Succotash Shut-In Epi241: Crossin' The Pond

Hello, dear listener. I’m Marc Hershon, your every-other-weekly host of this show. Happy to be back. Last week co-host Tyson Saner was in the hot seat with Succotash Shut-In Epi240, favoring your pearly shell-like ears with clips from such audio wonderments as What Had Happened Was, Oprah's Master Class, and The Al Franken Podcast. You can still catch that installment at our homesite, http://SuccotashShow.com, as well as from Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, the Laughable app and wherever diner soundcasts are streamed and/or downloaded.

Just last week - the past two weeks, actually - I was a guest on the Chillpak Hollywood Hour, with Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness, where, along with comedian and writer Suli McCullough, I participated in a comedy roundtable discussion. We talked about our comedy influences, the effect of the pandemic on live performance and the creative process, and more. Check it out when you can at their homesite: ChillpakHollywood.com, or wherever you grab your favorite soundcasts.

Back in July I did an episode focusing on some soundcasts that I called Doin’ It Down Under with Jason McNamara, and I tapped our old friend Jabs to find me a quartet of soundcasts from Australia and New Zealand. For this installment, Epi241, entitled Crossin’ The Pond, I leaned on another friend of the show, George Grimwood, to load us up with a four-pack of shows from England and he came through with flying colors. It’s not like we don’t occasionally feature British comedy soundcasts. We recently clipped From the Oasthouse with Alan Partridge, and Strange Times with our friend Davian Dent. But on tap today we’ve got four shows we’ve not featured before, including Looks Familiar, The CheapShow, Rule of Three, and The Adam Buxton Podcast. This episode is sponsored by Henderson’s Pants new Camo Cut-Offs.

Let me wax on about George Grimwood for a moment. We met via the socials back in the early 20-teens and then crossed paths in real life at, I believe, the third Los Angeles Podcast Festival. You can hear a short chat I had with him while we were hovering in the lobby area back exactly a hundred episodes ago, in Succotash Episode 141. George runs the Podnose Network that carries a number of soundcast over in England which he points out is “the UK’s leading independent entertainment podcast network,” with thousands of hours of content and more on the way. He himself is rebooting the show he hosts, called The Talk Show Talk Show (no relation to Succotash, the Comedy Soundcast Soundcast…), in which he analyses classic (and not-so-classic) episodes of Late Night talk shows, including Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and more.

So George not only suggested the shows we’re clipping today (I actually harvest them myself), but gave me little blurbs about each show which is a tremendous help. Thanks, George!

Without further ado, let’s get into this collection of English clips. (Do you think they call snippets crisps over there?)

Looks Unfamiliar
Our first show, Looks Unfamiliar, features journalist and writer Tim Worthington speaking with a guest about lost nostalgia - aspects of pop culture that have been discarded and forgotten in time, but often remembered fondly or with fear by the guest. Our clip is from recent episode 73 with director Matt Lee, and they’re talking about this service that used to exist called Dial-A-Song, where you could call a number on your phone and hear music played on your phone.

CheapShow
The CheapShow is a soundcast featuring Paul Gannon and Eli Silverman searching for bizarre treasures one may find in the Poundlands – which is a chain of British variety stores – I think it must be like our Dollar Stores here in the US, as well as bargain bins and charity shops, often culminating in some very unusual discoveries and hilarious segments. Our clip has the two lads reading a submission from a listener about a very strange find. Spoiler alert: It’s a turd.

Rule Of Three
This next soundcast, Rule of Three, was the winner of the best Arts and Culture division at last year’s British Podcasts Awards…and then promptly went on hiatus. But comedy writers Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris are coming back for more, according to our man George. And good thing, too – this is a super show! The hosts talk to comedians about something funny that they love. Guests pick whatever it is that makes them laugh — a book, a film, a tv show, a comic, a radio show, anything — and then the hosts and guest dig in. Our clip features a guest that I wish was a friend of Succotash, Eddie Izzard. He’s funny, and smart, and the thing he picked to highlight on the show was John Lithgow, specifically from his appearance on TV’s 3rd Rock from The Sun.

