Hicksville

This took me back.

This took me aback.

Last post I wrote about how I've (somehow) started enjoying the process of mowing my lawn. Yes, yes - domestication and all that. I don't care. I like me. Moving on. In that piece I mentioned how I no longer listen to music when I do any kind of chores by myself. When it's my better half tackling something with me, we're all about some odd-ball jams. When I'm operating as el lobo solo, though, I'm almost always listening to podcasts or comedy albums. I like the idea of POTENTIALLY bettering myself, either through some sort of instructed or guided dawning moment of insight. Otherwise, to quote Anthony Jeselnik "Life is full of horrible things that will eventually get you and everything you care about. Laughter is a universal way to lift your head up and say 'Not today, you bastards.'"

So.

I made my way through most of my comedy albums over the summer. By the end I had made my way to something I had been putting off. Someone who is known in smaller circles, one of those comedians who gets a lot of praise but never popped like others of his era. Bill Hicks.

My roommate in college did me a life changing favor in introducing me to Bill Hicks. I had never heard such acerbic  intelligent breakdowns on the subtle miseries of life. We bonded over the absurd bits on hooligans in light of American gangs, the heady stuff about LSD on the nightly news and nodded along about the never-ending threat of the world ending. It was a complete game changer for how we interpolated the world around us. We consumed all of Hicks we could and moved on with our lives. Like most things you're enamored with, though, you obsess over it for a while and then just carry it with you. 

I hadn't listened to much of anything by Hicks in the last eight years. So on one of my recent days spent doing yard work I listened to a couple of his seminal works. I weeded, picked up compost, mowed and trimmed, my head cocked the whole time as I digested what I was hearing with a fresh set of ears.

It was...not...as awesome as I had remembered.

Maybe I've softened in the last decade or so. Maybe I'm (somehow, despite what I say) less cynical. Maybe I just bottle it up more. Whatever changed in me, I was struck by how it didn't hold up and how little I enjoyed it. To clarify, I certainly enjoyed choice bits, but more for the wit and less for the bite now. 'Changing the world' seems flatly impossible now. To listen to some grand proclamations to which I used to nod feverishly, I winced and shook my head. It was grating. It was dismissive and vitriolic. A surprising amount of it was straight up homophobic, which was really surprising. 

Listening to Bill Hicks after being introduced to it almost a decade ago, I was struck mostly at how I had changed, as well as how his material ages in light of his reputation. Was a genius? No. But he was insightful and incredibly ahead of the curve. He cut a (very premature) path in the world for others to slip into. But the murmurs you hear about his reputation being better than his material are not entirely unfounded. Kind of a bummer, of course, but also enlightening as to how I've grown and changed in this short span of time.

I'm not saying you should never listen to his material. I'm saying I heard it for the first time in the right place and mindset. You should absolutely hear some of it. There are some real gems in it. Just dig in for yourself and remember it's just a ride. 

Pie Hole

Here's a story I never get tired of sharing: 

A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) defies convention by being a single, dude's dude who loves to bake. 


One Sunday, after a night of spirited imbibing and more than a few hairs of the dog that bit him, he decided to alleviate his condition by baking himself a pie. All Sunday this guy slaves away in his kitchen while watching the Vikings lie down on the field. He gets the crust, whips up the filling from scratch, does the whole nine yards for himself. 


One dude, one pie. I love it. 


This guy's gung ho about making this pie for himself, thinking everything's going to be all right if he can just get some sugary, home-baked goodness into him. I can't blame him, it sounds great. 

So he gets his blueberry pie all made up, it's in the oven and baking. He's still a little under the influence when he takes it out and sets the still-hot-to-the-touch pie on the counter to cool. Knowing it's only for himself (which I love, he had no intention of sharing it with anyone, even his best friend who lived just across the hall), he gets out the sugar and coats the top of the pie with a gorgeous, heady amount of confectioner's sugar. 


He waits. 


The pie cools. 


The game ends. 


