A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device. The word is a neologism derived from "broadcast" and "pod" from the success of the iPod, as podcasts are often listened to on portable media players.

A list of all the audio or video files currently associated with a given series is maintained centrally on the distributor's server as a web feed, and the listener or viewer employs special client application software, known as a podcatcher, that can access this web feed, check it for updates, and download any new files in the series. This process can be automated so that new files are downloaded automatically. Files are stored locally on the user's computer or other device ready for offline use, giving simple and convenient access to episodic content. In this way it is contrasted to webcasting (Internet streaming).

As discussed by Richard Berry, podcasting is both a converged medium bringing together audio, the web and portable media player, and a disruptive technology that has caused some in the radio business to reconsider some established practices and preconceptions about audiences, consumption, production and distribution. This idea of disruptiveness is largely because no one person owns the technology; it is free to listen and create content, which departs from the traditional model of 'gate-kept' media and production tools. It is very much a horizontal media form: producers are consumers and consumers become producers and engage in conversations with each other.

Eugene Boris Mirman (born July 24, 1974) is a Russian-born American comedian, writer, and filmmaker. Mirman currently plays Yvgeny Mirminsky on Delocated, and voices Gene Belcher for the animated comedy Bob's Burgers.

Mirman was born in Russia to Jewish parents. His family immigrated to the United States when he was four and a half years old.

Mirman attended William Diamond Middle School and Lexington High School in Lexington, MA, and Hampshire College in Western Massachusetts. He returned to his high school to deliver its 2009 commencement address. He will return to Hampshire to deliver the 2012 commencement speech as well.

In 2004, Mirman released The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman, a CD/DVD on Suicide Squeeze Records. The album was voted one of the Best Albums of 2004 by both The A.V. Club and Time Out New York. His second album, En Garde, Society was released by Sub Pop in 2006. Three years later, Mirman released another comedy album titled God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Aspergers which was recorded in Chicago at the Lakeshore Theatre.

Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, television host, comedian, and actor. He hosts The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by Guinness World Records.

Carolla co-hosted the syndicated radio call-in program Loveline from 1995 to 2005 as well as the show's television incarnation on MTV from 1996 to 2000. He was the co-host and co-creator of the television program The Man Show (1999–2004), and the co-creator and a regular performer on the television show Crank Yankers (2002–2007). He hosted The Adam Carolla Project, a home improvement television program which aired on TLC in 2005 and The Car Show on Speed TV in 2011.

Carolla has also appeared on the network reality television programs Dancing with the Stars and The Celebrity Apprentice. His book, In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks, debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2010.

Carolla was born in Los Angeles, California. His father, Jim Carolla, a psychologist of Italian heritage, and his mother, Kris (née Novello), who is of Hungarian descent, separated when Adam was young. Carolla was not given a middle name; on his driver's license application he filled the "middle name" blank with "Lakers" (after his love for the Los Angeles Lakers professional basketball team) and the made-up name still appears on his license.

Christopher Todd Titus (born October 1, 1964) is an American comedian and actor. He grew up in Newark, California. Titus came to national attention with the eponymous FOX show Titus, of which he was the star, executive producer and co-creator. Time called the show "brutal, hilarious and audacious", while Newsday called him "TV's most original comic voice since Seinfeld". He is also a stand-up comedian whose act revolves around his dysfunctional family and shocking life experiences.

Titus was born in Castro Valley, California to Ken and Juanita C. (née Holmes) Titus. His parents divorced when he was a young child, and he was raised largely by his father, Ken, a judgmental, chain-smoking, hard drinker who was married six times and divorced five times. His mother suffered from schizophrenia and spent time in and out of mental hospitals. At the age of four he was taken away from his father and given to his grandparents on his mother's side. His father went to kidnap him back and told the local district attorney of his plans without them knowing. Rather than arrest him, the attorney gave him legal tactics he could use to get his son back which he used and eventually regained custody of Christopher. When he was 12 he ran away from his father to live with his mother, during which he lived in her garage but he shortly moved back with his father.^{[citation needed]}