My Pod Week: Week ending 9/21/14

Mike Flinn (@realmikeflinn) isn’t just a podcast producer and engineer; he’s also an avid fan of the form. “My Pod Week” recaps and reviews the many varied comedy podcasts Flinn listened to or attended live tapings of during the previous week. Enjoy!

The Los Angeles Podcast Festival is coming to the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills this weekend.

This will be my first time attending and I’m looking forward to seeing my favorite shows and some others that I’m not yet familiar with. The festival was founded by podcasters Andy Wood, Dave Anthony, Graham Elwood, and Chris Mancini. Andy Wood is director and co-founder of Portland’s Bridgetown Comedy Festival and hosts a podcast called Probably Science along with Matt Kirshen, Jesse Case, & Brooks Wheelan. Dave Anthony plays the reliably irresponsible best friend of Marc Maron on Maron (IFC). Dave also co-hosts Walking The Room with Greg Behrendt and The Dollop podcast with Gareth Reynolds. Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini host Comedy Film Nerds, and are working on a documentary called Ear Buds about the relationship between podcast host and podcast audience. Many of the shows that I have written about in this column over the last six months will be there. The CrabFeast has been a part of my toozdee mornings for a few years now. Jay Larson and Ryan Sickler swap stories every week with some of the best guests in podcasting. They had memorable episodes earlier this year with Jen Kirkman, Joe Bartnick, and Harland Williams. Girl On Guy with Aisha Tyler follows the feast on the opening day schedule. Aisha runs several successful careers concurrent and makes time to put out a great interview podcast. I think of her as a superhuman with a passion for podcasting. I’ll have two days of Festival ahead of me with little hope for restful sleep Friday night after being in the presence of the pod-goddess.

It was only a few weeks ago here when I upped my dosage of Superego. The good doctors will be dispensing improvised sketch comedy as I sip my morning coffee on Saturday at noon. I saw the last Scarlett Johansson movie called Lucy not too long ago. She became the internet or something, and I liked it, but the point is while I was watching it I was thinking “I gotta hear what they say about this shit on Comedy Film Nerds.” I got my answer in episode 227. Graham was less charmed by this film and to be honest my viewing experience was “enhanced” beyond the realm of popcorn, 3D, or digital sound. Chris and Graham will be live on Saturday after Superego. I was listening to the new episode of The Dana Gould Hour today. New episodes come out about once a month and they never disappoint. Dana gives a historical dissertation on American motorcycle gangs in the episode. On my local news tonight is a report about two rival organizations having a gun battle while speeding down the freeway. This was unfortunately not the most brilliant publicity stunt ever devised to promote a comedy podcast, or a Sons Of Anarchy cosplay parade, just authentic terrifying violence.
The Dana Gould Hour will be live on stage after Comedy Film Nerds. The Todd Glass Show is another one that I am excited to experience. Todd is my “go to” for road trips. Laughing out loud is a great way to maintain my mood when I still have hours of road in front of me. WTF with Marc Maron will be there. I’ve been hooked on WTF since episode one and now its 534 episodes later. Robyn Hitchcock, Mike Myers, and The Amazing Johnathan are recent guests that stand out even against the consistently interesting interviews with sometimes legendary comics, actors, and musicians. Saturday is also Marc’s birthday and I’ll happily stand among the sea of “What The Fuckers” in celebration. A “standup podsmash” show will follow WTF. The Festival also has workshops, panel discussions, and a happy hour that I am interested in checking out. For ticket info and the full schedule of events go to lapodfest.com. If you can’t make it out to Los Angeles this weekend you will be able to watch the live streaming video for a small fee with access to the archived shows for three weeks after the festival. Bonus interviews will be included throughout. I’ll recap my journey to the center of the podcasting multiverse in next week’s column.

Mike Flinn is a podcast producer/engineer based in West Hollywood, Calif., for All Things Comedy. The views expressed in My Pod Week are purely his own.

Mike Flinn

After a brief and unsuccessful attempt at a conventional education Mike Flinn started a band in his hometown of San Diego, CA. In 1998 he moved to the San Francisco Bay area and founded Back From Booze Hell zine. It was a collaborative effort dispensing equal doses of pop culture and prose, and made it's way into independent bookstores in the Bay Area, New York, and Los Angeles. Playing in bars and self publishing did not pay the bills. I held, I mean Flinn held many jobs during those years, most of them in warehouses. Like Bukowski without the talent. At some point Flinn walked off the job at Costco, breaking his mothers heart. Things get a little "hazy" around this time. He was an actor for a few years and then went back to songwriting and performing. Let's just skip ahead. When not playing with his iPhone or on a trip to Trader Joe's to pick up salads you'll find him watching live comedy in Los Angeles, recording podcasts, and writing.

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