Obsessed: The Podcast

Mike Birbiglia invites us backstage at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown LA where he has been performing his latest show all month long. This week, ‘The New One’ premieres on Netflix. Before he went on stage for one of his final performances this past weekend, Mike opened up about his unique process putting ‘The New One’ together and broke down his evolution from stand-up to theater (and why he doe...

25 years after starring in the first major sitcom to center on an Asian-American family, Margaret Cho is more “hopeful” than ever about the opportunities for Asian-American comedians. In this episode, Cho talks about how she would approach that sitcom differently today and tells stories about dating director Quentin Tarantino and acting opposite Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. She also weighs in o...

Jeff Garlin had no idea when he helped come up with the idea that became ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ two decades ago that he would be starring the show’s 10th season this coming January. In this episode, Jeff reveals that season 10 features his “favorite” premise yet and talks about the process of putting together his new Netflix stand-up special ‘Our Man in Chicago,’ which includes some of the most pe...

Writer, director, producer and stand-up comedian Judd Apatow invites us into his L.A. office for an in-depth conversation about all things comedy. We talk about his new Garry Shandling book and working on his upcoming film with Pete Davidson. Judd also weighs in on the so-called “civil war” in comedy, from fired SNL comic Shane Gillis—who called him “gayer than ISIS” in one of his controversial ra...

Amanda Seales has had many careers: Nickelodeon star, spoken word poet, MTV VJ, stand-up comedian, podcast host and actor—she plays Tiffany on HBO’s ‘Insecure.’ Now, she has added author to the list with her new book, ‘Small Doses: Potent Truths for Everyday Use.’ In this episode, Amanda opens up about making the transition from music to comedy, tensions within the ‘Insecure’ cast, confronting Cai...

Nick Kroll is an actor, stand-up comedian and co-creator of one of the funniest shows on television, ‘Big Mouth.’ Season three of the Emmy-nominated animated series just dropped on Netflix and Nick is here to talk about its unique place in pop culture. He also weighs in on ‘Joker’ director Todd Phillips’ controversial comments about “woke” culture and comedy, shares the story of auditioning for SN...

Lake Bell made her feature directorial debut with 2013’s ‘In a World...’ and has been on a roll ever since. Now, she has co-created ABC’s ‘Bless This Mess,‘ a sitcom on which she and Dax Shepard play a neurotic New York couple who move to a farm in Nebraska. In this episode, Lake discusses how her decision to ditch so-called “push-up bra” roles and fully embrace comedy on shows like ‘Children’s Ho...

Deon Cole started doing stand-up comedy on a $50 bet in his hometown of Chicago. 26 years later, his new special Cole Hearted is premiering on Netflix. Cole says he’s come too far to be “canceled” now: “I should be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, but this culture nowadays, they’re like, man, if you mess up it’s off with your head.” In this episode, Cole breaks own his comedic journey...

For a short period two decades ago, Tom Green was one of the most famous comedians on the planet. He graced the cover of Rolling Stone, hosted Saturday Night Live and (briefly) married actress Drew Barrymore. These days, when he’s not touring the world as a stand-up comic, Green is mostly known for getting fired by Donald Trump on The Celebrity Apprentice and sharing a house with Anthony Scaramucc...

Scott Aukerman is the host of Comedy Bang! Bang!, co-creator of Funny or Die’s Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis and now the writer and director of Netflix’s Between Two Ferns: The Movie. In this episode, we talk about how he landed so many huge celebrity cameos for the new film, what it was like directing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and—because it’s my favorite thing he’s ever done—ma...

Stand-up comedian Bill Burr just released his sixth hour-long special Paper Tiger on Netflix. In this episode, he speaks out against “outrage culture,” defends his controversial Michelle Obama jokes, shares his thoughts on Trump’s 2020 chances and insists he’s not as “angry” as everyone thinks. Plus, Bill teases some details about his role in the upcoming Star Wars series The Mandalorian. Highligh...

25 years ago, Kevin Nealon was anchoring “Weekend Update” on Saturday Night Live. Now he's walking the woods with his famous comedian friends on the YouTube series Hiking with Kevin. In this episode, we talk about how that show got started and look back at his SNL days, including how he got hired, when he knew it was time to leave and some fascinating stories about Dana Carvey, Chris Farley, Al Fr...

Self-described comedy “villain” Anthony Jeselnik has made a career out of telling expertly crafted, extremely dark one-liners, from his breakthrough set at the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump in 2011 to his most recent hour-long stand-up special Fire in the Maternity Ward on Netflix. In this episode, he talks about his new Comedy Central interview show Good Talk, how he thinks his comic perso...

