Chillpak Hollywood Presents ...

Halloween week gets off to a spooky good start with this scary fun episode! Dean and Phil reveal “What We’re Reading” and both books involve France! In the return of “Live Event of the Week”, Dean talks farmers markets, and Phil talks an historic theater and a world premiere about inkblots and perception. Dan Lin is out as the film boss at Netflix and what this means for the future of the streamer...

Mike Stewart and Phil Leirness are lifelong friends. They both grew up in Cupertino, California, a place where Silicon Valley began. One of them has great experience with finance, tech and corporate law. The other hosts a lot of podcasts. So, who better to tackle the new, critically-acclaimed, CBS Original series “Cupertino” than this dynamic duo? Cupertino isn’t just a series. It isn’t just a pla...

For a few years now, good friends Dean Haglund, Phil Leirness, and Jon Lawlor have been meeting via Zoom to hold each other’s feet to the fire in their shared desires to create art that is filled with life while also endeavoring to live life more artfully. Near the end of 2025, we started making large sections of these meetings available in podcast form, and we call that podcast “The Art Life”. We...

This week’s show was recorded during the midst of Phil’s emceeing duties for the third annual Porchfest L.A. He offers a full report on this community event while also regaling with tale of the logistic showdown between Porchfest and No Kings. One of the things Dean and Phil mean when they say it is “your” Chillpak Hollywood Hour is that if you write them, and they find what you wrote interesting,...

Kalinda has been described as one of the most intriguing up-and-coming artists in the trance space … Join host Phil Leirness as he gets better acquainted with this thoughtful, delightful and multi-faceted artist. Phil learns about that “trance space", he learns about electronic dance and rave scenes, and the discussion goes deep into the origins of not only this “kind” of music, but of music itsel...

For a few years now, good friends Dean Haglund, Phil Leirness, and Jon Lawlor have been meeting via Zoom to hold each other’s feet to the fire in their shared desires to create art that is filled with life while also endeavoring to live life more artfully. Near the end of 2025, we started making large sections of these meetings available in podcast form, and we call that podcast “The Art Life”. We...

Is this brand new show “an action-packed crowd-pleaser”? Give it a listen and find out! It sure is long, we’ll guarantee you that! The cold open deals with the year 1939. Then the show officially starts with all the news you can use coming out of Canada – the good, the bad and the so-called ugly! Your friends in podcasting then go deep into fine art and discuss the works of many great artists, bef...

If you have not become a regular listener of Celebrity Deaths then you are really missing out on what is consistently one of the most fascinating and funny podcasts not only in the “Chillpak Hollywood Presents …” universe of shows, but anywhere! So, join your friends in podcasting, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness, as well as their friend in podcasting, Jon Lawlor, as a high-stakes game of celebrity...

For a few years now, good friends Dean Haglund, Phil Leirness, and Jon Lawlor have been meeting via Zoom to hold each other’s feet to the fire in their shared desires to create art that is filled with life while also endeavoring to live life more artfully. Near the end of 2025, we starting making the bulk of these meetings available in podcast form, and we call that podcast “The Art Life”. Welcome...

Despite being recorded later than we like, and despite one of your friends in podcasting definitely “playing hurt”, this installment certainly proves to be a delight. Much hilarity starts the show, in no small part thanks to an email from a loyal listener like you (yes, YOU!), before Dean and Phil get into a fascinating conversation about the court-approved settlement terms for the merger of Param...

Marc Hershon is a branding expert who has dreamed up names for countless hit products. He is a comedy veteran, a comedy impresario, and he teaches improv comedy. He has penned several television movies, and is the co-author of I Hate People , a guide to getting “what you want out of your job.” He has reviewed comedy podcasts for The Huffington Post and Splitsider and was the longtime producer and...

Jon Lawlor blew out a whole lot of candles on his cake this week. So, on NEXT week’s installment of “The Art Life”, his co-hosts, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness are sure to hold his feet to the fire of those candles to find out what mindfulness he brought to the ritual of celebrating his birth, his years on the planet, and the start of another go ‘round. On THIS week’s exploration of how best to c...

