Podcast episode 573ish: Ron James

We've got Ron James right here for you. Finally, after all these years, the Canadian comedic legend makes his What's So Funny? debut. And he lets fly with tons of opinions on the role of comedian in society, his bittersweet television experience, and drops "Nietzschean adage", "Oracle of Delphi" and "boreal gulag" in conversation like it's nothing. Ron is still performing during the plague. It started with him just talking to his four walls, but last week he hosted 400 souls in his living room for a classic Ron James TV special – without the TV, and with the 400 paying customers watching through their computers. The man can't slow down.

Have a listen below. Or you can find us on your favourite podcast server. And now you can even find What's So Funny? on YouTube! Go! Subscribe! Please?

Podcast episode 572ish: Ellyn Marie Marsh

This week's episode marks a first in our 16-year history. It's the first time (I believe) we've had a bona fide Broadway star as a guest. And Ellyn Marie Marsh is even more than that. She also performs in New York cabarets, hosts her own trivia nights, teaches how to belt out a song, and co-hosts a true crime podcast. I'm probably forgetting more. Anyway, in this episode, Marsh tells us what it's like to be on Broadway, what the one true crime she keeps thinking about, and what she did when she was fired from her job as a singing waitress.

Check out her podcast, Obsessed With: Disappeared, on your favourite podcast platform. And check out this one below, or wherever you found Ellyn's. We'll be there.

Podcast episode 571ish: Darren Frost

Darren Frost is back for his sixth pony ride. The Toronto-based (well, Barrie-based now) comic was first with us way back in 2006 and we managed to get him on the show every year or two after that. Well, until 2014, which was his previous appearance. But he joined us in the Isolation Studios from his home in snowy Barrie. Darren was all set for his biggest and last cross-Canada tour when a nasty virus put the kibosh on that. We talked about his distaste of crowd work, what advice he'd give to young Darren, his kids' opinion on his work, cartoon voices, dark humour, and Hairspray. He's recently released his seventh album, aptly titled "Story Yelling." And he, Dave Martin and Kathleen McGee have rebooted their old podcast Anything Goes.

Take a listen, why don't you? Click below or, better yet, go download us at your favourite podcast site.

Podcast episode 570ish: Lachlan Patterson

It's been 15 years since Lachlan Patterson was last with us. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, and modern virology, we've got him back in the Isolation Studio from his home in Venice Beach. He's got a new special out, Dark White, which you can purchase for the low, low cost of $3.99 US, or you can watch it for free if you share it on social media. Lachlan's one of our funniest exports. The West Vancouver native has been in the US for a couple decades now and has performed on The Tonight Show as well as being a finalist on Last Comic Standing. We talk about all that... and more!

Listen. Download. Don't just stream unless you really have to. You'll find us on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, et. al.

Podcast episode 569ish: Bonnie McFarlane

Bonnie McFarlane is a funny comic... Sorry, I can't get that song out of my head. What song? You'll hear it at the start of this episode with Bonnie McFarlane, who is a funny comic. She's the only guest in our 16 years who's been immortalized in song by The Pursuit of Happiness. This is an episode 10 years in the making. It took a pandemic to finally get us together. You've seen her on Letterman, Fallon, and Colbert, but did you know she got her start right here in Vancouver? It's true, and we talk about it here. We also talk about living in the US, we pry into the anonymous names in her memoir You're Better Than Me (the best one of its kind, say I), and she reveals that although she does hate her husband (per her podcast My Wife Hates Me), she also loves him and loves their differences. You don't often hear earnestness from her (a trait she dislikes), but we manage to get it out of her.

Listen at the link below if you like. Otherwise, you know the drill. You're not podcast newbies. Go to iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and all your favourite podcast dispensaries. Leave us a rating and a review, too, why don't you? Thanks.

