By:Declan Hertel Entertainment Editor
I sat down with Ollie Bergh, a BFA Acting/Music major at WOU and creator and host of the podcast “It’s Wet Outside,” to talk about his show.
Declan: So, Ollie Bergh. The man behind the mask. The curtain. The magic. What is “It’s Wet Outside?
Ollie: What is “It’s Wet Outside?” Well, it’s a talk podcast, in the simplest terms. Although, if we’re going to get philosophical, and we are, because we’re college students, it’s become more than that. It’s become an extracurricular activity. In the same way that in high school, your extracurriculars were where your group of friends was founded. “It’s Wet Outside” has become that, at least for me. And I would venture to say [the same] for many of the folks in it. But it’s a talk podcast, I structured it sort of halfway between the way that American talk shows, late night comedy—think Conan—I structured it halfway between that with… in the second year we did it I added sort of what the British late night talk shows do, which is have everybody on at once and kind of have a round table discussion about whatever it is. But it served another purpose: I did a lot of stand-up [comedy] in high school, and I didn’t want to lose that part of me. But with the demanding schedule of being a theatre student, I couldn’t go to Salem on Tuesday nights to do the open mic. So I created the podcast, where I could try to be funny; try to keep that going. [Laughs.]
D: I’ve got to ask about the name. How did it come about?
O: So my buddy Jackson had a show at [Portland State’s radio station] KPSU; I think they have the radio frequency, they’re big. Huge institution, really great programming there. And he was showing me all the different shows on KPSU, and all of them had these hilarious names. My favorite was “Eat Your Children.” Jackson’s was something simple like… “Big Jack Attack” or something, you know, radio name. But he was like “you know, just think of something funny, and that’ll be your radio show. So I was like, “Radio Puppy.” To me, that had a nice ring to it, it was funny enough, weird enough. But also friendly enough that people would listen to it. And I was in my dorm, and [I said to my girlfriend], “I’m gonna start a KWOU show called Radio Puppy.” And she was like, “that’s such a stupid show title.” And it was pouring outside, and I was like, “well, what else am I gonna call it? Like… like… ‘Bats Eat Mayonnaise?’ Like, ‘It’s Wet Outside?’” And then… wait. There it is. That’s the magic.
D: What was the first iteration of “It’s Wet Outside?” I know it’s been through a couple.
O: I think the first episode is a great way to tell you how it came about. I was on my way to walk into the KWOU building to do the first episode, I had no idea what I was going to do. And I look at a guy in my dorm, Nick Reeve, and I go, “hey Nick! You wanna be on ‘It’s Wet Outside?’” And he’s like, “yeah I’ll be on ‘It’s Wet Outside.’” And I think I scheduled some of [my girlfriend] Sheridan’s friends to come on, we were going to do girl talk, and talk about why girls hate me, or whatever. So it started with me and Nick co-hosting and just doing this show, finding anybody to come on. Not a lot has changed. [Laughs.] But it was more news-based in the early days, I remember one time Nick… Nick loves basketball. And I said, “Nick, do a bit on basketball.” And I thought, ‘this is gonna be so funny,’ right? And he just reported, gave basically a sports column on the air. No jokes. [Laughs.]
D: In that vein, what sort of stuff do you talk about on “It’s Wet Outside?”
O: Basically anything. The way that I try to capture it now is… think of what all your bros
would be goofing off about. It’s like that plus more. It’s real topics, with that aspect, you know?
So [with the upcoming episode], there’s going to be some talk about vegetarianism, so picture
you and your buds just shooting the crap about vegetarians, you know?
D: Have you had a favorite episode?
O: Gosh, there’s been a lot of good episodes. I remember the first episode that really clicked with the whole group was the “Love is Sacrifice” episode. Just because I’d been throwing themes out, and themes had been going off the wire, and finally we had, like, good bits and a cohesive show, and it was like, yeah it was funny but also everything worked, and it was the “Love is Sacrifice” episode. Although, season three, episode one, might also be up there, that was a good show. I had a lot of fun doing that show. Sometimes “It’s Wet Outside” can be more work than fun, given the day. And I had a lot of fun.
D: Has leaving KWOU to go independent afforded you more freedom in what you do?
O: Yeah. The biggest thing I should say is that “It’s Wet Outside” quickly outgrew what KWOU could offer [in terms of tech]. Which was… I had in my apartment more microphones than KWOU. And when I decided, like, I want more people on the show all the time, instead of just these one on one interviews we were doing the first year. I just had to figure out how to do it in my apartment, because I’ve got all these mics. And that’s been very important to me; that there are more people on the show because if it’s just me, the show would have never made it past episode three. But the fact that there were people, other people that wanted to do it, that were there as like, “hey, we doin’ the show,” was able to keep me going. Like, I thrive, “when it’s not fun, it’s work,” right? Because that means I’m still doing it. That means I have to find the juices from deep inside rather than just, “ah, I feel good let’s do this,” then it’s usually better when I’ve had to kind of get myself out of the corner. You know, work through it. And the fact that I’ve had Jade Rayner, who is effectively the manager, stage manager, we call her the microphone manager. The fact that we have… Jade has made everything better for me because she took responsibilities, and I could delegate work, and once that happened to me it was like, here’s a real… we can get a real system. And then I’ve got another guy, who does ads and also helps come up with bits, I call him the producer because he… ‘cause it felt right. [Laughs.] Because he’s producing s–t for the show, producing bits at least.
D: Where do you see “It’s Wet Outside” progressing to? What’s next?
O: What’s next…
D: Like when it progresses from “Wet” to “Flooding.”
O: “It’s Hurricane Patricia Outside.” [Laughs.] Gosh, what I would really love to do is get video recording, and make it, I imagine building a stage in a garage, right, and having a studio audience and s–t. And really go full “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”
D: You wanna go full-on late night talk show?
O: I would love to do that. But, let’s be real, I don’t think that would be how it would happen. But really truthfully, and my step-dad has mentioned this, that I could maybe sell it, get it on NPR. Right? OPB. Have it be a radio broadcast on the air. That would be really cool. Or, it could be a successful podcast, it could be a “WTF with Marc Maron,” it could be a “Comedy Bang Bang.” That would be cool. It might not happen that way, there’s so many options. Maybe it’ll be a stage show. You know what, that’s the next step. That’s truthfully the next step. I want to have a live show this year. On stage. “It’s Wet Outside in Concert.” That’s the next step. Honestly, it wouldn’t have to be anything other than, like, let’s rent out a stage, let’s rent out the Rickreall Event Center and just put on the show the way we normally would, you know? Let’s get a stage and do the show. Get some people there. The industrious person in me says “sell tickets,” at the end of the day it’s like “just get people there,” to come watch the show. Have a reason to get a banner made. I almost made a banner last year, but I had no reason to. [Laughs.] [Pause.] The biggest thing for me is that people like the show. The only thing I’ve ever wanted to do is to make people’s days better, you know. The story I always like to tell is when my dad was going through a real abusive relationship and I would stay up late and just listen to my dad and my step-mom fight. And I would stay up late, and this is when Conan was still on Late Night, so he’s on at, like, midnight slot. And I’d watch Conan, and I’d feel better. You know? He made me laugh. And I thought, “that’s what I want to do.” Make people laugh, make people feel better.
That was all I wanted to do.
You can catch “It’s Wet Outside with Ollie Bergh” on Wednesdays on iTunes.
