In our first semi final, game hungerer Doug Benson with ‘Doug Loves Movies’ faces off against the hug monster generals of Dave Anthony and Greg Behrendt’s ‘Walking the Room.’ Two podcasts forged in different images but both emerging from the LA school, they come to this round fully aware that they are one step from the final. Across three sections we’ll compare the shows relative merits and consider their downfalls and then, at the end, discover our finalist!
Greg Behrendt and Dave Anthony. Photo by Paul Armstrong
Ambition and intentions: Walking the Room’s aims are simply but lofty: the pursuit of friendship. Alternately bickering like best friends, children or lovers throughout an episode, the two come together through disdain, dismay or discomfort and then splash apart through a ridiculous Behrendt noise or blistering piece of Anthony sarcasm. It can be a difficult show to countenance at first, wince-fully honest and brutally abrasive as it is, but quickly the pair’s love for one another, the fans and the show shine through, convincing all but the most humbug of listeners. Doug Loves Movies is much simpler in a sense, as Benson is really hosting the gameshow that a comedian would love to host on television. Frequently untied to format, instead inexorably linked with comedy and atmosphere, highlighting the humour of it’s excellent guests and occasional actual cinematic discussion over prizes or rulebooks. Walking the Room takes this first round though, with the simplicity of a ‘pursuit of friendship’ wrought with a complexity and imagination that take it over the edge.
Doug Benson, Jeff Garlin, Pete Holmes and TJ Miller Photo by Liezl Estipona
Execution: Because of the game-show trappings, DLM battles with a flexible guests roster, live environment and no necessary format every week. So it is remarkable how able he is to produce near-constant excellence, retaining his sense of comedy in spite of his occasionally grumpiness with his guests, marshalling the show with a quick wit and an impressive fluidity. Anthony and Behrendt’s podcast of honest friendship is a triumph here too. Their unflinching vision of the world, themselves and relationships with others expressed with signature truth, fascination and blazing humour that is able to isolate a hilarity that is often abrasive in nature, but delectably ludicrous in content. Utterly reliant on their gorgeous dynamic, Walking the Room has a bromantic love and aggression that very much is the show, it’s mantra of brutal honesty and difficult truths making the program every second the podcuddle it lays claim to being. Again, WTR has this round, harnessing this perspective that is so decisively comedic, different and clear.
Victory! Photo c/o thereigningmonarchs.com
Consistency: DLM has a really high level of quality for a show with only a couple of constant elements. The guests can rotate into whatever order or be whatever creed or type that Benson can muster, yet the results are always a show as good as the last one. Benson’s hosting is certainly the key to this. His easy wits, distinct personality and a refined format, make something which he can easily contort to the guests or his own will, dependent on whim. That the games seem increasingly sidelined is another great compliment to Doug, as he shows his ability to let a show be what it is, rather than force something it isn’t. Walking the Room is a far less stable show, as it is reliant on the duo’s week leading up to the show, their emotions and realities having a huge impact on the levity, humour and content of the podcast. Despite the consistent pairing, it’s reliance on them as individuals and friends make it a much less tangible show, with the ups and downs far harder to specify. Certainly, for me, the show did experience a little downturn in quality a while ago, becoming more staid, more downtrodden and less lucid than it had been, but it shows the strength of their friendship that they have since recaptured the ephemeral sorcery and humour that makes WTR such a powerful experience. DLM takes this round, Benson’s ability to craft consistent excellence from constant flux being exemplary.
So Walking the Room, in a surprise move even to a writer who loves the show so much, progresses to the final, where it’ll face either You Look Nice Today or Never Not Funny, this weeks other clash of giants. But credit too, goes to DLM, which has made it into my top 4 podcasts of the past year! Until then, you can find both DLM and WTR on iTunes and the hosts @DaveAnthony, @GregBehrendt and @DougBenson