Succotash

Yes, once again from the 4th Annual Los Angeles Podcast Festival, it's me. Marc Hershon, your host and flamenco dancer for Epi116D of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. The fourth interview I did is from yesterday (Saturday), and I caught up with Jeremy and Stacy, two-thirds of the crew fromthe Ear Goggles podcast.

If you haven't heard of Ear Goggles, I don't think they'd blame you…yet. That's because for the past ten years, the two of them (along with Jeremy's half-brother Aaron) have been sailing under the Sibling Rivalry banner. I've mentioned and clipped them as such in past Succotash episodes, and we discuss why someone with a decade-long investment in a show title would decide to change now.

We cover a number of other topics as well in the course of our 20-minute chat, including the relationships between the podcast and its audience, Jeremy revealing personal things to strangers, and explore the question, "Should the cast of a comedy podcast consider themselves to be comedians?"

Keep on checking in on our stream this weekend, as I continue to upload interviews as soon as I can clean up the audio as best I can and drop them online! (And I appreciate you telling your friends and passing the SuccotashI)

— Marc Hershon

Yes, once again, it is I. Marc Hershon. Host and dresser for Epi116C of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. This is the third of the interviews I've had during the course of this year's Los Angeles Podcast Festival, and this time I'm talking with Shawn Marek, a producer on podcasts that find their home on the Sideshow Network.

Shawn and I have known each other before there was a Sideshow Network, back when he was producing PodCRASH with Chris Gore, past guest on our Epi42 and friend of the show. And, although I knew he'd battled and survived a fight against Hodkin's Lymphoma, I didn't realize that his is one of the storylines that weaves their way through EarBuds: The Podcast Documentary, which had a preliminary screening last night at the Podfest.

We talk about both his illness and his appearance in the movie as part of our chat. For those podcasters out there, curious about podcast networks and how to possibly approach them with an interest to joining their lineup, we go there as well. We also talk about the podcast that he and his wife, Jen Stansfield-Marek, co-host, Worst Collection Ever, a comic book podcast about comics books that most people don't seem to care that much about.

With his extensive experience on the other side of the podcast mic, Shawn's got a great perspective on the industry — both as an entertainment medium and as a viable source of income.

Keep on checking in on our stream this weekend, as I continue to upload interviews as soon as I can clean up the audio as best I can and drop them online! (And I appreciate you telling your friends and passing the Succotash!)

— Marc Hershon

Yes, it's me, Marc Hershon. Your host and talent wrangler for Epi116B of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast, and I'm still hanging out in the SquareSpace Podcast Lab at the 4th Annual Los Angeles Podcast Festival. Happy to report that, after several years of my half-assed attempts to get Jackie Kashian, the host of The Dork Forest, on the show…it's finally happened.

We didn't have a whole lot of time, and the noise level in the Podcast Lab is a little off the charts while Jackie dropped by. But you take what you can get and I was glad that Jackie and I finally got the chance to chat while miked.

We talk about, after 250+ episodes, how does Jackie keep finding so many flavors of dork out in the world. We also chatted a lot about some tech stuff, like the difficulty of cleaning up audio files. And the virtues and pitfalls of improv. I also shamelessly pitched her on bringing me on her show as a guest. I figured I had to take my shot…

Give a listen, tell your friends, and thanks for passing the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Yes, It's me, Marc Hershon. Your host and podfest attendee for Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast, Epi116A. That's right. A. Hopefully we'll be filling out at least a few more letters of the alphabet by the time the 4th Annual Podcast Festival draws to a close, as we're lumping all the content from it under the Epi116 banner.

My first interview was with the gloriously glib Wayne Federman, comedian, actor and co-host of Human Conversations with Erin McGaffey.

Wayne and I have known each other through the world of standup comedy for a number of years - 25 of them, maybe - and it's always a treat to hang out when the chance pops up. I was rambling around the hall outside the conference rooms that the live podcasts are taking place in and happened up him. Turns out he wasn't up to much and he swung by the SquareSpace Podcast Lab to chat for a bit.

In our 20-something minutes together, Wayne and I talk about podcast tech, his podcast, and an exciting project he has coming out — The Wayne Federman Chronicles. A compilation of his standup that spans 30 years. He tells us restoring sets from old VHS tapes and how and where this amazing collection will soon be available.

Keep an ear glued to our feed all weekend for more Succotash Chats coming from the LA Podfest. And thanks for passing the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Yes, it's me — Marc Hershon – your host and chauffeur for this special Podfest Halfisode, Epi115 and a half of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. Record as I drove down Interstate 5 this morning between San Francisco and Los Angeles, don't be looking for any clips in this sucker.

It's just me, yacking about whatever came into my head. Some ruminating about my performance as the emcee for last night's TEDx Marin event, and some cogitating about the state of podcasting today.

Or it WAS going to be just about me. Halfway down the road I got tired of hearing my own voice and so called longtime friend and past Succotash guest Rick Overton, the host of Overview, his own podcast over on the Sideshow Network.

