<\/p>\n
On Dec. 4, Amy Poehler hosted a live recording of her less-than-a-year-old podcast, \u201cGood Hang,\u201d at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. The crowd wasn\u2019t just packed, it was fully engaged and cheered for pretty much anything (even Poehler\u2019s admission that she\u2019d forgotten the start time of the show).<\/p>\n
This is important because, as one of her guests, comedian Ron Funches, pointed out<\/u><\/a>, \u201cDon\u2019t they know podcasts are free? They are severely overpaying.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, I know he said it because, even though I live mere miles from the Fonda, I watched a video recording of the event on YouTube.<\/p>\n Podcast listening is, historically, a solo experience: Put in some earbuds or crank up the car stereo, sit back and let blossom a parasocial relationship with strangers who tell stories in such a way that they become our smartest, funniest or most talented friends. Because we can take them anywhere, they keep us connected to life outside of our small orbits. While promoting her new movie, \u201cDie My Love,\u201d actor Jennifer Lawrence said she parents her young child while an AirPod blasts murder podcasts<\/u><\/a> into one of her ears.<\/p>\n However, going to a theater to see these podcast performers live can feel like the exact opposite: Strangers with the same niche interest crowding into one place in not just rapt, but maybe even a bit rabid, attention.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are people who don\u2019t go out to shows,\u201d says Joe Schwartz, a comedy touring and live events agent at United Talent Agency. \u201cThis might be the first show they\u2019ve ever bought tickets to because podcasters are reaching different people than your average music fan or your average comedy fan.\u201d<\/p>\n Hosts also don\u2019t have to be beloved comedians like Poehler. Schwartz says that podcast fans may seem like passive listeners, but get them all in a room together and it might as well be the Eras tour.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just as loud whether there\u2019s fire cannons or not,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen these podcasters walk on stage \u2026 it\u2019s deafening. I have to put my hands over my ears. And I\u2019ve done that many times.\u201d<\/p>\n As they become bigger, productions also must find ways to make them more lucrative.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re also increasingly in a media landscape that is paying more and more attention to these creators, and it\u2019s bleeding into traditional media,\u201d says Sarah Mathews, a digital talent agent at UTA. \u201cThey\u2019re only going to get bigger and we\u2019ll probably only get closer and closer to a more direct comparison of an Eras tour. Maybe the next podcaster who is doing a stadium tour can compete with Taylor Swift or Bad Bunny.\u201d<\/p>\n Podcasting has been around for decades (some might even remember when it was simply called radio). And although some stars are turning off their mics, like comedian Marc Maron did when he ended his seminal \u201cWTF\u201d podcast in October, they are still industry moneymakers.<\/p>\n The 2026 Golden Globes<\/a> will feature their first-ever podcast category, with \u201cGood Hang\u201d being one of the six nominees. This year, the British Podcast Awards were dubbed \u201cthe Oscars of the medium\u201d by the country\u2019s the Observer<\/u><\/a> newspaper. In August, comedians Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang hosted the first-ever televised Las Culturistas Culture Awards, usually honored on their successful pop culture gabfest \u201cLas Culturistas.\u201d<\/p>\n The Interactive Advertising Bureau reported<\/u><\/a> this year that podcasting \u201cis on track to approach the $2.6 billion mark by 2026\u201d with comedy and sports continuing to be the most attractive to listeners. Apple\u2019s list of the most popular podcasts<\/u><\/a> of the year, which was released in November, includes the less-serious or comedy-skewing (\u201cThe Joe Rogan Experience\u201d; \u201cCall Her Daddy\u201d) but also motivational (\u201cThe Mel Robbins Podcast\u201d) and news and features (\u201cThis American Life\u201d; \u201cThe Daily\u201d).<\/p>\n Not translating these successes to podcast tours is leaving money on the table. Some shows, like Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino\u2019s \u201cOff Book: The Improvised Musical\u201d \u2014 where their whole shtick is to make a musical from scratch on the spot \u2014 were born for these moments. Similarly, Georgia Hardstark is an experienced TV presenter and actor, and Karen Kilgariff a trained comedian. Their recently completed \u201cMy Favorite Murder\u201d live tour also made it interesting with surprise guests and their genuine delight in seeing audiences in hyper-specific cosplay.<\/p>\n \u201cMany top podcast tours now rival live music and comedy tours in venue size, routing and ticket sales. We are also seeing incredibly strong merch numbers at these shows due to the strength of their fan bases,\u201d says UTA agent Jackie Knobbe, who represents \u201cMy Favorite Murder\u2019s\u201d live business.<\/p>\n And, oh the fan bases.<\/p>\n Hardstark and Kilgariff remember the moment they realized that live shows for \u201cMy Favorite Murder\u201d were never going to die.<\/p>\n In 2016, they were asked to perform at the Chicago Podcast Festival. They thought they\u2019d be opening for someone else, but the demand was high enough that they quickly sold out the nearly 1,000-seat Athenaeum Center as headliners. At the end of the show, the performers told their audience they\u2019d be in the lobby, expecting to meet a few fans. Three hours of photographs, hugs and signings later \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cThat night, we realized we have to figure out what we\u2019re going to be doing and the kind of show we\u2019re going to give as opposed to what I\u2019d always seen, which is people getting those Costco folding tables and four guys sitting and facing the audience,\u201d Hardstark says.<\/p>\n But jazz hands and true crime aren\u2019t the only titillations that will get fans to live shows. Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell\u2019s popular British podcast \u201cThe Rest Is Politics\u201d sold headlined London\u2019s 20,000-seat O2 Arena. <\/p>\n