recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Comedic wrongness

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"**Comedic wrongness"** is the act of stating something obviously incorrect for the sake of absurd humor.

## Relevance

Comedic wrongness is a main staple of the humor on The First Podcast. The title of the show itself is, in fact, an example of it; the show is clearly not the first podcast ever.

On most episodes, neither Lars nor (formerly) Joe will make any major attempt to be correct and honest about anything in particular, if it would be (in their estimation) more amusing to say incorrect things. This is dialed back, or dispensed with completely, for some more "serious" guests.

## Examples

An example can be found on the episode with Kill Bill: the Rapper as a guest.

> Kill Bill: "Is your full name Co-Host Joe?"
>
>

> Joe: "No, it's actually Co-Host Joseph."
>
>

The humor in this example comes from the fact that Joe should ostensibly correct him otherwise, but the issue he actually takes is with "Joe" itself being the issue.

Another example was the first episode with Chuck None, who stated a fondness for calling any restaurant he visited "In-N-Out Burger" just for the sake of being ridiculous.
Kaya Orsan

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**Kaya Fuat Orsan** is a host on The Official Podcast. While he has no active connection to the show itself, Kaya is indirectly responsible for the lack of at least one of the latter's episodes.

## Early history

Kaya Orsan was the first person to notify controversial satirist Maddox of a major security flaw on his website, ostensibly as a friendly gesture.

## The incident that caused the incident

The Official Podcast recorded an episode with Maddox's (somewhat similarly controversial) former business partner Dick Masterson, a notorious internet troll and satirist himself.

A former fan of Maddox, Kaya has been notably critical of him ever since, especially in light of the controversies pointed out in that episode. His critiques have been quite scathing, though rarely unprovoked and ultimately not incorrect or undeserved. Maddox has become somewhat of a pariah on the internet in later years, due to bizarre stunts, controversial statements, frivolous lawsuits, and a seemingly endless wake of burned bridges with people who mean him no real harm.

## The incident itself

Upon hearing about the latter's remarks, Maddox began to disavow Kaya on social media. Ostensibly he felt attacked by the criticism. While understandable, this began something of a feud between the two, or at least a feud from the perspective of Maddox. It is unknown if Kaya gives two shits about Maddox outside of the rare moments he is brought up on The Official Podcast.

Lars had previously scheduled Maddox as an upcoming guest on The First Podcast, choosing at the time to look past some controversies since the guy was still a solid satirist.

On September 16th, 2018, Uncle Tiege alerted Lars of a bizarre incident where Maddox started to fabricate strange claims about Kaya. Notably, the former claimed that the latter was "stalking" him for the last three years.

Upon investigation, Lars found out that this was simply an attempt by Maddox to twist the original courtesy message Kaya had sent him into somehow a "bad thing".

Lars thought about the situation, and realized that Maddox was becoming too irrational and inciting; the episode could, in his words, prove a liability more than an asset. Lars is also a fan of The Official Podcast, and felt it would be strategically harmful to have on a guest who was maliciously spreading misinformation about one of its hosts. He decided to drop all communication and efforts to pursue the guest appearance from then on.
The Brain Podcast

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**The Brain Podcast**, or Brainpod for short, was a short lived podcast in 2018.

## History

Lars hosted Brainpod alongside a clinical neuropsychologist during the summer of 2018. He would introduce her and prompt her with questions to talk at length about the brain. He was also responsible for editing.

The show gained a decent following almost overnight. The staff was having talks with sponsors, and Patreon support began immediately.

For unknown reasons, Lars's partner disappeared after about a month, effectively canceling the show. Only four episodes were ever created and only three were released. In 2019, Lars deleted Brainpod on Soundcloud.

## Significance

Lars's experiences on the show inspired him to start a podcast that would grant him creative freedom. This led to him starting The First Podcast.
Soup's done

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Occasionally when there is a very loud noise, **a clip of Gus Johnson stating "Soup's done"** is spliced in by Lars in the editing room for the sake of sheer absurdity.

## History

The first instance of this was done on a rare guestless episode, when Joe made a lengthy, loud cartoonish noise.

Rather than edit it out due to its annoying qualities, Lars instead *extended* the length of the noise, made it louder, and layered in the aforementioned clip under it.

He continues to splice this in as a reference to Gus here and there during loud moments, a hidden shout-out to the content creator of whom he is a fan.
Marieve Herington

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**Marieve Herington** is a Canadian-American voice actress, actress and singer who has had roles on television shows such as How I Met Your Mother and video games such as Final Fantasy XV.

## Appearances

Marieve has made an appearance on The First Podcast as a guest.

She revealed what she imagines to be the future of her character "Betty" from How I Met Your Mother. While technically non-canon, this was a first for the show, in which the actor of a character on a major television program had new, never before heard information to give to the show about said character.

## Pronunciation

While her last name is pronounced the obvious way, her first name was something of a point of confusion for Lars and Joe before her guest appearance.

