The Distorted View Show
The Distorted View Show (also known as Distorted View, Distorted View Daily, or DV) is an adult-oriented comedy podcast hosted by Tim Henson and broadcast weekdays.
History
Henson began experimenting with Web-based comedy in 1996, and began producing episodes of the Distorted View Show in 2000 through telephony company Tellme, under the name Distorted View Daily. The show was broadcast over telephone to listeners. As its popularity increased, the show was soon featured on several Internet radio broadcasts and on FM radio. The show moved to the Mp3NewsBreak company in 2002, but the company ultimately collapsed. In 2003, Distorted View partnered briefly with Sirius Satellite Radio. On December 6, 2004, Distorted View began as a podcast and has continued into 2007, resulting in over 600 episodes of the show.
Features
While billed as primarily a podcast that presents bizarre news stories, the Distorted View show also integrates other sources of aberrant material, including audio clips ripped from videos, unusual songs, or the occasional Canadian public service announcement. All of the components of Henson's podcast deal with adult themes, including (but not limited to) [...] and [...] fetishes, drugs, domestic violence, unusual accidents, and racism. Henson approaches these topics with parodies, skits, and off-the-cuff commentary.
While the light and insensitive manner Henson uses while discussing these topics May Be considered offensive by some, he has admitted on the show that it is all done in jest. Upon the listing of Distorted View on the UK iTunes he recommended that the potential new European listeners should keep an open mind and treat the show as a "daily 30-minute vacation from compassion."
Introduction and Bizarre Audio
Intro Clips
A typical episode of Distorted View will open with a selection of audio which will play uninterrupted by Henson's live commentary. This audio is very often a Great Moments introduction. Introduced with Henson's prerecorded "Distorted View Daily...proudly presents," followed by the clip's context, this intro is usually humorous audio of, for example, a bizarre or ludicrous situation or someone's ignorance or overreaction. Other possibilities include Fictional Sponsors (including Grandma Jigaboo's Old Negro-Style Pancake Mix, a parody of Aunt Jemima or the unfortunate Levinge Group legal firm), a bizarre or satirical song.
Bizarre Audio
After Henson's initial greeting, recitation of what news stories will be covered in the show, and the playing of the show's theme song, there is a block of time before said news stories' coverage during which Henson plays a variety of different featured strange clips. There is a veritable pantheon of different semi-regular bits and common themes which Henson touches upon. These include:
Ask Satan
Black and White
The short-lived Black and White bit consisted of the playing of two clips: one of black participants and one of white participants. The clips were of the members of either race 'acting crazy,' as Henson put it. After playing both clips Henson would analyze both clips using a sophisticated computer by the name of Blackulator Caucasiatron, which would determine which race had emerged as the most crazy as defined by either clip.
The bit began and ran occasionally during early 2007, disappearing without notable listener outcry as the year progressed.
Black Friday
A semi-regular bit, Black Friday is a bit wherein audio from television and especially radio trailers for blaxploitation films are played. Previous Black Fridays have included Coffy, Mandingo, and Boss [...].
Pornographic Movie Clips
The multitude of clips originating from pornographic videos are played for their bizarre audio. Common genres include:
- Fisting [...]
- Deepthroating gags
- [...] from scat fetishists
- Beastiality
- Bloopers
- Fecal anal [...] accidents
'Sabotage'
Stemming from Henson's playful infuriation at the 'uselessness' of the Yahoo! Answers service, the Sabotage Yahoo! Answers bit began as an effort to—obviously—sabotage Yahoo! Answers. Listeners were to post ridiculous or offensive questions to Yahoo! Answers or respond to normal Yahoo! users' questions with ridiculous or offensive answers. Henson would then read the answers or questions his listeners submitted, in the latter case also reading the responses garnered from uninvolved Yahoo! users.
The bit eventually left the podcast to find a new home in the updated Distorted View Website, where listeners can post and view other listeners' efforts to sabotage Yahoo! Answers and any other site they attempt to sabotage as well
Sextastic Tuesday
Vagina Power
The "Crazy, Bizarre, Twisted, [...]-Up News"
Voicemails and Outro
Recurring Audio Drops
Gay Fisting [...]
The Crazy Christian Lady
The Dickhole Guy
The Shitslurper
Other
While many recurring references come in the form of repeated audio clips, other references are merely things Henson says in the normal commentary or bits of his show. Many of them, predictably, are references to particularly memorable clips he has played.
Feigned Antisemitism
Without fail, Henson will immediately follow up his assurances that he has no biases against any group of people with the phrase "...except the Jews." Occasionally he'll follow this up with the ominous pronouncement of "I'll get you, Jews!"
Henson has never gone into any detail over how he intends to "get" the Jews.
Is Don on the Phone?
Clips of Casey Kasem losing control on his radio program are a beloved, occasional component of Distorted View. One particular clip features Kasem being unable to transition successfully to a more serious tone for a death dedication after coming out of an up-tempo record. In particular, Kasem expresses his exasperation thusly;
- ...You know, they do this to me all the time. I don't know what the hell they do it for but god dammit if we can't come out of a slow record, I don't understand it—is Don on the phone? Okay, I want a goddamn concerted effort to come out of a record that isn't a [...] up-tempo record every time I do a goddamn death dedication. Now, make i—and I also wanna know what happened to the pictures I was supposed to see this week!...
Now it has become a recurring joke for Henson to, when, for instance, he is expressing his confusion at the sheer ludicrousness of a news story he is reading, say "I don't understand" and immediately follow it with "is Don on the phone?" Occasionally he will follow it up with more references from Kasem's tirade.
Jigoo!
While not a commonly said reference, Jigoo! refers to audio from a pornographic video featuring men whose [...] is to have their head repeatedly smashed between a woman's thighs. One man in the clip, after being hit by the legs of one woman, shouted something that sounded a lot like jigoooooo!. It is now, within the Distorted View universe, an acceptable noise for a man to shout while climaxing.
The spelling of the word Jigoo! is uncertain.
Mah Deekgot Hooaad
The phrase Yo deekgit hooaad and eventually Mah Deekgot hooaad stems from a video in which two black men are working out. One man, instructing the other on the attitude one needs to successfully 'pump iron', likens the intensity to when one is going to have [...] with someone. Specifically, "when you're fuckin' somebody...and your [...] gets hard." In the man's manner of speech, however, the phrase sounded more like "And yo [...] get hooaad". Deekgot Hooaad became a staple of the Distorted View culture when Henson returned to the show after a weekend and remarked that he was obsessed with the phrase and couldn't stop saying it (albeit in an exaggerated manner). Since then it has evolved into a reference Henson rarely brings up but comes back in waves occasionally during the voicemail segment. Therein a listener might comment on something Henson did or something they were doing that made their "deekgit hooaad."
The spelling of the phrase Mah Deekgot Hooaad is uncertain. Its shirt, sold at the show's website, spells it Digget Hoawd.
Meyownus
Henson's alternative pronunciation of the word mayonnaise is a direct result of off-the-show attempts to irritate waiters and waitresses. His intent, he explained, was to insist on pronouncing commonplace items in bizarre ways and insist on that pronunciation when at restaurants. He therefore now pronounces mayonnaise on the show as 'meyownus', parmesean cheese as 'pramesan', and bananas as 'banaynays'.
"Our Friends at MIT"
Often Henson, in the need to feign some sort of objective or high-tech analysis system, will refer to a supercomputer "on loan from MIT" which is assisting him with whatever bit he is 'using' it for. It will interact with Henson by emitting a synthesized voice and usually processes data with the audible "Boop beep beep boop boop beep boop boop".
Any resemblance of these beeps to Henson's own voice is probably just the imagination of the listener.
Distorted View Sideshow
Opened in November 2006, Distorted View Sideshow is a members-only extension of the Distorted View podcast and web site. Features include full access to the Distorted View archive (over 600 shows), pre-recorded extensions of the regular podcast, live "aftershows," and a personalized RSS feed for each member. Membership is $5 (USD) per month or $50 per year. The Distorted View Show itself remains free.
Awards
- In 2005 and 2006, Distorted View won Best Comedy Podcast at the Podcast Awards.
- In 2007, Distorted View was nominated for Best Comedy Podcast at the Podcast Awards.
- In November 2005, Distorted View was a finalist for Best Podcast in The Weblog Awards.
- Distorted View typically ranks in the top ten user-nominated podcasts each month at Podcast Alley .
- On November 28, 2005, the Columbus Dispatch profiled Henson.