Podcast: The College Years: Mad Libs

9th April 2010

Co-hosted by Brian Lane and Arthur Gauss, this week’s show has artist Brandon Bird, author Geoffrey Nunberg, and comedians Jimmy Pardo and Shelley Berman.

Episode notes

The College Years is a look deep into the vaults of The Sound of Young America. Take a journey with us every week as we post a new program or two from our salad days.

Today’s theme: Mad Libs. Brian “Business, Never Personal” Lane and Arthur Gauss both co-host with Jesse on today’s TSOYA.

Brandon Bird is an artist (and fellow UCSC grad) whose paintings reference pop culture and historical figures; he was an artist-in-residence at Risley Residential College at Cornell University and is a regular contributor to The Believer. He talks to us about creating a “Law and Order” coloring book and performs a dramatic reading of the frankly hysterical tale of “Butt Tinkie,” dreamed up by his four-year-old self.

Jimmy Pardo, comedian and host of the weekly podcast Never Not Funny, talks about the gift of a Gentlemen’s Chest, his mom, and his worst television performance ever.

We’re joined next by Geoffrey Nunberg, Fresh Air’s in-house linguist and author of Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Confrontational Times. Geoffrey shares his insights on popular language usage, from “nucular” to “like”.

We close it out with the legendary comic Shelley Berman, winner of the first-ever Best Comedy Album at the Grammy Awards of 1960 and a founding member of The Second City.

In this episode...

Guests

  • Brandon Bird
  • Jimmy Pardo
  • Geoffrey Nunberg
  • Shelley Berman

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