FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: buffcoat on March 28, 2012, 09:29:33 AM
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Tom's celebrity impersonations (Garrison Keillor, Howard Cosell, et al.)
JW's ability to hold a voice (I just listened to Troy Dershman again - it must have been killing him. I think his voices are underrated in general.)
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Puppets on the radio.
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Silence.
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Tom's celebrity impersonations (Garrison Keillor, Howard Cosell, et al.)
JW's ability to hold a voice (I just listened to Troy Dershman again - it must have been killing him. I think his voices are underrated in general.)
Following up on both of these, Tom doing impressions of other people doing impressions or doing a character doing an impression of somebody is, in itself, impressive.
And the recent return of Pudge of how good the voice is there, and how easily Pudge can blend in with non-Newbridge callers at the start of a call if you don't know what you're listening for.
Silence.
Yes. I think the effective use of silence and pauses is one of those things that people realize least and probably takes time to appreciate for newer listeners and callers who want to jump in there instead of letting things develop. But it's a key to what makes Tom great as a storyteller and what makes the Best Show stand out as a live show where amazing topics and digressions can generate spontaneously.
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It's three hours long.
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Mike's background cackle
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Tom taught me that looking into people's windows is frowned upon
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Mike's background cackle
And half-heard comments, too!
Mike in general, really.
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Gary and Vance's unbreakable friendship.
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Gary's secret crush on Mike.
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It's power to inspire.
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It's power to inspire.
Seconded
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Musical taste. I'd guess that 1/3 of the music I like is via TBS. And I used to think I knew a lot about music.
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It always impresses me when there is a voice within a voice, ie Gary doing an APMike impression this week.
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It always impresses me when there is a voice within a voice, ie Gary doing an APMike impression this week.
Or Tom doing an impression of himself voicing Gary.
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The fact that Jon and Tom have done hundreds of calls and I can count on one hand the number that have broken up due to bad connections or disconnects.
I can only assume Jon has a sound-proof bunker, with an old-fashioned wired hardline in every major city. Either that, or hotel managers and neighbors are wonderfully tolerant of him screaming into the phone/threatening to stomp somebody for 45 minutes every Tuesday.
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Also, Tom's one-off rivalry with "OldHamburger."
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I love it when Tom trolls the listeners - like insisting that obviously the Flintstones predates the Honeymooners, because [exasperated, stating the obvious:] the Flintstones is in caveman times, and the Honeymooners was in the 50s. And even better when he goes onto Wikipedia to read supporting evidence for his claims.
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Also I've invented a new technique where I concentrate on the Best Show until I begin to levitate. I got eight feet into the air during a particularly long Spike call. The problem is that I didn't have any success until Tom started talking about demons. Could WFMU have become a locus of extradimensional hell-energy that we can access by listening? We might be playing with fire here, people.
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Yeah? Well maybe I wanna get burned.
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I always smile when Tom refers to someone as "troubled."
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Yeah? Well maybe I wanna get burned.
"I don't know what that means."
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The off the cuff calls that rank among the best:
The first Zeph call (I think)
Nils from Matador
CNN Crawl Guy/Gleason Jones is dead
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It took me a little while to realize how two completely opposite elements are really funny:
Good callers who tee Tom up and let him go on great diatribes and rants (Dan from Orange killed it with the Comic Book Men discussion, never stepped on Tom's Toes)
Terrible callers that upset Tom or who ruin Tom's flow and set themselves, and every caller after complete disaster (I tend to fall in to this category)
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The off the cuff calls that rank among the best:
The first Zeph call (I think)
Nils from Matador
CNN Crawl Guy/Gleason Jones is dead
+ Jimmy Crespo
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The off the cuff calls that rank among the best:
The first Zeph call (I think)
Nils from Matador
CNN Crawl Guy/Gleason Jones is dead
+ Jimmy Crespo
Yes! "You put on a shirt and tie when you talk to me."
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When Tom baits people who say crypto-racist stuff.
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The off the cuff calls that rank among the best:
The first Zeph call (I think)
Nils from Matador
CNN Crawl Guy/Gleason Jones is dead
+ Jimmy Crespo
Yes! "You put on a shirt and tie when you talk to me."
"Maybe for you!"
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When Tom baits people who say crypto-racist stuff.
"Right? The 'financiers', right? 'Studio executives', right?"
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When Tom baits people who say crypto-racist stuff.
"Right? The 'financiers', right? 'Studio executives', right?"
