Succotash Chats Epi123: Speakin' with Wayne Federman

Ho, ho, ho! Yes, it’s me, Marc Hershon. Your host and Santa Claus for Epi123 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. My gift for you this year? It’s another installment of Succotash Chats, where I feature a conversation with someone associated with podcasting in one way of another. And this Christmas edition is not different, as our Special Guest is none other than Wayne Federman!

I thought he’d be the perfect holiday treat since, just like Jesus, he’s Jewish, funny, and occasionally misunderstood. Wow. That comparison would draw SO much hate mail from fans of both Jesus and Wayne…IF anyone actually listened to this show.

Wayne’s a great guy, a funny comedian, and a delightful actor, not to mention the co-host of a podcast called Human Conversation, with Erin McGathy. Regular Succotash listeners may remember I spoke with Wayne during multi-part Epi116 back in September when I was at the LA Podfest. We’ve got more time to delve into things this time around and we get into his long time served on the comedy stage, his podcast experience, and some other topics besides.

In addition to my chat with Mr. Federman, we have a double dose of our Burst O’ Durst with political comedian and social commentator Will Durst, a brand new Henderson’s Pants commercial penned by our friend Harry White and featuring our own Bill Heywatt, back in fine form after a brief illness.

In fact, as a special Christmas treat for you and your hole…family, we have Bill singing a special holiday song!

Speaking of songs, we also have a new and bizarre a cappella tune from Abner Serd, which will immediately follow the Tweetsack this time around, and before Mr. Durst’s second segment.

Before we get into the stuff, I just wanted to wish you and yours a happy holiday season, whichever holiday you celebrate. And that includes no holiday at all, depending where in the world you might be or whatever your philosophy might entail.

Sometimes I feel like Succotash is out on the Island of Misfit Podcasts, since we’re mostly playing clips and promoting other comedy podcasts and we only generate a tiny amount of our own material, plus some interesting interviews with cool people connected to podcasting.

We’re not fancy by any means, and we’re not the kind of show a podcast network is keen to pick up — what network wants to be promoting podcasts that aren’t on that network? And we don’t have much sponsor appeal it seems, either.

But YOU’RE listening to Succotash and that means the world to me. When I started the show almost 5 years ago — FIVE years! — I didn’t know if anyone would want to listen but you and a lot of other people have proven that there’s an audience for what we do at Succotash, and I want you to know that its’ really appreciated.

I want to thank the crew here, too, especially our producer/engineer Joe Paulino, our announcer Bill Heywatt, and especially our Associate Producer Tyson Saner, without whose help this show might have stalled out. Harvesting clips is no easy task. It reminds me of my days as a segment producer for a clip show on TV — largely thankless but imminently the hull that keeps the whole damn ship afloat.

I also want to thank all the comedy podcasters that we’ve clipped this past year for their generosity in letting us pick and choose what we want to feature from their shows.

And, of course, I want to thank the guests that have been kind enough to let us visit with them on the Succotash Chats editions of the show. I’ve enjoyed every interview we’ve presented for you. Sometimes the audio quality hasn’t been the best but I’d rather take the opportunity to interview someone when the moment presents itself rather than to be overly precious with making sure we can get the best location to record it in. Just because I’ve lost a couple of chances to chat it up by doing that and it doesn’t seem worth missing those opportunities.

That’s going to put a bow around the Christmas gift that has been this episode of Succotash Chats, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. Thanks again to Wayne Federman and thanks again to YOU! May you and yours have an absolutely stupendous time this holiday season and if you forgot someone on your gift list this year, you can always make it up to them by passing them the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Clips Epi122: Movin' Toward The Holidays

Yes, ‘tis I, Marc Hershon. Happy holidays and welcome to Epi122 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. I’m back with another edition of Succotash Clips, the version of this podcast where we feature clips, snippets, and bits from comedy podcasts harvested from all around the Internet.

Special thanks, as always, to our Associate Producer, Tyson Saner, for going out and getting many of the offerings to be found in this installment.  I hope you find at least one new show that you’d like to track down and download after listening to our little Whitman’s Sampler of a show.

Coming up this episode we have slices off of Comic Book Jones, The David Steinberg Podcast, The Eisenstein Effect, The Gisele Show, The GSMH Podcast, Proudly Resents, Sweet Feathery Jesus, and Wooden Overcoats.

What Else We Got?

In addition to the clippage, we’ve got our Burst O’ Durst segment with political comedian and social commentator Will Durst, where he’s running down the Top 10 comedic news stories of 2015 for you. This episode is sponsored by Henderson's Pants seasonal Jingle Drawers. And we’ve also got your tweets and emails and reviews in the Tweetsack.

And that’s about it. But isn’t that enough, really?

