YoRudy

I want to see and hear more about Chris Gethard jiu jitsu-ing Eugene Cordero, who felt confident about doing Muay Thai fights and MMA but didn't cause he didn't want to bust up his face for auditions.

American Culture is changing right now to focus more on equality, whether it be race or gender (as it absolutely should). And when culture changes, language changes too. Words that you think might have been okay ten-fifteen years ago are not okay now because people are (rightly) being more vocal against their usage. If you think that bitch isn't an analog for those words (or definitely on its way there), then you're an bitter old man with no sense of empathy.

I am listening to this SO HARD right now. THANK YOU RAFFLECAST I LOVE YOU.

If dudes (and dudettes) are more curious about Matt and the UCB's approach to improv versus The Annoyance and other groups, check out this very candid interview from another podcast http://www.feralaudio.com/38-matt-besser/. They touch a lot on styles and the elitism that seems to come from other schools (and how ridiculous it is). Real interesting stuff!

Loved the episode - these three are some of my favorite improvisers and they did a great job playing off each other. I kind of want to see the movie where the humans realize they were being dicks and just make friends with the monkeys and everyone hangs out and eats bananas and shit. The Guy In Question represents pretty much everything I hate with theater training. The clip souprman linked is a perfect example of his style of speaking - he rambles on and on and talks in circles and says a lot of words, but the meaning doesn't really have much substance and is hard to pin down. It's the kind of language and speaking style that might catch the attention of a young and impressionable actor because it all SOUNDS deep and intelligent, but I really couldn't glean any useful knowledge from what he was saying. His using terminology like "kindred spirit" didn't help either. Really, my issue with what he's doing is when he chooses to criticize someone else's process as being "fake" or "not real", like he does with The UCB and Groundlings. He seems to take great pride in describing what he does as the right (and only) path to be a truly successful actor or improviser and that really grates on me. One of the very first things I was taught was that there was no wrong way to act - as long as you can meet the standards set by yourself and your director (or just your director, if they're one of those), get to that place any way you want. One of my professors was always keen on quoting Harrison Ford, who said in an interview that he's from the "let’s-pretend school of acting". I don't find a spirituality in acting - I'm there to do a job, and if I succeed in realistically portraying a character or entertaining the audience then fuck off and let me do it the way I want to do it. Ultimately, his podcast conversations come off as ramblings of someone who has failed to make a career being a professional entertainer (which, to be fair, is by no means easy, regardless of talent) and instead of admitting it, has chosen to take the path of "well I'm above the system anyway - they don't understand what I'm trying to do." It is sad and frustrating to hear him and his guests bash other people who want structure in their approach while also making zero sense. And hey - maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe he truly does just want to do his style of improv and teach classes. Maybe he has students that understand what the hell he's saying and become better actors. But dude. Shut the fuck up about other people. That gets you nothing but the ire of your peers, some of whom may be more respected and influential than you. Also I hope the B in Matty B. stands for Beatbox.

I believe there was some talk of a free sticker being sent to someone who stealth-subbed I4H on today's show. So. Um. Can I have a sticker too? I think I (or my brother, rather) technically won this by default...

If anyone is interested in checking out Killgore - the show they're prepping for in Paul F. Tompkins drunken TV star story - there are a bunch of clips of it on the UCB's website, including Andy Daly as a parapalegic who demands that Paul F. Tompkins "eat me" in the most literal of senses.

