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Episode 81 — Finger Fuckers

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Humans Joel Spence, Stephanie Allynne, and Ben Siemon join Matt for a spectacular improv session filled with second date tips, baby delivering methods, and cub scout know-it-alls. Plus, The Ethicist’s Randy Cohen talks to Matt about what is considered bullying in a debate in a special edition of Case Closed. Be sure to pick up an improv4humans shirt from the Earwolf Store and follow @MattBesser on Twitter to send in your improv suggestions. Music by Bobby Matthews and Dragoon. You can also now get Matt Besser’s new comedy album “Woo Pig Sooie: Comedy for Atheists” at mattbesser.com and Dragoon’s new album “This Galaxy Is But A Nursery” at dragoongalaxy.bandcamp.com!

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Fantastic interview with Randy Cohen and I think he would be the perfect judge for the next time there is a Case Closed segment on the show.

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I can listen to literally thousands of podcasts that revolve around opinion discussions.

 

I can only listen to one podcast for Matt Besser improv comedy.

 

Case Closed is a good occasional segment, but I wouldn't push it, and as a topic of conversation itself, it really doesn't merit a non-humorous 35 minute discussion in an episode. Especially when the previous episode had a long verbal pissing match as well. While I love your comedy, pardon me for saying that I couldn't care less about your personal opinions on anything unrelated to comedy, as I'm pretty sure you think to yourself whenever you see a celebrity endorse a politician or some fringe cause. And I say this as a person who seems to agree with most of your opinions.

 

Sincerely, thanks for all the laughs over the past 15 years. Aside from your recent Case Closed obsession I look forward to it every week.

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Yeah that was a great conversation...the background part was totally for us old farts: Spy Magazine, Katha Pollitt, Connie Chung and Nicaragua! I used to read Spy and I understand what Randy was saying about it but it must've, for better or worse, planted the seeds of modern-day snark...They could be pretty good at deconstructing celebrity at times:

http://www.american-buddha.com/SPY.seagal.htm

 

And as always some great bits...I would love to hear PFT recite that Daddy Longlegs monologue as Herzog 'cuz that's all I heard...

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Hey guys, love the podcast, but just thought I'd point out that the daddy longlegs rant comes from a comedian known as DJ Flula. He does a bunch of stuff in a similar vein, riffing on words that seem odd to a German speaker. Here's one of his more obviously intentionally funny videos:

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I can listen to literally thousands of podcasts that revolve around opinion discussions.

 

I can only listen to one podcast for Matt Besser improv comedy.

 

Case Closed is a good occasional segment, but I wouldn't push it, and as a topic of conversation itself, it really doesn't merit a non-humorous 35 minute discussion in an episode. Especially when the previous episode had a long verbal pissing match as well. While I love your comedy, pardon me for saying that I couldn't care less about your personal opinions on anything unrelated to comedy, as I'm pretty sure you think to yourself whenever you see a celebrity endorse a politician or some fringe cause. And I say this as a person who seems to agree with most of your opinions.

 

Sincerely, thanks for all the laughs over the past 15 years. Aside from your recent Case Closed obsession I look forward to it every week.

Wow it's posts like these which do make me "obsessed" with Case Closed. If you don't appreciate an interview with a comedy genius and the Ethicist then you have a lot of growing up to do. You write a post saying you don't care about my opinion then expect me to consider yours. Ugh, now you see why so few of the hosts participate in these forums.

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Keep it up Matt. One and done posters come and go. I4H is FOREVER!

 

 

"Fatter? hEEEY, Heeyuh, HEEEY!"

 

Stephanie is hilarious.

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Wow it's posts like these which do make me "obsessed" with Case Closed. If you don't appreciate an interview with a comedy genius and the Ethicist then you have a lot of growing up to do. You write a post saying you don't care about my opinion then expect me to consider yours. Ugh, now you see why so few of the hosts participate in these forums.

 

I'm sorry that you feel that way. While I did write one post stating that I don't value your opinion, in no way did I ask you to consider mine. If you are that offended by reading one loyal listener's opinion, maybe you can understand why I don't care for your opinion repeatedly showcased and spotlit in an unfunny manner in the middle of what is advertised as an improv comedy podcast?

 

Also, who are you to say that I have a lot of growing up to do, just as a response to my not enjoying a segment on your show? Is that the open discussion attitude that you took away from your conversation with the Ethicist?

 

While I will be a "two and done" poster, I have faithfully listened to Earwolf podcasts since the network's inception, and think it's pretty shitty of you to point to my first ever post as an example of why the hosts avoid the forums. Perhaps your next conversation should be with a marketing strategist.

 

Farewell, comedy genius.

