97.9 The Rat Race, Our Favorite Dark Comedy Morning Zoo Radio Satire Podcast, Is Coming Back on All Things Comedy

August 25, 2020

979 the rat race, all things comedy, ben roy, beth hoyt, chris marrs, comedy podcast, morning zoo radio, satire

Of the send-ups of the so-called “morning zoo radio” that have existed in comedy over the last several years (and there are a fair amount as dealing with morning radio jocks is often the bane of comedians’ existence), 97.9 The Rat Race is absolutely one of our favorites. Ben Roy, Chris Marrs, and Beth Hoyt nail the voices and the problematic behaviors of such morning hosts between the trio of Donny D, Animal, and Tara and then take every episode to such a hysterically dark place that, for us at least, we kind of hoped a lot of “morning zoo radio” would stumble into.

The episodes would come out every now and again, but we’re so glad to hear that All Things Comedy is bringing 97.9 The Rat Race to their podcast network with whole brand new run of episodes starting Mon. Aug. 31st. So, go binge the original run of episodes of 97.9 The Rat Race on your favorite podcasting platform right before next Monday, so you can get ready to see how some dark secret gets uncovered after Turn The Beat Around gets played again.

RATS! The biggest story of 2020 has arrived! 97.9 is now under the corporate umbrella at i😀audio, which means #DonnyD, Animal & Tara are moving to @allthingscomedy! New episodes begin 8/31… and never, ever stop! Details below! #RIPDinkums pic.twitter.com/9bgkNGp28g

— 97.9 The Rat Race (@979theratrace) August 24, 2020

“97.9 The Rat Race” Is Great, Dark Send-Up of Morning Zoo Crew Radio

September 6, 2019

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The “morning zoo crew style of talk radio” has been well etched into the minds of many a generation. The over-the-top sound effects, inclusion and simultaneous domination of female voices, and the obnoxious wackiness are all too familiar as a radio programming format.

Ben Roy (Those Who Can’t, The Grawlix) has thus done a dark, satirical, and spot-on send up of such a program with his great, new podcast 97.9 The Rat Race. It has all the trappings of “classic” morning talk radio, but just twists the knife with how ridiculous it really is. Roy is joined by Chris Marrs and Beth Hoyt for short and oh so wryly sweet episodes that follow what happens when the sound effects can’t cover up what’s really going on in the lives of morning radio.

Get into 97.9 The Rat Race on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

January 13, 2019

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Stalwart weekly stand-up show Big Money is coming up on its sixth year of this week, this Thursday in fact, and host Bryan Cook is pulling out all the stops for this one. Just look at that gorgeous line-up of LA comedy’s favorites.

Also, Bryan and Andy Wood will be playing with their Guilty Treasure Band after the show to mark the occasion. Don’t miss out this Thursday at 7:30PM at The Virgil. As always, admission is FREE.

The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, screening, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.

Ben Roy’s New Album “Ooze Your Delusions” Is a Really Great Way to Enjoy Laughing Through Your Rage

November 17, 2018

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On performance of his jokes alone, Ben Roy is a thrill to watch and listen to. It’s almost as if his comedy is to stand-up as MC5′s Kick Out the Jams was a shock to sixties’ rock.

Ooze Your Delusions, Ben’s follow-up to No Enlightenment to Sobriety, picks up right where he left off being the best, bombastic firebrand comic and yet poetic throughout his rants all at the same time. Truly, it’s a great way to release rage that you might have right now for some reason via Ben channeling his own rage into comedy. Also, he does all of this without really getting political, which might be refreshing for some Trump-weary comedy fans.

Ooze Your Delusions is available now from 800 Pound Gorilla Records here.

“Those Who Can’t” Season 3 Trailer Looks to Up the Ante

November 14, 2018

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adam cayton holland, andrew orvedahl, ben roy, maria thayer, rory scovel, season 3, those who cant, trailer

For two seasons, The Grawlix (Adam Cayton-Holland, Ben Roy, and Andrew Orvedahl), Maria Thayer, and Rory Scovel have made a dysfunctional, yet fictional high school seem like a pretty splendid place to be.

As the premiere of their third season on Monday, January 14th, 2019 approaches, the administrative gang of Smoot High looks to do it once again, perhaps topping themselves this time around.

See for yourself in the season 3 Those Who Can’t trailer here.

January 7, 2018

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aaron emery, al marotta, alex u'ren, andy wood, ben roy, bryan cook, caitlin gill, comedy show, cover song, hollywood, john konesky, julian mccullough, los angeles, mike bray, storytelling, three clubs

If there was a way for you to appreciate songs that are widely panned or hardly known for various reasons, it would be comedians telling their story of why they love said songs and then perform a live cover of it, complete with a live band.

Thus, we highly recommend to catch Guilty Treasure this week in Hollywood at Three Clubs. Please get tickets here.

The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.

March 9, 2017

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ben roy, cheap comedy, comedy show, crane's bar, downtown la, dtla, free comedy, kyle kinane, live comedy, los angeles, one year anniversary, stand up, tone bell

Over a year, the comedy night at Crane’s Bar in Downtown LA have established themselves as one of the best recurring comedy shows downtown.

This Monday will actually mark an official year anniversary of the show presented by Corbin Recke, Harry Moroz, Trevor Smith, and Trish Hadley. They have quite the line-up with Kyle Kinane, Tone Bell, Ben Roy, Caitlin Gill, and a few more as yet TBA guests.

Admission is free and you can get more details here.

If you’re going early and want a good seat, definitely show up well before 8 FYI.

