Does anyone else think the Ken Rogers calls are more annoying than funny?

[VampireWeekday]

I guess it's kind of the point, but the Ken Rogers calls are more and more grating each time, and it doesn't seem characteristic of S&W to do this kind of Andy Kaufman "The Point Is To Be Not Funny" type of humor.  Can anyone convince me that I'm wrong and these calls are in fact hilarious?

[yesno]

Tom's overly long descriptions of the book's contents are pretty funny.

[AaronC]

I think his calls more filthy than funny. 

But seriously, I agree with yesno.  I think Tom makes the bit funny. 

[Wes]

In addition to the build up and description of the thing, what I love about it is the idea that Tom was somehow so taken with a self-help book left sitting around in work that he's willing to give Ken Rogers another shot every time, because he's apparently that convinced that learning about it can help out the listeners.

Also the idea that Ken Rogers manages to say something even more impossibly filthy than before each time he calls in and has his melt down. He must be inventing made-up nonsense profanity by now.

[TremblingEagle]

It feels weird to criticize them on Tom's own board
he reads and responds here sometimes.

Putting that aside those bits aren't annoying to me they aren't laugh out loud either
BUT they add to texture of the whole show it just expands the Newbridgeverse and hearing the back and forth between the guys is cool.

Jesse Thorn from the TSOYA, who got me on to the show, said it best:
the more you listen the more you get out of it.
 
(not bragging, he didn't say it to me personally)

[emma]

I like the Ken Rogers calls!

They might seem annoying if you don't like knowing how the thing is going to end, I guess, but the process of getting there gets funnier and funnier every time.

[Joe Rogaine]

Sometimes I get a little mad when one of the characters calls in, because Tom is just starting to get a good flow with the callers.

[masterofsparks]

it doesn't seem characteristic of S&W to do this kind of Andy Kaufman "The Point Is To Be Not Funny" type of humor.

You've obviously never been in the Patriot Zone.

[yesno]

You've obviously never been in the Patriot Zone.

Or the Party Zone!  I need to make separate recordings of the Party Zones to play at parties.

[cutout]

BUT they add to texture of the whole show it just expands the Newbridgeverse

Exactly what I was thinking. I'm long past the mentality that every Wurster bit is going to be conventionally or laugh-out-loud funny. Many are, but some are just...there. They give the show a weird edge and the sheer repetition gives you that nice punchy feeling like you've been on the same roller coaster a few too many times (albeit a small coaster like the Scooby Doo, not a big coaster like the Loch Ness Monster).

[Denim Gremlin]

personally those kind of calls are some of my favorites, but I'm a fan of weird sorta anti-comedy I guess you might say.

you should never listen to the earlier shows with the Jon Benjamin calls then.

nothing like a 45 minute slow build to nothing.

[Josh]

No.

[scotttsss]

I love them.  The name Ken Rogers is funny in itself for some reason, and I'm always waiting to see if he'll actually get through with the call without getting muted and cut off..while knowing that it's just around the corner.  It could go on forever as far as I'm concerned. 

[Deric W. Haircare]

The Ken Rogers calls are great in kinda the same way as the thimble sketch from Mr. Show. The repetition and the annoyingness are what make them classics.

Of course, most people who I've made watch the thimble sketch just thought it was annoying, so I'm not sure what that says about me.

[buffcoat]

The fact that the Party Zone was called "The Listener-Punishing Party Zone" should be a clue as to its purpose.