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Ep. #292: Nick Flanagan

Nick Flanagan is a very funny comedian, writer, and actor who hails from Toronto, Ontario but currently calls California home. Known for his endearingly dark stand-up and for fronting bands like Brutal Knights and Wrong Hole, Flanagan’s first comedy album, I’m Here All Weak, was released six years ago. This month Comedy Dynamics puts out his new record, Wiped Privilege and Flanagan plans to play some shows to spread the word. Flanagan and I recently caught up for a chat about living in Eagle Rock, California, leaving Canada for America for work, comedy and acting and performing in Brutal Knights and Wrong Hole, starring in films like Diamond Tongues, press releases and whimsy, mailing list activity stalking, DIY or die, Comedy Central and Comedy Dynamics, writing for kids’ shows like Odd Squad, the Kids in the Hall, Mark De Angelis, Tim McKeon, Adam Peltzman, Sinking Ship Productions, Ben Joseph and children’s writing, John Callahan’s Quads! and scriptwriting, writing off 2016, keeping busy, genuine math, children’s entertainment and its 24/7 work days, being a silly person and working on kids’ shows, discerning kids, fickleness, parent-engaging humour, crossing generations, six years since I’m Here All Weak, finding his voice, one-liners, impersonal joke machines like Demetri Martin and Anthony Jeselnik and Jerry Seinfeld, comedy as confessional, Aparna Nancherla and a grape and an apple walk into a podcast, Wiped Privilege and this year’s political environment, a Canadian living in the USA and reflecting societal problems in comedy, pseudo-activism, snark, tropes about comedians, contrarianism and info glut and Info Wars, an upswing, feeling the Flanagan, “Thank You for Supporting Live Comedy,” Mailchimp status update, and then it was time for some more California dreamin’.

Related links: theflans.com vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #269: Baroness von Sketch Show

Baroness von Sketch Show is a very funny sketch comedy TV program that airs on CBC. This edgy yet grounded show is written by and stars four very talented and hilarious human beings: Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne, and Jennifer Whalen. They’re just wrapping up their first season on CBC with the finale airing on Tuesday July 19 at 9:30 PM ET and you catch up on past episodes and sketches at cbc.ca/baroness. I recently met up with Carolyn, Meredith, Aurora, and Jennifer at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto to chat about a roll call, Aurora’s action figure name, capes and tools, superhero skills, meeting and working at the Gladstone in Toronto, Junction Triangular or West Bender, different Canadian cities, getting to know Baroness von Sketch and where it came from, better origin stories, the Patton Oswalt George Lucas/prequel bit, spending a chunk of time talking about the Justice League, parenting and childhood nostalgia, questions about robbers, nerd lines, 20 years to BVS, TVO Kids is awesome and is often spearheaded by edgy, Canadian comedians, writing for kids’ cartoons, Odd Squad, local comedy coverage by Canadian publications, brain drain, eh, Canada’s confidence complex, America is much weirder than us, community support, people like Jon Dore who maintain their roots in Canadian comedy, the Mars One sketch Dore’s improv, beards, David Letterman’s beard, positive and negative feedback, a male shipwreck, the Fuck, Marry, Kill sketch, making your parents uncomfortable with your comedy, the fart lighting sketch, my wife, trying to describe the show and its shorter vignettes, relatable and grounded sketch, rich details, learning at Second City, Smack the Pony, The Muppet Show, 9 to 5, Monty Python, The Kids in the Hall, Amy Schumer, The Office UK, Not the Nine O’Clock News, SCTV, Superjail!, Rick and Morty, parameters and working with CBC, not a bucket of jizz, Seinfeld and saying things without actually saying it, an all-female sketch comedy show, perceptions of political undercurrents, a feminist recruitment tool, being women working in comedy, political correctness and privilege, all the stuff have white man have done, the strange responsibility of having to explain what it’s like to be a woman, just wanting to talk about the work, we’re not post-gender, comedy control, the future of BVS and oh the places you can watch the show on Tuesdays at 9:30 PM ET and Sundays at 9:00 PM ET on CBC, BVS hasn’t done it live, the Book Club sketch, and then we said good-bye.

Related links: cbc.ca/baroness vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #182: Scott Thompson answers Exclaim!’s Questionnaire

Scott Thompson is an Emmy-nominated actor, writer and comedian who appears on the NBC crime show, Hannibal, and was also a featured performer on the groundbreaking HBO sitcom The Larry Sanders Show. Though he’s venturing into stand-up and working on a graphic novel trilogy/animated series called The Hollow Planet, Thompson remains an active member of the beloved and fearless comedy troupe, the Kids in the Hall, who are touring throughout North America this spring. Scott recently answered the Exclaim! Questionnaire and so here, Scott and I discuss his current activities and the Kids in the Hall tour, Game of Thrones and House of Cards, living in Toronto and beating cancer, “Piss Christ,” Martha Henry, playing a gay cruise, winning the Rose of Montreaux, uppity political correctness, the internet, foot hygiene, Alice Cooper and Cat Stevens, exotic travel, snakes and heights, beards, going to a UFC fight with Laurence Fishburne, religious studies, Macy Gray’s “I Try,” and that was that.

Related links: scottfreepodcast.com kithtour2015.com vishkhanna.com

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