Episode 1 — Analyze Phish

[rotarybill 0]

Play him the studio Julius from Hoist. As for live stuff, try a good Simple with a sweet outro jam. Also, the Slave from A Live One is epic, especially the peak. He could get into that. I think you couldn't have picked a worse selection to introduce a novice to Phish. Fluffhead and Theme are great for the young newbie, but not for the older, more sophisticated (i.e. elitist) novice.

[westcoastlive 0]

The jams are what's gonna get somebody interested in Phish. I've struggled to get friends into them and everyone had a hard time getting over their lyrics and singing.

I think "My Soul" is a good choice since people are familiar with blues guitar jams a la Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Also try these songs: Waste (Bittersweet Motel), Sample in a Jar (Album), Frankenstein, Cars Truck & Buses, Piano outtro from Squirming Coil.

If you can't get him to like Phish, try Widespread Panic since they are slightly more straightforward.

[westcoastlive 0]

I would highly recommend showing him footage from the IT Festival DVD, that's the best representation of the band in my opinion. The Julius absolutely rocks and it's mostly just a straight-foward ripping guitar solo. There's nothing too weird about it. The light show is amazing and you can move on to the Documentary where they talk about the experience of what Phish is all about with music clips to back it up.

[jarett 0]

I recommend Farmhouse and Heavy things - both huge singles

[pnwolf 0]

If Phish is ever on trial for making "good" music, I supremely hope you are not their lawyer. Your presentation would ruin Phish for anyone that hears it. Covers? Vocals? You played no jamming---except for 30 seconds of cross-eyed and painless and Scott LIKED IT. Why? Because this is where Phish surpasses every band that has come before. Your understanding of this is NIL. You don't start with theme from the bottom. My lord. Great song to someone versed in Phish, not to the lay-listener. I mean, seriously. You hit YEM 40 minutes into the discussion and don't even play the jam. It should be mentioned almost right away if not first. Please remove this podcast and stop spreading it around. You do Phish no justice and are completely unqualified to convince anyone of their quality as a band. You make them sound horrible, and if you are really a fan you won't spread this around. In fact, I bet you anything you want I could demonstrate to Scott a completely different band.

BTW--Phish's 2001 is a cover of a 70s tune. Same keyboard riff in Spacehog song.

Also, "it's wash uffizi, drive me to firenze." Everyone knows this and the story behind it. google it. Thanks for playing the jam, again, btw.

[polymixin 0]

In the podcast you listed off some of the best live albums you could think of. My initial thought was a Zappa album and then a few minutes later you mentioned why you don't like Zappa. What I have to say is that it is been a while and it would be a shame if you missed out on Roxy and Elsewhere because of that college memory.

Roxy and Elsewhere- Frank Zappa. (be-bop tango at the end is a little weak, but the rest of the album is boss)

[KajusX 1807]

I loved the hell out of this podcast. I'm so used to enjoying Scott as the head honcho of CBB that it's always a delight to hear him in a more relaxed/less-hosty state. Whether it's Analyze Phish, or Who Charted?, or his appearances on Doug Loves Movies (his chemistry with PFT on the Tournament of Championships 2), or this episode of Word Balloon I just discovered and can't wait to listen to, the man's a lot of fun to listen to.
AND OF COURSE Harris Wittels is A-MA-ZING. Love his phone corner, love Parks & Rec, need to pick up Don't Stop Or We'll Die, but everything I've heard so far I have enjoyed.
I kind of hope Scott never likes PHISH for the sake of this particularly show's longevity, but at the same time it would be so heart-warming if he did! Oh, Earwolf.

[The Cunt of Mofo-Pisstoe 0]

Alright fellas, I'm hooked and waiting to be reeled in. You immediately summoned up old memories of inarticulate, stinky fucks air- guitaring Phish songs while assuring me of my own imminent worshipfulness of said band.

THIS IS A GENIUS PREMISE. IT IS NOVEL, INTELLIGENT, AND FORESHADOWS A NEW TYPE VICARIOUS RELATING I'VE NOT ENCOUNTERED AMIDST THE MYRIAD COMEDY PODCASTS AVAILABLE.

[Cromwell Damuuga 0]

Just finished this episode today. I am with you Scott. Harris has an uphill battle ahead of him.
This will be my second attempt to understand the reason this band is so beloved.
If Phish has a serious side to them I will need to find out through this podcast only because i am certainly not going to spend the 5 seconds needed to research it myself on youtube. Life is too short for 16 minutes of mediocrity.
"Meh": the perfect description for Phish.
My mind is regularly in a state that is optimal for the Phish Experience...yet still here I am unconvinced.

To each there own, and if you get something out of it, all the power to you.
Perhaps there is more to this band. Like once you learn the wisdom of Phish you can realize the splendor that is Fluff Face.
Potential to be good in my books but so far, no dice.

