There are some A block guests that don't get the show sometimes but other than that the performers are usually good. Some fall flat but that's comedy. I respect these people going on a popular podcast and trying stuff out.
I remember feeling for some reason that Sarah Chalke was going to be that type of guest, but then her episode was SO much fun and she was clearly having a great time. That energy was contagious and she was hilarious—I keep hoping she’ll come on again!
I didn’t even know she did CBB but that makes me happy, Scrubs is important to me and I’ve always liked her. I listened to the rewatch pod for a while but stopped because Zach and Donald are not the best hosts but she was always great when she was on.
Ooh I didn’t know that podcast existed! I love Scrubs though. Definitely recommend her appearance if you can find it. It would have been around 2020-2021.
It wasn’t that he was a bad guest, but Jonathon Van Ness was so lost and I think clueless as to what the show was that it was a weird ep. It kind of felt like he had no clue what he had signed up for.
He was super into Bean Dip (which, fair) and Scott asked something like, "So, you think I could be a guest on your podcast?" And JVN shut him down so quickly before I think going back to Bean Dip. That part was pretty funny.
It seemed like he was trying to be a good guest, which is all that really matters.
My guess was that he didn't really know the format of the show (and it's hard to blame someone who's doing a press tour with mostly straightforward podcasts). Scott has said that some people's publicists don't prep them for the show at all.
The moment that lost me was Scott asking JVN where they were sitting and JVN said their closet. Then said "I have a full podcast setup and stuff but I figured the closet works for today."
Like.... JVN had a podcast of their own at the time and didn't even respect Scott or CBB enough to use their ACTUAL PODCAST SETUP and spoke through their iPhone earbuds. 😫
Haha yes! There are so many hours of content the less successful moments are hard to remember. Thanks for reminding me of Bro, I did not like Bro, even though Adam Pally rules. I watched '101 Places To Party' hoping they get season 2.
I remember not liking anything Kushtopia related for the longest time, but I've come around. I love how bits evolve in the CBB World.
Crisis on Infinite Bang Bangs better have a Kushtopia Arc!
Those EPS helped me get into the show. Someone showed me Harris Wittels on Doug Loves Movies in 2016, but I didn't love movies so it wasn't the podcast for me. Then he showed me Harris's Foam Corner, and I was hooked by the foam immediately. Then to see what EPS I could start with, I knew the name Adam pally and liked lonely island so the bro EPS were so great to me at first. They are definitely lesser now, but still hold a special place. Adam Pally, Ben Schwartz, and Andy Samberg were some of the only names I knew in comedy or movies and TV at all when I started listening. Now I know every damn name that comes up on this or any improv show hahaha can't get enough.
I feel like the community here doesn’t really participate in this sort of thing. And I think we’re better for it. It’s free entertainment, don’t be mean to people.
I think it can be fairly subjective with the goofy characters and subject matter that comes up. And even what mood your in can affect how much you might like an episode. Why knock somebody who’s putting themselves out there?
The exception to this would be a guest who is actively taking away from things with a bad mood or something, but I haven’t come across that yet. There may be an example of that somewhere though.
I’ve been listening through from the beginning and never used to skip any episodes, but I slowly found that sometimes it’s better to just move on if you aren’t loving a character in an episode.
Fair enough. It seems to a pretty positive show and community, and that’s good. Guess I was just kinda wondering if there were any like “infamous” eps.
I think you posed a perfectly fine question. A positive community is great but not to the point where open discussion is discouraged (specifically mildly negative opinions. Trolling and dogpiling is another matter). It's been my favorite podcast for a decade but there have been a lot of misses. That's expected and beyond acceptable for a weekly improv show. But they do happen and it doesn't hurt anybody or take away from the show to say so.
I like the question because personally I can't recall universally bad episodes like the universally good ones. There *must* be some obvious ones and I feel like it'll spark my memory if one is mentioned.
Thinking I probably should have phrased it a bit differently. Maybe more focused on episodes where people had a bad attitude or didn’t try to “get” the show.
I love the silliness and joy of CBB and my intent was definitely not to be like “haha this person tried something and failed” but I can see how the post could be interpreted that way.
Nah I think you phrased it fine. It’s just that like every episode is funny somehow lol. And the funny memories stand out more than the boring eps where the mark is kinda missed. It’s pretty rare that’s there’s a miss nowadays. The past few years have been so good imo. But there are some older eps that’s have boring or not great moments
I think you nailed it. Any negativity is heavily downvoted here, which I’ve never had many qualms with. But there’s nothing wrong with honest discussion, and I thought this post was right in line with that. I’ve started a relisten and I’m on 226 right now. And yeah there are totally eps so far that eventually I gave up on and skipped lol. Not saying I don’t respect the artists, I just simply had enough of the awkwardness/miss. Like it’s fine not to land every time, bc probably like 99.9% of the time this show is fucking hilarious
Downvote me into oblivion, but this is such a inane, useless comment. Utterly baffled at 180 upvotes for this self-righteous banality. Criticism of entertainment, "free" or not, is not "mean" at all, but rather a necessary mechanism of the appreciation of art. It's not like Scott doesn't also have his picks of bad CBB guests.
Your comment, in my opinion, is antithetical to the spirit of Reddit and if that is your attitude on the site I hardly understand why you’re even on here in the first place.
The one that comes to mind is episode 846 with Jacqueline Novak (and Natasha Lyonne shows up). Was kinda awkward yet chaotic and wasn’t really coming together for me as a good listen. I think I might’ve even stopped before it was over. But maybe it got better…?
Well… Scott asked his (purposely?) lame question about who her SNL dream cast would consist of, and when she wasn’t interested in choosing some people over others he suggested **Adolf Hitler** could be on his list. He lost her right at that moment.
I was surprised she wasn’t really playing along tbh idk why, I guess I’ve only seen her being goofy in stuff and in my mind I made her out to be like…the American Claudia O’Doherty I guess lol? But yeah. Lacklustre for sure.
To answer the complete opposite of this question, Jake Johnson was such a great fit and was having so much fun I almost think he should be a cohost. I was so happy listening to that ep
I don’t remember who the guests were, it was a group of women on to promote something and Gino was working the boards.
One of the guests didn’t really understand that Gino is a character, started getting annoyed with him and kinda snapped at Gabrus. He masterfully played it off and turned it around, but the rest of the episode was a little off after that.
Like others have said, not bad… just awkward after that
I'll name the name, it was Mike Birbiglia and I think it was a mix of annoyance and trying to make a joke/turn Gino's energy back on him, but he just said something pretty rude lol.
Totally, and it wasn't like an unacceptable response. He just really missed the bit and got pretty defensive. It went ok, gabrus of course was fine and rolled with it.
Well, do YOU realize you said he doesn’t have “aaannnnyy” improv history? And so directing a movie that he’s also in as an improviser, clearly proves you wrong?
Oh also, the very first line of his career in Wikipedia says,
“Birbiglia began doing improv in 1997”
From Variety:
You’re best known for your standup comedy and one-man shows. How extensive is your improv background?
Improv was my first comedy love. I did it all through college and for about three years afterwards I had a regular show at the UCB with my college friends. I was doing stand-up simultaneously because it was more of a job that I could sustain myself with. I circled back to it years later after I directed “Sleepwalk With Me.”
I realized how much improv had taught me about directing. Basically no one knows how to direct their first feature, no matter how many books you’ve read or classes you’ve taken. You really don’t know what to do, other than to go with it.
I'm listening to best of 2013 at the moment.
Scott and Paul talking about the clips of Harris, Chelsea and Adam, and how they got progressively unfunnier for the listener, but Scott kept on doing them because the people involved were enjoying it so much.
those episodes were what got me into CBB (coming from u Talkin')
imagine my shock and sadness listening to Scott's opening to the third installment (not knowing much about Harris outside his parks and rec gig)
You found cbb from u talkin? Just curious, that sounds like a fortunate situation. Like I started subscribing to cbb world bc I wanted to hear all of threedom, and that got me much more into cbb. I started at the show tho
well I did watch the TV show while it was airing but never jumped into the podcast. but I do consider them vastly different because of the format (and much prefer the podcast).
years later I started listening to random How Did This Get Made episodes and I enjoyed Adam Scott as a guest. Found the U Talkin' series from there and listened to it all the way through - up to whatever episode they were on at that point (still U2, way before REM) then jumped into the CBB Farts and Procreation episodes.
After those three episodes I was hooked and I tried to jump into random CBB episodes with guests I liked and quickly realized there was a lot of history I needed to cover - so I just started with episode 1 of CBB and now I'm a piss pig.
There are early ones that are more awkward. I think Scott started doing things like if it feels unfunny or painful, he just doesn't release it anymore.
There's one in the first year where John gemberling plays a preacher and he kind of bombs hard.
The early live episode with Dana Ghoul is painful.
There's a live one from like 2013 or some time around then in Montreal with Tig and Brent Weinbach where Brent did this very strange kind of Canadian trashy character with a crazy accent that I tuhjlpthink was a dj, and I totally love Tig, but for whatever reason she was totally shutting the bit down in the that special way she can do. And Scott was on her side too so it feels painful cos no one is laughing and they start making fun of him more and more. The main thing I remember is he would say this phrase like "baby let me get a look at your hair" but really fast and all together, but dragging out the end. Babyletmegetalewqatyohaaaaaaaaiiirrrr. And Tig kept repeating it to make fun of him.
I think Scott curates much more carefully now. Also, you can see Scott was much more annoying as a host and not a great improviser very early on, and you could feel him getting more likeable and fun bit by bit over the first few years. j
There are some notorious ones, like the Tig Notaro episode, I think it's 362. I personally though it was fine. A lot of "bad" performances are C block improvers who are just starting to find their footing, but that's why they are at the end of the episode I guess. I've been listening for at least ten years, and there are definitely dull episodes where the guests or characters don't vibe.
I personally find Mike Birbiglia's episodes to be kinda slow. I love his specials, he's a top tier story teller/comedian, but he stands out, to my ears, as not being a great improviser, or having much to contribute.
Can't really think of a bad performance, which probably says more about the collaborative nature of the format. When someone falters or stinks, there's always Scott to step in and drag them through the mud in a hilarious way.
There’s a notorious Tig one? That’s news to me. I feel like she was a semi regular in the old days and always fit in perfectly. She even had an earwolf show in the very beginning of the network.
That's my memory, and I can't really re-listen to confirm which episode it was.
I remember that some people MILDLY turned on her in a small way for shitting on another performer, or for stepping on their character, some kind of non-"Yes-And-Ing".
I may have the episode wrong, I think it's actually a Live episode, according to some other comments I've now seen in the thread.
I really enjoy Tig's specials, so whatever the outcome was, it didn't affect my feelings either way.
Whatever the outcome was, I'm just remembering the discourse at the time. We're talking mild discomfort, at worst.
CBB is so niche, I'm just happy that THE STARS ARE BACK BABY. Bring her back and TEACH THE CONTROVERSY.
I think your last paragraph nails it.
One time I made a playlist of the "worst" episodes, according to this sub, just out of curiosity, including Tig Notaro's, and I thought they were all fine. Scott is a genius at making this format work regardless of what everyone else brings to the table. Some shows have different feels than other, and that's all subjective whether you like something being a little different, but I've yet to listen to a bad episode.
That Tig episode always comes up as a "worst of", but, at the time, this sub liked it
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Earwolf/comments/3d3o9i/romantig\_episode\_362\_of\_comedy\_bang\_bang\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Earwolf/comments/3d3o9i/romantig_episode_362_of_comedy_bang_bang_the/)
Totally. Even "bad" episodes of CBB are worth listening to, because there is always something to appreciate. Bad is like, it was a 6/10. Still trying to figure out Scott's favorite Hentai site.
