#audio comedy

[thatpodcastkid]

I’ve listened to a lot of comedy podcasts, but nothing has made me laugh as hard as hearing “Hey pops” straight off the bat from a sixteen year old going to confession for the first time 10 seconds into the episode. It was just so immediate. So unhinged. The kids on this show have such insane balls, there has never been a teenage episode that wasn’t absolutely hilarious. I was literally driving down the parkway in the middle of the night laughing alone in my car it was so funny.

Anyway, anyone raised Catholic should listen to Forgive Me if you want to laugh at stuff that isn’t funny and cry at stuff that isn’t sad.

[quirksandfoiblessketch]

Listen to THE RANDOM SKETCH GENERATOR

An audio sketch show where each episode has a randomised theme: from MOVIES to GODS, from FATE to DULL KNIFE - literally anything could happen.

Created by the funny women of the Quirks and Foibles comedy trio, with hijinks afoot and hilarious guest stars, every episode is a SURPRISE!

available on most podcast platforms - including Apple Podcasts and Amazon

SPOTIFY:

PODCAST ADDICT:

[truetalesteam]

4 and 6?

4 - Who is a character that took you by surprise? Gosh, there are a lot of these actually. Our writing process (which is insane, we all meet weekly to hot-write into the same document) means that we frequently surprise one another, but let's focus on two of the main cast just for this response. Jackie and Dal both took us by surprise in different ways. When we were writing the very first episode of True Tales, we got to the end of the second or third draft and realized that there was something missing. We had Beck, Ishmael and Jackie running around in there, but there was some tension that we sorely needed. We were all working in Eric's apartment, and one of us - I think Kate? - said "What Beck needs is a foil" and Eric sprung up and came back holding Joseph Campbells Hero With A Thousand Faces, proclaiming "Of course! The shadow-self!" We worked out Dal there as Beck's opposite - violent, cynical, impatient - and all of a sudden we had this wonderful back and forth to play with. Jackie on the other hand was present in the scripts from the very first brainstorming session, but it wasn't until after season 1 was all written that we really locked into what her character was about, because that's when we had to cast her. We went through a number of auditions and found that the writing team all had different ideas of what Jackie's voice should sound like - was she clueless, was she bold, was she this or that - and when we had to pick someone, our two finalists had totally different energies. We had a long, intense conversation to figure out what exactly we all wanted from the character, and ended up finally finding the character there, with Julie Snyder's interpretation finally cementing just who this person was in our minds. Julie brings so much to the character that from there forward we wrote for her. Also for season 3, Denis Diderot surprised us - but that's not out yet and will have to wait for later. 6-If you are a voice actor or audio editor, what is your favorite blooper moment? So I do the dialogue edits for true tales, but also I act as director for when we record, which we do live at a local soundstage. There are a lot of bloopers which don't even make it to the booth, but I think my favorites are Jackie's songs. We write into each season now a little song for Jackie to sing, which we usually only write maybe a line of, and then in the script just say "Julie sings a little song", and let Julie just fucking run with it. Every time she comes up with the weirdest, funniest things to sing, and every take is different. She truly is a gem.

[footballcrumpets]

Escape back to the 90s, diving ears-first into the heartwarmingly hilarious award winning audio comedy Football Crumpets.

Immerse yourself in a captivating story- like listening to your favourite audiobook -  brought to life by an all-star cast of trans+ and queer artists.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hug your loved ones, and then you'll laugh some more.

If you're part of the LGBTQIA+ community, or an ally, this is the 90s comedy you never had growing up. And you're going to love it.

Football Crumpets is a feature length audio comedy by Lucie Isle about coming out, chosen family, and growing up feeling like you don't quite fit in.

[geminicollisionworks]

With nothing much else to post at the moment, Berit has suggested that I share some tracks from maybe the biggest influence on Life With Althaar with "the yutes."

The Firesign Theatre was a surreal comedy group -- composed of Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman, and Philip Proctor -- that worked in audio, from 1966 to 2012, on radio in a mostly-improvisational form, and on LP and CD (and occasionally stage, film, and video) in a densely scripted and layered series of landmark audio works combining high and low comedy, poetry, literature, music, philosophy, metaphysics, theatre, surrealism, absurdism, and social commentary into a thick audio stew.