The Vikings have lost once again. He goes over to the counter to cut himself a giant slice of this delicious homemade pie. Plates it, gets a drink and plops back down on the couch to indulge. Takes one massive forkful and immediately spits it back out. In his still-hazy baking, he mistakenly grabbed the salt instead of sugar. Crestfallen, he shakes his head and dumps the entire pie into the garbage. 


A Sunday wasted. 

When he told us this tale of baking gone wrong, my better half asked him "Couldn't you just scrape the salt off the top and still eat it?" 

His response was a frustrated "Nah, I salted the shit outta that pie." 

Nerf Herder

Welcome back to Book Worm Week!

To continue with my trend of abruptly switching gears with every post, I thought I'd get away from the heady, symbolic texts worth hours of introspection to focus a bit more on the lighter side of things. So today, instead of grim surrealism we're looking at Bossypants by Tina Fey

Tina Fey is, in a word, awesome. I adore her. Yes, I am a married man, but I have to admit a certain fondness for her witty charm and insightful writing - plus her words can cut like a razor, which doesn't hurt. Frankly, anyone who has met me and my better half could attest I have a thing for genius-level brunettes with a strong sense of humor. My own embarrassing admissions aside, I remember first seeing Tina Fey on SNL hosting the Weekend Update segment. As someone who has always paid close attention to the news and politics, I found her cutting and delightful, a snarky and hysterical woman at a time in my life where those type were not in abundance. Plus, she wore glasses - not a lot of people in my small No-Coast town embraced the whole intelligence-fostering ideal, but it was high school and let's be honest - neither did I. Anyway, I regret not watching SNL more in those days and leading into college, because anything of hers I've seen has been awesome, like the Mom Jeans or Annuale commercial, or any of her work on Weekend Update. It was also around this time 30 Rock debuted. I remember thinking that it was either that show or Studio 60 that would survive and thankfully Fey persevered. Around the second season of that show I fell in love with it, and I have quickly glommed on to Fey's voice and perspective, figuring out what her general style is. Never one to relish in the spotlight, Fey was elusive and a bit mysterious, but she would probably chalk that up to being a social misfit and not wanting to be a reality TV star. 

So imagine my delight, then, when I heard about her (then) forthcoming book Bossypants. As a generally biographical tale sprinkled with her insight into the worlds of comedy and beauty, I was instantly sold on the book. While it is clear at times Fey was not writing for my general audience (young men) I still found what she had to offer to be absolutely hysterical and interesting, if not illuminating. Fey writes a fair amount about her experiences growing up; there were no great tragedies the reader can point to and say "Oh, that's where the bitter comedy comes from..." but there was just enough demeaning experiences and self-loathing to gain an understanding of her approach to writing and being a reluctant public figure. Her home life comes across as supportive and normal, her school experiences seem, while certainly unique, not impossible for anyone else to identify with, even a 28 year old guy lying on a beach on his honeymoon. Those were great conditions for reading the book, by the way - Fey's a whip-smart woman with a jovial, engaging writing style, so buzzing through a couple quick chapters while lying in the sun were ideal. A crowded bus? Maybe not so much. But it was a fun, quick read that was hard to put down. 

Her rise to prominence wasn't a tale of overcoming adversity but trying to get through to foolish people who struggled to understand that women were just as capable as men when it comes to being funny. In fact her tales of career choices and the events in her life pale in comparison to when her sense of justice and humor fire up at the same time - when writing on the idea of whether or not women are inherently funny, Fey goes after her detractors with both barrels blazing, to delightful effect. I should admit, though, that these passages were, in essence, preaching to the choir - I was still in my formative comedy years when women took over SNL and I see everyday women like Kristen Schaal and Samantha Bee kill it on The Daily Show, so I don't see where the 'women aren't funny' concept generated. Furthermore, her take on the whole Sarah Palin period was particularly revelatory.

