Kurt Braunohler joins the podcast fray, Werner Herzog continues his streak, and Radiolab cuts to the heart
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QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“What other Bane [movies] are there?”
“Well, there was Bane 2 In The City: This Time It’s Ur-Bane.” —Doug Benson and Greg Proops, Doug Loves Movies
“Chris Farley would be attempting to roll over in his grave if he saw that kind of acting… [But] he’s probably thin enough now to roll over.” —Jimmy Pardo jokingly dismisses Veep, Never Not Funny
“I feel the same way about children that I feel about people: Most of them are fucking annoying.” —Hank Azaria, WTF
“Matthew McConaughey is a pilgrim in search of a shirt. He doesn’t realize the shirt was inside him the whole time.” —Werner Herzog (Paul F. Tompkins) explains the plot of his favorite film, Surfer, Dude, Doug Loves Movies
“First we put a put a man on the moon, and now we’ve put a penis on Mars. Don’t tell me that’s not progress, because if you do, I’ll show you a photo of the planet Mars with a penis on it, and you’ll lose that argument.” —John Oliver, The Bugle
“Six words that let you know where you are on the ladder of life: ‘One for Pain And Gain, please.’” —Tom Scharpling, The Best Show On WFMU
NEW
The K Ohle With Kurt Braunohler
Kurt Braunohler is probably best known as the host of Bunk (and as Kristen Schaal’s performing partner in their long-running Hot Tub show), a game show wherein the challenges were really just a method of creating riffable material for Braunohler and his comedian guests. While The K Ohle, which premièred on the Nerdist network this week, doesn’t necessarily follow the same conceptual framework, Braunohler is definitely doing something similar. Described as a “multi-format podcast,” The K Ohle protects itself from staleness by changing formats from week to week, often in one of three frameworks: The Boat Show, where Kurt and his guests talk about boating, even though they know nothing about it; PETophilia, “The Animal Show For People Who Think Animals Are Dumb”; and Get Lost!, the “rape-y” show where Kurt drives blindfolded guests somewhere they’ve never been, then they figure out how to get back.
Bunk’s failure was arguably that it invested too much of its energy in crafting bizarre setups and not enough of it in the performance itself, but Braunohler seems to be employing a smarter strategy with the podcast. There’s nothing particularly compelling about the idea of a boat-based comedy show, and yet Braunohler and Tompkins’ 30-minute exchange is chock-full of hilarious material. It’s too early to be optimistic, but if Braunohler can actually generate a novel, gag-provoking concept for each episode, this one definitely has a lot of potential. [AB]
THE BEST
The Best Show On WFMU
It’s unclear if Tom Scharpling would subject himself to the torment of sitting through more than two hours of Pain & Gain if not for The Best Show. Whether he watched the film as an act of self-flagellation or suffered solely for his listeners’ entertainment, the host’s dissection of the Michael Bay picture results in the show’s second consecutive episode highlighted by meditations on meathead cinema. A celebration of Fleetwood Mac and castigation of the Eagles are additional entertaining asides this week from Scharpling, who has a knack for talking about pop culture in a way that’s both thoughtful and hilariously reductive. The growing friendship between Marc Maron and Scharpling continues as the WTF host calls to promote Maron, which prompts Scharpling to declare his own career “over.” Hopefully, the career obituary is premature from the self-proclaimed “King of Free Entertainment.” [TC]
The Bugle #232: Mars, Merchandise, and Mad Men!
