Greg Proops Proopcast - The Smartest Man In The World

[3-d lobster]

Been listening to Greg Proops Smartest man in the world, it is incredible.  I've only know known him from WLIIA, the nerdy gay one with a bad wig but the podcast is very good.

He is very well read and articulate with it. He also has extensive knowledge of everything from ancient great politics to the films of Russ Meyer. The first half is a sprawling monologue which covers everything and nothing, then opens up to a Q&A in the second half. His bitingly sharp and acidic humour  flow into every subject. Even the normally vocal American audiences are scared into silence against his torrent of wit. Highly recommended.

[Little Hoover]

Yes I've been enjoying those a lot myself, and they've been coming out with more regularity lately as well which is great. But it's quite remarkable to be able to come out with a new hour of material each week. It's not as dense as as a stand-up set might be, but as far as I can tell it is a semi-improvised set each week which is often amusing and always engaging to listen to.

[Neil]

I've split this from the Comedy Podcasts thread.  Following the above recommendations, I started slowly working through these.  I got halfway through the second one yesterday, and excitedly concluded they may be some of the greatest audio I've ever heard.  Just stunning.  It was when, in Giants, he gets questions from the audience, and flexes his not inconsiderable improv muscles, something which we all know he's talented at, and which perhaps some of us only know about Proops.  However, I've heard some of his other stand-up before, and love it, so was already vaguely aware of how eloquent and literate he is, but the Proopcasts are mind-blowing!

He must be one of the greatest raconteur's I've encountered in all of comedy.  Totally geared towards rapid, free-form talk radio, peppered with esoteric references, and words that'll constantly have you checking your dictionary (app).  Really clever, funny exciting stuff.  I can't fucking wait to work through the rest of them. 

[Famous Mortimer]

Hurrah! I think I heard about this via the AV Club, but as a long-time fan of him and his various works, I lapped this up. Considering he's effectively doing a new "set" every week or so, they're of an extraordinarily high standard. Long may they continue.

[CaledonianGonzo]

He's doing this live in Edinburgh and I think you've all just convinced me to go

(I know I could actually listen to the podcasts, but it's not something I can ever seem to find the time for, plus my home PC's out of action for the time being).

[rudi]

Cheers ladies. All loaded into the phone and ready for action

[The Masked Unit]

Fucking love this podcast, although frankly "podcast" is a bit of an insult to what's basically a new hour of quality standup/story-telling every week.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Greg Proops wears a wig?!?!? In all honesty, I did not know that. It's not like discovering he's a Scientologist or owt, but I'm always slightly disappointed to discover that people I like are syrup wearers. It undermines their integrity somewhat.

Anyway, really looking forward to these. They sound great from your descriptions, and are obviously of far more importance than talking about his Irish.

[3-d lobster]

Greg Proops wears a wig?!?!?

Just to clarify this was my opinion for years ago. After listening to the podcast he is not nerdy, far from it, not gay, married, as for the wig, well...it's a shocking barnet either way.

I usually treat podcasts as disposable entertainment, the only podcast I've kept is A&J. This is the only other exception, I think it is exceptional.

[mycroft]

Nah, it's not a wig - you'd see him about his everyday business all the time back when the Edinburgh Fringe was good, hair as present as always, braving the biting Scottish winds.

Unless it's really well-attached and he's a dedicated 24 hour wearer, like Frankie Howerd apparently was.

[turnstyle]

I started listening to these last week. I've been enjoying them.

I'm not sure I'd class them as comedy though...more like Greg Proops chewing the fat...and spitting said fat into the face of the Republicans/Liberals/Gwyneth/whoever it is that week.

Also, I thought he was gay and Canadian. So...there you go.

[Jemble Fred]

I pretty much never ever bother with podcasts, but these sets are too fucking cool not to. The latest one, with all the WLIIA memories etc, was an extreme treat.

[hedgehog90]

I think Marc Maron mentioned him and his podcast in one of his own. I've been listening to it since.
It is great :)

[zhenghe]

The podcast from Edinburgh is up now. 

Things always pick up when Proops gets to describing figures from pop culture.  Bowie/Jagger and Richard O'Brien from previous episodes stick in my mind - this week there was Brian Ferry.

[CaledonianGonzo]

I was there.

He uses the phrase 'and whatnot' a surprising amount.

[Little Hoover]

His mentioning of deep fried mars bars wasn't gratuitous in the way that I worried it would be. It was quite delightful hearing people cheer at the mention of Satchel Paige.

[Famous Mortimer]

His mentioning of deep fried mars bars wasn't gratuitous in the way that I worried it would be. It was quite delightful hearing people cheer at the mention of Satchel Paige.

Satch was a pretty amazing guy as well - if you have even a passing interest in baseball, read "Satchel Paige's America" because it's great.

