This is an extraordinary feat, considering there are tens of thousands of Australian sports podcasts about massive sports like AFL, Rugby League, cricket, and all the rest of that sweat, competitive stuff Australians love.
Coincidentally, MotoPG has also just published its 50th episode.
Hosted by three vaguely unhinged but very informed lunatics, MotoPG began as a MotoGP-focussed podcast, but has expanded to cover all aspects of motorcycle racing and motorcycling life in general.
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It brings together the experience and knowledge of racing insiders, Freido Marquez and Tug McClutchin, along with the much loved (and sometimes despised by boring people) author, motorcycle reviewer, and social commentator, Boris Mihailovic. The result is a sweary, highly informative, and absolutely hilarious hour-and-a-bit of free entertainment.
It has been likened to the famous Top Gear TV series, but the hosts shrug that comparison off. “We’re not a visual money-fest of car-porn,” Boris Mihailovic explained. “We go to places and say things about stuff Top Gear would never dare to do. And we’re about bikes. And the BBC can’t sack us. And Clarkson has no tattoos and can’t fight.”
“People often ask us how we write the show,” said host Tug McClutchin, “But we don’t write anything. We start with a list of topics we want to talk about, and then we drink lots of beer, go into the studio, and mercilessly take the piss out of absolutely everyone. And then other shit flows from there.”
Boris explained: “Our producer cries because he thinks we’ll get sued. That’s really funny, seeing him cry. We give him tissues and tell him to relax. It’s satire. We are still governed by broadcast laws, but we are allowed to be funny. But he still cries because he’s a bitch.”
“But the success of the show has surprised us,” Tug said. “What started as an idea for a bit of fun has turned into a worldwide smash. We even outrate the official MotoGP podcasts in most countries, and we crush them in Australia.”
When asked why people love the show so much, Freido Marquez was quite frank.
“Allora, yes, people like, yes? But please help me, someone! These two, they keep me here and no let me go home to my family. I do this so my family knows I am alive. This Australia is crazy! You have spiders want to eat me, fat dogs run in front of bikes and kill me, and you Carabinieri are very bad tempers. Help me! Please. Is not funny.”
Boris has been around the motorcycling publishing game longer than just about anyone, and is quite pragmatic about the success. “None of us knew anything about podcasts when this started. We figured we’d do three episodes, fail, then drink lots of beer and laugh about it. We certainly never thought we’d do 50 of them. But it quickly became obvious that doing a podcast can be just like sitting in the shed or in the pub with your mates, getting drunk, and talking about bikes and all kinds of other loose and hilarious shit we find interesting. That’s why it works. Motorcyclists no longer have any entertainment that speaks to them in their language. The few bike mags that are left are badly-written boredom incarnate, as are the dreadful YouTube clips the remaining motorcycle non-journos keep producing.
Motorcycle riders like us because we sound just like them, only smarter and sexier.”
MotoPG is available on all podcast providers. Do yourself a favour and check it out.
