Hello from the Magic Tavern: Season 2, Ep 24 - Book Club: The Great Gatsby

August 28, 2017 12:43 AM

A wizard, a witch, a badger, a flower, a Chicagoan and a humunculous made of bodily fluids all try to understand the Earth book 'The Great Gatsby.'

Credits:Arnie: Arnie NiekampChunt: Adal RifaiUsidore: Matt YoungFlower: Brooke BreitClaudia: Beth MelewskiMetanoid: Jorin GarguiloBungaree Chubbins: Tom GottleibMysterious Man: Tim SniffenCraig: Ryan DiGiorgiProducers: Arnie Niekamp, Evan Jacover, Ryan DiGiorgiEditor: Chris RathjenTheme Music: Andy PolandMagic Tavern Logo: Allard LabanAudio Assistance: Jason KnoxProduction Assistance: Garrett Schultz

posted by FallowKing (3 comments total)

They pulled this off so much better than I thought they would. Flower is always better than she should be, Claudia was a much lighter touch than she had the last time she was on, and Metanoid was just terrific. They used the book club conceit just about perfectly, between in-universe ("What's a philadelphia?") and actual analysis of the book.

One of the best eps of S2 so far.
posted by Etrigan at 6:16 AM on August 28, 2017

I would have preferred a different book, one that I've read. The Great Gatsby has always been described to me as 'a great American novel', so I've avoided it. Good books don't need to advertise themselves with national pride. (Canadian ones are so much worse)


("What's a philadelphia?")
It was actually better than that, I think. It was "Who's Philadelphia?, which is even more in-setting, since the wording of it would indicate to someone ignorant in geography and phone etiquette that it was a person rather than a place. Definitely a highlight of the episode.

Adding the witch was too much, if you have Flower and Metanoid you don't need anyone else. I actually had a dream of flower a few weeks ago, it was disappointingly non-sexual and she was less foul mouthed, I can't curse even in my dreams. Hopefully we'll see Flower again this shooting block.

I'm easier to please when it comes to this show, they can do no wrong by me, which is contrary to my normal demeanor of spewing bile on the screen and wishing death on everyone involved. Something about them and their format just tickles me in the right spot.
posted by FallowKing at 8:58 AM on August 28, 2017

Adding the witch was too much, if you have Flower and Metanoid you don't need anyone else.

I would agree that you don't need anyone else, but Claudia was a good addition. I like three (good) guests -- it allows for them to float in and out, piping up when they've got a really good line and fading into the background when they don't. Two would also work well, but I don't think any of the three this week got stuck like often happens when it's just one guest.
posted by Etrigan at 10:43 AM on August 28, 2017