The Church of Lazlo
 | |
| Genre | Talk, Politics, Headlines, Music |
|---|---|
| Running time | Approximately 240 minutes (Four Hours, including commercials and music) |
| Country |
 United States |
| Starring |
Lazlo SlimFast |
| Creator(s) |
Lazlo Afentra SlimFast |
| Website | http://www.965thebuzz.com/The-Church-of-Lazlo/11294215 |
| Podcast | http://media.965thebuzz.com/latest-audio.htm |
The Church of Lazlo is an afternoon drive talk show program in Kansas City, discussing an array of subjects including headlines, politics, and on-air games. Its flagship station is KRBZ or 96.5 The Buzz.
Currently, The Church of Lazlo is broadcast live, Mondays through Fridays at 3pm–7pm CT. The program is streamed online as well on 96.5 The Buzz's website.
The current Line Up of Lazlo, Slimfast, and Snowcone has acquired some of the strongest ratings the station has ever seen. That said, those ratings would only be considered marginally successful for other radio programs.
Musical Friends Of The Program
Bands that stop by when in town are limited to a few but always welcome and have appeared several times
Meg Myers Catfish and the Bottlemen Glass Animals Awolnation The Mowglis Kitten Fitz & the Tantrums
History
In 2003 KRBZ transitioned into an Alternative rock format. Following this change The Church of Lazlo, an evening talk show, was launched starring Lazlo and Slimfast.
On June 1, 2006, popular afternoon host/program director Lazlo announced that he was leaving the station to become program director of KNDD "The End" in Seattle, KRBZ's sister station.[1]
On November 10, 2006, it was announced that Lazlo, Afentra, and SlimFast would reunite on air for "The Church of Lazlo," which would broadcast live from Seattle on KNDD and simulcast on KRBZ.[2]
Lazlo announced on July 16, 2008 that he would be leaving KNDD to return to Kansas City.[3] On August 25, 2008, both "Afentra's Big Fat Morning Buzz" and "The Church of Lazlo" returned live to Kansas City.
On-air personalities
- Lazlo - Geiger, known on air as Lazlo[4] and off air as Mr. Kansas City, is the founding DJ and namesake of the show in 2003. Lazlo is married to morning show host Afentra and together they have two children, Gyro and Baby Chacho (formerly Little Bill). He was bass player for The Dirty Toilets and lead vocals in the band The Maisonettes.
- Slimfast - AKA Bam Bam, co-founding DJ of the show in 2003 with Lazlo. Slimfast is married as well. Had his own short-lived afternoon show ("Slimfast's After-School Special") following Lazlo and Afentra moving to Seattle. Slimfast has an admitted love of Ladyboys and often vacations in Thailand
- Spencer - Also known as Snowcone. Occasionally called "Aspy" due to mild Aspergers Syndrome. He has a severe drug problem and often is absent from shows due to short stints in rehab.
Past personalities
- Suzy McDumbitch
- Keith (or "Improv Keith") - Producer
- Punky Jewster
- Danny Parkins (or Two-Finger Taco) - would come on and talk during the sports segment.
- Stroke - former producer
- Nick Wright - Worked at 610AM sports
- Randall Landry
- Scratchy Cat
- Pookie
- Mr. Kansas City
Format
The Church of Lazlo is a talk radio show with breaks of alternative music and commercials. Hosts Lazlo and SlimFast talk about current headlines, politics, and surveys while engaging with their listeners via a text line and twitter. Texts submitted through the text line (96500) are added to the conversation and occasionally are called on-air to talk with Lazlo.
Lazlo likes to have guest stars on the show and weekly interviews Soren Bowie of Cracked.com for the buzz on what's interesting, Grae Drake from Rottentomatoes.com to find out what movies to see that weekend, and other various characters they find on the internet that are interesting to talk to. Eric Kronberg, former goalkeeper of Sporting KC, used to visit the studio and come on the show occasionally as a guest, following the tradition of Jimmy Nielsen, the preceding goalkeeper of Sporting KC.
Friend of the show Tony Ortega, former editor-in-chief of The Village Voice, periodically appears on the show to provide updates on the Church of Scientology. Tony's discussions on air in August 2011 prompted the Church of Scientology to contact Lazlo over concerns that he "disrespects all religions".[5]
Recurring Segments
- Dr. Lazlo - Listeners call the studio and list their symptoms while Lazlo with his WebMD skills attempts to accurately diagnose their illness or ailment.
- Jackson or Johnson - Slimfast challenges Lazlo and a listener to determine if a news story is from either Jackson County or Johnson County based off context clues from the story.
- Mail - Generally on Fridays Lazlo and Slimfast listen to music that is sent to them from various upcoming and established bands. After each track is played the discuss what the listeners and themselves think about the song they played.
- Miss Objectified - Miss Objectified took place each year during the holidays. Slimfast was in charge of a contest where female listeners submitted pictures of themselves objectifying themselves doing things in a variety of poses. The contest ran for the three weeks leading up to the Thursday before the Night the Buzz Stole Xmas shows, where Slimfast chose a winner who won tickets to the shows that weekend and every 96.5 The Buzz show for the entire next calendar year. During Miss Objectified in 2012, there was a sharp decline in women listeners. The contest was cancelled for 2013.
- Slimfast Surveys - Slimfast enjoys sharing surveys with the listeners much to the distaste of Lazlo.
- Sports - Daily talks which usually involve what is going on in the sports world. Sometimes involves talking with Nick Wright
- Will He Scream? - An old(er) game, Lazlo describes what physical injury he will inflict on Slim-Fast, and the caller bets on whether Slim-Fast will scream or not. Usually played for concert tickets or other schwag. An alternate version is "Will She Cry?", played by betting on whether Meredith will cry from the news story Lazlo and Slim-Fast read.
- Generation Gap - A trivia game using two callers. A Gen-X caller teams up with Slim-Fast to answer trivia questions from Lazlo's adolescence (1980's, roughly), and a Gen-Y caller teams up with Lazlo to answer trivia questions from Slim-Fast's adolescence (mid-1990's+, roughly).
- Deep Thoughts, with Meredith - Meredith attempts to explain complicated world issues. The benefits of a CMSU education cannot be overstated.
- What Do You Know, Who Would You Do? - An old(er) segment, in which callers state an unusual factoid and also provide an unexpected answer to the second question. (i.e. Betty White) Variants of this game changed the 2nd question, but the overall format remained the same.
- None of Your Business - A game in which callers ask one of the hosts a question about their personal lives, trying to get the host to refuse to answer it (say "none of your business"). Awesome intro by the RZA.
- Swapping Stuff on Craigslist - A segment in which Slimfast (under an alias) calls up someone posting an ad on Craigslist and hilarity sometimes ensues. Segments included Slimfast posing as a character from Dumb and Dumber, as a rapper seeking publicity (whose rhymes were 1980's sitcom themes), and as an energy drink addict/enthusiast, among many others.
- Death Pool - an annual game in which listeners pick 2 celebrities they expect to die that year. Prizes are awarded should they be correct, better prizes for a younger (or less obvious) winning selection. Also played on Afentra's Big Fat Morning Buzz.