The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly)

This week, The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly) gets... weird (weirder?). After a Weird Al themed trivia challenge that ends up turning into a sing-a-long a few times, Adam and Ed get into what’s weird at karaoke (already a fundamentally weird endeavor). If you have any weird karaoke advice questions for them, they’ve signed up for Podinbox–leave a voice message with your question, and they may include that on the upcoming advice episode.

All that weird leads right into the interview with Lauren Carey from the Beer’d Al Podcast, who is the biggest Weird Al fan that Adam and Ed have ever met. She’s also got an intense love of karaoke (and posts more karaoke footage on Twitter than Adam and Ed do), and talks about that karaoke love, where her love of Weird Al sprung from, and embracing her own weirdness.

As always, you can find more info on the website (https://www.sungpoorly.com), and on social media--the show is @sungpoorly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and now even TikTok. You can reach Adam and Ed via email by sending a message to sungpoorly@gmail.com. And if you want to support the podcast and snag yourself some great karaoke and podcast swag doing it, our store has all of that and more–www.sungpoorly.com/store.

Theme song: "Gasoline" by Ben Dumm and the Deviants. Make sure to check out Ben's newest music at The Ben Dumm 3.

Lauren Carey is the host of the Beer'd Al Podcast (Where we talk about two of the greatest things in the world: Beer and "Weird Al.") and has been a karaoke enthusiast for nigh on 20 years.

https://www.beerdalpodcast.com • https://twitter.com/BeerdAlPodcast • https://www.instagram.com/beerdalpodcast/?hl=en • https://www.facebook.com/beerdalpodcast

In their 1978 song “Who Are You,” The Who asked “who are you? Who, who, who, who,” and in this episode, Adam and Ed ask the same question: who are you... at karaoke? Are you the same person on and off stage? Do you change who you are for different venues, different crowds? The trivia focuses on the same, sort of: artists who have crafted and released music under other personas (the trivia intro songs just keep getting worse and worse). It’s all about personal brands and identity in this hour or so.

Why the focus on making your mark as a brand or a talent, you ask? Today, the guys talk to Vinnie Potestivo, a man who credits the success in his career as a casting director and brand developer to karaoke–MTV’s “Say What Karaoke,” in particular, which kicked off his incredible journey. He shares his experiences there, as well as some great behind-the-scenes karaoke stories from that show and others.

As always, you can find more info on the website (https://www.sungpoorly.com), and on social media--the show is @sungpoorly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and now even Tiktok. You can reach Adam and Ed via email by sending a message to sungpoorly@gmail.com. And if you want to support the podcast and snag yourself some great karaoke and podcast swag doing it, our store has all of that and more–www.sungpoorly.com/store. And our brand-new Patreon also has things! www.patreon.com/sungpoorly

Theme song: "Gasoline" by Ben Dumm and the Deviants. Make sure to check out Ben's newest music at The Ben Dumm 3.

Vinnie Potestivo is an industry-leading media and talent innovator who is widely known for his inclusive and impactful approach to brand building and personal brand development. With over 25 years of experience, he and his teams have become well-trusted connectors who sell, develop, produce, launch, distribute, and amplify some of the most talked-about original series & talent brands in modern pop culture.

Personal brands Vinnie has helped elevate through the use of original content include Mandy Moore, Ashton Kutc/her, Jessica Simpson, Ashlee Simpson, Tyrese Gibson, Lauren Conrad, Diane von Furstenberg, Rob Lowe, Danielle Fishel, Peter Thomas Roth, Kelly Osbourne, Kristin Cavallari, Nasir “Nas” Jones, Molly Sims, Vanessa Lachey, Susie Castillo, Damien Fahey, Quddus, Suchin Pak, Gideon Yago, Will.i.am, Ebro, DJ Clue, LaLa Anthony, Hilary Duff, and Leah McSweeney among others.

Corporate brands VPE: Vinnie Potestivo Entertainment, Inc. (vpetalent.com) has worked closely with include Macy’s, Samsung, Nikon, MLB, Peter Thomas Roth, June Jacobs Spa, Naturally Serious Skin, Kiehl’s, Hope Fragrances, Ciroc, Dow, Lady Foot Locker, AARP, Prudential & Allstate.

I Have A Podcast with Vinnie Potestivo, a collection of conversations with celebrities and creatives who aim to inspire us in our everyday lives, can be found on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you listen to yours. IHAP’s companion video series I Have A Podcast on Television can be seen Thursdays on DirectTV, Distro TV, and Channel 285 on STIRR via bspoketv. For more information on viewing times, current episodes, and guest recommendations please visit ihaveapodcast.com.

Vinnie can be seen on linkedin.com/in/vinniepotestivo where he shares business and brand strategies for people looking to inspire and impact with media. You can also find him at instagram.com/vinniepotestivo where he over-shares photos of his two mini-schnauzers @BeauWellington and @DudleyGreenfield.

