Episode 143 — Normies

[klemjohansen 748]

Kumail is a castafarian.

[chesterdouglas 291]

Natasha's excellent comedic instincts combined with her complete lack of knowledge about anything really made for an effective fill-in performance. Well-played.

[pepperjack 303]

And Kumail was 100% willing to call her on her shit. That's what made it tolerable.

[BenjaminJones 231]

Scott dropped "ma waif" lately but the leggacy lives on.

[PhillipMedoc 648]

Kumail and Howard in one room is like way too much handsome for this heterosexual guy.

 

"You sound like SHIT, bro."

 

I'm only 30 minutes in, but I can't believe they're passing up the opportunity to put Kumail in the KuKu slot.

 

Howard's voice in general is just cracking me up. Thanks for the positivity, duders.

[neilly 105]

Leggeiro was so much better than April Richardson. She brought way more energy, although she didn't seem to have any of the usual facts/prep that Kulap has, and she surprisingly knew very little about pop culture in general for a LA person. I enjoyed this episode a lot more than others because of the tangents that were missing from the show for what seemed to several months in a row when the show seemed "hurried."

 

Kumail is an ideal guest for this show in general...

 

Anytime Ku-Ku is gone, bring back Tee-Tee!

 

Wow, you really don't like April. Isnt this the second time you trashed her? Did she kcik your cat or something?

[seanotron 2307]

'And coming in at #5 is Lady Gaga with Applesauce!'

 

'It wasn't a joke! It wasn't even a joke!'

[PhillipMedoc 648]

I 100% agree with Natasha, I wish I could get high like Reggie. I just get panic attacks.

 

"Poor people getting lamb on a stick???"

 

I love that they don't get dragons in heavy metal. It mostly comes from stoner musicians reading The Hobbit and comic books and that was their basic inspiration. Half of Led Zeppelin is Tolkien and the other half is just made up nonsense. I don't know what movie Kumail is talking about, but it sounds very similar to the excellent book "Lords Of Chaos" -- good, interesting read about Norwegian black metal.

 

Lastly, please stop with the April Richardson hate. She was just fine, and her appearances led me to Go Bayside (which is 120% fuckin' awesome) and a whole 'nother podcast rabbit hole (Slumber Party, JV Club, etc), plus her awesome fashion blog. Also I'm a Smiths fan from my teenage years so yeah #teamapril.

[wakefresh 689]

People who have rich parents are not always talented. Many times, it is their parent's money that is giving them more exposure than they really deserve. Also, Miley Cyrus has a bad case of turkey butt.

[KasperNielsen 0]

Great episode, but listening to them talking about metal was jarring. Especially when the Mayhem stuff (killings within the band, etc.) was mentioned as being goth.

 

Haven't finished the current season of Franklin & Bash yet, so I'm sad to hear that Kumail will no longer be on the show if it gets another season.

[wakefresh 689]

"I'm just a robot with a guitar!" -- Avceii

 

[seanotron 2307]

People seem to be focusing on the 'Oh my god she's such a tramp!' part of Miley's performance (which is the boring part, performers at the VMAs have been doing that kind of thing for forever), but there was a weird racial component to it that made me ultra uncomfortable. I'm not smart enough to unpack it in a meaningful way, but I felt it. While watching it I felt like a living version of the Zouks 'WHAT IS HAPPENING' meme.

[wakefresh 689]

People seem to be focusing on the 'Oh my god she's such a tramp!' part of Miley's performance (which is the boring part, performers at the VMAs have been doing that kind of thing for forever), but there was a weird racial component to it that made me ultra uncomfortable. I'm not smart enough to unpack it in a meaningful way, but I felt it. While watching it I felt like a living version of the Zouks 'WHAT IS HAPPENING' meme.

 

Yeah, there was a good article about it on Jezebel and lots of people are talking about how Miley is appropriating elements from a marginalized culture to try to make herself seem "edgy." Just like people shit on Olivia Munn for saying she's a nerd because she wears a Star Wars T-Shirt. Also, in the performance, she was just using the black women as props, like when she slapped that one girl's ass. And then there is a whole thing that is brought on by other people in the media when they call Miley the "queen of twerking" and give her praise for this when the originators of it and the people who actually live in this culture are looked down upon.

 

In a nutshell, you basically just saw Miley "slumming" on the VMAs.

[seanotron 2307]

 

Yeah, there was a good article about it on Jezebel and lots of people are talking about how Miley is appropriating elements from a marginalized culture to try to make herself seem "edgy." Just like people shit on Olivia Munn for saying she's a nerd because she wears a Star Wars T-Shirt. Also, in the performance, she was just using the black women as props, like when she slapped that one girl's ass. And then there is a whole thing that is brought on by other people in the media when they call Miley the "queen of twerking" and give her praise for this when the originators of it and the people who actually live in this culture are looked down upon.

 

In a nutshell, you basically just saw Miley "slumming" on the VMAs.

 

Yeah, that part where she stuck her face in that girl's ass and slapped it around (I think it was the tallest burlesque dancer lady?), it was just so...yikes, is all I could think of. Plus, wasn't there some hubbub in an interview a while back where she said she took that song because she 'just wanted something that sounded black' or something to that effect? It's weird.

[wakefresh 689]

 

Yeah, that part where she stuck her face in that girl's ass and slapped it around (I think it was the tallest burlesque dancer lady?), it was just so...yikes, is all I could think of. Plus, wasn't there some hubbub in an interview a while back where she said she took that song because she 'just wanted something that sounded black' or something to that effect? It's weird.

 

Yep, that's the reason people are pissed because this is what Miley thinks black culture is. It's not like she is appreciative of twerking or rachet culture in general because she would never have had any sort of contact with those people. Eminem grew up in a working class neighborhood surrounded by black folks. And while it did hurt to see him get all of the artistic merit that was denied all of the black rappers that came before him, atleast it wasn't a put on. He had a genuine appreciation of the culture and respect for it, and was aware of the privilege his white skin gave him in that culture.

 

Miley was a TV star on Disney for her entire childhood. Her father had a crazy-selling triple platinum album. This fucker has always been rich as hell. The people who are in rachet culture are the most marginalized people in our society. They grow up within chaotic circumstances and know what it is like not to have anything. I'm black and I don't even fit within that group, so I don't see how a rich white girl who had her own TV show for damn near a decade can.

 

This is her "Dances With Wolves" fantasy being played out on a national stage. The people who she is appropriating are just props for her own emotional journey. As soon as something else catches her eye, she will leave ratchet for this new thing and then twerking will go back to being associated with "dirt" and "trashy people", instead of a "playful, youthful" dance.

[PhillipMedoc 648]

Shariq, once again I want to thank you for your ability to articulate what the rest of us dum-dums can't figure out.

[KajusX 1807]

In addition to everything you guys are saying about the racial overtones in Miley's performance, am I correct in that I swear at one point she grabbed the face of one of the woman wearing the big teddy bears and sang right into it for a beat during a part of the chorus or something? I saw that and was like, "WTF is even happening here? I'm not cool with any of this."

[wolfhaley 18]

In addition to everything you guys are saying about the racial overtones in Miley's performance, am I correct in that I swear at one point she grabbed the face of one of the woman wearing the big teddy bears and sang right into it for a beat during a part of the chorus or something? I saw that and was like, "WTF is even happening here? I'm not cool with any of this."

 

Even worse, she grabbed one of the girls' booties and motorboated it with her tongue out, and then smacked it in a degrading manner.

[Todd Mason 21]

Meanwhile, Winfrey is (also) just as self-aggrandizing as Nanjani and Leggero suggest (every bit of charity from her seems super-plastered with her brand, and often funded by others, and sometimes not so very helpful...such as the school she was credited with funding where abuses were rampant), and unlike young Cyrus, she's not remotely a kid.

 

In fact, Oprah-worship is a part of why one heavily advertised Earwolf podcast is a tough thing to slog through.

[Kickpuncher 5012]

Awesome episode, tons of extremely funny little moments, great job by Natasha and Kumail. But the title should have been "Dazzle me, Dalai!"

[daveB from Oakland 364]

I 100% agree with Natasha, I wish I could get high like Reggie. I just get panic attacks.

 

I don't know what movie Kumail is talking about, but it sounds very similar to the excellent book "Lords Of Chaos" -- good, interesting read about Norwegian black metal.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_Light_Takes_Us

[gonzagylot00 28]

Holy shit! It's the reappearance of Sloppy Timmy. Where have you been Timmy?

[DanEngler 5249]

Great chemistry between these three. As much as I love the modern incarnation of Comedy Bang Bang, there's something I miss about the Indie 103.1 days, when a bunch of comedians just got together to shoot the shit.

 

That notwithstanding, they failed to mention Natasha's new web series:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifyn0D5nmiA

[robinsbruce 4985]

Kumail and Howard in one room is like way too much handsome for this heterosexual guy.

 

 

I was thinking this all day long. They are both tall and have super chiseled features PLUS they're really talented and lousy with charm. I'm going to have to re-think some things.

 

P.S. April and Natty Leggs picking at Howard in tandem would be amazing. MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

[Poika 615]

Great episode... great chemistry! Also, it's called "Lee Daniels' The Butler" because some other studio had a script called The Butler and there were legal issues.