Six hours of Uncle Larry 2.0

Oh my gosh! I’d forgotten this atrocity existed. Perhaps I blocked it out of my memory.

I’ll never forget my original “Uncle Larry’s Most Requested.” It was my 2003 first-stab at poking the short-lived “Carson Daly >> Most Requested” syndicated radio show. As I browsed my computer’s D-drive, I came across this reboot of “Uncle Larry’s Most Requested” (like it needed one?) inside an unassuming, nondescript folder.

What’s worse: I made six friggin’ hours of this horrible show.

Backstory on “Uncle Larry” round two

My long-time childhood buddy from middle and high school moved into my college dorm. What would you do if every night was a party with one of your best friends?

Naturally, you’d record six weekly pirate radio broadcast hours of crappy 80s R&B and tired 90s pop music. :-/

As the weeks You can actually hear my buddy’s enthusiasm gradually evaporate as he realized just how horrible this show was. It’s one thing when a broadcast project is intentionally lazy. When it turns out badly, nobody bats an eye. But this show seemed to mirror the formatics of a real syndicated show. It’s premise wasn’t bad. But the execution is really, really, really bad.

The only reason this show is salvageable, is thanks to my buddy (“Cousin Gary”) who was there every week — until he knew it was time to grab a life boat. And, of course, a friend at work (“Sister Sherry”) who volunteered to call in, since I knew the pirate transmitter was getting us jack squat.

The good

It was an actual show.
We put some planning into it, including a lot of amusing pre-produced bits.
As harsh as my above criticism is, as I actually sit down to listen to this show, I find myself occasionally laughing out loud. Perhaps its that same paternal instinct that a father has, when he laughs hysterically at something rather lame his toddler says. This show is my estranged baby.
We executed everything live, which is a rarity in today’s podcasting world.

The bad

Seriously? “Walk the Dinosaur”? What moron picked this crap? (me)
It often tries too hard (or not hard enough) to be funny, and falls flat.
A few of the funnier bits were stolen.
Equipment issues galore. It’s six hours of buzz and static. Thankfully, the sub-par content and acting masks our technical issues.
My “Uncle Larry” character voice sounds like a guy doing a character voice = BAD

Perhaps this is the pirate broadcast which drove my buddy into law school. (He now makes seven times what I do).

The recordings

Here are all six unedited hours. I haven’t even bothered to sit down and re-listened to these. So who knows what terribly embarrassing bits I have recorded in these. So, if you on a car ride from San Francisco to Las Vegas, and want to find a way to destroy long-term friendships with your passengers, I recommend starting with hour number one:

Week #1, first half-hour