GregJ.Hansen

Agreed. Pure audio glee. I really, really want "Howard Barbarian-Yawps a Book" to become a recurring segment... the "To Kill a Mockingbird" summation was solid gold.

Reminds me of the April Fool's Day comic strip swap some syndicated cartoonists would do for the newspaper strips! I am liking this idea more and more.

Fun episode! I always enjoy Matt Walsh. Plus, it seems like Dan's "real life bouncer" exploits would be prime material for a recurring bit on some sketch comedy show, or perhaps series of shorts. I'd really like to see that Law and Order half-day episode as well. Also, the headline story... finger-eating, eugh. Finger damage and eyeball trauma are my two worst skeeve-out triggers.

Hmm, still testing the waters on this one... reality shows are not something I follow but, as 'casts like Sklarbro Country and Who Charted demonstrate, I can be drawn into things beyond my wheelhouse through quality comedy. To that end, I will levy a criticism that the pre-recorded 'guest' interview was far from as artful as, say, a James Adomian or Chris Cox impersonation, and I felt like I lacked context for the premise that the exec producer was so ignorant about his own show. I do have to say, though, that somebody (Sean? Hayes? Both?) does one thing that tickles me to no end, and that's calling things by slightly the wrong name (Nick Swardinson's "Pretend It's Time" on the Comedy Center!)

Awesome, I love James Urbaniak. He should absolutely carry the torch of flaming, overly concerned funny-men, it's a comedic voice long since missing from the landscape. Great episode, Jake Fo-ghoul-nest! Oh, and you know who's always reliably spoOoOoOky? Tim Curry! [media=''] [/media]

You should check out this bonus episode of Improv4Humans. They do a great scene on a very similar premise.

I think the best lesson I took from this episode is that watching horror movies with a dog is actually a pretty solid idea!

Good episode! Interesting idea flipping the guest/host dynamic, I wonder what other shows it'd work with. Lots of interesting discussion about the parallels of musicians and comedians, both in terms of performance and creative process. I enjoyed hearing thoughtful Paul F. Thompkins... Full F. Thoughtkins? Loved the duet, too!

Here's Tiny Tim (a guy I really do find endlessly fascinating and genuinely entertaining) performing a song about the end of the world for an audience of children. [media=''] [/media] edit: grr formatting

Don't leave us hanging! What Chicago Jazz Quartet Trio song does he play for the sex ed class?

Whoa, hey, so if I submit a clean joke of the week, Mr. Koechner will evaluate it and send me an e-mail letting me know how I did? I gotta get on that.

Jensen Karp's gonna be on this podcast at some point, right? Riiiiight?

Gang, this memory system really works! I used to be a bit scatterbrained but now there's no way I'm going to forget that new sarbeclovs of Yekapu Zidt Zidt drop every Kagrou.

AND a Cohen! You could easily pose as a Hollywood producer.

Oh man, I loved the "Let's Create a Show" segment because it is exactly the kind of conversation I have all the time with my buddies. I would watch "Drag!".

