The Spoon

Sometimes the men of The Spoon are able to mix the silly and the serious with a deft, neuro-surgical touch, but this week the results are more Frankenstein-esque. Shit gets real over the goings-on at Penn State, throwing what had been a regular round of shenanigans into a debate over power, responsibility, community, and humanity. Plenty of gallows humor to be found here (especially from special g...

Bill "Pappy" Holmes returns to the show on a mission to promote his new radio adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and is only slightly sidetracked by having to spill his entire professional biography as the price of admission. Also, amid tales of pixel blood, eyebrow spikes, horseback drill teams, Spanish verbalization of varying quality and veracity, the Zen of Tim Gunn, and mad love for Stump The B...

It's often been said that The Spoon is a show ahead of its time. That has never been more literally true than this week's episode, broadcast on Halloween but disproportionately concerned with the approaching Christmas season. NDR head cheese Johnny Dam joins us for a rollicking evening of righteous indignation, reflective rumination, and Re-Animator talk. Also, a trick-or-treater visits the studio...

Tonight, the men of The Spoon are pleased to render for you a highgrade slice of puerility, lovingly sprinkled with non-sequitur, and drowned inan avalanche of What The Fuck. Join us, along with special guests Kerry Kompost and Jerry Beller of Mars Hollow, as we learn that the differences between powerpoppers and progressive rockers are only skin-deep, while their sames go rightdown to the bone. (...

Although menaced by studio vermin and suffering from such ailments as Facebook fatigue, Gosling fatigue, and Insomnia fatigue (is that even a thing?), the men of The Spoon are game for a conversational campaign on the subjects of Simpsons & Stooges, dots and feathers, testectomies and trailers, and all manner of minutia. Dave Shalansky pops in from the 8th dimension to once again sit in for Rob, w...

Dave Shalansky returns to the show; older,wiser, and brimming with both excitement about his return to stand-up, and stress about his upcoming wedding -- specifically, the dilemma of DJ selection. Rob's girlfriend Jenni calls in to defend his manhood from Dave's spurious send-ups, and Rob himself checks in a little later with an attempt to steer the show toward the thoughtful and relevant topic of...

The men of The Spoon have vowed never to do re-runs, but tonight they take a shot at their first Best-Of episode. The 127 Hours/baby lube discussion from ep25 is here, along with the first recorded airing of Rob's Disney Princess rant, from all the way back in ep2. Plus, classic SALs of Lucas and Lohan, and live commentary -- of sorts -- provided by Chris & Thom. Music by The Andersons, Sorrows, a...

It cannot be denied, the show is weird this week. The men of The Spoon seem to be caught in the grip of a strange, unusually mellow energy field, gliding through the proceedings in a laconic – for them – fashion, and constantly quoting song lyrics for no apparent reason. Fortunately, Quinton Flynn is there tohelp polish the amorphous humor blobs into diamond-edged zingers, and James Honeyman Smith...

Experiencing some quasi-hangover after last week's comedic cliff dive, this installment finds the men of The Spoon in a more reflective mood, pondering the slippery, volatile nature of supply and demand, and the odd predicament of those who start out as part of The Solution but eventually go on to perpetuate The Problem. Plus, the gig that saved Rob's life, and the wounds that Thom receive from a...

The Spoon is always a bit of a high-wire act, and we've bragged in the past of episodes that test the limits of the human attention span, but this week...whoah. Follow, if you will, our fair trio and their special guest Bill Holmes, as they plunge headlong down a rabbit hole of tumultuous, confrontational comedy, laced with a potent dose of What Is This I Don't Even. Any continuity of conversation...

Quinton Flynn sits in as things get meta in the Spooniverse, with 2% jokes as the order of the day, MST3k and Frank Zappa being checked as influences, and suggestions of performing the show solely through subtext and/or song being taken at least semi-seriously. Also, the mainstreaming of pr0n, the pretentiousness of the extra U, the emotional minefield of zoological work, and what were the last na...

Travis Randall's journey from football player to junkie to bassist to audio technician to gastronomic entrepreneur is a impressive one, and in that true renaissance spirit, his presence brings the show's tone from its usual simmering ADHD tendencies to a white-hot boil of topic-hopping psychosis. Also, two unrelated decrees: food is over, and Betty White must be destroyed. Music by Tramps & Thieve...

It's The Spoon's one year anniversary, but in typical dude (and, let's face it, typical Spoon) fashion, our fair trio gloss over commemoration of this important date to focus on different concerns, such as the misadventures of Paul Reubens, the misuse of place name acronyms, misaimed fandom of chick-flicks, and the misery of recently-single guest Quinton Flynn. Also, someone seems to have misplace...

