The Earwolf Challenge Last Words: Left Handed Radio
Catch-up on The Earwolf Challenge! You can listen to the Week 9 “Time Crunch” Elimination episode. The Left Handed Radio gang had this to say about their Challenge experience:
Adam Bozarth
This has been one of the weirder summers of my life. In May, I went to see Never Not Funny live at the Grammercy Theater, waited after the show and got to meet Jimmy Pardo. I gushed about how I have listened every week since the beginning of the show in 2006 and what a huge influence and inspiration his podcast is to me. Two weeks later, Pardo likens the first 30 seconds of my podcast to morning radio in Oklahoma. Hollywood!
In the following weeks, amazing things happened. A lot of very funny people got to hear us do some great material and actually liked it. And, of course, we got to talk about sketch writing with Matt Besser—founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre—which we all met through. It’s been a real thrill to hear Matt talk about how much we improved, and I would say we did. We were the youngest podcast in The Earwolf Challenge, and probably had the most to learn.
Then Week 9 came and, with Matt Belknap present to make the story arc complete, we got the axe. Probably should rethink my subscription to Season 10 of NNF. But, mock bravado aside, Matt Besser, Matt Belknap and Dave Anthony were very gracious to us when they let us down. And the slow build of fan support on the forums has been very touching. We worked very hard on The Earwolf Challenge and I know it shows. The show has pushed us to work even harder and think about podcasting in different ways.
Taylor Moore
Hey, remember “Salad Horse?” That was great! Boy, we had some good times you and I. Then again, we had some times where I felt like Jennifer Connelly in that weird masquerade party scene in Labyrinth where everyone’s wearing masks and laughing and David Bowie/Matt Besser is singing right at you but, is he angry or not? And why is this even happening? I guess what I’m trying to say is that Hoggle represents everyone on the forums, and the little talking dog that rides another little dog is Paul F. Tompkins and those bird things that can take their bodies apart are Peter and Frank. You can figure out the rest I bet. Start a forum thread! Then again, at the end of Labyrinth, Jennifer Connelly defeats Jareth the Goblin King and gets her baby brother back. So, maybe it’s not a great fit after all. Maybe I feel more like Jennifer Connelly in Requiem For a Dream. She’s still alive at the end of that one, right? And I bet she cleans up and goes on to have a beloved sketch comedy podcast after all that ass-to-ass business. Just like us.
Thanks everyone, it’s been a blast!
Matt Little
We entered the challenge because we felt like we were making work that people who inspired us would see and appreciate (THE. FUCKING. GALL. ON. US.). Most people don’t get that chance and we didn’t want to pass it up.
We worked our way up to the top three and it wasn’t easy. Well, easier than baling hay or something, but I have a limited life skill set (also, I’ve bailed hay and it SUUUUCKS). But for every argument we had, there was an instance of Matt Besser saying he really liked our work. For every late night, we had Doug Benson appreciating that we knew how to write and work for other comedians. For every doubt, we had Tig Notaro quoting our Batman sketch.
I got exactly what I wanted out of this – an amazing summer comedy course where we had our work positively reviewed by professionals in fields we’re busting our asses to break in to. Look, comedy isn’t your parents. But when you produce a show on your own, without even a live audience, you work in a bubble. Even after the work is released, it’s usually the people that are so frustrated that no one listens to them who reach out to tell you that you suck. If you’re doing a good job, you often don’t hear about it because people just assume you know. We had the good fortune to have great comedians say nice things about us in public. It’s given us the energy to push ourselves further…we’re not sadly mumbling “well, that’s over.” We’re rolling up our sleeves and saying “okay, what’s next?”
Thank you all for listening, and thanks to Peter and Frank for selecting us to participate in the show.
Now someone get us Zach Galifianakis’ email address because we’re still dead set on working with him. I’m not kidding, the sketch is ready to go.
PS: Sign up for our mailing list! lefthandedradio.tumblr.com
Anna Rubanova
Hey, it’s Anna, the chick Jimmy Pardo suggested we lose in the first round. (True story!) How’s it going?!
First of all, let me say that I have never been more proud of our little sketch collective than in these last few weeks. I’ve known for a while that this was a special group of people, but seeing them pour so much of themselves into a project like this has been inspiring. Traversing the challenges week to week required cooperation, creativity, research and a lot of mind-reading. At times, it felt like it would’ve been easier had we not been designated 100% sketch. Sure, it’s what we do, but when the situation called for something else, like in the last challenge, I wish we didn’t feel the need to go through with our regular routine. And, yet, how could we not if that is what we do and have done up to that point? We stuck to our guns and nobody can take that away from us. The skill, professionalism and attitude exhibited in the room, no matter what the challenge, could melt your face off if you stood too close to it. So what if we fumbled? We do good work.
We may have placed third, but, hey, we placed third! Who would’ve guessed we’d come this far after being in the bottom two right out of the gate? Definitely not the Internet. I mean, we somehow tricked comedy idols into listening to our material and they actually liked some of it! Who gets that sort of opportunity? Also, I had a lot of fun this summer hanging out with my friends and doing comedy almost every day. I do wish I had gone to the beach just once. Although, I do hate the beach. Although, sometimes they serve food at the beach and you can just wear normal clothes… My biggest regret during this competition, besides using my most annoying speaking voice in the coaching sessions, is that we never got to do an interview. You may not believe me when I say it, but we would’ve excelled. We were ready two weeks in a row to have a solid one-on-five, no matter who was on the other end of the Skype connect. So, there’s that.
The important thing to remember is, now that we’ve lost, we’re done, no more. You can never hear us again, not even by going to iTunes and searching for “Left Handed Radio,” googling the same exact keywords or even visiting www.lefthandedradio.com. Liking us on Facebook will not bring us back. There is no Twitter account. And, when you ask about our whereabouts or make any reference to our having existed, you will be met with glazed-over eyes, confusion and hatred.
Dan Chamberlain
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