2 the Ranting Gryphon

2 the Ranting Gryphon (born August 1972) is a professional comedian who performs primarily at sci-fi and furry fandom conventions. 2 is an assumed name, his real name is currently unknown.

2 records audio rants and formerly hosted a weekly web radio show called 2 Sense . The show was aired over the course of almost two years, from March 13th, 2003 to July 2nd, 2005, and is still re-broadcast today.

A performer for most of his life, he began his career as a Rock and roll guitarist in the 1980s. He proceeded to perform at sci-fi and fantasy conventions during the 1990s.

Although he is often regarded as liberalism in his views, 2 considers himself a centrism. He frequently asks people to think for themselves, to form their own opinions and not to be implicitly trusting of the media.

2 is a member of the furry fandom. He regularly attends Anthrocon and occasionally performs Stand-up comedy routines there. His avatar is an anthropomorphic gryphon, the name of which was inspired by a dream.

2 currently resides in Arkansas, United States, in a social collective of fellow furry fans/artists ( furs ) known as the North Arkansas Regional Furry Association. It is often referred to as The NARFA Cube .

Earlier in his life, 2 had been a Christian minister. This was mostly due to the influence of his father; upon his death, 2 decided that Christianity was wrong, saying that it made no sense when he thought about it in any depth.

= Rants & Music =

2 records rants - usually between 4 and 6 minutes in length - covering a myriad of topics, including religions (rants about holy wars, prayer, and Christmas), political issues (delving into such issues as gay pride, hunting, guns, abortion, and the U.S. military), and the furry fandom itself. Rants concerning the latter are more geared to that community, and are therefore potentially alienating to those outside the furry fandom. That said however, they primarily cover topics which are broad enough in scope for people in general to relate to regardless of social association.

Their main purpose is to publicise 2 s opinions, but they are also quite humourous in nature and so serve as entertainment to the casual listener. 2 has noted this previously on 2 Sense , jokingly saying that although they represent his opinion, the methodology of the presentation is somewhat unsophisticated.

One of 2 s most recent rants focused on the U.S. Military, specifically taking issue with its portrayal as heroic by the American media, despite its violent nature. It was released in early 2005. As with this particular rant, the others are also primarily social commentaries. His most recent rant, as of August 31, 2005, is on the alarming rate of gas price increases, and those that complain about it.

The rants all contain music in the background, which according to 2 is acquired from Digitally-Imported, a web radio station. The music is typically intense in nature with rapid beats to accompany 2 s fast-paced ranting style.

Originally, the rants were released approximately bimonthly; however the rate of production declined significantly with the increased workload of producing 2 Sense . With 2 Sense retired, 2 has announced that he intends to release rants more frequently in the future.

Before the rants, 2 recorded a significant amount of music. Some of the more popular songs include Salvation and Jaunt . His music is freely available for download. In the 1980s, 2 had originally hoped to become a rock artist, and still aspires to make music professionally. Recently (August 2005), 2 released all the songs he has recorded over the years, from childhood to present.

= 2 Sense =

2 Sense was an internet radio show hosted by 2 the Ranting Gryphon, which was broadcast via Rant Radio, an internet radio station. Running for two years, the show revolved around the week s news, 2 s view thereof, and the furry fandom. During the course of the show, the furry aspects of the show progressively became less prominent.

Initially the show was co-hosted by Jakebe, although he left after 36 broadcasts. Subsequently, the show was briefly co-hosted by Audric, Prismo, Dex, Rikku and Aubrin. While the other co-hosts time on the show was short-lived and intermittent in nature, Aubrin co-hosted quite regularly all the way to the final show. As is the case with 2, none of the co-hosts refer to themselves regularly by their real names, if at all.

2 Sense broadcasts were originally an hour in length, but were increased to an hour and a half 36 broadcasts in, and later to an hour and 50 minutes when it was broadcast live from Rant Radio. They were rebroadcast later in the week. All 87 shows are archived, the link to which is below.

*[http://2sense.tailpuff.com/ 2 Sense Archive]

Despite the success of the show, in 2005, 2 announced that due to it taking up too much of his time and that the formula had become too predictable, he would end the series. He planned to record rants more frequently as well as engage in other projects.

==Segments==

The show contained a number of segments which changed over time. The ones contained in the penultimate show, #86, were as follows: *Feedback - Comments on the previous show and its contents by listeners. *Gore News - A collection of headlines and articles featuring odd, unusual or generally ignorant ways people have died in the previous week. *This Week In History - Detailing anniversaries of events having taken place the week before. *News From The Future - A parody of a US national news program set several years in the future, usually with a strong political bent, written and presented by Dr. Samuel Conway, chairman of Anthrocon. *World News - Stories for the week in question from around the world, discussed by 2 and his co-host. *DVD reviews - A comedic review written and performed by Spazfox. *Garr s Travel Stories - A collection of interesting tales of travel and adventure as told by Garr. *Listener Mail - E-mails and audio-mails from listeners on a variety of subjects. *5 Things Specialist Swartz Isn t Allowed To Do In The Military - 5 things from a list of 213 strange things that you are not allowed to do in the military, as compiled by Specialist Swartz while serving. *Pengie Penny - A short segment usually devoted to video game music in which the current co-host, Aubrin the Penguin, would say whatever he felt like. This gradually evolved from 3 minute rants to short little sentence-length nuggets of wisdom. *Weekly Assignment - A short segment in which 2 would ask a question for readers to answer; ranging from What illegal thing do you want for Christmas to How has this show affected your life 2 would read the most amusing answers on the show. *Chat game - A short segment for the people listening live. 2 would read a sentence with a blank in it, such as To make my horse go, all I have to do is BLANK him. and then read off the funniest answers E-mailed in during the show.

