the mr nice guy show
Posted by podcastfanatic on December 30, 2006
The Statistics
What’s it Called? The Mr Nice Guy Show
Where can I find the show? http://mrniceguy.org/
When was the first episode produced? February 2005
How long is the average episode? 15-20 minutes
How often is an episode released? A couple of times per week
The Review
I firmly believe that podcasters fall into two categories: those who have serendipitously taken advantage of a brave new medium and those who were born to podcast but needed technology to catch up with them. Marv, host of The Mr Nice GuyShow, is definitely in the second category. He clearly loves to ‘broadcast’ but his personality, and I suspect his intelligence, prevented him finding a niche in traditional media. Marv is no formulaic talking head. Thank God.
Episodes are generally in the 15-20 minute range and each is normally devoted to one of Marv’s staple topics. In the space of a couple of weeks a subscriber to The Mr Nice Guy Show might find episodes containing scathing commentary on traditional media, cool websites to check out (Marv has a great knack of finding sites you didn’t know you needed but now can’t live without), details of interesting books due for release, commentary on pop culture and an audio tour of his local shopping centre. Regardless of the topic the show is always presented with humour, insight and a well-honed sense of the ironic.
Marv’s quirky personality and likes and dislikes are evident throughout the show. His obsession with all things Canadian, distrust of big business, love for libraries, struggle to be a vegetarian while secretly coveting meat, dreams that people will think for themselves and desire for a more polite world are all evident in both the topics Marv chooses to cover and his observations on those topics. The show really is about Marv’s take on the world and, while his view might not always be the same as the listener’s, it’s refreshing to hear someone share their honest opinions about a wide variety of subjects without insulting those who might disagree with those opinions.
The audio quality is normally good although a bit patchy when Marv is on location. Marv, like many podcasters it seems, experiments with portable recording equipment. The show’s website contains complete archives, show notes and links to the websites Marv discusses (Links to Info Mentioned on the left hand side of the home page) but doesn’t have a facility for listeners to interact with each other (eg comments or forums). Marv does encourage listeners to email him directly and occasionally incorporates his correspondence into the show
The Rating
Will stay subscribed and, almost always, listen right through.
Reviewer: Bernadette
Date review first published: July 2006 (at Podcast Alley)