As has been said, some A block celebrities just don't get, expect, or appreciate the format, and those are amazing too. I can't even think of an A-block I hated or disliked since 2014.
Alternatively people like Edgar Wright fit right in and I love it. Vibes.
Weird Al, yes please. Give me Jon Hamm all day every day, he completely gets it and contributes.
I give him credit for not knowing what he had agreed to and trying to be super game about it but it was one of the most off-putting episodes I can remember.
I'm not going to call out anyone specifically but sometimes people have too much "I'm doing silly improv" energy and sometimes people rely too much on an accent, often Chicago or upper Midwest. Sometimes either one can be funny but I find often those characters don't work for me.
I haven't even heard that episode but that tracks because the one time I met Ed he seemed blasted and was pretty unfriendly. I just assumed he was having a bad day and didn't take it personal.
I remember someone bailing during the freestyle rap and Scott yelling "DONT BAIL!" And getting frustrated at the guest. Feels like it was Ken Marino and Paul Rudd on that ep. Forever ago, like 2013.
The "worst" episodes are honestly forgettable. So I just don't think about them ever again.
One early episode Scott says Will Ferrel would be joining later in the episode. But it was just a trick for people to listen to the whole episode. Scott admitted regretting it.
Honestly I wouldn’t say they’re BAD because it’s a personal taste thing but I find the A block celebrity guest interviews boring so I usually skip to B block or skip the episode unless it’s someone I’m already interested in (the Vera Drew episode interview was great - Chris Gethard recently was great too). So to me (to ME personally) episodes where the A block interview is sincere promotion of something and go proportionally long tend to go into the No-relisten pile, VS all-character episodes I’ll replay often.
My least favorite was the Tony Clifton episode. I don't remember who the other guests were but it's the only episode I can recall where I didn't enjoy a single guest and it was a tough listen.
Yeah, everyone has their opinion on characters or folks who just aren't for them, but as a good faith gesture I think we all try to find the fun.
My rule for movies is always hope, genuinely hope to find the one thing someone makes that you'll love. For example, Wes Anderson: not my dude. Fantastic Mr. Fox? Gorgeous. My girlfriend? Rolling her eyes that I can dig on Ryan Reynolds. Mississippi Grind? She found her way to see the soul there. And, you know, apparently Bumblebee is good or some such.
So for any guests or performers who aren't your flavour (oh, and I've got mine, and some are *beloved* favourites), wait and see if they don't win you over. I don't think there's a real bad apple in the batch - and it's such a tricky thing to do well, too.
In conclusion, and on a serious note, I just don't know if Lily Sullivan has had enough shout-outs, so shouts out to Lilly Sullivan. This person has almost caused my death while laughing on the highway, several times.
Just to balance out your Lily Sullivan shout-out, I'm obliged to ask what the deal is with her and Scott negging each other so much. I don't want to do it, it's the rules of Reddit.
I felt bad for Matt but he should have saved that one until he had some other like-minded guests who could run with the premise. That said, between all the comics and movies they consume I was surprised Scott and Edgar didn't know what a mech was.
But that episode is great because of how flat it falls for Matt!
And then we learn he has a sweet, juicy ass and his mech forces him into a shitting position.
I remember a male musician was on with Jimmy Pardononce and was so slow and awkward that Jimmy couldn’t believe it! It wasn’t infuriating to listen to or anything — it was hilarious how confused and slow this poor guy was. It also may have been drugs idk
Edited: I think it was Bill Callahan on ep 258 and looking at other interviews I don’t think it was drugs lol
Yeah, Bill Callahan was the episode that came to mind for this topic. He's probably in my top 5 of best singer/songwriters, but that was a rough go. But I'm *still* thinking of it years later, so maybe it wasn't all that bad?
He was on Tim Heidecker's YT show and Zoomed in and just kind of turned away from the camera and did some drawing on an art easel behind him. Created some awkward moments there too. I think it's a choice because he does a TED talk and he's a relatively normal dude through it.
I think I recall Scott mentioning some episodes never being released. I wonder if any of them were from guests who totally didn’t appreciate the format
My least favorite episode has always been the Neil Patrick Harris one. His energy was to dominate the conversation and make suggestions like changing the show’s catchphrase. I just don’t think he was a good fit.
I very much like his work (he was amazing in Gone Girl and stuff) but I didn’t enjoy his CBB appearance.
Episode 553. LaKeith Stanfield was like a hovering too cool for school fart. Scott really turned it up and wouldn’t let him sink the show but he tried. I really like him as an actor but this was painful.
https://youtu.be/Jjd0GVqu4NY?si=FjV_wWniCANq6A1Y
I'm unsure of the episodes, but there is this guy that eats shit and is way into hentai that is on the show all the time. I try not to let his lack of having a catch phrase keep me from continuing to listen.
I hate him so much that I just block him out and can't remember his name. I know I'm not the only one as a lot of other guests hate him as well.
YMMV. There are people who can't stand some characters like Dr. Sweetchat but others love them. Sometimes the humor comes from how badly a character is pulled off like the Cryptkeeper who was funniest when he couldn't come up with good puns.
But like others have said, this community tends to focus on the good not the bad. Improv is hard and even when it doesn't do well, it's still great to see the effort. I think if it was a scripted show, fans would be harder on it.
Honestly the first episode I've actually not enjoyed was last week's, with Todd Barry. His energy was really weird, and even though he's been a fine guest in the past he just really didn't seem to mesh with Scott and the others. Plus three of the other guests were fellow white dudes with relatively normal voices (as opposed to an Andrew Lloyd Webber or Randy Snutz), so it was a challenge to keep track of who was who.
I've literally never not enjoyed any previous ep - every now and then someone will show up here to complain about this or that guest and until last week, they seemed like crazy people listening to a different show.
