Never Not Funny

Never Not Funny

Hosting	Jimmy Pardo Matt Belknap
Language	English
Updates	Mondays
Length	Approx. 1½ Hours
Camera	Eliot Hochberg
Production	Matt Belknap
Video format	MP4
Audio format	MP3
Debut	April 4, 2006
Genre	Comedy
Website	http://www.pardcast.com

Never Not Funny is a weekly podcast hosted by comedian Jimmy Pardo since Spring 2006. He and producer Matt Belknap have appeared in every episode. Former co-host Mike Schmidt appeared for all of season one, except for episode 60 when his departure was announced.

Since March 2008, the show moved to a pay format, with the first twenty minutes of each show remaining available to non-paying subscribers. Episodes from past seasons are also commercially available.^[1]

Show Format

The show is of the comedy talk variety, consisting of free-form conversation between Jimmy Pardo, Matt Belknap and a third, weekly-changing guest. Topics discussed range from music and popular culture to personal life and amusing or interesting anecdotes. Starting with season three, the last 5–20 minutes are dedicated to a listener-submitted "Stupid Question Of The Week." At the beginning of season five, they introduced a new segment called "Judge Jimmy," where Pardo is a judge, Belknap and the guest are the attorneys and they settle a listener-submitted dispute.

Until the end of the third season, the show was recorded in a single take without any editing. After the Chino, CA earthquake in August 2008 forced the show to stop briefly (originally so Jimmy, Matt and guest Patton Oswalt could check on family members) the podcast has had one small break per episode.

History

The original idea was to do an audio podcast version of Jimmy's Los Angeles show "Running Your Trap." The first episode featured him and Matt Belknap and guest Mike Schmidt. Pat Francis was scheduled for episode 2, but when he was unavailable, Schmidt (usually referred to by Pardo as "The Former Third Baseman" after the similarly named baseball player) became the permanent co-host. This became the arrangement for the show for the first season.

Every fourth episode would have a guest such as Pat Francis, Scott Aukerman or Graham Elwood. Midway through the first season the theme song was changed from a small portion of an unnamed instrumental song by Jimmy's close friend Daver to "Mad At The World" by Daver, with sound bites from previous episodes mixed into the song. This three-man setup lasted sixty episodes, including a clip show and two live shows recorded at the UCB Theater in Los Angeles. The show went through little change throughout the first season until episode sixty, when Jimmy announced that his relationship with Mike Schmidt had become strained through the years and that they had decided to go their separate ways; Mike left the show in an attempt to reconcile their friendship. (Show notes for episode 60.)

Mike explained the situation on May 25, 2007, on his website.^[2] In March 2008, Mike started his own solo podcast named The 40 Year Old Boy.

With Schmidt's departure, the show began its second season. Instead of a standard three-man lineup, now only Pardo and Belknap were regulars, with a rotating guest every episode. Pat Francis was the guest for the first episode, which began the new tradition of Francis being the "third chair" and appearing on every fourth episode. It was in the second season that the show received its first sponsorship, lasting only a few weeks. On episode 39 of the second season, it was announced that the show would be moving to a pay format, beginning with season three. Listeners would have to pay to continue receiving the complete podcast, although the first twenty minutes of each episode would still be available for free. The subscription price was set to $19.99 for 26 episodes. They also hired Pardo's brother-in-law Andrew Koenig to record video of the show. Only 5 minute clips of the show were available on video during season three and was hosted on Koenig's site Monkey Go Lucky, but at the beginning of season four full video of the show was available for $24.99. Midway through season six tragedy struck when Andrew Koenig died. Andrew's close friend Eliot Hochberg, who had been providing the video gear, took his role as videographer. They also hired an intern, Dan Katz, aka "Tabasco Ears", who is often heard on mic. Several years after his departure from the show, Mike Schmidt made his first return to the podcast, this time as a guest, at the end of season six after Jimmy decided, "Life's too short." (Show notes for Episode 623 with Mike Schmidt.)

The show is currently midway through its ninth season.

Awards

• Never Not Funny was the winner a 2008 Rooftop Comedy Award for best Comedy podcast.^[3]
• Never Not Funny was nominated for a 2007 Podcast Award in the Comedy category.^[4]
• Never Not Funny was nominated for a 2006 Weblog Award.^[5]
• Never Not Funny was made one of iTunes' "Best in 2006" and "Best in 2007" podcasts.

