323 replies to this topic

[Earwolf Admin]

In the immortal words of Boyz II Men: "It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday." Our third place contestant is "yesterday" for the sake of this metaphor. Who will get the bronze metal? Our Aussie friends down in The Little Dum Dum Club? Our crazy sketch guys and gal at Left Handed Radio? Elizabeth and her husband Psychic Andy of Totally Laime? Listen in and find out!

[KajusX]

Let's do this.

[Bucho]

If yesterday is who I guessed it is then my tomorrows are going to include a bunch of yesterdays.

[Gym Sockerman]

As much as I want Totally Lame to win, I had a really hard time accepting today's judgements. Honestly, I also thought that LHR had the best submission. I really didn't understand the dislike of the sketch. But I loved all the contestants and judges.
Overall, this episode made me feel bad, like Mommy and Daddy are fighting. I don't know if I can bare to listen to next week's.

[Dirk]

Whoa early post? Did earwolf challenge just jump the shark? Oh well... Here goes....

[GW]

Truth in Comedy

TL was honest but not funny
TLDDC was honest and funny

TL totally should have been in the bottom two. I really hope TLDDC wins

[Chester Douglas]

Left Handed Radio's defense of itself was pretty solid, but at the end of the day I still feel like they had what was by far the weakest submission. It simply wasn't either funny or inherently interesting (though, admittedly, these qualities are subjective). You could make a pretty compelling case that this week's contest was fundamentally misguided and shouldn't have occurred at all, but given that it did, I think that the correct decision was made.

[savvyveteran]

This bums me out, as I've thought for a while that LHR was far and away the best and most original podcast in the challenge, but—as was discussed by the judges nicely after the commercial break/deliberation—they've definitely gained a lot of exposure, and I'm sure a BUNCH of new subscribers (including me!) over the last 9 weeks. I clink my glass to their continued success.

[J Pangelinan]

Engagement podcast= TLP

[J Pangelinan]

Engagement podcast= TLP
Comedy podcast=TLDDP, LHR

[Linus]

This was even more upsetting to listen to than anticipated.
 
Many people in forum raised the same criticism that the LHR and LDDC both used. Again the JUDGES DIDN'T KNOW THE CONSTRAINTS OF THE CHALLENGE! "We were told to make original content" "Oh, we didn't know that." WHY? How can you judge if you don't know that?
 
Dave even said LDDC made him laugh the most -- contradicting what Matt told us was the criteria -- who was funniest. Why was the submission that made you laugh most in the bottom 2?
  
It's been said over and over -- it will continue to be said this week:
Left Handed Radio got fucked over.
 
If this challenge was meant to be about professionalism -- they should have won.
If this challenge was meant to be about producing *original* content in an extremely short time frame -- they had the hardest task by far, and they were not given any leeway for that.
If this challenge was meant to be about being funniest -- Totally Laime had no place being the safe place.
 
This challenge was bullshit from the start. I feel betrayed as a listener and pissed off for getting invested in this series.
My only hope at this stage is that Matt and the producers address these criticisms in the final episodes, or some addendum.
 
It's so sad because up until this week, this has been my favourite thing in podcasting. It's been inventive, really playing with the form, while providing commentary and insight. We've gotten to know the contestants and get emotionally invested in the outcome. Please don't make us regret that decision. At least give us some answers.

[KajusX]

Much like a comedy awards show or some sort of stand-up reality show competition, I have taken this podcast with a huge grain of salt.
Only reading outraged people on the Earwolf Challenge forum has ever actually upset me (because they keep trying to apply hard and fast rules to something as slippery and subjective as comedy, and are upset when they can't and instead cry foul).
And really, once a competition is down to the top 3, all three of them have totally already won.
This was a really easy episode to listen to, as have been all the other judgement episodes.
Methinks I'll check these boards out again once the competition is over.
Meanwhile, listen to stuff you like! Not stuff that drives you crazy! It's a good rule!

[gle urg]

I'm not at all one for reality shows, but man if this doesn't have me hooked. I'm personally pulling for Little Dum Dum Club, but even if they don't win, I'll be (just about) as happy to listen to Totally Laime each week. You guys have served to introduce me to a number of podcasts that I probably wouldn't have otherwise stumbled across, and I'm really on pins and needles to see how this turns out.

[Craig Leg]

Does Earwolf understand how badly they've undermined the legitimacy of this competition over the course of its run? If you were looking to showcase comedy podcasting an authentic media platform, congratulations. Across nine weeks, you've proven that podcasting can be just as shallow and shitty as TV.

[Bucho]

I feel bad for LHR, but I also felt bad for the judges having to give feedback from what came across as a position of unnecessary confusion. If the judging criteria was focused on funniness then clearly LDDC were winners this round and TL may have been the ones to go. If the criteria was on being engaging then the correct decision was made because TL was the easiest to follow and LHR, although they were funnier than TL, was the hardest.
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If there's a next season then stronger criteria need to be set out and stated for the judges and the listeners, otherwise there will be rounds like this one where it all does sound very half-assed - and worst of all, like a poor podcast with the gall to judge better podcasts than itself.
In fact, there's the rub. How do you take Besser, Belknap and Anthony - three respected, established talents - and combine them into something which is no fun to listen to? You overcomplicate and convolute something which many previous Challenge judges have already said is best kept simple. If this week had been a four-way contest between the final three and The Challenge, then this week The Challenge - with all that firepower at its disposal - somehow contrived to finish fourth.
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That's why I find myself in the odd position of agreeing with the decision and still loving everybody involved, but feeling like round 9 of the Challenge was overall a failure.

[Rich Young]

Kinda predictable that the "shoot the shit" podcasts made the final, right? Like we really need yet another one of those :P

[ZachB]

Why is everyone up in arms about this week, of course they had to be lied to get them to think on their feet. It was more about being able to make something in an extreme time crunch not just someone bailing, like what if the back half of your podcast gets corrupted or something and you need to get it finished by the end of the night, what would you do? Also the judgment was totally fair, do i agree that TL was better than LDDC, no, but they were right for eliminating LHR because they by a long shot had the worst submission. TL kept you engaged and moved nicely LDDC was funny and energetic and LHR was neither, the math solves itself. I do feel LDDC was better, I do agree it dragged a bit but they re-found the funny again but that is neither here no their because it doesn't matter who wins it only matter who loses. It was sad to see LHR go because those are some funny ass dudes and dudette but these 3 podcasts are all great in their own way, so if you weigh all the podcasts on all their submissions through the season its all about even, so the only way you could have judged is by who had the worst submission, I see in no way how they got fucked over.

[Naylor]

There was a nice conversation briefly about different philosophies towards podcasts that Earwolf and Walking the Room have and the discussion over consistency/having a bad week. Dave Anthony and Matt Belknap came across a lot better today.
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It still all seems irrelevant though because whatever criteria you judge it by - how effectively they worked under pressure /professionalism/how funny it was. LHR knocked Totally Laime out of park, and I don't dislike TL at all.
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It's just a real shame that lessons still haven't been learnt after all this time and such a huge mistake was made at such a crucial point in the competition.

[Mark Thompson]

It would have been funny to listen to the judges bending over backwards trying to defend their paper-thin arguments against LHR, while LHR politely shredded every single one of those arguments, if the judges had then manned up and admitted that they were completely full of shit and had no idea what they were doing. "If that's the case, do you not have a sketch that's laying around?" "We were told that it had to be totally original content." "Oh, I didn't know that. I would have cheated."
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No consistency. No firm criteria. No effort. Clear bias toward Totally Laime. TOTALLY half-assed.
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This podcast is an embarrassment.

[Brian Zeolla]

Jeff, Scott and Matt have all said in so many words that they both don't mind and enjoy things getting heated in here, and I kind of enjoy reading it as well. On the other hand, though, using words like betrayed seems almost absurd. No one promised you anything, this is all completely free content. You have a right to enjoy what you want, you have a right to think and say what you feel, but no one owes you anything. I don't mean to sound like a real Dirk here, but the moment you think you deserve any of this, is the moment you have been given too much. Appreciate things a little more or go back to ABC and FOX and see how you fare