Hook, line, sinker and a copy of The Angling Times
Posted by johnnie
I have to talk about The Overcast. Episode 14 (which, purely incidentally, was released on the 1st of April) consisted of an interview between Overman and digital-phil, the host of the now dead and lamented Machinima Live podcast. We all know that there were tensions between the two Phils whilst the podcast was still in production, and nobody was sure exactly how they’d left things. Now we know.
The interview was a brilliantly spoofed argument between the two of them, which gradually descended into name-calling and personal grudge-bearing, culminating in Overman demanding an explanation as to why digital-phil chose to eat pancakes rather than interview cairmen and myself.
The whole thing worked so well because it was based on truth. We did record an episode of Machinima Live, which was never broadcast (the infamous “lost episode”) because of a problem on digital-phil’s PC which corrupted the audio file beyond all repair. I happen to know that a lot of the other supposed irritations that the two Phils threw at each other during the course of the podcast were also, as they say in Hollywood, “inspired by true events”.
I actually emailed Overman shortly after the episode was released, asking if it was a spoof or not. I didn’t post on any of the machinima forums expressing my opinion one way or another, because I was too cowardly to risk being exposed as a victim of the gag.
I feel too guilty about that, now, so I’m going to say this publicly: you got me. Totally and utterly. I did realise that the whole thing was probably an April Fool’s joke, but only after listening to it for a third time, and even then I wasn’t totally sure.
Here (after the cut) is the complete, unedited email that I sent to Overman. Can you feel me covering all my bases?
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