Inside the Athletes Studio: An Interview with Matt Iseman, Host of Sports Soup

I teased you about this when it first went down, then I revealed the subject in my review of the show's first week, but now you get the actual interview.

I was able to sit down with Matt Iseman, host of Versus' Sports Soup, the Friday before the show debuted. Versus finally got this cut and uploaded, so pretend some of the questions aren't dated. We now know the focus and general outline of how the show is set up, but not so much at the time of our questioning.

Oh, and I'm wearing the same gray shirt today. I'm freakin' dynamic!

Enjoy our candid sitdown with Matt Iseman, host of Sports Soup.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6

Me > You

Remember when I wrote my first-week review of Versus' Sports Soup?

It's now on the Versus website.

Go read it again.

First-Week Review of Versus' Sports Soup

You know how you never know what to expect outta something until you see it? Sports Soup on Versus fell right along these lines.

Let's explain. Last week, I was invited to meet with Matt Iseman, host of the new sports and comedy show along with two other bloggers. Matt and the channel were really intent on getting information and feedback from the untamed world of the sports blogs. And that's more than enough to pique my interest.

In person, Matt and the Versus people were great, but this was before the show aired. Could that translate to on-air success?

Look...I'm a blogger. Instant gratification is the name of the game. I exist in a world of Youtube videos, toilet jokes and stuff in the sports world that makes me laugh. I'm all for watching 15 year old America's Funniest Home Videos reruns. If I tune to a late-night sports highlight show...I want the clips, not the fluff. If I find something in the sports world that makes me giggle, it's getting a place of honor on my site.

Which makes Sports Soup appealing to sports bloggers like me. The show is what you could expect a sports and humor blog to look like on television.

And that's why Sports Soup came through in the clutch. Matt made it clear when we met, the show isn't hard-hitting journalism, and no news is broken. It's a place to show James Brown being ridiculously cordial, thank you so very much, or awkward pauses between auto and horse racing announcers. The first week introduced the show to the audience, and let viewers know what they can expect from here on out.

I think anyone who saw the first week and who understands the format will be back often. We're a week in, and the show already stands out as funny, unique and promising.