So, you may have heard as it was happening, but I finally got to talk to Weldon on Cave-In. And I even got to be the first caller. Woo, go me!
I was nervous beforehand, and then the delay in the live-stream threw me off a lot, so I kind of forgot everything I was going to say at first. Guacamole brain strikes again!
It was fun, but now it’s kind of a blur, so I’m looking forward to getting to watch it again. But I just thought that if you wanted to talk to me about it, I’d give you the opportunity.
Frog of La Mancha 
You were the first one, too. Now I’m half tempted to get Discord just to call in, but I’m wondering if you actually have to subscribe to it only to call in and nothing else. Not only that, it’s all the kinks that tend to happen with it.
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Oh yeah, the kinks. At one time, his audio just completely dropped out. I didn’t know if he was still talking to me or what, nor was I sure if he could still hear me.
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Mary, I’m such a doofus. I got Friday confused with Saturday, Not that it would have mattered, because at 4:30 AM our time difference, I’d have have been sound asleep. I’ll go to Steve’s site to listen. BTW, I wonder if Weldon would be willing to give us across the ocean a chance to listen in live, in a time frame we can handle? I’m trying to figure out if I can hook up my external speaker in a plugin USB port which will work beside my other mic plug in. port.
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Anne, I don’t blame you. If the time difference was anything more than an hour, I would be so confused all the time.
Steve and his management team have made comments about how they are changing the time of the show in every instance in part to accommodate people in other time zones. So hopefully someday there will be one at a time that is more convenient for you.
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Bravo!
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Yaaaaaayyy!!
To my utter chagrin, i had to miss the first half of it yesterday — waiting for it to be posted online even more urgently now.
Notwithstanding the foregoing — i totally love the hairy dude! =)
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Well, I think (I hope!) that he might have to edit it before he posts it online. There were some really weird calls in there. The one directly after mine was particularly upsetting.
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I would say the second was more off-putting and a little disturbing to me.
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I agree. Without going into details, I found it to be triggering. Particularly because I was still wearing my headset, so it went directly into my ear.
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Hi,
(Told you we’d catch up…lol!) First, thanks so much for responding to my comment on Steve’s latest (Instagram) post – you’re right about me attempting to “TROLL the troll” (*hope to keep at it throughout the run of the streams in more creative ways). Likewise, thanks for granting us the opportunity to talk about your “Cave-In” experience – I can only say I was ECSTATIC to finally hear you there, I’m sure Weldon was too (no exaggeration/flattery, the second I heard you, I picked up positive, and in a way, “familiar” vibes). After overcoming the technical issues from last time, I’m sincerely glad you finally got your chance and called in. As for myself, I would call, it’s just a matter of deciding on the time/which stream I’d want to do so – hence, why I prefer(red) to have a viewer question answered first as a sort of “icebreaker”. With that, it also seems best to hold off until I too, get a solid microphone (better than my current one…).
Now briefly, (*without spoiling too much for those unable to see it live,) I wanted to say a few things about episode 3’s “surprise” during the break – firstly, comical as it was, I found it rather questionable. Steve seems to be deviating even further (,though still gradually,) from the “child-friendliness” of the show – which isn’t necessarily bad, it just somewhat startled me to see him go that route (you could say he exposed another facet of himself via his troll character, or maybe it’s just Kermit’s occasional “wicked side” resurrected) – as long as he’s comfortable, I suppose – regardless, I think I liked it. For the most part, I live for references to “that particular decade” and am hoping more will come. Yet, I have to be honest, I FELT sure, I WAS sure that there’d actually be some sort of Halloween musical number…what we got, however, is alright (*in the same vein, had he only stuck in a quick and short song like he’d done in the “Dark Crystal” parody sketch…).
Finally, I agree with you and everyone here about the awkward calls – they caused me a considerable sense of discomfort as well(*no offense/resentment by any means towards those callers). Hopefully, whoever called following you is alright. Given how real his/her panicking sounded, I actually feared that he/she might be undergoing some extreme anxiety, possibly even physical pain. Of course, if it was a prank, (which is also probable,)…then it was just insensitivity on that caller’s part —- don’t get me wrong, though, I’m not trying to dismiss the above likelihood, but it’s a bit hard to clearly discern what really occurred based on just the sounds themselves. Nonetheless, thanks once more for opening up this insightful discussion, keep entertaining with your awe-inspiring posts. I look forward to meeting up again – here, on Instagram, Discord, etc. – same excitement goes for when the (10/25) stream comes back.
Until then, best!
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Hi, Saba! Thank you for commenting. I feel a little embarrassed, because I keep meaning to go back and respond in more detail to your first comment in which you said so many kind things, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. So I wanted to be sure and respond to this one before I get busy and distracted.
Because of the time lapse between the live stream and the Discord conversation, I didn’t watch Weldon while I was talking to him. I could have, but it would have been too distracting because his reactions wouldn’t match what he was saying. I’m really looking forward to watching it when it finally comes available.
As for the parody, I’m not familiar with the source material, so while I thought it was funny, it almost certainly wasn’t as funny to me as it could have been. However, I’ve only seen one other parody of that property. That was the Sesame Street one, and I remember being completely mystified by it and therefore unamused. So I thought Steve did a good job making a parody that was at least somewhat accessible to someone who wasn’t familiar with the source material.
Speaking for myself, I would draw a distinction between “child-friendly” and “family-friendly.” If I were guessing (and I am), I would guess that Steve is aiming for about a PG/PG-13 rating with his content, which is not necessarily intended for children but less explicit should they happen to catch some of it. The more I watch, the more convinced I am that it was a good call from a comedic standpoint. I’m not categorically opposed to blue humor, but I think it’s almost always funnier to write around it rather than spelling it out specifically.
