Beginnings

On today's episode, I talk to Tony-nominated actor Geneva Carr . Geneva is a film, theater and television actor originally from Jackson, Mississippi. After studying French at Mount Holyoke, she moved to Paris and began a career in the world of business. Banking proved to be a lackluster life though, and a chance rekindling of her childhood love of acting led to her pursuing it professionally. This...

On today's episode, I talk to comedian and writer Streeter Seidell . Streeter first gained popularity as part of the cast of CollegeHumor's online videos, including the viral series  Prank Wars . This led to an MTV series with his fellow CollegeHumor colleague Amir Blumenfeld called Pranked . In 2013, Streeter wrote for the ABC sitcom Trophy Wife and a year later joined the writing staff Saturday...

On today's episode, I talk to filmmaker Alex Ross Perry . Alex was raised in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and attended NYU, where he graduated from their film program. In 2009, he made his first feature film Imipolex on a shoestring budget, and since then, he's made three other films: The Color Wheel in 2011, Listen Up Philip in 2014 (which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival) and his most recent...

On today's episode - the sixth anniversary of Beginnings - I talk to writer Rick Moody . Rick was born in New York City, and attended Brown and Columbia universities. His first novel, Garden State , was the winner of the 1991 Editor’s Choice Award from the Pushcart Press and his next novel, The Ice Storm , was published in May 1994 by Little, Brown and Company. The film version, directed by Ang Le...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Andrew Keoghan . Originally from New Zealand, Andrew is a Brooklyn-based indie pop/folk artist. His first album Arctic Tales Divide was released in 2011, and was short-listed for a Taite Music Prize, which is an annual prize awarded for the best album from New Zealand. His latest album Every Orchid Offering will be out later this year. This is  the website  f...

On today's episode, I talk to New York-based country music artist Laura Cantrell . Born in Nashville, TN, she came to New York to attend Columbia, and found that her abiding interest in country music helped her stay connected with her family roots. That interest was the motivation behind her long-running radio program The Radio Thrift Shop , which was on WFMU for thirteen years. She began her care...

On today's episode, I talk to Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist Xenia Rubinos . Originally from Hartford, CT, Xenia was raised in a multicultural household by a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother. And bits and pieces of her heritage show up in her music, along with everything from Deerhoof-inspired riffs to Caribbean rhythms to math rock like Hella and everything in-betw...

Happy New Year's Eve, friends! Instead of a new guest this week - I didn't want them to get lost in the holiday shuffle - I thought I'd try something I haven't done in a few years. I used to do bonus episodes of the show called "Field Guides" where I'd talk to people about the actual steps they took to create a project. Like, I talked to Abbi and Ilana about how they actually made the Broad City w...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Gabby Smith, the woman behind the band Eskimeaux . As Gabby puts it in an interview with Stereogum, Eskimeaux began slightly to spite an ex-boyfriend that accused her of not doing anything. So overnight in 2007, she recorded her first album. Since then she's released a number of records, and her latest is the beautiful Two Mountains , which is available from...

On today's episode, I talk to comedy writer Daniel Kibblesmith . Originally from Chicago, Daniel has has done many cool comedy things in his career. This includes being a contributing writer for The Onion News Network, writing for Buzzfeed and ClickHole, producing exclusive videos for Funny or Die and The Best Show, co-authoring the humor book How to Win at Everything , and writing the amazing Twi...

On today's episode, I talk to painter and singer-songwriter  Ed Askew . Born in Stamford, Connecticut in 1940, Ed left in the early '60s to attend Yale Art School. In 1967, he moved to New York in the middle of the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk scene, and met Bernard Stollman, the founder of the ESP-Disk label, which was dedicated to releasing uncommercial acts, which included Albert Ayler, Or...

On today's episode, I talk to comedian Mehran Khaghani . Born in London to Iranian parents, Mehran grew up partly in Iran and mostly in the suburbs of Boston. In 2007, he began pursuing stand-up as a career and quickly became a Boston favorite, prompting his move to New York. And not only was Mehran on the latest season of Last Comic Standing , but he can now be seen performing regularly at the ci...

On today's episode, I talk to musician  Kevin Barker . From 1995 to 2002, Kevin was a member of the wonderful indie rock band Aden, whose four albums were released on the fantastic label TeenBeat. At the same time, Kevin had his own solo-ish project called Currituck Co. In addition to these groups, he's played with Antony and the Johnsons, The Essex Green, Hercules and Love Affair, The Ladybug Tra...

