WBUR Announces Winner Of The "Next Great Show Contest"

WBUR announced today McSweeney’s Presents as the winner of the Next Great Show Contest. WBUR selected McSweeney’s Internet Tendency editor Chris Monks’ pro-posal to bring the popular online magazine’s humor and insight to radio, combining it with original ma-terial in a show that is sure to make the next generation of public radio listeners laugh.

"I am thrilled that WBUR chose my idea for the Next Great Show contest," said Chris Monks. "I look forward to making a radio version of McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and the challenge of not bring-ing shame upon my family of avid WBUR listeners."

McSweeney’s Presents will be a satirical look at the world, from pop culture, to politics, to the play-ground, featuring work of the country’s best established and up-and-coming writers and comics, drawn from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Listeners will be entertained by humor that falls some-where in between low brow and highbrow - more “upper-middle brow.”

“We received hundreds of pitches from very talented people with incredibly creative ideas,” said Iris Adler, Executive Director for Programming, Podcasts and Special Projects at WBUR. “This contest in-troduced us to new voices and helped us find what we think is a great idea for a new radio show. We’re excited to make it a reality and see where this journey takes us, our station and our listeners.”

The Next Great Show Contest attracted a diverse pool of 400 submissions from people all over the country who strived for the chance to create a fun new radio program. Next up: winner Chris Monks and WBUR will produce a pilot episode that will air in the fall.

WBUR held the Next Great Show Contest from March 19 to April 20, 2018, to find a creative, funny, and engaging show to make listeners laugh. Five finalists were given the opportunity to refine their pitches with Car Talk producers David Greene and Catherine Fenollosa before presenting their idea before a panel of judges that included WBUR producers along with award-winning comedian Alonzo Bodden, winner of NBC’s Last Comic Standing (Season 3) and a regular panelist on NPR’s Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me.

“The winning show idea is brilliant, funny and creative,” said Bodden. “It’s a perfect fit for WBUR’s weekend lineup!”

"We're excited by the opportunity," says McSweeney's Publishing's Executive Director Kristina Kearns. "Chris Monks is a genius and we're so happy he and the site's contributors will have new formats to deliver comedy. The pilot can't happen soon enough."

About The Next Great Show Winner Chris Monks
Christopher Monks is the author of “The Ultimate Game Guide to Your Life,” and is the Managing Edi-tor of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts with his wife and two sons.