Pokwok

Another excellent musical episode. I've downloaded and cut out basically all of the recordings that have been done on this podcast and thrown them into my music collection just because they sound better than live shows. Pretty essential to any fans of the bands. I4H is becoming the best comedy podcast and the best live music podcast out there. And Besser's not desperate to plug Seeso, but I'm desperate for Seeso to come to Canada damn it! Thankfully they've told me they're working on it, but browsing through the selection it really does look like it's worth every penny.

I keep coming back to this episode. Honestly I think this was a crowning achievement for I4H. It's just too damn good, especially for the long time listeners.

It was a really interesting episode too. Besser has some great stories. After listening to I4H for so long I'm surprised I hadn't already heard the stories he told on High and Mighty. If Besser got together some of the oldschool UCB people and they just spent a podcast going through stories about UCB throughout the years I'd be super hyped. Seems like something that would be good for Howl. Obviously this live episode was to notch as well. Can't go wrong with a line up like that. Maybe it's just me though, but I found the crowd to be a little tough. Maybe they just weren't mic'd well, but is it an LA thing to be a little more offended/skimpy with the laughs? I was losing it at several points while next to nothing was coming from the crowd.

BOOM improv all stars. Man every episode I get more pissed that Seeso isn't available in Canada... Godammit. Get your shit together Seeso.

Pardo's gotta give It Follows another chance. As a horror movie junkie I absolutely loved it. Well crafted movie. It's about the ambiance and the tension.

Killer line up. The one that was inspired by Paul Rust in bed with his sister and Matt Besser at the post office were particularly good.

This was nothing like that... If that was supposed to be a joke it was a shitty one. The fact that he was trying to be funny was what made it so awkward. Guest trying really hard to be funny but then just coming off as a prick. Those episodes were classic, I'm aghast that you would compare this asshole to that. You really couldn't hear the void of laughter / nervous forced laughs coming from the improvisers? You actually think this compared to Besser's character? Pretty offensive to Besser's skill... That guy should stick to music.

Great episode That one dude just keeps shitting on his bandmate... I don't get it. He was just being mean to Joey. I can't tell if he was trying to be funny: "were it not for me he would not have accomplished anything" .... wtf? Jesus dude... That's your bandmate you're talking about. And then a bunch more times again later on... Dude was a straight up ass hole. Really awkward to listen to at parts. Especially since Joey actually seemed smarter than he was. Other than that it was a great episode. I find Seth and Mary work particularly well together (but then again, they are two of my favorite improvisers of all time).

I love Besser, but goddamn he's a stubborn idiot. There is a middle ground on this. A lot of gun control laws really aren't enforced well, and that has to change. But at the same time, there is literally no correlation between how many firearm homicides there are in a particular state and how strong their gun control laws are. Chicago has more gun violence than any other city, but it also has some of the strictest gun control laws. And even though I would never own a gun and I think people who own them for protection are paranoid nuts, this idea that stricter gun control laws would affect mass shootings like this is really stupid. If anything, allowing people to CC on campus or having an armed security guard is basically the only thing that could seriously reduce the death count on these things, or deter potential mass murderers altogether. The idea of a "gun-free zone" is so fucking stupid. Literally every mass shooting in the states over the past decade has occurred in "gun-free zones". The logic behind it is just so idiotic. And then the whole "ohhh dumb right wingers think if we take away their guns Obama's going to declare war on the people"... You know what a strawman is Besser? Basically all you did in this episode. It's naive to believe that at no point in time could any government eventually get to a point where it goes tyrannical. It's happened countless time throughout history. I don't see how the US is different. Has nothing to do with the current administration. The bottom line is the arguments they are making only make sense if they are advocating complete removal of guns from the citizenship. And even then it's obvious guns would still flow into the country. I see it like I do the drug war; in a rosy perfect world the government could remove them from the country completely, but that's not going to happen. So get it out in the open, regulate it properly, and allow law-abiding, mentally stable individuals to own firearms. But Besser's political opinions are pretty stupid across the board. And I consider myself a liberal btw. I also live in Canada. I know this will never get seen but who knows, maybe other people going through old episodes will post.

Is it just me, or has Gemberling gotten a little thinner? Either way, he's a badass, as always.

More of theses episodes. This one even tops the whiplash episode. Anyone know if the "Yo Is This Racist?" guy has responded to Matt's jabs? I tend to agree though. I've flipped through a couple of the episodes, and IMO the whole show minimizes what racism actually is, which is an unfortunate trend these days. When you make every little non-malicious "micro-aggression" racism, then it really minimizes actual racism. A whole show about it is just obtuse. I feel like the only people listening to it are hyper-sensitive folk who just want their "woe is me the world is always holding me down" attitude to be validated. It's unhealthy and a little delusional. Racism is a very serious, and very real thing. When you have to spend an hour dissecting whether or not some benign bullshit is "racist", that benign bullshit probably isn't racist. Stop lumping actual racists in with everyday people who aren't actually prejudice.

I dunno, I'm a millennial myself and I feel that while growing up, competitiveness was actively discouraged in most settings. I also feel like our generation feels like it's up to the government to make sure their living standards are up to par... But then again I live in a hyper-progressive city in a hyper-progressive province. School system really did instill in us a sense that being a "citizen" and looking to authority to solve problems is always preferable to individualism and solving problems by yourself. I definitely get that sense from a lot of people my age.

Yeah, that's all I was waiting for. Certainly made Buffalo seem like a chill place to hang out. If the Sklars read this, a "finding the funny" in Montreal would be the bees knees. We've got a pretty unique comedy scene that's kind of separate from all the JFL stuff. It might not work well on an English podcast, but we have a number of comedians that do their sets in frenglish and it's pretty fun. Not to mention the fact that this city's special breed of insanity is easy to make fun of.

Great episode. Lost it several times.

Do we think this is the guy Matt's talking about? IMO it looks like it's probably Mick Napier, who has publicly criticized UCB quite a bit, is a teacher and has been doing improv a long time. I've been watching some of his stuff, and personally I think he's just trying to differentiate himself from UCB because he knows they're the power house. It seems like he's not actually hurting UCB in any way though, I'd guess most of the people that choose to take his classes prefer being part of the "rebel" or at least less mainstream improv world. The fact that UCB is better is the reason he's talking shit.