Just wanted to jump in and agree before you get (I assume) piled on. I have tried several times make a serious stab at listening to this - I also loved what those three players were doing (especially Gerry, who has made a fan for life in me with his two characters and his role-playing), but every time I am completely turned off by the total lack of knowledge of 4E game rules. I like Brian Posehn as a person and think his approach to stand-up and comedy is great, but he is a terrible host and there is a complete lack of structure when there really should be. The podcast also does a poor job introducing what is happening rules-wise and what the rolls mean. I would have thought this podcast would work as an introduction to D&D for non-players, but unless you're familiar with AC and the other defenses and 4E's powers, you're going to be very lost very fast. I also think it is dumb that they kill off characters so easily. I'm not saying that is a bad DM'ing philosophy (that's a bigger debate), but for a weekly show like this, it would have made a lot more sense to keep regular characters. You don't kill off a main TV show character in the first few episodes, and that's how they should have approached this - like an episodic. Plus it really isn't hard to edit out all the "uhhhs" and it would make this about a million times more listenable. Anyway, I'm pretty sure Blaine ends up taking over as DM at some point and they might change editions as well.

Here's a video of a well known streamer getting swatted (~1 minute mark). He calls it when he hears rooms in his building being cleared ("I think we're getting swatted.") and rightly follows all the instructions the police demand of him. It isn't usually used as retaliation against someone who wrongs you in game, but more as targets against public video game celebrities (yes, they exist) as jokes. Streaming - recording live video of you playing a game to an audience - has become incredibly popular over the last year or two, and there are sickos out there who think it's funny to call the police on streamers and seeing it go down live. There was also an incident where the CEO of a large game company's flight was delayed because a gamer called in and said there was a bomb on his plane, but that's really the largest profile "prank" pulled by the gaming community. I don't know what article Matt Besser is reading from, but it's ridiculous that someone does it as "part of the game". Swatting is really just a very dark and dangerous prank that can have serious repercussions. That psychologist seems like he's just trying to get attention. I would like to hear Mr. Besser read about gamergate and what his thoughts are on the harassment and abuse female game developers and journalists are subject to.

Listened again, loved it again. Might very well be my favorite thing. Please come back, Rafflecast.

I would love to hear Matt Besser and Greg Proops just talk about long form and short form in a non-argumentative manner. I know Mr. Besser has stated his disdain and frustrations with short form and its popularity multiple times, but it would be interesting to hear someone ingrained in that world explain his perspective and express his views on long form. They kind-of-sort-of danced around it on of Getting Doug with High they both appeared on (and Mr. Proops seemed to have some fun denigrating BAD short form improv) but I really would like to hear them talk about it in a focused discussion (not debate).

I would really love to hear Matt Besser's opinion on the podcast list - does anyone know if the full episode will be posted to Earwolf's youtube channel? Also, great ep, I will be on the look out for those Topps booster packs next year. Really dug the scene with the trombone player.

My favorite scene is with Zach Woods, Charlie Sanders, and Colton Dunn, which ends with Matt as a policeman following Dunn into the woods and a bear demanding that Dunn be arrested ("Ima fuck you with this pole!"). In it, the music is introduced and slowly rises DURING the scene until it hits the end, at which point the vocals peak. The way it times out is just perfect. A big reason of why I love it (besides the fact that the scene is just fall-over hilarious) is because of the use of the building music underneat the dialogue. It happens rarely, but I really like when they do that; partly because the timing and usage of the songs are great, but also because it kind of prepares me that an awesome closing line or joke is coming up.

Charlie Sanders was absolutely killing it. He brought something great to every scene.

My brother works at a Verizon Wireless store. Whenever he shows (old) people how to use a phone, one of his look-how-cool-your-new-phone-is-examples is showing them the podcasts app and subscribing them to I4H. Unless they specifically ask him to unsub it right there, it remains open and downloading weekly on their old person phones.

I relistened to this today and it's just so goddamn funny. One of my favorite podcasts on all of Earwolf.

Congrats to Mr. Besser, Earwolf, and all the improvisers on 100 amazing episodes. I've been listening since the very beginning, and it is always a highlight of my week - absolutely one of the best podcasts in the universe. Not sure if this has been shown off yet, but here's a screenshot I took of when the iTunes store was promoting an episode with Amy Poehler in it. Yay improve4humans!

Please make a podcast that is just Rob Huebel talking about all the TV shows he watches.