Succotash Epi353: Our 12th Anniversary Show!

We've been teasing it for months but it's finally here: Our 12th anniversary episode of doing Succotash, the Comedy Soundcast Soundcast! I'm going to keep this blog piece tight and sweet - and urge you to avail yourself of the actual episode, which you can find at your favorite download location OR at our homesite, http://SuccotashShow.com.

This episode — our last before embarking on a shortish hiatus — is double-hosted, featuring Marc Hershon and Tyson Saner. We talk about the shows' origins, its evolution during the Age of Soundcasting, and a number of the personalities we've met along the way. One of those personalities joins us as our Special Guest for this 12th year blowout and that's friend of Succotash and friend in real life, Travis Clark! He jumped into this madness the same time we did and, as part of that vaunted fraternity, weighs in with his own observations and opinions.

In the style of our earliest days' shows, this installment is a bit longer than our fare these days, clocking in at about an hour and 15 minutes. In addition to our three-way conversation, we have a number of congratulatory messages from friends and past guests of the show to share with you, from Dana Carvey, Jason "Jabs" McNamara, Hunter Block, Dean Haglund & Phil Leirness of Chillpak Hollywood Hour, Matt Knudsen, Davian Dent, Kat Sorens & Dom Risk of Strange Times Podcast, and Stu Buckland of The Angry Chimp and too many other soundcasts to name here.

In addition, we have an ad from our fake sponsor Henderson's Pants and we revisit a succotash recipe prepared by Chef Eddie Vedder.

Thanks, as always, to producer/engineers Joe Paulino and our booth announcer, Bill Heywatt! All in all, it's quite a shindig to celebrate our dozen years in this crazy business. Jump in and have fun! And we'll hopefully be back with some fresh version of Succotash in the not-too-distant future.

Thanks for listening!

— Marc Hershon

Check out this episode!

Succotash Epi352: Last Clips Before Hiatus

Can you feel it, listener? I can. I can feel it. The warm, sultry breeze of our impending Succotash hiatus is gently wafting around the next bend in our feed. I’m your every-other-weekly-host Marc Hershon and welcome to Episode 352, which I’m calling “Last Clips Before Hiatus” because, well, it’s our second-to-last episode before we take a break BUT the last one in which we’ll be featuring clips. I’ll tell you more about what our LAST show before jump the tracks is going to be like toward this end of this blog entry but, for now, let’s share this time together as just another in the long lines of Succotash episodes where we feature clips from other comedy soundcasts across the internet.

 

Before I get to what I have in store for you, let’s recall what Epi351, Tyson Saner’s final solo hosting episode before the break, was like last week. His was the first episode to officially enter our 12^th year of soundcasting. We started in April of 2011 so Tyson got the glory and the honor of being the first of us to break the tape on year 12 with “The Penultimate Pre-Hiatus Show”, which featured clips from comedy soundcasts Holidays After Dark, What Went Wrong, and Bit Weird But Fair Enough (I Guess). Tyson wrapped up that episode with a very sincere thanks and farewell for now and I think you’ll get a great deal out of listening to that installment of the show.

 

As for me, I’m intending to go out with this show as it was originally conceived: By featuring a collection of clips from soundcasts that we’ve not featured before. Sure, we've occasionally dipped back into the same pool now and again to feature some faves – but our overall design and intent has been to bring you what’s fresh and new, at least our ears and quite possibly yours. Bearing that in mind, I have clips from Literally with Rob Lowe, a new sitcom soundcast called Popcorn For Dinner, and a show from across the Pond in England – a well-regarded standby there called Always Be Comedy. Since this will be our last opportunity to do so for awhile, I’m going to feature an audio essay from comedian and friend of the show Dan St. Paul, from his Slices blog, entitled “Slave to the Machines”.

 

This lovely cavalcade of clippage is brought to you, as always, by Henderson’s Pants and their new Bottoms Up Cargo Pants, a recent introduction designed by our own announcer, Bill Heywatt, for that discriminating boozehound on the go.

 

As I said, toward the end of this episode I let you know what’s in store for the final-final episode next week, as well as a few wrap-up thoughts from my brain and my heart as we hit our 12^th year anniversary.

