Cassie Burns and BIG Ben Kennedy can turn kettle corn, a low-calorie beer, and a reference to films into conversation. Episode 69 of Snackin’ & Yakkin’ brings two cinema enthusiasts who discuss movies, comedy, and recording a podcast in public.

Cassie hosts Comedians In Bars Getting Sloppy, a Charleston-area show that puts comedians and the venues that host them in the same spotlight. Her visit with Ben moves easily from bar stories to favorite films, with plenty of side streets along the way.

Cassie Burns Takes the Podcast to Local Bars

Cassie first started Comedians In Bars Getting Sloppy several years ago, but paused when her daughter was younger and the timing did not work. When she brought it back, the idea picked up speed fast. She planned to start in July, then began recording in June instead as comedians lined up to join her.

The show’s format gives equal attention to comedians and the bars that welcome them. Cassie and her husband pay for their drinks, asking venues only for a small space to record.

“I want to advertise the bars just as much as I do the comedians.”

That approach has made the show a place to meet bartenders, owners, comics, and regulars. Cassie says some venues and guests now contact her directly, which is a rewarding change after the early effort of finding places to record.

A bar’s noise is part of the episode

The setting creates its own soundscape, and sometimes that soundscape has a motorcycle club revving outside. Cassie recalled one recording where the noise distorted the audio, although her husband handles production and can reduce some of those interruptions.

The Recovery Room gave her a different kind of background energy. On the way in, the people at the bar launched into a loud argument over whether Die Hard counts as a Christmas movie. Cassie says it does not, although Ben is fine with watching it during the holidays or any other time of year.

Cassie wants to keep the show mobile, with Greenville and a return trip to St. Augustine among the places she hopes to visit. National comedy acts are also on her wish list. The wider Charleston comedy orbit has already appeared on Ben’s show, including MK Kern on roast battles and open-mic strategy.

Kettle Corn, Beer, and the Fast Five

Kettle corn landed on the table because the conversation had movies on its mind, while buttered popcorn risked turning Cassie’s shirt into a crime scene. She calls herself messy enough to know better. Ben compared the snack to caramel-coated popcorn with peanuts, though less caramel-heavy than the popcorn found in holiday tins.

Ben remembered discovering kettle corn at the Maryland State Fair in Timonium, where a huge bag of the sweet popcorn immediately became a fair-day favorite. Cassie had considered bringing tiny fruit candies, but decided the tiny candies would create too much chewing and too much dead air for an editor.

Cassie’s Fast Five choices included:

• Sweet and savory breakfast, preferably French toast with bacon.
• Hot sauce over giving up every condiment.
• Burgers over tacos.
• Fried green tomatoes over she-crab soup, because an unexpected shell ruins the soup for her.
• Kettle corn and beer for the day’s snack pairing.

She also gave a shout-out to Reckless Breakfast in West Ashley, which shares a kitchen with Our Kitchen and offers Sunday brunch with both sweet and savory choices.

Acting Dreams and Comedy Nerves

Cassie’s first school play was Bye Bye Birdie, where she played the mother of her friend Cameron Thrower’s character. After high school, she performed in two productions with Flowertown Players in Summerville and considered moving to New York to pursue acting.

Life and careers took her in another direction, although the interest never disappeared. Before COVID, she hoped to audition for Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Her dream role is Kathy Bates’ character in Misery.

Podcasting is not acting, but it gives Cassie the creative outlet and human connection she missed.

She has plenty of respect for stand-up comics, yet does not picture herself handling hecklers or telling a long joke onstage. Cassie calls herself quick but not a storyteller, recalling Fred Joy telling her to stop midway through an overly long joke because she was so bad at telling it.

Ben’s view is different. He says he does not fear hecklers because he does not see himself as above the audience. He shared a story about hearing someone call one of his jokes stupid, then tying his comeback to an earlier joke about his cat’s post-zoomies destruction.

Movies That Stick in the Mind

The conversation becomes a long-running appreciation session for the 1980s and 1990s cinema and the movies of Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Alan Rickman, Robert Downey Jr., James Marsden, and the performers who make a role feel impossible to recast.

Cassie remembered seeing Dumb and Dumber several times in theaters, while There’s Something About Mary as a movie that left her laughing hard enough to fall out of her seat. They also talked about the first Matrix movie and the burst of energy that followed leaving the theater after seeing something that felt new.

For Cassie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind stands out among Jim Carrey’s dramatic work. The film’s story of Joel erasing memories of Clementine, outlined in IMDb’s film listing, led them into a conversation about painful memories, embarrassment, trauma, and the ways hard experiences can shape a person’s life.

Ben also recalled watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas while altered, then becoming convinced the movie would never end. The mystery had a simple answer the next morning: the television’s VCR automatically rewound and restarted the tape.

Cassie offered another recommendation, Defending Your Life, with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. In the film, the dead arrive in a place where they review their lives before moving on or returning to Earth. Cassie especially loves the scenes where Albert Brooks’ character must sit through a montage of his own foolish moments.

A Conversation Built for Tangents

The episode closes in the same loose spirit that carried it through bar arguments, childhood theater, VHS confusion, and movie memories. Cassie and Ben also swap stories about the Savannah Bananas, old-school pranks, and their brief inability to remember the Wonder Twins’ names before landing on Zan and Jayna.

Cassie’s podcast is built around the fact that good bar conversations rarely travel in a straight line. Episode 69 follows that same rule, then signs off with a promise that Cassie and Ben’s collaboration will not end here.

More episodes can be found here!