Beginnings

On today's episode, taped live at UCB Sunset on August 3rd, 2015, I'm joined by five of my favorite comedians and musicians: stand-up and actors  Ron Funches  and  Andy Kindler , actor and improvisor  John Gemberling , and musicians  Open Mike Eagle  and  Nick Thorburn . Ron can currently be seen on the NBC sitcom  Undateable , Andy is on the IFC show  Maron , and beyond that, both are some of the...

On today's show I talk to comic book writer/artist  Dash Shaw . Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Dash studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and is the author of numerous graphic novels. These include  Love Eats Brains!  published by Odd God Press,  GardenHead  published by Meathaus,  The Mother's Mouth  published by Alternative Comics,  Bottomless Belly Button  and  New School...

On today's show I talk to musician  Katie Eastburn . Katie grew up mostly in Nashville (with stints in Hawaii and Colorado), before migrating to San Francisco to choreograph dance and produce musicals. There she met guitarist Jeff Rosenberg of the notorious, now-defunct West Coast noise-rock duo Pink and Brown, and they eventually formed the indie rock band Young People, who released albums on 5RC...

On today's show I talk to musician and editor  Jon Fine . Currently, Jon is the executive editor of Inc. magazine. But before he turned to journalism, he was a rock guitarist, most famously in the indie rock band Bitch Magnet. Jon also played in Vineland and Coptic Light, and was a touring guitarist with Don Caballero. Recently, Jon's memoirs and thoughts on the underground music scene -  Your Ban...

On today's show I talk to cartoonist  Pete Toms . Born in New York, Pete works in the comics industry as a colorist and on his own web comics as a writer and artist. Much like  Wonder Showzen , Pete's comics are a wonderful mix of surreality, political and social commentary, violence, and above all, humor. Many of his works can be read through his own website or through  Study Group Comics , and t...

On today's show I talk to musician  Christian Gibbs . Originally from San Diego, Christian has had a pretty varied musical career. He's played lead guitar in the UK band Modern English (who you might remember for their hit "I Melt With You"), played with J.G. Thirlwell's band Foetus, fronted the rock trio Morning Glories, as well as the chamber-rock group Lucinda Black Bear. While Christian has se...

On today's show I talk to musician  Michael Rault . Michael is a Toronto based singer, guitarist and songwriter who fronts his own eponymously named band and also plays as a member of Slim Twig's group. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, he's part of the same music scene that spawned Mac DeMarco, and he's got a cassingle "Still Not Sad" b/w "Nothing Means Nothing" along with his album Living Dayli...

On today's show I talk to comedians and spouses  Betsy Stover  and  Ari Voukydis . Almost two decades worth of students and performers at UCB owe their education to Betsy and Ari, who have been teaching and performing at the theatre since essentially its beginning. Besides being house performers at UCB, the two are both actors and writers. Betsy toured with the one-woman off-Broadway show Mother L...

On today's show, I talk to musician  Samara Lubelski . Samara grew up in an artistic community in SoHo, New York in the 1970s. She began her music career playing in the "dark-rock" band Of a Mesh, and since then has been a member of numerous groups including Pacer, The Sonora Pine, Hall of Fame, The Tower Recordings, Metal Mountains and most recently Chelsea Light Moving. Samara has also released...

On today's show, I talk to musician  Angel Deradoorian . Originally from California, Angel was a member of the popular indie rock band Dirty Projectors, joining before the Rise Above tour. Angel was part of the band for their breakout album Bitte Orca , and since leaving the group, has recorded vocals for a number of projects, been part of Animal Collective member Avey Tare's band Slasher Flicks,...

On today's show, I talk to Shayna Dunkelman, Michael Anthony Carter and Angelica Negron who together make up the experimental pop group Peptalk . Individually, Shayna grew up in Japan, and also plays in the bands Xiu Xiu, Glasser and Balun, a band that Angelica is also a member of. Angelica is also a composerand has been commissioned by many different festivals to create works. As well as playing...

On today's show I talk to musician Annabelle Cazes AKA Glockabelle . Annabelle grew up in Westchester, NY and studied for many years in Paris with an aim to become a concert pianist. After having a taste of that lifestyle however, she turned her attentions to indie rock, making her own music with a small Casio VL-1 keyboard and a glockenspiel. Annabelle has toured with The Fiery Furnaces (why not...

