To listen to these and other podcasts, visit Podmass Central, our podcast hub.
Podmass comments and suggestions for future coverage can be directed to [email protected].
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“If I look nice and non-rapey, it will make people feel better about the fact that they’ve been booked on a public radio show…” —Jesse Thorn on dressing up for work, Sklarbro Country
“This is what I hate about democracy: Everyone gets a voice.” —Greg Proops, The Smartest Man In The World
“I’m not that white.” —Marc Maron responding to Leslie Jones inquiring whether he is familiar with El DeBarge, WTF
“You know your life is messed up and something bad is happening to you when people bring up the fact that you still have your health. That’s usually a good sign that something horrific has happened to you.” —Bill Burr, Monday Morning Podcast
“Do you have a tattoo of Olive Oyl’s brother Castor Oyl? Do you have a tattoo of Charles Nelson Reilly before he hit it big—with “big” in quotation marks? … Do you have a full-face tattoo of John Cazale’s face on your face?” —John Hodgman’s “Voight-Kampff” hipster test, Judge John Hodgman
“I want an animal that leaves me alone… just stay out of my shit.” —Dave Anthony, Walking The Room
NEW (TO US)
Rafflecast
Jon Daly is a familiar figure to podcasting fans and comedy geeks through his hilarious appearances on Kroll Show and his presence on Comedy Bang Bang, where he plays characters like Bill Cosby Bukowski, a spectacularly silly mash-up of Jell-O pitchman Bill Cosby and poet laureate of the rancid barstool Charles Bukowski, who favors audiences with his filthy “Jelloems.” With Rafflecast, Daly gets his very own Earwolf podcast to do whatever he sees fit, be it making a song from scratch as part of his “Building The Track” series, spoofing NPR, or releasing a snotty hip-hop track. Rafflecast lives up to its title: It’s rambling, ramshackle, and all over the place tonally, thematically, and comedically, more an audio warehouse to store the products of Daly’s active imagination than a conventional podcast. It’s hit or miss throughout—a segment devoted to a conversation about pop music between Carly Rae Jepsen and Billy Bragg hits all the expected notes, then hits them again and again—but the podcast’s eagerness to experiment wildly and take huge risks makes it an adventurous, and worthwhile, gamble. [NR]
THE BEST
The Bugle #227: Farewell Bush’s Muse
Though most episodes start off with a bit of personal flourish from the lives of co-hosts John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman, this week in particular weaves Oliver’s big news—he will briefly sit atop Jon Stewart’s Daily Show throne this summer—throughout the entire episode as a playful running joke about Oliver’s impending anxiety. The two muse over an article’s insistence that Oliver will have a hard time connecting with American audiences given his “thick British accent,” a claim laughed off only moments before Oliver repeatedly pronounces beret “bay-ray.” Given all the beret talk, it can only mean one thing: Hugo Chavez in the news! Much of this issue is spent poking at Chavez’s death from numerous different angles. Like poking an actual dead body, not much new is learned, but a good time is had by all. They close out a strong episode with a humorous approach to solving Britain’s deer overpopulation: deer-seeking drones. [MK]
Comedy Bang Bang #206: Live From SXSW 2013: Michael Cera, Sarah Silverman, Tim & Eric, Reggie Watts
Comedy Bang Bang’s episode from SXSW is essentially nothing but weird variables. It’s live, for starters, and features such wild cards as Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, as well as Scott Aukerman’s brilliant TV sidekick, Reggie Watts, who inhabits a different, better universe than everyone else. Not surprisingly, this episode is an exuberant shambles, as the guests (who also include Michael Cera and Sarah Silverman) talk up a new venture called JASH that sounds less like a new experimental comedy project than a fuzzy parody of a weirdly conceptual anti-comedy site. This episode jams an awful lot of ragged, loose, and inspired weirdness into an hour, though it’s worth it just to hear Watts’ adorably eccentric take on the Comedy Bang Bang TV show. (He’s putting off watching all the episodes so he can be delighted to stumble upon them later on.) [NR]
Doug Loves Movies: Howard Kremer, Samm Levine and Chris Hardwick
The combination of Chris Hardwick’s false humility and Samm Levine’s vocal confidence about their respective Leonard Maltin Game abilities could have mired this episode in obnoxiousness; but both are so damn good at playing the game that the competition itself overshadows the self-commentary. The presence of Howard Kremer helps as well, as his laid-back demeanor proves a nice foil to his more high-strung competitors. Presumably due to time constraints, Doug Benson foregoes what probably would have been an excellent round of Build-A-Title for a lackluster ABCDeez Nutz, but the main event makes up for it, with both Hardwick and Levine making some highly risky plays in the Leonard Maltin Game. [GK]
Doug Loves Movies: Nick Thune, Graham Elwood, And Troy Baxley
