Mark1326657704

What say you, Besser? Please make your response as apoplectic as possible.

My god, nothing beats Besser on a runaway rant. I can only imagine how many chairs were destroyed. - As entertaining as all that was, it's kind of annoying when people who perform voluntarily get annoyed when people say shitty things about them. Oh, it sucks to hear someone doesn't like you? Shocking! I've got another surprise for you: that goes with the territory. - It's amazing that people blame the internet for a new-found incivility, especially among "the young people". Guess what? People have been saying that famous people suck for as long as there have been famous people. The only difference is, instead of just saying it to their friends, family, and co-workers, they now have a way to say it to EVERYBODY. People haven't changed one bit. The ONLY difference is, now you can SEE what hundreds of people are saying about you, whereas before, you only heard maybe .01% of smack talk from your audience. - Of COURSE most people aren't going to tell you they hate you to your face. Because, despite the erroneous conclusions people draw from the internet, most people AREN'T uncivil, and don't go out of their way to hurt people's feelings. The people who are talking shit about shows they hate in their living rooms right now wouldn't say the same thing to the stars of that show in person. Would I tell Totally Laime that I think they suck to their faces? Not if I could help it. I wouldn't even tell them that I didn't care for their show, unless they asked me for my honest opinion. Because I don't have anything against them PERSONALLY, I just don't like their show. I feel free to say I hate TL on the internet precisely because it's anonymous, and I don't believe anyone should ever take ANYTHING any anonymous poster says on the internet to heart. All the internet basically IS is a bunch of people talking about stuff they like or don't like, which is also going on RIGHT NOW in countless discussions being held between friends and family all around the world. You don't pay any mind to the thousands of people who are trashing you anonymously where you DON'T hear it, so why should you pay any mind to the anonymous trashing you DO see? - I could go on with my fabulous dissertation about how the internet is a wonderful societal Id that allows all of us to say what's on our minds in ways we wouldn't dream of doing in a face-to-face context, but it really boils down to this: I can see HOW people would get their feelings hurt on the internet, but there's really no good reason WHY people should get their feelings hurt. You're free to take whatever you want from any anonymous post on the internet. You can enjoy the good, and ignore the bad. You can obsess over the bad and ignore the good. It's totally up to the reader. - I know the question most people ask is "why are people COMPELLED to be mean on the internet?" (although the REAL question they're asking is "why are people compelled to be mean to ME on the internet?"). And that, of course, is inflating the issue. Very few people are COMPELLED to post shit on the internet. They don't give any more thought to it than they would if they were discussing a show with a friend or two in person. That's all the internet IS: a larger-scale means of communicating petty shit. No, no one HAS to be mean when discussing show biz on the internet, but no one HAS to be mean discussing show biz in real life, either. That's just how many people ARE. - That said, I agree that mindless hate-posts are boring and dull. While I've indulged in my fair share of mindless TL-bashing, I generally try to offer some actual constructive criticism with at least a majority of my posts. I DO appreciate the drive of ANYONE who's willing to share their version of art with the public (EVEN Totally Laime), and although I'm not necessarily COMPELLED to leave nice comments for everyone, I do try and express my appreciation for efforts where I believe it's warranted. I think that's true of most people who comment about performers. Personally, I find the fawning "OMG UR THE BEST!!!" posts much more annoying than the "OMG U SUCK!!!" posts, because while both are equally vapid, at least the latter is merely obnoxious, rather than obnoxious brown-nosing. I credit whoever reads my posts with the wit to appreciate not being pandered to, to let my snark pass with a roll of their eyes if they find it too much, and to take any honest efforts at criticism I may be making in the spirit they're intended. If anything I say comes across as overly harsh to a reader, well....they're free to dismiss me as just a trouble-making dick. Lord knows I've been one in the past, and will be in the future, as will every other person on Earth, at some point or another (and with shocking frequency). - I will say this directly to you, Matt Besser: I love when you get your chain yanked, because I love to listen to you fly off the handle. But I DO enjoy the way you are hosting this podcast; your "we're winging it here, folks" approach is both hilarious and a way to keep the contest from being too intense. While I don't want to belittle the level of commitment and/or desire the contestants have to win, it is, after all, a podcast contest, not the Super Bowl. The point being, not only should the audience be having fun, but the contestants should be as well, and I think you do a nice job helping that along. I DO think you could organize your thoughts a little better about various ways to approach the challenges BEFORE you talk to the contestants, but I agree with a previous poster that the best way to approach the coaching sessions would be a conference call, where you talk to each podcast in turn, but they can all hear what you're saying. I'll admit that it would be a logistical nightmare, particularly when you have more than three or four podcasts to deal with, but if they're all committed to the contest, it shouldn't be that hard to at least get MOST of them online at the same time (and the ones who don't make it you can talk to later). - And for ALL the podcasts (especially Totally Laime, about whom I've had very little nice to say), thank you for your efforts to entertain us. I hope that whatever the outcome of the contest, you continue to work on your shows and enjoy the process. If this forum is any indication, there is an audience out there for ALL of you, and that should hopefully provide all the incentive you need to keep getting better at what you're trying to do. And if for some ungodly reason you actually care about anything hurtful I've said about you and you don't want to call me an asshole here on the forum, send me an email at kissmydishrag@gmail.com, and I'll be glad to listen to you unload on me to your heart's content. Fair is, as they say, fair.