But I digress.
Fey is most alive in the book when straying from her loose autobiography. She shares funny, if perfunctory, anecdotes about her her honeymoon and raising kids while being a writer, but they're more to give insight into 'being the boss' of her life, the theme of the book. Her musings on women's fashion, photo shoots and the experiences of being both over-and-underweight are the most entertaining and revelatory. Again, as a guy who's almost 30, these aren't truly aimed at me. I still found them to be entertaining and worthwhile reading, though. I also particularly enjoyed her tales of backstage at SNL and the assembling of her writer's team on 30 Rock, which is, in my humble opinion, one of the hands-down funniest shows, period. Citing her writing staff's highlights and MVP moments is also great for fans of the show - it gives a glimpse at how the insane scripts come together, instead of springing forth from creative people's minds, pre-assembled.

 I simply can't say enough good things about Bossypants. I'm one of those guys who think Tina Fey can do no wrong, Sarah Palin-skewering included. I love her writing style, I adore her comedy and sense of humor and I really enjoy and admire her take on what it is to be a woman. Again, though, this is coming from a dude who's been a dude all his life, so make of that what you will. That being said - if you know me and are the least bit curious, just ask. I gladly loan out my books. 

TV Time

Well, well, well. Look at what we have here.

Another Friday afternoon. How nice.

Instead of haranguing you about some album you absolutely must listen to or complaining about Minnesota's Worst Spring, I thought I'd give a bit of advice in case your Friday night isn't as kind, weather wise, as mine is. If you're stuck inside or unable to go out and cause a ruckus why not unwind with one of the funniest shows to come from my home state? You see, kids, I was raised in the pre-millennial era, a heady time of unchecked cultural development that some are quick to dismiss as a painful, awkward time in the life of modern thinking. Many cringe when they think back to things that were popular at the time - Blossom, Milli Vanilli, Family Matters. It's okay, you don't have to feel bad, I was there too. I watched Captain Planet and American Gladiators. But while there were the shows about which we all have a wince and a laugh, there was one show I laughed at then and still do today.

Cable was a vast, untamed landscape that exposed my pre-adolescent mind to all sorts of things, from the dreary (or so I thought) PBS to the debauched (so I thought) MTV. A little fledgling network, though, laid the groundwork for the development of my sense of humor almost as much as The Simpsons did. Comedy Central was, at the time, just a random, insignificant channel on the spectrum. Instead of the force of nature it is today, back then it was a lot of British imports like Absolutely Fabulous and Whose Line Is It Anyway interspersed with stand-up specials and reruns of Dr. Katz. What stood out, though, what really hooked me, was a strange show that seemed to show a lot of bad science fiction. Like, the worst they could find. And they just bagged on it.

It was sublime. 

It was Mystery Science Theater 3000, hailing from my home state of Minnesota's cable access channel.

Joel, a sleepy maintenance man for Gizmonic Institute, had been kidnapped by his evil bosses Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank and shot into space to be a prisoner aboard the Satellite of Love. The extent of the experiments being performed on Joel amounted to being shown cheesy sci-fi movie as the terrible twosome monitored his mind. Joel, wanting some company if he had to endure such terrible films, ended up using the parts that control when the movies start and stop to construct some robot friends. Gypsy, Tom Servo and Crow all coexisted with Joel, providing his only emotional support as they sat through film after film of absolute schlock. That sound too absurd? Here, maybe it's more palatable as a theme song. 

Having no access to the burgeoning internet, I basically stumbled onto the show and was initially puzzled. What was this? Why the silhouettes on the bottom of the screen? Soon, though, I was in love. This show was genius! As the trio riffed on the movies and just made jokes over bad films, my sense of humor (and snark) came to form. Pithy, witty banter, all at the sake of someone's hard (but poorly executed) work. Awful science fiction movies from the 50s through the modern era, just piled up and mocked, along with the occasional short to pad out an hour. This is the show that made Manos, The Hands of Fate famous! While the movies were train-wreck affairs, the kind of stuff you just couldn't look away from, the shorts were my favorite - often they were the hopelessly dated and out of touch educational films from the 50s and 60s, the kind of stuff with a family of characters all referred to as "Mother", "Father", "Sister" and "Brother". I may not have gotten all the jokes, not even being in my teens at the time, but I was constantly in stitches, absorbing every wise-crack and non-sequiter.

