Ian Punnett

[b_dubb]

Ian's open line show last friday was the best episode of Coast i've heard since the last Knapp/Paulides show

[Mel(apostrophe)s Hole]

Ian is very passive-agressive.  He has the maturity of an 8th grader.

^This^

I don't know what all else is going on with him, but this and other things he's said and done sure make him seem to be a phony Christian.

Think you're on the right track with Ian's ego, P*B. Following that logic, think he's not a phony, but fancies himself a one man spiritual vanguard. He really, really wants to be considered an avant garde intellectual.

...and circling back to your 8th grader comment, nah gonna happen.

[PB the Deplorable]

...  he's not a phony, but fancies himself a one man spiritual vanguard. He really, really wants to be considered an avant garde intellectual.

Yes, that's it.  I had him in religion just for the intellectual side of it, and somehow missed that he could also be sincere. 

[Nucky Nolan]

Ian's a *very* smart guy. He has his faults and his quirks, like we all do, but he has what it takes to be a great host. He hosted some of the best shows in the Coast canon. I especially enjoyed the programs about true crime. He's the go-to guy for guests and shows that deal with belief systems and cult stuff too. He handles those subjects better than anybody on the roster. When the subject's interesting, Punnett is in a class of his own. He asks *all* of the right questions too. He asks what the listeners would ask, the opposite of Bad George. He follows up what has been followed up, so that we aren't left hanging with unsolved problems and unscratched itches. He knows how to handle meandering people too. That compensates for a multitude of sins.

[Mel(apostrophe)s Hole]

Ian's a *very* smart guy.

For me, this statement is only true if prefaced with "When compared to GN..."

Yes, Ian prepares for his show by actually reading his guest's book. That's a solid C in my book. Nothing more.

I used to feel sorry for him. He seemed like a nice guy who exposed his insecurity by taking 5 minutes to ask some overwrought, semi-related to the subject question in an effort to sound...smart. Or he would make puerile jokes that the guests rarely seemed to enjoy. When he was studying to be a deacon, he seemed like a humble, nice guy who shared what he was learning with his guests and listeners. I stopped listening when he started thinking he had more to contribute to "the conversation" than his guests.

1-I will always love that he unceremoniously dumped Quayle after giving him fair warning. That was his best moment, in my opinion.

2-He's had a ROUGH year or two, with his broken ankle and tinnitus. I really wish him the best and hope that he can find a treatment that gives him some relief. His attitude throughout has been positive. I give him a lot of credit for that. My guess is his new book was written from recent personal experience. It may be a good book and, well, maybe the title had to be "catchy" for the publisher.

[Nebraska888]

Ian's a *very* smart guy. He has his faults and his quirks, like we all do, but he has what it takes to be a great host. He hosted some of the best shows in the Coast canon. I especially enjoyed the programs about true crime. He's the go-to guy for guests and shows that deal with belief systems and cult stuff too. He handles those subjects better than anybody on the roster. When the subject's interesting, Punnett is in a class of his own. He asks *all* of the right questions too. He asks what the listeners would ask, the opposite of Bad George. He follows up what has been followed up, so that we aren't left hanging with unsolved problems and unscratched itches. He knows how to handle meandering people too. That compensates for a multitude of sins.

Yep, I agree 100%!

[Nucky Nolan]

For me, this statement is only true if prefaced with "When compared to GN..."

Yes, Ian prepares for his show by actually reading his guest's book. That's a solid C in my book. Nothing more.

I used to feel sorry for him. He seemed like a nice guy who exposed his insecurity by taking 5 minutes to ask some overwrought, semi-related to the subject question in an effort to sound...smart. Or he would make puerile jokes that the guests rarely seemed to enjoy. When he was studying to be a deacon, he seemed like a humble, nice guy who shared what he was learning with his guests and listeners. I stopped listening when he started thinking he had more to contribute to "the conversation" than his guests.

1-I will always love that he unceremoniously dumped Quayle after giving him fair warning. That was his best moment, in my opinion.

2-He's had a ROUGH year or two, with his broken ankle and tinnitus. I really wish him the best and hope that he can find a treatment that gives him some relief. His attitude throughout has been positive. I give him a lot of credit for that. My guess is his new book was written from recent personal experience. It may be a good book and, well, maybe the title had to be "catchy" for the publisher.

