‘The Box of Oddities’ Stars Kat and Jethro Gilligan Toth Talk About Their Webby Award Nomination
If you’re a fan of comedy podcasts, you might have come across The Box of Oddities. Celebrity hosts Kat and Jethro Gilligan Toth have been hosting the popular Apple podcast since 2018. They were recently nominated for a Webby Award in the best series and best ad categories. Read on for more about them.
Kat and Jethro on their Webby Award nomination
We spoke to Kat and Jethro about their Webby nomination for The Box of Oddities. They told us they were both “grateful” and “excited” about the honor.
“Oh my gosh, we’re super excited about it,” said Jethro. “We feel incredibly grateful to be in the same category with all these huge corporate brands when we’re just two goobers recording a show in our basement.”
The inspiration behind ‘The Box of Oddities’ podcast
What inspired The Box of Oddities podcast? The duo told us their fascination with all things strange is what drew them to this genre.
“One of the things that drew us to each other was we both had a common interest in strange stories and bizarre facts,” the podcasters shared. “And we were excited about the idea of sharing those stories with other people. Being able to do it while we travel (which is our goal) was very appealing.”
Overcoming challenges
Kat and Jethro says they were a bit surprised by the amount of work required to do a podcast. However, they quickly learned what they had to do to make it work.
“Doing a podcast is so much more work than we thought it would be!” they admit. “The biggest challenge for us (since we produced two podcasts a week), is keeping up with the workload. But, like anybody who starts a podcast, the biggest challenge is just to get noticed. And that was certainly no different for us.”
Kat and Jethro say the key to overcoming some of the obstacles they faced was to pay attention to the things that were in their control. Beyond that, they just let things take their course.
“We thought it was important to focus on what we could control, like content and technical quality, and hope that the rest would take care of itself,” say Kat and Jethro “And our listeners have done a great job of sharing their interest in our podcast with their friends. We just recently cleared a total of 10 million downloads.”
Their Favorite ‘Box of Oddities’ podcast
What has been their favorite podcast episode so far? The hosts say they were intrigued by the Cheddar Man.
“One of my favorites is about the Cheddar Man,” said Jethro. “Scientists discovered a Neanderthal skeleton in Cheddar, France. As a project for history students throughout Europe, students submitted their DNA samples to see if anybody was related to this 25,000-year-old skeleton.”
Much to many people’s surprise, there was a match. “The only person they found who shared mitochondrial DNA was a history teacher who lives nine miles from The Cave where the skeleton was found. Also, Kat did an episode about the platypus, and he’s pretty neat.”
Kat and Jethro’s advice if you want to start a podcast
Passion is key if you hope to have your own podcast one day. It will help you push through the tough times.
“Be passionate. Don’t wait for perfect conditions to start,” advises Jethro. “If you have that passion, then start where you are. As your podcast grows, reinvest in better equipment and continually strive to improve the overall quality. Also, don’t compare yourself to others. That’s just a great lesson for life–comparison is the thief of joy.”
Another thing Kat and Jethro want future podcasters to know is that they don’t have to be afraid. It’s OK if you don’t get things right the first time.
“Don’t be afraid to mess up,” they say. “One of the things we’ve learned is that the times we’ve struggled or the instances where we felt self-conscious about what we were doing, the people who listened to the podcast, they want to support you, and often will see your vulnerability as something they can connect to.”
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