To quote Lou Gehrig, "Strike 3 is important Harris."
We are on the verge of Phish Sucks in my books.
And i am a stoner that works in a record store... the ideal Phish-head.? (roly poly?)

[Skeevins 322]

Golgi Apperatus is the only good Phish song. It educates as it titillates.

[Dranoelk2 0]

First time to listen to the Podcast. Just typed Phish (my all time favorite band) into iTunes and ended up listening to this for over an hour. Really entertaining, loved the concept. And Scott, to each his own man, I really don't care what you or anyone else thinks of Phish, it is not for everyone. But here are my best efforts to sway you. First of all, you can never understand Phish until you see a live show. It doesn't matter what live or studio albums or covers you hear, the only way to get it is to go to a show. Harris even said everything changed for him after that Houston show as it did for me in MSG NYC NYE years ago. You said you love rock and roll, so I am confident that even the worst Phish show will leave you satisfied, just give it a chance one time if possible. Second of all, I do believe Harris did a reasonably good job trying to show you a wide range of Phish aspects, but it puzzles me as to why he barely showed you any part of the most important aspect of Phish, their jams. Anyone can make fun of Phish lyrics, most of them are completely redic, hell I don't even care for the words to Fluffhead. But that is beside the point, if all they did was play those songs and sing the words and then stop they would be a terrible band that nobody likes. It is the jams that follow said lyrics that make them so popular, and Harris only showed you about 20 seconds of a "Cross-eyed" jam. Scott even said something to the effect of "that solo was pretty good," after hearing it. But I am under the impression that Scott thinks that was just a little 8 measure guitar solo like Prince or the Stones do. Phish improvises for extended periods of time and by listening to each other the music changes and goes different places and moments like that part of "Cross-eyed" happen a lot more than just once for 20 seconds. Don't think of it as a solo, think of it as 4 musicians playing 4 different instruments that collectively make one amazing sound. Phish are the masters at improvising and when you get past the need for structure and perfect singing voices and lyrics that make so much sense and perfectly planned composed music, you realize that not even Phish knows where they are going and band and audience are all on a journey together. No two shows are the same, hence people follow them to multiple spots. Hell they never even play the same song in consecutive and sometimes three straight shows. You would get bored, Scott, at your third consecutive Prince show on the same tour because it is probably the same setlist, same theatrics, etc...... Phish is all about the music, the whimsical lyrics and trampolines and what not are just an after thought, something fun(ny) to spring into what really matters, and I just feel like Harris didn't emphasize that enough. REBA 10/31/94..... please just listen to it, fast forward through the lyrics if you want, which will lead you to the composed part, take that for what it is (some stellar composition to say the least) but please please please just listen to the improvised last like 5 minutes of this song. This Halloween 1994 version might contain the best 5 minutes of music I have ever heard.

[KajusX 1807]

@Kyle It's awesome that you enjoy a band that much and want to be helpful, but that wall of text was an ominous read.
A strict regiment of any music playlist will feel like work. This was a light-hearted first episode of a comedy podcast. I say just let Harris and Scott do their thing. They may get to those songs in good time. You don't want to blow your Phish load on the first episode (gross, sorry).
It's also probably a safer bet to appeal to Harris' knowledge of Phish's catalogue of music than Scott's (or any non-phish fan's) (and fyi— disparaging Prince won't get you anywhere)

[Scott Aukerman 381]

@Kyle Leonard I actually found this post interesting.. .thanks!
the prince shows are all different, tho. He plays different songs each one.

[JesseG 0]

On the one hand, I feel like I need to support Harris on this. We both went to the same not-Harvard Boston college so my alumni support should be given.
But on the other hand, he's significantly younger than me and, so far, much more successful so fuck him.

And besides, Phish annoys me. Yes, they're good musicians making good music. There are plenty of talented musicians whose music I don't like, even if I can objectively respect it.

[Dranoelk2 0]

@KajusX and Scott Aukerman - definitely was not trying to take a shot at Prince. Never been to a Prince show and every video clip or audio I have ever heard from him is down right awesome. There is this all-star jam type deal on YouTube (can't remember anything about the title or even where it was, sorry) But Tom Petty and a bunch of other famous musicians are all on stage playing the Beatles tune "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (A song Phish also covers btw) and I don't even think I recall seeing Prince on stage until all of a sudden it is time for the guitar solo and Prince just steps up out of nowhere and straight kills it. As far as the 3-way combo of singing, dancing, and musicianship goes, I'm sure Prince ranks up at the top. My point was that there are many very famous and even iconic bands that people pay lots of money to go see that put on spectacular shows but that are just that, a show. In the same sense of going to see a movie, a lot of these are productions that are the same every night. You wouldn't go pay to see the same movie on three consecutive nights, and I feel as though the same concept applies to some of these concerts. One of the last things said on the podcast was "any phish fans that listened to this can get on the website and tell us what they think is the best way to convince Scott" so that is precisely what I did

[Scott Aukerman 381]

@Kyle Leonard - Cool! I took it that way. I appreciate your post.