I've been listening to their albums for literally all 54 years of my life, and my voice (physical and creative) owes everything to them (probably all 75 voices I've performed on Althaar could be directly traced back to one of the Firesigns, if not deliberately imitating some other famous person).

While our show is more plot and character-driven and less abstract than most of their work, I think the influence is apparent, both in audio production and in a kind of philosophy of sonic comedy.

So I'll be sharing some of their work here over the next week, hoping to keep it alive in the Future. No problem if it's not your bag -- there are plenty of dated references, and some of the dialect voices verge on (or cross into) the problematic -- but maybe someone out there catches the bug.

Here is the title track from their first album, Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him, from 1968, originally all of side 2 of the LP. It's a simple start from them, getting to know the capabilities and limits of a real recording studio (only 4 tracks!), but it's pure Firesign.

(and yes, I chose to make one of the opening scenes of Althaar's first episode a Customs check in homage to this piece...)

The Wikipedia article on The Firesign Theatre is a detailed and accurate history if you want to know more.

When meeting the Firesigns at a signing in 1993, I mentioned to David Ossman their huge influence on me and he asked, "What do you do? Comedy?" And I replied, "No, I'm in Audio" (which was my job at the time). And he slammed his signing pen down and said:

"You see! People are always asking me 'where are the comedians influenced by Firesign these days? why does no one do comedy like you anymore?' And I always tell them, the people influenced by us didn't go into Comedy, they went into Audio! That was our real influence!"

And so, 30 years on from that, I find myself winding up doing both.

Hope you enjoy the all-nite images.

[siriuslystargazing]

I don’t do this very often but if you lot would be really cool and check out my silly little audio comedy sketch that I wrote and produced along with the other 4 I helped produce that would be super cool!

Link here

[gatherthesuspectspod]

A GTS Short

This script is the first in a series of shorts intended to flesh out some more of the world of Gather The Suspects. One day, we hope you'll get to actually hear them! But in the meantime, we hope you enjoy!

SCENE 1 - INT - JACK and KARA’s Flat

Computer games are playing in the background and we hear JACK shout the occasional thing at his game. “Ooh, shoot him, quick!”  “Aaah you lousy thing…”  “Hey, that was my health pack! Give it back” end abruptly with a click.

JACK: (shouting) Kara! The bloody electric’s gone again!

KARA: (entering) Oh, for goodness sake. I thought we were done with all of this…

JACK: I’m sooo bored!!!

KARA: Jack, it’s been off for like five seconds, seriously?

JACK: (shrugs) Genius like this takes a lot of mental stimulation!

There is a knock on the door and the door opens

GERAINT: (calling in from the hall) Just me��� you guys lost power too? 

JACK: (sarcastically) Nooo, we often just sit here in the dark and try to connect with our primordial selves... You know, really get in touch with that inner caveman.

KARA: Ignore Jack, he’s in a bad mood because he can’t spend an eleventh hour straight playing video games.

JACK: (Grunts) I’m going to find my Gameboy (rummaging around in the draws)

GERAINT: The whole city’s out I think, look, no lights across the Bay at all. 

JACK: Gaah! No batteries, stupid bloo-

KARA: Jack! I’m sure you can spend one night without gaming-

JACK (interrupting) Bored!   

KARA: Oh, for god sake, you’re such a child-

JACK (interrupting) Bored!

GERAINT: Aaaaanyway, I thought that you might be, so I dug out the old wind-up radio.

JACK: Oh, good! The radio. We may as well go live in the middle ages.

KARA: Oh, stop being so ridiculous, Jack. You like listening to the radio!

JACK: Yeah, when I choose to. Now it’s forced on me it feels just like work…

KARA: (pointedly) oh, I’m surprised you know how that feels… 

GERAINT: Aah, come on, it’ll be nice. You know, like the good old, bad old days. At least this time we won’t have bombs going off every five minutes. I’ll turn on WBC, I think that phone-in show with the really horrible callers is on…

You like shouting at that one… I’ll turn it on...

