Succotash Epi44: Christmas Cardin' With The Pod Mafia

Happy holidays! Whether you're a Christmas-er, an Hanuakkat, or a Kwanza-hut, Succotash is damned glad to have you. "It's the time of miracles," said Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber in Die Hard and it's true. First of all, we're back in Studio P for the first time in many episodes. So good to have engineer/producer Joe Paulino back behind the controls. Not to mention Bill Haywatt, who has a fresh installment of Boozin' With Bill on tap this time around. Even Kenny Durgess, our booth assistant, is on the job and it's a great way to ring in the holiday season.

I wanted to do something special for the holidays, so Epi44 is our Succotash Christmas Card to the illustrious members of the Pod Mafia. Who ARE the Pod Mafia? A loose collective of podcasters who have struck up a virtual (and sometimes actual) friendship via the web, and have actively worked to cross-promote each others' podcasts. I am pleased and honored to have been dubbed the Podfather by this crew, although I'm aware it's a precarious perch at best and someone else could shake me loose at any time. Nonetheless, for the meantime, as Podfather, it's my pleasure to offer up clips from the assembled members of the Pod Mafia this episode.

One of the best things about getting to do an epi of Succotash in Studio P is that it puts us in proximity to Bill Haywatt's wet bar and give us a chance to present Boozin' With Bill. This time about, that workhorse of radio drops a great post New Year's hangover drink on us which he calls Harry Of The Dog That Bit You. It's named for Harry Morgan, with whom Bill worked on an old radio show called Mystery In The Air, and it's a real doozy.

Burst O' Durst

Our resident raging moderate, Will Durst, sounds off about gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School nightmare. 

Holiday Reminder

Show some love to your favorite podcasts by hopping up to iTunes and both rating and reviewing those same podcasts with lots of stars and glowing praise. Then do the same on Stitcher Smart Radio - go up to their website, search for your faves and give them a big ol "thumbs up!" Every little bit helps, and the more often you do it, the better their visibility gets on the charts.

Sing A Song Of Yuletide

I'm happy to be able to feature Is A Chupacabra Kosher?, a new song off the Season's Geekings EP by friend-of-Succotash John Anealio. Jump over to his website to give yourself a stocking stuffer: A free download of his holiday album!

Happy Holidays From Henderson's Pants!

We have a commercial this episode from our friends at Henderson's. More than a commercial, it's a tale done in the style of the popular Christmas poem, 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. Enjoy! 

A Good Run

Our friend Caleb Bacon, host of The Gentlemen's Club podcast, has run down the curtain on that show after 154 episodes. I give him a final salute in the form of a review in This Week In Comedy Podcasts on Splitsider.com but don't despair— Caleb is already prepping to return in February 2013 with his new podcast, Man School! In his farewell episode, Caleb is interviewed as much as he interviews by his guest, That Chris Gore of PodCRASH podcast fame.

The Clips

As I mentioned above, all the clips this week save one are from members of the Pod Mafia.

Dylan Brody’s Neighbor’s Couch

Although Darren Staley is not a member of the Pod Mafia, I think he would be if he trafficked with out kind more. Last epi I though I was going to get to his clip but it didn't happen. So I promised him we'd give him pole position this time around.In addition to being a supporter Succotash his show's audio audio quality has gotten steadily better since I first started listening. And his guests are often, amazing, quite celebrity-statured. This clip features part of his chat with Rosanne Barr.

Royal & Doodall
Tommy Royal of the Royal & Doodall show is – I'm pretty sure – the bloke responsible for coining not just the Pod Mafia name, but also for dubbing yours truly the Podfather. Unfortunately, Tommy is not in the show I'm clipping this episode. It seems he's been replace by Lady Isabel P., who co-hosts this installment with Angus Doodall. Don't miss their Christmas Panto show which should I have role in. See if you can pick out my voice — I’m an audio chameleon.
 
Don’t Quit Your Daycast 
Ed Wallick from Don’t Quit Your Daycast is not just a member of the Pod Mafia but was inspired, in part, do put his own podcast together after hearing Succotash. He just had his one-year-a-versary show, where he ranted – Ed loves to rant – ranted about Thanksgiving with guests Taylor Ripley (aka @TurkReno) and Tom Bevis of the Destination Asphyxiation podcast. (We also have a Christmas Greeting called into the Succotash Hotline by Ed!)

Destination Asphyxiation 
Since we have Ed Wallick and Tom Bevis in the same room – Tom was up from Southern California visiting Ed in Northern California, who turns out to be his uncle – let’s listen for the first time to a clip from Tom’s Destination Asphyxiation show. Oh, look – it’s Ed Wallick, ranting some more!

The DHead Factor 
Though Jabs at The DHead Factor has other fellows who occasionally do the show with him in Canberra, Australia – like #FUJosh – he’s definitely the body and soul of the show and a stalwart member of the Pod Mafia. As the guy who kicked of International Succotash Show Day on December 4th – I hope you all celebrated it – he’s always saluted here at Studio P.
 
