Lawrence.com Podcasts: Punditocracy

Do you remember these timeless comedy hits from Neil Hamburger, The World's Funnyman? -"Why did the chicken cross the road? To take pictures of Princess Di, dead in her car." -"What's the difference between Courtney Love and a porcupine? Well, if you get pricked by a porcupine's needle, you're not likely to get AIDS." -"Why did God create Domino's Pizza? To punish humanity for their complacency in the Holocaust." All of these swingin' gags, and a whole lot more, will be on display when Mr. Hamburger himself appears at the Jackpot Saloon on April 25th! This living legend of entertainment--even though he was busy spreading the gospel of funny throughout the savage hinterlands of Australia--was kind enough to chat with Punditocracy about his upcoming gig. It's a gut-busting politics and culture knee-slap-a-thon with stand up sensation Neil Hamburger! Act now, and we'll throw in a case of genital warts for free!

No, this episode of Punditocracy isn't about the seminal Alan Moore graphic novel...although it certainly got your attention, didn't it ya' nerd? We in fact speak with media watchdog Danny Schechter, an Emmy award winning journalist who has devoted much of his forty year career to calling the corporate news on their bullshit. He's an author ("When News Lies"), a blogger (www.mediachannel.org) and a documentary filmmaker ("In Debt We Trust"), whose film "WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception" will be screening at Liberty Hall on March 14th. We spoke with Mr. Schechter about Iraq, Iran, media consolidation, and why all you're hearing about instead is Anna Nicole Smith. It's the Politics & Culture Podcast's frontal assault on the fourth estate!

Rules for Punditocracy's Oscar Preview drinking game: *Every time Gavon mentions Peter O'Toole in various states of undress, 1 Drink *Every time special guest pundit Maggie threatens violence upon "Dreamgirls," 2 Drinks *Every time we say "f-ck," 1 Drink (And you better call an ambulance, for you'll soon die of alcohol poisoning) *Every time the politics & culture podcast takes the piss out of the 79th Annual Academy Awards, Chug [For a copy of the for reals Oscars Drinking Game, which you'll need to fully appreciate our live blogging of the Oscars on Sunday night, check out the Punditocracy blog on Lawrence.com!]

This filthy and furious installment of Punditocracy takes a look at Lawrence's role in the underground punk movement of the '80's, as detailed in the new documentary "American Hardcore." We interview Steven Blush, author of "American Hardcore: A Tribal History"; Paul Rachman, director of the film adaptation; and Jeff Fortier, Lawrence music promoter and witness to the hey-day of Kansas punk. It's a politics and culture gobcast slam-dancing directly into your face!

On this very special, very erotic holiday episode, we answer the question that's been nagging you the entire time that you've had your head in the gas oven: "Why am I pathetic and alone on Valentine's Day?" The answer dear, slowly asphyxiating listener is simple...you are an unpleasant person. That's why we here at Punditocracy, world renowned for our self-lovemaking skills, are here to point out your failings as a person in a demoralizing public forum. So put down that bottle of pills you little Anna Nicole and enjoy the sweet, sensual sounds of the politics and culture podcast as we explain why people treat you like you have a VD on VD.

It's Punditocracy's preview of the upcoming panel, "Blog to the Chief: The Impact of Political Blogs on the 2008 Election," part of the Dole Institute of Politics Presidential Lecture series. We speak with panelists Joan McCarter (the editor and blogger at Dailykos.com known as "mcjoan") and Jerome Armstrong (founder of MyDD.com and co-author of "Crashing the Gate"), as well as panel moderator David Perlmutter (professor of journalism at KU and author of the soon to be published, "Blog Wars"). This Corinthian leather upholstered edition of the politics and culture podcast still has that "new media" smell!

This installment of the politics and culture podcast may burst the seams of you iPod, because it's a morbidly obese marathon of punditry. Galen and Aaron return for some roundtabling on Iraq, '08, and jihadist Mooninites. It's not just a surge, it's a full blown bloviation escalation!

Daniel Bernard Roumain (or just DBR) is a classically trained musician whose style veers just as easily from hip-hop to Handel, a collision of influences he refers to as "dred violin." Born of Haitian immigrants and based out of Harlem, DBR has collaborated with artists as diverse as Phillip Glass and DJ Spooky. He's currently on tour with his nine piece orchestra, The Mission-which includes an amplified string quartet, drum-kit, keyboards, DJ and laptop-to perform "The Civil Rights Reader," a collection of compositions serving as musical portraits of leaders from the civil rights era. DBR and The Mission will bring "The Civil Rights Reader" to the Lied Center on February 2nd, and he was kind enough to sit down with us (via cellphone) for a chat.

