Taverncast

Tagline: "Good Friends. Good Beer. Great Fun."  (Season 3 - 2008)
Hosts:

• Bryce Erwin (Eloysius)
• Aric Watson (Cromley)
• Michelle O'Neill (Kirnkaterre)
• William Ticknor (Infernal Bill)
• Derek Chew (Karg)

Format: Round-table, comedy, discussion
Genre: Arts and Entertainment
Released: Bi-Weekly
Length: 60 to 120 minutes
Audio format: MP3
URL: http://www.taverncast.com
RSS: http://www.taverncast.com/taverncast.xml
Began: June 18, 2005



Format
Typical Taverncast shows begin with the program number, occasional introductory comedic skit, theme song and introduction of the cast. Each installment features a "Drink of the Show", usually a beer or mixed alcoholic beverage. Light conversation often takes place about the hosts recent activities and then the central theme of the show (for example: Movies) is announced and discussed.  Multiple sub-topics within the main theme (for example: greatest film of all time) are discussed in an often rowdy, round-table format which often drives conversation to different and sometimes unrelated directions. Each sub-topic is segued with music, sound effects, skits or show bumpers. Every Taverncast show varies in length, but usually stays within 60-90 minutes.

Other Hosts and Regular Guests
Regular hosts and recurring guests include Derek Chew (Karg), Mike Monan (Hawkeye), Brian Waggoner (Asros), and "Starman" and "Renata" from World of Warcast. The current "voice of Taverncast" is Jennifer Albrecht who provides voice acting for many of the show's bumpers, intros and title narratives.

The show has had numerous guests including composer Jason Hayes, author Matthew Stein, and Samuel Adams Brewmaster Grant Wood. Additionally the show has consulted with bar-tending author and personality Cheryl Charming.


History
Taverncast was created after the original hosts Erwin, Watson and Chew mused how entertaining it would be if they videotaped the conversations held at their weekly pub gatherings in Ann Arbor, Michigan and released them as a television sitcom. When Watson learned of podcasting, he suggested that the trio experiment with recording a show, set in a virtual "tavern" based around their shared hobby of playing the MMORPG World of Warcraft.  The first episode was released on July 18, 2005 with the hosts taking on their Warcraft character names of ''Cromley'' (Watson), "Karg" (Chew) and ''Eloysius" as stage names.  The second installment, released on August 3, 2005 saw the addition of "Kirnkaterre" (O'Neill), who was the first "gamer-girl" in podcasting. 

The first and second seasons (2005-2007) of the show were recorded at Watson's home in Milan, Michigan, in a spare bedroom with a cheap computer microphone and dated laptop. By show #10 (October 19.2005), the hosts had moved to Watson's basement into an improved studio setup with professional equipment, but using comforters hung from the ceiling as sound baffling. The hosts often refer to Watson's basement as the "Taverncast Studios".

After appearing as a guest on shows 10 and 11 (October, 2005), long time fan and fellow podcaster Brian Waggoner joined the program on show #12 (November 18, 2005) - leaving behind his own general gaming podcast Gamecast Online. Waggoner used the stagename "Asros" throughout his run on the show.

After an increasingly busy career and personal life made it more difficult for him to record the show, fan-favorite Karg (Chew) decided to exit Taverncast as a regular host, with his last show being #12b (November 23, 2005). He would return to make multiple guest appearances on both the main Taverncast program and it's spinoff '''Taverncast: The Screen''' throughout the remainder of season one and two, until August of 2008, when he returned to the show as a main host.

Starting with show #20 (March 13, 2006), Taverncast became part of Future plc's PC Gamer Podcast Network with the PC Gamer Podcast and the now defunct "The Widget".

After a private disagreement over the show's direction, Waggoner (Asros) left the Taverncast lineup, with his final show being #24 (May 21, 2006). Longtime contributor Ticknor (Infernal Bill) joined the cast on the 26th show (June 27, 2006), and remains a regular host.