Joe believed it was pronounced "Mareev", which was understandable phonetically, but incorrect. Lars thought it was "Marehv", which was also incorrect, but was likewise not a bad guess; he reasoned that this might be the case, as it would make her typical social media username of choice (@redherington) a lazy rhyme. It turns out this is just a pun (red herring + Herington).

The correct pronunciation is actually "Maerie-ehv", of which the boys were quite fond (and slightly embarrassed by, in terms of their failed guesses).

Marieve stated on her guest appearance that the most bizarre mispronunciation she has ever heard was "Marvie", which Lars slammed as being "not even close" of an attempt by said individual.
Birds aren't real

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> *"If you plug an HDMI cord into a bird, you can run any program you want. It's amazing." - Dave Capdevielle, 2020*
>
>

**"Birds aren't real"** is a meme on The First Podcast started in the episode with Dave Capdevielle.

## History

To parody QAnon, internet users came up with the theory that birds aren't actually real, with a variety of hypotheses as to why.

If you think about it, this theory makes a lot of sense. Birds act weird, almost as if they're actually robots or something. They also appear en masse in cities, which is where the government would probably want to spy on citizens the most.

At one point during an episode with Dave Capdevielle as a guest, Joe mused, "Has anyone ever seen *birds?*", which reminded Lars of the theory. He proceeded to explain the theory to his co-participants.

The chat quickly provided supposed schematics for "birds" and noted that B.I.R.D. could easily be an acronym for *Biological Intelligence Reconnaissance Drone*. This seemed too plausible to be denied.
The Spaghetto Podcast

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**The Spaghetto Podcast** is a podcast started by friend of the show Spaghetto, with former host of the show Joe signing on as a host. It is characterized as a podcast of chance with the tagline "You Play The Podcast".

## History

In June 2020, Spaghetto started a new podcast and decided to bring Joe on as a host. The format consists of Tresten and Joe rolling dice in order to participate in random segments.

They have had a few of the same guests as The First Podcast, such as Rusty Cage and Merryweather.

The first episode was released on July 5, 2020. After a long hiatus, episodes began to be released again in late September 2020. As of his departure from The First Podcast, The Spaghetto Podcast is the only podcast that Joe currently hosts.

The Merryweather episode was the first guest episode released on YouTube, gaining about 10,000 views over the next 12 hours.
ShadowForks

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Danny 'The Street' Thompson, known online as **ShadowForks**, is a YouTube content creator, liberal writer and games journalist.

## Appearances

Danny first made an appearance on The First Podcast in May 2019. An unusual presentation choice for the episode was selected by the guest and the hosts, leading to a long lead time between recording and editing; thus, the final cut was released all the way in June that year.

As a gag agreed upon ahead of time, Lars "censored" all but one usage of the term "ShadowForks" as if the term "ShadowFucks" was being used. He left one in toward the end because he realized an audio-only listener may have no idea what Danny's actual un"censored" handle was otherwise.

Danny was planned to be a guest host on an upcoming bonus episode.
Joe's The First Podcast game

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Joe, during his tenure on the show, was making **a video game based on The First Podcast**.

## History

Joe first began discussing the game on the Discord server in November 2019. The game began its life on Excel, and he posted a sample for members to "play".

At some unknown point, Joe switched to the Unity engine.

During an episode recording that month, Lars pretended he thought Joe was making the game in PowerPoint, getting the server to poke fun at him for it, and inducing Jewish rage for the first time in almost a year.

The final build of the game was actually created in PowerPoint.
Kirsten Collins

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Like you wouldn't

**Kirsten Collins** is a Canadian-born, American-based pop singer who Lars and (formerly) Joe occasionally reference as an ever-present, yet completely silent third host of The First Podcast.

## Satirical history

Kirsten was actually the original creator of the show. She has been present for every episode, but only chose to speak up rarely.

## Actual show history

Kirsten first made an appearance on a very early episode as a guest. Lars made a bold move with an initial gag in the first few moments of the episode, pretending like Kirsten wasn't really a guest, but rather a recurring host who had been on every episode (but was just speaking up for the first time.)

Kirsten found the gag amusing, so the boys will occasionally bring it up as if it is true on subsequent episodes.
Hazbin Hotel

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**Hazbin Hotel** is an American adult animated musical black comedy web series created, directed, written and produced by Vivienne "Vivziepop" Medrano.

## History

The following guests on The First Podcast are voice actors or have been involved with Hazbin Hotel in some way:

* Michael Kovach and Ashley Nichols
* Stamper
* Ricepirate
* Dave Capdevielle
Ding, new topic

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In November 2019 while recording a guestless episode on the Discord server, Lars created a new maneuver of stating, "**Ding, new topic**" on air to move things along.

## Explanation

The episode in question was one where Lars challenged Joe to behave normally for the entire or at least the majority of the episode.

Finding the current topic Joe was discussing rather dull, he proposed that, from now on, every time he exclaims "Ding!" while recording, it means the show should immediately change to a more interesting topic.

Several server members, including one of the moderators, have picked up on this meme and started using it during voice chats.
Floater, KY

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**Floater, Kentucky** is a fictional location that Lars often uses as a go-to "middle of nowhere" town whenever he needs to reference one.