 

CLIPS

 

Literally with Rob Lowe

Is there more of a consummate celebrity in the entertainment world today than Rob Lowe? He’s an actor who has created an indelible brand for and of himself, he’s never really had any controversy around him, and he’s basically a Hollywood homegrown talent who’s been around since he was a kid. A few yeas ago he started popping up as a guest on a number of soundcasts and it wasn’t long until he pulled the cloak off of Literally, the show he hosts every week, mostly talking to friends that he pulls right out of his own cell phone. He recently talk with Levar Burton, famous for playing Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Before that, he broke through as Kunta Kinte, a young slave on the Roots miniseries. And he talks a bit about both those experiences in this clip.

 

Popcorn For Dinner

This next entry is brand new. It’s only been out for about 8 or 9 weeks at this point, which means its first season is coming to a close and you can binge it. Because it’s one of the first full-on soundcast situation comedies that I’ve heard. Popcorn for Dinner is, first of all, produced by one of my favorite production outfits on the planet, which is Kelly&Kelly out of Vancouver, Canada. We’ve featured other shows from them before, including This Sounds Serious and Dexter Guff is Smarter Than You. This new offering is largely written and created by comedian Maddy Kelly – no relation to Pat Kelly or Chris Kelly, who ARE related, but maybe it helps to have them set a show up if your last name IS Kelly. It features former Nickelodean star Ciara Bravo as the narrator, and stars Maddy Kelly, Charlie Foster, Jillian Ebanks and Ben Fawcett as four friends in their early 20s as they try to make it on their own, despite the fact that none of them know what that looks like...at all. It’s got all the tropes that make classic sitcoms identifiable including a laugh track. It’s meta, it’s corny, it’s funny and – after I listened to the first three episodes, I was pretty much hooked. The clip I have for you is from Episode 6 and I picked the very opening of the show so you can easily pick up on the vibe – they have the opening teaser scene, the set-up for the episode and your get to hear what the main characters each sound like.

 

 

Always Be Comedy

I’m not sure how long Always Be Comedy has been cranking out episode in Britain but, given their list of guests, it’s been going awhile. Hosted by comics James Gill and Tim Lewis, they invite other comedians in to chat and to curate their dream gig – o talk about all the elements that they would bring together to make a dynamite boffo show. This clip doesn’t quite get to that part of the hosts’ chat with guest, England comedy legend Stewart Lee, which is well worth strapping in for given his experience. Instead, Stewart waxes on a bit about some of his contemporary veteran comedians.

 

Dan St. Paul: Slave to the Machines

Which brings us to the end of our featured clips this week and right up to the doorstep of comedian and friend of the show Dan St. Paul. He’s been writing these humorous essays for his “Slices” blog on Substack for a while now, and I had him record a few and then added some music and effects to them. That was impetus enough for Dan to turn to his pal Jimmy Goings and really get into producing them. Here’s his latest, entitled “Slave to the Machines”.

 

That is going to do it for this final solo episode before our Succotash hiatus begins. As I teased at the top of the show, I can let you know that next week, for our 12^th Anniversary Show, Tyson Saner and I will be joining forces to celebrate the blessed event. Joining us will be longtime friend of the show who we first met in Episode 36 back in the Fall of 2012, Travis Clark. We’ll look back and reminisce not just about Succotash but also about soundcasting and how far it come since we first fired up the mics in 2011. That’s next week, in this very same feed, so don’t miss it!

 

As for me, I am sometime startled to wake up and discover this Succotash thing has been going as long as it has. I’ve made a lot of friends, literally around the globe, through the network of soundcasters out there. I think one of the things that we’ll do as we sail into our 12^th year is that I may just have to stop beating the drum to call these things soundcasts instead of podcasts. We gave it a valiant effort. I don’t think anyone would deny us that. We’ll see.

 

I have to thank Joe Paulino, first and foremost, which helped me breathe life into this concept through the auspices of Studio P, his “home of the hit” in Sausalito, California. And for introducing us to Bill Heywatt, our erstwhile and often tanked booth announcer. Scott Carvey, one of Dana Carvey’s brothers, created our theme music from me sending him a jazz tune I liked and doing his own interpretation of the concept so we could have some music free and clear. Kenny Durgis is our booth assistant who, frankly doesn’t do much more than complain but we gotta acknowledge the little guy.

 

More than anyone connected to the show, my heartfelt and deep gratitude goes to Tyson Saner, who went from contributing a few odd clips now and again to becoming the show’s Associate Producer to full-blown host, slipping into the Big Chair for several years while it stepped into the background as Executive Producer and got to take a big breather.

