For those of you who have already blasted through Thursday's "Serial" podcast, you're in luck. Two new episodes of the hilarious parody were released today to stave off the hunger for all things "Serial."
If you're not one of the many followers, "Serial" is a podcast from the folks at "This American Life." Listeners follow journalist Sarah Koenig on her investigation of the 1999 murder of Baltimore high schooler Hae Min Lee, and her quest to figure out whether Hae's ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed, who was convicted of the murder, is truly guilty.
The audience's fascination with this story has as much to do with the medium by which it is told as the narrative itself. Three bourgeoning Upright Citizens Brigade comedians, Paul Laudiero, Will Stephen and Zach Cherry, saw potential in this storytelling method -- potential for comedy -- and decided to make a parody.
"There's such a defined voice of the show -- not just Sarah's voice -- but the actual voice of the show," Laudiero explains. "I felt like it was ripe for parody."
Laudiero makes it clear that they are not trying to make light of the murder, but rather tease the specific storytelling method of "Serial" -- from the music to the cadence of Sarah Koenig's speech, which in the parody is voiced by Stephen.
"We're sort of poking fun, in a loving way," Laudiero continues."We're all fans of the show."
To make each episode, the guys improvise around bits of the show they found compelling, and slowly tease out the best lines. This could be any aspects of the podcast -- even the infamous MailChimp advertisement that begins each episode:
The parody has been well received on social media, and in the New York City comedy community, and the videos have been played thousands of times on YouTube. Laudiero, who records and edits the show, says they'll keep going until it stops being a source of amusement. The ultimate response, of course, would be for Sarah Koenig herself to hear it and respond.
Hear the two new episodes below:
The other three can be listened to here.
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