Behind the scenes of Trash Taste: how the hit podcast is made Dexerto: Andrew AmosTrash Taste has grown from a tiny Tokyo studio to become one of the biggest entertainment podcasts in the world. Dexerto got the chance to shadow the three stars as they recorded live on set to show how the hit podcast is made. It\u2019s 90 minutes before a double-barrel recording of Trash Taste when the podcast\u2019s three stars \u2014 Joey \u2018The Anime Man\u2019 Bizinger, Connor \u2018CDawg\u2019 Colquhoun, and Garnt \u2018Gigguk\u2019 Maneetapho \u2014 start trickling into the studio. The space is lively but cramped. Upstairs is where the business happens. Whiteboards full of content ideas are spread across the floor. Streaming setups are there in case one of the boys wants to broadcast at their home away from home. Garnt\u2019s Asuka-themed case stands out from the rest as he uses his computer to map out a future segment. Coffees are passed around as Connor rocks up. A second round is due before the recordings begin. Lunches too get consumed as discussions ramp up. It\u2019s the usual business talk: sponsorships, upcoming events, content plans. Ideas get put up and shot down within seconds. It\u2019s a very jovial mood with banter woven in. After everyone pitches in, the focus swaps to that day\u2019s recordings. Topics for discussion? Conspiracy theories and a Food 3\u00d73; the grid-style of the latter has proven to be a popular format for Trash Taste. Joey and I banter about Aussie foods, specifically a classic Bunnings snag. Kangaroo sausages are what he eventually settles on. The boys plus the team behind them have put in some research into the topics, but even as the recording starts downstairs, they are iterating. Joey is about to throw to one potential theory, but Connor speaks up to scrap it. With some editing magic, the viewer is none the wiser. There\u2019s only a handful of Trash Taste fans who have seen the energy of the trio live: either on the US and European tours, or at their first live recording at DreamHack Australia in 2023. That energy resounds even more in the confined studio \u2014 Garnt\u2019s voice reverberates off the walls as he passionately argues about the physics of light amid the Moon Landing controversy discussion. Behind the camera, producers hold back laughter as ludicrous and hilarious statements are raised. Occasionally they jump in with a quip, which sometimes gets a reaction from the hosts and leads them into a tangent. The episode starts relatively structured, but by the end, it is a chaotic mess of laughter. The experience of seeing how a Trash Taste episode came together gives you a greater appreciation for the hard work and love its three members \u2014 and their bevy of backroom helpers \u2014 put in. It goes to show how this one show, which exploded off a stroke of luck, means for everyone involved. Trash Taste in name, but not by nature In between recordings, over another coffee, the boys reminisce on those early days of Trash Taste and their expectations. \u201cDefinitely not this long,\u201d Joey laughed when asked about how long they expected Trash Taste to last. \u201cOriginally it wasn\u2019t even meant to be a main thing we did. It was always going to be a side project. Garnt continued: \u201cWe wanted to be financially viable after one year, that was the goal. The goal was to be self-sustaining and it went way further than that.\u201d Nearly 200 episodes on though, Trash Taste has become a big part of these three creator\u2019s lives. They are all individually successful in their own rights: in many respects, Joey and Garnt were the two bastions of anime YouTube in the early days. Connor was one of the most respected voice actors of that time too, rising up through the fan dubbing circuit to make a name for himself in VA work as well as streaming. Trash Taste took their careers to the next level though. Since the podcast started in 2020, they\u2019ve had dozens of amazing guests. Felix \u2018Pewdiepie\u2019 Kjellberg, MoistCr1TiKaL, Sean \u2018jacksepticeye\u2019 McLoughlin, Michael Reeves, and Mori Calliope are just some of the names they\u2019ve invited on. Across these four years, they have barely missed a week of uploads. It has exploded into a mammoth project with an equally huge following. They have 1.6 million followers on YouTube. It\u2019s one of the top 10 Leisure podcasts on Spotify in the English-speaking world (ranking as high as third in Joey\u2019s home country of Australia) with thousands of listeners every week. Trash Taste was an experiment of sorts for the three of them, testing the waters on broadening their content horizons. It was a blank canvas for their creativity stifled by being shoehorned into one corner of the internet, and they turned it into a masterpiece. \u201cNormally if you have some weird ideas, if they don\u2019t perform well you start panicking and you don\u2019t get as much creative freedom,\u201d Garnt explained. \u201cBecause we have the safety net of Trash Taste, it gives us that freedom to explore new ideas and other channels and just not have to worry about the channel dying.