Past Due with Ana Marie Cox and Open Mike Eagle

Alex Goldman, co-creator of Reply All and current host of Hyperfixed joins us to talk about what it actually looks like to start over. We get into 18 months of floundering and how he ended up funding Hyperfixed with a $200,000 loan he's still paying back. Get more at patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actor, comedian, and podcaster Connor Ratliff joins us to talk about building a creative life out of the parts you can actually control. We get into SAG insurance that resets every year and what it actually means to lose a Spielberg role and feel genuinely okay about it. Hear more and support the show at http://patereon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stand-up comedian Jackie Kashian joins us to talk about 40 years on the road and what it actually takes to stay in love with a job that never stops moving. We get into the real math of touring across four decades, why a 20-year-old podcast might be her smartest business decision yet, and what it costs to keep choosing the road over almost everything else. Hear the bonus version at http://patreon.c...

Mike Draper, founder of Raygun, the greatest store in the universe, joins us to talk about what it costs to stay in control of something for 21 years. We get into the real math of brick-and-mortar retail, the night he was $800,000 underwater with a hospitalized wife and a newborn at home, and what it actually means to build a business around "enough." Plus, a bonus conversation at http://patreon.c...

Musician and writer Rhett Miller joins us to talk about staying creative in an industry that keeps changing. From fronting the Old 97’s to writing children’s books, Rhett opens up about the financial rollercoaster of life on the road, the loneliness of independence, and the challenge of keeping faith in your work when the world stops clapping. Get more at http://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more abou...

Journalist Gillian Brockell spent a decade at the Washington Post, took a buyout thinking she'd be back in two years, and watched the place fall apart from the outside. She joins us to talk about what it actually cost to leave, why the buyout money wasn't Bezos being generous, what happened when she filed a major Emmett Till story and the new editors tried to make the bad guy look less bad, and ho...

Technologist, writer, and self-described "big fan of being a big fan" Anil Dash joins us to talk about what it looks like to spend 25 years watching tech eat everything from journalism to musict to blogging, and now the jobs of the people who built it. We get into 750,000 tech layoffs and counting, why the "learn to code" safety net is gone, and what happens to the creative economy when the partne...

Olivia Messer, journalist, novelist, and editor-in-chief of The Barbed Wire, joins us to talk about what it actually looks like to run an independent Texas newsroom. We get into why virality and revenue have essentially no relationship to each other, what she learned sitting on the management side of a union negotiation for the first time, and what happens to your own creativity when every single...

W. Kamau Bell, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning comedian and filmmaker, joins us to talk about what it actually looks like when the industry that rewarded you for doing the right thing quietly decides it's done doing that. We get into the real math of basic cable money, and what happens to a career built on diversity and inclusion when DEI becomes a liability. Three kids. Nine jobs. Every dollar, he...

Los Angeles-based photographer Kim Newmoney has shot for HBO, Showtime, Vogue, and Comedy Central. We get into what it actually takes to build a freelance photography career from the ground up, how a nail salon a 600,000 chickens play a role, and what all of it taught her about how to walk onto any set and make anyone comfortable in front of a lens. Hear the full episode at patreon.com/pastdue Lea...

To celebrate one year of Past Due, Ana and Mike look back at the conversations that changed them — featuring Baron Vaughn, Ian Danskin, and Mary Robinette Kowal — and wrestle with what it means to make work that matters in an economy that keeps moving the goalposts. (Part 2 of 2) Get more at patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To celebrate one year of Past Due, Ana and Mike look back at the conversations that changed them — featuring Paul F. Tompkins, Siri Doll, and Rhett Miller — and wrestle with what it means to make work that matters in an economy that keeps moving the goalposts. (Part 1 of 2) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian Chris Gethard joins us to talk about walking away from the version of success he spent years chasing, and why that might be the reason he's still standing. We get into the grief of giving up the big dream, the joy of making weird stuff for the people who get it, and the radical act of building a career that actually fits your life. Get more at patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad...

Adam Gurri, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Liberal Currents, joins us to talk about eight years of building a publication nobody paid him to make, and what happened when the world finally caught up. We get into how you raise half a million dollars from a community you built on trust, what it actually costs to pay yourself in New York City without betraying your principles, and why the most impo...

Comedian and speechwriter Chandler Dean joins us to talk about building a streaming show without burning down his career to do it. We get into why keeping a day job might be the most radical creative decision you can make, how Abolish Everything went from a monthly live show to the Nebula's most-watched new series, and why deadline-based work is secretly a gift. Get more at patreon.com/pastdue Lea...

Actors and comedians Mary Holland and Matt Newell survived the WGA strike, the SAG strike, and a newborn... more or less simultaneously. They join Ana and Mike to talk about what going all-in on a creative life actually looks like, what improv teaches you about listening, and what happens when there is no plan B.. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Six-time James Beard Award-winning food critic Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl joins Ana and Mike to make the case that food isn't a soft beat, it's the whole story. From ICE raids gutting Twin Cities restaurants to the real wage gap hiding in daycare costs, Dara connects the dots between what's on your plate and everything that actually matters. She also gets into why there are fewer working restaurant c...

Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, joins Ana and Mike to talk about what happens when you stop trying to fit into a box, and accidentally end up running one of the biggest newspapers in America. From burning out covering extremism at NBC News to buying The Onion for less than you'd expect, Ben gets into what it actually cost him to bottle up his personality on cable news, and why the humans-first appr...

Actress and comedian Lilan Bowden joins us to talk about what it actually feels like to come out the other side, and why financial safety doesn't automatically mean financial peace. From barista shifts and transcription gigs to booking a Disney Channel series, Lilan gets honest about the bills she still can't bring herself to open, the shame that kept her moving forward, and what it means to build...

Ana and Mike try to untangle the pure joy of making art from the exhausting pressure of creating for survival. Mike admits he's pushing all his chips into survival mode and can't afford a break, while Ana discusses the elusive practice of emotional sobriety and letting go of the outcome. Get more at ⁠patreon.com/pastdue⁠ and help support the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....

New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie joins Ana and Mike to discuss the dismantling of legacy media by billionaire owners and the myth of the “Democratic Joe Rogan”. Jamelle also opens up about the intersection of luck and frugality that allowed him to build financial stability early in his career and how he now balances his work for "the mothership" with his own independent creative outlets. Lea...

Despite writing bestsellers and landing a Reese’s Book Club pick, Xochitl Gonzalez opens up about the lingering shame of precarity, the invisibility of working-class success, and why we need to drag money talk out into the light. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah Ray joins us to talk about finding joy in creative work after letting go of the version of success he once chased. From DIY punk to rebooting MST3K, Jonah reflects on what happens when you stop waiting for permission and start making the stuff you actually want to see. We get into the fear of going unnoticed, and why it’s still worth it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...

Comedian Devin Field has one of the rarest things in Hollywood: a full-time, year-round job. But even that didn’t protect him from the chaos of the past few years. From presidential threats to network pullouts to a brutal WGA strike, Devin opens up about what it’s like when late-night comedy is under siege—and how he’s learning to navigate the myth of hustle culture. Learn more about your ad choic...

Ana Marie Cox and Open Mike Eagle kick off the year with a conversation about survival in a collapsing media economy. They get into dry January, capitalism, self-promotion, YouTube pivots, and what it means to keep showing up even when the numbers don’t add up. Plus: the upside of YouTube thumbnails, the reality of reporting on a shoestring, and why, in a world that wants you to give up, persisten...