Great Western Forum

I’ve been listening to both shows for ages now and even named a WoW character after Chipdipson, a fake name that JJGO! made up awhile back.

I’d say that the episode did feel a little different from what I’m used to, but it was interesting.

Although I don’t 100% agree with the hating on the forums, it does make for an interesting read while killing time at work.

wog - Oct 5th 2009 @ 08:34 pm

...99% of this hating comes from just not being familiar with others’ vibe…

My conclusion is that Jesse can be really obnoxious, and was more so this time because he is a horribly insecure striver who lacks much self-awareness (at least doesn’t realize how grating his behaviors are) and subtly diminishes people he is threatened by or jealous of. I don’t see how anyone can not hear that.

Wog, at this point my perspective is more than just a sense from listening to this episode. It’s informed by the fact that Jesse personally deleted the post I made on the maxfun board, and then he and I exchanged a number of pm’s that only betrayed the depth of his insecurity. Consider the Hate Mail thread on the maxfun board. The notes about Jesse’s personal anecdotes, interrupting, etc. are so on point… like this poster who wrote concerning Jesse’s other show - The Sound of Young America:

Finally, I will say that I do think the one hate mailer had another valid point in that you do often seem to interrupt the flow of your interviews with personal anecdotes which come across as nonsensical, again in the context of the professional entity which “The Sound of Young America” has become. I find myself cringing when you stop the flow of the interviews to tell stories about your own life, because that’s not what the show is about anymore. The show is about the people you interview, not about the host. “Jordan, Jesse Go” is a great place for that personal stuff and your dry humor about being a “Radio Sweetheart.” When interviewing these higher level guests like Terry Jones, however, it makes no sense to shift the focus from the guests to your personal stories or about identifying yourself every five minutes as a “Radio Sweetheart.” It shows a certain disrespect for the time these busy people have granted you for the interview process, and comes across as mildly delusional in that the listener who tunes in to listen to Maria Bamford is not going to want to hear about your personal experiences with unemployment or disappointment about your prematurely receding hairline.

So, yeah, not being familiar with JJGo is one issue, but I think the main thing people are bothered by is Jesse’s seeming lack of respect/obtuseness for something they are passionate about.

The thing about forgetting Seth’s name, and then even calling attention to the fact he forgot it in the beginning of the show could be dismissed as just what can happen with busy media personalities. But, I think most of us know that forgetting or not paying attention to someone’s name is a classic move by dicks who are trying to establish some kind of power dynamic.

And the thing about Jesse always espousing the virtues of dressing well, “like an adult”, “like a man” and giving Jah shit cloakjoke style about wearing a tee and sweat-shorts smacks of over-compensation for not feeling masculine enough himself. He’s always talking about what a pussy he is and how he has, and would run from any kind of physical confrontation. (not that I’m advocating violence, just that I think it’s lame for a self-described pussy to suggest to Jonathan that he needs to dress tweedy in order to be more adult/manly.)

To further illustrate Jesse’s bitchy-babyness, the thing I posted on the maxfun forum was (as clear as I can remember it):

Seth wasn’t given any space to Seth-it-up.

Didn’t really like this episode. made me tense. nervous.

JJGo is like my fat cousin, that I love and all, but I just felt weird when she made out with my cool friend.

that’s all it was.

And, rather than letting that post stand… for people to comment on, or tell me I’m an asshole or whatever, he deleted it and sent me a private message saying, “calling our show a “fat cousin” is totally innapropriate.” [sic]

Seriously???

After deleting it, he claimed the post contained “vitriol” and “personal attack”, but of course nobody could see it to confirm that.

I’m sorry, but all of that (and more stuff that I won’t quote from our pms) just demonstrates that there are some issues with that guy.

[I’ll add that I did feel like it was unnecessary to dis Jesse on his own turf. If a JJGo fan did that up in here, I’d hate that guy. So, I shouldn’t have even bothered registering a negative opinion over there and harshing their vibe, but it would have been so much to Jesse’s benefit to have let it stand and allow his minions to come to his defense and tear me up than to police the un-praiseworthy posts.]

If you can’t tell, I vacillate between being sharply, critically verbose and then feeling bad and being apologetically verbose. (have I beaten for short yet on sheer character count?)

