Audience of Two
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Audience of Two is a radio comedy program broadcast since 2001 on Swarthmore College radio station WSRN, but made popular to the world via the internet.
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Overview
The setting of Audience of Two is a double universe. Roughly half the time, the show consists of comedic sketches and improvs. The other half the time, the show deals with the equally imaginative narrative adventures of the crew running the show. For example, the 5th season opened up with an imaginative trilogy dealing with the epic adventures of the show's cast. For example:
- 'Danielle Keifert' and 'Gerrit Hall' blow up the radio station and hitchhike across America
- 'Ben Masten' strikes it big in Hollywood before retreating to his boyhood hog farm in Arno, Tennessee
- 'Sam Dingman' becomes the minister of anti-war activities in France before taking a trip in a magic washing machine to a Mongolian prison.
On May 15-16, 2003, the show broke WSRN records with a 23-hour consecutive broadcast.
Notable Episodes
- 'Sexual Perversity in Chicago' -- The birth of the popular segment, "Ask Dr. Flav"
- 'And Now... More' -- A road trip interspersed with various comedic skits
- 'Hork' -- A weird vision of a future ravaged by the Atkin's Diet
- 'Tap-Dancing with Nixon' -- Communists from Kaputskistan invade
- 'Wombat Wombat' -- A send-up of the war on terror
- 'Behind the Moats' -- A station like NPR analyzes love
- 'I Like Carrots' -- A murder mystery episode, the outcome of which surprised even members of the cast
Popular Skits
- 'The Real-igious world' -- MTV's the Real World with major and minor religious deities, such as Jesus (portrayed as a southern cowboy), Buddha (a spaced-out hippie), Aphrodite ("skank-tastic"), and, inexplicably, Queen Latifah (a Minnesotan trucker).
- 'Guv'na & the Missus' -- Two British aristocrats living in colonial Africa try to find time to get intimate while being interrupted by their butler, "Chives."
Current Status
On May 16th 2004 the season 7 finale ("Honeymoon Hotel") was broadcast, taking the form of a two hour live performance at Swarthmore College.
The show's 8th season was marked by a radical change, scrapping the popular audio format in favor of a printed magazine. The magazine was edited by Ben Masten, (who penned a well-liked column entitled "The Art of Boinking") and eschewed the highbrow wordplay of the radio series in favor of vulgar language and scatological humor. The change proved to be unpopular, and distribution of the magazine was blocked in all cities except for Philadelphia and Charleston, WV, where it built a mild fan base. To help ease this controversy, Masten dedicated the back page of the magazine to G.T. Boswell, the official Audience of Two authority/biographer, who had been one of the most vocal critics of the transition. Though audience-favorite Sam Dingman recently signed on as senior writer, the magazine's future remains uncertain, as former Audience of Two cast members Dave Conners, Danielle Keifert, and Evan Hensleigh have not yet endorsed the new publication.
Notable Characters
Real-life characters
- 'Ben Camp'
- 'Sam Dingman'
- 'Gerrit Hall'
- 'Ben Masten'
- 'Danielle Keifert'
- 'Neal Dandade'
- 'Dave Conners' - Inexplicably silent
Secondary characters
- 'P.J. Narrator' - The show's curmudgeonly, alcoholic narrator.
- 'Ironfist H. Petuniastomp' - The evil boss of Audience of Two, along with the rest of the world.
- 'Orpheus D. Orphan' - Plucky Italian stereotype.
Celebrity Guests
Celebrity guests include, but are not limited to:
- Stephen Colbert -- Daily Show
- Dan Savage -- Advice Columnist
- Aaron McGruder -- Boondocks Cartoonist
- Roger Babb -- Expert in Modern Theater
External links
- The Official Audience of Two Website (http://www.audienceoftwo.com/)