Tiny Little Odd Conversations 

Merry Christmas to Travis and Brandi Clark, the hosts of Tiny Odd Conversations. They were almost out of the Pod Mafia before it began toward the end last year because Travis was feeling like there was nowhere else to go with the show. I helped talk him off the ledge, and glad to have done so because we may never have gotten that great cookie recipe from Chef Eddie Vetter otherwise. Here’s part of a conversation that Travis and Brandi had on their Not The Holiday Special episode, about a homeless Santa they came across.
 
Pissed Off Man 
I THINK Gavin from The Pissed Off Man Show is in the Pod Mafia. But I didn’t want to take a chance that he isn’t because he IS the Pissed Off Man. So Merry Christmas, Gee, and for a guy who says he doesn’t have much to be pissed off about on the last day of existence, according to the Mayan calendar, he still gets a few shots in…
 
From Out Of Nowhere
The From Out of Nowhere podcast – or FOONcast – with Eric Furniss and Rob Kern is really a music podcast but they’ve got a sense of humor and Eric is very active on Twitter as a member of the Pod Mafia. They’ve been doing their show from a local bar because their studio got damaged by Hurrican Sandy. The show I grabbed to clip from, however, actually features Rob in a bar interview he did awhile back with Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister and Matt Sorum. Sorry, Eric – I was in a hurry! We’ll get your voice in there next time.

So that's who's in our Christmas card to the members of the Pod Mafia. I hope I remembered everybody. And I know there are some folks in the Pod Mafia Irregulars that I wanted to clip this episode but there just wasn’t time. I WILL clip you guys next epi, but in the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the folks behind Bonnandobo, The Brit And The American, Clutch & Wiggle, The Random Variety Show and Toggle The Switch!

Happy holidays to everybody (especially those of you who have discovered, listened to, and enjoy our show!), and may you all have a great new year, in which you should remember, for the sake of all that's holy, to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi43: Time Jumpin' With Chris Bonno

Happy holiday season to you! Hope yours is shaping up well. I normally don't plug our wares in the blog too much BUT in case you feel like passing the Succotash for the holidays, now would be a good time to hop up to our Succotashery and get friends, loved ones, or just yourself some nifty Succotash t-shirts, mugs, and other assorted stuff.

Commercial mode off.

This epi brings us a special guest, Chris Bonno, in a special two-part interview but in a single show. See, I started the interview live, face-to-face, when Chris was up in San Francisco as the feature act for Hal Sparks, who I also interviewed. (Catch THAT chat back in Epi41!) But we only got about 8 minutes in when things got busy and we never got a chance to finish. Until a few days ago, when I caught up with Chris in LA via Skype and we picked up right where we left off.

Chris is a comedian, an improvisor, a musician, an artist and a podcaster. A VIDEO podcaster, no less, and we will talk about his Electric Bonnoland show during the course of the interview. He's also a guy I've known for about a decade and a half, one of those "comic's comics" who everyone in the comedy scene in LA and Austin, where he got started, knows well but the public is still waiting for him to become an "overnight success".

CLIPS

How Did This Get Made?
A consistently awesome bad movie podcast — that is, a podcast about bad movies — HDTGM? is hosted by Paul Scheer along with Jason Mantzoukas and June Diane Raphael. They have always done feature films on the show but in their Episode 51 they tackle their first TV movie, Liz And Dick, the recent abomination starring the abomination known as Lindsay Lohan. (I give these guys the full review treatment on in This Week In Comedy Podcasts on Splitsider.com, so check that out, too!)

Inverse Delirium
This podcast hails from Baltimore (or Smalltimore, as host Geoffrey Welchman proclaims it.) Geoffrey’s put a lot of effort into his sound quality and he’s got a great pro announcery voice, which you don't find a lot of in podcasting. In this clip, Geoffrey got guest comic-impressionist Kevin Pollak to star in a sketch he wrote.
 
Larcher And Lorensen 
Chicago boys Al Larcher and Clark Lorensen host a sports-and-comedy-based podcast called, rightly enough, Larcher And Lorensen. They’re also part of a comedy troupe in Chi-town called Comedy Accident and, in the clip they sent us, they were visited by a couple of guys from the group.
 
Ragtime
This is a comedy podcast in the vein of movie reviews as well as news about films. It stars Schwood and Suds. (I know that Schwood is actually Chris Sherwood but I have no intel on the identity of Suds. Doesn’t matter…) In a clip from their epi 15 — just in time for the holidays — it’s their Gift Guide for Celebrities!
 
Oddcast Podcast 

Succotash gets a lot of love and support from Adam Barker, the brains behind the Oddcast Podcast in the UK (which is also part of Adam's Pod Gods Network.) Adam and his crew did a Very Special Christmas episode which a clip from can only partially do justice to — it’s basically their version of a Christmas Carol, where Adam is taken to visit the past, present, and future of his own podcast.

Burst O' Durst
Veering a little off of politics (although they're in here, too), our Ambassador to the Middle, Will Durst, reveals his Top 10 Comedic New Stories of 2012. Enjoy!


EXTRA TREATS

In addition to the basket o' clips we have this epi, there are a few other treats…

Friend-of-Succotash and past guest John Anealio provides us with a new holiday tune: Batman Smells (A Rebuttal) off of his new seasonal EP Seasons Geekings — and he's making the download of that 4-song EP FREE if you hop over to his website, http://JohnAnealio.com!

