The Earwolf Challenge, Season (pregnant pause) 1 (insistent question mark)

[Staircaseghost]

Now that the audiomachy has officially begun, I thought this podcast could use its own thread, where people can unreasonably complain about their favorites being eliminated, and about the general unfairness of life.

I've listened to at least one episode of all but 1 of the competitors now, and subscribed to 2 that were new (to me).

I have to say I'm nervous about the first challenge being Intros; it means someone's going home the first week for non-content-related reasons, and cross-comparisons between wildly different styles of shows seem even harder to make on this one. We'll see how this shakes out.

[grumm]

I'm enjoying this podcast a lot more than I thought I would. Just started listening to week 2. Matt Besser is a great host for something like this.

[fevre]

Cool competition idea. Many of the entries are quite funny, and hopefully this experience will make their shows even better.

[KeithTalent]

I'm telling my guy in Vegas to bet on Totally Laime and The Little Dum Dum Club to place. They'd both be top-notch additions. I'm sort of hoping for a Dave Holmes type decision.

Not that none of the other shows are worthy. I haven't listened to them all yet, podcasters in the competition who are reading this thread.

For instance I haven't listened to Ham Radio (downloading one now) but the style he keeps describing, that Matt Besser thinks could be too disorienting, sounds to me like the kind of thing The Firesign Theatre did a lot. And if his show's anything like The Firesign Theatre it's disorienting in an awesome way that's only possible in audio. One mark of good art is when it is inextricable from its medium. I have now raised my own expectations for Ham Radio to the point where I'm sure to be disappointed,

I'm guessing next season they'll change things to make the competition better for sketch shows. I'm sure they didn't envision the Challenge as a way to encourage more podcasts to be three people chatting.

[luvrhino]

I'm looking forward to when they have a technical challenge that involves having the competitors fill out their MP3 tags properly.

Which is my passive-aggressive -- well, aggressive-aggressive -- way of hoping that they'll start filling out the Contributing Artist and/or Album Artist field so that i can more easily find Earwolf Challenge on my MP3 player.

[Monty]

I'm telling my guy in Vegas to bet on Totally Laime and The Little Dum Dum Club to place. They'd both be top-notch additions.

Seconded. They're the two that have consistently made me laugh even in the short segments featured in the challenge.

[semisorick]

I've never listed to Ham Radio, but I feel like Matt Besser was kind of unfair in some of his criticism of the show. I felt really bad for the guy last week when Besser was criticizing him about making fun of hack comedians, when that in no way was the point of the sketch. It seemed like he had set his mind on this one element without taking the whole piece into account.

[Jared091]

They definitely seem like the top 2. I prefer the little dum dum club (despite my hatred of their name) over Totally Laime but I wouldn't mind either winning. Although I haven't ever listened to any of the other podcasts except for Beginnings so my opinion doesn't really matter.

[Hoov]

I just listened to an episode of Ham Radio, It is technically very strong and there's some good ideas, but I don't think it's quite funny enough yet. It's a shame because it's probably the most original podcast in the challenge, and it would offer something Earwolf doesn't quite have yet, but I think Brett probably just needs more time to get better at it and maybe collaborate more and work on some of his ideas a bit more. There's a lot of potential there but it just lacks a little something to push it over the edge.

[KeithTalent]

I agree completely, Hoov...there are good ideas but lots of dialogue that just goes too long without a laugh...he's only done 9 episodes though, and it's him all by himself, so I look forward to what he'll be doing in the future.

I love Matt Besser but yeah, sometimes his advice seems like he's not listening to the people he's talking to.

In general there's a feel that nothing about this show has been thought out very much. As they're musing over what exactly constitutes a "recurring segment" I'm wondering why this never occurred to anyone before they started the show...it's kind of weak to give people an assignment and not even be sure yourself what you mean by it. They knew they'd have sketch shows on the thing, why not make the challenge "recurring segment, sketch or character" instead of trying to force every show into an ill-defined box...it seems to me a recurring thing like Maggie the GPS is the best analog you're gonna get to something like Fitzdog's Half A Man.

[Bucho]

I don't typically gravitate toward sketch shows but Left Handed Radio has impressed me and made me laugh the most so far.

I love Matt Besser but yeah, sometimes his advice seems like he's not listening to the people he's talking to.

In general there's a feel that nothing about this show has been thought out very much. As they're musing over what exactly constitutes a "recurring segment" I'm wondering why this never occurred to anyone before they started the show...it's kind of weak to give people an assignment and not even be sure yourself what you mean by it. They knew they'd have sketch shows on the thing, why not make the challenge "recurring segment, sketch or character" instead of trying to force every show into an ill-defined box...it seems to me a recurring thing like Maggie the GPS is the best analog you're gonna get to something like Fitzdog's Half A Man.

I agree with all this more or less, but I'm still enjoying the Challenge a lot. It's gotta be a tough thing to produce and I think while it's not perfect, they're still doing a really good job of making a compelling show.