We chatted about his guest appearance on Blunt Talk, the new Patrick Stewart show on Starz, as well as his landing a new national commercial for GE. And about Kelly Carlin' new book, The Carlin Home Companion: Growin Up With George. Rick was among a vast cadre of mutual friends who showed up just the other night at the Barnes & Noble in the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles for her book signing and reading.

As I write this, I am at an undisclosed location in Burbank, shaking out my brand new Succotash t-shirt and getting all spiffed up to register at the Sofitel for the 4th Annual Los Angeles Podcast Festival. Hopefully, throughout this weekend, I'll be posting a series of Succotash minisodes featuring interviews with whomever manage to snag in my podcast snare.

Check back for those soon, and please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Yes, ‘tis I, Marc Hershon, your host and third base coach for Epi115 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. And this is yet another Succotash Clips episode.

Been a while since we’ve sat down at the Succotash microphones and had a good long yackfest with someone. But that’s about to change, as I am on the eve of making the Kessel Run from San Francisco to Los Angeles, in order to make it into town for the 4th Annual Los Angeles Podcast Festival this weekend. If you’re in the Southland and want to check it out, the shindig is at the Sofitel in West Hollywood, right across from the humungoid Beverly Center. You can get tickets and information at http://LAPodfest.com

I’m anticipating a whole lot of talkin’ going on, both from folks talking to me in the SquareSpace Podcast Lab AND from me talking to podcasters on their shows. I have some specifics about some of that action coming up when we get to the Tweetsack segment later on in the show.

Podclip Roundup

Clips featured this episode have been snippeted from: Chillpak Hollywood Hour, Illusionoid, The JV Club, The Manchild Show, The Red & Jay Show, Studious Studs, The Bitter Sound, and Tiny Odd Conversations. There's also a special teaser for the ManBuyCow Podcast! (If you’re a comedy podcaster and would like us to include a clip from your show, you can use our direct upload link to get us your 3-5 minute MP3 clip – it’s http://hightail.com/u/succotash.)

We also have a classic commercial for Henderson’s Too Cool For S'cool Pants, a Burst O’ Durst with political comedian & social commentator Will Durst, musing about what some of the presidential candidates may have been up to during their summer vacations, and a new song about spiders from frequent contributor Abner Serd.

Good Cause Alert!

Our old buddy Ethan Dettenmaier, host of Combat Radio, has a new project out to raise much-needed money for social services, called Combat Radio Halloween. It’s got a bunch of crazy good talent on it, reading spooky stories and generally ripping All Saints’ Day a new a-hole. Download YOUR copy of Combat Radio Halloween by clicking over to http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/combatradiohalloween

Clips

Chillpak Hollywood HourDean Haglund & Phil LeirnessI included a clip from Chillpak HOllywood Hour this week, hosted by podcast royalty Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness, not just because they amuse me but because they employed this show's proprietary coinage of the term tweetsack. There's a bit of echo on Dean's side of the conversation in this clip - apparently, co-hosting form Sydney, Australia is not without it's audio aberrations. (There's a plan, incidentally, to have yours truly as a Skyped-in guest for their episode next week to report on the Podfest and also to give a review of Ear Buds, the new documentary about podcasters and podcasting that will debut at the Podfest on Friday night.)

The JV ClubJanet Varney with guest Kelly CarlinThe last time we had Ms. Janet Varney grace our microphones was almost a year ago at LAST year’s LA Podfest. I just saw her in a rough cut of a new movie we’re talked about here before: Diani and Devine Meet The Apocalypse. And she’s hilarious, as always. You hear her voice all over the place, including as the voice of Korra in The Legend of Korra, and as the voice of Nerdist.com. She’s 170 episodes into her podcast, The JV Club, where she mostly interviews women of show business — except during her Boys Of Summer series, which just ended. Her latest guest is also a friend and past guest of Succotash — dating back to Episode 9, no less — and it’s none other than Kelly Carlin, who has been touring with her one-woman show, A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up With George. She and Janet sharing some things in common, including being the only child in their respective families.

Illusionoid!Paul Bates, Lee Smart & Nug NahrgangOne of my favoritest shows ever, Illusionoid!, just kicked off their 5th year and 5th season of podcasting. The Terrific Trio from Toronto — Paul Bates, Lee Smart, and Nug Nahrgang — still the best name in podcasting — runs a fantastic improvised sci-fi themed show that is consistently funny. I just reviewed the episode this particular clip is from for Splitsider.com and Huffington Post. The episode is called “Day Million”, and features three owners of a copy store that has somehow existed for over 2000 years…and their lone customer on this fateful day.

ManBuyCowRufus & HowardWe normally don’t play promos for podcasts on Succotash because, well, I think clips make better promos than…promos. BUT I have been waiting patiently enough for the return of the ManBuyCow Podcast with Rufus and Howard. Season 3 is imminent and there’s finally word that it’s almost here.

