Jeff Has Cool Friends

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, all nerd. On our second episode, Dre and Jeff dive deep on the NES classic Punch-Out!! There's so much to discover about this legendary game, so come hang with us for a bit and revisit a classic piece of gaming history as we launch our new sh...

Erik Barnes is one of my Coolest Friends. This dude does EVERYTHING, from comedy writing (Cracked, Bunny Ears) to standup (Tournament of Nerds), to acting (Geico!) to friggin wrestling commentary (Wrestling Pro Wrestling) and we talk about ALL of it! In this episode, we talk honestly and openly about our friendship, our accomplishments, our frustrations, and we have a lot of fun doing it. Enjoy th...

Comedian/Actor/Write/Calendar Model Alex Hooper is my very Cool Friend and I'm stoked to bring him onto the show. You might know Alex from his appearances on Comedy Central or as a semi-finalist on America's Got Talent, roasting his way to fame! Alex is one of the kindest and most talented people I've ever met, overcoming every obstacle he's faced with equal parts optimism, joy, and good old-fashi...

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, all nerd. On this inaugural episode, Dre and Jeff dive deep on the oft maligned sequel to the NES classic The Legend of Zelda. There's so much to discover about this legendary game, so come hang with us for a bit and revisit a classic piece o...

My very Cool Friend Peter Santa Maria AKA Attack Peter has catapulted himself into the artistic stratosophere with his unique print making art style and good dude 'tude! Since last we spoke (on the other show) he's signed a contract with Skybound, designed Toho pieces for Mondo, and even had his Godzilla print converted into a Mondo statue! A literal dream come true for this monster-nerd. And we'r...

Holy absolute moly, my Cool Friend this episode is one of the architects of my teen years! David Bertolino created "America's Horror Theme Park" in the middle of the Central MA woods back in 1991 and forever changed the landscape of horror attractions. Ask anybody from the northeast about SpookyWorld and they'll go on a tirade about how amazing and important and rad it was. Now? Now David is my ne...

My Cool Friend Alice Hamilton is a brilliant and fearless comedian whose Cex Kriminal (available on Youtube) is one of my favorite things of the year. You may have noticed that I don't often have standups on the show (for podcasts like that, please see every other podcast), but I made a special exception with Alice as her hilarious special went after many of the most powerful sexual predators in t...

My very Cool Friend, actor Ethan Larwrence (After Life, Bad Education, A Bunch of Other British Stuff) and I haven't officially met. Crazy, right? But not only are we the coolest of friends! We've become mutual fans, as he's been listening to my shows from the beginning and I have been enjoying the hell out of his shows! We talk about a lot, as he's been a busy boy involved in a ton of incredible&...

My Cool Friend Therese Curatolo is one of my favorite people on the planet. Not only is she one of the most talented singer-songwriters I know, she's also frustratingly likable and kind. This stands as one of my absolute favorite episodes so far and you'll totally understand why once you listen. We talk about so much stuff and we're just a couple of high-energy open books on this one. Enjoy! And,...

Thie episode's Cool Friend is none other than the amazing A.J. LoCascio! A.J. is one of the most incredibly talented voice actors in the game, and you'll literally never guess how he got his career started. He's voiced many iconic characters like Han Solo, Marty McFly, Owen from Jurassic World, Lotor on Voltron and many, many more. A.J. is also a mega nerd and we do some wonderful deep dives on al...

My very Cool Friend Tara Nicole Whitaker is an INCREDIBLE illustrator and animator/director. She has illustrated books with such writers as Vanessa Williams, Jabari Asim, the team of Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade, and more! She's worked various jobs on shows like Family Guy, Gravity Falls, and most recently DIRECTED several episodes of the Disney+ series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (whi...

Dan Telfer is my very Cool Friend and I'm STOKED he could take a minute to chat with me about a bunch of the cool stuff he does, such as being a professional nerd with Nerd Poker and Cortex RPG, a fantastic standup with tons of material available to listen to, our favorite nerdy spots, being the Senior Editor of Mad Magazine and just fountains of other nerdy things to whet your dorky little appeti...

I'm so excited that my very Cool Friend Lanie Labens is joining me for this episode! Lanie is the Celebrity Talent Coordinator for ReedPOP (New York Comic Con, C2E2, Star Wars Celebration), the CEO of IDDS management, a published author, and a self-described Doll Girl, and she found time to talk with me, which is a huge honor. Not only do we talk about all of that, but we discuss our unorthodox fr...

