Your Favorite Episode

[Dan of Orange]

If I had to pick it would be the Tom at the Beatles convention episode, I've had a couple of conniptions over that one.
Jon says so many funny things ( also follow his Twitter if you're not, ye Gods, he kills every day ) I couldn't pick any one call.

[Stupornaut]

Three top previously-unmentioned candidates (in no particular order):

-August 18, 2009: PATTON OSWALT Gets Metsmerized Live In The Studio! A Caller With A Cursed Family. Matt Fraction Gets Interviewed By The Tombstone Kid And Larry Da Perv Requests A Radio Date With Laurie! (That "Get Metsmerized" bit is maybe one of the funniest things ever deconstructed on the show. The rest is just gravy. Really good gravy.)

-October 3, 2006: Bryce And Reagan. PC Richard. Sam's Town. Atlantic City. The Scary Neighbor. Jim Cramer. The Children Of Ritalin. (I don't know why entirely, but the "Tom creates lyrics about shoplifting and sings them to the PC Richard theme" bit absolutely killed me.)

-November 28, 2006: Pudge And His Reading, A Local Man With Some Money Issues, Talk Of Happy Feet, And Some Of The Worst Callers In The History Of Radio. (Better known as the episode where all those defensive Tom Waits fans call in and "Best Show Law" is established. Also the first episode I listened to where I really "got it" -- I listened to the 10/3 episode later, and before that I mostly just knew about the S&W stuff, which I loved.)

[buffcoat]

I hope Tom's last show ever (when it comes) is very emotional and introspective and then ends with "shut up-shut up-shut up-shut up-shut up-foo" as the sound fades.

I'm a little disappointed in Mr. T Guy.

[Gamma Gamma Ray]

1/17/12 - especially Philly Boy Roy's call from Weirdowood, when he started talking about the never aired again finale of Barney Miller and the episode of "What's Happening Now" when England Dan was the quest star and the kids trash talked John Ford Coley had laughter tears pouring down my face and I had a hard time explaining to my boss what happened.

[Crusherkc]

Been listening to old shows- came across this one again: Jun 28, 2005: Tom Starts To Assemble A List Of The Top 100 Movie Quotes To Counter The Dopey AFI Quotes List. Everybody Calls In! Philly Boy Roy Drops In. And NBA Star Mehmet Okur Calls In To Discuss His Love Of Surfing.

I'm pretty sure that's Jon Glaser as Mehmet the "NBA star" and it's lovely non-Wurster bit. 

Philly Boy Roy shows up during the Best Show movie quote discussion to pump up his "movie" Philly Pride. 

Tons of baaaaaad callers get the Gomp

And anti-Semite, factory-wrapped douche Tommert gets BANNED FOR LIFE for his disgusting comment to MC Steinberg.  "On the Best Show scale you're a sad-sack fellow, your nails are long and your teeth are yellow, I wear nice clothes, my parties are a ball, you're a stupid pothead and your bleep is small, you can't stands me, I'm a rappin' legend, I'm a Best Show breakout, your career is fledgin', you can see my chains through the thickest fog, to see my Uncle Silas check out my blog!"

My movie quote would be from STAR WARS™ "Oh this bath is going to feel so good"

[gogojuice]

My all-time favorite is March 6,2001 when comedian Jon Benjamin calls in as a drunken TV weatherman Cliff Petterson.

I had never heard of the Best Show when I first stumbled across clips of this episode while browsing the WFMU archives. A listener had made a mashup of the bit and entered it in the Best Show song contest. I thought it was REAL! It is absolutely convincing and hysterical! I searched all over the internet for more information about Cliff Petterson and found nothing. Eventually I was thrilled to find the Best Show episode and got to hear the entire call. At that point I still was not aware it was an improvised comedy bit with Jon Benjamin. Strange thing is, I was actually a big fan of Jon's character Ben from the Dr. Katz animated show, and had previously made 'Ben' mix tapes for my friends. It finally hit me when I was making a Cliff Petterson mix tape....I've heard this voice before...

If you've never heard it do yourself a favor and give it a listen.

[YuriDedman]

July 13, 2004: Philly Boy Roy! Skag Winesack! The Party Doctor! Matt Walsh! Petey's Grandmother! The Leader! And Hanging Outside The Holland Tunnel At A Hess Station With Officer Tom And Some Reckless Youth!

To fill time before leaving to do the last half hour of the show in a gas station parking lot, Tom calls up Matt Walsh to talk about Matt Besser's new Comedy Central show, Amy Pholer's SNL success and Ian Roberts' role in the newly-released Anchorman. Walsh then says Terre T's show is better than the Best Show. Tom agrees and they make TV and movies analogies of the shows featuring probably the first ever broadcast mention of Anchorman 2. Tom then leaves for the gas station, still on the air via cell phone, blasting Zeppelin, to meet "The Leader" a caller who works at a gas station and describes himself as covered in tattoos, with a crew cut and 300 lbs. Officer Tom comes along to escort Tom with excitement rivaling that of Murf Vs. Gimghoul. This episode also features a call from a 15-year-old H-Man.

