The Podiwan Review - This About That

Recently, I was asked why it was that I liked every podcast I reviewed. As it turns out, of the twenty some podcast reviews written, only 2 of them were negative and one other review included a negative couple of paragraphs about a comic but not that podcast.

Here's why.

I listen to a lot of podcasts.  I make a point of listening to new podcasts because I write this review blog.  I made a rule for myself that I wouldn't write a review for any podcast based on one single show.  I listen to at least 3 and I try to pick from the episodes of a podcast: one from the early attempts, one from the middle and one that is most recent.  That way, I'm not posting an opinion about somebody's pod skills until they've had some time to work out the kinks.  But what that means is I have to listen to 3 podcasts of a lot of things I don't like if I want to write a review and honestly, sometimes it really only takes one for me to know I don't like it and the second one confirms it. So, no third podcast gets listened to for some of them and as such, I haven't met my own rules for minimum threshold to write a review.

That's why most of the reviews are positive.  I'm human and I want to enjoy what I listen to and if I don't enjoy it, I tend to stop listening.

But, for the record, here are some short reviews of podcasts that I 'm not currently recommending.

Mohr Stories - Jay Mohr has a reputation in the industry as a hard guy to get along with.  I don't know him so I don't know, but there are times when I listen to him when I think he's kind of a dick.  Other times, he's pretty funny.   But he has burned a lot of bridges in show business and as such he has a hard time getting A and B list guests.  He has some very good guests and he has some really boring guests. He dominates conversation and most often talks about himself rather than the guest but it is called Mohr Stories and some of them are funny.  The show isn't horrible.  In fact, it isn't even bad... it's doesn't rise to the level that I choose it over a bunch of other stuff I listen to.  On the plus side, Jay filled in for Kevin Smith on the Hollywood Babble-On Podcast with  Ralph Garmin and killed.  It was their best show of the year.

Girl on Guy with Aisha Tyler - Another one-on-one interview show.  Ms.Tyler is not a terribly adept interviewer but she's getting better as the shows go forward.  I may continue to listen to her as she gets some decent guests, but she's not really breaking new ground and the shows don't rise to a level where they stand out from the clutter.  She's nice enough and as a veteran comic she knows where the joke is, but this is straight up interview so really, all things being equal I can't recommend it over something better.  Again, not bad, but not really worth the effort and there's just too much other stuff to listen to that is better.

You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes - Wow is Pete irritating in large doses.  He's funny in small doses so maybe we can just keep it that way.

Cashing In With TJ Miller - The concept / joke of this show is that Cash Levy can't get any guest but TJ Miller.  He interviews TJ over and over again.  If either one of them were more interesting it might be worth sitting though waiting for TJ to be funny.  Sometimes he's very funny, but mostly, it's just two guys talking.

The Long Shot Podcast - This is a conversational style podcast with the same folks each episode (mostly) and the occasional sketch.  One of the names on the marquee is Eddie Pepitone.  I like Eddie Pepitone.  He's funny.  I go out of my way to find stuff with him in it.  But with this podcast, when he's not in it, it just drags.  When he's not there, the show is a dog.  I've tried to let the other regulars engage me but they just don't.  In comedy the worst crime is being boring.  This podcast, without Pepitone, has yellow tape all around it. This is one that I will continue to monitor because I want it to be better and I'm hoping that it will get there.

Penn's Sunday School - I like Penn and Teller's whole thing, but this is not that.  This is another two guys talking style show with Penn and one of his buddies (Michael Goudeau) and they also have some guests.  Subjects are the ripped from the headlines kind.  Penn lines up politically and socially with the kind of stuff I believe and feel strongly about, but he's not capturing my attention.  I listened to half a dozen shows and didn't have more than a few engaged minutes out of the whole lot.  Also, Penn's voice gets weirdly grating after about 20 minutes.

Pop My Culture - Two people interviewing show business types for 60 to 90 minutes each episode.  Marginally entertaining but not enough to choose them over something else.

Talkin Walkin - Kevin Pollak does a great Christopher Walken impression.  It's funny,.... for a little bit.  It isn't funny for every episode in this podcast.  Pollak has a conversation with a guest "interviewer" and he does it as Chris Walken.  Fun for a little while. But really, one the shine wears off, it's just Kevin Pollak talking to a friend in a voice.  Mildly amusing at best. Bemusing more often than not.


Back in the 70's during Cable TV's infancy, there was a time when all you needed was a camera and some electricity and you could have a cable TV show.  There were lots of shows and most of them were crap.  The good stuff survived, the crap washed away and the corporate world found a way to monetize those things we would sit still long enough for that they could put a shoe ad on it.  Now we're in that place for podcasts.  This is the wild pod west.  A few years ago Ricky Gervais found a thick podcast vein of humor and gold.  They built a Deadwood like town on that vein and now the town is populated with a thousand new arrivals a day trying to dig out some nuggets of their own.  Early pioneers like Chris Hardwick, Scott Aukerman, Doug Benson, and Adam Carolla are the Al Swearengens, Alma Garretts and George Hearsts of the new podsplosion.  Their creating podcast networks and encouraging every bit of growth they can find, but here's something to consider....

Oppenheimer, head of the Manhattan Project and father of the atomic weapons dropped on Japan, was famously quoted as saying (paraphrasing) "Just because we can do something doesn't exactly mean that we should do it."   Just because everybody can have a podcast doesn't mean that everybody should have a podcast.  I love the idea that there is something for every niche you can think of and there are no limits to who can sit with a mic or a camera and create their own content.  The unforgivable sin is boring the crowd and with so much stuff available to listen to and a finite number of hours to listen or watch committing such a sin should damn that podcast to the silenced central ring of the inferno.

