Who will face Doug Loves Movies in the next round of the Fan Podcast Championship? Will it be the mirth faced masters of the joyous misery circus Greg Behrendt and Dave Anthony of Walking The Room? Or Will Tom Scharpling’s majestically squired ‘The Best Show,’ our only proper radio show entry (WFMU), prove too strong? Find out below!
Greg Behrendt and Dave Anthony. Photo by Paul Armstrong
Hosts: The major link between these two shows, despite all their differences, is their insistence on creating something different and exceptional. An idea tuned directly from the hosts of course, WTR utilising a brutal honesty and searing humour to undercut and embrace the constant disasters of existence; whilst The Best Show is an expert utilisation of the grumpy fun and deliberate stylings of Tom Scharpling. Behrendt and Anthony have what some would call a classic bromance, one second at loggerheads, the next sympathetically cuddling one another, leaping from aggression to collaboration with an instantaneous fervour and delight. They both relish the opportunity to delve into things would rarely even discuss in private, instead displaying a wondrous sense of understanding, and ally this with such an easy transformation of the macabre into the ridiculous and comic that is often almost applause worthy. Scharpling does something similar, turning a program as simple as a call-in show into an amazing display of control, comedy and presence. His manner is so deliberate, patient and powerful that it grants all his pronouncements with a distinct element of self-evident truth, whilst his humour somehow melds the esoteric and instantly accessible all at once. The way he manages to transform The Best Show into such a monument is exclusively impressive, displaying an elite level of skill in broadcasting that is a lesson to any amateur. Tom Scharplings ability to herald this goliath is what gives him this round though, his deliberate manner so enthralling and specific to himself.
Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster. Photo by Steven Brahms
Feel/Humour: In what they present, the shows are as similar as they are different. WTR is every inch the festival of joy in despair, deserate revelry, marvelling inthe broken and decrepit bits of life and their on lives in a way at once brutally funny and distinctly human. Possessing an impressive grasp of manufacturing very stupid comedy from some less than fun scenarios, they are able to utilise the medium wonderfully, as they are allowed the space and time to converse openly and sometimes obscenely, they talk discontentment into comedy. Scharpling pulls from a similar pool, crying foul of his false position at the bottom of the ladder, claiming pariah status for a world too slow to appreciate his magic. Much of this is exaggerate for effect of course, but it is exaggeration from a place of defiant truth and self-belief that is justified by his blatant hilarity. Playing with an art of deliberate stance and wording, he uses the show as a megaphone for his many opinions, benefitting from all his callers, be they randoms or regulars. These regulars too have their part to play in weaving the show, offering threads of various parts lunacy and insight, chief among these being the creations of Jon Wurster. Whose contributions bring a marvellous level of farce and excitement to the show that it would obviously otherwise lack. But Walking The Room take this, their distinct and almost bizarre fascination with collapse tying in with their strange bromance to make something decisively great.
Walking The Room Celebrates
Independent Spirit: The definitive link of both these shows, and the should-be hallmark of all podcasts is their spirit of independence. Much as The Best Show is a radio show, it is on a fiercely independent station, and Scharpling is just as eager to have his show defined solely by him as they are. It is neither a show that would do well with advertising, nor particularly work well if it’s sole purpose was to hook in listeners through purposeful controversy or difficulty, instead it is a law unto itself. Behrendt and Anthony also possess this, daring difference in a crowded marketplace, they have created a show that wouldn’t succeed on television or on radio. Their aims, conversations and their self definition would make them a cuckolded beast on professional broadcasting. It is this that is both shows grandest achievement, forging their own paths through specific demands of themselves to exceed and to be different. But, I feel, in the end, the point and game have to go to Walking The Room.
So Walking The Room takes on Doug Loves Movies in two weeks time! Next week we’ll go through the second group of four, to find our second semi finalist! Until then though, you can find both podcasts on iTunes, or The Best Show on WFMU on Tuesdays. They are also all on twitter, @GregBehrendt, @DaveAnthony and @Scharpling