FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: Lawrence Orbach on March 13, 2011, 03:01:04 AM
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Every now and then I happen to catch a radio program on CBC called 'Wiretap' while driving. For those of you who don't know the show, its a similar radio situation comedy where Jonathan Goldstein plays the 'straight guy' while one of a group of different characters calls in with their wacky observations or crazy predicaments. This is by no means a new format in comedy, but it's always annoyed me how much the creators seem to riff heavily off the feel and spirit of Tom and Jon's calls. However, this week was just a plain rip-off, instead of riff-off. Everything from the voicings and timing to the final reveal was painfully obvious. It got me thinking….hey wait a minute, those dudes draw a friggin' salary from doing these bits, whereas Tom, AP Mike, and 'all the characters' who call in are doin' it for nothin'.
Correction. They're doing it for us.
Listening to Tom's hustle and drive during the pledge shows over the past two weeks has been so awesome, and then to hear him getting ripped off today made me….well…..angry! So in the spirit of that twerp Rollins, I'm gonna 'DO IT' and say this:
C'mon Wiretap. Not cool. You guys obviously listen to the show, so if you're reading the messageboard…you gotta branch off. Find a new path, figure it out. I'm not a hater…believe me I WANT to laugh! But not at the expense of the true pioneers. Tom and Jon are like old school Williamsburg when there was one crummy bar to have a beer and it was a cool place to live. Wiretap feels like the campus it became.
Ok, perhaps not the greatest metaphor.
Of course I could be waaaaay offside with this and find out Tom S and crew are good friends with those guys. That would of course make me feel like a total jerk.
Thanks. I did it. Vented. Tom we love you. Carry on.
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I like the energy level for a first post!
It's been a long time since the scary rage of the FsOT was mobilized. I suggest you investigate further and see what you can find to inflame us more.
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Poster Children redux?
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Poster Children redux?
I'm plenty inflamed right now! I mean about Wiretap, not...you know. Anyway- I'm boycotting the CBC effective right now.
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This just seems like an egghead version of what Tom does. Also it looks like Jonathan Goldstein is following Tom and some other FOTs on twitter, so he is probably just a fan of the show.
And it's not like Wiretap is lifting actual Best Show callers like Philly Boy Roy or Bryce. Although Wiretap does have a French hoodlum named Gorchè.
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Wow, is this what eggheads like? I tried listening to their most recent episode (appropriately titled "The Elite") and had to turn it off after five minutes. The writing was atrocious and their delivery couldn't have been more awkward.
Here's the web site for the show if anyone's interested in subjecting themselves to it: http://www.cbc.ca/wiretap/ (http://www.cbc.ca/wiretap/.)
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I would just like to come in to point out that I think Wiretap is brilliant, for what it's worth.
And, although Goldstein is a fan of Tom's, I think the Best Show for Eggheads thing is a bit - no, a lot, wrong.
However, I do recommend the show for all FOTs. He's doing a different thing, and a different GOOD thing. And a different funny thing.
Maybe the DO IT here should be DO LISTEN.
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And, although Goldstein is a fan of Tom's, I think the Best Show for Eggheads thing is a bit - no, a lot, wrong.
Yeah your right. I sort of hastily came to that conclusion, and I haven't listened that much. I'll give it more than a ten minute listen.
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Fear - Let's Have A War (Live in 1978) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8B2WuudHXs#)
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This guy is what I imagine a Canadian supermarket's store brand version of David Sedaris would be.
(do Canadian supermarkets have store brands?)
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I should point out that I haven't listened and will not listen to the show, so I offer nothing for or against its merits. I just like trouble.
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I should point out that I haven't listened and will not listen to the show, so I offer nothing for or against its merits. I just like trouble.
The second call is a direct rip of our guys' style.
"Imitation the sincerest form..."
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There were similarities, but there's room in the world for both. I don't think Wiretap is going to siphon off any of Tom's listeners.
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Also
"Imitation the sincerest form..."
truly applies in this instance, I bet.
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I should point out that I haven't listened and will not listen to the show, so I offer nothing for or against its merits. I just like trouble.
The second call is a direct rip of our guys' style.
"Imitation the sincerest form..."
Which episode, Fredericks? I will check it out...
