Audio

S01E17 Tribute: Demetri Martin

podcastThe episode begins with Joel and Kevin suggesting that Prince could do a cool rock and roll version of their theme song. That gets Joel talking about hippity-hop and how he doesn’t enjoy the “music” or lyrics, but really loves the sexy videos they make to go along with those things.

Then the JK Around exposes their other exploits that go far beyond this comedy podcast. We discuss Kevin’s scoliosis.

And then it’s time to draw the name out of the comedy hat! From Chris Farley to Sam Kinison, we’ve had such great diversity on the podcast out of the hat so far!

Today’s comedian is: Marmaduke! But, apparently, we’re not allowed to celebrate a drawn animal comedian. Kevin argues that if we tributize Marmaduke, we need to tributize made up characters like when Ray Romano’s dad played Young Frankenstien by Mel Brooks.

Joel concedes to Kevin and this week’s comedian is: Demetri Martin! As an aside, Marmaduke has only one name like Madonna, Axlrose or Slash.

Demetri had a show on HBO called “Demetri Martin and the Special Things“. He was doing Drawing Comedy. We explain what that is. And then it comes out that all good comedy has its foundation in reality. All this points back to Marmaduke.

Then the duo discusses their hatred for certain sounds and textures. Joel doesn’t like chalk, Kevin doesn’t like typewriters.

The lesson turns to musical comedy which is something that Demetri practises in the discipline. But is he like Tenacious D? Or is he more like Folk music? Is he Arj Barker doing the Doggy Bounce? Is he anything like Flight of the ConChords (the Australian (New Zealand) version of us)?

They discuss the sparsity of his comedy atmosphere. How he doesn’t have a lot on his sets or tshirts… or expressions on his face (no one actually says that last one). A question for our students would be: Why the sparsity? What is the affect there? Joel’s question to the students would be this: If you look at the show of Pee-wee Herman, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, is that also funny?

Demetri was recently in the film “In a World…”, not to be confused with “The World, End of the World“. We were very upset that the Oscars snubbed comedy and Seth Rogan and his movie. We prove that we are connected in a comedic spirituality to Seth Rogan.

And then we do “What If?” What it Demetri Martin were sidewalk chalk art?

Assignment: Give us some drawings of Demetri Martin type sidewalk chalk art or any kind of art or painting. OR just post your favourite comic of Marmaduke on our Facebook or Twitter!

Check out our YOUTUBE page, share our podcast clips with your friends!

Subscribe on iTunes!! And RATE and REVIEW us!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E16 Interview: Matt Ker

podcastWhat a beautiful Monday for the JK Around Podcast. We don’t waste much time to introduce our guest: Matt Ker!

Matt is an old, not particularly current, friend of Kevin’s. We start in by talking about the history that Kevin and Matt share. It’s pretty underwhelming. The joke they shared didn’t even seem that funny, so it’s not clear why it’s such a “rich history”. However, Kevin does remember, with a slight prompting, Joel’s first hilarious, well honed internet bit.

They talk about the Offenders of Comedy which was a washed up group of comedians that didn’t even have a podcast or have the kind of chemistry Joel and Kevin have. Maybe Matt and Kev still workshop jokes, but Joel and Kevin write their skitches and do some real world friendship stuff. It’s an exciting time of changed traditions and new, richer friendships!

They discuss being raised in a small, useless, uninteresting town called Nee-lmyr. It’s a one badger town outside of the Capitol City. Matt tries for a shock value joke in the moment which falls flat and doesn’t work. Kevin is supportive of it, as you would be of an old family friend who you don’t plan helping grow or get better. Joel has to explain that this isn’t the forum for a bunch of jokes, it’s an educational programme.

Then there is an explanation of shock comedy. One of them uses a great metaphor from This Is Spinal Tap. Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Miley Cyrus: these all did shock rock (and comedy when it comes to Miley). And funny dress ups inspired by Lady Gaga and Carrot Top.

A story then comes out about a hilarious comedy joke that Matt wrote which was taken by Joe Rogan (comedian, philosopher, scientist). This joke featured the comparison of Alien and the female vagina. Joel uses a Chuck Norris joke to illustrate how comedy is about philosophy, because Matt insists it’s not about science, but in describing that, it appears science is very necessary in the best jokes (like Norris jokes). So, he’s wrong. Matt is wrong. And then Sherlock Joel with his Watson Kevin solves the case of the stolen joke. Matt doesn’t have much to do with it.