The ManChild ShowVintendo, Pistol Pete, Nicole Cole, Rev. Sir Chano, Jessie BoomBattzFrom ManBuyCow we go to The Manchild Show. We’ve been getting a lot of Twitter action from @PistolePeteMC, who is one of the hosts of Manchild. He tells me that, since he’s come onboard, he’s been trying to steer the show away from some of comedy’s low-hanging fruit — which I assume is a metaphor for testicle jokes. Pete really wanted me to play something from their next episode but it’s not ready yet. So I’m playing the clip I harvested from their previous installment because, well, who knows? The network may punch our ticket and we’ll be out of here before the next show starts.

Tiny Odd ConversationsTravis Clark and Brandy ClarkWe haven’t played anything from Tiny Odd Conversations for a bit, which means we completely missed out on celebrating their Episode 200. If you haven’t caught TOCpod, it’s with our friends Travis and Brandy Clark, a delightful couple from Los Angeles. First of all, kids, congrats on hitting your Epi 200! And second of all, this clip has Trav and Brandy ruminating about: How do parents manage to let their kids try all sorts of sports and activities without being fabulously rich? (I manage to catch up with the Clarks pretty much every time I get to LA, so I know that they’ve been busy and getting their episodes out regularly has been tough. Believe me, I know what that’s like, and I don’t blame ‘em a bit.)

Red & Jay ShowRed & JayRed and Jay are back! Red and Jay are back! I actually don’t know who these guys are, but according to their homesite, they're five episodes in after being off for a year. There’s not a lot of info on these guys on their site, just their first names. Or nicknames, maybe? I don’t know. But I DO know they are opinionated. About stuff that some of us probably don’t even thing a lot about. In the snippet we harvested, they’re going off about HR. Human Resources, that is…

The Bitter SoundDavian Dent & Matt BubblesOne of the staunchest supporters of this show and what we do here — namely, let YOU know about comedy podcasts — is Davian Dent over in the UK. He’s involved in a couple of podcasts, including Strange Times and his own The Bitter Sound, a show that’s an ongoing experiment and experience in audio wonderment. The ol’ BS has been down for a bit, but it’s coming back, baby! And Davian, along with his sometimes sidekick, Matt Bubbles, created this preview of a piece of the upcoming first show of his new season just for you…and it's one of the more disgusting uses for the "theater of the mind" in recent memory.

Studious StudsShaq Scott and TerranceNext up is a clip from the Studious Studs podcast with Shaq Scott and Terrance. I found these guys because they’d re-tweeted something of ours. Found out they’re into their second season, after taking a break for the summer. Their website describes the show as “A weekly podcast that sits down and discusses life's obstacles and events in a very funny way.” Okay, I’ll buy that. This clip clues us in on what the guys have to say about a recent Chris Brown concert.

Thanks for reading this blog and, hopefully, taking time out to listen to the actual podcast. That's what it's there for. Don’t forget to jump up to iTunes to rate and review us – that’s about the only thing that gets us noticed. If you want to flip us a few coins, feel free to access the Donate button or the Amazon banner or our Succotashery, all through our homesite at http://SuccotashShow.com.

Until the next time we invade your earholes, thanks for passing the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Yes, it’s me. Marc Hershon. Your host and drum major for Epi114 — the Labor Day Edition — of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. And it’s another Succotash Clips installment – loading you up with a lot of clips because in a few weeks I’ll be down at the 4th Annual LA Podcast Festival, and I will have a pile of interviews from our stakeout in the SquareSpace Podcast Lab. which means we should have some bodacious Succotash Chats upon my return.

I’ve harvested some of this episodes clips, while others have been sent in by comedy podcasters just like you…if you’re a comedy podcaster, that is. Of course, if you’re a listener to a comedy podcast you like, you can drop me a line, at [email protected] and let us know the show you like. Then I can send our erstwhile Associate Producer Tyson Saner out to clip an episode from it.

And for you comedy podcasters, you can even upload you clip directly to us via our upload link: http://hightail.com/u/succotash.

On the show this time around we’re featuring clips from Broken Filter, Geek Blast, Grabbing Lunch, 98 Problems, Rude Alchemy, Stab!, and Tall Tales with our friend Abner Serd.

Bursts O' Durst

We also have a double dose of Durst, this episode, with resident political comedian and social commentator Will Durst, with two of our Burst O’ Durst segments. Will is pointing out the benefits of the looonnnnnnggggg Presidential election campaign, and then he's got a special Labor Day Burst heading your way.

In addition this show, we have a visit to the Podcast Graveyard, a brand new Henderson’s Pants commercial and a dip into the ol’ TweetSack.

Appearing Live

Coming up live this month, on Thursday evening, September 17th, I’ll be hosting an evening of inspirational and informative speakers as part of the TedX Marin event. I’m just there to keep things moving –but it’s a great slate of speakers that you can’t see because I just found out the event is sold out. So why am I telling you about it? Bragging, probably.

Then, right after that, Friday through Sunday, September 18th through 20th, I’ll be – as I said – at the LA Podfest. And you can be there, too, because that is NOT sold out! Tix and deets at http://lapodfest.com. And you can look for me with our Succotash merch, mics and mayhem in the SquareSpace Podcast Lab.

