Podcasts ready for the stage

From the quiet of their studies to the limelight: podcasters are increasingly taking to the stages of Zurich. Felizitas Ambauen from the popular podcast ‘Beziehungskosmos’ shares her experiences.

The ‘Beziehungskosmos’ creators live: Why does this opportunity to perform live appeal to you?

We were asked if we wanted to perform at the Kosmos. As we’d been thinking for a while about getting closer to our community and seeing them ‘in the flesh’, we agreed very spontaneously.

You were also involved as Beziehungskosmos in an improv theatre event by Anundpfirsich. What was that like?

It was great fun! Completely different from our podcast. We weren’t in charge of directing it; it was entertaining and funny, rather than profound. But it was a good trial run for our later performance at Kosmos, and afterwards we were really motivated for our event.

Did you expect so many people to want to see you live? Your Kaufleuten gig was fully booked months in advance.

It’s a bit absurd, yes. No, we wouldn’t have expected that. The Kosmos sold out within 48 hours, and the Kaufleuten is full over two months in advance. But it’s a lovely feeling to realise that people want to see us and feel a need to make contact that goes beyond the podcast.

There are more and more podcasts venturing onto the live stage. But you say you wouldn’t want to record a podcast in front of an audience, even though the stage performances have a podcast-like feel. Why?

Because our podcast recordings are very intimate, and we think that’s also one of our podcast’s greatest strengths. On stage, we’re in a slightly different role, and the audience is there too. We also feel that you don’t have to make everything accessible to everyone all the time. What happens on stage stays there.  Pretty much the same.

Are there one or more special encounters or moments that have come about through the live performances that you wouldn’t want to miss?

It’s just absolutely brilliant to see that there really are people out there listening to us. With the podcast, it remains surreal, even though the statistics tell us every Sunday that another 50,000 people have listened to us. It only becomes truly real when there are actual people sitting there. That’s why we’d like to do live performances every now and then. But we plan to continue reporting mainly from the quiet of our own little room.

Do you actually enjoy listening to podcasts yourselves? Which are your favourites?

I can only speak for myself. I hardly ever listen to podcasts. I prefer reading. Very rarely do I listen to selected episodes. If I listen to ten podcast episodes a year, that’s a lot.