Bill Nye (The Science Guy!) checks in this week to talk about his podcast (Science Rules!) and help preview next week’s Climate Crisis Town Hall event on CNN, which will feature the top 10 Democratic presidential primary candidates. Bill also looks back on his shout-fest “interview” with Fox News host Tucker Carlson and the catharsis of screaming obscenities about the warming planet on Last Week T...

Desus Nice and The Kid Mero are here to talk about the first six months of their Showtime late-night series Desus & Mero. We get into their close relationship with fellow Bronx-native Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, what it's been like to interview 2020 Democratic presidential candidates like Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Pete Buttigieg, their unlikely Twitter feud with Taylor Swift fans and a lot...

Natalie Morales (Parks and Recreation) stops by to talk about her new scripted podcast Ellie and The Wave and opens up about her disappointment over NBC canceling Abby’s, the first sitcom in which the lead character was a bisexual Latina woman. “So much for diversity!” she says. Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast. Follow Natalie @nataliemorales and Matt at @mattwilstein. Le...

One of the most successful stand-up comedians of all time, Jim Gaffigan just became the first comic to premiere a special with Amazon Prime Video. Quality Time, Gaffigan’s seventh hour-long special to date, finds the comedian getting back to basics like his weight and an inordinate number of horse jokes after dealing with his wife and writing partner Jeannie’s harrowing medical scare last year. In...

For years, Jillian Bell has been stealing scenes in TV shows like Workaholics and movies like 22 Jump Street. This month, she has her first leading role in the hilarious and moving new film Brittany Runs a Marathon. On this episode, Jillian talks about getting her start as a writer on SNL, improvising with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld on Curb Your Enthusiasm, why her newest role “terrified” her...

You know Brett Gelman as Martin from ‘Fleabag,’ Murray from ‘Stranger Things’ and dozens of other characters who he says share one big trait: “toxic masculinity.” He’s also a brilliant improv and sketch comedy performer who relentlessly pushes the bounds of his art on every level. On this episode, we talk about how he got to where he is and what he wants to do next. Hint: It involves Kanye West. H...

Stand-up comedian and writer Whitney Cummings is here to talk about her brand new special ‘Can I Touch It?’ streaming right now on Netflix. Whitney explains why she decided to feature a sex robot version of herself in the special and breaks down her career as TV showrunner, from her debut on Whitney’ to the ‘Roseanne’ reboot that went down in flames last year to an exciting new pilot for Amazon th...

Rob Riggle spent 15 years in the Marines before landing his first real comedy job on the cast of ‘Saturday Night Live.’ It has seemingly been nothing but smooth sailing since then with stints on ‘The Daily Show,’ scene-stealing turns in films like ‘Step Brothers’ and ‘The Hangover’ and his most recent gig hosting ABC’s ‘Holey Moley.’ In this episode, Riggle opens up about the struggles he faced al...

On this special Friday episode of ‘The Last Laugh,’ Crooked Media co-founder and ‘Lovett or Leave It’ host Jon Lovett checks in to talk about ‘Pod Save America’s’ upcoming live benefit concert at the Greek Theatre as well as Trump’s racist tweets, the 2020 Democratic primary debates and his obsession with both Marianne Williamson and ‘Big Little Lies.’ Get tickets for the Greek Theatre and Radio C...

Jane Lynch, Emmy-winning star of ‘Glee’ and ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,’ talks about getting her big break at 40 in Christopher Guest’s ‘Best in Show,’ improvising with Steve Carell in ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin,’ acting opposite Meryl Streep in ‘Julie and Julia’ and having a blast hosting NBC’s ‘Hollywood Game Night.’ Plus, how Ellen DeGeneres made it so she never had to ‘come out’ but rather just g...

Comedian Nate Bargatze broke through on Netflix’s ‘The Standups’ before premiering his own hour-long special ‘The Tennessee Kid’ on the streaming service earlier this year. But he’s about to get even bigger. Next up, he’ll be starring in a sitcom based on his life for ABC, executive produced by Jerrod Carmichael. Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast. Follow Nate @natebargatze...

Comedian Kathy Griffin opens up about the infamous photoshoot that changed her life and sounds off on President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., TMZ’s Harvey Levin, CNN’s Jeff Zucker, Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, Alec Baldwin, Lorne Michaels, Jerry Seinfeld and a hell of a lot more. Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast.  Follow Kathy @kathygriffin and Matt at @mattwilstein. Get ticke...