These Podcasts Can Make You More Fun
Not all comedy podcasts are just people playing with Scott Ackerman or helping Mark Maron get through his failed SNL audition . Some of them study comedy and how it works intentionally enough that you can learn from them. Here are four great podcasts to make you more fun.
Not bad
In each episode, the comedian plays one of his own jokes for Vulture Senior Editor Jesse David Fox, and then spends an hour tracing its origins, evolution, and how it influences their themes. Fox tells each guest about their philosophy of comedy and how they write their jokes. (Most stand-up comics are “written on stage,” but as Fox said, that means something different for each comic.)
Not all of the considered anecdotes come from fantasy. Paul Feig talks about a scene from his movie The Spy ; SNL writers Julio Torres and Jeremy Bailer talk about their Wells for Boys sketch; Maria Bamford talks about her opening address.
In a recent edition of Fox spoke with Cameron Esposito about her new special edition of “Jokes about rape,” which focuses on sexual violence, which is not limited to twist.
The Jackie and Laurie Show
Since there are no guests here to introduce and recognize, this show’s co-hosts (seasoned comedians Jackie Kashian and Laurie Kilmartin) can go deeper and flesh out. In their latest episode, they discuss the pressure on female comics to work in blue, and in the process, they refine the wording of the tantric sex joke and explore what Netflix expects from its special reporting. It’s great to hear a couple of comedians not just share stories, but really discuss practical aspects of the craft and industry.
How to shoot a live comedy
In this miniseries, host Emily Winter teaches how to create a live comedy show by inviting guests to explain, for example, how to host, how to make money from her show, and how to host corporate concerts. Winter also appears on the Good Dad and the Ugly episode to tell jokes to his partner.
About writing comedy
Basically it is a typical sitcom with interviews like Maron or Pete Holmes, mostly covering the guest career. But at the end of each episode, host Alan Johnson offers the guest a joke or a sketch and works them out with them. So you can hear live performances from comedians from SNL , Cracked, The Daily Show , New Yorker, and the Lifehacker Clickhole subsidiary site.
I’d like to see a whole podcast out of this segment. You can learn a lot about what it really is like to be in a comedy by paying attention to what questions the guest asks and what options they offer Johnson to turn the joke in one direction or another.