Warning: This is not a regular edition of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. It's Epi59.5. Anytime we do a ".5" edition, just figure it's something off the rails. In this one we have no clips. No regular features. Not even our TweetSack. (Oh, wait - there is one regular feature: Our Burst O' Durst is coming up at the very end of the show!)

Regular listeners to the show over the past couple of months have probably noticed a preponderance of mentions, clip and cruel japes aimed at the Chillpak Hollywood Hour podcast. And they've been flinging it right back at us. It's all be in good fun - the hosts of CHH (Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness) not only have become good friends of mine personally, but theirs was the first podcast I started listening to on a regular basis. Now in their 7th year, I have dubbed them "podcast royalty", a dubious distinction that they nevertheless wear with honor.

This past week saw the Chillpak boys MISS their opportunity to hit me back. Dean's father was ill and off Dean went to visit his dad in Canada. This necessitated the playing of a pre-recorded CHH. A pre-recorded version in which they didn't mention Succotash.

So…we WON! There were no rules stated at the outset of our friendly competition, and no prize money at stake. So we did the next best thing - talked about. So the bulk of what you're in store for is Phil Leirness and I engaged in conversation about out little back-and-forth as well as a number of other topics. Phil is an avid conversationalist and, rather than just have him waste his breath on me, I'd prefer to share him with the world.

So here he is. If you like what you hear and haven't caught Chillpak Hollywood Hour own podcast, you owe it to yourself to do so. You'll find them over at ChillpakHollywood.com, iTunes, Stitcher, Jackalope Radio, The Talk Superstation...you'll find 'em

The other thing I popped into this special edition is a quick call into the Succotash hotline from Davian Dent, host of The Bitter Sound podcast and COhost of the Strange Times podcast. I wanted to make sure we gave ol' DD a little extra air because he's currently got me up as his special guest on Epi9 of The Bitter Sound - check it out!

Finally, we DO have our regular installment of our Burst O' Durst will political comedian Will Durst, talking about the Bengazi debacle along with a flurry of other issues buzzing President Obama like tiny drones.

Until our next FULL-sized Epi60, please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Welcome to Epi59 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast once again. This episode we’ll be paying visits to some old friends. Why? Well, I’ve been playing a lot of clips from new shows – new in the both the sense that they just started podcasting and some new in the sense that I just am getting around to them even though they’ve been online for a while.  So I figured we should drop in on some podcasts and podcasters we've clipped previously and see how they're sounding.

I also have an interview with Special Guest Michael Meehan, who is a San Francisco-based comedian, actor and now movie maker. I talk with Mike while eating at a really noise Chinese restaurant in the Marina District about Hey Monster, Hands Off My City!, the feature-length comedy he’s directing and has an IndieGoGo campaign for to help foot the bill. Which means there is still time for YOU to get involved, kick in some dough to help out and - if you get really generous, get yourself a juicy onscreen appearance in the movie!

There's a link to the 15-days-left-to-go IndieGoGo campaign over on the right hand side of our homesite at SuccotashShow.com. (We kicked in $50 - why wouldn't we? Mike bought dinner, after all...) And I'm embedding the teaser video for Hey Monster, Hands Off My City in the body of the blog below.

Mike and I talk a bit about standup and some sketch comedy he did with his two brothers awhile back but, because we're mostly focusing on the movie, I'll be inviting him back to spend more time talking about comedy and his take on podcasting as an extension of some comedians' careers.

BOOZIN' WITH BILL

This epi sees a new Boozin’ With Bill segment. This time he's got a nice summer cooler of a drink that he whips up (with no blender mishap like last time!) and he'll tell you how to make an Elliott Spritzer, in honor of the besmirched prostitution customer and former governor of New York, Elliott Spitzer. The recipe is included right on our homesite, should you be brave enough to attempt whipping up one of booth announcer Bill Haywatt's concoctions.

CHILLPAK VS SUCCOTASH: WE WIN!

After months of playful back-and-forth mentions on each others' podcasts, it seems that Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness of The Chillpak Hollywood Hour dropped the bal due to Dean having to leave town suddenly and the guys having to play a pre-recorded show that pre-dated our tete-a-tete. Rather than be a sore winner, I talked with Phil at lenght  the other night about that and other things. It was too long to include in THIS episode of Succotash, so I will make it the focus of an upcoming Succotash Special Edition: Epi59 that I will drop in a few days.

THE 10 MOST ACTIVE IN THE STITCHER TOP 100 COMEDY PODCAST LIST

I'm enjoying the fact we moved away from a standard Top 10 list to feature, instead, the shows showing the most movement - up OR down - on Stitcher's Top 100 Comedy Podcasts list. Just wanted to thank Ed Wallick of the Don't Quit Your Daycast for suggesting the idea. Here is this week's rundown:

37. Onion Radio News +28
38. Smodcast -> FEaB +78
50. The Dana Gould Hour +54
55. The Naughty Show +19
62. About Last Night +37
67. Yoshi Didn’t Podcast -28
68. Jim Florentine’s ‘Metal Comedy Midgets’ +24
81. The Tenderloins Podcast +36
83. Dining With Doug & Karen +49
94. The Dead Authors Podcast -22

BURST O' DURST

This week's installment features  our Ambassador to the Middle Will Durst picking on those he calls "The Batty Battalion" of Obamanators. (If you're going to be in the San Francico area, check out Will's new one-man show BoomeRaging: From LSD to OMG, Tuesday nights through June 25th at the Marsh Theater.)

