The World is Healing: Cum Town Reunited for a 30-Minute Farewell Episode, and Now a Full Episode of Stavvy's World

Ever since I started at Barstool I've wanted to write a blog about Cum Town. But aside from throwing an occasional reference in a random blog that only real ball knowers would understand, I never have. Because for one, I'm pretty sure people here have gotten in trouble for promoting "competitive" podcasts before. So I'm not even sure they'll let me post this. But most importantly, to blog about Cum Town would be the straightest thing in the world. And I am profoundly gay. So I refrained. But Barstool has changed me. Something about working with the true alpha males of the internet every day has done something to my psyche. I'm now comfortable enough with my masculine side to post a blog solely dedicated to Cum Town. I'll try to not be too hetero about it.

Cum Town was a podcast with professional comedians Nick Mullen, Stavros Halkias, and Adam Friedland. It ran from 2016-2022. With all due respect to my many co-workers at Barstool, it was hands down the funniest podcast to ever exist. For me, nothing comes close. The combination of Nick Mullen being the funniest off-the-cuff person I've ever heard on a podcast, his racist impressions, Stavros finding everything Nick says hysterical, Nick bullying Stav about his weight, Nick and Stav bullying Adam into submission about literally everything in his life, all topped off with Nick's bouts with depression and the three of them seeming to truly despise the podcast for a majority of its run. All the podcast really was, was 3 friends trying to make each other laugh. But the dynamic between them was perfect. I don't think anything else could make me leave the gym 5 minutes into a workout because I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Laughing to the point that I felt like I was causing a scene and was so embarrassed that I had to exit the building. All because of a transition to an ad read.

But at the same time, when someone tells me they tried listening to Cum Town and fucking hated it. And that they have zero idea why anybody would ever subject themselves to something so profoundly stupid, I completely understand. They're not wrong.

Sometimes I legitimately think Cum Town ruined my life. Just kidding, that's extreme. But it may have ruined my sense of humor. The show has irony poisoned by brain to a point of no return. Now it's almost impossible for me to watch any piece of content that's meant to be sincere, or doesn't within itself acknowledge that it knows how stupid it is. Any piece of content that takes itself seriously, is meant to be taken seriously, or anything that isn't coated in 1,000 layers of sarcasm and irony, my immediate reaction is to roll my eyes and think, "That's so lame." I'm pretty sure Cum Town did that to me. 

Cum Town had a glorious run. But Stavros left the show in 2022. You could see it coming from a mile away. He was distancing himself from Cum Town when he made appearances on other podcasts. He literally went on Pardon My Take and pleaded with listeners to not listen to it, despite Big Cat and PFT being like, "No guys it's actually like, really fucking funny." 

For the last months of the show, the second the podcast clock hit 1:00:00 they'd shut off the recording. They would stretch out three ad reads to fill up half the show. To be fair, Cum Town doing an ad read is still funnier than most podcasts doing their A+ material. I still don't know why any of these companies were paying them to actively disparage their company.

But the writing was on the wall. They were clearly mailing it in. You could tell because they would actively talk about how much they were mailing it in.

So Stav left. People were sad. Then of course there were rumors about why the break up happened. People said that Stav and Nick had grown to hate each other. I obviously don't know the inner workings of any beef between them. I don't know if there was any real beef at all. But after Stav left the show, and seemingly further tried to distance himself from it, it upset Cum Town fans even more. Lots of people felt like Stav was ungrateful for what Cum Town gave him. The money, success, a platform to launch his professional stand-up career, etc. Especially considering most people (and I can't disagree with this part) felt like Nick Mullen is the one who made Cum Town what it is. The show never would have been what it was without the dynamic between the three of them, but Nick was pretty clearly the comedic genius that made the engine run. So when Stav left and become so much bigger mainstream than Nick ever was, fans felt like Stav did his old friend dirty. That he reaped the benefits of Nick Mullen and Cum Town, but wasn't appreciative of it. I think all that drama was probably blown way out of proportion. People are allowed to do their own thing. And I think Stav is hilarious, and clearly deserves a solo career in his own right. But that was the sentiment amongst a lot of diehard fans. 

Nick and Adam continued the podcast, although they switched up the format entirely. They called it, "The Adam Friedland Show". Which was maybe Nick's funniest bit to date. The show sort of scratched the itch Cum Town left, but not really. A few weeks ago Nick left the Adam Friedland show entirely. Stav is still doing his Stavvy's World podcast. But that same sentiment surrounding the breakup up Cum Town was floating around the whole time. Up until a couple weeks ago, when out of fucking nowhere, Nick, Stav, and Adam got together and dropped a 30 minute Cum Town Farewell Episode on their Patreon. Only 3 years after it ended. Hearing them back together nearly brought a tear to my eye. Adam humble bragged about how he was so embarrassed to have had sex with a girl. Nick and Stav roasted him for it. It was just like old times.

That was the first time the three of them had been on a show together since their final episode in 2022, where they talked about Elvis impersonator extraordinaire Gene DiNapoli for exactly 1 hour and cut the recording mid-sentence Sopranos style. Never to be heard from together again. 

Until now. So the three of them coming back together for a 30 minute farewell episode, and a full hour-thirty episode of Stavvy's World… as kinda embarrassing as it is to admit, it's a pretty big deal for a guy like me. Aside from The Yak/Barstool who literally gave me my job (kinda hard to beat that), Cum Town has had a bigger influence on me than any other podcast. For better or worse. Probably worse. Seeing the three of them back together is what I imagine it's like to catch your divorced parents smiling and flirting with either other for the first time since the separation. You love to see it. It reminds you what life could be like if things went differently. For a brief moment you're happy again. But then you're hit with the harsh reality that they'll never be back together for real. Still though… it's nice to see them getting along. And it gives you hope that moving forward, maybe once or twice a year for an hour or two, you can all get together and pretend that you're a big happy family again. 

Idk my parents still love each other. But I imagine a parents relationship is about as important to someone's life as a cum podcast was to mine.