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Wow it's posts like these which do make me "obsessed" with Case Closed. If you don't appreciate an interview with a comedy genius and the Ethicist then you have a lot of growing up to do. You write a post saying you don't care about my opinion then expect me to consider yours. Ugh, now you see why so few of the hosts participate in these forums.

 

Matt,

 

I hope you continue to read/participate in the forums because it really is appreciated. For me, it is even better because this is hands down my favorite podcast.

 

As for the Case Closed segment, I found this one really interesting because you had a really good guest. I think you alluded to it at the beginning of the segment, but I think you should choose your "opponents" based on the topic. With more silly topics like whether someone is or is not a robot, it doesn't really matter who you debate against. With topics that are a little more serious, however, you should try to get people that can speak intelligently and are less likely to back down from their beliefs. While it wasn't bad, I found last week's Cased Closed segment suffered from the fact that the caller backed down so quickly.

 

Hope that makes sense! Keep up the good work!

Bundi

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Great episode!! i love every aspect of this podcast i think if you were to (damn me for even theorizing it) stop doing case closed or any part of this podcast it would totally take away a great amount of quality material and i dont want that haha i doubt that would happen anyway.. keep up the amazing work matt!

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Frankly guys, Randy gave me all the advice I need on Case Closed. Astartes, with fans like you who needs enemies.

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Fantastic episode, great job by all the panelists and guest. Loved the field trip(?) and mayoral debate segments.

 

Personally, I'm not crazy about Case Closed (not really against it either, just feel it's sort of hit-or-miss), but the Cohen interview made me feel better about it in general. It would be nice if there was a way to have moderated debates, but I'm sure it will be hard to find a dedicated moderator who wouldn't naturally be on Matt's side (either in reality or in the opponent's mind).

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Besser, I sincerely believe Improv4Humans is becoming the best podcast on the internet. Keep being smart and creative and you'll get there.

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People act like Case Closed does nothing for the show, and that it takes away from the comedy, but without some of these, I believe fantastic, segments, we would not get the innumerable funny follow up scenes, most of which qualify to be on a Best Of episode. I don't really understand how folks want comedy devoid of any discourse or sourced from meaningful topics. In history, that's where comedy COMES from: conflict, tragedy and various forms of catharsis. The sentiment of "just stick to the funny" I don't often understand because these discussions almost always heighten "the funny" in many different ways. Maybe people just don't like to think when they're entertained.

 

One of the many things that make this not only my favorite podcast, but also the greatest podcast in the universe, is your willingness to engage in direct discourse with the fans, Matt. Your presence on the forum shows that you genuinely care about us, your show and the response it generates. I, for one, am very grateful to have a host who does such things. I definitely voted on that survey that I trust the host to be more honest with me than my parents. (But my mom is a horrible liar and I don't know who my father is. I'm pretty sure it's Richard Ramirez though)

 

I'd have to say though, the dilligent fans on the i4h forum are a bit more intelligent than some of the other subforums. It's not often I get angry at posts here, and the fact that so many of us engage in open discourse on various topics in a usually thought out and intelligent manner is just another testament to the power of i4h.

 

Thank you, Matt, for alwaulys giving me something to look forward to on Thursdays and for making the Asssscat format available to those of us who do not live in NY or LA.

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People act like Case Closed does nothing for the show, and that it takes away from the comedy, but without some of these, I believe fantastic, segments, we would not get the innumerable funny follow up scenes, most of which qualify to be on a Best Of episode. I don't really understand how folks want comedy devoid of any discourse or sourced from meaningful topics. In history, that's where comedy COMES from: conflict, tragedy and various forms of catharsis. The sentiment of "just stick to the funny" I don't often understand because these discussions almost always heighten "the funny" in many different ways. Maybe people just don't like to think when they're entertained.

 

One of the many things that make this not only my favorite podcast, but also the greatest podcast in the universe, is your willingness to engage in direct discourse with the fans, Matt. Your presence on the forum shows that you genuinely care about us, your show and the response it generates. I, for one, am very grateful to have a host who does such things. I definitely voted on that survey that I trust the host to be more honest with me than my parents. (But my mom is a horrible liar and I don't know who my father is. I'm pretty sure it's Richard Ramirez though)

 

I'd have to say though, the dilligent fans on the i4h forum are a bit more intelligent than some of the other subforums. It's not often I get angry at posts here, and the fact that so many of us engage in open discourse on various topics in a usually thought out and intelligent manner is just another testament to the power of i4h.

 

Thank you, Matt, for alwaulys giving me something to look forward to on Thursdays and for making the Asssscat format available to those of us who do not live in NY or LA.

 

I totally agree. In fact, the sketch I'm listening to RIGHT NOW (the Panic Room) is an all-time i4h classic and resulted from the "Too Soon" edition of Case Closed.

