FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: Jetouellet on January 24, 2013, 08:25:57 AM
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When I'm telling people about The Best Show, those calls are often the hardest thing to explain, so I don't really do it. But if you don't, they're going to be really confused when one happens.
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I think that confusion is a normal and desirable aspect of beginning to get the Best Show. That feeling of slowly dawning understanding is quite delicious, really.
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You get to enjoy the Best Show the old-fashioned way... you eaaaaaaarn it.
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I definitely didn't get the show the first time I heard it. The second time clicked
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I stand by Jake Fogelnest's description in the 2011 Spin article (http://www.spin.com/articles/why-tom-scharpling-and-jon-wurster-wfmus-best-show-are-punk-genuises):
For three hours each week, a guy named Tom Scharpling gets on the radio, plays some cool records, takes some phone calls, and then his friend, Superchunk and Mountain Goats drummer Jon Wurster, calls up and acts like a jerk.
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The only time I explained it out loud I knew I sounded crazy.
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I usually say it's like Phil Hendrie but with two people. Then they ask me who Phil Hendrie is.
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While I don't want to deprive them of the initial confusion that I experienced when I first started listening. I usually say that Scharpling and Wurstur have woven together wonderful worlds of hilarious and awful chaos and these calls are how you experience those worlds.
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I'll just say things like, "I can't figure why scharpling is so gullible, this guy is clearly fill of shit!"
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I just spent time explaining those calls. I went back and thanks to the work of both the Newbridgctionary and Recidivism created a timeline of Bryce calls. (There are nearly 40). It was a great adventure. I tend to work from a character study -- like Bryce.
Thank you again to both the folks behind those amazing resources!
--meredith
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I think everyone who doesn't get into the Best Show by their own curiosity should have to be a dummy for a call or two.
I remember, before I got wise to Wurster, someone showed me the "Kid eBay" bit from Hippy Justice. To this day I still think it sounds less like a bit and more like something remarkable happening on the radio. I imagine it was not unlike how early adopters felt when "Rock, Rot, and Rule" first aired and then made the rounds. If you ask me, just tell people to listen to something like "Kid eBay," "Rock, Rot, and Rule," the first Zachary Brimstead call, the Springsteen book, or even the Bruce Willis prank phone call. Don't say anything about it beforehand. Let them believe in the scene. These are ultimately more accessible than something where Wurster is putting on an affectation like Philly Boy Roy, or the silly Big Bill/Little Bill, or the underrated and absurd call about Mike Jackal and his band PUNK, which are all great bits for someone who already knows what Scharpling & Wurster is to start with.
And then, like buffcoat says, they'll eaaaaaaaaaarn it!
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Has anyone every hung out with Wurster in real life? I would love to hear stories about how hysterical he is....
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Has anyone every hung out with Wurster in real life? I would love to hear stories about how hysterical he is....
A friend of mine who met Jon Wurster told me that Jon is married, which I found really hard to believe. But yeah I've listened to the show so long, you have to wonder. Tom and Jon sneak into your dreams sometimes too. I don't know what to think anymore!
God bless The Best Show! I'm so happy it's still on after all these years.
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Thanks, Mostly Meat. I wish that Tom would do a 3 hour show interviewing Jon, but I guess the latter likes to appear only in character?
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I think if you could them to listen to a Best Show Gem or two they would get it.
There was a podcast a while back that interview Tom & Jon together, but I have no idea when it was or what podcast it was so I am no help at all. Jon is actually one of my dream WTF? guests and I kinda wonder why it hasn't happened yet.
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Tell them they're funny.
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http://podbay.fm/show/127001405/e/1183392000?autostart=1 (http://podbay.fm/show/127001405/e/1183392000?autostart=1)
AST Radio interview from 2007
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that is such a brilliant idea...why don't you send it to maron via twitter?
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Hasn't Jon been on tour a lot lately though? That's going to be really hard to schedule.
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Anyone who hasn't listened to the "Saturn Scene" podcast ep with Jon Wurster is in for a treat!
http://saturnscene.com/2011/03/podcast-episode-7-jon-wurster/ (http://saturnscene.com/2011/03/podcast-episode-7-jon-wurster/)
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I heartily endorse letting people stumble through their first couple of episodes. I remember not understanding why Tom, who had Patton Oswalt and John Hodgman in the studio, was spending so much time talking to a clearly crazy person from Philadelphia. After I learned about the Gems it all made a lot more sense.
Mike and buffcoat are right, tell them they're funny and make them earn it.