Though there again were many other great offerings on the show, Earl’s best were in the slightly differing guises of Mort Milfington and Milf Cardinal Milfington delivering reports on politics and religion with War of Brains and Rapture Watch, respectively. These were awesomely written and expertly performed, only slightly restrained, pulsating diatribes filled with surreal and hilarious allusions that were often offensive on a level that we can not truly understand and can only feel deep in our souls. Extra enjoyable for the audience was that it seemed Marc Maron and Mark Riley were also hearing the performance for the first time, echoing explosions of shock and guffaws, often ad-libbing at the end of each piece as well.

Let me set this paragraph aside to say that I stand in awe of Jim Earl’s creative mind and value many of his Morning Sedition performances as arguably the best radio I have ever listened to.

In fact, I remember attending a live broadcast at Harlem eatery Amy Ruth’s which was a lot of fun overall – getting past the fact of waking up at 4AM to get there – iced with chicken and waffles and was made most memorable by Milf Cardinal Milfington’s shock and awe sermon that day. Some in attendance did not seem to be on the same wavelength that day, creating one of the most awkward and awesome vacuums when Milfington went into a blunt declaration that “Christ will kill everything that crosses him. He is the perfect eating machine!” I clapped and cheered as much as seemed safe for this incredible moment.

Sadly, Morning Sedition has long been canceled and its halfhearted descendants have petered out as well. And Air America has mostly gone the same route as conservative hate talk, putting stringent talking points and revenge politics well ahead of entertainment. While this proves terribly effective for the political machinery of their party and ratings, apparently, I at least find it far less interesting as an artform of discourse.

IGNOMINIOUS!

I shan’t attempt to embed any actual media here, in quaking fear that those good folks may put into motion some infinitely illogical, hopeless, and needlessly punitive measure akin to the Fairness Doctrine – the idea of which we will yet annihilate here on this fine site – but I do indeed encourage anyone who might enjoy comedy and fine talk radio to follow the links I’ve left below.

An incredible archive of almost everything on the show exists at Morning Seditionists and I suggest starting with those bits mentioned here and then listen to everything. I had often listened to the show while playing video games, Metroid Prime so much so that the elements in my brain containing memories of each have become permanently fused together so that I can’t think of one without knowing the other.

Marc Maron’s current and past creations can be best found at marcmaron.com.

The great Jim Early and most of everything that might be him can be found at jimearl.com.

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