recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
The Cheese

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* Lore/references

The Cheese is a user that joined The First Discord and eventually left the server, stating to Joe in a DM that he is a member of too many servers.

A couple weeks later, he DMed Joe inviting him to join his server, which Joe poked fun of in the General chat.

Cheese rejoined The First Discord and quickly got banned when he threatened a user named (Nick) Cyclone aka (Nick)arfiled seened in the pic.

Joe then spontaneously decided to create a new user and have several lines of Japanese planned out in a Microsoft Word document, which would start off realistic, and culminate with it seemingly Cheese returning in the form of a new user.

Lars banned him and the users speculated it was either one of his friends of The Cheese himself, but Joe owned up to it and a good laugh was had by all.
Episode tiers

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* Lore/references

Lars has a vague system for how he internally categorizes **different tiers of episodes** of The First Podcast.

## Breakdown

* S-tier episodes are ones where the guest naturally understands, embraces, and participates in the format and style of the show. Essentially, they blend right in. Something just "clicks". Lars notes that episodes of this tier are rather rare.
	+ Ex: Huggbees, j aubrey, Sr Pelo, Brendaniel
* A-tier episodes are episodes where the hosts have an extremely fun time with the guest, and the result is an enjoyable product. Lars notes that most episodes are around this tier.
* B-tier episodes happen when the guest or the conversation is a bit more dry and there isn't as much humor, but the episode is still very pleasant. Lars notes that the second most common tier is around here, but more like a B+.
* C-tier episodes happen when the vibe is not terribly strong between the hosts and the guest, resulting in something that is entertaining, but unlikely to go down in history as one of the show's best. Lars notes that this is very rare lately.
* D-tier episodes happen when there is a noticeable vibe mismatch, or the guest is simply out of place on the podcast. Lars notes that the only episodes where this was the case have since been removed, and all of them were from the early era the show.

Lars has stated that he doesn't feel the show has had anything less than a C or C+ episode since the modern era began; virtually all of the guests at this point are entertainers with six to eight figure follower counts, and finding someone in this range who isn't enjoyable to spend an hour with is exceedingly rare.

He also does not believe the show has put out an F-tier episode.

## Ranking of guestless episodes

As most guestless episodes these days are either filler episodes or very special episodes (such as the 1-year anniversary episode, Lars generally does not internally grade them.
The First Podcast Wiki

DICK DICK DICK On an historic evening of November of 1972, **The First Podcast** launched its inaugural broadcast from Truth or Consequences, NM. Unfortunately the limitations of the time, such as there being no internet to even theoretically host a podcast in the first place, forced them to go on a hiatus until 2018.

Hosted by **Lars Housholder****, Spaghetto** and **Tiege** they'll take you on a journey to everywhere and everything. The vast majority of episodes feature a guest from the entertainment world, from pop stars to YouTubers to fellow podcasters to state senators to just, you know, the creator of Elder Scrolls. Listen here.

## Lore/References

***This is likely what you are here for if you are trying to understand an ongoing joke or recurring gag on the show.*** ***See the Lore/references page.***
Staff

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* Hosts

The First Podcast is a group effort, consisting of a collaboration between the hosts, as well as the administrative efforts of several other staff members, and extended assistance from friends of the show.

## Primary staff

* **Lars** is the main host, editor, producer and creative director. He also owns the Discord and runs the Twitter.
* **Amir** is the co-host.

## Secondary staff

* **Tiege** is VIP Coordinator for the show. His duties include researching guests to have on the show, reaching out to them, and assisting the hosts with strategic development.
* **Ana**, **Chris**, **Zero**, **Haru** and **Ken** are moderators for the Discord server. Ken very occasionally helps procure guests, as well.
* **Jakiki**runs the Minecraft server for the show (and its Discord server).

## Friends of the show (incomplete list)

* **Spaghetto**, real name Tresten, is a mutual collaborator with The First Podcast who has provided artwork, guests and a variety of other things for the show.
* **DaftPina** is a YouTuber who has collaborated with Lars and Joe on multiple podcasts. Lars also occasionally provides him with line reads for YouTube videos.
* **dude2o**, also known as Zwick, is an editor for Thought Cops who has facilitated collaborations with the latter show, as well as provided assistance in a variety of ways.
* **Chris** is essentially a "traveling ambassador" for The First Podcast. He was given business cards to hand out for the show at the large amount of music concerts he attends in California and Nevada.
Big podcast lessons

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* Lore/references

**Big podcast lessons** are revelations, tactics, curiosities, and other notable things that the hosts have discussed as being a product of their ever-increasing experience in the podcast game.