## History

The location is a reference to a scene in the movie Sex Drive (2008), in which Lance asks fellow protagonist Felicia, "Hey, are you sure you want to get dental work done in *Floater, Kentucky?*"

In the next scene, the characters sit next to an incredibly obese and oddly shirtless man in the waiting room, subtly punctuating the awkwardness of the situation.

Floater, KY is considered the location of the Greek restaurant at which Brittany works, upon whom Joe has a crush.

## Geographical accuracy

The town is entirely fictional as of January 2019, though in a sense, it might as well exist.
Podcast Battle Royale

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**Podcast Battle Royale** was an episode of The First Podcast recorded in August 2020 that was an unusual confluence of chaos.

## Explanation

Lars and Joe were originally going to do a guestless episode, since they hadn't procured a guest for their weekly Wednesday recording. Earlier in the day, DaftPina messaged Lars to ask if they wanted him to come on, to which he agreed.

The episode started with a livestream of Lars, Joe and Daft playing two games of Fall Guys, an as of mid-2020 new and popular battle royale game, discussing its merits as the introduction to the episode. Daft also requested that Lars make a really lame tweet that he knew would easily go viral, which is the picture for this article.

Eventually, a series of guests ended up in the recording voice chat, so all four of them joined the episode for an extended cameo:

* mrmeatman
* Ohan
* efryo
* Rusty Cage

The whole recording stream ran for over two hours, featured an unbelievable amount of interruptions and cross-talk, and instantly cemented the episode as a legendary clusterfuck.

A few hours after the recording, Lars realized with horror just how much extra work this was going to make for him in the editing room, and vowed to never do it again.

Notably, the day after this episode was recorded, Joe decided to leave the podcast and informed Lars of this fact. It is unknown if something occurred during the episode to trigger this.
Jakiki the Fridgigi

**Jakiki the Fridgigi**, mainly known as Jakiki on the Discord server and formerly going by "Check the Fridge", is a fan of the show, Discord server moderator, and former maintainer of the official Minecraft server of the podcast, now owned and ran by Clef.

## History

Jakiki joined the server around the time Pogo and Tim the Curator both appeared in an episode of The First Podcast; he left shortly after.

In June 2020, Fridge joined back around the time Efryo, a friend of his, came on as a guest during a mini episode. He promptly offered to set up a Minecraft server for the show. He is currently the administrator for that server.

The lore on the server has established Jakiki as a "sassy black woman", due to the exotic-sounding nature of his nickname.
Sweet Anita

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**Sweet Anita** is a Twitch streamer and YouTube content creator.

## History

Anita is notable for persisting with a Twitch streaming presence despite severe Tourette's syndrome, with many verbal tics. She has a strong sense of humor about her condition, regularly uploading "Tourette's compilations" on her YouTube channel to chronicle her funniest outbursts.

Sweet Anita was a guest on The First Podcast in September 2019.
Irish fanbase

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As noted by the hosts on various episodes, The First Podcast has **an uncharacteristically large Irish fanbase**, when considering population size and density compared to other countries. Their podcast host provides them with detailed analytics, enabling them to have discovered this anomaly.

Dublin in particular is a city that features quite a lot of listeners.

## Reaction to this

The hosts don't seem to suggest that this is a bad thing, but merely a demographic curiosity, as all of them are located in southern California.

Lars, presumably for the sake of absurdity, often claims that in Ireland, The First Podcast is incorrectly known as "The McFinnigan Podcast".

## Meet-up

Lars and Joe once discussed future plans for a meet-up with the fans in Dublin, provided said fans take care of any and all expenses. They found humor in the idea that it was a rather illogical place to host the first meet-up, given the far more normal choice of somewhere in southern California.
Sponsors

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The First Podcast was **sponsored by several organizations**. They are catalogued here for informative purposes, and also so that listeners who did not catch certain coupon codes or URLs can refresh themselves.

## History

The First Podcast was initially not a sponsored program, relying exclusively on Patreon support. There was also no merch store.

The show was first sponsored by Mockberg, a fashion watch company, in mid-late 2018. The hosts did a few ad reads at first, making an attempt to insert them organically into the episodes. However, this was an era in which the hosts did not take the show, and their ability to earn money from it, very seriously. Thus, they would often neglect to do said ad reads for some time.

In February 2019, Lars and Alix decided to take the sponsorships much more seriously, landing Mint Mobile and NordVPN almost back to back. They are now diligently included in every episode.

Different sponsorships get phased in and out as experiments to determine if they are lucrative (and if so, how lucrative they are). Unless otherwise noted, all sponsorships are still active, whether or not the hosts actively plug them on air.

As a joke, Lars and Alix also often tried to insert an "ad read" to the aftershow, hangouts, and Discord chats.

## Sponsors

"Active" sponsors (as in, sponsors the show currently regularly plugs) have their name in bold. If not crossed out, "inactive" sponsor links and coupon codes still work either way.
Max from Cards Against Humanity

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Max Temkin is one of the creators of the game **Cards Against Humanity**.

