Who knew listening to somebody humming could be so much fun?

I have never heard Lino laugh as hard as he did during the segment when people had to guess what Fr. Rob was humming. I don't think I have ever laughed that hard either. If Fr. Rob humming wasn't funny enough, Lino and Ryan laughing in the background was even funnier to me.

Fr. Rob literally cannot "carry a tune in a bucket", as we like to say down South. But that doesn't stop him from trying, and being a good sport about it, too. God has endowed him with great intelligence, a knack for theology, a love for Jesus and an incredible wit. He just has no talent for anything musical. God works like that. He gives us great talent for certain things so we can use it to his glory, and leaves us out on others. I like to think God plans it that way to keep us humble.

I couldn't call in when the segment was going on, so I posted on Lino's Facebook that I "pray to God he doesn't have 'The Hallelujah Chorus' on his iPod." Lino replied, "Believe me, he doesn't." (I guess we can thank God for small favors.)

I just had one more thought. I wonder how many songs Fr. Rob does have on his iPod?

Lino Rulli's radio show, The Catholic Guy, blazes new trails when it comes to innovative programming.

But I think it's only scratched the surface of originality.

If Lino were to keep doing this same show for the rest of it's run, nobody would complain. It would continue to set new standards for quality Catholic radio. Nobody disputes that. The overnight lock-in was a new type of show that was wildly successful, and there's no reason why other formats can't be tried.

Here are three show ideas that would go over extremely well.

1. A live studio-audience
Lino's done shows on location before, but usually they're done from a hotel room (the Vegas and New Orleans shows) or on the street when the focus is elsewhere (World Youth Day). A show with a live studio audience on a Saturday afternoon would be epic. To Lino's credit, a similar show has been done before, when Lino went to some Catholic singles event and did a dating game.

But a three-hour show with live audience members instead of phone calls would be amazing. He could even charge $5 and donate the money to charity, something that would get the Catholic media buzzing: A live radio show raises money for Ferret research? Brilliant! And getting the chance to see Lino Rulli, Fr. Rob and Ryan Grant do their show live would be a treat for any fan.

2. The crossover
This idea has been done before: When Pope Benedict XVI came to the United States, a lot of Catholic Channel programming featured the different hosts hosting shows together. But a special TCGS with guest host Greg Willits, Fr. Dave Dwyer or Gus Lloyd would be something different. It would be fun to hear other hosts take on the things Lino says on air, and to hear them all muck it up together would increase interest in the channel as a whole.

3. The Musical
Now THIS would take the cake. Lino does song parodies and they're usually a lot of fun. Take a few weeks and create 9 or 10 songs (Ryan is a musician, so it should be feasible for him to do this), and he could easily have The Catholic Guy Musical. Sure, it'd force the show into a more rehearsed style than an anything-goes conversational show, but three hours of Fr. Rob, Lino and Ryan Grant singing? Now that's entertainment.

On Wednesday's show, Lino Rulli, Ryan Grant, Kayla Riley and Fr. Jim Chern (back from the dead!) were choosing the best Catholic song for a first date. Of all the tunes, Matt Maher's  song My Only Love was chosen as the best song of the handful that the crew listened to that day.

Here's the fun Twitter response from Matt Maher.

Yesterday's show had an interesting music segment, with DJ Kayla from Sirius Octane attempting to provide Lino with a "music makeover."



For those unfamiliar with DJ Kayla, here's her bio from the Sirius Christian Music site:

'Kayla has often said, “I don’t want a career, I just want to be a mom.” Well, being a mom will come in time, but right now a career has definitely found Kayla. She’s now been on satellite radio since 2002. “If you can’t do anything else, be kind,” is a quote from St. Theresa that Kayla has come to love. She feels that on the air she can help to give back even if it’s just to brighten someone’s day. You can also hear Kayla on Octane and Classic Rewind. She keeps busy but still manages to volunteer with the high school kids at her church and have fun. Make sure you check out spiritROCKS Friday nights and turn the music nice and loud!"'

She also has her own fan following called the Kayla Brigade.

Overall, another quality segment add to the Catholic Guy Show. (Honestly, when I heard the mention that Kayla was "single" during the segment, I was hoping for a possible Lino-Kayla love connection, but I could not hear any sparks flying during the segment. Maybe Kayla is too tough a gal for Lino... but one can always hope and pray for our favorite Italian pazzo!)