Chris Black and Jason Stewart on their bro-y culture podcasts unexpected appeal.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
It was filled with lower-Manhattan and Brooklyn types: hoodies, denim, good jackets.
Tonights gig, however, was sold out.
The show was a bit of a mess, however.
Roman decided she had to go upstate or something, Black said onstage.
Im assuming shes making kimchee out of ramps, some important business thing, added Stewart.)
It was a tricky scene to parse.
How Long Goneingeneralcan be a tricky phenomenon to wrap your head around.
Since its launch as a pandemic project in March 2020,How Long Gonehas endured several rounds of buzz.
This included aglowing profile inVoguelast November and anotherin the New YorkTimesshortly before the start of the tour.
(Sample color: I didnt realize Sharon Van Etten was in theTwin Peaksreboot.
Did you catch that?
I barely caught the firstTwin Peaks.
Tough to follow, even with drugs.)
The set comes out this week.
For the uninitiated,How Long Gonecan be a hard sell.
These reactions are reasonable; I wont deny it.
it’s possible for you to already see the problem here.
reads the manifesto ofThe Drunken Canal, the unofficial rag of the scene.)
My coolest friend listens to this show, said another fan, a podcast executive.
Shes someone who is legitimately Dimes Square cool.
She added, unprompted, She is also potentially the wokest person I know.
What, exactly, makes this rambling podcast by two straight white men so cool?
Is it even allowed to be?
Bro, do you think I can explain this shit?
said Black, when I visited the pair back in October.
We were in the greenroom a few hours before the Bowery Ballroom show.
Stewart was already a beer in.
Look, hopefully thats just the je ne sais quoiwe have, he said.
You feel like youre part of a conversation thats easy to jump in and out of.
I mean, a lot of podcasts, you have to pay attention, know what I mean?
Black is the hustler, the energy man.
He speaks quickly, thinks out loud, and works his interlocutors like a featherweight boxer.
(Black, I should note,occasionally contributes toNew Yorks the Strategist.)
In contrast, Stewart is quieter in person, content to slink in the background during our chat.
The roles feel contiguous: Heres someone whos good at teeing other people up to do their thing.
Earlier this year, Stewart committed to really sitting down to produce the show.
Its more hours spent, but I enjoy it.
He listens through every recording like game tape, occasionally giving notes to Black for future conversations.
Then again, the logic behind spraying and praying is that its all content.
Of course, we have bad interviews, but its still important to upload that, said Stewart.
You heard Marc Maron talk to Jerry Seinfeld.
That shit was disastrous, said Black.
I love when a podcast is going downhill, Stewart added.
Lets make it fun.
Black mostly handles guest outreach, a role that plays into his natural talents and agency-world connection.
Its not that hard when you like doing it.
Theres something overly knowing and occasionally indifferent about how Chris and Jason approach interviews, Caramanica noted.
Its almost anti-interviewing, and that can lead into more natural conversation.
The guys also have an obvious talent for attention.
Among the more amusing examples: the shows original podcast art, an unmistakable rip-off ofThe Dailys.
The duo was compelled to change the art after theTimessent a complaint.
Black and Stewart latersold T-shirts about the whole thing.
Black tells me they dont mull over things too much.
If we do, it becomes work, you know?
This is perhaps the core of their creative practice.
The actual, measurable size ofHow Long Gones audience remains unclear.
The meaning of that metric isnt the cleanest, even in the notoriously hard-to-measure podcast business.
In any case, Black and Stewart claim they dont pay close attention to the figures.
Being relevant culturally and people caring about it is more important to me than the numbers, said Black.
I dont even look at them.
Thats the thing its all about the optics, said Stewart.
And from an optics standpoint, the show gives off the feeling of an upswing.
The tour, similarly, was designed with an eye for flair.
We didnt want to play corny theaters.
If theHow Long Goneguys have a specific gift, its that of making something out of nothing.
One gets a sense of them as men willing themselves into notoriety.
Whats more important, anyway?
Ambiguous download counts or a growing mythology that includes your own line of coffee?
Of course, Black and Stewarts brash style has its detractors.
Even the shows fans admit having qualms.
ButHow Long Gones followers find a way of squaring these antics.
Even if I dont like what theyre saying, I find myself chuckling.
They dont edit themselves into being better people than they actually are.
Say what you want about them, theyre definitely committed to being interesting.
When asked if they ever worry about coming across as insensitive, Black and Stewart waved the question away.
Oh, I dont give a fuck about that, said Black.
If you get offended by me saying something you like is whack, this aint for you, chief.
Thats the world we live in.
He also shrugged off the less flattering perceptions of their show.
And they get to hear a conversation, and hopefully they get to learn some things.
Jason and I are just sweet, normal guys deep down inside, Black added.
Were easy to talk to.
Were not confrontational people.
Thats not what our approach is.
Being opinionated or being confrontational are two different things.
On the whole, the tour was incredible, Black told me.
I asked how far they were hoping to take this.
TV, for sure, Black replied without missing a beat.
Stewart was less laser-focused.
They describe their proposed TV series in the vein of another podcast-to-television jumper.
I believe we can service a market thats relatively underserviced.
Its all too easy to roll your eyes.
But these guys think they can pull it off.
And what is the straight white culture bro if not persistent?