The Adam Buxton Show
The Adam Buxton Show is an interview show, or a “chat show” as they say across the Atlantic. Adam was originally part of Adam & Joe, a thoroughly enjoyable cult television series he did with Joe Cornish. They then became radio personas and, while Joe has been busy directing films, Adam has been podcasting. And writing, too — he recently released a memoir entitled Ramble Book. Our final clip of this episode features Adam’s “Ramble” with Canadian comedian Tony Law, where they share their experiences of being a stranger in a strange land – Disneyland.

That’s a wrap on our listen to a few shows from Across the Pond. I realize that some of those accents from the British Isles might be a bit think for some of our US listeners, so I’ll advise you do what I do – listen again. It’s the King’s English, people! You’re bound to pick it up.

Thanks once again to George Grimwood of the Podnose Network. If you want to reach out to him, you can email him at podnose@gmail.com. He tells me that they are looking to expand beyond the UK content next year. Who knows? Maybe Succotash can finally get our network stripes! I would love to authentically be able to say, “We’re getting the sign from the network to wrap it up…”

Until then, we’re just going to have to wrap it up ourselves. Remember that Tyson will be here next week with another bouquet of soundcasts clips for you. And I’ll be back the week after with something nice for your ears.

Until that time, stay safe, keep warm, wear a mask, wash your hands and if anyone asks if you’ve heard anything good lately, won’t you please pass the Succotash?

— Marc Hershon

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Succotash Shut-In Epi240: Gettin' Serious

Saluton, estas mi Tyson Saner. I am your host for this week here on Succotash Shut-In, the Soundcast Stimulas Package Epi240.

In case you missed it, last week on Epi239, "Drollplayin' with Gamecasts", my co-host and your every-other-show host Marc Hershon harvested four clips having the common theme of roleplaying games from the soundcasts The Adventure Zone, AllD20, Critical Role, and Nerd Poker. It's a fun show and I urge you to check it out if you've a mind to. It can be found via Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, the Laughable app, iHeart Radio or even at our homesite, SuccotashShow.com .

This week I've got clips from the soundcasts What Had Happened Was, Oprah's Master Class, and The Al Franken Podcast. I've also got a throwback Henderson's Pants ad from way back in Epi200 for their Bicentennial Pants to round out the whole experience.

I haven't really got a whole lot more to say on the subject except thank you for listening so far, I hope you enjoy this episode's offerings. Let's get going!

CLIPS

What Had Happened Wa‪s‬
Open Mike Eagle sits down with the legendary Prince Paul to discuss Prince Paul's life, impact, and role in the world of Hip Hop. Our clip comes from the episode from July 8th, 2020, entitled "3ft High and Rising: The Origins of De La Sou‪l‬". Prince Paul tells the story of producing De La Soul's first album. Along the way we hear how the group was formed, the creative direction behind the album, and how they fit into the burgeoning hip-hop community around them. From the invention of the 'skit' to the first major sampling lawsuit, it's the story of an album that changed the business of rap music forever.  (On a personal note, I owned a copy of the album when it was pretty new and I was in high school. It's one of my all-time-favorite albums and I don't think very many if any of my peers at the time had ever listened to it or had even heard of it. I made sure a few of them would over time. I enjoy sharing music with people even more than listening to in or making it.)

Oprah’s Master Class: The Podcas‪t‬
Hear the greatest life lessons of some of the most respected and renowned actors, musicians, public figures and athletes. Handpicked by Oprah Winfrey, these luminaries reveal their lives with candor and insight — in their own words. We're featuring a clip from December 19, 2018, part of the conversation with the late, great Cicely Tyso‪n‬, who passed away on January 28, 2021. (Yet another personal note: When I was fairly young I was introduced to The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman which also starred Cicely Tyson and is for some reason absent from the episode description. When I saw that movie I learned what racism was. I came to understand that the multi-racial neighborhood portrayed on Sesame Street was not impossible but also not necessarily the norm. I still appreciate the idea of it. Also, there SHOULD be friendly puppets and people breaking out in song in our everyday lives, in my humble opinion…)

