Before we were faced with the stark loneliness of pandemic-related isolation, Forbes reported that major parts of the world were already experiencing a loneliness epidemic. In a 2018 survey from The Economist, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that more than two in ten adults in the United States (22%) and the United Kingdom (23%) report that they always or often feel lonely, that they lack companionship, or that they feel left out or isolated [1]. In an extensive piece about the physiology of fear and loneliness during the coronavirus pandemic, Robin Wright masterfully explains the physical toll that anxiety and isolation take on the brain’s circuitry, and the importance of interacting with people by whatever means are available. Podcasts may be the key to alleviating this pervasive loneliness. When we find ourselves wandering through our apartments in the early twilight after nights of anxiety-induced tossing and turning, the comfort of a podcast may be exactly what we need. Having a host guide you through information or a story seems much more personal than words on a page and can often be soothing in a time where social interaction is at a minimum. For many of us, our daily lives are newly accompanied by the soothing voices of NPR’s Morning Edition or the sharp analytical tone of Louis Theroux’s new BBC 4 podcast, Grounded.
I used to dip in and out of podcasts while commuting to school, in waiting rooms, and while waiting to meet up with friends. Since the W.H.O. declared the pandemic on March 11th, my need to fill the deafening silence of my apartment has only increased. As computational and cognitive neuroscientist Jack Gallant suggests: “Listening to podcasts is not a passive activity, it makes your brain hum. The idea of engaging the brain and being attentive to the discussion can act as a great distraction to keep active and not stray away to those darker places so immediately,” [2]. Although blasting NPR in the mornings and browsing the Sleep With Me Podcast in a state of three a.m. somnolence have helped me, I still find myself craving the subtlety of real human interaction, particularly the awkward parts.
These often overlooked features of every-day interaction suddenly seem more important to me —from the grimace of my local dep clerk as I buy PBR at 10:59 p.m., to being huddled up against fellow commuters as students shove themselves into a packed bus. This is where Andrew Michaan and Cole Hersch’s Podcast But Outside (PBO) comes into the picture. Podcast But Outside brings the listener back to earth with heartfelt, albeit absurdly chaotic, interviews. Compared to a day in isolation, a single episode is packed with awkward encounters, miscommunication, and over-the-top characters that make one miss the quirks of living in a big city.
On April 3rd, 2019, Michaan and Hersch took to the streets of Los Angeles to film their first ever episode of Podcast But Outside. The dynamic between the comedy duo is unique: Andrew plays up his role as “leader,” and Cole ends up being the butt of every joke. This inharmonious friendship cements a hilariously awkward tension throughout the podcast. Together, Michaan and Hersch master deadpan humour, often bordering on satire, which is bolstered by long-running inside jokes and visual gags.
The set-up is as straight-forward as the name: it’s a podcast held outside (filmed by someone they only refer to as “intern”). Michaan and Hersch set up at various locations, such as sidewalks in Los Angeles, the Las Vegas strip, and Burning Man, and proceed to ask strangers to sit down with them to have a conversation about, “whatever.” After every interview, the hosts pay their guests one dollar (it comes to no one’s surprise that offering to pay people to share their life stories in downtown L.A. attracts a lot of attention). The ingenious set-up is what truly allows the chaos of the podcast to blossom, creating fertile ground for a mish-mash of sincere interactions. One infamous episode, set up outside a club at midnight, features a group of girls yelling, “mother fucking ally mother fucking hidalgo bitch.” The girls proceed to twerk in front of the camera. These over-the-top guests make the viewer feel like they are back in the heart of Downtown Montreal and truly breathe life into the podcast.
What stands out most about Podcast But Outside is Michaan and Hersch’s abilities to interact with their guests, often allowing guests to share stories without judgement. As listeners and viewers, we encounter Michaan and Hersch as they try to navigate their guest’s stories, personalities, and mannerisms. One rather cartoonish guest, Doby, especially encapsulates this struggle to communicate and embodies much of the perplexing features of human interaction. Doby sits down and claims to have “taken care of business,” and as Michaan and Hersch attempt to decipher what this means, Doby proceeds to make robot noises into the mic. Later she says, somewhat disconcertingly, that she “loved the danger of New York,” and claims that she had threatened the lives of a German couple at 2 a.m., adding that “ it was fun.” Looking perplexed, Michaan and Hersch continue to ask her questions about her life. After a lot of confusion and misinterpretation, we find out that Doby was a DJ and a member of a punk-rock band in New York, and that she is now an author and actor in L.A.
It is in the miscommunication, uncomfortable and perplexing moments that we truly see the beauty in these interactions—especially ones that we are now missing out on due to social isolation. For it is when the dusk creeps in and when the chronic loneliness begins to itch that I turn to the maladroit interplay in Podcast But Outside.
Citations
[1] Howe Neil, Forbes Magazine, May 2019
https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/2019/05/03/millennials-and-the-loneliness-epidemic/#1bdf70aa7676
[2] Meeda Kiran, Glamour Magazine (UK), March 2020
https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/podcasts-for-anxiety-and-loneliness
Emma Slack-Jørgensen is a Danish-English writer who has worked with a variety of publications during her time as an economics and philosophy student at McGill University. Most notably Emma has worked with Copenhagen-based publication SCENARIO Magazine and the Bull and Bear. Keen on bridging the gap between her studies, Emma is interested in exploring the moral and social teachings of welfare economics and existential philosophy. You can often find Emma peeping through the viewer of her film camera or exploring the nooks and crannies of the Montreal music scene.
