Episodes

  • THE ROAST OF: The Spy Who Loved Me, by Ian Fleming
    Nov 18 2024

    SUMMARY: This is a James Bond book without James Bond, a love story without love, and a spy story without spying. The only person who’s unaware of all this is the author, Ian Fleming, AKA the only person feminists beg to please write fewer female characters.

    KELLEN ERSKINE IS IN CHICAGO THIS WEEK Nov 22-23! Go to KellenErskine.com for tickets


    -Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's live shows in 2024-2025 by joining The Book Pile's Patreon at:
    https://www.patreon.com/TheBookPile

    -Dave’s book / game The Starlings is here:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMBBLGXN?ref=myi_title_dp

    -Kellen Erskine has appeared on
    Conan, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's America's Got Talent, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. He has garnered over 200 million views with his clips on Dry Bar Comedy. In 2018 he was selected to perform on the “New Faces” showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He currently tours the country www.KellenErskine.com

    -David Vance's videos have garnered over 1 billion views. He has written viral ads for companies like Squatty Potty, Chatbooks, and Lumē, and sketches for the comedy show Studio C. His work has received two Webby Awards, and appeared on Conan. He currently works as a writer on the sitcom Freelancers.

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    25 mins
  • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever WITH GUEST Dallas Jenkins
    Nov 13 2024

    SUMMARY: An Americana small-town Christmas pageant gets hijacked by kids from the other side of the tracks, but it all works out (or this would be a very different genre). Kellen is joined by Dallas Jenkins who directed and co-wrote the movie (currently IN THEATERS and at 90% on Rottentomatoes!)

    KELLEN ERSKINE IS PERFORMING IN CARLSBAD (close to San Diego) THIS WEEK! Nov 16th! Go to KellenErskine.com for tickets


    -Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's live shows in 2024-2025 by joining The Book Pile's Patreon at:
    https://www.patreon.com/TheBookPile

    -If you want to read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and support the podcast in a fun way, click here to buy the book!
    https://amzn.to/40KmkDK

    -Kellen Erskine has appeared on
    Conan, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's America's Got Talent, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. He has garnered over 200 million views with his clips on Dry Bar Comedy. In 2018 he was selected to perform on the “New Faces” showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He currently tours the country www.KellenErskine.com

    -Dallas Jenkins is the creator/writer/director of the worldwide phenomenon of a TV show
    The Chosen. He is also other things, but if we listed them all his paragraph would be longer than Kellen's.

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    34 mins
  • Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
    Nov 4 2024

    SUMMARY: Dave and Kellen take another dive into the great Amy Poehler's (SNL, Baby Momma, Parks and Recreation) memoir. Also Dave is terrible at comforting people and Kellen rants about actors' award speeches.

    KELLEN ERSKINE IS IN PROVO & SALT LAKE CITY THIS WEEK! Nov 7th (Provo) then 8-9 (SLC) go to KellenErskine.com for tickets


    -Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's live shows in 2024-2025 by joining The Book Pile's Patreon at:
    https://www.patreon.com/TheBookPile

    -If you want to read Yes Please and support the podcast in a fun way, click here to buy the book!
    https://amzn.to/4e9O0oM

    -Dave’s book / game The Starlings is here:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMBBLGXN?ref=myi_title_dp

    -Kellen Erskine has appeared on
    Conan, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's America's Got Talent, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. He has garnered over 200 million views with his clips on Dry Bar Comedy. In 2018 he was selected to perform on the “New Faces” showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He currently tours the country www.KellenErskine.com

    -David Vance's videos have garnered over 1 billion views. He has written viral ads for companies like Squatty Potty, Chatbooks, and Lumē, and sketches for the comedy show Studio C. His work has received two Webby Awards, and appeared on Conan. He currently works as a writer on the sitcom Freelancers.

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    32 mins
  • A 2nd LOOK AT: Range, by David Epstein
    Oct 10 2024

    SUMMARY: Do you ever make a books podcast, and start with your favorite books? But unfortunately, your first episodes are also when you’re the worst at podcasting? So years later you revisit those books to do a better job? That’s what this is! Today we cover a book about cultivating interests in a lot of different fields. It’s great.

    -If you want to read
    Range and support the podcast in a fun way, click here to buy the book!
    https://amzn.to/3Yi0V3i


    -Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's live shows in 2024-2025 by joining The Book Pile's Patreon at:
    https://www.patreon.com/TheBookPile

    -Dave’s book / game The Starlings is here:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMBBLGXN?ref=myi_title_dp

    -Kellen Erskine has appeared on
    Conan, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's America's Got Talent, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. He has garnered over 200 million views with his clips on Dry Bar Comedy. In 2018 he was selected to perform on the “New Faces” showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He currently tours the country www.KellenErskine.com

    -David Vance's videos have garnered over 1 billion views. He has written viral ads for companies like Squatty Potty, Chatbooks, and Lumē, and sketches for the comedy show Studio C. His work has received two Webby Awards, and appeared on Conan. He currently works as a writer on the sitcom Freelancers.

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    27 mins
  • 11/22/63 by Stephen King, OUR 200th EPISODE!
    Sep 26 2024

    SUMMARY: The events from the date of today's book title are part of a long-running joke on the podcast, so we thought it would be funny to cover this novel for our 200th episode...

