#illusionoid

What I enjoy about comedy podcasts and the general use of humor in audio is the whole concept of using sound to get a joke across without needing to rely on physical visuals. Comedy has a slightly less difficult journey to accomplish as while noir is limited by the necessity of appealing to a very specific list of tropes, a comedic podcast’s job mostly boils down to being amusing, and they don’t need to fit themselves into any sort of template to accomplish that. This is why comedy has an always will be flexible to work around.

There’s probably a good reason why comedians can gain a second life on vinyl records and how I can always crack up listening to the “Salt and Pepper Diner” skit without ever actually seeing the live performance. One of the earliest examples of comedic film didn’t even have sound and would use text and rapid, enthusiastic acting to work a chuckle out of viewers. 

Humor may be subjective though we can all agree that a good comedy show has a pretty bare bones goal from the get-go. 

The thing about comedy that keeps it so fresh and refined after all these years is the various flavors is has to offer. Comedy can be dark and gloomy, comedy can be an anthology of loosely connected skits, comedy can be completely and utterly insane and surreal and yet they all have the same idea in mind once pen comes to paper and voice comes to microphone. 

And despite how much bustling variety there is for comedy, it’s rare for me to run into podcasts that fall under the comedy umbrella that aren’t just improvisation or shows that simply have some comedy elements sprinkled into its set up. 

There’s a good reason why My Brother, My Brother, and Me have managed to stay high in the charts all this time and ILLUSIONOID is a well produced science fiction show bursting with originality and new content that tickles both you and your imagination. Even Big Data, a show that is mostly scripted but does lean on the improv button quite a few times, relies on the unpredictability and natural senses of humor of its actors to make for some quirky conversation pieces.

Out of my recent years, the only real scripted comedy shows I’ve come across are Hadron Gospel Hour, Wooden Overcoats, Victoriocity, The Meat Blockade, and Hector Vs. The Future which may seem like a collection robust enough for a playlist of my favorite episodes, though is so far and few compared to all the horror and science fiction audio drama that’s out there that rarely ever relies on comedy to keep you tuning in. Well, Return Home has more jokes than the average horror show but that’s a Genre Parlor for another day.

My favorite podcast comedy that still has yet to be topped is Hadron Gospel Hour that leans more heavily on the parody category. With its loving portrayals and jabs at pop culture and occasional breaks for live action skit banter, it’s humor truly peaks with its need for funny scenarios and the exchanges between the two leading males. It has a certain Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy thing going on where most of the humor is done through quick-witted exchanges with a soft spot for heartfelt and touching moments and deriving a lot of its problems and jokes from elaborate settings. 

Something I feel the need to bring up again is the shortage of scripted comedy shows which I only recently noticed upon my research but also grew to understand later on. Though comedy may not have the same limitations as a noir show with its specific aesthetic qualities and character charts to fill, it’s supposedly simple goal of humor leaves a lot of breathing room but just as much to be desired from its writing. 

From my understanding, comedy is much harder to write and base a whole show around without having to risk not having any humor. Horror shows can cook up terrifying imagery and science fiction can jump from space ships to starry plant hemispheres without losing speed, but comedy has to pull off a certain balancing act while still keeping the laughs in mind. 

Wooden Overcoats and Victoriocity are especially good at weaving comedic elements into their stories to the point jokes are a natural part of their structure  while Hadron Gospel Hour seamlessly transitions between affectionate parody and some fun science fiction elements that can be equal parts dramatic and spectacular. 

A newer addition is The Amelia Project that one could label as a black comedy and is easily becoming one of the more eclectic entries to the genre. Even if the sense of humor is touch bleak and sadistic, it still warms a certain part of your funny bone that might enjoy that sort of macabre yet casual understanding of death and the human condition. 

The most refreshing one to have come out recently that plays up comedy almost as much as Hadron Gospel Hour is Victoriocity that combines some good old fashion screwball humor within a self contained mystery parody. Though a newer addition to my collection of shows, be it Palette featured or not, Victoriocity is a pretty fun comedy that oddly enough overlaps with my noir fascination that I mentioned in my previous article. 

