Sensai Greg Proops and I sat down at the Punchline in San Francisco before he recorded theBuzzers episode of his Smartest Man in the World podcast — imagine my delight when he quotes me on the air. I prepared three years for this interview. Notice how I don’t so much as look at my carefully constructed question cards. Here we bond over old radio, Southern oppression, and then casually debunk Christianity.
Hello, 2014. Consider me your SF Sketchfest Gal Friday. I am all up in this piece. Not only am I on staff at the best comedy festival in the country, I will also be hopping on camera to bring you coverage for Laughspin.com. This is my dream job. I will totally let you watch.
This post goes out to all my blanket fort ear buddies baffling over which podcasts to catch live during SF Sketchfest. I was first inspired to share my carefully-curated SF Sketchfest Stitcher playlist, but I couldn’t do that as easily as I imagined (with one button), so I decided to write this extensive blog post instead. Have a festival for your ears. You obviously listen to podcasts because you are smart. Show off that superior intellect with my handy guide to the deep river of podcasts flooding the streets of our beloved San Francisco between January 23-February 9.
In October of 2013, Jim Leyland stepped down as manager of the Detroit Tigers. His baseball career spanned over 40 years, with over 30 years at the major league level. After an adult life in baseball, the natural thing to do next, of course, is start a podcast. Join Jim (Jon Glaser) as he talks to special guests Dana Gould, Arden Myrin and Adam Scott, and gets them to open up as only Jim can.
Saturday, February 1 at Eureka Theater. (Buy Tickets).
90s Darlings Danny Tamberelli and Mike Maronna (“The Adventures of Pete & Pete“) are still bent on adventure. Join them for their all new monthly podcast “The Adventures of Danny and Mike” where they wander out into the world in search of their next great adventure. The podcast is produced by Jeremy Balon and Marianne Ways and a part of the FeralAudio.com podcast collective.
with and Michael C. Maronna and guests Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon.
Tremendosaur (Justin Michael and Jacob Reed) presents Before You Were Funny, in which favorite comedians perform their worst sketches, screenplays, stand-up, diary entries, and more, et al LIVE. There’s no time to prepare, no time to memorize lines, and nobody but the writer has read them beforehand.
Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme (Super Troopers, Beerfest) chew the fat, share stories, and have a few laughs with each other and guests Samm Levine (and more).
Stand-up comedians, authors, and filmmakers Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini are the Comedy Film Nerds. Their weekly podcast is devoted to the newest movie releases, classic film, major features, independent film and all matters of the cinema persuasion. Chris and Graham welcome guests weekly to talk pictures, offering insight and stories with people in the entertainment industry.
Dale Seever (James Bewley) is the host of the cult-hit Brooklyn-based podcast, Dale Radio. Launched in 2009, the low-budget talk show features interviews and conversations with a wide variety of engaging cultural personalities, from comedians and authors to filmmakers, musicians, and visual artists. Genuinely curious about other people, Dale still manages to make it all about him. Featuring guests Mary Van Note, Duckwrth, Angus MacLane (Pixar), Marc Vogl and Paul Charney (Killing My Lobster) with music by Steve O’Reilly
Comedian Dana Gould takes a look at our world through his eyes for your benefit. Joined by Sara Benincasa and Stephen Tobolowsky with a focus on the weird and the real. Conversation. Music. Monologues.
At the behest of the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, legendary time-traveling writer H.G. Wells (Paul F. Tompkins) uses his fantastical time machine to transport famous authors from the past into the future, which is our present. Unscripted, barely researched, all fun.
With special guest Thomas Lennon.
Sunday, January 26th, 4pm, The Punchline (Buy Tickets).
Dork Forest
Jackie Kashian is a nationally touring standup comic and has been building a podcast fort, the safest space in podcastville, since 2006. Jackie invites a wide variety of guests, from standup comics, authors, actors and perfectly nice regular people to “dork out” on the thing they love most. It can be, and has been, comic books, video games, anime, action figures and science fiction. It has also been Trains, the history of Baseball, Bees, Perfume and Salsa Dancing. All things fit in the dork forest. TDF is the safest space in podcastville. Listen for your dorkdom and be amazed at what others enjoy.
Jake Fogelnest is a professional. He’s been a regular panelist on VH1, written for Weekend Update on “Saturday Night Live,” “Best Week Ever,” Spin Magazine, New York Magazine and most recently the Emmy nominated, “Billy On The Street.” Jake was kicked out of camp early in the film “Wet Hot American Summer” and was the host and creator of “SQUiRT TV” on MTV when he was a teenager.
