This article comes from an interview conducted with Alex Schmidt, friend of The Guru and host of Secretly Incredibly Fascinating, available on Podcast Guru or wherever you enjoy podcasts.
Can you share what your podcast is about and who would enjoy it?
It’s an indie show made by me, Alex Schmidt. I’m a comedy writer and Jeopardy! Champion. I use those skills to find the most interesting ideas in the world and talk about them with the funniest people I know. Each episode takes one thing that seems ordinary, then drills into the history and science and stories that make that thing secretly incredibly fascinating. Some episode topics so far: post offices, ketchup, the color gray, cattle, grocery stores.
If readers only listen to one episode of your podcast, which one would you recommend and why?
You might’ve seen the news about the planet Venus showing signs of life! We did an episode about Venus the week before that news broke, and we covered a lot of the research laying the groundwork for that discovery. We also did a bonus show about the most plausible plan for a manned mission to Venus. Maybe that mission happens now! Cloud City here we come!
What podcasts or other media have influenced or inspired you?
I learned almost everything I know from past colleagues: Jack O’Brien (now hosting The Daily Zeitgeist), Adam Tod Brown (now hosting/producing Unpopular Opinion), Brett Rader (now producing at Yahoo Sports), and the Earwolf team. Without those experiences, there’s no way I could make a show on my own.
Do you have any advice you can share with anyone considering getting into podcasting?
Publish your show on more apps than just Apple. More and more listeners are switching to newer, better apps (such as Podcast Guru! Not an ad, just a fact!). Get your show listed everywhere, then organize those options in a single link with a service like Linktree. Seamless onboarding = more listeners.
Ask yourself whether your podcast needs to be endless. We stopped making ‘Kurt Vonneguys’ once we covered all the books Kurt Vonnegut published in life. Knowing that endpoint helped us shape the whole series.
What would you consider to be a “dream come true” outcome for your show?
What would you consider to be a “dream come true” outcome for your show?I want ‘SIF’ to reach a level of support where I can pay guests. (Please support us on Patreon!) Every podcast that has the means to pay guests should do it.
Beyond that, I’m just grateful for the listener’s reaction to ‘SIF’ so far. It’s an independent, homemade podcast. So it means the world anytime somebody checks it out.
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