During the closing seconds of this weeks Gabfest, John mentioned that a listener informed the Gabbers that its their 2nd anniversary and they weren't sure if it was. I looked into the matter, and this is what I found.

1. In the "Slate's Complete Podcast Archive" page the first Gabfest listed is Nov 4, 2005

2. Doing a search for "Gabfest", then sorting for Oldest first the page "Slate's Podcast Roundup - Plus: a NEW political chat show for Slate fans." Also Nov 4, 2005

3. Listening to the Nov 4, 2005 Gabfest, Andy titled the episode "The Return of the Slate's Political Gabfest"

4. Listening to the Jan 27, 2006 Gabfest, Andy titled the episode "The Political Gabfest Returns"

5. Between Dec 21, 2005 and Jan 27, 2006 there were no Gabfest produced

A quick glance at the data point 1 & 2 would suggest that the first Gabfest was Nov 4, 2005, but point 3 would suggest there was a previous Gabfest and it could have been a month or two before(4). Spot checking political sounding podcast, the only podcast that could be a Gabfest is the Oct 28, 2005 "EXTRA! Libby Scoots!" Andy describes it as a bonus podcast because the indictment for Libby was announced that day. Lucky Andy was in the DC office, and he forced the staff into doing a podcast. John hosted the podcast, with David Plotz, Tim Noah, and Jack Shafer.

So Oct 28, 2005 could be the first Gabfest, and people liked the podcast so much they made it into a regular feature. Unless there is another podcast that I haven't found, or not listed.

Either way, Happy Anniversary Gabfest. I'm surprised no one's been fired yet.