But above all, an excellent comedy show is truly at its peak when it can maintain just enough staying power beyond it’s comedic elements. A show, especially one that has any plans of having any significant plot development, cannot sustain itself simply by being funny. Though this may sound contradictory, it’s how an audio drama can embed humor into its day to day scenarios that make the jokes land in the first place.

A quick wit and enthusiasm for the next punchline has a certain charm to it that can carry one episode to the next, especially if it fills itself with what TV Tropes calls “brick jokes”, though it’s by no means a place to set up camp, so to speak. 

My understanding of the term has left me on the conclusion that Kakos Industries, that dark comedy about the evil mega corporation...and some other stuff, is especially reliant on this style of joke telling if it isn’t just rattling off some dense imagery and sarcasm only ever interrupted by eerie silence or the familiar electronic thumping of its BGM. 

Kakos does mostly grease up its stationary engine with this style of humor-introducing some sort of problem or character and having them return over and over again until their big funny moment is wrapped up and they’re left in the recycling bin until further notice. Now this doesn’t sound too tedious on paper but it does lack a certain punch to its line-ha, ha-when it’s the only illusion of structure the show has to offer.

It’s this sort of lackluster narrative style that cause it to never truly hold my attention during it’s now three year run time. Without a stable plot or stakes to challenge our protagonist, the show boils down to a bunch of loosely connected set ups and jokes that don’t really mean or do anything and exist as mere facets of a wide and wild world we still know little to nothing about with characters that are fun and yet unengaging since they seem to exist just to past through the narrative’s revolving door.

Brick jokes do not substitute the drive and ambition of actual dramatic suspense and rather act as an accent or way to break future tension. Callbacks can be a funny, a show entirely built on callbacks is boring.

Though King Falls AM doesn’t suffer from similar issues, it is still one of the weaker comedic shows I’ve come across. It lacks the sort of boldness Kakos rides on to exhaustion, instead leaving with unmemorable jokes in an unmemorable setting. To describe King Falls sense of humor is a challenge in itself, not because it’s especially witty or obtuse, but because it’s so by the numbers with an occasional dip into what seems to be deliberately scrutinizing jokes that can’t even pass off as genuinely edgy, that it’s either boring or insulting. 

Going into more detail about how King Falls AM fails in being engaging or funny is a touch difficult because there just wasn’t much to uncover in the first place. 

Though it might be a personal preference, a good comedy podcasts succeeds when its humor and its setting and stakes are all on the same page. When the humor has a massive disconnect from what we’re supposed to be concerned and truly tuning into the show for, that can cause it’s own problems. At that point, the jokes are just jokes and if they don’t land then the whole show falls apart since its support beam was never that strong to begin with.

Even if I can’t say I was in love with Wooden Overcoats and its overtly cynical vibe, it’s certainly one of the more cleverly written black comedies and pretty much masters the blend of the oldest definition of the genre. Its sense of humor and day to day issues all blend together seamlessly and is so well produced and energetic you feel a need to get invested in what new problems our characters might face. 

The leads being at the short end of the stick is par of the course at this point and you can enjoy this audio drama about competing funeral homes-right away you can probably tell what makes Wooden Overcoats succeed so well as a comedic show from that description alone-as a genuinely well written black comedy that has just enough heart and character study to be more than just a pile of coffins with silly scribbles etched into the side. 

Reasons why Hadron Gospel Hour and Victoriocity succeed so well in this aspect is because they’ve managed to strike this balance between lavish worlds and hearty laughs. They have issues to deal with and some sort of problem to tackle each episode, and yet it’s the way they work with their settings and goofy characters that still allow their respective shows to be perceived as lighthearted entertainment with some sort of catch or staying factor. 

I love Victoriocity’s quirky humor and characters but I’m also highly invested in its element of mystery and the interesting and creative city the show takes place in that lets each episode ooze originality and inspired sets. Hadron Gospel has some hilarious banter and out-there situations, but I’m also biting my nails at the prospect of the multiverse being restored and Oppenheimer finding peace with himself after a cosmic blunder. I might come for a quick chuckle but it’s what lies beneath all the fluff that makes the jokes worth the wait.