## Appearances

Max made an appearance on The First Podcast in July 2019. He ended up pushing back another obligation to enjoy another 30 minutes with the hosts at the hour mark.

Lars and Joe consider this episode to have had something of a dream guest, as they had both played Cards Against Humanity many times.
Bad movie reviews

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Several episodes have been dedicated almost exclusively to **reviews of bad movies**. This is generally always done with a guest for whom this is either their job, or a beloved pastime of theirs. Plans for these episodes are usually made weeks in advance to allow time for all participants to watch the film.

The hosts have made sure to only devote an extremely small amount of episodes to this format, since it requires "homework" for the listener in order for the episode to make sense.

## Examples

So far, The First Podcast has reviewed:

* Troll 2, with Chelsea Sanders
* Shark Exorcist, with Chelsea Sanders
* Turkish Star Wars, with Robert Thompson
Michael Kovach

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**Michael Kovach** is a voice actor and podcast host.

## History

Michael is the voice of Angel Dust from Hazbin Hotel. He also hosts the HuniCast with his girlfriend Ashley Nichols.

Alongside Ashley, Michael appeared on The First Podcast in 2020. Their episode set a record for the longest ever as of June 2020, clocking in at 2 hours and 2 minutes.
Amir

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Sportin' shadez

**Amir Ramirez**, known on YouTube as doplex, is the main co-host of The First Podcast. Before signing on as co-host, he was a recurring guest and friend of the show.

## History

Amir joined The First Podcast's Discord server around The Right Opinion episode, noting enjoyment of the podcast. Lars secretly colluded with him behind the scenes in order to have him "crash" the j aubrey episode. The latter admitted to having absolutely no idea it was coming.

He would then return on multiple episodes in July and August 2020, both as a solo guest and with j aubrey.

When Joe decided to step down as co-host of the podcast, Lars asked Amir (among a few other friends) if he wanted to sub in once in a while during the transition. He ended up offering to just sign on as a permanent new co-host, which Lars agreed to after trying him out.

Amir officially announced his new position as co-host via Twitter on September 12, 2020, signing on for the foreseeable future.

## Recording style/personality

Amir's podcasting style is still in development, as is natural for any new co-host of the show.

Some immediate tendencies include a fondness for food analogies and frequently tripping over his words.

The first few episodes had Amir play it extremely safe, although he is now incorporating more idiosyncratic elements, such as playing a keyboard and delivering songs with it on-the-spot.

## Other ventures

Amir runs the doplex YouTube channel, and is also an editor for Inside Gaming.

## Links

* YouTube
* Twitter
* Inside Gaming (editor for)
The awkward fourth

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It is often stated that comedy works well as “rule of three”, meaning that jokes work best when they do not go beyond an initial punchline and two additional related gags.

Going for **an additional attempt to make someone laugh about the same subject** ("the awkward fourth") beyond this number can produce strongly diminishing returns in humor. This is largely due to the fact that comedy comes from novelty and the subversion of expectations. Dragging it out can “ruin” the joke.

If each gag attempt takes a long time, additional attempts can go beyond awkward and even become obnoxious.

Joe was initially notable for his intentional invocation of the awkward fourth joke in a row, usually to annoy Lars. During his tenure, he made efforts to retire the gag, as it has an unfortunate effect of making the episodes slightly worse.
The cold open

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There is a tradition on The First Podcast of utilizing a **cold open** for almost every episode.

## History

At one point during the original first episode of the show, Joe jokingly yelled at Lars, "Don't tell me about gorillas! I know about gorillas!"

Lars realized that this would make a really absurd cold open for the show, with the audience having no context, and this being their introduction to The First Podcast. He began utilizing a cold open for virtually every future episode.

## Explanation

Traditionally, if podcasts have an intro theme or bumper, it will be the first thing played on each episode. Some podcasts, such as The First Podcast, will put a small audio clip, known as a "cold open" before said theme music.

Reasons for this vary considerably depending on the nature and style of the show in question, but on The First Podcast they tend to be for one of the following reasons:

* The clip in question is amusing/strange out of context
* The clip highlights a funny moment from the episode
* The clip is an outtake that wouldn't fit on the episode, but was amusing enough that Lars wished to include it somewhere (occasionally, said clips will be placed after the closing theme instead)

## Episodes without a cold open

The only episodes that do not have a cold open are episodes where something else is already going on with the structure of it. For example, some episodes are themed tongue-in-cheek as "taking place" at a unique location, such as a carnival or in a spaceship.

Lars reasons that the structure of these episodes would be harmed by a cold open or intro/outro music.
Craig

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**Craig** is a Discord bot that the hosts currently use to record backup audio for episodes with guests. While said guest is still asked to record his or her audio in the interest of higher quality, the former exists as a safety measure.

## History

Audio issues are an accepted industry issue in the podcast game, and the worst of the worst is when it results in the loss of an entire episode. The hosts have thus made many efforts to fight against this possibility. Currently, every episode is insured against lost audio by using Craig.

