Sleeping with Celebrities

Samantha Irby, best-selling author of several hilarious books of essays, is one of the funniest and most delightful people you’re likely to come across. In this episode, we talk about all the things she likes to buy as well as the things she avoids on a routine trip to her local drugstore. We even comb through some of the newspaper circulars for her favorite store to see what she would like to tos...

Is it weird for a grown man to own lots and lots and lots of Cabbage Patch Kids? No. No, it is not. Therefore, comedian Mike O’Connell, who has amassed an adorable army of the pretend children that dominate his southern California home, is not a weird person. He is instead a person who thinks that to love something nice and sweet is a nice and sweet thing to do. Join Mike and drift off to a very c...

You might know Anna Sale as the host of Slate’s podcast  Death, Sex, and Money , which digs deep into topics that a lot of people would rather avoid. If you attended Camp Alleghany in West Virginia, you might know Anna as one of the many campers, spending idyllic summer days and nights having wholesome fun in the great outdoors. At the request of our listener Beth, who wanted to hear Anna’s voice...

You might know our guests, Mallory O’Meara and Brea Grant, from their podcast Reading Glasses , their new podcast Reading Smut (debuting on Valentine’s Day), or from their overloaded physical and digital bookshelves that groan to support all that literary knowledge. Brea and Mallory share with us, in tones dulcet and sleep-inducing, how to sort through all those books and how to employ a spreadshe...

We wanted to be ready for the Super Bowl so we called up NFL veteran punter Chris Kluwe for a lesson on all that goes into punting the ball to the other team. How much goes into punting? Turns out A LOT. Chris, who is a published author and game designer as well, guides us through each minute step of the punting process (and there are maybe, conservatively, a zillion steps) in enough detail to eas...

Comedian, podcaster, author, and all-around delightful celebrity Jamie Loftus is in the process of rediscovering her love of NeoPets. She values the lessons they taught her about the stock market, war preparation, and the complexities of a capital-driven economy. She also likes that the electronic pets are impossible to kill. It’s true, all you can do is completely, devastatingly bum them out. Lis...

You might know the actor Langston Kerman from his roles on the television shows English Teacher , Insecure , and The Boys . You might know him also from lengthy board game nights at his house where explaining and comprehending the arcane, byzantine rules of a game is a necessary labor of the occasion. Langston, fortunately, knows all the rules to games like Villainous and Scythe and will happily e...

Jonathan Ames is the author of numerous acclaimed and popular books, including the brand new detective novel  Karma Doll . He’s also a television creator, having come up with the series Bored to Death , wherein Jason Schwarzman played a detective named Jonathan Ames. When he’s not writing, Jonathan, the real Jonathan, not the character, enjoys a comfortable soak in the Russian bathhouses of New Yo...

You might know comedian and actor Jon Gabrus from shows like  Guy Code ,  What We Do in the Shadows , or  Drunk History  or from podcasts like  Action Boyz  or  The Gino Lombardo Show . Perhaps you know him from meals like breakfast, where he has very particular thoughts on breakfast sandwiches. He’ll teach you how to order a proper New York bodega breakfast sandwich by asking for a BEC with SPK a...

Amy Tan, Alan Tudyk, Stephen Tobolowsky, Marsha Warfield, Open Mike Eagle, Janie Haddad and Paul F. Tompkins, and more are ready to knock you out. To sleep, that is. It’s very counterintuitive, appearing on Sleeping with Celebrities. Most shows ask the guest to be energetic, effervescent, and fascinating. We want none of that. We want detailed discussion of a topic that the guest knows a lot about...

Blaine Capatch is your favorite comedian’s favorite comedian, a top comedic mind known for his sharp writing and expert delivery. And as much as those comics are fans of his, he, Blaine, is a fan of family style restaurants. Oh man, he just loves them. Your IHOPs, your Cracker Barrels, and especially your Waffle Houses. He talks us through some of the top eateries around the country, why he loves...

Jenny Yang has a headlining spot in comedy clubs everywhere, a master’s degree in urban planning, and a penchant for piling her kitchen countertops high with a variety of devices and appliances. Egg cookers? She’ll tell you about that. Grapefruit spoons? Jenny has thoughts. Microplanes? Oh yeah, that’s covered. Hear about a million kitchen doohickeys and gizmos as you drift off to sleep, hopefully...

