Orthodox-Jewish comedian Danny Lobell, 38, has spent nearly four decades on this planet, and during that time, he has learned a few things.
Lessons learned include but are not limited to: “Don’t work with people who are fond of taking acid”; fatherhood is an opportunity for an adult man to experience activities he’d be shunned for doing if done without a child, like visiting a playground; and “When you have an idea, run with it.”
It is this last point that makes the greatest impression when meeting with Lobell at Star Juice in Pico-Robertson on a Friday afternoon to discuss the entertainer’s latest initiative, a crowd-funding campaign to support the purchase of a mobile podcast studio, a bus that will come equipped with video and audio equipment—a top-of-the-line recording environment, Lobell says, “that comes to you.”
“I want to build up a podcast business, it is basically all I am doing these days, and I want to be the best at it. I am looking at a bus to convert into a podcast studio with the best sound and video and the best Danny Lobell behind it all,” he says on his campaign’s GoFundMe page, which as of press time, had raised more than $3,200 of a $50,000 goal.
While he may have long a way to go in terms of fundraising dollars, in a post-pandemic age where people have increasingly become accustomed to groceries and Amazon packages arriving at their doors, is it that much of a stretch to imagine a bus pulling up and parking outside your door, you stepping outside and onto the bus and recording the podcast you have always wanted to record on the bus?
Lobell is hoping it isn’t. Married to Journal contributor Kylie Ora Lobell and based in Pico-Robertson, Lobell said the idea for the bus came directly from his imagination, which has also birthed “Fair Enough,” an autobiographical comic book series chronicling his upbringing in an Orthodox yeshiva. In 2017, he performed the one-man show, “Broke as a Joke,” as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. And he has released two comedy albums, including 2017’s “The Nicest Boy in Barcelona,” which revisits Lobell’s Sephardic family’s roots.
While it seems like everyone has a podcast now, Lobell was doing it before it was big business. In 2004, he created “Comical Radio,” credited as one of the very first podcasts focused on stand-up comedy. He later became the host of the long-running “Modern Day Philosophers,” featuring interviews with guest comedians, both popular and obscure, about different philosophers. Along the way, he has also helped a variety of professionals from various fields launch shows on topics as wide-ranging as Torah, medical issues and law.
While it seems like everyone has a podcast now, Lobell was doing it before it was big business.
“I have an extensive knowledge of all these random things,” Lobell, wearing a yarmulke and tzitzit during the recent interview, said. “I like getting to step into different worlds and learning.”
In the promotional video on his campaign’s GoFundMe page, he promises ten percent of all income earned from the endeavor will go to charity in perpetuity.
“Have you ever been to perpetuity?” he asks in the video. “It’s a long time. It’s longer than purgatory.”
While he has a studio in his home, he said distractions, including a crying baby, a barking dog and leaf-blowing gardeners, are aplenty, and the studio-on-wheels will allow him to record podcasts in a quieter, more focused space. For anyone who has worked from home during the pandemic, this is certainly relatable.
Furthermore, the bus will allow him to potentially expand his podcast business to those who want to record a podcast but do not want the inconvenience of driving to his home studio in Pico-Robertson to do it.
As for what has made him successful in the podcasting world, Lobell said, “I have a real curiosity about people, which I think makes me a good host—people and subject matters.”
To support Lobell’s GoFundMe campaign, visit gofundme.com/f/help-daniel-lobell-build-a-mobile-recording-studio.