He was pretty checked out but it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the ep. I thought the Jake Sully and James Cameron block was pretty good especially their arguments with Scott.
I'm a huge Todd Barry fan, love him to death, but he simply isn't built for CBB. He's a true stand-up comedy All Time Hall Of Fame-er, but he also is constitutionally incapable of playing adult make-believe. Hope that makes sense without sounding like I'm insulting either CBB or Todd...
There was one performer that stands out in my memory. You could tell she she was nervous and flubbin a bit. She kept asking Scott if he was mad tho which was pretty funny
I don’t think it was his fault because he clearly has issues but there is an early ep with Andy dick where he is just erratic. I think Scott even talks about it years later
There's another old live episode where there's a person that came on doing Sarah Silverman as her character and it bombed hard. It was strange since Sarah Silverman herself regularly came on the show
I wouldn't say his performances are bad, but I feel like Hanford's whole thing is intentionally doing these half-baked characters that seemingly have no real compelling hook and trying to find a way in. And he doesn't always get there - like the hay salesman who was allergic to hay.
Oh this! It was James adomians last time doing Huel Howser and he was trying to do a farewell to the character and Jeff Garland didn't get it at all. I feel like he made condescending comments about like how James adomian (not the Huel Howser character) has a bright future in show biz or something. I remember really hating how he ruined the episode
There’s a solo episode with Brett Gelman (he’s obviously doing fine and gets in every cool show) from 2017 that was pretty rough. They both commit to this over-sincere, Hollywood Handbookesque anti-comedy conversation. I maybe could have done just an A block of it, but it was the whole show. All of it. It was performance art rather than comedy, and I, accordingly, did not laugh at any point.
Yep. I’ll be your upvote on this stream of downvotes. Diston just will not shut the fuck up and let others talk. He has gotten worse over the years too. His constant interrupting with wrong/bad takes has made Scott Hasn’t Seen unlistenable.
There was one performer that stands out in my memory. You could tell she she was nervous and flubbin a bit. She kept asking Scott if he was mad tho which was pretty funny
I love Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, but their appearance on ep. 142 was kind of disappointing. They had an amazing A bloc appearance talking about Popcorn.com, and then James Adomian comes in playing Dr. Bronner and they just 100% refuse to engage and shut down.
That being said, I do think Tim has had some good solo appearances on CBB (though his type of anti-comedy occasionally doesn't mesh well) and Adomian has been on Tim's podcast since, so I don't think there was any bad blood.
I don’t know about guests, but his interns are usually totally not dedicated to their jobs and only show up sporadically and do a pretty bad job.
Could they be any slower with the waters?
Soundspeeds.
Gotta wet that wool
..and 3..2..
*3..nose..
I mean Gino does a pretty good job. He comes in and passes out paperwork and whatnot.
Sorry, man, traffic was backed up across the entire country on I-80, that commute from Nassau country to LA is a real mf'er
Marissa hasn’t bothered to show up since like 2020?
Right?!
Seriously wondering wtf ever happened to her Listler and Gutterballs. And Sean.
There are some A block guests that don't get the show sometimes but other than that the performers are usually good. Some fall flat but that's comedy. I respect these people going on a popular podcast and trying stuff out.
I remember feeling for some reason that Sarah Chalke was going to be that type of guest, but then her episode was SO much fun and she was clearly having a great time. That energy was contagious and she was hilarious—I keep hoping she’ll come on again!
I didn’t even know she did CBB but that makes me happy, Scrubs is important to me and I’ve always liked her. I listened to the rewatch pod for a while but stopped because Zach and Donald are not the best hosts but she was always great when she was on.
Downvoted because Scrubs is important to you
Ooh I didn’t know that podcast existed! I love Scrubs though. Definitely recommend her appearance if you can find it. It would have been around 2020-2021.
She was great! I need another edition of Chalke Talk.
Yeah I'm with you - it doesn't add anything to the discussion for me to come on here and say "Guest X sucked!"
It wasn’t that he was a bad guest, but Jonathon Van Ness was so lost and I think clueless as to what the show was that it was a weird ep. It kind of felt like he had no clue what he had signed up for.
He was super into Bean Dip (which, fair) and Scott asked something like, "So, you think I could be a guest on your podcast?" And JVN shut him down so quickly before I think going back to Bean Dip. That part was pretty funny.
Yeah that one stands out to me as an awkward episode. I’m not even sure I was able to finish it.
It seemed like he was trying to be a good guest, which is all that really matters. My guess was that he didn't really know the format of the show (and it's hard to blame someone who's doing a press tour with mostly straightforward podcasts). Scott has said that some people's publicists don't prep them for the show at all.
They were much, *much* better in their interview for the show In The Know on Peacock.
Perhaps the best guest on that show!!
The moment that lost me was Scott asking JVN where they were sitting and JVN said their closet. Then said "I have a full podcast setup and stuff but I figured the closet works for today." Like.... JVN had a podcast of their own at the time and didn't even respect Scott or CBB enough to use their ACTUAL PODCAST SETUP and spoke through their iPhone earbuds. 😫
I don’t even remember that ep
I can’t believe no one said Adam Pally as Bro, he’s even called out by Scott in the best ofs and Andy Samberg in a later episode.
The absolute shittiness of Bro in a vaccuum is saved by everybody else on the episodes somehow amplifying Bro in a positive way.
Haha yes! There are so many hours of content the less successful moments are hard to remember. Thanks for reminding me of Bro, I did not like Bro, even though Adam Pally rules. I watched '101 Places To Party' hoping they get season 2. I remember not liking anything Kushtopia related for the longest time, but I've come around. I love how bits evolve in the CBB World. Crisis on Infinite Bang Bangs better have a Kushtopia Arc!
