The Todd Glass Show #86, Paul F. Tompkins & Jen Kirkman
The Todd Glass Show tends to live or die by its guests, so I knew that this latest episode, with Paul F. Tompkins and Jen (F.) Kirkman, would be a winner. For one thing, the two are great friends, and clearly love each other's (sometimes divergent) senses of humour. For another, both are always wonderful on the show, but for different reasons. Kirkman is always game for whatever silliness transpires, and she has a great gift for picking the best possible moment for an unexpected callback. Tompkins, on the other hand, prefers to get deep into why things are funny, stopping a show in its tracks in order to really flesh out a bit he likes. Both are also fantastic at making Todd Glass laugh, Kirkman by quickly finding a slightly different take on what was just said, and Tompkins by continually questioning Glass on his usual rambling monologues. And most of this latest episode had some of the funniest interactions ever for the show. As usual, however, to get to them you have to sit through about half an hour of political talking points. Glass has embraced his "serious" side more and more as his podcast has gone along, but I tend to prefer when it's quarantined off to its own episodes. In this case, it stopped some serious riffing before it really got going, and made for quite a roadblock in what should've been a completely fun episode. All the talkers seem passionate about different topics, so there's no real through-line to everything, and it all just sounds like bad talk radio the whole segment.
Once that's over, however, the show manages to recapture the energy it had as it started. The Todd Glass Show has now solidified its free-for-all vibe, which means that Kirkman and Tompkins jump right into bits even before Glass officially announces the start of the show. He muses that listeners might wonder why he plays the theme song every episode, and instantly Kirkman and Tompkins are acting out a couple who call into the show asking that. It's a wonder that the guests can keep track of every bit they create, but those characters manage to come back several times throughout the episode. The Todd Glass Show also encourages getting lost in bits, and this episode is probably the best example of that. As soon as a new bit is established, Glass will eagerly pause it in order to decide the specifics of the characters and their histories, while Tompkins will describe exactly which minor piece of information he finds the funniest, and Kirkman will cut in with some comment even more hilarious than what's being discussed. It's all unbelievably funny, but what's most wonderful is that the three will rarely actually get anywhere with a bit. They'll just discuss it to death, and it ends up being even more enjoyable than if it unfolded normally. Very few things actually happen in this episode, even as it's one of the funniest ones the show's ever done.
Looking back on the episode, it's funny just how much time passes while Glass is building to other bits he wants to do. As soon as they jump back into the regular show, he wants Tompkins and Kirkman to weigh in on a couple of bits he did last week with Rory Scovel. But the three are having so much fun digging deep into these bits that neither ends up happening in the end. The centrepiece to the episode is a masterpiece of comic repetition, something that's often the show's best feature. Glass introduces an inane novelty song to which the only lyrics are "more taters, ma," and the three pretend to try to replicate it but end up going more and more off-course. Eventually, Tompkins repeatedly asks to hear the original before each try, sometimes twice in a row, which Glass eagerly concedes, even thanking Tompkins each time for his consideration. By the end of the bit, we've heard the 15-second song so many times that it's eaten up about ten minutes of the show. And by the last fifteen or so minutes, everything's gotten so dense that Glass, Tompkins, and Kirkman start layering on callbacks to earlier in the show, ones so specific that they seem planned out in advance. They bring the show back to the first bit that started it, the two listeners calling in, but in an oblique way that's absolutely inspired. It's a masterclass in long-form comedy, and yet it's entirely improvised. Everyone is so sincere and positive, and having so much fun doing it, that it really points to podcasting as something completely new. And even though the Todd Glass Show is sprawling and uneven by design, episodes like this just confirm how much magic can really happen when all the pieces align.
Once that's over, however, the show manages to recapture the energy it had as it started. The Todd Glass Show has now solidified its free-for-all vibe, which means that Kirkman and Tompkins jump right into bits even before Glass officially announces the start of the show. He muses that listeners might wonder why he plays the theme song every episode, and instantly Kirkman and Tompkins are acting out a couple who call into the show asking that. It's a wonder that the guests can keep track of every bit they create, but those characters manage to come back several times throughout the episode. The Todd Glass Show also encourages getting lost in bits, and this episode is probably the best example of that. As soon as a new bit is established, Glass will eagerly pause it in order to decide the specifics of the characters and their histories, while Tompkins will describe exactly which minor piece of information he finds the funniest, and Kirkman will cut in with some comment even more hilarious than what's being discussed. It's all unbelievably funny, but what's most wonderful is that the three will rarely actually get anywhere with a bit. They'll just discuss it to death, and it ends up being even more enjoyable than if it unfolded normally. Very few things actually happen in this episode, even as it's one of the funniest ones the show's ever done.
Looking back on the episode, it's funny just how much time passes while Glass is building to other bits he wants to do. As soon as they jump back into the regular show, he wants Tompkins and Kirkman to weigh in on a couple of bits he did last week with Rory Scovel. But the three are having so much fun digging deep into these bits that neither ends up happening in the end. The centrepiece to the episode is a masterpiece of comic repetition, something that's often the show's best feature. Glass introduces an inane novelty song to which the only lyrics are "more taters, ma," and the three pretend to try to replicate it but end up going more and more off-course. Eventually, Tompkins repeatedly asks to hear the original before each try, sometimes twice in a row, which Glass eagerly concedes, even thanking Tompkins each time for his consideration. By the end of the bit, we've heard the 15-second song so many times that it's eaten up about ten minutes of the show. And by the last fifteen or so minutes, everything's gotten so dense that Glass, Tompkins, and Kirkman start layering on callbacks to earlier in the show, ones so specific that they seem planned out in advance. They bring the show back to the first bit that started it, the two listeners calling in, but in an oblique way that's absolutely inspired. It's a masterclass in long-form comedy, and yet it's entirely improvised. Everyone is so sincere and positive, and having so much fun doing it, that it really points to podcasting as something completely new. And even though the Todd Glass Show is sprawling and uneven by design, episodes like this just confirm how much magic can really happen when all the pieces align.