Hadron Gospel Hour: A Love Letter of Sorts
By Podcake
Comedy podcasts are no rarity in the audio drama community, and this is helped along in no small part by the multitude of improvisation shows that pop up the second you search comedy on your average podcast listening app. During my time in high school, when I was listening to ILLUSIONOID and on the fence about the level of devotion necessary to get invested in The Thrilling Adventure Hour, one show that I was always at the beck and call of no matter what mood I was in was Hadron Gospel Hour, a long-form science fiction comedy made by two long time friends.
Richard Wentworth and Michael McQuilken star as the main characters in a multidimensional love letter to Douglas Adam’s inspired sci-fi romps, where our heroes travel from place to place trying to fix a fractured universe. The opening narration will gladly inform you about how the effects of a science experiment gone wrong ripped a hole through space and time, and provides the groundwork for a number of weird things to happen to weird people.
The central plot does follow a grieving Dr. Oppenheimer wallowing in his failures and trying to piece together his shattered wife whose existence was scattered over multiple dimensions, upon his failure to study the “Hadron Effect” the show credits its name to.
When rational IT worker Michael Wilkinson gets dragged into Oppenheimer’s plan purely by accident is where the show properly begins and does a decent job of setting the central tone of random chance conflicting with personal interest. This is where the buddy-cop aspect comes along and makes up the primary comedic dynamic, ensuring that as long as these two are around, there is plenty of comedy to spare in between the bouts of tragedy.
Hadron Gospel Hour is one of the most creative story-driven podcasts to have come out in 2014: A scripted series, but still not short of the sort of wit and charm that an especially interesting DnD session may have. There’s a variety of locations, great narrative pacing, and a number of characters and gags that add to the chaotic nature of a fractured setting.
Hadron Gospel Hour may be all fun and games but it has an excellent underlying theme of sticking to your guns in even the toughest of scenarios, and finding the best qualities in the strangest of people. It’s a story about compromise and unlikely encounters, forgiving yourself for your mistakes while also pursuing a life of self improvement. Hadron Gospel is never pointlessly cruel to its heroes and always finds a way to make the most bizarre of problems joyous and comedic.
And yet, Hadron Gospel Hour isn’t just a science fiction show: it’s every possible kind of science fiction show. There are bizarre creatures and races, super computers and supernatural powers, and hilarious body horror. There’s an episode entirely about troubling romantic relationships, with a twist so excellent I won’t spoil it, and a battle of the bands plot in what I think is one of the best episodes ever put out in any fiction audio drama in general.
Hadron Gospel has very long episodes (for a scripted podcast), some pushing past an hour, but they really do ensure each and every second isn’t wasted. The amount of creativity on display could only be possible by two friends with ambition and a shared devotion to their craft, to make the best possible piece each and every time.
Weird for the sake of weird is something I’ve had my fair share of ever since pursuing this hobby, but not many other audio dramas have also charmed me like this show has. The character writing, it’s ability to be equal parts episodic and story driven, the miniature arcs that are satisfying and never drag on… t makes for an experience you can sink your teeth into and still laugh about.
It’s definitely the kind of experience that’s highly unique, and I think that’s due to the solid chemistry of the creators and can be easy to get wrapped up in once you get acquainted with its likable cast. It’s still in something of a niche category even given its quality, but how much it has to offer has made it my immediate go-to for recommendations in comedy podcasts.
When the show makes its joyous return for what will likely be a series finale, I not only look forward to how this all wraps up but what new adventures Wentworth and McQuilken might have in store in different dimensions.
A Podern Playlist
For Week Ending 28/4/19
Welcome friends, to another week and another playlist packed with podcasts that we’ve enjoyed. Without further ado let’s see what the gang’s been listening to shall we?
Lex Scott
This week I finally got to finish the second season of The Call Of Cthulhu Mystery Program, which had been sitting in my queue for a long time and I had finally just started last week. It was good fun, and aside from the few mild complaints I had last week it’s really solid; definitely one of the best actual-plays, and a really interesting halfway point/ meeting between actual play and scripted fiction. Highly recommend.
