Succotash Epi32: Co-hostin' With Phil Leirness

With Epi32 we're back at Studio P with Engineer/Producer Joe Paulino and all is right with the world. (BTW, be sure to check out Joe and Tim White's CD Inhale Slowly - it's not only great meditation and relaxation music, but it's kicking ass on the mellow music charts!) This episode of Succotash is positively brimming with podcastly goodness — a scintillating guest co-host, a new Henderson's Pants ad, an installment of Boozin' With Bill, a Burst O' Durst, sci-fi comedy music from John Anealio and a passle of podcast clips.

Our guest co-host is no stranger to Succotash listeners — it's Phil Leirness, he of Chillpak Hollywood Hour podcast fame. Phil was in Northern California and the timing worked out that he was able to get to Studio P and help me serve up this latest portion of Succotash. We talk a little about his work and he gives us a few tantalizing glimpses into what is going on with the TWO follow up films to The Truth Is Out There, the conspiracy theory based documentary Phil directed. (Both CHH and TTIOT are produced in collaboration with TV's Dean "X-Files" Haglund, who our listeners also know from his audio visits to the show.) Phil's a great conversationalist and has well-expressed commentary on the clips in this episode.

Speaking of clips, here's what in store in Epi32…

Chillpak Hollywood Hour
Our guest co-host and his heterosexual life partner Dean Haglund discuss some of the Comedy nominations for the upcoming Emmy Awards.

Combat Radio

I've been wanting to play something from Combat Radio so reached out to the show's ringmaster, Ethan Dettenmaier, via Twitter. He shot me a link to a clip featuring Phil Leirness without even knowing he was with me this show. It all boils down to a scheme to break into Area 51…

After Hours with Mark Pitta
Friend of Succotash Mark Pitta has a rare treat in his latest After Hours podcast episode: An interview he did back in 2001 where he interviewd comic legend George Carlin in front of a theater full of people. In this clip, Carlin remembers the transition point between his straight-laced, necktie-wearing persona and the counter-culture icon he was to become.

The Dana Gould Hour

Dana Gould and his guests Steve Agee & Matt Weinhold get into it about Comicon, which recently wrapped its latest incarnation in San Diego.

Ham Radio
Not being a huge fan of the "shootin' the shit" brand of groupchat podcasting, I got a laugh out of Ham Radio host Brett Hamil's ad for Crosstalk Comedy.

Professor Blastoff
Epi64 of Professor Blastoff starts off with a very sobering note by co-host TIg Notaro, as she reveals that she has been diagnosed with double breast cancer. Her co-hosts Kyle Dunnigan and David Huntsberger, are not only sympathetic but help to make the experience a pretty safe one for Tig to be so forthcoming. Click over to their homesite to leave her a message of support.

Pissed Off Man Show
We’ve featured a few clips from the deeply Irish brogued Gee & Jay Show from Belfast. Well, Gavin – who put the G in Gee & Jay – sometimes has to wait around for Jay to show up and that rage is what gives us a few tender moments of the Pissed Off Man Show.

What Duvet Said
Rob Celli, one half of What Duvet Said, was a previous guest co-host of Succotash. Now he’s moved to New York but he and Jason Duplissey – who is in LA – still pull off the show. (Coincidentally, I originally found out about these guys from Phil Leirness.)

Booth announcer Bill Haywatt is back in the studio with another Boozin' With Bill segment. This time he serves up a concoction called "The Red C", which he picked up in his travels as a journeyman radio announcer in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. This libation was actually surprisingly good and we were sorry that after the first round was gone, there was no more to be had. See the recipe right over there on the left had side of the page…

Off the air and in the reading world, in This Week In Comedy Podcasts, I’m reviewing The Thrilling Adventure Hour #83: Cactoid Jim, King Of The Martian Frontier with guest stars Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Zachary Levy. Just go to Splitsider.com to lay your eyes on that review.

That's going to do it for this week's installment. There should be plenty to keep you busy until Epi33, where I will spend the show chatting with comedy sci-fi musician John Anealio and playing some of his very funny and nerdy music.

Until then, please have fun passing the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Goes Hollywood!

Chillpak Hollywood Hour, that is. In Epi4 of Succotash, my special guests this show are Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness, hosts of the podcast which just marked its fourth year on the web. And, I should mention, a model of consistency, having gotten up every week of those 4 years.

I got a chance to catch up with D & P on the occasion of the US premiere of The Truth Is Out There, a documentary delving into conspiracy theories of every stripe. (I favorably reviewed TTIOT on Huffington Post a couple of months ago.) Shortly before the movie got underway at the Retro Dome in San Jose, California, I was able to sit down with the two — Dean serves as the host for the movie, which Phil was the moviemaker who shot, chopped and shopped the film — in their hotel room.

The interview, featured on Succotash this episode, is interspersed with half dozen podcast clips, including:

• How Did This Get Made?

  Featuring guest Adam Pally

• Doug Loves Movies

  Doug Benson with guest Paul F. Tompkins

• The Adam Carolla Show

  With guest Albert Brooks

• The Titus Podcast

  Christopher Titus' Armageddon Update

• The Glory Hole

  With guest Samm Levine

• Professor Blastoff

  Tig, Kyle & David talk about the Afterlife

Of the clips in this episode, I was especially delighted to get to hear Albert Brooks, a comic mind that tends to stay way too far off the radar, as a guest with Adam Carolla. Maybe one has to be a comic nerd to truly appreciate that some of today's comedy podcasts — like The Adam Carolla Show, WTF with Marc Maron and Greg Fitzsimmons' FitzDog Radio — are likely the only places you're going to find lengthy, in-depth interviews with some of the best comedians of all time.

We're starting to get more clips submitted by you comedy podcasters out there but keep 'em coming! (Since you know your show better than I do, chances are that the 3-5 minute snippet you send me will be more representative of what you do that I'll be able to find...) And for you podcast listeners out there, let us know of your favorite we haven't featured yet! Send any and all emails to marc@SuccotashShow.com.

Until next, please pass the Succotash!

Cheers,

Marc Hershon