Unusual bedfellows

Simon & Schuster launched a weekly podcast last fall. Typically they take 3 authors, throw parts of their audiobooks together, and voila! It's a smart repurposing of content. Although next week will be Steven King wall to wall.

But the first one I listened to was Sarah Vowell, Ellen DeGeneres and Lewis Black. One of these things is not like the others! Sarah Vowell is funny in all the ways Ellen is unfunny. Vowell is unexpected, wicked and painful all at once. Ellen is plodding, dull and cheesy. To be honest, I couldn't suffer through Ellen to get all the way to Lewis Black. And I love Lewis Black.

Ed points out that Jay McInerney and of course Cory Doctorow are also podcasting. I'd much rather subscribe to a single author I like than have a surprise DeGeneres plop down in the middle of a perfectly good podcast.