Greg Proops no longer The Smartest Man in the World

[extraordinary walnuts]

While I'm backpedaling on my earlier meanness, I should also say that it wasn't her job to be funny and I basically agreed with most of the politics. It just was a bad idea to have her on the podcast because it completely took all the air out of his "arrogant hilarious cokehead" persona that made the shit so funny in the first place.

[Crunk]

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

Stewart Lee cloned himself then let themselves go.

[Goldentony]

what the fuck is this commentator film everyones on about and those fish men on the page before

[Mobius]

I used to listen to his podcast many years ago. Don't remember much but enjoyed him talking about baseball

[beanheadmcginty]

Stewart Lee cloned himself then let themselves go.

PROOPCAST.CUM

[pigamus]

Used to listen to the podcast for a while because of CaB. Rememeber not a single thing about it now, apart from the baseball.

[Pink Gregory]

Used to listen to the podcast for a while because of CaB. Rememeber not a single thing about it now, apart from the baseball.

I do remember a long stretch of episodes in which listeners had asked him to make fantasy baseball team lineups, which he did

[Campbell Soupe]

Enjoyed his Whose Line stuff back-in-the-day and he had a cute "feud" going with Clive Anderson.  Would often crop up on Radcliffe's Graveyard Shift which was fun. Then, wasn't he literally kicked out of the country? Visa issues or something...

His Smartest Man pod was the first I subscribed to, back when it started  - I learnt a lot about Satchel Paige and Negro League Baseball, which he made extremely entertaining, despite me have zero interest in "sports".  I was doing some long commutes back then, and his raconteur company eased the pain. I drifted away when his live crowds were becoming cringingly sycophantic and he'd spend most of the podcast talking about the fabulous gifts they'd all brought in for him... (that and Kittens Mc-fucking-Tavish). I still dip into it occasionally, but it's a very different beast now.

Don't know whether it's age, post-lockdowns, Trump, or if he's had health issues, but the funny isn't there like it used to be...

I think he's generally a GBOLs, yes he's a centralist liberal melt... but that still makes him pretty left leaning in regards to US politics. He was initially no fan of Hillary, but was a case of, "well you should see the other guy..." so got in line behind her.  Said recently that Trump will never be president again... we'll see, I suppose...

[dungbeetle kpi]

what the fuck is this commentator film everyones on about and those fish men on the page before

STAR WARS *faaaaaaaaart*

[ajsmith2]

I had a bit of cognitive dissonance when I was re introduced to him by a friend as a political podcast proposition in the mid 10s, having previously filed him away in my mind as a cosy inoffensive pastel 80s/90s MOR Mac McDonald esque 'go-to American in the UK' from his WLIIA and panel show appearances. It felt a bit like if, I dunno if Phil Cool (there's probably a better analogue than that that escapes me) reappeared as a big cheese on the 2010s podcast scene. Went to see him live in spring 2016 which was just before he went completely kneejerk centrist  post Trump's victory. It's crazy how beyond parody gone he went after that, surely any purported 'smartest man in the world' would have to be able to allow for the discussion of more nuance and not be so one note?

^re: Costello comparisons above, the music guy he always reminded me of was John Flansburgh of TMBG.  Being this amiable retro looking American guy I recalled from the 80s/90s whose still around being hugely aggressively liberal online, tho TBF to TBmG I don't think Flansburgh is as far gone. (few are)

[Minami Minegishi]

what the fuck is this commentator film everyones on about and those fish men on the page before

I'm ignoring it because I don't understand it and it scares me.

[merri]

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

He's hopelessly and terminally centrist.

Yep I gave up around the period of his anti-Sanders polemics. Saw a live Smartest in LA around 2014 and it was good then.

[idunnosomename]

Peg Goops

[Pink Gregory]

Gregg "Pops"

[anton dick]

Greg Proolapse

[Pink Gregory]

if you're gonna buy bonds make sure they're barry bonds

[phantom_power]

Group pegs

I always found him a bit sneery and self-important, and anyone who calls themselves the smartest man in the world, however ironically or jokingly, is probably a dick

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

I adored his podcast in the early days. Went off it after a few years, as it began to feel like I was reliving the same few talking points in extreme detail over and over again.