[Radio crank winds up and Jingle fades in. A voiceover announces  “WBC radio - Wales’ premier music and talk radio.”]

JEREMY: Welcome back to This Evening with Jeremy on WBC radio - 64.5 FM and online. Today we’ve been discussing climate change and the upgrades to the Cardiff Bay barrage. 

With low lying parts of the coast already feeling the effects of rising sea levels, what more can we do to keep everyone safe? Give us a call and have your say...Giles Hampson from Cardiff is on the line. Giles, Good Evening.

MR HAMPSON: Good Evening, Jeremy.

JEREMY: What do you think about the proposed upgrades to the barrage Giles, do you think the plans go far enough?

MR HAMPSON: Well, Jeremy, it’s all nonsense really, isn’t it?

JEREMY: Oh, so you agree with our earlier caller, John? You think it would be better to add to the sea defences around Tremorfa, rather than spend more money on the bay right now?

MR HAMPSON: (bluntly) No, I mean that man was clearly an idiot. A typical mentality for those tree-hugging do-gooders that got us into this mess in the first place. I meant the whole (emphasising with disgust) ‘Global Warming’ thing. I mean, it’s nonsense, isn’t it? Nothing but a fairy tale for simple minds.

JEREMY: (sighs) OK, Giles. There’s a lot to unpack there. Let me make sure I’m understanding you correctly… You don’t believe in climate change but you also believe that people like John, who do, are somehow responsible for the thing you don’t believe exists? 

MR HAMPSON: Uh, no, no. You are twisting my words…that’s just like the ‘mainstream media’. 

JEREMY:  Uh, ok… I mean, I’m recording this in my bedroom thanks to budget cutbacks - we’re not exactly the old BBC... But go on…

MR HAMPSON: I mean, all we’ve heard for the past 20 years is Global warming this, the environment that. It’s just a way to scare us into being controlled. I mean there is nothing we can do about it now, is there? 

JEREMY: We just heard from the Environment minister today, on this very programme, talking about yet another coastal town that’s been abandoned thanks to rising water levels… I mean I’m still slightly confused. What do John’s - and I quote - “tree-hugging do-gooder” views have to do with all this? 

MR HAMPSON: Aah, well they are the engine of control, you see. They make us feel guilty and try to force us into doing things at tremendous cost to the economy. All to perpetuate this...this myth.

JEREMY: So you do think it’s a myth? Even you said a few moments ago it was real.

MR HAMPSON: The myth is that this ‘climate change’ can be affected by us mere humans. 

JEREMY: So now you’re saying it is real?

MR HAMPSON: No, no, no. You’re putting words in my mouth…

JEREMY: You just said, “there is nothing we can do about it now.” 

MR HAMPSON: What I’m saying, sonny, is that even if it IS real, which I highly doubt that it is -

JEREMY: Why do you doubt that it is?

MR HAMPSON: (not put off by the interruption) WHICH, I highly doubt it is. BUT, if it is then it’s likely part of some natural earthly cycle, baked in on the seventh day... so, who are we to try and stop it? All these arrogant lefties do is cause unnecessary panic. We are British after all, and we - 

JEREMY: Actually, I hate to break it to you Giles, but Britain doesn’t exist anymore.

MR HAMPSON: (sardonically) We are inhabitants of the British Isles and will deal with it in the way we always have. A quiet stoic dignity. Just like the old Blitz spirit…

JEREMY: Or the civil war in 2023... 

MR HAMPSON: I’m not sure I like your tone, Jeremy. 

JEREMY: I’m sorry Mr Hampson. It’s just you have said a lot of things already... most of which are contradictory. You don’t seem to have made your own mind up. Is it fake or is something above our control or something we can control but left it too late to act on? So, which is it, Giles?

MR HAMPSON: Well, really does it matter? Either way, me downgrading my Jaguar to some crappy little Japanese hybrid isn’t going to save anything is it? It’s costing the economy millions. In my day we didn’t have any of this PC nonsense about -

JEREMY: But, I mean some may argue that it might be a little late now that entire towns are disappearing beneath the Irish Sea, but what about before, Giles - when it was in our power to change it, did you do anything?