We've also got a holiday greeting from the Bonn And Obo (Bonnandobo) Show, a show that we have yet to play an actual clip from but we will as soon as they say they're ready.

I've been enjoying a video series on YouTube by Joe Plummer's Gotta Kid To Feed Productions, Real Actors Read Yelp Reviews. It's not a podcast but it's such a clever and funny idea I wanted to share it with you Succotashians. In installment #11, actor Darren Goldstein (Damages, Limitless) reads a 5-star Yelp review for a place called Schnitzel Queen. Click over to watch the performance, it's even tastier.

That's pretty much everything we've got in store for you in Epi43. Have a good time, don't let the holidays make you too nuts, and please remember to pass the Succotash!


— Marc Hershon

 

Succotash Epi42: Co-Hostin' With THAT Chris Gore

I'm trying desperately to get this edition of the Comedy Podcast Podcast up while it is still officially International Succotash Day. (As so declared by the inimitable Jabs of The DHead Factor podcast in Australia.) All day long our podcaster friends have been tweeting and messaging words of praise and support for the show — thanks, everybody! — and I've been enjoying seeing the number of downloads and the reviews and ratings go up!

I'm Marc, he's THAT Chris Gore…

Great fun this episode with my special guest co-host That Chris Gore onboard. Chris, the host of the PodCRASH podcast as well as regular on G4's Attack Of The Show, was in San Francisco for Stitcher's Podcast Awards. We talked about his tenure as publisher of one of my favorite magazines, FilmTHREAT, as well as his multi-pronged career doing all kinds of cool stuff in TV, the internet and film.

Chris picked some nice clips for this epi, all of which I'd never covered before, and after we talked about his podcast — listeners of Succotash have heard from PodCRASH here previously — where he appears on other podcasts, then plays excerpts on his show. Which means that you've be able to hear part of this episode of Succotash on a future episode of PodCRASH. It's as about as meta an experience as you're likely to find.

Two Marcs: Maron & Hershon

Last Minute: Since I was late getting this up, I can tell you that I DID end up attending the Stitcher Awards with special guest co-host Chris and it was a grand time. I met the CEO of Stitcher, Noah Shanok, and even got a picture with the evening's host, WTF's Marc Maron. Sadly, though nominated for both Best New Show and Best Album Artwork, Chris didn't end up taking up an Itchy or whatever they call their awards.

CLIPS

PodCRASH 
A clip from PodCRASH epi55, wherein our guest co-host Chris Gore crashes Zane Lamprey Live. The main ingredient here seems to be alcohol. Cheers!

Joe Rogan Experience
Comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, well-known for hosting TV's Fear Factor, hosts a daily podcast where he talks to other comics, friends and just plain interesting folks. His show is part of the Deathsquad network of podcasts.
http://DeathSquad.tv, iTunes and Stitcher

Lost Moon Radio
I met someone attached to Lost Moon Radio at the LA PodFest in October and he suggested I check it out. Now we're doing the same for you. Chris and I both loved the sound and feel of this sketch group out of Los Angeles, high prise considering this is only their third podcast.

Pointless: With Kevin Pereira
Best known as the co-host (and Chris Gore's colleague) on Attack Of The Show on G4, host Kevin Pereira has kicked off a new podcast on the Deathsquad network. In this clip he's chatting it up with successful YouTube video creator Freddie Wong.

No Pressure To Be Funny 
I'm a huge fan of dry, witty, and biting British comedy. Having cut my teeth on Monty Python way back when they first crept into the US, I'm pleased to discover No Pressure To Be Funny. Hosted by James O’Brien, created by with Nick Revell and Alistair Barrie, each episode pulls a panel together from the arts, media and politics, where they then chat about that week's news in front of a live audience. This clip features Revell with a monolog about the war in Afghanistan, in a style that smacks of Douglas Adams. Brilliant.

Throwing Shade
Chis brings in this clip from Throwing Shade, a new-to-me podcast. Hosts Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi are both prolific writers and comedians whose weekly show focuses on politics, entertainment, gay rights and women's issues. This is pretty damn funny chat.

RIFF-erendum

San Francisco-based comedians Steven Pearl and Al Clethen, a couple of buddies of mine, started up RIFF-erendum so they could converse with some of THEIR favorite comedians and musicians. In the latest episode, they chew the fat with fellow Bay Area comic Jeff Applebaum.

We close out Epi42 with the return of Will Durst and his Burst O' Durst. With the elections over, our Ambassador to the Middle sets his sights on what the lame ducks in Congress are doing…or not doing…as the year winds down.

We're hoping to grace a pre-Christmas episode with a live appearance by the aforementioned Will Durst. If you're doing some driving over this holiday season, just remember that a long car ride is an excellent place to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi41: Backstagin' With Hal Sparks

Getting very excited as the holiday season looms. Not so much for Hanukkah or Christmas, but for Succotash Day! It's coming up on Tuesday, December 4th, and it's all thanks to Jabs, the main man at The DHead Factor podcast in Australia. (We talked about it when he was my special guest co-host in Epi40, if you missed it…) Given our production schedule, this show — Epi41 — is about as close as we're going to get to celebrating it on the air (on the pod?), although we might surprise you. Click over to Jabs' show on the day and find out which other podcasts will be talking about us — and we'd appreciate any ratings, reviews and other kudos that you might want to foist upon us up at iTunes, Stitcher and anywhere else Succotash is heard.

