Episode 5.1 — Using the Guest: Day 1

[admin 330]

This week we ask our challengers to send in examples of how they use their guests. In the coaching sessions we'll hear how the guest-less podcasts plan on competing this week and why it's important for the "chat" shows to set themselves apart from their competition. Plus, what does Totally Laime think about their front-runner status? Find out how they fare the competition tomorrow with guest judges Marc Maron and Howard Kremer.

[Julia 477]

Can't wait to hear what guests the contestants feature in their clips. Let's start rumors about who they might be...
I heard the Bob and Dan Cast scored an interview with OPRAH!

[Palooka 0]

Bob and Dan are based out of Chicago. While the BaDcast is not an interview-based show, they have done chats with musicians, authors, and comics. The queen of daytime tv cannot be too far out of their league.

[Bucho 188]

I heard the Dum Dums got Mick Dundee and Dame Edna Everage.

[ragnar 23]

PFT and Jesse were the best judges!! I wish they were kept on for the whole run of the show.
However I'm psyched for Maron and Kremer as they host two of the greatest podcasts ever.

[JW Buchanan 1]

In a previous thread, someone suggested that each podcast feature Paul F. Tompkins as a guest-- Obviously, it's too late to do something like that this go-around but it's a TERRIFIC idea and it would be really interesting to hear feedback from the interview subjects on who did the best.
.
On a completely different note, I'm a little worried about what kind of judge Marc Maron will be. He doesn't suffer fools gladly or like to play along with podcast silliness (see: Maron on Who Charted?). Maybe if he's in a bad mood he'll just eliminate all the contestants. This could be worse than when Top Chef let Cookie Monster judge a competition (not a joke). Cookie Monster doesn't even have a mouth! He just crumbles up the food and throws it in the air!

[incredimarc 1]

There's a bit of missing audio in the coaching session with Left-Handed Radio, right? After their theme snippet this episode cuts weirdly into the middle of a discussion about Alec Baldwin... Doth my ears deceive me?

[JW Buchanan 1]

I heard that too-- I assume they were trying to spare us a long semantic argument about comedy mechanics, except I don't want to be spared. Or maybe it was a technology burp.

[halffiction 1]

I wondered why Matt didn't bring up his reservations about Bob and Dan's approach until AFTER they hung up. I don't know if the coaching sessions are actually longer and edited down, but I would've loved to hear more coaching out of this ep. The podcasts who don't normally feature guests have much more of a challenge here, and it was too bad that their sessions mostly amounted to "we'll just see how it goes". I don't want Matt to hold back!

[mattbesser 605]

I thought this board might appreciate this video I made about turning an improv class into an elimination process.

[Bob1326657676 0]

Hey guys, we didn't get Oprah. But we may or may not have a chat with her good friend Gayle.

[auxt 0]

Yes, the LHR conversation sounded interesting, as they may have a tricky task this week.
Speaking of missing (?) audio, I'm not in favor of shorter episodes suggested by some listeners.

If every episode was only half an hour, I'd probably wait until Wednesday and play them all at once.

[Irish Ham 1]

Well can't listen to second part yet but should be interesting. Again seems that the more sketch like shows would need to be more inventive. Would have been very interesting if Brett Hammill's solo show was still in for this contest, as the challenge goes against the whole set-up of his show.
Also, just a little nuisance when I listened to this last night. For a show that is making me more aware of listening out to the sound quality of podcasts, was anyone else extremely irritated by the squeaking chair in the background?