Since this has been a crazy week for me with issues at work and with my flaky computer, I haven’t been able to geek out about new finds. I can’t let other geeksters down though, which is why I’m letting people know about an amazing podcast/theatre show that I have learned recently many people are still unaware of. 

The Thrilling Adventure Hour is, as the headline, proclaims, “the nation’s favorite new-time podcast in the style of old-time radio.” If you have ever listened to Garrison Keillor on A Prairie Home Companion, you’ll be familiar with this style of radio program, telling stories over the radio like one might have heard during the 1930s. The difference with TAH is that these stories are not your great-grandfather’s stories.

TAH is made up of several small stories written and created by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, cut from their 1-2 hour stage show at Largo. Stories range from week to week, and in each story you find the same actors and guest stars reading for characters completely different than the previous episode.

• “Sparks Nevada: Marshall on Mars” — Sparks (Mark Evan Jackson) is a Gunsmoke-type Marshall in the future, when we have terraformed Mars and humans have moved to the red planet. Alongside him is his deputy, Croach, a Martian who proclaimed Honus to Sparks for the many times he has helped Sparks and Sparks has helped him. With Sparks are also The Red Plains Rider, Cactoid Jim (played by a different space cowboy we all know and love), Pemily Stalwater (played by his daughter from another show), the barkeep, and more. Sparks uses sci-fi and westerns to blend geek culture into something that actually makes me a fan of westerns.
• “Beyond Belief” — Frank and Sadie Doyle (Paul F. Thompkins and Paget Brewster) are mediums who are constantly harassed to help solve ghostly problems, keeping them from their preferred hobby – drinking. This is my favorite segment of this podcast, and I have even spent weeks at work listening to only this show. Acker and Blacker successfully use horror-movie tropes and throw them at Frank and Sadie at every turn.
• “Amelia Earhart, Fearless Flyer, and Colonel Tick Tock” — Both are time travelers from different points in history, but never seem to meet up with each other for most of the show. Amelia Earhart faked her death to fight Nazis who stole time-travel technology and have been regularly trying to start WWII in different points in Time. Colonel Tick Tock (a Doctor Who parody) travels time and fixes time splits, meeting many famous heroes of time.
• “Captain Laserbeam” — Take Superman and make him self-centered, then combine Batman and Aquaman. There we have Captain Laserbeam and Phillip Fathom. Both heroes have their own teams of kids who watch the streets for devilish demons such as the Fishwife, Foxy Burlesque, Anti-Claus, or even the Lying Dutchman (the puns just get worse from there). The trouble is, The Adventure-caters want to join Captain Laserbeam in his battles, but Captain Laserbeam wishes to protect them, and he has them in spirit anyway (and spirit is worth more than 10,000 lasers – also, he’ll have his 10,000 lasers).

There are many other great stories you’ll find on Thrilling Adventure Hour, which ended its run of shows back in August. The entire run of podcasts remains online to be devoured by new and old audiences alike.

If you want to find more about the show, check out the behind-the-scenes feature they posted on YouTube.

Also, if you have recommendations for anything you feel I should talk about in my blogs, feel free to post them in the comments, send me a tweet @Bartman42, or email them to kylanandken@gmail.com.