Taking the indie podcast scene by storm, one of the fastest growing topical shows around – The Mangina Dialogues sees the hosts welcome a plethora of guests, and tackle subjects ranging from sports to entertainment and, our personal favourite, music.
Featuring interviews with numerous great bands and artists, as well as delving into all the latest in pop culture, The Mangina Dialogues makes for a refreshing, genuine, funny and insightful new show – an easy bit of background entertainment as you go about your day.
We caught an interview with the hosts to find out more about the podcast and their plans for the future. Here’s how it went.
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Hi guys – thanks for the chat! Just to give a little introduction, who are you both, and what is The Mangina Dialogues?
Thanks for having us! The Mangina Dialogues is the comedy podcast Nick & I started last year. We are striving to be a different spin in the typical comedy style podcast landscape. Nothing against those, we listen to them regularly. Fighter and the Kid, WTF!, Joe Rogan Experience, Congratulations, History Hyenas, Live from the Table, Whiskey Ginger, I could go on for hours listing the ones we love. There is no shortage of funny people out there doing awesome things in the Podsphere. We wanted to try and be as different as we can.
We claim to be a sweltering combo of hot topics and hot fun. Bringing together guests from the worlds of comedy, music, sports, and all areas of pop culture for real discussions spending time getting to know our guests that always leads to insightful, hilarious, and often touching, discussions. We like to get inside all those stories for our listeners.
Nick is a fitness guru and personal trainer turned stand-up comedian. His high energy is addicting and contagious. He is also a writer and producer and used to co-host the Fitness podcast “Strength Squad.”
I (The Gregalicious) am an eccentric, buoyant, waggish, tequila drinker, belly dancer, gallivanter, procrastinator, wordsmith and self-made multi thousandaire. I pride myself on being one of the only people in the world who knows how much “stuff” an Oreo doublestuff cookie actually contains.
Who came up with the title, and were there any notable close-seconds for the name?
There were no close seconds. The name literally came to me in the shower. I saw Nick later in the day at the gym and told him we have to start a podcast. If it wasn’t for the name, we wouldn’t be doing this.
How did you guys meet, and what promoted you to work together in this setting?
This perfect partnership was born when fate connected us in a gym. Nick was paired with me as my trainer when I singed up at a brand new Equinox. During a training session, Nick mentioned that he was also a stand-up comedian. Which I of course laughed at but I promised to come see his act, which prompted Nick to scoff “no you won’t, everyone says that.” But I did indeed attend one of Nick’s open mics. Much to my surprise, utter dismay and displeasure, Nick wound up being the best of the night’s line-up. The rest, is history…
It’s a great show, really confidently done and featuring genuinely interesting, easy to listen to conversations and guests – congrats!
Thank you, we have been extremely lucky in the short amount of time we have been doing this. Lots of mistakes and lots of fun making them. Without the support of many friends we wouldn’t have been able to achieve the success we have as fast as we have.
With varying episode lengths and vastly varying topics, how do you decide where to take things in any given show?
We do as little prep as possible 😉 Truthfully, we don’t go into any show with a hard agenda. We like the surprises as an organic conversation develops and I like to think we have a great ability to be able to pivot. It keeps us on our toes and leads to really great conversations. Of course, we go in with a few topics we want to cover, and we always ask the guest what they want to cover to make sure we hit their pitch points, but overall it’s freestyle. If we had a secret sauce, it would be our ability to be nimble and improvise as things develop. Plus, I think you need to be a great listener, and know when to come in and out of a conversation.
Which podcasts do you listen to outside of your own – and what inspired you to tackle pop culture in particular?
I mentioned a few earlier which are the main ones, but also Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Amigos with Mike Finoia, and one of my favourite people and comedians of all time Artie Lange just launched one called Halfway House. There are too many to list! There are so many.
How do you go about choosing your guests, and who has been your favourite so far – and why?