Then Matt tells us about Caleb and their comedy thing called “Bad Idea Comedy” which seems like a really great idea for them. Matt should stick with Kelland and not bother with Kevin so much. It’s a bad idea because it’s like Tim and Eric, but the joke is that it’s a GOOD idea! You can see them on YouTube and Facebook!

Then Kevin does a masterful job of describing his jokes using puns. That’s how you know it’s good material. Bill Cosby’s material can be describe in a pun as Joel shows and that’s how we know his comedy is brilliant!

Then we do “What’s the Difference“! What’s the difference between Matt Ker and Rick Moranis (Mel Brooks‘ “Spacebars“, “Honey I Shrunk the Kids (2)”, “Ghostbusters“)?

Then we have Matt “Give us a Handle“!

Then we try “Tweets“, the ongoing tweet segment which is constantly evolving. This week: Rob Huebel (Human Giant, Childrens’ Hospital)!

Then we have another installment of the segment “Can I/we be Your?” It gets kind of dramatic, but it’s very much a telling experience for Matt and Kevin.

Of course, they do your favourite segment: “Comedy Soup“!

Before we go, we have to enlighten Matt about taking the magic out of comedy magic shows. Joel goes into great detail to explain the subtle differences we’re talking about in that statement. It’s unclear if Matt gets it by the end, but he might just be too dumb.

Assignment: Litter our walls and Bad Idea Comedy wall with all sorts of offensive shock comedy!

Check out our YOUTUBE page, share our podcast clips with your friends!

Subscribe on iTunes!! And RATE and REVIEW us!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E15 Tribute: Sam Kinison

podcastThe podcast cracks off on an interesting conversation about time, death, tragedy and comedy. They immediately turn the comedy plus time equals tragedy equation on its ear.

Then we reiterate what we’re doing with the show, interviewing amateur comedians in order to stay away from just discussing WHO the people are, but rather, WHAT they do (the comedy). TMZ can enjoy taking strange pictures of what these celebrities are eating, but we’re going to educate our students. This leads to discussing how the paparazzi are run here in the Nation, which is a sensible way of doing things. Hopefully America will bring these ideas in with Obamacare.

Assignment: How many comedians are in the hat (by sound alone)! Please guess on facebook or twitter! hashtag: favourite jellybean flavour.

And this week’s tributee is announced: Sam Kinison!

The tribute unfolds first with his iconic beret, that special look that Sam had. This was his “calling card” (we go to great lengths to describe what that is). He’s in good artistic company with Van Gogh and the guy from myth busters. Yet, other people might imagine Sam in the same camp as a director, a French person, a mime or someone who rides a tandem bicycle.

Is Sam an angry comedian like Lewis Black or Louis CK? Maybe there’s something different. Kevin explains what that might be.

Then the team gets into a very interesting conversation about long hair on a boy. This was forbidden from 1983 to 1995 in the nation. Of course, Sam lived in that place of rebelliance. We discuss Kevin’s history of long hair and a beautiful Old Yeller-type memory.

We then discuss “black comedy“. Ice Cube‘s “Friday After Next“, Shakespeare‘s “Measure for Measure” or Blake EdwardsPink Panther film (and Leo DiCaprio as Inspector Clouseau) “Blood Diamonds“. Is Leonardo sacrificing his comedy career for Oscar?

Then we talk Ben Stiller at the Oscars with his Secret Life of Walter Mitty (originally with Danny Kaye). Okay, maybe you’ve got Sean Penn to replace Owen Wilson, but still don’t be so desperate for an Oscar. Take a lesson from Lego Movie 2014. Please give us a bit more Zoolander!

We want to see Zoolander and Mr Angry from Mystery Men. Or the Avengers and Zoolander! Captain America and Zoolander! Will Ferrell should get some Zoolander in his Anchorman movie and he could reprise the role of Magneto. Forrest Gump 2 and Zoolander… or Zoolander 2!

And we don’t need Owen now that we have Matthew Mcconaughey. Shanghai Nights? No thank you. Although, we do like Jackie Chan.

