March 2012

TYT wants YOU

by Hank Thompson on March 29, 2012

My favorite news and politics show is The Young Turks. If you haven’t heard of them by now it’s time you did. Their YouTube channel has close to 700 million hits. That’s not a typo. That’s more grains of sand than in a jar of sand! For a show of substance and not one based on cleavage or auto-tuned bullshit it’s an astonishing feat.

They posted an image of the host, Cenk Uygur, on their Facebook page and asked for captions. I had a different idea:

The Young Turks Cenk Uygur: I Want You for the TYT Army

Not bad. A proper graphic designer could pick it apart, I’m sure, but I’m self-taught at this kind of thing. Kind of a pain in the ass, if I’m to be honest. I should have been asleep well over an hour ago. But the machinery started so here we are.

I’m a huge fan of The Young Turks. They’re a vital part of my daily podcasting rotation.

Continue Reading…

{ 0 comments }

Old People Are Funny

by Hank Thompson on March 28, 2012

Here’s a bunch of adorable old people telling jokes. Featured in the video is @SarahKSilverman’s father.

I don’t know how to embed the video so click on the link and watch it.

Oy! They think they’re comedians in West Boca: Seniors audition for ‘Old Jews Telling Jokes’ fundraiser for JCC

Gives me reassurance that even when I’m rotting in a retirement home I’ll still get to do open mics.

{ 0 comments }

InkyTweet – Rick Santorum reads his favorite Christmas book

by Hank Thompson on March 25, 2012

InkyTweet-Rick-Santorum-Reads-Frothy-The-SnowmanClick to make bigger.

{ 1 comment }

InkyTweets: Putting Pen to Pixel

by Hank Thompson on March 23, 2012

Awhile back I had the idea of animating some of my tweets. The Internet needs more clutter, I told myself. But I quickly realized I might be biting off more than I could draw since animation, according to available research, is a huge pain in the ass. So the idea shifted to drawing a cartoon of a tweet, a single image. Or not a cartoon, exactly, a drawing. Is there a difference? Cartoons are drawn, but you can’t call all drawings a cartoon. Oh, who cares? Anyway, after a few months in the rock tumbler the idea finally got spat out into action. I picked up a dry-erase marker and started marking.

I can draw, sort of, maybe a little better than your average untrained dolt. But I’m not going to let a lack of training or talent stop me from trying.

I decided to call them InkyTweets. Shrug.

The tweet itself, if not a direct caption for the drawing, will at minimum be a loose inspiration for the drawtoon. Whether it makes sense is entirely up to chance. I really don’t have any idea what or why I’m doing this. Maybe people will enjoy them. Maybe they won’t. Maybe neither will happen because more likely than not no one will notice. Or maybe I’ll just look like an idiot who makes bad decisions about how to spend his time.

Alright, enough words. Here’s the first one:

Follow me on Twitter: @Hank_Thompson

Day thinking while driving, inkytweets, cartoon

{ 0 comments }

The End of an Error

by Hank Thompson on March 21, 2012

Yet another website ascends to spend eternity in the great digital archive in the sky, a place filled with failed hopes, unrealistic expectations and poor execution. Nonetheless it’s a happy place, for when not basking in the warm web-ready light surrounding the throne of DOS, dead websites download delicious grapes, transfer images of soft comfortable clouds and play ping pong with jimi-hendrix.org.

Thank DOS I only paid for one year.

{ 0 comments }

Winners & Losers – Episodes 081(Megan Gailey) & 082(Dan Ronan)

by Hank Thompson on March 20, 2012

Two episode update! Hey carbon units! Yeah, you. Check out these episodes of the podcast.

Episode 081 – Bedroom Sighs with Megan Gailey (@MeganGailey)

Megan Gailey (above)

Episode 081 welcomes comedian Megan Gailey back to the podcast. She’s a powerhouse of talent, and not just in the dressing herself department. Audiences first see her warm smile, classy accoutrements and confident demeanor but are quickly thrust into the tormented hellhole that is her mind, laughing and screaming the whole way. I’ve seen her command a room like a serial killer in a classroom on parent teacher conference day; try and ignore her! Plus she’s just fun and smart to talk to. I asked her what it’s like having your gender constantly pointed out in comedy, she shares her experience almost working at the Super Bowl and then attending it and seeing the Madonna. Plus we play another round of the famous DALAI LAMA or PORNSTAR game, the game of teats and tweets. We were joined by comedian and human tempura Joe Fernandez.

I first met Megan over three years ago in improv class, level 1, when she was making up a missed class by sitting in with ours for the day. I remember thinking, “Who the hell this hot bitch think she is being all attractive AND funnier than the rest of us? Sheeit.” And then I got into stand up and there she was. Now we’re tennis buddies. It’s cool. Oh, she also played an important role in the short film I made. See if you can spot her!

It won’t be long before she’s famous so I hope to have her back on the show as a guest as often as possible before she gets all over the magazine covers and starts living in a plane that never lands or something.

Direct Download: 2012.02.20_WL_081_-_Bedroom_Sighs_with_Megan_Gailey.mp3

Download via iTunes

Listen right here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

LINKS

Megan’s co-hosts her own podcast: NakedSportsLive.com and is a member of the hit comedy hit squad, Your Funniest Friends.

EPISODE 082 – Dan Ronan (@RonanComedy)

Dan's Twitter Avatar. Shrug.

Episode 082 is with my good friend Dan Ronan. We haven’t been friends long but the times we’ve shared together have been some of the most stimulating of my life. Oh wait, I’m thinking of egg rolls. Crunchy on the outside, filled with Yahweh-knows-what on the inside– the world’s perfect food.  Dan’s swell, too. Not egg roll swell but pretty close. He and I are going to know each other for a very long time because we’re both terrified of the world and that’s what keeps a person alive.

Dan’s still young but his soul is already shriveled up and dead. That’s why he’s such a funny comedian. After I ask him why the fuck I haven’t been booked at the show he co-books (The Lincoln Lodge) we trade childhood memories and insecurities and fears and shit like that. He’s like the little brother I always wanted to ignore.I don’t really remember all of it but it was a revealing conversation.

Aside from the constant eye contact it never got uncomfortable. Here!:

Direct download: 2012.02.27_WL_082_-_Dan_Ronan.mp3

Download via iTunes

Listen right here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

LINKS

Lincoln Lodge website: TheLincolnLodge.com Dan’s Twitter: @RonanComedy

Thanks, reader. Now get back to your regularly scheduled distraction.

{ 1 comment }

A Day in the Life of Marc Maron on Hulu

by Hank Thompson on March 13, 2012

Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold) produces this series on Hulu in which we get a glimpse into the day in the life of an interesting person. In this episode he follows Marc Maron (Your iPod, My iPod).

For a comedy/podcasting geek like myself this is pure mana from athiest heaven.

I couldn’t help but notice the music and how effectively it is employed. Spurlock creates added layers of intensity and sensitivity with the choices he made. He could have gone with light-hearted fluff that simply moved the story along, or served only as bumpers to the commercials, but the tone here seems to fit perfectly the tone of the subject. It fits the story and somehow adds an element of time that goes beyond the aforementioned “Day.”

To me, it’s a good example of the function music can serve in a presentation such as this, or a short, or a film, or whatever. To state the obvious, music sets the tone. It’s a guide for the audience not just on when to feel but how– an unseen conductor facing the audience, chopstick rising, falling, pointing and swooshing, until the evening ends, and we finally get to go home and take our shoes off.

Well-played, Spurlock.

{ 0 comments }

Winners and Losers – ep 079 – Pete Holmes

by Hank Thompson on March 11, 2012

Episode 079 of the podcast is a big one. Pete Holmes was the guest. He may not be a household name, but he’s certainly a householmed name… God, what a terrible way to start this post. Get it now, ya holmosexuals!

Direct Download: 2012.02.06_WL_079_-_Pete_Holmes.mp3

Download via iTunes

Listen right here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Aside from being a headlining comedian, Pete writes for television, does voice over work (Ever hear of the ETrade baby? Of course you have.) and has published cartoons in the New Yorker. His sketchwork on the Internet is prolific and enviable and he does his own podcast, You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes on Nerdist.

Begun in October 2011, it instantly elbowed its way into my regular rotation, becoming a must-listen for me and my billions of friends on the Internet. A majority of his guests are accomplished comedians, many of whose achievements match his own as well as others who toil in different facets of the laughter industry. Pete’s favorite pommel horses are comedy, sex/relationships and religion and he approaches each topic like a malfunctioning tennis ball machine, peppering the listener with varying intensities of felty bruiseyness. The times he goes down Memory Highway with the comedy friends he started with in Chicago are of particular interest to me because I feel/hope I’ll one day pass similar signposts. It’s entertaining. It’s thoughtful. It’s pure Pete Holmes.

He was kind (or bored) enough to do my podcast. For all he knew I was just another Twitter jackass who asked him to do a podcast. He didn’t have to say yes. But he did. And that’s the kind of risk-taking that makes Pete such a strong performer, as I got to see for myself the night before the interview. A lady friend and I went to the Up Comedy Club at Second City to see him headline. He was everything I want to be on stage: tall, white, hilarious and paid. As for the lady friend… I can report that that relationship ended as quickly as it didn’t begin. Coffee is for closers. I drink tea.

Every time I watch a headliner perform a full set in front of a paying audience I observe the show with the eagerness of newly sentient robot pouring through a stack of books, seeking wisdom and insight– something, anything that could help me grow as a comedian. It’s kind of an awful way to be and is one of the things I lament as a comic: that I’ll never be a pure audience member, a work-a-day dolt out to see a performance, hoping for a good time and genuine laughs and that whichever babe I’m with eventually starts rubbing my thigh in anticipation of eventual toe-curling penetration. Instead I study the complex psychological interaction between the performer and the audience, the interaction I spend most of my time parsing and dissecting as I work on my own stand up career. Doesn’t stop it from being impressive; just makes it impressive in a different way.

After the show Pete was seated at the merch table (‘merchandise’ for you civies (‘civilians’ for you norms)). I introduced myself as the Twitter jackass and we settled on a time to record the show.

I’m always surprised that you can just walk into hotels, go to any elevator and wander around any floor, especially nice ones like where Pete was staying. (He assured me they’re rarely as nice.) I feel like I’m supposed to check in at the desk or something, let them know I’m not a psycho. But I suppose such a requirement would hamper the pizza delivery and prostitute industries.

Anyway, it was a great interview. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from people who’ve listened. The one frustration was that I screwed up the levels on the mixing board, making my voice sound a little off. See that picture there. All I had to do was turn that knob on the left down. DAMMIT! SO ANNOYING!

It’s really not that bad, you’ll see, but I get especially irritated when a problem’s solution is so easy. Thanks for reading.

LINKS:

Check out Pete’s website: PeteHolmes.com and follow him on Twitter: @PeteHolmez

{ 0 comments }