Talk:Feast Of Fools

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A lot of controversy here on Wikipedia has recently stemmed (in May 2006) from the misunderstanding of what the Feast of Fools podcast is, or why it deserves a Wikipedia entry.

This podcast is widely considered as one of the most popular for its form (regular daily comedy talk show.) It holds the distinction of being the first podcast produced by an open and proud gay couple and currently ranks on the Apple iTunes Music Store as the #1 podcast in the Comedy category originating from the city of Chicago.

The relevance of podcasts is not being debated here, but rather the significance of the Feast of Fools and its contribution to this new genre. Many listeners and other podcasters hold the notion that some techniques presented on the show have helped them find their own voice and structure in a genre noted for its lack of cohesion.

"You are listening to the Feast of Fools" opening tag came from Fausto Fernós' desire to identify the show in the beginning when many users had a difficult time separating one show from another. Nowadays quite a few podcasters use this technique.

A lot of catch phrases originated on this show like "Sasssafraction Guaranteed" "Quarter Turns" "Cock Blocking" (a fraternity term re-appropriated for gay men) "No-Sexbians" "We Eat Your Brain" and many others.

Just a few of some of the historic firsts for podcasting:
• First HIV positive person interviewed (Scott Free)
• First person living with full blown AIDS as a regular personality (Victoria Lamarr)
• First gay couple podcasting (Marc Felion and Fausto Fernós)
• First podcast about Star Wars (Starwarscast interviewed Star Wars fans on the opening night of the last film George Lucas said he'd ever make)
• John Waters first podcast interview
• Teri Garr's first podcast interview
• First podcast about the IML Leather Convention
• First Midwest podcast to engage listeners on the East Coast with their groundbreaking live "meet-n-greet" at the Starlight Bar in NYC's Greenwich Village in 2006
• First officially-invited podcast to be welcomed to do a live recording with a studio audience at the North Michigan Ave. flagship Apple Store in Chicago in May 2006
• First podcast to give voice to a diverse cast of characters including Amanda Steinstein, Victoria Lamarr and Miss Ronnie.

Many have thought the name to be a hidden message or a combination of the host's first letters of the last names (Fernós and Felion) but in reality the show's name spurred from the creator (Fausto Fernós) love for alliteration and an essay written by gay activist Harry Hay in which he detailed the importance for gay liberation to allow space for humor, whimsy and foolishness.

Harry Hay believed that gay men held a special place in society as shamans, hosts, priests and as arbiters of culture. In many ways the vision for the Feast of Fools (the live show) is based on Harry Hay's philosophies as well as some of the writings of astronomer Carl Sagan and television producer Gene Roddenberry.

Fausto Fernós and Marc Felion have a similar desire to explore the mind of the artist in much the same way that the concept of "outerspace" is explored in the writings of Carl Sagan and in Gene Roddenberry's popular television series.

But by taking on such controversial topics on the show and challenging their own community, they have drawn fire from their gay peers in podcasting and in the gay publishing world in Chicago. Despite this opposition, the show currently ranks as the most popular gay-themed podcast and continues to attract larger audiences to its five-day a week production schedule and makes the show available for free to tens of thousands of fans around the globe.Feastoffools 06:40, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Criticism of the current Entry

Although clearly the Feast of Fools is an entertaining and beloved show for its listeners, the unnecessarily long and self-promoting article devoted to it is highly inappropriate for an "information port" such as Wikipedia purports to be. They are hardly alone in using this resource for marketing, and I don't believe a total blackout on commercial posts is possible or even desirable, but the content should be tailored to fit into an informational and objective format. Superflious use of words like "brilliant," "amazing," "one-of-a-kind," reek of shameless subjectivity, and have no place in an online encyclopedia. Without some clear limits on this sort of entry, Wikipedia will eventually be nothing more than a database of marketing fliers, and will lose its utility as a information resource completely.