Punnett truly is an educated and intelligent person. It's not an act. He makes historical errors from time to time, but we all make mistakes. He very well may be the smartest Coast host. I agree with some of your other comments and observations, though. He sometimes takes too much time to ask questions. He sometimes talks too much. This isn't fair to his guests. I get your point about the adolescent stuff too. This might affect his choices of guests and subjects. He sometimes sounds like Garth from "Wayne's World". He has youthful mannerisms.

I heard his show with Quayle. He later apologized and backtracked, which was a shame. He said nothing wrong. He was relatively polite.

[PB the Deplorable]

Lots of times he's snarky with callers, rude and dismissive.  When it isn't called for at all.  When someone has a point of view that doesn't agree with Ian's learned position - or worse, when a caller brings up something Ian didn't think of - he starts filibustering, blustering, and bullying.  When he's done, he'll dump them and sadly say all he wanted was to have a conversation. 

There is something wrong with Ian.  He has to always have the last word and be the smartest person.  He gets in his own way too much.  I quit listening to Ian before I even finally quit listening to George Noory. 

[Nucky Nolan]

Lots of times he's snarky with callers, rude and dismissive.  When it isn't called for at all.  When someone has a point of view that doesn't agree with Ian's learned position - or worse, when a caller brings up something Ian didn't think of - he starts filibustering, blustering, and bullying.  When he's done, he'll dump them and sadly say all he wanted was to have a conversation. 

There is something wrong with Ian.  He has to always have the last word and be the smartest person.  He gets in his own way too much.  I quit listening to Ian before I even finally quit listening to George Noory.

I take it that you don't care for Punnett. It's just a hunch.

[onan]

Lots of times he's snarky with callers, rude and dismissive.  When it isn't called for at all.  When someone has a point of view that doesn't agree with Ian's learned position - or worse, when a caller brings up something Ian didn't think of - he starts filibustering, blustering, and bullying.  When he's done, he'll dump them and sadly say all he wanted was to have a conversation. 

There is something wrong with Ian.  He has to always have the last word and be the smartest person.  He gets in his own way too much.  I quit listening to Ian before I even finally quit listening to George Noory.

this sums up Ian perfectly. Yeah he's is smart and just insecure enough that he needs everyone else to know how smart he is.

[Sardondi]

this sums up Ian perfectly. Yeah he's is smart and just insecure enough that he needs everyone else to know how smart he is.

I agree, and I think that's the key motivating factor. He can't wait to interrupt a guest to do juts that. I listened to some of his shows with Steve Quayle (although not the famous one where h kicked him off), who can filibuster with the best of them, and Quayle gave Ian little opportunity to show off. Ian's frustration at being shut out was almost palpable, even though by the standard of whether it was an interesting show things were going great - it's just that Ian wasn't as big a part of it as usual. Quayle was doing fine on autopilot without more than minimum comments and questions from Ian. And it almost killed Ian. 

A perfect example of Ian needing to show how smart he is came when Quayle made a reference to "ancient books which aren't in the Bible". Ian jumped in and said, "Those are called 'non-canonical'. " Okaaaayy. Which of course I'm sure Quayle knew. Although I couldn't see how that little fillip of knowledge helped the discussion along. But at least the world knew Ian knew.

Still, I could listen to Ian 7 nights a week if it meant Noory's throat had been scarred into silence.

[Mel(apostrophe)s Hole]

Punnett truly is an educated and intelligent person. It's not an act. He makes historical errors from time to time, but we all make mistakes. He very well may be the smartest Coast host. I agree with some of your other comments and observations, though. He sometimes takes too much time to ask questions. He sometimes talks too much. This isn't fair to his guests. I get your point about the adolescent stuff too. This might affect his choices of guests and subjects. He sometimes sounds like Garth from "Wayne's World". He has youthful mannerisms.

I heard his show with Quayle. He later apologized and backtracked, which was a shame. He said nothing wrong. He was relatively polite.

Fair enough. Not trying to change anyone's mind. I just don't think he's as bright as people seem to think he is. That isn't to say he's an idiot. Maybe my first sentence was a little harsh.