While Thatcher’s death provided John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman a venerable field day, after occupying much of the past two episodes the strain started to set in. This week they return to much sillier affairs, notably beginning with Oliver’s hilarious defense of swearing in front of a former Australian prime minister. Likewise, it’s always a good sign when they can’t help but go off-book. This week’s tangent came from one avid listener who signed The Bugle up for Christian online dating. The main show builds on this enthusiasm with thoroughly entertaining and lighthearted reporting on the image of penis that was drawn by the Mars rover. In an especially good turn, they transition the Boston bombings into a discovery of their new favorite insane international leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic. [MK]
Comedy Bang! Bang! #216: Top Of The Schaal To You! Kristen Schaal, Micheala Watkins, Neil Campbell
Kristen Schaal last appeared on CBB just a few months ago, in theory to promote her Comedy Central special, which she ostensibly did not want to support. At the time, it was hard to tell if Schaal was doing a bit or genuinely regretted the special, but the network did postpone airing it, then dumped it in a weekday midnight slot when no one would watch it. (Schaal said later she was done with stand-up.) She and Aukerman don’t get to the bottom of it here, but no one would expect that from CBB—Schaal is always a fun guest, mystery or no. Michaela Watkins joins as Scott’s therapist, Dr. Sherri Levine, but plays it pretty straight, with not many laughs. Neil Campbell shows up later as Congressman Buford Dorsey, and like a lot of his characters, this one is pretty inscrutable—but he totally slays Aukerman, who eats up Dorsey’s weird habits and theories. The highlight, though, is a voicemail from Schaal’s mom about her last appearance on CBB. [KR]
Doug Loves Movies: Greg Proops, Matt Besser And Paul F. Tompkins
The seemingly inexhaustible run of Werner Herzog (Paul F. Tompkins) as Leonard Maltin Game champion has led Doug Benson to relax Doug Loves Movies’ open-door policy somewhat, resulting in this week’s very Teutonic edition of the show. Herzog returns once again, miserablist witticisms in tow, joined this time by a newcomer, Matt Besser’s fun-loving, audibly stoned “Retired Pope” Joseph Ratzinger (who, strangely, sounds a little like a drunk Kumail Nanjiani). Keeping pace with these two is the ever-agile Greg Proops, who ably navigates the chasm between the two other guests’ opposing personalities—and briefly invites his “friend” Jeremy Irons to join in the proceedings. Lincoln super-fan Retired Pope turns out to be a bit of a spoiler in an uneventful Lincoln Or Bane, but the Leonard Maltin Game makes up for it with a couple of hilariously off-base, marijuana-assisted answers and a throw-your-hands-up-and-cheer last-minute reversal. It’ll be nice to get back to “normal” DLM once this run of character episodes finally ends, but as of this week, Herzog’s presence is still paying great dividends. [GK]
Freakonomics: It’s Crowded At The Top
Education and labor value are bound together; more education generally yields better pay. That relationship is more pronounced in “knowledge positions,” or “people who use their brains” as Stephen Dubner puts it. But demand for knowledge positions actually hit a plateau in 2001, long before the Great Recession. This means that there’s been a downward push in jobs for more than a decade, so overqualified people have been vying for entry-level positions. It also turns out that for all the recent talk in American politics about the need for more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) workers, a new paper argues that only 50 percent of graduates in STEM fields end up getting those kinds of jobs. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the Great Recession only exacerbated an existing problem in our labor market. [NC]
Hang Up And Listen: The “And I’m Gay” Edition
NBA journeyman Jason Collins came out as gay this week, which was met with a chorus of praise from fellow players, moronic pedants pointing out his less-than-stellar career statistics, and Chris Broussard being a bigot. But the HUAL panel digs deeper than simple praise, leading to a larger discussion of how much is left to gain for equality in sports. After a requisite negative NFL draft, the highlight of Afterballs is Stefan Fatsis’ explanation of Abby Wambach’s head injury being ignored by the National Women’s Soccer League. [KM]
How Was Your Week #112: “Wesleyan As a Human Being”: Rachel Lichtman, Jena Friedman
As Julie Klausner puts it, she and Rachel Lichtman “share pop-culture passions.” Not only are they both devotees of The Monkees, but Klausner and Lichtman are also interested in elevating pop-culture relics to deconstruct the accepted mythologies of an era. The majority of Lichtman’s interview in the second half of the show deals with ’70s music, focusing on the ways established narratives surrounding punk rock, disco, and prog rock obscure historical events, and offering some deep insights about history, subcultures, and memory. All of this makes for fascinating listening and, as is the case with the most incisive HWYW interviews, Klausner’s jocular style and skill as a conversationalist means that things never get bogged down. [DF]
