Lore/references

The First Podcast has been going for several years; in doing so, it has amassed hundreds, if not thousands, of memes, segments, gags, references and other lore. In the past, an attempt to create an exhaustive list of individual pages related to all of the references on the show was made. Given the show's lengthy backlog at this point, it is now more practical to simply produce a list of the notable ones, with brief descriptions.

While the hosts aim to keep The First Podcast entirely understandable at any starting point, a comprehension of some (or, even better, all) of these references and gags will improve the listening experience.

References including "the"

• The awkward fourth: Ali had a tendency to blaze past the "rule of three" in comedy and go for an awkward fourth gag in a row.
• The boar question: For a long period of time, Lars and Ali would ask the guests their opinion on boars (in general).
• The buzzing noise arc: For about six months in early 2019, Ali had their microphone positioned very close to their computer fan, producing a very loud audible buzz on their audio tracks.
• The chicken egg ability: On a now deleted episode, Lars hypothesized the idea of a superpower to be able to lay a chicken egg out of one's butt.
• The cold open: The overwhelming majority of podcast episodes begin with a cold open, containing either a funny moment from the episode, an outtake, or some other material before the intro song. Lars and the hosts will sometimes "call" a humorous moment during the recording to be prime material for this.
• The Discord server: The show maintains a Discord server, both for fan congregation and for live episode recordings every week. The hosts will often plug this server on air when they remember to do so.
• The duck question: Throughout the history of the show (though more so in earlier episodes), the hosts will sometimes ask the guest the question: "For 2 billion dollars, would you spend the next 4300 years as a series of ducks?"
• The early episodes: When Lars brings up (and when Ali brought up) "the early episodes", they are/were generally referring to the mostly guestless episodes that were recorded in late 2018 and have since been removed for having low levels of quality.
• The First Podcast game: A "game" created by Ali during their tenure, ostensibly a "podcast simulator", consisting of a few PowerPoint slides and a predetermined outcome.
• The Great First-Unknown War: There is a "war" occurring between The First Podcast and The Create Unknown, the latter of which is hosted by Matt Tabor and Kevin Lieber of Vsauce2. Occasionally on air, the hosts of either podcast will take potshots at the other, subtly plugging that show to their audience.
• The great purge: In spring 2019, Lars deleted a lot of the aforementioned early guestless episodes due to a mutual agreement with his then co-host Ali that they were of low quality, and did not represent the modern era of the show. They are largely unavailable outside of a few released on Patreon.
• The "Jeopardy music" gag: In the latter half of 2020, most episodes would feature a point in which Ali would ask Lars to "queue the Jeopardy music" during a transition of some sort. In post-production, Lars would add a completely unrelated song instead, often a particularly annoying and loud one.
• The live question segment: Throughout most of 2020, Lars and Ali would open up recordings to the live audience toward the end and allow them to give verbal questions on-air. This practice has been mostly abandoned since 2021.
• The luggage question: During the first half of 2020, Ali would often ask the guest about their luggage preferences, due to them working at a hotel at the time and being interested in the subject. A gag would later develop as Lars questioned their interest in it, wondering if it was entirely platonic.
• The Minecraft server: Discord moderator Jakiki the Fridgigi maintains a Minecraft server for the podcast, which listeners can utilize.
• The modern era: This is the era from approximately episode 33 with Kill Bill: the Rapper to episode 147 with Hannah Daigle and DaftPina, where Ali was co-host and the show made the transition to live recordings on the Discord server. It ended with Ali's departure as co-host.
• The "my friends and I are funny" podcast: Lars will semi-frequently reference a type of podcast in which a group of friends decide that they are hilarious, and make a podcast about it. He notes the low quality and dead-on-arrival status of the overwhelming majority of these podcasts.
• The persona: A façade that a creator or entertainer puts on instead of being themselves. Lars has often noted that this is anathema to a good podcast episode.
• The piss soap question: Frequently in early 2019, Lars and Ali would ask the guest the following question, provided by guest Tim the Curator: "You find out there's a really popular brand of soap in France that was made from your piss as a baby. Responding to a public request, your mom sold a company your urine when you were an infant, and due to some unique physiological quirk of yours they found it perfect to base their soap line on. What do you do with this knowledge?"
• The postmodern era: This is the era from episode 148 on, with Lars bringing on Amir and James as new co-hosts after Ali's departure. Also noteworthy was the decision to bring the show to YouTube for the first time.
• The quarantine: In early 2020, America (the location of both podcast co-hosts at the time) was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a nearly global quarantine and stay-at-home orders. While the hosts tried to avoid over-referencing it in order to not date the episodes during this time too much, it inevitably came up (and, as of January 2021, still comes up) from time to time.
• The rewind gag: During many early episodes, the hosts would call for a "rewind" of the show to clarify a certain ambiguous point or statement. Lars would often insert a random nonsensical clip in post instead.
• The third host: For most of 2018-2020, the podcast had two co-hosts, but the topic of a potential third co-host was a frequent item of discussion. In 2021, Lars and Amir brought on James and finally filled the third co-host role.
• The "three shells method" of pooping: This is a reference to the movie Demolition Man, in which humanity has evolved to using only three seashells to clean one's butt after pooping; a humorous meme on the internet attempts to describe what this might look like. Lars has had many voice actors on the show do a dramatic reading of its instructions.
• The transition: This refers to the brief period of time in between Ali's announced departure from the show, and Lars's procuring of Amir as replacement co-host. Ali cited "wanting to work on other projects" as their reason for leaving.

