Sleeping with Celebrities

You’ve likely seen some of the famous pictures of former astronaut and NFL player Leland Melvin with his two beloved and boisterous dogs, Jake and Scout, Leland is wearing a space suit, the dogs are showering him with affection. It’s really wonderful. Leland, WHO HAS BEEN TO SPACE, tells us all about the dogs he’s had, what it’s like to orbit the earth, and he goes into a lot of detail about his l...

Danny Baruela is responsible for you being able to hear your favorite shows at Maximum Fun, serving as the company’s Technology and Data Specialist. Unlike many people who we have as guests, he’s not a celebrity. Has no movie to promote nor album to plug. He’s a normie, with tasks to perform, a life to live, and a great deal of complicated computer things to keep track of. Get to know Danny as you...

When you become a member of Maximum Fun at even the $5/month level, you get access to our entire library of Bonus Content, including this year’s Sleeping with Celebrities special: The Celebrity Parade of Dreams Supershow. We asked guests from the last year of the show to tell us their weirdest and funniest dreams to lay the groundwork for dream of your own. Here, for FREE, is a little preview of t...

Laura Swisher, also known as Swish, is a senior producer at Maximum Fun, overseeing several shows, including ours. Unlike many people who we have as guests, she’s not a celebrity. Has no movie to promote nor album to plug. She’s a normie, with tasks to perform, a life to live, and so many dogs to sit. Get to know Swish as you settle in for a nap. With a normie. It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www.ma...

During the Max Fun Drive, we’re offering you special mini-sodes in our regular feed. In this one, host John Moe tells of fostering a rescue dog named Ducky who is really moved by being allowed up on the couch. So much so that he builds a vast network of used and donated couches for dogs to lie down and relax on. It’s a really impressive business model, especially for a rescue Pomeranian. It's the...

Certain movies would have you believe the dogs can play football but I think we all agree iguanas shouldn’t. They’re too delicate. They can, however, form eclectic musical ensembles and play mid-tempo music on bugle, triangle, oboe, and woodblock. This is the story of one band that did just that and was much beloved by a local football team, especially number 75. It's the Max Fun Drive! Go to www....

For many people, Steve Inskeep is a voice you hear in the morning on NPR in intermittent bursts, sometimes telling you about alarming news. We switch that around with Steve, bringing him to you for a bedtime appearance and speaking at length about things that are benign or even pleasant. Steve discusses the state of Indiana, Abraham Lincoln, the processes of the Library of Congress, and how to mak...

Obviously, Seattle has a rich and vibrant wizard scene. We all know this. Well, one day, one of the wizards turned a tugboat named Louie into a human being and Louie decided to do one of the most Seattle things possible: open a teriyaki restaurant. He was really good at it. The meat was not too soggy but not burnt, the glaze was sweet and just a little salty, the cursory salad was fine. And after...

During the Max Fun Drive, we’re offering you special mini-sodes in our regular feed. In this one, host John Moe tells one of his improvised and semi-drowsy bedtime stories. It’s about an onionman named Ed, who opens the shop of his dreams, selling all 21 types of onions. But in the effort to market his shop, he finds a love even greater than onions: dancing. Tune in and drift off to sleep as Ed le...

You may know actress and comedian Mary Holland from the new movie Nightbitch or from TV shows like Veep , Bob’s Burgers , and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia . Or you might know her from literally hundreds of escape rooms around the country, where she absolutely loves solving puzzles, cracking codes, and figuring out how to escape the room. And then she goes right back into another room and has...

Samantha Irby, best-selling author of several hilarious books of essays, is one of the funniest and most delightful people you’re likely to come across. In this episode, we talk about all the things she likes to buy as well as the things she avoids on a routine trip to her local drugstore. We even comb through some of the newspaper circulars for her favorite store to see what she would like to tos...

Is it weird for a grown man to own lots and lots and lots of Cabbage Patch Kids? No. No, it is not. Therefore, comedian Mike O’Connell, who has amassed an adorable army of the pretend children that dominate his southern California home, is not a weird person. He is instead a person who thinks that to love something nice and sweet is a nice and sweet thing to do. Join Mike and drift off to a very c...

You might know Anna Sale as the host of Slate’s podcast  Death, Sex, and Money , which digs deep into topics that a lot of people would rather avoid. If you attended Camp Alleghany in West Virginia, you might know Anna as one of the many campers, spending idyllic summer days and nights having wholesome fun in the great outdoors. At the request of our listener Beth, who wanted to hear Anna’s voice...