[Michael Williamson]

I'm surprised there isn't more love for the Bob and Dan-Cast here. I think their chemistry is totally unique and they're the only show I hadn't heard before that I was totally compelled to listen to outside the challenge. Having listened to Totally Laime for a while now, I'd be thrilled if either of those won.

I was also a fan of Beginnings, but I understand why they were cut and I'm not sure they were a great fit for Earwolf anyhow. And am I the only one who thinks the same is true about these TV Zombies? I'm not saying anything against them, but their show does stick out as the least Earwolfian to me.

Anyhow, I enjoy this show so far and think Matt is doing a super job in the Tim Gunn role.

[Staircaseghost]

They definitely seem like the top 2. I prefer the little dum dum club (despite my hatred of their name) over Totally Laime but I wouldn't mind either winning.

My top 2 also, not least because when you strip out the dialect and mannerisms they seem to be basically the same show, just plugged into slightly different industry communities. Sure, I've never heard of upwards of 3/4 of LDDC's regional guests, but to be fair a lot of TLC's guests I only know about because I'm obsessively plugged into UCBTLA. The hosts of LDDC are so amiable though that they make me not care that I have to look up Yumi Stynes on wikipedia, because they just make the show fun.

Been kind of frustrated with the F+ being unable to explain themselves and what they're trying to do to the judges. It may be a generational thing: those of us who grew up on Somethingawful or the old Cruel.com instantly understand the premise, but it seems three weeks deep they spend a lot of time re-explaining their concepts to their confused hosts, instead of discussing the merits of their pretty solid material.

[KeithTalent]

The Little Dum Dum Club, much like Stop Podcasting Yourself, has a whole stable of funny people we don't really know over here. Totally Laime has the same 8 guests as every other LA podcast. Also neither host on TL seems to know anything or understand any references.

[grumm]

I know that Totally Laime has had many guests that have been on other popular podcasts. But they have also had 80 episodes now with no repeat guests. The hosts are not famous comedians, they just live in the right place and have a good format. The guests they have had like them, and that seems to be the only reason that they were able to get them on. Why should this be held against them?

I also love the Little Dum Dum Club (perhaps even more than TL), but I just don't see why the fact that TL can get famous guests should be a strike.

[KeithTalent]

It's just that bringing TL to Earwolf sorta just adds another link in the incestuous LA chain of podcasting...I like hearing from UCB performers but y'know, there are other funny people in the world. It's more of a point in LDDC's favor than a demerit for Totally Laime, I guess.

I think Left-Handed Radio would also benefit from a link with Earwolf more than TL would.

[Staircaseghost]

Actually, DC Pierson was a repeat Laime guest, but then I'm not complaining.

I agree there is a sort of round-robin quality to a lot of LA-based comedy podcasts, but if TL gets picked up in its defense I would say 1) they still pick up a lot of locals who are maybe on the cusp of being nationally known, but not quite (eg they had Kimmy Gatewood last winter) 2) they still add a dimension of interaction with comedians that you don't get on Earwolf podcasts where everyone feels compelled to be "on" at all times 3) with the added resources, they could pull in people beyond their circle which if I understand correctly consists entirely of either acquaintances or people like Patton whom EL just cold-approached when she spotted him in public. I'd love to see them do episodes with "bigger" names like Dan Harmon or John Oliver or Louis.

Oh, and of course, LDDC would be great at that too.

[KeithTalent]

I don't want to register at Earwolf just to show up and be a jerk, so I'll continue to do it here instead.

The new episode of Totally Laime really soured me on the show. In the past I've only listened for guests I knew I liked and it seems that made all the difference. Since the Challenge started I have checked out a few other episodes...this new one I turned off halfway through. Just completely vapid people vapping out together, they ought to pipe it into Iowa bus stations to discourage people from moving to California. Maybe this is unfair since I think they always have a guest, but can you FATHOM what a guestless episode of that show would be like? Dear god. Also (and I'm sure this has been covered plenty on the Earwolf forum) they failed to adhere to any of the rules of the current challenge. DISQUALIFIED!

I am now a supporter of podcasts starting with the letter L.

[BFH]

In that case, Keith, be sure to tune into the Lshakeytown Lradio Lhour.

[Fritz Zwicky]

I'm now totally on-board with Left-Handed Radio. They are the only show that has consistently surprised me and made me laugh. Their sketches are generally pretty spot-on, and the ones that don't work are typically short enough that it doesn't quite matter. While I find the Little Dum Dum Club charming, I think that there's not quite enough of a hook there to justify it joining Earwolf.

And Keith, I totally get what you're saying. I haven't heard the most recent episodes of Totally Laime, but I had to switch off the Blaine Capatch episode, even though I find Blaine to be really funny. It's become grating that they don't get so many common references. I know that's not their fault, but it happens far too frequently. And their past two challenge submissions have been pretty subpar.

Ah, but I feel like a dick even talking about this. Truth is, I wish all of the podcasts the best of luck. Can I go home, now?