Put Your Eyes Where Your Ears Are

We’ve been putting out a little webazine the past couple of months, The Succotash Daily. It’s aggregated content around podcasts and comedy and, sometimes, comedy websites. You can check it out and subscribe at http://hersh.co/dailysucc, and it will be delivered to your inbox every morning.

Podcast Graveyard

I chose to exhume this episode’s Podcast Graveyard victim, The Comedy Buffet, because I realized I hadn’t heard from Michael Powell, the host of the podcast for a while, nor had I seen any tweets from the show. Turns out it went tits up a while back – Mike contacted me to let me know he’d just gotten kind of bored with it, but that he’s cooking up some new concept and may be back with a different show soon. He’s done a great job of hiding the body, as I was having a lot of trouble trying to find a past show to clip, but then I remembered that we’d featured The Comedy Buffet way back in 2011, in our epi number SEVEN. In the clip, Michael chats about diabetes with his guests, Jason and Jesse, from the Van Full of Candy podcast. (Haven't heard from VFoC for a while, either — are they next up in the graveyard???)

Clips

Rude AlchemyThis past week, for my podcast review on Splitsider and the Huffington Post, rather than just listen to a single episode of a show, I gobbled up the entire third season of a podcast called Rude Alchemy. The season is only five episodes, and they’re pretty short, so I don’t want you thinking I was really going crazy. The title for the season is The Plague Clowns, and it’s a really well put-together show. Solid writing and performances, a layered story – TWO stories, really – which is compelling enough to make you want to binge listen the hell out of it.

Grabbing LunchPodcasters who are wondering about good ways to get clipped on Succotash obviously don’t listen enough to realize that if you can somehow feature me or Succotash on your podcast, that will sually do the trick. I was in LA a couple of months ago and was invited to chow down by Matt Knudsen, the host of the Grabbing Lunch podcast, at Izzy’s Deli in Santa Monica. We were joined by friend-of-Succotash Cole Stratton, the co-host of the Pop My Culture podcast and co-founder of the San Francisco Sketchfest. It was a wide-ranging chat – we even talked about Matt’s Hungarian in-laws…

Geek BlastSuccotash suddenly started getting a lot of Twitter love from Corrosive Radio, which has a couple of shows streaming on internet radio, which is podcasting’s cousin. Even though they’re not technically podcasts, I thought I’d pay their kindness forward and offer you a clip from a past Geek Blast show, where they had guest Clark Gregg, who stars as Agent Coulson on Marvel’s Agents of Shield.

Stab!I don’t know a whole lot about Stab!, one of the only podcasts with an exclamation point in the title. It’s excerpted from a live comedy show by the same name in the Sacramento, California, area. The detail on the show on iTunes says, “This rapid fire comedy panel show about everything gives 4 comedians 3 days to write their own personal spins on six different topics.” The hosts are John Ross and Jesse Jones. And Jesse was savvy enough to use our direct upload link to send us this clip from a past show, where the topic was ISIS.

98 ProblemsWe’ve had a few of our recent tweets kindly retweeted by the boys of the 98 Problems podcast. So I figured I’d do ‘em a solid and clip a recent episode. When I went up to their homesite,I didn’t find a whole lot of information about the guys themselves. There’s Mike and Alex on the show. And a lot of references to Sammy. No other specifics, like last names or anything like that. So I went with what I heard: a clip, entitled “Drop Your Trousers”.

Tall Tales & Shaggy DogsAt the tail end of Succotash in the past couple of episodes, I’ve played songs by a listener and contributor named Abner Serd. The songs are…well, rather unique. It turns out that Abner has a collection of stories out there, available via iTunes, and it’s in the podcast section on iTunes. Called Tall Tales & Shaggy Dogs, it’s a very loosely wrapped bit of business with a bunch of different stories and such. We're featuring a selection called Arithmefiction. (And if you hang in 'til after Bill Heywatt wraps up the show, you'll be treated to another Serd song, My Dog Blue.)

Broken FilterThe last podclip for this episode comes from yet another show that started retweeting us out of the kindness of their hearts. Broken Filter is a once-a-week Internet radio show over on http://ZenLive.tv, and it features hosts JoeRockstar and Jonesy (are those their REAL names, do you think?) They're live every Tuesday night at 8 PM — I think that’s East Coast time. I clipped a recent installment featuring Dave Pounder, the author of Obscene Thoughts. He's also a porn producer of some renown as well as a former adult film star.

By The Way

Incidentally, if you’re looking to get YOUR comedy podcast reviewed by one of the gang at This Week In Comedy Podcasts, you can send an email to [email protected]. That will go out to the whole group of us that contribute to the column and you stand a better chance of having someone want to review your show.

