Succotash Epi87: Deconstructin' with Geoffrey Welchman

Howdy hey there, friends and neighbors! You're reading the companion blog entry for Epi87 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. (Just 12 episodes left until we hit 100, which will mark the end of Season 1. What can I say? Long seasons. Kind of like the winters in Game of Thrones…)

In addition to a barrelful of podcast clips this episode, I had a fascinating chat with Geoffrey Welchman. I announced last week that GW was folding up the tent on Inverse Delirium, his 4-year-old podcast, which he has done. So then I thought it might be insightful to find out what led him to that decision and it is – so we’ll hear that in a little bit in addition to the final message to his listeners that he posted this past week.

We also have our Burst O’ Durst segment with comedian Will Durst, a classic Henderson’s Pants spot, the Tweetsack segment, the 10 Most Active Shows In The Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List and, of course, our obligatory nod, salute, or genuflect to the boys (Dean Haglund & Phil Leirness) over at the Chillpak Hollywood Hour podcast, who just said goodbye to their 7th year in podcasting and mentioned us along the way. I also contrast and compare the old and the new theme songs for the Hob The Troll podcast.

The 10 Most Active Shows in Stitcher's Top 100 Comedy Podcasts List

Here's where we look at the ten podcasts that have moved up or down the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast chart in the past week.

AT                                                                                MOVED
37 SModcast >> Jay & Silent Bob Get Old                          -11
54 Jordan Jesse Go                                                         +12
56 This Week In Blackness Radio                                      +8
62 The Artie Lange Show                                                 -10
69 Harmontown                                                              +11
70 Thrilling Adventure Hour                                            +11
80 The Dana Gould Hour                                                 +23
85 The Beige Phillips Show                                               +8 
86 Straight Outta Lo Cash                                                 +6
97 Nick DiPaolo                                                                -7

The Clips

Chillpak Hollywood Hour
To mark their anniversary, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness have just moved their operation over to Blogtalk Radio, which doesn’t change things for the listener but gives them a nice solid production base.

Monster Party
Back in Succotash Epi53 I interviewed my friend and comedian Matt Weinhold who had, at the time, been experimenting with a new podcast idea that he and buddies James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan, and Larry Strohe – all Hollywood writers – had done on video where they drank adult beverages and talked about one main subject: Monster movies. Well, now Monster Party is an ongoing thing and in the most recent episode, the boys and guest Dana Gould sunk their teeth into vampire movies. In this clip they ponder the origins of Blackula.

Nerdist
Last week I reviewed the Nerdist with Chris Hardwick and Jonah Ray – Matt Myra wasn’t on this particular episode, where they interviewed director/actor/writer Jon Favreau, who has a new movie out that he both directed AND starred in called Chef. In this clip, they talk about spoilers and puzzle over the etiquette of how long you should wait before talking about a show.

Illusionoid
One of my favorite podcasts continues to be Illusionoid, which is an improvised science fiction comedy podcast out of Toronto. I’ve interviewed the three guys – Paul Bates, Lee Smart, and Nug Nahrgang (the best name is podcasting) – before and met them when they were in San Francisco for the SF Improv Festival last year. Haven’t played ‘em for a while though, so here’s a clip from their recent LIVE episode from Comedy Bar in Toronto, along with their special guests Craig Anderson, Ashley Comeau, and Kyle Dooley of Bad Dog Theatre.

Hob The Troll
Some TV shows used to have very specific theme songs – think about things like the Addams Family – or an even better example in this case is Gilligan’s Island, where the theme song changed after the first season to include mentioned The Professor and MaryAnne instead of referencing them simply as “all the rest”. Hob The Troll is a show that is hosted by a character that pops up at Renaissance Faires around the country. He sings and does comedy and is easily the happiest, non-goat-eating troll around. In podcast form, Hob The Troll features guest characters, often played by actors and comedians, such as Mark Gagliarti’s King John. He recently upgraded his show’s opening theme song, both versions of which are so specific that I thought it would be fun to contrast and compare.  And then I play a short clip with Hob and Corey Eno Ruffin, the guy who did the new theme song for the show.

Crunch Time Show
I got a note and a request from Wayne “Crunchie” Baglin, co-host of the Crunch Time Show (along with his wife The Scully), a podcast that looks at a myriad of geekiness, from games and movies to anything else that geeky nerdlings enjoy. They have a feature on the show called the "Random 5" where their showboard computer asks 5 random questions which you answer, then you get to ask one of your own. So Wayne asked if I’d play the Random 5 and here’s what happened…

The Bonn & Obo Show 
It’s been a long time coming but Epi9 – NINE! – of the Bonn & Obo Show has finally dropped. It’s a pretty inventive show BUT, since Bonn and Obo seem to rarely – if ever – get along, it take awhile to get those shows out. This last one took a solid YEAR. Which is why Bonn moonlights on The Strange Times Show as well. In this clip, Obo has had enough disrespect from his mic mate, Bonn, and decides to file a complaint.

Cashing In With TJ Miller
Have you had a chance to catch Silicon Valley, the new Mike Judge comedy on HBO yet? Really funny, at least for those of us that live within spitting distance of the real Silicon Valley. And TJ Miller is one of the best parts of the show. He also can’t seem to showing up as a guest on the Cashing In podcast, which is probably why they’ve subtitled it With TJ Miller. Comedian Cash Levy hosts and TJ does what he does best, which is to wreak havoc.

The Dork Forest
Jackie Kashian and her show The Dork Forest continues to root out the well-known and semi-well-known who are into sometime some obscure or even archaic stuff. This snippet comes from her Epi227 with guest Emily Gordon – co-host of the Indoor Kids with husband Kumail Nanjiani. Jackie and Emily chat about comedy and mental health.

Center City Comedy
A quintet of Philadelphia’s comedians - H. Foley, Kevin Ryan, Tom Cassidy, Reggie Conquest, and Andrew Schiavone – belly up to the mic and deliver up jokes, insults, and opinion about a variety of topics for Center City Comedy. The clip they sent in starts off about playing school basketball then sidetracks into a discussion about one of the guy’s long-lost classmates, a discussion which then disintegrates into unstoppable, contagious giggling.

All right, it’s time to saw goodbye to Epi87. Until next time, don’t be afraid to shop at Amazon by using the oh-so-handy banner at the top of our SuccotashShow.com page. Or click the Donate button you’ll see there and we’ll give you a hearty shout out during the next episode. Or click on the link to our Succotashery and purch some murch there – we’ll be eternally grateful and, again, will shout your name to the heavens.

I’m off to LA for a week. I may do a little Epi87.5 from the road if I’m in a mood for rambling. Otherwise it will be Epi88 when next we meet. Either way, please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon