Beginnings

On today's episode I talk to award-winning playwright, author, and performer Isaac Oliver . His debut collection of essays, Intimacy Idiot , was named one of NPR's Best Books of 2015. His plays include Electra in a One-Piece , and the ten-minute plays "3, 2, 1," "Film Forum," and "Come Here", which won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Short Script. Additionally, he's...

On today's episode I talk to Jade Payne and Mars Ganito of the indie rock band Aye Nako . Formed in 2010, Aye Nako is a New York-based queer punk band who make dissonant and melodic punk music. In 2013, they self-released their first album Unleash Yourself, and in 2015, Don Giovanni Records released their EP THe Blackest Eye. The album saw the band explore personal themes such as abuse and racism,...

I'm moving to LA this week, so I wanted to take a break from producing an episode to settle into the new digs and recover from having to take two cats on a cross-country flight. And while I was getting ready for the move, I was cleaning up my hard drive and found some of the music from when Beginnings was a monthly live show at UCB East (every month we'd have a musical guest perform and then be in...

On today's episode I talk to musician Jen Goma . Based in New York City, Jen writes and produces music, comedy and videos. She is a member of the bands A Sunny Day in Glasgow and Roman à Clef and has collaborated with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Jherek Bischoff. Her first solo album Smiley Face, recorded under the name Showtime Goma was just released, and it's great! This is  the website...

On today's episode I talk to writer Joseph Kertes . Joe was born in Hungary but escaped with his family to Canada after the revolution of 1956. He studied English at York University and the University of Toronto and founded Humber College's distinguished creative writing and comedy programs. As an author, he's written a number of books including Winter Tulips and Boardwalk. His third book Gratitud...

On today's episode I talk to novelist, columnist, and Emmy-nominated television writer Bill Scheft . Bill started his career as a sportswriter and as a stand-up. After twelve years touring, he was hired as a monologue writer for L ate Night with David Letterman where he remained for 24 years until the show's conclusion in 2015. In addition to writing for Letterman , Bill also wrote for the Oscars,...

On today's episode I talk to writer and showrunner Stephen Falk . Born in Berkeley, CA, Stephen has been working in television for a number of years, starting off on the Showtime series Weeds. He then created the NBC show Next Caller, and went on to write for Orange is the New Black. In 2014, he created the wonderful FX series You're the Worst, whose 4th season will air sometime later this year. T...

On today's episode I talk to writer and showrunner Joel Church-Cooper . Born in Sacramento, Joel grew up in Santa Cruz, and eventually made his way down to LA where he started taking classes and performing at UCB and IO West. As a TV writer, he started on shows like The Onion SportsDome, as well as Up All Night, Ground Floor and Undateable, among many others. Most recently, he created and showruns...

On today's episode I talk to writer and showrunner Damon Lindelof. Originally from Teaneck, NJ, Damon has been a successful television and screenwriter for almost two decades. He started on shows like MTV's Undressed and Nash Bridges, and in 2004 co-created Lost, the show that revitalized the possibility that network TV could be weird and labyrinthine. He's written many of the best studio sci-fi f...

On today's episode I talk to songwriter, arranger and record producer Patrick Adams . Originally from Harlem, Patrick has applied his magic touch to more than four decades of music, earning thousands of credits for contributions to disco, boogie, soul and hip-hop releases both genre-defining and criminally underrated. In addition to mentoring Leroy Burgess and his seminal soul group Black Ivory, P...

On today's episode I talk to musician Chris Leo . Originally from New Jersey, Chris started playing music in the early 1990s with his brother Danny in the groundbreaking hardcore band Native Nod. When they broke up, Chris formed the post-rock band The Van Pelt, whose two albums - Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves and Sultans Of Sentiment - were released by NJ indie record label Gern Blandsten. Ch...

On today's episode I talk to comedian Ronny Chieng . Born in Malaysia, Ronny was raised in New Hampshire and Singapore and graduated from the University of Melbourne in Australia with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce. That same year, he started performing stand-up, and since then he has toured four sold out global stand up comedy theater tours in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Mal...

On today's episode I talk to Grammy Award winning cabaret artist and actor Nathan Lee Graham . Originally from St. Louis, Nathan's notable film roles include Todd in Zoolander and Zoolander 2, Frederick Montana in Sweet Home Alabama and Geoff in Hitch and on TV has appeared as Peter in The Comeback, and had guest starring roles on Scrubs, Absolutely Fabulous and Law & Order SVU. His stage appearan...

