This Show Approaches Everything Through A Unique Lens Of Absurdist Improvised Comedy

I'm Curtis Charles and I co-host the Cool Parents Podcast along with Justy Boy.

We approach pop culture, nerd culture, and pretty much everything else through a unique lens of absurdist improvised comedy.

We actually started out as a joke punk band satirizing the music and burnout culture we grew up with in the most loving way possible. Eventually the band (also called Cool Parents) became more serious but the roots have always been in comedy. So we started a comedy podcast with the same name. We're not parents, but the band name stuck. Justy Boy and I have been big podcast fans for years so the format and whatnot came naturally. I also have a background in digital media and plenty of experience recording and editing audio, so that helped.

Our primary motivation for starting and sustaining the show was feedback from friends and fans of our band who thought our schtick was unique enough to find an audience. We also subscribe to the Kevin Smith "why not?" approach to creativity. We have ideas and the means to make them reality, so why not?

That was nearly a year ago. It took maybe two weeks to get from the conception to the release of the first episode and we haven't missed a week since.

Funding wasn't much of an issue for us, since we're musicians. That meant we had everything we needed to record, at least on a basic level. We've upgraded a little here and there, but it hasn't been too costly. Aside from that, we just pay out of our pockets to host our show on Libsyn, which is pretty inexpensive.

I do put a lot of time into editing and planning our weekly episodes. Thankfully, my day job involves lots of down time at a computer where I do the majority of the more tedious work.

Podcasting is the perfect outlet for our creativity because from start to finish, it's entirely on us. We set our own standards for quality and can approach every aspect of the process however we want. This is great for so many reasons, but one big one is that it's a good excuse to meet new people and keep in touch with old friends. We've built up a community of listeners who actually get our weird sense of humor and we've been able to run with that. So far, so good!

We record via a Behringer U-Phoria UMC404HD 4x4 recording interface with Shure SM48 microphones. It all sounds good and works flawlessly for only a couple hundred bucks.

For software, I record and edit with Acoustica Mixcraft 8 and level out the end result with The Levelator 2, which is free from The Podcast Network.

I personally dabble in graphic design, so I make all of our artwork myself in Photoshop.

As for preparation, I just make relevant show notes and outlines for us to follow. Being that it's improvised, we often stray from the notes quite a bit, but that's what makes it so fun!

The only guests we have on the show are local, so we bring them into the studio. We've never had to use Skype or anything like that.

We market the show primarily through Instagram. We had followers there from our band, so we stuck with it. We can use that to promote our posts when new episodes release. We also cross-promote with several other podcasts and promote it when our band plays live. Good old fashioned business cards are quite helpful as well.

I think it's important to realize that it can take a while to hit your stride. My co-host and I are best friends and bandmates and it still took us around twenty or thirty hour-long episodes to feel totally comfortable. Like anything else, it's all a learning experience and we learn as we go. Especially since podcasting is a relatively new medium.

Also: don't be afraid to cut. Cut as much fat from your episodes as you can and only leave the prime content. Obviously, long silences, coughs and crutch words need to go, but sometimes a segment just doesn't work. As much as it pains you to erase something you spent time and energy on, think of the end result. Keep the gold and dump the rest. The last thing you want is to waste your listeners' time with sub-par material. That's the beauty of editing!

Our main social media presence is on Instagram @coolparentstheband and our website is www.coolparents.co/podcast

Thanks so much!