Talkradar

Clockwise from top: Chris Antista, Brett Elston, Mikel Reparaz. Art by Tdar fan Graboids/Bryan Ward
"Talk Radar, we're the house that Abe Lincoln's boners built!"
—Brett Elston

Talk Radar was a weekly video game podcast from Gamesradar.com. It focused on video games but tended to go on long hilarity filled tangents. Anyone looking for an entertaining, if filthy, circus of a podcast, will enjoy it. On top of that it also provided an insight into the field of games journalism, and frequently gave advice on how to get into the industry, even if the hosts complained that that was the most-asked question on the podcast.

The podcast was split into three segments: The Top 7 (where hosts discuss the website's weekly Top 7 list), New Releases (covering that week's new releases, as well as other relevant gaming, and often non-gaming, news) and Community (comprising of a segment on Game Deals, Question of the Week for the site's forum dwellers to answer and phonecalls to the Talk Radar hotline). For four months beginning from Episode 150, after three years of late nights and nervous breakdowns, the podcast was split in two, one on Tuesday containing the Top 7 and New Releases and another on Friday with News and Community stuff. That didn't go well and four months later, the podcast reverted to its weekly format.

Within the breaks between segments, old commercials, interviews, community stuff, sketches either made by the hosts themselves or other people, ridiculously inappropriate promos shilling the podcast to the people already listening or just any old funny nonsense was played. More often than not, any attempt to curb the podcast into a relatively professional course was derailed by free-flowing booze.

You can find the complete series here. This podcast also has its own dedicated wiki here.

After a number of hosts left the podcast for brighter horizons, they started up a second podcast called Laser Time. Previously teased as a "joke podcast" where Tyler Wilde would answer questions in a suave and strange voice, Laser Time has actually become a beautifully dirty cast-pod for old and new cartoons, 80's and 90's nostalgia and generally whatever the hosts find funny and interesting. It can be found at http://www.lasertimepodcast.com/

After series of employee layoffs and restructuring of the website (including closing the forums) Talkradar has essentially ended after Episode 198. Games Radar will apparently have a new podcast at some point, but it is unlikely that it will be called Talkradar or truly resemble the original podcast. Thankfully, Laser Time is still going strong and they hosted an unofficial "200th" Talkradar (they did not call it that, specifically, but nearly the entire original cast reunited) here.

Tropes used in Talkradar include:
  • Abusive Parents: Chris Antista was raped with the same cricket paddle his father beat him with. Episode 23.
  • A Date with Rosie Palms: Masturbation is a frequent topic, usually instigated by Chris, who unententionally learned to masturbate by watching Eek! The Cat.
  • And Now for Something Completely Different: The podcast went from about a two hour weekly podcast two a one hour twice a week podcast.
    • Episode 138 was an odd example, with regular host Chris Antista trading hosting duties with the site's other podcast's host, Carolyn Gudmunson who runs Pokemon Monday. The only difference was that there was a female voice and there was less belching.
  • Anyone Remember Pogs?: Most of the hosts, having grown up in the late 80's/early 90's will wax lyrical on ancient shit they obsessed over.

Chris: When I collect all the pogs it will be my birthday forever!

  • April Fools' Day: For April 1, 2011, which was a Friday, the weekly release of the podcast, the entire format was flipped backwards, with Community going first and Top 7 going last, even with the usual opening theme used as the closing theme. The hosts tried (badly) to paper over the obvious joke by referring to events that happened "earlier" in the podcast. Also came with some creepy rewound sound effects and music.
  • Awesome McCoolname: Logan Decker, editor-in-chief of PC Gamer, is held up as an example of an incredibly cool name.

Chris: He's part Wolverine and part Blade Runner!

  • Banana Peel: One of many sound effects used, especially when jokes go bad.
  • Berserk Button: Do not question their integrity or claim all they write are Fan Service articles.
    • From the Ocarina of Time FAPs, don't accuse Brett of being a bad Zelda player; he'll go on a tirade about how the game controls poorly and the camera often chooses a bad angle. Also complains about how Link often clumsily falls down after a hit, and can't slash a pot when it's near a wall (because his sword keeps hitting the wall instead).

Brett: "Hero of Time", my ass.

  • Bilingual Bonus: In Episode 148 Mikel and his wife go on a swearing spree in Italian and Spanish.

Mikel Reparaz: Me cago en la Santa Virgen!!

  • Bad Impressionists: The Hosts (and the callers) usually do impressions that turn from pretty good to hilariously awful or just down right shitty.
  • Biting the Hand Humor: The Hosts tend to badmouth their employers when things go badly.
  • Breakout Feature.: Easily the most popular feature on the website if only because it gets the most fanart.
  • Brutal Honesty: Talk Radar 10 E3 2008.
  • Childhood Memory Demolition Team: Chris once talked about how he watched a building he spent a lot of time at during his childhood be torn down, which was followed by watching a dog shit on its own balls.
  • Christmas Episode: The 2009 Christmas special was acted out in the same vain as an old variety show flashback episode. In 2010, they did an Christmas Carol parody, all about the true meaning of motion controls.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Happens frequently, most often in the third segment, as the hosts are usually a bit buzzed or more by then.
  • Console Wars: Chris Antista and Shane Patterson attempted to end the current one between the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360.
  • Couch Gag: Several every week.
    • An opening clip from any medium (movies, television or skits) that will be relevant/irrelevant to the week's show.
    • An ending song to finish off the podcast which most of the time, as above, are relevant/irrelevant to the show.
    • A secret sound effect at the very end that most fans don't even bother to hear.
  • Cross Cultural Kerfluffle: Always a chance of happening whenever the hosts refer to their colleagues across the pond, Gamesradar UK. This happens mostly when that particular week's Top 7 was written by an editor from the UK.
  • Death Is Cheap: Hosts tend to die when they don't appear on episodes, and come back to life in the next one.
  • Digging Yourself Deeper: Chris Antista puts himself in this position more than anyone else by saying something wrong factually or chronologically and being corrected by Mikel Reparaz or Brett Elston.
  • Don't Explain the Joke:

Brett: "#2 is vinyl! A record player! Kids, they're like big laser discs!
Charlie "I don't think kids know what laser discs are..."
Brett "That was the joke!"

Everybody: Chris Antista smells like pizza!

  • Giver of Lame Names: The infamous Norweigan King of Names.
  • Good Name for A Rock Band: Otterpop Afterbirth (from the Mountain Dew taste test in Episode 5)
  • G-Rated Drug: Alcohol tends to be called Sarsaparilla, Ginger Ale, Root Beer, or Goof Juice.
  • Gratuitous Italian: Chris is very Italian, and he isn't afraid to point it out with stereotypes.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Very few words are taboo on Talk Radar, with rape, fag and the N-word being the most prominent. Musclefucking was, briefly, used as a codeword for the 1st. The R-Ape character was also created. It was then bleeped for awhile, but now it's nearly always uncensored and not very taboo anymore.
  • Guest Host: Talk Radar has had many recurring guest hosts throughout the years. Often they are editors from other publications under Future Publishing like Official Xbox Magazine or Playstation The Official Magazine, mainly because they're all conveniently in one building.
  • I Am the Noun:

Mikel: I AM THE DICTIONARY!

Chris: Are you changing your name to that?

Mikel: Don't be afraid to talk bigger darling.

Brett: I CAN TALK BIGGER! I CAN TALK BIGGER THAN ANYONE IN THIS ROOM!!!

  • Milestone Celebration: For their hundredth episode, they pulled out all the stops: a six hour long podcast commemorating the show, all the crazy events and milestones along the way, with over a dozen special guests and clips from previous episodes. In many ways, it also serves as a Greatest Hits compilation of the podcast.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Happened to both Tyler and Chris. Tyler, while apartment hunting and Chris, who took a ride home with a stranger while drunk one night. Both incidents ended very awkwardly and uneventfully.
  • Noodle Incident: The incident that caused Chris and Tyler to hate each other later revealed to be a lie because Chris wanted to quiet down the users asking for Tyler.
  • Nostalgia Filter: Averted rather hard as while most of the hosts can wax lyrical about their childhood obsessions, they were not afraid to point out any criticisms of them.
  • N-Word Privileges: Chris jokingly becomes angry when the Italian slurs "wop" or "dago" are used.

Brett: *reading off a list of words you can not use in Mortal Kombat 9* "...whore, wop. Wop Chris!"
Chris: "Oh what the fuck! Calling this whole podcast off."

Brett: "Mario Karty, I saved that one for a month"

  • Porn Stash: Used quite often when discussing porn.
  • Put on a Bus: Shane Patterson, Paul Ryan, Brett Elston and Tyler Wilde, though the latter two promises to continue to appear on the cast semi-regularly given that Elston is now working with Capcom who are on the same highway as Future US and Tyler is literally a hallway away over at PC Gamer.
  • Rule of Three: The show is done in three segments: Top 7, New Releases/News, Community. This has also been used in different quotes. Also it is the minimum number of people needed to have an episode.

Chris There are [only] three things I love in this world: Drinking, games, and vaginas.

Chris: Because I'm a loser and everyone hates me I spent all night looking up where to find Falkore

  • Series Mascot: For a short period of time, the Gamesradar R-Ape.
  • Shout-Out: The hosts often make references to The Venture Brothers and several to anything nineties related.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Despite having female editors in Gamesradar.com, they don't appear frequently in the podcast and when they do, only one shows up at a time, with the male-to-female ratio usually at 3:1. The only time the podcast has had two females at the same time was in Episode 70 with Cheryl Del Rosario and AJ Glasser formerly of Kotaku.
  • Signature Sound Effect: Some sound effects and voice clips have become synonymous with segments of the show (PHONECALLS ARE READY) with some hosts having sound effects directly related to them like A Current Affair to Mikel Wikiparez or Brett's Baby Laugh.
  • So Unfunny It's Funny: Much of the tangents that would occur on the show. Episode 75 Chris Antista spammed the soundboard about Splash's response to a QOTW about his girlfriend dying and it somehow became funny.

Chris: HOPE IT WASN'T PAINFUL!"

Chris: All I can taste is the barrel of a gun.

Shane: Joke's tired and old like yo momma.
Chris: WOAH!

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