So, Sam is described as a Wham Bam Thank You, Ma’am Bowie-esque impregnator of comedic ideas. Which will explosively come out of you like in Alien. Ridley Squat should email us for a Zoolander Alien movie which will rival Prometheus.

Then we do “What If?” What if Zoolander could travel to any point in time and space?

Check out our YOUTUBE page, share our podcast clips with your friends!

Subscribe on iTunes!! And RATE and REVIEW us!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E14 Interview: Jen Meyers

podcastWe start the podcast by commenting that comedy is eternal, like the blue milk after a bowl of Lucky Charms, the brown milk after a bowl of Count Chocula or Cap’n Crunch mouth.

And then our guest interrupts and introduces herself, in a sense: Jen Meyers! Jen immediately impresses us with her use of Latin.

We jump straight in discussing the prejudice she’s had to deal with as the “token” woman of her comedy community. We talk about acknowledgment in the world of stand-up comedy. Acknowledge whatever particular group you belong to!

We learn what kind of comedian Jen is. She’s an unabashed female comedian who plays to the audience, tells jokes and tells stories. She regales us with a story of a show she did just the night before and how she augmented her set to suit it.

Then we discuss specialized comedy for ONLY women! These are jokes men can’t find funny, but girls can. What is the subject matter? What is the way this humour works that doesn’t tickle men?

Before answering these questions, Jen talks about her box.

Joel gets confused about some reproductive details pertaining to certain period details. This needs to be arduously explained to him by Kevin and Jen. The latter uses a personal story about her brother and having to work.

We discuss a battle of the sexes Joel witnessed featuring Jen. Also, we talk about David Green, a dear comedian who is very tender and fair. Then she tells us the joke which features Levi Mann, who we have interviewed. The joke involves Canada’s Wonderland and the Leviathan.

Now, the joke she performed was an INSULT comedy joke! That gets the gang talking about Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Bob Hope and Don Rickles. Kevin uses Joel’s resemblance to Clark Kent/Superman to illustrate what an insult comedy joke would be. Jen brings up the comedy central roasts.

Joel brings up what level of insult is funny and when it becomes just mean. Is it mean to start making fun of a person’s ears (because Jen is sensitive about her ears). We share what jokes we would do about her lobes. Then we talk about bullies and the loss of wit.

Then we discuss divorce and how it’s treated in the Nation. We talk about marriage between goats, platypus, lamps, tables, beavers. Of course, this opened up questions about adoption at the time.

And then we do “Give us a handle“! It gets pretty exciting and maybe even harrowing.

Then we get the 411 on how long Jen has been actually doing comedy and how long she dreamed of performing comedy. She has a list two hours long of comedians she loves! But her inspiration, not influence, who she emulates is Deborah DiGiovanni. She’s a stand-up comedy female comedian from Toronto.

Then Joel starts another great deep philosophical conversation about inspiration vs influence. This involves talk of Louis CK and Adam Sandler.

Then we do “What’s the Difference between me (Catharine O’hara) and you?”

Jen asks “who misses Chris Farley in the age of Rob Ford”. We are forced to go over a few of those details. But these days, because of decomposition, Farley would probably be hired for a Calvin Klein add.

Jen introduces Joel to Nikki Payne.

Then we do the sucky “Rob Delaney’s Tweets“. Of course, we mention the Kardasian’s in tandem with Delaney. This also brings out the wonder of elephant in the refrigerator jokes, Tarzan jokes and Chuck Norris jokes.

Then we do a brand new segment: “Can I be your?

Then we do “Comedy Soup“!

Befriend Jen’s Facebook Profile!

Check out our YOUTUBE page, share our podcast clips with your friends!

Subscribe on iTunes!! And RATE and REVIEW us!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E13 Tribute: Chris Farley

podcast

We open the episode discussing the throwback to the silent film era! The days of Charlie Chaplin when they used title cards to describe emotions. You’d be watching Journey to the Center of the Moon and music would be the indicator as well as a title sign. We discuss the importance of musical indicators. (That’s all in the first 2.5 mins! Very dense episode!)

Then Kevin makes an error in how we’ll be posting this episode, but that highlights the new way we’ll be coming up with our tributees! Very exciting development.

Before we completely reveal this, we describe Joel as a Tim Heidecker and Kevin as Eric Wareheim. They give their full names so that they can go out and work independently from the J/K Around.

