'll

go take care of whatever I will come back. The

thing for me with editing is I always used to

be a super stickler of we need to record on Skype

it needs to be on one track I do not know how

to do multi track it and I've learned over the

years and I now know how to do so for me how

I do it now is I will take a whole day. Let's

say from seven AM to five basically work hours.

Okay. Did general business hours. Let's say from

seven AM to five PM. I will take a whole day.

I will listen to every part of each of our tracks.

I will cut out what I feel needs to be cut out.

I will cut around the brakes. I will do that.

I will then level each track. I will then combine

them into one track for the like you mentioned

earlier about inserting clips i'm all about inserting

clips i always have been except nowadays it it's

much easier once i get. What we're currently

doing into a one track file but now that i'm

on this journey of doing to multitrack editing

it's like oh okay this is easy and like you said

earlier about the host and how many you know

you haven't. It's like, okay, just make sure

no one's talking over each other. And then everything

else is kind of gravy kind of thing. Yeah. As

a producer, do you prefer in -person recordings

or over the internet recordings, Skype, Zencast

or Zoom, et cetera? By nature of just how it's

worked out, you know, over the internet, honestly.

Yeah. You know if I'm recording in person with

someone it's you know like my wife You know,

yeah I've done a like Dan came into town. I want

to say for was it bigger on the inside 100 I

Forget, I think that was the number where we

just sat down and recorded like all day, you

know and there was an early episode of earth

student at the show where Dez was in town for

like Chicago Comic -Con or Wizard World Chicago,

whatever it was called at the time, and just

sat down with him for a little bit. But yeah,

just by the nature of having contributors literally

all over the world, it just works out that it's

Zoom. And that works for me better because I

have anxiety and I can hide it better when I'm

recording over Zoom and I'm not in the room with

someone and just being nervous and physically

interacting with them on top of with my voice.

So yeah. Outside of when Karen was still alive

and she wasn't, I have, and I've only ever put

this in, I think one episode, but I have various

things that I recorded with her and I tried to

get us to do a podcast and not just like a, not,

not like what you and Shana did with for better

or worse, but like just, you know, something,

an episode of this or all you want. I have audio

of us doing stuff, but it's not like anything,

whatever, but at least, you know, that's us.

We can look at each other. We can look into Mike.

We can do whatever. I've only ever done two other

in -person recordings. My buddy Steve, best friend,

co -creator of the network and all that stuff

with me. He came into town for when Karen and

I got married and I'm just like, okay, this is

the first time, like that was 2017. We met online

in 2008. So almost a decade of us knowing each

other online only. It's like, okay, how can we

not record at least 30 minutes of Of a show together

in person so we did that and it was just it was

weird because it's like okay We look at each

other do we look at the microphone? What are

we because for me? It's like like you said you're

right You know you put you know you are in your

space. I'm in my space I have what you know we

each have like we're in our own environments,

but we are now Magically connected through the

internet dust or whatever the hell the internet

is these days You know kind of thing and I did

that I did one of the one I did an interview

with Big Ed from Big Ed's Barbecue up there in

Waukegan, Illinois. And that was fun. Big Ed's

hilarious. If you ever get up to the north side

of Illinois up there, go check out Big Ed's Barbecue.

You may not be a barbecue person, but just It's

he's hilarious. He's so fun. So yeah, I much

like you prefer the the over -the -internet thing

It's it's much easier and it you know Don't have

to worry about looking at the actual people you

his screen. Yeah As both a listener and a producer

do you prefer one feed have everything and should

each type of show have its own feed I think each

show should have its own feed. That said, I do

have a catch -all feed called Earth2 .net presents

that's up in iTunes, you know, in various places.

But yeah, I prefer to keep them separate because,

you know, I don't want to bog down people's podcast

app. You know, if they just want to listen to

Earth2 .net the show, they can do that without

having bigger on the inside drop on them. And

then they're going to go, oh, OK, it's another

of Mike's shows. That's great. But I don't want

them to have to go through the energy of removing

it or after it downloads or whatever. So I think,

for me, I like keeping them separate for the

listener. Yeah. And I agree. To the point where,

yes, you were created, like you said, with World

Finest Podcast, with For Better or Worse, they're

two completely bigger on the inside. They're

all completely dead edge of forever. One's Star

Trek, one's Doctor Who, one is superheroes with

the DC animated universe, and the other is all

about movies and TV and whatever else. So yeah,

they should all be their own thing. At the same

time, I have stopped creating new shows because

This show specifically studio two thousand as

i mentioned a while ago in this episode anything

in the audio and visual realm. So whatever it

is it can be covered on the show it doesn't matter

if you go to a football game if you go to a hockey

game if you go to a wrestling match whatever

it is if you want to review it you can be on

the show it doesn't as long as you can hear as

long as you can see it's on the show. Uh, the,

the pullback, it's all about comics, anything

with comics. Now we don't tend to do a lot of

comic movie stuff. We've done, I think. I called

them, I thought this was ingenious and it's probably

just stupid. I called them comic Terry's, but

they're actually commentaries. So we have three

episodes where my buddy Joe and I did commentaries

on TMNT one, two, and three. And we probably

won't do the, the. the space alien turtle whatever

that weird whatever those two movies but it's

one of those things where i've stopped creating

new stuff because it's like i have studio or

i have the pull bag or if i have this or we do

a lot of transformer stuff it's like why am i

going to create a new When Steve created all

things transformers in 2008 and I joined him

in at that time at the end of that snake owners

that we have something called all things Transformers

so no matter what Transformers thing it is it

could go on that show because it is all so it's

and the thing is like we did an episode of geek

cast radio where we're talking about the podcast

name game and making sure That your podcast name

is as individual and unique and isn't copying

anybody or isn't this or isn't that like, I can't

tell you how many podcasts I've searched for

with just a general geek topic in it where it's

like. They're all the same. I'm like, how do

you like, which one was first and whatever one

was first. That's I don't know. But yeah, the

whole podcast name game is just, is just crazy.

So I just don't do it anymore. I just use the

shows that I've had for. X number of years. Yeah,

that name game thing bugs the bleep out of me.

When James and I started World's Finest Podcast,

that was the early days of podcasting. There

wasn't a lot out there. There really wasn't.

And so looking up shows was pretty easy. And

another show started I don't remember how long

after, but after we started World's Finest Podcast,

and I think they were covering a similar topic.

I don't think it was exactly the same, but it

was similar enough. I remember when this happened,

they were doing comics. Yes, that's right. They

might have actually been doing the World's Finest

Comics that they were covering, if not other

ones too, but it bugged the heck out of me because

I'm like, It isn't 2022 where shows come and

go and maybe you can repurpose a name or reuse

a name or whatever. It was so easy to look up

and go, no, there's already a show with this

name. We're going to call it something else.

approaches me and says, hey, you know, I want

to start a podcast. You know, can we put it on

Earth, too? I'm like, yeah. But I tell them,

check the name. Really do a deep dive through

iTunes, Spotify and even Google and go past page

one on Google. There is a page two on Google

to make sure that, you know, if the name has

already been used, make sure that show isn't

being produced anymore. And even then. try to

make sure that the name is different enough.

