The podcast Welcome to Night Vale has been a hit for over a year now, which makes me officially late to the party. But everyone who I say “OH MY GOSH DO YOU LISTEN TO WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE I LOVE IT SO MUCH” to says, “huh?” so I feel like it’s still appropriate for me to write about it and encourage you to check it out.
From the show’s wikipedia entry:
“The show has been described as “the news from Lake Wobegon as seen through the eyes of Stephen King”, and Christopher Wynn of The Dallas Morning News characterized it as “NPR meets The Mothman Prophecies.” The Daily Dot’s Gavia Baker-Whitelaw compared the podcast as being “caught somewhere between Weird Twitter and ‘Tales of the Unexplained'” and that it is “well worth a listen—although possibly not after dark, if you live in a small town yourself.” Colin Griffith of The AV Club said the show is “really well done, offering a surrealist/absurdist (and occasionally existentialist) take on community radio, with dispatches from the small, delectably nightmarish desert town of Night Vale.” Writing for TechGeek, Erin Hill considered the uniqueness of the podcast to be because of “its presentation of what is ordinary”, adding that “many of the things that Cecil reports on goes against our idea of normal, but is presented in a manner that makes it seem mundane.”
My favorite description of it is the simple line from their site, “Turn on your radio and hide.”
The very week I discovered it they did a live show in Brooklyn, and I was able to snag tickets on StubHub and go with my friend Craig. The live show was so much fun, and because I seem to be extra obsessed (and lucky, since it sold out in 30 seconds) I’m also going to their next Brooklyn show at The Bell House next month.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE. They tweet amazing things from @NightValeRadio. Like so:
This sounds AWESOME! I’ve been looking for cool podcasts to subscribe to anyway, so thanks for the recommendation.