MFT: Getting on with James Urbaniak

"Getting on with James Urbaniak (a fictional podcast)" is a podcast series produced and starring one and only James Urbaniak. You know him. He is known for his stage work (including magnetic performance in "Thom Pain"), voicework in "The Venture Bros." and pitch-perfect portrayal Robert Crumb in "American Splendor". He even was in "Terminator" TV series. You might've seen him recently on "Difficult People" and "Review" where he delivers his signature believable neurotic but not over the top kind of character.

But for me - he always will be Simon Grim from "Henry Fool" and its subsequent sequels "Fay Grim" and "Ned Rifle". The evolution of Simon Grim - from a garbageman to a poet and beyond is staggering and painfully rings true in so many ways. Watching Simon's Quest really helped me to cope with many things going on with my life at that time. For that he holds a special place in my heart (there is also Parker Posey but that's another story).

"Getting on with James Urbaniak (a fictional podcast)" is essentially a neverending series of pieces written by various writers and unified by all-mighty voice of James Urbaniak. The idea is that the podcast is all about James Urbaniak and the world around him - but not really because that would be self-indulgent and ultimately annoying. Instead - James Urbaniak plays slightly exaggerated version of himself who essentially reads pieces written by other people presented as an excursions into his mind.

Basically James Urbaniak acts as a flytrap for various pieces. He catches them and they fit into the bigger picture. Which doesn't make any sense - but it makes some funny afterthoughts. He makes the texts his own - fills them with his character, colors them with his mannerisms. Urbaniak knows how to make you listen. It is a master-class of quietly dramatic delivery of astounding variety. There are pieces about ketchup, lack of sleep, feeling sorry, smelling something wrong, musings on first world problems and many others. Together all these pieces make a fascinating patchwork of a character study.

Do yourself a favor - listen to "Getting on with James Urbaniak (a fictional podcast)" .