#It'd be fun if you reblogged with your favourite audio drama cameos

[hephaestuscrew]

I do think there's something special about the way that audio drama creators seem to love including cameos of voice actors from other popular audio dramas. Obviously, part of the reason why actors from one show might pop up in another is because the audio drama creator community is relatively small and interconnected, and also because those actors are very talented.

But there's also often such a sense that creators are having fun with these cameos. Like Greater Boston casting audio drama heavyweights Briggon Snow, Zach Valenti, and Felix Trench as famous film actors Matt Daemon, Ben Affleck, and Mark Wahlberg respectively. Or Faux and Stallion having Tom Crowley (who plays a Victorian detective in Victoriocity) pop up as Dr Watson. Or Unseen casting Beth Eyre and Felix Trench as characters who are twins. Or Arden getting Emma Sherr-Ziarko to play an actor impersonating a character played by her former Wolf 359 costar Michelle Agresti (with Michaela Swee also appearing as an actor impersonating the other main Arden lead).

In these cases, it's not just that there's a cameo, but that the cameo is given particular (often comedic) significance to those who are aware of the featured actor's other work. The vast majority of people wouldn't recognise any of these voices. But by doing these very intentional cameos, these creators show confidence that a fair chunk of their audience will know these actors and enjoy the link. There's an awareness that listeners of one audio drama are fairly likely to listen to (or at least be aware of) other fiction podcasts, even when the shows in question aren't of particularly similar genres. Recognising these cameos feels like being in on a secret. It feels like these shows are giving a little nod to listeners to say that we're part of the same club.

#It'd be fun if you reblogged with your favourite audio drama cameos #I know most of my examples are Wooden Overcoats actors #but those are just the ones that have stuck in my head the most #This has been in my drafts since the Greater Boston S4 finale #If you think I didn't squeal to myself at the Gabriel Urbina & Sarah Shachat cameo #you are wrong #and they aren't even known as actors?! #But I feel like the GB creators were confident that some people would do a double-take there #I'm pretty sure that's not even the first cameo I've heard them do in an unrelated show #Anyway I am definitely the target audience for things like this #It brings me so much joy #I have never cared at all about recognising an actually famous actor in a film #but recognising someone in an audio drama just hits different #One day I do want to make a complicated infographic to show how all the podcasts I've listened to are interconnected #I have a conspiracy wall about it in my mind #the empty man posteth #audio fiction #podcasts #fiction podcasts #audio drama