Podcast Episode 17: Cartoons and Briley Pierce (Annotated)

Hi, I’m Craig The Intern, and they make me transcribe these every week. Everything’s going great so far! I’m feeling really animated…just like the stuff the guys discuss this week. LOL. I’m so drawn to this episode.

The Guest: Ryan Nemeth

The Lowdown:

Stew is in the house again for this episode focused on animated shows we love, as is special guest Ryan Nemeth, who is tall, handsome, fit, and Dolph Ziggler’s brother, aka the former Briley Pierce of NXT. He is also a comedian, a novelist, a dog-lover, dog-painter, and was in a Taco Bell commercial one time. Like Stew, he is also an Ohioan, but we don’t hold that against him.

The Simpsons is the first show under discussion, and how old it makes everyone feel to realize it’s been on 31 years, if you count the Tracy Ullman shorts. Matt has a detailed notebook covering the first 12 seasons in detail, but when South Park came along, he just switched completely. One of his first memories is of being 5 years old and telling a neighbor “I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you man?” Ryan used to text Matt one-minute clips of Simpsons jokes while he was watching, each ending in Ryan’s own “heh heh.” Stew recalls doing a school book report on the presidents during the commercials of the premiere episode. We are all Bort. And of course Mack was in Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” video, premiering after The Simpsons, and featuring Tyra Banks as one of the morphing heads. Where are the rest of those heads now?

They discuss favorite characters on the show, with Stew—of course!–outing himself as a Mr. Burns guy. Mack’s a Milhouse dude, and Matt’s into Moe, wanting a full-on Moe TV show because all the weirdest stuff happened at his tavern. Ryan’s a Lionel Hutz and Dr. Nick fan. But none of them really watches it regularly any more except Ryan, for whom it’s a way to know all his family are doing the same thing at the same time. That’s sweet.

South Park is next. Ryan and Matt have stories about only having a video of one episode, back when they had no cable, and they’d pretend to know about the other episodes. South Park was dangerous. Although Stew remembers when The Simpsons were dangerous in the first couple of years, with T-shirts getting banned in school, and Barbara Bush condemning Marge Simpson. Nothing like Scott Tenorman unwittingly eating his parents, though. The movie Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is generally agreed by all the guys to be a good gateway to get people into it, and the first two seasons are tough. Butters and Randy Marsh are generally voted the best characters.

Mack and Stew are Rick and Morty fans, while Ryan knows somebody who works in the show so he just pretends to have seen all of them. Seth Green got Mack into it with the Snowball episode, which is the same one Dolph used to hook Ryan. Matt has played the VR game, in which you get to do laundry! Or maybe he just chose to do that. Stew relates to Rick’s anger with Jerry.

Talk of robots and dogs segues into Futurama‘s saddest episode. Who knew Billy West was also the voice of the Cheerios bee? Is it lame to choose Bender as your favorite character? Mack and Matt don’t like Mom, because she’s mean. But her sons are funny.

Matt thinks King of the Hill is cool but isn’t sure anyone else does. Most people here back him up, though Ryan likes Beavis and Butt-head better. Ryan also submits Rocko’s Modern Life as a show that needs more respect, and Matt found out years later about a show by the same guy called Camp Lazlo that he loved. Matt seems to be the only one who doesn’t feel like he aged out most Nicktoons.

They extol the virtues of H. Jon Benjamin, though Ryan is not an Archer guy. Home Movies is the one Matt thinks needs more love. Ryan randomly describes why wrestlers drain fluid from their wounds, and talks about his fear of needles. He warns doctors he’s going to be a difficult patient, but they never believe him

Ryan plugs the new wrestling promotion he works for, Nuclear Heat, which does every show for charity, and the next one is for Dogs Without Borders at an LA concert venue. Ryan also loves sharks, and writes a bit for Bunny Ears in conjunction with Piper Jackson.

It’s time for the contest: name animals! Mack and Ryan start by just naming multiple bears, then get into insects, birds, types of sharks, birds again. Mack may be cheating with “algae.” Mack wins in the end when it gets into dogs.

Before Ryan leaves, they plug his services as a personal trainer to the stars…and maybe you. The post-music voicemails this week seem to follow a Stew/Ohio theme, including a request for a Stew solo podcast.

The Highlights:

4:42-5:54 Matt tries to figure out which state The Simpsons‘ Springfield is in.

17:26-18:20 Matt’s Abe Simpson impersonation.

49:10-50:04 Ryan explains why wrestlers sometimes have to lance their elbows with needles and drain fluid.

50:38-59:16 The epic adventures of Ryan Nemeth trying to avoid passing out on blood-test day because he is deathly afraid of needles.

The Links:

Here’s the official site for Nuclear Heat Wrestling, where you can buy tickets to see Ryan Nemeth, performing as “Hot Young Briley,” on May 9th.

Here’s the full-length video for Michael Jackson’s “Black or White,” which begins with Mack and ends with Bart Simpson:

Check out all of Camp Lazlo on YouTube so Matt won’t be the only guy who knows about it:

Billy West doing his Honey Nut Cheerios voice:

Contact the Guest!

Ryan Nemeth

Twitter: @HotYoungBriley

Instagram: @ryrynemnem

Contact The Guys!

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @bunnyearspod
Instagram: @bunnyearspodcast
Telephone: 845-EZE-HOAX

Mack
Twitter @IncredibleCulk
Instagram: Culkamania

Stew
Twitter: @SuaveAdventurer
Instagram: @SuaveAdventurer

Matt Cohen
Twitter: @Cameltoad
Instagram: @Cameltoad

Image: Fox