Reply All: #87 Storming the Castle

February 2, 2017 10:56 AM

Alex finally meets his hero. Sruthi talks with her Iranian colleague.

Episode page
Longmont Potion Castle's Website
Twice Removed episode about Nazanin
Nazanin's Twitter

posted by radioamy (13 comments total)

Is anyone else feeling a little let down that they waited 2 weeks for this?

I am the first to admit that I don't totally share Alex's sense of humor. I totally appreciate that it was amazing for him to talk to someone whose work was so important to him, but the conversation did not captivate me.

Sruthi's conversation with Nazanin was emotional and timely, but it was just that, a conversation. It felt more like a promo for Twice Removed (which I have listened to once or twice and enjoyed).
posted by radioamy at 10:58 AM on February 2, 2017

I would wait a year for an interview with LPC
posted by azarbayejani at 3:02 PM on February 2, 2017

azarbayejani - were you familiar with him before? Did you enjoy the episode?
posted by radioamy at 6:01 PM on February 2, 2017

I'm very curious what others' responses are to the episode. I'm a huge Reply All fan, so it's unusual for me to feel disengaged from an episode like this.
posted by radioamy at 6:02 PM on February 2, 2017

Radioamy - yep, and like Alex, Bruschotti is my favorite one.
posted by azarbayejani at 7:38 PM on February 2, 2017

I usually really like Reply All, but I barely made it through ten minutes of this one. I totally get humor is subjective and all that, and I'm happy Alex got to meet one of his heroes, but something about that guy's shtick was like nails on chalkboard in my brain.
posted by jameaterblues at 10:53 PM on February 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm listening to this and just thinking that I'm glad Alex got to do this interview, because it sounds like he is very excited and having a lot of fun but I just don't get it. Admittedly, I've never liked prank calls, so I didn't find it funny? But good for him.

Considering This Fucking Week, I'm also cool with hearing about how an Iranian got to the US and their thoughts on citizenship. I mean, I think a lot of mefites know of stories - if not specifically like this*, like this enough that they don't think the previous process of getting to the US from any of the seven banned countries was super easy or fast, or that the path of citizenship for any non-citizen was quick. But there are plenty of people out there who seem to think that if you can buy a ticket, you can get here and get through customs and get a green card without any sort of vetting, so more stories pointing out that's not the case are appreciated and needed, and if this is a weird way to inject those stories into a least a few more ears, more power to them.

Anyway, going to listen to the full twice removed story now.

*Here's where I admit I didn't realize that you'd have to have a hefty bank account to even fly over to the US on a tourist visa from India
posted by dinty_moore at 8:52 AM on February 3, 2017

I am the first to admit that I don't totally share Alex's sense of humor. I totally appreciate that it was amazing for him to talk to someone whose work was so important to him, but the conversation did not captivate me.

I listened to the show and enjoyed it. However, I am surprised that's the most interesting eight minutes of tape they got from a two hour conversation with a famous prankster. But then, aside from my uninformed but sincere love of David Franks, prank calls aren't really a medium that excites me. Nor is loopy and distorted audio. I'd hang up on the guy too.

But, watching someone I've spent many person-days listening to catch their white whale is pretty neat. As are intensely personal stories about interesting public figures overcoming mental-health hardships, especially when thrown in as an aside to an unrelated story.

Also, Huzzah for apolitical podcasts humanizing refugees. I can't say I'm a huge fan of Nazanin Rafsanjani nor the sponsored-content revolution in radio advertising. But, every "non-political" podcast willing to talk about refugees is surely a good thing for the world.
posted by eotvos at 8:58 AM on February 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I fucking hater prank calls of any sort, so I turned it off after 5 minutes. What I heard kind of reminded me of the Subgenius radio show my husband used to listen to that would drive me from the room in mere seconds. I bounce so hard off this kind of stuff.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:42 AM on February 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah I found LPC to be slightly funny at best. The story of Alex's fandom was the part that kept me from just turning it off; "absurd thing helps during severe depression" and "found thing on filesharing network and got obsessed" are very relatable threads.

I liked the Twice Removed interview a lot and will listen to the full ep soon -- maybe just the good timing, but I got more into it than any other "plug another podcast" segment I've heard. Maybe also that these are perspectives I know exist out in the world, but I'm a white person and it would not be cool for me to roll up to people who are directly affected and start asking questions, so I'm glad to get to hear them.
posted by clavicle at 10:42 AM on February 4, 2017

Interesting. I loved this episode. I was almost falling off my bike laughing at LPC who I had never heard before. I really appreciated Alex's reveal about his history with serious depression, it felt very open but not at all manipulative of the audience. I thought it was brave. And given that it's a studiously apolitical podcast (as mentioned above) I was relieved and grateful they humanized refugees. A+.
posted by latkes at 7:21 PM on February 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

something about that guy's shtick was like nails on chalkboard in my brain.

Yup. Same. I bailed on that segment and skipped to the second half, which was good but barely scratches the surface of an important subject.
posted by dnash at 8:33 AM on February 6, 2017

Also not a prank call fan, but I find it endearing Alex is so fond of this culture I know nothing about. It's their job to draw out what is interesting about it, but it fell short for me this time. There's a previous episode with different prank callers I found much more interesting. LPC's vocal effects remind me of The Weatherman from Negativland, so at least that made me smile.

I'm glad they included the conversation between Sruthi and Nazanin. It wasn't the best thing, but it felt very real and in the moment. The country has been in an outrageous emergency right when making this episode, I think it's important and natural for the folks making the show to react to that.

(OMG I just listened to the podcast on the website and it is so slow. I normally listen with Overcast at about 1.3x speed and that now sounds normal to me. I'm sorry, producers.)
posted by Nelson at 7:23 AM on February 11, 2017