Beginnings

On today's episode I talk to actor James Urbaniak . Originally from Bayonne, New Jersey, James was part of the flourishing 1990s New York theater scene. It was there he met Hal Hartley who cast him as Simon Grim in the wonderful film Henry Fool. Since then, James has been part of Hartley's unofficial repertory, acting in a number of his other films. Outside of these, James has also acted in dozens...

On today's episode I talk to stand-up and writer Dana Gould . Originally from Hopedale, MA, Dana started performing stand-up at the tender age of 17, and since then has taped numerous late night appearances, specials (including an HBO Half-Hour), and four albums: Funhouse, I Know It's Wrong, Let Me Put My Thoughts in Your, and his latest Mr. Funny Man, which was just released earlier this year on...

We're stuck between Christmas and New Year's Eve, folks, so I thought I'd drop a bonus episode this week! What's a "bonus episode" of Beginnings? These are episodes that deviate from "let's talk to a creator I admire about their childhoods" and instead take a peek behind the curtain of showbiz. As I get deeper into the business part of this industry, I learn so much more about the real structures...

On today's episode I talk to TV writer and showrunner Karl Schaefer . Originally from Downey, CA, Karl has been working in TV since the late 1980s, where he started off as the creator and showrunner of TV 101. In the '90s, he created and showran two supernatural programs Eerie, Indiana and Strange Luck, and then spent time writing on a number of different shows including Monk, The Dead Zone, Eurek...

On today's episode I talk to TV writer Jessica Gao . Originally from Los Angeles, Jessica began her TV writing career in the world of animation, working on shows like Nickelodeon's The Mighty B and Kung Fu Panda, as well as live action shows for both Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel. In 2014, Jessica wrote for Silicon Valley on HBO, followed by the wonderful Seeso (RIP) show Bajillion Dollar Pro...

On today's episode I talk to comics writer and artist Sina Grace . Based in Los Angeles, Sina is the author and illustrator of a number of books for Image Comics including Self-Obsessed, Not My Bag, and Nothing Lasts Forever. He acts as the artist for Shaun Steven Struble's cult hit, The Li'l Depressed Boy, and handles art chores along with co-writing the Image Comics hit series, Burn the Orphanag...

On today's episode I talk to writer and painter Steve Dildarian . Originally from New Jersey, Steve spent many years as an advertising executive and created a number of well-known campaigns including the "Budweiser Lizards". In 2006, Steve created an animated short film called Angry Unpaid Hooker, which won the best animated short at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, which led to his show on HBO. The...

It's almost Thanksgiving, folks! So I thought I'd drop a bonus episode early so you could listen while you're traveling for the holidays. What's a "bonus episode" of Beginnings? These are episodes that deviate from "let's talk to a creator I admire about their childhoods" and instead take a peek behind the curtain of showbiz. As I get deeper into the business part of this industry, I learn so much...

On today's episode I talk to actor and voiceover artist Carlos Alazraqui . Carlos is probably most often recognized as Deputy James Garcia from Comedy Central's hit show Reno 911! A standup comic for over 25 years, he is also one of LA's top voiceover actors with hundreds of credits to his name, including The Taco Bell Chihuahua, Mr. Weed on FOX's Family Guy, Lazlo on Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo,...

On today's episode I talk to writer and showrunner Javier Grillo-Marxuach . Originally from Puerto Rico, Javi earned his MFA in screenwriting from USC in the early 1990s, and soon after started his television career. He's written for a number of rad shows across many different genres including Charmed, Boomtown, Medium, Lost, Helix and The 100, and he created and showran the fantastic show The Mid...

On today's episode I talk to TV writer and performer Eliot Glazer . Originally from Long Island, Eliot is now based in LA and has written for or contributed to shows like Billy on the Street, Difficult People, Best Week Ever, Younger, Broad City, New Girl, and currently Teachers. He also recently developed a show for Comedy Central produced by Will Arnett. As a performer, you've seen him on plenty...

On today's episode I talk to musician Angelo de Augustine . Angelo writes and records music in Thousand Oaks, California -- a suburb north of Los Angeles, where he grew up.  His self-released debut album, Spirals of Silence, and 3-song EP follow-up, How Past Begins, earned praise from The FADER, Stereogum, Vogue, My Old Kentucky Blog, and more, and his music has been compared to Nick Drake, Elliot...

