Monday, April 2, 2012 at 9:58AM Joel Mandelkorn Last week Jason Nash and Jeff Bumgarner launched their first video episode of their long running podcast, Guys With Feelings. No word on the schedule or how it'll work with the regular audio show. It's okay to let the Internet gods take care of that and just enjoy the fun.
Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 3:15PM Joel Mandelkorn 
It's rarer than you think for creative endeavors to come out ahead of the pack from the get-go but Dana Gould's first batch of episodes for his hourly endeavor, The Dana Gould Hour, is already one of the more top notch online comedy offerings. I finally stopped being a dipshit and chose the show for my Splitsider pick and pick of the week. My write-up for Jesse Fox Splitsider "Week In Comedy" podcast round-up:
Only a few episodes in, The Dana Gould Hour, is already starting to set the pace for production value and sophistication in the comedy podcast race. At the forefront of the show, Gould shares his ample entertainer gifts with listeners – easy conversation, playful comedic tangents, a nerd-riffic detailed passion for pop culture and history along with his masterful approach to comedic sketches. The show calmly skips among segments, using a masterful fade-in/fade-out technique. We only get the awesome bits of the conversations and sketches. Eddie Pepitone and Matt Weinhold visit with Gould for an unhealthy amount of apocalyptic talk, including comparing disaster memories and preparedness notes. Gould’s charm and wide net of knowledge gives the show sense of pace and general likeability. It’s quite easy to melt right into the quickly paced hour. Following the Apocalyptic theme, Gould shares his extended thoughts on The Omega Man and Charleton Heston. The audio commentary comes complete with killer audio clips. There’s also a bunch of fun audio sketches – complete with chicken breeding theories. Long live A.D.D.! It’s also a treat to have still-on-edge Pepitone be in a genial easy going mood. Despite all the “adult” window dressings, The Dana Gould Hour, still veers off into the silly territory quite a bit.
Here's the complete list of episode picks from the Splitsider crew:
The Long Shot #502 "The Mailbag Episode #4"
The Champs – Keegan-Michael Key
Who Charted? #69 – Ronna & Beverly
The Dana Gould Hour #4 "Apocalicious" – Eddie Pepitone, Matt Weinhold
Comedy Bang! Bang! #150 "Time Bobby" – Bobby Moynihan, Paul F. Tompkins
improv4humans #19.5 "Bonus Tebow Episode" - Chad Carter, Sean Conroy, Anthony King
Making It with Riki Lindholm #36 – Adam Pally
The Splitsider comedy podcast crew, myself included, also shared a few honorable mention picks: Big O and Dukes "Snacks of the Round Table," Cashing In with T.J. Miller #3, Pop My Culture #73 (John Hodgman, Aimee Mann, John Roderick), The Morning After Podcast #67 (Jacky Joy, Anthony Jeselnik) and Thrilling Adventure Hour #64 "War of Two Worlds, part 2."
Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 11:09AM Joel Mandelkorn Christine Erickson over at Internet-riffic, Mashable, shared another quality list of comedy podcasts. Presumeably, it's another intro to friends, letting the world know about comedy podcasts existing. Nothing wrong with that. They even included Janey Varney's new Nerdist Show, The JV Club. Here's the list:
The Nerdist
WTF with Marc Maron
How Was Your Week?
Comedy Bang! Bang!
You Made It Weird
Pod F. Tompkast
Never Not Funny
Superego
Pop My Culture
The JV Club
Friday, March 23, 2012 at 10:23AM Joel Mandelkorn 
It seems I'm always pushing for the silly/serious combo with these Splitsider episode picks. Duality of man and all that BS? Or just a sympton of my emotional ADD? This week, I leaned heavy on the silly and and was grateful to catch the Judy Greer episode of Pop My Culture. Greer fit right in with Cole Stratton and Vanessa Ragland, almost like she could be their third host. It's easy to be a fan of PMC and Judy Greer. Having them all wrapped up in one fun podcast present? Bonus. My write-up for Jesse Fox Splitsider "Week In Comedy" podcast round-up:
Judy Greer is an entertainment gem, always a treat no matter the movie, show or interview. Her recent visit with Pop My Culture’s Cole Stratton and Vanessa Ragland is another head first jump into the silly pool. It’s such an easy fit, Greer feels like she could be the unofficial third host. The three roll through a ton of topics and even manage to mix in some a little honest-to-god thoughtful Greer career revelations. Some of the choice topics include the glory of a Zombie Whitney Houston video, tornado turtles, CMT reality shows, academic Taco Bell talk and whole lot more. It’s a treat to see both the contemplative and go-with-it shades of Greer. There’s quality revelations on Greer’s latest film, Jeff Who Lives At Home, including some serious Susan-Surandon-is-awesome talk. A particularly crazy segment is when the trio list numerous types of “Judy” – a truly oddball brainstorming session. Plus, Greer explains the mechanics of Madonna parties. Stratton’s a smart and thoughtful host, keeping things moving and sneaking in a few oddball revelations to match Ragland’s charming kookiness. Ragland punctuates like no other in podcasting. Both Stratton and Ragland embrace the joy of tangents. Having Greer in tow just adds to the fun.
