You Almost Had It!, a new podcast from local public speaker and comedian Vince Fabra, is all about leaving your comfort zone. The weekly show, co-hosted by Fabra and his longtime friend Luke Smitherman, is themed around the idea of trying new activities or skills. Past examples include changing your oil (episode 2), writing the song of the summer (episode 14), and climbing a ropes course (episode 22). Afterwards, the two pals discuss their experiences and offer advice.

Fabra says the podcast was Smitherman’s idea from the start. After a few conversations on the topic, they settled on trying new things and started recording in February.

“Luke really wanted to do a podcast, and I’m grateful that he picked me and tapped me to be his cohost,” Fabra said. “I’d say around September of last year a package arrived at my house, and it was a microphone. I called Luke and he was just like ‘I don’t know what I want to do with this just yet, but I want to do a podcast and I know I want to do it with you as my cohost.’”

After meeting at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2006 — Smitherman was a transfer and Fabra was a student orientation leader — the pair quickly became friends, becoming fraternity brothers and serving as groomsmen in each other’s weddings. The podcast helps the pair stay connected to college friends across the country.

“You move away from your college town, you get married, you get jobs, and it becomes increasingly difficult to stay in touch with those people that you had some real formative friendships with,” Fabra said. “We hear from some of our college friends like ‘Hey, we feel like we’re hanging out with y’all an hour each week, so thanks for doing the podcast.’”

That scattering also affects the podcast’s production. Smitherman runs a startup coffee company out of Austin, so the two must tape their episodes simultaneously even though they’re over a thousand miles apart. They coordinate their Friday recording sessions with FaceTime and edit the show over the weekend.

“He records a track and I record a track, and we kind of splice it together, cut out the junk,” says Fabra. “We probably record about an hour twenty and shave it down to about an hour.”

Fabra says the podcast’s listener base has slowly grown thanks to the different topics they cover. One example — a recent collaboration with Missouri-based sewing podcast Sewing Out Loud.

“I went to their studio and I learned how to sew — I made a hoodie, traced the pattern, cut it out, and sewed it together,” says Fabra. “We’ve got a little bit of a contingency in Columbia, Missouri now.”

New episodes of You Almost Had It! are released every Monday, and the show is available on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and online at yahipodcast.com. If you’re interested in advertising or partnering with the show, Fabra and Smitherman can be reached at yahipodcast@gmail.com.

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