Succotash Shut-In Epi217: Diggin' into Mike Birbiglia

Hi. Marc Hershon here, host of Epi217 of Succotash. In honor of the pandemic – wait, that doesn’t sound right. Because of the pandemic, we’ve repositioned ourselves and our full name is currently as Succotash Shut-In: The Soundcast Stimulus Package. Mostly because we saw that the ratings for soundcasts – or “podcasts” as older folks refer to them – has dropped precipitously. So we’re cranking these things out once a week now, regular as a guy with a double espresso and a pint of prune juice.

If you missed last week, episode 216, you didn’t get to hear my co-host Tyson Saner share clips from a trio of shows, including Trashy Trashy, Deluxe Edition: Yet Another Pop Culture Podcast, and I Don't Want to Talk About Fight Club Anymore. You can still grab it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and wherever find soundcasts appear.

 

This show is not ALL about comedy soundcast clips. No, sir or ma’am. We sometimes do our own thing, like the SleeveTalkers pilot episode we featured a couple of months ago. And we like to talk to soundcasters, and comedians, and other showbiz folk. (Hell, I’d talk to a carny, if the chance presents itself.) But today, for Epi217, we’ve got a special guest. He’s a comedian, an actor, a writer, a director, a producer, a father, a son, a husband, maybe a member of the Illuminati but, more than anything, he is a soundcaster, too.

 

Mike Birbiglia joins us today. We’re going to talk about his latest soundcast – he’s had a few – and Working It Out with Mike Birbiglia has been getting some rave notices. From me, for one, as I reviewed a recent episode for this Week in Comedy Podcasts on Vulture.com. The premise of the show is that he has interesting, creative guests on and he talks to them about their lives but also what is it that they’re working on RIGHT NOW.

Before I get to our chat in this installment, I clip a bit of that episode I reviewed first, featuring his guest Roy Wood, Jr., a funny comedian you may recognize from The Daily Show and – from aways back – Last Comic Standing. Our sponsors this episode include Henderson's Pants, featuring their newest line: Henderson's Summer Stock Slacks, and Trumpoetry.com.

 

Big thanks to Mike Birbiglia for taking the time out of his busy day to chat for a bit. You can catch his soundcast, Working It Out with Mike Birbiglia on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or right from his own homesite: Birbigs.com.

 

If you liked what you heard, don’t be afraid to drop by Apple Podcasts to orate and review the show. Tyson will be back next week with a passle o’ comedy soundcast clips. And in the meantime, stay safe, breathe shallow, and remember to please, pass the Succotash!

 

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Shut-In Epi216: Clippin' The COVID Blues Away

Saluton, estas mi, Tyson Saner. I'm your host for this and every other episode of Succotash Shut-In, the Soundcast Stimulus Package, for the forseeable future and I welcome you happily into our loving embrace. Last week, Marc Hershon hosted Epi215 and provided you with 4 clips from the soundcasts 2 Dumb 2 Tame with Mia Pinchoff, Lewis Black’s Rantcast, Stop Me If I’ve Heard This with Art Krug and Susan Rice, and Sunday Papers with Greg Fitzsimmons and Mike Gibbons." You can still catch the episode, either on our homesite or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, the @Laughable app, Google Play, iHeart Radio, and more.

This week, I've got clips from the soundcasts Trashy Trashy, Deluxe Edition: Yet Another Pop Culture Podcast, and I don't want to talk about Fight Club anymore. I've also got an ad from our longtime sponsor Henderson's Pants for their new Spring Breakers line, and from our relatively new sponsor TrumPoetry.com…which is a 100% real website that I will be reading from.

 If this is your first time here, I appreciate you making us your choice for your listening experience for the next more or less half an hour. Let's get to the clips!

CLIPS

Deluxe Edition: Yet Another Pop Culture Podcast
Our featured clip from this show, hosted by Bill Sebald and Casey Schearer, comes from July 3rd, 2020: #7 - The Joe Alves Interview. Alves has designed three features for Steven Spielberg, firstly for The Sugarland Express. He designed the three mechanical sharks for the movie Jaws (1975) with mechanical effects man Bob Mattey and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction and won the BAFTA for Best Art Direction for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. (Off the record, he had once selected a screenplay that was co-written by Succotash Shut-In's Marc Hershon to be his directorial debut but the deal never came together…)

I Don't Want To Talk About Fight Club Anymore
A torture endurance podcast where Jacob Wysocki subjects himself to watchthe movie Fight Club for 72 hours straight. Joined by his comedian friends, listen as he documents his descent into madness. Our clip is from 35 hours into the run and Jacob has seen Fight Club 15 times. He is halfway through the marathon. This episode he's joined by Shaun Diston (Wrecked), Kerry O'Neill (The UCB Show), and her dog Frank; together they delve into the exploratory qualities of Jacob's marathon.

