It's the end of the year, the end of the podcast, and the end of whatever was left in the fridge. Join us as the BIT Comedy Network wraps up 2025 with one final, chaotic, heartfelt, and slightly undercooked episode of Dinner Party.

What's on the menu?

🎧 A "Podcast Party" hosted by the Double Ls (Luke & Laura), where microphones are hot and egos are hotter.

🐟 A shady fish-based gift from aquarium moguls Jim and Janet of "Something's Fishy."

🏛️ An unexpected guest: actual NPR royalty Terry Gross shows up, and things get even weirder.

🎮 Dean and Thea, the Bitcoin siblings, attempt to evangelize crypto in exchange for gas money and a meal.

🐠 A tragic culinary climax involving a 12-inc halibut, a mayor, and one very regrettable dinner choice.

Unforgettable Highlights:

🥤 Mr. Sunshine: gift, friend, snack

🌍 Terry Gross discusses dried fish taxidermy. Seriously.

💋 Tense debates about fish hierarchy: are you a bottom feeder or a visionary?

🤔 Political intrigue, podcast sponsorships, and one potential fish conspiracy (cue new spinoff: Something Fishy: North Side Secrets)

Guest-Starring:

• Luke Bovard + Yuehan Liu (The Double Ls - Luke and Laura)

• Brett Kohler (Luis, Roommate)

• Hill Kane + Jim Tripp (Janet + Jim, Something's Fishy proprietors)

• Flannery Wilson + Don Slovin ("Terry Gross" and her sidekick producer Don)

• Thea Marie Thorkildsen + Dean Aisles (Sibling Crypto Hacks)

Featured Sponsors:

🔺 Butterball (for your poultry needs) 🔺 HomeGoods (pillows AND propaganda) 🔺 Something's Fishy Aquarium Supply 🔺 BitCoin Birthday Cards & Cult Merch

Listen in and remember:

💔 Fish are friends...until they're the mayor.

🍽️ North side or south side, we all bleed chowder.

💬 And in improv, as in life: "Yes, and... please don't eat the guests."

This is the final episode of the BIT Comedy Network for 2025. We'll see you in 2026 with more madness, more characters, and hopefully fewer fish-based tragedies. Apply to join the ensemble at bitcomedynetwork.com.

Billy and the BIT CREW players wish you the very merriest of Christmases, the happiest of Chanukahs, and a fantabulous and super-fun Holiday Season/New Year.

As an homage to "holiday dinners." Billy insisted that we recreate that frenetic and sometimes awkward ritual with a special improv form called "Dinner Party."

We even made a theme song.

We hope you enjoy this special Christmas edition of Podcast Town. We are releasing a super, secret, double-dog-dared, New Year's bonus edition of DINNER PARTY at the stroke of Midnight on New Year's Eve.

Listen to the full version of the Dinner Party Theme song!

DIRECTOR/CREATOR: Billy Merritt
Producer/Editor: Hill Kane

CAST:

• Narrator/Director: Billy Merritt
• Hosts Ruby + Violet: Amber Bellsdale + Hill Kane
• Guests Brady + Greg: Konrad Andrew + Brent Kohler
• Semi-Dysfunctional Fam: Dad-Don Slovin; Mom-Terry Armstrong; and Football Bobby-Jim Tripp
  
  "Podcast Town" Improv is part of The BIT Comedy Network.

MUSIC: "Memfish" performed by Little Kahunas | Produced by Peter Miller ©

Production Assistance from Luke Bovard (thank you) - ya gotta have a plan B!

Audio Production, Graphics/Art, Show Notes by Hill Kane of Raising Kane Media + Marketing.

Hosting Platform: Libsyn.com

"The BIT" and "The BIT Comedy Network" are Trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.
© 2024-2025 Billy Merritt - All Rights Reserved
Inquiries + Notices + Requests: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com

North Caldwell, New Jersey

Tiny town. Big secrets. One suspiciously spiritual traffic light.

Birch beer, buried mafia lore, an abandoned sanitarium, and a Church of the Traffic Light that really leans into metaphysics — Margo Escott brings us back to North Caldwell, NJ, and Podcast Town builds a delightfully deranged local variety show around it. Expect tomato politics, a Sopranos-adjacent tour, electrocution "illuminators," and at least one tomato to the face.

In this episdode:

• Host Billy Merritt interviews Margo about growing up in a town with no stores and no traffic lights — until suddenly there is one.

• The town's favorite podcast - "Tonight in North Caldwell," complete with call-ins, commercials (Tony Soprano Tours; Freddie's Funeral Home), and a fireman's picnic parade gone very, very sideways.

• Highlights include: the Overbrook Sanitarium ruins, Big Al's Maserati Tomato Farm and its overprotective daughter, the Church of the Traffic Light, and the surprise Tomato Queen pageant (chaos, chanting, and tomato splatter included).

Standout lines (for the quote-tweet pile)

• "Praise all stoplights."
• "Traffic light be with you."
• "Who dat bitch?"

Cast & Credits
Host: Billy Merritt. Guest & town chronicler: Margo Escott. Full Podcast Town improv troupe — characters include Mildy/Lisa, Tim, Luke, Big Al, Tia (Traffic Light priest), and more.

Heads up / Trigger note
Contains playful references to mental-health institutions, prisons, and mock electrocution scenes (improv, not real). Listener discretion advised for anyone sensitive to those themes.\

Enjoy — and remember: if you're ever confused by a new traffic light, consult the parish. 🚦

Sponsors: Annual Firemen's Picnic, Church of the Traffic Light, Big Al Maserati's Tomato Farm, Dr. Wilson - Death Therapist and Child Illuminator, Tony Soprano Tour Guide Company, Freddie's Funeral Home.

DIRECTOR/CREATOR: Billy Merritt
Producer/Editor: Hill Kane

CAST:

• Luke Bovard: Host Luke - Tonight in North Caldwell Podcast
• Hill Kane: Alison Maserati (Big Al's kid), one of Tim's kids
• Brent Kohler: Producer - Tonight in North Caldwell Podcast
• Don Slovin: Big Al, caller, one of Tim's kids, Freddie
• Lisa Steckman: Host "Mildie" - Tonight in North Caldwell Podcast, "Bianca"
• Thea Marie Thorkildsen: Priest of the Holy Traffic Light Church
• Flannery Wilson: Dr. Wilson - Death Therapist

And special guest, Margot Escott as the real Tomato Queen.

"Podcast Town" Improv is part of The BIT Comedy Network.

MUSIC: "Memfish" performed by Little Kahunas | Produced by Peter Miller ©

Production Assistance from Luke Bovard (thank you) - ya gotta have a plan B!

Audio Production, Graphics/Art, Show Notes by Hill Kane of Raising Kane Media + Marketing.

Hosting Platform: Libsyn.com

"The BIT" and "The BIT Comedy Network" are Trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.
© 2024-2025 Billy Merritt - All Rights Reserved
Inquiries + Notices + Requests: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com