No guest? No show prep? No problem! The men of The Spoon kick into old-skool gear for a rollicking discussion of tall hugs, phone bricks, cult followings, the nomenclature of The Netherlands, the inevitability of techno-fatigue, the dysfunctional evolution of country music, and the true arrival of summer. Also, a moment of silence please for poor Alyssa, who lies...akimbo. Music by Michael Shelley...

Things are a smidge off-balance this week: both an extreme lack of prep time and the truth-to-power presence of James Monosmith of LTD Art Gallery weave their spells, causing world views to collide in a scatter shot, haphazard conversation where every answer only leads to another question. But, amid the chaos, a champion rises to save us all: Zombie Pat Morita! (and his sidekick, MacCulkin...or is...

Linda Horwatt has car stories on her mind -- understandable, since she's just driven cross-country for 53 hours (or 4 days, if you're a DJ) -- and she's happy to share them, along with other bits of wit, wisdom, and the sexy-joyful sounds of her band The Orion Experience. Other topics include funereal culture, the subjectivity of beauty, fun with accents, and the secret world of the ladies' room....

The men of The Spoon are feeling especially feisty and demonstrative this week. Whether expressing outrage, glee, frustration, amusement, or even exhaustion, the message is clear: go BIG, or go home. Special guest Seth Gordon of The Mockers and a few very brave callers hold on for dear life through the deluge of crazed, topic-hopping glory launched from the show's verbal fire hose, and emerge on t...

Which is your favorite conflict: Man vs Nature? Man vs Man? Man vs Himself? We've got all the classics covered in this week's wildlife-wary, alpha-manly, cannibal-happy, politically nihilistic dose of righteous indignation, leavened with a goodly helping of Douglas Adams references, and color commentary by Johnny Dam (aka The Thundertaker.) Music by Steve Barton, Sparkle*Jets UK, and The Orion Exp...

Singer-songwriter, digital musical impresario, and self-described "corporate motherfucker" Tim Quirk braves Los Angeles traffic to stop by and extol the virtues of both attention-based economy and passive-aggressive public relations. Johnny Dam joins us again, this time to inaugurate the new studio. And Rob's recent venture into cautious optimism seems to be paying off, if recent setbacks for Rupe...

On the eve of their final broadcast from the old studio space, the men of The Spoon manage to wrangle executive producer and New Dissident Radio overlord Johnny Dam for a conversation chock full of raucous, rambling ruminations. No ball is left un-busted as we prepare to leave our radio chrysalis and step into the bright shiny future of NDR. Color commentary by David Lee Roth.

Rob, Chris, Thom, and Andru tackle childhood obsessions, gastronomical taboos, and the age old conundrum of whether it's better to be cautiously optimistic or completely miserable, while the art of the Anthony Weiner joke reaches a blazing apotheosis in this week's SAL. Tune in to Episode 14 of The Geek Agenda for the thrilling conclusion! Music by The Piper Downs, The Pills, and The King Bees.

Who else but the men of The Spoon can bring you the death of Ryan Dunn, the genius of Sparks, reactions to AMC's The Killing, the price of a Cosby sweater, religion as political capital, movie theaters as quasi-churches, the safety (?) of nuclear power, the future of celebrity sex tapes, the cannibalistic nature of rock, the personification of chaos, and the ancient art of cuckold-costuming, all i...

The men of The Spoon are interested in the future, for that is where they are going to spend the rest of their lives. Sure, all the great themes may have been used up and turned into theme parks, but one can still make hay out of commenting on that realization... right? Patrick McGrath sits in for a discussion of the many wonderful disappointments that await us all. Plus, Arnold Schwarzenegger get...

It's a Brady mini-reunion with Susan Olsen stopping by for a discussion that ranges from animal rescues to alien encounters, while covering the highs, the lows, the just plain weirdness of a life in the arts. Also, the Valley is an underrated musical wellspring, there aren't enough songs about dead cats, turtle sex is adorable, someone needs to make an Easy Rider porn parody, and we all miss Andre...

The men of The Spoon go guerrilla with this special remote podcast from Rob's studio, as the NDR premises are closed for Memorial Day. Audio wizard Scott Peets sits in for a discussion largely centered on problems of varying sizes, shapes, colors, textures, smells, sounds, tastes, and levels of surrealism, and how one might go about assessing &/or addressing them. We'll be back live next week, Jun...