Brett Gelman & Earwolf Get Inside Your Brain With Gelmania

Gelmania is not a podcast. According to comedian Brett Gelman, the latest Earwolf Presents offering is “everywhere and everything.” Gelman warns listeners - at the beginning - if they have a problem with “free thinking, free feeling, or freedom in general” they should NOT keep listening. However, he encourages, if “your drug of choice is justice - pump up the fucking volume.” 

Brett Gelman *Photo by M. Berru

Don't let the soothing ocean and seagull sound effects fool you. This digital comedy test balloon is not for the faint of heart. Released this past Halloween, Gelmania is a haphazard creative exploit and hilarious for all the risk taking. Gelman begins the balls-out proceedings by reading some hate mail. The letter vilifies him as some "hippy, commie, anarchist" who "prays to vaginas and movies." The next segment is sure to please fans of Gelman’s rap duo, Cracked Out. Although, this time out, he raps solo. Aiming to take down Christian fundamentalists. Following this musical portion, comes a story involving Pepto-Bismol, which has a similar tone to his celebrated lauded Comedy Bang! Bang! “iBrain” story (see: Ep. #35). Gelmania then lets Complaining James Gandolfini go off and before concluding with a live recording of Tim Heidecker’s hacky right-wing stand-up persona.

For comparison sakes, if you're a podcast comparison junkie, Gelmania ventures into the Pod F Tompkast mash-up realm, along with...let's say a dash of Aleister Crowley flare. According to Gelman, it provides a pass "to be as crazy and as weak as you wanna be.” 

Word on the digital street is more Gelmania will be making its way into the world in the near future. Stay tuned to Earwolf for updates.

Follow Gelman on Twitter at @brettgelman and catch him live all over Los Angeles and your brain.

The AV Club: Podmass April 21-27

Recently the almighty A.V. Club and its pop culture obsessives took it upon themselves to document their podcast passions with their weekly Podmass summary column. The column features their favorite quotes and recaps of shows across the podcast spectrum with comedy programs often receiving much of the featured treatment. It's exciting to have a weekly podium for podcasts from The Onion cool kids. The posts are well written (duh - it is The A.V. Club we're talking about) and avoid the fanboy treatment you may expect. It's an admirable weekly recap of their favorite shows, geared towards encouraging listeners instead of replacing the entire listening experience.

This week's Podmass highlights include recaps of the recent odder-than-usual Comedy Death-Ray Radio with Tim Heidecker and Neil Hamburger creating lots of uncomfortable moments throughout along with a review of the laid-back Chris Hardwick-Jimmy Fallon interview on The Nerdist.

  

Earwolf Weekly Update: April 25

Another fun week of Earwolf shows is on tap. It's looking like a good one with visits by Jay Mohr to Sklarbro Country and the always crazy Tim Heidecker and Neil Hamburger joining Scott Aukerman's Comedy Death-Ray Radio. There's also a currently running poll on the How Did This Get Made? Facebook page to decide which movie they will suffer through and discuss next.

Check-out their weekly newsletter for the full scoop, including a nice shout-out to The Plop List. Much appreciated over here.