## Examples

* It is better to reduce background noise on location and noise-gate audio tracks than to use noise suppression plug-ins that degrade audio quality and never fully work.
* Voice audio sounds much smoother when it is all normalized. Lars currently sets normalization to -3dB.
* Have a backup of everyone's audio. Lars and Joe have noted that, even if every participant thinks they are recording and all set, shit happens.
* Some guests will neglect to share/promote their episode, leaving their fans completely in the dark about it. There is nothing to do here other than move on.
* The first episode of anything sucks. Even if it's good, it still sucks in comparison to later episodes.
* It is very, very difficult to remove "uh" from one's vocabulary. However, it is relatively easy to learn to deliberately pause instead of saying it.
* A lot of really famous and notable people are totally down to be interviewed by a podcast just because they asked. Not all of them, or even most, but way more than one would think.
* Some people, mostly younger teenagers, are simply unable to handle the pressures and expectations that being the member of a Discord server would impose upon them, and will have to be removed from it.
Shark Exorcist

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* Lore/references

**Shark Exorcist** is a movie that Joe and Lars reviewed on an episode of The First Podcast with guest Chelsea Sanders.

## History

Lars first became aware of Shark Exorcist while watching an I Hate Everything video series called The Search for the Worst. Alex, the owner of said channel, gave a scathing review of the film.

After watching the film for himself, he realized that a lot of people had trashed it online, but none of the reviews went as in-depth as he felt would be necessary to document exactly why the film was so terrible.

He had Joe and Chelsea watch the episode and take detailed notes, in order for them to be able to give a lengthy scene-by-scene breakdown of everything wrong with them.

## Initial difficulty

Both Joe and Chelsea struggled with their initial attempt to watch the movie due to its low quality.

Joe was so underwhelmed by the film that he had to re-watch it in its entirety in preparation for the episode. Chelsea found her usual process of breaking a bad movie into multiple viewing segments ineffective, as it made it extremely difficult to keep the disjointed plot straight in her head.

## Review

All three participants in the episode gave the film a severe lashing, unanimously declaring it the worst movie any of them had ever seen.

Lars and Chelsea qualified this by comparing it to other people reviewing Star Wars: Episode VIII as “the worst movie they had ever seen”. Chelsea noted that the latter was a competently designed film, and that movies like Shark Exorcist are on a whole other level of bad.
The Gillette ad

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* Lore/references

**The Gillette commercial** was a longform advertisement for the company that was released in 2019, stemming an almost unprecedented amount of controversy.

## Show relevance

On an episode of The First Podcast, Joe and Lars discussed the commercial at length with guest host Richard Quiner. They took an extended look at the different kinds of criticisms people had expressed about it.

A general consensus among the three hosts was that the main criticisms of the commercial itself were mostly poor. Joe summarized his take on the angry reactions by male customers as being: “People who call other people snowflakes are themselves being snowflakes”.

Lars and Richard were far more sympathetic when it came to people’s cynicism toward the company’s motivations for releasing the commercial. The former noted that he does not seek life advice from corporations and celebrities. The latter pointed out, however, that technically speaking, any criticism of the ad’s contents due to the identity of the corporation was an ad hominem fallacy.

Both Richard and Lars were jokingly “critical” of the scene in which a few dozen men stand over their barbecues and say, “Boys will be boys.” Richard claimed that this never actually happens in real life. The two were deadpan about it to such a degree that they even managed to trick Joe into thinking they were being serious.

Guest hosts Ohan and Chris were each late for the episode to differing degrees; subsequently, they both expressed dismay at missing out on a chance to discuss the ad.
The aftershow

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* Lore/references

Around late February 2018, The First Podcast started a tradition of having **an informal aftershow** on Discord after recording with a guest.

## History

The first aftershow took place during a recording with Kill Bill: the Rapper, in which the listeners happened to congregate in the general voice chat channel after the episode. It went on for about thirty minutes.

Notably in March 2018, an aftershow with Kill Bill and Rav went for three or more hours after the formal episode recording; Lars and Joe eventually had to leave due to prior obligations.

Thus far, the vast majority of guests have chosen to participate in these hangouts. In most cases, reasons for not staying after are due to the hosts not doing an aftershow, due to an awkward recording schedule and few people tuning in.
Confessions of a Young Gay Man

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* Lore/references

**Confessions of a Young Gay Man** is a blog that Lars alleged that Joe maintains.

## History

The alleged blog was first referenced on an early deleted episode. Joe quickly denied that this was a real blog.

Occasionally, Lars would bring this supposed blog in passing during subsequent episodes. For example, on an episode with Luke from NotMyFault and unusual videos, the former and Lars theorized that a post on said blog might be titled "Coming Out of the Closet: by Joe".

"Confessions of a Young Gay Man" was later used as a title of a bonus episode where Lars quizzed Joe on podcast trivia.

## Purpose

The humor of this alleged blog existing is that it would be a strange choice for Joe, a heterosexual.
Flaurall

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* Guests

**Flaurall**, real name Laural, is a TikTok star that Joe and Jake Truemper worked together with to create The Only TikTok Podcast.

## History

Joe initially became acquainted with Flaurall when he donated to her while she was live streaming on TikTok. This prompted Flaurall to follow him back, and eventually led to a conversation about networking, collaborating, and subsequently forming The Only TikTok Podcast.

As of April 2020, Flaurall has 113,000 followers and over 880,000 likes.

