Great Western Forum

I’m suspicious of anyone who works harder on JJGo’s forum than they do here.

Yo, Dog. How come you’re over there posting shit but you say UYD is your favorite podcast?  You know who you are. And I don’t want to hear it’s cuz I’m here, cuz I’m there too.

sorry, ignore this post

agent - Oct 6th 2009 @ 07:34 pm

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.

You’re too kind, sir. Looking back, I wish I didn’t add all of that music to the final cut, but it was a true pleasure and I hope to get a chance to interview them again if I ever write for another paper. I’d dare say that even interviewing my favorite stand-up, Doug Stanhope, comes in second place compared to the UYD interview.

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.

This is exactly how i saw it.

wtf?  they have “breaks”?  Why?  And what’s with the “radio sweetheart” thing by Jesse?  This guy wants sooo badly to be an actual radio guy. 

I’d posit that they could have gone with #1:  just four guys sitting around bullshitting.  They have much in common - doing a show, commenting on crazy stuff, personal insights.  But that Jesse guy tries so hard to be in control that he came off as a dick.

But my opinion may be because I like the UYD steeze and not the JJGo method.

i didnt understand the breaks either, unless they do the show live and then edit out commercials for the podcast. thats the only explanation i can think of.

So, I’m one of those rare people who was introduced to UYD via their appearance on JJGo and I thought it might be interesting for me to share my two cents regarding the episode in question.

As a longtime listener of JJGo I will admit that, yeah, Jesse can be super-precious and unbearably pretentious at times. Usually that’s balanced out by Jordan’s “Boobs, Beer, and Street Fighter” attitude and the comedy chops of whomever that week’s guest is. Unfortunately for him in this episode, Jesse just couldn’t hold it all together. He was trying to do a good thing for fans of both JJGo and UYD by bringing all four guys together for a rendezvous, but he just ended up highlighting how deeply entrenched he is in his haughty New Yorker-reading, public radio world (and before anybody gets on my case, I’m not saying public radio or the New Yorker are inherently bad things; they ARE bad when you use them to prove how much better you are than everyone else).

The bunny/kitten/baby stuff didn’t bother me as much because I’m used to it. It’s kind of a running thing they do, where Jesse will talk about cute things, or baseball, or rap music, and Jordan will pretend to be annoyed or angry about it. It’s a quirk of their off-air relationship, I think, that just sort of got integrated into the show. And, honestly, I don’t think it’s wrong Seth got shut down when he was about to go off on the caller from St. Cloud. I mean, you don’t go on someone else’s show and (genuinely) insult their fans. You just don’t. Unless it’s for comedy—then it’s all good.

Obviously Jonathan (yeah, that’s how I’m spelling it) and Seth were funny enough on JJGo to get me to check UYD out, though. Listening to back episodes, which I was doing all weekend, I was super-surprised to hear just how animated Seth is when he’s in his comfort zone, so, duh, it would’ve been awesome for him to have had more room to do stuff on JJGo. But what are you gonna do? Jonathan and Seth can’t change the format/tone of someone else’s show. All they could do was roll with it, or not, and I think they did a good job of keeping it all from imploding.

Anyway. Yeah. As a JJGo listener I thought the show overall was a C+ at best, but I can totally understand how a loyal UYD listener could view it as a barely-contained disaster. I’ll still listen to JJGo because I think they get great guests, but I gotta say that I’m now a UYD convert.

That was the best post I’ve read so far regarding this shitshow topic.

Welcome to UYD nation nothanks.

There has been a lot of harshness towards Jesse, me included.

I have to say though, it does seem obvious this guest appearance has helped UYD.

So all jokes aside, Thank You JJGo!

Hey gang—it’s Jesse, the pretentious New Yorker reader (true) who thinks cute animals are cute (super true!).

I just wanted to check in and emphasize that I really enjoyed meeting Seth and Jonathan and having them on the show.  Sorry if some folks didn’t enjoy our show—it certainly does have a somewhat different tone than UYD.  Sounds like some folks did enjoy it, and I’d invite those folks to check out some other shows, like this one with our pal Rob Corddry or this one we did a couple weeks ago with Rob Huebel.

There’s a lot of crap out there in the world of podcasting, and I was happy to meet some other podcasters who are doing great, funny work.  And Seth and Jonathan were class acts all the way and hilarious to boot.  I’m sorry Seth didn’t get into the conversation as much as Jonathan, but he certainly did get in some choice nuggets of hilarity.

I can only hope that those of you who’ve written negative stuff about the show dedicate as much time and energy to your own creative contributions to the world, as Jordan, Seth, Jonathan and myself do.  I know for myself that what I do at maximumfun.org is about celebrating things that I like (UYD, for example), not tearing down things that I don’t.  Frankly, the latter is a waste of my time.

(Also: to the guy who said I was trying too hard to be a real radio guy, I am a real radio guy (and Jordan’s a real television guy).  )

Did Jah try to kiss you? I hear he does that.

HORSERAPE - Oct 7th 2009 @ 04:50 pm

Did Jah try to kiss you? I hear he does that.

He’s a handsome man.  I wouldn’t choose it, but maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t fight it.

Jesse Thorn - Oct 7th 2009 @ 04:40 pm

I can only hope that those of you who’ve written negative stuff about the show dedicate as much time and energy to your own creative contributions to the world, as Jordan, Seth, Jonathan and myself do.

