MKE Influencers: Michael Esiobu and Patrick Johnson share laughs with 'Crash Dummies' podcast

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- As we continue our Milwaukee influencer series, we meet two friends who love making people laugh. They have a popular comedic podcast titled, "Crash Dummies." Stephanie Rodriguez takes us to their Walker's Point studio.

College buddies Michael Esiobu and Patrick Johnson spend a lot of time here, joking around together and with their growing list of followers. 

"We're very laid back, joking a lot," said Michael. "Always talking about stuff that's going on, kind of like the podcast - which is what gave us the idea of doing the podcast."

In 2021, they decided to finally put their funny friendship online. 

The two Milwaukee transplants say they take an "unserious" approach to their podcast, "Crash Dummies," to give listeners a place to escape.

"We want to be the getaway for people," said Patrick. "We want people to be able to come to a spot where there's no wars being talked about, politics, crime, nothing. You get like some basic entertainment news to kind of like help us with our flow, but as far as that, we're light on everything. We want people to be able to say, 'hey, when I click this, I get to kind of exit the world a little bit and just purely laugh.'"

The pair, who have backgrounds in marketing and social media strategy, knew they'd stand out in a podcast pool filled with millions of shows. 

"From when we began the podcast, I knew it was going to be successful," said Michael.

One way they caught people's ears was through TikTok. 

"The first video we ever posted, we just threw a video out there, a clip, and got 200,000 views in a day or two," said Patrick. "And that kind of gave us confidence also. So, we're getting confidence before even shooting our second episode, and I kind of propellered us."

The say this short-form content and their consistency is what grew their audience. 

The two always put themselves in their audience's shoes to keep their videos engaging. 

"A lot of people, they start podcasts these days that are really popular ones, they're famous from other stuff," said Michael. "You know, they're either comedians or athletes and stuff like that. So, I think that's why people can relate to us a lot, because we're just like them, you know, we're not famous from anything else, just two friends making a podcast and having a conversation."

A big part of their show involves listeners calling Crash Dummies.

"That just creates more of that community as well, where our listeners feel like they're part of the podcast as well, because they are."

The full-time content creators say they're dedicated to their craft and to showing the world what Milwaukee is made of.

"People still ask every day, like, "Oh, you guys are in California?' Like, no. 'Are you guys in New York?' No. I think people just don't believe something like this can come from here," said Patrick.