This week’s PAW was the second volume of the best clips of the show so far, you can listen to it here. Next week we will be talking about Serial season 2 episode 1, so listen to that if you like doing that before the show. 

This was a great week for podcasts so I hope you’re ready to hear about them! By the way, when I write these up the order I put them in is the order they show up in my podcast app based on when they update, not any ascending/descending order.

THE BEST

‣ improv4humans #222: Seth Morris, Eugene Cordero, and Will Hines is an i4h dream team and they delivered. The David Blaine runner was hilarious, and the Mr Nice Guy scene escalated beautifully. I love how completely committed Matt is to SeeSo and I hope its a huge success for him.

‣ High and Mighty #24: Here’s Eugene Cordero again, talking health and fitness with Jon Gabrus. There’s not a lot of laughs in this one, but I love Eugene’s take on getting in shape. It can seem like such a monumental step because making such huge changes in your life is something you have to deal with constantly, and it’s nice to hear him tell you it isn’t actually that big a deal if you mess up once in a while. Obviously he didn’t invent the idea of taking small steps to get in shape, but there’s something about hearing it from someone you know has a full and successful life outside of telling you what to do with your body that makes it hit closer to home, at least for me.

‣ Hollywood Handbook #116: I’d love to get Sean and Hayes back together in the same room again, but in the meantime they are doing a fantastic job apart. The call with Hayes was my favorite part, and it was cool how Sean had that shape the rest of the episode. Neil Casey, Ben Rodgers, and Dominic Dierkes were hilarious. Trailing off on Hayes’ voicemail was another highlight.

‣ Comedy Bang Bang #394: Zach Galifinakis hasn’t been one of my favorite CBB guests historically because I think he has a bit of a tendency to phone it in and not get fully involved with the show. I can’t blame him, a friend’s podcast seems to be like celebrity jury duty. When he does bring it though, he’s a great guest as heard on this week’s show. Scott’s nephew Todd is one of my favorites of Lauren Lapkus’ characters but he’s become bogged down with too much backstory Scott feels the need to keep bringing back every time, so I understand the turn the episode took in his regard. Tim Baltz’s fairly grounded character Don Darling was still extremely funny, with masterful accent work.

‣ Womp It Up #17?: Jack McBrayer has been typecast a bit as an improbably good-spirited person, and that includes this episode of the WompCast, but he’s such a perfect foil for Jessica St Clair’s Marissa Wompler character it makes a lot of sense to stick with what works. The “What’s Cheesing You” theme is my new ringtone.

‣ Never Not Funny #1722: No NNF season would ever be complete without a visit from Scott Aukerman. He’s one of the best guests because he’s a genuine fan of the show and knows how to break the show’s rules in funny ways. Every time he comes on it makes me more aware of NNF’s loose format because inevitably CBB fans will complain about how much they have to skip through to get to the “interview” portion, but I suppose that’s fair. I’m sure even in these posts I’ve complained about a podcast’s format out of a place of ignorance or “not getting it”.

THE OTHER BEST

Believe it or not there are other podcasts out there I didn’t write about this week, such as: The Adventure Zone had a funny battle this week, and great production work by Griffin McElroy, Jeff Dutton joined SpoonNation as one of the smoothest guests the Doughboys have ever had, The format Who Charted has settled on is a big improvement over the “new” one they tried for a couple episodes, I’m not sure if Mike and Tom Eat Snacks is ACTUALLY back for real but they’ve done episodes two weeks in a row so I have hope

THE NEW BEST