Beloved comedian, writer, and podcaster Ophira Eisenberg has lived in many places, several of which were part of provinces. That’s because she’s from Canada, which is a little like America but with more healthcare, hockey, and moose. Ophira illuminates us on the correct pronunciations of many major Canadian cities and provides valuable insight into the parka-clad lives of the folks who call Canada...

Before taking the stage as a very popular and acclaimed standup comic, Billy Wayne Davis was a squatting catcher. Billy Wayne played at a high level behind the plate in college baseball and can still describe the intricacies behind helping pitchers get to a calm and relaxed place. Perhaps you will find his voice does the same to you. Plus you have the advantage of not having to throw a baseball at...

Novelist Amy Tan is well known as the best-selling universally acclaimed author of  The Joy Luck Club ,  The Kitchen God’s Wife ,  The Bonesetter’s Daughter , and many more important works. In her backyard, among the hundreds of visiting birds, she is known as The Lady Who Builds Birdfeeders. Hear about the ongoing turmoil of Amy’s homemade feeders, the charming hummingbirds, the pesky squirrels a...

He’s also pretty enamored of George Carlin, Mel Brooks, Helen Hunt, and his new comedy special,  Life, Death & Rice Pudding .  The veteran actor and comedian is just as charming and funny as ever as he regales us with his philosophy on travel and, especially, packing for travel. Let him lull you to sleep with his wonderful stories and knowledge on how to pack underwear. Watch the movie The Problem...

Andrew Ti is a big fan of poker and says the whole thing about everyone having a “tell” is a little overstated. To win at the game, even for the comparatively small amounts he favors, it is less about scrutinizing someone’s behavior than it is about memorizing probability charts enough to know what is most likely to happen in a given scenario. Andrew has a pleasant time playing poker and while he’...

We hope the search engines, constantly hunting for yet more Taylor Swift content to satisfy users, appreciate our optimization just as much as veteran comedian Matt Braunger appreciates the T-Swizzle albums Evermore and Folklore . Matt finds these releases, which are far less poppy and boppy than her other works, to be a perfect accompaniment for a long road trip or just being pensive and sensitiv...

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to experience the Australian musical comedy group The Wiggles (perhaps you are in preschool or have hung out with someone who is), you know that they bring loads of high-spirited energy to every performance. Lachy Gillespie, the one in purple, shifts to a much, much lower gear for our conversation about his favorite hobby, tennis. You won’t break a sweat listening...

If you love movies, especially if you love movies that tried their hardest but were comically unsuccessful, you may already know Dan McCoy as one of the hosts of Maximum Fun’s podcast,  The Flop House . Besides being a film buff, Dan’s a former writer on  The Daily Show with Jon Stewart , and an enthusiastic fan of Disney’s Uncle Scrooge McDuck, the wealthiest duck in the world. Dan shares his wel...

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of CD binders, then you are either too young to have ever used them or, perhaps, far too old. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of Lennon Parham, then you are just not a person who enjoys television and entertainment. She has been featured in Veep , Arrested Development , Mad Men , and a variety of other shows you already enjoy, so quit acting like you d...

You might have seen veteran comedic actor Kyle Bornheimer as Teddy, the ex-boyfriend who loves pilsners on Brooklyn Nine-Nine . In real life, Kyle has equally powerful thoughts about salads, including that all salads should be chopped salads. Let him guide you through important salad thoughts as you drift off to sleep. Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do...

You remember Mara Wilson as a young girl starring in films such as Matilda , Mrs. Doubtfire , and Miracle on 34th Street . You probably don’t remember her in Idyllwild Arts Academy, because that was not a film but an arts-based boarding school in California and you probably didn’t go there with her. In this languid and relaxing interview, Mara shares her stories and experiences at a school where,...

You may know Griffin Newman from his roles as Arthur on  The Tick , Orko on  Masters of the Universe Revelations , Watto on  The George Lucas Talk Show , or as Kevin Costner’s surprisingly fiery intern in  Draft Day . Or maybe you know him from the message boards talking up the Palisades Toys Muppet action figures of the early to mid-aughts, where he had quite a lot to say about the intricacies in...

You might know actor Jessica St. Clair from the television comedies  Review  and  Space Force,  her new audiobook, The Art of Small Talk (co-written with Casey Wilson), or from any bookstore that has a special section of books where a woman throws away her American life and runs away to the French countryside. Turns out, there are A LOT of such books and Jessica’s read well over 40 of them. She ge...