This week, multi award-winning writer and host of “Make My Day,” JOSH GONDELMAN (Desus and Mero), joins Blaze Mancillas for another reading of the H.G. Wells sci-fi classic, War of the Worlds. Just in time for Halloween, the Let’s Get Lit host brings the audience a super terrifying chapter in which space aliens reveal themselves to a curious town for the very first time. As is customary for this podcast, the chapter is hilariously interrupted with guest questions and commentary.
In the introduction to the episode, we learn that Gondelman is familiar with other works of the author, like “The Invisible Man.” However, his overall view of science fiction has been less than enthusiastic when it comes to the inevitable delay of getting to the meat of a cool science fiction world. You know, like “show me the aliens” already. Will Gondelman be delighted by what he hears in this particular H. G. Wells tale? You bet your bippy!
Our favorite pauses include imploring the host to read the chapter “as if it’s being scored by Drowning Pool.” Their Bodies song really does lend itself to the general imposing metal terror of the crashed foreign cylinder on Earth. As the space alien slowly reveals itself from a dirt pit in the story, Gondelman injects some Seinfeld knowledge when referring to it’s “tentacular” description. He imagines a sitcom episode arc in which Teri Hatcher is asked “Are your kind of octopus-like appendages real or are they surgically enhanced?.” To which she responds, “they’re real and they’re tentacular.” Looks like “The Implant” line still holds up! The audience also gets to learn the definition of “Gorgon groups,” and how much the narrator undersells his impression of a never-before-seen space visitor with the description “half-fascinated terror.” Gondelman compares it to that John Mellencamp lyric “little ditty about Jack and Diane.” Wow, what a realization!
Thank goodness for meaty chapters like these, and talented comedians who can bring some levity to a possible alien invasion. Now have a listen to “The Cylinder Opens” on Apple Podcasts.
Chapter 4. The Cylinder Opens with Josh Gondelman
Mentions: Listen to more episodes of Let’s Get Lit HERE. Follow Blaze on Instagram. Listen to Gondelman’s “Make My Day” pod THERE featuring a plethora of great guests.