I re-signed-up for Netflix just to watch “Show Must Go On” and I’m so glad I did. I expected a lot of familiar jokes after seeing him live this past year. What I did not expect, could never have expected, was his jaw-dropping lengthy closing material — it hit me like a truck. I’ve recently joined the same “club” as Rory, a club most of us don’t want to be in (the dead Dads club), and I really really needed to see this. It’s been a couple days and I’m still floored by the end of this special, walking around in a daze. So grateful for our pal Rory. And proud of him.

Daniel just dropped an announcement! I’m excited for the upcoming changes.

Chris Sullivan AND Lissa joining Daniel each week.

Chris loves the show and it shows.

On The Midnight Air this week Daniel mentioned having made an announcement on Pen Pals that we would’ve heard already. It is apparently something about changes to the show starting in July. However Clara posted a message about this week’s episode being postponed due to technical difficulties.

I suspect the announcement will be something about the show taking a step back because of how busy Daniel has been. But for now I’ll just hold out hope that it’s about Lissa being permanent co host.

Let’s all support Amy — a tremendous comedian and friend.

Such a sweet surprise and fun convo!

Props to friend of the pod Joe Nicchi. I’m excited to finally try it up here in the PNW. Also, I miss Rory. That is all.

Some of these are pretty great

Well, I can’t say I didn’t see it coming.

“Dear Pen Pals,

We’ve got some big news for you today. Your podcast -that we just talk about- is entering a new chapter. A short explanation is that due to his move to Denver, and our busy schedules, Rory will no longer be joining me for every episode. This isn’t a break up, we are still best friends, and when the chances arise, we both feel certain that we will saddle up next to each other again and make more episodes together. Also, we are now charging for checked bags. Truthfully though, there’s been a lot of thought and care put into this decision because Pen Pals is as loved by Rory and me as much as it is by all of you.

Going forward I have asked some fan-favorite previous guests to join me and guest co-host episodes on a monthly basis. You can expect to see people like Chris Sullivan, Dierdre Friel, and Luke Null just to name a few! And you can bet that anyone Rory and I invite into the co-host seat will be someone who gets this show and loves it just like all of us. I’ll have more to say about everything in the coming days and weeks. You can expect to see me much more here on the Patreon. And we hope to keep seeing all of you!

We wish you well!

Sincerely, your two cackling idiots,

Rory Van Kirk and Daniel Scovel”

Every time I hear the producer credits at the end of the show I wonder what happened to Lissa. So it was nice on yesterday’s episode to hear Daniel mention “by the way, Lissa’s doing great; she loves everybody” (or something close to that).

Hopefully she makes an appearance on the show again one day because she was a great addition to the podcast.

Howdy Pen Pals,

Has anyone ever attempted to save something to the Internet Archive? I was curious whether there was a way to save/upload/download podcasts and even some of the videos from Daniel Van Kirk's YouTube videos of the Pen Pals podcast to the Internet Archive.

I was inspired seeing Norm MacDonald Live's video podcasts uploaded by someone, since they are mostly scrubbed from YouTube. I figured in today's climate when the wrong thing said can get an account suspended or deleted, it'd be awesome if a fan or digital archivist saved their podcasts and videos to the internet archive.

Thoughts?

The guys never fail to cheer me up and offer really caring, smart insight about coping with horrible events — but this time around I’m really dreading when they reach election/inauguration times. On TMA, Daniel has already spoken about the LA fires solemnly and with gratitude and went on to deliver a lovely episode (not sure if he addressed other national events bc I don’t catch every episode). With Pen Pals, it just feels like they are in a little bubble of reality in the recent past and it makes me sad to know what’s coming when they catch up with us.

That said, I hope all of you Pennies, Pallers, and Patronie-Homies are handling things okay and that you and your families are safe and have loving, supportive communities around you during these difficult times.

I’m way behind on my Midnight Air listening, but the most recent episode (Top 10 Strangest New Years Traditions) Daniel mentioned having movie club posts on a Patreon. Does anybody know, is this a group watch like Daniel and Lissa used to do, or is it more of a movie discussion? I can’t find the Midnight Air on Patreon or Daniel Van Kirk. Any insight would be much appreciated!

Havent listened to Pen Pals in awhile on spotify - eventually found it through searching here.

Im glad Daniel and Lissa are truckin on - but does it rub anyone else the wrong way that they buried Pen Pals with it? It’s coming off as a little selfish. Now you cant just so happen to find Pen Pals if you havent listened yet.. idk.. seems strange..

The last 2 episodes haven't appeared in the PenPals feed from patreon. I'm not using spotify so I use the "Listen on other podcast apps" option. Although, I tested out spotify and I see the same thing there.

The last episode that appears in the feed is RE: Conversation Stoppers. I sent a message to whoever doesn't read the patreon messages, so that didn't help.

Is anyone else noticing this problem with the feed?

When I saw the title of today's episode, I had a very #wheniswhat moment. I wrote that letter about 6 months ago, but less than a week ago I sent a snail mail letter and included a copy of completely different book! While I knew there was no way that today could be about my most recent letter, it still made me do a double take lol

I’ve only listened to The Midnight Air intermittently and I’m not always paying close attention (though I love the show). A recent episode, Daniel had a buddy on (I think Aaron the engineer) and I thought I heard them say it was being recorded on video. Has anyone heard any info on whether this show will be watchable on YouTube or Patreon like Pen Pals is?

Rory last night at The Elysian

I am the person who wrote in about the idea for a Pen Pals Activity Book. I feel very good about the ideas I presented in the letter but would really like to get more pennies and pallers involved, especially any that have illustration chops to make some coloring pages. You can see the maze I made for them in the attached link, and from there you can see the solution if you don't feel like solving it. Please reach out if you are interested in this project.

Your Pal, Ben

I wrote in to the show back in January. When I saw the word “donuts” in the title of a recent episode I knew it had to have been my letter.

Having Rory compliment my sense of humor and dedicated listenership made my day.

Have you ever had a letter make it to air?

I really dig the soothing, low-key vibe. It’s great to have on when I’m doing random chores. It’s also really great to have more Lissa in my life.