Warning: Video contains swearing and adult themes.
Uhh Yeah Dude is an American comedy podcast hosted by Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Larroquette.
It was launched in 2006 and despite the pair not being famous before the podcast, never advertising it and never having guests, has frequently featured on the coveted iTunes podcast front page and in Podcast Alley's top ten list.
The podcast is described as "a weekly roundup of America through the eyes of two American Americans". Romatelli and Larroquette discuss a diverse range of topics regularly including TV shows, news stories, food, drugs, study findings, bizarre Craigslist messages, USA Today snapshots, celebrity sightings and several observations on their day-to-day life in Los Angeles, California.
After listening to Uhh Yeah Dude for a few years, I wanted to meet the men behind the voices. I tracked them down in Denver, Colorado, where they were recording a live podcast in front of a sold out audience.
"We're offering our opinions about specific American things, and then out of that comes the comedy," says Romatelli, expanding on what the show actually is.
"We've hit upon something where everyone is like, 'oh f**k, that's exactly what I think, or that's exactly what I do,'" says Larroquette.
While Uhh Yeah Dude is hilarious, it is comprised of conversation rather than jokes.
"Obviously we're trying to make people laugh, but we don't try to write jokes. I try to make Seth laugh, he makes me laugh, everyone else seems to find that funny," says Larroquette.
"F**k jokes," adds Romatelli.
"It's like, you have a buddy who you drink with, who is like the funniest guy you've ever met, and you've known him since you were a child. He doesn't tell jokes, he's just the funniest motherf**ker ever."
Uhh Yeah Dude is completely free - all of the 379 hour-long episodes released so far can be downloaded from iTunes or websites like feedburner.com.
An early regular segment of Uhh Yeah Dude that helped gain them popularity focussed on a TV show the hosts were obsessed with - To Catch a Predator.
The Dateline NBC show used decoys impersonating underage girls and boys to lure potential sexual predators into a house fitted with hidden cameras before delivering them to law enforcement agents.
"There was something about the vigilante nature, the Wild West nature of it," says Romatelli on his love for To Catch a Predator.
"Going in ahead of time, pre-planning and stopping horrendous things from happening. And you're watching it all on TV in your living room. So this is the greatest country in the world, that we have this show."
Uhh Yeah Dude includes a lot of very adult comedy that sometimes finds the funny side of very dark subject matter, but the guys insist nothing they do is malicious.
"We talk a lot of shit and we hold things to a pretty high standard, including things that are completely inappropriate, but I don't think that we're cruel," says Larroquette.
"Sometimes shitty comedians make shitty rape jokes because they're shitty shitheads that aren't funny," says Romatelli.
"They defend it but it's not funny, because they're shitty shitheads that aren't funny. And like, they're creepy creeps. But I think people like us, our intent is in the right place - that's half the battle."
When Romatelli and Larroquette started Uhh Yeah Dude, their listeners numbered a handful of family members and friends. Now, it is one of the most successful comedy podcasts in the world. Not bad for a show that consists of two friends chatting about, well, anything…
"It's about American culture, day-to-day life in the United States, what we see in commercials, what happens when you're in a Starbucks," says Romatelli.
"I still can't explain it, after seven and a half years. You just have to listen to it."
For more information check out the official Uhh Yeah Dude website or Facebook page.
3 News
source: newshub archive
