Maximum Fun’s ‘Very Very Fun Day’ offers loads of comedy

Podcasts come in all kinds of shapes and flavors these days. If you look long enough for a specific subject or topic, odds are you’ll find it. However, regardless if a podcast is locally run or nationally syndicated, there’s one common thread that ties them all together – the intimacy and inclusiveness they create with their listeners.

On Feb. 11, nationally renowned podcast network Maximum Fun will infiltrate Thalia Hall to drill home that point for a Very Very Fun Day, their first all-day comedy and culture festival.

“[Listeners] have a really intimate relationship with their favorite shows,” says Maximum Fun creator and podcast host Jesse Thorn. “We want to make shows that serve the audience. The way that we do that is by following the instincts of the creative people that are making them.”

The festival features live broadcasts of several of the 30 shows that make up the Maximum Fun podcast lineup, including “Judge John Hodgman,” “Jordan, Jesse Go!,” “The Flop House,” “Oh No Ross and Carrie!,” “Tights and Fights” and “Stop Podcasting Yourself.”

Chicago’s rich culture and comedy is also strongly emphasized, with local podcasts, “Nerdette,” “Friendshipping ” and “Reclaimed Soul with Ayana Contreras,” as well as stand-up comedy sets from local comics, featured. Advance tickets have sold out but limited tickets will be available at the door.

Tricia Bobeda, the Senior Editor of Digital at WBEZ-FM and co-host of the Nerdette podcast with Greta Johnsen, is excited to be part of the event. The podcast interviews anyone that has unique expertise or does something they find unique. (Recently, they interviewed Tom Hanks about typewriters.) Their live show will feature several guest interviews, including Dennis Rodkin, who will be talking about his “Sexual History of Chicago” walking tour.

“We want to hear what makes them tick,” says Bobeda. “We like to say it’s not the subject matter that makes you a nerd, it’s how enthusiastic and obsessed you are about something. So, you can be a nerd about anything.”

Bobeda and Johnsen started the podcast several years ago, after realizing there was a lack of female-hosted podcasts, and that others were interested in hearing their perspective.

“There are women who like science and nerdy things,” Bobeda says. “I was the only girl in Rocket Club in 8th grade. That feels a little isolating sometimes to be a really big fan of certain subjects or topics or shows or comic books or whatever it is and feel a little bit like an outsider within a world that’s already meant for outsiders, like science fiction often is.”

Ultimately, Bobeda feels every Chicago podcast contributes something valuable to the community.

“Having non-profit sources of media is important to the city,” she says. “It gives a place for more diverse voices to be part of the news but also part of the cultural and entertaining side of conversations that we’re having in the city.”

Thorn has enjoyed doing that on a bigger scale. He started Maximum Fun a decade ago, and it’s became one of the first independent networks of artist-owned and listener-supported podcasts covering comedy and culture.

Thorn has joined forces with other likeminded personalities, including author/comedian/actor John Hodgman (formerly of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”). These days he’s hosting “Judge John Hodgman,” a weekly podcast where he judges issues brought to him by audience members.

“Our goal is to solve the world’s disputes one by one until we’ve achieved complete world peace. It’s a small goal but one I think we can reach in about nineteen months,” says Hodgman, with a twinge of his trademark deadpan wit.

Hodgman got into podcasting ten years ago through Thorn. He feels it’s a more intimate environment for him than working on television.

“The live studio audience is wonderful but the audience you’re really trying to reach are people way out on the other side of that camera in America. It’s a one-way street,” he says. “’The Judge John Hodgman’ podcast is designed to be a conversation with strangers in America and Canada and all over the world out there in the darkness. And that to me is what is most fun about it, in that I’m able to interact with all different walks of life and backgrounds and professions.”

Hodgman is a big fan of performing in Chicago. He’s planning to localize his show for the festival, including leading a debate on whether or not the Chicago hot dog is a sandwich.

“I will surely take advantage of the fact that I am in Chicago, to have a Chicago hot dog and to emphasize how not a sandwich the Chicago hot dog or indeed any hot dog is,” he says. “That is an issue of settled law that continues to come up in the courtroom of people attempting to prove that a hot dog is a sandwich, when clearly it is not. A regular hot dog is exactly what it is — a hot dog. But once you have a Chicago hot dog, which has about thirty pounds of various relishes and celery stalks piled on top of, it really becomes more of a bread-based meat salad.”

With all the wild world events going on, Hodgman is happy to give listeners a respite as well as voice through his podcast.

“There’s days when I think the news is so bonkers or upsetting that we need to take a few minutes to ourselves as a point of self-care and listen to our friends talk on podcasts about hot dogs, bats, TV shows, whatever it may be,” he says. “I’m happy to be part of a distraction class in America, while also encouraging people to engage in their political lives as well.”

Joshua Miller is a freelance writer.