On today's episode I talk to writer, comedian and podcast host Negin Farsad . Originally from Palm Springs by-way-of Virginia, Negin is highly accomplished in many domains. She's the director, writer and star of the romantic comedy 3rd Street Blackout , which starred Janeane Garofalo, Ed Weeks, and John Hodgman, as well as the director and producer of the feature film The Muslims Are Coming! which...

On today's episode I talk to Emmy nominated comedy writer Caissie St. Onge . Originally from Fitchberg, MA, Caissie is a prolific comedy writer. She's worked for The Late Show with David Letterman , The Rosie O'Donnell Show , VH1's Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins , The Grammy Awards, The Tony Awards, and regularly wrote material for Joan Rivers. She's also a YA author having penned the novel...

On today's episode I talk to actor and comedian Amy Hoggart . Amy grew up in the suburbs of London, and though she received an advanced degree in clinical psychology, she ended up pursuing a career in comedy. She started in the famous Cambridge sketch group The Footlights and the London stand-up scene, and in 2014 was cast in the BBC America show Almost Royal . And in 2016, Amy became a correspond...

Every so often I do these "bonus episodes" where I talk to a showbiz professional about the actual nuts and bolts of different topics in the Entertainment Industry in an attempt to demystify these things. And on today's episode, I talk to the love of my life Naomi Ekperigin (former writer for Broad City, you may have heard her on 2 Dope Queens or on her own Comedy Central Half Hour), and we talk t...

On today's episode I talk to musician Tim Kasher . Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Tim has been playing music since he was young. One of Tim's first bands, Slowdown Virginia was shortlived though they inspired other bands to form like The Faint and Bright Eyes, and Lumberjack Records, the record label that put out their one album, became Saddle Creek, one of the biggest indie labels around. In 19...

On today's episode I talk to Jason Balla and Mikey Wells of the indie rock band NE-HI . Based in Chicago, NE-HI originally formed in 2013 to score a friend's film. But when the four of them realized they had a lot of chemistry together, they decided to make the band official. Their first self-titled album was released on Manic Static in 2014 and their latest album Offers was released earlier this...

On today's episode I talk to musician Jason Narducy . Jason began his rock career at the age of ten when he co-founded the band Verböten – one of the seminal acts in the Chicago punk scene. He then went on to become frontman/songwriter/guitarist for Verbow, another beloved Windy City outfit who signed a major-label deal with Epic/Sony during the '90s alt-rock bubble and followed that up with an on...

On today's episode I talk to violinist David Harrington . Originally from Seattle, David is the founder of the renowned contemporary classical group Kronos Quartet. The group was established in 1973, and since then, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential groups of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 50 recordings of extraordinary breadth...

On today's episode I talk to writer and actor Mara Wilson . Mara started off in showbiz as a child actor in such films as Mrs. Doubtfire , Miracle on 34th Street and Matilda . After her mother passed away when she was 8 though, she lost some of her passion for acting, and eventually left that side of the business. While she infrequently acts now, appearing on shows like Broad City or BoJack Horsem...

Every so often I do these "bonus episodes" where I talk to a showbiz professional about the actual nuts and bolts of different topics in the Entertainment Industry in an attempt to demystify these things. And on today's episode, I have a wide-ranging and frank talk about comedy journalism with Vulture.com Senior Editor and host of the new Good One Podcast Jesse David Fox . The conversation starts...

On today's episode I talk to musician Tim Kinsella . Originally from Chicago, Tim has been part of some of the best indie rock bands of the last quarter-century. In 1989, he formed Cap'n Jazz along with his brother Mike, who would go on to become a frequent collaborator with Tim and a well-know artist in his own right in bands like American Football and Owen. Even though Cap'n Jazz only put out on...

On today's episode I talk to violist Nadia Sirota . Based in New York, Nadia is a Juilliard-trained violist best known for her singular sound and expressive execution and she's worked with a number of amazing contemporary composers like Nico Muhly, Judd Greenstein, and Missy Mazzoli. Her debut album First Things First was released in 2009 on New Amsterdam Records and was cited as a record of the y...