On today's episode, I talk to actor Aya Cash . The daughter of a poet and a Buddhist teacher, Aya grew up in San Francisco. After moving to New York, she was cast in a number of plays, films and TV shows, including Zoe Kazan's play Trudy and Max In Love, Law and Order: SVU, and The Good Wife. Currently Aya plays Gretchen, one of the lead roles, in the fantastic FX series You're the Worst. This is ...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Kurt Heasley . A Floridian by birth, Kurt spent his early years in Hopatcong, NJ and in Virginia Beach. In 1988, he recorded a demo tape which he gave to Slumberland Records boss Mike Schulman. Schulman was so impressed with the demo that he released Kurt's first records, which were recorded under the name The Lilys. Between 1992 and 2006, Kurt would go on to...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Anika Pyle . Originally from Monument, Colorado, Anika moved to New York with some friends to play music. And in 2012, she, along with Drew Johnson, Doug McKeever, and Dan Frelly, formed the Superchunk-esque band Chumped. In 2013 and 2014, Anchorless Records released two of their EPs, one self-titled and the other named That's The Thing Is Like... , and then...

On today's episode, I talk to stand-up and activist Ted Alexandro . A New York native, Ted has been performing comedy for over 20 years and was called one of the linchpins of New York comedy by Time Out . He's performed on  Letterman, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, The View , and he has two half-hour specials on Comedy Central. Ted is also heavily involved in activism, including the Occupy W...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Briana Marela . A Seattle native, Briana knew she wanted to be a musician from a young age. In 2010 she released her first album Water Ocean Lake , and two years later Bicycle Records put out her next one Speak From the Heart ( which is wonderful). Her first album on a larger indie label  All Around Us was recorded in late 2013 in Reykjavik, Iceland with some...

On today's episode, I talk to stand-up and writer Marina Franklin . Originally from Chicago, she moved to New York in 1997 after getting her Master's degree in theater. Two short years later, she made the decision to pursue comedy as a career and since then has appeared in numerous shows including Chappelle's Show , Inside Amy Schumer , and The Nightly Show . Marina's performed stand-up on Last Co...

On today's episode, I talk to writer and director  Leslye Headland . Leslye began her career in showbiz as an assistant to film producer Harvey Weinstein. But her career as a professional filmmaker began in 2012 when her film  Bachelorette  with Lizzy Caplan and Rebel Wilson debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Leslye is also a playwright and screenwriter -  Bachelorette  is based on one of the...

On today's episode, I talk to political cartoonist and writer Ted Rall . Originally from Kettering, Ohio, Ted's cartooning career began at Columbia University, where he contributed to a number of publications. Since then, his comics have been syndicated in newspapers and alt weeklies around the country, and in magazines like  Rolling Stone , Time , and Fortune,  and he's edited a series of antholo...

On today's episode, I talk to TV writer Murray Miller. Originally from the Bay Area, Murray began his comedy career as a stand-up and moved into TV writing from there. He's written for a number of great shows including Clone High, King of the Hill and American Dad. Currently, he's a writer and producer on the HBO series Girls, and earlier this year his wonderfully absurd tennis movie 7 Days in Hel...

On today's episode, I talk to musician Jack Stansbury. Jack's family dates back to the founding of America, and Jack grew up on the not-so-mean streets of Baltimore. Since 2013, he's been releasing music under the name Princess Reason , and recently he formed a full band with his friends Mike Allison and Morgan Spaner under the moniker. Their latest release, the Your Divorce EP is a wonderful take...

On today's episode, I talk to TV writer  Tommy Blacha . Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Tommy came to TV writing through the Chicago comedy scene. Besides his writing for the WWE, if there's been a weird comedy in the last two decade, chances are Tommy's had something to do with it. He wrote for Conan , where he created PimpBot5000, and has also written for The Eric Andre Show, Pretend Time, Hu...

On today's episode, I talk to TV writer  Jane Espenson . Originally from Ames, Iowa, Jane turned to TV writing after going to school to study computer science and linguistics. And if you can namecheck a beloved hourlong dramedy with a sci-fi bend, chances are Jane had a hand in writing it. These include a five year stint on  Buffy, the Vampire Slayer , as well as writing for  Angel, Gilmore Girls,...