This article previously appeared in The Tribune Weekend section on December 16.
Zooey Deschanel - one of the stars of festive favourite Elf (pictured) - stops by The Nerdist podcast with her musical partner Matthew Ward from the band She And Him to chat about Christmas
If you're looking for a show to
listen
to while you make your Christmas preparations this weekend,
here's a
few that might bring a smile or two as you prepare – or drink –
the eggnog.
The Nerdist
If ever you've caught the follow-up
show to The Walking Dead, the post-episode chat show The Talking
Dead, then you know host Chris Hardwick. The Nerdist is his
podcast
hangout, where he sits down with a variety of celebrities and
just
lets the conversation wander all over the place.
He is, without a doubt, an
inveterate
nerd, but he's a great host, bouncing the chat from topic to
topic
without ever seeming scattered.
The latest show features guests She
And
Him, the band featuring Zooey Deschanel and Matthew Ward, as
they
chat about Christmas traditions, favourite movies, TV shows they
love
and more.
It's a fun listen, even though it
was
clearly recorded some time ago – Matthew's Christmas wish is for
a
woman to be US president, for example. Spoiler alert: That
didn't
happen.
Often on chat shows, you get
celebrities begin a little guarded, but there's none of that
here,
just a relaxing chat with good company. Not always for young
ears, it
should be noted, with occasional swearing.
Website: www.nerdist.com
Mortified Podcast
What are the horrifying things from
your youth that still plague you to this day? That's the basis
of
this show, where adults share the embarassing things that they
created as kids – diaries, letters, lyrics, poems and more.
A lot of it is based around their
live
shows, so it often comes over as snippets from a stand-up set,
but
it's somehow cathartic to hear other people sharing the things
that
haunt them still from their youth.
Seriously, the number of times in
any
week when I remember something from many, many years ago and
still
feel horrified by the shame of that moment that for everyone
else at
the time was otherwise innocuous, so it's nice to hear others
revealing similar angst.
Again, this is more of an adult show
than for young ears, with swearing as part of the stand-up shows
as
you might expect.
Of course, at times it's something
of a
one-note joke, but when it's a joke we're all in on with
memories of
our own horrors of the past, it's a really good one. Well worth
a
listen.
Website:
http://getmortified.com/podcast/
I Tell My Husband The News
A fun little oddity, this podcast
does
exactly what it says in the title, with USA Today journalist
Shannon
Rae Green telling her husband what is in the news. Her husband,
Dusty
Terrill, is a comedian somewhat unplugged from the daily
headlines,
so his take on what is going on adds a little light-hearted fun.
When she tells him about the latest
update for the Galaxy Note phone, he wonders if it's going to
stop
make them exploding or just update them to being lighters
instead of
phones.
It's a fairly short podcast, only
about
a quarter of an hour, and very mellow. There's also a very nice
recipe for a cough remedy, with a glass of bourbon with honey
and
lemon added to it and warmed. I prefer a similar one, without
the
honey and lemon or warming and merely raised in salute before
drinking. Ideal for enjoying at Christmas parties.
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