[Neil]

I should really start listening to the new ones, as I'm still right back at the start, trying to catch up.  But yes, Satchel Paige seems to be a recurring name in the Proopcasts, and I might well have to get the book at some point, if only because it evidently features stories about him knocking round New Orleans with Jelly Roll Morton!

[Johnny Townmouse]

Could someone let me know which of the casts has Proops talking about WLIIA? I'm desperately trying to gather decent listening material in advance of a 'business' trip to Brussels. Help.

[CaledonianGonzo]

His mentioning of deep fried mars bars wasn't gratuitous in the way that I worried it would be.

It only stuck out like a sore thumb to me as I have a finely honed radar for that particular combination of words, appearing as they often do in the context of hack material - and Proops was the only comedian I heard using them in however many Fringe shows I saw this month. 

But it's certainly not like it ruins the show or would leap out at anyone else.

[Johnny Townmouse]

I just spent a few days in Brussels on my own and had a dozen or so proop-casts to keep my company. I am completely blown away by these casts - I genuinely marvel at the guy's ability to call on a whole variety of experiences and anecdotes and memories, and to make them so fucking funny. For over an hour. Every fucking week (or so.)

However, it is his political anger that I find most refreshing and invigorating. What occured to me whilst listening to them was a great sense that Proops is continuing something that I believe directly relates to Hicks. Indeed, when I hear Proops taking Obama and all the deluded, middle-class liberals to task it genuinely makes me feel less sad about Hicks' premature death. I often think to myself, in a melancholy haze, what Hicks would have to say about contemporary politics, the war and America's foreign policy. It is surprising to me that it is Greg Proops that is fulfilling this impossible wish. His vitriol is real and biting, and his observations have an undeniable truth - to the point where it is cathartic rather than draining. Only Hicks has ever been able to do that for me.

Some of his anecdotes are so fucking casually hilarious - little moments like how rangy and think Mick Jones was when he met him, or finding humour in ancient greek history, or doing impromptu Michael McDonald impressions with John Dimaggio.

I genuinely don't understand how he can sustain these proopcasts and keep the quality so high.

Fucking Greg Proops. Whooda thought it?

[Neil]

I'm going through a period of listening to them again too, and decided to dive in with the latest ones and try to keep up.  Just wonderful, still unbelievably funny and interesting.  I adore how he can reel out long insults, for instance, without drawing breath.  I was in stitches earlier in the week at the story that ended 'that's like going up to Bob Dylan and saying hey, you sure have a way with words!' 

Agreed about how refreshing it is to hear his vitriol levelled at politics, too, he's a great political comedian, plus an amazing raconteur who can make seemingly any story funny or interesting. 

God he's great.

[I accept the terms of the]

Yes, he is. And it is a great surprise that the WLIIA guy turned out to be this good.

[Johnny Townmouse]

Weirdly, I find myself unable to really remember many of his anecdotes. I think this is because, as Frank Carson would say, it's the way he tells them. It's his use of unscripted, exquisite language that really make the stories - in particular his metaphors are lovely.

The last one I listened to had him reading out a question which started "We can put a man on the moon, so why can't we cure the common cold." He ripped that to shreds in the most fucking hilarious way.

Talented cunt.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Mostly unscripted, yes, but from seeing him in action close up he goes into the podcast with a jotter full of extensive notes detailing most of the things he's going to talk about.  Pages of writing.

[Johnny Townmouse]

Mostly unscripted, yes, but from seeing him in action close up he goes into the podcast with a jotter full of extensive notes detailing most of the things he's going to talk about.  Pages of writing.

Yep, I saw a photo of him at one of the LA shows and he was sitting (which was odd because I picture him standing) with some pages on the table.

Did he seem to be using that as a guide? I can't imagine him actually reading from them. Also, when he is prompted to talk about something on the hoof he does it with a seamless level of embroidered language. But it is clear that he has pre-prepared subjects, particularly those he talks through at the start of each show.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Yes - it was the same arrangement in Edinburgh.  Sitting in a comfy chair with a table of notes in front of him, perpetually mopping his sweaty brow with a huge Proopsian handkerchief.

To be honest while his delivery was seamless and obviously the questions at the end were entirely unscripted, I remember him making pretty good use of his notes.

[Johnny Townmouse]

Interesting. That's almost more insane. Given that you had Seinfeld astonished to hear that Louis CK writes a new hour show every tour, it is alarming to think that Proops possibly writes a lot of this stuff every cunting week. I know its anecdotal and not honed gags, but its a lot fucking funnier and erudite than most of the stand-up I see/hear.

I guess Herring is doing something similar with his casts, which just shows the gulf that exists between them.

[Key]

This weeks was excellent as usual but the Texan crowd were exceptionally frosty towards Greg's diatribes which was quite awkward, forcing him to lean back on some silly voices/impressions for cheap laughs. I think the biggest laugh was when he said the word 'titty.'

[Little Hoover]

I wonder if at some point, he'll get a heckler, aside from John Di Maggio I mean.