"We're talking about 'them' right? You know how 'they' are, right?"
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When Tom baits people who say crypto-racist stuff.
"Right? The 'financiers', right? 'Studio executives', right?"
"We're talking about 'them' right? You know how 'they' are, right?""
Wait, Mike, you know what 'good' means, right?"
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When Tom baits people who say crypto-racist stuff.
"Right? The 'financiers', right? 'Studio executives', right?"
"We're talking about 'them' right? You know how 'they' are, right?""
Wait, Mike, you know what 'good' means, right?"
"Good is a funny word; it can mean anything." – Andy Breckman.
WFMU is a very postmodern station.
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Tom slightly messing up the name of a thing
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Rashaan?
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Tom's gift for spontaneous song composition is impressive.
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Callers disconnected mid-word.
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Callers disconnected mid-word.
Even better when it was a great call from a friend.
"I'll even do it to them!"
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I really like the unabashed love for Led Zep Tom has been displaying this past year. Call me weird, but if I catch a Zep track on a classic rock station I roll my eyes....but when Tom spins it....I turn it up!
Then the jaded indie-rocker inside of me says that Toms been playing with us the whole live-long day. I'm a mess.
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I love when Tom assumes everyone is as much of a flaming Republican as he is. Some of the best jokes, including: "you know what's most disappointing about George W Bush? That I can't vote for him again."
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It's ability to make, without question, Tuesday the best day of the week.
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Callers disconnected mid-word.
I always like exchanges like this-
"Don't hang up on me, Tom."
"Don't what?"
"Hang up on me."
"OK" (click)
It's usually more artful than this, but it gets me every time.
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Callers disconnected mid-word.
I always like exchanges like this-
"Don't hang up on me, Tom."
"Don't what?"
"Hang up on me."
"OK" (click)
It's usually more artful than this, but it gets me every time ti.
Fixed.
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Tom's gasp when he realize a caller is still on the line
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Tom's unshakable courage in confronting serial murderers on-air (Zodiac, The Party Doctor)
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The multiple takes on a bit - the many repetitions of Mickey Dolenz' namaste/MYAH and the line from Clifford, two different iterations of multiple people having the same voice (Shawn/Shane, Big Bill/Little Bill/Mr. Sherbert).
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- Tom's Cal Ripken-like (seems apropos) consistency. He's done a ton of long shows for more than a decade and rarely takes a night off. Lesser folks would have bagged this gig long ago.
- Echo the impersonations. The Trumps (senior and junior) have been killing me lately. He had an impromptu Seinfeld one from a couple of years ago that remains a personal highlight for me.
- AP Mike is an underrated strength.
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- AP Mike is an underrated strength.
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The multiple takes on a bit - the many repetitions of Mickey Dolenz' namaste/MYAH and the line from Clifford, two different iterations of multiple people having the same voice (Shawn/Shane, Big Bill/Little Bill/Mr. Sherbert).
Big Bill/Little Bill/Mr. Sherbert is still my favorite anything from the show, it hurts me with joy.
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Another thing:
S&W bits are spiritually related to Chris Elliott's bits on Letterman.
Tom & Jon had discussed their love of Chris in bringing them together; also, in Chris's appearance last year, Tom mentioned how he loved that all Chris characters are always "burning through clout they really don't have." I can't think of a better way to describe many of the Newbridge characters.
Finally, while watching some old Chris Elliott bits on YouTube last week, I caught a moment where Chris puts down Letterman by calling him "Foster Brooks."
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Another small touch that never fails to make me laugh:
Tom slightly changing the pronunciation of someone's name a la: Adam Carolo or last night's Christina Aguilero.
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Another small touch that never fails to make me laugh:
Tom slightly changing the pronunciation of someone's name a la: Adam Carolo or last night's Christina Aguilero.
Magic Johnston
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Another small touch that never fails to make me laugh:
Tom slightly changing the pronunciation of someone's name a la: Adam Carolo or last night's Christina Aguilero.
Magic Johnston
My all-time favorite: Evan "Funk" Davis.
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Shoot, I've heard it a million times and I still love to hear "Funzie."
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Wurster's references to Idi Amin.
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Another small touch that never fails to make me laugh:
Tom slightly changing the pronunciation of someone's name a la: Adam Carolo or last night's Christina Aguilero.
Magic Johnston
I especially like these when he does it, then decides that he's going to try to get a caller to agree that this is how the name is pronounced, and you can hear a brief pause where the caller is either no longer sure how to say it, didn't know who the person was in the first place or knows but can't decide whether to correct him.