Then we tell our students how we’ll be coming up with their tributees which will show how well we know comedy and comedians off the cuff (and out of a hat). We mention Wanda Sykes and Frank Caliendo as comedians we both have fought for in the past.

We honour the greats with the hat: Abbott and Costello, Sonny and Cher, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges.

First Assignment: Not really sure if Cher ever wore a bowler. If so, tweet us the picture or post it on our Facebook page!

Our new direction is so exciting because, ever since we completed our 7 Trials of Hercules, we have now proven ourselves to be honorary PhDs of Comedy. Which we would probably get from Russia Oxford, Swedish Oxford or Nicaragua Harvard or Oxford.

The comedian we’re tributizing is Chris Farley, the fat, dead comedian. He became famous through Saturday Night Live (which is now called SNL). We give a brief history of the show from when it almost began with Chaplin and Buster Keaton to when Laurence of Olivier‘s son (Lawrence Michaels) began it officially in the 70s. This was the Vatican for the greats of comedy: Steve Martin, Steve Buscemi, Steve Albright, Jane Curtin, Dennis.

Eventually we start discussing Farley’s movies, starting with Beverly Hills Ninja which was a comedy remake of Kurosawa type films. That was very brave, but appropriate because in America everyone is obese! We talk about Fat Pride which got big in the 90s (hilarious joke) and the blessing that fat comedians in Farley’s time died before they were alienated by the decline of Fat Pride and growth of the health nut: John Candy, Chris Farley, John Belushi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bernie Mac.

We talk about the big question: Chris Farley, nude or not nude. Joel tells a story about seeing Farley dance for Chippendales with Kevin Nealon and Fabio or Famio?

Debate Assignment: Was it funnier when Farley was packed into that little outfit or when he took off the outfit? OR when he was taking OFF the clothes?

Then Joel tries to talk about the “Van down by the River” sketch, but Kevin refuses. Why?

He tries to distract the conversation by talking about the Folger’s Commercial.

Was he even in Wayne’s World 2? Dana Carvey, Mike Myers.

If you’ll remember Married With Children with Freida, who appeared in an SNL skit. That’s when things finally get serious… sometimes taking the magic out of comedy gets personal.

Then they bring to light an important tenet of the discipline: subtle comedy zappers. You’d see it in the sketch about adopting an adult.

And then we do WHAT IF? We ask, “what if Chris was a part of speech?”

Assignment: What are some nouns we could put in a hat?

Scholar Assignment: What is “Shalom” or “Farley Well“? Is it a greeting? What’s that called? Namaste? May Chris Farley be unto you?

Check out our YOUTUBE page, share our podcast clips with your friends!

Subscribe on iTunes!! And RATE and REVIEW us!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E12 Interview: Ben Whipps

podcast

This week begins by making sure everyone understands that our ‘cast isn’t just for “students” of comedy, but for everyone who enjoys hearing about comedians and the discipline of comedy.

Then we introduce our guest: Ben Whipps!

We discuss how exciting it is that our podcast will always be online and people can listen to current and past episodes for years to come and then that’ll be the future for them, but the past for us. Amazing! We mention gang violence in places like South Central United States and how this violence might not still be happening in the future.

We kick off talking about Whipps’ podcast “Braingasm“. He quickly decides to let both his stand-up and his podcast get destroyed in the holocaust when faced with his own Sophie’s Choice. Yet, he goes on to use science to say we only have one listener as opposed to his few listeners who he seems fairly indifferent toward.

Kevin and Joel breakdown the etymology of the title of Ben’s show. Are they correct? Ben tells them.

Then we touch on the idea of taste, preference. Someone might claim that Adam Sandler is, not unlike Barbra Streisand, the greatest comedy actor, director, producer, writer ever! But other people might say he’s absolutely the most horrendously over-rated, garbage-making idiot around.

A neat sneak peek into the origins of the JK Around podcast name. We discuss our interactions with Dr. Wawz. Interestingly, Ben had the same experience. It felt a lot like the Wizard of Oz, complete with Winged Monkey-type Munchkins. Joel was pretty sure he was a confidence trickster. Ben reveals where the guy went to school! Not Oxford or HarvardDeVry. It was the Music Man all over again.

We take a risk and talk about the hidden, banned, lost, cursed episode of Braingasm: Bread vs Pie!

Assignment: Tell us how many weeks Braingasm has been doing podcasts and which weeks did they miss?

We talk about co-hosts: Ben’s co-host Chesticka and Joel’s co-host Kevin. Is there romance in the air for either? Of course, Chesticka isn’t at all like Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein‘s monster. Ben makes that abundantly clear. She is afraid of fire, unlike Mowgli from Jungle Book. And then the cow puns begin. And then the scrapbooking discussion!

Next we explore Ben Whipps’ stand-up comedy stylings. His style of comedy is story-telling, which is a derivative of long-form comedy. Ben does NOT tell jokes!

Then the gang philosophizes about familiarity in our culture. We bring to light the warm embrace of a school shooting to Generation Columbine or Generation C. They feel bad for children who are so used to bullying, shootings in a Clockwork Orange type thing, but now they have to watch the 2014 Sochi Olympics, they feel anxiety. Munich was a good Olympics because it was relate-able, which is why Spielberg made a film about it. Schindler’s List was also a hug of a movie. Thank heavens the gays have been having a hard time during the Olympics this year, it’s familiar!

That transitions flawlessly into our new segment: Give us/me a handle!

The 2nd in our rapid-fire segment episode: What’s the difference between me and you (another comedian)? What’s the difference between Ben Whipps and Zach Galifianakis?

It comes out that Joel had a very dated version of hair removal/facial reconstruction surgery.

And then we do Rob Delaney’s Tweets!

Assignment: Did Ben read that tweet differently than Joel? Describe how on FaceBook and Twitter!

Finally, they do Comedy Soup!

Take the time to find, like and follow Ben and his podcast online:

Twitter: @braingasmpod, @braingasmben, @ohhsugar (Chesticka)

facebook.com/thebraingasmpodcast

braingasmpodcast.com

And the worst website ever: braingasm.com

Check out our YOUTUBE page, share our podcast clips with your friends!

Subscribe on iTunes!! And RATE and REVIEW us!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E11 Tribute: Jerry Seinfeld

podcastWe open the podcast reminding our students about the ongoing, very late Garfield meme assignment. Then we talk about the Sunday funnies and how our government is keeping down the strong liberal and conservative voices of heavy hitters like Doonesbury. But this episode hopes to enlighten the listeners and make them red with passion like Sam Kinison or Satan.

We then introduce our tributee: Jerry Seinfeld! He is the people’s comedian with the Midas touch! They discuss the days of the gold rush, heading down to Texas to get the black gold (Texas tea) and getting their hands dirty (and souls dirty) with black gold.

Of course, Jerry Seinfeld is a huge fan of Superman and actually worked with him on some commercials for Mastercard. Is this a moral choice? Should these two titans be selling themselves to capitalism? It just makes logical sense that if you can do good with comedy, you can do bad with comedy. Kevin cites the Flintstones and the Jetsons being on both polar opposites of that coin.

Early-on assignment: Why are the Jetson’s evil because of technology or why are the Flintstones evil and the Jetson’s are not (in 500 words or less)? On Twitter or Facebook.

So, then it’s revealed that MAYBE Jerry and Superman were doing those commercials to save Lois Lane or something? Maybe the plot was thicker than a simple right or wrong question. It may have been an evil plot designed by Lex Luthorington. Of course, that leads to talking about Jerry Seinfeld’s personal marriage relationship life.

The duo discuss his show Seinfeld and how important that was to bring Jerry’s speech, perspective and jokes onto the couches, into the ears and minds of the world! And it’s made the world a better place. Where Jerry walks, the grass grows. He was asked to leave New York City because of that.

Then they gush for a bit about how great Jerry’s work is. Rocky is the eye of the tiger then Jerry is the eye of the bite (comedy, laugh, funny)!

The conversation turns to the Zach Shade episode in which we mention the Chinese bit of Jerry’s. This is something in the common vernacular like yada yada. Could Jerry have turned his comedy into gold like Rumpelstiltskin turned straw into gold? It started quotidian (aka quoted) and now it’s colloquial. So what’s the value? Has the value been sucked out of it? These are some deep questions the team deal with.

We talk about the Jewish heritage from the holocaust to Jerry being a Moses who lead his people out of Egypt, freed them from Pharaoh and turned the water into blood, sent locusts and then frogs to eat those locusts.

And then we do the “what if” segment! What if Jerry Seinfeld was greed?

Assignment: What if “what if” was actually a thing focused on “what if”? Help us with “what if”. What do you want to hear from the “what if” segment? Give us an example of a good “what if”!

Check out our YOUTUBE page, share our podcast clips with your friends!

Subscribe on iTunes!! And RATE and REVIEW us!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E10 Interview: Mikey Henley

podcastToday starts off with exposing our rap alter egos: K-Love Flavrum and Joel van Violence.

Then we introduce Mikey Henley! We get straight in to talking about the belt wearers and non-belt wearers of Islam and the Scots (kilts). And then we get on Worldwide Wrestling Federation. Are they competing with Cowboys for biggest belt buckle size (Mikey asks that).

We re-charge our “is comedy a science or art” conversation. Mikey is on the side of science. Kevin seems to agree because he compares comedy to the wonderful science of astrology. Astrology is a great science for getting to know someone, and so is religion. You know where you are with a Sagittarius or Gemini or the lion one or a Taurus or a Feces or an Aquarium.

We talk about Mikey‘s abrasive, embracive comedy! Then Kevin regales us with his story of making Madonna cry, not in Argentina, but in Atlanta. They talk Kabbalah, Lambada, lobotomies.

We finally talk about Mikey’s eclectic entertaining. His chief influence was Andy Kaufman. He might tell stories, be observational or use slapstick, even! He takes pages out of the book of comedy. The team takes the magic out of his “comic strip” bit.

Then we discuss a contest Mikey entered in which he wore underwear to advertise a particular brand of underwear. The host of this contest made fun of him. He told him he should be fatter, because fat is funny.

Then we talk on a new thing: mime comics! But clowns are a lot like that because there’s poor amplification at a circus.

We talk about Mikey’s goatee and how that helps his comedy. It has become his calling card. Kevin enlightens us as to what that means. This obviously spurs a conversation about vampires being the best house guests! They’re also funny like Leslie Nielson in Dracula: Dead and Loving It. They all do a Transylvanian accent.

They discuss calling cards in depth: Andy Kaufman – Blank stare. Aziz Ansari – being brown with a beard, big eyes. Jeff Dunham – blank stare and puppets. Kanye West – being crazy, sunglasses and being unpredictable and not even seeming like a comedian.

Joel shares the story of Sacha Baron Cohen knocking a lady off the stage at BAFTA. He received the Charlie Chaplin (of The Great Dictator) Award. Chaplin was the Teller (Penn and Teller) of the 1930s. Cohen knocked the first female star from Chaplin’s films right off the stage.

The parallel is drawn between that and when Kanye said Taylor Swift didn’t deserve to win that video, but Beyonce should’ve. And every takes that hilarious joke seriously. The whole North West fiasco is a hilarious joke! Add to that the controversial joke of the song: Black Jesus.

Maybe Jesus was white because he was a black man with skin bleached by the sun… like Michael Jackson.

Then we take the magic out of Mikey Henley’s “Slapstick” bit. We discuss if it’s easy to get audience members on stage. Joel wrote a play that opens in an ancient Socrates, Greek chorus play sort of way.

The conversation shifts to Medically Approved Marijuana that Mikey is approved for, medically. What is boggling, is that it will not heal Mikey. That’s the travesty of science! It can put a man on the moon, invade space and give a man a boner, but it can’t heal Mikey’s back. And now he needs to medicate for the REST of HIS LIFE?!! They can even heal baldness with a Chia Pet pill (not true, but a great Henley joke). No one should have to do the equivalent of chemotherapy for the rest of their life.

And then we do Rob Delaney‘s Tweets! Mikey Henley plays Operation with us!

The discussion turns to legalizing all drugs and Rob Ford the Prime Minister of Canada. He’s been compared to Chris Farley. He even has a bobblehead. Mikey is champagning Rob Ford for emperor of the drug nation!

Then we do COMEDY SOUP!

They discuss Mikey’s overall style of comedy. Joel gives us a peek into the honing of his craft. Kevin asks Mikey what the craziest curveball that was ever thrown at him. Joel makes sure he understands it’s not screwball comedy: Looney Tunes, Daffy Duck, Shawshank Redemption.

