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Shakesbeard

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Posts posted by Shakesbeard


  1. Like everyone already said, super great and solid episode. I'm glad Rob managed to break the live streak of late performers. I love how i4h is exposing people to really funny folks. I didn't know who so many guests were when I first started listening but now I'm a huge fan of those folks I'd never heard of. Pally, Gabrus, Gemberling, Wengert, Schneider, Hiller, and so many others.

     

    Loved the extra tag of a scene after the plugs and can't wait to watch the YouTube version. Lots of great scenes, its going to be extremely difficult to pick the "best" ones from the last couple dozen episodes for the Inevitable best of volume 3. This continues to be the best podcast in the universe with the truly best improvisers in the world.

     

    My only gripe is that there's not enough. THREE EPISODES A WEEK!

    • Like 1

  2. I hate to be THAT guy, but I really haven't listened since Gerry left. I got maybe one or two more episodes further but got really "fuck this"

     

    I like the group and all, but the fellowship has been broken. I'll definitely get back to listening if Gerry comes back. Is it lame to skip all those episodes in between? Doesn't sound like I've missed much with the talk of them being stuck for several episodes.


  3. Will Forte also didn't seem to get CBB. I'll have to listen to the Birbiglia one.

     

    Back to KPCS, I'm actually pretty interested in this new Earwolf development. I used to listen, or watch rather, the show a lot "back in the day" (in internet time) but couldn't commit all the time to sitting and WATCHING the show. I like being able to get back into it as a podcast. I could do without the 15 minutes of bullshiz at the beginning though.

     

    Some of my favorite episodes are:

    Billy West & John DiMaggio

    Christopher Guest

    Bryan Cranston

    Scott Aukerman

    BOB ODENKIRK!

    Rob Huebel & Paul Scheer

    James Roday & Maggie Lawson

    Andy Richter

    and Glenn Howerton

    • Like 1

  4. I'm surprised a topic like this doesn't already exist. I've seen this a few times now and been nagging at my friends to check it out, too. I figured that this would be a good place for those who have seen the UCB film, written and directed by i4h's own Matt Besser, to discuss it amongst ourselves. That being said there will be (at least on my part)

     

    SPOILER ALERTS!

     

    So for those of you who have not yet seen it (what are you doing!? Do what you can to watch it NOW!) just beware that if you don't want to be spoiled, and there are a few little twists and turns, then stop reading and leave the thread. I apologize ahead of time to those who may find this post too long, but I consider it my love letter to the wonders of Freak Dance.

     

    First of all, there's a part of me that does wish the UCB4 had larger roles, though I understand that based on the source material, there's not much else they could have had to do since it's primarily a "youth-driven" script and full of pretty complex dance moves. I loved each of the UCB4's respective roles and though I wished they were in it more, it was great to see them being just supporting roles to the rest of the cast, all of which are talented and hilarious on their own. Very strong cast.

     

    Also, what an amazing attention and utilization of tropes, from dance flicks in general, (rich girl learning to become urbanized, dance club threatened to be shut down, death of a mentor, dance battles, rival dance troupe) to the characters themselves. GREAT collection of all the "diverse" character tropes (mostly self-involved "light-skinned black man", Latino former dealer, the bespectacled nerd, the ethnic girl who can't read, "The Man," etc.)

     

    I've also noticed a number of not great reviews online, and though comedy is subjective, I'm prone to think they just didn't "get it"... that it's satirical (or is it farcical?) and painted at times in broad strokes intentionally for "dramatic" effect. It just brings to the forefront how absolutely ridiculous all the other "serious" dance movies are, all of which are exponentially more unwatchable and offensive to the intelligence of the film watcher. (Step Up, Honey, Footloose, Dirty Dancing, Save the Last Dance, Center Stage etc.)

     

    Some of the moments or jokes I particularly enjoyed:

     

    --The entire hospital dance sequence in the beginning is absolutely fantaastic and REALLY set the tone for the rest of the movie.