Add something else to it. So that people... So

I don't want to step on other podcasters' toes.

I mean, yeah, podcasting has become a professional

thing, but there's still very much a Wild West

out there. And I think we still have to... Be

kind to each other, even if we don't interact

with each other on social media or in real life.

I think I think that's an important step. So,

yeah, if you're going to start a new show, just

look around to see what is out there, you know,

and make sure, you know, you can do the same

topic. That's fine. But don't do the same name.

That's just rude beyond belief. Yeah. And, you

know, it's so funny. We did so. I don't know

how many people listening to Syria do those and

I know this, but one of our historic things is

our top 100 countdowns because we remember the

top 100 animated series IGN list. Uh huh. Okay.

That's a hundred pages you have to click through.

Oh God. Yeah. Yeah. My buddy, Kevin Optimus Solo

was like, okay, we can do this better. We can

figure that. And we found a way to do it in audio

form that, you know, it's long form. These podcasts,

episodes are anywhere from two to three, three

hours. And there's like six episodes for each.

So we had animated series, animated films, TV

shows, blah, blah, blah. When we got to TV shows

somewhere around 2015 or 2016. So the top 100

television shows. Boy meets world came in at

number 50. And both Steve and I were like, what?

Why is it only 50? This show is much better than

this. It has to be way higher. What's going on?

So we went and I went and we went and created

podcaster meets world because it's boy me originally

we were going to do it podcasters since there

was two of us, but the whole point it's boy meets

world. So podcaster meets world. We created that

show in 2016 and it was always going to be a

limited show because there were only at that

time in 2016, obviously, Boy Mace World had been

done for years. There's only like 193 episodes

of that television show. And then Girl Mace World

happened and there's like, I don't know how many,

but it was supposed to be a limited run and beginning,

middle, end point show. Well now in 2022, and

it is what it is there. They're the stars of

this, whatever. Danielle Fischl, Will Friedel,

Mr. Batman himself, Mr. Batman beyond himself,

because he was Eric Matthews, and Ryder Strong

have created Pod meets World. And I'm just like,

huh? I listen to it. I love listening to it.

But every once in a while, you know, it's like,

oh man. I don't know. It is what it is. And they're

doing way different things than we are. We were

just. We cover it season by season instead of

episode by episode. If we covered it episode

by episode, we would be here for years. So, but

yeah, the name game is like you said, do, do

everything that Mike said about 10 minutes ago,

folks, Google, iTunes, Spotify, if it's already

out there, Steve found a great way to come up

with titles, episode names. So like, like future

imperfect. For a Star Trek podcast or whatever,

you know, look at episode titles of television

shows or whatever, especially if it's going to

be a TV show podcast or, you know, fine. Yeah.

When I was looking for, when I eventually came

up with the pull bag, actually buddy of mine,

Mike Powers came up with the, or is that I was

going to call it the pull list? Cause you know,

you go into the comic shop and you have a list

of books and whatever else. And that was taken.

I was like, okay, what else, what else, what

else? And then Mike said, oh, the, the pull bag.

And I was like, okay, good. And then I just started

marketing around that with, you know, jump inside

the pull bag today, make your greatest game to

comics and do all that stuff. So yeah, naming

shows and, and, and everything like that. It's

just, you know, it's just crazy folks. So be

careful out there. Yeah. Well, you know, you

mentioned using episodes. I mean, that's episode

titles. That's I mean, the edge of forever is

based on the city on the edge of forever. The

Star Trek. I mean, that's and Dan came up with

that. You know, we were we were searching for

a name. He's like, how about this? And I'm like,

done. That is awesome. Do it. You know? Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. How do you use social media

to promote your shows? I don't. I didn't think

you did. Yeah, I mean, You know, I have multiple

Twitter feeds and, you know, my main one is on,

you know, earth underscore the number two. And

I try to keep that one about geeky stuff, but

real life stuff comes in there, you know, because

it's my main feed. But, you know, I'm not on

Facebook anymore, so I'm not promoting it on

there. I'm not anywhere else really. So I just

I don't I mean, I don't mean to give a non answer,

but I don't. Yeah. I mean, you know, it is what

it is. And, you know, and it's not that you've

slowed down. It's not that you've stopped. It's

just that, you know, you, you, especially, I

mean, almost 20 years, you have a loyal listener

base that knows when your stuff is coming or,

you know, or they pay attention enough to you

on Twitter or whatever. And, and all these others,

so like, I think I have 330 posts on Instagram.

I'm surprised I have, but like I don't do it.

I don't do stories. I don't do reels. I don't

do this short form video content. I can not stand

it and not stand it. It's like, if you're going

to give me a YouTube video, I don't care if it's

two minutes long. I have me personally, I have

quote unquote worked. Like to the point where

I have a 32 inch widescreen monitor, widescreen,

and it doesn't rotate. So like I do widescreen.

I don't do the, the, the portrait mode Instagram

and don't even get me started on tick tongue.

Yeah. If people want to do that stuff, fine,

great, whatever. But when it comes to social

media, I, I still I curate my social media to

the point where I don't see a lot of the negative

stuff. Am I on Facebook? Yes. Do I make posts

on Facebook? Yes, absolutely I do. But most of

it is for the podcast stuff or funny stuff or

memories. Man, it's like, oh, because I'm all

about the nostalgia. It's like, oh, this happened

next number of years ago. I made a memory post

on Facebook the other day where it was like,

all this the post said was 13 years ago, I found

it, bury it. I copied that. I shared that and

I said, I don't remember what I found 13 years

ago, but I think I lost it again. I don't do

groups on Facebook. When Facebook was like, oh,

groups are the new thing. Have your podcast be

a group? And I'm like, nope. Don't even, it's

a fan page, it's a this, it's a that, it's so

we can get the content out there and get it shared

and get it promoted. Same thing with Twitter.

I have multiple Twitter accounts, but the TFG

One Mic account is the main one that I use for

me, but it's like, it's a promotional tool. And

Twitter isn't what it used to be. Like there's

a thing from, I think it was called Super News.

It's called Twubble. TW so trouble with twitter

and it's with these two is this animatic thing

of Dave and Craig and. It's talking about what

the twitter sphere is and you idiot you're someone

to fail it's this video from a long ass time

ago and it's like oh i'm i miss old twitter because

current twitter is just. Even if the billionaire

buys it it's still whack. All right, what is

your favorite topic to discuss on a podcast?

I mean, probably comic books, honestly. Movies

are great. TV shows are great. I don't want to

it's like one in one a you know what I mean?

