Jeff Has Cool Friends

My Cool Friend John Hastings is one of the most prolific and hilarious comedians I've ever met. A frequent performer on Mint on Card, I absolutely love watching him work! And now you can, too, as he's just released his first of three(!!!) specials this year on his youtube, which you can watch for free right HERE ! Now, do I talk about his insane comedy career, his appearances on America&#3...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. This month, Dre and Jeff finish their season on Toy Reboots with special guest David Igo (Sideshow and Tweeterhead's Masters of the Universe lines, Monstors, Kaiju Doom) as they dive into the universally beloved Masters of the Universe 20...

My Cool Friend, David Silverman, is one of the most significant contributors to the world of modern animation you could imagine. His history with The Simpsons is obviously what people first think about, as he's one of the architects of the style and direction of the show, starting in the Tracy Ulman days in 1987, directing the Movie in 2007, and still being a member of the crew to this day. Bu...

OK, so this Cool Friend, the hilarious Jono Zalay, is one of the first people I ever met in comedy. Like, I met him BEFORE I was ever a comic. On the night he became a LITERAL BRAIN SCIENTIST, no less! Crazy! We have since moved to different places, and ended up back in LA, where I see him nearly every Sunday when we play comedy softball! Jono has had an incredibly wild ride, and along the way has...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. This month, Dre and Jeff continue their season on Toy Reboots with special guest Ken Napzok (Author, "Why We Love Star Wars, Host, ForceCenter) as they dive into the SECOND Star Wars Power of the Force line, rebooting Kenner's 10-yea...

Holy hell, my latest Cool Friend, Rocom is like, the absolute coolest and best. You might know him from his amazing art and ridiculously popular indie toy line Mighty Maniax, which may have a VERY specific connection to a recent Cool Friend! Also, independent of that. his current kickstarter features a pin by one of my other Cool Friends! I'm serious when I say that Rocom and I are like, Forre...

My Cool Friend Ken Napzok is the COOLEST! He and I used to be next-door neighbors that love all the same stuff! Now we live slightly further away while loving the same stuff! You might know Ken from the innumberable amount of nerdy things he's been a part of, like ScreenJunkies, ForceCenter, and like, a skrillion other things. He even wrote a book called Why We Love Star Wars, and it's ama...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. This month, Dre and Jeff begin their season on Toy Reboots with special guest Adam Tod Brown as they dive into GI Joe, A Real American Hero, the line rebooting Hasbro's 12" action figure (definitely not a doll) lasting from 1982-1994...

My latest cool friend, TV and comic writer Tom Krajewski, is one of my oldest friends in Los Angeles, and one of the most impressive dudes I know. Among his countless achievements, we find Primer, the absolute DC comics PHENOMENON that is one of the fastest, highest selling books since it's inception a few years ago (co-created with Jennifer Muro, see JHCF episode 23). Well guess what? They ar...

My Cool Friend Dan Bakkedahl has one hell of a resume under his belt. From movies like The Heat, Trumbo, and Action Point to television shows like The Daily Show, Legit, and Veep, Dan has proven himself to be filled to the brim with talent and charm. What you might NOT know, however, is that Dan is one of my best pinball buddies. Don't worry, we let you know ALL about it pretty quickly. On top...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. This month, Dre and Jeff finish their season on Unfortunate Video Game Adaptations with the most unfortunate mainstream video game adaptation of all-time: 1994's Double Dragon! There's a lot to unpack about this absoulte violation of...

Oh boy is my latest Cool Friend a doozy! Honestly, I'm not sure how I even managed to snag Rey Taira for this long, as he was supposed to be getting ready for TF Con (Transformers) as his company, threezero, is going to have a HUGE presence there. But hey, I'm not complaining. Rey is one of the coolest, kindest, nerdiest nerds I know, and I'm so stoked to just geek out with him for a w...

