This is Episode 82 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast, and I AM your host, Marc Hershon. Terribly sorry for the delay between shows. My wife and I have been in the throes of moving - not far, really only about 10 minutes from where we were living - but you know what moving can be like. Especially for a podcaster - you misplace one box with important equipment in it and it's like your show never existed.
Anyway, last episode I had fun with our Associate Producer Tyson Saner co-hosting the show. This time out our special guest is Hal Lublin from The Thrilling Adventure Hour and The David Feldman Show. We first interviewed Hal last year when he was up for the 12th Annual San Francisco Sketchfest. This year he was up for the 13th edition and we caught up with him again. (During the interivew we had some short unplanned cameo appearances by Ben Blacker, Cole Stratton, and Scott Lifton, but that's what happenes when you set up in the lobby of the hotel Sketchfest was using as their main HQ for this year's event…)
In addition to our catch-up session with Hal, we've got some clips and not one but TWO of our Bursts O' Durst with political comedian Will Durst.
THE TEN MOST ACTIVE SHOWS IN THE STITCHER TOP 100 COMEDY PODCAST LIST
Who moved the most up or down the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast list this past week? Just listen…
AT MOVED
22. What About Pod? +7
32. The Brian & Jill Show -10
36. SModcast >> Jay & Silent Bob Get Old -11
57. The Bryan Callen Show +34
64. Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine +36
73. Harmontown +32
81. Where’s My 40 Acres Podcast -8
90. Three Guys On +102
92. Mr. No Good +108
94. The Craig Shoemaker Show +272
Glad to see our old pal Craig Shoemaker vaulting into the top 100! We had him as our Special Guest back in Epi29 – maybe we can rope him into another interview soon.
HENDERSON'S PANTS LOGO
A few weeks ago, I tweeted that I would like to have folks submit designs for a Henderson's Pants logo, with the idea we might start to sell some t-shirts, open a phony website, who knows? Listener and podcaster Dr. Norman Trousers rose to the challenge and submitted several, one of which appears here:
I love it! Anyone else have an idea, you're going to have to go Doc Trow one better. Plus he and his co-host cut us a special clip from their Casa Mirth podcast for this episode!
CLIPS
What Say You?
As you may know, I’m one of the gang of reviewers that contributes to This Week In Comedy Podcasts up at Splitsider.com every week, along with Zoe Schwab, Pablo Goldstein, Josh Sorokach, Robert Schoon, Scott Reynolds, and Jenny Nelson. This week I reviewed What Say You?, hosted by Brian Quinn and Sal Vulcano. If you watch Impractical Jokers on TruTV, these are two of those guys. And Brian is also part of the Tell ‘Em, Steve-Dave podcast on the SModcast network. What Say You? Is just these two guys – Brian and Sal – talking about whatever comes into their heads. The lastest epsiode has a story about a pair of women’s pants that Sal received via UPS by accident and what he ended up doing about them. It’s, well, not normal… And that’s how it starts. The story get so funny that Brian ends laughing so hard that he actually ends up throwing up. As I concluded on in my review on Splitsider for this show: Podcast Gold.
Casa Mirth
I always appreciate when a podcast wants to send along a clip of their show. Promos I'm not as keen on but one thing that only happened afew times in the almost three years that I've been doing Succotash is someone taking the time to put together a custom clip. Dr. Normal Trousers and his partner-in-podcasting River Zambezi have done just that. Coupled with the Henderson's Pants logo that Trousers did, Casa Mirth ranks right up there with the best!
HMS Codcast
As I just got done writing about, I'm not a big fan of the pre-fab promo but I got one in that's from a pretty original show and put together by a fellow podcast who's recently had some tough breaks, healthwise. Nigel Boydell had been doing a very funny show called Uncle Arthur’s Bollocks as well as a second program, CSI Troutbeck. One of the complications from his health issues was that he had to have 16 teeth removed. Yikes! This has left him with what he calls "a pronounced lisp." But podcasting is what he wanted to do so he ended up WRITING one and engaging podcasters from all over the place to help read the passages from a series of continuing misadventures of a ship’s crew on a voyage to discover the New World. So far he’s got episodes voiced by the likes of the aforementioned Dr Norman Trousers (Casa Mirth), Matt LeRoy (Wicked Radio Network), Matt Brundage (Another Damn Trivia Show) and Jenny Sorens, wife of podcaster Kat Sorens (Strange Times Show)
Salty Language
One of our frequent retweeters is the Salty Language podcast with Bryan Stewart, Tony High, and Tate Hayes. These guys and a gal talk about a lot of stuff and recently they were on about The Beatles big 50th Anniversary on the Ed Sullivan show. Tony isn’t on this clip which our Associate Producer Tyson Saner clipped for us, but you’ll get the idea of the show’s flow.