If we know anything after almost 20 years of podcasting, it’s that people love hearing “production meetings on the air”! If that’s true, then what a show we have for you, with not one, but THREE production meetings – two of genuinely hilarious varieties and the third pertaining to movies like Backrooms, Exit 8, Universal Language and the television series “Severance”. In between those meetings, De...

One of the most popular ongoing segments in Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness’ long-running, weekly “Chillpak Hollywood Hour” was always when they celebrated the lives and legacies of those who made indelible marks in the arts or in media. Now that Celebrity Deaths has become its own podcast, these celebrations are no longer merely interesting and inspiring. They are, at times, truly bizarre and hila...

Dean Haglund is back from Sweden and ready to unpack what he learned about artful living during his travels and share it with Jon Lawlor and Phil Leirness in their continued pursuit of creating art that is filled with life, while also endeavoring to live more artfully. This podcast is all about those themes. That is why we call it “The Art Life”. This week’s other topics include: *Dean’s plans to...

Hindsight, like this episode, is 20/20 (Year 20 Episode 20, get it?) and so Dean and Phil begin this week’s show with a clip from the long-running ABC news magazine show “20/20” from the mid-1980s and remark upon just how contemporary those clips sound! From there, the upcoming “Blade Runner 2099” television series gets previewed and the latest in the lawsuit surrounding Paramount’s on-hold merger...

One of the most popular ongoing segments in Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness’ long-running, weekly “Chillpak Hollywood Hour” was always when they celebrated the lives and legacies of those who made indelible marks in the arts or in media. Now that Celebrity Deaths has become its own podcast in the Chillpak Hollywood Presents … universe of shows, these celebrations are no longer merely interesting an...

Marc Hershon is a branding expert who has dreamed up names for countless hit products. He is a comedy veteran, a comedy impresario, and he teaches improv comedy. He has penned several television movies, and is the co-author of I Hate People , a guide to getting “what you want out of your job.” He has reviewed comedy podcasts for The Huffington Post and Splitsider and was the longtime producer and...

Dean Haglund is back from Stockholm and he has brought tales of family mysteries with him! Because Dean is also jet-lagged, Phil Leirness figured this show was the perfect time to ask him about the science of combatting jet lag, about Melbourne, and about wildlife in Australia. Wildlife in Los Angeles, from bears to coyotes to one famous mountain lion, gets celebrated as well. Phil’s suspicions su...

Fans of Chillpak Hollywood Hour know that Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness would discuss books in a frequent segment called “What We are Reading”. It has long been our hope to turn that segment into its own monthly podcast, putting the spotlight on people who are passionate about the published word … First up, a longtime friend of Chillpak Hollywood Hour and of Dean and Phil themselves. In fact, he...

Dean Haglund was literally about to pack for a trip to Stockholm (and a much-needed vacation) when he got together with Jon Lawlor and Phil Leirness via Zoom to hold each other’s feet to the fire in the pursuit of creating art that is filled with life, while also learning how to live more artfully. That is why we call this podcast “The Art Life”. This week’s topics include: *Phil’s ideas for his p...

Dean Haglund is in Stockholm, so for the bulk of the show, this week’s guest co-host, music, arts and culture journalist Yoshi Kato joins Phil Leirness to discuss the death of an all-time jazz great, the implosion of more than one jazz festival and live celebrations of the musical (and movie) legacy of composer John Williams. This leads to a great deal of discussion over the Star Wars franchise, o...

In many ways, our expansion of the long-running Chillpak Hollywood Hour into an entire universe of different podcasts here on Substack was inspired by our desire to take some of Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness’ longer form conversations and put them in one place where people can easily find them by topic. So, welcome to DEEP DIVE! This is not just any podcast episode either. It’s the LONGEST conver...

Jon Lawlor is back from Scotland and ready to get together with Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness to hold each other’s feet to the fire in the pursuit of creating art that is filled with life, while also learning how to live more artfully. That is why we call this podcast “The Art Life”. This week’s topics include: *Jon’s trip to Scotland and his exploration of ruins, his driving adventures, and what...

From free sex bungalows to Phil’s new monthly stage show, from two popular Netflix series to two Palme d’Or winning movies, from whisper quiet roller coasters to the proper pronunciation of the word “behemoth”, from a sci-fi cult film about a walking television from another dimension to appalling online attitudes expressed about the way popular entertainers look, it’s safe to say that this week’s...