You might know our guests, Mallory O’Meara and Brea Grant, from their podcast Reading Glasses , their new podcast Reading Smut (debuting on Valentine’s Day), or from their overloaded physical and digital bookshelves that groan to support all that literary knowledge. Brea and Mallory share with us, in tones dulcet and sleep-inducing, how to sort through all those books and how to employ a spreadshe...

We wanted to be ready for the Super Bowl so we called up NFL veteran punter Chris Kluwe for a lesson on all that goes into punting the ball to the other team. How much goes into punting? Turns out A LOT. Chris, who is a published author and game designer as well, guides us through each minute step of the punting process (and there are maybe, conservatively, a zillion steps) in enough detail to eas...

Comedian, podcaster, author, and all-around delightful celebrity Jamie Loftus is in the process of rediscovering her love of NeoPets. She values the lessons they taught her about the stock market, war preparation, and the complexities of a capital-driven economy. She also likes that the electronic pets are impossible to kill. It’s true, all you can do is completely, devastatingly bum them out. Lis...

You might know the actor Langston Kerman from his roles on the television shows English Teacher , Insecure , and The Boys . You might know him also from lengthy board game nights at his house where explaining and comprehending the arcane, byzantine rules of a game is a necessary labor of the occasion. Langston, fortunately, knows all the rules to games like Villainous and Scythe and will happily e...

Jonathan Ames is the author of numerous acclaimed and popular books, including the brand new detective novel  Karma Doll . He’s also a television creator, having come up with the series Bored to Death , wherein Jason Schwarzman played a detective named Jonathan Ames. When he’s not writing, Jonathan, the real Jonathan, not the character, enjoys a comfortable soak in the Russian bathhouses of New Yo...

You might know comedian and actor Jon Gabrus from shows like  Guy Code ,  What We Do in the Shadows , or  Drunk History  or from podcasts like  Action Boyz  or  The Gino Lombardo Show . Perhaps you know him from meals like breakfast, where he has very particular thoughts on breakfast sandwiches. He’ll teach you how to order a proper New York bodega breakfast sandwich by asking for a BEC with SPK a...

Amy Tan, Alan Tudyk, Stephen Tobolowsky, Marsha Warfield, Open Mike Eagle, Janie Haddad and Paul F. Tompkins, and more are ready to knock you out. To sleep, that is. It’s very counterintuitive, appearing on Sleeping with Celebrities. Most shows ask the guest to be energetic, effervescent, and fascinating. We want none of that. We want detailed discussion of a topic that the guest knows a lot about...

Blaine Capatch is your favorite comedian’s favorite comedian, a top comedic mind known for his sharp writing and expert delivery. And as much as those comics are fans of his, he, Blaine, is a fan of family style restaurants. Oh man, he just loves them. Your IHOPs, your Cracker Barrels, and especially your Waffle Houses. He talks us through some of the top eateries around the country, why he loves...

Jenny Yang has a headlining spot in comedy clubs everywhere, a master’s degree in urban planning, and a penchant for piling her kitchen countertops high with a variety of devices and appliances. Egg cookers? She’ll tell you about that. Grapefruit spoons? Jenny has thoughts. Microplanes? Oh yeah, that’s covered. Hear about a million kitchen doohickeys and gizmos as you drift off to sleep, hopefully...

Beloved comedian, writer, and podcaster Ophira Eisenberg has lived in many places, several of which were part of provinces. That’s because she’s from Canada, which is a little like America but with more healthcare, hockey, and moose. Ophira illuminates us on the correct pronunciations of many major Canadian cities and provides valuable insight into the parka-clad lives of the folks who call Canada...

Before taking the stage as a very popular and acclaimed standup comic, Billy Wayne Davis was a squatting catcher. Billy Wayne played at a high level behind the plate in college baseball and can still describe the intricacies behind helping pitchers get to a calm and relaxed place. Perhaps you will find his voice does the same to you. Plus you have the advantage of not having to throw a baseball at...

Novelist Amy Tan is well known as the best-selling universally acclaimed author of  The Joy Luck Club ,  The Kitchen God’s Wife ,  The Bonesetter’s Daughter , and many more important works. In her backyard, among the hundreds of visiting birds, she is known as The Lady Who Builds Birdfeeders. Hear about the ongoing turmoil of Amy’s homemade feeders, the charming hummingbirds, the pesky squirrels a...