I am a huge fan of Curry so I was extra hyped for this interview. Just felt like leaving some thoughts because the interview got me thinking about this podcast moreso than the actual content of the interview.
If I had to say how this episode was, well, I don't think it was one of the better ones. It was a bit awkward on the first hour before Curry let his hair down. I can tell he has never listened to THC, because he was completely unprepared for Greg to sit back and not talk for minutes on end. Which is, of course, the strength of THC. At one point he said "you are going to have to hit me with a rock" and I'm pretty sure he was like "come on kid you need to interact with me more!" After the hour mark I think Curry finally got hip to the fact that he had a platform to say what he wanted to say and started flowing. To contrast with the Rogan episode, it is amazing how Rogan can grunt and meathead his way through a convo with Curry and make it go a lot smoother.
I place 100% of the "blame" (too negative a word) on Curry. Despite all of his aptitude and experience I don't think he believes he is an expert at anything. He constantly says stuff like "Yeah I made my own file server using Telnet in the 90s, but we were just hacking around I have no idea how to actually program!" Which is obviously bullshit, he clearly knows his stuff, he just likes to be the facilitator not the expert. In contrast, THC is a place for experts in something to come and share their expertise. Greg gives wide clearance to the guests so they can fully explain their points, with Greg interjecting with topic defining segues.
I really like how Greg’s cadence works for the conspiracy space. If you are engaging as an equal part of the discussion you likely turn into George Noory. You can’t disagree with your guests because the nature of the topic is hard to fully believe in the first place, so you end up nodding along and saying “wow that’s interesting!” over and over. Or even worse than Noory, you turn into Gordon White. Gordon is a spectacularly interesting and entertaining person, but a TERRIBLE interviewer. Gordon seems to bring on guests to interview HIMSELF, often interrupting guests to interject his own opinion. Or going on and on about his opinion and ending with a “what do you think about what I think?” Only the strongest of guests can shine on Rune Soup.
I think this is the exception that proves the rule. Curry is not an ideal guest for this format, and Greg’s style is in fact perfect for the typical guest. Honestly I was disappointed that Curry didn’t take full advantage of the opportunity to go off in his own voice about things. I had the thought that he may be a bit more one dimensional than I previously thought. But honestly I think he is just very used to his radio persona and was purely unprepared to be given the floor without a bevy of clips to lean on. I would love to see him come back with a different mindset and have another crack at it.
Greg, great job getting Curry on, great job teeing up the discussion, don't change a thing you do and I hope you can get a more focused Curry back on in the future.
