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September 27, 2007

The Podcast Network Signs John Cleese For Video Podcast

Duncan Riley

32 comments »

tpn.jpgThe Podcast Network (TPN) has announced the signing of English actor, writer and comedian John Cleese for an exclusive video podcast series titled “Headcast.”

Cleese describes the show as “a somewhat humorous, somewhat more thoughtful, [a conduit that] gives me a chance to sound off in my old age.”

A free version will be made available over the next few months on The Podcast Network and a premium version will also be available. The show will be produced by UK new media company Funk, which currently produces audio podcasts for Clease.

TPN CEO Cameron Reilly from The Podcast Network said that “having a living legend like John Cleese joining The Podcast Network’s growing roster of talent is a coup for the business and a personal thrill.”

The Melbourne, Australia run TPN has continued to grow without funding and is currently profitable, whilst others in this space burn venture capital. TPN did 700,000 downloads and 6.5 million page views in August.

Disclosure: I podcast for TPN

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 7:02 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. qzchannel » Comment on The Podcast Network Signs John Cleese For Video Podcast …

    October 22nd, 2007 at 8:50 am

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  1. Fashion Network

    September 27th, 2007 at 7:08 pm

    Too bad I’ve heard of him!, but I definitely can not wait to try it out. :)

  2. Ritu

    September 27th, 2007 at 7:23 pm

    I had never even heard od PodcastNetwork, guess will have to try it out. 700,000 downloads and 6.5 million pages in August alone is remarkable

  3. Heretic

    September 27th, 2007 at 7:54 pm

    Is this new internet so young that you need such a verbose introduction for John Cleese? I feel old.

  4. Ed

    September 27th, 2007 at 8:06 pm

    Ah nah! John Cleese is a comedy legend! Even those who don’t know his early work will recognize his voice from Shrek’s Toady King

  5. Word Hugger

    September 27th, 2007 at 8:11 pm

    @Heretic: A good journalist wouldn’t write posts that only 40% of the readers know who he is talking about. I think it was aimed to be that way.

  6. Jughead

    September 27th, 2007 at 8:17 pm

    John Cleese + Video Podcasts……….priceless! Some of the best things in life are free. For everything else there’s Microsoft.

  7. Cameron Reilly

    September 27th, 2007 at 8:25 pm

    Don’t know who John Cleese is??? Sheesh.

    Thanks for the plug Dunc.

    @Ritu: The Podcast Network was the world’s original podcast business. We launched in Feb 2005. Come check us out.

    BTW, the announcement (with a video by John) is available here:

    http://tpn.thepodcastnetwork.c.....t-network/

  8. Brett

    September 27th, 2007 at 8:46 pm

    Great news for Cam and the team at The Podcast Network. They do a lot of great stuff over there, and it’s only set to get better with someone as freakin awesome as John Cleese on there!

    I’d like to hear John Cleese on G’day world!

  9. cweeb

    September 27th, 2007 at 8:53 pm

    OK, It’s official

    The Demo conference has there videos up before TC40, even thought DEMO happened AFTER TC40

    What an embarrassment, what a load of crap, I guess TC made there money and this is just extra work for no $, and people will have forgotten by next year, still, just truly pathetic

  10. Steve Ballmer

    September 27th, 2007 at 9:00 pm

    Iike Cleese, but he is getting desperate! I mean, podcast?

  11. Michael Air

    September 27th, 2007 at 9:23 pm

    Good to see TPN finally getting some well deserved press!

  12. Wes

    September 27th, 2007 at 9:28 pm

    TPN seem to be doing a lot better than I thought.

  13. Don Wilson

    September 27th, 2007 at 9:29 pm

    Odd, you guys haven’t posted about the new MySpace homepage being released yet.

  14. Simon

    September 27th, 2007 at 10:31 pm

    Glad to see a tech company making real money the old fashioned honest way.

  15. Duncan Riley

    September 27th, 2007 at 10:50 pm

    I can’t win….ppl don’t know who john Cleese is? Monty python, fawlty towers,a fish called wanda,shrek to name but few….

  16. pol

    September 27th, 2007 at 10:59 pm

    One interesting application

    http://www.smsmyemail.com/

    SMSmyEmail…get your emails in your non GPRS, non EDGE, non WAP, non MMS cell phone

    Further details
    http://www.webyantra.net/2007/.....ell-phone/

  17. Dean Whitbread

    September 27th, 2007 at 11:38 pm

    @Steve Ballmer

    “Iike Cleese, but he is getting desperate! I mean, podcast?”

    He’s been podcasting since 2005 http://johncleesepodcast.co.uk and he likes that it’s a way to get to people directly without directors, editors, censors involved..

  18. Jay Adair

    September 28th, 2007 at 2:09 am

    If you don’t know who John Cleese is, you’re woefully un-cultured :-)

    This is great news, I’m looking forward to hearing him!

  19. Rajeev

    September 28th, 2007 at 3:21 am

    Any professional work is stimulating competition and hense welcome.

    http://tekno-world.blogspot.com

  20. Richard Corsale

    September 28th, 2007 at 4:53 am

    There still calling it “podcasting”? :)

  21. lawrence

    September 28th, 2007 at 5:27 am

    somewhat off topic, lol;
    but John Cleese’s best work was in the movie Rat Race

  22. Duncan Riley

    September 28th, 2007 at 5:46 am

    lawrence
    you’ve obviously never watched Monty Python :-)

  23. Aaron

    September 28th, 2007 at 10:26 am

    A podcast network that has, without funding, organically grown its business into profitability without a massive ad/content budget? Wow, that’s insanity! (Or, actually, it’s the way it SHOULD be, damnit!)

    John Cleese is awesome. And yes, lawrence, you need to watch Monty Python.

  24. MarkB

    September 28th, 2007 at 12:04 pm

    A profitable web media business? How Web 1.0 :P Get with the times, guys - burn through that money! You know you want to! ;)

  25. Peter Cooper

    September 28th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

    Considering how surprisingly good Ricky Gervais’s podcast was/is, Cleese might surprise us too! Gervais’ podcast makes a good past example to look at here.. it became very profitable.

  26. Learn PHP

    September 28th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    Q in James Bond was my favorite John Cleese role but he was over shadowed by the Aston Martin.

  27. Brisbane SEO Guy

    September 28th, 2007 at 1:53 pm

    Methinks the premium product will fail. Why not give away the premium product and make the money up with advertising revenue - just like free to air TV?

  28. Cameron Reilly

    September 28th, 2007 at 5:27 pm

    MarkB - raising lots of VC money, burning through it in 12 months, then losing your company to the VC was actually very much Web1.0. I thought Web2.0 was about organic growth, founders retain 100% of the stock, build a long term (which means ten years, not 18 months) profitable business, that they can’t get fired from?

    Maybe I missed a memo somewhere….

  29. Steve Ballmer

    September 29th, 2007 at 3:56 pm

    Search for the Holy Grail, VISTA!

  30. Lazer Epilasyon

    September 29th, 2007 at 5:56 pm

    Nice post, thank you!

  31. Tamir Berkman

    October 3rd, 2007 at 6:06 pm

    Well done Cam! I love Cleese and podcasts so having him on the network is a great win. Not sure about you staying there for 10 years though. I believe the offer will come much sooner and hope it will be too good to refuse :)

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