Podcasts decamp to L.A. Pod Fest, the Tompkast blitzes, and SpongeBob meets Maron

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QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“It’s not so much what you’ve done, it’s what you haven’t done. The Nobel Peace Prize has become a celebration in restraint.” —John Oliver, The Bugle

“It’s a very large, un-gratifying rebus, which is also, by the way, my dancer name.” —Greg Proops, The Smartest Man In The World

“Most of my crew have been man-murdered by Murdermen. Some, however, have been Murder-manned.” —James Urbaniak as an embattled spaceship captain, The Thrilling Adventure Hour

“I’m a hoax. I’ve gotten away with comedy murder. All I do is talk about myself, unravel myself onstage, get off, and they pay me.” —Richard Lewis, Never Not Funny

“You dress like you’re on an Andy Williams summer special.” —Richard Lewis to Jimmy Pardo, Never Not Funny

“Remember that small town you grew up in? Now imagine that’s in the middle of the fucking ocean and you can’t get to the next town. That’s essentially what Hawaii is.” —Jonah Ray, WTF With Marc Maron

“’Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished, as the bard said—Rod Serling.” —Garry Marshall (Paul F. Tompkins), Comedy Bang! Bang!

NEW (TO US)

Citizen Radio
Like an underground Daily Show affiliate with more swearing, less civility, and zero budget, the daily political-comedy talk show Citizen Radio addresses the news of the day with a side-eyed glance at what, how, and why news is reported. Its hosts—investigative reporter Allison Kilkenny and comedian Jamie Kilstein—immerse themselves in political news and human-rights issues in an effort to uncover the truth lying beneath the spin from mainstream media and politicians. One episode interviews a Chicago teacher to address the modest demands of the Chicago Teachers Union and the absurd narrative of greedy, selfish teachers; a string of episodes following the attacks in Libya decries the media’s portrayal of “Muslim rage” and shares the many instances of peaceful Libyans.

The show doesn’t always address the media, however. Recent episodes have praised How To Survive A Plague and Looper, Kilstein has a penchant for enjoyably sophomoric riffs, and the first five minutes are usually spent on non-news items, like cats. For those who view mainstream news and think, “That can’t be right, and surely someone has something funny and insightful to say about it before 11 p.m. ET,” Citizens Radio is a must. [SM]

The Pen Addict
Each week on The Pen Addict—which gets its name from the blog of the same name—Brad Dowdy and Myke Hurley talk pens, paper, and the many joys of pen collecting. Dowdy and Hurley review pens, tell listeners about recent additions to their collections, run down their most wanted pens, and talk up the other merits of various analog writing implements. For the most part, Dowdy and Hurley consider the utilitarian aspects of the pens they review. Thus, when discussing his top pen, the Pilot Vanishing Point, in Episode #19, Dowdy considers its cost ($140!), durability, feel in the hand, and the its overall contribution to his productivity. Unsurprisingly, a 40-minute conversation of the finer points of pen design can often struggle to hold listeners’ interest, though the hosts do their best to keep things lively. In Episode #21, for instance, Dowdy and Hurley ban themselves from naming their favorite pens, leading to a mildly absurd episode with the hosts referencing “The Pen That Shall Not Be Named” while they carry on their otherwise serious discussion. Dowdy and Hurley are exhaustive in their musings on their most and least favorite analog writing implements, and the earnestness of their considerations is at the heart of the podcast. [DF]

The Bugle #209: Fifth Birthday Edition
Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver open the show celebrating the podcast’s five-year anniversary, or as Zaltzman says, “half a decade of hogwash.” It’s a brief celebration before they jump on the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union and all the silliness therein. It’s a slow start, but the episode picks up steam when they launch into a very long segment called “Brass Balls” that calls out Vladimir Putin over the Pussy Riot verdicts and hails the bravery of the young Pakistani girl recently shot by the Taliban for her vocal support of education for girls. But just as they seem to veer into more serious waters, Oliver shifts gears into a wonderful spiel about an English rugby player who ruptured a testicle during a match and kept on playing, and then the two rip into Lance Armstrong. It’s a slow burn of an episode, but it packs the same satirical punch. [MG]

Comedy Bang! Bang! #180: Friends Without Words: Gillian Jacobs, Paul F. Tompkins, Lauren Lapkus
This week’s Comedy Bang! Bang! provides a double dose of character work, with Paul F. Tompkins’ Garry Marshall co-hosting the episode and an appearance by Tracy, a “worldly” college senior played by CBB newcomer Lauren Lapkus. Add in the always-game Gillian Jacobs—and more amusing discomfort about her ongoing Words With Friends issues with Scott “The Non-Satanic Mike Wallace” Aukerman—and it’s pretty much a layup for Best. Aukerman and Tompkins have such a great rapport that they could carry the episode themselves, and some of the funniest moments come before Jacobs or Lapkus join the fray. Warning: Tracy’s voice may incite homicidal rages in listeners. It’s part of the joke, but that doesn’t make it less grating. [KR]

The Flop House #112: The Raven
The first Shocktober entry of the season is something of a doozy. Dan McCoy is a bit under the weather, which presumably has something to do with the odd verbal blunders he strews and paths of conversation he pursues throughout the film-analysis portion of the episode. More often than not, they provide comedic fodder for his co-hosts Elliott Kalan and Stuart Wellington, with almost invariably strong results. Longtime listeners will also appreciate the terrific mailbag segment, which proffers one of Kalan’s typically silly jingles taking a darker turn, and two separate listener letters about Castle Freak and, more specifically, the ripping off of “ding dongs.” [CG]

Hang Up And Listen The Truest Yankee Of Them All Edition
This week’s HUAL opens with a wonderfully frisky exchange over the wisdom of the Washington Nationals benching ace pitcher Stephen Strasburg in light of their playoff ouster and continues with Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl talking about the shaky performance of the Men’s U.S. National Soccer team under Jürgen Klinsmann. But the highlight of the hour is a riveting segment with Daniel Coyle, author of Lance’s War and The Secret Race, two books that get inside the doping scandals that have plagued professional cycling. In light of a scathing reports about multiple Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong—who only this week has stepped down from his Livestrong organization and been dumped by Nike—Coyle explains the hows and whys of Armstrong’s extraordinarily sophisticated doping regimen and the teammates who had to acquiesce in order to keep pace. He also brings the lie to the notion that a sport where everyone is on performance-enhancing drugs is somehow a level playing field, when in fact the opposite is true. [ST]

How Was Your Week #84: “Where’s Grandpa?”: Andrew McCarthy, Frank Conniff
Julie Klausner grew up watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 and fawning over the Brat Pack. As a result, her interviews with MST3K’s Frank Conniff and the Brat Pack’s Andrew McCarthy are joys to hear. Conniff recounts the story of how he landed his gig on MST3K after ending up in Minneapolis for a stint in drug rehab. A large part of Conniff’s talk is dedicated to other topics, though it’s fascinating to hear him discuss how MST3K selected movies to mock. In the second half of the show, McCarthy gives a revealing interview not only about his film career, but also about his work as a memoirist and travel writer. The liveliness of the interview with Conniff combined with Klausner’s youthful excitement to talk to McCarthy—who has the distinction of being her first real crush—makes this a great installment. [DF]

The J.V. Club #32: Tig Notaro
Recorded last year and held until after guest Tig Notaro went public with her cancer diagnosis, this episode of The J.V. Club is a hilarious exploration of Notaro’s turbulent adolescence. Her high-school experience was very different from the majority of Janet Varney’s guests, with her being held back multiples times before ultimately deciding to drop out. It’s heartbreaking to hear about how Notaro would put an F at the top of her tests and hand them back to her teachers, but she looks back on the past with a sense of humor. That probably comes from her governing life philosophy that nothing really matters, which may sound bleak, but Notaro gives it a positive spin. The best thing about the episode happens before the dialogue even begins, when Varney says they will be doing a follow-up episode with Notaro in the future. Given how lively and informative this first conversation is, their next should be another highlight for the podcast. [OS]

The Mental Illness Happy Hour #82: Dave Holmes
The Mental Illness Happy Hour gives Paul Gilmartin a weekly exercise in empathizing with a variety of dysfunction and despair. On this episode, Gilmartin finds instant understanding as he meets his long-lost brother in cable interstitial programming and Irish Catholic-cultivated anxiety, Dave Holmes. The two products of controlling Midwestern mothers discuss their struggles with guilt, expressing emotion, and trying to please everyone. Gilmartin and Holmes practically finish each other’s sentences while sharing stories about their restrictive childhoods and years of therapy deprogramming the accompanying shame. The only difference between the pair seems to be their sexual orientation, which gives Holmes an opportunity to tell fascinating anecdotes about accepting his sexuality and being the only out gay person on the entire campus of a small Catholic college. It’s an absorbing conversation between two of the most relentlessly likable people to ever introduce a late-night showing of Independence Day. [TC]

Monday Morning Podcast
Bill Burr describes his mood as “cunty” early on in this week’s episode, and he’s testy (in a good, funny way) when he talks about a recent NFL game and the MLB playoffs, but beyond that bit he seems oddly hyper—almost giddy at points. Case in point: There might be more spontaneous, goofy singing in this episode than in all previous episodes combined—so much singing that even he’s surprised to find himself singing the Alice theme song at one point. That, combined with his obsessing over a pretty obviously fake spoof news article from 2003 about “airborne gonorrhea” despite his typical extreme skepticism almost makes him come across as weirdly endearing, which is rare. The never dull episode is quite funny and certainly the best installment in several weeks. [CG]

The Moth Flora Hogman: My Name, Embroidered
Flora Hogman had her mother taken from her in the Holocaust, and has since become a psychologist, studying how displaced Jewish children like her had their identities brutally scrambled by the experience. Her Moth entry delves not into analysis but rather the process of having her name destroyed and her mother’s memory obscured, as the Catholic nuns sheltering her in France ripped apart items upon which her name was embroidered, in order to hide her Jewish identity from the Nazis. Horrifying as her story is, Hogman uses her subtle telling to chart a recovery of sorts, explaining how she got back some of her sense of self despite losing her mother to Auschwitz. [SG]

My Brother, My Brother And Me #124: This Is Our Rumours
Something magical happens when the McElroy brothers field horse-related Yahoo! Answers questions; something alchemical that makes bits like the one about partisan horses early in this week’s episode transcend the bafflement, frustration, and groan-worthy puns they induce. In other words, this episode gets off to a great start. What follows are all-too-brief anecdotes from Justin’s days as a country-music DJ, multiple accusations of racism, and, keeping with the recent trend, a hilariously filthy advertisement about dildos and “electrosex gear.” It has everything listeners have come to expect from an episode of My Brother, My Brother And Me, with the added bonus of a weird amount of singing (of both the country music and the jingle variety), which makes it all the more silly and delightful. [CG]

Nerdist #270: Larry King
Veteran journalist and media personality Larry King is a bit of a surprise guest for Nerdist, but as his hour with Chris Hardwick reveals, his appreciation of classic comedians has influenced the way he converses. The episode moves at a quick pace, as King dominatess, and rightfully so. His decades in the industry allow him to offer up a wealth of knowledge about television and radio, and his tips on interviewing at the episode’s start give deep insight into his method and thought process. Hardwick is seemingly in awe of King, but for good reason. Most of the episode is spent with Hardwick pointing his guest in a direction and letting him work through it until every aspect has been thoroughly covered. The only disappointment is that the interview is a bit brief compared to some of Nerdist’s recent episodes, but leaving people wanting more is far from a critical fault. [DA]

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Never Not Funny #1117: Living The Dream With Richard Lewis
Whenever Never Not Funny has a celebrity guest, the show becomes more of reverent interview than a light conversation on, say, “traffic trouble on the 105 today.” Richard Lewis has long been one of Jimmy Pardo’s most desired guests, and Lewis’ legendary status and intimidating figure certainly warrant the respect the awestruck room grants him. The joy of the episode comes with the comic’s constant dismissal of the praise, with Lewis pushing of Pardo’s buttons and generally filling in the vacant role of pompous blowhard. As fascinating as Lewis’ perpetually put-upon act is, the breathless stories about his craft, career, and friends in the industry are made even more so by their inextricable link to his past addictions. Hardly the horror show of similar episodes, Lewis remains self-aware enough to make light of his over-sharing, and savvy enough to know when to take a break to put Pardo back on his heels. [SM]

The Pod F. Tompkast #19: Thomas Lennon, John C. Reilly, Dave (Gruber) Allen
The Tompkast sticks it to listeners who complained about infrequent updates with a blast of three full-length episodes in the space of five days, but no one’s complaining. A funny segment from the live show with Dave “Gruber” Allen nicely sets up a long, funny chat with Tom Lennon, who kicks off a one-sided war of words with architect Frank Gehry. The Great Undiscovered Project takes it up a notch, too, with a support meeting for John C. Reilly’s bizarre addiction that reveals other celebrities with baked-good issues. No need to re-litigate this one—the Tompkast returns to form after an off episode a couple weeks back. [KR]

The Pod F. Tompkast #20: Paget Brewster, Jessica St. Clair, John Lithgow, Mr. Brainwash, John C. Reilly
If one sound defines The Pod F. Tompkast, it’s the wheezing laughter of its host. The ceaseless guffaws and the show’s batshit schedule seem to make it clear that the program’s top priority is the sporadic amusement of Paul F. Tompkins. While not all of the symphony of Tompkins’ chuckles in the 20th episode will be shared by its audience, there’s enough impromptu joy to make it worth sitting through the rough patches. Tompkins’ delight at the pitch-pipe ineptitude of Jessica St. Clair turns what would have been a forgettable barbershop “half-quartet” sketch into an infectiously fun listen. A talk with Paget Brewster is meandering, giddy, and wonderful. Sadly, the recent hiatus does not breathe new life into The Great Undiscovered Project, which has become the podcast’s inessential component. [TC]

The Pod F. Tompkast #21: Justin Kirk, Andy Daly, Rich Sommer, Laraine Newman, Ice-T, Garry Marshall, Cake Boss
Alas, the Tompkast’s episode blitz arrives too late to save Animal Practice, whose Justin Kirk stops by for a funny chat with Tompkins. As he also proved on Comedy Bang! Bang! a few weeks back, Kirk is an excellent podcast guest—playful and engaged, which is helped by his long friendship with Tompkins. Another funny sketch from The Paul F. Tompkins Show—a Twilight Zone spoof with a typically scene-stealing cameo from Andy Daly—strengthens what is another strong episode overall. There’s also a strange bit of Comedy Bang! Bang! synchronicity, as both podcasts feature discussion of Tom Bosley and the same quote from Hamlet. [KR]

Sklarbro Country #116: The Sweet’n Low Spot: Greg Fitzsimmons, Chris Cox
Greg Fitzsimmons is yet another comic with a podcast, but since he’s around the same age as the Sklars and also a family man, he fits right into the brothers’ style for detailed autobiographical commentary. The interview before the sports-related material is surprisingly full of laughs where the show often drags. Fitzsimmons consistently makes the Sklars crack up with deliberately contrarian opinions on Lolo Jones’ unintentionally insensitive tweets to paralyzed former Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand, and the choice by NBA 2K13 to put Justin Bieber into the game listed at a comically inaccurate 6-foot-4. [KM]

Sklarbro Country Sklarbro County 21: Colt Cabana, Nick Kroll, Dan Van Kirk
Like a great many entertainers who love sports, or sportswriters who love entertainment (Bill Simmons, Michael Wilbon), the Sklar brothers love talking about pro wrestling. With Colt Cabana, host of the Art Of Wrestling podcast, they can’t even fit in a story before the first commercial break because they can’t stop dishing about pro wrestling. A comedic breakdown of the CM Punk fan-punch incident and a discussion of Tammy Sytch’s slow decline are the episode highlights, and Cabana is such a lively guest that the Sklars promise he’ll be back on the main podcast in the future. [KM]

Sound Opinions #359: Michael Angelakos Of Passion Pit, Review Of Wanda Jackson, Greg’s Desert Island Jukebox
All that’s glitzy, jerky, and frantic about Passion Pit gets pared back in leader Michael Angelakos’ Sound Opinions interview. Even hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot eventually let down their guard as Angelakos talks about his manic depression. Those who don’t take well to the overall feel of Passion Pit’s second album, Gossamer, will find some redeeming melodies and finesse in there as Angelakos plays some of the album’s songs with just voice and piano. Plus, a later segment on Wanda Jackson’s new album makes for a pleasantly dissonant jump between genres. [SG]

Stuff You Should Know How Black Holes Work
Host Josh Clark points out that, empirically speaking, black holes shouldn’t exist because they are technically not visible. Luckily, they are so incredibly invisible that they draw everything perceivable into a defined center and make a big mess of it. This sort of contradiction makes for an excellent episode even though hosts Clark and Chuck Bryant openly whine that they’re not in the mood to talk about it. Their hesitance actually makes the episode incredibly accessible to science lightweights. They introduce un-novas as “The Greta Garbo of black holes,” showing the kind of goofiness that’s rare in a more serious science podcast. The hosts get a little more confused discussing more complex topics like the bending of time in a black hole, but they never stop having fun at the singularity’s expense. [DT]

Stuff You Missed In History Class Madame LaLaurie And The Haunting Of Royal Street
Often referred to as “the most haunted house in America,” the house of Marie Delphine LaLaurie in New Orleans may be haunted more by exaggeration. Co-host Sarah Dowdey allows that Halloween-themed podcasts are no fun without the possibility of a curse, and creepy details are nicely spiced with weird myth. LaLaurie, a vicious slave-owner turned serial killer, held opulent parties at the house, but it was also rumored to be the site of mass torture. Though her own end is rather anticlimactic (a popular rumor has her eviscerated by wild boars), the memories of her frightening home remain no less fascinating.  [DT]

Stuff You Missed In History Class Who Was America’s Lucrezia Borgia?
Mary Frances Creighton was originally a media darling, provocative and defiant in the face of a murder accusation, but when she confessed later to several murders, the formerly adoring press dubbed her “The Black-Eyed Borgia.” That the media felt so betrayed is one of the more interesting aspects of this creepy story, which details how an unassuming housewife and mother of three took up murder (via a mixture of arsenic and chocolate) to collect life insurance. Hosts Deblina Chakraborty and Sarah Dowdey focus on her personality, making her less of a stuffy historical reference than the episode title suggests. The story also coincides with scientific advances in poison detection, and the police investigation makes for the most exciting part of the episode. [DT]

The Thrilling Adventure Hour #92: Cactoid Jim, King Of The Martian Frontier!: Murdermen
Not to reduce James Urbaniak to one role, but it’s always nice to hear him recover a bit of his Venture Brothers histrionics. As a put-upon, nagging space captain, he’s an occasional and welcome surprise on one of Thrilling Adventure’s two parallel Martian-Western serials. He upstages Nathan Fillion in the lead as his ship is stormed by “Murdermen,” interrupting Cactoid Jim’s election campaign. At the very least, Urbaniak’s ridiculous “captain’s journal” is one of the more whimsical diversions the show has pulled of lately. [SG]

Uhh Yeah Dude: #343
An episode that begins with standard UYD fare like the unhappy nexus of Halloween and sexual predation quickly metamorphosizes into that most rare, but most welcome UYD event: Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Larroquette swapping anecdotes and comparing misspent youths in stories both horrific and hilarious. Larroquette's tale of friends who celebrated a near-death experience by taking a victory-nap is worth the price of admission alone, but stick around for formative romantic encounters, mutual anxieties about being poorly read, and the dirt on Larroquette's jaunt in Barcelona. If there's a slight deficit of laughs in this episode, it's more than made up for by the peek behind the curtain. [CW]

Walking The Room #125: Superego
Recorded from a hotel room during the L.A. Podcast Festival, this week’s episode finds Dave Anthony and Greg Behrendt riding high and dirty off the festival’s modest success, which means the dick jokes come quicker and filthier than usual. Enabling their giddy behavior is the crew from Superego—Jeremy Carter, Matt Gourley, and Mark McConville—who not only ably riff along with the hosts, but also use their natural improv skills to craft entire scenes based on a one-liner or passing comment. The resulting mash-up is both brainy and base, revealing how distracting blowjobs could have saved the Allies on Omaha Beach. After an extended riff on Van Halen and before WTR gets “Superego-ed”—a brilliant and mesmerizing piece of improv—the hosts press the guests on their failure to sign a TV deal, made all the more interesting by their charming appearance and curious relationship to the industry. [SM]

Who Charted? #98: A Wordy Ménage: Jensen Karp
Guest Jensen Karp’s second appearance on Who Charted? is every bit as entertaining and engaging as his first. That’s saying a lot given the fact that Karp’s first episode is easily one of the top five best episodes of the podcast’s entire run, if not the best episode, period. This time around, Karp shows off more of his encyclopedic hip-hop knowledge, a subject near and dear to Howard Kremer’s heart. The episode also finishes on a strong note when Jensen relates a few showbiz anecdotes from his days performing novelty rap under the moniker Hot Karl. Although his story about Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson is certainly salacious, his tale of a painfully awkward encounter with Heather Graham is a real gem. [MS]

WTF With Marc Maron #323: Jonah Ray
In this new paradigm of comedy, where podcasts are all aware of each other and comedians make the rounds on the podcast circuit, it seems like everyone has to make nice and act friendly to help each other out. That’s at odds with the inherently paradoxical nature of show business—at once intricately collaborative and competitive—and nowhere is that more apparent than in the Nerdist Network. In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, Marc Maron takes several jabs at that friendly attitude when talking with Nerdist co-host Jonah Ray. Their conversation covers Ray’s upbringing in Hawaii and his early dabbling in punk bands, but the most insightful moments of their chat broach the difficult subject of Maron’s tacit disapproval of Chris Hardwick’s ever-expanding network. [KM]

WTF With Marc Maron #324: Tom Kenny
It’s a teensy bit strange to hear SpongeBob SquarePants say “fuck,” but that’s the only disconcerting part about Marc Maron’s discussion with Mr. Show cast member and voiceover legend Tom Kenny. Kenny is talkative and humble when discussing how his standup beginnings led him to a show that’s responsible for millions of parents enjoying a brief respite (or roll in the hay) as their children are entertained. Maron hasn’t had many voiceover actors on his show, so it’s a little frustrating that he doesn’t go deeper into the everyday life of a cartoon legend, but the podcast does include Kenny’s charming stories about growing up with Bobcat Goldthwait in Syracuse, New York. [CZ]

The Best Show On WFMU
Somehow Tom Scharpling manages to power through this forgettable episode, which is weighed down by the absence of regular callers due to the presidential debate. [AF]

Doug Loves Movies Steve Agee, Zach Galifianakis, Marc Maron, Dave Anthony, And Todd Glass
The fact that Doug Benson opens with an apology for overly visual gags, production snafus, and the fact that Steve Agee and Zach Galifianakis barely get any airtime sets the tone for this disastrous episode. [MS]

Judge John Hodgman The Obligatory Name Drop
Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert guest-bailiffs a pleasant but slight dispute about a woman who wants her older sibling to stop referring to her by her diminutive nickname. [ST]

Mohr Stories #97: Joe McDonnell
Sports-talk veteran Joe McDonnell plies his gravelly monotone in a demonstration of the freedom of sports podcasting, where no subjects are out of bounds, including the best-endowed male athletes, alleged rapes, and gay pros. [DXF]

Mohr Stories #98: Brody Stevens
In a choppy but compelling episode, comedian Brody Stevens and Jay Mohr bond over the life-changing power of anxiety-relieving medications as Stevens dissects a protracted manic episode that started with a Twitter meltdown and culminated in his arrest. [DXF]

Nerdist #269: Lauren Cohan
With the recent return of The Walking Dead, it’s only fitting that Chris Hardwick would invite Lauren Cohan on to discuss the show and her character Maggie. Sadly, the episode is fairly one-note, lacking enough diversity to warrant its length. [DA]

Nerdist #271: Live At JFL42 With Andy Kindler
This episode gets off to a rough start, and when Andy Kindler joins the Nerdist hosts, it does little to get them back on track. The episode picks up in the second half, but doesn’t gain enough steam to merit a listen. [DA]

The Smartest Man In The World #180: Jacksons
Greg Proops takes a while to find a groove at the L.A. Podcast Festival, with a rambling introduction that includes crabbing at a cameraman and talking about parking at the festival. [SG]

Stuff You Should Know How Pizza Works!
Co-host Josh Clark’s annual winter congestion sets in, distracting from an episode that isn’t much more than an ingredients list. [DT]

The Todd Glass Show #68: Family Show
Aside from frequent co-host Daniel Kinno’s stories about his recent trip to Malaysia and Todd Glass’ endless affinity for jingles, nothing of note really happens in this installment. [MS]

Uhh Yeah Dude #344
The live episode from the LA Podcast Festival feels like a missed opportunity. Seth Romatelli keeps mostly mum throughout, leaving the heavy conversational lifting to Jonathan Larroquette. Larroquette, as always, is energized by the crowd, but it's chemistry between him and Larroquette that’s the attraction. [CW]

You Made It Weird #92: Zach Sherwin
Pete Holmes dominates far too much of this discussion with rapper-comedian Zach Sherwin—a.k.a. MC Mr. Napkins—which is frustrating, as Sherwin’s contributions are generally interesting, and Holmes’ rap knowledge doesn’t seem to extend beyond Eminem. [GK]