The Al Franken Podcas‪t‬
A five-time Emmy winning SNL comedy writer/producer, joins a four-time #1 NYT bestselling author, a three-time highest-rated national progressive radio host, a two-time Grammy winning artist, and a former US Senator. So, it gets a little crowded in the booth when Al Franken talks public policy and sometimes political comedy with notable guests. Our clip hails from September 29th of 2019, repeating a portion of Al's convo with Chris Rock "Because It's So Damn Great‪!", says the host. (ANOTHER personal note: First of all, I did not find out until recently that Mr. Franken HAD a podcast or I certainly would have been listening to it and would have clipped it already. Second, Saturday Night Live had been a huge influence on my life and sense of humor up until around the early-mid 1990's and then I pretty much stopped watching TV regularly. I'd say I missed a lot of great television programming but…did I really? …I certainly missed SOME…priorities change it seems. Anyway, Al Franken and Chris Rock are definitely 2 of my favorite personalities from that show which I am almost 2 years older than…and I really enjoyed the chance to hear them chat as friends.)

That's the lineup of clips for this week. Remember, Marc will be back as host next week in Epi241 with who knows what? Well…YOU know what if you've been listening for a while. It could be clips, it could be a chat…It could be both, really.

We'd both appreciate it if you liked what you heard here and decided to listen to more of us and more of other soundcasts and soundcasters we feature on this soundcast so that you can hear what else is out there and then you take it from there I guess…

It's February 13th, 2021 as I record this and I gotta say…as far as upsetting days go, this one is right up there with January 6th, 2021.…But it's Valentines Day tomorrow, and…well, that's different for everyone so I don't really know what to say about it…It's dead in the middle of this perfect month that begins on a Monday, ends on a Sunday and is 28 days long. I feel like these are infrequent. So, in this most special of months why not take a moment to rate and review us on whichever service you listen to soundcasts on, assuming that that service also provides you the opportunity to do so? We'd really appreciate it. It's what we mean when we ask you to please pass the Succotash…

— Tyson Saner

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Succotash Shut-In Epi239: Drollplayin’ with Gamecasts

Hello and welcome to Succotash Shut-In, the Soundcast Stimulus Package, Episode 239. I’m your every-other-weekly host, Marc Hershon, and the chief purpose of this show – right after our prime directive: Entertaining YOU – is to support and promote comedy soundcasts AKA podcasts up, down, and across the internet. We started almost 10 years ago, in April of 2011, with the idea of spreading the word about soundcasts in general – which were having a little trouble gaining traction – and comedy soundcasts specifically because, well, we love comedy. And comedians. And the idea of being part of this exciting medium.

Tyson Saner, who had stepped in for me as the regular host a few years ago, and I decided to start pumping out our show on a weekly basis for the first time since Succotash started. And we’ve been at that for nearly a solid year now. In fact, if you missed last week’s Epi238, entitled Clippin’s and Andy Dick, Tyson featured clips from a trio of soundcasts including the Jock Doc Podcast, Battle of the Bald, and Trashy Trashy. In addition, he had a quick chat with comedian/actor and professional gadabout Andy Dick. You can still hear the show via Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, the Laughable app, iHeart Radio or even at our homesite, SuccotashShow.com!

This week it’s my turn back in the barrel and I thought it would be fun to go a bit “niche-y”. For many years — many MANY years, actually — I have been an inveterate player of Dungeons & Dragons, a popular version of what’s known more broadly as a tabletop role-playing game. Since the early 1970s, players have gotten together around a table, created various versions of fantasy fiction characters – like knights, wizards, and thieves – and played them in a variety of adventures all over seen by a kind of referee or Dungeon Master, if you will. The DM, as they’re known, basically runs the world in which the characters live and establishes the adventures these folks pursue in hopes of gaining treasure, defeating monsters, rescuing maidens, etcetera.

During the past year, a lot of gaming groups – including mine - have had to adapt to the pandemic restrictions just like everyone else. And through online resources like Zoom, Skype, D & D Beyond, and Roll20.net, they have kept right on adventuring. There are a number of soundcasts dedicated to role playing – not just Dungeons and Dragon – and they have been able to muddle through. Some using programs and websites like I just mentioned and some have actually created socially distanced and safe studio space in order to keep playing in person.

I wanted to give you a taste of what this somewhat different soundcast experience is like, so I went questing for a quartet of clips from The Adventure Zone, AllD20, Critical Role, and Nerd Poker. This episode is brought to you by longtime sponsor Henderson’s Pants and their new Scavenger Slax!