The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, and maps can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com

Those Who Can’t Renewed for Season 3 at TruTV

January 5, 2017

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Those Who Can’t Renewed for Season 3 at TruTV

Congratulations to all the students and faculty of Smoot High as well as TruTV taking advantage of what Amazon missed out on.

Those Who Can’t Season 2 Premieres Tonight

October 6, 2016

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adam cayton holland, andrew orvedahl, ben roy, cheri oteri, season 2, season premiere, those who cant, trutv

The one and only Cheri Oteri has stepped in as principal by the way.

Catch the season 2 premiere of Those Who Can’t on TruTV at 10:30PM to see the unapologetic antics of Adam Cayton-Holland, Ben Roy, and Andrew Orvedahl fill the halls of Reed Smoot High.

Seriously, there’s no debates on and even if there was a debate on that late, you could stream the debate on a second screen.

See What The Teachers of “Those Who Can’t” Were Up To Over the Summer

October 4, 2016

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adam cayton holland, andrew orvedahl, ben roy, preview, season 2, those who cant, trutv

Did you have a better summer than Shoemaker, Fairbell, and Payton from Those Who Can’t?

See for yourself as they reminisce what they did for the last few months before they go in for a mandatory meeting.

Oh, by the way, season 2 of Those Who Can’t premieres on Thursday, October 6th 10:30PM.

Those Who Can’t Season 2 Trailer Introduces Cheri Oteri as the New Principal in Town

August 24, 2016

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adam cayton holland, andrew orvedahl, ben roy, cheri oteri, kyle kinane, maria thayer, those who cant, trutv

In just their first season, Those Who Can’t proved to be another pillar on TruTV’s programming line-up.

With the trailer for season 2, it looks they’ll be continuing to legitimize TruTV’s standing as a comedy cable network with a little help from the one and only Cheri Oteri playing a new principal.

Look for the season premiere of Those Who Can’t on Thursday, October 6th at 10:30PM on TruTV.

The 2016 High Plains Comedy Festival Announces Its Line-Up

June 22, 2016

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adam cayton holland, andrew orvedahl, aparna nancherla, baron vaughn, ben roy, bobcat goldthwait, brent weinbach, denver, eliza skinner, grawlix, high plains comedy festival, jonah ray, sean patton, trutv

You might want to get to Denver in August.

From August 25th-August 27th, The High Plains Comedy Festival will bring yet another rollicking weekend of comedy to Denver’s already thriving scene.

Scheduled to appear thus far:

Adam Cayton-Holland
Andrew Orvedahl
Ben Roy
Bobcat Goldthwait
Jonah Ray
Sean Patton
Steve Agee
Aparna Nancherla
Baron Vaughn
Brooks Wheelan
Eliza Skinner
Brent Weinbach
Andrew Santino
Dulcé Sloan
Nick Vatterott
Sean O’Connor
Ahmed Bharoocha
Ian Karmel
Jermaine Fowler
Chris Garcia
Caitlin Gill
Joel Kim Booster
Noah Gardenswartz
Troy Walker
David Gborie
Kristin Rand
Bryan Cook
Chris Charpentier
Amy Miller
Jordan Doll
Sean White
Gilbert Lawand
Nato Green
Kate Willett
Kenny DeForest
Brandie Posey
Martin Morrow
Kristin Clifford
Sam Tallent

Passes and tickets are available here.

The Teachers of “Those Who Can’t” Get Ready for One Hell of a Prom

April 10, 2016

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adam cayton holland, andrew orvedahl, ben roy, high school prom, maria thayer, rory scovel, those who cant

When we used “one hell of a…” in the headline, we didn’t mean that in a good way.

Those Who Can’t’s latest episode has all of the teachers being forced into going to prom to make up for the utter disaster that it was last year.

Of course, this prom that’s in the works doesn’t seem much better at all since they’re more concerned with their dates than the actual running of the prom meant for the students.

Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction to Be Featured on Seeso

March 22, 2016

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andes du bouchet, ben roy, bryan cook, comedy show show, competitive erotic fan fiction, dave hill, guy branum, ian karmel, jackie kashian, moshe kasher, nbc, seeso, solomon georgio, taping

It’s about time this happened.

One of the many new, exciting things that are happening at NBC’s comedy streaming service, Seeso, is a thing called The Comedy Show Show, which will feature plenty of different formats of comedy shows that have grown over the last few years.

Bryan Cook’s Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction is a prime example of such a format with comedians writing erotic fiction of a pop culture subject of their choice or by random. Having toured the country and becoming a hit podcast, it’s only logical that it would get to be featured in a series at some point.

So, a taping for Seeso’s Comedy Show Show will take place at the Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction’s current home, The Virgil, on Sunday, April 17th at 8PM (doors are at 7:30PM).

The stellar line-up features past winners including such notable comedians as:

Moshe Kasher (Netflix special “Live in Oakland”)
Eliza Skinner (@Midnight, writer ‘The Late Late Show’)
Ben Roy (Star/Co-creator ‘Those Who Can’t’ on TruTv)
Dave Hill (Author, ‘Tasteful Nudes,’ Host ‘The God Damn Dave Hill Show’ on WFMU)
Ian Karmel (Conan, writer ‘The Late Late Show’)
Guy Branum (writer, ‘Another Period,’ ‘The Mindy Project’)
Andrés du Bouchet (Writer/performer on Conan)
Jackie Kashian (Conan, album ‘This Will Make An Excellent Horcrux’)
Solomon Georgio (Conan, Viceland)