Don't Get Me Started

To celebrate the 100th episode of their podcast, Anthony and Will interview... each other! They ask a series of "gun to your head" questions, many posed by listeners. They answer "Which branch of the UCB would you shut down?" and "Would you rather have a new album by the Beatles or Nirvana?" and, oddly, "If you had to pick one, which of Anthony's children should be given to Will?" Also, Will talks...

We talk to comedian Nate Shelkey about screenwriter William Goldman. Though he's most famous writing the book and movie "The Princess Bride," as well as the screenplay for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," Goldman has written many other movies you've likely seen, and also wrote a ton of novels which you likely have not read. Nate has seen and read them all and we talk about it. We also get int...

We talk to a panel of passionate guests about their love for the INDIGO GIRLS. Our panel is Lennon Parham, Danielle Schneider and Deb Tarica. They are comedians and friends and attend an Indigo Girls concert together at least once a year. We talk about what is so awesome about the Indigo Girls' music, we get into each panel members top 5 songs, the way they all got into them, the emotions their so...

We talk to a panel of passionate guests about their love for the INDIGO GIRLS. Our panel is Lennon Parham, Danielle Schneider and Deb Tarica. They are comedians and friends and attend an Indigo Girls concert together at least once a year. We talk about what is so awesome about the Indigo Girls' music, we get into each panel members top 5 songs, the way they all got into them, the emotions their so...

Actor, comedian, improviser Drew DiFonzo Marks talks to us about BUDDHISM. How it pulled him out of a huge depression, what of its principles spoke to him first, how he meditates, meditation retreats and the story of why he has a wagon wheel tattooed on his right forearm. We get into it! Also Will talks about giving voice commands to Siri and Anthony discusses the book The Secret Life of the Ameri...

Comedian, actress and writer Anne Lane comes on the show to talk about her obsession with the norovirus. This is a virus that causes symptoms very similar to an intense stomach flu but is also incredibly transmissible. It both terrifies and fascinates Anne, and we felt the same way. We get into fears of vomiting, the fears of viruses in general, how far one is willing to go to be safe and clean an...

We bring back television writer and UCB sketch maestro Eva Anderson to talk about her recent but potentially problematic (our words) obsession with IMMERSIVE THEATRE. This is the type of theatre where the audience is involved. Eva talks about a show she went to which tried to simulate the experience of being born for one audience member at a time, and how that led to her hiring a theater group to...

We talk to actor/comedian James Mastraieni about the enticing topic of modern immortality and life extensions. Oh man, the science these days is crazy. How to stop cells from aging, replacing organs, and just lots of crazy technological stuff. We also get into whether it'd be worth living a long time, and what it could mean to the Earth if we as a species pull that off. And then also Will talks ab...

Actor/comedian Jamie Gaul talks to us about the gruesome but compelling topic of female serial killers! Why don't they get talked about? Why were so many nurses and caretakers? Why so many children that either were or weren't their own? We also get into the topic of serial killing in general, and how being obsessed with serial killers isn't the same as being into horror movies. Will talks about ap...

We talk to actor/comedian/improviser Johnny Meeks about THEOLOGY. Johnny's dad was a for-real theologist, and we're talking teaching, writing books, studied with Germans, preached in MLK Jr.'s church theologist.  It takes us into discussions about politics, and social media and empathy. Whoa. Also Will talks about Ira Robbins' early review of Nirvana's Nevermind and Anthony talks about a 1950s sin...

Improviser Brian Hines (yes, related to co-host Will) talks about the concept of "Bands That Do Their Job." Meaning bands like Journey, who consistently crank out hits and yet would make you laugh if someone named them as their favorite band. We debate who is in and who is out of this admittedly meaningless list. Also, Will talks about muckraker Ida Tarbell and Anthony gets into the movie Swiss Ar...

Actor/comedian Marcy Jarreau joins us to discuss her obsession with The Paranormal. Poltergeists, haunted houses, ESP, psychics and lots more including cool terms you haven't heard of it.  In an inadvertent showdown of "who has the worst minor obsession" Will talks about poaching eggs and Anthony discusses the feeling you get when you using a toilet not at your home and it's about to overflow. The...