Lars initially experimented with utilization of Craig backups during the very first episodes. However, this was back when Joe did not understand how to properly use his microphone, so the result was extremely dodgy. The two settled on using Skype for a while until they could get their audio systems properly set up for Discord.

Craig itself has a backup, Giarc, which exists on a separate server and also records a backup. While redundant, it could someday come in handy.

Apparently, Craig also is a member of The Official Podcast, replacing Alex and making him "quite the podcast slut".

## Usage

So far, Craig has saved episodes on two and a half occasions.

This includes two episodes where guests were for one reason or another unable to produce their audio recording, and one instance where Joe ostensibly forgot to save his audio. It was later discovered that he had, but to an obscure location. So while it would have been "okay" in the end, Craig still offered the hosts peace of mind that night.
Cyanide & Happiness

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**Cyanide & Happiness** is a webcomic that was started in the 2000s, created by Kris Wilson and his associates (collectively "Explosm Entertainment"). Its creators have been featured multiple times on The First Podcast.

## Appearances

Kris Wilson, Dave McElfatrick and Rob DenBleyker have all made guest appearances on The First Podcast, with each getting their own episode.

As a lifelong fan of the comic, Joe was particularly ecstatic to have them on, considering them "dream guests". Joe often bragged about them being the biggest guests on the show, since they have tens of millions of followers, and over 2 billion views on YouTube as of June 2019.
SleepyCast

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**SleepyCast** is a now defunct podcast hosted by prominent online animators.

## History

SleepyCast was hosted by Oney, Stamper, Psychicpebbles, Spazkid, JohnnyUtah, Niall, and Ricepirate. Collectively, the members constitute the SleepyCabin. The show was extremely popular, but suffered from conflicting schedules and disagreements amongst the hosts. Its second and final season concluded in May 2019.

Cryburger (Niall) was a guest on The First Podcast in December 2019. The hosts have stated that any SleepyCabin members are welcome on the show if they wish.
Bonus episodes

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**Bonus episodes** of The First Podcast are episodes of the show that are only available for Patreon subscribers.

## Content

The content on bonus episodes are considerably more varied and experimental than regular episodes. Some of them contain casual conversations with members of the Discord server; others contain structured events like movie reviews.

The episodes do not include a formal interview, although the hosts may ask the guest host (if there is one) some questions about what they do. For the most part, the participants simply talk and discuss whatever is on their minds. With some exceptions, the bonus episodes are usually slightly or much shorter than regular episodes, ranging from about 45-60 minutes.

Bonus episodes do not plug the show's sponsors, the Discord server, or the Patreon. However, the hosts do try to remind the patrons that there is a merch store.

## Guest hosts

* TheToaMaster
* SovietSpy from the Double D Podcast
* dude2o/Zwick
* Sergeant Greasemixer
* mrmeatman

## Upoming guest hosts

* ShadowForks
* Rebecca Doodles
* suzukiPCArt
Late Night Munchies (with Pogo)

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**Late Night Munchies (with Pogo)** is the originally ninth, and now first episode of The First Podcast.

## Significance

This episode is significant in that it was the first episode in which a formal guest star was procured. Due to Lars previously establishing an acquaintanceship with popular YouTube musician Nick "Pogo" Bertke, the former was able to land the latter as their initial guest.

At the time, The First Podcast was completely unknown. The fact that Lars was able to get such a comparatively massive first guest is a continual source of amusement for both hosts. The next few guest stars were much more "reasonable" in terms of fame.
Audioboom

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**Audioboom** (originally stylized as "audioBoom") is the hosting site and platform for The First Podcast.

## Details

Though far from unknown, Audioboom is one of the "smaller" podcast hosting providers. They offer a flat $10 rate per month. Lars and (formerly) Joe like its ease of use, attractive layout, sufficient analytics, and effectively unlimited upload count per month (though they suspect the latter may be a relaxation of the rules, as technically the host lists limits, but The First Podcast never seems to run afoul of them).

Audioboom and the show follow each other on social media, and can occasionally be seen liking each other's posts. It is suspected that at least one of their employees listens to the show.
Nano

Nano

The Traveler

The Pumpkin Lord

## Argusi's Realm

**The Painting**

Whist exploring the lands with his friend Searon, Nano encountered a cursed painting. The painting sends those around it into a spiral of insanity which few can escape. Nano escaped this madness but his friend was not so lucky. Shortly before the realm's annihilation, Nano swiped the painting and vanished. While Searon's whereabouts to this day are unknown Nano vows to one day find his friend and cure his madness.

## Lexion

**Zutargon**

Tale of Jett and Zutargon.

**Cloning**

After escaping from the rubble of the Legacy, Nano and Aren found themselves in a strange laboratory. Nano triggered a pressure plate, causing a laser to him. After a minute of blinding light, Nano was released from the beam, and he wasn't the only one. Another Nano was there as well, and this one was female. Everyone there was in shock. The second Nano had all of the original's memories and even considered them to be her own. The two parted ways after the Sanctuary story arc.

