“Hello people of Earth,” screamed comedian Paul Scheer as he introduced a live version of the extremely popular podcast “How Did This Get Made?” to a capacity crowd at Brooklyn’s Bell House. For those of you not in the know, “How Did This Get Made?” is a regularly produced podcast on the Earwolf network where Scheer and his crack team of comics rip apart terrible movies, while offering praise to those films which are awesomely over the top.  On Thursday night, Brooklyn received a live double shot of this extremely original and hilarious podcast. As usual, Scheer was joined on stage by his podcast partner and wife June Diane Raphael and “The League” co-star Jason Mantzoukas, for not one but two completely sold out performances. Both performances featured different movies and guests to join the regular crew. First up was the classic “Anaconda,” with special guest Michael Ian Black and the late show featuring the bat shit crazy “The Devil’s Advocate,” with the always great Julie Klausner filling the guest role. The LocalBozo.com crew caught the latter performance which was nothing short of riotously funny.

When we hint that both shows were sold out, we mean it. As the first performance let out, the line for the late show was already snaking in and around the building. The enthusiasm was extremely high as I could hear ticket holders talking about having just screened “The Devil’s Advocate” in order to be on the same page with the hosts. This just goes to show you how popular this show is and how podcasting is quickly becoming a leading entertainment medium. After grabbing a few tall beers at the bar to enhance the experience, we made our way inside the large event space in the Bell House. The room was abuzz as like minded comedy nerds like myself joked and quoted their favorite jokes from previous episodes. As soon as the clock stuck 10:30, Scheer emerged from the back to welcome the crowd and play the sing-a-long friendly theme song. At that point Scheer was joined onstage by Raphael, Mantzoukas and Klausner who wasted no time in dissecting the film. The last time I had actually watched this movie to completion was about ten years ago. Since then I have caught bits and pieces on cable during a lazy Sunday. My main memories of the film was the landmark performance of Al Pacino, as this film launched the second portion of his incredible career and into the very persona we know him as today. Yet, when these highly talented comedic minds come together on one stage you really are provided with a completely different perspective on what you previously thought to be true.

The hosts started quickly without missing a beat. If an accent was off they caught it. Weird set pieces, they noticed. This eye for detail really shows you how insanely off “The Devil’s Advocate” truly is. A large chunk of Scheer and companies skewering came at the expense of Keanu Reeves, the film’s leading man.  Pin point jokes about Reeves’ performance came at rapid speed, with laser precision. Keanu’s lawyer character is supposed to be from the south. At times he has a heavy southern drawl, while at other times it’s total “Point Break.” This is something that lead the hosts and Klausner to easily agree in unison that Keanu Reeves is the worst actor ever. No surprise, this got one of the biggest laughs of the event. Jason Mantzoukas had so much gut busting venom for the film, it was hard to keep up with him. At times Jason was acting so much like his character, “Rafi” from “The League” that I didn’t know if I was watching an episode of the popular FX show or not.

Both June Diane Raphael and Julie Klausner killed it with spot on one liners that took on everything from a highly awkward then scary dressing room scene to the film’s extremely odd apartment painting sequence. Both of these silly scenes featured the extremely talented Charlize Theron being wasted. Scheer seamlessly kept everyone on track and moving along to cover as much ground as possible. He makes being witty look easy due to his calm and likable approach. I don’t mince words when I say the jokes were relentless, causing much in the way of side pains. I can now view “The Devil’s Advocate” in my own home and laugh at it. Which after spending over an hour with this amazing group seems like the purpose for the film in the first place.  Be sure to head over to Earwolf and check out all of these outstanding episodes.

- Jay Rubin