I remember when Steve was explaining the whole concept behind the show to me and why he wanted to keep it from veering into that R-rated territory (and beyond). Although I thought it was completely brilliant, I wondered how he was going to keep things family-friendly while doing a call-in show and not being able to control what people say when they call in. Which brings me to the topic of the second call.
Saba, I can tell that you are a very nice person by your concern for the individual. I’m damaged and cynical, so it barely even occurred to me to consider the possibility that the caller could have been in genuine distress. But you’re absolutely right that that is entirely possible. I hope for their sake that they are okay, but if (as I believe) it was a prank, that’s just entirely inappropriate.
I don’t want to presume to tell Steve what he should or shouldn’t include in his own videos, but I really hope he edits that part out. On the one hand, if it was genuine, that’s not funny at all, and therefore it’s out of place on a comedy show, but if it was just a prank, then including it would send a message that that kind of behavior is acceptable, and that could encourage repeat “performances” and copycats.
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I agree with you Mary. I never expected this show to be for children, but felt it would be a as you said.. Your site is becoming as we were in Muppet Pundit. It feels good to discuss these matters. I know Steve is busily getting Weldon launched. Can’t wait to have the good old Pundit up a running again.
Checked to see if the video is available yet, it still is not. Wish I could have seen it live while in tact.
Having worked 911 I’d probably have been able to tell if the caller was a prank. Either way, it’s a good thing to screen the calls, which is not easy for those working behind the scenes. Can’t wait to see the show.
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I don’t have the training that you’ve had, but I have heard a lot of phone pranks in that vein (a LOT), and that’s what it sounded like to me, insofar as I was listening because I was taking off my headset at the same time. I was dismayed to see people making comments on Discord such as “Lol, that was so funny, OMG!” It’s not funny, and it’s not original. It’s annoying and pathetic and sad.
(Of course, that’s assuming that it WAS a prank, but if it was somebody in genuine distress, then it’s even worse to laugh at it.)
I subscribed to the Cave-In channel on YouTube and clicked the bell for notifications so I would know when the video goes up. Nevertheless, I’ve been refreshing obsessively ever since. Last night I got a notification and I was really excited, but it was just a new subscriber to my channel. Which is nice, but not what I was hoping for.
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I’m not that surprised to see that the episode itself isn’t up yet, but I’m a little surprised that he hasn’t uploaded the pre-recorded bit. I would have thought that that was all ready to go up at any time.
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It’s up now — Mary, you were great! Second call was handled in style — LOL that “really?” was exactly what someone’s idea of prank like that deserves (no offense to the schlub). Bravo Weldon!
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Yeah! A busy morning here, but will place this episode on my desktop to have a listen later, without interruptions.
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Thanks, Andrew! Which part did you like the best? I don’t mean to sound like I’m fishing for a compliment; I just want to try to figure out what I should talk about if I try to call in again.
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It’s about how smooth it all was — i mean, if there were signal drops, delays or any confusion on the line, it never came thru — a great and fun interaction!
To be honest, I’m sure I’d be pretty incoherent myself, even w/o technical glitches — which is why i enjoy Weldon’s live sessions on youtube, without making more tries with the discord. (Not that it would prevented Weldon from turning it all into fun, anyway!)
So, as for themes, anything goes, IMHO. Weldon can run with anything — he’s just that good. Totally a notwithstanding the foregoin’ type of guy! =)
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Oh, I see. Well, thanks for that! That was something that I held consciously in my mind, the idea that I just had to keep saying something, no matter what it was (within reason), because dead air is excruciating to listen to.
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I love how Weldon gave Mary a mention at the end of the show. and as first caller she was real; I adore her ND Accent. Now that a Lawyer has also been near the end of the broadcast, it’s almost like he’s got a law firm going, for your job -Mary- fits right in. The other calls need some more spice, doncha think? It was like Weldon was trying to give them a bit of help to sound more professional. Does everyone else whine? BTW, Steve and crew did a brilliant job of editing. Loved also the Cosplay monster of the Thongs variety.
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Oh, Anne … if anyone else in the world had accused me of having an “ND” accent, I would be really annoyed. However, I know that it was kindly meant, and I feel that it is partially my fault since I openly expressed support for NDSU on Twitter in the recent Dakota Marker game against South Dakota State University. My inherited dislike of North Dakota is far less than my acquired dislike of SDSU and Governor Kristi Noem.
Some of my best friends in college were from North Dakota, and it is possible I picked up some linguistic quirks from them along the way. I remember my younger brother thought that I had when I came home for Christmas after my first semester at college.
Anyway, thank you for the compliment; I know that was how it was intended.
I wondered if Steve was going to tie the lawyer talk back into our previous conversation. The whole time they were talking about starting a new law firm, I was thinking, “Do you need someone to write blog posts for your website? Cuz I know how to do that!”
I don’t watch Stranger Things, but I really enjoyed Steve’s “Stronger Thongs” parody. At the very least (at the VERY least), it was a cool-ass piece of puppetry!
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So sorry to get the accent confused. It reminded me of my dad’s sister who lived up in Michigan and Indiana area. Me being the worse of the geographical peeps ever, would never pass the test of maps. Your accent is fab, just the same. Wonderful story to go with your brother.
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It’s okay, Anne. It’s a knee-jerk reaction after nearly 40 years of conditioning, but it’s probably a silly thing to get upset about in the grand scheme of things. Thanks again for the compliment. 🙂
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