Jibber Jabber doesn't really "get" the internet. Meanwhile, I can't find the official pool, so please count this as a vote for Harris to never appear on any podcast ever again ever. Thank you.

I sympathize with comedians who go on podcasts with no prior understanding of the show, and thus fall prey to disingenuous bits like Chart Roulette. I mean, it's not like they have a bunch of time to listen to podcasts. It's not like their job doesn't require them to fly all across the country where they're cooped up in a plane with hours of downtime to fill that they could spend partially on listening to an example of a podcast upon which they'll be appearing. It's crazy to think they have time for that! Meanwhile, I love the Kulap's Not An American! meme that Howard is determined to circulate, and I really hope she's only pretending to be annoyed by it, because I look forward to it every week. Additional meanwhile, if they couldn't laugh in Besser's actual face, I wish someone had had the foresight to slap a camera on him while he listened to them make fun of* his hosting style on the Earwolf Challenge. I would love to have seen either his hilarious response or his Hulkish rampage, whichever occurred. *and by "make fun of" I mean "accurately describe what happens on the Earwolf Challenge"

Relax, everyone! Brodie and JW will repopulate the Earth!

Since I'm gay, is there a different reason that I hate Totally Laime instead of because Elizabeth won't fuck me? Am I maybe one of those anti-woman queers who hates them all because I envy their vaginas or something? It must be something like that, because, like RY says, there's no way a woman could be judged on her own merits. There HAS to be some sexism involved. If a woman fails, it's not her fault! It's because she's a woman!

@Brodie, Hope there's room on that rocket for most of the human race. Your average fart joke is more sophisticated than that bark-woof-arf nonsense. Enjoy spending the rest of your life surrounded only by people whose favorite Christmas song is the dogs barking Jingle Bells.

Totally Laime Plus Eight?

