Here’s What You’ll Get

A look at the rewards available to our Patreon supporters

(Mirrored from our Patreon page)

Welcome to the show! If you're here, you probably know that after five years of delivering The Marx Brothers Council Podcast, Matthew and Bob and I have decided to introduce this subscription program, with the hope that it will provide a richer experience for our listeners, and enable us to keep producing and expanding the show. The podcast itself will still be available for free, to everyone, as always. But our Patreon subscribers are entitled to bonus segments, monthly postcards, exclusive merch, and, of course, more. So I thought I'd devote this first Patreon post to an explanation of those subscriber benefits.

The monthly BONUS SEGMENT will be a subscribers-only continuation of the regular podcast, posted on our Patreon page at the same time regular episodes are released. Sometimes the Bonus Segment will retain the topic of the regular episode, and sometimes not. We'd like to make the Bonus Segment an interactive feature, and involve our Patreon Patrons directly in determining subjects covered and questions answered. Think of it as the after-party following the main show. Bring your dog around and we'll give him a bonus segment too. (Available at all subscription levels: Stowaways, Students of Huxley, Left-Handed Moths, and Firefly's Cabinet.)

While the Bonus Segments (and other additional content via the Patreon page) are digital products, the monthly PATRON POSTCARD is a real, physical object which will show up in subscribers' actual physical mailboxes on Earth! Each month's card will present a thrilling new Marxian visual, available exclusively to our subscribers and suitable for collecting, framing, or just sticking in a drawer somewhere. I have big plans for the Patron Postcards. Some will be designed by me, some by others; some will be archival images. I like the idea that these designs will never be seen online (unless you take a selfie with your postcard and post it, which we encourage; good for you!) -- you won't know what it is until you're holding it in your hands. Like the podcast itself, the postcard is a recurring, new Marx Brothers thing in the world. (Available at the Students of Huxley, Left-Handed Moths, and Firefly's Cabinet subscription levels.)

The Bonus Segments and Patron Postcards are the primary benefits of joining us on Patreon, and they're available at low monthly subscription rates. But for those beautiful stalwarts who want to support The Marx Brothers Council Podcast even more generously, our two highest subscription levels also offer exclusive merch, with fulfillment by Patreon.

We're starting with four items, which I've designed just for our subscribers. Rather than simply plaster our logo on stickers and hats, I've tried to create imaginative referential items that I hope Marx Brothers fans might really want and enjoy, beyond supporting and promoting the podcast. In the future, new merch by subscribers' request is a possibility -- and we also may simply plaster our logo on stickers and hats.

Until then, start with the limited edition BEAUGARD'S AFTER THE HUNT POSTER. I've been wanting to do this for years, and here it is: a digital painting based on After the Hunt, by François Jacques DuBois Gilbert Beaugard, as seen at Mrs. Rittenhouse's Long Island party. This is a 12 x 18" poster on archival, acid-free paper with matte finish. It has the color, the depth, the soul of the Beaugard, and it's signed Beaugard -- in the lower right corner, of course. Below the image, the artist's name and the title are printed, along with these words: "My friends, I am quite sure that you are all familiar with Beaugard. And this is perhaps his masterpiece. In it, he has achieved a greatness in the handling of color and line." -- Roscoe W. Chandler. (Available at the Left-Handed Moths and Firefly's Cabinet subscription levels.)

There's already been some excellent Huxley College gear available here and there on the internet (including the "Huxley Class of '32" Thelma Todd image I designed for Marxfest in 2014). But I've never seen any which celebrates the beautiful Huxley campus, as glimpsed during the opening moments of Horse Feathers. I hope my drawing brings you back to those carefree days of Von Steinmetz and his phagocytes. Displayed below that image on the smart HUXLEY COLLEGIATE TEE SHIRT is the motto Quidquid est, contra sum. (Available at the Firefly's Cabinet subscription level.)

One of the things I like about Huxley merch is that it makes life a little more Marxian for those in the know, but it can pass in the real world. If you don't know Horse Feathers, it just looks like college gear. The same effect is achieved by the chic HOTEL DE COCOANUT TOTE BAG. To any poor soul not deeply familiar with The Cocoanuts, this bag clearly was picked up in the lobby of some Florida hotel. My design incorporates the Hotel de Cocoanut lettering seen in the 1929 film, and colors from 1925 materials related to the Florida land boom. Below the logotype are the words Cocoanut Beach - No Snow, No Ice. (Available at the Firefly's Cabinet subscription level.)

The kippered herring barrels in which the Marx Brothers are introduced in Monkey Business (and the use of similar barrels during the opening titles of that film) are among the signature images of the Brothers' work -- so much so that we made it the logo of The Marx Brothers Council Podcast. I don't have any hard evidence, but I like to think that cowriter Will B. Johnstone was responsible for the use of barrels in Monkey Business, similar as it is to his later cartoons of a taxpayer wearing a barrel. Regardless, the KIPPERED HERRING BARREL COFFEE MUG will be the perfect addition to your captain's lunch. It's too small to hide an average-sized stowaway, but it's sure to delight Marx Brothers fans, or anyone who just thinks it's funny to put the words kippered herring on a coffee cup. Wouldn't it be something if you actually put kippered herring in it? (Available at the Firefly's Cabinet subscription level.)

Well, there you have it -- the complete starting line of rewards for supporters of The Marx Brothers Council Podcast on Patreon. Thank you for even thinking about becoming a patron, at any level. This next phase of the podcast is a continuation, but also an experiment, to see if we can build a self-perpetuating engine of enthusiasm for the Marx Brothers. That means keeping the podcast going, in a way that engages with our listeners and the wider world, rather than just continuing to air our now-familiar opinions about the same thirteen films. (Though we'll do that too.) As for what else it means, we'll have to wait and find out, but we're grateful to everyone who decides to join us.

Visit our Patreon page to learn more and subscribe. 

Noah

Subscription tiers

(More information at our Patreon page. Prices are expressed here in U.S. dollars, but through Patreon we can accept any national currency, and postcards and merch can ship globally.)