Comic takes act on tour, podcast
Tech-savvy comedian Aisha Tyler chats it up on TV and the Internet,
Comedian Aisha Tyler, co-host of CBS’ The Talk, is one committed tech geek.
When not dishing it with the ladies on CBS’ answer to ABC’S The View, Tyler hosts and produces her own weekly interview podcast. That show,
Girl on Guy, was picked by Apple at the end of 2011 as the best new comedy podcast.
We met Tyler, who used to host E’s Talk Soup, on the set of The Talk in Hollywood. She talked about podcast production, travel gear and how the Internet brought her closer to fans.
‘Girl on Guy’
It’s “a show about stuff guys love, brought to you by the ultimate guys’ girl, a show that focuses on action movies, sports, beermaking and tech.” Guests have included comedian Drew Carey and musician Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. “I’m not just the interviewer. I produce it, post it, engineer it. . . . I do everything.”
The production
She uses two Shure microphones, one each for her and the guest, connected to her ipad. She records backups simultaneously to an iphone and ipod Touch.
She edits it afterward in Apple’s Final Cut Pro video software — even though it’s audio. “It’s kind of like using a Maserati to drive to the supermarket, but I didn’t want to learn new software. I’m comfortable with Final Cut.”
Tyler created her Aishatyler.com website with Apple’s iweb software but farmed out her iphone and Android app to her podcast syndication company.
Why the show
“I wanted to make something that was just my own. I wanted to bring the things I was excited about to my fans. And it’s a great opportunity for me to stalk people whose work I love, because I’m a fan, too.”
Gear she can’t live without
On weekends, when she tours to perform comedy, Tyler brings a lot of Apple gear and accessories. She totes an ipad with a Bluetooth keyboard, iphone, ipod Touch, Macbook Pro, HTC Evo phone, Shure microphones, white WESC headphones and a Jambox portable speaker. “Every podcaster should have at least one obnoxiously hip item that they use,” she says of the headphones. “It makes me look official and a little pretentious.”
Podcasting brings her closer to fans than TV
“It’s so personal, and people react to podcasts in such a specific way. They listen in their car, in their headphones. It’s just your voice and your guest’s voice, and they’re the third person in this conversation. There’s an informality and intimacy people develop with you when they listen to your podcast.”
How she convinces guests to do her show
“You’ll spend 90 minutes talking about your work, your process, how you became the person you are, and you will never get that opportunity in any other medium. When you go on a talk show it’s fabulous, but you only get six minutes. On Girl on Guy you get a minimum of 60, and you get to say dirty words.”