TDC: Who are The Bantering Idiots and what do you do?
The Bantering Idiots' Craig Norberg: The Bantering Idiots are Craig Norberg, Bill Martini, Edward Arnold, Erick Cordero, and Jessica Walker. The radio show on WPRK is a fun comedy talk show. Lots of self-deprecating humor. Bill and I (Craig) are stand up comedians.
Ed, Erick and Jessica are great at personal talk. Ed's been homeless and been robbed at gunpoint. Jessica discussed a family member's wedding as they listened without her knowing it. Erick caught his girlfriend of 4 years cheating on him with a woman. He also shared a great story about his blind date sneaking off to "the restroom" only to catch her making out with their waiter.
TDC: You just won a contest. What who when where?
Craig: We submitted a demo of our show to a contest on if.net called "America's Next Great Talk Stud." Viewers voted on their favorite shows, the top 5 were chosen to be judged by djs on 97.1 KLSX FM and we won.
TDC: What did you win?
Craig: A trip to Los Angeles, California, where we get to do our show on the air for 2 hours. It's at the same station Adam Carolla does his show (97.1 KLSX FM).
TDC: How did you start The Bantering Idiots?
Craig: Bill and I got into local radio a few years ago at UCF. We had a show on their internet radio station, Knightcast.org. Our show was going through major changes: one member was moving and one could no longer do the show. I looked into WPRK and told the program director about our old show and what we were looking to do.
I had learned a lot about chemistry from our old show and made it my main focus when creating The Bantering Idiots. I spend weeks mulling over what I thought would be the perfect chemistry. I added my friends Edward Arnold (who was named an "undiscovered radio genius" by The Orlando Weekly) and Erick Cordero.
I think it's the chemistry that makes our show so much fun. We all agree that we laugh harder doing our show then we do any other time during the week. 95 percent of it is off the cuff. We generally only have topics and a few ideas ready to go.
TDC: What's next?
Craig: I definitely see the show getting onto a major station in the near future. We want nothing more than to do our show daily. The Orlando Weekly named us the "Best New Show" in the 2008 Best of Orlando Issue (and it was a tremendous honor) and now this huge national contest. We are determined and committed to putting on the funniest show we can.
TDC: What's one great Orlando thing you want to recommend?
Craig: One of my favorite places in Orlando is Austins Coffee and Film on Fairbanks. They provide so many great opportunities for different art forms: visual art, poetry night, music nights, stand up comedy and more. I actually have been hosting stand up comedy on Sunday nights (around 9pm) there for over 5 years. It's an amazing place to hang out! I love it!