Australian podcast duo Toni Lodge and Ryan Jon celebrated three years of content, laughs and chaos with the ultimate birthday bash on Saturday 17 August.
We didn’t know where the podcast party would be held when we first wrote about it. And we didn’t get an invite either! The party was in fact held in the UK, where the clues dropped across the week before hinted at.
Fans, known as TARPers (Toni and Ryan Podcasters), from around the world were invited to join their birthday bash if they could work out where it was.
See also: Toni and Ryan move from Spotify to Acast: Hit podcast duo change channels
Toni and Ryan arrived at People’s Park Tavern in London to find hundreds of eager TARPers already waiting, some having queued for up to four hours before the party began. Over the next seven-plus hours, Toni and Ryan greeted over 1,000 festive fans, including some who had travelled from as far as Washington DC, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Paris, and loads who’d travelled for hours on flights, trains, buses and cars to attend.
Amidst all the excitement, a few fans took a tumble on their way into the party, but they didn’t let it hold them back. TARPer Amberleigh, who slipped and rolled her ankle while running for the bus and was ushered straight to the front of the queue telling Toni and Ryan, “I hope you don’t mind me skipping the line, but I’ve got to go to hospital”. Despite her injury, she texted Toni the following morning saying, “I didn’t go, I kept drinking but I might go today cause it’s getting really sore now.”
Another guest, Phoebe, met the love of her life on the train ride to the party. He joined the party, waited in line for a few hours before leaving for another event but they made plans to meet up later. Ryan predicted, “I think they’ll get married.”
Security described the TARPers as the most patient, friendly and happy crowd, with many making friends while waiting for hours in line. With the party due to end at 5pm, fans were still queuing to meet the duo. Ryan declared that he would rather die before leaving people waiting, much to the relief of their fans.
As they got into the Uber after 8pm, seven hours after the party started, Toni, Ryan and their team remarked, “There were tears, there were blisters, there were many emotions”.
