Tom vs. Jimmy Pardo?

[Regular Joe]

(although you missed an opportunity to say something like: "Jimmy changes babies' diapers, Tom tells babies to get off his phone!")

This made me laugh. Oh, what I wouldn't give for the wit of a John Junk!

[Josh]

so are you gonna subscribe or not regjoe?

[John Junk 2.0]

Good point re: the baby.  It's kinda like, I'll put up with your baby-watching shenanigans if it's free, because by definition, something that's free is not professional, so whatever.  

I see your points and I agree with a lot of them.  I listened to "The Bridge" episode, where they explain the process and their motivations... I think it's more along the lines of this: I don't think they want regular sponsors that they will be beholden to (I could be wrong about that) w/r/t content.  And it sounds like they're just too busy to keep doing it if it doesn't pay money, because Jimmy's got a kid, Belknap's got a real job and the AST Empire to run, etc.  It makes sense.  I can relate in that I've come to similar conclusions about being in bands in the past.  Like, I like being in this band, but it takes X amount of time out of my week, time I could be spending with loved ones, time  I could be making money to pay all my bills, and time I could be working on art, and does the amount of work I put in "pay off" with or without money.  I don't think it's greed, but they're in a different situation than Tom.  Tom is part of a community, he started doing it a long time ago and he wasn't in it to forward himself professionally.  Pardo is a career entertainer and his motivations are entirely different than Tom's.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but WFMU is a much bigger entity than AST, there's probably a lot more legwork Matt and Jimmy have to do just to send the thing out into the world, Matt's producing everything himself, etc.  Tom is literally not allowed to promote his CD's on-air, nor is he allowed to talk about his work.  If he was, I'd suspect he'd promote Stereolaffs more.  From the beginning, Stereolaffs has been Tom's solution to the same problem NNF is trying to solve.
But yeah, in Gervais's case that's just fucking greedy.  Unless they're giving all the money to the dumb guy they make fun of the whole time.

[Regular Joe]

so are you gonna subscribe or not regjoe?

Regardless of what I have said here, I am debating it. I'm sort of waiting to see if they pull a Gervais, and to hear if it is worth it from the mouths of someone who isn't an AST regular who wouldn't speak ill of it, even if it sucked.

[Spalding]

PFT on Best Show - sounds at home, like there is nowhere else in the world he would rather be. PFT on NNF - sounds like he is forced to do it, or paid to.

I dunno. I agree about his "at home" sound on The Best Show, but I don't hear the "forced" sound in his appearances on Pardo's show. Again, I think it comes from the very different styles of the two hosts. Pardo has that fill-every-second "showbiz" sound and I think PFT just changes up his game to fit in with this. He's probably a little more in the performer mode on Pardo than when he's on the Best Show, but he's still funny and insightful. PFT told a long break-up with a girlfriend story on Pardo's show (I think last summer) that was as good as the stuff in his act.

[Regular Joe]

I dunno. I agree about his "at home" sound on The Best Show, but I don't hear the "forced" sound in his appearances on Pardo's show.

It has been a while since I've listened to the NNF PFT eps (ouch), but what I remember thinking was that he sounded a lot more tense and uncomfortable on NNF (and there was even some barbed sparring going on between them, as I recall), while his laughter on TBS is so natural and warm. My theory is that it comes from the difference in Jimmy and Tom's different styles of comedying, Jimmy is just way more aggressive and energetic (jerk), where Tom is easygoing and subtle. The latter seems to suit PFT much much better. Since he is my favorite comedian, it's a big selling point to me.

[ericluxury]

Just an FYI about the NNF thread on AST. In the AST chat there tends to be much franker dialogue about the show and others. However, its a thread that is frequented by Belknap and Pardo and a couple of the guests so its not exactly the place to write your minor greviances that are taste-based. I think the people who don't like the show so much tend to stay out of the thread and those who do, post questions and generally positive thoughts, partially because they like the show and partly because they don't want to bum either of them out.

[dave from knoxville]

I don't begrudge them trying it, and I would encourage real fans to subscribe, but they don't grab me that way. Good luck to them, though. I hope they surprise me by being a huge hit. But someone will have to tell me about it.

[Josh]

RegularJoe did you subscribe?

[John Junk 2.0]

I've been listening to the 20 min. version and I think this show is actually worse than before.

[yesno]

I've been listening to the 20 min. version and I think this show is actually worse than before.

I'm not sure who recommended it (thanks!) in the chat, but that Comedy & Everything Else pudcast is pretty good in the inane banter genre.

[Dorvid Barnas]

You mean the Todd Glass/Jimmy Dore one, right? 
I like it, but not as much as their respective stand-up acts.

[yesno]

You mean the Todd Glass/Jimmy Dore one, right? 
I like it, but not as much as their respective stand-up acts.

Yeah, it's not spectacular.  Like all talk radio, though, something about hearing people just blab is either (1) The most annoying and awful thing on earth, or (2) weirdly addictive.  This one is more like (2), but nowhere near as much as Best Show or even Seven Second Delay.

But as far as Pardo goes, if you're going to charge for something on the internet you'd better BRING IT.  Go a little beyond the regular chat/guest format.  He's good, but I don't think he's brung it to justify $20.

[Regular Joe]

RegularJoe did you subscribe?

Nope, I never did! The decision wasn't so much about the less than stellar reviews I've been hearing, but more about me being being inordinately bad with money and therefore not having any. Also, there are enough decent and free podcasts now that I felt I didn't really need it.

[dave from knoxville]

I've been listening to the 20 min. version and I think this show is actually worse than before.

I keep listening to the free version, too, but I can't tell you why. Dropping the f-bomb with a flourish never gets old! Oh wait, yes it does. Although there was some hilarious banter this week about all the comedy that could be mined from Eric Clapton's child falling from a window. HIGH-larious. To quote Tom, whoo-boy.