The Only TikTok Podcast ended in July 2020.
Rav

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* Guests

**Rav**, short for Ravioli (or "Ravish Me Bill"), was a guest on The First Podcast. He hosts We Don't Suck with Kill Bill: the Rapper and runs the record label EXOciety.

## History

Lars and Joe had KB on an earlier episode, during which several fans suggested they try to get Rav on as well. They were successful, later tweeting, "You wanted a Rav episode, you got it."

Lars and Joe first met Rav in person at Exomania.
The postmodern era

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* Lore/references

**The postmodern era** of the show began in September 2020.

## History

The modern era of the show describes the episodes occurring between about February 2019 and September 2020, as the hosts were able to procure increasingly bigger guests over time and grow the Discord server to a four-figure fan community.

Joe's exit from the podcast led to an abrupt shift in its trajectory. Lars almost immediately decided to continue the show uninterrupted, bringing on Amir (doplex) as his replacement.

In October 2020, the official YouTube channel for the podcast debuted, starting with the 150th episode, featuring guest James Miller. The views quickly dwarfed audio listens.
Mini episodes

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* Lore/references

**Mini episodes** are a new form of content on The First Podcast, of shorter length and released during the interim between full episodes.

## History

Lars first conceived the idea of mini episodes in June 2020. The purpose of this new style of episode is twofold:

* It will allow the hosts to have on guests that don't fit the regular notability requirement, but that are of interest otherwise
* It will flesh out the available content for listeners during the interim between regular episodes
Jake Truemper

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* Guests

**Jake Truemper** is a YouTube content creator and podcast host. His videos mostly consist of short comedic skits, themed songs, and reviews of other YouTubers.

## Appearances

Jake made his first ever podcast appearance on The First Podcast in May 2019. Lars has described the episode with Jake as "a perfect hour of podcasting".

The episode with Jake represented the first in a chain. Initially, Jake reminded The Right Opinion that The First Podcast existed and that he should go on, so he did. The Right Opinion then sung the praises of the show to j aubrey, who subsequently agreed to go on himself.

Jake made a second appearance on the show in October 2019.

Joe started a side project with Jake in January 2020 called The Only TikTok Podcast.
Spum

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* Lore/references

**Spum** is a hypothetical guacamole variant.

## History

On Amir's first episode as co-host, he requested that himself and Lars create new foods. Lars came up with "torp", a type of large avocado with an entire ear of corn located inside of it (instead of a pit).

When they discussed what a hypothetical guacamole equivalent would be called, Lars came up with "spum". Both of them admitted to finding this amusing and thinking about it a lot on the next episode.

Later on a livestream on Amir's YouTube channel (doplex), Lars requested that he draw "spum tacos". Amir proceeded to explain spum in detail, and repeat the word over and over again for several minutes.

Spum is essentially the first "new meme" of the show following Joe's departure and Amir's signing on.
Simian Jimmy

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* Lore/references

**Simian Jimmy**, formerly Mumkey Jones, is a YouTube content creator.

## History

Jimmy hosts the Boomer vs. Zoomer podcast with Asterios Kokkinos. He has also worked with Rusty Cage on the State of the YouTube podcast.

There are tentative plans to have him as a guest on The First Podcast alongside Rusty.
Jabrils

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* Guests

**Jabrils**, real first name just Jabril, is a YouTube content creator. His channel focuses on AI, machine learning, robots, computer games, and other nerdy topics. It can be considered a form of edutainment with a comedic twist.

## Appearances

Jabril made an appearance on The First Podcast in May 2019. Joe and Lars found the episode to be extremely educational and unusually interesting. He has been invited back for a second episode after a new video series he is working on at the moment.

## Discord Significance

Jabril introduced The First Discord to an AI online application that finishes a short sentence that the user feeds it. This can result in short stories, bullet points, plays, lyrics, etc. During and after the recording with Jabril, the entire server got a kick out of using the online service, called talk-to-transformer. This resulted in the creation of a dedicated text channel within the discord.
Joe stories

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* Lore/references

> *"...Okay! Well, Rev, welcome to a Joe story. There's never a point, it never actually goes anywhere. It just kinda... yeah..."*
>
>

> -Lars toward RevScarecrow on his guest appearance
>
>

**Joe stories** are a particular, infamous type of story that Joe would tell on air.

## Explanation

What constitutes a Joe story depends on a lot of factors, and can take different forms. Sometimes they are extremely mundane, while other times they will contain bizarre twists that either make him come across unfavorably, or give clues that he has completely made up the encounter. Most of them involve a banal interaction at work, at a store, or at his apartment. A true resolution to the story, or at least one containing a point of some sort, is exceedingly rare.

A classic example once told on air was a story about how he once went to the grocery store, got some eggs, thought they were a good deal, but was then informed by his brother Jeff that they were not a good deal. That was the end of the story.

Some guests, such as KneeCaps, have humored Joe and played along with interest. Others, such as Asterios Kokkinos, have openly roasted him for them. Still others have given the type of story a nickname; for example, Rev called them "air pump stories", both to refer to the original Joe story he told and the lack of substance contained within.

