Tyrone Kahn explodes some myths

My pal Tyrone Kahn has a thing about profanity, at least where Kahn Man’s Comedy Corner is concerned, because he considers his monthly podcast to be family entertainment.

For example, Tyrone has created his own backwards version of the word shit, which he pronounces as yaish. Nobody’s the wiser, eh?

Farts are another story. On the phone, Tyrone farts frequently and without shame. “I can smell that one from here!” I tell him, while marshaling my forces for a return blast. Continue reading

Posted in: Interviews at 12:39 am Wed, Feb 3, 2010.

Bizarro Phil drops acid, sees Jesus

While the rest of the country collapsed into a financial puddle during 2009, Big Phil’s Love Parade host Big Phil enjoyed a fine annual return.

He cranked out his raw, politics-and-porn Sunday night podcast on a consistent basis, held on to his thankless white-collar job, banned soy from his diet and trimmed down, dyed his bald head orange, and survived a spectacular Oklahoma City Christmas Eve blizzard.

Predictably, Big Phil’s alter ego followed an alternate track. In his first annual greeting to listeners, Bizarro Phil revealed that he partied in 2010 by “having sex without protection” with his “kinky girlfriend.” Further, he announced, “I will drop acid. I am smoking a bong, smoking pot.”

Finally, a clearly addled Bizarro Phil said (coining a phrase), “I am trying to put a show snovel of blow in my nose.”

And then he saw Jesus. Continue reading

Posted in: Podcast Roundup at 1:49 am Wed, Jan 6, 2010.

You nailed the essence of me

If there’s anything I enjoy more than self-promotion, it’s promoting podcasters who devote substantial portions of their programs to talking about me.

I struck the jackpot with Michael Angel, host of Michael Angel’s Cosmic Grab Bag and benevolent overlord to a modest cohort of Halo Heads, which is the name he gives to the people who download his podcast.

All it took was a few careless lines of criticism in the old Podcast Roundup, and Michael gushed buckets about my own perceived talent as a media provocateur. Takes an unchecked ego to know one! Continue reading

Posted in: Podcast Roundup at 11:52 pm Sat, Jan 2, 2010.

To all the wonderful ladies

It’s always a joy to hear others rediscover, through my own mahvelous interpretation, the ecstasy of an uninhibited Jerry Lewis performance.

To think that a poor Jewish kid who came from nothing, the urchin who danced in the street for pennies just to maintain his Ripple habit — I’m talking about me now — would achieve podcast accolades by emulating someone far more talented than himself, is indeed humbling.

Now, Michael Angel is just the latest podcaster to enjoy a little reflected thrill by playing my very Jerry cover of a Sinatra classic. Continue reading

Posted in: Podcast Roundup at 12:20 pm Sun, Dec 27, 2009.

Goldstein gang renews gigglefest

I call it a stage persona, you call it a bad first impression.

Gotta admit, though, that I just can’t help myself. The invitation to appear on a rare episode of Schnauzer Logic flips my joke-writing switch and starts me churning out the sort of dark, political, Yiddische commentary I would have hoped to read at Lenny Bruce’s memorial service.

Alas, once the show begins, I realize I’m expected to engage in conversation with a panel of literate grownups, all born too late for What’s My Line? and too smart for radio, but perfect foils for the independent new medium of podcasting. Continue reading

Posted in: Interviews at 8:04 pm Fri, Dec 25, 2009.