Pepper Hicks A.K.A. Chris Tanley

The producer of my current "go-to" radio program, The Ron & Fez Show on Sirius.

Marc Maron

"The Facts, the Fury, the Funny."

Morning Sedition (how can you not love a show that gives the finger to NPR right in the title?), on the fledgeling Air America network, was the perfect rowdy morning cocktail of politics and humor. With the jittery, overcaffeinated hand of comedian Marc Maron on the tiller, the show veered from lefty political diatribes and indie-culture guests, to tightly-scripted comedy bits and wildly improvisational locker-room conversations. It was fast-paced and funny as hell, and they had as much fun at the expense of liberals (which is to say themselves) as of the conservative straw men of the day. It was the perfect show to graduate to when you grew out of Howard Stern, so naturally Air America cancelled it the same week that Stern abdicated his audience of 20 million listeners.

Recently Maron started a twice-a-week podcast, and I got instantly addicted. I miss the cast of characters of his old show, but an hour-long window straight into Maron's head turns out to be a f--king great thing.

WTF with Marc Maron podcast here. A continuous stream of comedy bits compiled from the old Morning Sedition shows can be heard here.

Ron and Fez discuss St. Patrick's Day

The Ron & Fez Show, XM Radio, 3/18/09:

RON: "Isn't it sad we have to go so far to another St. Pat's Day? Which means at least a year until Fez suffers from alcohol-related Bell's palsy again. I'll tell you something else, too, Fezzy, when you drink, uh,--what am I trying to say?--it's hard not to smother you. It's hard not to."

FEZ: "Just to put me out of my misery, or the annoyance factor?"

RON: "It isn't so much to put you out of your misery, it's a Natasha Richardson thing of, does this make sense to go on anymore. We get e-mails here: 'It sounds like Fez does not enjoy life, why don't you do him a favor and end it for him?'"

FEZ: "Well that would be murder. That would be murder in the first degree, because I'm sure it would be premeditated, it would be planned out."

RON: "Yes, it is."

Sleeves

I stumbled across the most marvelous podcast the other day.

Somewhere in the woods of New Hampshire, an elderly gentleman named Sherwin Sleeves sits in a log cabin, murmuring ghost stories in a profoundly resonant, English-accented rumble. Sherwin himself may only be a story--or a ghost, of a kind. But after listening to his work you may find your notions of identity to be... temporarily more fluid.

Since joining the mp3 generation, I've never come across an audio download that held me so spellbound. You have to give Sherwin a little time to work his magic, but trust me, he delivers.

"Atoms, Motion & the Void" episode archive