In my second article discussing my favorite podcasts, we get to my ALL TIME Favorite, Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave!
There are so many things that make this Podcast excel that I couldn’t possibly list them all, but before we get into that, let’s go into Who these guys are, and how the Pod came to be:
Walter Flanagan, Bryan Johnson & Brian Quinn Make up the 3 main components of Tell ’em Steve-Dave
Walter & Bryan Grew up in New Jersey and were friends with Director Kevin Smith in their youth. Kevin actually credits both Walt and Bryan for helping make him the success he is today, as Bryan was the inspiration for his character Randal Graves in Clerks, and Walt re-ignited his love for comic books when they worked together at the Rec center.
Brian Quinn Applied for and Got a job working at View Askew, Smith’s company and he and Bryan have been good friends ever since.
When Smith got Walt & Bryan on his Smodcast Podcast to reminisce about growing up in New Jersey, fans of the pod loved it and there were people that felt these 2 guys should do their own pod, and after a few years Bryan decided to give it a shot to help him gain some purpose as he was battling depression. Walt agreed only because he figured Bryan would quit after “2 weeks” But to everyone’s surprise, Bryan loved it, and we are now 5 years ans 224 episodes deep.
Tell ’em Steve Dave began as Walt & Brian Johnson’s Pod with Brian “Q” Quinn as the “sound guy” who would occasional chime in. This didn’t last long as the 3 had a great chemistry and most (but not all) fans agreed the pod needed 100% more “Q”
Walter runs The Secret Stash (Kevin Smith’s Comic Book Store) (Located at 35 Broad St. Red Bank N.J. 732-758-0508)
This is where the boys record the pod each week, Topics range from articles in the news (Huffington Post articles have Enraged Bryan many times) to what is happening to each of the guys and crazy situations they have encountered. they also have had several recurring segments like random Hitler facts Titled “You Hitlearn something everyday” and Q’s segment to prove the guys aren’t chauvinistic discussing important women’s issues titled “Broad News”
Walt always has Games he brings to the table but by FAR the most popular is his “One, True, Three” a variant on two truth’s and a lie where the participants need to give 1 truth and 2 lies. Then each person at the table bets on what is the true story.
Many times these games will have guests and there are several “regulars” including:
The Amazing Sunday Jeff:
And the Polarizing Git-em Steve Dave:
All popular pods have Commercials to help pay for the cost of storage fees, believe it or not the commercials are quite literally some of the funniest parts of the podcast.
The guys almost Always go off script and generally tend to badmouth the advertiser or forget they were doing an ad for say Netflix and start talking about audible for 5 minutes and then go “oh crap who was this ad for again?” a lot of pods you want to fast-forward the ads, not this one!
Bryan (who is sometimes categorized as the mean one) also does adorable ads with his niece Sage whom he helps take care of and shows his softer side.
The fans of the Podcast are known as the TESD Army Ants:
Walt had discussed that Brian shouldn’t try to get above the anthill in life and do bigger & better things than his fellow man and the “Ant” moniker stuck.
Walt also tends to be the one Decrying technology and the excesses of people and their need for “Gadgets & Gizmos” even coming up with a step by step plan of what college kids don’t need (like a fancy cell-phone)
Perhaps the coolest thing about the pod is all the projects that they do for their fans.
The guys have done A yearly Christmas Podcast extravaganza every year since 2011 that drops on Black Friday that is extremely funny and Game filled and super-sized in length.
The Guys also did an exclusive series Specifically for The Microsoft Zune service called TESD Overkill
The entire series is the guys looking for paranormal and creepy things in the New Jersey area such as the Jersey Devil, going to a “haunted hospital” and other spooky situation.
You can get ALL the Cool bonus pods Here:
They’ve also released a limited edition Vinylcast with Walt’s amazing artwork (and a drop of Blood on the cover A-la KISS)
Some of the other Hilarious things is the way Walt mispronounces terms like YOHO (instead of YOLO), the way the guys rip on each other (goodhearted most of the time) and Walt’s infectious, boisterous laugh.
I Wholeheartedly recommend this podcast and Watch the Television show which was spawned by it, Comic Book Men on AMC