History Podcast / TheFirstPodcast

''Tropes that concern only one host or guest host are being migrated to [[Characters/TheFirstPodcast the character sheet]].''

* CharacterDevelopment: The persona that Joe has adopted on-air has evolved drastically over time.

* CloudCuckoolander: Ohan, getting even more aloof as the series goes on.
* ClusterFBomb: An early staple of Joe's repertoire, usually downplayed in later episodes.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Lars on the very first proper moment, and very first joke, of the series (after TheStinger and the intro music). He asks Joe, "As a Jewish person, what do you think..." For some time, Joe is expecting him to continue with a clarification, but he really is just asking him what he thinks. As in, in general. This serves as a strong showing of the kind of absurd and goofy humor style of the show, with frequent subversions of expectations.
* EthicalSlut: Alexis. Really gets around, as told on her endless string of bad date stories, but has an incredibly strong code of ethics and morality, more than Lars by a mile and even more than Joe.
* EvilCounterpart: Digital Lars, though the former's obvious attraction to the real Lars gets in the way of him being truly nefarious.

* GreenEyedMonster: Alexis accuses Lars of this at one point when he feigned disinterest in her latest bad date story.

* HatesBeingTouched: Lars, though with context. He enjoys physical contact with women he dates or sleeps with, but definitely isn't big on touch overall.
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Joe, whenever his sexuality is called into question, makes a big scene of reaffirming that he is straight.
** The irony is that Joe is far less "stereotypically gay" than Lars, but still feels the need to go to great lengths in defending his heterosexuality.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Common outcome of Joe trying to set up a gag/prank against Lars.

* HotBlooded: Joe.
* HurtingHero: Though not often shown even slightly, the podcast began at a point of pain in the life of Lars. There is a subtext of "working through a lot of shit" behind his generally cheerful persona that careful listeners should catch.

* JewishComplaining: A staple of Joe's repertoire.
* KissMeImVirtual: Alluded to by Virtual Lars in some of his appearances.
* LampshadeHanging: First a gag is done legitimately. Then a gag is lampshaded. Then a gag is abandoned. Then a gag is resurrected. Wash, rinse, response.

* LondonEnglandSyndrome: Joe occasionally has problems with this. One infamous example is him thinking Stockholm is located in Germany.

* MotorMouth: Joe can be this on very early episodes. Owing to a poor internet connection and the Discord audio thus speeding up to compensate on a regular basis, it seems like he is talking very, very fast.
* MsFanservice: Co-host in absentia Alexis was a frequent example of this, at least in related media and on many of the episode images, in the early episodes. Listeners have occasionally conveyed extreme surprise that... well... she looks and dresses the way that she does.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Often, the hosts (and even some guests) will be sure to exclude Joe from a list of people or things that are cool.

* NiceGuy: Lars, outside of banter with Joe and the occasional light-hearted jab toward a guest, is a genuinely nice dude. Likewise, Joe is quite friendly.

* NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat: Joe, when inevitably defending his heterosexuality. Done for ironic laughs on a show that is extremely LGBT-friendly and hosted by liberal activists.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Lars is 30.

* OnlySaneMan: On episodes with the unpredictable Joe and the aloof Ohan, Lars often finds himself in the middle, desparately trying to hold things together.

* OurSloganIsTerrible: "The First Podcast. One of many podcasts."

* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: Ohan gets frustrated by this.
** There are also a lot, like '''a lot a lot''', of pop culture references that Lars makes on episodes which, while he isn't expecting them to per se, most people won't catch or understand.
* PrecisionFStrike: For a show that otherwise has no qualms with frequent vulgarity, Lars has noted slight discomfort with using more volatile language like "fuck" on air due to the wholesome fact that his mother often listens to the show. When Lars uses the F-word, it's for a poignant reason.

* RomanticFalseLead: In an unexpected twist, Alexa for Joe.

* SarcasmMode: Joe's default status.

* SelfDeprecation: A frequent trope of Joe, particularly of the Jewish variety.
** Generally subverted by Lars, which is somewhat unexpected for the comedy format. He only employs this trope when he thinks it will make something unusually funny.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Joe. However, his character is played this way on purpose for the sake of comedy.

* StalkerWithACrush: Lars, toward [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ODKKILZiYY the track "Beach" from the video game Plok]].

* TheBusCameBack: Alexis really is on indefinite hiatus, and has not simply been removed as a co-host. On episode 66, she made a return appearance, and expressed genuine interest in returning for future episodes. Lars and Joe relish any opportunity for her to actually appear; she is just genuinely too busy as a single mother to be a regular host.

* TheChessmaster: Lars, in the editing room. There are long-form gags still in the works to this day that will eventually pay off.
* TheDitz: Ohan.
* TheFaceless: Lars. While every other co-host and guest host is something of a frequent picture-taker, the former just isn't fond of taking photographs of himself, citing that he feels he is "handsome but not photogenic".
* TheLeader: Lars. While the show is ultimately presented as a "buddy comedy" with the two hosts getting plenty of air time, Lars is the original creator of the show and, at the end of the day, the true driving force behind it. They have stated that if Joe were ever unfortunately unable to continue, Lars would persevere; however, the inverse would probably not be the case.

* TheVoiceless: Two notable examples.
** Kirsten Collins, Canadian-American pop star, was humorously and erroneously declared the one who "started the show", and is apparently present on all episodes, yet elects not to talk.
** Randy is the metaphysical embodiment of an additional host with views the hosts consider deplorable. Earlier episodes relied on references to Randy far more, with later episodes almost entirely abandoning the concept.

* ThemeTune: '''Wild Pogo''' by Francis Preve.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Lars and Joe.

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Played up extensively in early episodes between Lars and former co-host Alexis, with her second episode appearance practically planting the entire "rom com" seed.