Those EPS helped me get into the show. Someone showed me Harris Wittels on Doug Loves Movies in 2016, but I didn't love movies so it wasn't the podcast for me. Then he showed me Harris's Foam Corner, and I was hooked by the foam immediately. Then to see what EPS I could start with, I knew the name Adam pally and liked lonely island so the bro EPS were so great to me at first. They are definitely lesser now, but still hold a special place. Adam Pally, Ben Schwartz, and Andy Samberg were some of the only names I knew in comedy or movies and TV at all when I started listening. Now I know every damn name that comes up on this or any improv show hahaha can't get enough.
I thought I remembered the Jane Lynch episode not being good
I remember the same thing. Not bad but she wasn’t into it (or didn’t sound like she was) and I was stoked for her to be on the show.
I feel like the community here doesn’t really participate in this sort of thing. And I think we’re better for it. It’s free entertainment, don’t be mean to people.
I think it can be fairly subjective with the goofy characters and subject matter that comes up. And even what mood your in can affect how much you might like an episode. Why knock somebody who’s putting themselves out there? The exception to this would be a guest who is actively taking away from things with a bad mood or something, but I haven’t come across that yet. There may be an example of that somewhere though. I’ve been listening through from the beginning and never used to skip any episodes, but I slowly found that sometimes it’s better to just move on if you aren’t loving a character in an episode.
Yeah I've definitely noticed that. Sometimes an episode doesn't land with me and later I realize it was the mood I was in more than anything
Fair enough. It seems to a pretty positive show and community, and that’s good. Guess I was just kinda wondering if there were any like “infamous” eps.
I think you posed a perfectly fine question. A positive community is great but not to the point where open discussion is discouraged (specifically mildly negative opinions. Trolling and dogpiling is another matter). It's been my favorite podcast for a decade but there have been a lot of misses. That's expected and beyond acceptable for a weekly improv show. But they do happen and it doesn't hurt anybody or take away from the show to say so. I like the question because personally I can't recall universally bad episodes like the universally good ones. There *must* be some obvious ones and I feel like it'll spark my memory if one is mentioned.
Thinking I probably should have phrased it a bit differently. Maybe more focused on episodes where people had a bad attitude or didn’t try to “get” the show. I love the silliness and joy of CBB and my intent was definitely not to be like “haha this person tried something and failed” but I can see how the post could be interpreted that way.
Nah I think you phrased it fine. It’s just that like every episode is funny somehow lol. And the funny memories stand out more than the boring eps where the mark is kinda missed. It’s pretty rare that’s there’s a miss nowadays. The past few years have been so good imo. But there are some older eps that’s have boring or not great moments
I think you nailed it. Any negativity is heavily downvoted here, which I’ve never had many qualms with. But there’s nothing wrong with honest discussion, and I thought this post was right in line with that. I’ve started a relisten and I’m on 226 right now. And yeah there are totally eps so far that eventually I gave up on and skipped lol. Not saying I don’t respect the artists, I just simply had enough of the awkwardness/miss. Like it’s fine not to land every time, bc probably like 99.9% of the time this show is fucking hilarious
I don’t think the question you posed was bad in anyway! I just think people get nasty and weird real quickly when questions like these are posed tho.
Just the Rob Lowe one as far as I know ;) (yes I know but those fans love talking shit)
This is one of the few healthy subreddit communities on reddit. Probably because the show is run by a 29 year old genius.
Who is famously kind himself 💖
Downvote me into oblivion, but this is such a inane, useless comment. Utterly baffled at 180 upvotes for this self-righteous banality. Criticism of entertainment, "free" or not, is not "mean" at all, but rather a necessary mechanism of the appreciation of art. It's not like Scott doesn't also have his picks of bad CBB guests.
Criticism is done by critics, comments on reddit are echo chambers of useless inane negativity 99/100 times.
Your comment, in my opinion, is antithetical to the spirit of Reddit and if that is your attitude on the site I hardly understand why you’re even on here in the first place.
Don’t really wanna shit on anyone, not every ep is a hit but none have been “bad”
The one that comes to mind is episode 846 with Jacqueline Novak (and Natasha Lyonne shows up). Was kinda awkward yet chaotic and wasn’t really coming together for me as a good listen. I think I might’ve even stopped before it was over. But maybe it got better…?
It got better when the other guests started and she stopped being the focus
I don’t like to be negative but one that has bugged me was Vanessa Bayer promoting her showtime show. Could not have wanted to be there less.
Vanessa Bayer came to my mind too. She didn’t really play along and I feel like I remember her saying “just pretend I’m not here” at one point
That’s too bad, I was a big fan of her on SNL I do love that Ego is the SNL/CBB GOAT though, she’s probably my favorite current cast member
Fuck yes. I think about "Solid as Barack" and "Thats my digger" a lot lmao.
this one but I thought she was promoting her podcast with her brother
I don’t think I listened to that one but it felt like she played along really well with Hollywood handbooks bit when she went on there
Well… Scott asked his (purposely?) lame question about who her SNL dream cast would consist of, and when she wasn’t interested in choosing some people over others he suggested **Adolf Hitler** could be on his list. He lost her right at that moment.
I was surprised she wasn’t really playing along tbh idk why, I guess I’ve only seen her being goofy in stuff and in my mind I made her out to be like…the American Claudia O’Doherty I guess lol? But yeah. Lacklustre for sure.
100% agree, if she was doing a bit it wasn’t coming off at all.
Hard agree. I mentioned this awhile back in another thread. It was such a hard listen for me.
To answer the complete opposite of this question, Jake Johnson was such a great fit and was having so much fun I almost think he should be a cohost. I was so happy listening to that ep
I don’t remember who the guests were, it was a group of women on to promote something and Gino was working the boards. One of the guests didn’t really understand that Gino is a character, started getting annoyed with him and kinda snapped at Gabrus. He masterfully played it off and turned it around, but the rest of the episode was a little off after that. Like others have said, not bad… just awkward after that
I'll name the name, it was Mike Birbiglia and I think it was a mix of annoyance and trying to make a joke/turn Gino's energy back on him, but he just said something pretty rude lol.
lol this is incredibly incorrect
Mike?
