action52

Yeah, but they did show his family, at least twice. And Apu did have a love interest, and he got married. That's more than you can say for almost any of the characters outside of the Simpson family.

Apu was actually one of the most developed side characters on the show. There were plenty of one note characters--Wiggum, Comic Store Guy, Otto, Superintendant Chalmers. Most side characters got zero stories that centered around them. Apu got 5 that I can think of off the top of my head, and played a significant role in more stories than that. And aside from the voice, the only thing I can think of that was really, blatantly racist was the time they went to Kwik-E-Mart headquarters, and even though they had established it as a white-run corporation at the beginning, they still had the headquarters be some stereotypical Indian yoga guy living in the mountains. Basically for one "Homer acts stupid" joke. That shit was definitely wrong. But overall I think Apu was treated fairly well, and not just an empty one-note stereotype. The "you never see his family" criticism is really weird. He's an immigrant, with a family halfway across the globe. Of course he would rarely be able to see them. He does of course have a wife and kids that we see later on in multiple episodes. And again, I think a lot of the accusations of stereotyping are unfair because they are only stereotypes BECAUSE the Simpsons did it. It wasn't really a stereotype that Indian people work at 7-11. But then Apu did, and he became Americans' sole image of people from India, and people started applying that to other India. But that's the fault of pop culture overall for not having almost no other portrayals of Indian people throughout the 90s. Now Bumblebee Man, that's a much more racist stereotype. There is no excuse for that. I also remember seeing some offensive stuff with Native Americans after season 10 when I gradually stopped watching. And I think the show has become more blatantly racist with their treatment of him in things like promoting the Simpsons movie have been gradually more and more blatantly racist. So I'm not saying The Simpsons isn't racist. I just think that, relative to the context of society at the time, he was done pretty well.

To me, Apu is just one more example of why The Simpsons should have been off the air long ago. At the time, they were ahead of the curve. Today, Indian people working at convenience stores has become a tired stereotype, but I don't remember hearing it much before The Simpsons. In fact, I don't remember any portrayals of Indian people living in America at all before that. They were almost non-existent. So at the time, just having an Indian person as a major character was pushing things in the right direction. And they were making an observation that a lot of 24 hour places like convenience stores, gas stations, and Dunkin' Donuts hire people from India because they don't care about things like getting Christmas off and they were willing to work hours that white people won't. Yes, the fact that it was a white person doing a very inaccurate accent is a definite strike against them. But at least they were trying, which is more than you could say for most of the shows on TV at the time. On top of that they made Apu a three dimensional character with depth, and stories that centered on who he was as an individual person. Not to mention satirizing how poorly America treats its immigrants. Also the fact that he turned out to have a PhD and be super smart--I was surprised at how true that turned out to be when I got a job at a school that taught technical certification (mostly to foreigners). A lot of people at our school were from India or Pakistan. Almost all of them were in fact brilliant scientists or engineers who were working menial jobs in America because that's how terrible the job market was for them. It was actually better for them to come to America, take a shit job they are overqualified for, and save up their money to get training outside of India. But now, Asian characters have become more common. On top of that, India is becoming more economically independent, and it is becoming more common for Indian people to work in jobs that use their skills and intelligence. Aspects of Apu that the Simpsons was the first to popularize have become stereotypes. But instead of having Apu change or grow, he has lost most of the complexity he had, regressing into an empty shell they use for random one-liners or lazy ethnic jokes. In fact he is more of a stereotype, and less of a real character, than he was in the early 90s. Where he was once used for clever satire, now he is used for racist cliches. Society has moved forward, and The Simpsons has moved backwards. The offensiveness of Apu's racial portrayal is becoming more and more egregious with every year.