 

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my wife, the lovely and talented Debra Hershon. While she’s never spent a moment hanging around this show, if not for her support and giving me the space to create and shave time off of our personal time – sometimes on while on vacation and sometimes even urging me to head to LA or shows in San Francisco so I could get interviews and such, this show certainly wouldn’t have happened.

 

Finally, of course, there’s you. Our listener. Whether this is the very first time you’ve filled your ears with Succotash or if you’ve been with us for every one of the 352 episodes we’ve dropped, this has always been intended for you. As a wayfinding tool to help you hack through the soundcast wilderness to find fun, new shows to listen to. And whether it was from those heady early days when we actually would show up on the front page of Apple’s downloads or, more often bouncing along with just blips on the download radar, we know that you’ve been out there putting up with our audio shenanigans. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

We’ll be here next year with that 12^th anniversary show. And then Tyson, Bill, Joe, and I are going to take a little break. Catch our breaths and figure out how and when we’ll return. This show maybe exactly like you hear it today. Or we may change up the format and try some different things. Hang in there and we’ll let you know what’s what.

 

And in the meantime, if in the next week or so you have someone tap you on the shoulder while you’re working out in the gym and they ask what you’re listening to on your earbuds, won’t you please pass the Succotash?

 

— Marc Hershon

Check out this episode!

Succotash Epi351 - The Penultimate Pre-Hiatus Show

Saluton, estas mi, Tyson Saner, and I welcome you heartily to this 351st episode of Succotash, The Comedy Soundcast Soundcast, which just so happens to be the second-to-last episode of Succotash before our 12-year anniverary special, which will then be swiftly followed by a well-deserved hiatus. If you are a 1st time listener, this show typically features clips from other soundcasts from around the world and has for almost 12 years.

The entire archive of episodes past can be found over at www.succotash.com for the time being, so if you end up enjoying this program and you'd like to share it with others, send them there or pretty much anywhere else you can listen to soundcasts, which are also called podcasts most everywhere else other than here on Succotash.

Last week in Episode #350, show creator and executive producer Marc Hershon brought you a "Chats" episode that featured conversation with, and fascinating stories from Shane Elliot of the sketch comedy group from North Hollywood called Fries On The Side that Mr. Hershon had also been involved with. It's a fascinating and funny chat that you should check out at your earliest convenience.

In this, the last episode I'm producing before our aforementioned hiatus, I have brought you some clips to listen to from the soundcasts Holidays After Dark, What Went Wrong, and Bit Weird But Fair Enough (I Guess). 

I'll be rounding out the show with 2 clips from the Strange Times Show, the hosts of which just celebrated 10 of their own years in soundcasting. The episode clipped for this purpose is #462, titled "Ten Bloody Years". Many soundcasters sent in their congratulations in audio form, so I've decided to include the one I sent, and the one Marc sent. Those will be played at various points in this program.

I'm even throwing in a classic Henderson's Pants ad into this episode just for kicks. It's one of the oldest ones I think…If the numerical system it came with is to be believed. 

Well, the show wasn't going to finish writing or producing itself, so I had to get into it. And now it's time for you to do the same…

CLIPS

Holidays After Dark
This is directly from the show description for 
Holidays After Dark: "It's a year-round soundcast which explores the strange, unusual, and dark sides of the holidays while also paying tribute to the lighthearted festivities we all know and love!" Featuring host Kristin Seering, our clip is from show from March 28th, 2023 - Easter 2023: Tale of a Homicidal Hare. In this episode, Holidays After Dark explains the history behind how the Easter Bunny came to be and tries to determine if the story of the Bunny Man Killer is real or simply an urban legend. The clip I've selected is from somewhere in the middle. Enjoy. 

What Went Wrong
From Sad Boom Media, What Went Wrong covers Hollywood’s most notoriously disastrous movie productions, digging into the behind-the-scenes insanity of everything from massive flops to record breaking blockbusters. The clip is from their episode of April 3rd, 2023: "Gone With The Wind". Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, and Hattie McDaniel may star in 1939’s Gone With the Wind, but this was David O. Selznick’s dumpster fire. Join hosts Chris Winterbauer and Lizzie Bassett as they break down a truly disastrous production featuring 15+ writers, 3+ directors, an amphetamine-fueled producer, and racism galore - both onscreen and off.

