When a Podcast Becomes a Prophecy

Wil Anderson and Charlie Clausen started an AFL podcast with a backdrop of them lamenting their own team’s lack of success. But For Wil – and his beloved Bulldogs – it proved to be a masterstroke.

As we reviewed earlier in the year, the rather small but popular niche of ‘Comedic AFL Podcasts’ got a new player for season 2016, when Bulldogs fan Wil Anderson and Saints fan Charlie Clausen started their latest podcast venture “Two Guys, 1 Cup.” The premise was simple; the two teams they supported had only ever won one premiership each in 100 years, and it sucked to be a supporter of those two clubs. The clever play-on-words in the title not only gained this site some rather hilarious (and I’d suggest disappointed) search traffic, it is now somewhat of a contentious issue, because the Bulldogs have doubled their premiership tally, so the title doesn’t work the same way it used to.

“All these years of disappointment and all I had to do was start a podcast,” explains Anderson, although I may have just made that quote up. (I swear I heard him say it, somewhere, and it does sound somewhat accurate.) If you listened to or watched any media during Grand Final week, you would have no doubt seen or heard Wil Anderson being interviewed. He seemed to really embrace his role as ‘Token Celebrity Bulldogs Supporter,’ and the Twitter world seemed just as happy to give Wil his special time in the spotlight. That’s not to say he doesn’t already occupy his own deserved spot in the comedy and television spotlight, but the mere fact that he barracks for the Bulldogs has seemed to do wonders for his profile outside of that.

The Podcast has been a regular listen for me all year, and it culminated in the special Grand Final crossover with the other occupant of the ‘Comedic AFL Podcasts’ niche, the Junktime AFL Podcast with Adam Rozenbachs and Michael Chamberlain. The podcast was recorded in front of an excited live audience the day after the Bulldogs win and the mood was joyous, to say the least. Even if you’ve never heard either of these podcasts, I highly recommend giving this one a listen, as it not only details at great length Wil’s “Best weekend of his life,” it also contains an extraordinarily funny ‘shooting Bambi’ attack by Adam Rosenbachs on Bob Murphy and his underserved premiership medal.

Despite all the elation for Wil, one must feel a bit sorry for his good mate Charlie Clausen, who – like 90% of Australia – was delighted for the Bulldogs, but had to watch on as his very own footy dream was played out by his mate and fellow podcast host right in front of him. Could St Kilda get their chance to break the drought next year? Does it really work like that? Are podcasts really prophecies? Who knows. (Well, I know… the answers to those three questions are no, no and maybe.) What I do know, is that plenty of copycat podcasts will most likely emerge by next year, all trying desperately to recreate this amazing coincidence.

Listening to 2 Guys, 1 Cup has been a really interesting journey this year, and while I expect it to return next season with the same name and format, let’s hope it doesn’t go all Serial Season 2 on us. Because now the Doggies have another flag, nobody has any sympathy for Wil anymore, so it could just become ‘The gloating dog and the sad saint.’

You can check out the Grand Final edition, along with Wil and Charlie’s many other podcasts here.

Summary
Article Name
When a Podcast Becomes a Prophesy
Description
Wil Anderson and Charlie Clausen started an AFL podcast with a backdrop of them lamenting their own team's lack of success. But For Wil - and his beloved Bulldogs - it proved to be a masterstroke.
Author
Publisher Name
Holding Steadfast

Matt Caton

Matt is a freelance writer, content marketer, comedy geek and podcast evangelist

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