Episode 29 — No Joking Around!

[admin 330]

Sometimes in life it's just improv3people. But when those three are Matt Besser, Chris Gethard, and Adam McKay and they're talking about The Avengers, Vince Carter, and prosthetic principals, then you're in safe hands. Sure, those hands are on broken wrists, but don't be a baby about it! Be sure to pick up an improv4humans shirt from the Earwolf Storeand follow @MattBesser on Twitter to send in your improv suggestions. Music by Bobby Matthews and Dragoon.

[benk 257]

Wow. This episode is absolutely incredible. You can really tell Adam McKay's filmmaking mind. The visuals he described were hilarious and added so much to the scenes. Love this podcast.

[mattman92ish 823]

Im soo tempted to call out besser on some fake bullshit I made up so Ill be invited to defend myself on the show just so i can meet him and the guests that day and tell them how much I adore what they do hahaha great episode thanks! I love besser's pain scream tis hysterical.

 

NOW WE CANT EVEN TALK ABOUT DANCE

[daveB from Oakland 364]

Heard the first 5 seconds of this episode, and I look forward to the rest. But even though I have never tried the product, I'm gonna go ahead and say that PEPSI NEXT SUCKS!!!!!

[MartJ 44]

Matt was absolutely right about Vince Carter. Sure, he has a reputation for having a bad attitude but it's totally baseless. It comes from a couple of things. First, during a play-off series in Toronto, in the morning of game 7 he attended his own college graduation in North Carolina, then in the evening he missed the game-winning shot. Sports media spun this into some bullshit about how he tired himself out needlessly and doesn't care about winning enough. His second 'gaffe' was admitting that he didn't try as hard as he could after he asked for a trade in Toronto. I don't think it's a big deal but I guess 'sports media' expects players to be complete psychopaths with no interests outside of basketball and deviant sexual acts(the only common thing between NBA superstars and ESPN 'personalities') like Jordan or Kobe. This is the reason Chris Bosh gets bullied by the media as well.

 

Another reason why the media dislikes Vince Carter is probably that he got tagged as 'the next Michael Jordan' even before he stepped on an NBA court and guess what - he wasn't the next Michael Jordan. I suppose the media might feel some resentment that he 'didn't live up to his potential' and 'let them down.'

 

Anyway, these are a bunch of words about Vince Carter. I hope you enjoy them earwolf comedy fans.

 

Peace.

[Julia 477]

It's difficult to choose favorites, but I think this episode's the best yet!

[wo 265]

I love how TIM BUCKLEY is ragging on Elvis for being a drug user.

[wo 265]

Either Adam McKay doesn't remember the name of Anchorman's lead (and basically only) female or that was some sort of Freudian slip involving Alicia Silverstone.

[Isaac Kozell 91]

Either Adam McKay doesn't remember the name of Anchorman's lead (and basically only) female or that was some sort of Freudian slip involving Alicia Silverstone.

 

Listening to this in the office I screamed, "It's Veronica!" which will probably lead to some juicy water cooler talk about Yours Truly.

 

Excellent episode!

[Shannon 2953]

 

Not for Loki? Whatever do you mean? Loki does not like not being included in things...

 

 

The Avengers sketch was all kinds of amazing, "Uh let's see Black Widow's a bitch. Uh, her outfit shows deep insecurities. And uh, I'm Abraham Lincoln." Oh and I feel like that lost ear kid had relatives in Florida that heard the story and mailed him the shirt out of hilariousness, otherwise that really is an incredible coincidence. I loved that no one could remember the name of the bar and stub grill stump bar.

 

 

Fantastic episode!

[klobbermang 532]

Vince Carter gets a pass from me for whatever he's been up to for the last 12 years for his performance at the 2000 slam dunk contest.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVC3yBHjNvo

 

Be sure to watch the fat camera guy who runs behind him as well.

[action52 554]

Michael Jordan is a great example of a "selfish player who overcame that." In the late 80s/early 90s, Jordan was in some ways at his peak in terms of raw talent. He was doing crazy dunks and showing athleticism that no one had ever seen before. But he was also pretty arrogant, and focused more on getting the ball so he could try tough-to-do shots that made him look awesome when he did it, but would often get stolen by the other team. Plus there was his whole gambling issue, which I think was due largely to hubris of thinking he could do it and not get in trouble.

