Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Succotash Epi135: Clippin' AND Chattin'

Yes, it’s me. Marc Hershon, your host and drought-resistant shrub for Epi135 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. And this is definitely a succotash of an episode. We’ve got snippets from a bunch of comedy podcasts. And we’ve got a couple of interviews. So we’re going to make this a Succotash Clips n’ Chats show.

I’ve got a brief chat via the new SpareMin app with Chris Mancini, co-host of the Comedy Film Nerds podcast and co-organizer of the Los Angeles Podcast Festival. We talk a little bit about his Earbuds podcast-oriented documentary, his graphic novel that he just successfully Kickstarted into existence, and Chris and I talk about my upcoming official duties in this year’s 5th edition of the LA Podfest.

Chris Mancini                     Ned Kenney 

I have a longer chat with Ned Kenney, the brains behind Laughable, a new app that is specifically for and about comedy podcasts. Finding them, listening to them, and learning more about the people behind them. I’ve kind of fallen in love with this app and how easy it is to find and download comedy podcasts, which is my stock in trade. Ned talks about why he came up with the idea and what he’s been through to get the thing up and launched.

Podcastwise, on this installment of Succotash, we’ve got clips from Bad Cop, Bad Cop; Horribly Awkward, Irresponsible Mentors, The Naked Porch Podcast, and a long-delayed visit to the Podcast Graveyard where we dig up a show that hasn’t been around for about a year. (Thanks to our Associate Producer Tyson Saner for most of the clips for this week's episode!)

In addition, we’ve got a double dose of our Burst O’ Durst segment with political comedian and social commentator Will Durst, a new song and a Succotash tribute from our a capella singing friend Abner Serd, and a dip into the Tweetsack.

This episode is brought to you by Henderson's 100% Genuine Dungarees, made from real dung.

THE SHOWS

Bad Cop, Bad Cop
The first clip for this episode is from Bad Cop, Bad Cop, a show I’ve not heard of before — which is becoming the rule rather than the exception it seems, there are SO many comedy podcasts out there — and was uploaded directly to us by a listener. An unidentified listener. He or she says about Bad Cop, Bad Cop: “One of my favorite shows. It’s hard to pin down a small segment of this show but here it is. These two guys have an infectious giggle and have me PMSL each week.” (I suspect the listener is British, as PMSL stands for “piss myself laughing”, which is the English version of ROFL – Rolling On The Floor Laughing.) The co-hosts of the show are named Jerry and Dave — no last names — who, according to the About blurb on their homesite, are “two guys with pretty bad attitudes."

Horribly Awkward
Normally I have more information about the podcasts that we get the clips from, but sometimes the podcasters are pretty stingy with putting the facts out on their homesites. Take Horribly Awkward, for instance. It took several links to find out that the name of the host is Shaun Fuller. And I didn’t get the last name until I hopped onto the Laughable app and found that he was a guest on the Three Is Comedy podcast. Here’s his description of Horribly Awkward as it appears on Stitcher: “This is my horribly awkward, guest-driven, improvised, comedy and fun filled podcast. Take a ride with me on this journey with a new guest every week!” Tyson pulled this clip from Shaun’s Epi42 when his guests included Brink and Jesus, the co-hosts of the Horrible Gamerz podcast, Brink’s wife Becca, and Rob from Random Ramblings with Rob. I don’t want to say that parts of Podcastland are getting a little incestuous but…ewww. 

The Naked Porch Podcast 
I could have sworn we featured The Naked Porch podcast before but I’ve just been to the Succotash Archives and I just find mentions I made of the show, not any clips at all. So it’s high time, thanks to Tyson, that we rectify that situation. This podcast falls into the “Sittin’ Around And Chewing The Fat” category of podcasts and these three — Chris, Ray, and Danielleare clearly having a great time without anyone else’s help.

The Irresponsible Mentors
Tyson clipped this next entry from The Irresponsible Mentors podcast – a title I love - but he didn‘t include a lot of intel. And I have to say, after tracking the hosts back through a few sites, there’s not much out there. Here’s what we know: This is from a “minisode” at the end of May called “Comeback Warriors & Unarmed Gorilla Get’s Shot”. By their cartoon logo, one host is Chip T, the other is SQ BZ. Guess you're meant to discover the rest for yourself.

