"Popcorn?" "Buttered!"
Ready to Start Cast, full name "Ready to Start the Podcast?", is an animation and gaming news podcast hosted by indie artists Ryan Ribbity
, Rosaria, Painter Seap, Lou, Kels, and Dawn. The show mainly focuses on discussing current events in the world of video games and animation, though topics outside of those fields are occasionally seen. Each episode is recorded live and features a different guest, usually a friend of the group. The podcast is currently on its fifth season, with just over 100 episodes.
Along with the podcast itself, the channel also produces short animations dubbed "StartToons" that put the cast in several different wacky situations, and are usually made to premiere a new season and set up whatever its theme may be.
In addition to StartCast, a few other shows are featured on the channel:
- Drawing a Blank, in which Rosa and Seap draw characters suggested by viewers from memory.
- Looney Duels, in which Ryan and Lou pit two Looney Tunes characters against each other to determine which is the strongest a la DEATH BATTLE!.
- Café Lily, in which Rosa and Kels discuss Yuri media across various mediums.
The show and its spinoffs can be seen on YouTube, with new shows (usually) happening on a bi-weekly basis. They also have a Bluesky, Twitter, and Website.
Shh, shh! The Tropes are starting!
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Podcast Tropes
- Big "YES!":Ryan: "Do the Super Why! theme song?" I don't— does Super Why even have a theme song?Seap: YEEEEEESSSSS! [singing] "Who's got the power, the power to read? Who's got the power to help friends in need? Super Why! Su-per Why—" That show sucks, I hate it.
- Butt-Monkey: Many StartCast shows devolve into Rosa and Seap (and sometimes the guest) messing with Ryan at some point.
- Cast Full of Gay: Every StartCaster and nearly every guest that's been on the show is queer in some way.
- Catchphrase: Ryan typically gives an exasperated "NEXT BIT!" when she's tired of Seap and Rosa's antics.
- Christmas Episode: StartCast episodes that premiere during the holiday season redesign the screen to give it a festive theming, such as depicting the cast in festive gear.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference:
- For the first 12 episodes of StartCast, Ryan had a different design in which she more closely resembled a human, albeit in frog-themed wear. Starting with the 13th episode, Ryan's design changed to the "girl frog thing" she's known as today.
- Shortly into season 5, Rosa's persona changed from a straightforward caricature of her to a more abstract character, with fangs and Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes, which she calls the "Pilk Demon". As a result, her initial season 5 design was only seen for a few episodes.
- Funny Background Event: The StartCast stream feed tends to get completely filled with pictures over the course of an episode, sometimes ones related to the topics but often just from Ryan silently adding funny images while the others are talking.
- Guest Star: Nearly every StartCast episode has a guest on the show alongside Ryan, Rosa, and Seap to discuss whatever that episode's topics may be. On rare occasions, an episode may have more than one guest.
- Halloween Episode: StartCast episodes that premiere around (usually a little before or after) Halloween redesign the screen to give it a spooky theming, such as depicting the cast in Halloween costumes.
- Once per Episode: Every StartCast episode officially begins once this exchange is had (taken from the podcast's namesake, the teaser trailer for SCOOB!):Ryan: Popcorn?
Seap: Buttered!
Ryan: Nachos?
Seap: Cheesed!
Ryan: Root beer with red licorice straw?
Seap: Right here! Rehehehehehe! - Running Gag: Many, with some lasting longer than others. The most enduring is, of course, the first trailer for SCOOB!, where the show's title comes from. Other notable ones include:
- Vector the Crocodile and his love of bubblegum, which first started during the stream of Team Chaotix's story in Sonic Heroes where Seap repeatedly references a scene from the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Gift of Gum" with Vector in place of Patrick.
- Yuji Naka became an exceptionally prominent gag after StartCast's 61st episode, in which the StartCasters got distracted by a particularity innocent-looking image of him, not helped by news of his insider trading scandal being recent at the time. You can imagine what happened when even more news involving Naka's scandal came out a few months later.
- Jokes involving Pete from Mickey Mouse saw a rise in mid-late Season 4, with the StartCasters engaging in what was called "Peteposting" by portraying the titular cat as a Manchild obsessed with finding Easter eggs in media and The Amazing Digital Circus for some reason. These jokes got so overwhelming and had such a strong grip on the StartCasters that Lou eventually made them "freeze" Pete live during StartCast's 94th episode, forbidding them from doing the joke for awhile. Pete remained frozen for 343 days, until a charity stream on October 11th, 2025note reached its $1500 goal and Pete was finally unfrozen.
- While frozen, the StartCasters, either on their own accord or at the request of fans, would often "check up on Pete" by cutting to his frozen body in complete silence for several seconds. A notable example occurs during a staged argument at the end of episode 100, where the StartCasters and Lou panic over Seap mentioning the 2024 assassination attempt of Donald Trump in the presence of Jack Black, and Ryan shouts "OH MY GOD" before cutting to Pete, ending the episode.
- In episode 101, Pete could briefly be heard shouting through his ice cube.
- An episode-specific running gag; In episode 100, the StartCasters, Jack Blacknote , and a second guest discuss one topic, before switching the topic to the Smurfs (2025). Each guest admits to not seeing the film, to which the StartCasters panic and restart the stream. Eventually, Nicktendo, who had seen the film with Seap, shows up and the movie is discussed, but discussion is cut short when Lou joins, causing Nicktendo to leave on account of being "un-smurfing-comfortable", and the stream restarts one last time.
- Running Gagged: Dear god, Peteposting. See Running Gag above.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: A real world example; Ryan had planned to stream two hours' worth of Roblox content themed around Black Adam (2022) to celebrate a Patreon milestone. Unfortunately, by the time the stream happened, the official Black Adam Roblox experience that was meant to be the main event of the stream had been made private.
- Space Episode: Season 3's theme takes place in outer space, and gives the cast space-themed redesigns to match.
- Straight Man: Though neither straight nor a man, Ryan usually plays this role to Seap and Rosa. This has progressively became a less prominent trait of hers in later episodes of StartCast.
StartToon Tropes
- Absurdly Long Limousine: T. Owner pulls up in one of these at the beginning of THE 100TH. Unfortunately for him, his decision to sit at the back of the limo makes it so he has to run all the way to the center stage.
- As Himself: Parodied with the Munkshrooms (voiced by Seap), who are credited as such in ALVIN & THE MUNKSHROOMS SAVE E3.
- Big Bad:
- D. Owner in the Season 4 Animated Special and THE 100TH.
- Geoff Keighley in ALVIN & THE MUNKSHROOMS SAVE E3.
- Big Red Button: Seap pushes one without a second thought in Season 3 Special Premiere, which ends up launching the StartCasters into space and thus kicking off Season 3's space theming.
- The Cameo: Arlo, Raven, Berrycream, Dark Shi, and Steve Harvey make a brief appearance near the end of ALVIN & THE MUNKSHROOMS SAVE E3.
- Canon Welding: Done in ALVIN & THE MUNKSHROOMS SAVE E3 with the Ready to Start Cast and E3 Toads universes.
- Characterization Marches On: T. Owner acts more outwardly scummy and greedy in Season 3 Special Premiere as opposed to his later appearances, such as when he sends the StartCasters into space without telling them and then linking their credit cards to his bank account. In the StartToons following season 3's premiere, his negative traits are downplayed (or just flat-out removed) and he becomes more of a kooky but ultimately well-meaning boss.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The giant blunt Rosa launches out into space near the beginning of the Season 4 Animated Special later comes back down to Earth during the climax and is what puts D. Owner out of commission when it crushes him.
- The "lottery ticket" Lou finds in the Season 4 Animated Special is revealed at the end to have been the season's bingo card all along.
- Clip Show: THE 100TH features a short "Worst Moments" reel, depicting various bizarre clips from the podcast out of context, now being used as evidence against the StartCasters in court.
- Courtroom Episode: Most of THE 100TH takes place in the court of the damned, with the (then deceased) StartCasters trying to prove their (and their podcast's) worth at getting a second chance in life.
- Crowded-Cast Shot: Happens at the end of THE 100TH's credits sequence.
- Friendship Moment: "Girlfriendship" Moment? Happens in ALVIN & THE MUNKSHROOMS SAVE E3 when Ryan briefly stops the trip to Keighley Manor to take Rosa to Freddyland, after she wistly expresses that she's never been there.
- Guilt by Association Gag: The last part of the "Worst Moments" reel featured in THE 100TH was instigated by Lou (from when she was trying to look up images of Z-Squad) instead of the main trio, which Seap immediately gets indignant about it being blamed on them.
- Medium Blending: Every StartToon has a unique style of blending 2D characters with 3D environments, though some moments do incorporate additional elements such as 3D characters/props or other animation mediums such as stop-motion.
- Mystery Episode: THE 100TH was advertised as this, with most promos being about solving the mystery of the StartCasters' disappearance. This is played with in the StartToon itself, with the mystery being revealed to the viewers almost immediately while the in-universe characters don't find out until much later.
- No Fourth Wall: Considering that they're cartoons of an only slightly-less-zany real podcast, this is a given.
- The Reveal:
- Played for laughs in Season 4 Animated Special, which reveals that every single other podcast in the world also got sent to space, making being on Earth a "novel thing", as Ryan puts it.
- In THE 100TH, when Demonic Justice Supreme's true identity is revealed to be a vengeful D. Owner.
- The Show Goes Hollywood: THE 100TH concludes with the StartCasters striking a deal with a big-name movie producer and getting sent to "Broadlywood".
- The Stinger:
- Season 4 Special Presentation's is a parody of The Super Mario Bros. Movie's infamous post-credits scene, with Tommy replacing Yoshi.
- THE 100TH's involves a special Gerbert scene in which he is taught about the kingdom of Heaven and that he'll be going there after the titular puppet feared he might go to hell like the StartCasters did.
- Straight Man: Though neither straight nor a man, Ryan usually plays this role to Seap and Rosa.
- Theme Tune:
- T. Owner lampshades their complete lack of one near the beginning of Season 3 Special Premiere. They do later end up getting one that plays first near the end, being a parody of Planet Sheen's theme, dubbed "Planet Startsies".
- THE 100TH debuts another theme song, this time being a parody of "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Polkamon" sung by the Munkshrooms that lists off a bunch of the podcast's running gags.
- Theme Tune Roll Call: "'Ready to Start The Show!", the theme song that debuted in season 5, consists almost entirely of naming the various characters and bits the StartCasters have joked about throughout the years.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: What happened to the S.S. Ribbity or where it ended up are never elaborated on once the StartCasters return back to Earth in the Season 4 Special Presentation.
