Chuck and Brad Go Visual: The popular podcast revamped with a new video component

The creativity that some are displaying during the pandemic has been impressive. Baking a homemade loaf of bread, learning new languages or taking time to really deal with mental clarity are all up there on what people are doing to stay busy. A lot of people have also gotten creative in tweaking and modifying what their work life looks like. 

Chuck Staton, podcaster and co-host of “The Chuck and Brad Podcast” added a visual component to their usual voice-only podcast. “When the quarantine happened, Jim Nellis from RI Food Fights (RIFF) called me. He’s been a big supporter of our podcast over the years, and we’ve done a lot of hosting live events for RIFF. He basically said that there are all these comedy podcasts that film every episode, and if we’d like to do that during the quarantine and post them through the (monstrous) RIFF social media accounts, he’d be happy to have us do it,” said Staton.

Chuck and Brad began posting videos of the podcast with frequent guest Ray Harrington, who adds a very funny third voice. The back and forth banter they have consists mainly of Harrington criticizing every word that comes out of Staton’s mouth, but all in good fun, according to Staton. 

Staton hopes that the podcast will be an addition to people’s list when seeking out art forms to help get them through the pandemic. Staton says,  “I think if you do have an artistic outlet, you should focus as much as you can on it right now and maybe even experiment in new directions. This is kind of trite, but when you have a passion, I think it’s very common for artists to jump into that passion fully when times are tough. If you’re an appreciator of arts, jump in!” 

Experimenting in new directions with art is exactly what Staton has been doing with his podcast. “We never really did video podcasts before. We’ve done a bunch of live episodes (in front of an audience) and filmed the performance, but we’ve never really filmed our podcast recording,” said Staton. Staton has had an eclectic shuffle of local people on, such as Robert Yeremian, owner of the Time Capsule Comics; the owners of Boneheads Wing Bar and Jim Nellis. 

As for the future of the podcast, Staton says he urges more local restaurateurs, comedians, musicians and artists to call in or reach out to be on the show. “We consider our podcast a creative playground. We’re open to all of it and want to help creatives spread the word about what they’re doing,” says Staton. So any restaurateurs who would like to share how they’ve gotten creative in keeping business afloat, any musicians willing to share tracks to be played on the show, or any comedians down to just share some humor, all are welcome. 

Staton is going to keep on keeping on with the show and even share some archive episodes as well. Keep an eye out for more podcast episodes by following RIFF on social media and get in touch with Staton through the shows Facebook page “The Chuck and Brad Podcast.”