sklar brothers

THE ESSENTIALS

WHAT	#109 Michigan (8-20, 3-14 B10) at #95 Rutgers (14-13, 6-10 B10)
WHERE	The RAC Piscataway, NJ
WHEN	8:30 PM
THE LINE	Kenpom: RU-5 Torvik: RU-3
TELEVISION	FS1 (link)

THE OVERVIEW

Randy and Jason Sklar are a brilliant comedy duo, a pair of identical twins who went to Michigan then carved out a career in Hollywood, most famously with their own ESPN show The Cheap Seats, plus regular TV and film appearances, and of course stand-up. That show returns this weekend to where it all started, Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, MI. There are still tickets left for those shows, including one tonight at 7:30 PM.

If you can't make it to see the Sklars, but you're still up for a laugh on a Thursday night, Michigan basketball travels to Rutgers for a matchup between the fourth-worst Big Ten offense (relative to the conf average on Kenpom) since my freshman year in college, and the 13th worst defense since 1998-'99.

The words "Historically Bad Basketball" are unusable in this context, only because it would be almost impossible to reproduce anything as unwatchable as the last 17 minutes between these teams, at least from the Michigan perspective.

What happens when you transport that game to The RAC? Maybe not much? Rutgers just lost there 63-46 to Maryland, a team they beat (56-53) on the road. The vagaries of their consistently atrocious offense opposite their consistently excellent defense make this Rutgers team consistently immune to predictive metrics. This Michigan team on the other hand has been remarkably consistent in their passivity. Even with Dug McDaniel finally cleared to travel once again, they're without Olivier Nkamhoua, their most defense-independent scorer.

So I say again: The Sklars. In Royal Oak. Guaranteed good time, hilarity without the darkness, and afterwards you can go up and tell the stars that everything's alright because Michigan won the national championship in football without them getting the least bit annoyed. Just don't tell them the Rutgers score.

[After THE JUMP: You wanna know what's funny?]

You know what we forgot to do? Splice the Hot Takes segment we recorded into today’s podcast. Sorry for the audio content explosion but we couldn’t have one without the other.

It’s also an opportunity to mention the Sklars are coming to Detroit at the end of February and that I did a segment on their show that comes out tomorrow.

Direct download.

Special Guests

Randy and Jason Sklar are joining us because they have a show at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase tonight, and two more tomorrow. They are also tailgating with us tomorrow at Venue. Tickets to all three shows are available here.

Tailgate Info for Tomorrow

Venue by 4M (1919 S Industrial Hwy, Ann Arbor—just at the end of the Stadium Blvd bridge. Starts at 12:30 PM. Venue will have food and drinks and parking for purchase. They have parking for $50 until it fills up. Anyone can come to the tailgate, but if you aren't seeing the Sklars live this weekend you have to give us a hot take in the hot take voice.

The Sponsors

We are broadcasting live before a retail audience at Underground Printing's downtown store on Main Street—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Human Element, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M, SignalWire where we usually record this, and Winewood Organics.

Featured Musician: Cut Worms

The Video:

[After THE JUMP: What was said.]