Sup Doc: A Documentary Film Podcast

George talks to the filmmaker Rodney Ascher, whose latest doc is A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX.We’ve had Ascher on the show before to discuss his inventive genre-bending docs Room 237 and The Nightmare.A Glitch in the Matrix is a look at the increasingly popular simulation theory using Ascher's hyper-referential editing style, CGI animated first-person accounts, Philip K. Dick lectures, and the Matrix trilogy. Other interviews include Chris Ware, Nick Bostrom, Erik Davis, and Emily Pothast.The soundtrack score by composer Jonathan Snipes just came out on vinyl from Deathbomb Arc.You can rent the film or watch it on Hulu.Follow Rodney on:Twitter: @rodney_ascherFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-n

We cover Animal Passions, a 2004 BBC Channel 4 documentary by Christopher Spencer about zoophiles, people who have sex with animals. Trigger warning! The conversation is longer than the doc itself, but we saved you from watching it yourself.Butch Escobar's furious rants have become his trademark at such clubs as the San Jose Improv, Cobb's and the SF and Sacramento Punchline. Butch has toured all over the country with legendary performers including Tom Green, Joey Diaz and HBO's Felipe Esparza. He frequents southern California and is a regular fixture at the Hollywood Improv and the world famous Comedy Store on Sunset. A humanitarian at heart, Butch has also travelled the world performing for the troops. Actor/performer/writer Butch is a triple threat that you will immediately become a fan of. Follow Butch on:Twitter: @ButchEscobarInstagram @ButchEscobarFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can sho

Paco and George meet up with Jordan Brady, who was a stand up comedian before turning into a feature/documentary/commercial director. His trilogy of "I Am Comic" comedian documentaries shows what it takes to perform and live as a comic.Jordan Brady was a stand-up comedian touring nightclubs across America. A self-taught filmmaker, he directed four narrative feature films, three full documentaries and over 1200 commercials, as well as Maria Bamford’s acclaimed Netflix Special. In 2016, Jordan completed his passion project; a feature documentary trilogy on what it takes to be a stand-up comedian. “I AM COMIC” stars Sarah Silverman, Leslie Jones and more. 2014’s aptly titled “I AM ROAD COMIC” stars Wayne Federman and Marc Maron. The most personal film of his career is “I AM BATTLE COMIC”. Filming took Brady to Afghanistan, Kuwait and undisclosed parts of the Middle East where a group of USO comedians provide laughter for the troops Jordan hosts the popular filmmaking podcast RESPECT THE PROCESS, descri

Special bonus episode!Former guest Kevin Seal runs this weekly music trivia game show on facebook, Paco and George competed against each other for bragging rights, so we only thought it fitting to share the audio in our feed.You can watch the archived episode here:Follow Lo Fidelity here:buy the Body Double album here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we’re talking about Q: Into the Storm, the six-part HBO docuseries where filmmaker Cullen Hoback goes down several rabbit holes and follows red herrings to track down the roots of the Qanon movement. Is it a movement, is it a conspiracy theory? Hoback investigates this question, and the bizarre father-son duo at its center. We also celebrate 6 years of Sup Doc, our distrust of institutions, and the beginnings of our dystopia.Kevin Seal's Lo Fidelity show (Paco and George will be on May 19th)Rabbit Hole podcast from NY TimesThe InstituteFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Paco and George look at the new Chris Farley doc, Last Chance U, the Billie Eilish doc The World's A Little Blurry, A Glitch In The Matrix, and more backstory about how they ended up here.Our old interview with Rodney Ascher.Follow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

George and Aviva dig into the infamous 2019 college admissions scandal, where over 50 people faced criminal charges for racketeering and conspiracy. Mastermind Rick Singer funneled money from wealthy families to bribe coaches and admissions officers at major universities throughout the US, including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin. OPERATION VARSITY BLUES is the first doc to tackle the story head on, made by one of our favorite directors, Chris Smith, for Netflix. It features reenactments of phone calls in a very narrative fashion, even casting name actors like Matthew Modine.Our guest to discuss this film is comedian and writer Aviva Siegel. Aviva's comedy has been featured in SF Sketchfest, The All Jane Comedy Festival, The Asheville Comedy Festival, and Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. She has also written for The Hard Times and Reductress, and hosts the zoom comedy show Talkies. She also just launched her podcast about advertising, Ad Wizards.Follow Aviva on:Twitter: @livinlavivalocaFoll