Extra Bits

John Eder, the brains behind the To The Manor Borne By Robots podcast, informs us that his show is in the finals of the 2015 LA Weekly Best Of Competition, in the Best Podcast category. Which is pretty high honors – it's competing with Marc Maron's WTF and The Tom Leykis Show. Let's help him win this - but we only have until September 9th to vote! Go to http://readerschoice.laweekly.com and do your thing!

In closing this week, even though no one ever clicks on our Donate button anymore at http://SuccotashShow.com, nor buys anything from our webstore at http://hersh.co/succotashery, I feel it's my duty to make you aware that it IS within your power to help me pay for this relentless piledriver of a show, the sole purpose of which is to spread the word about comedy podcasts near and far. We also have an Amazon banner at the top of the page which generates kickbacks whenever someone uses it to shop at Amazon but, as far as I know, only Phil Leirness over at Chillpak Hollywood Hour uses it. Feel free to avail yourself of that avenue of Succotash support if you so desire.

And if you have no disposable income to shower upon us, your moral support in the way of ratings and reviews at iTunes, "thumbs ups" at Stitcher, Likes on our Facebook page, or hearts over at SoundCloud go a long way to putting smiles on the faces of me, producer Joe Paulino, announcer Bill Heywatt, and Associate Producer Tyson Saner.

Until we hit your earholes again, thanks for passing the Succotash.

— Marc Hershon

Yes, it’s me. Marc Hershon. Your host and docent for Epi113 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. We’re back with a Succotash Clips installment, thanks largely to the efforts of our Associate Producer Tyson Saner, not to mention the savvy comedy podcasters who have uploaded their own clips directly to us via our upload link, which is http://hightail.com/u/succotash.

Coming up, clipwise, this show we have Cardboard, The Chillpak Hollywood Hour / Am I Right, Ladies?, The Magic Tavern, Radio Dan, the Talk Blocked podcast, The Mo Show, Wampa Stampa, and the We Are Not Alone podcast.

We also are featuring a double dose of our Burst O’ Durst segment with our resident political comedian and social commentator Will Durst - and he lavishes his vitriol on Donald Trump, and the TweetSack. We not only have a classic Henderson's Pants commercial this episode, but we've got an additional sponsor and a commercial from Empire State Gas, the patron for Chillpak Hollywood.

IN OTHER REALMS

Before I get to all that stuff, just a couple of mentions for stuff going on where I’ll be appearing live this September. I’ve been asked to host the TedX Marin Talk 2015 in San Rafael. There’s an amazing lineup of inspirational, informative speakers lined up and, somehow, me. That’s going to be on Thursday evening, September 17th — click the link for more info. Directly after that – and I do mean directly – I’ll be down south for the 4th Annual Los Angeles Podcast Festival, September 18-20. I’m going to do my best to nail down a spot in the SquareSpace Podcast Lab and interview folks passing through. This time, I’ll try to post everything while I’m there so I don’t end up with a humungous backlog of interviews that take months to unspool. I STILL haven’t gotten to all the ones I did last year. Shameful. You don’t have to be a podcaster to come by and watch some of your favorite podcasts happening live that weekend. And me. Not officially a part of the podfest but so what?

PODCAST GRAVEYARD

This episode's exhumed podcast The Evil Teddy Bear Podcast, hacked out of its eternal rest by Tyson. Hosted by Korey Epps and Mike Capps, I was disappointed to learn that it had gone "off mic" this past April. The clip we have is from two episodes before their last one, with guest Will Harrison, in an episode entitled The @Unheard Nerd Strikes Again.

CLIPS

Chillpak Hollywood Hour / Am I Right, Ladies?We have a sneak preview of sorts from a new podcast. If you caught Epi112 last time, I interviewed Phil Leirness of the Chillpak Hollywood Hour and Lily Holleman, who will be co-hosting a new spinoff show from Chillpak, entitled Am I Right, Ladies? That show features Lily and comedian/actor Karen Forman and will be kicking off…soon, was the best answer I’ve gotten out of them. But a couple of weeks ago they did their last stint filling in for Phil and the southward-traveling Dean Haglund, who has moved to Australia. It's not only seems like a great example of two smart women hosting a podcast, which will be largely about smart women, but they also – in the grand tradition of Chillpak, mentioned me.

The Mo Show PodcastMocean Melvin and a big cast of voice actors Unabashedly, I’ve got a soft spot for well-produced sketch comedy podcasts. And I’ve been turned onto a new one – The Mo Show, starring voiceover performer Mocean Melvin and a crew of funny, talented voice actors out of Los Angeles. BTW, about a week ago or so, The Mo Show decided to honor us on Twitter by proclaiming us the Best Show Named After a Food Containing Lima Beans! So thank you, Mo Show!

Wampa StompaAssociate Producer Tyson Saner has harvested a bunch of clippage for today’s epi. One of them is the Wampa Stompa podcast. It’s a newish show where the three co-hosts — Jon, Gus, and Candy – “talk about anything ranging from Star Wars to boxing to current events.” Seems like two rather specific topics followed by kind of anything goes. In this clip, from Wampa Stompa Epi8, the hosts speculate on everything shown in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer. They also rank their top 3 Pixar films, along with what purely animated Disney films are their favorite.