Bit Weird but Fair Enough (I Guess)
From Down Under, under The Angry Chimp banner, host Stuart Buckland and guests look at some of the weird stuff going on in this crazy, crazy world. Our clip, from way back on the 1st of February, 2021, is from a show entitled "God or Demon?" And it features not one but two Friends of Succotash. In addition to Mr. Buckland, his guest this episode was British expat in South Korea Samantha Pett, joining Stu to examine weirdness surrounding cats, exams, toast and processed meat. (Sam was formerly a co-host of The Strange Times Show for a not-insubstantial amount of episodes, and a podcaster in her own right with programs such as The Kimchi Chronicles and Anarchy Audi". Keeping with the theme of including Strange Times Show content in this episode, and also wanting to feature Mr. Buckland's relatively recently established soundcast, I was pleased to be able to get both of them in one episode.

And there it went…my last solo episode of Succotash before our hiatus. What an amazing ride this has been. It's really hard to wrap my head around the passage of time it seems. I don't mean to say that I don't know what it is, although I don't know what it is more than someone who studies that sort of thing might. Or might claim to…That's what people who study that sort of thing say, right?  "I know what time is..", in casual conversation. Or perhaps sitting by themselves in the middle of a café, working through what they imagine a conversation of that nature would be like, ultimately culminating in an unscheduled "outside voice" moment. 

No, I don't mean to say that I don't know what it is…although I don't. It happens, I witness it, it continues to happen, and I attempt to fill it with variety and relative happiness…and music. I can't forget the music. Coming up next, and also LAST for…uh, well…let's just say that I'm not specifically sure how long it will be before we reemerge with something…But my understanding is that that is the plan…there's one of those "that that"'s again. Is that a peculiarity of the English language?  I suppose I could look it up, but I'm not going to do that right now. I'm going to be working on other things in the meantime, and you will be able to find those things over at www.tysonsaner.com as well as an archive full of  stuff I've already done as of this recording. Music, Gaming Videos, A Redbubble store…stuff like that…and who knows what else?  I'm not 100% sure, but if I needed to be, I would never create anything…and there will be plenty of time for inactivity…um…let's just say…later?  

Before I go, I need to remember to say "Thank You" to Marc Hershon and Joe Paulino for making me feel like a valuable contributor to something for the last 10 years of my life. It's a very specific thing to say "thank you" for, I know, but It's a very specific sort of gratitude I feel to those who would include me in their creative endeavors. I do not, and hopefully never will, take that sort of thing lightly….

…and now, I have to make the awkward transition into actually saying "Good Bye"…so I will end by saying 
"Thank You" to my parents and my wife for being supportive of me in many ways including keeping me alive for the entirety of this experience I call "life" so far. I hope I didn't make it more difficult than it had to be. #Goalz 

Thank you for listening, be decent to each other, and when you are out there in the world, should you seek out, or perhaps stumble across our archive during our absence, and you got something out of it that can only be expressed by sharing it with others in some form or another, for example sending them to www.succotashshow.com , then we will experience gratitude for you, for having done so. It's what we dream about happening when we utter the final words of every episode, which are please pass the Succotash…

— Tyson Saner

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Succotash Epi350 — Special Guest: Shane Elliott

Hello, friend! Marc Hershon here for yet another edition – the 350^th installment, in fact – of Succotash, the Comedy Soundcast Soundcast. Later this month we’ll be celebrating hitting our 12^th Anniversary of bringing you clips from (mostly) comedy soundcasts and interviews with some of those soundcasters, some comedians, and some other showbiz folk, as our esteemed booth announcer, Bill Heywatt, is fond of saying.

That anniversary show will be fun. It will be me and my switching-off-with-me-every-other-week co-host Tyson Saner on the show together, along with a special guest surprise! That show is going to drop on Tuesday, April 25^th, so mark your calendars!

Speaking of Tyson, if you missed last week’s episode 349, you missed his special “One For the Kids” installment, featuring slips from Wow in the World, TDR Now Travel Podcast, and Story Pirates! With a lot of kids on Spring break this week or next, depending on your school district, grab that episode and see if there isn’t a show or two in that bunch that might be some good road trip filler if you’re heading out with the ankle biters.

I don’t have clips for you this week but, instead, it’s a Succotash Chats episode featuring my visit with an old friend of mine who doesn’t have a podcast. Shane Elliott headed up a sketch comedy group in North Hollywood called Fries On The Side that I got involved with and we get into that quite a bit. He acted in TV and movies and commercials for quite a while but then was also very much into computers and technology and programming and, well, we talk about how he made the choice move away from the Hollywood “thing.”

