Jeff Bakalar

Jeffrey Ian Bakalar (born March 24, 1982) is a professional podcaster, video game journalist, and formerly the host of CNET's longest-running podcast, The 404 Show. He is the General manager at Fandom-owned Giant Bomb, focusing on the site's operations while also hosting podcasts and content for the brand as well. He is a former employee of CNET Video and during his time there was a recurring personality on various podcasts on Giant Bomb.

Personal
Bakalar was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1982 and was raised in Briarwood, Queens before his family relocated to Marlboro Township, New Jersey where he attended Marlboro High School. He graduated from Towson University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Electronic Media and Film, where he won an award for a mockumentary he directed called Adult Swim.

In 2010, he married his longtime girlfriend, Stacie Davis.

He currently lives in New Jersey.

Career
During his college years, Bakalar worked as a production office intern for actor and producer Bob Balaban in New York City at his production company Chicagofilms while Balaban completed work on Gosford Park.

In 2004, he signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Maverick Records to direct and produce a documentary for the pop punk band Mest. The documentary, entitled Seven Deadly Sins was released as a pack-in bonus with copies of the band's 2005 album Photographs.

In 2007, Bakalar joined CNET as a home theater and gaming editor, eventually starting a technology and pop culture podcast called The 404 Show with Randall Bennett and Wilson Tang. In hosting the podcast, Bakalar has interviewed Tony Hawk, Marc Maron, John Hodgman, Shaun White, Wayne Brady, Scott Aukerman, Michael Showalter, Andrew W.K. and others. Each year the podcast is performed live at the Consumer Electronics Show, where it has featured Danny DeVito, Eliza Dushku, Felicia Day and others.

In 2012, Bakalar started CNET's first-ever weekly tech parody comic called Low Latency, which he writes and is illustrated by Blake Stevenson.

Bakalar briefly co-hosted another CNET project, Pre-Game, but stopped production after a year of programming to focus more on The 404 Show.

Bakalar is a member of the New York Videogame Critics Circle, an advocacy group for game writers in and around the New York City area.

He regularly appears on TV and radio as a technology, pop culture, and video game expert. Bakalar has been featured on G4's Attack of the Show, NPR's All Things Considered, and CNBC's Power Lunch.

In late 2014, Bakalar joined CBSN as a regularly appearing tech and pop culture pundit representing CNET.

On May 22, 2015, he joined the cast of Giant Bomb's Giant Beastcast, where he remained a regular member until its conclusion in May 2021. He later joined the cast of its sister podcast, the Giant Bombcast.

On September 29, 2017, the final episode of The 404 Show podcast was published.