when youre friends don't like TBS

[Deric W. Haircare]

Matthew Fluxblog turned me on to the Best Show c. 2004. I'd kinda glossed over the bits he posted on the site for whatever reason, but he knows my sense of humor so he sent me a couple of CD-Rs worth of brilliance and I gots hooked.

[Tim K in DC]

Spillover from SSD

Sorry. I can't help myself.

[Josh Fenderman]

First heard "Darren at Work" when it played on the Sound of Young America, maybe in 2004? Listened every week since then.

The only person I've even semi-converted is my brother. He definitely got it but I don't think he listens to the show on his own.  If we're in the car together I'll play some stuff and I can tell he really likes it, but he hasn't taken the next step yet.

It's a hard thing to get people turned onto especially if you're trying to do it be sending an email and just talking about the show. There's a lot to take in and it definitely takes time to see the bigger picture.  So it's kind of like The Wire, I guess.

[dave from knoxville]

So it's kind of like The Wire, I guess.

Except not in the least overrated.

[Chris L]

So it's kind of like The Wire, I guess.

Except not in the least overrated.

So you've actually watched an episode now, Dave?

As for the Best Show, I think people sometimes have a hard time getting into it due to the copious drug use and slang in Newbridge.

[Sarah]

Wire sidetrack:  I'm really glad I started watching it from the first episode in season 1, five years ago, when all the hype had not yet begun (well, it may have begun, but it certainly hadn't reached me in Lubec).  It would be terrifically difficult to give it a fair chance now, what with all the hyperbole. 

[iAmBaronVonTito]

So it's kind of like The Wire, I guess.

Except not in the least overrated.

zinger from knoxville

[Nick F]

Hi. I like this topic because I can talk about three things.

1-I definitely think the Stereolaffs CDs help people at least get into the Scharpling/Wurster calls, and lending this to someone or playing it for people on a road trip always results in at least a few favorites. One of my favourite moments on the tour I was just on with my band was getting them into the Andy From Lake Newbridge call, which they initially dismissed as soon as they heard "I'm a carp". As far as getting people into the show itself, it's just a question of getting them to listen regularly.

2-I like Tom & I like Stern. The latter has 'matured' to the point where he seems almost embarassed of his kindergarten racism and meanness...unfortunately the stripper stuff is still there at times, but it's a really entertaining show. Both Tom and Howard S have really excellent "get off my phone" moments.

3-Found a mixtape in milk crate that had Rock, Rot and Rule, which I found awesome.  Then I realised I could podcast the show, "et voila".

OK, bye.

[JonFromMaplewood]

I don't even try converting other people to TBSOWFMU, because I know that this is my thing, and my friends are never gonna get it if I force it on them.  It's like when my friend tried to get me into Black Adder. Perhaps if I had come across it on my own, I might have liked it.  But having this friend push and push, I felt like the first victim in "Seven"...getting force-fed all the dog food.

How did I get into The Best Show?  I got into The Best Show while driving home from my food coop shift on Tuesday nights back when I lived in Cocaine Slope, Brooklyn.  Thought to myself, "Who is this guy on the radio who is talking like there is no rush at all?" What a breath of fresh air to have a DJ not talk like he's getting paid by the word.  And funny as hell! I get the sense that Tom and I are roughly the same age (82), so the references are right in my wheelhouse.

-JFM

P.S. I also stopped listening to Howard about a decade ago, when he started relying more and more on the people around him to carry the show. The cavalcade of bozos just got bigger and stupider.  That guy was a master when he started. He was truly terrifying. And I'll be honest...when the Stuttering John interviews *first* started happening, I thought it was a stroke of entertainment genius (Don't judge).

[dave from knoxville]

So it's kind of like The Wire, I guess.

Except not in the least overrated.

So you've actually watched an episode now, Dave?

As for the Best Show, I think people sometimes have a hard time getting into it due to the copious drug use and slang in Newbridge.

I have seen about half of season one. I am beginning to suspect a mass hoodwinking, akin to the recent "Huck Finn is our greatest novel"-ing I took at the hands of my otherwise still beloved George Saunders. I am hoping it gets better, but so far, for me, it's nowhere near The Sopranos. Or, to be honest, even Prime Suspect.

[senorcorazon]

I have seen about half of season one. I am beginning to suspect a mass hoodwinking, akin to the recent "Huck Finn is our greatest novel"-ing I took at the hands of my otherwise still beloved George Saunders. I am hoping it gets better, but so far, for me, it's nowhere near The Sopranos. Or, to be honest, even Prime Suspect.

I had to watch the first half of the first season twice before I was interested at all - and yes, nothing holds a candle to Queen Mirren in Prime Suspect. I'm FINALLY getting around to watching The Sopranos and wondering what the hell I've been doing for the past ten years.

[Sarah]

Another sidetrack:  I watched the season finale of State of the Union last night and was very impressed by Tracy Ullman's impersonation of Helen Mirren.  Not long ago I watched a little "Making of . . ." thing after viewing the last installment of Prime Suspect, so I'd just seen Mirren in interview mode and thus could recognize all the little idiosyncrasies Ullman packed into her short performance.  It was pretty remarkable.  Plus she made Mirren likable, despite having to make fun of her penchant for getting naked, and since I have a great soft spot for Helen Mirren, this made me glad.     

[iAmBaronVonTito]

I don't even try converting other people to TBSOWFMU, because I know that this is my thing, and my friends are never gonna get it if I force it on them.  It's like when my friend tried to get me into Black Adder. Perhaps if I had come across it on my own, I might have liked it.  But having this friend push and push, I felt like the first victim in "Seven"...getting force-fed all the dog food.

over the course of six months, i offered three random shows...and no bites.  ive left it at that, let it ferment inside their brain.




it is what it is.

[jed]

I have had very little success explaining my love of the Best Show to friends. Actually, apart from my wife, no success.

But last Sunday at church I was standing around the refreshment table in the "fellowship hall" and I introduced myself to a stranger who said, "I think you and I have the same taste in radio entertainment."  My first chance FOT meeting.  She said she is friends with Herbie in Philadelphia and that he feels bad for whatever it was that earned him a six month ban.

[wwwes]

But last Sunday at church I was standing around the refreshment table in the "fellowship hall" and I introduced myself to a stranger who said, "I think you and I have the same taste in radio entertainment."  My first chance FOT meeting.  She said she is friends with Herbie in Philadelphia and that he feels bad for whatever it was that earned him a six month ban.

It terrifies me to think that Herbie has operatives everywhere trying to get him back on the air. It sounds like Lost. You're just strolling around the park and someone strikes up a conversation with you, then after a short time starts talking about how you have to tell Tom to let Herbie back on the show.