The podcast that is changing lives and perceptions.
Dan Hudson and James Barr boast over 300 episodes to their names of their comedy podcast. This is a podcast that celebrates diversity and equality, but they also discuss some very serious, complicated issues such as the male gaze, and mental health. It’s also unique with not one single episode being the same length with episodes ranging from seven minutes to over forty. They’ve had some incredible guests over that time from comedian Tom Allen to film producer Dustin Lance Black.
Their podcast, and friendship, came about unconventionally, you might say with Dan’s girlfriend, also James's best friend going away, leaving the pair with one another for company. As a result, the two created the podcast to find some common ground. I was fortunate enough to speak with one half of the duo, Dan Hudson to gain a bit more insight into the podcast.
Do you think that because of the podcast you have become a more empathetic and understanding individual?
Yes, I would think so, because I think generally most people probably don't spend huge amounts of time thinking about problems, they've never really come across themselves. Whilst I think I was probably aware on a small level I never really understood to the full extent how hard some things are for people who are gay or trans. But I think that we all do that on some level because there are loads of world events that are happening that we don't know about fully or investigate more. So, I think it’s just about viewing life through different lenses and other perspectives.
So, with these live shows that you've been doing, what do you feel like the response has been and how has it felt?
You get immediate feedback, so you get those instant reactions from the audience? Before we press record on a live show, we do a little bit of a warmup to gauge the reaction of the crowd to see where we think the show is going to go and to see what they respond well to. And it's always an amazing feeling to come off stage and feel like we've done a good one. I would say that we've been enjoying them, just being able to be in the room with everyone is great. We were supposed to go on tour last year, well I say last year it was April 2020. But this year we've done festivals, so we did the Edinburgh Fringe and then we've just done the Birmingham Comedy Festival. it was nice, especially for me because I am from Birmingham it meant that a lot of my friends were in the audience and that was quite a nice feeling to have that support from people I've known for a long time. What's nice about festivals is that you're adding onto something that's already existing. With live shows that instant response means you know straight away what the response was to the conversations that you had. Whereas sometimes when we are recording the podcast, it doesn't always go out instantly, it can be a few weeks and so when I get messages or emails about that episode, I must cast back my memory.
As a podcaster yourself, what podcasts do you like to listen to?
Currently, I'm obsessed with The Newsagents which is done by Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, and Lewis Goodall. I’ve only listened to it for about two weeks, But when one ends, I can't wait for the next episode to come out, which I think is a good sign. I've always listened to That's Not Metal, which is a must for any rock and metal fans. I feel like I dip in and out of different episodes of podcasts because sometimes it's hard to find the time as I also like to share my listening time between music as well.
Your episodes vary in length, with some being only a few minutes. Why did you decide to format it that way?
Yes, so as someone who works in radio, I feel I've become very aware of time constraints and what an audience wants. So, when we started the podcast, there wasn't any podcast like ours that were so short, and I think that is an appealing factor sometimes, that you can easily catch up even though we've got over 300 episodes because some of them are shorter. I think we should keep them short if we've only got 4 minutes of stuff to say, rather than talk on for an hour and lose people's interest and lose the point we are making in the episode. When we have guests or we're doing a live show, they are longer and that suits us because then there is more room for back and forth.
Are you quite involved in the editing process?
Yes, very much so. For the last six years, give or take a few episodes, I have edited them, although it is probably getting to the point where it's not sustainable for much longer as I become busier. Because it's not just top and tailing, to get it that short and snappy, takes a long time. But that then means that trying to find sufficient time to do that is difficult. It's great to be involved in the process and I realise it’s something that I very much like, having that say and ownership of it. I very much see it as a DIY project that has just grown and grown.
A Gay and a NonGay is available to listen to on multiple platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify, you can also hear them on BBC sounds Tell it, with their three episodes ‘From Gay to Non-Gay’, having been re-released.
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