Lars has described these stories as the kind of inconsequential thing that a bunch of suburban moms would tell each other while getting together for lunch.

On the episode with Cryburger, Niall met his match as he compared his Irish stories with Joe's stories.
The Among Us streams

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* Lore/references

Starting in late 2020, Lars has been doing semi-regular streams of Among Us with a variety of other content creators, generally centered around Spaghetto's YouTube channel.

## History

Tiege has helped Lars organize Among Us streams whenever enough content creators are available for it.

Since the podcast's YouTube channel is new and has not yet received a significant amount of subscribers, Lars has had Spaghetto be the main broadcast source for them thus far. In most cases, however, the other creators have streamed the games as well.

A frequent alternate game mode that is played is Horror Mode.

## Content creator participants

* DaftPina
* Dave Capdevielle
* DickPlanet
* doplex
* dude2o/Zwick
* Fullmetaldubs
* Huggbees
* James Miller
* ManyKudos
* Sethical
* ShadowForks
* Spaghetto
DaftPina

**DaftPina**, real name Ryan, is a YouTube content creator and friend of the show. His videos primarily focus on critiquing YouTube animators, specifically those he suspects of tracing.

Lars occasionally provides voice clips for DaftPina videos.

## History

Ryan was a guest on The First Podcast in September 2019 after one of the Discord server members asked on their behalf during a live stream, knowing Lars and Joe had been interested in him as a guest for some time. On the episode, Ryan spoke in a completely normal cadence and displayed a sense of humor. By contrast, on his YouTube channel he is notable for an extremely idiosyncratic, slow deadpan delivery, as well as posting almost exclusively serious content. Puffer Fish made a surprise cameo in a post-credits "scene" on that episode.

Since then, he has been a returning guest, a guest host on some episodes, a bonus episode guest, and a frequent participant in the Among Us streams.

He also ended up crashing a bonus episode in July 2020, and ended up being the guest for it.

Ryan returned for a second mainline episode in August 2020, with mrmeatman, Ohan, Rusty Cage and efryo crashing the episode at different points.

Occasionally, Ryan will be a guest host, such as on the episode with Hannah Daigle.
Sex Barbie

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* Lore/references

**Sex Barbie** is a fake video game that Joe was pranked into requesting multiple times as a child from Toys 'R' Us employees.

## History

On multiple episodes of the show, Joe recounted a tale of his grade school friends pulling a prank on him by stating that "Sex Barbie" was a game available for modern consoles at the time.

He would proceed to request it at visits to Toys 'R' Us. Some employees would flatly deny the request, while others would pretend to "go to the back" and claim they could not find said game.
Let's Go to the News

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* Lore/references

**Let's Go to the News** is an informal segment on the show in which the hosts discuss current news items, with a general focus on political content. It appears when the hosts feel inspired or incensed by the news of the day and wish to share it; thus, not every episode has a news discussion segment. The segment is also rarely if ever present on episodes with guests.

Episodes with Joe are much more likely to have this segment than episodes with Alexis.

The segment did not have an official name or bumper music until after EP 11. Curiously, the bumper music also stopped being used almost immediately after its introduction.

## Bumper music

Lars created the bumper for this segment by sampling an old episode of Garfield & Friends, and splicing a slowed down clip of himself and Joe saying "let's go to the news" from a previous episode.
Big Shaq

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* Lore/references

**Big Shaq** is the recording persona of comedian Michael Dapaah.

## History

Lars and Joe are fans of Big Shaq, and have noted as such on many occasions. Once in a while, Joe would simply exclaim "man's not hot" as a non-sequitur reference to the rapper.

They particularly enjoy his track "Man's Not Hot", a satirical UK grime single in which he raps about never getting overheated, as well as selling cereal and other extremely mundane topics. This is humorously juxtaposed with his onscreen appearance, in which he is dressed in a warm winter jacket (and, in some scenes, drenched in sweat).

One episode with Jonnie Kae included a live reaction to "Man's Not Hot".
Joe's luggage fetish

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* Lore/references

A longstanding trend of Joe asking the guest about their luggage preferences, with the ostensible intent of annoying Lars (as the question concerns something so basic) led to the theory that **Joe has a luggage fetish**.

## History

The luggage question originated on an episode with Amanda Kusek, in which Joe spent a lengthy amount of time discussing luggage with the guest. This stemmed from the status of Kusek as a frequent world traveler, and Joe's status as a bellhop who frequently handles luggage.

Lars found this topic exceptionally dry, asking if they could move on from "...luggage... descriptions..." with a lot of extra mustard.

Over time, the asking of this question was presented in an oddly idiosyncratic way which made Lars regularly question if his interest in luggage is pure. On one episode, he mocked Joe for "partially wanting to fuck the bag".

Joe has recorded both a spoken word piece that was highly suggestive about luggage types and styles, as well as a rap song which was supposedly about women, but contained almost exclusively references to luggage brands and varieties. He planned to release a rap album, for which Lars has suggested the title "Suitcase Full of Cum".

