Succotash Epi95.5: Travelin' to the 3rd LA Podfest

Time for another Succotash "halfisode", one of those short, off-the-cuff, podcast installments that I spew into my digital recorder while plying the "Kessel Run". (That's my nickname for the 5+ hour jaunt on Interstate 5 between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The occasion is the 3rd Annual Los Angeles Podcast Festival, taking place this Friday through Sunday, Sept. 26-28. Haven't missed one yet. I'm writing this accompanying blog on Friday morning, after successfully navigating my way to Big Smoggy.

This kept me going on the six hour drive yesterday…

I took a half-day off of work so that I could make the drive in plenty of time to not only make the Podfest but also to drop in on the Chillpak Hollywood Hour "partycast" that was going on at the Bottle Rock in downtown LA last night. Which I did, as evidenced by my photo of hosts Phil Leirness and Dean Hagland that appears below.

During this particular halfisode, I finally give out with some details on the upcoming format changes in store for future episodes of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. My idea - in an attempt to move to a more easily consumable format - is to split the show up a bit. By that, I mean that each episode will be either primarily comedy podcast clips or an interview. And you'll be able to tell which is which by the title, because the former will be under the banner of Succotash Clips, while the latter will be called Succotash Chats.

Make sense?

The reasons for making this move in "Season 2" of the show - these changes will transpire beginning with Epi101 - are several. One is that episodes are getting very long. Lately our shows have been coming in at between 90 and 120 minutes. So they're getting increasingly more difficult to produce and taking more and more time. Another reason is that I's like to make a bit more of a consistent product, by aiming for 30 minute shows for the Clips editions, and no more than an hour for the Chats versions.

Phil & Dean of the Chillpak Hollywood Hour

As I mention in this epi, no one ever says much about the show's format as it is but, if you either support or object to the planned changes, feel free to reach out and let me know. You can call the Succotash Hotline, at (818) 921-7212. Or email me at marc@SuccotashShow.com. Or just tweet your comments to @SuccotashShow.

Also during this episode, we had a surprise guest drop in via cell phone! Out of the blue, friend of the show Rick Overton, brilliant comedian and the host of podcasting's Overview, happened to call while I was recording. So I just left the call in.

BTW, the quality of the show is a bit sketchy. Recording in Studio F while it's moving is always a little difficult. I filtered a lot of the road noise out but it's still a less-than-optimum production. Still, it's only about 20 minutes long, so you can certainly muddle through that much. I did.

If you're going to be the LA Podfest this weekend, you can track me down in the Podcast Lab or you can also message or call me through the Succotash Hotline number (see above) - I'll have it on live this weekend rather than voicemail.

Thanks for passing the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon