I really wanted to go into this show without any prejudice or malice towards it. However, in the description of the episode Evan Goldberg, writer of Pineapple Express, Knocked Up and Superbad, was miswritten as Kevin Goldberg. This may have of been a simple error by the uploader, but it came off as the station not really caring about his names since he isn’t as famous as Seth Rogen.

The content of the show is not to my liking, but I’ve made peace with the fact that if I’m going to be listening to Fox Fm, then talk about what Kim Kardashian and Kayne West named their baby is to be expected. I’m not too familiar with the format of the show, but from what I’ve gathered Fifi is away for some reason and the rudimentary Sophie Monk was filling in her place. Sophie is almost completely unfiltered and a little out of touch with how regular people interact with one another. Or at least that’s what it seemed like to me.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s “interview” was less painful to listen to then I was expecting. Jules Lund is a good, charismatic host who was able to ask interesting questions and play an enjoyable game with Seth and Evan.

And I didn’t understand what was happening with their producer. He kept leaving song playing softly in the background and leaving gaps of dead air. I wasn’t clear whether he was new and still geting use to everything or if he was just bad at his job.

This episode of You Made It Weird is unlike regular episodes, in that they do not talk about the usual topics of comedy, relationships and god. Instead this episode is more of a public forum for comedian and actor T.J. Miller to discuss a recent incident that had occurred between himself and fellow comedian Dane Cook. Host Pete Holmes did an excellent job of playing devil’s advocate to Miller during this recollection of an event that occurred at a comedy club in L.A.

Miller and Holmes do a good job of painting a picture for the listener by recounting what happened that night. In a nutshell Miller was booked at a comedy club where Dane Cook showed up to unannounced. He then proceeded to berate the audience because they weren’t enjoying his set. So T.J. took to twitter and then began ranting about how Dane was being so mean to the audience. The A.V. Club for Miller’s comment and ran with a story about how T.J. was trying to censor Dane because he didn’t like what Dane was saying.

The main thing that T.J. Miller was arguing, when he went on his twitter rant, was that Dane Cook was being cruel to an audience that did nothing to deserve such cruelty. Dane has no stake in the club or that room since he isn’t being paid by that club to be there.

The Joe Rogan podcast was referenced as being the place where Dane Cook, in the same way that T.J. is doing, must have retaliated to these comments about his material. I enjoyed how T.J. Miller acknowledged that the whole incident was silly and unimportant. Recounting how while he was listening to the Joe Rogan podcast he was saying that he was moving into the next level of loser. Comedians, on the Joe Rogan podcast, were talking about him without really knowing him or what happened that night in the comedy club. Meanwhile the fact that it was getting to him made him get even angrier dropping him down more levels of loser.

Both Pete and T.J. really present this topic well and do a good job representing both sides of the topic. Rather than this being some kind of circle jerk where they are both just praising each other and disrespecting the other party.

This is a possibly one of the most memorable shows in the entire Comedy Bang Bang (CBB) library. Host Scott Aukerman and guest co-host for this episode Jason Mantzoukas talk about a vast array of topics during the first segment of this show, before they are joined by their guest. Some of those topics include but are not limited to Jason’s favourite things: Comedy, Film & Cinema and Beavers. They really cover the topic of beavers thoroughly which is quite enjoyable for the listener as they catalogue some of their favourite beaver related publications.

This episode was recorded around the 2012 Academy Awards hosted by Billy Crystal. Scott and Jason list and discuss the 12 days of the Oscars, starting at number 1 and counting down to negative ten.

After their short intermission our hosts are joined by, in my opinion, one of the most talented poets I’ve ever had the privilege of listening to. Cowboy poet, Dalton Wilcox, self proclaimed poet laureate of the west, joined the program to promote his new book. The title of which is: You must buy your wife as much jewellery as you buy your horse; and other poems and observations, humorous and otherwise from a life on the range. For the reader of this review I will have already put up a clip of Dalton reading one of his poems for your own enjoyment.

The discussion then turns to the content of Dalton’s poems as Scott and Jason allow Dalton to elaborate on what the meaning behind his poems were. From Dalton’s poetic encapsulation of cowboy life we are lead to discover that the life of a modern day cowboy is a hard and lonely path. Which is only accentuates the issues for happens at the end of the podcast.

As I said at the top of this review this is possibly one of the best episodes of CBB. And if you don’t trust me, listen to some of Dalton Wilcox’ poems and see if that doesn’t change your mind.

Before I go any further in writing this review I would just like to warn the reader that the following review may contain some bias either for or against the show, that’s up to you to figure out. I would also like to, in the interest of full disclosure, let the reader know that I have been listening to this program in the morning in segments. Because I feel as though my mental health would be in jeopardy if I were to sit down and listen to an episode in its entirety.

But on a positive note this program served its purpose as my alarm clock. The second that my radio switched on and those shrill, banshee wails of Hughesy and Kate reverberated through my ears. Forcing me to leap from my bed and beat my clock radio with whatever I can find. On an unrelated note I’ve been getting up earlier because nothing wakes you up quicker then leaping anywhere.
Other than my clear disdain for the presenters, I found the way in which they recycle the same songs with a slightly different beat, singer and tempo quite refreshing 100 times in a row.

I feel as though the reader may think that I am being too harsh. Let me remind you that I WARNED you that there was going to be some bias. And since plainly, obvious where my bias lies. I give this podcast 5 out of 5. Awesome Show, great job!

I applaud the host, Valarie Redfern, for drawing me into the topic being both entertaining and informative simultaneously. This is the first radio documentary that I have ever listened to and I will definitely listen to more. I really enjoyed this documentary method from a technical view. As a fellow amateur documentarian myself I know a thing or three about the process of a documentary.

