Review: The Croncast

Kids are hilarious.  Sometimes it's the things they say ("Beer is bad for mommies because it comes out in the baby's milk!" to a roomful of strangers), sometimes it's the things you say to make them laugh (anything with the word "stinkybutt" currently qualifies in our house).  But one aspect of kid humour is laughing at with other parents who are also dealing with the challenges of parenting, clothing & feeding the brood, becoming/staying employed, and surviving the complications of vasectomies (yikes!).  Where on earth am I going with this?  Today's review is of a podcast (AKA internet radio show released in episodes that you can download to listen to on your computer or portable media player...) called the Croncast.

I have been a loyal listener for a really, really long time now, and at this point the Croncast is the ONLY podcast I actually pay to listen to.  So many podcasts are free, and not worth the time they take to download.  The Croncast, on the other hand, is a hilarious take on the quirks of day to day life, whether it be about the perils of buying a vehicle on eBay, the unfortunate bodily side effects of drinking too much coffee, or surviving post-snip infections.  The husband and wife team that record the show frequently say that "Life is Show Prep", and it's so true.  What makes the show so good is the way that Kris and Betsy can laugh at themselves for the sake of a good story.  It also doesn't hurt that their two kids often inspire show segments, which are often sweet and funny, and easy to relate to.  Beware though, as there is definitely some profanity in the shows so you probably don't want to listen to with the kids in earshot.

If you want an introduction to the show, I would highly recommend their vacation series to whet your appetite.  This set of 4 sequential episodes follows them on a road trip in which they run into one disaster after another.  Start on "Act #1" on this page: http://www.croncast.com/c4_month.php?pageNum_Main=1&totalRows_Main=10&myMonth=6&myYear=2006, then move on to acts 2, 3, and 4.  I honestly can't even begin to describe how funny these shows are, and in fact just writing this post inspired me to re-download them so I can hear them once more...

If you like the shows, you can check out their archives for a TON of free shows, and you can subscribe to their current shows by "Getting Cool" as they call it, over at http://www.croncast.com/cool/.