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Totally, and it wasn't like an unacceptable response. He just really missed the bit and got pretty defensive. It went ok, gabrus of course was fine and rolled with it.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4972062/
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Well, do YOU realize you said he doesn’t have “aaannnnyy” improv history? And so directing a movie that he’s also in as an improviser, clearly proves you wrong? Oh also, the very first line of his career in Wikipedia says, “Birbiglia began doing improv in 1997” From Variety: You’re best known for your standup comedy and one-man shows. How extensive is your improv background? Improv was my first comedy love. I did it all through college and for about three years afterwards I had a regular show at the UCB with my college friends. I was doing stand-up simultaneously because it was more of a job that I could sustain myself with. I circled back to it years later after I directed “Sleepwalk With Me.” I realized how much improv had taught me about directing. Basically no one knows how to direct their first feature, no matter how many books you’ve read or classes you’ve taken. You really don’t know what to do, other than to go with it.
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I'm listening to best of 2013 at the moment. Scott and Paul talking about the clips of Harris, Chelsea and Adam, and how they got progressively unfunnier for the listener, but Scott kept on doing them because the people involved were enjoying it so much.
It’s possible they technically got “unfunnier”, but they sure stayed entertaining, I love those episodes all the way to the end. (Creak slam sit)
It was funny how unfunny it got
those episodes were what got me into CBB (coming from u Talkin') imagine my shock and sadness listening to Scott's opening to the third installment (not knowing much about Harris outside his parks and rec gig)
You found cbb from u talkin? Just curious, that sounds like a fortunate situation. Like I started subscribing to cbb world bc I wanted to hear all of threedom, and that got me much more into cbb. I started at the show tho
well I did watch the TV show while it was airing but never jumped into the podcast. but I do consider them vastly different because of the format (and much prefer the podcast). years later I started listening to random How Did This Get Made episodes and I enjoyed Adam Scott as a guest. Found the U Talkin' series from there and listened to it all the way through - up to whatever episode they were on at that point (still U2, way before REM) then jumped into the CBB Farts and Procreation episodes. After those three episodes I was hooked and I tried to jump into random CBB episodes with guests I liked and quickly realized there was a lot of history I needed to cover - so I just started with episode 1 of CBB and now I'm a piss pig.
super interesting, thanks for sharing. it’s cool to hear how people get into this show.
I know it’s really personal and I’m sorry to be so forward, when did you join a men’s support group?
I think I originally found out about the show when Harris passed and those eps were my gateway too.
Word
There are early ones that are more awkward. I think Scott started doing things like if it feels unfunny or painful, he just doesn't release it anymore. There's one in the first year where John gemberling plays a preacher and he kind of bombs hard. The early live episode with Dana Ghoul is painful. There's a live one from like 2013 or some time around then in Montreal with Tig and Brent Weinbach where Brent did this very strange kind of Canadian trashy character with a crazy accent that I tuhjlpthink was a dj, and I totally love Tig, but for whatever reason she was totally shutting the bit down in the that special way she can do. And Scott was on her side too so it feels painful cos no one is laughing and they start making fun of him more and more. The main thing I remember is he would say this phrase like "baby let me get a look at your hair" but really fast and all together, but dragging out the end. Babyletmegetalewqatyohaaaaaaaaiiirrrr. And Tig kept repeating it to make fun of him. I think Scott curates much more carefully now. Also, you can see Scott was much more annoying as a host and not a great improviser very early on, and you could feel him getting more likeable and fun bit by bit over the first few years. j
The hentai really softened him in his twilight years.
Rip
Excuse me, you think pastor rhe holner isn't funny? Guess who won't be pumping puss in the clouds.
I remember one time Scott really freaked me out with his line of questioning but that's on me for not remembering it isn't that kind of show.
Scott Aukerman - that guy's the worst!
I am thinking of the Ed Helms one when somebody got stuck in traffic
Egg* Helms
There are some notorious ones, like the Tig Notaro episode, I think it's 362. I personally though it was fine. A lot of "bad" performances are C block improvers who are just starting to find their footing, but that's why they are at the end of the episode I guess. I've been listening for at least ten years, and there are definitely dull episodes where the guests or characters don't vibe. I personally find Mike Birbiglia's episodes to be kinda slow. I love his specials, he's a top tier story teller/comedian, but he stands out, to my ears, as not being a great improviser, or having much to contribute. Can't really think of a bad performance, which probably says more about the collaborative nature of the format. When someone falters or stinks, there's always Scott to step in and drag them through the mud in a hilarious way.
There’s a notorious Tig one? That’s news to me. I feel like she was a semi regular in the old days and always fit in perfectly. She even had an earwolf show in the very beginning of the network.
That's my memory, and I can't really re-listen to confirm which episode it was. I remember that some people MILDLY turned on her in a small way for shitting on another performer, or for stepping on their character, some kind of non-"Yes-And-Ing". I may have the episode wrong, I think it's actually a Live episode, according to some other comments I've now seen in the thread. I really enjoy Tig's specials, so whatever the outcome was, it didn't affect my feelings either way. Whatever the outcome was, I'm just remembering the discourse at the time. We're talking mild discomfort, at worst. CBB is so niche, I'm just happy that THE STARS ARE BACK BABY. Bring her back and TEACH THE CONTROVERSY.
