A very adult episode as comedian Jy Harris joins us to talk about Jerry Springer, Jaws, and '80s rapping.

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Dan Gregor, writer for CBS's "How I Met Your Mother", joins Jesse and Jordan for a discussion of youth fishing, Heathcliff, business cards, and the London Olympics.

What dark forces could have possibly conspired to bring you this episode of MBMBaM? Jetlag likely played an important role, but some of the content is so heinous, Chtulhu's intervention seems like the only likely cause.

Suggested talking points: Moleman Sword, Whimsical Road Trip, Japanese Dale Earnhardt's Ghost, In the Cloud, Pam-Body/Garf-Head, Public Gaming, Rough Stuff

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Vital stats:
Format: the literary WTF
Episode duration: 1h-1h30m
Frequency: weekly

Damn, are ever there a lot of novels to read. I get this mixed rush of excitement, gratitude, incredulity, and hopelessness whenever I plug into an outlet of contemporary literary culture. In one hour, I’ll hear of dozens of authors and hundreds of books I might want but will never have the lifespan to read. How did this Jenga tower rise? When will it fall? Imagine what a comparable situation in the auto industry: respectable, productive new car companies appear every week; comfortable, well-built new models enter the market every day; lots teem with more vehicles than the entire driving population could reasonably buy and use, let alone fit onto the roads at once; time-tested old cars, some of the finest ever produced, remain abundant and far cheaper than their curiously pricey modern counterparts. Yet automotive design and engineering schools continue pumping out waves of expectant graduates each year, and everyone else seems less and less eager to drive.

From Other People [iTunes] [RSS], a literary version of Marc Maron’s WTF, I get vibrations of this same psychodrama. Host Brad Listi, a novelist-interviewer/novelist interviewer to Maron’s comedian-interviewer/comedian interviewer, sits down with the very people who write all these worthy recent novels to compare notes about growing up, pulling a writing career together, and physically doing the work, in sessions spiced with various opinions and anxieties. After having heard a sizable chunk of the archive, I can assure you that these episodes all have much of interest to offer: rich stories, sudden laughs, ponder-worthy observations, memorable strategies for living. The show’s conversations deliver just what I confidently imagine their participants’ actual books do. But where to start listening?

Selecting Other People interviews to download presents the same seemingly insoluble problems and obscure strains of guilt as selecting novels to read. Browsing Listi’s 77-strong backlog, I muttered to myself the thinnest of justifications: “Jerry Stahl? [MP3] Seemed interestingly ragged when I saw him on that one panel. Ben Marcus? [MP3] I remember some sort war of words about experimental writing between him and Jonathan Franzen where it looked like he was defending my reading interests, but then I only ever read Franzen’s side. Elna Baker? [MP3] That Mormon I heard on The Sound of Young America, and Mormon stuff weirds me out in a way I kind of enjoy. Rex Pickett? [MP3] Seems like we all know strangely little about that guy, considering he wrote Sideways. Vanessa Veselka? [MP3] Someone had me write about her novel once. Heidi Julavits? [MP3] Is that the same as Vendela Vida?” (And of course I grabbed all the ones with people I’ve interviewed myself — Reality Hunger manifesto assembler David Shields [MP3], literary blogger Maud Newton [MP3] — as every interviewer denies doing.)

For the most part, I threw up my hands and chose which Other Peoples to listen to the way I choose which books to read or, frankly, the way I choose pretty much everything: socially. In a world whose sheer number of options renders all of them effectively unevaluatable, picking whatever you happen to know people involved with or want to become like the people involved with at least lifts a burden. Sure, this guarantees that the simple meritocracy for which we clamored as sixteen-year-olds will never come, but we should’ve abandoned that idea long ago. Listi and his guests do seem aware, on some level, of this condition. They also directly acknowledge the bizarre structure of the literary fiction market now and again, though usually in passing. In one of his WTF-style pre-interview monologues, a shaken Listi describes the scene at the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference as “Darwinian.” I’ve gone to those; I know what he means. The chat there, while all kinds of stimulating, tends to float on a bitter current of spite. Let it seep to the surface, and it destroys you.

