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Bullseye: Kurt Andersen, Ari Graynor, Chris Fairbanks

Our show is guest hosted this week by Jordan Morris. Jesse Thorn will return next week. Check out more from Jordan on the podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go! or on his blog.

Music and a Movie with Keith Phipps and Marah Eakin
AV Club editor Keith Phipps recommends Quadrophenia, a film based on the rock opera of the same name by The Who. Music Editor Marah Eakin recommends the single I Will Wait by Mumford & Sons. (Embed or share this segment with Keith Phipps and Marah Eakin)
Kurt Andersen’s True Believers
Kurt Andersen is the host of Studio 360, co-founder of the satirical Spy Magazine and a novelist. He brought his love of research and cultural criticism to bear when he penned the new novel True Believers, the story of a high profile lawyer who steps away from a nomination to the Supreme Court. True Believers follows her on a quest to piece together a mysterious episode in her childhood during the Cold War and the age of the spy novel. Andersen fondly recalls his own childhood interests in espionage, and he discusses the leap of faith required for a trained journalist to stop doing research and begin trusting the imagination. The end result is a novel which weaves together generational politics, 1960s counter-culture, and a children’s game that becomes all too real. (Embed or share this interview with Kurt Andersen)
MaxFunCon 2012, photo by liezelwashere
Comedian Chris Fairbanks on Being Mugged
Ever had a neighborly mugging experience? Comedian and artist Chris Fairbanks knows what it’s like. He told us this story at the fourth annual Max Fun Con. (Embed or share Chris Fairbanks on Being Mugged)
For a Good Time, Call… Ari Graynor
Ari Graynor plays a lot of outrageous, messy roles — she was a self-destructive college student on The Sopranos, and she played a drunken best friend in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist — but her characters have heart and a kind of innocence. The same is true of her most recent role of Katie Steele, the brash-yet-vulnerable young Manhattanite who runs a phone sex line in the new movie For a Good Time, Call. The film is in select theaters nationwide this week. Ari talks to us about the 80s films that inspired her, the story’s depiction of female friendship, and the strange intimacy and appeal of phone sex. (Embed or share this interview with Ari Graynor)
The Outshot: No Use for a Name
Jordan shares his passion for the music of the late Tony Sly, of punk band No Use for a Name. (Embed or share The Outshot: Tony Sly and No Use for a Name) Got a favorite band you want to spread the word about? Head on over to the MaxFun forum and pick your own Outshot. Subscribe to Bullseye in iTunes or the RSS feed!read more
    • #Ari Graynor
    • #AV Club
    • #Bullseye
    • #Chris Fairbanks
    • #comedy
    • #Kurt Andersen
    • #MaxFunCon
    • #No Use For a Name
    • #podcast
  • 8 months ago
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Bullseye with Jesse Thorn: Lisa Kudrow, Eric Andre, and Danielle Colby

Summer TV with The AV Club
What’s worth watching on TV this summer? Our TV critics Erik Adams and Claire Zulkey of the AV Club have a few suggestions (yes, other than Breaking Bad). Adams suggests Disney Channel’s Gravity Falls, which airs on Fridays. Zulkey recommends The Franchise, which airs on Showtime on Wednesdays at 10pm. (Embed or share The AV Club’s Summer TV Recommendations)
Actress Lisa Kudrow on Web Therapy
Lisa Kudrow broke out to TV stardom on the hugely popular sitcom Friends, portraying the clueless but street-wise Phoebe Buffay. The cast members of Friends were practically America’s Sweethearts, but Kudrow has pursued roles as less easily lovable characters in movies like Easy A and the short-lived but critically acclaimed cable series The Comeback. Most recently, Kudrow has co-created and stars in the improv-comedy series Web Therapy, about a self-centered therapist who has an unusual “modality” approach — she insists on cutting the usual 50-minute dreams and feelings session to a three-minute web chat. Web Therapy was adapted for TV by Showtime last year, and just began its second season on the network. Kudrow talks to us about her early career in science research, how the fickleness of middle-schoolers set her on the path to acting, and being mentored by none other than Jon Lovitz. (Embed or share this interview with Lisa Kudrow)
Photo by Casey Rodgers/Invision for History/AP Images
American Picking with Danielle Colby
Maximum Fun Headquarters recently relocated to a beautiful, but barren, new office — and it needed a touch of character. There’s probably no better place to find it than at the huge Rose Bowl flea market in Los Angeles, but we needed a seasoned antiquer to help us out. Enter Danielle Colby, star of the History Channel’s series American Pickers, who helped us pick a doozy. Check out our AMAZING flea market bounty for yourself. (Embed or share this segment with American Picker Danielle Colby)
Comedian Eric Andre
Eric Andre isn’t a comedian with a household name, but that didn’t stop him from getting his own talk show. And it didn’t stop him from breaking every rule in the book when it comes to doing monologues or interviewing guests, either. The Eric Andre Show is hard to describe, but if you know that Andre isn’t averse to pouring ketchup down his own pants or borderline abusing his guests, you might start to get the idea. His extremely low-key straight man Hannibal Burress provides a counterpoint to the madness. Andre talks to us about literally deconstructing the talk show, setting up unexpected situations for guests, and more. The Eric Andre Show airs Sundays at 12:30am on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. (Embed or share this interview with Eric Andre)
The Outshot: The Fania All-Stars
This week, Jesse recommends that we all overcome any reluctance to let salsa music into our lives, and to begin with the Fania All-Stars. Do you have a new music love? Tell us about it in your own outshot. (Embed or share The Outshot: Fania All-Stars) Subscribe to Bullseye in iTunes or the RSS feed!read more