He's pasty, balding, and otherwise your typical wad of doughy Midwestern albinism, but Jim Gaffigan is a comedy rock star. The Indiana-born actor/writer/comedian is a frequent guest on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Night with Conan O' Brien" (co-starring in the "Pale Force" cartoons with O'Brien) and has displayed his acting chops in series ranging from "Law & Order" to "Sex and the City." Although you might know him best as a Sierra Mist pitchman, Gaffigan's white bread and butter is stand up comedy. His routine-targeting everything from Hot Pockets to his painfully Caucasian upbringing-is profanity-free yet bitingly satirical. He's just finished his second Comedy Central stand-up special, "Beyond The Pale," and his stand-up tour stops in Lawrence in support of the broadcast, DVD, and CD.

This episode of Punditocracy features special guests The Maggot Punks, a bawdy band of atheists and agnostics based out of Wichita who have been baiting anti-abortion activists since 2002. Maggot Punk organizer Steve Pottorff and spokesperson Doug Ittner spoke with us about their agit-prop, pro-choice pranksterism. It's a politics and culture gagortion!

This week's holiday theme is out with the old and in with the spew, a New Year's Heave wrap up of 2006! Yes, New Year's celebrations are upon us; those precious few hours at the end of a long 12 months when we all get really drunk and try to forget how shitty the previous year was. It's with that depressingly prosaic ritual in mind that we here at Punditocracy turn to the New Year's resolutions of the famous and powerful, because no one cares about the pilates DVD you bought at Target!

Do you resent Jesus for making everyone else celebrate his birthday? Has your good will toward men soured into sociopathic rage toward carolers? Do you feel an uncontrollable urge to beat the feces out of that fat child predator in the red suit who smells like cheap wine and hangs out at the mall? If you've answered "Yes" to any of these questions, then you're probably bipolar...but you're also a potential recruit for the War on Christmas! Punditocracy brings you front line reports of the yule-tide terror from both sides of the manger massacre. Join us for an unflinching look at jingle hell. It's Punditocracy's coverage of the War on Christmas...nog will be shed!

This extra chunky installment of Punditocracy smears itself over such wide ranging topics as the Iraq Study Group, Jerry Falwell's monumental buttocks, and pounding our Wiinis til it hurts. It's a bunker-busting-sized politics & culture cluster bomb! (Music: The Black Keys, "Just Got To Be")

Dread the holiday weekend because you'd rather snort giblets up your nose than speak to relatives? Fear not! Punditocracy is here with Thanksgiving talking points to help you deal with obnoxious kin. We give you the right (and wrong) answers for politically uncomfortable questions at the family turkey trough. After they pass you a ladel full of guff, you can hand them a slice of shut-the-hell-up with whipped rage on top! It's a politics and culture public service announcement!

Can't write blurb...must play Wii... Oh, fine: The blossom wilts on Rove's turd, Trent Lott (unlike the South) rises again, Galen likes giant-ape porn... Now leave me to fiddle with my Wii! (Music: "New Slough" by The Blue Van)

Punditocracy's Electioneering Boogaloo wraps up with a post-mortem of the Republican electoral corpse! Following the historic Democratic tidal wave on Tuesday, we offer bleary eyed insight and exhausted exhaustive coverage of everything political (it was a long, long night on Tuesday). We pour a little malt liquor on the curb for our fallen conservative homies and raise the roofie-coladas to congratulate our ascendant progressive compatriots. It's a politics and culture cocktail...drink up! (The musical selection this episode was "Rock & Roll Evacuation" by Electric 6).

Join Punditocracy for our pre-election coverage of the November 7th midterms! Watch teary eyed as America uses the snake of democracy to unclog its political toilet! Galen and Gavon handicap the races while insulting the handicapped (meaning John Kerry's humor disability) and generally belittle the republic (including Rush Limbaugh, Phill Kline and Dane Cook). Be sure to also tune in on Wednesday night when we'll have post-election coverage and mighty hang-overs! (This episodes musical selection is "Monster Hospital" by Metric)

Punditocracy's Midterm Electioneering continues as we interview that rare breed of voter who has yet to watch their idealism drown in the festering cesspool of modern politics...the teenager! Members of the Young Republicans and Young Democrats of Lawrence High School sit down for an intelligent and civil discussion that should shame the rest of us who wallow in the depraved, filthy gutters of hyper-partisanship. Listen to an awkward old man "rap" with his young "homies" about such "crunk" issues as Iraq, Phill Kline, the draft, evolution, contraception, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. (This week's musical selection was "Danger, High Voltage!" by Electric 6)

This suspiciously respectable episode of the politics and culture podcast features an interview with Democrat Nancy Boyda. Nancy's running as a grass-roots insurgent to represent the 2nd Kansas Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, and she's not afraid to smack around her Republican opponent Jim Ryun (or even her own party) with a rhetorical folding chair. Join Punditocracy for the latest coverage of midterm election carnage!

The politics and culture podcast lubes up and wallows in the congressional sex scandal. Galen, Aaron and Gavon ponder the political fallout of Page-gate while virtually ignoring the nuclear fallout from North Korea (not enough man-on-boy action). This week's Punditocracy is more salacious than drunken IM sex with a Florida representative and fatter than Dennis Hastert's tainted boxer-briefs!