Eliot Hochberg Never Not Funny Garren
Jimmy Pardo on the beauty of podcasting
Chad White
It was a warm Friday evening in August 2017 Atlanta's Midtown neighborhood. The bright colors of the city shone up and down the block, vibrant and inviting. I parked in a lot that charges way too much for an hour's time. Midtown in a nutshell.
Across the street -- past the homeless person that's always camped out in the paid lot begging for change, through four lanes of too fast traffic -- sat the restaurant Vortex and its adjoining comedy space, Laughing Skull Lounge. It's a familiar spot for the city's comedy fans. During the week, a hard to get into open mic allows for novices to try their hand at stand up. It's inviting albeit tough, just like other rooms in other cities. Tonight, however, the stage was reserved for one comedian.
Jimmy Pardo is a predictable standup. That's not an insult. He wears the same Mott and Bow jeans that carry his setlist in his back pocket. He won't need to look at it but it's nice to know the paper is there. His face will either wear a piercing smile or firey scowl that can change at a moment's notice. He'll deviate from whatever he's talking about to chastise some poor soul in the audience. Even when there's, say, a liquored up woman who just won't be quiet when asked, Mr. Pardo will do his best to make every second funny.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, we had a chance to catch up. Mr. Pardo is as charismatic as ever, even if we are a nation apart. Plus, he's cognizant of where he is at all times -- whether that's on stage or mid-phone call.
"Why did I choose to talk to you in the most echoey room of my house? Let me move." He doesn't miss a beat as he returns to answering a question.
But he's more than a comic. He's part of the reason podcasting is where it is today.
Never Not Funny, his podcast, reached its 1,000th episode -- a milestone that, yes, has been reached by other shows before. At the time of this writing, Marc Maron's WTF hit the same number 101 episodes ago. However, Never Not Funny's host Mr. Pardo and co-host/producer Matt Belknap aren't including the hundreds of bonus episodes which include in studio shows, live episodes, their spin off Playing Games, the annual 12 hour charity show Pardcast-a thon for Smile Train, and other odds and ends.
Although it's still relatively flying under the radar after more than a decade on air, the podcast has its fair share of big name guests including Jon Hamm, Maria Bamford, Craig Ferguson, Paul Reiser, Tig Notaro, Lisa Loeb, Rob Reiner, and Sarah Silverman. Comedy fans also get a chance to know working writers like Demi Adejuyigbe and Danielle Koenig, character actors like Cedric Yarbrough and Wendi McLendon-Covey, musicians like Taylor Goldsmith, and any other manner of entertainment based personality.
Never Not Funny, which bowed in 2006, relies on the co-hosting of Mr. Pardo and Mr. Belknap who are joined by camera wizard Eliot Hochberg and resident intern Garon Cockrell as they quite frankly shoot the breeze. While there are storied segments with homemade jingles performed by master musician Mike Henry, Never Not Funny is as barebones as can be. Not to mention as charming as ever.
"If we were ever to land […] a radio gig or something like that out of it, obviously we'd be more structured because you have to be," Mr. Pardo notes. "But the beauty of podcasting is you could do what you want and you hope that the people that sample it stick around and enjoy it."
Mr. Pardo continues to say some hypothetical listeners may be deterred by the amount the cast talks about decades old music or other aspects of the loosely structured show.
"Here's a pretty good idea [of how each episode goes]. Probably 80's music is going to come up. Somebody probably saw a celebrity. I'm probably going to be mad about something that isn't important. Those beats are always going to be there." He holds back a laugh recounting the predictable nature of his own show.
To that end, though, Never Not Funny has seen a shedding of viewers who support the current United States presidential administration. Mr. Pardo isn't worried about it.
The cast of Never Not Funny. Left to right: Garon Cockrell, Matt Bellknap, Eliot Hochberg, and Jimmy Pardo.
"I think we just became more vocal and maybe even more vulnerable about our real thoughts and emotions. And we're more open with what we were feeling about life, more than just trying to be silly and funny. And, admittedly, we lost a lot of audience because of that. And a lot of people were like 'Hey, F you guys. I'm sorry I'm not a liberal Hollywood person living in my bubble.'"
There's no love lost on the slight drop.
"We're not racist. We're not sexist. We're not homophobic. And if that's your bag, maybe we're not the show for you." Later on the topic, he'd add "The other side of that is we're supposed to entertain people and bring everybody into the tent and make them happy" but that it's more of a humanity issue as opposed to political."
When asked about the lessons learned from the earlier years of the show, Mr. Pardo was candid about one particular misstep.
"We shouldn't have been behind a paywall when the comedy podcast boom happened," he chuckles at the notion. "After two years, we went to a pay model, and then as soon as we did that, that comedy podcast boom happened."
He's not bitter about the blunder though.
"While all these other shows were growing, we had our amazingly loyal fan base. And then we had to kind of circle back to expand several years later once we adopted the format that we have now."