But yeah, I would definitely say comic books

are like up there for me. Just because it's the

medium I've been interested in. The longest time

in my whole life. I was watching TV definitely

before I could read anything, let alone comic

books. But that's the one I've been invested

in the most, even though I've dipped in and out

of comics. I've definitely had down periods where

I've read very little or possibly even nothing

for long stretches. Yeah, just talking about

comics to me is just... Like I'm super fun. But

like I said, it's one in one a with with movies.

So yeah. Yeah, absolutely. What do you see the

differences between podcasting versus the radio

now? I don't think you've ever been on the radio.

I know you said you wanted to be at one point

or another, but like I guess this is more of

a listener question. What are the differences

to you? The. The way it's produced. um that there

is a crew that's doing a radio show you know

um you know there's the often usually unheard

producer in the booth you know listening in um

the the commercial breaks the need to you know

it's one thing to say hey we're going to talk

about you know the wild wild west today and you

know ian dave and myself sit down and talk about

the wild wild west it's another thing to go okay

i have a three hour block and i know for the

first 22 minutes we're going to talk about this

and we're going to get listener calls then we're

going to cut to a commercial then we're going

to do this for the next 15 minutes and like to

plan it out like that is impressive but dear

god i couldn't do that You know, because if I'm

on a topic and I want to talk about that topic,

I want to talk about that topic. You know, I

don't want to go, Oh, we only have set amount

of time. And I said, I love radio. It's still,

you know, if the opportunity presented itself

to be a radio presenter, I'd be nervous as hell,

but I'd give it a go. Yeah. But yeah, I just,

I just can't do that kind of planning, you know,

at all. I mean, I've done planning for podcasts.

Like I said earlier, like, you know, I want to

talk about the name game. podcaster meets world.

Initially, I had that planned out to be over

70 episodes because we were going to do episode

by episode. And then we, you know, Steve was

like, nah, I don't want to do that. I was like,

okay, I'll come up with something else. And that's

how we came up with seasons and we do seasons

and we actually split the seasons. So we do two

episodes per season. So it's like when it's world

season. Four has 24 episodes. So part one will

be episode one to 12 of season four and part

two will be episode 13 to 24 of season four kind

of thing. But yeah, some of the planning with,

with all that is just crazy. And you're right.

The ad breaks and all that. And I try not to

do too many ad breaks. I figure with 30 questions,

you can half it. Like I already did in this episode.

And then, you know, once you get to the end,

it's like, okay, we're going to take another

quick break and people can like. Most of my podcast

recordings take anywhere, depending on what it

is, take anywhere from 45 minutes to over two

hours. And it's like, okay, I know we all need

to take a break at some point and that's fine.

That's why I build in the breaks. That's the,

that's the great thing about when like something

like bigger on the inside of the edge of forever

or even world's finest podcast is because I use

clips from the episodes like to segment. Like

here we're talking about this episode and then

boom, here's an audio clip before we get to the

next. Those audio clips allow you to go, Oh God,

I need a pee break right now. Absolutely. Yep.

Cause we're not young people anymore and pee

breaks are more frequent. And I will say ever

since recently over the last year or so, ever

since I upgraded Zencasters, Zencaster now has

a Once you start the recording, it has a pause

function now. It never used to have a pause function

on Zencaster Classic, so it's like, okay, instead

of sitting here and me going to the bathroom

and Mike having to twiddle his thumbs or, you

know, quote, The golden girls until I come back

it's like oh I can hit this pause button and

no I don't have to edit any I can still do that

I can still do the time stamp of okay this needs

to be edited at this point, but I don't have

to Edit out to the point of oh, this is just

Mike twiddling his thumbs kind of thing So so

yeah, that's that's that's awesome interesting.

I know you've done some things, but if you've

done any interviews with famous people, which

ones were your favorites? No, I've really not

done any that I could. Yeah, that was a goal

in the early days of the show. I had pretty I'm

not pat myself on the back here, but I had I

had some pretty high contacts at Marvel at the

time that would have allowed me to. turn Earth

2 .0 at the show into a partial interview show.

But it's not something I've ever really done.

Yeah. Well, I know you guys have gotten panels

like the DC, one of the DC animated one. I don't

know. Well, those weren't me doing it. That's

just me putting my recording device on the chair

next to me at a convention. And, you know, what's

the word I'm looking for? Kind of going rogue.

Yeah. Yoink. Yeah, just stealing their content

because that was before, you know, people like

again, we'll say like a Wizard World, Chicago

or a C2E2. C2E2 is a little different because

it's been around like 10 plus years now. So they

came in with social medias, but they weren't

putting their content up there. You know so i

didn't feel bad about recording it and putting

it out into the ether for others to hear because

they were doing it themselves and the people

that go to the cons want to hear what's there

and not just read a story about oh so and so

said this about a book that's coming up or this

role in this thing but now you know they're if

they're not putting if they're not live streaming

up live streaming it i should say they're putting

up. You know, kind of beefy clips of the important

moments that happened at the con, you know, so

that's, that's, that's what I was sort of doing

there. That was the philosophy behind that. Yeah.

One of the things I've started doing this year

on geek cast radio is to like, if I have friends

that are going to like I've my buddy Chris out

in, in Portland, Oregon, he, he's he and his

friends have gone and done stuff at like Emerald

city or Rose city or. Uh, an interview I got

to do a couple of times with comic writer, Pat

Shand. He is a native New Yorker and he went

to NYCC. So I will get people, oh, you're going

to this. Can you do that? Like, do you mind,

you know, reporting back your experience kind

of thing? And we've been very lucky at the GeekCast

radio. We have gotten some. I don't even know

how we've gotten so many voice actors and so

many, like, it's not even that I had high contacts.

It's just like, Oh, you either ask the person

directly or you get a subscription to IMDB pro

and contact their agent or manager or whomever.

And, you know, you can only do that for, you

know, subscriptions only lasts so long because

you can only pay for it for so long, but it's

like, Oh, free trial. Yes, please. And I will

look up as many people as I want. And we've done.

So many, so many, so many cool things. And here's

hoping one of these days I can get somebody for

you that you're just like, Oh my God, I need

to talk to them. All right. Was there ever a

moment when you were completely done with it?

You just wanted nothing to do with it. You went

into a cave and you're like, Nope, no more content.

Almost, almost. Um, when Dez and I were covering

DC's Countdown series, we got halfway through

the 52 issues. And, you know, we were talking

about, we were doing the four issues at a time

per episode, and we were spending three, four

plus hours per show on those. And we would start

recording midnight central time, 10 o 'clock

for Dez, because he's on the West Coast. Yeah.

And so we were recording for me up to like four

something in the morning. And I was younger,

so I had the energy for it. It didn't matter.

And my job allowed me to, I was maybe starting

at 10, 11 or noon. You know, I got to make my

own schedule because I was the manager. So it

didn't matter if I was going to bed at five,

six in the morning because I didn't have to get

up. So whatever. The point is we got through

at the halfway point of that series and we hopped

on to record. And we both were like, we're done

with this, just independent of each other. We

decided we were done with the series because

it was making us hate comics and it was making

us hate podcasting. So even though I kept podcasting

from there, there was a very deep resentment

towards podcasting and comics because of that

series. And instead of sticking with it just

because we had started it because. I can't say

this of all podcasters, but I know this for a

lot of them. There's an OCD element. I started

it, I have to finish. There's plenty of off -ramps

and you don't take it or you don't even see it.

But that one, we saw it and we took it as fast

as we flipping could. It was legit making us

hate, even just talking to each other. It was

making us hate that. And we didn't want that.

So even though I continued podcasting, that was

a moment where I'm like, this, I am done. But

thankfully, I, you know, and we did return to

finish that out as a special to the fans. But

it was years later before we did it all in one

go. And we were like, I think we actually did

over a couple of recordings and I spliced them

together. But we did it as like one episode,

episode nine, nine, nine of Earth two at the

show. And so, yeah, but that was that was a big.

big moment for us where it could have ended.

And I will say, I did consider ending the show

at episode 500. I forgot about that until just

now. Because that's a good beefy number, 500.

And some people at the forums, there's sort of

a moderator section that's just for the mods

and the podcasters. We're like, if you cancel

the show, what's the point of earth2 .net? And

I was like, oh. Oh God, I never saw it that way

because I'm looking at it from the inside, where

even though they're also on the inside, they

were outside enough that they could say that

to me and know I'd be receptive to it. So yeah,

that was another moment where I was just like,

it wasn't like I was tired of podcasting. It

was just like, to use the phrase, it was an off

-ramp, 500 episodes. Yeah. Because to me, if

the show were to ever end, pardon me there, if

the show were to ever end, I kind of needed to

end on a number that's round or five or something

like that. It just could be randomly episode

1712. Well, why that? You know what I mean? Like,

why is that the last one? But I still had the

energy to do it because I'm well past 500, double

past 500. But yeah, I forgot about that. That

was a moment where I just was like, yeah. And

I still would have kept podcasting and doing

other shows, but that's where it was going to

end. Yeah. And that's the thing with us at the

GCRN. It was like, okay, we're going to create

shows that have an end point. And we're going

to have shows that go on or have the ability

to go on forever, no matter what. Like Geek Cast

Radio, I say this in every episode of whatever

show it is. Whenever I talk about Geek Cast Radio,

GCR is our all encompassing. It was when we did

like, oh, let's break down the 80 years of Batman

or let's talk about TMNT one, two and three as

a franchise or the turtles franchise in general

for the last almost 40 years or transfer. You

know, it's like, that's the big show. That's

the show. And that's kind of where now where

I'm like, we're at episode, we just released

episode three Oh seven, but it's like, that's

for the larger thing. And there are other shows

where it's like, Oh, we can do this here. We

can do that there, whatever, but we still have.

This may think, and especially with our student,

I don't know if you're ever going to have an

endpoint to it, but. It's your, I don't want

to say your catch all, but it is your comic book

and your, you know, you, you have other, there

was some, some episodes where you're just doing

the introduction and the closing and somebody

else has said, Hey, like, I don't want to say

it's a segment show. It's not. Really is it isn't

it isn't kind of thing and if i'm speaking out

of turn here please let me know but it's just

one of those things where. As a listener of that

show i've realized that oh after almost eleven

hundred and thirty episodes or so you think you're

like eleven twenty eight or twenty nine remember

you know kind of thing is like oh there's so

much here and so many varying things and so many

varying opinions it's not just. Mike Sims, it's

everybody that you have worked with, whether

you're currently working with them or whether

you worked with them in the past kind of thing.

And it's like, like we've already said, it's

a, it's a record of your life. It's a record

of nearly, you know, almost 18, almost 20 years

of your life. And that's, that's the way it should

be. You know, you know, you may have been somewhere

when you were recording and I think, cause I

didn't have a chance to go back to listen. Cause.

I'm sorry, I will say this because we don't actually,

I don't think we use them, but GoDaddy, you suck.

I went back to look at episode 87 because I swear

to God, episode 87 was the pen rant. I always

remember your pen and I don't remember why. I

think it was something about like somebody stealing

your pen or taking your pen or borrowing your

pen or not returning it or something. Yeah, I

have a huge issue with that myself. So I really

resonated with that. So it's like, you know,

I remember all this stuff and I remember all

these things. It's like episode 100 was turtles,

episode 200 was this. And it's like, you made

it, every episode is special, but you make all

those milestone episodes really special because

you want to, like you were saying earlier, not

only get the new listeners, but get the ones

that have been with you for so long. Oh, they're

finally getting to this or oh, they're doing

this or oh, you know, and it's just one of those

things where unless, you know, unless something

happens to me and I'm no longer here, I will

probably be podcasting until I get throat cancer

or something. Heaven forbid that ever happened.

But like, until I lose the sound of my voice,

I will never not be doing this. Because it's

what I enjoy and it's what I do and it's just

overall it's fun for me. Are there stresses?

Are there things? Yes, but at the end of the

day, if you put out a really great product and

you're really happy with it and you really like

it and you do the best you can for your interviews

now, it's like, oh my god. I think I mentioned

this to you over on the pullback when we did

your comic origins. When we got to interview

Maurice LaMarche, I edited that thing so fast

and something happened and we broke news about

him being the voice of Mr. Freeze in Arkham City.

We weren't supposed to do that. It's like I ask

everybody now, it's like, do you want anything

cut out? Do you want me to, before I even start

the editing, is there anything you've said in

the last X number of times that you don't want

in there and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And

I will send everybody and that, but like, uh,

cause for us, we have certain things with the

service we use that we have to put in. That's

why I. building ad breaks. So that way I can

put in what I have to put in for the thing that

we use, the service that we use. And it's one

of those things where it's like, oh, okay, we're

going to do this. But I still think that whatever

episode I've done with that person, I will send

them the original file that is, that does not

have, obviously I built in my own, like, look.

I've done advertising for podcasts that I don't

even think reciprocate it. And that's fine. That's

that's their show if they choose to do this.

But for me, it's like, oh, I've worked with you

or I've done this with you make an ad for your

show or your network. And I will put it in almost

every show that I produce because I feel like

that's my way of paying that person back, you

know, for the time that they took to be on my

show. Yeah. So Before we take the last two questions,

tell me the story of Earth2 .net the show episode

1000, because for those that don't know, Earth2

.net show episode 1000 is the only podcast, to

my knowledge, in existence that is 24 hours long.

