“Up To The Minute” anchor Ron Joliver has always been a cash cow for The Fakist, but when Hollywood calls him and his partner Roy Silver up to reboot their favorite 90s show, they set off on a madcap adventure through Tinsel Town. Will they survive Jordan Cartelano’s three trials to join the “Hollyweird Elite,” or are they doomed to set up a tent in the LA river?

If you didn’t know, I was a moderately successful “fan podcaster” for seven years. I even wrote a book about it (Fan Podcasting: The Complete Guide, available on Audible and Amazon)! The best part? We were fortunate enough to form working relationships with the creators and cast of the shows we talked about.

When you have that level of access, it’s tempting to use it in unresponsible ways. I’ve been writing for years, including some mild success with screenplays about a million years ago. Back when I had the EP of a network show on speed dial, I considered shooting them a script. I’d never do it, but when my mind wandered, I’d imagine scenarios where passing somebody a script wouldn’t be a huge overstep. There weren’t many, and most involved me saving the EP’s baby first.

Those scenarios never happened, so the baby’s safe, but I loved dreaming that dream. There was something poetic about somebody who devotes themselves to exploring a story they love, then being rewarded with the power to shape it.

That never happened either, but when it came time to write the “Ron Joliver” episode of The Fakist: One Last Day, the story of an ascended fan just made sense. I met John Harrison and Derek O’Neill, who play Ron Joliver and his partner Roy Silver, when I was podcasting about the FOX series Gotham.

In the weeks before the premiere, I did some outreach to other Gotham fancasts. I’d chat with them on Twitter and review their shows on Apple Podcasts in hopes I’d turn my “competition” into “coopertition.”

I had a blast getting to know the After Gotham and Before the Bat hosts, but when you meet “the ones,” you know. John and Derek were Gotham podcasters from Ireland. When we teamed up to interview Gotham’s Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen on a live stream, it was love at first sight. Our shows quickly moved on from “podcast friends with benefits” to basically going steady.

After I stopped fancasting and started up The Fakist, I knew I wanted to use the only two dudes I knew with non-American accents. In the early days, I parodied different types of newscast segments, so a John Oliver parody made a lot of sense. Lucky then, that John looks like John Oliver if you squint a little.

In Season 2, I invited some regular cast members to write their own sketches. John and Derek jumped at the opportunity, and crafted a tale about a man named Roy Silver, helper of the homeless, as long as they’ll agree to watch his favorite show with him. That show, ABC’s My So-Called Life, is one of my favorites, so I was tickled pink when they sent me the script.

John and Derek’s sketch was the first thing I thought of when I decided to turn my “fancaster makes good” fantasy into an episode of The Fakist. Roy and Ron get a call from a Hollywood producer after he reads their My So-Called Life fanfic online. He brings them to Hollywood to helm the MSCL reboot coming to Disney+ (or Disney Addition as John insisted on calling it).

If you haven’t heard, I’m moving back to Hollywood this summer. I’ve lived there twice, and both times ended with me slinking back east under threat of homelessness. I started breaking this episode around the time we made the decision to move, so the fears that have kept me away from LA for over a decade spilled out into the script. The fear of ending up homeless. The fear of needing to compromise ethical or creative ideals to get ahead. The fear of abandoning people. Ron Joliver faces three trials modeled on these fears, and he must succeed to join the ranks of the “Hollyweird Elite.”

Will Ron and Roy survive the gauntlet and reboot their favorite show? You’ll have to listen to find out!

I hope you enjoy “What About Your Friends?”