I feel like HH isn’t really impenetrable if you want to jump in with most recent episodes it’s a podcast about nothing
TFO is very accessible. It’s basically just them having a regular conversation about actual topics with some riffing, whereas a lot of HH episodes are purposefully an hour of them refusing to settle on any sort of concept or point of discussion. Also it’s very flagrant.
I have never watched Basketball and I find TFO very funny and accessible, though I would say it takes a few episodes for them to settle into it (and to stop just listing names, as they say). I would agree that HH takes a few episodes to “get”, at least for me.
I started HH from the beginning then fell off after like 20 episodes and picked up from whatever was the most recent at the time. They’ve pretty much dropped the original premise and now every episode is about nothing/clowning on Earwolf/other podcasts. or just listen to TFO because it rules
What I mean by impenetrable is that, like, if I tried to start listening to Doughboys in 2021, I would be totally lost re: things like “no peeking”, “hot salad”, “oven fries”, “ungapatchka”, etc. because I would have no context for any of it. Like if I haven’t been listening to HH from the beginning are there just a ton of references and bits that I won’t understand?
Not really anymore. They kinda dropped recurring bits besides talking funny and mispronouncing words. I can’t think of anything insanely self-referential in the past few months
Hahahah I’m finally catching up on Doughboys, I was a few months behind. I’m listening to the Blowup part 2 hahaha talking about working at Costco. “‘I’m such a good guy I’m gonna work at Costco!’ Well good! Get locked in a fucking fridge and fucking die you piece of shit” ahahahahahahahahahaha
I think an easy way to get into Hollywood Handbook would be to just binge the Pro Version. Shorter episodes usually with a clear concept/game. There's a few times the main show and Pro Version cross over that might require venturing over to the main feed but you'll be fine.
Hollywood Handbook is less like a bunch of bits and a world you have to understand, and more like one long bit that once you get everything makes sense. There are some great older episodes and a lot of references but the show works in a way where if you know nothing you don't really lose anything. They do talk about really inside comedy scene references more than other shows, sometimes I have no idea what's going and I check the reddit thread for "hey here's that video they sarcastically were riffing about for five minutes". But its always funny even if I don't get it.
It's not like wall to wall recurring bits, each episode is funny in and of itself. Who cares if you don't get everything at first, it's fun to explore and find the origins, but also most of it is just nonsense anyway. Just pick some guests you like and go to town.
Don't worry about feeling left out, the show is a guide, an insider's guide to kicking butt and dropping names in the red-carpet-lined back hallways of this industry we call shark bite.
Them saying "Wow, you really know how to paint a picture" in response to Mitch calling the Pumpkin beer a good "Haunted hayride drink" got me good.
I'm such a completist I don't think I cold handle jumping into a show from the present. Before I started HH I even went back and did Reality Show Show