Succotash Epi16: Jon Manfrellotti, Interviewed

Apologies in advance to anyone who believed me when, during the last edition of Succotash - that would be Epi15, that there was going to be a "regular" clip-heavy version this time. As luck, the Fates and some long-ago reserved vacation time would have it, I'm vacationing in Honolulu, Hawaii, as I both record this epi and bang out this blog entry. Since, therefore, I'm about 2400 miles from my beloved Studio P (and my equally beloved executive producer Joe Paulino and his audio magicianship), I'm opting to run an interview as the core of this edition.

Jon Manfrellotti

It's a great interview with a longtime friend of mine, comedian/actor Jon Manfrellotti. You might recognize him from his recurring roles on TV, either as Gianni on Everybody Loves Raymond or as Manfro, the bookie from Men Of A Certain Age. I talked to Jon about his standup career as well as his acting work, then we also veer into his favorite hobby: playing guitar. There are parallels between getting into a comedy career and starting a podcast, as well as maintaining both, and we hit on that a little bit, too.

In addition to the interview, I do manage to get in five podcast clips and a Burst O' Durst, so it's like presents under the tree. I even run 15 minutes over with this episode to give you a little extra Succotash for the holidays!

Here's who's up this time around...

Affirmation Nation

One of my favorite podcasts to come on the scene this year is Seth Morris' character of Bob Ducca and his short daily attempts to make life just a little bit better. Check out Bob's Christmas wish list, then go catch him over on Earwolf.com and on iTunes.

Wrong Foot Podcast

Podcasting is a great medium for audio sketches and you'll find the folks behind theWrong Foot Podcast stretching the envelope. They can be found at WrongFoot.net and on iTunes.

Delicious Mediocrity

We've featured Derek Sheen and Douglas Gale before, but that's because they put out a nice, consistent product when it comes to interviews and commentary. With a comedy angle steeped in the Northwest, catch more at DeliciousMediocrity.com and iTunes.

The Gentlemen's Club

Host Caleb Bacon has cranked out the episodes and features a mixed bag special of guests, ranging from strippers and porn stars to comedians, actors and sports celebrities. The clip we include here features adult film actress Randi Wright talking about her antics on TV. Get yourself a free pass at GentlemensClubPodcast.com or on iTunes.

The Dhead Factor

In a previous appearance, these guys from Australia's capital were only doing a rambling commercial - here's an actual clip. I was recently interviewed by Jabs, one of the Dheads, and you can catch that show and their others at TheDheadFactor.tumblr.com and iTunes.

We finish off the show with our regular feature, the Burst O' Durst, done up by politicomic Will Durst, who spouts off on his own site at WillDurst.com and on Twitter as @WillDurst - follow him!

You can also follow us, @SuccotashShow and, if you REALLY want to help a podcast out, jump up our listing in the podcast section of iTunes and rate us and/or click that li'l ol Donate button the right hand side of the page...that one...right there. No, no...THERE. We'd really appreciate it.

My New Year's Resolution is  to deliver a full-on clip-heavy episode of Succotash first thing in 2012. Until then, however, get busy with Epi16 and please be sure to pass the Succotash.

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi15: More Succotash, More Often

Christmas comes early to all you loyal Succotashians: We're going to start getting our episodes out more quickly! Since April, Producer/Engineer Joe Paulino and yours truly have been averaging a new 'sode about once every two or three weeks - sometimes even longer. (Hey, we gotta work for a living, just like you!)

BUT we've hit on a new format that should allow us to crank out more Succotash more often. By featuring interviews every other episode — with comedians, podcasters, comedian/podcasters, and other folk from the business of show — it really saves us production time. (People think doing a show featuring clips from other shows is easy, but it's very labor-intensive and we don't have interns, segment producers or anyone else running around here screening podcasts.)

In between those shows, we'll still feature our usual crop o' podcasts, but this will allow us to get more shows out to the listeners a lot more frequently.

Fred Stoller & Mitchell

Our interview this episode is with comedian/actor Fred Stoller, who you may recognize from his many appearances on TV and the occasional film. In addition, he does quite a lot of voiceover work which we talk about in the course of the interview.

Check out Fred's movie Fred And Vinnie and you can also click over to Atom.com to see current webisodes of his web series The Gate Show.

We had time to feature just one podcast this episode:

• The Comedy Point

Soul Joel heads up a crew on The Comedy Point that broadcasts live once a week — Tuesday nights, 5-8 PM, EST – in Philly and South Jersey on 1460 AM. The show then podcasts for the rest of the week.

• Cupla

This week we also feature some music from someone other than our crack music director Scott Carvey. It's a group called Cupla out of Canada (and I just realized that it's pronounced "coop-la", and NOT "cup-lah", as I pronounced in the episode. Sorry, guys!!!) and we play their single I'm Going during a break in our interview with Fred.

• Burst O' Durst

Finally, we have a great entry from regular contributor and political comedy assassin Will Durst presenting his Top Ten Comedy News Stories of 2011.

That's going to do it for our epi15 this time around. I'm off on vacation through the rest of the year, so we may not have any fresh Succotash until the end of the year...we'll see if I can find enough motivation while in Hawaii to pull one together. If we don't, have a happy holiday!

(And if you're looking for that perfect gift idea, why not pass the Succotash?)

— Marc Hershon