Happy holidays! Whether you're a Christmas-er, an Hanuakkat, or a Kwanza-hut, Succotash is damned glad to have you. "It's the time of miracles," said Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber in Die Hard and it's true. First of all, we're back in Studio P for the first time in many episodes. So good to have engineer/producer Joe Paulino back behind the controls. Not to mention Bill Haywatt, who has a fresh installment of Boozin' With Bill on tap this time around. Even Kenny Durgess, our booth assistant, is on the job and it's a great way to ring in the holiday season.

I wanted to do something special for the holidays, so Epi44 is our Succotash Christmas Card to the illustrious members of the Pod Mafia. Who ARE the Pod Mafia? A loose collective of podcasters who have struck up a virtual (and sometimes actual) friendship via the web, and have actively worked to cross-promote each others' podcasts. I am pleased and honored to have been dubbed the Podfather by this crew, although I'm aware it's a precarious perch at best and someone else could shake me loose at any time. Nonetheless, for the meantime, as Podfather, it's my pleasure to offer up clips from the assembled members of the Pod Mafia this episode.

One of the best things about getting to do an epi of Succotash in Studio P is that it puts us in proximity to Bill Haywatt's wet bar and give us a chance to present Boozin' With Bill. This time about, that workhorse of radio drops a great post New Year's hangover drink on us which he calls Harry Of The Dog That Bit You. It's named for Harry Morgan, with whom Bill worked on an old radio show called Mystery In The Air, and it's a real doozy.

Burst O' Durst

Our resident raging moderate, Will Durst, sounds off about gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School nightmare.

Holiday Reminder

Show some love to your favorite podcasts by hopping up to iTunes and both rating and reviewing those same podcasts with lots of stars and glowing praise. Then do the same on Stitcher Smart Radio - go up to their website, search for your faves and give them a big ol "thumbs up!" Every little bit helps, and the more often you do it, the better their visibility gets on the charts.

Sing A Song Of Yuletide

I'm happy to be able to feature Is A Chupacabra Kosher?, a new song off the Season's Geekings EP by friend-of-Succotash John Anealio. Jump over to his website to give yourself a stocking stuffer: A free download of his holiday album!

Happy Holidays From Henderson's Pants!

We have a commercial this episode from our friends at Henderson's. More than a commercial, it's a tale done in the style of the popular Christmas poem, 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. Enjoy! 

A Good Run

Our friend Caleb Bacon, host of The Gentlemen's Club podcast, has run down the curtain on that show after 154 episodes. I give him a final salute in the form of a review in This Week In Comedy Podcasts on Splitsider.com but don't despair— Caleb is already prepping to return in February 2013 with his new podcast, Man School! In his farewell episode, Caleb is interviewed as much as he interviews by his guest, That Chris Gore of PodCRASH podcast fame.

The Clips

As I mentioned above, all the clips this week save one are from members of the Pod Mafia.

Dylan Brody's Neighbor's Couch
Although Darren Staley is not a member of the Pod Mafia, I think he would be if he trafficked with out kind more. Last epi I though I was going to get to his clip but it didn't happen. So I promised him we'd give him pole position this time around.In addition to being a supporter Succotash his show's audio audio quality has gotten steadily better since I first started listening. And his guests are often, amazing, quite celebrity-statured. This clip features part of his chat with Rosanne Barr.

Royal & Doodall
Tommy Royal of the Royal & Doodall show is – I'm pretty sure – the bloke responsible for coining not just the Pod Mafia name, but also for dubbing yours truly the Podfather. Unfortunately, Tommy is not in the show I'm clipping this episode. It seems he's been replace by Lady Isabel P., who co-hosts this installment with Angus Doodall. Don't miss their Christmas Panto show which should I have role in. See if you can pick out my voice — I’m an audio chameleon.

Don't Quit Your Daycast
Ed Wallick from Don’t Quit Your Daycast is not just a member of the Pod Mafia but was inspired, in part, do put his own podcast together after hearing Succotash. He just had his one-year-a-versary show, where he ranted – Ed loves to rant – ranted about Thanksgiving with guests Taylor Ripley (aka @TurkReno) and Tom Bevis of the Destination Asphyxiation podcast. (We also have a Christmas Greeting called into the Succotash Hotline by Ed!)

Destination Asphyxiation
Since we have Ed Wallick and Tom Bevis in the same room – Tom was up from Southern California visiting Ed in Northern California, who turns out to be his uncle – let’s listen for the first time to a clip from Tom’s Destination Asphyxiation show. Oh, look – it’s Ed Wallick, ranting some more!

The DHead Factor
Though Jabs at The DHead Factor has other fellows who occasionally do the show with him in Canberra, Australia – like #FUJosh – he’s definitely the body and soul of the show and a stalwart member of the Pod Mafia. As the guy who kicked of International Succotash Show Day on December 4th – I hope you all celebrated it – he’s always saluted here at Studio P.

Tiny Little Odd Conversations
Merry Christmas to Travis and Brandi Clark, the hosts of Tiny Odd Conversations. They were almost out of the Pod Mafia before it began toward the end last year because Travis was feeling like there was nowhere else to go with the show. I helped talk him off the ledge, and glad to have done so because we may never have gotten that great cookie recipe from Chef Eddie Vetter otherwise. Here’s part of a conversation that Travis and Brandi had on their Not The Holiday Special episode, about a homeless Santa they came across.

Pissed Off Man
I THINK Gavin from The Pissed Off Man Show is in the Pod Mafia. But I didn’t want to take a chance that he isn’t because he IS the Pissed Off Man. So Merry Christmas, Gee, and for a guy who says he doesn’t have much to be pissed off about on the last day of existence, according to the Mayan calendar, he still gets a few shots in…

From Out Of Nowhere
The From Out of Nowhere podcast – or FOONcast – with Eric Furniss and Rob Kern is really a music podcast but they’ve got a sense of humor and Eric is very active on Twitter as a member of the Pod Mafia. They’ve been doing their show from a local bar because their studio got damaged by Hurrican Sandy. The show I grabbed to clip from, however, actually features Rob in a bar interview he did awhile back with Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister and Matt Sorum. Sorry, Eric – I was in a hurry! We’ll get your voice in there next time.

So that's who's in our Christmas card to the members of the Pod Mafia. I hope I remembered everybody. And I know there are some folks in the Pod Mafia Irregulars that I wanted to clip this episode but there just wasn’t time. I WILL clip you guys next epi, but in the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the folks behind Bonnandobo, The Brit And The American, Clutch & Wiggle, The Random Variety Show and Toggle The Switch!

Happy holidays to everybody (especially those of you who have discovered, listened to, and enjoy our show!), and may you all have a great new year, in which you should remember, for the sake of all that's holy, to pass the Succotash!

 Marc Hershon

Happy holiday season to you! Hope yours is shaping up well. I normally don't plug our wares in the blog too much BUT in case you feel like passing the Succotash for the holidays, now would be a good time to hop up to our Succotashery and get friends, loved ones, or just yourself some nifty Succotash t-shirts, mugs, and other assorted stuff.

Commercial mode off.

This epi brings us a special guest, Chris Bonno, in a special two-part interview but in a single show. See, I started the interview live, face-to-face, when Chris was up in San Francisco as the feature act for Hal Sparks, who I also interviewed. (Catch THAT chat back in Epi41!) But we only got about 8 minutes in when things got busy and we never got a chance to finish. Until a few days ago, when I caught up with Chris in LA via Skype and we picked up right where we left off.

Chris is a comedian, an improvisor, a musician, an artist and a podcaster. A VIDEO podcaster, no less, and we will talk about his Electric Bonnoland show during the course of the interview. He's also a guy I've known for about a decade and a half, one of those "comic's comics" who everyone in the comedy scene in LA and Austin, where he got started, knows well but the public is still waiting for him to become an "overnight success".

CLIPS

How Did This Get Made?
A consistently awesome bad movie podcast — that is, a podcast about bad movies — HDTGM? is hosted by Paul Scheer along with Jason Mantzoukas and June Diane Raphael. They have always done feature films on the show but in their Episode 51 they tackle their first TV movie, Liz And Dick, the recent abomination starring the abomination known as Lindsay Lohan. (I give these guys the full review treatment on in This Week In Comedy Podcasts on Splitsider.com, so check that out, too!)

Inverse Delirium
This podcast hails from Baltimore (or Smalltimore, as host Geoffrey Welchman proclaims it.) Geoffrey’s put a lot of effort into his sound quality and he’s got a great pro announcery voice, which you don't find a lot of in podcasting. In this clip, Geoffrey got guest comic-impressionist Kevin Pollak to star in a sketch he wrote.

Larcher And Lorensen
Chicago boys Al Larcher and Clark Lorensen host a sports-and-comedy-based podcast called, rightly enough, Larcher And Lorensen. They’re also part of a comedy troupe in Chi-town called Comedy Accident and, in the clip they sent us, they were visited by a couple of guys from the group.

Ragtime
This is a comedy podcast in the vein of movie reviews as well as news about films. It stars Schwood and Suds. (I know that Schwood is actually Chris Sherwood but I have no intel on the identity of Suds. Doesn’t matter…) In a clip from their epi 15 — just in time for the holidays — it’s their Gift Guide for Celebrities!

Oddcast Podcast
Succotash gets a lot of love and support from Adam Barker, the brains behind the Oddcast Podcast in the UK (which is also part of Adam's Pod Gods Network.) Adam and his crew did a Very Special Christmas episode which a clip from can only partially do justice to — it’s basically their version of a Christmas Carol, where Adam is taken to visit the past, present, and future of his own podcast.

Burst O' Durst
Veering a little off of politics (although they're in here, too), our Ambassador to the Middle, Will Durst, reveals his Top 10 Comedic New Stories of 2012. Enjoy!

