Keith and The Girl

Infobox Podcast
title = Keith and The Girl


caption =
host = Keith Malley
Chemda Khalili
url = [http://keithandthegirl.com/ keithandthegirl.com]
rss = [http://www.keithandthegirl.com/rss/ katg.com/rss]
[http://www.keithandthegirl.com/rss/tv/ katg.com/rss/tv]
status = Weekdays
began = March 2005
ended =
genre = Comedy
ratings =

"Keith and The Girl", abbreviated as either "KaTG" or "KATG", is a popular comedy podcast that began on 7 March 2005. It is hosted by comedian Keith Malley and singer Chemda Khalili, an unmarried couple living in Queens, New York. Chemda is of Persian descent whilst Keith's exact origins are unknown, but believed to be eastern European. In the show, which usually has a length of an hour or more, Malley and Khalili discuss their lives and current events in humorous and unrestrained fashion. As described by Keith and Chemda themselves in the show's tagline, "Keith and his girlfriend talk shit".

"Keith and The Girl" has consistently been a top-ten ranked podcast at Podcast Alley, reaching a top-5 spot each month for the past two years.cite web | title=Top Rated Podcasts | work=Top 20 Rated Podcasts (11/2007 - All) | url=http://podcastalley.com/top_podcasts.php?num=20&genre=0&year=2007&month=11 | accessdate=2006-11-16] The show has over 40,000 listeners and in excess of 1 million monthly downloads as of June 2008.cite web | title=Businessweek | work=Don't Quit Your Day Job, Podcasters | url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_15/b4029078.htm | accessdate=2007-03-31] The show's media files are hosted on LibSyn/Wizzard Media, returning after a short period of being hosted on TalkShoe. The podcast's popularity has peaked at times to the 5,000^th daily traffic rank according to Alexa.cite web | title=Related Info for: keithandthegirl.com | work=Traffic Rank for keithandthegirl.com | url=http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/keithandthegirl.com?h=300&range=3y&site0=keithandthegirl.com&size=Medium&w=610&y=t&z=3 | accessdate=2007-11-16] Recently they received the award for best Podcast in the Mature Comedy Category, and also People's Choice, for best Podcast of the year. [ [http://www.podcastawards.com PodCastAwards.com ] ]

Keith and Chemda's stated aim for the podcast is for it to become their main source of income. Keith and Chemda were also children's entertainers at one time, but have since retired from the profession. They also sell show merchandise through the show site. Items such as t-shirts, hoodies, flasks, lighters, keychains, Keith's standup CDs/DVDs, as well as music CDs that Chemda has appeared on, can be purchased. In March 2007, Keith Malley claimed that the summation of all PodShow shows totaled a mere 12,000 downloads a day, and suggested that PodShow had squandered the funds obtained from venture capitalists. Malley challenged PodShow to "prove him wrong", and later suggested that PodShow had attempted to hurt the standing of his show on the list of podcasts on digg. [cite web|url=http://tinfinger.blogspot.com/2007/03/katg-claims-podshow-has-only-12000.html | title=KATG claims Podshow has only 12,000 downloads a day | accessdate=2007-03-01 |publisher=keithandthegirl.com ]

Keith and Chemda are currently working on a Keith and The Girl relationship book and recently also completed their first live 74-hour podcasting telethon. A part of the donations from listeners went to support Aspergers Syndrome research.