Are you ready? Adventure…awaits!

Nerd Poker
One of my favorite shows in the RPG genre is Nerd Poker, featuring a bunch of comedians and writers. The ringmaster is Brian Posehn, and the regular crew of campaigners include Blaine Capatch, Sarah Guzzardo, Ken Daly, Chris Tallman, and Dungeon Master Dan Telfer. We last featured these guys back in 2017 on Epi153 and, if I had my druthers, I would play with this group of lunatics. With so many jokers around the table (or the Zoom gallery), the adventures tend to move along fairly slowly because these guys are always breaking each other up. In this clip it take almost five minutes for Brian to get around to having his character – a monk named Donny – get around to swinging his sword on the enemy.

AllD20
The AllD20 soundcast is one I just started listening to and, while they’re a little bit more into their characters than the Nerd Poker folks, they still can’t help collapsing into cascades of laughter once in a while. It’s the nature of the game, as you know if you’re had a chance to play. They’re a D&D group in Las Vegas but they play in a homebrew world called Avlonia. I can’t find a listing for the cast but they introduce themselves and the characters they play at the top of every episode and they are having a ball. In this clip, the characters have been on trial and judgement is just now being passed on them…

Critical Role
I am just scratching the surface of the role playing genre of soundcasts with this episode. Hard to do it all justice with just four clips and there are tons more games than just D&D. But there’s no way I can talk about this type of show without spinning a few minutes of Critical Role, a show that has a HUGE following and rightfully so. The entire crew, from the DM through all the players are, as they say at the top of each episode, “a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors”, and they get to strut their stuff every week for between 3 and 4…sometimes even 5 hours of game play. Matthew Mercer is highly regarded for his skills as a Dungeon Master, because of his storytelling and worldbuilding skills as well as his characterizations. You see, one of the job of the DM is to portray all of the various characters that the player’s characters meet during the course of their adventures. And the cast is wonderful: Marisha Ray, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, Ashley Johnson, and Taliesin Jaffe round out the current campaign. I picked a clip from a recent episode where the adventurers who go by the name The Mighty Nein, are in the midst of fighting an ancient white dragon…

The Adventure Zone
The last show I’m clipping in this genre for this episode has ventured away from strictly playing Dungeons and Dragons but it’s manned by soundcast favorites the McElroys. Their list of shows is crazy, including My Brother, My Brother, and Me, Sawbones, Bunker buddies, Schmanners, The Besties, Can I Pet Your Dog? and a TON more. The shows are hosted by one or more of the McElroy brothers, their wives and even their dad, Clint, who is a key part of The Adventure Zone, along with brothers Travis, Justin, and Griffin, who serves as the DM for the games. I haven’t been following regularly so I’m not sure how they’ve ended up where they are today but it seems to be some kind of school and in this clip, the crew is bent on wreaking havoc in the name of justice…or something.

Thanks you for letting me let my nerd flag fly high today. I’m going to give a shout out to the Demonbane, which is the name of the fellowship the players I DM every week call themselves. Remember that you can find links to shows and most of the people in them that we’ve mentioned here on Succotash Shut-In at the blog for this episode on our homesite, http://SuccotashShow.com.

Tyson will be here next week with an array of soundcast clips for you in Episode 240. And I’ll see you the week after that.

In the meantime, remember to socially distance, wear a mask, wash your hands and, if anyone asks if you’ve heard any good soundcasts lately, please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

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Succotash Shut-In Epi238: Clippin's & Andy Dick

Saluton, estas mi Tyson Saner. I'll be your host this week on Epi238 of Succotash Shut-In which you are currently listening to. Last week in Epi237, show creator Marc Hershon had a conversation with returning guest and friend o' the show Chris Mancini. I urge you to check out that conversation. This week I have a hybrid show of sorts for you.