A through G

• As if your life depended on it: In 2019 and 2020, Lars and Ali would often ask guests to answer questions as if their life depended on it, no matter how mundane or inconsequential.
• Audioboom: The audio host for The First Podcast, lauded by Lars for being very loose with its upload limitations and having great analytics.
• Band name, called it: Especially in early episodes, Lars would "call" band names from ridiculous phrases stated on air.
• "Beach" from Plok: A track from SNES video game Plok, noted for its virtuoso musicianship on a comparatively quaint chipset, and often utilized in post by Lars as background music.
• Birds aren't real: A satirical "belief" by Lars that birds are fake, possibly robots. Episodes will occasionally reference this.
• Bonus episodes: Additional episodes available only to subscribers on the show's Patreon page, containing largely experimental formats and less bogged down by some of the commercialism of mainline episodes.
• Classic episodes: Episodes of this status were originally deleted during the great purge, and have been re-released for patrons. These episodes no longer fit with the modern show era, but are still considered good by the hosts.
• Coffee Dad: Lars's favorite Twitter account, consisting ostensibly of a dad who posts almost exclusively about drinking coffee; occasionally, the dad will instead lament about his dead son.
• Comedic wrongness: While not usually stated by name, this is a driving force of the podcast; the "joke" in many moments on the show is that what was just said is the complete wrong answer to a question, and is treated as correct.
• Craig: The recording bot on the Discord server, which records a somewhat low quality backup of each track during podcast recordings. Craig has saved the host's asses on multiple occasions.
• Dan Cameron: A bizarre meme essentially shoved into the show by Ali during the tail end of his tenure. Ali recorded or had recorded several weird music clips to go along with it. More or less a dead meme now, but will likely catch mid-2020 episode listeners by surprise.
• DICK DICK DICK: The phrasal manifestation of the fact that anyone can edit a Wikpedia or other wiki page, originating from a story Lars told during his high school years by adding "DICK DICK DICK" to a random Wikipedia article without consequence.
• Ding, new topic: A late 2019/early 2020 meme in which Lars (or an audience member) would shout "DING!" to signal to Ali that the current topic was boring and a new one was needed.
• Doplex's songs: Amir has a music keyboard ready on standby during all recordings. He will frequently play small notes/samples on it, and occasionally bust out a preset song loop in order to improvise rap lyrics over it.
• Electric Boogaloo: Stated by Lars and occasionally Amir whenever someone else says "[Thing] 2", as in a sequel to that thing. Comes from a snowclone.
• Extra Joe: A term referring to moments during their tenure when Ali (at the time named Joe) would go above and beyond to be "extra", making strange observations and non sequitirs.
• Fat earth theory: A satirical theory Lars "holds" as a comparison to the flat earth theory. According to this theory, the earth is "getting too fat" because of the increasingly overweight population, and will soon "fall out of the sky".
• Feel free to flex: A longstanding policy on the show that began during Alix's tenure; guests are encouraged to "flex" (brag about their accomplishments) in an effort to promote self confidence and positivity about people's achievements.
• Floater, KY: A fictional city originating from the movie Sex Drive. When Lars needs a random, middle-of-nowhere example city, he will usually use this.
• Floundering: A major comedic staple of Ali's during their tenure on the show, in which they would take an exceptionally long time to get to a point or a question of some sort, often stammering, coughing, clearing their throat, and making numerous false starts of a sentence first.
• Followers of Lars/Latter Day Joes: A satirical "religious order" on the Discord server from 2019 to 2020. Disbanded by Lars once Ali left the show, as he felt it led to some clique behavior. Some Discord members still have "Priest" in their nickname as a reference to this.
• Friends of the show: People, generally guests, who have since become friends of the podcast, Lars, the other hosts, or all of the above.
• Guestless episodes: Episodes of the show that don't feature a guest. Notable mostly today for being exceedingly rare; 2020 only had five of them in 52 weeks. This format is almost never used, because it serves only to maintain the fanbase, rather than grow it.