 

Then he had his "retirement" (which everyone knows was basically the league punishing him for the gambling), which I think humbled him. He came back a very changed player, who was more focused on working as a team. It made the Bulls champions, and it actually led him to play better too, because now he was working as a team which gave him better opportunities to score points.

 

Just an example. I don't follow basketball enough these days to know if it applies in this situation, but it came to mind as I was listening to the podcast.

[Rafalred 6]

Dear Matt,

 

This was a fantastic show! Also, please invite and convince Amy Poehler to be on the podcast! If she comes, you can bring along Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, and have the first Upright Citizens Brigade episode!

 

That is three exclamation points in one post!

 

*(now four)

[Hot - Slunch 772]

Woah I'm not even going to get into the Jordan stuff that was just brought up because it'll lead to a useless back and forth.

 

- Melo is a great scorer, but just can't play in a system for some reason. George Karl wanted him to be better and challenged him, so he jumped ship and went to the Knicks.

 

- Stoudemire is overrated, I agree with that.

 

- Deron Williams totally ousted Sloan from Utah, and then bolted for Jersey.

 

- Iverson was never a spectacular team player, but he played with such heart and determination that you have to respect him even if you didn't like him. Plus, the 'practice' press conference is legendary.

 

- Vince Carter just never had the killer instinct. He supposedly stopped trying a few different times in his career, didn't give it his all to be the best, and totally looked lost without his athleticism when he was with Phoenix last year. (Looks better with Dallas though). He was a great talent, but was just never meant to be the greatest.

 

- Adam McKay's Reggie Theus pull made me laugh. You can tell he's an NBA fan.

 

I loved the Anthony/Ruffalo improv. Plus, it just blew my mind that not only is the show improv for humans, but also that it is the improv of four humans.

[wingo 23]

This episode was great - McKay's director-y set-ups are amazing.

 

A little weirded out by the Pepsi ads though. Are we seeing the dawn of the corporate takeover of podcasts?

[GregJ.Hansen 316]

Man, I dunno... I think this episode tested my limits for what I can manage in terms of pitch-black comedy. The menu story and the brother skit especially were rough for me to get through. Perhaps I'll chalk it up to Adam and Chris's acting skills, they really sold it in the brother skit. By no means am I asking y'all to change your approach or to restrain yourselves in any way, this was just my guttural reaction and I felt like sharing it.

 

I loved the principal one, though!

[action52 554]

I thought the brother sketch did take things a little too in the middle, in the sense that it was becoming too disturbing and not funny anymore. But I think Matt and everybody noticed this, and took things in a more lighthearted direction at the end.

 

The menu thing was great. I loved how as we were hearing all these horrible, grisly things described, we also kept hearing little tangents about how great the various menu items were.

 

P.S. I created a topic in response to the remarks Matt made in this show about strong negative reactions he often gets to religion-related remarks. I thought it might be too big of a tangent for this episode's discussion, and anyway it seems to be an ongoing thing that he wanted to address. So I gave it its own topic here:

 

http://forum.earwolf.com/topic/7156-atheism-and-negative-reactions/

Edited June 1, 2012 by Kevin Irmiter

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

Another great one. Maybe time for Matt Besser to get on Sklarbro Country (again? Has he been on there?) to talk basketball. By the way, how awesome is it that Earwolf has Pepsi as a sponsor now? Even if you don't like them, you have to admit that is awesome. I went out and bought some last night just because I was so pleased with them seeing the potential of Earwolf marketing. Nicely done Jeff!

[Digital Jizz 2]

I really enjoyed this episode and didn't even realize it was 3 people until Matt mentioned it.

 

My only complaint is that I had to skip the first part where they talked about The Avengers, I haven't seen it and I didn't want any spoilers.

 

I don't even drink much soda but I'm going to buy some Pepsi next

 

Anyways I fucking love this podcast and as usual I listened as soon as it was on the Earwolf app.

 

Thanks again Matt for providing this excellent source of entertainment.

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

Oh and maybe Matt should put in an appereance over at Professor Blastoff to talk about beliefs. I think his interaction with Aaron alone would be amazing.

[sarel 45]

Fantastic episode. I wonder happened to Matt Walsh. We'll never know.

 

I found the brother sketch hilarious and disagree that it was too dark.

 

However I did find the long winded scene descriptions by McKay disrupting after a while since I felt they did bring the sketches to a halt.