A podcast that celebrates unironic excitement
Katie brings you some more Hopepunk For Squishy Marshmallows. This adorable kids’ cartoon has superheroes, great songs, healing spit and tons of gags. It also subverts masculinity and promotes queer normativity.
BTWs include Florida’s “don’t say gay” law.
In the moment of meta Alex issues a new challenge.
How can you not love a hip-hop musical about the American revolution where all the founding fathers are played by people of color???
Katie is not just a fan of Hamilton – she is self-proclaimed Hamiltrash. In this episode she talks about what makes the music so great (obviously!) but also about the huge cultural impact that the show has had.
BTWs include Tom Waits, Encanto and the KGB’s hilariously failed attempt to blackmail the president of Indonesia.
In the moment of meta Alex issues a challenge to Katie and all listeners.
“Is Tom Waits for real?”
That is the question that pops up when you google him and in this episode we try to figure that out. But first Alex gushes over the weirdest man in showbiz and tries hard to get Katie to appreciate his music, his acting, his life and his voice. That last one is an especially hard sell.
Also: THIS IS OUR 25TH EPISODE!!! Not bad for a couple of hosts whose strengths do not include things like perseverance, planning and general sticktoitiveness.
BTWs include artists who play a persona and why Shrek 2 is the best sequel of all times
In the moment of meta Katie introduces a new enthusiandment: Explore adjacent enthusiasm or in other words if you like a thing, check out other things that are like that first thing.
This incredible stage show had 25 men performing as women and one woman MC dressed as a man. It started in 1939 and made drag mainstream with high production values and incredibly talented performers.
But most of all: Meet Stormé DeLarverie, MC of the revue and the butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was the spark that ignited the Stonewall riots. The word badass doesn’t even begin to cover her.
BTWs include:
In the Moment Of Meta, Alex once again stans Swedish statistician Hans Rosling’s work on compiling data that shows that the world is getting better in many ways and uses Rosling’s work to quiz Katie.
Everyone who knows jazz knows Duke Ellington. But did you know that many of the Duke’s most famous songs were actually written by a gay black musical prodigy called Billy Strayhorn?
In this episode Katie celebrates the life and music of Strayhorn who received little recognition (or even money) for his work but who still lead a “lush life.”
BTWs include the Baader-Meinhoff effect.
In the moment of meta we share a tip on how you can use enthusiasm to connect with new people.
All the songs:
BONUS songs:
This amazing song took 7 years to write and was then roundly ignored. Only after a cover version and the untimely death of an artist did the song finally become popular.
Since then, Leonard Cohen’s masterpiece has been covered at least 300 times and was used in The West Wing, Scrubs, Watchmen, Shrek and much much more. Everybody treats it like a sad song, but it’s not – Cohen’s intention was much more joyful.
BTWs include death of the author, communication in relationships and ice cream chords.
In the moment of meta, Katie talks about a challenge that enthusiasts everywhere must face: When someone says that you’re “too much”.
Swing music is amazing but real swing music that actually sounds like it did in the 30s and 40s is depressingly rare these days. Modern jazz musicians tend to look down on swing jazz and even when they do try to play it, they don’t do it right and it ends up sounding more like modern jazz.
Our guest enthusiast in this episode is Jonathan Stout, a band leader and guitarist specializing in pre bebop jazz guitar. He leads eight different bands, but is best known for Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five and the Jonathan Stout Orchestra, both of which he co-leads with Hilary Alexander. His bands have been heralded as some of the world’s premier swing dance bands.
Jonathan is incredibly enthusiastic about preserving the legacy of swing guitar and honoring the people who created and developed the genre.
Hear about:
Jonathan also plays for us and it’s INCREDIBLE!!!
BTWs include:
In our Moment of Meta we talk about the fourth enthusiandment: Thou shalt not fake enthusiasm!
People have a TON of misconceptions about the banjo and often dismiss it as the instrument of hillbillies or rednecks. But did you know that it’s an instrument with a huge history and tradition that can be both loud, fun and… sexy?
Our guest enthusiast in this episode is Daniel Rodrigues, a Portuguese jazz musician living in Copenhagen where he plays in several different jazz bands and he is VERY enthusiastic about the banjo.
Daniel takes us on a journey of the banjo, that includes:
And yes, the movie Deliverance does come up.
BTWs include:
In our Moment of Meta we talk about the most important rule of enthusiasts everywhere: Don’t yuck someone else’s yum!
Singer, dancer, entertainer… but also civil rights activist and spy for France during WWII. Josephine Baker truly is the most interesting woman in the world.
Hear all about her amazing life, including her cheetah that would often escape its leash and (encouraged by the audience) menace the band and how she adopted 12 children of different races to form a “rainbow tribe”.
BTWs include:
In our Moment Of Meta, Alex talks about one of the “commandments of enthusiasm” (or enthusiandments as he insists on calling them over Katie’s strong objections) namely that any topic can be fascinating when presented with enthusiasm.
Harpo Marx (of the Marx Brothers) was a genius of physical comedy but, maybe more impressively, he was a nice and fun person who lived a truly happy life.
Raised in a poor Jewish family on Manhattan and thrown out of school (literally) in 2nd grade, he still ended up living an incredibly interesting life and becoming friends with people like George Gershwin, George Bernard Shaw and Salvador Dali.
Hear about his most epic pranks and about his occasional nudism. Harpo could (and would) turn any boring situation – like a game of golf – interesting by taking off his clothes.
BTWs include:
In our moment of meta, Katie reveals how she came up with the name of the podcast – Electric Enthusiasm – and shares two important quotes about enthusiasm.