In this edition of Doug Loves Movies, Doug Benson takes the show on a field trip to Denver, Colorado with the help of frequent guest Graham Elwood. As usual, Elwood is more than happy to flaunt his savant-like film knowledge during both the chat and games portions. Comedian Nick Thune serves as a fantastic foil to Elwood, using his laid-back, charmingly lethargic persona to insert some well-timed quips around Elwood’s commentary. Thune also lands a phenomenal joke while explaining why he included an autographed photo of Johnny Carson for the prize bag, just one highlight in an action-packed 90-minute episode. [MS]
The Flop House #122: Awards Floptacular 2013
Heralded by host Dan McCoy as “everyone’s least favorite episode,” the annual Awards Floptacular finds the Original Peaches assessing the Academy Awards ceremony and the previous year in film. This year’s installment certainly does pale in comparison to the last couple of episodes, but it’s immensely enjoyable nonetheless. The Oscars jokes are no longer exactly topical, sure, but they’re funny and refreshingly snark-free, as is par for the course with the Flopsters. No one segment is much more notable than any other; more than the actual subject matter, it’s the hosts’ rapport and riffing that keeps the episode afloat, and those are indeed strong enough to bolster an entire hour of chitchat, even without any sort of throughline. It’s not the best entry point for a newcomer, but for regular Flop House listeners, it’s nearly as great as any other episode. [CG]
Fogelnest Files #26: Burning Love LIVE: Nick Kroll, June Diane Raphael, Martin Starr
This week’s live episode featuring members of the cast of Burning Love is definitely one of the show’s more uneven triumphs. On the one hand, Nick Kroll’s tastefully off-color riffing provides enough periodic zings to keep the episode on track throughout, and “Who Needs A Movie?” might be simultaneously the most grotesque and the most hilarious clip Jake Fogelnest has ever included in a podcast. On the other hand, while June Diane Raphael manages to stay in the game, Martin Starr may as well be asleep during the bulk of the hour and 15 minutes, and the questions Fogelnest uses to prompt jokes (especially the inevitable dud, “Can you describe what you’re seeing onscreen?”) are beginning to feel depressingly rote. Most of the better material is frontloaded in the first two-thirds, so the tail end is inessential this time around. [AB]
Hang Up And Listen: The Tough Stuff Edition
ESPN’s Jay Bilas remains one of the few sports broadcasters who ever questions the unjust and self-defeating dictates of the NCAA, a drum the HUAL crew are happy to let him beat during the opening segment of this week’s show. Most of what Bilas says about his new book, Toughness: Developing True Strength On And Off The Court, is precisely the sort of sports-talk nonsense the podcast generally dismisses, but the rest of the conversation gets to substantive business about the hypocrisy of “student-athlete” violations and the NCAA’s failure to make regular-season basketball worth watching. The rest of the show is devoted to baseball, including an interview with Mother Jones’ Ian Gordon about possible reforms in the Dominican Republic talent system and a contentious battle over the little-seen, oddly orchestrated World Baseball Classic. [ST]
Improv4Humans With Matt Besser #71: Ironic Hitler Tea Pot: Pamela Murphy, Mookie Blaiklock, Greg Tuculescu
Matt Besser can be a bit snippy, often cutting stories off to get a scene started, but this works to keep the show moving quickly. However, whenever he has a “Case Closed” segment, the show turns into a different beast, one that’s always slightly on edge. This week he’s joined by two journalists who both wrote about an artist recently outed as a white supremacist. Besser’s late father had bought one of his pieces under the assumption it was ironic, and the group attempts an interesting discussion about artistic intent, but it’s largely stifled by Besser’s authoritarian tone. The scenes that come out of the discussion are funny, but merely reflect the conversation instead of heightening it. That said, the front half is hilarious as ever, especially the scene on luxury resorts that takes a Land That Time Forgot turn rather quickly. [MK]
Judge John Hodgman: Courtlandia
The premise for this week’s episode would have anyone reaching for the podcast equivalent of a remote control: Lyndy believes her friend Drew is a hipster and Drew doesn’t think the label applies. But here’s a case where Judge Hodgman’s expertise and prep work turns a potentially excruciating discussion into a funny and meaningful one. Lyndy’s argument against her friend is fundamentally weak, mistaking his genuine affection for hockey and ska bands for poseur affectation, but Hodgman forges ahead regardless, drawing a crucial distinction between the evils of hipsterism and the virtues of nerd enthusiasms. Best of all, though, is the “Voight-Kampff” test he devises for Drew to determine if he’s a hipster, with questions like, “Do you have an ironic subscription to the magazine Garden And Gun?” and “Do you use a smartphone in secret but in public use a Filofax?” [ST]
The J.V. Club #52: Sarah Silverman
