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 ...
on the Last Podcast Network featuring comedian and podcast host Ben Kissel, podcast producer and researcher Marcus Parks, and comedian and actor
Henry Zebrowski
Henry Thomas Zebrowski, Jr. (born May 1, 1984) is an American actor, podcast host, and comedian, known for his work on the Adult Swim series ''Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell'', the NBC series '' Heroes Reborn'', and the podcast ''The Last Podc ...
, all of whom are longtime friends. Episodes have explored the topics of
serial killers
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
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* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
,
conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
,
UFO sightings
This is a partial list by date of sightings of alleged unidentified flying objects (UFOs), including reports of close encounters and alien abductions.
Second millennium BCE
Classical antiquity
8th century
16th–17th centuries
19th ce ...
,
ghosts
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
,
cryptids
Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but are not believed to exist by mainstream science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected b ...
, the
occult
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...
, and readings of fan-submitted
creepypasta
Creepypastas are horror-related legends that have been shared around the Internet. Creepypasta has since become a catch-all term for any horror content posted onto the Internet. These Internet entries are often brief, user-generated, paranormal ...
s. The name is a reference to the 1972 horror movie ''
The Last House on the Left
''The Last House on the Left'' is a 1972 American exploitation horror film written, directed and edited by Wes Craven in his directorial debut. The film follows Mari Collingwood (Sandra Peabody), a hippie teenager who is abducted, raped, and ...
''.
Premise
Episodes explore real and imagined horror, with a typical runtime of one to two hours. The show releases two episodes weekly, a main episode and a side story episode.
Hosted by Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks, and comedian and actor Henry Zebrowski
The opening theme of the podcast features snippets from serial killers, such as
Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (; May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismemberment, dismembered seventeen men and boys ...
who utters the line, "That's when the cannibalism started." It also includes the line and subsequent advertisement transition "Rise from your grave!" uttered by
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D ...
from the
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
action game ''
Altered Beast
''Altered Beast'' is a 1988 beat 'em up arcade video game developed and manufactured by Sega. The game is set in Ancient Greece and follows a player character chosen by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena from the demonic ruler of the underworld ...
''. The closing theme is
Al Bowlly
Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1898 – 17 April 1941) was a Mozambican-born South African–British vocalist and jazz guitarist, who was popular during the 1930s in Britain. He recorded more than 1,000 songs.
His most popular songs include ...
's "
Midnight, the Stars and You
"Midnight, the Stars and You" is a British-American popular foxtrot song written by Harry M. Woods, Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly and published in 1934.
The most famous recorded version was performed in 1934 by Ray Noble and his Orchestra wit ...
", a reference to '' The Shining''.
Several repeat characters are present on the podcast (primarily voiced by Zebrowski) such as "Detective Popcorn" (the semi-erotic food-focused and incompetent police detective);
Charles Ng
Charles Chi-tat Ng (born Ng Chitat) ( zh, t=吳志達, j=ng4 zi3 daat6; born 24 December 1960) is a convicted Hong Kong-born serial killer who committed numerous crimes in the United States. He is believed to have raped, tortured, and murdered ...
(a notorious serial killer); "Terry the Gnome", "The Bone-Slicer"; and Minnie and Nannie Williams (victims of serial killer
H. H. Holmes
Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist and serial killer, the subject of more than 50 lawsuits in Chicago alone. Until his execution in 1896, he ...
).
History
The podcast was launched in 2011. “Last Podcast on the Left” began in 2011 as a conversation between friends who love horror movies. The name was inspired by horror movie “The Last House on the Left.” The podcast's discussions, hosted by Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks and Zebrowski have delved into topics including aliens, cryptids and other macabre topics.
In 2017, ''The Last Podcast on the Left'' received the People's Voice Webby in the Podcasts & Digital Audio (Comedy) category.
In 2018, they filmed their first live show at
Thalia Hall
The Thalia Hall ( ro, Sala Thalia) is a theatre and concert hall situated in Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical r ...
in
Chicago, IL
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
for ad-sponsored episodes. This arrangement was short-lived, ending in October 2021.
In 2020,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...
released ''The Last Book on the Left'', written by Kissel, Parks, and Zebrowski, and illustrated by Tom Neely.
The book debuted at number three on the New York Times Bestseller List under Hardcover nonfiction.
''Last Stream on the Left''
''The Last Stream on the Left'' was a spin-off show hosted on the Adult Swim website. The episodes typically consist of commentary of a selection of videos found by the hosts. There are currently 8 seasons and a total of 145 episodes available on the
dult swim
Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
website. The program was moved to the show's Patreon page after the closure of the Adult Swim streaming platform, with the video uploaded to their YouTube account after the live episode airs. The live stream show aired its final episode on February 18th 2022. The episode was uploaded the next day but subsequently removed by YouTube due to content. An edited version was uploaded March 8th, 2022.
''Soul Plumber''
''Soul Plumber'' is a DC horror comic which includes adaptions of Last Podcast on the Left hosts Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks and Henry Zebrowski. The hosts worked with artist John McCrea of DC Comics on the project. The plot follows Edgar Wiggins, a former seminary student who works at a gas station. Wiggin's left seminary school in disgrace but joins a group called the Soul Plumbers out of the desire to continue saving souls. The comic is a six-issue series.
''Open Lines''
''Open Lines'' is a live radio talk show available exclusively on
Sirius XM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...
's,
Faction Talk
Faction Talk is a subscription-based channel on the satellite radio service Sirius XM Radio. The channel first aired on XM on August 6, 2004 as xL High Voltage in preparation for the launch of the American radio show ''Opie and Anthony'' several ...
. The show consists of listeners calling in to tell personal accounts on a previously established topic. Topics are usually related to themes covered in the podcast such as
paranormal
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...
encounters,
cryptozoology
Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...
, and
true crime
True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events.
The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...
. The weekly live show airs on Monday's at 7pm ET and listeners can participate by calling 855-355-4741.
''Side Stories: Excerpts''
''Side Stories: Excerpts'' is a short video series hosted on YouTube. As the name suggests, the videos consist of short excerpts of the full length Patreon exclusive video. The first Side Stories video recording of their March 8th 2022 episode was uploaded on March 11th 2022. /ref> The full length Patreon exclusive video is uploaded every Wednesday and the 10 minute YouTube excerpt episodes uploaded on Friday's.
Episodes
See also
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Horror podcast
Horror is a genre of podcasts covering fiction, non-fiction, and reviews of the horror genre generally.
History
Horror podcasts are typically created and run by volunteers in their free time. As some podcasts such as ''Archive 81'' and ''Th ...
*
List of American crime podcasts
This is a list of American crime podcasts. True crime podcasts were popularized in the United States by '' Serial'', which debuted in 2014.
List
See also
*List of Australian crime podcasts
This is a list of Australian crime podcasts fr ...
The Los Angeles Times
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...