The Bitter Sound
A longtime supporter of Succotash is Davian Dent, the host of both The Bitter Sound podcast as well as co-host of The Strange Times podcast. The Bitter Sound is a truly strange and wonderful combination of odd ramblings, ambient music, disturbing soundscapes and visits from a variety of people. In fact, our own announcer Bill Heywatt is slated to be a future guest on the show.
Me1 vs Me2
I got a recommendation from Andy McHaffie, who tweets as @AndyMcH, to give a listen to Me1 vs Me2 Snooker, which features British comedian Richard Herring in an ongoing series of snooker games played by himself playing with himself. Well, not playing with himself. Playing AGAINST himself, really. And also serving as the commentators and the referees for the games. With a premise that odd, it had better be good. And so it is…
Not too many clips this episode but the Hal Lublin interview runs about 50 minutes, so you're still getting a lot of show! Enjoy…and remember to please pass the Succotash!
— Marc Hershon
Welcome to Epi81 of Succotash, The Comedy Podcast Podcast. I, Marc Hershon, am not alone this week. Joining me as co-host for the show, via Skype, is Associate Producer Tyson Saner!
It was about a year ago that Tyson began sending me a stray clip or two, testing the waters to see if his choices jibed with the "flow of the show". And it wasn't long after that I recognized his value in helping me to canvas the vastness that is Podcastland in our ever-widening efforts to sample comedy podcasts.
By the end of last summer he'd been named our Honorary Associate Producer. He supplies the show with at least three and as many as a half-dozen of the clips you hear every week, as well as giving me valuable background info on both the specific clips and the shows from which they've been harvested.
At the beginning of the year he became our ACTUAL Associate Producer – as you can now hear in Bill Heywatt's closing credits – and this won't be the last time we hear his dulcet tones on the show, methinks.
In the course of the show we find out a little of Tyson's background, how he stumbled into being a massive podcast listener and fan, how he found Succotash and what really catches his attention when it comes to deciding to click that Subscribe button on a show.
We also have a DOZEN clips in this show, not to mention our Burst O' Durst, a brand new Henderson's Pants ad, and even a song from out of Tyson's repertoire of original music (most of which is available - for free - from SoundCloud!)
PLUS we have a Special Bonus Interview at the very end of this epi! Keep listening after Bill Heywatt says "Goodbye!" to hear my interview with Cole Stratton, co-organizer of the 13th Annual San Francisco Sketchfest and co-host of podcasting's Pop My Culture. We were backstage (or "mid-stage", actually) following his appearance in Speechless (a show I help produce) at the Sketchfest. Our chat is only about nine minutes long but, as it comes at the end of the longest Succotash episode yet recorded, it's a while getting there.
Top 10 Most Active Shows In Stitcher's Top 100 Comedy Podcast List
No wild swings up or down the Stitcher 100 list this past week, but there definitely was some movement in the chart…
AT MOVED
9. SModcast >> Tell ‘Em, Steve-Dave +6
30. The Brian & Jill Show -7
37. Fitzdog Radio +5
52. Keith & The Girl Comedy Talk Show -8
60. A Mediocre Time with Tom & Dan +7
72. Jim Florentine’s Metal Comedy Midgets +5
73. Righteous Prick +7
85. LightCast -7
94. SModcast >> FeaB +20
97. Never Not Funny/Jimmy Pardo -12
I guess there WAS a major jump up the charts, actually, if you look at Succotash's nuimbers. We went from #5945 last week to #5107 this week, so that's pretty sweet!
The 2nd Annual Stitcher Awards were last week and I attended the ceremony, which was held at The Chapel in San Francisco. Many awards were given out for categories across the spectrum. I recount the winner in this episode of Succotash, but you can also go see the list of top prize getters on the Stitcher blog.
