Succotash Epi34: Flippin' Clips

Ah. Back to an all-clip episode of Succotash, your Comedy Podcast Podcast. We have a cornucopia of clippage for this time around. Mostly new faces or, rather, voices, but some old faves, too. Purposely not clipping any of the "big" shows this time around. I’m talking the shows that get most of the attention from the media and, as a result, keep cropping up at the top of the heap on iTunes, Stitcher, etc.

There are a lot of comedy podcasts out there that get short shrift, little notice or just plain ignored. Succotash has been making an effort to beat the bushes for the harder to find podcasts and, if YOU’RE a comedy podcaster and want to get a clip on Succotash, just email us a 3 to 5 minute MP3 snippet from your show! Send it to clips@SuccotashShow.com.

I wanted to share a video with you from Frank Cronin, our Irish correspondent. He's finished his summer foray in America and is back on the Emerald Isle - Galway City, to be exact - where he's looking to finish up a college degree. His international travels the past few years have left him a little bereft of ready cash, however, and for the short haul, he's looking for a place near the university to camp until he gets his rent money together. Take a look...



All right - let's get to the rundown for the latest episode. Here's what's on tap...

I Am Idiot
We’ve featured I Am Idiot with Ben, Howard and Keith from Britain before. This clip - featuring a prank phone call from Howard where he's been challenged to mention the title to every Mel Gibson movie in the course of the conversation - is longer than we usually play. But this one was pretty entertaining so I made an exception.
 

Moment Of Clarity
Lee Camp is a comedian with an activist bent. He's very active in the Occupy movement. And his podcast, Moment Of Clarity, has 158 episodes or so, meaning he’s got this thing down. Interviews, guest, rants. It’s a pretty heady and often revolutionary blend he offers.
 
Sweet Feathery Jesus
SFJ is a cross-country, trans-Atlantic affair, with hosts Belasco, Dr. P and Booze in Texas, North Carolina and England, respectively. Some listeners seem to think that Belasco and I sound alike. Not sure about that, but the trio of them are interesting guys, sitting around on the internet, talking.

Spoodcast
The teaser for Spoodcast on their homesite reads: “Two Americans, One Canadian, and one American living in Canada walk into a bar. There’s no punchline. That’s the Spoodcast.” One of the co-hosts (and executive producer) is Matthew Dean. Another dude is named Joel. No idea who the other fellows are - more info on the website, guys!
 
Dr. Matt

Matthew Dean (see above) also produces and stars in Dr. Matt. This unlicensed head shrinker bills himself as “half Dr. Phil, half Stephen colbert and half Dalai Lama." Ever since our favorite Dr. Feelgood Bob Ducca and his Affirmation Nation went silent back in February, podcasting has needed a self-help guru. Could Dr. Matt be the answer? Maybe so…
 
Combat Radio 
We played a clip from Combat Radio two episodes ago when Phil Leirness was our guest co-host. I asked Sargent-At-Arms Ethan Dettenmaier for another little taste of the show and he shot us over a short blast with Captain Cool Billy Dee Williams.
 
The Brit & The American
Thomas Moore and Alba Lewis over at The Brit and The American were so tickled that we played their clip that they recorded a special little thank you in the course of their podcast. I was tickled about that that I'm playing it in this episode.
 
From Out Of Nowhere (aka FOON)
We play a first clip from the From Out Of Nowhere podcast — or FOONcast — with hosts Rob Kern and Eric Furniss. It's a music and comedy-oriented show, with lots of guests, such as Marc Maron and Marshall Crenshaw. This clip features the guys’ visit with Blue Oyster Cult singer/guitarist Eric Bloom, and they ask him about the infamous SNL “more cowbell” sketch.
 
Remasculate 

Comedian Steve "Mudflap" McGrew has been featured on Comedy Central and other TV venues. Now he’s fired up a podcast called Remasculate, featuring various guests including his wife. In this sample, Steve comments on a news article about the Top 10 Hated jobs in America.

Proudly Resents 
We’ve featured Adam Spiegelman before and with good reason: He gets some kickass guests. This time around he chats with Tony Clifton, the sometimes alter ego of late comedian Andy Kaufman and sometimes alter ego of Bob Zmuda. This clip has a great untold Jim Carrey tale.

