Everything Geek Podcast – Ruari reaches five year milestone with show
By Aideen O'Flaherty
When Ruari Williamson was 17-years-old he decided to start recording a podcast that indulged in his love of all things geeky, including ‘Star Wars’ and anime, and featuring interviews with actors from a variety of well-known franchises.
Five years on from the first episode of the Everything Geek Podcast, which has gone from strength to strength and features interviews with actors from ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Pokemon’, Rathfarnham man Ruari is now reflecting on half a decade spent behind the mike and looking ahead to the future of the popular podcast.
Ruari Williamson
The past pupil of Ballinteer Community School spoke to his local newspaper about what prompted him to start a podcast, what it was like to interview his first guest and how it feels to have made the podcast for the past five years.
Why did you decide to start a podcast?
I decided to start the Everything Geek Podcast because I had previously been a co-host on another podcast, The Voice of the Republic Podcast, and enjoyed it greatly but felt that I needed a new challenge, and I wanted to set up my own podcast.
That podcast was a ‘Star Wars’ only podcast and I knew I wanted to set up a podcast that focused on more than one franchise so that’s how the Everything Geek Podcast was born.
Who was your first interviewee, and were you nervous about interviewing them?
My first interviewee was actor Leif Gantvoort from ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’. I was nervous about interviewing him as I really wanted the interview to go well, so that people would want to listen to the podcast and we’d grow from there.
That said, I could never have imagined that I’d still be doing the podcast five years and approximately 300 interviewees later. I know it’s a cliché to say, but it really does feel like yesterday that I was scheduling Leif’s interview and the recording of it.
Half a decade later it feels surreal to look back on that interview and know how much has happened since.
You’ve interviewed cast members from ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ and voiceover artists from ‘Pokemon’, but who is your dream interviewee and why?
My dream interviewee would have to be Ewan McGregor. He has been my favourite actor ever since I was a child, and Obi-Wan Kenobi is my favourite ‘Star Wars’ character so interviewing him would mean the most to me.
What’s the best feedback you’ve received so far from listeners?
I think the best feedback I’ve received has to be from the anime fans. Even though shows like ‘Pokémon’ and ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ aren’t as mainstream as live action shows and other cartoons, I get a lot of feedback from anime fans – even on interviews with people that only worked on one or a handful of episodes on either of those shows.
Anime fans also give me guest suggestions the most which is actually very gratifying. Most of the feedback from these fans is really positive.
What’s been one of your most memorable moments?
One guest I experience I’ll never forget is interviewing ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ actress Anna Graves, because on the day I interviewed her she recorded more ‘The Clone Wars’ later that day for the characters Tiplee and Tiplar.
However, she and supervising director Dave Filoni hadn’t decided on the accents for the characters. He wanted to know what she wanted to do and, remembering the interview we did earlier that day, she said to him, “How about Irish?”.
It’s very special knowing that I inspired a cast member from my favourite TV show. I even have an autograph from her that says: “Thank you for inspiring the Jedi”. There are very few things in life that will top that experience for me.
How does it feel knowing that the Everything Geek Podcast is still going strong five years after its first episode?
It feels incredible knowing that the podcast has been running for five years now. I never could have imagined that I would still be doing this five years after the first interview with more interviews coming up. I’m looking forward to everything that happens on the podcast in the future.
You can listen to and find out more about the Everything Geek Podcast online at its website here.
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