 What makes these fond recollections even better for me is that they still hold up as hysterical. I had *ahem*...downloaded...a few in college and my friends and I watched them obsessively. Having found them on Netflix is even better, knowing there's no danger of viruses or bad files. There's an insane amount of content available and this way you don't have to shell out quite as much as if you bought the whole DVD collection. Even though the show ended years ago, two different factions of cast and crew have been continuing in the riffing tradition, skewering modern and classic selections. Check out the sites for Cinematic Titantic and Rifftrax to see what is available - you just download the track, sync it up with your TV and voila! New material! As I said, if you're trapped inside tonight check out the joys of skewering bad content. Hopefully you're as amused as I continue to be! 

Crazy Insight

Alright, I can admit it.

I'm tapped.

Completely spent. Long, long weekend full of stuff that had to be done, moving bleary eyed through work today, came home to another fantastic dinner my better half had (bless her heart) made before I even set foot in the door. I was washing up and realized in a panic "Oh no, no post!" So here I am, typing through the exhaustion, wondering what I could muster any love for that would propel me through this. Then I realized I knew just the thing - something I have been enjoying immensely, as of late.

WTF with Marc Maron.

Maron has been a gigging, hardworking and above all honest comic for over 20 years. His accomplishments, while too numerous to catalog in their entirety, include over 40 performances on Conan O'Brien's first talk show, hosting his own Air America radio show, three amazing albums and even a book. In short (which would no doubt irk him to be succinctly summarized) he is the definition of the long-standing stand-up, a man whose drive and work ethic has lead him to where he is today, riding high on his critical success and killing it every week in the incredible podcast he produces.

The show itself is, for comedy aficionados, a gold mine. Maron opens each installment by examining his own life a bit, maybe riffing on his travel experiences or just venting about feeling bad about things he knows he shouldn't. It's an interesting look into his headspace from one episode to the next. He can be both brutally honest and refreshingly charming when seemingly riffing on his own life. After the intro, and the obligatory plugs for a sponsor, Maron plays the segment that comprises the meat of his show - engaging, insightful interviews or discussions with other comics. Some are old friends (like the amazing 2-episode installment in which he and the prolific Louis C.K. reconnect after a falling out), some are strangers (like the hysterical Dr. Ken Jeong) while some are controversial. It seems some of his best known episodes are the ones where he starts to take the kid gloves off to really volley back and forth with the guests. His bull sessions with known joke thieves Carlos Mencia and Dane Cook are fascinating glimpses into the much maligned comics and how they justify what they do. Maron insists he wasn't meeting with them just for that reason but the notion is one that is constantly reminded, and he shouldn't shy away from it. He displays a real finesse for handling people and coaxing truth out of them. His discussion with one of my favorites, Jackie Kashian, blew me away with her frank recollection of childhood experiences and tales of parental drama. It made me appreciate the both of them so much more. His recent episode featuring Dave Foley was both cringe-inducing and revelatory, as the Newsradio and Kids In The Hall alum talked about heartbreak and divorce at great length, and how it had lead him to a new phase in his life.

I can say all this dramatic business about WTF and Maron's conversations, but it's not as though it's all doom and gloom. Quite the contrary, he actually makes it very easy and engrossing to hear. What is at times awkward or difficult is fascinating and you don't want to have to stop, like his recent interview with the notoriously temperamental Gallagher. I don't want to rehash what's been said since it happened, but its absolutely worth it to hear Maron hold the aging act storm off when confronted with the reality of his offensive material. Who knew Gallagher could be so crotchety and difficult? All right, I'll admit, it was pretty funny.

