Sup Doc: A Documentary Podcast

Paco and George dig into the enigmatic artist Ray Johnson's life and death with our guest, San Francisco comedy producer Jeff Zamaria. This 2002 documentary directed by John Walter and Andrew L. Moore tries to unwrap the mystery of this central figure in the Fluxus and mail art movement who was known for legendary performances like dropping hot dogs from a low-flying helicopter. A contemporary of...

Today's whale of a tale concerns the ill-fated voyage of Donald Crowhurst, as seen through the lens of Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell's 2006 documentary, Deep Water . Music journalist and nautical enthusiast Ned Raggett joined Paco and George to discuss his attachment to this story from the 1968 race to circumnavigate the globe. This doc defies logic and will have you saying "...What the..." mor...

It's been a full year since we dropped the very first episodes of Sup Doc! We watched many classic and soon-to-be-classic documentaries, talked to new and old friends, and jumped feet first into podcasting. Paco and George are joined by producer Will to reminisce about our dynamics, getting blocked out of Outside Lands, the secret of the Sup Doc logo design, mystery emails from Anonymous, and what...

On today's episode, Paco and George discuss the early days of LA's punk rock scene with tech podcaster/writer/founder Peter Rojas . We discuss the influence of college radio to the cult of personality around Darby Crash and pre YouTube digging for clues to the origins of punk. The Decline Movies were a Rosetta stone for many a suburban teen looking for alternatives of expression. Often referred to...

What do Lil Wayne and the Shining have in common? On Ep 29 Paco and George speak with musician William Hutson from the experimental hip-hop group clipping. The Carter is a 2009 documentary film about American hip hop recording artist Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., better known as Lil Wayne. The Carter is a no-holds-barred documentary about Lil' Wayne filmed over the course of the year when he transit...

On Ep 28 Paco and George sit down with comedian Riley Silverman to discuss the 2011 doc Jiro Dreams of Sushi the story of 85-year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to...

George and Paco welcome the talented Veronica Belmont to the Sup Doc Podcast. On EP27 they talk about the doc Broken Dreams - The Boeing 787. The 2014 Al Jazeera doc goes behind the scene to investigate Boeing's "Dreamliner" and finds some workers with quality concerns, alleging drug use and fearing to fly in the plane they build. Scary! Since 2006, Veronica Belmont has been hosting content for th...

On Episode 26 of Sup Doc Paco sits down with the hilarious comedian and podcast host (The Todd Glass Show) Todd Glass. They have a candid and funny talk about the 2008 Bill Maher documentary Religulous (available on Netflix) plus organized religion, treating people with respect, and how this documentary changed Todd. In Religulous Bill Maher plays devil's advocate with religion as he talks to beli...

Paco and George meet up with Hutch Harris at Lost Weekend Video where we discuss the Kathleen Hanna biography, The Punk Singer (Sini Anderson, 2013). Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of the punk band Bikini Kill and dance-punk trio Le Tigre, rose to national attention as the reluctant but never shy voice of the riot grrrl movement. She became one of the most famously outspoken feminist icons, a cultura...

On EP 24 Paco and George talk with filmmaker Marjorie Sturm about her documentary The Cult of JT LeRoy . We talk about JT Leroy's first two novels Sarah and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things and we get into hero worship, cons, Rachel Dolezal, improvisation, filmmaking and much more. Authorized and unauthorized, The Cult of JT Leroy received two Jury Awards for Best Feature Documentary (SF In...

On EP23 Paco, George, and producer Will talk with comedian/podcaster Red Scott about Making A Murderer , the Netflix doc that took America by storm! Questions will be half answered, jokes will be told, and nothing will be solved! Exonerated after spending nearly two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit, Steven Avery filed suit against Manitowoc County, Wis., and several individuals invo...

For our first SF Sketchfest live show, we had a fun panel to watch Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986) and Neil Diamond Parking Lot (1996), short documentaries by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn. They document two very different sets of music fans in Landover, Maryland a decade apart. HMPL achieved cult status from its beginnings as a cable access doc, circulating on VHS and finally receiving a DVD release i...

On Episode 21 of Sup Doc, George talks with comedian Hana Michels about My Depression: The Up And Down and Up Of It by Elizabeth Swados, Robert Marienetti, and David Wachtenheim (2014). Does an animated memoir even count as a documentary? HBO thought so, but we have questions. Hana and George talk about depression, having two therapists as parents, medication, comedy, and generational shifts in hu...