    --Great uses of foreshadowing and Chekov's guns. Pretty much everything introduced in the script came back around and served a purpose.

    --Mouth closeup of "damn dirty dancers."

    --The blocking (framing?) of Funky Bunch's junk in the foreground when talking to the hospital receptionist.

    --I'm actually pretty impressed with the singing done by Besser and Poehler. Who'd have thought?

    --NOT a big fan of the fart at the end of Besser's "Bathroom's too Dark to Pee" song.

    --"Easy with the Bible"

    --Allan McLeod's obnoxious laughing killed me. In the sense I died a little bit inside each time. But I'm sure that's what he was going for, so you can't really hate on a fellah for a doing a role perfectly by annoying the shit out of me.

    --Sassy always wearing jeggings

    --The guy in the wheelchair dancing with just his torso.

    --I can't tell you how much I enjoyed Funky Bunch knocking out the dancer dressed as Patch Adams. I don't know why, but I really did NOT like that dancer extra.

    --Amy Poehler's reacting to the Barbie as if Cocolonia.

    --"I work at a slaughterhouse."

    --The random subtitling of some of Barrio's dialogue. Well, dialogue is used loosely. ("where" is used at one point when he said "donde" "marijuana" for "marijuana")

    --"Pot knocked down building 7" was one of the best one-liners in the film, in my opinion.

    --The vitruvian man.

    --The borderline "Ghost" homage as F.B. and Cocolonia cut up the pig.

    --Besser in those glasses looks a lot like Matt Stone at the end when he takes his fake 'stache.

    --Funniest looking pig carcass.

    --The aggressive dancing "gang" Barrio encounters while trying to find weed before running into Andy Daly.

    --The barge going down the street.

    --I particularly enjoyed picking out the cameos by Earwolf regulars. Most were obvious, like Meadows' Irish Cop (brilliant, heel-kicking exit), Andy Daly's straight-laced weed buyer, Horatio Sanz as the dead brother, and a quick blink-and-you-miss-it appearance by Paul Rust as a weed fiend. Also all of Adomian's characters. Danielle Schneider and Casey Wilson nailed it, too.

    --Adolf Hitler Jr.'s ripping off the mustache to reveal a larger mustache. In fact, I was very pleased that "in-story" his mustache and Besser's were fake, because they were SO fake they almost took me out of the story. I said "Oh, come on!" the first time I saw Besser's.

    --I'm also very happy that Silent Girl was a conscious choice. I didn't realize until the second time she was referred to as "Silent Girl" by Asteroid Asteroid. Until then, I had notice she didn't say anything, or even lipsync any of the songs, and wondered if she was cast for her dancing abilities but was fresh off the boat or something and couldn't speak English. Then when they called her Silent Girl, I spent the rest of the film thinking it was written in to justify her lack of English. Of course I was proved wrong when she's revealed at the end and speaks flawless English.

    --The Drunk Uncles.

    --Everything Hal Rudnick did.

    --Was that Jon Daly as the announcer? I didn't see the character listed in the iMDB cast and credits. On that note, every arbitrary reason he disqualifies people in the end Dance Fight and the fact we never see the character's upper face. (oh shit, I just realized it was the butler. I can't believe I missed that so many times)

    --"Stomp-bortion."

    --The tampon "Red Dawn" scene during Freak Chicken was certainly nasty, and they deserved to win with that move.

    --And finally the gratuitous skateboarding re-entry of Besser at the end of the flick and the ending that was very Last Starfighteresque.

     

    In a nutshell I just want to say thank you to Matt Besser for the laughs and work you put into this project. I've enjoyed it and will continue to badger my friends to see it for themselves. What about the rest of you? For those who have seen Freak Dance, what do you think?


  5. Not to be a contrarian but I found myself a little torn over this episode. It wasn't "not good" by any means, but it might just be that the last few episodes were so spectacular that this had to work hard to get out from under their shadows. I originally thought the first couple scenes were just alright, until there was the call back at the end of the horn-argument which tied it back to the guy driving through a crowd of people listening to AC/DC, THAT part was quite brilliant.

