Stefan Heck and John Cullen

Stefan Heck and John Cullen are the co-hosts of Blocked Party. Follow Stefan on Twitter here. Follow John on Twitter here. Follow Blocked Party on Twitter here.

Describe the show in 10 words or less.
Stefan: Two morons discuss online bullshit with smarter & nicer guests

John: A very stupid show about the internet that’s actually low-key smart..

How did your friendship start?
Stefan: We met doing our old podcast, Real Good Show, which was more sports-focused. John and I are both huge hockey fans, and I think in a weird way we bring the “Leafs fan vs Canucks fan” dynamic to Blocked Party, minus any mention of sports whatsoever. 

John: We had a podcast before this one called Real Good Show. It was a sports comedy podcast. The other co-host of that show introduced us, and we have been close friends ever since.

How did the podcast start?
Stefan: I had wanted to do something a bit more online-focused for a while, and I knew there was no way I could do a show on my own and had to have John and Dan on board. Honestly, I came up with the title first, and then sort of worked my way out from there. Initially our thinking was that the entire show would be about the block in question, like we would do in-depth research about the celeb who did the blocking, find funny stories about them, that sort of thing. But then we realized that doing that would be a lot of work, and it was easier to just shoot the shit for most of the show. 

John: The podcast was somewhat born out of the ashes of RGS. RGS ended for various reasons we won’t get into here, but we knew that we wanted to make another show together when it was over. Stefan had long been made fun of for being one of the funniest people on the internet but having a podcast about sports. It’s one of those things, a “sports podcast” is just kind of a non-starter for some people. So when he suggested to me that he had an idea about doing a show about getting blocked online, I thought it couldn’t be a more perfect fit for what people would want from him. “Show about being blocked from one of the internet’s most famous little worms” is one hell of a sell. I’m just glad he asked me, a relative normie, to come along for the ride.

Talk about your segments, they’re great. 
Stefan: They’re a lot of fun! I do like having at least a little bit of structure, and I think we achieve the bare minimum on Blocked Party. I think what’s fun about them is that other than the Blocked Tale, they all sort of came about by accident. I forget how the Social Media Update got introduced, but the Top 3 was invented by Sophie Buddle on like our second episode ever. The Blocked Tale is really funny to me because most people think the entire show is about the block, but it’s usually like 4 minutes long. 

John: All the segments were planned out before the show except the Top 3. We knew we wanted the pod to be about blocks and so initially we thought “ok whoever the Block Tale is about, maybe we dig into them”. So for example, if you got blocked by LeBron James, we could dig up some of the weird internet stuff of his past, find some funny articles, etc. We sorta thought the Block Tale would be at least 50% of the episode. Then we did one episode of the show and realized a lot of times the person doing the blocking wouldn’t be famous, or known, and that also sometimes people who are famous just aren’t that interesting. So it quickly turned into the “Social Media Update”, where us and the guests can kinda do whatever we want and have fun with it. Which, funnily enough, means the Block Tale is often the shortest part of the show. Some people criticize us for that, but who gives a shit. As for the Top 3, after we did Episode 1 of the show, I thought to myself, “the show is good but we don’t really have a snappy ending.” It just kinda petered out. And then through some serendipitous stroke of luck, in Episode 2, our guest Sophie Buddle near the end of the episode was talking about hot cartoon characters. We decided to name our Top 3 Hottest Cartoon Characters and as soon as the episode was over, I said to Stefan, “that’s it. That’s how we end every episode.” And we have ever since.

I think you both strike a balance between funny and nice. Is it hard to be nice and funny?
Stefan: Thank you! That’s very nice to hear. I think we do actively try to avoid punching down whenever possible, try our best to get people’s pronouns correct, etc. It’s easy enough to do, and you can still be funny while showing just, like, the basic level of respect that someone deserves. Plus I think since a lot of our (read: my) humor is, uh, about poop and pee, since it’s so childish, it’s like, not as mean? If that makes sense. 

