Succotash Shut-In Epi241: Crossin' The Pond

Hello, dear listener. I’m Marc Hershon, your every-other-weekly host of this show. Happy to be back. Last week co-host Tyson Saner was in the hot seat with Succotash Shut-In Epi240, favoring your pearly shell-like ears with clips from such audio wonderments as What Had Happened Was, Oprah's Master Class, and The Al Franken Podcast. You can still catch that installment at our homesite, http://SuccotashShow.com, as well as from Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, the Laughable app and wherever diner soundcasts are streamed and/or downloaded.

Just last week - the past two weeks, actually - I was a guest on the Chillpak Hollywood Hour, with Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness, where, along with comedian and writer Suli McCullough, I participated in a comedy roundtable discussion. We talked about our comedy influences, the effect of the pandemic on live performance and the creative process, and more. Check it out when you can at their homesite: ChillpakHollywood.com, or wherever you grab your favorite soundcasts.

Back in July I did an episode focusing on some soundcasts that I called Doin’ It Down Under with Jason McNamara, and I tapped our old friend Jabs to find me a quartet of soundcasts from Australia and New Zealand. For this installment, Epi241, entitled Crossin’ The Pond, I leaned on another friend of the show, George Grimwood, to load us up with a four-pack of shows from England and he came through with flying colors. It’s not like we don’t occasionally feature British comedy soundcasts. We recently clipped From the Oasthouse with Alan Partridge, and Strange Times with our friend Davian Dent. But on tap today we’ve got four shows we’ve not featured before, including Looks Familiar, The CheapShow, Rule of Three, and The Adam Buxton Podcast. This episode is sponsored by Henderson’s Pants new Camo Cut-Offs.

Let me wax on about George Grimwood for a moment. We met via the socials back in the early 20-teens and then crossed paths in real life at, I believe, the third Los Angeles Podcast Festival. You can hear a short chat I had with him while we were hovering in the lobby area back exactly a hundred episodes ago, in Succotash Episode 141. George runs the Podnose Network that carries a number of soundcast over in England which he points out is “the UK’s leading independent entertainment podcast network,” with thousands of hours of content and more on the way. He himself is rebooting the show he hosts, called The Talk Show Talk Show (no relation to Succotash, the Comedy Soundcast Soundcast…), in which he analyses classic (and not-so-classic) episodes of Late Night talk shows, including Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and more.

So George not only suggested the shows we’re clipping today (I actually harvest them myself), but gave me little blurbs about each show which is a tremendous help. Thanks, George!

Without further ado, let’s get into this collection of English clips. (Do you think they call snippets crisps over there?)

Looks Unfamiliar
Our first show, Looks Unfamiliar, features journalist and writer Tim Worthington speaking with a guest about lost nostalgia - aspects of pop culture that have been discarded and forgotten in time, but often remembered fondly or with fear by the guest. Our clip is from recent episode 73 with director Matt Lee, and they’re talking about this service that used to exist called Dial-A-Song, where you could call a number on your phone and hear music played on your phone.

CheapShow
The CheapShow is a soundcast featuring Paul Gannon and Eli Silverman searching for bizarre treasures one may find in the Poundlands – which is a chain of British variety stores – I think it must be like our Dollar Stores here in the US, as well as bargain bins and charity shops, often culminating in some very unusual discoveries and hilarious segments. Our clip has the two lads reading a submission from a listener about a very strange find. Spoiler alert: It’s a turd.

Rule Of Three
This next soundcast, Rule of Three, was the winner of the best Arts and Culture division at last year’s British Podcasts Awards…and then promptly went on hiatus. But comedy writers Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris are coming back for more, according to our man George. And good thing, too – this is a super show! The hosts talk to comedians about something funny that they love. Guests pick whatever it is that makes them laugh — a book, a film, a tv show, a comic, a radio show, anything — and then the hosts and guest dig in. Our clip features a guest that I wish was a friend of Succotash, Eddie Izzard. He’s funny, and smart, and the thing he picked to highlight on the show was John Lithgow, specifically from his appearance on TV’s 3rd Rock from The Sun.

The Adam Buxton Show
The Adam Buxton Show is an interview show, or a “chat show” as they say across the Atlantic. Adam was originally part of Adam & Joe, a thoroughly enjoyable cult television series he did with Joe Cornish. They then became radio personas and, while Joe has been busy directing films, Adam has been podcasting. And writing, too — he recently released a memoir entitled Ramble Book. Our final clip of this episode features Adam’s “Ramble” with Canadian comedian Tony Law, where they share their experiences of being a stranger in a strange land – Disneyland.

That’s a wrap on our listen to a few shows from Across the Pond. I realize that some of those accents from the British Isles might be a bit think for some of our US listeners, so I’ll advise you do what I do – listen again. It’s the King’s English, people! You’re bound to pick it up.

Thanks once again to George Grimwood of the Podnose Network. If you want to reach out to him, you can email him at [email protected]. He tells me that they are looking to expand beyond the UK content next year. Who knows? Maybe Succotash can finally get our network stripes! I would love to authentically be able to say, “We’re getting the sign from the network to wrap it up…”

Until then, we’re just going to have to wrap it up ourselves. Remember that Tyson will be here next week with another bouquet of soundcasts clips for you. And I’ll be back the week after with something nice for your ears.

Until that time, stay safe, keep warm, wear a mask, wash your hands and if anyone asks if you’ve heard anything good lately, won’t you please pass the Succotash?

— Marc Hershon