Not only is Maron working tirelessly as a regular performer, but he has an amazing relationship with his audience and fans, keeping an amazingly consistent presence online, whether it be the WTF site, his own page archiving his career, or through his as-it-happens twitter feed. To boot, he has been known to barter with fans after shows for his merchandise, accepting (until recently) homemade baked goods, knitted things and other miscellanea in lieu of payment for his content through both Android and IOS apps. The guy is up on the tech, as well.

Seriously, look at how much I just wrote about how great this podcast is, even after that miserable intro about how tired I was. That's how amazing the show is, that it pushed me right through the fatigue and off to the far end of this page. If you're still reading this, go download an episode, starting with someone you're familiar with. It's a great way to get started with this excellent podcast. I"m glad I did.

Mr. Pilkington, I Presume...

Evening, all.


I write this over the counter in my kitchen, having cleaned my apartment from top to bottom. Why the obsessive-compulsive fit of action, you ask? Partly genetics, but honestly it's the damn blizzard again. I know I shouldn't have mentioned it in that post about storms and Warm Fuzzy Viewings, see what happens when you get over confidant? Regardless, here I am, having gone stir crazy and Lysol-intensive, meticulously scrubbing away at phantom spots on my counter while the snow piles up outside. I can barely see across the street, it's that intense. My cabin fever (and a decent bottle of cab) has driven me slightly mad while I clean, so while I don't have a proper column to speak of I can at least impart what has been the saving grace of the day - An Idiot Abroad, with Karl Pilkington!

Karl, one of the regular participants on Ricky Gervais' podcasts and the ensuing Ricky Gervais Show, Karl is the kind of person whose mind you absolutely marvel at while it operates. Gervais' podcast (and the show created from it) rely primarily on Gervais and Stephen Merchant picking his brain and seeing what is happening in his orange shaped head. While it absolutely comes across as cruel or teasing, it is done, as all involved attest, in nothing but good humor and comraderie. Pilkington is either absolutely insane and sheltered or bizarrely insightful - asking questions that will stop the conversation in its tracks or make you question whether you were even speaking on the same subject.


Having tormented Karl for several years and determined he had no interest in leaving England at all, Gervais and Merchant realized a fantastic travel show could be created through sending Pilkington to the Seven Wonders of the World and simply filming his thoughts and experiences. The primary conceit for the show is that Karl is unhappy in his surroundings and often muses on his experiences through his own bizarrely centric view. On seeing the Taj Mahal - "Well, I figure you'd rather live in a hole and see a palace, then live in a palace and have to see a hole." It does make sense in a certain light, but seeing him in action, having crossed all of India and having that be his only remark? Brilliant, as Gervias would summarize. 


A friend of mine had extolled the virtues of this show after I had asked if he had seen the Ricky Gervais show. One good thing leads to another, apparently. Having set the DVR the night before, my better half and I awoke today to a massive snowstorm and no plans to speak of. So, the day ahead of us, we made breakfast, lunch and dinner from scratch, cleaning the entire condo top to bottom in the meanwhile, all with An Idiot Abroad playing in the background. Both painfully hysterical and oddly engaging as a travel show, it was a wonderfully distracting thing to have on while going about a home-bound day. Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, take in the wonder that is Mr. Pilkington - be it through the podcasts, the phenomenal and painfully funny show or the Idiot Abroad. They're all too good to be missed.


I'll give a more proper column when we've shoveled our way out of Hoth.


Till then, stay warm.

Childish Antics

Continuing in the theme of TV/music duality, I present another post on something that deserves bigger press.

Behold, Mr. Donald Glover! 

Mr. Glover is the actor who plays Troy on the absolutely fantastic Community. He also does stand up, was a writer for the unparalleled 30 Rock and starred in the indie hit Mystery Team, produced by his comedic troupe Derrick Comedy. All of this is only secondary to today's column, though, as the thing I want you to know about (aside from the awesomely funny things he acts in) is his musical endeavors under the moniker Childish Gambino.