Getting on with this show, I've got my interview with Special Guest Hal Sparks. As I already apologize to Hal in the epi, I recorded our chat two months ago, when he was doing a couple of shows at Yoshi's in San Francisco. I would have gotten this up earlier but…it's Succotash. One of these days we'll actually get everything together on time. But Hal was a terrific interview and, what's more, it was a real treat to see him live. As long as I've been in the comedy world, our paths have never crossed and I've only seen him on TV, in the movies, heard his voicework…but never seen him on stage. check out his homesite for his live appearances and radio shows!

DO IT FOR THE KIDS!

I also have a chat via Skype with Ethan Dettenmaier, host of Combat Radio, about his upcoming 2nd Annual Christmas Breakfast for Homeless Children. That's happening on Saturday, December 8th, at the Salt Creek Grille in Valencia, CA. It was nice to connect with Ethan live after playing a few of his clips on the show, and to hear about this great cause he's putting together to bring Christmas morning to some kids who might otherwise be having nothing but pain this year for the holidays.

POD MAFIA ASSEMBLE!

As mentioned on this podcast, I got the opportunity to have an informal get-together (AKA beers) with two members of the still-coagulating Pod Mafia. Ed Wallick of Don't Quit Your Daycast and Tom Bevis, host of Destination Asphyxiation, met up with me in San Francisco over the Thanksgiving weekend and we chatted about all things podcasty. Great to see those guys and be sure to check out their shows.

JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

If you're looking to do some cyber Christmas shopping this year and Amazon is your destination, you can help put a little something in the ol' Succotash stocking by clicking on our Amazon carousel at the bottom of our homesite to get there. That way, Amazon shaves off a tiny bit of whatever you spend with them and kicks it back to us. On the other hand, browing through our Succotashery might be just the thing if you're looking for some of our lovely merch to make this holiday season bright!

CLIPS!

Besides the two interviews in Epi41, we even had room for a few clips. Here's what you'll hear on the show this time around:

The Fireside Chronicles 
I’ve been seeing tweets by The Fireside Chronicles for a bit now and lo and behold, a clip from that show in England arrived in our Tweetsack! Hosted by Waggy, Matty & Phil, it’s become the sort of flagship show for a little network of podcasts which includes Principa Hypothetica, The Bedside Chronicles, The Kalahari Chronicles and The Ringside Chronicles. In this clip, they mostly talk about sausage rolls…

Ratchet & The Geek 
Over on Splitsider.com in the This Week in Comedy Podcasts column, I’m reviewing Ratchet & The Geek with Luvvie Ajayi and Scott Hanselman. They’ve only put up their 3rd show but they already have over 10,000 downloads. Luvvie runs a highly read comedy blog and Scott's digital nerdiness spreads out in a blog and two other podcasts about tech. It’s entertaining chat, blending gadget talk with current events – their homesite calls it “The Intersection of social media, pop culture and technology.”

The Sibling Rivalry Podcast 
I found Jeremy Grater, Aaron Ristow, and Stacy Black with a random grab off of iTunes' New & Noteworthy this week to bring you a clip from The Sibling Rivalry Podcast. (You have to understand that “New and Noteworthy” is a bit of a misnomer, especially when they have a show like Sibling Rivalry because this clip is from their 309th show!)

That it for Epi41. Next show I will have Special Guest Host That Chris Gore from the PodCRASH podcast with me, pulling clips and kicking back in San Francisco.

Happy Succotash Day (December 4th), everybody! What a great day to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi40: Down Underin' With Jabs

We've got a bunch of clips in Epi40, the longest episode of Succotash yet! Yes, I said "we", because I'm joined by special guest co-host Jabs (aka Jason McNamara) all the way from Canberra, Australia, through the magic of Skype. Jabs is the main man behind The DHead Factor and invited me to share the hosting duties several months ago on his show, so I figured it was high time to return the favor. Wasn't sure how it was going to come together, given the time difference, but Jabs is on holiday down under so he was kindly enough to give up part of a Monday morning at his end.

He really serves as a true co-host in this installment - I didn't really get a chance to interview him about his podcast or his life or anything. So if you're hoping to learn more about Jabs the man, please click right over to his podcast and start filling your ears. We split the job of pulling clips for this show, which allowed us to surprise each other with new discoveries. (And since we both enjoy yakking so much, the running time on this episode is over an hour and a half.)

It was great having Jabs on the show, and that's not just because he's announced that he's proclaimed December 4th to be Succotash Day! That's right - an international observance of this very podcast! We chat about it during the episode and you can be SURE I'll be talking more about it as the blessed event approaches.

T-SHIRT WINNER

In the previous episode with my interview with Andy Bumatai, I offered to give away an old t-shirt of Andy's from the Crack Up Thursdayz one nighter comedy gig in Hawaii to someone who could tell me the distance in miles between San Francisco and Honolulu. I had a number of people email in with the mileage — 2387 — and then randomly drew Esben Borsting's name from the correct entries. So I'll be sending the t-shirt his way...back to Honolulu. Thanks to everyone who entered.


