Succotash, Epi270: Playin’ Some Clips n’ Bits

Welcome. Marc Hershon here, your every-other-weekly host for Succotash, the Comedy Soundcast Soundcast. This is Episode 270 of the show that knows how…knows how to play clips of comedy soundcasts – a sort of Whitman’s Sampler of audio treats, if you will – that gives you a chance to slip a taste of various soundcasts into your ears, take a nibble, and see if you don’t want to go find the whole show and pig out, listening-wise.

I had a week off from my day job for vacation last week and headed down to Los Angeles for some R&R. And I got a chance to hang out with some pals and chums, a few of them having been past visits to Succotash, including Travis Clark, Francis Cronin, Jon Manfrellotti, Matt Weinhold, Rick Overton, and Dana Carvey. It was a lot of fun, got a lot of nothing done, and feel rested up and ready to clip!

Last week in this feed, for Epi269, my classy, crafty, and cogent co-host Tyson Saner not only served up some crispy clips from soundcasts Gluten Free Gaming, The Spawn Chunks, and Coffee With Butterscotch, but he also shared a big chunk an interview with the very funny Andy Kindler that he conducted over on his other soundcast, Anti Social Show, along with his co-host there, Hunter Block. If you missed it somewhow, check out any of the usual soundcast distribution points like Spotify, Apple and Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Audible.com, and more – or just visit our homesite, SuccotashShow.com, where you can find every damn episode of Succotash dating back 10 years to when we started.

Which leads me to what I have in store for your auditory senses today. I have clips from The Ajumma Show, Geto Boys Reloaded, and Household Faces. In addition, I came across this funny musical clip comedian, actor, and perhaps future guest on this show, Patton Oswalt, found by Nick Lutsko, who took a bunch of whackadoodle rants by ultra rightwing nutball Alex Jones and turn them into a folk song. And we have a couple of calls on the Succotash Not-So-Hotline, including a new Runaway Truck Ramp report that came in over the weekend from…me. Yes, me, recorded as I was driving north on Interstate 5 on my way home through the stretch commonly called the Grapevine. And, of course, we’re sponsored by Henderson’s Pants brand new Toddler Trow.

Before we get into the rest of this episode, I have to admit that I’m a little late recording this installment and posting it, but that’s given me the chance to get a word in here about the passing of great comedian Norm MacDonald. He was secretly battling cancer for 9 years and lost that fight this week. He was one prominent comedian on the scene I never got to meet personally, but we had a lot of mutual friends in common and everyone has told me, over the years, what a great, crazy, funny guy Norm was. Germane to our show, he hosted an audio and video soundcast, Norm MacDonald Live, from 2013 to 2016, where he was interview guests – mostly friends from the comedy and acting world. Here’s a clip I featured back in Succotash Episode 89 – two comedy greats we will never hear or see perform live again – Norm MacDonald interviewing Carl Reiner.

CLIPS

The Ajumma Show
Our first clip comes from The Ajumma Show, featuring a pair of queer – their words, no mine - Chicago comedians, Peter Kim & Eunji Kim. Peter actually started out as a San Francisco improvisor and took classes from me at the San Francisco Comedy College before helping to found the Endgames improv company. He then went on to Chicago. The Ajumma Show is a weekly soundcast examining love, politics, culture, personal victories, failures and sage advice through the judgmental glare of an ajumma. What’s an ajumma? It’s a Korean word for a married or middle-aged woman, which seems a little “judgy” itself.  I get the feeling it’s someone who enjoys throwing shade on pretty much anything she doesn’t like. In this clip, the Kims (who are not related) chat about racially specific activities.

Geto Boys Reloaded
I’m not exactly what you’d call a hip hop guy – I know, I know, hard to believe – and this next clip comes from a show that isn’t exactly comedy, but when I saw that comedian Mike Epps was visiting hip hop legends Scarface and Willie D on their Geto Boys Reloaded soundcast, I figured it would be an excuse to bring a little culture into the room here. These guys tend to get a little deep, which is okay with me, as they converse about music, entertainment, social issues and awareness, among other topics. In our clip, the hosts and Mike get into their guest’s story of leaving home for the first time and moving to Atlanta to start a career.

Household Faces
I just reviewed the show our next clip is from, Household Faces, for Vulture.com’s This Week in Comedy Podcasts. (Obviously, Vulture hasn’t gotten the memo on calling them “soundcasts”.) Hosted by charcter actor and improv comedian John Ross Bowie, he interviews other characters actors – those men and women with familiar faces that I am always pointing out to my wife when we’re watching TV or movies and shouting, “I know that guy!” John got pretty well known from his appearances on The Big Bang Theory, and he recently spent three seasons as the dad on Speechless on ABC. The clip I grabbed is from the episode I reviewed featuring Xander Berkeley. Now, you may be saying, “I don’t know from Xander Berkeley,” but you, sir or madam, would be wrong. This guy’s been in over 200 movies and TV shows, including 24, The Walking Dead and, as they get into here, Terminator 2.

That's what's in store for you in the latest installement of Succotash. If you stick around this feed next week, you'll catch Epi271 with co-host Tyson bringing you a swell collection of comedy soundcast clips and may some other surprises. Who knows? That's why they're called surprises!

In the meantime, treat each other like humman beings, wash those hands, masks those faces, vax up and, if anyone asks if you've heard anything good lately, won't you please pass the Succotash?

— Marc Hershon