Fantastic episode did not disappoint! The D were funny all the way through, and fun to listen to on top of that. Regina Crimp was great again, and Ross of Russ's (or was it Russ of Ross's?) had me laughing so hard my stomach hurt. One tiny little disappointment, though, if I'm brutally honest. I was expecting more songs. I mean, when you have the D on, I was thinking they would play a song at every break like most musical guests. I absolutely loved this episode, but when you have the D on and they're not playing their music... when they started doing the Saved By the Bell theme with Regina that was so awesome but it only made things worse. it's like we're having this huge bowl of ROCK put in front of us, and then after one delicious spoonful you just pull it awway and go "Uh-uh, that's all you're getting!"

Oh man, it was exciting enough seeing the D were here, but on top of that we have Regina Crimp AND a Joe Wengert character? Why do you love us SO much?

I want to also say thank you for this episode. When I heard Jeff was stepping down, uh, I mean, "aside" I have to admit I was worried. Because I know how important his personal involvement was to Earwolf. So I started wondering if this was some sort of fracture within the company, because based on what his role had been in the beginning it seemed unlikely that Jeff would step aside for anything unless there was something huge preventing him from doing it. Of course I now know that things had changed within the company so that Jeff's constant personal involvement was no longer necessary. But it is good to hear about why this change is happening, and that this is a change that has good reason to have happened. Of course you never know what will happen when a new person takes over but at least I can see that the people involved are still dedicated to the Earwolf network's original vision. And I feel more optimistic. PS Scott was spot on about people not being happy when U Talkin' U2 to Me ended and we had our fix taken away. It almost feels like a dark cloud descended on a Wednesday, ha ha. I say that not to make anyone feel guilty but to say that I REALLY loved the podcast and even if it's not a regular thing I hope that the Scotts keep coming back to it indefinitely. And it has made me love the Earwolf network even more. It sucked losing that as a weekly thing to look forward to but I knew that eventually this day would come. And I'm looking forward so much to see what the future holds.

Just came here to agree with Brad about how great Joe Wengert's comedy act is. I went to go see him last Saturday, and he did this bit about how when you dive to the bottom of a pond to root around for grubs, but then one of your buddies happens to be right where you're surfacing, and then you poke your bill RIGHT into his feathery bottom. AWKWARD! I won't even try to repeat it the way he said it here, but trust me his version is 100 times funnier. You absolutely must go and see it as soon as you can. Don't waddle, fly!

I think the person who said a dork was someone awkward with poor social skills. The examples Matt gave are pedantic dorks, and the ones he dismissed as nerds sound more like nerdy dorks to me. These are situations where we would expect a normal person to know that no one gives a shit about what they're saying, and keep their mouth shut. But because these people are dorks they feel like they absolutely need to announce their feelings, to everyone else's annoyance.

Actually I figured that was probably the case, but too lazy to check. I decided it was better to post this even knowing I was probably wrong. The way I see it, just reminding people of the greatness of Free Subarus for Moms is doing everyone a public service.

OK, I admit it. Originally I thought going that crazy over a man's socks was stupid. This picture proves me wrong.

When I saw this episode posted on the front page: GIFSoup

Episode 59, Free Subarus for Moms http://www.earwolf.c...barus-for-moms/ August Lindt's first appearance on the show, in which he tells Scott all about his travel adventures and suicide plans. Or are you saying Scott made a mistake because his plans didn't involve a heavy coat? Also has Todd Glass and Paul F. Tompkins. Great episode--you should definitely hear it if you haven't yet.

You know what, even though it was only mentioned in passing I think people are too quick to dismiss sexual addiction as a real thing. Anything that releases endorphins has potential to be addictive. And personally, I think that if I had the opportunity to have sex with beautiful women any time I want, then got used to having sex with beautiful women any time I want, I don't think I would be able to just stop any time I want to. I also don't understand why people are acting like acknowledging it is an addiction would exonerate the person of all wrongdoing. If someone steals money or commits violent acts because of a cocaine addiction, we don't look the other way, right? Because addiction doesn't mean you have no responsibility for your actions. So it's not like we should let people off the hook for lying to their spouses, or spreading STDs, or anything else. But I think it might not be so crazy to say, OK, the things Tiger Woods did are wrong and his wife is totally right to divorce him. However in order to change himself he will need outside help at this point. It is his fault for not coming clean and possibly getting help before it destroyed their marriage, but it's not reasonable to think he can just up and stop doing it by himself.

