Sleeping with Celebrities

This episode originally ran April 23, 2025. *** Roxane Gay is one of the greatest writers in the world today. Everyone knows this. We’re so thrilled that she agreed to be on our show. Roxane is the author of books like  Bad Feminist  and  Hunger , writes for the New York Times , is a respected social critic and noted professor. All this means that she travels a lot and she joins us, using a very s...

You might know Jon Lovett as the host of the podcast  Lovett or Leave It  or as one of the hosts of the influential  Pod Save America  show. On those shows, Jon and others talk about big events in politics and try to make sense of it all. Which is hard. But it turns out that America itself, the very Constitution of this nation, may have a fatal flaw it in it, a loophole that could be activated and...

We understand that for many people, Jodie Sweetin is forever linked to Stephanie Tanner, the character she played for eight years on  Full House  and four more years on  Fuller House . But we doubt Stephanie was nearly as much into Lego building sets as the real Jodie is. In fact, we seriously doubt anyone is as much into Legos as Jodie. She joins us to talk about some of her favorite sets that sh...

Actor and writer Bridger Winegar has appeared in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , Jimmy Kimmel Live , and as the host of his own delightful podcast I Said No Gifts , where his guests insist on bringing gifts, despite the title and he acts upset but really loves it. Bridger has had his iPhone for a long time, it gets used a lot, and, frankly, it’s pretty worn out. So he needs a new one. But rather than...

The comedian Myq Kaplan has appeared on  The Tonight Show ,  Conan ,  Late Night with David Letterman , and many other television programs. He also hosts two podcasts, has released comedy albums, and has a new comedy special,  Rini , which is also the name of his girlfriend. That’s an unusual name but then so is Myq. He used to be Mike but changed it at summer camp one year and it stuck. You can c...

We were so excited (though we kept it subdued) to meet the hilarious Wendi McLendon-Covey from Reno 911! , St Denis Medical , Bridesmaids , and Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar . Wendi enjoys going to concerts and says it gives her the same satisfaction as travel but it’s shorter and cheaper. You’ll find that listening to Wendi talk about concerts is like traveling or going to a concert yourself bu...

You might know Eddie Pepitone from standup stages around the country, as “The Heckling New Yorker” on  Late Night with Conan O’Brien , as an actor on  Reno 911!  or  Bob’s Burgers , from his brand new comedy special  The Collapse , or from his podcast  Apocalypse Soon . Or if you’re a close follower of people who get worked up about purchasing binoculars and then never really use the binoculars, y...

Allison Raskin has a pretty diverse array of interests. She’s a former Buzzfeed video creator, co-host of the podcast  Just Between Us , and the author of numerous best-selling books, including  Please Send Help ,  Overthinking About You , and the new  Save the Date . How does she unwind from this busy life? By being obsessed with Inspector Gamache, the Quebecois crime solver found in novels by Lo...

Look, it’s okay. You’ll be able to sleep just fine. Sure, witches can be scary but keep two things in mind: witches are pretend so they can’t hurt you and some list-making analytical thinking is a great way to doze off to some shuteye that is guaranteed toad, broomstick, and cackle-free. SwC returning guest Lindy West teams up with Meagan Hatcher-Mays to do the honors. The two of them host the pod...

Can you improvise a musical? Sure, you can. But isn’t it hard to do? Absolutely. That’s why hardly anyone does it. I mean, who wants to do hard things? Well, Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino do. They’re the hosts and creators of Off Book , a podcast where they improvise a whole new musical with each episode. They’ve also appeared on shows like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Goldbergs, and Comedy Bang! Ban...

Fans of the long-running animated comedy Archer already know Amber Nash as Pam Poovey, the former H.R. director at ISIS. She has superhuman strength and a dolphin hand puppet. Pam does, not Amber. Amber has human strength and we don’t know about the puppets. Amber is the host of the brand new Rephrasing: An Archer Rewatch Podcast here on Maximum Fun. She’s also a devotee of the Vermont Country Sto...

Steve Agee is a beloved actor, writer, comedian, and all-around funny person, seen most recently as John Economos in the John Cena DC Comics series Peacemaker on HBO. You may have caught his work in films like The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 2. You didn’t see him in Meatballs , the 1979 Bill Murray summer camp comedy, because Steve was just a wee boy back then. Steve has seen M...

We grant you that listening to actual D.C. hardcore music will probably not put you into the best state for sleep. The dulcet tones of Roman Mars, however, discussing said scene? Yeah, that ought to do it. Roman is the creator and host of the beloved and hugely popular podcast 99% Invisible and a public radio veteran so, yes, his voice is as smooth as butter spread on top of more butter. He shares...

Host John Moe leads off this episode by extolling the virtues of foster dog caretaking and he enumerates the many dogs his family as tended to in the last year: Cowboy, Bug, Beans, Ducky, Pork Chop, Radar, and Car Wash. All these dogs were, and all dogs are, eccentric. Then we welcome cartoonist Nathan Pyle, the man who brings you those Strange Planet cartoons where aliens attempt to understand th...

J. Kenji López-Alt knows more about food than you or I put together. He has won James Beard Awards, contributed to  New York Times Cooking  and  Serious Eats , and his books include  The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science ,  The Wok: Recipes and Techniques , and a children’s book titled  Every Night is Pizza Night . But he’s no snobby foody. He pays careful attention to how to stack ing...

Actor and comedian Baron Vaughn is familiar to audiences for his work on  Grace & Frankie ,  Mystery Science Theater 3000 , and  The New Negroes  with friend of the show Open Mike Eagle. He’s familiar to his family for watching a whole lot of those multi-episode, sepia photograph-intensive, history rich documentaries by Ken Burns on subjects like baseball, the Civil War, the Brooklyn Bridge, and D...

You have definitely seen actor, writer, and director Ravi V. Patel on a screen before. He’s one of those guys that seems to be in everything. Perhaps most recently as a team mentor on the new season of  LEGO Masters Jr.  or maybe co-starring on  Animal Control  with Joel McHale or acting in  Ghosts  or being put through some grueling paces on  Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test . All the while,...

When you have two guests on one show, you’re going to get a variety of topics, especially when they have such diverse interests as tennis great Patrick McEnroe and Broadway icon Melissa Errico. The two, married 26 years, take us on a very friendly and relaxing jaunt through a very old-timey English castle (that somehow has a sauna and Pilates room), various off-the-beaten-path tourist spots in Ita...

As hosts of the  Happy Wife Happy Life podcast, comedians/writers/actors Kendahl Landreth and Jordan Myrick help their listeners navigate everything related to relationships. Here on our show, in this episode, they bring that gift of harmony to society’s views of chihuahuas, especially their own rescue dog, Angel. As you drift off to sleep, you’ll hear about Angel’s peculiarities, why these dogs a...

The versatile Ana Marie Cox is a podcast host ( Space the Nation , Past Due ), a veteran journalist (MTV News, The New York Times Magazine), the founding editor of Wonkette , a writing instructor, and a political pundit and analyst, frequently featured on various cable news programs. But not to worry. Ana stays out of the political fray in this interview. I mean, nothing better to keep you stresse...

Here’s how we figure it: if you appear on our show (the most popular podcast in the world) (look that up) (don’t), you automatically become a celebrity. We have listeners all over this planet at least. That makes hardware store assistant manager Winter Burnett a celebrity. During our last Max Fun Drive, we set a stretch goal for new members and said if we hit that goal, one of you Sleepyheads coul...

The multi-talented Demi Adejuyigbe is a podcast host ( The Gilmore Guys ) writer ( The Good Place, The Late Late Show with James Corden ), and social media celebrity (those wonderful homemade videos for the song “September”). Those are all very exciting things that Demi does and we’re concerned they would keep you up. So instead, we’re focusing on his interest in film photography: the cameras he u...

You know Janet Varney from her starring roles in  You’re the Worst  and  The Legend of Korra  and from hosting two Maximum Fun podcasts,  The JV Club  and  E Pluribus Motto , which she co-hosts with John Hodgman and which just launched its second season. But to the critters of the night, Janet is simply a friend, a liaison between themselves and all the diurnal humans. She talks about many nocturn...

Kathy Valentine is the bassist for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Go-Go’s. Emerging from the L.A. punk scene, ruling the charts, and still playing shows 47 years later, any member of the band must have a million thrilling stories about life as real live rock stars. But we’re a show that tries to put you to sleep so on our program Kathy talks about all the cats she has owned over the co...

You may know Paget Brewster as FBI Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss on the television series  Criminal Minds  or as Joey’s girlfriend Kathy on multiple episodes of  Friends . If you’re a particularly discerning entertainment consumer, you also know her from  Andy Richter Controls the Universe  or as Sadie Doyle on the podcast and stage series  The Thrilling Adventure Hour . We’re not going...