Features

Some of the regular features of "Keith and The Girl" include:
*Prayer: Shows traditionally open with a prayer taken from the Somerset Daily American. However this changed beginning show 520 with the prayer now being written by a listener or, if no suitable prayer is submitted, by Chemda. The "Daily American" is the newspaper of Keith's hometown. If the show has a guest or guests, they will usually read the prayer. It is closed with the Hebrew exclamation "L'Chaim" ("to life").
*Co-hosts: Regular co-hosts featured are celebrity gossip queen Patrice, artist-turned-podcast-producer Spooky, and filmmaker Matthew Bray.
*Live shows: All shows are recorded live and broadcast over the Internet using a Shoutcast feed. Shows are announced on the forums shortly before going live. From March 2006 to April 2008, live shows had also featured a two-camera video feed via Paltalk. This service was turned off in May 2008, instead utilizing LiveVideo.com for live video and chat capabilities. Listeners of the show are able to listen to the live feed and discuss topics with others in the chatroom, as well as submit comments to the hosts using a web feedback form. Listeners are also able to call-in to the show.
*Guests: Several celebrity guests that have been featured on the show. Refer to celebrity guests below for complete listing.
*Strange News: Keith reads (or sometimes plays audio clips of) unusual news and events. Keith also tends to add in his own one-liners and other comments into the stories, in such a way that they often seem to be part of the stories. Chemda is often tricked into thinking this is the case.
*Clown Monday: Stories from the hosts' day jobs at children's parties. Parties are usually held on weekends, hence a Monday recap. This segment is now defunct because Keith and Chemda no longer rely on children's parties as a source of income
*Suck-A-Dick Wednesday: A derivative of Opie and Anthony's "Whip 'em Out Wednesday", where if a woman sees the "WOW" sticker, she is supposed to flash her breasts. Keith one-upped the idea so that if a female encounters another listener wearing a KATG shirt, she is morally obliged to give him a blow job. Since the original show, "Suck a Dick Wednesday", [ [http://katg.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=14961 katg.libsyn.com ] ] many listeners have called or written in relating their personal stories. These include a 13 year-old who was the inspiration for another show's title "Baby's First Blow Job". [ [http://katg.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=15812 katg.libsyn.com ] ]
*Gossip Thursday: Regular guest Patrice visits the show every Thursday to bring the latest celebrity gossip.
*Ask Dina: Dina is a semi-regular Friday night call in guest from upstate New York, who answers listener submitted questions of an often, but not exclusively sexual nature. Dina usually offers extremely personal yet hilariously appropriate anecdotes from her own life to back up her advice.
*Songs: The show closes with one or more tracks, either songs or comedy tracks, somehow related to the content of the show. Occasionally the track has been one of Keith or Chemda's own recordings. In July 2006 the show began closing with songs submitted by independent artists, not related to the show content. In October 2006 the shows ended without songs. During December 2006, the shows ended with comedic tirades from Keith McNally, a well-known listener and guest.

Less-frequent show elements include relationship advice to listeners' letters, mail and calls from listeners and other podcasters, road shows from on location (or reports afterward), prank calls, and comedy clips for review and discussion. Occasionally, Keith plays "Lick My, Suck My", a dirty word puzzle.

The show has experimented with presenting both pre-recorded and original advertising. Some of these short ads have been bumpers at the beginning or end of each show, while others have been integrated into the episodes.

Recurring themes

Some frequent topics of the show include:
*Accents: New listeners often are confused by Keith strange pronunciation of words. This is due to the Pennsylvanian accent that Keith has.
*Keith's upbringing: Keith and company discuss his childhood in a small town, with a religious father. Mention of Chemda's upbringing is much less frequent. Sometimes guests offer their upbringings in comparison.
*New York stories: Happenings, personal and impersonal, in New York City. Includes Keith's early life after arriving from Somerset, working as a waiter.
*Dane Cook: He was booked to be a guest more than once, but never showed up. Since then Keith has ranted about him, calling him a "weird liar" and "joke thief," among other things.
*Clown Jobs: Appeared often in early episodes of the show, as Keith and Chemda were formerly children's entertainers. Clown job stories are now a rarity on the show.
*Showbiz stories: Aside from Gossip Thursday, the show often discusses podcasting, comedy, music, television and movies, and the state of their respective industries. Industry guests often provide significant contributions.
*Relationships: The relationships of Keith and Chemda, Keith when he first moved to New York, guests, pertinent listeners, and relationships in the news.
*HUAR (Humans United Against Robots): News and discussion of advancing robot technologies and their implications.
*Ding: A sound/concept brought up to suggest that the topic move on to something else (i.e. the person or issue currently at hand isn't favorable), originally suggested by guest Victor Varnado on "Couples Therapy". [http://katg.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=47338 (25:50)]
*Race, sexuality, and religion: The show has a controversial take on issues such as race, sexuality and religion. This includes the game "guess the race" (beginning with episode #2 "Introduction to Racism") [ [http://katg.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=1578 katg.libsyn.com ] ] where Keith reads a news story, often a crime, and invites guests or callers to name the race of the alleged perpetrator. A casual listener could easily take offense to these aspects of the show and a number of listeners have written either to the show directly or on the forums complaining of racism and homophobia. Supporters of the show would point out that the much of what is said is an ironic take on stereotypes and parodies simple prejudice (this form of performance can be found in a range of current podcasts such as Fox in the City). The show also features a number of Black guests and regulars such as Patrice, who occasionally defend Keith and Chemda's personal stance on these matters.
*Glitter: Keith and Chemda both hate glitter due to the fact they were constantly asked to use it during their clown jobs, and the fact that they can never remove it when they are finished.
* Dentistry: After one of many frequent visits, Keith and Chemda share their dentistry experiences and horror stories.
* Shooter McGavin: Refers to the "finger guns" gesture performed by the character of the same name in Happy Gilmore, and any other obnoxious behavior from so-called "hotshots". It has come to be associated with the use of technical jargon and trivialization of important information by these "hotshots" as a way of avoiding scrutiny.
* Computer problems: As the talk show is delivered via the Internet a number of issues, such as saving or uploading audio files, arise. Being such a top-ranking show new podcast producers often email Keith requesting advice regarding podcasting, often obvious questions which information can be found by doing a web search.
* Nerds: Keith often professes his dislike for the 'nerds' that frequent podcasting, tech, and sci-fi conventions. He makes frequent references to them, often using a nerd voice to impersonate them. Recently, Keith started to use what is known as the 'nerd slurp' along with the voice. It is a copy of the sound someone makes when they are wearing a retainer, and Chemda , Patrice, and the general listening audience are usually disgusted by it.
* UPS delivery service: Keith and Chemda are annoyed by their UPS delivery man, who refuses to stop at their house and leave their packages.
* Personal finances: Keith and Chemda sometimes discuss their lack of funds. Not as frequent now, as they seem to be doing better money-wise.
* Restaurants, Clubs, and Bars: Frequent discussions about establishments that they have been to. Some commonly named places are 'Nice Guy Eddies', 'Ha Comedy Club', 'Comedy Cellar' and 'Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse'.
* PodShow: Keith and Chemda have had issues in the past in dealing with Podshow, and its founder Adam Curry. One of the most downloaded episodes of the show was when Keith and Chemda acquired a podshow contract, and read the private document live on the air. In September 2008, Keith delivered an ultimatum for PodShow (now renamed Mevio) to remove all links to KATG from its site, because he claims that Mevio is using the downloads to KATG to pad their download stats even though KATG is not featured on the site. [ [http://katg.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=73950 katg.libsyn.com ] ]
* Taste Test: Keith, often along with frequent guest Brother Love, visit various strip clubs and gentlemen's establishments and review them on the air.