I have a partial chat with none other than actor, songwriter, artist PROVOCATEUR…Andy Dick! (Full disclosure: We had severe technical difficulties while attempting to record and he had spent more than an hour the previous night soldiering thru similar sound difficulties on our end during an appearance on one of my other soundcasts Anti Social Show which I co-host with Hunter Block who was a guest on Succotash in Epi173: "Bein' Social with Hunter Block". Anyway, the audio we recorded that previous night will be featured in the hundredth episode of Anti Social Show but since that won't be releasing for at least a month, I wanted to follow up with Mr. Dick so that he could tell us about his current project Tiger Dick. There will be more context for that later.)

I did say this show was a hybrid, and that is because I've also got three clips for you. I've got clips from Jock Doc Podcast, Battle of the Bald, and Trashy Trashy. There will also be an ad from our longtime fake sponsor "Henderson's Pants" and what will likely be the last reading from "TrumPoetry.com" which is a website that ABSOLUTELY exists, and there is a DOOZY capping off the whole ordeal it documents in poetic format which I will sample for you as it is too long to be included in it's entirety in this episode.

CLIPS

Jock Doc Podcast (featuring Dr. London Smith)
Longtime listeners of Succotash might recall that Jock Doc Podcast was featured on the program back in Epi223: Revuein' Some Movie Review 'Casts (from) Oct 6, 2020. They are part of a small but mighty group of soundcasters who take the initiative to send us a clip of their show thus making it easier for us to listen to them and we did and do appreciate that sort of thing. As they have been very supportive to Succotash in the last six or so months I thought to myself "Yeah, I should probably clip something from them for Succotash..." and here it is, for those who have never heard that episode I will read the description from iTunes: "Improvised comedy with the premise of being a medical education podcast. Typical episodes include a medical topic, short sketches, and a strange guest. Listen as Dr. London Smith (.com) and his producer Cameron discuss medical topics with guests that Cameron finds not so boring!" Our clip is from January 17th, 2021, with Dr. London Smith and his producer Cameron discuss "Cor Pulmonale" with special guest Dr. Bill Butler Yeast (Neil Curran). Not so boring! Before the discussion of the titular condition there is a bit of chat in service of listener feedback which is the feature of this clip.

Battle of the Bald
This is the first time that this soundcast has been featured on Succotash Shut-In but it is no wonder as it's all extremely NEW. It's description reads: "A six-episode scripted comedy series about a young lab assistant who accidentally invents a permanent cure for hair loss and changes the world. The series was written and produced by Tyler Eaton and the first two episodes came out Monday, January 11th, with new episodes every Monday through February 8th." It stars Rebecca Usoro, Connor Cacciottolo, Jackie Kashian, Eddie Pepitone, Kyle Kinane, Olivia Hill, Shannon Dee and more. Our clip is from Epi1, called "Lab Rats", in which Sean Applewhite had seemingly found a miraculous cure for hair loss. The resulting product, Revitalize, skyrocketed him to fame and fortune. But when his fill-in assistant Francine stumbled upon a treasure...

Trashy Trashy
This soundcast was previously featured in Epi216: Clippin' The COVID Blues Away from August of 2020, and Cassandra Cardenes was recently a guest during this past holiday season in our Epi234: Christmasin' with Cassandra Cardenes. The description of the show: A podcast for garbage people. We cover trashy news stories. Hosted by Cassandra Cardenes and Erika Curry. Our clip hails from just a couple of weeks back in January of this year, and it's been chosen to provide more context for the bit of chat with Andy Dick that follows it.

And here we are again at the end of another episode. This one was pretty fun to put together. This episode was being written and assembled at the end of the crazy month of January 2021. It's being released in early February and I don't know if there is a release date for Tiger Dick yet but you can keep watching Andy Dick's Twitter @andydick and you can go to andydick.com for updates presumably and all things Andy Dick ...that are on the website.

We have a website too where you can find what is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 years worth of shows taking you thru the various iterations of Succotash as it brought you a relatively small portion of the ongoing history of soundcasting. Next week, join Marc Hershon for Ep239, I'm sure he will have something worth your while. We appreciate you. We appreciate your listening and your support over the years. If you wouldn't mind reviewing us for iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or wherever one can review soundcasts we would really appreciate it a great deal. Aside from showing us you love us by telling people about us, it's one of the other things that really helps us get to more ears in the coming years.

Talk at you in two weeks, Be Decent To Each Other and Please…Pass The Succotash?

— Tyson Saner

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