About a month ago my friend sent me a single text message: "Night Vale is coming to Edmonton". I lost it. I camped out in front of the computer a few mornings later, obsessively hitting the ‘refresh’ button, until the tickets came on sale. Maybe you don’t know why I acted that way... but maybe you do.
Welcome to Night Vale (WTNV) finally came onto my radar a year ago, as it did for many others – it skyrocketed in popularity in the summer of 2013. This is not a TV show, a book, or a game: it is a podcast. A very humble medium, to be sure, yet even for people such as myself, who had never listened to a single podcast in their life, it is unquestionably a work of art, a triumph of originality, and overflowing with deliciously mastered turns of phrase.
Night Vale is a small town which, though we have never been there, we can see in our mind’s eye – a strange and uncertain community, swamped with harsh desert heat, and the location of some of the oddest scientific phenomena ever experienced. Not that anyone in Night Vale notices, or even really cares, unless it wreaks havoc on their morning commute or makes grocery shopping somewhat difficult. When things go awry, citizens can always look to the secret police for – well, for a complete lack of answers, but that’s where Cecil Palmer (voiced by stage actor, writer and director Cecil Baldwin) comes in. As a host of Night Vale’s community radio station, he is there to deliver news, opinions, observations and, of course, the weather.
Welcome to Night Vale will treat the strangest of occurrences with horror, wariness, uncaring – but never surprise. In a world where such oddities are natural, it makes complete sense that the things that we may find notable are nothing more than details to its citizens. I’m speaking about Cecil’s unwavering adoration of perfect visiting scientist Carlos, which peppers the podcast in bursts from the first episode on. It is never strange or weird or even noteworthy that Cecil is first smitten, then truly in love, with another man. It is not the threat of a gay relationship, but simply Carlos’s obsession with science that really gets in the way of their romance. Don’t worry though; they are working it out.
The relationship between Cecil and Carlos is considered the most normal element in the podcast. When I spoke to Jeffrey Cranor, one of WTNV’s two writers (the other being Joseph Fink), and Cecil Baldwin, who voices the unforgettable Cecil Palmer as the show’s narrator, they were very open and engaging on the subject.
"We get that feedback a lot," Jeffrey says, "especially from young kids, which is really exciting to hear, too. It’s nice that the least weird thing in all of Night Vale is Cecil and Carlos’s relationship. You know what I mean? It’s just not an issue in the town or in the show in any way. I think there are a lot of kids who live a life where that is weird for their families, or what have you. It’s a really great thing to hear."
"One of the cool things is that we’re an independent operation," Cecil adds. "We can kind of make the rules up as we go. And for me, I can’t speak for Jeffrey or for Joseph, but it’s a matter of kind of reflecting the world that you want to live in. I think America and the world is ready for a time when two adult men can be in a relationship where it is natural and easy and something that is an everyday part of life, rather than tokenism."
What better way to express that than through the medium that is Cecil Baldwin’s voice. If it was a food it would be chocolate filled cake baked in a campfire under the stars. It is the voice you want to hear inside of your head when you’re looking for direction in life, and inspires massive amounts of trust and loyalty. If people didn’t relate to Cecil Palmer the podcast would never go anywhere.
The line between Baldwin and Palmer is thin; when I discussed the life Cecil brings to his character he harkened back to his and Jeffrey’s theatre company The New York Neo Futurists.
"One of the main tenants is that you’re always yourself onstage," Cecil says. "You don’t pretend to play a character that you’re not. So I think both Jeffrey and I kind of came from this background of I’m always me, this is my story, this is my voice; I’m not going to hoodwink the audience into thinking that I’m someone who I’m not. Using yourself for a blueprint to a character is always the best starting point, because it keeps you honest and natural and truthful. I understood right out of the gate the idea of the late night radio host. I also understood the sort of creepy, disembodied voice whispering into your ear late at night. But then as the character has grown and developed, it has given me a lot more room to flesh out who this character is as a person to where someone he meets on the street, i.e. Carlos. He gets so excited about that he has to talk about him on his radio show. And it’s just opened this world up to a whole different level of possibilities and performance."
The voice of Carlos was once in the realm of Jeffrey who, after some contemplation, readily threw the responsibility from his shoulders.
"I wasn’t crazy about acting a part for a show that I was writing," he describes. "I’m just not an actor. We knew Dylan [Marron], and it was one of the easiest choices I have ever had to make in my life, which was, I would like to leave this part and have Dylan play it! because he is an amazing human being."
Beyond putting a good actor in a good role, it also had to do with the fan base, and WTNV’s presence on and offline. Despite being a podcast, they didn’t want to misrepresent their characters or roles for anyone who might see them at live shows, or even look them up online. It would also do good for the theatre community.
"It didn’t make sense to put a middle-aged straight white dude in that role," Jeffrey states.
WTNV has been downloaded worldwide, from America to Australia. Their live shows, put on in places like New York (where the show is recorded) and Los Angeles, have sold out in seconds. Why, then, did they come to Calgary and Edmonton? It just happened to work out well with their touring schedule, and Jeffrey finds smaller cities to be a lot of fun.
"I don’t think any of us, in our group, have ever been to Alberta before," Jeffrey muses.
"With the exception of a very brief stopover in Niagara Falls, I’ve actually never been to Canada," Cecil chimes in. "I’m very excited to go to all these really cool, interesting, fun, new places on this tour."
Oh, no – they think we’re interesting and fun.
"Everywhere is interesting and fun! It all depends on who you’re with!" Cecil laughs.
Any plans for their stop here?
"With the Stampede happening there it will probably be pretty crazy," Jeffrey says. "I met a couple from Calgary the other night, actually, and told them that we were going to be there the exact same time the Stampede was starting. So I will probably bring my boots now, and Cecil and Dylan and Joseph and Meg [Bashwiner] and I will go out two-stepping."
We can only hope and pray for pictures.