THE CLIPS

Tiny Odd Conversations
ravis and Brandi Clark just hit their 100th episode! There was a time about 50 or 60 epis ago when they were ready to hang it up for fear they had nothing left to say. Obviously, they found some new stuff to talk about. I’ve had a several opportunities to meet up and hang out with them and they are a delight, as you may be able to glean from this exchange clipped from TOC Epi100…

Dylan Brody's Neighbor's Couch
Darren Staley is a podcast host I’ve NOT had the pleasure of meeting personally but we have cross-tweeted a lot and I’ve clipped his show a few times on the show before. He's a nice guy – Dylan Brody even told me that himself – and the audio quality on his show has gotten WAY better since he first put voice to mic. Here’s part of his chat with writer and a producer of Everybody Loves Raymond and a bunch of other stuff, Lew Schneider.

Royal & Doodall
After I got my t-shirt and a nice note from Tommy Royal and Angus Doodall over at the Royal & Doodall podcast, I mentioned I’d play a clip form their show, which we hadn’t visited in a while. To my surprise, they hadn’t DONE a show since March. Never fear, they’re still around and finally dropped show 59.1 a few days ago. Tommy thought he should catch Angus up on what he’d been missing…

Dazed & Convicted
Last episode I mentioned that I would clip Dazed & Convicted by friend-of-Succotash Monica Hamburg and so I did. She and co-host Bill Allman podcast out of Canada, where they bring up some freakish crime stories, do some sketches around them, then bring in a comedian to help determine their “Fucktard Of The Week”.

That's all for now. Like our Facebook page. Rate us on iTunes. Thumbs up us on Stitcher. Buy some merch. And, above all else, please remember to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Okay, I’ve been teasing this for a few weeks now but I'm finally going to pop the top on the roadtrip recording I made of Dana Carvey, San Francisco veteran comedian Larry “Bubbles” Brown, and me. The occasion was a pair of theater gigs that Mr. Carvey was headlining — one in Medford, Oregon, the other in Redding, California – and which Mr. Brown was the opening act. Me? I was the chauffeur, documentarian and backstage announcer.

We had two GoPro cameras rigged up in the car, courtesy of a trio of documentary filmmakers who are doing a project about comedy in San Francisco (in which Larry plays a prominent part) and we also had a digital recorder running so that we might grab some on-the-road chatter for Succotash.

Thanks to my technical knowhow, we almost failed to captured both video and audio during the trip but we did manage to capture enough to fill out this latest epi. (Apologies to listeners: Longtime Succotashians know that I like to nitpick when it comes to crappy audio quality in podcasts and - due to road noise and the other hazards of recording in a vehicle moving in excess of 70 mph, we ended up with a less-than-optimal podcast-quality recording. But I've cleaned it up as much as I can so, hopefully, you'll enjoy the drive along with us.)

TOP 10 MOST ACTIVE IN THE STITCHER TOP 100 COMEDY PODCAST LIST

If you heard the last episode you know we had some HUGE swings in the numbers all up and down the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List. In some cases but 100, 200 or more places. After seeing this week's figures, I think something must have gone screwy at Stitcher HQ, but they are closer to what counts as normal on this list this week.

14. Smodcast: Jay & Silent Bob Get Old +21
17. Duncan Trussel Family Hour +30
39. By The Way: In Conversation With Jeff Garlin -15
43. Uhh Yeah Dude +20
51. The Onion Radio News -15
61. Off The Air w/Chick McGee -11
68. The Todd Glass Show +12
83. About Last Night -23
97. Who’s Paying Attention +15
99. The Dead Authors Podcast -23

"LIVE" HENDERSON'S PANTS SPOT

For the first time since Succotash began, our booth announce Bill Heywatt wasn't available to record our sponsor's commercial (he says he's on "vacation", I prefer the term "rehab refresher".) So I give it my best shot this episode when it comes to pitching Henderson's latest, their Sleepover Slacks.

BURST O' DURST

Our Ambassador to the Middle Will Durst sounds off this episode about two things that go together like salt and pepper, namely politicians and scandals.

THE CLIPS

The Craig Shoemaker Show
Back in Epi29 my special guest was comedian Craig Shoemaker, from an interview we had when he played San Francisco last summer. So high time we pay a quick visit to the Love Master via a clip from The Craig Shoemaker Show, which is also known as Laugh It Off, kind of a healing-through-laughter philosophy. He’s joined by comedian Sarah Sweet and sidekick/barista Joel Geist. Craig talks about how he likes to record his encounters whenever he gets pulled over by the police for traffic stops — and we get to hear one.

The Edge with Mark Thompson
This week my combing through podcasts turned up an old acquaintance: Mark Thompson. He's been doing TV weather, news and voiceover mostly out of LA for years but we first me when he would guest host show with my improv group in San Francisco at The Punchline in the 80's. About a dozen episodes or so ago, Mark flipped the switch on The Edge podcast. Heather Ankeny is his co-pilot and in the most recent epi, his guest was the very funny Caprice Crane, who is a TV writer and an author. Her parents were pretty well-known folks. Dad was broadcaster Les Crane and - in this clip - Caprice tells what it was like having Tina Louise (Gilligan's Island's Ginger) as her mom. (The Edge is also the podcast I'm reviewing over on Splitsider.com for This Week In Comedy Podcasts!)

