UCB Theatre founders Matt Besser and Ian Roberts did a special episode of Besser's Earwolf podcast improv4humans today, in which they walk listeners through the theater's philosophy and economics. In response to the recent internet hubbub over the theater's practice of not paying stand-ups, Besser and Roberts use the episode as a forum to explain that they use all the money generated by the theater's popular weekend shows to keep the place running during its less-popular free or cheap weekday shows. Check it out here.
Last Sunday night, I bet the happiest person in California was Bijou Phillips, who was spoon-fed the perfect theme song for her new podcast about going to the zoo. In a week or two, expect “Zoo Bijou Bijou” to start reverberating in your Dr. Andre “Dre” Young prescribed headphones, before Ms. Philips starts her thirty minutes of riffing on elephants (“What’s the deal with elephants? They’re never supposed to forget but they always smell like they forgot to shower!”). Guys, I’m just kidding like Jason (miss u, Nelly) but remember three days ago when jokes about that song from Mad Men were the only jokes anyone was able to [...]
It's all happening now. Comedy Bang! Bang! has been picked up by IFC to become a television program. Pack your bags my fellow pod-people, our beloved artform is hitting the big time (well the relative big time of the very premium, premium cable). Expect a flurry of questions from your nonpod-person friends: “So what is a podcast anyway? Are they on the radio? Who is the man in that nice suit pretending to be Ice-T? What's a Nerdist? What's a Tig Nataro? Am I saying that right, Nah-tah-ro?” It’s the beginning of the end or maybe the end of the beginning. Either way we better start readying ourselves [...]