\u201d Trash Taste may be marketed as an \u201canime podcast\u201d \u2014 a long running joke in the community given how little anime they discuss. However, the appeal lies in giving anime fans content made by people who know the culture, but who also happen to have other similar interests. It keeps every episode fresh and interesting. \u201cIt\u2019s not screaming \u2018hey we\u2019re super into anime, it\u2019s all we\u2019re going to talk about,\u2019 it\u2019s more like \u2018we\u2019re normal people who just happened to also be pretty knowledgeable about anime and the anime community,\u2019\u201d Connor explained. \u201cIt\u2019s giving them more of a conversational podcast that\u2019s geared towards their kind of humor and their likes and interests which helps a lot.\u201d It also so happened the podcast came at a perfect time. When recordings were moving online, Trash Taste was able to keep things in-person, in a studio, which let them stand out. That, coupled with \u201cthe general interest for foreigners who want to travel to Japan increasing\u201d as Joey put it, gave them the recipe for success. They took the cards they were dealt and turned them into gold. They\u2019ve had plenty of great experiences, with the Drifting Special and the two tours they\u2019ve done so far named as the big standouts. The latter was a particularly monumental moment. They had never done anything in front of an in-person audience before 2022. \u201cI think we wanted to challenge ourselves to see if we could even do it and put on a good show,\u201d Joey explained. \u201cThe one trait we all share is we love trying new sh*t out, and for all three of us, touring was obviously a very new thing we\u2019ve never done before. We\u2019ve never done a stage show or anything like that. So we were like \u2018let\u2019s see if we can even do this, let\u2019s try and challenge ourselves to see if we can learn this entirely different skill set to just talking in front of a camera.\u2019 \u201cGetting more stage experience makes you a better entertainer in general too,\u201d Connor continued. \u201cSo I wanted to get more stage experience and that was one of the reasons why I wanted to try it.\u201d It went swimmingly. The first couple of shows on the road in the US were \u201crocky\u201d in Joey\u2019s words, but the chemistry between the three of them meant the rest were silky smooth. \u201cThe three of us knew exactly what was happening and it\u2019s always hype seeing a live audience opposed to a live chat or a comment section,\u201d Joey said. \u201cIt\u2019s a different vibe.\u201d All of these wins have given them the confidence to try anything. There\u2019s no one dream episode per se \u2014 unless Joey gets to bring on Barack Obama \u2014 but rather a sentiment that they can tackle anything they put their minds to. \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten to the point where, aside from some mega superstar guest coming onto the podcast, if we have a cool idea we want to pursue, we just put it in motion to do it,\u201d Garnt said. \u201cThat\u2019s a lot of what we\u2019re doing in 2024. I think it\u2019s cool we\u2019ve reached a point where we can pursue some of the more ambitious ideas.\u201d Standing out solo while learning from each other Trash Taste wasn\u2019t just a chance for them to do something together and grow it standalone. The learnings from Trash Taste were something they could adapt for themselves too. It has given them a renewed look on content creation, where they realized they were only limited by self-enforced boundaries. \u201cTrash Taste was definitely the catalyst to make me change my mentality of YouTube being a job versus YouTube being a career,\u201d Garnt said. \u201cSeeing the fact that Trash Taste grew beyond something beyond all three of our expectations and people were liking the fact they were getting to know us on a personal level and not something that was inherently connected to the content, that gave me the idea like \u2018I don\u2019t have to do something people know me for in order to make something cool.\u2019\u201d Connor looked at it through a different lens: \u201cI always try things out and see how they feel. It wasn\u2019t necessarily a second wind or anything, it was more like \u2018okay this is a new thing I\u2019m going to try.\u2019 \u201cIt didn\u2019t feel like a big pivot and more like a natural progression of the stuff that I\u2019m doing and the guys that I hang out with.