We close out this edition in the usual fashion, with a visit by raging moderate political comedian Will Durst, this time giving us his take on the recently-wrapped Republican National Convention.

Until next time, please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi33: Singin' With John Anealio

Greetings, Succotashians! Welcome to Episode 33. Going a little different this installment, with the majority of the show centered around our special guest, podcaster and singer/songwriter John Anealio. (I promise we'll have beau coup clips from comedy podcasts locked and loaded in the next episode...)

John Anealio AKA Captain Six String

I think you'll like our chat, which is interspersed with several of John's comedi-sci-fi tunes as well as a clip from his weekly podcast, Functional Nerds. (I even sneak in a reprise of friend-of-Succotash Dana Carvey singing a silly ditty we've featured before, The World's Catchiest Song.)

Here's the list of John's tunes I play during the interview:

• George R. R. Martin Is Not Your Bitch (Remix)

• We Don't Need Another Trilogy

• Cecilia

• Rachel Rosen

• Unicorn Pegasus Kitten

All this tuneage plus a lot more is available at John's website, http://JohnAnealio.com. (And as good a job as I finally do in this episode by pronouncing John's name correctly, I actually misspelled the his name in trying to give out the website. Sorry, John!)

Sammy Wegent

In addition to our time with John, we kick things off with short teaser by comedian/actor/writer Sammy Wegent, talking about his new web series Everybody's A Comedian. (Savvy Succotash listeners/blog readers already know that your truly makes a guest appearance in Episode 2 of EAC.) This teaser is a preamble to a longer interview I recently had with Sammy in a San Francisco North Beach coffee house, which I will play in its entirety in upcoming Epi35.

And our Burst O' Durst has Will Durst checking in on the heels of Congressman Todd Akin's ridiculous declaration about the ability of a woman who has been raped to "shut down" her reproductive system to prevent unwanted pregnancy. (As a member of the U.S. Congress, Akin is a "Representative" but, with statements like his, who is he representing, precisely? 17th century Puritans?)

In other realms, in exchange for my contributing to Chillpak Hollywood Hour's Dean Haglund's Kickstarter campaign to create his graphic novel (Shock And Awesome), the alumnus of TV's The X-Files has created a new Succotash logo which you can now see (and buy) gracing t-shirts, mugs and other merch at our Succotashery! It's pretty cool-looking and I'm waiting for my own long sleeve black tee to arrive from Cafe Press any day now...

Speaking of Kickstarter, I also just this past week received my tickets for the upcoming L.A. Podcast Festival, Oct. 12-14. While I'm not involved in the fest in any official capacity (no one asked…), I'll have my remote equipment and will interview any and all podcasters and comedians that I can get to sit still in front of the microphone. (I should be easy to spot, as I'll be wearing the aforementioned Succotash t-shirt.)

I've been getting more and more clip submissions from comedy podcasters, which is great — a lot of what I'll be featuring in the next episode will come out of the Tweetsack. But you don't have to be a podcaster to suggest show for us to feature. If you're a regular listener, a "civilian", go right ahead and let us know your favorite show(s) and we'll track down the clips and put 'em up! (You can always email me, marc@SuccotashShow.com, or tweet a message and be sure to throw @SuccotashShow in there somewhere.)

That's enough. Get out of here and into the show. Enjoy! And please, if you truly care about your fellow man (and woman), won't you pass the Succotash?

— Marc Hershon

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

Howdy! I'm popping in with this short blast between posting about Succotash episodes to let you know about an appearance I make in a just-released installment of a new comedy web series. So if you've been wondering what the face behind the voice of Succotash looks like, here's your chance to catch a glimpse!

Everybody's A Comedian is a web sitcom about an unknown comic who can barely pay his bar tab, let alone his dues. I'm proud to have been asked to appear in Sammy Wegent's "Everybody's A Comedian", Episode #2! Look for the sleazyish commercial director. That'll be me...

Succotash Epi31: Movie Makin' With Dylan Price

Welcome to Epi31 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. Once again, I recorded my bits from my traveling studio, AKA my car. Long story. Suffice it to say, however that NEXT episode we will be back at Studio P with Engineer/Producer Joe Paulino AND a special guest co-host! That’s right. But this time we’ve got some clips and an interesting interview with a young filmmaker. A VERY young filmmaker. 16, to be exact, by the name of Dylan Price.

