welcometonightvale

Director’s Notes: 237 – Frown Night

Added 2023-10-31 12:00:07 +0000 UTC

I hadn’t realized how long it had been since we heard from Kevin, let alone Lauren. Time moves so fast. Holy crap.

So, I did what any co-writer of Welcome to Night Vale would do… I brought them back.

It’s not always easy to schedule guests for our show, because everyone’s got different things going on, from work to travel to families to whatever. And I thought for a bit, even writing this episode 2 months ago, that we might not be able to pull it off. I was moving. Plus I (along with the podcast’s producer, Disparition) was going on a month-long tour. And both Kevin R. Free and Lauren Sharpe have really full lives. But somehow, in the final few days before my tour started, we got them booked for recording.

And I forget just how fun it is to work with these two voices. Kevin and Lauren have worked together well before Night Vale (I think dating back to 2008 or 2009), and they play off each other splendidly. I adore their chipper, friendly tones that border on grating, but even more than that, they have developed a chemistry between their two Desert Bluffs characters that is rich with disdain, envy, distrust, and love.

Like mean girls or frenemies or squabbling siblings (whatever trope you want to assign), Kevin and Lauren in this episode finally reached their peak passive-aggressive, and it’s a delight to hear.

Plus, this is the first Desert Bluffs show we’ve done since Jessica Hayworth started creating artwork for each episode, and I need to tell you when I opened her email last week to see the image she created (see below if you haven't already), I jumped.

I said it before. I’ll say it again: holy crap.

Happy Halloween!

Jeffrey Cranor
October 31, 2023