Show Notes
The legendary Paul F Tompkins (BoJack Horseman, Mr Show) joins Mark and Ryan to talk about growing up in Philadelphia, riding trolly cars, performing stand-up when he was really bad at it, and his first job a store called “Hats in The Belfry”. In our town he creates a hat store called “You Dirty Hat” that also happens to be haunted.
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(00:00) Introduction to Paul F. Tompkins and episode concept (01:16) Paul's childhood in Mount Airy, Philadelphia, and early open mic nights (04:28) The comedy boom of the 80s and the necessity of self-delusion (06:23) Famous comedy rooms and funky venue names like Go Bananas (08:30) Mount Airy neighborhood and trolley lines (09:34) Trolley accidents and the charm of vintage transit (13:18) Themed hotels like Madonna Inn and their unique designs (15:00) Neighborhood celebrities and local characters (17:22) Neighborhood legends: the glass-eyed husky guy (20:54) Starting in college, dropping out, and early career stories (24:54) Work history: hats shops, video stores, comic book stores (29:00) Creating haunted locations and cursed shops for the town (39:58) Innovative town features: the bag-hat and haunted business ideas (44:25) The art of pranks and pranking veterans (49:42) Ghost stories: haunted hat stores and spectral apparitions (55:00) Spectral activity and ghostly lore in the town (61:41) Meta conversation: fake ghost stories and the town’s lore (63:10) Touring plans and upcoming shows with Paul (64:29) Podcasts and projects: Neighborhood Listen and Stay F Homkins (65:33) Credits and community shout-outs
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More from The Town Show
Ryan joins Mark and Chris live (to tape) from Seoul, South Korea. He tells stories about his travels including being the perpetrator of cultural faux pas on a train that involved the hit Korean cartoon “Bread Barbershop”. Inspired by this Mark and Ryan create our very own classic cartoon series for the town called Spice Rack featuring Pancake Man. Our town also gets an insurance company called Off Broadway Insurance where most of the employees just want to be actors.
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Tom Hill, part of the comedy/theatre duo Hip.Bang! comes on the show to talk about their new show about You Bet - which is all about gambling. And he also talks about their comedy album Hi-Fi Comedy Kit. Tom brings a very precious and very serious improv troupe to our town by the name of Naked Grapes. The internal politics are crazy. We meet a man by the name of Tylanosaurous Rex. Tom also builds the Central Community Gardens for our town. Tylanosaurous Rex gets a plot. Lastly, we take a visit to our pyrite mine.
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