Janet Varney celebrates a year of podcasting with a quick look at some of the show’s best moments before diving into an introspective interview with Sarah Silverman recorded during the early days of The J.V. Club. There’s no M.A.S.H. or fortune-telling, and the women spend their conversation covering a wide range of topics, from religion to politics to sexual assault. It’s apparent that the episode was recorded a while ago because Varney is a bit awkward at the start, stuttering over her questions and actively trying not to cover any material in Silverman’s book, The Bedwetter. She gets more comfortable as the chat continues, opening up about her own adolescence as Silverman tells her story. They use their high-school talk to segue into discussion of their lives as comedians and how they’ve applied the lessons they’ve learned in the past to have more adjusted adulthoods. In the end, they focus on compassion and how essential it is to have it for everyone, whether you like them or not. [OS]
[pagebreak]
Mike And Tom Eat Snacks #77: La-Dee-Dahs
It's been a while since an episode of MATES dropped, but the sporadic posting schedule adds a sense of excitement to each new installment. This week is no exception, as Michael Ian Black and Tom Cavanagh discuss Whimsical Candy’s La-Dee-Dahs, tearing apart everything from the company’s name to the price of the product. The hosts go on fewer tangents than usual, rarely straying from the La-Dee-Dahs, but they retain their style and never allow the show’s momentum to dip. While Black and Cavanagh are known to go to weird places during MATES, this episode sees them rarely straying from the topic at hand. Thankfully, this more straightforward episode is just as effective as the duo’s weirder experiments. [DA]
Monday Morning Podcast
Bill Burr ends up spending little more than 10 minutes actually talking about how some sort of plumbing malfunction caused significant water damage to his house, but the incident haunts the entire episode in the form of Burr’s general frustration and mild irritability toward every topic that comes up. It’s no coincidence that the episode is also very funny. Highlights include Burr’s takedown of the “redheads as an endangered species” studies that have been going around for years and Nia’s brief, playfully annoyed cameo appearance, but the episode is consistently funny throughout. What happened to Burr’s house is unfortunate, but at least it resulted in some solid comedy this week. [CG]
The Moth: Amy Rood And David Sampliner: StorySLAM Favorites
Both short Moth entries in this episode involve stories of misadventure that don’t try to be more profound than they are. Amy Rood admits to looking like a “12-year-old Amish boy” in her tale about trying to become more conventionally sexy, but ends up affirming her dedication to eccentric bedroom behavior. (It’s more tasteful than that makes it sound.) David Sampliner’s story is about getting married, and he gives that its due weight, but also makes the story more about his own screwy decision-making and the horrors of getting married in a government office. [SG]
My Brother, My Brother And Me #143: Daniel Day Nutchuckles
Roughly the first half of this week’s episode is similar in quality to last week’s—mildly amusing but ultimately kind of forgettable. But things take a noticeable turn for the better when the inevitable horse-related Yahoo! Answers inquiry pops up. The McElroy brothers can seemingly produce nothing but gold when faced with questions about horses, but this week’s treatment of a horse-centric issue is their best at bat in some time, featuring talk of “kick-starting” a horse and general related silliness. The additional silliness that follows—about a famous line from Finding Forrester, about Sean Connery/Nicolas Cage, and about getting Adele tickets—isn’t too shabby, either. [CG]
Nerdist #331: Steve Carell
Steve Carell and the Nerdist hosts waste little time on pleasantries, jumping right into Carell’s career and sticking to that point for a most of the episode. Over the course of an hour, Carell discusses his time on The Daily Show, his film roles, and his lengthy working relationship with Stephen Colbert. The episode is largely informative, but that’s not to say it’s simply an overview of his work. Carell fits in nicely with the hosts and welcomes any topic they throw his way. Because of this, the episode breezes by relatively quickly, making the most of its length but never leaving room for listeners’ attention to wander. It does a great job of making what could have been a lifeless summation of credits into something entertaining. [DA]
Nerdist #332: Ben Schwartz
This episode of Nerdist kicks off with manic energy that propels the podcast for the majority of its duration. While many may know Ben Schwartz for his recurring role on Parks And Recreation as Aziz Ansari’s partner in crime, Jean-Ralphio, very little is discussed about his work on the show. Instead, Schwartz and the Nerdist hosts focus on the Don Cheadle-lead House Of Lies and engage in enthusiastic riffing. Schwartz’s improv skills are on full display as he tends to lead the conversation and helps create solid bits. There’s a bit of a lull right after the hour mark, but it doesn’t last long, and the episode finishes with the same level of enthusiasm it started off with. [DA]
Never Not Funny #1209: Betting On It With Rich Sommer