You Had To Be There
Splitsider.com has their own comedy podcast network and You Had To Be There, hosted by Sara Schaefer & Nikki Glaser, is part of the roster. (Don't even get me started why Succotash isn't part of their lineup...) Recently they had Jim and Jeannie Gaffigan guesting — yes, we heard the Gaffigans LAST episode when I featured a clip from The Todd Barry Show — but this time they're talking about fame and Taylor Swift. Or, rather, Taylor Swift’s fame.

So that's all we have in the way of clips this week. Hopefully, you'll be amused by the over 45 minutes of rambling conversation on the road with Dana Carvey and Larry Brown.

Please take two seconds to jump up on iTunes, click to the Podcast section and both rate and review Succotash. You can give us a Thumbs Up on Stitcher. And if anyone asks what podcasts you're listening to these days, be sure to pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

The next episode of Succotash, The Comedy Podcast Podcast, is here. Late. AGAIN.

Damn.

I keep trying to crank this sucker out every week but that darned Life keeps getting in the way.  As much as I enjoy producing Succotash, my landlord has told me time and time again that – no, he will not take plugs on the show in exchange for the rent. Nor will the grocery store trade with me for food. And I'm sure not going to get gas with my podcast.

So, for the time being anyway, this show remains something I get to as often as I can and I will keep TRYING to drop a show a week, but it’s challenging. (I appreciate those of you who can hang with the erratic release schedule!)

In addition to beau coup clips this week, I belly back up to the bar with our booth announcer Bill Heywatt for what proves to be an explosive episode. In the midst of preparing his "Wolf Spritzer" concoction, Bill underestimated the power the his SodaStream machine could unleash and he proceeded to drench the both of us with Gunpowder Green Tea.

But we weathered that storm and soldiered on to finish making up Bill's tribute to his favorite newsman, Wolf Blitzer. If you can't see the recipe here, you'll find it on our homesite at http://SuccotashShow.com. And I'll post it up on the Succotash Facebook page as well.

It sure was great to finally be back with Bill at the studio wet bar, and I took a picture of the setup so that the listening audience might admire his posh layout.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, CHILLPAK HOLLYWOOD HOUR

Friends-of-Succotash Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness are celebrating six years of hosting the Chillpak Hollywood Hour podcast. Their show was a chief inspiration for me deciding to launch Succotash two years ago so join me in wishing them the best as they continue to produce high quality, interesting and entertaining episodes. I've made them an honorary sponsor for this episode of Succotash and - in keeping with our months-old tradition of mentioning each other's programs in one way or another, I've got a slice from their most recent Epi311, where Phil kicks off the show by mentioning us in the process of apologizing for not being able to mention us. It's beautiful.

TOP 10 MOST ACTIVE IN THE STITCHER TOP 100 COMEDY PODCAST LIST

I'm happy to report that that podcast feature with the longest title in the world just got its own jingle, courtesy of the Studio P Jingle Singers! There was a lot of action in Stitcher's Top 100 Comedy Podcasts this past week - massive swings both up and down for a bunch of different shows. (This is SO much more exciting than charting the Top 10 shows, isn't it?)

14. Smodcast: Jay & Silent Bob Get Old +101
17. Duncan Trussel Family Hour +178
39. By The Way: In Conversation With Jeff Garlin -89
43. Uhh Yeah Dude +103
51. Onion Radio News -123
76. The World of Phil Hendrie -72
81. About Last Night -172
95. Who's Paying Attention +137
97. The Dead Authors Podcast -236
99. Beauty And Da Beast +116

BURST O' DURST

This week comedian Will Durst goes after the "Yellow bellied coards" in the Senate who mucked up the sensible shot (no pun intended) we had at some intelligent gun control. 

THE CLIPS

The Doug Stanhope Podcast
Doug Stanhope is, for my money, of the funniest "real voiced" comics around. He's guested on a number of podcasts but now he's looking to get conversational on his terms. His podcast just kicked off and we've clipped the second edition, where he chats with pal GooseKirk, who explains what went down at the airport in South America just before he got busted and put away in a Brazilian prison for 5 years. (Not coincidentally, I reviewed this episode last week for This Week In Comedy Podcasts on Splitsider.com)

Tom Shillue's Pour-over Coffee

The Todd Barry Podcast
The second newcomer to podcast hosting that we have on tap this week is the very funny Todd Barry. He IS the personification of wry and it's a real pleasure to get to hear him on the podwaves in his own format. For his first outing, he interview fellow comedian and voiceover guy Tom Shillue from New York. They took a detour while talking about working on the road and you get the sense that these two guys REALLY like their coffee… (I'm reviewing the episode for Splitsider THIS week, so check it out!) 

Clutch & Wiggle
Rob & Craig - the guys over at CWERadio.com – replay Succotash every time we manage to squeeze another episode out. So we love it when we get a chance to return the favor a bit. Rob sent this in along with this note: “Here is a clip from our recent show. We came up with a new 'game' where you have to come up with a description of this 'sex act' from the mind of Craig Wiggle - this one was called 'Snakes on a Crane'."

This Week With Larry Miller
It’s good to have Larry Miller over at This Week With Larry Miller. He was out for a long time from a fall and some difficult recovery from that but he’s back and with him is his Joke of The Week…that will take a little while to get to the end.

Special thanks to listener Tyson Saner for sending in clips from two of his favorite podcasts:

The Smodco Smorning Show
Returning host Dan Ethridge & permanent host Marty Yu welcome James Franco Jr. and Bill Watterson (some voice acting guy, not the cartoonist who drew Calvin & Hobbs.) This clip is from part of their Mail Sack feature.

The Breaks
This clip is from James Franco Jr.'s own program which is hip-hop and news through a comedy filter... or vice versa. James is known by the nickname/title "Jammaster James" although his fans call him DJ James or Djammaster because of his twitter handle @Djammaster. His guest is Comedian Nestor Rodriguez who shares a childhood memory.

Complete Sentences with Ty & Rocky K
So Rocky K called into the Succotash Hotline, then sent in a promo for his show, THEN sent in an actual clip when I emailed him and told him that clips were preferable. This clip is called "Late Night Stories".

StarEffers
Joe over at Radio Fubar sent along a clip from his show StarEffers – it’s all about pop culture, celebrity gossip and more. 

That's our show for Epi57. Next time out I'll be featuring a bit of a rambling chat/interview/John Wayne extravaganza, recorded on the road with Dana Carvey and SF comedian Larry "Bubbles" Brown.

— Marc Hershon

Greeting, Succotashians, and apologies for the late droppage of Epi56 of the Comedy Podcast Podcast. Due to travels and a bum external hard drive, I've been hard-pressed to pull it all together for this one, but it's finally happened.

Those who listen regularly have discovered that, as much as this show is dedicated to podcasts of the comedy variety, we also split out interests amongst both podcasts in general and comedy in the larger sense. Particularly where our interviews are concerned. This episode features a quick chat with filmmaker Michael Celestino, who is in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 to fund his latest project, That's Not Funny, where he looks at why and how people find various subjects offensive, especially when coming from a comedian expounding on the topic.

The trailer that he put together to kick off the project already features some well-known and outspoken comic types, including Paul Provenza, Greg Proops, Jackie Kashian, Emery Emery, and Kyle Kinane. Have a listen to our epi, take a squint at the video we've embedded on our homesite here at http://SuccotashShow.com, and then click on the link to throw a few bucks Mike's way to help make this important film a reality.

THE SORT-OF-COUNTDOWN

Here’s the latest of The 10 Most Active in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List!

Our regular blast from Will Durst is all about the opening of baseball season. (The one thing that worked out by this episode being late is that Durst is technically off this week, fine-tuning his new one man show, BoomerAging - From LSD to OMG, that debuts shortly on Tuesdays at the Marsh Theater in San Francisco. Get more details at WillDurst.com!) 

THE CLIPS

The Standup Chronicles
Host Adam Harris sent along a clip of his chat with comedian Dave Coulier. Most people know him from the Full House TV series, but he’s been doing standup for 30+ years and even appeared on The Tonight Show back when Johnny Carson was the host. Dave recounts the lead up to that experience.

Who Charted?
Here's a show that's over on the Earwolf network that’s very popular – sorry to take so long to get around to it! The show’s main focus is to tell you what’s hot and happening via various charts – movies, music and more. Hosted by Howard Kremer and Kulap Vilaysack, their guest is the very funny, very dry, very cool Matt Walsh. In the clip, Matt and Howard exchange stories about getting scammed for pot and tickets.

The Fogelnest Files
Another offering from Earwolf is Jay Fogelnest's show, The Fogelnest Files, that aims it's humor and analyses on a variety of topics. Our clip featuring him and guest Gabe Delahaye talking about a guy doing a YouTube review of the scorpion jacket from the movie Drive.

Inverse Delirium
Friend-of-Succotash Geoffrey Welchman sends along a sketch from his Inverse Delirium podcast that I'm just calling "The Doctor Sketch". He's also got a great chat with Lewis Black on Epi61 of ID, so check it out.

Wrong Foot Podcast
We have a second sketch for this week's show - makes for a nice break from all the pop culture/news yak fests going on in Podcastland, doesn't it? The folks over at The Wrong Foot provide a little something from Epi91, their Baseball Episode. It feels a little like some classic Cheech & Chong. Since I mangle the Wrong Foot cat members names in the podcast, htere they are in text form: Weston Prescott, Janice DelDubio, Ray Hemerley, Gail Wavenly, Antonio Belia, S. M. Rombarawitz, Loren Schofield, Gene Dale, Richard A. Goldberg, Lydia Linda Lorna, and Pierre Vuilleumier.

Dorktown
The Dorktown podcast is out of Fresno, CA, Bells, Mikey, and Becky talk about a lot of stuff and have their own Top 25 podcast ratings on their homesite, a rating that changes every month. (Happy to see us sitting at #5 in March!) Our slice from a recent episode features the trio in a the classic debate: Kegstands vs Beer Bongs.

The Firnecast
Host Dan Firnekas and Mandy Firnekas are a brother/sister team and this epi does family to the third power when they add guest (and dad) Allen Firnekas. They're out of Wyoming, which is may go down as the birthplace of something clipped from their show - Karaoke Rap. Especially as done by the senior Firnekas.

The Double Special Show
Although it's referred to as a "weekly comedy radio show" by host Chris Gorges, Jordan Lee & Tiffany Barbee, it seems like a podcast to me. Out of Tampa Bay, Florida, they have call-in guests, snipe at pop culture and also go after those news stories - such as the move to offer police protection to punks.

That's the rundown for Epi56. Hope you enjoy our clippage and other stuff this week (including a fresh commercial from Henderson's Pants!)

Thanks for passing the Succotash…

— Marc Hershon

This is the two-year-iversary month for Succotash! Two whole years. I didn't know it would last this long but then, I didn't know that it wouldn't last this long. If you've been listening the whole time I can't thank you enough. And if you've picked us up somewhere along the way, I thank you as well.

Epi55 is not a big clip show - we've only got four snippets from comedy podcasts - but that's because the majority of the show is my interview with the poster boy for alt comedy Andy Kindler. I would have really enjoyed settling in for a quiet, contemplative, in-depth one-on-one with Andy, but podcasters can't be choosers. Instead, I got a rollicking chatfest over a late night meal at D'Angelo's Italian restaurant, the usual hang for comedians following the Mark Pitta & Friends show at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley, California.

And it wasn't just Andy and me. We were joined by Mark Pitta, Larry "Bubbles" Brown, and Bob Rubin, all of whom would randomly come and go at our table, cracking wise and telling stories as the occasion warranted. In between, Andy answered a few of my questions, none of which really got into his background so if you're unfamiliar with Andy or why he's regarded so highly among comedians, you may not understand why the flock of comics around our table were drawn there like moths to a flame. We do get into some of Andy's thinking about comedy itself and a bit of his history. So it's safe to say there's something for everyone in here.

THE SORT-OF-COUNTDOWN

Having abandoned my countdown of Stitcher's Top 10 Comedy Podcasts because the top shows rarely change position, here's this week's The 10 Most Active in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List*:

10. By The Way: In Conversation with Jeff Garlin +54
29. Sklarbro Country +17
48. The Paul F. Tompkast +63
53. The Phil Hendrie Podcast +19
58. The Tenderloins Podcast +86
80. The Ricky Gervais Show +30
81. Dennis Has A Podcast -26
95. Frangela’s Idiot Of The Week +39
96. NewsPop Comedy +32
100. Work Sucks +30

 *The number on the left is the show's ranking in the Top 100. The number on the right are the number of places, up or down, the show moved this last week in ALL of Stitcher's rankings for comedy podcasts.

KICKSTARTING

A new campaign over on Kickstarter.com that caught my eye is That's Not Funny, a documentary by filmmaker Mike Celestino. He's talked to some comedians (and wants to talk to a lot more) about subject matter in comedy that rubs some people the wrong way, and why. Succotash kicked him 50 bucks but he's trying to raise $50 THOUSAND to complete the project. (He's already got interviews in the can with funny folks such as Emery Emery, Jackie Kashian, Kyle Kinane, Greg Proops, and Paul Provenza. As of this posting, he's got 30+ days to go but that's going to run out quick. I'll have him on for a quick chat about the film in Epi56 but, in the meantime, click the link or hop over to http://hersh.co/16ntubA and see if you can't help him out.

BURST O' DURST

Our regular check-in by Will Durst has our favorite raging moderate peering over at the US Supreme Court's reason tussle over the marriage equality issue.

CLIPS

The Rob & Joe Show
We've featured snippet from Rob Maher & Joe Robinson's podcast before. This time it's an indelicate peek into Joe's sexual past. It's not exactly tasteful but, if you're looking for that, there's still terrestrial radio out there for you…

The Random Variety Show Podcast
Another return visitor this episode is Charley Miller and his Random Variety Show. The chunk Charley sent us is a story he created with the help of sentences sent in by listeners.(BTW, I'm slated to be a guest on the RVS podcast sometime this month - I'll give you a heads up and a link when it happens!)

Todd N’ Tyler Radio Empire
The Todd N’ Tyler Radio Empire has been cranking on air since 1993 out of KEZO in Omaha, Nebraska. They’re syndicated on a number of stations, on the internet and their show has – as so many other radio shows have – become podcastted. Even with all that coverage, I am embarrassed to say I have never heard of Todd Brandt and Mike Tyler until I read last episode’s The 10 Most Active in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List. That’s when T-N-T rocketed into the Top 100, landing at #73 and climbing an incredible 306 places in one week. So I just HAD to clip 'em…

The Q Show
Mark Bland sent us a sample of The Q Show which originates from St. Louis, Missouri. The description off the homesite tells us that the show is about "everything and is liberal/moderate radio for people with a brain!" Check out our sample tidbit and see if you qualify.

That's what we've got for you this time around. I'm off on a road trip this week with Dana Carvey and Larry "Bubbles" Brown, during which time we are going to attempt to record enough material for one and maybe even two upcoming episodes. THAT should make it worth passing the Succotash, right?

— Marc Hershon 

For Epi54 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast, we wade back into the clips and there are a bunch from shows that we’ve never played before.  Some of those are part of the lineup at RadioFUBAR.com so I decided to do a "mini-featurette" by playing a quartet of FUBAR clips, courtesy of Mr. Producer over there.

Sidenote of note: I make it a point on this show to pretty much play the samples from different comedy podcasts without much commentary – unless it’s about how they sound technically and whether I think they should work on that – but the reason is to let YOU hear them and set you off on a voyage of discovery…or not. It’s funny but in 54 episodes of doing this show, I have yet to ever hear from a listener whether you like or dislike a single show that that's been featured.  Of course, some of the shows I clip come from YOUR suggestions, so those would be “Likes”, of course. Other than than, no one’s ever emailed or tweeted or commented on the home site about shows they either liked or didn’t like. Feel free to do so, if you want.

(The above is not entirely true, as I do hear from people occasionally that let me know that they got turned onto a specific show they might not have otherwise found.)

NEW SUCCOTASH DESIGN

Yes, it's true. The graphic artists down in the Succotash Art Department put together a new image this past week and we’ve got it up on our merch in The Succotashery. It’s the two most basic ingredients of succotash: Lima beans + corn + a pot. There are no words so you have to do the math yourself wto figure out that the answer's Succotash. Although on some of the t-shirts and the tote bag we have the classic Succotash logo on the other side. Just click on the Succotashery link on the website to grab yourself some of our hot new look.