Actors/comedians Nina Concepcion and Beth Lepley bravely discuss their passionate history with fan fiction. Newsies, Harry Potter, Stand By Me, One Tree Hill: all these universes and more were explored, written about and dissected by members of the web site fanfiction.net. Beth discusses what types of stories she would review positively, and Nina reads some of her many many contributions. Will ins...

Comedian/writer Nick Mandernach returns to discuss American poet Walt Whitman! We get into how Whitman's progressiveness, his naturalistic tone, his breaking from the formality of other poets of his era, his celebration of sex and the human body, and of New York City. Was Walt Whitman the real prequel to "Broad City?" We say YES. Also, Will discusses "Woman Rebel," the graphic novel biography of P...

Comedy writer Mark Rennie joins us to discuss the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls. A much-loved, much-revered show gets DISCUSSED. What made it so good? What are some of the stand-out episodes? Who was that guy in the first episode that never got mentioned again? We go over all this an OTHER TOPICS LIKE THIS! Also, Will talks about the getting-sober autobiography Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline K...

Actor/writer Matt Newell talks to us about The Sandman, DC's long-running fantasy/horror-ish comic book by Neil Gaiman. We get into the amazing high quality and quantity of stories covered in its run, and the many literary figures who casually saunter through and how it changed from its beginning as a horror comic. Also, Will discusses the Museum of Jurassic Technology and Anthony raves about the...

Actor/comedian Sarah Claspell talks to us about the band Barenaked Ladies! She explains how they're funny, and great musicians, and often the creator of heartbreakers as well as bootyshakers, and that they are much more than their biggest U.S. hit "One Week," which we (thankfully, according to co-host Will) do not play! Also: Anthony discusses the Raymond Chandler novel "The Big Sleep" and Will ta...

We talk to Kevin Porter, comedian and co-host of the Gilmore Guys podcast, about his obsession with musician/rock icon/self-appointed voice of the working class Bruce Springsteen. Kevin goes for the deep cuts and we hear them. Rare live versions, mash-ups that Kevin made himself and more. We also get into what it is that make Bruce appealing. And we talk briefly to Anthony about why he doesn't rea...

We talk to comedian and impressively-proficient-for-an-amateur physicist Alex Berg about the recent conformation of gravitational waves! Wait, what are they? Why is it a big deal? How nerdy did the scientists sound when they excitedly announced it? We talk about all this! Also, Will discusses common strategies for seating airline passengers and Anthony plays clips from an amazing local news radio...

We talk to comedian/actor/writer Mary Holland about the reality show Survivor! We talk about why it's so compelling, how it's outlasted so many other types of shows, the human drama it displays, the smart ways to play the game and the skills of host Jeff Probst. Also, Will talks about Beethoven's 3rd symphony (The "Herorica") and Anthony talks about the book The Comedians by Kliph Nesteroff.

We talk to actor/writer/comedian Lindsay Katai about children's show creator Fred Rogers, better known as Mister Rogers, and also known (to Lindsay) as an "enlightened being." We talk about Rogers' undeniable goodness, his disarming earnestness, his moving pleas for funding from Congress, his emotionally affecting acceptance speeches, his thoughts on what was important in making a show for kids an...

We talk to video editor Jason Greene about his obsession with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Jason comes armed with cool quotes, interested anecdotes, and even having several years of employment at Apple at their main campus. We talk about Steve's exile from Apple, the impact of his technology, what he learned from Pixar, from getting cancer and just what makes this dude so compelling to so many peo...

We talk to comedy writer/actor Gil Ozeri about the smartphone app SnapChat and his recent obsession with it. At the time we recorded this podcast, Gil had only known about Snapchat for 2 weeks and had already recorded 180 videos onto it. They are hilarious, lo-fi and insane. We talk to Gil about how the disposable nature of Snapchat (nothing is stored for more than 24 hours) has inspired him creat...

The subject of this episode is the experience of losing your mom at a young age. After the success of very personal episodes like Eugene's body image one and others, we decided to tackle something personal to us: what it was like to lose your mother much younger than you had expected. In planning the episode, we'd refer to it as the "dead moms" episode and even though that title may seem cavalier,...

We break our format for a second time to discuss improv with Paul Scheer! One of the original students and performers of the UCB Theatre, Paul gets into the nitty gritty of improv. We get very inside and very nerdy quickly, and then stay there. What drew him to it? What defined the style of his longtime improv group Respecto Montalbon, and its successors, the shows MySpace and Facebook. What's the...