He has also crafted a "Frankenstein's bag" abomination with broken pieces of baggage. This wiki cannot publish the results, as they are not safe for work.

Lars has suggested that Joe should work at the TSA, since their job involves handling luggage all day.
Merryweather

**Merryweather** is a Danish manga-style webcomic maker, VTuber, and friend of the show.

## History

Merryweather was a guest on The First Podcast in August 2019. He was also a guest on The Spaghetto Podcast in July 2020.

He returned to the show in January 2021, delirious from being up at 4 in the morning in his time zone, and proceeded to give a legendary performance that cemented his second episode as one of the best in the show's history.
No tops, no bottoms

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* Lore/references

**"No tops, no bottoms"** is a reference to EP4. In that episode, Lars recounted the events of a hook-up and the ensuing chaos. This included photos of a certain nature. Alexis put on an investigating voice, asking if he was talking about "tops" or "bottoms", or in other words, if these were photos of the top or bottom half of the person.

Since then, "no tops, no bottoms" has become slang on the show for "this photograph is appropriate" or, more generally, "everything is on the up and up".
The rewind gag

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* Lore/references

**The rewind gag** is an absurdist gag in which the show is "rewound" to, ostensibly, a previous point in order to dispute what was said. This is almost never actually the case.

## History

At first, the gag was done as a straightforward "rewind" to earlier in the episode in which Lars said something which Joe chose to purposefully mishear.

After several episodes, Lars started foregoing a proper execution of the gag entirely, instead choosing to insert a random non-sequitur clip from some other media. The joke, now, is that the rewind is pointless, as it gives the wrong information.

In later months, Lars chose to semi-retire the gag, citing difficulty reliably finding clips that are particularly funny out of context to use, as well as noting the somewhat forced nature of the gag; he notes that it can be a little difficult to understand for new listeners, unaware that it is a gag.

## Rewind sound

The sound used for most rewind gags is this one. When the show itself is "rewound" in other ways, Lars instead tends to utilize a clip from "A Better Tomorrow" by Dan the Automator.
Kailey Bray

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* Guests

**Kailey Bray** is an actor and professional Dungeons & Dragons player who currently is creating and stars in the show "Damsels, Dice, and Everything Nice". She makes a living mainly via voice acting roles and professional D&D streaming.

## Appearances

Kailey appeared as a guest on the show after she was referred to it by Richard Quiner; he is currently in an ongoing D&D campaign with her.
Electric Boogaloo

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* Lore/references

**Electric Boogaloo** is a snowclone secondary title for movies that Lars and occasionally (formerly) Joe will use on the show to offer silly sequel suggestions for movies, games, and the like.

## History

The meme comes from the movie Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. The film's title features a rather cheesy rhyme scheme. It released to terrible critical reception. Citizens of the internet eventually started utilizing this secondary title to mockingly suggest sequels to their favorite media. The humor is especially effective when the media in question is considered "serious" or "dramatic", since a goofy sequel would be absurd.

An example from the show would be an episode with guest RoboRob, in which Lars asked if the latter would participate in the soundtrack composition for a hypothetical "Inception 2: Electric Boogaloo".
The Romance Corner

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* Lore/references

**The Romance Corner** is the name of a (now essentially defunct) informal segment in which hosts Lars and Alexis take relationship advice questions from the audience.

This is perhaps the one segment of the show where there isn't any real banter between Lars or Alexis. They usually find themselves in complete agreement about the advice they would give.

Joe did not take part in this segment, though not out of any disinterest per se.

The segment proved popular with the audience, as Alexis was bombarded with questions every week. Listeners were also encouraged to send follow-up responses and updates after their question has been read, and some have.

## History

The segment arose organically during Alexis's second episode. She had received both feedback about the show itself, and an unusual number of advice questions. This was despite the show not advertising itself as dispensing any advice. The hosts found it amusing and decided to run with it.

Each time Alexis is present for an episode, she will present the relationship advice questions to Lars and they will discuss them.

The theme song for this segment is very on-the-nose.
The quarantine

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* Lore/references

**The quarantine** is, as of May 2020, an ongoing social distancing initiative in response to the COVID-19 virus outbreak and pandemic.

## Show relation

Aside from one episod, Lars and (formerly) Joe have purposefully and verbally made a note to try avoiding too much or even any COVID-19 and quarantine discussion on the show, for the following reasons:

* It's all anyone is talking about across all of social media and podcasts
* The content won't age well when the pandemic ends

However, they did devote one episode to discussion of it, dubbing it the "Quarantine Special".
The persona

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* Lore/references
**The persona** is something Lars and (formerly) Joe consider "anathema to a good episode" of the First Podcast.

## What is it?

The concept of a persona itself is based on the idea that one has a genuine personality as well as a professional personality.

This applies to everyone, not just famous people; grocery store workers, for example, tend to have an extra smiley facade in order to appease their idiot customers.

Persona in and of itself is not bad per se.

