Bad Reception

By: Justin Michael, Eric Martin

Narrated by: Paul F. Tompkins, Lauren Lapkus, Kyle Mooney, D'Arcy Carden, Nicole Byer, Betsy Sodaro, Kirby, Justin Michael, Eric Martin, Jessica McKenna

Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

[Contains explicit content] Get ready for a completely improvised and unscripted Audible Original that invites you to listen in on the funniest phone calls from the world’s weirdest town.

“Welcome to South Grampers! Please enjoy our world-famous movie theater butter, and kindly stay away from the glowing toxic waste.”

Ever been on a terrible conference call where nothing gets solved? 

Stuck on hold trying to cancel your cable service? 

Lonely and needed to talk to a friend? (Even if they’re a cat?) 

Bad Reception is an entirely improvised comedy, set entirely on the phone. A cast of over 40 top comedians and improvisers brings to life (and completely makes up) the story of South Grampers, Northern California - the Movie Theater Butter Capital of the World. 

The town is in dire straits and must launch their own film festival to raise some desperately needed cash. But an unexpected sequence of events ultimately leads to an event known as...The Incident. Only one person can solve the mystery and expose the terrible truth. He just doesn’t know it yet. 

Now featuring a special bonus chapter! Enjoy a live performance and prequel episode of Bad Reception, performed by a full cast of improvisers. Tune in to Chapter 14 for the live show from SF Sketchfest!

Created and directed by Justin Michael and Eric Martin 

Story by Justin Michael and Eric Martin 

Full cast Includes (in alphabetical order): Alex Berg, Alex Fernie, Alexa Loftus, Ally Beardsley, Anthony Gioe, Ben Greene, Betsy Sodaro, Carl Tart, Casey Trela, D’Arcy Carden, Dan Gregor, Dan Lippert, Dhruv Singh, Drew Tarver, Echo Kellum, Ego Nwodim, Eric Martin, Gilli Nissim, Haley Hepworth, Harry Chaskin, Jace Armstrong, Jessica McKenna, Jon Mackey, Julie Brister, Justin Michael, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Kyle Mooney, Lauren Lapkus, Lou Wilson, Madeline Walter, Mano Agapion, Marissa Strickland, Mary Holland, Mary Sasson, Matthew Brian Cohen, Nic Michaels, Nicole Byer, Oscar Montoya, Paul F. Tompkins, Peter Banifaz, Rene Gube, Ronnie Adrian, Ryan Rosenberg, Veronica Osorio, Zac Oyama, Zach Reino 

Editing and sound design by Nic Michaels, Jake Young, Grant Martz, and Emma Erdbrink 

Recorded by Emma Erdbrink, Brendan Lynch-Salamon, and Matt Brousseau 

Logo by Roxy Radulescu and Rustam Hasanov 

Executive producer Morgan Jones 

Presented by Audible Originals and Audible Comedy  

©2018 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC

Critic reviews

“Yes, the scenes and characters are improvised, but hours of playing is cut down and edited into digestible chapters that are part of a very well-shaped—albeit ridiculous and supernatural and off-the-rails—story. One device that serves the narrative well is the use of telephone calls to introduce characters and reveal important details (much of what listeners hear are voicemails). Even as the story takes shape, the improvised elements keep things absolutely unpredictable. Each of the 13 chapters ends with either a cliffhanger or something so absurd that it’s impossible to stop listening.” (The A.V. Club)

Rollicking With Fun

This truly was like comfort food to feel good. This audible book was hilarious!!! Every chapter was a riot. Definitely my type of humor. At times, bizarre and crazy. The way I like it!

Super Fun Improvisation...with a purpose!

The conference call sketch that starts everything off is just immaculate. Funny, surprising, and waaaaay too true to real life. Then, the story takes off and it's crazy to think that they improvised the scenes and plot as they went! So many great performers are involved in this and pop up everywhere -- Paul F. Tompkins, Lauren Lapkus, and D'Arcy Carden (love her on the Good Place!)...and about a million more. So far my highlights are the bagel guys, horace, and Bogus the Cat. Cant wait to hear more!

Laugh out loud ridiculousness!

Had me getting some strange looks when I laughed out loud while listening on wireless buds no one could see! Great fun

Ouch

Listen to the first couple of chapters (ugh) then went to the last two. The “event” mentioned too many times was a let down. I appreciate the effort and talent that went into creating this audiobook but...
Ouch!

Ridiculous fun

For anyone who is a fan of Superego, Paul F. Tompkins’ Spontaneonation, improv comedy, and any of the top notch cast of this production, you’ll most likely enjoy Bad Reception. The narrative is created by a swag of excellent, delightfully quick comedic performers who knit together a mad, chortlifying, car-crash of a story which leads you by the earlobe all the way to the grizzly end.

I do hope the talented cast are brought back for a new story.

Have a listen and give Bad Reception a good reception! -And then go seek more content from the contributors. Let’s keep them prolific to keep the content coming for us devout devourers.

My inner nerd loved this

This book was a great listen. The cast is funny, the story is interesting, everything about it was very well done.

I recommend this for anyone who loves watching Comedy Central, or likes sketch comedy. it’s truly great.

Hilarious!

I can't believe this was all improv. All the comics did a phenomenal job. I was sad when it was over. The live skit at the end did provide the last laughs that was the final cherry on top.

Just not sure

I got this free as an audible original so I’m glad I didn’t pay for it. I wouldn’t recommend it to any of my friends, but at the same time it wasn’t horrible. It was very weird. It had some places that were funny, but it was mostly just very weird. There were places that were so awful that I just wanted them to hurry up. This was just really weird for me. Not completely awful. I mean, I’ve listened to worse.

Truly Astounding

Improv comedy has never been so well done! Over 6 hours of coherent story through short scenes that if no one had told me I would have guessed were carefully scripted. Each and every performer was both amazing and hilarious. I didn’t know what would happen next, but I knew it would be fun!

Keep a second pair of pants nearby

Have no clue how I was lucky enough to find this, but I couldn't be happier. I was already madly in love with half of these comedians and follow their podcasts and various other works. This is basically a wonderful way to hear them all in the same place, telling a ridiculous story, with a ton of great characters and insane plot lines. It keeps the hilarity and intrigue going until the very end. Please do more of these. And bring in an even larger cast...