Saturday, October 15, 2016

O.P.P. #4: Harmontown

This week on Other People's Podcast we rant, rave and rap with Dan Harmon & Jeff Davis on Harmontown. Once a week Dan Harmon and a variety of other people, generally including but not limited to Jeff Davis, Erin McGathy Spencer Crittenden and Kumail Nanjiani. Dan drinks liberally and they may or may include a roleplaying section.





Who? Dan Harmon is the host of the show, Jeff Davis is the comptroller. Dan is probably best known for creating Community, Rick & Morty and Heat Vision & Jack while Jeff Davis is best known for being on Who's Line Is It Anyway and not creating Teen Wolf. Spencer Crittenden was a member of the audience who became the show's Dungeon Master.




What's This Show? In the back of Meltdown Comics in Los Angelese there is a performance space and recording studio called Nerdmelt. Once a week, usually on a Sunday, Jeff & Dan host a comedy chat show. The premise of Harmontown is that the hosts and listeners will colonize the moon, the shows are town hall meetings and Dan Harmon is the mayor of Harmontown. 




That conceit was abandoned fairly quickly and now Dan gets drunk on stage and talks about race, raps about fucking your momma and brings up various funny people who then play a role play strategy game. Guests have included LeVar Burton, Bobcat Goldthwait, Greg Proops,  Patton Oswalt, Jason Sudeikis, Robin Williams, Mitch Hurwitz, Eric Idle, and Steve Agee. The show is not highly structured other than at some point they will play D&D though that has changed to Shadowrun recently.



Best Way In: This is not a podcast that is for everyone. It will be appreciated most by those who love Community, secondly being a comedy fan in general because this is a genuinely funny show. Dan Harmon is a gifted storyteller and Jeff Davis is quick with both jokes and sound cues. I recommend going back to Episode One: achieve weightlessness and work your way forward. It may be an acquired taste but once you acquire it Harmontown is essential listening.