Past segments used on the show but cancelled were: *Furry News - News about the fur fandom as well as any funny news articles involving animals. This ended when people realised there wasn t enough news comming out of the fandom for it to require a weekly segment. *Dumb Laws - 2 read out all of the Dumb Laws from each state in USA. It ended when all the states had been commented on. *Weird Trippy Goo - A three minute long segment by Maligno in which he said whatever came to mind. It ended when Maligno was commited to a mental hospital by his parents. *Furry 15 Minutes - 2 Gryphon would interview a random individual from the furry chat room FurryMUCK (at muck.furry.com). It was never actually 15 minutes long.

==Co-Hosts/Contributors==

===Jakebe (David)===

Jakebe was chosen to provide counter-opinions to those of 2, in order to make the show more interesting, and was used simply because he was readily available locally to co-host the show. He was the first and longest running co-host, featuring in all episodes of 2 Sense up to the 34th installment.

Jakebe (real name Dave/David) is an active member of the fur fandom and frequents several furry conventions.

Jakebe is now working on artwork related to the fur fandom and has been largely involved with the furry comic Boomer Express .

===Aubrin (The Pengi)===

Aubrin became the regular co-host after Jakebe left. He co-hosted approximately 30 shows, just short of the amount Jakebe co-hosted. However, he co-hosted more of the two hour live shows and therefore had more airtime on the show.

Aubrin s avatar in the fandom is a small penguin, hence the nickname The Pengi .

Aubrin is a well respected and well known artist in the fur fandom. A good deal of his art can be found at his personal website along with his LiveJournal. *[http://us.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Aubrin/ Aubrin s Personal Webpage]

Both Aubrin and Jakebe lived in the NARFA Cube during the show s production.

Other contributers include Prismo, Rikusho, Adric, Spazfox, Garr, Maligno and Jessie T. Wolf.

=LSD Files=

2 has been recording performances he calls LSD files . At present, he has only made one available to the public domain, although he claims that an entire album of them will be released shortly, possibly on a CD.

*[http://www.ranting-gryphon.com/Audio/LSD1.mp3 LSD1 File]

The LSD (Lucid Sonic Delusions) file is poetic in nature, with ambient piano sounds accompanying various synthetic effects to impart it with a haunting atmosphere. As with 2 s rants, it appears to be a social commentary.

The series is likely named LSD to signify that it is an unusual or unique experience and that it is eccentric in nature; in this, it is a fitting title.

=Dear 2=

As he announced on 2 Sense s final show, 2 is producing a series of audio files aproximately 10 minutes long in which he responds to questions sent to him via E-mail. Due to the fact it is a continuation of the aforementioned segment, it is identical to the Dear 2 segment from 2 Sense with the exception that there is no co-host.

These new files can be downloaded in mp3 format from the following links:

*[http://www.ranting-gryphon.com Official Website] *[http://www.angrybastards.com/php/radio2.php AngryBastards Radio Section]

=DVDs=

2 the Ranting Gryphon has released three DVDs since 2002. These DVDs are available to buy from 2 s official website as well as *[http://www.angrybastards.com/php/2.php AngryBastards.com] where 2 Sense is now being re-distributed.

The first DVD, Rolling On One , is a one hour long comedy show recorded live at Anthrocon in 2002.

The second DVD, The Truth , is a one hour long comedy show recorded from 2 s performance in Philadelphia in 2003 and includes commentary from 2 and the creators of the DVD, as well as the infamous chocolate bunny death video.

The third DVD, The Gods Hate Me , is a one hour long comedy show recorded live at Anthrocon in 2004. It also includes commentary from 2 and the creators of the DVD, some random bonus footage, and an explanation of the beer shot joke.

=External links=

*[http://www.ranting-gryphon.com Official Site] *[http://www.livejournal.com/users/2_gryphon 2 s public LiveJournal] *[http://www.jaieproductions.com/2sense/ Official Archive of 2Sense episodes] *[http://www.jaieproductions.com/2sense/ Notes on past episodes of 2Sense] *[http://www.rantradio.com RantRadio] *[http://www.angrybastards.com/php/radio.php AngryBastards 2Sense Archive] *[http://muck.furry.com FurryMUCK] *[http://www.hukka.furtopia.org/2/ Text transcriptions of 2 s rants]