It's comedy and muscle this week on the BFG Podcast, why not? Host Neal Pollack leans heavily on the expertise of standup comedy expert Robert Dean to discuss the wildly popular new specials from Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais. Robert loves Chappelle but agrees with Neal that he's gotten so famous that he doesn't really need to work out new materials anymore, compared with, say, Joe Rogan, who spends years honing his set in small clubs, perfecting the joke structure. Gervais, Robert likens more to "Richard Dawkins with a laugh track." He then says something like "I'd rather hear a joke about a guy fucking a jar of peanut butter than listen to 20 minutes about why God doesn't exist." Fair enough! We break down the world of standup comedy, complete with dark-horse recommendations.
Reacher) is no longer a dark horse. JP Guinn steps in as a naysayer on Season 2 of the popular Amazon show, saying it lacks the snap and wit of the first season, features boring supporting characters, and has a questionable morality despite the fun side entertainment of watching Reacher mess up cars in creative ways. Something about the season makes JP feel uncomfortable, and JP is not a squeamish person. Regardless, BFG is your one-stop shop for all things Reacher.
Neal likens the Canadian show Letterkenny) to It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, but Robert Dean says, at its heart, Letterkenny is all about people who take care of one another even if they don't like each other, whereas It's Always Sunny is about total scumbags. But they are both long-running sitcoms that kind of came out of nowhere. Letterkenny emerged from a failed actor's YouTube show with his buddies. It's a beer-league hockey underdog success story. "It makes you interested in hockey," Robert says. That's an accomplishment. Letterkenny, now available to watch forever on Hulu.
Enjoy the show, it is good!