On today's episode I talk to musician Inara George . The daughter of Lowell George, who was a member of Frank Zappa's band and the founder of rock group Little Feat, Inara grew up in Topanga Canyon, in the outskirts of Los Angeles. Since the 1990s, she has been a member of a number of bands herself including Lode, Merrick, and starting in the early 2000s, the indie pop duo The Bird and The Bee wit...

On today's episode I talk to TV writer Annie Mebane . Originally from Florida, Annie came up in comedy at iOWest and UCBLA, performing on house improv teams at both theaters. As a writer, she's worked on a number of awesome shows including Happy Endings, Breaking In, Community, The Michael J. Fox Show, The Goldbergs, and currently the new Heathers series. This is  the website  for  Beginnings ,  s...

On today's episode I talk to TV writer Cord Jefferson . Originally from Tucson, Cord began his career as a print journalist, first as senior editor at GOOD magazine and then as the west coast editor at Gawker. His reporting and writing have appeared in numerous places including National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine,  The Root, TheNation.com, Jezebel, The American Prospect, and many othe...

On today's episode I talk to musician Cory Hanson . Originally from Los Angeles, Cory began playing music professionally with Mikal Cronin and the bands, together PANGEA and Meatbodies. In 2014 he formed Wand with his former art school classmates Lee Landey and Evan Burrows, and they've gone on to record four albums: Ganglion Reef, Golem, 1000 Days, and their latest Plum (the last two were release...

On today's episode I talk to writer and podcaster Andrew Ti . Originally from Michigan, Andrew is the creator and host of the Yo, Is This Racist blog and podcast, which has been part of Earwolf for many years. In both forms, Andrew takes fan-submitted questions about whether certain cultural phenomena are racist or not. Besides Yo, Is This Racist, Andrew's also a writer, and has worked on a number...

On today's episode I talk to cartoonist Eli Valley . Eli's work has been featured in The Nation, The New Republic, The Village Voice, The Nib, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Gawker among other places, and from 2011 to 2013, he was the Artist in Residence at The Forward, a progressive Jewish newspaper based in New York. His critically-acclaimed anthology Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America an...

On today's episode I talk to rapper Latasha Alcindor AKA LA. Originally from Flatbush, Brooklyn, Latasha made her way into hip hop in a unique way: through performance art. In only six short years, she's put out a number of great albums including The Presentation and The LA Riots in 2011, Spark in 2014, Loosies and Blunts a year later, and two this year B(LA)K and Teen Nite at Empire. All are wort...

On today's episode I talk to writer Jill Eisenstadt . Jill is the author of the novels From Rockaway, Kiss Out and Swell and with her sister, director Debra Eisenstadt, the co- writer and co-producer of the feature film, The Limbo Room. In the 1980s, she was part of the 'Literary Brat Pack' whose members included Bret Easton Ellis, Jay McInerney, and Tama Janowitz. Other work of Jill's has appeare...

On today's episode I talk to Emmy-award winning writer and performer Zhubin Parang . Before coming to comedy, Zhubin graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and was a practicing lawyer in New York City. During this time, he studied at and eventually became a performer at UCB. In 2011, he joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a writer, and eventually Zhubin became the head writer when t...

On today's episode I talk to Peabody Award–winning writer-director-producer Miles Kahn . Miles got his start in entertainment as a writer and director, and in 2008 joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart . He worked his way up to Senior Producer, and during his time there, also produced a number of specials for stand-ups like Wyatt Cenac and D.L. Hughley.  In 2015, Miles left the Daily Show to serv...

On today's episode I talk to Queens-based cartoonist and illustrator Mattie Lubchansky . Mattie is the Associate Editor of the Nib, a daily political comics site under the First Look Media umbrella, which also houses the brilliant left-wing news site The Intercept. Mattie's work has appeared in VICE, Eater, Mad Magazine, Gothamist, The Toast, The Hairpin, Brooklyn Magazine, as well as their long-r...

On today's episode I talk to screenwriter and activist Jeremy Pikser . Originally on his way to be a teacher, Jeremy instead became a screenwriter after a series of events led him to be a "special consultant" and uncredited writer on the film Reds , which was nominated for an Academy Award for screenplay. He's written a number of other films as well, including The Lemon Sisters with Diane Keaton a...

On today's episode I talk to policy analyst and data scientist Sam Sinyangwe . Sam grew up in Orlando, FL, and has been involved in organizing and advocacy since he was in high school. He's worked at PolicyLink helping to support a national network of 61 "Promise Neighborhoods" with the goal of building cradle-to-career systems of support for low-income families. He created the "Mapping Police Vio...