There’s only so much jokey riffing one can take. Still, the comedy podcast has become a major new medium, and not just because some performers have leveraged it into television shows and corporate deals. It’s because podcasts give comics the freedom — limitless time, no interference — to make new forms of comedy for an international audience. And that’s why “How Was Your Week?” has become one of the few essential podcasts.  Its host, Julie Klausner, has performed sketch and improv. She’s worked on television, written a memoir and posted on Twitter with abandon. New York magazine recently hired her as the public face of its culture Web site Vulture, a job in which she appears in television spots and original videos. But the only vehicle that reveals the extent of her diverse talents is the freewheeling monologue that opens her hourlong or so weekly podcast.  Ms. Klausner, 34, delivers around 20 minutes of topical jokes, offhand theories, an occasional song. She might speak melodramatically about her cat, Jimmy Jazz, or describe one of her various Twitter feuds with marginal cultural figures.  “Pauley Perrette has blocked me on Twitter,” she said at the start of one podcast, referring to a supporting actress on “NCIS.” “This is huge. This is like Pearl Harbor. In every way.”  Ms. Klausner, who lives in New York, has a brassy, old-school style. She moons over Broadway shows and the allure of an inaccessible gentile the way you rarely hear young Jews do anymore. Her literate sensibility and affection for showmanship are reminders of an era when “nerd” connoted smart more than obsessive, and it was assumed that a little song and dance would be part of an entertainer’s skill set.  You can hear the influence of Joan Rivers, for whom she once wrote jokes, in her politically incorrect humor, but also Sandra Bernhard, who shares her flamboyant sarcasm and half-joking cabaret diva flair. What really distinguishes Ms. Klausner’s podcast, however, is how she turns cultural criticism of everything from reality shows to prestige movies into vivid comic performance.  In previous episodes Ms. Klausner described the HBO series “The Newsroom” as a show with “the density of Gilbert and Sullivan and the confidence of a high school senior,” and “The Shining” as “a movie about a woman who married an alcoholic out of her league.” In one tangent about how “Rent” was “a little much,” she tossed off this wickedly funny line: “It’s like that guy dying young is the first thing he did that wasn’t overstaying his welcome.”  “That guy” is, of course, the composer Jonathan Larson and he died the day “Rent” was to begin previews, which is exactly the kind of tedious overexplaining that Ms. Klausner doesn’t waste much time on. Her assumption that her audience gets her references contributes to the show’s knowing, personal voice, which brings to mind Moss Hart’s description of the way actors talk among themselves: “gay, sardonic and very often sprinkled with a nice edge of malice.”  Ms. Klausner might be at her most irresistible when the speed of her monologue picks up, and she seems to be working out ideas out loud. As critics develop and refine opinions into reviews, their first impressions, which is often the most honest ones, can get lost or muted. That rarely happens in “How Was Your Week?” In fact, Ms. Klausner, who studied at the Upright Citizens Brigade, makes you think that criticism could learn something from improv.  On the podcast she talks with many comedians but is often more interesting with journalists, artists and actors. The quality of her interviews varies wildly: Sometimes she defers to the guests too much, and she is less fearless questioning others than herself.  The focus is typically more on culture than personality. Whereas Marc Maron, another comic with journalistic instincts, used his podcast to interview Tim Heidecker about his comedy, Ms. Klausner’s discussion with him focused on his thoughts on “Brand X,” the compellingly awful FX television show with Russell Brand.  Ms. Klausner also writes for the addictive Fuse game show “Billy on the Street,” which shares one of her main strategies: treating the trivial with apocalyptic gravity. Its host, Billy Eichner, who often banters with Ms. Klausner on Twitter in a 21st-century double act, roams the streets of New York screaming questions about celebrities with a mighty imperiousness.  But while Mr. Eichner leavens his volcanic anger with a childlike physicality — imagine an enraged, dressed-down Pee-wee Herman — Ms. Klausner packages her hyperbole in a more verbally subtle aesthetic. It’s still silly, but mostly in its use of language. In her monologue she willfully mispronounces words, adding long vowels or French pronunciations for variety. (“Twitter” becomes “Twittair.”)  In one episode she says “prurient,” then pauses for a confession. “I never learned to pronounce that word, because you shouldn’t,” Ms. Klausner said, preparing for the pivot. “You should only write it in a term paper, then graduate and stop spending your parents’ money.”  Ms. Klausner’s monologue has a herky-jerky rhythm. She constantly interrupts herself, asking rhetorical questions, aborting thoughts, shifting into digressions. It adds up to a goofy but assured staccato sound that is a nice match for her humor, which hits high notes in tangents and transitions. It’s a dense series of detours, woven together by creative transitions.  Recently she talked about spitting on a man who slapped her near the Vatican, chatted about the Holocaust, analyzed “Rosemary’s Baby” and mocked Ricky Gervais. But all these riffs were anchored, believe it or not, by her confession that she now believes in the Devil.  This oddball monologue moves from somber to superficial as quickly as it does from high to lowbrow. The jokes arrive at an unpredictable clip, and while they are hit or miss, they never seem canned. It’s personal comedy wrapped (in a way that is both apt and unlikely) inside the spirit of a variety show.  This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:  An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of one of the comedians mentioned. He is Tim Heidecker, not Heideicker.  An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of one of the comedians mentioned. He is Tim Heidecker, not Heideicker.
Julie Klausnerâs podcast âHow Was Your Week?â is a mix of riffing and interviews that has a literate sensibility.