## Why is it bad for the show, though?

There are many aspects to what makes a good interview and a bad interview. One big one, in the opinion of Joe and especially Lars, is whether a guest is willing to "let their hair down" and give people a look behind their public persona. If they are, the episode tends to feel a lot more genuine.

Obviously this is not a guarantee; some people, on their deepest level, are boring. However, most notable people (as in, the type of person interviewed on the show) did not get to where they are in life by being boring. So the correlation is almost 100%.

The hosts have refrained from giving any examples of guests who kept the persona up (and thus led to a mediocre episode), ostensibly due to professional courtesy. However, they have cited examples of guests who did *not*, like TeeKlef and RoboRob; Lars considers the latter two to be examples of the best episodes of the show.
The interns

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* Lore/references

**The interns** are a group of people that Lars has really wanted to have on hand for various small tasks.

For several months at the end of 2018, Joe helped assemble a team of four assistants. Three of them were let go during the holiday season, as they were a notoriously difficult group to manage and motivate; Lars noted that the time and effort he was utilizing to keep everyone on track was more than it would take to simply do the requisite work itself.

Chris remains a friend of the show and, formerly, an occasional guest host, with his guest liaison duties spun back into the duties of Lars and Joe for the time being. He is also now a volunteer, rather than a paid employee; he has been given business cards for the show to hand out at concerts, and left to his own devices.

In June 2019, Discord member, guest, and friend of the show Tiege offered his services formally as an assistant. He had already been doing the job in an unofficial capacity for most of the show's history. The position offered was essentially a formality.

## Current roster

* **Tiege** - VIP Coordinator (June 2019-)
* **Christopher Kennard** - Ambassador at Concerts (2019-)

## Former roster

* **Christopher Kennard** - Guest Liaison (2018-early 2019)
* **Jake** - Assistant Manager (2018)
* **Nick** - VIP Coordinator (2018)
* **Doug** - Ex-Historian (2018)
Patreon

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* Lore/references

The First Podcast has **a Patreon page**that fans of the show can use to financially support the hosts in their making of said show.

## Explanation

Patreon support is currently one of the three paid methods of supporting the podcast, including participating in the show's sponsors and purchasing items from the merchandise store. People who contribute to the Patreon funding of a project are called "patrons" or, more generally, "supporters".

Projects like The First Podcast generally have a Patreon page set up due to the artistic nature of their program, which does not inherently generate money. The idea is that if a big fan of the show appreciates their work and wants to help it continue to function, they understand that some level of income is required.

Patreon's model is a monthly donation of financial support, as opposed to a one-time contribution. As such, the Patreon page for projects tends to be the most appealing option for the biggest fans of said project. More casual fans may find options like checking out the sponsors or buying some merchandise appealing.

## Tiers and rewards

Practically every Patreon project gives their patrons a monthly or one-time reward, depending on what "tier" of donation they have reached.

The First Podcast currently offers $2 tier patrons an on-air name drop, access to exclusive bonus episodes, early listening privileges to upcoming regular episode releases, a special role on the Discord server, and a few other things. Effectively, approximately 20% more of the show is thus available to them.

Also, $10 patrons can elect to have a segment of text dramatically read (or simply shouted out) on air once per month. As of October 2019, there is no limit to the length of the text. Certain $10 patrons will jokingly use their reading to advertise the Patreon itself, or have the hosts read an extremely short phrase such as "I came." Some take the benefit seriously and use it to shout out their own, or a friend's, project.

There is also something of a gag tier, the $15,000 tier, called the "Lars Gets a Tesla Tier". This originates from a joke on an Ohan episode. If a patron were to support the show at this tier for two months, Lars technically afford a car by Tesla.
Joe's living situation

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In late 2019, Joe got an apartment with his brother Jeff. On the show, the former has described his **bizarre living conditions**, much to the amusement and chagrin of Lars.

## Details

* He unplugs electronics and appliances such as microwaves and toaster ovens when not in use, in order to save a few cents or dollars per year. He and his brother seriously toyed with the idea of unplugging the stove, despite how difficult it would be to unplug and replug it in each time.
* He is unable to maintain a ratio of at least one working light source per room.
* He utilizes a foil car sun-visor to deflect light into the living room, instead of turning on a lamp.
* There is apparently a large floodlight right outside their main window, which they use blinds to cover up at night to prevent insomnia.
* He has removed all but one light bulb from each room.
* His shoes are almost completely destroyed, but he refuses to purchase a new pair.
* He is long overdue for a haircut, but has chosen to avoid getting one.
* He once chastised his brother for turning on more than one light source at a time, mocking him for living a life of unnecessary luxury.
* He owns and runs two refrigerators for some reason.
* His apartment costs almost $2000 a month, despite these living conditions.
* Although technically unrelated, he started fervently denying his status as an extraterrestrial right around the time of procuring this apartment.
The First Podcast Drinking Game

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This is the (un)official **First Podcast drinking game**.