What's up, hot dog! A hearty hello to all my fellow blastronauts, chartists, and other not-yet-coined collective nouns to describe fans of particular podcasts. With news of her impending departure to New York, I jumped at the chance to see Tig Notaro perform live at one of the most important venues in the SoCal comedy scene, the Largo. It was my first visit there. Its reputation as a sort of test bed, where established comedians and rising stars alike feel comfortable trying new material, is something I've gleaned from hearing everyone from PFT to the Sklars and so on speak about it so glowingly. I showed up early, got my seat assignment (AA18, front row just off-center!), and wandered around Melrose gawking at the absurdly trendy boutiques, returning once the venue was actually 'open'. While waiting for seating to start, I noticed somebody wearing an Improv4Humans shirt, and I commented on it, thinking it'd just be another fan and I'd share a nod and be on my way. Turns out it was actually Jeff Ullrich, co-founder of this here very site, and we spent about an hour chatting about the podcasts, the comedy scene, and building connections between fans and the performers. Thank you, Jeff, for hanging out with me, and I am sorry that I wasn't able to make the Bang Bang live show tonight. Jeff's a truly genial fellow and while I was initially a bit star-struck (who gets star-struck when meeting a producer? Me, apparently), Jeff seemed genuinely interested in hearing what I, as a fan of Earwolf and of comedy as well, had to say. The stand-up itself started with brief sets from Mary-Lynn Rajskub (Mr. Show, 24) and Ed Helms (The Hangover). Tig came out next and performed one of the most amazing sets I've ever seen. Anybody who's been listening to Professor Blastoff over the past few months is probably aware that she has gone through a string of personal hardships, most recently being diagnosed with breast cancer. In fact, this show was originally supposed to be last Sunday but got postponed because of medical tests. I don't think I'm speaking out of line in mentioning this because, as was immediately apparent, Tig herself wanted us all to know. She came out and announced, "Hello, I'm Tig Notaro. I have cancer. How are you all doing tonight? I have cancer," and the whole set was a deeply personal but also deeply hilarious confessional of all the horrible things she's been dealing with. (I'm probably paraphrasing that a bit.) To stand in front of any crowd of people and talk about these subjects is very brave, especially when the expectation is you have to be funny about it. I've never heard a comedian speak so openly about some of these subjects, and from a comedic craftsmanship perspective, the sheer amount and quality of the content she prepared was staggering. She prefaced most of the act with the old maxim that comedy is tragedy plus time, and then revealed that her diagnosis had only came a couple days earlier, placing her still squarely in the 'tragedy' portion. And yet, whenever anyone in the audience reacted with sadness, Tig responded bemusedly, at several points stepping down into the audience to console or comfort a few of them. By bucking the notion of "too soon" when joking about sad situations or tragedies, I got to thinking that the longer we dwell on the negatives, the stronger they become, and here Tig is after pneumonia, a Clostridium difficile infection stemming from antibiotics she was taking for that, then the sudden death of her mother, an emotional break-up, and then the cancer diagnosis, she would not give in to these events and fight back with her best weapon, her humor. She talked about how some of her friends were hesitant to talk with her about their own life troubles, as though Tig's problems were so great as to invalidate their own, to be not worth mentioning. She still cared about the stupid everyday things happening to her friends, and she still wanted to be talked to, and that people's perception of her suffering seemed to be trapping her. In a way, it felt like this performance was a catharsis, a chance to speak out and engage with people even under the shadow of her problems. This was not the end of the show, though, and she was followed by Bill Burr (somebody I've not really heard much from before), and comedy's current surprise superstar, Louis CK. Louis mentioned that Tig's performance would live on for him as one of the best stand-up performances he'd ever seen, and I definitely gotta agree with him. The whole event was billed as "Tig Has Friends", a dry twist on the "Headliner & Friends" billing one might see for a compilation show as this was, but by the time Tig's set was over and everyone was giving a standing ovation, it was clear that she does have friends, and we in the audience were among them. Thank you, Tig, for connecting with us in that dark and inspiring me to share my thoughts, and again, Jeff, thank you for fostering this network and introducing me and fans around the world to some truly brilliant comedians.

Has Dumb Randy made an appearance in the stand-up routine yet? I feel there's a whole world of material to be explored there.

The 'Setlist' concept sounds amazing and I want to see it so bad.

As a guy who's pretty obsessed with Gangnam Style, this episode was very fulfilling.

...is THAT racist?

On that note, I'm glad they got the biggun out of the way early, to pave the way for more nuanced and bizarre questions!

If anybody ever called me 'babe' I would absolutely take it to mean that they're calling me a hero pig.

Womp up the jaaamz. IT DOES THINGS TO YOUR DICK. *lingering stare*

I'm not a doctor, but I've seen one on TV. It sounds like the smoothies/fried fat diet is not in perfect balance yet... it may be low on minerals. I would recommend you eat some rocks as well. But not a full meal of rocks... space them out in small servings, maybe a handful of gravel every two hours, throughout the day.

I dig the in-studio vibe! Tailoring the material around the guest is a good way to go, in contrast to the more 'open forum' style of the live shows (or am I misinterpreting?). Anyway, I eagerly await more in either form.