You nut! What did you do? Okay. Just so there's

a little context, it's... It's it's a it's a

series of segments so it's not you know no one

we didn't sit there for twenty four hours and

record though i would absolutely love to try

that at some point no idea how that would work.

What it what it came down to was that was something

i had wanted to do for a long time i just hope

you really cool to do an episode that was. 24

hours long. I don't know when that idea got into

my head, but it was ages and ages ago, possibly

even pre -episode 100, that I was like, yeah,

let's try this. But there was no feasible way

to make it happen, you know? And then when...

Episode 1000 was in the works and we spent years

figuring out what episode 1000 was going to be

and ultimately I wanted to celebrate team ups

and crossovers. because to me, that's what Earth2

.net and Earth2 .net, the show specifically,

is. It's a bunch of people coming together to

produce that show. That show isn't just me. Yeah,

I'm the one who takes the raw files and does

the editing. For the most part, now when people

send in their segments, I don't edit them. That's

not a thing I do. But you know what I mean. If

I'm part of the Talking Heads segment, I'm doing

that. But the show isn't just me. As I said earlier,

I'm not a fan of myself doing solo shows. So

I wanted to celebrate that. So that's why we

did that one. So I said, send in all these segments

of. Talking about crossovers and team ups in

comics in music in I don't know if there's a

right if there's a wrestling segment in there

but wrestling if someone wanted to win movies

whatever it was and so when all the segments

came in and I piece that together I was saying

they're going. Oh wait this is this is getting

close to twenty four hours wait a minute and

I started getting really giddy inside because

the plan even though I wanted a twenty four hour

episode for ages. There was no plan to make 1000

a 24 hour episode. It just happened. And I was

like, oh my gosh, this is gonna happen. It's

gonna happen. Oh my gosh, it's happening. And

then I got past the 24 hour mark and I was like,

oh, it happened. So now the behind the scenes

part of it that's even more behind the scenes

is it came out on my 40th birthday. So. I didn't

sleep that night because I stayed up. I legit

started putting the episode together and then

recording the intro and all that. I'll say, I

don't know, let's say like 11 o 'clock that night

or something like that. We're done with dinner.

Shane is off to bed. I can really focus on this.

But I chose to stay up that night because when

Audacity is compressing the file down from its

Audacity -ness to an MP3, It's usually pretty

quick, but my 24 -hour show was going to take

a while and I did 697 .8 MB. Yeah, that takes

a while Yeah, and so I didn't want it to stall

out and me not realize it. Yeah Yeah, I legit

stayed up to whatever time I started finished

putting all the segments together So let's say

I was done putting everything in order in audacity

You know in the multi -track form at like let's

say 1230, right? Let's say I was done with that

And I started the compression process or the

export process. It didn't finish until like,

I want to say like five, six, maybe even seven

in the morning. So now it's into my 40th birthday.

And that's how I spent the night leading into

my 40th birthday. And then I taken the day off

of work. So I just like slept that day, you know,

and I don't even know what time I got up. But

that's kind of how that all came about. But then

the people Again, the mods and the co -producers

of the show said, look, you just can't put this

out there as one thing. So I also released it

as episode 1 ,000A, 1 ,000B, or I think it was

1 ,000. It's 1, 2, 3, 4. Yeah, it's 1 ,000 .0708.

Yeah. Yeah. So if you wanted to just hear the

Metallica segment, well, here's the Metallica

segment. If you just wanted to hear the Crisis

on Infinite Earth segment, here's that. So that's

why it exists in its. full 24 hour form, but

also it's broken down into X many parts form.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, it's just,

it's just amazing. It really, really is. And

like you said, you, you and Ian are doing a EW

stuff. Yeah. Um, how did you switch from like,

With your wrestling enjoyment from WWE to AEW

and all that, like what was your, I don't know,

what was your off switch for switching to the

other company? So I have in and out periods with

wrestling, you know, a kid of the eighties, of

course I was watching, you know, the mega powers

explode and the ultimate warrior and then wrestling

got into the nineties and it just wasn't for

me anymore. You know, like no shade in anybody

who likes WWF's New Generation, but like Doink

the Clown and all that. I know Doink has his

fans. And again, I'm not shitting on Doink, but

it's like that kind of stuff just wasn't for

me. Then I came back into wrestling. I really

hate to say it, but it was news of Owen Hart's

in -ring death. that brought me back to wrestling.

And my girlfriend at the time, she was into wrestling

too as a kid, so we got back into it. And then

in 2000, and so when I say wrestling, I mean

specifically WWF. I was never a big WCW kid.

Back in the mid to late 90s when the NWO came

around, my coworkers at Best Buy, that's all

they talked about. I could tell you the moment

the NWO happened because the next day, even though

I wasn't watching WCW or even wrestling at that

point, that was all they could talk about, you

know what I mean? So I get back in, it would

have been 99, I believe, and around 2004, I started

going to independent shows for IWA Mid -South.

And I stuck with them for a good long time, still

watching WWE now, because I dropped the F at

that point, became the WWE. And then, I got into

UFC, I got into mixed martial arts, and I sort

of had this mental break where if I could see

someone get taken down with one really stiff

punch in a mixed martial arts fight, it became

harder for me to believe someone could take seven

chair shots to the head and still get up. Yeah,

I kind of started to fade away. from wrestling

and then I won't name check a specific wrestler,

but there was a very specific wrestler that as

a real person, I think is a gigantic bag of.

I'll censor myself here. Yeah, yeah. And because

he was like the champion at the time, I'm like

this product isn't for me. It's just not for

me. And I got out of wrestling again. Then I

started hearing about this thing called NXT.

Which for those of you that don't know is WWE's

it's their third brand. It's their it's their

developmental program Yeah, it's their developmental

program and this is back when it was just on

the WWE Network before it had even brought been

brought to TV and I'm like, oh I really like

this and it allowed me to pay attention to WWE

WWE because at the time that was all there was

on TV, right? Yeah TV adjacent in terms of streaming

But I didn't have to pay attention to what was

going on on Raw or SmackDown for three hours.

It was just, I think, an hour -long show. So

I get into that, and then I hear about this thing

called AEW. You know, it was gonna feature wrestlers

that I hadn't seen on the independent scene,

but I had heard of. Your Kenny Omegas, your Young

Bucks, guys like that. And then they were also

bringing in guys like a Dustin Runnels, former

Gold Dust for you old 90s wrestling fans, who

I have a deep respect for. And some other people

that I kind of knew tangentially, and I thought

I'd give it a go. Now, I don't watch it on a

weekly basis, but I keep up with it through the

podcasts I mentioned earlier, such as Cultaholic

and What Culture. So even if I don't see an episode

or a string of them, episodes, I do. know what's

going on in one way or another. And then when

Ian and I are going to do an episode, I definitely

will cram a few episodes in of Dynamite and Rampage

in beforehand, because generally we're talking

about like maybe an upcoming pay -per -view or

something like that. So yeah, sorry it's not

just a very straightforward answer. No, it's

cool. How I kind of got there. And now I just

don't pay attention to WWE at all. I mean, again,

through those podcasts I mentioned, I do hear

what's going on. going on in there. But I might

watch a segment or two or a match or two. WWE,

as of this recording, had a pay -per -view or

a premium live event, as they're now called,

maybe a month or so ago, called Clash at the

Castle, where Sheamus and Gunther, used to go

by the name Walter, just beat the ever -loving

poop out of each other. Their chests were red.