"Just like Magic Johnston."
"I-"
"Like Magic Johnston, right?"
"...yeah."
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I always like it when Wurster suggests that Tom "should wiki it" or says anything to the effect of "yeah, you can wiki that"
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Spike consistently inconsistent for 7 plus years.
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I want to re-point out the Hervé Villechaize impression from this week's show. Who would do an Villechaize impression in 2012, much less characterize him as such a brutal villain? I replayed that part three times and couldn't stop laughing.
I think it's great that so many younger people listen to a show that's so full of references to 70s sitcoms. Yer gettin' yer histry lessons right chere, Junior.
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I want to re-point out the Hervé Villechaize impression from this week's show. Who would do an Villechaize impression in 2012, much less characterize him as such a brutal villain? I replayed that part three times and couldn't stop laughing.
I think it's great that so many younger people listen to a show that's so full of references to 70s sitcoms. Yer gettin' yer histry lessons right chere, Junior.
I'm 22 and most of my friends and I grew up on 70's sitcoms anyway because of Nick at Nite.
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Hey! Fantasy Island was no sitcom! Show some respect!
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Hey! Fantasy Island was no sitcom! Show some respect!
I was young. Perhaps I misinterpreted the nyucks between Tattoo and Mr. Roark and Don Rickles... err, Adams.
I only got to see the first few minutes of FI if we had a babysitter. The end of Love Boat generally meant the end of the night for me.
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I want to re-point out the Hervé Villechaize impression from this week's show. Who would do an Villechaize impression in 2012, much less characterize him as such a brutal villain? I replayed that part three times and couldn't stop laughing.
I think it's great that so many younger people listen to a show that's so full of references to 70s sitcoms. Yer gettin' yer histry lessons right chere, Junior.
I'm 22 and most of my friends and I grew up on 70's sitcoms anyway because of Nick at Nite.
Thanks to Nick at Nite I even got Tom's impression of Joe E. Ross.
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Apart from the awesome entertainment, I have personally talked to quite a few FoTs who have taken Tom's set of values (as near as we know them from the show anyway) to fine tune their existence in a most positive way...and isn't that grand?
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Tom's knowledge of every zip code in New Jersey
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When he hangs up on people who are nice to him or when they start off a call with praise and he simply responds "What's on your miiiiiiiiiiiiiind"
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The way Tom will interrupt himself in the middle of a five-minute rant about what a total jerk somebody is with "Look--I'm not gonna get down on this guy."
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tom is a true patriot. who else is brave enough to address obama's control of gas prices?
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Whenever Joe Rogan gets brought up, I can't help but laugh. Don't remember what episode it was, but Tom describing Rogan's isolation tank had me laughing out loud on public transit.
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Tom's laser-accurate impersonations, with the exception of when he does AP Mike. It's so intentionally bad, which makes it incredibly hilarious.
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Tom's laser-accurate impersonations, with the exception of when he does AP Mike. It's so intentionally bad, which makes it incredibly hilarious.
He sounds like a Scare-Crow.
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The power of Tom's "catch phrase" "Who da thunk it?".
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Whenever Joe Rogan gets brought up, I can't help but laugh. Don't remember what episode it was, but Tom describing Rogan's isolation tank had me laughing out loud on public transit.
I wanna say on Marc Maron's first appearance...when they were talking about the guests on WTF that were less forthcoming or were frustrating. Maybe?
then I wanna say...Mason? no Clifford!
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I think the greatest strength, as pointed out by a Podmass reviewer earlier in the year, is that Tom comes up with this stuff even though there's no writing and no preparation whatsoever involved in his show.
Nope. None.
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The show's ability to make me sing "Boat!" in-place of "Jet" during a family road trip.
Damn you Philly Boy Roy!
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"Let me paint."
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Whenever Tom makes fun of sci-fi/fantasy nerds/nerdculture.
George "Rail Road" Martin?
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Tom's references to being almost/now sixty years old, and how most of the time such references just slide by unquestioned.
Also any time Tom or a Wurster character paint a ludicrous picture of just how short, fat, or ugly they are. For example, Tom looking like a "poor man's John Pinette".
Heck, John Pinette references in general.
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Tom's references to being almost/now sixty years old, and how most of the time such references just slide by unquestioned.
Also any time Tom or a Wurster character paint a ludicrous picture of just how short, fat, or ugly they are. For example, Tom looking like a "poor man's John Pinette".