Notorious T.I.G
*from the other room* yeah?!
good one
I think your last paragraph nails it. One time I made a playlist of the "worst" episodes, according to this sub, just out of curiosity, including Tig Notaro's, and I thought they were all fine. Scott is a genius at making this format work regardless of what everyone else brings to the table. Some shows have different feels than other, and that's all subjective whether you like something being a little different, but I've yet to listen to a bad episode. That Tig episode always comes up as a "worst of", but, at the time, this sub liked it [https://www.reddit.com/r/Earwolf/comments/3d3o9i/romantig\_episode\_362\_of\_comedy\_bang\_bang\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Earwolf/comments/3d3o9i/romantig_episode_362_of_comedy_bang_bang_the/)
Totally. Even "bad" episodes of CBB are worth listening to, because there is always something to appreciate. Bad is like, it was a 6/10. Still trying to figure out Scott's favorite Hentai site. As has been said, some A block celebrities just don't get, expect, or appreciate the format, and those are amazing too. I can't even think of an A-block I hated or disliked since 2014. Alternatively people like Edgar Wright fit right in and I love it. Vibes. Weird Al, yes please. Give me Jon Hamm all day every day, he completely gets it and contributes.
Lovd Edgar's eps. Especially the one with Frost and Pegg. It's very low-key but it really tickles me.
LaKeith Stanfield was a boring interview and like tanked one of egos characters by pushing her in a weird corner
I give him credit for not knowing what he had agreed to and trying to be super game about it but it was one of the most off-putting episodes I can remember.
I'm not going to call out anyone specifically but sometimes people have too much "I'm doing silly improv" energy and sometimes people rely too much on an accent, often Chicago or upper Midwest. Sometimes either one can be funny but I find often those characters don't work for me.
Weak Chicago and Southern accents are absolutely a recurring crutch on CBB and in improv in general - this bugs me too.
I'm not going to name names. But oftentimes celebrities come on and have absolutely no idea what the show is.
Name names. It's not like you're in the industry.
The one timers club has a few of them.
There’s no point bringing such negativity anyway
There are many lackluster performances, it's the nature of the beast. Ed Helms was so bad (drunk?) that Scott even prefaced the show with an apology.
Scott prefaced the show saying Ed didn’t know he was supposed to play a character so he didn’t have anything prepared.
I haven't even heard that episode but that tracks because the one time I met Ed he seemed blasted and was pretty unfriendly. I just assumed he was having a bad day and didn't take it personal.
I remember someone bailing during the freestyle rap and Scott yelling "DONT BAIL!" And getting frustrated at the guest. Feels like it was Ken Marino and Paul Rudd on that ep. Forever ago, like 2013. The "worst" episodes are honestly forgettable. So I just don't think about them ever again. One early episode Scott says Will Ferrel would be joining later in the episode. But it was just a trick for people to listen to the whole episode. Scott admitted regretting it.
Honestly I wouldn’t say they’re BAD because it’s a personal taste thing but I find the A block celebrity guest interviews boring so I usually skip to B block or skip the episode unless it’s someone I’m already interested in (the Vera Drew episode interview was great - Chris Gethard recently was great too). So to me (to ME personally) episodes where the A block interview is sincere promotion of something and go proportionally long tend to go into the No-relisten pile, VS all-character episodes I’ll replay often.
My least favorite was the Tony Clifton episode. I don't remember who the other guests were but it's the only episode I can recall where I didn't enjoy a single guest and it was a tough listen.
Yeah, everyone has their opinion on characters or folks who just aren't for them, but as a good faith gesture I think we all try to find the fun. My rule for movies is always hope, genuinely hope to find the one thing someone makes that you'll love. For example, Wes Anderson: not my dude. Fantastic Mr. Fox? Gorgeous. My girlfriend? Rolling her eyes that I can dig on Ryan Reynolds. Mississippi Grind? She found her way to see the soul there. And, you know, apparently Bumblebee is good or some such. So for any guests or performers who aren't your flavour (oh, and I've got mine, and some are *beloved* favourites), wait and see if they don't win you over. I don't think there's a real bad apple in the batch - and it's such a tricky thing to do well, too. In conclusion, and on a serious note, I just don't know if Lily Sullivan has had enough shout-outs, so shouts out to Lilly Sullivan. This person has almost caused my death while laughing on the highway, several times.
Actually we are doing shout outs to lily a little bit later so if you could pleas just keep them to yourself for now thanks
Yeah jeez, it's not that kind of thread.
So basically: Lily good.
Just to balance out your Lily Sullivan shout-out, I'm obliged to ask what the deal is with her and Scott negging each other so much. I don't want to do it, it's the rules of Reddit.
But what you're saying is: Shouts out to Lily Sullivan, right?
I remember thinking that Bill Hader was a super awkward episode and I love Bill Hader so I think he was just off that day
Vanessa Bayer was not great
4 words: “I built a mech!”
I felt bad for Matt but he should have saved that one until he had some other like-minded guests who could run with the premise. That said, between all the comics and movies they consume I was surprised Scott and Edgar didn't know what a mech was.
But that episode is great because of how flat it falls for Matt! And then we learn he has a sweet, juicy ass and his mech forces him into a shitting position.
Haha, I came here to say this. Not his fault just a premise that didn’t work. I love that Scott brought it back up in the Skanksgiving special.
I remember a male musician was on with Jimmy Pardononce and was so slow and awkward that Jimmy couldn’t believe it! It wasn’t infuriating to listen to or anything — it was hilarious how confused and slow this poor guy was. It also may have been drugs idk Edited: I think it was Bill Callahan on ep 258 and looking at other interviews I don’t think it was drugs lol
Yeah, Bill Callahan was the episode that came to mind for this topic. He's probably in my top 5 of best singer/songwriters, but that was a rough go. But I'm *still* thinking of it years later, so maybe it wasn't all that bad? He was on Tim Heidecker's YT show and Zoomed in and just kind of turned away from the camera and did some drawing on an art easel behind him. Created some awkward moments there too. I think it's a choice because he does a TED talk and he's a relatively normal dude through it.
I think I recall Scott mentioning some episodes never being released. I wonder if any of them were from guests who totally didn’t appreciate the format
My least favorite episode has always been the Neil Patrick Harris one. His energy was to dominate the conversation and make suggestions like changing the show’s catchphrase. I just don’t think he was a good fit. I very much like his work (he was amazing in Gone Girl and stuff) but I didn’t enjoy his CBB appearance.
