Seen and Heard in Edmonton

Meet JP Fournier and Shawn Gramiak, aka The Movie Jerks, two comedians who make people love the movies they hate, or hate them more.

The Movie Jerks is one of Edmonton’s most popular and long-running podcasts, and it has been recognized in Vue Weekly’s Best of Edmonton and by the Yeggies. It started because JP and Shawn wanted to keep in touch with their comic friends, and movies seemed like a good thing to talk about, especially movies people hated. It has since evolved into discussions with academics, filmmakers, actors and other artists, and even the likes of me — JP and Shawn had me on their show to talk about Raiders of the Lost Ark and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold.

They approach their work with glee and curiosity, and no small measure of organization and discipline (even if they don’t think of it that way). You’ll hear lots of laughs here, but also some pretty useful insights:

You can also get it in iTunes, on SoundCloud or on Stitcher.

Subscribe to the Movie Jerks in iTunes, and give them a rating and a nice review. You can also find them on Twitter (@moviejerks), where you can also find them individually: @j_p_fournier and @stfugramiak.

They recommended four local podcasts that you might want to check out:

• Trash, Art, and the Movies, where Paul Matwychuk and Erin E. Fraser pit high-brow cinema against low-brow entertainment and declare a winner;
• Bollywood is for Lovers, where Erin E. Fraser and Matt Bowes explore the wonderful world of Hindi cinema;
• The Devil’s Advocate, where comedian Dave Rae debates his guests on any topic, regardless of his true feelings;
• What It Is, where Taylor Chadwick, Chris Cook and Brian Bergum cover Edmonton’s arts scene.

This week’s podcast and roundups are brought to you by the Seen and Heard Podcast Network, a project to help local podcasts get more listeners and connect those listeners with local businesses.

In this episode, you’ll hear Andrea Beça interview me about the network. If you’d like to join, apply here. If you’d like to be a sponsor, email me.

Musical credits: Beethoven’s Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1, played by Daniel Veesey, from freemusicarchive.com.