''Diggnation'' is a tech-focused humor

video podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their ...

hosted by

Kevin Rose Robert Kevin Rose (born 1977) is an American entrepreneur, Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk. He also served as production assistant and co-host at TechTV's ''The Screen Savers''. From 2012 to 2015, he was ...

and Alex Albrecht. Originally broadcast on

Revision3 Revision3 was a San Francisco, California, San Francisco–based Multi-channel network, multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidia ...

, the first episode aired on July 1, 2005 and the last episode on December 30, 2011. This run of video podcasts was one of the most successful early video podcasts. Following a reunion of Kevin and Alex on ''The Kevin Rose Show'' in July 2024, it was decided to reboot Diggnation, with the first new episode of "Diggnation (rebooted)" being released in September 2024. Producer

David Prager Revision3 was a San Francisco, California, San Francisco–based Multi-channel network, multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidia ...

suggested naming the ''Digg'' website "''Diggnation''". Rose decided on the simpler ''Digg'' for the website and ''Diggnation'' for the podcast. ''Diggnation'' usually starts with Rose and Albrecht reviewing beverages. These include beer, wine, tea, coffee, and hard liquors such as

vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...

. The hosts continue consuming the beverages for the rest of the show. In its original format, Rose and Albrecht then discuss

Digg Digg (stylized in lowercase as digg) is an American news aggregator with a curated front page, aiming to select articles specifically for the Internet audience such as science, trending political issues, and viral phenomenon, viral Internet iss ...

stories from the previous week, with off-topic banter with each other and with Prager and camera operator Glenn McElhose. The intro sequence to the podcast was created by Eden Soto in collaboration with Prager. It was developed over a three-month period, according to Eden Soto's website.

Episodes

The show begins with a short listing of the podcast's current sponsors, followed by a humorous fake advertisement (i.e. Bose's Noise Enhancing Headphones, "Days of our Prager", Cougars: Aged to Perfection, etc.). After the title video, the hosts introduce themselves, give the filming location, make any relevant announcements, and discuss the drinks they will have during the episode. The beer tasting and beverage aspect of Diggnation is one of the show's unique aspects. The majority of the episode is dedicated to Rose and Albrecht discussing news items as well as providing personal commentary,

anecdote An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Anecdotes may be real ...

s and unrelated banter. The show's humor is generally vulgar. At the end of the show, Rose and Albrecht mention their sponsors again, read the e-mail from fans, then conclude the show with a seemingly ad-libbed phrase or saying. In more recent episodes, bigger ''Digg'' stories are discussed after the ads, but before the emails. This is keeping in line with most other Revision3 shows.

Distribution

Diggnation episodes were released weekly on Wednesdays at 6 PM (EST). Previously, the show was released on Friday at the same time for paid members, and Sunday at 12:01 for everyone. There were an estimated 250,000 regular subscribers to the show during its peak. BitGravity handled iTunes and TiVo subscribers, downloads from the website, and RSS feeds. Repeats, edited for content, time and profanity, were also seen on Youtoo TV. ''Diggnation'' hosted live shows at CES,

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

, Macworld,

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, E3, San Diego,

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, London,

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, Amsterdam,

, Tokyo,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and New York City. On October 3, 2011, Prager announced that ''Diggnation'' would end with its 340th episode. The ''Diggnation'' finale was broadcast on December 30, 2011 at The Music Box in

. With the relaunch of Diggnation in 2024, the audio version of the feed is distributed by Transistor to Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Overcast, and other listening apps. Video versions of each episode are also being uploaded to the original Diggnation YouTube channel and made available on Spotify.

Guests

Although hosting duties were typically split solely between Rose and Albrecht, a few "third-chair" guests were invited onto the program: * Episodes 185 and 251:

Jimmy Fallon James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an Americans, American comedian, television host, actor, singer, writer, and producer. Best known for his work in television, Fallon's breakthrough came during his tenure as a cast member on the ...

* Episode 220:

Adam Savage Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and manufacturer, fabricator, actor, educator, television personality, and producer, best known as the former co-host, with Jamie Hyneman, of the Discovery Channe ...

