Podcasts I Like: Dial A Stranger

About the same time I found Ask. Mr. Biggs, I found another great podcast that compliments the typical radio show idea.

Dial A Stranger, as the name suggests, is a podcast where the hosts, Zachary and Mercedes, asks strangers that have submitted their phone numbers questions given by strangers on the website. The concept sounds a bit iffy, but the phone calls give you a strange insight into the life of strangers. Somehow they’re all fine with talking about the innate details of their life, and it’s very compelling to listen to. Even if someone has a boring life, it doesn’t take long until another person gets called with a new question

Speaking of questions, it’s also interesting to listen just to hear the questions being asked. I imagine they’ve gotten a lot of questions over the past 14 months, and so they’ve picked out some outstanding ones. I’d give some of them away, but I think you should just go listen to the podcast yourself and see what you think.

Podcasts I Love: Ask Mr. Biggs

Last summer I decided to start listening to podcasts. I’m not sure what triggered me to do it, but I suspect it had to do with me getting a Mac and using iTunes a lot.

Over the course of the last few months, I’ve started listening to a lot of different podcasts, and I’ve found a few that really stick out to me. After reading Wil Wheaton’s list of podcasts that he loves this week, I feel inspired to list off a few of my favorite ones.

I’m not sure where I came across Ask Mr. Biggs, but once I listened to an episode, I knew I had to follow the podcast and listen to the whole archive (currently 22 episodes). The show’s main premise is of a local call-in show hosted by Mr. Biggs, owner of a local bar called Whizzbangs. During the show, Biggs and his co-host Roger try to answer questions from callers or emailers. However, these are no ordinary callers. They’re actually chopped-up edited calls from actual radio shows. Let’s just say that people can be made to say a whole lot of things that they never actually meant, and Mr. Biggs / Roger milk them for all its worth.

What makes the podcast really shine, though, is the overall interaction between Roger and Mr. Biggs. There’s been a few shows that they’ve taken maybe one or two calls, and spent the rest of the time talking about something completely ridiculous, such as a new movie being filmed at Whizzbangs, or the station’s management attempting to renegotiate the contract. I had to stop listening to the show at work because I couldn’t stop myself laughing maniacially while listening… I’m sure my cubicle mates appreciated it.

Go, try it out. I’m sure you’ll be entertained by the show.

Link