Friday, February 7th, 10pm, Stage Werx (Buy Tickets).
Gelmania
I love Gelmania, and it totally freaks out the dogs. Scramble your brain with Comedy, Theatre, and Philosophy from the mind of Brett Gelman with guest Jon Daly.Friday, January 24th, 8pm, The Verdi Club (Buy Tickets). For the love of glob, do not ask him about his beard.
Attend a town meeting in a land free of brevity, where Mayor Dan Harmon (creator of NBC’s Community) and Comptroller Jeff B. Davis (Whose Line is it Anyway?) take another small, drunken step toward colonizing the moon. Evening may include ineffectual rants, songs, shameful stories, special guests, forehead sweat and repeated exposure to the phrases “like,” uh,” “sort of” and “you know.”
Few names are as synonymous with improv as Matt Besser. Founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade and a regular performer in the world-famous show Asssscat, Matt has brought his talents to Earwolf with a fully improvised weekly podcast featuring the best improvisers in the universe. Featuring guests Chris Gethard, Seth Morris and more.
Jonah Ray has some friends over to his house to drink, listen to music, and converse – with sexy results. Join him for a live version of his hit Nerdist network podcast.
Jordan, Jesse, Go! is a freewheeling comedy podcast about life in your twenties and everything else. Your hosts are Jesse Thorn, “America’s Radio Sweetheart,” and Jordan Morris, “Boy Detective.” with special guest Rob Corddry.
The K Ohle is a multi-format podcast hosted by comedian Kurt Braunohler. Every episode, Kurt takes a guest into his car, blindfolds them, drives them somewhere they’ve never been, and they have to figure out where they are and how they’d get back. And they have some chats along the way.
Comedians Barbara Gray, Tess Barker, and Brandie Posey bring their popular podcast and hit midnight show at the Upright Citizens Brigade to the Sketchfest stage for an hour of insanity, including gut-busting debates over current events and pop culture, embarrassingly hilarious personal revelations, and the occasional Craigslist talent performance. The ladies combine their three engaging, distinctive personalities to bring you a show that’s like The View (but funny), mixed with Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and a dash of David Lynch. The Lady to Lady podcast recently joined the Maximum Fun network and can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, Audioboo. Produced and directed by David Janove.
Each week on the Laughspin Podcast, Laughspin.com founder/editor Dylan Gadino and Mike Gogel bring you comedy news, the most recent audio clips from the comedy world and a few laughs. The Laughspin Podcast is part of the All Things Comedy network, founded by comedians Bill Burr and Al Madrigal. This SF Sketchfest edition features Dylan Gadino and special co-host Lauren Ashley Bishop , and guests Brett Gelman, Sara Schaefer and Natasha Leggero.
Back for another highly-anticipated live podcasting experience, popular comic/actor/author/television personality/raconteur Chris Hardwick, celebrated funnyman Jonah Ray and Matt Mira– noted wit and the most humorous former funeral home employee in the known universe– will return to San Francisco to be live on stage performing their special brand of stand-up comedy followed by a live exhibition of podcasting excellence, joined by a special guest to be announced.
Imagine eavesdropping on three guys at a party – except what you’re hearing is funny. That’s Never Not Funny. Join Jimmy Pardo along with Matt Belknap and Pat Francis as they dissect music, sports, current events, but mostly they just talk, and you get to listen and laugh. With special guest Todd Glass. GQ Magazine recently called NNF “The Number One Relatively Obscure Thing You Need To Be Paying Attention To” in their annual comedy issue. The Onion A.V. Club says “NNF is the most consistently funny podcast out there.”
From the minds of Owen Burke (Funny or Die) and Adam McKay (Anchorman). Owen stays up on current events and TJ, a cell phone case salesman and aspiring hip hop artist, is more interested in what’s going on at the Hooters down at the Jacksonville, Florida CityWalk. On Owen & TJ Read the News they discuss the top stories of the month together.
The hit podcast in which three professional comedians and incompetent scientists take you through this week in science. Featuring Matt Kirshen (Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson, Nerdist, Last Comic Standing), Andy Wood (Bridgetown Festival, LA Podcast Festival), Jesse Case (Just For Laughs, Live At Gotham, Last Comic Standing), and, until a few months ago when he met Lorne Michaels, co-host Brooks Wheelan (SNL), with special guests from the world of science and comedy. It’s the most topical, up-to-date, half-assed science, delivered straight to you in bite-sized comedy chunks.