John: Thank you for saying we are nice and funny. There’s definitely a subset of our listeners who will tell you I’m not funny, so I appreciate it. I don’t know if it’s hard, necessarily, but I think one thing that’s important to both of us is that we never want anyone to feel alienated while listening to our show. It’s something we constantly work on, which I don’t know if that makes us “nice”, per se, but we are always willing to learn and have been really lucky to have lots of great guests and listeners that give us insight into their experiences and we take that to heart. Kath Barbadoro, one of the hosts of the great What a Time to Be Alive, said once that one of the things she liked about our show best is that you know while listening to it that we are good guys and have good politics, without our show being boldly about either of those things. I thought that was about the nicest thing anyone has ever said about our show. 

What’s the best story on Blocked Party?
Stefan: I think the main problem with doing 2 episodes of the show a week - along with 4 streams and my day job - is that I’ve gotten really good at immediately forgetting shit that I’ve just talked about. That being said, it’s not a Blocked Tale, but at the start of the Funko Pop Challenge (which involved our listeners sending us the worst Funko Pops they could find), I bought John a Princess Diana Funko, and one of our listeners also sent us a Princess Diana Funko, and we opened them back-to-back on the show without knowing in advance what the listener had sent. An incredible moment.

John: Oh, there’s so many. One thing about doing our show is you realize how many different TYPES of people can be insane online. It’s not all just unhinged, right-wing weirdos. Often it’s just people you know personally who seem normal otherwise. Or a known person we consider to be even-keeled but someone found their breaking point. Cait Raft vs. 300 Facebook Friends might be one of my faves. Cait fully pretended to be this different version of themselves, just completely falsified their entire life–fake boyfriend, fake pets, fake everything. A bunch of their friends blocked them over it, and it ruled. Another funny one that stands out and to me, sort of encapsulates the whole internet, is Ed Zitron v. Effin Birds, mostly for what happened after. So Ed gets blocked for shitting on the guy who writes the bird swear pictures, and then the guy who runs the company writes us this tweet saying, “wow, I am so disappointed. I really respect all of you and this really sucked to hear.” He also tried to say, “I didn’t even block Ed!” It’s like, man, you got rich off of putting “live, laugh, motherfucking LOVE” beside an illustrated bird. Leave us alone.

Why does a story about getting blocked on social media always lead to a funny story? Is it because your guests are just hilarious or is it because this is inherently a funny thing?
Stefan: I think it definitely helps having funny people on, although not all the Block Tales are funny. I like to think that the chemistry John and I have from doing this for almost a decade helps put people at ease and allows them to be the funniest they can be, too. 

John: It’s always funny because of the satisfaction factor, I think. Someone had to get mad enough to take the full step of blocking you, knowing that you’ll know they did it. It’s never not funny.

You have been doing this awhile, do you ever get burnt out?
Stefan: It’s weird, sometimes I feel really burnt out and then we’ll record an episode and it’s one of the best ones we’ve ever done. I think one thing I’ve learned from doing this is that sometimes the more burnt out you are, the more delirious you get, and the more delirious you get, the better the episode.

John: I think when we started RGS in 2015, it was for the love of the game. Making money off of podcasts wasn’t even a thing back then, really, unless you were Maron or something. I think we still have that mentality. Or at least, I do. Maybe Stefan secretly hates it. But getting together with two of your best friends every week to make something you take pride in and think is good is a great feeling. Plus, we’ve gotten to talk to so many interesting and quite frankly, much cooler/more famous people than us. Tony Hawk was on our pod for godsake. So to answer your question, no.

What’s your favorite thing about making the podcast?
Stefan: Getting to hang out with John and Dan every week is just so much fun. They’re both hilarious guys, and honestly since Covid I haven’t been leaving my apartment too much, so it’s really nice getting out and spending time with friends. 

What’s the most challenging thing about making the podcast?
Stefan: Honestly, it’s just finding the time. I’ve got a full time job, and then I stream on the Go Off Kings 4 nights a week, so usually the only time we’ve got to record is on Sunday. Also, the studio in John’s apartment can get insanely hot during the summer, so we’ll be recording 2-3 episodes in a row just sweating our asses off. 

John: Well for me it’s probably different than Stefan because I handle a great deal of the administrative tasks for the pod. And don’t get me wrong, that’s how we both want it, but the constant churn of booking 8-9 shows a month can wear on you a bit. Overall, it hasn’t ever really been all that challenging. It has never felt like work.

