Episode 10

Today, Eric introduces a new book into the show, along with a new segment.


Adding another opportunity to impart the fine art of conversation, The Conversationalists use entries from a 1970's dating etiquette book ("The Handbook of Dating & Other Ettiquette" by Sandi Cushman) to facilitate interesting discussions for our listeners. Seeking humor, Eric instead finds Mike's ire. 

The question of the day:

 If you could recover one thing you've lost in your lifetime, what would you wish to find?


Mike reaches back to his childhood for a universal object, the blankie.

Eric reaches back less far, to a memento from his professional life that serves as a hilarious reminder of what a fickle phony mistress lady Hollywood can be.





In improv 1, a young child and his dad switch roles as one reaches manhood and the other regresses into an insecure childlike state.

In improv 2, a high school lad discovers that his new best friend may not be all that newy or besty after all, with deliciously humiliating results.

Episode 9

In this special holiday edition of The Conversationalists, Eric & Mike celebrate the 4th of July, which is now a week and a half in the past as of your reading this. Unless you're reading it even later, in which case whatever.

The question of the week, after we finally forced Eric to stop trying to rehash past questions, was:

If you could have only one piece of furniture in your house, what would you want it to be?


With both of our guests opting for maximum versatility and comfort, we get Mike's answer of his big blue couch, and Eric's answer of the all-purpose bed.

In improv 1, the world's most popular Singing Repo Men show that they have not only pipes, but hearts of gold.

In improv 2, Eric is generous enough to open his home to a sleep-murdering transient and his geographical friends.

Episode 8

A new intorduction launches us boldly into this 8th episode of The Conversationalists Podcast, in which we express a deepfelt gratitude to our listeners, who are here exclusively for Eric as it turns out.  And Mike feels just fine about that.


This week's question is a real sniffer:

If everything in the world had to have the same odor, what scent would you want it to be?

Mike takes his answer directly from nature and the great outdoors, while Eric shows a more adventurous side by looking to the forbidden, and even...the dangerous...

In improv 1, we meet a golfer and a down-on-his-luck grass-smell enthusiast, only to take a great leap through time & space to see the tables turn.

In improv 2, the north and the south clash once again, only to find common ground in the end.  Horrifying, offensive common ground.

Episode 7

In the 7th episode of the show, Mike takes drastic actions to keep the audience from getting bored, lest both of them stop listening.

We also take an imaginary tour of our homes in order to answer this week's question: 

If you had to be represented by an object in your home, what would you choose?

Mike chooses comfort, while Eric chooses function.

In the first improvisation, we meet a man and the two loves of his life, both of whom are chairs.  Of a sort.

In the second improvisation, an AWOL faces living conditions possibly worse than the ones he's avoiding on the batllefield.  

Episode 6

Things aren't getting any eaiser for The Conversationalists, as this episode they are forced back in time to relive the romantic encounters of thier youths while answering the question:

If you could relive one romantic date from high school as you would like it to have been, which would you choose?  If you could relive one romantic date from high school as you would like it to have been, which would you choose?

Again, the wordking of the question suggests that is not necessary to elaborate once one has chosen the date that they would change, but Eric and Mike have taken the liberty of doing so anyway.

We learn that Mike was quite the ladykiller in his high school days, having to pick between one, sometimes even two girls to take on as his next paramour.  Eric, however, was not so lucky, and could only pick up the scraps left behind by the all-powerful members of the wrestling team.

In Improv 1, Mike and his two New Year's Eve dates are under attack from the most alliterative group of suitors at the party.

In Improv 2, Eric gets the chance to accompany the girl of his dreams to her boyfriend's wrestling match, and is also introduced to a brand new concept known as the cellular telephone.

Episode 5

In our 5th episode, things take a dark turn when Eric and Mike are confronted with their saddest questions yet:

If you had to die in one of history’s disasters, which one would you pick?

We find out that Mike would want at least a glimpse of the adventures of space travel on his way to the frave, while Eric goes in the opposite direction and chooses to die in a simpler time.

In improv 1, a poems of epic proportions is composed by astronauts on their way to a fiery grave.

In improv 2, a doting wife and her husband (played by Gabby Hayes) take an idyllic stroll into a promising future, only to have it all cut short by the shifting of the tectonic plates.

Episode 4

This episode, the conversation sinks comfortably into Mike's wheelhouse, which is speaking in overmuch detail about movies, with a little too much of an opinion.

We spark of the conversation with this week's horribly worded question from the book "If...Questions for the Game of Life:"

If you had to choose the prize for the best movie in history, what film would win?

After some careful deliberation over exactly what is meant by the question and a judicious decision to rephrase it in human terms, we learn that Mike is a big fan of The Princess Bride, and Eric is partial to Dr. Strangelove: Subtitle, Subtitle, Etc.

In improv #1, we meet Gary the actor, a man of skill, seriousness, and importance.

In improv #2, things get hairy inside the foxhole and the Nazis are creeping in.  Thank goodness for sound fx weapons.

The Conversationalists on iTunes!

The show is now available on iTunes, the best and most reliable source for all things podcasting.  Come subscribe at this link and learn what it is to have a true Conversation with a capital 'C.'

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/conversationalists-podcast/id532721945

Episode 3

In the 2nd published episode of The Conversationalists, Eric and Mike answer the question of the day:

If you could be a student of any university in the world right now, where would you enroll?

In our first improvisation, we meet a Blogger who writes blogs for children that are wholly inappropraite for children.

In the second improvisation, a tourist insults college students at the University of Iowa with his gross generalizations.

Mike also cajoles Eric into plugging a standup show that has, as of the publishing of this episode, long since passed. We're still getting the hang of this thing, kids, take it easy.

Episode 2

In this premiere episode of The Conversationalists Podcast (the first episode having been deemed unairable, and therefore heretofore to be known only as "Episode 1: The Lost Episode"), Eric and Mike randomly riffle through the book that has inspired the creation of this podcast, "If...:Questions for The Game of Life" and emerge with their first question:

If you had to rename each of the people you were with right now, what would you rename them?

Eric & Mike use this opportunity not only rename each other, but themselves.

In the improv segments of the show, Eric is a doctor looking to hire some muscle to collect from a deadbeat patient...







...While Mike gets to meet the least-stoned stoner comic on the college comedy circuit.















Links:
The Conversationalists on Facebook. 
Eric's website. 
Mike's website.

Forthcoming be The Conversationalists, makers of speech and mirth.
Answering the questions for the game of life, in order that you need not.