On Episode 20 of Sup Doc hosts Paco Romane and George Chen team up with producer/engineer Will Scovill to review a few of their hand-picked documentaries. Paco reviews the bizarrely hilarious doc Finders Keepers (Amazon) about a guy that finds a mummified leg and believes it's his to keep. George reviews A Poem Is A Naked Person , a bewitching and beguiling doc about the musician Leon Russell (not...

On Episode 19 of Sup Doc Podcast Paco sits down with comedian/musician/Tony nominated actor Stephen Lynch and they have a lovely chat about the 2002 documentary The Smashing Machine about the mixed martial arts career and personal life of extreme fighter Mark Kerr. The doc chronicles Kerr's rise to fame in the early UFC world plus fighting, drama, drugs, crazy women, PrideFC, Bas, Coleman, and muc...

We delve into the California skateboard culture of the ‘80s with the Bones Brigade documentary. This week Paco and George "Animal" Chen talk to Bay Area blogger and comedy braintrust OJ Patterson (Courting Comedy, Blackstronauts, Sylvan Productions ). Did you play the Tony Hawk video game? Have you been to Tommy Guerrero’s cafe or wondered how to make middle-aged white men cry? We hope to shine so...

Paco and George welcome the multi-talented Sam McPheeters. They discuss the 2011 documentary Samsara , a non-narrative film directed by Ron Fricke and produced by Mark Magidson, who also collaborated on Baraka (1992), a film in a similar vein. Samsara was filmed over five years in 25 countries around the world. It was shot in 70 mm format. Sam McPheeters is an American artist, journalist, novelist...

We talked to Jamie DeWolf about Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief . Jamie is not only a story-teller, producer, director, writer, actor and impresario he is also the great-grandson of L. Ron Hubbard. We get into Scientology, family, creativity, derangement of the mind , and so much more! In 2013 Jamie was quoted on The Young Turks as saying that Scientology is one of the most “devi...

Sup Doc Podcast presents its debut live show recorded at Lost Weekend Video. Bay Area comedians Paco Romane and George Chen invite a SF Mayoral candidate, a comedian and a Mission business owner/musician to discuss Alexandra Pelosi’s HBO documentary “ San Francisco 2.0 ″ about the changing nature of San Francisco and gentrification. Our guests are: Comedian and SF native Kaseem Bentley SF Mayoral...

Paco Romane and George Chen welcome comedians Anna Seregina and Dave Ross ( Terrified podcast ) to the Sup Doc living room. They discuss the much hyped documentary The Wolfpack (2015, Crystal Moselle). The Wolfpack is a documentary film about a family who homeschooled and raised their seven children in the confinement of their apartment in the Lower East Side of New York City. Locked away in an ap...

On this edition of Sup Doc Paco and George chat with the one and only Jesse Thorn . Jesse grew up in SF, is an early pioneer of podcasting, has a very popular and respected show on NPR called Bullseye with Jesse Thorn , runs the podcast network Maximum Fun, and dresses real swell. We talk about the Errol Morris documentary Fast, Cheap and Out of Control plus the meaning of life, Mr. T, nerd uncles...

On Episode 12 of Sup Doc Paco and George discuss the 2008 documentary I Think We're Alone Now with comedian and writer Sara June . We talk about this compelling documentary as well as stalking, memes, relationships and the power of obsession and celebrity. Filmmaker Sean Donnelly randomly met Jeff Turner on the street in Santa Cruz California. Sean found out that Jeff was a Tiffany fan, and had go...

On Episode 11 Paco and George caught up with musician Dan Deacon right before his set at Outside Lands Music Festival, and we chatted about the infamous and iconic doc Gimme Shelter (1970 film). The original location for the famed concert was right where this interview took place! Gimme Shelter is a 1970 documentary film directed by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin chronicling the las...

On Episode 10 of Sup Doc Paco and George sit down with writer/performer/sex worker Queenie Bon Bon. They discuss the 2012 documentary Meet The Fokkens a delightfully odd tale about familial bonds, getting older, and the lengths some women go to in order to survive. Few characters in documentary history are as hilarious and adorable as 69-year old Dutch twin prostitutes Louise and Martine Fokkens....

On Episode 9 of Sup Doc director Brent Hodge sits down with comedians Paco Romane and George Chen to discuss his documentary I Am Chris Farley . Part of Spike TV's "I Am" series , it premieres today on August 10th and is available on iTunes, VOD, Digital and DVD the 11th. We talk about the life and times of Chris Farley, SNL, Mike Myers, improv vs sketch, Second City, Bronies, and much more! This...