\u201d Joey\u2019s transition is probably the most obvious. The Anime Man himself kind of laughs at the branding now, given he\u2019s all but retired from anime content. But now he\u2019s pursuing his other passions like music through content, and showing more sides of himself. \u201cAfter Trash Taste I realized that people liked me for me, not for the content I make,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt actually gave me a confidence boost to try stuff that wasn\u2019t necessarily something that for the longest time I felt like I was pigeon holed into. \u201cI have anime in my f**king name. It\u2019s a bit harder for me to do stuff that\u2019s not anime related when it\u2019s in my name. So I f**ked myself up on that but even then I was able to escape out of that vision a little bit. And I think that\u2019s all because of Trash Taste.\u201d Despite the expansion, it\u2019s not like everyone took the same path. Connor is the biggest streamer of the bunch. Joey has his side hustles in business. Garnt still does his anime related videos but also shares his life in gacha hell from time to time. \u201cI like how we all went in separate directions,\u201d Joey continued, \u201cbecause it makes people and ourselves realize \u2018yes, we are a collective unit creatively, but we\u2019re also our own individual creators and artists separately,\u2019 and that\u2019s always nice.\u201d However they still have learned plenty from each other, both on a professional and personal level. \u201cWhen you see your friends working hard on stuff, you\u2019re naturally like I want to work hard too,\u201d Connor said. \u201cWe just want to keep doing stuff, making cool things.\u201d Putting the friendship first Trash Taste is, and will forever be, a \u2018side project\u2019. Joey, Garnt and Connor are all individual creators first and foremost. \u201cIt\u2019s just something I have to dedicate time to, like any other project,\u201d Connor stated. \u201cWe\u2019re all doing content outside of it. \u201cLike it gets one or two days a week and if you think about your time existing in a week, you\u2019re like \u2018okay I have two days of the week to this thing\u2019 and then you have to decide how you allocate the rest. Calling it a main thing is tough because we all do a lot of stuff individually as well. But it\u2019s certainly a project that requires us to plan and be consistent with it.\u201d However even in their world of other projects, Trash Taste holds a special place for them. They are accountable to each other in this one. And instead of the personal relationships being a potential barrier, their clearly defined boundaries and aligned goals push them forward. \u201cWith our other projects, the only person that\u2019s relying on that is yourself,\u201d Garnt continues. \u201cWe always want to make time for Trash Taste because we don\u2019t want to let the other boys down and the staff members down. That\u2019s a very big motivation. \u201cI know of so many YouTube groups that have fallen apart because they\u2019re so focused on one thing and their interests don\u2019t align or the passion doesn\u2019t last and things fall apart. \u201cBut with us dedicating a certain portion of time to Trash Taste, a certain portion to other projects we might want to do individually, it just gives us that balance and separation from not just projects but each other as well.\u201d Friendship is ultimately at the core of Trash Taste. The three of them will never do something that jeopardizes that. And if the tension gets too much, the importance of their friendship will come first. \u201cAll three of us agreed when we started Trash Taste that if one of us leaves, then that\u2019s the end,\u201d Garnt said. \u201cI\u2019m sure it will happen one day, this is not going to be forever. But whenever that does happen, so be it. All good things must come to an end. Joey continued: \u201cIf Trash Taste ends one day, whatever manner that be, I don\u2019t think we will stop being friends. Trash Taste was built around our friendship and if our life situation changes, Trash Taste may end but our friendship will continue.\u201d With all that in mind, Trash Taste are going to continue embarking on their ambitious adventures and long rambles about everything from conspiracy theories to anime to their childhoods. And when the end is nigh, they\u2019ll go out as loudly as they burst out onto the scene. \u201cAll I hope is Trash Taste ends with a bang, not with a whimper,\u201d Joey said. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to end it, make it memorable in a good way. Don\u2019t just fizzle out. That\u2019s the only thing I\u2019d want really.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Behind the scenes of Trash Taste: how the hit podcast is made Dexerto: Andrew AmosTrash Taste has grown from a tiny Tokyo studio to become one of the biggest entertainment podcasts in the world. Dexerto got the chance to shadow the three stars as they recorded live on set to show how the hit podcast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}