[Pragmier]

P*B nailed it. More often than not I find myself thinking Ian should just STFU and let the guest talk. The constant interruptions can make the interviews almost painful. Too bad 'cause otherwise it's a smart show. I really enjoyed the Scientology ones.

[ChewMouse]

Lots of times he's snarky with callers, rude and dismissive.  When it isn't called for at all.  When someone has a point of view that doesn't agree with Ian's learned position - or worse, when a caller brings up something Ian didn't think of - he starts filibustering, blustering, and bullying.  When he's done, he'll dump them and sadly say all he wanted was to have a conversation. 

There is something wrong with Ian.  He has to always have the last word and be the smartest person.  He gets in his own way too much.  I quit listening to Ian before I even finally quit listening to George Noory.

Perfect description.

And as I've said here before, he pouts like a little girl when he doesn't get his own way; the Steven Quayle debacle was an example of this.

[ctocsince94]

I found FIINEARTSTREAM on tuneinradio about amonth ago. What a great channel. I've been listening exclusively non-stop since. You guys are the best. Particularly the minimalist approach is great. It's like they took my 50gb of downloaded shows and play them back to back for me-only with ART only. Fantastic. I hope it stays that way. NO NOORY, NO SIEGEL, NO HILLY ROSE (remember him?) And definitely NO F'N IAN!!!

While I acknowledge freedom to favor the host of your choice, Ian Punnet literally turns my stomach. I cancelled my Stream link (or whatever they call it now) about a year ago after being a loyal member for many years. Being able to download 2-3 Knapp shows a month only made it no longer worth it. When Punnet started doing shows during the week as well as Saturdays I couldn't take it anymore. When he went away for good it was too little too late for me, I was gone from C2C-done.

I opined on other msg boards for years how he asks a question (for about two minutes) then when the guest tries to answer he interrupts and changes the subject, usually asking another long winded question, repeat above. Then at each break he recaps what they were talking about, teases what they are going to talk about, then comes out of the break on a different tangent. Name dropping about his friends in movies and TV, comic-con, silver surfer, trendy fan-boy crapola. All while condescendingly over-explaining the topic and his opinions as he ignores the guest.

Notice how Art says little in and out of the breaks. As if he is urging us to chew on the info for awhile without attempting to form our opinion to his agreement. That's what made him so great. A nuanced  touch of polite sarcasm and a pause speaks volumes.

Bless you fineartstream.

Even Ed Dames being so wrong almost 20 years later is still a great show. If another host were added my pick would be Knapp but let's keep it simple and stay Art only. Please no Ian, ever, under any circumstances.

Thank you for allowing me to vent.
Art , you will always be the king.

[PB the Deplorable]

... Ian Punnet literally turns my stomach...

... I opined on other msg boards for years how he asks a question (for about two minutes) then when the guest tries to answer he interrupts and changes the subject, usually asking another long winded question, repeat above. Then at each break he recaps what they were talking about, teases what they are going to talk about, then comes out of the break on a different tangent. Name dropping about his friends in movies and TV, comic-con, silver surfer, trendy fan-boy crapola. All while condescendingly over-explaining the topic and his opinions as he ignores the guest...

You've articulated this well.  The guest is there to listen to Ian's critiques and comments and to tell him he has great insights and asks great questions.

The infuriating thing about Ian is he can be a very good host when he wants to be, but that's rare - he'd rather try to show off, display his profoundly wretched sense of humor, and stick it to people that disagree with him.

[Nebraska888]

You've articulated this well.  The guest is there to listen to Ian's critiques and comments and to tell him he has great insights and asks great questions.

The infuriating thing about Ian is he can be a very good host when he wants to be, but that's rare - he'd rather try to show off, display his profoundly wretched sense of humor, and stick it to people that disagree with him.

I agree that Ian trips over his ego during some interviews.  However.....come on.....I'd choose Ian every time, every night....over George Noory!

[Nucky Nolan]

I agree that Ian trips over his ego during some interviews.  However.....come on.....I'd choose Ian every time, every night....over George Noory!

I would too. Punnett leaves no stone unturned during his conversations with guests. If the guest says something that's fascinating *or* ridiculous, Punnett will pounce on it at the very same time that we do so in our minds. Noory will ignore it.

