Welcome to Epi80 of Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast. This week our special guest is Paul Mecurio, who you would have also heard for a few minutes at the top of last episode, number 79, and for a longer interview back in Epi65.

To be honest, I was going to play my interview that I did back in October with Travis and Brandy Clark, from the Tiny Odd Conversations podcast but I recorded it at a sidewalk café in North Hollywood and the traffic noise made it really difficult to listen to, which means I’ll have to visit them and have another sit down soon. Apologies guys!

I ended up having a good conversation with Paul, who was in town performing at the San Francisco Punchline. I caught his show on Wednesday night then we spent the rest of the week trying to coordinate a time for the interview. What finally worked was getting together in the last hour that he was in town, at his hotel, before he had to dash off to the airport.

We talked about some of the projects he's got going on, from his headlining gigs around the counttry to some TV show ideas he was on his way to LA to pitch, and also The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, both of which he still does audience warmup and writing for.

During the interview I cut away to play a couple of audio snippets from things like his Makeover Specialist and this video segment he did from Got No Game, a show on HBO Sports…

The 10 Most Active Shows in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List

Here's our weekly look at the shows that moved the most UP or DOWN on Stitcher's Top 100 Comedy Podcast list.

AT                                                                                 MOVED

28. The Crabfeast with Ryan Wickler & Jay Larson             +6
34. Bertcast’s Podcast                                                      +12
36. SModcast >> Jay & Silent Bob Get Old                         -10
44. Keith & The Girl Comedy Podcast                                -11
48. What Say You?                                                            +6
62. About Last Night                                                         +31
75. How Was Your Week with Julie Klausner                     +30
85. The Almost A Show Podcast                                        +181
89. The Half-Assed Podcast with Gary & John                   +295
94. Out Of The Box Podcast                                              -11

And Succotash has actually benefited by missing a week, apparently, as we are hanging at #5945, which is UP 1616 place since last episode! Maybe we'll stay away more often…

Burst O' Durst

In this week's Burst O' Durst segment, our Ambassador to the Middle rails a bit on New Jersey governor Chris Christie. He's a hard target to miss.

Musical Break

During the show we play a cut from Walk The Fire, the new album by friend-of-Succotash John Anealio. You can get the whole album for whatever price you name at http://JohnAnealio.com.

The Clips

Midweek Drive
A few episodes ago we got our weekly shout out from The Chillpak Hollywood Hour from a guest of theirs: Alex Lewczuk, who’s the host of The Midweek Drive radio show and podcast in Britain (where he's joined by regulars John Jarrold, Holly Cox, and Gabriella Peralta.) I vowed then to feature a cut from his show and I finally got one that’s MOSTLY understandable to the American ear and which should be imminently familiar to a British audience. In this clip, Alex’s guest was English comedian Stu Francis. It seems the show, in trying to research Stu, had actually gotten to the website of STEWART Francis, a Canadian comic. Then they get into a discussion about Stu’s catchphrases, which are apparently his hallmark.

ManBuyCow Podcast
This show was recommended to us via Twitter. I think it was Davian Dent from the Bitter Sound Podcast, actually. In realtime, on Twitter, I asked our Associate Producer Tyson Saner to go grab a clip which he did. But I ended up listening to the whole episode and I gotta tell you that, if you’re taste in comedy runs in the Monty Python/Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy vein, this show has got to be on your Subscribe list. ManBuyCow is from England and features two guys – Rufus & Howard. Last names undiscoverable so far. In this clip, the guys are mucking about with a clairvoyant tea kettle.

Newbs Radio
This segment comes directly from Newbs Radio and it is not a comedy podcast, really. But the host, Eric Newby, is a supporter of Succotash and I told him I can pull some strings and get a clip of his show on the episode. He has a lot of musicians on and he sent in this clip from last summer, with his guest – singer Jonathan Richmond – because he felt it “explains what we do for your listeners”.

Proudly Resents
I interviewed the host of the Proudly Resents podcast, Adam Spiegelman, during the LA Podcast Festival a few months ago. He’s been back in New York THIS month for the New York Podcast Festival. He did a live Tribute to Troma Films which I reviewed in last week’s This Week In Comedy Podcasts for http://Splitsider.com. And then he interviewed the co-founder of Troma, Lloyd Kaufman, who’s a genius of the ultra-low budget film. In this clip, he reveals how they can afford to keep flipping and exploding cars in Troma films, as well as how to crush a head on screen

The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show
The same day I got word about the ManBuyCow podcast (see above), @Good_Podcasts on Twitter suggested we give a listen to The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show. I was game. @GoodPodcasts never steers us wrong and John Dredge himself has retweeted some of our tweets. So Tysonpulled down a clip from a recent episode and – Ahhhhhh – pure audio hilarious weirdness ensued. Starring John Dredge, Anna Emerson from the Boom Jennies, Greg Haiste from Haiste & Lawrence – and sounding a lot like Greg Proops putting on a British accent – along with James Shakestaff. Needless to say, that’s up on my Subscribe list now, too. The URL is too long for me to read and not screw up so you can click on it at this episode’s blog at http://SuccotashShow.com or just type “John Dredge Show” into Google. You’re find it.

That what Epi80 has in store for you. We appreciate it when you take time out of your busy day to not just listen to the podcast, but especially when you go up to iTunes where you can rate and review us. You can also Like our Facebook page (where you can even stream episodes of Succotash while you're catching up on your friends' status updates!)

Okay, that's it for now.

Please pass the Succotash!