Taverncast expanded it's regular lineup near middle of season two with the popular "Taverncast: After Hours".  The show was created in response to listeners wanting a more casual, un-scripted, un-edited, un-segmented roundtable discussion version of the Taverncast format, and to return to the roots of the show.  The format joins the cast in the midst of a discussion in a far more obvious pub setting.  Often they are served by a recurring waitress character, thought but not confirmed to be Ticknor's wife.  In the first three installments, the bar setting was called the Kon-Tiki Lounge - a fantasy retro club, and incorporated "live" music breaks and tropical styled lounge music. 

In January of 2007, Erwin (Eloysius) engaged in an attempted a 30 day World of Warcraft play binge in order to experience and then report the effects on "After Hours" #3 (February 17, 2007) ][1] [2] [3]. He stopped the experiment after 17 days, playing an average of 15 hours a day.  He reported fatigue, eye strain, back pain, weight loss and depression. Erwin's conclusion was that World of Warcraft was indeed addictive if played to extremes.  Due predominantly to this experiment, Erwin drastically reduced his play time, leading to the show's eventual break with the World of Warcraft focused format later that year. After Hours #3 was announced as the final show of the format shortly after it's release.

Taverncast ceased it's focus on the World of Warcraft in October, 2007[5] - shifting to a general popular culture, current events and geek topics format.  The new format began with show #33, released October 24, 2007.

Taverncast is currently on hiatus, in it's third year of production with over 69 released shows and teasers, including two spinoffs; "Taverncast: The Screen", focusing on movies and television (which was cancelled in June 2006) and "Taverncast: After Hours", which was brought back to round out the third season production schedule.


Notable Facts and Trivia

• The show is edited by Erwin (Eloysius), and regularly takes between 4-5 days to complete an installment of the regular program. Taverncast's level of post-production is somewhat unique in amateur podcasting. Watson (Cromley) and O'Neill (Kirnkaterre) have both done "pre-editing" duties throughout the show's production, to remove unnecessary audio and recording errors.
• Although Taverncast uses bar/tavern crowd ambience sound effects and carries a statement at the end of each show that it is "recorded live before a studio audience", no episode has ever been done live, or outside of a small studio environment.  The credits statement is a nod to television sitcoms, such as All in the Family and intended as a satire.
• Taverncast has no 13th show, although #12b takes it's place.  It has never been stated whether or not the hosts are superstitious or simply found the skipping of the number humorous.
• Show #9 (October 6, 2005) featured a surprise walk-on appearance of an obsessed fan of Karg (Chew), calling herself "KargLuvR".  Speculation continues as to whether Chew's stalker was real or staged, but the TC hosts have only indicated that she is a "real person".  Some fans have guessed that  KargLuvR is the same voice actress who played the part of "Rachel Riley" in "War of the Murlocs". 
  
• Taverncast's "War of the Murlocs" (Show #11 - October 29, 2005) is a direct homage to HG Wells "The War of the Worlds".
• Fan favorite character "Beerbot" is voiced by Erwin (Eloy). 
  
• Taverncast's Infernal Bill (Ticknor) co-hosted the first installment of XFire's Debate Club[7][8] on January31, 2007 along with PC Gamer's Gary Whitta and other gaming personalities.
• While TC is predominantly an audio podcast, some video minis have been released, notably showcasing Eloy (Erwin) sampling odd foods, as heard on a number of the programs. [9][10]
  

Accolades and Reception

Taverncast has been highly praised[6] and ranked as #4 on the "Top Ten Warcraft Podcasts in the World" [4] Zoom-In.com, nominated for "Best Podcast"[11] by the 2008 Blogger's Choice Awards and been consistently featured on and ranked in the top 100 on Apple iTunes Arts and Entertainment Podcast Directory.  The show also carries a 4.5 star rating there. Show #11 (The War of the Murlocs) received significant attention by the Warcraft community when it was released on October 29, 2005 and is the contested first dramatic podcast in the vein of radio drama.

Distribution and licensing
All episodes are licensed under the Creative Commons attribution share-alike noncommercial Creative Commons License, and are distributed via direct download from the Taverncast website , or from Apple's iTunes Store. There is no download charge from either source.

The show is typically available in 86 kilobit per second/kbit/s stereo MP3. The files are available as direct downloads, with bandwidth provided by Snapdragon.