I’m not crazy about the idea, but it’s a smart ploy to get new listeners from other shows. Won’t expand the listener base of MaxFun overall I don’t think, but will spread their current audience around I guess as folks follow their favorite podcasters to a new show and might then decide to subscribe to something new? Or in auto-downloading a usual podcast, might discover a new podcaster or crew they fancy, and then will subscribe to that show. The latter is a risk, however. When you relax into a favorite show in your normal routine and somebody new is there (or somebody is missing), it’s jarring and can be a real let-down. I speak from personal experience.
To their credit, MaxFun has been promoting it, so the switcheroo won’t be a complete surprise to loyal listeners, but it could backfire nonetheless.
As a bonus, maybe My Brother, My Brother and Me will be funny for a week. Man, I really don’t get the fuss over those guys.
More news from podcastland! This is going to end up being a bit of a plug for Howl, but it’s not intentional, honest.
First up, Uncle Bertie’s Botanarium. the Jermaine Clement podcast that they’ve been trailing since last August, is finally airing, and it’s very fun. More production than usual for a comedy podcast.
Next, Comedy Bang Bang is going on tour, mostly on the East Coast. The live shows will also be on Howl.
Finally, and possibly most excitingly, Matt Gourley has recorded a commentary track for Alien as HR Giger. With help from “Ridley Scott” and “John Hurt”. You can find it, you guessed it, on Howl
I can’t get into MBMBAM, something about the way that show is formatted bugs me. There are so many ads in there, and way too many shout-outs etc. Kind of breaks the flow of the show for me.
More (slightly old) news! Jessica Williams has a podcast with Phoebe Robinson, recorded from the live shows they do. It’s basically a bit of banter between the two of them, then some stand-up and maybe storytelling? So far it’s more or less a New York Put Your Hands Together, but I don’t know if it will always be structured the same way.
It may be more for the British Sensibilities amongst the QT3ers but the Adam Buxton Podcast is excellent and very amusing. He used to have the podcasts with Joe Cornish and had a TV show back in the 90’s called the Adam & Joe Show. His most recent podcasts where he interviews mostly British actors/media types are very insightful and amusing.
Few things more reliably reduce me to uncontrollable laughter than Adam & Joe or for that matter Adam Buxton’s solo stand-up. But I find the new podcast a bit, not disappointing, but inessential. If you want to listen to interviews with his mates (and he has interesting mates!) then it’s fine, but it’s just not particularly funny, coming from one of the funniest people around. So, personally, rather than recommending the podcast, I’d recommend seeking out Bug, which should be available on Youtube. It’s basically him showcasing interesting music videos, then taking the piss out of the stupidest Youtube comments about them. Trust me, though, it’s way better than it sounds.
Also, definitely try to find his podcasts with Joe Cornish from the 6 Music days, and if you have a VPN, all of the Adam & Joe shows are on channel4.com.
There’s a new conspiracy-themed improv podcast from Adal Rifai (Chuntttttt from Hello from the Magic Tavern) and Sadieh Rifai (I think). I was worried at first that it was too serious a topic, but when they started talking time travel with their guest, it really took off.
A couple of new recommendations. Well, only one is really a recommendation - the Beef and Dairy Network, a recent MaxFun addition. It reminds me most of the non-Chris Morris bits of The Day Today, but entirely bovine.
The second one, which I’m not such a fan of, but could be worth checking out, is Hard Nation. Basically a spoof political radio show where a conservative and a liberal bring on a guest like Sarah Palin. The hosts I can take or leave, but it’s a good way to check out some quality impressions, like Anthony Atomaniuk’s Trump.
And another Howl plug. The first show from the Comedy Bang Bang! tour, now available on the app, features PFT bringing out Werner Herzog. And it’s a classic. During a Dazed and Confused riff:
“You know what I like about high school girls? I keep getting older, they do not yet realise the futility of existence.”
Andy Daly has a new podcast starting tomorrow! Though it seems like he’s performing other people’s scripts, rather than writing or improvising himself.
WTF continues to be fantastic. There’s just so many conversations with so many people that turn out to be insightful and interesting for different reasons. I’ve always loved Marc’s opening ramblings, and I do love that he keeps them context free, so that even when I fall behind on the show for a year or 4, I can slowly catch up, and for the most part I feel like I’m catching up on his life, and don’t have to situate myself in time, as in “oh yeah, this must have been back in 2014”, or something along those lines. But that whole opening bit is just the reason I use to listen to every episode.
Why is that a good thing? Well, otherwise I’d see that this week he’s talking to a musician I’ve never heard of, or maybe a director whose movies I didn’t care for. But you know what? Some of those can turn out to be amazing conversations. Like a musician might share thoughts on life that I’d never heard before. Or like I recently heard the director of Piranha talk to him and it was such a fascinating conversation, and he made a great point about how the reason TV was so low budget and inferior to movies in the past was because everyone used to have tiny TVs in their living rooms. Similarly, today I heard him talk to Amber Tozer, who I’d never heard of before, and some parts of the conversation just got me laughing so hard. Quite surprising, considering there was a lot of heavy talk about alcoholism in there.
