Another body recently made the leap across the media divide into Podcastland, and it's none other than Adam Conover, member of the CollegeHumor crew and host of his own TV show on truTV called Adam Ruins Everything. Now he's brought part of that show, including the title, with him upon laughing the new podcast.
Conover, in the course of his half-hour TV show (dubbed an "investigative comedy), pokes holes in the beliefs and assumptions that people have about all sorts of things. The format is pretty different in this audio medium, where the host engages with a guest about a variety of topics.
There is a bit of a structure in place, in that Conover attempts to start to broadly approach a topic with his guest, then bores down to a more granular level. His guest in Episode 3 is Emily Axford, a fellow CollegeHumor-ist and somewhat of a sidekick on the TV show.
The two start off talking mass extinctions and the possibility of mankind being snuffed out of existence, waltz through shared reminiscences about favorite music and scenes from old video games. (Remember saving a game at a particular point just so you could watch it over and over again? Adam and Emily do!)
Instead of this particular episode getting down to the nitty gritty, however, it merely collapses into fits of giggles and riffs about the inanity of magnetic poetry, for which Adam apologizes profusely. No need -- we'll be back.
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I can safely and confidentally say that My Dad Wrote A Porno is a truly unique premise for a podcast.
I'm reviewing this particular episode because it is a bit of a summation and look back at the previous 13 episodes (and some stray footnotes and addenda), during which host Jamie Morton reads aloud from Belinda Blinked, the pornographic "novel" penned by his 60-year-old father (who is only identified by his nomme de plume on the book: Rocky Flintstone. For reals.)
Morton is not alone in this endeavor. Oh, no, because where's the comedy in that? His two friends James Cooper and Alice Levine join him to create frequent stopping point during his recitation of the book, during which times they toss out jokes, offer editing suggestions, or just express their concern over Rocky's grasp of the notion of erotic literature. Add to this that the three all sport beautiful, cultured British accents and the entire show bumps up to an entire new level of "never heard this before and I can't imagine anyone else would try to beat them at this game."
In this "Best of" edition, they replay some of the most amazing clumsy and bizarre passages in the book, along with some of the crew's cleverest bon mots and observations.
Season 2/Book Two kicks off on the 4th of July, so you better get to binge listening the first season right away!
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Podcasts I'm also listening to this week: The Radio Adventures of Eleanor Amplified -- Epi1: Pilot (Robot); and That Awful Sound -- Epi56: Full Moon (Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag)
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The Adam Ruins Everything, My Dad Wrote A Porno reviews and other podcasts mentioned originally posted as part of This Week In Comedy Podcasts on Splitsider.com.
Marc Hershon is the host and executive producer of Succotash, The Comedy Podcast Podcast, featuring clips from comedy podcasts from across the Internet as well as interviews with podcasters, comedians, and assorted show biz folk.