EXTRA TREATS

In addition to the basket o' clips we have this epi, there are a few other treats…

Friend-of-Succotash and past guest John Anealio provides us with a new holiday tune: Batman Smells (A Rebuttal) off of his new seasonal EP Seasons Geekings — and he's making the download of that 4-song EP FREE if you hop over to his website, http://JohnAnealio.com!

We've also got a holiday greeting from the Bonn And Obo (Bonnandobo) Show, a show that we have yet to play an actual clip from but we will as soon as they say they're ready.

I've been enjoying a video series on YouTube by Joe Plummer's Gotta Kid To Feed Productions, Real Actors Read Yelp Reviews. It's not a podcast but it's such a clever and funny idea I wanted to share it with you Succotashians. In installment #11, actor Darren Goldstein (Damages, Limitless) reads a 5-star Yelp review for a place called Schnitzel Queen. Click over to watch the performance, it's even tastier.

That's pretty much everything we've got in store for you in Epi43. Have a good time, don't let the holidays make you too nuts, and please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon
 

I'm trying desperately to get this edition of the Comedy Podcast Podcast up while it is still officially International Succotash Day. (As so declared by the inimitable Jabs of The DHead Factor podcast in Australia.) All day long our podcaster friends have been tweeting and messaging words of praise and support for the show — thanks, everybody! — and I've been enjoying seeing the number of downloads and the reviews and ratings go up!

I'm Marc, he's THAT Chris Gore…

Great fun this episode with my special guest co-host That Chris Gore onboard. Chris, the host of the PodCRASH podcast as well as regular on G4's Attack Of The Show, was in San Francisco for Stitcher's Podcast Awards. We talked about his tenure as publisher of one of my favorite magazines, FilmTHREAT, as well as his multi-pronged career doing all kinds of cool stuff in TV, the internet and film.

Chris picked some nice clips for this epi, all of which I'd never covered before, and after we talked about his podcast — listeners of Succotash have heard from PodCRASH here previously — where he appears on other podcasts, then plays excerpts on his show. Which means that you've be able to hear part of this episode of Succotash on a future episode of PodCRASH. It's as about as meta an experience as you're likely to find.

Last Minute: Since I was late getting this up, I can tell you that I DID end up attending the Stitcher Awards with special guest co-host Chris and it was a grand time. I met the CEO of Stitcher, Noah Shanok, and even got a picture with the evening's host, WTF's Marc Maron. Sadly, though nominated for both Best New Show and Best Album Artwork, Chris didn't end up taking up an Itchy or whatever they call their awards.

CLIPS

PodCRASH
A clip from PodCRASH epi55, wherein our guest co-host Chris Gore crashes Zane Lamprey Live. The main ingredient here seems to be alcohol. Cheers!

Joe Rogan Experience
Comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, well-known for hosting TV's Fear Factor, hosts a daily podcast where he talks to other comics, friends and just plain interesting folks. His show is part of the Deathsquad network of podcasts.

Lost Moon Radio
I met someone attached to Lost Moon Radio at the LA PodFest in October and he suggested I check it out. Now we're doing the same for you. Chris and I both loved the sound and feel of this sketch group out of Los Angeles, high prise considering this is only their third podcast.

Pointless: With Kevin Pereira
Best known as the co-host (and Chris Gore's colleague) on Attack Of The Show on G4, host Kevin Pereira has kicked off a new podcast on the Deathsquad network. In this clip he's chatting it up with successful YouTube video creator Freddie Wong.

No Pressure To Be Funny
I'm a huge fan of dry, witty, and biting British comedy. Having cut my teeth on Monty Python way back when they first crept into the US, I'm pleased to discover No Pressure To Be Funny. Hosted by James O’Brien, created by with Nick Revell and Alistair Barrie, each episode pulls a panel together from the arts, media and politics, where they then chat about that week's news in front of a live audience. This clip features Revell with a monolog about the war in Afghanistan, in a style that smacks of Douglas Adams. Brilliant.

Throwing Shade
Chis brings in this clip from Throwing Shade, a new-to-me podcast. Hosts Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi are both prolific writers and comedians whose weekly show focuses on politics, entertainment, gay rights and women's issues. This is pretty damn funny chat.

RIFF-erendum
San Francisco-based comedians Steven Pearl and Al Clethen, a couple of buddies of mine, started up RIFF-erendum so they could converse with some of THEIR favorite comedians and musicians. In the latest episode, they chew the fat with fellow Bay Area comic Jeff Applebaum.

We close out Epi42 with the return of Will Durst and his Burst O' Durst. With the elections over, our Ambassador to the Middle sets his sights on what the lame ducks in Congress are doing…or not doing…as the year winds down.

We're hoping to grace a pre-Christmas episode with a live appearance by the aforementioned Will Durst. By the way, if you're doing some driving over this holiday season, just remember that a long car ride is an excellent place to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon