''Walking the Room'' was a comedy
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 ...
hosted by American comedians
Greg Behrendt
Gregory Behrendt (born July 21, 1963) is an American comedian and author. His work as a script consultant to the HBO sitcom ''Sex and the City'' paved the way for co-authoring of the ''New York Times'' bestseller ''He's Just Not That Into You' ...
and
Dave Anthony
David Sean Anthony (born August 26, 1967) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and podcaster. He is best known as the creator and co-host of the comedy podcast '' The Dollop'', in which he tells notable stories from American history to ...
. The free, hour-long weekly show debuted via
web and
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 ...
on May 24, 2010, and was recorded in Behrendt's closet in Los Angeles, California. Each episode was broken into three segments that typically involve rants and banter between the hosts, but occasional guests have included
Patton Oswalt
Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...
,
Karen Kilgariff
Karen Kilgariff (born May 11, 1970 in Petaluma, California) is an American writer, comedian, singer, author, actress, television producer, and podcast host. She began her career as a stand up comedian in the early 1990s and later became a televis ...
,
Brian Posehn
Brian Edmund Posehn (; born July 6, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, musician, and writer. After numerous appearances as a television guest star, Posehn acquired his first major recurring role in HBO's '' Mr. Show wi ...
,
Jimmy Pardo
James Ronald Pardo, Jr. (born July 28, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and host of the long-running comedy podcast '' Never Not Funny''. From the show's inception until mid-2015, he performed as the Conan O'Brien program ''Conan ...
,
Jonah Ray
Jonah Ray Rodrigues (born August 3, 1982) is an American actor, comedian and writer from Los Angeles. He stars as Jonah Heston, the most recent primary host of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. He is a former host of ''The Nerdist Podcast'' and w ...
,
Brendon Walsh
Brendon Michael Walsh (born July 27, 1978) is an American stand-up comedian and podcaster originally from Philadelphia.
Career
Walsh started performing stand-up comedy in Austin, Texas in 2002. He has appeared on '' The Price Is Right'', '' ...
,
Jen Kirkman
Jennifer Ann Kirkman (born August 28, 1974) is an American stand-up comedian and screenwriter, podcaster, and actress. She is known for her regular appearances as a round-table panelist on ''Chelsea Lately'' for 70 episodes from 2008 to 2014.
...
and
TOFOP hosts
Wil Anderson
William James Anderson (born 31 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster.
Early life
William James Anderson was born on 31 January 1974 in Sale, Victoria, and grew up on a dairy farm near Heyfield, Victoria.< ...
and
Charlie Clausen
Charlie Clausen (born 31 July 1977) is an Australian actor most known for his role as Jake Harrison on ''McLeod's Daughters'' in 2003 and as Acting Sergeant Alex Kirby on the police drama series ''Blue Heelers'', which he starred in for the ma ...
. Anthony produced and edited the show. Behrendt originally created the opening theme, “Estoy Podcuddle,” under the name HoboTang, and most of the music played on the show is performed by his band,
The Reigning Monarchs. The podcast ceased regular production in October 2014 following an extended hiatus. In April 2015, a final episode was recorded from the Melbourne Comedy Festival and released a few days later.
History
Dave Anthony, a stand-up comedian, writer and actor, wanted to start a comedy
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 ...
that did not revolve around interviewing guests. He recorded two episodes based on his blog, ''Stop All Monsters'', which he hosted solo, but felt it needed something more. He pitched the idea of co-hosting to his long-time friend,
Greg Behrendt
Gregory Behrendt (born July 21, 1963) is an American comedian and author. His work as a script consultant to the HBO sitcom ''Sex and the City'' paved the way for co-authoring of the ''New York Times'' bestseller ''He's Just Not That Into You' ...
. The two had met during their early stand-up days in San Francisco, and had previously worked together in radio as well as on ''
The Greg Behrendt Show
''The Greg Behrendt Show'' was a daytime talk show that premiered in syndication on September 12, 2006. The show was distributed by Sony Pictures Television Distribution and was taped at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.
In addition to airin ...
''.
