#mallwalk

Let's talk about some shows!

🫀 Technically speaking @thegospelofhaven ended last week but hoboy...what an ending. I know there's going to be a season two, but I can't help obsessing over our twin narratives and how they come full circle. Isiah runs and Rebecca stays; Isiah the unbeliever and Rebecca the true believer; Isiah chooses themself, Rebecca sacrifices herself; Isiah's gamble works, Rebecca's does not. What a story. What a concept. Go listen. Good grief.

🐮 There's something about Beef and Dairy Network that scratches a particular itch in my brain. There's a tendency for semi-improvised comedies like B&DN to get cringey or mean, but Ben Partridge never lets it get there. Sure, it's awkward, but it's always so ridiculous and off-the-wall, always choosing the silliest possible outcome, that makes it wonderful. Partridge is a mad genius with music and knows exactly the kind of deadpan that'll make a joke land. Me and my brother regularly quote the show to each other. I am so happy about this tenth anniversary episode. It rules.

🦀 I'm not going to say anything unique about @levianpodcast-desperado, because everyone who has a working set of ears is singing the praises of THAT FREAKIN LEVIATHAN FIGHT, HOLY HECK. It's magnificent. Samy Souissi you mad genius.

👻 We're Dead started this week! Anyone who spends any time around me knows I'm a huge Dropout fan, so when I found out the Rekha Shankar and Waleed Mansour (from that one Smartypants about naming a baby) have a new improvised audio drama, I was cautiously excited. Again, sometimes improvised shows are not as funny as they want to be, but this one is better than I imagined. They aren't just comics, they're improv pros, and this show is freakin hilarious. It's just an interview show in the afterlife, and the simplicity of that concept shines. Can't wait for the next episode.

🦈 This week I listened to a podcast called Mallwalk and...like honestly I was absolutely blown away. I've heard fake true crime podcasts before, but none like this one. So like, you remember that photoshopped picture of a flooded mall with escalators and sharks? This podcast is a mockumentary about two depressed teens, mall romance, casual cruelty, creepy lost arcade games, gothic horror, jackhammers, ice skating, and yes, a hammerhead shark named St. Paul. This is slipstream fiction like I've never heard before--beautifully crafted, carefully told, heartbreakingly real. Mind the content warnings, but you have to hear this.