## Xeros

**Days as The Traveler**

Story of the Traveler goes here.

**Old Balkshire**

Tale of tyranny.

**Terrance I**

Founding a kingdom.

**The Black Order**

Vow to the assassins order.

**Olympus Conflict**

The fall of OId Terrance

**Terrance II**

Tale of rebirth.

**Founding a Nation**

Creation of the Federation of Balkshire.
Brittany

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**Brittany** technically refers to an existing woman, but is also a metaphor Joe and Lars would use on The First Podcast to discuss the former's sexual ideals.

## History

When driving to Exomania, Lars and Joe stopped at a Mediterranean restaurant in the middle of nowhere. A cashier named Brittany took their orders, and Joe instantly found himself attracted to her. As they walked out, Lars dared Joe repeatedly to get her number. A few minutes later, he walked out with success.

Nothing ultimately came of this in terms of Joe's dating life, but "Brittany" as a concept has mutated into sort of a metaphysical placeholder for Joe's "Euclidian ideal" of a woman.

Both hosts have expressed amusement toward the technically possible future event that the real Brittany will someday listen to the podcast by chance, notice that the weird customer from work talks about her a lot on air, and be deeply concerned.
Dude2o/Zwick

John Paul Zwick, mostly known as simply "**Zwick**" or handle dude2o, is a podcast editor and friend of the show.

## History

Zwick became acquainted with Lars around the time The First Podcast collaborated with Asterios Kokkinos and Thought Cops. The two quickly struck up a professional relationship as fellow sound engineers, trading advice and privately venting about the programs they edited.

Zwick is a huge fan of both The First Podcast itself and the editing Lars does for it; likewise, Lars appreciates Zwick as an industry colleague who understands his trials and tribulations.

As something of a lush, Zwick is a fan of "daddy sodas", a specific cocktail that Grant and Kevin of Thought Cops have described as "disgusting"; the recipe consists of a mix between Redd's Apple Ale and peach schnapps. He identifies as center-right, but makes no attempt to start any heated discussions on the matter.

Zwick has a truly bizarre fashion sense; Lars has compared him on-air to Sadao Maou from "The Devil is a Part-Timer" because of his penchant for visors.

Zwick currently edits the podcasts of Asterios Kokkinos as well as Thought Cops. He has expressed hope at some point to edit The First Podcast. For a brief period of time, he was also an editor for The Official Podcast.

In September 2019, Zwick was a guest host on a bonus episode of The First Podcast. He tagged along with Thought Cops for a regular episode in February 2020 as well.

## External Links

### Social Media

* Twitter
* Instagram
* Twitch
Barbra Streisand in Yentl

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**Barbra Streisand in Yentl** is the original first episode of The First Podcast, released in July 2018.

## Details

This episode marks the first appearance of main host Lars, as well as co-host Joe. Alexis had not been brought on, much less put on indefinite hiatus, at this point. The episode also acted as a formal audition for Joe as co-host.

The episode centered mostly around hypothetical questions, such as the type of job one would get in order to survive in Medieval Europe, or whom the hosts would bring to the moon. Notably, one segment includes them asking one another who their ideal guest would be; Joe’s ideal guest, Josh Newman, was indeed featured as a guest over forty episodes later.

This episode is also infamous for containing an early moment of significant comedy on the show when Joe brought up the film *Yentl*. Unbeknownst to him, he had severely misunderstood the plot and circumstances of the film, believing Barbra to have been cast as a young Jewish boy. The boys later revisited the film and comically realized she was actually cast as a young Jewish girl, who was being passed off as a boy so she could study.

## Production

Lars conducted his recording on an improperly configured Shure PG58, with Joe having talked into the wrong side of his generic USB microphone.

The former had the foresight to record his incoming audio as well, saving them from having to redo the entire thing. However, an extensive amount of lag on Joe’s end meant that his audio would frequently come out clipped. A comparison of the audio quality on this episode to a recent episode would be staggering.

This was one of the few first episodes to be recorded via the Discord server. The hosts would soon switch to Skype, as Alexis could not figure out Discord at the time. Later, they would switch back to Discord, preferring its audio quality and extra features.

## Status on the show

While both the hosts consider the early episodes to be of much lower quality, the first episode could be said to hold a special place in their hearts, as it was the beginning of everything. Several gags from said episode became recurring ones, such as "mostly professional".

The format of the episode, and the show itself, was very experimental at the time. Many standard features and segments from later episodes are non-existent on it. It also has a longer running time than most later episodes.

Like many others, the episode is currently unavailable due to the great purge.
Sara McInerney

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Has never not grinned in her life

**Sara McInerney Hauck** is a TEDx motivational speaker, blogger, host of the Facing Fear podcast, and friend of the show.

## Appearances

Sara first appeared as an early guest on the show, partially to promote her upcoming and as-of-yet-unnamed podcast. Lars and Joe planned to make guest appearances on this new podcast at a later date, either together or as individuals.