THE COUNTDOWN

Here’s this week’s The 10 Most Active in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List:

37. Walking The Room +37
63. By The Way: In Conversation with Jeff Garlin -19
64. Dining with Doug and Karen +211
65. The Naughty Show -18
73. Todd n’ Tyler Radio Empire +306
84. The Onion -43
86. About Last Night -27
88. Mike And Tom Eat Snacks +19
89. Alonzo Bodden: Who’s Paying Attention? -19
95. The Best Medicine Show +128

LIVE APPEARANCES!

Most comedians with podcasts get to use them as a way to plug upcoming shows. Now I get that chance! I'm performing in a new style of live show we're calling Speechless and we have a kind of "beta test" version going up next Friday night at the 9th Street Independent Film Center at 145 9th Srteet (at Minna), Suite 101, in downtown San Francisco. It's a little like a Powerpoint-based version of the Set List Show, except our performers have to deliver a presentation on a random topic which they then have a set of never-seen-before random slides in a PowerPoint deck. The show's at 8 PM, tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

Then on Monday, April Fools' Day, I'll be appearing with the April's Fools Show at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre in downtown Mill Valley. The show features the likes of our own Will Durst as well as Johnny Steel, Bob Sarlatte, Michael Bossier, Dick Bright, and a bunch of other funny folks doing spoken word, standup, music and maybe a little improv, too! That show starts at 7:30 PM and should be a lot of fun.

BURSTS OF DURST

Because this epi is dropping a little late, we have TWO Bursts O' Durst with political comedian Will Durst to play. So I'm playing one near the top of the show and the second in Durst's usual position as the headliner for the show.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

At the end of this episode's TweetSack section, I feature Wine & Twitter, a new song from sci-fi/comedy songster John Anealio. He's making this single free to download as well, just by going to http://Jon Anealio.com!

CLIPS

The Paul Mecurio Show
This new show by comedian Paul Mecurio is on the SideShow Network and the clip we have, from Epi7, is Part Two of his interview with Lewis Black. It’s a great interview and I did a review of Paul’s show last week for This Week In Comedy Podcasts on Splitsider.com.

The RadioFUBAR Mini-Featurette Set
I got an email a couple of weeks ago from Frank, AKA “Mr. Producer” at RadioFUBAR.com where they have a lot of podcasts on their roster. So I said send me a few clips and I'll play a sampling from their lineup. Here are the four we're showing on this episode:

The Matt Ruefer 4 Hours of Power One Hour Podcast
This show features Matt Ruefer, Pete, Jacob and Mr. Producer as they talk about anything and everything (mostly nerdy.)  They almost always talk about Star Trek, Star Wars or some other nerd stuff. In this clip, the guys talk about the leak of the original star wars cast have been cast for the new version. They play on RadioFUBAR.com Wednesdays at 9pm Central.

Chick n’ Dick
Chick n’ Dick we have actually featured on Succotash before. The co-host, John, used to be part of a duo that did a show called the Truth or Truth Podcast. Chick n' Dick is another "stream of conscience" podcast with John and Tara, a husband and wife team, along with their friend Uriah. They are LIVE on RadioFUBAR.com Saturdays at 7pm Central.

The N3rdG4sm Lulzcast
The N3rdG4sm (pronounced nerdgasm) Lulzcast is four guys (LJ, Joe Keg, Jerry H Christ and Silent Dave) talking about all things nerd: Movies, phones, TV, game consoles and such. It's played on RadioFUBAR.com Thursdays at 7:00pm Central.

Uniformed Opinions
Uniformed Opinions, while not technically a comedy, is four veterans (Ben, Noam, Frank and Silent Dave) from different services talking about different stuff.  They give their opinions on different things from a veteran's point of view.  The show tends to be funny because they use typical military gallows humor. It plays on RadioFUBAR.com Wednesdays at 7pm Central.

So that's the mini-featurette lineup from RadioFUBAR.com - hop on over to theri site and check out all their offerings!

Sal & Angelo Podcast
Sal Calanni and Angelo Lorenzetti are San Francisco comedians and they’ve been interviewing mostly comedian from the area, including those who have done well, moved and then come back to eitehr work, visit or live. Sal recently interviewed Kevin Avery, who has been working as the head writer on W. Kamau Bell’s Comedy Central Show Totally Biased.

Into Your Head Podcast
Into Your Head is a podcasts is out of Ireland and host Neal (that's all - just Neal) has cranked out 670 episodes. It's amazing that it's taken me this much time to get around to clipping it. Good stuff - his delivery reminds me a bit of an Irish version of comedian Emo Philips.

Sweet Feathery Jesus
Booze, Belasco & Dr. P - the boys at Sweet Feathery Jesus - have come up with a new way to get around the N-word in rap songs…by using another N-word.

Podcheese
Another show I’ve been wanting to get on is Podcheese. One of the co-hosts, Benny Michaels, made it too easy NOT to clip them this episode by sending in a clip featuring what he says is a showcase of he and fellow co-host Josh Bennett's "masterful" improvisational skills.

That whole pile of clippage is for you. Please remember as you carry those out into the world, to remember to pass the Succotash!