The rest of the Splitsider podcast group went a little off the beaten path this week with its main picks and honorable mentions. Always fun to spread the shout-out wealth. (Pretty sure there's no actual monitary value assigned to podcasts or podcast-related shout-outs.) The complete list of picks from the Splitsider crew:
The Duncan Trussell Family Hour #8 - Pete Holmes
The Smartest Man in the World "Lobsters"
Pop My Culture #72 – Judy Greer
My Brother, My Brother and Me #96
FitzDog Radio with Greg Fitzsimmons "St. Patrick’s Hangover Show"
Walking The Room #95 – Dana Gould
You Made It Weird #33 – Judd Apatow, Todd Barry, Chris Gethard, Kumail Nanjiani (and, briefly, Doug Benson)
The Splitsider podcast crew also handed out honorable mentions. This week, they include Get Up On This #33 (Emily Gordon), It's That Episode #10 (John Gemberling), Never Not Funny #1015 (Matt Walsh), Pod Awful #330 "The Ex-Girlfriend Episode" (Hate Maile) The Dead Authors Podcast Chapter 7 "P.G. Wodehouse" (Brian Stack), The Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show #36 (Craig Rowin), The Todd Glass Show #37 (James Adomian) and WTF with Marc Maron #262 (Fred Willard).
Monday, March 19, 2012 at 8:27AM Joel Mandelkorn 
It's always nice when a comedy friend shows up on a podcast. Ali Wong's recent appearance on Jordan, Jesse GO! is an example of her friend-to-all vibe working with the Maximum Fun guys. I always have some guilt not paying more attention to Maximum Fun and their stellar lineup of good natured shows. This week's episode was a fun and quick listen, a ready example of what Thorn and company do best - the silly-serious combo. Here's the write-up for Jesse Fox Splitsider "Week In Comedy" podcast round-up:
Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn are skilled at goofing around and proposing theories to work their way back from. Comedian Ali Wong visits Jordan, Jesse, GO! and manages to coax the hosts into a particularly fun episode, combining both silly tangents and earnest conversations. The show continues to be a free-flowing topic dispensary. The three put forth a easy flowing chat, avoiding the normal eye rolling pitfalls typically conjoined to marriage talk and reminiscing on their current and past neighborhoods. They have a lot of fun at the expense of both Bay Area and various Los Angeles neighborhoods with plenty of details to bridge the gap for the non-locals. There’s even some socio-economic musings to go around. They also explore the profound effect of discovering what your favorite radio personalities look like. Jesse Thorn is again at his best, letting loose his proper persona to put forth a bunch of silly stories and fun theories on a crazy amount of topics. Wong’s infectious curiosity fits in perfectly with the Morris-Thorn theorizing style.
The complete list of picks from the Splitsider crew for the week:
Totally Laime #110 – Matt Walsh
Mohr Stories #30 – Neal Brennan
Jordan, Jesse, GO! #215 – Ali Wong
You Made It Weird #30 – Kyle Kinane
The Todd Glass Show #35 – Paul F. Tompkins
Honorable mentions this time out include Alison Rosen Is Your New Friend #5 (Dana Gould), The Duncan Trussell Family Hour #6 (Bert Kreischer), Mike and Tom Eat Snacks #52, The Nerdist #180 (Baratunde Thurston), Nerdist Writers Panel #29 (Dana Gould, Liz Tigelaar, Robert Hewitt Wolfe) and The Todd Glass Show #36 (Paul F. Tompkins).
Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 3:15PM Joel Mandelkorn 
Chris Hardwick announced the initial lineup for his new Nerdist Youtube Channel, set to launch April 2nd. Hardwick and the rest of his Nerdist Industries are casting a wide content net with a ton of short-form original and re-released programming. There's even talk of having some podcasts on the channel (no word yet on whether it's entire episodes or short clips). I'm interested to see how it'll all be presented and organized for internet consumption and even snarky commentary. Will there be release schedules, extra content associated with the various shows? Or will it be a grab bag affair, whatever shows up whenever it shows up on the channel, just go for it - watch and share as you see fit. In these times...
Check-out Hardwick's silly but also informative muppet-assisted press conference announcement.
