Yes, ready or not, here I come! It’s me, Marc Hershon, your host, your master of ceremonies, and the executive producer for Succotash, The Comedy Podcast Podcast. And this is Epi84, featuring my interview with our Special Guest: Mr. Greg Fitzsimmons!
Stand-up comedian. Writer. Show runner for television shows. And the host of Fitzdog Radio – both his live show on Sirius FM and his podcast which, refreshingly, isn’t just his satellite radio show dumped into the podstream and re-aired. I sat with Fitz — a nickname he did not invite me to use – after a recent show at the Punchline in San Francisco and we chatted for about a half hour. You’re going to hear the entire thing, unedited, in this episode.
But that's not all!
We’ve crammed a bunch of clips into this episode. Three of them are from former radio personalities who were on terrestrial radio for a LONG time but they’re now enjoying the freedom of podcasting – the main difference, I think, between what they did and what they’re doing is that they’re happy that they can say fuck and shit and all the other words they weren’t allowed to utter on the airwaves.
What's More
We’ve also got our Burst O’ Durst with comedian Will Durst. And he’ll be appearing at an event I’m hosting THIS week at Alfred’s Steakhouse in San Francisco. If you’re in the Bay Area, that’s on Thursday, March 27th, and it’s a fund-raiser by the producers of the 3 Still Standing documentary so they can afford to finish the film. You can glean more info for THAT show at http://3StillStanding.com.
But I digress. We also feature a classic Henderson’s Pants spot, our Tweetsack segment and more. Well, no, actually, between that stuff, clips, the Fitzsimmons interview, that’s about it.
10 Most Active Shows in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List
Provided exclusively by Succotash, the 10 Most Active Shows in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List features those shows that have moved up OR down the charts the most in the past week. Let’s have a look…
AT MOVED
26 SModcast >> Jay & Silent Bob Get Old +10
42 What About Pod? -12
49 Robert Kelly’s “You Know What Dude!” +5
55 Allison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend -7
77 Phone Losers of America +25
79 Vos & bonnie’s “My Wife Hates Me” +7
82 Straight Outta Lo Cash +8
92 Black Astronauts Podcast +58
95 The Rob & Joe Show -6
97 The World of Phil Hendrie +92
And for the second week in a row, our friend Chris Lanuti and his crew in the Broadcast Basement podcast are right on the bubble, hanging in there at #100. Way to go, guys!
It was a good week for Succotash on the Stitcher chart this time around – again – as we climbed 2209 places from 7488 to #5279 this past week!
Radio Daze
I’ve spent a lot of time in Los Angeles over the years, including living down there three different times when I was either looking for writing work or doing writing work, and I would always listen to the Mark & Brian Show, which was a moring radio staple for years down there, on 95.5 KLOS. It was Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps and they started their show in Sepetember of 1987, which was about the same time I started hanging out in LA.
They hung up their radio togs in August of 2012, about a month shy of 25 years as a team. Well, guess what? You can’t keep a radio guy down. They’re both now podcasting. Each with a different show, and 3000 miles apart, as Mark left LA and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he does a daily podcast with his wife, Lynda, called appropriately…
The Mark & Lynda Podcast
They do their podcast live on the web, so that allows them to take and make phone calls as well as keep things very current, newswise. They’ve also got a great listenership, as evidence by the fact they tagged in at #13 on this week’s Top 100 in Stitcher’s Top 100 Comedy Podcast List. Our clip is out of Mark & Lynda’s St. Patrick’s day show, where Mark relates a story about Steve Martin that happened after Mark left KLOS on his very last day of the Mark & Brian Show.
The Brian & Jill Show
The Brian part of the Mark & Brian Show hasn’t been quite so hot to jump back in front of the microphone. He’s got his own podcast – The Brian & Jill Show – that he co-hosts with actress Jill Whelan who some of you might remember as the daughter of Captain Stubing on The Love Boat. But his show only drops periodically – about once a month – just when he feels like doing it. Hasn’t hurt his popularity, though – this past week his show came in at #31 on Stitcher’s comedy list. I pulled a clip off his lastest outing where he’s relating a story from his mother and some trouble she’s been having with a bingo partner.
Off The Air with Chick McGee
Our last radio-themed clips revolves around the Off The Air podcast. Listeners to the well-known Bob & Tom Show out of Indianapolis but syndicated nationally are no doubt familiar with the name Chick McGee, who has been a longtime member of their team. In 2012 he also started his own podcast, Off The Air with Chick McGee, where he lets his hair down a bit, swears and generally has a good time with his own little team of cohorts and occasional guests. He also shows up frequently in Stitcher’s Top 100 comedy podcasts – this past week he moved up one place to #36. The clip we harvested features personal finance expert Peter The Planner talking about the most outrageous financial cliam he’s seen someone try to get away with.
