483 - Gang of Four - Entertainment! - Karen Kilgariff
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EPISODE SUMMARY:
Comedy television maven Karen Kilgariff makes up for bailing on going to a Gang of Four concert with Josh by pouring her heart out over a thorough analysis of the band’s 1979 release Entertainment!
Work hard on something you love for long enough and two things are bound to happen: you master it, and you stop caring about anything not directly related to how much you love that thing. If nothing else, that may be the most important lesson Karen Kilgariff has to offer. Starting out as a stand up in the early 1990s, she went on to become the head writer of The Rosie Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, and The Pete Holmes Show.
After battling addiction, anxiety, and insecurity, Karen has reached a point in her career where she is able to look beyond the stress and struggles of trying to make it, leaving her with zero fucks left to give and one of the most successful podcasts in existence, My Favorite Murder. That mindset makes Karen the best possible person to unpack the uncompromising political statements and savage criticisms of modern romance that make up Gang of Four’s highly influential 1979 release Entertainment!
SHOW NOTES:
04:30 – Interview start
06:00 – Growing up in love with radio
08:30 – The sex appeal of David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs
10:15 – Mott the Hoople’s near break up
13:30 – The ever-present hunger for new tunage
16:00 – Matt learned of Mott from a TV commercial
20:45 – Starting an album with a cover is a ballsy move
23:00 – Your world is your bubble
29:00 – Wheelin’ and dealin’ for sex
34:30 – Staying relevant while staying in radio
40:00 – Lessons learned from being the greatest strip club DJ that ever lived
45:45 – How to get your balls out of other people’s grip
54:30 – Running a radio station out of an old cat lady’s bed and breakfast
59:45 – You gotta project to get respect
01:02:45 – Meet your darlings
01:06:30 – Verden Allen was not a great songwriter
01:09:00 – Music can get you through anything, even being hit by a car
01:16:15 – Facts!
01:20:00 – We all have an experience of being stabbed in the back
01:23:30 – The great debate: U.S. or U.K. rock?
01:25:45 – When you think you’re in control, the universe proves you wrong
01:28:45 – When David Bowie asks you to hang, you do it
01:34:00 – Outro