1190: A Whole New World

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Sajizzle

I'm like three shows behind right now, but holy shit. I hope you guys are both OK.

Go fuck yourself.

[Zomniac]

Originally Posted by Grizzly G.

Well the REAL change happened 1.5 years ago, now it will just be the perception of the listeners that's changing. Them 'coming out' about it could even make the show more like before that time, since they don't have to hold back about a large part of their personal life. Interesting stories can come out of that. I bet getting it out in the open will ultimately be nothing but a relief.

I have no doubt about that. I guess what I'm saying is, I'm really going to miss their talk about their own relationship. I really latched on to that and it's hard to let go.

[Junkenstein]

Originally Posted by Zomniac

ADD: Junkenstein, I hear what you are saying, but the show has changed. So while the show will go on, it's never going to be the same, and I mourn the loss of the old show, pre-break-up. Though, I wonder if Keith and Chemda will fight more now. Just a thought.

Yeah i got that, man. But you wouldnt know if they hadnt told you. Yeah, i know everyone's saying there were signals, but if said signals were so clear, why no one noticed them (haters excluded, since they have a seventh sense for negativity)?

I subscribed not much more than a year ago. Listened to the whole catalogue (almost) from since. There's not that much of a difference, unless you know.

Chemda still laughs at Keith's jokes. They're still on a special frequency. They still have that special chemistry that makes them who they are. Not a single boring show for me. Not one.

So as a listener i'm happy that they'll keep the show going. Amazed at how they managed to solve somthing so big and still be the king and queen (where usually i can barely hear the name of my ex's without wanting to cut myself). And as a person that feels some sort of affection for them, i'm happy that they have actually taken the burden off their chests. And can tell whoever they want, and date whoever they want, and do whatever they want.

And still want to entertain us. I would be spoiling this marvelous thing if i started thinking of the "Good ol' days". If we did we would just show these two that have fixed many holes on our lives, what a bunch of whiny, selfish, constantly crying babies we are.

Let's keep the funeral prayers for when there's actual funerals. Again, L'chaim.

[Zomniac]

Junkenstein, I know, I know. It was my original point. For some, including me, the revelation has changed the show forever (maybe for the better, I don't know yet), for others it's the same show (again, maybe for the better).

I don't take away what they went through. I don't take away the difficulties in keeping the secret for the sake of the show and themselves. I certainly do not take away the huge balls (and Keith would say lips) it took to finally be able to let us in on it. But for many of us, it's the first we're hearing of it. It's the first time we're processing it. They've had time, though they went it alone, now I need time to process.

The show is the show. And although listening back I can see NOW how it has changed, if ever so slightly, I have no doubt in my mind that the show will go on... for better or worse. I can only assume better, who knows?

They remain constant professionals, and I admire greatly, HUGELY, what they sacrificed for us. Maybe I am whining a little. But, as I've said before, I reserve the right to hate how I feel right now. I'll get over it. But it will take time.

(do I sound like a fucking crybaby or what?)

ADD: Also, is it me, or does it seem, no offense to Chemda, that maybe Keith was/is more effected by it? Maybe I'm reading into the nuances too much, but it always seemed like Keith would have more to lose if they broke up. I mean, it is Chemda's house, her stuff for the most part, and after hearing about how much Kyle has gone through with his breakup, I can't help but see the parallels with Keith.

[RachaelBachael]

Sucks for Keith and Chemda but I'm glad they went through the break up a year ago and were okay talking about the split. Now we get to hear about them living in separate spaces and their dates without them being bitter about it.

I have a few qs.

-Did Patrice know?

-Did Jesse Joyce and Hayley know? Or did K and C just go over to their apartment on double dates without them knowing?

-Did Chemda tell her brother Andrew? (I'm assuming Michael would have told him if not, but still)

-Do Keith's siblings know?

-Who's going to feed Keith?

-Staying in Queens or a new burrow?

-Has Chemda dated anyone since Keith and Lauren?

-Did they even try therapy or counseling of some sort or was it too broken to even get into that?

It's been a great run relationship wise and I'm looking forward to the future of the show.

[m0nty]

I have many thoughts on this show I want to relate. I was listening to the show in bed before sleeping, as I often do, and tonight I fell asleep towards the end of the haters section, then woke up again in the middle of the divorce section, and thought I was having a nightmare. But no, it's all too real, and now I can't sleep.

