The ParaPod Live, Nottingham Review

Last month fans of the ParaPod were treated to a spontaneous live version of the podcast at the Lacehouse during the Nottingham Comedy Festival.

The podcast's host Ian Boldsworth and Barry Dodds were both due to take the stage for a 30 minute standup routine each. But ten minutes into Ian's turn, Barry appeared on stage with his paranormal files and from nowhere the guy delved into a impromptu episode of the show.

The ParaPod sees devote paranormal believer Barry try to convince his co-host Ray that the paranormal is here. The pair have so far produced three season of the show covering off ghosts, mysteries and conspiracies. Barry and Ian are currently filming a movie version of the podcast which is due to be released in 2018.

The live version was not originally intended to be published online, it was more of a live experience,  but this week Ian uploaded the special, one-off performance to his Patreon page as an exclusive reward for his backers.

As this episode of the ParaPod is locked behind a paywall, I'm not going to do a full review and give too much away, but I would highly recommend that you show your support for Ian and the show on Patreon if you'd like to hear the live episode.

The format follows that of a normal show, and included 'Barry's Fairy Story,' which of course is what Ian calls the feature, but Barry needed to be prompted of the real name from the audience, which is of course, 'Featured Haunting'.

Barry covered off a few supernatural cases as his featured hauntings. First off he talked about the legend of a haunted ship in a local pub, Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem. It said if you touch the model ship, you'll die.

He also talked about the racist ghost of Walthamstow and Gef The Talking Mongoose, which frankly was a ridiculous story.

After getting ripped a part as normal by Ian, and this time by the live audience at the Lacehouse too, the duo moved on to a live version of the 'DB Files', the part of the show in which they take calls from listeners. On this occasion the questions were asked by the audience.

During the 'BD Files' fans asked Barry if Barry ever uses any of his ghost hunting kit at home, and if anything that has happened during the filming of their movie has caused him to question his belief in the paranormal.

Ian was also asked a couple of question from the audience, has anything come close to changing his mind about the paranormal... without listening, you can probably guess his answer to that question. And the guys chatted about horror movies briefly in response to a question. I was surprised to hear that they both think that 'Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2' is actually good.

One audience member even managed to ask Barry a question about his cat in the form of a haiku.

The episode ended as always with a ritual. Don't worry, Barry did say this time it's "a real one" and was one I've actually heard of before called 'Charlie Charlie'. You can check out the live podcast to hear Barry explain it.

It was nice to hear Barry and Ian back together debating the paranormal in their unique style. It wasn't the best episode they've ever done, but it was more for the fans at the venue. A couple of moments were a little bit visual and didn't translate too well to audio and because it was recorded in a live venue the audio quality wasn't too good... but then I often have this issue when it comes to podcasts, it's the curse of my former job working in radio.

If you're fan of the ParaPod, you should definitely check out this one-off special, you won't be disappointed. There's also two secret Barry and Ian podcasts as well as tons of other exclusive content on Ian's Patreon page which is well worth checking out.

The whole live episode is available in three parts on Ian's Patreon page. You can get access to them by supporting his work for as little as $1 a month.

Or check out the live episode here...

Part 1 [13:54]

Part 2 [19:12]

Part 3 [20:09]