life & style // no. 16 theotherpress.ca

‘Stuff You Should Know’ from studio to stage

> Experiencing a live podcast show

Caroline Ho
Arts Editor

 

odcasts are fantastic to listen to
while doing other activities—in
transit, folding laundry, hitting the
gym, in transit, making dinner, in
transit. However, seeing a podcast show
live is very different from just hearing
it through your headphones, and it’s
a wholly worthwhile experience.
Stuff You Should Know (SYSK) is a podcast
with a pretty self-explanatory title: Each
episode, hosts Josh Clark and Charles
W. “Chuck” Bryant give listeners an in-
depth explanation of a random topic,
anything from scientific phenomena to
random animals to historical events, and
much more. Most of the episodes are
recorded and produced in their studio
in Atlanta, Georgia, but every once in
a while they also do live tours. During
their most recent tour they came to
Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre on September
26 to walk us through the story of the
ill-fated Ford Pinto and the growth of
American automobile safety regulations.
SYSK is the kind of podcast that translates
fabulously from studio recording into
a live version. Part of what makes SYSK
great is its free-form format: Shows
are entirely unscripted, and every
episode is basically an unrehearsed
conversation between Clark and
Bryant, including frequent tangents

where they discuss random movies and
other things minimally related to the
episode's topic. However, the unscripted
nature of the show comes across as

even more authentic in person, where
complete digressions have no chance

of being cut by a producer—making

the hosts’ off-topic conversations in
front of a packed, attentive audience
even more delightfully hilarious.

In fact, every part of the show felt
immeasurably more impactful in person,
with a room full of other devoted fans
laughing or gasping in horror along with
you. Attending a live podcast show also
lets you experience a lot of aspects that
you don't get in the studio version. In
this case, we got the hosts’ introductory
warm-up jokes about Vancouver and
Canada, their occasional uncensored
cursing—immediately followed by
apologies to all kids and their mothers in
the audience; and the post-show Q&A,
where we got to see how genuinely Clark
and Bryant connect with their fans. The
whole show felt like an intimate look
into some of the raw, unedited workings
behind the polished studio versions.

Of course, every podcast is bound

to be different in terms of scripting,
editing, and rapport with listeners. The
style of SYSK and the familiarity of its
hosts works wonderfully live; other
podcasts might not necessarily have

the same atmosphere. Nonetheless,

What are you
thankful for?

> How to make it through Thanksgiving

dinner with your family

Jillian McMullen
Staff Writer

 

Poverty I find family dinners cause

a lot of unnecessary stress. Mine
involve a ridiculously long bus ride out
to the suburbs, hordes of screaming
children, and a host trying to make
everything perfect—and failing, of
course. I can usually maneuver out
of them with excuses of too much
school work or a schedule shifts I can’t
get covered. However, some family
gatherings can't be avoided—namely
holidays. For those inevitably stressful
days, I’ve developed a few strategies
to help make them go as smoothly as

possible, and with Thanksgiving coming

up next week, I thought I'd share some
of them with our readers!

Don't talk about politics

Some people are lucky enough to
share the same political beliefs as their
parents, but for those who do not this
is arguably the most important rule.
Politics normally cause uncomfortable
debate and can really ruin the upbeat
atmosphere holiday dinners attempt to
establish. Also, especially avoid talk of
American politics. I think we've all had
the same conversation on that disaster
enough times.

Keep it short

Get in and get out. I normally try to
arrive late and leave as soon as I can,
because the longer I stay, the more
opportunities I have for conflict.
Although the “it takes too long to get
here” excuse may not have justified not
coming to dinner, the “I really need

to catch this bus to get home” excuse
usually works the best for getting you
out of there the quickest—and with the
least amount of questioning! You don't
want to make it too obvious that you're
trying to bail, so stay away from obvious
lies like “I’m just really tired” or “I’ve got
a paper to write for tomorrow.’

Take breaks

Like anything emotionally exerting,

it’s good to take some time to chill

out and re-center yourself. If you feel
yourself getting frustrated by your
aunt’s intrusive questions or your
grandmother's reminiscing of “better
days,” excuse yourself from the situation
to go somewhere quiet. A few minutes
by yourself can really help to calm your
nerves. Remember, you might only

see your family a few times a year, so
snapping at a relative hardly seems
worth it.

 

getting to attend a live podcast show

is an invaluable experience—even on
top of the standard excitement one
gets from watching anything live.
Listening to podcasts is an activity
that most people probably do while
multitasking on other things that don’t
take much brainpower, but being there
live demands a much more engaged
level of attention when you're unable to
immediately rewind, and knowing that
you're unable to rewind back a minute

wo jude.goodwin -

Photo by Caroline Ho

makes you cherish that information
all the more. In addition, I normally
listen to podcasts sped up to 1.25 times
regular speed, but I didn’t have any
problems at all being enraptured by
the pace right in front of me—except
when | might have been doubled over
laughing too hard to pay full attention.
Seeing Stuff You Should Know live was
a fantastic experience that solidified
my love for this show and for the
medium of podcasts overall.

 

1 like
jude.goodwin Just some people at the bus stop
#coquitlam #douglascollege #pinetree