Audio

S01E02 Interview: Zach Shade

Our first Interview episode couldn’t be better with our guest Zach Shade! We start in right away enjoying how not unlike Shaft Zach’s name is. Of course, that highlights how incredibly white and nerdy he is (not unlike the song by “Weird Al” Yankovic), which happens to be a brilliant segue into his Jewish based comedy.

We try to understand Zach’s influences, the things that inform his comedy. Not only is it his Jewish disposition, but also relate-able things from his life, but not hilarious moments at his uncle’s funeral.

We get right into Hitler, Eva Braun and holocaust jokes which aren’t offensive or racist because he’s a Jew. We talk about Germans and Nazis. This somehow leads organically to discussions involving Robin Williams, Family Guy, Lou Ferrigno, King of Queens, Patton Oswalt, Kevin James and a review of Paul Blart Mall Cop‘s movie poster.

The conversation deepens as we ask “where do jokes come from?” We talk about some pretty hilarious word pictures which might work in such movies as Eddie Murphy‘s “the Klumpsfranchise.zach shade

Hilarity ensues as our dear guest illustrates how important that 37% of delivery is as he regales us with a story complete with an in-depth description of its physicality. We get a little peek into a potential romance that could have blossomed in that controversial, but albeit hilarious, moment.

Kevin also mentions Sandra Bullock again because he’s obsessed.

Even though the previous story had happened in Montreal with French people, we talk about Greeks, Scandinavians, Chinese people, Ethiopians, Australians and Americans. You can barely mention America without saying a few words about President Barack Obama. So, we mention him too.

We discuss how Jerry Seinfeld ripped the Chinese a new one by mocking their eating utensils.

Here is that video:

Talking about influences, process and inspiration, we touch on Jim Carrey, Assassin’s Creed and mashups on Glee.

Then we take time to discuss Zach’s pre-show rituals. It’s important to know what to eat, drink and what to sit on. Funny is often found in food. We discuss the dressing of his burger and fry options. Does he or doesn’t he add salt to his fries? We get that answer! We mention Gefilte fish and Mike Birbiglia’sSleepwalk with Me” is mentioned as a cornerstone of “knowing thyself”.

As this goes on, we happen onto How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, Ashton Kutcher, Charlie Sheen and Alan Harper. We remind people about Punk’d.

zach frankenfurterWe talk about how it felt being on stage and when Zach went on dressed as Frankenfurter from Rocky Horror Picture Show. This naturally develops to more discussion about Hitler and his cheeky nature whilst performing his speeches. We discuss the issues of your body starting to work against you when you’re on stage.

Then we have our first segment of COMEDY SOUP! And yes, Zach gives us some soup!

And another segment called “Mike Birbiglia’s Tweets“. We have a laugh over a very Immanuel Kant tweet.

The episode takes a strange turn when we start to discuss Zach’s paranormal investigations! There are some spooky stories, so be careful when you listen. You could be freaked out. Joel suggests a Ghostbusters type film for Zach to write. He’d prefer to write a film for director Martin Scorsese.

We learn all about ghosts, poltergeists, demons, Paranormal Activity films, ghost boxes and the general thousands of planes of existence. Zach misquotes the Bible to illustrate something about ghosts. (“Misquotes” looks like “mosquitoes”). He tells us some scary stories about interactions with a Kool-Aid glass and a poltergeist in his grandparents’ haunted home. Kevin brings up Occam’s Razor and it’s naturally compared to Murphy’s Law in regards to trying to get some Oreos and a glass of milk. He also compares one of the three spirits to a short-haired Wookiee from Star Wars.

As a comedy podcast should do, we bring around this ghost hunting talk to the world of stand-up. What would happen if there was a ghost? Joel brings up Jews having sex through a sheet. Here are some Google results about that.

Kevin wins this podcast 2 nothing!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

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Have a great week!

Aside

S01E01.5 LM (Listener Mail) #1

This is our first Listener Mail (LM) episode where we talk to YOU the listener about emails that you’ve sent us regarding the podcasting that we’ve been doing for you. It seems a little circular and redundant, but maybe in a deep way, that’s life.