List of guests

Guest	Episode #
Adam Carolla	507
Adam Scott	808
Aisha Tyler	919
Al Madrigal	701, 902
Allan Havey	806
Andrew Daly	302, 421, 624, 805
Andy Kindler	220, 703, 913
Andy Richter	410, 622, 821
Bil Dwyer	148, 317, 422, 601
Cathy Ladman	236, 416
Chris Fairbanks	228, 406, 510, 625
Chris Hardwick	224, 310, 502
Conan O'Brien	608, 811
Craig Bierko	802
Damien Fahey	910
Danielle Koenig	132, 155, 205, 211, 226, 230, 239, 308, 412, 425, 522, 725, 912
Dave Anthony	901
Dave Holmes	222, 225, 233, 301, 314, 401, 414, 512, 617, 726
Doug Benson	232, 305, 407, 516
Ed Crasnick	917
Eddie Trunk	816
Ellis Paul	810
Gary Lucy	923
Graham Elwood	116, 203, 207, 237, 319, 418, 521, 616, 814
Greg Behrendt	318, 603, 702, 825
Greg Fitzsimmons	505
Greg Proops	709
Jackie Kashian	718
Janet Varney	419, 506, 708, 824
Jen Kirkman	409, 515, 622, 807
Jesse Thorn	503, 607, 707, 920
Jimmy Dore	144, 220, 316, 423, 605, 711
Joe Lo Truglio	618, 823
John Heffron	221
John Ross Bowie	916
Jon Hamm	403, 721, 820
Jordan Morris	613
Ken Marino	909
Kevin Pollak	716
Laurie Kilmartin	621, 818
Marc Maron	610
Maria Bamford	208, 234, 401, 526, 907
Mark Volman	517
Matt Besser	622
Matt Braunger	513, 719
Matt Walsh	313, 415, 518
Mike Schmidt	623, 722
Mike Siegel	124, 212, 235, 322, 420, 614
Mike Sweeney	713
Moshe Kasher	921
Myq Kaplan	915
Pat Francis	108, 140, 201, 205, 209, 213, 215, 217, 220, 221, 229, 230, 236, 240, 303, 307, 311, 315, 320, 325, 404, 408, 413, 416, 420, 425, 504, 508, 514, 519, 523, 604, 609, 619, 622, 704, 710, 714, 723, 804, 817, 906, 922
Patton Oswalt	321, 812
Paul F. Tompkins	128, 202, 214, 231, 309, 326, 426, 602, 715
Paul Gilmartin	104, 120, 204, 223, 239, 324, 424, 524, 822
Paul Goebel	130
Paul Rust	615
Pete Holmes	803
Pete Schwaba	152, 209, 216
Rachel Quaintance	417, 525, 620, 801
Rebecca Corry	905
Rich Sommer	612, 815
Rob Corddry	312, 402
Russ McGarry	903
Samm Levine	520
Sarah Silverman	706
Scott Aukerman	112, 130, 156, 206, 219, 227, 238, 304, 323, 411, 501, 626, 724, 826, 924
Scott Thompson	720
Sean Cullen	819
The Sklar Brothers	210, 218, 509
Steve Almond	705
Todd Glass	136, 306, 405, 511, 611, 809, 908
Todd Levin	606, 717
Tom Wilson	911
Ty Burrell	712, 914
Wayne Federman	918
Wil Anderson	904
Will Forte	813

List of Seasons

Season		Episodes	Bonus Episodes	Originally Broadcast	Co-host	Free Version	Primo Version(s)	Video	Notes
	Season 1	60	–	April 4, 2006–May 22, 2007	Mike Schmidt Matt Belknap	Full episode	–	–	–
	Season 2	40	–	June 1, 2007–March 7, 2008	Matt Belknap	Full episode	–	"Jimmy Cam" YouTube clip	–
	Season 3	26	3	March 19, 2008–September 10, 2008	Matt Belknap	First 20 minutes	Full audio	5 short clips per episode After season 8, full episodes available for purchase	–
	Season 4	26	6	September 24, 2008–April 1, 2009	Matt Belknap	First 20 minutes	Full audio & video	Full episode	–
	Season 5	26	7	April 15, 2009–October 7, 2009	Matt Belknap	First 20 minutes	Full audio & video	Full episode	–
	Season 6	26	5	October 21, 2009-May 5, 2010	Matt Belknap	First 20 minutes	Full audio & video	Full episode	–
	Season 7	26	5	May 19, 2010-November 10, 2010	Matt Belknap	First 20 minutes	Full audio & video	Full episode	–
	Season 8	26	6	November 24, 2010-May 25, 2011	Matt Belknap	First 20 minutes	Full audio & video	Full episode	–
	Season 9	26	-	June 6,2011-	Matt Belknap	First 20 minutes	Full audio & video	Full episode	–

Primo Bonus Episodes

Main article: Never Not Funny Primo Bonus Episodes

Never Not Funny: Volume One

Main article: Never Not Funny: Volume One

Pardcast-A-Thon

Main article: Pardcast-A-Thon

Every year since season six, on the day after Thanksgiving, Pardo, Belknap and "third chair" Pat Francis host a live, streaming marathon podcast on Ustream in front of a live audience to raise money for the Smile Train organization. The first year, they went for 9 hours and raised over $12,000. The second year was an even better success with them raising over $26,000 after 12 hours. Pardo said that it made sense to choose Smile Train as their official charity because both him and Pat Francis coincidentally suggested it, but also because "comedy and smiles go together."^[6]

External links

• Official site
• The official website of Jimmy Pardo
• Review
• Never Not Notes

References

1. ^ http://pardcast.com/premium.php
2. ^ Mike Schmidt Comedy » Blog Archive » Change, Nothin’ Stays The Same…
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ PodCastAwards.com
5. ^ The 2006 Weblog Awards: Nominations - Best Podcast
6. ^ [2]