Today, the show might as well be called “The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Slightly Better Than Before),” which is far less catchy, but it captures the theme: it’s all about taking care of your vocal instrument and sounding better at karaoke. Adam and Ed did their research, as they aren’t vocal care professionals, and they share what you should and shouldn’t do if you want to make sure your pipes stay as golden as they can through your karaoke shenanigan sing-a-longs.

They didn’t want to do you a disservice, though, so they brought in an actual expert: Katherine Werbiansky from Voice Revolution–as she helps people find and take back their voices, she’s the self-described “Ursula for Good” in this episode, and talks not just about taking care of your vocal health, but your emotional health as well, and why she loves finding out about what a place is like by the song choices in their local karaoke spots.

As always, you can find more info on the website (https://www.sungpoorly.com), and on social media--the show is @sungpoorly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and now even Tiktok. You can reach Adam and Ed via email by sending a message to sungpoorly@gmail.com. And if you want to support the podcast and snag yourself some great karaoke and podcast swag doing it, our store has all of that and more–www.sungpoorly.com/store. And our brand-new Patreon also has things! www.patreon.com/sungpoorly

Theme song: "Gasoline" by Ben Dumm and the Deviants. Make sure to check out Ben's newest music at The Ben Dumm 3.

Katherine is a Chicago based singer and voice coach. She teaches singing, songwriting, and gender-affirming speech. She has training as a vocal pedagogue, Internal Family Systems coaching, and Somatic nervous system regulation. Her style of coaching has been described as " if Jack Black, a music therapist, and a queer witch had a baby". She is a self-described "musical Spiritual hype human". Her absolute passion in life is helping folks liberate their voices and life stories through singing and songwriting. Find more at Voice Revolution or on Instagram.

June’s a lot of things, but the first thing it is here at The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly) is Pride month. We’re kicking things off with announcing three new pieces of merch (all proceeds from which will go to The Trevor Project and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, so if you want to support that, buy those, and if you want to support the show, buy something else, too). The Karaoke Trivia Bullpen focuses on queer music from the 1920s to today, and then Adam and Ed dive into queer issues at karaoke, including inclusivity in karaoke bars and how to navigate pronouns in songs.

Then, Adam and Ed bring their pal Jay McInnis on stage–he’s a poet who has been published all over, and a fixture of Ed’s local karaoke scene now that he’s been on testosterone for a while and has a voice he’s willing to sing in bars with. As an added bonus, Jay reads one of his original poems and, as this is The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), it’s about karaoke.

As always, you can find more info on the website (https://www.sungpoorly.com), and on social media--the show is @sungpoorly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and now even Tiktok. You can reach Adam and Ed via email by sending a message to sungpoorly@gmail.com. And if you want to support the podcast and snag yourself some great karaoke and podcast swag doing it, our store has all of that and more–www.sungpoorly.com/store.

Theme song: "Gasoline" by Ben Dumm and the Deviants. Make sure to check out Ben's newest music at The Ben Dumm 3.

Jay McInnes is an internationally published poet and LGBTQ advocate. His work has been published under the nom de plume Jay Douglas or, more recently, Jay Orlando. Jay grew up in a small Appalachian town and writes a lot of being trans and hunting deer, among other things.

It’s all about fandom this week: how Adam and Ed are karaoke nerds, and how they are nerds in other ways as well. Adam claims to not be a comics nerd–will he pass the “Challenge of the Nerdy Songs?” They share the nerdiest karaoke-related things they’ve been a part of, and then want to share a give-away with you–-instructions in the show--and if you're the winning entry, you’ll get a Kindle copy of guest Douglas Wolk’s newest book All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told, and they’ll read the winning submission on a future episode.

Wolk talks about his latest book, of course, but this is a karaoke podcast–they found ways to work that into a karaoke-focused discussion: the appreciation of different kinds of art (and karaoke is an art), and how karaoke looks in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and in the comics proper. He’s got great advice for anyone who wants to get into comics or karaoke and shares the best place for a top-notch karaoke experience in Portland, Oregon. There’s also a little “inside baseball” when he talks about how he created the theme music for his podcast “The Voice of Latveria.”

As always, you can find more info on the website (https://www.sungpoorly.com), and on social media–the show is @sungpoorly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and now even Tiktok. You can reach Adam and Ed via email by sending a message to sungpoorly@gmail.com. The discussion continues at The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly) Podcast Facebook group.

Theme song: "Gasoline" by Ben Dumm and the Deviants. Make sure to check out Ben's newest music at The Ben Dumm 3.

Comics writer, critic and journalist Douglas Wolk is the author of the Eisner- and Harvey Award-winning Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean, and the host of the podcast "The Voice of Latveria." A National Arts Journalism Program Fellow and USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellow, Wolk has written about comics, graphic novels, pop music and technology for magazines, newspapers and sites including the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Believer, Slate and Pitchfork. His latest book All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told is about his experience reading 27,000 Marvel superhero comic books.