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ivyadelaide

Recommended starting point for newbie to HH

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Hey all! I'm a long-time Earwolf listener, and want to start getting into Hollywood Handbook. But I have no idea where to start.

 

Go from the first ep up till now? I'm just aware of the fact that some shows don't start getting into their 'groove' right from the start, so didn't know if it was worth starting right at the first ep? Are there specific ones which are stand-outs?

 

I am a huge fan of CBB, HDTGM, Womp it up and Special Guest with Lauren Lapkus if that helps.

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I think you should always start with the first because it's exciting to go with them as they find their footing, and I find if you skip around too much you miss out on a lot of fun and inside jokes even if the guest isn't great. In this case the first episode is pretty exciting and gives a lot. I also love cbb and started Hollywood handbook recently, first episode was enough for me.

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there are definitely some particularly great episodes but it is good right from the beginning so i think you should start there

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Start from the top, the Adam Pally ep is early and I thought that one was fantastic and a really good example of what they're like

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atom pally, donald glover are both strong in my opinion. the first epi is good, but also slow and low on energy.

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I enjoyed all the episodes that came before it immensely but I feel like the first Shelby Fero episode (#15), is where their personas seemed to gain a little bit of depth beyond the extremely enjoyable pompous Hollywood thing.

 

And then the next episode with Grace Helbig (#16) showing them how to use a computer and the internet, I think for me, that's where the show started to really shift into a different gear (car talk).

 

I can't imagine just jumping around at some arbitrary starting point with this show, though. It's filling me with anxiety just thinking about it.

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Be careful. I know there are more than 25 episodes (>6mo), and that can be terrifying. But be calm and just pretend like episodes 1-71 don't exist. A little trick is simply not scrolling that far down.

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I'd say the Rob Corddry and Mike Still episodes are great examples of guests who "get" the show and bounce back and forth with the hosts really well. The Iliza Shlesinger and Pauly Shore episodes are also worth a listen, because they represent episodes where the guest doesn't seem to get what's going on, and those types of episodes are great in their own way. Also, the Pauly Shore episode has some great engineer interaction, which is a frequent part of the show.

Between those four I'd say you can get a pretty good grasp of things.

People say it's important to listen to the backlog of the show to get what's going on, but I disagree. It's not like they ever explain what exactly is going on. Just know that they're pretending to be Hollywood insiders and everything is very silly and ironic.

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^^

 

Ehhh! Wrong

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I almost forgot. I was Ehhh! Wrong on that one. Sean and Hayes bring up in a later episode that Iliza Schlesinger was totally in on everything (there was a lot of speculation on that). In hindsight, it's a little unfair to group those two episodes together. They're similar because the guests don't respond to silliness with more silliness, but Iliza Schlesinger doesn't come across as some kind of idiot who doesn't understand the concept of the show.

Pauly Shore on the other hand....

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GUYS! Update, I'm officially hooked. Sean and Hayes are cracking my whole shit up, all the time. Not too spooky, minimal skellingtons thank god!

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Just started listening to HH myself (I haven't listened to any podcast's entire backlog before, even Harmontown's) and I've gone through the first 10. I like them all, but the strongest is definitely the Ellie Kemper episode, so I guess that's the best arbitrary starting point if you don't want to start from the very beginning.

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GUYS! Update, I'm officially hooked. Sean and Hayes are cracking my whole shit up, all the time. Not too spooky, minimal skellingtons thank god!

Welcome to the cult!

(Get out while you still ca--)

There's a few where during a re-listen it's become my new favorite from a really clever re-direction I missed from listening to it while at work that changed the whole concept.

I'm actually not sure if I like the episodes that catch me off-guard the whole time and I can't breathe I'm laughing so hard.. or the ones that are on an entire other level and it'll change direction and they'll all go with it into a weird place...

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