     

    VERY interesting case-closed, and I'm happy that a picture of the Hitler teapot was posted. It was far more hilarious than I pictured. I enjoyed the double-guesting with the two writers on the phone, it led to a very good back and forth between everyone and I liked how you kept coming back to them after each subsequent scene. There were interesting arguments made on all sides and it's not often that you hear people who weigh in on case closed laugh as much as these two did. A nice, amiable environment helped for sure.

     

    I, too, cannot stand when journalists insist on using anonymous sources in their articles and shouldn't really be allowed to rely on them. That's total bullshit.


  6. This episode has such a great full-circle ending that brought back the characters established when it was just Matt and Paul in the beginning. So solid. Great effort on successfully doing 2-person improv while waiting for the others to arrive. I want to assume that Matt's stressed our panicking on the inside when people aren't there when the show goes live, but if that's the case he does a hell of a job not showing it.

     

    Everybody's reaction to Huskey killing himself in the Kenny Loggins scene was fantastic... completely ramped up the energy of the scene. Not that it was slow or anything, but it was such a dramatic choice and sent everyone into a frenzy.

    • Like 1

  7. I have to say, the overall flow of this episode is spectacular. Moving from bit to bit just on a whim or based on some minuscule comment. For instance the scene about the drone's robot tits being inspired by the image of the i4h robot which was introducing the "What's Bothering You?" segment. It was like getting an extra nugget of a scene, which made Matt backtrack afterwards so that he could talk about what was bothering him. The Rod Stewart cum-rumor scene too happened super organically, too.

     

    Matt's explosive laughter at Meadows saying "What do you mean at what age?" was pretty great, too.


  8. I have not listened to improve4humans before but with a title like "Fill My Butt With Air!" how could I skip it?

     

    Well you picked a great, solid episode to get started on.

     

    This is a fantastic episode. I like the extra editing in the podcast version, it gives it a little bit of difference between the audiocast and the video. I just loved how Meadows had such a hard time keeping it together. I know it must be hard doing improv with just a small group of people without a live audience to gauge the response through laughter, even if it is live online you still don't get that immediate response no matter how much we're laughing at home. So it's nice to see you guys cracking each other up. If you're making each other laugh then you can at least feel confident it's a good and funny scene.

     

    This was a great group of improvisers. Such a great episode. I'm super stoked CBB is too busy filming the TV show to do the streaming live podcasts so that i4h can get more love on video. Eager for the next live i4h and hope it happens more often. That being said, it's a double-edged sword because it feels like less improv is being done if I watch the live cast... in the sense that I watch it on a Thursday, and then it's re-released the following week. I don't want it construed as complaining because I love the podcast and live show, I just can't get enough of i4h. What I guess I'm saying is: more bonus episodes!

     

    Funniest unintentional funny moment: When the improv4humans poster fell off the wall in the background during the middle of a scene.

     

    Phenomenal show. Well on the way to being the best podcast in the universe.


  9. Fantastic episode! I must say Eric, you're getting much better at interviewing and follow-up questions... or at least pretending that you're confidant. Got a kick out of your shifty eyes during your close-ups. I'm eager to see more livestreams of improv4humans and I'm glad we didn't have to wait too long to see one. Comedy Bang Bang is fine enough to watch but I was really itching for i4h live, and thankful I don't have to wait much longer for another one. Feb 21 is just around the corner!

     

    Also thanks for having me on the show to tell my story. It was great to share with people I respect and admire. Keep up the great work, i4h is on the fast track to being the best podcast ever.

    • Like 3

  10. Man, great episode. So much could be "best of"... I know it's often considered unprofessional to break and laugh, but I admit I get a HUGE kick when the group is so entertained that they can barely contain themselves. I loved the near-inability to finish that scene once the dragon lady appeared. Genuine laughter for the win.

    • Like 1
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