Synopsis: It's the long awaited wedding of Gillian Jacobs and famed director Garry Marshall, with special musical guest Colin Hay.
Upshot: It's even better than you imagine. It's one of those rare-ish CBB episodes that is both high on the in-jokes and an absolute blast on its own. An always delight Gillian Jacobs and a surprisingly game Colin Hay support Paul F. Tompkins in a cavalcade of four different simultaneous characters. Best of the new year, by far.
Full review after the jump
Comedy Bang Bang is a basically the Muppet Show of podcasts. It has a running stable of absolutely absurd recurring "characters", and Scott is always good at pushing the conversation into the most convoluted of directions. Technically it all makes sense, but it's the kind of sense of the Mad Hatter's tea party. The rules and rituals are arbitrary and subject to immediate change.
In these environs it's easy for guests, even comedians, to not quite fit in or grasp the nature of what the show's all about. Which probably makes Gillian Jacobs, the Steve Martin, of Comedy Bang Bang's celebrity guests, continuing with the Muppet Show analogy. Both she and he worked so seamlessly into the anarchic energy of the show they found themselves in, that they basically became muppets themselves.
From her very first appearance, which was surprisingly Garry Marshall-less, Gillian has been more than able to jump into the constant "yes, and"-ing that is Comedy Bang Bang's bread and butter. But it's the ongoing bizarre love affair between her and popular PFT character, Garry Marshall (please, call him Garry) that proved revelatory. Throughout their episodes together she's plotted to murder his wife, had his space baby (don't ask), and adopted the persona of a conniving blood-thirsty mad-woman who's only consideration about anyone and anything is much money they or it can give her.
In their last appearance, I guess they had agreed to meet back this year on Valentine's Day and get married (I don't have a strong recollection of that episode and I don't have the stamina to go back and listen to it). So it is with the pomp of a Marissa Wompler special that Scott Auckerman introduces this weeks episode.
And what an episode it is. It starts slow with Paul F. Tompkins mostly playing as Len Wiseman, taking turns with Scott to interview both Jacobs and Hay. But things take a turn for the absurd as they both engage in a delightful exchange of hand written vows to officiate the fact that they "agree to disagree". Gillian summons the Reverend Parsimony to officiate the ceremony and then something magical happens.
As Hay begins to play some incidental music as an introduction into the wedding ceremony, Jacobs begins to spontaneously sing a manic love ode perfectly with the music. It's such an unexpected and amazing moment that I've transcribed the entire song below:
Oh baby, I like your ways
And your money and your days
And your face and your nose
and your eyes and your toes
Oh Garry, I like the way you do
the things that you do
When I give you the right pills
Oh Garry I like licking your nose
I like seeing your toes all up in your... hair
Oh Garry I love you so much
(she loves Garry)
I love Garry so much
I got a new will made
All ready you gimme all your money
I got your kids to agree to the new will
I got your money I love you, oh Garry
I looooooooove you.
(she loves Garry)
Garry, I love you.
This repeats three more times throughout the episode and it's a testament to how much first time guest Colin Hay is tuned to the same wavelength. I mean, all CBB shows are strange beasts, but this is a particularly strange show relaying heavily on by now pretty esoteric callbacks to year long episodes, and Scott, Paul, and Gillian do nothing to make the proceedings particularly easy to follow. (this is not a criticism) So it's particularly impressive at how well Colin Hays goes with the flow and incorporates himself into the resulting madness.
Speaking of which, of course the wedding is stopped before the nuptials can be consummated, by Mr. Alan Thicke, famed Canadian former television star and father of date-rape singer Robin Thicke. He tries to persuade her to marry him instead, which of course Scott forces into a vote with all the participants. In the end, Gillian casts the deciding ballot after comparing the net worth of both entertainers. As the "way-past his bedtime" Garry Marshall puts it, "Boy, oh boy. This has turned out to be way more of a hassle than I ever dreamed!"
There's a quick little twist at the end, which I won't spoil but suffice it to say Gillian uses her plug segment to express how much she loathes everyone in the room. This was truly a delightful and wonderful episode. PFT can always be trusted to have fun. He and Scott share a chemistry that's probably unrivaled on any podcast, but I think this is the first time I've heard him play so many characters simultaneously. It wasn't quite Andy Daly's marathon of characters from last year's "Oh Golly, You Devil", but it was impressive all the same. The only thing is that as funny and as distinct as each of his characters is, Tompkins is not as great a vocal chameleon as say Daly or the impersonation wunderkind James Adomian. Specifically Wiseman and Marshall were sometimes difficult to differentiate due to both having somewhat similar accents.
But that's an extremely minor quibble. Great episode. Very funny. And here as a bonus are the lyrics to the song Alan Thicke sings to try and get Jacobs back:
Well there's a way to get married
and have your cake and eat it too
And that's if you marry me and I marry you.
I'm Alan Thicke. The end.
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