Keith and The Girl TV

Keith and The Girl TV began in late November 2007. It is a branch off of the original format of an hour to an hour and a half of talk and is focused more on short 3-5 min comedy shorts or skits that usually feature a topic or guest of the previous week's show or news. [ [http://www.keithandthegirl.com/tv/ Keith and The Girl - TV ] ] Topics have included internet phenomena such as 2 Girls 1 Cup and [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Cinnamon%20Challenge&search=Search&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&spell=1 The Cinnamon Challenge] , to the inner workings of the main KATG show. The show is said to update every Monday morning and is downloadable through the shows website or via iTunes. This however occurs irregularly and you will find that they update this on a bi / tri monthly or even less frequent basis. Like the show it was inspired by, KATG TV frequently ranks within the top 5 on Podcast Alley.

Guests

Celebrity guests

* Dan Allen
* Eric Anderson
* Jordan Carlos
* Peyton Clarkson
* C. C. DeVille
* Christian Finnegan
* Greg Giraldo
* Bobcat Goldthwait
* Ross Eliot Mingey Hanson
* Jani Lane
* Hari Leigh
* Brother Love
* Dennis Madalone
* Mike Mattera
* Liam McEneaney
* Jonah Ray
* Sandra Regalado
* Doug Stanhope
* Victor Varnado
* Daniel Wilson
* Jesse Joyce
* [http://myspace.com/jamieleecomedy Jamie Lee]

Podcast or friend guests

* Adam Brown
* Andrea
* Dee
* Dina
* DJ Quad
* "Fancy Bitch"
* Keith McNally
* Michael Carrino
* Michael Khalili (Chemda's brother)
* Mark "Mr. X" Delfs and Just Julie
* Mark Malley (Keith's brother and gay fella)
* Matthew Bray
* Myka
* Patrice
* Rellek
* Sexy Potatoe
* Soccergirl and Ryan
* Spooky
* The Gunner

Awards

* Podcast Awards 2007 - Peoples Choice (Winner)
* Podcast Awards 2007 - Best Mature Podcast (Winner)
* Svenska Podradiopriset 2007 - Bästa Utländska Kanal (Winner)
* Blogger's Choice Awards 2007 - Best Podcast (Winner) [ [http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/main/winners?page=4 2007 winners | Blogger's Choice Awards ] ]
* Podcast Awards 2006 - Best Mature Podcast (Nominated)
* Podcast Awards 2005 - Best Mature Podcast (Nominated)

ee also

*Super Secret Backstage Show
*Humans United Against Robots

References

External links

* [http://nobodylikesonions.com/ Keith and The Girl official site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/nobodylikesonions/ Keith and The Girl official MySpace]