On this week's DISCOVERING AMERICA, Vlad discusses employment in the Soviet Union and how it differed from that in the U.S., with a brief detour into the mashed potato experience in both countries.

Vlad performs improv comedy most Friday and Saturday nights with The Bit Players at the Firehouse Theater in Newport, RI. Tickets available at www.bitplayers.net

Theme music is by Damien Baby, featuring Bit musicians Devon and Chase: damienbaby.bandcamp.com/

In honor of Marcel Marceau's 100th birthday, we're reposting Vlad's excellent talk about the history of the great mime, as well as Vlad's training with him.

In this week's DISCOVERING AMERICA, Vlad talks about how he learned the language and how it was connected to every part of his American experience. And why he can't ask for a fork or a sheet, or go to the beach.

Vlad performs improv comedy most Friday and Saturday nights with The Bit Players at the Firehouse Theater in Newport, RI. Tickets available at www.bitplayers.net

Theme music is by Damien Baby, featuring Bit musicians Devon and Chase: https://damienbaby.bandcamp.com/

Today Jim talks to all his fellow performers in the COMEDY CORNER STANDUP NIGHT: Andy Syron, Karl Magner, Vlad Tenenbaum, Devon Mello, and Kim Tingle. We all discuss our influences as well as the most unanswerable question: why would anyone want to do standup?

See us all do standup this Thursday, March 16, at 8pm at The Firehouse Theater in Newport, RI. Suggested admission $10 at the door.

The Bit Players perform every Friday and Saturday night at 8pm at the Firehouse Theater in Newport, RI. Tickets available here: www.bitplayers.net

Opening and closing music by Dorisduke, the band that is 75% current and former Bit Players. Find their music here: dorisduke.bandcamp.com

Welcome to DISCOVERING AMERICA, where the Bit Players' resident Russian mime Vlad tells Jim about his experiences adjusting to American life after growing up in the Soviet Union. Today he talks about his first impressions of the country and why the airport represented his first taste of freedom rather than the hellscape of bureaucracy it represents to us.

Vlad performs improv comedy most Friday and Saturday nights with The Bit Players at the Firehouse Theater in Newport, RI. Tickets available at www.bitplayers.net

Theme music is by Damien Baby, featuring Bit Player musicians Devon and Chase. Buy their music here: damienbaby.bandcamp.com

This week we watched Jim's suggestion, 2007's crime thriller THE LOOKOUT, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Then Jim leads the group in a game based on the seven other movies in the 8-movie DVD set on which THE LOOKOUT appears (it's also available here: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-lookout).

The Bit Players Movie Club is a part of THE BIT PLAYERS PODCAST NETWORK. Continue to check this feed for weekly content that will leave you contented.

The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday at 8pm at the Firehouse Theater in Newport, RI. Tickets available at www.bitplayers.net.

Theme music is Chase Ceglie's "Losing My Mind." Chase's music can be found here: chaseceglie.bandcamp.com

Today the Movie Club discusses SUMMER WARS, a 2009 Japanese animated film suggested by Kenney which we all liked very much.

SUMMER WARS is available to watch here: https://www.bilibili.tv/en/video/2006716773

Kenney's genealogy for the family in the movie, as well as the hideous image Karl references at ~27:00 can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/0Q0IHKV

The Bit Players Movie Club is a part of THE BIT PLAYERS PODCAST NETWORK. Continue to check this feed for weekly content that will leave you contented.

The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday at 8pm at the Firehouse Theater in Newport, RI. Tickets available at www.bitplayers.net.

Theme music is Chase Ceglie's "Losing My Mind." Chase's music can be found here: chaseceglie.bandcamp.com

Today on I CAN TEACH HISTORY, History teacher Liz teaches her comedian husband Karl about the Progressive Era, Teddy Roosevelt, ketchup, and Ida Tarbell, as well as muckrakers, who were in many ways the paparazzi of their day. Meanwhile, Karl teaches Liz about the movie with the cars.

Karl's I Can Teach History videos are visible on his TikTok @kahlmagnah91.

I CAN TEACH HISTORY is a member of the BIT PLAYERS PODCAST NETWORK. The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday night in Newport, RI. Tickets available at www.bitplayers.net.

Theme music is "Tantalus" by Dorisduke. Their music can be found here: dorisduke.bandcamp.com

Hi Bits Per Second subscribers! Although we've changed our title to THE BIT PLAYERS PODCAST NETWORK, this is still your home for BITS PER SECOND and all Quittin' of Bitsin'. Now when you search for "Bit Players" on your podcast app, the first thing you see is us instead of someone like Scoot McNairy or Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

Check back for more podcast silliness, and come see The Bit Players at the Firehouse Theater in Newport, RI, every Friday and Saturday night! Tickets available at www.bitplayers.net.

Theme music by DorisDuke. Buy their stuff at dorisduke.bandcamp.com.

Today the Movie Club discusses Chase's pick, 1969's PUTNEY SWOPE, directed by Robert Downey, Sr. For a meal like the one Karl is eating throughout the episode, visit your local Cumberland Farms store.

PUTNEY SWOPE is available to watch here: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/putney-swope

The Bit Players Movie Club is a part of THE BIT PLAYERS PODCAST NETWORK. Continue to check this feed for weekly content that will leave you contented.

The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday at 8pm at the Firehouse Theater in Newport, RI.

Theme music is Chase Ceglie's "Losing My Mind." Chase's music can be found here: chaseceglie.bandcamp.com