The Fighter and The Kid is a weekly podcast featuring UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub and actor/comedian Bryan Callen. Besides being an iTunes ranking heavyweight in both the overall and comedy rankings, The Fighter and The Kid podcast is also one of the few independent shows to be picked up by a major network (Fox Sports). With over 150 episodes published, the show continues to rapidly grow and innovate the podcast world including the addition of live tours, which have been sold out across the country.

At the helm of this show is Evan Rodner, also known as “The Beard” for very obvious reasons. A Media Arts major, Rodner has both digital media and marketing experience from his years of working with Fox. He is credited with discovering The Fighter and the Kid for the network and has since been the show’s producer and on-air contributing personality.

We recently reached out to Rodner to get a background of his work and learn some of the technical elements he uses to successfully produce this podcasting heavyweight.

Evan “The Beard” Rodner: Producer of Fighter and The Kid

What is your background in sound engineering and producing?

My first experience with sound engineering and producing (I use both of those terms very loosely in this case) came from attempting to make borderline listenable music in GarageBand during my high school years. I majored in Media Arts at the University of Arizona, so I got to learn quite a bit of Final Cut and Avid which helped a lot in getting hooked up with FOX Sports. Since I got to FOX I’ve been fortunate enough to get the chance to produce podcasts such as The Fighter and The Kid, the short-lived (but awesome) Josh Barnett Conquers The World and MMA Roasted.

How did you end up the producer of The Fighter and the Kid podcast?

One of my old colleagues, DJ Shrope, and I stumbled across the show years ago when they were recording in a friend’s spare bedroom and loved what we heard. We reached out to Brendan and Bryan, one thing led to another and FOX ended up signing a deal with them to distribute and produce the show. Originally, DJ served as the producer but eventually his schedule forced him to step away from the show. That created the opportunity for me to pick up the reigns. I never looked back and here we are a couple years and a ton of new listeners later.

Besides manning the controls, you are also a regular contributor to the show?

Yes, our Current Events segment was all Brendan’s idea. We get along so well both on and off the show that it only seemed natural to Brendan that I contribute on more than just behind the scenes. While I’m not nearly as smooth on the mic as Schaub and Callen, it’s great being able to freely add to the show in a way that seems to resonate with our listeners. It has also led to a ton of social media interaction between the fans and I, which gives us an added level of transparency to talk about what’s going on with the show. Although that can be a double-edged sword because fans are NOT shy on social media about letting you know if you fucked something up or said something off-base, haha.

What do you attribute to the rise of podcasting and where do you see it going in the future?

Podcasting is one of the only platforms available that’s free from the bullshit that comes with having to answer to corporations, advertisers, etc. It doesn’t take much more than a small financial investment and some basic technical skill to get going, so talent doesn’t have to compromise the content in order to reach the masses or get their show financed. That creates a raw and honest experience that people gravitate towards. All of that makes it a bit ironic that FATK is signed with FOX, but I think that relationship is a bit of an anomaly within the industry. On top of that, it’s free to the user, available on demand and enables people to entertain themselves at their leisure. Tough combination to beat.

As for the future, I’m sure we’ll see more video components like live streaming or ancillary material like behind-the-scenes content. Hopefully shows are able to implement VR/360 video into their shows at some point. The real future is in taking a successful podcast and using it to establish yourself in other entertainment fields, much like what Brendan and Bryan have done with the Fighter and The Kid live shows.





I use a Yamaha MG 166c Mixing Board and . I use them because they’re solid pieces of equipment that aren’t particularly expensive and provide a high-quality audio product. Our set-up works for our current studio, but down the line I’d like to get my hands on a similar setup to Joe Rogan. Those swing-arm mic’s are killer.

What is your recommended recording and editing software for podcasting?

I’m all about keeping things simple and efficient. GarageBand and Audacity for recording/editing and Levelator to balance out the audio signals. That’s the beauty of podcasting. You don’t need much to get a good, polished product.

How important is post-production and what are some of the methods you use to create a polished end product?

It’s definitely important, especially when producing a show that has multiple advertisers. At this point, I consider podcast ad placement an art form! For my purposes, post-production entails making sure the sound levels came out the way I wanted, the editing I’ve done is seamless and comfortable on the ears, and our video component aligns with the audio-only version.

How important is the room where you podcast and how do you setup your ideal situation?

Let’s be real here. The vast majority of podcasts are not being recorded in high-end professional studios. They’re in spare rooms, offices, places where you just need to make the most of your situation. Installing bass traps help a lot, as does simply experimenting with your rooms set-up and listening to what it tells you. Where your mic’s are positioned, what material your table is made from, …things like that will reveal where they’re best suited if you take the time to listen. The studio we use, luckily for us, already had pretty good acoustics so there wasn’t much we had to do in the way of room-treatment to get things sounding clean.

What is the most challenging part of being the producer for the Fighter and the Kid?

We’re a well-oiled machine at this point, getting things recorded/edited/posted properly is the easy part. The tough part is dealing with everyone’s schedules. Brendan and Bryan are two highly ambitious, super busy guys and often times we’re making schedule changes the day of a show. It can be difficult, but it’s also made us a really agile team. To combat the insanity of our schedules I have multiple laptops/cameras/etc spread over the FOX buildings so that no matter what I’m doing or where I am, I’ll always be prepared to jump in the studio at a moments notice.

Communicating with guests mid-show can present problems too. When the guys are on a roll and the conversation is great, the last thing I want to do is stop the show to tell the guest to stop tapping on the table or get closer to the mic, especially since I’ve likely already verbalized that to them at least once before the show started. Keeping myself from knocking shit over from laughing so hard can also be a challenge haha.

Fighter and the Kid now do live audience podcasts on tour. What new challenges does this bring to you as a producer?

The live shows are a totally different beast than the podcasts. The venues we perform at all have completely different set-up’s and limitations, so it’s all about communicating with the venue GM and Sound Tech well in advance of the show to figure out what you can and can’t get away with. Get there early. Run multiple test shows. I’m paranoid as hell about making sure things are PERFECT at live shows. My responsibilities at FOX limit me to only being able to produce the local shows out here in Los Angeles, but Brendan’s brother, Jay (AKA Shark Eyes Doll-Smile), does an awesome job of making sure the tour runs smoothly when I’m not there.

Have you ever had a major technical difficulty during a show? How did you recover?

Podcasting is like riding a motorcycle. It’s not a matter of if you’re going to go down, it’s when. No matter how prepared you are, something is ALWAYS going to go wrong eventually. We’ve had mic’s die mid-show, a laptop basically implode, …shit happens man. You’ve got to have contingency plans in place. I have a hard lined into the sound board and a video camera that records independently. That way, even if the mic’s die or the mixing board gives out, we’ve got usable audio we can pull from the video camera. It might need a little more TLC than usual, but it’ll get the job done. To get to this point though, there were one or two instances where we had to scrap an entire show. As you might imagine, there’s a fair amount of learning on the job that goes on.

Follow Evan “The Beard” Rodner

Twitter: @EvanTheBeard

Instagram: @EvanTheBeard

Fighter and The Kid Podcast:

iTunes | Stitcher | Google Play

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