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.
Who Charted - Two Charted 170
Leigh: Brace yourselves, things get deep this week on Who Charted?. If you have feelings, any feelings at all really, this episode will most definitely leave you teary eyed. In this week’s Two Charted Kulap Vilaysack is joined by guest host Armen Weitzman, and the two share how they’ve been mourning the loss of their friend, Harris Wittels. It’s a very honest, emotional episode and trying to boil everything they talk about down to a blurb feels a little cheap. So I won’t do that. But I will wish you good luck making it through the part when they play that Wiz Khalifa song from Furious 7. If you’ve spent the past few months consuming any and every old podcast Wittels was on, it’s very moving to hear two people who were so close to him open up about how these past few months have been for them. And while Weitzman understandably struggled to find the perfect words to express everything he wanted to say about his friend, Chartists will agree he did a better job than he may have realized, “he was a good man…definitely an asshole…definitely the bestâ€.
Weird Adults - Kate Berlant
Pablo: Kate Berlant’s wholly original and hilarious standup act is beyond description. My personal attempt is that it’s like watching a “Recently-fired New Age PR guru undergo a mental breakdown.†The way Berlant describes it is, well, she also has trouble explaining the character she plays on stage despite creating it. But after hearing the comic recollect her adolescence as the daughter of an artist and a former child actress, you can piece together a sliver of the influences that shape her madcap performances. Berlant’s talk with Little Esther focuses mostly on her years growing up on the Westside of L.A., where she landed a one-line role on Lizzie McGuire just by tagging along to a friend’s audition. While she impressed friends with her lie that she was dating Gordo from that show, her child acting career soon ended after a disastrous That’s So Raven audition. We’re better off for it, but if the Disney Channel wants to get back in business with Berlant, the resulting Lynchian three-cam sitcom would warp our nation’s young minds for the better.
Comedy Bang! Bang! - Andy Richter, Andy Daly
Elizabeth: Following last week’s big 6th anniversary show, Comedy Bang Bang celebrates another milestone: episode 350. While it’s not as exciting as breaking off another hundo, Scott and guest Andy Richter still mark the occasion. They dive right in to Andy’s past dating life (before he began his 21-year marriage), the effects of his mother’s two divorces, and what it’s like to meet his heroes, including Michael Caine and David Bowie. Later, royal watcher Byron Denniston stops by to talk about getting back into the biz at Scott’s request, even things ended badly after his last visit when he tried to kidnap Prince George, or at least a baby he thought was Prince George. Byron takes Scott and Andy through the various ceremonies that revolve around the royal vagina both after the wedding and before sexual congress. By the end, they convince Byron to let his light shine and follow his true calling to kidnap the royal baby, take it to Australia, and raise it in the dark arts. They hatch a flawless plan, which is hampered only by the random assortment of found pills Byron has taken.
Smartest Man in the World - Coyotes
Marc: Consistently funny and semi-educational (even the host disclaims the source of some of the information he spouts during the course of The Smartest Man In The World), host Greg Proops holds his own for an hour and a half of his latest installment, Coyotes. Live from the Bell House in Brooklyn, he ranges from reading emails from listeners (some of whom turn up in the live audience) to pontificating about recent elections in Canada. The title for this week’s episode was from a riff he gets into about California’s drought, where he talks about seeing coyotes skulking around the streets near his house, and about the legion of wildlife that’s come down from the hills seeking water. It’s always kind of a challenge to put a pin in the podcast enough to nail anything resembling a main topic, as Proops is the master of tangential monologue. Which is a bit of an amazing feat for someone to pull off who is only talking by themselves. Example: In the course of reading an email from a PhD candidate, he rails against people referring to their college experience as a “careerâ€, the media using “urban†as their code word for black people, breaks into a Diana Ross song, which then leads to an impromptu capsule review of The Wiz, concluding with a sprinkling of art history. Baseball – a favorite topic of the host – is touched upon, with some amusing anecdotes about the great Satchel Paige. And that’s just a small chunk of the whirlwind of self-conversation in this episode, which has a grand finale featuring a couple of Ben E. King songs, including Stand By Me, played in honor of the great singer-songwriter’s passing last month.
For anyone interested in capturing an enduring sample of the Master of Eclectica, Proop’s new The Smartest Book In The World is out this month. It’s a delightful book stuffed with random information, with his true voice brought to life on the page.
Mark Forward Comedy Podcast - Episode 100 “Celebrationâ€
Kaitlynn: This comedy podcast is the brainchild of Canadian comedian Mark Forward where each episode digs into a different topic. His sidekick that he describes as his “little guy†is Eric Andrews, a comedian in his own and a downright delight. The episode is the one hundredth and to celebrate good times they talk about celebrations themselves, recorded live in Winnipeg, Manitoba (the middle of Canada!). This episode starts with Eric listing off all the celebrations he remembers, which isn’t as many as you would expect from a grown adult. “Fireworks Day†is apparently a great celebration he remembers but cannot tether the day to a particular holiday. Mark and Eric (whose names sound like they should somehow combine into a couple name) discuss odd celebratory festivals around the world and play a game for its hardcore listeners and Twitter followers. Mark leads the show while Eric, who is an audible twin for Thomas Middleditch, is the sounding board with absurd commentary. A hundred episodes later, this podcast is growing a well-deserved fan base – it is silly, fun, semi-informative and totally hilarious.
Other Podcasts We’re Listening To:
Scriptnotes – How Do Bad Movies Get Made?
Truth and Iliza – Chris Porter
Terrified – Anna Seregina and Dave Ross
Industry Standard – David Goldman
You Made It Weird – Kevin Nealon
The K Ohle – Get Lost Live From the Bridgetown Comedy Festival
Hollywood Handbook – Nick Kroll, Our Close Friend
Never Not Funny – Janet Varney
The Larry Miller Show – Victory In Europe!
Illusionoid – The Demon in The Darkness
Elizabeth Stamp is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York.
Marc Hershon is host of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast and author of I Hate People!
Leigh Cesiro is a writer living in Brooklyn who only needs 10 minutes to solve any Law & Order: SVU episode.
Pablo Goldstein is a writer from Los Angeles, CA.
Kaitlynn E-A Smith is a writer/creator and (somehow) MA fashion grad, born and living in Toronto.