Tall Tales & Shaggy Dogs
Rather than my usual wrapup, I wanted to feature a recent episode of Abner Serd’s shortform podcast, Tall Tales & Shaggy Dogs. In an episode entitled, "Faraway places (or, What's it like in Lower Shmorgestan?)". which is a story rather than a song, he ends up giving my wrap-up line himself.


Podcast Graveyard
There are SO many podcasts floating around out that, unless you listen to particular ones all the time, you might not even notice when one goes off the radar. Such is the case with The Tobolosky Files. I really enjoyed this show, featuring actor Stephen Tobolosky who, with the help of critic and filmmaker David Chen, would tell stories from his interesting life and unique position of being one of the most legendary modern-day character actors working in film and television. Stephen’s podcast went dark about a year ago,with Epi71 dropping on August 13th, 2015. Here’s a clip from that episode, which was entitled, “If I Know Now What I Knew Then”

If you want to help us out on Succotash, please don't be finger-shy when it comes to clicking on our Donate button at http://SuccotashShow.com. And feel free to pass the Succotash just as much as you like.

— Marc Hershon


Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Succotash Chats #134: Ragin' Moderately with Will Durst

Yeah, it’s me. Marc Hershon, your host and HO-scale Lionel train for Epi134 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. This is an installment of Succotash Chats, with almost 100% yakity yak and almost 0% clippety clips.

Our special guest this episode is none other than our very own raging moderate, political comedian and social commentator Will Durst! Yes! Unbelieveable — after his priceless contributions for the past FOUR years of our Burst O’ Durst segment, I finally managed to wrangle the great man himself into a sit-down.

It really shouldn’t have been that hard to get together with him – we live in the same goddamn city. And we’ve both been appearing periodically together on the same stage the past few years during screening of the 3 Still Standing documentary. It’s about the early days of San Francisco stand-up comedy starting back in the early 1980s boom times, and featuring Will, Larry “Bubbles” Brown and Johnny Steele.

Anyway, it’s a good time to get Will in front of the mic. Every four years we have the Presidential election and Durst blooms like one of those crocus plants, except his comedy is being liberally – or, rather, conservatively — fertilized by Donald Trump’s bullshit. So he’s in rare form.

BACK FROM L.A.

I just got back from LA this past weekend, where I was hosting the kickoff episode of The Carvey Podcast, a new show featuring Dana Carvey and his two sons, Dex and Tom. Their roommate Rickie was also onboard for this inaurgural event, and veteran comedian Barry Sobel jumped in for the last few minutes as well.

Things got a little dicey about a half hour into the proceedings. Dana and I kicked things off and he was really funny. The audience – which wasn’t huge – maybe 20 people in the Improv Lab — was enjoying it. And why not? A lot of them were friends of mine! So Dana had gotten up to make room for the boys at the table on stage. He was moving around to the other side of this standup piano on the side of the stage and… well, to find out what happened next, you're going to have to LISTEN to this episode! 

A NEW WAY TO LISTEN

I’ve been using a brand new app that just launched last week in my effort to make listening to comedy podcast episodes easier and easier. It’s called Laughable, and I’m finding it to be pretty handy. I’ll talk about it more on our next Succotash Clips episode and maybe have an interview with the brains behind Laughable — a guy names Ned Kenney — if I get the chance.

DURST…AND MORE DURST

In addition to my chat with Will, we have a double dose of our Burst O' Durst segment, one that plays before the chat, and one that plays after the Tweetsack segment. So strap in!

This episode is brought to you by Henderson's Wake Island shorts. Since most people have trouble tracking down Henderson's Pants, you can also help out Succotash by clicking on the Donate button at the top of our homepage. Or consider festooning yourself in some style of our merch at the Succotashery. Then there's always shopping online at Amazon - just click through to them by clicking on the banner at the top of our page — magic web elves make sure we get a slice of your purchase.

Please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon