comedy podcast thread

[Buddy Glass]

tangent: is Men of a Certain Age any good?

I grabbed the first season after hearing the Romano interview and I liked it a lot. The pilot (first episode) is pretty bad - lots of lazy exposition, basically just ramming all the backstory/character stuff through so they can get on with the series. After that it gets much better. It's like a more kitchen-sinky version of Louie, minus the standup and not as surreal and vulgar. But thematically it's about, you know, middle aged disappointment and finding some kind of meaning, raising children, etc. I'm not sure why I relate to that kind of stuff so much.

I haven't seen anything beyond the first episode of season 2 yet, which seemed kind of middling, but it takes a few episodes to really get into the show's low-key rhythm. Watching week to week would probably feel really tedious, you've gotta sit down and watch 4 or 5 in a row.

[M. Piedlourde]

dana gould is kind of annoying, right

dana is fantastic.

[Cyril Sneer]

finally discovering superego. seems to me more people here would be talking about this one.

[Buddy Glass]

Yeah, Dana's funny. It seems like his stuff doesn't go over as well with UCB-type audiences (I could be wrong about that, though). Live podcast audiences in general never fail to annoy me

[Fullscreen]

the CDR before last was pretty ideal - patton and rob huebel, mainly shooting the shit. Mike Detective was a good bit.

[Duplo]

am i the only guy who finds nerdist/chris hardwick annoying as fuck -- his whole tone and rhythm is so self conscious, he has that whole ultra-enunciation cleverer-than-you scthick that drives me up the fucking wall. it's like that feeling you get when youre listening to cdr and he plays some terrible cheeky comedy music track (what is it with comedians and terrible taste in music, by the way?). that's what all of the nerdist feels like.

[Duplo]

"we pretend to hate big bang theory, but that's exactly our type of humor"

[Cyril Sneer]

duplal crushin up truth rocks. tried the nerdist and it really grates. even the itunes description is annoying.

[Duplo]

yeah

hardwick is ok in small doses on other shows but the nerdist is unlistenable to me

[pantsoclock]

Yeah his voice is pretty affected. Rushing to get out something clever that just occurred to him.
Agree on comedy music too. It's the worst. Basically just ruining the rhythm of jokes, if they even bother to put jokes in the songs.

[Cyril Sneer]

outside of wtf i am really new to all this comedy podcast stuff, so my experience here is limited. but i listened to the newish comedy death ray with patton oswalt and rob huebel, which was funny. but there was a point where he put on the new lonely island boys ft. akon and he was like "hey this is off their brand new album in store soon!" and the guys were like "oh really i had no idea that's cool." and the next thing i knew i was just laying there in bed listening to akon.

[badhat]

i just really really enjoy his refusal to bitch and complain constantly. hes a really really (maybe too) nice dude who really likes comedy and is committed to talking about shit that he likes versus shit he hates. hes such a huge booster of the people and things he likes.

i see how it can grate, but i find him really endearing and refreshing.

[Duplo]

garfunkel and oates, who are pretty much pomplamoose ("we threw 'i heart garfunkel and oates' shirts in the prize bag!") were a serious damper on the '12 guests of christmas' doug loves movies ep, but it was dealable. love that it came down to aukerman and pft as the final two.

comedy music is so bad

[Cyril Sneer]

the more i sniff around the more i appreciate the best show on wfmu for really being the best show. i know there's a whole other 25 page thread for that so i'll be quiet but yeah.

[badhat]

G&O i just totally do not understand at all.

i gues just the novelty of chicks in comedy nerd land

theyre like the janey of the CDR scene.

[badhat]

i liked marons dream guest list though: iggy pop, tom waits and tina fey

pretty much wold love any of those.

[Duplo]

WE ARE CUTE GIRLS
WE PLAY NOVELY INSTRUMENTS LIKE THE UKLELE
AND OVERENUNCIATE
ABOUT GUYS LIKING US BUT THEY ARE DUMB GUYS DOING EVERYDAY THINGS

LA LA LA
HARMONIZING
BIG DOE EYES

fucking awful, it's annoying when apparently smart comics eat this shit up

[badhat]

i think hardwick is a lot more guest dependent than maron though. maron has gotten me interested in people i do not even a little bit give a shit about, like bobby lee.

hardwick needs good guests, his PFT and bamford and carolla eps were top notch.

[Cyril Sneer]

tom scharpling on wtf has no chance of ever happening probably hey

[nefarious]

the more i sniff around the more i appreciate the best show on wfmu for really being the best show. i know there's a whole other 25 page thread for that so i'll be quiet but yeah.

it just fucking murders everything else. its so hard going back to anything else.