I wanted to chat with Dylan because I could see parallels between a young person, finding his way around in the early throes of learning how to make movies and a number of the podcasters out there I've come to know that are stumbling around on their way to learning how to produce a decent show. Listen to hear if you don't recognize a little bit of either yourself or someone you know who is excited, eager, and willing to do just about anything to do what they love.

Speaking of the interview, I need to apologize to Dylan. He had a campaign up on Indiegogo to raise money to fund his movie, Gardofski, the short we talk about. Try as I might, I could not get this episode done in time to do him any good. So I kicked in $50 to help him, but he still fell a hundred bucks shy of the $500 he was hoping to bring in.

So here's what I'll do.

Since Dylan is still working on his film, if you feel moved to help him out, you can jump up and click on our Donate button right on the SuccotashShow.com website. Just include a note with whatever you might want to give to him and I will pass it along in the form of delicious cash.

What else we got? Let me run it down for you...

Monday Morning Podcast

I really enjoy Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast, although I haven’t had the opportunity to play much on the show before. It’s the simplest of frameworks: a man and a recorder. Very bare bones and Bill rambles on, not overly concerned with being funny as he seems to just wants to be engaging.

Toggle The Switch
The internet is allowing for some really interesting things to happen in podcasting that would be very expensive to pull off in traditional media. Last episode I played a clip from when I co-hosted The Dhead Factor, with host Dabs in Canberra, Australia and me in Mill Valley, California. This show we have a clip from a show that does something similar all the time. Toggle The Switch features American co-host Susan Wygmans in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and her counterpart Carl Mac, who hails from Adelaide, South Australia. The other voice you’ll hear is their guest, Rob Flanagan and, well, I’m not sure where he’s from.

Mental Poison
With Marcus, Brian, Bill, Joe, and Monica, Mental Poison (love that name!) blasts out of New Jersey live every Monday night, then replays forever on iTunes and Stitcher Smart Radio. These guys are loud, raucous and pretty entertaining.

No Pants Cast

I’m grateful when the podcasters reach out and take the time to shoot me some info about themselves, with or without a clip. From LA, The No Pants Cast has less than ten episodes under their no belts so far, but they’re taking it seriously. Or comedically. Hosts Tim Chizmar and Diane Kawasaki along with their announcer, Cooler Tom Schuler, have guests, boundless conversation with no boundaries and, of course, no pants. In this clip they're joined by comedian Steve Mazan.

The Hustle
Will Gilman & Adam Tucker
Here’s another show I am just now getting turned onto. Co-host Will Gilman dropped me a line and a clip. It’s one of what I like to refer to as those “shooting the shit” shows, but with only two hosts (Gilman and Adam Tucker), things don’t get horribly out of hand in terms of overtalking.

That's it for the clippage. We do have another Burst O' Durst with political scamp Will Durst (look for him at http://WillDurst.com or @WillDurst on Twitter.) We also got a call on the Succotash Hotline from J.V. of the JVMail podcast, so I play it for you during the TweetSack segment.

I sure am looking forward to getting back to the studio next time. You, too! Until then, please be darned sure that you pass the Succotash.

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi30: Clippin' Right Along

Welcome to Epi30 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast! We're back to having a bunch of clips this time around — what I like to think of as "Succotash Prime" — and a couple of other things besides.

Caleb Medley

Kicking off with a serious note here on the blogside of things, I wanted to do what we could as listeners, podcasters, comedians and friends, to help out Caleb Medley and his family. Just one of the tragic stories to emerge from the Dark Knight Rises massacre on July 20th in Aurora, Colorado, Caleb is a young up-and-coming standup comedian from the Denver area and was at the movie with his wife Katie. He got shot in the eye and is in critical condition as I write this. He has yet to see the face of his new son, born the day following the tragedy. Comedians are already rallying (as well as many others) to raise funds to help cover the cost of what is going to be an expensive recovery. If you'd like to help, you can click here to Support Caleb online OR mail a check to:

Support Caleb Medley

c/o Canon National Bank

401 East Main Street

Florence, CO 81226

During this episode, I play a call that came into our Succotash Hotline from comedian/actor/friend-of-the-show Rick Overton, who asks for your help with much-needed support for Caleb.