So, what was the big production about the podcasts not having their introductions, and then having the podcasts have their introductions? I'm not sure Earwolf knows what some words mean. Here's the critique in the order of how they did: LHR: Much duller than last week, but still better than the nonsense from the other shows. That dog lawyer thing was bad. Talking in a dog's voice is a one-line sketch at best. I agree with Jordan that a dog-lawyer premise is funny, but the execution was all wrong. If you want to have a human lawyer talking to a dog who's answering in a dog voice that the lawyer can somehow understand, I'm onboard. Bob Newhart did one-sided conversation shit like that all the time back in the day, and it KILLED. The men are filthy bit was trite and stale. The Orson Welles bit went on too long, but the "sweaty dumps!" line saved it. In fact, it single-handedly saved their entire submission. If you could promise me that a character on that podcast would drop that line at least once every other episode, I'd subscribe immediately. Meanwhile, I like the radio tuning bit and think it's used perfectly, so me and Jordan are right and you others are wrong. - Little Dum Dum club: hard to follow, not because of the accents, but because it just wasn't that interesting. The boys remain charming, but mindless chatter is hard to disguise no matter what your inflection is. I wish these boys had more of a hook. - Bob & Dan: I agree with what the poster who's name I'm too lazy to go back two pages to find said: they sounded like they were on the verge of cracking up at any moment, which wouldn't be that bad except their stuff wasn't that funny. It had a very forced energy, very morning radio (in the worst possible way). I did enjoy the "African Amerians and standard Americans" line. But in general, the discussion was terribly boring. - Totally Laime: so dull. So very, very dull. - F+: I think these guys have run out of chances. I think their show suffers badly from too many cooks syndrome. The central conceit of the show seems like it would lend itself to no more than two guys trading back and forth. Maybe they could rotate members from show to show? And they need to decide exactly what they're going to do with the things they read: are they going to read them and then discuss them? Turn them into little sketches? Rip them apart while they read them? Seemed like they were doing all three at once, and that combined with the 27 guys who were participating turned the whole thing into a horrid mess. If they had one guy doing the reading, with another guy sparsely deconstructing it as it's read, then, after it was done, they could both have a short discussion about it, and then follow it up with a sketch where one of the guys pretends to be the person who wrote the letter, while the other is a therapist or scoutmaster or biology teacher or some such....then the whole thing becomes much easier to follow, it flows nicely, and the humor potential is dramatically increased. I feel like these guys have been on the verge of a decent show for the entire contest, but just can't agree on how to get there. I think they need to pick a showrunner and get some kind of structure together. - If I were judging this week, I'd send Totally Laime packing, because they've never been entertaining, and they've hung around far too long. However, I think the judges are going to axe F+, and I can't really disagree, because these guys have had weeks to get their act together, and haven't been able to pull it off. I'd love to give them one more shot, but I don't think it would help until they find a unifying voice. - Meanwhile, I'm disappointed that no one shouted "Meta!" at Besser today, as I really enjoy hearing him Hulk out.

Poor, gullible JW Buchanan. Didn't you know that all Australians are liars? Read the history, son! All the Little Dum Dum material was written 20 years ago by Yahoo Serious. They've been recycling it for ages. How do they get away with it? BECAUSE NO ONE OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA KNOWS WHO YAHOO SERIOUS IS!

Wait, so Matt thought Bob & Dan's sketch was the second best last week, and so did Seth Morris, but they still ended up in second to last place? Man, that Tig Notaro pulls some kinda weight over at Earwolf Industries. Meanwhile, I see that instead of allowing the podcasts to better explain the premise of their shows, we're going to go ahead and eliminate the introductory clip altogether. What fun! Now we can continue to look forward to an additional five minutes of discussion after each clip where Besser laboriously explains the show to the judges, while they go, "oh, THAT'S what that was!" , guaranteeing that shows with original concepts will continue to be at a disadvantage to easily understood snorefests like Totally Laime. Good call.

I remember when Paul F. Tompkins didn't have the voice proficiency of a Paul F. Tompkins. Some things improve with practice.

Doug...hates...candy wrappers, screaming babies, sticky seats, with 50 ads and popcorn kernels in his teeth/there's still not one that he won't see, 'cause Doug...loves...movies!

Merle Haggard is right! Richard Moore, your story made ME cry. I am sad for you.