## Drink every time:

* The guest gets confused or is unsure what to do for the intro
* Lars awkwardly transitions to the sponsor
* "You heard it here first"
* Lars forgets to put Craig on
* The guest plugs their Patreon and gets interrupted with "slash t1podcast"
* Joe says "um"
* The hosts quickly move on from a lame topic/question
* Joe claims "I'm not an alien"

## Finish your drink every time:

* Lars loses his shit and laughs for several minutes
John Fullsauce

Template:Infobox streamer
"**John Fullsauce**" is the name given to an undisclosed individual who has been managing The Full Sauce and The Extra Sauce channels since Vappy's departure.

John revealed his voice in a video about the Full Sauce channel's community guideline strikes on June 20, 2020.

## See also

* John\_FullSauce on the Vinebooru

Template:Vinesauce
The great purge

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**The great purge** was an event where The First Podcast took down a large amount of their older episodes.

## Explanation

Lars and (formerly) Joe have had a love-hate relationship with most of their earlier content. They were largely done with a different format, are comparatively very rough around the edges, were done on lower quality microphones, were not as tightly edited, and contain a great deal of cringe from Joe. They were hesitant to remove these older episodes for a variety of reasons, such as nostalgia and the fear that their overall listen count would be demolished in the process.

Once Lars found out that his host would retain the listen counts, and that the episodes could be revived at any time, he decided to take them down.

Some have been remastered as classic episodes.

## The second purge

In June 2019, a second, much smaller episode purge took place. Only a few episodes were taken down. These included guests who were deemed to be of little relevance to the modern era of the show (such as an anonymous Uber driver guru). The episodes were removed without malice and the hosts were still happy to have recorded them.

## Effects

One of the major consequences of the great purge (and, to a much smaller extent, the second purge) is that approximately 45% (at the time) of the early show has been more or less lost to the sands of time.

The hosts have considered this acceptable; while not without their charm, the older episodes that have been removed represented what was essentially a different show, with little to no modern relevance.
The YouTube channel

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The First Podcast has **a YouTube channel** as of October 2020.

## History

Fans were asking the hosts to put the podcast on YouTube for most of the show's history. While Joe was open to this, Lars resisted it for a number of reasons:

* Neither Lars nor Joe were YouTubers
* It would split the listens
* It would potentially make the show look more small-time than it was

When Amir took over as co-host in September 2020, they decided to bite the bullet and release new episodes (starting with #150) on YouTube from then on. Amir is responsible for the video renders, adding a vaporwave MP4 loop to give people something to look at while watching.

As it turns out, the show gained considerably more YouTube views than audio listens, making the concerns about splitting the listens more or less irrelevant. Lars would quickly express regret that he didn't put the show on YouTube sooner.

In between episode releases, there will occasionally be short clips released as standalone video content.
Monts de Colère

Les **monts de Colère** sont la principale chaine montagneuse de Virentie, s'étirant du nord au sud de ce continent, encadrant le bassin du fleuve Lagarto.

## Sources

1. ↑ Carte montrant les terres & peuples du 9e Âge, dessinée par Meradus Gercator, humble serviteur de l'Empire de Sonnstahl, 962 A.S. *(GBR, p.125)* (lien)
Seasons

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Each 100 episodes of The First Podcast can be considered a "season" of the show.

## Season one (2018-2019)

The first season of the show was a story of volatility, growth, adaptation, and debauchery. Over the course of about a year and a half, the show grew from absolutely nothing to a moderately successful program with a sizeable audience.

### The earliest episodes

The first season began in July 2018, although the first surviving episode after the great purge was released in August. Season one began with almost all guestless episodes, and often featured a third co-host Alexis. Release dates were inconsistent with no attempt to follow a schedule.

These early episodes have been described by the hosts as a slow start where Lars and Joe attempted to find their footing. Episodes had long running times with plenty of dead air and dry discussion topics. This format would soon be discarded, to the benefit of the show.

### A shift in format

After a few months, the show shifted gears almost entirely toward having guests on nearly every episode. The hosts kept at the grind for quite a while, accumulating small amounts of new listeners every day. With enough listens under their belt, they then began the process of reaching out to larger potential guests.

By March 2019, starting with episode 33, the show had started being able to procure guests of much more significant notability, and the listener base (especially on the Discord server) rapidly increased. This has been called the modern era of the show; while still not a large podcast by any means, the show made its way into the top 300 on the iTunes charts, and has become a much bigger production.

Season one concluded with the 100th episode, a Christmas special guestless episode, on December 25th, 2019.

## Season two (2020-current)

The second season of the podcast began in January 2020, starting with Spaghetto's second guest appearance. Season two was released weekly on a regular schedule for the first half of the year, but Lars's increased hours at his regular job in the summer have forced him to release it somewhat irregularly.

### A sudden change

Joe shocked the fan community when he announced his departure from the show in late August 2020. After consulting with various friends of the show, Lars decided to bring on Amir (doplex) as a permanent replacement. The show continued uninterrupted.
DICK DICK DICK

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DICK DICK DICK is a reference to an anecdote from high school that Lars discussed on an early episode.