I've noticed that there always seems to be a delay of at least an hour or so before the front page displays new podcasts. I have noticed this happening in Chrome, Firefox, and IE so it doesn't seem to be a browser issue. However when I view the pages on my smartphone it is always perfectly up to date. Also there is no problem on the individual programs' pages. So today, for example, I went to the front page 5 minutes ago and it was still displaying Ronna & Beverly, Sklarbro Country, and Totally Laime, No Comedy Bang Bang, Cracked, or new Yo! Is This Racist? episodes. I was able to download them by clicking on "SHOWS" and then going to the ones I wanted, so it didn't seriously inconvenience me, but obviously it isn't supposed to work that way. Has anyone else experienced the same issue?

Well, I finally figured out a way to get an up-to-date front page for the Earwolf site. When I'm on the front page, if I click on "Earwolf" it will basically reload the front page again, only this time it will put the most current podcasts at the front of the page like it should. A very strange bug. Again, if I visit the site an hour or two after the new podcasts have gone up, it always loads normally. Although come to think of it the front page is usually off where it says how many posts are in the comments section. So maybe the front page is loading information from an hour before or something? Definitely weird.

Is the Steve Vai one real? I did find a video of a girl putting out candles with her squirt, but I didn't see any connection to Steve Vai in it.

Vuvuzula "comically large"? It's not even all that big. You want to see a comically large horn, go to Switzerland. Now those things are truly ridiculous looking.

Lose the comma.

He changed his mind. What else is there to talk about?

As much as I loved this episode, I have to say that I was still very disappointed. I know I may offend some of you bourgeoisie with so much that you drop your extravagantly-priced candy bars, but the truth must be said. There are a lot of things wrong with this podcast that MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED! And now, the top 10 things that SUCKED about this episode of the podcast: 10. NO T SHIRTS!! What the fuck, Bono? 9. NO COLLEGE GIRLS! ...I think. Harris Wittels isn't a college girl, right? 8. Scott was too easy on Lance for Turtlin' right in the middle of the Blue Turtlin' podcast. I think he should have been jacked right out of the Earwolf Studios for that one. 7. They talked about so many great ampersam shows but no one mentioned my favorite, Comedy Bang & Bang. I especially enjoy when it comes on after an all new Marc & Maron (chuckle). 6. I was really hoping Scott would ask Paul F. Tompkins when he had first heard of U2. As far as I remember, he has not asked that question yet. 5. No dick slap between Scott and Scott. Come on guys, even if you didn't have any albums at the same number, you could have at least done one dick slap for the fans. 4. Hey, you wanna buy a monkey? 3. This episode would have been better with more reverb. 2. No dick and butthole megamix at the end of the episode. This was actually a genuine disappointment, although of course I went and listened afterward. And the number one, biggest disappointment after listening to this episode: 1. It's over, at least for now. Seriously, I loved this podcast so much, and while I totally understand Scott not being able to do it what with his being busy sitting around at home, I will be so sad not to have this to look forward to every Wednesday. NOTE: Edited to be a top 10 list

Yeah, but nobody's saying it should be all stuff like that all the time. But having somebody like Paul or Horatio Sanz thrown into the mix from time to time makes for some brilliant sketches.

What? What the hell are you talking about? Oh, okay. Now it makes sense.

I'd be even happier if they spent an hour just asking Paul F. Tompkins when he first heard of REM.

Hey, you know what sucks about having Todd Glass appear on U Talking U2 to Me and then on Comedy Bang Bang less than a week later? NOTHING!!!!

Hope this doesn't get buried in the shuffle: