Stop Talking Over Each Other (Video Podcasts)

How to do an ensemble show, even if on video!

I’m walking up the hill after this morning’s run, coming to you via mobile, after listening to Bill Simmons, head of Talk Strategy .

Let’s break down today’s episode.

Segment one: Bill, Chris Ryan and a guy named Anthony Dabbundo recapped the soccer game. They talked over each other. A lot. Enough that I couldn’t wait to get home to write about it.

In an audio podcasts, when people talk over each other, you can often mute one of the individual tracks and make the problem go away. Alternatively, you might machete out the seconds of talk over.

In video you have the editing problem. Do you abruptly go from three zoom boxes to two? Do you do a jump cut? Do you mute one box but we still see lips moving?

One might also leave the video alone but fix the audio. That said, I think Rob Greenlee is the only person on the planet who sometimes does that and most production teams are never going to make a separate version. And then what happens if you start doing HLS Video?

Another complicating factor is the video itself. Back in radio, which was transferable to audio podcasting (or as I call it, podcasting), you could use hand signals. Hold up a palm to tell the others to shut up or wait. Point at the person you’re throwing it to. I guess you could do it on video, but people won’t.

When I teach ensemble shows, I explain how to do a show in terms of sports, which Bill Simmons (Head of Talk Strategy for Spotify) should understand as both The Sports Guy and Head of Talk Strategy for Spotify.

The main person in the ensemble acts as the traffic cop. Picture that person wearing a sports jersey with #1 on it Get the ball back to #1. Someone else is #2, someone else is #3 etc. In this case, Bill is the 1, Chris Ryan the 2 and Anthony the 3. 2 should never talk to 3. They should both talk to 1.

Let’s take the very successful Howard Stern show as an example. The conversation flows through Howard. Robin doesn’t start talking to Gary. Everyone throws the ball back to Howard. It’s the Howard Stern Show, and it’s about Howard.

Another dynamic might be where the traffic cop isn’t the most talented guy. Let’s look at Opie and Anthony back in the day. Opie was the traffic cop, but Anthony got most of the laughs (and in later years Jim Norton as the 3, even referred to as “the Third Chair.” Opie kept the trains on time, but passed the ball to Anthony, and Norton would sometimes snipe a joke and get out.

I will also quote The Rock when I teach this: KNOW YOUR ROLE.

Now let’s move on to segment two of today’s Simmons. We have subbed out Anthony for Jason Concepcion, now in the 3 jersey, and suddenly there is flow. Why? For some reason in this segment Bill is directing traffic. You can clearly hear him calling on either CR or JC by name and they throw it back to Bill. That’s how you do it.

I stopped listening at the 56 minute mark when a commercial came on mid-segment with no soft landing. A pregnant pause of a downbeat goes a long way folks. It’s also possible to tell the guests before you begin that you’re going to build in a few breaks as we go along. Perhaps in the last 60 years they’ve seen the tonight show and are familiar with the concept of breaks.

My Agentic Employee Jamie Rudd turned in a very passionate takedown of the USMNT last night. this is a fully* automated show which is doing nice numbers now. You should be able to see which days USA played.

I keep spotlighting the automated soccer show in case you’re an investor thinking about investing in SlopCo because you think they are the only ones who can do AI. Call me, I can probably save you a few million dollars.

Anyway, since everyone is accepting the concept of Agentic Employee as a thing and not just a script, I am now inviting Jamie Rudd to the holiday party.

As for the asterisk, on this morning’s original draft Jamie was mistaken about the game time and I made a manually edit as I do QC rheee things while most of you are still asleep. I am willing to break an egg here and there and this morning an egg broke.

In other news, did you hear Taylor Swift got married? Obviously this show is having a good week…

And I had to comment on the Sandler of it all

Meanwhile, Prince Harry is gonna make for some good downloading numbers this week as we like to say at Caloroga, Thanks Meghan!

If you are a regular reader you saw my thoughts about the Bicentennial vs America 250. To get my July 4th on I watched the tall ships on NBC. Some quick notes from a long time producer…

Never throw it to civilians. They suck. Every time. They clam up and don’t know what to say.

Never ever ever put children on. They say one word and get shy.

Also, I don’t think I had ever seen Jenna Bush Hager on TV. I was not impressed. I’m sure she’s normally awesome and NBC found her reel in a stack of tapes that had nothing to do with her father or grandfather.

In the evening, I watched the fireworks part of NBC’s NYC Fireworks. They used the lamest cover versions of every song. Beyond lame. I kind of get using cover versions from a money standpoint, but boy they picked the lamest corniest versions of everything.

Also, someone tell the intern to check the lyrics to Born In The USA. I’m not sure “kicked like a dog’ was what you were going for.

OK, I caused enough trouble this morning. Off to see what Prince Harry is up to.