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How dare you comment, without listening to the episode?
The Elites
At the twelve minute mark.
Pace, phrasing, tone of voice....
Best JW imitation I've ever heard.
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I haven't listened to Wiretap, but I think we (or more accurately, I) toe the line to "influence" to "rip off" of The Best Show on our basketball podcast too much.
I've been a really big fan of The Best Show for a long time. It's hard doing something in an audio type of format without having that influence seep in. One of the things I like best about The Best Show is that it's really informative. Marc Maron talked about this on the podcast with Tom in that the show is a really big arbiter of taste, which is one of the things that makes the show stand out so much. But having that end up as too big of an influence on my own thought process is something that's really hard to avoid.
I've been doing comedy things in Philly for about five years now. I actually watch way less comedy than I did before I started doing comedy because of how much I fear having my favorite performers seep into my own material. A lot of my stand-up stuff when I first started was way too derivative of Dave Hill. And then I was on a huge Steve Martin kick (after reading Born Standing Up) and then I found myself getting too much like that.
Developing your own voice is really hard. The Wiretap guys might have the same problem that I do.
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Also
"Imitation the sincerest form..."
truly applies in this instance, I bet.
Is imitation is the sincerest form of also?
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Flattery will get you somewhere.
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newcomer here, to rebut the newcomer's rant. hi!
i was actually a fan of wiretap way before i got into the best show, since it used to be syndicated on our local npr station and i didn't get into podcasts until a few years back. a couple arguments in mr. goldstein's defense:
1. the format/frame story of the show is completely different. where the premise of the best show is based around a 3-hour community call-in show, wiretap is a completely scripted half-hour presentation that features phone calls, bits, and prose readings. sometimes the calls are presented as spontaneous and in-the-moment, but they are still tied to a general theme.
2. the characters, and their presentation, are also completely different. because wiretap is about johnathan goldstein's life, the characters on the show are constant: his friends (like howard, whose neurotic bits can seem a bit wurster-esque but who also has a really great sense of timing and wit), his parents, his extended family. also, as a host, johnathan is an emotional wreck who is constantly under attack, completely devoid of any streamroller tendencies.
sure, the best show also has recurring characters, but the entire focus of wiretap on the relationship of johnathan with his "guests" is a big part of wiretap's comedy, and the depth, in the show.
yeah, wiretap is definitely more on the egghead side of the gnar-bucket, and, in 7-years, they've managed to make some bad/boring episodes, but on the balance, it is a pretty fun take on long-form comedy and podcast-ed variety shows.
here's a link to one of my favorite episodes: http://bit.ly/e1QoHp (http://bit.ly/e1QoHp)
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Hi Benjo, thanks for the play-by-play on Wiretap, but I get it. If they're in the studio and scripting it up, perhaps they can mix it up a little more? I guess my point is that these dudes are getting paid by a national broadcasting corp. in Canada, whereas Tom is doing it via a highschool radio station with vandalized lockers, crummy headphones, and a console forever stuck in mono. Wiretap ain't podcastin' by any means. Their previous episodes are available for purchase on iTunes...(might be a CBC thing they have no control over....or is it?) We get 'em for nothin'.
I dunno, maybe it was the randomness of catching that episode and finding it hitting a little too close to Best Show turf after listening to the pledge marathon. And I'm trying to limit my coffee to 3 ventis a day at the moment. Not trying to start a war, I did not say those guys were eggheads I have mucho respect for anybody creating something and putting it out there for the public. Comedy isn't easy...hmm, maybe thats why I'm so defensive of The Best Show!
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How dare you comment, without listening to the episode?
The Elites
At the twelve minute mark.
Pace, phrasing, tone of voice....
Best JW imitation I've ever heard.
Oh, I've listened to many others, Fredericks.
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Also
"Imitation the sincerest form..."
truly applies in this instance, I bet.
Is imitation is the sincerest form of also?
Yes.
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I guess my point is that these dudes are getting paid by a national broadcasting corp. in Canada...
not to get all political, but the fact that goldstein gets paid and scharpling doesn't might have to do with the fact that goldstein lives in a country where the government has a more legitimate interest in supporting the broadcasting arts, with fewer strings attached. npr has enough trouble keeping funding with their vanilla reporting, broadcasts from public libraries, and quiz shows, with "local" stations syndicating a lot of their content outside of major media markets and probably using third-generation equipment from radio huts. meanwhile, in canada, bands that sell 2,000 copies of their record get grants to go on tour, or something. i think they also get a free bowl of poutine, parka, and donkey.
