Podcast Portal: With Special Guest Laura Lapkus

Welcome to Podcast Portal: a spontaneous column that will highlight podcasts of all genres that are lesser known or new shows that are worth giving a listen. With the medium continuing to grow, it is hard to acknowledge all of them. However, I am going to try and find as many noteworthy titles as possible to share and hopefully expand your mind to the greatest growing medium out there. If you have any podcast that you feel is worth adding to the Podcast Portal, please make sure to inform me whether through the comments or through an e-mail (information in sidebar). 

SHOW: With Special Guest Laura Lapkus
HOSTS: Laura Lapkus
NETWORK: Earwolf Network
EPISODE BEING DISCUSSED: "Public Domain with Paul F. Tompkins"

The podcast medium has grown into an exciting platform that has also come to define the modern alternative comedy scene. Basically, you can't be a name of note without your own show. Also, you can't be credible without a guest appearance by Paul F. Tompkins. So much goes into shows now that the built in audience already knows what to expect. With the latest show featuring Laura Lapkus from Orange is the New Black, she has decided to tackle a slightly different approach to the old familiar comedy show. This involves being the guest.

It is a novelty approach and one that has been done before. For those unaware, DJ Douggpound created The Poundcast, which sees him playing sound effects over other people's conversations. While he worked on The Champs, his offshoot venture has been a little less successful. There's something about being a guest that is trickier on every episode. You have to be able to conform to a guest's structure, which is always a big gamble anyways. If you don't like the person who is on the show that week, it'll be a particularly dismal result because the "host as guest" has to compliment their performance instead of the other way around.

I am unfamiliar with Laura Lapkus' humor outside of the Netflix series, so I was curious to see what gave her an edge here. Signed on the reliable label Earwolf, she has plenty of credibility to go off of. In fact, I like the general idea of her appearing as random characters on the show. It is a concept that I feel hasn't quite been fully realized just yet. However, in the first episode, the character is a rather obnoxious face. It comes from the humor where "personality is comedy." With a thick accent and an absurd premise (she lives with her dead grandmother), the show somehow explores Los Angeles transit systems and other various details in a strained format that devolves into a conversation. This would be fine if Lapkus' character had anything interesting to say. However, her offbeat nature is what defines her and it isn't enough to make the 80 minute podcast all that interesting.

Thankfully, Tompkins is game for anything and gives his all. I am unsure if this is just an awful and dull character or if it is a great representation of what the show will give us in the future. I really want this "host as guest" format to work (kind of wish that James Adomian would try this), but I haven't seen a show that has impressed me all that much. If her shtick is to play characters with wild accents and quirky strange details, I'll likely pass on future episodes. If there's more diversity, then maybe it will be worth a shot. However, I leave unimpressed and almost immediately bored by the show, which is unfortunate. There's something there, but it didn't show itself in this episode.

OVERALL RATING: 1.5 out of 5

WORTH A SECOND GO?: I am hesitant to say yes because I don't know if Lapkus has the range to pull off an amazing array of characters of if this is her shtick and I will be getting more of this. I don't find it particularly funny or interesting and this episode dragged a whole lot. It helps that Tompkins is charismatic enough to keep things going, but what will this show look like with a less reliable name? That is where my fear lies.