It’s amazing the things you find on TV at 4 AM.  About a year ago sometime between a P90X infomercial and a New Zoo Revue I found myself poking around the buried menus of my Tivo.  After setting up a Wishlist search for “Julia Childs Naked” I stumbled across a plethora of webcasts that are downloadable right from the net to your Tivo with a few presses of the remote.  Through my Lunesta and MD 20/20 blurred vision the name of the Totally Rad Show came into focus and I figured I’d check it out.

For those of you that don’t know about TRS, it’s a weekly dose of webcasty goodness on all things geek distributed through the internet TV station, Revision 3.  Topics range from video games to movies to comics to anything else the hosts Jeff Cannata, Dan Trachtenberg, and Alex Albrecht want to toss into the mix.  Definitely worth a look if you have 45 free minutes burning a hole in your pocket.

I recently had the opportunity to drag Jeff to the basement of the Alamo and waterboard him with Mountain Dew.  When that didn’t work, I proceeded to poke him with fluffy pillows till he spilled the beans.

• Just to kick things off, our safeword for today is ‘Barry Zuckerkorn’ just in case you need it.

Haha, thanks.  But I doubt we’ll need it.  We have nothing to hide.

• So, it appears that without TRS, Revision 3 would have gone the way of the pet rock, the dodo bird and Daikatana.  At what point do you guys reveal that you are really the ones controlling Revision 3 and Adelson and Louderback are actually androids?

BARRY ZUCKERKORN!!!

• Which of your co-workers are most likely to be found in a Tijuana jail wearing a tutu while dancing for their new ‘beau’ Juan-Carlos?

That would probably be our behind-the-scenes whiz, Mike.  The amount of work he puts in each week to get the show out could lead any man into the situation you describe.  Any man.

• You guys at times have some pretty different outlooks on movies, games and TV, how is it that every episode doesn’t end up in a cage match?  Who’s the last one standing in the cage?

Often, our arguments rage for hours after the cameras go off.  Dan and I are STILL yelling at each other about The Shield.  Luckily, our “cage” is a very stuffy garage that heats up to near inhuman levels with the lights we use while we’re shooting, so we tend to pass out from the temperature and lack of ventilation before anything escalates too far.

• What happened to “Dan becomes a man?”  Did he actually become one?  When and how?

Oh, there will absolutely be more Dan Becomes a Man installments.  He is definitely not a man yet.

• You’re stuck on an island with Gilbert Gottfried, a hula hoop and a chihuahua.  What video game system do you want to find in a secret underground bunker?

Let’s be honest, no one wants to hear Gilbert complaining for hours as the PS3 installs new updates, the hula hoop provides the same basic entertainment value as the Wii, and the chihuahua is the only ‘handheld’ you need on an island.  We’ll go with the 360.

• When the Zombie Apocalypse comes, which one of you is first one to bite it?  Which one of you leads humanity back from the brink of disaster?

I fear Dan would be the first one to go.  Look at his brain, doesn’t it look delicious?  Alex recently purchased a shotgun (no lie), so he’s the only one of us equipped to deal with the undead menace.

• Josie from the Pussycats, Wilma from the Flintstones, or Daphne from Scooby Doo?  Unless you have a sleeper pick…

We’ve actually had this conversation many times.  Call us freaky, but we’d rather have Cheetara from Thundercats any day of the week.

• Manha manha?

Do doo… do do doot

• It’s the morning after a particular wild party at SXSW, your head is throbbing, your mouth feels like it’s full of cotton, you roll over and lying next to you in your bed is..

Dan and Alex.  Sigh.  I know.  But we don’t have the biggest travel budget and often have to share rooms.  And beds.  Not always the most glamorous job, this.

• When Alex does Diggnation, do you guys feel like he’s cheating on you?

Yes.  We’re in counseling.

• Jack Thompson, Jar Jar Binks and Clippy the Office Assistant walk into a bar.  Who gets a bar stool over the head first?

Jack Thompson by a wide, wide margin.  Then again, whacking him with a stool kind of proves him right, doesn’t it?  We wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.  A stern talkin’ to, that’s what he’d get.  A real piece of our mind.

• When it’s hot in the studio and Jeff becomes perspirationally challenged, does it smell like cheese?

No.  No, sir.  It smells like awesome.  Ask anyone.

• Which of you is most likely to have a restraining order put in place against?  From who?

That would probably be me (Jeff).  And it would be issued by the d-bag sitting behind us at the movie, talking on his cellphone.  I want to pummel that guy, and I often let him know it.

• Are there any ‘lost openings’ out there?  I heard a rumor about a ‘Night of the Comet’ one…

There is actually one “lost opening” on our DVD – actually the one that started the whole idea, even though we never used it.  Starting with episode 131, though, we have a whole new concept for the intros that I think are going to be as fun and exciting as the old ones used to be.  We’ll see if the audience digs them.

• Any final rants or ramblings?

BARRY ZUCKERKORN!!!