This episode is brought by our long-running sponsor, Henderson’s Pants and, because they don’t pay us nuthin’, when they told us they were going to be advertising their new Artificial Intelligence Trousers, we figured we’ve lost enough money with this non-paying turkey of a sponsor so we’ve created the first Henderson’s Pants ad completely put together by AI. The script was written by ChatGPT, the AI version of Bill Heywatt reading was provided by the NaturalReading app, and some 8-bit computer music by Dream Protocol. Then we smooshed all together and – voíla! – history was made.

I appreciate our guest Shane Elliott for jumping in here at the tail end of our 11^th year in the soundcasting game! You can follow Shane on Twitter at Twitter.com/Shane_Elliott and you can still see a few of the old Fries on the Side videos up on YouTube at http://YouTube.com/friesontheside.

Just like that, we’re out of here! Check back in next week for Episode 351 with Tyson Saner back in the drivers seat. And remember our 12^th Anniversary show is destined to drop on Tuesday April 25^th.

Easter’s coming up this weekend so if you’re sitting around, stuffing your face, and someone asks if you’ve heard anything good lately, won’t you please pass the Succotash?

—    Marc Hershon

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Succotash Epi349: One For The Kids

Saluton, estas mi Tyson Saner. Welcome to Succotash, the Comedy Soundcast Soundcast! Have you listened to us before? If so, then welcome back! We're clocking in at #349 this week and the duties of finding soundcast clips falls on me.

Did you happen to hear last week's episode titled "A Spring Bouquet of Clips" ? It was Epi348 and it featured a trio of clips from the soundcasts FOGO, Tell Me About It, and The Best Show. In addition, that episode featured another drop-in from comedian Dan St. Paul with a selection from his "Slices" blog, and that one was called “The Thai That Unbinds”. It was a fun episode, and I invite you to check it out at your earliest convenience. (I almost forgot to mention that episode was hosted by Marc Hershon, who is the show creator, and executive producer. We've been sharing hosting hosting duties on a more-or-less every-other-weekly basis since episode #201 from May 5th, 2020. That episode was the first episode of the Succotash Shut-In" period of this soundcast, AND the first episode back from our first hiatus, which lasted all of about 2 weeks. I bring up the hiatus in case you hadn't heard episode #348 yet, because it was, in fact, announced at the end of that episode, that Succotash is going on another hiatus soon. There's still a few episodes left until that happens tho, and this is one of them. Then, after we hit our anniversary in April of this year, which is 2023 for those living in the future beyond 2023, assuming the future IS a thing when you are listening…)

But importantly, this week, I've got clips for you from the soundcasts Wow in the World, TDR Now Travel Podcast, and Story Pirates. 

Two of those soundcasts, specifically Wow in the World" and Story Pirates" were suggested by a list I found in a Good Housekeeping article from March 25th of 2020 titled "21 Entertaining Podcasts for Kids of All Ages". Meanwhile, TDR Now Travel is a family-friendly soundcast that I found thru being a frequent viewer of the YouTube channel "TDR Explorer"… which is also pretty family friendly… but more on that later. So, basically, that's why this episode is entitled "One for the Kids".

CLIPS

Wow in the World
The #1 podcast for kids and their grown-ups. Hosts Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz share stories about the latest news in science, technology, and innovation. Stories that give kids hope, agency and make us all say "WOW"! New episodes drop every Monday for free. Our featured clip is from just last week - March 20th, 2023 - entitled "Another Prehistoric Mystery". What really happened to the ichthyosaurs? Detective Mindy and Junior Detective Dennis are determined to find out! Join Mindy, Guy Raz, and the Wow Crew in the mystery of why prehistoric swimming reptile bones were found in the desert. It's the who, what, when, where, how and WOW of ichthyosaurs!

TDR Now Travel Podcast
A podcast for theme park fans who love to travel! They're the longest-running show dedicated to informing listeners about theme parks in Asia including Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan. Come and travel along with them. I discovered this podcast thru their YouTube videos on "Super Nintendo World" which both my son and I enjoy. This clip is from March 14th, 2023, and is called "Super Nintendo World Differences Japan vs. USA - Episode 278". The hosts, Chris and Patricia, discuss the differences between Super Nintendo World in Japan and the US! From the layout of the land to food to merchandise. They talk about it all!

