EPISODE 174 — Whiplash Ft. Armen

[CraigEminger 468]

So was this an example of parody, or satire?

 

[Was really hoping that was going to be the final reveal, that Matt was teaching Armen the difference.]

 

Now that I've finished the episode, it all makes a lot more sense. I do still wish that it was a little harder to tell that they were in a bit the whole time, though I understand its probably difficult for the four of them to play it straight in that sense (Erudite Crudite, you're right, though I think it wasn't just Paul Rust's fault lol). The less I could see coming, the funnier it would've been. I think you could enjoy this without getting the Whiplash reference, you just have to be more patient than I was and hold off judgement until the very end. The final scene was a nice cap though.

 

I think the episode does suffer a little (for me personally, at least) for not having scene that are more self contained (since the story arc bleeds into each scene). The one scene about watching movies with the dad was, to my recollection, the only one that a.) didn't feature Armen b.) could be removed from the context of the episode and still be as funny. I was starting to look for a pattern (based off the previous scene) where they would get to do most of a real scene, only to have Armen step in at the end and kill the scene with his bad improv. I was wrong about that, but if it had gone that route, there may have been more scenes that could be isolated from the episode.

 

I don't fault Matt and friends for trying to shake up the formula, I get unfettered scenes every other week, so I'm not really complaining or anything. In the end it was still really funny, and thats all that matters. This was just a really good crew, so its hard not to be a little disappointed knowing that their hands were tied a bit by the narrative. Maybe they recorded a second ep without Armen, back to back? Fingers crossed.

 

In the meantime, I'm going to have to check out the UCB Master Classes!

 

[Edited post to say "scene" in a few places where I said "skit", because "skit" makes it sound bush league, right?]

[Joe Lerini 7329]

I had no idea what Whiplash was, so I was in the dark on the bit they were going for. But I still enjoyed this episode as a break in format, and because people shitting on Armen is just flat-out funny to me. I did know what was coming when Matt said "let's do a sketch about the Lakers" and I enjoyed that. Then I came on here, saw the talk about the movie Whiplash, so I looked that up, and then I watched the Master Class videos. I like the episode more now that I get what it's supposed to be, but I enjoyed it when I was unaware, too. *shrug*

[tyroneslothrop 124]

^^^ I would say you definitely need to be familiar with Whiplash - and the UCB Master Classes - to get the most from this; there's a LOT more artifice than your typical I4H.

 

I'm familiar with neither, and loved every second of this. I mean, did you hear how many members of the Lakers Armen was able to name????

[HotSaucerman 2051]

Without going back and listening to this episode or the Who Charted episode, but... didn't Besser offer to let Armen take more classes at the UCB for free? And Armen just blew it off? Am I recalling that correctly?? I really struggle to make sense out of this Armen guy.

[Natek 32]

I like the whole premise of this episode. I think most of this was Matt and Armen playing it up, but "Don't let them see you sweat" was real.

 

It really was a great Whiplash parody.

[JacobCrites 4977]

I have no idea what Whiplash is, but the "game" of the episode is pretty obvious from the first 5 minutes of the show: Besser is playing a huge jerky dictator of an improv coach, who keeps complaining about other people destroying scenes when it's really his attitude that's ruining it. I don't understand how someone wouldn't 'get' that this episode is one long sketch where everyone is in character the whole episode. They could barely contain their laughter.

The 13 Year-Old sketch was pretty amazing even without the context of the episode though.

This is one of the coolest things i4h has done. Between this and the same-character trilogy thing, i4h is at the top of the podcast universe again.

[Foxtrot1 67]

I looked like a crazy person on the bus with this episode. A great achievement in the history of podcasting. Definitely for comedy nerds only but holy shit did it pay off for this comedy nerd.

[Foxtrot1 67]

Seriously though this entire week of Earwolf has been fucking great and I haven't even listened to Lauren's Tom Leykis show.

[GrumpyZhukov 33]

This is sublimely good! The last long-form they did in episode 168 was so, so funny and it's great that they did it again in such a brilliant way.

 

Matt's character of the inspiring bully works so well, not because I think he's like that at all, but that he can be confrontational and gets to the point fast makes it easier to believe he could be this kind of maniac/teacher. A perfect episode!

 

GZ

[watchayakan 1021]

Genius episode. I love how Matt will just try out new ways of doing the show. Even if it doesn't work, which this does, he always has hilarious people on. Awepisode.

[Snutting 15]

Holy shit, I love this episode so much.

[mattbesser 605]

Thanks for all the positive feedback everybody. We had a lot of fun doing it. Might even have a little video soon. Something the Milkman is putting together.

