My General MIHH Experience in part

[algernon]

O Boy do I look forward to each new episode and just recently I've begun to repeat the past ones. I'm in the middle of "Murph" now, the second go. I repeated Adam Corolla and Wendy Liebman also this past week, and as my trucking allows, I'll repeat the episodes while the next new one is anticipated. My MIHH history has me consuming ahead of production.

Paul G's interviewer refinement in these later months becomes obvious when I heard the recent pop with Mike Phirman, an episode done early on and held 'til this month. You can catch some early flaws that Paul adjusted out in his dialogue exchange since. The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast is rising like a building of many floors. The collage of guest comments that has become the podcast intro had to be taken from the seedling stage of early pops which was a clever notion to witness. As a Ray Harryhausen fan, I must figure Paul stands in an industry where clever is entry level and magical is merely expected!

BUT THAT FUCKING MIHH THEME SONG!!!!!......................

One of the most STUNNING film experiences walking out of the theatre that I will take to the grave seared into my brain......was in 1974, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"......I drove home with my soon to be wife in total disturbed silence conceiving my tongue razorbladed into ribbons over and over.....

Many years later (that soon to be wife was by then mercifully ex'd!), I specifically moved to buy the film on DVD so I can watch it anytime and in anyway I pleased (imagine, disturbed as recreation!?).

Now.....if you've seen Toby Hooper's masterpiece, you may recall a warped prelude to the core horror ahead in the scene known as "the hitchhiker"......

Should you ever catch that scene again, take a close listen to the jumpy backwoods mud tune they had on the van radio.....and compare it to Paul's MIHH theme. For me, that was an omen.

To date, not one of Paul's guests was anyone at all that I've heard of, including Mr. G himself. This is surely a result of my abated television habits since my marriage ended along with cable TV in 1987. Truly I think this TV departure was mentally beneficial and I bet my Harry Houdini coffee mug that no one reading this can honestly disagree, and if you can, I'm not giving up the mug. Is TV addicting? To this day I'll stare at ANYTHING on TV when I get one as a visitor somewhere.......anything, proving once more that a dormant addiction is always ready to return if you let it. I'm addicted to the Internet (and as an adjunct, my precious ipod) and as the learning curve finally gets cut, I'm less wasteful and more happy with my time spent on all this virtual stuff, and rewarded with experiences like finding my girlfriend, buying Mack Truck Bulldog hood ornaments and such shopping, banking and meeting with/learning from people like YOU!

Every single guest on Paul's podcast has been worth the time to hear. Not everyone was endearing but many were. It was a good call to include Mike Phirman as a guest after all despite Paul's concern that MAYBE his history wasn't bent enough to hold interest but I liked him much and find his attitude a very agreeable example for my own peace seeking.

LOOK AT THE TIME! I love being up late into the night and as a trucker, I can eat or sleep anytime and think nothing about it as long as my commitments are kept. My girlfriend after five years has come to accept this
strange flex-schedule of mine which was not easy for her because she is one where your watch can be set by..........

And so in closing, I wanted to make a statement about the art of the comedian and how socially vital yet overlooked it is. The comedians' statements are often the lush comfort of lost-justice-saved by thoughtful brothers and sisters. Tired of the rhetoric of modern leadership? Hear your favored comedians bang out their thoughts on the vile subject of politics and social dysfunction. It's mental illness eased if only for a while, and I think with resolve and some key instruction, that ease can expand.

Paul G, I guess you must assert your marvelous podcast as "not a substitute for professional help" to respect our litigious mad society, but each time I hear it, I think otherwise. That's just me of course. Lookit the time............

[manuel_moe_g]

Hello algernon

Boy do I look forward to each new episode and just recently I've begun to repeat the past ones. I'm in the middle of "Murph" now, the second go. I repeated Adam Corolla and Wendy Liebman also this past week

Wendy Liebman has always been one of my favorite comedians, and I was amazed how vulnerable she let herself be in the podcast. I like her even more now.

Keep on truckin' Algernon!

[ihavechappedlips]

I like your post. I too like the "theme song" and am pretty curious about that scene in TCM that you mentioned.

The Mike Phirman episode was interesting to me because it didn't seem to cut to the core of his being. Usually there's a lot of emotion drenched in the stories and you can see why that person is the way they are and how it truly affects them today. With Mike, you got that, but you didn't get anything in the middle. Maybe you did and I'm just forgetful. After all, we only retain so much information.

Quite honestly, I hadn't heard of Paul either before he was on Sklarbro Country. I was very intrigued by it, and I am still waiting for them to be guests on the Podcast! I do have vague memories of seeing him on Dinner & a Movie, but I didn't pay much attention. Looking back, I wish I would have! And Paul, if you read this, you are very funny. Everything works out for some reason. And judging from the podcasts, I don't think success would've made you happy by any means. In fact, I bet it would've made your mental illness way worse! Famous people aren't necessarily happy people. There's so much competiton with that stuff that I imagine it would be extremely draining. I used to play in bands and I experienced a little of that... especially when the other bands suck and lack any creativity.

End of rambling.

[BCZF]

hello and welcome everybody

keep in mind paul did dinner and a movie for 16 years and to suddenly lose the comfort of a steady job like that is more than reason enough for anxiety as anyone who has lost a job recently can attest to. I was in the same boat , doubting your self worth and feeling like you to have nothing to fall back on is one of the worst feelings imaginable.

[algernon]

.....Thank you Manuel Moe, chappedlips and BCZF.......

I finished Paul interviewing Paul early today and enjoyed it very much as expected. My streak of NOT knowing the guests prior to the interview remains, but again I'm no benchmark for such things. When guest Paul T referred to "Curb Your Enthusiasm"......

.....well, I know THAT show very well but from DVDs and U-TOOB and NOT HBO, and this only in the last two years did I discover Larry David and company. I think the show is a RIOT mostly, but the last glance of an episode I had was disappointing, involving a boorish mother revealing to Larry the location of a rash that her underage daughter had, just before the underage daughter began an innocent friendship texting Larry. I'll let it go at that, figuring that show business is tough with its demand to exceed what came prior.

I think the two Pauls touched on that in their interview, referring to the ladder that you always keep building and it never ends and you never ease, at least with the mainstream precedent dictating the rat race. It must be cruel madness to endlessly run to the critics' reviews and now the Internet "hits" to see how you did last performance, as you age in a youth-bent world.

"What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" The cruel madness is nothing new, and certainly not limited to show business.

I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THANKYDAY!!