No Joke (podcast)
No Joke is a weekly comedic podcast on the HeadGum podcast network hosted by Billy Scafuri and Adam Lustick, who are best known as members of the sketch group Harvard Sailing Team.[1][2] Since its first episode in February 2016, No Joke has had over 200 episodes, with guests such as Amir Blumenfeld, Jake Hurwitz, Ben Schwartz, Milana Vayntrub, George Basil, and Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher of BriTANick.[1] Each episode, Billy and Adam select a topic (often just before recording the episode with input from Twitter users) and discuss their previous, present, and future relationships to it.
| No Joke | |
|---|---|
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | Billy Scafuri Adam Lustick |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Language | English |
| Updates | Weekly |
| Length | 45-60 minutes |
| Publication | |
| Original release | February 2016 – present |
| Provider | iTunes HeadGum (2015–present) |
| Website | https://headgum.com/no-joke |
Content
The No Joke podcast has covered a myriad of different topics ranging from the topical (e.g. the NBA finals, fall sitcoms) to the quotidian (e.g. wallets, jobs) and even philosophical (e.g. leadership, ghosts, power). No Joke follows a three-act structure where the three acts loosely correspond to Billy and Adam's past, current, and future relationship to the topic. The acts are separated by act breaks, where either an ad or a song is played. Episodes are typically between forty-five minutes and an hour, and the time is usually divided about evenly between the three acts. The podcast also has an intro and outro which identify the hosts, the name of the podcast, and the topic of that episode. Billy and Adam have revealed that the intro is actually recorded at the end, after having recorded the rest of the podcast, and inserted into the beginning of the show in post-production.
Act breaks
In the case of episodes without a sponsor, songs are played in the breaks between the acts of No Joke. Billy and Adam choose the song essentially by free association, wherein they meditate on the topic and associated concepts and choose a song that they find entertaining an relevant. For example, in Episode 90: Millennials, they move conceptually from the main idea of millennials to the Will Smith album "Willennium". After failing to name any songs from "Willennium", they choose the song "Parents Just Don't Understand", which they claim embodies the millennial attitude while being both entertaining and relevant to their train of thought at the moment.[3] They also often choose songs from the discography of their hip-hop group, Snakes.
Social media campaigns
On No Joke, Billy and Adam often urge their listens to chime in on various social media platforms in different ways. For example, one recurring theme is iTunes reviews of the podcast containing the word "hyped". Listeners are encouraged to leave a five-star review indicating that they are "hyped" and their location. Billy and Adam then use this information to discuss on-air the geographical distribution of fans of the podcast. Other campaigns have been more fleeting, mentioned infrequently or only once, such as #Billy4Barbershop4 or #PoliticiansWithaPony where the fans are encouraged to try to get Billy in the next Barber Shop movie and to share pictures of politicians with ponytails, respectively.
Gifts
Around episode 90, Billy and Adam began asking the listeners for gifts of various kinds. Billy asked for more Instagram followers and Adam asked for a lifetime supply of khakis from J.Crew. Other gifts have included a fire starter, a Moana toy, and a pair of pajama pants (from J.Crew per Adam's request). They have also asked for yarn, thumbtacks, and a cork board in order to make a mind map of concepts related to a certain Canadian pop music icon.
Carly Rae Jepsen
On their "Summer Anthems" episode,[4] one of the songs discussed was Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe", which they identified as a perfect pop song. This led down a rabbit-hole of discussion of that singer, who they affectionately nicknamed "the Jeps". Billy and Adam have repeatedly expressed their admiration for, and perhaps obsession with, Carly Rae and ultimately aspire to have her as a guest on the podcast.
Hall of Fame
Beginning in 2020, listeners who sent in voice memos were inducted into the No Joke Hall of Fame. The hypothetical location of the Hall is in Reno, NV[5]
References
- "HeadGum ⚡ No Joke". headgum.com. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
- "No Joke Podcast (@NoJokePod) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
- "No Joke - Episode 90: Millennials". HeadGum. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
- "No Joke - Episode 78: Summer Anthems". HeadGum. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
- "No Joke - Episode 208: Condiments". HeadGum. Retrieved 2020-03-13.