Documenteers: The Documentary Podcast

(Note: Due to a schedule rearrangement, we reference this ep being before St. Patricks Day. It's Not. We're a pack of liars.) You got a song in your heart? Do you ever make up song and dance numbers about the everyday products you find in your home? Well then, we got the episode for you! Best of all? Bob Sham is barely in it. Therefore there’s way less crude language than usual. Bob didn’t make it out to this “in-theaters” episode to watch “Bathtubs Over Broadway” by Dava Whisenant, so Angela had to be joined by special guest, Jeremy, to discuss this heartwarming story of a Letterman writer obsessed with finding obscure recordings of one-off corporate broadway-style songs called “Industrial Musicals”. More on this over at www.industrialmusicals.com. Tired joke writers team up with tired actors and tired punks to pay homage to this bizarre musical sub-culture. Jeremy is a big fan of musicals and considering how many documentaries there are about theater (a lot), you will likely hear from him again. Unfortunately Bob isn’t totally absent from this episode, but he does have some important things to say. Special thanks to Doritos® for sponsoring this episode. Go out and try their new Asiago Coconut™ flavor. When you Get Cheesed™ with new Doritos® Asiago Coconut™, you’ll be screaming “Cheese Nuts!™”. Chance the Rapper knows what we’re talking about. Apologies to Doritos®. Keep on Doccin’®

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Sports Shorties all month long continues and in this episode, Drew and Bob maybe had a little too much fun with an ESPN short documentary that is actually fairly sad. We watched “Here Now” by Eric Drath and it’s all about the greatest hitter in baseball history, publicly disgraced gambler, Pete Rose. It’s about the “Here Now” Pete Rose. The “Here Now” around 8 years ago when this was made, which also appears to be the “Here Now” Peter Rose here and now. According to Drew’s eyewitness account from a few weeks back, Pete Rose is still at the same sports memorabilia store in Las Vegas signing anything you want him to sign. That’s what this short doc is about, and if you’re in Vegas and have a few 20’s in your pocket, you can live this doc in person. This tragicomedy features great things, Pete Rose, Subway salads, short lines waiting for Pete Rose, many rules, and most of all it has winners. It’s a short documentary full win. Can’t link it because I couldn’t find a legit looking stream of it. We will leave finding it up to you. Just be aggressive and pat them on the ass. Be aggressive when you’re Doccin’.

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One week ago (we say two weeks in the episode. ignore that.), the nation/world reeled from the intensity of the 2-part HBO documentary series “Leaving Neverland” by Dan Reed. At the same time, the Documenters reeled with you. Then we recorded it. Akil and Bob step atop the fallout and discuss Michael Jackson and the allegations of sexual molestation in this documentary series. There’s no way you haven’t heard about it. This episode was recorded in segments as the series was premiering. You can hear our reactions get more somber throughout the episode. Let us take you through the whole damn thing again. (But with way less descriptions of terrible things.) Is the Michael Jackson legacy obliterated? How do we handle the art and the artist going forth? We talk about Prince a bit to offset the heavy subject matter, but as I write this i’m remembering that Prince once wrote a song about hooking up with his sister. Around 2/3rds of the way through this episode Bob asks Akil to get closer to the mic (when he sounded fine) and then Akil’s deep sensual tenor turns up several bits. Let it shake you. Apologies to people who are actually good at sound editing. As of this writing (days after the series aired) Corey Feldman says he can “No longer defend Michael Jackson”. We're sure the snowball effect will have grown exponentially by the time you hear this episode.

For more information and help regarding childhood sexual abuse, then please visit www.rainn.org or call 800-656-4673

Keep on Doccin’®

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Here’s a “Leaving Neverland” trailer: https://youtu.be/R_Ze8LjzV7Q

Here’s Prince with Chris Rock telling the “Bad” story: https://youtu.be/7ucv8x10WsM

Here’s Prince soloing at the George Harrison Tribute: https://youtu.be/efhlDbZ4SmY

Here’s that fucked up Prince song I mentioned earlier: https://youtu.be/uGq5xN-KUDE

Here’s Corey Feldman & the Angels (get it get it) on the Today Show: https://youtu.be/BZX7UJSXCiU

Here’s my favorite Velvet Underground song: https://youtu.be/8joF7ezGB0U

Welcome Shorty and welcome to “Shorties”, Drew knocks down his first Shorties with four sports themed Shorties eps throughout the month of March. Drew and Bob usually do the “30 for 30” documentaries. ESPN also made several “9 for 9” short documentaries, and they are often just as much fun. For Drew’s first shorty we discuss one of the most winningest coaches in college basketball. We’re talking about the life of C. Vivian Stringer in Bess Kargman’s “Coach”. Coach Stringer has been through some shit in her 50+ years as a coach. Enough shit that Don Imus’s bobble-headed dumbass can’t bring her down. Give up that wig and fuck off, Don. See for yourself why pride swells around Coach Stringer right here: http://besskargman.com/30-For-30-Short-COACH-ESPN-Films We will wait for you here, smothered in catheter lube. Keep on Doccin’®

