How Did We Get Weird with Vanessa Bayer and Jonah Bayer

On this episode, Jonah and Vanessa welcome the one and only Joel Kim Booster! Jonah and Vanessa bond with Joel about their collective love of bean burritos and the challenge of heating them evenly, the fate of Keebler Tato Skins, and their varying skill levels at making dips. (Spoiler: Joel is the only one who is good at it!) Plus, they get into childhood birthday party activities from Jonah's bas...

Joe Trohman is best known as the guitarist in the multi-platinum rock act Fall Out Boy but he's also created cartoons, comics and the upcoming memoir, None of This Rocks. We sat down with Joe to discuss his earliest movie memories, which include his mother showing him the Omen and share our own inappropriate movie memories, which include their parents' friend Terry showing us The Re-Animator when...

This week we are joined by legendary actor and comedian Matt Walsh, who you may know from his work with Upright Citizens Brigade, his role as Mike McLintock on "Veep" or a million other hilarious appearances. Together we discuss the career trajectory of Steven Seagal from actor to cop to guy who gets mocked in Brian Cox's memoir, the time Jonah and his friends threw a block of ice on his car engin...

In this episode the Bayers welcome nineties icon and Grammy Award-winning musician Lisa Loeb! We talk (so all the time) about landline phone etiquette from growing up including prank calls and Vanessa's love for calling the numbers on catalogs with a pretend accent. We also get into Lilith Fair and guitar shredding and when Lisa toured with Sarah McLachlan. And don't worry, not only do we talk abo...

This week on HOW DID WE GET WEIRD? Jonah and Vanessa are joined by musician and longtime friend of the Bayers, Chris Farren. We discuss our favorite iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as Chris's childhood toy preferences. We also get into Chris's amazing ability to create viral merch and Vanessa chimes in with her own expert opinion of how to price band merchandise. Finally, we...

Thirty years in the making, this episode of HOW DID WE GET WEIRD? sees Jonah and Vanessa catching up with their long-lost cousin and the former host of the MTV's Headbangers Ball, Riki Rachtman. We discuss how Riki is related through marriage to the Bayers, the time Jonah almost invited Riki to his Bar Mitzvah and the time Axl Rose flew to New York with Riki to get our cousin his first hosting job...

Benjamin Gibbard may follow you in the dark, but he will not follow you in the trendy brunch spot in your neighborhood. On this episode on HOW DID WE GET WEIRD?, we catch up with the frontman for Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service to discuss 20 years of random Bayer hangouts ranging from breakfast to Bonnarroo, what being vegan was like during DCFC's early years and why he is unlikely to b...

You may know JD Samson as the musician in critically acclaimed acts like Le Tigre and MEN, but did you know she also went to high school with Jonah and Vanessa? On this episode we discuss Jonah's brief stint working for JD's parents, what it was like being a teenaged outcast in Ohio in the nineties and how going to an outdoor expedition summer camp changed JD's life. We also get into our first job...

This week we could not be more psyched to be joined by comedian, writer and actor Solomon Georgio, who you may know from his work on Shrill and High Fidelity. On this action-packed episode, we discuss whether we keep in touch with people from our childhood and debate the need for adult-sized Lunchables. Plus, we get in-depth about the history of the beloved childhood juice, squeezits, and if we re...

We are overjoyed to have director, writer, actor, comedian and producer Michael Showalter on the podcast this week—who is also a director and executive producer of Vanessa's upcoming Showtime series "I Love That For You" which debuts April 29th. Full disclosure: we told Showalter that we were going to talk to him about John Hughes movies, but we ended up inundating him with questions about his bel...

This week on the podcast, Vanessa and Jonah do a deep dive analysis of the 1998 Farrelly brothers film, "There's Something About Mary." Despite its all-star cast, there is a lot of questionable aspects of the film that are rooted in the broader context of comedy movies in the nineties. We've heard about suspending disbelief but you've got to attain anti-gravity levels of suspension to accept Matt...

This week's guest Shalita Grant has not only been nominated for a Tony Award, she's also an actress who you know from Search Party, NCIS: New Orleans and You. We hear about her experiences as a drama student at the prestigious Juilliard School and the "Juilliard Curse," deep dive into the history of Funyuns and reminisce about our childhood pets. Jonah also reveals that he occasionally looks at hi...

