I told friend of the show J-L Cauvin that I would do this many months ago. I’m pretty sure he thought I was joking. As you can see from all this below, I was not.
J-L likes to review his own top ten episodes every year. As the only person who listens to every episode of The Righteous Prick other than J-L I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the show. So let’s get into the REAL top ten of 2014 and not some bullshit self congratulatory list.
10. 135 – The Beginning Of The End – this is J-L at his most depressed. After this episode I didn’t expect there to be another one. I was looking in my feed the next Tuesday like “Oh shit, JL put out another episode? I thought he was gonna kill himself or move to Cleveland and kill himself by now. Good for him.”
9. 133 – Seth Rogan and James Franco with Andre Schwartztol – Every once in a while I am on J-L’s side when he has a strong opinion. This was one of those times. Rogan and Franco needed to be taken down a peg and J-L did just that. Of course they later came out with that horrible movie about North Korea “The Interview” and J-L immediately overpraised it and all was forgiven. Typical.
8. 121 – Comedy Scar Tissue with Mike Payne – Mike Payne represents the man that J-L wishes he could be some times. The man who left comedy alone and somehow found happiness. Would J-L find happiness without comedy? Of course not. But he likes to believe he would and that’s what makes this episode good.
7. 120 – How Comedians Kill Comedy On Facebook – This episode was J-L at his most bitter and bridge burning. I don’t know how many other comics listen to the show but if they did at the time they might not now. He was pretty much talking shit about all the stuff his comedian colleagues do on Facebook and social media. I appreciated this episode as an outsider looking in. Also J-L had trouble getting guests for a while after this. Coincidence?
6. 138 – Michael Brown – Sometimes J-L is the biracial whisperer of comedy. This episode had him explaining the tragedy of Mike Brown’s death and the turmoil that surrounded it. I kind of wish he had followed up with some of his thoughts on the DOJ findings on Ferguson’s over policing of black people later in the year but this episode was still great. J-L makes the case for the humanity of black people as all the Adam Carolla fans turn the podcast off and delete it from their podcast feeds.
5. 145 – Transgender, Comedy’s Race Game and Teacher Sex – Now we’re getting into the transcendent episodes of the year. This one was really good with JL roasting Amazon’s “Transparent” while somehow getting the title of the show wrong in the title of this podcast episode. Then he talks about how black comedians are doing a lot of comedy avoiding race in order to make it. Finally, he finishes by alluding that teachers are the real victims in these news stories about teachers fucking underaged students. How can you not love the versatility on this episode?
4. 152 – Trading Places with Magic Johnson and the Ferguson Aftermath – JL talks about the non-indictment in Ferguson, the tragedy of the resulting riots, the misrepresentation of black people in the media and then he talk about some true tragedy J-L’s comedy woes. That’s right all this horrible stuff happens and J-L finds a way to morbidly make it all about him. I laughed out of pure shock and mortification. The trading places with Magic Johnson part was just icing on the cake.
3. 106 – Comedy In 2014 with Josh Homer – When Josh stops by the show is always great. I honestly had a hard time picking between just ONE Josh Homer appearance on the show. I like this one the best because it happens earlier in the year and Josh basically calls J-L on his shit about moving to Cleveland and quitting comedy. We all could use a friend like Josh to stop by and call us on our shit once in a while. And as usual Josh was absolutely right about everything he said.
2: 113 – The Duke Porn Star with Corinne Fisher and Sade Pilot – This episode has the rare combination of guests that totally own J-L. He was trying to use his misplaced father complex and represses sexuality to do some sort of shaming of Belle Knox (who he pronounces “Bella Knocks” for some reason) and these two ladies totally made his hypocritical points implode on themselves. This was so good I actually friended both of these women on Facebook. It was like they were saying everything I was thinking. And to top it off J-L later did a show without any guests on where he shamed Belle Knox with no retort because that’s how lopsided this episode was for him. It was the equivalent of Kobe putting up 2000 shots in a closed gym after the Lakers lost to the Heat just to prove to himself that he could still shoot. Is it telling that these ladies were never asked back? I’d like to think so.
1. 130 – Last Comic, NY Yankees, NBA Draft And Rant on Fake Nerd Culture – This episode features J-L going against all odds and over coming. He had multiple guests flake on him, he had no topics prepared, he was getting over a cold but he still had these HOT TAKES! This was the podcasting equivalent of Isaiah Thomas’s sprained ankle game. J-L managed to take down Yankee icon Derek Jeter just on a whim! Then he discussed his own background and how he learned about coexisting racially not from his interracial parents but Stockton and Malone of the Jazz. There’s like 20 jokes I’m not even telling right now. I also think we got some True Detective impressions to boot. Comedy gold man. This is the prick at his most righteous.
This was a tough list to vet. I had 18 episodes to whittle down to 10 and they all deserved to be mentioned IMO. I also did a list of the bottom 5 but honestly I think that might be too mean and I don’t want to be Dan Noonan about the podcast.
Actually, because I have journalistic integrity here are the bottom 5 but I won’t go into my reasoning for hating them.
Episode 126 – Hashtag Activism and A Last Comic Standing Chat with Ben Kronberg
Episode 124 – What You Should Be Watching
Episode 154 – The Big Sexy
Episode 123 – Futbol Fad or Soccer to Stay with Alexis Geuerreros and Steve Serra
Episode 146 – Lady Ghosbusters with Calvin Cato
Excellent top 10, Mr. Rod.