We Were Told We Should Do a Podcast

You've already heard part one of the Viva La Dirt League story and in this episode we dive into part two - the arrival of Adam. We discuss how, when and why it happened and what impact he had on the channel. We touch on the mid years of VLDL, how we left our full time jobs and reminisce on big viral moments.

You've made it to the final part of the Viva La Dirt League story (well the final part for now - we ain't stopping!). We discuss the recent days, our biggest year, how we've grown and changed, how The Great Expansion impacted us (thank you!) and we speak candidly about realising our limits.

TRIGGER WARNING: The episode contains discussions about mental health, including chats regarding depression, anxiety, and OCD - listener discretion is advised. You can find helpful resources below. All three of us have had difficult experiences with our mental health. We discuss how we've been affected and what did and didn't help in the hopes that it may help someone listening feel less alone. A gentle reminder that we are not mental health professionals and these experiences are strictly from our personal life experiences. Please do not hesitate to seek help with the resources below if discussions in this episode are triggering for you.

Let's go back in time! We're reminiscing on our childhoods and reflecting on how life changes when you become an adult. Ice creams and Christmas just don't quite hit the same, but there's a sense of freedom as an adult we were forever chasing as kids. Take a walk down memory lane with us!

Have you ever experienced burnout? It can happen to anyone. Last year, we may have overcommitted ourselves by adding a studio-build onto our already hectic schedule - and you guessed it, we're experiencing burnout as a result. According to Web MD, Burnout is a form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling swamped, and it's a result of excessive and prolonged emotional, physical, and mental stress. We're lucky to have the job we do, but we're still affected by things like burnout and so we want to have a chat about how we've been affected and what we're doing to help ourselves, in case it's helpful to you.

Off the back of our chat regarding Burnout last week, it got us thinking - are cellphones ruining us? As you read (and probably listen to this) on your cellphone, we reminisce our personal memories of the evolution of cellphones, how they influence us today and where they might go in the future.

Without Lord of the Rings, Viva La Dirt League may have never been a thing. We chat about how Peter Jackson and his work in Lord of the Rings inspired all of us as teenagers, long before the three of us met. We reminisce on our favourite scenes from the films and discuss why this franchise had such a huge impact on us as young Kiwi lads.

You wanna know what irks us? Well you better listen to this episode AM I RIGHT? Sorry, we know shameless tease's probably irk you. We have a bit of fun today, complaining about trivial things that just irk us more than they probably should. Expect people related irks, toilet related irks and other niche things we assume aren't a unique experience.

Pretty ironic that we're discussing the turmoil that is social media, when it's what helped with our success! We reminisce on the early days of social media and discuss how it's both helped us in our careers while simultaneously impacted our lives in negative ways. Prepare to be reminded of things you may have forgotten about (#nostalgia!) and find comfort in the fact that we too find social media to be a tough place.

Introversion or extroversion, what's up with that? We're getting candid about where we fall on this scale and how we feel it has impacted our lives. We chat about growing up, dating, going to parties - all those overwhelming things we experience in life, in the hopes you may relate to us!

Time to dive deeper into our very first flagship show - BORED! We discuss the origin of the name 'Bored', the decision behind making our first show set in a retail store and reminisce on some of our favourite early episodes. Plus, how did TechTown come about and how did we make our own store from scratch? This episode explains it all!

You've heard about Bored, now it's time for a peek behind the Epic NPC Man curtain! How did the concept come about? Why the name Epic NPC Man? We discuss what inspired the characters we created and what goes into the world building. Plus, here the alternative Epic NPC Man outro songs that never saw the light of day!

Not sure if you've heard, but there's a pretty hot topic going around right now - artificial intelligence. As digital creators AI is certainly something that's been on our minds, and in this episode we chat about where Viva La Dirt League stands when it comes to AI. We answer questions like are we using AI? Are we scared of it? And will we ever use AI over people? And no, we didn't get ChatGPT to write this description - all human baby!

Adam is away this week and we've heard you - we know you want to hear more from our wonderful VLDL cast and crew! First up, we chat to Ellie. You may know her as Ellie from Bored, Bübble Bùtte from Tales of the Misfits, our old Social Media Manager and/or our current Podcast Producer. Ellie shares how she linked up with VLDL, reveals her favourite series, chats about the future and some of her fondest memories working with us and the wonderful VLDL community.

Adam is away again, so this week we're chatting to the outrageous, BEN! Ben tells us what made him want to become an actor and shares stories from his early days of acting, drama school and his experience with theatre. We dive into how Rowan and Ben met, how Ben became such a huge part of VLDL and what his current role is as Head Writer. We had too much to cover, so one day we'll record a Part Two!

PUBG has been a huge part of Viva La Dirt League's evolution, so let's break it down together! We chat about our personal experience with PUBG, why we started filming PUBG content and we dive deeper into our experiences at PGI. We also pose the question, will VLDL ever film PUBG content again?

It's finally time for a peek behind the scenes of our fan-funded short film, Baelin's Route! From the writing, to finding our perfect Willow, to the hustle of filming and editing, all while keeping Viva La Dirt League running. We chat about THAT one-shot and reminisce on the the unforgettable memories we made along the way. And the big question - will there be another film like this in our future? Thanks again to our wonderful fans and community for helping us out for our first film! We're forever grateful.

This episode goes out to all our D&D supporters - featuring the legendary Robert Hartley! We chat to Rob about how he got in to D&D, how VLDL D&D came about and what it's like being casual players who only really play to perform. You'll hear little spoilers and teases for upcoming episodes, and hear more from the genius DM Rob, who we are so incredibly lucky to work with!

It's the WWTWSDAP season finale and we're chatting candidly about what it's like to have an audience. We don't really like to use the word 'famous', but we go into what it's like, the moment we felt we had crossed that line and express appreciation for the wonderful community we have. This wraps up Season One of WWTWSDAP - stay tuned for updates about season two on social media!