In today's episode we talk to our friend and one of the funniest people in the world, Mike O'Brien. We hear the stories behind Mike's epic tattoos, plus he and Vanessa discuss their early Chicago comedy days, and he and Jonah discuss the trials and tribulations of being hghly acclaimed brand ambassadors. We also hear about the time Mike's family got a free day trip to Boston by eating a year's wor...

We are thrilled to have good friend and talented musician Brian Fallon from Gaslight Anthem and also known for his wildly successful solo career. We talk about Jonah's missed opportunity of flipping his cash and still not buying a winter jacket, what musicians get a "punk pass", and what generation we technically fall under (we just know Phoebe Bridgers isn't making fun of us). We discuss the powe...

The super talented and friend Kate Berlant graces us with her charming whit on the podcast. You may know Kate from her work on "Netflix: The Characters" and the film "555". We discuss her origins such as going to an all girls school, being the president of the Thespian Society (or Vice President?) and doing stand-up in the New York comedy scene. We take a trip down memory lane discussing AOL chat...

In this episode, good friend and amazing musician Tony Thaxton stops by the podcast this week. Tony is the drummer for Motion City Soundtrack and a podcaster himself, what can this guy not do?! We talk about our deep fondness of Muppet Babies and how we do not care for the reboot, especially the theme song. Diving into celebrity voice-over actors on the show like Howie Mandel and Dave Coulier and...

We are so lucky to have comedian, actor and singer Cole Escola drop by the podcast this week. You may know Cole from their scene-stealing roles in "Search Party," "At Home With Amy Sedaris" and "Difficult People," but before all that they were learning about sophisticated, cosmopolitan female leads on nineties shows like "Fired Up" and "Mad About You." We also get into how the calcium industry hij...

We feel honored to have nostalgia expert, SNL cast member, and our good friend Kyle Mooney on the pod this week! Of course, we discuss eighties cartoons and how Kyle embodies that aesthetic so flawlessly on his hilarious new Netflix show, Saturday Morning All-Star Hits! We also get deep into the short-lived primetime series Saved By The Bell: The College Years. Was it weird that the Bayside Crew h...

The Bayers' longtime friend and iconic musician Jenny Lewis stops by the podcast this week to discuss the time that she and Vanessa took Jonah to get his first ever pedicure! If that story isn't exciting enough, we also discuss Jenny's childhood acting roles in everything from Troop Beverly Hills to The Wizard and her musical career and recent tour with Harry Styles. Plus, we talk about the perils...

In this episode, the phenomenal writer and actress Sudi Green stops by the pod! We talk about after school sports with subtopics ranging from but not limited to the harrowing journey of finding your track event, Vanessa's odd cross-country hack and the moments we each realized sports just weren't for us. We also reminisce about burning CDs and curating our music tastes to impress our older sibling...

In this episode, our incredibly talented friend Bridget Everett stops by the pod fresh off the premiere of her new HBO show “Somebody Somewhere” and a feature in The New Yorker. Together we question why anyone ever thought dodgeball was a good idea for kids and reminisce on the glory of being a tall kid playing tetherball. We also dig deeper than ever on a favorite topic, the rampant misuse of cha...

We could not be more thrilled to have our friend and comedy icon Amy Schumer on the podcast this week! We discuss the international adventures Amy had with Vanessa and Jonah on the Trainwreck European press tour, her musical connections ranging from Taking Back Sunday to Madonna, and what a dream it would have been to belong to The Baby-Sitters Club. We also get nostalgic about Skip-It and in the...

In addition to playing drums for Superchunk, The Mountain Goats and Bob Mould today's guest Jon Wurster is one of the funniest people on the planet as evidenced by his work with former HDWGW guest Tom Scharpling on The Best Show. On this episode we discuss first instruments, why unearned confidence is such good comedy fodder and what it's like to punish your musical idols on the road. Finally, we...

In addition to having a very cool first name, Jonah Ray Rodrigues is a hilarious writer, comedian, actor and the current host of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Jonah and Vanessa caught up with Jonah Ray Rodrigues to discuss what it was like growing up in Hawaii, his adolescent insecurities and the psychic connection between Steven Seagal and punk rock. We also discuss our experiences renting videos...

In this episode, comedian, podcaster and all-around great guy Chris Gethard stops by to reminisce with Jonah and Vanessa about lunch room food fights, food dares and physically challenging candy like Warheads. Meanwhile, Vanessa wonders what the hell was up with her elementary and middle school administrators being so obsessed with the noise levels in the lunch room. They also discuss the time Jon...