This show finally materialized in November 2019, and is called Facing Fear. Joe and Lars guest starred on an episode in June 2020, which has not yet released.
Nostalgia Critic

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* Lore/references

**Nostalgia Critic** is the online name of Doug Walker, a YouTube commentator and reviewer.

## History

Lars has been extremely vocal on the Discord server, as well as on a few episodes of the show, about how Walker is one of his least favorite content creators of all time.

He considers the latter's "review" of Pink Floyd's The Wall to be a perfect example of internet cancer that should never have been made.
The buzzing noise arc

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**The buzzing noise arc** was a lengthy time period where Joe had a persistent (and soul-destroying from the editing perspective of Lars) buzzing noise on his audio in early 2019.

## History

In January 2019, Joe moved home in order to remove himself from a relationship. The space on the desk in his old room was extremely limited. Unbeknownst to him, this resulted in audio recordings which would catch the noise from his computer fans. The audio processing done on the show, which normally is done to improve the sound, managed to amplify this. Thus, for a lengthy era between January and March 2019, every time Joe talks on the episodes, a loud computer fan can be heard in the background.

## Resolution

In the interest of not asking the guest to re-record the episodes or awkwardly leaving Joe's audio out entirely, Lars simply resigned himself to Joe's audio sounding bad for a while. After a few episodes of this issue, Lars brought it up to Joe and they attempted to diagnose it via text. Joe's temporary solution was to put a towel over the fan, a less-than-ideal solution for obvious reasons. It could still be heard, just to a smaller degree.

Eventually, Joe decided to video call Lars, and it was discovered that his microphone was extremely close to the fan, explaining why the issue never seemed to be solved. They took a long amount of time to consider the possibilities, and ended up settling on having Joe move his tower onto his bed during recordings. Although a stopgap solution, it finally resulted in clean audio again.

A permanent relocation of the computer tower, as well as better microphone positioning and the use of an isolation shield, completely eliminated the issue. Once Joe was able to move out on his own, issues with computer fans would never again even be possible.
Joe Reads

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**Joe Reads** are informal segments where host Joe would read a short snippet of an article, website or creative work. The hosts tended to agree upon doing them spontaneously; they are rarely planned segments.

## Description

Joe Reads are usually discrete sections of an episode, read in an idiosyncratic way that incorporates deadpan delivery, gradually increasing agitation, and meta commentary.

They most frequently appear during times when the other hosts are occupied for whatever reason and Joe elects to fill the silence.

## Editing

Lars generally opts to edit these short segments, not for content but to add bizarre post-processing effects. One example is a filter he puts on Joe's voice with a reverse echo effect, giving the whole read an unnerving, spacey vibe.

## Purpose

Most segments on the show can be argued to have a "purpose" in terms of the cohesive structure of the show. Joe Reads can perhaps be considered an exception to this idea, existing solely for the introduction of chaos.
Chikichu

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**Chikichu**, real name Lee, is a YouTube content creator.

## History and appearances

Originally amassing an audience of over 60,000 subscribers, Chikichu's original channel was deleted and he has started over. As of June 2019, his subscriber count sits just short of 10,000.

His content is eclectic and focuses on whatever he feels like talking about on a given day. He has a fondness for profile pictures featuring musician Pitbull.

Chikichu made a lengthy appearance on The First Podcast in May 2019. For many months, he would proceed to join voice chats and listen to episode recordings on the Discord server.

As of late 2019, Chikichu is on hiatus from YouTube, with plans to return in 2020.
Nate's Narm

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**Nate's Narm** (HD Update) is a video on Lars's YouTube channel which frequently gets brought up on air. Lars enjoys introducing guests to Nate's Narm.

## Background and relevance

During an episode of the show *Six Feet Under*, character Nate Fisher suddenly has a stroke, complaining about a "numb arm". The video in question is a brief clip of this scene.

The implied commentary is that the scene is intending to be dramatic, but comes across as unintentionally hilarious. The way that Nate devolves from saying "my arm's numb" to "numb arm" to "narm narm", as well as the seemingly exaggerated snort before he pratfalls backwards, has left many to find the scene humorous.

This scene has given birth to a trope called "Narm", referencing any scene in media which is unintentionally funny.

Lars uploaded this video in response to a lower-quality version of it from almost a decade beforehand, adding closed captions as well for those who needed or wanted them. TV Tropes links to Lars's video as of June 2019 on their article for Narm.
Jewish rage

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**Jewish rage**, specifically in the context of the show, referred to moments where Joseph became "verklempt", prompting him to scream and yell at Lars shortly after. Much like every other supposedly awkward or hostile moment between the two, these moments were part of an ongoing gag and intended entirely in jest.

The rage was mostly retired as a gag after a few weeks. However, it was brought back in spades during a guestless episode recorded in November 2019, in which Lars and the Discord server kept mocking Joe for "making a game in PowerPoint". The game in question is actually being made in Unity.