Hello from The Magic TavernA couple of weeks ago I reviewed a podcast called Hello from The Magic Tavern for Splitsider.com and the Huffington Post. Now, there are a number of Dungeon & Dragon and other role playing podcasts floating around, like Nerd Poker with Brian Posehn and Friends over on Earwolf. But, as I mentioned in my review, this is the first one I’ve found where characters who might otherwise be heard adventuring are actually just hanging out in a tavern, actually recording a podcast rather than dungeon crawling or whatever. The set-up is that the main host, Arnie Neikamp, fell through a magical rift behind a Chicago area Bunger King into the mystical land of Foon. (No relation, as far as I know, to friend-of-Succotash Eric Furniss of the From Out Of Nowhere podcast, or as it is otherwise known, the FOONcast.) Anyway, Arnie has set up shop at the Vermilion Minotaur, AKA The Magic Tavern, with his co-hosts: The wizard Usidore, played by Matt Young, and Chunt the Changeling, voiced by Adal Rifai. In the clip we're featuring, from episode 19, their guest is someone near and dear to my heart, given my background in branding: Merlinda Flimpery (Irene Marquette), a Namer – a person who gives secret names to people so that no one can discover their power.

Talk BlockedThis clip was provided directly from gents of the Talk Blocked podcast, who sent a download link into the Tweetsack, at [email protected]. You can also upload your 3-5 minute clip directly to us at http://Hightail.com/u/succotash. Cody and Steve-O (NOT the same Steve-O from the Jackass movies) have put out about 20 episodes of their show now. Our clip comes from Epi18 and features their guest, Dr. Mike, an actual ER doc, talking about a young man who came in complaining of stomach pains. The diagnosis turned out to be a bit more graphic that one might suppose.

Cardboard!We were talking role playing games a couple of clips ago. Now, thanks to Tyson, we’re switching to board games, with a clip from the Cardboard! podcast with host Rich Sommer. Billing himself as a “board game evangelist”, Sommer is known from his appearance on Mad Men. And, in fact, this clip features two of his castmates – Michael Gladis and Aaron Staton. Gladis has the host relate his favorite “chess photo” story in this segment.

The Radio Dan ShowI got to know Dan Delgado, aka “Radio Dan”, of the Radio Dan Show, last year at the LA Podfest. We were both hunkered down in the Podcast Lab pretty much the whole time, so we got to talking, watching each other’s equipment when the other one wanted to take a break, you know – Brothers in Podcasting. Not sure if he’s making the trek out from Boca Raton, Florida, again this year, but he’d sent along a little…I’d guess you’d call it rant… about his unsung 40 years of sobriety, as he sees it.

We Are Not AloneHoly cats! As previously mentioned, I’m a big fan of folks doing audio sketch comedy for their podcasts, especially when it well-written and fun. And that’s got Britain’s We Are Not Alone written all over. They’re four seasons in and it’s all put together like campy 1950’s science fiction. This show is writen by Jon Thrower and Andrew Fletcher. They both act in it and there is a bunch of other cast members voicing what you’re hearing as well. Here’s a taste from epi 3 of the lastest season, entitled, Wonderbirds Are GoI

That's what's in store for your ears with Epi113 of Succotash Clip!. Thanks so much for the listen. We appreciate your patronage. If you’d like to help us to defray the cost of production on Succotash, feel free to visit our homesite, http://SuccotashShow.com, and click on the Donate button there. Or on the Amazon banner at the top of the page – everything you buy on that particular shopping trip gives us a time percentage. OR you can purch some merch through the Succotashery – t-shirts, mugs, all stort of gewgaws can be yours.

Until next time, thanks for passing the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Yes, it’s me. Marc Hershon. Your host and cruise director for Epi112 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast.

This is a Succotash Chats episode, featuring a delightful conversation with our Special Guests: Phil Leirness of The Chillpak Hollywood Hour and Lily Holleman, one of the two hosts of a brand new podcast called Am I Right, Ladies?

We recorded the chat on their lovely rooftop at the edge of Hollywood as the sun was setting, drinking martinis. I think this is the most civilized episode of this show recorded so far. (Please forgive the occasional gusts of wind, traffic noise, and sirens that make listening a bit of a challenge during portions of the interview…)

I've featured both Phil and Lily on the show before but it's been a while and this is the first time that we've had them on doing a "team interview". In addition to Phil's long time co-hosting of Chillpak — now into it's ninth year – he is a filmmaker, an acting teacher, and a violence prevention specialist. Lily is a film producer, a stage and screen actress, a writer, and the toast of the 90-year-old Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

One of the other reasons I was doing the "SoCal Shuffle" this weekend is to hang out on the Grabbing Lunch podcast with Matt Knudsen, where I’ll be dining with him and the co-host of the Pop My Culture podcast – and past Succotash guest – Cole Stratton, later today. I’ll let you know when the episode of Matt’s show drops.