FUNCTIONAL NERDS

Maybe I don't talk about myself enough on THIS show but I can't shut up about me when I guest on Epi126 of the Functional Nerds podcast. Hosts John Anealio (who was a guest on Succotash back in Epi33) and Patrick Hester made me feel welcome and the time flew by. At least for me. Might be different for you. Click over and give a listen...

B & A

Alba Lewis and Thomas Moore of The Brit & The American podcast swept through San Francisco on a roundabout journey to Peru, stopping just long enough to tuck into a Chinese dinner and have some good conversation with yours truly. Thanks for the eats, kids, bon voyage, and I'll be putting up some or all of our chat in the near future.

THE CLIPS

Let's do this thing.

The DHead Factor
The usual haunt for our guest co-host Jabs, The DHead Factor is also occasionally co-manned by #FUJosh and others, all the way from Canberra, Australia. Random news, lively chat, and more.
 
Royal & Doodall
In a classic R&D clip chosen by Jabs, Royal & Doodall pull off a dramatic send-up in which they pay homage/skewer a number of their fellow podcasters. Including US. Check it.
 
This Week With Larry Miller 

Comedian Larry Miller suffered a head injury about a year ago and his podcast over on Adam Carolla’s ACE Broadcasting System has been playing reruns ever since. Larry's been on the mend and fronts a recent repeat episode with this message to his fans…

The Christopher Titus Podcast
I've always enjoyed the rambunctious energy of comic Christopher Titus – even more so now that the sound quality of his podcast is coming together. This episode's a treat, seeing as it also features freind-of-Succotash Kelly Carlin.

Pissed Off Man
Jabs has brought along a clip from a podcast that's a favorite of both of ours - The Pissed Off Man, featuring Gavin, aka Gee from Belfast's Gee & Jay Show. Here our mate's gotten all pissy about eating our at restaurants. Not because of the food. Because of the people.
 
Garagecast
Is anybody as incensed about the Red Dawn remake as Jake and Bryan? I don't think so. Give a listen to the Garagecast podcast, why don't you?
 
Phil Hendrie Podcast 
I think the best way to encapsulate our inclusion of a clip from the Phil Hendrie Podcast is to run my review of same which ran last week in This Week In Comedy Podcast over on Spiltsider.com:

Good things DO come to those who wait! Years ago, living in Northern California, my only reliable access to Phil Hendrie’s KFI radio show out of Los Angeles was the occasional CDs of the show my friend Matt would send me. And any time I was in the southland, I’d gobble up as much Hendrie as my ears would hold. Hendrie created some of the most original and hilarious programming to be found on radio. NOW he’s making hours and hours of past moments available via his daily podcast. Dr. Jim Sadler’s his guest in this epi, and he’s giving hints on how to get people to move along that are blocking your way in the fast lane on the freeway. “Get right up on their bumper and highbeam ‘em!” urges the doc. “Nobody ever gets mad. In fact, they appreciate you letting them know they’re going too slow.” And if that pokey driver ahead of you is handicapped? “Four short blasts of the horn lets them know you’re back there,” adds Sadler. No one messes with me – I was an all-star wrestler and one look of my well-muscled arm resting on the windowtells folks I mean business.” The people who call into the show are increasingly outraged the more outlanding Sadler gets and even Hendrie cautions him about going to far. Spoiler Alert: Hendrie IS Dr. Jim. And he’s even one of the outraged callers. But the other callers often don’t get the gag…and neither will you until you hear a few episodes and get hip to Hendrie.
 
Mental Poison 
Bill and the rest of the East Coast crew of Mental Poison made it safely through Hurricane Sandy a couple of weeks ago. Now they just need to survive more fantastically lame-brained marketing ideas from Brian…
 
The Bugle
This clip is a slice of the well-crafted and droll wrap-up of the USA’s presidential election, seen through the British filter provided by hosts John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman. We've played a few clips from The Bugle before, and we'll continue to play samples of this great show until you finally relent and subscribe to it!

TOFOP
Thirty Odd Feet Of Podcast is a show I've not heard before, although I did catch a few minutes of co-host Wil Anderson at last month's first ever Los Angeles Podcast Festival. Highly recommended by Jabs, Wil's an Aussie stand-up who's at the top of the pile, while his partner-in-podcasting Charlie Clausen just landed a TV gig that's put their show on hiatus.
 
Unkempt
Does a podcaster shit in the woods? The last time we featured a clip from Unkempt, one of them had, and left it wrapped in a groddy towel. Let's see what Mike & Matt have in store this time around…
 
Burst O’ Durst 
Our political correspondent Will Durst takes a side trip into Thanksgiving Town.

Happy Thanksgiving to our American audience - that would be Happy Thursday to the rest of you. And what an appropriate time for me to urge you to please pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi39: Hangin' with Andy Bumatai

I’ve really fallen behind in getting Succotash episodes out the door so apologies to those of you who have been trained by decades of televison and radio with their regular release of content. I’d love to be more on top of the release schedule but I have a regular fulltime gig which, if I were just sitting here with an open mic and spitballing witty bon mots off of today’s headlines, I could probably pull it off. But on this show I try to bring you snippets and bits from comedy podcasts around the interwebs and around the world and that just plain takes time.

So Epi39 is a clipless show BUT I do have a great interview with one of my favorite comedians. Andy Bumatai is from Hawaii and is IN Hawaii and made his name there as well. He gets to the mainland from time to time, which is how I first got to know him. We get into that story in the interview. I recorded my chat with Andy when I was in Honolulu back in September and I was hoping to have it up before now, because it’s got some plugs for a show Andy and some other bruddas from the islands did in the Bay Area and Southern California at the end of October. I was hoping to spread the word but it’s like my whole show is on island time of something.

Anyway, you can see Andy regularly now on YouTube with his series In The Car with Andy Bumatai. (Note: Andy's show hit the web a good half year or so before Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee debuted online.) We talk about not just this current project of Andy’s but touch on many of the other shows he’s done over the years that helped to make him as much about Hawaii as pineapple, poi and pupu platters.

Speaking of pupus, that’s one of the things mentioned on a t-shirt I’m giving away this episode! Seriously. It’s an artifact of Andy’s – a genuine black tee from a long-defunct live comedy show called Crack Up Thursdayz. The show was at Honolulu's East Side Bar & Grill. I even have a picture here of Andy wearing it. Bear in mind I have ONE, it’s a large and it’s well-worn. But it’s also been well-laundered – Andy left it in my rental car when I drove him to a show when I was in Hawaii in September. Wanna win this timeworn classic? Here's how.

Send the number of miles (or kilometers for our metric friends) between San Francisco and Honolulu to me, marc@SuccotashShow.com. I'll draw one name from the correct guesses and mail the winner the Crack Up Thursdayz tee shirt. Be sure to include a mailing address with your emailed entry!

I was going to do a show around the 8th Annual Podcast Awards, which the voting on closes November 15th. Perfect self-contained show idea, right? I thought I’d feature clips from the ten shows in the Comedy category but, again, no time. In lieu of playing those clips, here are the shows nominated:

Beauty and Da Beast, Citizen Radio, Comedy Bang Bang, File Under Horrible, Metrobuzz, My Brother My Brother and Me, The Green Light Show, The Ramen Noodle, Walking The Room, and WTF with Marc Maron.

So get up to http://podcastawards.com and vote before November 15th. (There are a bunch of other shows in other categories as well, but we really don’t care about them here on Succotash, the COMEDY Podcast Podcast.)

With the elections upon us, don't forget that our inhouse political comedian and Ambassador to the Middle Will Durst has an ebook out! It’s called Elect to Laugh, a collection of his election year rants and observations, both from his act and from the syndicated column he does. You may even see a few familiar passages that you’d have heard right here on our Burst O’ Durst feature. Get over to Will’s site and grab it there. 

Early Warning: I'll be a guest on the Functional Nerds podcast next Tuesday night, November 13th, hosted by friend-of-Succotash John Anealio and Patrick Hester. Catch it at 10 PM EST/7 PM PST at http://FunctionalNerds.com or download it later from iTunes!

Next episode not only we'll we have a full rack of clips, but I should be joined by special guest co-host Jabs from The DHead Factor podcast, Skypecasting with me from Australia!

That's it for now. Until next we meet, please be sure to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi38: Recoverin' From The LA PodFest

I’m back from the first Los Angeles Podcast Festival, which was about a week ago. It was pretty much a success and more well organized than you might imagine four comedians — Dave Anthony, Graham Elwood, Chris Mancini and Andy Wood — might be able to pull together. There were some interesting panels on how to promote your podcast and how to soup up your technology, stuff like that. And a bunch of live podcasts, everybody from Greg Behrendt and Dave Anthony’s Walking the Room and Superego! to Fitzdog Radio and Doug Loves Movies. Doug Benson’s show included Marc Maron, Zach Galafinaikis, Steve Agee, Todd Glass, and Dave Anthony. It was the most hilarious train wreck of a live podcast you’re liable to see…or hear.

Susan Wygmans, Travis Clark, Me, Brandy Clark

I got a chance to meet up with some of the podcasters that I’ve been tweeting and Skyping with over the past year or so but have never meet face to face! I had breakfast Travis and Brandy Clark from Tiny Odd Conversations and Susan Wygmans from Toggle The Switch. I recorded our conversation for the heck of it so for those really curious about what four podcasters like to shoot the shit about, just click on the player below. (It's like a Succotash bonus track!)

Here's what waiting for you in this exciting episode...

Firstly, my background music: If you like Bluegrass, check out the tunage behind me in the show's opening. That's It's Okay To Pick It by comedian Denny Johnston and Mark Linford. You can get yourself a copy and can rate it for them over at CDBaby, iTunes and Amazon.

 

Epi38 features my interview via Skype with friend-of-the-show Dave Nelson, host of the Comedy A-Go-Go podcast and who recently dropped his 100^th episode. David interviewed me right after the very first episode of Succotash landed and I'm a little embarrassed it's taken this long to return the favor.

 As far as the clips for this episode go, I was so inundated by the popular shows at the Podcast Festival last week that I thought I’d try to feature clips from shows you might not know about, and a few that you might because I’ve featured them here before. 

