Talk:Feast of Fun

Support for the Current Entry

A lot of controversy here on Wikipedia has recently stemmed (in May 2006) from the misunderstanding of what the Feast of Fools podcast is, or why it deserves a Wikipedia entry.

This podcast is widely considered as one of the most popular for its form (regular daily comedy talk show.) It holds the distinction of being the first podcast produced by an open and proud gay couple and currently ranks on the Apple iTunes Music Store as the #1 podcast in the Comedy category originating from the city of Chicago.

The relevance of podcasts is not being debated here, but rather the significance of the Feast of Fools and its contribution to this new genre. Many listeners and other podcasters hold the notion that some techniques presented on the show have helped them find their own voice and structure in a genre noted for its lack of cohesion.

"You are listening to the Feast of Fools" opening tag came from Fausto Fernós' desire to identify the show in the beginning when many users had a difficult time separating one show from another. Nowadays quite a few podcasters use this technique.

A lot of catch phrases originated on this show like "Sasssafraction Guaranteed" "Quarter Turns" "Cock Blocking" (a fraternity term re-appropriated for gay men) "No-Sexbians" "We Eat Your Brain" and many others.

Just a few of some of the historic firsts for podcasting:
• First HIV positive person interviewed (Scott Free)
• First person living with full blown AIDS as a regular personality (Victoria Lamarr)
• First gay couple podcasting (Marc Felion and Fausto Fernós)
• First podcast about Star Wars (Starwarscast interviewed Star Wars fans on the opening night of the last film George Lucas said he'd ever make)
• John Waters first podcast interview
• Teri Garr's first podcast interview
• First podcast about the IML Leather Convention
• First Midwest podcast to engage listeners on the East Coast with their groundbreaking live "meet-n-greet" at the Starlight Bar in NYC's Greenwich Village in 2006
• First officially-invited podcast to be welcomed to do a live recording with a studio audience at the North Michigan Ave. flagship Apple Store in Chicago in May 2006
• First podcast to give voice to a diverse cast of characters including Amanda Steinstein, Victoria Lamarr and Miss Ronnie.

Many have thought the name to be a hidden message or a combination of the host's first letters of the last names (Fernós and Felion) but in reality the show's name spurred from the creator (Fausto Fernós) love for alliteration and an essay written by gay activist Harry Hay in which he detailed the importance for gay liberation to allow space for humor, whimsy and foolishness.

Harry Hay believed that gay men held a special place in society as shamans, hosts, priests and as arbiters of culture. In many ways the vision for the Feast of Fools (the live show) is based on Harry Hay's philosophies as well as some of the writings of astronomer Carl Sagan and television producer Gene Roddenberry.

Fausto Fernós and Marc Felion have a similar desire to explore the mind of the artist in much the same way that the concept of "outerspace" is explored in the writings of Carl Sagan and in Gene Roddenberry's popular television series.

But by taking on such controversial topics on the show and challenging their own community, they have drawn fire from their gay peers in podcasting and in the gay publishing world in Chicago. Despite this opposition, the show currently ranks as the most popular gay-themed podcast and continues to attract larger audiences to its five-day a week production schedule and makes the show available for free to tens of thousands of fans around the globe.Feastoffools 06:40, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Keep Feast of Fools

I highly suggest that the feast of fools be kept on Wikipedia. It has brought so much joy and entertainment to so many people over the years. It offers help and suggestions to many young gay people who otherwise would not have anywhere to turn. The FoF is incredibly important to the lives of so many gay people that it is indescribable. Keep it as an entry forever! -- (unsigned comment)

The Feast of Fools is a brilliant show. It gives a voice to those who may otherwise be neglected or swept under a rug somewhere. It's an outlet for free speech,and artistic feedom. It's a place where creative,smart people of all ages- and walks of life can express thier care and concerns about what is happening around them and in the world. It's about laughter,fun and acceptance. Many people around the globe love this show and the people on it- So keep it Wikipedia-you will not regret it! Sincerely-GD