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While I feel that we're due for a trivial topic for a case closed segment, I would never want it to feel forced and so rather I would put forth to Matt that since it is engulfing these boards lately:

 

A case closed segment on whether there should be a case closed segment on the podcast (Matt vs. someone who takes umbrage with it, like Astartes)

 

And I would just like to say that while Matt was never sold on the name 'Case Closed', has never felt like a less appropriate name with all of the people on the fence about it.

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I came in because I was all excited about opilionids and daddy longlegs and I find all this talk about case closed. Case Closed is one of the BEST segments, keep it up!

 

Daddy longlegs are not poisonous. Here's a lot of information from the University of California Riverside (which has a great spiders site): http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

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Matt I think you were a little short with Astates. I can understand taking umbrage with someone saying they don't care about your opinion, but I don't believe he meant it to be as insulting as it sounded.

 

There's some folks out there, like myself, who consider you one of the funniest people in the world. It's very likely I'll never make it anywhere to see you live (though I was an extra on the movie Year One for a day, and the surprise of seeing you on set was the only time I've ever been starstruck lol). This podcast is the only "Besser fix" I get, so to speak. So when sometimes there's long streches of unfunny material, it can be a bummer. It's not that these issues aren't worth being discussed, only that I'd like it more if there was a Case Closed podcast, where I could listen to it knowing exactly what I'm getting into. The segments do lead to some fantastic material though, so I don't wknow what I think.

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Matt I think you were a little short with Astates. I can understand taking umbrage with someone saying they don't care about your opinion, but I don't believe he meant it to be as insulting as it sounded.

 

There's some folks out there, like myself, who consider you one of the funniest people in the world. It's very likely I'll never make it anywhere to see you live (though I was an extra on the movie Year One for a day, and the surprise of seeing you on set was the only time I've ever been starstruck lol). This podcast is the only "Besser fix" I get, so to speak. So when sometimes there's long streches of unfunny material, it can be a bummer. It's not that these issues aren't worth being discussed, only that I'd like it more if there was a Case Closed podcast, where I could listen to it knowing exactly what I'm getting into. The segments do lead to some fantastic material though, so I don't wknow what I think.

 

Maybe it's because I'm older than most of you but I guess I treat a forum like this just as I would a room in the real world. If someone came up to me in the real world(meat space) and said something akin to "that 40 minutes in your show isn't funny and I could care less about your opinions" I would consider that very rude. Honestly I would give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they might have some autism that makes them unaware of how rude they are. So I would either avoid them or call them out depending on my mood. My mood this morning is that I had a very intelligent man, Randy Cohen, already give me a public verbal spanking and thought out advice. So I don't need SOME--you get the point.

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I think Randy Cohen substantially agreed with my posts in the previous episode's thread; but I wish he spoke to the Twitter vs. podcast aspect.

 

That is, if you're sitting next to a racist yelling at Jackie Robinson, you can yell at that guy right there (Twitter). Why do you need to get that guy on your podcast?

 

Or again: if you can't get Shapiro or Broussard, don't debate average joe on the air. Did anyone else note that Broussard also condemned pre-marital sex among heterosexuals, i.e., the way just about everyone does it? There's a fun discussion waiting to be had.

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Wow it's posts like these which do make me "obsessed" with Case Closed. If you don't appreciate an interview with a comedy genius and the Ethicist then you have a lot of growing up to do. You write a post saying you don't care about my opinion then expect me to consider yours. Ugh, now you see why so few of the hosts participate in these forums.

You know, I think this is the kind of thing people are responding to in the case closed segment. He stated that he didn't enjoy the political segment in your improv show, and you respond with an all out carpet bombing, making him out to be everything that is wrong with the internet.

Frankly guys, Randy gave me all the advice I need on Case Closed. Astartes, with fans like you who needs enemies.

What your doing here is directly opposed to some of the advise given to you by your guest. A reasoned measured response is more effective. I would say that Shakesbeards post is the perfect sort of response to that guy. It increases the level of discourse, rather than your response, which just beat down and humiliated your opponent. Also, it makes you sound petulant.

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Maybe it's because I'm older than most of you but I guess I treat a forum like this just as I would a room in the real world. If someone came up to me in the real world(meat space) and said something akin to "that 40 minutes in your show isn't funny and I could care less about your opinions" I would consider that very rude. Honestly I would give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they might have some autism that makes them unaware of how rude they are. So I would either avoid them or call them out depending on my mood. My mood this morning is that I had a very intelligent man, Randy Cohen, already give me a public verbal spanking and thought out advice. So I don't need SOME--you get the point.

 

Fair enough. Don't get jaded with the forums though. Your willingness to interact with your listeners is another reason I4H is the greatest podcast in the universe.

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