* AbandonedCatchphrase: "Boom, roasted" by Joe. Behind the scenes, this was apparently due to Lars noting that it was a bit of a comedic crutch. Joe decided to retire it.

* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Lars has described his parents as "tragically unhip" and considers his mother almost too wholesome for life.

* {{Angrish}}: Common mood for Joe.

* AntiquatedLinguistics: A mild example occurs occasionally when Joe uses a word that begins with the letters "wh", pronouncing them "hw" in a style that is now considered outdated.

* BadLiar: Alexis cannot deceive to save her life.

* BerserkButton: Joe has quite an extensive list of them, it would seem, but it's never quite clear what they actually are.

* BiTheWay: Alexis, in spades.

* BreakTheCutie: Enforced in real life upon co-host in absentia Alexis with a seemingly never-ending series of terrible, terrible dates with the worst people in the world.

* BrokenBird: Alexis, although she certainly smiles through it.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Alexis pretends to be this on some occasions toward Lars.

* CombatPragmatist: Lars, though more in the sense of debates and competitions and such. He also once harshly criticized Chris for apparently playing Call of Duty as a primarily melee-based fighter, likening this practice to the TropeNamer.

* ComicalOverreacting: Joe, whenever someone asks him about the last time he cried.

* {{Corpsing}}: Lars is prone to this during particularly comedic moments. An early example of this occurred on an episode where he considered the implications of being able to pour various condiments out of his genitalia.
** While the show does not enforce any level of seriousness per se, there are occasionally serious guests on an episode. Once in a while, you can hear a very stifled laugh in the background due to Lars and Joe experiencing something funny off-air.

* DemotedToExtra: Alexis, out of necessity (her free time not being realistic to keep being a main co-host) and much to the chagrin of Lars and Joe. Still referenced on many episodes, and still appears from time to time as a guest host.

* DoggedNiceGuy: Joe's haplessness.

* EmbarrassingRingtone: Joe's ringtone is edited to be "Apollo Justice ~ Guitar Serenade Ringtone" from the Franchise/AceAttorney series.

''Tropes that concern only one host or guest host are being migrated to Characters/TheFirstPodcast.''

'Tropes that concern only one host or guest host are being migrated to Characters/TheFirstPodcast.'

** The hosts stopped doing dramatic readings of Fanfic/MyImmortal at an unspecified point when the profane results became less and less marketable. The original plan was to compile them all into a YouTube video, which has thus also been abandoned.

** Listening to the show as it comes out does not generally produce this trope. However, if the listener chooses to instead binge-consume the podcast, there are occasionally severe differences in tone and mood from episode to episode. In one example, the show takes a hard turn from a serious political conspiracy discussion to a goofy interview of a small D&D YouTuber the next episode.

* ExecutiveMeddling: While not directly enforced by any sponsors per se, Joe and Lars have remarked on multiple occasions that they have abandoned certain earlier segments in order to remain appealing to their sponsors, such as readings of Fanfic/MyImmortal.

* PermanentPlaceholder: The show name. "Replacement" is not quite the right term, but it was not selected as a serious title for the podcast, and Lars was open to renaming it if a better one came up. [[spoiler:It didn't.]]

* {{Squick}}: On one episode, Alexis graphically describes her snot-encrusted sleeves due to being extremely sick and having a runny nose. The normally unflappable Lars is audibly distraught by this imagery.

* ThrowItIn: Common enough that it can almost be expected every episode.

** The hosts stopped doing dramatic readings of Fanfic/MyImmortal at an unspecified point when the profane results became less and less marketable.

* MoodWhiplash: Listening to the show as it comes out does not generally produce this trope. However, if the listener chooses to instead binge-consume the podcast, there are occasionally severe differences in tone and mood from episode to episode. In one example, the show takes a hard turn from a serious political conspiracy discussion to a goofy interview of a small D&D YouTuber the next episode.

* BerserkButton: Joe has quite an extensive list of them, it would seem, but it's never quite clear what they
actually are.

* NeverMyFault: Guest Luke, from the aptly named YouTube channel NotMyFault, explained that his channel name comes from him being an example of this trope.

* GreenEyedMonster: Alexis accuses Lars of this at one point when he feigns disinterest in her latest bad date story.

* CallBack: Every moment of every sentence in every episode of The First Podcast may contain this trope.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The early episodes of the show had a lot of this.

* Fake Loud: Mercifully enforced in the editing room with a fairly strict adherence to a hard-limited -3.0dB volume level. Even if someone is screaming bloody murder into their microphone, it won't usually destroy one's speakers.

* Squick: On one episode, Alexis graphically describes her snot-encrusted sleeves due to being extremely sick and having a runny nose. The normally unflappable Lars is audibly distraught by this imagery.

'''''The First Podcast''''' is a twice-weekly surrealist comedy talk show podcast hosted by Lars Housholder and Joseph Rosenblum.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The hosts have occasionally discussed the somewhat abrupt change of plans in regards to the show's format, and mused on how things might have gone if the original "romantic comedy" style had been preserved. Both generally agree that the change was for the best.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: "Joe Reads" moments, in which the episode suddenly shifts to a bizarre, surrealist reading of a random piece of literature by Joe.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The early episodes of the show featured no guest interviews, contained an additional co-host, and centered mainly around the lives of the (then three) hosts.

* ManipulativeEditing: Purposefully and overtly done for comedy.

* ManipulativeEditing: Purposefully and overtly done for comedy.

* SoundEffectBleep: Used extensively in earlier episodes to censor harsh cursing such as "fuck", but also to censor information a host or guest deemed unacceptable for inclusion in the episode. In later episodes, the former was dropped, though the latter is occasionally used.