Recording at dawn tomorrow!
Have you ever watched Top Gear or Mighty Car Mods and thought, “[ best friend ] and I could do something like that”? Maybe you caught Car Talk on the local public radio station and thought it would be fun to answer random automotive tech questions on the radio like Click and Clack?
Why haven’t you done it yet? Don’t have a home studio full of expensive hardware? Don’t have access to media press fleets, or friends willing to let you do silly shit with their vehicles in the name of entertainment?
You should get to know Andrew Pascarella and Brad DeSantis.
Why Andrew & Brad?
Long story short—they started a podcast. It’s called Auto Off Topic. And it’s just fantastic in its simplicity.
You might think you need a big, fat sack of money to get your own show going, but the reality is—today—you can pretty much get your show on the road with little more than the phone in your pocket. If you want to use your laptop, you’ve got even more options.
Andrew and Brad have been getting together in Andrew’s basement just about every week for over two years. They just shoot the shit about cars; their own project vehicles, car show culture, automotive adventures, and all things RADwood. #OG
They don’t have sponsors. They don’t run ads. They just sit down over a couple beers and talk cars.
Are you still intimidated by anything under the hood of your daily driver?
(Beyond how much time it will take to fix that leak?)
Starting your own show is very similar.
That gearhead life
Andrew and Brad have been a big part of my commute since November 2016. And they were a big part of why I decided to start my own podcast in 2018, too.
There’s something special about driving to and from work, talking cars with a couple of your old forum buddies. More often than not, I find myself wanting to jump into the conversation or laughing out loud. It’s like commuting with friends.
One of my favorite things about Auto Off Topic is how they are always playing with the format. AOT staples like Project Car Updates and New England Weather Chat are good times, but they also do a variety of interviews with gearheads like us.
There was the guy Brad interviewed while loading up another old Colt with a meaningful backstory, the guy with the massive die cast/scale model collection, and the constantly surprising rally adventures of “Spaghetti”, among others.
They’ve even been known to deep dive into kitsch topics like the history of Big Foot (the monster truck), wheel design, and one of the most absurd stuntmen in history. These tend to be my personal favorites—though I’m always curious about the weather up there.
How do they do it?
That’s what we’re gonna find out!
Why start a podcast of all things? How do they keep it going? What’s it like?
Auto Off Topic is a brilliant alignment of two friends getting together to hang out and talk cars like they’ve always done and doing something more with it. Their setup has grown a bit as they’ve evolved, personally, and pushed the limits of what they can do with the gear they’ve got, but it’s all still well within the reach of gearheads like us.
If you’ve ever thought you’d like to try your hand at being an automotive entertainer, if you’ve ever thought you’d like to try making your own version of Top Gear or Mighty Car Mods or Car Talk—you’re gonna want to check this out.
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