    • #adult swim
    • #AV Club
    • #Bullseye
    • #Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
    • #Eric Andre
    • #Fania Records
    • #Friends
    • #Lisa Kudrow
    • #podcast
    • #salsa
    • #tv
    • #Web Therapy
  • 9 months ago
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Bullseye: Jeff and Steve McDonald of Redd Kross, Matt Braunger, and Todd Barry

Our show is guest hosted this week by Jordan Morris! Jesse Thorn will return next week. Check out more from Jordan on the podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go! or on his blog.

Jackie Siegel in The Queen of Versailles
Movie Recommendations from The AV Club
Our culture gurus over at The AV Club delve into film this week: head writer Nathan Rabin suggests the documentary The Queen of Versailles, which follows a billionaire’s family (and their undoing) in the wake of the economic crisis. Film editor Scott Tobias thinks you should look into two classic films, Body and Soul and Force of Evil, both written by screenwriter Abraham Polonsky. The Queen of Versailles is now in theaters nationwide. Force of Evil and Body and Soul are both available on Blu-Ray and DVD. (Embed or share Movie Recommendations with the AV Club)
Jeff and Steve McDonald of Redd Kross: Music as Pornography, A Lost Decade, and Punk Rock
What do The Partridge Family, Black Sabbath, and David Bowie all have in common? They all nurtured the music- and pop culture-obsessed minds behind the punk band Redd Kross. Brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald started the band as kids in the late 1970s, growing up in Hawthorne, California near a burgeoning LA punk rock scene. The band flew mostly under the radar of mainstream culture, but found a devoted fan base and was hugely influential to the punk, grunge, and indie rock scenes. Kurt Cobain regularly included their songs on his mix tapes, and they’ve been name-checked by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus of Pavement, and even Joe Elliott of Def Leppard. They’ve just released their first album in fifteen years, called Researching the Blues. (Embed or share this interview with Redd Kross)
Comedian Todd Barry on Germaphobia
You think you’ve got issues? Todd Barry might give you a run for your money. Todd Barry is a NYC-based veteran comedian. You can see him regularly at venues across the country. He collects mundane quotes, misprinted receipts, and subversive Tweets. His new stand up album, Super Crazy, is out now. (Embed or share Todd Barry on Germaphobia)
Comedian Matt Braunger on Hangover Foods and Growing Up in Portland
Matt Braunger began his career as an actor and stumbled into comedy, but now is known for both — he’s been a feature performer on MADtv and toured the country with his standup, and he’s scored a recurring role as the genial, dorky neighbor on NBC’s Up All Night. He talks to us about growing up in Portland and creating his own blend of stand-up comedy — observational stories, mixed in with fanciful musings. His new stand up album and DVD special, both entitled Shovel Fighter, are out now. (Embed or share this interview with Matt Braunger)
The Outshot: Tenacious D and Rize of the Fenix
Our guest host Jordan Morris recommends the duo Tenacious D, for both their comedy and musical prowess, and their new album Rize Of The Fenix . Got a favorite musical comedy album? Share it on the the MaxFun forum by picking your own Outshot. (Embed or share the Outshot on Tenacious D) Subscribe to Bullseye in iTunes or the RSS feed!read more
    • #AV Club
    • #Bullseye
    • #Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
    • #comedy
    • #Jeff McDonald
    • #Jordan Morris
    • #Matt Braunger
    • #podcast
    • #punk rock
    • #Redd Kross
    • #Steve McDonald
    • #Tenacious D
    • #Todd Barry
  • 9 months ago
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Bullseye with Jesse Thorn: Scott Aukerman, Mark Duplass, and David Rees

