PopFury

Bethany Remely helps Pop Fury celebrate its Sweet Sixteen(th episode). She shares the trials and tribulations of her trip to NYC, her type of guy, relationship hangovers and why she ended up in comedy and not international economics.

SHOW NOTES:

Sammy blows the intro by calling Bethany 'Beth' in his intro.

Bethany talks about confidence in improv, the Slump and time away.

Sammy blows it again by saying she went to Georgetown. We talk about Bethany getting into George Washington, her high school education and playing Thorin Oakenshield in a high school play.

Bethany is a product of Pittsburgh. She educates Sammy on the Terrible Towel, Myron Cope and the Immaculate Reception. Sammy compares her to a female Rudy who never went to Notre Dame. This spurs us to talk about our favorite sports movies.

She shares the epic tale of train, plane and luggage misadventures on her recent trip to NYC to see her beloved Steelers. She visited Ground Zero and got judged in a Jimmy Choo store. The Jets fans were nice and the game was horrible. After more travel trials and tribulations, Bethany almost met her future husband on her return trip home.

We talk about what is Bethany's type of guy. Vegans in skinny jeans need not apply.

Bethany doesn't understand why Kim Kardashian did what she did and thought Kim's butt looked weird.

Bethany sometimes thinks she's only funny onstage and not in real life, which may have contributed to failed date once. We talk about playing the Game, relationships and relationship hangovers that cause expectations in new relationships.

Hollywood producer Glen Larson passed away this week. Bethany loves Tom Selleck at any age. She just finished binge watching Scandal and was affected by it. Bethany doesn't finish watching show—she will leave the last episodes of a series for rainy days.

She recommends therapy for everyone.

There was a study on marijuana's affects on the brain but Sammy didn't read it.

Bethany talks about why she ended up in comedy and not international economics. She talks about politics and healthcare and how politics is about winning and not about people. She'd rather make people laugh.

We talk about refocusing your goals and calibrating your expectations as you grow older as an improvisor and artist and the adult choices you begin to make.

We discuss improv in Pittsburgh, performing/knowing shortform improv and bad shows. Bethany delves more into the Comedysportz experience.

We squeeze in one more plug for Southwest Airlines during the outro.

Tiff Svitko returns to Pop Fury to chat Love Actually, awkward break ups and her love of costumes.

SHOW NOTES:

Tiff is my first repeat guest.

She not nervous, just absent-minded today. She still has not opened a Chicago bank account and is still registered to vote in Indiana, not that she did and she feels bad about it. Tiff is against the two-party system.

Keira Knightley posed topless without being photoshopped. Tiff is totally behind it.

Tiff is not a match maker but we talk about CTA matchmaking.

Tiff listened to her last podcast with her dude, who bought her an owl t-shirt. Sammy wonders how long you can wait until say the L-word into a relationship. Sammy once accidentally asked a girl on a date. We talk about awkward breakups.

Tig Notaro, who had a double masectomy, did a set topless.

Tiff has a non-sexual girlboner for Paul F Thomkins. She has a celebrity crush on Ryan Gosling and once had a Jackie Chan sex dream.

Andy Dick stole someone's necklace. Tiff thinks this whole thing is ridiculous. She once spoke to him on the phone at iO.

Despite being an introvert she worked as a bank teller and at Game Stop. Sammy imagines all the nerds hitting on her. We briefly chat gamergate.

Her son was chivalrous in gym class the other day and made Tiff proud. He is a gamer and Sammy posits he is a secret gamergater and has a burner phone.

Tiff is into Serial right now as well as the Affair. She's also digging Meghan Trainor which she listened too right before her audition today.

Farts and impressions make Tiff laugh.

She recently did a storytelling event called Truth or Lie. Tiff loves Perfect Strangers and Sylvia Plath. Sammy decides Tiff's story is a lie.

Tiff loves getting dressed up for Halloween and dressing up as a Bee in general

We talk about the Too Many Cooks video. Sammy and Tiff reminisce talking on one-line phones. Sammy hates talking on the phone.

Tiff talks about this year's Christmas plans and her previous Christmas playing the Love Actually drinking game. We dive into analyzing why we like it. Sammy thinks the whole Andrew Lincoln/Keira Knightley moment is creepy and selfish and Tiff disagrees.

She talks about what she wants in relationship and what a second wedding would be like. Sammy decides her son is a playa. He is the opposite of how Tiff was in high school.

Chicago comedian and podcaster Mel Evans bops into Studio 1Q to chat getting married, street harassment and a metric crap ton of TV shows!

Show Notes:

Sammy thinks Mel has found her improv niche.

Mel is recently married. Her life now is much different than when she first moved to Chicago and hit the ground running. She strongly recommends getting a wedding planner. Mel talks about her and Mark's first date and how Mark tricked her into dating him.

Mel will watch series finales of shows to see if she wants to watch them, which astounds Sammy.