Heck, John Pinette references in general.
On this week's show Tom made reference to his being 58 years old, but earlier when talking to Sir Scott he said he was born in 1952. Weirdly enough that jumped out at me more than the fact that in reality Tom is much younger than that.
And the fact that he mentions John Pinette as though it's a common reference that everyone will get even as he mispronounces the guy's name.
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Tom's references to being almost/now sixty years old, and how most of the time such references just slide by unquestioned.
Also any time Tom or a Wurster character paint a ludicrous picture of just how short, fat, or ugly they are. For example, Tom looking like a "poor man's John Pinette".
Heck, John Pinette references in general.
I must be prescient.....I made a John Pinette reference on the Best Show DVD, what, has it been three years already?
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"...son."
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I love it when Tom trolls the listeners - like insisting that obviously the Flintstones predates the Honeymooners, because [exasperated, stating the obvious:] the Flintstones is in caveman times, and the Honeymooners was in the 50s. And even better when he goes onto Wikipedia to read supporting evidence for his claims.
Two of the best...The guy who has known Pete Seeger for 50 years, and Tom tells his Bob Seger is his son, he wiki'ed it. Then the guy gets so angry he curses on the air. Second, Tom says Little Steven played bass in the E Street Band. The guy who called up screaming at him about how he played guitar. Pure gold.
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Tom's strange genteel way of talking about pot whenever it comes up
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Tom's strange genteel way of talking about pot whenever it comes up
Tom's gentility.
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Ap Mike's fearlessness when telling spoilers on the radio( Breaking Bread to be specific).
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Tom's Dracula voice. "George 'Rail Road' Martin has written me into this, bleh."
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I love it when Tom trolls the listeners - like insisting that obviously the Flintstones predates the Honeymooners, because [exasperated, stating the obvious:] the Flintstones is in caveman times, and the Honeymooners was in the 50s. And even better when he goes onto Wikipedia to read supporting evidence for his claims.
Two of the best...The guy who has known Pete Seeger for 50 years, and Tom tells his Bob Seger is his son, he wiki'ed it. Then the guy gets so angry he curses on the air. Second, Tom says Little Steven played bass in the E Street Band. The guy who called up screaming at him about how he played guitar. Pure gold.
Did you see the "Van in DC" tweets from a few months ago? Tom said something about not liking Fairport Convention and this Van in DC character has a conniption on Twitter calling Tom all sorts of names and using vulgarities out the wazoo. He deleted all of them (I'm guessing because his fellow churchgoers would find them unchristian) but I have screen grabs of them.
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Ap Mike's fearlessness when telling spoilers on the radio( Breaking Bread to be specific).
I'll never understand the mentality that a story is "spoiled" if you know the ending in advance. I knew the ending of Anna Karenina before I read it. Guess what? Not spoiled. People know the ending of the Gospels, has that stopped people from reading them? Season 4 of Breaking Bad ended months ago. Was a gag order issued for everyone who watched it not to talk about it until everyone else in the world got a chance to watch it? Ridiculous. If I knew Gus was going to get up and walk around and adjust his tie after he got blown up in advance, it wouldn't have made it any less dumb.
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Ap Mike's fearlessness when telling spoilers on the radio( Breaking Bread to be specific).
I'll never understand the mentality that a story is "spoiled" if you know the ending in advance. I knew the ending of Anna Karenina before I read it. Guess what? Not spoiled. People know the ending of the Gospels, has that stopped people from reading them? Season 4 of Breaking Bad ended months ago. Was a gag order issued for everyone who watched it not to talk about it until everyone else in the world got a chance to watch it? Ridiculous. If I knew Gus was going to get up and walk around and adjust his tie after he got blown up in advance, it wouldn't have made it any less dumb.
My rule is two weeks. If it's something you care about you'll either have seen it or have a contingency plan to avoid spoilers. Most of the time when I get a hint of a spoiler by the time I see the actual show/movie I've forgotten about it. And yes, it is possible to avoid spoilers. I avoided spoilers about the last Harry Potter book for a couple of years until I could muster up the strength to make it past the middle of the book. I've been avoiding "Lost" spoilers for several years now. Same with "Breaking Bad," "Mad Men," "The Wire" and "The Sopranos. One of these days I'll get around to finishing those series.
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Ap Mike's fearlessness when telling spoilers on the radio( Breaking Bread to be specific).