Trashy Trashy
A podcast for garbage people. They cover trashy news stories. Hosted by Cassandra Cardenes and Erika Curry, our featured clip is from their Episode 3: "Farm Talk", from just a couple of weeks ago.

…and that's all the content I've got for you this week. I hope you enjoyed the time you spent with us because if you didn't… there's not a bunch I can do about that. I can apologize… show remorse somehow… through my speech into your ears apparently… but who is to say whether or not that is warranted?

We don't get a great deal of feedback anymore here at Succotash Shut-In, formerly called Succotash, The Comedy Soundcast Soundcast, created by Marc Hershon, who will be hosting again next week. I know that I would — and I believe that I can safely state that he would appreciate it — if you left a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes or wherever else one can leave reviews.

Anyway, if you enjoyed the show why not tell someone else about it with your mouths into their ears? Keep that safe social distance of course… never let it be said that we want you to unnecessarily risk your health for us. So until the week after next this is Tyson Saner saying "Good-Bye", asking you to keep an eye on my YouTube channel for more H.P. Lovecraft-inspired video games along with whatever else I'll be playing and posting, and reminding you to keep the spirit of hope alive in your hearts, be mindful and Please…Pass The Succotash?

— Tyson Saner

Succotash Shut-In Epi215: Standin’ Up Clips

 Greetings, friend. If this is your first time here, welcome. If you’re a repeat listener, welcome back to Succotash Shut-In, the Comedy Soundcast Stimulus Package. I’m your every-other-weekly host, Marc Hershon, trading places in the Big Chair with Tyson Saner.

Did you catch his most recent show, Epi214, last week? He featured slips from three shows: "TalkyBox Podcast", "Facial Recognition Comedy", and "Subterra". You can still catch the episode, either on our homesite or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, the @Laughable app, Google Play, iHeart Radio, and more.

THIS, however, is Episode 215. I usually like to come up with some kind of linking theme for the clips I share with you. Last time we were together, in Epi213, I played four Australian-based soundcast clips with the help of Jason McNamara who host the still-on-hiatus Dhead Factor from Canberra, Australia. This time around, I have a quartet of clips from four shows that feature stand-up comedians as the hosts. Okay, maybe that’s not a stretch – there are a LOT of comics doing their own soundcasts these days, particularly in the midst of COBID-19 shutting down comedy clubs and other live venues. But that just means we can do that one-trick pony again sometime.

The shows I have in the queue this time around include 2 Dumb 2 Tame with Mia Pinchoff, Lewis Black’s Rantcast, Stop Me If I’ve Heard This with Art Krug and Susan Rice, and Sunday Papers with Greg Fitzsimmons and Mike Gibbons.

In addition, this episode of Succotash Shut-In is brought to you by Henderson’s Pants Air-Cooled Culottes and Trumpoetry.com.

Hold your earbuds tightly to your ears – I’m about to fill those delicate, pearly shell-like headholes with steaming hot clips!

CLIPS

2 Dumb 2 Tame

2 Dumb 2 Tame is hosted by comedian Mia Pinchoff. From the homesite notes come this description: “Every episode Mia will attempt to answer a question - a dumb question - because ‘there are no dumb questions’ is the dumbest statement she’s ever heard. There are dumb questions but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be asked. She’ll do the asking so that you don’t have to get judged up the anus for not knowing everything or knowing all the wrong stuff at the wrong time or all the right stuff… never. She’s asked “What was it like watching Indian Matchmaking with my Indian Husband?” Our clip concerns some deep information about her ability to hold super-spicy food.

Rantcast

Famous for his bitingly funny commentary on The Daily Show, Lewis Black Also has traveled the country to deliver the funny. Our clip comes from one of his more recent episodes in which he features a portion of his performance at the Fox Tucson Theater back in February, before this whole mess got serious. Are clip has him riffing with the crowd.

