Quasar Sniffer

This episode was great, not only as a fan who loves the show, but because I've been doing radio, characters, and voices since college myself (not half as good as Chris's, obviously), so it was fascinating to hear Chris talk about how he manifests his hilarious creations. I also loved hearing different voices and characters that normally don't appear on the show. Maybe Jeff Goldblum or Michael Caine will be making visits to the Calming Shores in the future? Also, I really liked the talk about impressions, especially since I've thought along the same lines. Dana Carvey has done some of the best impressions in the history of television, but a lot of those impressions are creations inspired individuals, not imitations of how they sound. Carvey's Bush doesn't sound like President Bush, but it's still hilarious. A lot of people who have done Bush or Perot impressions since Carvey are really just doing his versions of those guys, so it's pretty awesome that Chris is willing and able to branch out and find his own in-roads into those characters.

I laughed so hard at "Woof You Rather." It's like when a pun reaches a critical mass of badness, it becomes hilarious. I love it.

I think it's interesting that both Mr. Ullrich and Mr. Hardwick talk about building their brand (or voice or whatever) and expanding their business in order to facilitate their endeavors. It almost seems like both are attempting to reach some sort of plateau where they will be comfortable and be able to administer their various interests from a high, stable (financially and organizationally), and relaxed position. However, I think this will never be achieved... which is why both of these guys have given us so much great content. I think truly creative people are never satisfied with their current position and always have to strive for more. It may be a different vision from what they thought this realm of their careers would be, but it still is something of their own making (and something I enjoy very much). Also, I think the statistic stating that 23% of Americans have downloaded a podcast might be misleading. I mean, what percent of Americans are over the age of 70? So many of the people who were already middle-aged when the personal computer became commercially viable will just never bother with podcasts or iTunes or any such thing. I think more specified demographics are necessary. Like, what percentage of people with access to podcasts actually listen to them? Out of the people who do listen to podcasts, how much time do they spend listening to them? How many people who are aware of podcasts actually bother with them? Etc. Most importantly, this was a great episode. Much thanks.

I have a suspicion that Tig Notaro is actually a sports geek, she just chooses to feign ignorance about any sports topic in public, even the identity of the star of Kazaam, Shaquille O'Neal.

This is a late reply, but this movie has spawned quite a bit of pondering on my part, perhaps far more than it deserves. Oh well.. I think I like Mike Myers more after watching this, just because of how nuts it is. There are actually kernels of really great ideas in here, about cross-cultural validation and race. One of the main characters is a black hockey player, described as "the Tiger Woods of hockey." So, why does it take a black superstar to validate a sport? Why are these sports/cultures so racially segregated even today? Why does western culture feel the need to commodify Hinduism into Oprah's Book Club-style bite-sized bits before that culture can be validated? None of these questions are addressed in any coherent or intelligent way, but they could have been, which makes the film's outrageous un-humor all the more disappointing.* Still, it's fucking insane. Those scenes where the only joke is Myers getting food in his beard? HAHA THERE IS POPCORN ON HIS FACE HILARIOUS! Also, the probably 10 solid minutes of Verne Troyer-is-short jokes, which are never unfunny because he is such a skilled comedic actor, right? Also: sitar sing-alongs, Ben Kingsley pissing on things, and Justin Timberlake being a villain. It's amazing failure. It's an example of a supporting character or a skit idea expanded to a full film, and crashing and burning. In this case, crashing and burning like a tanker truck colliding with a Cirque du Soleil tour bus. *Elaboration: I don't think comedies have to address weighty issues directly, but if those themes are present, they can add to the humor; like the jokes are a relief to the weightiness inherent in those ideas. You know, how Ghostbusters deals with themes of the afterlife or The Hangover deals with themes of regret and guilt. Those movies are good because they know how to make jokes about things that make us uncomfortable

Just donated. As far as getting more people to donate, maybe your "telethon" suggestion wasn't that far off. I'm not suggesting an actual telethon, but maybe live, fundraising webcasts with various Earwolf hosts? They could be broadcasted from live, coordinated events where all sorts of Earworlf merchandise is sold. I dunno, would the costs involved would offset the potential gains? You guys probably have better data on that than I do. Anyway, the work the Sklars put into their show definitely comes through on their podcast and it's fascinating to hear them talk about it.

YES! Now, whenever I become despondent, I can think of egregiously inappropriate, kinda gross, but hilarious one-liners.

So hey, could I get a working mp3 link? I need my weekly dose of The Calming Shores. Otherwise, I am prone to Gary Busey-like rants (only less entertaining).

Yeah, the mp3 link is down for me as well, and that is a problem since I don't use iTunes. Oh noes! The last episode was one of the funniest things I've heard on the interwebs, so I was really looking forward to the conclusion.