An early gambling session between the members of NNF gives this week’s episode its title, but “betting on it” could refer to much more than a Rich Sommer-led, Jimmy Pardo-extended game of guessing numbers at random. For one, the two are betting that listeners want to hear a half-hour of the room guessing numbers at random, or the two quasi-celebrities lamenting the uncertainty of their fame. But both chances pay off; the game is increasingly fun, Sommer’s humor turns dark and personal, and their riff on social anxiety and inability to relate to others is defiantly relatable. The post-break segment is a bit skimpy, with the last 30 minutes spent on Stupid Questions, but it doesn’t detract from the convivial rapport the two have built up to that point. There’s also some great stuff on electric fences, an unmourned grandfather, dubiously named food, and attempts to read a new sponsor’s copy. One of the best of the season so far, this week’s a sure thing. [SM]
Sklarbro Country #137: Away Game: Jesse Thorn
It’s a hybrid show this week—or an “away game” as the Sklars refer to it. Recording from the Maximum Fun studios (where Judge John Hodgman and Bullseye are recorded), the brothers interview podcast maven Jesse Thorn while weaving together their podcast with his. Thorn’s latest fantasy segment, on podcasters, is a welcome return, but also relates to the most interesting part of the show: the issues and future of the podcast. Thorn is frank about how he got into podcasting, its current state, and his next steps. Hearing him and the Sklars talk pragmatically, especially about how much work goes into each week’s episode, provides an interesting peek behind the curtain. [NC]
Sklarbro Country Sklarbro County #42: Ben Schwartz, Dan Van Kirk
Ben Schwartz is a delight whenever he shows up on a podcast, but he seems to have some extra gear with the Sklars this week. It always helps when Dan Van Kirk brings incredible stories, and with the auction of a sex doll’s virginity in Brazil and an Arkansas woman attempting to flee the scene of a car crash in a child’s toy car, there’s plenty to laugh about. But the real highlight is the extended “Katt Power Williams” riff, which combines Katt Williams and Jeff Foxworthy into “…you might be a pimp!” one-liners. [KM]
The Smartest Man In The World: Vapors
It’s Women’s History Month, which Greg Proops uses as the theme for the many subjects he touches on this week. (And there are many; the episode is more than two hours long.) Proops mostly directs his ire toward the argument that there’s no need for provisions like the Violence Against Women Act because America is an enlightened, equal state. His hackles are raised to the rafters as he dismantles arguments against promoting equality from people like Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and movie studio executives. Sometimes Proops’ rants can feel a bit scattered, but he’s devilishly on point this time, threading everything together to show just how far America has come in terms of equality, but also how far it has to go. [NC]
Sound Opinions #380: Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams gets a bad rap for being a “difficult” musician, a perfectionist who has switched labels numerous times. But there’s a simple explanation for that: During her tumultuous years, so many labels went out of business, and so many executives hopped to different positions, that she was just trying to keep up with the people she wanted to work with. In her Sound Opinions interview, she plays a few old songs, and even a new one that will be featured on an upcoming episode of Nashville, sung by Connie Britton. [KM]
Stuff You Missed In History Class: The Voynich Manuscript
Hosts Holly Frey and Tracy V. Wilson crack open the 15th-century tome known as the Voynich manuscript, named after its modern discoverer due to its lack of any discernible language inside. Nearly every page of this peculiar book is spilling over with illustrations of unknown plant species and female nudes. Historians are unsure whether the book is in code, of an unknown language, or an incredibly elaborate experiment in gibberish. Chemical analysis confirms the book is from our planet, though the mystery of its origin and purpose persist. It’s most likely a hoax, a tough one that language experts have been trying to decode for hundreds of years. Each theory Frey and Wilson try out reveals a new pocket of history, making this an unusual and enjoyable episode. [DT]
Stuff You Should Know: How Police Sketches Work
Hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant introduce the subject of police sketches with one of its greatest success stories, the capture of mass murderer Timothy McVeigh. Had a sketch not been circulating, McVeigh would not have been identified after being pulled over in traffic. One of the more interesting reveals of the episode is that police sketching has no absolute standards in the field, and there’s no official art curriculum someone can follow to become one. Talented patrol officers and civilians alike must learn to interpret eyewitness accounts and transform them into realistic art. Clark and Bryant have a blast going on deviations like the handsomeness of Josh Duhamel, and imagining the bizarre perpetrators they invent is as fun as the titular topic itself. [DT]
Stuff You Should Know: Do People Really Run Off To Join The French Foreign Legion?
