Welcome to Night Vale

Welcome to Night Vale
Presentation
Starring Cecil Baldwin
Format Comedy, fake news radio, surrealism, paranormal horror, deadpan
Language English
Production
Opening theme

"The Ballad of Fiedler and Mundt" by Disparition[1]

"The Ballad of Haydon and Prideaux" by Disparition, as of August 1, 2015
No. of episodes 86[2] + 4 Live + 5 Bonus (List of episodes)
Publication
Debut June 15, 2012
Website Official website
Bandcamp page

Welcome to Night Vale is a podcast presented as a radio show for the fictional town of Night Vale, reporting on the strange events that occur within it. The series was created in 2012 by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. It has been published by Night Vale Presents since March 15, 2015,[3] and was previously published by Commonplace Books.[4] Cecil Gershwin Palmer, the host, main character, and narrator, is voiced by Cecil Baldwin, while secondary characters are sometimes voiced by guest stars, such as Carlos, voiced by Dylan Marron. The podcast typically airs on the fifteenth and thirtieth of every month, and consists of "news, announcements and advertisements" from the desert town,[5] located "somewhere in the Southwestern United States".[6] In an interview with NPR, Joseph Fink said that he "came up with this idea of a town in that desert where all conspiracy theories were real, and we would just go from there with that understood."[7]

Production

Cecil Baldwin as Cecil in the live episode "The Investigators" during the 2015 UK tour.

Every episode of the podcast includes a piece of music as "the weather", each by a different independently published artist.[8] The theme and background instrumental music to the series were created by the musician and composer Disparition.[9] In July 2013, Welcome to Night Vale became the most downloaded podcast on iTunes.[10]

In October 2013, Welcome to Night Vale began presenting live shows which continue into 2014 with a West Coast Tour.[11] In addition, it was announced during the episode "Auction" that in 2015 there will be a novel. Fink stated that "it's going to have all the characters and weird atmosphere that you want from Night Vale, with a brand new story that explores parts of Night Vale that we just haven't been able to get into with the podcast."[12][13] When the book became available for pre-order the following March, it became Amazon's #2 title seven months in advance of the release date.[14]

Welcome to Night Vale's plot consists of long form storytelling.[15] Individual episodes usually function as stand-alone narratives and only rarely contain significant developments in storyline.[16] The writers employ running jokes and plot arcs, advanced slowly through the events described in the podcast. Characters and narratives may emerge and develop slowly, while unrelated stories may combine to form new plot points.[15][17] Major stories have occurred, including the development of a romantic relationship between Cecil and Carlos;[18] the stranding of several characters, including Carlos, in a 'Desert Otherworld';[19] the invasion of and eventual expulsion from Night Vale by the corporation 'StrexCorp' from the rival town of 'Desert Bluffs';[20] and the 2014 mayoral elections, with subsequent terrorist activities by failed candidates The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home and Hiram McDaniels.[21]

Guest stars and guest writers

Guest stars include Kevin R. Free as Kevin, Cecil's Desert Bluffs counterpart; Mara Wilson as the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home;[22] Jasika Nicole as Dana Cardinal;[23] Jackson Publick as Hiram McDaniels, a literal five-headed dragon;[24] Dylan Marron as Carlos the scientist;[25] Hal Lublin as Steve Carlsberg; Lauren Sharpe as StrexCorp executive and program director Lauren Mallard; Desiree Burch as mayor of Night Vale Pamela Winchell; Retta as Old Woman Josie; Meg Bashwiner as Deb, a sentient patch of haze; and Marc Evan Jackson as local billionaire Marcus Vanston.[26] James Urbaniak guest-starred in the LA Podcast Festival performance as Intern Leland.[27] Molly Quinn appeared as Fey in the March 2014 episode "Numbers." Symphony Sanders appeared as Tamika Flynn, the child anarchist, in the episode "Old Oak Doors." Wil Wheaton voiced Earl Harlan in "Homecoming."[28] In the US tour; The Investigators, Joseph Fink voiced Intern Joseph Fink. Numerous guest stars also had a role in the April 2015 episode Voicemail.