[AlexandOR 0]

Guys, don't fight. I'm personally not huge on Phish, but I do like the song Bouncin' Round the Room, it has a great energy that I think Scott would dig. AND, speaking of covers, while not technically Phish, Trey has that band Oysterhead with Les from Primus and the drummer from The Police. They do some awesome covers, of Zepplins Immigrant Song and House of the Rising Sun

[box 161]

Love the podcast! I died laughing at some parts and it's a brilliant concept that I hope continues in other forms.

Phish is just awful though, jamming is the lowest form of musical talent, rockin' guitar solos are usually embarrassing. Being able to play an instrument means nothing. Lots of bands/artists who can't sing put out brilliant music (Bob Dylan, Pavement, Silver Jews) but Phish is just so... lame.

[Imgonnafuckmeaphish 0]

This is a great concept for a show. The dynamic between Scott and Harris is both geniune and hilarious. Now that I'm done sucking both of your dicks, I'll get down to the point. As far as live albums that are well recorded, I would say that "A Live One" and "Slip Stitch and Pass" are both very well engineered and performed. Also given that Scott seems to have an affinity to enjoy a more "Poppy jaunt", perhaps selections from "Hoist" or "A Picture of Nectar" might be a good example of some rock oriented studio material. Don't get me wrong. I Love a good groove, but Phish's ability can go far beyond that, even in the studio. All of this of course is subjective because it is art, much like comedy and cup stacking. Oh yeah, before I die, I'm gonna phuck me a Phish!

[myclampdx 0]

Really enjoyed the show, but come on, Harris! Theme from the Bottom? I can think of 100 better songs to start with, you newb! But all is not lost. Scott at one point said, and I'm paraphrasing, "So it sounds like it would be fun to go to a Phish show even if you don't like Phish." So if nothing else, Harris, you have elevated Scott to "Phishhead's girlfriend" status. I suggest you start with some Page-heavy, latin-flavored stuff next time - maybe Landlady, CarsTrucksBuses, or Taste.

[misisipimike 0]

Still hate Phish, still love Harris Whittles. I am in a band with a dude who only listens to Phish and the albums that Phish covers. He is very hard to tour with sometimes.

[westcoastlive 0]

Jesus Left Chicago would be another great jam to play...1997-12-07

[sleepypedro 1]

This breaks with the established clip format, but I say play a great Punch You In The Eye all the way through. It distills all the pieces that make Phish great in one relatively tight tune: you get some storytelling (without needing to know the history, college thesis blah blah), a great dark chord progression, Latin jamming during the Landlady section, and at the conclusion Scott will either start to get it or he won't.

Since Scott mentions liking jazz, I'd lean heavily on that & play him the early fugal compositions. You were on the right track with Fluffhead, but that's *way* too inside. Try Guelah Papyrus > Asse Festival, the jam from Dinner & A Movie, and how about Buried Alive?

I'm also shocked you didn't play Foam right out of the gates!

[booyakomasa 0]

great show. it really took me back... you see, i used to be a huge phish fan (30+ live shows). but it's been years (maybe more than 10) since i have really listened to them. i have to admit that i found myself agreeing with scott more and more throughout the podcast. why did i ever like this band? the lyrics are pretty weak; trey is not a good singer; they seem very gimmicky in retrospect... and then, when i got home, i was determined to dig a little deeper and listen to some of their music. i have long since lost all of my taped shows (and my tape deck), so i had to rely on studio material --> story of the ghost, junta, lawnboy, rift... fucking rift!! what a great song/album! i also stumbled across the studio version of 'run like an antelope' (an all time great live song/jam) and 'foam' and 'dinner and a movie' and 'reba' and 'split open and melt' and 'maze'... anyway, by the time i made it to 'ghost' i had remembered what i loved about this band... the fucking drugs!! and the soaring guitar-led action-packed jams... 'ghost' is a good album, though. it's more structured and less jammy, and has more singing by paige and mike (not trey) which is nice. 'birds of a feather' and 'ghost' are 2 pretty solid songs. so, thanks to you guys for sending me down memory lane and making me smile as i remembered the time i experienced mushroom-induced deafness at a show back in '98 - it only lasted about 15 seconds, but it made that night pretty memorable and the spinners far less annoying (for just a minute).

[Ebessan 0]

Harris rolling ecstasy at 15 made me really sad, for some reason.