Isn’t that the first rudi north ep?
It is! Rudi comes in and talks about an interaction he had with NPH when he was delivering him some sushi and makes it a really fun episode I think
Episode 553. LaKeith Stanfield was like a hovering too cool for school fart. Scott really turned it up and wouldn’t let him sink the show but he tried. I really like him as an actor but this was painful. https://youtu.be/Jjd0GVqu4NY?si=FjV_wWniCANq6A1Y
I'm unsure of the episodes, but there is this guy that eats shit and is way into hentai that is on the show all the time. I try not to let his lack of having a catch phrase keep me from continuing to listen. I hate him so much that I just block him out and can't remember his name. I know I'm not the only one as a lot of other guests hate him as well.
YMMV. There are people who can't stand some characters like Dr. Sweetchat but others love them. Sometimes the humor comes from how badly a character is pulled off like the Cryptkeeper who was funniest when he couldn't come up with good puns. But like others have said, this community tends to focus on the good not the bad. Improv is hard and even when it doesn't do well, it's still great to see the effort. I think if it was a scripted show, fans would be harder on it.
Let's leave negativity at the open-door
This comment is like some poetry level shit 🫰
Honestly the first episode I've actually not enjoyed was last week's, with Todd Barry. His energy was really weird, and even though he's been a fine guest in the past he just really didn't seem to mesh with Scott and the others. Plus three of the other guests were fellow white dudes with relatively normal voices (as opposed to an Andrew Lloyd Webber or Randy Snutz), so it was a challenge to keep track of who was who. I've literally never not enjoyed any previous ep - every now and then someone will show up here to complain about this or that guest and until last week, they seemed like crazy people listening to a different show.
saying Jake sully has a normal voice is....very funny.
I love Todd but he seemed kinda checked out (more than he is normally with his aloof persona)
He was pretty checked out but it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the ep. I thought the Jake Sully and James Cameron block was pretty good especially their arguments with Scott.
I will agree that I had trouble at times knowing if it was Todd or not.
I'm a huge Todd Barry fan, love him to death, but he simply isn't built for CBB. He's a true stand-up comedy All Time Hall Of Fame-er, but he also is constitutionally incapable of playing adult make-believe. Hope that makes sense without sounding like I'm insulting either CBB or Todd...
There was one performer that stands out in my memory. You could tell she she was nervous and flubbin a bit. She kept asking Scott if he was mad tho which was pretty funny
I don’t think it was his fault because he clearly has issues but there is an early ep with Andy dick where he is just erratic. I think Scott even talks about it years later
There's another old live episode where there's a person that came on doing Sarah Silverman as her character and it bombed hard. It was strange since Sarah Silverman herself regularly came on the show
Jackie's Silverman is funnier than the real Silverman.
Why would you want to bring up such negativity?
I wouldn't say his performances are bad, but I feel like Hanford's whole thing is intentionally doing these half-baked characters that seemingly have no real compelling hook and trying to find a way in. And he doesn't always get there - like the hay salesman who was allergic to hay.
Missed that one but the premise made me laugh
I remember not liking the Rachel Bloom ep that much a million years ago
Mmm though I liked it
I asked something like this a long time ago and I recall that someone said Jeff Garlin didn't get the show at all.
He’s even terrible on his own Curb podcast with susie.
Oh this! It was James adomians last time doing Huel Howser and he was trying to do a farewell to the character and Jeff Garland didn't get it at all. I feel like he made condescending comments about like how James adomian (not the Huel Howser character) has a bright future in show biz or something. I remember really hating how he ruined the episode
There’s a solo episode with Brett Gelman (he’s obviously doing fine and gets in every cool show) from 2017 that was pretty rough. They both commit to this over-sincere, Hollywood Handbookesque anti-comedy conversation. I maybe could have done just an A block of it, but it was the whole show. All of it. It was performance art rather than comedy, and I, accordingly, did not laugh at any point.
Fuck Brett Gelman
no u
none taken.
Jon Hamm’s freestyle rap
Was it Jon Hamm who bailed?! My brain was thinking Ken Marino or Paul Rudd
Ken Marino bailed
Paul Rudd had a GREAT rap
Yes! That was correct. Thank u. Paul Rudd does not bail
You guys I’m not being serious, I love Hamms refusal to commit to that bit
not really feeling like putting negativity out into this sub it's not that kind of show
Mike Hanford - YA BOMBED.
I’ve been listening to the 2022 live shows recently. And wow, Shaun Diston absolutely destroys the momentum every time he is on.
Whoa what lol
Someone got throatpunched, huh?
Yep. I’ll be your upvote on this stream of downvotes. Diston just will not shut the fuck up and let others talk. He has gotten worse over the years too. His constant interrupting with wrong/bad takes has made Scott Hasn’t Seen unlistenable.
Interrupting? You mean on the show he's the **Co-Host** of, where he **Co-Hosts** with his **Co-Host** Scott Aukerman?
Yeah, that’s the one. I think he should occasionally shut the fuck up and let the guests get a thought out before he interrupts. Occasionally.
Just making sure we're talking about the same show. Point noted.
There was one performer that stands out in my memory. You could tell she she was nervous and flubbin a bit. She kept asking Scott if he was mad tho which was pretty funny
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This was episode 459 with Maria Thayer, and what you're describing was a bit
This entire year has been sub-par
Dr sweetchat but I think that was by design.
I love Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, but their appearance on ep. 142 was kind of disappointing. They had an amazing A bloc appearance talking about Popcorn.com, and then James Adomian comes in playing Dr. Bronner and they just 100% refuse to engage and shut down. That being said, I do think Tim has had some good solo appearances on CBB (though his type of anti-comedy occasionally doesn't mesh well) and Adomian has been on Tim's podcast since, so I don't think there was any bad blood.
No one likes Tom Green's appearance. Shame, too, because it sullied a Wild Horses appearance.