Podcasts

[Famous Mortimer]

Cancel culture is mostly stupid, even though (at least where it’s not reactionary ragesterbation) its heart is (was?) sort of in the right place.

But I’ve heard plenty of similar voices. It really seems to me (anecdotally and accounting for my bubbles) like cancel culture is fading. I think many of these people are going to hate the end of cancel culture more than cancel culture itself. They’re going to lose their whole bit, and they don’t get to be an irony-blind victim of hating victimhood anymore. It’s all also ragesterbation.

If these guys feel like they have to work on the edges of decency maybe they’re lazy or suck. Anyway, plenty of people are finding clever ways to dance around the line.

99.999999% of references to it are by talentless hacks who are desperate to generate publicity for themselves, and I just realised I was tired of hearing comedians skating close to that line, even the good ones. It's the equivalent of routines about airline food in the 80s - the lamest, most played-out of all possible comedy bits.

But never mind all that. I wonder if anyone else experiences podcast fatigue? So many shows are twice as long as they need to be, especially a couple of great Cardinals ones. Same with formerly good Youtubers - it's like editing is an alien concept when you get to a certain level of popularity.

[thrill]

I'm really enjoying the new podcast "Guys: A Podcast About Guys" in which the hosts explore weird guy subcultures online.

[Famous Mortimer]

I like the sound of this. Subscribed!

[BottenFieldofDreams]

I do like when a comedian can find a way to subvert cancel culture and wedge issues.

I culled a lot of ‘two comedians hanging out with no preparation and precious few laughs’ in the last few years. Like you I listened to them a lot longer than they were useful to me and I was slow to realize. It’s similar enough to the [expletive] I give my kids hell for for watching on YouTube.

I’m listening to more music and moving back toward well produced, deeply researched podcasts (your Radiolabs and such).

Guys sounds interesting to me. In the way I check in on endless thread once in a while.

[BottenFieldofDreams]

Oh man, Joel Stein’s Story of the Week was cancelled. What’s another podcast where someone interviews journalists about their stories such that you don’t even have to read it? I liked this show because it was mostly weird stories.

[heyzeus]

So two of my closest childhood friends -- I'm talking we went to preschool together, and have stayed in touch for the next 40 years -- launched a podcast. It's called "How to Destroy Everything," and there are only a few episodes so far, but more are about to drop. They're both huge Cards fans too.

It's about my friend Danny's dad. His dad was insane. Technically, he was diagnosed as a malignant narcissist. He was a lawyer who ultimately got disbarred for breaking into court files. But he spent the rest of his days running scams, stealing personal information, and filing vindictive lawsuits against his many, many enemies. As a kid,I just knew Danny's dad for the extremely eccentric and weird things he'd do, and the total squalor of his house. As an adult, Danny and our friend Darren have started this podcast to explore who his dad was, what it did to his family, and all of the aftermath.

Anyway, they got interviewed by St. Louis NPR yesterday! You can read/listen:

https://www.stlpr.org/show/st-louis-on- ... -the-truth

And you should listen to the podcast. I'm going to be making an appearance at some point!

[thrill]

My dad isn't perfect, but I can't see him ever suing me.

“I couldn't do this when he was alive,” Danny Jacobs told St. Louis on the Air. “I had to wait until he passed away, partly because of a fear that I would get sued, partly because of a fear of the chaos that he might create in my life.”

This sounds wild.

[heyzeus]

My dad isn't perfect, but I can't see him ever suing me.

“I couldn't do this when he was alive,” Danny Jacobs told St. Louis on the Air. “I had to wait until he passed away, partly because of a fear that I would get sued, partly because of a fear of the chaos that he might create in my life.”

This sounds wild.

Not to give too much away (and I think it's mentioned in the NPR interview), but there was an actual support group in St. Louis formed by the people that Danny's dad sued.

[heyzeus]

I'm just gonna shamelessly plug it again, but my best friends' podcast, How to Destroy Everything, is now #3 on spotify and is getting 300,000 downloads a week. It's becoming a hit, and I am OVERJOYED for them. Just great guys, super talented and personable, telling the unbelievable story of Danny's breathtakingly insane father, and what it did to his young life, and the worries it creates now that he's a father himself.

And I'm still probably going to get interviewed still for some future episode.

[BottenFieldofDreams]

I'm just gonna shamelessly plug it again, but my best friends' podcast, How to Destroy Everything, is now #3 on spotify and is getting 300,000 downloads a week. It's becoming a hit, and I am OVERJOYED for them. Just great guys, super talented and personable, telling the unbelievable story of Danny's breathtakingly insane father, and what it did to his young life, and the worries it creates now that he's a father himself.

And I'm still probably going to get interviewed still for some future episode.

Any chance you get a spinoff? If I were you it would be something like: Hero Lawyer: The True Story of How One Man Overcame Tremendous Odds to Become the Hero America Deserves AND Needs.

In episode one you unbuckle yourself from the bottom of a black Tahoe deep in enemy territory, take one bullet in the shoulder without flinching, and say something witty as you uppercut a bad guy.