I started listening to KATG way back in 2005 when the show numbers were in single digits. I got turned onto the show by a bloke who was starting up his own Internet company, as I was at the time. It felt like Keith and Chemda were breaking new ground in a new medium, and that's what I felt like what I was doing with my own startup, so in many ways I feel a special bond with the sort of things involved with creating a new media production that we were all going through. But enough about me.

The thing I most respect about Keith and Chemda through all of this is how calm and cool they have been in public, not just in this show but in the 18 months prior. Let it never be said again that podcasting is made by amateurs. Keith and Chemda have shown far more polish and professionalism on this issue than any of their radio forebears. I don't think O&A or Stern would have been able to put out quality product day after day under the strain of such a humongously stressful situation. If it had been me, I don't think I would have been able to go through with it, I would have told the publishers to fuck off and keep their money because it would have been too much angst. It shows just how intense and zealous about the show both of them are that they were able to resolve to live through the consequences of their actions, even when it would have been eating them up inside for months and months. I only hope that the monumental effort of doing this hasn't burnt them out.

I've already seen people murmur in this thread that they suspect it's all downhill from here, jumping the shark etc etc. Bullshit. Life is about change and transitions. Keith and Chemda are normal people like the rest of us, and their lives have evolved in different directions. If you drop off from the show from hereon, that's your fault for having an idealised image of the two of them in your head, and the problem lies with your inability to embrace the opportunities that this change in their life will bring.

I feel like we didn't get the whole story on the "why" of the break up but, to be brutally honest, fuck the listeners on that one. There are some things that should stay private. I don't know if other aspects will come out in future shows, but Keith & Chemda don't need to feel like they held anything back. Nothing more needs to be exposed.

This show and, presumably, the shows after it are going to be less about Keith and Chemda's own reactions to the news, but the listeners' reactions and those of the regular guests. Which is why I thought it was interesting that the divorce section of 1190 was preceded by the one on haters. I am having a lot of experience with haters on my own site at the moment. The haters on my site keep coming back week after week despite all the forum hate, as they do to KATG. As with this show, my haters tell me that they have the best interests of my site in mind, even when they attack me personally, because apparently they know better than me how to run it. It has go to the stage where the hatingest hater is even calling for me to withdraw from the site altogether on a day-to-day basis to let someone else run it, someone they think would run it more to their liking.

It's unfathomable to me how a sane person could think like that. I can only guess that for some people, the boundaries between what goes on in their own mind and the reality of the outside world have not formed correctly due to some developmental deficiency. It's a simple form of sociopathy, in the sense that they don't have the same sort of understanding of how the world works and how they fit into society as the rest of us. They think that because they object to something, other people should be argued into doing what they want, even if it is clearly not in the other person's best interest. And if the person objects to these commands, the sociopathic hater has no way of understanding why the other person would feel that way, because he lacks the ability to see things from the other person's perspective. The hater lacks empathy on a basic human level.

Thankfully, most KATG listeners are not like that, and they will understand what a huge shitstorm of emotion and distress that Keith and Chemda have been shielding from us for 18 months. This is not something to criticise them for, because they did it for good reasons, and we can only have sympathy for what they went through behind the scenes.

I would like to send best wishes to Chemda and Keith. I will continue to love your show and love you guys, both individually and collectively. We listeners have welcomed you into our ears and our hearts for more than five years, and this doesn't change anything.

Well, maybe a few little things...

[evadwolrab]

Originally Posted by acsnavely

i feel weird.
but its a "weird" weird, because it falls into the "this shits not my business" category.

ah geez.



iloveeveryone.

I dunno, it was such a public relationship and they're so honest (I think this is what makes them popular, aside from the straight-up comedy), that I think it kind of is the listeners' business. But I get what you mean.

[DaveNJ]

Originally Posted by Keith

Go fuck yourself.

He's still got it!

[haz]

This has got to be the biggest donation run ever! Besides burning the apartment down of course. Nice work guys. Very original!

[Zomniac]

How about this, too... Let's all not devolve into clue pickers like the hardcore Losties. Going over the last year or so shows and picking out the clues.

"In show 991, Keith said..."

That crap will, for those of us with wounds that need to heal, keep them open for far longer than they should.

Monty, I hear everything you are saying, and I concur. Though, again, I can't help but now dwell on the differences.

I keep thinking in my mind, that I, as a lesser human than either Keith or Chemda, can't even fathom sitting across from an ex and hearing the stories of their dates. Even if time has passed, I just can't imagine it. So, having said that, it just reiterates how awesome Keith and Chemda are for keeping it together, in whatever manner they had to.

GOY, Keith and Chemda.