The subject matter is a peculiar thing; I had never considered what it would be like for a girl to grow with aspirations of beauty, before listening to this. The documentary takes you through the various aspects of beauty, looking at how either extreme of a particular aspect can be negative. Establishing that balance is necessary to ensure a true beauty on the inside and outside.

The German guy they kidnapped to announce each chapter was a little strange, but I can kind of see what they were going for. However, by the seventh chapter I had fallen under that frightened, German’s spell and was entranced by his every word from that point on.

I literally cringed when “am I not prettier enough” started playing.I was not a fan of some of the songs that were played during this documentary. That being said I loved some of the other songs. So my overall verdict of the songs featured in this documentary, is that they were decent.

The host talks to some guy who has a bad relationship history, which is only being helped along by his manic depression. I think I may have missed the point as to why he was a part of this documentary. The host continues to talk to this horrible person through the next chapter leaving a sour taste in the listener’s ears.

The documentary poses a lot of interesting sociological questions. And I should know being the amateur sociologist that I am. The listener of this documentary will surely take away a modified perspective on the psyche of a young woman.

Despite all that is said in the rest of this review, the most important thing and perhaps the only thing that the reader should take away from this review is that the bombers defeated the suns this evening. Everything else is insignificant. That being said I do have to say that the way in which the announcers were able to seamlessly segue from footy to chicken burgers is remarkable. This is the work of a seasoned announcer. And I’m pretty sure that all the announcers were getting an extra kickback for every time they mention ‘Hard Yakka’. I’m not sure whether they were playing a prank on everyone by trying to squeeze it in to almost every sentence or if they were in fact being paid every time the announcers mention Hard Yakka. The announcers just continuously referenced it to the point where I think that Hard Yakka may have purchased a new move in the game judging by the way they were saying that so ‘n’ so had Hard Yakka’d .

Luckily in between the various sponsorships that were being thrown around there was always that constant reminder that there was some kind of game that was interrupting this commercial. The announcers worked well to portray the game and illuminated it within our minds. This being said I need to once again mention just how many commercials there are being force fed to the listener.

Needless to say, I did not have the patience to sit through the entire broadcast of the football. But other than my utter disdain for shameless commercialism I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the bombers won this game. Carn the Bombers!

Jonah Raydio is a podcast hosted by Jonah Ray, containing the music from the past and current bands of whoever the guest is for that day, as well as fan submitted music. For this episode of Jonah Raydio the crew: Jonah Ray, Neil Mahonney, Cash Hartzel and Adam Rodrigues, are joined by Sean Tillman a.k.a Har Mar Superstar, a.k.a Sean Na Na formely from the thrash group Calvin Krime.

Tillman is one of many returning guests of the show, who personally knows Jonah. Jonah and Sean revisit their shared past touring together in the world of music and comedy. They recount stories of partying, podcasting and punk. (ALLITERATION). The songs of Sean Tillman are played throughout the episode allowing a refreshing gap between the segments of the podcast. Har Mar and Jonah go through some of the details of Jonah’s upcoming wedding sharing with the listener some of his troubles and anxieties of organising an event of this stature.

During the podcast there is usually a twitter game segment, in which people on twitter get to send in a suggestion for whatever the game they are playing that week. Majority of the sent in one aren’t great, but it’s generally a fun game full of quick fire jokes. It was sorely missed in this episode.

It’s seems as though after 22 episodes of the podcast, Neil Mahonney, who is in charge of working the soundboard, has finally come into a comfortable place on the podcast. Where he can listen to and participate in the show, as well as putting in sparse, impeccably timed sound bites. Jonah hardly scolds Neil at all in this episode for bad sound drops, which can be off putting for listeners who are not familiar with their rapport on the show. That is until the end of the show when Neil forgot the closing credit theme song. However this does not detract from the enjoyment of the show from start to finish.

It’s not often that hosts, Chris Hardwick, Jonah Ray and Matt Mira, conduct interviews that have as much depth as the podcast that they recorded with their guest Shadi Petosky. Hardwick prefaces the show, in his intro, by saying that this particular episode contains one of his favourite conversations that he has had on this podcast. Considering some of the past guests that Hardwick has had on the podcast, such as Tom Hanks, Will Farrell, Mel Brooks and Dave Grohl just a to name a few of the more well-known guests, this statement does have some gravity to it.

The episode began the same way that most Nerdist podcasts start; with the guest and hosts riffing bits or catching up with one another. This generally digresses into an anecdote or more off the cuff riffs until the guest asks whether they have started recording and they work out any technical issues they have. It’s not only the content and charismatic hosts that draw me into to listening to the Nerdist podcast; it’s also their method of recording a freeform interview that is more conversational than a standard radio or talk show interviews. However, only 6 minutes into the episode Hardwick brings up the reason why he had invited Shadi on to his podcast. To discuss Shadi’s decision to go through gender realignment procedures.

Shadi is very open with everything that the Nerdist boys have to ask her. She goes through her experience of being a gay, young adult who was not supported by his parents or by teachers and that as a man he did not feel comfortable or happy in his own body. Hardwick’s role as host of the podcast is performed excellently, asking interesting and compelling questions. Meanwhile Jonah Ray and Matt Mira ask Shadi less probing questions to do with her animation company and some of the projects that they have worked on.

If this was your first time listening to the Nerdist podcast I would recommend an earlier episode that is lighter to get a feel of how the Nerdist dynamic gets along and to get a sense of how these three great comedians work together. That being said this podcast is one of the informative and entertaining of the entire Nerdist catalogue.