Burst O' Durst
In this episode's installment of comedian Will Durst's running commentary, he takes some potshots at the ultra-rich.
Podcast Review
For my portion of This Week In Comedy Podcasts over on Splitsider.com, I've reviewed The Nerdist with hosts Chris Hardwick, Jonah Ray, and Matt Mira, interview B.J. Novak, actor/writer from The Office and the author of a new book of short stories.
The Clips
Chillpak Hollywood Hour
This week’s clip from CHH with Dean Haglund & Phil Leirness features them thanking me for catching a big ol’ audio snafu in their recent episode. (Hey, we podcasters have to help each other out, right?)
SModcast
Vintage SModcast (from July 10th, 2008) wherein Kevin Smith turns ordinary circumstances into "What If?" adventure time, pushing Scott Mosier furthur and further outside his comfort zone as the "What if"s become more and more unlikey, bizarre and often outrageous.
Edumacation
The idea behind this show (form the SModcast universe) is that Kevin Smith needs educating so Andy McElfresh brings in stories and information from around the world while Kevin asks as many questions as he possibly can which Andy also attempts to answer. Hilarity Ensues. This clip is of Andy attempting to apply real world diagnoses to the cast of The Cosby Kids.
Fitzdog Radio
Bobcat Goldthwait’s always entertaining and this time Greg Fitzsimmons has him. We get an interesting glimpse into the life of the once celebrated madman comedian whose ambition these days is all about making and directing movies. To fuel his interest, he’s back in the clubs, which leads to an interesting series of comedy club anecdotes.
Perfectly Imperfect
This panel-based comedy commentary show features four variously "challenged" hosts – Kathy Buckley, Tobias Forrest, Geri Jewell and Mark Povinelli – who take off on, debate, and otherwise have their way with a variety of topics. In this clip, it's about marriage equality and Muppets.
Broadcast Basement
I was a guest with Chris Lanuti, the main host of podcasting’s Broadcast Basement this week. He asked me what kinds of podcasts I don’t particular like and which ones I do. Also how Broadcast Basement can get mentioned on our show more. Having me on as a guest is obviously one way…
Nardwuar, The Human Serviette
Nardwuar's chats with musicians are among some of the most unique in the history of music interviews. He plays his own version of This Is Your Life complete with memorabilia and gifts for his guests. In this clip, he's speaking with eclectic musician Jaap Blonk.
Do The Right Thing
Another fine British recommendation from our friend @Good_Podcasts, Do The Right Thing is a comedy panel show hosted by Danielle Ward with team captains Michael Legge and Margaret Cabourn-Smith. Guest team members this week are Jason Manford & Sara Pascoe. In the “Agony Aunt” sequence this episode, the panel answers a letter about how to deal with a free-loading, loser former best friend.
Comedy Bang Bang
Hosted by Scott Aukerman, the premise of the show is simple: Scott interviews celebrities,
musicians and comedians. Another comedian or
performer comes in after the initial interview and pretends to be
someone else – sometimes a famous actor, but often a character
from a television show, or sometimes a brand new
original character. The featured guest is Park & Rec's Nick Offerman, who is interrupted by a whiny, pissy Paul Giamatti…voiced to perfection by James Adomian.
A Mediocre Time with Tom & Dan
This show was one of the six podcasts nominated for Best Comedy Podcast for the recent Stitcher Awards. The winner was Comedy Bang Bang, but it must mean something that Tom and Dan got in there. They’ve got a subscription model show and a free version and they do their show out of Orlando, Florida. In this clip, they ruminate about Salem witch trials, a hot new restaurant idea, and they also talk about making it big in Nashville with one of their songs.
Adam & JP
Got a note AND a clip in the Tweetsack this week from the Adam & JP podcast: “Hey Marc, I just recently found your show and I love it. Really great work! In advance, thanks for giving us a shout out. Basically, we talk all things geek (gaming, comics, movies, music, pop culture) with a comedic slant. We host a two hour radio show on a local station every Saturday morning and do a weekly podcast. I have attached a clip from our latest episode, in case you wanted to use it. Thanks again and we would love to chat with you on the show sometime to discuss your show." <signed> J Patrick Pretty funny stuff, guys!
That's a pretty full show! Almost TWO hours of Succotash! Enjoy it, savor it, and please remember to pass the Succotash along, too!
— Marc Hershon
