Everybody nailed most of the best Chapo episodes
I find Matt by far the most insightful member of the crew. I can really relate to his constant exasperation and rage between rare moments of optimism. He also is by far the best political commentator of the bunch. Will is obviously extremely intelligent but gets way too swept up in hating anyone who doesn’t 100% align with him, which quickly becomes tiresome. Virgil can be funny but he’s just not my cup of tea and I miss a ton of the references. Amber is nails on a chalkboard for me.
it seems like ambers main role is to remind me that, no matter how far to the left I am of everyone I know and basically all us political commentators, I’m really just not part of the left
Matt is definitely the most well-versed in history and politics. Will’s main responsibility seems to try to keep everybody on track by keeping Matt away from booze. Virgil is very much a quality over quantity kind of guy while Felix is the complete opposite. Amber seems like a diversity hire to keep people off their backs for being a bunch of white guys talking politics.
Clips are the best way to get into it imo. Most of the best episodes have been thrown out already, didn’t see 221 about The Villages (a clip, but a half-hour clip):
Seeing a lot of misguided disdain for Amber. My sales pitch is this deep cut - an unaired interview with a tradcath socialist (chew on that one for a while). The guys dunk on him for 37 minutes, then have Amber do a run-in to snap his spine over her knee in the very last stretch. Extremely entertaining rare Chapo bootleg track:
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That villages segment was amazing. “Sacrificing babies to Jimmy Buffet” made me choke.
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Chapo live shows (and honestly live podcasts in general) are unlistenable.
Damn crowd applauds like every little thing in every live podcast.
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Definitive Chapo rankings
Matt
Felix
Virgil
Will
Amber
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I assume there are a bunch of blank lines in there that this software doesn’t display. The gulf between “Felix when his joke hits” vs “Felix when his joke misses” is larger than the entire scale. Funny Felix is better than Matt, but notfunny Felix is wtfamilisteningto
Otherwise I think the order is spot on
I couldn’t agree more. It’s what ruined Dan Harmon’s podcast. Well that and it was just stupid and unfunny. All of his were live.
Pod Save America did a bunch of live ones and even aired some on HBO. I think that’s called a talk show? Whatever, they sucked and I guess HBO pulled them.
I can’t tell if Felix has a low hit ratio or the humor just flies over my head too often.
Both? Idk, I’ve chuckled out loud at several Felix jokes, but usually just shrug through them. I might not be old enough or online enough. When he does hit I get more chuckles than anyone else, though.
Felix is creative, he has a gift for striking mental images. It’s like, are the Coen Brothers the funniest filmmakers alive? Probably not, but their humor has a particular voice to it and that makes it special.
Here’s an example, start at 3:27:
Twice in a row (the giving a bath part and the mole part) Matt comes up with the idea but then Felix elevates it next level. Is this “funny”? Sure, but not really belly laugh hilarious. It’s striking though, evocative, it sticks in your head. In the Hot Couch Nation episode, Will refers to having been “infected with another of Felix’s mind viruses” and that’s how I feel listening to him in that clip. He has a distinctive way of thinking that, like the Coens, is appealing if you share that particular sense of humor.
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Chait is a David Frum / Jennifer Rubin / David Brooks level jizzmopper and Hayes was way too nice to him. Point and laugh is the only acceptable approach.
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I love True Anon. Someone up thread said Brace was annoying, personally I think he’s hilarious (most of the time, sometimes he tries too hard).
They just did a 2 parter on 9/11 which I found super informative and easy to understand/believe.
Also, Chapo just released an ep w NFLer Justin Jackson who has been going ham on twitter for a while now. Excited to give that a listen.
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Relistened to The Dropout about Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos fraud. Just true excellence all around for this docucast. And the last episode has a guest spot from our favorite lawbro @Preet_Bharara!
My favorite Chapo episode of recent was “Hunter on the Loose” in large part due to Felix’s on point imaginations of what it’s like to be Hunter Biden.
About an hour into Chapo 306 2 cities, 1 cup (Ben Shapiro book review). One of the funniest things I’ve heard in ages. The dunks are non stop.
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Just started Useful Idiots. It’s good. Can’t stand TrueAnon, have tried repeatedly, they are way too smug and self congratulatory without being funny or insightful.
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True Allegiance?
I think their review of The Way of the Shadow Wolves is better imo