I can’t believe that it’s been three years since my last post. Writing during the pandemic was helpful and then…I just stopped writing. Every year since I’ve had to renew my subscription to the blog and I’ve thought about writing something, yet nothing was produced. It’s weird, recently I thought about my blog and it had nothing to do with the renewal. I logged back on and decided to dust off the cobwebs. For the last couple of days, I have been thinking about what to write and I’ve decided to write about my podcast. It’s probably one of the most fun and yet frustrating experiences I’ve had. I’m going to keep it short and sweet for now.
History of the Curbed Wheels Podcast
My friend Freddy, aka Wheels and I talked about starting a podcast as a way to get through the pandemic/shutdown and to revive our comedy goals/careers. I found the talks to be invigorating but was hesitant to even start. I finally decided to give it a shot and bought equipment for the podcast. It was exciting as I felt like, we could do something creative and something informative.
Freddy and I met because of comedy. I wish I could remember the moment I first spoke to him but honestly it all seems like a blur. I know I met him somewhere between 2012 and 2014 when I was performing three to five times a week. I eventually slowed down my stand-up career and really got into teaching comedy through the library. It was a lot of work but I really enjoyed it and fed off of the energy of the students who really enjoyed comedy. Some students wanted to perform and needed the push. Some were curious but wanted to learn more. Freddy was a guest comedian in some of my sessions and would talk to my students about his experiences, lessons learned, and imparted some of his wisdom to them. At the end of the four weeks, there would be a comedy show and the students would perform in front of a live audience. Sometimes, the guest comics would perform. Whenever I invited Freddy, he was the first to say yes and would perform extremely well.
Once COVID hit, we would chat about comedy and baseball. We definitely connected when it came to baseball. So much so that in 2018, we took a trip to Boston. I had planned it as the Mets were visiting Boston for an inter-league series then. Freddy is a huge Red Sox fan and I have always wanted to see Fenway Park. That trip gave me insight into Freddy’s world because he uses a wheelchair. There was a lot to consider going on this trip and made me realize how hard he has it when it comes to using public transportation. This would be a part of the podcast that I wanted to highlight. Something that would give Freddy a platform to discuss the difficulties of getting from one place to another. We brainstormed and discussed how the podcast would take shape.
The Podcast
After discussing the logistics, we just ran with it. We recorded our first two episodes on our first night of recording. Everyone was excited, it was great to see Freddy again, we hadn’t seen each other in person since 2019. It was a reunion and we had fun recording. We had a lot of response from friends and family on those first two episodes. Everyone said that they loved the show and were looking forward to the next couple of episodes.
Podcasts are very similar to doing stand-up. After a couple of times up on stage, your friends and family will stop showing up. Same with the podcast, after a couple of episodes, we were dropping off on listeners. We didn’t get many likes with our social media posts and eventually it just dried up.
I was frustrated and I was talking to Freddy about doing more on social media to promote the podcast. We got lucky with a few videos that were posted on YouTube but nothing was sticking. We weren’t consistent with our topics, on our recordings, and with our social media presence. We ended up taking a break as we both lost the energy to continue.
Conclusion?
We forged through it. Despite getting annoyed at each other we came back and just recently completed our first year of doing a podcast. We have tried to retool our show but the medium for a podcast is difficult. If you’re famous or have some sort of big following from something else, a podcast would already have a built in audience. We have started from scratch and my hope is that we can build a following.
We are still trying but we’re struggling to get listeners. We’ve dried up on our likes from our friends and families. We’re going to have to find a niche soon or this may be a project that was a part of my and Freddy’s life that became unsustainable. Stay tuned.
Seeking Balance While Laughing Out Loud 