Okay. Enlighten a newcomer. What’s a normal Doug Loves Movies? Because ever since I started receiving it it seems to be entirely in rented cars and hotel rooms and live shows with people he cannot possibly get on a regular basis (well, he might could get Kumil and Nick, but I assume Sarah is actually busy).
Sarah Silverman’s been on the show tons of times, Brian. She’s actually one of the co-creators of the Leonard Maltin Game.
Recently he’s been trying to do two podcasts a week, so he’s been filling in with those car casts and some studio ones. The “regular” casts are anytime he’s at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles, playing the game as a warm-up to the Comedy Bang Bang night.
As with any podcast, just go back through the archives and if there’s a guest on that you like, listen to it. Although you should DEFINITELY listen to the one with Elizabeth Shue, the one with John Lithgow, and the one with Michael Rooker.
Chritien, if you like the Judge John Hodgman podcast you should check out his audiobooks: “More Knowledge Than You Require” and “Areas of My Expertise”. They have a similar tone to the podcast. Here’s a youtube excerpt:
Any of the ones with TJ Miller are also good.
I tend not to like the in-car and motel ones, the fun of that show is the guests interacting with each other, Doug and the audience.
Wow. I guess I’m just used to the closest thing to a regular job any frequent repeat podcast guest would have is one of two shows on Adult Swim. I’ll have to go back and clean those up.
I’ve tried to get into Comedy Bang Bang and failed (despite the fact that I think I’m required by law to love them because I’m pretty sure that’s Reggie Watts doing their song), but it gets three more strikes.
The latest Comedy Bang Bang wasn’t great. Hit the archives and look for episodes with Paul F Tompkins. Adam Scott and Harris Wittels are also great regular guests. I love Harris’ anti-humor foam corner. The Halloween episode that just came out is pretty bad, though.
The latest Superego is out. It continues to be the Paranormal Activity of podcasts. Ten minutes of being bored followed by a joke so on-target I lose it laughing.
“You know, when you’re a rookie, they can teach you everything about bein’ a cylon except how to live with a mistake.”
CBB has really hit a rough patch for the past couple of months, with the exception of any time Paul F. Tompkins is on. I don’t know if it’s just a case of Scott Aukerman pulling himself too thin with his other projects, or it’s just luck, but there’s definitely been something a little off.
I’ve been trying to get into CBB as well, I liked the Sarah Silverman Nick Kroll one, but most of the rest have been pretty weak. I think my issue is Aukerman, he isn’t funny.
I agree with you for the most part, but that’s not his primary job on the show. He just needs to move things along, run the games, and setup the bits the guests have worked out (or that he’s worked out with them).
Episode 73 is my all time favorite. Skip over the opening segment with Nick Swardson to get to the arrival of Bill Cosby-Bukowski. Jon Daly plays him and it’s wonderful. It’s filthy and profane but I’ve listen to it 3 or 4 times now and I still laugh every time. His Jelloems are terrific.
Yeah, Aukerman isn’t funny by himself. He’s schtick-y, and he knows funny people, and he’s good (most of the time) at getting them to be funny. The Halloween episode was WEAK. I can’t believe they didn’t pull together a themed “Would You Rather” game.
Re. the latest Superego, I was glad there was less repetition of past case studies. I love Shunt McGuppin as much as anyone, but I didn’t miss him. The perfume counter sketch was the best part of the show, IMHO. Superego’s pretty hit-or-miss, but then I remember that it’s all improvised and I go back to being impressed.
I’ve started skipping any DLM show 1) that’s not live and 2) that doesn’t involve the Leonard Maltin game. The rental car eps, the hotel room eps, etc., just don’t do it for me. For some reason DB has decided to go for quantity over quality lately.
I actually find Scott to be funny, but he’s got a very light touch. When he makes jokes he’s generally very dry and absurd, but for the most part he’s there to let his guests be funny and he’s not going to step on their feet. I like it when he gets nasty with a ‘guest’. Like when Hank Williams asked if anyone played the slumber party game where you lay on another’s bellies and Scott just snapped ‘shut the fuck up’. So good.
The start of the latest CBB is pretty bad, but at one point the anti-humor of the horrible puns really got to me and I started laughing at everything. Ghost Boy’s racism was also pretty funny.
I’m tempted to start skipping DLMs with just one other person. Doug’s funny, but interaction between three or more people makes that damn show.
Actually, I thought that the halloween one was one of my favorites in recent memory. I really love Scott Aukerman though, and his sense of humor. But, any show with Jon Daly playing a character is good in my book.
Zappity Tappity is still my favorite character from the show, of all time.
I totally agree that Aukerman’s hilarious. And running those games is a lot harder than Aukerman makes it sound - Would You Rather, especially, relies almost totally on HIS improv skills, not the guests.
Somewhat ironically, as much as I’ve been disappointed in recent CBB’s (although to be clear, I think it’s just a slump), the two episodes of Analyze Phish they’ve put up are some of my absolute fave podcasts ever.
The premise is simple: Harris Wittles, who for some insane reason is a die-hard Phish fan, tries to convince Aukerman to like them. The show will go on until a) Harris succeeds, or b) Aukerman can’t take it anymore. The first episode had Wittles play Scott some live covers that Phish loves to do and are terrible at, on the theory that Phish playing a song Scott already likes would be a nice entry point. Scott: “So, this is for the times when I think to myself ‘Hey, I’d like to hear some Talking Heads, but way shittier?’”
I second the endorsement for Analyze Phish. Despite my comment I really like Scott and often think he’s funny (I stand by the notion that it’s not the main focus of his job on the show to be funny, though) and that comes through clearly in the Analyze Phish podcasts. I’m a huge fan of Harris Wittels on all the Earwolf podcasts.
Foam corner.
Anyone said “spill.com” yet? They got movie reviews and a couple general bullshitting podcasts that are pretty fun
I haven’t listened to it yet, but the latest Doug Loves Movies appears to have great potential with Cake Boss, Don Dimelo, and El Chupacabra guesting.
Sounded good until El Chupacabra. I think the only Nick Kroll character I like may be Febreeze Febreeze.
Edit: I was wrong. That episode was awesome and El Chupacabra (or ‘EC’) had some of the best lines. It’s too bad Don Dimello didn’t get to go into the details of his production of Rapunzel like he’d usually get to on CBB.
Speaking of CBB, I listened to the Nick Swardson/Bill Cosby-Bukowski episode referenced earlier. Funny in parts, but man, that’s probably the most filthy CBB I’ve ever heard. Which puts it on par with a milder episode of Smodcast, admittedly.
Bahimiron, have you heard the iBrain episode of CBB (then Comedy Death Ray)? Because that will recalibrate your internal filthometer.
I just finished listening to the Nerdist podcast that was live from Portland. Nerdist is hit and miss for me, but this one was really good. Jonah Ray was on fire. Because he was drunk.