 I had seen Donald on Community and found him to be incredibly funny. So when I saw he was on the Nerdist podcast last spring I was surprised to hear him talk about his music career in addition to his comedy and acting. Conveniently they played one of his songs, the grandstanding 'Hero', at the end of the episode. I was really surprised by what I heard and sought out his blog (I Am Donald, where he posts his music, things he loves and videos of his material, NSFW) and downloaded his songs. Apparently professional acting, stand up and writing for one the funniest shows on TV wasn't enough to scratch the creative itch for Donald, since he has been rapping and making music since his teens. Having released an album titled 'Sick Boi' (after his rap crew), a pair of surprisingly good self-produced mixtapes (I Am Just A Rapper 1&2), and another album, 'Poindexter', he established a style and voice for himself that stands out from the crowd. After the excellent but brief mixtapes he released one after the other, last year he put out an entire album, 'Culdesac', for free. It's available here, check it out. 

One of the most charming and fun things about his work as a rapper is his use of so many indie samples to construct his beats and songs. Hearing him rap over Grizzly Bear changes the whole tone of the original song, 'Two Weeks', for me. I actually prefer it with the Childish Gambino vocals on top. It's a positive and energetic take on the oddball song. Sleigh Bells have been used to super-rad effect, as well. I have to wonder what the New York duo think when Childish Gambino starts rapping over the massive opening drums of 'New Prince'. For an interesting effect, he leaves the original vocal track on the entirety of 'Infinity Guitars', so the Sleigh Bells singing sounds like it's always been in the background. For me it takes a bad ass song and makes it more bad ass.

Often times when you get a comedian or actor making music it comes off as contrived or diluted, more like a vanity project (I'm looking at you, Billy Bob, Keanu and Russell). Not so with Glover. Here was a young guy sounding passionate and displaying an intelligence and wit that you rarely see in mainstream hip hop, let alone someone who isn't grinding away at it as their only career. This was just one of many gigs for Donald and he was handling it better than a lot of his contemporaries. The energy and intensity he brings to his music feels much more natural and easy than some of the forced bravado you come across in modern hip hop - it's strange to find yourself surprised to hear someone enjoy what they're doing for a change. That's the great thing about Glover doing this - he does it for the love he has for music, not to become successful, instead of the other way around. 

Take just a short trip through Google and you'll soon see more than a few comparisons to Lil Wayne's delivery and Kanye's swagger. While these comparisons aren't far off the mark in some cases, I still feel like Glover has his own voice, so long as he doesn't spend his time boasting about all he's accomplished in life. Then again, what is hip hip with out the occasional bragging, right? Any kind of success, especially in the public forum, takes a confidence and self-assured nature on even the smallest level. When you are given free range to write about your life, especially in a field where boasting is so common (some would say integral), it's going to come up. Hopefully your ability as a wordsmith can overcome the crutch that is bragging for bragging's sake, which inevitably comes across as empty talk. Regardless, the tone with which Glover raps is great - listen to Culdesac and the mixtapes enough and you really get a larger sense of not only who he is but how he sees himself in the world. Happy to have found success, he continues to grind away solely for the joy of it and sounds phenomenal doing it.

Using both live instruments and a great array of samples to record Culdesac, Glover created an album whose tones and feels change from song to song, allowing for a variety of styles to shine. However this musical schizophrenia prevents any one of these styles from really having an enduring opportunity to shine. It's an album that's both amazing and beguiling for this very reason - you hear this great song, like 'I Be On That' and then the next song can be such an abrupt shift in style that you get frustrated everything is so different. An amazingly well crafted opener, Different, starts with just a sparse, repeating piano and military drums, Glover rapping about feeling different or isolated. It's a fantastic way to start the album, if only the rest of the tone followed suit in such an intensely introspective manner. But the style changes, as the next track (the previously mentioned 'Hero') starts with blaring, bombastic horns and Glover starts to rap about his success and accomplishments. Down the line, the smooth and sultry 'So Fly' follows the light and indie-ish 'Got This Money', furthering the strange combinations of tone. 