Podcast episode 568ish: Colin Mochrie

As social isolation continues, our guests keep on coming. This week we invite the great Colin Mochrie into our isolation studio. Everyone knows Colin from his work on Whose Line Is It Anyway? (they should bring back that show!) or from just about any other TV show made in the past 20 years. I've interviewed him five times for the newspaper, but in this chat he really opened up (thanks in large part to the Malbec he was guzzling throughout). He's talks about politics, comedy, fate, Archie Bunker, The $10,000 Pyramid, Donny & Marie, mime, and his weirdest Hollywood night.

It's a good one so you're going to want to get started right away, which you can do by clicking below. Or you can find us on your favourite podcast server. Go download us there and put us in your ears. And then give the show a much-needed rating and review. You have no choice in the matter. It's fate!

Podcast episode 567ish: Michael Gelbart

This week on the program we've got the delightful Michael Gelbart, aka... well, let's just forget about all those nicknames. We recorded a great episode with the LA-based standup and writer back in 2013, episode #327ish. Now, some 240 episodes later, he's back. The bad part about all this isolation is not getting to speak to anyone face-to-face. The good part is that our guests don't have to physically be in Vancouver anymore. Michael is still a Canadian, even if he's forsaken the land of his birth for the bright lights of the big city down south. In this episode, he tells us about being the King of Tween Sitcoms, writing a hit holiday classic, unleashing his best bits with Byron Allen, and so much more.

This show was recorded Tuesday, April 14, 2020, and here it is already for you. Work your magic to get the show in your eardrums, either by clicking below or finding it wherever you usually get your podcasts.

Podcast episode 566ish: Marcus Ryan

We're back with another episode to get you (and us) through our social isolation. We talked to old pal Marcus Ryan all the way down in Wonthaggi. Where? Google it. It looks lovely. Marcus has been with us four times previous to this one, in 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015. Seems we forgot we were working on an every-other-year thing. He is a comedian and world traveller. I mean, in normal times. These days he's at home for longer than he has been at any one time in the past 17 years. We talk about what that's like, what his part of the world is like these days, adventures he's had in the 60-odd countries he's visited. There's also talk about snooker and jailbirds.

Listen to the episode wherever you like, be it down below or downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, et. al. The podcast world is your oyster.

Podcast episode 565ish: Dwight Slade

We can't leave the house, but new episodes keep on coming. This week in the What's So Funny? Isolation Studio, we've got Dwight Slade! He joins us from his study in Boise, Idaho, surrounded by toilet paper. We talk about the situation and whether it's covid or corona. We also talk about his days as a 15-year-old standup comedian in Houston with his partner and best pal Bill Hicks, moving to Los Angeles, then steadily moving farther and farther away from show business: first to Portland for 23 years, and then on to Boise. We even talk about UFOs. Or at least, one specific UFO.

To help keep you from going stir-crazy, have a listen. We're here for you. You can click down below to listen, or simply go download us wherever fine podcasts are handed out. We'll be there, too.

Podcast episode 564ish: Eddie Brill

We're doing things a little backwards this week. Usually we start with our radio program, then release it later as a podcast. This week, and maybe for the next little while, we'll release the podcast version first. Yesterday, Sidekick Sam and host Guy MacPherson talked with Eddie Brill, live from New York! It was all done through the magic of Zencastr, a nifty little tool that maybe doesn't sound as good as an in-face conversation, but it sounds a lot better than Skype or a phone call. We asked Eddie what it was like in New York in these sci-fi times. Then we started the great diversionary talk of all things comedy, from how late night TV stacks up today versus the early days and the 17 years Eddie spent with David Letterman's show, his salad days at Emerson college, his mullet-days performing on the Comedy Club Network in 1990, doing drugs with Sam Kinison, and more!

Eddie has three podcasts of his own, including OG Talk, which you can listen to the regular podcast way or watch on YouTube (OG stands for Organic Grill). There's also 11 episodes of The Break with Eddie Brill and Relationships are a Motherfucker.

As for this episode, you can listen below or check out all the podcast platforms. We're there. If you find us on a place you can leave a rating or a review, please do so.