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• Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein announced the release date of the new season of Portlandia via this delightful video, Meditation Crush. The show will return to IFC for its third season on January 4th. As a holiday treat, the show will release a special on Dec. 14th called Winter in Portlandia.
• Here’s a bright start to the holiday season: on November 28th, Maria Bamford will self-release a new comedy special entitled Maria Bamford: The special special special! True to her unique style, the show was taped in her living room and the only audience members are her parents, Joel and Marilyn. Best of all, you’ll be able to download it from Chill.com for the fan-friendly price of only $4.99!



• Bored with your current collection of holiday music? We have wonderful news: Our MaxFun pals Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick are releasing a new CD of original Christmas songs! (And one Hanukkah tune!) For a taste, you can stream two of the songs here; but if you want the full holiday experience, you can order the complete collection - plus other related treats - here.



• Chris Hardwick premiered his first one-hour Comedy Central special this weekend. Entitled Mandroid, it is chock-full of the usual nerdy goodness you’ve come to expect from Chris and will be available on CD, DVD and as a digital download on January 22, 2013 (but a real friend would pre-order it , don’t you think?)



• And, of course, you’ve totally read Jon Ronson’s terrific new book, right? It’s an amazing set of stories entitled Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries- and it features the same unique blend of humor, adventure and thoughtful journalism that have made his previous works so memorable. Ronson visited The Daily Show recently to discuss it. You should also check out Ronson's recent appearance as our special guest on International Waters.

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• Tig Notaro was on Conan last week. Missed it? We've got your back.
• Over at the AV Club, Louis C.K. is rewarding devoted fans with with an amazingly detailed summary of how he went about making each episode in the second season of Louie.
• Chris Hardwick is all over your television. Last weekend was the premiere of his show The Nerdist on BBC America. His guests were a geeky dream team of Jonah Ray, Matt Mira, Mike Phirman, Craig Ferguson and even Doctor Who’s Matt Smith! If you missed it, you can grab the first episode from itunes. And starting October 16, Hardwick will be hosting a new show for AMC called Talking Dead. It will be a live show that airs immediately after episodes of The Walking Dead. Hardwick will recap the most recent Walking Dead episode while talking to fans, actors and producers.
• I’m excited to check out the first episode of The Dead Authors Podcast. It features time-traveling writer H.G. Wells (portrayed by alum Paul F. Tompkins) as he welcomes long-lost literary heroes to his show at L.A.’s Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater. Sounds smart and funny, right? Not sold yet? How about this: the first episode features Andy Richter as Emily Dickinson. Boom. Can’t miss.
• Ira Glass will be touring Australia in January with a show called "Reinventing Radio: An Evening with Ira Glass." He will be performing in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. You can find the dates and ticket information here. Unrelated: there are some rather delightful stories circulating about Ira's recent performance in The Drunk Show at the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival. Here he is talking about the experience with Marc Maron.

If you want to see highlights from the show that Ira doesn't remember, Brooklyn Vegan has some terrific photos of the evening (taken by David Andrako) that feature Mr. Glass arm wrestling on the floor with Leo Allen and forming a human pyramid with John Hodgman, Eugene Mirman and others.

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• Marc Maron is releasing his fourth CD today on Comedy Central Records. "This Has to Be Funny" is available as a CD or mp3 download. (BTW, for long-time Maron followers, that's his cat Boomer on the cover). Recently, Marc gave the keynote address at the annual Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. (You can find the text and the audio here). The speech is a moving commentary on the importance of continuing to believe in yourself, and continuing to do good work, even when times are hard. It sends an important message to creators everywhere: Never give up.
• Congrats to the team behind "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia"! FX recently picked up two more seasons of "Sunny" which will make it the longest-running live-action comedy on basic cable. The show will return to your screens on September 15th and later this fall our Canadian listeners will be able to join in the fun as the network plans to launch FX Canada on November 1st.
• Speaking of FX, we're also getting excited about the upcoming season premiere of the quick-witted animated spy comedy "Archer" featuring TSOYA alums Chris Parnell and H. Jon Benjamin. The network will air the first three episodes of the third season in mid-September reserving the rest until early 2012. If you haven't been following the adventures of Sterling Archer, you're missing some of the fastest and cleverest dialogue on television. You can check out the first season on Netflix, but I recommend buying the DVD of that season as it features some very funny and unusual bonus materials.
• The movie "30 Minutes or Less" featuring Jesse Eisenberg, Nick Swardson and TSOYA alum Aziz Ansari will be released on August 12th.
• Kids in the Hall alums Kevin McDonald and Scott Thompson are touring comedy clubs around the nation with a new show called Two Kids, One Hall. The show, which will feature stand up and sketch elements, as well as an appearance by favorite classic character Buddy Cole, will tour for about three months. Their next performances will be August 11th - 13th at the Punchline in Atlanta. If you want to know when the show is coming to your town, you can check out their tour dates here.
• In order to build anticipation around the upcoming new Dr. Who episodes that will begin airing on August 27th, BBC America is releasing a series of Who-themed specials featuring a diverse plethora of TSOYA alums including Chris Hardwick, Reggie Watts, and Scott Adsit. The first special, "Doctor Who: Best of the Doctor", will air on Saturday, August 13 at 9/8c.

Chris Hardwick from The Nerdist and G4TV's "Web Soup" joins us for a discussion of good things turning bad.

Previously:
Chris Hardwick on Episode 129: Young Man's Fancy
Chris Hardwick & Mike Phirman on episode 10 of Jordan Jesse Go!
Chris talks Wired Science on The Sound of Young America

Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist podcast and G4 TV's Web Soup joins Jesse and Jordan to talk about the worldwide waffle crisis, the first robin of spring and more. Plus Judge John Hodgman and the case of "is chili a soup?"