With the WFMU Marathon coming up, I’ve decided it’s time to do the hard recruit, and get people on board with this.

I’m tired of living relatively alone in my love for what is easily one of the greatest things going right now. All day long I see people posting garbage on their blogs, facebooks, mespaces, and none of it ever changes my life. THIS POST COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

The Best Show on WFMU with Tom Scharpling is a call-in radio show hosted by Tom Scharpling on New Jersey-based radio station WFMU. The show is described by its host as “three hours of mirth, music, and mayhem” and has occupied the Tuesday night 8pm-11pm slot on WFMU since its conversion to the three-hour format on June 5, 2001 (prior to which it ran from 9pm-11pm). A worldwide audience listens to the show weekly through WFMU’s Internet stream, and calls are frequently taken from around the United States and Canada, as well as from as far afield as Sweden, Japan, New Zealand, the U.K., and Ireland. It began podcasting its shows, with the music removed due to licensing restrictions, on January 26, 2006.

Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster is a frequent caller to the show, adopting a variety of personae, such as “Philly Boy Roy” (an unflinching supporter of all things Philadelphia), “Timmy von Trimble” (a genetically modified, two-inch-tall racist), and “The Gorch” (a senior citizen from York, Pennsylvania, who claims that the character of The Fonz on the TV show Happy Days was based on him). Some of these calls have been released on CD by Scharpling and Wurster’s Stereolaffs label. Andrew Earles, H. Jon Benjamin, Sam Seder, Jon Glaser, Julie Klausner, Horatio Sanz, and Matt Walsh have also contributed to the show in the past.

Guests have included comedians Fred Armisen, Tim and Eric, Zach Galifianakis, Todd Barry, Paul F. Tompkins, Jim Gaffigan, Patton Oswalt, and Andrew Daly; musicians Ted Leo, Ben Gibbard, and members of the Danielson Familie; filmmakers Don Coscarelli, Bradley Beesley, and Jeff Feuerzeig; and authors Neal Pollack, Paul Collins, Michael Azerrad, and John Hodgman. On the December 16, 2008 episode, the reunited Boss Hog performed a 2-song live set.

I have been a dedicated listener of The Best Show for a few years now, and as it was passed down to me, I now pass it on to you! I’ve carefully combed through my collection of Best Show podcasts, and handpicked 10 episodes I think will earn your love and admiration the way it has mine. All it will take are these 10 podcasts to set you down a new and exciting road in life. You’ll thank me for it later - I promise.

MORE USEFUL LINKS
Subscribe to the Podcast through iTunes
Official Friends of Tom website
Best Show Recaps by The Scrivener Omar
Best Show Archives at WFMU.org