On today's show I talk to actor Adam Pally . Adam got his start in comedy at UCB performing on the theater's reknowned improv team Death by Roo Roo, and in the trio Hot Sauce with Brooklyn 99 writer (and former Beginnings guest ) Gil Ozeri and Parks and Rec 's Ben Schwartz. After moving to LA, Adam was cast on the amazing comedy Happy Endings , which ran for three seasons, and after that played Dr...

On today's show I talk to comedian and writer Yassir Lester . Originally from Marietta, GA, Yassir is based in Los Angeles. An accomplished stand-up, Yassir is also a TV writer and has written for Adult Swim shows like Black Dynamite and Mr. Pickles . He's a judge on the MTV show Snack-Off as well, and currently he's a writer on the forthcoming season of the HBO series Girls . Also in the second h...

On today's show I talk to author Jack Womack . Originally from Lexington, Kentucky, Jack moved to New York in 1977, and his first novel Ambient was published a decade later. Ambient was the first in his "Dryco" series which includes Terraplane , Heathern and Elvissey , which he won the Philip K Dick Award for. He's also written a number of other great books like Random Acts of Senseless Violence a...

  On today's show I talk to comedy writer and the man behind many of your favorite things Joe Randazzo . Joe got his start at The Onion , and while there worked his way up to editor of the paper. After they moved their headquarters to Chicago, he became the creative director of Thing X which then became adultswim.com , and presided over a creative renaissance for the site. Currently, Joe is the he...

On today's show I talk to writer, producer and feminist Marcelle Karp . Born in New York, Marcelle met Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel in 1993 while working at Nickelodeon, and the three started a zine called Bust . Bust grew and became one of the flagship publications of third-wave feminism. After leaving the magazine to raise her daughter Ruby, Marcelle has continued to be an icon of feminism a...

On today's show I talk to actor Susan Heyward . Susan grew up mostly in Atlanta and Philly as the daughter of two preachers and came to acting at a young age. Since entering the professional world, she's performed on and off Broadway, had roles in comedies like 30 Rock and Michael and Michael Have Issues , dramas like The Following , and most recently played Deena Pilgrim in the Powers Playstation...

On today's show I talk to writer Alex Dinelaris Jr. As a New York native, Alex was captivated by film and theater at a young age. While he initially studied to be a theater director, he was encouraged to write, and eventually his play Folding the Monster got some attention. Since then, he's written a number of well-received plays, including Still Life and Red Dog Howls , has co-written two films B...

On today's show I talk to comedian Kevin Avery . Originally from San Francisco, Kevin currently lives in New York where he is a writer on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver . Previously, he was the head writer on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell and wrote on Best Week Ever before that. Kevin's also a wonderful stand-up and podcaster - his first album is called Hardcore , and with Kamau, he hosts...

Welcome to our perverse-free orb! On today's show I talk to musicians Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang. Damon and Naomi started playing music together as the rhythm section, co-songwriters, and sometime singers in Galaxie 500. When that band ended, they continued as a duo, first recording for Shimmy Disc and then on a series of albums for Sub Pop Records. In 2005, they formed their own label 20/20/2...

On today's show, I talk to Tony Award-nominated actor Reed Birney. For most of his career, Reed was a journeyman actor, but that all changed in 2008 when he starred in the OBIE Award-winning Sarah Kane play Blasted at the Soho Rep. Since then he's performed in a number of on and off Broadway plays and received a Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award for his performance in Harvey Fierstein’s...

On today's show, I talk to humor writer Simon Rich . Born in New York City, Rich is the son of New York Times and New York Magazine writer Frank Rich. Simon started writing at a young age, and has published two novels and three collections of humor. His most recent Spoiled Brats was released last year. He's also written for Saturday Night Live and was a staff writer at Pixar. Also, Simon created t...

On today's show, I talk to artist and musician C. Spencer Yeh . Originally from Taiwan, Spencer's family moved to Canada when he was young, and later, Spencer grew up in the Rust Belt. As a musician, Spencer has released over twenty albums on numerous labels, many under the name Burning Star Core, and a number of improvisational collaborations under his own name - including collabos with everyone...

On today's show I talk to journalist and author Jon Ronson . Originally from Cardiff, Wales, Jon moved to London for university, and it was in England that his writing career began. He's created a number of documentaries for BBC radio, TV, and for similar places like Channel 4, and he's written a number of international bestsellers - some of which have been turned into films - including The Men Wh...