Mar. 18--Is Jerry Lewis, the godfather of telethons, in danger of being replaced by a father and son operating out of a spare bedroom with an Apple computer?
Jay (the son) and Jack Gladfelter may not be quite ready to unseat Lewis, now in his 44th year with the telethon that benefits muscular dystrophy. But they are hoping to capitalize on the success of their 3-year-old "The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack" to raise $10,000 with this weekend's 25-Hour Podcast for Autism Speaks. The event will be podcast live at www.ustream.tv. from the Raleigh IcePlex from 5 p.m. Saturday through 6 p.m. Sunday.
Along with the scope of the event -- the MDA Telethon raised more than $65 million last year -- there are differences between Jay and Jack's autism podcast and Lewis' MDA Telethon. Lewis, for instance, attracts performers ranging from Clay Aiken to punk-rocking ZED. The father-son duo will feature Jorge Garcia and NFL referee Ed Hochuli.
Garcia makes sense; he plays the hefty Hurley on "Lost," the cult ABC series that Jay and Jack devote two podcasts a week to. But an NFL ref?
"He was at Comic-Con" -- a comic book and graphic arts convention -- "and he came up to us and said, 'Hey! I'm a big fan.'"
Beginning 9:30 Saturday night, Hochuli will be a podcast guest, and he plans to talk about " a famous blown call against the San Diego Chargers in the 2008 season, Jay Gladfelter said.
And whereas Jerry Lewis has little trouble filling his 21.5 hours with celebrities and entertainment, Garcia and Hochuli are pretty much it for scheduled celebrities in this weekend's podcast.
"We'll have 'Lost' panels, comic podcasters, other podcasters," Jay says. "And we'll just kind of ramble, which is what we do." (The pair also produces "Jay and Jack's Ramblecast.")
Initially their podcast, one of many based on "Lost," was a lark. "We had 80 listeners the first week," Jay says. "Now, we have more than 50,000 in 70 countries." They also have a line of T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts.
"It's a hobby," Jay says, that became a hobby job."
joe.miller@newsobserver.com, 919-812-8450, blogs.newsobserver.com/joemiller
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