CHICAGO — Local podcast enthusiast Megan Castillo was seen casually folding a hamper full of freshly dried laundry during a live taping of her favorite true-crime show “My Own Worst Nightmare” at the Chicago Theater late Tuesday night, attendees who wish they had thought of that report.
“It is all about recreating the experience of listening to the show at home,” said Castillo while expertly folding a fitted sheet from the balcony area. “Since I thought it would be rude to run my vacuum in the theater I figured I’d bang out some of the more quiet chores on my list. I even purchased the seats on either side of me so I can have a to-do pile and a done pile just like at home. I only wish the show wasn’t ages eighteen and up or I would have brought my toddler along to interrupt the show every ten minutes because I can’t handle this nonstop pace.”
Leo Nash, one of the hosts of “My Own Worst Nightmare,” also took notice of what Castillo was doing.
“I am not going to lie, I’ve dealt with hecklers before but seeing a person just stand up and start doing their laundry really threw me off my game,” host Nash said between the recordings of his five different podcasts. “We try to do these live events to give our audience something different than what they get on their phones, but that doesn’t seem to be what the people want. I have to get used to the fact that some people in the audience will zone out and do other tasks while listening to us. We’ve also thought about lining the front of the stage with treadmills and stationary bikes for the fitness freaks who listen to us.”
Dr. Sonja Holloway PhD, professor of New Media Studies at DePaul University explains this is a very common occurrence.
“When hosts do live shows they are going to have to be prepared to see people in their audience chop vegetables, do dishes, or even put on eye masks and go to sleep,” Dr. Holloway said while “Pod Save America” played softly in the background. “This isn’t a piece of music with which you are emotionally connected or a movie whose plot you have to which you have to pay attention. This is an altogether new medium that is meant to be consumed casually and half-heartedly while you do meaningless tasks.”
As of press time, Castillo had reached out to the hosts asking if next time they can talk at 1.5x speed.