I have been listening to this podcast for so long that I remember when it was titled “I Love Movies”. I came across it when I was looking for something in the Movie genre to augment my catalogue. At the time I was listening to the “Filmspotting” podcast. During that new search I came across this creation of Doug Benson’s.
The framework is Doug hosting a live panel of three guests, who are fellow comedians. Things generally take place at the UCB Theatre on Tuesday’s before Comedy Bang Bang. But there are many variations of this theme. There have been episodes with one guest (any “Rental Car” episode or Paul F. Tompkins voicing Cake Boss (Cake Boss) and Ice-T) or more than three guests (check out the 12 Guests of Christmas episodes). Or episodes which did not take place at the UCB Theatre. And there have been guests who are not comedians which doesn’t mean they weren’t funny (director Graham Elwood comes to mind).
After the opening guest introductions there is cinematic discussion but it’s more along the lines of “What movie(s) have you seen lately?” For road warrior comedians, this involves a lot of in-flight movies or going to current releases during daytime hours. Their up to the minute viewpoints have saved me from making some big mistakes in my own film going. Thanks Doug and panel members.
Then it’s down to business as Doug leads the panel through the Leonard Maltin Game. This is like Name That Tune reimagined by someone who is high (Hello again Doug). The contestants go through a bidding round where the person who says they can name a movie in the fewest cast member names has to try and guess the movie. Their clues come from the cast listing in Leonard Maltin’s popular movie guide (hence the Leonard Maltin Game) and they are read from the bottom up with the more obscure cast members coming first. Just listen a few times if you don’t understand that explanation. Oh, and the panel members are also playing for audience members who will receive pop culture swag if their contestant triumphs (generally first person to three points). The Leonard Maltin Game is funny, often surprisingly competitive, and you can try to guess along.
If you pick this up as a subscriber going forward, make sure you go back through the older episodes for some great moments. They are identified by a list of who is on each panel. My favorites are:
Doug’s running effort to get John Lithgow to come on the show which results in a smashingly success episode.
The inevitable appearances of Leonard Maltin himself (not a great player of the Game by the way).
The only time an episode was bleeped when Doug removed comments Elizabeth Shue made about her director on Hollow Man, Paul Verhoeven (apparently he favored more nudity. She disagreed.)
I could go on about Build A Title, audience name tags, the prize bag and the many great recurring guests…but …do yourself a favor and give this a try. It’s been a must download for me since I first came across it.
