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.
You Made it Weird - Judd Apatow
Leigh: Judd Apatow is a comedy powerhouse who’s behind so many of your favorite movies and TV shows. But he’s also a very relatable guy who has concerns and fears and anxieties, just like you (probably a lot of the same ones as you, actually), many of which he shares with Pete Holmes on this week’s episode of You Made it Weird. Apatow talks about how he’s happy to now be helping other people tell the stories they have to tell, having already told his high school, college, pregnancy, marriage, death, and comedy stories. Holmes also asks Apatow about his decision to get back into standup. In the spirit of the show they talk about things getting weird. In this case, it’s what happens when you start to make money for what was at one time your hobby. “It feels ridiculous. It’s a complete fluke that the thing I turned to when I was lonely as a child is marketable,†Apatow says. How could I bring up the spirit of the show without acknowledging how long the episode is! About an hour in, Holmes and Apatow bring up that they’ve been talking for about an hour and that should be good enough. It almost feels like they’re starting to wrap up, and on any other show maybe that’d be the case. But on YMIW, an hour is just the halfway point. And, if you care enough to make it that far, congratulations; you’re now part of what Holmes refers to as the Care Circle. Other highlights include what the President thought about Funny People, Apatow’s Cosby impression, meeting Monica Lewinsky, and his experience with a psychic. And for the record, grilled cheese and Entenmann’s. You’ll want to listen to the episode, the entire episode, to get that reference.
Kill Me Now with Judy Gold - Frank Conniff
Marc: Normally, when a new podcast hits the web, standard practice used to be to give it a few installments to find its voice. Not so much any more. Case in point is this week’s new entry Kill Me Now, hosted by veteran standup Judy Gold. Her debut guest is comedian and writer Frank Conniff and, along with co-host/board op Lauren Hennessy, the trio makes their way hilariously through the kind of technical glitches and awkwardness almost every podcast is prone to in the early going. As Gold explains, the title is derived from her number one personal catchphrase in life and gets used a lot in this show as well, under the heading of “That’s another ‘kill me now’ moment!†As a comedian with three decades under her belt — and some acting work as well, as witnessed in her recent turn in this season’s Louie as a lesbian mother-to-be — getting up to speed in this audio medium should be a snap. Gold is loud and brassy and makes no pretense about this being her show. (Co-host Hennessy seems to be so in name only, as Gold is forever capping on him whenever he tries to steer the conversation with their guest.) Conniff, on the other hand — and although he comes off as a bit soft-spoken and reserved — has been friends with Gold for years and clearly knows how to wait her out in their back-and–forth to place some great comedic shots in an almost Jack Bennyesque use of the occasional empty space. We found out things about his background that fans of the Mystery Science Theater alumnus might not know — including the news that a recent young lady in his life is currently doing jail time — and there are a couple of installments featuring Gold’s mother’s messages from a phone machine.
About Last Night - Adam Devine Tour Recap
Pablo: On Workaholics, Adam Devine makes me belly laugh with just a head tilt and a squint of his eyes. But the gifted physical comedian can give me the same reaction using totally different skills on an audio-only podcast, like singing an improvised chorus to Pearl Jam’s “Daughter†with Seattle sports-themed lyrics. That song was birthed on the road while ALN co-host Adam Ray opened for Devine on a North American standup tour earlier this year, which is the reason Devine is making his third appearance on this show. Fans of Workaholics will not be disappointed by the shenanigans that went down on tour: Devine’s dad punched him in the face, Devine punched his dad in the face, and a stripper used her pole to do a spinning high heel kick to the side of his head. To top it all off, he booked a starring role opposite Zac Efron in an upcoming summer comedy. You can’t help but feel all warm inside and tight in the butthole region when Devine mentions how proud his Nebraskan family and friends are of his massive rise in show business in just five years.
Womp it Up! - Chris Gethard – Spotlight On: Lil’ Nicky
Elizabeth: Marissa Wompler’s exchange student and current air mattress companion, Lil’ Nicky (Chris Gethard), joins Wompler and Listler for another chat straight from the Marina Del Rey Public High School Library. Four-foot-eleven Lil’ Nicky pounds Mexican Cokes while Listler gives details on wedding planning with her fiancé, Kareem, including a sightly violent cake tasting and a guest list that includes both ghosts and former snipers. She also drops the bombshell that her son, August, sailed down from Santa Cruz on his houseboat and they had a brief, tense interaction. Listler and Lil’ Nicky almost come to blows, but stay civil for the Spotlight On segment, in which he shares his future dreams (owning more dirt bikes), experiences ghost hunting, and his darkest moment: the tragedy that stopped his growth and haunts him and his pager to this day. It’s an episode full of laughter, tears, classic jams, and—by the end—rock hard dicks.
Do You Need A Ride? - Joe DeRosa
Kaitlynn: A podcast and a ride to/from the airport in one— could life get any better? Each week or so, hosts Chris Fairbanks and Karen Kilgariff drive a guest to the airport or pick them up and drive them home all the while recording the conversation for our podcasting ears in a 2008 Honda Accord. What we hear is an earnest conversation sparked by whatever is on the mind of their traveler. A wide range of comedians and general funny people have accepted the ride and podcast guest spot. This episode, Chris and Karen pick up comedian Joe DeRosa from LAX where he just landed after performing for the weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. Joe has been waiting by the curb because of Karen’s tardiness but despite the waiting on his comedy taxi, he is a delight. It really is just a couple pals hanging out in a car with microphones. These friends start by discussing the history of their friendship, Los Angeles traffic, and Joe’s character on the television show Better Call Saul. Additional topics include McDonald’s McRib season, Henry Rollins make-outs, Scorpion stings, Ice Cube, and Geto Boy lyrics.
Other Podcasts We’re Listening To:
Comedy Bang! Bang! - The 6th Anniversary Show!
The Daily Show Podcast without Jon Stewart - Flight of the Humble Bee
Who Charted? - Slow Dance Party w/June Diane Raphael, Armen Weitzman
Sklabro County - Gilbert Gottfried
Truth and Iliza - John Heffron
My Dumb Friends - Liz Miele and Eliot Glazer
Affirmation Nation with Bob Ducca - Releasing the Bully (w/ Ed Helms)
Tiny Odd Conversations - Whenniversary
Rooster Teeth Podcast - #322
Never Not Funny - T.J. Miller
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.