The audience became unbearable, wanting him to redo/say bits he'd previously said, rather than provide jumping off points for new stories and ideas.

I persevered up to the point it started to feel less like Greg Proops' thoughts and experiences and more like the things Greg Proops' wife had told him he now aggressively thinks.

There were a good few years where he was genuinely fantastic though.

[Jackson K Pollock]

Yep I gave up around the period of his anti-Sanders polemics. Saw a live Smartest in LA around 2014 and it was good then.

At the LA Podfest in Beverly Hills? I was there too!

Can't remember much about it though, to be honest, and may have genuinely fallen asleep during it. I used to listen to it occasionally, and on very, very long cross-country night drives it really was a nice treat.

anyone who calls themselves the smartest man in the world, however ironically or jokingly, is probably a dick

Although agree with this 100%, and could never quite get past it even when I was enjoying the show.

Also, all the love for the baseball stuff? Seriously? That was always an instant fast-forward for me.

[extraordinary walnuts]

I had a bit of cognitive dissonance when I was re introduced to him by a friend as a political podcast proposition in the mid 10s, having previously filed him away in my mind as a cosy inoffensive pastel 80s/90s MOR Mac McDonald esque 'go-to American in the UK' from his WLIIA and panel show appearances. It felt a bit like if, I dunno if Phil Cool (there's probably a better analogue than that that escapes me) reappeared as a big cheese on the 2010s podcast scene.

Part of what I really liked about the podcast was when people who'd obviously only ever seen him on Whose Line showed up and were audibly dismayed by this high, drunk, swearing lefty shouting about Funkadelic for an hour plus

[merri]

At the LA Podfest in Beverly Hills? I was there too!

Nah this was at Meltdown Comics and I don't think it was part f a wider festival.

[how do you like apples]

https://twitter.com/GregProops/status/1746227663407304768?t=hUQG8_ZNtQAjap6Bziv9hg&s=19

Say what you will about late Carlin material, he'd still absolutely eviscerate what Proops purports to stand for these days wouldn't he?

[Oh, Nobody]

interestingly Greg's friend Scott Capurro played the other head of the commentator who was called ahem, Fodesinbeed Annodue

Should've been named Grott Capoops.

[fancywookiee]

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

He's hopelessly and terminally centrist.

Yeah, very similar story here. I used to really enjoy it but in the run up to the 2016 election it became insufferable. He blocked me on Twitter when I mocked him after Kamala Harris dropped out of the running for 2020.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Great at talking about food music and so good at talking about  baseball i nearly listened to those bits

Shite about talking about politlics

[mippy]

A few years ago I found the Tumblr of a teenage American who had a massive raging crush on him, and that's all I associate with him now.

[NattyDread 2]

Another former avid listener here. I used to love him banging on about the Roman Empire, druggy escapades and funk, but it did become an unbearable smug-fest when it became him and his wife during lockdown.
I did wonder if he was still going all-in on Biden after all this time.

[Key]

Chalk me up as another one who used to listen weekly but was baffled and dismayed by his H Clinton sycophancy in 2016 and it became too much of a chore. I wonder how many others are the same?
 I loved it when he mentioned once visiting my hometown and his only memory was of it smelling like an animal rendering plant.

[Petey Pate]

His love for Hilary was evident before 2016 if I remember rightly, as another former regular listener. It was pretty perplexing, as he regularly attacked Obama and ineffective Democrats, yet had a undying allegiance to 'Hilcat' despite the obvious issues with her from a left perspective.

Can only imagine how insufferable his podcast recorded in the aftermath of Trump's victory must have been.

[Pink Gregory]

His love for Hilary was evident before 2016 if I remember rightly, as another former regular listener. It was pretty perplexing, as he regularly attacked Obama and ineffective Democrats, yet had a undying allegiance to 'Hilcat' despite the obvious issues with her from a left perspective.

Can only imagine how insufferable his podcast recorded in the aftermath of Trump's victory must have been.

Was disappointing that he didn't really have much to say about Trump or why it happened other than 'hur hur fake tan fascist'