JW Buchanan

@Ry: You are so right! All you guys are ugly and you live in your mom's basement! If you ever GOT LAID like REAL MEN with UNDISFIGURED FACES you'd change your mind about Totally Laime's brilliant sketch work.

At the dawn of podcasting (2003-ish?), one of the very first podcasts I subscribed to was Tim's Take, the now-defunct podcast where Project Runway's Tim Gunn did a little anecdotal digest of what happened on the show and behind the scenes that week (and his opinion of the outcome, since he was a mentor, not a judge). It was pretty good! I think a very short episode where Matt speaks candidly about the process of judging and elimination and his thoughts would be very interesting. So do more work, I demand it! << clap-clap >>

The dog lawyer class action lawsuit ad was my favorite of their sketches. So now Earth has a population of two, at least.

The F Plus were submitting entries that were leaps and bounds ahead of what we heard from them the first week, but I think they just ran out of time to tinker with their format. Other than Television Zombies, I don't think any of the contestants worked harder to process and incorporate the judges' criticism. I hope they keep going and keep improving the podcast. . Bob & Dan were at the bottom again and I still don't understand why. Every week I hear the judges laughing during their clip but somehow it isn't enough. I understand that they don't have the power of a gimmick, but does that really matter in this context? Why are we judging marketability first? . I also acknowledge that Bob & Dan aren't everyone's taste-- The podcasts I listen to most are The Best Show and Pod F. Tompkast, which are based on extended, e-x-t-e-n-d-e-d riffing, so maybe this is just closer to what I like to hear. It's weird that everyone seized upon one fleeting reference to Earthworm Jim as being this big negative.

I thought it was "Frontrunners."

What an awesome fun board to hang out in! This is getting more fun by the second!

@Adam: I was just joking around, but I was also the commenter who teased you guys a month ago when you said you were better than SuperEgo, which was mockingly referenced on Monday's podcast. We are stuck in a time loop, where I tease you a month ago, and you get angry three weeks from now, and I like you again two weeks ago, and then you have fun at my expense right now, which is actually three weeks ago. We're caught in a time loop where we are destined to clash with each other, like a Duncan Jones movie, but boring.

I generally like the Dum Dums, but I got a strong "morning zoo" vibe from their entry this week. I know a lot of people had mentioned that before about them (maybe I'm just slow on the uptake?). Maybe it was the compressed 3-minute format that made it seem like it belonged between Traffic & Weather and the REO Speedwagon Rock Block. Loved the exchange between Matt and Kulap where he pressed her on what makes the Dum Dums more appealing than Bob & Dan and she admitted it was just the cute accents. . I think the F Plus could work better as a more heavily-produced show. Layer the music with the readings (like in a This American Life segment) and save the riffing for interstitial segments, and I'd be more likely to listen to it. I think the current format, where they're tripping over themselves to bust on the author as the reading is still being done, makes it all sound meaner. I'm still waiting for that empathy they've been promising us... . I liked Left Handed Radio's entry but I'm embargoing them for going after commenters on the forums, which is unseemly. I still hate the "radio static" sound effect transitions.

When the Challenge started, I had no problem with contestants using things from their archive to fulfill the week's challenge. (It seemed like an appropriate advantage for the contestants who had a lot of experience and a backlog of usable material.) But I'm very happy that the material has to be original this week. At this point, if you're not producing original content every week, it doesn't seem like you're really participating in the challenge. When the Little Dum Dums revealed that their Challenge entries have always been original material, that was very, very interesting indeed! Whether something's brand new is a factor that hasn't really been considered by the judges thus far, and maybe it should be!

1) One, "Beginnings," because they'd had Jon Wurster on once. 2) Zero 3) No, I'm waiting until after the Challenge is through. 4) n/a 5) n/a 6) n/a

Here's yet another suggestion: In this week's challenge, Totally Laime blew it but hung on by the skin of their teeth to stay in the Challenge. WHAT IF when you almost lose like that, you have to do an extra credit assignment to stay in the game (ostensibly)? The extra credit assignment could be reworking their submission from that week, or a little mini-challenge like writing little audio bumpers to go between segments or making an awesome looking iTunes "now playing" image. Or it could be homework, like Matt makes them listen to an old episode of the National Lampoon Radio Hour and give a little oral report. I think it would cut down on the commenter complaining/bad feeling that happens when somebody almost loses but sticks around, if they did a little extra work to earn it back. Plus it would make the Day 1 episodes a little more interesting.

@Bucho: I totally agree with the idea that a comedy contest is so subjective that it's impossible to "get it right." Someone will be disappointed, no matter the result. Still, it's fascinating, because the Challenge provokes the same kinds of responses in the audience as a televised reality competition show, even without the kind of editing, story-shaping, and outright manipulation that reality competition TV engages in. The producers of Project Runway have to use editing to convince you that Chloe Dao's lumpen hulks of upholstery fabric are better than Santino Rice's slip dresses; knowing the final result, they get to go back and use editing to make the viewers feel okay about it. (I can only assume that kind of manipulation isn't happening here on the Challenge, or else they would have handled the current Totally Laime situation better.) I was kind of shocked at myself for the sharp little pangs of resentment I've felt over the past few weeks as Bob & Dan have been dismissed by the judges. Here I am, knowing that this contest is totally subjective, not invested in the outcome at all, and I'm still siding with the underdogs and bristling at perceived unfairness by the judges-- like I was watching a Saturday afternoon Top Chef marathon. The Challenge is pushing buttons with the listeners without even knowing it's pushing buttons. It's like the control in a psychology experiment.