Then they touch on Sick Kidz for Sick Kids. This is a charity that Mikey is a part of which you can check out on Facebook. He’s giving back to the community, he’s literally healing with comedy. They’re on Twitter too!

Check out Mikey Henley on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube!

Check out our YOUTUBE page, share our podcast clips with your friends!

Subscribe on iTunes!! And RATE and REVIEW us!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E09 Tribute: Ricky Gervais

podcastThis podcast gets off to a great start with us reminding our students what we’re actually doing: taking the magic out of comedy. We take care to remind out listeners that we all could die every day and, most importantly, this year, so make the most of it!

We talk about what comedy is in a few rich metaphors from Lego to Music, citing Brian Wilson and his Sweet Vibrations being not unlike a good joke vibration: Rabbi walks into a bar, type joke.

That brings us to our tributee: Ricky Gervais! A chucklebucket!

We start by discussing how much he laughs constantly on his podcast and in other media. His podcast was so huge, which makes us wonder why our podcast hasn’t reached the Vatican in Rome?

This leads to a discussion about Ricky’s atheist philosophy. We discuss our views about absolutism and relativism and how closed minded Ricky is toward all the various religions, including science. Of course, we talk about the red frogs of the amazon which, Joel explains, may have actually been man-made and have nothing to do with science as seen in the documentary “Unnatural Histories” on the BBC.

We talk about Gervais’ great fame, even greater than He-Man currently.

Joel admits to being an Antagonist and Kevin explains that he’s an omni-theist, which is an expensive undertaking. We talk about the many religions in the Nation: Muslims, Jews, Christians, Children of Q, Children of Slew (based in the Hindu religion). These things are all important for stereotype jokes.

But could Ricky’s religion jokes just be a Sarah Silverman type rip-off which goes against what he even believes? Maybe he’s a subversive Christian. He just drinks, masking his pain and making fun of Karl Pilkington‘s round head.

Ricky Gervais is the Inspector Clouseau of comedy, the character written by Blake Edwards. Joel explains why, as Bugs Bunny says, he’s a maroon. His shows Extras, Derek, Life’s Too Short, stupid twitter pictures, saying stupid things about Mike Birbiglia… he’s a bumbling idiot.

But he did do something good: The Office. It’s a story of David Scott working at Wornham Mufflin, selling paper. What a brilliant concept! Selling paper? Sticky Tack maybe, but PAPER!? Nobody buys paper. It was as brilliant as when ER came on the scene in the 90s. And there is another show in America which all takes place in a paper company with Steven Carrell.

Oh, and we compare him to the Inspector Gadget.

The conversation turns to Derek. A show that parodies Rosie O’Donnell‘s retard movie. Not Matilda or Harriet the Spy, but Riding the Bus with my Sister.

Rosie is like Nike pumps, never out of style, swinging on vines like Curious George. She had her own talk show and even on Curb Your Enthusiasm, with Larry David. She was also in Fatal Instinct.

They reveal the industry term they could’ve used in Tropic Thunder:don’t go full Rosie” (instead of the line Robert Downy Jr. said). Or when the girl in Precious went fat black Rosie. Or What’s Eating Gilbert’s Grape where Leonardo DiCaprio went young white Rosie, with the mom character being Jabba the Hutt Rosie.

This week’s assignment: Write us a joke on Facebook that might be difficult to understand if you’re not IN on it.

And then we do “what if“: What if Ricky Gervais were a detective? Would we still have an Evan Almighty? Or Bruce Almighty for that matter? Or Anchorman 1 or 2? Or the Get Smart remake? This question leads to the whole WikiLeaks story because of bumbling American spies.

Should Julia Louis-Dreyfus be in Mary Almighty? Or should it be Jennifer Aniston? That’s just a final little quiz.

Remember Alan Alda said, “if it bends it’s funny, if it breaks it’s not funny, it’s maudlin“.

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Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Video

S01E08.5 Extra Credit: Ylvis – Massachusetts

podcast

We talk about the song Massachusetts and break it down line by line. Enjoy!
(You can DOWNLOAD the song on iTunes, LIKE them on Facebook and watch the video below).

Subscribe on iTunes!! And RATE and REVIEW us!!

Questions or comments? Email: thejkaround@gmail.com

Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Kevin the Great’s Blog: http://itskevinthegreatblog.tumblr.com

Have a great week! Class dismissed.