Stop Me If I’ve Heard This

Our next clip comes from a show by two comedians from the Pacific Northwest. Stop Me If I’ve Heard This features Art Krug and Susan Rice. I don’t want to say they’ve been around awhile but I knew from WAY back in the day, when I used to run The Comedy Underground in Seattle in the early 1980’s. In a recent episode they get into what reality looks like in “quarantine time”, how the concept of time is being perceived now, and our clip is from a chunk of their convo where they’re talking about how they cannot believe this is reality.

Sunday Papers w/Greg and Mike

Want a comic roundup on the week’s news for your ears? Listen no further that Sunday Papers comedian Greg Fitzsimmons and TV writer Mike Gibbons.  We’ve been big fans of Greg’s Fitzdog Radio soundcast for years – he’s still doing it, BTW - and Mike was often hanging out there. Now they are taking a breaking by ripping on each other to rip on the news. (Well, there’s still a lot of ripping on each other going on.) The clip we have, from a recent episode, is the two guys ripping on the motorcycle crowd that rolled into Sturgis, South Dakota, with no regard for social distancing.

There you go. See? That didn’t hurt a bit. Thanks for stopping by to grab a helping or two. On your way out, if you’d hit the review bar over on Apple Podcasts, I wouldn’t mind a new 5-star review and a writeup if you enjoyed what you’ve heard here. And, until we meet again, please tell your friend and please, pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Shut-In Epi214: Sippin' on Summer Clips

Saluton, estas mi Tyson Saner, your host for this week in soundcast clippery right here on Succotash Shut-In, The Soundcast Stimulus Package. Last week and next week Marc Hershon will have the hosting duties but you're listening to this week's show right now — and here we all are!

How have you been?

If this is your first time here, WELCOME.

If you've listened before, WELCOME BACK.

This show I've got great clips coming from soundcasts the likes of TalkyBox, Facial Recognition Comedy, and Subterra.

There's also a bit of fake advertising genius from our longtime fake sponsor Henderson's Pants & and selected reading from our other 100% fake sponsor with the 100% real website: TrumPoetry.com. It's a jam-packed more-or-less half-hour heap of audio enrichment so let's get to it before it spoils!

CLIPS

TalkyBox Podcast

TalkyBox Podcast was like 3 or 4 of your best friends (namely hosts Jeremy, Dave and Kate) talking about technology, video games, TV, movies, news, or the zombie apocalypse for an hour. (We say "was" because this clip is from their March 11, 2019 show - the most recent one that is up on Apple Podcasts.) Listen in your car or on the toilet when you should be working.

Facial Recognition Comedy 

FRC founders Fizaa Dosani, Pallavi Gunalan, and Zahra Ali are a group of stand-up comedians who identify as women of Indian, South Asian, or Arab descent. It was founded to dispel the myth that “there can only be one,” as well as to emphasize that “we are not the same person.” Our clip is from just a couple of weeks ago - July 21st, 2020 - an episode entitled, "Birthday Party". The hosts discuss Indian Matchmaking, colorism, details from Mary Trump’s new book, and more! Who submitted themself and their ex for an audition, unbeknownst to the ex?

Subterra

In this sci-fi, dystopian tale of survival, created by Steve Krueger & Warren Davis, we follow Ace (voiced by Marty Yu) as he scavenges for existence in a massive, underground bunker. An outcast, he’s always on the run from security forces, AI robots, and mutant creatures. Alone in this world, his only desire is to escape Subterra and see the sun for the first time in his life… But what is waiting for him on the surface? Our clip is from June 18th, 2020, Episode 4.

DONE!

When you listen to this episode you'll know when the show is pretty much — you can tell from the music. Music is a wonderful thing is it not? I make some from time to time but mostly I listen. I listen when I can find the time anyway… when I'm not listening to soundcasts I'm just kind of doing life, you know? It's a relative and completely subjective thing. What I'm saying is, few if any of us actually have the proverbial "time in a bottle" that Jim Croce sung so eloquently about so I take it as a great personal favor when you listen to US here at Succotash Shut-In (formally known as Succotash, The Comedy Soundcast Soundcast), created and hosted by Marc Hershon who will be hosting next weeks' aural offerings and we'd appreciate it if you found the time to listen to us again. If you like us, please share us with others. We'd also appreciate that. It is exactly what we mean when we gently remind you to "Please… Pass The Succotash".

— Tyson Saner