 — Marc Hershon

This week's a mostly clipless week on Succotash. Stockpiling a bunch for the next episode while I devote the majority of Epi53 to my interview with Matt Weinhold. In addition to his long history as a standup comedian, Matt's be involved in writing and helping to produce a lot of television, web, and film projects as well. Included in that dossier: Writer and voice actor for MTV’s The Super Adventure Team; a writer and co-creator with Greg Proops on The Amazing Colossal Show, appeared in the Star Trek documentary Trekkies, written on tons of other TV including BBC America’s The Nerdist, Style Network’s The Dish, and used to be part of the Fashion Police commentary team for US magazine. You can also still get Matt's comedy CD, Dead Funny, by clicking on the link or on iTunes.

In the realm of podcasting, Matt's been podguesting with the likes of Jackie Kashian on Dork Forest and more frequently on The Dana Gould Hour. But he's in the process of turning what was a YouTube experiment into a full on video/audio podcast and we talk (and play) a bit from his Monster Party concept during our interview.

(Fair notice: We recorded the interview at the Coffee Fix in Studio City, CA. While it's a great place for coffee, the cavernous space, loud background music, blenders, grinders, and clanking utensils made for a listener-challenging environment. We've done what we could to pull out some of the room noise but there are portions of the interview that are somewhat hard to hear. Apologies. Welcome to the world of guerrilla podcasting...)

THE COUNTDOWN

Rather than do a straight-ahead Top 10 countdown from this week's Stitcher's Top 100 Comedy Podcasts — because the 'casts at the top don't seem to change very much - this week we introduce "The 10 Most Active in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List"! It was based on an idea I got from Ed Wallick, host of the Don't Quit Your Daycast podcast. I've ranked ten shows by their relative position on the chart, but also included the number of spaces they moved in the past week. Or points they go - I can't really figure out that that up or down number is supposed to represent considering that one of the shows — SModcast — moved DOWN 101 points on a chart that only has 100 spaces.

14. Girl On Guy with Aisha Tyler +24
41. Bullseye with Jesse Thorn +14
46. SModcast -101
52. The Onion +55
61. The David Feldman Show -26
64. Superego +85
71. Alonzo Bodden: Who’s Paying Attention? +29
80. Sex Squad +13
91. Loveline +24
99. The Ricky Gervais Podcast -20

CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT

Phil Leirness

Last week I played a clip from the Chillpak Hollywood Hour, one of the first podcasts I ever listened to, and I mentioned that hosts Phil Leirness and Dean Haglund had been doing the show for over 4 years. My bad. It’s been SIX years. Not only that, I incorrectly gave their website. It’s ChillpakHollywood.com (As I did mentioned last show, they DO still have a MySpace page, though.) I’m told that my voicemail apology to them will be a special guest on the next episode of CHH. Just got word that pre-production is underway on The Lady Killers, a new feature film by Phil and Dean. If you get a chance, check out their enthralling documentary The Truth Is Out There.

ME BEING ME

I'm a guest on the latest Seven Days A Geek episode of Podcasting 101. The Angry Ginger and I chat it up about how simple it really is to kick off a show, how to figure out what a podcast should be about and a bunch of other inside baseball chatter. Click on the show link and check it out for some good (mostly) clean conversation about the blood n' guts of podcasting.

SING IT, CHET

Chet Haase

Friend-of-Succotash Chet Haase has sent along a nifty little ditty in the wake of the changing of the Pope called Papal Reign, a parody to Prince's Purple Rain. It's timely and funny and you'll find it at the tail end of Epi53. Thanks, Chet!

DON'T FORGET DURST

Our Ambassador to the Middle Will Durst offers a litany of things that go awry as we move into Upper Middle age in this week's Burst O' Durst.

I also get into our TweetSack a bit this week, including some real honest-to-God emails. I read off a long list of Twitter handles from folks who have retweeted, favorited and otherwise been kind to Succotash this past week. It's really appreciated and makes doing the show worthwhile knowing that people are enjoying the experience and sharing that enjoyment with others. Or, as I like to think about it, passing the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

This title refers to the fact that we're back to an all-clip show this week. No interviews (although we have a goodie coming up next week!) but I did want to thank everyone who commented, tweeted, emailed and otherwise gave me feedback on last week’s Epi51.5, my I-5 Extra Episode. It was experimental, really – just me recording me as I drove back to San Francisco from Los Angeles up Interstate 5. Maybe I’ll try it again on my next road trip. And it gives me the confidence to play a little bit more between clips of the regular podcast, so we’ll see where that goes.

To the left is a shot of the sun setting as I trundled through the San Juaquin Valley at the wheel of Studio F, my Fiat 500. (It's not that picturesque but I post it because I love how pissed off people get when they think of me taking pictures while driving...)

THE COUNTDOWN

I mention in this episode that I'm thinking of dropping the Stitcher Top 10 Comedy Podcast Countdown that we've been featuring on Succotash since the beginning of the year. Reason? The shows just don't change positions enough to be very interesting. None of these, for instance, are unfamiliar:

10. Deathsquad

 9. Doug Loves Movies

 8. Real Time with Bill Maher

 7. SModcast

 6. The Nerdist

 5. Mohr Stories

 4. NPR: Car Talk Podcast

 3. WTF with Marc Maron

 2. The Adam Carolla Show

 1. The Joe Rogan Experience

On the other hand, for the first time I also read down the BOTTOM Ten of the Stitcher Comedy Podcasts. Lots of action and places being swapped down there in the cellar. So maybe I'll just do that from now on…

91. Beauty & Da Beast w/Joey Diaz & Felicia Michaels (down 10!)

92. Laugh Out Loud from CBC Radio (up 9!)

93. The Best Show on WFMU with Tom Scharpling

94. The Pod F. Tompkast

95. Walking The Room

96. The Ricky Gervais Podcast (down 13!)

97. Alonzo Bodden: Who's Paying Attention? (up 29!!!)

98. Dining With Doug & Karen (down 31!!!)

99. 76th Street Pod

100. #WeNerdHard

DURST

This episode our Ambassador to the Middle Will Durst ponders the ex-pontiff and what sort of mischief the former Pope Benedict might get into in his retirement.

