- Never Not Funny
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Never Not Funny Hosting Jimmy Pardo
Matt BelknapLanguage English Updates Mondays Length Approx. 1½ Hours Camera Eliot Hochberg Production Matt Belknap Video format MP4 Audio format MP3 Debut April 4, 2006 Genre Comedy Website http://www.pardcast.com Never Not Funny is a weekly podcast hosted by comedian Jimmy Pardo since Spring 2006. He and producer Matt Belknap have appeared in every episode. Former co-host Mike Schmidt appeared for all of season one, except for episode 60 when his departure was announced.
Since March 2008, the show moved to a pay format, with the first twenty minutes of each show remaining available to non-paying subscribers. Episodes from past seasons are also commercially available.[1]
Contents
Show Format
The show is of the comedy talk variety, consisting of free-form conversation between Jimmy Pardo, Matt Belknap and a third, weekly-changing guest. Topics discussed range from music and popular culture to personal life and amusing or interesting anecdotes. Starting with season three, the last 5–20 minutes are dedicated to a listener-submitted "Stupid Question Of The Week." At the beginning of season five, they introduced a new segment called "Judge Jimmy," where Pardo is a judge, Belknap and the guest are the attorneys and they settle a listener-submitted dispute.
Until the end of the third season, the show was recorded in a single take without any editing. After the Chino, CA earthquake in August 2008 forced the show to stop briefly (originally so Jimmy, Matt and guest Patton Oswalt could check on family members) the podcast has had one small break per episode.
History
The original idea was to do an audio podcast version of Jimmy's Los Angeles show "Running Your Trap." The first episode featured him and Matt Belknap and guest Mike Schmidt. Pat Francis was scheduled for episode 2, but when he was unavailable, Schmidt (usually referred to by Pardo as "The Former Third Baseman" after the similarly named baseball player) became the permanent co-host. This became the arrangement for the show for the first season.
Every fourth episode would have a guest such as Pat Francis, Scott Aukerman or Graham Elwood. Midway through the first season the theme song was changed from a small portion of an unnamed instrumental song by Jimmy's close friend Daver to "Mad At The World" by Daver, with sound bites from previous episodes mixed into the song. This three-man setup lasted sixty episodes, including a clip show and two live shows recorded at the UCB Theater in Los Angeles. The show went through little change throughout the first season until episode sixty, when Jimmy announced that his relationship with Mike Schmidt had become strained through the years and that they had decided to go their separate ways; Mike left the show in an attempt to reconcile their friendship. (Show notes for episode 60.)
Mike explained the situation on May 25, 2007, on his website.[2] In March 2008, Mike started his own solo podcast named The 40 Year Old Boy.
With Schmidt's departure, the show began its second season. Instead of a standard three-man lineup, now only Pardo and Belknap were regulars, with a rotating guest every episode. Pat Francis was the guest for the first episode, which began the new tradition of Francis being the "third chair" and appearing on every fourth episode. It was in the second season that the show received its first sponsorship, lasting only a few weeks. On episode 39 of the second season, it was announced that the show would be moving to a pay format, beginning with season three. Listeners would have to pay to continue receiving the complete podcast, although the first twenty minutes of each episode would still be available for free. The subscription price was set to $19.99 for 26 episodes. They also hired Pardo's brother-in-law Andrew Koenig to record video of the show. Only 5 minute clips of the show were available on video during season three and was hosted on Koenig's site Monkey Go Lucky, but at the beginning of season four full video of the show was available for $24.99. Midway through season six tragedy struck when Andrew Koenig died. Andrew's close friend Eliot Hochberg, who had been providing the video gear, took his role as videographer. They also hired an intern, Dan Katz, aka "Tabasco Ears", who is often heard on mic. Several years after his departure from the show, Mike Schmidt made his first return to the podcast, this time as a guest, at the end of season six after Jimmy decided, "Life's too short." (Show notes for Episode 623 with Mike Schmidt.)
The show is currently midway through its ninth season.
Awards
- Never Not Funny was the winner a 2008 Rooftop Comedy Award for best Comedy podcast.[3]
- Never Not Funny was nominated for a 2007 Podcast Award in the Comedy category.[4]
- Never Not Funny was nominated for a 2006 Weblog Award.[5]
- Never Not Funny was made one of iTunes' "Best in 2006" and "Best in 2007" podcasts.
List of guests
Guest Episode # Adam Carolla 507 Adam Scott 808 Aisha Tyler 919 Al Madrigal 701, 902 Allan Havey 806 Andrew Daly 302, 421, 624, 805 Andy Kindler 220, 703, 913 Andy Richter 410, 622, 821 Bil Dwyer 148, 317, 422, 601 Cathy Ladman 236, 416 Chris Fairbanks 228, 406, 510, 625 Chris Hardwick 224, 310, 502 Conan O'Brien 608, 811 Craig Bierko 802 Damien Fahey 910 Danielle Koenig 132, 155, 205, 211, 226, 230, 239, 308, 412, 425, 522, 725, 912 Dave Anthony 901 Dave Holmes 222, 225, 233, 301, 314, 401, 414, 512, 617, 726 Doug Benson 232, 305, 407, 516 Ed Crasnick 917 Eddie Trunk 816 Ellis Paul 810 Gary Lucy 923 Graham Elwood 116, 203, 207, 237, 319, 418, 521, 616, 814 Greg Behrendt 318, 603, 702, 825 Greg Fitzsimmons 505 Greg Proops 709 Jackie Kashian 718 Janet Varney 419, 506, 708, 824 Jen Kirkman 409, 515, 622, 807 Jesse Thorn 503, 607, 707, 920 Jimmy Dore 144, 220, 316, 423, 605, 711 Joe Lo Truglio 618, 823 John Heffron 221 John Ross Bowie 916 Jon Hamm 403, 721, 820 Jordan Morris 613 Ken Marino 909 Kevin Pollak 716 Laurie Kilmartin 621, 818 Marc Maron 610 Maria Bamford 208, 234, 401, 526, 907 Mark Volman 517 Matt Besser 622 Matt Braunger 513, 719 Matt Walsh 313, 415, 518 Mike Schmidt 623, 722 Mike Siegel 124, 212, 235, 322, 420, 614 Mike Sweeney 713 Moshe Kasher 921 Myq Kaplan 915 Pat Francis 108, 140, 201, 205, 209, 213, 215, 217, 220, 221, 229, 230, 236, 240, 303, 307, 311, 315, 320, 325, 404, 408, 413, 416, 420, 425, 504, 508, 514, 519, 523, 604, 609, 619, 622, 704, 710, 714, 723, 804, 817, 906, 922 Patton Oswalt 321, 812 Paul F. Tompkins 128, 202, 214, 231, 309, 326, 426, 602, 715 Paul Gilmartin 104, 120, 204, 223, 239, 324, 424, 524, 822 Paul Goebel 130 Paul Rust 615 Pete Holmes 803 Pete Schwaba 152, 209, 216 Rachel Quaintance 417, 525, 620, 801 Rebecca Corry 905 Rich Sommer 612, 815 Rob Corddry 312, 402 Russ McGarry 903 Samm Levine 520 Sarah Silverman 706 Scott Aukerman 112, 130, 156, 206, 219, 227, 238, 304, 323, 411, 501, 626, 724, 826, 924 Scott Thompson 720 Sean Cullen 819 The Sklar Brothers 210, 218, 509 Steve Almond 705 Todd Glass 136, 306, 405, 511, 611, 809, 908 Todd Levin 606, 717 Tom Wilson 911 Ty Burrell 712, 914 Wayne Federman 918 Wil Anderson 904 Will Forte 813 List of Seasons
Season Episodes Bonus Episodes Originally Broadcast Co-host Free Version Primo Version(s) Video Notes Season 1 60 – April 4, 2006–May 22, 2007 Mike Schmidt
Matt BelknapFull episode – – – Season 2 40 – June 1, 2007–March 7, 2008 Matt Belknap Full episode – "Jimmy Cam" YouTube clip – Season 3 26 3 March 19, 2008–September 10, 2008 Matt Belknap First 20 minutes Full audio 5 short clips per episode
After season 8, full episodes available for purchase– Season 4 26 6 September 24, 2008–April 1, 2009 Matt Belknap First 20 minutes Full audio & video Full episode – Season 5 26 7 April 15, 2009–October 7, 2009 Matt Belknap First 20 minutes Full audio & video Full episode – Season 6 26 5 October 21, 2009-May 5, 2010 Matt Belknap First 20 minutes Full audio & video Full episode – Season 7 26 5 May 19, 2010-November 10, 2010 Matt Belknap First 20 minutes Full audio & video Full episode – Season 8 26 6 November 24, 2010-May 25, 2011 Matt Belknap First 20 minutes Full audio & video Full episode – Season 9 26 - June 6,2011- Matt Belknap First 20 minutes Full audio & video Full episode – Primo Bonus Episodes
Main article: Never Not Funny Primo Bonus EpisodesNever Not Funny: Volume One
Main article: Never Not Funny: Volume OnePardcast-A-Thon
Main article: Pardcast-A-ThonEvery year since season six, on the day after Thanksgiving, Pardo, Belknap and "third chair" Pat Francis host a live, streaming marathon podcast on Ustream in front of a live audience to raise money for the Smile Train organization. The first year, they went for 9 hours and raised over $12,000. The second year was an even better success with them raising over $26,000 after 12 hours. Pardo said that it made sense to choose Smile Train as their official charity because both him and Pat Francis coincidentally suggested it, but also because "comedy and smiles go together."[6]
External links
References
- ^ http://pardcast.com/premium.php
- ^ Mike Schmidt Comedy » Blog Archive » Change, Nothin’ Stays The Same…
- ^ [1]
- ^ PodCastAwards.com
- ^ The 2006 Weblog Awards: Nominations - Best Podcast
- ^ [2]
Seasons Related articles Categories:- Audio podcasts
- Comedy and humor podcasts
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