Because of the Mystery Program, I was made aware of another show that sounded fun, and I listened to the first episode of Lightning Dogs, also from The Nerdy Network. Less story than I was expecting from the ad, but not bad. I’ll see where it goes. Write Along episode 25 was all about the importance of being social as a writer, and how you can get over your awkwardness to do that; while episode 26 was all about actually pitching your film in a room of people.
Junkfood Cinema meanwhile continued their April O’Bannon month with Dead & Buried, and deliver probably their very first “news scoop”. And Small Beans released a Coens Brothers Brothers episode that probably a lot of people have been waiting for: No Country For Old Men.
Dōhai
During the school run this week I caught the tail end of Seriously… A Job for the Boys. First broadcast April 2nd it highlights the huge amount of sexism in the tech industry. Programming was mainly a female profession until the late 70’s when home computers and the likes of Bill Gates hit the scene (ahh I remember it well, programming in basic on a ZX Spectrum). Now we even have AI that could possibly be described as a future Fourth Reich, if dystopian novels are any indication of the evolution of civilization. The flip happened around about the time when games were marketed as toys, and developers had to make the decision on whether to place them in the boy or girl side of the toy aisle (demographics and their forced artificial segregation are a whole other topic though…)
Talking of the battle of the sexes, I also checked out the first episode of Harlem Queen. This is a four part tale based in 1920/ 30’s Harlem. Picture the beginning of the Great Migration, the Great Depression, and the height of prohibition, gangs muscling in on speakeasy’s, number running, protection rackets, and anything else that could turn a profit. Here we have the untold story of Stephanie St. Clair, or ‘Queenie’ as she was known, probably one of the worst (and fairest) crime bosses of New York history. You may remember The Wing’s ‘No Man’s Land’ from the end of 2018, this however is a dramatized version rather than a documentary, and it’s great. Go check it out.
I’ve also listened to the latest episode of a good old fashioned pen and paper rpg podcast at the request of its creators. (Yes, you can email us and recommend we listen, but expect to be in a que). The show is The Lucky Die and I’m going to withhold judgement as this is is a genre I’ve never listened to. I’m planning on listening to a few more shows in order to get a baseline, and then I will write an article featuring the highs and lows. Suffice to say the show is well produced and my cheeks ache from laughing so much; that alone should be enough reason to check it out.
Alex C. Telander
The highlight of the week was easily the season finale of Greater Boston which pushed me to my very limits, as every episode does. If you need to check that your emotions are functioning, just listen to this show. SCP Archives released a new episode about “the old man” and it was beyond creepy. Air/Space had their live episode from SXSW. Victoriocity continues to make me laugh in ways I didn’t know I could. And my new discovery this week (actually it was on my list, but I finally started listening to it) is History is Gay. It is a fantastic podcast about how gay history really is, kicking off with the first episode about gay pirates, and the next episode is about gay nuns and monks. The two hosts have a great rapport and even though the episodes are over an hour long, I’m completely hooked to the end with their discussion, and every episode is so well researched I feel like I’m taking a college history course!
This week's special guest is Aidan Wheller from the wonderful Days of my Life podcast. You may remember I interviewed him about it back at the beginning of April. If you haven’t checked out this powerful show yet then I strongly recommend that you do (after you’ve finished reading this of course). So what’s been filling Aiden’s ears lately?
1, Uhh Yeah Dude. how more people don't love this show is beyond me, 700 episodes maybe seems a bit big? But you can drop in anytime, it's still fresh funny and relevant. The best two friends and a mic show around.
2. Caravan. just caught up with this audio drama, it's got a bit of everything literally! it's like an equity fest! but it's charming funny and packed with fantasy... I don't know where it's going but its won me over so I'm in till the end.
3. Darknet Diaries. It's about hacking and dark stories from the web, but the host jack manages to make it so engaging and inclusive that its part exploring, part journalism, part real life things you need to know about!
4, Dream State, I loved this show from the start, it will one day make an amazing television show, it's a deep, dark, fantasy but with echoes of real life.. political and on point... its leaves me feeling like I've been challenged and you have to pay close attention or you will miss something.
5, Aethuran Dark Saga it's just come to a season end, but it's a really impressive dark horror, fantasy. It’s narrated with skill and builds a world you can lose yourself in. My go to "take me somewhere else" podcast.
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