HaHa…no way can I choose a favourite. I love them all. But, a few have been personal thrills for me. Getting to talk to Harley Flanagan from the Cro-Mags, NYC Hardcore music legend and a band I have followed for MANY years, was amazing. We just turned on the mic and he ran for over an hour. It was hilarious and touching. Getting to talk to Jay Blacksberg was equally amazing. Being a (Grateful) Deadhead and hearing his stories from over the last 40 years was absolutely incredible. We have gotten to interview some great bands, rising star comedians, award winning actors, and so much more. Like I keep saying, we have been incredibly lucky.
We pick our guests based on who we think our audience will like to hear from. We started as just comedy, but it quickly expanded and our audience has diversified. What I think is super cool, are all the comments we get about how people learned about guests or a band they didn’t know until we had them on. It’s awesome to expose people to things they ordinarily wouldn’t have found.
How much work or prep goes into making an episode?
Next question…. Lol. A lot goes into finding and booking the right guests. As far as the technical side, not a whole lot. Early on I bought a great mixing board, which makes our entire recording process really easy. We don’t do a ton of post production work, which we may start to do in the future as we play around with ad’s inside the episodes, and stuff like that.
Have there been any unexpected difficulties or hiccups along the way?
Not really. It was really easy to set up. We use Podeban, which I highly recommend as a hosting service. They are very helpful, and answer questions quickly. The hardest part was getting up on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and iHeart Radio. But after a little google research and questions answered by Podbean, we were off to the races!
With the topics ranging from sport to comedy to music, you must have a fairly eclectic audience – what would you say it is that unites your growing crowd of fans?
Regardless of our guests area of influence, we give our listeners an insider’s look at what goes on with them, and everybody loves to get behind the curtain. We do it in a comedic way which I think helps to break down walls where the guests feel comfortable talking to us. We hear over and over again, that the time flies by, and that they could talk to us for hours. That’s quite a compliment when we hear that from people that do interviews with tons of outlets every week.
With the world of podcasts having grown immensely in recent years, more and more people are turning to this medium for their escapism or to lighten the weight of the day. What are the main aspects you try to bring to your show to help keep it such a likeable go-to?
We like to have a good time with our guests. We are not looking to create a TMZ moment or make news with anything controversial. We are a safe place for guests to come on and have some fun.
We start our show off with a ridiculous hip hop theme song. That always sets the tone for the interview. It’s our way to make things lighthearted from the start and gives the guest the opportunity to poke a little fun at us. At the end of the day, it’s a comedy show. We want people to laugh, which is always the best medicine for whatever else is going on in their world.
Where do you hope to take things throughout 2020 – anything special planned, any big interviews or side-projects?
We always have something cooking. One of the most exciting things is with the popularity of the podcast growing, we are taking the show on the road so to speak with TMD Live! in front of a live audience at theaters and clubs starting in the Northeast. The format showcases the best stand-up comedy and local musicians in an interview setting. It is a mix of stand-up sets, roasts, variety show, musical acts, and surprise guests. It’s the Gong Show meets The Tonight Show meets Live from the Apollo meets Behind the Music.
We definitely have some big guests coming on but I don’t want to say and jinx it. I’m not superstitious but I am a little stitious. You will have to tune in ; )
We are also developing some podcasts under our brand Unhinged Entertainment. Keep an eye out for a new Sports Podcast in Early Spring, and a Music Interview podcast in the next month or so. Hosted by some of our amazing and talented friends. We aren’t talent on those, just helping to produce, promote and develop. We are spreading the love.
Is there anything else we should know?
I think you got it all. Just follow us, subscribe to us, rate & review us and wherever you are support local comedy and all other art forms!
You can find us Online:
Official Site: The Mangina Dialogues, Apple, YouTube, Unhinged Entertainment, TheGregalicious on Instagram, Nick Scopoletti on Instagram, The Mangina Dialogues on Instagram & Twitter.
