| The Complete Guide to Everything | |
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| Website | http://www.tcgte.com |
The Complete Guide to Everything sometimes abbreviated to TCGTE, is a free weekly podcast featuring Tom Reynolds and Tim Daniels[1] of Brooklyn, New York.[2] It often runs about 60 – 90 minutes in length and is released every Sunday. The show sarcastically refers to itself as a competitor to Wikipedia in podcast form. Most episodes cover one overarching topic which typically serves as a jumping off point for off-topic conversations about cultural observations. It is alternatively known as The Monday Morning Grind-Cast.
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24cast[3] began in January 2006 and lasted 23 episodes. It featured Tom and Tim who later went on to create The Complete Guide to Everything along with Chris Judice and Paul McKenna. The podcast was primarily about the Fox Television show 24 but frequently covered many other topics and issues on the hosts minds. Episodes were released in a somewhat sporadic manner. The show also gathered a reputation within the 24 podcast community, where it frequently billed itself as the "only explicit podcast about 24".[4]
It was also featured as one of the Top 100 Most Subscribed to Podcasts of 2006 by iTunes.
This follow-up podcast to 24cast was not well received by most podcast critics, but most The Complete Guide to Everything fans and former 24cast fans are lovers of this short-lived podcast. Since its inception, it has grown a large cult following. The premise of this 4-episode series consists of hosts Tom, Tim, and Chris simply reading articles reprinted off Drudgereport.com [5] and making humorous comments about them. This idea was the basis for the current The Complete Guide to Everything.
The podcast was featured prominently on the UK iTunes podcast directory in August 2009 and has remained in the Staff Favourites section ever since. This has led to an overwhelmingly British audience for this US-based show, which is frequently referred to and acknowledged in the show itself.
In 2010, the podcast was a shortlisted nominee in the 'Entertainment' category at the Podcast Awards.
Introduced in the episode 'Life on the Road' the hosts answer emails sent to thecompleteguidetoeverything@gmail.com asking for advice. The topics typically pertain to advice relating to social behavior or relationships.
Introduced in the episode 'Colon Health and Final Destination' the hosts run through a range of topic suggestions gathered primarily via their Facebook Fan Page [6] but also occasionally via email, Twitter [7] and their forums.[8] The hosts read through suggestions for future topics, often giving a quick opinion about the topic suggested. It was implied that topics that passed The Gauntlet would go on to become future full length episodes, however the hosts have since announced this was never their true intention. The segment has now been discontinued.
Introduced in the episode 'Public Services (Or An Excuse To Talk About Poop)' the hosts draw on reports from listeners of instances where they have pointed out to a member of the public that the behaviour they have seen that person exhibit is unacceptable by saying "You're Awful"; the stated aim of the You're Awful campaign is to remind people "not to be a dick". As clarified in later episodes, the aim of the segment is to encourage listeners to point out to people who should, and in fact do, know that the behaviour is unacceptable in a social setting but have developed (often without realising) a sense of being 'above the rules', with businessmen and old ladies being specific examples cited. The hosts also draw on articles that they have read in The New York Times for further examples of "awful" behaviour. The segment is also referred to as "A Particular Kind of Asshole You Didn't Know Existed Until The New York Times Pointed It Out To You Of The Week".
Frequently the hosts will refer to "friends of the show" during the course of an episode. It is implied that the person(s) named are known to the hosts on a personal level and frequently listen to the podcast. Claimed friends of the show include Julia Roberts, Justin Bieber and Starbucks Coffee.
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Two live versions of the show (hosted by regular hosts Tom Reynolds and Tim Daniels) took place in London on 7 & 8 May 2011 and were held at the Hen and Chickens Theatre [11] and Kings Place [12] respectively. Tickets for the event sold out within 4 hours of release. A short 5-minute video of the first live show[13] was released in lieu of the full recording of the show, which was lost during 'the London Incident' (see below). A further live show is scheduled for 4 August 2011 at The Peoples Improv Theater in New York.
Additionally, the show has done one live after-show following the 90's Sitcoms: TGIF (ABC) edition that appeared on UStream.tv.[14] The aftershow took place at a bar via the (at the time) newly released UStream.tv iPhone application.
In the "International Travel" episode (17 May 2011) Tim and Tom discussed the theft of Tim's property, a bag containing (but not limited to) an Ipad, Mac Book and speakers, causing Tim distress and affecting that nights sleep. While some speculation was made during the "International Travel" episode about the possible culprit, a lack of evidence has hindered any serious progress to identify and prosecute the offender. Tim's travel insurance status is at present unknown so measuring the lasting financial damage is difficult to calculate although Tim and Tom estimated the cost to be around $1500. However Tim made it clear that emotionally he was damaged by the incident and his view of London had been tarnished.
On an ad-hoc basis some "official artwork" based on the content of an episode is produced by Natalie Al-Tahhan (flailingwithink.com) and this is displayed on tcgte.com along with the show notes. The artwork consists of brief cartoons depicting what the artist considers to be the most humorous aspects of the subject episode.
A free official iPhone application giving access to every episode, the tcgte blog, the host's blogs, the host's Twitter accounts and a messaging facility is available on the Apple App Store.[15] On 24 June 2010 the app was downloaded 6,000 times following a feature by Apple [16] and was named as the 'Staff Pick' in the Entertainment Category in Volume 6 of the iPhone App Directory magazine.[17]
The first gathering of TCGTE fans took place at Porterhouse Brewery in Covent Garden, London in October 2010 and host Tom attended. The official TCGTE website refers to the gathering as "the first international meet up" of TCGTE fans.[18]