— Marc Hershon

Howdy and Happy New Year from Succotash, the Comedy Podcast Podcast!  In typical fashion, this greeting isn't coming until the second week of the new year. We kick off the show with Skype visit from comedian, podcaster, and friend of the show Paul Mecurio. He's going to be at The Punchline in San Francisco this week, so if you're in the Bay Area, be sure to check him out! (I'll be at the Wednesday night show and will be packing some of our Succotash magnetic buttons - just ask me for one!)

I'll be meeting up with Paul and doing a face-to-face sitdown for a longer chat which we'll feature on an upcoming epi.

Paul's opening intro with me is only a few minutes of this show, which means we've got time for a bunch of clips, our Burst O' Durst - in which political comedian Will Durst gives us his predictions for 2014, an ad for Henderson's Auld Lang Slacks, our Tweetsack segment, and the pilot episode for Adam Barker's new Batfella pod series!

As I announce in this week's episode, our Honorary Associate Producer Tyson Saner is no longer honorary, he's actually the Official Associate Producer! While there's no salary or benefits that come with the gig, we're honored to have his services in harvesting clips from the vast field of comedy podcasts out there. And he'll be co-hosting an upcoming episode soon, so you'll get to hear from the man himself.

The 10 Most Active Shows in the Stitcher Top 100 Comedy Podcast List

Of the shows that moved the most on this week's Top 100, nine were up and only one was down.

AT                                                                                  MOVED

35. What About Pod?                                                          +12
36. Bertcast’s Podcast                                                        +34
56. PRI: Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know?                        +28
57. SModcast >> Edumacation                                             +19
69. Wits                                                                             +28
71. Where’s My Forty Acres: Ratchet & Real Opinions          +27
74. Industry Standard w/Barry Katz                                     +57
82. The Champs w/Neal Brennan & Moshe Kasher                +14
97. SModcast >> Last Week on Earth with Ben Gleib             +28
99. The Dana Gould Hour                                                    -13

The Clips

Big Pop Fun
We’ve featured Big Pop Fun before. That's the podcast hosted by comedian and actor Tom F. Wilson. It’s a nicely put-together interview show and recently the guest was none other than friend-of-Succotash Travis Clark from the Tiny Odd Conversations podcast. (I have my own interview that I haven’t had a chance to get to that I did with Travis and his wife Brandi when I was in LA for the Podfest last October. I'll post it soon. I promise!

This Ain’t Iowa
I’m often talking about how vast the world of podcasting is and comedy podcasts comprise a major continent of that world. It’s so big that it’s hard to see – or hear – everything until it’s too late. This Ain’t Iowa is a podcast out of Las Vegas, hosted by comedian Brian Mollica and it’s been chugging along since 2006. But now that chugging is coming to an end. Brian’s doing his “farewell tour” of the show, as he calls it, and has been having past co-hosts and regular guests calling and dropping in. One of those guest was a guy who was only ever identified on the show as “Wooden Spoon” and Spoon seems to have a somewhat colored and checkered past on the show.

Pop My Culture
We haven’t heard from the Pop My Culture podcast for a while, with Cole Stratton and Vanessa Ragland - oh, they've been podcasting, we just haven't played a clip from them recently - but we’re going to hear from them now, along with their guest Armin Shimmerman, who you might know from his role as Quark on Deep Space Nine.

Break Room Party
I first caught wind of the Break Room Party podcast on Twitter so I decided to check ‘em out. At first, it sounded to me like one of those dreaded “shootin’ the shit” shows I’ve kind of come to fear having to slog through but I hung in there.  Sure enough, the four hosts – Josh, Brandon, Trey & Ryan – didn’t disappoint. What they lack in comedy chops they make up for in comraderie and good natured ribbing. PLUS they dispense business advice. Every episode’s a different topic and this time it was about The Interview. The boys got off into a sideline about How To Turn The Interview Around.

Uttabull
Another show that came via a Twitter reference is the first podcast that I’d heard of that originates from the Isle of Man in the British Isles. Liam and Jason are the hosts of Uttabull. (Or, rather, Liam seems to be THE host while Jason USUALLY shows up.) They do a segment called Jason’s News and that’s where I pulled this clip from, as the gents get into a story from somewhere in Poland.

Hangin’ Outcast
Twitter was once again the conduit for me virtually meeting up with the Hangin’ Outcast podcast. These guys – Alex and Justin - are located in the Heart of the Inland Empire, which is another way of talking a whole bunch of nothing off the beaten track in Southern California. From this episode, I pulled the two hosts doling out some advice for those who want some to get into this podcast game.

The 31 Podcast
Tyson Saner clipped us something from a show I hadn’t heard of before: The 31 Podcast. It’s basically a twist on the old “20 Questions” game, in which the host, Brandt Tobler, asks his guests 31 questions. Not sure why. But here he is with his guest Tom Segura, cohost of his own podcast, Your Mom’s House.

Batfella
Here's the FULL debut episode of Adam Barker’s parody audio series, The Adventures of Batfella. Written and voiced by Adam along with some guests. Episode one, of many more to come, features the voice talents of British actress Rita Ramnani. If you're an Adam Barker fan (And, really, who isn't?), you should enjoy this show and not just because  the two podcasts that Adam normally does – the Oddcast Podcast UK and Its Not Soccer are taking a break until early spring while his girlfriend has a baby.

There it is then. Epi79 is done. 2014 is off and running. And all is right with the world. I want to thank you, our listener, for doing us the honor of listening, I hope you continue to listen and, what’s more it would be delicious of you if you were to pass the Succotash…

— Marc Hershon