It’s relatively rare for a podcast to last 14 years, especially a fictional podcast. In fact, as far as I can tell, welcome to night vale It is the longest continuously running fiction podcast. (Some would argue that it is actually we are aliveBut it has taken some significant breaks between seasons.) The story of the titular desert city of Night Vale has now spanned 12 seasons, over 280 episodes, three books, and at least 10 live standalone shows. Although devoting several hundred hours of your life to listening to every episode may seem like a big ask, I believe once you get into it you will be hooked.
The show is written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, who draw heavily on the work of HP Lovecraft. Each season has its own arc, but broadly speaking, the show tells the story of a city that exists in an alternate version of Earth. Angels are real in this town, but acknowledging their existence is illegal; Librarians are dangerous creatures with “a thousand thorny legs” and “pincers”; And there is an anonymous old woman who secretly lives in your house.
These are clearly troubling concepts when taken at face value. But instead of trying to scare the listener, Cranor and Fink lean into the natural absurdity of cosmic terror and refuse to take themselves too seriously. They routinely subvert the archetypes of their inspiration by using Lovecraftian creations to tell stories rich with LGBTQ+ characters.
Of course, having a well-written script and telling a compelling story is only part of the equation. what gets you high welcome to night vale Of true greatness are the cast, especially narrator Cecil Baldwin, who plays Central radio show host Cecil Palmer. Cecil’s voice has the ability to tell ominous tales of secret government agencies and ancient gods. But she does have a knack for light-hearted banter with a sensitive patch of fog (her name is Deb, in case you were wondering).
Cecil Baldwin has the charisma to make even reading a repair manual for a toaster seem fascinating. He can often be scary, funny, or soothing in the same episode. (For this reason, I do not suggest listening to night valley At night. I have fallen asleep to the sweet sound of Baldwin’s voice many times, only to have the more disturbing parts of the show come to my dreams.)
Each episode also includes a musical interlude in the guise of “The Weather”. The show features mostly lesser-known artists, but alumni include Jason Isbell, The Mountain Goats, Waxahatchee, Angel Olsen, Open Mic Eagle, and Sylvan Esso.
welcome to night vale It’s also a great way to introduce young audiences to horror. I would never suggest my eight year old read HP Lovecraft. Partly because the man’s unrepentant racism is implicit in the structure of his stories, but also because the violence is often too much for children. night valleyIt, on the other hand, takes those horrors and exposes them for what they are: entertainment. I can play a podcast, pair it with my child’s growing love of all things creepy and weird, and trust that they’ll walk away with a good message.
welcome to night vale Apple Podcasts is available on most podcast platforms, including PocketCasts, YouTube, and Spotify.
<a href