I really don’t think there should be a UYD/JJGo rivalry though.

I think Adam Corolla is a fuckin dick too, and I’ll listen to his shits when I run out of everything else or I’ve already hit 4 UYD eps in a row. It was unfortunate that there were some uncomfortable moments in the JJGo show, but it still can be enjoyed… if for nothing else than to hear Jonathan and Seth make the best out of a weird set-up. And, even with the occasional annoyances, Jesse’s interviews with other comedians are really good and way more candid and revealing than you get from other interview formats.

Still, I kinda want to kick him in his wool houndstooth taco but whatevs

I thought it was fascinating to hear UYD out of their element… I would have loved to hear more from them on JJGo, but that’s the way it goes. I didn’t like UYD being called slackers and I thought it was class act of Jah to speak of Seth’s work ethic. Anyone who has watched a single video to see all the index cards on the couch knows better.

Most of all I was thrilled to hear that the Brooklyn show will be video’d! Can’t wait!

I checked out that JJGo forum. I even tried to join, but I never got a conformation email. I think they are on to me. My choice of screen name might have tipped them.

Let me give you a review of that forum.

It looks wicked fucking boring. There are some UYD forum members over there with the same avatars as here. Some seem more active over there. It’s almost embarrassing the way some people are acting. Almost like a Anderson Cooper/David Beckham interview. It’s wicked gay.

I saw furniture on there, and he was being corrected publicly by Jesse. It was bullshit. This dude deletes posts that wouldn’t even get a reply on this forum.

Another fucking thing. You can take J-Dog to task on this forum and your shit doesn’t get deleted.

Ya know why? Cuz he’s secure in his self. Jesse obviously is not.

Also when Seth started to light that caller up and Jesse stopped him. What, we can’t make fun of each other? So let me get this straight Jesse. You play the voice mail of an obvious mental deficient. And you are not making fun of them? That’s why you played that ridiculous voice mail. He’s using those calls. He’s fucking Cloaking The Shit Out Of It.

UYD makes fun of their fans sometimes and we laugh about it. We can laugh at ourselves. We can post about it. On that forum it would probably get deleted.

“UYD: calling Jesse’s show a fat cousin is totally inappropriate.”

JJGo: “we want fans who will suck our dicks”

UYD: “we want fans whose dicks we’d want to suck”

see the difference?

jah? are you listening to this?

(i’m drunk now and typing with one squinty eye btw.)

yep.

racer 5 is a good beer.

oakland!!!!

for short. piedmont ave. represent. piedmont grocery yo! harrison whole foods on the regs yo.
fuck i gotta gotobed….

i just think the silence of seth to me came off , that he was about to have a full blown panni and go off at any moment and/or run out of the studio. I had never listened to JJgo before and dont think i ever would again but i really give up on podcasts if they dont suck me in right away. The only other ones ive really stuck with consistenly are Bill Simmons to get my sports fix and sick and wrong to get my savage fix, still UYd is best far and away.

Man, the first 10-20 minutes I was like “this is unlistenable”, but managed to make it through. I won’t be checking in on other JJGO! eps, but was happy to hear the guys in another format. It was funny to hear Jah talk so much without Seth chiming in much, but what Seth did manage to sneak in was awesome.

I just hope UYD doesn’t return the favor and have Jordan and Jesse on UYD, I can only handle so much of the ‘broadcaster-type’ voice and radio DJ arrogance exuded during their show.

Sorry if it comes across as knocking their podcast, just wasn’t my cup of tea.

okie doke - Oct 6th 2009 @ 09:20 am

Man, the first 10-20 minutes I was like “this is unlistenable”, but managed to make it through. I won’t be checking in on other JJGO! eps, but was happy to hear the guys in another format. It was funny to hear Jah talk so much without Seth chiming in much, but what Seth did manage to sneak in was awesome.

I just hope UYD doesn’t return the favor and have Jordan and Jesse on UYD, I can only handle so much of the ‘broadcaster-type’ voice and radio DJ arrogance exuded during their show.