Improv4Humans #78: The A Crew: Sean Clements, Neil Campbell, Dominic Dierkes
Anyone who read The Scarlet Letter in high school will probably howl with laughter halfway through the first scene of this week’s Improv4Humans, where punk teenagers conflate that mark of adultery and the symbol for anarchy. While the following segments never quite reach those levels of comic absurdity, it’s a decidedly solid episode overall. A few okay scenes are balanced out by one where George Lucas ascends to heaven, only to answer lilting fanboys’ inane questions for eternity. It quickly becomes a fantastic scene as the three trade off characters asking rapid-fire nonsense, largely about Lucas’ neck beard. [MK]
The JV Club #59: Mindy Sterling
Janet Varney has avoided talking about The Legend Of Korra too much on her podcast, but when the voice of her television mother figure, Lin Beifong, comes on the show, Varney finally has the Korra discussion many fans have been waiting to hear. Mindy Sterling’s ignorance regarding how huge a phenomenon the series is leads to some hilarious conversation as Varney exposes her to the concepts of fan art and cosplay while revealing new facets of Avatar/Korra mythology. There isn’t a huge amount of exploration into Sterling’s adolescence, primarily due to her shoddy memory, but also because it wasn’t as tumultuous a time for her as it is for a lot of teens. A good girl through and through, her most daring move in high school was photobombing some yearbook club pictures so that it looked like she was in more extracurricular activities. Much of the chat focuses on Sterling’s experience performing and teaching at Groundlings, making this a great episode for both aspiring comedians and Korra fanatics. [OS]
The Mental Illness Happy Hour #111: Karen Kilgariff
A successful live podcast episode is a rare flower in a desert full of installments that are more fun for those in attendance than the downloading audience. The likelihood of a solid entry from a show that requires intimacy like The Mental Illness Happy Hour is even lower in front of a crowd, but Paul Gilmartin and Karen Kilgariff pull it off in the show’s first-ever live episode. Much of the credit goes to Kilgariff, whose engaging storytelling ability shines throughout the episode. The Mr. Show alum talks about the aimlessness of her youth, getting over body-shame issues, and the trauma of dealing with a history of Alzheimer’s disease in her family. There are understandably a few more attempts at levity in front of the live audience, but it never devolves into a joke-fest at the expense of the show’s deeper goals. [TC]
Monday Morning Podcast
It’s typical of Bill Burr’s bent toward the underdog that he’s more enlivened by the Lakers’ bad fortune than he is by the Celtics’ recent success, and the vitriol of vindication flows freely for much of this week’s podcast. (He has a surprisingly sizeable bone to pick with Kobe Bryant in particular.) Between the NBA playoffs and Jason Collins’ coming out, the episode is noticeably frontloaded with a bevy of basketball news, but Burr keeps his energy up throughout. His advice to a balding man about whether he should pursue hair treatment that may lead to impotence is particularly fruitful, though it treads dangerously close to misogyny. Similarly, a diatribe against banks’ exploitative mortgage practices brings the podcast into a nebulous space where it’s difficult to tell how serious Burr is with his advice to keep money in a mattress. As with the accidental homophobia that slips into his discussion about Collins, however, Burr’s self-deprecation makes a fairly convincing case that his heart is in the right place. [AB]
Nerdist #349: Marc Maron #3
As the episode’s title suggests, this isn’t the first time that Marc Maron has visited Nerdist. It seems like the podcast is revisiting many previous guests now that it has surpassed the 300-episode mark, but it’s not a criticism. These check-ins allow Chris Hardwick to go deeper with without losing the podcast’s chattiness. Here, Maron talks at length about his new, eponymous IFC show, Maron, but it never feels like he’s shilling. His and Hardwick’s joking suggests Maron has finally softened on his opinion of Hardwick, and Hardwick is no longer trying to impress the comedy veteran. It’s two of the podcasting world’s most noteworthy names talking for over an hour, and while the results are somewhat predictable, the formula remains pretty effective. [DA]
Never Not Funny #1216: Covering The Bases With Matt Walsh
If this season of Never Not Funny has felt a little slow, it may be because there haven’t been many big names on the guest list (not that they guarantee a good show). Matt Walsh may not be a household name, but he’s a massive presence in the comedy world thanks to being one of the co-founders of UCB and a ubiquitous character actor. Maybe it’s a placebo effect of having someone well-known in the guest spot, but #1216 is one of the most enjoyable episodes of the season so far, with some funny riffing around an Italian novelty-song CD, racism in Chicago, and the discography of Harry Chapin. Even the morning-zoo antics of playing a couple goofy YouTube videos on air works, because the crew enjoys them so much. [KR]
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Mohr Stories #153: Josh Homme