In addition to our convo with Phil and Lily – or “Phily”, to give them their appropriate Hollywood “Power Couple” portmanteau – we’ve got some delicious Burst O’ Durst with our resident political comedian and social commentator Will Durst. Iin fact, we have a double dose o' Durst — the first segment deals with the fracas over the Confederate Flag, while the second is Will's observance of the 4th of July holiday in the US of A.

We also have an ad from Henderson’s Pants – this episode is brought to you by Henderson’s new Pain Pants. We’ll dip into the ol’ Tweetsack. And we DO have a couple of clips – I know it’s a Chats episode – but these clips will be from the shows of our two guests.

On the podcast review front, just to keep you up to speed, this past week I reviewed a somewhat silly podcast called Hello From The Magic Tavern, a show featuring sort of D&D characters that are actually hosting a podcast rather than adventuring, and it’s actually pretty funny. I’ll clip ‘em the next Succotash Clips epi. And I also mentioned a couple of other p-casts: A new one to me called You Better DON’T and a special extra episode of Welcome to Night Vale. You can find those reviews and mentions up at Splitsider and Huffington Post.

Next episode will be a Succotash Clips show. We've already got a full rack lined up but it you're a comedy podcaster and would like us to feature your show, you can upload a 3-5 minute MP3 clip directly to us at http://hightail/u/succotash.

Until next time, thanks for passing the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Yes, it’s me. Your host and cat wrangler for Epi111 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. This is another Succotash Clips episode – that’s two in a row – and I’ve got a bucketful for comedy podcast clips for you this time around.

Our Associate Producer Tyson Saner grabbed some of ‘em, I clipped some, and we also had some podcasters upload them directly to us, using our Succotash upload link: http://Hightail.com/u/succotash.

In addition to the clips, we’ve got a double dose of our Burst O’ Durst segment, with political comedian and social commentator Will Durst. We’ve got a Henderson’s Pants ad. We dig into the Tweetsack. And that’s about it.

Where Are We?

I’m not sure where you grabbed this episode of Succotash from, but we’re available from iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, PodBay, Overcast, TuneIn Radio and you can even listen to us on the Succotash Facebook page – why don’t you go ahead and Like us while you’re there? We also get replayed over on CWERadio.com – that’s Clutch And Wiggle Entertainment Radio. In fact, one of the clips we have today is from the actual Clutch & Wiggle Show.

Besides the Clutch And Wiggle Experience, clipwise, we have samples from A Twilight World of Ultimate Smoothness, Date Speeding, Deviants Church, Don’t Worry – It’s Only The End of The World, Four Listeners, Pistol Shrimps Radio, Strong Opinions, The World of Mindshaft, and WTF.

Where Will We Be?

The 4th Annual Los Angeles Podcast Festival is coming up in September. I’ve been to the first three and they’re always a lot of fun. I already snagged a 3-day ticket for this year’s PodFest and I plan to hunker down in the SquareSpace Podcast Lab like some kind of great podcasting Jabba the Hutt. It’s September 18-20th at the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills, and you can get tickets and more details at Eventbrite. I’ll be interviewing podcasters and ne’er-do-wells, so I hope you get a chance to stop by and say hello.

BTW, if you’re curious about what I do when I’m NOT on the Succotash microphone, crammed into Studio F and chatting at you, there’s a fun little article that came out this week over at http://SmartUp.life, entitled, The Man Who Named The BlackBerry. That’d be me. And the piece talks about some of the other brand names I’ve helped bring into the world from out of my brain.

Special Offer (Sort Of)

Maybe you’ve noticed that Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast, doesn’t drop every week. Hell, or every two weeks, for that matter. I’d like to do it more often. Really I would. But work is tough and pays pretty well, too. So that’s where I have to put the majority of my focus. But it doesn’t always have to be that way. And you can help. If you click on the Donate button on the homesite, then kick us whatever you can afford to give in order to help us pay for the stuff that podcasters pay for to keep all of this going, I’ll start pushing myself harder to get these shows cranked out more often. Here's the deal: For every month that the Donate button brings in enough to cover our Succotash nut – that’s about 60 bucks — I will push out 4 consecutive weeks of this show, by hook or by crook. So get clicking!

Clips

WTF w/guest President ObamaWe’d be remiss to continue on without acknowledging perhaps one of the most important milestones in comedy podcasting: A sitting president has appeared on one. I’m sure you’ve heard about President Barack Obama’s visit to “the garage” to talk to Marc Maron. No matter what you think about Obama OR Maron, this is a Big Deal. I reviewed this episode for both Splitsider.com and Huffington Post Entertainment, and I thought we’d go ahead and play just a little bit for those few who haven’t heard it yet. This is right toward the end of the show and Marc gets the opportunity to ask The President about his favorite comedians.