I spend time bullshitting with my friends, but I don’t upload it to iTunes and call it a creative contribution to the world.  Maybe I should hire you as a branding consultant.

Jesse Thorn - Oct 7th 2009 @ 04:40 pm

Hey gang—it’s Jesse, the pretentious New Yorker reader (true) who thinks cute animals are cute (super true!).

I just wanted to check in and emphasize that I really enjoyed meeting Seth and Jonathan and having them on the show.  Sorry if some folks didn’t enjoy our show—it certainly does have a somewhat different tone than UYD.  Sounds like some folks did enjoy it, and I’d invite those folks to check out some other shows, like this one with our pal Rob Corddry or this one we did a couple weeks ago with Rob Huebel.

There’s a lot of crap out there in the world of podcasting, and I was happy to meet some other podcasters who are doing great, funny work.  And Seth and Jonathan were class acts all the way and hilarious to boot.  I’m sorry Seth didn’t get into the conversation as much as Jonathan, but he certainly did get in some choice nuggets of hilarity.

I can only hope that those of you who’ve written negative stuff about the show dedicate as much time and energy to your own creative contributions to the world, as Jordan, Seth, Jonathan and myself do.  I know for myself that what I do at maximumfun.org is about celebrating things that I like (UYD, for example), not tearing down things that I don’t.  Frankly, the latter is a waste of my time.

(Also: to the guy who said I was trying too hard to be a real radio guy, I am a real radio guy (and Jordan’s a real television guy).  )

Yo Dog, how come you wouldn’t let me into your forum? I’m also wondering if your semi-negative/self promoting post would be allowed on your own forum? Let’s say, if furniture had posted it.

Also Dog, on this forum you could have quoted “the guy”, don’t worry Jesse, nobody will delete your post here.

One more thing, UYD spends lots of time tearing things they don’t like down. Do you really like them that much? You cloaked out real radio guy.

For those who are all worked up, I recommend making something.

Frankly, this is a waste of my time. Oh wait, that’s you. Why are you still here? Cloaker. Worse, Passive Aggressive Cloaker.

Jesse Thorn - Oct 7th 2009 @ 07:19 pm

For those who are all worked up, I recommend making something.

Posting here was maybe not the best idea ever, but I think it would’ve been fine if you could’ve just left off on the paragraph about Jah and Seth. Instead you made a post like a terrible, condescending jackfuck. I guess what you’re implying is that people that don’t have successful creative endeavors have opinions that matter for shit? That sucks man. Just saying.

Act like you’re a dude who is only about positive vibes then come on the forums with some passive aggressive shits all up in your post. Niiiiiiiiice.

Regardless of how I felt about the JJGo episode, and independent of feeling super annoyed by some of Jesse’s manner/conventions, I am impressed by what he’s been able to do. Dude did a college radio show for a bunch of years, managed to book some impressive, nationally-recognized personalities on that humble show, doggedly kept producing the show beyond college, got picked up and distributed by PRI across a bunch of stations (I first heard TSOYA on WNYC when I was living in NY), got a podcast going with a gang of rabid fans, has been able to create a career for himself, sustained (I assume) by sponsorships, listener donations, events he’s organized etc., and now counts among his friends/associations some of the cooler comedians in the biz. And he’s 28 years old.

I gotta give him credit for that stuff. Too bad he comes off pretty douchey sometimes.

If anything he should display more confidence about what he’s been able to accomplish. I don’t think he’d come off as grating if he just felt more comfortable with who he is/what he has going and not take himself so seriously.

Instead of deleting that post I made, he’s clever enough -he could’ve responded on that thread with a million different funny responses, like, “lalalalalalala…can’t hear you…I’m power-jamming….lalalalaalal” or something about fat cousins or whatever. Like, if you were watching a stand-up get heckled, and the stand-up got seriously upset, “throw that guy out of the club!” instead of just busting the heckler with a funny retort, or just working it into the act, you’d be like, “eh. this guy is the worst.”

I totally agree though that doing creative shit is awesome. Making something that sucks, or is kinda good, or is 87% good, is always better than doing nothing or only complaining.

Kim Jong Jesse holed his personal forum golf course 19 times in one round. Now you say, “19 times?”, there’s only 18 holes. Well Kim Jong Jesse didn’t like the way the 18th hole in one posted, so he deleted it, played some weird recorded shit and shot the hole again. Making it 19 holes in one.

Asked what he was thinking the whole time, Kim Jong Jesse said “I had a power jam going in my head the whole time”

The reporter told him he was a fat cousin of UYD and that power jams are fucking stupid. The reporter was then banned from the JJGo forum. The rest of the JJGo forum members cheered and continued to post about power jams.

Some of you should change your avatars. You act wicked gay on that other forum.

for short - Oct 7th 2009 @ 01:29 am

I’m suspicious of anyone who works harder on JJGo’s forum than they do here.

Yo, Dog. How come you’re over there posting shit but you say UYD is your favorite podcast?  You know who you are. And I don’t want to hear it’s cuz I’m here, cuz I’m there too.

I’m not tracking usernames too closely here; is this referring to me?  I probably do have more posts in their (longer-running) forum, but I’d hardly call my paltry few dozen in either place “working”.  Fan forums in general tend to consist too exclusively of insipid catchphrasing and exclamation points, and simply aren’t worth that much free time.

Questioning my fanhood, pointless dick-measuring though it may be, I must protest.  For only one of these shows do I wear the shirt, for only one am I flying cross-state in a week, and for only one was I at the front of the line when the site went live.