My very Cool Friend writer/author/producer Ben Acker stops by to talk about a million things, not the least of which being his amazing new spooky book Stories to Keep You Alive Despite Vampires (preorder it today!), name doppelgangers, writing comics, nearly inventing the concept of the scripted podcast with Thrilling Adventure Hour, subsequently leaving said show, and so much more. This one is so...

My Cool Friend this episode is Cracked Senior Editor Logan Trent. Of course we talk about the elephant that's been in the room for the last 4 years, but more than that, Logan and I geek out about all the nerdy stuff we know and love, we even talk about sports (which you don't even like), our first con experiences, and, of course, so much more! If you love Logan (you do) go follow him  on soci...

My very Cool Friend Michael McMillian is an incredibly talented actor (True Blood, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and podcast host (Bigfoot Collector's Club, Slate Your Name) that you may have heard on the other show. Well he's back, baby! Buckle up because we talk about cryptids, creepy vampire fans, and so much nerdy crap that you wouldn't believe neither of us received a wedgie while recording this. If y...

This episode's Cool Friend is Charlie Talbert (Watchmen, The Big Short, Love and Death). Charlie was Angus in the movie Angus. So what happens when you're plucked from a Wendy's line out of obscurity and poverty to star in a big time Hollywood movie? Well, Charlie can answer that. This is legitimately one of my favorite episodes of all-time because, after about 8 years of friendship, I finally tel...

Cool Friend and World-Record holding Comic Book Artist Scott Koblish (Deadpool, How To Draw: DC) is back to talk about comics and also literally everything else! This is the first episode of JHCF ever to be recorded in person, and we get into it in what can only be described as the most dense episode I've done to date. I watched Scott get married om Zoom, which is nice. Scott's new creator-owned b...

Super stoked to be joined by my Cool Friend Dave Perillo! If you follow me on social media, you're already familiar with Dave's work, as he illustrated my Twitter and IG profile pictures! Dave is one of the most preeminent print artists working today. You may have seen his work with Disney, the Philadelphia Eagles, and countless galleries across the world. He's been one of my favorite people for o...

One of my all-time favorite people on the planet, this episode's Cool Friend is the amazing writer and power-nerd Jen Muro! Spoiler alert, she's one of the reasons this show even exists in the first place! When last we spoke (on a pod), Vox Machina was in development, and now it's here, and she wrote a whole bunch of it! She's co-created an incredibly popular young hero for DC Comics (Primer)! She...

Oh snap, it's Jeff's Cool Friend Timothy Doyle! Tim is one of the country's preeminent print artists and print makers, Tim has gone on one hell of a ride in his career. As a founding member of Mondo, his pedigree is unmatched. To show you how much I love this dude, just know that I recorded this episode next to several framed pieces of his art. Honestly, this could've easily been a 3 hour podcast,...

Folks, she's back. My first ever guest on the other show has returned and boy oh boy a lot has happened. This is an incredibly unique episode, as we dive into the past 3 years of events, from her snagging a spot on Conan and immediately having her career put on hold by a global pandemic, to her fighting back to record an album, plus a bunch of the toils and troubles we've both experienced along th...

I don't think I've ever met someone whose life has paralleled mine as much as my very good friend, Podcaster/Comedian/Host Ken Reid. He has a wonderful podcast called TV Guidance Counsellor that is so brilliant that I'd be jealous if I didn't love it so much. He's a prominent feature of the Boston comedy scene. He hosts panels at comic cons. Honestly, if we WEREN'T good friends it would be weird....

My very Cool Friend Caitlin Cutt is a NAME in the True Crime world. Having been the cohost of such amazing shows like White Wine True Crime and Pretty Scary, she is also the producer of the Unsolved Mysteries Podcast. She also happens to be one of my first friends in comedy, and one of the funniest people I've ever met. In this episode, we talk all about her rise in the T.C. world, our history tog...

My latest Cool Friend is voice actor Aaron LaPlante (Primal, Resident Evil Village, Spider-Ham) and man, what a cool ride he's been on lately! Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Aaron has quickly become an incredibly sought after voice in animation and gaming. In this episode we take a deeper dive into how that ride's been, including being John Mulaney's arch nemesis, weird con stories, odd side-que...