@Jeff: your scenario is much more plausible than the judges actually finding Totally Laime worth saving this week. Actually, I agreed with their decision. Totally Laime sucks, but the Fort has sucked just a little bit harder, which is a shame because they have potential. Unlike the Totally Laime "sketch", their premise was sound, just poorly written and executed. I agree with the judges that the old-timey feel didn't sync with the harsh language and images. Still, that sketch was totally salvageable. Soften it by taking out the F-bombs, make only ONE reference to the wife being overweight as a zinger, ditch the rape aspect, and you've got yourself a sketch. Nothing could be done to save the Totally Laime sketch, which started with a shitty premise and devolved from there. So why should TL stay? Because as much as I hate to admit it, until now, they been a slightly better show than the Fort. If you're judging purely on an episode to episode basis, TL should have gotten the boot this week, no contest. But the judges (and by that I mean Besser, since he's the only constant between episodes) have let past performances influence the decision before, so in the spirit of continuity, I have no problem with TL staying this week. However, if they land in the bottom three next week (as I hope and pray that they do), I hope we'll hear a hearty "you suck and get the fuck out!" from the judges, rather than more "I love your voice" prattle, not to mention glossing over the fact that Elizabeth's written and performed in sketches onstage before. No kid gloves? Really? Anyway, back to the Fort. Like Ham Radio, they've got potential; they just need to keep working at it. I think they have decent comic instincts, and while I don't think they'll ever be as good as Left Handed Radio (or Ham Radio, for that matter), I think they can produce funny stuff, given enough experience. And hey; not everybody can be SuperEgo, right? Finally, for those keeping score, neither Tig Notaro nor Seth Morris have done the Totally Laime podcast, making this the first week that NONE of the judges have done that show. Draw your own conclusions. Edit: actually, neither Jason Sklar or Jimmy Pardo have done Totally Laime either, but I heard a rumor that Pardo is Elizabeth's biological father.

Yeah, I thought that was odd too...you started the show super mellow, and then seemed to lose it in the middle. I assumed you got some bad shit. However, I will take you at your word that you don't perform or do the podcast high (but I promise not to bring it up in front of your wife, just in case.). Really looking forward to the chair throwing incident!

I thought Matt was going to throw a chair at one point. Did he throw a chair during the commercial break? I'll bet he threw a chair.

Me too, Dan s. Me too. Can't remember the last character I enjoyed on the show. Man, I never thought I'd miss Little Gary.

Besser seemed especially high today It's also become apparent that he HATES Comedy Bang Bang, the most meta of all shows.

I am half Irish and half Italian, which makes me twice as garrulous.

I've been practicing the Irish Goodbye for years as well, Tim. Meanwhile, I had no idea Paul Scheer was such a dick, but anyone who opens a cell phone in a movie theater for any reason is an asshole worse than 10 Hitlers. I don't care where you're sitting, I don't care how many other people are in the theater, I don't care how bad the movie is, keep that shit in your pocket and stop being a ungodly douche. Unless you are sitting in a theater all by yourself, it's disrespectful and trashy to ruin someone else's movie experience, even potentially. And it's even worse to get on Twitter to brag about it and encourage others to do the same. The only time this is acceptable is during a showing of Piranha 3DD. I was going to buy the blu-ray of the League: Season 2 at full price, but because of Paul's hateful actions, I will now wait until it's on sale for $15. Ha! Good luck getting to sleep tonight, Scheer!

