Imagine all of your favorite podcasters together… at a festival. It’s something akin to sprinkling magic powder on your iPhone, and turning all of that rich audio content into a weekend vacation in Santa Monica. Why not, right? Jazz has a thousand festivals. And don’t tell that guy I used to work with who couldn’t shut up about Birth of the Cool after four beers, but jazz can get really boring.
The apathy I feel for “America’s only original art form” does not mirror my feelings about podcasts obviously. These guys are all my heroes. Despite my personal opinions about individual episodes or the personalities that drive these shows, I have the utmost respect for the art form (that’s right I said art form) and I rely on the distraction it provides me. I’d love to go to go to a festival where they were showcased.
Dave Anthony, host and co-creator of Walking The Room, came up with just such a festival a year or so ago with Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini, the two comedians behind Comedy Film Nerds.
The first Los Angeles Podcast Festival was funded via Kickstarter. And it was apparently a big success. People came from all over the country. There were dozens of live podcasts, panels, and stand up shows throughout the festival’s two and a half day duration.
This year’s events will be held at the Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica Hotel and Barnum Hall at Santa Monica High School. Sadly, I won’t be able to make this one. Can’t justify the plane ticket. Not to say the fee of entry is unreasonable: a Weekend Festival Pre-Sale Pass is $99. And that gets you in to all the live tapings and the Standup Podsmash.
Los Angeles Podcast Festival Headliners:
- improv4humans with Matt Besser
- The Dana Gould Hour
- Jordan, Jesse, GO!
- Pop My Culture
- The Indoor Kids
- The Kevin Pollak Chat Show
- The Jake Fogelnest Podcast
- Deep Shit with Baron Vaughn
- Pointless with Kevin Pereira
- Deathsquad
- Keith and The Girl
