Joystiq - Podcast Profiles

Joystiq is a fairly well-known gaming blog --the "motherblog" if you will of a whole bunch of other blogs like Xbox 360 Fanboy and Nintendo Wii Fanboy-- and with good reason, since it's one of the funniest and most frequently updated around. Not as many people may be familiar with the Joystiq Podcast however, and that's a shame, as it's truly excellent.

It has three regular hosts: Chris Grant, the boss, Ludwig Kietzmann, an unrepentant pun-maker and token South African, and Justin McElroy, the "silly one." Every episode follows an unbending structure, starting with what they've all been playing for the last week, then the news, then the Big Three (the three most popular Joystiq posts for the week), the Brush With Fame, and e-mails. It used to be the Brush With Fame was Justin randomly mentioning a commenter's name, but recently it evolved into an actual trivia contest with honest-to-goodness prizes.

A typical moment on the show started with a strange crackling sound. "Are you eating Chiclets?" Chris asked. Justin said "No!" defensively, then in a matter-of-fact tone "I'm opening a yo-yo." Because that's the kind of guy Justin is, he's not going to let producing a podcast stop him from doing other things like playing with a yo-yo, or eating Pretzel Flipz, or mysteriously leaving for 10 minutes without telling anyone where he went or why. Justin's also the progenitor of virtually all of Joystiq's memes, some of which involve firing him, wearing his skin as a suit, or having something carry something in something else -- alliteratively (i.e. a bear with a bird in his backpack).

That's not to discount the contributions of Chris or Ludwig. At any moment Chris may bust out his old prospector voice or complain about his feet falling asleep on the toilet while he's playing PSP. Ludwig mines much comedy from talking about life in a third world country where he often rides a lion to the marketplace to watch the puppet theater, and is as fanatically devoted to puns as any man is devoted to any thing on this Earth.

Check out the Joystiq Podcast homepage!