I write all this and it sounds harsh, but I really do think what he's doing is fantastic, if for no other reason than his passion for it. Here's someone who is doing just fine (he's actually terribely funny) but makes all this awesome hip hip just because he loves it. On top of that - it's totally free. He puts it all online, on his blog, along with remixes and material his fans submit using his beats or accapellas. There's also a new mixtape coming up and from the track he's previewed it sounds like he's only getting better. Hopefully he won't get sidetracked with one of his other 30 careers first. Check him out. 

Nerd Alert!

Well, hello there!

Today, in a move of geeky self-awareness, I want to tell you about an excellent multi-media presence in our world. The thing I speak of is the Nerdist podcast. The brain child of Chris Hardwick, known for his appearances on G4 and Chelsea Handler (or for those of us who watched MTV in the 90s, hosting Singled Out with Jenny McCarthy), the Nerdist podcast was first made available February 8th of 2010. Hardwick, who had at the time just started hosting Web Soup, a you-tube heavy spin off of The Soup, wanted an outlet for talking to friends and fellow comedians about things they found to be nerdy or worthy of geeking out over. The general idea was to find things that were worthy of obsession and passion to specific audiences and bring it a more public view, be it comedians they felt people needed to know about, or personalities who were changing the landscape of distribution and what it means to have a career being an artist, like Scott Sigler or Jonathon Coulton. Enlisting his friends, fellow comedian Jonah Ray and tech-savvy Matt Mira, they launched both the podcast and a blog to evangelize the world on their nerdist views. 

Each episode is roughly an hour and features a guest of the week, typically recorded in Hardwick's home along with Raye and Mira. Fair warning, there is more than a moderate sprinkling of profanity, just in case your ears are allergic to that sort of thing. Topics and guests range from voice actor extraordinaire Billy West (known for voice work on shows like Futurama, Doug and Ren & Stimpy) to Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame, to Mixed Martial Artist Jason 'Mayhem' Miller (host of MTV's Bully Beatdown) to Rob Zombie (of Rob Zombie fame). Hardwick, Raye and Mira spend the duration of the show  both interviewing and joking with their guests, to great success and amusement. While critics of the show have accused the hosts of fawning over whoever they bring on, Hardwick defends his enthusiasm as just that - he prefers to have guests whose company he actually enjoys and wants to learn about. As he posited in one of the episodes, why would he want to have to talk to someone for an hour, in his own home mind you, whom he can't stand? In several episodes Hardwick relates his own struggles with negativity and how he tries to see the best in everything, and his show's perspective and method of guest selection follows that ideology.

Each interview provides insightful glimpses into the minds and processes of each guest. It's fascinating to hear Drew Carrey talk about what it was like to do the Tonight show with Johny Carson and how it could literally open up your career overnight, or hear Stan Lee (of Marvel Comics legend) talk about where the ideas for characters and plots originated. At one point Hardwick had an opportunity to interview Ozzy Osbourne for an unrelated piece and they hit it off well enough that he put up the whole interview for that week's episode. Who knew Ozzy was a massive Dr. Who fan? In a particular instance of absurdist humor, Hardwick interviews the Muppets, yes those Muppets, and asks questions like they're normal, everyday people. Hearing someone give a straight-faced interview with Fozzy, Kermit and Gonzo is bizarre, to say the least. 

With the podcast updating every week and Hardwick and  Ray tweeting about things in between their respective gigs as professional comedians, eventually the concept started to get too large for just them to run on their own. To satisfy the demand for content and consistency, they reached out to writers they admired and had them take the reigns on the Nerdist blog, which I've had a link to on my own site since it's beginning. It was a stroke of genius for Hardwick, as he wanted to keep up the steady stream of content and writing without it becoming a time-sink for his own life. The result? We get new episodes every week, the blog is updated on a frequent basis and non of the content flags due to disparate schedules or obligations. Anything from bizarre news stories to sightings of the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile end up on the blog, which is always a good read. The podcast stays consistently awesome as well. Check out some of the guests they've had: 