Chick N Dick Podcast

Our first clip is from a pretty new podcast, the Chick N Dick show with John Simmonds and Lindsey Mogul. John was the co-host of a show called the Truth or Truth podcast which made it to 57 episodes before he and co-host Brandon called it quits but now he’s back with a woman on the other mic so we’ll see how it goes… 

Podkward Podcast

According to their site, Podkward hosts Emilio Rossal and Engineer Cesar chat with actors, musicians, filmmaker and hobos about a variety of topics including movies, relationships, strange rashes and more.

Rob & Joe Show

We’ve heard from Rob Maher and Joe Robinson of The Rob & Joe Show out of Baltimore before. They’re always got some interesting chatter going on and, in this clip, it’s about Rob’s encounter at a standup show with a blind audience member after the show. They livecast every Monday night at 7:30 PM East Coast time at their homesite.

The Rigid Fist

In the second clip we've played from The Rigid Fist, host Kat Sorens and his guest Carl MacAteer start out talking about exercise apps and end up in somewhat seamier territory.

Ben-A-Pod

I’m not quite sure what the thing is with the Ben-A-Pod podcast. Host Benjamin Bubb has guests, features, chat, and “audio drama” but Ben’s voice is electronically modulated throughout the show. It’s like listening to a Stephen Hawking podcast. I’m not sure if it wouldn’t drive you crazy hearing it all the time, but it’s definitely different. Especially this clip which get super-meta as Ben-A-Pod calls an automated help line.

Burst O’ Durst

I actually shouldn’t be playing this epi's Burst O’ Durst with Will Durst because it’s kind of time-sentitive — it’s based on the second presidential debate and now the third and final debate has already come and gone. But it’s Durst, dammit, so here it is!

Hope you enjoy this episode. If you’re a comedy podcaster and want us to feature a clip from your show on Succotash, just send along a 3-5 minute MP3 or WAV chunk to clips@SuccotashShow.com. And if you’re a fan of a particular comedy podcaster, let us know what it is by dropping a line to me, Marc@SuccotashShow.com and I’ll track it down.

Until next time, please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi37: Thrillin' with Ben Blacker

I was delighted to be able to slice out a chunk of time with Ben Blacker, half of the the brain trust (along with producing/writing partner Ben Acker) behind The Thrilling Adventure Hour. For those unfamiliar with TAH, it's a mega-popular once-a-month stage show in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, America, which then gets sliced and diced into a weekly podcast as well. We've featured several clips on Succotash and I've reviewed it favorably in This Week In Comedy Podcasts over on Splitsider.com.

Ben's an affable chap who talks about the origins of some of the show's most popular segments — Beyond Belief, Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, The Adventures of Captain Laserbeam and more – and we drop clips from the segments as we mention them. Since I've only been able to enjoy TAH via podcast, I can't wait for the opportunity to catch the stage show one of these days during an upcoming trip to Los Angeles.

Because of the length of the interview (and the fact we're playing about a half dozen clips from TAH in the course of the show), there wasn't room for any other podcasts during Epi37. We did squeeze in our regular feature, Burst O' Durst with political comedian Will Durst. And remember that Will's ebook, Elect To Laugh, is out and available just by clicking the linked title (and $5.95.)

If you're a podcast fan, NOW is an ideal time to show it. Nominations are being accepted for both the 8th Annual Podcast Awards AND the Stitcher Smart Radio podcast awards, too! I urge you to nominate your favorite comedy podcast (and your favorite p'cast from other  genres, too!) If you're kind enough to throw a nod our way, I'd suggest putting Succotash in the Entertainment category rather than cast us into the crowded Comedy contingent (where there are MUCH funnier shows, pound for pound.)

I hope you enjoy Epi37 — The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a kickass show and a lot of fun, and I enjoy doing this sort of "tribute-on-the-fly" for it. Look for more theme shows like this in the future from Succotash but don't worry: We remain your Comedy Podcast Podcast and will be presenting a ton more clips from podcast everywhere!

Live Succotash Alert: The Los Angeles Podcast Festival is this weekend — October 12-14 — in Santa Monica, CA, and I'll be there. Hope to run into a lot of my podcaster friends and acquaintances there. And I'll be interviewing as many folks as I can while I'm in town. Look for me in the Succotash t-shirt. I'll also be tweeting my location through @SuccotashShow live as the fest progresses.

Until next time, please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi36: Goin' Joeless

Although episode 36 of Succotash finds us back in Studio P ("The Home of The Hit!"), it's without the benefit of our engineer/producer Joe Paulino this time. Under the unsteady hand of booth assistant Kenny Durgess, the good ship Succotash manages to make the journey through the rocky shoals of podcast clips and interviews (not to mention a new Boozin' With Bill segment) to arrive in one piece in your ears.

I'd planned to have Will Durst, our Ambassador to the Middle and the funniest political comic this side of Congress, live in the studio. He's just put out a new e-book, Elect To Laugh, a collection of his syndicated newspaper columns and I figured he'd snap up the chance to plug it. This being an election year with very little time left on the clock, it’s a political comic’s busiest season so we'll have to reschedule for right after Libertarian President Gary Johnson gets sworn in. (See what I did there? It's a joke about the fact I probably will never get Will into the studio...) You can click the links here or visit http://SuccotashShow.com and look for the cover of Will's book for a link to where you can buy and download a copy. Not to mention that with close out this edition of the show with our usual Burst O' Durst.