    -If you want to read
    11/22/63 and support the podcast in a fun way, click here to buy the book!
    https://amzn.to/47GoS7j


    -Get two free tickets to any of Kellen's live shows in 2024-2025 by joining The Book Pile's Patreon at:
    https://www.patreon.com/TheBookPile

    -Dave’s book / game The Starlings is here:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMBBLGXN?ref=myi_title_dp

    -Kellen Erskine has appeared on
    Conan, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's America's Got Talent, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. He has garnered over 200 million views with his clips on Dry Bar Comedy. In 2018 he was selected to perform on the “New Faces” showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He currently tours the country www.KellenErskine.com

    -David Vance's videos have garnered over 1 billion views. He has written viral ads for companies like Squatty Potty, Chatbooks, and Lumē, and sketches for the comedy show Studio C. His work has received two Webby Awards, and appeared on Conan. He currently works as a writer on the sitcom Freelancers.

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    31 mins
  • Re-Issue: The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
    Sep 16 2024

    SUMMARY: Enjoy this throwback episode from September 2022 when we covered the oldest book on the podcast thus far (though the book with the oldest people is probably still Twilight...). Learn the value of surprise as Kellen startles Dave in real time, and bask in Dave's glory as he recounts winning at board games and also possibly saving someone's life (but he's still a nerd because of the board games...).

    -If you want to read or listen to
    The Art of War and support the podcast in a fun way, click here to buy the book!
    https://amzn.to/4gFuBi7


    -Listen to the audio album of Kellen's new 30-minute comedy special "Negative Comments"! Available by joining The Book Pile's Patreon at:
    https://www.patreon.com/TheBookPile

    -OR watch Kellen's new comedy special here! Use promo code KELLENERSKINE
    https://www.drybarcomedy.com/kellenerskine

    -Dave’s book / game The Starlings is here:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMBBLGXN?ref=myi_title_dp

    -Kellen Erskine has appeared on
    Conan, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's America's Got Talent, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. He has garnered over 200 million views with his clips on Dry Bar Comedy. In 2018 he was selected to perform on the “New Faces” showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He currently tours the country www.KellenErskine.com

    -David Vance's videos have garnered over 1 billion views. He has written viral ads for companies like Squatty Potty, Chatbooks, and Lumē, and sketches for the comedy show Studio C. His work has received two Webby Awards, and appeared on Conan. He currently works as a writer on the sitcom Freelancers.

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    25 mins
  • THE LIVE ROAST OF Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday, by Alan Dean Foster
    Sep 9 2024

    SUMMARY: Today we cover a Transformers book that is “more than meets the eye." Unless your eye looked at the book and was like, “It seems bad,” in which case, yeah, it’s pretty much what met your eye. Thanks to everyone who joined us for this live episode! And thank you to the Autobots for protecting Earth. Next time please do it in a more interesting way.

    -If you want to read
    Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday and support the podcast in a fun way, click here to buy the book! (But we actually don't highly recommend this book...)
    https://amzn.to/3MEEoXU


    -Listen to the audio album of Kellen's new 30-minute comedy special "Negative Comments"! Available by joining The Book Pile's Patreon at:
    https://www.patreon.com/TheBookPile

    -Dave’s book / game The Starlings is here:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMBBLGXN?ref=myi_title_dp

    -Kellen Erskine has appeared on
    Conan, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's America's Got Talent, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. He has garnered over 200 million views with his clips on Dry Bar Comedy. In 2018 he was selected to perform on the “New Faces” showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He currently tours the country www.KellenErskine.com

    -David Vance's videos have garnered over 1 billion views. He has written viral ads for companies like Squatty Potty, Chatbooks, and Lumē, and sketches for the comedy show Studio C. His work has received two Webby Awards, and appeared on Conan. He currently works as a writer on the sitcom Freelancers.

    Show more Show less
    25 mins
  • The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin, with GUEST Zoltan Kaszas!
    Sep 2 2024

    Zoltan Kaszas joins the podcast to discuss unshaven music guru Rick Rubin's humble and surprisingly deep book about making art (the "surprisingly" is just based shallowly on Rick Rubin's looks).

    -Listen to the audio album of Kellen's new 30-minute comedy special "Negative Comments"! Available by joining The Book Pile's Patreon at:
    https://www.patreon.com/TheBookPile

    See us LIVE in Los Angeles (adjacent...) on Sep 6th! Tickets here!
    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kellen-erskine-stand-up-comedy-the-book-pile-podcast-tickets-952036465697?aff=Website

    To buy The Creative Act (or listen to it for free as a first time subscriber!) AND support the podcast, click here!
    https://amzn.to/4cOu3Dm

    -Kellen Erskine has appeared on
    Conan, Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's America's Got Talent, and the Amazon Original Series Inside Jokes. He has garnered over 200 million views with his clips on Dry Bar Comedy. In 2018 he was selected to perform on the “New Faces” showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He currently tours the country www.KellenErskine.com

    -Zoltan Kaszas (from his website): "I filmed a Dry Bar Comedy Special “Cat Jokes” in 2017 that went viral and helped build me an audience of crazy cat lovers. Then I bombed on America’s Got Talent and vowed to one day burn down NBC. I followed that up with my latest hour “Modern Male” which I posted on YouTube at the start of the pandemic because the record company I had been working with wasn’t responding to my emails about it’s release. It currently has 3.1 million views… Oh and the record company promptly got back to me."

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    39 mins