Meet Reilly Anspaugh and Geoffrey James of Review Revue Podcast

Today we’d like to introduce you to Reilly Anspaugh and Geoffrey James.

Reilly and Geoffrey, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
REILLY: Geoff and I met on the first day of my internship at Headgum, which is a comedy podcast network founded by Jake and Amir (of CollegeHumor fame) that’s based in Downtown LA. We were immediately thrown together to guest on the No Joke podcast. I thought, “This 28 years old is really funny. Maybe we’ll be friends.” Not only was he 20 at the time, but now we’re comedy partners/co-hosts of our own podcast, Review Revue. Oh, and friends.

GEOFF: Yeah, it was two ships CRASHING in the night. When I first met Reilly I thought, “They’re letting leprechauns intern now?” She’s so Irish!

REILLY: You promised you wouldn’t bring it up!

GEOFF: Sorry. Yeah, we met while interning at Headgum and eventually conned Jake and Amir into giving us jobs at the network. Reilly and I started releasing a new comedy sketch every week on Headgum’s YouTube channel, which we did for three years straight. Eventually, they HAD to give us our own podcast.

REILLY: They didn’t HAVE to, right?

GEOFF: What’s that?

REILLY: Like, it wasn’t a given. They were NICE ENOUGH to give us an opportunity.

GEOFF: Really.

REILLY: Next question.

Has it been a smooth road?
REILLY: We’re really grateful that we’ve had such a smooth ride so far.

GEOFF: (knocks on a mug) Knock on wood.

REILLY: Ceramic.

GEOFF: Jake and Amir have afforded us so many opportunities with the Headgum videos, with our live show Headgum Live! At Lyric Hyperion in Silver Lake, and now with our new podcast, Review Revue!

REILLY: I’d say the only struggle is trying to balance the workload at Headgum with our outside writing and acting projects.

GEOFF: Reilly won’t say it, but she’s on a TV show! (whispers) TV stands for television!

REILLY: (whispers louder) Geoff wrote for Carpool Karaoke.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Review Revue Podcast – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
REILLY: We host an improv comedy podcast called Review Revue. It’s a weekly show where we blend normal conversation with improv scenes based on the most absurd reviews on the internet.

GEOFF: But don’t take OUR word for it! We’ve had guests such as Finn Wolfhard, Jon Gabrus, and Ryan freakin’ Gaul! And if you can’t trust television’s Ryan Gaul, who CAN you trust?!

REILLY: My favorite kind of comedy is the kind that doesn’t rely on putting others down to make someone laugh. While we’re poking fun at these reviews, these are all universal experiences/feelings, and I think that makes it easier (and more fun) to connect to and riff off of.

GEOFF: For me, laughter has been the only thing getting me through this quarantine. Selfishly, it’s been nice to get together with Reills once a week and leave the recording with sore cheeks. But also during these hard times, it’s nice to feel like we’re doing to make people feel a little lighter.

 

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
GEOFF: What I like about LA is what a lot of people hate about LA, and that’s that it feels like a collection of a bunch of different towns. In New York, there are different vibes to each neighborhood, sure, but for all intents and purposes, you’d have to drive upstate or something to feel like your environment has completely changed. In LA, you can go from DTLA to Mt. Washington in 10-minutes, and it feels like you’re in a different state.

Also, secret stairs. Those are cool.

REILLY: Similarly to Geoff, I love how each neighborhood in LA has a totally different *scene*, as it were. Like, you know that you’re gonna have one kind of afternoon in Silver Lake, and a different WORLD of an evening in Culver City, or Santa Monica, or Hollywood, or K-Town, or even EL SEGUNDO! And that applies to art scenes, food scenes, etc. I don’t really know how else to describe it, but I think the differences between each neighborhood are so special and make LA a place that I won’t ever fully KNOW, even as a local. I’ll always be able to discover something new.

But specifically: Golden hour walks around West Hollywood when it’s, like, 75 degrees and the jacarandas are out to play.

GEOFF: And we hate? Gosh, it’s so hard to choo —

REILLY/GEOFF: (hamming it up) TRAFFIC!

(the crowd boos)

REILLY: OH, COME ON! YOU LOVE IT!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.headgum.com/review-revue
• Email: reviewrevueshow@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reviewrevue/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/reilecoyote (Reilly’s twitter)
• Other: https://twitter.com/dontplaynojames (Geoff’s twitter)

Image Credit:
John-Michael Bond (for the personal photo), Headgum (for the pit-stain, ski mask, and podcast studio photos)

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