In February 2020, Bridger Winegar decided to tease his upcoming podcast on Instagram with what he thought was an innocent enough comment: “On March 12, all hell breaks loose.” The launch of his podcast, he soon learned, would not be among the most important events of that week.
“Everyone admits the world has ended, and I’m promoting myself online,” Winegar says. “It was a weird thing, but it kind of helped that the first 16 episodes were actually recorded and it wasn’t just me and a guest talking.” [about] What’s left on store shelves?
his podcast, I said no giftsHe has a simple enough ego. Despite the title, each guest is forced to bring Winegar some tokens to open and discuss. In an ideal scenario, the item says something about the guest. More often than not, it’s “something someone grabbed while leaving the house or found in their car.” The quality of the gift doesn’t matter in the end, thanks to Iyengar’s day job as a comedy writer and his skill at booking equally funny guests.
Iyengar has worked on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Single Parents, Black Monday and After partyamong many other series. But over the last five years of his career, podcasts have been the biggest constant. “I’ve had a lot of jobs,” Winegar says. “So to have this be the stable thing in my life is very strange.”
On the eve of the release of its 300th episode, which was released on June 4, featuring the previous episode Kimmy Schmidt His colleague, Ellie Kemper, spoke with Winegar Hollywood Reporter About courting recording icon Aimee Mann to write and perform his theme song, the thrills of indoor skydiving and how his show accidentally made him a bit chunky.
What percentage of gifts do you think you still have after 300 episodes?
I would say 97 percent, which is terrible. When I started, you can imagine my thinking: “I’ll ask the successful writers and comedians on the show. They have bank accounts. Sure, they’ll bring me nice things that will improve my life.” That’s probably 4 percent of what I got. The rest are just things I have in my garage or in the studio, working on the December set. But, actually, there are probably 10 elements that I have incorporated into my life. When I do a live show, I take some of it and give it to audience members, but the rest just takes up space.
What is the most valuable thing you think you have ever acquired?
This is not beloved something; I got a gift card for indoor skydiving. Listeners are always sending me videos of the art of indoor skydiving. It’s beautiful…people doing ballet in a tube. So, you’ve got a really nice waffle maker. Darcey Carden brought all of her very expensive skincare products that probably ended up being worth hundreds of dollars, but she gave them away as a gift. So I haven’t gotten a boat yet.
Do you support indoor skydiving?
definitely.
What about the worst gifts?
Jimmy Lee gave me a dog chew toy, which had a story to tell about it. But that was rubbish. To this day, it’s one thing I got rid of right away. Then her assistant said: “This is our phone number, call us. She wants it back.” Send a direct message to Jimmy afterwards, like “Do you want this back?” It’s like, “No. What? Why would I want that back?” We also did a live show in New York and Bowen Yang brought a 30-pound bag of birdseed. Who stayed in New York.
How do you define a bad guest?
I’m starting to be able to sense someone is there for purely promotional purposes, someone who may not even be aware of it. Apparently their publicist reached out to a bunch of places, and then, the next morning, they said, “Oh, you’re working on this thing.” They show up not knowing what a podcast is at all and bring some gifts related to something they are promoting.
There is nothing more boring than a person who does not deviate from his message. I have found that it actually does the opposite of what is intended. Readers instantly click away. You should promote the Trojan.
The reason people listen to podcasts is to hear weird things about people’s lives. It’s as if you can catch a glimpse. So, it’s about something or a movie or something that someone hasn’t seen yet. This is difficult. The thing I’ve learned is that it seems like every big star, every big person who’s been on the podcast, is not only an immediate yes — but when they come, they’re the whole game. Oh, I can see why you’ve managed to achieve this so far. It’s easy to work with you. You are excited. Not only are you funny, you’re good at working with people and like to play with them.
Do you have any beluga whales?
Yes, Martha Stewart. I would love to partner with Amy Sedaris, but she’s in New York and doesn’t do a lot of podcasting.
Your podcast is produced by Exactly Right Media Network and Studio, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark veers heavily towards true crime because My favorite murder. Do you know what the overlap is with your audience? Are you courting true crime fans?
The majority of them want nothing to do with my podcast. There is a group of My favorite murder I think listeners are largely interested in the comedy side of it. They love true crime, but they also love comedy. This small group loves podcasts. But I think a lot of their listeners, initially, were very upset by my podcast. They would hear ads for it and they would say, “Why are they making this?” (He laughs.)
If you were a podcaster, Brother, what problematic political figure would you feature?
If you are Joe Rogan?
Yes.
What a terrible question. Do you know who I would like to face? Barry Weiss. Stupid of the year. Whatever is going on there is too crazy for me.
Aimee Mann wrote and performed the theme song for I said no giftsWhich is honestly why I started listening in the first place. It’s a myth. Did you have to pay her?
No, she’s a saint. In fact, I bet there was something legal, just because of the network, that they probably paid her a small amount. But it was like she was doing it for free. I hope you get new fans through the podcast. I think the song deserves the award. Her husband, Michael Penn, helped produce it. They did a great job with the vague directions I gave them. And now that song should be a single. It’s funny that the only way you can listen to it is by force listening to my podcast, but I think you can turn off the podcast after 45 seconds and you’ll get what you need.