To Jeff's points: I don't think ANYONE expects the judges to listen to the podcasts ahead of time (I certainly never suggested that). And I'm sure we all appreciate that they're giving up free time to do this. However, it's ridiculous to suggest that summarizing the format of the shows before you run the clips would add "10 minutes" to the run time. As others have stated, Besser spends a good deal of time explaining the format to the judges AFTER the clips, usually resulting in a lot of extraneous "Oh, THAT'S what that was about" kind of talk. The not-explaining thing is clearly NOT designed to save time (it clearly ADDS time), but rather a policy to let the judges hear the clips to see if the show format would come through on its own. Besser pretty much says as much in the first few weeks of the challenge. However, as has been discussed previously, not all formats work when taken out of context, and while that may be a weakness for a radio show, it's not for a podcast. If you're going to judge everything by chat show standards, you should have restricted the entries to just chat show podcasts. It's unfair to those with original premises to have no prior explanation - which the judges would obviously prefer (and which the target audience will almost ALWAYS have). If you're going to stubbornly cling to this silly policy, I suggest the podcasts that aren't chat fests follow my advice and include a brief format description in their introductory remarks so they don't unfairly lose points. I didn't say that the Totally Laime hosts were "friends" with the judges, I said they KNOW them, which they obviously do. And while I don't believe there's a conscious bias, I do think that KNOWING someone is enough to create an UNconscious bias. If you've worked with someone before, however briefly, and they show up for a job interview with a bunch of other applicants, they CLEARLY have a leg up if you have a favorable impression of your time spent with them, as damn near EVERY SINGLE JUDGE indicated they have. I'm sure that all of the judges are absolutely bursting with integrity, but claiming that all the judges APPEARING ON THEIR PODCAST doesn't create an advantage for TL is asinine. As far at the "free pass" business goes, well...we've heard the judges criticize some other podcasts for not having a hook. What exactly is TL's hook? Their self-proclaimed mission statement is that they ask stupid questions. Wow, that's some powerful kind of hook right there. And back to my original point about the brow-beating Bob and Dan took for their drive-by questions, while that Totally or Lame shit got roses....seriously? I know that Matt Gourley and Paul Scheer are two different people than Howard Kremer and Marc Maron, but c'mon. The TL bit got framed as silly fun, while the B&D bit got framed as uncreative laziness. And I DEFY you to tell me that Totally or Lame shit was funny. I think it's pretty clear that I don't care for Totally Laime (although I'd be happy to discuss it further with anyone who still has lingering doubts about how I feel). I'm certainly biased against chat shows, which are a dime a dozen on the internet, and Totally Laime brings absolutely nothing new to the table. However, I think my observations of the competition so far are vaiid. Do I think the contest is rigging in favor of TL? No. Do I think they've been unfairly handled with kid gloves while other podcasts were not? Absolutely. Finally, I'm not suggesting that Matt, or you, or anyone else connected with the show is doing a bad job....I'm just expressing my opinion on the contest to this point. If I didn't find it worthwhile, I wouldn't be listening, and I surely wouldn't be commenting.

Getting a little sick of Totally Laime getting a free pass from the judges every week. Their last two submissions have been awful. I found it especially annoying that the judges this week grilled Bob & Dan for several minutes about their hokey non-original drive-by questions when Totally Laime used a very similar (and less interesting!) device last week, and skated by with barest criticism, if not praise. The fact that every judge so far on the show has apparently DONE the Totally Laime podcast also annoys me. If they're so established that they can get any alt comic they want on their show, and they're so well regarded in the podcast world already, why are they even in this contest? I'd rather this competition be about giving more raw yet original concepts like F+ or Hamm Radio a shot then validating some vanity chat show that has absolutely nothing to distinguish them from any other chat show podcast. At least the Little Dum Dum Club have Australian accents (and are entertaining). I guess I see why the judges fawn all over Totally Laime, since they all apparently know the hosts, but I don't get the love for them I've seen on the boards. Do you all just like really bland chat shows, or are you just that easily influenced by what the judges say? I was sad to see TV Zombies go this week, although I think it was the right decision for (some of} the wrong reasons. Their sound quality HAS been poor throughout, and I can't deny that the segment this week was lame. However, despite some backpedalling and efforts to say "it's more than that", it seemed like Kremer and Maron based most of their decision on the fact that they don't like Sci Fi. Finally, I'm glad on Tuesday that Kremer finally said, "can I ask what this show normally DOES?" after hearing several podcasts with absolutely no introduction. Besser's approach seems to be that the segments themselves should grab you regardless of context, which would be fine if this were radio. But as Jimmy Pardo pointed out the first challenge week, no one downloads a podcast without having SOME idea of what the show's about. F+ was definitely hurt by a lack of context, which I thought was unfair. Had the judges known ahead of time what their gimmick was (as we did), it would have been much less confusing. Besser is doing the shows with actual original concepts a disservice by throwing them to the judges with no setup. Lesson for you remaining podcasts: include a short synopsis of your show's format with your weekly introductory blurb, cause you'll get no help from Besser!

This movie was way better than Piranha.

I enjoy your username, Gym Sockerman. Toadying? Perhaps. But amusing all the same.