r/HollywoodHandbook

Chef Kevin just started a new podcast called Let Us Cook where he takes a month learning about a hobby that the guest wants to get into and reports back. First episode was great! Worth a watch/listen!

I still enjoy the show... but, it became significantly less funny when they stopped doing the baby speak thing they used to do. Reason being, The juxtaposition of smug Hollywood persona; and confidently misspeaking basic words, heightened the absurdity of the humor to levels unknown, and it showed flashes of true humility. Once that was replaced with taking themselves slightly more seriously, the smugness of the persona started to feel closer to just actual sincere smugness and the show became a little more standard "funny interview" show. I still enjoy it, and I'll always be grateful for the old episodes, but I miss that old weapons-grade silliness.

Does anyone remember the episode where the boys parody NPR podcasts like s town and serial?

Posting it here as I think they read the comments on YT and I don't want to hurt their feelings.

Kyle's pre-SNL sketches are literally the funniest thing on YT. I thought they were both funny on SNL, especially Beck.

But the podcast is really not hitting for me at all no matter how much I keep re-trying. It's just not funny and the energy is flat. For context I pretty much only listen to podcasts where it's two funny friends bantering etc. like Jake & Amir, Trixie & Katya. I was expecting that from this but it's not hitting at all, they seem very unsure of themselves in this format for some reason.

I think maybe newborn tiredness (they both have young kids) might be a factor? It is pretty clear they did this pod as a cash grab (cue Tim Robinson "cash grab" sound effect) and I absolutely support that, get the wix dot com ad money, but the lack of passion comes through. The best parts have been when they did some improvising of characters.

I feel mean saying this so I'll probably delete it later but I just wanted to put it out there. I think it meets the rules of the sub.

Maybe it’s just me but for me, does anyone else hear a deep sadness in Sean’s voice when he says video episodes, formerly Patreon-only, are now FREE in the iHeart app?

The comedy centers on Lex (O’Brien), a disgraced former reality star who accidentally films a murder in the background of a $20 Cameo video, and finds himself at the center of a global conspiracy — and on the run from powerful forces who want him dead. Using the skills he acquired navigating reality TV’s toxic social dynamics, Lex must fight to not get killed, to expose the truth, and most importantly… to get back on TV.

Hey, I used to listen religiously to HH until around 2023, but had some big changes in my life in terms of work and various other things and haven't listened in a long time. I want to get back on the HH train, what episodes would you recommend from the last few years?

With the release of the final season of The Bear I’m really hoping the fellas have Ayo Edebiri on. She’s always such a great guest — hilarious and just totally gets it. Fingers crossed 🤞

I relistened to a couple episodes this weekend and it’s a delightful show. It’s just really nice to hear Sean and his guests engage with art. I also have an endless appetite for the inside baseball stuff about hollywood works and what the strike was about. (I realize this is the pretend premise of the podcast but the non joke version is legitimately interesting to me.) It seems like the type of show that takes a lot of prep work but if there were ever some one-offs id play the hell out of em.

I also liked the RSS one-off. Thanks for reading.