We talk about her issues with Outlander, despite it being a show built for someone like her. She would remain true to her husband even if she was trapped in the past.

Mel and Mark were married by the Wedding Wagon, which appeared on the Shark Tank (not Shark Week).

Mel has an opinion about Iggy Azaela, whom Sammy has only heard parody songs or mash ups of.

We discuss the Avengers trailer and the viral street harassment video kerfuffle

We we were shocked by Halloween's Chicago weather and where we'd move to if we had to leave. Mel talks about her experiences when she first moved to Chicago.

The Virgin Galactic test rocket crashed this week. Mel starts talking about someone Ned Rocknroll and leaves Sammy befuddled.

Sammy plugs Obvious Child to Mel but Planned Parenthood beat him to the punch. He recommends the Flash to her. Mel talks about Gotham.

Mel is totally down for the newly announced Captain Marvel and we run through various casting options.

Mel did not have a fun time when performing on a ship for Second City.

We talk about upcoming seasons of Game of Thrones casting news the divergence of the books and show. Mel is currently reading the Dresden Files and recommends the books of Tana French and Jasper Fforde.

Mel is totally into the Serial podcast and listens to multiple times when it comes out.

She loves Dean Ambrose and wrestler's thighs in the WWE.

We briefly chat about Gracepoint/Broadchurch before diving into Dr Who. Mel outlines her issues with Clara and we agree Danny Pink is the best boyfriend ever. Sammy confuses Michelle Gomez and Michelle Rodriguez and uses that to talk about Fast and Furious 7's trailer.

Shannon Noll visits Studio 1Q to talk stand up, Bones, delivering wings at UConn and her teen years. As always, links can be found on the popfury.libsyn.com show page.

Show Notes:

Shannon doesn't want to give away plot details of Space Boy, an Annoyance Theater Show she is a part of.Shannon still gets hit on guys after she does a stand up set about being gay.She talks about stand ups and improvisors socializing, the stand up scene and Sammy thinks stand up open mics are just like the ones from 80s movie.Shannon is in withdrawal from Orange is the New Black. Sammy likes rewatching Frasier. Shannon thinks rewatching TV is heinous. Shannon loves Bones. We discuss the lead actors sexual proclivities and she doesn't even know David Boreanaz's name. We both dig Gordan Ramsay and his shows.She's worked crappy food service jobs and we talk about her experiences delivering wings on the UConn campus, which included delivering wings to a guy with blood on his shirt. Shannon stands up for the Lady Huskies basketball team.Shannon lived on a friend's dairy farm while delivering. Sammy is stunned at all the stuff he didn't know about Shannon as she talks about moving to Chicago, college and her drop out high school years. Sammy doesn't know how to cope with all the revelations. We talk about the changes medication has on personality. Sammy gets the vapors hearing Shannon's history. Sammy wishes Shannon would move and gets sad that she hasn't yet.We bond over Ebola worries.We talk about the Ho-lex incident in NYC. Shannon decides she wants to try the thief's trick. We agree the victim dude looks like a tool. Shannon thinks he has a vagina beard. Shannon then insults Sammy's facial hair. We talk about Chicago's brutal winter and where  we'd move to if we left Chicago.Sammy makes fun of Shannon's Twitter handle and then she describes a too-hip underground comedy show she's a part of.

Prolific performer Louie Saunders stops by Studio 1Q and dishes with Pop Fury so long that he runs late for a show! We chat improv, his personal life and his burning hatred for the movie the Crystal Skull and the animal the otter...among many, many, many other things. (Because of the length of this podcast, its been slightly edited to keep the improv shop talk and the pop culture chatter in separate halves!)

SHOW NOTES

0m – 2m INTRO

2m - 35m34s IMPROV: Louie shares his advice he'd give to his younger self, dating improvisors, performers who create offstage drama, being happy for the success of others, staying for other team's sets and theaters having performers pay their coaches. He misses the days of CIN (the Chicago Improv Network message board).

35m35s - end POP CULTURE: Louie talks about the Christmas Gift prank, raves about the book Hyperbole, describes Human Centipede, digs Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit and is semi-uncomfortable with Faces of Death. Louie discusses his interest in the Zodiac Killer and we talk about our fears and fascination in the grotesque. We share our daydream fantasies and his excitement about the return of Transparent. Sammy cannot comprehend Louie's urge to get naked when drunk. Louie details his visits to two very different strip clubs. He once deadlifted a stolen parking meter on a dare. We whisper for a little bit because Louie loves whispering. Louie HATES the movie Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull and also HATES the animal the otter. His dream is to get a book published. Louie realizes he's running late for a show and we wrap up hastily!

