User:Mikegbell/sandbox

Attack of the 50ft Nerds, or simply 50ft Nerds, is a British pop culture comedy podcast, featured previously on the Pop!Cast Network. It is hosted by Mike Bell, Amara Wears and Paul Griggs. The show is edited by Mike Bell. Previously, 50ft Nerds was recorded over Skype and StreamYard and currently records in front of live audiences at the Warrington branch of Geek Retreat.

The show's title derives from 1950's B-Movies that both Bell and Wears grew up watching and they decided on Attack of the 50ft Nerds as an homage to the giant creature movies such as Them! and specifically Attack of the 50ft Woman.

History
The shows origins lie in another podcast, "Tell Em' Steve Dave", and its spin off Space Monkeys "Jolly Old England" tour in 2011. Mike Bell had been hired by Brian Quinn to run the merchandise stall at the Manchester show, and it was here that he met Amara Wears. After striking up a friendship and chatting over Twitter for some time, the pair decided to start a podcast.

Originally recording over Skype due to Mike's living on Merseyside and Amara in Yorkshire, the two released the first episode, "Nerds Awaaay!" on 24th April 2012, with Mike's friend Paul Griggs joined the team later that year, initially discussing his specialist topic of Doctor Who (of which he is well versed, having been the group co-ordinator the Merseyside Local Group of Doctor Who fan, and director of the BBV audio drama "The Barancled Baby"), before later joining the host line-up full time as of "Episode 33: Beware the Stairs".

It was in 2013 that the show joined the PanelsOnPages.com Pop!Cast Network, updating their intro to reflect this and releasing episodes through the network until 2018.

In 2018 Mike was diagnosed with a serious illness and the show took a hiatus until returning in 2021 with "Episode 59: Reboot of the 50ft Nerds" recapping all the biggest movies they had not discussed during the break. Upon the revival the Nerds switched to StreamYard as their recording platform of choice for several episodes.

With their tenth anniversary approaching in April 2022, Mike started to reach out to venues about performing a live show to celebrate this milestone. In May 2022 Mike reached and agreement with the Warrington branch of Geek Retreat and the first live show took place on 26th June 2022. From the success of the show this has now become the home of the 50ft Nerds live shows, with them performing on the last sunday of each month there.

The Nerds have also performed at several conventions too, with appearances at Who at the Hilbre in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and Liverpool Anime and Gaming Con in 2022 and Manchester Anime and Gaming Con in 2023

Frequent guests
"Ranger Danger" Doug Brown - Doug debuted on the first episode recorded live for audiences at Geek Retreat Warrington, "Episode 65: Sean Connery Walks Into Disney. . . . Ow. [Live from Geek Retreat Warrington ]". Doug is the franchisee and manager of Geek Retreat Warrington and as well as introducing the hosts to the crowd each episode, Doug has remained on the panel, chiming in every now and again with his own thoughts and feelings on the subjects discussed. Doug also curates the question selections for the Beyond the 50ft Nerds Q&A portion of the show.

Joe aka Meme 'Em Steve-Dave - Joe was one of the first guests on the show, first appearing all the way back in "Episode 27: Stay Away From the Lemon Drizzle" and has appeared many more times over the years, including many time in the 50ft Nerds Nerdmas Special audio plays. The Nerds also appeared on Joe's podcast LP Lexicon Podcast, back in 2015 to discuss Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

Josh Speigel - Josh is the host of the YouTube channel Movie Timelines and first appeared on the podcast in "Episode 60: Play Ja Ja Ding Dong!", later having an interview episode with Mike where they discussed Josh's movie "The Complex" and other matters. In 2023, Josh completing filming on his new film, "The Last Amityville Movie" in which Mike appears as a fictionalised version of himself.

Uncle Pete - Host of the YouTube channel "Your Friendly Neighborhood Uncle Pete", he has appeared on many episodes of the show since its 2021 return, even appearing as himself in the 2022 Nerdmas Special audio sketch.

Show Types
In the years since the podcast began, the Nerds have put out several types of episodes including:


 * Attack of the 50ft Nerds - Regular pop culture news and updates, interspersed with comedic moments and banter between the hosts. Since the show began to record live for audiences in 2022, the show now includes an audience Q&A section called "Beyond the 50ft Nerds".
 * Since the show returned from hiatus in 2021, longer editions and video versions of these shows are available exclusively via the 50ft Nerds Patreon


 * Attack of the 50ft Commentary - Audio commentary tracks for various movies and TV shows, giving the hosts thoughts on the movie, and more often than not "riffing" on the events on screen, a la Mystery Science Theatre 3000.


 * Specials - These are episodes that can be on a multitude of topics, such as focused on Saturday morning cartoons, wrestling and tabletop gamings, or interviews with guests and convention appearances.


 * Nerdmas - Each year, the Nerds dedicate an episode to Christmas and discuss memories of years gone by and quiz each other on seasonal topics. Each Nerdmas special episode has a comedic wraparound audio play, written and directed by Mike, usually parodying a movie series. These epsiodes also tend to feature the Nerds singing to a classic christmas song to end the show.
 * Patreon Exclusives - Along with early access to, and longer length, episodes members of the 50ft Nerds Patreon can also get exclusive bonus audio content not found anywhere else.
 * Beyond the 50ft Nerds - These episodes were mainly just recordings of the hosts chatting about nothing in general, and are freeform conversations. These episodes were retired in 2018 and they name was given to the Q&A section of the live Attack shows.