Greg Proops no longer The Smartest Man in the World

[cosmic-hearse]

I used to be a fan of Mr. Proops. He was one of the better improvisors on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, & The Smartest Man in the World was regularly funny, interesting - and yes, smart - in a seemingly effortless manner. He even made baseball (something I know next to nothing about) sound interesting.

But, just as Brexit & Corbyn broke a lot of liberal brains in the UK, the election of Trump seemed to drain Proops of all his critical faculties. Instead, he's become a desperately unfunny, centre-right democrat (I would say he's of the "vote Blue no matter who" persuasion, but he's aggressively opposed to even the mildest of leftist).

Worst of all is his craven bootlicking – he uncritically supports everything (& I mean everything) Biden says or does. He's as Manichean as the most ardent Ayn Rand devotee. His Twitter presence is almost bot-like in its adherence to the current US state - it is genuinely weird & often quite unpleasant. His current commitment to Biden / Democrat hegemony is absolute (he fully supports Israel's right to "defend itself" & bombing of Houthis), but for seemingly little reward – ultimately he's a fairly marginal public figure, I'm not sure what he gains from such unthinkingly, kneejerk Establishment grovelling. I suppose he truly believes it.

TL;DR - The Smartest Man in the World? The Thickest more like.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

preg groops imo

[idunnosomename]

I found out recently he only voiced the English speaking head of the podrace commentator in Episode 1, not the Huttese one too, and I went right off him

[Old Nehamkin]

He has me blocked on twitter but I don't think I've ever interacted with him in any way.

[extraordinary walnuts]

Used to be my favourite podcast, went to see a recording in San Francisco one New Year, great stuff.

It went to absolute shit when he started having his wife on all the time. She unfortunately isn't funny and he unfortunately is too deferential to her when she's on, which killed it stone dead. My wife agrees with me so aaahh

[Kelvin]

Smeg Poops

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Elvis Costello has let himself go? Can I do this

[BlodwynPig]

I found out recently he only voiced the English speaking head of the podrace commentator in Episode 1, not the Huttese one too, and I went right off him

Translate? Ah... is this star wars related?

[cosmic-hearse]

Greg Poops

[Twilkes]

Margarine Proops

[extraordinary walnuts]

Gerg Porpps

[extraordinary walnuts]

I haven't listened to the podcast for a few years now, but your broken brain theory sounds plausible to me, btw. Certainly for me, Trump's election and subsequent term in office was a psychic pummelling the like of which I've never known. A lot of people have been permanently changed for the worse by it.

[Minami Minegishi]

I used to adore his podcast and then he started on the Hilary sycophancy and I stopped.

He's hopelessly and terminally centrist.

[dungbeetle kpi]

Preg spoog

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

Greggs Proop

[Pink Gregory]

yeah, same here, it's a real shame because he felt like quite a unique and sophisticated comic voice but, yeah, Trump broke him.

the way I listened ( a few years ago ) was starting at the beginning and interspersing them with new ones.  He was actually quite critical of Obama (from the left, more or less) at the time, not at all surprising to hear that he worships the ground Biden walks on now, hearing how he changed in real time.

[frajer]

Thought this was going to be a "because he's now the deadest man in the world" thread.

I liked his appearances on HarmonTown but there was another podcast that rapidly went downhill when the rot set in.

[extraordinary walnuts]

I guess lockdown was probably the knockout blow for the podcast. He should have been out gigging, but had to do it from home. That's when I started to find it a real chore to listen.

[non capisco]

I remember Mark Kermode had him on his old podcast just after Biden won in 2020 and the pair of them were carrying on like all poverty, disease and suffering had been erased from the world overnight.

[Old Nehamkin]

Can I take a guess that he's one of those people who used the phrase "kids in cages" 70,000 times a day throughout Trump's presidency but now never ever mentions or alludes to that issue at all.

[Oh, Nobody]

WIFE??

huh.

Well I never.

[Goldentony]

I remember Mark Kermode had him on his old podcast just after Biden won in 2020

its the same bloke doing two characters

[KennyMonster]

I remember Mark Kermode had him on his old podcast just after Biden won in 2020 and the pair of them were carrying on like all poverty, disease and suffering had been erased from the world overnight.

Yeah, such an extensive knowledge of US politics, being that smart and well informed he must be aware of America's effect on the world militarily and yet getting a Dem in the Whitehouse would apparently lead to some kind of utopia (maybe for Americans which is all he cares about).



I think that statistically more international American "wars" have been  waged by Dem presidents than Reps   

[extraordinary walnuts]

Elvis Costello has let himself go? Can I do this

This has made me laugh every time I've seen it

I feel bad about dissing Greg Proops upthread and skedaddling without mentioning that he put out countless hours of comedy, that I really enjoyed, FOR FREE, for years.

Thregg.

There's a lot of great stuff in the archive, I should dig out a few episodes and re-enjoy the times when he used to smoke a bone, drink a big vodka and talk about The Ohio Players until the gig was over.

[Oosp]

I found out recently he only voiced the English speaking head of the podrace commentator in Episode 1, not the Huttese one too, and I went right off him

Thats fucked up. What is it

[Ferris]

He was very good as the slimy exec in flight of the conchords. Other than that, I have no knowledge of his work.

[Terry Torpid]

My favourite Greg Proops anecdote is that when he was playing one of the heads of the alien podracing commentator, they got him to improv his lines. There's a bit where a podracer crashes, and Proops ad-libbed: "I don't care what universe you're from, that's gotta hurt!"

George Lucas comes over to him with a frown and says "Erm, Greg, that line doesn't make sense. There's only one universe. Hmmm... there are different galaxies, but everyone in Star Wars is from the same galaxy, so the line doesn't work."

Proops evidently had enough restraint not to say "It's just a joke you beardy prick", and in the end, they left it in the film.

I am unfamiliar with the rest of his oeuvre, but that little line always sticks with me.

This was a very worthwhile post.

[EOLAN]

I used to adore his podcast and then he started on the Hilary sycophancy and I stopped.

He's hopelessly and terminally centrist.

I think the last one I listened to was before the 2016 election. Sending out messages urging to vote for Hillary. Got his wife on one podcast, and she spent most of it slagging off Bernie supporters.  Which is probably the best way to put them off voting. Could sense Greg feeling so too, but still happy to release it.

[IsavedLatin]

Used to be my favourite podcast, went to see a recording in San Francisco one New Year, great stuff.

It went to absolute shit when he started having his wife on all the time. She unfortunately isn't funny and he unfortunately is too deferential to her when she's on, which killed it stone dead. My wife agrees with me so aaahh

I am pleased and relieved to hear someone else express my view so completely. I was enormously disconcerted at the time at the strength of my reaction, but I found her a charm- and humour-free zone, and her overnight omnipresence killed my favourite podcast for me.

[idunnosomename]

interestingly Greg's friend Scott Capurro played the other head of the commentator who was called ahem, Fodesinbeed Annodue (there is basically no lore on him or his species, because an alien with two heads is just a stupid idea a baby would come up with)

They actually played the heads in character with prosthetics, but they didn't work with the CG so they just made it a full CG character



more rubber than Peter Serafinowicz got.

anyway Greg was on radio 4 this evening being "politically engaged". whats the point
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001v422