Beneath the képi of these legendary legionnaires is a special-forces unit much tougher than a layperson might expect from French military. And as hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant reveal, this legion is not entirely French. Founded by former soldiers and foreign nationals in March of 1831, the French Foreign Legion has seen more international conflict than any other military group. An especially alluring aspect of the group is that all soldiers had to sign up under an assumed name, though it’s no longer mandatory as of 2010. The mystery of the outfit ensnares Clark and Bryant, who forgo most of the usual tangents and slowly pick apart what it must be like to leave your life behind and join this group of dissidents with death wishes. The romantic nihilism of the soldiers is likely to reel in listeners as well. [DT]
The Thrilling Adventure Hour #108: Amelia Earhart, Fearless Flyer, “Brother Vs. Brother Vs. Nazi”
“Amelia Earhart, Fearless Flyer” is one of two TAH series that involve time-traveling heroes, and it’s by far the funniest one. Because the story involves the disappeared pilot fighting Nazis throughout the space-time continuum, it gives the performers many chances to use the term “Kraut” and, in this episode, a chance for Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play a cartoonish SS officer. This episode is further proof of TAH’s knack for making silly archetypes fun again, as it centers on two brothers who are literally about to fight each other in the Civil War. John Krasinski plays one of them, but TAH regular James Urbaniak really makes the episode, as an ailing father with an unnatural dedication to his gun. [SG]
The Todd Glass Show #93: Family Show With Sharif
The Todd Glass Show continues its hot streak of “Family” shows with an episode that’s delightfully and seamlessly silly from beginning to end. There’s a complaint letter set to music with the help of guest musician Sharif, which always goes over well. Plus, later on, Glass goes on a fun rant in response to the letter’s criticism. The episode also includes Glass doing a great impression of a hack comedian invoking the old “This is your brain on drugs” PSA. However, the high point just might be the instructional tape of how to talk like Mark Wahlberg that gets its own dance remix. [MS]
Walking The Room #1D: Dave’s Dollop
Few conversational podcasts rely as heavily on the contrasting dynamic of its hosts as Walking The Room, so with the recent news that Greg Behrendt was taking a hiatus from the show, it made a sad sort of sense that WTR would wait the month or so for his return. In line with his mock-indifference of Behrendt, though, Dave Anthony drops a 30-minute episode this week under the WTR name, but admittedly in preparation for a spin-off solo show on the side. It’s a smart move, given the uncertainty of Behrendt’s future with the show, and Anthony makes use of the time as fans would expect: ranting against societal wrongs and missteps, taking on “soft” action stars, our culture’s apparent forgiveness of Mike Tyson and Michael Vick, and pets whose love or loyalty is smothering. There’s a thrill in hearing Anthony’s vitriolic riffs extended past the point where Behrendt would intervene, but even so, the closet misses its sweater. [SM]
WTF With Marc Maron #367: Gina Gershon
There are two big takeaways from Marc Maron’s interview with Gina Gershon: She’s a lot smarter than her most notable roles suggest, and Maron really wants everyone to know they make out in an episode of his upcoming IFC series. Their conversation covers her childhood growing up around young actors in Los Angeles and her college years at Emerson and NYU, but the most interesting segments cover her first interactions with Tom Cruise, the debacle of filming Showgirls, and her role in the Wachowskis’ Bound. After getting past Maron’s self-flagellation over his makeout skills (or lack thereof), it’s an illuminating interview, and all the more reason to get excited for Maron’s IFC series. Check out Gershon’s performance in Killer Joe in the meantime. [KM]
WTF With Marc Maron #368: Leslie Jones