[Duplo]

man this comics with bad music taste thing is eating me up
you cant extend the kind of extroverted need-to-get-laughs thing to music and expect the focus to be on musical quality

why even try to include music in these podcasts? do people hear shit played on these things and honestly go seek them out and listen to them?
i was listening to the neil hamburger ep of cdr the other day and the between-interview song segments were jaw dropping...some dude strumming acoustic guitar belting out pity songs about life sucking (with some clever joke lines!) like that's any different from whatever crap a sophomore college student is doing. what? i don't get it all.

[nefarious]

oh hey has anyone listened to sklarbro country? those guys have always killed me and i think its pretty good.

[Cyril Sneer]

the more i sniff around the more i appreciate the best show on wfmu for really being the best show. i know there's a whole other 25 page thread for that so i'll be quiet but yeah.

it just fucking murders everything else. its so hard going back to anything else.

it's true. i have a bunch of stuff i keep meaning to try out but then most times i just end up clicking on the best show and feeling pretty good about my decision. i only wish the archives were available in mp3 form. the less soft serve on my phone, the better.

[Disturbed]

Yeah I mentioned Superego last page 'cause I couldn't believe it hadn't been mentioned since like page 1. Just perfect, it's the best when they break themselves up, and furthermore you seen 'at movie what's called Prayditur?

Dana Gould is one of the sharpest, funniest guys. I feel like I'd have serious disagreements with his worldview but, y'know, that's me extrapolating big time.

I used to think Hardwick was a douchebag but then I realized I was being a jerk. He really is just a nerd and he talks like one. Also pantsoclock shut up. You're mad at a comic for trying to be quick on his comedy show, or I guess mad that he didn't cover up his genuine excitement to your liking.

Aukerman knows most of the comedy music is bad. He's said as much plenty of times. I think he genuinely likes Lonely Island, which is fair I guess. I think one of G&O's songs is pretty funny. Can't remember which, so maybe it's not. They're certainly toward the better end of comedy music, as little as that's worth.

Speaking of Hardwick being good, Hard 'n Phirm has some good stuff. The songs they did for that animated Rob Zombie thing are (much) better than the movie. They seem to care about making good music at least as much as being funny, which means their stuff is actually listenable..."Pi" doesn't make me laugh it's just kind of a jam, "Rodeohead" has made it onto a couple mix CDs...their funniest song is called "Like Love" and isn't on a record yet. I very much enjoyed some tracks from Mike Phirman's solo album too. http://music.mikephirman.com

Maron reached out to Steve Martin on Twitter, which would be great.

Mike Detective is Earwolf's new podcast.

[Disturbed]

Sklars can get a little cornball and I don't give a rip about sports. I've enjoyed it when I listened for the guest though.

Never listened to the Nerdist ep with that Mayhem dude. I hated him and that Bully Beatdown thing so much I wanted to dedicate a decade to training just so I could hit that dude in his goofy ska-band face without dying.

[nefarious]

yeah caring about sports is pretty important to the enjoyment of the podcast.

[Buddy Glass]

Yeah, the majority of the comedy music played on CDR is done in a knowing, semi-mocking gesture. I don't think Aukerman hates it all per se, but he's aware of how corny it is.

Garfunkel and Oates are baffling, but as for other comics I think it comes down to the two girls becoming a part of the L.A. comedy scene and therefore comics bite their tongue about it. Plus who knows, maybe they're fun to hang out with offstage.

Does anyone else listen to Walking the Room? It's my favorite thing lately. Clown from the neck down.

[Disturbed]

I know Patton Oswalt keeps talking about it...I tried one of the early eps and got bored, I'm sure they were still finding their legs. I've just never liked Behrendt, really. He's all right on NNF but I think his standup kind of sucks.

[Buddy Glass]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Behrendt's standup although the most recent material I've heard is Uncool which is from years ago. What makes the show great (for now at least) is the dynamic between Behrendt and Anthony and the sense of these two guys whose careers have bottomed out recording a podcast in a closet, just making each other laugh. It's mixed with heavy doses of depressing reality/sadness but in a really funny way (none of the episodes have been true downers the way some WTF episodes are). With more people finding out about it, though, and them trying to turn it into a viable launchpad for doing standup tours, I don't know if it'll stay as funny forever.

[Jouster]

i liked marons dream guest list though: iggy pop, tom waits and tina fey

pretty much wold love any of those.

Just hoping that Fitzsimmons didn't talk Maron out of trying to get Garry Shandling, because that's one I've been wanting to happen for a while now. Hope it does.