Pistol Shrimps RadioLast week I found a new podcast from a couple of the gents from Superego, a long time Succotash favorite. Matt Gourley and Mark McConville have teamed up to bring you play-by-play women’s basketball. Sort of. It’s a lot of improvised nonsense and hilarity AND it actually is done courtside at the Pistol Shrimps games in LA. I’ve got a sample I pulled off the latest episode and the hosts are joined by fellow Superegoist and the hardest working man in podcasting, Paul F. Tompkins.

A Twilight World of Ultimate SmoothnessRipped from our Tweetsack comes something completely different. It’s a 6-episode mini-series called A Twilight World of Ultimate Smoothness. I got a note from the show’s producer, David Wilcox, who explains the show as “chronicling the decline and fall of a veteran R&B/smooth jazz DJ named Greg Willis. It's a psychedelic, surreal recreation of late-night commercial FM radio, complete with requests/dedications, in-studio interviews, station IDs, ads, and tons and tons of music. Imagine taking some of the darker elements of British comedy (Chris Morris' "Blue Jam" or some of the Alan Partridge stuff) and wedging them into an Art Laboe/Quiet Storm-style radio format and you'll kinda have an idea of what we're up to. The show was written by myself and Johanna Hyman -- we previously worked together on a couple episodes of the Radiotopia podcast The Truth. A musician named John Schmersal, who currently plays in the band Caribou and was formerly in Brainiac and Enon, did our music and sound design.” I downloaded and binge listened the six episodes across a couple of days of commuting to work. It’s like listening to a real radio station with some odd technical difficulties and a radio personality who is unraveling before your ears. But funny.

Deviants ChurchAssociate producer Tyson Saner tossed this next clip onto the stack for today’s show, and I confess I don’t know much about. And my search for their website turns up…nothing. It’s like this show has taken an abrupt right hand turn into the Podcast Graveyard.This show seems to be DOA. No website. It is still findable on iTunes, but the last posted episode was back in early April. And the last tweet from their account was a week after that. We’ll check in periodically and see if there’s a pulse for the Deviant’s Church.

The Clutch & Wiggle Experience

Rob and Craig over at The Clutch & Wiggle Experience have been friends and fans of Succotash pretty much since the time we started over three years ago. They regularly replay the show on CWERadio.com and so isn’t it high time we got back to seeing what THEY’RE up to? Even if they had to send in the a clip themselves? Recently on The Clutch and Wiggle Experience, Rob and Craig discussed the recent passing of legendary BB King – and that his family has the feeling he was poisoned to death.

Strong OpinionsI got a request from Mary Sasson, host and producer of the Strong Opinions podcast, asking if I’d do a review of her show. She writes: “The premise of the podcast is I invite on two comedian and we discuss our opinions of everyday topics ranging from belts to milk and everything in between. Some past guests have included stand-ups like Jake Weisman, and tons of UCB performers like Nicole Byer, Drew Tarver, Will Hines, Betsy Sodaro, and Alex Fernie.” I will try to get around to reviewing the show – it sounds pretty funny – but for now I’ll do the next best thing: Clip it.The episode featured Lauren Lapkus and Mary Holland.

The World of MindshaftHe’s got his teeth back into the world of podcasting. Our old pal, Nigel Boydell, was having some dental challenges a while back and had started a show called the HMS CodCast, which he wrote and then had various podcasting friends narrate and do the character voices. (I did one. I think it was the best episode, personally.) Well, he’s got some shiny new choppers, and Nigel is back with The World of Mindshaft. It’s a fun, bizarre, ramble through the mind of character who is clearly…well, different in the head, let’s say.

Date SpeedingFriend of Succotash Jason Duplissey recently started his own podcast, separate from The Duvet Show, called Date Speeding. He plays the Reverend Rich Hugh, and the advice he dispenses about dating is just plain wrong. There’s no homesite up yet for Date Speeding, so find the right Reverend Hugh and his so-called advice on iTunes. There’s also a Facebook page.

Four ListenersWe got yet another clip in via the Tweetsack, this one from a podcast called The Four Listeners…featuring three guys. Chris Spear, Zeth Weissman, and Corey Gantzhorn. They’ve been up and running for about four years and just celebrated their 200th episode. Congratulations! They tell me that their format is “Something Must Be Done About…” and then they have a new topic every week with only TWO rules to avoid about the topic: 1) No politics, and 2) No religion. Everything else is fair game. In this clip, sent in from the 200th episode, is some rambling about SportsTalk radio.

Don’t Worry: It’s Only The End of The WorldWe have another podcast miniseries in the works, but I’ve only heard a little bit of it so far. It’s called Don’t Worry: It’s Only The End of The World. It’s put together by Alfie Shaw and, well, it’s a self-contained series that you can binge-listener to very easily. Artie was good enough to send along a clip. You can find more at their homesite, which has a very long URL.

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Another episode of Succotash Clips is now history. In the can. Kaput. I’ll have another one coming up pretty quick. Even quicker if you guys hit that old devil Donate button on our http://SuccotashShow.com homesite. Remember, if we clear 60 bucks, I’ll crank out an episode a week for 4 consecutive weeks. See how that tastes, right?

Until next time, thanks for passing the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon