Culinary humor

 Not the highest quality image, but still funny.

 

 

Via the Fame is a Bitch Podcast Obsessed FB page. And I just noticed he's wearing a Flyers jersey.

 

This should be interesting: Spade and Carvey launch SNL podcast

I love behind the scenes stories, so this should be fun. David Spade and Dana Carvey are launching a podcast where they will discuss their experiences on Saturday Night Live. The podcast is called Fly on the Wall and launches January 12. You can subscribe now on iTunes.

Jumping for joy

Recently on his podcast "Fame is a Bitch", AJ Benza mentioned that Danny Boy O'Connor of the band House of Pain is a listener. Benza also talked about a video that Danny Boy posted on his Instagram account of the crowd at a recent Wisconsin Badgers game reacting when House of Pain's immortal "Jump Around" began playing over the PA. And let me tell you, it is a thing of joy watching the crowd cutting loose and celebrating a return to live sports. Wait for it...

I could watch this for hours. Jump up, jump up and get down!!!

And was that the theme from Bonanza????

Podcast News: James Ellroy gets a second podcast

The Demon Dog is apparently enjoying the podcast biz - it was just announced that James Ellroy is embarking on a second podcast project: an adaptation of his novel American Tabloid. From the linked article:

The idea is that the L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia author and the Jared Gutstadt-run company are going to go where many others - including David Fincher, Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks and James Franco - have tried and failed before and take his book from the page. But rather than make it as a film or a TV series, he's going to turn it into a 12-part audio project.

Ellroy's novels are notorious difficult to adapt, in fact in my opinion the only time someone was able to pull it off was the feature version of L.A. Confidential adapted by Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland (who won well-deserved Oscars as a result). I've found other movie versions of Ellroy's novels lacking, and even two attempts to adapt LAC to television (in 2003 and 2019) failed to get past the pilot stage.

Time will tell if this pays off, but it seems like Ellroy's found his sweet spot with podcasting. From the Deadline article:

Ellroy: "I read the narration. Hotshot actors read the dialogue. Now I know why God made me a bass-baritone. This podcast will work some jolting juju and incite incendiary insurrection in Radioland!!!!"

Audio-Up CCO Jimmy Jellinek: "Audio is the perfect medium to deliver American Tabloid," said Jellinek. "We can build out the book's massive internal world through sound. Traveling from the Jungles of Guatemala to Castro's Cuba, Mid Century Chicago, Los Angeles, 1963 Dallas and the Jim Crow South alongside these characters would be prohibitive... 

...we're creating what may very well be the first true, scripted epic of the podcast era for what it would cost to feed the grips for half a day...

...When we're finished, you'll hopefully know we're the HBO or 70's Paramount of audio..."

Sounds ambitious and entertaining as hell if they can pull it off. And it's probably pretty much the only way you could dramatize a novel like American Tabloid. The novel runs 776 pages containing 100 chapters. When I was in junior high one of the local news radio stations played episodes of the old CBS Radio Mystery Theater (you can check out the shows at the link) and I loved listening to them. If American Tabloid succeeds, it could open the floodgates to tons of audio adaptations and I think that would be great, both as a listener and a writer.

The article also included the info that Ellroy's first podcast, now known as Hollywood Death Trip, will debut October 8 (which would have been my Dad's 81st birthday), so I'm looking forward to that.

The Demon Dog gets a podcast

Great news: Author James Ellroy will be doing a Los Angeles based true crime podcast.

The bad news: It's only five episodes and doesn't launch until August.

Still, this is going to be fun. I saw Ellroy in person years ago when he made an appearance at an L.A. bookstore in support of the film version of his novel The Black Dahlia, and he did not disappoint (although the movie did). The best way I can describe him is that he is a James Ellroy character, a throwback to another era, a larger-than-life legend in his own mind (and in the minds of many others, mine included).

From the article:

The series, based on his own true crime reporting, will be narrated by Ellroy and will tell the story of a slew of memorable mid-century murders.

Episodes include Glamour Jungle, which explores the 1963 unsolved murder of Karyn Kupcinet, daughter of Irv Kupcinet, famed columnist and friend to mobsters. Stephanie tells the haunting tale of Stephanie Gorman, who met an untimely end in the Cheviot Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1965. Clash by Night fast forwards to 1976, to the murder of Rebel Without a Cause star Sal Mineo. The series concludes with a two-part episode - Body Dumps and My Mother's Killer, which tells the story of the 1958 murder of Ellroy's own mother.

