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S01E08 Interview: Jonny Clark

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podcastOur first interview episode of the year is with Jonny Clark! He is a zany, alternative comic with a love of prop comedy. After doing a “here’s Jonny” throwback to the Johnny Carson show, we get right into it.

Jonny didn’t always do the Carrot Tip type thing with props (beach ball bicycles for instance). He actually started his journey of self discovery as “X-Rated”, a very filthy comic. People often don’t get very dirty jokes because they can be too filthy which their minds aren’t capable of grasping.

We get right into Jonny’s specific comedy routines. Joel describes what he saw Jonny perform as Jonny describes why it was funny. From being introduced as Rob Jeremy, coming out as a clown, carrying an empty pizza box to stripping to a superhero outfit, we discover that Jonny is rather avant-garde.

Jonny does things on stage which, simply, are not currently done. Yucko the Clown is the only known comedian who has ever dressed as a clown on stage and Jason Alexander is the only comedian/comedy actor who has ever dressed as a super here (super Jew) on stage (at the Just for Laughs comedy festival).

We get a sneak peek into Jonny’s future by discussing his Clown Mach II joke which involves a police office, a blow horn and a clown in a trunk. This puts one in mind of the classic contortionist clowns in a car.

As you might expect, when talking about physical comedy, Miley Cyrus is brought up. How brilliant she was evolving from Hannah Montana into a Gene Simmons-like comedian who, in a stroke of genius, promoted herself at the MTV Music Awards in a Beetlejuice costume. This may backfire because it turned people like Jonny on enough to jack-off to her.

Jonny does explain that Carrot Tip is not an influence of his even though, as we explain, he’s the Steve Jobs of comedy if Steve Jobs did comedy and was alive.

Then we break down Jonny’s famous birthday party cake bit. After that, he takes a moment to share his sure fire hit jokes which will win every time. Pay attention students. One of them even shares the name of the hit film Horrible Bosses!

They go into detail with his joke “Furry Friends” which isn’t about Homeward Bound. It’s actually about sex people called Furries. He describes a sex act with Minnie and Mickey Mouse of Disney fame. He even talks about Donald Duck in one of the alternative punchlines. They breakdown the comedy being found in the anipamorphesizing of the animals. This devolves into a brief discussion of cartoon porn involving Homer and Marge Simpson or an Orc and a Wood Elf from World of Warcraft.

Then we do Mike Birbiglia’s tweet, but since he’s not that great, we are now doing it with a better tweeter: Ron Delaney!

 

Then we walk about Jonny’s real job: photonics. He talks about the documentary Visions of the Future. They ask if this technology is alien. Jonny describes himself as if he’s in the Matrix or in the film Surrogate. Revolutions, black holes, Stephen Hawking, planet earth, the concept of time, different dimensions: This is what the conversation becomes.

We discuss how delicious pizza can be.

Then we do Comedy Soup and Jonny nails it!

As he prepares his joke, Joel and Kevin talk about the education system: reading, writing and arithmetic and science.

After the soup they talk OXO cubes, bouillabaisse and MSG. MSG actually causes Alzheimer’s, Jonny enlightens us.

Then we describe Jonny’s first joke involving a box.

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

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E07 Tribute: Bill Cosby

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podcastWe start by teaching about surprise in comedy (breaking the dialogism) to our students.

We get right into to talking about our tributee because we learned from our mistake on the Sarah Silverman episode, to stop taking so much time NOT talking about them. Today we tributize a true, classic legend Bill Cosby!

We talk about his penchant for talking about simple things like family and friends. Even if you’re lost in the mall, that can be funny.

Then Joel breaks the dialogism by confusing Bill Cosby for Bing Crosby. But he doesn’t stick to the joke because it’s too silly. Kevin mentions the hard C and K sounds again and they wonder if the “R” in “Crosby” softens the comedy of the “C”.

Right off the top contest: If a consonant follows a hard C or K, does that soften it? Do some consonants not soften it (in a comedy way)?

We talk The Cosby Show which featured the incredible Madeline Kahn. We figure she’d be a huge fan of our show because she has a great comedy sensibility. They talk her career with Mel Brooks and in What’s Up Doc with Barbara Streisand. Babs is a comedian, singer and everything else (booty not with-standing).

Then they wonder which was The Bill Cosby Show and just The Cosby Show. Which one was Madeline in? She actually took voice lessons. And they speak of the amazing way she said “Howard” in What’s up doc (show clip).

She died of ovarian cancer, it was such a loss, but The Cosby Show did a tribute episode.

They continue talking about Madeline which evolves into Young Frankenstein and then Gene Wilder. What a genius of comedy! He created the true Willy Wonka personification from the Chocolate Factory, something Johnny Depp couldn’t do. That was probably Tim Burton’s fault. Wilder was as funny as Steve Martin‘s wild and crazy guy! Other Wilder films: Funny About Baby, The Producers, Hear No Evil/See No Evil and Blazing Saddles.

They talk more about Madeline Kahn and her “I’m so tired” performance.

Then they discuss how brilliant Mel Brooks is with his period pieces: Blazing Saddles and Spaceballs (future period). He’s Gandalf the White, not Gandolf the Grey: He’s a wizard of comedy. Thank you Mel!

Then they get into the meat of the lesson discussing “long form comedy”, the Star Wars joke, Lord of the Funny (Rings), Back to the Funny (Future), Terminator of Comedy, Funny (Fast) Furious Five or just funny franchise. They share metaphors to help the students understand what long form comedy is.

The question arises, WHEN does comedy come from? Childhood, prepubescence, adolescence, teenage years and early twenties?

cosby

That’s when Bill Cosby’s signature SIT DOWN comedy is brought up. Sitting in a cigar with a big ole leather chair in his mouth. As if we’re right there in his living room (metaphorically, atmospherically). This is a lesson Mike Birbiglia took to heart, he also doesn’t try in a similar way.

Then, as we often do, we get deep and discuss Bill Cosby on Spy vs Spy and ask “Did he ever grow up from that”? Why does he only talk about himself as a kid? How has Birbiglia matured so much. Why does Bill wear those sweaters? Does he suffer from those artistic quirks as the consummate professional he is?

And we chastise those comedians who just make fun of Bill’s pudding pops because he’s as 2 dimensional as Tony the Tiger who is the Tiger in your tank, the Eye of the Tiger and the tiger upper cut in street fighter two.

Then they get into short form comedy. Steven Wright is the perfect example of short form comedy. They nail a couple of his most famous jokes. Concise one liners. They also mention Mitch Hepberg, the modern Wright. He was always so high on drugs that he was addicted to. But we don’t celebrate drugs on the podcast.

Then we talk about Eddie Murphy and his 80s stand-up. Bill wasn’t a big Eddie Murphy fan because Eddie Murphy was vulgar. Joel compares Madeline Khan to David Bowie. Yes, irreverency is funny, but George Carlin already broke down those barriers of swears with his dated “7 words you can’t say on television” bit. It’s old news. There’s no need for swears any more.

It’s only now that Murphy is doing timeless family comedy with the Klumps, Pluto Nash, the Klumps 2 (Getting Klumpy!!). Whereas his old stuff has a date stamped on it. It’s no longer current. It’s no Dr. Dolittle. Rex Harrison would agree! What Rex did with Dr. Dolittle was way better than what Murphy did with RAW.

This week’s other contest: Try your own long form comedy, post it on our page, email us. Write us a long form comedy joke. Tweet it in many different tweets and we may read it!

And then we introduce a new segment: What if?! We contemplate “what if” Bill Cosby was something else. What do the boys come out with?

USE YOUR IMAGINATION! Picture yourself in Cancún, watching the buffalo, whales, Super Bowl or bufferfloat.

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Our twitter: twitter.com/thejkaround

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

Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Quote

S01E06.5 Extra Credit: Special December Time Episode

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podcastThe Grumpus Who Stole December Time from the Children

When the Nation was sleeping from the beach to the city (Capitol City)
Behold in the forest, where everything dark grows
There came a low moaning which didn’t sound pretty
A sound not heard ‘fore then, but now everyone knows

Now, children and spinsters were hanging their chickpeas
From window to window on shoelaces, thread
Tiny curmudgeons and bachelors the samsies
Were celebrating the cold month on ‘coon tumours fed

But could they have known that just past rolling desert
Was brewing in forest evil ne’er felt, seen nor saw
That would rival the stories made-up by some stuffed shirt
From those slightly annoying to those that stick in your craw

Thick growths from raccoons, gristly glistening in pans
A feast, black like tick rot, to get stuck in their throats
Pricks shaved from cacti and dipped in hummus from cans
Some dreaming of leaving, cut down dark forest for boats

So right were the dreams dreamt by they who were dreaming
And believers in wishes, should not have left the pond placid
For the toy boats in wishing pond were waterlogged and sinking
Soon the dreams and lost wishes would be covered in blood

Soft moaning grew to a deafening roar
Leaves rustled as trees quaked against waves of sound
The Nationals with children planned a retreat to the shore
While lonely despondents in fetal position were found

Then out from those towering trees did emerge
A bounding, feral cat with insurmountable cry
It gripped all with fear and so sang they a dirge
For, it seemed, by the sound, at least, the Nation’s end was nigh

The beast that was Grumpus, the feline from hell
Marched with a rumpus through the Capitol streets
A million demon cat screams, ne’er easy to quell
Was odd to imagine from even a kitty in heat

“Batten the hatches”, whatever battening is
“And start making hummus, we’ll all need our strength
To defeat this prowling, deranged thing with whiskers
What will we go to, what will we, what lengths?”

“Fill our ears up with chickpeas to block out the cries?
Will we run at the pussy and let it scratch out our eyes?
Put it ‘tween our legs and crush its head with our thighs?
How oft must we do that? A cat has nine lives!”

Plotting was grand by blowhards and would-be heroes
But they stayed in their houses afraid to go out
You must understand, you could hear this screech in your toes
And that’s not an idiom we lightly bandy about!

Finally, when a while had passed ‘neath their noses
They decided ’twas time to run to the mountain
They packed up their children with all of their clotheses
And wished they’d wished wishes by wishing pond fountain

And heaving up mountain they climbed whilst the cat cried
The sound making knees weak, bringing tears to their eyes
Those friendless and family-less searched for places to hide
The others left dying loved ones soon to be covered with flies

The cat, was it a kitten?, kept straight on its course
Screeching hungry for ‘coon morsels to fill empty tum
But by the sound of its roar, it could eat a whole horse
Climbers dropped all food, so the beast would not come

But on it did journey putting a soft paw ‘front ‘nother
And meowing the whole time making foundations shake
It reached all the food piles and didn’t give it a bother
And everyone watched realizing their massive mistake

But little ’twas it known that in gutters and ditches
The raccoons were covering their velvety ears
Whilst folk tore at their clothes and ripped at their stitches
They thought, “taking a whole week off could ruin our careers”.

The raccoons were fed-up with the noise of this feline
They paced back and forth in the sewers of town
This cat and its volume was way out of line
And they were the warriors to take the thing down

As the puss found its way near the frightened, pooped people
It rubbed ‘gainst their legs as it screamed out its mew
The tears flowed from the helpless who collapsed, hopeless and feeble
But the raccoons came bounding, they knew what to do

Up side of the mountain, there burst charging bandits
The kitty didn’t notice, even its purring was loud
It turned at the last minute, but they ‘coons were upon it
The vermin then did the Capitol City people proud

They gutted their victim with teeth and with claw
They ripped out its entrails spewing blood on their coats
It made the ‘coons purple-red and all watched in awe
And the tears of joy and gratitude became a lump in their throats

Our saviours, the raccoons kept destroying that kitty-cat
They tore at its flesh till ’twas just tufts of hair
One ate its brain and wore its head like a fur hat
They scraped, scratched and gnawed till there was no loud cat there

“Odelloo-hee-ha” and “Huzzazussa” the country-folk roared
“The apocalypse is over! The beast has been destroyed!”
They cleaned off the raccoons, warm scented water was poured
“Shave the pricks from the cacti!” cel’brated them, o’er-joyed

A week, then, to honour them on every other day
Filled with hummus, pancake batter, bitter chocolate and wishes
They sang songs to ‘coon heroes which sat seated on hay
And fed them sweet blueberries on only the good dishes

And vowed they on knees and vowed they in temples
Their vowing was genuine, their vowing was deep
They wrote vows in blood, they vowed not in pencil
That all raccoon-kind, like their brothers, they’d keep

Now, many don’t realize how horny raccoons are
They, honestly, do it more that you’d think they physically can
And they never use condoms or finish in jars
They don’t pull out, use pills or just use their hand

These creatures are blessed and their off-spring are many
They lived in the darkness before they didn’t fit any more
And yes, they’re nocturnal, but take it from me
It’s hard to leave home with one ‘sleep ‘front your door

We swerve down the road ‘twixt sleeping ‘coons in the road
We can’t even drive if they fell asleep on the hood
You see, we can’t just run them over, like one would to a toad
Nor can we shoo them away, as you’d think that one could

And there’s just so much dung, all lying around
And babies falling out of trees onto heads passing under
We need to feed them from our pantries or they eat anything they’ve found
At times it crosses mind letting them be might be a blunder

So, wishes ‘pon wishes, swished rich wet wishes in pond
To be freed from infestation that they vowed to support
Since grass grew threw crap on front lawn, it’d been way too long
So, they considered their options in a raccoon free fort

“I can’t live with the faeces!” “I can’t live with the sex”
The citizens yelled in a the meeting they had
“They ate all my cattle!” “My grandmother’s vexed.”
“I want to smash all their heads, but that makes me feel sad.”

So torn they were, within each their hearts
Betray their dear saviours and repay them with death?
But they’d have to leave the city if they didn’t do their part
To do what was due to the doo-doo doers and poo pooping pests

And so came solutions to appease everyone’s conscience
“We’ll tape fireworks on their backs and hope that they light them!”
Some kids said this happened once, but never has since
Everyone agreed it’s a passive and inefficient way to get rid of a problem

And just before the town voted in a raccoon mayor
They came up with a plan, which was cruel, but good
They looked to the mountain, to the hope, said a prayer
And promised to remember them with little raccoons made of wood

Up to the mountain traversed they once more
And stood with their loved ones, silent and stiff
They would wait for coons to walk by on the fours
And jump at the chance to kick them over the cliff

And that is why we do, every December thirty-two-nd
Climb with little wood raccoons filled with fireworks
Up atop that mountain and let them float into the moon
And watch them explode by fiery arrows, without feeling like jerks

December Time Contest: Do your own version of “December Time is Here” or share December Time songs that you love!

Sing-along lyrics carol:

December Time is Here

Chorus
Nothing would get done if we only had that fun
December Time is here, December Time is here
We can now have every other day off, working in-between them

verse 1
Put chickpeas ‘cross the window, all strung out on a lace
Take that pancake batter and smear it on your face
December Time’s the only time we can afford that kind of waste

Verse 2
My smile is brown and chocolatey, I can barely sleep a wink
That bitterness that we choke down can really make you think
Why is December Time something that we love?
Because it’s good to see raccoons exploding from above

Chorus

Bridge
Now, girl, when the fireplace is all warmed up
We’ve got our cups full of chickpeas and chick please sitting next to me
And when I look into your eyes and remember the explosions of raccoons
I just take that cacti, dip it in hummus and hold it right up to the sky

Verse 3
December Time is over now, so sit in darkness in your room
In the new year you will be reborn, this represents the (your) womb
If you’re too eager to return to life, you’ll hear the Grumpus boom

Chorus

Merry December Time!

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Have a great week! Class dismissed.

Audio

S01E06 Interview: Carly May

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podcast

Today’s podcast features Carly May as our special guest comedian* for a special December Time episode!

The show starts off on an educational tip as Joel and Kevin teach our listeners about synthesis and photosynthesis. Our podcast picture is a great example of these concepts.

We, again, mention how funny hard C (or K) sounds are and Carly has one (or more) in her name. We discuss Milton Berle‘s autobiography, his thesis on good comedy.

We finally get to talking about Carly May‘s comedic stylings. She writes from her own experiences, she picks her own brain in a stream of consciousness sense, but isn’t a story-teller. It’s what defines her, which is still a mystery.

We get into the concept of staples in shopping: milk, chickpeas, hummus, grainy things. But there are staples in comedy too. Each comedian has there own hummus joke or chickpea jokes. Joel’s is his catchphrase, “chickpeas? Chick, please!”

This leads into the “why girls aren’t funny?” issue, that stigma that comes with female comics. She tries to steer away from it and doesn’t go on about anthropology. They discuss brunettes, blondes, black haired girls, short-haired, long-haired. These are all beautiful women and should be accepted as themselves. Comedians are separated by offensive material, or because they’re loud enough! They shouldn’t be separated because they have breasts too. Carly can make just as good dick jokes as any man. Hard dicks aren’t funny though, they’re the ultimate commitment.

This leads to discussing Jenn Tisdale who committed a pornography film. Joel suggests this is not unlike that idea Ricky Gervais put forward in his “kill a prostitute” joke. We ask Carly if this is empowering? Joel parallels this to King of Comedy by Martin Scorsese starring Al Cappuccino or Roberto Panini from Taxi Driver. He kidnaps Jerry Lewis and tries to get on the tonight show. Jenn has kind of kidnapped herself. We ask Carly what she’d do for publicity in lieu of porn.

Carly mentions her friend who opened for Doug Stanhope and other guys she knows opened for our hero Gilbert Gottfried. Then we talk Paris Hilton and how she broke through with her sex tape to bring us “that’s hot” which was amazing.

Then they consider who the best porn partner would be for her Seth Rogan (the Judd Apatow route), Chris Rock. We suggest Zach Shade should maybe get on this bandwagon with her. Then Joel figures Eddie Murphy in a Klump fat suit would be funny, but Kevin disagrees and keeps Joel in check. They discuss nudity being funny: bums (poop).

We talk at the beginning of Carly’s comedy journey. She lets us into the world of her metaphorical shelf. They discuss what might be on the metaphorical fridge: Honeycombs, honey mustard or a jar of honey. This reminds Joel that the Tisdale thing might be a result of an uneducation in the world, stemming from poor grammar in cereal commercials of our youth.

Kevin and Carly discuss their history together as students at Capitol City University, CCU, (go fighting Bulligans!!). He took a one day trip to Canada. Kevin told Joel in Facebook Chat and then Google Circles. His face lit up!

They discuss the concept of “the only way to fail is to never try“. They discuss miracles that take place which make people rich. Like discovering electricity. Joel says tsunamis bring people big money and the BP Oil Spill. South Park got a 3 part episode which gazillions of people watched. We compare our show to cleaning the oil off a duckling like in the Palmolive oil spill commercial!

We ask Carly what her most terrifying moment on stage was. It was that they didn’t laugh. We think of the possibilities as to why they didn’t laugh. Were they sexist? Was Carly too pretty? Or maybe she was just too young and the audience was expecting My Little Pony or Hello Kitty jokes? Some horrible people have a female limit and can only stand shows like Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place! Then we reach the real meat of the show as we observe that Gilbert Gottfried, Kevin James, Louis CK and Mike Birbiglia are all unattractive people who get funny responses! Even Lisa Lampanelli might be losing her funny with all that weight. Joan Rivers looks younger every day, that’s why she’s not funny anymore.

Of course, Carly was saved by the man with the 132 pound scrotum in her second set as he was popular in the media. Carly shares an incredibly funny word picture which probably killed that night. Joel makes a very good point about shrinkage.

Then Kevin and Joel take a moment to talk about the joys of December Time! This would be similar to Christmas, Hanukkah or the minor winter celebrations. We share memories of the Nation’s traditions and stories of yore: chickpeas, floss, shoelace, raccoons, GMOs, tumours, ticks, the Grumpus, December Time jokes, Papier Mâché, bitter unsweetened chocolate, pancake batter mustaches, churned blueberries (pretend raccoon dung), cat tails stapled to the fridge, fireworks, helium balloons, the mountain heights of the festivities, fiery arrows, confetti.

Mike Birbiglia’s tweets! Carly shares how much she hates cats and why his tweet is funny!

This inspires a mention of Garfield, the grumpy cat.

This week’s facebook contest: Create a Garfield meme that says something like, “I don’t hate Mondays anymore because of the JK Around Podcast“. Tweet it to us or Facebook it before December 32nd.

Joel brings to light the “bzzt” that “infinity amounts” and “forever number” (math comedy/funny language comedy) can bring. We wonder if Carly would ever go skiing, bowling, dinner theatre, parasailing, sky-diving, for the comedy of it.

They discuss other winter celebration traditions like presents in socks or wooden shoes. Joel wishes his Dutch joke would work for more people.

Me: “Why are there no raisins in this oliebollen.”
Mom: “There are! There are prunes!”
Me: “Mom, prunes aren’t raisins!”
Mom: “Well, if your Opa would lay off the komijnekaas, I wouldn’t need to put prunes in the oliebollen for his digestion!”

whump

Carly regales us with a hilarious slapstick comedy skiing story which puts one in mind of a classic hilarious cartoon (see right) or Looney Tunes.

Then they discuss the principal in the discipline about surprise being funny in comedy. That’s why some of M. Night Shyamalan‘s movies are the best comedies.

Then we do COMEDY SOUP! Carly makes some absolutely delicious soup (like Jamie Oliver)!

Another facebook/twitter contest: Send us YOUR December Time memories!

Make sure to follow Carly on twitter! twitter.com/currlychugh

She should have @carlymay

Carly wins the podcast with 10 points for adding December Time to her soup.

Happy December Time!

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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… Ugh.

*female

Audio

S01E05 Tribute: Sarah Silverman

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podcastToday’s episode begins with wasting time talking about the alphabet and Kangaroo Jack, comedy film. This film is loved by Liberals and Conservatives from Australia to all around the world.

After we reintroduce ourselves to the students, we draw attention to the hard C or K sounds again in the podcast. We use Jack Black as an example. Joel highlights rappers caring about consonants and syllables and the Blue Man Group who use many rap-like energies.

Kevin offers a glimpse into his journey into the universe of music! He listened to Mr. Queen. But where is the K or hard C sound in Bohemian Rhapsody? They take the magic out of that song.

Then we talk silly voices: Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Frank Caliendo and the master, Dana Carvey! He’s like a comedic wet blanket or a wonderful wet dream.

But there is a warning for our students, to use this power (hard Cs or Ks) responsibly, like Superman‘s grandpa told him, and share these things with the muggles as they say in Harry Potter.

The two reminisce about the origins of the JK Around Podcast, the little argument that started it all. Then Joel also mentions the country of Jkarta in India.

We then discuss improvements we might make to the podcast based on the episodes about Russell Peters, Louis CK and with Zach Shade. We discuss housekeeping, vacuuming, cleaning toilet and cleaning out your bathtub.

Then we discuss our skitches. They’re a hybrid of sketches and skits. This may or may not be poetic, but that’s for the scholars to decide. Kevin mentions his love for the Encyclopedia de Nationannica: History of the Nation. Joel talks Wikipedia and his collection of Encyclopedia Browns.

We talk about our dream to get Dan Aykroyd into 5 or so of our skitches, but he’s so hard to reach! Dan, if you’re reading this, use the contact page and hit us up! You’ve set yourself up with that incredible name. You’re no casually comedic Bill Murray. Get out of your Taiwanese, Buddhist mountain and come back and do Ghostbusters 3! We talk about Dan playing tennis in the Capitol City.

That’s when the conversation finally turns to our tributizee: Sarah Silverman. We talk “Jesus is Magic“, her first and only comedy special. They talk refreshing your browser with F5. Joel questions her decision to use the name of Jesus in her title. Was that cheeky then? Was that sacrilegious? Kevin mentions God is Dead by Christopher Hitchens and The God Confusion by Richard Dawkins.

Once again, Paul Blart Mall Cop comes up, but this time with fellow genius film: Son of the Mask 2!Sarah Silverman

We talk about Sarah and controversy, that big ol’ sandpit in the middle of the Amazon or Fire Swamp from Princess Bride. We make sure that Kevin realizes that the movie wasn’t a documentary, it was a re-enactment or dramatization of true events. We can all be saved through the grape vine and be shown out of controversy.

We discuss religion and the children of Quarthmon, Quarmensain, Quarnon, Quarthmore, Quarmen, Quarmar, Quarninn, Quarnyani-anin and Quarfar (or Q). Then we discuss abortion. It’s either killing a child or not. Does life begin at failed contraception? The good news is, everyone is right! This is absolutism (relativism) in that everyone is absolutely right: Pentecostals, Anglicans, Baptists and Japanese.

Then we talk about how funny Sarah Silverman is and how that’s not debatable, but that it is, yet it isn’t depending on how you feel about it. Your call! Then Kevin shares a quote about her not liking unfunny people telling her where the funny is.

Then we talk “who is funny?”. We know scientists, mimes and tennis players aren’t funny, but Patch Adams was and he was a doctor! Beverly Hills Cop was funny and he was a cop! The people that organize TED Talks, the government and censorship. Everyone can share the hard laughs and sounds.

Then we fast forward to the newest Sarah Silverman version: Jash. Basically, her YouTube channel. She’s doing comedy with Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, Michael Cera and Reggie Watts (from Comedy Bang Bang with Scott Aukerman). We decide to be a part of Jash. We offer long, amazing skitches not unlike Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Back to the Future 1, 2 and 3. We offer our tome of comedy. The Iliad meats JK Around. It’s Shrek 3 meets Dog Day Afternoon. We’re like Looney Tunes!

Then we talk more about all of our exciting projects in the pipeline for our students and everyone.

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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.

Aside

S01E04.5 LM (Listener Mail) #2

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podcastA couple folks have some very legitimate questions for Kevin and Joel gets a very exciting email that could change his and Kevin’s lives forever.

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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!

Audio

S01E04 Interview: Levi Mann

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podcast Today we interview Levi Mann, comedian!

The conversation is hot right out of the gate as we discuss what he uses as fodder for comedy. Does his material stem from television shows like Marvel‘s S.H.E.I.L.D., of which Levi is a huge fan? Or does his material come from people (not the magazine, actual people)? Is there truth to Joel’s claim of the manipulation of the media?

Then Joel asks if they have beef. As the scene of the potential beef unfolds, we touch on comedians having pow wows with other witch doctors of comedy to sort out their joke potions. Does this eye of newt work? Does this need some tongue of squid? Then Levi reveals his marine zoological knowledge.

We try to answer the question, “could there be a happy racist?” We also touch on low income housing, Indians going to college, Canadian entertainment, the penny being retired and worthless as well as being the white minority.

Levi reveals his comedy stems from his observations of people at Tim Hortons, where he works. Turns out he’s racist towards his own kind: white, but mostly the western whites.

Is Levi OCD or just organized? Is he manic depressive, bipolar or a sexual deviant? These are all enjoyable quirks, like picking one’s nose as people watch or chewing on ice. Kevin likes being watched whilst chewing on ice. Levi laughs at Kevin‘s issues, but that brings healing because humour ALWAYS does.

Then we get into a very intense discussion on ice varities! Cubes, moons, chips?

Levi Mann

THIS WEEK’S CONTEST: Where do various cubes come from? Do penguins make ice chips?

We are excited to learn that Levi’s name comes from Leviticus which is in the Old Testament of the Bible. Maybe it was a misstep to ask him if he wears Levi’s Jeans, but it did inspire some old, tired pants jokes! Before long, we get back on the course with Biblical pick-up lines. Will Deuteronomy win that pretty girl’s attention or is the Beatitudes a good go-to?

Joel gets confused about what Tim Hortons is and thinks they sell Red Bull, Rockstar Energy, Diet Coke, but he’s corrected. Levi tells us Niagara Falls is a tourist town and has diverse guests from all over the world. Then he tells us Canola Oil is the number 1 commodity in the world. This starts Joel into his “stick to the pan bit” inspired by the BP oil spill. Joel reiterates that hard Cs are funny!

Then we do Mike Birbiglia’s Tweets (the lizard king of comedy)!

Levi teaches us about why chicken Parmesan is funny as a coat and how eating it will put on some excess fat for winter. Amazing vision for comedy, Levi! It’s a coat made of food and fat is funny.

Then we discuss the art of “writing from stage”, a tactic that some comedians use. That makes them hit and miss, but sometimes it can be very funny. Then Kevin and Joel confuse Levi’s friend Larry Smith for Larry the Cable Guy, Larry King and Garry Shandling/Larry Sanders. Levi doesn’t write on stage, he does one man improv.

The conversation turns to “The Show Must Go On” by Queen and Freddy Mercury even if there’s open-heart surgery going on. Joel calls Freddy gay, but Levi thinks he’s Bi, which confuses Kevin and Joel to talk about ‘N Sync, Bye Bye Bye and Mighty Ducks with “We Are the Champions“. They also talk about that “Bohemian Rhapsody” moment in Wayne’s World in the mirth mobile.

Levi mentions Jim Carrey from Ace Ventura, Liar Liar, Excessively Excessively Excessively (a forthcoming film), Mr Popper’s Penguins and Mr Popper’s Penguins 2. Joel mentions Dr Dolittle and the Eddie Murphy version. Then they discuss Braveheart and Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson, William Wallace and Jesus Christ. And Robin Williams. And the little known William Wallace and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. We have a Jumanji talk involving Tom Hanks, Chris Rock, Big (the comedy film) and Toy Story. Beware there are SPOILERS!

Joel tries to share his famous metaphor about butter on bread: white, whole wheat, pumpernickel, marble rye. Using butter with ham, marmalade or peanut butter, so creamy. Levi takes the opportunity to do some crazy accent about sandwiches. Is it Italian, Spanish or Cuban? This devolves into discussing Scarface, Carlito’s Way, Scareface 3: The Reckoning and Donnie Brasco. Kevin confuses that for Donnie Darko. Levi talks about his Stallone, Kermit and customer impressions. Joel finishes his metaphor citing Mark Twain, Jay Leno, Little Richard (Kevin sneaks him in), Sandra Bullock, Gilbert Gottfreid and Seth MacFarlane.

Joel makes the very meaningful point that real comics are the butter on the top of pancakes. Levi quotes Pineapple Express, appropriately. Then we argue about when people eat those pancakes, obviously. Levi regales us with a tale of making pancakes stoned from a mix, interestingly. Joel suggests making them from scratch, actually. We enlighten you about Levi’s gift for thinking and funnying outside the box, but how important it is to feel inside that box first and then give a football kick to the box and do your own thing!

Then we do Comedy Soup and get a little confused about what’s soup and what isn’t soup. Joel keeps making puns. Levi does an amazing job navigating the duo through his comedy rant based on the ingredients.

Another good facebook contest: Did Levi make soup? What was the soup? Was it a gazpacho?

We get into American cuisine like chicken and waffles, burger donuts and Twinkie hot dogs from UHF with Michael Richards and “Weird Al” Yankovic. It’s also a frequency. Watch it on Netflix. Follow us on twitter.

And then there is a beer pouring sound effect contest: If you think Joel’s is best, tweet #1 to OUR TWITTER. If you vote for Levi, Tweet #2 to HIS TWITTER and OUR TWITTER.

Our next competition: Did Levi Mann plagiarize his “can you call a blind man to the witness stand or is that hearsay” joke?

Score:
Levi: 2 points (unsure where they’re from)
Kevin: 1 point (unofficially)
Joel: 0 points

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Have a great week!

Audio

S01E03 Tribute: Russell Peters

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This week we tributize Russell Peters! But we don’t get into his story right away…

We question why Ricky Gervais had a wildly popular podcast, but we don’t! how did he have millions of downloads? We thank our listeners while trying to educate our listeners about subscribing on iTunes. We’re also on Player FM for android.

We also discuss that Gervais tweeted that Mike Birbiglia is the new Woody Allen. It appears that tweet has been deleted. We try to understand what that means because it doesn’t really make logical sense. We compare Sleepwalk With Me, Sleeper, Annie Hall, The Producers (Mel Brooks) and Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It’s the High school Musical of the 1980s.

Kevin mentions how Birbiglia’s coffee joke can really lighten one’s burdens of the day: “I’ve been listening to this rapper, Busta Rhymes. Sometimes he’ll say a really good rhyme, and he’ll say his name afterwards. He’ll be like, ‘Cat in the hat, and that was that — Busta Rhymes.’ I really like that. I’d like to do that with jokes. Like, ‘I like drinking coffee, but if I ever reach a point in my life where the best part of waking up is Folgers in my cup, I’m not sure I wanna wake up — Mike Birbiglia.'”

 

Of course, we discuss Cheerios and the British comedic sensibility. We remark on British weather, the bonnie Cliffs of Dover. This delves into an in-depth conversation about Dr. Who… or at least a mention.

We review our Louis C.K. episode and the “heads up” we gave him. As students of comedy, our opinion is rich as we putter around the comedy restaurant in various roles as a funny bartender (not Al Murray), a cleaner or a hilarious busboy (Steve Buscemi in the 70s).

We finally pull our magical brown rabbit out of our hat: Russell Peters. He’s actually famous in the whole world, not just New York City. Joel pulls out his New York accent and discusses his four day exchange program trip to NYC where he saw Central Park, MoMA and The Guggenheim. Of course, we couldn’t talk about his NY trip without talking about Jimmy the Sledge! There’s an M. Night Shyamalan twist with flair of postmodernism. And Joel wishes he could exchange with a New York Comedian.

Then Russell Brand is accidentally brought up. We talk about his politics and his platform. We try to start talking about Peters again, but the conversation slips back to Brand by mistake.

It’s revealed that Peters started stand-up in 1989 and does observational comedy about races and ethnicity. We talk about his ethnicity being Indian. Then Kevin gets very close to being racist and is chastised by Joel who wants to keep the podcast above board and politically correct.

Facebook Question of the Week: Is India currently residing in Asian and, if so, does that make it racist to talk about things that are in Asia as places?

Bit of a Facebook contest: How long has Russell Peters been doing comedy (show your verified work)?

Then Joel drops the bomb that comedy comes from a place of pain. Kevin cites Hamlet as an example a tragic jester (by Shakespeare). We realize it’s a healing thing that brings everyone together, even the Arab nations. That’s why Peters is compared to the great healer, Michael Jackson. Then Kevin talks about Russell’s shaving habits for some reason.

Give to the Philippines!

Peters grew up in Brampton, Ontario, Canada a little after the big bang might have happened, but before 1989, and it was hard for him because all the Canadians bullied him as he was probably the only Indian boy. And out of that pain acorn grew a comedy tree. We touch on video games (Pong and Mario) which will upset the human child’s mind, according to Joel’s thesis on the affect video games have on our internal physiology. We discuss India’s lack of cars, diet of rice and curries and use of tiles and sandstone. And we mention the lack of clean running water. All of this affects the buds of the comedy tree.

Somehow we get on alien technology like Apple iPhones and other way too advanced products. We touch on Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Wi-Fi, Alexander Graham Bell and the telephone.

peters

Russell Peters becomes a boxer, like in the song by Simon and Garfunkel, then he became a DJ in Toronto. We imagine Russell Peters in Winnifred, Alberta, just railing on the Canucks (official Canadian term for Canadians). We wish he’d try out some more Canadian jokes so we can learn about Canada and the Canadian accent. Instead he’s the entire Sugar Hill Gang in white-bread slacks, coming out to duelling DJs in his most recent hour “Notorious“! Branding genius!

Then Kevin gives our listeners a great hint about how to listen to and watch comedy stand-up specials. He suggests a still of Peters looking sad and then reading the transcript of the comedy special.

Brand comes up again and is described as being welcome on Pirates of the Caribbean. We also touch on a couple of his television appearances.

Then we talk about the difference between the Eastern and Western cultures in regards to superficiality versus the depth of sound. This stems from an appears Peters made on the George Stroumboulopoulos show where he spoke about his father.

This catapults us into a remarkable conversation about music pools in various cultures and music theory.

Facebook contest, the 3rd: There are 7 notes, plus sharps and flats, 3 per chord: How many combinations could you do?

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Have a great week!

Audio

S01E02 Interview: Zach Shade

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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 Klumps” franchise.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’s “Sleepwalk 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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Aside

S01E01.5 LM (Listener Mail) #1

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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

Facebooker? Like: facebook.com/thejkaround

Have a great week!