## Types of outbursts

* Telling Lars to shut up for no real reason
* Unnecessary, out-of-place profanity
* Declaring oneself as "verklempt" with lots of mustard on the K
* Insulting random members of the audience
* Suggesting that the hosts will perform excessively hostile actions to certain people

## Jewish scream

A separate but related recurring incident on the show was the "Jewish scream". This was simply a moment where Joe would get rowdy and raise his voice in a comical manner. It may or may not have been done in anger.
The Biggest Problem in the Universe

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**The Biggest Problem in the Universe** is a now defunct podcast hosted by Maddox and Dick Masterson, with frequent guest appearances by friend of the show Asterios Kokkinos.

Many episodes of the show featured music clips created by Grant Mooney of Thought Cops, a regular guest on The First Podcast.

## History

The podcast aimed to, mainly through comedic rants, discover what was officially "the biggest problem in the universe", with listeners able to upvote and downvote problems submitted by the hosts and the guests. Dick treated each episode as a competition, while Maddox was more interested in being scientific about it. This friction led to most of the comedy of the show.

The show serves as an interesting relic of the past, back when anyone liked Maddox. While the cracks had already begun to show, he remained relatively affable and avoided frivolous $400 million lawsuits at the time. Listening to it now can be somewhat bittersweet because of this.

While a very successful podcast format during its run, the show imploded over allegations that Dick slept with Maddox's ex. Apparently the wounds never healed from this, and Maddox abruptly canceled the show on episode 107, without inviting Dick to the recording or thanking him in the end. Asterios ended up filling in for him.

## Lolsuit

The lolsuit was a lawsuit filed in 2017 on behalf of Maddox. In this lawsuit, Maddox sued Asterios Kokkinos, Dick Masterson, a variety of other associates, Patreon, and a clerk who works at Patreon, for $20 million each. All claims were dismissed as frivolous and/or extremely disorganized by the judge.

The implication from the facts of the case is that Maddox was essentially suckered in by an inept attorney, Kevin Landau, who promised him vast sums of money to heal his bruised ego.

## "Uncucked" version

It was later disclosed that Maddox actually obsessively edited TBTIPU episodes after recording, removing substantial amounts of material that made him look bad, and substantial amounts of material that made Dick look good.

Fans of the show were able to help Dick restore the "true" versions of these episodes, without all the editing, released as the "Uncucked" version of the show. Lars is a huge fan of this edit.

## Relation to The First Podcast

* Maddox was originally going to be a guest on the show, until insurmountable allegations caused Lars to cancel the episode.
* Asterios has been on the show several times.
* Dick is a highly desired potential guest.
TeeKlef

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**TeeKlef** is the stage name of Ebuka Unogu, an R&B singer who was born in Nigeria and currently resides in Indiana.

## Appearances

TeeKlef made an appearance as an early guest on The First Podcast. On the episode, he revealed the poignant story behind his name, and discussed how he changed career paths after initially planning to become a doctor.

His episode was notable as being the one both hosts declared at the time as the funniest episode they had ever done.

TeeKlef was invited back, as per his request, to make a follow-up appearance in the future. It seems plans for this second episode, however, have since fallen off.
Dogecoin

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**Dogecoin** is a type of cryptocurrency. It has a notoriously volatile market history, with massive increases and decreases in value. This volatility makes it something of a "trader's dream", assuming the trader can play the market right with it.

Unlike many other currencies, Dogecoin allows for an infinite amount of coins to be mined. This was decided as an attempt to theoretically curb inflation.

## Explanation

Dogecoin takes its name from "Doge", an image macro format in which pictures of a shiba inu are overlaid with a variety of colorful, short phrases.

To an extent, the phrases are meant to represent the internal monologue of the dog; in media of this type, dogs are usually portrayed as frantic, impulsive and high-energy. There is no larger purpose of the meme other than goofy comedy.

Dogecoin is considered something of a "Producers currency". The play The Producers features an attempt by the protagonists to create a hilariously bad show that will fail spectacularly, but it instead becomes a hit. In a similar sense, Dogecoin was meant as a joke, but actually took off as a legitimate form of cryptocurrency.

## Relevance

Joe is a huge fan of Dogecoin, and would often attempt to shoehorn discussion of it into episodes of the show. Lars tried to avoid getting into the topic, as he does not engage in cryptocurrency trading and has no interest in discussing it.

On an episode with Misha Yurchenko, a cryptocurrency trading expert, Joe finally got his wish to discuss the coin at length. Lars had the guest on in order to indulge the latter.
Recently castrated

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On many episodes of the show, Joe would at some point deliver a line or series of lines in an extremely limp manner. Lars, feigning an exaggerated amount of frustration, would compare Joe's delivery to that of someone who has been "**recently castrated**".

A related analogy Lars would use was to compare his delivery to a "moose/deer" that has similarly been castrated.
Kevin from Defunctland

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Kevin Perjuror is the creator and host of a YouTube channel named **Defunctland**.

## History

Defunctland covers, as the title would suggest, defunct theme parks and attractions at said theme parks. The channel is something of an oral history of what once was. His dry demeanor and relaxed presentation are quite pleasing, and amusingly contrast the often dangerous and hilariously unsafe rides he discusses on the channel.

Kevin was a guest on The First Podcast in October 2019.