FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: Pidgeon on July 15, 2010, 03:28:28 PM
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I was listening to the Rock, Rot & Rule call for the first time and I loved that like twenty-five people called in and took it completely seriously.
Are there any others like that?
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I was listening to the Rock, Rot & Rule call for the first time and I loved that like twenty-five people called in and took it completely seriously.
Are there any others like that?
I'm not sure how many people truly believed that Zachary Brimstead was a real barbershop singer, but there is some great interaction with callers (duets, recommendation that he hire a voice coach, an actual barbershop guy who had never heard of him, etc.) in the first ZB appearance on 11/28/00.
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There's listener interaction in a lot of the early calls but they stopped after a while as more people caught on.
My favorite might be when that Adrian woman was on with the character who was bitter about Tom snaking that last slice of pizza in high school.
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I have to confess...early on, when I was first listening to the Best Show (~2005), but well after I knew of Jon W, I was totally fooled by Pudge's first call.
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I was, too. When I listened to it again, I was disgusted that I'd made the mistake. I think I just really, really wanted Pudge to be real.
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I was, too. When I listened to it again, I was disgusted that I'd made the mistake. I think I just really, really wanted Pudge to be real.
One of my favorites (and it may be cheating because the caller was a kid and said he was not sure the other caller was real) is the kid calling up about the rock book and an Aerosmith member calls up to razz him. Classic exchange:
Kid: "Too much cocaine--"
JW: "For you maybe."
On one of the first shows I listened to (2004-is?), I thought one of the two Billy Joel tribute bands calling in was real.
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Hmmm, I remember one show when Tom was having some argument with a fellow Consolidated Cardboard employee and some woman called up to mediate, she was on the phone for a long time and totally interacted with Tom and Jon.
I think the Rot, Rock and Rule bit was actually pre-Best Sho, or proto-Best Show. Also a lot of those callers have familiar voices.
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Hmmm, I remember one show when Tom was having some argument with a fellow Consolidated Cardboard employee and some woman called up to mediate, she was on the phone for a long time and totally interacted with Tom and Jon.
I think the Rot, Rock and Rule bit was actually pre-Best Sho, or proto-Best Show. Also a lot of those callers have familiar voices.
Yeah, the date on my copy says March 1999.
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Also, when I first started listening to the show, I believed that Tom really did work for Consolidated Cardboard. I was a little disappointed when I realized that wasn't true. Glad for his sake, mind you, but sorry that he wasn't just a hard-working cardboard worker who moonlighted as the DJ of this great show I had just discovered.
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Young person "Mac" eventually came to realize that it was Aerosmith's "Jimmy Crespo" schooling him about rock music, and not the drummer from
Supergrass Superdrag Superchunk.
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There's listener interaction in a lot of the early calls but they stopped after a while as more people caught on.
My favorite might be when that Adrian woman was on with the character who was bitter about Tom snaking that last slice of pizza in high school.
Yes! This one of my favorite moments. The two guys exchanging "I love you man's" and she laughs hysterically.
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Either my first couple of Best Show's were Wurster-less (unlikely), or I was taken in. (To be fair to my feeble brain, all I knew of the show were the name and "it's good". Took me a few goes to "get it".)
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I was, too. When I listened to it again, I was disgusted that I'd made the mistake. I think I just really, really wanted Pudge to be real.
Pudge isn't real? MY BIRTHDAY IS RUINED.
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Happy Birthday Dave!
It took me a while to recognize Wurster's voice but once I did the jig was up and hilarity cancelled out confusion. I will say though that every Andrew Earles call beside Scag has fooled me. And I always think Matt Walsh gets geniunely angry when he is on.
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The call from Augie at Ye Olde Burger Barn (June 26 2001) has a mix of people wondering if the restaurant
is real, and callers trying to get in on the joke.
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I have to confess...early on, when I was first listening to the Best Show (~2005), but well after I knew of Jon W, I was totally fooled by Pudge's first call.
Me too. I think it took a few calls for me to figure it out.
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The most realistic character I've heard JW do to date is The Music Scholar. Granted, there's a little bit of the Music Scholar in me, but I have met people who were 95%-100% like that in all seriousness -- so when I relisten, especially early on in the call, I have moments where I forget the Music Scholar is a character.
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The call from Augie at Ye Olde Burger Barn (June 26 1991) has a mix of people wondering if the restaurant
is real, and callers trying to get in on the joke.
This was my introduction to JW and I thought it was real, yet very absurd.
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the first philly boy roy call definitely got some people angry
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the first philly boy roy call definitely got some people angry
Ha! His first call is one of my favorites.
My first Best Show listen ever was when I overheard someone else listening to it, and Timmy Von Trimble was on the air. I swear for a split second I thought, "Could this man really be two inches tall?"
