Todd Mundt

I meant to listen to these interviews months ago when the curtain rose on The Merlin Show, but I don’t feel too bad; Merlin Mann certainly intended to post six parts of his interview with Jesse Thorn of The Sound of Young America, but it’s stalled out at two. (Merlin is about to become a father, in addition to the brilliant work he does at 43 Folders, MacBreak Weekly, etc - we’ll happily let him off the hook.)

But, back to my story. I finally listened tonight to the first two parts of Merlin’s interview with Jesse, and it’s just brilliant. Part one is good, but it seems like a warm up compared to part two, which is incredibly funny and offers up some great riffs on the sound of public radio, its tragic unhipness, and a little ditty on hip-hop at the end of segment two that’s really quite funny.

I started paying attention to The Sound of Young America a few months ago after John Barth and Arvid Hokanson talked it up, and it’s fascinating. Jesse is a great interviewer, there’s an easy-going vibe to the show that makes it accessible, it’s funny, and he talks to people that public radio almost never talks to.

I met Jesse Thorn briefly at the PRPD Conference, and monopolized about 10 minutes of his time, gushing incoherently like a drunk fanboy. It was pitiful, but Jesse was gracious.

This guy has a lot of talent, PRI has picked up the show, and a few stations have jumped on board, too. I’ve spent my programming budget for this year, so I have to wait to put my money where my mouth is, but The Sound of Young America is an excellent show and if you can’t hear it on the actual radio, you can always hear the podcast.

I would pay $100 to be in a bar listening to Merlin Mann and Jesse Thorn talk. About anything.