Podcasts are still a relatively young art form, and though there have been plenty of ambitious non-fiction ones (Serial, yes, but even better, You Must Remember This), there hasn’t been much in the way of fictitious podcasts. Yes, there are scores of improv ones. But we’re talking ones that are written out before they’re recorded, that bring the same care to the podcast that a talented writer’s room brings to scripted television. Failing that, most of them don’t have ad-libbers as towering as Will Ferrell.
That’s about to change. It was revealed today that Ron Burgundy is coming back, in podcast form. Yes, the legend of the mustachioed anti-hero of the Anchorman series will flaut his way into a voice-only medium, with 12 episodes ordered to at some point drop on the iHeartRadio Podcast network.
Of course, we don’t know many details apart from it being a Ron Burgundy podcast. Maybe it will just be Will Ferrell and friends and colleagues — though presumably co-stars Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and David Koechner, to say nothing of Ferrell himself, are a little too busy for hours upon hours of podcasting — ad-libbing and shooting the stuff, like a famous person version of those podcasts where randos, well, ad-lib and shoot the stuff. We don’t even know if it will be set in 2018, or if it will be set in, like, 1981, but in a 1981 where podcasts were somehow a possible thing.
But Ferrell tends to take more care of his product than most; even the underrated The House is more than simply a bunch of funny people trying to crack each other up, and we expect the same from the forthcoming Holmes & Watson. And the Anchorman movies — including the also underrated 2013 sequel — are definitely loved-over, with loopy plot twists and the kind of absurdism that requires more than showing up on set and trying to force the funny.
There was even some creativity in how news of it was spread. Not everyone launches their latest product by tagging Don Lemon on Twitter:
Hello, @donlemon! It’s your good friend, Ron Burgundy. Don’t know if you heard, but I recently had my White House press credentials pulled. They accused me of eating too many hot dogs in the press break room.
— BurgundyPodcast (@BurgundyPodcast) December 3, 2018
Mr. Burgundy, I gotta be honest I don’t remember ever meeting you and frankly I’m a little shocked you have White House press credentials. I know I stand for a free press and all but just not so sure you should have those credentials.
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) December 3, 2018
Don, I am laughing out loud! So about that favor: the media landscape is changing so fast and I DO NOT CARE FOR IT. That's why I'm starting a “podcast!”
— BurgundyPodcast (@BurgundyPodcast) December 3, 2018
Have you heard of “podcasts?” They’re hotter than Jane Fonda’s workout tape! Anywho, I need help getting the word out about mine. What do you say best friend?
— BurgundyPodcast (@BurgundyPodcast) December 3, 2018
Please do not start a podcast and stop contacting me.
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) December 3, 2018
Okay, so no podcast plug. Got it. By the way just so you know, our friendship is over. YOU GO STRAIGHT TO HELL. DO NOT DISRESPECT ME IN A PUBLIC FORUM. DON IS A GRADE A JERK. BURGUNDY, OUT.
— BurgundyPodcast (@BurgundyPodcast) December 3, 2018
I’m starting to think Don ate the hot dogs. Not how I wanted to do this, but I am formally announcing I am doing a podcast!
— BurgundyPodcast (@BurgundyPodcast) December 3, 2018
(Via Deadline)
