Podcast Prescriptions: Roderick on the Line
Warning: Just like my last review, the following blog post lies to you. It purports to be about the delightful podcast Roderick on the Line, but I mostly talk about myself. This might be becoming a trend.
Roderick on the Line always begins with the same three things: About 2 seconds of theme music followed by “Hi John” “Hi Merlin”. There’s no preamble welcoming you to the show, because there really isn’t a show. As every single episode’s description states, Roderick on the Line is “Merlin Mann’s frank & candid weekly phone call with John Roderick of the The Long Winters”. The podcast is two friends catching each other up on their lives in the past week. These phone calls have been been a staple of their enduring friendship, but the transition to recording their weekly conversations has only occurred within the past few years.
Because of the intimacy of the hosts, they often don’t explain the background of what they are talking about. This lack of information leads the listener to be like a detective, picking up on the clues trying and to figure out who these two men really are. The show’s description exemplifies this. The only background info it gives is that John is, “of The Long Winters”. One might ask, “What the fuck is a Long Winters,” and receive no direct answer from the show. But overtime you might catch an offhand comment of Merlin referencing, “one of your songs” to John a few times before you surmise that John must play music. A few episodes later you then start to piece together stories about John going on tour before you actually Google “John Roderick” and discover his true identity as an indie rocker.
As far as I can tell from listening to the show, Merlin and John met directly through John’s band. The Long Winters were touring through Merlin’s hometown of San Francisco and needed a place to stay. Merlin leveraged his Long Winters fandom to house the whole band for the night, the two met for the first time, and the rest is history.
And who is Merlin Mann? It might not surprised you that, “Roderick on the Line” focuses mostly on John Roderick. Merlin, who hosts many other podcasts, deservedly takes a breather on this show, mostly steering the conversation and providing a sage analogy or two to keep John from spiraling into his enthralling, but meandering stories (much like this sentence). Because he spends much more time listening than self divulging, you have to dig a little deeper to learn about Merlin.
Or just listen to his other podcasts, as I do. I’ve learned that each of his shows highlights a different aspect of his personality. Whether it be his political views, work habits, pop cultural literacy, or love of technology, Merlin has many platforms to broadcast his interests. On “Roderick on the Line” John and Merlin discuss all aspects of their daily lives, but the show most consistently highlights their daily focus on middle-age and parenting. Two themes that a childless fresh-outta college guy like myself shouldn’t find nearly as fascinating as I do.
But I am similar to both Merlin and John in many ways, with some of our shared interests being: music, politics, media, history, sociology, the internet, and mental health. I’ve never met anyone else outside of my age range that aligns with my passions so well, so in a strange way, listening to the show feels like seeing my future in a crystal ball. It seems plausible that my life could take a similar path to either of them - but hell if I know - I’ve only been a full time adult for a mere 3 months.
My future is 100% up in the air, and having no direction as a 22 year old is simply terrifying. Even though I don’t know where my life is heading, it’s comforting to find people like John and Merlin who’ve proven that my dream-board type aspirations are actually just attainable life paths. I want to be a writer like Merlin, I want to be active in my community like John, and above all else I want to have a loving family like the both of them.
I don’t know John or Merlin at all personally, but listening to two old pals shoot the shit for 90 minutes every Monday has comforted me with a plausible prediction for the middle-age man I could become. By faithfully listening to “Roderick on the Line”, I thought I was piecing together clues about the duo’s personalities. Instead, what I’ve accidentally found is a direction to steer towards in the vastness of adult life. I’m happy to say that the frank & candid mutterings of John Roderick and Merlin Mann have become a lighthouse in the distance, gently guiding me towards the whatever the future holds.
Written by Taylor Kalsey while listening to my housemates cook dinner, watch Who is America, and then while listening to Saturation III by Brockhampton at work. Re-edited August 29th