It's funny to me how many people even after listening to the whole thing still thought it was real. And everyone that commented on our soundcloud pretty much hated it.

The Slap parody coming soon.

[RoryMcDaid 75]

Absolutely fab episode. I've been away from the forums for like 2 months now I think but had to check in after listening as I enjoyed it so damn much.

[MichaelIanFinnigan 13]

The Slap parody coming soon.

 

Oh God Yes! Please make this happen! Watching the whole episode was like watching a scary movie where A cat always jumps out in the scary scenes. There were so many times throughout the episode where the kid was totally askin for it and they kept draggin it on. Each time it was like "OH SHIT! HERE COMES THE SLAP!". By the third time of the kid gettin yelled at for doing somethin totally deserving of a smack, I said "Fuck it there'll be a .gif tomorrow"..

[JacobCrites 4977]

Thanks for all the positive feedback everybody. We had a lot of fun doing it. Might even have a little video soon. Something the Milkman is putting together.

It's funny to me how many people even after listening to the whole thing still thought it was real. And everyone that commented on our soundcloud pretty much hated it.

The Slap parody coming soon.

I remember when Burning Love came out, half the people in the comments on Yahoo thought it was real, and Ben Stiller was in it. So you can't win. Even so, you totally broke character when you called Armen out on his 'pedophile' character. How did they not catch on? And Neil saying "Pfft. Armen doing a Lakers scene? That's the hardest scene there is!"

[maaarshall 4]

more ladies pls

too many dudes

[CraigEminger 468]

 

Oh God Yes! Please make this happen! Watching the whole episode was like watching a scary movie where A cat always jumps out in the scary scenes. There were so many times throughout the episode where the kid was totally askin for it and they kept draggin it on. Each time it was like "OH SHIT! HERE COMES THE SLAP!". By the third time of the kid gettin yelled at for doing somethin totally deserving of a smack, I said "Fuck it there'll be a .gif tomorrow"..

 

Really? Every commercial I saw for the show showed the exact moment when it happens.

 

I'm wondering if Besser was serious or not, but it definitely seems worthy of parody (and you might as well do it now before everyone else jumps on it!)

[MichaelIanFinnigan 13]

 

Really? Every commercial I saw for the show showed the exact moment when it happens.

 

I'm wondering if Besser was serious or not, but it definitely seems worthy of parody (and you might as well do it now before everyone else jumps on it!)

haha really? Well that was an hour of my life I'll never get back. Honestly I didn't even know that was a show till my girlfriend put it in and explained the premise, and I just thought "this show sounds too awful to miss".

[CraigEminger 468]

Just relistened, enjoyed it more the second time around without the preconceived notions lol. Favorite part has to be when they all adopted the Asian accents on top of the slightly older age. Loved Matt cracking during that part.

[RachelElle 217]

IMPROV4HUMANS IS THE BEST PODCAST IN THE UNIVERSE

[illuminatedwax 59]

I don't think I've consistently laughed at something as hard as I did Besser making people initiate scenes "on my command".

[kobthatreal 5896]

Holy shit. I think I laughed harder at this than any other i4h or any podcast even. Simply amazing. You all outdid yourself. Excellent concept.

[VinsanityV22 500]

Holy shit; Mookie's parents are so annoying in THE EXACT SAME WAY my parents are when it comes to watching movies. I fucking want to punch my dad constantly. Poor Mook.

 

Though I did get to hear Neil Campbell talk about American Sniper taking a dump on the street, so that was worth it =D

[BrettMorris 1862]

i totally meant to say such a shitty location suggestion...totally part of the bit...crazy improv stuff

[VinsanityV22 500]

Oh and Proptip for Paul Rust (or anybody); best 'passwords' are usually codes made from short sentences, if he's not doing it already (usually "Good" Passwords aren't very complicated)

 

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/the-numbers-game/videos/the-perfect-password/

==

Let's sum it up

 

Let's start with a short sentence example:

"Paul Rust should get a better password" (7 characters... let's add a bit there)

"Great improviser, Paul Rust, should get a better password" (9-11 is pretty good)

 

Let's break it down into a acronym:

GIPRSGABP

 

Let's use lower case/upper case

GiPRsgabp

 

Now let's get "l33t" and swap out some letters for words: ('i' and 'l' can become '1', 's' can become '5', etc.)

G1PR5gabp

 

Voila!

 

Whenever you need to recall it, just bring up the sentence to work out each character. It's easy to remember (actually remember; I realize it's more effort than letting your browser or smartphone remember it for ya ), but it is still complex. More complex than most people's "complex" passwords.