They were raw. And it's a five -star match. But

based on Dave Meltzer, if you give him any sort

of credence. It is like an amazing, amazing,

it's just two big guys beating the crud out of

each other. And it's like, that's wrestling.

Yeah. You know, so I will watch those kinds of

matches from time to time, but I pretty much

stay away from WWE and with AEW, I'll even there

just kind of just watch the matches I'm interested

in or I'll give one or two where I'm like, Oh,

I kind of like that guy. Let me see. you know,

what, what he can do or what they can do. Cause

I love female wrestling too. Um, I shouldn't

just focus on the guys there. So yeah, like I

said, it's a long winding answer to a simple

question, but it's that's the way I had to kind

of answer that. Yeah. I've always like, like

you said, we're not, I'm not trying to turn this

podcast approach into a wrestling episode folks,

but it's just the way the conversation is going.

It's like, I was a kid I remember seeing like

Roddy Piper like I went to a Roddy Piper and

junkyard dog show or I went to this I went to

that or my dad and I watched it over the years

and obviously everyone I don't care who you are

if you've seen at least one wrestling match and

you've heard Mean Gene like I mean come on everybody

loves Mean Gene And, you know, I got into it,

I get out of it, I get into it, I get out of

it, and I get into it, and we created a show

called Mayhem Mikes, and we went for, I don't

know, 36, 37 episodes of that podcast, and it

was WWE, like, 20... I want to say 2015 to 2017,

whatever that era was, and during that era, I

found The Shield. And I liked Roman. I liked

Seth, but I absolutely, after he kind of fixed

and changed his, I love Dean. I thought Dean

was great. And then, you know, Dean's got the

character of Dean Ambrose is gone. Cause John

left and he went, when he showed up on AAW, like,

Ooh, like it's kind of like when you follow our

comic creator, you follow like Kyle Higgins.

I mentioned that on your comic episode, like

Kyle Higgins did new 52 Nightwing. And I'm like,

okay. You've got me hooked. What else are you

going to do? He's done creator on stuff like

cowl. He's currently doing creator on stuff with

radiant black that he created with, with his

team. So it's like, I'll follow a person or this

or that. I don't necessarily follow the promotions

and I have not paid any attention to it in a

long time. It's been years. It's not that I,

I don't hate it. I don't dislike it. I just.

It's one of those things where something has

to happen in either WWE or AEW that is like,

Oh my, and it can't be just, Oh, Chris Jericho

is taking over. Cause don't get me wrong. I like

Jericho. He's all right. But it has to be like,

Oh, Stone Cold is like for me to get back into

any, I don't care where it is. WWE, AEW, somebody

says Stone Cold is coming back. I'm, I stay in

the detention. Like, yes, sir. how can i help

how can i watch this and pay attention you know

kind of thing so yeah well again i don't mean

to make this a wrestling pot yeah i know did

you see this year's wrestlemania no stone cold

had him had a match oh my god i want to find

it on youtube everybody we knew we were he was

having a match you know because it's stone cold

you're not going to just bring him out as a surprise

you're going to advertise that to get the extra

So everybody was like, well, he's he's had a

broken neck since like 1995 or 94 or something.

And that's why he retired like Stone Cold. Really,

if you think about it, did not wrestle that long,

at least under the Stone Cold Steve Austin persona

for that long. And then when he wound down, he

you can kind of go. He was having fewer and fewer

matches. But anyways, you know, it's like, well,

what can he do? So a lot of people thought it

was just going to be like a punch and brawl kind

of match, because that's kind of what his matches

were. But, yeah, I know Kevin Owens. brought

him out, they were saying they were gonna do

like an interview segment in the ring. And he

just sits there and he goes, you know, Steve,

I didn't bring you out here to do an interview.

I actually brought you out here because I wanna

fight you. And Austin is like, okay, let's go.

And they just, they have like, I wanna say like

maybe like a 12 minute match and it's like good.

And I'm not a Stone Cold fan. I've never been

a big Stone Cold guy. I mean, I appreciate it.

I love the pop, the glass shatters, yeah, Stone

Cold. He was never a big fan of his overall,

but even I was excited for it. One more wrestling

thing. Only because you would mention the shield.

So I had mentioned IWA Mid -South. I remember

being a fan sitting there in the crowd at the

Highlands or the Hammond Center. I forget which

Indiana town it is. I always get those two confused.

where I would hold a lot of their shows. And

it was only like a 45 minute drive from where

I was living. So it was an easy thing to do.

But I remember being a fan sitting there often

front row in this little rec center thing. And

they would have like the quote unquote nosebleed

seats, the tickets that cost like 10 bucks, you

know, off in the corner, there was a young guy

that would sit there all the time and he was

striking. He was like a young emo kid, right?

He was like maybe like 17, 18 years old at his

long black hair. Right. That kid was Tyler Black

is Seth Rollins. Oh, wow. Yeah. So I remember

being at IWA shows with and I'm not going to

use his real name because I think it can be kind

of rude to use a wrestler's real name without

permission. But, um, like he, so before he was

wrestling, he was just a fan sitting in the crowds.

And then I went to his show and IWA show. I don't

remember if it was Ohio or Iowa, but I would

travel around, do road trips. And I remember

sitting in the crowd and it was one of his earliest

matches, I'm not gonna say it was first, it definitely

wasn't. I've looked it up on cagematch .com.

It's a cagematch .net, whatever, cagematch. And

it's one of his earliest matches. And I'm sitting

there, and there's a lady next to me cheering

someone in the ring by their real name. Again,

I'm not gonna say it. I'm going, who is named

that in the ring? And it turned out it was like

his mom or his aunt or something. And after the

match, he came over and gave her a hug because

he was so proud. It's one of his earliest matches.

And I remember going, that's the kid from the

bleachers in the Highland shows. Like, holy crap.

And then when he got to WWE and even though I

wasn't watching at the time, became a part of

the shield, I was like, good on him. And then

when he did the quote unquote heist of the century

at WrestleMania, I think 31, where there was

the match between Brock and Roman where he cashed

in his money in the bank. I saw that. I didn't

watch it live. I watched it afterwards. And I

was like, I still get goosebumps watching that

because here's this kid who wins WWE's top belt.