Sorry if it comes across as knocking their podcast, just wasn’t my cup of tea.

i have yet to hear this episode because of not currently having internet access at home, BUT i have read through this whole thread. obviously a more informed opinion will come forth once i’ve heard the show.

the reason i quoted okie dokie is because i’d like to have them be guests on UYD and let jah/seth control everything. be the hosts and JJ can be the guests. maybe let seth go on a crazy rant. i don’t know. i’m kind of with for short here. we come here to tell opinions and shouldn’t feel bad if we don’t like a show or whatever…

i’ll report back once i’ve listened to it.

So I listened to this this morning and I guess I don’t get the big deal at all. Jordan and Jesse aren’t my favorite podcasters or whatevs, but I didn’t really sense any tension other than what naturally happens when a bunch of fresh dudes get together to spit game. Seth was quiet, sure, but when he spoke it was brilliant, perfect Seth. Jah was fully on point and cracked me the fuck up. The other two managed to hang capably enough and keep things interesting, and overall I thought the whole thing was pretty fucking dope.

Dude, the power jam riff was killing me inside. When Jesse started going on and on and on and on about power jams, I could just enision Seth staring at Jonathan, like, “is this happening? get me the fuck out of here.” The sidekick Jordan didn’t seem to be too bad, he could roll with the punches and was funny when he had his time.

But enough with the power jams, cute bunnies, and other lame bits. The one vestige of comedy gold they could mine, Moments of Shame, or whatever, they don’t even really dip into it. Seth was so prepared with a UYD style rant on that dude and Jesse totally killed it.

mosdefin - Oct 6th 2009 @ 01:18 pm

Dude, the power jam riff was killing me inside. When Jesse started going on and on and on and on about power jams, I could just enision Seth staring at Jonathan, like, “is this happening? get me the fuck out of here.” The sidekick Jordan didn’t seem to be too bad, he could roll with the punches and was funny when he had his time.

But enough with the power jams, cute bunnies, and other lame bits. The one vestige of comedy gold they could mine, Moments of Shame, or whatever, they don’t even really dip into it. Seth was so prepared with a UYD style rant on that dude and Jesse totally killed it.

Jesse definitely went overboard with some of his shits, but I can’t really blame him because, fuck, I’d act loco if I was trying to do a show with the boys too.

having never listened to JJGo, i cant comment on the show as a whole being good or bad.

however, it was hard to find a foothold in listening to this ep. i’ve narrowed it down to this. there are two routes such a sit-down between the two shows could have taken:
1.) as 4 friends sitting around shooting the shit and having a laugh
2.) as one show interviewing the other

the problem with #1 is that these couples don’t know each other. it’s not as if jesse and jordan went to acting school with seth and they’ve known each other for a decade; or that they were in a band with jonathan prior to Jogger. so you would think #1 would be ruled out because you dont have that rapport between the 4. anything down this road is going to seem awkward and cringe-y.

the problem with #2 is that in order to interview someone, at the very least you need to do your homework. it was obvious to me right off the bat that jesse had either dipped in to very very very few eps of UYD or that he had no idea whatsoever about the show. can’t remember seth’s name? yeeesh. if it was an attempt to be funny i guess it went over my head. continually stressing the Yeah in ‘Uhh Yeah Dude’? all you need to do is listen to the first minute of any UYD episode to know how to say the name. riding jonathan and seth about their lifestyles or not knowing about the economy just shows a lack of knowledge. seth chiming in about Mystery is a classic example. he was coming on strong with shit 30 feet above J&J’s heads and they had no idea where to go with it—or where it was even coming from! on and on and on.

my problem was that it was displayed as #2, but presented as #1 with neither succeeding. again, i dont know if this episode is indicative of a regular JJGo show and im not implying that it is. but i don’t really get the whole “lets-have-guests-on-and-rip-on-them” meme. since it’s obvious the two parties dont know each other, for one to rip on the other is either inconsiderate (at the asshole edge of the spectrum) or patronizing (at the sweetheart edge of the spectrum). at best. it’s ok for seth to rip on jonathan for wearing drop-crotch sweats because they know each other so well. but for Dude to rip on jonathan for wearing sweats and a hawaiian tee? just comes off as elitist or ignorance; or both. something which simple homework could have helped immensely. and for them to have reached out to UYD to come on the show makes matters even worse. its just mind-blowing that you’d want someone on your show that you know nothing about.

me? i wont be dipping back in to JJGo. i know people here say this episode was not indicative of the show as a whole, and that he has some good interviews, but if he approaches all of them in a similar vein as he did with UYD then count me out. aint missin’ nothing. personally what attracts me to podcasting is it affords the opportunity to be completely creative. you can be different and take the risks you cannot do in radio. why anyone would want to produce a podcast that sounds like a radio show is beyond me. (and no, im not including radio types that also have podcasts—like bill simmons, kornheiser, leo laporte, carolla, et al— in this argument). im just saying: you got a jingle, a baritone-voice host that likes to hear himself speak, a voice mail segment, cruises with your listeners… hows this any different from any number of radio shows in any number of cities out there? its not my steeze.

oh and you can call me your fat cousin any day of the week.

I had backed off my attacks on JJGo, until I went to their forum.

Good God. It proves everything I thought about him while listening to the show.

He’s like the Kim Jong Il of his forum. It’s a disgrace.

How many holes in one has Jesse had in a single game and what power jam was in his head?

I had never heard of Jesse Thorn or JJGo before, and I wish I hadn’t. He was unpleasant to the end. I couldn’t believe when he said, roughly, “I don’t want to make it sound like your Brooklyn thing is small in comparison to our thing…” Yeah, Jesse, when you point that out you defeat the point. But, you know, I don’t want to make it sound like you’re a fucking jackass, so I’ll just move on.

Long time listener… pretty much first time commenter because listening to that made me a little bit bananacakes with anger. See y’all in two weeks.

Fuck, apparently I wasn’t listening closely enough or something. I had no crazy urges to punch Jesse when I finished the show. I guess I did it wrong.

I’ve listened to every episode of JJGo and I’ve met Jesse in person and think he’s a really nice guy.  That being said, they’re not even in the same universe quality-wise as UYD. 

It was fascinating to hear Seth and Jah in a different environ, but was anybody seriously surprised that Seth was quiet and Jah had to act a little differently?  I mean I don’t really put that on JJGo specifically…it was going to be jarring to hear UYD in a different setting no matter what. 

Jesse always talks too much and is in love with his little flights-of-fancy that often aren’t that funny…it’s a flaw of the show, but I didn’t detect any specific disrespect to UYD (except for not knowing Seth’s last name…that *is* weak sauce).

Whatevs, not sure what my point is.  But I’ll say this: I isolated the clip of Seth saying “Hey dawg, are you fucking cool?  Seriously.” and it’s my new ringtone.

1:07:59
jonathan: “Wowza Dowza”
jesse: “Did you say ‘wowsa Bowsa’?”

also, see the attached image for what im talking about. not really hard to get the name of the podcast right guys. you just have to look in itunes to see there is no comma in the name. whatevs.

Click thumbnail to see full-size image

Roark - Oct 6th 2009 @ 07:12 pm

It was fascinating to hear Seth and Jah in a different environ, but was anybody seriously surprised that Seth was quiet and Jah had to act a little differently?  I mean I don’t really put that on JJGo specifically…it was going to be jarring to hear UYD in a different setting no matter what. 

jonathan and seth have done interviews in the past that weren’t awkward. i submit The W Weekly interviewing them in June of 2006. listen and you can hear how involved seth is throughout. the interviewer did a good job because, well, he interviewed them. the result is an interview that enlightens us as to what UYD is about and who jonathan and seth are.

agent - Oct 6th 2009 @ 07:34 pm

Roark - Oct 6th 2009 @ 07:12 pm

It was fascinating to hear Seth and Jah in a different environ, but was anybody seriously surprised that Seth was quiet and Jah had to act a little differently?  I mean I don’t really put that on JJGo specifically…it was going to be jarring to hear UYD in a different setting no matter what. 

jonathan and seth have done interviews in the past that weren’t awkward. i submit The W Weekly interviewing them in June of 2006. listen and you can hear how involved seth is throughout. the interviewer did a good job because, well, he interviewed them. the result is an interview that enlightens us as to what UYD is about and who jonathan and seth are.

Yeah, who’d have thought an interview would be a better interview than not-an-interview?

I think you’re off base ruling out show-style-#1 above—that’s always been jjgo’s MO.  They have guests on probably half the eps, and only a handful have been their actual friends, but that doesn’t make it an interview show by any stretch of the imagination.

Jesus Christ. This is going to turn into sharks and jets.

PS nice handle Roark.