Just listened to Artie Lang and Lisa Lampanelli's appearances. Wow, having them on the same stage as Adam really highlights how much worse at this they are than he is. Don't get me wrong, Adam isn't perfect, but Artie is just a hack laughing at his own jokes and Lisa isn't doing insult comedy, she's just doing stupid insults. I have no idea why Adam is constantly talking about how good they are, they're terrible and the contrast is sharp.
A majority of comedians aren't really that funny off stage and most aren't in front of a crowd unless prepared. Adam took a ton of improv classes to get where he is. I know it's ranked 20th on the things he says about himself but it is really important. He also has developed a ton of crutches and fall back lines to always go to. Lisa L is funny as hell and Artie Lange damn good too. That guy has stuck around after setting his career on fire multiple times.
I was about to mention this in my last post. Ive been listening to Classic Loveline and there are a good majority of his big bits he always mentions today that he was using near twenty years ago on Loveline. Bits that he brings up that went on to become Man Show bits and still brings up on the podcast. It's kind of cool to see his progression. The earliest Lovelines with Adam, he is trying way to hard to push his comedy into every line. They have released about a year or two into his tenure and you can hear him relaxing and letting the comedy build from the situation. They played a call on the podcast which was probably from 5-7 years into his Loveline run where he gives advice to a phone sex operator (a hilarious call he suggest using subliminal references to the holocaust to lengthen the calls). It is flat out hilarious.
People on his subreddit give him tons of shit for retelling the same stories or doing the same bits. The guy comes up with TONS of new material on a daily basis along with doing live shows, writing books, etc. Given that amount of content, Im shocked he how little he reuses bits or stories.
I agree... for the occasional repeated topic/rant every few weeks, it seems like the days and hours of original content is forgotten. Sure, he re-uses stuff, but I haven't found it to be re-used so much that it's tired or played out.
Jesus Christ, Iliza Schlesinger is consistently a fucking terrible guest. Stupid slow on the uptake, not funny, weirdly combative on bits.
She really does not mesh well with this show. Im pretty sure she was one of the try out news girls when they were trying to find a replacement for Teresa.
Ultimately it's just one of the downsides of a daily 90 minute show: guest booking. That's got to be tough so he has a stable of comedian friends he can rely on and I guess she's on the list. I just wish more of them were actually funny or interesting to listen to instead of pure gap filler. Or that he'd prune a couple of the worst.
All in all, though, I've found his good:bad very, very solid, so am willing to cut him some slack when it's a bad guest or show.
It's the straight radio format that is just recorded as a podcast. As regimented as it is they end up with a lot of people on press tours and then friends of the show.
Shes my least favorite guest, followed shortly by Jo Koy. The bits just arent that funny. Adam Ray, Kevin Nealon, and DFG are my favorite guests. As for his formatting, people give him a lot of shit for interrupting the show with commercials. Clearly its a good thing though, considering they went from sponsors like Mangrate to Mazda and Napa Auto Parts in three years.
Joy is a pretty funny guy who can tell some really funny stories and have funny conversations, I just think Adam finds that one schtick he does really funny and pigeon-holes him into it every time. You can hear Joy bitch about it and push back, but Adam basically says, "dance, monkey boy... my pirate ship, my rules". Same goes for DAG a bit... he's also a really funny guy, but I've pretty well had it with those Teddy Pendergrass routines. They were funny the first 5 times, not so much the last 20. It's kind of Adam's cycle... he discovers something funny, then he gets comfortable with it and learns how to play off it, and then milks it for a while until something new comes up. He never really hits on something and treats it as a one-off... it's material to be honed and reused for future laughs. I think his only failing is not having the situational awareness to back off before it gets stale. And I'm also finding that Gina is really hitting her stride over the last couple of weeks... she's been more active in the funny, not just laughing. And Brian has had some really, really funny zingers lately... I'm thinking the brain tumour effects are waning even more.
He's another one of those people, like DAG, that Im not sure if they ever turn off their high energy weirdness ever. I thought he's appearance was good enough. Jay Mohr, another never turned off personality, was hilarious this past week. I can see his Rhode Island character being a new Bung Lu Su on the show. I don't know if they could ever work the logistics out or if Adam would even want to do something of this nature, but I think a comedy tour ala Opie and Anthony's a few years back. Like 10 shows across the east and west coast with a handful of rotating comics that are stalwarts on his show.