Introducing Earsay hosted by Ed Helms and Kal Penn

SNAFU with Ed Helms

iHeartPodcasts

Comedy, History

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Earsay: The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club is the ultimate book club for audiobook lovers.

This week on Earsay, we're turning it up to 11 with national treasures Rob Reiner and Michael McKean for a deep dive into A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap. They explore the making of the landmark 1984 mockumentary This is Spinal Tap and its long-awaited sequel, Spinal Tap Two: The End Continues. Together, they unpack the art of “schnadling” (their term for improvisational riffing), and Ed compares notes from another influential mockumentary — The Office. Rob and Michael reflect on why maintaining affection for these magnificently oblivious characters has made all the difference in the process of building a 40-year mythology around a completely fictional band.

Listen to Earsay: The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to EIRSA, the IHeart and Audible audiobook club.
0:06.5	I'm Ed Helms, and I am the host of another podcast called Snafu.
0:11.2	And with me is the host of yet another podcast.
0:14.5	Here we go again.
0:16.1	My dear buddy, Cal Penn.
0:18.4	Hello, sir.
0:20.0	How are you, sir?
0:21.1	I'm great.
0:22.1	I'm great.
0:23.1	You are great.
0:24.0	Can I just say Cal Penn is great, everybody?
0:26.7	Come on.
0:27.6	What a nice thing to say.
0:29.6	I mean, you're freaking funny and delightful and incredibly smart and insightful, and that's a killer combination of traits. I'm glad I don't have
0:39.7	these traits at age 11 again. They were not helpful as an 11 year old, but I do enjoy them as an
0:47.3	adult. Yeah. Yeah. That's not uncommon. A precocious child is actually a very charming adult. But man, are they annoying?
0:57.8	I'm sorry to have dug up that trauma.
1:03.6	This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
1:08.9	All right, I'm going to name some names here.
1:11.3	I want you to tell me what these names have in common.
1:14.4	Are you ready?
1:15.0	Yep.
	...

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