The host with past Succotash guest Joe Klocek

In the realm of other things comedy, apropos of nothing having to do with this podcast, I was at the 32nd annual Comedy Day in San Francisco Sunday before last. It's a big tradition in the history of Bay Area comedy, dubbed by the event's originator, the late Jose Simon, as the local comedy scene's version of a company picnic. I hung out backstage, said howdy to a bunch of comedian friends I probably won't see most of for another year, and enjoyed a rare warm and sunny summer day in Golden Gate Park.

As mentioned above, show announcer Bill Haywatt stumbles into Studio P this episode to ply me with alcohol in another edition of his Boozin' With Bill segment. This time we literally are draining the dregs of this bit when he prepares the drink he calls "The Starter Kit", basing what we swill down on what he finds left in the glasses and bottles strewn around Studio P following some kind of wild party that went on there the night before we taped the show. Normally you want to follow a recipe pretty closely but, in the case of The Starter Kit, you can pretty much throw in whatever you find lying around.

Here's what is in the clip set for Epi36:

Fitzdog Radio 
Greg Fitzsimmons has a great show not just because of the fact he’s genuinely entertaining and funny, but he manages to get some great guests, including producer/director Judd Apatow who, in this clip talks about supporting comedy (being a reformed standup himself), Tweeting too much and casting his own kids in movies.

The Geek Generation 
Rob Logan, Bryan Lipsitz and Mike Volpe are within spitting distance of their 100th Geek Generation episode - congrats, guys - and thought we'd enjoy hearing a slice of their visit with Hollywood producer and former WCW talent Jeff Katz. He tells about the mistakes that were made in regards to Deadpool's character, ultimately resulting in him leaving production of the Wolverine movie.

Tiny Odd Conversations
Not just a clip from Tiny Odd Conversations this episode, but I actually Skyped it up with TOC cohost Travis Clark to dig into the detail of his upcoming Hashtag Comedy Show in Los Angeles. What started out as mostly a joke to get people to donate to his and wife Brandi's podcast has lunged out of control into a full-fledged night of comedy with the focus being on having his non-standup spouse get on stage to tell jokes.

The show is on for November 11 at The Other Door in North Hollywood. And you can get free tickets just by donating to the cause! So click over to http://TOCpod.com and help joke the life our of Brandi Clark!

We also play a clip from TOC feauring their first-ever celebrity chef segment with none other than Chef Eddie Vedder.

Podd Socks
First time on for a show from Down Under I haven’t heard of before, featuring a quartet of Aussie 20-somethings — Ben Dunlop, Kris Francis, Nathan Press and Jack de Zwart — sitting around and shooting the shite about "current events, pop culture, telling personal stories from their lives and analysing conspiracy theories" as their website tells it.

Cashing In with TJ Miller

I've featured a clip before but I’ve loved the concept for this podcast ever since host Cash Levy told it to me so I'm playing some more. It’s supposed to be a regular talk show style podcast with various guests…but every episode the guest who was scheduled never shows up and comedian/actor TJ Miller is always called to fill in. This clip finds them in a riff about going back to where you grew up to do a comedy show and the kind of reception you get from the old hometown crowd. They also coin the term "hot pods".

Random Variety Show Podcast
Flattery may not get you many places but it will definitely get your comedy podcast clip on this show. Especially, as in the case of friend-od-Succotash Charley Miller, who has declared that listening to our podcast is what got him psyched up to do The Random Variety Show. Charley's 17.5 episodes into his show, which originates out of San Diego, and he features interviews with various locally-based performers as well as some unusual guest...like Groucho Marx.

Don’t Quit Your Daycast
Another fine fellow who’s leapt onto the podcasting soundstage recently is Ed Wallick, who’s also been venturing on the open mic stages around the Bay Area for the past couple of years. Like Charley Miller, he credits Succotash with showing him a way to do his own thing on the interwebs and it’s been fun watching him develop his format and style along the way. In this clip from DQYP, Ed teams up with Tiny Odd Conversation's Travis Clark to create Jesse vs. Jesse, a bit about battling Jesse Venturas. Venturai?

The Hustle 
Co-hosts Will Gilman and Adam Tucker run conversationally amok with a variety of guests — comedians, musicians and — I think — random dudes off the street sometimes. In this clip they have fellow comedians Harry J. Riley and Justin McNiff in the house and they’re riffing about men having a limit on the number of erections we get in our lifetimes.

In addition to clips this episode, I feature Angy Robot, a cut off of the album Laser Zombie Robot Love by sci-fi/comedy musician (and past Succotash guest) John Anealio. Feel free to not only enjoy the tunage, but click over to John's site (http://JohnAnealio.com) and grab the whole album for yourself for just $5 bucks.

Finally, as promised on the actual podcast, here's the artist's rendering of yours truly by Angus Doodall Tommy Royal of the Royal & Doodall podcast, luxuriating over a steaming bowl of succotash. Truly a thing of beauty to behold. I should get the original from him and auction it off.

That's our show. Presented for your pleasure. (Here's joping Engineer Joe makes it back in time for the next in-studio edition of the show!)

Please remember to pass the Succotash.

— Marc Hershon