Here's what's in store for you during Epi 30, clipwise and more!

My Crappy Week

My Crappy Week is a new daily podcast coming from comedian Orny Adams and his guests, who have been all fellow comedians so far. The shortish episodes (20 minutes or less) make for a fun listen that’s easy to squeeze in during the drive to work or wherever.

Doug Loves Movies

I’m so glad that Doug Benson gave us the nod to let us feature clips from his show. (We had a bit of a twitter squabble about it early on in Succotash's early days...) It’s a damned funny show, even when things go horribly, horribly wrong. Jeff Garland, TJ Miller and Pete Holmes were the guests and they just can’t stop being…themselves.

4 AM Cab

We've got a clip from a new “a dark comedy sketch show" podcast from Britain called 4 AM Cab. Hosts Lee Wilson and Rachel Wheeley have an open-door policy for writers and they invite all comers to send in scripts for consideration.

The Selling

It’s no secret that I like helping my friends out who decide that Kickstarter.com can help them out. The latest campaign to catch my eye is the one from pals Gabriel Diani and Etta Devine. They produced a horror movie spoof called The Selling, about a real estate agent trying to unload a haunted house. It came out last year and has been making the film festival circuit. Which is great but they’d love to let regular folk see it. I have, and I reviewed it when it debuted and that’s up on Huffington Post. So they want to get the film into some theaters, which means they have to pay to rent those movie houses. During this episode, I caught up with then on Skype to find out more about it.

And in case their words aren't enough to sway you to add to their Kickstarter fund, here's a plea from The Selling guest star Barry Bostwick... 

Where was I? Oh, right…clips!

The DHead Factor

I was invited to co-host epi44 of The DHead Factor, which is harder than it sounds considering host Jason "Jabs" McNamara is in Canberra, Australia and I'm in San Francisco, USA. Different time zones, different seasons, but we managed to pull off over an hour of podcast shenanigans. You can hear a slice of the magic on Succotash this episode!

Dylan Brody’s Neighbor’s Couch

Darren Staley’s “Comedy on a cushion” takes place live via Blogcast Radio every week and he's been getting some cool guests, such as Andy Kindler. It's a little embarrassing how gushy DS gets at one point what AK and he get into a chat about Twitter. Not that I wouldn't do the same thing if Kindler started following @SuccotashShow...

The Brit And The American

The Brit And The American is a couple – Thomas Moore and Alba Lewis – who tag themselves as “the posh Brit and the redneck American”. This new show is a chatty, observational style of commentary about the pair and their travels from their very different perspectives.

Cinematic Method

I’ve featured the guys from Cinematic Method before and I love what they do. Reviews. But not movie reviews. Movie TRAILER reviews. That’s right. They watch trailers, try to figure out what the movie is about, then guess what the movie’s score on Rotten Tomatoes will be. Inspired. But in between the trailer trashing, they talk about other stuff…

The Man Cave Podcast

If you like podcasts that feature chats with porn stars, there are a number of them. But The Man Cave podcast also covers sports, comic books, beer…pretty much anything that could count as furnishing in a true man cave. Jeff and Bobby, your hosts, sent along a snippet from their talk with “reformed” porn star Bree Olson, which chats about going legit in Hollywood. (They're not just on iTunes, BTW: They also livestream on Ustream every Thursday night at 9 PM!)

Epic Rant Radio

Celebrating their one-year-anniversary of podcasting this week, Epic Rant has been on my radar for a while but haven’t had a chance to feature a clip until…well, they sent one in. I'm not a sports guy and so I’m not really sure what they’re talking about here. Guys fighting, maybe? Anyay, check ‘em out all this week and wish ‘em a happy anniversary!

Mustache Rangers

SPECIAL FEATURE! This is not a clip of The Mustache Rangers - it's a whole show! And a great moment for Succotash. Aric McKeown and Corey Anderson had put out a call for podcasters to send in clips from their shows that they could then use as springboards for the improvised MR episodes. I sent them one of our Henderson's Pants ads.  So sit back, relax, and listen to what these guys did with it.