Zack Parsons, who wrote alongside Fink at Something Awful, has co-written four episodes: The Traveler, A Beautiful Dream, The Deft Bowman, and Lost in the Mail.[29][30] The Auction was co-written by Glen David Gold,[13] who also contributed material to The Woman from Italy.[31]

Novel

In October 2015 Fink and Cranor released a novel by the same name, Welcome to Night Vale. It is told primarily from the viewpoints of Jackie Fierro and Diane Crayton, both citizens of Night Vale that have been featured in the podcast. Critical reception for the book has been positive.[32][33][34]

Reception

The show has been described as "the news from Lake Wobegon as seen through the eyes of Stephen King", and Christopher Wynn of The Dallas Morning News characterized it as "NPR meets The Mothman Prophecies."[5] The Daily Dot's Gavia Baker-Whitelaw compared the podcast to being "caught somewhere between Weird Twitter and 'Tales of the Unexplained'" and said that it is "well worth a listen—although possibly not after dark, if you live in a small town yourself."[35] Colin Griffith of The AV Club said the show is "really well done, offering a surrealist/absurdist (and occasionally existentialist) take on community radio, with dispatches from the small, delectably nightmarish desert town of Night Vale."[36] Writing for TechGeek, Erin Hill considered the uniqueness of the podcast to be "its presentation of what is ordinary", adding that "many of the things that Cecil reports goes against our idea of normal, but [everything] is presented in a manner that makes it seem mundane."[37]

In July 2013, Welcome to Night Vale was ranked second on the top 10 audio podcasts list on iTunes, behind radio program This American Life.[38] During the same month, it surpassed This American Life to become first on the podcasts list, having received 150,000 downloads during a single week.

In December 2013, The AV Club ranked the show 7th on its Best Podcasts of 2013 list.[39]

Co-producer Jeffrey Cranor attributed this spike in popularity to both Tumblr and fans of the television series Hannibal. Max Sebela, a creative strategist for Tumblr, stated that the fan following began to "spiral out of control" beginning on July 5, with that week having "20,000-plus posts about 'Night Vale,' with 183,000-plus individual blogs participating in the conversation, and 680,000-plus notes."[10] The Twitter account for the podcast has been noted as having more than 20,000 followers by July 2013.[9]

According to The Daily Dot, new listeners primarily come through fan following and word of mouth primarily on Tumblr with fan fiction and fan art focusing on the romantic relationship between the show's narrator and scientist Carlos.[40] Fans have published "fanscripts," transcripts of the podcast, in order to widen the accessibility of Welcome to Night Vale.[41]

On October 15, 2015 producers Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor were interviewed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Cecil Baldwin appeared for a Community Calendar public service message for Night Vale.[42]

