Episode 149 — Stinky Sword

[JulyDiaz 2797]

FUN FACT: Mary Holland, Matt Newell, and James Mastraieni are all on today’s improv4humans with Matt Besser! Tune in to find out what it’s like to have incredible luck, what would happen if the President of the United States were elected solely based on their funny name, and the many features of “Southern Siri.” Make sure to get the Upright Citizens Brigade television show season 3 now available on DVD, the UCB Comedy Improv Manual, Matt Besser’s new comedy album at mattbesser.com, and Dragoon’s new album at dragoongalaxy.bandcamp.com!

[pdxsean 241]

Matt's impatient southern Siri was hilarious. Another great episode all around!

 

Also nice job, Matt, on the latest episode of Getting Doug with High! You killed it there, as usual.

[Gym Sockerman 1326]

The True Detective plagiarism stuff is ridiculous. It's homage.

And it'd be terrible dialogue for Rust to be quoting Ligotti. Also, the book wasn't written when the early parts of True Detective were set.

 

Also, I might be wrong about some of this, but I'm delivering it confidently, so please believe me.

[BenjaminJones 231]

Jolly good show chaps and chapette. Everyone was on point. Ironically prayer for relief is also known as 'ad damnum' clause.

[AndyPacheco-Fores 437]

Vee are nihilists, vee believe in NUSSING!!!

[Haze 112]

Here is a piece of pseudoscience trivia for you. Nutritionist is not a legally protected or regulated term, dietitian is. Being a dietitian requires years of study and a degree, any idiot can call themselves a nutritionist. Think about that next time you are reading a certain unnamed advert!

[HotSaucerman 2051]

They were really womping it up there at the end...

[mattman92ish 823]

Tig and Matt should go tumpin all over the south

[greggy 15909]

The True Detective plagiarism stuff is ridiculous. It's homage.

And it'd be terrible dialogue for Rust to be quoting Ligotti. Also, the book wasn't written when the early parts of True Detective were set.

 

Also, I might be wrong about some of this, but I'm delivering it confidently, so please believe me.

yeah i think calling the little bit of paraphrasing in the show 'plagiarism' is a real reach and as far as i have been able to see ligotti hasnt said anything about it at all (which is not unusual when it comes to him), the allegations all came from fan sites

i do think its a little shitty that the dude that made the show doesnt say like everywhere 'hey some of the ideas in this show are based on the work of thomas ligotti and i think hes pretty great and unknown, you should really check him out' but he doesnt need to like appeal for a prayer of justice or anything

[AndyPacheco-Fores 437]

yeah i think calling the little bit of paraphrasing in the show 'plagiarism' is a real reach and as far as i have been able to see ligotti hasnt said anything about it at all (which is not unusual when it comes to him), the allegations all came from fan sites

i do think its a little shitty that the dude that made the show doesnt say like everywhere 'hey some of the ideas in this show are based on the work of thomas ligotti and i think hes pretty great and unknown, you should really check him out' but he doesnt need to like appeal for a prayer of justice or anything

Yeah the whole "controversy" of it seems so stupid. Most of McConaughey's philosophy monologues are either paraphrases or direct quotes from a bunch of philosophers like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, not just the Ligotti dude, and Pizzolato's said as much in interviews. He was never presenting the stuff McConaughey's character said as his own philosophical work or anything.

[xoValeriexo 4369]

I was looking on a website about the True Detective thing and it linked to another article about the end scene of the season being taken from an Alan Moore comic. http://www.vulture.com/2014/03/true-detective-finale-comics-alan-moore-homage.html It's hard for me to say how serious all of this is. He's definitely using these people's ideas and is getting credit for them as if they were his own, but I don't know if he's doing it on purpose. I think he probably feels like they're homages, references, or easter eggs for fans of those writers. It's hard to say where an homage ends and unintentional plagiarism begins.

[Todd Mason 21]

Meanwhile, the most common version of the word Matt was reaching for is "wump" as in Mugwump, someone literally or figuratively sitting on a fence--big political label particularly in the US Civil War. Hence also the band, the Mugwumps, that had eventual members of the Mamas and Papas and the Lovin' Spoonful before they moved west (from around the DC area, rather north of Galax, VA) and could afford a lot more drugs.

[DanEngler 5249]

On numerous occasions — including this very episode — Besser has railed against silly food suggestions from the audience. Yet, as soon as the onus is upon him to choose a name for the President, he goes with "Mr. Spaghetti-head"? This sort of hypocrisy is leading improv4humans away from Greatest Podcast in The Universe and toward utter destruction!

 

IMPEACH MATT BESSER

VOTE IAN ROBERTS

FOR I4H HOST 2016

[robinsbruce 4985]

On numerous occasions — including this very episode — Besser has railed against silly food suggestions from the audience. Yet, as soon as the onus is upon him to choose a name for the President, he goes with "Mr. Spaghetti-head"? This sort of hypocrisy is leading improv4humans away from Greatest Podcast in The Universe and toward utter destruction!

 

IMPEACH MATT BESSER

VOTE IAN ROBERTS

FOR I4H HOST 2016

 

To be fair, he was probably hungry or maybe even a lil hangry

[Kickpuncher 5012]

Tig and Matt should go tumpin all over the south

 

Knowing that Mary is friendly with Tig, I was REALLY hoping that she would have known 'tump' from her.

[greggy 15909]

On numerous occasions — including this very episode — Besser has railed against silly food suggestions from the audience. Yet, as soon as the onus is upon him to choose a name for the President, he goes with "Mr. Spaghetti-head"? This sort of hypocrisy is leading improv4humans away from Greatest Podcast in The Universe and toward utter destruction!

 

IMPEACH MATT BESSER

VOTE IAN ROBERTS

FOR I4H HOST 2016

i know your joking but i was thinking taking food suggestions could be better for coming up with stories than ppl piping up with shitty thesaurus suggestions

like i bet a lot of people have stories related to pizza or tacos, rather than the number of people with stories about "clodpate" or whatever

but then on the other other hand who care

[AaronSinger_29251 578]

The True Detective plagiarism stuff is ridiculous. It's homage.

And it'd be terrible dialogue for Rust to be quoting Ligotti. Also, the book wasn't written when the early parts of True Detective were set.

 

Also, I might be wrong about some of this, but I'm delivering it confidently, so please believe me.

 

You're secure and confident about yourself, but you're apologetic about it.... Hmmmmm, I once knew a guy who was quite the opposite... I think he ended up dying in a forest or something...

[KajusX 1807]

Two quick comments--

 

1. Had Tig Notaro been in studio, she would've been all over 'tumping.'

 

2. I nearly died when Southern Siri exclaimed, "Fuck YOU, democrat!"

[Alan342 0]

Meanwhile, the most common version of the word Matt was reaching for is "wump" as in Mugwump, someone literally or figuratively sitting on a fence--big political label particularly in the US Civil War. Hence also the band, the Mugwumps, that had eventual members of the Mamas and Papas and the Lovin' Spoonful before they moved west (from around the DC area, rather north of Galax, VA) and could afford a lot more drugs.

 

Actually he said wonk, which means "A person who takes an excessive interest in minor details of political policy." I hear it all the time, but then again I watch MSNBC (yeah yeah liberal). Rachel Maddow loves that word, especially when reffering to Ezra Klein. Mugwumps is an interesting thing to bring up, but doesn't relate at all on this one.

[greggy 15909]

did u listen to the whole episode alan??

[mattbesser 605]

 

Actually he said wonk, which means "A person who takes an excessive interest in minor details of political policy." I hear it all the time, but then again I watch MSNBC (yeah yeah liberal). Rachel Maddow loves that word, especially when reffering to Ezra Klein. Mugwumps is an interesting thing to bring up, but doesn't relate at all on this one.

I was already knew the word wonk. I was trying to remember the word wump when I was saying womp.

Actually as was pointed out to me by a humon on twitter today I was trying to remember the term "mug wump": a texas term meaning one who sits on a fence (ie his mug is on one side of the fence and his wump in on the other).

 

So "mug wump" is a joke playing off the Civil War term "mugwump".

[Todd Mason 21]

And also noted a few up.. Not restricted to Texas...

[hypnotizingchickens 1025]

just now getting caught up on recent episodes, so I wanted to say thanks to Brett for playing my cup suggestion!

 

 

a little insight: Pere Ubu was indeed pushing the envelope for music and performance as Matt said (however they actually started in the late '70s)... they were pretty notorious around that time for their theatrical, avant-garde stage shows and records. although they disbanded in '82, they reformed a year or two before this '89 interview. while this new incarnation of the band retained some roots in noisy experimental music, their output was decidedly more refined and pop-oriented. as is to be expected with almost any band that drastically changes their sound, this was met with a generally negative reaction from critics and their longtime fans. I don't think the interviewer was necessarily trying to be condescending with her question, but David Thomas (no, not the one from Wendy's.... or the Canadian comedian) has a habit of being a bit obtuse in interviews.

 

 

 

regardless, I'm glad my suggestion could inspire some hilarious improv!

[Alan342 0]

Dunno if anyone will go back and read this, but I just thought it would be good to respond. I was wrong. To answer greggy, no I didn't listen to the whole episode before I posted and that was my biggest fault. Had I let it finish I probably wouldn't have posted at all. Even before the episode was over I was already feeling like I jumped the gun.

 

To Matt Besser, I appreciate the clarification. The tables were really turned on this one. I thought I was explaining "wonk", but instead I learned a term I'd literally never heard before. Can bet I wont forget wump or mug wump anytime soon. Thank you for that.

 

I love this podcast.