MR HAMPSON: What do you mean, did I DO anything? What did those little tree-hugging do-gooders do about it? They are the ones so concerned about it after all. What did THEY do, eh? 

JEREMY: (sighs) but, Giles -

MR HAMPSON: And anyway, how could I possibly have done something? Surely if it is real - and I’m not saying it is - then it’s down to the government to do something about it.

JEREMY: Aah, so now we may be getting somewhere… so, when there might have been a chance to change things, did you vote for a party that would have tackled it? 

MR HAMPSON: Well, of course not, why would I? I may as well vote for the Toothfairy party! Look you and your lot -

JEREMY: My lot? 

MR HAMSON? Yes the liberal media elite

JEREMY: Again, recording from my bedroom which also doubles as my kitchen and lounge…

MR HAMPSON: You know I’m right, Jeremy. I’m speaking for the majority here. We’re sick of people in positions of power telling us, the real people, what to do and how to act. Me driving my Jaguar around the place isn’t going to solve global warming.

JEREMY: I don’t think you repeatedly bringing up your Jaguar gives you the 'man of the people' vibe that you think it does… 

MR HAMPSON: See, looking down at the little people again, while encouraging propaganda for such rubbish.

JEREMY: What rubbish?

MR HAMPSON: Climate change, of course. The mainstream media are constantly talking about it -

JEREMY: Because towns are literally disappearing, half of the Southern Hemisphere is on fire. We are a current affairs programme, we talk about the topics that are having a real-world impact on our listeners -

MR HAMPSON: Well I’ve not seen it. Are we just supposed to take your word for it - these things could be down to a number of natural things. Why aren’t you talking about the real scandal of our times - how people like us, the rea- 

JEREMY: Sorry to interrupt you, Giles. We’ve had another caller who’d like to get in on the debate. Jack from Cardiff, I understand you have a different view to Giles?

JACK: Hi Jeremy. Yes, that’s right. Loving the show, by the way… 

MY HAMPSON: (muttering) Oh, not this cretin... Jeremy, I must protest, he’s completely ill-equipped to be discussing-

JEREMY: (ignoring this) Oh, well thank you, Jack. And what was the point you wanted to make about this discussion?

JACK: Well, I just thought that it was important to interject a bit of science into the debate.

JEREMY: Oh, you are a scientist, Jack?

MR HAMPSON: No, of course he’s not a scientist, Jeremy. The boy is an idiot.

JACK: Well, I have spent many years working on this theory. Testing and revising my hypothesis but I always come to the same conclusion.

JEREMY: Exciting, well let us know what you’ve found?

JACK: Well, after much observation, I have concluded that Giles Hampson is a massive fu-

JEREMY: Oh.. uum… thank goodness for the cough button, eh? On that note, I think we’ll leave that discussion for today. While I go outside and have a large whisky, here’s the news… When we come back, we’ll be talking about… um.. I dunno, something fun. 

[Jingle again and the news begins it slowly fades into the background as focus shifts back to our trio in the flat]

NEWS REPORTER: Tensions in France continue tonight as the civil war continues. With food in short supply and much of Northern France under control of Front National, the embattled liberal government has demanded an immediate halt to all separatist action on French soil. 

Meanwhile, closer to home, the English government have denied all reports of the mass starvation event that took place in Kent last month. A spokesman for the government told the EBC last night that the story has been a clear plant, to undermine the superb work by the UKFree party to unite the country. The denials come hot on the heels of similar denials last month when allied drones spotted large funeral pyres being built on the banks of the Medway. 

We go over to our English correspondent, Harriet Graves, for more:

NEWS REPORTER 2: Thanks, Seren. Yes, the UKFree party aren’t taking these latest revelations very well. Two inside sources told me yesterday that senior government ministers had been shot because of the leaks. 

We have reached out to the English government for comment, but do not expect a reply. Back to you in the studio. 

NEWS REPORTER: Thank you, Harriet. Finally, researchers at Cardiff University have reported finding a way to increase fertility in mice. Should they be successful, then human trials are expected to start by the winter. This is one step towards the Welsh government objective of redressing our ageing population and productivity issue. In the Senedd last week, the opposition described the plan as “crap of the highest order, even if we did manage to increase the working-age population, where exactly does the first minister propose they work?"

And that’s your news round-up for this evening, join us again tomorrow at 6am. Nos Da. 

JACK: hah, you were right! Listening to the radio can be fun! 

GERAINT: I feel like I should have put more emphasis on the ‘listening’ part. 

KARA: We’ll be paying for that one at the next residents meeting…

JACK: Meh, it was worth it. 

[power clicks back on and things start humming again]

GERAINT: Ooh, the power’s back on… do you want to keep… oh, he’s already back on the Playstation…

KARA: Come on, let’s go grab a coffee...

Sound of shooting and clicking as Jack plays his games mixes with the grim news reports. Jack shouts, "hah, take that. Try steal my kill will you! That'll teach you to mess with StabathaChristie69" 

~CREDITS~

POST CREDIT SEQUENCE

JEREMY: Welcome back to this evening with Jeremy. Well after that eventful few moments, let’s see what else is on your mind, Wales.

Next up we have Jillian from Cardiff. Jillian. What’s on your mind this evening?

MRS HAMPSON: Hello? Hello? Yes, is this the Jeremy show? 

JEREMY: That's right, you're through live on the air with Jeremy. What's on your mind? 

MRS HAMPSON: I’d like to speak to the manager, please. 

JEREMY: (sighs) Why didn’t I take that tv job. 

[rj-drive-in]

Easy Like Sunday Morning Department:

Hey, let's take a break from all the monsters and alien invaders and go on a nice relaxing Sunday drive.

© 2023 Rick Hutchins

[boombox-fuckboy]

Last-minute podcast Halloween costume ideas (very scary):

Wet mouth sounds (extended cut)

"Content Warning: Mature Themes." [Do not elaborate]

The episode that is twice as long as any before it

The 80 decibel difference in volume between podcast and advertisement

Sound of distant emergency sirens

"This Episode is No Longer Available"

Live action adaptation

[javelinbk]

Happy anniversary to one of John’s most dad jokes of dad jokes

The Beatles (3/4 + Jimmie Nicol) at their press conference in Sydney airport, 11th June 1964

[booigi-boi]

The Case of the Greater Gatsby has returned! Here's some characters for the occasion 🐇

Go listen to it

Close ups under cut (choose your fighter)

[quirksandfoiblessketch]

Listen to 'The Random Sketch Generator' on all podcast platforms :)

Each episode we create a sketch show around a randomised theme

It's fun. I promise ;)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Why would you—That's not—I just wanted to ask for help, why did you have to go and make it awkward???

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[littleacebee]

This time together with my Comedy podcasts appreciation-recommendation zine I prepared Comedy (and comedy adjacent) Podcasts Bingo!

Reblog and mark which podcasts have you listened to, take a recommendation and share new podcasts with me!

[geminicollisionworks]

Continuing with this week's posts of audio wonders from the surreal comedy group The Firesign Theatre (1966-2012). Previously:

1. Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him (1968) and notes about the influence on us and Life With Althaar.

2. How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All (1969)

Bringing us up to 1970's Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.

In which the central hapless hero figure of their previous longform works ("P," played by Phil Austin in the first; "Babe," played by Peter Bergman in the second) is transmuted into David Ossman as "George Leroy Tirebiter Camden N-200R" ("Camden N-200R" being a location-specific surname in an obliquely suggestive fascist future world), who in an evening of late night TV viewing finds himself sucked into the televisual world itself after accepting its sustenance. As he tries to find a way out, he passes through the Seven Ages of Man, reliving his past in fragments of an anti-Communist teen movie (High School Madness) and a Korean War picture (Parallel Hell).

This LP (originally titled We'll Be Hieronymus Bosch in Jest a Minute, but Faust...) was the first time the Firesigns had spread a single piece over two sides of a vinyl album, and was an immediate commercial and critical success. It was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1970 for Best Dramatic Production, and has been inducted into the Library of Congress's registry of notable American recordings.

Hope you enjoy it, take off your shoes, and don't touch that little chromium switch...