American Fiasco: With the FIFA World Cup less than one week away, it should come as no surprise that podcasters are getting in on the action in any way they can. WYNC Studios out of New York has teamed up with long-time football podcaster Roger Bennett to tell the story of the U.S. Men’s National Team’s failure at the 1998 World Cup in France. Those who have listened or watched Rog’s main gig Men in Blazers know him to be an incredibly insightful, thoughtful journalist with a flair with words. What caught me by surprise was hearing of Roger’s own fascination with the United States, leading him to move to Chicago and discover that his other love practically didn’t exist. When the series does come back to focus on the team, we’re told of inifghting between players and a seemingly inept commission, confidence in prior tournaments leading to arrogance, and ultimately failure. American Fiasco is well produced, with interviews from people who were on the pitch dealing with the collapse as it happens and episodes never drag or go into details that are unnecessary. It’s an easy binge before the first kick-off of the 2018 World Cup, or can make for a nice slow listen before the next USMNT game.
Hollywood Handbook E241: It’s hard to describe what Hollywood Handbook is to non-listeners beyond general descriptors like “comedy” or “it’s a podcast”. The show’s intro describes itself as a “insider’s guide to kicking butt and dropping names in the red carpet-lined back hallways of this industry we call showbiz (whatup whatup)” and the show’s fans unhelpfully suggest listening from the first episode in order to get all the references. The way I describe Hollywood Handbook to people is that it’s a loose conversational podcast with two whip-smart comedians playing extremely heightened versions of themselves, following a bouncing ball of tangents to wherever they may go. This is no more apparent in the most recent live episode, recorded in “Chicago City” as part of the Onion Comedy & Arts Festival. With a hot crowd, hosts Sean Clements and Hayes Davenport treat Chef Kevin like a dog due to his failure for booking a guest and charging audience members too little for merchandise,, talk about how funky the city is, and invite a guest from the audience who may not be who they say he is (complete with somewhat out of character apology, possibly due to legal reasons). There’s a high risk in how the boys approach to their show, making it inaccessible to many. But when it works, it really works, and this live episode is one great example of it.
Welcome to LA E04: Tyreek Bilal is a man who has lived a life, and as of this episode’s recording it revolves around giving haircuts in a converted RV, parked outside of a former storefront mosque. He’s protesting that what was once a house of God has been converted to a thrift shop in order to appeal to a quicky-gentrifying area of LA. Welcome to LA, a show from local radio station KCRW is focused on telling long-form stories about the city’s residents and does so in a familiar public radio station. No expense is spared in narration, to a point where I wondered if I heard more from host David Weinberg explaining Tyreek’s story then I did from the man himself. So if there’s any reward for the listener, it’s overhearing a conversation where Tyreek urges a stressed out man who “keeps fucking up” to find God and love himself. Welcome to LA doesn’t break territory in any way, but when you have an interesting story it makes for a easy listen.
Pod News: Luminary Media raises $40m to create premium podcast service – is it the cable TV of podcasts or just the new Stitcher Premium? Amy Schumer to get $1m+ to host new podcast. Stephen Dubner brings Freakonomics Radio to Sticher. Bubble, a scripted narrative comedy series from MaximumFun starts on Wednesday. Who needs TV aftershows on TV when they can be podcasts?
The Final Question: I’ve been a bit sick lately which has affected my podcast diet (listening to a whole lot less of them). When you’re a lot of episodes behind, do you resume where you’ve left off or pick up from the latest episode dropped? How do you do?