I say kid, here's this guy who wins WWE's top

belt that used to be that kid sitting. It's like

when you hear interviews with Edge or Christian

or Colt Cabana and they're like, yeah, I was

at the this WrestleMania and you can see me in

the crowd holding up this sign. That is so cool

to me. You know, so anyways, I'm off my wrestling

the soapbox is bad. Oh man. It's awesome. Like

I, I wish that I understand why the shield isn't

a thing anymore. And they've all each individually

gone on to do their own stuff, but like that

was my, so obviously stone cold and Jericho and

everything that happened there and all that,

whatever, like, you know, all that. Fine. Whatever.

2002, 2003, 2000. But once the shield came in,

I was like, Oh, again, I'm paying attention.

What are you doing? What are you this? What are

you that? And it's just, what I find interesting

is I found that with Boom Studios, they have

several different WWE comics and the comics kind

of go through like the beginning of the original

WWE ongoing was. Like wrestle mania twenty fifteen

or twenty sixty and i was like oh and watching

a comic book version of wrestle mania. Like oh

i don't need all the all the extra stuff that

they throw in there to get you know it's like

oh this is just a nice linear story that's that's

great that's awesome so fun. Because again i

just want to so back so back so just a little.

Recently this was maybe. Within the last month

or so maybe the last six weeks over on AEW Dean

Ambrose now John Moxley Did during a match he

did Seth Rollins curb stomp on an opponent and

then then on the next raw Seth. I don't remember

what he did because again, I didn't see it. I

just heard someone mention it, but he either

did one of Dean slash John's moves or he directly

referenced him without saying his name. Um, an

indirect reference, but I think he did a move.

I think it might've been like the paradigm shift

or the rear naked choke that John does. Um, but

it's cool having these two major wrestling companies

on TV again, because these people traveled the

roads together. They've worked together. So they're

gonna and they're friends, they're best They're

brothers. So like to see them reference each

other across programming is really fun and really

cool. So if you're a shield fan, you should keep

an eye out for that. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

You mentioned the podcast earlier and I looked

it up on Spotify as we were talking. I'm like,

Oh, John Moxley returns. I'm like, Oh, I'll add

that to my list because in Spotify they have

your episodes or whatever it's called. That's

like, Oh, okay. I'll add that and I'll listen

to that later. Yeah. All right, getting back

to podcasting. Last two questions. What advice

do you have for new and or veteran podcasters

in the art of podcasting? Don't take yourself

seriously. I mean, take podcasting seriously,

but just you're having fun, you know, like even

if you're doing a serious show, you're still

having fun. You're putting entertainment out

for someone. You know, call it content if you

want, but you're putting a piece of entertainment

out there. So just enjoy what you're doing. If

you're not enjoying what you're doing, it's gonna

come across. So why are you doing it? Don't do

it. Don't stop podcasting, but change topics

or refocus the show. Do something. But yeah,

take the medium seriously, but don't take yourself

seriously. I personally, can I cuss a little?

Yeah. Okay. When I talk about podcasting, I refer

to myself as just an asshole with a microphone

because I'm like, you know, that's that's all

I am. I'm just some dude with a mic who just

is going to talk about whatever I want to talk

about, you know. And so that's that's sort of

my philosophy is is, you know, take the medium

seriously, show show it a lot of respect because

it needs a lot of respect. It's still the early

days of this thing. You know, podcasting has

legit only been around for about 20 years. at

least under the name podcasting. People have

had online radio shows and all that for a long

time, but the forum itself has only been around

for about 20 years, so respect it, but don't

put your head up your ass about it. Yeah, I think

if we want to, outside of when you started earth2

.net, the website in 2004, And then the show

started in 2005. I think it was right after it.

It's whatever Apple event happened in 2005. And

Steve was like, iPod, podcasting, blah, blah,

you know, whenever Steve jobs announced the whole

podcasting thing in 2005. So yeah, it's, it's

around 20 years or so. And, you know, You're

talking about, don't put too many of those inside

jokes. You're talking about, I'm just an asshole

with a mic. I talk all the time, but we've only

talked twice in 14 years. How can you be an asshole

with me when we've only talked in two episodes?

I always take the mic microphone thing. Actually,

you remember Nick Arcade, right? Remember Mikey,

the little kid in the board game thing in the

video game? Vaguely. Okay. So it's just this,

it was their way of, you know, playing for the

contestants in the live action portion to play

the animated version of, you know, okay, this

is, you know, Mikey's going to move this many

spaces kind of thing. It's kind of like Mr. Monopoly

or whatever. so i've always wanted to create

a character and steve just shakes his head and

doesn't agree with me he's like no no no no don't

we're not doing that no no no i i'm gonna wear

him down eventually where i want somebody to

create for me a mickey the microphone essentially

it's a it's a character of me but it's basically

just this think of god the way i this is one

way i can get gilbert give me the man rest in

peace gilbert guffrey think of clippy But as

a microphone and less annoying. Oh man. But you're

right. Always have fun with it. You know, take

the, take what you're talking. Like you said,

you know, take the topics seriously, but just

have fun and all that good stuff. All right.

So question 30 really isn't a question, but it

is. Where can the people find your shows? You

know, earth2 .net. Earth Dash, the number 2 .net,

is the main hub for all my podcasts, but they're

on iTunes or Apple Podcasts, whatever they're

calling themselves now. Also on Spotify, that's

really it. I mean, when I can remember to do

it, I link out to them on my Twitter feed, which

I already name -checked. It'll do, again, Earth

underscore of the number 2. The only reason it's

an underscore and not a dash is because you can't

do dashes in Twitter handles, which annoys me.

Because it's hard to cross -brand that way, but

I'll live with it. He says through graded teeth.

But yeah, earth -number2 .net, earth2 .net, and

Twitter, and Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Awesome,

awesome. Yes, yes. All right, folks, this has

been a blast. As always, dream come true for

me, because like I said, I've listened to this

guy since 2007, so. Hell, I've fallen asleep

to the sound of your voice, just because I was

like, oh my God, I'm so tired. But we're talking

about Batman the Animated Series. Wake up, you

fool. All right, folks, we're going to take one

more quick break, come back to close with the

outro after this. Do you know John Hyatt songs?

Maybe you know them from being covered by Roseanne

Cash, Three Dog Night, The Neville Brothers,

Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, BB King, Jeff Healy,

Bonnie Raitt, or literally hundreds of others.

Maybe you have some of his albums on your shelf,

or in your cowhorned Cadillac right now. I'm

Jesse Jackson. And I'm Sylvan Graf. And we're

going to dive in from A to Z. Join us on the

Perfectly Good Podcast. We're going to discuss

all of your favorites and uncover some forgotten

gems, from Aces Up Your Sleeve to Zero House.

Rate and debate every John Hyatt song on the

Perfectly Good Podcast. Have a little faith.