[Jixby Phillips]

That is also my favorite! I was gonna post it but then YOU!!!!!

My second favorite is the first Party Zone episode. I'd heard a small handful of full episodes at that point, but Party Zone 1 came highly recommended from a friend and it made me love the show so much that I embarked on a full listening to the archives because of it.

[icepants]

August 12th 2008 was pretty stand out for me.  This being the pay-off for the H-man build up.  In the weeks leading up to this episode Tom had hinted that he was leaving the show (a constant in-joke on the show) and that he had found his replcement, The H-man.  When the moment finally came about 35mins into the show it was very clear the joke was on us.  The rest of the show is a masterful comedy of errors as Tom spin every small mistake the H-man makes to the shows benefit.  Its quite entertaining to have a consistent straight man for Tom to play off.  The whole show brings the best out of the callers. 

There are many more favorites over the years I've been listening.  Though this one I've re-listened to recently and thought I would share.  Take care FOT.

[justinmh05]

August 12th 2008 was pretty stand out for me.  This being the pay-off for the H-man build up.  In the weeks leading up to this episode Tom had hinted that he was leaving the show (a constant in-joke on the show) and that he had found his replcement, The H-man.  When the moment finally came about 35mins into the show it was very clear the joke was on us.  The rest of the show is a masterful comedy of errors as Tom spin every small mistake the H-man makes to the shows benefit.  Its quite entertaining to have a consistent straight man for Tom to play off.  The whole show brings the best out of the callers. 

The best part of this episode IMO was Tom convincing H-Man to GOMP callers, but he'd leave the caller on the phone for a few seconds to react to being GOMPed.

The first time, a woman was in the middle of a story. H-Man interrupted with a "Get off my phone". A few seconds of silence. The women replies: "...Okay?". And then H-Man offered a timid, "Sorry."

[Epic Soundtracks]

Track Jacket Chat

don't know where else to put this but it's great...maybe this is from a past year's premium?

[Kal_El]

I don't know if it's my favorite episode but my favorite moment is from July 2nd 2013... The caller who built lasers who said "Mashed Potatoes?" It was one of those moments where I was laughing so hard and uncontrollably, I was actually embarrassed. It was the sound of confusion in his voice that got me... I seriously wondered if he had never heard of mashed potatoes before.

[Steve of Bloomington]

As I said in the other thread, mine is:

June 15, 2010: The Legendary PAUL F TOMPKINS Is Live In The Studio Along With Puppet WALLY WACKIMAN And Tom's Protegee THE H-MAN! A Call From DAMIAN From F'ed Up. The Musical Pacings Of The West Wing Are Discussed And More! You Can't Miss This One!

I'm a fairly new FOT, and this is the show that got me to transition from just listening to the Gems podcast to downloading full episodes and listening live. Aside from a brief slow start, it's hilarious end to end. Milo's call about D&D, Tom and PFT's faux-interest in an epically boring Michael-K.-from-the-Cynics anecdote, Tom's "all fives" story about an unscrupulous car repairman, Tom razzing the H-Man about getting a job, a caller suggesting that Wally appear in corporate training videos, the West Wing music bit... there's more, too. Just amazing.

OMG. I was the dude who gave Wally the career advice. Figured my call was an epic flame-out. It was a pretty great episode though.

[Denim Gremlin]

Been listening to old shows- came across this one again: Jun 28, 2005: Tom Starts To Assemble A List Of The Top 100 Movie Quotes To Counter The Dopey AFI Quotes List. Everybody Calls In! Philly Boy Roy Drops In. And NBA Star Mehmet Okur Calls In To Discuss His Love Of Surfing.

I'm pretty sure that's Jon Glaser as Mehmet the "NBA star" and it's lovely non-Wurster bit. 

Philly Boy Roy shows up during the Best Show movie quote discussion to pump up his "movie" Philly Pride. 

Tons of baaaaaad callers get the Gomp

And anti-Semite, factory-wrapped douche Tommert gets BANNED FOR LIFE for his disgusting comment to MC Steinberg.  "On the Best Show scale you're a sad-sack fellow, your nails are long and your teeth are yellow, I wear nice clothes, my parties are a ball, you're a stupid pothead and your bleep is small, you can't stands me, I'm a rappin' legend, I'm a Best Show breakout, your career is fledgin', you can see my chains through the thickest fog, to see my Uncle Silas check out my blog!"

My movie quote would be from STAR WARS™ "Oh this bath is going to feel so good"

I was going to pick this one myself as it was the first Best Show episode I ever heard, when Philly Boy Roy described Alan Iverson killing Bruce Springsteen with the Rocky statue while saying "you'll like it in hell it's a lot like New Jersey" i knew i was hooked forever.

I'll add my personal favorite

June 5, 2007: The Gorch Finally Reaches The WFMU Studios To Murder Tom! Philly Boy Roy Stops By And Takes Control Of The Station, Interviewing Ben Gibbard In The Process. Plus Another Interview With Ken Rogers. Hall Of Fame, People!

I don't even know where to begin with this one, It's just perfect

[Dennis]

I recently listened to September 24, 2003, and Tom singing most of the 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' album to a troubled teen is all-time great moment.