H through P

• Having the guest start the show: Starting in early 2019, Lars and Ali began the tradition of the guest starting the podcast, instead of the hosts; so far, every single guest has happily agreed to this. A frequent joke the guests will make is to pretend that The First Podcast is their podcast, and introduce its hosts as the "guests".
• Hypothetical questions: An early staple of the show, in which the hosts would ask hypothetical questions to the guest in order to get some insight into how their brains work.
• Jakiki: A moderator on the Discord server, the maintainer of the podcast's Minecraft server, and a very unusual man. He occasionally submits bizarre audio clips for use on the podcast.
• Jeff: Ali's brother and roommate (at least at the time), occasionally referenced during his tenure. Their living situation being spartan to a fault was a point of constant comedy when discussed on the podcast.
• Jersey Mike's: A stand-in restaurant reference from Lars's hometown. "That guy who works at Jersey Mike's down the street" refers to a typical "normal dude" working in fast food.
• Joe (Ali) being "from New York": During Ali's tenure, they would often jokingly claim that they were "also from New York" if the guest stated that they lived there. The joke is that they grew up in New Jersey, which New Yorkers stereotypically hate.
• Joe's (Ali's) expertise: A frequent gag during Ali's tenure in which they would claim to "know all about" a subject being discussed, and then very obviously make typing noises to suggest they were looking it up on the spot.
• Joe (Ali) is an alien: Due to Ali's frequent and pervasive bizarre behavior on the podcast, Lars often speculated that they were actually an alien masquerading as a human. Ali would frequently lean into the joke with "mistakes", such as unnecessarily calling people "humans", only to quickly correct themself.
• Joe (Ali) stories: An infamous recurring segment of the podcast during Ali's tenure, in which they would tell a story in a way that Lars once described as "the kind of inconsequential thing that a bunch of suburban moms would tell each other while getting together for lunch".
• Lars's Purchase Corner: A segment introduced by Lars in very late 2020/early 2021, in which he will discuss the purchases he has made during the previous week, and will also invite the other recording participants to discuss their recent purchases.
• "Let them talk" episodes: Episodes in which the hosts give the guest the stand, they ask them questions, and they proceed to let them talk for more or less the entire time. Common when having people like game developers on.
• Lightning round: Shorthand for a segment near the end of a recording in which the hosts will ask any remaining questions very rapidly, expecting short answers, to get them out of the way.
• Mini episodes: A new format that began at the very end of Ali's tenure on the podcast, in which a much smaller creator would be featured on the show in order to help them grow. These episodes are shorter than normal ones.
• Nate's Narm: A video on Lars's old personal YouTube channel containing a scene from Six Feet Under that is considered hilarious out of context. Whenever he remembers to do so, he will bring this up.
• Nostalgia Critic: Lars's least favorite creator. He will often audibly express disgust when the guy is brought up.
• "One-named" celebrities: A quick joke used occasionally by Lars, something along the lines of "those famous one-named celebrities, like Billie Eilish". The joke is that, obviously, Billie isn't a one-named celebrity.
• Penguin man: This is the code phrase used by hosts to indicate that there is some sort of serious problem (internet issues, etc.) and that the recording should be paused while they are addressed.