Story Pirates
The award-winning Story Pirates soundcast takes stories written by kids and turns them into sketch comedy and songs. Made up of talented comedians, songwriters, and frequent celebrity guests, the Story Pirates inspire kids to create, bringing laughter to kids and grownups of all ages with hilarious sketches, catchy original songs from all genres, and interviews with the creative geniuses behind the stories… kids! Our clip is from just last week  - March 23rd, 2023 - called "Oh Rats!" And today’s new story, hosted by Lee Overtree and Benjamin Salka and dreamed up by a 7-year-old from New Jersey named Alexandra, explores the never-ending real estate struggles between mice and humans.

So there you go, kids… or people who have them who also listen to podcasts… or at least WERE/ARE listening to THIS one… This is the end portion of the episode, where we make our goodbyes and I go off to record the vocal performance you are hearing now, after which I will edit everything that you have heard so far together… and that pretty much sums up the process of what came together as the episode you are nearly done with. For the adults in the room, there is a whole archive of episodes over at www.succotashshow.com, as well as on pretty much all the listening platforms that you can, could, or perhaps are, listening on. That particular archive, which is ours, goes back almost 12 years now.

It's a pretty nifty thing, and - as far as I can tell - a fairly rare thing in this medium known as the podcast, which we here at Succotash have been calling "soundcasts" for pretty much the entire run. It's been fun. See you in 2 weeks with something… probably less family friendly … so pretty much a normal episode. Thank you for listening.

Go to www.tysonsaner.com to find my links to all the stuff I'm doing including original music, gaming videos, and my Redbubble store. Tune in next week for episode #350, I'm sure it will be a good one! Be decent to each other, and if someone should randomly, or perhaps deliberately ask you if you have heard anything good or interesting lately, and that make you think of us…please, pass the Succotash.

— Tyson Saner 

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Succotash Epi338: A Spring Bouquet of Clips

Happy Vernal Equinox, Succotashians! I’m your every-other-weekly-host, Marc Hershon, and thanks for plucking Episode 348 out of the soundcastosphere, an episode I’m calling “A Spring Bouquet of Clips” because, well, this show is dropping close to the first day of Spring!

Speaking of Spring, something that’s springing up very soon is the 12^th anniversary of Succotash, the Comedy Soundcast Soundcast. Your co-host and mine, Tyson Saner, will be joining me for a celebratory episode where we’ll look back on the show’s dozen years. We’ll have some clips from shows, classic Henderson’s Pants ads, some congratulatory messages, and more!

It's still not too late if YOU might want to record a quick message with your thoughts and/or feelings on our 12^th anniversary! We’d love to play it on the big celebration show! You can call it in, to our Succotash Show and Runaway Truck Ramp Hotline, at (818) 921-7212 OR record it and upload the .wav or MP3 file to us at http://hightail.com/u/Succotash!

The aforementioned Mr. Saner was here last week, hosting Episode 347, entitled “Hollywood Adjacent”, and he featured clips from such soundcastery as How Did This Get Made, Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, and Nooner Podcast! I’m not sure where you get your servings of Succotash these days, but know that you can always get it fresh from a bazillion soundcast distribution points on the internet and, as always, on our homesite at SuccotashShow.com.

My Spring Bouquet of Clips for you for this episode includes FOGO, Tell Me About It, and The Best Show. In addition, I have another drop-in from comedian Dan St. Paul with a selection from his Slices blog, this one called “The Thai That Unbinds”.

At some point during the proceedings, we’ll be rudely interrupted by our booth announcer, Bill Heywatt, and an unimportant message from our free-loading, free-wheeling sponsor Henderson’s Pants and their new Random Pants, for a truly captive-ating fit. Oy.

Let’s just get started, shall we?

CLIPS

FOGO: Fear Of Going Outside
I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t depend on my own wits and taste when it comes to trying to find out about everything available in the expanding soundcastiverse. I read reviews. I skim “20 Best Comedy Soundcasts This Year!” lists (although they NEVER use the Soundcast word.) And I get email from PR people. One PR “regular” is Kathryn Musilek from Shark Party Media. And she’s been telling me for a while to check out the FOGO: Fear Of Going Outside soundcast. So I finally did. And it’s terrific! Hosted by Ivy Le, “the most reluctant host ever”, according to the press release. It goes on: “Most nature shows are hosted by reckless white men, but avid indoorswoman Ivy Le is an Asian mom with severe allergies.” I listened to the first couple episodes and it was intriguing to hear the exploits of Ivy as she really wants to try to embrace the great outdoors. In the second season, she’s really pretty much looking at her comfort zone in the rearview mirror. In Epi5 of the new season, with the help of Jesse Griffiths, a renowned chef/hunter, Ivy sets out to butcher an entire hog!

