Game of Thrones season five premieres in a matter of days (April 12th!) and Stark Raven Mad: A Game of Thrones Podcast will be back on April 13th, 2015 to cover every fuck, marry and kill the season dishes out.

This year will be the 3rd season of SRM and is coming after a recent win of “Best Podcast” at the 2015 Philly Comedy Awards. Hosted by Mike Marbach the panel includes various combinations of David Donnella, Robert Alesian, Kevin Pettit, Corin Wells, Frank Farrellm, Whitney Harris, Mallory Rhodes and other guests that pop in from time to time. The panel is comprised entirely of Philly comedians that perform at the Philly Improv Theater and other venues around the city.

You get various perspectives for each episode as well. Some panelists have read the books so you can see how some things might differ and some only watch the show so everything is new. However, as creators have said this season- no one is safe. Apparently even the book readers are going to be surprised at different points this season as the show runners begin to veer more and more away from the source material. In addition to show analysis and jokes along the way, the show sometimes highlights social media reactions from twitter, create quick improvised scenes inspired by the show, and sometimes produces fun Game of Thrones themed content such a audio sketches.

Reviews for the podcast on iTunes have been very good: “Overall feel is less of a dry study of GoT and more like a group of friends discussing a series they love. And it’s a lot of fun to listen to. A+ guys!” — “Great great great combo of interesting and funny… these guys are hilarious. You can tell right away that everyone involved loves the series.” — “This podcast is one of the most entertaining moments of my week”.

This year an unofficial sponsor of the podcast is the Philadelphia Rennaissance Faire which will be in Philly May 16th and 17th. Game of Thrones’ Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (The Mountain) will be appearing this year and there’s lots of really cool opportunities to see and interact with him, so head over to PhillyRenFaire.com for more details! Expect to hear more about this event in the weeks leading up to it. The other sponsor is Audible.com. As always you get a free audiobook and a hefty discount on audiobooks when you register for a FREE trial of the Audible service. Head over to AudibleTrial.com/StarkRavenMad and sign up for a free trial and support the podcast by supporting Audible.

Stark Raven Mad is the first of what is now several podcasts covering different TV shows such as The Leftovers, Better Call Saul and The Strain. Each one has a cast of Philly comedians looking to not just geek out and talk about a show, but also make you laugh in the process.

We’re also looking to get out and do some more live episodes this year. Previously we’ve done the Philly Podcast Festival in 2013 and 2014, but this year we’re looking to do some live episodes where we watch the episode and then do the podcast after. We also hope to occasionally Skype in some of our former panelists such as Andrew Stanton who is hard to beat in terms of his Game of Thrones knowledge.

So, if you’re a fan of Game of Thrones then you should be listening to Stark Raven Mad: A Game of Thrones Podcast. The perfect companion to your GoT viewing experience until George R. R. Martin kills it off.

SRM Is available to download/stream on MikeMarbach.com and is also available on iTunes and receives tens of thousands of downloads each season. The show is a real blast to do and all the support and downloads are appreciated. If you enjoy the show please rate/review on iTunes!