* Episode 231:

John Hodgman John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as his satirical trilogy '' The Areas of My Expertise'', '' More Information Than You Require'', and '' That Is ...

Other guests included

Chris Hansen Christopher Edward Hansen (born September 13, 1959) is an American television presenter, journalist, and YouTube personality. During his tenure as a correspondent for ''Dateline NBC'', he hosted the program's segment ''To Catch a Predator'' (20 ...

Adam Carolla Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, comedian, actor and podcaster. He hosts '' The Adam Carolla Show'', a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by ''Guin ...

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer and entrepreneur. His accolades include a People's Choice Award and fifteen Teen Choice Awards, in addition to a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award. K ...

WWE Diva Throughout its history, women have served in various onscreen roles in the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. In the 1990s, WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation) introduced the term Diva to refer to its female performers ...

Candice Michelle,

Gary Vaynerchuk Gary Vaynerchuk (born Gennady Alexandrovich Vaynerchuk, November 14, 1975; commonly known by his alias Gary Vee) is an American businessman, author, speaker, and internet personality. He is a co-founder of the restaurant reservation software ...

Rachel Maddow Rachel Anne Maddow ( ; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. She hosts '' The Rachel Maddow Show'', a weekly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special event ...

Leo Laporte Leo Laporte (; born November 29, 1956) is the former host of ''The Tech Guy'' weekly radio show and founder of TWiT.tv, an Internet podcast network focusing on technology. He is also a former TechTV technology host (1998–2008) and a technology a ...

Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez ( ; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ...

and

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first docume ...

. Diggnation (rebooted) has also featured special guests: *Episode 3: Glenn McElhose *Episode 11:

Jason Calacanis Jason McCabe Calacanis (born November 28, 1970) is a podcaster, American Internet entrepreneur, angel investor, and author. His first company was part of the Dot-com bubble, dot-com era in New York. His second venture, Weblogs, Inc., a publishi ...

Chris Sacca Christopher Sacca (born May 12, 1975) is an American venture investor, company advisor, entrepreneur, and lawyer. He is the proprietor of Lowercase Capital, a venture capital fund in the United States that has invested in seed and early-stage ...

Tim Ferriss Timothy Ferriss (born July 20, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He is known for his ''4-Hour'' self-help book series—including ''The 4-Hour Work Week'', ''The 4-Hour Body'', and ''The 4-Hour Ch ...

, and

Alexis Ohanian Alexis Kerry Ohanian (; born April 24, 1983) is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is best known as the co-founder and former executive chairman of the social media site Reddit along with Steve Huffman and Aaron Swartz. He also ...

*Episode 13: Doctor Tiki and Lala of Tiki Bar TV *Episode 14:

Advisor Jayci Hayes

Awards

* 2006: Podcast Award for best technology podcast. * 2007: Best in 2007 Podcast from iTunes. * 2008: People's Voice Winner for the Technology in Online Film and Video at the

Webby Awards The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...

. * 2009: Streamy Award for Best Hosted Web Series (nomination) * 2010: Streamy Award for Best Hosted Web Series (won)

Other shows

A spin-off show, ''The Digg Reel'' ran from January 2008 to September 2010, and was originally hosted by Jessica Corbin, followed by Andrew Bancroft. The show featured the week's top user submitted videos in comparison to ''Diggnation's'' primary focus on news articles. Both were produced by Revision3.

Reunion and revival

On October 13, 2017, Rose and Albrecht released a "light Diggnation reunion" under the title of "Talking Tech", released within "''The Kevin Rose Show''" podcast. In the episode, the two hosts confirmed new episodes of "Talking Tech" would be released every 4 to 5 episodes of "''The Kevin Rose Show''." However, only one follow up episode was released, in 2018. On July 2, 2024, Alex and Kevin reunited once more on episode 64 of "''The Kevin Rose Show,''" "The Diggnation Reunion." In September 2024 the first episodes of a rebooted "Diggnation v2.0" were released, reviving the show.

References

External links

Diggnation website

Diggnation Rebooted website

Diggnation
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