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When I first started listening back in 2006, I thought Mawky Ramone actually called in. I knew Ted Leo was a caller, so it stood to reason I thought!
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When I first started listening back in 2006, I thought Mawky Ramone actually called in. I knew Ted Leo was a caller, so it stood to reason I thought!
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Because of JW's calls, my sporadically-listening wife believes that every call is fake.
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Ha, there are times when some wack-a-doo calls and I wonder ...
Patton's Spike fan club call threw me the first time I heard it.
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I had listened to all of the cd's and several episodes of the show before I heard my first Mawky Ramone call and I believed it until about halfway through.
Also, not really exactly the subject, but I'm pretty sure that Brian Poshen calls in during the original Gorch bit. It sounds like him anyway.
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When I first started listening back in 2006, I thought Mawky Ramone actually called in. I knew Ted Leo was a caller, so it stood to reason I thought!
That was the first Best Show I ever listened too. I thought it was really Marky, too. It was spot on. At that point, I was sold on TBS and the rap battle (which was why I was listening) hadn't even taken place at that in the show.
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I think the Rot, Rock and Rule bit was actually pre-Best Sho, or proto-Best Show. Also a lot of those callers have familiar voices.
Re: the familiar voices: I've thought the same thing.
Although it's been a while since I've listened to RR&R the whole way through, I catch myself saying "busy phones tonight" to myself at work from time to time.
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There's a great Bryce call where he takes Dead trivia from listeners. He does the ol' Bryce get's angry and changes his voice trick. Great stuff.
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Whoa, that WAS Brian Posehn that called in during the Gorch call. Why has he never been a guest, or has he?
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I fooled myself when Nardwuar (The Human Serviette...from Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, naturally) called in. I was convinced until re-listening days later that it was a JW character!~ :-\
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I fooled myself when Nardwuar (The Human Serviette...from Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, naturally) called in. I was convinced until re-listening days later that it was a JW character!~ :-\
haha me too - even after I saw video of him, I still wasn't sure. :P
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I am still not sure.
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I am still not sure.
I would pay top dollar to hear Nardwuar interview Wurster. Oh, the references we would hear from both of them. There would probably be a long discussion about the bass player from A Flock of Seagulls.
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I am still not sure.
I would pay top dollar to hear Nardwuar interview Wurster. Oh, the references we would hear from both of them. The would probably be a long discussion about the base player from A Flock of Seagulls.
I'd have to see a video of it be the one holding the boom mic to believe it.
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Videos can be doctored.
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I've never met or heard a Canadian who didn't say where they're from without giving both the province and their country. It's kind of adorable.
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I've never met or heard a Canadian who didn't say where they're from without giving both the province and their country. It's kind of adorable.
It's true. We are a quaint and adorable people.
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What would the gift be that Nardwuar (The Human Serviette...from Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada) gives to Wurster to break the ice? A custom tam with the Eagles logo?
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I can't say it fooled me, but the first time I listened to the podcast I heard the start of one of Jon's calls and thought "Wait a second! This call is a fake!" and I was so annoyed I turned it off. I think I listened to one of the Gems before I got that that was the point.
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One of my favorites - a guy (NY accent but lives in S Carolina) calls in during a conversation between Tom and Pudge. The man was just flipping the dial and landed on WFMU and called in to say how dumb the other callers seemed to be. Pudge agrees even though he is clearly who the man was complaining about. Tom and Pudge rope-a-dope the guy for about 10 more minutes until he hangs up exasperated. Ring any bells?
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One of my favorites - a guy (NY accent but lives in S Carolina) calls in during a conversation between Tom and Pudge. The man was just flipping the dial and landed on WFMU and called in to say how dumb the other callers seemed to be. Pudge agrees even though he is clearly who the man was complaining about. Tom and Pudge rope-a-dope the guy for about 10 more minutes until he hangs up exasperated. Ring any bells?
I heard that one recently but I skip around like crazy in the archives so I can't remember what show it was. I think the caller was from Jersey originally and was in SC for some job. Tom & Pudge somehow get it in their heads that he's got his own radio show and Tom keeps trying to get him to plug his show.
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Exactly, that's the one. So good. If anyone finds/remembers the episode, remind me of the date...
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Exactly, that's the one. So good. If anyone finds/remembers the episode, remind me of the date...
It's from 10/17/06. Starts at 2:27 (http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=20763&archive=30768&starttime=02:27:00).
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Exactly, that's the one. So good. If anyone finds/remembers the episode, remind me of the date...
It's from 10/17/06. Starts at 2:27 (http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=20763&archive=30768&starttime=02:27:00).
What an ass
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I knew the gimmick when I first started listening so I was never fooled (though Patton got me once) but my wife... the first show I played for her included a PBR call where he mentioned the Glenn Danzig bio-pic, Some Kind Of Hate: The Glenn Danzig Story - she wiki'd it and felt pretty silly afterwards.