Tell Me About It
Succotash listeners have run across Adal Rifai, the host of this next new show, called Tell Me About It, a couple times. First back in 2015 when we clipped Hello from the Magic Tavern in Epi113, where he plays Chunt the Changeling. And again at the end of 2022, in Epi334 when we snipped Hey Riddle Riddle, in which Adal is the co-host. His new show, Tell Me About It, is couched as a game show, with Adal playing himself as an eccentric billionaire who challenges his guests to talk about, argue about and, eventually, defend a topic or thing they love dearly to try to climb the Most Interesting thing scoreboard against previous and future guests. The questions are absurd-ish, the scoring even more so, none of it made any easier because of Eric Silver, Adal’s butler, who tries to keep things running smoothly. In our clip, the guest is friend of Succotash and one of the creators of San Francisco Sketchfest Janet Varney, who you may know from Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and her own soundcast, The JV Club. She’s onboard to shove her interests in minatures up that scoreboard but first, she has to help host Adal understand what miniatures even are… 

The Best Show
I’m not sure how, in 12 years of doing this show, we missed clipping the Best Show with Tom Sharpling. It’s not obscure by any means — it was originally a terrestrial radio show — plus I’ve heard of it for years, and have heard Tom Sharpling on other soundcasts. He’s big friends with Marc Maron, too. I guess what finally grabbed me was tht he managed to get an interview with Matt Berry, who I am a huge fan of, and you probably are, too. He’s a British comic and actor, and he’s a regular on the TV series version of What We Do In The Shadows. ‘Nuff said? In this snippet of their convo, Matt talks about having to decide between pursuing music or comedy…or did he?

Slices: The Thai That Binds
I played one of these essays in my recent Epi346, from comedian Dan St. Paul’s Substack “Slices” blog. He’s back with a tale of his first foray going after a Thai massage. Check it out…

Clips. An Essay. And a pants commercial. Who can ask for more? As I’m already a day late dropping this episode, I’ve not got time to dip into the TweetSack this time, but those social handles will keep another couple of weeks. If you’re hurting for more Succotash, Tyson Saner will be back around this corner in less than a week with Episode 349 and then it will be just one or two more shows before our 12^th Anniversary show!

Thanks so much for listening. And, speaking of listening, if anyone asks you if you’ve heard anything good lately, won’t you please pass the Succotash?

—    Marc Hershon

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Succotash Epi347: Hollywood Adjacent

Saluton estas mi, Tyson Saner, welcoming you to Succotash Episode #347. I will be your host for the duration of this episode as it is my turn to do so. Last week in Epi346, subtitled "Clips Like a Lion", show creator and executive producer of Succotash Marc Hershon brought you a clips episode plus a little something extra. The clips featured in that episode were from the Soundcasts known as Dear Chelsea, The JTrain Podcast, and Two Vegan Idiots. The aformentioned extra took the form of a contribution from comedian Dan St. Paul's "Slices" blog, called "Rebel Without A Phone". It was an entertaining episode that, if you were to want to listen to that as well, you absolutely could on this listening platform, or on Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, YouTube, Amazon Music, Audible, iHeart Radio, PodBay, Podchaser, and, as always, on our homesite at SuccotashShow.com…this is provided, of course, that you found us somewhere other than those previously mentioned platforms.

This week in Epi347 I have clips for you as well, and they are from the soundcasts How Did This Get Made, Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, and Nooner Podcast. It's extremely likely that you will also be encountering a classic advertisement from our longtime fake sponsor Henderson's Pants with an oh-so-apropos ad for their "Hooray for Hollywood pants somewhere later in the episode as well.

CLIPS

How Did This Get Made?
We have featured clips from How Did This Get Made and soundcasts featuring those involved with it several times over the last almost 12 years. The most recent time was actually not all that recent though, in fact it was way back at the end of December of 2021 in Episode 284 subtitled "Clip The Halls" which is, of course in our archive were you to want to hear that sooner than later. Featuring hosts Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas, our clip is from February 23rd of this year where the hosts break down, coincidentally (or is it?), the thriller "The Number 23" starring Jim Carrey. They discuss all the bonkers names—from Topsy Kretts to Fingerling to Sirius Leary—the protagonist who hates dogs, Walter Sparrow's sanity, Bud Cort's crazy room, the son's childish mug gift, Danny Huston's villainous vibe, and Chekhov's Saxophone. Plus, they ask "At the beginning is Jim Carrey basically playing Ace Ventura?" And Paul reveals his theory that maybe Walter Sparrow's dog bite gave him rabies. Is Paul right? Crack the code!

Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum
This soundcast has been featured once before, back in the end of February 2019, in Episode 188, which Marc hosted in my stead while I was quite busy navigating life with my at-the-time newborn son Jareth. (This was back when the episodes typically featured 6 clips each and were not guaranteed to post with the regularity that they have been since around April of 2020 with our Succotash Shut-In phase of this program.)

 In case you hadn't heard that episode, or don't know of Inside of You, the show description reads: "I’m Michael Rosenbaum, I’ve spent the better part of the last two decades in and out of film and television - mostly known for playing the bald dude on the show Smallville. I’m the guy that you probably don’t know by name, but when you see my face you might say “oh, that guy from that thing.” I’ve befriended some of the most talented people in the business, but it wasn’t until I started inviting them into my home that I realized, I didn’t really know these people. What started as me having some fun, quickly evolved into something I’ve fallen in love with. What I’ve discovered is that all these people aren’t that different from you and me. They have the same insecurities and flaws that we all deal with every day. In a dark, yet enlightening way…I find a lot of comfort in that. I invite you all to join me while I get inside each of these fascinating people." Our clips hails from September 6th of last year, and features guest Wil Wheaton (Stand By Me, Star Trek: TNG, Big Bang Theory), who shares his brave story of coming to grips with the trauma of his childhood, breaking the cycle so it doesn’t carry on to future generations, and understanding that part of his healing process may lead to a lifetime split from his family.

Nooner
Really what can be said about Nooner Podcast that hasn't already been? The show started with Dan Etheridge and Marty Yu hosting from Kevin Smith's living room way back in 2011 with their 1st guest Martin Starr. (It's a soundcast that is ALMOST as old as Succotash itself!) Since it started, the show has had some lineup changes whose personalities include, but are not limited to, Stephen Kruger, Bill Watterson, Emily O'Hara (or O'Hare?  I don't know and it is extremely difficult to find information about her, but I did not hallucinate her…) Giselle Nett, John Pirruccello, Cassandra Cardenes, and John Sylvain. These are the most frequent co-hosts. Other folks who co-hosted more than once — and may I remind you that I am going from memory — include Scott Marvel Cassidy and Vivian Martinez. 

 I have been listening to and contributing to the show in some way or another since the beginning, including music and live #tumblr ing which becomes harder to explain as time goes by. They are a nice group of people who have been very morally and creatively supportive of me over the years, so featuring them occasionally in place of perhaps a soundcast that I've never heard before seems reasonable to me. With that in mind, this clip is from the end of January this year, Ep: "Babylon Is the Worst First Date". Hosts Marty and John talk nonsense, but just fast forward to hear the funny MIRP, Cassandra, talk about why weddings are bullshit and why Babylon is like disappointing sex.

And that brings us more-or-less neatly to the end of this episode of "Succotash". I do hope you found something interesting and/or enjoyable in the last half hour or so of content. It's Oscar day as I write this, and will likely be Oscar night as I am recording this. I'm rooting for "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once" to win best picture. It's been nominated for 11 Oscars, and I hope they win nearly all of them. I say "Nearly" because one of the categories they've been nominated for is "Best Song", and although I'm sure that the Son Lux/Mitski/David Byrne song "This is a life" from E2A2O is perfectly fine, "Naatu Naatu" from "RRR" is also nominated, and that song is AWESOME. To be fair, I haven't listened to "This is a life" that closely…certainly not to the degree that I've heard "Naatu Naatu"…(sigh)…ok, I will be right back, I'm going to give the E2A2O song a closer listen. (pause)  Ok, I have listened to it closely. I absolutely grok it.…But I still really want "Naatu Naatu" to win. At the very least, I hope to enjoy seeing the Oscar performance of "Naatu Naatu" later on YouTube. Assuming that there is an Oscar performance of "Naatu Naatu" planned…and why wouldn't there be?  As I mentioned before, it is AWESOME. 

 And so are you, for listening. The next episode will be hosted by Mr. Hershon, and it will most likely be numbered #348. We are sailing along to our 12 year anniversary of this show, and will see you when we get there, one way or another. Thank you for listening, be decent to each other, and should you be out there in the world with thoughts about anything you heard in this episode, and you feel any reason to share that information with other people, we'd appreciate that a great deal. It's what we mean when we ask you to PLEASE…Pass The Succotash.

— Tyson Saner

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