MaxFunCon 2009

John Hodgman plays his ukulele in his MaxFunCon keynote address
Photo by Nicole Lee (More photos here)

When I said I was going to MaxFunCon last week, many people did not know what I meant. Even after I pasted the link, or after I tried describing it, I was met mostly with incredulity and laughter. I don’t blame them. It’s hard to comprehend how something like this can even happen. Matt, Adam, and Katie probably explained it better than I can, but here goes anyway.

Perhaps some background is in order. Jesse Thorn is a professional podcaster and public radio broadcaster who has somehow turned his college radio show into an audio podcast heard and loved the world over. The show that started it all was and is The Sound of Young America, which specializes in in-depth interviews with pop culture icons (ie. Brian Michael Bendis, Jeffrey Tambor, Neil Gaiman, Scott McCloud, etc.), many with a rather nerdy or comedic bent. TSOYA, as it’s called, has since been syndicated on PRI (Public Radio International) and is broadcasted on select public radio stations across the world. Since then, he’s produced many more podcasts under the Maximum Fun umbrella, like Jordan, Jesse, Go!, a light-hearted podcast co-hosted with his long-time buddy Jordan Morris, and The Kasper Hauser Podcast, a comedy podcast starring the members of Kasper Hauser, the San Franciscan comedy sketch group. All his podcasts are recorded and produced in his modest Los Angeles apartment.

Some time last year, Jesse had the idea of creating a convention called MaxFunCon. Not only would the conference bring together fans of his podcasts, but he also planned to invite his comedian and performer friends as entertainment. They include the You Look Nice Today crew (whom I consider friends), comedy rock duo Hard N’ Phirm, nerd rockstar Jonathan Coulton, and none other than the deranged millionaire himself, John Hodgman. When I heard this list of performers, I threw down my money faster than you could say “I’m a PC.”

And what did that money buy me? Three days and two nights in a mountain cabin, all meals included. The weekend’s itinerary included activity sessions like cooking, crafting, hiking, and learning the ins and outs of improv comedy. We were also treated to a creativity seminar by the super-inspiring Merlin Mann and a humorous slideshow by Improv Everywhere’s Charlie Todd. If that wasn’t enough, we also saw comedians Jimmy Pardo, Tig Notarro, the aforementioned Hard N’ Phirm, and Maria Bamford send us all into fits of laughter as we sat shivering in an open-air amphitheater. Add in the late-night s’mores by the fire pit, John Hodgman passing around Crystalhead vodka and Jeppson’s Malort for us to sip right out of the bottle, meeting old friends and making new ones, and it was truly the most magical weekend I’ve had in years.

There was one key ingredient in this weekend of awesome: The incredibly nice people that Jesse somehow managed to attract to his fold. Maybe it’s just the inherent nature of people who listen to nerd comedy podcasts; that we’re all just really nice and easy-going. Or maybe it was the chilly mountain air, or that there were only 150 of us, or that the presenters were guests enjoying the conference just like the rest of us, or the fact that we had to brave thick debilitating fog to get to where we were. It was a treat, and I will not hesitate to do this again.

Sign me up for MaxFunCon 2010.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 7:20 pm and is filed under Rants & Raves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.