e302. So, A.I. George Carlin… WHY?!?!?

We’ve done shows on AI before and our feelings on how it is being used in art and creative endeavors. We’ve tried to not just be reactionary and alarmist about it the way the cultural zeitgeist can tend to be. In fact, we’ve made it clear that there are some really good positive uses for…

Call For Comments: Styles and Cycles (or, a funny thing happened on the way to Ragnarok)

From Wayne: So the biggest complaint I’ve heard about Thor: Love and Thunder is that is too silly. It’s a Taika Watiti movie, so I’m not really surprised by this, but the complaint seems to center around the idea that this change in the basic character of Thor from the comics is a bridge too…

e179. ImproveReality?

Several weeks ago, we did a show on how stand-up comedy works in the middle of a pandemic. We talked about the transition that comedians went through to move a traditionally “in-person” art form to an entirely virtual environment. But what about other art forms? Lots of performances that at least seem to “require” a…

CFC: Improv in the Living Room

From Mav: Way back in April — which granted, wasn’t actually that long ago, but in the world of COVID, feels like a lifetime — we did a show about how stand-up comedy works in a world where everyone’s socialization is socially distant. Since that time, the world got a little better and then a…

e157. Standup Comedy Sitting on the Couch

Zoom meetings are are a simple fact of life in the pandemic lockdown world. Work meetings, school classrooms, social events. At this point, we’ve all done them. And quite honestly, we’re all sick of them. But as long as we’re trapped in the lockdown world, they’ve just become a reality. But what about jobs that…

Call for Comments: Stand Up, Sitting Down

Photo by Bogomil Mihaylov on Unsplash From Katya: We’ve talked at length about the ways that the current global pan pizza has changed the form, content, and consumption patterns of a lot of media. One we haven’t hit on, yet, is folks that perform live; what do you do when your career/hobby/calling in life is…

e133. Comedy of Horrors!

Halloween Season is upon us! As scary as 2020 has been in general, we are finally at the part of the year where we are supposed to be scared… or at least watch a lot of scary movies. But 2020 has been scary enough… and so this year we want to focus on the funny…

Call For Comments: Genre, in General

From Wayne: We all have our favorite genres in our choice of entertainment. I like superheroes and science fiction and some kinds of Horror. I’ve recently discovered an affection for Thrillers. I used to think I didn’t like Crime stories, but that has changed. I don’t read a lot of Romance books, generally speaking. When I…