George and Paco talk to the filmmaking team behind the HBO docuseries - Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults. Director and Producer Clay Tweel and Producer Shannon Riggs chronicled the three-decade long saga of Marshall Appelwhite and Bonnie Nettles (AKA “Do and Ti”) who recruited scores of people to their alien-worshipping religious cult starting in the mid -'70s. Interviewing former group members, cult experts, and family left behind, the four-part series goes beyond the headlines of this little-understood group that ended in a mass suicide in Southern California in 1997.Clay Tweel is a documentary director/producer/editor whos works include Make Believe, Print the Legend, personal Sup Doc favorite Finders Keepers, Out of Omaha,The Innocent Man, and Gleason. His features have been distributed by Showtime, Netflix, and Amazon Studios. Producer Shannon Riggs is the co-founder of Parkside Films. With Clay Tweel, she produced Gleason and The Innocent Man series. Sha

We finally tackle all-time classic Grey Gardens! Our guest is comedian Amber Preston.The Maysles Brothers were approached by Jackie Onassis to make a movie about the Bouvier family. During the filming, their camera gravitated to The crumbling Long island estate known as Grey Gardens occupied by eccentric relatives “big and little Edie”. It’s a hot mess of co-dependence, animal feces, American aristocracy in decline, and corn.Amber Preston has appeared on national commercials for Buffalo Wild Wings and Booking.com, at numerous festivals from Sketchfest to Gilda’s Laughfest (where she was named “Best of the Midwest”), and even on Marc Maron’s “Five Comedians to Watch” list for Vulture. Along with hosting Los Angeles shows The Cut and Punchline Punchout, she recently released her debut album Sparkly Parts on Stand Up! Records.Follow Amber on:Twitter: @prestonpartyInstagram: @prestonpartyFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailin

Paco and George crammed all the content so you don't have to! We rant. We review. We recommend.FRAMING BRITNEY SPEARS (2021) dir. Samantha StarkMY OCTOPUS TEACHER (2020) dir. Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed.CRIME SCENE: THE VANISHING AT THE CECIL HOTEL (2021) dir. Joe BerlingerCROCK OF GOLD: A FEW ROUNDS WITH SHANE MACGOWAN (2020) dir. Julien TempleFAKE FAMOUS (2021) dir. Nick BiltonALLEN VS FARROW (Part 1) (2021) dir. Kirby Dick, Amy ZieringCAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD: AN EMOTIONAL HISTORY OF THE MODERN WORLD (Part 1 Bloodshed on Wolf Mountain) (2021) dir. Adam Curtis We are programming Moviepassed on Twitch Monday March 1st! Starting 1PM PSTFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s a crossover episode with our friends from the FilmDrunk Frotcast.Vince Mancini is Senior Film and Culture writer for FilmDrunk and has been a guest on Sup Doc before (Episode 57).Matt Lieb is a comedian and writer for Newsbroke, and he was actually our very first guest on Sup Doc (Episode 1).This is a fun and loose conversation. We review a few docs: like Lance Oppenheim’s debut documentary, Some Kind of Heaven, The Tiger Woods docuseries TIGER on HBO, and Derek DelGaudio’s In and Of Itself, as well as a look at the Golden Globe Nominations.Follow Vince on:Twitter: @VinceManciniInstagram: @filmdrunkFollow Matt on:Twitter: @mattliebInstagram: @mattliebjokesFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Paco and George visit with comedian and game master Jared Logan to discuss the sad and surprising life of Henry Darger, the loner whose exhaustive creative work was discovered posthumously.The ultimate Outsider Artist, Darger created a memoir, a 15,000 page hand-written novel, and giant fifteen-foot paintings, none of which were intended for an audience. The private world he created was fascinating, horrific, and ultimately influential beyond his lifetime.Jared Logan is a writer and performer whose comedy albums My Brave Battle and The Twilight Door are available to stream. He is also the game master of Stream of Blood, a thrice-weekly tabletop roleplaying game experience on Twitch.Follow Jared on:Twitter: @JaredLoganFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy

George covers a lot of ground with Chris Metzler, Quinn Costello, and Jeff Springer; co-directors of Rodents of Unusual Size. Documentary about the nutria overtaking and destroying Louisiana's swamp land. I also ask Chris and Jeff about their earlier collaborations, Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone and Plagues & Pleasures On the Salton Sea, and their work as Tilapia Film.We learn about nutria itch and the right lighting for country music videos, among other things. Hard headed Louisiana fisherman Thomas Gonzales doesn't know what will hit him next. After decades of hurricanes and oil spills he faces a new threat - hordes of monstrous 20 pound swamp rats. Known as “nutria”, these invasive South American rodents breed faster than the roving squads of hunters can control them. And with their orange teeth and voracious appetite they are eating up the coastal wetlands that protects Thomas and his town of Delacroix Island from hurricanes. But the people who have lived here for genera

