Big guests, big comedy, everything was big this week at the Nerdist Podcast Network. Huge, you might say. Or “Yuge,” if you’re… you know. Anyway, here’s what we had:
Two towering rock icons, punk progenitor Iggy Pop and Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, did the Nerdist Podcast to promote Iggy’s new (and final?) album, Post Pop Depression, on which Iggy collaborated with Josh, and to talk about farting, nudity, the classic stories of Iggy rolling around on stage in broken glass, parenthood, and more.
In a bonus Nerdist Podcast, Melissa Rauch came in to show how she’s way, way more than just Bernadette on The Big Bang Theory, not that being Bernadette isn’t enough. But she and her husband wrote the new movie The Bronze, and she did standup for years, and trained at UCB, so there’s a lot you’ll learn about Melissa. You’ll also learn the not quite romantic story of when Melissa found out her husband was in love with her, and about her parents and their interesting use of some familiar phrases.
SURPRISE!!! We got a brand new Thrilling Adventure Hour! Yes, the WorkJuice Players were back with a new “Beyond Belief” story with Frank and Sadie Doyle — Paul F. Tompkins and Paget Brewster, of course — and guests Lauren Lapkus and Michael McKean, with music from Paul and Storm.
Sadie Doyle… er, Paget Brewster joined the gang to recap the final Bachelor episode of the season and to rejoice in the selection of the next Bachelorette on Will You Accept This Rose? (and, yes, they WILL be back with The Bachelorette…).
Is The Writers Panel consistently hitting it out of the park week after week or what? This week, Ben had Doug Petrie & Marco Ramirez (Marvel’s Daredevil), Melissa Rosenberg (Twilight, Marvel’s Jessica Jones), Jason Katims (Parenthood, About a Boy, Friday Night Lights, Roswell), and Jessica Goldberg (The Path) on the panel. We always say that anyone remotely interested in the process of making entertainment should listen to this show, but those names alone should convince you of that.
Comedian Quincy (“No, Not That One, The Other One”) Jones is trying to raise money to make a standup comedy special while he still can. He’s terminally ill, and he’s doing a Kickstarter to get the funding to make it happen, with some major help from friends Mickey and Nicole Blaine and celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, who had him on her show and is trying to get Netflix and HBO interested in the special. Anyway, the combined effort raised way more than the goal and is ending today, but you should listen to Quincy on You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes and find out more, and if you’re reading this before 5 pm PT on March 18. 2016, you can donate to the Kickstarter.
Jonah Keri went to SXSW for the first ever live Jonah Keri Podcast with Matt Mira on hand to talk — what else? — Boston sports, and guitars, and PEDs, and religion, and lots of stuff. And Major League Baseball’s first female coach, Oakland A’s Arizona Fall League coach Justine Siegal, talked about her experiences, and former pro Halo player Hunter Swensson talked about the rise of eSports. Live.
Jackie and Laurie brought you more inside-comedy insight and more, including eating alone on the road (including a very expensive meal), kids’ talent shows, magicians, clubs lending cars to comics, the Great Lakes Avengers, more drama with Laurie’s mom, Johnny Carson, Dennis Miller, and Bo Derek on The Jackie and Laurie Show. And you’ll learn why Jackie doesn’t want to talk about Albuquerque. Although she talks about it. Plenty.
Bachelorette parties! 10 Cloverfield Lane! A reality dating show proposal for Alison! Suicide robots at Fukushima! So much this week on Half Hour Happy Hour….
The end finally came, for real, for Dave Ross and Anna Seregina’s Terrified, with Kyle Kinane, Kyle Mizono, Guy Branum, and Debra DiGiovanni on hand to talk about fear (okay, Debra just defends Canada) and send the show off to oblivion in grand, funny style.
We learned about Alexandria, VA’s mystery of The Female Stranger on Bizarre States.
Jessica McKenna of Fox’s sketch show Party Over Here dropped by The JV Club and brought the Irish for St. Patrick’s day.
Tom got up close and very personal in a special guest-free (hostful!) Pro You.
We relived the side-scroller and platforming edition of the Legacy Music Hour on another Mixtape edition.
Kevin and Steve did one for those who appreciate the masculine, their list of Top 10 Movie Man-Crushes on Chewin’ It, and of COURSE there’s Swayze. You do a list of man-crushes, you KNOW Swayze’s on there.
Violette Beane (The Flash) joined Razzle and guest host Josh Macuga for Today We Learned, and they explored the bat bridge in Austin, which I can confirm has one hell of a lot of bats underneath. Yes, of COURSE I stood there like all the other gaping tourists watching the bats fly out. Even the SXSW hipsters do that. Leave me alone.
Mollena Lee Williams-Haas had a conversation about her unique life and edge play on a two part Sex Nerd Sandra: Here’s Part 1 and here’s Part 2..
Steve Mazan returned to the couch for another Cash Withdrawal session. Not sure if his insurance will cover so many appointments.
We found out more about Jenna and Bodhi’s marriage on Kicking and Screaming, more than you thought you wanted to know….
Writer/director David Lowery, who’s at the helm of Disney’s upcoming reboot of Pete’s Dragon, was Alexi’s guest on Love, Alexi.
Chris Farren returned to The Todd Glass Show, and singing happened.
Hutch Harris of The Thermals visited The K Ohle for…. well, it wasn’t “Get Lost.” New formats explored, songs sung.
Neil Kleid (Powers: The Secret History of Deena Pilgrim) and Brett White (Comic Book Resources) guested on a new Comic Book Club.
Listen to it all. Go to the Nerdist Podcast Network homepage and Facebook page and subscribe to everything. Do that now before you forget. You will regret nothing.
Contributor: Kyle Clark
Photo: iggypop.com
