I never went to grad school

February 10, 2019 4:09 PM

The Relentless Picnic Podcast and the Power of a Real Conversation

"The picnic is three friends—Adam, Erikk, and Nick—talking about culture, politics, and morality. Their conversations cut at weird diagonals across the preening, pedagogical grain of standard podcast style. The joy of them rests in their sincerely close (and wildly well-read) readings of a huge range of subjects"

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posted by the man of twists and turns (8 comments total)

Can someone tell me where to get started? I used to read one of them on tumblr and his stuff was really something, even if I didn’t always quite get it. Then I briefly tried the podcast and I... really didn’t get those lads.
posted by Sterros at 5:40 PM on February 10, 2019

So Chapo, but as a midday talk show instead of a morning zoo.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:11 PM on February 10, 2019

Can someone tell me where to get started?

The general consensus is that The Cave, a long hard look at death, is their best so far. I also like No World, which juxtaposes Elon Musk and the moon, and His Favorite Child, which is basically goofing on Redditors' reports of paranormal experiences.

So Chapo, but as a midday talk show instead of a morning zoo.

At first, but they started moving away from current events around Episode 14.
posted by Iridic at 6:21 PM on February 10, 2019 [3 favorites]

I will admit that the first few episodes, when the guys were still finding their voice, are a bit rough, and I wouldn't begrudge anyone who wrote them off after hearing just those. But as mentioned above, "The Cave" marks a real turning point in their development, and is arguably still their best episode to date. I would also throw in "Shanksville" (in which they visit the 9/11 memorial there), "The Wreckage" (about the end of relationships), and "Just Citizens" (which somehow links John Dewey, Jimmy Carter, and Amazon customer reviews). I would defy anyone to listen to those episodes and call the Relentless Picnic a Chapo knockoff.

It sounds pretentious to say this, but a lot of their really good material is behind the Patreon wall -- their discussion of Carmen Maria Machado's "The Husband Stitch", for example, helped illuminate to me what was so unnerving about that story.
posted by Cash4Lead at 7:35 PM on February 10, 2019

FWIW, I started listening around Ep 4, and I think that once you get into it, TRP is literally the best podcast that exists.
posted by demonic winged headgear at 9:38 AM on February 11, 2019

I tried "Just Citizens" last week; the discussion was great but the hate-reading of reviews felt pretty cheap. It made their point well enough; there was just way too much laughing at people that weren't hurting anyone for my tastes.
posted by ropeladder at 7:20 PM on February 11, 2019

I just started listening and love it. I listened to "Just Citizens" and thought all the Jimmy Carter stuff was brilliant.
posted by xammerboy at 9:12 PM on February 12, 2019

there was just way too much laughing at people that weren't hurting anyone for my tastes.

I think their point could have been made in a more direct, insightful, and less mocking way.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:07 AM on February 13, 2019