
The Vicar - aka Jon Stallard - is half of the
Geek Daily crew, the new podcast from the team that also brings us
Geeklabel Radio and the fantastic
Geeklabel T-shirts.
Every day, after doing his own broadcast radio show, he - and superproducer
Billy Flynn, then sit down to deliver an hilarious 15-minute slice of geek news for their pod-listening fans.
(1) How did you come by the nickname of The Vicar? Is it anything to do with your love all things British?
First, my Christian name is Jon, which is as dull as it gets, so I resolved that I needed a
nom de plume for podcasting.
In hindsight, I don't think it was necessary, but it seemed fun and cool, so that was that.
Originally I wanted to be "The Bishop", just 'cause it sounded vaguely dirty and reminded me of the movie "
Sneakers", so it came with some geek cred.
My co-hosts however decided that I was in no way cool enough to pull off "Bishop" as a nickname, and Vicar was born.
Given my well-publicized adoration of all things Brittania, it's ironic that it had nothing to do with the name choice.
(2) What’s the “origin” story of Geeklabel and what made you decide to branch out into podcasting?
That's easy. We were shilling t-shirts at RavenCon in Richmond, and
Podcasting's Rich Sigfrit approached us for an interview on his cast. Afterward, he said "hey, you guys are funny- you should do a 'cast!".
In real-life I own a
radio station group in Central Virginia, so we certainly had access to the equipment and the talent. The rest is history.
(3) How did Geeklabel Radio spawn Geek Daily?
Geeklabel started as a t-shirt business of course, so the focus was always on the product to some degree. The podcast was ultimately a marketing tool for the business.
Now, what with changes in the marketplace and changes in our lives, we're sort of moving in other directions.
Billy Flynn and I work in the same studio every day, so it was an easier thing for us to do a show at the drop of a hat, whereas Kingfish had to drive quite a distance for the weekly show.
Our hope is that in addition to the daily program, we'll find the time to still maintain a more-or-less weekly show.
(4) You’ve mentioned on several podcasts that you are currently running a Savage World Deadlands game. Can you tell us a bit about that, why you chose that system and what’s going on in the campaign?

Ooh, I just love Westerns. Not the cheesy good guys in white hats, bad guys in black hats variety, but the gritty kind. A good Western is like greek tragedy; there are eternal archetypes and epic struggles, and cool guns. Really, if you add undead, what else could you want?
I just wanted to do something other than
Vampire or
AD&D for a change, and I heard such good stuff about the
Savage Worlds system in general, and the
Deadlands setting in particular.
That all being said, I've not had opportunity to get much into it! In a perfect world, I want to get blazing into that setting, and then dive into SW's
Solomon Kane, too. If it wasn't for this stupid "job".
(5) From all the roleplaying games you have played over the years, can you think of a single moment that encapsulates just what is so great about this hobby?
Yeah, I can think of a couple things. The moment in gaming that comes to mind was the climax of my old Thief
AD&D campaign in about 2000.
It's always so rewarding when your players eyes open wide with the realization of major plot points that you as a DM have spent YEARS building. That was just such a payoff.
The other time that I love my hobby so very, very much is convention time.

There's nothing like geeking-out with 40,000 like-minded people over a long weekend of gaming debauchery, is there?
(6) On your shows you make no secret of being a man with an eye for the ladies; who is your favourite geek-related hottie?
In the real world
(sort-of) is the obvious choice of the slave-bikini-clad
Princess Leia. From the fantasy realm? Kitty Pryde, of course!