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One of my favorites - a guy (NY accent but lives in S Carolina) calls in during a conversation between Tom and Pudge. The man was just flipping the dial and landed on WFMU and called in to say how dumb the other callers seemed to be. Pudge agrees even though he is clearly who the man was complaining about. Tom and Pudge rope-a-dope the guy for about 10 more minutes until he hangs up exasperated. Ring any bells?
This was one of the three (3!) Best Shows I listened to on our 11 hour drive today and my wife and I were cracking up at this bit. He said that the show was "for idiots". 2006 seems late in the game for someone to be fooled so deeply. It was great.
And the Pudge calls? SO good.
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It didn't really trick me, per se, but I love the fake Ed Francis book they reference on one of the calls from around the time I started listening: The Horse That Went Away to the Other Side. I'm not the only one, apparently, because someone went so far as to create a GoodReads (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3362844.The_Horse_That_Went_Away_to_the_Other_Side) page for it.
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If you go back and listen to Philly Boy Roy's first call, or even his second and third, there appears to be folks who took that seriously too. I also enjoy Philly Boy's early appearances because they are like Season 1 Simpsons episodes where Homer still sounded like a poor man's Walter Matthau. Philly Boy Roy gradually evolved into the more high pitched and adorable tenor we know and love today. If there was a Philly Boy Roy plush toy with a string to pull that played catch phrases, oh man...I'd but the s-HIT out of it!
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There's listener interaction in a lot of the early calls but they stopped after a while as more people caught on.
My favorite might be when that Adrian woman was on with the character who was bitter about Tom snaking that last slice of pizza in high school.
Can anyone point me to the archive of this episode? I've been dying to hear it again.
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There's listener interaction in a lot of the early calls but they stopped after a while as more people caught on.
My favorite might be when that Adrian woman was on with the character who was bitter about Tom snaking that last slice of pizza in high school.
Can anyone point me to the archive of this episode? I've been dying to hear it again.
The best I could do is tell you to check out the show archive. But you probably already considered that...
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I've never met or heard a Canadian who didn't say where they're from without giving both the province and their country. It's kind of adorable.
that's just a western Canada inferiority complex thing
I just say Montreal because no one needs to be reminded where Montreal is. Also, you rarely hear someone say "Toronto Ontario"
But everyone from the West has to say "Vancouver British Columbia" or "Edmonton Alberta"......
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I can't speak in defense of "Edmonton Alberta", but there is a Vancouver in the U.S. which is a suburb of Portland, OR just north of the WA state border. This is why the signs on I-5 north in Washington state have to say "Vancouver B.C." and not "Vancouver". I'm guessing Nardwuar expanded it out to province and eventually country, partly because of Vancouver, Washington state, United States Of America.
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I've mentioned before that I was totally convinced that Marky Ramone was calling the show. This was the first time I had heard the show--around the time of the mayorganubatorial madness.
I have a friend I've recently converted to the best show. I don't think he's on these forums...so I can safely say that I spent two conversations, about five-minutes a piece--trying to convince him that Spike was not a fake caller. And I'm not sure I have convinced him!
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When I first started listening I wasn't sure if those calls were real or not. When I Googled Newbridge I caught on. I also thought the Marky Ramone call was real on first listen.
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I was really confused why Tom wasn't hanging up on the weirdo making intense references.
I'm 90% sure that was really Naurdwar!
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I'm 90% sure that was really Naurdwar!
At the time, I was convinced it was a purely brilliant JW call. Until he referred to JW as Tom's "co-host."
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I have a desk job and they let me listen to the radio so I have been downloading archives and putting them on a jump drive. I am back in 01 right now and nearly everyone is falling for the Wurster calls. I think the last time I went through these was in 08. I liked the original Ye Olde Burger Barn one and the follow up. This lady totally chewed him out. I also like when the callers play along. The improvisation on both ends is awesome.
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The character that got me was Gene Simmons. I totally did NOT think it was Wurster. I want to say I was 39% sure it may indeed have been the real God of Thunder.
Patton got me good with Travis Edgekin, too. I totally believed it was a real dude, and if he didn't call out to his roommate Ryan I never would have known.
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The improvisation on both ends is awesome.
Oh, man, there are a couple callers during the Tony Torgvort "Mr. Loophole" call that are almost as funny as Wurster. The guy who says he's found a loophole that lets him ride in the Space Shuttle for free is hysterical.
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The improvisation on both ends is awesome.
Oh, man, there are a couple callers during the Tony Torgvort "Mr. Loophole" call that are almost as funny as Wurster. The guy who says he's found a loophole that lets him ride in the Space Shuttle for free is hysterical.
Wanna know a loophole that lets you know exactly which callers Spacely is referring to, their social security numbers and access to their wives whenever you want?...............
...........Ya gotta read the book!