Said format went like so: listeners get one free episode once a week. Dedicated fans could support the show directly by paying for "seasons" upfront (seasons run about 24 episodes, twice per year) to get an additional episode per week along with the free episode as well as video for both.
Now, that process is going to be more streamlined. Mr. Pardo and Mr. Belknap have adopted something akin to the Patreon style of subscription services by allowing fans to support the show with more digestible $5 increments.
The free episode is still free for those not wanting to pay.
An alliance with comedy network Earwolf in the 2010's would help to draw in more listeners than ever before along with better advertisers. It seemed like a no brainer. Higher valued advertisers are the goal of joining a network.
Things change though and the partnership would come to an end at the top of this year. Ultimately, it was a business decision.
"Earwolf was great. I'm glad that we were part of it. At the end of the day, we were always kind of this lone wolf," Mr. Pardo states.
"It was a little difficult to answer your question. I've been friends with [Earwolf's co-creator] Scott [Aukerman] for so long, and the people at Earwolf are all great, but it was time. It was time to try something new again."
One of the new aspects he's hinting at is the web series Jimmy's Records and Tapes -- a show where Mr. Pardo tells stories about hit singles of a year in the 70's, 80's and 90's and how they relate to a funny event in his life. It's humorous but also incredibly niche. That doesn't deter the crew though.
"We're really going down memory lane of people that are of a certain age. I have told some of those stories before on Never Not Funny but not everybody's heard Never Not Funny so it's new to them."
"And like you said, for people like you that have heard those stories, Elliot -- who edits all the episodes -- puts in these nice visuals and adds these graphics and stuff that makes them fresh again."
When listeners heard Never Not Funny would not continue to be distributed via Earwolf, newfound fans were sad to see the show leave the network.
"Almost all of them would write us and say, 'The bad news is, I just heard about you.The good news is I now have 10 years of shows to catch up on.' So all those people would go back and try to listen to the old episodes."
Podcasting has skyrocketed in recent years. More recently, A-list celebrities have started in on the genre as well. This influx of new hosts has oddly been touted as a "revolution" for a medium that's been around for close to two decades. Oprah, Anna Faris, Shaq, Dax Shepard, and Conan O'Brien (who has been on Never Not Funny several times before) are among the names diverging from the television or movie space to join the onslaught. One podcast distributor is even betting on a pure premium experience with exclusive shows while another flirts with the idea.
Why? Fan bases, advertisers, the ability to talk about whatever, whenever. It's all there. Some of them are even making money, which is difficult for even some of the longest running podcasts.
When asked if the older shows were expected to receive more listeners who are dabbling in podcasts, Mr. Pardo was unsure if that was possible anymore.
"That was always the thought […] of famous people doing a podcast [would mean] more people are aware of podcasting, which means then they'll sample other shows. And I don't necessarily know if that's happening."
He suggests fans were thought to see the smaller names alongside the bigger names and they'd move to other shows from there. That hasn't been the case thus far.
"I think it's the more celebrities are doing it, it's benefiting more celebrity shows. But I don't know the answer to this."
Unlike any other part of the entertainment industry, podcasting is difficult to predict. It's fair to say that a Disney movie about a princess or a show based on a popular fantasy book series that features naked people and bloody battles will do well.
Podcasts are a different breed. Two guys reviewing fast food chains as their health rapidly declines should not be a hit show. Neither should two best friends talking about their best friendship. Nor should four guys talking about nothing with their celebrity friends.
Mr. Pardo continues on about the A-list podcasts.
"I guess we can use the Walmart [example]. The celebrities -- or the Walmart -- they come in and put the ma and pa shops out of business," he says. "Or take the advertising dollar away from us that we, you know, fortunately, luckily our show still gets all the advertising, you know, that we were, nothing's changed there. [The big advertisers], they're going to Conan O'Brien, not us."
That night in August, Mr. Pardo performed to a sold out room. It was intimate and rewarding. At the end of the evening, a line would form to meet with the comic. He spoke to everyone that wanted to talk to him. Merch sat next to him for anyone willing to buy. He even took pictures.
I didn't want to be someone that asked for a picture. Mr. Pardo stood on the stage, which was only two or three feet off the ground but it made the comedian tower over me. C+ Comedy was three years old at this point and I'd been interviewing comedians for two. I knew how to talk to them and how to act like a human being. But I didn't do either of those. Words coming from my mouth stumbled outward only to repeat a single sentence at least three times. The interaction was short. There was a handshake. But I botched my time with him.
I'd try to score an interview with him twice more over the next couple of years. The third time was the charm. Redemption came during this phone interview. I'm still waiting to get on the show.
Never Not Funny is unchanged from its beginnings. Sure, it's a little tighter. The guest list has grown by a few hundred names. Pardcast-a thon manages to top itself in donations each year.
But the show is still never not funny.
Listen to Never Not Funny wherever you get your podcasts, follow Jimmy Pardo on Twitter and Facebook .
Source: https://www.cpluscomedy.com/comedy/2020/2/27/jimmy-pardo-on-the-beauty-of-podcasting
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