Kevin mentions his BLOG and gives the INCORRECT link, so I’ve corrected it here: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com! I’m not sure if there are ways to subscribe to his blog or comment and message on it, I don’t care, but you can figure that out and have wonderful conversations with him.

As you listen to our podcasts, you will notice we discuss many comedy minds (which is a term I prefer to “comics” or “comedians/comediennes”). Each podcast will have a blog post associated to it here which will give you links to more information about those comedy minds, those humourists, and any other things we touch on that the common man may not understand. I’ve already done this for our Introduction Episode and our Louis C.K. Tribute.

You may find there’s no reason to send us emails or comment on anything because you will get all the information you need on my blog posts. We do enjoy being tweeted, facebooked and soon you’ll be able to see hilarious videos on our YouTube! If you want to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, click the link below or the picture in this post!

Subscribe on iTunes!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

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Have a great week!

Audio

S01E01 Tribute: Louis C.K.

In this first Tribute Episode, we don’t just celebrate the “comedian’s comedianLouis C. K., we also give him some tough love advice to get on the cover of GQ Magazine and to open for Mike Birbiglia! As we try to de-magify Louis’ comedy, we dip into a very intense conversation which really should be on the View. Is J/K Around Podcast the forum for a rape exposé? That’s something we’ll need to review for ourselves.

Then we celebrate his finest moments from his career: Pootie Tang with Chris Rock, writing for Conan and other HBO shows, dyeing his hair. This, of course, leads to us discussing Kevin’s Pootie Tang 2 which takes a fascinating Sci-Fi angle. We highlight the Sudoku style in which one would need to write for Louis, so he could fill his brilliance in the blanks. Dream cast? Emma Watson or Sandra Bullock, any of the Seth’s: Seth Rogan, Seth Green and Seth MacFarlane. And, of course, Louis himself as Captain Kiejrnglung!

The science fiction talk turns to science fact as Joel touches on his theory that we would need the power of light and Hindu-style meditation for us to be able to live on Mars. This brings the duo to politics, spirituality and philosophy (aka LIFE). And Kevin reveals the subtext of Pootie Tang 2. Because Louis is a god like Zeus, yet he pretends to be human like us, we felt we needed to put him in the same company as other gods: Adam Sandler and Lisa Lampanelli.

This raises the issues facing comedians who are girls (comediennes or female comedians as they’re offensively called). We confirm that all comedians are funny if they’re girls, but not always if they’re guys. Interesting female comedians: Maria Bamford and Tig Notaro who with thought let their funny personalities overshadow the funny jokes sometimes. Of course, we do talk about Louis’ show Louie and how sometimes comedy is ruined by substance.

Joel compares Louis’ commentary to him explaining that his “Internet Bit” is really about Darfur, Rain Forest deforestation and the risk of Star Wars and Disney taking over the Nation and America. It’s agreed that Get Smart had social commentary, which is why it’s unwatchable today.

This is the famous “Internet Bit”:

Other comedians we reference: Blue Collar Comedy, Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Nat King Cole, John Pinette, David Cross and Joe Rogan (Newsradio, Fear Factor).

This week’s contest: Tweet scene ideas or written pages for Pootie Tang 2 to @thejkaround and, if it’s good, we’ll retweet it and maybe act it out!

Here’s the cellphone bit we reference in this episode:

Suck the magic as hard as you can with us in our social media:

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Have a great week!

Audio

S01E00 Introduction

podcast

Welcome to the first Episode of J/K Around Podcast. Here we discuss what you can expect from the podcast (interview and tribute episodes) as well as some of the greats we might be discussing: Mike Birbiglia, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Jeff Dunham, Charlie Sheen, Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy. We touch on amazing shows like The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men. We also use rich metaphors like Lego and KerPlunk to describe comedy itself.

This episode really lays the ground work, bedrock and foundation for the rich conversations we will be having for episodes to come!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Have a great week!