Yesterday I read that John Stamos (apparently a big Rat Pack fan with connections) will be doing a podcast in late July about the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr., and now this. Lots of cool podcast goodness to look forward to.

Prepare to have your heartstrings yanked

 Have some tissues ready.

I found out about this via AJ Benza's Patreon podcast. I kind of wish he hadn't given the end away, but even knowing what was coming, the tears were streaming. I won't spoil it for you. Do take the time to watch it.

RIP Sam Lloyd of "Scrubs"

Actor Sam Lloyd, who played downtrodden hospital lawyer Ted Buckland on Scrubs, died yesterday at 56.

In early 2019, having just become a father, Lloyd was diagnosed with cancer that had spread to his brain, lungs, spine and jaw. It was a horrific diagnosis and when the Scrubs podcast began last month I wondered how he was doing and if he would be able to make an appearance on the podcast. I also wondered if it would be okay to inquire about his condition and well-being.

Those questions were answered when he died yesterday.

My heart goes out to his family and friends. I can't imagine what it must be like to receive a diagnosis that was so awful at his age, much less just after the birth of his child, who he will not see grow up and who is too young to retain any concrete memories of his father.

Scrubs was a great show. It brought (and continues to bring) me hours of enjoyment with its amazing writing, acting and storytelling. Lloyd was a part of the great ensemble that made Scrubs exceptional and it's heartbreaking to lose him, and that's coming from someone who only knew him as a viewer. I can't imagine how devastating this is for his family and friends. I know it will be tough for Zach and Donald to discuss this on the podcast, but as a fan I hope to hear a lot from them about Sam.

Galileo St. Honeysuckle reporting for duty!

This is how bored I am. There is a Psych Nickname Generator and I got Galileo St. Honeysuckle. And now I'm craving pineapple. If that seems odd to you, USA has a Psych binge-a-thon going on, so you can check out one of the funniest shows ever and learn what the whole pineapple thing is all about. You know, now that we've got nothing but free time on our hands.

Speaking of funniest shows ever that didn't get the Emmy love they so richly deserved, the Scrubs rewatch podcast is absolutely awesome. There's some great behind-the-scenes info and they're only up to episode 4. What has two thumbs and is loving this? This girl! Highly recommended.

There's a "Scrubs" podcast!!! And it's awesome!!!

I know this is pretty new, but how did I not hear about this sooner? There's a new podcast with Zach Braff and Donald Faison and they're going through every single episode of Scrubs.

The series, which ran from 2001-2010, was in my opinion one of the all-time under-appreciated shows. It's unbelievable to me that this show didn't dominate the Emmy's during the 2000's, especially in terms of the acting and writing. Scrubs could be gut-busting hilarious and yet punch you in the gut (think Brendan Fraser's brief but glorious arc as Ben Sullivan). There are parts of that show that are some of the funniest things ever, and parts that have reduced me to a sobbing mess.

Braff and Faison, who played best friends on the show, also became close friends in real life. The podcast will feature the two reviewing the show episode by episode. I'm actually listening to the first one as I'm writing this and it's hilarious. There's a lot of behind-the-scenes info and reminiscing. They will be doing the podcasts on a weekly basis and the first one is up on iTunes and iHeart Radio. They're also taking fan questions and plan on having a lot of other people involved with the show on in the future.

Let's face it, we all have a lot of free time to fill up right now and a weekly podcast and rewatching Scrubs will not only help fill that time, but make it entertaining.

December Words of Wisdom

Not too many this month. Guess everyone was busy with Christmas.

There is a Christmas song upon the air, there is a joy innate within the heart. --Edna Greene Hines

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. --Larry Wilde

You can't reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday's junk.
--Louise Smith

The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sometimes it feels so good to just sit by yourself, relax and not talk to anyone. --Kristen Butler

I have seen the Sea
when it is stormy and wild;
when it is calm and serene;
when it is dark and moody,
and in all its moods,
I see myself.
--Martin Buxbaum

The sea, for me, is where I want to be.
Where I may flow free.
The sea, for me, is where I dream to be.
Where I may be me.
The Mermaid of The Sea.
--Brandi Fitzgerald