## History

One day in high school when Lars was in the computer lab with his friend Daniel, he introduced the latter to Wikipedia for the first time. Daniel expressed surprise that supposedly anyone could edit any article (which was true at the time). He proceeded to vandalize a random article by adding the words "DICK DICK DICK" to it. Lars and Daniel found great humor in this act, as expected from two immature teenage students.

## Implications

Lars has repeatedly stated anxiety that someone would vandalize the wiki for the show by adding something like "DICK DICK DICK" to it, and has thus pre-emptively added it to the front page.
The honey story

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**The honey story** was told on an episode of The First Podcast with Alexis as a guest host.

## History

While recording an episode together at one point at Joe's old apartment, Lars took a bottle of honey that was out and proceeded to pour honey all over Joe's face.

The way that it was described on air sounded like it could be a metaphor for something different, especially when Lars described the picture Joe took of his face afterward as "the money shot". Alexis found great amusement in the implications. While it really was just a goofy incident, Lars enjoyed the unintentional entendre.
Robert Thompson

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Absolute unit

**Robert Thompson** (or, occasionally, Bobert Bhompson) is an absurdist comedian the lead singer of Dick Neptune & The Microwave Ovens.

## Appearances

Robert appeared as a guest on an episode, mostly to discuss the bad film Turkish Star Wars. The episode title, "Türk Yıldız Savaşları", translates directly in English as "Turkish Star Wars".

On the episode, Robert uttered the phrase "raging Turkish hard-ons", which Lars immediately called as a band name.

## Dick Neptune & The Microwave Ovens

Robert is in a band with Evan Cassidy, a fellow comedian who also appeared as a guest on The First Podcast.
Mrmeatman

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**mrmeatman**, real name Michael, is a YouTube content creator. His videos have been described as "Dunkey with nothing to lose".

## Appearances

Michael made a guest appearance on The First Podcast in April 2019. He can be seen tuning in to episode recordings here and there on the Discord server.

There were originally plans to have him back on in December 2019. What eventually materialized was a bonus episode in February 2020, and a regular episode in March.

Michael also crashed an episode on August 2020 with DaftPina, alongside Rusty Cage, Ohan and efryo.
The boar question

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A frequent question asked to guests on The First Podcast in 2019 was **an explanation of their opinion on boars**.

## History

The question was first proposed by retronimo, a member of the Discord server. He proceeded to ask it to so many guests during recordings that Lars and Joe began to ask it automatically on many episodes.

The implied humor of the question comes from the fact that it is a nonsense question about a very specific animal, and that the opinion of the guest on the boar animal species is largely irrelevant on an interview with a typical First Podcast guest (whom are generally YouTubers, actors and musicians.

On a trip to Exomania with Kill Bill: the Rapper and Rav, Lars and Joe agreed that guest FrankJavCee hit the nail on the head when he described boars as a "farty" animal.

In November 2019, Lars noted wanting to retire this gag, implying it had gotten stale and mentioning that JobbyTheHong gave the best answer already ("They're tasty"). The question was retired on the AmyRightMeow episode, when they had a fan on the Discord server come on air to give it one final time.
Having the guest introduce the show

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> *Joe: "We usually have the guests introduce the show, so... take it away!"*
>
>

> *Lars: "Go ahead!"*
>
>

Starting around the episode with RoboRob, the hosts have **a tradition of asking the guests to introduce the show**, instead of themselves.

## History

At some point, Lars came up with the idea of flipping the script on guests and asking them introduce the show at the beginning of episodes. His reasoning for this is that it makes for an amusing way to start the show. If doubtful of their ability to do it well, the hosts will generally reassure the guest that they should just "say whatever comes to mind", and note that a botched intro is endearing to the audience.

Despite the unconventional nature of the request, not a single guest has refused it. Many have expressed amusement about it. Some have even come extremely prepared, such as Huggbees producing a lengthy two-minute fictitious monologue about having found Lars and Joe at a Home Depot and feeding them cheeseburgers in exchange for doing the podcast.
B'loody Mary Smith

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**B'loody Mary Smith** is a character from the Harry Potter fan-fiction "My Immortal". She is a reimagining of the character Hermione Granger as a goth.

Nick Bertke was amused and confused by this character when doing a dramatic reading of a chapter for the show on his episode.

On another episode, Lars taught Joe how to properly say her name, previously established by Nick. The spirit of Nick then joined the hosts for a few minutes.
Joe being "from New York"

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Joe being **"from New York"** by a joking technicality was a long-running gag on the podcast whenever a New York guest appears, as he is from New Jersey.

## Explanation

The rivalry and mutual distaste between New York and New Jersey is long and complicated to explain. Suffice it to say that New Yorkers tend to look down on New Jersey citizens.

This animosity is so pervasive that even Futurama has made jokes about it.

In order to amuse or mildly offend a New York-based guest, Joe would utilize this gag in some form:

> *Joe: Oh, I'm from New York too!*
>
>

> *Guest: Oh, yeah?*
>
>

> *Joe: Yeah! I'm from New Jersey!*
>
>

Some guests would play nice, but others would express a hilarious amount of disgust.