RobM

I'd suggest bringing in the guy who made the Overcast app. Really clear, simple, easy interface for adding any podcast, making custom playlists, sorting by what has new episodes and what's played. I gladly paid for bonus features that cut out pauses, boosted voices, had a sliding scale of custom speeds, and remembers preferred settings by podcast for each of those.

Hi Scott - super excited about Howl and have been checking it out since last night. Just wondering if the paid archive exemption is a hard rule applying to limited run/infrequent shows, or just those two? Wasn't sure how to read this in terms of whether ADPP backlog will become Howl Premium only. Like will that, or Mike Detective, become exclusive to subscribers? Thanks!

That was fantastic, and highlight of my evening. Hope it gets released publicly! #emmastoneonaminion

https://twitter.com/...066154379894784 ".@PFTompkins as the ghost of Richard Harrow on @ComedyBangBang makes me tap my foot like I was a puppy & my foot was my tail! Ya get me?" Girl GETS IT. And has an improv background. Ideally, please have her be on as the first guest, then have PFT come in as a character, then have Maslany leave during a break and come in as a new character. Thank you for your time. I think we can all agree this is important.

Yeah, to add to this Correction of a Correction, Tommy Wiseau more or less confirmed he will be played by James back at a Toronto screening I attended in March. I remember strongly because the Q&A was literally bonkers. A fan asked him what he thought of Franco's involvement. Tommy Wiseau seemed confused as to whether the person meant Franco as diretcor or Franco as actor, and said something like: "We have meeting, and I talk to him, this is very important. And I ask him, 'Do you have vision?' And he says yes. And I say that's good. Then I ask 'But do you have execution?' And he says 'WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!' And I say 'It is most important part!' ... So, I don't know. Franco is okay. I would prefer Johnny Depp, but Franco is okay." Then he asked Greg Sestero who he thought should play Tommy in the movie, and he said Sylvester Stallone.

First off, empireinrecline seems like an awful person. I didn't mean to compare long-form/short-form to storytelling stand-up/punchline-based stand-up in terms of length. Your comparison to karaoke vs music seemed to imply you think of short-form as a simplistic, pale imitation of long-form, where the performer doesn't have to worry about actually creating something. I assumed (based on what I know of you from the podcast, reading about UCB's history, and currently working my way through the UCB Improv Manual) that this might stem from the idea that short-form improv (usually) doesn't have to worry about creating an actual scene, establishing a who/what/where, or finding a game that needs to be heightened. Usually, short-form is primarily about making simple connections in service of the joke (this prop looks like this object! Here's a dumb reason to justify why this audience member moved my body in a certain way!), rather than creating an organic scene and letting the comedy flow from it. In this way, I compared it to punchline humor versus storytelling humor. Punchline comedians don't have to worry about heightening a story or establishing character or context. But I wouldn't expect punchline comedians or storytelling comedians to refer to the other as not "real" stand-up. If there had to be an analog to karaoke in improv, wouldn't that be, say, Second City touring performers who act out, word for word, scenes that were originally improvised by other people? (Assuming Second City still does that.) I think I just disagree that it was a conversation that stood on its own. Of course, that's not objective, and I don't have a podcast with thousands of devoted listeners or a history as a huge influence on modern comedy, so I'm almost definitely in the wrong as to what's entertaining. It's just that no one played devil's advocate or offered an argument for why short-form deserves to be called improv - which is fine - but also, no one really explained their rationale behind why long-form is more credible (versus how you've fleshed out your argument here on the forum). That short-form is a lesser form was just accepted by everyone on the show as the truth, without much question or elaboration. That meant that the nine minutes was made up mostly of playing two clips of Mochrie/Sherwood, mocking them for wasting the audience's time - while playing the clips nearly in their entirety on your own show. I just thought that was ironic. I'll just throw in here that if I'm being a dickhole, I invite other people to tell me so. Because man, empireinrecline cast a dark shadow. And I'll also throw in Jeff Davis's name again as a potential guest, for a Case Closed or not. Really smart, thoughtful, witty guy on Harmontown, but still performs with Whose Line to this day.