[Juan]

I'm rather OK with Ian.  He's at least intelligent and prepares.  I do find his lectures and monologues with the guests annoying.  He could be better.

[chosenbygrace]

I heard Punnet babbling a few minutes ago about how he loved Lincoln and how great he thought it was (yeah it was so great with Lincoln cussing like a liberal and historians saying that wasn't accurate at all and just the opposite of his attitude towards vulgarity) and no doubt leaving out him smashing the printing presses of the opposition, then babbling about how he was going to talk about what made Skyfall so great... yeah I really wanna listen to fat tootin farts out my mouth Punnet giving out spoilers. Fat moron.

[FightTheFuture]

Rabies? WTF?

Why?

[ziznak]

I'm sensing a lot of anger in your post?  I'm skippin out on the first hour since I've already seen skyfall and it was ok I guess.  For a bond movie its fine maybe just a little bit too drawn out though. 

The Lincoln stuff fascinates me though.  Anything about how the founding fathers were in real life is fascinating to me.  All that slave rape and the political brawling back then!! good times man good times...

[Julius]

Personally, I find Ian to be the best of the current hosts. I like him, of course my only exposure to Art Bell is mainly through repeats.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

I am pretty upset that Hollywood and the media are making stuff up in historical movies.

Also, that I am hearing this altered history on Coast to Coast.

[Nucky Nolan]

I am pretty upset that Hollywood and the media are making stuff up in historical movies.

Also, that I am hearing this altered history on Coast to Coast.

Thank goodness for Mel Gibson movies. "Lincoln" makes his films look like Dr. Seuss stories by comparison.

[Nucky Nolan]

Check out the "Please Do This Now" thread. God bless both Zach and Ian. Here's hoping that Zach beats the odds and enjoys the fruits of a long career. I like his song more than many of the ones in the Top Forty. You can remember the melody. The young man and his band are talented. Ian showed his true colors tonight. He's a good person.

[Maxwell]

I'd forgotten that the first Sunday of the month is What's Ian Been Doing? night.  Rabies,
Lincoln and Skyfall, apparently.  (Still better than Noory though.)

[Nucky Nolan]

I'd forgotten that the first Sunday of the month is What's Ian Been Doing? night.  Rabies,
Lincoln and Skyfall, apparently.  (Still better than Noory though.)

The Lincoln segment is good. Many of us don't mind it when Punnett does shows that aren't about paranormal events and conspiracy theories. Some of his best shows don't fall into either category, but they still manage to fit into the alternative niche. Ian is like our designated host for "non-Coast" topics.

[WOTR]

Check out the "Please Do This Now" thread. God bless both Zach and Ian. Here's hoping that Zach beats the odds and enjoys the fruits of a long career. I like his song more than many of the ones in the Top Forty. You can remember the melody. The young man and his band are talented. Ian showed his true colors tonight. He's a good person.

I ended up watching the video and letting my bitter, cynical side show through.  With all of the fake cancers and people looking for a boost using lies lately I suddenly thought how funny it would be when he got better and landed a record deal...  Ian came back on and must have read my mind because he assured us that this is the real deal- there would be no embarrassment for those sharing a few months down the road when it is discovered to be a fake.  I felt better thinking that he must have actually looked into it a little instead of just opening a link in an email or trusting an anonymous twitter post.

You can tell that there are some true coast fans who have watched the video from the comments that cancer has not beat him yet and that he should try turmeric (no, I am not kidding- there are posts suggesting that the kid with inoperable cancer and a few moths to live just try turmeric ) and another saying that it has been shown that hemp oil will cure him... More reasons to hate George when feeble minded followers actually believe that his spice will cure advanced cancer (it is one thing to think it may help prevent it or help with a small tumor- quite another when your favourite snake oil salesman er... radio host has convinced you that one taste of his magic spice will cure even advanced cancer...)

Clouds by Zach Sobiech

[ItsOver]

I'd forgotten that the first Sunday of the month is What's Ian Been Doing? night.  Rabies,
Lincoln and Skyfall, apparently.  (Still better than Noory though.)

It sure beats "The Pizza Roll Chronicles."