Criticism of the current Entry

Although clearly the Feast of Fools is an entertaining and beloved show for its listeners, the unnecessarily long and self-promoting article devoted to it is highly inappropriate for an "information port" such as Wikipedia purports to be. They are hardly alone in using this resource for marketing, and I don't believe a total blackout on commercial posts is possible or even desirable, but the content should be tailored to fit into an informational and objective format. Superflious use of words like "brilliant," "amazing," "one-of-a-kind," reek of shameless subjectivity, and have no place in an online encyclopedia. Without some clear limits on this sort of entry, Wikipedia will eventually be nothing more than a database of marketing fliers, and will lose its utility as a information resource completely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.133.7.1 (talk • contribs) 00:25, 15 March 2007

Indeed, that's why Wikipedia has policies like WP:NPOV. If you come across articles with problems like that, you can either fix them yourself or tag them with {{NPOV}} or {{advertisement}} to alert readers and editors about the violation. This article seems to have gotten a lot better. Hopefully any minor remaining problems will get ironed out over time. -- Beland 18:40, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Article sourcing

It looks like this article was mostly written by the show's staff. This means it is likely factually accurate, but it runs afoul of Wikipedia:Autobiography unless the claims made can be referenced to published sources. If these claims can be sourced to the podcast's website, that would probably be fine. -- Beland 18:31, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Response: This article was primarily written by Rick Aiello, a fan and listener of the show. I'm surprised that our entry has received such intense scrutiny considering for example, how often broadcast American tv shows write their own wikipedia entry without hardly a complaint from the moderators of this online information community. - Fausto Fernós, producer of the Feast of Fools podcast. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.145.183.33 (talk) 04:34, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Fofitunescover.jpg

Image:Fofitunescover.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 04:56, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Circular citations?

While this has been substantially cleaned up to remove the more blatant aspects of self-promotion, some of the citations may, in fact, be circular. For example, the list of "firsts" links to a local newspaper article about Fernos that gives these figures, but sounds as if the claims are coming from Fernos himself. It appears that Fernos made the claims to a newspaper, which then ran them, and now to make the claims 'objectively' in the Wikipedia entry, he (or a fan) cite the newspaper. This form of circular citation is of dubious integrity. Additionally, the claims seem very difficult to verify. However, without any evidence to the contrary, it seems logical to let the current entry stand. (unsigned comment from 98.193.95.156 20 Oct October 2007

Please put comments in a new section if your statrting a new topic or under other comments if you're replying to a current thread. Also please sign your comments. Benjiboi 01:44, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

External links modified

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080603224653/http://www.gaywired.com:80/article.cfm?section=9&id=8463 to http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=9&id=8463
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071124091423/http://www.chicagoreader.com:80/features/stories/chicago101/glbtqmedia/ to http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/chicago101/glbtqmedia/
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090420042050/http://www.podcastingnews.com:80/2009/03/17/feast-of-fools-obamafication-yields-feast-of-fun/ to http://www.podcastingnews.com/2009/03/17/feast-of-fools-obamafication-yields-feast-of-fun/
• Added {{dead link}} tag to http://www.timeout.com/chicago/article/18291/personal-best
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070818150318/http://www.chicagoreader.com:80/features/stories/chicago101/glbtqlife/ to http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/chicago101/glbtqlife/
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090330165756/http://www.chicagoreader.com:80/best_of_chicago_09/glbtq/gay_news_source/ to http://www.chicagoreader.com/best_of_chicago_09/glbtq/gay_news_source/
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071017115042/http://www.afterelton.com:80/archive/elton/people/2006/8/fausto.html to http://www.afterelton.com/archive/elton/people/2006/8/fausto.html
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071124091423/http://www.chicagoreader.com:80/features/stories/chicago101/glbtqmedia/ to http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/chicago101/glbtqmedia/

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