149 episodes
Fire the Canon Rachel, Jackie, Bekah
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- Comedy
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4.9 • 41 Ratings
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Prefer your books in comedy form, but still want to sound smart at parties? We got you. Discover the hilarity hidden in the classics with new episodes every other Thursday.
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A Fun Chat About Racism (Patreon Bonus)
Stop! We see your eyeballs getting ready to dart away to something more fun. Dart 'em back here. This is the most fun you'll have hearing about race and racism since... ever, maybe! We know the bar is low, but still. Listen along to the original opening to our first Charlie and the Chocolate Factory episode, which immediately derailed into racial topics thanks to Ol' Roodle Doodle's antics, and then was cut out and made into its own episode.
Jackie says something the other two consider truly wild, accidentally kicking the whole thing off. Rachel suggests we come up with a new word to describe a racist, because 'racist' has a lot of baggage. Bekah wants you to go get one of two doctors, but there's only one noticeable difference between them and everyone must pretend not to notice it. The ensuing dilemma is fun for the whole family! To hear the whole conversation and support our podcast, sign up to be a patron at Patreon.com/firethecanon.
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Finale: Give Me a Squirrel, Daddy
The gang finishes out the tale of ol' C-Bucks and the maniacal chocolate man in spectacular fashion - late, but not that late! Thanks for the endless patience of our many adoring fans. We would never turn you into marshmallows, even if that tube DID go to the marshmallow room.
Jackie f***s up her audio, but doesn't know it yet (don't worry, she fixes it in post). Rachel flexes secret first-edition knowledge. Bekah is really good at pogo sticking.
Topics include: dating as a one-inch tall woman, grad school application mistakes, CV tips from Jackie, square treats that look round, High School Musical, cockroach longevity, the rhinoceros at the end of the stampede in Jumanji, Emphysema Salt, wart puns, Oompa Loompa race wars, Everybody Hates Mike Teevee, the horror of Frontier Airlines*, finger-toes, and hiring a starving child to run a global corporation.
*not a sponsor
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Part 1: They're Killing Me, These Buckets!
Quick! What has 14 legs, one bed, and half a potato? Why, the Bucket family, of course!
Join the gang as we cover the first half of Roodle Doodle's classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You all know how the story goes, but you haven't heard it told by us. Rachel doxxes herself. Bekah learns about the Wonka-related scandal of the year. Jackie has never even once thought about smothering grandma Josephine with a pillow.
Topics include: freakish fertility, doppelgängers, girlfriends who are worms, boyfriends who have skeletons in them, ontological incorrectness, universally detested children, masseter Botox, cabbage soup, Scotland's Wonka Experience, the Unknown, a secret hoard of one coin, naked cat vibes, backhanded compliment-insults, and issuing rebukes in a flutelike voice.
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Chatting with Ada Palmer about Machiavelli, a Sweetheart Who Did Good Things
She's back! University of Chicago professor, historian, and award-winning novelist Ada Palmer joins Rachel and Jackie for a conversation about the life and times of Niccolo Machiavelli, a fascinating guy who lived through fascinating times. Learn all about how his name gets an undeservedly bad rap, the trials and tribulations that led to the writing of The Prince, and why the Renaissance was a terrible time to live through but which ultimately gave us everything important in the modern world.
Check out www.adapalmer.com for more information on her research, novels, and more!
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The Reading Corner 1 (Patreon Bonus)
Happy March, everyone! For our Patreon bonus, we thought we'd try something new: The Reading Corner! Jackie and Rachel have a friendly chit chat about whatever books we're currently reading. Maybe it will become a recurring feature? It all depends on what you like, and what Jackie likes. It doesn't matter at all what Rachel likes.
For the full episode and all our other bonuses, go to patreon.com/firethecanon and join the fam!
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Machiavelli's The Prince: Or, How to Not Get Invited on Walks Anymore
The patrons battled it out in honor of the upcoming Ides of March, and in the struggle between The Art of War and The Prince, let's just say The Art of War got Caesar'd. It's like getting Punk'd, but instead of meeting Ashton Kutcher you die and get a salad named after you. Win/win? Buckle up as the gang guides you through the world's second most practical guide on waging war and maintaining power.
Rachel says "here's the problem" roughly 80 times. Bekah really wants somebody to be gay. Jackie gets hundreds of sonnets written for her by Mr. Peanut.
Topics include: the woman who rotates sandwiches, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, state cryptids, explanations of Ohio and Germany, terrible audiobook narrators who barely get any votes, a truly toxic doctor, female women, Borgias and Medicis, rice and horses, fear and love, Inigo Montoya, the monstrosity that is a medieval cat, Alexander the Great, a horrifying Kermit, lions and foxes and wolves oh my, and the return of everyone's favorite, Scipio Africanus.
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Customer Reviews
Literary love
What a great podcast! Theo’s hilarious jokes, Jackie’s bold opinions, and Rachel’s awesome overviews of great literature throughout history have kicked off several great conversations with my sister-in-law. Now, I know that the insect in Metamorphosis blew her eyes open to the wide world of literature. (Euf, really? that insect did it?) That she finds Catcher in the Rye hilarious. (What?!) That while she picked Jane as her English name after Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and especially Wuthering Heights, are her favorite. (I’ve never read Wuthering Heights. Should I just listen to the Fire the Canon podcast on it? 😉)
Hmm, so this turned into a love fest for my sister-in-law… haha, well, it’s all thanks to the Fire the Canon crew for spreading their love of literature. Thank you, crew!!
SO,
You know that one group of friends that everyone thinks is funny and they let that go to their heads and say to themselves, they say, "obviously, everyone else will think we are also hilarious" and then they hear about "podcasts" and how much money is made by exploiting some rural town murder or whatever that J. R. cockalorum is doing and consider stepping over the low, low bar of "yeah we can be classier than that"?
Well, that's Fire the Canon. And you know what? They pull it off. They take that bar, put it in their titular can(n)on, and fire it into space.
They examine books only a literature nerd would love and treat them simultaneously with the reverence and facetiousness they deserve. Everything from Odysseus to Dune comes with jokes, historical context, and personal anecdotes. They even make the human centipede (not a classic work of literature covered on the pod) fun.
I want these three to be my friends because they're my friends in my ears. They're my ear friends. Who wouldn't want that? I started listening to learn about books I'm "supposed to know about" but am "too lazy to read". I stayed because these are three long-time companions, with obvious, real-life chemistry doing something they enjoy. Today and everyday, that's something everyone can enjoy.
Oily Boys, ragged claws, and shrubberies… oh my.
Jackie, Rachel, and Theo, the hosts (and producer) do such a good job of finding a way to laugh, analyze, and explain the fantastic books in the western canon. I was tipped to this show by one of my good friends and I’m so glad they introduced me. The hosts provide a much needed breath of fresh air in relation to the (sometimes) stuffy conversation that tends to surround “classic” literature. It’s ok to laugh, it’s ok to question, and it’s ok to ask taxi drivers where the ducks go. Honestly. Those wily ducks. Thanks to all three of you. This show has really made my work-day go by a little faster.