The Best Show on WFMU

the uhh yeah dude guys got like $10,000 a month when they started their patreon, kind of a good model maybe?

I think the "3 listeners" thing is a little bit schtick, but long-time listeners know Tom struggles with depression when the days get shorter, and I also think he's writing on a sitcom and just overworked in general, so every little indignity feels huge. So he uses it.

https://twitter.com/scharpling/status/706385459065315328

I have never called but maybe I should keep my 5-year-old up late to call in tonight.

It happens so infrequently but I love when kids call in. Particularly the one kid (who I presume Tom knew) who called in as Molly Molesworth and a dying old man.

I have never called in either, because I'm already pretty good at the self-administered variety of masochism.

I've only ever listened live once or twice but yeah I would need a really good on-topic story before I'd even think about calling.

feel like you can call without an agenda/story tonight with a baby or Grammy

Reminder: Tom and Jon on The Simpsons tonight.

Thank you for reminding!

I've been trying to find a particular Wurster call for a while now but haven't been able to manage (even searching through the detailed recaps): guy calls and says he's taking Oldzonareveren to prematurely age to get back at his dad? Feel like he called himself a Yearlie maybe? Think the call was from the last few years of the show (think the call ended with either a bomb or someone falling asleep after some Blue). Does this ring a bell for anyone?

Tom is co-hosting Prove it All Night's WFMU marathon show on Saturday. PLEDGE!!!!

great ep this week, julie klausner always seems to bring out the best in Tom. best musical performance of the new version of the show. the woody allen riffing at the end was the obvious highlight but I also loved Tom's imitation of Barack Obama reading Dilbert to the American people.

hey i've been out of the loop on this

is wurster still phoning in?

Yes. He does take a couple shows off when touring requires.

wish there was still a 'best show gems' podcast :/

There is! It's part of the Best Show podcast feed, not a separate podcast, but it's called Best Show Bests.

YEEEEEE HAWW!!!

Saw from Tom's feed that Alan Vega died; would kill to have a supercut of all Frankie Teardrop Challenge talk.

good god the woody allen/pokemon riffing at the end of this week's. woody allen watching soon-yi playing pokemon go on a pop tart was all-time hilarious.

glad to hear tom advocate the same "barb from stranger things is overrated" perspective I was pushing on ILX a couple of weeks ago. i feel vindicated.

also it's been nice seeing pretty much every Half Hour of Power regular show up on Difficult People this season

I died at his riff on "that Belle and Sebastian song, 'Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity'" during the Scottish guy's call in the most recent ep

Last couple of weeks have been great. The Beach Boys flashbacks are hilarious, Sal from Impractical Jokers was a good sport last week, and there were some hilarious "duh" calls this week.

big changes:

best show 24/7 channel soon
no more ads, he's taking donations instead
tom's getting a dog

Whoa, guess I better get caught up if I'm gonna listen all day every day (finally made my way through all of the WFMU shows only to fall a year behind on the new show).

no more ads is exciting for me, tom is terrible at getting through the ads, obviously hates doing it, and i bet he'll make way more money from straight donations anyways

"Best Show: support the show, brah"

the uhh yeah dude guys got like $10,000 a month when they started their patreon, kind of a good model maybe?

― nerd shit (Will M.), Wednesday, 2 December 2015 16:33 (one year ago) Permalink

Best Show is set to pass the El Chapo Trapo chaps on committed donations, proving once again it's the VU of podcasts, only 2,000 listeners, most insanely devoted, and half of them with podcasts of their own.

klausner, davenport, AND clements in studio tonight, should be a good one

I don't understand Patreon, but is Scharpling now earning 19k a fucking month (that's the Patreon tally at present)? Jesus, what a sweet deal that is...

minus the costs of producing the show, but yeah. i consider it back pay for doing the show for about 14 years for essentially nothing.

He's got a staff and costs -- it's still pretty great!

i made this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c45X1PHm1g

haha nice work, been listening through the 2010/2011 episodes recently and almost every week theres a joke about the ridiculousness of a trump presidency that is now just tragic.

As I noted on I guess the S&W thread, many of Wurster's old characters that were hilarious because they were such outrageous caricatures of awfulness are now kind of depressing because they're fairly accurate renderings of certain American citizens.

What Were Once Caricatures are Now Portraits

I love the Best Show 24/7 streaming station he has now. It's good to hear shows from like 2000-2001, when it was truly bizarre and unexpected

tom scharpling on the first episode of "the podcast for laundry" with brett davis is good if you miss angry/flustered tom from the earlier hollywood handbook episodes

i was wary of james murphy on the best show after some of those post-relaunch interviews of celebrities who tom doesn't know personally, but it was a really good ep. they are obviously simpatico, and having him in the studio instead of on the phone probably helped.

i really really enjoyed that!

book

https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/the-best-show-tom-scharpling-memoir-book.html

Rot

I really like how Tom’s affection for RAtM and Limp Bizkit closely mirrors Ronald Thomas Clontle’s musical evolution in Rock, Rot and Rule.

I thought Tom's assessment of RaTM as either the best bad band or the worst good is rather astute.

'worst GOOD band' rather

And finally the Andrew Dice Clay interview sees it’s standalone light of day. Assuming it coincides with his first unintentional on-air fbomb

Tom accidentally swearing on 7/24 is a real joy

part of the joy of tom going on hollywood handbook is hearing him swear

I really like how Tom’s affection for RAtM and Limp Bizkit closely mirrors Ronald Thomas Clontle’s musical evolution in Rock, Rot and Rule.

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Friday, August 9, 2019 7:52 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ha true, not to mention "the Music Scholar" bit!

Argh, that’s the one I meant!

Thanks to Rock Rot & Rule I now use 'rotting' as a verb for sorting through records to decide if they're worth selling.