Paco and George have been interviewing documentary directors for over five years! We play some interesting clips from these super fun and interesting talks.Ep 137 -Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini director and producer of Feels Good ManEp 4 - Jodi Wille director of The Source FamilyEp 160 - Jeff Feuerzeig director of The Devil and Daniel JohnstonEp 93 - Brent Hodge director of Freaks and GeeksEp 102 - Brett Morgen director of The Kid Stays In the Picture Listen to all our past director interviewsFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

George and Paco sit down with musician and journalist Kevin Seal to recap Alex Winter’s 2020 documentary Zappa. On this episode we have three different Frank Zappa fans ranging from George, who is new to Zappa’s music, to Kevin, who loves Zappa but occasionally needs a break to Paco, who has been a life long Zappa-head. We get into many topics including: would Zappa be a Trumper, our collective love of Ruth Underwood, Steve Vai’s audition, how art should be a threat to the establishment, Gail Zappa, being an archivist, Captain Beefheart, Edgard Varèse and much more!Frank Zappa – you either love him or hate him. There is no in between. There have been a few Zappa documentaries out in the last few years but this time it would seem that Alex Winter is a fan first and filmmaker second. “Zappa” is a six-years-in-the-making love letter. Alex was given the family’s blessing and access to the prolific musician’s personal vault and he used as much as he could. We are privy to rarely seen and heard music, films, h

Very excited to have the director of some of our favorite docs, and a huge influence on the kinds of docs we love - Jeff Feuerzeig made HALF JAPANESE: THE BAND THAT WOULD BE KING (1994), THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON (2005), THE REAL ROCKY (2011), AUTHOR: THE JT LEROY STORY (2016), as well as writing and producing many others.He is at work on a documentary about The Legendary Stardust CowboyFollow Jeff on:Twitter: @FeuerzeigJeffInstagram: @jfdinmusicFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Paco and George talk upcoming documentaries, their upcoming interview with Jeff Feuerzeig, "Stickergate", Queen's Gambit, and whatever has been on our watchlists.Alex Winter's Frank Zappa doc is available Thanksgiving weekendHBO's The Mystery of D.B. Cooper releases Nov 25thThe Lady and the DaleJudd Apatow's George Carlin docThe Perfect Weapon available on HBO nowFollow us on:Twitter: @supdocpodcastInstagram: @supdocpodcastFacebook: @supdocpodcastsign up for our mailing listAnd you can show your support to Sup Doc by donating on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we wrap up the docuseries THE VOW on HBO, the story of the whistleblowers who left the cult group NXIVM, started by “the smartest man in the world” Keith Raniere. We are again joined by the very funny comedian Johnny Pemberton, who loves cult-leader stories.Directed by Jehane Noujaim (Control Room, The Square) and Karim Amer (The Square, The Great Hack), this film relies on insiders revealing their own stories along with hours of archival footage. Get to know players like Frank Parlato, Cathering Oxenberg, the two Tonis, and watch George and Paco strain their empathy.We are covering episodes 6 through 9 of the series. It was recently announced there will be a second season. The first 5 episodes focused on Sarah Edmondson and Mark Vicente, high-level leaders who left Raniere’s organization and went to the press with their discoveries. You can hear our take on Part 1 episodes 1-5 with Johnny here.Johnny Pemberton is a comedian, actor, writer, mildly knowledgeable gardener, reggae

It's JAC-tober!On episode 157 we recap the 2014 documentary Jaco currently streaming on Hulu. Jaco, the doc, is about the brief, brilliant and brutal musical career of the legendary electric bass player Jaco Pastorius a self-taught musician who changed the course of modern music. Never-before-seen archive footage plus interviews unveil the story of Jaco's life, his music, his demise, and the lasting impressions of artistic genius.Our guests are two great musicians and bass players, Chaki Sklar and Bret Berg. We nerd out HARD on jazz, fusion, Jaco's discography, bass playing, Weather Report, our own musical careers and we even get to hear Chaki play the first song he ever wrote! Chaki (Cory Sklar) is a Los Angeles based bass player and composer. He has played festivals like Noise Pop and The Off Beat fest and has shared the stage with like minded weirdos Peelander Z, El Vez, Bob Log III, Captured By Robots, Flipper and Shannon & The Clams. His 4 song EP The Water is out now on Who