chris hardwick, nerdist, youtube Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 2:24PM Joel Mandelkorn 
Wow. Talk about neglecting my internet duties for a bit. Here's my pick and excerpt for the Splitsider comedy podcast round-up from the week of March 5th. Another solid Bugle episode. In all honesty, I could save myself time most weeks and just pikc The Bugle and be done with it. It's that consistently funny, smart and biting. That's the kind of comedy we need more of online and real life. Better late than never, here's my thoughts on Bugle #185 for Jesse Fox Splitsider "Week In Comedy" podcast round-up:
Connecting to comedic rage is always a fun way to commune with your fellow man, albeit an obnoxious fellow man. Or men. John Oliver and Andy Zaltman keep offering up a high dose of politically-minded disdain, always at an impressive clip. Episode #185 of The Bugle is a quick-paced jaunt back and forth between quality political satire and good ol’ self-deprecating anecdotes. Oliver and Zaltman go after London’s mad-dash Olympic Games preparations. Zaltman continues to impress with his rapid-fire joke delivery and Oliver relays more artful rage-filled sarcasm. The guys mix in some fun bickering between each other with their usual political barbs. The Bugle still being recently independent from their Murdoch-led newspaper overlord causes Oliver to lament his lack of joy slamming his old corporate podcast boss. He muses over the fruitlessness of going after their new web boss, Soundcloud. The guys even throw in a fun metaphor-laden debate over the various types of political self-interest. Plus, there’s a mundane German parliament Sudoku scandal of underwhelming proportions, among many more stories and riffs. A ton of goodness in well less-than an hour. It’s all dealt with swiftly and soundly by The Bugle duo, the seminal force in political comedy. Long live the rage.
The complete list of picks from the Splitsider crew for the week of March 5th. The gang gave a needed shout-out to Rogan's show and the lot of creative-pushing shows:
The Joe Rogan Experience #190 - Greg Fitzsimmons
The Pod F. Tompkast #16 – Judy Greer, Gillian Jacobs, Jen Kirkman
The Bugle #185 “Burning Rings of Steel”
improv4humans #16 - Chad Carter, Katie Dippold, Gil Ozeri
Professor Blastoff #44 "Kung Fu" - Christian Everhart
Superego #3:12 - Patton Oswalt, Greg Proops, Paul F. Tompkins
Honorable Mentions include Ten Minute Podcast “Deadly Animals,” The Dana Gould Hour #3 “Jailbirds” (Eddie Pepitone, Matt Weinhold), The Mike O'Meara Show #527 “Continue to Water the Garden,” This Week With Larry Miller “Larry’s Little White Lie,” Uhh Yeah Dude #313 and Walking The Room #93 “Spitting Out Homeless and The Wig.”
Monday, March 5, 2012 at 4:13PM Joel Mandelkorn 
The inaugural Los Angeles Podcast Festival looks to be happening this Fall thanks to achieving its Kickstarter fundraising goal of $20K this past week. I'm curious to see how the programming and schedule shakes out. For now, check-out the Kickstarter page for updates. I'm sure Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini will have more news and a website as the year progresses.
Monday, March 5, 2012 at 8:43AM Joel Mandelkorn The Nerdist YouTube Channel is starting up April 2nd. Zombie Chris Hardwick shares the news.
chris hardwick, nerdist Monday, March 5, 2012 at 8:09AM Joel Mandelkorn 
My pick for the top comedy episode last week is all about the positivity - not always my strongest bag. Pretty sure it's not online comedy's usual mode either. The Australian outfit, The Little Dum Dum Club, continues to chug along with a grand mix of positivity and self-deprecation. Don't let the accents fool you, these guys are straight up fun. Here's the write-up for this week's Jesse Fox Splitsider "Week In Comedy" podcast round-up:
The Little Dum Dum Club is a stupidly easy listen. Still not sure how the self-effacing hosts, Tommy Dassalo and Karl Chandler, do it. Sure, the good-natured Australians always fret over the specific Australian-ness of their show. But their ability to mock each other, their guests and seamlessly transitions between some hearty comedy talk and good natured regular life discussions is quite a podcasting feat. Veteran Australian comedian, Fiona O’Laughlin joins the dum dum duo this time out, bringing a dose of family talk to the playful meandering. Dassalo and Chandler embrace having “an adult” in their midst and even venture into a few heady but still fun moments discussing O’Laughlin’s past (and very public) drinking problems. There’s quality talk of O’Laughlin’s Last Comic Standing experience, airport crying, forgetting names and the futility of dream talk. Dassalo and Chandler continue to sow much from their fake hosting rivalry and self-hate, never missing a chance to mock themselves. They always seem to put the guest and listeners at ease. It’s startling when compared to the know-it-all bravado of many comedy podcasters or even the soul-searching broken ones. Hooray for dum dum fun.
The complete list of picks from the Splitsider crew this week:
Sklarboro Country #83 — Ben Schwartz, Chris Cox, Dan Van Kirk
The Adam Carolla Show 2/27 — Nick DiPaolo, Artie Lange
How Was Your Week? #51 “HWYW Live” — Sandra Bernhard, Tom Scharpling, Ira Glass, Joe Mande
The Little Dum Dum Club #74 — Fiona O’Laughlin
Comedy Bang! Bang! #146 — Reggie Watts, Ben Schwartz, Matt Besser
Illusionoid #16
You Made It Weird #27 – Hannibal Buress
Honorable mentions: Here's The Thing #10 (Dick Cavett), Jim and Eddie Talks Hit #107 (Kato Kaelin, part 1 of 2), The Todd Glass Show #33 (Jen Kirkman, Daniel Kinno), The Mustache Rangers #231 "Fear," This Better Be Funny #12 (Brandie Posey) and Who Charted? #65 (James Adomian).