Tiff Svitko chills in Studio 1Q as we talk about online dating, moving to Chicago, being a mom, scams and too much stuff to fit in one summary!Show Notes:We talk about online dating, how it has changed over the years and her memorable/"un-nice" experiences.We talk about dick pics and nudies floating around on the internet.Tiff used to live in Indiana and moved to Chicago.Sammy asks her about being a mother. Tiff also talks about her poetry, shoes and dating shorter people.She talks about her first date with her current beau. Tiff then describes the dating site known as Project Fix UpWe rail against the greedy stupidity of the Game King video poker scammers.Tiff talks about podcasts she likes and possible future projects.She's really into pajamas.If you ever visit her house, there are two naked Ken dolls to greet you.

Tim Dunn bounces into Studio 1Q to get real about the end of his comedy music group the Shock T's, going on a boat for Second City and realities of being a broke artist.

SHOW NOTES:

Tim is performing for the Second City on a Norwegian Cruise Lines boat for four months. We talk about his plans for his downtime which include basketball, working out and writing.

He is listening to the Drizzt audiobooks by R.A. Salvatore.

Tim is single and thinks that is a good thing to be for being on a boat. He talks about his theater background and long distance relationships.

Sammy retroactively feels bad for overloading Tim as an actor many years ago.

Tim talks about the end of the Shock T's and how it came about.

We talk about the recent exodus of comedians from Chicago, Tim's dream job and (over)committing to projects.

Sammy checks in on Tim's emotional state.

We talk working, temping and being unemployed.

Tim is into the Drizzt books and is trying to give Walking Dead show another try. He recommends a show that he doesn't know the name of to Sammy. He also recommends the interactive story “Gone Home”

We talk very briefly about #gamergate briefly, vaccinations and doomsday prepping.

Tim and Sammy delve into the financial reality of being a poor improvisor and our dark moments during being broke.

Tim talks about giving advice to others.

He has no concrete plans for after the boat.

We end the show on his favorite Shock T's song.

Mark Colomb, prolific podcaster, takes a break from his impending nuptials to visit Studio 1Q to chat fake news, getting married, movies and challenging yourself.

Show Notes:

Mark likes Sammy's set up.

Sammy reviews all the fake news of the week: Emma Watson & 4chan, 3 Boob Lady, the KLM dog and Pumpkin Spice 4 Loko.

Mark and Daniel hate everything together.

Mark shares his thoughts on Gotham, wrestling and the Bill Simmons situation.

We talk about getting married and Mark stuns Sammy when he talks about moving away from Chicago.

Mark describes proposing to Mel.

He's looking forward to Inherent Vice and Interstellar ans has doubts about True Detective Season 2, especially Taylor Kitsch.

While talking about Mockingjay, Sammy confesses he's a very forgiving genre fan and Mark is tired of repetitive genre tropes.  Mark wants to know why movies are not more daring and admits wrestling is the last bastion of truly nerdy culture.

Mark is reading to make up for education and believes everyone should challenge themselves. 

Mark is fighting fit for his wedding.

Improvised Shakespeare's Andy Carey squeezes in a visit in to Studio 1Q before he performs later that night. We talk about his son's name, being in a horrible Superbowl commercial, parenting his son's pop culture consumption, HBO shows and Andy's improvised Hip Hop class.

Show Notes (live links at popfury.libsyn.com):

Andy begins our podcast with a soft cheer.

Andy's son, Keagan, is named after Keegan-Michael Key and Keegan left a nice message after Andy's son was born.

We talk about the triumph and the tragedy of Andy being in the worst commercial of Superbowl XLI. While that Salesgenie.com commercial was bad, the next one was flat out racist.

Andy and Sammy talk about being a parent and foisting pop culture upon your kid, even while in the womb and immediately after birth. Andy is reading the Hobbit to Keagan and Sammy forces Andy's to do the voices.

Andy forbids Sponge Bob at home, hates Caillou, and says no to Crash and Berstein.

Keagan is totally into Minecraft and was introduced to Star Wars by his Godfather. Rene. Andy had to look up whether or not to take Keagan to Guardians of the Galaxy and has made peace with what music they listen to in the car.

Andy talks about men losing their roles due to societal progress.

Andy has started watching Wire and constantly asks Sammy for the names of actors that Sammy can't remember. Andy loves the language of Deadwood.

Finally, we talk about his Improvised Rap workshop being their hip hop tour guide and teaching flow.

Second City's Tim Ryder joins me in Studio 1Q for the Pop Fury Fall TV preview!

Show Notes:

Sammy's intro reaffirms Tim's battered ego.

We dive right into the Fall TV Preview. We discuss: Forever, Selfie, Backstrom, Grace Point, How to Get Away with Murder, Back-ish, NCIS: New Orleans, CSI: Cyber, Scorpions, Bad Judge, A to Z, Utopia, Jane the Virgin, Happyland, Z-Nation, Constantine, The Flash, Gotham, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The McCarhtys, Marry Me and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Tim's been digging Rick & Morty and looks forward to Community on Yahoo. He's been reading books with critical analysis of video games and been playing Tomb Raider. 

To close the show, Sammy upgrades Tim's ship, the S.S. Dreamboat, to the U.S.S. Dreamboat.