“A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome to Night Vale.” These are the opening lines of the pilot episode of “Welcome to Night Vale”, a dramatic, fictional podcast by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. The Pilot released on June 15, 2012, and within a year it exploded with popularity. The main character, Cecil Baldwin, is a local radio host in a town called Night Vale. When you listen to the podcast, it’s as if you are listening to his radio show. The podcast follows the weird encounters and odd events that plague the town of Night Vale as Cecil covers them on his show. Night Vale’s weird and often creepy plot captured the attention of millions of fans worldwide, and still does today. With its own TV show in production, I think it's time to look back at why Night Vale is so popular.

One of Night Vale’s most popular traits is, of course, it’s weird humor. “Trying to convince new people to listen is also difficult because although it appeals to everyone, it also takes a suspension of belief and a sense of dark humor that people don’t always have….yet” (Walsh). The jokes are funny because they are confusing or outrageous. "It’s like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman started building a town in The Sims and the just... Left it running. For years" (Walsh). A great example is the town’s dog park. It is ‘announced’ in the Pilot episode and is referred to commonly throughout the podcast. “The City Council announces the opening of a new Dog Park [...] They would like to remind everyone that dogs are not allowed in the Dog Park. People are not allowed in the Dog Park. It is possible you will see Hooded Figures in the Dog Park. Do not approach them. Do not approach the Dog Park. The fence is electrified and highly dangerous. Try not to look at the Dog Park, and especially do not look for any period of time at the Hooded Figures. The Dog Park will not harm you.” Using things like shock humor allows the writers to add a light-heartedness to the show, while maintaining its creepy atmosphere. “The human soul weighs 21 grams, smells like grilled vegetables, looks like a wrinkled tartan quilt, and sounds like bridge traffic” (Episode 26: Faceless Old Woman). “Your body is a temple. A temple of blood rituals and pagan tributes, a lost temple, a temple that needs more calcium. You should maybe try vitamin supplements” (Episode 29: Subway). Night Vale does, however include less creepy jokes, but they are usually still pretty weird: “Wonderwall is the only '90s song visible from space” (Episode 49: Old Oak Doors).

Night Vale tackles political topics, often using this style of humor. The government plays a large role in the story. The City Council is presented as being evil, mysterious, and not even human. “The Sheriff's Secret Police” is a powerful and feared entity in Night Vale. The government often tells residents of Night Vale obvious and ridiculous lies, or to just ignore things that they clearly saw. Angels live in Night Vale, but the residents are not allowed to acknowledge their existence. For some reason the government, and therefore many of the residents, deny the existence of mountains. “Mountains? More like nothings!” The use of hyperbole allows the authors Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor to not only make a commentary on totalitarian politics and modern manipulation, but entertain millions of people as they do it.

Night Vale is a well-written show. Each episode is filled with meaning and intention. The listener really feels immersed into the world of Night Vale, like they really are listening to Cecil Baldwin live from their local public radio station. And in a way, Night Vale is real. Night Vale is more real than most fictional podcasts out there. It covers real topics with real meaning. Night Vale inspires and comforts. The writing in the show often uses double entendres to write not only for the plot and for the story, but also for the listener directly: “Regret nothing, until it’s too late. Then, regret everything.” Most fictional podcasts don’t have real-world meaning or significance, but Night Vale provides advice and inspiration to its listeners around the world: “We are all poetry, Night Vale. Every breath or branch or sigh before another hopeless night of uneasy slumber is itself a verse in a great poem.”

A fourth thing Night Vale does well is world-building. The characters and the environment is so fictional, yet so realistic. Although so much of the show is supernatural, great writing paired with great voice-acting allows the listener to relate to and bond with the characters. Night Vale is presented as a small-town community. Everyone knows each other, and most people are friends. This kind of welcoming community environment is a place of comfort for many of the podcast listeners.

Podcasts are becoming more and more popular these days, but Night Vale is unique. It’s fantastic characters and great writing will always make Night Vale stand out as one of the first and best podcasts. Night Vale is still releasing episodes today, and, because of its popularity, a new TV adaption of “Welcome to Night Vale” is in the making by FX.

Night Vale: where supernatural becomes natural.

Works Cited

Walsh, Kaylee. "29 Reasons Why Night Vale Is Unlike Anything Else On The Internet".

Buzzfeed Community,2019,buzzfeed.com/kayleeewalsh/28-reasons-why-ni

ght-vale-is-unlike-anything-lse-rwff. Accessed 5 Apr 2019.