It’s become a habit in recent years for long-running TV programs to celebrate milestone moments with a live episode and, as you watch, there’s a sense of dread, beyond the mundanity of the ‘soapish suspense’, and gleeful anticipation that something will go wrong.
In the case of British soap Eastenders in 2015, actress Jo Joyner memorably referred to an offscreen fellow cast member by his actual name, and in other such episodes actors have mumbled through lines and corpses have been known to miraculously move.
But in the case of the Coping in Copenhagen weekly podcast, which celebrated its 150th episode yesterday by performing before a live audience at DEPOT at Kulturhuset Indre By, there were no such mishaps!
Great buzz to be in front of an audience
“It was fantastic,” co-host and co-founder Eoin O Sullivan told CPH POST, which since late 2020 has had the privilege of offering the Coping in Copenhagen podcast via its homepage.
“Of course we have recorded outside the studio before. Like when we did a tour of the Christmas markets or when we were invited to a burlesque show. But this was the first time in front of an audience!”
After all, the audience, according to O Sullivan, is a key member of the show, as they are “another person in the conversation and in the room with us, so it was amazing to finally see them and hear their thoughts and reactions”.
Over 100 guests and counting
In the three and a half years since the first episode aired on 30 September 2018, the podcast has had well over 100 guests, including the likes of CPH columnist and popular city comedian Adrian Mackinder.
O Sullivan, an Irishman, co-hosts the show with Marius Lathey, a Dane. Together they are well known on the city’s improv scene.
They founded the podcast with Will Huntly, who had to depart the show due to scheduling difficulties.
Not only does the podcast cover news local to Copenhagen, but it also travels far and wide across Denmark, from Møn to Skagen, touching on topics relevant to all residents.
Relationship with listeners is key
According to O Sullivan, it is the hosts’ relationship with their audience that makes doing the show worthwhile, as we’re all ‘coping’ together.
“We’re all simply trying to navigate life in this beautiful city through stories, whether we be locals or new arrivals,” he enthused.
“It feels brilliant to celebrate this milestone with an audience. Even if we never see them, we think of each person as a friend who is going through this collective experience of what is life in Denmark.”
