History Of Radio Sketch Comedy Phil Proctor

For Part 2 of my conversation on radio sketch comedy, we’re diving deeper with one of the true architects of the form, Phil Proctor from The Firesign Theatre. Long before podcasts made audio storytelling cool again, Firesign was bending minds and blowing up the rules with albums like Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers. Layered, surreal, and way ahead of its time. For anyone like me who grew up obsessed with what you could do with sound, characters, and pure imagination, Phil wasn’t just part of the act,he helped invent the language. In this second round, we go even deeper into the craft, the chaos, and the lasting influence of audio comedy that still echoes today.

Back in my WXRT days, when rock radio still had a little room to get weird, there was one audio ,The Usual Suspects. Their sharp, character-driven sketches didn’t just make me laugh, they lit the fuse for everything I later tried on The Score and even here on Word Balloon. Today, I’m talking with two of the masterminds behind that magic, Barb Wallace and Tom Wolfe, a brilliant writing team whose partnership went from Chicago airwaves to Hollywood success, with credits on shows like Murphy Brown and Welcome to New York, starring Christine Baranski and a young Jim Gaffigan. For me, these two weren’t just funny—they were the blueprint.

From 2021 Filmmaker Stacey Souther made an incredible documentary about Valerie Perrine , who made us all fall in love with her Superman performance as Lex Luthor's Moll  not to mention Lenny, Slaughterhouse Five, WC Fields and Me and more. She was nominated for best actress in the Oscars for Lenny with Dustin Hoffman but then was in the Disco Bomb Can't Stop The Music with The Villiage People. I spoke to Stacey about the film and his longtime friendship with Valerie. 

Ok, I gave Mitch Wayne and Franco the day off while I vent my spleen with the guys from Dork Court John Price a teacher and essayist who's been writing about Star Trek for Years, and Larry Young of Planet AIT LAR and the excellent Astronauts In TRouble series.I swear a lot on this episode. I couldn't hold back on my frustrations about Alex Kurtzman Star Trek. The confirmation that there will be no more than the 2 already amde seasons of Academy. Good. 

Today on Word Balloon, we’re diving into one of those conversations that I love—because it’s not just about comics, it’s about how we read comics. My guest is Dr. Stanford Carpenter, cultural anthropologist, comics scholar, and one of the driving forces behind Comicpalooza University, and we get into a really interesting debate about the Fantastic Four.Stanford makes the case that the Fantastic Four can be seen as a kind of white colonial metaphor—a reflection of 1960s power structures, exploration narratives, and who gets to define “the unknown.” And honestly? I push back. Because while I absolutely get where that reading comes from, I’ve always seen the FF first and foremost as a family book—messy, emotional, human… and a product of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby trying to tell more grounded, character-driven stories in the middle of the space race.So this becomes a really fun, thoughtful back-and-forth about intent versus interpretation…about whether these stories reflect colonial thinking, or just the era they were created in…and how much meaning we should assign to that when we’re reading them today. It’s smart, it’s respectful, and yeah—we don’t totally agree. And that’s the good stuff.

A WB classic from 2005 Walter Simonson looks back at his classic work. From Thor The Frog and the creation of Beta Ray Bill, to Orion and The New Gods.From his collaborations with Martin Pasko to put the bronze age spin on Dr Fate, to reviving Manhunter with Archie Goowdwin. We talk about the Fantastic Four, his spin on X-Factor co-plotted with his wife Louise , to working on the Marvel Star Wars comic at that awkward time between The Empire Strikes Back, and Return Of The Jedi.Tales of wonder, from a true master.

The Finder creator is back with a new famiy fantasy series eries she's posying free at her patreon. It's part Harry Potter Part Twilight Zone and part star trek. patreon.com/carlaspeedmcneil 

Today, we’re diving into one of the more… let’s say unique corners of pop culture with my guest, Mr. Skin, as we talk about this year’s Skinatomy Awards. Now before anyone clutches their pearls, let me just say this. I’ve always believed in free speech. Not in some high-minded, academic way… just in a real, common-sense way. People should be able to express themselves. That includes language, that includes humor, and yeah, that includes celebrating the human body.That’s why on this show, I don’t get uptight about a little salty language, and I’m certainly not afraid to have an honest conversation about nudity in film and television. And honestly, that’s what makes talking to Mr. Skin interesting. Because beyond the laughs and the lists, there’s actually a real conversation here about how culture shifts. What’s acceptable, what’s not, how different countries approach it, and how those attitudes have changed over time.So today, we’re going to have some fun with the Skinatomy Awards, but we’re also going to dig a little deeper into how pop culture, censorship, and evolving tastes all collide in ways you might not expect.

There’s been a lot of chatter lately about Green Lantern—especially with Grant Morrison weighing in on Damon Lindelof’s comments and HBO’s decision to frame its upcoming series around  Lanterns. And look,when Grant Morrison speaks up about Green Lantern, it’s not noise. It’s coming from real creative experience.Grant, along with artist Liam Sharp, delivered one of the most imaginative and ambitious Green Lantern runs in recent DC Comics history.A run that really leaned into the cosmic weirdness, the science fiction roots, and the larger-than-life mythology that makes the character work. So this isn’t theory. This is practice.Today, I want to take you back to a 2020 conversation I had with Grant during the COVID lockdown. A moment when we had the time to really dig into what makes Green Lantern special. You’ll also hear insights connected to Liam Sharp’s work on the book, and how both creators approached the character not just as a superhero—but as a gateway to big, wild, conceptual storytelling. If you’ve ever wondered why Green Lantern matters, why the concept still has legs, and why creators keep coming back to it, this is a great place to start.