Comedians Seth and Josh Meyers recorded an episode of their popular podcast "Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers" on Friday at the On Air Fest podcast conference in Brooklyn, NY. Their guest was fellow podcaster Dan Taberski, and as always it was a casual but very funny conversation on the topic of traveling with family.
I dearly love the "Family Trips" podcast — I've heard every episode, and I devour to each new one as soon as it is released. In the podcast medium, Seth's warmth and convivial humor come out in ways that can't be conveyed through his excellent sketch comedy, stand-up, and late night talk show hosting. Seth and Josh talk so frankly and extensively about their own family that I feel I could go on a family trip with them and be in on every inside joke that's cracked.
And they employ their improv training and experience by carefully listening to their guests' family travel stories, and then hilariously playing with and building out the humor that they mine from them. It's about the only interview podcast for which I don't base my decision on whether to listen based on who the guest is — I know it will the brothers will make the show entertaining and fun no matter who they're talking to.
Another TV personality who has found a new home in podcasting, Anderson Cooper, also appeared at the festival, interviewed by Audie Cornish. His podcast "All There Is" is about grieving, and like Seth Meyers, he uses the unique attributes of the podcast medium to reveal another, extremely genuine, side of himself. Cooper speaks movingly about his own grieving process for deceased family members, and engages empathetically with listeners who are dealing with grief. He said that listeners leave voice mails for him, and he has listened to about 6,000 of them.
Cooper said at the festival that grieving is an intimate subject, and the intimacy of podcasting makes it a medium that feels appropriate for it.
Also at the festival was another TV broadcaster who has found a home in podcasting, Mehdi Hasan. Hasan conducted a fantastic interview with journalist Jemele Hill in a taping of his podcast "We're Not Kidding." Referring to the darker side of podcast influence, Hasan referred to podcasts like Joe Rogan's, and joked that we can't have another election unless it's podcast-led.