References

  1. ↑ "WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE". Disparition. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Welcome to Night Vale". Podbay. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  3. ↑ http://nightvale.libsyn.com/64-we-must-give-praise
  4. ↑ http://nightvale.libsyn.com/bonus-episode-3-the-librarian-horoscopes
  5. 1 2 Wynn, Christopher (October 22, 2012). "Welcome to Night Vale: Eerie, witty podcast has Texas ties". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  6. ↑ D'Amico, Anthony (May 26, 2013). "Celebrating Their Corpse-Strewn Future: Welcome to Night Vale". Brainwashed (Brainwashed Inc.). Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  7. ↑ Lyden, Jacki (August 31, 2013). "Welcome To 'Night Vale' — Watch Out For The Tarantulas". NPR. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  8. ↑ Waggoner, Nate (February 19, 2013). "6 Podcasts You Really Should Be Listening To". KQED. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  9. 1 2 Roberts, Amelia (July 28, 2013). "10 Reasons to Listen to Welcome to Night Vale". The Artifice. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  10. 1 2 Carlson, Adam (July 24, 2013). "America's Most Popular Podcast: What The Internet Did To "Welcome to Night Vale"". The Awl. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Live Shows". Commonplace Books. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Popular Podcast 'Night Vale' Coming Out as a Book". Associated Press. December 16, 2013. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  13. 1 2 Fink, Joseph. "The Auction". Welcome to Night Vale. Commonplace Books. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Spooky podcast 'Welcome to Night Vale' is coming to a bookstore near you". HelloGiggles.
  15. 1 2 B, Marke. "Welcome to Oakland, ‘Welcome to Night Vale’". 48 Hills. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  16. ↑ Croft, James. "5 Things Humanists Can Learn from "Welcome to Night Vale"". Patheos. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  17. ↑ Dobbs, Sarah. "Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor on Welcome To Night Vale". Den of Geek. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Why Welcome to Night Vale is Important". The Geekiary. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  19. ↑ la Vigna, Christina. "Night Vale Nightmares #8: "Taking Off/Review/Bonus Episode 4: Pamela Winchell"". Fangoria. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Religious Colonialism in Welcome to Night Vale". Lady Geek Girl and Friends. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  21. ↑ "The Word Has No Meaning: The Resolution of Conflict and Belonging in Welcome to Night Vale". The Rainbow Hub. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  22. ↑ "31 - A Blinking Light up on the Mountain from Welcome to Night Vale on podbay: open podcasting". Podbay.fm. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  23. ↑ Dobbs, Sarah. "Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor on Welcome To Night Vale". Features. Den of Geek. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Yellow Helicopters (episode description)". Welcome to Night Vale. Episode 32. Commonplace Books.
  25. ↑ Adri M (January 2, 2014). "Dylan Marron: "Night Vale" Has a New Carlos". thebacklot.com. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  26. ↑ ""The Debate" - Live at Roulette". Bandcamp. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  27. ↑ Davis, Lauren. "Watch the Welcome to Night Vale podcast live show now!". io9. Gawker Media. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  28. ↑ Davis, Lauren. "NIGHT VALE NIGHTMARES #2: "We Must Give Praise"". io9. Fangoria. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  29. ↑ Fink, Joseph. "Welcome to Night Vale: NPR from the Twilight Zone". Something Awful Forums. SomethingAwful LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  30. ↑ "Welcome to Night Vale : 40 - The Deft Bowman". Nightvale.libsyn.com. February 1, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  31. ↑ Fink, Joseph. "The Woman from Italy". Welcome to Night Vale. Commonplace Books.
  32. ↑ Hightower, Nancy. "Our top science-fiction and fantasy picks for October". Washington Post. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  33. ↑ Carroll, Tobias. "Review: 'Welcome to Night Vale,' by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor". Star Tribune. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  34. ↑ Barton, Chris. "Review 'Welcome to Night Vale' podcast becomes an equally weird, haunted yet humorous novel". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  35. ↑ Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (June 10, 2013). ""Welcome to Night Vale," where David Lynch meets "The Twilight Zone"". The Daily Dot. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  36. ↑ Griffith, Colin (March 22, 2013). "Dick Van Dyke continues WTF’s "comedy legends" streak and Dane Cook makes it weird". The AV Club. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  37. ↑ Hill, Erin (August 11, 2013). "Welcome to Night Vale: What is Normal?". Techgeek. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  38. ↑ Wynn, Christopher (July 15, 2013). "‘Night Vale’ podcast with Texas ties closes in on ‘This American Life’ on iTunes". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  39. ↑ Anthony, David (December 4, 2013). "The best podcasts of 2013 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  40. ↑ Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (July 23, 2013). "In the surreal shadows of "Night Vale," a new fandom lurks". The Daily Dot. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  41. ↑ Romano, Aja (August 5, 2013). "Fan-created transcripts make it even easier to get into "Night Vale"". The Daily Dot. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  42. ↑ "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Video - 10/15/2015 (Oprah Winfrey, Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor, Judith Hill) - CBS.com". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015.

Further reading

External links

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