Behrendt had gained success when his consultant position on ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...
'' led to his co-authoring the book ''
He's Just Not That Into You''. The book became a ''New York Times'' Best-Seller, landed Behrendt an appearance on ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...
'', and was later turned into a
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
. Behrendt always considered himself a stand-up comedian first and foremost, and agreed to co-host with Anthony. They began recording ''Walking the Room'' in Behrendt's bedroom for the first 10 episodes, then relocated to the now-trademark closet to improve the show's sound quality.
In July 2014 the podcast went on an extended hiatus while Behrendt was working in New York City. Several guest episodes and a compilation of excerpts from live shows were aired over the summer. In October 2014 various postings on social media pages related to Behrendt, Anthony and the podcast indicated that the podcast was over. Anthony later clarified that he had ended it for unspecified reasons but also as a reaction to changes in his own life and career.
In January 2015, a live reunion podcast was announced for the 2015 Melbourne Comedy Festival in Australia.
Premise, fans and terminology
The show not only revolved around the actual lives of hosts Anthony and Behrendt, but the universe they’d created through expanding that reality into absurdity, often through the use of nicknames and catchphrases. The most notable recurring storylines involved the chronicles of Anthony's neighborhood, but topics ranged from comedy and show business (like a story about
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released six comedy albums: ''Harmful If Swallowed''; ''Retaliation''; '' Vicious Circle''; '' Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garde ...
casually trying to steal one of Behrendt's classic bits), to family life, prison and candy (particularly Australian biscuits,
Tim Tams).
''Walking the Room'' labelled itself a "podcuddle," and its hardcore fans, known as “Cuddlahs” (or “Customers”), were described as “
Clown
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
from the Neck Down.” The show built upon itself more than most
podcasts, which can be attributed to their ever-evolving real-life
cliffhangers
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...
, as well as the podcuddle-specific language they continually generated. The show's official website, designed by Damien Schaefer and launched on April 17, 2011, provides a
glossary
A glossary (from grc, γλῶσσα, ''glossa''; language, speech, wording) also known as a vocabulary or clavis, is an alphabetical list of Term (language), terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Tradi ...
, written by Vicky Pezza, to help new listeners navigate the dialogue.
From the beginning, the show was heavily promoted and endorsed by comedian
Patton Oswalt
Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...
, and on May 8, 2011, artist Keegan Wenkman released four commemorative posters depicting some of the show's most iconic images in honor of Oswalt's long-anticipated guest appearance on their 50th episode.
Additionally, crossovers with ''Walking the Room''’s sister podcast, ''TOFOP'' (formerly ''Thirty Odd Foot of Pod''), hosted by comedian
Wil Anderson
William James Anderson (born 31 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster.
Early life
William James Anderson was born on 31 January 1974 in Sale, Victoria, and grew up on a dairy farm near Heyfield, Victoria.< ...
and actor
Charlie Clausen
Charlie Clausen (born 31 July 1977) is an Australian actor most known for his role as Jake Harrison on ''McLeod's Daughters'' in 2003 and as Acting Sergeant Alex Kirby on the police drama series ''Blue Heelers'', which he starred in for the ma ...
, helped the show gain a following in their native country of Australia.
In response to the amount of candy the hosts began to receive from fans, they created minute-long video shorts entitled ''That Candy Thing with Greg and Dave'' where they reviewed the treats on-camera. A video was released each week.
The Starfish Circus
A “Starfish Circus” was a live Walking the Room event hosted by Anthony and Behrendt. The shows feature their stand-up as well as other comedian guests and a musical performance by
The Reigning Monarchs. The title “Starfish Circus” references a more literal event as imagined by the hosts in episode #6 of the podcast (“Not Knowing Hetfield & Pre-School Graduation"). Event artwork is created by Paul “Wiseacre” Armstrong and merchandise is designed by Joseph Angelo Warner.
[ ]
References
External links
* {{official website, http://www.walkingtheroom.com
*
Walking the Room' on Liberated Syndication
Comedy and humor podcasts
Audio podcasts
2010 podcast debuts
2015 podcast endings