Here are peppier Thee Oh Sees songs for Howard: Tidal Wave: Ruby Go Home: http://youtu.be/4M_ZlCFPX2U

I don't know why Matt has to introduce Totally Laime as "the frontrunners" to the judges every week. Not that it isn't relevant information, but maybe it could be saved until they've already made their initial judgement. Calling them the frontrunners just seems to inflame massive nerd rage. But certainly they are the frontrunners. They're frontrunners even among frontrunners, running in the front of all frontrunners. Frontrunners. You can't front on their frontrunning, which is of the frontrunneriest quality, an exemplar of frontrunning for all time. Front... Ruuuuuunnnnners!

I can't wait for Jeff's point-by-point rebuttal of Dirk's point-by-point rebuttal of Jeff's point-by-point rebuttal of Dirk's troll spasm.

@Adam Bozarth, I understand the purpose of using radio static transitions, I just don't understand why you're using them specifically. It just seems like the most default choice. . <<sad trombones>> <<boi-oi-oi-oi-oing>>

@Rutabaga I'm not suggesting they abandon the premise of their show. I'm just suggesting that within the context of a sketch, it's a lost opportunity to settle for the best user-generated content you can find instead of writing something funnier. A sketch can exist outside the reality of the rest of their show.

On the subject of sound effects that bug you: I've heard more than one entry on the Challenge that used the old radio static going-up-and-down-the-dial sound effect to transition between sketches. To me, this is worse than "boing." I know it's just a hoary old device and it's shorthand and whatnot, but it seems so stale. And once you start questioning it it just seems so much more ridiculous. (Like, is each sketch an old-timey radio program and with each transition we're changing the station?) . Left Handed Radio had the best entry this week but I'm surprised this wasn't brought up, especially considering all the criticism of Elizabeth Laime's boings and Brett Hamill's sad trombones.

I liked The F Plus' sketch quite a bit (it was probably the best of the non-sketch shows), but I think Seth may have been right on in his criticism when he said that they should have made up their own questions and answers. I don't see the need to preserve the integrity of their podcast by using real, user-generated material here. It's a sketch. When you're doing something so produced, with a written preamble and everything, I think the listener's assumption is that it's all written material. As weird as the real answers are, you may as well stretch out and go completely over the top. . I think I like Bob & Dan more than the judges, which is depressing because I'd like to see them stick around-- maybe even win.

I don't know if it's just the cream rising to the top or the remaining podtestants finally getting the hang of this, but this week's crop of entries was very good overall. . It sounded from their intro like The Fort's sketch was specifically chosen from their archive. Is there an emoticon that says "this was not a good choice, maybe?"

I'm a big fan of Matt's Socratic method with regard to the definition of the challenge, but I think it's problematic during the Coaching Session segment. Matt's definition/understanding of the challenge seems to evolve throughout the episode as he talks to contestants, and by the end of the episode contestants are getting much better and more nuanced advice than the contestants at the beginning, who often get "I don't know what to say to you. Good luck!" . Maybe if there was a way to change the order of contestants from week to week, or if the audio of the entire coaching session was available to all contestants (or a transcript), it might seem more even-handed.

I respect Matt Besser's expert opinion, but I think there's a lot of ways to do meta comedy without making fun of other people's comedy or patting yourself on the back for your own cleverness. Scharpling & Wurster's sketches on The Best Show is the example that immediately springs to mind, or Bob & Ray (if you wanted to be all radio historical), or CBB here on Earwolf-- they all do meta sketch without coming off like smug creeps. It's possible! . I'd be curious to hear Matt's definition of meta sketch, and what specifically turns him off about it. I'm not fond of sketches that overtly wink to the audience, or sketches that are just a series of abrupt left turns for their own sake, but I do like sketches that fold back into themselves and deepen the narrative by changing the context. I like comedy that's about the structure of comedy, but I don't like comedy that feels like homework. Maybe it's all about the execution. Maybe sketch comedians should be executed. Thoughts?

I resented that Bob and Dan were criticized by the judges again for not having "a hook." So far, they've shown probably the most variety in their recurring segments: Answering Yahoo questions, Desert Island, Illuminati or Not?, and whatever they called this thing they did this week. I just don't understand how a big unifying theme, like being a podcast devoted to the lighter side of bike repair, would be better than what they've been doing so far, except you'd be able to describe it to someone in one short sentence (which: Who cares?). . I think commenters are going a little overboard with their criticism of/rooting against Totally Laime (and their tinfoil hat theories about shadowy forces conspiring to do ...something something), but I do think "Totally or Laime" was unjustly praised. And if there's one thing I know from watching a decade's worth of reality competition shows, its that audiences crave fairness. They will turn on a contestant (even a contestant that they love) in a second if they perceive bias. Now you have to create an arc where Left Handed Radio gets cocky and throws a drink in Totally Laime's face, so she can win back our love!

In spite of the criticism from the judges (which was totally fair), I think Bob and Dan's clip was the funniest. I loved the horse talk. I also laughed out loud when Telfer said "horses killed Superman." . I think Television Zombies suffers from being recorded in different locations, and I'm not talking about sound issues (for once). I thought their guest idea was actually pretty smart, but they seemed to have a hard time making it work over Skype. Whether it's because of internet lag or because they're not in the same room and can't pick up on facial cues, it seems like there's always a lot of crosstalk and little pauses that make their jokes fall flat.