The comedy podcast universe is ever expanding, not unlike the universe universe. We’re here to make it a bit smaller, a bit more manageable. There are a lot of great shows and each has a lot of great episodes, so we want to highlight the exceptional, the noteworthy. Each week our crack team of podcast enthusiasts and specialists and especially enthusiastic people will pick their favorites. We hope to have your ears permanently plugged with the best in aural comedy.
Ronna & Beverly - Advice You Need
Leigh: Ronna and Beverly are back this week doing what they do best – solving all of our problems! This week they cover everything in listener emails, from inconsiderate friends and shitty siblings to mean coworkers and inappropriate dance instructors. Plus! One in-studio community safety issue. It’s an hour of helpful, hilarious, free, real life advice. Even if you think nothing in this batch of listener problems particularly applies to you, there’s some real tough love here we could all use to help with our own problems. As Beverly so expertly point out, “The problem is you. That is my advice for every single schmuck who writes to us.” [iTunes]
Don’t Get Me Started - Snapchat with Gil Ozeri
Elizabeth: Nothing makes me feel older and more out of touch than Snapchat. And since I can’t ask my younger coworkers about it (lest I be revealed as a thirty-something), I was grateful to have Gil Ozeri explain it to me on the new episode of Will Hines and Anthony King’s podcast, Don’t Get Me Started. Gil, who had been on the platform for two weeks and had already done 185 snaps prompted by asking “What’s the dumbest thing I can do right now?”, explains the benefits of the platform including the lack of feedback and editing, the chronological order of snaps, and its disposable nature, which helps him not overthink things. They also talk about the emotional consequences of social media, the death of Twitter, and how easy it is to create things on Snapchat compared to the entertainment industry. The episode ends with some tough questions: Have platforms like Snapchat and Vine changed what we want in a TV show or movie? Will Snapchat be over in six days? Why did we stop liking Adam Sandler? Each question speaks to the importance of keeping up with the latest platforms. So get on Snapchat or whatever launches tomorrow—if only to stay young and relevant. [iTunes]
Schmoozecast - John Mulrooney
Marc: Bringing it old-school, New York comedian and former publisher of Comedy USA magazine Barry Weintraub has begun meeting up with comic buddies at a tiny studio that’s been built at the Comic Strip to talk about the biz on his Schmoozecast. (To prove how long the Comedy USA concept has been around, there’s an interview on the site with Jerry Seinfeld from 1986!) Weintraub’s guest in the most recent drop is John Mulrooney. Mulrooney started doing standup in the late ‘70s and, like many of his East Coast brethren, heard the siren’s song of television and was lured out to Los Angeles during the comedy boom of the ‘80s and early ‘90s. And he ended up doing his share of TV stints — from appearances on The Tonight Show and taking over the reins of a late night talk show on Fox that had been hosted by Joan Rivers to getting another gig at the same network for two years of hosting Comic Strip Live and many other TV spots as well. Given their shared history coming up through the comedy ranks of New York, though, it isn’t long before Weintraub and his guest are recalling the early days of hell gigs and one nights (often the same thing) in clubs long gone that once stood within a gas tank’s load outside of town. There are also rollicking tales of shooting handguns outside Las Vegas (Mulrooney is a gun enthusiast) and the sorts of things he’s up to now when he’s not still popping up on stage along the Eastern seaboard. It seems he’s always been a fan of law enforcement, to the extent that he got himself a part-time patrolman gig with a small police force in a town with a name only a comic could love: Coxsackie, New York. It seems old comics never die, their lives just get more ironic.
WTF with Marc Maron - Steve-O
Pablo: It might cause the simultaneous dropping of a thousand monocles into a thousand champagne flutes to call the cast of Jackass artists, but if comedy is an art, how can you not apply that label to the pranksters, aspiring actors, and skateboarders who were responsible for three of the funniest movies of all time? And not just hilarious movies that you quote to and ‘till death, but movies that force belly laughs even after the umpteenth viewing. Steve-O, the wildest of that insane crew, is this week’s first guest on WTF to promote his new gig as a storytelling stand-up comedian. But a very game Marc Maron delves into his past to find out how the son of a wealthy corporate executive found his way to clown college and then to Hollywood, where he made a name for himself by volunteering to do every dangerous stunt his fellow Jackassess refused to do. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before that wild life (and genetic alcoholism passed down from his mother) led to Steve-O literally wading through an apartment floor of whippets during a 600 cartridge-a-day addiction. Thanks to an intervention he inadvertently scheduled for himself and a stint in the psych ward with Mike Tyson, Steve-O is now a sober vegan whose stunts aren’t just for dumb laughs, like his recent protest of Sea World. I’m very glad Steve-O is happy and healthy these days, but seeing him protest orca enclosures only reminds me of the old days when he put a fishing hook through his cheek and was cast off into shark-infested waters. [iTunes]
Other Podcasts We’re Listening To:
Hard Nation - Chris Christie Goes to the Beach
Chillpak Hollywood Hour - The LA Breakfast Club
Weird Adults - Gil Ozeri
Tuesdays with Stories - Therapuss
Who Charted - Prince Tribute w/ Brody Stevens
Taboo Tales - Diane Pershing & the Illegal Transaction
Call Chelsea Peretti - You Have One Voicemail From: Chelsea Peretti
Maltin on Movies - Paul Scheer
Got a podcast recommendation? Drop us a line at podcasts@splitsider.com.
Elizabeth Stamp is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York.
Pablo Goldstein is a writer from Los Angeles, CA.
Leigh Cesiro is a writer living in Brooklyn who only needs 10 minutes to solve any Law & Order: SVU episode.
Marc Hershon is host of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast and author of I Hate People!