Comic Leslie Jones may not yet be a household name, but she’s sure to have some new fans after her delightful turn on WTF. She’s an excellent guest who not only lends the perspective of a woman of color to the white-male-dominated show, but also has some great stories from her personal background (after attending high school with Suge Knight, she went on to become the lone black girl recruited for Colorado State University’s basketball team, only to give up her scholarship to pursue comedy) and professional experiences. (She toured with Katt Williams and chafed at being pigeonholed in “Chocolate Sunday”-type shows.) More importantly, she has a confident, dominant (though not unfriendly) personality. Maron clearly crushes on Jones throughout the course of the interview, and it’s not hard to see why. [CZ]
You Made It Weird #132: Jen Kirkman
This episode is worth it for Pete Holmes’ impressions alone, ranging from Jerry Seinfeld to a bitter drunk at a wedding. As for the guest, there’s nothing new about Jen Kirkman being on a podcast, but she and Holmes clearly share the same podcasting comfort zone. That is, they both have an easy time alternating between the funny stuff and the personal stuff. Not that YMIW ever feels especially forced, but it’s hard not to notice that this episode flows more naturally than most. [SG]
THE REST
The Best Show On WFMU
Best Show’s second fundraising installment is an unqualified success in its aim to raise money for WFMU (an astounding $212,000 over two episodes). However, a delightful call from Newark Mayor Cory Booker and an A.C. Newman song about actor John Wesley Shipp are the episode’s only moments with post-TomThon appeal. [TC]
Freakonomics: Parking Is Hell
This week’s discussion of the complete inefficiency in how humans park offers some interesting factoids, but it ultimately serves an argument that Stephen Dubner has made before: Fewer people should be driving. [NC]
How Was Your Week #105: “An Egg Without Salt”: David Wain, America Ferrera
This uneven episode features an unfocused interview with David Wain—which has some funny parts but runs a bit too long—while America Ferrara’s much shorter segment ends just when the conversation starts to build momentum. [DF]
The Mental Illness Happy Hour #104: John & Megan Brehman
A conversation with siblings sounds better in theory than it is in practice with this episode, which drags too often to recommend. [TC]
Mohr Stories #139: Kirk Fox
Comedian and actor Kirk Fox returns for a linear conversation about how life runs deep; highlights include deconstructing the Dalai Lama’s origin story and goofing on new-age spirituality. [DXF]
Mohr Stories #140: Pete Holmes
Mohr and Pete Holmes run through their arsenal of impressions (Alan Rickman, Ray Romano, Christopher Walken, Steven Wright, and others), explore the thin line between arrogance and self-confidence, and discuss forging ideas and making personal connections in the age of Google. [DXF]
Nerdist #330: Camilla Luddington
As the new voice of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, Camilla Luddington makes sense as a Nerdist guest, but the episode doesn’t exactly open with a bang. It picks up by the end, but it’s far too unbalanced to be effective. [DA]
Professor Blastoff #95: Math (w/ Abe Kunin)
The Professor Blastoff hosts were nice enough to keep the funny (and cute) moments to the opening and closing segments, so listeners not interested in a dry math lesson can skip the middle 30. [SM]
Stuff You Missed In History Class: The Mystic Margery Kempe
Though Margery Kempe holds an interesting title as the first autobiographer, this recounting of her religious pilgrimages is not as engaging as the hosts repeatedly insist it is. [DT]
Uhh Yeah Dude: #362
Jonathan Larroquette explores the moral implications of performing in a hugely successful band that you know to be God-awful. He also offers some sage advice to the girlfriend of a barfly in this otherwise so-so episode. [CW]
Who Charted? #119: LIVE from Vancouver: Reggie Watts
This otherwise fun live episode sounds like it was recorded inside a tin can. [MS]
You Made It Weird #133: Brody Stevens
Pete Holmes and Brody Stevens share an amiable conversation on this episode, but it takes a while to gather much momentum. [SG]