Why are you the perfect hosts for this show?
Stefan: I think the combination of an online freak (me) and a total normie (him) works really well. I think people enjoy that dynamic, and they tune in every week to see what depraved fast food reviewer I’ll be forcing John to watch. I think if it was two normal guys or two online freaks it just wouldn’t feel quite the same. 

John: Haha, are we? Who knows. Someone once said that this show is not actually about being blocked online, but it’s about two best friends where one is an “internet weirdo” who shows his “normal” best friend the weird corners of the internet. I think it’s that push/pull beyond the obvious hilarity of our guests and their stories that makes us the right fit for the show. I think the show would still be really good if it was Stefan and someone else because Stefan is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, but if it was him and also another internet weirdo, it would be a completely different show.

Say you’re going to start another podcast…you have a one million dollar budget, don’t worry about the logistics or whether or not anyone would like it, what would it be?
Stefan: Well I’m bringing John on board immediately, because there is no fucking way I’m going to be able to figure out any of the administrative shit myself. Seriously though, he’s the brains, heart, and spine of Blocked Party, so if I’m doing another show, he’s gonna be there too. I think maybe it would be entirely dedicated to fast food review guys also. Sorry, John. 

John: I think I am starting another podcast. It won’t have a one million dollar budget though. If I had a one million dollar budget, I’d see how many episodes of a show with Tony Hawk that would buy me and I’d just hang out with him once a week. 

How has podcasting changed you?
Stefan: I find myself actively looking for stupid things to talk about on the show each week, which I think has probably caused harm to my mental wellbeing, but whatever. If talking about fan art where, like, the Brave Little Toaster gets sucked off by the talking vacuum cleaner is bad for my mental wellbeing, then so be it. That’s the cost of creating content. 

John: It’s made me say things to my wife like, “did you see what Stinky Blanket Man said in the Discord?” with a completely straight face and she immediately understands what I’m saying. 

How has the show changed since it started?
Stefan: I think it’s a smoother listen now. We know the pacing of the show much better, and we can tell if a bit is going long (and not in a funny way). It’s also become much, much stupider, which I think is mostly my fault. 

John: It’s gotten better. I think comedy podcasts are kind of wild that way in that with almost no exception (at least in the pods I’ve listened to), they all get better with time. Maybe it’s because it’s somewhat similar to stand-up comedy? Most comedians continue to get better the longer they do it. But yeah, I think even though we’re approaching episode 200, we’re still getting better. That’s probably what makes it continually fun to do and prevents burnout, too.

Are you podcast listeners?
Stefan: Not as much as I used to be, unfortunately. When I was taking the train into the office, I was listening to podcasts the whole commute, but since I’ve been working from home the past couple years, I mostly listen to those Youtube videos called like “Japanese chillwave to do your math homework to.” 

John: I am, but I’m basically the worst type. I don’t like to listen to other comedy podcasts because I don’t want to subconsciously copy what they’re doing. So I exclusively listen to hockey podcasts and music podcasts. I’ll do the odd limited-run series in there too.

What’s one show you love that everyone already knows about?
Stefan: I gotta mention our friends Jesse and Mike and their wonderful show Your Kickstarter Sucks here. I think they are the two funniest people in the entire world and I could listen to Jesse talk about going to the store for, like, 12 hours at a time.

John: Stop Podcasting Yourself has always been the best comedy pod, to me. Just two guys from Vancouver who started podcasting VERY early in the game and can make any guest good and funny on their show. I feel like anyone who knows comedy podcasts knows it, but yeah. It’s the pinnacle of the “comedy hangout” podcast genre for me.

What’s one show you love that not enough people know about?
Stefan: Howell Dawdy’s Fast Track is incredible. He gives you 30 minutes to write an entire song, in a genre of your choosing, and then a little while later you record your vocals and he produces something magical. I don’t know how he does it but it is incredibly funny. And also, both John and I have been on before and had a great time.

John: I’ve been mainlining 60 Songs That Explain the 90s by Rob Harvilla. It’s insane. He’s a music journalist who does a different song every episode and usually the first 45 minutes are just him monologuing about the song. Sometimes he’ll start the episode with a full 20-minute digression about another band. He weaves in a bunch of extraneous details about his own life and has a very weird sense of humour. But somehow it all works. And if you’ve never listened to a Jamie Loftus limited-run podcast, you gotta. I think she’s one of the most talented people I know.

Thanks, Stefan and John!