I love Waiting for Guffman, and liked Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. The latter two sometimes got a bit dull, and many of the characters fell flat for me. A Mighty Wind, in particular, struck me as a little long on nostalgia and short on humor. Fred Willard, though, is truly a special American. He could do this stuff in ANY context and I would think it was spectacularly hilarious.

Seriously, I think if Fred Willard was on Entourage I would love it. If he was just working at a Taco Bell, I would think it was hilarious. A real Taco Bell. He could do this same schtick for 45 minutes straight, and I would laugh the entire time.

There is only one Fred Willard.

Jesse is off getting married this week, so Jordan and Gene took it upon themselves to have a frat party podcast. They even invited Chris Fairbanks from Comedy Central's Reality Bites Back to join in the fun.

We continue our journey into The Sound of Young America's vast audio archive with this program from The Sound of Young America Classics.

Brent Hoff is the editor of the DVD magazine Wholphin. Hoff explains why it's worthwhile to maintain a magazine that operates in the red. Fred Armisen is a comedian who you have to know by now. He appears on a show called Saturday Night Live and many movies you have no doubt seen. Armisen talks about his humble beginnings as a musician and how he fell into comedy. Also on the show music from the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players and a sketch from Kasper Hauser.

We continue our journey into The Sound of Young America's vast audio archive with this program from The Sound of Young America Classics.

In this classic episode we speak to the creator of Adult Swim's animated series "Home Movies" Brendan Small, and the directors of "Twin Falls Idaho" and authors of "The Declaration Of Independent Filmmaking" Mark and Michael Polish. Also Peter Molyneux creator of the groundbreaking games "Populous" and "Black and White" stops by to talk to us about his game "The Movies".

Chris Farley burned brightly as a comic actor, rising quickly to enormous fame as a television and movie star. Unfortunately, he also crashed and burned. Writer Tanner Colby and Farley's brother, Tom Farley, have collaborated to tell Chris' story through the words of those who knew him in the book "The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts." We talk with Tom and Tanner about the life of this gifted and troubled comic.

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If you enjoyed this show, try these:
Belushi with Tanner Colby and Judith Belushi-Pisano (MP3)
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Morris on Herzog: "...what I do understand in his films is a kind of ecstatic absurdity, things that make you question the nature of reality, of the universe in which we live. We think we understand the world around us. We look at a Herzog film, and we think twice. And I always, always have revered that element. Ecstatic absurdity: it’s the confrontation with meaninglessness."

OH SHIT, THESE DUDES ARE AWESOME DUDES.

Private to EM: Please make some more happy movies, the sad ones are freaking me the fuck out.

Previously: Believer co-editor/founder Vendela Vida on TSOYA

Archive.org’s Moving Image Archive

You already know Archive.org as the home of the Wayback Machine and as a great place to find stuff like free audio by everyone from Gracie Allen to Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

I think the gem of the site for enthusiasts of pop culture awesomeness is the Moving Images section, which contains thousands of films, cartoons — you name it. Most are available for download at high resolution, so you can throw them on your iPod or burn ‘em to DVD and watch on that big-ass TV of yours.

Lately, one of my favorite areas is The Prelinger Archives, which houses some of Rick Prelinger’s astounding collection of ephemeral films — promotional videos, educational reels, and seemingly endless ads and pitches, mostly from America’s less ironic past. In the ephemeral section, you’ll find dancing ladies making an omelette, a soldier who doesn’t want to take a bath, and a paean to the patriotic power of electricity. And, oh boy: cautionary nuclear tales? Not a problem.

But, seriously, do not miss out on the really good stuff that abounds in the film and animation sections: classic cartoons from the Fleischer Brothers (Betty Boop shown above), creepy young Peter Lorre in Fritz Lang’s M, the classic Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and the amazing 1955 “Rhythm and Blues Revue” (with Sarah Vaughan, Cab Calloway, Nat Cole, Nipsey Russell, and more).

Great way to kill a Sunday afternoon.

—Merlin (for the vacationing Jesse)