FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: VampireWeekday on April 29, 2008, 02:26:13 PM
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I guess it's kind of the point, but the Ken Rogers calls are more and more grating each time, and it doesn't seem characteristic of S&W to do this kind of Andy Kaufman "The Point Is To Be Not Funny" type of humor. Can anyone convince me that I'm wrong and these calls are in fact hilarious?
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Tom's overly long descriptions of the book's contents are pretty funny.
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I think his calls more filthy than funny.
But seriously, I agree with yesno. I think Tom makes the bit funny.
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In addition to the build up and description of the thing, what I love about it is the idea that Tom was somehow so taken with a self-help book left sitting around in work that he's willing to give Ken Rogers another shot every time, because he's apparently that convinced that learning about it can help out the listeners.
Also the idea that Ken Rogers manages to say something even more impossibly filthy than before each time he calls in and has his melt down. He must be inventing made-up nonsense profanity by now.
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It feels weird to criticize them on Tom's own board
he reads and responds here sometimes.
Putting that aside those bits aren't annoying to me they aren't laugh out loud either
BUT they add to texture of the whole show it just expands the Newbridgeverse and hearing the back and forth between the guys is cool.
Jesse Thorn from the TSOYA, who got me on to the show, said it best:
the more you listen the more you get out of it.
(not bragging, he didn't say it to me personally)
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I like the Ken Rogers calls!
They might seem annoying if you don't like knowing how the thing is going to end, I guess, but the process of getting there gets funnier and funnier every time.
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Sometimes I get a little mad when one of the characters calls in, because Tom is just starting to get a good flow with the callers.
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it doesn't seem characteristic of S&W to do this kind of Andy Kaufman "The Point Is To Be Not Funny" type of humor.
You've obviously never been in the Patriot Zone.
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You've obviously never been in the Patriot Zone.
Or the Party Zone! I need to make separate recordings of the Party Zones to play at parties.
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BUT they add to texture of the whole show it just expands the Newbridgeverse
Exactly what I was thinking. I'm long past the mentality that every Wurster bit is going to be conventionally or laugh-out-loud funny. Many are, but some are just...there. They give the show a weird edge and the sheer repetition gives you that nice punchy feeling like you've been on the same roller coaster a few too many times (albeit a small coaster like the Scooby Doo, not a big coaster like the Loch Ness Monster).
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personally those kind of calls are some of my favorites, but I'm a fan of weird sorta anti-comedy I guess you might say.
you should never listen to the earlier shows with the Jon Benjamin calls then.
nothing like a 45 minute slow build to nothing.
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No.
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I love them. The name Ken Rogers is funny in itself for some reason, and I'm always waiting to see if he'll actually get through with the call without getting muted and cut off..while knowing that it's just around the corner. It could go on forever as far as I'm concerned.
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The Ken Rogers calls are great in kinda the same way as the thimble sketch from Mr. Show. The repetition and the annoyingness are what make them classics.
Of course, most people who I've made watch the thimble sketch just thought it was annoying, so I'm not sure what that says about me.
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The fact that the Party Zone was called "The Listener-Punishing Party Zone" should be a clue as to its purpose.
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The Ken Rogers calls are great in kinda the same way as the thimble sketch from Mr. Show. The repetition and the annoyingness are what make them classics.
Of course, most people who I've made watch the thimble sketch just thought it was annoying, so I'm not sure what that says about me.
Whatta boob!
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The Ken Rogers calls are great in kinda the same way as the thimble sketch from Mr. Show
You're talking about the Story of Everest, I presume...I was thinking of that in relation to Ken Rogers too, except the difference there is there's sort of an arc where it's hilarious the first couple of times, then gets purposely irritating the more it goes on, and then is kind of funny again at the end -- for me at least -- but with the Ken Rogers stuff I didn't really think it was that funny to begin with, and less so as it goes on.