For over six years, my guests and I have been

discussing the soundtracks to our lives. I'm

Jesse Jackson and I've had hundreds of fans from

around the world share their stories. about the

power and magic of all kinds of music. If you

enjoy stories about joy, redemption, trials,

and ultimately triumph, then please check out

Set Listing Bruce, a Bruce Springsteen fan podcast.

Remember, there is magic in the night. Join them

each month as they talk about classic cartoons

and interview legendary voice actors like Jim

Cummings Cory Burton Rob Paulson Nancy Cartwright

and many more so grab a bowl of Lucky Charms

Put on your hammer pants, go to saturdaymorningrewind

.com and be prepared to feel like a kid again.

Once again, that's saturdaymorningrewind .com.

Saturday morning rewind was voted best podcast

ever by its host, Tim Nydell. So it's gotta be

good. All right, folks, we are back here inside

studio 2009. This is. And I didn't did not plan

this because usually when I created podcast approach,

I was like every five episodes. So episode five,

episode 10, episode 15 episode, whatever. Well,

it turns out this is episode 52. Nice. Yeah.

This is all comes back to comics. So Mike, is

there anything else you want to say about podcasting?

Anything else you want to say about how you do

it or how you enjoy it or. Just anything else

you want to say before I run through our closing

I think I'll just say that you know earlier or

just a few moments ago I was saying, you know

respect the form respect the medium, you know,

I just I just really love podcasts because it

Has opened the door for so many people just to

put their ideas out in the world whether they

recorded one episode Or they've been doing it

for however many years and how many ever however

many episodes it doesn't matter you know i just

i just really love the form so you know if you

out there have been thinking about starting a

podcast just do it. You know go you know go to

target go to best buy order something off amazon

get get a get a cheap little mike don't don't

invest in a lot of expensive equipment from the

job because if you like it you don't have invested

a couple hundred bucks right in this. So, yeah,

get a little mic, get some headphones, and just

go. You know, be it yourself, get some friends

in the room, some people you know online, and

just talk. Just talk and see how it goes. And

even if you don't put that out in the world,

consider that, you know, your beta episode, your

episode zero, the thing you just tried. And if

you like it, keep going. Keep going. Because

if, for me, like, a lot of the stuff that I've

recorded, is because I wanted to hear that content.

I don't consider myself at all the end -all be

-all authority on the DCAU, on Star Trek, on

Doctor Who. Hell, I came into Doctor Who as a

newb. That was the thrust of Bigger on the Inside,

is Dan's the longtime fan of the classic series.

I started watching the new one, so you got to

be the, what's the word I'm looking for, the...

He's the veteran. You're the pro V. Yeah. Yeah,

exactly. So that was the thrust of that show.

But I wanted to hear a Doctor Who show. And I'm

like with that kind of theme. So that's what

we did. So if there's something out there, if

you feel like, you know, no one's talking about,

I don't know, a particular TV show that you really

like. And for some reason, there's no podcast

about it. Start it. Do it. Try it. Put it out

there. You know, and also listen to feedback,

but don't Don't let it get under your skin because

yeah, don't overthink it Yeah, exactly. Like

definitely listen to legit critiques, but there's

so many bad actors out there that if someone's

just being a jerk It might just be being a jerk

So if you get some bad feedback consider it for

half a second and then just move on with your

life You know, don't don't take it too hard,

you know at all and then if they become a persistent

problem just block them Social media has blocks.

You can block someone's email account. There's

ways not to hear those voices that are getting

under your skin. So yeah, just have fun doing

it. Again, respect the form, but have fun doing

it. Yeah, absolutely. And as long as I can make...

The recording experience for anyone I have on

any of my shows enjoyable. Then I've, and then

I eventually go and spend 11 hours or whatever

it is, editing it to make it sound the best I

can make it sound. It's like, okay, at the end

of the day, I am happy with this product and

I hope people enjoy it. I used to, oh man, the

negative iTunes reviews back in the day, I used

to flip out and get so just bent out of shape.

And now it's like I. I check it every now and

then, but I don't like, cause nobody's really

leaving reviews on it. Cause iTunes is kind of

gone. I mean, it's still there, but it's, you

know, no one really leaves. And I noticed Spotify

started, Oh, would you like to leave a star rating

for a show? And I'm like, Oh, okay. But they

don't actually give you like, would you like

to leave a review for this show? It's like, Oh,

okay. You just want the star rating for the algorithms

and all that BS and whatever else. But yes, folks,

go check out earth2 .net. Earth dash the number

two. Yeah, I did that right. I'm losing my mind,

folks. I'm just losing my mind. Like I said,

I'm trying my best not to fan out here because

it just, like I said earlier, I've listened to

this guy for so many years. It's like, oh, it's

nice to actually sit down and talk with him because

it's so It's so fun. It was one of mine. One

of the things when I started, I was like, okay,

Mike and James did world's finest podcast and

they covered all the DCIU. I need to at least

wait a year before I can or whatever it is. It's

like, oh, fine. And that's how I started TFG1

podcast. I'm like, okay, I'll do what they did,

but I'll do it with Transformers and I'll find

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, All right folks

for us here inside studio 2009 that's gonna do

it and I'm gonna run through the closing I have

no idea what's coming up next. I really don't

Last episode Steve and I did a double feature

where we talked about the Adam project and six

underground which are both on Netflix they're

both Ryan Reynolds vehicles and and That was

fun and the Adam project. I've never been the

biggest fan of Ryan Reynolds. I've always thought

oh Van Wilder, okay Great kind of thing. But

man, the Adam project is so fun. If you like

Back to the Future, you'll like the Adam project.

So yeah. And coming up next, I don't know, it's

going to be something. No clue. So thank you

for joining us here inside the studio. If you'd

like you to contact with us to leave feedback

for the show, there are several ways to do so.

Visit the website, geekcastradio .com where you

can listen to and comment on all of our content.

Send us email to feedback at geekcastradio .com.

You can check us out on any podcasting platform

you prefer. I prefer Spotify. It's just an easy

UI for me to use. Follow us on Twitter at geekcastradio

for the network at itsitsstudio2009 on one word

for the show. I am at TF2 and Mike. Mike is at

earth on earth underscore two. And don't you

have Mike Reads Comics, too? Ah, yes, I forgot.

I also have Mike Reads Comics. All one word,

no underscores or anything like that. I just

tweet out about the comics I'm reading at that

moment. Absolutely. Become a fan on Facebook.

Go to facebook .com slash geocastradio .net where

you can check out Studio 2009 podcast over there

as well. For now, I am TF2 and Mike with Michael

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

Yeah. The voice kept calling me Bruce. In my

mind, that's not what I call myself. What do

you call yourself? Oh yeah, I suppose you would.

But that's my name now. Hmm, tell that to my

subconscious.