While preparing to go to the live Comedy Films Nerds show at Punchline today I came to the strange realization that I’ve been listening to the podcast for three years. Almost every episode. So you can say that I feel like I know the podcast hosts Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini and I was a bit apprehensive about how it would feel watching instead of listening to the action. Podcasts feel so personal, making you feel like the comedians are talking straight to you. But could it still feel like that in a theater full of people? I was about to find out.
Of course, a Saturday show at 1 PM is a hard sell for anyone, especially since it was up against the sold out Farewell Futurama show, so the Punchline was anything but full. The good news though was that everyone there seemed to be real fans, so the energy was high, really high for being forced to drink in a dark room at 1 PM. Also, the small amount of people definitely kept the intimacy up, so it still felt as personal as listening to the podcast at home, just like doing it with 40 of my closest friends…
Just like they do on the podcast, Chris and Graham started off with just the two of them intro-ing the show and doing a couple shout-outs for sponsors. After all, they are recording the show to release as Comedy Film Nerds podcast #197. I’d like to take this time to do one of these shout-outs for them and suggest you check out the Kickstarter for Ear Buds: The Podcasting Documentary. This movie looks like it will be amazing and they need your support! If you love podcasts, you’ll want to get in on this.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled Comedy Review!
After Chris and Graham did their intro they brought out a very special guest Mark Wahlberg! Ok, so it was really comedian Daniel Van Kirk who had an amazing impression. So I’m sure listening to the podcast it will be like the first time Paul F Thompkins did Werner Herzog on Doug Loves Movies. For a minute you’ll be like “No way!” until it gets way too funny to possibly be Mark Wahlberg.
When “Mark Wahlberg” retired to the back of the room to drink, the regularly scheduled guests came out. It was Nick Thune and DC Pierson, and they were funny and had a lot of interesting and insightful things to say about the movies discussed. The discussion for the afternoon was about Oscar movies in general. Each person had a list of all the past winners so they talked about some of the better years for movies (early 70’s and 50’s) and some of the worst (80’s and 90’s). They also went over their picks for the least deserving movie of an Oscar (I totally agree about The English Patient) and who they think will win Best Picture this year (My vote’s still out on this one).
The discussion was lively and fun, like hanging out with your funniest film nerd friends. The only hard part, especially when it’s live, is not being able to join in. There they are, the people I’ve been downloading into my brain for years, having a conversation right in front of me about movies, and I can’t participate. It was still funny to watch, and I was really laughing out loud. A lot. When this episode comes out be sure to listen for my laugh and loud claps (and yelling “yes!” about Amadeus holding up) or, you know, don’t. Chris Mancini, Graham Elwood, DC Pierson and Nick Thune are much more fun to listen to.