Kevin Smith
Ozzy Osbourne
Bill West
Marc Maron
Sarah Silverman
Greg Fitzsimmons
Brian Posehn
Mike Birbiglia
Rain Wilson
Bill Maher
Fred Willard
Jim Gaffigan
Joel Mchale
Andy Richter


See that? See how many awesome, amazing people they've had on? Here's the best part: all these hysterical, entertaining and insightful podcasts are FREE. That's right, no cost! Go for it! Download them on itunes or off their blog. There is something for everyone, I guarantee it.

What I should have said was nothing...

Last night I finished reading Sleepwalk with Me. It's a charmingly disarming collection of personal anecdotes from Mike Birbiglia which incorporates elements of both his one man show of the same title, and longer, more intricate versions of some of his bits from his comedy career.

I first found out about Monsieur Birbiglia from the strange and wonderful stand-up compilation Invite Them Up, wherein he has ten minutes of very witty material. Mike is the kind of comedian that makes you think "Maybe there are some very funny people in my life that just haven't been given the proper forum..." I say this because he makes me think of quiet coworkers that one day say something in just the right manner that you realize "Oh my God, this guy is hysterical, how is he not harnessing this untapped ability?" The good thing is that Mike was also aware of this and has made a varied and prolific career out of being charming and funny. His albums are fantastic, not a bit of filler on them. He's also contributed pieces to This American Life on a semi-consistent basis, as well as The Moth Podcast, each time displaying his seemingly innate ability to make the incredibly personal quite relatable.


In his book Sleepwalk with Me he jumps around in roughly autobiographic order, sharing stories that both explain who he is and where his jokes and perspectives originate. For a comedy fan like myself it was astoundingly enjoyable to see in greater detail where his bits had their roots. It was refreshingly honest, especially for today's world of unending irony and hipper-than thou self awareness. Reading Mike's book, you feel like it's just a friend of yours telling you about his life as though you'd known someone a long time but had never really learned about their history. He has a very unique way of telling a story, with an amusingly drawling diction that, when read in that same voice, is very much like he's in the room with you. I just can't say enough positive things about this book. Hey, it's even a quick read, which is a nice change of pace from some of the more esoteric door-stops I've tackled lately.


The book itself is derived from his one man show that centers around a particularly traumatic incident. It stems from a sleep disorder in which his body still moves and acts out his dreams even though it should be still (Sleepwalking, duh). On my initial read-through I was uncertain how he chose the structure and framing device for all of the isolated anecdotes, until I reached the final chapter. It then dawned on me that the entire book is an incredibly detailed preamble/back-story for this one bad incident. Upon realizing this, my head exploded.


That's why he's a great story teller - you don't realize you've been led down a prim-rose path until you're in the thick of it and suddenly it becomes apparent that everything has been set in particular places on purpose and there was little, if any, wasted space. His ability to share the devastatingly honest and painful parts of his childhood, all the way to his professional endeavors (and failures) makes you appreciate the fact that he has found success on his terms. Birbiglia knows his strengths and his weaknesses and has made both work for his life's purpose.


In particular, there is a story from the latter half of the book he shared on the Moth podcast, in which he details the painful and difficult (as though there's any other kind) end to a long and meaningful relationship. It's an experience that reminds the reader how breakups are hard on us not just for the loss of a relationship, but that we may be holding someone back from being a better person. Thankfully I've been in a wonderful and committed relationship for years, but it's a reminder that you should always strive to be the best person you can, not just for yourself but to allow those you love to grow to be the people they want to be as well. Reading it (and hearing him tell it, which made it even more funny and uncomfortable, simultaneously) made me appreciate the better half that I'd found, and I am thankful every day that I have someone so wonderful to share my life with.


It's a good thing when you pick up a book looking for a fun and quick read, only to put it down in the end with the realization that you've learned something about yourself through another person's experience.