MiriamWebster

Ghost POV song - Kate Bush's Houdini (Partial Houdini-ghost POV, anyway.)

Oh man, A Spiritual Journey is one of my all-time favorite episodes. So much fun all the way through. Though every one of Traci's appearances is amazing! I listened to the opening of Live from RIOT LA about a million times after it came out and I've already re-listened to this episode a couple of times.

Sascha, nice to see you on here! I really appreciated your information and perspective on this episode, and was glad that you enabled a conversation about sex work, especially since it's a topic that has a lot of general misconceptions/ignorance associated with it. I recently read 'The Feminist Porn Book' (http://thefeministpornbook.com/) and I'm glad it's made up of essays by scholars, as well as by porn directors and performers, making for a nice vareity of perspectives.

Super excited about this week with Tasneem as the guest. She's amazing already!

What a solid episode!! Great guest, the Wagonini guy bits and the Name That Punky round were hilarious... Good stuffy all around!

Baron Vaughn was such a great guest all week. One of my favorites. And how cool is it that he's friends with Uzo Aduba??

I like the new approach to have some episodes focus on non-call-in-question topics where the guest has specific knowledge. Both this and the recent Metal episode were really interesting.

Great episode! One of the funniest openings in a while, and the guest was interesting and fun to listen to and had great chemistry with everyone.

So, so good!

I'm still catching up on all the episodes, but Jesus, this one is just incredible, all around. I'm surprised I hadn't heard more talk of it before, compared to some other frequently mentioned (and also excellent) Andy Daly episodes. Everyone plays so well off each other, and I love the build of the the Andi Callahan character, and it works so well how he becomes increasingly interesting and dark, but maintains the same cherry manner of speaking (and how the conversation remains very up-beat about all the new, horrifying twists). The ending revelations and his last line are amazing.

It was a great idea to have Daniel on this episode, and to actually hold such an in-depth conversation with a younger person. Totally fascinating.

Just echoing a bunch of others to say that I love that this episode happened. The first one may still be hard to top, but each additional Farts & Pro episode has had some moments that just killed me. And I think I kind of had a different 'favorite' guest with each one: Harris in the first, Adam in the second, and Chelsea in the third (I thought the wolf charac + her murder fantasies were hilarious). And, of course, Scott is fantastic in all of them. (Also also: "She shit her pants??" pops into my head all the time now.) I think the whole group is super fun to listen to just talking about anything. Love it whenever it happens. I'd really enjoy hearing another one, but it's already great just having these in existence.

Yeah, it's not like I think PB's the worst offender AT ALL with this sort of thing - far, far from it, in fact (even on this network, which I also love, in general). But, since the subject came up in conversation on the show, it seemed like a good time to talk about it, especially since the conversation veered towards genuine questioning of if those sorts of characters were racist and why. I totally respect that they brought up the subject. I don't like jumping in and complaining about shows I enjoy, but since the issue was raised it seemed like a good moment to address/discuss it. That character is the one thing that was making me super uncomfortable in listening to some episodes. (Specifically because it's a running gag that comes back so often, and wasn't just a questionable one-off... And also because it seems so entirely grounded in hurtful stereotypes, which is maybe why I love the gay heaven greeter, who seems more playful and absurd and interesting, and not constructed as a joke specifically using stereotypes as punchlines.) I really, really like the show and and am very fond of everyone involved in it. Just, y'know, it's a downer to have something you very much enjoy include content that you find so objectionable and hard to defend. It's not so much of a downer when something you don't like or respect does the same thing (more sad and predictable, oftentimes). But, also, people should make whatever they wanna make and listeners can decide how they feel about it. This is just feedback. The subject is worth talking about, at any rate, even if PB is far from the biggest offender out there.

Well said! So... playing with stereotypes in comedy. Complex stuff. I started to type a giant, wordy response with lots of hemming and hawing about the idea of using stereotypes, but it was way too long and incoherent. I do find Kyle's gay heaven greeter character to be very funny, even/especially as a gay person (though as the previous poster mentioned, this doesn't necessarily mean it wouldn't offend some). However, it is very useful to understand why stereotypical characters are so often problematic, and why the sorts of characters they discussed in this episode delve into some pretty darn racist territory. I actually love most of Kyle's characters and they're one of my very favorite parts of this podcast - I love Kyle's work, in general - but the American Indian character is extremely hard to listen to. That character's brought out so often that it's difficult to overlook or write off, and I cringe the entire time it's being used. I think this character is such a bad offender for me, because the accent and the goofy takes on American Indian traditions or spiritual practices play into the broad, long-lived, still-strong culture of awful Indian caricatures that have been used to belittle a group of people who, historically AND currently, have been and still are treated so horrifically by white Americans and the U.S. government. And this portrayal treats Indian culture as being silly, and also as something out of the past, whereas there are plenty of Native folks still here (as hard as white people tried to make that not be the case). There are many, many people out there much better qualified to speak to why this character and this sort of thing are troubling, but there's one stab at it... I don't think offending some people with creative work can or should be altogether avoided - some amount of offense is always going to be taken with just about anything, and pushing boundaries can, of course, be a funny and important type of comedy - but I guess I think it's useful to know if/how you're being racist (or some other -ist/-phobic), so as to make a more informed decision about if and how to continue with a certain type of material. Anyhow, I really do enjoy this podcast and I love Kyle's work, but I'm glad the subject of racism/racist characters came up, because I'd been getting increasingly skeeved out by this character, and I like you guys and don't like feeling so weird about parts of the program. It actually would be very interesting to hear more discussion of the subject on the show, especially coming from comedians, who I'm sure think about this sorta thing a lot in the context of their work. I'm on board with people intrigued by the idea you pitched of having a episode on racism. Yeesh. This post sure got long, after all.

While I also find the formatting issues that other folks mentioned (repeated intros/outros) a little tiresome, I think this show is a fantastic addition to Earwolf. The issue of comedy & race/racism is interesting, complex, and difficult, so I think it's especially great that there's a show on Earwolf, a comedy-focused network, that directly talks about race & racism. Also, I really like Andrew and I think he's a smart and thoughtful guy. That doesn't mean I agree with every single thing he has to say, but even when I do disagree, listening to the conversation gets me thinking about the subjects of discussion, as well as thinking about my own reactions (what does it mean if I defend something that's problematic, etc.). The best episodes of this show get into some really insightful stuff. The worst, I suppose, make some pretty broad generalizations, but I don't ultimately find that entirely offputting, because those episodes still get me to think (see above). I do agree, as others have said, that a little bit of research here and there would benefit the show, because it would make conversations/analyses richer and more insightful, but that's just one little critique. Overall, I'm definitely excited that this show is on here.