Succotash Epi61: Flaggin' Down Graham Elwood

First thing you gotta know is that Epi61 is the longest installment of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast, that we've done to date. No particular reason for it. The interview with our Special Guest Graham Elwood comes in at about 30 minutes. But we've got a bunch of podcast clips to share, a Boozin' With Bill segment, the TweetSack section, our Burst O' Durst and a new song by musical geekmaster John Anealio. That, plus my usual rambling gum-flapping has us pushing the limits in terms of just how long someone can shovel Succotash into their earholes.

Sue me - this stuff's free.

I was delighted to talk at length with the aforementioned Graham Elwood. We had tried to link up when he was in San Francisco recently for a face-to-face sit-down but couldn't coordinate schedules. So we Skyped it and it came out fine. Graham's a comedian, an actor, a writer, a podcaster, and most recently, co-producer and organizer of the Los Angeles Podcast Festival (the 2nd annual is this October 4-6 in Santa Monica.)

Along with his partner-in-crime Chris Mancini, Graham hosts the Comedy Film Nerds podcast and also co-authored the Comedy Film Nerds Guide to Movies. In addition, he is heard often on Doug Loves Movies, competing against the audience during Doug Benson's live shows on the road.  

We talk about how he got his comedy start, his podcast start, his podcast festival start...lots of starts. And, most important to our podcaster listeners, reveals what they have in store at this year's LA PodFest to let more of us get into the action of podcasting in relative comfort from the event. (And his latest CD, Palm Strike Dance Party, is available at http://Graham Elwood.com!)

GET HIP

It's not too late to help friend-of-Succotash Chris Bonno (interviewed in Epi43) as he's just gone through hip replacement surgery. Being as he' a comedian and a painter, he's got zip in terms of health insurance, so paying for his operation is going to be one giant mofo that Obama's health care program doesn't seem set to cover. You can find out how to kick a little money into the hip kitty through his website at http://ChrisBonno.com or else click on the link to get over to the GiveForward website where they're taking care of the funds as they come in.

THE 10 MOST ACTIVE IN THE STITCHER TOP 100 COMEDY PODCAST LIST

I realized that what I read The 10 Most Active in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List, very often I don’t even know some of these shows I’m reading about. And they’re in the Top 100 of comedy podcasts – that’s out of literally THOUSANDS. So starting this week I’m going to pick one or two or a few to play clips from so we can all learn as we grow.

Here’s the list of, again, the most ACTIVE shows on the list this past week. That means, regardless of their rank, they showed the most movement either up or down the chart.

47. The Champs with Neal Brennan & Moshe Kasher -10
59. The World of Phil Hendrie +21
63. Sir Darryl Radio Experience +339
73. Sex Squad +17
79. Conversations with Matt Dwyer +257
80. The Dana Gould Hour -15
81. Yoshi Didn’t Podcast -14
82. Wits +27
84. Rollin’ With Dice & Wheels +113
98. SModcast FeAB -17

BURST O' DURST FROM THE OL' BOOMERAGER HIMSELF

We have our usual  Burst O' Durst feature but I wanted to remind those Succotashians who live in the San Francisco Bay Area that Will Durst still has a couple of Tuesday nights (thru June 25th) left in the run of his one-man show, BoomeRaging: LSD to OMG, at the Marsh Theater in San Francisco. Hop over to http://WillDurst.com for showtimes and ticket information.

SING YOUR SONG, NERDY MUSIC MAN

Our friend John Anealio - from The Functional Nerds podcast with co-host Patrick Hester - has a new song out and we've got it featured in this episode. I'll Be Your Thor is a love song from a nerd to his even nerdier lady for whom only one hero can save the day. Once you hear it on Succotash and  you love it, you can download it for FREE over at http://JohnAnealio.com.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BOTTLE

Our Boozin' With Bill is a little different than our usual visit with Succotash's booth announcer cum bartender. He's unearthed an ancient bottle of creme de menthe and he's determined to see if it's still viable for getting a heat on.

THE CLIPS

The Sir Darryl Radio Experience
I’m not sure what this show is all about – or why it shot up 339 places on the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcasts this week. I listened to part of a recent episode where Sir Darryl, who bills himself on the homesite for the show as “The Most Articulate Negro in America”, starts drinking wine and apparently starts to get loopy within just a couple of minutes.

Conversations with Matt Dwyer
Comedian, actor and writer Matt Dwyer’s podcast is into its 50s, episode wise, and this week his show's Stitcher numbers leaped up 257 places this week!  We feature a slice from his recent interview with Duncan Trussell, who is also a comedian and the host of the Duncan Trussell Family Hour.  

Rollin’ With Dice and Wheels
Dice is back. Celebrity Apprentice wasn’t enough and now Andrew “Dice” Clay and his longtime opening act Michael “Wheels” Parise have their own podcast. They’re only into their Epi8 and doing phenomenal numbers – up 113 places this week to make it into the Top 100 on Stitcher. In this recent episode we're clipping, comic Tom Green is co-hosting in place of Wheels.

Pop My Culture
We haven’t looked in on Cole Stratton and Vanessa Ragland of the Pop My Culture podcast for awhile. They’re going great guns, after taking a little time away from the mikes, and just dropped their 116th episode, which features guest Dana Gould. Comic, actor, writer, he’s also the host of podcasting’s The Dana Gould Hour. (I’m also featuring this episode for my review in This Week In Comedy Podcasts over on Splitsider.com!)

The Paul Mecurio Show
The Sideshow Network has a massive pile of steaming comedy podcasts, with some really great shows like PodCRASH with THAT Chris Gore, Overview with our pal Rick Overton, and Story Worthy with Christine Blackburn & Hannes Phinney. It’s also home to The Paul Mecurio Show. I’ve clipped Paul here before but it’s been a while. Paul’s guest this week was Jay Leno. I don’t think I’ve heard of Jay being on any podcast before – is that possible? Anyway, Paul got him – they have a bit of a history together – Jay bought the very first joke Paul sold before, which gave him the inspiration to give up his law practice to become a comedian.

The Bitter Sound Podcast
Although I’ve played a few bits and pieces and show ID’s from Davian Dent over at The Bitter Sound podcast, I think I’ve yet to feature a bona fide clip…until now. He’s also a co-host of the Strange Times podcast along with Kat Sorens from the Rigid Fist podcast and Bonn from The Bonn & Obo show. But he’s off in his own thing here, with music, sounds and a great set of pipes to boot.

The Geek Generation
Rob Logan over at the Geek Generation podcast did what every red-blooded internationally-heard comedy podcaster should do – he sent in a clip! It’s easy to do: Just send along a 3-5 minute MP3 clip of your show to marc@SuccotashShow.com. If you want to include a little written descriptor of what the clip’s about, even better. Like Rob did – here’s what he says: "Rob Logan and Mike Volpe get inspired by the upcoming Fall TV schedule and pitch some show ideas of their own."

Whew! That's a lot of show! Hope you enjoy it - don't be shy about letting folks know about it, either! Go on up to iTunes and give us a rating and a little review. And you can give us a thumbs up at Stitcher.com and leave a comment. Or visit our Facebook page and leave us a comment there. Then there's always Stitcher. See you in the next episode but, in the meantime, don't forget to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon