More favourite podcasts part 1

A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume

Ken Plume has a different style from other podcasts, he’s not an L.A comedian, and his one-on-one interviews are conducted over Skype and they go out completely unedited. His subjects are just anyone he finds interesting, so it’s not just comedians he interviews. He lives in North Carolina but his knowledge of British Comedy far outstrips most people who are paid to write about it in the U.K. He really makes for a great interviewer. He has a different perspective and he’s able to ask in-depth questions, and he comes across as a very charming and endearing person.

The Dana Gould Hour

Dana Gould’s Podcast is in its infancy at the moment, but it’s already found a unique voice for itself. Usually a bi-weekly podcast, it has other scripted and, produced pieces and jumps between these and the main conversational parts of the show. Eddie Pepitone is usually present and is always a great addition. Politics, neuroses and Planet of the Apes seems to come up a lot. But there are usually other themes and topics that drive the episode. Conspiracies, Woody Allen’s marriage to Soon Yi have made for some very fascinating and funny conversation topics.

The Dead Authors Podcast

Paul F Tompkins plays the part of H.G Wells in this podcast in which he uses a time machine to bring back famous authors (Usually played by other L.A Comedians) to interview them about their work. Sometimes the performer will learn as little as possible about the author, sometimes a lot, sometimes somewhere in-between. It’s a monthly podcast, and the strongest so far for me has been Brian Stack as P.G Wodehouse. There doesn’t seem to be a set formula for what works best yet, but it usually seems best if the comedian knows something about the author, so they can choose how best to get things wrong.

Gelmania

Brett Gelman has probably the most unique podcast around, the tone is somewhat reminiscent of Chris Morris’s Blue Jam and Gelman’s character for me brings to mind Simon Munnery’s persona from Attention Scum. Gelman’s character though seems to see himself as a revolutionary and a leader of people. The show usually features sketches and monologues. Delusions of greatness seem to be the recurring theme throughout the show. The production and music on the show is always excellent. It’s not a show that seems to get delivered very frequently, but it’s always a delight when it is.  

Improv4Humans

Matt Besser’s long-form improv show will feature three other improvisers, and they improvise scenarios usually based off one-word suggestions from twitter. They’ll use the word to see if anyone has a story about that word, and so that story will inspire an idea for a sketch, that they find as they go along. It’s a much purer form of improv and it’s always impressive how often they find a great sketch. The back-referencing is great as well. Throughout the later sketches, they’ll usually find a way to refer back to an earlier sketch and whenever they do it almost always seems to make the less successful bits worth it.