Sometimes, the names just sell themselves. That’s the case for this week’s offerings on the Nerdist Podcast Network, though I really can’t quite get away with just listing names here in our weekly recap post. OR CAN I?!? Nah:
*Kathleen Kennedy brought Star Wars: The Force Awakens and a lot more to the Nerdist Podcast. After all, she’s produced an incredible number of iconic movies, including Steven Spielberg’s works, and she talked about being an integral part of the last 30 years of Hollywood magic, her work ethic, the legendary Back to the Future casting change, and how sometimes having a limited budget can work to a film’s ultimate advantage.
*Quentin Tarantino did the Nerdist Podcast, promoting The Hateful Eight (or is it The H8ful 8?) and talking about his career, the move from indie director to mainstream success, his revival house in L.A., and the future of theaters, about which, go see the new movie in 70mm if the limited widescreen release is available in your town.
*Bill Burr came by for a return appearance on the Nerdist Podcast to demonstrate why he’s one of our favorite comics. (Okay, he’s one of mine because of The Philadelphia Incident, and I say that as a former resident of that fine city.) On this episode, Bill, in to promote his Netflix series F is for Family, talked about the standup life, Boston, football, Star Wars, being on Breaking Bad, and flying helicopters.
*Alex Winter also returned to the Nerdist Podcast with some Bill and Ted 3 news and talk about his documentary The Deep Web, which is about bitcoin, the Silk Road, and the fascinating story that delves into issues of privacy, illicit behavior, and the future.
*Once again, we had TWO You Made It Weirds: one with another favorite comic, Dave Attell, and the other with meditation expert and podcaster Raghu Markus and comic Duncan Trussell. Funny AND relaxing. Can’t get that anywhere else.
*Caleb Synan visited The Todd Glass Show for a very special holiday show as only The Todd Glass Show can do.
*Kevin and Steve produced another list on Chewin’ It, “10 Things I’m Great At,” which clearly does not include grammar. Bragging, though, yeah.
*Jessica had a holiday-themed Bizarre States for us, delving into the history of Christmas, which is more bizarre than you know.
*Comic Garrick Bernard sat down with Dave on Terrified to ‘fess up to the fears and worries surrounding the standup comedy life. If you’ve ever given yourself fits over whether you’re funny or not, you’ll identify.
*You’ll find Jessica Ogilvie’s writing in places like L.A. Weekly, and you’ll find her talking about her life and career and other stuff on this week’s The JV Club.
*You’ve heard from all sorts of trainers and friends on Pro You, but this week, we finally got to hear Tom’s own story. Find out how he became Trainer To The Stars (like Chris and Matt).
*Actress Sarah Baker dropped by Pop My Culture to talk about the week in pop culture and her legendary Louie speech.
*We got a tour of the Jack Kirby Pop-Up Museum in New York from Comic Book Club. Hey, maybe they can move in there.
*Cashing In with T.J. Miller focused — okay, “focused” is never the right term for this show — on Christmas. It’s as warped as you’d expect.
*It’s that time of year again, so we got Part 1 of the Nerdist Writers Panel Year in Review. Laura Valdivia (Telenovela), Andrew Miller (Backstrom; Tremors), and Ben Wexler (The Grinder; The Comedians) talked about trends, comedy, and The Wiz Live, because of course.
*Actor David Blue (Ugly Betty, SGU Stargate Universe) did the factual thing with Razzle and Dan on Today We Learned.
*And, you know what? Because it tends to land between the recap and the preview, I never mention a show you should be following, Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction. That’s a shame, because it’s consistently hilarious. This week, we had Sara Benincasa, Mike Lebovitz, Emma Willmann, and Kyle Ayers try their hand at it. You should listen.
It’s all at the Nerdist Podcast Network homepage and Facebook page, so go there for all the goodness. It’ll make those last-minute trips to the mall for Christmas presents go by so much more pleasantly. (Or, as in my case, the 5 minute drive to Ralphs to hit up the gift card section, because damned if I’m gonna figure out actual individual gifts for everyone….)
Contributor: The Hilarious and Generous Kyle Clark (let’s see if he sees this)
Photo : Jesse Grant/Stringer, Getty Images