AV Club Culture Recommendations
This week’s pop culture picks come to us from The AV Club’s Keith Phipps and Tasha Robinson, who share a few of their all-time favorites. Tasha talks up Richard Adams’ fantasy novel Watership Down — a book which, if you weren’t already forced to read it in high school, is well worth a look. Keith meanwhile shines a light on perhaps the least renowned of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, Duck, You Sucker! (also known as A Fistful of Dynamite or Once Upon A Time… The Revolution!), in which the Italian master of the gunslinger casts his gaze on the tale of Zapata. (Embed or share The AV Club’s Recommendations)
Scott Aukerman, Host of Comedy Bang! Bang!
Scott Aukerman is a writer and the host of Comedy Bang! Bang!, formerly known as Comedy Death-Ray. The show began in 2002 as a comedy pub night in Los Angeles, and is now one of the landmark shows at L.A.’s UCB Theater. In 2009, Scott took many of the show’s best regular characters and comics with him into a radio environment, launching Comedy Death-Ray Radio on Indie 103.1, and setting the template for what would become one of the internet’s premiere comedy podcasts. Comedy Bang! Bang! is now the flagship show on Aukerman’s Earwolf podcast network. This month the show made the leap into another medium entirely: as a darkly satirical late night television talk show. Scott sat down with us to discuss the move to TV, his early years in Hollywood as a sketch writer on HBO’s Mr. Show with Bob & David, and the strange business of getting paid to do work that’s never produced. Comedy Bang! Bang! airs Friday nights at 10PM on IFC. (Embed or share this interview with Scott Aukerman)
Artisanal Pencil Sharpening, with David Rees
Pencil sharpener David Rees was long trapped in an awful job as a satirical cartoonist until he just couldn’t take it anymore. In 2010, Rees decided to get back in touch with on old-school writing instrument and took up artisanal pencil sharpening as a profession. His new book, How To Sharpen Pencils, was released earlier this year, and he’s now demonstrated his old-fashioned technique in bookstores across the country. David joins us this week to discuss the lost art of pencil sharpening, and treats us to a chapter reading from his book. (Embed or share David Rees’s Artisanal Pencil Sharpening)
Actor & Filmmaker Mark Duplass
Mark Duplass is an actor, writer, director, musician, and a man who can be described as having many irons in the fire. He’s the star of two films currently in theaters, Your Sister’s Sister and Safety Not Guaranteed, with a third film, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, that he wrote and directed alongside his creative partner (and brother) Jay, due later this summer. The Do-Deca-Pentathlon will be the second Duplass Brothers film to hit screens this year, following the brothers’ biggest film to date: Jeff, Who Lives At Home, with Jason Segel and Ed Helms. And as if all that weren’t enough, you might know Mark best from his starring role as Pete on the FX comedy series The League, which will be back for a fourth season in the fall. Mark joins us to discuss the way his musical past has influenced his tendencies as a filmmaker, and why he’s not worried about taking his projects to total perfection. (Embed or share this interview with Mark Duplass)
The Outshot: Digable Planets’ Blowout Comb
For The Outshot this week, Jesse highlights the relaxed, harmonious hip hop sound of Digable Planets’ revolutionary but commercially disastrous 1994 record Blowout Comb. Got a cultural gem of your own? Set the record straight by picking your own Outshot on the MaxFun Forum. (Embed or share this Outshot on Digable Planets’ Blowout Comb) Subscribe to Bullseye in iTunes or the RSS feed!read more

    • #AV Club
    • #Bullseye
    • #comedy
    • #David Rees
    • #Mark Duplass
    • #podcast
    • #Scott Aukerman
  • 11 months ago
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