I haven't heard his comments. Again, I wouldn't guess many of them would argue for the sake of it being a high art form, but I'm guessing they'd occupy a middle ground between that and Matt's all out hatred. Matt makes the comparison that short form is to long form as karoake is to music, but it seems more like a storytelling-style stand-up comedian who hates punchline comedians that don't have to deal with setting character, context, escalating the story...

You should get Greg Proops or Jeff Davis on the podcast for case Closed. Both smart guys. I wouldn't actually be surprised if they said they did Whose Line at least partially for the money and were more artistically satisfied elsewhere, but I'd bet they'd offer a different point of view than Besser's scorched earth attitude towards the form. Edit: I also think it's worth pointing out that while some of those setups were ridiculous, and the games silly, some of them can be justified. A game requiring audience participation, like that moving bodies/puppetmaster game, obviously requires explaining the game to the point that the participating audience members are 100% crystal clear on how it works. The redundancy of explaining/demonstrating the gimmick over and over to them is the price you pay to make sure the game goes along smoothly. The Torture Game, which involved the rotating gimmicks including switching out one letter for another, was clearly designed *around* getting the audience to try and stump the performers rather than help them. They called it the Torture Game, after all. An audience for that show would know who the Whose Line performers are and paid to see them, and (at least from their point of view) think they're talented enough to handle some curveballs. It was a game based around watching the performers comedically struggle and flail, after they'd earned credibility with the audience over the TV series and that night's live show. With that said, both games are still dumb. I also think there's an irony that the podcast spent the opening 9 minutes complaining about 3 minutes being too long to set up a scene.

Please. I am desperate to hear Scott Aukerman's take as a musical theatre nerd.

I was walking through downtown Toronto listening to that, and stopped in place to laugh uncontrollably for about 30 seconds. I literally could not start walking again until I collected my shit. I looked like a goddamn lunatic.

If Paul doesn't reveal the censored Amazon review on the next mini-sode, we need to pool our resources to figure it out.

I'm only 5 minutes in and already the pure energy and passion the hosts and Harmon are bringing to this is fantastic. Edit: Holy shit, June.

My mind was blown at the revelation that Pegg and Frost swapped impressions after the cough. Please, please have those characters back.

There's some breakdowns of the additions online, but it's basically just alternate takes (like, different reaction shots) and maybe another sentence or two here and there. The whole movie's less than a minute longer, and I didn't even notice the additions when I watched it. Pretty disappointing. But oh, we can dream.

The Keaton version was the one leading on FYI.

So, the Fast & Furious 6 Blu-Ray has a "first look" at Fast & Furious 7. You know, that one that might be scrapped. And it's a scene of the heroes at a funeral. And a character says to Paul Walker "I can't do no more funerals." And Paul Walker responds "Just one more." ... It's awkward.

I'm going to reiterate: Simon Pegg as Michael Caine. It is that good. Also, Besser's rendition of Silent Night as Bjork from the 2012 Holiday Spectacular.

Did "IT'S BEEN" start this year? If so, and that episode doesn't win, the origin of that running gag and PFT's endless laughter about it must be included. Edit: If 240 #TheWorldsEnd doesn't make the best of list based solely off the impression, Simon Pegg's AMAZING Michael Caine should be a b-b-b-BONUS.

I WILL WAGE THIS ONE MAN CAMPAIGN. HOW. DID. THIS. GET. MADE. http://www.vulture.com/2013/11/watch-a-30-for-30-about-the-space-jam-game.html

"Jack Frost - from the director of Daredevil!"

Next. Level. Bonkers.

Joker & The Thief.

Rain is indeed a hindrance to Daredevil's abilities, and one that pops up fairly often in Mark Waid's current (spectacular, more lighthearted) run on the Daredevil comics.

I recently tried watching the Director's Cut for the first time, having not seen the theatrical cut in forever. It doesn't suddenly turn it into a good movie by any stretch. Let's remember that the director behind this Director's Cut still has this as the third result when Googling his name. He made the Michael Keaton Jack Frost movie, which probably deserves its own episode.

I'm guessing Sean Cullen will be divisive with listeners. I don't care. I was there, and was physically exhausted with laughter.