Not trying to start a war, I did not say those guys were eggheads I have mucho respect for anybody creating something and putting it out there for the public.
word, just throwing my two cents in/letting off some desk-job steam.
Their previous episodes are available for purchase on iTunes...(might be a CBC thing they have no control over....or is it?) We get 'em for nothin'.
you can download the last two seasons for free from the cbc website, and stream all 7 seasons. there's probably some app that lets you stream them mobile-ly, as well.
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I just want to second Benjo.
Try listening to the episode The Predicament -- Jonathan's agent wants to re-brand him as a The Situation-type character "The Predicament".
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Hey Buff, I think we're getting to the Canadaians.
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Hey Buff, I think we're getting to the Canadaians.
Bring it! Please!
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I am shamelessly pro-Canadian. Count me out.
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I just watched four seasons of Trailer Park Boys so I'm an honorary Canadian, right?
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Where's John Candy when you need him?
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I just watched four seasons of Trailer Park Boys so I'm an honorary Canadian, right?
Three to go...
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Hey Buff, I think we're getting to the Canadaians.
Well, that's where I was aiming, but I will take on all comers! But, uh, this one could take awhile. 30 million is a lot. Could we do like the St. Kittians first?
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c'mon guys, have a heart.
(http://kickthebobo.com/elite.jpg)
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Hey Buff, I think we're getting to the Canadaians.
Well, that's where I was aiming, but I will take on all comers! But, uh, this one could take awhile. 30 million is a lot. Could we do like the St. Kittians first?
Wherever, I'm just sick of sitting around.
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Hi Benjo, thanks for the play-by-play on Wiretap, but I get it. If they're in the studio and scripting it up, perhaps they can mix it up a little more? I guess my point is that these dudes are getting paid by a national broadcasting corp. in Canada, whereas Tom is doing it via a highschool radio station with vandalized lockers, crummy headphones, and a console forever stuck in mono. Wiretap ain't podcastin' by any means. Their previous episodes are available for purchase on iTunes...(might be a CBC thing they have no control over....or is it?) We get 'em for nothin'.
I dunno, maybe it was the randomness of catching that episode and finding it hitting a little too close to Best Show turf after listening to the pledge marathon. And I'm trying to limit my coffee to 3 ventis a day at the moment. Not trying to start a war, I did not say those guys were eggheads I have mucho respect for anybody creating something and putting it out there for the public. Comedy isn't easy...hmm, maybe thats why I'm so defensive of The Best Show!
You're starting to sound a bit like New Jersey governor Chris Christie: 'In Canada, people who do quality radio get paid! Here, people don't. It's not fair, and the only solution is NOBODY gets paid to do quality radio.'
Also I'd put myself in the pro-Wiretap camp. They both involve telephone calls to humorous effect, but I don't really see a lot of overlap aside from that. Tom and Jonathan Goldstein's on-air personas couldn't really be much more different.
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Alright, I actually had to go back and find what it was about the last episode that got me amped up. It was the 'Secret Society' bit half-way in...perhaps the spot Fredericks refers to. Total JW turf that guy is cruising in.
The only thing missing from it was a 'whhuuuuuuuuut?' from the not Jonathon Goldstein guy.
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Did you guys know that Jonathan Goldstein of Wiretap is like an OG of This American Life? I worry this connection will only fuel Tom's rage against NPR stations...
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Did you guys know that Jonathan Goldstein of Wiretap is like an OG of This American Life? I worry this connection will only fuel Tom's rage against NPR stations...
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Did you guys know that Jonathan Goldstein of Wiretap is like an OG of This American Life? I worry this connection will only fuel Tom's rage against NPR stations...
There's a lot of that going around these days, especially in DC.
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Did you guys know that Jonathan Goldstein of Wiretap is like an OG of This American Life? I worry this connection will only fuel Tom's rage against NPR stations...
Bring it! Release the Kraken! Perhaps Tom can somehow segue this with the Garrison bombdrop?