I'll never understand the mentality that a story is "spoiled" if you know the ending in advance. I knew the ending of Anna Karenina before I read it. Guess what? Not spoiled. People know the ending of the Gospels, has that stopped people from reading them? Season 4 of Breaking Bad ended months ago. Was a gag order issued for everyone who watched it not to talk about it until everyone else in the world got a chance to watch it? Ridiculous. If I knew Gus was going to get up and walk around and adjust his tie after he got blown up in advance, it wouldn't have made it any less dumb.
Mike, while you may never understand it, the fact is that your understanding is not universal. Some of us like a nice surprise; it's a preference, not a character flaw.
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I'm with Mike on this one. I have felt that it's on me to avoid details that might spoil a story for a show that I have chosen not to watch after months and even years. If you're going on Facebook or Twitter after it aired on the East Coast and ruining it for people out west who haven't had a chance to even see it yet, that is lame. But at some point people are allowed to discuss the half face of Gus - who anybody who understands how television works knew he was going to eat it at the end of season 4 - no matter who hasn't caught up. I watched four seasons in two weeks, and prior to that I didn't read things about Breaking Bad. And it was EASY!
You keep going, Mike. Once again you are RIGHT.
Tom.
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I like when Tom says "Un...beliebable."
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Tom's drunk voice
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I like when Tom says "Un...beliebable."
Or any Andrew Dice Clay-isms, for that matter.
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"He’s the guy that looks like a cross between Chim Chim from Speed Racer, the bassist from the Atlanta Rhythm Section and the Elephant Man, had he really let himself go to seed."
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I've been enjoying any and all condemnations of things as "phoney baloney." I suspect that I will begin using this phrase soon, whether I want to or not.
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I've been enjoying any and all condemnations of things as "phoney baloney." I suspect that I will begin using this phrase soon, whether I want to or not.
That's how I ended up calling people I thought were stupid "dum-dums."
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"Mars Attacks style"
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That Tom is not too cool to engage in some silly wordplay, like "It's funny that this movie was called The Watch because I was the only one watching it" or "the ironic thing is, this Sweet anthology is a pretty sweet anthology."
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Tom's celebrity impersonations (Garrison Keillor, Howard Cosell, et al.)
JW's ability to hold a voice (I just listened to Troy Dershman again - it must have been killing him. I think his voices are underrated in general.)
Yeah he's very clean with multiple personalities in conversation as the three "celebrities" (Marky Ramone, Philly Boy Roy, Timmy Von T) judging Steinberg vs Ted Leo. More consistent than Petey's voice, obvs.
Also: Little Bill and Big Bill.
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When either Vance or Gary read on the radio.
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I really love Tom's civic pride. A lot of people just slag off where they live but he is a New Jersey native and proud of it. I think that's really cool.
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I already said it in the chat, but Stephen in Chicago's laugh is a never-mentioned and underrated Best Show strength. It gets me every time, and it's always a surprise.
I like a lot of the semi-regular callers. I've gotten to the point where it would be nice to hear from some of the old regulars every once in awhile as well. I'm listening back through the 2009 archive, so it seems like Fredericks is calling every week.
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Unremarked Newbridge asides.
For example, from 5/5/2009:
"What am I, Supraman?"
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Speaking of laughs, whenever Tom and Officer Tom ping pong the laughs back and forth is always enjoyable.
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I like Tom's vigilance against foul language and his being made squeamish when guests talk dirty...it amuses me
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I meant to add one that's surely not underrated, but Wurster's seemingly endless variants of "What?" are a thing of beauty to me...does he do any other writing/acting/stand up?
Lastly, that quick exhale noise that Tom makes as he hangs up some phone calls--like he's spooked and ready to move on
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whatup douche, it's the plop-tron 5000
gets me on so many levels. Mostly the just surface though.
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Wurster's ability to resurrect arcane bands of days yore for prime goofin' is always a highlight. I feel a oneness with the Best Show when trivia on obscure acts like All Sports Band, or brief asides regarding The Long Ryders discography come up. While John and Tom surely don't need any help, I'd like to request the possible inclusion of Slammin' Watusis minutiae in the future.
(http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/11661089/Slammin+Watusis+l_c09d68888140e5e5fc98b4c51582.jpg)
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That all the theoretical children Tom names are called "Billy".
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Silence.
yes. the ability tom has to take a pause, exhale, recalibrate, and place the brush back on the canvas is unparrelleled.
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That all the theoretical children Tom names are called "Billy".
As was the JW child character in the Kids Show segment.