THE CLIPS

JakeThis of Jake Johannsen

Comedian Jake Johannsen's podcast is pure Jake. Even when he has guests, it’s got that "Jake" feel to it. I used to hang out with Jake and his guest this latest episode, Bobby Slayton, a lot, as we were all in the San Francisco comedy scene. They were both as the Aspen Comedy Festival recently and Bobby recounts part of a story from when he got to have dinner with Woody Allen.

A.D.D. Comedy Podcast

David Razowsky is the host, creative force, and backbone of the A.D.D. Comedy Podcast. Ian Foley is the producer and creator. They talk to a lot of comedians, most of whom have come out of the ranks of improv, but also actors and writers. We clip part of David's great interview with screenwriter Carl Gottlieb.

Chillpak Hollywood Hour

Friends-of-Succotash and podcast royalty Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness continue to fascinate with their Chillpak Hollywood Hour podcast. They get into X-Files memorabilia by way of an email from a listener in this clip. Oh, yes, and they still have a page on MySpace.

Too Heavy Too Skydive 

Gotta clip in from the guys over at Too Heavy Too Skydive, which is still one of my favorite podcast titles out there. This is Matt's interview with Kai, no last name, who you may have seen on the internet a couple of weeks ago when he stopped a rampaging guy by pulling out a handaxe.

Making New Friends

Pat O’Rourke invites people into his kitchen every week and I guess gets along with all of them because his podcast is called Making New Friends. He sent this clip along and maybe I lost some notes along the way because, even though I checked the website, I’m not sure who his new friend may be.

Sup Dude

I THINK the Sup Dude podcast is from England so it kicks off our Triple Shot British Invasion clips this show. AJ & Nathan host a show about a bunch of stuff and yet seem to almost always have time to review a James Bond movie. Here they’re getting into Her Majesty’s Secret Service starring that one-off Bond, George Lazenby.

It’s Not Soccer

Adam Barker of Barker Podcasts is back with his It’s Not Soccer podcasting partner Billy Bilo. Adam didn’t send a clip but he did send where to find this clip in their lastest episode which, really, is the next best thing. It’s about a package delivery that happened to a friend that went south.

Uncle Arthur’s Bollocks

This clip is a last minute entry to this week’s show, suggested by the aforementioned Adam Barker who says that it’s a great representative of “north English humour”. I guess that’s humor with a “u” after the  “r”, right? Uncle Arthur seems difficult to find a lot about so just enjoy his ranting about fat people, won’t you?

Pod Awful

Jesse P-S has kicked off Season 5 of his Pod Awful podcast. His guest, Mike Blejer, a comedian and host of his own podcast, Malignant Brain Humor, and he spend part of the kickoff episode trying to track down a fortune teller of sorts…

Salty Language

I’m not quite sure what the main thrust of the Salty Language podcast is about. I think it’s a “shootin’ the shit” show, with hosts Bryan, Tony & Tate doing just that. Here’s a chunk that spins off of reading a news item, so that should be a clue, right?

Red Mud and Rolling Hills 

The Red Mud & Rolling Hills podcast is a sister/brother show, with Dawn Smith and her bro Bo Tate being real from the foothills of South Carolina. Their website proclaims that they use swear words as “sentence enhancers” and there is no shortage of them in the clip we have, where they’re talking about footwear and handsomeness.

Once again, we've done our job. Now get out there and do yours: Pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

WARNING: This is NOT a "regular" episode of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. No clips. No interviews. No TweetSack.

Call it an experiment. I was driving back to San Francisco after a weekend in Los Angeles. While in the southland I visited with a number of podcasters, comedians and past guests of Succotash: Rick Overton, Matt Weinhold, Ethan Dettenmaier, Shawn Marek, Travis Clark, Brandi Clark, Jon Manfrellotti, and Chris Gore.

My conversations with all those folks invariably came around to podcasting. Why do we do it? Where is it going? And what does it all mean? Collectively, we batted those concepts and more around in our little discussion groups but - once I was alone, trapped in my car (Studio F) for the six hour Kessel Run back to The City By The Bay, the questions continued to bounce around in my head.

So I fished out my trusty iPhone 5, my iRig Cast mic, and rambled into it for about 26 minutes. I ruminated on my show, other shows, and the podcasting industry as a whole. I wondered aloud about our listenship, the respect that podcasters may or may not be due, and all of the entertainment that's regularly provided for free by an ever-widening pool of podcasters around the world.

Don't worry — it's not a signal that we're changing direction at Succotash. We've got another clip-filled extravaganza coming right around the corner with Episode 52. But one beautiful thing about this artform (if I may be afforded the chance to refer to it as such), is that a person can do anything they want from this side of the microphone. On the flip side, listeners don't have to listen to it.

So this is, as I said in the beginning, an experiment.

If you like it, let me know. If you hate it, let me know. Email, Facebook, Twitter, the Succotash Hotline (818.921.7212) — there's plenty of ways for you to get your thoughts and feedback to me.

And I'll be back with our usual bag o' podcast clips in our very next episode! So don't be afraid to pass the Succotash.

— Marc Hershon