Oklahoma fandom, reported from the source.
Okie Geek is a KOSU interview show centered on Oklahoma's geek culture, from comic festivals and gaming conventions to film preservation and genre fiction. Its conversations are practical and scene-level, asking artists, organizers, and actors how their work actually gets made.
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Okie Geek is a KOSU interview show about Oklahoma's living geek culture, told through the people building it. The scope is broad but specific. Episodes cover comics, tabletop games, video game music, superhero films, science fiction, local festivals, and film preservation. The show is less interested in ranking franchises than in tracing how creative work reaches an audience. A comic artist talks through margins, zine festivals, small press logistics, and the surreal feeling of seeing strangers flip through a first book. A convention organizer explains the local businesses, vendors, game companies, pricing choices, and space limits behind a first-year gaming event. A jazz musician describes performing Mario Kart tracks while competitive players race beside the band, with the music sometimes demanding pit-orchestra focus. That is the show's lane: fandom as labor, craft, venue, and community. Matthew Viriapa keeps the conversations plainspoken and direct, often starting with an introduction before following the guest into process. Oklahoma is not decorative here. Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Film Row, the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, and northeastern Oklahoma tribal land all shape the episodes. The show can handle small local scenes and bigger pop-culture machinery in the same feed. Tim Blake Nelson connects Tulsa, superhero filmmaking, digital effects, and his book Superhero. Daniel H. Wilson connects robotics, science fiction, Cherokee identity, artificial intelligence, aliens, and military threat forecasting. Charles J. Martin frames pop culture as something that can be entertaining, nostalgic, musical, performative, and still a little more cerebral. Robert Wilson IV talks about comic art from the perspective of an artist and festival director. Cam Hunter and Bradley Nguyen bring attention to an old screening room on Oklahoma City's historic Film Row. The recurring pleasure is scale. A local bookshop merger, a first comic, a saved theater, or a ten-dollar gaming convention can sit next to Marvel, Square Enix, Halo, and New York Comic Con without losing proportion. Okie Geek works because it treats Oklahoma's fan scenes as real cultural infrastructure. It is careful, enthusiastic, and useful without sounding inflated.
Made for: Okie Geek is for people who follow comics, gaming, genre fiction, film, and local arts scenes with equal interest. It especially suits listeners who care how creative projects, festivals, and fan communities come together in Oklahoma.
What sets it apart: Unlike broad pop-culture talk shows, Okie Geek anchors genre culture in Oklahoma rooms, organizers, artists, venues, and deadlines. The result is fandom coverage with a strong sense of place and process.
Okie Geek is a podcast from KOSU, featuring interviews with Oklahomans about events and places with a geeky twist. The geek/nerd fandom is strong in Oklahoma, and host Matthew Viriyahpah hopes to make people aware of all the fun stuff going on in the Sooner State.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Okie Geek connects screen culture to Oklahoma's working creative scene through practical, curious interviews with artists, performers, and event organizers.
Okie Geek follows Oklahoma's creative culture through conversations with the people making projects and organizing gatherings. Matthew Viriapa keeps the interviews grounded in process: how an independent comic reaches print, how a gaming convention holds down admission costs,…
Blue shells distract the band; your next Oklahoma fandom rabbit hole has a human story behind it.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Charles J. Martin discusses Literati Press and its cooperative merger before weighing which video game themes belong in a fandom show.
Charles J. Martin describes Literati Press Comics and Novels as an Oklahoma City bookshop and publisher that has merged with Writers Co-op, a legal cooperative. He calls it Oklahoma's first community-owned bookshop and publisher.
Bad Wagon's bandleader talks Mario Kart jazz, live racing, and the focus it takes to play through both.
Bad Wagon plays Mario Kart music as live jazz while people race alongside the band. On Okie Geek, bandleader Nelson Gonzalez Burreto talks about bringing that combination to the Tower Theater in Oklahoma City.
A first comic finds an audience, one curious passerby at a time.
Oklahoma artist Hezekiah Hamlin, who makes comics as Regular Candy, brought his first comic, The Lost Wizard, to a comic arts event in Austin. Sales fell short of what he had hoped, but that is only a small part of how he remembers the day.
A $10 day price and local makers give this Tulsa gaming convention preview its appeal.
A $10 day price gives Tulsa Gaming Con an easy opening: visitors can drop in and see what catches their eye. On Okie Geek, Matthew Veriapa talks with Brian of Tiamat's Dungeon about the first annual event and its focus on keeping the cost down.
James Ewald makes a case for browsing art books and meeting the people behind them.
The Oklahoma City Art Book Fair is in its second year, and organizer James Ewald wants it to feel open to anyone with an idea. He pictures someone making a publication about basketball and hip hop, then finding people drawn to its look.
Curio jars, early animation and a hopeful view of the past give this steampunk event preview its appeal.
Okie Geek's preview of an adults-only steampunk night at Science Museum Oklahoma gets most interesting when educator Chris Seifert starts describing what visitors can make.
The Okie Geek Podcast discusses the return of the annual 24-hour Extra Life gaming event to raise money for the Oklahoma Children's Hospital Foundation.
An interview about the Open World exhibition at Oklahoma Contemporary that explores the intersection of video games and contemporary art.
Mike Dadalo discusses the upcoming TokenCon board gaming convention in Oklahoma City, highlighting its large game library and play-to-win giveaways.
Organizers and artists discuss the 2022 Theatre Crude Fringe Festival, a 10-day event featuring diverse live performances in Oklahoma City.
Buck Berlin and Nick Hermes discuss Literati Press's current comic book titles and a new collaboration with the National Cowboy Western Heritage Museum.
Okie Geek's "Symponicon and Literati Co-op" moves from Charles J.
Actor Tim Blake Nelson discusses his upbringing in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and his new book 'Superhero' which offers an insider's look at comic book movies and American society.
Author Daniel H.
Interview with Robert Wilson IV about the first Oklahoma Comics Arts Festival, highlighting its differences from typical comic conventions and his experience as a festival director.
Host Matthew Viriapa talks with Cam Hunter and Bradley Nguyen about preserving one of the oldest screening rooms in the US on Oklahoma City's historic film row.
Okie Geek talks with Nelson Gonzalez Burreto of Bad Wagon, the Oklahoma City group that performs live Mario Kart music while people race on screen.
["Matthew Biryapa interviews Hezekiah Hamlin, the Oklahoma artist who makes comics as Regular Candy, about The Lost Wizard and a release show at The Floating Bookshop in Oklahoma City from 12 to 4.", "Hamlin says the comic began as sketchbook wizards and a tiny wizard in front of a giant computer, then turned into two issues that include a magical Costco in space.", "He ties the book to Adventure Time, Ghost Shrimp, and Pendleton Ward, then explains why rezograph printing and a rejected Doom reference shaped the final look.", "The conversation ends on AI art, local poster work, and Hamlin's plan to push later issues toward more emotional material."]
Brian says Tulsa Gaming Con was created after tabletop gaming prices climbed, with minis at "four or five dollars" and con passes like "$40" day tickets and "$100" weekend passes pushing people out.
James Ewald, one of the organizers of the Oklahoma City Art Book Fair, says the event is at We The People Consulting Building in Capitol Hill this weekend.
Okie Geek episode 293 focuses on Science Museum of Oklahoma's SMO 21 on April 14 from 7 p.m.