''If I Were You'' is a comedy

advice Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to: * Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct * Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder * Advice (p ...

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

created and hosted by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comedy duo

Jake and Amir Jake and Amir is an American comedy duo made up of podcasters and former CollegeHumor writers Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld. The duo came into prominence in 2007 when they began writing and starring in the web series ''Jake and Amir.'' Th ...

, known for their involvement with

CollegeHumor CollegeHumor is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles. Aside from producing content for release on YouTube, it was also a former humor website owned by InterActiveCorp ( IAC) until January 2020, when IAC withdrew funding and the websi ...

and their

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

also called ''

''. First released on May 13, 2013, new episodes are posted every Monday (as well as occasional bonus Thursday episodes), featuring the duo's comedic advice for listeners who have submitted questions by email. The show has appeared on the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

podcast charts in multiple countries, reaching number 3 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Content

Each episode of ''If I Were You'' usually begins and ends with a different theme tune created by a listener. The format of the show consists of hosts

Jake Hurwitz Jacob Penn Cooper Hurwitz (born August 5, 1985) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and member of the comedy duo Jake and Amir. He was hired by the comedy website CollegeHumor after becoming an intern there in 2006, and has written and app ...

and

Amir Blumenfeld Amir Shmuel Blumenfeld (; he, אמיר שמואל בלומנפלד; born January 18, 1983) is an Israeli-American comedian, actor, writer, Television presenter, television host, and member of the American comedy duo, Jake and Amir. Born in Isra ...

reading out questions—or, some episodes, playing audio questions—

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

ed to them by listeners with problems; usually three or four questions every episode. They assign the listener a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

(often humorous or that of a popular fictional character) and discuss the problem, often

brainstorming Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words, brainstorming is a situation where a grou ...

ideas and

improvising Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

humorous situations, before reaching and summarizing a conclusion of what the person should do. The show has featured several

guest stars In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

, including

co-founder

Ricky Van Veen Richard Rafael Van Veen (born December 14, 1980) is an American entrepreneur and the Head of Global Creative Strategy at Facebook. Van Veen co-founded the comedy brand and humor website CollegeHumor and the video sharing website Vimeo. He was als ...

, actors and comedians

Ben Schwartz Benjamin Schwartz (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. He has guest starred as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'' and Clyde Oberholt on the Showtime series ''House of Lies''; voiced Randy C ...

and

Thomas Middleditch Thomas Steven Middleditch (born March 10, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Richard Hendricks in the HBO series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019), earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award ...

, actresses Allison Williams and

Rose McIver Frances Rose McIver (born 10 October 1988) is a New Zealand actress. She starred as Olivia "Liv" Moore in The CW supernatural comedy-drama series '' iZombie'' (2015–2019) and played Summer Landsdown the Yellow Ranger in ''Power Rangers RPM'' ...

, co-workers

Streeter Seidell Streeter John Seidell (born December 2, 1982) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and TV host. Seidell was part of the cast of ''CollegeHumors online sketches. His video series ''Prank Wars'' garnered tens of millions of views and a larg ...

Emily Axford Emily Axford is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is best known for her various roles in CollegeHumor videos, her role as Emily on the truTV comedy ''Adam Ruins Everything,'' and for her role on the Pop original '' Hot Date'' co-st ...

Sarah Schneider Sarah Schneider (born September 10, 1983) is an American writer, actress, and comedian. She got her start in entertainment as a writer and actress for the comedy website CollegeHumor before becoming a writer for the television sketch comedy ser ...

Brian K. Murphy Brian Kevin Patrick Murphy is an American actor, producer, and writer. He is best known for his various roles in CollegeHumor videos, his role as Murph on truTV comedy original ''Adam Ruins Everything'', and his role on the Pop original '' Hot D ...

, Patrick Cassels, and

Dan Gurewitch Daniel Gurewitch (; born May 20, 1984) is an American comedian, writer, and actor. He has worked as a senior writer for American comedy website CollegeHumor, and as a writer for the late-night talk and news satire show '' Last Week Tonight wit ...

, ''

The Pete Holmes Show ''The Pete Holmes Show'' is an American late-night talk show starring comedian Pete Holmes. It aired Monday through Thursday at midnight on TBS, from October 28, 2013 until June 18, 2014. The show was atypical among late-night talk shows for havi ...

'' host

Pete Holmes Peter Benedict Holmes (born March 30, 1979) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcaster. Musings on spirituality and religion are frequent themes in his works. Holmes gained recognition in the early 2010s as a stand-up comic, ...

, rappers

Hoodie Allen Steven Adam Markowitz (born August 19, 1988), better known by his stage name Hoodie Allen, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Plainview, New York. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he began working at Google befo ...

and

Lil Dicky David Andrew Burd (born March 15, 1988), better known by his stage name Lil Dicky, is an American rapper, comedian, and actor. He came to prominence with the release of the music video for his song "Ex-Boyfriend" in 2013, which became popular w ...

, singer

Alana Haim Alana Mychal Haim (born December 15, 1991) is an American musician and actress. She is best known as a member of the pop rock band Haim, along with her two older sisters Este and Danielle, where she performs piano, guitar and vocals. In 2020, t ...

, Jake's mom Laura Hurwitz, and his brother Micah Hurwitz, all of whom were present for entire episodes, as well as cancer sufferer Ethan Trex and Amir's (at the time) girlfriend Laura, who were only in parts of an episode.

Reception

The podcast reached number 1 on the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

charts, as well as peaking at #3 in the

and #17 in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''s

Miranda Sawyer Miranda Caroline Sawyer (born January 1967) is an English author, journalist and broadcaster. Education and early life Sawyer was born in Bristol and grew up in Wilmslow, Cheshire with her brother Toby, who is an actor. Sawyer was educated at ...

called ''If I Were You'' "a typical example of a comedy podcast" and "amiable enough", but said it contained "far too much laughing", commenting that "If I wanted

stream-of-consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First Li ...

waffle with the occasional funny line, I'd listen to y small children" Sam Tabachnik of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' has written of the podcast that Jake and Amir "have their fingers firmly on the pulse of the digital comedy scene," and "riff off each other with ease," while '' The Concordian''s Kayla Culver described it as "comfortable to listen to" and "genuinely funny," "like listening to two best friends having a hilarious conversation on the couch next to you."

Episodes

Episodes were originally posted every Monday to

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

and

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...

, and then were posted on podcast website ''PodcastOne''. As announced on Episode 146, IIWY show left PodcastOne and is now available on radio and podcast website, Spreaker. They are also available on

. The second episode was posted early, on the Friday after the first episode. There are 570 episodes (as of December 12, 2022).

References

External links

* {{CollegeHumor Audio podcasts CollegeHumor Comedy and humor podcasts Advice podcasts 2013 podcast debuts Headgum