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Lars Danger Housholder (pronounced [ˈhaʊʃoʊldər]) is the creator, director, producer, editor and main host of The First Podcast.
Show role and appearances
Lars is the reason the show exists in the first place, acting as the main host, producer, editor and creative director. He also owns and runs the Discord server, although he delegates most responsibilities to the moderating staff.
He can be considered the backbone of The First Podcast. Joe and Lars have often mentioned that the show would continue in the former's absence, but likely not in the latter's absence. However, Lars frequently requests feedback from Joe and considers him essentially equal in terms of creative control.
He has appeared on every episode of the show thus far. Each episode is scheduled with the intent of both key hosts appearing, but Lars will occasionally host without Joe if absolutely necessary.
Recording style/personality
Lars is dry, witty and optimistic. He enjoys delivering his opinions, but isn't overly cynical. While the real Lars is playing something of a character on air, there is not much of a difference between the two.
Having no intention of remaining serious on air for the most part, Lars frequently breaks the fourth wall and delves into metafictional discussion. This is often exaggerated in the editing room. He is also the first one to burst into laughter during humorous moments, making no attempt to remain composed.
Lars notes having a very evolved acclimatization to his own voice and laughter, having initially found them to sound "annoying". He credits a several-month period in 2017, where he created a series of satirical YouTube videos with narration, as having gotten himself used to what he sounds like to others.
Lars does not consider himself inherently very funny, believing himself to have the "Seth Rogen gene". In other words, he believes people tend to find the things he says as being more amusing than they perhaps are because of his deadpan, dry delivery and bemused yet upbeat attitude toward everything.
Occasionally and with no provocation or reasoning, Lars will give a guest a completely inaccurate "nickname" on an episode, such as calling Saltydkdan "Brett Canterbury".
During serious segments, Lars likes to break down topics to their core issue and develop a common-sense interpretation. He tries to give a neutral point of view, considering both (or more) sides of an issue.
In the Lars-Joe double act, Lars acts as a straight man to Joe's antics.
Editing style
Lars edits the show in Adobe Audition, where he rearranges, amplifies and cuts audio clips to make the episode more surreal. The finished product is extremely similar to the raw recorded audio, but with a postmodern twist. One of his favorite editing tricks is to put a completely wrong clip in the episode when the hosts reference it on air.
An example of Lars's editing style from earlier times
This editing style seems to have evolved from his earlier low-key work on his YouTube channel, which was considerably goofy and had a large amount of gags happening at any given second.
On multiple occasions, Lars has referred to the LSD segment during the episode "Far Away Places" on television show Mad Men as being an inspiration for his editing, noting that the section maintains one foothold in reality but has an undeniably bizarre atmosphere.
Attribution of success
On a guest appearance on the Double D Podcast, Lars enumerated three key factors concerning the recent and unexpected success of The First Podcast:
- Being lucky enough to have a very large first guest on the show
- An extremely strong determination and the cooperation of a partner who was equally on board in terms of motivation and drive for the show
- The balls to simply ask massive content creators if they wanted to come on, many of whom agreed because they were willing to go for it
Personal life
That's gay
Outside of the podcast, Lars works as a print and marketing consultant, web designer, Postmates driver, and occasional contractor for a private wealth advisor.
Lars identifies as a political independent, most sympathetic to Democratic Socialism. He perceives the government and the economy as a mixed system, and favors a combination of "sensible" capitalist and socialist tenets within them. He does not care about political correctness and thinks the left can be really dweeby about this on occasion, but he advocates kindness and inclusivity in general. Lars has described himself as a "straight ally" and a "feminist ally", fighting for more or less the same causes.
He is currently single and generally unavailable, as he is devoting this chapter of his life to making the podcast tip. While most of his hobbies have taken a back seat for this as well, he makes a point of at least catching new episodes of Doctor Who when they come out.
Some of his main stated principles in life include:
- There's always another woman.
- What makes you happy? Go do that.
- Learn something every day.
Lars is noted for having a bit of a crush on British actress Janet Montgomery. He is also a rabid, to the point of being almost excessive, fan of the track "Beach" from the game Plok.
Quotes
- "As a Jewish person, what do you think?"
- "[my useless superpower would be] the ability to lay eggs as a human. Just chicken eggs, out ya butt."
- "Jimmy Buffet took me aside and asked if I wanted to see his private Margaritaville, just me and him. And I said no Jimmy! He asked if I was sure and said he would buy the plane ticket for me and I was like.... maybe."