Clips

David Steinberg Podcast
Funny how younger comics have, for the most part, paved the way for older comics to make their way into podcasting. The great David Steinberg is now jumping in, even though he’s mainly been busy writing and directing television for years. He started out as an improvisor and a standup. In fact, he was one of my comedy influencers back when I was first figuring out what made something funny. The guest in his second episode is Kathy Griffin and, even though David is a great conversationalist, with Kathy in the room you don’t really have to try that hard to keep the chatter going.

Wooden Overcoats
If you’re a fan of British comedies, particularly the sitcom kind, there’s a podcast out that just wrapped up its 8-show, first season run that doesn’t miss a beat. It’s called Wooden Overcoats, created by David K. Barnes, and features a fantastic cast that really bring the characters to life. “Wooden overcoat” is slang for “coffin” and the premise of the show is that the only undertaker in a sleepy Channel island village is bent out of shape when a rival sets up shop. There’s intrigue, violence, romance, and a narrating mouse.

The Gisele Show Podcast, mit Friends!
You might know Gisele Nett from her gig co-hosting the Nooner podcast on SModcast Internet Radio with Marty Yu. She’s started her own, entitled The Gisele Show Podcast, mit Friends! There are a pile of cast people, too: Jonna Tamases, John Pirruccello, Jon Stahl, and Gena Key. Tyson clipped this from her very first episode, featuring guest comedian Cassandra Cardenes.

GSMH (God-Shaped Mommy Hole)
I’m not sure how our associate producer Tyson Saner finds some of these shows. Which is precisely why he’s as good as he is as our top clip clipper! Thanks to him we bring you a snippet of the GSMH Podcast, the initials of which stand for God-Shaped Mommy Hole. Headed up by a dude named Toni Rager, it’s a bunch of friends, just hanging out. There’s also Louis, Tim, Clicks and Freiddo, plus Rubbi Rager, but her mic was dead this episode. This clip features an interview technique with the acronym FORD, and some of the gang tries to explains to the rest of the gang who Joe Rogan is.

Proudly Resents
This clip comes in directly from the source: Adam Spiegelman. Friend of Succotash, as well as past and, no doubt, future guest, Adam is the host of the Proudly Resents podcast. It had grown into kind of a mishmash of content and Adam was having a tough time figuring out what his own podcast was supposed to be. But in his note to me this week, he says that he has, “finally split up my podcast.” Meaning he’s got different bits and pieces but they’re all making sense. He says he got recaps, interviews, Nicko – his sometimes sidekick, and “The best of the worst Christmas movies.” He recently did a live “Saving Christmas” show at the Improv in Hollywood, with Jimmy Pardo, Todd Levin (a writer for Conan), and Sharon Houston, who is a podcaster and TV producer in the same vein as Adam.

Sweet Feathery Jesus
We’ve not played anything for quite a while from the boys over at the Sweet Feathery Jesus podcast – Belasco, Beardo and Chuck Turtleman – so let’s correct that now with a segment from their show. This clip is from their #111, entitled On The Wagon Train, because their fourth cast member, Booze, is absent. It features an installment of their segment Denmark Is Shit.

The Eisenstein Effect
Comedian Vickie Eisenstein hosts The Eisenstein Effect, which is – according to her homesite – “a weekly jaunt to explore the careers, hobbies, and passions of funny, artistic, talented, and intelligent guests!” I think she’s based in Chicago, so she’s got access to lots of like-minded comedic types. Including the guest in Epi23 of her show, Anthony LeBlanc.

Comic Book Jones
There’s a comic book store in Staten Island, New York, a legendary place on Forest Avenue, called Comic Book Jones. It also happens to be the name of their podcast, hosted by proprietors Socko and Tiger Jones. They’ve been podcasting since Fall of 2012 and they’re still going strong with their special brand of geek chatter and comic book mayhem. And, at least around Thanksgiving, talk about disgusting White Castle Thanksgiving sliders.

Great Gift Ideas!

If you’re looking for something special for that someone special, might I suggest you visit our homesite, at http://SuccotashShow.com, where you can use the Amazon banner at the top of our page to slide over to the world’s biggest online store. Every time you purchase something there after using out link to get there, we get a little taste of the purchase price, but at no cost to you. You can also shop at our Succotashery, if that special someone would like something with our show logo on it. And if WE’RE your someone special, you can click the Donate button in the upper right hand corner of the page and slip us some delicious cash to help us keep Succotash alive in 2016!


That’s going to do it for Epi122 of Succotash Clips, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. Hopefully I’ll get another episode or two out before the end of the year. No special plans for a year-end show but you never know – maybe I’ll whip something up. I know this time of year gets busy but feel free to take Succotash along while you’re Christmas shopping or heading off to visit friends and family this holiday season.

And while you out there visiting, don’t be afraid to pass a little Succotash!

— Marc Hershon