Actually a great example of that "audience-punishing" humor done brilliantly on TBSOWFMU is none other than Coffin Talk. It worked in exactly that way for me, gut-busting for a while, then kind of annoying--but in a good way. Ken Rogers, on the other hand, is fast-forward material for a podcast listener such as myself. But I see I'm in a minority of one here, so you people enjoy your punishment.
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fast-forward material for a podcast listener such as myself.
I could never do this!
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I feel like the Ken Rodgers bit could be the longest set up and pay off in the show's history. Initially the calls were redundant to set up the structure of the bit, but each time he calls back now there's something new happening with the character (though the calls still end the same). Patience pays off with the Best Show.
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Ew Boyyy
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I love them. The name Ken Rogers is funny in itself for some reason, and I'm always waiting to see if he'll actually get through with the call without getting muted and cut off..while knowing that it's just around the corner. It could go on forever as far as I'm concerned.
absolutely-
theres something about hearing, "Tom, this is Ken Rogers..." that brings a smile.
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The Ken Rogers calls are great in kinda the same way as the thimble sketch from Mr. Show
Actually a great example of that "audience-punishing" humor done brilliantly on TBSOWFMU is none other than Coffin Talk. It worked in exactly that way for me, gut-busting for a while, then kind of annoying--but in a good way.
Yes! For me, bits like Coffin Talk and The Patriot Zone are like someone jumping Snake Canyon in a rocket car - getting more exciting as it goes. How far can he take it?! That, to me, is death-defying stunt comedy.
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theres something about hearing, "Tom, this is Ken Rogers..." that brings a smile.
Yes. That and the fact that Tom never, ever learns his lesson.
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I feel like the Ken Rodgers bit could be the longest set up and pay off in the show's history. Initially the calls were redundant to set up the structure of the bit, but each time he calls back now there's something new happening with the character (though the calls still end the same). Patience pays off with the Best Show.
This is the most convincing argument I've heard here, and I'm thinking you might be right. I shouldn't judge until the cycle is complete. This could be building up to something that brings the large-scale laffs.
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This is the most convincing argument I've heard here, and I'm thinking you might be right. I shouldn't judge until the cycle is complete. This could be building up to something that brings the large-scale laffs.
Either that or it's been very funny the entire time.
Good day, sir!
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I've actually really enjoyed it every time - it's one of those simple little bits that becomes greater in concept the longer it goes on (in my opinion).
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I love Ken Rogers.
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I love that song about gambling.
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I love the wood-fired rotisserie chicken.
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I love that song about the stream with islands in it. That is what he and Dolly Parton are.
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I also like that song he did for The Big Lebowski.
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I love that song about the stream with islands in it. That is what he and Dolly Parton are.
Thank you, Steve, for inspiring a brief dance freakout to that song around my house. Haven't listened to it in ages!!!!!
[youtube]
NiwcOaaRo1Y[/youtube]
As Dolly, queen of the universe says at the end of this clip: "Yay, Kenny!"
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In Britain, apparently, he tried to launch his food chain.
But there, Kenny Rogers Chicken means something altogether different.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Roger
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It feels weird to criticize them on Tom's own board
he reads and responds here sometimes.
Putting that aside those bits aren't annoying to me they aren't laugh out loud either
BUT they add to texture of the whole show it just expands the Newbridgeverse and hearing the back and forth between the guys is cool.
Jesse Thorn from the TSOYA, who got me on to the show, said it best:
the more you listen the more you get out of it.
(not bragging, he didn't say it to me personally)
I like the idea that you'd actually be bragging about having a conversation with Jesse Thorn.
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I have to say, that people would complain about these bits makes them about three times as funny.
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I love that song about the stream with islands in it. That is what he and Dolly Parton are.
Thank you, Steve, for inspiring a brief dance freakout to that song around my house. Haven't listened to it in ages!!!!!
[youtube]
NiwcOaaRo1Y[/youtube]
As Dolly, queen of the universe says at the end of this clip: "Yay, Kenny!"
Happy to help. Now, when I listen to that song I can only think of David Cross and Jon Benjamin's duet to Bonnie Rait's "Something to Talk About."