The Podiwan Review 5 – Nerdist

The totally plugged in and constantly available on every podcast known to man nerdist himself, Chris Hardwick ( @nerdist ) is a charming host and an expert snark. He knows everybody in the business including Weird Al Yankovic @alyankovic and Thomas Lennon @thomaslennon (Officer Dangle from Reno 911) and, 'get of gets', he got Stan Lee on a recent podcast doing a Q & A at the NAB in Las Vegas. He does especially well with quick witted people whose minds are razor sharp and amphetamine fast and willing to go way down the path to make a premise pay off. EPs run about an hour and are sitting in the living room comfortable with one or two guests.

True to Nerdist ideals the talk centers on tech but quickly devolves to comedy, popular culture, food, pitch meetings and the issues of writing comedy. My favorite episode was Adam Savage @donttrythis from the Mythbusters TV show. This EP was done in front of a live audience (at UCB, I think) and Savage did his first ever stand up and killed. I was never not interested. Least favorite was the Muppets. It seemed staged (duh) and lacked the rapier repartee that I enjoy most about Hardwick.  However, it was interesting enough to listen to all the way through.

Hardwick also tours doing stand up, recently opening for Joel McHale (the Soup). There are days when the nerdist earns the Explicit warning label at iTunes willingly using marine style language to bludgeon the conversational subject into submission, but mostly, his command of the language allows him to work only slightly blue. He’s a sharp guy and the podcast educates and challenges the listener.  Then, as a payoff for the work, it also makes you laugh.

There are only 14 podcasts in the library at this point, but the venture is new and a fresh podcast goes up every week. Sometimes there's an extra bonus podcast.  All EPs are available at iTunes and on the Nerdist website.




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? – Regularly

The Podiwan Review 4 – Comedy and Everything Else

Jimmy Dore, Stef Samorano and, as an uncredited regular, Todd Glass get together and talk about, guess what, Comedy and Everything Else @caeeshow. I’ll start right up front by saying, generally, I don’t get Todd Glass. For me, he’s not funny. He’s loud, he interrupts everybody (hosts and guests alike) for what he thinks is a good point but what turns out to be not really.

Have you ever had a conversation with somebody and they say something like, “I know just what you mean,..” and then go on to say something that tells you that they really didn’t get what you said because it was so off point that you have to wonder if he’s that far off on purpose of if he’s just not that bright. This is how I perceive Todd Glass. That said, I know people who really like Glass, I’m just not one of them.

On the other hand, Jimmy Dore and Stef Samorano seem to be levels above Todd. I get the impression that at times, they look at each other with knowing glances when Todd misses something and they know there’s comedy in his obtuse density. They occasionally poke at him for each other’s entertainment knowing that Todd either won’t hear it because he’s more interested in what he’s saying about himself or that it will sail over him. But this is me putting my impressions over the top of it. I also see from their website that Todd has left the show but there are quite a few shows in the library that include his "comedy stylings".


Dozens of great guests have appeared on the show, including Jim Gaffigan, Jimmy Pardo. Sara Silverman, Janeane Garofalo, Chris Hardwick, Doug Benson, Patton Oswalt, Paul F Tompkins, etc. The conversations are topical and unstaged. Jimmy and Stef know how to engage the guests and keep things moving. I’m always happy to hear that people who make their living being funny also seem to be politically aware. This show reminds us, through the topics of conversation, that comedians are keen observers of not only their industry but of popular culture. 88 shows are available in the backlog and they’re downloadable on iTunes, and several other new media outlets. As long as Todd isn’t there, the show is 3 out of 4 stars with highlight moments popping out of the 2 hour shows every 10 or 15 minutes.

I don't always get a warm fuzzy off of Jimmy, but I was never once put off by him either.  I think Dore would go out of his way to make a person feel comfortable and that is, after all, the hallmark of a good host. 

Stef seems pleasant and maybe a little like the funny chick at the party who you'd do if the really hot chicks turned out to like good looking wealthy guys with expensive cars instead of pale puffy overweight stoners with a great D&D story about orcs and fairies and Cheetos dust on their shirts.


My rating scale
Is this podcast entertaining? - Sometimes
Am I likely to listen to the next podcast? – If I’m out of other podcasts
Do I recommend this podcast to friends? –Not so far

The Podiwan Review 3 – Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show

A person can fly from Dallas to Houston and back again on a single podcast if one listens to Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show (KPCS). The current record holder for show length on KPCS is about 3 hours but the average is two and a half. A single guest,.. two and a half hours; with an intermission for the host and guest to go see a man about a horse. As incongruous as that sounds with the concept of entertainment, it is actually a good two and a half hours. One can watch or listen live on UStream and recordings of KPCS are available in audio and video.  In addition, all shows are viewable on YouTube and down loadable via iTunes.

Kevin is a jovial host and snarky to his production staff when they gaff or when he hits a lull and needs a target. A lot of what Kevin says starts with “I,..” or “For me” and it seems at times to be self aggrandizing. I don’t mind that so much, but I'm not keen on the barely veiled demi-contempt he lets out in Freudian belches to his staff from time to time. Not real insults as much as tweaks and pinches. They are his posse and he is their leader and by pissing on them from time to time, he lets them, the guest and us know it. And truthfully, its usually funny. Also, like a kidnapper, he alternates between sour and sweet with the staff and you can see he genuinely likes them except when something doesn't go smoothly.


Long as the show is, the best part of KPCS is actually the length. All guests everywhere who promote something have 7 minutes of stage persona that they use on every show. They all have an extra 7 minutes they use if they have to go 2 segments and many of them even have another 7 minutes that they can use at cocktail parties.  But nobody has 2 hours of chat.  On KPCS, sooner or later they run out of persona and you start to see the edges of person. By the end of the show, you’ve gotten a pretty good glimpse behind that person's curtain.


Kevin has three standard games he plays with every guest; Tweet 5, played several times per episode, in which the guest answers 5 rapid fire this or that type questions provided by the tweeterverse, and The Larry King Game, played at the end of the show as a closer. The basic premise of the Larry King game is that LK is an old guy and sooner or later he’s gonna say something about himself that reveals too much. The guest does a bad Larry King voice, reveals something about himself (as Larry King) and then throws it to the phone, hopefully with a funny sounding place name. An example: “I have a testicle in each leg of my pants and they tickle the backs of my knees. Taint, Virginia, you’re on the air.”  The third game is Paris, Demi or Oprah in which the guest competes against Kevin trying to discern who of the three afore mentioned celebs tweeted a particular statement.

The format (and set) is largely lifted from Charlie Rose and the opening monologue is all Tom Snyder.  Guests are mostly friends from the world of comedy, poker buddies, personalities of the new media and the occasional iconic star.  All are dissected and examined as fully as possible or necessary,… and really, it won’t seem like 2 hours when you’re done.


There are 47 episodes of KPCS available in the library and lots of edits pieces are available on YouTube.

 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

The Podiwan Review 2 – Doug Loves Movies

Who doesn’t love Doug Benson (Super High Me, Comedy Central and numerous TV appearances? I mean really. The guy is just a big stoned teddy bear and his podcast is little more than a semi organized excuse to joke around and hang out and play a couple of party games for no prizes over 45 minutes with his invited guests (mostly from the stand up community) and to occasionally talk about movies. Recorded live at UCB Theater in LA or the Irvine Improv, Doug’s SOP is to spend a couple minutes warming up the crowd and introducing the guest(s) and then to have a brief conversation that starts with, “So, you guys seen any movies lately?” Depending upon the answer to that question, the next 20 minutes may or may not be about movies but they will be funny minutes. Then comes the Leonard Maltin game (“Name that Movie”, loosely based on “Name That Tune”) in which @dougbenson gives clues and a reverse order (bottom to top) listing of actors to see who can name the movie. Not surprisingly, most of his guests, who by the way are competing for members in the audience, don’t know shit about movies and the inherent breakdown in this situation is always entertaining. The occasional guest will be surprisingly good at this game (Jerry O’Connell is freaky good at it). Sometimes there is enough show left to try an alternative game like Build a Title. Again, this is just an excuse to talk about movies and make off the cuff jokes. Bottom line is, it’s fun and funny and Doug forgets a lot of shit because he smokes dope all the freaking time and everybody knows it. But he's a jovial host and he knows how to keep a show interesting and entertaining.


Is this podcast entertaining? - Yes
Am I likely to listen to the next podcast? - Yes
Do I recommend this podcast to friends? –Yes
My rating scale

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

My God: The Interweb

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