Will Durst

Back from his short writing sabbatical comes raging moderate, Succotash’s Ambassador to the Middle, it’s Will Durst with his Burst O’ Durst. In his sights this time: Mitt Romney and the Bain of his existence.

Whew! That's a lot of podcast for the money. Speaking of which, if you'd like to help us to offset production costs so that we can keep bringing you the finest buffet of podcastery that the internet has to offer, just click the Donate button in the upper right area of our homepage. We'll take whatever you can give and we'll even thank you during an upcoming episode of Succotash for your trouble!

Until next time, please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Succotash Epi29: Catchin' Up With Craig Shoemaker

The Succotash format is pretty much out the window this week, because I had a chance to sit down for an in-depth backstage interview with Craig Shoemaker when he was at Tommy T’s in San Francisco recently. So that takes up a bunch of show, only leaving time for a couple of podcast clips and a couple of other goodies. Plus Craig is not this episode's only interview. More on that in a paragraph or two.

Regarding "Shoe", if you're not familiar with him, where the hell have you been? The guy's been around for about three decades, doing standup, acting, writing, radio...the list of stuff he's done goes on and on. Here are a few particulars: He caught fire for years as his deep-voiced character called The Lovemaster, but that is backed up by solid time served as the consummate journeyman comic. He's shot comedy specials for TV (including his most recent, Daditude), starred in films (such as Should Have Been Romeo) and even has written a couple of children's books (such as What You Have Now, Your Daddy Had Then.)

He still does club dates and is the host of Laugh It Off, a live two-hour video webcast/podcast that "airs" every Monday from noon until 2 PM. I caught up with him during his recent stint in the Bay Area and it was a great time that had been put off way too long. (Craig and I hit Los Angeles about the same time in the late 80s and we ended up hanging out a bit and even writing material together for a while.)

But before we corner Craig in the green room, I kick off the show with a short chat with friend-of-the-show Phil Leirness! He, of podcasting's Thje Chillpak Hollywood Hour, along with co-host Dean Haglund have kicked off a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a new documentary project. Hieroglyph of The Human Soul features the art, philosophy and insights of actor/artist/ philosopher Leigh McCloskey. While it's not a comedic subject, I figure it's worthwhile to spare a little webtime for a guy who believes so passionate about the positive aspects of the human spirit. You can click the link above or in the side column of the SuccotashShow.com website to get in on this movie-making opportunity.

The rest of the episode unwinds like so:

This Week With Larry Miller
Larry Miller is on the mend from the accident he had MONTHS ago. He’s still not back up to 100%, which is why they are rerunning episodes of This Week With Larry Miller over on the ACE Broadcasting network. But Larry speaks! That’s right. This week, there is a short message from him at the top of the show. So I grabbed it for you here.               

Apocalypse & Armageddon
The guys behind this site did a funny video ad for their Commemorative Rapture Jesus Gnome. I've crunched it down to audio so you can hear, but this is funny enough to go check out on iTunes!

S&M Rants
I’ve featured these guys before, but it’s been a while, so thanks for the clip, guys! The S&M Rants Podcast is a weekly humor podcast featuring co-hosts Shane Birley and Monica Hamburg. Want to hear bad erotica, painful Craigslist ads or learn about Chewbacca sex fantasies? Join them - and their guest judges - for the deranged goodness.

We do have a classic Henderson's Pants spot this epi. Our Burst O' Durst segment is NOT around this week, as political comic Will Durst is on a sabbatical to write a new e-book. He should be back next episode.

Odds & Ends

This past week I reviewed the Story Worthy podcast with guest Blaine Capatch as part of Jesse Fox's roundup in This Week In Comedy Podcasts on Splitsider.com, along with an honorable mention for Fitzdog Radio with guest Jay Mohr.

You can now rate Succotash on Stitcher Smart Radio. It's just a simple Thumbs Up (or Thumbs Down) and all you have to do is click over to our listing on their site. You can also give us stars and dash off a quick review over on iTunes, which really helps us to gain visibility in the sea of over 10,000 podcasts that are out there these day.

That's about it, but isn't it enough? With the two interviews and the clips we have, the show nets out at about one hour and twenty minutes. So I hope you brought enough appetite for all of it, and that you have room left to pass the Succotash.

— Marc Hershon