Earlier this year, YouTube revealed a staggering fact: over 1 billion people now watch podcasts on its platform each month. At the time, this felt like one more nail in the coffin for traditional media. Following a presidential election where Donald Trump found success by skipping the traditional 60 Minutes interview in favor of rambling conversations with Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and (checks notes) legendary professional wrestler Mark “The Undertaker” Calaway, it’s clear that podcasts have never been more popular or more influential. However, the surging popularity of podcasts that you watch may still come as a surprise to many — but not to Duncan Trussel.
Five years ago, back when the phrase “podcasts on YouTube” was still an oxymoron, the actor-comedian-podcaster brought his freewheeling conversational style to Netflix. The result was Midnight Gospel, which took edited versions of Trussel’s podcasts and combined them with trippy animation guided by Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward. Midnight Gospel was endlessly creative and surprisingly emotional. It was also ahead of its time. Netflix canceled the series after just one season, but on the anniversary of its April 20 debut, it’s worth taking a look back at this weird little cartoon that predicted our modern media moment.