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Never before has a documentary been more misremembered than this one. Bob and Drew sat down to get reacquainted with what we thought was going to be an hour of Allen Iverson doing sick alley-oop dunks and 30 foot jump shots. We got very little of that, and more about race relations in Hampton, Virginia. As it turns out, Hoop Dreams director Steve James’s 30 for 30 “No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson” is LITERALLY about a trial. Allen Iverson has always been a spectacular basketball player, but after a bowling alley brawl in 1993 involving friends and teammates, Iverson suddenly became a centerpiece for generations of racial injustice in Hampton, Virginia. Teenage Allen Iverson was actually tried as an adult over some vague teenage bullshit, and the ramifications are affecting to this day. Was Iverson a troublemaker that got what he deserved, or was this a bunch of racist Hampton crab shit? Director Steve James is also from Hampton and his dad is really into crabs. The Crabbers that is. It’s a Hampton thing. Let us tell you all about it. Let us give you crabs. Keep on Doccin’®

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Eldridge and Bob take down another “Shorties” episode and we head over to North Africa for a short look at a very long train in a very unforgiving country called Mauritania. We watched a short documentary by a filmmaker who calls himself “MacGregor” for some reason. The film is called “The Mauritania Railway: Backbone of the Sahara” and you can watch it here: https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/576562/mauritania/ This three kilometer train hauls iron ore and hitchhiking merchants hundreds of kilometers across the Sahara. Life is tough in a country that didn't officially ban slavery until not very long ago. “MacGregor” sets a lovely wide shot, and poverty has never looked so smooth. The director’s real name is Miguel de Olaso. We’re not sure why he goes with “MacGregor”. Just assume he thinks he’s better than you. I heard he wants to fight you next time he catches you at the Arby’s®. Watch your ass. Apologies to MacGregor. Keep on Doccin’.

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Here’s a link to the song “Jraad” by Malouma that you hear in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdFDU_VB5ds

Here’s a link to another song by Khalifa Ould Eide & Dimi Mint Abba called “Yar Allahoo” that we couldn’t fit into the episode, but really enjoy it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKBjKPi4xmw

Usually the cat will get itself out of the tree if you just leave it alone, but Russians take animal safety very seriously. So seriously that they sent an army of one to cause more damage than he probably makes in a month. Eldridge and Bob watched the very short documentary "Saving Cat" by what we guess is some Russian television station. This "Shorty" video is another "viral" sensation. No, it won't give you chlamydia. The kids tell me that "viral" means "popular". So one day in Russia, poor Barsik got stuck in a tree. You could maybe say Barsik was, very understandably, trying to escape. The whole neighborhood came out and watched the most Russian guy ever do very very Russian things while trying to save Barsik. It's a very brief bit of real comedy and you can find it here: https://youtu.be/V_Nr31Lv6H8 . Maybe it can give you some good ideas if you're a lunatic. Apologies to Yakov Smirnoff. Keep on Doccin'®

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So now that Documenteers has eclipsed a year, we're noticing an new pattern. We're actually starting to give genuine analysis to these films. While it pains Bob to be too far from a fart joke, sometimes a film strikes a chord. We complete our month of watching acclaimed docs we missed in 2018 with a film that might be considered a nightmare for creative people. A visual adventure about friends making a Singaporean road film that was snatched away from their grasp by a strange mentor and "friend". We watched Sandi Tan's Netflix original documentary "Shirkers", and it's a movie that Bob and Jonni can't get out of their heads. This episode is somewhat of an ode to film. Not unlike "Shirkers" itself. I guess this whole podcast is an ode to film. We like movies, especially documentaries. In case you haven't heard. FART. FART. FART. FART. FART. Keep on Doccin'®

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Our February of docs we missed in 2018 rolls forth, and this week Kevin Macdonald’s (NOT the “Kids in the Hall” cast member) biographical documentary “Whitney" gets the Herzog treatment. This film about the inimitable Whitney Houston and the runaway train of tragedy surrounding her and her family is one that might stay with Akil and Bob for a while. You could say that we GET SO EMOTIONAL BABY EVERY TIME WE THINK OF it. Sorry. Akil has been a big Whitney fan. Bob only has surface knowledge. Regardless we were blown back by some of the revelations within this documentary. The fact that this wasn't directed by a cast member of the Canadian skit comedy crew “The Kids in the Hall”, is just one of many shocking disappointments. Bob Sham singing is another disappointment. We will go ahead and apologize for that. This is the last episode before the Academy Awards! Who will win best Documentary? Who will watch the Academy Awards? Not us. We will probably be detoxing from all of the serious and sobering documentaries we discussed this month. We will get stupid again real soon. Apologies to Lionel Richie. Keep on Doccin’®

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Hello Doccalos and welcome to another, surprise, full episode Friday drop. Usually our “Shorties” episodes drop on Fridays, but rest assured they will resume next week. This is just more bang for your buck because we drop twice a week every week and this week you get two fully loaded episodes. All this fun for free! Angela and Bob tackle a documentary series that is buzzing around the monolithic true-crime fanbase to mixed reactions. It’s all on the heels of an upcoming bio-pic of the same subject matter that happens to be directed by the same person. Joe Berlinger knows how to snatch some murder moneys and we break it down episode by episode in the Netflix original “Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes”. Ted Bundy is amongst the most prolific of American serial killers and it’s this documentary series that is the perfect prequel to Joe Berlinger’s upcoming “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” starring Zach “Hunkbuckets” Effron. Let Bob and Angela break down the sordid story and render judgement and justice onto this documentary series. It’s only the 3,245th podcast to parse through the tale of Ted Bundy. You know how we do it though. Stylishly and with erotic abandon. The latter is completely inappropriate for this episode. Ted Bundy is a piece of shit. I’m brave as fuck for typing that. Keep on Doccin’®

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