Q through Z

• Recently castrated: Many times during his tenure, Ali would state something in a purposefully limp, listless manner. Lars would describe his energy as being that of someone who has been "recently castrated", and request that they redo their statement with some gusto.
• Shut up, Lars: A very early gag on the show, in which Ali would respond to something innocuous Lars said by screaming "SHUT UP, LARS!" and follow this up with an immediate, over-the-top apology. Quickly retired, but memorable in its humorous severity.
• Soup's done: A quick cut-in done in post by Lars, in which he will layer a clip from a specific Gus Johnson video over a loud noise on the recording.
• Spum: A hypothetical guacamole alternative, with corn in the middle instead of a large seed. Created as a concept by Lars and Amir during the latter's very first episode, making it officially Amir's first meme on the show.
• TJ: The current agent for The First Podcast, as of January 2021. TJ is responsible for reaching out to guests, scheduling them if available, and ensuring they make it to the Discord server. He also does consultation and producing work with the hosts.
• Useless superpowers: A frequent segment during Ali's tenure which occasionally still makes appearances; guests are simply asked to come up with a superpower that would be completely useless.
• We asked: The stock response that the hosts will give to people when they ask, "How did you guys get such big creators as guests on your podcast?"
• What is your favorite podcast, and why is it The First Podcast?: A common, jokey question the hosts would ask guests during Ali's tenure. Not officially retired, but hasn't been busted out in a while.
• When was the last time you cried?: An early gag in which Lars would surreptitiously get the guest to try to ask Ali about the last time they cried. The latter would usually feign an over-the-top angry response to this.
• "Why am I muted?": This is a common question that inevitably gets asked at some point by a new live listener during the recordings, usually someone who is coming for the guest in question that week; out of dozens or hundreds of people, statistically a few of them are either new to Discord or don't understand it. The answer is that everyone else is automatically muted to make sure only the hosts and guest(s) can speak while recording.
• You heard it here first: Often uttered by a host whenever a guest reveals some sort of brand new information, in a jokingly over-the-top attempt to give the show some "cred".

Other podcasts

• Facing Fear with Sara: A motivational podcast. Sara, the host, was a guest on The First Podcast. Lars and Ali recorded a guest appearance on this podcast, but the episode was scrapped after Ali quit the show.
• RebelTaxi's Pizza Party Podcast: An animation-based podcast. Nolan and Jim, two of its hosts, have been guests on The First Podcast.
• Show Me Yours Podcast: A now ostensibly defunct conversational podcast. One of its hosts, Amanda Kusek, was a guest on The First Podcast.
• SleepyCast: A conversational podcast, technically still on hiatus. Niall, Mick, and Stamper, all hosts of the show, have been guests on The First Podcast.
• The Biggest Problem in the Universe: A now defunct debate podcast. Lars is a big fan of it. Asterios Kokkinos made regular guest appearances on it.
• The Official Podcast: A conversational podcast. One of its hosts, Huggbees, was a guest on The First Podcast.
• The Only TikTok Podcast: A now defunct podcast about TikTok creator growth. Ali was a host of it, alongside guests of the show Jake Truemper and Flaurall.
• The Spaghetto Podcast: A dice game-based podcast. Friend of the show Spaghetto is its main host. Ali used to also host the show; Spaghetto has since brought on his friend FullmetalDubs as replacement.
• The Stupid Sequels Podcast: A now ostensibly defunct bad movie reviews podcast. The host, Chelsea Sanders, has been a guest on The First Podcast.
• Thought Cops: A weekly news-based podcast. Its hosts, Grant Mooney and Kevin Podas, have been guests on The First Podcast.
• WeDon'tSuck: A weekly surrealist podcast. Its hosts Kill Bill: the Rapper and Rav have both been guests on The First Podcast.

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