It has been speculated for months over whether or not Steve Zaragoza, known in The EZU as BBBBBBB, was involved with or even aware of the official aftershow to a podcast that he co hosted with Mike Falzone (aka Fred W.), Dynamic Banter. In the aftershow, Talkin’ Banter [1], Brett Register (aka #BrettNO) and Chris McCaleb (aka ChrisNoEmpathy) unpacked key elements of Dynamic Banter every week while the show was running.

Talkin’ Banter was a huge asset for the community because the hosts dove into issues raised in the podcast that BBBBBBB and Fred W. weren’t able to cover on the main show. They got to the bottom of Bees, confirming that they were “in game”, as the community had suspected. They took an analytical view of the unique talent that the Dynamic Banter hosts possess that makes them right for they job. They served as a beacon of light for the community to swarm around and make love to (not unlike a bees, around a flower).

Talkin’ Banter was loved by the community, but went unnoticed by the hosts of Dynamic Banter, which was odd because they were posted in the same podcast feed [2]. The community speculated whether or not the hosts were even aware of Talkin’ Banter [3]. The debate raged in the community for months, but it seems that it is finally over.

On another EZU show, Feels Like the First Time, Steve Zaragoza confessed “no” in response to Brett Register asking “did we ever tell you we did an aftershow for Dynamic Banter?” [4].

This conversation was sparked by an email sent to the show’s Gmail [1] account by none other than Jesse, official host of the unofficial aftershow of Talkin’ Banter, official aftershow of Dynamic Banter [5].

The uncharacteristically short response to #BrettNO’s seems to confirm that BBBBBBB was not told about the aftershow, and had no knowledge of its airing.

What does this mean for the EZU? Well for one thing it suggests structural issues within the organization. The Talkin’ Banter hosts needed to get access to the Dynamic Banter podcast feed somehow, and since BBBBBBB didn’t give it to them, there are two possibilities.

1) Mike Falzone could have given them access. This would imply that he is keeping secrets from his cohost, friend, and potential lover [6]. This does not bode well for Dynamic Banter.

2) The hosts of Talkin’ Banter could have hacked the podcast feed. This seems more likely bc like come on, look at Mike Falzone. He’s just such a good guy. A hacking would suggest that Dynamic Banter is vulnerable. What if this kind of attack was to happen again, but with a shitty, drawn out podcast about nothing, something like Less for Longer.

Fuck this article has gotten long…

The story is not entirely over though. While there is closure to the question of whether Steve Zaragoza was aware of Talkin’ Banter, the disappearance of Talkin’ Banter is still shrouded in mystery. I urge the community to get to the bottom of this. I suggest we start with the error code that was in the description of the final episode of Talkin’ Banter: “ERROR_IPSEC_IKE_UNKNOWN_DOI 13862 (0x3626) Invalid DOI” [7]. It will not be easy, but the outcome will be something that the world will remember for weeks, maybe months.

Light out,

Peter