Listi, to his credit, lets little of this spite seep into his interviews. I come away from Other People remembering mostly what has the least direct relevance to the half-masochistic practice, performed with grim resignation and without apparent incentive, of writing novels: the roach-tainted cheese toast of Newton’s childhood; the questionable warning the college-bound Baker received from her mother about NYU’s roving gangs of lesbians; Veselka’s having emerged from the womb of Nick News W5’s Linda Ellerbee; Marcus’ dreams of college waterskiing. “Introduced” to many of these writers by Listi’s program, I now feel like getting to know them better, and if that means getting their personalities mediated through some fictional narrative, so be it. Maybe it just works this way now: you “meet” someone on a show like Other People, and you can, if you like, get further “acquainted” by reading their books. I would bang out a line here about how the work ought to stand for itself, but I think we’re all feeling a little tired these days.

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[Podthinker Colin Marshall hosts and produces Notebook on Cities and Culture [iTunes]. Contact him at colinjmarshall at gmail or follow him on Twitter @colinmarshall.]

This episode probably sports our worst audio quality to date, which we apologize for. We figured that an episode that made it sound like we were screaming at you while covered in bees would be better than no episode at all.

Holly Walsh, Rob Huebel, Sarah Thyre and Steve Hall join special guest Jonathan Coulton and host Jesse Thorn to talk baby punk makeovers and Cockney rhyming slang in another bid to work out which country is best.

If you think you've got what it takes to write a round of International Waters then drop us a line: iw@maximumfun.org and don't be shy, you can like us on Facebook too!

Holly brings this case against her writing partner Todd. They live in Los Angeles, and meet at restaurants to work together on projects at least once a week. Todd prefers to eat at a few agreed-upon, time-tested restaurants to eat one of his dishes of choice. He says that eating the same meals helps keep his mind free to focus on work. Holly feels her creative spirit is stifled by eating at the same places, week in and week out. Should Todd’s habits or Holly’s spontaneity rule?

ALSO, RIP to Awesome Cone, from The Cone-Tractual Dispute.

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Graham Clark of MaxFun's Stop Podcasting Yourself has just released his online-only stand-up comedy special. Recorded at Vancouver's Waldorf Hotel last month, Graham's is the first in a series of local stand-up specials. Oh, also it's hilarious.

Download it at thestandupcomedians.com. It's just five bucks!

Culture Picks: AV Club All-Time Favorites

Our pop culture luminaries from The AV Club return for another round of recommendations. Sitting in the hot seat this week are Genevieve Koski and Josh Modell, as they select their all-time favorite records. Josh can't resist the lure of Fiona Apple's 1999 album When The Pawn.... Genevieve, meanwhile, opts for a relative modern selection: it's Dessa's lyrically resonant 2010 release A Badly Broken Code.

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Author Daniel Handler

Daniel Handler delved into his memories of young love and high school frustrations to pen the novel Why We Broke Up -- the twist? He writes the girl's side of the story. The story is illustrated by a collection of items collected during the relationship; the paintings are provided by New Yorker illustrator Maira Kalman. Daniel Handler is also known by his alter ego, Lemony Snicket, who authored A Series of Unfortunate Events. (Originally aired February 14, 2012)

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Nico Muhly: The Song That Changed My Life

Nico Muhly is a classical composer who's worked with a wide range of musicians, from high-profile composer Philip Glass, to Icelandic snger-songwriter Bjork to indie rockers Grizzly Bear. His opera Two Boys is set to debut at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2013-14 season. He talks to us about the song that changed his life -- Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians. (Originally aired February 14, 2012)

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Comedians The Sklar Brothers

Randy and Jason Sklar, known collectively as The Sklar Brothers, are comedians and actors perhaps best known for their ESPN Classic show Cheap Seats. They're currently hosting a new TV series called United Stats of America, Tuesday nights on the History Channel. Their latest stand up album is Hendersons and Daughters and you can hear them each week as the hosts of the comedy podcast Sklarbro Country.

They sat down with us earlier this year to reflect on forming identities as stand up comedians (and twins), broadening sports comedy for the average Joe, envisioning the writing process for Grimm's Fairy Tales, and more. (Originally aired February 14, 2012)

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The Outshot: The Newsroom

Americans enjoyed a wave of cringe-inducing awkward comedy in Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office. This week Jesse recommends one of their precedents, the Canadian series The Newsroom. (Originally aired February 14, 2012)

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Bryan and Erin are back from Max Fun Con, full of food, friendship and an unwarranted amount of weed. In this very special epi-sode, Bryan talks Bryan Fischer's problems with homosexuals, Erin outlines Texas' sex ed prollem, and they both join in on Pride facts and acid throwing! Summertime! 
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