Mohr gets into the nitty-gritty in this circuitous interview with Queens Of The Stone Age main man Josh Homme, first by grilling the singer-guitarist on the intraband dynamics that prompted the transition from Kyuss to Queens. Homme doesn’t go deep, but he does name names with a frankness that’s uncommon in rock talk. That openness continues through candid recaps of various QOTSA lineups and Homme’s working relationships with onetime collaborators Dave Grohl, Mark Lanegan, and John Paul Jones. While much of the talk is specific to Homme’s cult bands, other passing music-related topics are more universal, including artistic struggles in a post-major label climate, the difficulties of leading a band as the only constant member, reasons to make music when money isn’t a major goal, and some shots at arena bands’ faux-spontaneous stage banter. [DXF]
My Brother, My Brother And Me #150: Wolf School
Aside from a strange, unpleasant new theme song (let’s hope the brothers don’t stick with it), this week’s episode is one of the McElroys’ more consistent efforts in recent weeks. The only noticeable misstep occurs late in the podcast when the brothers’ attempt to riff on Yahoo dealing with “birthday spanks” falls flat, but it’s thankfully redeemed almost immediately by a short but funny gag about garlic salad. Other highlights include an increasingly surreal pitch for a reality dating show involving wolves and a fairly serious but nonetheless valuable discussion about the limits of nerd pride. This week is also notable due to the McElroys’ (planned? unplanned?) focus on their Baptist upbringing as fodder for jokes about old-fashioned marriage traditions and their self-professed ignorance about lesbian make-out sessions. In the end, it really just serves to make their Extreme Restraints plugs more endearingly bashful. [AB]
Professor Blastoff #101: Nerds (w/ Jackie Kashian)
The current cultural embrace of all things “nerd” has left the epithet convoluted to the point where everyone with an interest or hobby could consider themselves among the Magic-card-carrying ranks. That’s all right with guest Jackie Kashian, host of the nerd-inclined podcast Dork Forest, as it not only supports a previously unsupported demographic, but brings together all kinds of disparate people with a greater-than-average devotion. Her discussion with the Professor Blastoff hosts is fittingly broad, touching upon Lord Of The Rings, George Lucas, and computer tips—plus midwives, terror wolves, and Batman Returns cups—but it’s mostly concerned with the taxonomy of nerds, its subsets of geek and dweeb, and reconciling the deviations in interest, appearance, and personality from the stereotypical nerd. While not entirely a serious topic, the hosts treat it with reverence, waiting until the late-episode sharing of embarrassing stories to revel in nerd culture’s inherent silliness. [SM]
Radiolab: 23 Weeks 6 Days
No podcast this week deserves an hour of your time more than “23 Weeks 6 Days.” In a one long segment, the Radiolab crew retells a breathtaking series of articles from the Tampa Bay Times about a premature child’s struggle in utero and beyond. Every minute is heart-wrenching, and it’s never clear where the story will go, only that it will leave a mark on listeners for some time. Largely framed by interviews with the mother and father of baby Juniper French, this is the rare story with a raw emotional core strong enough to dispel previously held political convictions. Yet the hosts still manage to expertly address the underlying scientific and moral questions Radiolab is so fond of pondering. [MK]
Sklarbro Country #144: Paul Dooley, Dan Van Kirk
When the Sklars get ahold of a comedy journeyman like Paul Dooley, they’re more reverent than someone like Marc Maron, who wants to dig deeper into personal history instead of hitting the highlights. But considering how much the Sklars love Breaking Away, they do a fine job of introducing Dooley’s varied career, from The Electric Company to his work with Robert Altman. Dan Van Kirk’s Mark Wahlberg impression rounds out the episode, talking about his new film Pain & Gain. [KM]
Sklarbro Country Sklarbro County #49: Adam Cayton-Holland, Jason Nash, Dan Van Kirk
Amazon pilot Those Who Can’t has an intriguing premise with disappointing execution—think Workaholics meets Bad Teacher. But it’s clear from that episode that its Denver creators have talent. Bringing Adam Cayton-Holland, one of the show’s stars, onto Sklarbro gives the Sklars an opportunity to talk about how Amazon’s experiment could further expand pilot production outside of New York and Los Angeles. The best story for riffing involves a woman who has been involved in 400 arrests over 35 years with at least 83 different aliases, a ridiculous career that provides many opportunities for comedic tangents. [KM]
Sound Opinions #387: Nick Drake
Nick Drake died almost 40 years ago, but thanks to a 1999 Volkswagen commercial licensing “Pink Moon,” he’s enjoyed quite the revival of posthumous popularity. Joe Boyd, the original producer of Drake’s first two albums, helped put together Way To Blue, a tribute album with contributions from Lisa Hannigan, Robyn Hitchcock, and Teddy Thompson (son of Richard and Linda). He talks through his professional relationship with Drake, his frustration that Drake’s music didn’t break through like Leonard Cohen’s, and how he returned to produce the tribute album. [KM]
Stuff You Should Know: What Makes Us Yawn?
Hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant kick off this pandiculation discussion by reminding listeners how yawns are contagious among all mammals, not just humans. In other words, they bait listeners to yawn for the duration of the episode. If the resulting chain reaction isn’t too much to bear, the scientific discussion of how this reflex functions makes up for it. Especially worth the listen is the psychological link between yawning empathy. Yawning has no discernible benefit other than its contagious quality. This also leads to the interesting premise of which came first: an original yawn or a witnessed yawn. The research dossier Clark and Bryant bring is thick; cool outdoor temperatures and hot brain temperatures raise yawning rates. Whatever the purpose, the act ties naked mole-rats to humans in an entertaining half hour. [DT]
Stuff You Should Know: Is There Such A Thing As A Truth Serum?
One of the most popular myths in the world of thrillers, spy adventures, and syringe-based fantasies is that we can make each other confess with a shot in the arm, and hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant do their best to clear the air on what they dub “narco-analytic drugs.” Using Colorado theater-shooting suspect James Holmes as a jumping-off point (a judge approved the use of truth serum to judge his competency to stand trial), Clark and Bryant debunk LSD and coagulated blood as possible miracle elixirs. Psychology comes into play; are interrogators trying to uncover neurosis? Do they use catharsis as bait? The science is imperfect, but the ambiguity makes it more interesting. The episode also unpacks the “official” drug, sodium amytal, making it sound more fun than effective. While there are no definitive answers to the titular question, the episode is worth the download. [DT]
Stuff You Missed In History Class: Sarah Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy
Hosts Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey unravel the tale of Sarah Emma Edmonds, no normal wartime spy. During the American Civil War, Edmonds joined the Union army while masking her gender from her officers. Under the guise of a man named Franklin Flint Thompson, she chiefly aided wounded soldiers, but eventually saw combat as well. As the war went on, some of her close friends were captured and killed, and Edmonds managed to interview her way into a spy position for revenge (or so her memoir claims). Wilson and Frey are careful to note that there is no evidence that the Thompson guise had anything to do with her gender identity, making Edmonds’ journey all the more difficult to label and interesting to hear. [DT]
The Todd Glass Show #100: Rory Scovel
After a string of lackluster, uneven shows, Todd Glass triumphantly restores the podcast to its former glory for its landmark 100th episode. Glass rings in this achievement with the help of frequent guest Rory Scovel and a fantastic jingle parodying the theme of Growing Pains. After Glass’ introduction, it quickly becomes clear that Glass and Scovel are ramped up for hours of unbridled silliness. In fact, this episode clocks in at just under two hours, and it’s a two hours where Scovel and Glass seamlessly weave in and out of impromptu bits without any dull spots. Scovel closes the show with an amazing bit where he assumes the role of a power-mad production assistant dead set on asserting his imaginary authority. [MS]
Walking The Room #148: Gallagher’s Suicide Note
As Greg Behrendt quips, Paul Gilmartin’s Mental Illness Happy Hour is one stop before self-immolation, so this week’s live episode from Portland’s Bridgetown Festival was already set to be particularly sad. But, much like professional wrestling, WTR also happens to be highly entertaining, and it’s not like the hosts have much problem finding comedy in tragedy. As such, the best bits from Gilmartin’s segment are fittingly derived from the Boston bombing, a Dinner And A Movie/WWF crossover, and Behrendt’s dog pills, not to mention his many great one-liners at the expense of the hosts. But where Gilmartin comes off well-adjusted and hilarious while claiming to be a train wreck, Gallagher is the exact inverse, an embittered mess who’d rather rant about stolen jokes and huge paychecks than bother repairing his image or keeping on topic. The hosts make the best of it by generally going along with his insanity and avoiding a WTF-esque walkout, but listeners can’t help but wonder how Gilmartin would have handled him. [SM]
Who Charted? #126: Mr. Manhattan
Although Eddie Pepitone is aggressively making the podcast rounds in the wake of the success of The Bitter Buddha documentary, he’s far from wearing out his on-air welcome. Part of his charm involves his ability to turn his usually intense energy level down a few notches and engage in a semi-laidback conversation with Howard Kremer and Kulap Vilaysack. It’s a lot of fun to hear Pepitone express his genuine confusion and frustration over the current state of pop music and hear his first reaction to Macklemore. Plus, he easily has one of the world’s most charming laughs, which he inserts liberally throughout the episode. [MS]
WTF #381: Mark Schiff
Mark Schiff came up through stand-up at the same time as Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Reiser, and while those guys have praised him as one of the best they’ve ever seen, he never broke through in a traditional way. Still, he has great stories about his early days in comedy, including a few enlightening bits about Rodney Dangerfield’s penchant for robes, his choice to do clean comedy, and how he’s gravitated toward religion as he gets older. [KM]
WTF #382: Hank Azaria
Marc Maron and Hank Azaria are two peas in a neurotic pod: Maron and the actor bond over their issues with eating, showbiz, and bad marriages, spending a good amount of time ruminating on the gigantic mind-fuck that is parenthood. (Azaria alludes to pregnancies he helped cause other than the one that resulted in his beloved son.) The episode isn’t exactly a laugh riot, but it’s a sober look at what a certain type of man looks like when he hits a certain time of life. Warning: Fans tuning in hoping to hear a cavalcade of Simpsons characters may be disappointed. The episode also includes a phone chat with Amy Schumer, as she and Maron bond over eponymous new TV shows. [CZ]
You Made It Weird #146: Matt Goldich
Pete Holmes introduces his guest Matt Goldich with a short clip of Goldich’s stand-up, which would be a smart addition to a lot of YMIW episodes. With or without that little bit of context, the rest of the episode is typically open and easygoing. Up front, there’s a lot of comedy-career talk, including about the drudgery of comedy festivals. As usual, it’s just a question of setting the right mood to make that stuff engaging, and the two have little trouble doing that here. [SG]
You Made It Weird #147: Vikram Gandhi
Vikram Gandhi, who posed as a guru for his documentary Kumare, plays nicely into Pete Holmes’ interests in both comedy and spiritual exploration. Holmes often talks about meditation on YMIW, and both men seem comfortable mixing genuine curiosity with some gentle mockery. Still, the episode manages to seem like just a bit of a challenge for YMIW, and a little reaching can go a long way in a podcast episode. [SG]
THE REST
The Fogelnest Files #33: Fun Calendar Talk: Kurt Braunohler, Joe Mande, Gabe Liedman
While this week’s show is definitely a step up from Fogelnest’s previous live podcasts, the conversation is too scattershot to culminate in enough worthwhile bits to warrant listening for an hour. That said, the clips are pretty fantastic. [AB]
Mohr Stories #154: Forrest Griffin
Author and former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin relives losing a testicle, discusses life on the injured reserve, lists his favorite fights and fighters, and reveals his workout music (spoilers: Nine Inch Nails and Phish). [DXF]
The Moth: Elna Baker: To Russia With Love
In a story about revealing her sins to her strict Mormon parents, Elna Baker captures her ambivalence and discomfort but never seems to find a strong narrative hook. [SG]
Stuff You Missed In History Class: Stede Bonnet, The Gentleman Pirate
The story of any genuine pirate is worth a listen, but most of Stede Bonnet’s tale involves sulking in Blackbeard’s shadow. [DT]
The Thrilling Adventure Hour #115: Behind The Scenes Of TAH
It’s important that one of TAH’s behind-the-scenes episodes focus on Ben Acker and Ben Blacker’s writing partnership, as it’s so essential to the show. But this conversation doesn’t quite have the same playful camaraderie as previous behind-the-scenes episodes that include cast members. [SG]
Uhh Yeah Dude #370
Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Larroquette dish out tough love to some hygiene-averse job-seekers still rocking the “recycled grunge look” and have a spirited discussion over the inherent racism of the East Asian riff, but their enthusiasm wanes during the rest of the hour. And be sure to tune into their WTF episode to fill any gaps in your knowledge of the UYD backstory. [CW]
WTF #383: Live From Vancouver
Margaret Cho, Andy Kindler, Carmen Lynch, Brendon Walsh, and Matt Braunger join Marc Maron in Vancouver. Despite some lively conversations, the live episodes never reach the depth of Maron’s garage interviews. [KM]