OK, that's a bit dramatic given that I'm talking about podcasts.

Bottom line. So many podcasts, too little time.  If it doesn't rise to the level of interesting; if it doesn't stand out from the noise and the hum of just people talking, frankly, I have other things to do.

The Podiwan Review 10 – Joe Rogan

This review was posted 5/21/10.  A newer, more up to date review was recently posted on 6/18/11. READ IT

Let me start by saying that in general I like Joe Rogan.  I've seen him do his stand up live and I've watched him on comedy central. I remember him from NewsRadio and his color commentary for UFC MMA fights.  Joe puts on a good show.  He writes good bits and there is an economy to his stand up that bespeaks a guy who has honed his craft to the point where he doesn't make rookie mistakes.  It isn't always laugh out loud funny but it usually comes from a reasonable point of view and there is humor to be had.

That being said, I was really disappointed in the Joe Rogan Podcast.  It wasn't often funny and it was almost never anymore interesting than listening to a couple of guys talk about shit.  Any two guys about any kind of shit.  No real point, no real direction and the only point of view seems to be "The Vast Conspiracy" that Rogan subscribes to that involves just about everybody from the government, to corporations, to individuals, to cabals of every size, type and description.  It was really sad that the only times these conversations became even remotely interesting, Rogan was driving at high speed into tin foil hat territory with a death grip on the wheel and his eyes set to "crazy wide".

Readers of this blog may remember that when discussing Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier's SModcast, I described it as just two guys talking about shit.  The enormously important difference between Rogan's podcast and Smith's SModcast is that Smodcast is funny through and through, interesting front to back, is usually about something.  Also, and pretty damn importantly, SModcast steers clear of "bat shit crazy".  Rogan's show is or does none of those things.  My brain hurt when I got done listening to the last one.  I'm at the point now where I kinda doubt I will ever have interest in listening to Rogan's podcast again.  However, if you are the kind of person who subscribes to every wacko conspiracy out there and you don't require a logical through line on your commentary, you will probably like this show.

Rogan has 21 podcasts posted on iTunes and I listened to 5.  I really wanted to give him a chance.  I really wanted to like it because I like him. But the podcasts were, at best boring and at worst cringe inducing and made me question my opinion of Rogan in general.  It reminds me of the early days of cable access when anybody with a camera and a basement felt like they could make a show even if they didn't have a point of view or anything interesting to say.  A lot of those shows just weren't worth doing.

And this isn't to say that Joe doesn't have a point of view.  On the website for his podcast http://blog.joerogan.net/# he blogs well and often.  Sometimes it's funny (he is after all a comedian) and sometimes it's a full blown rant, but there's always a point of view.  And that adds to my disappointment and confusion about his podcast as the show was just stoners being boring, ill informed or crazy.

On a technical note, Joe has audio/video equipment and computer hardware/software issues.  Some of the difficulty stems from the fact that Mr. Rogan may be smoking just a little too much pot to be fully functional.  Also, it may be that he just doesn't give a shit.  He seems to have all of the microphones, computers, cameras and streaming software he needs and his friend Brian Redban is usually there to help with it all.  But even together, their grasp of the tech isn't really up to snuff when something goes wrong (and something went wrong on nearly every show I listened to.)

My Rating Scale

Did I enjoy it - BIG NO

Would I listen to the next one - Seems unlikely

Would I recommend it to a friend - nope, sorry.

The first Podiwan Review – Smodcast

Available on iTunes and at smodcast.com and viewaskew.com, SModcast is the brain child of writer director actor Kevin Smith @thatKevinSmith and his best friend and producer, Scott Mosier. He’s written and directed (and been a featured actor) in a string of hit (and near miss) movies and his writing style is very much his talking style. Banter, banter and more banter. And when that fails, bizarro movie ideas, dick jokes and references to anal sex flow like water. His partner in this, Scott, is more circumspect in his contributions. No less witty, but more guarded.
 These are the conversations they would have even without a microphone. SModcast was recently shown to be one of the most popular podcasts available on iTunes. Smodcast doesn’t have guests per se, but from time to time somebody will sit in for Scott like Kevin’s wife Jennifer Schwalbach (former USA/Today writer), Walter Flannigan, Bryan Johnson, Malcolm Ingram and Jason Mewes (Jay of Jay and Silent Bob) all of whom are childhood friends and who also owe their livelihoods to Smith. There have been podcasts that included nearly all of those names but normally, it is only two or three voices in the room. SModcast is also occasionally taken on the road and recorded before a live audience (LIVE Nude Smodcast). Kevin claims to be a guy who hates to go out, but truly, he comes alive in front of a crowd and the live shows are generally better by an order of magnitude.

I am comfortable with the average guy-ness of both Smith and Mosier. However, this is not a podcast for kids or those who are easily offended. The talk turns smutty almost from the beginning and stays in the gutter through to the end. Subjects include sex in all of it’s variations, crime, punishment, crime and punishment as they pertain to sex (both as crime and as punishment), Smith’s sex life, drugs, movie making, agoraphobia, food, travel and just about anything else. There are times when Smith and Mosier can downright pound a subject into the ground before finally releasing it, but, by and large, the conversations are real, fun and engaging. It is, as much as is possible, like sitting in a room with Kevin and Scott while they horse around and discuss,... stuff. As a final note, SModcast is not a place of factual, technical or historical accuracy. In fact, inaccuracy and common misconceptions seem to be a stock in trade. Smith and Mosier know the movie business inside and out, but as for nearly everything else, they are as lost as the rest of us and more so then many.
My rating scale
Is this podcast entertaining? - Yes
Am I likely to listen to the next podcast? - Yes
Do I recommend this podcast to friends? –Yes