Campfire Classics Podcast

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! We're ringing in June with our 50th episode! 50! Like, we actually made it to 50 stories... Okay, 49 stories, since "A Scandal in Bohemia" took up episodes four and five, but you get the point! And the honor of the author of episode number 50 goes to none other than Oscar Wilde. Ken gets to read this one, and it is a laugh riot. "The Remark...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! Oh my!  This one gets steamy! That's right, for the first time, Campfire Classics is taking on a romance novel.  And one written by the incomparable Mary Shelley titled simply "The Dream". This episode runs a touch long because all the heaving bosoms got our hosts a little worked up, but along the way they still manage to tackle the usual a...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! You'll never believe what Heather says to Ken at the end of this episode!!! That's how clickbait works, right? Annoying headline to get you to click the link? As long as you're here, you may as well listen to this week's story by French author Guy de Maupassant.  A name which Heather chose and still never managed to pronounce quite right. ...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! Okay, we may as well be upfront.  This one goes off the rails a bit.  But that's some of the fun!  Right? Right? This weeks author is a man with a very cool name, who was recommended to us through social media:  Sheridan Le Fanu.  His story "Dickon the Devil" (hmm...that's two in row Ken has picked with "Devil" in the title) provides the fo...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! It's May!  It's May!  The lusty month of May!  And this week's episode is full of unexpected musical theatre references.  But that is beside the point. The point, when we come to it, is reading old stories, and in this episode Heather has chosen a story for Ken to read called "The Phantom Coach" by a fascinating woman named Amelia Edwards. ...

Welcome to True Crimes and a Lie, the gameshow within our podcast where we try to tell the difference between truth and lies. We're not good at it. This month's TCaaL comes from Episode 45 of Campfire Classics, and is possibly the most absurd episode we've released yet. Our guest Wayne joins us from Florida Men on Florida Man, and it is just possible that his Florida based understanding of truly b...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! Everyone's favorite gameshow is back, and this time with special guest contestant, Wayne from the podcast Florida Men on Florida Man. With his insider knowledge of strange crimes and bizarre stories, can he help Heather find the lie, or will Ken prove too tricky for them?  Either way, Wayne is a great addition to the True Crimes and a Lie t...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! What do you get when you mix two quarantined actors, a long dead author, and a bottle of wine? Well, you're here, so you've probably guessed the answer is: an Episode of Campfire Classics! This week it's Ken's turn to read, and Heather has selected a story that has been adapted and referenced countless times in television, film, and other m...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! Thanks for coming back! This week is big one!  The story comes from a classic author so American he was born the same year the USA won its independence (and we'll leave you to decide for yourself how you feel about that).  Washington Irving wrote some of the first American stories and novels that got to be called literature.  This week, Hea...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! It's the first week of April, but we know you're no fool!  How could we possibly know that you ask!?  Because you're here, listening to us. This week's story comes from a new (to us) author that you probably read in school.  Or you're like Ken and Heather and you didn't.  Either way, Nathaniel Hawthorne is most famous today for having writt...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! Ken threw a little curve ball this week with some fun facts that have nothing to do with the story. What are those facts about? You'll have to listen to find out. This week's author is a Campfire Classics regular, SciFi great H.G. Wells.  For facts on him, go check out Episodes 3 and 8 .  The story is "The Red Room," and Heather's reading i...

Welcome to True Crimes and a Lie, the gameshow within our podcast where we try to tell the difference between truth and lies. We're not good at it. This month's TCaaL comes from Episode 40 of Campfire Classics, and is full of bizarre twists and turns. Our guest, Kevin, joins us from The Jury Room.  You can listen to him dissect true crime, conspiracies, and cults at JuryRoomPodcast.com , but will...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! We're back with another story, three more crimes (one of them a lie), and a whole lot of juvenile banter. This week is March's "True Crimes and a Lie," but it is also our first story from one of the great American writers, Herman Melville.  This story was specially selected by Heather for Ken to read specifically because of its title, "The...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! If it's Tuesday it must be...Munich? This week, you'll be delighted to learn that Heather is going to attempt her German accent again.  Do you think it will be better than last time?  You'll have to listen to find out.  The story is from horror legend Bram Stoker, and in fact was first written to be part of his most famous book Dracula.  Th...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! As we near the 1 year mark of being quarantined from the world, let's look back at all the marvelous... Nah, never mind, how about we just read another story. This week, Ken gets to read an odd little story by the apparently famous (though we'd never heard of him) Ring Lardner.  "Haircut" is a charming, folksy, storyteller-y short story wit...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! Another week, another episode, another beautiful story read passably well by the team of Campfire Classics! This week, Heather takes a crack at "The Shell of Sense" by Ghost Fiction author and American Suffragette Olivia Howard Dunbar.  The story goes places we weren't expecting, and takes ages getting a couple of places we were anxious to...

Welcome to True Crimes and a Lie, the gameshow within our podcast where we try to tell the difference between truth and lies. We're not good at it. This month's TCaaL comes from Episode 36 of Campfire Classics, though this recording has 2 1/2 minutes of extra audio not heard on the full episode. Our guests Ashley and Jeff struggle to find a hint that will point them toward the correct answer.  Wil...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! A lot is going on this week.  First of all, it's the return of True Crimes and a Lie with special guest contestants Ashley Lawler and Jeff Verde!  Can you pick out the lie?  Will they? Our story this week comes from author Frank R. Stockton and asks with its title a very important question: "The Lady, or the Tiger?" Other questions we answe...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! Welcome back.  This week we are treated to a surprisingly modern (for us) story.  "Asleep in Armageddon" was published in 1948, but through some interesting copyright loopholes, has entered the Public Domain early.  We also get some fascinating fun facts on Science Fiction literary legend Ray Bradbury. Important topics of discussion this we...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! In a drastic departure from last week's episode, this week's author is gothic romance adventure novelist Robert Louis Stevenson.  "Thrawn Janet" is a short horror story written in Scots English and read (kinda) in this episode by Ken.  To hear his brief attempt at the original dialect and text head on over to patreon.com/5050ArtsProduction....

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! Thank you for helping us pass 2,000 downloads! We're hitting classic humorist P.G. Wodehouse this week!  Well, reading, not hitting.  He is dead and it would be weird to hit him.  We learn a lot about Sir Wodehouse while Heather makes a valiant effort to read his short story "Absent Treatment".  We tackle the world's first "Not" joke, the o...

This episode comes from Campfire Classics' episode "A Gift to Humanity".  This is a special one, because for the first time Heather isn't working alone.  The ladies from Wine Dine and Storytime join in on the fun and try to figure out which stories are real. Let us know how you did playing along at home.  And check out our guests show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! Happy six month anniversary!  We've been doing this for half a year. And we're celebrating by inviting some guests! The ladies from the podcast Wine Dine and Storytime help us play a round of "True Crimes and a Lie".  Who will win? It's a new author this week, so you'll get to hear some fun facts about the fascinating Edith Wharton before K...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! It's been a long couple of ...weeks? ...months? ...centuries? We could all use some self-care.  Hopefully, this will provide you with some simple joy.  This week, Heather gets to read two stories by the great L. Frank Baum. Though neither of them have anything to do with magic slippers. Discussion topics include TED Talk Tangents, fancy chi...

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!! We're celebrating Public Domain Day! On January first, a whole year worth of writing entered the public domain and became fair game for us to try to read.  Please join us in welcoming 1925 into the fold.  To celebrate, Heather has chosen to give Ken a short story from that year, "The Strange Case" by Edgar Wallace.  It will be a race to the...