My favourite podcast is Stop Podcasting Yourself, starring Dave Shumka and Graham Clark (@daveshumka @grahamclark on the Twitter). For the record, I subscribe to, like, 10 podcasts and my actual favourite is CBC’s This is That, but, technically it’s really a radio show.

Moving on…

Stop Podcasting Yourself is described by it’s hosts thusly: Vancouver’s top comedy podcast? Hosted by Graham Clark and Dave Shumka, with weekly guests. Hilarious weekly guests? Yup.

Mostly true. The podcast has a segment called Overheards, which is not a new or unique thing – just Google “overheard” for some fantastic Internet time-spending/wasting/edutainment – and is also a very awesome thing. In a nutshell, Dave, Graham and their guest recount things that they’ve overheard or overseen and then riff off each others’ contributions. And then readers email (stoppodcastingyourself@gmail.com) and call (206 339 8328) in their overheards with hilarious, improv-ish results.

[Editor’s note: there are allegations that Mr. Clark and Mr. Shumka stole the Overheards segment from, I think, a radio station in North Carolina. This is probably the first time in history that comedians have been accused of stealing things].

Stolen or not, the Overheards segment is all about we people of Earth engaging our communities in a way that is being ever-eroded by pod-and-smart-phone-culture: by listening. Mr. Clark mentioned this very fact during Episode 183.

For your information, here are some examples of Overheards that I’ve experienced in the last little while:

• At work: “Students need to face the facts, good communication skills isn’t enough.”
• At a Vancouver Whitecaps game:
  • KID 1 (probably eight years old, clearly in the bright, bright sunshine and definitely squinting): “Hey, are we in the shade?”
  • KID 2 (incredulous): “Shut up.”
• On the bus:
  • YOUNG WOMAN: “It’s like my parents are wrapping their umbilical cord around my neck and pulling me back home.”
  • YOUNG MAN: “That’s really funny.”
  • YOUNG WOMAN: “No. It’s really serious.”
• On a hike with my friend Steve Sloot: “We’re absolutely as funny – or funnier – than those Stop Podcasting Yourself guys. They just have a podcast.”

This blog has written about what it’s like to be plugged-in to and un-plugged from technology and how such behaviour affects our relationship with the communities in which we live in and travel through. We’ve also written about talking to strangers (this is a topic upon which Mr. Shumka and Mr. Clark most vehemently disagree, with hilarious results) as a method of positive engagement.

And my point is this. Listen to the people around you. In addition to all of the hilarious stuff that we spout-off, there are also a lot of interesting, meaningful and touching snapshots of creative concepts that we might overhear that might be world-change-worthy that might inspire the best idea you’ve ever had.

So listen to your community. Trust me – and trust Dave and Graham – it’ll be pretty great.