My Cool Friend this episode is the amazing Jon Jabs of one of my favorite Youtube channels, The Past Is Alive. When I was researching card breakers a few years back in order to check out how it's done right, I stumbled onto his fascinating channel and it was just everything I could have hoped for. Jon is fun, knowledgeable, interactive, and charming as heck at every turn, and he's cultivat...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. This month, Dre and Jeff are joined by John and Tom Reimann of the Screamplay podcast as they continue their season on Unfortunate Video Game Adaptations with 2005's Doom! There's a lot to unpack about this absoulte whiff of a film, s...

My latest Cool Friend is one of those friends that, when I met him for the first time, I kinda quietly geeked out. I grew up marveling at his images in secondhand Cracked magazines I got from my mom’s friend Cathy, and admiring his work from there on out at various points in my life. Bob is a master cartoonist, having credits all over the pop culture universe. From Cracked and MAD, to Marvel and D...

My latest Cool Friend is the immensely talented comedian/host/rabblerouser Bailey Norton. Bailey is not only a masterful comic (I mean, she’s done Mint on Card several times and co-hosts the amazing Femmes the Rules live show) and fantastic podcast host (Hot Topic with Pickle and Bailey is a delight!), but she’s often found going viral across social media with her delightful traps laid out for tox...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. Dre and Jeff enter their season on Unfortunate Video Game Adaptations with Street Fighter the Movie, the second direct adaptation of a video game ever! There's a lot to unpack about this campy blockbuster, so let's become undercover r...

OK, for real I'm not sure that I have enough space to list this episode's Cool Friend's accomplishments. Cat LaCohie (or Vixen DeVille, if you want to get all burlesque about it) is one of those people that is so filled to the brim with talent and drive, that I don't even know where to start. When we met, she out-comedied me before walking on shards of broken glass. You've prob...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep This formerly Pateron-exclusive (and missing "Episode 5") episode of NERD! had Dre and Jeff continuing their season of TV Specials with He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special. There's a lot to unpack about this weird-ass classic, so l...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. The 17th episode of NERD! has Dre and Jeff EXTENDING their season on Cinematic Child Neglect with Dutch, the rare John Hughes misfire about a nightmare Thankgiving roadtrip starring Ed O'Neill and Ethan Embry. There's a lot to unpack...

OK, so my Cool Friend TJ Shevlin may be the Product Development Coordinator for Upper Deck's Marvel Comics line of trading cards, and that's pretty amazing. But boy does that merely scratch the surface of all the cool, amazing stuff he's done. TJ is one of only SIX Eisner Awards judges (the Oscars of comics, given away at SDCC) and he's had his hands in almost every nerdy cookie ja...

I'm so stoked to put this episode up, as my Cool Friends Michael Randolph (@MRandolph24) Paige Wesley (@RampaigeWesley) and Todd Schlosser (@ToddJAwesome) from two of my favorite pods, Horror Virgin and Romancing the Pod are joining me this week. I've known Paige for quite a while, and since guesting on an episode of HV, I've become fast friends with the Tennessee-based Todd and Mikey....

Well, well, well, look what we have here. It's David Bell! He's my Cool Friend, and we talk about stuff! And things! Honestly, the way we gel when we talk made this one of the easiest episodes to record, and the time went by so quickly that we couldn't honestly believe that we had burned through an hour. You might know Dave from his work with Gamefully Unemployed (Hype Cast, Fox Mulder...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. The 16th episode of NERD! has Dre and Jeff finishing their season on Cinematic Child Neglect with Home Alone 2, Lost in New York, the redundant yet popular sequel (remake?) to the smash hit 1990 film that swept the nation. There's a lot t...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. The 15th episode of NERD! has Dre and Jeff continue their season on Cinematic Child Neglect (fun!) with Adventures in Babysitting, the mid-80's classic about Elizabeth Shue and maybe some other stuff, but mostly Elizabeth Shue. Yikes. The...