Murray Valeriano is a brilliant comedian, writer and human sponge. This Tennessee native and preacher’s son found his comedy calling in California and soon began a successful career in stand up and writing. Murray has appeared in clubs and theaters all over the country. He has been seen on Comedy Central, NBC, FuelTV and More. He is also a regular guest of “Bill Engvall’s Blue Collar Comedy” on SIRIUS/XM and has been heard on the “5 O’clock Funnies” in Los Angeles. As an award winning writer, Murray has written for The Tonight Show, Bill Engvall’s Here’s Your Sign Awards and Ridiculousness. He has also written for Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, and Dennis Miller. Murray is a captivating fellow that possesses a remarkable wealth of pop culture knowledge and experience. Roadstories podcast has ranked “New and Notable” on iTunes and mentioned in USA Today’s Pop Candy as one of the Best Comedy Podcasts of 2013.
Roderick on the Line is a frank and candid weekly phone call between John Roderick and Merlin Mann. While these sorts of calls have been conducted privately on a regular basis since something like 2003, they are now being made available to the public as an audio podcast. Watch them do it live, sans phone.
Ronna Glickman (Jessica Chaffin) & Beverly Ginsberg (Jamie Denbo) are the best-selling co-authors of You’ll Do A Little Better Next Time: A Guide to Marriage and Re-marriage for Jewish Singles. They travel the country and the world interviewing celebrities and educating audiences about love & relationships, all the while oversharing about their own families and lives. They have a longstanding monthly engagement at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles, and have also appeared at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and The Soho Theatre, London. Their biweekly podcast The Ronna & Beverly Podcast is hosted on the Earwolf network. Most recently they completed the critically-acclaimed Ronna & Beverly television series for Sky Atlantic HD in the UK.
Scott Capurro brings his signature wit and, whilst bantering with sidekick David Mills, asks you about career, inspiration, blah blah blah. And anything else that pops up. It’s fun, informal, gossipy and not broadcast on TV so one can be as ‘real’ as one would like.
Superego Podcast is a collection of improvised, character-based sketches presented through the loose psychological framework of analytical Pscience™. Since 2006, they’ve steadily garnered over a million downloads, been featured on the iTunes main podcast page. Featuring guests Paget Brewster, Kevin Murphy, Paul F. Tompkins, James Urbaniak
Join Emmy and Annie award winner Rob Paulsen and his special guests as he talks about his experiences in voice acting. Special guests are Maurice LaMarche (Pinky and the Brain), Phil LaMarr (Futurama), Greg Miller (IGN’s Up at Noon) and James Urbaniak (The Venture Bros.).
One of Nerdist’s newest and fastest-growing podcasts, Terrified with Dave Ross features interviews with comedians, musicians, and other famous types to find out what they don’t like about themselves. Featuring guests Eddie Pepitone, Barbara Gray and Karen Kilgariff
Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi present lots of ‘sues, shade throwing, phone calls, bad impressions, frank sexual talk and most importantly, Erin and Bryan presenting all the issues important to ladies and gays, and treating them with much less respect than they deserve. Can you handle it?
Stephen Tobolowsky is one of the leading character actors in film today. He has written and performed his stories on the “The Tobolowsky Files” for Slashfilm.com and on iTunes. They are also broadcast weekly on KUOW in Seattle and on WFPL in Louisville. PRI (Public Radio International) is now producing broadcasts of his stories to air on stations across the country. His first book of stories, The Dangerous Animals Club, has been published by Simon and Schuster in September 2012.
Highly regarded and amazing comedian Todd Barry talks to friends – and maybe people he doesn’t know – about their careers, travel, food, and various other topics. Featuring guests Karen Kilgariff, Jen Kirkman, Rick Overton.
Topics features long-time friends and creative comedic collaborators Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter as they tackle some of mankind’s most difficult questions: What is the nature of love? Is time travel possible? Does God exist? And so many more. Topics is a thoughtful, intense conversation about what makes humankind kind-of-human.
Greg Behrendt takes a break from his two-man podcast, Walking the Room, to ramble and pontificate all by his lonesome in the new and terrific Vague Stories podcast.
Creative genius chock full of character, comedy and commentary, Phil Hendrie is famous for concocting a cast of fictional characters, all of whom he plays on air while simultaneously serving as host of his national talk radio program
Through games, sketches, and hilariously misguided guesses, a panel of hilarious comedians will try to get to the bottom of what a leading scientific researcher studies all day. You won’t want to miss being part of the audience for this live show and podcast taping, hosted by Chris Duffy. Special guests include Josh Gondelman, Myq Kaplan,Ever Mainard and your Dr. Christina Agapakis.
Crisman Richards 