Sweep The Legs Johnny! 🧹
+Thievery and The Lonely Island, plus Top 5!
Hey Poddy People,
Holy guacamole. I’m in Saudi for the once-in-a-lifetime Hajj trip as I mentioned in the last newsletter. It’s already 110 degrees and will continue throughout the trip. Oh boy. Here’s my last edition before disconnecting. Stay tuned for at least two special guest posts this week and next!
Let’s GOOOO!
The Round-Up
The Met has a podcast? Why yes it does and they are in their 2nd season that just started. Check it out here.
How To Be Fine, formerly By The Book, is releasing its new season on June 13th. Check out the trailer here.
Prime Minister Modi of India won a historic 3rd term. However, his right-wing nationalistic extreme party’s advantage in congressional seats ultimately dwindled. Crooked Media, The Economist, ABC(Australia), and CBC(Canada) all have podcasts about the man and his ruling government. In their respective orders Killing Justice, The Modi Raj, Looking For Modi, Modi's India: Understood.\
On To My Picks…
Podcast: Broomgate: A Curling Scandal
Genre: True Crime with Comedy
Publisher: CBC, USG Audio
About: For years, players have been too afraid to talk about it. But now, the truth about a broom that almost destroyed curling is finally coming out. Over the course of six episodes, semi-professional curler and fully professional comedian John Cullen (Blocked Party) is exposing the unbelievable, never-before-told scandal that rocked the sport of curling. Yes, curling.
I never thought I was going to be so involved in what happened next in this light-hearted true crime about Curling, but here we are. I never thought a new broom in the curling world would cause such a stir-up the way it did. So much so, that there’s a Wikipedia page for it here. Host, John Cullen even has a role to play as a curler back then. There is resolve at the end, but obviously, you have to hear the drama in between and the technicality of the broom and mop, carbon fiber, and all. There is one question. Who was the initial mysterious person who started this whole mess?
Fiona McCann • Irish Times
"..mixing these conversations with archive audio of this bizarro game and managing to convey an infectious enthusiasm for this sport and all its scandal. What a story – but also, with its frenzied broomwork, what a peculiar and glorious sport."
Podcast: Shadow: Thief At The British Museum
Genre: True Crime
Publisher: BBC
About: Gripping stories from the shadows - BBC investigations from across the UK. The inside story of how ancient treasures disappeared from one of the world's most famous museums. And how one man believes he uncovered a thief.BBC Culture Editor Katie Razzall reveals how a Danish gem dealer almost single-handedly identified a man he believes had been stealing precious artefacts from the British Museum. She looks at why thefts went unnoticed for so long.What begins as a whodunnit turns into a global treasure hunt as Katie tries to track down the missing gems.
While in London and the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks I visited Portobello Road. A street where the riches of ages are stowed. I find it fascinating when someone can spot a real antiquity in a flea market. In Thief At The British Museum, we find an expert who is sold a real gem stolen from the British Museum, and as host Katie Razzell becomes a super sleuth in uncovering the who, what, when, where, and how. I feel like a little Carmen Sandiego, Pink Panther, and the Professor Jones side of Indiana Jones.
James Marriot • The Times UK
"What a pleasure this show is. Deftly told, a brilliant hero and a proper mystery. I was hooked."
Also see favorite: Stuff The British Stole
Podcast: The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast
Genre: Comedy, Rewatch
Publisher: Seth Meyers, The Lonely Island
About: Join Seth Meyers as he sits down with fellow SNL alum and comedy-music sensations The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone) to discuss their wildly popular and groundbreaking series of SNL Digital Shorts that aired on Saturday Night Live beginning in 2005. Episode by episode they'll discuss how each short was created, what the response to it was at the time, and what impact, if any, it still has today. Aided by Seth, the guys will relive their time at SNL and reminisce on the nearly 50-year-old show from a time when putting short comedy sketches on the internet was so novel that they maybe even helped launch YouTube to do it. Along the way they'll talk all things SNL from guests, fellow cast members, and favorite live sketches including many that never aired.
Fans of SNL and the Lonely Island crew will undoubtedly enjoy this podcast from the team and Seth Meyers as they break down their infamous sketches. They. also dive into non-lonely island sketches they wrote and never aired, and who championed them along the way at SNL Andy is the reluctant one to start the podcast, however, he does concede and jumps on board wholeheartedly while telling the story on how all three of the boys stuck together.
As Nick mentions below and I’ve said it before, Seth Meyers (Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers) is such a natural host via his extensive experience it translates so well in the podcast world which keeps the boat moving.
Nicholas Quah • Vulture
"...something’s clicking, and it has plenty to do with Meyers, who serves here as de facto host, anchor, and interlocutor...Meyers is also doing a lot of small things to keep the show from being unfocused or overly navel-gazey"
‘Top of the Pods’ is on a shortened week for this update:
The Price of Paradise - Wondery
Who Shat On The Floor At My Wedding - Independent (Season 2)
The Weekly Show w/ Jon Stewart - Comedy Central, Paramount
Wiser Than Me with JLD - Lemonada
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra - MSNBC (Surprise to me. Season 2 just launched)
Stay safe, be kind, and donate to a worthy cause!
Listening with you,
Captain Ron
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