The Rest of The Clips
A
couple of episodes ago we featured a clip from British comedian Richard Herring’s Me1 v Me2 Snooker —
or “snOOker”, as it’s properly pronounced, apparently. (Richard took me to task
over that one a bit in thanking us for playing the clip.) He’s got several
podcasts, as it turns out and, based on a suggestion from Andy
McHaffie, I checked out Richard Herring’s Leicest Theatre Podcast.
Funny! Funny enough for me to have reviewed for This Week In Comedy Podcasts
on Splitsider.com last week. We feature a taste from a recent epi with his guest,
fellow English comedian Jenny Éclair.
The Angry Chimp Show
We got a recommendation to give a listen to a podcast called The Angry Chimp Show. Our Associate Producer Tyson Saner clipped us off a piece of a recent episode but neither he nor I can find much out about who is the brains behind this new podcast. They seem to be out of Australia, and they do sketches and songs. Beyond that, it’s a mystery.
Strange Times Podcast
We’ve mentioned the Strange Times Podcast before – hosted by Davian Dent of the Bitter Sound podcast, Kat Sorens from The Rigid Fist podcast and their newest co-host Jerry T’What. Recently our own Bill Heywatt, who you heard a short while back on for Henderson’s Pants, was a guest on their show. They had some technical difficulties, namely Davian Dent’s audio part of the interview failed to represent. But’s we have a couple of minutes of Bill, with a few side comments from the other guys.
That's going to do it for Epi84. Hey, if we still haven’t played a clip from YOUR favorite podcast, why not drop me a line at m-a-r-c@SuccotashShow.com or call into our Succotash Hotline (818-921-7212) to let me know!
Thanks as always to our Associate Producer Tyson Saner as well as our engineer/producer Joe Paulino, our booth announcer Bill Heywatt and our booth assistant Kenny Durgess. And thanks, most of all, to YOU.
Now get out there and pass that damn Succotash.
— Marc Hershon
Welcome to the Succotash experience, Epi 83. And we’ve got a show chock full of the stuff that you download and/or stream us for: Clips. That's right. Comedy podcast clips from all over the place with not a single interview to sully the mix.
Most of the clips in this episode were provided by Associate Producer Tyson Saner. My wife and I have been in the process of moving for what seems like weeks and so Tyson has been up there at the top of the great dam of the Comedy Reservoir all by himself and he’s let the clips you’re going to hear today get through.
Speaking of Tyson, he got a little shout out from our buddies Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness over at the Chillpak Hollywood Hour last week. So I took the time to snip you that clip myself, as well as a couple of others that you're going to hear this show.
We, as usual, also offer you our Burst O' Durst segment from cultural comedian Will Durst. And we have a Henderson's Pants ad for their new Ransom Pants.
The 10 Most Active Show in Stitcher's Top 100 Comedy Podcast List
Last episode I pretty much skipped this feature because there simply wasn’t that much action on the Stitcher Top 100 in terms of shows moving up or down. This week’s pretty sluggish as well, but there was some movement on the charts…
AT MOVED
16. Duncan Trussell Family Hour +5
25. DeathSquad +5
37. Off The Air – Chick McGee +5
43. Fitzdog Radio -5
46. SModcast >> Edumacation +7
55. Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend -6
58. This Week In Blackness Radio -8
68. Improv for Humans w/Matt Besser +6
85. The Dana Gould Hour +34
87. New York City Crime Report with Pat Dixon +42
Happy to report that ol’ Succotash is on our way back UP the Stitcher charts after last week’s dreadful score, which was at #9465. This week we’re up 1,977 places to #7488.
Thanks for Amazonin' Through Us!
As I mention in this episode, we've started getting some lovely little checks form Amazon because some of you Succotashians have been using banner ad at the top of our SuccotashShow.com homesite to get ot Amazon to do your shopping. When you do that, they kicks up back a little buckage and that's been helping us to defray a few costs. Please feel free to keep right on doing it!
The Clips
Screams And Moans
Faithful Succotash listener Megan M. (aka @PodcastWhore) has kicked off her own podcast. "Screams And Moans is about movies and sex but not together, as that would be porn," according to a note I got from Megan. She says that every episode is different with a different guest co-host, a different film and a different listener question/topic related to more carnal matters. One of the things she loves most about her show and the format is that she gets to meet a variety of interesting and creative people. Folks featured in the clip we have include Sassy from The Most Popular Girls on the Internet, Bonn from the Bonn and Obo Show, Nigel Boydell from HMS Codcast/Uncle Arthur's Bollocks Collection, Davian Dent from The Bitter Sound and Dr. Norman Trousers from the Casa Mirth podcast.
Steve Agee Uhhh
I’ve been hearing Steve Agee on podcasts for awhile now but, until Tyson Saner sent this clip along this week, I had no idea he not only has a podcast – called Steve Agee Uhhh but he had a previous podcast that had about 50 episodes – he mentions that fact in this clip, with his guest actress Juliette Lewis who, up until this visit, had never been on a podcast.
Getting Doug with High
Tyson grabbed a hunk from the audio version of Doug Benson's LIVE videocast, Getting Doug With High. Every episode he finds interesting people and celebrities and smokes it out with them while talking about issues of the day. In this clip he’s with legendary stoner Tommy Chong of Cheech & Chong and comedian Kyle Kinane.
NSF Watercoolers
This next clip is from a show called NSF Watercoolers (or Not Safe For Watercoolers). Apologies. I have no idea who the people are on this show. I could find nothing on the several websites for the show which I looked at, which summons forth one of my pet peeves in podcasting – my PPPs, if you will: How hard is it to put out a little information on your homesite? However, the blurb on their site says “All the Film, TV, Music, and Pop Culture info you need to attack that next watercooler moment with confidence.”
Down With Joe Derosa
One of the newest podcasts by a comedian is Down With Joe Derosa, and he brings a very simple straight-forward show concept with him: One guest, one topic. In the clip we have, he reunions with his former co-host from a radio show and podcast called Uninformed, who is none other the host of the Monday Morning Podcast, Bill Burr. The topic in play? Anger Management.
Ari Shaffir’s Skeptic Tank
This podcast is consistently in Stitcher’s Top 100 Comedy Podcasts as well as always up in the hot downloads on iTunes. Comedian Ari Shaffir usually has fellow comics on with him to talk about all sorts of topics. For instance, in his Epi147, entitled “Closet Case” he has Kevin Meaney on and one of the central points of their conversation is having Kevin talk about what it was like to come out of the closet at the age of 50. In this clip, they’re covering some ground about how he didn’t seem to have much motivation towards comedy or much else in his teen years.
Dave & Crow Show
Darren Staley is back in the podcasting game, along with new partner Dave Simmons. They're just getting started with their random subject chat show. In fact, I'm pulling this clip from Epi2, in which Darren has a bit of a tirade about lanyards.
Ice-T Final Level
Last week we got a note in the Tweetsack suggesting we give a listen to Ice-T's new podcast, Final Level. The father of gangsta rap has conquered music, movies, TV and now, along with co-host Mick Benzo, has entered the podcasting arena. Welcome, Ice-T. Glad to have you aboard. Not sure what he’s doing constitutes a comedy podcast but when Ice-T asks you to play a clip, you play a mutha fuckin’ clip.
Film Fandango
I featured a clip from Do The Right Thing, the English panel show, a couple of episodes ago, on the recommendation of our friend @Good_Podcasts, who then suggested that we give a listen to Film Fandango, which supposedly features Rachel Ward from Do The Right Thing, along with David Reed and Marek Larwood. They talk about movies, as you can tell by the title but, oddly, in the clip we grabbed from Epi118, Rachel Ward doesn’t seem to be part of the mix…
NetHeads
Will Wilkins is the technical wizard who keeps Smodcast Internet Radio running smoothly. And he also co-hosts a live show on the SModcast Internet Radio called NetHeads with Trent Hunsaker. I’ve met Will at last year’s Stitcher Awards because he’s located in the Bay Area so he shows up to pick up any awards the SModcast wins there. He was at THIS year’s awards, too, sporting a pair of Google Glasses. This clip is from a segment of their recent "Best Of, Really?" episode that features regular listener/contributor "Francis" whose speciality is Golden Age Comic books.
Squarehead Kids
Our next clip comes from The Squarehead Kids, a big ol’ barrel full of podcast hosts including Frank, Jay, Big Daddy Deck, Little Ricky and the Good Doctor, PLUS their assorted guests. It’s a bit of a clusterchat but they manage to keep their free-ranging conversation more or less together…
That’s it. We’re done. Epi83 is finito and I’m outta here until next time when we SHOULD have Greg Fitzsimmons as our special guest. Remember to go see him this week at the Punchline in San Francisco if you're in the Bay Area.
In the meantime, be good to each other, shop at Amazon through the banner at SuccotashShow.com, and please remember, no matter where you go or what you do, to pass the Succotash.
— Marc Hershon
